Part 14 (1/2)

'Are you sure you don't want me to pilot her?' asked Hespell.

'Positive. You've only trained to fly in deep s.p.a.ce, haven't you?' the Doctor replied.

Hespell shrugged. 'Well, yes, but at least I'm familiar with the control systems.'

The Doctor shot him a confident look. 'Up, down, forward, back. What else is there to know?'160.

Baker reached across to grab Hespell's hand and gave him a sympathetic look. He smiled back, pleased that she was there with him.

'Right, then,' announced the Doctor, clapping his hands. 'Let's get started. Fire retros.'

'Retros in three, two, one. Retros fired,' Baker announced calmly.

'Release gravity locks.'

'Releasing.'

For a moment everything seemed to be frozen. And then the Doctor eased, the control joystick forward slightly and the s.h.i.+p began to rise. Rose realised that things had gone quiet. She raised her head and looked back down the stairs. Kendle was still concentrating on the stairwell. Despite the lack of pursuit sounds, he remained suspicious.

'Perhaps he's given up and gone away?' Rose said quietly. Kendle shook his head. 'I doubt it.'

Then, from some way below, they heard cras.h.i.+ng and banging. Rocks and debris were falling from the exterior of the tower.

'What's it trying to do? Bring the tower down?' Rez asked.

'I don't like the sound of that,' commented Kendle, taking a cautious step down the staircase. 'Whatever it is, I think I should go and. . . well, try to persuade him to stop.' He took another two or three steps and began to disappear around the stairwell.

'Be careful,' called out Rose.

'And you,' he shouted back.

Rose looked across at Rez, who was leaning on the wall and staring out over his world.

'Just you and me, then,' she said, getting to her feet and joining him. It was a magnificent sight. It must be nearly dawn the sky was beginning to lighten. Just like the Doctor had told her, Rose could see for miles in every direction. And, even after the earthquake, it was beautiful. Suddenly she became aware of something in her peripheral vision. She looked down and saw to her horror that the Witiku was on the external staircase. It must have knocked a hole through the wall to get out there and was now rapidly closing in on their position from outside.161.

Rose pulled Rez away from the edge as it reached a position just a metre or so from the base of the observation platform. But now a new noise was filling the air and a dark shadow was blocking out the rising sun. Rose protected her face with an arm and squinted up. It was the Humphrey Bogart Humphrey Bogart! The Doctor had come back for them!

The battered s.h.i.+p was approaching in hover mode. Rose could see that the airlock was open and, inside, she could make out the professor and Hespell. Slowly the s.h.i.+p edged sideways towards them.

'Our ride's here,' Rose called down to Kendle.

'And so's our other friend,' added Rez, in a tone of panic. Rose turned and saw that the Witiku was standing in the gap that allowed access to the external staircase. She recognised the fancy necklace hanging around its neck.

'It's Brother Hugan,' she gasped, as the creature leapt forward, swinging its arms down towards them, determined not to let them get away again.

Rose and Rez dived to either side as the creature's talons sc.r.a.ped into the stone floor, sending sparks flying. They scrambled to their feet as it turned for a second attack.

The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was now a metre or two away from the observation platform. It was a spectacular display of precision flying. One mistake now and the Doctor would send the s.h.i.+p into the tower, making a bad situation worse rather than better.

From inside the airlock the professor called out to them. 'Jump!'

Rose swallowed hard. Was she serious? The professor was screaming into the intercom now. 'Closer!' she ordered whoever was piloting the s.h.i.+p. Rose guessed it had to be the Doctor.

Rez took a look at the leap and grinned. 'Now or never,' he shouted to Rose, and started to run. He took off like a long-jumper and seemed to hang in the air for eternity. And then clang! he was landing on the metal floor of the airlock and Professor Shulough was hauling him in. 'Your turn, Rose!' he called back across the gaping chasm. Rose crossed her fingers and ran. She ducked past the creature and jumped into s.p.a.ce. A moment later she felt the professor and Hespell 162 grab hold of her and pull her to safety. She turned to look back across at the platform.

The transformed Brother Hugan was snapping at her heels. And then the creature lurched and fell to its knees. Behind it stood Kendle, weapon in hand. Unbelievably, the Witiku just rolled over and got back on his feet.

Rose and the others could only look on in mute horror as the old soldier and the transformed Layloran confronted each other. Kendle raised his weapon and fired again, but the Witiku just kept coming. Kendle fired repeatedly, but the Witiku only swiped impatiently at the blaster with a sweep of one of his powerful arms.

'I can't hold this position much longer.' It was the Doctor's voice cackling out of the intercom speaker. 'There was only time to partcharge the engines.'

The Doctor's problems were becoming evident as the s.h.i.+p began to rock violently.

'Just one more minute,' urged the professor desperately.

'Get clear,' shouted Kendle, and jumped forward, surprising the Witiku with a frontal attack. He swung both fists up and his double punch connected with the creature's jaw.

As the s.h.i.+p bobbed up and down, it was hard for Rose to see exactly what was happening but the next thing she saw haunted her for a long time. The two combatants, the exmarine and the b.e.s.t.i.a.l Witiku staggered to the edge of the platform and then fell together, still locked in combat. The fall seemed to happen in slow motion, the two figures cras.h.i.+ng again and again into the widening tower, bouncing off like rag dolls before finally coming to rest on the shattered roof of the temple.

Without a word the professor hit the control to close the outer doors and the s.h.i.+p moved away to find a safe place to land. 163 [image]

Rose stood at the entrance to the tent and looked out at the storm. Although it was daylight, the sky was dark with clouds and the rain was coming down in sheets. A heavy rumble of thunder was followed by a sharp crack of lightning, splitting the deep purple of the sky. The storm had been raging for hours now and showed no signs of abating.

'So much for paradise,' she commented, turning back to where the Doctor was sitting with Mother Jaelette and some of the village elders.

'As soon as the storm breaks the Humphrey Bogart Humphrey Bogart will take off,' will take off,'

promised the Doctor confidently. 'But they are not going to risk their s.h.i.+elds in the kind of lightning out there right now,' he added.

'Is that what made them crash in the first place?' Rose wondered.

'Hespell said it was some kind of electromagnetic pulse. My bet is that's another way the planet reacts to anything alien. The same thing that damaged Guillan's s.h.i.+p fifty years ago.' The Doctor shook his head in disbelief. 'It really is the most hyper-allergic place I've ever seen. Anyway, once the s.h.i.+p takes off things will get back to normal.'

'What about us?' Rose asked.

The Doctor grinned. 'Well, obviously we have to get going too. I'm sure Laylora is as allergic to us as she is to the crew of the Humphrey Bogart Humphrey Bogart.'165.

'That still leaves me, though, doesn't it?'

Rose had forgotten Rez, who was sitting with Kaylen at the rear of the tent. In his Layloran clothes, Rez looked at first glance to be no different from any of the other natives, but of course he was no more a native than Rose was.

'It's all my fault, isn't it? The bad weather, the earth tremors. . . Everything started when I arrived, didn't it?' Rose could see that Rez already knew the answer to his question and was resigned to it. The Doctor knew it too. 'I think so. The older you got, the worse the allergic reaction. The arrival of the Humphrey Bogart Humphrey Bogart was the straw that broke the camel's back.' was the straw that broke the camel's back.'

'I don't know what to do. All I've ever known is life on Laylora.' Rez sounded genuinely heartbroken.

'I'm sure we can take you somewhere you'll be happy, can't we?'

Rose looked to the Doctor for approval, but he was on his feet and at the tent flap.

'Looks like the rain's stopping,' he muttered, avoiding the question.