The Romance Of Crime Part 23

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.

A countdown of fifteen seconds flashed up on the console.

Eddie patted his pockets, and joined the others.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Even Stokes was quiet, his head bowed. Romana supported his shaking frame.

Xais stood alert, hands on hips. The Nisbetts stood together, faces set into the familiar brutal impa.s.sivity. Pyerpoint remained aloof.

'Well,' the Doctor said happily, 'this is nice, isn't it?'

n.o.body answered him.

The timer clicked down to zero, the transmat platform glowed with power, and they s.h.i.+mmered and faded away.

12.

The Truth Will Out.

The Doctor's stream of comment was almost obscured by the warble of televerification a.s.semblers as the small party of miscreants and heroes reappeared on a platform inside the Planet Eleven mineralogical survey base. The transmat chamber was similar to the one used aboard the Rock, but smaller, darker, and with a lower ceiling. It was sited at the end of one of the three arms that led from the central dome of the base.

Gjork stepped forward to greet his superiors. 'Transfer complete.'

Charlie nodded and stepped from the platform. 'Good.

Where are the others?'

'Other lads in survey room as you order, Mr Charles. With gear. Waiting for you.'

'There's no time to waste,' said Xais. She turned her blank glare on the four prisoners. 'What are you going to do with these?'

'Don't mind us,' the Doctor said.

'Shut up, you bug-eyed freak.' Eddie spoke evenly, but the tip of his revolver nudged the Doctor's ribs. 'You've done well to get this far alive. Shame to spoil it all now, eh?'

'We'll lock them away for the moment,' said Charlie. 'You know this place, Xais. You see to it. We've got work to do.'

He straightened his suit and set off down the corridor towards the dome. Eddie tapped the Doctor's chin with the handle of his revolver and followed his brother.

Xais cursed her allies in an obscure mutant tongue as they departed.

'Creative differences?' queried Romana.

The silver mask regarded her with disinterest. 'I will kill you shortly. You are unimportant.' She turned to the nearest Ogron. 'Follow the signs to storage area three. Put them inside and lock the door. Do you understand?'

The Ogron nodded. 'Yes, Xais.' He prodded Stokes with his rifle. 'Move, fat one.'

The artist shuffled off in compliance. The Doctor and Romana, mindful of the a.s.sembled firepower of the surrounding Ogrons, got into file behind him.

The Doctor stopped at the door and looked out through a large viewport streaked with dark blue grime. The valley outside was thick with dirty gases. The plastigla.s.s of the viewport thrummed in time to the rumblings of a close storm.

'Oh, what very charming weather,' said the Doctor. 'So this is Planet Eleven. Stale, flat, but perhaps not so unprofitable, eh, Xais?'

The Ogron pushed him on before Xais had the chance to reply. She placed a hand on Pyerpoint's shoulder as he made to follow the others. 'Not you.'

He met her smooth silver face without fear. 'Your strategy failed.'

'No. I have decided that I want you with me. There may be unpleasantness. With the brothers.' She reached inside her tunic and brought out a small silver pistol. 'I liberated this from an Ogron.' She handed it to him. 'Of course I have no need of it. But you may find it useful.'

Pyerpoint tucked the weapon into his waistband. 'You trust me,' he said, watching her all the while. 'If you turn your back, I can kill you. I have reason to.'

She turned and walked on. 'I trust your ambition. Without me, you will never be able to activate helicon.'

The Ogrons hurried the Doctor, Romana and Stokes along the narrow and oppressively low-ceilinged corridors of the base.

The only sounds were the distant crackle of s.h.i.+fting gas clouds and the barely discernible hum of the life support systems. The recycled air was still and smelt sour.

The small party reached a large grey hatch that was marked STORAGE AREA 3. One of the Ogrons thumbed a panel on the wall and the hatch swung slowly open. It revealed a small room filled with racks of crates and boxes. A single strip light flickered, casting a winking gridded shadow over the faces of the three prisoners as they were thrown roughly inside. The hatch shut with a definite-sounding clunk.

The Doctor tapped at the hatch with the tips of his fingers.

'It's megalanium. Even K9'd have trouble cutting through it.'

His hand, which had been scrabbling instinctively for the sonic screwdriver, emerged from his pocket.

Romana sunk despondently onto one of the boxes. 'Things don't seem to be going very well, do they?'

The Doctor smiled. 'I wouldn't say that. They may have got us where they want us, and their plans may be proceeding smoothly, and we may have become separated from any effective means of resistance, but, er, no, you're right, things aren't going very well, are they?' He joined her on the box.

Stokes broke his long silence with a whimper. 'You think you're very clever, don't you?'

Romana looked over at him. He was standing on the other side of the room, twitching one leg like a horse at a starting post. The excesses of the past few hours had left him crumpled and forlorn, and his large face shone with sweat under the intermittent fluorescence. 'The both of you,' he went on. 'Sat there looking pleased with yourselves. All this ridiculous running about! You seem to find it very amusing.'

Romana said calmly, 'I can a.s.sure you we do not. But there's no point in losing your head. Try to relax.'

He shuddered. 'Are you insane?' He hammered on the wall.

'We're all going to die here!'

Romana crossed the small room in two long strides and grabbed Stokes by the shoulders. 'Stokes! Stokes, listen to me!

We'll find a way out of here, but you have to keep your nerve.'

Stokes wriggled free from her grip and flopped down in a corner. 'Oh, leave me alone,' he said pathetically. 'Please, just leave me alone.'