20.
Special Announcement he worst part of being handled along with the other freig T ht, Harry reflected, apart from the cramped conditions and the innumerable bruises one picked up, of course, was the sense of uncertainty. External sounds were m.u.f.fled by the carton and its padding. Airholes let in some light, but it had not been possible to position them or make them large enough to allow him to see any useful details without risking detection, so he had no idea what was coming next. In the end he simply cradled his pistol to his chest and hoped for the best.
The unloading seemed to take for ever. Eventually the carton in which he was concealed had been sent down some sort of conveyor out of the ship"s hold, picked up and placed inside another container along with several other items of cargo. When the load was finally complete a door or hatch had closed, shutting out the light again. There had followed a brief sense of acceleration, steady almost vibrationless motion for some minutes, then deceleration again. The hatch had reopened and light had returned. More mechanical handling had deposited him on a cart or trolley, which rolled away smoothly for a couple of minutes, making a few turns left and right, before coming to a stop. His carton was slid off with a b.u.mp, dragged a few feet then left alone. He heard more thuds and grating noises as the rest of the load was set down, then the light snapped off again and a door closed.
Harry allowed two minutes of darkness and silence to pa.s.s before he cautiously broke open the carton and got stiffly to his feet, still holding his pistol ready. With his free hand he unclipped the small torch from his survival suit belt, switched it on and played it about him. Scuff-marked walls and floor, one wide doorway, no windows and a jumble of packing cases and a.s.sorted machine parts met his eye. A typical store-room: just what they"d been hoping for. It had been a reasonable gamble that such a large delivery of salvage would not be examined immediately. Now they must make the most of whatever undisturbed time they had to fmd a safer hiding place. He checked the test gauge on the sleeve of his survival suit as he"d been shown, then pulled down his breathing mask and cautiously sniffed the air.
"I think it"s okay," he said softly.
Other cartons and pieces of salvaged battle machinery split open, and the rest of the party emerged. Red light glowed from within a large plastic-wrapped bundle, which suddenly heaved upright and split apart as Max rose to his feet and resumed full power. In a moment the six of them were standing in the middle of the floor.
Ch.e.l.l had some disturbing news. "The communicator link with the Oranos Oranos faded out just before we landed," he said softly. "Unless it is restored we shall have to use alternative methods of signalling our position when the time comes, which may mean a delay in retrieval. Meanwhile, we remove any traces of our presence and move out of here before they inspect the new delivery." faded out just before we landed," he said softly. "Unless it is restored we shall have to use alternative methods of signalling our position when the time comes, which may mean a delay in retrieval. Meanwhile, we remove any traces of our presence and move out of here before they inspect the new delivery."
The concealed voids they had travelled in were quickly filled with loose items of equipment which had been packed about them for this purpose, and wrapping and sealing straps were replaced. Max"s now empty pallet was tucked away at the back of the store-room. Hopefully n.o.body would notice the absence of one item in such a large and a.s.sorted consignment unless they had a detailed shipping manifest, and even if they did they would probably blame it on an error at the other end. By the time the confusion was sorted out their mission would be completed one way or the other.
The wide corridor outside the store-room was well lit by fluorescent panels, but was otherwise quite featureless and gratifyingly empty. Distant sounds echoed down it: the compound murmur of footfalls, voices and humming machinery. It reminded Harry of a service corridor in a large hospital somewhere between the laundry and the boiler room: an essential link but often deserted for long periods, except for the occasional lost visitor. He hoped that was the case here.
Weapons held at the ready, they made their way along the corridor.
Just around the second corner from the store-room was a pair of doors from beyond which Max could detect no signs of life. They opened on to a short lobby, half-lit by a frosted gla.s.s panel set in a door at the far end. In addition there were two more doors halfway down on either side. With the outer door closed it was rea.s.suringly quieter than the main corridor.
