There was a dull thud beside her, and she turned to see Pallister’s body sprawled out on the ground like a discarded toy: the tendrils that had supported it had burst, and greeny-black ichor was gushing everywhere.
Then Candy was beside her, helping her to her feet, and Orlo and Ty were dragging the Doctor away from the dying alien.
When they were clear of the spurting, bubbling fluid, Ty and Orlo lay the Doctor on the ground. Martha rushed to his side and cradled his slime-covered body in her arms. He coughed in her ear and tried to push her away. But Martha was having none of it. She held onto him until Ty gently prised her away.
‘I’m not sure which was worse,’ the Doctor choked, trying to sit up, wiping his face with his hands. ‘Being smothered by slimey, or being smothered by you.’ He looked up at her and grinned stupidly. ‘Actually,’ he said. ‘It was no contest. Hello, Martha – you don’t half look different through green glasses, you know.’
And then he fainted clean away.
EIGHTEEN
‘But why didn’t the poison kill him?’ Martha said as she finished wiping the slime from his face.
‘It wasn’t a poison,’ Ty said, tossing the tranquilliser gun to the ground and fixing it with a look of disgust.
‘But it killed that thing – didn’t it?’
‘Actually,’ said the Doctor muzzily, opening his eyes. ‘I’m rather afraid you’ll find that I killed it.’
‘So what was in the dart?’ Martha was confused.
‘A rather clever little solution of RNA.’ He sat up and rubbed the back of his head – before examining the goo on his hand and pulling a disgusted face. Before Martha could stop him, he sniffed his hand and gave it a lick. ‘Ew!’ he said. ‘Needs more salt.’
‘Stop it,’ Martha chided, slapping his hand away from his face. ‘What did you do?’
‘Well it all seems a bit obvious now.’
‘Not to me it doesn’t. Stop being smug.’
He peered past her to where the remains of the creature were nothing more than a huge, dark stain on the ground. Shreds of greeny-black flesh lay all around like the tattered pieces of a burst balloon.
‘Slimey, there, controlled other organisms with proteins – injected them into them along with RNA to transfer memories and images. So it occurred to me that it might work the other way round: if I could get the right proteins and RNA inside it, I might be able to, well, mess about with its metabolism a bit.’
‘I told him it was dangerous,’ insisted Ty, as if trying to absolve herself of some guilt. ‘I warned him.’
‘She did,’ the Doctor admitted. ‘That’s why I couldn’t tell you, Martha – I knew you’d stop me.’
‘So this RNA… I mean…’ Martha was at a loss for words. This was all coming too thick and too fast. ‘How?’
‘The marvellous Doctor-o-tronic!’ he beamed up at her. ‘I told you I was the best biological computer around. I had to make direct contact with the creature to be able to work on its metabolism – that’s why I offered it the TARDIS.’ His expression became suddenly more serious. ‘I knew it wouldn’t be able to resist, and that it would try to take control of me like it did poor old Pallister. But I had to give it the option. There always has to be a way out. Just a shame that people don’t take it when it’s offered.’ He shrugged. ‘Ah well. Anyway, it’s had so much practice now that it knew exactly what to do with me. Well, it thought it did. It started to invade my body, and when it did, I invaded its body and reprogrammed the RNA string that Ty injected into me to destroy its outer membranes.’ He grinned again, back to his jokey self. ‘Didn’t they teach you anything at medical school?’
‘He couldn’t have injected it into himself earlier,’ Ty said. ‘In case it broke down too quickly – or the creature detected it and neutralised it. It had to be at the very last minute.’ Ty sighed and shook her head. ‘I’m sorry I frightened you Martha, honey, really I am.’
Martha shook her head. If it hadn’t worked… ‘You ever do that again,’ she said sternly to him, ‘and you really will need a doctor. Believe me.’
‘Your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired, Miss Jones,’ he smiled. ‘But you’re getting there. One day you’ll make a great doctor.’
‘With you about,’ said Martha, shaking her head ‘who needs another one?’
‘Col rigged the election for Pallister?’ Martha asked, as Candy explained what she’d found aboard the One Small Step. ‘Why? It’s not like there was anything in it for him, was there?’
They were making their way, wearily, back to the settlement. The sky had clouded over and the rain was beginning to fall. Again.
Ty shrugged. ‘I think he just needed someone to believe in, someone to follow. And I guess we all need someone like that, don’t we? Col’s parents had guided him all his life, and out here I think he felt a bit at sea, so to speak. Pallister offered him some certainties, some structure. I think he was just doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Or maybe that should be the other way around.’ ‘And once he’d fiddled the election,’ Candy said, ‘he couldn’t go back. He wasn’t a bad man,’ she added after a pause. ‘Just a misguided one.’
