by Nick Walters
‘Doctor... what’s going on?’
‘No time to explain now, this might be important,’ he said impatiently. ‘You said you made contact?’ He seemed completely at ease despite the presence of the Valethske.
‘Yes,’ said Aline, ‘and you’re not going to believe what with...’
The Valethske ship placed itself in a stable orbit, its engines keeping time with the planet’s rotation. It was an old ship -
most of its systems were automatic and self-repairing, leaving the important business of hunting and killing to its occupants. Its arsenal was impressive, to those impressed by that sort of thing, and terrifying to anything possessing even the most meagre intelligence. It possessed enough destructive capability to knock out entire planets. It had a store of A-bombs, Q-bombs and Z-bombs and the capacity to manufacture more from raw materials gathered during its lengthy travels. It had biological and chemical agents that could unleash plagues and pestilences of biblical proportions.
It was, to anyone other than the Valethske, a ship of death.
As it was bidden by its masters, it prepared and launched a hundred and fifty-one scourblaze missiles. These were usually used only to purge planets that had been ravaged by diseases caused by germ warfare, or as a last resort when outnumbered -as was the case here, though Kikker’s impatience to find the Gods was probably the overriding factor in the decision to deploy them.
Once free from the ship’s missile-tubes, the scourblazes did as they were programmed and spread out evenly in the planet’s upper atmosphere. They cruised for a while, their sleek, finned shapes like metallic sharks in the rarefied air, and then they plunged down through the clouds, down towards their destiny, and that of the planet they encircled.
What happened when they hit the ground looked beautiful from a distance. The pea-green ball of the Garden planet suddenly blossomed with new flowers, yellow-white petals bursting across the surface, expanding to meet each other until no green remained. Then the Garden blazed as brightly as any star in the sky - but far more briefly.
Everything on the surface of the world was burned to a crisp in a matter of minutes. The Valethske engineer who had named the Scourblaze missiles hadn’t been very imaginative, but made up for this lack with pinpoint accuracy.
To Peri, chained up on the Valethske ship, unable to tear her eyes away from the screen, it was a devastating sight. All the more so because it was so silent. Explosions were things she had only seen on TV or in the movies and they were always loud, always dramatic, even cathartic. But this, the destruction of a whole planet, was just a flare of yellow light on a screen, accompanied only by the gruff cheers of the Valethske.
She remembered waking up in the Garden, being amazed by its vast diversity. The silent, strange grace of the Gardeners.
The toecurlingly delicious taste of the fruit.
All gone now.
The Valethske were cheering and frolicking around each other like a pack of mad dogs.
Peri turned her face against the stone wall and wept for the death of the Garden, certain that she was the only being in the whole universe grieving its passing.
Chapter Twenty-Three
A Warning to the Curious
Veek stood before the Gods, and for a moment she believed. They were in a chamber of golden light that seemed to stretch into infinity. When Veek looked between her booted feet it was as if she was standing on nothing. Before her was something she couldn’t comprehend, couldn’t even begin to describe. A glowing column of matter like twisted glass in which dark shapes moved. She could hear voices at the edge of her mind, wordless and ancient like the wind.
Beside her stood the Doctor and the dying human woman. The Doctor had wanted to get her back to the TARDIS to minister to her in her final hours, but the woman had insisted on showing them this.
Veek stumbled towards the mass of matter, only half-aware of what she was doing. Through it, she was sure, dwelt the Gods, frail and frightened in their senescence. Now, as at the beginning of the Great Mission, she believed. She’d been a fool to doubt it! A fool to want to return home. Soon, the glory would be hers.
A hand came down on her shoulder. She flung it off, carried on. Then arms around her waist, pulling her back.
The Doctor. Veek, once again surprised at his strength, shook him off and drew her spike-knife.
‘Veek, stop!’ said the Doctor, hands raised as if to ward off an evil spirit. ‘Think about what you’re doing.’
Veek hesitated. Her mind felt fogged, as if she’d been drugged. She dropped the knife and put her head in her hands.
