Doctor Who_ St. Anthony's Fire - Mark Gatiss [105]
The dwarf looked down at the instrumentation. ‘Let me see. Six… no, seven levers. Some sort of panel on the left.’
The Doctor’s voice whispered in conjunction with Jones’s in the background.
‘All right,’ said the Doctor. ‘I’ll read you the directional co‐ordinates. Key them into the panel, then pull down all the levers in sequence. Got that? All the levers in sequence.’
‘Yes, yes,’ muttered De Hooch. ‘Go ahead.’
The Doctor slowly went through the co‐ordinates needed to direct the beam of Saint Anthony’s Fire into the rings. De Hooch’s fat fingers carefully punched in the digits. ‘I’ve done it,’ he squealed.
Slowly he began to wrench down the steel levers. The console glowed with power. His hand was poised on the seventh and final lever when he tensed at the sound of erratic footsteps in the corridor outside.
‘De Hooch?’ came the Doctor’s voice. ‘Have you finished?’
‘Plenty of time, Doctor. Plenty of time. I have some business to attend to.’
The Doctor spluttered through the communicator. ‘Pull the lever! Pull the –’
De Hooch switched off the communicator and, almost in a trance, crept from the alcove and carefully ascended the steps to Yong’s throne.
The former Magna fell through the doors into the cathedral. His cloak was ripped and blood was pouring from the gory hole at the top of his arm. He staggered across the room.
‘All finished!’ he screeched. ‘All finished! Saint Anthony will not be cheated!’
He slipped in Thoss’s blood and stumbled to the floor, cracking his knees on the flagstones. De Hooch laughed harshly.
Yong’s head shot upwards, his hands finding the partially melted cross he had abandoned on the floor. His eyes had misted over completely, like the white marble eyes of Saint Anthony’s statue.
‘Who’s there?’
De Hooch nestled into the throne. ‘Why, Yong, don’t you know me?’
Yong peered blindly into space. ‘De Hooch? Is that you? Oh, my friend. Join me! It’s not too late. Saint Anthony will forgive you. We must stop the Doctor’s plotting!’
De Hooch took out both his blasters. ‘No, no, no, Yong. It ends here. I am Magna now. And you are history.’
He squeezed the triggers. Twin bolts of energy roared across the cathedral and hit Yong in his wounded shoulder. Blood and bone splattered across the floor. Yong collapsed into his cloak like a dying lily, screaming in pain.
* * *
The Doctor glared at the viewing screen. ‘The idiot! He’s jeopardizing everything for his own vendetta.’
‘What can we do?’ said Imalgahite.
The Doctor looked down at the console. ‘Three minutes, Bernice. Are you at optimum power?’
‘Almost. On your mark.’
The Doctor turned to Imalgahite. ‘I don’t know what we can do. If that final lever isn’t pulled then the directional controls will overshoot.’
‘Well, I know where the place is,’ said Imalgahite evenly. ‘I’ll pull the thing down for him.’
‘Two minutes fifty,’ read off Bernice from the scoutship.
The Doctor shook his head at the Cutch leader. ‘It’s too dangerous. The combined power will be astronomical. Anyone in the cathedral would be incinerated.’
Imalgahite looked down, crestfallen.
‘Two minutes, thirty,’ crackled Bernice.
Imalgahite looked around quickly. ‘Grek? Where’s Grek?’
They all turned towards the metal iris which was sliding shut.
* * *
Grek felt a crippling stitch surge through his exhausted body as he ran down the sun‐drenched corridors towards the cathedral. He was sure he could remember the way.
The cages of the auto‐da‐fé had trundled through these passages and past the bridge…
He paused briefly, struggling to catch his breath, and made a turn to the left. The great double doors of the cathedral loomed at the end of the next corridor.
* * *
‘We’ll just have to hope he gets there in time and manages to save himself,’ said the Doctor sadly. ‘We can’t start again now. The timing is crucial.’
His hand paused over the ‘execute’ control.
‘Four.’
Ace closed her eyes.
‘Three.’
Imalgahite turned away.
‘Two.’
The Doctor bit his lip.
‘One.’
The Doctor jabbed his finger onto the button. ‘Now, Bernice! Execute!’