Trix"s legs slipped clear of the beam. She clung on to the splintering wood by her fingers; not a sitting duck, but a dangling one.
Falsh couldn"t miss.
With a quick prayer to anyone who might be listening, Trix let go and dropped down into the centrifuge. The blast from Falsh"s rifle lashed past her as she fell, she felt its heat on her cheek even as she slammed feet first into the metal tub. Her whole body jarred with the impact, but she held herself still and silenced the whimpers of agony she felt building at the back of her throat.
"Trix?" called Falsh.
She held her breath for what seemed like an age, didn"t make a sound. If he thought she was dead he might just turn around and leave.
The seconds ticked by. Nothing.
Trix bit her lip, closed her eyes and said a silent "thank you" to the heavens.
She had more lives than a cat!
There was a clattering noise as something landed beside her. A metal ball, a giant Malteser, clicking quietly to itself.
Falsh had taken more than just a rifle from the ga.s.sed soldiers. This had to be a grenade.
Swearing, Trix grabbed for it and threw it back out again. There was an enormous explosion. The centrifuge shook. The gloomy rafters above her lit up a brilliant magnesium white then took fire. A succession of WHOOMPHs went up around her big metal bucket, telling her a proper big blaze was taking hold.
Trix stared wildly around. The metal walls around her were sheer and unscalable. And getting hotter.
227.
Chapter Twenty-nine.
"Aha," said the Doctor. "This must be the control centre."
He led Halcyon into a large, hexagonal room. One of the walls was given over to a giant viewscreen, a great window looking out on to the star-studded darkness of s.p.a.ce. A chunky, rugged console was arranged beneath it, with seating for three. The seats were empty though big, little and middle-sized bodies lay curled up on the ground, two men and a woman and a large chunk of the thick plastic console had been split open, exposing the wires and filaments beneath.
"What is it?" hissed Halcyon.
"There was quite a fight in here." The Doctor ran over to check the damage.
"No major systems affected. . . " He brought up a bubblescreen, flicked through some pages. Then he bashed his fist down on the console in anger. "The destructive charges are primed but the software"s damaged. I can"t call up selective detonation. The whole network of mined moons will need to be reconnected before we can start punching them out of the network."
"What"s that?" Halcyon jumped at the sound of quiet footsteps close by.
The Doctor spun around to see, but no one was there. Then he realised his banging the console had called up a new set of bubblescreens, floating in front of the main viewscreen. They showed an array of static views of rooms and corridors presumably fed from security cameras.
One of them showed a docking tube and a man. It was his his footsteps they could hear, as he moved along with a curious, jerky gait. He clutched a laser gun in both hands. footsteps they could hear, as he moved along with a curious, jerky gait. He clutched a laser gun in both hands.
"Klimt," hissed the Doctor, helping Halcyon to the pilot"s seat at the console.
"Klimt?"
"A man who"ll do anything he can to stop me blowing up Leda." He frowned.
"You know, in this sort of situation, his role and mine are usually reversed."
"What are you talking about, Doctor?" cried Halcyon, clinging on to both sides of the chair like he might fall out.
"This whole madness is his design. The slugs are Klimt"s creation, and he"ll do anything to protect them."
Halcyon started to quake.
The Doctor placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, he"ll try, anyway. And I"ll I"ll try to stop him or to buy you time, anyway." try to stop him or to buy you time, anyway."
229.
"Me? Time to do what?" He stared about helplessly. "Where am I?"
"At the helm of this station. You"re going to have to instruct the computer to re-make those connections."
"I"m blind, you idiot!" stormed Halcyon.
"I know and I can"t let you hide behind that any longer," the Doctor snapped. "The computer has verbal control. You used to be an engineer, man!
In this day and age I can"t imagine you did much without one of these things.
And most importantly, you know the names of all the satellites for the chop in your grand orchestration. You do do, right?"
"I. . . " Halcyon stared sightlessly around at the systems. "I don"t know if I can "
"You must," said the Doctor simply. "Or we"ll all die. There"s no saying how long we have until we succ.u.mb to the influence of those creatures, blind or or sighted. Do you want to die like these poor people around you? Like they"re dying in their thousands on Callisto? If left unchecked, that sort of stuff could seriously eat into your profit margins." sighted. Do you want to die like these poor people around you? Like they"re dying in their thousands on Callisto? If left unchecked, that sort of stuff could seriously eat into your profit margins."
"Stop prattling, man, my mind"s a whirl already!"
"Don"t talk to me," the Doctor hissed in his ear. "Talk to the computer. And give me your cloak."
"My cloak? Why?"
The Doctor yanked it off, snapping the thin chain that held it in place about his neck. "Because I"ve got to improvise." He paused in the doorway. "Don"t forget the moment the charges are cleared for detonation, destroy Leda."
"Check," said Halcyon hoa.r.s.ely.
Without another word, the Doctor ran from the room. He hadn"t noticed the body of the girl start to twitch and shiver, just behind where Halcyon sat in gloomy majesty.
