The door of the office popped open.
Sarah Jane ran across the entrance hall, out of the building and dived into her car. Revving the engine, she sped away.
After taking one deep breath to steady her nerves., she put her mobile into its cradle on the dashboard and speed-dialled Luke’s number. ‘I was wrong,’ said Sarah Jane, when he answered. ‘It is aliens.’
‘I know!’ came Luke’s gasped reply. And then Sarah Jane’s blood ran cold as she heard the terrible sound of a Slitheen roar.
‘You too?’ she wailed. ‘Right, listen! You’ve got to…’
Luke snapped his phone shut. ‘Make a smell!’ he shouted. Clyde looked baffled.
They were running down a corridor. Kist, the Slitheen who’d been living inside Mr Jeffrey was in hot pursuit.
‘Sarah Jane says their sense of smell is very sensitive. Make a big enough smell and we can get away.’
‘What are you saying?’ panted Clyde. ‘We should fart our way out?’
‘Would that be funny?’
‘Come out, little ones!’ said Kist, in a sing-song tone.
Then another voice joined in. ‘They’re nearby, Daddy’ it said. ‘I can smell you, new Luke.’
‘We need a strong smell,’ urged Clyde.
‘A skunk?’ asked Luke.
‘Where’re we gonna find a skunk in west London?’
Clyde and Luke stopped running and pushed themselves flat against the wall. Clyde quickly rummaged in his bag and pulled out a can of deodorant. He held it up for his friend to see.
‘Wolverine,’ said an out-of-breath Luke, reading the label. ‘Pure masculine action.’ He smirked.
‘What?’ said Clyde, a little offended.
‘That’s funny.’ Luke was proud of himself. He was starting to get it.
Suddenly, the two Slitheen, father and son, appeared round the corner. Korst, the child, let out a triumphant scream - then they advanced…
Clyde sprayed his deodorant into the air. The aliens clutched their faces. They choked on the scent and staggered backwards.
‘Go!’ shouted Clyde.
The two boys tore off down the corridor.
Sarah Jane’s car came to a skidding halt outside the gates of Park Vale School. She flung the door open and raced towards the new block.
Before she saw them, she could hear their hammering. Clyde and Luke were banging their fists against the plate glass doors. But they couldn’t open them.
Maria joined them. ‘Think we’ve lost them,’ she said.
‘Behind you!’ yelled Sarah Jane, spotting two Slitheen approaching from the rear. ‘Get back!’
The kids moved away from the doors as Sarah used her sonic lipstick to unlock them.
Luke, Maria and Clyde burst out of the building.
Sarah reversed the setting on the device and the doors slammed back shut, automatically locking themselves with a solid clunk.
And not a second too soon, as just then the two Slitheen and Mr Blakeman crashed into the exit. But they were unable to get out. All three pounded on the doors.
‘Into the car!’ instructed Sarah.
As they ran for the car, Clyde turned to her. ‘What’s that?’ he asked.
‘Sonic lipstick,’ she replied, matter-of-factly.
‘Of course.’ Clyde shrugged.
‘What’s he doing here?’ she asked Maria.
‘Sorry.’
‘Somebody else’s life in my hands. Just what I needed.’ Sarah Jane sounded exasperated.
All four of them clambered into her car, Sarah Jane started the engine and they sped off.
Having given up trying to open the doors, Kist, Korst and the headmaster stared after them as they drove away.
‘That’s not fair, Daddy!’ moaned the child, petulantly. ‘That woman cheated! I want my hunt!’
His father put a massive arm around the lad. ‘Come here,’ he said, and gave the boy a reassuring squeeze.
‘That woman had some sort of sonic disruptor,’ said Blakeman. ‘This is a level five planet. They’re primitives. How did she get that? Who is she?’ he demanded.
‘The galactic police? She could be one of their agents,’ offered Kist.
‘No. She’s human. She smelt… soupy. Like they all do.’ Blakeman dismissed his concerns. ‘Still, if that’s her only weapon, she’s no big deal.’ He turned and moved off.
‘Daddy,’ said Korst. ‘I want to hunt! Why do I never get what I want?’
From an early age the Slitheen are taught to embrace the pursuit and slaughter of other creatures. While on Earth, humans were their prey.
