Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [53]
‘Of course.’ Brenda sounded confused. ‘What else?’
The Doctor shook his head in irritation. ‘Sometimes I forget what century I’m in,’ he said. ‘Can you show me where it happened?’
Brenda tapped the map. ‘Off the Western Rim Islands,’ she said.
The Doctor whipped the data-pad from his pocket and scrutinised the screen.
‘This is bad,’ he said. ‘Very bad. What defences do you have here, Miss Mulholland?’
‘We have an automated defence network. Not very powerful. We don’t really need it, but it’s a standard precaution. It’s never been used...’
‘Anything else?’
‘Only the police. Forty or so. Half a dozen vehicles, one remaining sub. Hand weapons...’
‘You must have storm shutters,’ the Doctor said, ‘from what I’ve heard about the weather on Coralee.’
‘They were Garrett’s greatest achievement,’ Brenda said.
‘Raise them,’ the Doctor snapped. ‘Get everybody off the streets.
We have to seal this place.’
‘What’s happening, Doctor?’ She lit a cigarette.
The Doctor thrust the pad under her nose.
‘This is a map of sorts,’ he said. ‘I believe it shows the nesting grounds of the Krill. And look here.’
‘That’s exactly where the sub blew up,’ Brenda said. ‘What does that mean?’
‘I talked to Edwin Bryce earlier today,’ said the Doctor. ‘He’s studied the Krill legends. One of the things he told me was that they thrive on radiation.’
He paused, scrutinising Brenda. She looked impatient.
‘Think of a seed, Miss Mulholland. Lying dormant, waiting for that first drop of moisture, that first drop of nourishment that will cause it to shoot, cause it to crack open and begin to grow.’
‘What are you saying, Doctor?’
‘The Krill were an unstoppable and almost uncontrollable weapon.
The people who created them probably kept them dormant until they were needed, then fired the eggs into their enemy’s territory and followed up with a nuclear bombardment. I believe the Krill are born out of nuclear fusion.’
‘Oh God...’
‘You remember the cable-laying platform – the Hyperion Dawn?
When I examined it I found a radioactive element attached to its hull.
Now this. Someone’s deliberately trying to revive the Krill, Miss 102
Mulholland.’
Brenda Mulholland hit the intercom on her desk. ‘Operations?’ she said. ‘This is the co-ordinator. Raise the storm shutters. And activate the defence grid at maximum strength.’
‘How is the colony powered?’ the Doctor asked.
‘A single reactor... here.’ She pointed to an outlying island.
The Doctor thrust the data-pad under her nose again.
‘Look,’ he said. ‘The densest nest clusters are around this island.
Miss Mulholland, you built the thing right on top of them.’
‘Garrett sited the reactor,’ Brenda said slowly.
‘Does it have storm defences?’ the Doctor snapped.
‘Yes, of course...’
‘Raise them. The last thing we can afford is for anything to happen to that reactor.’
She took a deep drag on her cigarette. ‘This weapon you say Garrett’s got – the weapon from the dig – will it stop them?’
‘I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that, the Doctor replied. ‘As far as I have been able to see, it operates by sending out a massive charged biogenic pulse. It will travel around the planet in minutes.’
‘And kill the Krill...’
‘I imagine that was its intention. How do you stop the unstoppable?’
His face furrowed into a frown. ‘Unfortunately, we don’t have any idea how it will affect the other species on the planet. I believe it was developed to stop the Krill, which means that potentially it’s a more lethal weapon than the Krill themselves.’
Brenda nodded thoughtfully, and opened her door.
‘Come in, gentlemen,’ she said. The officials filed in again.
‘I’m instituting a state of emergency,’ she announced. ‘I’m imposing an immediate curfew. I want everybody off the streets. I want all police on duty, armed and standing by.’
‘Co-ordinator, will you tell us what’s going on?’ one of the men piped up.
‘We’ve got a hostile invasion on our hands,’ Brenda Mulholland said. ‘Come back here in an hour; I’ll brief you more fully then. But first I want this place sealed tight. Nothing is to get in from outside.’
‘Co-ordinator,