Part 16 (1/2)

'Now there's something you don't see every day.' The huge Balor creature was on the roof, legs skittering on the wet tiles. The last vestiges of energy from the Cynrog generators flickered around its feet. As the energy field died, the creature seemed to bulge and change, increasing in size, towering over the house. Slas.h.i.+ng claws tore huge lumps of masonry from the building and sent them cras.h.i.+ng to the floor. Fire had caught hold of the old timbers and one wing of the house was now ablaze, smoke billowing into the night sky, lighting the clouds with a bright orange glow.

Cynrog technicians fled from the burning house.

The monster reached out with huge clawed hands and swept them up into the air, stabbing at them with its barbed tail, tearing them to pieces with its pincers. Casting the shredded bodies aside, it clambered down from the shattered roof, its movements slow and menacing, its claws digging into the stone as it clicked and clattered on to the wet lawn. The Doctor started to back away. With a screech of pain and anger, the creature's head swung down to look at him. The Doctor swallowed hard.

'Now might be a good time to finish that little errand I sent you on, Rose,' he muttered.

'Yes, Lord Balor. Destroy him!'

Peyne emerged from the shattered dining room, her uniform ripped, a huge b.l.o.o.d.y gash in her scalp.

'Destroy the enemies of Cynrog!'

The creature turned slowly towards her, teeth bared. Peyne took a step backwards.

'My Lord, I am not your enemy! I have given you the minds of the primitives that once housed you and the final part of you is close by. Please, I beg you, control yourself. Use the primitive minds to focus. 159 Remember who you were, who you are. . . '

'Peyne. . . '

The voice was low and guttural, rattling the windows. The Doctor could feel it vibrating in his gut.

'I. . . remember you. . . Peyne. . . '

'My Lord!' Peyne dropped to her knees. 'You live!'

'I remember your lies, your deceit. The years treating me like a child. . . '

Peyne raised her head, her eyes wide with disbelief. 'Morton?'

'Is this what I lived for, Peyne, to be your creature, your weapon? To plunder the universe, destroying and killing.'

'My Lord, the primitive mind. . . It is stronger than I had thought. It has some control. I. . . '

'Another mistake, Peyne?' The thing laughed. A horrible, bubbling cackle. 'If this is the life you offer, so be it. If I cannot live as Nathaniel Morton the man, then I shall be Morton the Destroyer, the new G.o.d of the Cynrog. . . And you will serve me!'

Peyne clambered to her feet, eyes blazing with anger. 'Never.'

'As you wish.'

The Morton creature lunged forward, taking Peyne's head off with a single bite. The body stood for a few seconds, yellow ichor fountaining from its neck, then it collapsed in a crumpled heap. The creature threw its head back and bellowed in triumph. Flexing its claws, it reared back, towering over the house, staring down at the Time Lord standing in the centre of the lawn.

'And now for you, Doctor.'

Ali reached for the final switch. With every nodule she had opened her tiredness had started to leave her. She felt more alive than she had in months. She stretched out, grasped the ridged dial and turned it. It moved with a sharp click and the machine changed in pitch once more.

'I've done it, Rose! I've done it!'

She wriggled out from under the machine, sonic screwdriver held proudly in her hands.160.

Her smile turned to disappointment. Rose was fast asleep. Behind the bar of the Red Lion Beth Hardy watched as her husband slumped down across the table he was clearing, dead to the world. She barely had enough time to put a full gla.s.s of bitter on the bar top before she too collapsed in a heap.

Across the village children woke from their nightmares and watched in disbelief as their parents slumped back in chairs and on to carpets as sleep overtook them.

The village of Ynys Du reverberated to the sounds of heavy snoring. The Doctor closed his eyes as the razor claws reached out through the rain, waiting for the killer blow.

It never came.

He opened one eye cautiously.

The creature was staring at its claws, turning them this way and that. It looked down at the Doctor.

'I think I chipped a nail.'

The Doctor blinked. 'I'm sorry?'

'A nail. Look.' It held out a claw. 'And that head. Do you think it's going to be fattening? You never know with foreign food, do you?'

The creature skittered across the lawn, staring at its reflection in the tall windows of the rectory. 'Do you think I look all right in this? I'm not sure if it suits me. I'm meant to be going to Maureen's wedding next week and I'm really not convinced.'

As the Doctor watched, a flicker of energy lanced from the roof of the shattered rectory and danced around the creature's outline. Balor seemed to be shrinking.

It started to scamper in circles, arms waving agitatedly. 'Oh, G.o.d. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make that mortgage payment in time. And what if I don't get that job at the chemist? He says he wants to settle down, but I know he's still seeing Pauline from the WH Smith in town. Three of Dai Williams's chickens dropped dead last week. I hope we've not got that bird flu thing here. . . '161.

The creature was shrinking faster and faster now, its scales fading, changing, its skin becoming pinstriped, masked, different football colours, a blur of shapes and images. The voice got more and more frantic, words blurring into each other. The Doctor could hear s.n.a.t.c.hes of half-shouted fears: global warming, old age, cellulite, rent cheques, girlfriends, boyfriends, debts, affairs. The creature was a whirling blur now. And then, with a sudden pop, it vanished.

The Doctor stood in the rain in the middle of the lawn, staring at the spot where the creature had been. Choking clouds of black smoke billowed into the night air as more and more of the rectory succ.u.mbed to the flames.

A shattering explosion sent him tumbling across the gra.s.s. That was presumably the last of the Cynrog machinery.

He picked himself up and glanced across to the wreckage of the dining room. That room too was ablaze. The husks of those people who had held the mind of Balor for most of their lives were finally free.

The last of the Cynrog technicians were rus.h.i.+ng about in confusion. The Doctor sighed. He had work to do. He couldn't let desperate aliens wander free.

He clapped his hands. 'Right, you lot. Your commander's dead, your G.o.d is gone, I'm the rightful guardian of this planet and it's time for you to sling your hook, before I get really really angry.' angry.'162.

[image]

The young woman lay peacefully on the stretcher, blankets tucked protectively around her. The Doctor brushed a strand of auburn hair gently from her forehead.

The woman's eyelids flickered open briefly to reveal sparkling grey eyes. The Doctor smiled at her. She caught hold of his hand and squeezed it.

'Thank you,' Bronwyn whispered. 'For setting me free.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'Your boy set you free. Your Jimmy. He showed me what you had seen. What I needed to do.'