by Doctor Who
'Steel and copper.'
"That.’ said the Doctor, 'is 240 tonnes of battery. Wow, when that thing discharges, New York is going to fry.'
'What do we do?' Amy asked.
'Same as before. Only, we don't touch anything.' The Doctor smiled. 'Right, 345 steps to the top. Come on - I'll race you.'
"That sounds like a pretty lame way to make an entrance, especially to the headquarters of an alien 226
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army.’ Amy commented, raising the mammoth's head again to scope out the statue. 'You know, I've got quite good on this thing...'
The Doctor broke into a huge grin. 'Go for it, Pond!'
Crashing through the ticket barriers, the monument that had welcomed so many immigrants since that first twelve million now admitted its first mammoth. Amy twisted and turned the animal on the steps. She was focused intently on her task, determined to get to the top as fast as possible.
Taking a corner too slowly, the mammoth grazed the inside of the Statue, and its fur started to smoke.
'Careful there!' the Doctor yelled.
'Thanks, Doctor,' Amy said sarcastically. 'Really helpful advice.'
At the top of the Statue, General Erik was watching their progress with disbelief. He didn't know what they were trying to achieve. Watching the crowds being squeezed onto Broadway, he dismissed the Doctor as no more than a distraction. A buzzing fly in his ear, which would soon be swatted.
With an enormous roar, the mammoth burst into the Crown Room of the Statue of Liberty, and was immediately hit with thousands of darts from the Vykoid guns.
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Inside, the Doctor frantically started to hit levers.
'Doctor, it's shutting down!' Amy cried.
'I noticed...'
Out of the right eye, she could see an intrepid Vykoid scaling the mammoth's front leg. It stopped at the knee and hit a tiny button behind the kneecap.
Unexpectedly, the entire lower half of the mammoth fell to the floor and, with a heavy bump, the Doctor, Amy and Sam landed in the middle of the room, surrounded by an elite squad of Vykoid soldiers.
The Doctor was spread-eagled under the belly of the beast. He managed to pull himself out from under it, only to trip on the wet and singed mammoth fur.
'So much for an entrance,' he murmured.
General Erik strode forward. As he raised his baton, the soldiers lowered their guns.
The Doctor seemed intrigued rather than intimidated.
'Ooh, you're still moving slowly. So we're not affected by the Time Freeze in here.'
'This is a Level Five planet. How do you know about the Time Freeze?' demanded General Erik.
The Doctor grinned. 'Oh, I know lots of things, me. Not hard to work out, really. One minute you're waddling about like miniature trolls, the next you're all Wily Coyote and thinking you're the masters of the universe.'
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'Correction, Doctor. The Vykoids are the race with the most refined technology of any attacking race. Now we have proven ourselves, our name shall spread throughout the galaxy and bring fear to the hearts of our enemies.'
'Nice speech! Must sound great in the War Rooms on Vykoid. Brilliant minds, but you guys miss the point sometimes. Like the reach of that secondhand teleport beam is only, what, thirty metres? You'd need to be very lucky to get what you want with that...'
'Or very clever.'
'True, that's also true. But I've noticed you keep waving that baton around like it's the answer to everything, and I think I know why.'
The Doctor grabbed at General Erik's hand and came away with the tiny baton. It was barely a centimetre long and covered with alien symbols.
'Reactions are a bit slow there, Erik. You've been relying on this Time Freeze thing for too long, you've got slack.'
'What is it, Doctor?' Amy asked.
'It's a remote control. Oh you are such a bloke, Erik, you just have to keep it where no one else can change the channel. Honestly, look at you here, hanging out with all your boys, polishing each other's armour all day long, waiting for the day you get to dominate another city. Still, no one gets to do much if I can do this.
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The Doctor took a needle out of his pocket and jabbed at three points on the baton. The vortex of green light changed to orange, and a huge wave rolled out across Manhattan.
'Now that's better. Isn't that clever? Unless your little people jockeys have got a bit faster, the police won't be moving quite as niftily any more. That's the problem with relying on modern technology, you see. Me, I just have a good old sonic— Oh.'
General Erik was grinning. He looked like an expert poker player who had picked too ignorant an opponent, and was disappointed by his lack of effort. 'Move, and I'll shoot her,' he said.
Sam Horwitz was holding a gun to Amy's head and was forcing her down onto the floor.
'No, Sam!' The Doctor was horrified.
As he held her tight, Amy could see that a tiny Vykoid had dug a control chair through Sam's messy hair and was gleefully controlling him. Sam had become a puppet of the Vykoid Army.
Amy kicked and struggled, her elbows digging into Sam as she tried to fight him off. But Sam overpowered Amy and pinned her to the floor.
General Erik strolled over and regarded Amy at her eye level.
'Oi, troll-face!' Amy yelled at him. Tell him to let go of me.'
General Erik ignored her. 'Fascinating... You're so important to him, and you don't know why.'
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'You better let go of me, or he's going to do something terrible to you...'
If General Erik was at all moved by Amy's big, fierce eyes, he didn't show it. Instead, he called his lieutenant forward and instructed him to kill Amy Pond.
