Doctor Who: The Seeds of Doom (11 page)

‘I mean the Krynoid is about to eject its spores—thousands of embryo pods like the ones we found in the ice. The whole Western hemisphere will be inundated with them.’

The Doctor heard Thackeray catch his breath. ‘How can we stop it?’

‘There’s only one way now, Sir Colin. A low-level attack by aircraft with high explosives.’

‘That will destroy the house too. What about you and the others?’

‘Never mind us. Order that attack!’ He switched off the receiver and headed for the door, his face a grim mask.

As he reached the doorway he paused and uttered a name softly beneath his breath, ‘Sarah’. He had just signed a death warrant for the two of them.

Bound hand and foot, Sarah’s inert form lay unconscious in the belly of the crushing machine.

‘Three minutes. Go quietly, Miss Smith,’ uttered Chase with a sadistic grin as he pulled the starter lever.

The giant machine shuddered into life. The gleaming steel rollers gathered speed and began to descend towards Sarah’s defenceless body. As the crescendo of noise built up Sarah slowly stirred and opened her eyes. A spasm of inexpressible terror shot through her entire being. She was powerless to move or even scream. From the wall, Chase observed her without emotion.

Suddenly the door was flung open and the Doctor burst into the room. With a yell of fury Chase leapt at him with the spanner. Expertly the Doctor parried the blow and thrust Chase backwards into a pile of dustbins. Then, switching off the machine, he dived into it and lifted Sarah bodily to safety. As he did so Chase restarted the machine and hurled himself on the Doctor’s back like a fiend possessed. The two men grappled precariously in the belly of the machine, inches away from the whirling blades.

‘Switch it off, Sarah!’ shouted the Doctor. Sarah tried to reach the lever but with her hands tied she could not stop it. The rollers spun faster and nearer. Finally, by sheer muscle power, the Doctor managed to lift himself clear and drop over the side to the floor. He tried to haul Chase after him, but the madman had caught hold of the Doctor’s arm in a vice-like grip and was pulling him back. He seemed to possess the strength of ten men and the Doctor felt himself being drawn once again towards the grinding, chomping blades.

All at once, Chase let out a piercing yell and his iron grip slackened. His feet were trapped in the rollers and he was being sucked into the gaping maw of the crusher. Frantically the Doctor tried to pull him free but the monstrous machine would not disgorge its victim and suddenly, with a hideous scream, Chase was gone.

Shaking from his ordeal the Doctor staggered over to Sarah. ‘I tried to save him,’ he said. Sarah nodded mutely. Chase undoubtedly deserved to die, but it was not a death she would have wished on anyone. In a matter of seconds the Doctor had freed her and they left without a backwards glance.

High in the sky a tight formation of Phantom jets streaked across the South of England, heading for Chase’s mansion. A curt, matter-of-fact voice crackled in Beresford’s earphones.

‘We’ll be with you in three minutes, Scorpio Section. Over.’

‘Roger Red Leader. Out.’ Beresford clicked off his receiver and crossed to Sir Colin who was staring thoughtfully at the ground.

‘The planes are on their way.’

‘Is there nothing we can do to get them out?’ Sir Colin’s face wore a tortured expression.

Beresford shook his head sadly. ‘Nothing. Nothing at all.’

‘What are we going to do?’

Sarah was trying to keep up with the Doctor as he raced along the corridor. At every turn they were having to dodge falling masonry and crumbling walls as the Krynoid increased its stranglehold on the house. Its echoing roar grew louder.

‘We’re going to fight our way out, Sarah,’ said the Doctor through clenched teeth, ‘but we’ve only got about two minutes in which to do it.’

They were now at the rear of the building, where the Doctor had first entered, and he let out a grunt of satisfaction as they came upon the door. Gingerly he eased it open. A thick wall of vegetation completely blocked the exit and began to press forward into the corridor even as they stood there. The Doctor slammed the door shut and put his back against it. Sarah looked towards him in despair.

Suddenly the Doctor’s eyes lit up. She followed his gaze. Several feet away was a door marked ‘Boiler Room’, and leading out of the wall in all directions were the large central-heating pipes Sarah had noticed earlier.

‘Steam! Highly pressurised steam!’ exclaimed the Doctor and he wrenched open the door. Inside was a bewildering collection of knobs and dials and, jutting out from the floor, the top of the boiler itself. Steam was spurting from it in little jets and the whole system seemed about to explode.

The Doctor grabbed one of the boiling hot pipes with his bare hands and prised it free of its connecting valve.

‘Open the door when I tell you, Sarah... and stand back!’

The Doctor gave another tug and the pipe tore away. Immediately a jet of superheated steam shot out of the end. ‘
Now!
’

As Sarah yanked open the door the Doctor carefully aimed the hissing, scalding jet at the thick tangle of creepers in the doorway. With a curious shrieking noise they began to wither and fall away.

