Doctor Who: Target - Novelisations [071] - Warriors' Gate by John Lydecker

Author:John Lydecker
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426201465
Publisher: Target Books
Published: 1983-05-14T22:00:00+00:00

OVERLOAD SYSTEMS DISENGAGED

LIFE-SUPPORT HOLDING AT PLANET-FALL LEVELS

REC ROOM COFFEE DISPENSER NOW INOPERABLE

ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS FAILURES IN REC ROOM UNDER-FLOOR CABLING

WARNING: NO NEW INFORMATION ON PRESENT LOCATION CO-ORDINATES

SEE 01/00/2222 FOR SYSTEMS CHECK

WARNING: POSSIBLE UNDETECTED FAULT IN EXTERIOR SENSORY APPARATUS

‘AM I IN NEED OF A SERVICE, OR IS THIS SHIP GETTING SMALLER?’

‘Go steady now,’ Rorvik barked. It felt good to be in command of a ship again instead of a mobile picnic. ‘I want a landing that wouldn’t ripple the skin on a custard.’

The angle on the gateway had been checked and confirmed, and the privateer began to settle in her new position. Packard counted them down. There was a resounding boom through the ship and the bridge heaved violently; papers slid off desks and the loose head of a talk-back microphone bounced across the floor.

Rorvik seemed quite pleased; as his crew’s landings went, it wasn’t bad. He clasped his hands behind his back and began to stride along the bridge, just as he’d seen the captain do in a 3V about pirates.

‘Status report from the helm,’ he said grandly.

‘What?’ said Nestor, caught unawares.

‘Status report.’ Rorvik waited, but Nestor still obviously didn’t understand. ‘How is everything?’

‘Fine, thanks,’ said Nestor, still mystified.

Rorvik was starting to get impatient. ‘Got any figures for me?’

Nestor hesitated. He looked at the mass of read-outs that blinked all around the helm. He knew the meanings of no more than half of them. He said, ‘Which ones would you like?’

Rorvik dismissed him with a gesture, and moved on.

‘Who’s got control of the overload power?’ he demanded.

‘Anybody?’

‘I think it’s me,’ came a small voice from the other side of the bridge. It was Jos.

‘I thought it was me,’ said Dulles, who had returned to his post on the sounding of the condition red.

Rorvik sighed loudly, so everyone could hear. ‘Anyone else want to put in a bid? Anyone got half an idea of what’s supposed to be happening here?’ One or two hands went up, but he ignored them. ‘Just as a point of information, we’re going to be handling an overload that could blow us into scrambled Tharil’s eggs, and I’d appreciate it if the odd one or two of you could make a small effort and pay some attention to what’s going on.’

Most of Dulles’s attention was on the monitor screen in front of him. ‘Hey,’ he whispered to the man at the next position, ‘you know that little blue box thing’s in the way?’

‘Yeah,’ the other said happily. ‘Let’s see how far we can blow it.’

Down in the slave hold, Sagan was supervising Aldo and Royce as they rolled out the fittest-looking of the sleeping Tharils for the next revival attempt. They’d just have to burn them out one by one until they got a survivor; their own survival depended on it, and thoughts of cargo bonus being wasted would have to come a long way behind.

Neat as sardines, Royce called them, and then made some excuse to get out of the way. Aldo followed on a pretext of concern, leaving Sagan to conduct the grisly work alone.

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