The dry, emaciated husks that had once been people crowded round the main control panel on the bridge of the submarine. They seemed to have forgotten all about Valeria. Rose could hear the odd comment and observation as they examined and repaired the controls. They seemed to be preparing the systems for a launch.
‘Arming procedure under way.’
The important thing was that they were all busy – all concentrating on the panels in front of them. Leaving Valeria standing alone and unobserved. Rose edged into the room. Slowly, hardly daring to breathe, she tiptoed over to where the girl was standing.
‘We’ll need to refuel the launch vehicle.’
Valeria looked back at her through rheumy eyes as Rose put her finger to her lips. Bit daft, she thought, as soon as she did it. Not as if the poor girl would even know what she was doing, and she wasn’t about to shout out either.
‘That can be done automatically from here. Just as we could close the hatch to deter unwanted guests.’
Gently, Rose took the girl’s hand and led her slowly, carefully, quietly across the bridge.
‘Just as well. We don’t want to be in the bay when the rocket goes up.’
The other door was closer, and if she was going to stop them, she needed to get to the launch bay – wherever that was. And she couldn’t afford to leave behind a possible hostage. But while Rose was careful to make no noise, it did not matter to Valeria. The girl stumbled along with Rose, her feet splashing in the pools of water on the decking and scraping along the rusty metal.
Mercifully, the scientists were totally absorbed in their work. Rose got to the doorway, pulling Valeria after her.
But the girl’s arm caught on the edge of the open hatchway, dragging it with her. A scraping, metallic groan. Rose winced and froze. For a moment none of the scientists seemed to have noticed, just went on working.
Then Klebanov slowly turned to see what the noise was. His eyes locked for an instant with Rose’s. His shattered face twisted into a snarl of rage.
‘Run!’ Rose shouted at Valeria, though she knew at once it would do no good. She dragged the girl through the hatchway after her, then turned back and grabbed the door that had betrayed them.
It was heavy and stiff. Rose heaved with all her might and slowly it began to move – grating, scraping, protesting. Klebanov and several of his colleagues were running towards them – visible through the slowly narrowing gap between door and hatchway.
A hand closed on the door, skeletal fingers wrapped round it as the withered scientist started to drag the door open again.
With a final heave, Rose dragged it shut. A squeal of rusty metal; a crack of dry bone; a clang of door into frame. Something splashed into the shallow water at Rose’s feet. She didn’t look to see what it was. There were catches round the edge of the hatchway – you could twist them across into a slot in the hatch to seal the door. The first one refused to move.
The second was stiff, but Rose was able to slide it round just enough to keep the door shut. For now.
Already it was shaking as the scientists hammered on the other side and tried to drag it open again. The metal catch was bending, cracking, flaking rust as it split away from the join.
Rose grabbed Valeria’s hand again and pulled her down the red-lit corridor.
Jack shivered from the cold while his jacket steamed from the heat of the flames. The fire had all but died away. Some of the creatures were moving hesitantly from side to side, tendrils and tentacles flopping and twitching across the road.
Before leaving him on the quay, the Doctor had told Jack what he wanted, and why he wanted it. It made as much sense and sounded as sensible as any of the Doctor’s last-minute schemes. And as usual certain elements were just completely mad. The first and most extreme of these being Jack’s mission to get himself chased by one or more of the creatures. The more the better, the Doctor had told him. One was pushing the limit so far as Jack was concerned.
The villagers were soon going to have a problem, Jack could see now. Once the creatures began to recover, once the flames had died away, then the surviving remotes from the ship would be on the move again. Not only that, but while they had been able to see that one of the creatures had escaped injury, Jack could now see several more approaching the docks. Perhaps they had been further away, in the village maybe. Or perhaps the ship was able to generate more of them to replace any that were damaged or injured.
No time to hang around, though. If he stopped to think about it he might realise just how suicidally stupid this whole venture really was. So he thrust his hands into his jacket pockets and walked swiftly along the quay. Whistling.
