He came up behind her, and his fingers flitted over the touchscreen. 'You've already collected the food, I see.'

'Thought I'd better. Tins and stuff. They're only guards.'

'Nothing wrong with helping yourself. . . ' He slowly slipped two flabby arms around her waist. 'Is there?'

22.She tried not to shudder. 'How long will it take me to drop this off and get back here?'

She felt his quivering chins press sweatily against the back of her neck. 'Less than ten minutes.'

She gripped the trolley, which hummed compliantly into life. 'Wait for me here,' she breathed. 'In that little room over there. Naked.'

An intake of breath. 'Naked?'

'When I get back, you can help yourself to everything.'

His piggy eyes glittered. 'Like a buffet?'

'All you can eat.'

He gave a hoa.r.s.e little cry. 'All right,' he croaked and staggered out.

Trix gave a low whistle and let the trolley take her away.

'Five minutes,' muttered her buffet worriedly. 'Can't you move any faster?'

'I barely know the man and I've got him stripping. How much faster can can I move?' Trix quickened her pace nevertheless, and found the trolley adjusted to her movements. Soon it was fair whizzing her along through the washed-out corridors. She could hear a low rumbling noise, like the world's biggest boiler starting up. The closer they got to the loading bay, the louder it grew. I move?' Trix quickened her pace nevertheless, and found the trolley adjusted to her movements. Soon it was fair whizzing her along through the washed-out corridors. She could hear a low rumbling noise, like the world's biggest boiler starting up. The closer they got to the loading bay, the louder it grew.

Then the alarm started up, slinging jagged sawbones of sound all around them.

'That's not good news,' hissed the Doctor from under his cheesecloth shroud.

The alarm bells started ringing in her mind as well as in her ears when they found only a single guard on duty outside Bay Two, sporting a right shiner.

'I was told to bring some food for the guards,' she called. 'Where'd they go?'

'Cleared out to search the next section,' said the guard. 'No sign of the intruder, we think he sneaked out past us when we used the gas grenades.

He's highly trained.'

She acted unruffled. 'He is?'

'Anyway, Halcyon's cargo's on board and he's ready for blast off, so it's check for Full Alert.'

'Blast off?' the Doctor cried, springing up from beneath his tablecloth. 'No, he can't! He mustn't!'

The guard jumped back and raised his gun. But the Doctor had rolled up the tablecloth and flicked it out like a whip, knocking the gun from his hand. At the same time, Trix brained him with a silver platter. He went down heavily.

'We have to stop Halcyon taking off,' said the Doctor. 'He's got the TARDIS!

He's got Fitz!'

'And we've got problems,' sighed Trix. She picked up the fallen gun and studied it. 'No trigger.'

23.The Doctor took the gun, studied it briefly then threw it away. 'Probably recognises the user's palmprint. Very sensible. Come on.' He swiped the guard's white card and slotted it into a panel beside an enormous blast door.

'Let's see if it's too late to get aboard.'

The door rumbled upwards, and wisps of foul-smelling smoke wafted into the corridor along with an unearthly light. 'Doctor, what is that?' Trix wondered. 'Rocket exhaust?'

'A somewhat simplistic description for fission-based propulsion, but '

'That's a blast door, isn't it? If it's closed, it's probably closed for a good reason!'

But the Doctor had dashed off through the smoke like an overeager contes-tant on Stars in Their Eyes Stars in Their Eyes.

The guard groaned, starting to stir. Trix crouched beside him. 'Want to save face?' she hissed in his ear. 'There's another intruder hiding in a little cupboard off the kitchen stockroom. Grab him and maybe you won't look so useless, OK?'

Her good deed done for the day, Trix bunched her fists and followed the Doctor into the bay. It was like running into a burning oven. For a moment, she couldn't see him through the thick smoke. The glaring light made her head throb, the fumes made her choke, and an insistent warning bleat from a siren overhead made her swear.

'It's no good!' the Doctor yelled. He was stabbing at some device built into the wall. 'Halcyon's ship is disengaging. We can't get on board.'

'It's taking off?' Trix yelled. 'We have to get out of here! Outside, quick!'

But the blast door had lowered firmly back shut. Trix produced her white card and waved it around the control panel. Nothing happened.

'Stupid thing's jammed!' The noise of the rumbling engines mixed with the shrill siren, and her head felt like it would split apart. She turned, cupping her hands over her mouth to yell over the din. 'Where's your card?'

The Doctor swept out of the thick white smoke, coat-tails flapping. 'It's no use. Safety override will have kicked in.' He pinched the bridge of his nose and screwed up his eyes. 'I can't believe they're just going to drive away with Fitz and the TARDIS. . . '

'Let's prioritise, shall we?' The smoke was getting thicker, engulfing them both. 'That ship's going to blast off at any moment and when it does, we'll be charred into crispy black crumbs.' She broke off in a coughing fit. 'So for G.o.d's sake, get that door open open!'

The Doctor looked straight at her. 'I can't.'

24.

Chapter Four.

Falsh set off the klaxons as soon as Halcyon and Sook were sealed back onboard their ship. Then he marched off through the din to his suite. How could these intruders have stayed at large for so long? Unpleasant possibilities were running through his mind. The intruders had made no attempt to disguise themselves and their amateurish spy tactics had almost paid off. But was this some kind of a smokescreen?

Two obvious threats to security running about. . .

