Part 9 (1/2)

'A military listening post?' said Iaomnet.

'If it were,' said Martinique, 'I'm sure we'd have been refused permission to visit. No, this is something much older. It is not only artificial it is an artefact artefact.'

'How old is that thing?' said Iaomnet.

'Quite a find,' said Martinique. 'Quite a find.' He beamed at Iaomnet. 'Material for a remarkable dissertation, wouldn't you say?'

The internal cabin doors were designed to withstand vacuum.

Chris had to shuffle around with the tray until he could press the door chime with his elbow. It took the Ogrons a whole minute to answer.

80.One of them stared at Chris through the open door. 'Hi,' said the Adjudicator. 'I didn't know whether you guys were going to the galley, but I thought you might like this.'

The Ogron's gaze lowered slightly until he was looking at the tray Chris was holding. The eyes were nearly hidden under a narrow, protruding ridge of bone, the naked skull sloping up and back to where straw-coloured, limp hair hung down at the back of the head.

The Ogrons had come with the s.h.i.+p, like a couple of appliances. They'd accepted the sudden change in the crew and destination without question. Martinique had fussed over the cargo, delaying their departure for a nail-biting quarter of an hour, and the Ogrons had just done whatever they were told.

Chris could see the other Ogron lurking in the cabin, watching him. Another pair of squinting, mistrustful eyes. 'Er,' he said, 'I looked up some Ogron recipes in the database. I'm not much of a chef I hope I got it right.'

After a moment, the Ogron stepped back. Chris decided that was an invitation, and stepped into the cabin.

The Ogrons just stood there. They tended to do that, the Xenoculture course had taught, if you didn't give them an order or some other reason to act. They'd been the same while they'd been loading the cargo hold. Like robots.

The blank stare was rather unnerving. 'Um, could you pull the table down?' Chris asked.

Right away, the Ogron who had opened the door unlocked the table and folded it down from the wall. Chris gratefully put down the heavy tray.

'OK,' he said, 'I had to improvise a bit, but the database suggested some subst.i.tutes. This is mostly raw mutton and a little bit of ice to keep the temperature down, some rock salt, some geranium leaves and some basil.'

The Ogron who had opened the door shuffled up to the table.

He scooped up a handful of meat and sniffed at it. Then he pushed it into his mouth and chewed, hard, muscles bulging beneath his jaw.

'My name's Chris,' said Chris.

81.The Ogron eyed him for a moment. 'Good food,' he said. His voice was deep and throaty. He made a sound like coughing, deep in his chest, and the other Ogron joined him at the table.

Chris hovered, but the Ogrons paid him no attention, shovelling mutton into their mouths, occasionally taking a pinch of one of the flavourings between thick fingers.

'Well,' he said after a bit, 'I guess I should leave you to it.'

'Good food,' said the Ogron. He scooped up a handful of meat, took Chris's hand, and plopped the raw mutton into the human's palm. 'Try some of this.'

Chris looked at the meat, the juices starting to leak on to his fingers. 'Er,' he said.

The silverware on the tray rattled. Chris glanced at it. The Ogrons were looking at one another, chunky teeth showing in their leathery faces.

Chris started to laugh. He put the handful of flesh back down on the tray. 'Thanks, but I already ate.'

The Ogrons laughed louder, the cutlery rattling harder with the force of it. Chris hoped they weren't trading rude comments about him in those deep rumbles.

'I am Son of My Father,' said the Ogron. He picked up the stray handful of meat and gulped it down.

'I am his Sister's Son,' said the other.

'Great, hi,' said Chris. 'Listen, how much did Professor Martinique tell you guys about this expedition?'

'He did not tell us much,' said the Ogron. 'He told us to lift and carry his boxes and things.'

'Did he tell you about the crater? The base hidden under the rock?'

'He did not tell us,' said Son of My Father. 'But we heard him talking to Zatopek about the crater. He does not know very much about it.'

Chris nodded. 'Never mind. I figured you guys might know something he wasn't telling us... like what's really hidden inside that mountain.'

The Ogron hesitated, glancing at his nephew. He raised a dark hand, gesturing Chris closer.

82.He put his mouth close to Chris's ear and whispered, 'I don't know.'

The cutlery started rattling again.

Later, Chris took the tray back to the galley. Iaomnet and Zatopek stopped talking the instant they saw him, and glared at the table. 'Good night,' he said, quickly stacking the tray in the cleaner.

'See you in the morning,' said Iaomnet as he retreated.

Chris really wanted to stretch his legs, but the Hopper didn't even have a gym. He could run in circles around the cargo bay, but it just seemed pointless. He went back down the corridor to the bridge.

The Doctor was sitting in one of the chairs, his face lit in slow-moving patterns by the telltales. The view through the front window was blackness marked with rainbow streaks. Chris tried to ignore it hypers.p.a.ce did strange things to your eyes as they tried to focus, and it always made his head ache. The Doctor was watching it as though it was a particularly interesting television programme.

'I think there's a lover's tiff going on in the galley,' murmured Chris, turning one of the chairs backward and sitting in it. He leant over the back of the seat. 'Iaomnet and Zatopek.'

'Or a professional disagreement, perhaps?' The Doctor raised an eyebrow. 'The geologists appear to have neglected to fill their a.s.sistant in on all the details of the mission.'

'I was right, wasn't I? Those images were military. Probably cla.s.sified.'

'Of course. Most likely, they're from Mei Feng's original expedition.'

'I can't believe the military would miss the significance of that line down the mountain.'

'Maybe they didn't bother to examine it,' said the Doctor.

'Then why take the picture in the first place?' Chris said.

'Besides, after what happened to the first expedition, you think they'd be looking for an explanation.'

83.'Good point.' The Doctor drummed his fingers on his mouth, thinking. 'I wonder if someone pulled a few strings, and this is the first expedition to get permission...'

Chris insisted, 'Even if it was low-level security info, there's no way that a couple of university geologists could have gotten their hands on it. Who are these people?'

'Good question,' said the Doctor. 'Though at this point I think we'd be a little hypocritical to complain that they weren't who they say they are.'