Doctor Who_ St. Anthony's Fire - Mark Gatiss [86]
Yong did not take kindly to being stopped in mid‐flow. ‘You cannot hope to save yourselves with this babble.’
‘For God’s sake,’ cried Liso, his eye flashing in fury, ‘no matter what you do to us, Betrushia is dying. And unless you get out of here you’ll go up with it!’
Yong ignored him and clicked his fingers. Jones stole to the recessed alcove and the familiar oily grinding of machinery began to build. The panels in the ceiling and floor began to slide open.
‘All shall know the sweet and glorious pain of Saint Anthony’s Fire!’ cried Yong.
The vast column of fire belched from the ceiling to the floor, fiery shapes twisting in its terrible mass. The chanting and the beating of the gong reached a deafening climax.
Jones unlocked the cages and the Betrushians were forced unwillingly out at spear‐point.
Jones lashed at Grek with his whip. The Ismetch leader growled at his persecutor but the Chapterman merely nudged him towards the roaring, boiling fire.
Bored, Yong sighed and moved swiftly towards the double doors, his cloak fluttering behind him.
‘Goodbye,’ he yawned. ‘So nice to have met you.’
He swept from the room. Grek, Liso and Imalgahite exchanged glances as they were herded forwards.
* * *
Inside the polygon, the Doctor was scarcely aware of the latest pounding earth tremor as it shook the Ismetch dugout.
The structure was comfortably padded and, in its darkness, oddly reassuring, like a warm cinema on a wet day. Two chairs had been bolted into its centre. Beneath these was a smooth black console, a red light blinking slowly on its surface.
The Doctor sniffed the stale air. How long had this remained untouched, he wondered.
With some trepidation, he sat down in the chair. At once, a strange, electric current ran up and down his spine, the light on the console snapped off and three low chimes sounded in the silence.
One panel of the polygon began to glow and the Doctor’s face was bathed in a miasma of shifting colours. Out of this an image began to resolve itself.
The Doctor settled back in the seat, tense with expectation.
The image on the wall cleared and the face of a humanoid woman stared out. She was mammalian but with a shrewish face and bright yellow eyes.
‘This is Neerid,’ she said. ‘You cannot know me. This spool has been recorded as a warning to any who may come after us, that you may not repeat our folly. Please listen to everything I have to say.’
* * *
17
Time Before
As the last of the captive Massatorans were thrust into the flames, the floor of the cathedral lurched and shook as a fresh earthquake rolled under the mothership.
Grek seized his chance, darting through the miserable supplicants who milled around him. He lunged for a Chapterman and pulled the whip from his side. Looking around hurriedly, he called to his men to make a break for it.
The Chapterman scrambled for his blaster but Grek was too quick, lashing out with the whip and pulling the man to the floor. In an instant the unfamiliar weapon was in Grek’s claw and he was loosing off bolts of energy around the hall.
‘Careful with that thing!’ cried Liso delightedly, running for the great double doors. Grek brought down two Chaptermen and roared with exhilaration.
Imalgahite was already at the doors, pushing the Betrushian troops through. ‘Come on! Let’s go!’ He ploughed his fist into a Chapterman’s throat and pulled the blaster off him. The unfamiliar weapon felt strange in his claw.
As the Chapterman struggled to his feet with a murderous expression on his face, Imalgahite accidentally blew half the man’s face off with one bolt from the blaster. He grinned and turned towards the shuddering column of fire, jerking about and picking off the few remaining zealots.
Grek and Imalgahite were through the doors now, panting with exhilaration. Grek was peering about for Jones but his tormentor had left the cathedral shortly after the Magna.
‘All right, Liso, let’s find a way out,’ he said at last.
‘No, sir,’ said Liso. ‘With respect, that’s the last thing we want. This ship is our only chance. We have to take