Doctor Who_ The Dalek Factor Part 7

The Professor sets down the cups on the table. 'You know what she is, Kye. She's not your sister. The insects have a telepathic ability. They can select a memory of someone you love and mould themselves into that image.'

'I know. I know. She's one of those disgusting walking hives.''Then don't tarry or they'll be burrowing into your skin. Then where will you be?'

Kye swallows. 'My sister's dead'

'Oh. I'm sorry, I truly am.'

'She was killed with her friend when they triggered a mine. It would have been...' Kye shakes her head, unable to continue.

'Those responsible?' The Professor's voice is gentle. 'Daleks?'

'Daleks,' I confirm.

Tar'ant adds: 'When they withdrew from liberated planets they seeded the soil with millions of tiny mines. They're powerful enough to maim and kill if you're close when they detonate. We run thorough sieving programs, but still one or two get through.'

'Believe me, I am sorry.' The Professor nods toward the child that is nothing more than a densely packed ma.s.s of insects. 'But we have to be rid of our uninvited guest'

'I understand,' Kye tells him. 'But I'd rather not watch this time'

'Of course.' He looks at me. 'Jomi, isn't it?'

I nod.

'Then Jomi, will you comfort your colleague while I deal with this?'

I put my arm around her shoulders while positioning myself between her and the copy of her sister.

'The trick is...' The Professor moves toward the child shaped figure. 'The trick is to break up the hive as soon as they form themselves into a humanoid figure. Prevents them from engaging the breeding cycle. Uh?'

I glance back over my shoulder toward the doorway. The child has stepped backward into the corridor.

'That is strange.' The Professor frowns. 'The hives tend not to retreat when approached. But then again, they have being behaving out of norm recently.'

I remember how the 'Thal boy-child' acted earlier. 'One of those things seemed to bring the platoon here this morning.'

'Really? Now that is odd.' He regards the child as it stands in the corridor staring back in at him. Then he addresses it: 'Can you understand me?'

The child doesn't reply. Doesn't even react. Simply stands and stares with those wide, grey eyes.

'Do you want us to follow?'The child doesn't move until the man takes a step forward, then it reciprocates with a step backward.

'You do wa do want me to follow.'The child shape doesn't respond verbally, but with every step of the Professor's it reciprocates with another step down the corridor.

I whisper to Kye: 'I think we should follow, too.'

Kye nods as she picks up her firearm.

I glance at Tar'ant. 'Best stay here and keep an eye on the kitchen wall, in case it performs the disappearing trick again.'

'Happy to. Those bug people give me the creeps.'The three of us take our time following the 'child.' It moves one step at a time. In the distance we see the man's reading chair in the centre of the corridor. The 'child' appears to wait until it's sure we are following, then turns and walks forward into the spare room.

'Well, it can't get far that way.' I slip the gun strap over my shoulder. 'It's just your junk room, isn't it, Professor?'

'Junk room? That's my treasured archive.'

Kye steps forward. 'She wants us to follow her in there.''She's a "they", if you remember.' The Professor holds up a hand to stop us. 'The swarm of insects that have taken that shape see you as baby food.'

There's been a shift in our relationship, I realise. The Professor has become our guide and protector. Once more he holds up his hand to stop us from entering the room, instead electing to go first, even though he is unarmed. I know this state of affairs can't continue. There's a chance he will be our prisoner in the future, so I know I'm going to have to reestablish my authority over him. But... Well, there is something formidable about him. I find myself slipping into the role of respectful student overawed by the charismatic (if spectacularly eccentric) schoolmaster.

'Professor. Next time, let me enter a room before you, just in case '

'Quickly, rangers. You should take a look at this.'

I glance at Kye, and her shrug's eloquent enough. We are losing control of the man. From the tone of his voice we realise he's found something, so we dart through the door.

Two things.

First: the 'girl'. Something's happening to her. She's changing.

Second: the room itself. That's different, too.

Kye shouts: 'My sister did want to help us. She's showed us a way out!'

This time it's the Professor who catches my eye. He's uneasy that Kye identifies what amounts to a parasitic swarm as her sister. Even so, I realise that the 'girl -child', for whatever motive, has led us into a room that has undergone a profound change.

'Zoe?'Kye has used her sister's name to address the 'walking hive,' as the man dubs it.

'Zoe.'The figure of the child is changing. I watch as its mouth alters shape; the lips are swelling, seemingly blistering, as their colour darkens from pink to black. Lumps form on the face. I realise that where there was once a nose and lips I'm now seeing a ma.s.s of insects. The figure is losing its cohesion. Instead of the insects making up an integrated human form, they are releasing their grip on each other; what was such a tightly woven fabric of legs, wings, thoraxes and hard carapaces, is unravelling. When it happens, I'm not exactly sure. One second I'm seeing a humanlike figure, albeit blurred as the swarm frees itself, then the next instant the 'girl' dissolves into a cloud of buzzing insects. We flinch back as they hum through the air. For a moment, I think they've launched themselves at us. However, they sweep round the room in a black mist, increasing in speed until the buzz becomes a hard whine that sets our teeth on edge. The next moment, they're gone.

