Doctor Who_ Placebo Effect Part 31

Without argument, De'Ath went to do so.

On the surface, the Wirrrn moved on, ignoring the agents who blasted at them, snagging any that got too close - not enough to infect them, it seemed, just to cause confusion as the agents stopped firing for fear of hitting their friends.

Suddenly the Wirrrn changed course, and began swarming into two of the parked trooper carriers.

'Can they fly?' Sumner asked Green Fingers, as they watched, horrified, from closer to the Stadium entrance.

'Depends if any of the pilots are still in there.'

The start-up of the propulsion units answered that. The Wirrrn had claimed at least two more victims.

Just as the carriers started to rise, causing the ground troops to run away for fear of being caught by the powerful antigrav engines, Green Fingers gasped in horror.

'They're starting up the interstellar engines. They're going to try escaping the atmosphere.'

'Can they do that in one of those?' asked Sumner.

Green Fingers nodded.'At least to get them to something bigger on one of the s.p.a.ce stations or any of the nearer worlds: Seconds later, Dallion and her troopers were running out of the runnel and, after a moment's hesitation to take it all in, piled on to the s.p.a.ce Pioneer .

After a brief pause, that too took off.

Then the Doctor's party emerged.

'Good luck, Sergeant,' he said quietly.

The first reports from the s.p.a.ce Pioneer came in half an hour later. They had successfully destroyed one of the carriers but the other had docked with a deep-s.p.a.ce cruiser after the Pioneer had lost track of it. By the time they realised what had happened, the cruiser was heading off, and the Pioneer was giving pursu 'It doesn't appear to be heading anywhere,' said the young holotechnician receiving reports from Sergeant Dallion.

'It is,' said the Doctor to Ritchie.'It's doing the only thing it can. The Wirrrn's survival instinct is taking them home. To the Andromedan Galaxy.'

'I'll recall the s.p.a.ce Pioneer . If they stay chasing it for too long, they'll never have enough fuel to get back. And other s.h.i.+ps can continue the chase.'

"That's up to you.' The Doctor shrugged and walked away. 'I'm going to have a rest.'

Chapter 12.

There's A Planet in My Kitchen

The Doctor was shaking Ms Sox's hand.

'So, you have Carrington Corp to yourself now. I'm sorry that it had to happen in the way that it did.'

Ms Sox nodded. 'So am I. Chase Carrington was a good man, and I will ensure that his work is carried on. Micawber's World will recover, you know.'

'I understand from Events Coordinator Simmer that the Federation have suggested restarting the games in three weeks. Will you still fund them?'

Ms Sox nodded. 'Oh yes, Doctor. To let this tragedy overshadow the gathering together of all the species under one sun, as it were, would be a real disaster.'

There was a knock on the office door and Green Fingers trundled in. 'You'll be pleased to note, Doctor,' he said after the usual round of greetings,'that your plan has worked.'

The Doctor nodded. 'Good.'

'Plan? Which plan was this, then?' asked Ms Sox.

The Doctor grinned broadly. "The plan that involved me coming up not only with a neutralising agent to counter the drugs, but a retraction agent into the bargain.'

'Which will do?'

'Which will slowly unravel the hostile DMA that is embedded within each athlete's system, and at the same time bolster the immune system so that it will be safely broken down and eradicated.'

Ms Sox frowned.'So will they be able to take part in the Games?'

The Doctor shook his head, sadly. 'Those who took the red capsules, well, maybe they'll be able to partic.i.p.ate in the next Games. But the ones who took the more powerful blue ones, I'm afraid not. I may have destroyed theWim-n DNA, but the cost to tne atheletes' own bodies will be high. Most of them will need organ transplants, possibly cybernetic surgery, and I'm afraid all of them will have to be sterilised. Some of the weaker and smaller compet.i.tors such as the Morogs, the Kleptons and the Saurians may still die eventually as a result of all this. Their bodies might well collapse under the strain of the internal changes.'

'Some of us might be heartless enough to point out that if they hadn't taken the drugs, or wanted to cheat in the Games, they wouldn't be in this predicament.' Ms Sox tossed her hair back, and shrugged.'I'm tempted to say they got what they deserved.'

