Doctor Who_ The Green Death - Malcolm Hulke [46]
‘They’re taking the bait,’ said the Brigadier. ‘We may beat them yet.’
‘You know the saying, sir,’ said Sergeant Benton. ‘If you can’t beat ’em join ’em.’
The Brigadier looked at him. ‘I find that in the worst possible taste, thank you.’
The Doctor got back behind his driving wheel, and moved Bessie on to another area packed with writhing maggots. Again he stopped, and threw out handfuls of the fungus powder. A ripple ran through the sea of maggots as they wriggled towards the food.
But the Brigadier’s attention was on the point where the Doctor had first stopped. The carpet of maggots was now still. He looked through his binoculars. Every maggot that had eaten the fungus was dead.
‘We’ve done it!’ he shouted to the UNIT soldiers. ‘They’re dying off like... like maggots!’
For the next half hour the Doctor continued to drive about the slag heap, slaughtering maggots with fungus. Finally he waved from the top of the heap, started up Bessie again and drove down the slope. The waiting soldiers cheered.
Then the insect flew into view. It was three feet long, had four wings, and giant antennae protruding from its huge head. The soldiers’ cheers quickly turned into warning shouts. Not hearing over the distance, the Doctor waved to the soldiers. On his first sweep, the flying insect spat bright green venom at the bumping car, hitting the windscreen. The Doctor swerved to a halt, looked up. The insect wheeled above the Doctor, then turned for another attack.
‘Get the rifles,’ ordered the Brigadier.
Two soldiers hurried to a nearby van which contained UNIT equipment and arms.
The Doctor ripped off his flowing cloak, and stood up on the back seat of his car. He held out the cape at arm’s length.
‘Good grief,’ exclaimed the Brigadier, ‘what does he think he’s playing at? Bull-fighting?’
The two soldiers hurried forward with rifles, took up kneeling positions. ‘Ready, sir.’
‘Free fire,’ ordered the Brigadier, meaning it was up to the soldiers to decide when they could get in a killing shot.
The insect swept in again to attack. Then it seemed to be curious about the Doctor’s cloak, and it hovered in mid-air. The Doctor gently shook the cloak to entice the insect to attack. The two marksmen took careful aim of the hovering insect and both fired simultaneously. Instantly the insect flew up into the air, disturbed by the noise. The Doctor turned to the UNIT soldiers, raised his fist and shook it angrily.
‘I fear he doesn’t want our help,’ said the Brigadier. ‘Hold your fire.’
Again the Doctor took up his stance, trying to entice the insect with his cloak. The insect remained hovering high above Bessie. Then, all at once, it swept down for another attack. The Doctor gently shook the cloak. The insect, attracted by the moving object, flew straight at the cloak, spitting its venom. The Doctor held his position until the last moment, then threw the cloak over the attacking monster.
The Brigadier and his men raced up the slope of the slag heap. By the time they reached the Doctor he was gently lifting the cloak from where the insect lay. It was absolutely still, its neck broken.
‘What a beautiful creature,’ said the Doctor.
‘It was trying to kill you,’ said the Brigadier.
The Doctor, rather sadly, got back into Bessie. ‘And we were trying to kill it, Brigadier.’ He looked up the slope at the mass of dead maggots. ‘Whatever they were, they thought they had a right to live.’ He started Bessie’s engine, and slowly drove away from the scene of carnage.
‘You know,’ said Sergeant Benton, ‘I’ll never understand the Doctor. He’s always so sorry in the end for the horrible creatures we come across. It isn’t human.’
‘You’re forgetting,’ said the Brigadier, ‘he isn’t.’
The Doctor looked at the green stain on Professor Jones’s neck. It had spread considerably, and the professor’s condition was much weaker.
‘You say he was delirious?’ he asked.
‘For a little while,’ Nancy answered, standing by the bed. ‘Then he went into this coma.