"What did I tell you," Joiks spat. Frog finally let herself go limp in his grip. She looked exhausted. Now she was just fighting against the tears that still forced their way out of her.
Ben turned to Tovel. "Ain"t there something in your box of tricks you can give to her?"
"Yeah, Tovel?" Roba joined in. He seemed to have changed his tune. "We can stop this thing, right?"
"It is a sickness," the Doctor said, nodding. "Whereas your leader and Shade have had impurities driven from their bodies, Frog is becoming contaminated in some way." His voice wavered: "I am sure we can reverse the process."
"You don"t sound so sure to me," Roba said, letting go of Frog"s ankles.
Joiks sagged under Frog"s full weight, almost lost his balance. He shook his head. "Reckon the only cure for her"s right there in Creben"s hand."
For a long, long second, Creben looked down at his gun.
Before he could do another thing, Tovel swiped it from his grip. It skittered across the floor.
"You can forget about using that," he said flatly.
"What gives, Tovel?" Joiks hissed. "You marshal now, stretcher-bearer?"
Tovel gave a cheerless smile. "Well, I don"t know, Joiks, are you?"
Roba nodded back at Haunt"s p.r.o.ne form on the force mattress. "Someone better be."
"I should take command," said Creben stepping forward.
"How"d you figure that, brain boy?" snapped Joiks.
"I graduated to Elite training faster than any of you," Creben said simply.
"So you got less field experience than any of us," Roba pointed out.
"What else you got?"
"Gentlemen, please," the Doctor said heavily. "Listen to yourselves. Divisive forces are at work here. They seek to spread terror... will you fight amongst yourselves, or will you pit your wits against these forces and defeat them?"
"Do I have to kill you, old man?" Joiks asked like it was a serious question. "Is that what it"s gonna take to keep your mouth shut?"
Tovel stepped in quickly. "If he opened it to yawn he"d be speaking more sense than you, Joiks. You"re not in the Incendiaries now, you got witnesses, OK? So let Frog go." go."
Ben stood beside Tovel. "You heard him."
"Hey, good for you, Tovel." Joiks laughed mockingly. "You got shorty"s vote. I bet the little girl will be in your gang too!"
"That"s enough."
It was a long way from Haunt"s usual bellow, but it arrested everyone like a gunshot. She was facing them on her knees. She looked like death, pale and clammy, both hands were clamped against her side. She swayed slightly, but her gaze was defiantly steadfast. The looks on the soldiers" faces were all identical - like rowdy children caught red-faced and red-handed up to no good.
"Listen to me," she said. "No one is killing anybody. We are a team. One unit."
"One unit?" Joiks spluttered. "Denni and Lindey, dead. Shel off his head, Shade with his face cracked open, Frog not even human no more... We"re in pieces! Don"t you see that?"
"I know what I see." Haunt"s eyes locked on to his own.
"Someone so scared he can"t even think. Can"t even start to think this all out. You know, you"re funny, Joiks. You want to quit, is that it? Go back to the ship and go home? Well guess what..." She gasped suddenly, doubled up in pain. Everyone waited for the pain to subside, watched expectantly, in an uncomfortable, funereal silence. It was like waiting for the last words of someone about to die.
"You"re all each other"s got," Haunt ground out at last.
"Tovel, you"re a good pilot. Turn this thing around. Before...
Before..."
Haunt"s eyes closed and she slumped forwards across the mattress.
When no one else moved, Polly scrambled over to help her back into a lying position. Haunt"s forehead was scorching hot. She seemed short of breath, panting like she was going to be sick. The lump below her rib cage was distended so far the skin was white now under the pressure, seeping a clear fluid.
Polly felt all eyes on her. "Oh G.o.d," she said. "I think she"s going to die."
Frog picked her moment well. When she stamped down hard on Joiks"s foot she caught him completely by surprise.
His shriek of pain died when she jabbed an elbow back into his stomach, turned, and punched him so hard he almost flew backwards, crashing into one of the consoles. He lay still at its base, his eyes closed. Roba lunged for her but Frog ducked past him, sprinting for the doorway.
She never made it. Tovel raised his gun and fired. With a high-pitched electronic squawk, Frog went down hard on the floor.
"You killed her!" Polly yelled. Haunt started and stirred, her bloodshot eyes flickered open for a second. Then she sank back.
"I only stunned her," Tovel retorted. "Now if everyone will just calm down so we can think think... Roba, bring Frog over here.
Creben, see to Joiks."
Polly watched a murderous expression flit across Creben"s face at the instruction before he turned to obey.
