The Taking of Chelsea 426

by Doctor Who

  Sarg still harboured a desire to destroy the entire 177

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  colony. They could return to their ship and fire a single shot into the core of Chelsea 426 - a blast that would tear out the structure's heart and send it tumbling down into the tempestuous clouds of Saturn, leaving no survivors.

  He was still frustrated with General Kade's unwillingness to listen. What kind of a Sontaran was he? Their mission so far had been far from Sarg's liking. Where was the combat that every Sontaran dreamed of? Where was the glory in taking prisoners?

  It made no sense to him.

  He was about to call his unit together and take them back to the loading bays, when a lone soldier entered the main chamber.

  'Colonel Sarg,' he said.

  'Yes?'

  "There has been an incident, sir. Unit 12... They were investigating possible Rutan activity above the Western Docks. It appears one of the humans, the man they called Smalls... He killed them, sir.'

  Sarg walked towards the soldier, who in turn took a step back, as if he expected to be struck down.

  'Killed?' said Sarg. 'What do you mean, "killed"?'

  'He killed them, sir,' repeated the soldier. 'Blasted them out of an airlock. They're all gone, sir. All six of them.'

  Sarg let out a terrifying roar, lifting up his rifle and firing it into the ceiling. There was a flash of light and 178

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  then a shower of sparks, which rained down around them.

  'Smalls, you say?' said Sarg.

  'Yes, sir.'

  'Was he Rutan?'

  'No, sir. We don't think so.'

  'Human?'

  'Yes, sir.'

  Sarg turned to the rest of his unit.

  'Do you see?' he growled. This is what they are capable of, these humans. We should have killed them all when we had the chance. But Kade is a coward.'

  The other soldiers looked at him now with surprise and the closest thing to fear that a Sontaran could express. Had the Colonel lost his mind? He was talking about a superior officer; the commander of their division.

  'I am going to talk to General Kade,' said Sarg, walking now towards the exit of the main chamber,

  'and I am going to demand that this time we leave and we destroy this den of vermin, once and for all.'

  'So how do you know all about them, then?' asked Jake.

  The four of them were crawling along one of the ventilation shafts that ran above Tunbridge Street, the Doctor in the lead with Jake and Vienna close behind, followed by Wallace.

  'Who's that?' said the Doctor.

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  'These Rutans and Sontarans. How do you know all about them? I've never heard of them.'

  'Met them before,' the Doctor replied. Tar too many times. Mind you, once is enough. Thing is, they've been at war for fifty thousand years. You can go centuries with peace and quiet, and then it all flares up again.

  And they're forever fighting on somebody else's doorstep.'

  'But how have you met them?' asked Jake. "Where did you meet them?'

  'Oh, here and there,' said the Doctor. 'I think the first time I met the Sontarans was in Medieval England. Or was it Spain? It's all a bit weird...'

  'Medieval England?' said Vienna in disbelief. 'Now I know you're making it all up.'

  'Uh, hello...' said the Doctor. 'I'm the one with the little blue box that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Is a trip to the Middle Ages all that weird? I mean, when you think about it? Really?'

  'Uh... yes,' said Vienna. 'And that's another thing...

  How is it bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?'

  'Right,' said the Doctor, 'here goes... You see, there are four dimensions that you're aware of, yes?'

  'If you say so,' said Vienna.

  'Well there are,' said the Doctor. Three in space, and one in time. But it's a bit more complicated than that.

  There are lots and lots of dimensions. It's a bit like having a box filled with lots and lots of little boxes.'

  'A blue box?' said Jake.

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  'Well... It doesn't have to be blue,' the Doctor told him. 'Now, if you're holding the box you might not be aware of all the little boxes inside. But that doesn't mean they're not there... It's just that you can't see them. Well that's a little bit what dimensions are like.'

  'Yes...' said Vienna, 'but the boxes inside the big box are still smaller than the big box.'

  The Doctor sighed.

  'You humans,' he said. 'You're one of the most endlessly fascinating and inventive species in the universe, but when it comes to something just a little bit confusing you're like toddlers sometimes. Every answer gets another question.'

  'Well it's not our fault we're confused,' said Vienna.

  'You're a very confusing man. And what do you mean,

  "you humans"?'

  'Hush now,' said the Doctor. 'Jake... The map? We're coming to the end of Tunbridge Street. Which way to the studio?'

  Kade had been expecting Colonel Sarg, even before one of his guards entered the Mayor's office to announce his arrival. Word had already reached him of Riley Smalls' moment of self-sacrifice. It was a curious act, but one he couldn't help but admire in some small way.

  It was utterly futile, of course, and had achieved nothing. Six Sontarans were lost, but they were mere foot soldiers. Nothing had changed.

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  When Sarg entered the

  office,

  Kade could

  immediately sense his anger.

  'General, one of the humans has attacked us,' said Sarg.

  'Yes,' said Kade, 'I am already aware of it.'

  Sarg paused, seemingly surprised by this. 'Really?'

  he asked. 'And how do you think we should respond?'

  'Respond?' said Kade. 'Colonel Sarg... We do not need to respond. We shall continue with our investigation as planned.'

