Doctor Who_ Deep Blue - Mark Morris [40]
„Alarmingly so,‟ the Brigadier agreed. „How long before this infection begins to take effect, Doctor?‟
„A matter of days, it seems, though I suspect it rather depends on the individual and the level of contact. Our young friend in the mortuary had been in the town only four days, you say?‟
Mike nodded. „He arrived last Wednesday.‟
„Hmm. Then a solution must be found quickly.‟
„I‟ll leave that up to you if I may, Doctor, whilst I concentrate on containing the problem,‟ said the Brigadier.
„Contain how?‟ asked Turlough.
„First of all by attempting to get the necessary authority to quarantine the town, close down the beach and ban the sale and consumption of seafood.‟
Mike pulled a face. „With all due respect, sir, I think that might prove difficult. This is the height of the season, after all. There‟s bound to be a huge amount of opposition to your proposal, both locally and nationally.‟
The Brigadier was silent for a moment, then he nodded thoughtfully. „Yes, I do take your point, Yates. I‟ll just have to convince the chaps at Whitehall that we‟re facing a national emergency, won‟t I?‟
„Yes, sir. But I still don‟t think it‟ll be easy. So far the only evidence we‟ve got that there‟s anything amiss is the chap in the mortuary, and he alone hardly constitutes the beginnings of an epidemic.‟
„What about the other people given hospital treatment after last night‟s incident?‟ asked the Doctor. „Did none of them exhibit similar symptoms to the dead man?‟
„Not as far as we‟re aware, Doctor,‟ said Mike.
„Perhaps they went out of their way to keep themselves covered up,‟ suggested Benton.
„Hmm,‟ said the Doctor. Abruptly he slapped his hands down on his knees. „Well, whilst you concentrate on containment, Brigadier, Turlough and I will attempt to get to the heart of the matter.‟
„How?‟ Benton asked.
„By setting the TARDIS coordinates for the area in which Mr Elkins saw the object come down.‟
„Won‟t that be rather dangerous?‟ Turlough asked, trying to conceal his alarm.
„Not at all,‟ said the Doctor airily. „The TARDIS has an in-built ability to seek out the nearest safe landing spot - which is why she never materialises inside solid objects or underwater. If there is a solid, hollow object - a spacecraft, for instance - on the ocean bed, you can rest assured the TARDIS will find it.‟
Charlotte had never had a harder night to get through. She had finally drifted off around 5 a.m., just as it was getting light. When she had seen the result of the test she had begun to shake - not just her hands or her arms, but her whole body, as if someone had started a powerful motor chugging inside her belly.
Dropping the strip of plastic she had rushed to the toilet and thrown up. So violent had the reflex been that she had been terrified the foetus might be harmed, and yet there was a part of her that thought that losing the baby at this early stage would maybe not be such a bad thing. She had thrown up twice more, and each time she had felt certain that if it happened again it would turn her inside out. When the urge finally subsided, she sank to the toilet floor, trembling and weeping.
How long she sat there she wasn‟t sure. She might have been there all night if it wasn‟t for the thought that Mum - or even worse, Dad - might wake up at any time, needing the loo. Though she felt drained of energy, she pushed herself to her feet, flushed the toilet and stumbled back to her room.
She flopped on to her bed, curled into the foetal position, and dragged her bedclothes over her legs.
She lay like that for a long time, her mind full of rushing thoughts. Before she had known she was pregnant, she had decided that she was going to keep the baby, but now she didn‟t really know what to do. She felt sick and lost and frightened.
Finally, around dawn, exhaustion overtook her and she slipped into a sleep that was ragged and fitful with half-remembered dreams. It was the sound of someone banging on the door that dragged her out of sleep.
She opened her mouth to shout „Hang on‟, but the sound that emerged