Reeve was uncurling now and trying to sit up. He looked round in confusion.
‘The more water that hits the skin, the quicker the process,’ the Doctor said triumphantly.
‘Um, one obvious question,’ Amy said. ‘If everyone’s mind is in every drop of water, how does Reeve’s brain know which data to absorb? Won’t he get a bit of everyone’s mind? Won’t that make him one crazy, mixed-up person?’
The Doctor smiled and clasped his hands together behind his back. ‘No, that’s the clever thing. Because the brain should be able to identify its own mind-print and just take the data that belongs to it. Like recognising your own car in amongst hundreds in the supermarket car park.’
‘I often get the wrong car,’ Carlisle told him.
Amy walked slowly round the Doctor. He turned to keep facing towards her. ‘You’ve got your fingers crossed behind your back, haven’t you?’ she said accusingly.
The Doctor’s smile became slightly fixed. ‘Might have.’
‘You have no idea if this is going to work or not?’
‘The theory’s sound,’ he protested. ‘Mostly.’
Carlisle gestured to Captain Reeve, now getting groggily to his feet. ‘I think we’re about to find out.’
Reeve was looking round, confused.
‘He’ll be fine,’ the Doctor said. ‘Really – fine.’
‘Who in blazes are you?’ Reeve demanded. ‘What am I doing down here?’
‘He’s confused,’ Amy said. ‘Maybe it hasn’t worked.’
‘No, it’s just that the real Captain Reeve never met us,’ the Doctor told her. ‘We didn’t arrive until after he’d been blanked.’
‘Major?’ Reeve asked. ‘What’s going on?’
‘It’s a bit tricky to explain,’ Carlisle admitted. ‘But it’s good to have you back, Captain Reeve.’
‘What’s the last thing you remember?’ the Doctor asked, shining his sonic screwdriver in Reeve’s startled face.
‘I was with Professor Jackson and Nurse Phillips, in the Process Chamber. They wanted me to look at something. Then…’ He shook his head. ‘Then this. What’s happening?’
‘Alien invasion,’ the Doctor said. ‘Don’t worry about it. But we’ll need your help.’
Reeve looked at the three of them: the Doctor grinning manically; Amy smiling in relief and amusement; the usually ice-calm Carlisle as drenched as the rest of them as the water continued to shower down. ‘And you wondered if I was mad,’ he said.
Amy was starting to shiver. She was soaked through. ‘Can’t we turn the sprinklers off now?’
‘Seems so,’ the Doctor said. ‘Now that everyone’s blanked out.’ He turned and headed for the stairs, splashing through the deepening puddles.
‘Except Jackson,’ Carlisle pointed out.
The Doctor froze in mid step. ‘What?’
‘It didn’t seem to affect Jackson,’ Amy confirmed. ‘He did a runner. Probably hiding out somewhere, or having a calming cup of that tea of his while he plots his next fiendish move. I mean, there’s not much he can do on his own, is there?’
‘Why didn’t it affect Jackson?’ the Doctor demanded. He stared accusingly at Reeve.
‘Don’t ask me,’ he protested. ‘You’re the expert. I just got here, remember.’
The Doctor was running again, but this time towards the aisles of data storage. His foot slapped down in a puddle close to Amy, splashing her legs.
‘Oh cheers.’
The Doctor ignored her, frantically pulling open drawers in the huge cabinets. The others hurried to join him. Amy was in time to see him pause as he opened one drawer. They were full of phials of colourless liquid.
‘The phials are all connected to the main systems. I pumped all the water out and into the tank for the sprinklers. Then they get refilled from main storage… If Jackson’s phial was in here, he must have been mixed in with the others.’
The Doctor barely glanced at the contents of the drawer before slamming it shut again. He pulled open the next drawer down, and they all saw that one of the phials was missing.
‘It’s OK, that’s you, Amy.’ The Doctor turned and grinned at her. ‘I did a pond water joke. Probably not worth repeating though.’ He pushed the drawer shut again. The next drawer down was full, and the next.
