Doctor Who_ Placebo Effect Part 30

The Doctor raised his head gravely and looked up into the amber discs that were the Wirrrn Queen's eyes, seeing himself and Ms Sox reflected there.

He breathed deeply as he spoke to her.

'I congratulate you, Your Majesty. Never have I seen such an audacious plan almost come to fruition. And one that is so wholly malevolent.You realise that I am here to put a stop to it.'

The Wirrrn Queen wriggled, presumably indicating some Wirrrn equivalent of amus.e.m.e.nt. With one of her long proboscises, she pointed downward.

Beneath her, a horrible tableau existed.

There were four Wirrrn grubs plus a miniature version of the Queen, a Swarm Leader, all moving slightly, as if ready to pounce.

Lying prostrate on the floor were two of the Church of the Way Forward, a man and woman, obviously unconscious. Beside them, smiling bizarrely, was the apparently untouched Reverend Lukas.

The most horrible thing of all was that drooping from the belly of the suspended Queen was an empty egg sac.

The Doctor glanced at the glowing generator. 'Of course, energy to keep her warm, and to provide succour for the breeding grounds.'He tapped Ms Sox's arm.'Power source?'

'Self-generating.'

'Electrical?'

'Naturally, why?'

"They don't like it, Ms Sox.'

She shrugged. 'Oh, I can see that. I mean, that's why they live here, next to something they don't like.'

The Doctor kept his gaze fixed on the Queen.'Absolutely. Needs must and all that. I presume it replicates the natural energy of a sun. Powers the planet, yes?'

Ms Sox agreed.

'How fascinating. What an amazing feat of engineering, to condense all that into one generator.'

'Carrington Corp spent billions developing it, Doctor. If we get out of here, remind me to show you the plans. They're top-secret.'

"Then why show me?' he smiled.'After all, I might sell them to a compet.i.tor.'

"That's why I said 'if, Doctor. Frankly, I think we just committed suicide.'

The Swarm Leader moved towards them and for a fleeting moment, the Doctor could glimpse the pain-racked face of a human male, mid-fifties, superimposed over it.

'Torin Chalfont, I presume.'

The Swarm Leader spoke in a harsh, guttural voice, the last vestiges of its human vocal chords vibrating as intended, deliberately not wholly transformed to enable it to communicate in this primitive fas.h.i.+on.

'Hear me, Doctor. You will be absorbed. Your mind will be a very important addition to the Hive.'

The four grubs slithered nearer to Ms Sox, who involuntarily stepped back, creating a small gap between her and the Doctor. A grub moved immediately to fill that gap, but neither she nor the Doctor came into contact with one.

And then h.e.l.l broke loose.

Blaster fire from behind the Doctor started, and Sam raced in followed by Kyle and some SSS agents, plus a very happy-looking V'orrn, who blasted away at the Queen.

'You're late' yelled the Doctor.

'And you told me not to come!' Sam retorted.

He gave her a thumbs up. 'A few moments more and the proverbial nick of time would have been a pretty deep gas.h.!.+'

The Wirrrn grubs had reared up and dived towards the soldiers, trapping them by the small cavern entrance from the tunnel.

Ms Sox remembered that during their walk to this place, the Doctor had said something about how just one touch could make someone part of their 'hive-mind', or whatever. She realised she couldn't risk even getting near the.. .thing, so instead, she hurled her datapad at the Swarm Leader, hoping no one would charge her with damaging Carrington Corp property at a later date. Although it had little effect on the Wirrrn, the b.u.mp distracted it. Now, suddenly unfurling small wings, the Swarm Leader flew straight up, slas.h.i.+ng at her with a pair of ferocious-looking talons at the end of its tail.

The V'orrn jumped down, blasting at the Swarm Leader, so it turned its attention to him, severing his head with one swish of its tail.

'No!' screamed Sam, but the Doctor tugged her closer to him.

'Sonic screwdriver, Sam.Where is it!'

But Sam was yelling obscenities at the Wurrn, too distracted to hear him.

Then the Doctor saw Kyle jump bravely over a grub and pull the sonic screwdriver from his own robe pockets.

'Thank you,' said the Doctor, and pushed Sam towards Kyle. 'Don't let her do anything stupid!'

'How?'

'I was hoping you'd tell me that later,' the Doctor retorted.

Sam pulled away from Kyle and they both dropped down beside the dead V'orrn. 'd.a.m.n. d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n,' Sam was muttering, staring at her dead friend. Taking a deep breath, Kyle grabbed the dropped blaster and stood up.

The Swarm Leader dived straight at them but Kyle did not flinch. He saw it arch its tail, ready to lash out, but at the last moment he threw himself forward, under the tail, and swivelled around, firing straight into the back of its head.

The dead Swarm Leader crashed to the floor, lying across one of the grubs menacing Ms Sox.

Kyle pulled Sam up and back towards the soldiers trapped in the tunnel.

'The ones from the surface!' yelled Clarke. 'They're behind us!'

