"Quite right: untrustworthy lot, us aliens. And of course it gives you another lever for their emotions so you can continue to manipulate them in your nasty convoluted game what actually is your game, by the way? It can"t do any harm to tell me now, and you wouldn"t want me to die not knowing the whole truth. That would be cruel."
"I"m sorry, Doctor, not even now. I"m a soldier and I don"t like doing things this way, but I have my orders. It would have been so much easier for us all if you had kept your nose out of our business." He climbed aboard the flying disc that had brought them out. The guards climbed in after him, never letting the Doctor out of their sights. The disc hummed slightly and lifted clear of the ground. "We would have sent you back to your home world eventually, you know," he called down over the rail. "It really didn"t have to end like this."
"That"s a great comfort to me," the Doctor shouted back as Andez headed back towards the complex and his colourful figure dwindled in the distance.
Kambril reclined in his command chair in central control and surveyed the wall of monitor screens. This was the real heart of the City, he thought: the secret heart buried in the sub-levels that most of its population never knew existed. From here they could observe test zone trials, arrivals at the s.p.a.ceport or traffic at the tube stations at will. From here he could watch the Doctor die in comfort his comfort not the Doctor"s, of course, he thought wryly. Perhaps the gallows humour was in bad taste, but he had to view the larger picture: to weigh the death of one man, one alien humanoid, against the continued comfort and security of so many other true humans. When considered in that light it made simple politico-economic sense.
Andez came in and took the chair beside his.
"Any famous last words from the Doctor?" Kambril enquired.
"The same nonsense as before. He seemed more annoyed that I still refused to tell him everything. If he was frightened he hid it well. You have to admire his spirit."
"No you don"t," said Kambril sharply. "Start admiring them and it clouds your judgement. Our whole operation relies on maintaining a sense of proportion and detachment, remember that."
"I know my duty," Andez replied stiffly.
"Begin the sweep," Kambril ordered.
On the monitors a line of troopers began marching across the Valley through the first of the test zones and towards zone seven. Above them circled a couple of synthoid-crewed skimmers acting as spotters. There were restrictions on using aircraft in the Valley for obvious reasons, but Kambril could explain that today was a special exception. It all added an appropriate sense of drama to the proceedings.
"All safeties are off?" Kambril asked an operator.
"All off; Director," he confirmed. "All units will use lethal force instead of stun levels against any humanoid form they encounter."
"A regrettable oversight, but quite understandable in the haste to deploy the forces and protect our citizens." Kambril commented. "Record all of this as they close in on the town, especially the Doctor"s first moves. We"ll dub on a loud-hailer request to give himself up afterwards."
"Director. One of the skimmers reports a vehicle has entered the test area and is heading for zone seven," said another operator suddenly.
"What? Show me."
A screen displayed the view from the skimmer. In the far distance, entering the test zones from the Valley side and cutting across their course, a ground car was racing along a track towards the ruined town.
"Didn"t they hear the order to stay clear? Divert the skimmer to head them off. They mustn"t get in the way."
"Yes, sir. But I don"t think there"s time to intercept before they reach the town."
The ground car reached the outskirts of the town and tore down a rubble-strewn street in a cloud of dust. Harry"s head and shoulders were protruding from a window on one side and Sarah"s from the other. Both were shouting, "Doctor! Where are you?"
The car slewed round a corner and started down another street. The skimmer flew low across the jagged rooftops after it.
In central control Kambril and Andez stared in amazement at the relayed picture of the speeding car.
"Who are those people?" Kambril said.
"I"ve never seen them before," replied Andez.
"They"re trying to save the Doctor. Stop them," Kambril ordered.
A bolt of fire flared down from the skimmer and blew a hole in the roof of the car. Four more heads and shoulders appeared from other windows of the vehicle holding rifles and a volley of fire spat upwards in return. The skimmer pitched drunkenly and veered off with smoke pouring from its underside. It disappeared behind a line of skeletal houses, there was a flash and a billowing mushroom of smoke rose up into the sky.
A colourful grinning figure suddenly leapt out from behind a pile of rubble to stand in the middle of the street. The car braked in a shower of gravel and stopped with its front fender almost touching him.
