They both paused, waiting for Amy to catch up with them. She shuffled along like a sleepwalker, eyes wide and staring – unseeing.
‘Possibly,’ the Doctor said. ‘If they don’t completely remove the original personality, then perhaps something’s still in there somewhere. Deep down, waiting for something to latch on to. Desperate to reassert itself. An instinct, a spark in the darkness. A little touch of Amy in the night.’
They reached a security door. Carlisle keyed in her code and the door swung open.
‘At least they haven’t recoded it.’
The Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the keypad. ‘No, but I have. Reset it to the factory settings, they’ll never guess. The code is now 1234.’
Beyond the door, a metal stairway descended into darkness. From below they could hear a constant drip-drip of water. It was like descending into a cave system – the metal walls of the base soon gave way to dark rock, glistening with condensation.
‘Vacuum-sealed to save having to clad the whole place in airtight panels,’ the Doctor said.
He started down the stairs, his feet echoing on the steps. Carlisle followed, with Amy close behind. The door swung shut with an ominous clang, leaving them in near darkness.
‘It’s like descending into the depths of hell itself,’ the Doctor said.
‘Oh and you’d know what that’s like, would you?’ Carlisle retorted. Her voice was strained and nervous and she followed the Doctor.
He paused to look back up at her. His face was shadowed and grave. ‘Do I really need to answer that?’
Carlisle shivered. There was something in the way he said it that told her she didn’t want to know about some of the places he had been. And hell could very well be one of them. With Amy close behind her, she followed the Doctor down into the depths below Base Diana.
Chapter
19
A glimmer of light from far below was their only illumination. It grew slowly but steadily as the Doctor, Carlisle and Amy made their way down the stairs. They seemed to descend for ever, into the depths of the moon. The walls glistened and sweated.
‘They must pump the water through using the quantum displacement system,’ the Doctor said.
‘No, it was here already,’ Carlisle told him.
‘Really?’
‘A huge underground lake. You may have heard that NASA found minute quantities of water on the moon. No one was meant to know anything at all about it, but news got out.’
‘You mean there was a leak?’ The Doctor grinned. Carlisle didn’t seem to appreciate the joke. The Doctor cleared his throat and went on: ‘So there’s actually quite a bit of water here. That’s a surprise. Isn’t it?’ He looked confused for a moment, then his face cleared. ‘Yes, must be. Just checking.’
‘Base Diana was positioned right on top of the water. Seemed stupid not to make use of the natural resources.’
The Doctor ran his finger down the damp rock wall, then licked it. ‘Sustenance, hygiene, and computer storage with data held in the H20 molecules. What more does anyone need?’
At the bottom of the steps, they found themselves in a vast underground cavern. Banks of computer equipment stretched off into the distance. Fluorescent light strips cast puddles of stark light between the aisles of machinery. Huge metal pipes were visible at the far end of the cavern, bringing in water from the reservoir. Transparent tubes ran between the banks of equipment, carrying water – and the data it held within its molecules, round the systems. Carlisle could see tiny bubbles of air being carried along, indicating the end of one parcel of data and the start of another.
The Doctor clapped his hands together, delighted and impressed, and hurried over to a console.
‘Most of this is storage,’ he explained. ‘Data streaming – literally. Great stuff!’
The screen lit up and the Doctor rattled away at a keyboard. He displayed a schematic of the reservoir and water system. It showed where the water was purified and then held in various tanks to service the drinking supply and bathrooms as well as the data storage.
‘The water is electrolysed here, before being pumped into the computer systems as needed,’ the Doctor said, pointing to a point on the plan where water entered the cavern. ‘Light would be a quicker medium, but they were after efficiency and durability rather than speed, plus the water cools the systems as well. Brilliant. Conventional systems with hard drives and flash memory for the day-to-day tasks, and everything offloaded and backed-up to the hydrogen dioxide for the longer term.’
‘So how does that help?’ Carlisle wondered.
‘We’ve got Amy’s physical body.’ The Doctor turned and nodded at his expressionless friend standing silent and immobile beside them. ‘Now we need to find her brain. She shouldn’t be just a pretty face, you know.’
