Doctor Who_ Hope - Mark Clapham [79]
Something jumped up to the grate, slick fingers clawing through the gaps to try and tear into Fitz. He fell back, scrambling through a few inches of rancid liquid, hands slipping on the wet concrete. The creature ahead of him was hideously mutated, limbs twisted and eyes bloodshot, but it clearly had some features of the Endpointers in its genetic mix. Another creature attacked the first beast, and it too bore Endpointer characteristics, although its own individual features were different from that of the first.
Realising that the grating was solid enough to keep them back, Fitz pointed his torch past them, waving it around the chamber they lived in. The sewerlike space had a high ceiling, and Fitz could just make out a hatch in the roof. Immediately below the hatch was a mess of food, which had clearly been dropped through the hatch. The food had been dropped in canvas bags, now torn to pieces, but as the creatures jostled for position at the grating Fitz caught a glimpse of a shred of material floating in the fetid water. That glimpse, coupled with the metallic sheen to the mutations skins and his ideas of where they were located, confirmed Fitzs feeling that something was very wrong with Hopes new saviour.
Fitz turned and started to walk back through the tunnel, leaving the creatures to their unhappy state, their pitiful growls echoing after him. In his mind he held the image of a fragment of material bearing a sloping S with a line through it: the mark of Silver.
The Doctors tongue nervously clicked over his front teeth as he loosened the panel. The laboratory equipment used by Stephens and his associates was some way in advance of that in the Silver Palace, but this was still a delicate operation. They were sealed in a sterile area similar to the one they had kept the Doctor in, and the Doctor was clothed in a protective suit. He held a microscalpel between his fingers, gingerly opening the panel in the back of Silvers skull.
Well, well, the Doctor said when the panel was open. A section of Silvers brain was exposed, but it was not the brain itself which was of interest, but the shining, mercurylike fluid that flowed through it, that rose and fell on the very surface of the brain itself. With the brain exposed the fluid danced towards the light, straining towards the tip of the Doctors scalpel.
Remarkable, said the Doctor. Quite remarkable. Have you any idea where this substance came from?
I believe it was synthesised from alien technology, replied Silver. It may therefore be possible to synthesise it again using the technology in this bunker.
It should certainly prove easier to reproduce than Kallisti, said the Doctor, letting a small amount of the substance stick to the end of the scalpel. He began to lift the scalpel away, letting the shining blob detach itself from the rest of the material. It needed to be done gently, to allow any data in that area to be downloaded to the rest of the brain. The Doctor didnt want to accidentally amputate part of Silvers thoughts.
Kallisti will prove remarkably easy to reproduce, said Silver casually. The Doctor almost dropped the scalpel into Silvers head in shock. He had no idea Silver was so far advanced in his researches.
Doctor? said Silver.
Yes? replied the Doctor.
Please could you take the sample, said Silver. I find the feeling of air on my brain is disconcerting.
Oh, of course, said the Doctor, taking the sample of liquid intelligence and sliding it into a test tube. He stoppered the tube, then turned to Silver and closed the panel on the back of his head.
Thank you, said Silver, rising from his chair. He took the test tube from the Doctor, and tapped on the wall of the containment area. Richard, who had been watching the operation with interest, activated the control and the barriers slid up around them.
So, you have already worked out how to synthesise Kallisti? said the Doctor as they walked over to a bank of analytical equipment. Richard got to work