Doctor Who_ Longest Day - Michael Collier [101]
The Kusks split up, narrowing down any escape route past them.
Crichter turned and limped off through the trees in the direction of the pale light.
'Don't!' began Sam, as another tremor shook the ground around them. Her head spun and the air seemed to blur. Memories of their trek here crowded into her head, filling it till she felt it would burst.
Then the Kusk was towering above her, mouth open and salivating.
***
The Doctor circled round behind the technician staring so intently at his controls, and peered out into the murky corridor. It was dark, and cold, no doubt due to the explosion, the temperature drop caused either by failing life-support or by the air lost to the atmosphere outside. The Doctor followed the Leader's trail into the darkness.
There was only one thing to do - get back to the TARDIS and try to find Sam that way. But Hirath was huge. Could he really expect to be lucky enough to land next to her? Was it possible that time had already run out for everyone on Hirath?
He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. Yes, it distinctly was.
Ahead the Leader's low rasping voice could be heard, tinged with desperation.'A spacecraft has impacted into this section. We must return to our ship. Clear a path through this debris. Quickly.'
The Doctor tried to think, his mind racing. Auto-sealants must be holding in the atmosphere, but with all remaining power being channelled through to the control chamber, there was no saying how stable they were. Whose ship had crashed here anyway? Had Sam been trying to get back? Sam.
Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam. No time, no time...
There was only one thing to do.
He walked purposefully back to the control chamber.
***
Sam ducked back behind one of the trees as the Kusk lunged for her. She could feel the power in its branches and felt the wet hairs on the back of her neck rise up. Tanhith was still lying on the silty ground, but at least his coughing had stopped.Was he playing dead, or was he...?
The Kusk was circling round to try to get hold of her. She wondered why it wasn't just getting the hell out of here, then realised it was probably having too much fun.
An echoing cry rang out. Crichter. She gaped in disbelief as seemingly millions of him passed by behind her, spewed out by the band of light into flickering patterns dancing off into the distance the way they had come.
There he was, his corpse shredded through the last few hours of his life.
The other Kusk stared around itself, presumably as terrified as she'd been.
A wind started up, whipping at her hair, at the broad leaves of the time trees. The sky darkened, even though it was filling up with images of the sun. It was as if someone was throwing circles of colour at a russet backcloth.
Seemingly oblivious to anything but its chosen task, the Kusk clutched Sam's shoulder and sneered in triumph as it dug in its claws. Screaming with pain, Sam grabbed hold of a huge bunch of the glowing berries hanging from the tree above her, pulling on them while simultaneously ripping herself free from the creature's grip. Falling backward, she saw the tree glow with light and then vanish, taking the Kusk with it.
She gingerly felt her shoulder and let out a sob of relief, but the movement of the tree back in time seemed to have agitated the swirling light that was attempting to hold their time zone separate from whatever lay beyond. The sky darkened still further, and she crawled towards Tanhith as the remaining Kusk headed remorselessly for them.
***
The Leader watched his troops clearing a path through the rubble brought down by the crash.
The technician had spoken out of turn. Given an order he should've given.
He wondered what he would be without the technician on hand to advise, to steer.
Where would the Kusk race be without the technocracy building it upward?
What would become of them if they couldn't seize the knowledge they'd invested so much of their hopes in? Of their science in?
He looked around him at the deYastation. The auto-sealants had pumped in, and