Doctor Who: Molten Heart

by Una McCormack

  Yaz, who was watching Emerald closely, saw how hard that struck.

  “So,” the Doctor went on, “things are going from bad to worse.” Her image crackled with static and she staggered, as if rocked by an earth tremor. “What are you going to do, Emerald? Let the damage get past the point of no return, just to prove yourself right? Or help to save your people?”

  “You had no right to interfere!” said Emerald.

  “I don’t like to stand by and watch people kill themselves and take others with them,” said the Doctor. “It’s a fault I have, I know—”

  “Doctor,” Graham murmured. “This might not be helping.”

  “I need my TARDIS, Emerald,” said the Doctor. “My blue box. I can save you all, if I have my TARDIS.”

  “Onyx knows where it is,” said Graham. “I’ll find him—”

  “I had it moved,” Emerald said, quickly. “You won’t find it.”

  Graham threw his hands up in frustration.

  “How long do we have, Doctor?” said Yaz.

  “I don’t know.” The image of the Doctor broke up as she was almost thrown flat on her face. “An hour or so, maybe, before the fissure starts to crack beyond repair.”

  “What happens then?” said Graham.

  “Then?” The Doctor sighed. “Then the seawater will start to flood through, and it will hit the hot lava, and that whole beautiful place where you’re standing right now will be filled with steaming water, one huge steaming pool! Go and look out of the window, Emerald. Take a look at the people down there – the people you’ve been trying to help! Your inaction is harming them, more and more all the time!”

  Then one of her Greenwatch stepped forwards. “We trusted you, Emerald. We’ve done everything you asked! And now we’re asking you – help her!”

  “At last,” murmured the Doctor.

  Emerald’s expression crumbled. “All right, all right!” she cried. She turned to the watchmen. “I had the blue box taken to the fourth hall, where no one could see it.” She looked down at the ground. “Have it brought here.”

  “No need,” said the Doctor. “Yaz and Graham can get it.”

  “Doctor,” said Graham, “we can’t fly that thing!”

  “Graham,” she said, “I’ll be standing right next to you. Well, this avatar will. I can talk you through it. Now go on – go and get that gorgeous ship of mine.”

  “What do we do when we get there?” said Yaz.

  “Pack her high,” she said. “Whatever Basalt needs. Then I’ll talk you through flying her up to him. And then you can bring her up to me. Oh, I’ve missed her!”

  One of the watchmen was waiting to lead the way. But the Doctor had one more thing to say. “Emerald. You’re doing the right thing. I know you’ve been alone, trying to do all this by yourself – but you’re not alone now. You wanted help. This is help. That’s what I am, that’s what I do. I help.” The image wobbled alarmingly, dissolving into static. “Now – Yaz, Graham, get your skates on!”

  “A job?” Ryan looked at the Doctor. “A good job?”

  The Doctor took him by the arm to steady him as the room lurched under the impact of another missile close by – he supposed the security systems wouldn’t target the control area and destroy the company’s assets, they’d be blanket bombing to get any intruder transport in the area – and started leading him over to one of the consoles. “I promise you, Ryan, you’re gonna love this.”

  Next thing Ryan knew, he’d been plonked unceremoniously into one of the chairs. The Doctor was reaching for some kind of headset. Ryan looked at it suspiciously. It had lots of wires coming out, and – was he imagining it, or were some of them wiggling about under their own power?

  “Doctor, you’re not planning on putting that thing on my head, are you?”

  She was, and she did.

  “This won’t hurt,” said the Doctor.

  “Ow!”

  “Oh, all right, it might hurt. Sorry.”

  “Something jabbed me, Doctor. My head! Jabbed!”

  “Shush. Here, put your hand on these controls.”

  She shoved two long levers towards him and he grabbed hold of them.

  “Now,” she said. “Wait a second, I’ve just got to press some buttons…”

  “Oh, great, that always works out well.”

  Ryan heard, rather than saw, her press some buttons. They jangled cheerfully. Then everything went dark, and, suddenly, he was looking out across a vast starscape at dozens upon dozens of small satellites. “Oh my days,” said Ryan.

