Doctor Who: Fury From the Deep (19 page)

Somewhere along a snow-covered cliff top near the Refinery, a Minimoke bicycle car was racing much too fast on the icy road. At the wheel was the deranged figure of Robson, with Victoria slumped unconscious on the seat behind him.

The Minimoke came to a halt in a clearing at the top of the cliff. Robson got out, dragged Victoria from the back seat, and threw her across his shoulder. He turned, and quickly made his way to another vehicle that was waiting for him.

It was a helicopter.

11

The central video monitor at the Control Cone suddenly buzzed with activity. Price swung round on his seat and called out across the Hall excitedly, 'Mr Harris!'

Harris rushed across from the office area immediately, 'What have you got?'

'It's Chief Robson, sir! He's just taking off.'

'Taking off?' Harris looked at the video monitor. One of the Company's two-seater British Aerospace helicopters was just rising up from the chopper pad at the top of the cliffs. As it quickly gained height, a great white spray of snow rose with it from the down draught.

Harris watched the screen in despair for a moment or so, then growled, 'Keep a close track on that chopper. Don't let it out of your sight!'

In the Compound corridor just outside the Control Hall, Jamie found himself caught up in the chaos as engineers rushed up and down in general emergency. The weed enemy had penetraded the very heart of the Euro-Gas network, and from now on it was every man for himself.

'Victoria?' Jamie was desperately stopping every engineer who bumped into him. 'Have you seen Victoria!' Each time the answer was the same, an impatient shaking of the head followed by a mad dash to get out of the place. Jamie was practically beside himself, when the Doctor suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor.

'Doctor! Have you found her?'

'She's gone!' said the Doctor breathlessly, as he rushed forward to meet Jamie. 'I've been right the way round.'

'But she was standing right beside us.'

'Doctor!' Harris was calling from the door of the Control Hall.

'Robson's trying to get away in one of the Company helicopters.'

'Blast!' The Doctor moved briskly towards the Control Hall. 'I should have known!'

Harris stopped him briefly at the door. 'I'm afraid he's got your young girl with him.'

The Doctor looked up sharply in horror. Then he turned to Jamie.

'Oh no!' The young Highland warrior looked utterly crushed.

By the time the Doctor, Jamie, and Harris reached the video monitor at the Control Cone, Robson's blue and white helicopter showing the legend
EURO-GAS
in huge black letters, was soaring off into the distance out to sea.

A small group, including the Chairperson and Perkins, gathered around the Cone. 'Is there any way of speaking to Robson from here?' the Doctor asked Harris.

Harris turned to Price at the Control panel. 'Switch to RT.'

Price flicked a switch and a green transmitting light appeared above the video monitor. Harris turned back to the Doctor, and said, 'Go ahead.'

The Doctor spoke directly to the video monitor. 'Robson, are you there? Robson, can you hear me?'

At the helicopter controls, Robson jumped with a start as he suddenly heard the Doctor's voice booming out through the RT unit.

'Robson! This is the Doctor. Listen to me.
Please
listen! Come back to the Refinery, Robson. Do you hear me? Come back!'

The Doctor's distorted voice was clearly causing Robson a great deal of pain. His face crumpled up, and he clutched one of his cars in agony.

The Doctor tried again. 'Robson! Don't you understand?

They're trying to control you. They want to use you as a weapon against us. Resist them, Robson! You are part of the human race.

You
are
one of us. Do you hear me, Robson.
You are one of us
...'

Robson grabbed the RT microphone and flicked a switch. But when he tried to speak, the words would just not form in his mouth.

'L-l-l-listen...' he cluttered. 'L-l-l-listen - to - me...'

There was a deadly silence throughout the Control Hall as everyone listened to the faint, barely audible, almost robotic voice of Robson, filtering through static from the central video monitor.

'The girl... I have the girl... my prisoner... my hostage...'

The Chairperson suddenly bellowed at the monitor. 'Robson!

This is Megan! Don't be a fool, man...!'

'Quite please!' the Doctor demanded angrily. 'Let him finish!'

Robson continued. 'The girl you want her to live... you must come... you must come over - to us...' His voice gradually trailed away, and finally disappeared.

