DOCTOR WHO - FURY FROM THE DEEP

by Victor Pemberton

  The thumping heartbeat sound was very faint. But as it grew in intensity, the expression on Robson's face was clear and decisive. He was receiving instructions.

  In the corridor outside Robson's cabin, the armed guard, tired from long hours on duty, drooped with fatigue. Behind him, Robson's glazed, staring eyes watched him through the perspex panel in the door.

  The door slowly opened, and in one swift moment, Robson's hand slammed over the guard's mouth. The hand was covered with a hair-like weed formation. The guard struggled, but Robson suddenly opened his mouth wide to emit a loud, hissing lethal gas. The guard's eyes gradually glazed over, and he slumped to the ground unconscious.

  Robson stood quite motionless for a moment, staring down at the guard's lifeless body. Gradually the thumping heartbeat sound began to enter the dark caverns of his brain. His eyes flicked up sharply. He was listening, taking instructions again. In a moment, he was gone.

  At the Control Cone, Harris was reacting with incredulity at the news Price had just passed to him. 'The whole of the Oxygen Store?'

  'I'm afraid so, sir,' replied Price. 'There are no reserves left at all.'

  Harris took a deep breath and turned to the Doctor. 'They seem to be one step ahead of us all the time.'

  'Exactly as I thought,' said the Doctor, turning to look with deep suspicion at the group gathered around the Cone. 'Robson is not the only one here to be controlled by the weed colony.'

  The Chairperson fumbled nervously with the string of pearls hanging around her neck. 'You mean, there's some kind of a spy amongst us?'

  'Yes.' The Doctor was adamant. 'And maybe more than one of them.'

  There was a tense pause. Nobody hardly dared to breathe. Harris spluttered, 'But... how do we find out who they are?'

  The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. 'That's the difficulty.'

  Everyone in the Hall was now casting an uneasy glance at the person standing next to them. Megan Jones, the Doctor, Perkins, Harris, Jamie, the Chief Engineer, Victoria, Price, the Communications crewmen - all of them studied each other with the deepest suspicion. Victoria in particular did a double-take. She was alarmed to catch a glimpse of Mr Oak and Mr Quill hiding amongst a group of engineers on the other side of the Hall.

  'We must have a personnel check,' called Harris urgently. 'Everybody in the Compound!'

  Victoria quickly turned to Jamie to draw his attention to Mr Oak and Mr Quill. But by the time Jamie looked up, the indefatigable duo had gone.

  Mr Oak and Mr Quill hurried down the corridor from the Control Hall. They couldn't run because they didn't know how to. Their legs were clearly not used to such strenuous activity.

  'Hey - you two!' Jamie was yelling from the other end of the corridor. Victoria was with him.

  Mr Oak and Mr Quill turned to look, then hurried on. Jamie rushed after them, chasing them into an adjoining corridor. 'You'll not get away from me - you Sassenachs!'

  Yelling out his deafening clan war cry, Jamie hurled himself at Mr Quill, dragging him down into a heap on the floor.

  Victoria called from a safe distance along the corridor, 'Jamie! Be careful!'

  In the pandemonium that followed, Mr Oak stopped momentarily, then hurried off, leaving Mr Quill locked in a wrestling tussle with Jamie on the floor. This continued for several minutes until Jamie finally managed to bend Mr Quill's arm in a vice-like grip behind his back. 'Got you!' Jamie proclaimed triumphantly. But he was horrified to notice that Mr Quill's arm was covered in a hair-like weed formation. In that one moment of distraction, Mr Quill opened his mouth wide, and emitted the loud hissing sound of gas. Jamie took the full force of the fumes, released his grip on Mr Quill's arm, and fell back. Mr Quill seized his opportunity, and tried to make a quick escape. But Jamie grabbed hold of Mr Quill's white jacket, swung him round, and threw a punch at him. All this provoked a piercing scream from Victoria. Mr Quill's entire body seemed to quiver. He clutched his head in agony, and fell to a heap on the floor.

  'Jamie!' The Doctor called from the other end of the corridor. Harris was with him.

  Jamie recovered himself, wiped his eyes free of the lethal gas fumes, and stood up. 'Well, I took care of him all right,' he said proudly as the Doctor and Harris approached.

