Doctor Who_ Fear Of The Dark Part 45

The Doctor jumped as as Cadwell's hand suddenly grasped his arm. Cadwell's hand suddenly grasped his arm.

Cadwell's head turned towards him, his eyes staring out through the closed lids. The white lips opened to reveal gla.s.sy teeth and a a colourless tongue. colourless tongue.

'Take it easy,' the Doctor advised, holding onto him.

'Don't try to speak.'

'Not dead yet,' Cadwell gasped.

'I know, I know. You'll be all right.'

'Not me... you fool... the Dark.'

The Doctor frowned and leaned closer. Cadwell's voice was as thin as his flesh. 'Flare... scared... it away... for now.'

'Shh,' the Doctor said, supporting him as he began to wilt. He had never seen anyone look so fragile. 'Don't talk.

Save your strength.'

'Too late... again... Doctor.' Tears eased their way from Cadwell's watery eyes. Every word seemed to be painful.

'Not got... long to go... now. But... the Dark... will be back. It's hurt... angry... but... you've got some time... now.'

The Doctor gripped Cadwell harder, but he could feel his fingers sinking into the transparent flesh of his arm. His bones felt as though they would crumble to the touch.

'Take... this...' Cadwell held up his gun. 'You might need it.' Because he couldn't think of anything else to do, the Doctor took the gun. Cadwell's fingers felt as cold and brittle as gla.s.s.

'Do the... decent thing, for once,' Cadwell croaked. 'Kill yourself... and your friends... while you still can.'

Then he slumped down, breaking apart in the Doctor's arms as his bones shattered and his skin tore like tissue.

Blood gushed out like water over the cave floor.

The Doctor stood up and watched the liquid run off his hands. Then he turned to Stoker. 'It seems we have a reprieve, at least.' Stoker couldn't stop looking at Cadwell's remains. 'For how long?'

'I don't know. Long enough to think of something else, perhaps.'

Stoker switched her gaze to the Doctor. Even he looked sceptical. He was still fingering the dark bruise on his face, but he stopped when he noticed her looking. 'Now then,' he said. 'Where did you say Nyssa and Tegan were?'

Tegan had crawled out from beneath a large section of hull plate and found herself in the shadow of the Adamantium's steel carca.s.s. At least, she had thought it was shadow; when she stood up and walked out into what she thought was the light of Akoshemon, she discovered that the whole moon seemed to be bathed in an eerie dusk.

Akoshemon itself was a dark blot against the darker sky above. It reminded her of the strange twilight that accompanied a solar eclipse.

She heard the radio bleep and s.n.a.t.c.hed it up to her lips.

'Doctor?'

'Tegan?' The Doctor's voice was loud and clear. Are you all right?'

'No! I've lost Nyssa. She fell inside the s.h.i.+p and I can't find her anywhere.'

There was a pause before the Doctor replied. 'You'd better get back here.'

'Not until I've found Nyssa.'

'Tegan, we need to regroup.' The Doctor gave a terse account of what had happened in the cave. 'l think we've given the Dark a b.l.o.o.d.y nose but it'll be back for more very soon.'

Tegan stiffened. 'I'm not doing anything until I've found Nyssa. And that's final.'

'Well, where do you think she could be?' A note of exasperation entered the Doctor's voice. 'We may not have a lot of time, Tegan.'

'So you're saying I should just forget about her?'

'No! But we need to stick together. Come down to the main cavern and we'll think what to do.'

'No, Doctor. You You come up here.' come up here.'

The Doctor gritted his teeth and switched off the comlink.

'Problem?' asked Stoker.

'There always is,' he spat venomously, 'with her. her. She's been a problem ever since she first blundered into my TARDIS!' She's been a problem ever since she first blundered into my TARDIS!'

'Take it easy,' Stoker said. 'You're getting overwrought.

Doesn't suit you.'

The Doctor seemed to realise what he had said and sagged against the cave wall, abashed. He was pale and there was a haunted look in his eyes. He rubbed at the bruise on his face. It was a strange-looking mark: dark grey, but deep beneath the skin. Stoker took a step closer so that she could see it more clearly.

'What's the matter?' asked the Doctor, suspicious.

'That's no bruise.

'What?' The Doctor touched the mark again. 'It feels so...

cold.' The skin was transparent. The black mark looked like a shadow on the bone beneath.

'You say the Dark touched you there?'

The Doctor nodded. 'It wanted me. It nearly got me. It was too close'

'You're s.h.i.+vering'

'It's just a reaction.' The Doctor turned away so that Stoker couldn't see the black mark.

'It did that to Cadwell,' said Stoker, pointing at the Consortium man's body, 'then it started on you. Only I interrupted it.'

'Possibly. But it could have destroyed me in an instant.'

'Then why didn't it?'

Tegan was circling the Adamantium, Adamantium, hoping to see some sign of Nyssa. hoping to see some sign of Nyssa.

She kept calling out to her but there was no response. It was difficult to see anything very clearly in the gloom, anyway. And her torch looked like it was giving up the ghost.

She had almost walked around the entire s.h.i.+p. She was beginning to think that it really was hopeless, and that she had better find the Doctor. Maybe he could think of something. But Tegan wasn't happy with the idea: the Doctor had sounded strange on the radio, almost distracted. It wasn't like him not to worry about Nyssa.

It occurred to her that he might have been affected by the Dark. He had said that it had tried to manifest itself or something in the cave. And after all, it had been playing with his perceptions and his reactions ever since they had arrived on this wretched moon.

Maybe the Dark was trying to influence his thoughts again.

And if that were the case, then he would be in need of her help. She activated the comlink. 'Doctor? Are you receiving me? Over.' Nothing but static.

'He's switched it off,' she realised. And then she started to run, heading for the caves.

'You need to rest,' Stoker said, putting her hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

He flinched. 'Can't rest,' he said. 'Got to fight it.'

Stoker was disconcerted. She hadn't seen the Doctor so badly upset since Nyssa's heart attack. He looked to be on the verge of panic. 'Well, OK. Is there anything I can do to help?'

He smiled faintly at her. 'I'm afraid not; the Dark has been chipping away at my mental barriers since I arrived. It's nearly through. But I can't let it in. I mustn't!'

Abruptly he fell to his knees with a sharp gasp. 'It's trying again,' he said. He reached out and grabbed her hands, squeezing them. 'Got to resist it!'

'Right!' Stoker agreed. She felt like panicking herself.

What the h.e.l.l was she supposed to do now? 'What the h.e.l.l am I supposed to do now?'

'Stay with me,' the Doctor told her. Sweat stood out on his face.

'Where are Tegan and Nyssa? I need them here as well.'

'I, erm...'

The Doctor screwed his eyes shut, remembering.

'Nyssa's lost.

Fallen. The Dark will take her again: His eyes snapped open, and he looked stricken. 'It'll get Tegan next. She's...

coming down here. It's a trap. She thinks I'm not in my right mind...'

'Well.' Stoker said, 'you're not, are you?'

He pulled her close. 'Of course I'm not! The Dark's tried to get me one way... now it's trying to get under my skin.

Using my friends against me!'

'They'll be fine. I'm sure they will.'

The Doctor stared intently at her. 'They are not not fine. Look around you.' A black haze was slowly filling the cavern again. fine. Look around you.' A black haze was slowly filling the cavern again.

'It's getting darker. It's coming back!'

Chapter Twenty-One.

Tegan ran into the main cavern and found herself lost in a black fog. Her torchlight was swept aside like a wisp of pale silk in the night.

Steeling herself, she pushed deeper into the gloom.