‘Follow me, Sarah! ‘ yelled the Doctor and, flinging the pipe to one side, he plunged headlong into the foliage.

Overhead, the Phantoms screamed past on a low-level run. ‘Hello, Scorpio Section. We see your target. We’re coming in to attack now. Over.’

Beresford gave a last glance at Sir Colin who nodded imperceptibly. ‘Understood. Out.’

The Phantoms banked and turned. ‘OK. Here we go, chaps. Let’s turn it into Chop Suey!’

They started their run in.

Head down and arms flailing, the Doctor hacked a path through the deadly jungle. The entire vegetation of Chase’s estate seemed to have closed in on the house and every yard was an effort. The trees and plants seemed alive—snatching at their arms and tripping their legs—so that they bobbed about like corks in a sea of green. Exhausted and breathless, Sarah began to weaken and the Doctor had to haul her bodily through the murderous tangle. Overhead, the whine of the approaching jets rang in his ears. He redoubled his pace.

Just as the plants seemed about to overwhelm them they broke through into a clearing. Ahead, the Doctor spied a pile of sawn logs. With one last effort he dragged Sarah to safety behind them. Across the tops of the trees he could now see the Krynoid dwarfing the house, its massive tentacles reaching to the ground.

As he watched, the first of the jets streaked in over-bead and loosed its rockets into the side of the building. There was a blinding flash and a huge explosion which devastated one entire wing of the house, but the Krynoid still remained, its tentacles waving furiously above the chimney tops.

A second Phantom screamed into the attack, then a third and a fourth. The Doctor and Sarah were hurled on their faces by the force of the explosions which rocked the ground and uprooted whole sections of woodland around them. Through the thunderous noise the Doctor suddenly heard the elephantine death-rattle of the Krynoid itself. The bombs must have hit it! A terrible, gigantic screeching filled the air then the noise ceased and everything went deathly quiet. The Doctor tapped Sarah’s shoulder. Together they peered over the top of the logs. Chase’s house, only a moment before enveloped by the mighty Krynoid, had vanished. The Krynoid too had disappeared and where they had both stood there was now only a smoking heap of ruins. The alien menace had finally been vanquished.

The Doctor and Sarah were seated comfortably in Sir Colin Thackeray’s office, examining a battered roll of film.

‘We found it in Chase’s camera,’ explained Sir Colin. ‘The photographs are priceless now of course.’

‘It’s a wonder anything survived that inferno,’ said Sarah, a note of sadness in her voice. The Doctor too looked rather glum, as if the strain of the last few hours had not yet passed from his mind.

‘Well, Doctor,’ said Sir Colin, trying to sound cheerful, ‘do you think we’ve heard the last of the Krynoid?’

There was an awkward silence, then a faint smile appeared on the Time Lord’s face. ‘Hard to say, Sir Colin. You see, the Intergalactic Flora Society—of which I’m the honorary President—finds the Krynoid a difficult species to study. Their researchers tend to disappear.’

‘I can imagine,’ chipped in Sarah. ‘A case of one veg and no meat.’

Sir Colin chuckled. ‘Very neat, Miss Smith. By the way, speaking of societies, Doctor, the Royal Horticultural have got wind of this affair. They’d rather like you to address one of their meetings.’

‘When’s this?’

‘They suggested the fifteenth.’

The Doctor took out his five hundred year diary and consulted it carefully. ‘Sorry. Out of the question. The next couple of centuries are fully booked. Anytime after that.’ He snapped the diary shut.

Sir Colin gaped at him. ‘I never know when you’re serious, Doctor...’

‘Send someone to talk to them about South American begonias. Much more the Royal Society’s cup of nectar.’ He rose hurriedly. ‘Come along, Sarah.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘Cassiopeia.’

‘Where?’

‘A nice little spot for a holiday. It’s time we had a break. Goodbye, Sir Colin.’ Before she could argue further the Doctor gathered up his hat and scarf and strode out of the room.

Sarah turned to Sir Colin. ‘Would you fancy a tiny excursion as well?’ Her eyes twinkled with humour. Sir Colin smiled back. ‘I’d be delighted—but my wife’s expecting me home for tea.’

‘Sarah!’ the Doctor’s voice bellowed from the corridor.

‘I’d better go,’ she whispered, ‘he gets a bit tetchy now and then. It’s his age, you know. Goodbye, Sir Colin.’ Sarah gave a little wave and ran out of the room.

Sir Colin crossed to the window and looked out with a certain sense of relief. His attention was caught by an old-fashioned blue Police Box standing in the car park below. He was sure he had never seen it there before.

As he watched, the Doctor and Sarah emerged from the building and walked into the box. The light on top began to flash, a strange wheezing and groaning sound reached his ears and the Police Box vanished into thin air!

Sir Colin blinked, shook his head as if he had seen a ghost, and decided he was in need of a good, long sleep.