bunk beneath her. Another brawl?
Another shoplifter?
Bazin pressed on the flashing amber light, and replied: 'Duty guards.'
The quiet, sinister voice of Kane hissed softly back out of the intercom.
'We have an incident in the Lower Sectors, Quadrant 6. An aggressive non-terrestrial.'
McLuhan felt a small spark of excitement shoot through her nervous system.
Kane's voice continued. 'It's marked with a radio tracking device. I want the creature eliminated.' There was a slight pause, as though Kane were thinking. 'Bring me back its head.'
The intercom went dead.
McLuhan smiled. An ANT hunt!
She swung her legs over the side of the bunk and jumped down. Bazin was checking his hand-gun in readiness. He fumbled with it nervously.
McLuhan looked at him sceptically. 'How many ANT-hunts you been on?' she asked.
Bazin looked up, uncertain. 'ANT-hunts?'
'A-N-T: Aggressive Non-Terrestrial,' she explained patiently. 'You ever seen one?'
'Well, not as such
He'd probably once seen a picture of some brightly coloured creature in a comic book!
'Didn't think so,' sighed McLuhan.
'But it's a standard procedure.'
McLuhan narrowed her eyes. 'What do you think a standard non-terrestrial looks like?'
'Well...'
'Try thinking of a scorpion, two metres high, coming at you out of the shadows..."
Bazin's eyes were wide with disbelief and fear. McLuhan picked the hand-gun out of his hands. 'So do me a favour and leave the water pistol at home.' She dropped the hand-gun on one side, and turned to the armoury racks. The Cosmolite .65 gigawatt bolt-beam Heavy Combat Gun weighed ten kilos. Most of that was accounted for by a bolt-beam generator which, at full power, could blow a fifty-centimetre hole in one-metre thick armour plating from two hundred metres distance. 'If I'm relying on you to watch my back, I want to know that you're carrying enough artillery to blow this ANT clean across the Space Lanes.'
She tossed a Cosmolite to Bazin as though it were no heavier than a child's toy. It almost flattened him when he caught it.
In the chamber of the Singing Trees, no one had spoken since the Doctor and the Creature had left. The distant voices sang softly in the breeze, and Glitz, Mel and Ace, each sitting on boulders of ice, drifted along on their own thoughts. Eventually, Glitz sighed, 'This is the life, eh? A whole universe out there, with all the myriad mysteries of the cosmos, and we're sat twiddling our digits in some benighted wodge of permafrost!'
Mel looked up. 'We could always pass the time playing a game, I suppose. / Spy or something.'
Ace and Glitz both turned to stare at her.
'Just a suggestion,' offered Mel, lamely.
'Bilgebag's right,' admitted Ace grudgingly. 'I wanted some adventure. I wanted to do something exciting, see something beautiful, just once in my life...'
Glitz smiled. 'You know, believe it or not, I was young once.'
'So was I...' sighed Ace.
'I was a right tearaway,' continued Glitz. 'Thought I knew it all.'
'Some things never change, do they?' taunted Ace.
'Ah-ah,' admonished Glitz, 'allow an old man his moment of pregnant introspection. Where was I?'
'Pregnant introspection,' reminded Mel. 'A right tearaway. Some things never change.'
Glitz recovered the line back through his memories. 'Ah, yes - the things I've seen... The places I've been... Me and the Good Ship Nosferatu -
been everywhere together. Riding on the Space Winds... Diving through the Rainbow Clouds... Nowhere to go but onwards... The Asteroid Breaks. The Nebula Ridges. Out beyond the edge of the Twelve Galaxies.'
Ace had been listening to this with growing enchantment and was now staring at him wide-eyed. 'You've been outside the Twelve Galaxies?'
'Me and the Nosferatu. Been everywhere together.' He sighed. 'The most exquisite delights the universe has to offer. If only I could have bottled them, I'd have myself a nice little earner.'
In the Duty Guards' Room, McLuhan and Bazin stripped down the mechanisms of their
Another shoplifter?
