Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [29]
The sub lurched again and the control column leapt out of his hands.
Rajiid grasped the controls and put the sub into a dive. Greg looked at him in disbelief. ‘What the hell are you doing?’
‘Heading for the cave. Get over to the blood tank, Greg.’
‘What?’
‘For God’s sake, don’t argue! I’ve got an idea. When I tell you, release all the valves.
Greg staggered back into the body of the sub, struggling up the wet floor. There was a harsh clang as the creatures slammed into the hull again. He braced himself against a small control panel, staring down at Rajiid in the cabin.
Ace struggled to his side.
‘What’s the idea?’
Greg shook his head, his face ashen. Rapid’s heading for a Ramora cave.
Ace frowned
‘A giant eel.’ Greg explained. It’s part of our tourist package. We release a small amount of fish blood into the water to tempt the thing out. Tourists take pictures... they love it. He laughed humourlessly.
‘They’d certainly get some pictures on this trip.’
The engines whined in protest as Rajiid levelled out and swung the little craft into a tight turn.
‘Stand by, Greg!’
‘We’re too close!’
‘They’re too close!’
Ace pressed herself against one of the windows. The black maw of a cave entrance loomed from a coral mound. The sub slowed and suddenly the creatures were over them again. The hull buckled above Ace’s head and freezing water cascaded over her.
‘Now! Now! Now!’
Rajiid’s voice rang around the reeling sub and Ace saw a cloud of blackness billowing into the water like octopus ink. With a screech of engines the sub lurched forward and Ace caught a glimpse of something huge and sinewy darting out of the cave.
The eel caught the underside of the sub and there was a scream from Bryce as the hull ruptured again. Ace struggled to keep herself braced 55
into the window, her muscles screaming at her to relax. Icy water continued to pour over her. She could hear Greg struggling to stem the flow but she couldn’t take her eyes off the battle unfolding in the water.
The Ramora eel was huge, a tube-train-sized mass of fm and muscle sent into a thrashing frenzy by the blood. The creatures tore at its flesh, ignoring the sub, concentrating on this softer prey. The eel snapped at its attackers and Ace saw its powerful jaws crush one of the creatures to a bloody pulp. Two more raced to the attack but the eel arched its body and they were dashed against the coral and crushed under the Ramora’s huge bulk. Then a cloud of blood obscured the view, and Ace felt the sub accelerate towards the surface.
The Zodiac sped away from the Hyperion Dawn. The Doctor stared grimly ahead – that softly shifting mirror beneath them covered something lethal.
MacKenzie had been reluctant to go any further after what they’d seen at the platform and the Doctor had had to invoke the full authority of InterOceanic. It had worked like a charm.
‘Nearly there, Doctor,’ the professor said. ‘There are a least a dozen sites of various kinds on the ocean floor. Maybe more. We hope to investigate them all in due course, if our budget will stretch to it.
Seabed archaeology is expensive. Still, one step at a time, eh?’
‘What? Oh, yes, yes...’
The Doctor barely heard MacKenzie’s words. He was still thinking about the Hyperion Dawn.
‘Still, if InterOceanic were to become involved...’
‘For God’s sake, MacKenzie, give the man a chance,’ Q’ilp cut in.
‘You’ve only just met him.’
‘Ah, indeed,’ said MacKenzie, ‘ mea culpa. As I said, one step at a time.’
The Zodiac slowed, circled and came to a halt. A large marker buoy surrounded by bright floats bobbed in the wake of the vessel. Q’ilp wriggled from his metal walking frame and disappeared into the water.
‘See you down there,’ he said, and vanished beneath its surface.
The submersible’s pilot punched a button and a transparent hatch slid over the deck. Air began to bubble up around the Zodiac and the water closed silently over it.
The craft slipped through the quiet green of the water. The Doctor could see lights glimmering on the seabed.
‘This is a temple complex,’ said MacKenzie. ‘We’ve set up