Part 4 (1/2)

And then, suddenly, the small moon disappeared.

President Vargeld jerked forward in his seat, his breath seeming to solidify in his body. Almost blindly his fingers tapped the controls in front of him, activating the long-range scanners. He glanced down at them, seeming to see the figures as if from far away. They made no sense: Muath was still there, but he couldn't see it. As if it had been swallowed by shadows.

'What the h.e.l.l '

Then the c.o.c.kpit went dark, as if something had come between his s.h.i.+p and the sun. He craned his neck and looked out of the top of the bubble.

Blackness. No stars, no sun, just a blackness that hurt his eyes, made his head throb. He looked wildly around. There were shapes shapes everywhere, sliding across the stars, shutting out the light of the sun. It was as if giant hands had cupped his s.h.i.+p in black fingers. What was this? A new Anthaurk weapon? everywhere, sliding across the stars, shutting out the light of the sun. It was as if giant hands had cupped his s.h.i.+p in black fingers. What was this? A new Anthaurk weapon?

President Vargeld felt a terror rising within him, a terror of the unknown. Hands shaking, he set course for a small shard of visible star-speckled s.p.a.ce and cranked the ion engines right up.

The little fighter shot towards the narrowing gap, and President Vargeld yelled, an animal sound of fear and defiance. The starfield almost filled his forward vision when the surrounding blackness s.h.i.+fted and the s.h.i.+p glanced against something solid, throwing President Vargeld against the console. He gasped as everything danced around him, the fighter flipping out of control. Stars and black fingers and the blinding inferno of the sun spun around him in a sickening kaleidoscope. His insides knotted with dread as he realised that he was spinning away from Muath, towards the sun. Unless he did something soon he'd enter the sun's corona and burn up. He grabbed the nave-rod with both hands, fighting to bring the s.h.i.+p under control. But there was something wrong: the little s.h.i.+p wasn't responding, her engines dead.

As he spun away towards the orb of the sun, the President looked back towards Yquatine. And what he saw made him forget that he was going to die, burned to nothingness.

What he saw was a swathe of s.h.i.+ps, arrayed in a vast arc around the planet. They were featureless black ovoids, their size and number impossible to determine. And they were closing in on Yquatine. Already the bluegreen disc of his home planet was being obscured by the invaders, like a swarm of flies crawling over a petalfruit.

Of Muath, there was no sign.

He should have been thinking of the millions of people who were probably going to die, but he could think of only one.

One who may already be dead.

Arielle...

Chapter Four.

'In a few hours, nothing will be left alive'

In the end, Fitz didn't find Compa.s.sion. Compa.s.sion found Fitz.

He'd wandered aimlessly at first, back through the marketplace and town until he'd come out on to the seafront. It reminded him of the places he'd been as a kid Brighton maybe, or Weymouth but everything was on a much grander scale, the buildings gleaming and seamless, and most striking of all there was no litter. It all looked so perfect, so serene, that Fitz momentarily forgot his quest and crossed the road to look at the beach. He'd taken in the view for a few minutes, marvelling at the yachts and cruisers moored in the harbour and at the rippling green expanse of ocean, before he remembered he was supposed to be looking for Compa.s.sion.

He'd started wandering along the pavement beside the beach, unable to keep his eyes from the sunbathers, even though many of them weren't even human. He'd rarely seen such a variety of alien life tentacles, flippers, feelers, all crowded the beach; here. at least, were people determined to have fun. When he did eventually clap eyes on a pair of naked, female, human b.r.e.a.s.t.s it felt like coming home, and he'd had to restrain himself from breaking into a round of hearty applause. He was contemplating a bevy of bipedal dolphin-like creatures, splas.h.i.+ng and laughing at the water's edge, wondering if they were humans who'd decided to become dolphins or dolphins who'd decided to become human, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

He turned. It was Compa.s.sion, her face still hidden beneath her hood. 'Fitz, we have to get away from here. Something bad is coming.'

Fitz was relieved to see her. 'Where have you been? Are you OK now?'

