Pirate Loop, The (8 page)

'Oh,' said the Doctor. 'She's better than good.'

'Yeah,' said Archie. 'When we killed her she knew to stay dead.'

More than three hours earlier, Martha had stood in the same cocktail lounge watching the space where until a moment before Mrs Wingsworth had stood. The air was rich with a stink of roasted lemons, and wisps of ash floated from the ceiling. Martha felt sick to her stomach.

'That was murder!' she said coldly.

'Yeah!' said Archibald. But he saw the horror in her eyes and looked quickly away.

'She 'ad it coming,' said Dashiel, gruffly. 'Anyone else wanna be difficult?'

The alien prisoners quavered with fright, none daring to respond. Dashiel seemed delighted. He growled at them, he jabbed his gun at them, each time getting them to scream.

'Ha!' he said. This is good!'

'Let me kill one, Dash,' said Jocelyn, coming to his side. 'Go on! Archie got to kill one.'

'You can't!' said Martha.

'I didn't
mean
to kill one,' said Archibald quietly, still looking guilty.

'Yeah you did!' said Jocelyn. 'That was good!'

'Yeah,' agreed Archibald, though he still didn't seem convinced. Martha saw how he kept glancing at her, keen for her approval.

'All right,' said Dashiel. 'Which one you wanna kill?'

The aliens shrieked with terror as Jocelyn looked them over. She decided on a pale blue male, who wore several watches on his left tentacle.

'Please,' said Martha. 'We'll cooperate.'

'There's nothing
to
operate,' said Dashiel, seeming pleased with himself at using such a long word. 'Get on with it, Joss.'

Jocelyn grinned as she pulled the trigger and the pale blue alien vanished in brilliant pink light. Martha didn't think – she just ran forward and grabbed the gun from Jocelyn's paws. Startled, Jocelyn let go, fell back, and then quickly took cover behind Dashiel. Martha covered them both with Jocelyn's gun.

'What you gonna do?' snarled Dashiel without any fear. 'There's a hundred of us coming.'

'They're not coming,' said Martha. 'You know you're on your own.' She tried to wield the gun like she knew what she was doing with it, though she really didn't.

'They are!' said Dashiel, but she could see the fear in his eyes. He took a step towards her.

'Don't do it, Dash,' said Archie. He stood to Martha's left, his gun aimed at her. He didn't look any more confident about using it than she felt about using hers.

'I don't want to hurt anybody,' she said, backing away from them. Maybe she could get behind the bar, use it as cover. Or, back to the wall, she could circle round, get over to the door in the far corner of the cocktail lounge.

'No you don't,' Dashiel told her as he took another cautious step nearer. 'Cos you hurt us an' we 'ave to hurt you more.'

'Keep back!' she told him, her voice more shrill than she'd have liked it. 'I mean it!'

Dashiel did as he was told, his gun still on her, Jocelyn still cowering on the far side of him. Archibald kept looking over at them and back at Martha, and he couldn't keep his feet still. They were children, thought Martha. Badger-faced children dressed up as pirates. But their game had gone too far.

'We can talk about this,' she told them. 'Like grownups.'

Dashiel considered. 'Yeah,' he said, and slowly lowered his gun.

And behind him Mrs Wingsworth sauntered into the cocktail lounge, waving a cheery tentacle. 'Hello, dears!' she cooed. Her flesh was dark and patchy, showing long-healed scars. But Martha had seen her completely consumed by the disintegrating pink light.

The badgers turned round to stare at her, just as amazed as Martha.

'It's impolite to gawp at someone,' said Mrs Wingsworth uncomfortably. 'I expected better from you at least, Martha.'

'Sorry,' said Martha. She took a step back, bumped her bum into the bar and stumbled forward. Before she could do anything Archibald had rushed forward and snatched Jocelyn's gun from her hands. Martha tried to snatch it back but Archibald moved quickly out of reach. She looked round, but the only thing to hand was the tray of cheese and pineapple sticks.

'Well,' grinned Dashiel, raising his gun at her.

'Wait!' said Martha, desperate.

'Yeah, wait,' said Archibald loyally.

'Oh, I wouldn't worry about it, dear,' said Mrs Wingsworth. 'It's over very quickly.'

'Shut up!' said Dashiel. 'I'm gonna do this.'

'But I surrender!' said Martha.

'Yeah,' said Archibald.

'You got to kill someone,' Dashiel told him. 'And Joss did that blue one. It's my turn, innit?'

He aimed the gun.

'All this bother,' tutted Mrs Wingsworth.

