Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [64]
He was sitting as quietly and soberly as she was herself.
She‟d tried to get near him, so that they could talk and compare notes, but he seemed to have deliberately kept away from her.
He was the only one who had believed her when she‟d told them that the Skang was lying hundreds of feet under the sea. But after that, he‟d ignored her. In the past he‟d treated her like a trusted friend, so what was going on?
It wasn‟t until they were safely back on board, with the two launches secured alongside the ship, ready to act as ferries again if needed, that she cheered up a bit. As her feet touched the deck, she found herself taking a deep breath and relaxing as the tension went from her muscles. The smell of the mist... Violets? It felt like coming home.
A touch on her shoulder. It was the Doctor.
„You feel it too, don‟t you?‟ he murmured. „Incredibly powerful stuff.‟
What was he on about? The juice? But they hadn‟t had any.
„We can‟t talk now,‟ he went on in the same quiet voice, as the crew noisily thronged past them.
„Hey, Dusty!‟ came a voice from the crowd. The dishy steward turned.
„What?‟
„As good as Kowloon Katie, was she?‟
Dusty grinned and gave a two-fingered answer.
A cheerful shout: „Doctor? Where‟ve you gone?‟ It was the Brigadier, somewhere in the milling crowd.
The Doctor took her arm and drew her into the corner behind a ventilator. „Just hang on tight. I‟ll see you in the morning.‟
„Blighter‟s disappeared... Doctor! It‟s well gone six o‟clock.
Time for a burra peg!‟
He took her hand and pressed something into it, and was gone.
„Ah, there you are, Doctor.‟
„So I am,‟ came his voice, receding into the general hubbub.
A folded piece of paper.
Be ready at 5am. Bring your camera - that Polaroid of yours.
Don’t let it take you over!
It?
Again the faint whiff of violets...
Of course! It was after the mist had so strangely descended on the Hallaton that the others all began to behave so oddly.
Come to think of it, she hadn‟t been exactly normal herself.
It must have been one of the effects of the stuff itself that had stopped her realising before. With every breath, they‟d been absorbing a smaller dose of the very same drug that was in the drink.
She made her way to her cabin in a warm glow of relief.
Everything was falling into place.
Now then, the camera...
Ah, there it was. Why didn‟t she think of taking it with her before? Why did he want the Polaroid?. Not that she had any choice. She‟d lost her lovely little Olympus when she‟d fallen into the drink.
Fancy her believing that the Doctor had turned against her!
He must mean to go ashore at first light, and do a proper recce. And she‟d be able to get some ace shots, and they‟d be able to prove once and for all that the Brig was right, and that the Skang lot were just a bunch of harmless nuts. And all that nonsense about their sinking the ship! After all...
With a shock that almost made her jump, she seemed to come to, as if she was waking up from a dream. This was what he‟d meant. It was taking her over.
Hang on tight, he‟d said.
It was going to be a difficult night.
CHAPTER TWENTY
„I freely admit that I was wrong. I failed in my duty as the senior Skang representative in the region by allowing my own ideas to take precedence over the decisions that had been made, and by risking the security of the whole in allowing my emotions to be the motivation for my actions. I humbly beg that the inner council will recommend to my brothers and sisters...‟
Drop the head, as though overcome. A little pause.
Careful... Not too much...
„... recommend that my excision should be reversed, and that I should be allowed to enjoy once more... the fullness of the unity of the Skang.‟ Alex kept his eyes cast down. The little tremor in his voice on the last word might just swing it, he thought.
He knew quite well that his wretched appearance spoke for him. The sallow skin of his face, hollow on the cheeks, and sagging like that of an old man; the rawness of his eyes; the drooping of his shoulders