Doctor Who_ The Also People - Ben Aaronovitch [112]
AM!xitsa lay in the cool shade of the tree and vowed never ever to be cruel to a humanoid with a hangover again.
'Valves,' it swore. 'Valves, transistors and solid state capacitors.'
It could barely get enough resolution out of its sensors to scan the immediate environs of the cove. Kadiatu was nowhere to be found.
' Diodes,' it said, with feeling.
It took less than three minutes for the travel capsule to reach iSanti Jeni but it was long enough for the regen spray to heal the hole in Bernice's hand. According to God, saRa!qava was on the esplanade moving towards the breakwater at average humanoid walking speed. She looked surprised when the travel capsule landed in front of her. Surprised but not guilty, thought Bernice.
The Doctor greeted saRa!qava with a big friendly smile that made Bernice want to be physically sick.
She denied everything of course and Bernice wanted to believe her. Wanted it so badly that she perversely came to the conclusion that saRa!qava must have tried to kill her. It was all of a piece with what Bernice had come to expect while adventuring with the Doctor. Magic thinking, she supposed.
It was thus a bit of a shock when the Doctor patted saRa!qava on the hand and told her that he believed her too. 'The ship must have monitored your call,' he said. SaRa!qava burst into tears, making Bernice wince in sympathetic embarrassment. She took her friend by the shoulders and led her over to the nearest cafe and ordered a couple of stiff drinks.
'I feel like such an idiot,' said saRa!qava.
'Don't worry,' said Bernice, 'he has that effect on everyone.'
'How do you stand it?' asked saRa!qava.
'To be honest,' said Bernice, 'I couldn't tell you. I think I've just got used to it over the years.'
They both turned and looked towards the Doctor who was standing in the middle of the esplanade with his hands in his pockets. There was a curious abstracted look on his face.
'What's he doing now?' whispered saRa!qava.
Bernice frowned. 'I don't know,' she said, 'but I'm sure I'm not going to like it.'
The Doctor stopped whatever it was he was doing and pulled his hands out of his pockets. He frowned at his empty hands and then turned to look at Bernice and saRa!qava.
'Uh oh,' said Bernice as the Doctor walked over.
'Conference,' he said.
SaRa!qava knew of a small cafe tucked away in the back streets of iSanti Jeni. Its advantage was that it was run by the Menial Toil Interest Group, associates of whom took turns to cook, clean and wait on tables. It was ideal because there were no machines inside which meant that God couldn't eavesdrop without being obvious about it. SaRa!qava said the food was dire and warned them not to eat it. Roz was the last to arrive, explaining that she'd been halfway round the sphere when the Doctor had contacted her via feLixi's terminal. Bernice decided to try and get the older woman on her own later and get the full debriefing, preferably with all the juicy details.
It was only when they'd all gathered together that it struck Bernice how little they'd seen of each other in the last few days.
Chris scowled when the Doctor told him and Roz about the attack on the beach. 'So it must have been a ship,' he said. 'Do you think that God knows that?'
'It must do by now,' said the Doctor.
'Will it try again?' asked Roz.
'I doubt that,' said Bernice. 'I expect whoever it is, is keeping a very low profile. God must be keeping a pretty tight