Maria jumped up in alarm. ‘There might be one of those alien things outside right now!’
‘No wait a minute,’ said Sarah Jane. Holding out the watch she swung it around the room. The beeping of the watch grew louder and louder and she followed the sound. It led her straight to Kelsey, who was slumped back on a couch, leafing through a comic.
Sarah Jane stood looking down at her, studying the device on her wrist.
Maria came hurrying over. ‘Kelsey, you’re an alien!’
‘You wish!’
‘No, it’s not her,’ said Sarah Jane.
There was a bottle of Bubble Shock on the couch beside Kelsey. Sarah Jane snatched it up.
‘Oi, that’s mine,’ protested Kelsey.
Sarah Jane held her watch close to the bottle. The device beeped frantically, and data scrolled across the screen.
‘It’s the drink. It’s that ingredient - Bane!’
‘Well, it’s organic,’ said Kelsey uneasily.
‘More than that,’ said Sarah Jane. ‘It’s alive!’ She peered at the little screen. ‘Species identified - Bane. It’s not just an ingredient, it’s an alien. This is the secretion of...’ She peered at the screen. ‘Oh, I need glasses - the secretion of a Bane Mother.’ She looked up. ‘There’s a piece of living Bane inside every bottle of Bubble Shock!’
‘I’ve been drinking that stuff,’ shrieked Kelsey indignantly. ‘And it’s alien!’
‘Thought you didn’t believe in aliens,’ said Maria.
‘Oh, you can shut up,’ said Kelsey. ‘I’ve got things from outer space in my stomach!’ She looked up at Sarah Jane. ‘What are you going to do about it?’
‘It’s not my fault!’
‘Yeah?’ said Kelsey furiously. ‘You’ve got all this stuff, all these gadgets, you sit here talking all day, just yapping on about monsters and planets and things. What good is that? Why don’t you actually do something?’
Sarah Jane glared at Kelsey then it struck her. Maybe, just maybe, Kelsey had a point. She forced herself to be calm.
‘Right then, Kelsey. Just you watch.’
Sarah Jane looked across to the other side of the room and raised her voice.
‘Mr Smith, I need you.’
‘Yes, Sarah Jane,’ said the deep masculine voice.
Two sections of wall slid back like hidden gates and the complex console of a giant computer emerged. The wall above it slid upwards, revealing a huge screen, a complicated symbol revolving at the centre.
‘Mr Smith is a computer,’ said Sarah Jane.
It was bigger, more elaborate than any computer Maria had ever seen or heard of, and now she knew why.
‘An alien computer,’ she whispered.
Sarah Jane addressed the computer like someone talking to an old and valued friend.
‘Mr Smith, I want a direct visual link to Mrs Wormwood at the Bane factory. Can you get coordinates?’
‘Accessing,’ said the deep voice.
Maria was amazed. ‘What, you can just phone her up?’
‘Mr Smith can hack into anything,’ said Sarah Jane confidently.
‘But why do you want to talk to them?’
‘Because I want to be fair,’ said Sarah Jane.
It was something she’d learned from the Doctor. Even a savage invading alien species deserved one chance to make peace.
‘Coordinates 17775395736554936287487596 9587476383940954-05-5,’ said Mr Smith. As he spoke the numbers scrolled across the screen.
‘That’s like their phone number,’ said Sarah Jane.
‘Visual link connecting,’ said Mr Smith.
Mrs Wormwood, now back in human form, was sitting at her office desk, digesting Davey, when the giant screen in her office came to life. On it appeared the face of Sarah Jane. Clearly, this annoying woman had access to some very advanced technology.
Mrs Wormwood stood up. ‘Oh, very clever!’
‘Mrs Wormwood,’ said Sarah Jane. Thanks for all the assassination attempts.’
‘My pleasure,’ said Mrs Wormwood bitterly. The next one will involve harpoons!’
‘I know who you are and what you are,’ said Sarah Jane. ‘Bane! Now, leave this planet.’
Mrs Wormwood seemed amused. ‘Are you declaring war?’
Sarah Jane put everything into one heartfelt plea. ‘Mrs Wormwood, the universe is huge, and Earth is so small. You don’t need to do this. I’m asking you, as the representative of one species to another, just leave this world. Just leave us in peace - please!’
