Doctor Who: Fury From the Deep (22 page)

Price swivelled around on his chair. 'The young lady, sir. She can't scream.'

'
Can't scream
!' spluttered the Doctor. He knew many things about Victoria, one of which was that she had the loudest, most terrifying scream he had ever heard. 'Victoria,' he said scoldingly,

'this is ridiculous!'

Victoria was nearly in tears. 'I'm sorry, Doctor - I just don't know why I can't do it. I think... I think I'm too...' Her eyes widened as she suddenly caught sight of something over the Doctor's shoulders. On the other side of the Hall, Harris and the Chief Engineer were escaping from the impeller area where a great surge of foam and weed were trying to force its way through the perspex door.

The Doctor covered his ears as Victoria let out the most piercing scream. 'There! I knew you could do it...' But as Victoria continued to scream frantically, the Doctor's relief soon diminished when he turned to see what she was screaming at. 'Oh dear,' he said.

'No wonder!'

With the foam and weed now threatening to burst through the perspex doors of the Impeller Area, engineers were rushing around the Hall in every direction. Harris called to two of them: 'All release valves open!'

'What are you doing, man?' yelled the Chairperson angrily as she and the Doctor joined Harris, who was directing operations from the control platform.

Harris turned sharply on her. 'I'm going to save the lives of an awful lot of people, Miss Jones.' He nervously flicked the lock of hair from his eye, then bellowed to another engineer. 'Close feed lines one to six!' The engineer nodded, then started turning a huge release valve gauge wheel.

The Chairperson protested. 'You mean - you're giving up?

You're evacuating?'

'Open your eyes, Miss Jones!' snapped Harris, ignoring all respect for his superior. 'Can't you see what's happening? We're being strangled! I can't risk the lives of these men here any longer!'

The Doctor interrupted. 'Just another few minutes, Harris.

That's all we need.'

'Doctor!' shouted Price from the Cone. 'We're ready with the scream!'

'Well, Harris?' pleaded the Doctor.

Another agonising decision for Harris. He sighed, rubbed the back of his head aimlessly, then turned back to the engineer. 'Hold the release valves!' The engineer stopped turning the huge gauge wheel. 'All right, Doctor,' warned Harris, 'you'd better be quick. What are you going to do?'

The Doctor immediately became very animated. 'Well, I wired up all those loudspeakers there to the pipeline. The sound of Victoria's scream will be put through this...' He delved into his pocket and brought out a small electronic gadget no bigger than a single microchip.

Harris was puzzled. 'What does that do?' he asked sceptically.

'It's an adaptable little toy of my own,' said the Doctor, leading Harris and the Chairperson back to the Cone. 'Together with the amplifiers, it should produce a sonic layer sound wave.'

'You mean, like a laser light beam?' suggested the Chairperson.

'More or less.' The Doctor inserted his gadget into the makeshift complex of wires behind the Cone. 'This sound should then travel through your speakers attached to the pipeline, and so through to the nerve centre of the weed colony.'

Harris still looked doubtful. 'Will that destroy the Weed here in the Refinery?'

The Doctor's head popped up from behind the Cone. 'Well -

no. I'm afraid we shall have to do battle with that ourselves.'

'How?'

The Doctor moved to a line of speakers already wired up. 'We use these!'

Everyone, including Jamie and Victoria, hadn't the faintest idea what the Doctor was talking about. Their fears and doubts were further intensified when the pipeline tube above once again echoed to the deafening sound of the thumping heartbeat.

The Doctor now had to shout to be heard. 'Mr Price! If the foam and weed attack us, we merely aim these loudspeakers directly at them. Whatever you do, don't get in the way of any one of the speakers. The sonic sound waves would cut you to pieces!'

'Doctor!' Jamie was pointing in horror towards the huge central video monitor. The screen was showing a surge of bubbling white foam, gushing its way down one of the long corridors leading to the Control Hall. And in that foam the heinous figure of a gigantic Weed Creature, its menacing tentacles flapping about in uncontrollable fury.

'It's making for the Hall!' yelled Harris. 'Chief! Follow me!'

Harris and the Chief Engineer rushed into the corridor to be met by the deafening squeals of not only the giant Weed Creature, but also its minions, the wriggling small clumps of weed, popping, and hissing gas in the surging foam. Harris shouted frantically,

'Back!' He and the Chief retreated back into the Control Hall.

