Shining Darkness Page 14

  ‘Well, the bit you collected on Uhlala contained some rather nifty dimensional resonance coils; the one on Karris had some sort of zero-point energy converter in it, from the sketchy readings I picked up; and the one on Junk gave all the signs of being a spatial dephaser. Put ’em all together and you’ve got the galaxy’s biggest can-opener.’

  He grinned at his own cleverness. ‘Normally, I’d say that’s brilliant. But I’ve got a feeling that it’s not going to be brilliant for anyone apart from you.’

  Garaman laughed dryly.

  ‘Can-opener. I like that. There was a point,’ he said, ‘where I thought you were going to work out what it does. But now it doesn’t matter.’

  ‘Oh, I think it matters a great deal,’ said the Doctor ruefully. ‘But I don’t think there’s much I can do about it, is there?’

  Garaman just smiled.

  ‘So what’s in there? An army of organic beasties just waiting to be awoken and take on the might of your galaxy’s machine intelligences? Or is it some kind of refuge? A little Shangri-La where you and your organic supremacist friends can live without worrying about your paranoias? A Little Andromeda, if you like. A paradise free of machinekind?’

  Garaman said nothing. Instead, he gestured at the screen.

  At one edge, closest to the Dark Light, was the tiny, jewel-like shape of the can-opener, sparking blue lightning dancing around it. And at the other, away in the distance, was the jet-black disc of Sentilli, the black hole at the heart of the system, visible only because it obscured the stars behind it.

  ‘Activate,’ whispered Garaman and Mesanth tapped at the control panel.

  The glow around the can-opener began to grow, deepening to an almost painful purple as it shifted out of the range of the ship’s scanners, before the device seemed to turn completely black.

  ‘Dephasing has begun,’ said Mesanth, and the Doctor caught the look of almost Messianic glee on Garaman’s face.

  ‘Watch, Doctor,’ said Garaman. ‘Even though you’ve been a pain in the backside, I have to admit that it’s quite nice to have a witness for this moment.’

  The Doctor squinted as Garaman called for Mesanth to increase the scanner magnification. The image leaped, picking out the edge of the black hole from where, silently, like a sleek ocean liner emerging from fog, something huge was rising from the depths of the darkness.

  It was vast, and the resemblance to an ocean liner grew as the vessel exited the black hole and headed towards them: its main body was slim and pointed, like a sharpened grain of pale green rice. Numerous antennae and struts jutted from it at right angles to it, giving it a spiny appearance. Towards the rear, the density of the spines increased greatly, making it look not unlike an enormous loo brush, thought the Doctor. As it headed towards them, tiny pinpricks of light began to spring up on its surface.

  ‘We call it The Torch,’ said Garaman in a whisper.

  The Doctor humphed. ‘You do love your light-and-dark metaphors, don’t you? Shining Darkness, Dark Light, The Torch. What next, The Candle in the Wind? Still, I’m impressed. Must have taken you years to build this – especially in secret.’

  ‘Oh, it did. Years and years and years. Keeping it secret was the hardest part, employing – ironically – teams of primitive robots to build it.’

  ‘And then wiping their memories when they’d done their part.’

  ‘Exactly. If only they’d had real sentience, they might have realised that they were orchestrating their own destruction.’

  ‘Their own genocide would be closer to the mark,’ the Doctor corrected grimly, but Garaman just smiled tightly.

  The Torch, as Garaman had called it, pulled away from Sentilli and began to slow as more and more lights came on across it.

  ‘Just received a signal,’ Ogmunee said suddenly, glancing at the Doctor.

  ‘From?’ asked Garaman – before his cherubic mouth formed into an ‘o’ of realisation. ‘Safe?’ he asked – and he too looked at the Doctor. There was something the two of them weren’t sharing with him. Ogmunee nodded and smiled.

  ‘Right!’ said Garaman suddenly. ‘One more thing to attend to before we get on with the business at hand.’

  Ogmunee was standing by the weapons systems control panel, a cold smile on his face that suggested he knew exactly what was coming.

  ‘Have the weapons charged to full,’ Garaman ordered. ‘Time to put Boonie and his robot-lovers out of our misery, I think.’

  ‘What’re you doing?’ the Doctor demanded as Ogmunee turned back to the controls and began operating them.

