Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [89]
‘Hiya, folks!’ said Chris Cwej. He gave the torch a celebratory squirt, a brilliant blue beam flashing from its nozzle and vanishing. He turned. There was a crowd behind him. ‘Everybody in!’
He stood aside as the first of the parents came into the dome. The kids looked up at them. They looked down at the kids, dazed.
As one, every child in the dome burst into tears.
Chris got the hell out of the way as they started to pour into the building. He grinned at Zaniwe and Jenny, putting his hands over his ears. Mothers and fathers were picking up kids and swinging them around; kids were screaming and howling and running about.
The little girl hanging onto Zaniwe’s leg was shrieking louder than all of the rest of them. ‘Where’s... ?’ said Chris, trailing off. A look of recognition passed over his face, as though he knew the girl, had seen her somewhere.
Jenny said quietly, ‘She is — she was Professor Gjovaag’s child.’
‘Yeah,’ said Chris. He was deflated, the grin sliding off his face. ‘Yeah, I know.’
‘Come on, Heather,’ said Zaniwe, hefting the child in her arms. ‘Come on, let’s go outside and see what’s going on!’
Forrester was herding colonists into the TARDIS. Chris was watching the long queue of people gradually disappear into the time—space vehicle, stifling his laughter. It wasn’t so much that it all resembled a bad magician’s trick: it was more that his superior looked like some sort of flight attendant.
The Doctor strode across the field. ‘Right,’ he said.
‘How’s it going?’
‘Well, there are about fifty of them who won’t go,’ said Chris. ‘But we’ll have the rest of them packed snugly away, troopers and colonists, in about half an hour.’
‘Won’t go? Why won’t they go?’
‘We can’t go,’ said Chris. ‘We’ve got what’s left of SLEEPY’s memories.’
‘Where are they? I’ll talk to them.’
‘You’re a bit late. They’ve all gone off into the forest to help dig up what’s left of SLEEPY.’
The Doctor nodded resignedly. ‘I’ve set the Hostile Action Displacement System. If the warship does attack, it’ll take them back to Earth.’
‘Hey, that’ll take some explaining.’
‘Actually, DKC will have to do the explaining. I’ve programmed the coordinates so they’ll arrive in the main foyer of the Colonial Commission. That’s if it comes to that.
We might still be able to persuade the warship to leave us alone.’ ‘You know, maybe we’ve been jumping to a conclusion. We’ve been assuming the warship’s just going to flashburn the colony, kill everybody. Maybe that’s not what they’re here for.’
‘Not exactly.’ The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out the repaired drone. ‘BAR B tells me that she’s just made contact with the communications daemon on the ship.’
The drone buzzed. ‘Their target is SLEEPY,’ said BAR B.
‘But they know all about the original virus. They’ve got orders to take whatever steps are necessary to destroy the Al, including killing any humans who’re carrying its memories.’
‘You know,’ deadpanned Chris, ‘anyone would think they didn’t like SLEEPY.’
‘He did give them a lot of trouble, back when he escaped. Covering it up must have been almost as costly as chasing it down.’
‘It’s not just that, it’s more than that,’ said BAR B. ‘If anyone finds out about SLEEPY, the whole Cumberland Convention might come under attack again. Heck, if anyone finds out about me and WATCH OUT! and... and if anyone finds out about us, they might have to rewrite the law. If they had to set all their AIs free, Dione-Kisumu would lose a lot of business. And money.’
‘Which reminds me,’ said the Doctor. ‘Did you pass on that little present I had for the warship’s AIs?’
‘Yes, indeed, boss,’ said BAR B.
Chesinen and Munoru had brought excavation tools from the Olpiron. The troopers and a gang of colonists had spent the night stripping the ship of everything that might be immediately useful. Mostly equipment. There wasn’t much sense in taking weapons or food stores.
Chesinen took a moment to lean against a tree. She wiped sweat from her face, leaving streaks of soil behind.
She looked at her chronometer.