Doctor Who_ Deep Blue - Mark Morris [101]
‘Isn’t it?’ said the Doctor mildly, and withdrew a second flask from his other pocket. ‘Why don’t you take some of your own medicine and find out?’
He hurled the flask at the metal column that contained the ship’s energy core. The glass shattered against it, spraying the figure with clear liquid that only the Doctor knew was tap water from the TARDIS. Instantly the strange, shimmering substance of the figure’s flesh began to blister and liquefy, to blacken and steam. The Xaranti queen’s mouths opened in unison and released a single, fractured, ear-splitting scream.
Words formed within the scream, high and undulating.
‘ Releeeease usssss...’
‘I’ll release you when you release this planet!’ the Doctor shouted, and his voice became almost pleading. ‘Go now before it’s too late!’
Without waiting for a reply he turned on his heels and strode from the room.
Tegan opened her eyes and looked around. She saw a sea of faces regarding her with wary alarm. She recognised none of them; nor did she recognise the thin-faced young man who was crouching beside her. She thought his eyes looked kind, and relaxed slightly - then she noticed he was holding a gun.
‘Where am I?’ she demanded. She glared at the young man.
‘Who are you?’
‘Tegan,’ the young man said, surprising her with her name,
‘are you all right?’
‘Why shouldn’t I be?’ Uncertainty was making her angry.
Her glance swept across the group of people, many in pyjamas and dressing gowns, still watching her as if she was a wild animal they had cornered in the woods.
‘Her eyes look fine now,’ one old man said.
A large black man with a sweaty face who was wearing some sort of grey-blue uniform that made Tegan think of hospitals replied, ‘It could be a trick. I mean, she’s still got those things all over her.’
Tegan looked down at her hands and bare arms and saw black thorns jutting from her flesh. Her voice grew shrill with panic. ‘What’s going on? What’s happening to me?’
‘It’s OK,’ the young man said gently, soothingly. ‘How much do you remember?’
Tegan tried to think. ‘I remember... I remember leaving Sea Base Four with the Doctor and Turlough. After that, it’s all a blur.’
‘Look!’ a woman said suddenly, pointing at Tegan. ‘Look at her arms!’
Tegan looked just as everyone else did, dreading what she might see this time. But the thorns poking through her flesh were beginning to shrivel, to shrink. In less than a minute they had disappeared, the bloodless wounds they had made closing up, leaving not so much as a blemish on her skin.
‘She’s beaten it,’ the woman who had pointed at her arms gasped in awe.
‘I still think it’s a trick,’ the black man muttered.
The young man crouching beside her rounded on him. ‘Of course it’s not a trick, Max. Don’t be so paranoid.’ He holstered his gun, turned back to Tegan and took her hands.
Smiling, looking into her eyes, he said, ‘No, I really think she’s cured.’
Turlough’s lungs were bursting. If his limbs were not being held in a vice-like grip he would have been thrashing with panic. The urge to breathe was almost overwhelming; he wouldn’t be able to fight it for much longer, even though he knew that sucking in a breath would fill him with nothing but sea water. Sergeant Benton’s hand on the back of his head was like a massive weight bearing down on his skull.
Turlough didn’t know whether the soldiers were trying to drown him or infect him, and at that moment he didn’t much care. All he wanted was to be allowed to breathe.
As soon as the TARDIS had de-materialised the soldiers had moved in and grabbed him and carried him down to the sea. Turlough had protested, but they had been wordless, robotic. They had waded in almost to their waists before dunking him under. It seemed a long, long time ago now since he had last drawn breath, though it couldn’t have been more than a minute or so.
I’m going to die! he thought, and the words were like screams in his head. I’m going to die on this horrible planet