Doctor Who_ The Bodysnatchers - Mark Morris [79]
He was within hand-shaking distance of the Zygons now. One of them suddenly piped,'You are not the escaped human.'
'No,' said the Doctor soothingly,'I'm the Doctor.Tuval and I have been to fetch my TARDIS. We've just got back. Tuval's over there.'
He flipped a casual thumb towards the darkest corner of the cavern. As the two Zygons glanced in the direction he had indicated, the Doctor curled his hands into fists and thrust out his arms, punching the two Zygons full in the face simultaneously.
One of the Zygons crumpled to the floor without a sound, startlingly crimson blood spurting from one of its nostrils. The other reeled back, keening, bringing up its delicate white hands to protect itself.
'I'm truly sorry about this,' the Doctor said, jumping forwan and drawing back his fist. He pulled the Zygon's hands awa from its face, and before it could gather its wits enough ti unsheathe the thorns in its palms, punched it again. This timi the Zygon's legs gave way and it collapsed unconscious to thi floor.
Knowing that he had had no alternative did not prevent th< Doctor from being ashamed of his actions. He dragged th< bodies quickly out of sight, examined them to ensure there wa: no permanent damage, then scooped up the flippers and mad< his way back across the cavern and up the steps on to th( walkway. Moments later he was slipping barefoot through thi burbling corridors of the Zygon ship, heading for what hi hoped was the cell area. After taking two wrong turnings an< retracing his steps, and having to conceal himself from severa more patrolling Zygons, he found it.
He smiled when he saw that Litefoot's alcove was emprs recalling how the two Zygon scientists had mentioned ai escaped human. Although it scuppered his plans to rescu< Litefoot, he could only applaud his old friend's initiative. Ht wondered briefly where Litefoot was now and hoped that b) being free the professor didn't land himself in more trouble than he would otherwise have been in.
He turned his attention to Sam, who was still lashed into hei cubicle, the cowl covering her head and the upper part of hei face. He supposed that her being here unharmed must mear that Tuval was still held by the time bubble in the TARDIS, anc that the Zygon scientist's synchron response was still strong The Doctor was pleased with himself for knocking up this extn embellishment to the TARDIS's defence systems; he hadn'i known for certain how effective it would be. Discarding the flippers, he examined the nodular controls beside Sam's alcove and carefully manipulated them.
Instantly a couple of the tentacles tethering Sam's body began to lash as though under attack. The Doctor made a hasty adjustment and their frantic activity subsided.
The Zygon controls in this area of the ship were subtle and sensitive, but it didn't take him long to work them out.'Voila; he murmured as the cowl slid from Sam's face with a faint sucking sound and ascended into the ceiling.
At the same time the tentacles uncurled themselves from around her body and hung limp as ropes.Also immediately Sam began to stir, her lips parting, eyes flickering open.
'What time is it?' she asked, her voice faint, rusty.
'Time to go,' replied the Doctor. 'How are you feeling?'
Her eyes opened wide and she looked at him.'Like something disgusting has been trying to suck out my brain.'
'Excellent,' said the Doctor.'You're not delusional then. Come on.'
He helped her out of the alcove. Sam glanced behind her at the now dormant cowl curled up near the ceiling, and shuddered. 'That was a very uncool piece of headgear,' she said weakly.'Not my style at all.'
'Oh, I don't know. I've got some rather fetching photographs. I thought we could blow them up and have them printed as T-shirts.'
Sam laughed a little forcedly.'Maybe I could send one to my parents with a postcard.