Doctor Who_ The Also People - Ben Aaronovitch [28]
At least that's what aM!xitsa claimed to have done; the drone's mind was officially rated at 10.2, meaning that it was supposed to be at least ten times more intelligent than the average sentient humanoid, so it was difficult to believe that it hadn't realized that no one ever ate the dip.
Come to think of it, God was rated x number of millions times smarter than aM!xitsa and it made the dip that no one ever ate. It was probably one of those jokes, the kind that you had to be a machine to find funny.
Dep was waiting for her in the capacitor hall. Clumps of Dep's hair were twisting themselves into braids and then untwisting again – a sure sign that she was nervous.
'How do I look?' she asked and pirouetted. She was wearing a symbiote dress of silver scales, the living organism constantly shaping and reshaping itself across the contours of her body.
'I tell everyone that it's a historical fancy dress party,' said saRa!qava, 'and my own daughter comes as a fish.'
'This is historical,' said Dep. The dress shivered slightly and changed shape, extruding one long sleeve and raising the skirt above the knee.
'From exactly where and when?'
'Who knows,' said Dep. 'Someone's bound to have worn something like this somewhere at some time in the past.'
'Not if they had any fashion sense.'
'I'm trying to look barbarian.'
'You've got barbarian on the brain,' said saRa!qava. 'As if I didn't know why. Just remember that he is a barbarian and that they can have some pretty peculiar ideas about sex and such.'
'But, Mother,' said Dep, 'that's the whole point.'
SaRa!qava activated the terminal in her left earring and asked God whether Benny and her friends were on their way yet.
'They're on their way now,' said God. 'It took them a while to figure out how the tube system worked. Do you want to know what they're wearing?'
'No.'
'Go on,' said God. 'I'll give you a full cultural analysis.'
'No,' said saRa!qava, making her way to the lift egress at the far end of the capacitor hall. 'Why aren't they here yet'?'
There was a suspicious silence.
'God, what have you done?'
'Put them on the slow track.'
'Why?'
'They're having a real interesting conversation.'
'Bad God!' said saRa!qava. 'You shouldn't be listening.'
'Wanna hear?'
Technically you weren't supposed to eavesdrop on private conversations; not a law of course –
saRa!qava's society didn't have anything as crude as a legal system – but certainly not the 'done'
thing.
'Just get them here,' she told God.
'Your sternest command is my slightest wish,' said God.
SaRa!qava stepped forward as the lift doors opened. Seeing Bernice and her friends together saRa!qava was struck again by their physiological uniformity. Even the Doctor, whom God identified as belonging to a different species entirely, seemed to share the same detailed similarity as his companions right down to the number of fingers on each hand, the general arrangement of his eyes and ears. Behind her Dep gave a small squeal of delight as Chris stepped out of the lift.
He was dressed in a ridiculous furry loin cloth, his naked torso painted with spiral patterns of blue and silver. He was carrying a large double-bladed axe which he waved enthusiastically when he saw Dep.
There was a chorus of yells from behind him and he lowered the axe with a sheepish grin. Dep darted forward, grabbed his free hand and pulled him away. The small dark woman – Roz – glared after him. SaRa!qava wondered if Dep was stepping on the older woman's toes. Roz's costume seemed to consist of two ochre-coloured blankets and masses of jewellery. One of the blankets was wrapped around her waist, the other draped across her shoulders and knotted under her chin.
A dozen blue and white necklaces hung around her neck while her forearms and ankles were almost hidden under a sheath