  “That’s what’s firing at us.”

  “They can’t hurt me, can they?” said Ryan.

  “No, they can’t,” said the Doctor. “Well, yeah, they can if they hit us down here, or if the ground collapses beneath us, or whatever, but that’s what you’re there for. Start firing back!”

  “What?”

  “You’re controlling one of the satellites, Ryan. You’re operating the systems up there. I’ve checked for life signs. They’re not manned. So start firing!”

  “Are you sure this’ll work, Doctor?”

  “Nope. But it’s our best plan. So go for it! While I try to fly the TARDIS by remote control…”

  He went for it. And within seconds he realised that it was brilliant; like being completely immersed in one of his favourite games. But with a console you always felt as if you were taking part at a distance. Not with this. This was as good as being there. And then – boom! He was knocked out of the system. He raised the headset, and shook his head clear.

  Ash came running over to him. “Are you all right? What happened?”

  “I’m fine,” Ryan said. “But I think they’re smart. I think they learn. I think they worked out which satellite I was firing from.”

  “Try another satellite?” the Doctor said.

  “They’ll work that out too,” he said. “I reckon I can do better than that. I think I can move around.”

  She grinned at him. “I knew you were the man for this job.”

  He put the headset back on. He was right. Shifting around from satellite to satellite kept him from being thrown out. After he’d taken out ten or fifteen of the other satellites, he realised he was humming the Star Wars theme. “Poe Dameron’s got nothing on me,” he said, as he blew another target out of the sky.

  Again, the building shook. “Come on, Ash,” said the Doctor, hurrying her towards a chair. “There’s another headset here…” Soon Ash was firing at satellites too. The Doctor went over to another console to talk to Yaz and Graham. “Oh, this is frustrating,” she said. “If I could just get my hands on those controls…”

  “Woah!” said Ryan. “Out again!”

  “All right, Yaz, Graham, listen. I’m going to show you how to set the coordinates… I hope…”

  Suddenly, a crackle of static sounded through the control centre. Ryan pulled off the headset. “What was that?”

  “I think someone’s trying to talk to us…” The Doctor looked up and around. “Who’s there?”

  The static crackled again, and then a voice came through. “Hello? Hello? Is there anyone there?”

  “Yeah,” said the Doctor. “Me. I’m here. The Doctor. Who are you?”

  “I’m… I’m a representative of the Actilliasauraitius Mining Corporation.”

  “Oh,” said the Doctor. “That sounds very important. All right, representative – any way we could talk in person?”

  There was a pause, and then: “That won’t be possible!”

  “Aw, come on!” said the Doctor. “I want a word with you – let’s do it face to face!”

  Eleven

  There was a weird whooshing noise, and the space in front of Ryan and the Doctor shimmered. Slowly, a shape appeared – a short, stocky figure, humanoid, wearing some kind of protective spacesuit, and holding a device aloft in a hand that had a plenitude of fingers. Ryan remembered what Basalt had said about the bodies they had found. This was surely one of the same species.

&n
bsp; “Doctor,” whispered Ryan, “this isn’t a hologram, is it?”

  “No,” said the Doctor. “This is the real deal.” She waved at the arrival. “Hiya! No need for the protective suit, no gas to worry about now.” She took a deep breath in and out, then frowned. “Just a lot of other stuff.”

  “Ah,” said the figure. “I didn’t really expect the transport link would still be working.”

  “But it is. Everything’s still working, that’s the trouble. Come on, let’s speak face to face.”

  Slowly, the new arrival complied. It took a minute or two, but then it was standing there. It had beautiful pearlescent skin, smooth and hairless, and a face like a full moon. This was all slightly offset by the fact that it was wearing what looked like a very grubby T-shirt. The device it was holding was now plainly a cup, clutched very tightly in one hand.

  “So,” said the Doctor. “Who do we have here?”

  “I told you,” it said. “I’m a representative of the, um, the Actilliasauraitius Mining Corporation.”

  “You don’t sound very sure about that,” said the Doctor.

