Doctor Who_ The Art Of Destruction Part 13

'Then what?'

'Wait and see. In about, oooh, three, two, one. . . '

Korr turned and waved his blind, quivering head at the Doctor.

'Your scanning machine cannot function as you say it can.'

He winked at Basel, placed one hand behind his back. 'Let me guess you've noticed the dataget's memory's getting clogged by the amount of scan data available, right?' Basel saw him discreetly drop some tiny circuits and press them into the dirt beneath his heel. 'Memory wafers! They'll fix it up in three seconds flat. . . '122.

'Where can memory wafers be acquired?' Korr wheezed. The Doctor looked at Basel, wide-eyed and innocent. 'Oooh, I dunno. Lab in the unit's probably our best bet, wouldn't you say, Basel? Specially as there'll be other bipeds loitering there. Ones the Wurms haven't caught yet.'

Basel frowned. 'What ones?'

'The staff.' The Doctor gave him a play-along play-along look. The unit offers the only shelter. Most likely place they'll go.' He strolled over to a monitor which now showed Adiel, Fynn and Rose being hustled into some kind of muddy prison area. He tapped the image of Fynn before it vanished inside something that looked like a giant walnut. That man is the Director of this complex.' look. The unit offers the only shelter. Most likely place they'll go.' He strolled over to a monitor which now showed Adiel, Fynn and Rose being hustled into some kind of muddy prison area. He tapped the image of Fynn before it vanished inside something that looked like a giant walnut. That man is the Director of this complex.'

'He is a prisoner of war,' stated Korr. 'Like all prisoners, he will be questioned for information on the enemy, then executed and allowed to enrich the soil with the gush of his bodily fluids.'

'One approach,' the Doctor conceded. 'But think about it. Aren't all your prisoners worth more to you alive? These humans seem to be the most powerful defence you've got right now. And Director Fynn's staff in the unit will surrender to him if he orders them to no question!

They'll give you no trouble, and you'll get yourselves a job lot of living shields.'

'Patrol seven found no further trace of biped activity in the unit grounds,' Korr argued.

King Ottak seemed to consider. 'But battle a.n.a.lysis supports the theory that the guardian drones are not attacking bipeds. . . '

Basel looked at the Doctor and spoke in the softest of voices. 'What happens if they ask Fynn and find out you're lying?'

'Then they'll kill me a little sooner,' said the Doctor simply. Rose had never been happier to be locked away. Her ribs were bruised, her clothes slimy and damp, and while she didn't feel exactly safe, at least the ordeal of crossing the battleground was over. They'd reached the Wurm ship and entered down a steep, winding tunnel of wet earth, eerily lit by luminous green bugs scuttling in the filth, all the way to some kind of holding area. The cell was dimly lit, hard and 123 k.n.o.bbly like walnut sh.e.l.l, and only a little bigger. But at least it was just her, Fynn and Adiel no Wurms or golems.

Not that Adiel and Fynn seemed ecstatic at being in such close proximity. They sat in a silence as uncomfortable as the bony cell floor, with Rose squashed up in the middle. She had a feeling that she was about to become a referee.

'Just tell me it's true, Fynn,' Adiel said slowly. 'Then tell me why.'

Fynn didn't answer.

Rose placed a hand on Adiel's, 'What happened to your parents?'

'There had been fighting in Moundou. Didn't think much about it at first I mean, there's always been fighting, probably always will be.'

Adiel shrugged. 'My parents were driving across the Chad border to help at one of the refugee camps. There was an ambush, witnesses said they were shot.'

'Why?' whispered Rose. 'Why do that?'

'Different factions, different ethnic groups vying for power and money and good land. . . So rebels fight the government, rebels fight among themselves, they stage shows of strength and take territory. . . '

'Sounds familiar,' said Rose sadly, wondering how long the Wurm war had gone on.

'In the end, they're not just fighting the government, they're attacking the civilians they were supposed to protect. But this little campaign was different.' Adiel looked at Fynn, whose head was still hanging down. 'The rebels didn't just kill and loot from the innocent. They kidnapped people. Beat them, bundled them into their trucks and drove off with them.'

Fynn sat up a little straighter. 'I lost my father to sc.u.m like that. Sacrificed for a ragbag cause. For nothing at all.'

'Then why did you deal with filth like Roba Isako?' hissed Adiel.

'What did Guwe mean when he talked about your experiments '

'How many people have died in this conflict?' Fynn shouted at her.

'Centuries of ethnic violence, of factions set on wiping each other out, on gaining power for themselves. The bloodshed goes on, how can it ever be resolved? And with the death and disruption comes disease, comes poverty, comes famine. More death.' His whole body was shak124 ing. 'Death with no meaning on such a scale. But if the deaths must go on, I can give them meaning. No one should die in vain.'

Rose suddenly felt more scared than ever. 'What're you on about?'

