'Er, Doctor, we were wondering what you were up to.'

'Looking for evidence.' He grunted with effort, and very carefully eased the two lobes of Fazakerli's brain apart.

Cwej, who had straightened up, bent over convulsively again. Steaming liquid splattered against the barrier.

'I've seen evidence hidden in a lot of places,' the female Adjudicator said almost conversationally to Bernice, 'but that's a new one on me.'

'What's your name, by the way?'

'Forrester.'

'Ah!' the Doctor exclaimed. 'Look!'

Beltempest bent closer, and gasped. Bernice and Forrester stepped forward.

Cwej turned away.

Bernice craned her neck to get a better look at what the Doctor was doing, even though her stomach rebelled at the sight. The tissue of Fazakerli's brain had been prised apart by the Doctor's nimble fingers, exposing the lobes, the stringy bundle of the corpus callosum and a mess of membranes and blood.

And a vein of fire that ran through the tissue and faded as Bernice watched.

'What was that?' Beltempest asked.

'Something I've seen before. Incontrovertible evidence that this man's mind has been affected by outside influences,' the Doctor said darkly. He stood, and was just about to wipe his hands on his jacket when he realized how much blood and brain matter was on them. He held them out to Bernice.

'Tissue?' he asked hopefully.

'Bless you,' she said. 'What made you think that it had?'

'His actions.' The Doctor gazed around, and ended up wiping his hands on the force wall, leaving a reddish-grey smear that the teddy bear Adjudicator couldn't seem to take his eyes off. 'As the provost-major here said, these men are trained.'

'Trained killers!'

'Yes, but this man completely forgot all of his training. Were you watching his face? It came over him like a wave. Sheer bloodl.u.s.t.'

104.'There's a lot of it around,' the female Adjudicator said. What was her name? Forrester?

'What do you mean?' the Doctor asked.

'Bloodl.u.s.t. People suddenly going off the deep end and slicing up their nearest and dearest with the first sharp object that comes to hand. Or taking potshots at pa.s.sers by. Or crashing flitters into packed restaurants.'

The Doctor's eyes took on that dreamy, misty quality that Bernice had seen so often before. It meant that he was thinking about sticking his Gallifreyan oar in.

'Just on Earth?' he said, shooting Forrester a penetrating glance.

'As far as we know,' she confirmed.

The Doctor gazed meaningfully at Bernice. 'And so it begins,' he murmured, then glanced over at Provost-Major Beltempest. 'Had this man been on Earth recently?' he asked.

Beltempest shrugged. Not sure,' he said. 'I could check when we get back to the admin sector.'

Bernice interrupted. 'He was on the Arachnae Arachnae with us. I recognized him.' with us. I recognized him.'

'Must have just come back from leave, then,' Beltempest said thoughtfully.

'Hmm,' the Doctor mused.

Everybody looked expectantly at him.

He glanced up, surprised and slightly embarra.s.sed by the attention.

'What is it?' Beltempest said. 'What exactly did we see in that man's brain?'

'Well, as far as I can make out, it was some kind of resonance effect, as if he had been subject to an extremely strong ' The Doctor paused, as if he was only just realizing what he was saying. ' an extremely strong icaron field.

Hmm.'

'Icaron field?' Forrester asked.

'Elementary particles of the tachyon family. Imaginary ma.s.s, imaginary charge . . . '

'But the effects are all too real,' Bernice said quietly.

'Indeed,' the Doctor said. 'Icarons have been known to cause paranoia and psychotic behaviour in humans under certain rare circ.u.mstances, and only to genetically susceptible individuals those who have gone through body-bepple, I would suggest. That's why they were called icarons, I believe because of Icarus, the legendary character whose death was a result of badly applied science. If only I knew more . . . '

'Icarons drive people mad?' Beltempest snapped, eyes wide in surprise. 'I've never seen any reports to that effect. How do you know? How can you be so sure?'

'Experience,' the Doctor said succinctly. 'Interesting that you know what icarons are.'

'Ah. I've . . . come across them,' Beltempest spluttered through his trunk.

105.'You suspect that there's an what did you call them? an icaron field affecting people on Earth?' Forrester said, frowning.

