Doctor Who_ So Vile a Sin - Ben Aaronovitch [81]
She sat back. ‘They’ve got different hiring policies here than on Earth,’ she said.
‘Indeed. Don’t continue following this man.’ The Ice Warrior pointed at the photo of ‘the Doctor’. ‘An honest officer of the law will quickly be detected and eliminated.’
‘If there’s a conspiracy, how do you know I’m honest?’
‘If you were not honest, you would not need to seek this man.’
‘Do you know who he is?’
‘No,’ said the Martian. ‘But I know that as soon as he arrived in this city, he made contact with the Adjudicators and their connections. Then he disappeared.’
‘You’re watching them.’
‘I am.’
‘Why?’
The Martian said, ‘I have connections as well.’
‘Were you sent to warn me off?’ said Roz.
‘To be truthful – I don’t want any more honest Adjudicators to be lost. But you have nothing to fear from my connections, I assure you.’
‘Who are you working for?’
‘No one. I am freelance, as are you. That is why you have nothing to fear from my connections.’
Roz nearly believed him. She pushed the photo forward. ‘Do you know where he is?’
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‘No,’ said the Ice Warrior. ‘I advise you again to avoid him.’
‘Thanks for the advice,’ said Roz.
‘I also advise you to avoid the square, blue-coloured cakes.’
‘Why?’ Roz glanced down at her plate. ‘Are they poisoned?’
‘No,’ said the Martian, getting up. ‘But they’re terribly fattening.’
The Jeopard still hadn’t stopped shaking. Chris sat down on the bed next to him, wondering what the hell to say.
The room was small and tidy, with a single window facing out on to the street. From downstairs, the rich smell of coffee drifted up to the room.
The Jeopard clutched a mug of cappuccino, barely able to drink it for the trembling. He took another slug of the cooling coffee.
On the table, there were a couple of magazines, an alien artefact which was probably a vase, and two photos. The Jeopard reached out and picked up the picture of the Doctor.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘He’s after us again, isn’t he?’
‘No,’ said Chris. ‘Calm down, calm down.’
The Jeopard finished his coffee in a sudden gulp. ‘What do you want from us?’ he said.
‘Look, I’m just trying to find him,’ said Chris. ‘He’s not here because of the Jeopards. He’s not here at all. You see the other photo? That man is disguised as the Doctor.’
The Jeopard leant forward, stroking his ears with his hands. ‘I was there when it all happened, you know,’ he said. ‘I was in one of the landing parties. The Jithrai didn’t know what had hit them.
We’d sent a few ships over to explore, and they’d always managed to avoid us. We were just going to walk in and take over that planet.’
‘And then the Doctor arrived,’ said Chris.
‘And then he arrived. He didn’t do anything. But suddenly the Jithrai weren’t frightened any more, they weren’t confused. If we wanted their planet, we would have had to kill them. Thousands of them!’
Chris took the mug away before the Jeopard could drop it. The alien looked at him with haunted eyes, pupils dilated in the low 189
light. ‘And then you came, and you killed every last Jithrai.
Every last one of them.’
‘I came?’ said Chris.
‘The humans came,’ said the Jeopard. 'I’m sorry, I know you don’t all agree. When we saw what had been done to the Jithrai, we surrendered right away before they started killing us as well.’
The Jeopard put his face in his hands in a very human gesture.
Chris instinctively put an arm around the cat-man’s muscular shoulders. It seemed to be the right thing to do. The alien moved closer to him, the trembling starting to quiet.
‘How did you end up here?’ said Chris, after a few minutes.
‘I was indentured for five years,’ said the Jeopard. ‘I was a cook aboard the Renoir. They tried to train some of us as soldiers. But we can’t do that. We can’t.’
‘All right,’ said Chris. ‘It’s all right.’ He gave the alien’s shoulders a squeeze.
The Jeopard picked up both photos. ‘If any of my people had seen the Doctor – or this disguised man – believe me, I’d know about it. Everyone would be packing to leave.’
‘Why?’ said Chris. ‘What do you think he’s going