Not through the doorway this time. But through the far wall of the junk room.

The Professor looks at us. 'It seems it's gone and done it again. My walls appear to have developed the perplexing ability to disappear. My, my. A "here today, gone tomorrow" habit. This is very confusing indeed.' He makes a move toward the dark void beyond the room.

'Not this time, Professor.' I move fast. 'I'll go first. Kye, watch our backs.'

This time, instead of finding an opening to blue skies, a rain forest and a fortress on a cliff, we find ourselves at the start of a narrow tunnel that slopes steeply downward.

Drawing a deep breath, I take a few paces back, then call through the doorway toward the kitchen. 'Tar'ant... Tar'ant! You better join us in here. This place has just gone and done it all over again.'

SIXTEEN.

I KEEP MY WEAPON READY. THE Pa.s.sAGEWAY IS UNLIT; SHADOWS swarm in its depths; noxious forms, like predatory creatures in deep water. Slowly... slowly... I step forward until I'm in the tunnel. In the section where I stand, the walls begin to glow. Probably some backup lighting system triggered by my presence; sufficient to see by just. Walls and floor are not only bare but a featureless grey. Not so much as a rivet or weld seam. Free from dirt and debris.

'Looks like the only way, Kye.' I wait for her to acknowledge my suggestion.

She nods. 'We've no choice, Jomi.'

[image]'What say you, Tar'ant?'

'Lead on, friend.'

'Wait... Wait!' The Professor surges through the opening to grab my arm.

'What is it?'

'You can't go down there.'

'We've got to find our platoon, Professor.'

'No.'

'It's the only way out of here.'

'You can't go down there, do you hear me?'

'Why not?'

'Danger... Awful, awful danger.'

'What kind of danger, Professor?'The man almost howls with frustration. 'That's just it. I don't know. I mean I mean I did know. Once! But I can't remember.'

'We must go.''If you go down there, ranger, then nothing will ever be the same again! Nothing... Not for you... not for me... anyone...' His gaze loses its directness; he's peering inward on himself again as his speech fragments. Trying to locate secret truths hidden in the depths of his mind.

Kye speaks: 'You don't have to come with us, Professor. Not if you don't want to.'

'Want? Want! Nothing to do with want! Don't you understand? I'm frightened of what I'll find!' frightened of what I'll find!'

SEVENTEEN.

WE STAND THERE. TENSION TURNS THE MAN'S FACE INTO A RIGID mask. His eyes stare into the tunnel's shadowed maw.

I ask: 'And just what are you afraid of down there?'

'Terrible things... terrible,' he breathes.

'You're beginning to remember?'

He shakes his head, his voice a whisper. 'I'm afraid I'll find my name down there. Then I'll remember what I've forgotten. And I don't know if I do want to recall my past anymore. My amnesia must have some greater purpose.' Perspiration forms on his brow. 'It's down there... I can feel it.'

As if in confirmation, a deep soulful cry shimmers from the depths of the tunnel.

Kye gasps. 'What was that?'The man's eyes are locked on that tunnel of darkness. 'Friend or foe,' he whispers. 'I don't know... I don't know... '

It sounds again. A deep ululation; far away; but charged, somehow, with huge sorrow; an eternal yearning. A longing. The sound is so melancholy that shivers ripple down my spine. For that call triggers a memory within me. It's the sound Yo made when she was struck by the mineral conveyor. The sound I hear now is not only emerging from the depths of the tunnel, it's echoing from the depths of my mind. Initially, I figure that if I advance into this conduit I might encounter whatever monstrous creature has made these cries... then I fear I might meet something worse down there. Call it what you want guilt, remorse. But I wonder if my failure to put my childhood pet out of its misery is coming back to haunt me again. What's more, I wonder if I will have the courage to face whatever I find down there.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, I check the magazine cyst on the underside of the gun. 'Kye. Tar'ant. The charge is beginning to degrade. I'm down to eighty percent. How's yours holding out?'

'Seventy-five.'Kye clicks her tongue. 'Mine, too. It's like this place is sucking the juice out of the thing.'The man stares fixedly into the darkness. A statue-like figure. Fascinated yet appalled by this conduit that runs deep into planet bedrock.

'Professor. We're running out of options now. We're losing power in the weapons.'

He breaks out of his near trance. 'Weapons?'

'Our weapons.' I hold the gun so he can see it. 'In a couple of hours we won't be able to fire them.' I'm not sure if I'm getting through. 'That means we'll be able to use them only as clubs.' I nod to Kye. 'Ready when you are?'

'I'm ready.'

'OK. Good-bye, Professor.' We begin to walk into the tunnel. As we appear to be on the verge of moving once more into absolute darkness, a faint glimmer flows into the walls to give us just enough illumination to see where we step.

Then the silence is broken by a faltering voice from behind. 'Wait... wait wait. I'm coming with you.'