Doctor Who: Fury From the Deep (20 page)

Then he too quickly disappeared through the door. After he was gone, the white blobs of foam began to reform.

The Doctor and Jamie found themselves at the top of a flight of metal steps which led down to a poorly lit corridor, containing not one door, but three.

'So far, so good,' said the Doctor quietly.

'Will the driver wait for us?' asked Jamie hopefully.

The Doctor smiled. 'The driver is not a driver, Jamie. He's a pilot. Don't worry, he'll wait.'

Jamie swallowed hard and looked at the corridor below. 'Do we go down there?'

'I'm afraid so. Follow me.'

Jamie kept as close behind the Doctor as he possibly could. 'It's like walking into the lion's den.'

'I feel we're already in his den, Jamie. We must just try to avoid putting our heads into his mouth!'

'Their slow, cautious footsteps echoed on the metal steps, until finally they were in the corridor below, which was just above sea-level.

'It's awful quiet,' whispered Jamie. 'You think Victoria's down here?'

'I don't know. It's possible.'

Without stopping to think, Jamie suddenly called out to Victoria in exactly the same way he had done so many times before during their adventures together. 'Victoria! Where are you?'

The Doctor immediately clapped his hand over Jamie's mouth.

'Ssh, Jamie! There'll be no element of surprise...'

No sooner had he spoken than Victoria's stifled voice came echoing from somewhere along the corridor. 'Jamie! Doctor!'

Jamie pulled the Doctor's hand away from his mouth. 'It's her!

It's Victoria!' He was about to move off in the direction of Victoria's call, when the Doctor quickly stopped him.

'Wait Jamie!'

'What's the matter?'

'If you were hunting, what would you do?'

Jamie thought for a moment. 'Oh Aye. It could be a trap?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Let's be cautious, just in case.' He and Jamie moved slowly along the corridor.

They paused briefly outside the first door, then after a moment's hesitation, they barged straight in. The Doctor turned on the light. It was a small video and computer tape store cupboard. But no Victoria. They repeated the process at the next door. This time it was the Log Room itself. But once again, although deserted in a hurry, everything was in order. And still no sign of Victoria.

As they approached the third door, they stopped dead. They could hear the slow, pulsating sound of the alien heartbeat coming from inside the room.

The Doctor looked at Jamie. 'This must be it. Ready?'

Jamie gulped hard, then nodded. The Doctor carefully opened the door. The heartbeat sound stopped immediately. The room was in darkness. Jamie felt for the light switch, and flicked it on.

The room exploded into a cacophony of squeals and deafening, pulsating heartbeat sounds.

The Doctor and Jamie stared in horror as the room was flooded with light. They were in a large crew cabin, at the far end of which was a seething mass of bubbling white foam. And in the midst of that foam was a sight that would chill the blood of even the strongest of mortals. The figure of a man was standing there, half-demented, his neck and hands sprouting frond-like weed formations. And out of the foam that had almost completely engulfed him, the curling tentacles of the giant Weed Creature were snaking around his lifeless body.

The deafening heartbeat sound stopped abruptly. There was a deathly silence, then the man who had become a creature himself, began to emerge from the foam, arms outstretched, walking slowly, jerkily, straight towards the Doctor and Jamie.

'Come in, Doctor,' whispered the human creature. 'We've been waiting for you...'

It was Robson.

'Scream, Victoria! Scream!'

The pilot of the Euro-Gas Company helicopter peered down at the incredible phenomenon in the sea beneath him. The platform and chopper pad of the Control Rig were almost totally engulfed in bubbling white foam, presenting a dazzling spectacle from the air.

It had all happened so quickly. Within moments of the Doctor and Jamie disappearing from view below the platform, the alien foam had quickly regathered and asserted its superiority. Hovering in the sky high above the North Sea, the pilot was convinced that he would never see any sign of human life on that rig again. All he could do now was to watch, wait, and speculate on what grim horrors were being played out within the bowels of that doom-laden mausoleum in the middle of the sea...

'What do you want of me?' The Doctor was backing away from the deformed human creature that was Robson, who was advancing on him and Jamie from a mass of bubbling white foam.

