Doctor Who_ Last of the Gaderene - Mark Gatiss [83]
The smile on his ace melted away. He pocketed the jade encoder and hacked away, motioning with the gun for Noah to follow.
‘Now!,’ he yelled. ‘Kill them! Kill them all!’
The villagers rushed forward, mouths wide open, a horrible, gurgling roar escaping from their possessed bodies.
In the confusion, the Master took to his heels, dragging Noah behind him.
Chapter Thirty-One
Scramble
Bliss stepped over the body of Captain McGarrigle and, in silence, picked up the eight encoders from the desk. The time for the transference was rapidly approaching. The embryos within her swine would have to be released in order to make way for the adult Gaderene. The timing was critical but Bliss felt nerveless as she turned on her heel, left the office and walked swiftly towards the runway. This was the moment she had waited for.
‘Fall back! Fall back!’ screamed Sergeant Benton as the villagers smashed and hammered at the cottage door.
He raced down the stairs to find the Doctor and Jo heading for the kitchen.
‘I’ve got no choice but to fire on them, Doctor!’
The Doctor nodded. ‘I suggest we head for the aerodrome, Sergeant. We’ve done all we can. Any word from the Brigadier?’
Benton shook his head.
‘All right,’ said the Doctor. ‘I suggest you and your men fan out from the back of the cottage and head up there on foot.
You’ll be less conspicuous and, anyway, I think they’ll be more interested in me.’
‘Why?’ asked Jo.
‘Because,’ said the Doctor, ‘I intend to go up there in a rather more ostentatious form of transport.’
Jo’s jaw dropped. ‘Not the Spitfire?’
‘Naturally.’
‘But you can’t! I mean...’ stammered Jo.
The Doctor shrugged. ‘Why not? I admit I’m a bit out of practice but we have to get Noah away from the Master and stop the Gaderene. We need every weapon at our disposal.
Besides, it’ll be good to go back up in one of those old crates.
I haven’t flown a Spitfire since 2154!’
So saying, he strode through the kitchen, pausing only to pick up the remaining bottles of nitrous oxide, and made his way into the garden.
Benton shook his head and began to shout orders up the stairs to his men. Jo raced after the Doctor.
He spoke to her over his shoulder as they approached the tarpaulin-covered aircraft. ‘If I’m right, Jo, then the Gaderene’s grip on Earth is precarious to say the least.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well they only have the embryonic forms inside the villagers. They’re no good for anything much except brute force. No, if they’re to exert real control, they need the adults to come through.’
‘And for that they need the Wing Commander’s encoder?’
The Doctor nodded.
‘But what about Bliss?’ queried Jo. ‘She seems completely in control of things.’
The Doctor shrugged. ‘From what the Master says she must have been one of the original two who landed here. Some luckless soul became host to her but it’s taken all these years for the creature to mature. It’s more than just occupying a body. It’s become her.’
Jo looked back towards the cottage. ‘So the Master helped them set up a... a bridge between their world... their dying world and Earth?’
‘That’s right, Jo. There must be something special about this area. Perhaps because it was the original landing point.’
‘And they had to send embryos because they’re young...
mindless?’ said Jo.
The Doctor nodded and began to pull at the tarpaulin. ‘The link wasn’t properly established, so only embryos could stand the trip unscathed.’
Jo blanched. ‘But now the Master has the final key.
They’ll be able to mount a full invasion.’
‘Unless we can stop them,’ said the Doctor gravely.
He pulled at the hood of the cockpit and dragged it over, then jumped up on to the wing and swung his legs inside.
‘Hey, Doctor!’ cried Jo. ‘You’re not leaving me here!’
‘No choice, Jo. These things were only built for one.’
He loaded the milk bottles into the cramped space at his feet. ‘You stick with Benton. You’ll be fine. I’ll see you up there.’
He pulled