  ‘You didn’t think I’d leave that rag-tag little band of no-hopers a chance to interfere any more, did you?’

  ‘They can’t hurt you,’ the Doctor said levelly, keeping one eye on Ogmunee. ‘Let them go.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Garaman said. ‘It’s not over till it’s over, and I’d rather not take any chances. Not so late in the game.’

  The Doctor drew himself up.

  ‘You do realise that if you kill them, I’ll have no reason not to do everything in my power to stop you, don’t you?’

  Garaman raised his eyebrows wearily.

  ‘You’re suggesting that if I let them live you’ll let me finish what I came here for? I hardly think that’s likely. You know, I’d quite like to have you killed now, but Mesanth and his conscience would probably have something to say about it. And I could do without him throwing a hissy fit. Besides, I’d rather see the look on your face when you find out what’s actually aboard The Torch. Call it professional satisfaction. Or showmanship.’

  He glanced over at Ogmunee who nodded.

  ‘Ready,’ he growled.

  ‘Say goodbye to Donna, Doctor,’ Garaman smiled before nodding at Ogmunee. ‘Fire,’ he said, and Ogmunee pressed the button.

  Boonie’s ship shuddered and from somewhere deep inside it, Donna heard a rumble that echoed on and on. She gripped the edge of Boonie’s chair to steady herself as the floor vibrated beneath her.

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘They’ve fired on us,’ Kellique said, disbelief written all over her face. ‘They’ve fired on us!’ She checked the displays again. ‘Damage to drive unit. Decks three and four are heavily breached. We’re venting atmosphere.’

  The Sword of Justice lurched again and Donna was thrown against the wall. Mother swayed on her feet, the hydraulics in her legs hissing as they compensated.

  ‘Can we seal off those areas?’ shouted Boonie over the sound of a warning siren. The bridge was plunged into a blood-red gloom as emergency lighting cut in.

  ‘Too late,’ Kellique said after a moment. ‘We’ve got coolant leakage from the drive – it’s eating its way through the hull. Estimated time until we lose hull integrity – eleven minutes, give or take.’

  Boonie clasped his hands to his forehead.

  ‘No!’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘No!’

  ‘Boonie,’ said Donna, trying to remain calm. ‘Life boats, life pods, whatever you call ’em. D’you have any?’

  ‘What?’ He looked at her as if her words were nonsense. ‘Yes, yes.’

  ‘Good – get everyone into them. Crew, robots, the lot. If the ship’s going to blow, they’ll stand more chance in them, won’t they?’

  Boonie just stared at her, paralysed by everything going on around him. Donna could see the despair in his eyes.

  ‘Oh my,’ said Weiou, his cartoon eyes wide with shock. ‘Donna’s right, you know. Bagsy me first!’

  ‘Shut up!’ snapped Boonie, running his fingers through his hair. Donna was reminded, momentarily, of the Doctor, and she wondered what he was doing right now…

  ‘Kellique – give the order!’ shouted Donna. ‘Get everyone off.’

  Kellique looked to Boonie for confirmation: for a moment, Donna thought he was going to go to pieces, but eventually he nodded, grim-faced. Kellique grabbed a microphone and began bellowing orders at the ship’s crew, ordering them to the escape pods.

&n
bsp; ‘Whew!’ said Weiou. ‘That’s a relief – so what are we waiting for?’

  ‘We’re not waiting for anything,’ Boonie said. ‘We’re staying here – I’m staying here.’

  ‘You heard what she said,’ Donna shouted, grabbing his arm as yet another explosion, somewhere deep in the bowels of The Sword of Justice, threw them around. She stumbled against Boonie’s chair, catching her hip, painfully. ‘The ship’s going to blow. What use is staying here? It’s not like in a film you know. You won’t be standing proud on the prow as the ship sinks with everyone thinking how noble you were.’ She grabbed his wrists and pulled him round until he was looking at her. ‘You’re going to die.’

  Boonie licked his lips feverishly, pulling away from Donna.

  ‘Not alone, I’m not,’ he said. He raced over to Kellique. ‘Do we have any sort of drive power?’

  ‘Only attitude thrusters, why?’

  Boonie considered for a moment, rubbing his forehead.

  ‘It’s enough,’ he said. ‘Get them online. If we’re going down, we’re taking them with us.’

