Doctor Who_ Night Of The Humans Part 18

Charlie shook his head. Leaning forward he lifted Slipstream from the ground with surprising strength and in one swift move hoisted him onto his shoulder.

'Right!' said the Doctor, clapping his hands and rubbing them together. 'The TARDIS!'

They ran through the valley, away from the upturned, buckled wreckage of the helipod. All they could hear now was the heavy, thunder-like boom of the comet's fragments slamming into the Gyre; a distant, monstrous drumbeat that rumbled and echoed through the night.

It crossed the Doctor's mind, for just one terrifying moment, that when they got to the TARDIS they would find it smashed into a million pieces at the bottom of a gaping crater.

Nothing was certain any more. His mind was plagued with the image of the humans in their makeshift theatre, watching ancient films on a sagging canvas screen. He replayed that moment over and over again in his mind, trying to think of something else he could have said or done, something that would have convinced them to join him.

But then what would he have done? Would a hundred of them have made it across the swamp full of Sollogs? Would even two more have been 205.

able to cling to the helipod? As much as it pained him, he had to face the fact that there was little he could have done.

At least, he told himself, Amy was OK. More than OK, in fact.

The little girl from Leadworth with the monster in her wall, the little girl who had waited so patiently for his return, was running across this terrifying alien landscape with a confidence that took him almost by surprise. If leaving the other humans here to meet their fate was a loss, then having Amy beside him took some of the pain out of losing.

And the TARDIS was exactly where they had left it, and in one piece.

When it first appeared around the corner, Amy turned to the Doctor, beaming, and he smiled back, and together they ran the rest of the journey, even faster than before. The Doctor stood before the TARDIS, placing his hands on its bright blue wooden exterior. He laughed with relief, and then he opened the door and ran inside, and Amy followed.

'Home again, home again!' said the Doctor, gazing up at the ceiling of the control room. 'Did you miss me? I missed you...'

'Er... you do know that you're talking to it?' said Amy, standing at his side.

'Oh yes. And she can hear every word.'

Behind them, Charlie was dragging Slipstream 206 through the open door. When he was only a little way in, he dropped him to the ground and gasped.

'It's... it's...'

Amy and the Doctor spoke as one: 'Bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?'

Charlie nodded, and the Doctor and Amy gave each other a 'high five'. The Doctor turned to Amy and frowned.

'I'm not sure about that.'

'About what?'

'The high five.'

'Are you not?'

'No. Are you?'

'Hmm. Not really, no.'

'Right. I just thought I'd try it out for size, but now... No.

I'm not so sure.'

'OK. Well let's not do it again.'

'OK.'.

'Right.' The Doctor turned to Charlie. 'Charlie... shut the door. Amy... see if you can wake up Sleeping Beauty over there. And let's get out of here.'

'Aye aye, captain! said Charlie, offering a mock salute and slamming the door shut.

The Doctor rubbed his hands together and began operating the controls of the TARDIS, pressing b.u.t.tons and pulling levers. The columns in its central console rose and fell, glowing with 207.

an otherworldly brilliance, and the room was filled with a metallic roar, the sound of time and s.p.a.ce itself being folded as easily as a child might fold a piece of paper.

In the valley of ancient sc.r.a.p metal, and in a blaze of white light and crackling bolts of electricity, the TARDIS vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Seconds later, in an eruption of fire and debris, the valley itself was destroyed by another hurtling fragment from the comet Schuler-Khan.

Manco sat at the base of the tower which had once been the Herald of Nanking, and he looked up at the grinning, cartoon face of Gobo. He thought about the Doctor, and his friends, and even Slipstream, and he wondered if they had made it.

All around him, his people cowered before the tower on their hands and knees and begged Gobo to save them. He couldn't bring himself to tell them it was all a lie. They wouldn't listen and, besides, what comfort would that bring them?

Better, he decided, to leave them clinging on to hope. After all, for all the knowledge he now had, what hope had it given him? As scared as those around him might be, he was the only one who understood how truly desperate the situation was.

He thought now about the three Sittuun who had come to their city, and told them about the 'comet'. He remembered how desperate they had 208.

sounded, when they explained their mission and what would happen if it failed. They had talked of a dozen neighbouring worlds, places the humans had never heard of. Billions of lives.

It was a figure Manco had never even considered. Django had simply laughed at them before pa.s.sing his sentence, condemning them to death.

And now Django was out there, somewhere, doing everything he could to stop the Sittuun, mindless of what would happen to all those other worlds, and all those other people.

Manco was lost in these thoughts when all around him the people began screaming. He looked around and saw them gazing up, still wailing, and pointing at yet another blazing fireball as it tore across the sky.

It smashed into the tower, straight into the colossal face of Gobo, punching a hole straight through the enormous metal structure and erupting from the other side in a great big ball of fire and tumbling debris. The image of Gobo was no more, a gaping, smouldering cavern all that was left. Shards of metal rained down into the city's streets. With an echoing metallic groan, the back end of the Herald of Nanking began to collapse, falling away from the rest of the structure and crashing down onto the city.

