Doctor Who_ The Also People - Ben Aaronovitch [94]
'Speak not to me of Justice/For thou hath broken humanity on thy wheel,' recited the Doctor.
' "The Lament of the Non-Operational", the Fitzgerald translation I believe. I didn't know you were familiar with Dalek poetry.'
'My father collected it,' said Roz. 'He made me memorize all hundred and twenty-eight stanzas.' She grimaced at the memory.
'Take it from me,' said the Doctor, 'it reads far better in the original machine code.' He poked at his soggy pastry with a spoon. 'I knew a man once who used it as a libretto for an opera. Great big sub-Wagnerian score. I even heard that he took the production all the way to Skaro.'
'What happened?'
'Got exterminated by the audience on the opening night,' said the Doctor. 'Terrible critics, the Daleks. I think spending all that melleannium yearning for perfection drove them all quite mad.'
'Are we ruling the S-Lioness out of the frame then?' asked Roz.
'Not yet,' said the Doctor. 'I thought that was something you could check on with feLixi.'
'The more I think about it, the more improbable the S-Lioness seems as a suspect,' said Roz.
'If it was really that pissed off with vi!Cari over the death of one of its crew why wait until now?
I'd like to know more about who it was that died.'
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. 'You think they're related?' he asked. 'Is there something you're not telling me?'
'Nothing concrete, Doctor,' said Roz. 'I'd like to check some facts first. If I think I'm on to something I'll let you know. You talked to the mural painter, didn't you?'
'BeRut? I spoke to him,' said the Doctor. 'He made it clear in no uncertain terms that my company or my conversation was not required. In short he told me to get lost.'
'Shame.'
'And I was being my most ingratiating too.'
'Do you think he's capable of murder?'
'Yes,' said the Doctor, without hesitation. 'I think he's capable of ripping someone's arm off and beating them to death with the wet end. I'm not sure that he's capable of the kind of long-term planning involved in killing a drone.'
'I heard he's been working on that mural for two years,' said Roz. 'If he can be obsessive about his art, he could be obsessive about revenge on vi!Cari. I arrested a painter once who'd planned his wife's murder for six years. Used a binary carcinogenic on her.'
'That's horrible,' said the Doctor.
'You should have seen the medical bills.'
'I had a conversation with a fish last night,' said the Doctor. 'I think you might find it interesting.'
As the Doctor told Roz about the force-bomb, Roz felt something go 'click' in her head. A tiny section of the case, that amorphous blob with all its flapping loose ends, seemed to become suddenly sharp-edged and clear. It didn't mean much yet but like finding the corner of a jigsaw puzzle it was a start. Like finding a little piece of the divine will, Konstantine had said.
Thinking of Konstantine brought a short rush of unwelcome memory. A smug complacent face with flat eyes – Boss Shuster. Damn! She must still be experiencing the after-effects of the flashback. You're a disgrace, Forrester. What are you? Where had that bottle of flashback come from anyway? She hadn't ordered it and House denied it had anything to do with it. She looked at the Doctor who was stirring his dissolved pastry, seemingly content to play with his food rather than eat it. Was it one of his mind games? Perhaps he hoped that forcing Roz to confront her past would make her a better person. She discounted that theory as soon as she thought of it. The Doctor was far too subtle to resort to such spurious psyche tactics, let alone chemical inducement.
Who needed a memory enhancer when you've got a time machine.
The Doctor said something. 'Sorry, missed that,' said Roz.
'I said, if vi!Cari didn't drown the mural it does lessen beRut's motive.'
'Not really,' said Roz.