Doctor Who_ The Dying Days - Lance Parkin [129]
Eve continued. 'We could tell straight away that the cloud was being controlled somehow. Alan was filming it, and it was seeking out people, killing them stone dead. Then we saw the Doctor.'
They'd got to the part of the story that I didn't know about.
'He was breaking into a shop with the sonic screwdriver. It turned out later that he was trying to save a cat who had got trapped. The cloud caught sight of him, and it was like a shark scenting blood. It kind of drew itself together and poured into the shop after him. We fol owed, and we found that the Doctor was standing there, with the gas swirling around him like a hurricane. He looked so calm, so collected, and then the cloud leapt at him, smothering him, pouring into his mouth and nose. It was horrible.'
Her voice was matter-of-fact, and there was no indication that she had been horrified, or had felt anything at al .
This was a woman whose job it was to report horrible things on a daily basis.
'As the last of the gas entered his body, the Doctor col apsed. Alan knows first aid, and he tried to help him, but there was no pulse and he was already cold to the touch. The Doctor had shut down everything that kept him alive: respiration, heartbeat, brain activity, lindal gland, reflex response. Apparently Time Lords can do that.'
'It was the bit after that I wasn't too sure about,' I informed her. 'The happy ending aspect.'
Another sonic blast hit the Thames, sending up a jet of steam. It was almost certainly the first shot that hadn't killed people. As the ship continued its ascent, we were getting more notice of the attacks - there was perhaps a two second delay between the sound of the blast coming and it hitting the ground.
'The Doctor had worked out that the cloud had been programmed to seek and kill him. When the gas detected no life signs, the program was complete, the gas had no other purpose and it deactivated.'
'Yes,' I said slowly, pointing over at the hologram, 'but this overlooks one small detail... '
Eve brightened. 'Well it was lucky for him that we were there. Alan kept trying, and managed to resuscitate him.'
'Only because of that Time Lord constitution of his,' Alan called over. 'No human could have survived being dead that long. As it was it took him a couple of days to fully recover. We had to smuggle him out of Adisham in the back of Eve's car.'
'Gosh,' I said. 'How's the cat?'
'It made it,' Eve assured me. 'We got back to London and met up with Lex there.'
I frowned. 'So, with the greatest respect, what has the Doctor been doing for the last week?' Al this time, people had been dying, the country had been in a state of civil war and the Doctor hadn't even shown his face.
'Working to end the invasion,' Eve replied indignantly. 'He spent the first few days trying to find an antidote for the Martian gas. There isn't one. We went to Gatwick, freed hundreds of prisoners. We have no idea what the Martians were planning for them.'
I shuddered, remembering the tests conducted at the refinery in Reading.
'Xznaal's moving,' Alan called over.
End of extract
115
***
'T minus three minutes,' one of the lieutenants called from behind them. The Brigadier barely heard him. He was at the bottom of the stairs now, and he could see the crowd massed outside. It was a riot out there: windows had been smashed, cars overturned and set alight.
Another bolt of energy slammed home. The building shook, but the impact itself had been further away than the last, on the other side of the Tower. Hopefully the crowd was thinner over there. Ambulances were wailing their way across London, now.
There was something rising into the air from inside the Tower.
'It's Xznaal,' he called out. 'Snipers - '
The Brigadier didn't finish the sentence. The sky pulsed.
'Take cov-'
The blast of energy slammed into the building behind him. Every pane of glass in the block shattered, the supporting walls burst open. The Brigadier grabbed Bambera and tugged her down, then pulled his hands over his head. They were thrown forwards, masonry