Compa.s.sion shook her head. 'No. Come on, we have to leave.'

Then Fitz saw something out of the corner of his eye. Something falling. There was a splash from out at sea, a few shrill cries from the dolphin creatures. People were getting up, pointing at the thing that was bobbing in the sea.

Fitz shaded his eyes. A black spiny object, for all the world like a mine. As he watched, more of them fell out of the sky with eerie whistling shrieks.

Fitz pointed. 'Is that what you mean?'

Compa.s.sion nodded. 'Yes.'

A flicker of movement above. Fitz looked up. And gasped. The sky was black with oval shapes, blotting out the sun, dappling the white sand with shadow. From them the spiny things were dropping like seeds, whistling and splas.h.i.+ng into the sea. Now black gas was surging out of the objects in the sea, spreading incredibly quickly as if it was replicating within itself, rolling over the top of the waves, heading for the sh.o.r.e. People were screaming, climbing over the sea wall, pus.h.i.+ng past Fitz and Compa.s.sion. The dolphin creatures ran past, chirruping and squeaking in agitation.

Fitz stared at the black gas as if hypnotised. 'What is that stuff?'

'Some sort of gas, but there's something more. Something '

'The Doctor,' cried Fitz. 'We gotta get back to the pie shop.'

'We'd never make it,' said Compa.s.sion.

It was true. Now the entire seafront was a thick ma.s.s of black, as if a thundercloud had fallen to earth, and it was surging up the beach towards them. Fitz watched as someone fell, further along the sh.o.r.e, their cries abruptly cut off as the black cloud rolled over them.

'Time to go,' said Compa.s.sion, and turned herself into a doorway.

Fitz felt oddly detached. It was almost as if he'd been expecting this.

Then it began to rain.

A drop landed on the flagstones before Fitz. It hissed angrily, burning a tiny crater in the concrete.

Acid rain?

Fitz gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and dived into Compa.s.sion.

Everything went white and Fitz fell And then there was solid ground beneath his feet.

Fitz opened his eyes. He was inside Compa.s.sion, in the console chamber.

'Acid rain,' he muttered, looking up at the roofs.p.a.ce with fearful eyes. If he'd stayed out just a second longer...

The roofs.p.a.ce was Compa.s.sion's scanner, and Fitz had a grandstand view of the attack if it was an attack. It seemed more like a natural process or nature gone mad. The sky was dark with the black shapes, the air gleaming with rods of acid rain. Fitz could see the outlines of the buildings on the esplanade visibly softening as the acid ate into them. The facade of a large hotel began to melt, its balconies cras.h.i.+ng down into each other, human and alien figures thrown clear, their bodies steaming as the acid went to work on them. Everywhere at ground level, the black stuff, rolling along the streets, rising up in obscene hammerheaded clumps, like a sea monster rearing its head.

Nothing made of flesh and blood could possibly withstand it. Bile forced its way into Fitz's mouth and he swallowed. He tried not to imagine what the acid would do to all those people, all those beings. The streets would run with blood. People would see their loved ones eaten away, faces sluicing from skulls, before their own pain became too much.

Compa.s.sion's voice, flat, emotionless. 'They're surrounding the whole planet. In a few hours, nothing will be left alive.'

Fitz slumped to the floor, totally stunned by the speed and devastation of the attack. He spoke, his voice cracking. 'Take us out of here.'

Compa.s.sion's voice rang out again, this time a hoa.r.s.e, desperate whisper. 'Get this thing out of me first.'

Fitz was too stunned to focus on her words. 'What?'

The voice took on a rough, urgent edge. 'The Randomiser. Quickly!'

Fitz got up and approached the console. He didn't want to go near it it was like the spider in the corner of the bedroom, the darkness at the top of the stairs. He forced himself, swallowing, the sour taste of bile still tainting his tongue. The silver box of the Randomiser was still embedded in the console. And it was changing: black tendrils, like plant roots, were twining up from the console, wrapping themselves around the metal box.

Fitz hesitated to touch it. He remembered what happened before, when the Doctor had tried to remove it. 'It'll hurt.'