  The Doctor quickly inspected the slumped and lifeless body of Mr Quill, as Jamie admired his fist which had apparently just numbed Mr Quill. 'There's a wee bit of power in a McCrimmon punch.'

  'I'm sorry to disillusion you, Jamie,' said the Doctor, examining Mr Quill's prostrate body, 'but I don't think it was the punch that did it.'

  Even as the Doctor was talking, a remarkable physical transformation was taking place in Mr Quill. Jamie and the Doctor watched in amazement as the fern-like fronds on his hands gradually retracted. Whilst this was happening, the Doctor turned around to give a curious look at Victoria.

  'Mr Harris!'

  Harris turned with a start to see the Chief Engineer calling from the other end of the corridor.

  'You'd better come, sir. The pipeline room!'

  The Doctor, Jamie, and Harris reached the pipeline room at exactly the same time as the Chairperson and Perkins. What they found there absolutely shattered them. The transparent section of the pipeline tube was jammed tight with weed clumps and bubbling white foam. And behind it, the thumping, pulsating sound of the alien heartbeat.

  'What's happened to it, Doctor?' asked Jamie incredulously.

  'It's beginning to expand, the same as it did in the TARDIS.' The Doctor moved a few cautious steps towards the pipeline tube. He was absolutely fascinated with the weed's capacity to reproduce and multiply so much.

  Jamie called from a safe distance. 'Is there no way to stop it?'

  The Doctor shook his head gravely. 'No. I should have realised this was going to happen.'

  Victoria would not enter the room. The squealing mass of weed terrified her, and she was content to watch from the doorway behind the group. What she didn't know was that someone was creeping up behind her in the shadows. Within a few seconds, a weed-covered hand smothered her mouth, and she was dragged out of the room without a sound.

  Although the thumping heartbeat sound in the pipeline was muffled, the Chairperson had to raise her voice to be heard. 'Doctor, are you telling us that this horrible stuff - is growing all the time?'

  'I'm afraid so,' said the Doctor gloomily. 'In my opinion this is just the start.'

  'Mr Harris please! Mr Harris please!' Price's voice was booming out on the tannoy system. 'Chief Robson's broken out of his cabin. He's attacked his Security Guard!'

  'What!' Harris yelled back at the tannoy speaker on the wall. 'How the devil did...'

  'Doctor - look!' Jamie was pointing in horror towards the pipeline tube. The transparent perspex section of the tube had suddenly fractured with a loud crack, right down the centre. This was immediately followed by a surge of white foam, which literally exploded out of the tube onto some of the engineers who were gathered in a group nearby. And behind it, the advance guard of seaweed clumps clearing the way for the quivering tendrils of the giant Weed Creature itself.

  'Everybody out! Fast as you can!' The Doctor's shouts now had to compete with the deafening squeals and thumping heartbeat sounds, now released from the confines of the pipeline tube.

  The room cleared in double-quick time. But the Chairperson was paralysed with fear, her eyes transfixed on the awesome scene before her, the snake-like tendrils of the Weed Creature stretching out across the room towards her. Everyone was yelling and shouting as they rushed out of the room splattered with foam, and it was left to the Doctor to grab hold of the Chairperson's shoulders and hoist her out of the creature's reach.

  Jamie was last to leave. 'Victoria! Where's Victoria?' Jamie's frantic yells seemed to incite the weed and foam into an onslaught of squealing sounds, so he quickly followed the Doctor and Megan Jones out into the Impeller Area, making quite sure the door was firmly closed behind him.

  'Where's Victoria?' Jamie asked again anx
iously. He and the Doctor looked all around the Area, but Victoria was nowhere to be seen.

  'Are you sure she didn't leave with the others?' asked the Doctor.

  Jamie had no time to reply. The tannoy speakers were blaring out another emergency message: 'RED ALERT! RED ALERT! DOORS CLOSING!'

  The Chairperson made a quick escape back into the Control Hall, leaving the Doctor and Jamie to continue the search for Victoria in the Impeller Area. 'It's no use,' said the Doctor. 'She's not here!'

  The thumping heartbeat sounds were beginning to echo up from the impeller shaft.

  'Let's get out of here!' yelled Jamie. He and the Doctor made a dash for the doors of the Control Hall. But they were locked.

  'Too late!' called the Doctor. He turned, to see a red light flashing above the doors leading to the Compound corridor. 'They're closing too! This way! Hurry!'

