Doctor Who_ St. Anthony's Fire - Mark Gatiss [96]
Ace stood in the gently humming console room of the TARDIS, anxiously chewing her nails. When the Doctor had said she was needed, manning the TARDIS ready for his return was not what she’d expected. Why he couldn’t just rematerialize on board the mothership she didn’t know, unless he was afraid it might fall into the wrong hands. She had noticed how protective he had become about the TARDIS lately, as though he felt he’d been taking his old ship for granted. Perhaps it was something of an honour for the Doctor to have placed her in charge. A measure of his trust.
Ace sighed wistfully. She had organized the evacuation of the unwilling supplicants and penitents into the TARDIS interior where, the Doctor assured her, he would find time to deprogram them all. Ace flinched at the memory of her own release from the embrace of Saint Anthony and silently wished for her fellow sufferers to have an easier time.
In truth, Ace was somewhat relieved. The calming grace of the ship’s interior was like heaven after recent events. She operated the scanner and looked out worriedly at the boiling mass of Betrushia outside. Fire was everywhere, blown into billowing clouds by the dying planet.
‘Come on, Doctor,’ she urged for the second time that day. ‘Get a move on.’
Almost without thinking, she bent down and depressed the door lever. Outside, the ground was in a state of flux. Burning trees toppled to earth all around.
On the threshold of the TARDIS, Ace found her breath coming in short, panicky bursts, hoping that the Doctor would be able to get back across the dying jungle. She was turning back into the ship when she saw it.
Towering hundreds of feet above the jungle was an immense, monstrous creature, its volatile hide formed from the suppurating flesh of the millions of organisms it had consumed. It was a dreadful, colossal thing, mucus sliding over the composite remains of Betrushians, animals, even the jungle itself.
Ace gasped, gripped her stomach in shock and stumbled back into the TARDIS. The creature screamed in triumph.
* * *
19
Sun Stroke
The Doctor rubbed his exhausted eyes with oily fingers and then slammed the panel back into place. ‘That’s it.’
The artificial sun was throbbing gently on its night‐time setting, a vast dull‐orange ball.
The Doctor turned to Yong who, still covered by Grek’s blaster, was rising and folding his arms. ‘Thank you for your help. I couldn’t have done it without you.’
Yong smiled, his goggles sparkling like the eyes of a fly. ‘I would’ve attempted sabotage if possible, Doctor. I hope your scheme fails.’
An angry Grek jabbed at him with his blaster. ‘Don’t you understand, you idiot? This is more important than your stupid crusade.’
The Doctor put a hand on Grek’s shoulder. ‘It’s no use trying to reason with him, Grek. He’s too far gone.’
He glanced at the sun. With the light so diminished it was possible to see the network of conductors and pathways extending through the transparent floor, which channelled the orb’s power throughout the seminary and ship.
‘Take him back to the bridge,’ said the Doctor. ‘I don’t want him on the loose until all this is over.’
‘What do we do next?’ asked Grek, relieved to have someone else making the decisions for once.
‘I’ll feed the instructions through to the second ship. Then the difficult bit really starts.’
Grek marched the smirking Yong out of the power room.
The Doctor began to punch a series of commands into the banks of controlling machinery which would automatically realign the scout‐ship’s sun. Now all that was needed was for their twin power sources to combine and be channelled through Betrushia’s rings.
The Doctor still did not notice the cloth‐covered box jammed tightly below his eye‐level. He was too busy crossing his fingers.
* * *
‘That’s it. It’s coming through.’ Bernice nodded in satisfaction as the altered program was beamed through from the mothership, chattering across the screens of the scoutship’s bridge.
Liso was standing over the nervous helmsman in the otherwise empty room. ‘All right. Take us up.’
The