  “I don’t believe that’s a real word,” said Ryan. “Actilly… Nah. Not buying it.”

  “Yes it is! And I am!” Its voice was shaking, which slightly undercut the confidence with which it was trying to speak. “And I’d like to know what you’re doing messing around with our security systems!”

  “Are you all right?” The Doctor nodded at the cup. “Is that caffeine? Too much of that’s bad for you, you know. Makes you jittery, gives you the shakes.”

  “Stop talking!” it said. “Explain yourselves!”

  The Doctor looked round, then patted her chest. “Oh, you were talking to me! Oh no, no, I don’t explain myself! Not very often. And not very well either. But I think you have some explaining to do.”

  A sheen was gathering over the pearly skin. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” said the Doctor, “that your mining corporation has almost caused a planetary cataclysm here! Digging too deep, tunnelling away without due care and attention! There are people here, you know – a whole sentient species of quiet, self-contained people, just getting on with their business and not causing any trouble—”

  It stared back at her. “Another species? There wasn’t anything about that on the files—”

  “Yes, well, there is,” said the Doctor, an edge coming into her voice, “and they’re a quiet and peaceful people, who mean no harm to anyone—”

  From over at the other console, absorbed in her new and alien virtual world, Ash yelled, “Gotcha!”

  “Most of the time, anyway,” said the Doctor.

  The alien was goggling at Ash. “Is that… a rock?”

  Ryan leaned in to have a quiet word. “Doctor,” he said softly, “do you get the feeling that we’re talking to the intern?”

  “I mean,” it said, “a living rock? We mine rocks, we don’t expect them to have a hearbeat!”

  The Doctor nodded. “There is something funny going on, isn’t there?” She turned back to it. “Is your boss around?”

  “My boss? Er, no! No!”

  “Are you in trouble?” said the Doctor.

  The sheen was covering its skin again. “Look, I’m only in my second week. I’m not meant to respond to these kind of calls and I’m not supposed to use the transporter and I’m certainly not meant to pass myself off as management. But all these alarms went off and I thought, ‘Did I press the wrong button?’”

  “Easily done,” said the Doctor. “If you’re not as good at buttons as I am.”

  “Is it true?” the alien said. “About a cataclysm and a whole sentient species under threat?” It looked at Ash. “Like that?”

  “Like her,” said the Doctor, “but, yeah. They live under the surface and the drilling is destroying their world. Will you help? Make it stop?”

  It goggled at her. “I don’t know if I can…”

  “I know that you can,” said the Doctor. “Hey, what’s your name?”

  “Me?” it said. “I’m Ouolulu.”

  “All right, Ouolulu,” said the Doctor, “come here and show me what you can do.”

  Ouolulu joined her at the console and started operating controls. “I’m trying to see if there are any files about this planet. It’s a while since anyone looked at this one… Oh, I see. Yes, there was a Stage 1A11 investigatory mission sent out, unpersonned, and that was followed up by Stage 1B12(a) landing party and preliminary dig. And then everything got cancelled… I wonder why…”

  “It didn’t get cancelled,” said the Doctor. “That’s the whole problem! The drilling carried on—”

  “Still drilling?” said Ouolulu. “No, that’s not right…”

  The room shook harder than ever. “But it’s happening. And a whole species is about to be destroyed!”

  “Right, I’m with you. Hang on a moment… Ah!” said Ouolulu. “I see now! Oh…. Oh, no. Gas near one of the main shafts. Fatalities. Fourteen lost for good…”

  Ryan looked at the Doctor. “We saw some of them.”

  “Our friends here found them,” the Doctor said to Ouolulu. “They looked after the bodies. Now, can you help?”

  “I can’t switch off the security systems – I’ve not got anywhere near the authorisation.”

  Another whoop came from Ash’s direction. “We’re on top of that,” said the Doctor. “Now, please—”

  “I could give you the project files,” Ouolulu said, doubtfully. “It would show you all the shafts, all the tunnels…”

  “Keep talking,” said the Doctor. “I’m interested.”