Martha grabbed the tray behind her, hurled all the cheese and pineapple on sticks at Dashiel and made a break for the door. But as Dashiel swatted at the descending nibbles, Jocelyn pounced from behind him, wrestling Martha to the ground. Martha fought back, biting and kicking where she could, but Jocelyn was tougher and more vicious. Her hairy face was coarse like an old toothbrush as she pinned Martha to the floor.

'All right!' admitted Martha, winded.

Jocelyn nodded, smiled and clambered off her. Martha, prone on the plush carpet, the empty silver tray face down beside her, looked up into Dashiel's eyes as he stood over her. The gun was pointed in her face. He hesitated, savouring the moment. Martha sat up, leaning on her elbows, refusing to show fear.

'Go on then,' she said bitterly.

'Yeah,' he said.

'Don't!' cried Archibald. But Dashiel had already squeezed the trigger.

And Martha grabbed the empty silver tray and held it between her and the gun. Furious pink light hit the tray so hard she nearly let it go, but, despite the heat searing her fingers, she hung on for dear life. And then the blast of light was over.

She lowered the tray, her hands shaking from the onslaught, her fingers raw with pain.

'Drat,' said Dashiel and raised his gun again. Jocelyn seemed to reach out a paw to stop him, a strange look on her face. He swatted her paw away and Jocelyn lost her balance, toppling over and hitting the floor hard. Steam curled up from her unmoving body.

'Huh?' said Dashiel.

'Your shot, dear,' said Mrs Wingsworth from over by the door. 'It bounced off Martha's shield and hit your friend.' She tutted again. 'It was only a glancing blow, but I think it was enough.'

Martha stared at Jocelyn's dead body, aware now of an acrid, bonfire stink. She looked up at Dashiel. He seemed frozen where he stood. She felt awful for him. She knew she couldn't wait.

As Dashiel fell to his knees beside Jocelyn's body, Martha got quickly to her feet and made a dash for the door. She still had the tray in her raw and throbbing hands.

'Dash,' she heard Archibald say behind her.

'Get after 'er,' said Dashiel quietly.

'Is Joss—'

'Get after 'er!' Dashiel yelled.

Not thinking where she was going or what she had just done, Martha raced through the ballroom towards the staircase. She took the stairs two at a time, but she knew she couldn't outrun Archibald. The pirates were wiry, tough and strong, and she had nowhere to escape to. She ran down the corridor knowing it was useless. The door to the engine room was still blocked with the cold scrambled egg, and there was no sign of the Doctor.

She turned round. Archibald stood at the end of the corridor, cradling his gun. He pointed it at her, then lowered it again.

'Don't like this,' he told her.

'You don't have to do what he tells you,' said Martha.

'They do stuff if I don't,' he said, making his way slowly towards her.

'But you know it isn't right,' said Martha. She glanced back at the doorway of cold scrambled egg, hoping against hope that the Doctor would step through it. When she turned to Archibald again he was stood right up close to her, his cat-food breath hot and stinky in her face.

'Well then,' she said, with the same sexy voice she'd tried on him before.

'Yeah,' said Archibald nervously. He glanced down at her. 'I liked those.'

She looked down. In her hands, the silver tray was laden with cheese and pineapple sticks.

'Take one,' she said.

Archibald grinned at her and reached out. She hit him hard in the face with the tray. He dropped his gun, staggered back and she kicked him with all her might. Archibald fell back but caught her foot and brought her down with him. They scrabbled on the floor, Martha biting and kicking for her life. Archibald didn't fight back, and she knew he was confused. Maybe he didn't fancy her exactly but she'd got something over him. And she'd use that. She'd use that to escape.

She felt a sudden hot pain in her gut and then she could not breathe. Looking down, she saw the dagger Archibald had thrust into her stomach.

'Ak,' she said to him, all that she could manage.

And she died.

They dared not meet his gaze; not the pirates, not the Balumin prisoners, not even Mrs Wingsworth, who hovered in the doorway. The Doctor stood, tall and still in the centre of the cocktail lounge, the look in his eyes holding them transfixed and terrified.

'I want to see her body,' he said quietly.

The Balumin prisoners murmured with concern but none would dare come forward. Archie looked like he wanted to say something, but Dash got there first. If there was going to be trouble, thought the Doctor, Dash was the one in charge.

'Er,' he said to the Doctor. 'You can't.'

The Doctor turned to look at him. Dash stepped back, involuntarily, then seemed to remember he still had his heavy gun. He raised it a little, though it seemed less to threaten the Doctor than to make Dash himself feel more at ease.

'Can't?' said the Doctor softly. Dash tried to say something and faltered under the dark brown, staring eyes. He could only shrug and shake his head.

