Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [82]
Ace stretched for it. If she could get the weapon from him...
Garrett spun round and saw her outstretched hand. He snatched the blade up, his face wild.
‘No! You’re just like all of them. Against me!’
‘Garrett...’ Ace kept her voice calm, hoping he couldn’t hear the tremble in it. ‘The Doctor can help you. Let me get you to the Doctor.’
‘Yes. Yes. The Doctor.’ Garrett nodded enthusiastically ‘The man from InterOceanic. He’ll know, he’ll know.’
Cradling the weapon to his chest, Garrett rose to his feet. ‘Back at the colony.’ His face clouded again. ‘The voices keep telling me about the colony, what I must do’
He began to wander towards the tunnel, cooing to himself.
157
‘Garrett! Garrett, wait.’ Cursing, Ace bent to untie Rajiid. She shook him awake. He started, panic in his eyes.
‘Wha...? Ace?’
‘Yes. It’s me. Come on.’
Grasping his hand she hauled him to his feet and the two of them crept into the tunnel. The floor was a small river now, the wet rocks treacherous underfoot.
Dull light seeped from the entrance to the tunnel, blinding after the gloom of the cave. Ace and Rajiid emerged to a jungle that thrashed as though shaken by a giant hand. The hurricane was at its height. Of Garrett there was no sign.
The Doctor looked up in alarm as the shuttlecraft lurched and lifted from the colony square.
‘General...?’
A figure appeared in the doorway of the observation gallery.
Bisoncawl.
‘The General has other business, Doctor, on Coralee. He thought that you might like a closer look at our operations.’
‘How very thoughtful of him.’ The Doctor’s mind whirled. That Mottrack didn’t trust him was obvious. But was this just a ploy to get him out of the way? He looked out of the dome, watching the energy waves as the shuttle passed through the force field that arched from the tops of the storm shutters.
Immediately, the little craft lurched as the winds slammed into it.
The Doctor watched the racing waves beneath them. He was aware of Bisoncawl’s eyes on his back. How far would the General go to ensure success?
Holly Reif watched as the shuttlecraft vanished into the driving rain.
‘Wonder where they’re going,’ she murmured.
She turned to R’tk’tk. ‘Have you got an energy coder for the screens?’
The dolphin bobbed his head up and down. ‘All cetaceans with level three clearance and above have got them.’
‘How d’you fancy a little jaunt?’
‘After the shuttle?’
Holly nodded. ‘They’re headed due west. No prizes for guessing their destination.’
‘The reactor.’ R’tk’tk flexed his tail. ‘It’ll take me a little while to get out there.’
Holly knelt down and slipped a com collar over the dolphin’s head.
‘Call in if you find anything. And, R’tk... don’t take any stupid risks.’
158
With a splash and a blur of grey hide, the dolphin was gone.
The Cythosi shuttlecraft dropped low over the churning ocean. Out of the driving rain the dim shape of the colony reactor began to take shape, a mass of angular steel on huge legs, towering over the water.
Spray crackled off its repulsor fields as huge waves crashed over it.
The shuttle made a low circuit, then its nose dipped and the little craft sliced into the water.
The violence of the storm was suddenly gone and the shuttle drifted down past the reactor’s huge legs. The Doctor stared out of the observation dome, Bisoncawl at his shoulder. Cythosi in diving gear glided over the coral outcrops, the water turning them into elegant, graceful creatures. The Krill cocoons covered the rocks, the grime of centuries chipped away, uncovered by the alien workers. The skin of the eggs was iridescent, shimmering in the light that filtered down from the surface.
‘I should have brought my oil paints.’
The Doctor stared up at the Cythosi commander in surprise.
Bisoncawl didn’t look away from the window.
‘Do you know the work of Turner, Doctor?’
‘Yes.’ The Doctor nodded. ‘Yes I do, I just didn’t expect...’
He tailed off.
Bisoncawl looked at him. ‘You just didn’t expect an alien killer to like art. We’re not all like General Mottrack, Doctor.’
The Doctor