Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [25]
The Doctor caught her gaze and nodded, then the door to the lift slid shut.
MacKenzie and the Doctor walked quickly through the now-bustling marketplace towards the harbour, the Professor babbling excitedly 45
about the dig. The Doctor smiled inwardly. He began to wonder if he need have bothered about trying to prise information from the computer. The Professor was anything but reticent.
Eventually MacKenzie stopped and gestured proudly to the end of the jetty
‘There she is, Doctor. The Zodiac.’
Even among the multitude of craft in the docks, the Zodiac was impressive. More submersible than boat, the slender lines of its hull glinted under the suns. The Doctor was about to make a comment when something large and mechanical clattered over the bow. ‘All, there’s Q’ilp.’ The Professor waved frantically and raced off down the jetty.
The Doctor followed, staring in fascination at the mechanical monstrosity that clicked its way over the deck on six delicate legs. He could see a dolphin shape nestled in the spider-like exoskeleton and two pincer arms waved in front of it, clutching a variety of tools. There was something sticking out of the blowhole in the top of the dolphin’s head. As the Doctor got closer he realised with surprise that it was a cigar.
MacKenzie beckoned him over. ‘Doctor, may I introduce my assistant, Q’ ilp.’
One of the mechanical arms plucked out the cigar. ‘Assistant?
Dogsbody more like it. Be warned, Doctor, he’ll have you up to your neck in it before you can blink.’
MacKenzie tutted. ‘Come, come. Now, are we ready to go yet?’
‘Some of us have been ready for the last half-hour.’ The dolphin stubbed his cigar out on the jetty wall.
‘Yes, yes, yes. All right. I had to get my seasick pills, didn’t I.’
MacKenzie bustled up the gangplank. ‘Come along, Doctor. We should get going.’
The Doctor followed him and settled into a seat in the control cabin as Q’ilp clicked his way along the jetty, the mechanical arms unhooking magnetic cleats. As the Doctor watched, the spider shape lowered itself on to its ‘knees’ and the dolphin slipped into the cool waters of the harbour. Moments later there was the roar of powerful engines and the Zodiac powered away from the colony.
Mottrack sat in the moist gloom of the interrogation cells. In front of him the scattered remains of one of his Zithra prisoners quivered in the dark. Mottrack enjoyed interrogating Zithra. They were always so...
responsive. He twisted one of the creature’s bioelectric implants off its head, watching with morbid satisfaction as it twitched and drooled on 46
the blood-splattered floor.
The creature hadn’t told him anything useful, but then Mottrack hadn’t really been after anything specific. The prisoners in the holding cells were there more as a diversion than for any strategic value.
Bisoncawl didn’t approve of course, but that was why Bisoncawl would never command a ship of his own. Too soft, too lenient.
Mottrack twisted the implant savagely and with a harsh rattle the Zithra shuddered and died, the light fading from the metallic sheen of its eyes.
A guard appeared in the doorway.
‘Yes?’ Mottrack snarled.
‘There is an incoming coded message, General. For your eyes only.’
‘Route it through to my console here.’
Mottrack threw the implant to one side and wiped his hands on his overalls. He turned to the communications station, brushing the Zithra’s head aside. The cell filled with static. Mottrack leaned close to the speaker, drinking in the information.
The com system went quiet and he leant back in his chair, pulling at his beard. Unexpected developments. Investigators from InterOceanic.
Phase two brought forward.
He slammed his fist down and gave a guttural laugh of triumph. No more skulking in the dark. The battle could start.
He opened the cell door and bellowed at the guard.
‘Tell Commander Bisoncawl that I want warp power in two cycles.’
The guard saluted stiffly and vanished into the fog of the corridor.
Mottrack turned back to the cells. He would celebrate with another interrogation.