Doctor Who_ Full Circle - Andrew Smith [30]
'A wall of deliberate ignorance,' Dexeter snorted.
Garif interjected cautiously. 'Dexeter, what exactly do you hope to learn?'
'The nature of these creatures. We're afraid of them, we retreat from their presence, and yet we know nothing about them.'
'You know nothing,' Nefred firmly pointed out.
Dexeter became deferential. 'I was forgetting, Decider. I understood from Decider Draith that these creatures were mentioned in the System Files.'
Nefred studied the scientist in silence. Draith and Dexeter had been close friends for a long time. Had Draith disclosed more than he should have done to this man? Dexeter was in essence a good man, but in Nefred's opinion over-eager, a scientific zealot.
Dexeter went on even as Nefred played with these thoughts. 'But, if we could put that secret knowledge of yours beside what I can discover...'
Nefred cut in quickly. 'Your experiments would be secret?'
'Of course, Decider. If you so advise.'
Nefred took a deep, nervous breath, knowing he was now committing himself irrevocably to a dangerous course of action. 'You have my permission for the experiments to proceed.'
Dexeter was almost delirious with delight. 'Excellent!' he cried.
'On one condition.'
'Oh?'
'We - the Deciders - are to supervise.' Nefred's glare chilled Dexeter to the marrow. 'And there is to be complete secrecy. You understand?'
'I understand.'
Nefred turned away from the Marshchild. 'Make the necessary preparations, Dexeter.'
'The creature's no good to us aneasthetised. The revival will take about an hour.'
'An hour, then,' said Nefred. 'Be ready. Now, Garif, you and I have to see to the Outlers. Login is with them in the Great Book Room.'
The TARDIS was in flight. The Doctor stood looking down at the controls, not seeing them, seeing instead Romana's face, the puzzled expression on it - she had genuinely not recognised him.
Now she was lying in her quarters in some kind of coma, Adric by her side. The coma had come quickly, without warning. At first Adric had thought her dead, but a quick check had confirmed she was still breathing, her vital functions barely discernible but nonetheless continuing to keep her alive.
The Doctor lifted his head, closed his eyes, and let out a slow heavy sigh. Opening his eyes, he saw K9's headless body standing in the corner. They had had no time to look for the head.
Thoughts of K9 reminded him again of Romana. He was back where he had started, with his original worries.
There was no way of telling how long the coma would last. It had been Adric who had first pointed out the two tiny spider-bites on her cheek. Something in the spider bites. Not a toxin... some kind of psychochemical.
The dead spider lay upturned on the console in front of him. Within its carcass might lie the answer, the Doctor considered.
Dexeter had a microscope in his Science Unit.
Refnal and Gulner had fully recovered from their ordeal by now, and had been shamefacedly reunited with Varsh, Tylos and Keara.
They stood in an incongruous huddle before the galleries of the Great Book Room, looked down upon by the Deciders, feeling very small.
Nefred began. 'When the starliner crashed upon this planet our ancestors vowed that their one endeavour would be to repair the ship and return to Terradon.'
'Each generation has renewed that vow,' Garif put in. 'The work is continuous,' said Nefred. 'On your behalf. Isn't that right, Decider Login?'
Login never took his eyes off his daughter. 'Yes. On behalf of all of us,' he concurred.
'Then what is to be done,' Garif wondered, 'with those that betray that vow, betray that work?'
'They are children,' Login argued.
'Very well,' said Nefred. 'And do these "children" now understand what we are doing for them?'
Garif. 'Do they understand the warning against Mistfall?'
Nefred again. 'And the supremacy of the community?'
Login. 'I believe they do.'
Nefred's strategy had worked. They had no time to waste on