Before long, the Doctor had moved to the next cabinet. Three drawers down, another phial was missing. The Doctor tapped the empty slot with his finger. ‘Want to bet that’s the real Professor Jackson?’
The Control Room was the best place to start looking for Jackson, Major Carlisle suggested. They could also turn off the sprinklers before the base flooded. The Doctor sent Captain Reeve to check on the prisoners in the hub.
‘They were all blanked by Jackson in the last few days. I’m hoping the sprinkler systems work over in the cells too and it isn’t a separate system.’
‘Should do,’ Reeve said. ‘But I’ll go take a look.’
Only certain parts of the base were covered by security cameras. Once she’d turned off the sprinklers, Carlisle checked each camera’s image in turn. Most showed soldiers and staff standing slumped from the effects of the water. There was no sign of Jackson.
‘How long before they start to recover properly?’ Amy wondered, looking at the soldier collapsed across the end of the main control console.
‘Shouldn’t be too long. The ones closest to sprinklers should start to wake up first, like Reeve. Though he drank quite a lot too, I think. His mouth was open because he was threatening me when he blanked out.’
‘I thought he was shooting you,’ Carlisle said.
‘That too. He was multi-tasking.’
Their conversation was interrupted by an insistent bleeping from one of the consoles.
‘Local radio signal,’ Carlisle said. ‘Who can that be?’ She worked the controls and a voice echoed out of nearby speakers:
‘…repeat, this is Lieutenant Ashton passing over Base Diana. Can anyone hear me? Come in, please, Base Diana.’
The Doctor took the microphone. ‘Oh, hi, this is the Doctor. Good to know you’re OK. We seem to have things pretty much under control down here. How are you?’
‘I’m fine,’ Ashton replied. ‘Good to know you’re all sorted. Just one thing…’
‘You want to know when you can head home?’ the Doctor suggested.
‘Apart from that. There’s like, lightning up here. I don’t know how else to describe it.’
‘Lightning?’ Amy said. ‘Is that possible? I mean, in space?’
The Doctor rubbed his wet hair vigorously. ‘Not really. Not lightning lightning. What’s it look like?’
‘A streak of light,’ Ashton said. ‘Like someone’s turned on a huge searchlight. I can see it shining across space. Brilliant white light, I can barely look it’s so bright.’
‘And where’s it shining?’ Carlisle asked.
‘That’s just it. It’s shining right at Base Diana. Right at you.’
There was silence for several moments. The Doctor’s frown deepened.
Finally, Ashton spoke again: ‘Hey, look, I’m going to be passing round the other side of the moon in a couple of minutes, so we’ll lose contact. But I thought you should know. I’ll leave that with you guys, OK?’
Carlisle told him to call in again on his next orbit, and cut the connection.
‘What is it?’ Amy asked the Doctor. ‘Something Jackson’s done?’
‘Their Plan B,’ the Doctor said gravely. ‘Should have guessed they’d have one. Jackson’s sent them a message and told them to forget thought pattern transference now that we’ve un-blanked their people here.’
‘But, that’s good isn’t it?’ Carlisle said.
‘Not good,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Not if I’m right about that light beam.’
‘Why, what is it?’
‘I think it’s a concentrated stream of data. They’re not just transferring consciousness and brain wave patterns this time.’
The main
screen was still displaying the view from one of the security cameras. It showed an intersection of several corridors. Two soldiers were slumped by a doorway.
In the middle of the intersection, the air seemed to shimmer. A vague shape was forming within the trembling air. Shadows darkened and became more substantial. The shimmer faded, and in its place stood a figure.
The creature was about the same height as a man. But the limbs were swollen and smooth. Its head was joined directly to the body with no neck, poking out of the plates of metallic body armour that hung round the creature’s torso. A single, huge oval-shaped eye stared out from a bulbous head that was breaking out into glutinous pustules. Stubby clawed fingers clutched a brutal-looking gun made of grey metal.
Slime dripped from the creature’s pale green skin as it walked slowly towards the camera. It paused for a moment, as if staring into the Control Room. A hole opened beneath its eye – a wide slash of a mouth, filled with ragged teeth. It raised its glutinous, clawed hands, aiming the gun at the camera. The end of the weapon glowed a livid red, and the screen blacked out.