  “And you could put the nanobots into reverse instead of trying to shut them down, seal everything up. It’s all here.” Ouolulu showed her the files. The Doctor started scanning them. “You know, I should get back. I really shouldn’t have been looking in these files…”

  The Doctor looked up. “Ouolulu, you’ve solved a mystery. The families will be grateful.”

  Ouolulu went and got the protective suit, hit some buttons on it, and disappeared.

  The Doctor shot Ryan a grin. “Come on, let’s get Yaz and Graham here. And you, Ryan – get that headset on and back to work. There’s still satellites firing at us – and Ash must have taken out far more than you by now!”

  When the TARDIS was carried into Emerald’s hall, Yaz was so glad to see it that she nearly ran up and threw her arms around her, like an old friend she hadn’t seen in years. She ran her hands lovingly over the exterior. “Hey,” she whispered. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but it’s nice to see you again.”

  Then Yaz sprang back in surprise as the doors swung abruptly open. Had she triggered some external mecha-nism, or…?

  The Doctor’s image appeared.

  Graham jumped. “Stop doing that!” he said. “Man of my age – I could have a heart attack!”

  “I’m quite shocked myself that the TARDIS opened up so easily.” She grinned. “Mental command amplified by the crystal lattice. Impressive, don’t you think?”

  “Very, Doctor,” said Yaz, nodding as she ran inside with Graham on her heels. “Now, what do we need to do?”

  She listened as the Doctor issued instructions, and followed them obediently. “Will this work?” she said doubtfully. The Doctor’s track record when it came to flying the TARDIS was… patchy at best.

  “Enjoy it if it does,” said the Doctor. “You know how fickle she can be. She’ll appreciate the novelty but she won’t make a habit of this.”

  The TARDIS juddered, and the console shifted into action.

  “And we’re off,” said Graham. “I hope.”

  Yaz, concentrating on the Doctor’s directions, ran her hands quickly over the controls to start the dematerialisation process. The TARDIS landed, softly.

  “Don’t tell the Doctor,” said Graham, “but that was better than she’s ever parked it.”

  “Graham,” said the Doctor, “I’m standing right here. Well, not actually rig
ht here, but you know what I mean.” She waved her hands at them. “Come on then, hurry up!”

  Yaz poked her head out of the TARDIS door, and saw a shabby control room. There was the Doctor – for real, this time – and, sitting in two chairs alongside each other, were Ash and Ryan, wearing strange headgear and pulling at controls. Graham, stepping out of the TARDIS, took one look at his grandson and shook his head. “Don’t tell me he found time to get a game in!”

  “He’s seeing off those satellites,” said the Doctor. “Important and necessary work.”

  “Yes!” shouted Ryan, and punched the air. He lifted the headset and pulled it off. “That’s the lot, Doctor,” he said, and then saw his friends. “You made it! Shall we get going, then?”

  Ash, who had also taken off her headset, came slowly towards the TARDIS. “Yes,” she said, “this is what I saw, all those days ago, and I knew we weren’t alone any longer. I knew someone had come to help us.” She looked at the Doctor. “What’s in there, Doctor?”

  The Doctor held out her hand. “Wonderful things.”

  The TARDIS rematerialized on the platform near where the train had brought them. The friends stepped out, Ash with them. The Doctor placed her hand gently against the exterior of the old blue box. “Beautiful,” she whispered.

  They waited for Basalt to scramble over and join them. He stood in front of the TARDIS, palpably itching to touch the big old machine.

  “Go on,” said the Doctor. “But be gentle with her.”

  Basalt laid his hand on the TARDIS. “Alive!” he cried, and then started to laugh.

  “Alive? In a way, yeah.” The Doctor patted the TARDIS. “My oldest, bestest friend.”

  Basalt drew Ash into a hug. “My girl.”

  “Dad,” she said, her eyes shining. “Out there. The surface. You won’t believe what it’s like!”

  He smiled at her. “You’ve been further than I ever have. You, Ash! The furthest any of us has ever been!” He turned back to the Doctor. “So what happened?”