Doctor Who - New Adventures - 18 - Iceberg by David Banks

Author:David Banks
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780426203926
Publisher: London Bridge
Published: 1993-11-14T08:00:00+00:00

The further one goes, the less one knows,’ he murmured.

Soft flesh

Skin under sunlit warmth.

Moisture. The dampness of bodies clamped together. Moving together.

Rush of wave on a shingle shore. Shock of sea spray.

Lips. Curving in laughter. Bodies shaking together.

Shava.

117

The beauty of Shava.

And Talaron.

She kisses. Lips to moist lips.

She kisses Talaron.

The impassive observer was aware of the malfunction. Images were manifest-ing spontaneously from within.

The phenomenon was well established. It was a curious experience, nevertheless. It might only happen once in a hundred years, but when it did, it could be disruptive of efficient working practices.

The technical term was emotional memory, a left-over from the pre-mechanical time. A redundant reflex. An echo of their ages-old, original primitive existence, the organic life.

There was a well-defined procedure for dealing with attacks of emotional memory. Attention was to be directed away from the images and focused on underlying cybernetic principles.

The observer re-ordered the monitoring priorities.

She slammed her cabin door behind her. She leant on it, panting. Her heart was thumping. She did as Barbara had taught her. She sucked air deep to the pit of her stomach and expelled it in a controlled, slow exhalation.

She was such a wimp.

She pulled the power-pack angrily from the Holocam and replaced it with a full one, plugged the empty one into a socket to recharge. Her hands were shaking. This would not do. She had to reclaim some power over herself. She had to recharge her own batteries. She decided on a workout in the gym. She flung off her patchwork coat and set off down the corridor.

The gym was not a large place, but it was fitted out with the most up-to-date equipment. A handful of middle-aged men and women were grunting and groaning as they racked their bodies in self-inflicted torment.

In the changing room she dropped a one ecu piece into the vending machine. Out popped a shrink-wrapped disposable leotard.

She felt dirty and sticky from the morning’s escapade.

She was going to get a lot dirtier and stickier in the gym, but she was looking forward to it.

She was feeling more positive already. She had managed to break into the lower level. And there could be no doubt about it now, Mike Brack was definitely up to something.

She removed her clothes and pulled on the leotard. The papery material stretched over her body. It had the sheen of graphite.

118

Fifteen machines were crowded into the gym, each designed to exercise one specific muscle group. She fitted herself into the biceps machine. The groans of effort, the cries of relief, the hiss of air through tight-clenched teeth, the moans of pain as hard-worked muscles begin to rebel, these sounds were familiar and comforting to Ruby as she worked her own noisy passage from machine to machine. To each was attached a small computer and display screen. She was able to compare her present ability with what it was at the start of the voyage. On average there had been an increase in her stamina, strength and suppleness of thirty per cent.

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