Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [30]
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The submersible settled alongside a docking port and there was a soft thump as clamps engaged. MacKenzie ducked into the bow and hauled open an airlock.
‘Bit of a tight squeeze I’m afraid, Doctor.’
He disappeared inside the hatch. The Doctor stepped gingerly into the bow and peered down after him. A long plastic shaft with steps set into its side vanished into the gloom. MacKenzie was disappearing down it. The Doctor followed.
The shaft was narrow – a difficult climb for someone of MacKenzie’s age, the Doctor thought – but well worth the effort.
‘Well, Doctor, what do you think?’ the professor asked. ‘Impressive, is it not?’
The Doctor gazed around him. Ruined walls flanked wide avenues, roofless halls stood silent and elegant in decay. Algae and other plant life held sway over all. The translucent hull of the archaeologists’
dome covered the whole massive ruin, glowing dully with liquid, undersea light.
Still pools of seawater dotted the uneven floor. Q’ilp suddenly surfaced in one of them.
‘Tunnels,’ he said. ‘Useful for me. That clever Dick never gave a moment’s thought to how I would get into the dome when he was designing it.’
MacKenzie ignored his cetacean colleague.
‘Magnificent, isn’t it?’ he enthused. He appeared to have completely forgotten the destruction of the cable-laying platform. He was like a child in his favourite toy shop. ‘They were quite a civilisation,’ he said.
‘We still know very little about them. Progress has been woefully slow, I’m sorry to say. Funding again, you see. This is a new colony, and I’m afraid archaeology isn’t high on their list of priorities. They are far more concerned with tourism. He spat out the word. The lure of the offworld dollar. Pleasure trips around the quaint ruins...’
‘Exactly how much do you know about this civilisation?’ the Doctor asked.
‘Well, as I was telling you, we have made some progress.’
MacKenzie warmed instantly to his theme. He led the Doctor into the remains of a building. ‘These mosaics, you see...’ he gushed. ‘These murals...’
Several large sections of the walls and floor had been painstakingly cleared of sea-growth. The Doctor peered at the ancient stones.
‘These hieroglyphs...’
‘Yes; said MacKenzie. ‘Very mysterious. Tricky things...’
‘The pictures are clear enough...’ said the Doctor. ‘Some kind of 57
pictorial chronicle. An historical record of the race who built all this.’
‘Yes, indeed,’ said MacKenzie. ‘That’s what we think.’
‘An aquatic species, as one would expect on a world that’s 98 per cent ocean. Humanoid... interesting.’
‘This shows them constructing their settlements,’ enthused MacKenzie. ‘Not their great cities. Not yet. The cities come later.’
He bustled across the room to another faded vista. The Doctor followed. ‘And here we see what I believe to be their apogee.’
‘Space flight,’ said the Doctor. ‘Weapons...’
‘Oh, they were undoubtedly warlike,’ said MacKenzie, ‘but what civilisation has not been born out of conflict? Look at the Earth.’
‘A somewhat narrow view of history,’ said the Doctor.
‘Well, perhaps,’ said MacKenzie. ‘I have in fact written several papers on the subject... In any event, you must admit this was quite a civilisation.’
‘But what happened to it?’ the Doctor asked. ‘What became of them?’
‘Ah,’ said MacKenzie wistfully. ‘A catastrophe, I believe. Come with me.’
The Doctor followed him through a low, cracked arch. A narrow tunnel stretched ahead of them.
‘Be careful,’ said MacKenzie, snapping on a powerful torch.
The floor of the tunnel was largely gone. A deep, water-filled crack ran its full length, leaving only a narrow, uneven ledge, tight against one wall. The Doctor and MacKenzie had to crouch and hug the wall as they picked their way along the tunnel. Q’ilp swam effortlessly along the deep gash.
‘Now take a look at these murals,’ MacKenzie said.
‘Hmm... Considerably cruder,’ the Doctor mused.
‘And yet undoubtedly later,’ said MacKenzie. ‘And look at the images.’
‘I know,’ said the Doctor. ‘War. Destruction. Carnage.