‘I - I am lost in confusion,’ she whimpered. ‘What is this place?’
She looked up to see the Doctor and Aline staring down at her.
Embarrassed at her own show of weakness, she stood, reaching for her blaster. But then she hesitated. She was beyond the point where killing would make a difference.
‘Time for a few explanations, I think,’ said the Doctor, frowning up at the column of matter. ‘A form of semi-sentient plasma, I shouldn’t wonder. Aline, you say you actually went inside it?’ Aline nodded. ‘It bonded with me. Her pale, bloodshot eyes turned to Veek. ‘I now know everything about the Khorlthochloi. I know that they were - still are - your Gods.
You came here to find them, didn’t you?’
Veek nodded. ‘And to destroy them.’
Aline smiled. ‘Such arrogance.’
Veek nodded again. ‘I know. I no longer have a part in it.’
Aline looked from Veek to the Doctor. ‘Is this true?’
‘Veek helped me escape in return for her safe passage home,’
explained the Doctor hurriedly. He was more interested in the strand of matter. ‘Obviously, that was the presence you sensed. I sensed it too, but I was able to resist its call. His eyes widened in realisation. ‘And Kikker - he must have been able to sense it on some primal, instinctual level. That’s why he was so certain the Gods were here. Oh, Aline,’ he shook his head sadly. ‘It thought you were a higher evolutionary, because of your Encounter. But you’re only too human... contact with it has destroyed your cells.’
Aline leaned against the Doctor for support. To Veek’s surprise she was smiling. In Veek’s experience humans never smiled when faced with death. ‘I don’t mind dying. The things I have seen...’
‘You’re not going to die, not if I can help it.’
‘It was worth it. I know everything about the Khorlthochloi now I’ve touched the mind of something so alien I can’t even begin to describe it - and this time I’ve survived with my sanity intact.’
‘But not your body,’ said the Doctor. ‘Come on, let’s get you back to the TARDIS.’
They began to move off.
Veek stared up at the plasma strand. There were so many unanswered questions. She couldn’t leave for home now, not without getting answers to at least some of them.
‘Wait!’ said Veek, moving to bar their way. ‘What about the Gods You must tell me all you know!’
The woman’s face looked up at her, and Veek could see the knowledge behind the silver discs of its eyes. Just like the Doctor his frail human frame contained ancient wisdom.
‘Your species came here to kill the Khorlthochloi,’ she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Her lips twisted in a pallid grin. ‘But you’re too late. They’re already dead.’
Vale Commander Kikker closed his eyes and imagined that he could feel the heat of the burning world on his face, drying his eyes and singeing his whiskers. It was a risk, he knew, deploying such a high percentage of ordnance. It would take months of real-time to restock the Scourblaze arsenal. If he was wrong and the Gods were not within this world, he would look foolish, very foolish indeed. He opened his eyes and averted them from the glowing sphere on the viewscreen, looking up with reverence at the mural of Azreske defeating the Gods. When the time came to slay them, Azreske would live again through Kikker, and his glory would be complete. His gaze ran from the mural down th
e right-hand pillar to the prey chained at its base.
He licked his lips. And his stomach would be full of fresh, succulent meat.
He realised that Flayoun and the others were looking to him for guidance. He could see the same fervour in their eyes. The same almost-disbelief: after centuries of searching, have we found the last resting place of the Gods?
He walked over to Flayoun and placed both hands on the young hunter’s shoulders. He could feel the supple strength of Flayoun’s body, see the absolute devotion in his eyes.
‘In the absence of Veek, and on the authority of the Great Vale herself, I promote you, Flayoun, to Hunt Marshal.’
Kikker felt Flayoun’s body rise beneath his hands.
‘This is a great honour, Vale Commander! I will not fail you.’
Time would tell about that, of course, but for the moment Kikker bared his teeth and hissed at Flayoun in the ceremonial manner. ‘Assemble your hunters, Hunt Marshal.
Prepare them for battle, and for glory.’
