Doctor Who_ So Vile a Sin - Ben Aaronovitch [53]
It took the Doctor almost a minute to realize he was there. The civilian fixed him with an intense gaze and walked up the gentle slope of the bridge to his station.
‘Captain Sokolovsky,’ he said. ‘It’s vital that you allow me to take a shuttle down to the surface of Cassandra.’
‘Why?’ said Sokolovsky.
The Doctor glanced back at the screen, where Agamemnon’s outermost planet was a fat white disk. ‘It’s a matter of extreme importance,’ he said. ‘I wish I could tell you more, but I can’t.’
He turned back. ‘All I can do is try to persuade you to let me land. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the course of history depends on your assent.’
Sokolovsky was surprised at how believable the little man’s speech was. He had half a mind to have one of the shuttles readied, if only to see what the Doctor was going to do down there.
‘Captain,’ said ShipOps, ‘the Claremont has begun docking.’
Sorry, Doctor, I don’t have time to find out what you’re all about. ‘Thank you, Ensign. Doctor, we’ll have to continue this later. Emerson, could you take our guest down to his friends?’
‘Yes, sir. This way, Doctor.’
‘Sir,’ said someone, ‘the Wilfred Owen has just lifted off.
Lieutenant Kidjo wants to speak with you urgently.’
‘Oh my God!’ someone else said. ‘Sorry, sir, a firefight has just broken out in docking bay four!’
There was a moment of stunned silence on the bridge.
‘Report!’ snapped Sokolovsky.
‘It’s the crew of the Claremont!’ exclaimed ShipOps. The Doctor ran to their station, peering into the monitor. Sokolovsky 125
punched it up – a securicam display of the fight. ‘What are those things?’
‘Aliens!’ someone said. ‘I’ve never seen body armour like that, ever.’
‘What kind of aliens?’
‘How did they get our codes?’
‘Security teams iota, epsilon, scramble immediate!’
Captain Sokolovsky said nothing.
What Cappiello would really have liked to do was to leave his post.
There were alarms going off everywhere, troops running up and down corridors, dashing past him. Twice, he heard distant explosions, the sound and vibration cut short as bulkheads crashed down to seal areas exposed to space.
He couldn’t get an answer on his comlink, and no one would stop long enough to talk to him.
So he stayed in front of the brig, his rifle armed and ready, waiting for someone to tell him what was going on.
He was leaning against the intercom grille when it beeped.
Cappiello jumped, spinning and aiming his gun at the speaker before he realized.
‘Hey!’ shouted one of the prisoners. ‘Help!’
Cappiello thumbed the switch next to the grille. ‘What?’
‘For God’s sake, open the door!’ shouted a voice. ‘Get us out of here!’
There was an appalling roaring sound. ‘Jeez,’ said Cappiello.
‘Is that the Ogrons?’
‘No!’ shouted the human voice. ‘There’s a dinosaur in here with us!’
‘A what?’
‘A crukking dinosaur!’ A blood-curdling scream cut across the roaring. ‘It’s killing them! Let us out! ’
Cappiello raised his weapon and opened the door.
Before he knew what was going on, he was lying on the floor with two Ogrons sitting on him.
‘Hey,’ said Cappiello.
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The yellow-haired human prisoner was holding his gun, flipping it over in his hands. ‘Flechette gun,’ said the young man,
‘ideal for shipboard combat.’ Another dreadful roar came from inside the cell. ‘Put him in with the dinosaur.’
The Ogrons pulled Cappiello to his feet. ‘What?’ he said. ‘You can’t!’
‘Professor Martinique is still in the cell,’ pointed out one of the apelike aliens.
The blond stuck his head around the door. ‘Come on, Professor!’ he said.
The Ogrons pushed Cappiello towards the cell. He couldn’t even struggle – it was like being held by a couple of buildings.
The cell rang with roars, but the dinosaur was conspicuous by its absence. Cappiello looked around, bewildered, hoping what he’d been taught about the Ogron diet hadn’t been true.
The human was talking to the remaining prisoner, an