"Doctor!" Harry and Sarah both gasped in relief.
"h.e.l.lo, Sarah, Harry fancy meeting you here. You"ve brought some friends along, I see." He caught sight of the car"s driver. "h.e.l.lo, Brant I thought I might meet you again."
"Did you see who fired?" Kambril said in disgust. "One of them was a synthoid."
"And three of them were aliens."
"Jand, I think," said Andez.
"It doesn"t matter what wait a minute, wasn"t there a report about some renegade Jand stealing a Landoran destroyer?"
"With the help of an unidentified human, yes."
"Alert s.p.a.cewatch. Launch all patrol ships. Sweep the entire system!" He turned back to the view of the town. The car was now speeding out the other side opposite to the advancing ground force. "Meanwhile, call out every available unit: ground and air. Everyone in that car must die."
The car bounced along the track and the Doctor, sitting between Harry and Sarah in the middle row of seats, braced himself as best he could.
"Are we heading for anywhere in particular or just running away in general?" he asked.
"There are entrances to old service and construction tunnels all over these cliffs," Brant called over her shoulder as she fought to hold the car steady, "and I know them pretty well.
I"ll hide you there and get back to my post. As long as they don"t suspect I"ve helped you, I should be able to smuggle you out again. I"m head of the supply department, remember."
"Isn"t there any other way out?" Sarah asked.
"Only through the s.p.a.ceport."
"We have our own ship waiting to pick us up, but we can"t get a signal through," Ch.e.l.l said to the Doctor by way of explanation.
"The Valley"s shielded," said the Doctor. "You"ll have to get above the emitters."
"That wouldn"t do any good," said Brant, "because "
A blast rocked the car and she swerved sharply. Three skimmers were closing in on them. Max and the Jand soldiers leant out of the windows and returned fire, causing the skimmers to pull back.
"Don"t worry we can hold them off for long enough," said Ch.e.l.l.
"But can you hold them off?" said Sarah, pointing out to their left.
From across the plain, like scurrying beetles, the distant form of a line of tanks was closing on them.
"I didn"t think they"d mobilize so quickly," said Brant. "If they cut us off before we reach the cliffs..."
"Those tanks are synthonic?" the Doctor asked.
"Of course," said Brant. "But why "
"Then it"s time to play the ace up my sleeve I think," said the Doctor. They all looked at him in surprise. "I took precautions against something like this," he responded with a grin, reaching for one of his coat b.u.t.tons. "I suggest you shut down your sensors for a minute or two," he said to Max, "this may be rather uncomfortable." In the rearview mirror Brant"s eyes caught his and he smiled back as he pulled hard on the b.u.t.ton. "A canard device, spoof and moonshine..." It came free trailing a length of silver thread.
Just as a missile from the approaching tanks burst almost underneath their front wheels.
In the corner of lab three the Doctor"s strange device suddenly hummed into purposeful life. Cara, who with the rest of her staff had been standing at the windows watching the distant activity out on the Valley floor, turned about in surprise in time to see a pale glow surround the apparatus.
The skimmers danced crazily about the sky as their synthoid crews lost control of their limbs. The line of approaching tanks broke up in disorder as their synthonic brains went haywire.
The long barrels of their gimballed twin-energy cannon swivelled about on their independent turret rings, firing off at wild angles and blowing holes in the turf, the empty air and, occasionally, each other. In central control the screens dissolved into a snow of sparks. Operators s.n.a.t.c.hed headphones from their ears to escape the deafening howl of static erupting from every speaker tuned into synthonic wavelengths.
Kambril and Andez stared about in astonishment. "It"s some weapon of the aliens," shouted Kambril above the din.
"Then why didn"t they use it sooner?"
"Then it"s the Doctor"s doing. It has to be!" said Kambril.
"But how? That little sonic device of his couldn"t possibly generate this much power."
For a moment Kambril could only gape helplessly. Then his eyes narrowed. "A perfect red herring!"
"What?"
"That ridiculous archaic phrase of his." He pressed an intercom b.u.t.ton. "Kambril to lab three. Is the Doctor"s machine functioning?"
After a moment Cara Tarron"s strained voice came on line.
