Doctor Who_ Hope - Mark Clapham [69]
Find out what it is, barked Stephens in reply, and Richard ran over to a monitor screen, tapping on a keyboard to cycle through the viewpoints of numerous cameras.
I know what it is, said the Doctor levelly. The gathered humans stared at him as one.
Your future, the Doctor said. And its here to meet you.
Chapter Eleven
Storm Front
They had been taught from birth that they were superior, that they were the guardians of the universes greatest culture. They had been cryogenically preserved, to rest until a time when they could retake their dominant position. Those who had been revived to man the bunker had never faced the outside world, had only known of it what they had been told. Of one thing they were certain: their humanity put them above the detritus who lived on the surface, that their inherent superiority would allow them to fight off any savage attack from above. Nothing could defeat them.
This certainty was crushed by the unstoppable threat of one man, a former human who now constituted a sub species all on his own.
The rupture had occurred at airlock seven, an unknown intruder breaching the boarding tube connecting the airlock to one of the small subfleet docked at the bunker. The intruder had then wrenched open the airlocks external door, entering the airlock and locking himself in. At this point all guards were summoned to the area and the bunker went on red alert. A motley collection of armed men had gathered in the dank corridor, not daring to approach the entrance to the airlock, standing there fearfully with weapons raised. None of them had ever left the bunker since their revival, most had been born on the last of the human colonies, then shipped out on ice. They were not prepared for an incursion from outside their hermetically sealed world.
The airlock door burst open with a fiery explosion, and a room full of toxic, acidic water burst forth with a cloud of stinging vapour. The sea water sloshed down the corridor in both directions, and the humans fled, most far too slow to avoid the waters flowing over them, stripping their skin, burning through their clothes, leaving them scarred and dying on the floor, twitching in mute agony, their throats too scorched to cry out.
The lucky ones were only splashed, their injuries merely disfiguring rather than crippling. One halfblind soldier, one hand virtually incinerated, tried to crawl away as the intruder stepped out of the airlock. He was too slow, and turned in horror to see the intruder emerging from the steam. Humanoid but broad shouldered, its surface slick and metallic, it bristled with nozzles and boxes. One eye glowed red, the other was a pale green square, its face a gasmasked muzzle. Vapour rose off its form, a barnacled, armoured monster from the deep.
The halfblind soldier collapsed, overwhelmed by pain and fear. The beast stepped over him, following an invisible trail.
The sound of gunfire echoed down the corridors as another group of guards tried to intercept the intruder.
Surrender now, said the Doctor. Im sure I can make an arrangement for you. He stood with his back to the wall, his attackers hanging back, unsure what move to make. Stephens was leaning over a monitor screen, observing the action near the airlock. The Doctor had occasional glimpses of the battle on the screen, enough to know that it was Silver attacking the base. Singlehanded, by the looks of it.
Richard, hissed Stephens. The young scientist was instantly at his side. I want you to take a team down to the cryochambers. I want a hundred strong men revived, with full update memory implants covering current situation plus weapons training. Give them a massive revival booster, triple the normal dose.
That could kill them within days, complained Richard. That kind of dose is bound to cause major organ failure.
Stephens spun around, grabbing Richards jacket and pulling him to his face.
I dont care, shouted Stephens. I want them alive, energetic and ready to kill. Take them to the armoury then get them to kill this cybernetic