The Worldship p.3
"What did he mean by “treasonous mother”?”
Shadia's head flew up and she glared hotly at the Doctor. "Klayisha is no traitor. Her husband is Joshia's father. I don't care what the captain tries to make everyone think. If Keldon hadn't been one of the first taken with the madness I could prove it."
"Genetic tests?" the Doctor asked.
Shadia nodded. "But Keldon went mad and threw himself into the disintegrator." Her lips trembled but her jaw remained firm. "There's nothing left to test."
The Doctor laid a hand on her shoulder. "What's important now is to rescue your sister. Do you know where she would be taken?"
"Yes."
"Show me."
They ran down corridors, skirted doorways, and mingled with the crowds to avoid the guards. Fortunately, the civilians’ off-duty dress was eclectic enough that the Doctor didn't especially stand out.
"There." Shadia plastered herself against the wall and jerked her thumb to indicate something in the cross corridor beyond. The Doctor leaned out around her and looked down the hall. Sure enough there was a large imposing door flanked by four guards, two on either side of the corridor.
The Doctor jerked back and pointed at a handleless door across the hall. "What's in there?"
"Automated broadcast equipment for Centerdome."
The Doctor nodded and slunk across the corridor looking both ways. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and buzzed the side of the door frame. Nothing happened. He tried several other areas around the door. Still no luck.
"It's always the hard way," he grumbled to himself.
With another look up and down the corridor he reset the sonic screwdriver and waved it over the door frame until it pinged at him. He jammed his fingers into the clay wall where the screwdriver indicated. He wiggled his fingers. "Ah! There."
"You! Stop!"
Shadia and the Doctor both jerked around at the command. A teenage girl, 13 or 14 years old, came barreling around the corner from the direction of the guarded room. She had a guard’s phaser rifle pointed at her own chest and was repeatedly shooting herself with it. It seemed to have no effect except to make her grin.
"Stop thief!" A guard came running around the corner after the girl, intent on getting his gun back.
"Stop him," Shadia whispered urgently, pointing at the guard.
Without a second thought the Doctor stuck out his leg and tripped the guard. The man went sprawling.
Before the guard could recover Shadia ran over, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and dragged him on his bottom over to where the Doctor was working on the door.
The circuitry behind the wall sparked, the Doctor jerked his fingers out of the clay and stuck them in his mouth. But the door opened. He waved Shadia and her prisoner inside.
He quickly rubbed away the evidence of his tampering and ducked into the room behind them. He shouldered the doors closed manually.
Inside, automated cameras were lined up at a large picture window looking down on a huge circular room beyond. The Centeredome. The Doctor crouched down below the windowsill and shuffled over to his companions. Shadia propped her prisoner up against the wall.
The guard shook his head groggily and looked up. "Shadia! What are you.... What is going on around here? First everyone goes crazy. Then Klayisha and the baby disappear. Now your own uncle orders them executed. It doesn't make any sense. Who's he?"
"He's a friend, Jor. He answered my distress call."
"Distress call? Great." He ran his hands through his hair. "Now all we need is a ghost and we’ll be set," he muttered sarcastically.
"I’m the Doctor," the Doctor introduced himself. He sat back on his haunches. "Tell me. Are your people normally so resistant to energy discharge?"
Shadia and Jor both looked up and answered. "No."
Jor admitted slowly, "But I've seen just about everything these last few weeks."
The Doctor waddled over to the display window and looked out. To their right, a quarter turn around the dome, was a large balcony, obviously used for ceremonial occasions. It was right behind the guarded room.
"That's where they'll do it." Shadia whispered from behind him. "Up high so everyone can see."
On the floor below, red-garbed guards were already busy policing the growing crowd. There was a tussle and another person spontaneously combusted, charring the wall behind them.
"How long has it been like this?"
"Three weeks, maybe four." Shadia answered.
"Ever since Joshia was born," Jor interjected.
Shadia turned on her friend. "You can’t believe Joshia is responsible for this! He's only a baby!"
"I know, Shadia. I know. But it is damned coincidental."
"That's just what the captain wants everyone to think."
"He raised you, Shadia. You and Klayisha both. You can't think he wants to do this."
