'No. She saved my life. I had to help her. It's not as if she gave me a choice.'

Ahead of them the main doors burst open, and half a dozen monks charged in. Grabbing Emily's hand, the Doctor dragged her to the right, shouting through gritted teeth, 'Change of plan.'

'Run, Doctor. I shall hold them,' shouted Darke, brandishing his sword and ploughing into the surprised men with a hearty battle cry.

The Doctor and Emily sped towards the other end of the Cathedral, desperately searching for another way out, or at least a decent hiding hole. The crypt was no good, and they were about to run out of options.

'Why don't they build more exits in these places? Haven't they ever heard of emergencies?' the Doctor complained.

There,' Emily shouted, pointing towards an alcove beyond which a staircase spiralled upwards, presumably to the top of the tower.

They sprinted towards the alcove but had only made it up a few steps when they were confronted by yet another monk on his way down.

With a look of shock on his face he raised his energy rifle and fired, but the fugitives had already turned tail and skidded back into the Cathedral.

More monks were heading towards them from the nave, carrying an a.s.sortment of blasters and disrupter rifles. Darke's rearguard action must have failed. It was 158.

becoming clear there wasn't going to be any way out of this.

'You may as well save your energy, Doctor. You are completely surrounded, and your little soldier boy has been disarmed.' Henk's voice echoed across the vast chamber, as he walked calmly towards them, Branlo at his side.

Just behind them, the unconscious Darke was being half-carried, half-dragged by a couple of monks. They dumped him unceremoniously to the floor.

'As for you, dear girl,' said Henk, 'what is your story, I wonder?

You're not a Calabrian, that's for sure. Your nose is far too pretty.

Well, we'll have plenty of time to find out later. Guards, restrain them.'

'Not again,' groaned the Doctor, as his arms were grabbed and pulled behind his back.

Another of the monks reached for Emily but, before he could get a firm grip on her, she'd dropped to one knee, twisting and firing her phase pistol blindly. Pain exploded in the monk's thigh, a flesh wound but enough to send him tumbling to the floor with a shrill squeak.

Emily was back on her feet in an instant, walking purposefully towards Henk, her outstretched arm aiming her pistol squarely at his chest.

The Doctor strained against his captors. He had to stop Emily from doing something stupid. 'Emily, drop the gun. Whatever it is he did to you, killing him won't put it right. Think about what you're doing.'

'Hold your fire, lads, I think the young lady has 159 159 something to say.' Henk smirked, winking at the Doctor. 'I like this one.

Feisty.'

Emily stopped, a couple of metres from Henk. Too late to change her mind now, whatever the Doctor said. Just pull the trigger. Nothing else mattered.

'So what's this all about, then? Finishing the job for your friend, Toeclaw?' taunted Henk. 'Well? Come on, little girl, say your piece.

Nice shot, by the way, but you're no professional.' It was as if the threat of a.s.sa.s.sination were as much of an inconvenience as choosing what to have for lunch. 'No, this is personal, isn't it?'

Emily bit her lip, felt tiny beads of sweat forming along her hairline, her heart pounding. One shot. That was all it would take.

'Mister Branlo here tells me you're of Ertrari origin. Oh, I should mention we took a full bio-scan when we ran a belated security sweep on you earlier.' Henk referred to a datapad he was carrying, and smiled apologetically. 'Due to a scheduling oversight we didn't have an opportunity to do so upon your arrival, or we would have been able to avoid all this tiresome running around.'

He put a finger to his lips, as if pondering some matter that weighed upon his mind. 'If memory serves, I had some dealings with an Ertrari bounty hunter a month or so ago. Isn't that a coincidence?'

Emily stared coldly at the smug monster before her. 'You killed him,' she spat, trembling with anger.

'No, not at all.' Handing the pad back to Branlo, Henk took a few nonchalant steps towards Emily. 'I had had him him 160 160 killed, yes, but I wouldn't dirty my hands with that kind of business. I did, however, torture him first. Not that I expected to gain any useful information from him, you understand. It's just a hobby of mine.'

Tears were welling up in Emily's eyes. Trying to blink them away, breathing hard, she sobbed, 'You killed him. You killed my daddy, and now I'm going to kill you.'

'Oh, I don't think so. Granted, you were brave to come here, to think you could pull it off. Brave, but not a killer. Unlike your father, though he wasn't a very good one. I certainly wouldn't have hired him. Still, his visit wasn't completely wasted. Once I'd finished having my fun, he made a rather pleasant between-meals snack for the Krillitane. I don't imagine Toeclaw brought that up in conversation, did she? Probably still picking the bits from between her teeth.'

'You...' Emily squeezed the trigger, but she wasn't quick enough.

Henk swung out with his left arm, grabbing her wrist and yanking it painfully upwards and to the side, the weapon discharging harmlessly towards the ceiling. Then he struck a vicious blow across Emily's cheek, with such force that it lifted the girl from her feet and sent her sprawling across the cold, hard floor.

The Doctor wrenched himself free and rushed over to her, cradling the weeping girl in his arms. 'It's all right. It's all right,' he whispered, holding her tightly. He looked angrily up at Henk, eyes blazing. That wasn't necessary.'