Robson, arms outstretched as though reaching out to touch the Doctor, came to a halt. His eyes were glazed over with a thin white film, and he was breathless, barely audible. 'You - are going to help -

our new masters.' His voice was slow, disjointed. 'They need you.'

'Need me?' The Doctor was suspicious, but fascinated by Robson's reply.

Suddenly they were interrupted by the sound of someone banging at a door along the corridor outside.

'Jamie! Doctor! Down here!' It was Victoria, her voice muffled, but yelling her head off. 'Get me out of here!'

'Victoria!' Jamie immediately dashed out of the room to look for her, leaving the Doctor to face the zombie-like creature alone.

'You... are going to help... with the conquest... of the human planet.' Robson's mouth seemed to move almost mechanically.

'Robson, listen to me!' The Doctor began to play for time.

'Can't you see what they've done to you? The weed is evil, Robson. It is dominating your mind...'

'The human mind... is now obsolete. It is... tired. It is... dead.'

Robson started to move again. 'Only our new masters... can offer us...

life!'

'Matter will never conquer mind, Robson. It's against the law of nature.' The Doctor had now backed into the open doorway. As he did so, he just caught a glimpse of Jamie throwing himself against the door of another room in the corridor outside. But he quickly turned back to Robson, who was now only a few metres away from him. 'Don't you care what they've done to you, Robson? Don't you care what they've done to your body?'

'The body... does not exist. Soon...' - Robson opened his arms wide as though intending to embrace the Doctor - '... we shall all... be one!' As soon as he had finished speaking, he opened his mouth wide and leaned directly towards the Doctor. The sound of hissing toxic gas came from the back of his throat.

The Doctor quickly shielded his face with his hands, then yelled out into the corridor. 'Victoria! Jamie! Hurry!'

With one last supreme effort, Jamie threw himself against the door of the room where Victoria was being held hostage, and burst it open.

'No escape...' continued Robson breathlessly. 'We are... the new masters... join us... join us... you will... join us...'

Robson, arms outstretched again, started to advance on the Doctor. The Doctor made a quick dash for the corridor, where Jamie and Victoria were just coming out of the room where the girl had been held hostage.

'Out!' yelled the Doctor. 'Both of you. Fast as you can!'

Jamie shouted back, and pointed frantically. 'Doctor! Behind you!' The Doctor turned. Robson was in the corridor, and closing in on him.

As soon as she saw the horrible deformed sight that was Robson, Victoria screamed.

Robson stopped dead, as though he had suddenly been shot.

He clutched his ears in agony, and whilst the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria looked on in absolute amazement, he began to writhe and squirm with pain, groaning, 'No... no...no...no...'

It was at that crucial moment that, for the first time, the Doctor discovered the secret of the alien weed's vulnerability. Turning quickly to Victoria, his face beaming with excitement, he yelled,

'Scream, Victoria!
Scream
!'

Victoria, trembling with fear behind Jamie, was bewildered.

'What?' she asked. 'What do you mean?'

'Do as I say, Victoria!' demanded the Doctor, jumping up and down impatiently. 'Scream again!'

Victoria duly obliged. Nobody could scream with such intensity as she, and the noise she made practically rocked the very foundation of the rig.

'No!' Robson couldn't bear the sound piercing through his head, and started to retreat backwards into the Log Room. As he did so, the small blobs of foam that had been clinging to him, disintegrated. 'Stop! Stop!' he called, but his pleas were barely audible.

'Come on, Victoria!' The Doctor grabbed hold of Victoria's hand and led her to the Log Room. Jamie followed them. All three stood in the open doorway, watching Robson retreat back into the seething mass of bubbling white foam at the other end of' the cabin.

'Keep, screaming, Victoria!' cried the Doctor. And once again, Victoria obliged.

Robson was now demented by the noise. Clutching his ears in agony, struggling to breathe, he sunk lower and lower into the foam, groaning inaudibly, 'No... No...' And just near him, the curling tentacles of the giant Weed Creature quivered frantically, desperately trying to hold on to the power that was gradually ebbing away from it. Within a matter of moments, Robson had been completely engulfEd by the foam.

'Now's our chance!' said the Doctor urgently. 'Let's get out of here!'