"Kreiner, no!" Sook screamed, dragging herself towards him.
Mildrid"s struggles were weakening kneeling down, Kreiner"s weight on her, she could use none of her skills to get free. But what could Sook do?
Nothing. And the moment he"d finished with Mildrid, he"d start on her.
The PadPad charger was hooked around the edge of the fallen trolley, close to Kreiner"s eye level. It was hanging by a smouldering wire. She yanked it out. The resultant sparks made him recoil, flail around on his back. Mildrid scrambled clear, making some terrible noises as she gasped for breath.
Already Kreiner was raising his head from the floor, eyes staring around wildly.
So she grabbed the thinkset, pressed it against his neck, slid it up behind his ear.
He convulsed, then fell still.
230.
Trix was trying to scale the sides of the centrifuge, but it was no use. Even when she jumped up she couldn"t reach the top of the circular wall. The metal was almost too hot to touch already.
Her heart was knocking like a pneumatic drill. She was going to roast to death in this thing, while Falsh walked casually off to freedom.
An awful cracking noise sounded above her. The rafters, consumed with flame, were giving way. The sky was falling in.
She let rip with an almighty shriek as a length of charred timber came crashing down on top of her. . .
It landed on its end, missing her by inches. Slowly, the length of flaming wood toppled and crashed against the lip of the centrifuge at an angle of 45 degrees.
She blinked in amazement, choked in the smoke. If she could climb the beam to the top. . .
Whipping off her stained jacket, she beat at the flames. That worked a little, but the smoke was getting thicker, she didn"t have long. Turning the jacket into a pair of makeshift oven mitts to protect her hands, she climbed up quickly, unsteadily.
She reached the lip but she was still a good fifteen feet above the ground.
She hesitated, stared around at the inferno taking hold of the makeshift lab, at the blankets of black smoke blinding the air.
There was no choice. As distances went, it was a lot easier to fall than to climb. She swung herself over the scorching hot lip and dropped down. Her ankle twisted beneath her, stabbed with pain. She took a sharp breath filling her lungs with smoke.
Eyes streaming, convulsed with coughing, Trix dragged herself towards the broken windows, hauled herself through them and collapsed the other side.
Done it!
Her skin felt hot, and her throat stung with smoke. Her ankle was sore, but it could hold her weight, just. She rubbed her watering eyes.
Tinya was standing in front of her.
"Hey! You got out, all by yourself," said Trix, coughing. "Well done."
She blinked rapidly, frowning. Tinya was no longer modelling her unlikely lingerie she was wearing a purloined soldier"s jacket and trousers.
"And covered your modesty. All by yourself. Without me telling you to."
Trix"s heart dipped in her chest. "The hypnosis thing has worn off, hasn"t it?"
"My mind"s thrown off its control."
"More like there wasn"t enough paint spilled to hold you under for long,"
said Trix, coughing again. "But at least it was enough to wreck your little auction."
"You"ve cost me everything," Tinya hissed. "Well. Almost everything."
231.
"You mean, you"ve still got your compa.s.sion and sisterly love?" Trix suggested brightly.
"Your transport," said Tinya. "Your blue box. The one that can float through walls. That"s got to be worth something."
"It"s got great sentimental value."
"I"m taking it." Tinya pointed a gun at her. "Lead me to it, give me its "secrets and I may let you live."
"It needs mercury," said Trix quickly, "or it can"t move anywhere."
Tinya nodded, unfazed. "There"ll be some in Phaedra"s lab. Let"s go."
Fitz woke up suddenly in his old place on Mechta, before things turned bad.
The day was bright and spotless, like the bedclothes. Warmth from outside was coming through the window. He would see Serjey today, maybe Anya. All his old friends. . .
Mildrid could breathe a little easier now. "Sook, what did you do?"
Sook breathed a sigh of relief as Kreiner eased himself back on to the floor like he was tucking himself in.
"Put Halcyon"s thinkset on him," she said, checking the PadPad disc was secure behind his ear. "Still loaded with Kreiner"s own scenarios. He"s somewhere he knows and feels comfortable, I guess, so he"s calm again. For now."
Mildrid helped her to her feet. "What got into him?"
Sook shrugged, and winced at the pain it caused her. There was a thick tightness at the base of her neck. "What got into Gaws and that mob on Callisto and our hijacker?"
"And the rest." Mildrid coughed and wheezed. "The whole city seemed to be going insane."
"It could be you or me next," said Sook.
"You don"t really believe that?"
Sook nodded. The base of her skull felt like it was caught in a tightening vice.
"So, what do we do? Lock ourselves in different rooms in case we start trying to kill each other?"
Kill, thought Sook, turning away from Mildrid to hide her smile. It seemed suddenly such a sweet and irresistible thought.
She turned back to the fat cow and threw herself forwards with an angry cry. But her prey was too fast, she rolled back out of reach.