Doctor Who_ Ten Little Aliens Part 22

'Six of them left, now,' the Doctor mused, a little more calmly. 'Only six. But how? How did they do it?'

Polly stared on in disbelief. The frozen expressions on the bloodied Schirr faces seemed to her less representative now of terror and agony, more like those of creatures laughing hysterically, till it hurt, till the tears came rolling down.

III.

Haunt pulled her arm savagely from Ben's grip as they ran together down the tunnel. One of the stone figures floated out of the gloomy chamber and into the darkness of the tunnel, trailing after them like a balloon gusted on the wind. Haunt accelerated, beat him to the junction where Tovel, Roba, Creben and Joiks were anxiously waiting with Frog, ready to go. Haunt must've put her on sentry duty here while she went on ahead.

'It's Sh.e.l.l' Joiks shouted as they approached. 'Frog says it's Sh.e.l.l'

'Get moving!' Haunt bellowed, eyes flashing. 'Go!' Her moment of hesitation back in the chamber had pa.s.sed. She was back in charge all right.

They raced down endless tunnels, lit only by the juddering beams of the soldiers' torches. Every shifting shadow seemed to conceal something more sinister, ghostly hands reaching out to tear at them as they pa.s.sed.

Ben picked up the pace, imagining the gory stone fingers of one of the statues reaching up behind him, groping for his throat.

At last they approached the great metal doors that led to the centre of the complex. Once the threshold was crossed they came to a panting halt, too breathless to speak, making do with mute and frightened eye contact.

Ben saw Roba had clamped one giant's hand around his forearm. There was a tear in his sleeve. 'You all right?' he puffed.

Roba nodded fiercely, but there was a look in his eyes that suggested he was less certain. 'Cut myself getting out,' he muttered. 'It's OK.'

The crowd set off again. Ben gritted his teeth, prepared to make after them, but his legs were cramping up. He felt like one of those marathon runners, he needed someone to run up to him with a cup of weak orange and a big blanket. What he got was Frog, who turned away from the pack, and came back to help him along. She slipped an arm round his waist.

His shoulder pressed against her chest. He felt her breath on his face, surprisingly sweet.

Her big bulging eyes met his uncertain gaze for a fraction of a second. Then she looked away, half-carried him along the shadowy path.

IV.

Polly's heart leapt as Haunt sprinted back into the control room. She held her side as if she had a st.i.tch.

Polly frowned. It only seemed like a few minutes since she had left.

'Back so soon,' the Doctor observed, as if picking up on Polly's thoughts. He gestured to the empty chair and to the latest empty s.p.a.ce on the dais. 'But I'm afraid not soon enough.'

Haunt stared at the bodies. Her face slowly screwed up as if the absences were causing her physical pain. 'DeCaster...

Pallemar...' She seemed utterly dumbfounded. 'Both gone?

What happened?'

The Doctor looked troubled. 'We turned away for a few moments only. When we looked back...'

More footsteps heralded the arrival of the rest of the soldiers. Polly looked anxiously as first Creben, then Joiks and Tovel, and finally Roba entered through the glowing pentagonal doorway.

'Where's Ben?' she called, her voice higher than she'd intended.

Right on cue, he entered. Half-carried, half-dragged along by Frog. Polly watched sceptically as the ugly little woman helped him over to one of the consoles. He clutched hold of it, smiled his thanks at her.

As the others gathered round the depleted platform of corpses in sullen disbelief, Polly ran over to see Ben. He saw her coming, and made an effort to stand unaided. 'All right, Pol?'

'I'm so glad to see you.' She smiled at Frog. 'Thank you for helping him.'

Perhaps her smile had come out a little tighter than she'd planned.

Frog shrugged. 'All yours now, honey,' she muttered.

'Enjoy.' Then she walked away to join the Doctor and the others as they exchanged updates and information.

Polly half-listened as she waited for Ben to catch his breath; caught occasional words: 'Shade'. 'Sick'. 'Cyborg'.

'Chase'. 'Blood'.

She was grateful of the chance to have a more personal catch-up with Ben. She told him about Shel going mad, and about Shade, who was sleeping peacefully now. Ben blew air out of his cheeks, not sure what to make of it all.

'What happened to you?' Polly asked in turn.

Ben shuddered, leaned back against the console. 'Statues.

Dirty great flying things. Came for us, didn't they.'

Polly felt a tingle run down her spine. 'Flying 'Flying statues?' statues?'

'I swear to you. And they had a body up on their pedestal.'

He shook his head. 'Denni or Lindey, I'm not sure which.'

Polly felt her mouth go dry. 'But, Ben, there are statues of the cherubim right outside!'

Ben stared at her. 'I didn't see anything... I mean, I wasn't looking, but I don't reckon...' He stood back up again, felt nervous energy twitching at his muscles. 'Marshal Haunt!

