Part 4 (1/2)

The Doctor joined Balatan by the TARDIS. 'Oh, it's not a stars.h.i.+p,' said the Doctor, humbly, and paused before continuing. 'It's not that limited. And it may be small, but we call it home.'

The old man examined it with a critical eye. 'Past its prime, but I'll give you two hundred credits for it. It'll make nice sc.r.a.p.'

'Two hundred credits!' The Doctor was shocked.

'Three hundred, then,' Balatan answered. 'And that's my final offer. And that's good for sc.r.a.p.'

The Doctor drew himself up and glared at the man. 'Sir, this is not sc.r.a.p! It's a Type 40 TT Capsule, and you're never likely to see another in your lifetime.'

'Oh, so that's it, is it?' Balatan scratched his nose. 'Trying to make out that it's an antique to raise the price, eh? Well, it won't work.'

'Doctor,' Loran said hastily, squeezing in next to his father. 'You'll have to excuse my father. He can't help it. He's never had an eye for the finer things in life. Not like you and me, though, eh?' He gave a conspiratorial chuckle. 'I can see that this craft of yours is a sleek, unique model.'

'Thank you,' the Doctor said, levelly.

'Four hundred credits.'

The Doctor rolled his eyes. 'It's not for sale, I'm afraid.' He held up a hand. 'And please don't make any more offers. I wouldn't want to offend you by having to turn them down.'

'You drive a tough bargain, Doctor,' Loran began, obviously not put off. Sam could see that neither man was getting the message. Thankfully, there was a timely interruption.

'Captain Balatan! Over here!'

Sam hadn't realised there was anyone else in the hold with them, but she felt a sense of relief. It had been a woman's voice, so that meant she wasn't likely to be latched on to by the rest of the crew. Maybe she'd misinterpreted Loran's interest in her, and he had had only been trying to be polite after all. only been trying to be polite after all.

The Doctor was the first to move, obviously glad of the respite from the unwelcome bidding. He hurried in the direction of the voice. Balatan and Loran followed, and Sam found herself bringing up the rear.

The woman was examining what looked like a fork-lift truck that had attempted to mate with a crane and become stuck. She slapped it in disgust and turned around. 'The power grid's been shorted out and the lifting gear's...' Her voice trailed off as she caught sight of the Doctor and Sam. 'What the blazes?'

'h.e.l.lo,' the Doctor said quickly. 'I'm the Doctor and this is Sam. And you must be...?'

'Chayn,' the woman replied. She was tall and slender, with short-cropped dark hair and a stunned expression on her face that made her look like an overgrown elf. Sam had seen that kind of look on women's faces before. The Doctor sometimes had that effect upon them. It was up to Sam to discourage it.

'What are you talking about, woman?' Balatan demanded, glaring at her. 'Something's wrong with the equipment?'

Chayn dragged herself back to the subject at hand with a lingering glance at the Doctor. 'Um, yes.' She concentrated, and went on, 'It's inoperable.'

'It was fine this morning,' Loran protested.

'This morning, yes,' Chayn agreed. 'But it's been deliberately damaged.'

The Doctor leaned forward to Sam and said in a stage whisper, 'This is usually the part where we get accused of breaking it for some inexplicable reason and then get thrown in the brig.'

Balatan obviously heard this, as he had been meant to do, and he scowled hard at the Doctor. 'Did you do this? You two were in here on your own when we arrived, so you had the opportunity.'

'What did I tell you?' the Doctor asked sorrowfully. He smiled at Chayn. 'Do you mind if I take a look?'

'Go ahead.' Chayn moved out of the way, but not too far, Sam noticed. The Doctor moved past her to examine the interior of the lifter. Sam pushed her way past Chayn to join him, not knowing what she was even looking at.

'Did you do that?' Balatan repeated.

'No,' the Doctor answered. 'Chayn's right, though. That machine's inoperable without some major repairs, and it has been done deliberately.'

'You could have done it,' Loran insisted. Sam could see that he wasn't blind to the effect the Doctor's presence seemed to have on Chayn, and he was clearly jealous. Was Chayn his woman? could have done it,' Loran insisted. Sam could see that he wasn't blind to the effect the Doctor's presence seemed to have on Chayn, and he was clearly jealous. Was Chayn his woman?

'Not really,' the Doctor replied. 'If I'd sabotaged it, I'd have done the job a little more elegantly. This was a typical bull-in-a-china-shop sort of sabotage. Not my kind of thing at all.'

Balatan scowled again. It seemed to be his favourite expression. 'Well, Chayn wouldn't have done it, and I know I didn't. Nor did my son. So who did did do it?' do it?'

'I don't know,' the Doctor said. 'How large a crew do you have?'

'Forty-eight,' the captain replied.

'And do you know where they all are?'

'Not a chance,' said Chayn drily. 'Even if the internal scanners were all working which they never are they're easy to fool if you want to.' She turned to Balatan. 'I believe him, Captain. If he had had sabotaged the unit, he must be stupid to stick around and greet us.' sabotaged the unit, he must be stupid to stick around and greet us.'

'Or very, very sure of himself,' Loran added.

'Oh, I'm never very sure of myself,' the Doctor a.s.sured him. 'I'm quite undependable.' He turned back to Chayn. 'Thank you for believing me, though.' He went on, thoughtfully, 'Why would anyone want to sabotage a lifter, though? Don't you have more?'

Chayn snorted. 'You really haven't been on the Quetzel Quetzel very long, have you?' she asked. 'We don't have spares for most of the equipment on board.' very long, have you?' she asked. 'We don't have spares for most of the equipment on board.'

'Ah.' The Doctor nodded sagely. 'Jerry-built, eh?'

'I'm sorry?'

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. 'And you're the one who keeps it going, I a.s.sume? You must be very inventive.'

'That's enough of that,' Balatan snapped, before Sam could say pretty much the same thing. The Doctor and Chayn were obviously starting to admire each other. 'Do you think you can repair this, Chayn?'

The engineer sighed. 'Before or after the other repairs?' she growled. 'Captain, I can't fix everything.'

'I can,' the Doctor offered. 'If the two of us pitch in together, I think we could get this up and running in a couple of hours.'

The thought of the Doctor and Chayn together for a couple of hours, repairing stuff and getting friendly, was not particularly appealing. 'Doctor,' hissed Sam, 'this isn't our problem. A quick cup of tea, and goodbye, remember?'

'But that would be so rude,' the Doctor protested. He lowered his voice. 'Besides, we didn't sabotage this equipment, but somebody clearly did. Aren't you at all curious as to who or why?'

'Not really.'

'Splendid. So am I.' The Doctor smiled and turned back to Chayn. 'What do you say?'

Chayn grinned back at him. 'I'm game.'

I thought you might be, Sam thought. 'So, what am I supposed to do? Stand around and pa.s.s you both left-handed screwdrivers?'