'There is not enough food to go round, not enough land on which to grow it,' said Fynn, suddenly calm and controlled again. 'But imagine if I could farm the dead. . . '

A thick silence settled inside the sh.e.l.l.

'You bought bodies from Isako,' Adiel croaked.

'I had to,' said Fynn quietly. 'I needed preliminary results if I was to get proper funding!'

'You took dead bodies here and you tried to grow your fungus fungus on them?' on them?'

'It was too soon,' he said bitterly. 'My work was not yet advanced enough. Only by making the fungus toxic and useless as a food source could I '

'You're sick.' Rose remembered the cave of skeletons, the cobwebby fur on their bones. 'I've seen the evidence, Adiel. There's bones, just. . . just lying there.' She rounded on him. 'No wonder you wanted that side of the tunnels shut off, so no one would ever find out. What you did was disgusting. The dead deserve respect.'

'We owe respect to the living!' Fynn argued just as hotly. 'Would you rather these people died in vain? For nothing, like my father? Don't you think they would rather know they helped others to live?'

'You had no right!' Adiel shouted. 'What about my parents? Were they among the dead you used?'

'I never knew the subjects' ident.i.ties,' Fynn protested. 'Isako had already taken their belongings, ID, everything.'

Adiel stared, incredulous. 'Then. . . then for all this, I'll never know.'

'I wasn't proud of what I did, but I had no choice,' he went on. The soul flees the body after death I performed my experiments on the empty sh.e.l.l, discarded.'

'It's horrible,' said Rose simply.

'Don't you see?' Fynn stared imploringly at her. 'Only radical thinking can break the cycle of poverty, famine disease and death and bring new hope, new life '125.

'And a new form of bio-piracy,' came a familiar voice from just outside.

'Doctor!' With a surge of hope, Rose leaned over Adiel and pressed her hands up against the side of the prison. 'Doctor? Get us out of here!'

'Um, slight problem there '

'Shut it!' came a loud, rattling snarl.

Rose jumped even as her heart sank, as with a creaking, sucking noise a hatch sprang open in front of her. 'All bipeds are to leave the cells!' rasped the Wurm waiting just outside. It wasn't wearing a helmet like the other one, but had more electronic gadgets around its broad, soily neck. The Doctor and Basel stood helpless in the grip of freaky Faltato just behind. Rose looked at Adiel to see how she'd react to this latest arrival but she didn't. Perhaps she'd seen so much horror that another monster meant nothing to her. Or perhaps after finding a monster like Fynn, others just couldn't measure up.

'Rose!' The Doctor peered in at her and the others with a worried expression. 'You all right?'

'About as un-all right as it's possible to be,' said Rose. Korr moved forwards to face Fynn. 'You are the leader of these bipeds?'

Rose jumped in. 'No one's gonna listen to a word he says '

'unless you let him speak to them in person,' said the Doctor quickly.

'Very well. Prisoners Doctor and Leader, you will accompany me to the complex. If you try to escape, you will be killed, ingested and excreted in casts.' He nodded his fat, tapering head. 'For extra protection, I shall also take the pale creature.'

'Mum's fake tan was a big success, then,' said Rose sourly as she was directed to join the Doctor and Fynn.

'Why not let everyone come with us?' the Doctor suggested brightly.

'Extra protection for you.'

Korr shook his big, blank, belligerent head. 'If bipeds may ambulate without fear of attack, we can use them to start emptying the warren of its art treasures.'126.

'Since you've already cracked open the treasure chambers without first deactivating the plaque, Doctor,' Faltato said, 'the least we can do is take advantage of your generosity and help ourselves.'

'We shall proceed,' Korr stated. 'Once bipeds in hiding have been located, they will join with these two to form a workforce and start transporting the treasures to the ship.'

'I shall be supervising,' said Faltato primly. 'I am needed in person to ensure that no pieces are overlooked or mishandled during the clearance.'

'And to ensure that no Wurms die because you're taking the risks for them,' said the Doctor brightly. 'Isn't that thoughtful of you? That's so thoughtful!'

'Wurms are the biggest threat to the Valnaxi defences, which makes them the prime targets,' Faltato a.s.sured him. 'But should it prove necessary, believe you me, Doctor, your friends will form an effective shield for me too.'

'Don't bet on it,' muttered Basel.

'We leave at once,' rasped Korr. 'King Ottak wishes the campaign concluded with all speed.'

'So do I,' said the Doctor grimly. 'Let's go.'127.

[image]

Backoutonthestinking,ash-shroudedbattleground,Rose,theDoctor and Fynn were having to hold hands around the Wurm soldier. It was as if they were playing ring-a-ring-o-roses, surrounding and shielding it, trying to match its obscene, wriggling movements as it squelched through the mud and bones.

