Doctor Who_ The Hollow Men - Keith Topping [94]
Rebecca looked up just as the creature turned its head.
The tractor bore down on the manikin, the silver blades of the hedge cutter spinning.
There was a swish, then a dull thud of impact, and a red mosaic formed on the barn wall, spattering Rebecca‟s face with blood.
The whirling blades began to slow as the tractor stopped.
Rebecca put her hands to her face, and they came away smeared scarlet.
„You took your time!‟ she shouted angrily, the terror that had rendered her incapable of movement now exploding like steam from a valve.
Trevor jumped down from the tractor seat. „You ever tried to manoeuvre one of those things?‟ he asked, stepping across the barn towards the prone figure of Denman.
„Is he all right?‟ asked Rebecca.
„He‟s alive,‟ said Trevor, kneeling beside the policeman. He looked back at the diesel can lying on its side in the centre of the barn. „And you found some fuel, too. Well done.‟
„Oh my god.‟ Rebecca rushed to the can. Only a small amount of the precious fluid had spilled out. „Right,‟ she said, trying to stop her hands shaking. „We‟ve got a weapon.‟
On the other side of the mirror, Matthew Hatch stood, waiting for the Doctor. At least, the man resembled the politician in outward appearance, but his eyes were alive with an unfathomable alien intelligence. Hatch‟s usual scorn was as nothing compared with the outright contempt that dominated his features now.
„Hatch?‟ asked the Doctor, his voice swallowed up by the cathedral expanse of the dark phantom world behind the mirror.
Hatch - Hatch‟s body - took a step closer. „You should not have survived the transition.‟ He lapsed into silence, as if searching out some long-buried piece of information. „The Doctor,‟ he said at last, nodding to himself. „A problem.‟
The Doctor smiled. „I‟m delighted that you remember me.‟
Hatch continued to observe the Doctor, his face twisted in a grin of amusement. „Hatch is no longer here.‟
The Doctor shook his head. „No, he‟s in there, somewhere.
You‟re just using his body.‟
Hatch laughed. „He thought my hold on him was slight. He believed he could use me. How pathetic.‟
‘You used his infertility, his fears and passions...‟
„Humans are full of fear and passion.‟
„The clinic?‟
„I offered Hatch a solution.‟
„And now?‟ The Doctor‟s questioning, though softly spoken, was relentless.
„Hatch has ceased to exist. What you see before you is a hybrid.‟
„Of what?‟
„A human being and Jack. To be in my presence is to taste my madness. You have entered Jack‟s domain.‟
The Doctor looked around him. The void was ever-changing, sparkling with light and skewed images. Can‟t say I approve of the decor. Anyway, I don‟t suppose “Jack” is your real name. How should I address you?‟
„Lord Jack i‟ the Green will suffice,‟ said Hatch, imperiously. „Or God. Pleased to meet you...‟
The Doctor laughed. „You‟re a machine, an organic robot.
Like the Malus: a simple vehicle, no more worthy of respect than the car that brought me here.‟
„You know of the Malus?‟
„Know it?‟ The Doctor‟s eyes narrowed. „I destroyed it. As I shall destroy you.‟
Hatch laughed, and the dark abode crackled with purple and blood-red splashes of light. „You shall not,‟ said Hatch, with sure finality. „You have no idea where to begin. You know nothing.’
„I know that you were built by the people of Hakol, and that you followed the Malus to Earth.‟
Hatch nodded. „Jerak is an experimental battle vehicle.‟
„Jerak - Jack i‟ the Green.‟ The Doctor nodded.
„Fascinating. And you landed here in, what, the 1680s?‟
„The year of our Lord 1685,‟ came a voice from behind the Doctor. A tall man strode through the turbulent mental landscape. His tunic and leather boots were caked with mud.
„And you are?‟ queried the Doctor.
„John Ballam, blacksmith.‟
„What happened when Jack came?‟ asked the Doctor.
The black vista behind Ballam peeled back to reveal a view of the village green. Not that there was much greenery to speak of. The entire area had been excavated, laboriously, by hand. The pit was dark with muddy water and blood. And filled with bodies.