  The investigation?' said Sarg. 'But sir... The situation here is volatile. If the humans are fighting back.

  The humans?' said Kade with a dismissive snort.

  Their pitiful attempts at insurrection will do nothing to improve their situation.'

  'We lost six soldiers, General...'

  'I was aware of that, Sarg.' Kade crossed the office, tapping the palm of one hand with his baton. 'And how, Sarg, would you respond to this situation?' he asked, walking slowly in a circle around the Colonel. 'What would be your next move?'

  Sarg shifted awkwardly, his gaze fixed on the ground.

  'I would return to the ship,' he replied, 'and destroy the colony. Leave no survivors.'

  'But of course,' said Kade. The Battle Fleet response.

  Destroy everything. Never mind the progress we are making. Never mind the evidence we have gathered.

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  Destroy everything, regardless of the greater good. And when, Colonel Sarg, our troops are ambushed by the Rutans in another system because of a plot almost identical to this one - a plot that conies as a surprise only because those who could have given us vital information were destroyed in your beloved inferno

  -what will you say then, Sarg?'

  'We have been given no such information,' said Sarg, turning now to face the General. 'We have questioned many humans, using all means necessary, and not one of them has broken. Even those we strongly suspect of being Rutan have said nothing.'

  Then you have failed in your duty!' roared Kade. The humans are frail and weak and susceptible to pain, and yet they haven't broken? Question them harder.

  They will break.'

  They will not, sir.'

  Kade stepped back from his second-in-command.

  'Colonel Sarg, I do not like your tone,' he said.

  'General, the men are behind me,' said Sarg. They are eager for war, and you have given them an investigation.'
/>
  'Really?' said Kade. 'So the men have your ear, now, do they? And they are behind you?'

  'Yes, sir,' said Sarg.

  Kade struck the palm of his hand with his baton once more, this time clenching his fingers around it.

  This is mutiny, then,' he said.

  Sarg did not reply.

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  'Now that is a shame,' Kade continued. 'An immediate denial might have been just enough to spare your life. Your silence is a challenge, Colonel Sarg. A challenge to which there is only one solution.'

  The television studio was exactly as the Sontarans had left it. The camera had been tipped over onto its side.

  Smalls' last speech lay scattered across his desk, half of it unread. On the floor, a sound technician's headphones lay next to an abandoned microphone.

  'Wow,' said Wallace. 'It looks exactly like it does on TV.'

  'Yes,' said the Doctor. 'Well it would do. What with it being a TV studio and everything.'

  He walked across the studio towards a large wall, in the centre of which was a window. Through the window he could just about make out the dim glow of monitors, and a row of empty chairs.

  'Bingo!' he said. 'Control room!'

  To the side of the large window was a door. The Doctor tried the handle, but it was locked. He reached inside his jacket and drew out his sonic screwdriver.

  'What's that?' asked Vienna.

  'Sonic screwdriver,' the Doctor told her.

  'A sonic what?'

  'Sonic screwdriver. It's a screwdriver, only it's sonic.'

  'And what does it do?' asked Vienna, still sounding faintly unimpressed.

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  'Watch,' said the Doctor, pointing the screwdriver at a keypad to the side of the door. The tip of the device suddenly lit up with a blue glow, and it emitted a shrill, high-pitched squeal. The keypad blinked into life and, with a soft clunk, the door was unlocked.

  'Sonic screwdriver,' said the Doctor, holding it up to show the children. 'Just about the handiest thing in the universe. After a small towel. You can never go wrong with a small towel.'

  Deep in the belly of Chelsea 426, the fusion candle blazed with the intensity of a sun, an intense column of white hot flame, channelled down towards the surface of the planet below.

  Around the candle's flame were metal ramps and walkways forming bridges from one side of the cavernous space to the other, many of them passing within metres of the intense heat and light.

  At either end of one such bridge were gathered the higher-ranking officers of the Fourth Sontaran Intelligence Division, while in its centre General Kade and Colonel Sarg faced one another.

  Between them stood a third Sontaran, holding aloft two large metal staffs. The staffs were carved from end to end with intricate engravings; symbols and images as ancient as the Sontaran Empire itself.

  'Colonel Sarg,' said the soldier. 'You have challenged the chain of command within the Fourth Sontaran 185

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  Intelligence Division, a challenge which amounts to mutiny. General Kade... You have countered Colonel Sarg's challenge by demanding a duel. As is the way of Sontar you must now fight... To the death.'

  Kade and Sarg both nodded to the soldier, who handed them their weapons before walking to the far end of the metal bridge, leaving them alone at its centre. The General and the Colonel adopted battle stances and, but for the incessant throb of the fusion candle, the vast chamber fell silent.

  Then, all at once, those gathered at either end of the bridge began to chant:

  'Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha!'

  Kade was first to act, swinging out the lower end of his staff in a sweeping arc that hit Sarg in his side, before lifting up the weapon to shield himself from Sarg's response. Sarg ducked down and thrust the end of his staff into the General's abdomen, sending him reeling back towards their audience.