‘And if I don’t?’
Then I shall have to do - something,’ said Sarah Jane.
Even as she spoke, she knew it sounded pretty feeble.
Mrs Wormwood knew it, too.
‘Very well,’ she said. ‘In the language of your young ones - bring it on!’
She picked up the remote and switched off the screen.
A little crestfallen, Sarah Jane said, That didn’t go too well.’
‘How are you gonna stop them?’ asked Maria.
‘You tell me!’
Maria was horrified. ‘What? You mean you haven’t got a plan? Nothing?’
‘Nope,’ said Sarah Jane cheerfully ‘The people I fight have plans and weapons, but I don’t. That’s what makes me different.’
It could also be what makes you dead, thought Maria.
Mrs Wormwood stood in the pipe room below the nest of the Bane Mother.
Her hands to her temples, she was concentrating furiously.
‘Mother! Events have escalated. We must declare war on mankind.’
An angry roar came from above and the pipes shuddered.
The Bane Mother hated to be disturbed, to be asked to exert herself, but there was no alternative.
‘Open your mind, Mother,’ chanted Mrs Wormwood. You must convert the humans containing Bane. They will convert the rest.’ She raised her arms in supplication. ‘Let this become - Bane world!’
The central section of the roof slid open revealing the giant green eye of the enormous Bane Mother, surrounded by undulating tendrils.
The great green eye closed for a moment and then opened again. But now the pupil glowed bright orange...
In the window of a trendy cafe in town, two girls sat drinking Bubble Shock. Suddenly, their expressions became fixed, frozen. A sickly orange glow, a kind of aura, flickered about their heads. Moving as one, they rose and left the cafe.
All over the town, indeed, all over the world, similar scenes were taking place. The disciples of the Bane, with Bane coursing through their systems, rose and obeyed the command of the Bane Mother. They had no choice.
In his kitchen Alan, Maria’s dad, slammed down his bottle of Bubble Shock on the kitchen table. An orange glow flickered about his head. His face blank, his eyes fixed, he rose and strode from the house.
‘Look at Kelsey Hooper! Look!’ the boy shouted. Sarah Jane and Maria turned.
Clutching her bottle of Bubble Shock, Kelsey was staggering towards them. An orange glow flickered around her head. She slumped forward over a sofa.
‘Help me...’ she gasped.
‘Oh God, it’s beginning,’ said Sarah Jane. ‘Kelsey, fight it!’
It was too late for that. Kelsey straightened up, her face cold and hard. Holding out her bottle of Bubble Shock she stalked towards them. ‘Drink it! Drink it!’ she chanted.
‘It’s the Bane,’ gasped Maria in horror. ‘They’re taking people over!’
Chapter Ten
Counter-attack
Sarah Jane’s reaction was immediate. ‘Out! Quickly! Out!’
Grabbing her jacket from the chair, she herded them out of the house.
Kelsey marched after them, holding out her bottle of Bubble Shock.
‘Drink it!’ she chanted. ‘Drink it!’
The three of them ran from the house.
‘Got to get to the factory!’ said Sarah Jane determinedly, as they emerged into the street.
Maria was close behind her. ‘I
’m coming with you.’
‘You’re staying here!’
Maria looked across the road and saw her father coming out of their house. He was walking stiffly, like a zombie.
‘Dad, stay indoors,’ she shouted. ‘There’s all this stuff happening.’
Alan’s face was expressionless, his eyes blank. He held out a bottle of Bubble Shock. ‘Drink it!’ he commanded.
Maria looked at him in horror. ‘Dad, no...’
In the pipe room. Mrs Wormwood and a group of guards lifted their eyes reverently to the ceiling. The central roof section slid back, revealing the huge glowing eye of the Bane Mother. The gaping mouth roared, and tendrils flailed around it.
Mrs Wormwood raised her arms in supplication.
‘Mother stirs!’ she said ecstatically. ‘Those who have not taken Bane must be converted.’
The rest of the roof slid back, revealing the massive writhing body of the Bane Mother. Great tentacles lashed and flailed about her.
