Doctor Who_ Interference_ Book One - Lawrence Miles [47]
And the mask was moving.
‘It’s Cold,’ said Sarah. She sounded surprised, for once. ‘It’s made from the same stuff that’s in the vials.’
It was true. The mask was solid, but the surface was rippling like liquid. Sam couldn’t see any of the tiny faces in the darkness, but she guessed they’d be there if she looked closely enough. She therefore decided not to look closely enough. Compassion was busy pulling another of the masks over her own face, the black material quivering whenever her fingertips pressed into it.
Kode looked nonplussed. ‘Should I get mine? Only I’ve got it in the boot –’
‘We won’t be needing you,’ Compassion said.
‘Oh. Right. Thanks a lot.’
‘You’re always saying you don’t like getting your hands dirty,’ Compassion pointed out.
Kode just sulked at her.
Sam tutted, under her breath. ‘I’ve definitely met him before somewhere,’ she muttered.
‘We’re going to expose you to the Cold,’ Guest told her. ‘We feel it may break down your resistance to our signals.’
‘How?’ asked Sarah. ‘Or don’t I want to know?’
‘The Cold can have… effects on the human brain. In the short term, it’s not important. Long‐term exposure can cause neural and genetic interference.’
Kode nodded. Hard. So everyone noticed him. ‘That’s why they’re using the shadow masks,’ he said.
Sam giggled. So did Sarah.
Guest stared at them, blankly.
‘Sorry,’ said Sam. ‘It’s just…’
‘Shadow masks,’ concluded Sarah.
Sam got the feeling that Guest was blinking at her, under the mask. ‘It’s the way he said it,’ she explained. ‘There are just some words you shouldn’t use, you know? Not if you want people to take you seriously. “Shadow”. It makes you sound like you’re trying to be all scary and sinister.’
‘“Darkness”, there’s another one,’ Sarah added.
‘“Blaster”,’ suggested Sam.
‘“Atomise”.’
‘“Vortex”.’
‘Really?’ said Sarah. ‘I always liked “vortex”.’
‘All right. “Sector”.’
‘Oh, that’s a good one.’
‘Have you finished?’ Guest asked. Politely.
‘Yeah, just about.’ Sam squinted at him. ‘Wait a minute. Those masks protect you from the Cold, right? But those masks are made from the Cold. Aren’t they?’
‘They’re made from the skin of the Cold,’ Kode said, apparently still desperate to get involved in the conversation.
‘The shed skin,’ Guest went on, indicating the boxes around the warehouse. ‘The Cold itself is out of our reach. We can only collect its… spoor.’
‘But you can put us in touch with it?’ Sam asked.
‘Perhaps it’s telepathic,’ mused Sarah. ‘Whatever it is.’
‘Contact with the Cold can create large‐scale interference in any local transmissions,’ Guest recited. ‘This is why you’re here. Away from the hotel.’
‘Guest,’ said Compassion. But her voice was so muffled, Guest obviously didn’t hear it.
‘We have faster methods of transportation,’ Guest went on. ‘But on this kind of planet there’s always a question of reliability –’
‘Guest,’ said Compassion.
The woman’s head was cocked at a funny angle. Listening to the receiver, Sam deduced. Guest noticed her, at last.
‘Can you hear that?’ Compassion asked.
Guest listened, too. ‘The security systems,’ he announced. ‘Something’s coming.’
Sam realised Sarah was looking over her shoulder, towards the warehouse entrance.
Compassion shook her head. ‘No one can get in here, can they? The systems are tuned to stop anyone getting too close to the complex.’
Then Sarah laughed. Sam was sure she could hear the buzzing of an engine, somewhere in the distance. ‘Anyone?’ Sarah queried.
Now Guest was staring at the entrance, too. Sam finally turned, just in time to see the Land Rover plough into the factory gates.
They were wrenched out of position, the sound of twisting metal ringing off the walls of the warehouse, not quite drowning out the throbbing of the machine’s engine. The Land Rover kept moving, with its tyres screeching against the gravel drive, crunching the broken fragments of gate under its wheels. Heading straight for the warehouse, on a careful, controlled course.
‘Not possible,’ said Guest.
‘Uggh,’ said one of the Ogrons.
‘Out of the way,’ said Sarah. Probably talking to