Doctor Who_ Last Man Running - Chris Boucher [103]
Beside him in the gallery, Leela conjured nightmares from the depths of the machine’s memory and freed them to fight and rage in the Doctor’s weird and unquiet worlds.
‘How long must we do this?’ she asked.
‘Until the attack,’ he said, glancing back at the latest grotesque fantasy lurching into life in the glowing inner dome.
‘What if they do not attack?’
‘Plan B,’ the Doctor said.
‘What is the B for?’
‘Boredom.’ He beamed at her. ‘We get bored with this and we do something else.’
She looked unconvinced. Something bright flared and bloomed in the inner dome.
‘Did you do that?’ Leela asked.
The Doctor shook his head. ‘I think we can forget about Plan B.’ He turned back to the wall. ‘More monsters. More mountains,’ he urged.
The reports, particularly from the first low-level runs, made unlikely claims for raging monsters and major changes of landscape and topography showing up between attacks. The captain of Lead One tried to abort the bombardment, citing regulations on ‘unknown and unnecessary hazards’, but it was little more than a token effort.
The wild rumours that four officers, among them the captain and the navigation coordinator, might be involved in some sort of anti-government conspiracy meant that no one was in a hurry for confrontation. And as long as there was ammunition left, the survivors – investigators and flight crews alike – wanted the whole place levelled to the ground.
The Doctor and Leela left the gallery when he judged the systems were teetering on the brink of collapse. They stepped through the link he had left open to the edge of the recycling floor where the TARDIS was still nudging gently in the unending eddy, still battered by ball lightning. There they stood on the narrow ledge, bathed in the cold brightness of the searing power, and waited for the final crash.
‘When it goes dark,’ the Doctor said, repeating himself. ‘Do not assume –’
‘That everything is cool and safe, I know,’ Leela said. ‘You told me. You keep telling me.’
Behind them a voice said, ‘Good advice. A little obvious perhaps but... good.’ They turned to find Sozerdor smiling a fat smile and brandishing the gun Leela had discarded. ‘You were right about the systems, Doctor,’ he said. ‘The force field went down all of a sudden. I didn’t even need a mighty bound.’
Leela pulled her knife and tried to get past the Doctor. He put a hand on her arm. ‘Stay here. Please,’ he said softly. ‘I’ll need you to know exactly where the TARDIS is when it goes dark.’
Leela stopped reluctantly. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I’m going to reason with him,’ the Doctor said, loudly.
‘Excellent,’ Sozerdor sniggered. ‘I’m a reasonable man.’
‘We are not taking you with us,’ the Doctor said, taking a step towards him.
Sozerdor took a step back and aimed the gun. ‘Oh yes you are,’ he smirked.
‘You’re beginning to irritate me,’ the Doctor said, and took another step towards him.
‘Stop doing that,’ Sozerdor ordered, taking another step back. ‘You are in range and I am out of reach.’ He gestured with the gun.
The Doctor took another step towards him, and then another.
Sozerdor stepped backwards again. ‘What are you doing?
It isn’t going to work. I’ll kill you. I will kill you.’
‘No you won’t,’ the Doctor said, taking another step towards him. Sozerdor took one step back and then he stood his ground.
‘Enough of this crap,’ he shouted. ‘Stay where you are!’
That was when the systems crashed and everything went black.
‘Wait, don’t move!’ Sozerdor bellowed, lost in the darkness.
His fingers brushing the wall, the Doctor ran back to where Leela waited. ‘It is five paces forward and one out.’ she said.
Sozerdor was still