Part 14 (1/2)
”Rules can sometimes be broken,” suggested the Doctor sadly.
The mood in the room was tense. If these dog creatures really did have a prior claim to the planet then Stewart Ransom”s dream was over; the colony had been built on a lie.
When the Federation heard of this their tenure would be revoked.
Freedom broke the silence. ”For all we know this Tyrenian is alone, there may be no others...”
”Or there may be thousands of them out there somewhere...” Dee speculated.
Freedom considered. ”We have to know the truth. We need to know what our people really found here when they landed.”
”But it”s a hundred years since it all happened - what do you propose we do? Build a machine capable of travelling in time?” retorted Dee.
The Doctor allowed himself a small smile. If only the TARDIS wasn”t so difficult to control. But then again, he thought to himself, if it weren”t for the erratic pa.s.sage of his little craft throughout the highways and byways of all time and s.p.a.ce They They would have managed to locate him years ago, and he didn”t want that, did he? would have managed to locate him years ago, and he didn”t want that, did he?
”That won”t be necessary; there must be plenty of evidence in the colony s.h.i.+p about the state of the planet when we first arrived. Automatic scans will have been recorded, everything that went on when The Big Bang The Big Bang arrived in orbit around Axista Four will have been logged,” said Kirann. arrived in orbit around Axista Four will have been logged,” said Kirann.
”Do you think so?” asked the Doctor.
Kirann raised an eyebrow. ”My father didn”t bring five thousand colonists halfway across known s.p.a.ce on a whim.
Everything was worked out in advance. Every possibility was allowed for. We worked for years to make sure this colony was founded well.”
The Doctor nodded, acknowledging the point. Nevertheless,”
he began, his eyes twinkling dangerously, ”the s.h.i.+p did manage to crash. I wonder how that came about...”
He looked up and caught Kirann”s steely eyes. Although he liked the woman, instinctively he was still suspicious of her, or, to be more precise, of the advance information his future self had given her. What had he (would he) been (be) thinking?
”There”s only one way to find out,” she declared. ”Come with me back to the wreck and we”ll examine the records together.”
She looked over at Freedom and Dee. ”If that”s okay with you?” she added.
Freedom waved a hand. ”Sure, go ahead.” He began fumbling inside a pocket and produced the sheriffs badge. He reached out to pin it on Kirann”s blouse. ”Only room for one sheriff in any town,” he muttered. ”Reckon that”s you now...”
Kirann glanced down at the s.h.i.+ny star and smiled, accepting the rank. ”In that case, Mr Freedom, if you can arrange us some transport, the Doctor and I had better get started.”
Freedom hurried out to fetch fresh horses for them, leaving Dee with the Doctor and Kirann. She frowned and voiced her concern. ”What shall we tell Major Cartor when he next appears?” she asked.
”The soldier from the support s.h.i.+p?”
”I think they consider themselves to be a little bit more than a support s.h.i.+p.” Dee couldn”t help correcting the younger (or should that be older?) woman.
”If he asks tell him nothing. Leave my return as a surprise we can spring on him later,” she grinned. ”Nothing irritates the military mind quite so much as the totally unexpected.
Don”t you agree, Doctor?”
”Quite so,” answered the Doctor, still wondering just how much this woman knew about him.
Veena was lost for a moment in the sheer pleasure of flight.
As First Officer aboard the Hannibal Hannibal she rarely got the chance to pilot anything, one of the so-called privileges of rank being that other people did those menial tasks for you. she rarely got the chance to pilot anything, one of the so-called privileges of rank being that other people did those menial tasks for you.
But Veena was a s.p.a.ce kid: born in s.p.a.ce, grew up in s.p.a.ce and she”d been flying s.p.a.cecraft of one sort or another since she was eight years old. And this was what she was born to do. A small fighter craft like this was like an extension of her body as she swooped towards the planet. As she skimmed the atmosphere, heat flares danced up and down her wing.
