Part 28 (1/2)

As Beltempest and the Doctor gazed on, openmouthed, Pryce smiled. 'Nothing would please me more,' he said. Turning to the Doctor, he murmured, 'I really should start charging for my time.'

'Well?' Bernice said, 'what have you found?'

Powerless Friendless looked around the cupboard. It was getting a little tight, what with him, Bernice and the two Adjudicators. He wasn't very good at reading human expressions, but the dark woman with the close-cropped grey hair didn't look happy about being in close proximity with him Shame.

Her companion the one who had been covered in golden hair the last time Powerless Friendless had seen him, a.s.suming that wasn't another spurious memory was playing with Krohg: tickling him around the cilia while the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d rolled around as if he was enjoying it.

For a moment, after the dark-skinned Adjudicator had kicked the door of the cupboard in, he had thought he was finished. A feeling of relief had washed over him. No more struggle. No more pain.

And then he had seen Bernice's face, heard her voice, and had known that the struggle was going on.

'Well,' he said, 'let's start with what I've remembered.' He took a deep breath, trying to sort the memories out. At the moment it was rather as if somebody had dropped them all and scooped them up into a pile, like dead leaves. 'I was a navigator, during the Great Patriotic War '

'He means the Hith Annexation during the Wars of Acquisition,' Forrester murmured.

'I know what I mean,' he hissed angrily. 'You took our planet and poisoned it so that we couldn't live there any longer. You '

'You were a navigator,' Bernice prompted.

'Yes,' he sighed, 'I was a navigator. We had a s.h.i.+p an experimental s.h.i.+p.

Two-Hith crew. We knew that we could devastate the Empire's fleets with it. It was our last great defence against humanity.' He shook his head sadly. 'What we didn't know was, our captain had sold out. We made a jump through hypers.p.a.ce on our first flight and ended up in the wrong spot. The traitor must have fed the wrong coordinates into the navigation computer. We emerged surrounded by Landsknecht s.h.i.+ps.' He s.h.i.+vered. 'The s.h.i.+p and I were taken to a planet named Purgatory. They started to disa.s.semble the s.h.i.+p, and torture 174me. They were going to torture him as well, just in case he had been holding back on them. Humans ' He looked at the three warily. ' just can't be trusted.

For some reason, we were both moved here to Earth. To this building. I don't know why, but they brought the s.h.i.+p with us. The captain and I escaped with the control nexus for the s.h.i.+p. He managed to get off Earth while I hid out in the Undertown. I knew the people who had tortured me would still be searching. I had Dantalion make a new ident.i.ty for me, and erase the memories of my old life. That way, I could never give myself away accidentally.

That way, I didn't have to wake up screaming every night, remembering the way they sliced strips from my flesh.' Powerless Friendless hung his eyestalks ashamedly. 'I lost the nexus, of course. With my memory gone, I didn't know what it was. I still can't remember where I left it.'

Bernice had a strange expression on her face. Strange for a human, anyway.

'Your pilot,' she said, 'the one who turned traitor. What was his full name?'

Powerless Friendless thought for a moment, feeling his way through the shards of memory. 'His. .h.i.th name was Vap Oppat Pol, but all Hith changed their names after we lost Hithis. The name he chose was Homeless Forsaken Betrayed And Alone.'

Bernice's face tightened, and she glanced away.

Powerless Friendless thought he heard her say, 'b.a.s.t.a.r.d,' but he might have been wrong.

Beltempest watched impotently as Hater Of Humans And Leader of Hith rotated an eyestalk to face one of the two Hith guards. The guard immediately pushed a chair over from the side of the tent. Hater of Humans sank into its curves. The Hith referred to as its scapegoat stood erect by its side, next to the metal box with the air holes in the lid.

Hater Of Humans's eyestalks turned towards Zebulon Pryce.

'We have been waiting for years, hoping that you would find a way off Dis,'

it said. 'We debated whether to attempt to rescue you, but we could find no gaps in security, no weaknesses, nothing that we could use. Finally, you are here. If you can help us, we will set you free. You will never have to return to Dis.'

'What makes you think I want to go free?' Pryce asked. 'I had everything on Dis that I needed.' Somewhere, deep inside his dark eyes, a small red spark seemed to glow.

Hater Of Humans's eyestalks drooped. 'Whatever you want will be provided,' it said.

'I need victims. Lots of them.'

'Men they will be provided.'

Beltempest could see that Pryce was ignoring the Doctor's appalled expression. 'You must need my help badly,' he said.

175.'The future of the Hith race depends upon it,' Hater Of Humans replied with heavy dignity.

Beltempest couldn't contain himself any longer. 'The Hith race hasn't got a future,' he shouted. 'You're just a ragged bunch of scavengers skulking around the universe, finding homes wherever you can, and yet you dare '

The stunner beam caught him without warning as he was breathing out. He tried to catch his breath, but couldn't. A red haze settled over his vision and pins and needles tingled through his limbs. He slumped back into his chair, trying desperately to breathe.

'One more sound from you,' the female Hith said, reholstering her weapon, 'and I'll kill you.'

Beltempest listened against his will as Hater Of Humans continued speaking.

'Yes,' it said in apparent sadness, 'our race is scattered around the universe.

Our warriors serve in restaurants on half a hundred planets; our diplomats clean urinals; our scientists and industrialists beg on the streets. Our most sublime artists clean shoes for a living. We are forced to congregate together, even though we hate company. Even here, in our most secret base, we have to hide. We are destroyed as a civilization. And yet ' The Hith sighed deeply.

' we still have our pride.'

'The technology on this s.h.i.+p,' the Doctor's voice prompted, from outside Beltempest's field of view.

'Ah.' Hater Of Humans nodded, its eyestalks bobbing. 'Yes. Without re-course to our factories and stockpiles, with our home world taken from us, we have found other ways to keep our race intact. The Hith who are scattered across the accursed human Empire pay a proportion of whatever they can earn or beg to us in taxes. These taxes paid in various ways, in various currencies are being used to rebuild our fleets, our weapons, our pride. We will buy from anybody humanity, the Draconians, the Daleks, the Usurians, the Ook. Even the Cimliss.'

'To what end?' the Doctor asked.

'To regain our world,' Hater Of Humans said simply.

'By war?'

Beltempest managed to s.h.i.+ft his head slightly so that he could see along the table, past the Doctor's head to where Pryce was sitting.

'By whatever means necessary,' Hater Of Humans said, and glanced at Pryce.

'And that is why we need your help.'

'You realize,' the Doctor persisted, 'that this man is a murderer?'

'He killed other humans?' Hater Of Humans sounded amused. 'And you think that we should disapprove of that?'

176.'He would kill you, if you gave him a chance.' The Doctor scowled at Pryce, who smiled slightly and closed his eyes.

'Indeed I would,' he murmured.

The guards s.h.i.+fted slightly by the tent flap.

The Doctor sighed in exasperation. 'Professor Pryce has been driven mad by icaron radiation. Whatever you want from him, he isn't in any condition to provide it.'

'You are mistaken.' Hater Of Humans's voice held the unmistakable tone of command. 'It is Professor Pryce's knowledge of icaron radiation that we need.