"All I know is that if Klayisha or I ever had a child, our child would become captain and we would be regents in uncle's place!"
"You can't think he's doing this to remain in power!” Jor said in disbelief. "He hates being captain."
"All I know is that he's mad. As mad as everyone else here." She waved a hand at the milling crowd below.
"All this is going to be academic in a little more than an hour," the Doctor interrupted. "Jor, do you think you could get the guards away from Klayisha’s door?"
Jor shook his head. "No chance. The guards have been ordered not to move for anything. They didn't even offer to help me get my gun back from that girl." He grimaced.
"Can you get into the room?" The Doctor asked. "Or you, Shadia?"
Shadia grimaced. "I might be able to, since she's my sister."
"Good." The Doctor turned to Jor. "Are there any guards inside?"
Jor frowned in thought. "Yes. Two. I think. They didn't want to take the chance that Klayisha’d go mad and try to jump off the balcony."
Shadia grunted. "Kill them, but mustn't let them commit suicide," she said sarcastically.
"I didn't give the orders."
"I know. I know."
"How thick are the floors?" The Doctor asked, emptying his pockets.
Shadia shrugged. "A meter, a meter and a half?"
"Any power conduits?" he asked, sorting his treasure: a crumpled candy wrapper, a yo-yo, a spool of fishing line, a safety pin, and the sonic screwdriver.
Shadia shook her head. "Power conduits are forbidden this close to the domes. Everything is on independent power."
"Good." The Doctor scooped his treasures back into his pockets. "What's above here?" He stirred his finger at the ceiling.
"Dining facilities. A cafeteria." Jor said, he caught onto the Doctor’s plan and sat up straighter. "The room above Klayisha’s is a larder. I remember joking with the owner that if he didn't quit piling up so many boxes they'd fall through into the dome. And his restaurant should be closed. Laris would never miss something like this." He waved his hand out the window.
"How do I get there?"
Jor gave the Doctor directions. "I can probably borrow a gun from one of the guards since mine was stolen. Once we’re inside we can disable the interior guards. But cutting through the ceiling with a rifle is going to be noisy. The guards outside are sure to hear."
"Shadia." The Doctor waved her over to the wall beside the doorway. "If I show you how to jam the lock do you think you can remember?"
Shadia nodded. The Doctor dug a chunk of clay out of the wall with his fingers.
"Oh!" Shadia gasped. "Doctor, you can't..." she trailed off when he turned to look at her. "Sorry. Force of habit. We've always been taught never to damage the walls. Go ahead." The Doctor nodded and continued with the lesson.
"You got it?" he asked a couple of minutes later.
Shadia went over the procedure in her head. "Yes. Disconnect the red crystal then double back the other three wires."
"Right." He turned back to include Jor in the discussion. "Give me time enough to reach the larder then go in." He waited until they nodded, then shouldered open the door and ducked out.
The coast was clear. He stuck his hands at his pockets and strolled casually around the corner whistling softly to himself. He sauntered right past the guards.
Around the next corner he broke into a run. He’d have to go almost all the way to the outer shell before he could spiral back in toward the restaurant and the larder.
He had almost reached the turning point when he turned a corner and ran into two feral looking guards. Heads drawn in, shoulders hunched, eyes obviously insane, they were standing chortling over the bodies of five of their comrades, which they’d piled in a heap.
"Look, another one. Oh what a prize he'll be." The two lifted their rifles. "I get his horns," one claimed.
"It depends on which one of us bags him," his companion argued. He raised his rifle and fired. The Doctor whipped in a circle and ran, coattails flapping.
Down one corridor and around another corner. The Doctor lifted his hand in his mouth and projected a duck call around the other corner. Trying to throw off his pursuers.
"Listen," one of the hunters exclaimed. "What was that?"
"Ignore it. This way. We’re after bigger game."
The Doctor flattened himself against the wall beside the door. First came the rifle, then the hunter, crouched low and scanning the room. He just started turning toward the Doctor when the Doctor felt himself being pulled backwards into the clay wall. The wall closed around him as if he were sinking into a pudding.
The last thing he heard was a muffled, "Where'd he go?"
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