It seemed at first that the undamaged creature might just ignore him. After all, there was more ‘food’ waiting back at the dry dock. How close would Jack have to get to convince the thing he was worth chasing? Could he convince it? He stopped whistling and walked slowly towards the pale-blue blob-like creature. It pulsed and quivered as he approached and he was ready at any moment to turn and run.
Still it did not seem interested. If he got much closer he could reach out his arm and touch the thing. Not that he was about to.
Arm. Touch.
He realised almost too late.
Jack leaped back, just as a tentacle slashed through the air in front of him. A tentacle that Jack must have almost stepped on to get this close. ‘Clever,’ he told the creature. ‘But not quite clever enough. Still, dinner’s here now – so come and get it.’
He backed away, smiling with grim satisfaction as the creature slithered after him. The smile faded as he turned – and saw two more of the creatures approaching through the harbour.
‘Oh . . . docks!’ he said.
The St Petersburg loomed dark and forbidding against the slate grey of the night sky. Mist curled round the conning tower and over the bulbous hull. The Doctor walked the entire length of the submarine and then back again. He noted where the missile tubes were and where the launch bay must therefore be. He made an informed guess about where the bridge must be situated. He spent a moment considering getting inside through the main hatch. He wondered if Rose was inside somewhere, or whether he only needed to worry about the missiles.
Then he sprinted for the deck and knelt down by the secondary hatch, close to the front of the boat. His sonic screwdriver whirred and glowed. Blue against rust-brown as the hatch unlocked and swung open.
There was one creature on either side of the road. They scraped and slithered between two of the rotting submarines, perhaps feeling for any energy that might be lingering in the reactors or batteries. The creature behind Jack was heaving itself after him more rapidly, and he was running to keep ahead of the thrashing tentacles.
Running straight at the other creatures.
It was either run between them or dive off the quay and into the freezing water. He’d tried that before and he wasn’t keen to do it again. Was there room to get between the creatures? He would soon find out.
Blue glowing walls either side of him. Tentacles slapping down. The walls closing in. The creature behind him following, squeezing between its fellows. Jamming them apart so they couldn’t close in on him any more. Jack ducked as something whipped past his head. He kept running.
And emerged the other side. The creatures seemed to have stuck together. They squelched and squealed as they tried to break free from each other and follow him.
Jack could wait. He sat on the low wall that ran along the side of the roadway and got his breath back. ‘Sort yourselves out, will you?’ he shouted at the creatures. ‘We’ve got an appointment back at the lab and I don’t want to be late. Especially,’ he added more quietly, ‘if this is going to be my own funeral.’
The whole submarine echoed with the metallic clang of the door from the bridge breaking open.
Rose and Valeria were running. Their feet slapping and splashing and thumping on the deck plates. Rose had to drag the girl – her natural state seemed to be at rest, so anything else needed ef
fort and encouragement.
Ahead of them was another metal hatchway – standing half closed. Rose put her shoulder to it, still running. Her whole body shook and ached from the impact, but the heavy door swung slowly open. Rose was stepping into a large room. It must be the whole width and height of the submarine. A line of blunt-nosed, grey tubes stood on end along one side. They were held in huge metal brackets that were attached to a system of linked chains and belts to move them. Missiles.
And standing by one of the missiles, supervising the attachment of pipes and tubes and examining the open side, were three of the scientists. They turned and stared across at Rose and Valeria.
‘Maybe not,’ Rose decided. ‘Sorry.’
But she could already hear the thump of approaching feet from the corridor behind her. ‘Come on!’ she shouted at Valeria, hoping that for once the girl might respond. Rose gripped her hand tightly and pulled her into the missile bay, across the room, towards the door on the far side, as fast as she could.
One of the scientists turned back to his work. Another – stick thin, face barely more than a skull and lab coat peppered with bullet holes seeping dark, viscous fluid, started towards them. He half ran, half staggered, as if his legs were unused to working.
Through the door, the scientists clutching at them, almost catching Valeria, hissing with anger.
