Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [87]
The Doctor interrupted her. „And today is the day of the equinoctial spring tide!‟
She looked at him in amazement. „You astonish me, Doctor.
How did you know that that was relevant?‟
„You told me that the Great Skang uses gravity to help navigate space. The influence of the gravity of the sun and the moon will be greater here, today, than anywhere else at any other time. So if the Great Skang is to descend to Earth...‟
Dame Hilda was smiling with delight.
„I knew you should be one of us!‟ she said. „You‟re quite right. To use psionic energy alone would be far too costly. He will use the gravity waves to come down from the heavens to receive the... er...‟ She paused.
„The sacrifice?‟ said the Doctor.
„If you like. I was about to say, the glad offering of his disciples. It would be more accurate.‟
He was starting to feel angry again. The Inca virgins were equally glad to allow their priests to butcher them. They ended up equally dead.‟ That must have blown it. Too late to pretend to be persuaded now.
„You can‟t do it, Doctor. You can‟t rile me no matter what you say. I notice within a nano-second when Hilda‟s reaction starts, and it‟s gone in another.‟
So much for that. He wasn‟t doing very well.
Hilda continued, „The trigger for his coming is the Prime Assimilation, which I shall carry out myself. So you see, the timing is crucial.‟
Indeed it was. Unless he could do something about it pretty soon, this gentle, white-haired old lady was going to stab a weapon sharper than any dagger into the throat of one of those youngsters out there, inject a noxious fluid, and absorb into herself the liquefied (and to a Skang, no doubt quite delicious) guts.
The message from the Doctor was quite categorical. They had to be stopped no matter what it cost.
The Brigadier shook his head to clear it. His headache had long gone, but it must be that he was still under the influence of the Skang drug to a certain extent.
From what Sarah had told them, and from what they had seen on the beach and the road before they left the lagoon, it was plain that nothing was going to happen while the teachers were down in the hut village, among the Skangite devotees.
The plan was to get into a position where the teachers could be ambushed as they returned to the temple, where the vital ceremony was to take place. Once they were inside, it would be impossible to surprise them. As long as the ring-leaders were taken in good time - could they really be disguised bug-eyed monsters? - there should be no need for any bloodshed.
Though there might be some.
„Lower away... Handsomely, handsomely!‟ It was the voice of the Cox‟n.
The original landing parties were being mobilised anew; two boats would carry eighteen seamen, Petty Officer Hardy, himself and the two senior officers. Twenty-two armed men to arrest as many Skang, it seemed. Would it be enough?
His internal chuntering was interrupted by Sarah‟s voice.
„They‟ll all be out of their huts about now,‟ she said in a worried tone. She glanced at her watch. „Must be getting ready to go up to the temple. Can‟t we get a move on?‟
The Brigadier didn‟t answer. These things took time. It was a rhetorical question in any case. It was just her anxiety talking. After all, she was very young, with little experience of things like this.
He took another look at the temple, and the path outside.
There was no sign of the disciples. But she was quite right. It couldn‟t be long before they all started trooping up. And once they were inside, and they started the ceremony, according to the Doctor it would be too late.
What were the crew doing down there? Surely they must be ready by now?
Pete Andrews came up the ladder onto the bridge to take a look at the shore in his turn.
The Brigadier glanced at him. „Can‟t we get a move on?‟ he said.
„But you don‟t have to have a reason, a purpose, for showing mercy. There