Roba scooped up Frog from the floor, but he held her away from his body, like he didn"t want to catch whatever it was she had. Tovel pulled out one of the magic sweets from his pocket and threw it down beside Polly. She jumped as it instantly snapped into another full size mattress.
Roba dumped Frog down on it. "Getting like a regular sick bay in here," he grumbled.
Tovel eyed the unconscious Joiks as Creben dragged him past by his feet. "More like a creche," he muttered.
"Doctor," Polly gasped. "Come quickly."
Ben came too. He wrinkled his nose. "Cor, dear, what"s all that!"
A brown milky fluid was oozing from the lump in Haunt"s side.
"Is..."Polly tried not to be squeamish. "Is that the tumour?"
"Yes," breathed the Doctor, as he arrived beside them and looked down at Haunt. "The malignancy has been broken down, rejected through the pores in the skin..." He gave a dry chuckle. "It"s quite ironic of course, but this process may well have saved her life in the long term."
"How long is long," Ben reflected moodily.
"That countdown I saw," Polly recalled. "It ticked down to us taking off... I wonder if it"s ticking down now to wherever we"re due to arrive?"
Tovel had rejoined them. "That blue light, yes... That and machinery of some kind, you said."
The Doctor considered. "It sounds like some kind of engine room, wouldn"t you say?"
Tovel nodded and looked at Polly. "And you saw someone there?"
"I think so," she said self-consciously, hoping people weren"t about to depend on the information.
"We need to check it out," Tovel decided. "Short of searching this entire asteroid for some sign of Shel, it"s about the only positive thing we can do."
Creben rejoined them, having laid Joiks down beside Shade. "I agree. Having an achievable goal is better than just searching aimlessly."
Roba didn"t look convinced. "And what if we run into more of them stone things out there ."
The Doctor looked thoughtful. "We must attempt to communicate with them."
"You ain"t seen them, Doctor," Ben said quietly. "Don"t reckon talking"s on their mind."
"If they meant to harm us now, why have they not followed us here? To attack us in our quite considerable disarray, hmm?"
"Well, even if they don"t," said Polly, "what about Shel? He"s still out there, and he nearly killed you."
"We will take all the precautions we can, I promise you, Polly," said the Doctor.
"Hang on," said Ben. He didn"t sound too happy. "We? You mean you"re coming with us?"
"Of course I am, my boy."
"Hey, wait," Roba scowled. "Thought you were gonna fix up Frog?"
"By instigating this plan, I hope to," the Doctor said tetchily.
"And I suggest we attempt to wake Mr Joiks, also. The area is blocked off by a rockfall, and we shall need his strength."
There was a groan from the other side of the room, right on cue.
"Let"s hope Frog knocked some sense into him," said Ben.
"Indeed, yes. In any case, the rockfall... Once manual labour has cleared that, and the propulsion systems, as we hope them to be, revealed..." The Doctor tapped his head and chortled to himself. "Then the mind must be put to good use in sabotaging them, hmm?"
Tovel saw what he was getting at. "We can"t steer without the crystals, but we can stop ourselves before we arrive!"
"Precisely," said the Doctor.
Creben shrugged. "We might buy some time."
"And halt the malign influence affecting your friend here,"
the Doctor said to Roba, patting Frog on the arm. "Before it strikes any more of us. Driving out impurities... and yet..." He trailed away, lost in his thoughts.
"What about Pol?" Ben demanded.
Polly had been asking herself the selfsame question. "I suppose I should stay here," she volunteered, with a sick feeling in her stomach. "Look after the wounded."
"I believe that will be safest," the Doctor said, smiling at her.
Polly looked down at Frog"s unconscious body, and didn"t answer.
"What if one of them bodies goes walkabout again?" asked Ben.
The Doctor considered. "Well, we came to no harm the last time the phenomenon occurred."
"That was then!" Ben retorted. "And in case you"d forgotten, there"s still a secret doorway into this place that we don"t know about."
"We searched everywhere," Creben told him. "Found nothing."
"Well how come Polly vanished then, eh? Went flying through the wall I suppose, did she?"
Look, I can"t come with you," Polly said flatly. I can"t just leave Shade and Haunt here alone, can I? Or Frog."
"Maybe I should stay," said Ben.
Yes please, Polly thought to herself, but kept her face carefully neutral.
"The sooner we clear a path, the sooner we can return," said Creben.
There were nods of a.s.sent from the others. Polly forced a smile. "I"ll be fine."
"Shade"s injuries are healing fast," Creben added. Polly frowned; she found that hard to imagine.
"When he wakes up, he"ll be protection for you. Plus you"ll be barricaded in, Polly," Tovel a.s.sured her.