  ‘We’re what?’ shouted Donna above the wail of the sirens.

  ‘That ship,’ Boonie said, jabbing his finger towards the screen on which they could see the spiky behemoth that had emerged from Sentilli. ‘That’s their big weapon. It’s what they’ve been working towards all these years. And I’m damned if they’re going to get their hands on it.’ He fixed his eyes on Donna as he gave the order to Kellique. ‘Ram it,’ he said. ‘This ship’s the only weapon we have left, and we’re going to use it!’

  ‘Stop it!’ roared the Doctor, rushing towards Ogmunee.

  At a single gesture from Garaman, the blonde humaniform robot stepped in and wrapped its arms around the Doctor, hugging him in a vice-like grip to its chest. The Doctor was powerless. If he’d had his sonic screwdriver, there might have been a chance that he could have deactivated it, scrambled its circuits. Something. But he didn’t, and his arms were pinned to his sides.

  Suddenly, the door slid open and Mesanth came trotting in.

  ‘What’s happening?’ he demanded to know of Garaman. ‘You’re firing the weapons – why?’

  ‘Our little nemesis, Boonie,’ he said – and the Doctor could see the annoyance on his face at Mesanth’s arrival. ‘Time to put an end to him.’

  ‘You can’t,’ Mesanth said, his face a picture of confusion. ‘There are organics aboard that ship.’

  ‘Barely,’ Garaman growled. ‘Besides, you didn’t really think that our whole plan could be achieved without any loss of life – organic life – did you?’

  Mesanth waved his hands helplessly.

  ‘No, but… You said there would be no unnecessary deaths. You said there’d be no need to destroy their ship.’ Mesanth sounded close to tears.

  ‘Well then, just think of this as the first in a series of sad, but ultimately necessary, casualties.’

  ‘Tell him, Mesanth,’ grunted the Doctor, struggling to breathe in the grip of the robot. ‘Tell him to let them go – they can’t do any harm now. You’ve probably already crippled their ship. They might even be dead. Call off the attack. You claim to care about life, about organics. Prove it. Make him stop.’

  Mesanth opened his mouth and looked at Garaman.

  ‘After all this time,’ Garaman said, almost reluctantly. ‘After all this planning… You want to let a bit of sentimentality ruin everything.’

  ‘But…but what if the Doctor’s right? They can’t do anything to interfere now.’

  ‘You want to take that chance, Mesanth? Really?’

  ‘Garaman,’ Ogmunee cut in carefully.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The ship – Boonie’s ship. It’s moving.’

  Garaman turned sharply to the main screen and Ogmunee brought up an image of it.

  ‘They’re trying to escape,’ Garaman murmured, a cruel smile playing across his cherubic lips.

  ‘No,’ Ogmunee said, frowning. ‘No, they’re not. They’re going the wrong way. They’re heading inwards.’

  The Doctor realised what was going on before anyone else did.

  ‘Oh dear!’ he said, tugging against the robot. ‘Seems they’re not so helpless after all!’

  ‘What are they doing?’ said Garaman, slowly approaching the screen as The Sword of Justice picked up speed. Tiny flickers of light from the attitude thrusters showed that the ship didn’t have much motive power – but it had enough.

  ‘They’re heading for The Torch,’ Ogmunee said, almost disbelievingly.

  Mesanth gave a little warble of alarm.

  ‘They’re going to ram it,’ he whispered.

  ‘Oh no they’re not,’ Garaman said through gritted teeth. ‘Target them again – this time we’re going to finish them. For good.’

  ‘Emergency pods are detaching,’ Kellique said, counting them off as they left, spiralling away into the darkness. ‘The crew are all safe.’

  Donna had no idea whether the escape pods would be able to make their way home, or whether they’d just float around in space until they ran out of air and power. But it was better than sitting around on The Sword of Justice, waiting for it to hit the Cultists’ supership. Weiou flapped his hands helplessly.

  ‘We should be going,’ he said, over and over. ‘We should be going. I didn’t sign on for this. Oh my.’ Weiou paused as he caught sight of the display in front of Kellique. ‘The escape pods – they’ve all gone.’ He did a comedy gulp.

  ‘Weiou,’ said Donna brightly.

  ‘Yes?’ The little robot looked up at her.

  ‘Shut up.’ She turned back to Kellique. ‘How long until we hit that thing?’

