Doctor Who_ Father Time Part 44

Ferran turned briefly to the Deputy. 'Like it never went away. Computer, use internal sensors to locate Miranda.'

'Internal surveillance is not functioning.'

'You told me all s.h.i.+p systems were working at full capacity.'

'The surveillance system, while powered from the s.h.i.+p's generators, is your technology retrofitted to the s.h.i.+p. As such it is not cla.s.sified as a s.h.i.+p system.'

Ferran stared up at the pyramid. Computer was artificially intelligent, and had shown signs of having a personality, a sentience, in the past. He had often been struck by a sense that Computer was being insolent, or wilful.

'Why would it be malfunctioning?' he asked his Deputy.

She wore a puzzled expression. For his benefit, he a.s.sumed, as she wouldn't be feeling feeling puzzled. 'It would have gone to stand-by mode when the power went down. It sounds as if it hasn't automatically started up again when power was restored.' puzzled. 'It would have gone to stand-by mode when the power went down. It sounds as if it hasn't automatically started up again when power was restored.'

Ferran turned back to Computer. 'Are the internal cameras working?' They were original features of the s.h.i.+p.

'They are. A visual search of the s.h.i.+p will take several minutes, and coverage is limited to those areas mapped by your people.'

Ferran narrowed his eyes. Computer had steadfastly refused to release any technical information or deck plans of Supremacy Supremacy unless his people figured it out for themselves. His best engineers had tried to override Computer's security, but had found nothing. Computer seemed to bear no malice to those who tried or have any objection to the mapping teams. Almost perversely, when a mapping team had searched an area, Computer released the details. There seemed no way round this, and Computer offered no explanation. unless his people figured it out for themselves. His best engineers had tried to override Computer's security, but had found nothing. Computer seemed to bear no malice to those who tried or have any objection to the mapping teams. Almost perversely, when a mapping team had searched an area, Computer released the details. There seemed no way round this, and Computer offered no explanation.

'Computer put images from the internal cameras on screen.'

The holographic bubble became a montage, a confused collection of images. There was no sound, just movement and colour.

Ferran stared at them. 'How?'

In the refectory, three dozen slaves, and half a dozen guards were holding a group of technicians hostage, while a smaller group was barricading the doors.

The armoury door was open, and a small man was pa.s.sing out neutron guns to slaves and guards. None of the guards were wearing helmets, but some had material tied around their arms or necks scarves, bandanas: marks of individuality.

There was a firefight going on in the hydroponics area neutron bolts picking out guards, who fell from their positions in the trees and behind statues.

Slaves surged down corridors in the barracks areas, opening up the doors, dragging out the sleeping guards.

The saucer cradles at the far end of the s.h.i.+p were controlled by slaves, guards and technicians, who were sharing food and laughter.

The main engines were secured behind sealed bulkheads and doors thicker than any bank vault's. Inside the engine rooms, the engineers and technicians cowered, prepared barricades and argued among themselves. Ferran could not hear what they were saying, but it seemed one group the minority, thankfully wanted to open the doors and welcome the rebels in. For their part, on the other side of the barriers, slave crews were slowly burning big holes using heavy cutting gear.

'Computer: activate pain inducers throughout the s.h.i.+p. Everywhere but this room.'

'Unable to comply.'

The Deputy pointed him to the lower left-hand corner of the hologlobe. 'They've smashed the master control unit.'

Ferran stared into the screen, transfixed by what he saw.

'Seal the bridge,' he ordered.

She'd killed a man once.

Miranda had been haunted by it every day since.

She had no doubt that Sallak had deserved to die. He'd killed her parents, his master had murdered her family. It really was kill or be killed. She had rationalised it, come up with any number of philosophical and logical justifications for what she had done.

But none of them had explained why she had enjoyed enjoyed it. it.

The sense of power as she'd taken a life.

And during the years she'd been travelling, that was what had worried her the most. That Ferran was right, that locked inside her blood and her genes was a monster.

She'd started a riot. Perhaps she'd even started a revolution. She wasn't thinking that far ahead. For now, she wanted the slaves freed and Ferran captured.

Or killed.

Lives would be lost.

She'd not seen anyone killed here, let alone killed anyone herself, but it was inevitable. There was so much pent-up anger among the slaves. And among the guards and scientists Cate had been right: over one in three of them had switched sides the moment the possibility existed.

Graltor was at her side, keen eyes and ears listening out. Somehow, without either of them saying anything, he'd become her bodyguard. He was carrying a neutron rifle, and made the bulky weapon look small. No doubt he could hear the disturbance. Gla.s.s shattering, battering rains against doors. There was the smell of smoke in the air.

But the riot hadn't reached Miranda's room yet.

She stepped out of the travel tube. The door to her chamber was broken, and the lock looked like it had been blasted off.

Graltor went into her room first, made sure it was clear.

As Miranda followed, she saw Debbie Castle's body was just inside the door. Miranda checked it, but she was long gone, just as Cate had said. She closed the woman's eyes.

'I'll keep watch,' Graltor a.s.sured her. He brandished his neutron rifle, to emphasise his point, and leaned against the door frame, looking out into the corridor.

Miranda was already heading for the bed. Her father lay there, immobile, She ran her hand over his cheek. His lip was split and there was swelling round his left eye.

His eyes fluttered open. 'Miranda? I'm... it's... I think I might be dead.'