‘I thought it was just increased bandwidth to send through more Talerian minds. But actually it’s a matter transmission beam. Looks like the Talerians are here in force,’ the Doctor said quietly. ‘And in person.’
The door to the Control Room slammed open. In the doorway stood another of the bulbous, slimy creatures. Its mouth split into what might have been a smile, and it raised its gun.
Chapter
23
As soon as the hideous creature appeared in the doorway, Major Carlisle hurled herself across the room. Her shoulder knocked the gun sideways. A blast of energy hurtled across the room and exploded on the wall, sending out sparks.
The Talerian’s slimy hide was contracted as Carlisle cannoned into the creature’s armour, pressing it into the skin. But the skin was tightly sprung, like the surface of a balloon, and she found herself bouncing off, and crashing to the floor.
With a roar of anger, the creature took several squelching steps forwards. It raised its gun again. Amy dragged Carlisle back, while the Doctor watched with apparent interest.
‘You’ll probably want to keep us alive,’ he told the Talerian. ‘Jackson, or whatever his real name is, wants to wipe our minds.’
The creature hesitated, gun still aimed at Carlisle as Amy helped her up. Then it gave another roar, and fired.
At the same moment, the blanked and unconscious soldier sprawled across the control console groaned and straightened up. Distracted, the creature turned towards the movement. Again, its shot went wide – blasting part of the console to pieces. The soldier stared in shocked amazement.
Amy hurled the nearest thing she could find at the creature – a coffee cup. Cold dregs of coffee dripped from the cup as it turned in the air. But, like Carlisle, it just bounced off the creature’s armour.
The recovering soldier’s training cut in, overcoming his shock in a moment. He picked up the chair from beside the console, raised it, and charged. The wheeled base of the chair hammered into the Talerian, forcing it backwards. It bumped heavily into the wall, its whole body shimmering like jelly and armour plates rattling.
His momentum kept the soldier going. Amy stared in fascinated horror as the chair’s base squashed into the creature’s belly. One of the wheels on the chair was jammed between two of the loose armour plates, stretching the skin behind inwards like it was made of thin rubber. Any moment, the skin would spring back into shape and the soldier would he hurled off like he’d fallen on to a trampoline.
Except it didn’t happen. The sharp surround of the wheel cut into the Talerian’s skin. It pierced the rubbery hide – making the smallest of holes. But it was enough.
With a rumbling, gurgling, anguished cry, the Talerian burst. Grey-green gunge erupted from its punctured skin and the whole body seemed to deflate. The bulbous arms flailed aimlessly, before losing their form and substance. The gun clattered to the floor. In a few seconds, all that was left was a pool of gooey liquid and metallic, armoured plates lying across the shrivelled-up hide of the creature, like a deflated balloon.
‘Well that answers one of my questions,’ the Doctor said. He knelt down beside the creature’s remains. He dipped his finger in the goo, and for one awful moment Amy was afraid he was going to lick it. But instead he sniffed at it curiously, then wiped it off again on the lapel of his jacket.
‘What question is that?’ Carlisle wondered. She looked pale and shaken – but nowhere near as confused and shocked as the soldier, still holding the gunge-spattered chair.
‘Why they want human bodies. Their own are obviously far too fragile. Humans, for all your failings, really are quite robust. Not like viscous liquid-based creatures such as Mr Blobby-Balloon here.’
‘How many of them are there?’ Amy asked. ‘And what do we do – throw darts at them?’
‘You got any darts?’ the Doctor said.
‘Well, no.’
‘Not really an option then, is it?’
They all looked up as a bing-bong chime sounded.
‘Public address system,’ Carlisle explained. ‘Never known it used before, though.’
Jackson’s voice came through loud and clear. ‘This is Androparg to all Talerian forces. Commander Raraarg has decreed that we need the humans alive as mind-fodder for our initial strike force to infiltrate planet Earth. Make sure all weapons are set to stun. And be careful, some of the Blanks are waking up and going rogue.’ There was a pause before Jackson added: ‘And to any humans listening – surrender or you will be shot. That is all.’