'Robson!' called the Doctor. 'Robson, can you hear me?'

Price turned from the Control panel. 'We've lost him, sir. He must have switched off.'

'What did he mean?' asked the Chairperson. 'Come over to us?'

'Exactly what he said,' replied the Doctor tersely.

Harris looked anxiously at the Doctor. 'You mean - they want
you
?'

The Doctor smiled knowingly. 'Oh yes. They obviously realise I am a threat to them.'

'But you won't go - surely?'

Everyone was watching the Doctor tensely, waiting for his reply.

'Of course I shall go!'

There were shocked murmurs all around the Hall. Some of them were of consternation, others were of admiration.

The Chairperson had to raise her voice to be heard above the din. 'But we need you here. You're our only hope!'

'If I stay here,' the Doctor assured her, 'that hope will be very slim indeed.'

Now Jamie stepped forward. 'Doctor, don't let that madman take Victoria. We've got to stop him!'

'You two are the mad ones if you go chasing after Robson,'

insisted the Chairperson. 'You can see for yourself, he's a danger to everyone.'

The Doctor appreciated the Chairperson's sudden concern, but his mind was made up. 'No, Jamie's right,' he said. 'We've got to go after him.'

'There's a Company helicopter,' said Harris. 'We'll have a pilot waiting for you.'

'Thank you,' smiled the Doctor, as he and Jamie made their way to the Compound exit door. But they stopped abruptly as they heard the Chairperson shouting at Harris across the Hall.

'Harris! If we let this man go now, what hope have we?'

The Doctor answered her. 'The only hope you have, madam, is that my hunch is proved correct.'

'Hunch?'

'That Mr Robson will lead us straight to the nerve centre of the weed colony.'

Robson's blue and white-coloured helicopter was almost invisible against the grim, grey winter sky. But the cracking sound of the chopper's blades were sharp enough to disperse any stray seagull that had been left behind by the mass migration of seabirds from the eastern seaboard of the English coast.

At the controls of the helicopter, Robson was quite oblivious to what was happening to him. He had become a mere instrument of the weed's mental control over him. He was no longer capable, or indeed permitted, to think for himself.

Down below, the mud-coloured sea was pitted with undulating swells of white spray and bubbling blobs of foam, soon to become a slave of the fury from the deep...

Back on the mainland, another, somewhat larger Company helicopter was taking off from the chopper pad at the top of the cliffs. This time the passengers were the Doctor and Jamie, who were well wrapped up against the cold in Company regulation anoraks.

Flying in a helicopter was a whole new experience for Jamie.

Although in some ways it resembled travel in the TARDIS, he was particularly fascinated by the rnanoeuverability of the machine, especially when it skimmed just above the waves.

Because of the piercing noise created by the helicopter's huge rotating blades, the Doctor and the pilot had agreed to communicate with each other by means of sign language - pointing up, pointing down, and this way, that way, and so on

After consulting the map, the Doctor still had no idea which direction they should be making for. In his estimation, the nerve centre of the weed colony could be just about anywhere, and it was going to be like searching for a needle in a haystack. At this stage also, he had no idea that Robson was heading out to sea. So, tapping the pilot at his side on the arm, the Doctor pointed to a direction which he chose as the result of a hunch.

The pilot took the helicopter up to an operational height, then headed off into a north-easterly direction, straight along the coastline.

The central video monitor at the Control Cone was relaying pictures from the Refinery's radar system. Harris, the Chairperson, and Perkins were absorbed with a small yellow dot on the screen's tracking diagram, which represented the position of Robson's helicopter out at sea.

Price suddenly interrupted them. He had picked up a message through his earphones. 'Mr Harris, sir! The Doctor is airborne.'

'Right! Put him through on RT.' Harris waited for Price.to flick a switch, then talked directly to the video monitor. 'Doctor, this is Harris. Can you hear me? Over!'

The Doctor's voice came booming through the tannoy speakers loud and clear. 'I hear you, Mr Harris. Go ahead please. Over!'

'Listen to me, Doctor. Can you see Robson yet?'

'No - not a sign.'

'Right, now listen carefully.' Harris brushed the lock of hair from his eye and spoke urgently. 'We've managed to track Robson on the Radarscope. He's landed on the Control Rig Complex. Can you hear me? The Control Rig Complex. Over!'