On top of Trump Tower, Joe turned to Polly and asked: 'Will my dad be OK?'
Polly didn't know what to say.
Millie pulled at her hand. 'Shouldn't the Doctor be doing something now?'
Again, Polly was stumped. Far below, she could see that people were beginning to panic. The police were shoving the crowds along, truncheons drawn as they ordered everyone to cram onto Broadway. Polly could imagine how terrified they must feel down there. Squad cars were lining up on each cross street, lights flashing and sirens blaring. They had shut the city down, and no one knew why.
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Chapter
22
Inside the Statue of Liberty, the Doctor and Amy had their hands tied and were taken from the Crown Room. As Sam dragged them out, Amy could see General Erik take his position at the window, ready to start transporting the people of New York to the asteroid mines.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Amy started on the Doctor.
'Why did you surrender?'
"They were going to kill you!'
'But you gave him back that remote control thing. There are millions of people out there!'
'Did I mention, he was going to shoot you?'
'I thought you'd do something clever.'
'Yeah, me saving you, that was the clever bit.
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Honestly, Amy, is being brave not good enough for you? I thought you'd be showering me in kisses.'
Amy snorted. 'Unlikely. Not if it means I'll be mining fossilised Space-Boar droppings for the rest of my life.'
The Doctor sighed.
Amy hadn't finished yet. 'So what are you going to do?'
'Where do you think we are, Amy?'
'I don't know. Some kind of round hut thing? Oh, don't go changing the subject on me.'
But the Doctor was too interested in his surroundings.
They had been tied up and dumped inside the Torch of the Statue of Liberty.
Sam Horwitz stood back, and looked at them with a disinterested expression. 'You'll be pleased to know that you've been chosen as the first. It is a great honour.
The General himself has overturned your evaluations to ensure you have a long and glorious service in the mines.'
'Sam - can you bend down?' Amy whispered. 'I want to tell you something.'
Sam obliged. And Amy headbutted him hard on the side of the head. The controlling Vykoid clung on for his life, digging his hands into Sam's hair. But he hadn't been dislodged, and Sam stepped back.
The Vykoid was laughing at Amy now. 'Did you ever look at big animals and wonder why they were so stupid?'
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Amy stamped her foot in frustration. 'Yeah, I get it. But I'm not the one drowning in dandruff and hair gel.'
'Sam.' The Doctor looked deadly serious. 'Sam, I need you to listen very carefully. Somewhere in there, Sam is still alive. You are more than a puppet, and you need to try very hard to remember that.'
The Vykoid controlling Sam laughed hysterically. 'Why are you even trying? It's like cattle going to the market. You are going to be sold, so stop mooing.'
The Doctor wasn't put off. 'Sam, you need to listen to me.
This city was built on dreams of freedom. The American dream wasn't built on might and weapons. It was built by hard work and the hope of freedom on the other side. That's why you came here, that's why your great grandparents came here. This is the city of the free, and no one in it, simply no one, can ever accept being a slave. Focus on that feeling, Sam, the dream of freedom you have in you - use it to overpower what you're feeling.'
Amy leant close to the Doctor and whispered, 'Do you think it'll work?'
The Doctor met Sam's eyes and continued. 'You need to believe in yourself, Sam. You are more than this, you are not meant to be a slave. Sam - this is your big day. The moment you become famous. Help me, and I can stop this happening.
Trust me, Sam, and trust yourself.'
The Vykoid controller looked rattled. He pulled 235
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on the levers, but it seemed that Sam was no longer responding. Moving so fast he was a blur of energy, the controller was slamming buttons and yanking every control he had, but to no avail.
With every movement an obvious effort, Sam raised his hand, grasped the Vykoid and yanked the chair from his head. 'Ow!' he winced as the tiny wires they'd drilled into his skull ripped out. He bent double, but then straightened up with pride.
'I did it!'
The Vykoid was dangling from Sam's hand, furiously trying to bite and scratch his way free.
'As for you...' Sam lifted the Vykoid higher. 'How dare you do this to me?' He inspected the troll-like figure with a scientist's eye. 'What an ugly little creature you are.'
'Over here, Sam.' The Doctor was holding out his hand.
Carefully taking the Vykoid by the scruff of the neck, he took out the sonic screwdriver and scanned the small creature from head to toe. 'Here, hold this. Gentle with him now.'
The Doctor handed the Vykoid to Amy and clambered up to the top of the Torch. Standing precariously on the crossbeams, he touched the sonic screwdriver to the very peak of the Torch and then leapt down, a huge grin on his face.
'Done!'
'Is that it?' Amy said, bewildered. 'Here, take this back... I don't want him.'
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The Vykoid's leathery face was screwed up and knotted with anger.
'Ah, let him go,' said the Doctor. 'He can't stop us now.'
Amy dropped the Vykoid to the floor and dusted her hands together, glad to be rid of the alien. 'So why are you looking so pleased with yourself?' she asked.
The Doctor led Amy and Sam to a tiny porthole and looked out towards New York.
That's one of the biggest cities in the world,' he told them.
