Doctor Who_ Last of the Gaderene - Mark Gatiss [64]
The twelve elders still stand in the centre of the room, each contained within an elaborate network of wires and braces.
Occasionally, one will slightly open its great, darn eye, as though turning over in its sleep. The Apothecaries note this as they busy themselves around the elders.
The nine-sided dais on which the elders stand gives a low hum and rises from the smooth floor. The elders are suddenly several feet higher than those who are caring for them. A forest of circuitry has been exposed. At each corner of the shape is an empty socket.
As one, the Apothecaries cock their heads to one side, knowing that the countdown has begun. One moves swiftly to the wall and presses a claw into a recessed panel. A drawer glides out. Inside, surrounded by some silky substance, lie nine jade-coloured objects. The Apothecary takes the first and skitters back towards the dais.
Lightning illuminates the room and the whole structure shakes.
The Apothecary does not hesitate. There is no time for solemn ceremony now. It slides the first key into the socket.
The key clicks into place with a satisfying Chunk.
The creature moves back across the room to retrieve the remaining keys.
The smooth floor beneath its claws trembles...
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Marsh
The cloudless summer sky turned burnt crimson as the sun set and night came on.
The air had chilled rapidly and Jo wished she had set out in rather warmer clothes. She cupped her hands to her mouth and blew into them, then rubbed at her ring-covered fingers.
She was approaching the far side of the aerodrome and kept the long, long perimeter fence to her left as she made her way over the crumbling road. Looking ahead into the encroaching darkness she began to discern the beginnings of the marshland. Mist was creeping over the ground like a spectre reaching out from the grave.
The aerodrome was once again completely silent. In fact, there was little sound at all out there in the vast outdoors except for the occasional eerie wail of the corncrakes.
Rounding the corner at last, she saw what Noah had seen before her, the back entrance, guarded this time by a semicircle of stock-still, black-uniformed troopers, their eyes no longer hidden behind sunglasses but fixed ahead nonetheless.
Jo dropped to her knees in order to make a smaller potential target, but the guards seemed totally unaware of her presence. She turned sharply as a soft crack sounded from somewhere behind.
Jo stiffened. The sound came again, closer now, and was unquestionably footfalls on the wet ground. She shuffled backwards on her haunches and crouched low, as close to the fence as she dared, half-imagining it to be electrified or, at the very least, alarmed.
Blinking in the darkness, she finally made out a figure, bent low like herself, advancing swiftly forward on baseball boots.
‘Noah!’ she hissed.
The boy swung round, startled, then grinned and crept up to her, settling down on the marshy ground.
‘Hi,’ he murmured.
‘What’re you doing here? You should be in bed.’
Noah shrugged. ‘I’m fine now, honestly. Besides...’
Jo gave him a quizzical look. ‘Besides?’
‘I can’t find my dad. Or Uncle Max. I got up this afternoon and there was no one about. In fact, the whole village is pretty deserted.’
Jo frowned. ‘Why have you come back here? Did you remember something else?’
Noah shook his head. ‘It’s still pretty vague. But I know there’s something in these marshes. Something that the aerodrome people want kept quiet. And I know they’ve got the Wing Commander inside there.’ He jerked his head towards the dark and distant shapes of the aerodrome buildings.
‘Somewhere.’
Jo shot a look at the guard and then turned back towards Noah. ‘What else did you and the Wing Commander see? I mean, before you were... attacked? Can you remember?’
Noah frowned. A little fear crept back into his mobile features. There was a faraway look in his eyes. Then his gaze shifted and he stared ahead at the perimeter gates.
‘Yes. I remember. Because they’re at it again. Look!’
The gates were gliding