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The Slitheen Excursion

Page 15

by Simon Guerrier


  ‘We’re all friends together,’ she said.

  ‘Exactly,’ said the Doctor.

  Aglauros unstrapped her daggers and dumped them in a heap beside the gangplank. The other humans and tourists dropped their weapons behind her

  June helped the lion-faced woman carry her wriggling son on board. Her name was Amber but she looked puzzled when June asked the name of the boy. ‘He’s not really old enough to decide something like that,’ said Amber. ‘Though he is very smart for his age.’

  They stepped onto the gangplank. The ship swayed and creaked in front of them, a huge yacht with vast, billowing sails.

  Once everyone was aboard, the Doctor and June made their way up to the deck, already heaving with aliens and humans. There were incongruous, futuristic controls and the Doctor fluttered his fingers over them gleefully. Ahead of them, the cave wall just faded away. The morning sky and sea were streaked with red and purple, fallout from the explosion. It made for the most incredible sunrise. The Cutty Sark drifted effortlessly out into it.

  Deukalion joined them at the desk of controls as the Doctor started the engines. It took June a moment to realise they were moving, the workings so smooth and silent. But the cliff face beside them began to slide by and then they were haring over the sea. The Doctor explained the simple controls to Deukalion who took great pride in taking the wheel.

  ‘But can’t we just teleport over?’ asked June, pointing to the map on the wall. A red dot was casting out from the island of Crete, moving steadily northwards. ‘That’s us, isn’t it? This ship has a teleport thing.’

  ‘Yes,’ said the Doctor. ‘But where we’re going doesn’t. We’ll have to go the long way. Come on, it’ll be fun.’

  June followed the Doctor out onto the deck again. Their fellow passengers had found a kiosk of tacky souvenirs – the same Greek heads and masks and athletes you could buy in June’s own time, only made from stone. The Doctor used Leeb’s bracelet to turn a box of broken statues into an ice cream stand. He and June began handing out cones and explaining to the passengers how they worked. June handed an ice cream to Cecrops, but he barely acknowledged her, staring out to sea.

  ‘You all right?’ she asked. ‘Ready to go home?’

  He smiled sadly but didn’t answer.

  A cry went up from the starboard side after they’d been going about half an hour. The Doctor ran round to look over the rails, then dashed to join Deukalion at the controls. Between them they brought the Cutty Sark round sharply. June hurried downstairs to join Herse and Polos unfastening the gangplank. They lowered ropes out of the wide door in the side of the ship, aliens coming to help them as they worked.

  Then Polos scampered out, down the rope. June ran to the doorway to see him balanced on a makeshift raft. Two men, three women, a number of children and goats all gazed up at her, grinning. They had barely survived the previous day’s flood, but they were not the only survivors.

  With the Doctor and Deukalion at the wheel, the ship continued to pick up stragglers for the rest of the day. The aliens and humans already aboard fussed round, offering food and drink and explanations for all that had happened. June kept by the doorway, working ropes back and forth, laughing as the stories being told got warped and exaggerated with each telling. At one point, she too had danced over the back of the bull in the arena. In another version the humans and aliens had put the Slitheen to the sword. The newcomers seemed to prefer the more violent versions.

  They had rescued more than a hundred people as the ruin of Thera appeared on the horizon. June joined the crowd up on deck to see the awful sight. Two long, slender bread crusts of land marked the ends of what had once been a huge island. There was nothing between them now but darkly steaming sea.

  Deukalion steered the ship expertly into a cove, under the Doctor’s direction. He showed them which button lowered the anchor and the ship came to a standstill. They crowded round the deck to observe the dark, steaming crust of land. The contours had been smoothed by layers and layers of ash. There was no sign of life at all.

  ‘We can’t go out there,’ said June. ‘It must still be boiling hot.’

  The Doctor grinned at her. ‘The temporal drive was in the middle of the island. Much higher than anything that’s left. We need to get up to the height of where the gantry would have been.’ He licked his finger and held it out over the rail running round the deck. ‘It’s coming,’ he said. ‘I can feel the rent in time.’

  He rummaged in his pocket to produce Leeb’s bracelet, and fired it at the island of ash. Pink cloud whirled all over the island, rising high into the purple sky.

