Doctor Who_ The Green Death - Malcolm Hulke [36]
‘That gives me thirty minutes to try to talk sense into someone.’ The Doctor got back into Bessie, and drove away.
‘In the first place,’ said the Doctor, addressing Dr Stevens across his vast desk, ‘what right have you to order the destruction of property belonging to the National Coal Board?’
Dr Stevens smiled. ‘My company bought the mine from the Government late last night.’
‘Very convenient,’ the Doctor said. He realised he had lost on that score and quickly moved to another approach. ‘As you know, that mine contains a species of giant maggot—’
‘As you know,’ Dr Stevens cut in, ‘I have yet to see proof.’
‘Your own man, Hinks, was attacked by one last night, when forcibly entering private premises!’
‘Hinks was a drunkard,’ said Dr Stevens. ‘I cannot be held responsible for what he did in his free time. And how do we know what attacked him?’
‘Miss Grant saw it happen.’
‘A young woman?’ asked Dr Stevens. ‘Late at night, and possibly half asleep? Was she the only witness?’
‘Dr Stevens,’ said the Doctor, ‘what possible reason have you against delaying this destruction for one more day so that I can go back into the mine?’
‘Because you have convinced me you are a sensation monger, a political hot-head and a scientific charlatan!’ Dr Stevens smiled again, but it was a hard smile. ‘You, and others, have suggested that these mysterious deaths are in some way the fault of my Company.’ He pressed a button on his inter-corn and spoke into the microphone. ‘Stella, ask Mr Elgin to bring in the man from the Ministry, will you?’ He turned back to the Doctor. ‘If you persist in these slanders I shall have you restrained under the Emergency Powers Act.’
‘You have no such right!’
‘The necessary authority was brought to me this morning,’ said Dr Stevens.
A tap on the door and Mark Elgin entered, followed by a tall lean young man wearing a smart pin-striped suit. ‘The gentleman from the Ministry, sir,’ he said to Dr Stevens.
Dr Stevens rose. "This is our troublesome friend, the Doctor,’ he told the newcomer. ‘Perhaps you can impress on him what powers I now have from the Minister.’
The Doctor looked up at the young man in the pin-striped suit. It was Captain Mike Yates of UNIT, whom he knew well.
‘Good grief,’ said the Doctor. ‘I mean good morning.’ He rose and shook hands with Yates. ‘If you have some authority here, you must stop this destruction of the mine—’
The roar of an explosion cut through the middle of the Doctor’s sentence. He swung round and saw through the windows a pall of black smoke rising from the pit head.
Dr Stevens looked at his watch. ‘Eleven o’clock, gentlemen. Orders have been carried out. I feel, Doctor, that any further discussion would now be academic, don’t you?’
‘Mike Yates?’ said Jo in astonishment. She also knew the young UNIT Captain very well, and had been out to dinner with him a number of times.
The Doctor peeled off his jacket. They were in Professor Jones’s laboratory where the professor was examining culture plates. The Doctor was about to assist him. ‘It’s all right, Jo. The Brigadier explained it. Mike’s spying for our side.’
‘Who thought of that?’
‘The Brigadier. Strange, isn’t it? He goes and obeys a ridiculous order because, as he explains, he’s a soldier. But he doesn’t really trust Stevens. So he’s got Mike rigged up in his best civilian clothes to pretend to be a Government official.’ He turned to Professor Jones. ‘What can I do to help?’
The Professor held up a test tube containing a lump of green-stained cotton wool. ‘That slime we got isn’t good enough. We still can’t find an antidote without some living maggot cells to try it on.’
‘But since the mine is now closed,’ observed Jo, ‘there can’t be any more green death. So why do we need an antidote?’
‘You’re forgetting Mr Hinks,’ said the Doctor. ‘We don’t know why he broke in here—perhaps to get that egg. But he certainly saved you from being bitten. And right now he’s in hospital, and no one knows how to save his life.’
9 The Swarm
Blodwen Williams entered the room marked ‘AUTHORISED