Kelsey came out of the house and joined them. She stalked towards them, zombie-like, her eyes fixed, her face blank. She held out a bottle of Bubble Shock. ‘Drink it!’ she commanded. ‘Drink it!’
Alan marched across the road towards them, holding out his bottle of Bubble Shock.
‘Drink it!’
Maria ran to her father.
‘Dad, listen to me, don’t… that’s not you, it’s that thing, it’s the drink, it’s the Bane...’
Alan ignored her. It was quite clear that he didn’t recognise his daughter. She was just another subject for conversion.
‘Drink it!’
Sarah Jane looked about her. Up and down the street, people were coming out of their houses. Holding out bottles of Bubble Shock they spread out like an army of zombies.
‘Drink it!’ they chanted. ‘Drink it! Drink it!’
Sarah Jane grabbed Maria’s arm. ‘I’m sorry, we can’t help them, the only thing we can do is get to the factory. Get in the car!’
She pushed Maria towards the car - the boy was already in the back seat - and they climbed in.
The crowd moved menacingly towards the car, Alan and Kelsey in the lead.
‘Drink it! Drink it! Drink it!’
‘This is bad,’ said the boy from the back seat. ‘I recognise bad.’
‘What are we going to do?’ wailed Maria.
‘Maria, there are two types of people in the world,’ said Sarah Jane. ‘People who panic - and then there’s us. Got that?’
‘Got it!’ said Maria bravely.
It was a tricky job, weaving the convertible through the crowd. Sarah Jane didn’t want to run anyone over, and people made no attempt to get out of their way. Somehow she managed it and as soon as she reached a relatively clear area she picked up speed.
As they drove towards the factory the nightmare scene continued. First in quiet suburban avenues, then in the busy streets of the city centre, the blankeyed disciples of Bubble Shock marched forwards, orange bottles held out.
‘Drink it! Drink it! Drink it!’
The few people not under the Bubble Shock influence, the two per cent, reacted in panic, trying to flee the advancing mob. Many were seized and held by members of the crowd, while others poured Bubble Shock down their throats.
Faces loomed towards the car, mad eyes glaring, orange bottles thrust out.
Fanatical voices reached them inside the car. ‘Drink it! Drink It! Drink it!’
Weaving and dodging, driving as fast as she could without killing anyone, Sarah Jane drove on.
Arms raised, Mrs Wormwood gazed upward at the writhing creature above her.
‘Mother welcomes her new children. Come to us, newborn Bane. Come to us!’
In the streets around the factory the possessed disciples of the Bane began marching towards the Bane Mother.
Sarah Jane’s car zoomed up to the locked factory gates. Without stopping she uncapped her sonic lipstick with her teeth, and held it out of the window. The gates swung open and the car drove through. The gates closed behind them.
Sarah Jane parked beside the Bubble Shock bus and they all jumped out.
‘I’m going inside,’ snapped Sarah Jane. ‘You stay here.’
Maria shook her head. ‘No way!’
They ran towards the main building.
Sarah Jane pointed her sonic lipstick at the main door. Nothing happened.
‘They’ve got a deadlock seal!’
‘What does that mean?’ asked Maria.
‘We can’t get in!’
‘Sarah Jane!’ called the boy urgently.
They turned and saw that a growing crowd was gathering at the gates, moaning, chanting, holding out their bottles of Bubble Shock.
‘Drink it! Drink it! Drink it!’
Maria turned to Sarah Jane. ‘We can’t go back and we can’t get in. What do we do?’
Sarah Jane frowned in concentration. ‘There’s got to be a way of getting in, there’s got to be. What do I do?’ She spoke as if to some unseen companion. ‘Oh, Doctor, help me! Come on, think!’
She looked all around, her eyes fixing on her car, and on the Bubble Shock bus.
‘Oh yes!’
In the pipe room, Mrs Wormwood was addressing the guards, gloating over the future conquest of the Bane.
‘All the humans who don’t submit will be reduced to liquid. Then the Bane will drink them.
She stiffened and turned round. ‘What’s that noise?’
She could hear the maddening jingle that accompanied the Bubble Shock commercial on television. It grew louder… louder...
The Bane bus crashed through the wall in a shower of debris, broken pipes, breeze blocks and brick-dust flying everywhere.
