Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [63]
As a concession to my lieutenants, we ate something Kenyan tonight. A stew called githeri, beans and corn, too sweet for my taste. And honey beer, though not for the moran. Perhaps we’ll try roast goat at some stage.
‘Can I have tea instead of coffee?’
That’s the Doctor. I gesture to the trooper on waiter duty.
There must be some way to draw the man out of himself.
I’d hoped that the freedoms I’d extended to him would make him more forthcoming. I was wrong.
I shouldn’t have told him what I wanted. It was too much of a concession, much too soon. And I have the feeling that this is an old and familiar game to him. Who knows how many colonels he has played this game with, on how many worlds?
I certainly don’t. Not yet.
I hope I don’t play this log back in ten years’ time and think I sound foolish.
‘Tell me about Dione-Kisumu,’ he says. He’s looking at the tall glass of tea the trooper has brought him. He reaches into it and pulls out an ice-cube, perplexed. ‘I was wondering how you came to work for them. You’re American originally, I take it?’
‘I grew up in Oklahoma. I didn’t think I’d ever get out of there. The American government doesn’t value psi talent the way the Company does.’
‘Did you go to them, or did they come to you?’
The lieutenants haven’t forgotten their manners, keeping their eyes on the table. ‘There was a drive to recruit psi-powered staff from poor countries. A dozen different multinationals opened up their doors at once. Mostly African.’
‘Why did you choose DKC?’
‘They specifically wanted people for their security operations, and I’d had military training. Most of the men and women I left Oklahoma with had the same kinds of qualifications.’
‘Tell me,’ said the Doctor, ‘did they do experiments on you?’
As one, my four lieutenants raise their heads and look at him.
‘No, they did not do experiments on me. Or anyone else.’
My irritation shows in my voice; that’s all right. ‘They took tissue samples and they did tests of my psi potential, all as a matter of course. They do a great deal of research into psionics. They recognize its value. Our value.’
‘What did they say when you told them the virus was made by the Dione-Kisumu Company?’
I refuse to be startled by this man. I refuse to let him create an aura of omniscience from clever guesses.
He’s still talking. ‘At first, I thought you might be here to observe the results of a DKC experiment. But I don’t think the Company knows how their experimental bug got loose either.’
I’m starting to lose my temper. I will not let him see.
‘Where are you going with this?’
‘Change your tactics,’ says the Doctor urgently. ‘Stop thinking of the colonists as a problem, something to be kept at bay with threats and firepower. Work with them, not around them.’
Or you’ll do what?’
The Doctor waves his hands angrily. ‘Why must you think of everything as a conflict? I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to help everyone on this planet.’
It hits me. ‘There’s something you’re not telling us.’
‘Quite a few things, actually,’ he says. ‘You’ve sequenced the virus, you’ve sent that information back to DKC. But you must have drawn certain conclusions yourself.’
‘Yes, of course. We transmitted its sequence back to base.’ He’s worked out most of this himself. ‘They told us to wait. It will be a day or so before Dione takes a look at it, and tells us how to proceed.’
‘So you didn’t notice that the virus is airborne, then.’
‘What?’
‘Only a small percentage. Just one of the strains.’
‘We were told—’
‘You were told what Professor SmithSmith told the Company. That the colonists had been inoculated with the virus. Dot didn’t know about the airborne strain.’
Don’t let him see, don’t let him see. ‘Why are you telling us this?’
He leans forward across the table. My lieutenants are still watching him. ‘As far as DKC is concerned, we’re all a problem now.’
14 GRUMPY
When Roz ran out of mind games, she found herself thinking back over the last few hours, trying to work out where they had made their mistake. It should have been a simple