Doctor Who_ The Green Death - Malcolm Hulke [30]
Dr Bell swayed, the terrible internal battle of conscience boiling in his mind. He licked his parched lips, then with enormous effort pointed to a console. ‘Yellow button. Left side.’ Then he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
Elgin rushed to the console and jammed his thumb down on to the yellow button. A moment’s pause, then the frame of the port-hole opened. The Doctor and Jo scrambled into the room. The Doctor swung round and slammed shut the port-hole behind him. Almost instantly the rushing noise increased and sludge and slime started to cascade past the port-hole. It increased in volume until the pipe was filled with downward rushing liquid.
Jo sank on to the floor, exhausted from the long climb. The Doctor looked across to Mark Elgin.
‘Thanks.’ The Doctor stared down at the prostrate form of Dr Bell. ‘My goodness, what’s the matter with him?’ He went to kneel down beside the man, checked the pulse.
‘I don’t think it’s physical,’ said Elgin, joining the Doctor. ‘We were having an argument—actually it was about whether or not to save your lives.’
‘Charming,’ said the Doctor, ‘which side were you on?’
Elgin grinned. ‘You’re alive, aren’t you?’
The Doctor lifted Dr Bell’s eyelids, felt his heart. ‘Poor fellow seems to have fainted. Let’s sit him up somewhere.’
Together the Doctor and Elgin dragged Dr Bell across to the wall, sat him up against it.
‘He was mumbling all sorts of nonsense before he passed out,’ Elgin volunteered. ‘I couldn’t make head nor tail of it.’
‘Can you remember anything he said?’
‘He said “murder”, then “save lives”, and I think he said “Thou shalt not kill” and “exterminate”.’
The Doctor looked down at the still unconscious Dr Bell. ‘Sounds like some terrible internal conflict in his mind.’
‘What about your young friend?’ Elgin asked.
‘Good grief,’ said the Doctor, turning back to where Jo was still slumped on the floor gasping. ‘I’d almost forgotten her. How do you feel now, Jo?’
‘That horrible-looking stuff’—she pointed to the sludge and slime on the other side of the port-hole—‘that’s what makes the maggots.’
‘Maggots?’ Elgin was mystified.
The Doctor quickly explained what he and Jo had seen in the mine. ‘In some way those creatures must be linked to the oil waste that your Company is pouring into the mine,’ he concluded.
‘It’s unbelievable,’ Elgin said. ‘I wonder if Dr Bell knew this?’ Elgin turned back to Dr Bell. ‘Let’s see if he’s come round... ‘ The sentence trailed off. Dr Bell had vanished. ‘He’s got up and gone!’
The Doctor rubbed his chin. ‘The only reason he would slink away when our backs were turned is because he’s gone to tell someone about us being here.’
‘I told you how strangely he was behaving,’ said Elgin.
‘Is there some quiet way you can get us out of here?’
‘There’s a back lift that goes straight down to the car park.’
‘Then I wonder,’ said the Doctor, ‘if you’d be good enough to lead us to it, and as quickly as possible.’
The door of the Director’s office burst open and Dr Bell staggered in, wild eyed. Dr Stevens looked up from his desk. He liked people to knock on the door before entering.
‘What is it, Dr Bell?’ His voice was stem.
‘I have... a... headache.’ Dr Bell had difficulty saying the words.
Dr Stevens got up from his chair immediately and hurried round the desk to Dr Bell’s side. All the sternness had gone out of his voice now. ‘Of course you have,’ he said soothingly. He knew from personal experience exactly what kind of headache Dr Bell must be enduring. ‘You’ve been working too hard, old friend. Sit down.’
Gently Dr Stevens helped the sick man to a comfortable chair. ‘Remember how I helped you before when you had a headache? I’ll always help you.’
‘God is love,’ mumbled Dr Bell. ‘Today Europe, tomorrow the world.’
‘You’re just a bit confused,’ Dr Stevens said as he hurried to the cupboard in his desk and took out the special pair of earphones. ‘But very soon your headache will go away and everything will be fine. Shall we put them on?’ He stood over Dr Bell