‘You’ll have your hunt, I promise,’ his father replied. ‘After all, tonight’s the night the lights go out…’
Chapter Eight
Luke’s big mistake
Sarah Jane Smiths car had never been so full. She felt like a school bus driver instead of a journalist. How had all these children managed to get caught up in her crazy life?
Aliens were one thing, she thought - but three kids? That was ridiculous.
‘I want answers!’ demanded Clyde, as they all piled out of the car in front of Sarah’s house. ‘I’ve just been chased by aliens. You weren’t even freaked out. Why? Who are you lot?’
‘You’ve gotta go home - forget this ever happened,’ insisted Maria.
‘No! I’m gonna find out the truth,’ replied Clyde, firmly. ‘I’m part of this now. What’s in there?’ He pointed at Sarah Jane’s house. ‘Who’s that woman?' He pointed at Sarah Jane herself. ‘What’s going on?’ He pointed at nothing and everything at the same time.
‘Leave us alone!’ shouted Maria, and she moved off towards number thirteen. She was only doing this for his own good, to protect him - but Clyde didn’t see it that way.
He produced his mobile. ‘The police won’t leave you alone, though, when I tell them what just happened.’
Maria stopped and slowly turned around. He had her there.
Blakeman and Kist Slitheen arrived at the blank wall that disguised the entrance to the capacitor room.
‘At last,’ said the headmaster. ‘We’ve waited so long for this moment. Think about it.’
Kist sighed. ‘Times have been hard.’
‘They’ve been closing in on us from all sides. The other families against us. Judoon forcing us out.’ He was referring to the freelance galactic police, infamous for their use of extreme force. ‘We’ve been exiles. But this will give us a new beginning. Wealth, security -’
‘When we have the money - what then?’ interrupted Kist.
‘Well buy a fleet of battle cruisers and return home to Raxacoricofallapatorius.’ That was their home planet, on which the Slitheen family - for they were a family not a species - were convicted criminals sentenced to death.
‘I shall smite the Grand Council, crush the Senate!’ continued Blakeman. ‘The Blathereen and the Hostrozeen will beg for mercy at my feet! And then I’ll…’
Blakeman loosened his collar. He was becoming agitated at the thought of how he would humiliate the other families back home, who had all betrayed and spurned the great Slitheen clan.
‘But I mustn’t get carried away,’ he said. ‘First things first. We have the equation. Nothing can stop us.’
He activated the secret door. It slowly retracted, revealing the interior of the capacitor room.
‘Now it begins!’
‘Inhabitants of Raxa… Raxa… Oh, blimey!’ Sarah Jane was in her attic reading from the display of her scanner watch. She was having trouble with the pronunciation.
Luke peered over her shoulder. ‘Raxacoricofallapatorius,’ he said, with a grin.
‘Thanks.’ She continued reading. ‘The outcast Slitheen family are scavengers, thieves of others’ technology, known to infiltrate low-tech planets by hiding in the skins of the dominant native species.’ Sarah Jane paused. ‘Slitheens in Downing Street,’ she muttered.
‘What?’ asked Luke.
‘Something a friend said on
ce.’ She recalled what Rose Tyler had said to her when they were at another school, battling the Krillitane.
Had these Slitheen been responsible for the destruction of Number Ten Downing Street a couple of years ago? The media had said the alien ship that landed in the river Thames had been a hoax. Sarah Jane smiled ruefully to herself. She knew better than to believe everything the newspapers said.
She continued reading from her watch. ‘Gas exchange from body compression often results in… Oh!’ She stopped.
‘Farting?’ offered Luke. ‘Farting is funny.’
Sarah looked up. Maria and Clyde had entered the room.
‘Right, what’s going on here?’ asked the boy.
‘Why not bring all your little friends round? The whole school!’ said Sarah, crossly.
‘If he tells anybody, who’s gonna believe him?’ offered Maria.
‘Wait, wait, wait!’ Clyde was in need of some attention. ‘I’ve just had monsters from outer space on my back. No one’s telling me what’s going on.’
‘Just shut up for a moment, I’m busy!’ Sarah Jane’s bark was enough to silence him. ‘Right now, you’re not important. Huh! It’s getting like Clapham Junction in here.’
