Doctor Who_ The Nightmare of Black Island - Mike Tucker [60]
‘and see what they are capable of creating.’
‘So you scour their dreams, sifting through their nightmares and taking the parts that suit your purpose. To create this. The ultimate body.’
‘Precisely. In a few hours we will have attained full solidity, a fully functioning creature. And when it is filled with the mind of Balor. . . ’
Peyne stopped, her eyes shining with anticipation, before concluding triumphantly, ‘then you will see what nightmares are really about.’
The Doctor grasped the arms of Morton’s chair. ‘Nathaniel, you must stop this. The Cynrog are using you. If they extract the creature from you and the others and put it inside this abomination, then nothing will stand in their way. They will be unstoppable.’
‘But I want to be free of this, Doctor. Don’t you see! I don’t want this thing inside my head any more. I want my life back.’
‘What life?’
The Doctor shook his head.
‘I’m sorry for you,
Nathaniel, I really am, but your life has gone by. That’s unfair, that’s cruel, but it’s the truth. You and the others have suffered more than you should have done, but you must end this, for all of you, before it’s too late. You’re eighty years old. You can’t get your life back.’
‘But I can, Doctor, that’s the point. . . ’
The Doctor stepped back from the wheelchair, eyes narrowing.
‘What has she promised you, Nathaniel?’
‘Renewal, Doctor. Not just for Balor, but for seven children whose lives he took. The life that was taken from us. That we deserve to have.’
‘Impossible.’
‘Not impossible, Doctor.’ Peyne was smiling unpleasantly. ‘Our machinery is capable of extracting more than just unconscious mental energy.’
143
‘Your machinery is capable of doing lots of unpleasant things. You might be able to create an artificial life form with your psychomorphic generators, but you can’t renew living tissue with it.’
‘Very true.’
‘That can only be done by extracting the life force.’
Peyne merely smiled.
The Doctor turned back to Morton in disgust. ‘You can’t condone this. Killing all those children just to save your own life?’
Morton stared, his jaw working silently, horror in his eyes.
‘Peyne. . . ’
‘You didn’t tell him, did you, Peyne?’ The Doctor was shaking with rage. ‘You didn’t bother to fill him in on that particular little detail, did you? The body you are creating for Balor can be constructed from the children’s imaginations, but renewing Morton and his friends, that can only be done by extracting the life force from the very same children. You can give him back his youth all right, but at the cost of the life of every child in this village!’
Morton slumped back in his chair. ‘Dear God, no. . . ’ The Doctor lunged forward at Peyne, but the gun in her hand swung up, pointing straight at the Doctor’s face.
‘You think I care for the lives of a few primitive children? Yes, it amuses me to give Morton his pitiful life back. He will have precious little time to come to terms with the cost of that new life before Balor destroys his world.’
A masked Cynrog technician appeared at the doorway of the library.
‘Priest Commander, Technician Hadron reports that the machine is recalibrated and ready to activate on your command.’
‘Excellent!’ Peyne’s smile widened. ‘Now, Doctor, we shall finish this. The nightmares of a Time Lord will be added to those of the children and our creature will be complete. Balor has lain dormant for too long in the minds of these ungrateful savages. Our holy war still rages, and with Balor the Destroyer at our head once more victory is certain. Tonight Balor will awaken and the Cynrog will be triumphant!’
144
Rose pushed open the door of the ramshackle beach hut and looked cautiously around the dark and cluttered room.
‘Miss Ceredig? Bronwyn?’
There was a sniff from the gloom.
‘What is it? What do you want?’
‘The Doctor sent me. We need your help.’
A dim light snapped on and Bronwyn’s dishevelled head poked out from behind a battered old armchair.