Part 22 (1/2)

'Difficult to tell,' Cwej replied. 'The echoes '

Again, the sound of concrete being ground beneath something metallic and heavy. Footsteps, getting louder.

A shape, moving in the shadows.

'It's a bot,' Cwej said.

'Be prepared,' Forrester said. 'Like Bernice, I've got a bad feeling.'

The bot walked into the light. It was tall and gangly, its limbs like frozen mercury. There was some suggestion of concealed weaponry in its arms, and the sleek greyhound shape of its head barely concealed visual, IR, UV, kirilian and radar sensors.

Forrester frowned. She thought she'd seen all makes of bot in her time, but this one was new to her.

'Ever seen anything like that before?' she said to Cwej.

'New to me,' he said. 'Bernice?'

'Nope. But it's not designed to serve after-dinner mints, that's for sure.'

The bot's sensors moved to take in Forrester, Cwej and then Bernice.

'Three blind mice,' it said finally, it's plummy voice echoing and re-echoing through the flitterpark. 'See how they run.'

A s.h.i.+ver ran up Bernice's spine. There was something about that voice she recognized: not the sound, but the phrasing, the theatrical diction.

'Did you want to speak to us?' Forrester called out.

'No,' the bot said, sounding overly apologetic, and a trifle amused as well.

'I'm afraid that was just a ploy to lure you out of hiding.'

'Lure us out? Why?'

The bot's head searched Forrester out. Bernice could see the glint as it focused upon her.

'Because you have become an enc.u.mbrance. I had hoped that my various schemes to divert you would have worked, but you were more intelligent than I had given you credit for. A problem, but one easily solved. Please regard me as the farmer's wife, come to cut off your tails with a carving knife.'

It raised its arm gracefully.

'We've met before, haven't we?' Bernice shouted quickly, hoping to distract it.

'How very clever of you to remember,' it said.

'You were on the Arachnae Arachnae. You were the purser bot.'

136.A chuckle, very unmechanical. 'I was indeed. The poor thing was so terribly confused to find half an hour missing from its memory, I believe it turned itself in for disa.s.sembly. I was also the valet who waved to you on the walkway when you arrived in your blue box, by the by. I am everywhere. I am everything.'

'And you've met the Doctor before, haven't you?'

A pause.

'Now that is very very clever of you. How could you possibly know that?' clever of you. How could you possibly know that?'

'Because the TARDIS went missing, and because you didn't get his voice right. You met him in a different body, didn't you?'

'Far too clever. I see I made the right decision.'

The bot swivelled quickly, targeting Bernice with its arms.

'As the sports commentators used to say when I was younger,' it said, 'it's goodnight, Vienna.'

It fired.

137.

Chapter 10.

'I'm Shythe Shahid and this is The Empire Today The Empire Today , on the spot, on , on the spot, on and off the Earth. Fighting has intensified on the planet Murtaugh. and off the Earth. Fighting has intensified on the planet Murtaugh.

Rebel factions have taken control of the capital city, and the Imperial representative and his staff have been evacuated. Meanwhile, on representative and his staff have been evacuated. Meanwhile, on Earth, five apartment towers are ablaze in the latest development in Earth, five apartment towers are ablaze in the latest development in the Asian Undertown riots . . . ' the Asian Undertown riots . . . '

As soon as they boarded the Moorglade Moorglade, Provost-Major Beltempest had locked himself in the control cabin. He had taken all of the weaponry on the s.h.i.+p with him, as well as the cutlery and anything else that had a sharp edge, and refused to come out.

'If anybody tries to get through that door between now and Purgatory,' he had said, 'I'll fry them until they're nothing more than a greasy blob on the floor. You can take your chances with Pryce, Doctor. I'm not letting him get to me. Oh, and Pryce? If you do anything to the Doctor, I'll depressurize the entire s.h.i.+p. Understand?'

To reinforce the point, he had taken all the s.p.a.cesuits and evacuated the air from his cabin. The Doctor could picture him, sitting erect at the controls in his own personalized suit the one that had been specially modified to take his paunch, his four arms and his trunk screamer rifle in one hand and needler in the other, jumping at every noise.

'You're not human, are you?' Professor Zebulon Pryce asked as the engines wound themselves up for take-off. He had folded his tall, angular frame into a seat in the s.h.i.+p's small lounge, still as naked as he had been in his cell.

His milk-white pony-tail draped down the back of the chair. After a cursory glance around, he had shown no interest in his new surroundings. The Doctor couldn't fathom him out. Humans were usually so easy to understand, but Pryce . . . a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The Doctor scratched his head. Now who had he said that to originally, and what about?

'No,' the Doctor admitted, settling himself into the Nauga-hide upholstery of a chair.

'Double circulatory system?'

The Doctor was impressed. 'Well spotted.'

Pryce's gaze was fixed on the Doctor's chest. 'I've had a lot of experience with hearts,' he said, then looked away, towards the sealed control cabin. 'Do 138I frighten Provost-Major Beltempest?'

'Of course you do,' the Doctor said, 'although, if you asked him, he would probably say that he was just being careful. Are you sure I can't get you some clothes?'

'No, thank you. I am . . . accustomed to this state. Clothes would only irritate me now.' There was a flicker of genuine curiosity in Pryce's eyes.

'What is he frightened of?'

'He's frightened of dying,' the Doctor said in exasperation. 'You do have a reputation, you know.'