Doctor Who: Fury From the Deep

In the dark uncharted depths of the North Sea it has
lurked, growing in strength, growing in size, and striking
terror into the hearts of mariners down the untold
centuries.

Landing near a North Sea gas refinery off the east coast of
England, the TARDIS crew are immediately accused of
sabotage. Several rig crews have mysteriously vanished,
strange pressure build-ups have been detected, and in the
refinery's pipelines the Doctor can hear the steady,
rhythmic beat of - what?

Soon the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria will find themselves
at the unrelenting mercy of the deadliest and most
terrifying foe they have ever encountered...

DOCTOR WHO

Based on the BBC television serial by Victor Pemberton by arrangement with the British Broadcasting Corporation
VICTOR PEMBERTON

published by

The Paperback Division of

W. H. Allen & Co. PLC

2 Something in the Pipeline

3 A Pair of White Gloves

4 Mr Oak and Mr Quill

5 Waiting in the Dark

6 The Specimen

7 The Figure on the Beach

8 The Impeller Shaft

9 The Battle of the Giants

10 The Spy Within

11 The Nerve Centre

12 'Scream, Victoria, Scream!'

A Target Book

Published in 1986

by the Paperback Division of W. H. Allen & Co. PLC

44 Hill Street, London W1X 8LB

Novelisation copyright © Victor Pemberton 1986

Original script copyright © Victor Pemberton 1968

'Doctor Who' series copyright © British Broadcasting Corporation 1968, 1986

The BBC producer of
Fury From The Deep
was Peter Bryant the director was Hugh David

Typeset in Baskerville by Fleet Graphics, Enfield, Middlesex Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Anchor Brendon Ltd, Tiptree, Essex

ISBN 0 426 20259 7

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

1

The sky had never looked more menacing. Huge clusters of dark grey clouds had overwhelmed the early morning sunshine, threatening the approach of a gathering winter storm. And beneath it all: the sea; the cruel, unyielding sea, crammed with dark secrets that Man on planet Earth has never fully understood. Quiet and calm now, with small white tufts of foam curling gently across the surface, waiting for the gale force winds to lash them into a frenzy. An ancient mariner once said that if you stand alone on the sea shore, you will hear the sound of those who dwell in the deep depths of the ocean. Today was to be just such a day...

For the moment, however, the sound was a more familiar one.

The TARDIS began to materialise out through the clouds, gradually descending, to hover for a few seconds just above the waves. Finally, it dropped with an undignified flop onto the sea.

A short while later, a small rubber boat was bobbing up and down on the undulating swell, heading its way slowly towards the shore. Inside the boat, three time-travellers were all looking decidedly cold and wet.

'Just like you to land us in the middle of the sea!' Jamie was very disgruntled as he used all his burly strength to row the boat's oars against the outgoing tide.

'Sorry about that.' The Doctor was also rowing energetically, his favourite woollen bobble hat pulled tightly over his ears. 'But don't worry. The TARDIS is perfectly capable of floating.'

Behind them, the TARDIS was swaying gently to and fro on the surface of the water. It was a majestic, if improbable, sight.

Passing ships were going to be in for something of a shock when they picked up an old blue police box on their radar scanner.

'Where
exactly
are we?' groaned Victoria. The poor young girl was huddled beneath a large blanket, wearing a thick woollen jumper and skirt, trying to protect herself from the merciless ice-cold breeze.

Victoria had never been a good sailor. She had even got sick when her father took her rowing in a boat on the Serpentine Lake in London's Hyde Park. That was back in Victorian times.

The Doctor's eyes were carefully scanning the barren coastline ahead of them. 'Oh, that's England all right. There's no doubt about it.'

'Aye,' grunted Jamie, shivering with the cold. His exposed legs below his kilt had already turned a decided shade of blue. 'W-with this w-weather, it couldna' be anywhere b-but England!'

Although Jamie's comment was a little unjust, the Doctor was probably right. As they approached the coastline they saw that it was, without a doubt, the eastern seaboard of the British Isles. The beach, which was covered entirely with large pebbles, extended for a distance of at least two miles, and perhaps even more. At either end of the beach were enormous steep cliffs, with craggy rocks below, and the entire sea shore was backed by a vast area of sand dunes, which had been shaped into sinister formations by the endless East Anglian winds.

Jamie and the Doctor hauled the rubber boat ashore, then helped Victoria onto the beach. The Doctor remained at the water's edge for a moment, and gazed out to sea. In one way, he looked a rather comical figure in his woollen bobble hat, shabby old frock coat, and baggy check trousers. But as his eyes scanned the surface of the gently rolling tide, it was obvious he felt uneasy. The Doctor had never really liked the sea. In fact, it was the only thing he really feared. It made him feel insecure, restless.

Jamie was quick to recognise the Doctor's strange mood. He had seen it many times before, always when the Doctor had been anticipating danger. Wandering back to the water's edge, he asked quietly, 'What is it, Doctor?'

The Doctor's eyes were transfixed out towards the sea. 'I don't know, Jamie.' His face was tensed into a frown, as though trying to listen to something. 'There's something not right about this place.'

