Doctor Who_ All-Consuming Fire - Andy Lane [56]
. . . in which stood . . .
. . . I cannot bring myself to write the words, even now, without a great mental effort and a stiff tumbler of brandy. It has been said that if you shake a man's world hard enough, it is the man that crumbles, not the world.
When the creature in the alcove walked forward, its five spindly legs jointed in odd directions and supporting a wrinkled and sagging body, the whole thing looking like something that a man with a handful of pipe-cleaners and a walnut might have modelled in an odd moment, I felt my mind teeter on the verge of collapse. A red mist rose before my eyes and the floor rocked beneath my feet. I could not believe what I was seeing, and yet I knew with a terrible certainty that it was no illusion or puppet. I knew, because I had seen it before. It had been hidden in the shadows outside Mrs Prendersly's house, it had moved across a fire on the other side of the Serpentine, it had been standing in the garden of the brothel in Drummond Crescent and we had followed it to the Library.
It had been following me.
'Gentlemen,' it said in a soft, sibilant voice as it halted in the centre of the room, 'we of Ry'leh need your help.'
Interlude
AF135/5/3/14
V-ON, BRD-ABLE, WPU - 546.7
VERBAL INPUT, COMPRESS AND SAVE
MILITARY LOG FILE EPSILON
CODE GREEN FIVE
ENABLE
I'm crouched on a catwalk about a hundred and fifty metres above the ground. Well, I say catwalk. Actually it's just three strips of wood running from side to side of one building to another, and they don't have cats here, just chocolate-favoured animals with skates, and three-legged rats.
I tracked the things back to where they came from. Bit of a trek - couple of hundred klicks, I guess. It's a town, heavily fortified. The things live here and worship in this big temple thing. There's other creatures out on the plain -vicious things, killers. They seem to act like guards. Don't quite understand the set-up.
I'm hugging the wall beneath a slit-like window, trying to make out a conversation inside the temple-thing. I'm dictating this live, just in case something happens to me, like I fall, or I'm found out. I can hear voices inside the room. I'm holding the log-implant up to the window now.
'My children, you have done well. I am pleased.'
That's one's actually in the room. Odd-sounding voice, like it's not real at all. Like that old Pink Floyd song: there's someone in my head, but it's not me.
'When shall we bask again in your presence?'
Bloke's voice. Sounds like it's a long way away.
'Soon, very soon.'
'The armies are gathered.'
'You must see to them yourself. The brethren will be committed to moving me soon.'
'I would crave a request, oh luminous one.'
Crawler.
'Name it. You are my favoured son.'
God, they're all at it. It's like a convention of teachers' pets.
'There is interference here. I would ask that a few of the brethren are spared to protect this side of the gateway.'
'Interference? You displease me. The guards are mobilizing. Soon they may realize our plans. I am loath to spare any of the brethren.'
'A detective and a stranger called the Doctor are investigating our affairs.
They are nothing, but I would not take chances with your safety at stake.'
Yay, Professor! Nice to know that it's all coming together.
'Nothing can threaten my safety, but this Doctor may pose problems. You may have four of the brethren. They will be waiting this side of the gateway...'
There's a sort of scuffle, then the background noise an the room changes in some strange way I can't quite put my finger on. I think contact has been broken.
Just as I'm about to scramble down, the thing in the room murmurs something to itself.
'If only the gateway wasn't so dangerous,' it says, like it's talking to itself.
Self-pity just ladled on with a trowel. 'If they sing one note wrong then I shall never escape this hellish place.'