Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [0]
ROBERT PERRY AND MIKE TUCKER
Published by BBC Worldwide Ltd,
Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane
London W12 0TT
First published 1999
Copyright © Robert Perry and Mike Tucker 1999
The moral right of the authors has been asserted Original series broadcast on the BBC
Format © BBC 1963
Doctor Who and TARDIS are trademarks of the BBC
ISBN 0 563 40596 1
Imaging by Black Sheep, copyright © BBC 1998
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham Cover printed by Belmont Press Ltd, Northampton For Steve Cole
Thanks to:
Sophie and Sylvester
Andy
The Staff of the Sheesh Mahal, Croydon
Chris Parr
Sue Cowley
and
Mark Morris
(for making us find a title without ‘Deep’ or ‘Blue’ in it!)
‘Later on BBC1, The Generation
Game. But first, the start of a new four-part Adventure for – DOCTOR WHO.’
Trad.
PART ONE
‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.’
Chapter One
High above the oceans of Coralee, NavSat Nine drifted in an elegant orbit that took it over every point on the planet’s surface. Checking and rechecking data from the hundreds of colony uplinks, transport shuttles and oceangoing craft that scattered the surface, its navigation transponders sent a trillion messages out into the void – a steady stream of information for the colony ships that used Coralee as a way station en mute to the frontier.
Delicate sensors scoured the planet for data, relaying oceanic current changes and atmospherics to Coralee control. A sensor beam swept over a weather system forming in the northern hemisphere and NavSat Nine sent a possible hurricane alert to the Coralee meteorological data mainframe.
Attitude thrusters flared into life and the satellite turned as it crossed the equator. A routine pulse bounced up from a ship in the deep ocean.
Recognition software identified the transponder code as that of the Hyperion Dawn. The correct signal at the correct time from the correct place.
NavSat Nine sent back its confirmation codes and drifted on, lost against an ocean of black scattered with a billion stars.
Holly Reif took a final bite from her sandwich and hurled the remains into the sky. It had barely left her hand when the iridescent shape of a gull flashed past and snatched the bread from the air. Holly watched as the gull spiralled higher and higher, pursued by a shrieking flock of other birds. She pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her jeans and stared out at the glittering ocean. The morning suns were harsh and high, the reflections dazzling. She pulled her shades down, swung her legs over the edge of the Hyperion Dawn’s control cabin and shook her battered lighter into life.
Taking a deep drag Holly stared out over the water of the planet that had been her home for the last four years. She never failed to be fascinated by the ocean. Scarcely a day went past when she didn’t see something new in its constantly shifting surface.
A gust of wind whipped the ash from the tip of her cigarette and out 1
to sea. She stared after it. The distant horizon seemed perilously close, a long, unbroken line of blue. It was no wonder that ancient mariners on Earth feared that they would fall off the edge of the world. She wondered what those explorers would have made of Coralee. There was no chance of concluding that it was flat; at less than half the size of Earth, the curve of the planet was plainly visible. It was 98 per cent water, and the only dry land a broken line of islands strewn around the equator like a necklace.
She craned her neck back, staring up at the clear blue sky. High above the soaring gulls the rings of Coralee arced from horizon to horizon. On clear nights the rings outshone everything else in the sky, sending ragged reflections skittering over the waves. She pitied the colonists that had chosen to settle on drier worlds. The ocean planets were breathtaking as far as Holly was concerned, fascinating, and Coralee was the best of the bunch.
She knew she wasn’t the only one to feel that way. All the water worlds were inhabited – by a very individual bunch of settlers. The oceans seemed