The Doctor's head flopped back.

'That's the Emperor?' Graltor asked. 'It doesn't look like the Emperor. When I was a gladiator, I was given a medal by the Emperor. He was '

'Shush,' Miranda said, laying her head on her father's chest. 'He's alive.'

The Doctor's eyes snapped open. 'Good,' he said.

He tried to sit upright, but the effort was too much.

'I can't believe you got here. How did you get here?'

'Atlantis. s.p.a.ce shuttle. Hijacked it.'

Miranda laughed.

'Ferran...' the Doctor said.

She smiled. 'It's OK. Cate, the Deputy, she's on my side. She told Ferran you'd died, then radioed me and told me where to find you. These should help.' She attached a couple of white pads to the back of the Doctor's neck. 'It's medicine,' she explained. 'Special s.p.a.ce medicine. I've no idea how it works, but it does.'

She saw her Batman T-s.h.i.+rt on the floor, leaned down and picked it up. 'I've been looking for that. Graltor, look the other way a moment, would you?'

He returned to his post at the door.

She slipped her jacket off, tugged off her s.h.i.+rt and pulled the T-s.h.i.+rt back on.

Her father was blus.h.i.+ng.

'Dad...' she admonished.

'He killed Debbie. You remember Debbie Castle?'

'Of course. I'm sorry.' She finished tucking in the T-s.h.i.+rt and reached for her jacket.

'We could have been a family.'

Miranda kissed him on the forehead. The swelling around his eye was already going down. 'You're going to be OK.'

'My side.'

Miranda s.h.i.+fted a little. 'I'm sorry. Am I putting too much weight on it?'

The Doctor managed a small chuckle. 'No. You said, "my side". Since when have you had a side?'

Miranda smiled.

The Deputy had taken her place behind Ferran's chair, looked over his shoulder as he tried to piece together the scale of the rebellion.

Computer was displaying an image of Supremacy Supremacy, with rebel-held areas in red, areas secured by men loyal to Ferran in black.

Cate allowed herself a small smile.

In terms of floors.p.a.ce, most of the known parts of the s.h.i.+p were under the control of the rebels. They had blocked the travel tubes, virtually all of the lifts and the main corridors. As they watched, the red areas were virtually lapping against the blast doors of the flight deck.

Ferran hadn't given up. 'We need to marshal our forces. Our priority has to be establis.h.i.+ng communications lines and consolidating existing strongholds. Whatever else happens, we must keep control of this flight deck.'

The Doctor was standing unaided.

Miranda looked at him, full of admiration. He'd stolen a s.p.a.ce shuttle to find her. Long ago, she'd realised that she loved him, but she thought she'd burned her bridges.

There would be time for a proper reunion later. For now, she was catching up on what was happening throughout the s.h.i.+p.

She had told her father what had happened, how she'd started a revolution in about ten minutes flat. Now she learned that the astronauts were fine. They were helping her uprising a Captain Mather was giving tactical advice; the hangar bay where the shuttle was docked had become a temporary headquarters.

The Doctor nodded. 'He's US military Delta Force. I suspect this isn't the first time he's helped a revolution along.'

'He helped the Contras?'

'At the very least, I'd have thought.'

Miranda continued to take stock of the situation. There was a standoff at the engine room. There were ma.s.sive doors and walls, designed to prevent an explosion in the engines from spreading to the rest of the s.h.i.+p. Her revolutionaries, or whatever they were, couldn't get through them. The personnel in the engine room were staying loyal to Ferran, as far as anyone could tell.

But that was it: Ferran held the flight deck at one end of the s.h.i.+p, and his men held the engines at the other end. Two critical areas of the s.h.i.+p, of course they were, but her followers held, or were on the brink of taking, all points in between. They'd secured the robot garages, the saucer cradles, the armouries, the detector banks.

In a matter of ten minutes.

She wasn't sure how she'd done it. Tarvin and Graltor had led her to one of the slave refectories and just telling them that the pain inducers weren't working was enough. Suddenly, after all these years, all these centuries, there was nothing to stop the slaves. She'd lit the blue touchpaper, but wasn't sure how she could control the process.

She realised she was staring at her father, and that he was the answer.

Once he was on the flight deck, he'd take command.

Ferran sat square in his command chair, watching as the red lines and blobs spread. The slaves controlled everything, now, everything but this room and the engines.

'Mordak, override life support. If necessary, we'll shut off the air supply in other areas of the s.h.i.+p.'

'Stay where you are,' Cate ordered.

Mordak saw her gun, and sat down, keeping his hands to himself.

Cate allowed herself a smile. But, she realised with a start, she'd neglected Ferran, dropped her guard.

Her reflexes weren't a match for her master's. Ferran drew his own pistol and fired, piercing Cate's left shoulder with a needle-thin beam of white light. The Deputy span back, dropping her gun.

The Prefect's second shot hit the gun where it fell, all but disintegrating it.

The pain Cate felt was intense, but very localised. It was difficult to concentrate.

Ferran raised his gun and aimed it at his Deputy's head.

'Computer: shut down life support in all areas of the s.h.i.+p apart from the flight deck and engine rooms.'

'Such an action will kill all life forms outside those areas who are not wearing protective clothing.'

Ferran grinned. 'Of course it will. That's why I'm taking that action. Implement the order.'

'Confirmed.'