I've been working on this project for too long to see it go down the pan now thanks to some treacherous 161.

livestock and a whining child. Don't worry, she won't be alive long enough to feel the bruise. None of you will,' Henk sneered at the Doctor. 'Now if you'll excuse me, I have something of a damage-limitation exercise on my hands.'

Some order had been restored to the Chapter House. Although shocking, Toch'Lu's a.s.sault on the stage had been so short-lived that the panic had subsided almost as quickly as it had begun. Those few delegates who had attempted to flee were either engaged in face-saving conversations with their companions, whom they had left to fend for themselves, or keeping a low profile.

It had taken several of Henk's burlier employees to drag the battered Krillitane into the cloisters, and out of sight. Febron bent over the creature, carrying out a brief medical examination to a.s.sess if the force wall had done any permanent damage. She winced at the deep wound where the Krillitane had torn out her implant, although amazingly it was already well on the way to being fully healed, suggesting advanced molecular reconstruction. Was there no end to the potential benefits to medical science that were inherent to the Krillitanes?

'You are one resilient female,' Febron observed, impressed at the staying power of the species, especially this individual.

'Personally, I wish she'd stayed dead,' an impatient voice grumbled behind her. 'At least we know where her her daughters are.' daughters are.'

Henk had returned, and he wasn't 162.

happy. This girl turning up to avenge her father's death was irritation enough, but he'd never discovered who had hired the bounty hunter in the first place, and this worrying thought had festered at the back of his mind ever since.

Febron clipped a collar around Toch'Lu's neck, and tapped a code into the control pad on its rear panel. Standing back, she watched as the Krillitane form shifted, becoming the Calabrian Amba.s.sador once more. The collar excites the neural pathways that control her morphic ability. At least she'll be easier to manage like this. Did you catch the other one?'

Henk nodded. Along with your playmate the Doctor, and some random thug with a sword. One of the Doctor's a.s.sociates, I should think.

Must've been the one who let him out of the crypt. For want of a decent cell, I've had them locked up in a room at the west end of the cloisters.

Might as well throw Toeclaw in there, too. Once I've rea.s.sured our guests that we're not complete amateurs, I intend to have the Doctor and his friends executed.'

163.

TWELVE.

*n a spot of nothingness halfway between the orbits of of Saturn and I Jupiter, a starship blinked out of hypers.p.a.ce. Saturn and I Jupiter, a starship blinked out of hypers.p.a.ce.

The ship was ugly, functional and heavily armed. It continued along the same trajectory upon which it had arrived, heading directly towards the sun, a bright pinp.r.i.c.k against the oily blackness.

Then it changed tack, swinging its blunt nose around on a new bearing. Sub-light engines powering up, the vessel surged forwards, increasing speed towards its target destination. Earth.

The Doctor shone a penlight into Captain Darke's eyes. The soldier had taken a nasty blow to the head, but there didn't seem to be any lasting damage.

'I held them back as long as I could, Doctor, but there 165 165 were just too many of them. I'm not as young as I was.'

'You're not the only one. You'll have a nasty b.u.mp for a bit, but you'll live,' the Doctor rea.s.sured the still-dazed Captain.

Darke looked over at Emily. She sat alone at the far end of the room, staring at the disguised Krillitane who had been dumped, unconscious, nearby. 'What about the girl?'

'I don't know, Captain.' The Doctor sighed. Time for a long overdue chat, he decided, and wandered over, sitting himself down beside the dejected young woman.

'One day, they'll probably turn this into a little shop.' he said, conversationally. 'Guide books, cuddly bears, little silver spoons with national flags on the handles, that kind of thing.'

Emily remained silent. Perhaps a more direct approach was needed.

'Why didn't you tell me what you were doing here?'

She sniffed, and wiped at her nose with a crumpled cloth she'd been using to soak up her tears. 'I didn't know you. How could I trust you? For all I knew, you could have been working for Henk. You might even have been him.'

'Seventeenth rule of survival: Trust No One. Mulder's Law, they call it. Not a big fan, myself, but then I do end up in more than my fair share of sc.r.a.pes, so maybe there's something in it.' A hint of a smile on Emily's lips satisfied the Doctor that he hadn't lost her completely, and he smiled back, warmly.

'So, what happened?' he asked.

166.

Thinking about her father was something she'd been avoiding, the shock of his death too recent, too painful to face. Emily sighed.

'My dad was a bounty hunter, small-scale, nothing dangerous.

Usually tracking bail jumpers for a couple of agencies he freelanced for. It was a living. Anyway, a job came along that offered amazing rates, enough to cover my university fees for a couple of years, too good to miss, so off he went.

Then his signal went dead. It was an insurance thing, a bio-link between Dad and his ship. If something...' The grief threatened to overwhelm her again, but she fought it back. 'If something happened to him, the ship would transmit an emergency call to base.' Emily closed her eyes, remembering the moment she'd heard the terrible news.

Over the course of his nine hundred-odd years, the Doctor had seen many friends come and go, and each had left an indelible mark upon him. He knew well enough how hard it was to lose someone you loved. 'I'm sorry,' he sympathised.