An ice-cold wind skimmed the surface of the water and swept across the pebbled beach into the sand dunes, sending a funnel of silvery white sand high into the sky. And as the great mist of sand began to settle again, a ghostly, shadowy figure could just be seen, crouched low behind one of the dunes.

The Doctor and his two companions moved on. As they made their way slowly along the beach, their feet made untidy crunching sounds on the rough, hard pebbles. They had only gone a short distance when the Doctor came to an abrupt halt. 'That's curious.' He was staring at something just by his feet.

Victoria wasn't at all concerned. 'It's only foam washed in on the tide. You often find it along the sea shores.'

'Maybe so,' replied the Doctor, bending down to take a closer look at the frothy white substance, 'but there's quite a lot here.'

Victoria turned to look around. The Doctor was right. The entire stretch of the shoreline and beach beyond were covered with large patches of sea foam. It was a very weird sight.

Jamie bent down beside the Doctor. 'D'you think there's something wrong?'

'I'm not sure... ' The Doctor scooped up a handful of. foam and studied it closely for a moment. 'Here, Jamie - smell.'

Jamie put his nose to the handful of foam. As he did so, the Doctor suddenly slapped it full into Jamie's face.

'Hey!' Jamie was unable to splutter anything more. His face looked as though it was covered in soap suds. The foam also had another curious effect on him, for he immediately burst into a deafening fit of sneezing.

The Doctor and Victoria doubled up with laughter as they watched Jamie, convulsed with sneezing, wiping foam from his face.

Jamie's Highland pride was now aroused, and he quickly retaliated by scooping up handfuls of foam and throwing them at the Doctor.

An hilarious foam battle quickly ensued, with the Doctor and Jamie beginning to look like snowmen, their howls of laughter echoing around the beach. The seabirds were not disturbed, because there were no seabirds to be seen. In fact, the sea, the beach, and the cliffs seemed to be deserted of all wild life. But there were other eyes watching the beach, cold and prying eyes...

'
Doctor!
'

Victoria's sudden shout brought the fun and games to ah abrupt halt. The Doctor and Jamie turned with a start, to find Victoria staring at something in the base of a nearby cliff.

'Don't touch anything!' The Doctor yelled as he ran, with Jamie close behind him.

Victoria had discovered an exposed section of aluminium tube, curling out of the sand and up into the rock face of the cliff. Apart from a few printed figures on the surface of the tube, there were no obvious clues to reveal either its manufacture, or its function.

'What is it, Doctor?' she asked.

The Doctor was tapping the sides of the tube with his knuckles, trying to decipher the printed figures, which were probably some kind of code. 'Natural gas, Victoria. It's pumped out of the North Sea into this pipeline.'

'Gas from the sea!' Jamie gave the Doctor one of his sceptical Highland looks. After all, he had been brought up in the Scotland of the Jacobean age, long before the arrival of the giant oil and gas sea rigs. 'Who are you tryin' to kid, Doctor?'

'Now, I wonder what that's for?' The Doctor had become keenly interested in a small black box which was fixed to the top of the aluminium tube. 'Jamie, help me up, will you?'

Jamie clasped his hands together, allowing the Doctor to use them as a step to climb up the side of the tube.

Whilst this was going on, Victoria shivered in the cold, and pulled her shawl around her shoulders. She looked all around her, eyes scanning the long stretch of shoreline, and the bleak unfriendliness of the surrounding terrain. Even though Victoria felt tremendous gratitude towards the Doctor for all he had done for her, it was during moments like this that she missed the love and protection of her dear father back in the Victorian age.

The Doctor was now perched cross-legged on top of the aluminium tube. From the inside pocket of his jacket, he took out what looked like his own version of a screwdriver. Slowly, cautiously, he started to open the small black box...

At the rear of the beach amongst the sand dunes, the ghostly figure of a man waited patiently. In the distorted, shimmering haze of the early morning, it was almost impossible to see him, lying flat on his stomach, watching the Doctor and his companions through the telescopic sight of his rifle...

'What is it, Doctor? Can you see?' Jamie was straining to peer inside the small black box which the Doctor had just opened on top of the aluminium tube. It contained a cluster of microchip electronics.

'Looks like some kind of remote-controlled release valve.' The Doctor was prodding at the mass of wires with his screwdriver, causing an immediate flurry of sparks. 'Sure sign we're in the twentieth century. Latter part of it, I'd say.'

Victoria was becoming increasingly nervous. 'Doctor, I do wish you'd hurry. There's something I don't like about this place. It's so—quiet. As though we're being watched.'

The focus gradually cleared through the telescopic sight of the ghostly figure's rifle. It was centred firmly on the Doctor...

The Doctor, still perched on top of the aluminium tube, was replacing the small black box he had been looking at.

'Doctor!' Jamie's ear was pressed firmly against the side of the tube. 'I can hear something. A peculiar sound.'

'A sound? Inside the pipeline?' From another of his jacket pockets, the Doctor quickly took out his stethoscope, placed one end of it on the surface of the aluminium tube, and listened to the movement inside.