Sarah Jane needed time to think. Her young friends looked up at her expectantly.
‘Right,’ she continued at last. ‘The Slitheen must have taken over Coldfire Construction. They’ve thrown up buildings all around the world. But why?’
Maria and Clyde just shrugged, but Luke looked shamefaced. ‘I think I might know,’ he said, with a nervous edge to his voice. ‘There’s a hidden room in the school. I saw inside.’
Maria was eager to hear. ‘What was in there?’
‘I’ve got a theory about it.’ Luke paused. ‘Mr Smith could help…’
‘Who’s that?’ sneered Clyde. ‘Your dad?’
It was at times like these that Sarah Jane would have turned to K-9 for help. But he was busy sealing off a black hole caused by Swiss scientists, and had been for the past eighteen months.
‘Mr Smith,’ called Sarah. ‘I need you.’
Clyde span round to where a clicking, whirring noise was coming from. The lights in the attic flashed on and off, and the brick chimney breast started to divide and slowly open up.
Inside was a huge screen surrounded by hundreds of wires and cables, and a vast bank of high-tech equipment - knobs, buttons, levers, dials. A strange, pink, three-dimensional diamond revolved on the screen.
Clyde gawped at the machine in amazement. ‘Good afternoon, Sarah Jane,’ said Mr Smith, in his polite, electronic voice.
‘Is that a computer?’ asked Clyde.
‘Who’s that?’ asked the machine.
‘Nobody,’ Sarah Jane said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. ‘Mr Smith, Luke would like some help.’
‘Certainly,’ said Mr Smith. ‘Hello, Luke.’
‘Hello, Mr Smith,’ said Luke. ‘Bring up our satellite image of London, please.’
The computer obliged, and the pink diamond was replaced by a detailed map of the city.
‘Now plot the exact positions of each school block put up by Coldfire Construction.’
‘No problem,’ said Mr Smith.
White dots appeared all over the map. It was immediately clear that there were more Coldhre buildings north of the Thames than south.
Luke pointed to where they lived. ‘Ealing- that’s us,’ he said.
‘St Cheldon’s in Upminster, schools at Epping, Amersham, Richmond, Morden…’ Sarah Jane scratched her head. What did they all have in common? she wondered.
The ends of Tube lines,’ blurted out Clyde.
But no one seemed to hear him.
‘Mr Smith, plot the positions of every Coldfire building put up in the last eighteen months around the world,’ said Sarah Jane.
The display changed to show the Earth from space. White spots appeared at points all over the globe.
‘Paris, Sydney, Beijing…’ Sarah Jane pondered. ‘Let me think…’ The room fell silent as everyone concentrated. ‘They’re not all capital cities. They’re spread all over the place - looks pretty random. Hang on.’ Sarah Jane was having a thought. Her eyes started to sparkle and a tiny smile curled the comers of her mouth. ‘Underground railways!’ she declared, with assured calmness. ‘They’ve all got underground railways!’
‘Don’t have to thank me,’ said Clyde, petulantly.
‘Rotate the image,’ commanded Sarah Jane.
The picture rotated slowly to show America. This too was stubbed with white dots. There were Slitheen operations all around the world.
‘Link the locations,’ said Sarah.
A line formed between the points, steadily building to a giant zigzag pattern all across the planet’s surface.
‘Oh… my…’ Sarah’s mouth was wide open in horror. ‘There’s at least one Slitheen at every site.’ Clyde counted on his fingers. ‘There are ten cities, ten sites… Right, call the Army!’
‘Cos that always makes things better!’ chipped in Maria, sarcastically.
‘It’s not our problem though, is it?’
Sarah Jane stepped in. ‘There’s always a cleverer way of going about things.’ She turned to Luke. ‘But what’s it all for? What are they doing? The secret room - what was in there?’
Luke turned white, which for him, being very pale already, was quite an achievement. He had something he needed to tell Sarah, but he didn’t want to. So this was what it felt like to be a human teenager…
‘Sarah Jane,’ he began, nervously. ‘I’ve done something stupid. A really bad social mistake.’
‘I made a worse one. I asked you to go into that place, and then this happens.’