  They retreated from the Impeller Area just in time. The whole place was filling up with lethal gas fumes.

  Not so far away, another red alarm light was flashing. This time it was above a door leading to the sea front. Robson appeared in the corridor leading to the exit. He was carrying the unconscious Victoria across his shoulder. As he reached the exit, a klaxon horn suddenly screeched out on the wall above him. Robson wasted no time. Within a few seconds he was gone, taking his hostage with him.

  The sound of klaxon horns was now echoing throughout the Refinery. Emergency procedures were in operation as crewmen rushed in and out of the Control Hall on full alert. The whole place was buzzing with frenzied activity.

  'Pipeline Room!' Harris was yelling to two engineers from the steps leading up to the inspection area. 'Seal it off! Quick as you can!' The two men raced out of the Hall, leaving Harris to yell at another engineer, this time at one of the control gauges. 'Close all pipelines - in and out!' The engineer looked at him in utter bewilderment. 'Come on, man!' Harris had never spoken so aggressively to anyone in his whole life. 'What the hell are you waiting fir?' The engineer immediately obeyed, quickly turning pressure wheels, levers, and other instruments on the control panel.

  Meanwhile, the Chairperson went to Price at the Control Cone. 'Any news of Robson?' she asked.

  'Not yet, madam. We've got a full alert out on him.'

  The Chairperson was not satisfied. 'Get on to Security!' she demanded. 'Tell them to search everywhere. Whatever happens - they must find Chief Robson!'

  Somewhere along a snow-covered cliff top near the Refinery, a Minimoke bicycle car was racing much too fast on the icy road. At the wheel was the deranged figure of Robson, with Victoria slumped unconscious on the seat behind him.

  The Minimoke came to a halt in a clearing at the top of the cliff. Robson got out, dragged Victoria from the back seat, and threw her across his shoulder. He turned, and quickly made his way to another vehicle that was waiting for him.

  It was a helicopter.

  11

  The Nerve Centre

  The central video monitor at the Control Cone suddenly buzzed with activity. Price swung round on his seat and called out across the Hall excitedly, 'Mr Harris!'

  Harris rushed across from the office area immediately, 'What have you got?'

  'It's Chief Robson, sir! He's just taking off.'

  'Taking off?' Harris looked at the video monitor. One of the Company's two-seater British Aerospace helicopters was just rising up from the chopper pad at the top of the cliffs. As it quickly gained height, a great white spray of snow rose with it from the down draught.

  Harris watched the screen in despair for a moment or so, then growled, 'Keep a close track on that chopper. Don't let it out of your sight!'

  In the Compound corridor just outside the Control Hall, Jamie found himself caught up in the chaos as engineers rushed up and down in general emergency. The weed enemy had penetraded the very heart of the Euro-Gas network, and from now on it was every man for himself.

  'Victoria?' Jamie was desperately stopping every engineer who bumped into him. 'Have you seen Victoria!' Each time the answer was the same, an impatient shaking of the head followed by a mad dash to get out of the place. Jamie was practically beside himself, when the Doctor suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor. 'Doctor! Have you found her?'

  'She's gone!' said the Doctor breathlessly, as he rushed forward to meet Jamie. 'I've been right the way round.'

  'But she was standing right beside us.'

  'Doctor!' Harris was calling from the door of the Control Hall. 'Robson's trying to get away in one of the Company helicopters.'

  'Blast!' The Doctor moved briskly towards the Control Hall. 'I should have known!'

  Harris stopped him briefly at the door. 'I'm afraid he's got your young girl with him.'

  The Doctor looked up sharply in horror. Then he turned to Jamie.

  'Oh no!' The young Highland warrior looked utterly crushed.

  By the time the Doctor, Jamie, and Harris reached the video monitor at the Control Cone, Robson's blue and white helicopter showing the legend EURO-GAS in huge black letters, was soaring off into the distance out to sea.

  A small group, including the Chairperson and Perkins, gathered around the Cone. 'Is there any way of speaking to Robson from here?' the Doctor asked Harris.

  Harris turned to Price at the Control panel. 'Switch to RT.' Price flicked a switch and a green transmitting light appeared above the video monitor. Harris turned back to the Doctor, and said, 'Go ahead.'

  The Doctor spoke directly to the video monitor. 'Robson, are you there? Robson, can you hear me?'