  Her mouth was dry and her pulse racing. There was every chance that they were going to die, but something – maybe it was the adrenalin, maybe just the rush of everything that was going on – kept her going through the panic that she could feel battering away at the back of her mind. She fought it down again as it rose up, threatening to overwhelm her and turn her into a screaming ball of mush, cowering in a corner. It’s what the Doctor would do, she kept telling herself. It’s what the Doctor would do.

  ‘Eight minutes,’ Kellique said, and Donna could hear the tremor in her voice.

  ‘Eight minutes,’ Donna repeated, more to herself. ‘Right. Can the ship be left on autopilot to ram that thing?’

  Kellique nodded.

  ‘Good! Do what you have to – lock the controls, whatever. We’re not done yet.’

  ‘But all the escape pods have gone,’ protested Weiou. ‘All of them. Every last, single one—’

  ‘Weiou,’ said Donna gently, crouching down next to the robot. ‘D’you remember what I threatened Mother would do to you when you came aboard? Well if you don’t shut up, I’ll do it myself. We still have one escape pod.’

  ‘We don’t,’ protested Kellique. ‘Weiou’s right – they’ve all gone.’

  ‘Oh no they haven’t,’ said Donna with a smile. ‘Come on!’

  Donna hovered in the doorway as Kellique set the controls on auto.

  ‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ glowered Boonie as Donna waved him and the others out into the corridor.

  ‘Trust me,’ Donna grinned, gripping the doorframe as another tremor shot through the ship. ‘I might not be a doctor – but I’ve learned a few things from a pretty good one.’

  It took them almost five minutes to make their way back through the deserted, broken ship. The main corridor was blocked by fallen debris, but Mother made light work of it, lifting the twisted beams and wall panels out of the way as if they were cardboard and polystyrene. Weiou was usually the first to scoot through the gaps Mother created, until Boonie pointed out that they had no idea what lay beyond every corner, after which he huddled in the middle of the little band.

  ‘Nearly there,’ Donna said as they reached their destination: the ship’s small cargo hold. It was only then that Boonie realised what she was up to, and his normally miserable face broke out into
a grin.

  ‘If you ever want a job on my ship – well, on my next ship—’ he began, but broke off as he saw the look on Donna’s face.

  She was staring through the grimy porthole of one of The Sword of Justice’s bulkheads into the cargo hold. A bulkhead that was sealed shut. A bulkhead that, by all rights, should have given them access to the TARDIS. The ultimate escape pod.

  All Donna could see through the thick glass was a bit of floor and then nothing. Nothing but empty space: the room where Boonie had stowed the TARDIS had been blown clean open in the attack, and the TARDIS, their only way off the dying ship, had gone.

  ‘Iam in so much trouble,’ she whispered. She’d only gone and lost the TARDIS, hadn’t she? ‘Apart from the fact that we’re all going to die, of course,’ she added.

  Another explosion rocked the ship, the distant screech of torn metal galvanising her into action. She turned to Kellique.

  ‘Right,’ she said. ‘No TARDIS. You’re sure there are no other escape pods? Not even an emergency one…?’ Donna shook her head. ‘What am I on about: all escape pods are emergency ones, aren’t they? And you’re sure the transmat is down?’

  Kellique nodded.

  ‘What about pod eight?’ said Boonie suddenly.

  ‘Eight’s been out of action for months,’ Kellique reminded him.

  Donna jumped at this. ‘Out of action? Why?’

  ‘The locking mechanism’s seized up – the external clamps have become vacuum welded.’

  ‘So what you saying? That it’d work if you could get it unwelded? Never heard of WD-40? Never mind,’ Donna added at their blank faces. ‘Can’t we wiggle it loose? Cut it free?’

  ‘Not from inside, we can’t, and the EVA suits are all gone. And besides, they’re four-person pods – and there are five of us. And Mother’s not exactly compact…’

  Donna ran her hands through her hair – and was thrown against the wall as the ship bucked beneath their feet again. Think, Donna, she told herself. Think!

  And then she caught sight of Mother.

  Mother!

  D’uh!

  ‘You sure this is designed for four people?’ grumped Donna as she squeezed through the tiny hatch into pod eight alongside Boonie and Kellique. Arms and legs and elbows were everywhere. ‘Four midgets, maybe.’