Doctor Who_ Full Circle - Andrew Smith [38]
'Please don't hit me with that,' the Doctor grinned. 'It's irreplaceable.' The Doctor's blood chilled as other Marshmen appeared from the passageways. He was helplessly trapped. 'In - any case,' he went on nervously, 'you can't go barging around killing people. You see... I think I understand now. I think I know why you're doing this.'
Amazingly, the Marshmen remained where they were. They appeared to be taking the Doctor's words to heart.
The Doctor was more than a little surprised that things were going so well, but decided to continue nonetheless. 'But, you know, there's really no need for this. So go on, go home. And take the others with you. What do you say?'
The Marshleader lowered his club. The Doctor immediately nipped forward and snatched K9's head away from the creature. The Marshleader snarled and backed further away, appearing cowed.
It was then that the Doctor became aware that the Marshmen were not actually looking at him, but at something behind him. He looked round. For a moment he was speechless... and saddened. 'Romana?'
She stood at the entrance to one of the passageways, her expression enigmatic. The blue veins on her neck and face and on the backs of her hands pulsed horribly.
She moved ominously towards the Doctor.
Varsh was restless. He paced the Science Unit like a caged leopard, frustrated, eager to be doing something purposeful. He regarded the others. Adric seemed happy enough, fiddling with Dexeter's microscope on the workbench, while Keara was content to browse through a selection of manuals to pass the time.
'We're not helping much in here,' Varsh sighed. Keara looked at him, then turned back to the manuals. Adric appeared not to have heard. He was closely examining the base of the microscope, his attention taken by something there.
Varsh came up behind Adric. The younger boy looked up, almost suspiciously. Varsh lifted the slide which sat in the microscope, looked at it, snorted disinterestedly, replaced the slide and moved away.
Adric returned his attention to the microscope. There was a small catch at the base. Making sure neither Varsh nor Keara was watching him, he flicked the catch and a small hinged panel fell open, exposing the inner workings of the microscope.
Exposing an image translator in perfect working order.
Adric delved into his pockets, producing the Doctor's broken image translator. As quickly as he could, he removed the image translator from the microscope and inserted the TARDIS component in its place. He popped the stolen image translator into his pocket and sealed the microscope again.
Adric gave the image translator in his pocket a brief pat, smiled to himself, and moved away from the microscope.
This would be a pleasant surprise for the Doctor, he thought to himself.
The Doctor ducked and veered away from Romana's snarling lunges, all the time trying to reason with her. 'Look,' he said, 'you've got alien protein in your brain tissue. I've not had a chance to analyse it yet, but the effects are probably only temporary...'
During all this the Marshmen watched on, silent yet attentive.
Romana lunged again and the Doctor nimbly side-stepped the swoop of her left arm.
'Please don't do that,' he said. 'Listen, this is your sort of problem. Psychopathology. Why are you doing this? Think about it.'
Romana attacked again. The Doctor almost slipped and fell as he ducked to avoid her grasp.
'Why attack me?' he asked. 'I'm the Doctor, Romana. The Doctor!'
Romana lunged forward with renewed vigour, and the Doctor brought his hands up to defend himself.
Romana suddenly stopped dead, transfixed by the sight of K9's head, held in the Doctor's hands.
The Doctor noticed this reaction, and saw a glimmer of hope for his companion. 'Yes,' he soothed, 'it's K9. You remember K9, Romana?'
There was a slight frown on Romana's forehead. Clearly, she did remember.
The Doctor reached out and stroked the doors of the TARDIS. 'And the TARDIS? Remember the TARDIS? Of course you do. The TARDIS, Romana...'