‘Goes without saying,’ Carlisle told him.
‘What’s this?’ The Doctor was pointing to another tank. ‘It’s connected into the reservoir system, but there’s a flow valve keeping it isolated.’
‘Looks like the inert gas for the fire suppression systems. Worst-case scenario – if we run out of the gas before the fire’s out, then the valve opens and it draws in water. Not ideal, given we’re so dependent on electrical stuff.’
‘But could be the only option, the last resort.’ The Doctor nodded. ‘Makes sense. Whoever designed this place used belts and braces all round.’
‘Is that how you got back here?’ Carlisle asked.
‘I suppose so. Big braces though. Enormous. Right…’ He turned his attention back to the display screen and started opening files of indexes and data listings. ‘Let’s find Amy…’
For the briefest of moments, he thought he was Lars Gregman. Then the Talerian consciousness flowed back into the emptiness of Gregman’s mind and he remembered everything.
Gregman sat up. There was pain in his head. Not the pain of the process when he had been transferred into this body. It was reassuringly robust, but it could be damaged. He reached his hand behind his head and felt the lump where Carlisle had struck him down.
Carlisle. For some reason she was helping the Doctor. The girl, Amy, was a Blank – no use to them. Perhaps even a weapon against them if she could be reprogrammed…
Struggling to his feet, Gregman looked round. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but he was surprised and pleased to find his gun was lying a short distance away. He knew where the Doctor and Carlisle were headed – he could deal with them himself. It would impress Jackson.
Except that when he tapped in the code for the door down to the computer facility, it didn’t work. The door remained locked. But even this was a good thing, he decided. It meant they were definitely down there. There was nothing the Doctor or Major Carlisle could do to stop the Talerian plan now. Soon the main invasion force would come through, and the only person they feared might be able to stop them was trapped in the cavern under the base.
Gregman hurried to tell Jackson and the others the good news.
It didn’t take the Doctor long to find what he was looking for. ‘I’ll say this for them, they’re efficient.’
He showed Carlisle the screen, which displayed a list of the personnel of Base Diana. Against almost all of them was a catalogue number. At the bottom of the list was:
Amy Pond – E-19-K3
Below that were several other names, listed as ‘Pending’. At the bottom of this pending list was ‘Doctor’.
‘What’s it mean?’ Major Carlisle asked.
‘It means we’ve found her. You’re on the list too, look.’ He pointed to Carlisle’s name.
‘Doesn’t mean I’m a bad person.’
‘All the others are. Potentially, anyway. Until we get this sorted.’
The Doctor walked slowly along one of the aisles. Carlisle and Amy followed – Carlisle watching with interest, Amy expressionless.
The storage was rather like metal filing cabinets. Each aisle was labelled with a letter, and each cabinet with
in each aisle was numbered. The individual drawers bore letters, marked in black by a simple steel handle.
‘This is aisle E, so I guess we’re looking for storage cabinet 19,’ Carlisle said.
‘Drawer K.’ The Doctor ran his finger down the front of Cabinet 19 until it met the K. He tapped the letter. ‘Moment of truth. Who lives here, do you think?’
The Doctor pulled out the shallow drawer. Inside the space was lined with dark foam padding. Nestling in numbered compartments cut into the foam were ten glass phials filled with colourless liquid. A wire connected the stopper of each phial into a junction box at the back of the drawer.
Very carefully, the Doctor lifted phial 3 clear of the padding. The wire trailed from a small clip attached to the top of the stopper. Inside the phial another wire hung down into the liquid. The Doctor unclipped the wire from the top and lifted the phial up to the light. He gave it a gentle shake, bubbles rising to the surface.
‘Is that it?’ Carlisle asked in a whisper. She pointed at Amy. ‘Is that… her?’
The Doctor stared intently at the colourless liquid. ‘Amy in a bottle,’ he breathed. ‘Pond water.’ He laughed. ‘Yes, I like that. Pond water.’ His smile faded. ‘Only problem is, now I’ve found you, we need to get you both back to the Process Chamber and see if we can download the real you into your brain.’