Rose pushed the heavy door shut, trying to close it against the scientists pushing from the other side. But without success. Slowly the door was being forced open again.
Then a hand closed on Rose’s shoulder. She yelped, turned, eyes wide with fear.
‘Found you, then,’ the Doctor said happily.
‘You’re not the only one,’ she told him. ‘Give us a hand.’
He shook his head. ‘Nah. I want to talk to Klebanov.’
‘But they’re going to launch a missile.’
‘I know.’
The hatchway door was swinging open again and two of the scientists stood there, watching. Between them, across the missile bay, Rose could see Klebanov and the others arriving.
‘What you going to tell them?’ Rose said quietly, feeling empty and defeated.
‘Only what they should already know. That this missile’s going nowhere. And that whatever they might think, they’ve been dead for years.’
His foot crunched through something on the concrete floor. Jack glanced down and then swallowed hard. He carefully removed his foot from the dried, withered chest of an emaciated body. His entire world was tinged with blue.
‘You guys have a lot to answer for,’ he shouted over his shoulder. ‘So the Doctor had better be right about this. Can you smell it yet? D’you still need me?’
The first of the creatures was slithering across the threshold and into the corridor. It was glowing brighter now. Maybe it really could sense the power. Maybe it really was heading not for Jack but for a far greater source of energy.
He thought for a moment, then changed direction. Instead of heading for the break in the wall that led into the central laboratory, Jack took a side passage. He waited there and watched as the creatures slithered past, one by one. Three of them so far. Maybe others were on their way – the more the better.
‘Tell you what,’ Jack said, stepping back into the main corridor and watching the blue glow fade as the creatures turned the corner at the end. ‘Tell you what, I’ll just leave you guys to it. I’ve got a girl to find. Couple of girls, in fact. You do your stuff, I’ll do mine.’
It was a long journey back down to the docks, but Jack was running all the way.
Colonel Levin and Lieutenant Krylek stood with Catherine Kornilova. The villagers were gathered behind them, the soldiers fanned out in a defensive formation across the end of the dry dock.
Around them the dark hulks of the submarines hemmed them in. The fires had all but burned out. Black smoke coiled lazily into a charcoal sky, lit blue by the pale glow from the end of the quay.
‘Looks like we’re on our own this time, sir,’ Krylek said.
‘Looks like it,’ Levin agreed grimly.
‘The Doctor has a plan,’ Catherine told them. ‘He’s up to something.’
‘Then let’s hope it works. And let’s hope it works soon.’
The first of the creatures was pushing its way through the drifting smoke. The heat from the fire was making its glowing skin hiss and spit, but still it came.
‘Grenades?’ Levin asked.
‘None left, sir,’ Krylek told him.
‘Ammunition?’
‘Pretty low, sir. For what it’s worth.’
‘Ideas?’
‘There’s a life belt over there,’ Catherine said.
Both soldiers turned to stare at her. To their surprise she was smiling. ‘I can tell you’re not local. And you’re army not navy.’
‘The water is iced over,’ Levin pointed out. ‘And if it weren’t, one life belt would hardly help us all. And if it did we’d freeze to death.’
‘Retreat, sir?’ Krylek suggested.
‘I don’t think there’s anywhere very much to go. A bit of beach, then cliffs. We might as well stay here.’
They watched as Catherine ran over to a wooden box attached to the railings round the top of the wall surrounding the dock. The hinges were rusted solid, but the wood was old and rotten so she ripped away the front. Levin could see the pale shape of the life belt inside the box – what was she up to? She grabbed something and came running back. It wasn’t the life belt.
‘Here,’ Catherine said, breathless. ‘You know what to do with this better than me, I expect.’ She handed something to Levin.
A flare pistol and three cartridges.
He nodded, impressed. ‘It won’t hold them back for long,’ he warned. ‘But it’ll give them something to think about.’
‘Refuelling 70 per cent complete,’ the scientist watching the gauge said.
