Doctor Who_ Deep Blue - Mark Morris [47]
Turlough watched in horror, then glanced quickly around in an effort to ascertain where the attack had come from.
Seeing nothing, he squatted beside the Doctor and called his name. The Doctor groaned; his eyelids flickered. Terrified of the prospect of the Doctor passing out and leaving him alone to face whatever had taken up residence on the ship, Turlough shook his friend roughly by the shoulders and shouted into his face, „Come on, Doctor! Please wake up!‟
To his relief the Doctor‟s eyes opened. They were a muddy blue, their vacancy matching the Doctor‟s slack, expressionless face.
„Are you all right, Doctor?‟ Turlough said desperately.
„ Please be all right.‟
The Doctor‟s eyes focused suddenly. He closed his mouth and Turlough saw his throat move as he swallowed.
„We have to get back to the TARDIS,‟ he said, his voice thick.
„What?‟ said Turlough. „I... I don‟t understand. What happened?‟
The Doctor tried to climb to his feet. Turlough helped him, then held on to his arm to keep him steady.
„I made contact,‟ the Doctor said. „They know we‟re here.‟
„This doesn‟t sound encouraging,‟ Turlough said bleakly.
„Go on.‟
„I sensed... hostility. Raw and savage. Beyond reason.‟ He looked at Turlough earnestly, and with not even the faintest trace of fear in his voice he said, „If they find us, they‟ll tear us apart.‟
Turlough‟s ice-chip eyes widened, his face drained of what little colour it had. He plucked at the Doctor‟s sleeve with trembling fingers, and in a voice wavering up and down the scale, he pleaded, „Please, Doctor, let‟s hurry.‟
They did. Back through the crew quarters and the recreation area. Back through the agricultural section with its slimy rot. All the time they were running, Turlough fancied he could hear sounds around them: scurrying, scuttling, clattering sounds, as if there were giant insects moving behind the walls.
Happily they reached the cargo bay without incident and burst through the bulkhead doors to see the dark, shadowed block of the TARDIS waiting for them two hundred yards away - stoical, dependable, reassuring. Turlough‟s breath was rattling in his chest and he felt as though his head was pulsing with a hot, juicy rhythm in tandem with his heart. All the same he was making ready to sprint across to the TARDIS when the Doctor stayed him with a hand on the arm.
„Listen.‟
Turlough listened. He could hear nothing except the drip of water and the muffled thumping of blood in his ears, and told the Doctor so.
„That‟s just my point,‟ the Doctor explained. „The sounds in the walls have stopped.‟
Turlough looked at him, appalled. „You mean you heard them too?‟
„Of course,‟ said the Doctor, looking surprised.
„I thought I was imagining them,‟ Turlough murmured miserably, then corrected himself. „I hoped I was imagining them.‟
„Brave heart,‟ the Doctor said, patting Turlough on the arm.
„Come on, we‟ll keep together and take it slowly.‟
They began to creep towards the TARDIS, Turlough‟s eyes darting everywhere, his imagination making him believe that each dense patch of shadow was a hiding place for something that would come whirling and screeching towards them. His footfalls, and those of the Doctor‟s, were the faintest of clangs on the metal floor, yet Turlough gritted his teeth in agony with each step, his senses so heightened that he felt as though they might as well be continually banging a gong to announce their presence.
They got halfway there, then three-quarters, then suddenly they had no more than twenty paces to go. It was still quiet, the coldness welcome now on Turlough‟s hot skin, his face running with sweat beneath the handkerchief that he wore over his mouth and nose. They came to a momentary halt, a natural pause before the final push for home. The Doctor took the TARDIS key from his pocket, gave Turlough a brief nod and they stepped forward again.
A shadow loomed from behind the TARDIS. Turlough faltered, gripping the Doctor‟s arm, but the Doctor merely patted him absently on the