‘That was how slimey got to find out about Pallister,’ the Doctor said. ‘Pallister must have been at the front of poor Col’s mind when he got caught. So straight away slimey knew about the ship’s power core and bombs and what-have-you.’ He glanced at Ty. ‘And I take it, Professor Benson, that there’s going to be no more capturing and caging the jubjubs?’
‘The what?’ said Martha.
‘The otters,’ said Ty firmly.
The Doctor pulled an I-give-up face.
‘No, there isn’t,’ Ty finished. ‘If I’d known they were as smart as that, I’d never have done it in the first place. And talking! How come I never heard them talk before?’
The Doctor threw a glance at Martha.
‘Blame us for that one,’ he said. ‘You might find that when we’re gone, they’re not quite so chatty. But there’s nothing to stop you from trying. Come up with a completely new language, something you both can understand: imagine how that’d go down in the history books. You could call it Tyrellian. Or ottyrellian.’ He paused and pulled a lemon-sucking face. ‘Nah. Maybe not. Just show them a bit of respect – after all, they were here first – and who knows…? This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.’
‘Something you know all about, eh, Doctor?’
Martha caught Ty’s eye as she said it, and smiled.
‘Oh yes,’ said the Doctor breezily. ‘Beautiful friendships. You can never have enough of those, can you, Martha?’
‘No, Doctor,’ said Martha dutifully, returning Ty’s smile, ‘you can’t.’
Martha and Ty fell back a little as Candy and the Doctor strode ahead.
‘High maintenance,’ Ty said, indicating the Doctor.
Martha laughed. ‘You said it.’
‘But worth it, honey.’
‘You reckon?’
Ty pulled a face. ‘You don’t?’
Martha could only shrug, smiling.
‘Trust your instincts,’ Ty said. ‘Isn’t that what the Doctor told Candy? Just trust your instincts. That’s all any of us can do.’
And striding into Sunday City, Martha felt Ty’s arm across her shoulders.
At the edge of the forest, watching them go, stood a dozen otters, their paws interlinked.
‘I like the tall one,’ said one of them – the one with a soft, grey smudge on its ear.
‘Oh, the one with the yellow fur’s my favourite,’ said another.
‘They are kind of cute, aren’t they?’ said a third, a little wistfully.
‘And easier to train than I’d thought, even if they are a bit dim!’
There was a chorus of nods and giggles.
‘Still,’ said the first one, ‘intelligence isn’t everything. Come on – I want to see their spaceship!’
‘Oooh yes! They’ve got a brain in a box. Let’s g
o and play with it.’
And, still holding hands, the otters scampered back to the swamp.
These humans were going to be fun!
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Justin Richards, and to Gary Russell and everyone in Cardiff for having faith in me – hope I’ve done you proud.
And, as ever, big hugs to all my lovely proof-monkeys: Simon Forward, Mags Halliday, Mike Robinson, Paul Dale Smith and Nick Wallace; to Simon Bucher-Jones for sums and science; to Steve Tribe for finding last-minute problems – and solutions; and to Paul Magrs and Mark Morris for their help and support. New writers, new friends!
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Rose
as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper:
THE CLOCKWISE MAN
by Justin Richards
THE MONSTERS INSIDE
by Stephen Cole
WINNER TAKES ALL
by Jacqueline Rayner
THE DEVIANT STRAIN
by Justin Richards
ONLY HUMAN
by Gareth Roberts
THE STEALERS OF DREAMS
by Steve Lyons
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Rose
as played by David Tennant and Billie Piper:
THE STONE ROSE
by Jacqueline Rayner
THE FEAST OF THE DROWNED
by Stephen Cole
THE RESURRECTION CASKET
by Justin Richards
THE NIGHTMARE OF BLACK ISLAND
by Mike Tucker
THE ART OF DESTRUCTION
by Stephen Cole
THE PRICE OF PARADISE
by Colin Brake
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
Sting of the Zygons
by Stephen Cole
ISBN 978 1 84607 225 3
UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN
The TARDIS lands the Doctor and Martha in the
Lake District in 1909, where a small village has been
terrorised by a giant, scaly monster. The search is on
for the elusive ‘Beast of Westmorland’, and explorers,
naturalists and hunters from across the country are
descending on the fells. King Edward VII himself is
on his way to join the search, with a knighthood for
whoever finds the Beast.
But there is a more sinister presence at work in the
Lakes than a mere monster on the rampage, and the
Doctor is soon embroiled in the plans of an old and
terrifying enemy. As the hunters become the hunted, a
desperate battle of wits begins – with the future of the
entire world at stake…
The Last Dodo
by Jacqueline Rayner
ISBN 978 1 84607 224 6
UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN
The Doctor and Martha go in search of a real live dodo,
and are transported by the TARDIS to the mysterious
Museum of the Last Ones. There, in the Earth section,
they discover every extinct creature up to the present
day, all still alive and in suspended animation.
