Doctor Who_ The Algebra of Ice - Lloyd Rose [99]
‘Mr Brett is now a computer code: our worm. We are, of course, in contact with him. Fascinating information. At a certain point, possibly just about now, this construct of yours was to collapse. And a bolt of artron energy, with you as the medium, would then annihilate our world. Of course, you would die too, but still. . . ’ The Doctor was silent. It nodded. ‘You’re not quite as honourable as your reputation maintains, are you?’
‘In a choice between the cosmos and my integrity, I’m happy to throw out my integrity.’
To the Doctor’s dismay, the being emerged from the wall with its lower half transformed into a snake. Erect as a fakir’s cobra, it rippled to him. ‘You’re very good at destroying others’ civilisations.’
‘Only when they try to consume every one but their own.’
‘I see. You work out the numbers.’ It smiled again. The Doctor wished it would stop. ‘That’s why it must have seemed to you quite reasonable to end one, small human life.’
‘Only I didn’t.’
‘But you would have. If that girl hadn’t come in, Ethan Amberglass would be dead. Even though, once you put your mind to it, another way presented itself.
Your first instinct was to kill.’
‘No,’ said the Doctor, but he’d gone white as the walls around him.
‘Did you really believe we were pulling you in? You were merely seeking your own.’
‘No!’
‘Morality has its equations too – they graph the curve of compassion between the quick and the dead. There are slivers of ice in your hearts.’ It swayed up and bent over him. ‘Little Doctor, you belong with us.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Brett stood by the screen examining the room with interest, to all appearances humanly solid. He wore an exquisitely tailored suit of grey wool.
‘I feel rather like Rasputin,’ he observed.
‘You’re only an equation,’ said Ethan. He was on his feet, pressed back against the computer. Across the room, Molecross was frozen in place.
‘If you break it down far enough, everything is. Though I suppose you mean that I’m non-corporeal. Well, not precisely.’
A blurry streak shot at and through Molecross, who cried out and nearly fell. Brett reformed on the other side of him. ‘I actually find that unpleasant,’
he confided. ‘Organic matter is disgusting.’ Moaning, Molecross backed away from him.
‘So what’s it like being dead?’ said Ethan hoarsely.
‘Oh, I much prefer it.’
‘How, what. . . what, I mean,’ Molecross babbled, ‘where did you –’
A nightmarish idea was trying to occur to Ethan, but he fought it down. Brett flickered into pixels and rearranged next to him. Ethan would have stepped back, but the computer was in the way. ‘That thing didn’t die,’ he said. ‘It went home, and took you with it.’
‘An oversimplification, but essentially yes.’
‘W– Why are you here?’ said Molecross.
Brett’s eyes slid sideways at him, then back to Ethan. ‘Who is that?’
‘Molecross.’
The name meant nothing to Brett. He glanced incuriously at Molecross and returned to the huge screen. Molecross was almost shaking with fear. He shot a panicked look at Ethan, who shook his head – reassuringly, he hoped, though he couldn’t find anything reassuring in the situation. Brett traced a finger over the screen surface.
‘We’re pure mathematics, you know,’ he said. ‘That lock wouldn’t slow us down if it weren’t continually shifting its code. And of course we can’t use explosives from our side.’ He blinked sleepily at Ethan. ‘Do you have any more of those devices that very violent girl used?’
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‘Probably,’ said Ethan, ‘but I’ve no idea where.’ Brett shrugged. His casual-ness gave Ethan a bad feeling. The nasty idea tried again to occur, and again Ethan swatted it down. ‘What do you mean by “we”? What are you?’
‘Just a code, like everything else,’ Brett said, and the idea ripped through Ethan’s defences and became a thought.
‘You’re the worm.’
‘It’s still a clever lad.’
‘Worm?’ said Molecross. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Not now, Molecross.’
‘Oh – a computer worm. Not a dragon.’
‘Who is this person?’ said Brett.
‘No one. Harmless, believe me. Not too bright, as you can tell. You’ve got