'She's gone, dear,' said Mrs Wingsworth from the other side of the cocktail lounge. She sounded awkward, like she was not used to speaking kindly.

'Gone,' the Doctor repeated as he turned to her. 'I see.'

'It's what happens,' said Mrs Wingsworth, again not quite making it sound as comforting as perhaps she'd hoped.

'Yeah,' agreed Dash, grateful for an ally.

The Doctor nodded. He could think myriad complex thoughts at once, and a small part of his brain acknowledged that the protocols for deaths in space were much like deaths at sea. Martha's body would have been discreetly, respectfully put overboard to minimise any concern from or risk of disease to those remaining. She would be out there, floating in the darkness, calm and cold and lonely.

Another part of his brain already knew that he would find her, however long it took. He could already see the look on Francine's face when he brought her daughter home, could already feel the Jones family's tide of grief and anger. They would blame him for her death – and they would be right to. Once it would never have occurred to him to brave something like that if he could avoid it. But he knew that Martha would have wanted him to take her back to them, and because of that he would face whatever came.

There were just a couple of things here to sort out first.

He shrugged, smiled and tried to convince those watching him that the storm had passed. 'Anyway,' he said. 'Can't stand idly about all day, can we? Gotta find the captain of this starship and have a little word. Get things back on track, make sure you all live happily ever after.' But the pirates and passengers did not seem convinced: the horror and grief must have still showed in his eyes. 'Oh well,' he said, 'please yourselves.'

Yet as he turned to leave the cocktail lounge, Dash stood in his way. He wielded his heavy gun awkwardly, not quite sure where he should be pointing it.

'He'll shoot you, dear,' said Mrs Wingsworth from over by the wall. 'It's rather tiresome.'

'You're our prisoner,' said Dash, as if embarrassed at having to point it out. 'You do what we say.'

The Doctor jutted out his jaw. 'Or what?' he said. 'You really don't want to try my patience, Dash.'

Dash's paws tightened round the trigger of his gun. 'That a threat?' he growled.

The Doctor grinned at him. 'Course not. But look at it this way. I'm the only one who can sort this mess out for you.'

'There ain't a mess,' said Dash. 'And we're the ones in charge,'

'Really?' said the Doctor. 'The three of you?'

'The others'll be 'ere any minute,' said Joss.

'There's going to be more of them?' moaned Mrs Wingsworth. 'That will be such a nuisance!'

'Yeah,' said Archie.

'That's right,' said Dash, seeming more confident with his comrades beside him.

The Doctor laughed. 'Let's see how much trouble you three are in when they get here.'

'What you mean?' asked Dash.

'Well, look at you,' said the Doctor. 'Oh, I know it's not been all you expected – there's nothing but nibbles to pillage and so on. But you've been here how many hours and what have you achieved? Have you got into the bridge? No. Have you found the engine rooms? No.'

'We killed some people!' said Dash.

'But not very brilliantly,' the Doctor corrected. 'Only Martha's staying dead. So that's what, one whole person, and in how many hours? You think your comrades are gonna be impressed? That's rubbish!'

'It is rather shoddy,' agreed Mrs Wingsworth. She seemed the only one of the Balumin to take any interest. The others busied themselves with important matters like finger food and drinks. The Doctor could see that they had long since learnt that the badger-faced pirates were at worst a mild inconvenience. It was clear the three badgers knew this, too. They itched with frustration.

'It ain't fair,' said Joss. 'These lot don't die when you kill them.'

To make the point, she shot one of the blue Balumin prisoners. As he disappeared in the familiar, vivid pink light, he merely rolled his eyes.

'Oh, that's brilliant,' said the Doctor. 'What did you just prove that I didn't know already?'

'Um,' said Joss. 'I dunno.'

'Well then,' said the Doctor. 'Maybe if you could stop shooting people, I could explain why killing them isn't working.'

'They got powers,' said Dash. 'We know that.'

'Yes,' said the Doctor. 'The Balumin have powers. But even so, no one's completely indestructible. Well, apart from Captain Scarlet. But I don't think he was real.'

'How d'we kill them?' said Dash eagerly. 'You can tell us what to do?'

'Well,' said the Doctor, rubbing at his chin as if considering whether they were worth telling.

'I don't think you should, dear,' advised Mrs Wingsworth. 'They really do have the most frightful manners.'

'Go on,' said Dash. And he screwed his face up as he dredged from his memory a word he had probably never used before. 'Please,' he said.

The Doctor beamed at him. 'All right,' he said. 'I think the problem is with your guns.'

