Menagerie - Martin Day [88]
'Any ideas?' asked Zoe as they heard the creature smash its way into the cryogenic control room.
'Yes,' said the Doctor. 'We need a stronger door.'
'There's a weapons-testing room on this level,' she said, remembering with perfect clarity the map she had seen.
'Splendid,' said the Doctor, opening the only other door in the room.
As they ran into a short corridor the walls began to shake as filing cabinets were hurled aside in the small room. They didn't have much time. Zoe led the way down the passageways. The twins brought up the rear, occasionally looking back at their pursuer. It had emerged from the room and was beginning to gain ground, although it was not yet running at full speed. 'I'd forgotten how ugly it was,'
muttered Reisaz.
They came to a halt before a huge studded door of dull grey alloy. Zoe passed a hand hopefully over the sensor but wasn't surprised when it didn't open. 'I'll need a high-level clearance,' she said, setting to work.
'Do hurry, Zoe,' said the Doctor. The creature turned the corner, grunting with delight.
'Trust me, Doctor,' said the young woman. 'Computers always recognize a kindred spirit. Isn't that what you said the other day?'
'Just get the door open, there's a good girl.' The Doctor began to mop his brow with a large handkerchief. 'You can remind me of my less sensitive aphorisms at some other time.'
The doors hissed open, and they ran through. A hinged arm flicked into the space between the closing doors and they began to slide open again. The creature impatiently pushed its bulk into the gap.
'Manual override!' shouted the Doctor, but Zoe was already at work. With a sigh of pneumatics the doors trapped the creature's shoulder. Zoe boosted the door's power intake to maximum, but the machinery groaned and was unable to fully close the doors.
With a roar the creature began to insinuate itself into the gap.
'Very well,' said Zoe quietly, mere inches from the snapping claw as she bent down to the emergency control panel once more. 'Let's try this.' She pressed a few controls.
A huge metal shutter began to grind inexorably down from the roof, moving into position just in front of the doorway.
'It's not going to close in time!' exclaimed Raitak, transfixed by the scene.
The creature seemed to be aware of the descending shutter and began to push downwards and into the outer door, its arm resting on the ground. Its head turned in their direction as it began to pull itself through the metal doorway.
With a sudden squeal the shutter ground through the creature's arm and touched the floor. The severed claw flexed for a moment and then stopped. The machinery was silent.
'Well done, Zoe,' said the Doctor.
'How long will that keep the creature out?' asked Raitak.
'Just long enough for us to think of something,' said the Doctor, turning to examine the room for the first time. The shutter began to vibrate as the Mecrim slammed into it in frustration.
Half of the room was dominated by computer and testing equipment, the other was a glorified firing range. A selection of weapons and ammunition was locked in cases along the walls. The Doctor inspected the armoury slowly.
'Crude,' he muttered to himself. 'Not what we're looking for anyway.' He turned to Zoe, already seated at a console.
'Find out everything you can about the Mecrim,' he said.
Within minutes the screen was filling with information.
'Some of the files are corrupted,' she announced. 'But there seems to be a complete backup copy linked to a personal directory. I'll skim through that.'
'Switch it on to audio,' said the Doctor, sitting cross-legged in the centre of the room. 'Let's hear what happened to these people.'
The synthesized voice that filled the room was a computerized memory from the dawn of time. '— isn't good enough stop I don't believe that we can wait that long stop Nikolas has done some more tests semicolon appended to this memo stop I'm sure that you now appreciate the nature of the problem