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humans will be too disrupted to offer effective resistance. We
can reintroduce a copy of Voractyll to the larger surviving
sections.'
'But if the insertion team is non-operational, that only leaves
us.'
Hanson's head felt heavy. He put his hand up to support it,
rested his cold metal cheek in the fleshy palm of his hand. 'The
plan is still viable. We can build more Voracians. There are
enough organic components available to make that fly.'
'How do we effect physical fragmentation of the highway?'
Hanson rubbed his face, drawing his hand down his cheek.
He looked over to the Voracian pilot. 'Set the reactors to
overload status. Then establish a terminal trajectory for the
ship, final destination: Washington DC.'
278 
'Hello, Sarah Jane.' The Doctor's voice was quiet, soothing.
'Oh, Doctor!' Sarah grabbed him, hugged him. She sniffed
back the tears and held on to his coat.
'You're soaking my scarf.' The Doctor gently eased her away
from him, keeping hold of her hands and looking into her eyes.
'I only just got it back,' he said. 'All right?'
Sarah nodded. 'Much better for seeing you, Doctor.'
'Good.' His voice was suddenly louder, and he started round
the room, pulling pieces of equipment apart, hunting through
personal computers and workstations. 'You haven't come
across a machine with a read-write optical drive have you?' he
asked. 'I was rather hoping to find one around here
somewhere.'
'Doctor, I wouldn't know what a read-write thingy was if it
hit me.' She followed him out into the corridor and along to the
next computer room. 'In fact, one probably has.'
The Doctor frowned as he stepped over the body of a
Voracian. The eyes stared sightlessly from the shattered face.
The Doctor shook his head and made for the nearest desk. He
brushed broken glass off the surface and examined the
machine.
'Aha,' he said. 'This looks promising.' He turned back to
Sarah. 'I have a couple of things to finish up here, Sarah,' he
said, 'including a little journey. Why don't you go and find
Harry?'
Sarah did not move. 'Can I come too?' she asked.
'Not this time.' He returned his attention to the computer,
giving it a thump on the side to jar it into life.
'Shuttle launch from Hubway,' the Voracian crewman
informed Hanson.
'On screen.'
A tiny dot of light was approaching rapidly from the Earth's
surface, spiralling up through the cloud layer.
'Maintain present position. We should get a status
and highlights report on the operation.'
'They are maintaining communications silence.'
Hanson nodded. 'A sensible precaution.'
279 
The Doctor set the locking clamps, and opened the airlock.
Ahead of him he could see the usual featureless grey metal
corridor. He paused, deciding which way to go.
A sound behind him made him turn back to the shuttle. A
scraping, metallic sound. He ducked behind the airlock, and
peeped back round the door. As he watched, the door of one of
the service lockers was pushed open from the inside. A figure
emerged slowly, cautiously, into the light.
'I thought I told you to find Harry,' the Doctor said.
Sarah shrugged. 'Thought he might be in there. He wasn't.'
'Hmmm.' The Doctor was not amused. He turned and strode
down the corridor. 'You could at least have brought some
shoes,' he called back over his shoulder.
'Sorry,' said Sarah as she padded after him in her stockinged
feet. 'But my shoes are under a floor somewhere and I didn't
want to miss this.'
'It could be dangerous.'
'It always is.'
They stopped outside a door. 'This is the flight deck,' the
Doctor said. 'Or at least, I think it is. You should stay out here.'
Sarah nodded. 'You're probably right.'
The Doctor nodded his approval, and wound his scarf
another turn round his neck.
'But I'm not going to,' Sarah said as he operated the door
control.
The room was large and circular. Various curved consoles
were positioned around the edge of the room. Two Voracians
were manning the controls. A third figure stood in the centre of
the room. It was a man, tall and broad, in a pinstripe suit.
The figure turned as the door opened, and Sarah saw his
face. It was for the most part unremarkable  a thin nose and
dark eyes. But the man was completely bald, instead of hair the
top of his head was encased in plastic. And one side of his
unremarkable face had been torn off to reveal an amalgam of
plastic and metal circuitry underneath. His mouth was still his
own, human not Voracian, and it smiled across at them.
'Doctor,' the man said. 'How good of you to join us.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]