Part 48 (2/2)

'The mindforce could get at them,' Ben finished. 'And all the angels went to heaven. Good riddance.' He paused. 'You all right, Doctor?'

'Oh, yes, quite well, my boy,' the Doctor said as he turned and pottered away. 'Soon I shall feel a new person...'

Ben felt his face. His fingers rubbed against his cheekbones, eyebrows and his hair, damp with perspiration.

They felt almost normal. It was really him. 'How do I look?' he croaked to Polly.

'Horrible,' she said with a beautiful big smile. She was crying. A tear plonked from the end of her nose onto his forehead.

'Clever move.' Tovel leant over Ben, squinting through rheumy eyes. He looked like his face had taken a right kicking. 'Shade chucks some Schirr in the propulsion units to get those blue energy waves really flowing, and you dive head first into them.'

'Glad you made it, Tovel,' Ben said with a grin. 'Honest I am.'

'Reckon those angels did him some brain damage.' That was Shade's voice.

'Ha bleedin' ha.'

'He's all right,' Polly said protectively.

'Yeah,' Tovel said. 'Ben's all right.'

'Likewise, mate,' Ben murmured.

'Well,' the Doctor declared, as he walked back into earshot.

'I believe I've succeeded in rigging some of the equipment in here so it should transmit a rudimentary distress signal.

Presumably one of you is acquainted with some universally recognised emergency code we can program into the circuits, hmm?'

'I'll go,' said Shade.

'Far, I imagine,' said Polly softly, 'now all the Shadows are blown away.'

Shade looked at her, gave her a strange smile. Ben saw his face was still a little puffy, but his complexion was clear. The black markings beneath the skin had entirely vanished.

'They won't be calling him a shadow no more,' Ben remarked.

'Another life begins today,' said Polly. 'Good luck to him.'

Ben was too tired to quiz her on what she meant. He pushed himself into a sitting position and grimaced as the world took a few seconds to catch up with him.

The first thing he saw was a body bag.

He looked at Polly.

'Roba,' she said quietly. 'He killed himself. The final straw that broke the back of that horrible ritual.'

'Then at least it wasn't for nothing,' Ben murmured.

'When I saw him there... saw what he'd done... I had had to hold on.' Tovel straightened up, his voice hardening. 'We'll make sure he gets full military honours, of course. Lindey and Denni too.' He paused. 'And Joiks.' to hold on.' Tovel straightened up, his voice hardening. 'We'll make sure he gets full military honours, of course. Lindey and Denni too.' He paused. 'And Joiks.'

Ben nodded. 'Suppose his story checks out now we know the angels got Denni.' He looked around dismally. 'So what about the others? Creben?'

'Creben's fine,' said Tovel. 'As usual. Checking the life-support repairs are holding. This place could be home for some time.'

Ben hesitated. 'And Frog?'

Tovel shook his head dolefully. 'I'm sorry...'

Ben looked away.

'I'm very very sorry, but her new voice is here to stay,' Tovel went on, a smile spreading over his face. 'And Jeez, don't we all know about it.' sorry, but her new voice is here to stay,' Tovel went on, a smile spreading over his face. 'And Jeez, don't we all know about it.'

'War is h.e.l.l,' grinned Ben, relieved.

'Miss me, did ya?' Frog yelled as she bounced in through the doorway. 'I've looked all around. You were right, Doctor.

Not a sign of them stone things nowhere. Just the fleas, and I'm gonna torch them all. Just in case anything else feels like making a big deal out of 'em.' She launched into a tuneless set of musical scales.

'You couldn't sing before and you can't sing now,' Shade shouted over from beside the Doctor. 'So shut it.'

'I'm gonna learn,' Frog promised. 'And I'm gonna learn languages too. Learn 'em and speak 'em, loadsa languages.'

'You might start with English,' suggested the Doctor, with a malicious chuckle.

Ben gave Frog the once-over. The swelling round her face and neck would go down if the Doctor was right. And the scars that had train-tracked her face were barely noticeable.

Shoot her in soft-focus and you'd probably never notice. He was glad for her. 'Course, she wouldn't win no contests - she still had a face like a bulldog licking tar off a nettle - but she looked a lot better as a Frog than she did as a Schirr.

Creben entered the room. His face was red and covered in sores. Ben nodded to him. Creben smiled and nodded back.

Quite a show of affection, Ben decided as he got unsteadily to his feet.

'So - now you've done the training... gonna go Elite are you?'

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