Part 31 (2/2)

'No,' Beltempest said, and s.h.i.+vered. 'It reminds me too much of spilled blood. And spilled blood reminds me of '

'He's gone,' the Doctor murmured without turning away from the thin sliver of light that showed above the skyline. 'He won't come back.'

196.Beltempest shook his head, his trunk swinging from side to side as he did so. 'No,' he sighed. 'He'll be back every time I go to sleep.' He caught his breath. 'Why does he bother me so much? Why can't I get him out of my mind?'

The Doctor watched as the sun finally slid from sight, leaving a crimson stain behind it that faded as he watched to a deep, meditative blue.

'Because you could have done the same,' he said finally, 'and that knowledge scares you. In the end, Pryce was right. There is no reason why one person should not kill another. No argument against murder stands up to scrutiny.'

He sighed. 'For every religious prohibition saying, ”Thou shalt not kill”, there's another one that allows killing under certain special circ.u.mstances sinners are fair game, ”Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”, and so on. Moral codes are no better; they're just formalized opinions, without any logical backup.'

He was aware that his voice was getting louder and louder, but he couldn't seem to help himself. 'The sociological history of almost every race,' he continued, 'is riddled with examples of laws against murder standing beside legal-ized examples of murder, be they executions, wars or euthanasia. Ultimately, every single argument that we can come up with, stripped of its pretty words, boils down to a fundamental truth: we disagree with murder because we don't we don't want to be murdered want to be murdered. No more and no less than that.' He closed his eyes for a second. 'Does that help?' he said finally.

'No,' Beltempest said sadly. 'But thanks for trying.'

There was silence for a few moments as darkness spread across the sky.

High above, moving stars denoted watchful Vanguard laser satellites and the comings and goings of Landsknechte s.h.i.+ps. Odd, the Doctor thought, that the Hith should choose to live under the noses of their enemies, conducting their affairs of government from hiding. Odd, and rather courageous. That seemed to be the Hith way.

'Did you come out for anything in particular, or just fresh air?' he said finally.

'There's some sort of flap going on,' Beltempest replied. 'I think a message has come in. The slug in charge wanted me to come and fetch you.'

The Doctor sighed. 'The slug?' he said, raising his eyebrows. 'You mean the Hith.' The Doctor's tone was dark with foreboding, but Beltempest either didn't or wouldn't take any notice.

'If you like.'

'It's got nothing to do with what I do or do not like,' the Doctor explained as if talking to a small child. 'How would you like it if the Hith referred to you like that?'

'They wouldn't dare.' Beltempest walked away. The Doctor watched him for a few seconds, then shrugged and followed. There was no hope for some 197people.

Together, they re-entered the tent. Hater Of Humans was slumped in its chair. There was a feeling of suppressed excitement in the air.

'Good news?' the Doctor asked brightly.

'We have received a message from Daph Yilli Gar, the navigator of the Skel'Ske Skel'Ske!' Hater Of Humans said, quivering slightly. 'He is calling himself Powerless Friendless And Scattered Through s.p.a.ce now. He has found the s.h.i.+p!

You were right, Doctor, it is in hypers.p.a.ce, occupying the same coordinates as the INITEC building.' Hater Of Humans's eyestalks gleamed with pride. 'To think that after all this time, the Skel'Ske Skel'Ske still works as it was intended to!' still works as it was intended to!'

Hater Of Humans was ecstatic. 'We are preparing our fleet now.'

'Fleet?'

Beside the Doctor, Beltempest frowned. 'Yes,' he said. 'What do you need a fleet for? I thought you were worried in case the radiation from this s.h.i.+p of yours interfered with the efforts of your diplomats?'

Hater Of Humans s.h.i.+fted slightly in its chair. 'To help Daph Yilli Gar,' it said.

'He is under attack, and cannot get into the control room. He requests our aid.'

'Don't you think,' the Doctor interposed, 'that a Hith fleet in hypers.p.a.ce near the Earth might be counter-productive?'