'I've known the people at the Agency all my life,' Emily continued, feeling better for talking. 'Since we lost Mum, they've been like family, and they contacted me straight away. I had to know what had happened, so I dropped out of college and told them I'd take on the job, track down Henk for whoever it is that's after him. When I got here nothing happened for days, then you turned up and everything went crazy.'

167.

'I tend to have that effect. It's a gift.' The Doctor gave an amiable shrug. 'So, what were you planning to do when you'd found him?

Henk was right about one thing, you were never going to kill him. I don't think you've got a murderous bone in your body.'

'No, I wasn't going to sink to his level. All I had to do was get a positive ID, and transmit the data and coordinates to a pre-set location. As far as I cared, they could deal with him. So long as someone did. That's why I left you when I did. I'd got what I needed.

I'm sorry.'

'Oh, you don't want to worry about me. I can take care of myself.'

Emily raised a sarcastic eyebrow at their current predicament.

'Evidently.'

'Most of the time.' He half-smiled. 'What made you come back?

You said something about a warning.'

'My employers suggested it would be in my interest to make sure I was off-world before they arrived. To me that didn't sound like they were planning a low-key visit. I couldn't leave without warning you to get out of here too.'

The Doctor frowned. He was grateful to Emily for risking her life to bring him this information, but things were bad enough with Henk and his batch of angry Krillitanes to deal with, let alone some third party with a grudge.

'Doesn't the Agency know who these people are, and why they want Henk so badly?' he asked.

The deal was made through a broker. It's not unusual 168 168 to work on behalf of a client you'll never have any contact with.

It's better that way. Keeps things clean. Uncompromised. Dad was pretty diligent, though. He didn't like to go into any situation blind, so when I reached his ship the first thing I did was check his research.

He'd compiled a file on Henk. The guy's a pretty shady character, dealing mainly in biological and chemical weapons - the illegal kind. I figured he must have made enemies along the way, but the man has connections, powerful connections across the twelve quadrants. He's virtually untouchable. Whoever's after him must know that.'

'Unless...'The Doctor looked over at Toch'Lu. Unless it wasn't Henk they were really after.

As if nothing untoward had happened, Henk once again took to the stage. There was still a babble of conversation from the delegates, but this quietened as soon as he spoke.

'Friends, thank you for your patience. I must apologise for the lapse in our security procedures, and any discomfort and inconvenience it has caused you. I'm afraid the Calabrian delegation had been infiltrated by anti-government protestors, but the matter has been dealt with and they shan't be bothering us, or anyone else, again.' Henk watched for any adverse reactions, but the delegates were too hungry for the product he was offering to waste any time worrying about an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt made on someone else.

That was 169.

the beauty of dealing with interstellar governments, terrorist groups and crime lords - they were far more concerned with their own bigger picture than the value of an individual life, even if it were that of their host.

'Let's get back to business, shall we?' He smiled the broadest of smiles, and spread his arms in a gesture of open friendliness.

'Please welcome Doctor Belima Febron, the scientist behind the greatest advancement in bio-technology in history.'

There was a ripple of applause from those delegates that shared the custom, as Febron stepped forward. She was uncomfortable at the prospect of speaking to such a large audience, and still rattled by Toeclaw's unexpected attack, but her science was sound and her presentation well rehea.r.s.ed, even if much of the background detail Henk had insisted on including wasn't strictly true. Febron took a deep breath and began.

This is the most valuable chemical in the universe.' She held up a small vial of Krillitane Oil extract, a carefully directed spotlight causing the yellow liquid inside to sparkle. 'It occurs naturally in only one species, a hunter-gatherer of low intelligence from an undeveloped planet owned by our organisation, a race we have domesticated into manageable livestock. It enables us to harness evolution, to control life's natural imperative to adapt and survive. In effect, we can modify any aspect of our Krillitanes into any configuration we choose. We can increase intelligence, strength, longevity, anything, even endowing psychic abilities or adding an extra toe, 170 170 and we can do this organically, simply by introducing a specific aspect of mapped genome from any species. The chemical, and evolution, does the rest.' Of course there was no undeveloped planet, no farm containing herds of happy, simple Krillitanes, just the thirteen creatures held against their will in the crypt, but the delegates didn't need to know that. At least with these white lies out of the way she could get back to talking about the science. Ground that Febron felt much safer on.

'We have removed all the uncertainty of existing, outmoded bio-technologies. These are not chimera, unstable genetic combinations of distinct species to create a hybrid. These are not re-engineered clones, p.r.o.ne as they are to psychological and physical defects. This process is an entirely natural biological function of the Krillitanes, a process of natural selection, where evolution chooses the best solution based on your design and criteria, ensuring that the resultant creature is uniquely suited to your needs.

'What's more, I have developed a method of extracting the chemical from our Krillitane stock, and am prototyping a stunning new technology to allow other species to benefit. With your investment and valued support, we will soon have the ability to enable your own species to use this discovery to direct the path of its own evolution. Thank you.'

Relieved, Febron bowed and stepped down from the stage. Henk gave her a wink as he took her place, ready to start talking money with eager potential investors.