Part 28 (1/2)

'You all right?'

'I . . . I have a headache. I think the air in here is a bit too thin for me.'

Townsend sniffed. 'Seems okay to me. Let's wait here. He said to meet him in the shuttle bay, but I'd rather he came to us.'

Take me. Take me now. Dispose of these ridiculous dolts. They are slowing me . . . us . . . down.

Sadler again put her hand to her head. Something was there, on the edge of her consciousness. Like a forgotten thought or a nagging doubt.

Something telling her to do something. To think something . . .

Never mind, she'd cope.

The Pel guards were heaving great slabs of granite off the figures lying on the floor. Savaar was the first to haul himself up, a little unsteadily. Lying beside him was Sskeet, the front of his exoskeleton shattered and distorted, green blood splattered around the burns. Bits of the suit had embedded themselves in his soft inner flesh but he was still moving.

The High Lord and two guards slowly helped him up, but his slow, rasping breath told Savaar that his adjutant was more severely injured than he was prepared to admit, especially to his Lord. Savaar merely saluted him and gingerly Sskeet returned the action.

Alpha Centauri had been right at the back of the group and had been totally s.h.i.+elded from flying rocks by the bodies of Kort and Keri. His clothing was ripped and torn and a large cut on his upper right arm was evidence of the concussive force of the explosion. Agitatedly he fl.u.s.tered around the unmoving forms of the Pakhar and Cantryan before him.

The Doctor was uncovered, revealing his umbrella unfurled and up. Now wrecked, it had nevertheless protected his face from flying rock at the moment of the explosion. A few scratches and internal bruises, he decided, but a quick examination proved he was at least fit and alive.

Not so Chancellor Geban. One look at the strange angle of his back and neck proved that he had died instantly. Under him stirred Neal Corry, alive because Geban had presumably used himself instinctively as a s.h.i.+eld. One of Corry's arms was crushed by a huge chunk of granite and although he was unconscious, the pain must have been severe because his face was contorted and sweating.

The Doctor crawled over and placed a finger in the centre of his temple.

'Sleep,' he commanded.

Corry's face instantly lost its frown and his head lolled to the side. Gently the Pels pulled him up and away.

A few minutes pa.s.sed before King Tarrol arrived. His reaction showed that he took in instantly what had occurred and he was on the floor beside Geban in a second, cradling the battered head in his arms, crying softly. He then looked up at the Doctor, red-rimmed eyes full of tragedy and bitterness. 'We shall not forget what has happened here today. Ever.'

'Good,' said the Doctor. 'Geban deserves honour.'

'He shall have that. But that is not what I meant.'

The Doctor didn't have time to follow that up as a groan from Kort reminded the Time Lord that he was responsible for the Cantryan's well-being. He crossed to his side.

Is he all right?' burbled Centauri. 'There was nothing I can do.'

'He'll live, but he needs rest.' The Doctor waved a couple of Pels over and they carried the boy away. The Doctor reached out to Keri and s.n.a.t.c.hed his hand away. It was soaked in blood. A cough and dribble of blood from her snout told him that she was alive. Barely.

As more Pels picked her up and carried her to medical attention the Doctor caught Savaar's eye. The Ice Lord was trying to stop Sskeet's bleeding.

'The time has come,' spat the Doctor. 'Time for the final battle.'

Bernice was sitting with the Pakhar holocrew by the Martian shuttle, staring at the headless pilot.

Reece was beside the body. 'Nothing I can do. Someone killed him pretty decisively.'

'Why?' asked Bernice. 'What is in the shuttle that could be worth a life?'

'Oh, don't be soft, Benny. People die all the time. That's life.'

She stared at him. After all that he'd been through with his own family, death ought to have been far more frightening.

A Pakhar audio engineer was poking inside the shuttle. 'Maybe we'll see it in here,' he was saying when Bernice suddenly saw a flash of white and the Pakhar slumped to the ground, like a puppet whose strings had been suddenly severed. Screeches from the other Pakhars drew her attention to Nic Reece, a clip blaster in his hand.

Without thinking she stood up angrily. 'What the frag did you do that for?'

Then it all fell into place. It's you! You killed Lianna. And Kort's sister.

You're Alec!' Reece grinned and Bernice saw everything reflected in his eyes. The dark secrets she'd seen, the mystery. It wasn't his dead family - it was his complete insanity. She'd confused tragedy with malice.

'Might be. Alexander Charles Roberts, like Nicholas Reece, is just someone else's ident.i.ty I purchased from them.'

'Did Jina ever know the real Alec?'

'Good G.o.d, no. He was a seventy-year-old frontiersman in the Rho system.

He could never have coped with the energetic night-times that this Alec put up with. You're not as clever as I had imagined. I thought you'd worked all this out when I found you in my room.'

Bernice stared at him. 'No. No, I actually thought you were a genuine nice guy. We all make mistakes. You're a real sicko.'

'Thank you.' Reece smiled. He turned to the Pakhars and waved his blaster at them. 'Get back behind those rocks, you rats.' He turned back to Bernice as the terrified Pakhas complied. Inside the shuttle, please.' He waved the blaster towards the craft.

With a shrug, Bernice clambered aboard. At the last second she realized that stupidly she had her back to him and sure enough, he slammed his fist into the base of her spine and she sagged forward.

However, she turned this to good use, las.h.i.+ng out with her boot at his groin.

It connected with enough force that she expected him to be unconscious with pain. Instead, he laughed.

'Kevlar-8,' he explained. 'Should have gone for the head or hands.

Exposed areas. Your friend who chased my lot on Pakhar would have known that. She was a good soldier apparently. Shame about her little accident in s.p.a.ce.'

A dull explosion could be heard from back towards the Citadel.

'Ah, I guess my little room party has just gone off with a bang.'

A what?”

He produced from within his jacket an egg-shaped silver capsule. One of these. A Sontaran fragmentation grenade. Particularly nasty but b.l.o.o.d.y efficient. Probably took out half the Citadel with any luck.'

'The Doctor. . .' breathed Bernice.

For a second Reece looked surprised and then grinned. He got into the shuttle, covering her with the blaster.

'Yeah. He's still alive, isn't he? I knew that Pakhar b.i.t.c.h had fixed something up with that High Lord. And when I saw Savaar in your room still alive as well . . . yeah, they did it very well. I bet Atissa's in for a shock.' He suddenly laughed. 'Then again, she probably just got her wish. I bet it was the Doctor who tried to get into my room.'

'Why? He couldn't have suspected you?'