Flayoun saluted and scampered away, his tail stiffening with pleasure. A little too enthusiastic, thought Kikker.
Vixens always made better Hunt Marshals, but his best vixen hunters Akkia and Freela lay dead, smashed at the bottom of the shaft.
This turned Kikker’s thoughts back to the penetration of the planet. With the plant life now comprehensively destroyed, the way lay open to the system of underground chambers. And though the bottom of the shaft was blocked, the rest was clear. All they had to do was blast their way through the rubble and mud, and start their search for the Gods. Kikker gave orders to this effect, and then went over to where the prey was tethered against the wall of the control chamber.
There was defiance in its eyes, a defiance Kikker could hardly wait to turn into terror.
‘You are privileged, prey; you are about to witness scenes of unsurpassable glory.’
The human woman wrinkled her nose and her smooth face creased in a frown. ‘You call this privileged? You’ve just destroyed one of the most beautiful planets in the universe!’
Kikker had seen this behaviour before, in human prey. When they knew death was certain, sometimes they became arrogant, reckless even. Either that, or they lapsed into catatonia, or helpless paroxysms of weeping. Kikker preferred it this way, when they faced death with anger. It made the transformation into terror all the more drastic and gratifying.
‘What use is beauty to me?’ he whispered into the prey’s ear, running its silky black hair through his fingers. The sweet scent of its oils made Kikker feel giddy. He couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into its pink flesh. Flayoun was right; it was a fine specimen, fit and young and meaty. Unable to control his urges, he licked the woman’s face, lapping up as much of her salt sweat and tears as he could, his body pressing hers to the wall, subduing her struggles and screams.
Not long now before he’d be able to feast on her.
Then he caught the eyes of the Vale Guards, all of whom had turned to look at him, and he released the woman, letting her slump to the floor.
He barked at them. ‘Get back to your duties!’
He turned to utter more threats at the woman, but was taken aback by the sheer look of hate that twisted her face into a snarl. She spat, the saliva flinging through the air and landing on the breastplate of his uniform.
A Vale Guard called. ‘Vale Commander, we’re coming in to land!’
Kikker turned away from the woman, absently wiping her spit from his breastplate and, licking his fingers, went to oversee the landing procedures.
Aline could feel her strength slipping away again and clung to the Doctor’s arm as they walked through the chamber of the plasma strand. Veek had been stunned into silence by Aline’s revelation and listened intently as she told them what she had learned.
‘The Khorlthochloi were an extremely long-lived species,’
she began. ‘And like many such, they began to evolve beyond the physical plane, becoming creatures of pure mind.’
‘I’ve seen it myself,’ said the Doctor. ‘It’s supposedly the pinnacle of evolution.’
Aline nodded, fighting down a wave of nausea. ‘But the Khorlthochloi needed to keep their physical forms alive, as insurance in case they needed to return to them. So they created this world to nurture their bodies while their minds roamed new realms. They created a race of motile plants to feed and tend their bodies. They created a defence system - any hostile beings coming to the Garden would be repelled by the plants themselves. They hoped that people would think the Gardeners were the true inhabitants of the planet, and not look beneath the surface.’
‘For superior beings that’s rather naive of them,’ said the Doctor, ‘but I’m beginning to understand now. Those herds of insects -they’re the Khorlthochloi, aren’t they?’
Veek growled at this. ‘Nonsense - the Khorlthochloi are ebony giants, with eyes of fire, the size of mountains!’
‘They may have been once,’ said the Doctor, ‘but over hundreds of thousands of years they must have devolved to this primitive, insectile state.’
To Aline’s surprise Veek started laughing - short, sharp barks of mirth. ‘So the Great Mission is for nothing after all!’
‘What happened to their minds?’ asked the Doctor.
This was the greatest tragedy of all, and Aline spoke with a heavy heart. ‘The plasma strand told me - it contains some sort of recording, a memory trace. It’s also a source of great power that the Khorlthochloi intended to use when they returned.’
