Doctor Who_ Original Sin Part 23

'How tiresome.' The strangely mellow, sardonic voice of the bot echoed around the flitterpark. It raised both of its lower arms and aimed them at Forrester. 'The Doctor's friends always were notoriously difficult to kill.'

The Doctor's friends. Bernice filed that one away for later consideration.

More metallic footsteps, like a metronome off in the shadows. Glinting highlights as the dim, scattered lights reflected off smooth metal.

Two more bots walked out of the darkness to flank the first.

'Fortunately,' said the one on the left in the same, relaxed voice, 'I've always preferred my own company . . . '

'. . . to that of anybody else,' the one on the right finished.

All three raised their gun arms simultaneously, each aiming at a different target. Two of them acquired Forrester and Bernice instantly. The third hesitated, trying to locate Cwej and failing. Bernice glanced around, but she 142couldn't find him. He'd obviously made a run for it sensible man.

'Well,' Bernice sighed, 'it's been fun.'

'No it hasn't,' Forrester snarled, 'it's been a b.i.t.c.h.'

A gravimetric motor roared into life in the depths of the flitterpark. Forrester and Bernice peered into the darkness, trying to locate the source, but failed.

'Cwej?' Forrester yelled. 'Is that you?'

The only answer was the sudden overload of the motor as the mag-brakes were abruptly taken off line.

'Cwej! What the h.e.l.l are you doing?'

Something flashed out of the darkness towards the robots, something large and blunt: a flitter, cranked up to well over the recommended speed. Two of the bots tried to leap out of the way while the third attempted to fire, but the flitter struck all three before they could move, scattering them like ninepins.

Metallic arms and legs flew off in all directions, trailing fibre-optic strands behind them. Lubricant splashed like black blood across the plasticrete.

'Way to go!' Forrester crowed, jumping up and punching the air with her fist. 'Score one to the kid.'

'The wall!' Bernice shouted, but it was too late. The pilot, a dark shadow through the flitter's canopy, tried to spin the vehicle around before it hit the approaching far wall of the flitterpark, but he was still travelling too fast. The flitter overturned and rolled. Bernice could just make out Cwej's silhouette fighting the controls, but he didn't have time.

The flitter hit the wall and exploded.

A wall of flame washed across the ground towards them. Bernice threw herself behind a pillar, but Forrester just covered her eyes and ran into the pall of greasy black smoke that erupted behind the fire. Cursing, Bernice followed.

The flitter was a blackened skeleton with a blazing heart when they got to it, and the heat was so fierce that Bernice could feel her skin blistering.

n.o.body could have survived the inferno. n.o.body.

She had to drag Forrester away. Her face was contorted into a snarl of rage, and she struggled with Bernice, trying to get back to the burning vehicle.

'Don't be a fool!' Bernice yelled. 'You can't help him now!'

'I'm not losing another partner,' Forrester spat, 'I'm not losing another partner. Not now. Not like this.'

'Forrester, we need to get out of here. That explosion will bring everybody and their aunt Ada running.'

Forrester shook her head. 'I'm not leaving.'

'What?'

143.'You heard.' She took a deep breath. 'They've won. They've beaten us. We can't crack the conspiracy now, not with Chris gone.'

'Don't be stupid. We can '

'We can't. I just don't care enough. Chris cared. He was the idealist. I'm just an old, tired woman, and I'm giving up.'

Blackened wreckage s.h.i.+fted a few feet away, and something tried to speak.

Bernice's first thought was that it was the smashed remnants of one of the robots, still trying to kill them. She was just glancing around for something to use as a weapon when Forrester pushed her to the ground and went for her blaster.

'Help . . . me . . . ' a voice whispered, full of pain.

Forrester's finger paused over the trigger. Her eyes were wide, disbelieving.

'Chris?' she cried.

Within moments, they were both crouching beside Cwej's body. His skin was blackened and cracked, revealing weeping red flesh beneath, and most of his fur had been burned off. One ear was missing.

'You stupid fool,' Forrester growled. Bernice glanced up at her, surprised by the vehemence of her reaction, and looked away again just as quickly. Tears were streaming down Forrester's face. 'I'm not losing another partner.' The Adjudicator repeated the words like a mantra. 'Whatever plans you might have had about dying, you'd better cancel them.'

'If you insist,' Cwej whispered.

'What happened?' Bernice asked. 'Can you talk about it?'

