Part 14 (1/2)

'I'm sorry for you, Nathaniel, I really am, but your life has gone by. That's unfair, that's cruel, but it's the truth. You and the others have suffered more than you should have done, but you must end this, for all of you, before it's too late. You're eighty years old. You can't get your life back.'

'But I can, Doctor, that's the point. . . '

The Doctor stepped back from the wheelchair, eyes narrowing.

'What has she promised you, Nathaniel?'

'Renewal, Doctor. Not just for Balor, but for seven children whose lives he took. The life that was taken from us. That we deserve to have.'

'Impossible.'

'Not impossible, Doctor.' Peyne was smiling unpleasantly. 'Our machinery is capable of extracting more than just unconscious mental energy.'143.

'Your machinery is capable of doing lots of unpleasant things. You might be able to create an artificial life form with your psych.o.m.orphic generators, but you can't renew living tissue with it.'

'Very true.'

'That can only be done by extracting the life force.'

Peyne merely smiled.

The Doctor turned back to Morton in disgust. 'You can't condone this. Killing all those children just to save your own life?'

Morton stared, his jaw working silently, horror in his eyes.

'Peyne. . . '

'You didn't tell him, did you, Peyne?' The Doctor was shaking with rage. 'You didn't bother to fill him in on that particular little detail, did you? The body you are creating for Balor can be constructed from the children's imaginations, but renewing Morton and his friends, that can only be done by extracting the life force from the very same children. You can give him back his youth all right, but at the cost of the life of every child in this village!'

Morton slumped back in his chair. 'Dear G.o.d, no. . . ' The Doctor lunged forward at Peyne, but the gun in her hand swung up, pointing straight at the Doctor's face.

'You think I care for the lives of a few primitive children? Yes, it amuses me to give Morton his pitiful life back. He will have precious little time to come to terms with the cost of that new life before Balor destroys his world.'

A masked Cynrog technician appeared at the doorway of the library.

'Priest Commander, Technician Hadron reports that the machine is recalibrated and ready to activate on your command.'

'Excellent!' Peyne's smile widened. 'Now, Doctor, we shall finish this. The nightmares of a Time Lord will be added to those of the children and our creature will be complete. Balor has lain dormant for too long in the minds of these ungrateful savages. Our holy war still rages, and with Balor the Destroyer at our head once more victory is certain. Tonight Balor will awaken and the Cynrog will be triumphant!'144.

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Rose pushed open the door of the ramshackle beach hut and looked cautiously around the dark and cluttered room.

'Miss Ceredig? Bronwyn?'

There was a sniff from the gloom.

'What is it? What do you want?'

'The Doctor sent me. We need your help.'

A dim light snapped on and Bronwyn's dishevelled head poked out from behind a battered old armchair. It looked to Rose as though she had been crying.

Ali peered from around the back of Rose's legs.

'Is that a duck?'

Before Rose could stop her, Ali had crossed to the sofa, perched herself on the arm and reached out a tentative hand to the imperiouslooking mallard that sat there. Bronwyn's face softened. 'His name is Butch.'

'Butch?' Ali gave her a curious look. 'That's a funny name for a duck.'

'He's a guard duck. Looks after my house when I'm out feeding the seals.'145.

Rose crossed to her side. 'I'm sorry to barge in, but the Doctor said you'd be able to help us.'

Bronwyn shuffled uncomfortably. 'Don't know what help I can be. Old woman like me. . . '

'We've been seeing things, me and the Doctor. Not just creatures, but a little boy.'

'Please, I don't know. . . '

'This little boy ' Rose took the picture from her pocket 'is his name Jimmy?'

As Bronwyn took the picture, tears started to roll down her cheeks.

'Yes. My Jimmy. . . '

'Your son?'

Bronwyn nodded.

Rose squeezed the old woman's arm. 'It's all right. You can trust me. We want to help.'

'It was my fault. I didn't want them to take him. But they made me give him up. I couldn't stop them. . . '

'Who took him? Where?'

'The child protection people. They thought I was no good for him.'

Bronwyn was shaking with anger and fear. 'They took him away from me once and now he's come back.' She looked at Rose with despair in her eyes. 'Nathaniel is making him come back.'

'Ow!'

The Doctor winced as the Cynrog technician pulled the straps tight around his arms. 'Careful. I'm delicate, you know.'

The technician snarled at him and scurried away. The Doctor slumped back on to the hard bed. All around him the Cynrog were in a flurry of activity. They had abandoned their human disguises now, leaving a pile of human faces on a table. Peyne had been whipping them into a frenzy and they knew that their mission was nearly over. It was making them excitable and it was making them vicious. They had dragged the Doctor and Morton from the library, carrying the old man bodily down the stairs and strapping him to one of the empty beds in the ward. The Doctor had had his coat and jacket 146 removed and had been put in the bed next to him. Cynrog medical devices were strapped to both their foreheads and an intravenous drip had been thrust cruelly into the Doctor's arm. Two technicians were fussing with the connections from Morton's headset, while the old man struggled weakly.

The Doctor felt a pang of sorrow for the man. He had been strung along for years by Peyne and her colleagues, promised a new life for him and his friends, and now he was just a commodity, his use to the Cynrog nearly over.

The Doctor took a deep breath, preparing himself for the ordeal that was about to come. He hoped that his reasoning was correct with regard to the nature of the Cynrog machines. If he was wrong. . . Priest Commander Peyne strode across to his bedside. She was now dressed in battle fatigues, her disrupter slung at her side.