Sarah bent down and ran her fingers over the lobby floor then displayed the result to the rest: dust. Max scanned again before they cautiously opened the side doors. The rooms beyond were dark and they had to use torches, which revealed surprisingly ordinary public washrooms with all the usual fittings. Well, anything approximately humanoid and bipedal would probably require similar arrangements, Harry supposed. Weren"t the Averon meant to be humanoid and bipedal?
The far door opened on to a room illuminated by a slightly grimy window half overgrown by fern fronds and trailing vines. Several stacks of inst.i.tutional quality furniture and a certain mustiness in the air suggested a staff rest-room or utility s.p.a.ce which had seemed a good idea in principle but had failed in practice, and had been abandoned to the storage of those items which were not worth repairing but were still too good to discard. The only significant feature was a large flat gla.s.s vid screen inset halfway up one of the side walls, which was quite dark under its veil of dust. They crossed to the window and peered outside.
The window was situated at about third floor level and cut into a vertical cleft in a wall of living rock. It looked out on to a stretch of semi-wild parkland, shaded by tall trees of several exotic forms and laid out with clumps of brilliant multicoloured alien shrubs. The ground was covered in gra.s.s or moss of green, red and blue hues. The park meandered away, the ground rising slightly until it was crossed by a thicker line of trees in the distance, through which could just be made out a very high wall. A few birdlike creatures flitted about the branches, but there was no other sign of life, intelligent or otherwise. Ch.e.l.l tested a window panel and found it slid aside with a few protesting squeaks, leaving an opening quite large enough to climb through and down to the slightly dank rocks and clumps of ferns directly below.
"A retreat with a back door," he said. "I think this will serve us well." A battered cabinet was placed across the gla.s.s panel in the door and Ch.e.l.l gave further orders. "After dark we shall establish a secondary camp outside in those woods, if there is enough cover. From there we can a.s.sess the extent of this base and the volume and nature of the traffic entering or leaving it.
We can also scout a suitable rendezvous point for the Oranos Oranos a.s.suming we can regain contact with her. Callon, I want you to check the transmitter make sure it isn"t a fault at this end."
The Jand artificer was examining the wall screen. "Yes, sir.
By the way, I think this is still connected. It just needs turning on."
"It won"t give us away if we do?"
"No reason to if I set it to receive only, sir."
"You can"t tell who made it, I suppose?"
"Not without taking it apart, sir. Very standard pattern on several worlds. Could be a pre-war import anyway."
"All right, turn it on. We might learn something useful from it but keep the volume low."
The soft dirge of funereal music filled the air as an image appeared on the screen. It was a black-bordered still picture of a face familiar to most of the party.
Harry gaped. "I say, isn"t that "
"It is Dorling," Ch.e.l.l confirmed tonelessly. "In the name of the First Prophet, what are they doing showing his picture in this place?"
"Excuse me," said Sarah, "but who is he?"
"An admiral in the Landoran Navy," Harry explained. "We saw him only a few days ago."
"And now it seems he is dead," said Chen.
Sarah was frowning. "But shouldn"t the enemy be celebrating the fact, even boasting about it? Unless the Union normally show this sort of respect for their enemies?"
"They do not," Ch.e.l.l said, shaking himself as though recovering from a daze. "There is something seriously wrong here."
Even as he spoke, the picture was replaced by the flashing words: SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT, accompanied by an urgent two-tone beeping. After half a minute this was subst.i.tuted by the image of a man in Landoran military uniform sitting before a desk, who looked gravely into the camera. It is my sad duty to confirm the previous City News report. Admiral Zeff Dorling of the Landoran s.p.a.ceforce was found murdered in his room early this morning. In connection with this incident, City Security has been instructed to locate and detain the alien known as "the Doctor" " the Doctor"s face appeared on the screen " who went missing from his quarters last night, and whose distinctive garment was found at the scene of the crime..." A picture of the Doctor"s scarf appeared. "While the Doctor remains at large the test zones are closed. All non-security personnel will confine themselves to the City and recreational areas only. All personnel are warned to be vigilant and report any sightings of this man immediately. If the Doctor is watching this transmission, he is urged to surrender himself to the City authorities and submit to a fair trial.