Hater Of Humans gazed at him for a moment, then slid away. The Doctor drummed his fingers against his lips. Much as he wanted to return to Earth, to Bernice and to the TARDIS, he didn't particularly want to do it at the head of what might seem to be or might actually turn out to be an invasion fleet.

The figures for profit and loss that flickered deep in the desk indicated that the riots were spreading. Insurance claims were climbing steeply, weapon sales were going through the roof, tickets for offworld flights were changing hands at vastly inflated prices. Accordingly, the artificial intelligence that controlled INITEC's financial affairs made various decisions in the absence of its master.

Property was obviously a bad investment at the moment, on the basis that it might not be there for much longer, so various buildings and prime sites on Earth were placed on the market or rather, on markets far enough away that the news of the riots probably hadn't reached them yet. Shares were purchased in construction and repair companies. All funds were transferred to financial systems offworld, just in case.

The flickering financial information in the desk reflected off the metal skin of INITEC's chairman and major shareholder. Its only shareholder. Columns of blue and red figures scrolled in reverse across his gleaming chest. He did not notice. His attention was elsewhere, flitting back and forth between fifty 198sleek killer robots as they hunted their prey through the corridors of the Hith s.h.i.+p. His s.h.i.+p.

For the first time in a millennium, he was enjoying himself.

In the Doctor's almost unparalleled experience of the various forms of s.p.a.ce travel, most of the time spent journeying from planet to planet was taken up by the manoeuvring through the solar system at either end. Comparatively little time was spent in hypers.p.a.ce. Because the Hith didn't intend leaving hypers.p.a.ce at all when they arrived in the vicinity of Earth, the journey time was cut to less than an hour.

The Doctor watched from the oval, mazelike control deck of the Hith flags.h.i.+p as they made their approach. He and Beltempest were standing beside Hater Of Humans in a central hub of the maze, obviously making the Hith leader uneasy by their proximity. Above the walls of the maze, the ceiling was one vast screen upon which the Earth showed up as a vast distortion, a gigantic twist in the grey, swirling non-realm of hypers.p.a.ce.

'We have a homing signal,' one of the Hith crew announced. It, like its compadres, was out of sight around a bend in the maze, sitting at its own set of controls, unable to see anybody else. Given the Hith dislike of company, it probably made them feel better if they could each imagine that they were the only Hith on the s.h.i.+p.

'Daph Yilli Gar has left the transmitter on,' Hater Of Humans announced.

'Head directly for it.'

Beltempest, standing beside the Doctor, said, 'Has it occurred to them that this might be a trap?'

'And what would they do differently?' the Doctor asked.

Beltempest shook his head. 'I don't know,' he said finally. 'I've lost track of who's doing what to whom, and why. If somebody had told me a week ago that I'd be standing on the flight deck of an armed slug battle cruiser heading for Earth I wouldn't have believed them. I keep having to stop myself from trying to sabotage the controls.'

'And why don't you?' the Doctor asked, interested.

'Because I have the sneaking suspicion that I might be doing more harm than good that way,' Beltempest said.

's.h.i.+p sighted!' a Hith crew member shouted jubilantly. 'Positive identification: it's the Skel'Ske Skel'Ske!'

A cheer broke out through the maze as a small, th.o.r.n.y shape appeared on the main screen. The hyperspatial distortion made it s.h.i.+mmer, as if it was being viewed through water, but it was apparent that large parts of it had been dismantled already.

'Bring us up close,' Hater Of Humans ordered.

199.As they drew nearer to the Skel'Ske Skel'Ske, the Doctor could make out the walkway that led away from the s.h.i.+p. At the other end there was a doorway, hanging in the void without visible means of support.

'See,' the Doctor said, pointing it out to Beltempest. 'That's how the radiation from the s.h.i.+p got to Earth.'

'That's a doorway to the real world?' Beltempest stuttered. 'I don't believe it!'

'That's human ingenuity for you,' the Doctor said.

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