Doctor Who_ Terminus Part 16

'Look,' the Doctor said, 'whoever you are, we haven't got time for this.' Kari said nothing; she was staring at the burner, wondering what its loss might imply for Olvir.

'Just carry on down,' Valgard said, and he used the muzzle of the burner to usher them towards the descent.

'You're taking a very narrow view of this,' the Doctor told him as they reached the base level and moved over towards the main tunnel, but Valgard wasn't impressed.

'I want to stay alive,' he said. 'If that's a narrow view, then you're right.'

They moved down the broad walk with shadows all around. The overhead lights mapped out the way ahead, a series of isolated pools. The Doctor said, 'And you're happy to see things go on as they are?'

'Happy?' Valgard echoed bitterly. 'This is the Terminus. n.o.body's happy here. Staying alive is all that counts.'

'Things could change,' the Doctor suggested, but he wasn't too hopeful. All of Valgard's mind was concentrated on his own survival, and he wasn't open to any new ideas that didn't appear to fit in.

It was over in seconds. There was a shout from somewhere in the darkness, Valgard spun around to cover himself against a possible attack, and Olvir rammed him squarely between the shoulders from behind. Valgard toppled like a broken statue, and the burner skidded out of his hands to land almost at Kari's feet. She had it levelled in less than a second.

'Just freeze,' she told Valgard, and he abandoned any idea of resistance.

Olvir picked himself up, and Nyssa came forward out of the shadows. The Doctor's relief and delight at seeing her safe was evident.

'I'm fine,' she a.s.sured him, 'but listen. I've discovered something. They're using crude radiation to cure the Lazar disease.'

'I suspected something like it.'

'But the system they use is nearly as dangerous.

There's got to be some way of making the Terminus company understand.'

'You've thought of a better way?'

'Ask the Garm. He's used to handling radiation, but they just treat him like a slave. You know he can't do anything of his own free will?'

The Doctor was about to tell her that the Garm had been released from the influence of the subsonic generator, but Valgard beat him to it.

'She's sick,' he said. 'She doesn't know what she's talking about.'

Nyssa turned to him, making her point with such force that he flinched. 'With changes the Terminus could work,' she insisted. 'It could be a decent hospital.'

Valgard shook his head, wearied by what he considered to be her excessive optimism. 'The company isn't interested.'

'No? And what about you? What about the other Vanir?'

'That doesn't make any difference. We can't do anything without Hydromel, and the company controls the supply.'

'But if you could get it from somewhere else, you'd be free of their control, wouldn't you?'

Valgard stared, awe mixing with a tiny dash of hope. She means it! he thought.

Bor would swing from one extreme to the other. A moment ago he had been incoherent, but now he was lucid.

'Am I dead yet?' he said. He sounded puzzled.

Sigurd returned to his side, a half-filled cup of water in his hand in case Bor should need it. 'No,' he said.

'Funny. I could have sworn...' Whatever he was going to say, Bor put it from his mind and brightened up a little. 'Still, it's a relief. I'm hoping for something rather better on the other side.' He frowned. 'Sigurd?'

'Try to sleep.'

'Sleep! It's all I can do to... stay awake for more than a minute...'

Sigurd stood, and looked down at Bor with sad compa.s.sion. This will be the end of us all, he was thinking. Thank you, Terminus Incorporated. Thanks for nothing.

There was movement on the other side of the curtain, people entering the tank. Probably Eirak and the others taking a s.h.i.+ft break. Sigurd went through, and came face to face with Valgard.

He motioned to Sigurd to be quiet. He was slightly flushed and his eyes were like flinty points, certain signs of a Hydromel high. He said, 'I've got some people with me.'

Sigurd watched, bewildered, as a line of strangers came trooping into the converted tank. The Doctor was first in line, and he went straight to the Hydromel case. Nyssa, Kari and Olvir gathered around him. 'I a.s.sume this is it,' he said.

'Now, wait a minute,' Sigurd said, pus.h.i.+ng his way through the group, but Valgard's hand landed on his shoulder and held him back. The Doctor was already crouching for a closer look at the trembler alarms.

'They say they can free us from the company,'

Valgard told him.

'You believe that?'

'You know anybody harder to convince?'

The chains were already off, the alarms disabled.

'Burner, please,' the Doctor said, and Olvir,handed the weapon over.

Sigurd said. 'If this is just some madcap scheme for getting back at Eirak...'

The lock of the Hydromel case was vaporised in a moment, and the Doctor lifted the lid. He removed a phial and handed it to Nyssa.

'You're the expert,' he said. 'What do you think?'

She inspected it against the light, and then twisted off the gla.s.s seal and gave a cautious sniff. As she was doing this, the Doctor turned to Kari and said in a low voice, 'While we're sorting things out here, perhaps the two of you would like to go back and finish Bor's work on the control lines.'

Kari nodded, Olvir retrieved his burner, and the two of them left in silence. Nyssa, meanwhile, had completed her brief inspection of the Hydromel.

'It's crude stuff,' she said. 'Probably organic.'

'Can you synthesise it?' the Doctor asked.

'I can probably improve on it.'

Sigurd still wasn't convinced, and he was determined not to be ignored. He said, 'How's this supposed to free us from the company?'