She soared like an eagle, relis.h.i.+ng the freedom of flight.
A groan from behind her brought her back to reality. She adjusted her angle of descent to minimise the heat build-up, and flicked the autopilot on. Then she swung her chair around to check on her guest. As she had expected, Zoe was stirring. Veena fetched the girl a drink from a stowaway cabinet. Zoe accepted the pouch with a grateful smile and took a swig. The energy drink did its job, sending a shock of adrenalin through Zoe”s system and blowing away the cobwebs with a bit of a kick.
”What was that - pure caffeine?” she managed to ask.
Veena smiled. ”Something not too dissimilar,” she confessed.
Zoe looked around. ”I”m still on board that small fighter-craft?” It was more a statement of confusion than a direct question.
”You warmed it up for me and I was in a hurry,” Veena explained glibly. Your friends are in trouble.”
Zoe frowned, confused at the turn of events. ”I rather thought I was too,” she commented.
”You are, believe me, but first things first, eh?” said Veena, swinging her seat back to face the controls. ”I”m Veena Myles, First Officer of the Earth Colony Support Vessel Hannibal. Hannibal.
And you...?”
”Zoe,” added Zoe helpfully. ”Zoe Heriot.”
”You, Zoe Heriot,” concluded Veena, ”are my prisoner. Try not to forget that. I”m hoping to get promoted to my own command one of these days...”
Despite her harsh words, Zoe was sure she could discern some underlying warmth to Veena Myles. Perhaps her escape effort hadn”t been such a disaster after all.
This time, the journey to the colony s.h.i.+p seemed a much quicker affair. The Doctor had often noticed this as a phenomenon of conventional methods of travel; the more you did the same journey, the more quickly it seemed to pa.s.s. Of course journeys in the TARDIS were something else again, which was another reason he tried not to go back to the same place and time too often. Except for Earth, naturally. He and the TARDIS had a strange affinity for Earth. One day he really ought to look into why. He would bet one thing, though: that smart-alecky future self with the silly hat would probably have all the answers; so sad that one day he was fated to regenerate into such a smug know-it-all.
Once they had reached the wreck, Kirann had taken the lead with complete authority. Unlike Freedom or Dee, Kirann”s knowledge of the s.h.i.+p was total and organic. She had watched its development from the first designs, as her father had worked with his team to plan his great expedition.
She could remember watching it being built, the first time she had seen it in the s.p.a.ce dock - a wire-frame model made from girders thicker than her waist. Week by week it had grown, almost like a living thing: taking on more form, more bulk, more presence. And then, when the sh.e.l.l had been completed, she had been there while it was fitted out, helping her father design the living s.p.a.ces and working, with his department heads, to iron out exactly what would and wouldn”t be included on the manifest.
Val Freedom and Dee Willoughby had only ever known The The Big Bang Big Bang as a wreck, a shadow of its former self, intact in places but elsewhere completely destroyed. Kirann, by contrast, knew it intimately, every nook and cranny, as familiar to her as her own body. as a wreck, a shadow of its former self, intact in places but elsewhere completely destroyed. Kirann, by contrast, knew it intimately, every nook and cranny, as familiar to her as her own body.
The Doctor watched her carefully as she picked her way through one of the debris-filled corridors in what was now the ”ground level” of the s.h.i.+p. ”This used to be crew quarters,”
she told him, as they pa.s.sed room after room crushed out of shape. Odd bits and pieces lined the corridor - personal effects, framed photos of parents and children, books, knick-knacks and souvenirs from lives long over.
”Where are we heading?” he asked.
”The bridge is long gone,” Kirann answered, ”and with it the main computer interface, but the computer core - the memory as it were - was distributed to various hubs around the s.h.i.+p.” She glanced back ruefully. ”In case of any systems failure, or meteorite impact, something like that...”
”Each hub a duplicate of the main memory?” asked the Doctor.
”Exactly,” replied the new sheriff. ”All we have to do is locate one intact.”