Doctor Who: Virgin Missing Adventures [029] - Cold Fusion by Lance Parkin

Author:Lance Parkin
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426204893
Publisher: Doctor Who Books
Published: 1997-01-13T23:00:00+00:00

11

Fusion

Ten tonnes of rock and ice were surging down the mountainside towards the skitrain.

The targeting computer onboard adjudicator hovercopter Justice Kappa had tracked the trajectory of the engine as it fell down the hillside, through the trees. The avalanche was only a fraction slower, and the gunner watched as the wave of snow ploughed through the trees, pulling them from their roots. The tsunami hit the skitrain engine, carrying it away. The gunner looked up, satisfied that the target had been destroyed, but the targeting computer wasn’t sure. It flagged up its concern, raised the definition on the sensors and began searching the area for lifesigns. The gunner frowned: when he’d fired, the computer had registered three lifesigns onboard the train.

Assuming that those three people had survived the fall – and he doubted that – they would be in no state to get up and out of the cabin. Even if they had, they’d have been swept away by the avalanche. Targeting computers were always pedantic about these things. If they hadn’t seen the bodies themselves they were always reluctant to declare a ‘kill’. It used to be easy to trick a computer into thinking you were dead, and if you managed to do that, it would take you out of the tactical equations. Battlefields were complicated places, and the fewer variables the better.

There was no point wasting processing time worrying about planes that had been shot down, dead troops or write-off wardrobe. Viewed electronically, the combat zone started off complicated and got simpler and simpler as more pieces were removed from the board.

The gunner turned his attention away from the monitor. The ravine was filling up with rock, snow and other debris. A great cloud of snow rose, obscuring the more delicate sensors. The gunner switched to a lower definition. The carriage was still mostly intact, but it had half a mountain on top of it. After a couple of seconds, the targeting computer conceded that the target had been killed. The mission directives were complete and they could head for home.

Chris flipped open the sim-map A three-dimensional plan of the spaceport sprang out like a picture in a pop-up book.

Chris turned his attention back to Nyssa. ‘I have been here for a month, trying to discover exactly what the Adjudicators are doing. At the moment we’re not even sure how big the “peacekeeping” force is. If I can get into one of the Adjudicators ships at the spaceport I can access the secure databases, uncover their sealed orders.’

‘They must be well guarded.’

‘Oh yes, troops and droids on the ground, full electronic surveillance, transmat bafflers, the ships’ crews are on full defensive alert.’

‘So how do we get in?’

‘We don’t.’ He tapped the side of the book and an orbital platform appeared above, the spaceport. ‘Skybase One, local name Icarus Station. It’s where the ships too big for atmospheric landing dock. It’s also where the hyperlink relay is based. Although the Adjudicators have a garrison up there, it’s owned by the Scientifica.

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