'They were hiding!'

'So that's why we couldn't find them,' muttered Sam. 'Clever slugs.'

Ms Sox suddenly dived towards the Doctor, probably thinking it was safer where he was, but Kyle saw the previously immobile Reverend Lukas punch her in the stomach, and she doubled up. Sam immediately dashed over to help her.

Kyle could see Jolyon and Phillipa, unconscious, but where were the others?

'Veronique! Max! Eldritch and Marcus! Where are they, Reverend Father?'

Reverend Lukas pointed at the fourWirrrn grubs in the cavern with them, taking fire from Sergeant Dallion's men.

No... He couldn't have given them to this... this...

Kyle pelted across the floor and started hitting Reverend Lukas, who just pushed him away, laughing.

'Don't you see, Kyle? The G.o.ddess is here. All around us. This is the end of our journey. We have found salvation!'

While Sam helped Ms Sox up, the Doctor turned his sonic screwdriver on to the generator casing.

A maintenance hatch slid back and the Doctor made some adjustments.

'Come on, come on,' he said to himself.

'What are you doing, Doctor?' asked Ms Sox, her attention really on the horrendous figure of the Wirrrn Queen above her, who was now screeching angrily.

The sonic screwdriver ceased giving off sonic waves, and a thin red beam shot out of the end, cutting into some of the wiring, haphazardly.

A few wires shorted.

'So, that's how you do it,' Sam said.

'Get back,' he hissed to Ms Sox. 'Try to get that boy as near the tunnel as you can without touching the grubs. They're lethal!'

Ms Sox looked as if she was going to argue.

'Please! You're as bad as Sam!'

That did it, and Ms Sox dashed away, pulling Kyle away from the laughing Reverend Lukas.

'As bad as me. Thanks.' Sam smiled.'You want me here because you want me to do something brave and stupid, don't you?'

'You always were a fast learner, Sam.'

"That's right, Doctor. I'm now a b.l.o.o.d.y expert. I threw away my Doctor's-a.s.sistant L-plates three years ago on the Mu Camelopides moon.'

The Doctor looked at her, as if he was seeing for the first time just how much she had grown up in the last few years.'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I think we need to sit down and talk. About you, very soon. I've rather neglected you, haven't I?'

The Winrn Queen started to squirm, and Sam saw the walls shake slightly as she did so.

'G.o.d, you choose your moments, Doctor' She pointed upward. 'Someone's getting tetchy.'

'Let's pray this works, Sam.'

Pray.

'Doctor? D'you believe in G.o.d?'

The Doctor stared at her. Then smiled. 'What did you just say about choosing your moments?'

But Sam just stared, oblivious to everything. 'I need an answer, but I don't know why.'

'Later, Sam. Later. Right now, I need you to attract Her Majesty's pincers.'

Almost mechanically, she thumped the Queen's tail. Instantly it flicked out, the talons missing Sam's face by less than half an inch.

And instead they rounded on the Doctor.

He stabbed his sonic screwdriver into the severed, live, sparking wiring in the generator, and ducked.

And the talons connected with the screwdriver, knocking it into another few wires and completing the circuit.

Exactly how many millions of volts went through the Wimrn Queen's body at that second, Sam could not imagine, but the blue flash and acrid smell hit her a second before the blackness did.

Sam awoke because the Doctor was shaking her.

In her head, she could hear groans and mutters from the others and she opened her eyes. 'h.e.l.lo. Did it work?'

'Sort of,' the Doctor replied, and Sam looked over to where they had been standing before the electric backlash had hit them.

The Queen was slumped, half torn from her sac in the wall. Reverend Lukas was lying completely still across the unconscious Phillipa and Jolyon.

The four Wirrrn grubs in the room with them were also quite still. One had ruptured and was oozing green pus on to the floor.

'The others? In the corridor?'

'That's where it went wrong. The tunnels didn't conduct the electricity like the coated floor of the cavern. They've escaped.'

'To the surface?' That was Dallion, staggering over and helping up Ms Sox.

'We must get after them. They're still dangerous.'

Sam looked around. Agent Fenton was dead, lying on his back, eyes wide open, half his face coated in mucus. Standing over him was Clarke, shaking his head, and from what the others were saying to him, Sam realised he had shot his own comrade to spare him the transformation.

Apart from that, shaken but not too badly stirred, everyone was OK.

Dallion grabbed her troops and headed off after the escaping Wirrrn grubs.

Kyle and Ms Sox looked at the Doctor and Sam.

'Well, what are we waiting for? It's not over yet.' The Doctor pointed to the tunnel. 'Thataway, I think.'

Commandant Ritchie was not expecting the sheer number of Wirrrn that poured out of the tunnel entrance, and neither were his troopers. They had thought the worst of it was over.

But Consort Ethelredd was prepared and he grabbed De'Ath and hauled him into the newly arrived s.p.a.ce Pioneer. 'Man the blasters,' he snapped.