Doctor Who_ The Green Death - Malcolm Hulke [25]
‘This room is for authorised personnel only,’ he said.
‘I know,’ said Elgin. ‘It’s up on the door. But I’m as authorised as you are.’
‘Not for here.’
‘Why?’ asked Elgin. ‘What’s so special about this room?’
‘Nothing.’ Dr Bell continued quietly with his work. ‘There isn’t anything to see in here. Why don’t you go away?’
Elgin ignored the dismissal. ‘You’re venting one tank and filling another, aren’t you?’
Dr Bell nodded. ‘For cleaning purposes.’
Elgin went further into the room and inspected the dials. ‘I presume that one’—he indicated a large dial—‘refers to the main waste tank on level four.’ He looked at another dial. ‘Where is this one, the one you’re filling?’
‘Close to it.’
‘The next big one?’ Elgin queried. ‘On level three?’ ‘Yes.’
‘But that’s a heavy duty pump working,’ said Elgin, surprised. ‘You shouldn’t need anything more than gravity feed.’
Dr Bell hesitated. ‘I... I made a mistake. It’s a tank on a higher level.’
Elgin thought about this. ‘There isn’t one on a higher level. Or do you mean the new special tank on the west storage bay?’
‘Excuse me,’ said Dr Bell, who now seemed agitated. ‘I can’t answer any more questions. I am very busy.’
‘Hold on a minute,’ said Elgin. ‘We can all be “very busy”. I’m beginning to realise what’s happening. Directly under us is the old West seam of the coal mine. So all you do is pump the waste over to this tank, open the sluice and let it flow into the mine workings.’ He pointed to a transparent port-hole in the wall. ‘What’s that? The pipe itself? Some sort of inspection chamber?’
Dr Bell turned away and busied himself with checking dials against the figures on his clipboard.
‘You knew all along,’ said Elgin. ‘There is a connection between the green death and our oil waste, isn’t there?’
Dr Bell was staring at a row of small dials but his eyes were not focussing. His face contorted again. ‘Danger. Death.’ He had difficulty forming the words.
Elgin came close and looked into Dr Bell’s face. ‘What’s up with you? Have you been drinking or taking drugs?’
‘Danger, death,’ Dr Bell repeated, as though he had not heard Elgin.
Elgin took Dr Bell by the shoulders and shook him gently. ‘You seem to be in a trance! Wake up, man! Tell me what this is all about.’
The scientific officer blinked, and sighed deeply. ‘You ask too many questions. Don’t you earn enough money? Isn’t your office big enough?’
‘This is the best job I’ve ever had,’ said Elgin, truthfully, ‘but we aren’t talking about that. A moment ago you said the words “danger” and “death”. What were you talking about?’
‘I said no such words,’ said Dr Bell, and seemed to believe it. ‘Now you must let me get on. I need to complete the transfer.’
‘And then what?’ asked Elgin. ‘More waste straight down into the mine?’
‘The waste has to go somewhere.’
‘But I understand there are two people trapped down there,’ Elgin exclaimed. ‘You might kill them!’
‘In that eventuality,’ said Dr Bell, ‘I suggest that you sit at your desk and write a press release to explain it was an accident. That, remember, is your job here. And don’t forget, it’s a very well paid job you have.’
The Doctor and Jo continued their long hard climb up the old mine shaft.
‘Why was it dug at this angle?’ asked Jo, gasping for breath.
‘I think this tunnel is a geological fault,’ said the Doctor. ‘We think of the earth beneath our feet as being packed tight, but it isn’t really. Apart from mines there are caves, even rivers running underground. I don’t think this was man-made.’
‘Human-made, if you don’t mind,’ corrected Jo.
‘What?’ The Doctor had gone on ahead and now turned back.
‘People say “man-made” as though men are the only people who ever make anything. There are also women, and I’m one of them.’ She paused. ‘A very tired one at the moment.