Doctor Who_ The Gallifrey Chronicles - Lance Parkin [86]
Go with the flow, Trix thought. ‘Normally, of course, I wouldn’t admit it.
How have you got on here?’
‘Got all the bugs, didn’t lose anyone.’
176
Trix nodded. ‘Good. Lieutenant, if I said “the Doctor”, what would you say?’
He shrugged. ‘I would guess you don’t mean you need a medic.’
‘What are your orders?’
‘Shoot bugs, burn the bodies. The smell keeps them away.’
Trix was looking around. She couldn’t see any human bodies. The towns-people had either fled or found good hiding places. This was the second morning after the Vores had arrived. Already, the survivors would have ways of coping, new patterns of behaviour.
‘You’re not saving any for scientific research?’
‘There’s no shortage of them. Word is they’ve got dozens of live specimens, and I’m sure they’ve got more dead ones than they know what to do with.’
‘Any idea where?’
Normally, an army officer wouldn’t say anything. Loose lips sink ships and all that, but Trix clearly wasn’t a Vore spy.
‘Who knows? Probably all sorts of places.’
‘Have you got any sense of their tactics?’
The lieutenant laughed at this. ‘They’re eating crops and livestock. They seem to like pigs the most, then sheep.’
‘They can travel in space,’ Trix said aloud. ‘Probably interstellar space or hyperspace. We can’t do that.’
He frowned, and Trix realised she must have sounded like a Star Trek character to him. She’d have to watch that.
‘No we can’t, ma’am. But they don’t carry weapons or tools, they don’t have vehicles. They don’t even have clothing. The lads and I were talking about this before, and the best we can manage is they’ve come an awfully long way to eat pork.’
‘There’s got to be a better reason than that,’ Trix told him.
The lieutenant shrugged. ‘We’ll leave all that stuff to you lot.
‘They go down easy enough – you just tell us where to turn up.’
Trix saluted him. ‘As you were,’ she said, heading back to the car.
The robot dog was pursuing the Doctor down the TARDIS, corridors, firing a pencil-thin beam of energy every time it got a clear shot at him. It wasn’t hard to outrun the machine, but it clearly had some sort of detector that allowed it to home in or him. It also seemed familiar with the layout of the TARDIS – the Doctor had realised that it was herding him back to the control room. Perhaps it was some sort of sheepdog.
The control room was cavernous, but one thing it didn’t offer any more was effective cover. There were a handful of alcoves, like the one the kitchen had been in. Once he was in there the robot would have him.
177
So, halfway down the last corridor, the Doctor stopped, turned and waited for the robot.
It trundled round the corner, then stopped, anticipating a trap.
‘Why are you trying to kill me?’ the Doctor asked.
Its ears waggled before it answered: ‘I am following direct instructions issued by the Four Hundred and Thirteenth President of the High Council of Time Lords, keeper of the legacy of Rassilon, defender of the laws of time, protector of Gallifrey.’ The voice was clipped, a little prissy.
‘Really? Why?’
‘Answer one: affirmative. Answer two: because my programming is to obey the mistress.’
‘No, I meant –’ This was a very literal-minded robot, the Doctor thought.
‘Why was the order given?’
‘The mistress Romana instructed me to execute you to prevent the fall of Gallifrey. A transmat beam delivered me to the Edifice, your TARDIS. My orders were clear. Your future self was responsible for the attack. I was to assassinate any of your temporal iterations I encountered.’
The Doctor hesitated. ‘I see.’
‘I have been obstructed from carrying out these instructions for one hundred and fourteen years, nine months, three days and six point three hours. I will now, however reluctantly, carry out those instructions –’
However reluctantly?
‘Wait!’ the Doctor called, holding out his hand. ‘Wait. . . wait. Sit. Stay. Did she order you not to talk to me first?’
The ears waggled again. ‘Negative.’
‘So we can have a little chat first?’
‘Affirmative.’
‘Do you have a name?’
‘I am K9.’
The Doctor grinned. ‘Of course you