'The best of everything is there. But it's not about being bigger. It doesn't matter who has the biggest guns or the most money or the most troops. The mightiest army can fall to the smallest. The Vykoids showed us that. But they made a mistake, a tiny mistake. They should have killed us when they had the chance.'
'What have you done?' Sam asked.
I can't make the mob turn on them. I can't even stop the Time Freeze. But I can do something they don't expect...'
'Which is?'
'That teleport beam. They've programmed it for humans.'
'Yeah, I gathered,' Amy said.
'Erik does everything with his remote control. Very technological race, the Vykoids, they love to put too many functions into a device. Their beam comes 237
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from the highest point of the Statue of Liberty.' The Doctor pointed up. 'Right here.'
Amy looked out. 'But they're all still captives. The Vykoids have rounded everyone up.'
The Doctor grinned. 'That teleport beam is going to leave the people of New York exactly where they are. But the police officers might lose something on their heads...'
In the Crown Room, General Erik checked his watch and nodded to his men. He picked up his radio, and issued the command. 'We are good to go. I'd like to thank the puppeteers for their sterling work.'
Around him, the Vykoids scurried around a control room, and the green vortex grew in intensity like a mini-star. It burnt so brightly that the entire top half of the Statue of Liberty became luminescent.
Holding his baton in front of him as if it were the key to life itself, General Erik pressed a button. A vast beam leapt out of the vortex, sprang to the Torch on the top of the Statue of Liberty and arced through the air towards Broadway. As it touched the ground, it crackled and smoked. The ground shook, and smoke rose from the tarmac.
The beam idled for a moment on the south of Manhattan. Then, with a flick of General Erik's wrist, it snaked and turned along the jagged line of Broadway, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake. As it reached the top of the island, General Erik turned
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the beam off with a triumphant wave of his hand.
'It is done. Ten seconds - that's all it took!' General Erik pushed his sense of dignity to one side and did a little dance on the windowsill. 'We have taken New York. If I can make it here, I'll make it anywhere!'
General Erik was already dreaming of the rewards he would have lavished on him in the Vykoid halls. They'd build a statue of him twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. It would be the Statue of Victory, and it would bear his name.
He picked up his radio and called Commander Strebbins.
'Lars! Come in. I am ready to hear your report.'
There was no reply, but General Erik wasn't daunted.
'Stop celebrating, you hothead! We have another five transports to do before the day is done.'
Again there was no reply. General Erik flicked a switch on his radio and tried again.
'Red? Are you receiving? Red?'
Another Vykoid clambered up and whispered in his general's ear.
With a mounting sense of dread, General Erik took the telescope that the private thrust into his hand, and gazed out at Manhattan.
The people of Manhattan were still crammed into Broadway. But on every street, the NYPD officers were scratching their heads and wondering what 239
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on earth was going on. Their Vykoid controllers had gone.
Teleported back to their home planet.
For a whole minute General Erik said nothing.
The Doctor stood in the doorway.
General Erik faced him with tiny tears falling from his red eyes onto his wrinkled face, and he howled. He felt like a mouse caught in a trap, and took little satisfaction from the sight of the Doctor recoiling from the noise of his painful and ugly rage.
'You have tricked me, Doctor.'
The Doctor walked forward, and crouched down to General Erik's level. 'I'm sorry, Erik, I really am, but I couldn't let you do it.'
'But we are better than them. They are only oafs. We are the true race.'
'That's where you are very wrong. They may be stupid and clumsy and selfi
sh, but they are the most brilliant people you will ever meet. Right now, there are men and women who deserve to live freely, with no one telling them what to do, and without fear that someone might tear their city to pieces overnight. And as long as you keep on thinking that they deserve less, I will keep on stopping you.'
If General Erik had grown conceited with success, he now seemed puzzled by the humility of failure. 'How can I return empty-handed?'
He realised instantly that the question had been 240
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a mistake. There was a hint of anger in the Doctor's crooked smile, and General Erik found himself backing away.
The Doctor spoke quietly. 'You should count yourself lucky. You fought and lost, and will go home as free men.
We've been kinder to you than you've been to any planet you've conquered. And when you get back, tell everyone you meet that this planet is not prepared to be enslaved. Tell them they have a great champion and a great warrior.'
The Doctor bent down towards General Erik and whispered in his ear. Two words.
'You better go before the boat tours start.'
The Doctor, Amy and Sam were standing on Liberty Island with the mammoth. General Erik was at their feet, gazing over the city he'd failed to conquer.
The Doctor held out his hand and General Erik handed him the baton. 'It's time you left, Erik.'
The Vykoid General stood in front of his most senior officers, thanking them one by one. It was obvious to Amy that they meant nothing to him. He had no affection or gratitude for any of them.
'Oh, er, sorry about the insides.’ Amy said, nodding at the mammoth. 'We had to make some room.'
General Erik saluted farewell and joined the columns of Vykoid soldiers retreating onto the belly 241
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of the mammoth. With a gentle tick of clockwork, the army was lifted back inside the mammoth. It shut with a quiet clunk and, moments later, an eerie green light blasted out, filling the air with that strange high-pitched screech. The sphere of green boiling light engulfed the mammoth and spread out, pulsing as if ready to explode over the city.