The Doctor grimaced. 'Based on other information which has reached our ears, I think it's a distinct possibility. I'd need to talk to an expert first.'

Forrester shook her head. 'Shame you're not going to get the chance.'

'But this is '

'Don't care. You're a suspect in a murder investigation. You're both coming back to Earth with us.'

'Wait!' Beltempest's authoritative bark made the two Adjudicators freeze in their tracks. 'The Imperial Landsknechte need to know why these men died.'

'The Order of Adjudicators needs to question these two in connection with a murder,' Forrester snapped. 'That takes priority.'

'It's a matter of interstellar security '

'Under Order regulations '

'Wait!' The Doctor's voice cut through the babble. When everybody was staring at him, openmouthed, he continued. 'The most important thing is to prevent any more deaths. That takes precedence over everything.'

Beltempest nodded slowly, followed by Forrester.

'So, if you have to question us over this murder on Earth, do so. But do it quickly. It's important that I get to work on whatever is causing this this mutation in the human brain.'

'What's your suggestion?' Forrester said quietly.

'Question us here. Then, when you've cleared us, let us stay.'

Bernice shot him a baleful glance. Purgatory was the last place in the universe she wanted to be at the moment.

'No can do,' Forrester said. 'We need access to centcomp files.'

'Then take one of them back to Earth,' Beltempest suggested. 'The woman, for preference. Leave the man here to work with us. Just make sure you return the woman, if she's found innocent. We still have a use for her.' At Bernice's frown, he shrugged. 'Justice must take its course,' he added. 'Your sentence has merely been suspended, not abandoned.'

Forrester considered for a few moments, then consulted quietly with her teddy bear partner. 'Agreed,' she said finally. 'The woman comes with us.

The man stays. I suggest that neither you nor we do anything . . . precipitous without consulting the other.'

'Agreed,' said Beltempest.

The Doctor sighed, and gazed sadly over at Bernice.

'Don't forget to write,' he said.

106.

Chapter 8.

'I'm Evan Claple and this is The Empire Today The Empire Today , on the spot, on and , on the spot, on and off the Earth. Today's headlines: the riots that began yesterday in the off the Earth. Today's headlines: the riots that began yesterday in the Asian Undertown continue. Three battalions of Adjudicators have Asian Undertown continue. Three battalions of Adjudicators have already been sent in to calm the situation, and the Imperial Landsknechte are reported to be standing by. Eyewitnesses claim that the already been sent in to calm the situation, and the Imperial Landsknechte are reported to be standing by. Eyewitnesses claim that the riots began after an underdweller was ejected from an Overcity shop riots began after an underdweller was ejected from an Overcity shop and proceeded to open fire upon shoppers. Also, as investigations and proceeded to open fire upon shoppers. Also, as investigations continue into the tragic orbital laser cannon blast that killed sixty continue into the tragic orbital laser cannon blast that killed sixty thousand people in the s.p.a.ceport Eighteen Overcity, thousand people in the s.p.a.ceport Eighteen Overcity, The Empire Today The Empire Today has learned that the incident may not have been an accident. has learned that the incident may not have been an accident.

Details after the break . . . '

'This is ridiculous!' the Doctor snapped, stamping his foot on the floor of Beltempest's office. The carpet of Cerumenian whispering moss absorbed the noise and transformed it into a ripple of turquoise light that raced across the room and rebounded from the walls, forming an intricate interference pattern.

Beltempest, lounging in the recliner behind his desk, tried to keep a straight face, but the slight twitch of his large ears betrayed him.

'Necessary, I'm afraid,' he said, trying to make his voice sound regretful. 'If any Imperial Landsknechte see you wandering around in your . . . habitual attire, then they'll shoot first '

' and ask questions afterwards,' the Doctor growled.

'No.' Beltempest shook his head. 'We don't encourage questions in the Landsknechte. They'll just shoot first. Security takes priority over everything.'

The Doctor looked down at the shiny black uniform that Beltempest had forced him, almost at gunpoint, to climb into. His own clothes sat in a forlorn pile beside him.

'I'm going to need a tin-opener to get out of this.'

Beltempest levered himself out from behind his desk and circled the Doctor, tugging on fastenings and checking embedded circuitry.

'Well, I've seen better, but you'll do,' he said finally.

