Part 12 (1/2)

'This is very interesting,' the Doctor said, 'but...'

Bor didn't seem to hear. He was looking at his sc.r.a.pheap again. 'That one'll go next. The crack's always been there, but the leak's been getting worse. I didn't find out why until I followed the control cables.'

Valgard was thinking that he'd heard enough.

He'd been standing in the shadows at the end of the row for most of the conversation, and any doubts that he may have had were now gone. Not that it mattered; the object of the exercise was to return from the zone with evidence that he'd carried out his unwelcome job so that he could watch Eirak wriggle and squirm and try to get out of the bet that he'd made. He probably had no intention of carrying out his part of the bargain, in which case Valgard was going to see to it that his authority in the Terminus would be ended forever. If you couldn't believe his promises, why believe in his threats anymore?

For now, speed was the main problem. Valgard needed to get back as quickly as possible to minimise the effects of the zone and give himself the best chance of fighting them off. He was running on the effects of a Hydromel high, brought on by the use of more than half of the drug remaining from his last issue. What remained couldn't keep him going for much longer.

He stepped out into the light. 'Tell them nothing, Bor!' he shouted. 'They're company spies!'

Bor's expression changed in an instant. 'You're from the company?' he said, horrified. 'You seemed so friendly!'

The Doctor and Kari both stood. 'They've got great respect for their employers,' the Doctor observed.

Valgard stepped out for a closer look at Bor. It was the first view he'd had of Bor's condition. 'You've been torturing him!' he accused.

'Have they?' Bor said. 'I can't remember...'

Valgard was still advancing on them, his staff held crosswise. As they both remembered, he could use it to good effect. Kari brought her burner around, but Valgard wasn't to be fooled.

'You've no power for that,' he said. 'I was there when you found out, remember?'

Valgard kept on coming. He changed his grip on the staff, holding it out to full length and sweeping it from side to side. 'I'm taking you back for Eirak to see,' he said.

'Fine,' the Doctor said, 'Let's go. There's no need for violence.'

'That comes later. When we've finished questioning you.'

'Ah. I see. In that case...'

He seemed to be about to turn away at least, that's how Valgard read it, which was what the Doctor had intended. On the next sweep of the staff he turned suddenly and caught the end with both hands.

For a moment, it was stalemate. With no central pivot to give the staff leverage, they were in a contest of strength, a contest that the Doctor won.

Valgard was whipped aside. The weight of his own armour kept him going, and he spun into the junk that Bor had heaped before the cracked reactor globe.

With an almost deafening sound, the junk came down with Valgard sprawling in the middle of it.

'My wall!' Bor shouted in agony as he got to his feet, but he was drowned out by Valgard's screams as a beam of unchecked radiance burst from the globe.

Valgard rolled aside. Bor arrived and, again using his arm to s.h.i.+eld his face, attempted to pile some of it back.

'Well done,' Kari said approvingly, but the Doctor could get no pleasure from the victory.

'He's not as strong as he looks,' he said. 'Let's go.'

They turned to leave, but it wasn't going to be so easy. The darkness that blocked their way was huge and powerful, and its eyes glowed a dull red.

Force of habit had Kari reaching for her useless burner. 'What is it?' she said.

The ma.s.sive beast was unmoving. Valgard had recovered sufficiently to prop himself up, and he said, 'You ought to know. Your people brought it here.'

'We weren't sent by the company,' the Doctor said.

He was beginning to get irritated at the persistence of Valgard's misunderstanding.

It lifted one immense paw. It took them a moment to realise that it was pointing at Bor.

'It wants something,' Kari said, although she couldn't make out what.

'It wants Bor,' Valgard said from the floor. 'It's been ordered to find him and take him back.'

'Let it pa.s.s,' the Doctor suggested to Kari. Slowly, cautiously, they moved aside. The Garm moved towards Bor. For all its size, it moved in total silence.

'Look at that skin,' the Doctor said as it pa.s.sed them.

'Like natural armour.'

Kari tried to make it out. The Garm just seemed to soak up the light. 'Radiation-resistant?' she said.

'A purpose-built slave to work in the danger area.'

The Garm raised Bor from the floor as if he weighed no more than a handful of paper. Bor hung there limply, without the strength to fight or resist. But then as he was turning, the Garm stopped.

n.o.body really heard it, but they all felt it: a deep stirring that was beyond sound and almost beyond sensation. 'Subsonics,' the Doctor said, adding as the Garm moved out with Bor, 'obviously some kind of signal.'

A moment later, and the beast was gone.

Kari looked at Valgard. He stared back defiantly, although he still didn't seem able to make it up from the floor. She said, 'What about him?'

'Leave him,' the Doctor said.

'I should kill him.'

'He's too weak to follow us. Come on.'

The Doctor set out with some obvious sense of purpose. He was scanning the walls and the open latticework of the ceiling above. She had to catch up before she could ask, 'What are you looking for?'

'Control lines,' the Doctor explained, but when he glanced at Kari she was looking blank. 'The ones that Bor said he followed.'

Contrary to Eirak's hopes, Nyssa had been giving them a hard time.