Polly says there were more of those things earlier, perched right outside!'

Haunt's head snapped round to face them. Polly prepared to defend her opinion, but the Marshal simply nodded. 'Frog.

Joiks. Check it out. Creben, Roba, I want a barricade up outside. See what you can safely rip out of this place.'

'Not a lot .' Creben glanced around at the banks of equipment dotted about, and the ornamental trellises railing in the ducting round the walls, out of reach. 'The console housings, maybe.'

'We don't know what this stuff does,' Roba grumbled. 'What if we disconnect life support or something?'

Creben smiled wanly. 'We put it back together. Quickly.'

'You're funny,' Haunt told him. 'Now get on with it. This is going to be our base, and we're going to make it as secure as it can be. Tovel - see to Shade. Sounds like his face needs st.i.tches.'

'He's asleep,' Polly called over.

Tovel smiled ruefully, tapped the medical kit. 'Not for much longer.'

The soldiers moved to obey, without further question. Polly and Ben nervously joined the Doctor and Haunt.

'I wonder,' the Doctor mused aloud. 'What intelligence is coordinating this affair, and to what end?' He nodded, pursed his lips. 'Yes. Yes, that is what we must ask ourselves.'

'It's madness,' Haunt muttered. 'A madman's scheme.'

'I can't believe Shel was a...' Ben trailed off. 'What was he?'

'A cyborg.' Haunt's voice was hollow. 'They're only used for intelligence work. Programmed never to give themselves away.' She looked pained, pale. 'I never knew what he was.

My last adjutant was rea.s.signed six months ago, and in all that time I never never knew...' knew...'

'No one could have guessed his true nature,' said the Doctor. 'But now that we do know, we must decide how it affects our judgement of the situation.'

Polly remembered now what the Doctor had been talking about earlier. 'Until both DeCaster and Pallemar vanished,'

she pointed out, 'there was one Schirr missing for each person missing.' missing.'

The Doctor steepled his fingers together. 'Quite so. And the Morphiean sciences - as practised by these Schirr also, let us not forget - place the emphasis on the body.' body.'

'What're you saying, Doctor?' Ben asked uncertainly.

Haunt seemed to think she knew. 'That Shel used Lindey and Denni's bodies to somehow reanimate the corpses of DeCaster and his disciples?'

Ben shrugged. 'Figures. Ten of them for ten of you.'

'Before we came along,' Polly pointed out. 'But in any case, there's eleven of us now - if you can even count Shel since he's a robot and six of them. How does that work?'

'And even with the stasis field jammed in place thanks to Shel's handiwork,' said the Doctor, 'the corpses seem able to come and go as they please.' He considered the problem, his eyes darting from side to side. 'Then there's the sickness.

Again, affecting the body. Severely so in the cases of Shel and Shade. I imagine the interface between Shel's flesh and circuitry has begun to break down as the effect increases.'

'Making him crazy?' Polly asked.

'Presumably, having brought you all here and set events in motion, his task is complete...' The Doctor swung round to Polly. 'My dear, do you still itch all over?'

'Well, yes,' Polly said worriedly. 'But I feel fine in myself.'

She considered. 'I feel better than fine.'

'Me too.' Ben chipped in, scratching his arms. 'I feel like I could go on forever.'

Haunt's eyes were red-rimmed, her face shiny with sweat.

'You think our own bodies are being affected by something on board?'

The Doctor agreed with her genially, as he might if someone had offered him a sweet sherry. 'Yes, I'm afraid it's possible.'

Polly jumped as Roba leaned in over her shoulder. He looked furious, sweating profusely.

'Who gave you all the answers, old man?'

'No one gives gives me answers, sir,' the Doctor retorted. 'I seek them out for myself, as anyone can.' me answers, sir,' the Doctor retorted. 'I seek them out for myself, as anyone can.'

'Great, OK - so what's gonna happen to us?' Roba was fidgeting, uncomfortable. 'Seeing as our bodies are being affected'.

'I don't know yet.' He half-smiled at Roba. 'But the truth will come in time, I have no doubt.'

'Think you're so smart,' Roba hissed. 'But we still don't know a thing thing about you.' about you.'

'No, indeed, you do not.' The Doctor seemed almost amused by this comment.

There was a long tear in the sleeve of Roba's combat suit, and Polly could see a bandage beneath it. He'd been hurt.

Maybe that was why he was acting like a bear with a sore head.

Ben scowled at the huge man. 'Ain't you got a barricade to build, Roba?'

Polly looked to Haunt to break this up before it got any nastier. But the marshal's eyes were shut, her lips pressed together. She looked fit to drop.

A second later, she did, clutching her side. Her head smacked into the solid stone floor. Her eyes snapped open, unseeing, and a trickle of blood stained her lip as she bit her tongue. It wasn't enough to stifle her low moan of pain.