  ‘What are you doing?’ said June. ‘You can’t make a staircase out of food.’

  ‘No,’ said the Doctor. ‘But I can absorb all the heat from the lava. Otherwise it’d be too hot for us to land there. And we’ve got a lot of work to do by this afternoon.’

  TWENTY-ONE

  THEY TOOK EVERYTHING they could from the Cutty Sark. They cut the masts down, they carried out all the furniture and fittings. They took boards from the floors and panels from the walls.

  On the highest point of the strange, grey island, they worked together to construct everything they’d taken into a single plank, like a mile-long diving board. As the afternoon wore on, Cecrops led a team tearing up the ship’s sails. They snaked the cord round and round the diving board tightly, so it acted like a handhold. It was the best they could do, but it didn’t look very safe. June was glad she wouldn’t be one of those to walk across this death trap.

  Then the light was fading and the stars started to come out above their heads. Some of the alien tourists tried to spot their homes, pointing out constellations to the bemused humans. And then there was light in the sky across the water, high above their ship, in the space where the rest of the island had been.

  ‘That’s it!’ shouted the Doctor. ‘We haven’t got long. We’ve got to get the gangplank out to it.’

  They clustered round the huge long board they’d constructed and, from the sheer cliff face of the island, carefully fed it out into space to reach the rip in time. It was a tricky operation, steering the thing from one end, the weight ever greater the more they fed out into the air. The first time, they missed the rip in time completely and nearly dropped the board. But the Doctor spoke softly, encouraging them, and the second time they did it.

  The far end of the board rested in the rip in time, as if hanging from a loop of string. Miles below, the sea lapped and splashed around the tiny Cutty Sark. The board seemed so fragile, so narrow, so high.

  ‘OK,’ said the Doctor, testing the cliff-side end of the board where it was wedged into the ground. ‘It isn’t open long. You’ve all got to get going.’

  The alien tourists said their goodbyes and began lugging themselves and their luggage across the board. It bent under their weight and for a moment everyone held their breath. But the thing they had made was strong enough to take the weight of a few tourists at a time. The humans waved and cheered as the first tourist, a Balumin, walked down the diving board and vanished into the warped bit of space. A moment later he re-emerged. ‘It works!’ he said, grinning, and vanished once again.

  The tourists streamed after him, laughing and waving back down at the ship. But one tourist lagged behind the others. Then he stopped altogether.

  ‘Come on, Cecrops,’ said the Doctor. ‘No dawdling. That tunnel won’t last for long.’

  Cecrops looked down at the Doctor and June. ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said.

  ‘Oh dear,’ said the Doctor. ‘That doesn’t sound good.’

  ‘I’ve been thinking how we stop this happening again,’ he said.

  Behind him, the lion-faced couple with the baby stopped and turned back round.

  ‘Yes,’ they said. ‘We’ve got to make sure humans are left in peace.’

  ‘What do you want to do?’ asked the Doctor.

  ‘I should die,’ said Cecrops. He turned to the lion-faced couple. ‘Tell my family I d
ied, that the Slitheen did something wrong,’ he told them. ‘They’ll sue the business for everything it’s got. No one will ever try this again after my family are finished.’

  ‘You can’t stay behind,’ the Doctor told him.

  ‘Why not?’ said Cecrops. ‘There’s nothing for me back home. I came here to escape all of that.’

  ‘You’ll be stuck here for the rest of your life,’ said the Doctor.

  ‘I know,’ he said.

  ‘You can’t run away from things for ever,’ June told him. ‘Tell him, Doctor.’

  The Doctor scrutinised Cecrops. ‘You’re not going to be told, are you?’

  ‘No,’ said Cecrops. ‘And it’s my decision.’

  ‘If you’re sure,’ said the Doctor.

  ‘I am,’ nodded Cecrops. He looked up at the lion-faced couple. ‘Please. Tell them it was the Slitheen’s fault.’

  The lion-faced woman nodded and took her partner’s hand. They hurried up the steps and were lost in the warp of time. There were no more tourists left. The spindly board hung high in the night sky, one end in the swirling rip of time.