"Yes it is, Director. I don"t understand "
"Never mind turn it off."
"But that"s the problem I can"t."
The smoke of the explosion was still swirling round the overturned ground car. Sarah lay in a tangle of limbs on what had been the inside of the roof, but she couldn"t tell whose were hers and whose Harry"s or the Doctor"s and she couldn"t think because the echo of the blast was still ringing in her head. With a screech of metal a door was torn off, a metal hand reached in, grasped her arm and hauled her out on to the cool gra.s.s, where she lay coughing. Max reached into the car again. He was twitching incessantly as though receiving continuous small electric shocks, but he kept moving. A hundred metres away she saw a downed skimmer. Its two synthoid crew were sprawled on their backs, jerking and writhing helplessly.
Then they were all clear of the wrecked car, battered and bleeding from minor cuts but still moving. Sarah looked around. Where was Brant? She struggled to her feet. The Doctor and Harry were beside the hole where Max had torn the driver"s door free. Brant lay in the remains of her seat.
Their faces were like stone. Harry glanced up at Sarah and shook his head slightly. Sarah took one look at the b.l.o.o.d.y remains of Brant"s chest and stomach and turned away. She heard Elyze say faintly to the Doctor, "Tell ... Cara that...I"m sorry..."
Then there was silence.
For a long moment the Doctor did not move. Then he stood up, turned abruptly on his heel and strode purposefully towards the grounded skimmer. The rest of them followed.
Harry and Sarah half supported Max, who still moved with jerky steps.
"Are you all right?" she asked anxiously.
"I begin...to understand...what humans call...pain," he said fitfully as they pa.s.sed the Deepcity synthoids still writhing on the ground. "Your Doctor...is most ingenious."
They all just managed to squeeze on to the skimmer platform. The Doctor operated the controls and with a laboured drone the disc slowly took off.
"Where are you headed?" Ch.e.l.l said as the air began to whistle past them.
"For the mountains. If we can get out of the Valley we can find somewhere to hide while we signal your ship."
"Brant seemed to think that idea wouldn"t work," Sarah reminded him.
"Without her as a guide it"s our only chance."
"Doctor, how long will this spanner you"ve obviously thrown in the works last?" Harry asked practically.
"That depends," said the Doctor.
A security squad burst through the doors of lab three. "The Director ordered the Doctor"s machine destroyed," shouted their leader.
"Well, I can"t oblige," said Cara angrily, "because, as you can see, it"s got its own built-in forcefield."
The guards looked in surprise at the glowing haze around the humming apparatus. "Uh, right, all of you get back," said the squad leader to the scientists. "Squad: weapons to maximum power prepare to fire."
The skimmer crossed the green strip that fringed the Valley floor some way along from the main complex and began to rise up the almost vertical cliff face. Sarah clung tightly to the handrail and tried not to look down. Out across the plain she could still make out the tanks careering wildly about. Just five minutes more, she thought. She realized the Doctor was s.n.a.t.c.hing glances at Max in between his piloting. Of course: as soon as Max regained full control it meant the rest of the synthoids would be back as well. A thought struck her.
"Doctor why haven"t they sent any human soldiers after us?"
"Because they"ve become dependent on machines to do their fighting for them," the Doctor said. "But they will soon enough if they can"t shut down my interference generator." He looked at Max again and frowned. "Excuse me, but why aren"t you immobilized like the others?"
"Max is special," Sarah said defensively.
"I can see that. It"s remarkable he"s still standing, but how?"
"Recent damage necessitated...radical central control circuitry self repair," Max stuttered out. "Behavioural changes have been observed...Parameters of awareness have been...extended."
"Fascinating," said the Doctor, peering at him with a gleam in his eye.
"Doctor, you dare even think of tinkering with Max"s brain!" Sarah warned him.
"Wouldn"t dream of it," said the Doctor. "I apologize for the inconvenience, Max. Just hang on a little longer and we"ll be out of the Valley and the effect should diminish."
"Apology accepted, Doctor."
"That"s right, old chap," said Harry cheerily. "Soon be there.
See, we"re climbing faster already."
The Doctor looked at the controls again, then at the rockface rolling past them. "So we are," he said. "Now that"s very odd."