The voice cut out.
‘Charming,’ Amy decided.
‘We know where he is now,’ Carlisle said, checking the control console. ‘That was broadcast from Jackson’s office.’
The Doctor clapped his hands together. ‘Terrific. Then it’s obvious what we do. You and you…’ He pointed to Carlisle and then to the still bemused soldier. ‘… Find Captain Reeve and get everyone together somewhere you can defend. The canteen would be good, because then you can get croissants and hot drinks and those buns with the slightly cinnamon flavour.’
‘What about you and me?’ Amy asked.
‘We’re continuing with the hot drink theme – by going for a cup of tea with Professor Jackson and Commander Raraarg.’
All across the base, soldiers and other staff were waking up, confused and disorientated. Jackson’s announcement did nothing to help them adjust. Captain Reeve found several soldiers close to the hub where the prisoners were kept and together they opened the cells and ordered the prisoners out.
As soon as the first emaciated man stepped out of his cell, Reeve could tell they’d been neglected since Jackson took charge of the prison facility. The Captain was appalled at the way they had been treated since he’d been blanked – they’d obviously been given precious little food or water and probably denied their usual exercise time.
‘Get these people to the canteen,’ he ordered. ‘They need a decent meal before anything else.’ He turned to the nearest prisoner, shuffling towards him. ‘What’s your name?’
‘I’ll tell you nothing,’ the man rasped, his voice a dry whisper. ‘You have no right to keep me here.’
Reeve nodded. That told him all he needed to know – the man’s mind was his own. ‘Well, whoever you are, let the other prisoners know that we’re taking you to the canteen for something to eat. I’m sorry you’ve been treated badly, but we have a situation here. I can’t tell you any more than that.’
The man stared back at him, wide-eyed. ‘Would this situation involve that?’ He pointed past Reeve.
Reeve turned – to see the bulbous, slimy shape of a Talerian sludging towards them. Reeve instinctively reached for his gun. But his holster was empty – the gun lying on the floor in the cavernous computer facility.
‘Halt!’ he shouted. ‘Halt – or my men will fire.’
It was an empty threat. The soldiers on the base were n
ot routinely armed, and none of them had weapons. The Talerian was brandishing its own gun. The end glowed and a beam of energy shot out – slamming one of the soldiers back against the glass window running the length of the room. He slumped unconscious to the floor.
Soldiers and prisoners dived for cover as the alien creature advanced. Then, suddenly, the Talerian exploded in a squelch of viscous grey-green liquid.
Behind the steaming remains, Major Carlisle stood holding one of the alien weapons.
‘Are you sure this is the way?’ Amy asked as they started down yet another corridor. They all looked the same to her. All the doors were open, she noticed – part of the Doctor’s plan with the fire systems so the sprinklers would go off throughout the base.
‘Depends where you think we’re going.’
‘Jackson’s office?’
The Doctor made a noncommittal sound.
‘You’re lost, aren’t you?’
He made the same sound again. Ahead of them, the bulbous figure of a Talerian stepped out of an open doorway. It didn’t see them as it walked with a blubbery gait away down the corridor.
‘There we are – just what we need,’ the Doctor said happily. ‘Come on.’ He hurried to catch up with the alien.
‘What?’ Amy mouthed. ‘What are you doing?’ she hissed as she caught him up.
‘Asking directions.’ The Doctor quickened his pace. ‘I know, men generally don’t, but Time Lords aren’t proud. At least, not this one. Oi – you there!’ he called. ‘Yes, you with the blobby face and one eye.’
The Talerian stopped and slowly turned towards them, raising its gun. It gave a gargling noise that might have been surprise or laughter.
‘Glad we found you,’ the Doctor said. ‘Jackson wants to see us. You’ll know him as Androparg. So if you could just point us in the right direction?’
The Talerian jabbed its gun towards them.
‘Or show us,’ Amy said quickly. ‘That’d be great. Oh, you coming too?’
Doctor Who: Apollo 23 Page 15