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The Doctor ran over to her and gave her a hug.

'Fire,' she cried. 'Bedroom on fire.'

The Doctor pulled back from her, and pointed up to her window. It was dark up there.

'But I... '

'The house can look after itself,' he assured her. 'Are you all right?'

She nodded. 'I kil ed him,' she sobbed.

'We had a spot of success down here, too,' the Brigadier said cheerfully. He indicated the warrior's body.

'His disruptor backfired,' Bernice shuddered, her hand over her mouth.

'We can fight the Martians, but not the police,' Lethbridge-Stewart said. 'The warship might have got here first, but the police and army won't be far behind. Now let's get Bessie out of the garage and move out.'

***

Xznaal had been silent as he led them through the ship to the Dispersion Chamber. Even the name of the place made Staines nervous. He wondered what was going to be dispersed.

A huge hatch rumbled open. Xznaal stepped in, with Greyhaven close behind. Staines could think of nothing better to do than follow.

The room was large, lined with vast metal drums and cylinders. They looked like grain silos, or huge gas bottles.

A hatch at the other end of the room rattled open. Another Martian stomped in, a metal tube the size of a pillar box cradled in its arms. Staines realised that this was only the second Martian he had seen up close. Although an impressive sight, it was slightly smaller and slimmer than Xznaal. Its shel was a lighter shade of green.

'This is my scientist, Vrgnur,' Xznaal barked.

Vrgnur laid the tube on the deck and beat his claw against his chest - a salute, rather like the ancient Roman style.

That formality completed, the Martian began connecting the metal cylinder up to a network of thick plastic tubes.

Greyhaven leant towards the cylinder.

'What is this?' he asked.

'See for yourself.'

Vrgnur pulled at a hatch about halfway along the tube, which slid open. Greyhaven smiled at Staines and stepped up to the cylinder.

He peered in.

'Nothing,' he informed Staines.

He took another look.

A red claw slammed against the glass. Involuntarily, he started and fell back.

Xznaal caught him and gave a low, throaty chuckle.

There was a haze hovering in the middle of the tube. It looked like a column of steam from a kettle, but was the colour of rosé wine.

'What is it?' Staines asked, genuinely interested.

Xznaal was also regarding the phenomenon with fascination. 'We call it the Red Death. It is an assassination weapon, a sentient poison mist. In the Martian atmosphere it is invisible.'

'A cloud with a wil of its own?' Staines asked incredulously.

'If you like.'

'How does it work?' Greyhaven asked.

'A simple technique combining molecular re-engineering and artificial intelligence etherware. It has merely an animal intellect.'

'But you can program it to kil ?'

'Yes. This specimen has been programmed with the Doctor's DNA profile. Traces of his blood were discovered in the reception chamber, when he was cut by falling glass. The Red Death wil hunt him down and kill him.'

'Will it know where to look?'

86

Vrgnur lurched to a control panel. 'We will unleash the Death here, at an altitude of ten kilometres. The mist will disperse throughout the immediate area. When it locates the Doctor it will gather and feed. Once the Doctor is dead, the Red Death wil instantly decompose into its natural elements.'

Xznaal twisted a great wheel, and the mist hissed out of the chamber, out of the warship.

'Now we will watch and wait.'

***

Birds were falling from the sky. Owls and sparrows, gulls and thrushes. They were dropping like stones.

The Doctor stopped the car.

There was hail too, or so Benny thought at first. They she realised that the droplets were dead insects of every kind.

'Everything's dying,' the Doctor was muttering.

'It's some sort of poison gas,' Lethbridge-Stewart said, staring up into the dark sky.

Benny looked up, holding her hand up to shelter her face from the steady pelting of tiny bug carcasses. There was a storm cloud above them, growing larger with