Bazin pressed on the flashing amber light, and replied: 'Duty guards.'
The quiet, sinister voice of Kane hissed softly back out of the intercom.
'We have an incident in the Lower Sectors, Quadrant 6. An aggressive non-terrestrial.'
McLuhan felt a small spark of excitement shoot through her nervous system.
Kane's voice continued. 'It's marked with a radio tracking device. I want the creature eliminated.' There was a slight pause, as though Kane were thinking. 'Bring me back its head.'
The intercom went dead.
McLuhan smiled. An ANT hunt!
She swung her legs over the side of the bunk and jumped down. Bazin was checking his hand-gun in readiness. He fumbled with it nervously.
McLuhan looked at him sceptically. 'How many ANT-hunts you been on?' she asked.
Bazin looked up, uncertain. 'ANT-hunts?'
'A-N-T: Aggressive Non-Terrestrial,' she explained patiently. 'You ever seen one?'
'Well, not as such
He'd probably once seen a picture of some brightly coloured creature in a comic book!
'Didn't think so,' sighed McLuhan.
'But it's a standard procedure.'
McLuhan narrowed her eyes. 'What do you think a standard non-terrestrial looks like?'
'Well...'
'Try thinking of a scorpion, two metres high, coming at you out of the shadows..."
Bazin's eyes were wide with disbelief and fear. McLuhan picked the hand-gun out of his hands. 'So do me a favour and leave the water pistol at home.' She dropped the hand-gun on one side, and turned to the armoury racks. The Cosmolite .65 gigawatt bolt-beam Heavy Combat Gun weighed ten kilos. Most of that was accounted for by a bolt-beam generator which, at full power, could blow a fifty-centimetre hole in one-metre thick armour plating from two hundred metres distance. 'If I'm relying on you to watch my back, I want to know that you're carrying enough artillery to blow this ANT clean across the Space Lanes.'
She tossed a Cosmolite to Bazin as though it were no heavier than a child's toy. It almost flattened him when he caught it.
In the chamber of the Singing Trees, no one had spoken since the Doctor and the Creature had left. The distant voices sang softly in the breeze, and Glitz, Mel and Ace, each sitting on boulders of ice, drifted along on their own thoughts. Eventually, Glitz sighed, 'This is the life, eh? A whole universe out there, with all the myriad mysteries of the cosmos, and we're sat twiddling our digits in some benighted wodge of permafrost!'
Mel looked up. 'We could always pass the time playing a game, I suppose. / Spy or something.'
Ace and Glitz both turned to stare at her.
'Just a suggestion,' offered Mel, lamely.
'Bilgebag's right,' admitted Ace grudgingly. 'I wanted some adventure. I wanted to do something exciting, see something beautiful, just once in my life...'
Glitz smiled. 'You know, believe it or not, I was young once.'
'So was I...' sighed Ace.
'I was a right tearaway,' continued Glitz. 'Thought I knew it all.'
'Some things never change, do they?' taunted Ace.
'Ah-ah,' admonished Glitz, 'allow an old man his moment of pregnant introspection. Where was I?'
'Pregnant introspection,' reminded Mel. 'A right tearaway. Some things never change.'
Glitz recovered the line back through his memories. 'Ah, yes - the things I've seen... The places I've been... Me and the Good Ship Nosferatu -
been everywhere together. Riding on the Space Winds... Diving through the Rainbow Clouds... Nowhere to go but onwards... The Asteroid Breaks. The Nebula Ridges. Out beyond the edge of the Twelve Galaxies.'
Ace had been listening to this with growing enchantment and was now staring at him wide-eyed. 'You've been outside the Twelve Galaxies?'
'Me and the Nosferatu. Been everywhere together.' He sighed. 'The most exquisite delights the universe has to offer. If only I could have bottled them, I'd have myself a nice little earner.'
In the Duty Guards' Room, McLuhan and Bazin stripped down the mechanisms of their
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