There was a moment's hesitation, then the Doctor answered in a very excited voice. 'The Control Rig! Well, well, well. So that's the nerve centre.'

The Chairperson was straining to hear the Doctor's reply.

'What did he say? Ask him to repeat.'

Harris called back to the monitor. 'Say again please, Doctor!

Say again! Over!'

The Doctor's voice boomed back through the tannoy speakers immediately. 'I said, we're on our way to the Control Rig. Over and out!'

The RT link-up came to an end, and Harris turned from the monitor with a grave expression.

The Chairperson said, 'What chance have they got?'

'Your guess is as good as mine,' sighed Harris.

'So what do we do now?'

'We sit and wait.' Harris flopped down into the nearest chair, and covered his face with his hands. He was exhausted - and pessimistic. 'If the Doctor hasn't done something within an hour, I'm evacuating the Compound.'

The Chairperson thumped her fist angrily into the palm of her other hand. 'No!' she growled. 'I forbid it!'

Harris looked up and glared straight at her defiantly. 'And that's final - Miss Jones!'

The Chairperson was outraged. But she didn't say another word.

The North Sea had never looked more menacing. A few miles from the mainland great tufts of thick grey cloud hung over the surface of the water, each of them looking like the distorted faces of goblins, relishing the thought of what was to come.

The blue and white Euro-Gas helicopter carrying the Doctor and Jamie darted in and out of the clouds, dispersing them into even more grotesque shapes. The search for Robson and Victoria was intensifying, and their destination, the Control Rig Complex, was positioned in the middle of the network of gas rigs some twenty miles out from the coastline.

Their first sign that they were approaching the rigs was when Jamie caught sight of a yellow rubber dingy bobbing up and down on the rolling waves. Then the Doctor picked out another one, and then another. Soon, the entire area was littered with identical survival craft, all bearing the Euro-Gas legend. Each one of them was empty.

The Doctor's worst fears were confirmed. The weed was permitting no-one to escape from its massive onslaught.

Soon after they passed over the dinghies, the pilot suddenly drew the Doctor's attention to something down below and dead ahead. It was their first view of the vast complex of rigs, jutting out of the sea and mist like huge ghostly galleons. The largest construction was the Control Rig complex itself. This was surrounded at a distance by a rectangle of smaller rigs, all of them containing chopper pads with EG printed in bold black letters. The Doctor pointed downwards, and the pilot began descending the helicopter.

The helicopter approached the rigs at low level, skimming just above the surface of the waves. Jamie felt a mixture of exhilaration and anxiety as they weaved in and out of the rigs. They were barren, unwelcoming places for human beings to spend so much time on, boasting nothing more than cranes, hoists, and a massive web of drilling machinery. And as they drew closer, the full impact of what had happened to the rigs and its crew, became a frightening reality.

Every one of the rigs and the sea around was covered with a layer of bubbling white foam. The effect was dazzling. In the Doctor's mind, he and Jamie were two flies being enticed into a giant spider's web.

Within a few moments, the helicopter was hovering over the Control Rig, and the huge rotating blades soon dispersed the foam below, propelling huge blobs of it into the air. The helicopter door opened, and Jamie threw out a rope ladder which reached down to the chopper pad.

The Doctor was first to climb down the ladder, then Jamie. It was a perilous descent, for the pad had been left slippery by the alien foam. Once they were safely down, the Doctor turned to look up and give the pilot the thumbs-up sign. The pilot did likewise, withdrew the ladder, and took the helicopter up to a higher altitude.

'Over her, Jamie!' called the Doctor, as he found his way to a steel door marked
LOG ROOM: AUTHORISED PERSONNEL

ONLY
.

Jamie followed quickly, but stopped briefly to take a suspicious look around the ghost-like rig. 'Where
is
everyone?' he said. 'The place is deserted.'

The Doctor used both hands to open the heavy steel door.

'Careful now, Jamie. We're being watched.' Without another word, he disappeared through the door. Jamie lingered just long enough to notice the lack of seabirds everywhere. His eyes were very firmly directed towards the helicopter, hovering above the rig.