"Admiral Dorling will be buried in s.p.a.ce tomorrow with full military honours. May I add my own tribute to the many we have already received, on the tragic loss of such a fine man. Please leave your receivers on for any further announcements. This is Colonel Andez, speaking for City Command." The sombre music and black-framed picture of Dorling returned.
Harry and Sarah looked at each other in mutual disbelief.
"The Doctor a murderer?" Harry said.
Sarah shook her head, slowly at first, then with more vigour. "No. Absolutely not. There"s been some mistake."
Ch.e.l.l looked from one to the other of them. "This is your friend, the one you told me about?"
"That"s him, sir," said Harry. "But Sarah"s right the Doctor"s no murderer. There must have been a mistake."
"That I do believe," said Ch.e.l.l heavily. "Otherwise, how is it that we have followed a trail from Averon to what, all the evidence now suggests, is a Landoran military base?" They were all silent for a moment, slowly taking in the implications of Ch.e.l.l"s words.
"There must be a reasonable explanation, sir," Orsang"tor said, sounding slightly desperate, Harry thought.
"I certainly hope so, Hectander," Ch.e.l.l agreed, "though for the moment I cannot imagine what. Meantime this revelation has made a nonsense of our mission. We cannot spy on our ally"s base. But do we simply give ourselves up to the Landorans and demand an explanation, or attempt to discover it for ourselves? We do not have much time. If there is a search being made for the Doctor, our own chances of remaining concealed for long are drastically reduced. What is the quickest way to find the truth?"
"That"s easy: you ask somebody who knows the answers,"
said Sarah. "And as we know there are humans here, then it had better be me or Harry who does the asking. Then there"s a chance we might get away with it if anything goes wrong."
"I shall accompany you," said Max. "If there are Landorans here, then there are also likely to be synthoids of similar design to myself."
"But what will you say if a Landoran asks you what you"re doing, or gives you an order to explain yourself?" Harry wondered.
"I shall disseminate," replied Max equitably. "Sarah has already taught me the concept of the "white lie": a minor deception employed for a greater good."
Ch.e.l.l looked at him narrowly. "Don"t you have any directives against deceiving Landorans, considering that they built you?"
"You need have no fear that I will jeopardize the mission, Dekkilander. Though I am inhibited from harming any Landoran, I am also programmed to serve the general cause of the Alliance, and to this purpose the link we have discovered between this place and Averon must be investigated. I find I can resolve the conflict between these two objectives without difficulty. I am also curious to discover the truth."
"We"ll make a reporter out of you yet, Max," said Sarah.
"Now all we need is someone to talk to," said Harry.
"I think I see a possible source," said Ch.e.l.l. He had glanced out of the window as Harry had spoken. Walking slowly through the park was the figure of a woman with her head bent low. Even from this distance there was clearly a disconsolate slump to her shoulders.
"Something"s bothering her and she"s taking a walk alone to think it over," Sarah surmised. "She could suit us very well."
"Break out the climbing line," Ch.e.l.l ordered. "Wait till she pa.s.ses behind those trees."
Elyze Brant wandered aimlessly through Ribbon Wood, which skirted the base of the cliff wall and divided it from the test zones. If you walked far enough towards the head of the Valley the windows and balconies cut into the cliff petered out, and you could be truly alone and un.o.bserved. It was a good place to think if only she could get her thoughts into some sort of order. But she knew she would have no peace of mind while the guilt remained. She wished she could confess it all to a priest. But presumably you had to have genuine faith in something or somebody for the absolution to be effective, and she had just realized the only people she believed in were the ones she had been deceiving all these years. The decent dedicated workers of Deepcity the innocent gullible dupes of Deepcity. And Cara called her a friend. If only she knew.