Too obvious threats. obvious threats.

A dumb distraction while the real sabotage was done discreetly? Falsh reached his suite, having barely broken a sweat. He frowned at the ladle on the carpet. Then he watched speechless as Nerren burst out of his personal office with Tinya in his arms and dumped her on to the genuine antique Barker sofa.

'What the h.e.l.l is happening here? Why did you leave your workstop?' He did his best to hide a shudder. ' Anyone Anyone could have walked in.' could have walked in.'

'Sir, I just got back from Loading Bay Two,' Nerren stammered, 'checking Mr Halcyon's flyer was fully loaded '

'That's what Tinya was supposed to do.'

'I She she delegated to me, sir. She'd come from your meeting, sir, so I a.s.sumed that you'd okayed it.' Nerren was suitably deferential even when fl.u.s.tered and scared, and Falsh appreciated that. 'When I got back I found her in your office, sir. Unconscious.'

'Show me where.' Falsh towered over Nerren as they entered his office.

Some of the bubblescreens were on, but none of the restricted views. There was no sign of disturbance elsewhere. The seas shifted and stirred, untroubled. The glowing eyes of the planets and moons stared in through the golden gla.s.s. As always he made a mental note to learn which satellite was which some day.

Then a pixelated star on one of the bubblescreens caught his eye.

'Security, sir,' chimed Nerren helpfully. 'Kitchens.'

'On,' Falsh snapped. 'What have you found?'

The screen flared into life. Falsh raised an eyebrow at the sight of his head chef standing puce and naked beside a young man in his underwear, watched 25 over by an armed guard. Overalls seemed strewn at their feet with excited abandon.

'These men have come into contact with the intruders,' the guard reported.

'From the looks of them, I'd call it wilful collaboration,' drawled Falsh.

The guard's face was perfectly straight, but his eye was blackened. 'Both men are on shift and neglecting duties, sir.'

'First she hit me on the head, then he he did!' moaned the pants-clad little man. did!' moaned the pants-clad little man.

'I never hit you!' stormed Chef.

'Not you, the other other man.' man.'

'Wait a minute. She She?' breathed Falsh. So he'd been right, there was someone else a woman. 'Then there are three intruders at large that we know of. The woman must be the ringleader.'

'She is!' bl.u.s.tered Chef. 'She attacked me, clawed the clothes off '

The guard sagged a little. 'She overpowered me also, sir.'

'Give descriptions to Central Security. A full investigation of your conduct will follow.' Falsh blacked the screen in disgust. 'Alarm mute,' he began, and when the screeching had subsided, spoke in his most calculatedly tough tones: 'All decks. This message is addressed to all personnel. There are intruders on this station, two males and a female. Likenesses will be posted shortly. These people must be hunted down. I want them within the hour.' He cut the link, and the alarm leaped back up to full volume. 'Find them, d.a.m.n it, he whispered. 'That goes for you too, Nerren. Go.'

In his panic, Nerren almost trampled Tinya, who was swaying in the office doorway, rubbing the back of her head.

'The man, the agitator the Doctor,' she said. 'I found him in here. Searching for something.'

Falsh regarded her. 'And why were you you here?' here?'

'The woman who served you in the meeting,' said Tinya, her amber eyes narrowed with spite. 'You recall her?'

'No.'

'She left after I did.' Her eyes looked clouded, troubled with memory. 'She held me at gunpoint and forced me to call Nerren, get him out of the way.

Then made me take her here and hit me!'

'The ringleader was the girl who served me salad salad?' He clutched his stomach.

'I don't trust this. Sensors have picked up no ships in our sector. Station defences are operating fully; the sentinel network can't be compromised. So how did these people breach the station let alone gain independent access to my boardroom?' He crossed to his spotless desk, checked the locked drawers.

'These people are laughing in our faces. And we don't even know what they want.'

26.'They're Old Preservers,' Tinya protested. 'Must be.'

'This organised?' He shook his head. 'Liaise with Security. Get descriptions circulated now now. They must have shown on the 'corders sometime.'

Tinya nodded. 'Are you aware of any any unlogged dockings or excursions from this station?' unlogged dockings or excursions from this station?'

Falsh stared hard at her. For so light a query there was suspicious weight to her voice.

'Since it seems I can trust n.o.body to do what I need them to,' he told her, 'I shall go through the records myself.'

She nodded before she left. Almost as if she'd expected that answer all along.

Trix was now skinning her knuckles beating on the blast door, just in case the guard the other side might hear. The fumes were starting to make her retch.

Her ears must be bleeding with the din, and the air seemed so hot it was scalding.

Giving up at last she turned around but couldn't see anything through the smoke.

'Doctor?' she called timidly.

Well, she wasn't about to start screaming for help at the top of her lungs.

She wasn't a screamer.

She'd just stand here by herself and roast to death when the s.p.a.ceship left.

' Doctor! Doctor! ' she shouted. 'Where the h.e.l.l are you?' ' she shouted. 'Where the h.e.l.l are you?'

'Over here,' came his distant voice.

She stumbled towards it, through the weird luminous smog, she didn't know how long for. A ridge in the floor almost tripped her. Then she came up against something hard a wall?

' Here! Here! ' '

And suddenly a hand reached out from the blindness and dragged her into a cooler, darker place.

She sank to her knees, fighting back nausea, so relieved she could cry. Her eyes were streaming. 'Where are we?' she croaked.