Its scale was so vast that it seemed to move quite slowly. It hit the ground with a deafening 209.

crunch, tons of metal caving in and disintegrating on impact, and a volcanic plume of dust was flung up into the air.

Manco could only look on in awe, while those around him ran screaming from the dust cloud.

'Are you Manco?'

The voice stirred him from his thoughts, and he saw one of Django's guards, sneering down at him. The air around them was choking up with dust and smoke. Manco nodded.

'You're coming with us,' said the guard, grabbing Manco by the arm and pulling him to his feet.

'But where are you taking me?' asked Manco.

'To Django.' The guard replied, with murderous intent.

First there was the noise: a harsh metallic grinding coming from somewhere deep inside the ship. Then a red light on the dashboard began to flash, and he heard the ship's voice, as nonchalant as ever.

'Warning. Warning. Foreign object located in loading bay. Warning. Warning. Foreign object located in loading bay.'

Activating the ship's automatic controls, Captain Jamal got up and ran from the c.o.c.kpit down into the bowels of the Golden Bough. There, between stacked containers, he found a dark blue box with a white light flashing on its roof. The light stopped and the loading bay was silent once more.

210.

Captain Jamal held his breath.

The door opened, and through it, for just one moment, the Captain was sure he could see what looked like a cavernous control room. But that was impossible. Wasn't it?

Then he saw his son.

Charlie stepped out of the blue box, looked at his father and smiled - an awkward grin, as if he wasn't sure what his father's reaction would be.

Captain Jamal ran to him, and threw his arms around him, and held him as tightly as he could.

'I thought I'd lost you,' he gasped. 'I thought I'd never see you again. What happened to Ahmed?'

'He didn't make it,' said Charlie, solemnly. 'What about Dr Heeva? Where is she?'

Captain Jamal shook his head.

'Oh, Dad... I'm so sorry.'

There were other people stepping out of the blue box now.

First Amy, and then the stranger the Captain had seen with them on the salt plain, the Doctor, came out, pulling an unconscious Slipstream by his arms.

'Somebody give me a hand with this?' said the Doctor. 'For a skinny bloke he's quite heavy.'

Captain Jamal nodded, and helped the Doctor carry Slipstream to a corner of the loading bay, where they sat him up against one of the crates.

'What happened?' asked the Captain.

'Long story! the Doctor told him. 'In a nutsh.e.l.l, 211 Slipstream here's a bit of a bad egg.'

'A bit?' said Amy. 'He tried to kill you.'

'Well, yes... But he didn't. Thanks to you and Charlie.

Splendid work. Both of you. Now, Captain... We have to get out of here. Like... Now.'

Captain Jamal nodded urgently, and ran from the loading bay back to the c.o.c.kpit with the Doctor following close behind.

He took to the ship's controls, deactivated the automatic pilot, and hit the thrusters.

The Golden Bough tilted back, the view from its windows turning from the sprawling grey landscape of the Gyre to the vast canopy of s.p.a.ce. The engines roared, the whole ship shuddering, but something was wrong.

'What is it?' asked the Doctor. 'What's happening?'

'I don't know!' said Captain Jamal. 'Something's pulling us back. We're moving backwards.'

'So put your foot down!'

'I'm trying that, Doctor, but it's no use. We're going to crash.'

212.

Chapter.

20.

Slipstream was still out cold. Amy had tried shaking him gently to wake him, but it wasn't working. Even the jolting and shuddering of the ship had done nothing to bring him around. cold. Amy had tried shaking him gently to wake him, but it wasn't working. Even the jolting and shuddering of the ship had done nothing to bring him around.

Eventually, losing patience, Charlie stepped forward and slapped him hard across the face.

'Oh, that felt good,' he said.

Slipstream stirred.

'I swear... I was nowhere near the convent,' he mumbled drowsily. Then he opened his eyes suddenly and sat up straight. 'What? Where am I? What's happening?'

He looked around the loading bay, and at the TARDIS.

'We're here!' he said. 'We're on my ship? But 213 how did we-'

'The Doctor! said Amy. 'He saved you. We could have left you back on the Gyre.'

Slipstream glowered at her and then rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. As he lifted himself up, clinging on to a crate for balance, they heard the sound of clanking footsteps, and the Doctor came running down from the c.o.c.kpit.

'Slipstream!' he shouted.

'Oh, h.e.l.lo, Doctor. Seems I owe you a debt of grat.i.tude, or some such nonsense.'

'The Mymon Key! said the Doctor. 'Where is it?'

Slipstream frowned at him. 'I'm sorry, old chap. Have you lost your marbles? We left it on the Gyre. Don't you remember?'

'The real Mymon Key! the Doctor snapped. 'You still have it.

Where is it?'