Fynn was keeping quiet, but his fingers were clutching at Rose's. She didn't look at him. Whatever the Doctor might say, the stuff Fynn had done was wrong and she couldn't find it in herself to feel any understanding. He could have done things differently but he knew how people would have reacted, so he'd gone his own way. Now she couldn't help but wonder if he'd used bits of the bodies or everything in one go, how long each one had lasted, how he'd stored them away in his caves, out of sight and the sun, his grisly little secret 'Lovely stroll,' said the Doctor brightly. 'How about a bit of conversation?'

'Shut it,' said Korr.

'Or you'll do what?' the Doctor challenged. 'Out here, we're your protection, remember?' A handful of bats came swooping down and then changed course, as if to reinforce the point. 'And without us you 129 won't get memory wafers or slave labour. So if it's all the same to you, I think we'll talk. I think we'll have a right old gas.'

The Wurm made a hissing, straining noise, like an elephant on the loo.

The Doctor ignored him. 'So, Fynn, tell me more about your experiments. What went wrong? I remember you saying that fungus could grow on just about anything it feeds feeds on the decay of organic matter, doesn't it?' on the decay of organic matter, doesn't it?'

Rose glared at him. 'Adiel's parents might have been used for mushroom compost and you want to chat about it?'

'Could be important. Go on, Fynn.'

'The genetic structures of human and fungus are incompatible,'

Fynn said quietly, trying not to slip in a patch of wet mud. 'Animal cells have semi-porous membranes controlling what pa.s.ses in and out, maintaining function and integrity of the cellular processes. Fungi have cell walls walls, protecting the insides from physical movement which could prove harmful.'

'Of course,' said the Doctor. 'That's got to be it. Could be our only chance.'

Rose stared. 'So you're glad he did experiments on dead people, then?'

The Doctor shrugged. 'The road to h.e.l.l is paved with good intentions.'

'I've seen enough of h.e.l.l lately, thanks ' Rose broke off as weird birds squawked and flapped somewhere overhead; scouting out the battlefield maybe, or trying to find a way of reaching the Wurms. Tell me, Korr,' said the Doctor. 'Have you seen any of the magmaform guardians out on the front line?'

'They cower in fear of us,' the Wurm hissed. 'As do all our enemies.'

'Yeah, yeah. Funny, though, isn't it? Hanging back and picking on the likes of Solomon when they're actually the best fighters.'

'Maybe the guardians wanted to get back at Solomon for bringing the roof down on their golden plaque thing,' Rose suggested. The Doctor frowned. 'You what?'130.

'Adiel saw him do it. He must have found it a while back and decided to bury it.'

'Golden plaque, eh? That must be the deactivation panel Faltato mentioned. . . ' He frowned. 'I'd like to take a look at that myself.'

'Perhaps you will,' said Korr, 'when you join your fellows in slavery, clearing the caverns.'

'I think I mentioned,' said the Doctor sharply, 'you should treat us with a bit more respect. While we're here, nothing's gonna attack '

'Look out!' Rose screamed as a glowing ball of fiery energy came rolling out of the ashen mist.

It was one of the guardians, tired of the tunnels perhaps. Ready to rumble.

Making straight for her.

She pulled her hands away and staggered back, breaking the circle. The Wurm spat dark juices at the creature, which crackled and hissed over its gleaming skin. But it ignored him, grew larger, surged out and slopped against her feet.

Rose shouted out, though it didn't actually hurt not for the first couple of seconds anyway. The Doctor grabbed hold of her hand to try and pull her clear, but she could already feel a searing heat rising up through her legs, blistering her from the inside. For a moment her eyes met the Doctor's wide, horrified and helpless then she screwed them up as the pain tore through her, as the guardian flowed up her body, drawing her into the furnace of its form. Her vision burned blood red for a moment, as weird shadows started to solidify in her sight. Then she was dissolved and gone and knew nothing.

Fynn stared in terror, shock rooting him to the spot as the magma form flowed over the flailing form of the Doctor's friend. One moment she was struggling, the next she was frozen, limbs splayed out, a golden statue. But she didn't remain still like the others and she didn't attack. She turned and ran away.

The guardian retreated after her like an obedient dog as the Wurm fired its stubby cannon. Mud and insects splattered over the ground 131 just beside it, but the guardian kept moving, soon swallowed by the ghostly swirl of sand and ashes just as Rose was. The Wurm fired after them wildly, blast after blast.

Then something grabbed Fynn by both shoulders, spun him around. He started to shout out, but a bony hand clamped down on his mouth. It was the Doctor, face pressed up close, eyes dark and wild. Fynn could see the pain there, the anger, the refusal to face up to a truth so hard. It was like seeing into his own eyes, the day he'd found out about his father.

The Doctor threw him towards the nearby complex. 'Run!'

Fear took over where momentum left off and Fynn started to work his legs harder, faster. Even so, the Doctor overtook him effortlessly.

'Stop!' the Wurm roared after them. 'Bipeds will cease ambulation!'