All three hurried along the corridor and began climbing the steps leading up to the rig platform. Victoria turned briefly. 'Jamie!

We didn't lock the room!'

Jamie started to turn back, but the Doctor stopped him. 'Leave it, Jamie! Leave it! There's no time!'

The Doctor pushed Jamie up the steps, then quickly followed him. Once he had reached the platform door, he turned briefly to look back down at the corridor below. The bubbling white foam was beginning to seep out from the Log Room.

The air above the surface of the Control Rig was crisp and clear after the choking, gas-filled atmosphere of the corridors below.

A calm breeze was rapidly building up into a full-blown gale, whipping the sea into a frenzy of activity.

Victoria hesitated at the steel surface door, too terrified to move. All around her, the platform area was almost completely covered in bubbling white foam.

'It's all right, Victoria,' said Jamie, putting a reassuring arm around her shoulders. 'It doesna' harm you.'

As soon as the Doctor appeared at the door, the deafening sound of the thumping, alien heartbeat echoed up from the corridor below. 'Quick, Jamie! Help me bolt the door!' Using all the strength in their shoulders, they managed to close the heavy steel door, immediately cutting off the sound of the heartbeat. After they had pushed the huge bolt back into position, the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. 'That should hold them for a bit!'

Jamie looked at him with a puzzled start. 'Them?' he asked.

The Doctor waded off a little into the foam, which was now up to his waist. 'Where the devil's that helicopter?' he called, looking all around the sky above the rig. He suddenly spotted it, 'Ah - there!' He was pointing to something which appeared as no more than a small speck, hovering just below the clouds some distance away.

'Hey! Down here!' Jamie, Victoria, and the Doctor started waving madly at the helicopter.

'What's the matter with him?' yelled Jamie.

'Can't he see us?' yelled Victoria.

The Doctor stopped waving. 'Probably not. There's too much foam.'

'More likely he's just scared!' Jamie was now waving both his hands.

All three suddenly turned with a start. There was a loud thumping, banging sound on the heavy steel door they had just bolted.

'Let's get out of here!' called the Doctor urgently. 'We can't wait for the helicopter.'

Jamie thought the Doctor had gone stark raving mad. 'But we can't get off this rig without it.'

'Oh yes we can!' The Doctor pointed to something that was protruding out of the foam on the chopper pad. It was the small helicopter Robson had used for kidnapping Victoria.

Jamie stared in horror at the tiny machine. 'But there's no pilot!'

'And it's only got two seats!' added Victoria.

'Two seats are better than none, my dear,' replied the Doctor with a grin. 'And anyway, I've been dying to get my hands on one of those things...' The banging on the heavy steel door became more intense, more forceful. Someone was determined to break it down.

'No time to lose!' yelled the Doctor. 'Come on!'

The Doctor rushed off into the foam, leaving Jamie and Victoria to exchange a look of total horror at what they were letting themselves into. But as the steel door began to show signs of giving way, Jamie grabbed hold of Victoria's hand, and dragged her through the foam towards the chopper pad.

Within a few minutes, the Doctor, JamiE, and Victoria were crammed inside the cockpit of' the tiny helicopter. The foam was expanding rapidly, and creeping up the sides of the windows. If the three companions were to make their escape, this was their last chance to do so.

'Doctor, are you sure you know how to fly one of these things?'

asked Jamie, nervously.

'Nothing to it, my boy,' replied the Doctor, wildly flicking every switch he could lay his hands on. 'I watched the pilot on the way over.'

Victoria's eyes widened in horror. 'You mean, this is the first time you've been in one of these machines?'

'Don't worry,' said the Doctor confidently, 'this is a very primitive machine. It's quite simple to control - once you know how to...'

By sheer luck rather than skill, the Doctor pressed one particular computer button which suddenly sent the helicopter's blades whirring into action above their heads. 'Ah!' he exclaimed, rubbing his hands triumphantly, 'now for lift-off!'

'Doctor, look!'

Through the window, Jamie could see someone, arms outstretched, struggling towards the helicopter through the whirling clouds of foam. It was Robson. Behind him were a group of other zombie-like human figures, all sprouting weed formations from their necks and arms. One of them was a woman.