'Full alert!' yelled Harris. 'Lock all doors!' As he spoke, Price flicked a switch and the emergency alarm klaxon horns echoed through the Refinery. The whole place was now thrown into a panic.

'The doors won't last much longer!' called Jamie. His eyes were firmly fixed towards the perspex doors of the impeller area, which were buckling under the weight of the foam and a second Weed Creature.

The Doctor grabbed hold of two passing engineers, and practically threw two loudspeakers at each of them. 'Take these and use them as weapons. Remember - don't point them at any human person!' The bewildered engineers took the speakers, and rushed off in different directions.

Harris's sudden shout was chilling and hysterical: '
Look Out
!'

There was a loud cracking sound as the door leading to the Compound Corridor burst open, and a great surge of foam gushed into the hall.

'Oh my God!' yelled the Chairperson. It was probably the only time she had ever shown emotion.

'Everybody back to the platform!' yelled Harris over the deafening sound of the shrieks and screams and thumping alien heartbeat. The Chairperson, Victoria, and some of the engineers made their way to the temporary safety of the raised control platform.

The Hall was now in total pandemonium as the aggressive foam surged ahead, swamping all and everyone in its path.

The Doctor went quickly to Price at the Cone. 'The tape recording, Price!' he yelled frantically. 'Turn it on, man!' But Price was paralysed with fear, staring in open-mouthed horror at the advancing wall of foam and the gradual approach of the hissing Weed Creature. The Doctor took hold of Price's shoulders and shook them firmly, shouting, 'Which switch is it, Price? Tell me!' Price suddenly snapped out of his state of shock. He looked at his feet. The foam was already swirling around his ankles. 'Turn on the recorder, Price. Do you hear me?' Without a word, Price slammed the switch down.

The Hall immediately echoed to the deafening sound of Victoria's screams, repeated over and over again with an electronic echo overlaid. Everyone clutched their ears in agony, for the screams were of such a high pitch that they were unbearable to listen to.

The wall of foam was now surging about the hall nearly waist-high. The Doctor, Janie and Price struggled their way towards the raised control platform where the others were waiting with a line of loudspeakers. They were all virtually trapped into one small area of the Hall.

'Your speakers!' yelled the Doctor. 'Switch them on and aim them directly at the Weed!'

As he was speaking, the tentacles of the giant Weed Creature suddenly leapt out of' the foam and snaked towards the group now sheltering on the raised platform. One of the tentacles reached out and curled itself around the Doctor's ankle. But Harris moved quickly, grabbed hold of the Doctor around his waist, and held on to him firmly.

'Do as I say!' yelled the Doctor again, struggling to free his ankle from the tentacles. 'Turn on the speakers -
now
!'

Every man on the platform who was holding a loudspeaker, turned it on, directing it straight at the Weed Creature. The sound that reverberated around the Hall was shattering. Victoria's recorded screams, overlaid on top of the existing ones, were deafening, terrifying. The helpless group looked on in fear and horror, waiting, hoping. But the weed and foam showed no sign of being affected by the Doctor's burst of electronic sound.

'It's not working!' shrieked the Chairperson. 'We can't hold it any longer!'

'Wait!' yelled the Doctor.

The sound of Victoria's recorded screams was growing in intensity. But the foam surged up the steps relentlessly, and the weed clumps wriggled and squealed and popped. Gradually, the Weed Creature itself moved closer and closer towards the raised platform, hissing gas fumes as it approached.

The Chairperson was coughing and spluttering. 'I tell you, it's not working!' she insisted, struggling to breathe. 'We're finished!'

'No!' Harris's voice boomed out above the recorded screams.

'Something's happening! Look at the Weed! Look at the foam!'

The Doctor suddenly felt a release of tension as the tentacle of the giant Weed Creature uncurled from around his ankle. Then he turned with the others to look at the amazing sight before them.

The bubbling white foam was retreating, not slowly, but rapidly. And as it did so, the noise it made was extraordinary, like the sound of wind rushing through a tunnel. But the most terrifying sight of all was the giant Weed Creature itself. Victoria's screams had clearly penetrated into its very soul, if the poor wretched fugitive from the deep possessed such a thing. Its squeals of agony were enough to chill the blood, and its tentacles flapped about helplessly in the air. Gradually, the huge shapeless mass withdrew towards the Compound door, taking with it the weed clumps that had nestled around it. After they had gone, all that was left were a few tiny blobs of bubbling white foam.