'Are you, now?' The Doctor looked at her, sadly. 'Let's leave the sermons against drugs to the schools, shall we? I've had enough banner-waving and indoctrination from the Church of the Way Forward this trip, all right? I'm just glad I could ensure that no one will discover a Wirrrn eating them from the inside.'

The Foamasi Amba.s.sador raised a clawed hand.'I'm pleased you were able to help, Doctor, but there is another small problem. Commandant Ritchie's people have gone into the tunnels and found the cavern. The covering on the walls and floors has been easily removed and destroyed, as have the Wirrrn bodies. Except there was no sign of the Wirrrn Queen's body. It looks as if she managed to get away.'

The Doctor crossed to a window and looked upwards into the sky.'I wonder...'

'All I have ever wanted is immortality!'

Unreadable eyes stared down at Reverend Lukas. No head movement. Not even a mandible trembled.

'I did it all for you, G.o.ddess. Everything I have striven for over the years, the work, the sacrifice.You are the Blessed One.You are My Love.' He was on his knees before the Queen, gazing up, desperately searching for a sign of life. The welts on her chitin were blackened and cracked. Her antennae -were drooped limply over her face.

'She's... dead... Father.'

Reverend Lukas did not turn at the sound of Jotyon's voice. 'I know. I know.' He wiped a tear from down the side of his nose. 'She is beautiful.'

'Why are... we here? Where exactly are... we?'

Lukas finally looked back at his two devoted helpers. They were lying on the acceleration couches, gripping each other's hand tightly. Phillipa was unconscious. Luckily for her. Lukas shuffled over on his knees, grabbing Jolyon's free hand, grinning widely.

'You, beloved boy, you are the future. The G.o.ddess chose you. Both of you. An honour denied me, but you are so lucky.'

Jolyon tried to focus. He also tried to sit up, but realised he was strapped down. He pulled his hand free of Phillipa and tried to loosen the belt, but couldn't. Prising his other hand free of Lukas's fervent grip, he pulled harder but nothing gave.

Jolyon looked across as Phillipa, her chest rising slowly, a sign of deep sleep.'Phillipa...?'

Lukas shook him, bringing his attention back to the Reverend. 'Enjoy your new role in the Church of the Way Forward. You will become a Beloved.'

Lukas clasped his own hands together as if praying.'Canonised, perhaps.'

'Where are we?' repeated Jolyon, somewhat more urgently.'Why are we tied down?'

Lukas looked back at the dead Queen, propped against the wall. 'Going home, Beloved Child. Back to the stars whence we came, millions of years before.'

'Father... what are you talk -'Jolyon stopped. He looked at Phillipa again, then back at the dead Queen. 'No... no... oh G.o.ddess, no...'

Inside him he suddenly felt it. It touched his mind, it touched every sense, every nerve, every thought. And if it was inside him, and he was strapped down, then Phillipa, strapped down as well must have one inside...

'Lukas! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! What have you done to us?'

Reverend Lukas was on his feet, throwing himself at the carca.s.s of the dead Queen, embracing it. "They don't understand yet, G.o.ddess. But they will. So soon, they will understand. Then they will lead us to new pastures, new temples, new followers.'

Jolyon was struggling violently, but to no avail. Lukas had strapped them down too well.

He could hear it, feel it, permeating everything in his body as it absorbed his mind, absorbed his consciousness. Devouring his history. His life.

He opened his mouth to spit more obscenities at Lukas, to cry out to his beloved Phillipa, in blessed sleep, unaware of what was growing inside her, engorging her...

But when eventually he found enough energy to make a sound, the only noise he made was one word, hissed as a mixture of terror and elation as Jolyon Tuck finally ceased to exist as a human individual.

'Wirrrrrrrrnnnnn'

And the last thing his human eyes saw was Reverend Lukas smiling insanely at him.

The shuttle continued on its journey, deeper and deeper into s.p.a.ce...

Kyle Dale patted the outside of the TARDIS.

