Part 30 (2/2)

'She can talk again!' Polly said quietly.

Ben grinned broadly. Until he actually saw Frog. He tried to keep the smile fixed in place for her, but it was hopeless.

The skin on her hands, neck and chin had turned s.h.i.+ny and spongy. Beneath her combat suit her body had grown bulkier. It was pressing up against the material, pulsing all over. But her face was the worst. While the scars had faded to soft, pale channels in her skin, her features were coa.r.s.ening, growing larger. Like her face was an inflated mask over the real thing.

'I've got this to look forward to.' Tovel's voice cracked as he spoke, leaving the words midway between timid question and bleak statement.

Ben looked dead ahead as Tovel pulled on the top part of his combat suit, hiding the diseased flesh from view.

Frog's thickening lips twitched in a coy smile as her eyes darted from face to face.

'Kill me before it comes to this,' Tovel whispered. Ben hoped that was more of a general prayer than an instruction to any of them.

'Don't be scared, Tovel,' said Frog. 'I'm not. Not any more.

This thing is healing me.'

'Stop this,' Haunt warned her.

'I can't move, but I think I'll be able to, soon. It's making me strong.'

Ben told himself this was Frog's cheerful optimism, though it sounded more like a threat coming from this bloated creature.

'You didn't think so before,' Polly reminded her. 'You wanted to... to hurt yourself.'

Frog nodded. Her new double chins wobbled like jellies.

'Yeah, well... swings and roundabouts, I guess.'

'My dear,' said the Doctor. He alone was acting as if everything was fine, with no cause for alarm. 'I can see you're excited, but you're really not well, no. Not well at all. You should be resting.'

'So you don't wanna know my news, then?' she said, almost shyly.

Everyone waited expectantly. Ben could tell Frog was savouring this, the centre of attention at last.

'This webset. It ain't Lindey's...'

'Duh,' said Shade. 'I had hers.'

'...but it's not Denni's either.'

Ben felt a tingle drive up his spine.

Frog chuckled. 'It's Shel's.'

She got, Ben imagined, her desired reaction. Everyone stared first at her, then at each other, transfixed.

'Shel's?' Haunt's face was stony.

'Uh-huh.'

'But he's a cyborg, an artificial intelligence,' Haunt argued.

'How could he wear the web like the rest of us?'

'He didn't,' said the Doctor. 'Such enfeebling devices reduce the whole tract of human experience to a digital impression, a stream of ones and zeroes.' He chuckled. 'Since Shel's mind functions digitally also, I imagine he would interface with the webset far more efficiently.'

'Think you mean, used used to interface,' said Frog, with a crafty smile. 'He's dead.' to interface,' said Frog, with a crafty smile. 'He's dead.'

Creben stared. 'Dead? How?'

'He was ripped to shreds by the statues and flushed down some big gla.s.s toilet.'

'So they got him too,' said Polly.

'Good riddance,' muttered Shade.

Frog tutted. 'Oh, but was it?'

'Could you just skip the mystery theatre,' Haunt snapped.

'Say what you've got to say.'

'He didn't put a foot wrong. Not once, from start to finish.'

Frog seemed to have sobered up suddenly. Her fingers stroked the webset. 'Being Shel was weird. Boring. No feelings, no thoughts, just reactions, decisions. Then he got sick, confused... couldn't speak.' Frog looked at the Doctor.

'That panel he wasted. I think he was trying to tell you something. And he didn't run far before they got him. They were hiding in the dark, a whole bunch.'

No one said anything for a few moments, trying to make sense of the revelations.

'But...' Haunt looked like her view of the world had clouded over. 'But if he wasn't here to set this up, what was he doing here?'

The Doctor, who had remained surprisingly quiet, broke in at last. 'There still remains the issue of the well-placed traitor in a position of authority. Perhaps Shel was in fact investigating that person.' His eyes narrowed. 'Or one of their agents.' that person.' His eyes narrowed. 'Or one of their agents.'

Agents? Ben looked nervously around the huddle of soldiers.

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