Would they understand if she said she was sorry? But she knew she didn"t have the moral courage to speak up, and so did Kambril. He probably wasn"t even bothering to have her watched in case she did something foolish, or something defiant. Was that the solution? The coward"s way out. Leave messages telling the truth on everybody"s terminals and escape the pain and guilt for ever? It would cause even more pain to others, of course, but how long could the lie continue?
She became aware that she had company.
A man and woman in grey utility suits had appeared through the trees from her right and were walking along a path that converged with hers. A synthoid followed a little distance behind them. As they approached she saw the woman had dark brown hair and bright features set in a neat oval face, while the man had a stong square jaw and dark curly hair. Vaguely she tried to place them.
"h.e.l.lo," said the woman as they stepped up beside her.
"Terrible news about the admiral, isn"t it?"
"Yes," Elyze said shortly, hardly looking up and wishing they had chosen some other time for a walk in the woods.
"Only saw him the other day as well," said the man. "Hard to believe, isn"t it?"
"Yes," said Elyze again, but she let her gaze linger a little longer, receiving polite smiles in return. She couldn"t put names to their faces or recall their positions, but she felt they were distantly familiar all the same. How was that possible?
"And this Doctor person do you think he actually did it?"
The Doctor, of course. She stopped and faced them.
"I don"t know how you got here, but you"re his friends, aren"t you?" she said boldly. "He described you to us."
The two hesitated uncertainly, then the woman said, "Yes.
I"m Sarah Jane Smith, this is Harry Sullivan and that"s Max.
We got ourselves smuggled in here inside a cargo shipment.
And we can"t believe the Doctor"s responsible for this murder."
"I know he isn"t," said Elyze simply.
There: she"d told the truth at last without checking with Kambril first. Perhaps the rest would come in time.
Meanwhile if she could save one innocent life it would be a start.
"You know he didn"t do it?" Smith said in bewilderment.
"But why haven"t you said any-"
"You can"t begin to understand what"s been happening here and there"s no time to explain," Elyze said with a firmness that surprised even herself it was glorious to have a simple purpose she could believe in at last. "I can help. I know what they"re planning " she looked at her watch " but if we don"t act quickly the Doctor"s going to die."
21.
Death in the Valley he Doctor rubbed his wrists where the shackles had con T strained them and looked hopefully at Andez and the two synthoid guards who had their gun arms trained on him.
"Let me guess. You"ve seen the error of your ways and are going to release me? And after being cooped up in that cell for all these hours, you thought I needed some fresh air first." He indicated their surroundings with a sweep of his hands. They had put down on the edge of zone seven: the ruined town. It was bounded by an open expanse of shallow sand dunes, a jungle zone and a stretch of gra.s.sland.
The man was irrepressible, you had to grant him that, thought Andez. Aloud he said, "No, Doctor; you"re going to die."
"Like poor old Malf?"
"So you knew about our counterfeit admiral? And I suppose you told him about the pentatholene? I didn"t think he was really capable of working it out for himself. Well, you must bear some of the responsibility for his death, then."
"But I didn"t actually kill him," the Doctor pointed out coldly.
"No, but most of Deepcity thinks you did, which is all that matters. Once I"m clear, this entire area will be swept by synthonic units, which will hunt you down and kill you while resisting arrest for the crime."
"Resisting with what?"
Andez drew the Doctor"s sonic screwdriver from his pocket and tossed it over to him. "Don"t even think about attempting to use it against me, Doctor the synthoids would shoot you before you could even take aim. But after I"m gone, feel free.
It"s an alien device many of the scientists have seen you use, and they also know it can function as a simple weapon. Maybe you can disable a few synths with it in some ingenious manner. It"ll be a good test for them while demonstrating how dangerous you are. And it gives you a chance to prolong your life for a while."
"A sporting chance, eh?"
"This isn"t a game, Doctor. Just be grateful you can die fighting. A suitably edited recording of your death will be shown to the rest of the City. There will be speculation that you were working for Averon after all, and it will be held up as an example of how careful we have to be in trusting aliens in the future."