  At the helicopter controls, Robson jumped with a start as he suddenly heard the Doctor's voice booming out through the RT unit.

  'Robson! This is the Doctor. Listen to me. Please listen! Come back to the Refinery, Robson. Do you hear me? Come back!'

  The Doctor's distorted voice was clearly causing Robson a great deal of pain. His face crumpled up, and he clutched one of his cars in agony.

  The Doctor tried again. 'Robson! Don't you understand? They're trying to control you. They want to use you as a weapon against us. Resist them, Robson! You are part of the human race. You are one of us. Do you hear me, Robson. You are one of us...'

  Robson grabbed the RT microphone and flicked a switch. But when he tried to speak, the words would just not form in his mouth. 'L-l-l-listen...' he cluttered. 'L-l-l-listen - to - me...'

  There was a deadly silence throughout the Control Hall as everyone listened to the faint, barely audible, almost robotic voice of Robson, filtering through static from the central video monitor.

  'The girl... I have the girl... my prisoner... my hostage...'

  The Chairperson suddenly bellowed at the monitor. 'Robson! This is Megan! Don't be a fool, man...!'

  'Quite please!' the Doctor demanded angrily. 'Let him finish!'

  Robson continued. 'The girl you want her to live... you must come... you must come over - to us...' His voice gradually trailed away, and finally disappeared.

  'Robson!' called the Doctor. 'Robson, can you hear me?'

  Price turned from the Control panel. 'We've lost him, sir. He must have switched off.'

  'What did he mean?' asked the Chairperson. 'Come over to us?'

  'Exactly what he said,' replied the Doctor tersely.

  Harris looked anxiously at the Doctor. 'You mean - they want you?'

  The Doctor smiled knowingly. 'Oh yes. They obviously realise I am a threat to them.'

  'But you won't go - surely?'

  Everyone was watching the Doctor tensely, waiting for his reply.

  'Of course I shall go!'

  There were shocked murmurs all around the Hall. Some of them were of consternation, others were of admiration.

  The Chairperson had to raise her voice to be heard above the din. 'But we need you here. You're our only hope!'

  'If I stay here,' the Doctor assured her, 'that hope will be very slim indeed.'

  Now Jamie stepped forward. 'Doctor, don't let that madman take Victoria. We've got to stop him!
'

  'You two are the mad ones if you go chasing after Robson,' insisted the Chairperson. 'You can see for yourself, he's a danger to everyone.'

  The Doctor appreciated the Chairperson's sudden concern, but his mind was made up. 'No, Jamie's right,' he said. 'We've got to go after him.'

  'There's a Company helicopter,' said Harris. 'We'll have a pilot waiting for you.'

  'Thank you,' smiled the Doctor, as he and Jamie made their way to the Compound exit door. But they stopped abruptly as they heard the Chairperson shouting at Harris across the Hall.

  'Harris! If we let this man go now, what hope have we?'

  The Doctor answered her. 'The only hope you have, madam, is that my hunch is proved correct.'

  'Hunch?'

  'That Mr Robson will lead us straight to the nerve centre of the weed colony.'

  Robson's blue and white-coloured helicopter was almost invisible against the grim, grey winter sky. But the cracking sound of the chopper's blades were sharp enough to disperse any stray seagull that had been left behind by the mass migration of seabirds from the eastern seaboard of the English coast.

  At the controls of the helicopter, Robson was quite oblivious to what was happening to him. He had become a mere instrument of the weed's mental control over him. He was no longer capable, or indeed permitted, to think for himself.

  Down below, the mud-coloured sea was pitted with undulating swells of white spray and bubbling blobs of foam, soon to become a slave of the fury from the deep...

  Back on the mainland, another, somewhat larger Company helicopter was taking off from the chopper pad at the top of the cliffs. This time the passengers were the Doctor and Jamie, who were well wrapped up against the cold in Company regulation anoraks. Flying in a helicopter was a whole new experience for Jamie. Although in some ways it resembled travel in the TARDIS, he was particularly fascinated by the rnanoeuverability of the machine, especially when it skimmed just above the waves.

  Because of the piercing noise created by the helicopter's huge rotating blades, the Doctor and the pilot had agreed to communicate with each other by means of sign language - pointing up, pointing down, and this way, that way, and so on