Doctor Who_ So Vile A Sin Part 29

The buzzing noise came from somewhere behind him, distant.

At first he thought it was another shuttle, but as the sound grew louder he realized it was something else. An engine noise, maybe? Robot cleaners? Go-karts?

It was hard to resist taking glances behind him as he walked.

The sound was taking for ever to catch up with him. Whatever it was, it was loud, audible from a long way away...

The buzzing became a roaring, somewhere close behind, just around the curve of the Needle's eye. Chris was just starting to wonder if he was in trouble when they came into view.

A pair of tiny biplanes. Child sized. Corridor sized.

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Chris stared as the miniature aircraft sped towards him. There were two kids in each teenagers, he saw, as they got close enough for him to really get a handle on the size. Three teenagers, one little kid. All of them whooping and laughing as they roared towards him.

They shot past him on either side, a deafening, Dopplered wall of sound. He laughed out loud as they screamed down the corridor, leaving him behind. Now that that was the way to travel! was the way to travel!

The kids were waiting for him at the next tube station, their toy aeroplanes parked to one side, up against the window. They sat on the steps that led up to the transport, giggling.

The eldest looked around eighteen, willowy and pretty with a big smile. She stood up and waved at him with a white handkerchief as he jogged towards them. The others were a boy and girl in their mid-teens, and the little girl, who was maybe six or seven.

'These are great!' he said, coming to halt near the biplanes. 'I would have given a limb to have one like this.' He stroked the plane's wing.

'Watch it, mate,' said the plane.

The children all giggled as he s.n.a.t.c.hed his hand back. 'I'm Chris,' he said. 'Chris Cwej.'

'We know,' said the middle girl. 'You came here with Aunty Roz.'

Leabie's kids. He should have guessed right away. Purebloods, with expensive corrected genotypes and bepples on top, he imagined. Healthy and strong and very beautiful.

'I'm pleased to meet you,' he said. 'I wish I could fit into one of these planes.'

'I'm Gugwani,' the eldest girl said. She walked up to him, a slender figure in a cotton dress and red shoes. 'That's Somezi '

the boy ' that's Mantsebo, and the little one is Thandiwe.'

'I'm not little,' said Thandiwe. 'I'm six.'

Something b.u.mped the back of Chris's leg. He turned, to see the red biplane. 'You got security clearance?'

'Check the guest list,' said Chris.

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The plane thought about it for a moment. 'Yep, you're cleared.

Just remember I've got my scanner on you. Right?'

Chris smiled at Gugwani, who beamed mightily in return.

Typical low-level AI, desperate to show it wasn't anybody's servant. 'I'll bet these planes never let you get up to anything,' he said.

'You'd be surprised,' she said. 'Do you like our house?'

Chris looked around. 'Yes,' he said, eventually. Prompting more fits of giggles from the kids.

It suddenly struck him what they were laughing about. Stupid hick from the lower levels, gawping at the palace.

'Don't take it personally,' the biplane told him. 'They do this to everyone.'

'But guys, I was going to walk all the way around the building.'

'You can finish later.'

'Are you sure we can all fit in this tube train?'

'I'll sit next to you.'

'Can I sit on your lap, Mantsebo?'

'Of course, child up you go!'

'Hey, Chris, look out the window as we go.'

'Which section is your room in?'

'Let me check the map... blue section, third level, corridor twenty-one, suite eighteen.'

'See, you just type that into the controls, and it takes you to the nearest station.'

'Stop wriggling, Thandiwe!'

'Makes you dizzzzzeeeeee!'

'I bet you kids spend all your time going round and round in this thing.'

'No, the planes are better.'

'Was it OK to just leave them there?'

'They'll put themselves away.'

'Here we are!'

Chris and the four children piled out of the tube. They led him along through wide, carpeted hallways until they came to a door with a liquid crystal label: SUITE 18, MR CHRISTOPHER CWEJ.

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The door slid back and they went inside. It was a huge, carpeted s.p.a.ce like a hotel lobby, with a fountain set into the floor. There were doors at intervals around the walls. 'OK,' said Chris, 'which one's mine?'

The kids all grinned. A servant stepped up, a tall woman with white hair. 'Welcome to your suite, Mr Cwej,' she said. 'Your map contains details of the services and facilities, but if you have any questions or requests, please ask a member of staff.'

'Thanks,' said Chris. 'This whole thing is my room, isn't it?'

'Yes, sir,' said the servant. 'I hope everything is to your satisfaction.'

She was like something from a sim. It was all like something from a sim, or a video game. Too Much Money! Live out your Too Much Money! Live out your fantasies of wealth in this hi-rez VR environment. fantasies of wealth in this hi-rez VR environment.

