Doctor Who: Ultimate Treasure by Christopher Bulis Read Free Book Online Page A

holding out a data chip. 'Final course details. Enter them in the autopilot and confirm our ETA.'
    Qwaid accepted the chip mutely, trying to cover his confusion.
    He'd never seen Alpha like this before. Even when he'd pulled off some really major filch in the past he'd stayed ice-cold sober and simply started planning the next one. 'What's the matter, Qwaid?'
    'Nothing, boss. It's just... well, you never usually... er, celebrate like this.'
    'I was merely toasting the memory of a man long dead, Qwaid.
    Perhaps a fool, perhaps an adventurer. In either case our unwitting benefactor. To Rovan of Cartovall... '
    'Who, boss?'
     
    Alpha blinked, as though reviewing what he had just said.
    Then the familiar edge returned to his voice with a snap.
    'Don't trouble yourself with it. Leave the thinking to me and concentrate on providing the unskilled help. I'll tell you all you need to know when the time comes.' His eyes burnt coldly, causing Qwaid to flinch. 'Well get on with it!'
    Trembling, Qwaid scuttled back out of the door, head hung low.
    Outside in the corridor, however, he straightened up again, letting his face show the anger and resentment he would never dare let Alpha see.
    The boss shouldn't have spoken to him like that. He wasn't simply some dumb slab of hired muscle. It wasn't right to keep him in the dark about what they were getting into, either. Well he'd show the boss he could think for himself !
    He strode resolutely along the corridor to the control cabin.
    Gribbs and Drorgon were in the crewroom, so for the moment he had the place to himself. He sat down before the auxiliary systems console and called up the general database history files.
    It took a few minutes to sort through the wide parameters he had to set and the phonetic variants of the name Alpha had let slip, but soon his lips were moving as he read the information he was after. The database was basic and the entry was not a long one, but it was enough. Qwaid felt a shiver run up his spine and drew in his breath with a shudder. An emperor's treasury! What he couldn't do with a slice of that!
    His reverie was interrupted by Alpha's voice coming out of the intercom. 'Have you entered the new course yet, Qwaid?'
    'Just doing it, boss,' he called back guiltily, and rammed the data chip into the slot and started punching buttons.
    As the autopilot digested the data and projected the new course, he brooded further. He had no idea what they'd meet when they got to wherever it was, but for the biggest snatch ever he'd risk anything. Well why not? He'd show the boss. He'd run the job himself given the chance. He didn't need Alpha looking over his shoulder all the time.
    He didn't need him.
    The thought hung in his mind, a weak and feeble thing at first, but slowly growing in strength as he considered the full implications of the simple statement.
    He didn't need Alpha at all.
     
    Suddenly he knew the last twenty years had just been a prelude to this moment. Twenty years before he'd stolen a box of jek fruit from a market stall in Dryden Dome back on Sirius Nine. It had been the initiation test to get into the Burke Cross Gang.
    How he'd ducked and dived the length of the market tunnel to get away with it. Still breathless, knees scraped and bleeding, he'd presented his proud trophy to the rest of the gang. They'd eaten all the fruit, leaving none for him. Ten minutes later the stallholder had caught up with him and given him the sort of hiding his father had regularly delivered when he'd still been around.
    Well now it was his turn. He could learn from the past as well as the boss. Maybe better.
    But how could he do it? Not to his face. He could never defy those eyes for long enough, as Alpha was arrogantly aware. But there were other means. Yes, the method was obvious now he thought of it. The boss had already shown how to deal with somebody who was in your way. Accidents could happen, and space was awfully unforgiving.
    But when?
    Right now, before the flush of