Doctor Who_ The Green Death - Malcolm Hulke [33]
‘Super. What was the meat in the stew?’
‘It wasn’t meat,’ said the professor. ‘Fungus. My new hybrid to help solve worldwide malnutrition. It tastes fine, and looks good. But it’s still relatively low in protein.’
‘So you’ve got a long way to go?’ said Jo.
‘You could put it like that,’ said the professor. ‘Right down the Amazon River. There are tribes there that subsist for months at a time on a certain giant toadstool peculiar to the region. It serves them as meat. I want to investigate that.’
The Doctor returned from the telephone. He was grim faced. ‘I’m afraid I’ve got bad news. That was the hospital. Bert Williams, the man who went into the mine with Jo, has just died.’
‘Oh, no! And here we’ve been laughing and enjoying ourselves.’ The tears welled up in Jo’s eyes. Professor Jones saw this, and took her hand in his. She found the warmth of his hand comforting.
‘Has there been a post mortem?’ asked the Brigadier.
‘Every cell in the man’s body had been attacked,’ said the Doctor. ‘It was some sort of virus. They haven’t been able to isolate it.’
‘So we’re still fighting in the dark,’ said Professor Jones.
‘Not quite,’ said the Doctor. ‘We do have an egg, remember.’
In Professor Jones’s laboratory, a square of bright moonlight from the window fell onto the egg resting in the white porcelain tray. All at once the egg moved, as its living occupant wriggled. Like any egg-born creature, the maggot inside had started as an embryonic speck floating in the fluid that was to be its pre-birth food. In a matter of days the embryo had absorbed the fluid, growing in the process. Now all the fluid was gone, and if the maggot was not to die it had to escape. Instinctively it arched its back, heaving against the walls of the egg. And then, suddenly, the egg cracked open. The maggot lay exhausted from its efforts. Then it sniffed sharply. It was experiencing a new source of energy—oxygen in the air around it. It wriggled its little body, and realised it was quite strong. It also realised it was very hungry, and that it now had to find its own food.
It raised its head over the edge of the tray, and sniffed again. It could smell that somewhere in this room was food, somewhere low down. It heaved itself over the edge of the tray, and wriggled to the edge of the table. Below was an enormous drop, but the desire for food made it forget all danger. It rolled itself off the table, fell through space and finally hit the floor. The bump temporarily stunned its nervous system, but it had no bones to break. After a moment’s pause it raised its head and sniffed again. It wriggled as fast as it could go to the source of the food smells—a hole in the skirting board. Something with four legs ran across the floor and went into the hole. The maggot watched, fascinated, and ravenously hungry. But instinct told it not to move. It remained absolutely still, despite the gnawing pangs of hunger in its digestive system. Then a little head looked out from the hole. Tiny eyes regarded the inert maggot, and whiskers twitched.
Cautiously the mouse came forward on tip-toes, watching and sniffing as it approached the huge object lying still on the floor. It was, the mouse thought, something that could be eaten, for it too was hungry. The mouse went up to the face of the maggot, and then the maggot struck. Its jaws opened and the mouse was killed instantly.
The maggot wriggled about the floor in happiness. During all its existence inside the egg it had lived on liquid. Now, inside it, was flesh, and the sensation was wonderful.
The maggot remained in this happy state for two hours. But then hunger returned. This time the need for food was even greater than before. And it knew what it wanted—living meat. It wriggled over to the door and sniffed. Suddenly it was frantic, because the air waves coming under the door brought the smell of large amounts of living flesh.
The maggot methodically started to gnaw a hole through the door.
The Doctor walked the Brigadier to the local inn where the Brigadier was going to spend the night.
‘Sure