Steve Cole - Doctor Who - The Knight, The Fool and The Dead

‘Not just extracting Estinee, then,’ the Doctor murmured, picking up a handful of crystals. ‘They really were mining.’

Brian’s attention was taken by something else. A nameplate. ‘This is the Polythrope ,’ he said. ‘The ship owned by Professor Fallomax.’

‘She’s getting the old act back together,’ the Doctor breathed. ‘Let’s go softly, till we learn what’s what.’

Estinee sat slumped in a seat in the Polythrope ’s control deck, sipping warm berryjuice. The relief of hearing the motors of the mining robot coming down the tunnel towards her! She’d been terrified that the Kotturuh would find it slipping through their shields this time and destroy it before she could crawl inside for cover. And then, when the Doctor had taken control of the machine, she’d felt for sure that she was dead. If Fallomax hadn’t reasserted remote control and teleported her out …

The random blinking of the lights and the turn of the drive spools were a comforting mechanical lullaby after all she’d been through on Mordeela. She also took a strange, arm’s-length comfort from Fallomax’s souvenirs of home – the intricate patterns of the mats hanging from the walls, the carvings and the ceremonial knick-knacks ranged along the consoles … They made the confines of their shared space a little homelier.

Estinee understood the need to hold on to things that were lost. She still had her doll, sat in a dusty corner waiting for a harvest party that would never happen. I’m too old for dolls , she told herself as usual. But she smiled at the doll all the same and imagined it smiled back.

The only flicker of happiness had come when she’d shrugged off her Lifeshroud at last. It sat in a heap at her feet, and she felt so much lighter. But still she was cold, with a shivering she knew would stay with her for days. Just the touch of the Kotturuh left her feeling that way.

Professor Fallomax was programming her computer. Her pale violet skin glowed in the glare of the screen, and over her black jumpsuit she wore the original, bulkier Lifeshroud, its cables cobwebbing her limbs. Like a picket fence half lost in overgrown land, she wore a coronet of wire and crystal over her crimson hair and the high slope of her forehead. Depending on her mood, Fallomax called this Lifeshroud ‘my hiding place’ or ‘my prison’. Estinee was just grateful it worked. If the Kotturuh had tracked down Fallomax, they’d have killed her – and Estinee might have stayed lost on Mordeela for ever.

‘Did you wait for me?’ she asked Fallomax.

‘Sure I did. Waiting for you my whole life, kid.’ Fallomax had brought up a solar system schematic on the screen; the lines of orbit made reflected halos around the double-iris in each of her eyes.

‘On Andalia, I mean. Did you wait for me?’

‘Well, I had to take off. You’d been kidnapped. The Kotts were coming. I couldn’t risk them finding me, could I? I tried to fix the teleport on your Lifeshroud but it wouldn’t respond …’

Estinee kicked the ’Shroud. ‘You should fix that.’

‘I will. Now, our friend the gargoyle is indeed from Turska Gordansis … out in the Dekmar Wastes. Attack coming in … six months or so?’

‘Yeah.’ Estinee slumped further back in her seat. ‘You wanted me to get caught by the Kotts again, didn’t you. So I could find you more dates for shifting Lifeshrouds.’

‘You think I like risking Kott contact – even with a customised mining robot? Anyway, we’ve already got two shows upcoming.’ Fallomax tapped on a planet showing just at the edge of her screen, and data flowed across it. ‘But now Turska Gordansis can slot in just before Panhelion. The systems are a good distance apart, with luck the Panhelions won’t hear a thing of how it goes on TG …’ She looked sideways at Estinee. ‘Course, it is a shame you couldn’t bring back any more Kott victims so we can really rack up those dates …’

‘I tried. But I never thought the Doctor would come looking for me.’ Estinee thought of the white-headed creature with the wormy mouth beside him. ‘I had to try and help him. Him and that thing …’

‘I don’t know why your Doctor’s come sticking his nose in, but he can take it out again.’ Fallomax was only half listening, Estinee knew – lost in the scrolling green data on the screen. ‘Ah, good. There’s been a lot of Death Fear on TG. And each continental empire would sell out the others for some kind of advantage …’ She looked up, stared into space – quite literally – through the cockpit windows. ‘After you’ve demonstrated Lifeshroud a few times around the planet, demand ought to build—’

‘No way. No more than one demo per planet!’

‘Orders are never so good on a video. They miss the theatre of it.’

‘It. Hurts.’

‘I know, I know. Fine. One show. Just make it a good one.’ Fallomax was back staring at data on the screen. ‘We’ll have to check how quickly TG can raise funds for outer-world credit. If we time it right, we should be able to take payment for Lifeshrouds and the crystals to power them before the Kotts come swooping in, so we don’t miss out like on Andalia …’

‘Excuse me, Professor Fallomax?’

The voice came from behind them. Fallomax jumped and swore while Estinee yelped.

A familiar pinstriped figure, gaunt and dishevelled, stood in the cockpit doorway with the Ood beside him. ‘I’m the Doctor, this is Brian.’

‘Surprise,’ said Brian, attempting an evil inflection.

Fallomax was floored. ‘Where did you …? What are you …?’

‘What am I? Right now? Hmm.’ The Doctor pretended to think about it. ‘Angry. Yeah, angry about sums me up.’

‘I can’t have people on my ship.’ Fallomax started scrabbling in a drawer. ‘Leave my ship.’

‘Same way as your Very Important Gargoyle from Turska Gordansis left it – straight overboard? No, thanks. And I wouldn’t go for a weapon either, if I were you.’

Fallomax turned, holding a small bronze pistol. A crackle of energy burst from the sphere the Ood cupped in its hand and the pistol was knocked to the floor.

‘Told you. Leave it there.’ The Doctor seemed to be talking to both Brian and Fallomax. Then he looked at Estinee. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes,’ she said simply. ‘The Professor got me a ride—’

Fallomax shot her a look. ‘Keep out of this, Estinee.’

‘Oh, I’m sure she’d love to,’ said the Doctor, stepping forward. ‘But you haven’t given her much of a chance, have you – demonstrating the power of your wonderful product wherever you go? Only now we know what you’ve really been up to, don’t we?’

‘We do, Doctor,’ Brian agreed graciously.

‘At first, I thought the Kotturuh followed you to the worlds you brought your show to – striking before the populations have the chance to get their Lifeshrouds working. But it’s the other way round, isn’t it?’ The Doctor looked at Fallomax, and the anger had gone, replaced with a disappointment that was somehow worse. ‘You find out where the Kotturuh are headed, and get there just ahead of them. Peddling your Lifeshrouds to the masses, playing on their fears, giving them hope … Taking their cash knowing full well they won’t live long enough to use them.’

Fallomax looked down at her pistol on the floor. ‘You don’t know a thing about me, or Lifeshroud—’

‘So, tell me, what d’you do, circle back when the dust has settled? Gather up your Lifeshrouds where they dropped in the dust and stick them on the trolley ready for the next suckers? Why not? It’s only you who knows what’s coming for them, cos you let a child spy on the Kotturuh for you …’