Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [58]
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‘Look,’ she said, ‘you’ve been told what’s going on, yes?’
‘Sit down, Miss,’ the police sergeant said. ‘There’s no cause for alarm.’
‘You know as well as I do that’s not true,’ she said. ‘I know what’s going on here. I’ve seen what the Krill can do.’ Her eyes flashed momentarily across the room. ‘Look at this lot, they sense they’re being lied to. They’re getting scared. You’ve got to tell them something – not how bad things are, of course – but something.’
The sergeant looked troubled. He unhooked his radio and began talking quietly into it. Ace strained to hear what he was saying.
Signing off, he stepped inside and clapped his hands. The room fell silent.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, he said. ‘Once again, I apologise for these precautionary measures. The fact is, the colony is experiencing some difficulty... with the natives. I can assure you there’s no need to be alarmed – the colony is sealed tighter than a drum. Nothing can get in or out. Now please continue to enjoy yourselves in a quiet and orderly way. Thank you.’
To Ace’s astonishment the tissue of unconvincing lies seemed to have done the trick. A little local difficulty – the guests were already timidly laughing about it.
Suddenly determined to do something she crossed the restaurant and began pulling bottles from behind the bar. Rajiid looked at her in astonishment. ‘What the hell are you doing?’
‘Something useful.’ She grinned mirthlessly at him. ‘Get me some of those bottles.
She began pouring spirits into pint glasses, mixing them with the garish swizzle sticks that stood in gaudy bunches on the bar.
Rajiid stared at her in amazement.
‘Are you planning to drink yourself into oblivion?’
Ace held up one of the glasses. ‘I doubt you’d want to drink this by the time I’ve finished with it.’ She rummaged in a cupboard under the bar counter and hauled out cans of polish and oil, lubricants for the service robots, candles, anything she could find. She popped the top of one of the cans and took a sniff. ‘Smells promising.’ She raked around a bit further. ‘Ah!’
With a cry of triumph she held aloft a can of lighter fluid and a box of lighters emblazoned with the hotel crest.
She poured the lighter fuel into a glass then carefully divided the mixture between several bottles, shaking each one vigorously.
‘See if you can find me something to use as a wick.’ Suddenly galvanised into action, Rajiid grinned and began searching in the 112
cupboards behind the counter. Ace grabbed one of the bottles and wandered through the bar, picking up scraps of paper and towels. She began to tear the towel into strips and stuffed a strip into the neck of the bottle.
‘Hey, Rajiid!’ a thin voice called from the pool.
‘R’tk’tk!’ Rajiid shouted.
‘Can you get me a walker from the lobby?’ the dolphin asked. ‘It’s like a bloody sardine tin in here.’
‘Sure,’ said Rajiid. ‘Back in a sec.’
Ace wandered over to the poolside, still holding the bottle.
‘So you and the boss are getting on OK?’ R’tk’tk said to Ace.
Ace blushed. ‘S’pose so,’ she said.
R’tk’tk smiled showing rows of tiny teeth. ‘Good on you. How’s Greg?’
‘He’s going to be fine. They’re keeping him in the medical centre overnight.
‘Oh, he’ll love that. Always had a thing about women in uniform.’
‘Here you go’ Rajiid lowered one of the spidery devices into the pool. R’tk’tk wriggled into it.
‘Nearly didn’t make it,’ the dolphin said, scuttling up on to the poolside. ‘I was miles out when I got the signal. Time I got here, they’d already put the damned shutters up. I couldn’t get in.’
‘What did you do?’ Ace asked.
‘Thank God for this pool, R’tk’tk replied. ‘I swam in.’
Ace digested his words for a second.
‘You mean... you swam in from the sea...?’
‘Sure,’ the dolphin said. ‘Through the dolphin canal. For once I didn’t have to pay at the tunnel entrance, too.’
‘Get back from the pool,’ Ace said quietly. She stepped