'Couldn't get the canopy open,' he murmured. His lips were bleeding. 'Saw the wall coming up. Managed to get the emergency release to ' He broke off, coughing. Forrester held his head tenderly. ' got the release to work and jumped free. Got caught in the blast.' He tried to smile. The cracks in his lips opened wider, and the trickles of blood increased. 'Used to try that sort of . . .

of stunt back in traffic control. Forgot I wasn't flying an Adjudication flitter.

No stability, these civilian models.'

'For G.o.ddess' sake, don't try to talk, you moron,' Forrester snapped.

'What happened to the bots?' he asked urgently.

'You got 'em,' she confirmed.

'Good,' he whispered, closing his eyes. 'Wouldn't want anything to happen to y . . . '

His voice trailed off into silence.

'Is he . . . ?' Forrester's eyes were locked on Bernice's, as if she didn't dare look down at her squire.

Bernice quickly checked him over. 'No,' she said finally, 'but we need to get him to a medic, and quickly.'

144.Forrester bit her lip. 'We can't risk staying in the Overcity,' she said. 'It's too dangerous. We've got to go down into the Undertown. It's our only chance!'

'If that's our only chance,' Bernice said quietly, 'then we're in a pretty sorry state.'

The knife flashed in the half-light of Daph Yilli Gar's cell. A line of pain seared across his flesh. across his flesh.

'An old-fas.h.i.+oned device,' a human voice said, 'but then, I am an old-fas.h.i.+oned man. You may find this difficult to believe, but I am over a thousand years old.' man. You may find this difficult to believe, but I am over a thousand years old.'

Flash. His scream tore at his throat as the tip of the blade drew a fiery line along his strapped-down tail, just above the point where they had burned the along his strapped-down tail, just above the point where they had burned the number in. It wasn't just the pain that made his mind squirm, it was the knowledge that there was another living creature near him and he could do nothing number in. It wasn't just the pain that made his mind squirm, it was the knowledge that there was another living creature near him and he could do nothing about it. about it.

'I remember when there were no aliens . . . '

Flash. Great explosions of agony bloomed in his mind.

'. . . no Empires . . . '

Flash. There wasn't an inch of his skin that wasn't slicked in blue blood. He tried to push the pain away, pretend that it was all happening to someone else, a tried to push the pain away, pretend that it was all happening to someone else, a long way away, but the human was too good. Too skillful with the sharp blade. long way away, but the human was too good. Too skillful with the sharp blade.

'. . . nothing but money, and pain. It's comforting to know that some things never change, isn't it? Now, shall we have another go at those questions?' never change, isn't it? Now, shall we have another go at those questions?'

Daph Yilli Gar tried to nod, but the blessed green light spread like a salve across his body and he was elsewhere, another time, another memory. blessed green light spread like a salve across his body and he was elsewhere, another time, another memory.

'Okay,' the Doctor said hurriedly, 'I will admit that killing is sometimes justified. I've killed I've been responsible for the deaths of intelligent beings before. I regret that, but it was necessary.'

Pryce leaned forward, his bottomless eyes wide. 'How did you kill them?'

Sweat trickled down the Doctor's nose. 'Later, perhaps. The important thing is, I . . . they died in order to save others.'

'What gave you the right to make that decision?'

Pulling the silk handkerchief from his jacket pocket, the Doctor mopped at his brow. He could say, 'The White Guardian,' but that wasn't a real answer.

The Doctor hadn't realized that the Guardians were interested in him for a long while, and even then the White Guardian had been very careful not to actually condone what the Doctor did. He it just took advantage of it.

'I . . . I suppose n.o.body did. I repeatedly found myself in the right position at the right time to make a difference. I balanced up the eventual outcomes, and decided that the death of one person, or a handful of people, was worth it if it kept more people alive.'

145.'In your opinion.'

'Yes. In my opinion.' He removed his jacket. Pryce's face seemed to s.h.i.+mmer in the heat. 'Backed up with experience.'

'But you didn't actually know, did you? You were just guessing. You might have been wrong.'

In his mind he was suddenly standing in a rubble-strewn corridor, deep beneath the surface of Skaro. He held two wires in his hand, half an inch apart. 'Just touch these two strands together and the Daleks are finished. Have 'Just touch these two strands together and the Daleks are finished. Have I that right? Some things might be better with the Daleks. Many future worlds I that right? Some things might be better with the Daleks. Many future worlds will become allies just because of their fear . . . ' will become allies just because of their fear . . . '

'Do I have the right?'

