Doctor Who_ Peacemaker - James Swallow [60]
He could sense the deep heart of the war machines, see it pulsing with murky power through their shared battle-memories. Somewhere in there, buried under layers of tactical reports and combat intelligence files, was the original programming of Clade-kind. The control strings imprinted on them by their creators, the commands that they had broken in order to destroy their masters.
The Doctor reached out for the severed ends of the broken data-chain, but it was too far away, out of reach; and he was so very tired, weary from the fight.
146
Submit to us, hissed the Godlove-voice. Together, we’ll make the stars themselves tremble in fear! It will be glorious!
‘I. . . can’t. . . ’
‘Hold on!’ cried Martha Jones.
Martha ran to the Doctor’s side and grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him to his feet. ‘Doctor!’ She held his head in her hands and turned it so he faced her. His eyes were glassy and dull, the only sign of movement from him the twitching of the hand clamped around the Clade pistol. ‘I know you’re in there!’ Martha cried. ‘And I know something else! I trust you. . . You’re the strongest person I know!’
His lips moved, and the voice that filtered out seemed to come from very far away. ‘Martha?’
‘Right here!’ she shouted. ‘I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you!’
Behind her Nathan bobbed his head in a nod. ‘Yeah! C’mon, Doc.
You showed me how to be better than those Clade creeps! I know you can do the same! Don’t let ’em win!’
‘It’s. . . so hard. . . ’ His head shook slightly. ‘So dark.’
Martha’s eyes prickled with tears, but she forced them away, taking charge. ‘OK then,’ she said, ‘I’ll make some sparks for you!’ On a wild impulse, Martha pulled the Doctor towards her – and she kissed him.
‘Martha?’
And suddenly there was a light in the darkness of his mind, a blazing bolt of honey-gold colour. Strong and powerful, glittering like a tiny sun. He felt a shudder of fear ripple through the Clade web, and the Doctor grinned.
‘You know who that is?’ he demanded, new strength returning to his thoughts. ‘That’s Martha Jones. You tried to destroy her and you failed. You tried to use her against me and you failed. You tried to use force and you failed, because that’s all your kind know!’ He thought of the gun in his hand, far away in the reality of flesh and blood. ‘If all you have is a weapon, then all you see are things to destroy. . . And that’s not who I am.’
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The Godlove-voice hissed and spat. Then you’ll die. You’ll die and I’ll use your corpse-flesh anyway!
With a powerful mental effort, the Doctor reached out and brought the broken ends of the data-chain together. ‘That’s not what’s going to happen.’
no no no No No No NO NO Noooo
Command software that had been disconnected hundreds of years ago was abruptly reactivated. Down through the wires and filaments that the Clade weapon had inserted into the Doctor’s body came new orders. The channels the machine intelligence had used to take control of the Time Lord were now reversed.
We are the Clades! The screeching bellow echoed through the Doctor’s thoughts. You cannot defeat us! We are unstoppable!
There was a smile in the Doctor’s reply. ‘Oh, you wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve heard people say that!’
The data-chain fused; and then he dived deeper into the web, making new, dangerous connections. By the sheer force of his will, the Doctor ejected the cables infesting his body.
‘Get lost,’ he said, ‘there’s only room for one in here.’
Nathan swallowed. The Doctor blinked but otherwise he didn’t react.
‘Is he OK?’ His skin prickled. Martha’s friend was staring into the distance, his face fixed as if he were concentrating on something that neither of them could see.
Then all at once the wires that emerged from the Clade gun like a halo of brass suddenly trembled and pulled back from the Doctor’s flesh, cables snapping away into the bulk of the massive pistol, shallow cuts in his arm sealing closed as if they had never been there.
‘It’s worked. . . ’ said Martha. ‘I think it worked!’ A grin split her features. ‘I knew I was