Doctor Who_ Trading Futures - Lance Parkin [71]
‘I am Baskerville. I speak through an interpreter.’
The deputy leader swung his snout to the screen. ‘I am the deputy leader of the Onihr race.’
Gibber, shriek, chatter.
‘I wish to speak to the leader.’
‘The leader is dead, killed by one of you monkey‐creatures.’ Pause.
Mumble, quack, eep.
‘I speak to you through his radio. I did not know it was your leader. I was present at his death. I did not kill him myself, the man that did was acting in self‐defence, following the death of two humans.’
‘The death of eight billion humans would not justify the death of our glorious leader.’
Pause.
Squeak, squawk, gibber.
‘You targeted us deliberately. We have something you want. Please tell us what. We may be able to arrange a trade. There is no need for bloodshed.’
‘You sound like the Doctor,’ the deputy leader spat.
‘The Doctor?’ This was the interpreter speaking, not waiting for its master. ‘He’s up there?’
‘Yes.’ The deputy leader sniffed the air. ‘Somewhere.’
He swung his head around. Where is he?’
* * *
Tucked away in his little room, Fitz had got the control box to work.
He wasn’t sure how – he’d just kept pressing buttons, hoping none of them was the self‐destruct switch. Not a perfect method, but the best he could come up with.
Now it was talking to him, showing him pictures, instead of spraying perfume at him. The voice was pleasant, male, vaguely Celtic.
He’d called it Pad.
‘Pad, when the leader went through his invasion plans, he said he could disable all the electrical equipment with an Ee and Pee something or other.’
‘The EMP cannon.’
‘In English?’
‘The EMP cannon,’ it repeated.
‘Er… in shorter English words that, say, a small child would understand.’
‘A…’ it hesitated, whirred, ‘…gun that… uses electricity to create a… big magnet… that breaks electrical equipment.’
‘A powerful weapon.’
‘Yes.’
‘A big weapon?’
‘Yes.’ There was an edge of impatience in Pad’s voice.
‘Where is it?’
‘The EMP cannon runs the full length of the ship, from the engines at the rear to the parabolic projector at the front.’
‘What defence is there against it?’
‘None. It is crude, but totally effective. It is possible to shield against small electromagnetic pulses, but this weapon can burn through all known shielding.’
‘If the Ee and Pee cannon was disabled, then would the Onihrs be able to invade Earth?’
‘They would encounter heavy resistance, and face twenty percent casualties. The probability of total victory is over ninety‐nine percent, with a ninety‐five percent chance of that victory within one day, a ninety‐two percent chance of that victory within six hours. There is a fifteen percent chance of humans destroying their own civilisation with nuclear weapons rather than surrendering, or as an accidental or collateral consequence of the Onihr attack.’
‘Would they go ahead with the invasion in those circumstances?’
Pad whirred. ‘The EMP cannon is active, so no statistical data or precedent exists.’
Fitz mused on that for a while. Was a nuclear holocaust after a day of hopeless resistance any better than five minutes of no resistance at all? He was tempted to ask Pad.
It bought more time, that was certain.
Anji was definitely alive, the Doctor almost certainly was. Anji knew about the Onihrs, now, so perhaps the Doctor did. The two of them might only need a day to sort things out.
‘How would I sabotage the Ee and Pee cannon?’ he asked.
And Pad told him.
* * *
Baskerville was in the rear compartment with Anji, and he’d just called Dee in with them. Leo was safe in the cockpit.
So Cosgrove and Mather were alone for the first time.
‘Where’s he taking us?’ Cosgrove asked.
‘No idea.’
‘You don’t have a GPS tracker?’
‘If it was working, I’d know where we were, wouldn’t I?’
They were both peering out of the window. They’d crossed the Black Sea. The terrain below looked like it could be the Ukraine. Equally, it could be Russia, or Georgia. Maybe even Eastern Turkey or Kurdistan. Five countries that just about covered the spectrum of political affiliations, none of which were entirely safe, three of