Doctor Who_ So Vile a Sin - Ben Aaronovitch [56]
Sokolovsky decided to deal with the whole thing later. ‘What condition is the Wilfred Owen in?’
Kidjo stared straight ahead, jaw set. The shorter woman from the shuttle sighed and said, ‘It’s scrap metal. I can’t believe we managed to limp back here.’
Sokolovsky leant on the back of a chair, looking down at the Doctor from the Wilfred Owen. ‘When you decided to blow up an entire planet –’
‘Just a comet,’ said the Doctor.
‘– and I don’t want to hear about how you did it just yet –’
‘It was only a little comet.’
‘– did it occur to you what might happen to any nearby ships?’
‘What happens to this ship,’ said the Doctor, ‘or to any of the others, is nothing compared to what would have happened if I hadn’t destroyed Cassandra. Captain, I’ve just saved you the 131
nasty decision of what to do with an ultimate weapon. Keep it, and let every power in the galaxy come in search of what you’ve got? Or destroy it?’
Sokolovsky stared at the Doctor. Vincenzi said, ‘Sir, this is turning sour very fast. We counted on a quick getaway, not a month’s worth of repair work. Half the ships in the Task Force will be on their way here by now, and we don’t even have a warp drive.’
‘I can help there,’ said both Doctors. Sokolovsky glared at them. The original Doctor stood up and said, ‘I’ll make you an offer, Captain. I’ll repair your warp-drive system for you – if you’ll release your prisoners. All of us. Let the original crew use the lifeboats.’
Vincenzi said, ‘They could be useful as hostages.’
Sokolovsky shook his head. ‘The Task Force won’t show us the slightest mercy. Get right on to it. Both of you,’ he told the Doctors. ‘We’ll worry about this particular piece of bizarreness later. Vincenzi, get my crew off this ship.’
The prisoners found themselves shuffled around a lot in the next couple of hours. There weren’t enough people to interrogate them properly. Chris ended up by himself in a cabin with the door locked, but no guard.
It was a nice cabin, probably a lieutenant’s, with a soft bed and a fresher. He spent a while trying to get the terminal to work. It probably hadn’t even been disabled – a lot of the ship’s computers had been knocked out when the comet blew up.
The fresher was still working. He had a shower and put on half a navy uniform, just the white pants and T-shirt – he didn’t want them thinking he was trying to impersonate an officer or anything.
He lay on the bed, trying to get some sleep. You never knew when you’d need it.
The ultimate weapon, the Doctor had said. Wonder what it was? No wonder he’d been in a hurry to get there. Both of him.
He hoped the Ogrons were OK.
The cabin door opened. He rolled on to his elbow. ‘Oh, hi!’
132
Roz came in. One of the new soldiers locked the door behind her. ‘The Doctor sent me down to see you.’
‘Justice,’ said Chris.
‘Fairness,’ said Roz.
They traded a high-five. Chris beamed. ‘Good to see you again,’ he said. ‘How’s Fury? Cleaned the place up?’
‘You could say that,’ said Roz. She turned the lieutenant’s chair around and sat on it, leaning over the back. ‘I trashed an N-form.’
‘Awesome,’ said Chris. ‘So, uh, which Doctor sent you to see me?’
‘I was hoping you could tell me what was going on there. I can’t get anything out of either Doctor – they’re up to their identical hats in the warp drive.’
‘Well, if he hasn’t told you, he sure won’t have told me,’ said Chris. ‘He usually briefs you better.’
‘Jealous.’
Chris shrugged. ‘He knows what he’s doing.’
‘He’d better, if he’s going to go round blowing up planets.
What do you know about the guys who took over the ship?’
‘Not much. I don’t recognize their uniform. They’re obviously not pirates – too disciplined.’
‘Mmm. Someone’s private army, maybe.’
‘That’s one heck of a bold move,’ said Chris. ‘Knocking over an Imperial carrier!’
‘Maybe there’s some cargo we don’t know about. Whatever.
We’ve still got a mission to complete. We don’t have time to get caught up in some petty local war.’ Roz drummed her fingers on the back of the chair. ‘There’s a carrier on the way.’
‘Which ship?