Doctor Who_ The Dying Days - Lance Parkin [66]
'You are a wisse counssel, Gerayhavunn. We sshall bring those humans aboard.' He barked another order into the air.
***
'A hatch is opening,' Bernice informed him.
The Doctor adjusted the settings on the sonic screwdriver. 'Can you see if there's anyone on the platform?' he asked her.
She was rubbing her neck. 'Not yet - wait a second. No, it's empty. And it's heading towards us.
The crowd were getting boisterous again.
The disc was about eight feet across, about six inches thick. Rivets ran along the underside. As it dropped below head height, the Doctor could see that the upper surface was coated with a stippled material. There were no other features, such as a control box or a communications panel,
The Doctor stepped up onto the deck, helping Bernice to do the same.
'It works on a very simple principle: there are magnetic ray projectors mounted along the hull of the ship.'
'There isn't even a handrail,' she moaned.
'More serious problems are at hand,' the Doctor informed her.
The disc began rising. Bernice was unsteady on her feet, trying to keep upright. The Doctor had no such difficulty.
'Try to stand stil ,' he advised her,'Admire the view.'
London glittered beneath them. The neo-classicism of the National Portrait gal ery looked good picked out by spotlights and street lamps. Beyond it was the London Coliseum, behind them Admiralty Arch and the imposing buildings of Whitehal .
Bernice was on her knees, looking a little green around the gil s.
'I'm not very good with heights,' she explained.
'Neither am I,' the Doctor comforted her, gazing at the Houses of Parliament about half a mile away. Westminster Abbey was sitting next to them, as ever. There were military units there, presumably ready to defend the bastions of democracy and English life if the Martians attacked.
Bernice pulled herself back, trying to straighten up. 'It's not often you get the chance to throw up over a million people.'
'Throw up what?' the Doctor asked, distracted by Big Ben ringing half past eight. Traffic was flowing along Westminster Bridge and Piccadilly just as it would be on any other night at this time.
'Never mind. I think I'm all right, now. 'She glanced up at the spaceship. 'It looks even bigger now, doesn't it?'
'That's because it's closer,' the Doctor explained patiently.
'I know,' Bernice replied through clenched teeth. The hatchway opened above them, and the disc passed through it.
***
Benny pulled herself to her feet as the hatch closed beneath them. The two politicians who had come up before them hadn't made it any further than this first reception chamber. She wondered whether they realised that the room was little more than a storage area. In the Martian scheme of things, such details of etiquette were very important, and it was probably the Lord's idea of a joke. Martian humour was occasional y elusive to humans, and most of it got lost in translation.
The Lord - Benny was still trying to remember his name from the Declaration - towered over the humans, as might be expected. The nobility of the Argyre had not adopted the sleeker bio-armour that most of the Martian clans wore by this time. That gave a couple of important clues to his character: he was a soldier, not a diplomat, he was a reactionary, he wasn't too concerned by the fashions of his people.
He was also large, taller and broader than even most of his fel ow Martians. A great crack on his shoulder blade had been crudely patched up, and the carapace had long grown back over it, leaving a dark green scar.
63
Unlike many of the Martian nobility, he'd been on the front line, fighting shell to shell with his men.
The Doctor was moving forward. Benny caught his arm. 'I'l do it,' she offered.
The Doctor nodded, stepping aside. 'Xznaal,' he reminded her.
Benny stepped off the disc and walked calmly up to the Martian, keeping her head bowed. 'Dass hunnur, ssli hoos-urr, Xznaal.'
'Ssperr hunnur urr tass.' The reply came automatical y, but Benny thought she detected