Doctor Who_ The Forgotten Army - Brian Minchin [25]
General Erik became even more furious. 'I will not be undermined in front of my troops by this lumbering beast.
By a pacifist! All my years of training in the Vykoid army have prepared me for moments like this. I have heard the legends of the great Vykoid heroes, and soon it will be my time to join them.' He puffed out his diminutive chest and went on. 'I too will have a statue built for me, in the Hall of Honour on our home planet! Efficiency and punctuality are the backbone of any successful military campaign, and since we seem to have woken up several thousand years too late, I am not about to waste any more time.'
His speech finished, General Erik turned his back on the Doctor, and barked at his men: 'Activate the Temporal Lock!'
The ranks split, and a select group of soldiers 98
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quick-marched back into the mammoth. They obviously hadn't been deterred by the Doctor's speech, and seemed only too keen to follow General Erik's commands.
'Doctor?' Amy raised an eyebrow. 'What's a temporal lock?'
The mammoth was beginning to stir into life once more.
Lights were clicking on inside its body, shining out of its eyes and ears. With a grinding noise, the mammoth's trunk was raised into the air, and started to revolve like an aerial.
The Doctor scrambled to his feet and took Amy's hand. 'I think, given the circumstances, it would be a good idea if we run\'
Amy couldn't tear her eyes from the Vykoid troops.
Everything they did was so regimented and neat. She thought that this might just be the best-organised army she'd ever seen.
General Erik was shouting commands and waving his hands around, and the front ranks appeared to be preparing to attack something.
With a sudden feeling of dread, Amy realised who they were getting ready to attack. 'Running... yeah... I'm definitely with you on that.'
But before they could move, the air around them glowed green, just as it had when the circular wave had exploded. Amy could feel every cell in her body vibrate, like she was undergoing her own mini-earthquake. After it had passed through her,
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she could see the effects travelling over the whole Zoo - the rhinos and elephants shuddering as they shook.
'What was that?' she asked.
The Doctor patted himself up and down. 'I feel... the same as before... but... Oh, Amy, look at that.'
In the few seconds they had looked away, the Vykoid Army had equipped themselves with hundreds of tiny combat vehicles, rather like toy jeeps, and were preparing to move out.
The Doctor stepped closer. 'I thought I told you lotto...'
Something extraordinary was happening. The Vykoids were now moving with impossible speed, like Keystone Cops on fast forward. In the time it took the Doctor to make one step, they had unloaded mini combat helicopters, tanks and troop transporters. There was even a mobile kitchen set up, serving out soup to the troops.
'How did they do that?' Amy asked.
By the time she'd finished the question, the Vykoid army had put wheels on the base of the air deck in the mammoth's belly and had loaded it up to depart.
Amy moved quickly, and flung herself at the army, determined to stop them throwing themselves at New York. As much for their sake as hers. She didn't want a new species to be slaughtered, just by misjudging their sense of scale.
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But as she lunged, Amy felt hundreds of pinpricks on her ankles. The Vykoid troops were scampering up her legs, so quickly she could barely make them out. These were specialist climbing Vykoids, equipped with ropes, carabiners and the like. She may have imagined it, but Amy was sure they stopped for a tea break on her kneecap, before continuing their climb.
Within seconds, Amy had been pulled to the ground, every bit of her tied and secured. General Erik marched onto her face and peered into her large eyes. To him, she must have seemed like some wondrous deep-sea