  ‘But what will you do with yourself?’ said the Doctor as he and June led Cecrops back down the slope towards the ship.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Cecrops, grinning. ‘I’ll find someone to take me in.’

  He looked up at the humans gathered round the deck watching him. Aglauros smiled back at him. June felt a terrible pang of jealousy, but bit it down. Of course it made sense for Cecrops to stay behind. But the same wasn’t true for herself. For the first time since she had met the Doctor, she longed to get back home.

  ‘So it’s finished,’ she said to the Doctor. ‘His family take the Slitheen to court and bankrupt the business. They never come back here again.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said the Doctor.

  ‘So history’s back on track.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said the Doctor.

  ‘So why don’t you look happy?’

  The Doctor shrugged at her. ‘There’s still some loose ends. I mean, there’s still the small matter of—’

  A cry went up from the far side of the deck. They turned in time to see a man flying backwards through the air. June gasped in horror. The humans fell back from Mamps, Leeb and Cosmo.

  ‘Hello again,’ gurgled Mamps.

  ‘They must have teleported aboard,’ said June.

  ‘We knew you wouldn’t leave the tourists stuck in this backwater,’ said Mamps. ‘We can use your tunnel to get home.’

  The Doctor nodded back up the slope of the island. ‘You’d better get a move on,’ he said. ‘It’s not going to be there for long.’

  Mamps grinned. ‘We have a few things to take care of, first,’ she said. ‘We’re going to teach you apes a lesson. Now there’s no wet-hearted punters to see.’

  ‘There’s no need for that,’ said the Doctor. ‘Just go.’

  ‘Make me,’ grinned Mamps, and she idly swept her talons out and killed one of the humans stood by her side. The man toppled back, and those around him scattered in terror. Leeb and Cosmo chased after them, laughing.

  ‘Stop this!’ shouted the Doctor. ‘You don’t need to do this!’

  ‘And you made us give up our swords,’ shouted Aglauros.

  ‘I wanted to avoid any fighting!’ the Doctor protested.

  The Slitheen tore through the humans, talons snickering with speed. Mamps launched herself at the Doctor. June grabbed him, hauling him out of the way just in time. Mamps crashed down onto the deck, springing round to attack them again. June tried to drag the Doctor away, but he shook her off.

  ‘No more running,’ he said.

  Mamps loomed towards him, claws raised for the kill. The Doctor let her come. Mamps was seething with anger.

  ‘That doesn’t sound good,’ the Doctor told her. ‘I think you’re getting old.’

  ‘I am not,’ she wheezed, looming over him. The Doctor grinned at June.

  ‘When Slitheen get old,’ he said, ‘they suffer from hardening of their soft tissues. Slows them right down.’

  ‘Like hardening of the arteries?’ asked June. ‘I think my granddad had that.’

  ‘A bit like that,’ said the Doctor. ‘They slowly lose the moisture inside themselves. Bet it’s uncomfortable.’

  ‘I’ll have you know,’ said Mamps, bearing down on him, ‘that I’m in the prime of life. I’m certainly quicker than you.’

  She slashed her claws down on him. The Doctor ducked nimbly forward to grab her arm, but Mamps was too quick and tossed him casually aside. June saw the Doctor smash hard into the deck. Then she was looking up at Mamps’s razor-sharp teeth.

  ‘No one to save you now,’ Mamps gurgled.

  She raised her claws to strike. June cowered, nowhere to turn.

  ‘I wouldn’t,’ said the Doctor, behind Mamps.

  Mamps hesitated. ‘And how are you going to stop me?’

  ‘With your bracelet,’ said the Doctor. ‘I’m feeling rather peckish.’

  June and Mamps both glanced at Mamps’s wrist. The Doctor had swiped the bracelet when he’d grabbed her arm. Mamps turned slowly round. The Doctor aimed the bracelet in her direction. He took a step forward and pressed one of the buttons.

  Mamps cried out, but nothing happened, at least not to her. Away across the deck, Cosmo, wrestling Cecrops, cried out as his own bracelet erupted in pink smoke.

  ‘Go,’ said the Doctor to Mamps. ‘Before I change my mind.’

  Mamps considered. Then she called out to Leeb and Cosmo. ‘All right, that’s enough. We’re going.’