Preservation is the museum’s only job – collecting
the last of every endangered species from all over the
universe. But exhibits are going missing…
Can the Doctor solve the mystery before the museum’s
curator adds the last of the Time Lords to her
collection?
Wooden Heart
by Martin Day
ISBN 978 1 84607 226 0
UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN
A vast starship, seemingly deserted and spinning
slowly in the void of deep space. Martha and the
Doctor explore this drifting tomb, and discover that
they may not be alone after all…
Who survived the disaster that overcame the rest of
the crew? What continues to power the vessel? And
why has a stretch of wooded countryside suddenly
appeared in the middle of the craft?
As the Doctor and Martha journey through the forest,
they find a mysterious, fogbound village – a village
traumatised by missing children and prophecies of its
own destruction.
Forever Autumn
by Mark Morris
ISBN 978 1 84607 270 3
UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN
It is almost Halloween in the sleepy New England
town of Blackwood Falls. Autumn leaves litter lawns
and sidewalks, paper skeletons hang in windows, and
carved pumpkins leer from stoops and front porches.
The Doctor and Martha soon discover that something
long dormant has awoken in the town, and this will
be no ordinary Halloween. What is the secret of the
ancient tree and the mysterious book discovered
tangled in its roots? What rises from the local
churchyard in the dead of night, sealing up the lips of
the only witness? And why are the harmless trappings
of Halloween suddenly taking on a creepy new life of
their own?
As nightmarish creatures prowl the streets, the
Doctor and Martha must battle to prevent both the
townspeople and themselves from suffering a grisly
fate…
Sick Building
by Paul Magrs
ISBN 978 1 84607 269 7
UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN
Tiermann’s World: a planet covered in wintry woods
and roamed by sabre-toothed tigers and other savage
beasts. The Doctor is here to warn Professor Tiermann,
his wife and their son that a terrible danger is on its way.
The Tiermanns live in luxury, in a fantastic,
futuristic, fully-automated Dreamhome, under an impenetrable
force shield. But that won’t protect them from the
Voracious Craw. A gigantic and extremely hungry alien
creature is heading remorselessly towards their home.
When it gets there everything will be devoured.
Can they get away in time? With the force shield
cracking up, and the Dreamhome itself deciding
who should or should not leave, things are looking
desperate…
Coming soon from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
WISHING WELL
by Trevor Baxendale
THE PIRATE LOOP
by Simon Guerrier
PEACEMAKER
by James Swallow
Also available from BBC Books:
The Inside Story
by Gary Russell
ISBN 978 0 56348 649 7
£14.99
In March 2005, a 900-year-old alien in a police public
call box made a triumphant return to our television
screens. The Inside Story takes us behind the scenes to
find out how the series was commissioned, made and
brought into the twenty-first century. Gary Russell has
talked extensively to everyone involved in the show,
from the Tenth Doctor himself, David Tennant, and
executive producer Russell T Davies, to the people
normally hidden inside monster suits or behind
cameras. Everyone has an interesting story to tell.
The result is the definitive account of how the new
Doctor Who was created. With exclusive access to design
drawings, backstage photographs, costume designs and
other previously unpublish
ed pictures, The Inside Story
covers the making of all twenty-six episodes of Series
One and Two, plus the Christmas specials, as well as an
exclusive look ahead to the third series.
Also available from BBC Books:
Creatures and Demons
by Justin Richards
ISBN 978 1 84607 229 1
UK £7.99 US $12.99/$15.99 CDN
Throughout his many adventures in time and space,
the Doctor has encountered aliens, monsters, creatures
and demons from right across the universe. In this third
volume of alien monstrosities and dastardly villains,
Doctor Who expert and acclaimed author Justin Richards
describes some of the evils the Doctor has fought in
over forty years of time travel.
From the grotesque Abzorbaloff to the monstrous
Empress of the Racnoss, from giant maggots to the
Daleks of the secret Cult of Skaro, from the Destroyer
of Worlds to the ancient Beast itself… This book brings
together more of the terrifying enemies the Doctor has
battled against.
Illustrated throughout with stunning photographs and
design drawings from the current series of Doctor Who
and his previous ‘classic’ incarnations, this book is a
treat for friends of the Doctor
whatever their age, and whatever planet they come from…
Also available from BBC Audiobooks:
Abridged readings of the Doctor Who novels by cast members
from the BBC TV series, with bonus author interviews!
Available now:
Sting of the Zygons
by Stephen Cole
Read by
Reggie Yates
The Last Dodo
by Jacqueline Rayner
Read by
Freema Agyeman
Wooden Heart
by Martin Day
Read by
Adjoa Andoh
The Stone Rose
by Jacqueline Rayner
Wetworld Page 18