Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice by Stephen Baxter

Author:Stephen Baxter
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780425261224
Publisher: Ace Hardcover
Published: 2012-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

26

TO STUDY THE corpse of the Blue Doll he had brought back from the moon, the Doctor co-opted one of Sinbad Omar’s surgeries to serve as a laboratory. This was no great loss to the Wheel, because there was a similar surgery in each of the three Residential sectors of the Wheel.

But Zoe saw that the Doctor was provoking a great deal of resentment. It was as if he was being insensitive about the loss they had all suffered, moving too quickly to take over what had been Sinbad’s. After all Sinbad’s body hadn’t been recovered; he wasn’t yet declared dead. It didn’t make a lot of sense, but Zoe supposed it was a natural human response. People didn’t act very logically when they grieved.

Of course the death of Sinbad impacted on her too. She had barely known him, yet he had shown her such kindness. For her, it was going to be a great relief to be able to concentrate on the science for a while. She knew she would have to deal with her feelings about Sinbad’s loss in time. For now she shut them up inside a compartment of her soul.

Jo Laws was the last to leave. ‘Is there anything else you need? I could have someone from Sinbad’s staff assigned to help you.’

‘No, thank you,’ the Doctor said briskly. ‘No need for that. The equipment here is rudimentary but it’s quite comprehensive. We’ll soon get the hang of it, don’t worry.’

‘We’re still looking for Sinbad. We have various deep-scan devices we’re turning on Mnemosyne now. Deep radar, heat sensors. We’ve been using them to locate bernalium deposits. If we retune them to detect movement, heat pockets, we may find Sinbad, or more concentrations of these Blue Dolls.’

‘Umm,’ the Doctor said. ‘Don’t you think that would have been a good idea before now? Ah, but of course you were all dancing to Florian Hart’s tune, weren’t you? Who has probably been making these sort of scans all along.’

Zoe touched his arm. ‘Doctor…’

‘Oh – I apologise, Mayor Laws. Now isn’t the time, is it? But I do rather fear Sinbad is lost. As a human entity at least.’

Jo nodded, expressionless. ‘Just remember I have three kids here, Doctor. Two lost on Titan. And the smallest of them has been in contact with these – effigies. Every minute of every day I find myself shaking at the thought that instead of just looking at little Casey they might have taken her.’

Zoe said gently, ‘But they didn’t.’

‘You know, I chose to bring my children up in this place. I thought it would be a better life for them than on an Earth of overcrowding and pollution and war… It turns out I can’t even keep them safe.’ She glanced up at a camera nestling in a corner of the ceiling. ‘You’ll be under surveillance. It’s necessary for the official records. And I’ll have to have a guard posted on the door.’

‘To keep us in, or to keep others out? Oh, never mind.

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