'I'm going to have a shower,' he said to no one in particular.

'And then I'm going to go and see what Aunty Roz is up to.'

'Yes, sir. Will you require a.s.sistance with the bathroom?'

He looked at her. 'No, ma'am,' he said, sending the kids off into fits of giggles.

'Are you going to talk to me, or are we just going to lob b.a.l.l.s at one another?'

Leabie caught the tennis ball she'd been bouncing up and down in her hand. Roz walked up to the net.

Leabie looked at her from the baseline. Her sister looked quite a bit like her, just not so worn around the edges. With all the time travel, Roz was now younger than her younger sister, but she looked and felt older.

Some of it was health treatments, but most of it was the lack of stress. Leabie was taller and her hair wasn't turning grey. Go and chase round after the Doctor for a few years, thought Roz, and see how you come out.

Leabie walked up to the net. 'Just because you're losing,' she said, with one of her small smiles.

'You're mad with me,' said Roz.

'Of course not! I'm delighted to see you.'

'Come on, usisi usisi.'

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'You ought to have come to me for help, darling,' said Leabie.

'I know you wanted to set out on your own. We're all very proud of your work as an Adjudicator, of course. But when things became difficult, you ought to have asked for help.'

It might have been a bit difficult, thought Roz. I was up to my a.r.s.e in Sloathes at the time. 'I've been travelling.'

'And that's another thing,' said Leabie. 'We looked all over for you, but you'd just ' she gestured, the ball flying out of her hand ' vanished! And now you suddenly pop up from nowhere. I asked Mr Llewellyn to keep an eye on you, because I wasn't sure how you'd react to an offer of help.'

Once you started her talking, thought Roz, it was hard to get her to stop. 'That's why you put me under surveillance?' she said.

'Of course,' said Leabie. 'I just wanted to make sure you'd be all right. You've been busy, Roz. What are you up to?'

'Oh, you know. Following up a few leads.'

'Now, you're the one who wanted to talk...' Leabie smiled.

'Let's go and cool off.'

Leabie caught up with her in the rain garden, after changing out of her tennis gear. Roz was standing on one of the side paths, still in her white shorts and T-shirt, watching the rain fall among the slick leaves of the jungle plants. An artificial sun shower, tiny droplets of cool rain falling down.

It reminded her, perversely, not of the legendary forests of West Africa as it was supposed to, but of Little Chalfont, England.

The TARDIS stood among the plants, just one of the sculptures among the trees. 'What is that thing, anyway?' Leabie asked, walking up to her.

'Equipment,' said Roz. 'It's not art. Why'd you put it down here?'

'Well, if I put it in a vault, everyone will know it's valuable.

This way, it's disguised, whatever it is,' said Leabie. 'It was a tremendous surprise when it arrived with your note, usisi usisi. We were all in a terrible flap.'

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'I checked my records,' said Roz. 'I was legally declared dead a year after I left. I didn't know whether that was your doing, or the Doctor's, or the Adjudicators'.'

'Your Centcomp records were almost entirely destroyed.

Thandiwe believed you were dead, but I know the older children weren't certain. I didn't know what to think, and now, out of the blue, here you are back again... Why don't you tell me what it is you're trying to do?' insisted Leabie. 'I can help you. You know I've always wanted what's best for this family.'

'What now? What's the future, Leabie?' said Roz. 'What's going to happen to the Empire?'

'I wish I knew,' said her sister. She found a bench among the trees, and sat down. The artificial sun shower surrounded them, tiny droplets of cool water floating down. 'It's all up in the air. I can't believe fighting broke out in the Imperial Palace itself!

There hasn't been news for hours, almost a whole day day.' She sighed. 'We live in interesting times. Did you know there are still security alerts out for yourself and young Mr Cwej? He was your partner, wasn't he?'

'Still is, really. He was Squired to me just before the riots started, and the Adjudication service blew up in our faces. We're friends, now.'

'Have you slept with him?'

'No, I haven't!' said Roz. 'Leabie, he's half my age.'

'Well, whatever difference does that make?' Leabie poked Roz's shoulder with her fingertips. 'Go on, don't tell me you've never thought about it.'

'Leabie,' insisted Roz, 'I'm no closer to getting married now than when we last spoke.'

Leabie gave a girlish laugh. 'Don't be silly, I'm not asking if you're going to marry marry him!' him!'

'Yeah,' said Roz, 'well, you wouldn't, would you?' She relaxed an angry fist, feeling the engagement ring pushing into her palm.

'Do you remember the time I broke Twolumps?'

'Twolumps?' Roz thought about it for a moment, and suddenly burst out laughing. 'That teddy bear bot of yours! The one with the misshapen ears.'

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