Part 11 (1/2)

Iaomnet: 'Me too.'

Zatopek: 'Yes.'

Chris told them, 'Everyone's coming through nice and clearly.

I've got your vital signs on my board... now. Take it easy out there, don't try to see everything at once.'

They moved through the airlock, then out in front of the Hopper. Chris saw Iaomnet was carrying a double-barrelled plasma thrower, the least subtle weapon in the s.h.i.+p's small armoury. The Doctor gave Chris a cheery wave, and the four suited figures headed in the direction of the gash, bouncing slowly in the moon's gravity.

Ten minutes pa.s.sed. Chris watched the vital-signs monitors, making sure that all of the suits were functioning properly. He could monitor their oxygen levels, their heart rates, the lot, and he'd made sure each of them knew it. Not to make them feel safer. So that they knew that he'd know if anyone did anything they shouldn't.

'Who can hear me?' said the Doctor.

'I can,' said Zatopek. There was a pause. Chris held his peace.

'You've isolated our communications, Doctor?' said the geologist.

'Yes. Now would be a good time to tell me what you know, don't you think?'

Zatopek didn't answer right away. Eventually he said, 'Can you imagine what life is like as an unregistered psychokinetic?'

'I'm sure you can,' said the Doctor.

'All that suspicion suspicion. Always suspecting and being suspected. Is this new friend I have made really an agent of the Inst.i.tute for the Gifted? Is that telepath wearing the inst.i.tute's symbol probing my mind even as I walk past? Remember to let the coffee cup fall 93 when you drop it, remember to use your hands to smooth your hair. So difficult to live with the secret.'

'So dangerous,' said the Doctor. 'Especially here, where our lives depend on one another. Even if you're not a telepath per se, you're vulnerable to the psychic leakage. I saved you once, Emil, but what if I can't do it again? Tell me why you're really here.'

'Are you threatening me?'

'Don't be ridiculous. I'm asking you to show some common sense. The others don't need to know.'

'You already know too much about me,' said Zatopek. 'I can trust Martinique, and Iaomnet's grade depends on our good report. But how can I ensure you don't inform the authorities of my wild talent?'

'Now it sounds like you're threatening me.'

'You're right, Doctor. We do have to trust one another.'

Silence. Chris saw the telltales s.h.i.+ft as the Doctor opened his comm channels up again. ' extraordinary!' Martinique was saying. 'And it's the age of the find that's the most significant thing. The crater was built to hide those structures, I'm sure of it.

What civilization visited this dead moon, ten million years ago?

What did they build here, and why?'

'Are we going inside it?' asked Iaomnet, sounding as though she'd rather snort a gecko.

'Of course we're going inside it,' said Martinique. Chris imagined the man's eyes s.h.i.+ning inside his helmet. 'Just a small sortie at first. No more than a few hours.'

Chris said, 'I won't be able to track your vital signs and communications once you're s.h.i.+elded by the rock.'

'Then we'll have to be careful,' said Martinique.

'Very careful,' said Zatopek.

'Very very careful,' said Iaomnet.

'Very careful indeed,' said the Doctor.

Chris watched their progress on his monitors for another hour, peeking through the Doctor's binocs from time to time. The party was heading for a big blue rectangle that stood out from the other shapes. It looked a lot like a door.

94.Chris switched to the Doctor's suit camera when the group got close enough. 'It's an airlock,' said the Time Lord. 'The shape and size suggests a humanoid species.'

Martinique said, 'How do you know it's an airlock?'

Iaomnet lifted her plasma thrower. 'Knock knock,' she said.

'Hang on a moment,' said the Doctor. The airlock loomed on Chris's screen. Suddenly the picture was filled with steam.

'Doctor!' said Chris. 'Are you all right?'

'Of course,' said the Doctor. 'Just dust and some very, very old air escaping. The airlock is easy to open from the outside. You'd hardly want to design one that was hard to get into...'

'Unless you were a military installation,' said Martinique, 'and you didn't want visitors.'

'On the other hand,' said the Doctor, 'this particular door was hidden by tons of rock.'

'So we still don't know what we're going to find,' said Iaomnet.

The Doctor's point of view s.h.i.+fted, taking in Zatopek's helmet for a moment. 'There is,' he said, 'as the saying goes, only one way to find out.'

The Doctor and company had been out of contact for two hours.

Chris was sick of playing video games. He decided to go and see what Son of My Father and Sister Son were up to.

The Ogrons were jogging in circles around the cargo bay. Part of the small s.p.a.ce was taken up with sensor equipment, but the rest was neatly stacked packaging, collapsed into flat squares.

Chris sat down on an unopened crate, watching the Ogrons for a while. Son of My Father saw him and raised a hairy hand, but they kept jogging, relentlessly, the metal plates of the floor rattling under their feet.

Chris shrugged, took off his jacket, and joined them.

The pointless movement took the edge off his nerves. He wiped sweat from his face as he followed the Ogrons around. No one told them what was going on around them. Did they run because they were nervous? Or were they just burning off excess energy?

95.At last all of them stopped, leaning against the wall and the crates as they got their breath back. Even Ogrons get out of breath, Chris realized. It made them seem more human. Well, it did did it was something familiar. it was something familiar.

Son of My Father clapped a meaty hand on Chris's shoulder.

'You a regular guy,' he said. 'You got to watch out for the people on this s.h.i.+p, Chris. Sometimes bad rocks fool you: look like good rocks on the outside.'

Chris nodded. 'Thanks. I've already worked out that Iaomnet's not a student. Or not just a student, anyway. She's probably a double-eye.'

Son of My Father shook his head. 'Not what I mean.'