From above and behind them came the sound of something heavy slamming into metal.
‘The door?’ Carlisle said.
‘The door,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘They’ve found us.’
‘Gregman must have woken up. Getting to the Process Chamber might be trickier than you thought.’
‘No problem. We’ll take the back way.’ The Doctor clicked his tongue. ‘Er, is there a back way?’
‘No.’
‘Any way at all, back or otherwise? Emergency exit? Fire escape? Cat flap?’
Carlisle was shaking her head. ‘There’s only one exit, Doctor. We’re stuck down here.’ The sound of the banging was getting louder and more insistent. ‘And that door won’t keep them out for long.’
Chapter
20
The sound of the door crashing open was unmistakable. The Doctor spun round on the spot, slapping his forehead repeatedly with the heel of his hand.
‘Think think think,’ he told himself. ‘Ah!’ He stopped his rapid revolutions. ‘They don’t know we’re down here.’
‘Yes they do,’ Carlisle said. ‘Gregman knew we were heading this way.’
‘And the door was locked and sabotaged. But they don’t know, not for sure. They just think they do.’
Carlisle nodded slowly. ‘Makes sense. But they’ll be down those stairs in a minute, and then they’ll know they know.’
The Doctor leaned forward. ‘No they won’t. Because I’ve got a plan.’
‘Quick plan?’
They could hear feet on the metal stairway.
‘Very quick.’
‘So – what do we do?’
‘We keep Amy safe.’ The Doctor pushed the phial of liquid that was Amy’s personality and memories into his top pocket and patted it gently.
‘Is that it?’ Carlisle asked.
‘No no no. The clever bit is…’
‘Yes?’
‘… We hide.’
Carlisle stared at him. ‘Is that it? The great plan? We hide?!’
The Doctor shrugged and flicked his hair out of his eyes. ‘Unless you’ve got a better plan. One that doesn’t involve shooting anyone,’ he added. ‘I want everyone’s body intact so we can put their brains back where they’re supposed to be.’
Carlisle glanced back towards the stairs. ‘We hide,’ she said.
The Doctor and Major Carlisle hurried quietly down the aisle. The cavern was vast and it would take Jackson and whoever was with him a while to search it.
‘Stay close to me,’ the Doctor whispered to Amy. ‘Maybe not quite that close,’ he added as she stepped right up to him, shoulder to shoulder. ‘There’s close and there’s close-close. Just close will do. Within reach and out of sight.’
The Doctor ducked behind the end of the line of storage banks. Carlisle was right with him, and Amy mirrored his actions a moment later. Peering out, they could just see the vague silhouettes of several figures at the other end of the cavern. The constant drip-drip of water made it difficult to hear what they were saying, but Carlisle was sure one of them was Jackson, and Reeve was with him as well. There were about half a dozen in all.
‘He’s brought some help,’ she whispered to the Doctor.
‘Pity. But never mind.’ The Doctor reached his index finger and thumb into his top pocket and carefully pulled out the phial of liquid. He held it out to Amy. ‘You take this,’ he told her. ‘If one of us can get you to the Process Chamber, it’ll be better if you’ve got it with you. Otherwise we’ll spend forever trying to get mind and body together in the same place.’
‘You sure she can keep it safe?’ Carlisle asked.
‘Can you?’ the Doctor asked Amy.
‘Yes,’ she said, her expression not changing.
‘Good. And from now on, whisper, OK?’
‘Did they hear?’ Carlisle wondered. ‘Someone’s coming this way.’
‘Not sure,’ the Doctor admitted. ‘Let’s keep moving, try to stay ahead of them and maybe sneak past to the stairs.’
As they hurried across the next aisle and ducked into shadows, the Doctor said to Amy: ‘That phial is important. Or rather, the water inside it is. I want you to keep it with you. Don’t care where you keep it, so long as it stays safe and it isn’t separated from you. We need to combine the data in that water with your physical embodiment at some point, OK?’
