Doctor Who_ Transit - Ben Aaronovitch [96]
Blondie didn't think they looked that bad; certainly their hardware was impressive. Some of the troopers turned to watch him as he picked his way over to the canteen. They were field stripping their pulse rifles, neat rows of components laid out on white linen sheets. A collection of faces above the raised neck guards of their armour.
The canteen was the size of a commercial freight module, the kind that fit on a transit flatbed. When mobile it ran on small rubber wheels, half a dozen on each side, now locked into their up position. A fold-down counter ran a third of its length.
Blondie bought four big bucket meals from a European Muslim woman. Two for him. Credit Card and Lambada, and two for Old Sam. The Muslim woman processed his moneypen and handed over the litre-capacity buckets. Blondie thought she might have smiled at him but under the veil it was hard to tell.
'Have a nice day,' said the woman.
STS Central - Olympus Mons
'There she is,' said Zamina pointing.
The screen showed the view from a scanning security camera on the TransOlympia platform at Olympus Mons. Benny was clearly visible alighting from a train, a pink found icon hovering over her head. The data square in the right-hand comer of the screen put the time at 11:45 GMT, five minutes past.
Ming looked over at Dogface. 'Got that?'
'Where's she going?' asked Zamina.
The internal phone chimed. It was the sector manager from the pit. 'Yes?' said Ming.
'We've got a problem,' said the manager. 'Half the trains in the northeastern sector have stopped.'
'Technical fault?' asked Ming.
'Signalling failure,' said the manager.
Ming put the sector up on her big repeater screen. The affected area formed a rough semicircle around the Acturus Station.
'Work on it,' Ming told the manager and cut the link. 'Do you see it. Dogface?'
'I see it.'
'What do you think?'
'I think someone's fucking with our signalling,' said Dogface,
Ming linked back with the sector manager. 'Try back-up,' she said. 'If that doesn't work go to manual, keep at least some of the trains running.'
'There she is again,' said Zamina. Live feed from a camera in the Rancher's Market area. 'Hey,' said Zambia, 'I've worked that place. It's only six levels down.'
Ming turned to her phone and punched in the direct line to the Nueva Lubyanka. 'KGB,' said their reception program in an unnaturally bright voice, 'Sword and Shield to the people since Nineteen Seventeen.'
'This is Ming, armed response team to Rancher's Market. . .'
'She's gone into a lift,' said Zamina.
'Fugitive now in one of the passenger lifts,' said Ming. 'I'm downloading the likeness.' She pressed a button and shot the videofit image to Nueva Lubyanka. 'Down or up?' she asked Zamina.
'Down.'
'She's going for Fusion Corp,' said Dogface.
'You must contact the Doctor,' said one of the Yak Harrises
'You're back,' said Ming. 'You call him.'
'There have been difficulties,' said the construct.
'Isn't that Yak Harris?' said Zamina.
'No,' said Ming, 'it's a Yak Hams.'
'You must contact the Doctor.'
'I'm on it,' said Ming, raising Jacksonville. 'Give me a break.'
The Doctor wasn't at Jacksonville, but Ming managed to trace him to a VIP shuttle on its way to Olympus Mons. Kadiatu answered the phone.
'Benny's back,' said Ming, 'and heading straight for Fusion Corp.'
'He's way ahead of you,' said Kadiatu. 'That's where we're going.'
There was a squawk from the Yak Harris monitor.
'Hey people,' said one of the Yak Harrises, 'I think you've been compromised.'
The monitor screen imploded.
The Doctor appeared on the phone. 'It's penetrated your computer network. It'll try to prevent anyone getting to the Stunnel gateway.'
'You were expecting this?'
'I suspected it.'
'Well, thanks for telling me.'
'I can't be everywhere at once.' The Doctor looked out of shot. 'This is our stop. Whatever you do don't panic.' The link terminated.
Out in the control room the big holograms