'Yes,' the Doctor whispered into the silence of a million accusing ghosts, 'I might have been wrong.'

'And if I kill you now,' Pryce continued, fingering his impromptu blade, 'then all those people whose deaths you will go on to be responsible for will live. If the total number of people whose deaths you will cause outweighs the number whose lives you will save, does that mean that I have the right to kill you here and now?' His fingernails were making small scratching sounds on the plastic seat cover. 'By your logic, it does.'

He didn't appear to be sweating at all; the dome of his bald head was completely dry, even though the Doctor's silk s.h.i.+rt was wet against his skin.

'Everybody dies eventually.'

Pryce's voice was hypnotically persuasive.

'What does it matter if I shorten their lives that little bit further? What do I rob them of? What do I rob you of if I kill you now?'

'But by shortening ' The Doctor coughed to clear his throat. ' by shortening somebody's life, you rob them of enjoyment, fun, and the pursuit of worthwhile activities.'

'Or the grief of bereavement, the pain of terminal illness, the misery and horror of war. Who are you to prejudge what might befall them?'

'I don't know know!' the Doctor shouted suddenly, clenching his hands so tight that his fingernails dug into his palms. 'I don't know know! Killing is wrong except when it's right, and I know the difference. That's all I can say. That's the only answer I can give.'

He raised his hands up in front of his face. Blood welled up into the crescents left by his fingernails and trickled down his palms.

'Yes,' Pryce murmured, leaning back in his seat. 'That's the only answer I could give when they put me on trial. I hope it helps you more than it helped me.'

They entered hypers.p.a.ce in silence.

146.Sandri Farrance woke with blood matting her hair and sticking her eyelids together. There was noise all around, shouting and screaming, and the acrid smell of pacifier gas was mingled with the stench of cooked flesh. She tried to open her eyes, but had to stop when a sickening spike of pain lanced through her skull.

Still, at least she was still alive. That was something. Wasn't it?

Eventually she forced her eyes open, wincing at the pain. The sun cast long shadows across the gra.s.sy parklands on top of the towers of s.p.a.ceport Nine Overcity. The riot appeared to have moved on past her. She listened for a moment, but couldn't hear anyone nearby. Taking a deliberate risk, she rolled over.

Flashes of light on top of the next tower suggested that the riot was still going on there but, in the distance, the harsh shapes of Adjudication flitters appeared to be retreating towards her through columns of smoke. The tide had obviously turned at least once since she had been hit.

She ran a hand across her scalp gingerly. It came away covered in sticky clots of blood. She hadn't been unconscious long, then. Looking around her immediate vicinity she couldn't see any of her comrades, although four underdwellers and a handful of Adjudicators lay contorted in death.

She looked back at the distant battle. The flitters were swooping low now, preparing to re-enter the fray. Squinting against the sun and the pain in her head, she thought she could make out helmeted and uniformed figures retreating back towards her across the bridges that linked the tower tops, firing backwards as they came.

Farrance glanced at the nearest Adjudicator. The man was still breathing, despite a ma.s.sive wound in his neck. It was Gallion, her squire. She would have recognized his red hair anywhere. She crawled over to him, wondering if there was anything she could do to ease his pain.

'Gallion, it's Farrance, can you hear me?' She bent over him His eyes opened, blearily focusing on her.

'Farra? G.o.ddess, but it hurts.'

'Lie quiet,' she said. 'I'll call for help.'

She didn't even see his arm as he brought it up towards the back of her neck, and the touch of the knife was just a cold breath upon her skin. It was only the spreading warmth of her blood inside her body armour that attracted her attention.

It was the last thing she felt, apart from the cold hardness of his armour as she fell across him.

Daph Yilli Gar didn't even have enough energy to extrude his eyestalks when the cell door hissed open. They had finally come for him, and he was ready. Past cell door hissed open. They had finally come for him, and he was ready. Past 147 147ready. He longed for the blessed amnesia of death, the deep and dreamless sleep which was all that could erase the humiliation he had been forced through. which was all that could erase the humiliation he had been forced through.

'Daph!'

A familiar voice. He raised one eyestalk a few inches and managed to rotate it. What he saw brought him to his basal foot despite the pain that throbbed it. What he saw brought him to his basal foot despite the pain that throbbed through his body with the beating of his nodes. through his body with the beating of his nodes.