The Doctor shook his head.
"I-I just got here, nothing to do with me!"
The man also shook his head.
"Is this how you treat your guests?! I'm appalled!"
The man grabbed the Doctor's hands and tried to place them behind his back. However, K9 blasted laser bolts and caused the man to fall to the ground in pain, tucking his smoking wrists into his chest.
"Good dog! Now run!"
They escaped through a small tube into a lavish hallway. The Doctor looked around and found a computer bank, whipping out his sonic screwdriver to scan it. The lights went out with a low hum, which made the Doctor smile.
"Now they'll come!"
"All outcomes lead to death, master."
"Oh shut up."
Three armed men stormed inside.
"You took your time!"
lllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Miriam Kithbert-Stockard had her office made of only the best foreign wood. Overlooking the main control room, which meant she could look out the large panoramic glass window at the beautiful massive surroundings of space. All she did all day was sit at her desk and drink scotch while filling out daily reports on crew members. The job was more demanding than it sounded, and had dragged her away from the earth and her niece.
The doors opened and a scruffy ruffian was pushed into the control room.
"Oi! I don't like how we're being treated! Isn't that right K9?"
"Affirmative, master."
"See! Dog with sass! Love a dog with sass!"
The shaved head of "Binko" Jollins, deputy head, moved forward.
"Shut up! You have killed two people, a man and a woman who work on this ship! How do you plea?"
"Not guilty. Got proof too. Y'know, if you boosted your Zyloe output, you could save 50% of your power."
"Where is this proof?"
"I didn't do it. There's your proof. Now, we'll just be off-"
"Guards, get ready to-"
"No!"
They all looked up at Miriam, who felt embarrassed at this outburst. Aged 55, and blurting things out like that. The accused smiled, and gave her a thumbs up. She nodded politely. She exited the office and walked down a set of steps to the others.
"What's your name?"
"The Doctor. This, uh, is K9. Say hello K9."
"Good evening."
"Good dog."
"And you're of the opinion this fellow and his robot dog brutally ripped apart two human beings, despite neither of them having a drop of blood on them? Do try to grow up and think, Binko. You may learn something."
She turned to a young woman typing furiously.
"Did we regain any of the CCTV footage?"
"Just about ready to debug...there."
A clip of a small, compact silver object flashed up. It was surrounded by blood and guts, and was tinged in red.
"That's our killer, ma'am."
"But that's-"
"A masthead from a ship." the Doctor concluded. He turned to Binko, made an odd movement with his hands, then turned to Miriam.
"Is it at all possible for me to have a look at the crime scene?"
"Why?"
"Because whatever that robot is, and it's quite frankly appallingly obvious that it's a robot...whatever it wants, it's still here. Maybe its controller too."
He looked at the woman who had previously been working on the footage.
"Can your systems do anything cool?"
"Well, yeah. They can interface with any local systems, do sudoku-"
"Can they do a full scan of the hotel?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Cool. May I?"
"Sure."
He typed in an action, and a small holographic image popped up. There was nothing unusual.
"I'm still going to have a look."
"I'll come too."
"No offence Binko, but I trust robots against robots on this one. Come on K9!"
lllllllllllllllllllllllllll
He bent over and smelled the blood, immediately popping back off the floor and grimacing.
"Phwoar! Have a look at that."
K9 analysed the blood.
"Substance unidentifiable."
"I know what it is. Bornium oil. Whatever this robot is, it's cheap."
There was an air vent on the wall. The Doctor smelled the wall and recoiled again.
"Bornium again. It's in the vents."
He took out the sonic and began removing the screws on the grid of metal. He flung it on the ground and removed a torch from his jacket. He shone its light inside the vent, and immediately could smell Bornium. Looking around inside, he could see a glistening reflection in the distant metal, and a sound that was almost like a buzzsaw...
He dived down as the circular saw shot out of the vent, and back again. He backed away on the ground, then jumped back up. He looked at K9, gave a gesture, then nodded. To his amusement, K9 nodded back. The Doctor sidled back to the vent, and as soon as the saw popped back out, K9 blasted it. The saw arm went limp, allowing the Doctor to pull out the robot from the footage. He put it on the ground and started mockingly playing football with it, nudging it with his foot through the door. He picked it up carefully and ran back to the main control room.
"Now, we'll have to work against the clock if we're going to examine it."
"Why?" asked Binko. It was really more of a snarl.
"Because I'm sure it's going to reactivate soon."
He took off his jacket, and pulled up his sleeves. He broke it in two like some metal lobster, revealing clumps of wires and a pool of Bornium oil. He ripped the saw off too.
"Cheap." he explained, throwing the blade on the ground. He then got a pair of wire-cutters from his pocket and snipped two wires.
"Done."
"What did you do?"
"Rewired it. Should give us a designation now."
The robot whirred.
"Designation Vorr-Drar 8851111. Surveillance and Defence."
Miriam and Binko looked at the Doctor. He looked confused.
"Surveillance for who?"
K9 started whirring.
"Danger, master. Danger."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Hostile projectiles imminent."
The Doctor turned to the woman at the computer.
"Can you-"
"Already on it!"
The window's resolution improved, and zoomed in on the distance. Three pointed objects were flying fast towards them. Not missiles though.
"Those look like-"
"Icicles. Giant icicles."
"But they'll rip the hotel in two!"