Part 20 (1/2)

The Vurosis leaned down, its brain glowing fiercely in its socket.

i will grow 'And then what?' The Doctor pursed his lips in thought. 'No, don't tell me: you'll spread out over the whole planet, destroying everything and everyone in your path.'

i will grow and thrive The Doctor turned to Martha. 'There you are, Martha. What did I tell you? The Vurosis is nothing more than a type of weed. Alien, yes.

Virulent, certainly. But at the end of the day just a weed. And it'll do exactly what all weeds do grow, and spread, and choke the life out of everything else around them.'

'So what we need is some weedkiller?'

'Good try, but wrong. This isn't really a plant, or even an animal.

There are no toxins on Earth that could harm it. Left to its own devices, it will extend its roots deeper and deeper into the ground, extending far beyond Creighton Mere, the surrounding villages, Derbys.h.i.+re, the north of England. . . it will never stop, and nothing will stop it. As it spreads, it will reproduce more versions of itself, which in turn will spread and reproduce as well. Before long, it'll cover the whole of England, then Great Britain. . . '

Martha shook her head. 'No, that can't happen. Somehow they'll find a way to stop it.'

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. '”They”?'

'The authorities. The Government the Army. They'll blast it or burn it or something.'

'Nah.' The Doctor put his hands in his pockets. 'They'll never get it all. It'll spread too deep, too far. And if there's even a bit of it left alive, it'll find a way to grow. That's what the Vurosis does survives, grows, spreads, kills.' Now the Doctor looked directly at her. 'If we're going to stop it, it's got to be here, now, while it's still vulnerable.'

'While it's building its protective barrier?' 'Yeah.' The Doctor turned on his heel and looked at the th.o.r.n.y growth. He lowered his voice. 'But what's it protecting itself from?'

'And why hasn't it zapped us into dust?'

'Ooh! Oh! That's a good question!' The Doctor's eyes widened as his brain moved up a gear. 'I wonder. . . ' He tailed off and then slapped his forehead. 'I know!'

'What?'

'Look all around you! Look at what it's doing growing stuff, spreading its roots, manufacturing a nice little nest for itself.' The thorns had grown much higher now, curving inwards towards the Vurosis as if forming a huge, tangled dome of brambles over the village green. 'It's been cooped up down the bottom of that well for so long, this is the first chance it's ever had to flex its muscles properly.'

'So?'

'So what does it need for all that sudden, accelerated growth?'

'Energy.'

'Top of the cla.s.s, again! Which means there's no more energy left to trans.m.u.tate us into oblivion. Simply put it's leaving us alone while it concentrates on a more important task!'

Martha nodded. 'And I suppose it's leaving us alone because we don't pose any kind of threat.'

'Martha Jones!' The Doctor gave her an admonis.h.i.+ng look. 'Shame on you! Us? Not pose a threat to an alien weed trying to destroy all life on Earth? We can pose a threat to anything if we put our minds to it.'

'How?'

'We put our minds to it.' The Doctor tapped the side of his head energetically. 'That thing can mutate every cell in your body by telekinesis, remember. But it has to keep that mental hold if it wants to maintain the transformation. Duncan changed back to human form as soon as the Vurosis broke the telekinetic link. That's its weakness!'

'Weakness?'

The Doctor straightened up, turning to face the Vurosis and squaring his shoulders. 'Hey, you! Weed! I want a word with you.'

do not interrupt the nesting 'Sorry, this is important. Small matter of life and death. This planet's life and your death.' 'Sorry, this is important. Small matter of life and death. This planet's life and your death.'

if you persist i will destroy you 'What? Really?' The Doctor scoffed. 'Use your telekinetic power to warp every cell in my body into your shape? I doubt it!'

i will destroy you 'No way! You couldn't trans.m.u.tate your way out of a paper bag!'

'Doctor. . . ' warned Martha.

But it was too late. With a savage hiss, the Vurosis opened its circular maw and exposed the glowing brain within. Before she could do anything, Martha saw the flash of green light spitting out towards the Doctor. A yell of anguish built inside her throat as the emerald spark connected with the Doctor's forehead.

'Won't. . . work on me,' he gasped. His voice sounded strained and he was already being forced to his knees as the Vurosis energy bore down on him. 'My mind is stronger. . . than a human's,' the Doctor groaned. 'You. . . can't. . . bend. . . it. . . so. . . easily. . . '

But it could. The Doctor sagged beneath the onslaught of the green ray, his face contorted in agony. Martha knew then without any doubt that the Doctor had seriously underestimated the power of the Vurosis. His head snapped up, twisting around until his eyes stared straight into hers, full of pain and fear.

And then the change began. As she watched, almost overcome by panic and anger, Martha saw the veins in the Doctor's head and face bulge and rise up, whitening, about to break out like wires through the skin.

Martha felt herself paralysed, almost faint with fear.

The Doctor's hand stretched up towards her, the fingers already beginning to twist out of shape.[image]

Angela sat at the wheel of her Land-Rover and cursed loudly.

If Gaskin was shocked by such colourful language, he didn't show it. His attention was focused on the strange wall of brambles that had grown, like something from a fairy tale, right around the village green.

The stems were wire-thin, barbed with long, vicious thorns, curving up towards the night sky over the well.

It was a surreal vision. The street lights outside the Drinking Hole cast an unearthly glow over the spiky dome, making it look like a vast, alien pustule on the face of the Earth. The brambles or whatever they actually were were still growing as they watched, extruding from the ground beneath their feet, bending and weaving themselves together to form an impenetrable barrier.

Villagers had gathered around the dome, although almost all of them were keeping their distance. Many were talking on mobile phones or taking pictures. Someone ran out of the pub to say that the police had been called, along with the ambulance service and the fire brigade.

'Might as well call in the Marines as well,' muttered Gaskin.

'What do you mean?' 'They won't get here in time. The Doctor and Martha are inside that thing trapped. They could be dead already for all we know.'

Duncan leaned forward between the front seats. His face was pale and haggard, but otherwise back to normal. 'But we don't know,' he said. 'They could still be alive.'

'What can we do, though?' Gaskin asked, gesturing impatiently at the forest of thorns. 'Look at that thing! It's the perfect barrier.'

'It wants to keep us out, then,' Duncan said.

'You know,' said Angela, her eyes narrowing, 'I really don't feel like doing anything that thing wants, do you?'

'What on earth do you mean?' asked Gaskin.

'Well, as Duncan says. . . it clearly wants to keep us out. I don't think we should give it that satisfaction, do you?'

'I don't think there's much we can do about it.'

'Really?'