Doctor Who_ The Green Death - Malcolm Hulke [41]
‘I was worried silly about you,’ he shouted over the roar of the bomb.
Two more bombs exploded, spreading fire.
‘Then why, don’t you show it?’ she demanded.
‘I am showing it,’ he screamed above the roar of the aircraft. ‘That’s why I’ve come here to save you.’
‘I can save myself, thank you.’
‘Please, Jo,’ he yelled, ‘I love you.’ His words were drowned by another violent explosion.
‘What?’ she shouted. ‘I didn’t hear.’
‘I love you,’ he yelled at the top of his voice. ‘And now before we’re both killed, can we get the hell out of here?’
‘All right,’ she shouted. ‘Let’s go!’
They raced along the dip, then climbed to a ridge. Down below them was a sea of writhing maggots. As they turned two bombs landed on the maggots. Professor Jones pointed : ‘Look, a cave!’
They ran for the ‘cave’. It was the remains of an old wooden bunker. Over the years slag had been heaped over it, leaving a small entrance. They fell and rolled into it, and lay breathless. Then the professor sat up.
‘Can I kiss you again?’ he asked.
‘I hope so.’ She closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to touch hers.
‘Stay absolutely still,’ he said.
‘I am absolutely still,’ she said, her eyes still closed.
‘I mean,’ he said, ‘we have a little friend in here with us. Don’t move.’
Jo’s eyes opened wide. In the back of the cave a huge maggot reared its head. Then it leapt at Jo. Professor Jones flung Jo to one side, and kicked the maggot out of their refuge. At the entrance a large number of maggots had now gathered, attracted by the exciting smell of human flesh. Some of them were scorched by the bombs, but otherwise showed no sign of being harmed.
‘We’re going to need help,’ Jo said, ‘and fast.’ She produced from her pocket her miniature UNIT walkie-talkie, pulled up the telescopic aerial and started to give her calling code into the microphone.
The Doctor looked about the small empty office in which he was held prisoner. He had already tried his sonic screwdriver on the door lock, but without success. Now he regarded the window. It was heavily barred. Since escape seemed impossible he lay down flat on the floor, put his hands behind his head and tried to go to sleep. He was just dropping off when he heard the lock turn. He leapt up and positioned himself behind the door, hand raised to give a karate chop. The door opened and Mike Yates looked inside. Just in time the Doctor stopped himself delivering a deadly blow.
‘Do come in,’ he greeted Yates. ‘How ever did you know I was here?’
‘I saw you brought along here on a corridor monitor,’ Yates explained. ‘What happened?’
The Doctor quickly explained about meeting Boss and the unfortunate arrival of Dr Stevens and his guards. ‘They tried very hard to “convert” me,’ the Doctor went on, ‘but without success. I kept doing mathematical permutations in my mind. Somehow that threw them. They finally decided I might be a useful hostage, so they put me in here. We’ve got to get out, fast. There’s much more going on than I imagined.’
‘With the mine?’ asked Yates.
‘With the world,’ said the Doctor. ‘They’ve got a mad scheme to create an ordered world society with everyone happy and well-fed.’
‘What’s wrong with that?’ asked Yates.
‘Their price of plenty is eternal slavery, Let’s move!’
Together they slipped out of the room, down the corridor, then down stairs that took them to ground level. An unlocked door let them into the grounds. They were in the concreted area close to the equipment shed.
‘This way,’ the Doctor called, and raced down the alleyway where previously he had been trapped.
With his long legs, the Doctor drew ahead of Yates. Suddenly, behind him the Doctor heard the clang of metal. He turned, saw that the metal grille had slid into position, with Captain Yates on the other side. Yates shrugged, and waved to the Doctor.
‘Keep going, Doctor. Don’t worry about me.’
Reluctantly the Doctor kept running. He raced round the side of the building to where he had left the milk float. As he got into the driver’s seat, alarm