Mrs Wormwood staggered back, hands protecting her face. As the dust settled, she saw Sarah Jane at the wheel of the bus.
She glared up at her, furious. ‘Miss Smith!’
Sarah Jane jumped down from the drivers cab. ‘Not too late for the party?’
She advanced on Mrs Wormwood. ‘I warned you to leave this planet.’
With an effort, Mrs Wormwood recovered her poise. She pointed upward.
‘Have you met my mother?’
Sarah Jane looked up and recoiled as the huge eye of the Bane Mother glared down at her. As massive tentacle lashed down, Sarah Jane ducked and it missed her by inches.
Maria jumped down from the bus.
‘Leave her alone!’
‘I told you to stay on-board,’ said Sarah Jane.
‘Too late for that.’
The boy followed Maria from the bus.
Mrs Wormwood smiled evilly. ‘Oh, you’ve brought us the Archetype.’
Even at this dangerous moment, Sarah Jane’s scientific curiosity was aroused.
‘He’s a living, thinking human being,’ she said. ‘And yet you created him. What for?’
Mrs Wormwood was happy to boast of the scientific genius of the Bane.
‘He’s an assembly of thousands of different humans,’ she said. ‘A montage, you might say. A collage. On every tour of the factory we’d scan the guests, all 10,000 of them. We fed the strengths and weaknesses of every one of them into him. The Archetype.’
The boy nodded, confirming her story. ‘I am everyone.’
‘But why?’ asked Maria.
‘Our little problem, the two per cent who wouldn’t touch Bane. In time, the Archetype could tell us how to modify our product. But since we have advanced our plans, he is no longer needed.’
Mrs Wormwood touched the great jewelled ring on her finger and the boy collapsed with a gasp of pain.
‘No!’ shouted Maria.
She ran to the boy and crouched down beside him. He looked up at her, eyes flickering. ‘I’m so cold… freezing.’
Sarah Jane took off her jacket and covered him.
‘You can’t do that to him, he’s only a boy. Mrs Wormwood, I’m begging you, let him go.’
‘Oh, that’s so sweet,’ said Mrs Wormwood. ‘But
he’s dying, and soon you will join him. Like all our enemies. Our slave control is activated all over the world.’ Mrs Wormwood’s eyes gleamed. ‘The Time of Man is over. The Time of Bane has come!’
In all the streets around the factory, in streets all over the world, shuffling chanting crowds held out bottles of Bubble Shock and hunted down those still unconverted, forcing the orange liquid down their throats.
‘Drink it! Drink it! Drink it!’
Humanity was enslaved.
Chapter Eleven
Victory
In the half-wrecked pipe room, the air filled with smoke and dust and steam, Mrs Wormwood was exulting in her final victory. The time of the Bane had come, and her only significant enemies had delivered themselves into her hands.
‘You’ve failed, Miss Smith. This is where your lonely life has led you - to despair!’
‘Except she’s not alone,’ said Maria. She straightened up. ‘She’s got me - and I’ve got this!’ She held out her mobile phone and switched it on.
From high above, the Bane Mother twitched and roared.
Mrs Wormwood winced, but she was still smiling. ‘The device is tiny. An irritation, that’s all. And now you’ve angered the Bane Mother. Do you really think that was wise?’
An enormous tentacle swooped down from the roof, snatched up a massive length of broken piping like a club, and swung it at Sarah Jane and Maria. They threw themselves down by the boy, and the great metal pipe missed them by inches.
‘I told you to stay away from me,’ said Sarah Jane as they crouched down.
Even in this moment of terrible danger, Maria knew that she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but at Sarah Jane’s side.
‘Know what?’ she whispered. ‘I’m still glad I didn’t.’
Somehow she felt that things would still work out, that they’d defeat the Bane and win in the end.
At the moment, it didn’t seem very likely.
Mrs Wormwood raised her arms in a frenzy of exultation.
‘Descend, Bane Mother, and consume them!’
More giant tentacles descended as the huge monster above them began to move. The massive body heaved and writhed as it strove to leave the confinement of the nest.
[Sarah Jane Adventures 01] - Invasion of Bane Page 6