Klebanov had a pistol and he was pointing it squarely at the Doctor. Rose was pleased he didn’t point it at her, but miffed that he obviously didn’t think she was a threat. Most of all, though, she was worried he might shoot the Doctor.
‘Tell him,’ Rose said.
‘Tell me what?’ Klebanov sounded amused. Maybe he was smiling – it was no longer possible to tell.
‘Tell him,’ Rose said again.
‘Right.’ The Doctor nodded, pointing at Klebanov. ‘I’m telling you,’ he said.
‘I’m so scared,’ the chief scientist replied.
The others cackled and laughed.
‘Now 75 per cent complete,’ the scientist by the gauge said as the amusement died down.
‘So what’s the plan, then, eh?’ the Doctor asked. ‘Refuel a missile and then launch, is that it? Big bang somewhere up above us, massive airburst energy release. Ship absorbs the energy and powers up fully. But it’s not going anywhere, so the energy is all channelled to you lot through the transmitter in your lab. It won’t all be useful, but you’ll manage to convert enough of it to regenerate yourselves and keep going.’
‘That’s right,’ Klebanov agreed. ‘You’re very clever, Doctor.’
‘We’re 80 per cent complete.’
‘Oh, I’m a genius. And it doesn’t take a genius to work out that a lot of the energy won’t be converted and will pretty much flatten this part of the world. We’ll be in the eye of the storm here, safe and sound close to the ship as it absorbs the blast. But the radioactive cloud will spread out and maybe get as far as the nearest cities. Kill a few million straight away. A few more million over the next year or two. But what the hell, it won’t affect you and your supermen – you’ll be laughing.’
‘As you say.’
‘Except it isn’t going to happen.’
‘Now 85 per cent complete.’
‘I really don’t think you or anyone else can stop us,’ Klebanov told him.
Rose was beginning to think he was right. The Doctor was just talking. Valeria wasn’t about to do anything – simply standing with
them and staring into space. Goodness knows where Jack was or what was happening outside.
‘We’re 90 per cent complete. Beginning pre-launch checks.’
Which just left Rose. ‘In for a penny,’ she muttered. The gun was still pointing at the Doctor. All Klebanov’s attention was on him. All the other scientists were either busy at the controls or watching the Doctor. Maybe that was it – maybe that was his plan: to distract them so Rose could act.
‘Refuelling now 95 per cent complete. Pre-launch checks all positive. Primary ignition in ten seconds.’
She didn’t think about it.
‘Nine.’
Just hurled herself at the controls.
‘Eight.’
Crashed through the group of scientists.
‘Seven.’
Slammed into the control panel.
‘Six.’
And stared. What did she do now? Where was the abort button? Was there an abort button? Or would it be a switch?
‘Five.’
Behind her someone was yelling at Klebanov not to shoot – not to risk damaging the controls. Maybe she should just thump every button and press every switch and twist every dial.
‘Four.’
But it was too late. Hard, cold hands grabbed her arms and shoulders.
‘Three.’
Dragged her back from the controls. Turned her away.
‘Two.’
Her eyes met the Doctor’s.
‘One.’
‘Sorry,’ Rose said.
‘Good effort,’ the Doctor said quietly.
But his words were almost drowned out by the sound. A warning klaxon blaring out.
The scientist watching the gauges was shaking his head, thumping at the controls. ‘Systems failure.’ His voice was a hollow rasp. ‘Complete shutdown.’
Klebanov stared in disbelief, the remains of his face contorted with rage. The gun was shaking as he struggled to hold it steady. ‘What’s wrong?’ he hissed. ‘What happened? The missile was fully fuelled.’
The Doctor stood absolutely still, meeting the man’s gaze. ‘That gauge just tells you it’s full, not what it’s full of. I’m not an expert,’ he said, ‘but this is the sort of thing that happens if someone clever like me disconnects your refuelling hose from the main supply and attaches it instead to the torpedo tubes’ seawater intake.’
The Deviant Strain Page 17
