Part 7 (1/2)

For one moment, Valgard was revisited by the fleeting glimpse that he'd had in the storeyard, his own face looking back from the other side of the line. 'You couldn't make it stick,' he said.

'Oh, but I could.' Eirak's fingers drifted lightly over some of the papers on his desk, touching them, almost loving them. 'How long would you last without a food ration? Or Hydromel?'

Valgard was beaten, and he knew it. Eirak had the power to withold the symptom-suppressing drug simply because the others all knew how much they needed him. When Valgard said nothing, Eirak went on, 'Get Sigurd and check out the liner. And forget about Bor, he's taken the easy way out.'

Nothing happened.

Eirak met Valgard's eyes and repeated, with a steely edge, 'Check the liner.'

Valgard turned and walked out.

The fifth block that they tried carried maintenance details for the liner, and several of the diagrams were given over to breakdowns of the corridor systems on each deck. They weren't exactly a tourist map, but they would do.

'It looks complicated,' Nyssa said.

'Like a maze,' the Doctor agreed. 'No wonder we got lost.' He stared for a while, fixing the details into his memory. There was a certain pattern in the layout of the pa.s.sageways, but it would have taken a long time to perceive it by wandering around. The diagram couldn't tell him where to find the TARDIS, but it would at least prevent them from wandering in circles as they looked for the link.

'We can put a bit more method into the search this way,' he explained when Kari asked him about the computer's usefulness. 'We can't afford to waste any time on uncertainties, now we know that there's disease around.' He was about to say more, but the lights went out.

'Everybody down!' Kari shouted, and such was her tone of command that everybody went. She whispered something else, and Olvir did a silent sprint across the control room to take up a position beside the door, burner at the ready.

As the Doctor's eyes slowly adjusted to the new light levels, he realised that the liner had simply returned itself to the state of readiness it had shown on their arrival. 'What's happening?' Nyssa wanted to know, and the Doctor nodded towards the control centre under the window. Before he could speak, the liner's automated voice was booming all around them.

' Attention Attention,' it said. ' Preparations for departure will begin Preparations for departure will begin with stage-one sterilisation. Unprotected personnel are advised with stage-one sterilisation. Unprotected personnel are advised to leave this liner immediately. No return will be permitted. to leave this liner immediately. No return will be permitted. ' '

'No one outside,' Olvir reported.

' Terminus Incorporated will accept no responsibility for the Terminus Incorporated will accept no responsibility for the consequences of ignoring this warning. Stage-one sterilisation consequences of ignoring this warning. Stage-one sterilisation is now commencing. is now commencing. ' '

The Doctor and Nyssa exchanged an apprehensive look.

It was quite a relief for Tegan and Turlough to come into an area where they could at least stand, even though they had to hunch a little to avoid banging their heads. The service core, as Tegan had named it, was a metal cage with a walkway floor that appeared to run the full length of the s.h.i.+p. It was obviously intended to give access to various underfloor areas, and because of this it seemed likely that they'd soon come upon a more orthodox way out.

'Maybe we're safer down here,' Turlough said, remembering what they'd seen only a little while before, but Tegan was doing her best to put this out of her mind.

'Come on,' she said, and started off ahead. There was some light, but most of it came from bad s.h.i.+elding where there should have been none. Turlough was slow in following; when Tegan looked back, she saw him standing and inspecting the floor beneath him.

'What's the matter?' she said.

He seemed hesitant, but he stepped forward. 'I felt the floor move...' he began, but before he could finish he was gone.

The walkway floor was no more than a series of thin alloy sections bolted to an underframe, and one of them had been loose. Tegan had stepped on its centre, but Turlough had put his weight too close to the edge - it had hinged under him as quickly and efficiently as the slickest trapdoor and dumped him through the resulting gap.

Tegan dashed to him. He was hanging onto the edge, his knuckles whitening as they fought for a grip where there was none. In the long darkness below him, the breakaway section was still falling. His hands slid a couple of inches and his legs kicked free in s.p.a.ce, but then Tegan grabbed both of his wrists and held him firm.

There was a booming crash, far-off and echoing.

Tegan pulled as hard as she could, but she was holding Turlough's weight almost unaided.

'Don't kick!' she said. 'You make it worse.'

Turlough did his best to be calm, even though his heart was racing. He tried to let himself swing free.

Tegan hauled again, and they made a few inches enough for him to get a fingerhold over the next join in the flooring. Now that he could help, Tegan reached over and grabbed a handful of his collar. She got a handful of his shoulder too, but he didn't complain. Slowly, his muscles singing like violin strings, Turlough came up and over the edge to safety.

They lay together, gasping. Tegan was still holding him, as if there was some danger that he might slide back. The only sound besides their ragged breathing was the howl of moving air in the vast s.p.a.ce below.

But then it slowly became clear to Turlough that the added rumbling that he'd been taking for granted wasn't simply the blood pounding in his ears.

'What's that?' he said, wondering if it was the working of his imagination, but Tegan had also heard something.

'I don't know,' she said. 'I don't like it.'

They barely had time to duck before the high-pressure sterilising gas was on them.

Kari's suggestion for speeding up the search for the TARDIS that they should split into two groups and keep in contact via the hand-radios hadn't really found much favour with the Doctor, but with the new urgency that had been added to the situation he really had little choice. Nyssa insisted that she'd be safe with Olvir, and so the Doctor reluctantly agreed.

'See you at the TARDIS,' Nyssa said, before she and Olvir disappeared from sight.

Kari was about to set off in the opposite direction, but the Doctor held her back for a moment. 'We can't waste time,' she protested.

'I know,' the Doctor said, 'but there's something we have to understand before we go any further.'

'What?'

'It doesn't matter who finds the TARDIS first. But n.o.body gets left, dumped or abandoned. All right?'

Kari hesitated. She seemed almost evasive, and it was obvious that she was overcoming her most immediate response. 'Of course,' she said eventually.

Ah, well, the Doctor thought, at least she's learning at least she's learning.

They moved out.

The search proceeded at speed, both parties moving in parallel around opposite sides of the liner. Olvir almost ran all the way, as if he felt he had something to prove, but the main consequence of this was that Nyssa found it harder and harder to keep up.

'I have to stop,' she said eventually.

'We can't,' Olvir told her. 'Come on.'

'Please...' She stumbled, and Olvir had to catch her.

It was then that he realised that his haste could actually defeat the object of the search. 'I had a dose of temporal instability,' she explained trying to catch her breath. 'I've been feeling bad ever since.'