  Kade paused for a moment to gather his thoughts and then charged toward his second-in-command, swinging his staff this way and that so that it hacked through the air with a great whooping sound.

  Sarg crouched again, lifting up his weapon, but Kade leapt up and flipped over in mid air, dropping down behind the Colonel and spinning on his heels with astonishing grace before striking Sarg in the back of his head.

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  Sarg lurched forward, clearly dazed by the blow, but recovered quickly, turning to face the General once more.

  They met at the bridge's centre, staffs suddenly and violently locked together, each Sontaran pushing forward with all his strength.

  Their audience continued to chant, even faster than before:

  'Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha!'

  Sarg seemed to have the upper hand, pushing Kade back against the bridge's barrier and bearing down on him with his full weight so that the General was now leaning precariously over the chasm into which the white flame of the fusion candle was channelled.

  Sarg looked into the General's eyes. He sensed no fear in his commanding officer, but the General was beginning to tire, he could tell that much. Sarg was the younger of the two and, he felt, the stronger. It would take only one decisive blow to end this for good.

  Another violent shove, and he might just manage to push Kade over the edge of the bridge and send him tumbling down into the blazing inferno.

  'Give up, Kade,' he said. 'It's over.'

  Kade looked up at Sarg and, to Sarg's horror, laughed. With a forceful grunt, he pushed his own staff violently upwards, sending Sarg staggering back. For a moment they were separated, and the Sontarans at each end of the bridge fell silent.

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  This moment's pause was short-lived, for within seconds they had clashed once more, this time smashing their clubs together with such force that the noise of each collision very nearly drowned out the roar of the fusion candle. Kade delivered a blow to Sarg's chest. Sarg responded by slamming the end of his staff into Kade's stomach.

  For a moment Sarg thought he had beaten him; the General was now doubled over, clutching his stomach and wincing in pain.

  But Sarg was wrong.

  With a look of fierce malevolence, Kade stood straight and then, with a speed that took the younger Sontaran by surprise, charged forward with an almighty roar.

  In one sudden move, he swung his staff around in a dizzying arc, tearing Sarg's weapon from his hands and sending it spinning, end over end, into the blinding light of the fusion candle, where it was vaporised in a nanosecond.

  Sarg held up his hands to defend himself, but it was no use. Kade was upon him at once, beating him to the ground. The General threw his weapon to the floor and with terrifying strength lifted Sarg up into the air until his feet left the ground.

  Sarg looked down at Kade but, before he could plan his next move, the General had turned and, with one final, triumphant bellow, thrown him over the edge of the bridge.

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  As Colonel Sarg merged with the light and the heat of the fusion candle, he almost instantaneously vanished, his last, desperate scream cut off as suddenly as it had begun.

  Kade now stood alone at the centre of the bridge. At either end those gathered were now silent, looking upon the General with dumbstruck awe.

  The soldier who had handed them their weapons walked out once more and, standing at the General's side, shouted, 'General Kade is victorious! All hail General Kade!'

  All hail General Kade!' cried the Sontarans.

  'Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha!'

  'OK,' said the Doctor, flicking switches and pressing buttons. One by one the screens of the control room were turned on. 'Now if I just do this... And... this...'

  On one monitor they saw the video screens of Miramont Gardens switch from the logo of The Smalls Agenda to a dazzling blue.

  'Right,' said the Doctor, leaning in towards a microphone i
n the centre of the control panel. Testing testing... One-two, one-two.

  Beyond the studio they heard his voice echoing through the streets and thoroughfares of Chelsea 426.

  The Doctor laughed.

  'Ha!' he said. 'I've always wanted to do that. Ever since Woodstock. Now... If I just do this..."

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  He lifted his sonic screwdriver to the microphone.

  Once again it was lit up blue, but this time none of the teenagers could hear a thing.

  'Watch the screens, kids,' said the Doctor. This is gonna be good.'

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  It happened quite suddenly. One moment the Sontarans guarding each exit to the loading bay were standing there, stoic and immovable; the next they were on their knees, their hands clasping their ears.

  None of the prisoners could hear a thing, and yet the Sontarans appeared to have been deafened by some almighty noise. The only thing the humans in the loading bay had heard was a strange voice saying the words, 'One-two... one-two..."

  And now this.

  At first all they could do was look at one another in confusion. Then, gradually, the humans began to talk; a low murmuring that increased in volume; questions overlapping questions.

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  'What's happening?' asked Jenny, holding her husband by the arm.

  'I don't know...'

  'Are they dying?'

  'I don't think so... I don't know.'

  Mr Carstairs was one of the first to step forward, leaving the main group. He walked slowly towards one of the Sontaran guards, his heart pounding in his chest, waiting for the moment when the guard would stand and come at him with his baton or rifle, but it didn't happen. Closer and closer he got, but the guard stayed down, his hands over his ears. As Mr Carstairs got closer still, he heard that the creature was making an agonised, strangulated mewling sound in the back of its throat.

  'What is it?' asked Mr Carstairs. 'What's happening to you?'

  The Sontaran looked up at him, and their eyes met.

  The soldier could barely contain his anger, grinding and gnashing his teeth, but he was powerless.