Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [79]
As the sound grew louder, the Doctor felt as if his brain was shaking in his skull - and he remembered something that had been hidden from him up to this moment. The only time he‟d felt anything like it before was in the run-up to his last regeneration.
Desperate to stop his mind dissolving altogether, he covered his ears, and brought his awareness to a sharp point of concentration, hearing the sound as a mere unmeaningful noise.
Louder and louder, the off-key inharmonious tones echoed round the perfect acoustic of the crater, until, with a final shout, they abruptly stopped.
The Doctor blinked and took his hands from his ears. The atmosphere above the white-clad figures was shimmering like the air above a hot tarmac road in the height of summer. Or was it his mind that was losing its hold on the sight before his eyes?
A feeling of utter relaxation and peace swept over him as his sight cleared. It was as if he‟d been looking at the group of Skang all along. The large heads, the staring eyes, the needle probosces, the shining bronze skin - all seemed utterly natural and right. These creatures, for all their gargoyle features, were not in the least threatening.
He was part of their family.
„Are you telling me that I can‟t believe the evidence of my own eyes, Miss Smith?‟
The Alka-Seltzer had merely dulled the throbbing in the Brigadier‟s head. It had certainly done nothing to make him view the Doctor‟s latest escapade any more kindly. And now this preposterous tale!
The prints had been handed round the upper bridge for everybody to look at, including the Cox‟n.
Even in the heat of the midday sun, Sarah was still dripping lagoon water all over the deck. When she‟d arrived at the ship, it had been moving very very slowly ahead as they pulled in the anchor cable. Luckily, they‟d left the rope ladder over the side, for when she and the Doctor came back with the launch.
Seeing how desperate she was, they aborted the weighing of the anchor, and were lying to the cable at half its proper length while they listened to her story.
„Please, Brigadier, you must believe me! The Doctor said that if we don‟t stop it, all the Skang followers are going to be ingurgitated, and...‟
„What? What do you mean?‟ What the devil was the child babbling about?
„You know, like those people on Hampstead Heath. That‟s what the reward ceremony is all about.‟
The Doctor was obsessed. Hadn‟t they had proof enough that it was all above board? „Is that right? And how does he know that? Were they marching up and down with placards?‟
„He... he worked it out.‟
„You mean he guessed!‟
Sarah almost stamped her foot in frustration. „It wasn‟t like that at all! We saw a dead Skang!‟
Mm. That might be a different matter. But the child was a journalist. She was quite capable of making it up.
Pete Andrews, as Commanding Officer, seemed as doubtful as the Brigadier. „We have to catch the tide, you know, otherwise we‟ll be stuck here until tomorrow. I‟ve no intention of trying that narrow entrance in the middle of the night. If the Doctor‟s not back soon, we may even have to sail without him. He‟ll just have to come back with the others.‟
„But that‟s the whole point! They‟re not coming back! Why won‟t you listen to me!‟
„Good God!‟ As she was speaking, Chris had picked up a pair of binoculars and was staring through them at the island.
Sarah turned to see what he was looking at. Her expression changed from despair to triumph. „Look!‟ she cried, pointing at the beach.
The Brigadier had been wondering whether it would be okay to take another dose of Alka-Seltzer so soon after the first. But Sarah‟s change of tone brought him swiftly back to the matter in hand. „What? What is it?‟
„Have a look for yourself, sir,‟ said Chris, handing him the glasses.
As the Hallaton had moved forward half the length of the anchor cable, she had come into a position where they could see the beach quite clearly - and not just the beginning of the road and the huts, but in the distance, the top of the volcano