'It's a marvellous s.h.i.+p, Sam.'

Sam nodded. 'Yup. More rooms than you can imagine, better facilities than you've ever seen and a machine that makes the meanest cup of Darjeeling you Ve ever tasted.'

'But no chapel? No place of wors.h.i.+p?'

'I guess the Doctor never needed one. Or maybe there is, and I've never found it.' A momentary flash of Stacy Townsend and Ssard zooming off to the stars zapped through her mind's eye. "Then again, not even I know all the TARDIS' secrets.'

Kyle swallowed hard. 'You're going to ask me to go with you, aren't you?'

'Ami?'

Kyle nodded. 'But I can't. There's too much to do here. The Church needs a new Way Forward. Maybe I can help provide that path, show newcomers the right direction.'

Sam shrugged. 'I must ask you this, Kyle. Do you really have that right? To tell people what to believe in? And how to believe? After all that you found out about your "G.o.ddess"? You told me that your faith, your absolute belief came from within. Lukas might have been your leader but he wasn't much more than a signpost on a map.You know your faith is within you. Why stay here just to prove it?'

Kyle laughed suddenly. 'You should be a politician. Or one of those holovid presenters, coaxing intelligent responses out of athletes.' He took her right hand in both of his. 'I know what you are saying, Sam, but my answer is no.

You're right, I do know what my path is, where my heart and my faith lie.

And they tell me that there is still much to be done here, and around the Federation. There is a new millennium dawning in a few months. I need to be here to see it in, to help celebrate the wonder that is eternity and the joy that the year 4000 will hold.'

Sam drew her hand back. 'And what if I told you the future? What if I told you I know what the next year will bring? What if I said that thousands will die in a galactic war, or maybe millions will perish in a terrible disease or that planet Earth will be vaporised in a s.p.a.ce battle? Would that change your mind?'

'Do you really need to ask?'

Sam took a final look around Micawber's World. The Utopia of the Next Millennium , according to the advertising h.o.a.rdings. Then she stared back at Kyle.

'Hey, Kyle, it was fun. Dangerous, terrifying and very, very tragic. But it was fun being with you. I understand you're staying here, and what you must do. But I've got to go with the Doctor, keep his nose wiped and his TARDIS working. He's my mission, if you like. No, that's patronising, I'm sorry. Your faith is more than that. But he's... He is what I must do. Does that make sense?'

Kyle reached over and kissed her on the cheek, then on the lips. Gently.

Almost a brush, and she felt his touch like b.u.t.terfly wings on her face, his breath on hers. And he moved back.

G.o.d, she was going to cry. Not at losing him, but at the sudden understanding of how pure he was. How untainted and unspoiled by the hypocrisy of his mentor, and by the terrible events they had witnessed. His G.o.d, or G.o.ddess or whatever, really was there, inside him. An intrinsic part of his being.

She could never possibly be a part of that.

And that, she knew, was just plain sad. For all her family's going to church on a Sunday, singing hymns and praying, neither they nor anyone else had provided her with anything like the belief in the goodness of the universe that Kyle possessed.

'Goodbye, Kyle.'

'May your own G.o.d be with you, Samantha.' He bowed slightly and walked away, not looking back.

Sam heard the TARDIS door open behind her. The Doctor had waited. Had he watched? Probably.

'But I kept the sound off; he said gently, giving her that smile that said he understood.'Now, we must get to Kolpasha and finally have dinner with Stacy and Ssard - if you're up to that?' Sam nodded. 'Oh,' said the Doctor.

'One other thing.' He placed something in her hand and she brought it up to stare at it.

It was like the gra.s.s sculpture they had given Stacy and Ssard at their wedding. Only this time, the Doctor had made an image of Kyle.

'So you won't forget him,' he said quietly.

She nodded, but said nothing until Kyle was a dark spot in the distance.

"Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate this.' She gave a small laugh and held the gra.s.s sculpture up to the Doctor. 'Kyle Dale is now immortal, eh?'

The Doctor nodded. 'By the way...'

Sam frowned.'What?'