Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [75]
His best bet was to get through to whatever remained of the humanity of Dame Hilda - the Hilda Hutchens who was, after all, a Fellow of All Souls as well as a Nobel Laureate - and persuade her to abort the reward ceremony before it started.
But would he be in time? The thought came bubbling up once more. Perhaps it was foolish to have started on a such a climb - a climb that would have merited an entry in the record books. But how else could he have got to her unseen?
„Stop your nattering,‟ he said aloud to his unruly mind. „I‟ll either do it, or I won‟t, and that‟s all there is to it.‟
He‟d often said something of the sort to others. But somehow it seemed far less comforting now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
As Sarah neared the end of her arduous journey through the now doubly uncomfortable jungle back to the shore, she stopped and let herself drop down onto the ground. For a moment, she lay prone, letting the exhaustion seep out of her muscles, trying to ignore the smarting of the myriad scratches on her legs and arms.
It was bad enough the first time, but the second trip was just too much, especially towards the end when she was near the avenue of huts by the beach, where she had to be extra careful because of the Skangite followers she could see milling about.
She raised her head. Now that she was almost at the little inlet where they‟d left the boat, there was the danger that she might be heard - or even worse, seen - by one of the watching guards. It was time to revert to the Doctor‟s snaking movements. It was slow, yes, but much safer.
It was a good thing she did. She spotted the boat through a gap in the bushes, and as far as she could see the mini-beach was empty, but as she moved cautiously forward she heard the murmur of a voice. She could just make out the words.
„Try Brother Will again.‟
„What‟s the point? He must have the bloody thing turned off.‟
She inched her way to a position where she could see the cove more plainly. Yes, there they were. A glimpse of white was showing through the dirty shrubs where they were hiding.
The boat was out of the question. How was she going to warn the Brig?
* * *
„And so you will vote for Brother Alex‟s reinstatement?‟
Brother Bunnag from Thailand smiled. His twinkling eyes were smiling too. „I think it would be the compassionate thing to do, yes. And skilful too, as you have indicated.‟
With a word of thanks, Dafydd moved on, glancing round to make sure that his lobbying was as discreet as Alex had insisted it should be. If he could convince an ex-Buddhist monk, the rest should be easy.
Luckily, Dafydd found this first task given to him by Alex more than congenial. He was able to put himself heart and soul behind it. From the start, he‟d thought that Hilda‟s softly-softly approach was not only unnecessary, but ultimately harmful to the cause. Yes, of course they should use the Skang bio-chemical method of gaining recruits to the cult and enfolding their minds until the moment of assimilation, but in purely human terms the organisation was so lax that, projected to a planetary level, it was guaranteed to collapse.
This planet was ripe, like a Victoria plum tree at the end of a hot summer, with its fruits so dripping with sweetness that the birds and the wasps vied with each other for the juice.
The Skang could search for aeons and not find its like. It must not be lost.
Brother Alex was right. What had to be done, had to be done.
Curiously enough, it was only due to the influence of the late Brother Will that the whole thing hadn‟t fallen apart already. If only they‟d been able to persuade him to join them! But his almost canine devotion to Mother Hilda had ruled that out.
But these others, whom he was working on one by one, had been unerringly picked out by the political acumen of Alex Whitbread. They were a