Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [106]
As usual, the Doctor’s analytical faculties, which allowed part of him to stand back and watch without emotion, sat alongside his intense involvement in the fate of those he was trying to help.
He mustn’t let himself be seduced by the ambience of warm-hearted amity. Just to be in the neighbourhood of these surprising creatures was to feel a kinship with them.
But he’d seen what had happened to the unfortunate Emma; and if he did nothing to stop it...
‘Now is the time for our banquet. Now is the time for us all to share the fruits of your labours, as a foretaste of the abundance yet to come. Let us begin.’
No!
The Skang that was Hilda turned and lifted its hand. But before she could speak, the Doctor shot out of the now open door onto the gallery.
‘Stop!’ he cried.
All the alien faces turned towards him. The Great Skang’s body rippled with flashes like a sky full of lightning.
‘Who is this? Who dares to speak so to the Great Skang?’
‘You mustn’t do this. Can’t you see that it’s wrong?’
‘Wrong?’
The incredulity in the voice hit home. Of course it wasn’t wrong to them. This was their life, as Dame Hilda had said to him. Like sentient beings throughout the universe, their only purpose was to survive.
He’d jumped out of hiding as unthinkingly as one who leaps in front of a speeding bus to save a wandering child.
But now... he could find nothing to say.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The pause nearly cost the Doctor his life.
The Great Skang lifted its arm and pointed. The Doctor heard the white-hot noise begin, and felt his skin starting to glow.
‘Wrong for you, I mean! Can’t you see that the Earth is the very last place for the Great Skang?’
The Great Skang paused. ‘In what way?’
The thought had come instinctively, like a lifted arm to ward off a blow. But it was true. Of course it was true!
‘You have already seen for yourself,’ the Doctor said. ‘No matter how intelligent or full of vital energy they are, human beings are flawed.’
‘Explain.’
At least it was listening, he thought. ‘By their very nature, they are always ready for combat. Their society evolved from tribes; and they’ve never stopped fighting since. Conflict is encrypted in their genes.’
Would it understand?
‘Go on.’
‘If you seed a thousand Skang, a hundred thousand, you’re going to have a hundred thousand utterly different personalities scattered round the globe, all keeping their own self-pride and their own precious core beliefs - and willing to fight for them. And believe me, they will.’
The scintillations of its insubstantial body burst into a display of rainbow colours, changing and moving with streaks of fluid light.
‘Hardly fits the image of the unity of the Skang, does it?’
the Doctor asked.
‘Silence!’
It must be considering the idea.
At last it spoke. The colours in its sparkling form disappeared. ‘We can see that this was a danger. But not now, now that you have pointed it out. Thank you. But you yourself are a disruptive presence at this time of celebration. You must be eliminated.’ Again it lazily lifted its arm.
‘Wait!’
This time, it wasn’t the Doctor who stopped the Incandescence.
‘What is it, Mother?’
The Doctor is one of the most intelligent, one of the wisest beings on this planet. If he were to be seeded, as a Skang he could give a lead, alongside me, that could help to sweep away the difficulties he speaks of; and I have to tell you they are very real.’
It would be difficult to believe that the Great Skang had a sense of humour, but when it spoke again, there seemed to be a hint of a laugh in its many voices. ‘How fitting! What do you say, Doctor? It’s a simple choice.’
Too simple. If he refused, in minutes he would be a heap of smouldering cinders. If he said yes to becoming the first of the new Skang, he would be losing the very thing that had