The Worldship p.6
Jor raised his rifle and aimed down through the hole to give the Doctor some covering fire.
"No!" Shadia jerked his arm aside. "You'll hit the baby!"
A barrage of laser fire glanced out and hit the Doctor. To no visible effect. The Doctor, holding the baby, rose up to the ceiling and scrambled free of the can. He thrust the now glowing baby at Shadia and severed the fish line with his sonic screwdriver. The box and can crashed and clattered to the floor below.
"Come on." The Doctor grabbed Klayisha's hand and followed Ashtroth's shadow back across the plaza to the clay wall.
A hand print pushed itself into the wall and a section of the wall gathered itself away to form a rough arched entry.
"Wait." Ashtroth, partly highlighted by the energy beams behind the wall, stepped forward into the beams. They speared harmlessly through him. He concentrated for a second, speaking along the lines to his fellow engineers. The energy beams shut off. "Quick, inside," his again disembodied voice ordered.
The Doctor herded everyone inside as the soldiers came trampling into the plaza. The wall closed behind them.
"That was close." Shadia whooshed in relief. The Doctor could hear the baby giggling and chortling.
Slowly the oppressive darkness began to lighten. Ashtroth stood in the center of the tunnel, fingers steepled, head bowed in a meditative pose. They could tell because his body gradually began glowing, faintly at first, then with a stable mellow gold, bright enough for them to see by. He lifted his head. "Give me the child."
Jor and Shadia's eyes were huge with a mixture of awe and fear. Shadia clutched the baby protectively.
Ashtroth held out his arms. "Please."
The Doctor gently took the swaddled baby from his aunt and handed him to the glowing man.
Klayisha broke out weeping.
Ashtroth unwrapped the babe and tossed the baby sheet to Jor. The Engineer cradled the child in the crook of his arm with his hand on the infant's stomach until the baby too began to glow brighter.
"Klayisha, look!" Shadia pushed her weeping sister away and made her look at her child.
"He's a monster." The young mother wept with both love and despair.
"No!" The Doctor jumped forward forcefully. "Your baby is simply different, Klayisha. Look at him." The Doctor held out a finger and the baby grabbed it, pumping it heartily, and chortling, bright eyed and alert.
Klayisha held out a longing hand toward her baby. She stopped and looked up fearfully at Ashtroth.
"I am no demon, child, despite what you have been taught. I heard of your husband's death. I am sorry. But I will be your child's father now." He handed Joshia gently back to his mother.
"Will be the child's father?" the Doctor demanded, turning Ashtroth toward him by the arm. "I thought you said you were the child's father."
"So I am. So I am the father of all these." He waved his hand wide to encompass not only their small group but the whole ship.
"I think you'd better explain," Jor demanded.
"Yes. But not here. The child is well. Absorbing the laser fire gave him the energy boost he needed. Come." He turned. "I'll lead you to the others." A muffled explosion, reminiscent of the spontaneous combustions, rocked them on their feet. "Perhaps we can yet stop this madness."
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