‘So they tried to return?’ asked the Doctor.
‘Many thousands of years ago. They encountered a threat, in the dimension of thought their minds occupied.’ Aline frowned. ‘I’m not sure what it was, but to threaten the Khorlthochloi it must have been pretty powerful. Anyway, when they tried to re-enter their physical forms they found that their autonomic systems had developed to such an extent that they rejected their minds.’
The Doctor grimaced. ‘That is ironic.’
‘What is - autonomic system?’ rumbled Veek.
‘The section of the nervous system that regulates breathing, sleeping, digestion; all the processes of life,’ said the Doctor. ‘Obviously the Khorlthochloi had rather more advanced versions than most species, and as their higher minds had been away for so long, these autonomic systems had grown independent. They didn’t want to let the Khorlthochloi back in.’
‘And so, trapped between the material universe and the dimension of mind, they were destroyed by the thing they were trying to escape.’ Aline shuddered. ‘Luckily the plasma strand was able to prevent the enemy from crossing to the material universe.’
‘Which is why it must be left alone,’ said the Doctor. He snapped his fingers. ‘So that’s why the plasma strand wanted to make contact with higher evolutionaries, to warn them not to try the same thing. To warn them of the dangers of abandoning their physical bodies!’ Though his voice was excited, his face was grave. ‘Hubris.’ He glared at Veek.
‘Something you lot should be wary of, especially Kikker.’
‘The Vale Commander will not be pleased,’ said Veek. ‘To have searched for so long, only to find the Gods have been dead for thousands of years.’
‘They were probably even dead before you left Valeth Skettra,’ said the Doctor cheerfully - and rather unwisely, thought Aline. ‘You never know, he might even be pleased that they’re dead.’ Veek snarled. ‘Kikker is after revenge, honour and glory, Doctor. He wants to kill the Gods with his bare hands, if he can. Who knows what he’s going to do when he finds out there are no gods to slay?’
‘Probably go completely insane,’ said the Doctor thoughtfully. ‘Now there’s a cheering thought.’
They passed through the hidden exit from the chamber of golden light - which Aline could see now, as could the Doctor
-and walked along the tunnel to the cavern where Aline had seen the Harvesters deliver their fruit to the insects, the remnants of the Khorlthochloi. There were only a few of
the beetle-like creatures now, poking forlornly among the rocks.
Aline regarded them in a new light now Who would have guessed that these creatures once housed the minds of one of the greatest races of beings the galaxy had ever seen?
The Doctor and Veek led her across the cavern and, after a brief debate over which was the correct way, through a tunnel on the far side. This led, in turn, to another cavern, far larger than the previous one, with a greater number of other tunnels leading off from between stalactites and stalagmites that bordered the area like rows of giant teeth.
On the far side, dwarfed by a massive pillar of rock, Aline could just about see the TARDIS lurking in a patch of gloom.
Its familiar blue shape, she knew, signified unimaginable technology. Time Lords could regenerate, couldn’t they?
Perhaps, after all, she wasn’t going to die.
The Doctor stopped walking, causing Aline to stumble against him.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I thought I heard something.’
Aline strained to hear, but couldn’t make out any sounds above her laboured breath and the slow thudding of her failing heart.
‘I hear it too,’ said Veek. ‘They’re coming.’
Aline was about to ask who, when a herd of insects - of former Khorlthochloi host bodies, she told herself - burst from one of the tunnels at the edge of the cavern. They were screeching shrilly, scrambling over the rocks and each other, in panic to get away from -
Aline heard the sizzle of blaster fire and the shrieks of the hunters before she saw them. Valethske. Dozens of the red-furred, black-uniformed creatures suddenly poured from the tunnel entrances and swept across the floor of the cavern. Some of them caught sight of Aline, the Doctor and Veek and stumbled to a halt. They were completely cut off from the TARDIS. So she was going to die after all. She felt oddly indifferent about it.
‘Oh dear,’ said the Doctor, with a sideways look at Veek.