'But my face doesn't even fit!' the Doctor wailed. 'Your Landsknechte look like somebody has lacquered their flesh. I've still got skin like a baby, and I want to keep it that way!'

107.'You'll get some second glances,' Beltempest said firmly, 'but the uniform should keep you alive, and there's a built-in transponder that will allow you into the labs and nowhere else.'

The Doctor's crumpled face glowered up at him. 'What about the rest rooms?' he said.

'This isn't a holiday camp,' Beltempest snapped.

The Doctor reached down and picked up his hat. 'A question,' he said, cramming the battered fedora on his head.

Beltempest briefly debated knocking it off again, but the Doctor's expression made him rethink At least the strange little man had got into the uniform. Let him have his little victory. 'Go ahead.'

'If the mere fact that I am attired in one of these obnoxious costumes renders me safe in the eyes of your guards, and enables me to enter high security areas such as your laboratories, then what's to stop some intruder from stealing one and pretending to be a Landsknecht?'

'Didn't I mention?' Beltempest smiled, picking up a small metal box from his desk. 'The uniforms are bioengineered from an arthropod that lives on one of the moons of Threllinius Omega. Brainless, and consequently very loyal. Their nervous systems are surprisingly compatible with electronic augmentation.

That's a rarity in the galaxy. We grow them into uniforms, and then key them to a particular wearer.' He pointed the box at the Doctor and pressed a recessed b.u.t.ton. The uniform shivered slightly. 'That's your suit now. If anybody else tries to wear it, they'll set off alarms all over Purgatory.' He gestured towards the door. 'And it will rip them to shreds as well. Shall we go?'

'Oh, let's,' the Doctor muttered sourly, and preceded Beltempest out into the corridor.

The laboratory block was a short flitter ride away: a large, faceted building that shone like a jewel in the light of Purgatory's sun. The administrative sector of the Imperial Landsknecht planet was probably the most attractive of all the different environments, Beltempest thought, as the flitter spiralled down towards a landing pad on the roof. The white lawn stretched as far away as the eye could see, interrupted every few kilometres by mountainous buildings, each fashioned by a different architect, each the pinnacle of a particular school of design. It was no wonder that Purgatory was one of the chief tourist spots in the Empire.

The flitter came to a gentle rest on the top of the laboratory building, and the pilot opened the doors. Beltempest led the Doctor who was limping in his Landsknecht boots to the nearest null-grav lift, and down to the laboratory that had been set aside for him to work.

108.The Landsknechte that they pa.s.sed in the lift and in the corridors saluted Beltempest, and cast odd glances at the Doctor. Still, at least they weren't firing at him.

The laboratory was hemispherical, with enhanced scanner and presentation facilities in the segments of the ceiling, capable of displaying simularities of anything in the Imperial Landsknecht computers. Beltempest had guessed that the Doctor would be requiring them. Various items of equipment scavenged from other labs or pulled out of storage sat around the edges of the room. Beltempest couldn't identify half of them. Fazakerli's body lay on a trolley in the centre, in case the Doctor wished to continue his impromptu autopsy. A medbot loomed over it, looking like an explosion of insectile arms tipped with laser scalpels, repulsor field generators, scanners and plain, old-fashioned clamps. n.o.body had bothered to cover the body up.

The Doctor's gaze roamed over the entire room. It seemed to Beltempest that he was taking in every detail: every panel, every rivet, every b.u.mp in the walls.

'Very well,' he said finally. 'I've seen better, but this should do. For the moment.'

'Where do you want to start?' Beltempest prompted.

'How about a cup of lapsang souchong?'

Beltempest frowned. 'I don't think the cafeteria is set up to provide this "lapsang souchong".'

'I can't do anything without a decent cup of tea.' The Doctor folded his arms and stared up into the domed ceiling until Beltempest, with a m.u.f.fled curse, started rooting around amongst the items of equipment lining the walls for something that could provide refreshments.

It took ten minutes for Beltempest to locate an old refreshment bot, patch it into the main computer and search the database for a reference to the chemical composition of 'lapsang souchong'. It seemed to Beltempest to be a tisane of some sort an infusion of leaves in hot water. Intriguing. Beltempest thought he knew all the various tisanes used in the Empire. He would have to try this one himself.