Doctor Who_ Empire of Death - BBC Worldwide [101]
Ì don't think so,' Private Hawthorne's doppelganger said, no trace of emotion in his voice. He was standing atop Corra Linn with the other duplicates, looking down at the trio. The impostors raised their weapons and took aim at Nyssa, James and Morrison.
General Doulton had formed his men into three ranks of twelve.
Those with their backs to the aperture were standing, the soldiers in the middle rank were crouching on one knee and the men of the front row were lying on the ground. All had their rifles loaded and ready to fire, they just needed a target. The screaming continued tearing at their minds, but the source of the cacophony had melted away into the distance.
Ì promised the Doctor we would hold our positions here and keep the enemy at bay until Her Majesty could be taken to safety,' the general explained, shouting to be heard above the caterwauling. 'We don't know how long that will be, nor do we know the strength of our foe. Heaven knows what monsters they can conjure up to send against us. Whatever happens, we must stand our ground. Is that understood?'
`Yes, sir!' the soldiers replied in unison.
`Very well' Doulton nodded with satisfaction. He would have expected no less, but it made him proud to stand alongside such men. The general planned to recommend them all for commendation - if they got out of this purgatory alive.
Then the demons came.
`Your plans seem to be going awry,' the Doctor commented. 'What was it - persuade the Queen to go through the portal, then replace her with one of your doppelgangers in preparation for an invasion? Why the change of plan? You must know blowing apart that rift risks destroying your own world as well as this one'
`You do not understand,' the corpse gurgled, now speaking in the voice of Adric. 'You know nothing of what you speak' It explained about the infection seeping outwards from the rift, how its kind had lost their immortality to the contagion of linear time.
The Doctor was aghast at hearing this. It was you who sent the ghost of Adric to the TARDIS, wasn't it?'
`Yes. We reached out sideways across time and space to find you, drawing you to one of our kind. We believed you could help us stop this invasion - but they kept coming, more and more of them, dooming our world. So we decided to strike back'
`Speak in your own voice. You have no need to hide behind the dead any more'
`Very well' The boyish tones of Adric were replaced by a harsh, guttural voice. Each word was gasped, forced out through the stiffening vocal cords of the duplicate James's corpse. 'This body was once our ambassador to this world but it was abused, tortured and finally murdered. We shall have our vengeance!'
`Not this way,' the Doctor said. 'The people of this world seem barbaric to you but they are just children'
`We have experienced what they do to their own children.
Why should we do any different to them?'
`Go back now,' the Doctor pleaded, 'while you still have a chance. You brought me here to help. Let me do that. Let me seal the rift from this side - permanently. Perhaps a way can still be found to isolate the effects of this contagion'
`No, it is too late for that. We shall do unto this world what it has done to ours'
The first explosion silenced the creature. The Doctor's shoulders sagged. 'You should have gone back when you had the chance,' he said. 'Now it's too late' The Doctor looked back at the unconscious body of the Queen...
You open your eyes and see him. Is this another dream?
you ask. He smiles and nods. Yes, he says. I came to say goodbye. You run forward and embrace him, wanting to hold him one last time. Don't leave me, you beg, please don't leave me again. I have to go, I have to move on, he says sadly. He reaches down and gently touches your chin, tipping your face up so he can look into your eyes one last time. You must do the same. You shake your head, not wanting to hear the words. You know I'm right, he says. Find a new