It took several moments for everyone in the Hall to realise that the battle against the Weed was over - and won. Finally, it was Price who led the engineers in a rousing cheer for the Doctor.

'Incredible!' proclaimed the Chairperson, clasping her hands together in ecstatic: relief. 'Absolutely incredible!' She even found it possible to laugh at Perkins, her secretary. During the entire operation he had been crouched in a corner of the platform, shielded by Victoria. Soon, out of sheer relief, everyone was rocking with laughter.

'It worked!' said Harris incredulously. 'It actually worked!' And indeed there was no doubt about it. Not only was the Hall clear of weed and foam, but so too was the impeller area.

The Doctor picked himself up from the floor and called out,

'Everyone - turn off your speakers!' Victoria did so, and Price hurried back to the Cone to stop Victoria's screams on the recording machine.

The Hall was at last plunged into a peaceful silence.

'But what about the nerve centre of the weed out at the Control Rig?' asked Harris. 'D'you think we've destroyed it?'

The Doctor smiled. 'I think you should find out, Mr Harris.'

Harris nodded, and went to the Cone. 'Price. Send out one of the Company helicopters. I want a report from the Control Rig right away.' Price turned back to the control panel, and set about re-establishing contact with the outside world.

Within a few moments the Hall was bustling with activity again, as engineers quickly returned to their posts.

The Chairperson looked absolutely exhausted. But as she ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tidy it, one could sense that she was a far more vulnerable and attractive woman than she had ever revealed before. Nonetheless she was the first person to appreciate who was responsible for winning the seemingly hopeless battle against the Weed. 'I don't quite know what to say, Doctor,' she smiled, 'except - thank you.'

The Doctor smiled back. 'That is more than sufficient,' he replied. 'But I can assure you, the person we owe it all to is -

Victoria.' He turned to look at Victoria, who had her back towards them nearby. She was in tears, sobbing deeply. 'Victoria!' The Doctor went to her quickly, and put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

'Victoria, my dear. What's the matter?'

Victoria looked up. Her face was pale and drawn. 'I... I was so frightened. I always am whenever...' She broke down again. 'Oh, Doctor, I can't go on like this... I just can't...' The Doctor held her in his arms, and exchanged a worried look over her shoulders with Jamie.

'Doctor!' Harris was calling from the Cone. 'They're safe!'

The Doctor left Jamie to look after Victoria, then hurried across to join Harris.

'Look at them! They're safe! We've won!' Harris was excitedly watching the huge central video screen. A group of people were shown there, gathered together in the Log Room of the Control Rig.

Amongst them were Robson, Maggie Harris, van Lutyens, and Chief Baxter. But they were no longer the demented, half-human Weed Creatures the Doctor had last seen on the platform of the rig. The frond-like weed formations had disappeared from their necks and arms, the colour had returned to their faces, and although they still looked a little dazed, their eyes were bright and alert. Harris could hardly contain himself as he called out eagerly to the video screen.

'Maggie! Mr Robson! Can you hear me?'

Robson looked straight into the camera and replied. His voice was no longer a whisper. It came through loud and clear. 'Yes, Mr Harris, we can hear you.'

'Maggie, are you all right? The Weed - has it gone?'

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria, the Chairperson, Harris, Perkins, Price, the Chief Engineer, everyone in the Control Hall was watching the video screen anxiously, waiting for Maggie's reply.

'Yes, Frank - it's gone. We're all perfectly safe.'

All around the Hall there were expressions of emotional relief.

'Just one question though,' continued Maggie. 'Would someone please tell me how the hell I got here!'

There was a momentary pause. Harris looked from the screen to the Doctor. He started to chuckle, then laugh. Price joined in, then the Chairperson, then Perkins. Soon, everyone in the Hall was rocking with uncontrollable laughter, a pure release of tension.

The mood quickly changed to loud cheers all round as the sound of the giant impeller was suddenly heard, throbbing with life again, echoing throughout the Refinery and the shores beyond.