‘You don’t understand.’ Luke looked at his feet, then back at Sarah Jane. ‘I told the Slitheen how to destroy the world.’
Chapter Nine
No hope in sight
Massive bolts of electrical energy, fizzing from the capacitor, threw giant shadows onto the walls - the shadows of Blakeman, Kist Slitheen and his son, Korst.
The headmaster was typing numbers into a hand-held keypad. ‘I’ve input the boy’s catalyst equation. Now it works perfectly.’ He surveyed the room - delighted at his own cleverness. ‘We’ll take the night side first. Build up the charge section by section.’
Blakeman reached over the panel of controls and took down an overhead microphone. He pressed a button on the side and spoke in a grand, self- important tone. This is Glune Fex Fize Sharleveer Slam Slitheen to all Slitheen units.’
The creature was happy using his alien name, even if he still looked human. The body of Mr Blakeman was uncomfortable, but soon he would be able to tear off this earthly skin and assume his true Slitheen form.
‘Is everyone ready?’ he asked, in a more jolly tone.
A barrage of Slitheen voices replied. Each unit affirmed that they were poised to put their scheme into action…
Luke put down his pen. He had drawn a rough version of the diagram Mr Jeffrey had shown him in Science Club. Sarah, Maria and Clyde gazed at it, bemused.
‘It wasn’t working properly,’ Luke admitted. ‘Until I went and gave them the answer.’
Sarah Jane wanted to take her adopted son in her arms and hug him. She felt so sorry for the lad. He’d only done what he’d thought was right - what he believed would make other people like him. But she held back. This was neither the time nor the place. He’d only feel more embarrassed than he already was. ‘Oh, Luke…’ she said.
‘The power cut last night must have been a test run,’ said Luke.
‘But our candles went out,’ observed Maria. ‘They’re not electric.’
Mr Smith made his presence known. ‘When the capacitors are charged up they act as transducers, converting heat and light into electrical energy.’ The screen zoomed in on the interlinked network. ‘That’s how the loop works. It’s not connected physically.’
‘So what have the underground railways got to do with it?’
asked Maria.
‘The system must generate enormous heat,’ offered Sarah Jane. ‘The railway tunnels act as a cooling system.’
‘Glad we sorted that out,’ said Clyde, flicking his eyes skyward.
‘And the people getting ill, the food going off - that’s the effect of living or working next to one of the capacitors?’ asked Sarah Jane.
‘Indeed,’ affirmed Mr Smith. ‘Even on standby, the transducers would cause cellular decay in organic matter.’
Luke looked sadly at his diagram. ‘With this system they can drain every last drop of energy from the Earth. Our school was the last link in the chain.’
‘But it needs the whole chain, all together, to do that?’ asked Maria.
‘Yes,’ replied Luke.
Clyde couldn’t take it all in. ‘Bomb the school,’ he said, flippantly.
Sarah Jane ignored this suggestion. ‘If we could get in there, could you destroy the entire system - safely?’
‘I think so,’ said Luke. ‘If we reset the system, shut it down for just a second. I’d need a cutting tool though.’
Sarah Jane produced her sonic lipstick. ‘Like this?’ she asked.
‘Yeah,’ said Maria. ‘But how do we get past the… what did you call them? Slitheen?’
‘We bomb them,’ offered Clyde, unhelpfully.
Before Sarah Jane could respond, Mr Smith interrupted. ‘I’ve picked up this report on an American news channel.’
The screen went blank for a second, then retuned to an American TV station. Breaking stories scrolled across the info-bar at the bottom of the screen as a newsreader read out the latest report. Other staff darted about in the background behind a glass partition - there was clearly a major incident taking place.
‘There’s been a massive loss of power on the west coast of North America,’ said the newsreader. ‘Los Angeles has gone dark.’
The screen cut to a map of California, with lights going out all over it. Whole cities, just shutting down.
‘It’s starting,’ said Sarah Jane, with frightening gravity.
‘And I showed them how to do it,’ added Luke. ‘The day I was born I saved the world.’ He hung his head in shame, not wanting to look his friends in the eye. ‘And now I’ve helped destroy it.’
[Sarah Jane Adventures 02] - Revenge of the Slitheen Page 5