Part 3 (2/2)

'You're not surprised I found him?'

'Since when did you not not find trouble?' she murmured in a voice as small as she felt. She'd ignored the view at first; it was so big, it hadn't even registered. find trouble?' she murmured in a voice as small as she felt. She'd ignored the view at first; it was so big, it hadn't even registered.

Now she felt dwarfed. The hairs on her arms and neck were bristling. The enormity the stark, boundless beauty of the vista through the giant window was overwhelming. She felt afraid, an instinctive, childlike fear of being somewhere forbidden, and also the irony: for all her casual flicking through the universe, only now did she truly feel she was in outer s.p.a.ce, when in galactic terms she was actually on home turf. She could probably pick out the Earth with a half-decent set of binoculars. And here was a whole set of weird-looking men-in-the-moon, looking stonily back at this tiny, timid girl.

Trix thought of all she'd seen and heard in the boardroom and shook her head sadly.

'h.e.l.lo? Earth to Trix?' The Doctor was clicking his fingers in her face. 'I said, why did you leave the TARDIS?'

She shrugged, snapped herself back into focus. 'Got bored. Thought I might find some mercury quicker than you.'

20.'And did you?'

'No.'

The Doctor sighed. 'How did you know where I was?'

'I didn't. I took a toilet break from silver service and followed this Tinya bint. She sneaked off from the conference with Halcyon early '

'Halcyon?'

'Some Feng Shui artist type.'

'It's p.r.o.nounced Fung Shway Fung Shway.'

'Whatever.'

He pointed down at the sleeping Tinya. ' Why Why follow her?' follow her?'

'Thought she could be persuaded to help me find you, Fitz and the mercury.'

said Trix. She searched Tinya's body and pocketed her white card, swapping it for her own Level One pa.s.s. 'Funny thing is, she told her boss she was off to check that this job lot of old antiques had finished loading on to Halcyon's s.h.i.+p. But she didn't. She went straight to her office, made a quick call telling someone called Nerren to do it, and then came up here.'

'Nerren is Falsh's a.s.sistant,' said the Doctor, crossing to study the bank of bubbles s.h.i.+mmering down one wall. 'Perhaps she wanted him out of the way so she could check the cricket scores on one of these. . . ' He trailed off, staring at one of the screens.

'What's up? Earth all out for a hundred and two?'

'That's the loading bay we arrived in.' Trix crossed over to see. A man was arguing with some guards, pointing at the various crates lying around. 'And that's Nerren.'

There was no sign of the TARDIS.

'It's been loaded on board?' she hissed.

'Fitz couldn't leave without us.'

'Doctor, wait.' She tried to tap the screen but her finger went straight through it, impaling the bright blue figure of Aristotle Halcyon as he came into view, gesturing rudely. 'That's our artist VIP. If he's down there, the meeting is over.' She tugged at his arm. 'So we can expect red alert!'

'Red alert is right!' The Doctor pulled free and dashed towards the door.

'We've got to get down to that loading bay!'

'Calm down!' Trix raced after him, grabbed hold of his kitchen smock before he reached the door. 'More haste, less speed! Security will be looking for two blokes, won't they? Only sleeping cheekbones in there knows about me her and the kitchen bloke I biffed.'

'What's your point?'

She smiled. 'Well, we may not he able to stand the heat, but. . . ' She pa.s.sed him Tinya's white card. 'Perhaps we should get into the kitchen anyway.'

21.White cards easing the way, Trix and the Doctor found their way back to the catering store. Swiftly, she crossed to the little room where she'd dragged the kitchen boy.

'He's gone!' she gasped.

'No. He's just crawled under those overalls. In his sleep.'

'So he has,' said Trix, her eyes making sense now of the lumpy shape beneath the silvery overalls. She shut the door. 'Remarkably helpful of him. And speaking of helpful see that trolley? It knows its way around. I think you programme it through the touchscreen thingie.'

The Doctor seized a large white tablecloth and gave her a wolfish smile. 'I'll climb aboard.'

Once he was lying down on the trolley Trix lay a couple of platters on his body to help disguise his shape, then whipped the cloth over him just as Chef returned.

He gave her a lascivious smile. 'So how'd it go?'

'Thank goodness I've found you,' said Trix breathlessly. 'Absolute panic out there.'

Chef frowned. 'The intruders are still at large?'

She nodded. 'But they can't sound the alarm until Halcyon's gone. The guards think they've got them trapped in one of the loading bays.'

'Which one?'

Trix froze. b.u.g.g.e.r! b.u.g.g.e.r! 'Uh. . . ' 'Uh. . . '

Two discreet taps sounded from the trolley behind her.

'Bay Two,' she said quickly.

Chef frowned at the lumpy cloth over the long table. 'What's all that?'

'The reason I needed to find you right away,' said Trix. 'Falsh told me to get some food to the troops down in Bay Two straight away.'

'He did what what?'

'Yes. Er, apparently some of the guards are hungry and. . . ' She shrugged.

'He said they should have some food. I think he was showing off in front of Halcyon. Showing what a great guy he is. You know what he's like.'

Chef stared at her suspiciously. Trix turned her back on him and her attention to the touchscreen. It didn't take her long to realise its workings were beyond her. 'Now, how do I tell the trolley which way to go? If I take too long about this I'll get into awful trouble.'

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