‘OK,’ Amy whispered back. She held the phial up to inspect it, expression still blank.
‘Good. So, remember that.’ The Doctor looked out, checking to see if any of Jackson’s people were close by. ‘Or remember as much as you can – it’s a lot to swallow, I know.’
Carlisle was checking too. ‘We can get to that next bay, I think.’
The Doctor nodded. ‘Closer to the stairs. Come on.’
Someone was talking in the connecting aisle as they ran for the next area of cover, against the glistening, wet wall of the cavern. The searchers were closing in.
‘So far, so good,’ the Doctor whispered.
‘Way to go yet,’ Carlisle pointed out.
Beside her, the Doctor gave a sudden gasp. His mouth opened in surprise, eyes wide.
‘What is it?’ Carlisle asked urgently.
‘Drip of water went down the back of my neck.’
‘Oh, thanks for that.’
They both turned quickly as something dropped to the floor beside them. The glass phial clattered and rolled, stopping at the Doctor’s feet. He scooped it up quickly.
‘I told you to keep this safe,’ he hissed at Amy.
‘Doctor – the stopper’s come off,’ Carlisle said. ‘It’s empty.’
The Doctor held up the phial. She was right. ‘Where’s it gone? Where’s the water?’ He looked round, close to panic – there were small puddles of water all across the floor, from dripping condensation. ‘Any one of these puddles could actually be Amy.’
‘Shhhh!’ Carlisle warned. ‘Too late to worry about that now.’
‘But how do we get her back?’
‘Let’s worry about it later, OK?’ Carlisle told him. ‘Right now we have to get out of here.’
‘It’s all clear now,’ Amy whispered.
‘Thank you,’ the Doctor said. ‘Come on then – next bay, right?’
‘Right,’ Carlisle agreed.
They ran as quickly and quietly as they could to the next pool of shadow. The stairway was only about fifteen metres away now. But there was a soldier standing there.
‘You think he knows you’ve switched sides?’ the Doctor asked. ‘Or rather, that you haven’t.’
‘Probably,’ Carlisle said. ‘But it might be worth a try. I can
distract him while you and Amy get past.’
‘I don’t think that will work,’ Amy said.
The Doctor and Carlisle both turned towards her.
‘A glimmer of self-will?’ the Doctor wondered. ‘Or is her programming taking hold again?’
‘That’s a thought,’ Amy said. Suddenly, she reached out and pulled Carlisle’s pistol from its holster. She aimed it at the Doctor and Carlisle.
Captain Reeve stepped out from the shadows behind Amy. He smiled with satisfaction, and called over his shoulder: ‘Over here. We got them.’
‘I have to trick the Doctor,’ Amy said slowly. ‘I have to take him to the Process Chamber.’
‘Yeah, we did that bit earlier,’ the Doctor told her. ‘She’s somehow reverted to her previous programming.’ He fixed Reeve with a piercing stare. ‘Maybe your process isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.’
‘The circumstances changed and her previous programming became relevant again, that’s all.’
Jackson hurried up from behind, two more soldiers with him. ‘Your little excursion has saved you the ordeal of time in the hub, Doctor. Nothing more. We’re ready to process you now.’ He nodded to Amy. ‘I’ll allow Miss Pond to show you the way.’
In response, Amy jabbed the gun forwards. ‘Move. Up the stairs.’
Jackson’s laughter echoed round the cavern. ‘We’re going to the Process Chamber, Doctor. And once we get there, you will become an empty Blank, ready to be imprinted with a Talerian mind.’
Chapter
21
Hands raised, the Doctor and Carlisle walked to the dimly lit metal stairway. The soldier guarding the bottom stepped aside to allow them past. Amy was close behind them, Jackson and the others walking slowly across the cavern.
‘Doctor, Major Carlisle,’ Amy called to them as they started up the stairs.
They both turned to see what she wanted. The gun was steady in her hand.
‘You wanted to know where the water in the phial went,’ Amy said quietly. ‘Well, I did what you said. I kept it close to me, I kept it safe. I drank it.’
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