Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [47]
His stomach was awash with exotic fruit juices served in strangely shaped glasses, garlanded with bright, exotic foliage and consumed through labyrinthine straws.
In every bar he positioned himself with a view of the door and waited, looking for Bryce, passing the time by punching endless combinations on the alien data-pad.
He decided to go downmarket. He finished the last of his kwanga juice and stepped into the street. He could hear music and the babble of voices coming from a prefabricated shack under some trees. A crooked sign outside it just said ‘Exotic Dancers’. A choking mélange of alien tobacco smells hung in a cloud around the low door. Stooping and removing his hat, the Doctor went inside.
It was dark. The only light came from a tiny stage on which an overweight woman in a dirty, too-tight bunny costume wiggled without enthusiasm in time to a fluting, fluttering soundtrack. The uneven floor was crowded with tables; the tables were crowded with mostly middle-aged men.
‘Welcome to Next Door to Paradise,’ growled a huge Dreekan waiter carrying two trays of drinks. He wrapped his two spare arms, knotty with muscle and dark with obscene tattoos, around the Doctor and began running his huge hands roughly up and down the Time Lord’s clothing.
‘Weapons check,’ he said. ‘What’s this?’
He pulled the data-pad from the Doctor’s pocket.
‘Uh, nothing, really. Not a weapon, I can assure you.’
With a grunt the Dreekan handed the device back.
‘Now, what can I get you?’
‘Uh, nothing, thank you.
‘You got to have something,’ the waiter growled. ‘You’re in here now.’
‘Kwanga juice,’ the Doctor sighed. He was peering about the gloomy shack, trying to penetrate the veil of smoke.
The waiter snorted and pushed him in the direction of a table.
‘There,’ he grunted.
‘No... I’m meeting a friend here,’ said the Doctor. ‘There.’
Bryce was sitting at a tiny corner-table, hunched over a line of empty glasses, staring down into them. The Doctor edged his way between the tables and sat down opposite him.
‘Mr Bryce,’ he said.
Edwin Bryce looked drunkenly up at him.
‘Folk tales...’ he slurred.
90
‘I beg your pardon.’
‘Noth... Nothing but folk tales. Swear to God. I told the police all this yesterday.’
‘I’m not the police, Mr Bryce,’ said the Doctor gently. ‘Why don’t you tell me?’
Bryce suddenly gripped the Doctor’s sleeve. He was trembling. He was clearly petrified.
‘Tell me it’s not true,’ he whispered. ‘The Krill. They’re just legends, aren’t they?’
‘What do you know about the Krill, Mr Bryce?’
Bryce shook his head and shuddered. The Doctor put a hand on his shoulder, and looked deep into Bryce’s eyes. He tried to look into the man’s mind, but all he could sense was fear and confusion and the jumbled emotions of too much booze.
‘I’ll be honest with you,’ the Doctor said. ‘The Krill exist. We’ve found one, and seen evidence of more. The colony is in danger. We need to know as much about these things as we can.’
‘I told Garrett everything,’ Bryce pleaded.
‘Tell me,’ said the Doctor soothingly.
Bryce reached out and grabbed a drink from the Dreekan’s tray as the waiter swept past. He downed it in a single gulp.
‘There are lots of stories,’ said Bryce. ‘According to the legends, the ancient masters of Coralee loosed the Krill on their enemies. They sent the eggs into space... bombarded their enemies’ worlds with them. The Krill laid waste to every world where they set foot. They were like a virus, destroying everything they came into contact with. They were indestructible.’
‘Nothing is indestructible,’ said the Doctor. ‘Well... practically nothing.’
‘Even their eggs could survive anything.’ Bryce went on. ‘They used to drift in the bitter cold of space for years, apparently. Atmospheric burn-up. Intense radiation. According to some tales, they fed on radiation.’
‘Fed on radiation...’ The Doctor chewed his lips in thought.
Bryce paused for another drink.
‘And then what?’ the Doctor asked.
‘The Krill came home,’ said Bryce. ‘Home to Coralee. They did here what they did everywhere else. The masters of Coralee