  They retreated over the side of the deck and onto the island. High up the hill, the spindly diving board still reached out across the water to the rip in time. The humans kept their distance, tending their wounded and dead. June couldn’t tell how many people the Slitheen had killed. But she seethed with anger at the dumb cruelty of it.

  ‘You can’t let them go,’ she told the Doctor.

  ‘Kill them,’ said Aglauros.

  ‘If they don’t get back home, their siblings will come looking for them,’ said the Doctor.

  Mamps leered. ‘They’ll come in force.’

  ‘You want the Slitheen to leave you in peace,’ the Doctor told Aglauros. ‘They will if you let these three go.’

  Aglauros turned to look at the dead and wounded people, the awful things the Slitheen had just done. Then she nodded. ‘Go,’ she told the Slitheen.

  ‘As you command,’ Mamps snickered, starting up the slope. And then she leapt back down onto the deck.

  She landed right in front of June. The shock knocked June from her feet. As she fell back, she saw Mamps withdrawing her claws. The Doctor cried out, running forward. Mamps laughed and leapt back to the island.

  June lay back, stunned, watching the three Slitheen racing up the slope of the island, faster than the pursuing humans. Let them go, she wanted to say. But she couldn’t get the words out. She looked down at her own body, at the gouge in her front where Mamps had stabbed her with one claw.

  The Doctor and Cecrops were either side of her, talking quickly about what to do. Deukalion joined them, his eyes wide in horror. June felt no pain, just a bit woozy. Perhaps the Slitheen’s claws were poisoned. Perhaps her own body had dulled the awful pain. She wanted to lie back and sleep. The Doctor yelled at her but she could barely hear him. She smiled to show she was OK, and fell back, her head hitting the deck as if it were a pillow.

  As the Doctor and Cecrops fussed over her, she looked up at the diving board, reaching out into the night. The Slitheen stopped to turn back and slash their claws at the pursuing humans. She saw Polos dodge a savage blow. Then Cosmo threw his claws up and pointed to the rent in the sky. It shimmered with silvery light, straining to untwist.

  The Slitheen turned away from the humans and hurried out across the diving board. It buckled and twanged under their weight. June saw them race across the diving board and hurl themselves at the rent in the air. And the rent just faded away. />
  Windmilling their claws and screaming, the three Slitheen dropped from the end of the diving board like stones. The board followed them, spinning round as it tumbled down into the sea. June lost sight of them behind the people fussing over her wound. The diving board had been maybe a mile high – no human could have survived such a fall. Despite what they’d done to her, she hoped the Slitheen survived. If they died, their siblings would surely enact a terrible revenge. She suddenly felt a terrible pain in her stomach, trying to consume her.

  The Doctor gazed down on her, such agony in his eyes. His lips moved but she couldn’t hear him. She struggled to read his lips.

  ‘It’s going to be OK,’ he assured her.

  She smiled, knowing he lied, and fell back into darkness.

  TWENTY-TWO

  JUNE WOKE UNABLE to move or see. She lay still, paralysed, staring up at the sweet-scented smoke curling above her, listening to the silence all around. Then she struggled to sit, but her arms were pinned to her sides by the blankets and her gut exploded with sudden, agonising pain. She fell back, letting out a single, ragged breath.

  ‘It’s OK,’ said Cecrops, coming over to her and smiling. ‘You’re going to be OK.’

  She smiled up at him, exhausted, then fell back into unconsciousness.

  Later, they brought her outside on a throne of ornately carved black wood. Sunlight warmed her face and skin, made her feel alive. She sat high up on the rock that would one day be the Acropolis and let people fuss around her. Away in the distance she could just see the mastless ruin of the Cutty Sark moored in the bay. The tidal wave had hit here, too, the whole shallow valley covered over in dark mud. June knew she was getting better when she started to notice the smell.

  But the mud proved very fertile, and June watched the Doctor wading about in it happily, followed by an entourage of the human soldiers. He had them cutting furrows and sowing seeds, all the time spouting enthusiasm and advice. Slowly the highly trained warriors learned the rudiments of farming. Herse and Polos were apparently the most gifted students.

 

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