Doctor Who_ Nightshade - Mark Gatiss [102]
her face and her hands were held open in welcome.
‘But?’ The Doctor held out his hands.
Like an angel, thought Ace.
Susan’s face seemed to fall, as though overwhelmed with Light poured from Susan’s eyes and mouth like sand from sadness. ‘There must be more than this. There must have a punctured bag.
been a better time. Not this need.’
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‘A better time. A simpler time,’ said the Doctor. ‘That’s Susan rolled back her head and laughed, delighting in her what we all yearn for. The pain of wanting to belong own power. ‘I shall go on from here till the need is gone. I somewhere. To go home.’
shall consume!’
‘Home,’ repeated Susan.
The Doctor whipped around. ‘Now, Dr Cooper! Now!’
The Doctor stepped back a little. Susan raised her head.
Cooper slammed her fingers across various keyboards
‘But there is always need. I cannot rest.’
and each monitor screen flared with identical data. There
‘You have to feed?’
was a distant clunk from the dish above. Vijay and Robin
‘At first, I had only to consume a very little and was looked up.
content. But I have grown now, and the need has grown
‘Doctor?’ said Ace in puzzlement.
with me.’ Susan’s eyes began to shine with a fearful Cooper ran a hand over the console. ‘That’s it, Doctor. All incandescence. ‘I can smell them,’ she hissed, her voice systems overridden and concentrating on Bellatrix.’
harsher now. ‘Their regret. Their yearning for times past. It The room began to throb with power. The Doctor turned is so strong, so sweet. They fashion me into what they desire, back to Susan. ‘Can’t you feel it? Can’t you feel the energy?’
or what they fear and then... then I harvest.’
Susan twisted about, her figure stretching and distorting
‘Harvest?’ Cooper spat the work disgustedly.
as she attempted to locate the energy source. Radio waves The Doctor silenced her with a gesture. Susan inclined her honed in on the dish of the telescope.
head.
‘What is it?’ hissed Susan, her hair streaming behind her
‘There was much energy to be had. I grew stronger as the as though stirred by unseen currents. Light was forcing its years passed. I learned how to shepherd my prey together way through every part of Susan’s face, as though the and prevent them from leaving me...’
Sentience were shaking off the image.
‘What does it mean?’ said Ace.
‘A star,’ said the Doctor calmly. ‘An exploding star.
“The sickness anyone feels if they try to leave,’ said the Pushing outwards in a pure, brilliant surge of light and Doctor without taking his eyes off the apparition. ‘It creates energy. Can’t you feel it? Can’t you taste it?’
a barrier, preventing them getting out.’
The Sentience thrashed against the walls, Susan’s image
‘But not getting in,’ said Vijay quietly. ‘Like Mr Medway?’
flaring and billowing as light fountained from it.
The Doctor nodded. ‘Bees to a honeypot.’
The Doctor ran closer, pressing home his advantage.
Susan smiled slightly. ‘I found one who could see as I did.
‘Can’t you feel it? The energy of a whole star. It’s all yours.
An old man. Through his mind I saw the potential of this Take it. Take it!’
world.’
Susan’s face seemed to break into a smile before Billy Coote, thought Robin. So his second sight had been evaporating into a surge of blinding light. Golden fire real after all.
roared through her until there was only a blazing column of
‘And now?’ said the Doctor. ‘Now that you have grown?’
light dominating the room like some biblical miracle.
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‘I can feel it!’ screamed the Sentience, its terrifying voice To consume properly, the Sentience would have to get resonating around the room. The walls began to shudder closer.
and crack.
It was strong enough now, strong enough to leave behind
‘I can taste it!’
the planet in which it had always existed.