Doctor Who_ Interference_ Book Two - Lawrence Miles [37]
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Scene 60. Another Chamber
[The room is in total darkness. As SAM enters, we hear a variety of peculiar whimpering noises, but there’s no way of telling what’s causing them. SAM stops, alert, as she walks into the room. When nothing tries to attack her, she turns, casting the light from the torch around the walls.
[The beam falls across the face of something living. SAM gasps, and stumbles. Then she recovers herself. Nothing seems to be pouncing on her, so she refocuses the beam.
[The living thing is a dog. A beagle, probably only a couple of weeks old. The dog is trapped in a wire-mesh cage, its body small and sickly looking. It’s doing a fair amount of whimpering, suggesting that it’s in some pain.
[The cage is at shoulder height. SAM adjusts the torch, moving the beam down towards the floor. The beam illuminates several other cages on the way, all containing identical animals, none of them with the strength to even bark properly.
[SAM turns, sweeping the torch around the room. There are more cages, all containing captive animals, too weak to move around much. Most of the animals are small dogs. We can make out dozens upon dozens of the cages, and at one point the beam falls across a doorway, leading to another chamber beyond. We can’t be sure, but we get the impression that the far room is much the same as this one.
[By now, SAM’s breathing is heavy and rapid. She reaches for her pocket, and activates the walkie-talkie again.]
SAM [panicking]: Greyhound X to… Doctor? Are you there?
[There’s no response. Just a crackling sound.]
SAM [almost shouting]: Doctor! Doctor, where are you?
DOCTOR [voice, through the crackling]: Sam… this isn’t a good time…
SAM: Doctor, there are animals here. Hundreds of them. You didn’t say anything about this.
DOCTOR [voice]: The aliens must be experimenting on biomass. Trying to find out how Earth-born tissue responds to their technology.
SAM: Doctor, I can’t do this. The fire –
DOCTOR [voice]: Sam, listen to me. I’ve got to detonate this bomb now. The aliens are…
[The crackling gets worse, drowning out his voice.]
SAM: Doctor! You’re breaking up! Doctor!
DOCTOR [voice]: …got time to argue, Sam. They’ve… me. I have to detonate… soon as…
SAM: Doctor, please…
DOCTOR [voice]: –n’t talk any more. They’ll… transmitting any minute. It has to be now. Before… come through… any later. Grey… over and…
SAM: Doctor! Don’t you dare hang up on me now!
[No response. The crackling is louder than ever.]
SAM: Doctor!
[But again, no response.
[And at this point, a sudden wave of calm seems to sweep over SAM, because her body goes limp, and the walkie-talkie falls from her hand.
[She moves the torch around the room again. In their cages, the beagles continue to whimper, a few of the fitter animals scratching at the mesh with their claws.
[Her expression entirely blank, SAM raises the chemothrower. She doesn’t seem to be aiming it at anything in particular.
[She isn’t aiming the torch, either. The beam bobs up and down against the walls, the light glinting off the dark, helpless eyes of the things in the cages.
[SAM’s expression remains blank as her finger tightens on the trigger. She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t look as though she can think of anything to say. For a moment, there’s nothing but darkness, and the sound of frightened animals.
[Then the room fills up with fire.]
* * *
‘Stop it!’ yelled Compassion.
She realised she was standing on the edge again, with the ground floor blurring in front of her, the people becoming meaningless points of colour down below. Her head was spinning. So was her stomach.
She had no idea what this sensation was supposed to be called.
‘Why?’ said Guest.
‘It’s sick.’ Compassion couldn’t feel her limbs any more, and she wondered how long it’d be before she lost her balance. ‘We can’t do this any more. I can’t do it any more.’
‘You’re picking up Sam’s perceptions,’ Guest noted.
‘No. Yes. I don’t care.’ She turned, and felt her feet slip on the edge of the platform. ‘It doesn’t mean anything. What the Doctor said about the aliens