Part 23 (1/2)

Romana found this instruction impossible to comply with.

She knelt and slapped the cheeks of the unconscious artist. His eyes opened and he sighed. 'Not again.'

'We've got to leave,' Romana said as she pulled him up.

'Move!' Eddie barked.

The sight of the black-suited, broken-nosed Nisbett brother and the Ogron at his side caused Stokes to emit a mouse-like squeak. He swayed, but Romana caught him and they were ushered out after the Doctor and Pyerpoint.

'You intend to keep the Doctor and his colleagues alive?' Xais suspected the motives of her partner.

'For a while.' Charlie cracked his knuckles. 'Our mum always used to say, never chuck out anything that might come in handy one day. I reckon this Doctor bloke might be very useful on the scientific side. He got us out of that orbit, didn't he? And that was something even you couldn't do, my dear.'

Xais was anxious to turn the conversation away from the exact details of the scheme. 'The other Normals, Stokes and the girl. They are of no consequence and must die.'

Charlie reached for the public address system. 'Something else Mum used to say. Sometimes you can untie a man's tongue quicker by torturing his mates than by having a go at the man himself.'

'An admirable homily. Your mother sounds like she was a remarkable woman.'

A look of fervour crossed Charlie's face. 'Oh she was. Ran the firm for thirty-two years. Of course Dad got all the credit.

She'd still be alive today if we hadn't been gra.s.sed on. It broke her heart.'

Xais laid a hand on his arm. 'Do not worry. You will soon have your vengeance.'

Spiggot, who had been knocked down by the gravity storm, was nudged awake by K9. The policeman shook his long penned locks. 'Hey, what was that? I thought we were going to crash for sure.' He held up a hand and moved it up and down, an elementary safety test he'd learnt at school. 'We've levelled out.'

'Affirmative,' said K9. 'The asteroid is now moving away from Planet Eleven. Probability is that the Doctor Master realigned the engines.'

Spiggot punched the air with glee 'Well done, Doctor! So, the game's on again.' He patted K9 on the head. 'It feels good to be alive, K9, eh?'

'Empirical approach states that expression of joy in human condition is reliant on variable factors; social formation, physical gratification, et cetera,' K9 told him. 'In addition, concepts of awareness also variable and semantically complex.

Request specification of your query.'

The request was to go unheeded. A chime sounded and the voice of Charlie Nisbett boomed from the station's public address systems.

'Attention, attention. Calling all Ogrons. I order you to go back to the s.h.i.+p. Go back to the s.h.i.+p right away and await further orders.'

'Could be they're cutting their losses and pulling out,'

Spiggot said.

'Unlikely,' said K9. 'We must investigate and a.s.sist the Doctor Master.'

Gjork and the two Ogrons on duty at the transmat had loaded the heavy boxes of mining equipment onto the platform, and were waiting anxiously for their next orders. Eddie stood guard over his captives before the control panel.

The Doctor glanced at the settings. 'Those coordinates might have slipped, you know,' he said. 'What do you think, Romana?'

'The slightest variation in the beam and our molecules could be dispersed,' she said casually. 'Perhaps we'd better take a look.' She stretched out an inquiring hand.

Eddie gestured her away. 'Step back, lady,' he drawled.

'Everything's set up right, don't you fret.'

'Well, it was worth a try,' the Doctor whispered. 'Better luck next time.'

Eddie chuckled. 'There isn't going to be a next time, Doctor. You're into your last few hours, believe me. We're only keeping you alive now 'cause we might want some fun later.' His lower lip curled at the prospect.

Stokes screwed his eyes up tight and made short, sharp gasping noises. Romana and the Doctor remained unperturbed.

The Doctor turned to Pyerpoint, who stood as tall and grave-faced as ever. 'For a man I'd say has a lot to worry about, you seem remarkably silent. The game's up, you know.

We've seen the safe. Very careless, leaving all that stuff lying about.'

Pyerpoint said simply, 'I do not want to talk to you.'

The doors of the chamber slid open and Charlie and Xais walked in with Flarkk. 'Right,' Charlie said as he sent Flarkk to watch the prisoners. 'Eddie, send the gear down.'

Eddie threw a bank of switches and the Ogrons and the boxes on the platform s.h.i.+mmered and vanished with a pulsing electronic sound.

A few moments later a call note came from Charlie's inside pocket. He reached in and pulled out a mobile communicator.

'Yes?'

'Gjork calling from planet, Mr Charles,' an Ogron voice said through heavy static. 'Down and safe. There is good air and gravity is on.'

'Right. Well done, Gjork. Standby.'

Charlie put the communicator away and turned to Flarkk.

'Right, lad. Go back to the s.h.i.+p and follow us down to the base. There's a landing pad. Just follow the energy trace of the transmat.'

Flarkk nodded eagerly, keen to make up for his earlier error. 'Yes, Mr Charles. We will follow. I will not let you down again, sir. I hate you.'

'Good. Now make sure you put down the right way round, air-lock to air-lock, right?'

'Yes,' said Flarkk. 'I will not make that mistake again, sir.

It is bad to land with air-lock facing wrong way.' He saluted and stomped off.

Xais stepped onto the transmat platform. 'We must leave now,' she said urgently. 'There is little time before we come out of range.'

'Ed, set the timer,' Charlie ordered. He herded Pyerpoint and the other prisoners up on to the platform.