Doctor Who_ Battlefield - Marc Platt [40]
He tried to avoid its malignant eyes. Tried to convince himself that he would never design a device that was a killer. It couldn’t hurt him. It was simply used to frighten off superstitious peasants.
No, no. Stop. He was starting to think of himself as Merlin He must not fall into that trap.
He was held by the snake’s predatory stare. ‘Go away, little tapeworm,’ he said casually.
The snake slipped nearer.
Hardly daring to move, the Doctor fingered the wet surface of the control core. But his hands could not reproduce the precision instrumentation needed to manipulate the organic device.
The snake’s jaws opened, revealing fangs like curved needles. The emanation hissed and flicked its barbed tongue.
‘No, you won’t hurt me,’ said the Doctor. ‘You can’t.
Not unless someone else has tampered with you...’
He squeezed the core again. Gently.
A portal at the far end of the chamber widened and closed again.
That was wrong.
He teased another section of the core with his thumb.
The green of the snake deepened. Its eyes glittered with livid malice.
‘If I don’t live to be Merlin, you could be in trouble,’ he added. ‘Sorry, but I can’t stand here all day.’
He jabbed a finger at the pulsing core.
The whole ship lurched. The back of the snake’s head flared out like a cobra’s hood and went on expanding in a green curve until it finally enveloped him.
He struggled as tingling coils of light plasma wound around him. With a spasm, he dropped the slippery core and fell backwards.
The snake tightened its grip.
On the floor, the core throbbed in a pool of gel. Its ganglia twitched and curled helplessly just out of the Doctor’s flailing reach.
Shou Yuing sat in the passenger seat of her car and prayed.
The Brigadier was a good driver, but he was taking the corners too fast. Her 2CV was H reg: one of the last made.
Her brother had only given it a respray last week.
‘Please he careful,’ she said and clung to her seat belt.
She could already hear new rattles that she hadn’t heard before.
‘And the Doctor said something about examining the dig?’ said the Brigadier brusquely.
‘Yes. He kept on about finding new evidence.’
When they reached the hill overlooking the lake, she saw Ace’s new crater where the site should have been.
‘What’s going on? Someone’s bombed out the dig!’ The Brigadier smiled.
He brought the car to an abrupt stop beside Peter Warmsly’s Range Rover and got out. Shou Yuing clambered out of her side and yelled after him. He still had her car keys.
‘Stay clear,’ he called back and drew his gun.
He ignored the three figures standing on the headland and the cluster of military vehicles stationed further along the bank. Instead, he headed towards the crater and soon vanished into its depths.
‘What do you know of Excalibur?’ said Ancelyn to Doctor Warmsly. He glanced quickly at Bambera, who shrugged vaguely and stared out at the lake.
Peter shivered. ‘King Arthur’s sword Excalibur, wrought by the lonely maiden of the lake,’ he said. ‘She rose up out of the water, holding the sword Excalibur aloft.’
‘This lake?’ asked Ancelyn eagerly.
A warmth returned to Peter’s disheartened voice.
‘"Thou rememberest how, in those old days, one summer noon, an arm rose up from out the bosom of the lake, clothed in white samite, mystic and wonderful, holding the sword. And how I rode across and took it, and have worn it like a king." ’
How strange it seemed to the knight, to hear the people of Avallion retell the story of his own ancestors. The drab words of their speech caught fire when they recalled the moments of their history touched by that of the real world.
‘I told you it’s just a myth.’ added Peter. ‘Honestly, women in water, holding swords.’ He shook his head in gloom.
‘Look!’ yelled Bambera. She pointed out at the lake.
Something flashed on the water twenty metres out. A sword was rising above the grey-green waves. It was held by an arm dressed in shiny black material. A head broke the surface and flung itself back, gasping for air.
‘It’s that blasted girl,’ shouted Peter and he