Doctor Who_ Empire of Death - BBC Worldwide [67]
Two rapid jerks on one of the ropes got his attention. The sergeant yelled for his men, who ran on to the pontoon and took positions either side of the rope. At Vollmer's command they began hauling the first diver back to the surface. Initially this proved almost impossible, like drawing the cork from an old bottle. But once the weight began moving, its progress upwards was surprisingly swift. When the Doctor was out of the water, Vollmer set to work unscrewing the front porthole on the diving helmet. Inside he could see trickles of blood running down from the Doctor's nose. The sergeant sent Johnson away to fetch Lady Nyssa. If her friend was dying, she would want to be with him. By the time Johnson had brought her back, the Doctor was out of his diving suit and beginning to recover.
`The general - is he here?' were the Doctor's first words.
When Vollmer shook his head, the Doctor urged him to raise the other submariner. The sergeant agreed and set his men to work on pulling Doulton back to the surface. This proved even more difficult than before, even when Vollmer joined in.
Eventually he was forced to take men away from the bellows box to help. He knew this risked starving Doulton of air but felt it was necessary.
At last the second diving suit broke the surface of the water. Several men jumped into the river to help the general on to the pontoon. Vollmer quickly opened the helmet's glass porthole so Doulton could breathe freely. The general gasped in fresh air, his features red and strained, droplets of sweat adorning his moustache. The sergeant assigned Clark and the rest of the men to helping Doulton out of the heavy, cumbersome diving suit. Meanwhile Vollmer eavesdropped as Lady Nyssa quizzed her associate about what he had witnessed.
Ìt was troubling,' the Doctor said quietly. He described being in a rose garden, but could offer no proof he had visited the afterlife. 'I wanted to believe in what I was experiencing but felt only doubts. One thing is certain - the rift is a conjunction between two worlds. What about the instruments in the TARDIS? What did they indicate?'
Lady Nyssa said she had been collating results when summoned to the riverbank. The Doctor hushed her to silence, having noted Vollmer's interest in their conversation.
The stationmaster's son had run all the way from Lanark, urged onwards by his father's threats of violence if the telegram was not placed in the hands of the soldiers that day. The message had been sent from Windsor Castle, making its urgent delivery all the more pressing. But a third factor helped speed the boy's feet as he ran through the k west towards Corra Linn.
For years rumours and whispers had passed through the district about the ghosts that haunted this narrow gorge after midnight. It was common knowledge that two coffins had already been filled by the soldiers. The boy had no wish to still be within the woods when the witching hour came, nor to provide any more business for the undertaker and his family.
He reached the encampment after dark, only finding it by virtue of the sparks flying upwards from a fire roaring in the centre of a clearing surrounded by tents. Breathless and exhausted, the boy collapsed to the ground, still clutching the envelope inscribed with the words Tor General Doulton's Eyes Only'. When he had recovered enough to speak, the youth was brought before Sergeant Vollmer.
`What's your name, lad?'
`Tommy, sir. Tommy Douglas,' the boy replied in a soft Scots burr.
`You have done well delivering this tonight. You may stay the night here before returning to your father in the morning with my thanks.'
`No, sir:
The sergeant considered insisting but decided against it. The lad was terrified, his eyes constantly flitting back and forth. In the past Vollmer would have dismissed the superstitions of the local people as pointless whimsy, but events since arriving here were fast shifting that opinion. The sergeant gave the boy a lantern and matches for lighting it again should the wind extinguish the flame. 'That should