Nyssa explained it patiently, as if to a child.

'Terminus Incorporated only control you because they supply you with Hydromel. But if you produced your own...'

'Here on the Terminus,' Valgard added, and Sigurd suddenly grasped the idea.

'Is it possible?' he said.

Nyssa gave him a pained look, as if he was doubting her abilities. 'Of course. The company won't be able to do a thing about it. Who's going to risk coming here to argue?'

There was a groan from Bor, over on the other side of the tank. Sigurd glanced over, and then he grabbed one of the Hydromel phials from the case. 'I'm with you,' he said, and then he hurried over to attend to Bor.

Eirak had been a little perturbed by the shudders that had gone through the frame of the Terminus s.h.i.+p, but he'd thought them nothing new. Some of the liner dockings could be clumsy and rough, and would produce the same effect, and the same must be true of some of the so-called 'clean boats'. n.o.body amongst the Vanir knew what happened to the Lazars once the Garm had taken them away, but it seemed a safe a.s.sumption that an infection-free shuttle must dock at some other point to take away the cured... or the dead.

No, Terminus-quakes were nothing new. These were bigger than most, but Eirak was distracted by another preoccupation the disappearance of the subsonic generator.

'I want it found,' he was saying yet again as he entered the headquarters tank, and a couple of the Vanir trailed along behind in the hope that he might be able to give them some practical suggestion on how to go about this. 'Without it, there's not a thing we can...' He tailed off as he saw Valgard.

'Pleased to see me?' Valgard said. 'I want you to meet some people.'

The Doctor and Nyssa nodded amiably. They stood one to each side of the Hydromel container. Eirak could see that it was open.

'All right, Valgard,' he said. 'What do you think you're doing?'

'I think you owe me something,' Valgard said, and as he spoke Sigurd and Bor emerged from the bunkhouse section of the tank. Bor was sick-looking, but with the Hydromel's help he could stand. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

Sigurd said, 'We'd like to talk about the small matter of your position here.'

'"Bring back the intruders"', Valgard quoted, '"and my position is yours." Remember?' He gestured towards the Doctor and Nyssa. 'Here they are.'

Bor said, 'We all think it's time for a little chat.'

Eirak looked from one to another, all around the room. He was beaten, and he was starting to perceive it. The Doctor said, 'Before you start, perhaps one of you could show us the way back to the liner. There's still a lot to be done.'

The workload that the Doctor had in mind included effective decontamination of both the TARDIS and its occupants, and repair of the damage that had projected them into this situation in the first place.

When this had been carried out, the Doctor intended to leave the decontamination gear for the Vanir to use.

There was no way that he could reverse the radiation damage that they'd already suffered, but at least he could slow its effects.

Olvir and Kari had already made their own plans.

They were going to take the next 'clean boat' out and start a search for the Chief.

'n.o.body ditches us and gets away with it,' Kari said.

There was one other issue to be resolved. But the Doctor knew that it wasn't in his hands.

He and Nyssa were taken to the docking platform by Valgard. The liner's door was still sealed, but Valgard took a complex metal shape from under his cloak and placed it on the outer skin alongside the air-seal.

'It'll be a relief to see the TARDIS again,' the Doctor said.

'And Tegan,' Nyssa added. A flicker of doubt showed in the Doctor's eyes. Through all of the trouble they'd experienced since their arrival, he'd at least been able to console himself with the thought that two of his companions were safely outside the danger area.

But why couldn't he feel confident?

The door raised itself automatically, and Tegan stood before them.

She looked a mess. Her clothes were torn and she was smeared with dirt and grease from head to foot.

There were streaks across her forehead where she'd tried to wipe sweat away with an oily hand.

The Doctor's worst fears had been realised. 'What are you doing?' he said, and he was obviously annoyed.

'I was trying to reach you,' Tegan said, scrambling to get her ideas together. One moment she'd been looking for a way of opening an impossible door, the next moment it had opened. 'Turlough went back to the TARDIS on his own.'

'I told you not to follow me.'

'Doctor,' Nyssa urged, trying to be conciliatory, 'Say you're pleased to see her.'

'I am am pleased to see her,' the Doctor snapped, sounding quite the opposite. 'But she shouldn't have tried to follow us.' pleased to see her,' the Doctor snapped, sounding quite the opposite. 'But she shouldn't have tried to follow us.'

'You don't understand,' Tegan began, but the Doctor wasn't prepared to listen.

'We'll talk about it later,' he said, and then he and Valgard went through into the liner.

Tegan looked after them, dismayed. 'Why is it always the same?' she said.

'There's a lot to do,' Nyssa said.

'There's always a lot to do.'

Nyssa took her arm. 'Tegan,' she began delicately, 'I have to tell you something.'

Valgard and the Doctor were already some way ahead. Tegan looked after them for a moment. She hadn't yet told the Doctor about the complex sequence of events that governed the appearance and disappearance of the door to the TARDIS. Well, let him find out for himself, since he didn't want to hear what she had to say. Turlough had already done the work of solving the puzzle, and when the maintenance drones had finished their repairs on the automated control centre then the launch sequence would resume and the doorway would return. She turned to Nyssa.