'Huh?' said Dash, cradling his own heavy gun as if the Doctor might steal it off him.

'Yeah,' said the Doctor. 'Pirates like you, you're gonna have guns that can do just about anything. Stands to reason. Your captain isn't going to send you off pillaging with stuff that's not up to standard.'

'She might,' said Joss.

'Shh!' Dash told her.

'So,' said the Doctor, 'if your guns aren't working they must just be on the wrong setting.'

Dash examined the heavy gun in his paws, looking for switches or buttons that he'd not seen before. There didn't appear to be anything. 'How'd we change it?' he asked.

'Ah,' said the Doctor, 'it's a tricky job and you need to be a bit clever. And it helps if you've got one of these.' He extracted the sonic screwdriver from his inside pocket, flipping it into the air and catching it deftly with his other hand.

'What's that?' asked Archie, like any young boy presented with some new gadget.

'Just a screwdriver,' said the Doctor.

'Huh,' said Dash, still wary. 'Maybe.'

Ah,' said the Doctor. 'You don't trust me. Well, that's OK. We've only just met after all. And I can see that nothing much gets past you.'

'Yeah,' said Dash.

'OK,' said the Doctor. 'Then how about this. I let you have the sonic screwdriver and you can fix your guns yourselves. It should be setting fourteen, and you just give the power cells a quick buzz.'

Dash snatched the sonic screwdriver from him, though his paws were not really suited to such a slim instrument. The Doctor couldn't resist trying to show him which bits to press, but Dash waved him irritably away. 'I can do it,' he growled. 'Not you.'

He jabbed the end of the sonic screwdriver against the power cell of his gun and pressed the narrow button. The screwdriver buzzed and after a second there was a click from deep within the power cell. Dash looked up at the Doctor, who grinned at him encouragingly.

'Very good,' he said. 'You're a natural.'

Dash hurried over to his comrades but would not let them take the sonic screwdriver from him. He pressed it against the power cells of their guns and pressed the button until he heard the click.

'Now,' he said, aiming his own gun at the huddle of Balumin prisoners who were busy chatting with each other at the bar. The Balumin were too busy gossiping and trying different cocktails to pay him and the other pirates any heed.

'You're not going to shoot them!' squealed Mrs Wingsworth from the other side of the cocktail lounge. She had, it seemed, separated herself from the general melee.

'Need to test 'em,' said Dash.

'Yeah,' said Joss, also raising her gun. Archie quickly did the same.

'But Doctor!' said Mrs Wingsworth.

The Doctor shrugged, his eyes fixed on the guns. 'We do need to see that it worked,' he said. Mrs Wingsworth hid her face in her tentacles.

Dash, Joss and Archie all fired at once. The Balumin, quite used to being shot already, did not cry out or respond. Only when nothing at all happened – not even a hint of pink light – did they turn round to face the badgers. It took a moment for it to sink in, then they started to laugh.

'What?' growled Dash.

'Oh dear,' said the Doctor brightly. 'Something must have gone wrong!' He reached a long arm out to Dash and plucked the sonic screwdriver from his paw. 'Oh yeah,' he said, holding the slim tube up to the light. 'I can see what I've done. Setting fourteen in a room full of canapés. Should have thought of that. Sorry.'

'What?' asked Dash, though his tone suggested he'd already resigned himself to the inevitable.

'Oh,' said the Doctor. 'It's nothing really, but you just disabled the power cells. The guns won't work any more.'

'You broke them!' growled Dash.

'Oh no,' said the Doctor. 'You did that. I was over here, minding my own business and you—'

Dash charged at him, drawing a dagger from the back of his sleeve as he did so. The Doctor stood his ground, sidestepping only at the last minute. Dash ran headfirst into the great bay window that looked out onto the Ogidi Galaxy. There was a dull and awful thud as he hit the toughened glass, which didn't even waver – he might as well have run headlong into a brick wall. He fell back, his wet black nose squished against his hairy face, and then toppled over, unconscious.

'That was clumsy,' said the Doctor, crouching down beside Dash to examine him. 'You just sleep it off.' When he was sure Dash had done no serious harm to himself, he collected the dagger from where Dash had dropped it, and slipped it into the jacket pocket of his suit.

'You hurt him!' said Joss, covering the Doctor with the gun they both knew could not hurt him.

'I suppose I did,' said the Doctor. 'But not quite as much as he wanted to hurt me. Now, I'm going to the bridge to talk to the captain. Are you going to be stupid enough to try to stop me?'

Joss considered. 'No,' she said. She dropped her useless gun on to the floor and went over to kneel by the unconscious Dash.