The Doctor and Leela moved cautiously on. At the end of the corridor was a gloomy shadowed cavern lined with enormous gas storage tanks. In the centre on the other side was the breeding tank. Lowe and Safran were standing guard outside.
As the Doctor stood considering his next move, K9 glided up behind them, having lost the guard in the maze of corridors.
'Mission accomplished.'
'Good dog. Your turn now, Leela. See you back at the TARDIS.'
'Good luck, Doctor,' whispered Leela. 'You know, I still think we should have done what I said!'
'What was that?'
'Blown it up!' said Leela unrepentantly. She sprinted across the open space.
Safran reacted instantly, raising his blaster and firing after her. But Leela had already disappeared down another corridor, and Safran ran off in pursuit.
Only Lowe was left on guard.
'It's up to us now, K9,' whispered the Doctor. 'This may not be easy.'
'Concern is not necessary. I am an automaton.' Without waiting for the Doctor's command, K9 glided forward to draw Lowe's fire.
Lowe fired and missed. K9 fired back, but his powers were failing now and his aim was poor. Lowe fired again, and K9 spun round in a circle, shot blindly forwards, thudded against the side of the tank, close to the door, and stopped there, motionless.
Lowe raised his blaster to finish him off—then saw the Doctor at the tank, vacuum box in one hand, struggling to open the hatch door.
Lowe fired at once—and a freak shot blasted the vacuum box from the Doctor's hands. It flew open with the impact and the precious serum leaked slowly across the floor.
The Doctor stood quite still, shoulders slumped in defeat.
Lowe came up to him, covering him with his blaster. 'Your futile attempt has failed, as we knew it would. Now you will join the Nucleus.' With his free hand, Lowe reached for the breeding-tank door.
'Well, I'd rather not do that, actually,' said the Doctor mildly.
Lowe raised his blaster. 'You have no choice!' He flung open the hatch door. A fierce, whining, buzzing sound filled the air.
The Doctor peered inside. Many of the eggs had broken open by now, and the creatures inside were stirring, waving transparent wings in a blur of speed...
'Oh look, they appear to be hatching! ' said the Doctor pleasantly. 'Are congratulations in order?'
'You will join the Swarm,' howled Lowe. 'To be consumed! To become part of our Purpose!' With a wave of his blaster, he motioned the Doctor towards the open hatch.
In order to reach the hatch Lowe had moved past K9, who was now directly behind him, apparently inert. But not quite. K9's eye screen lit up, dimly, and his antennae raised. His blaster-nozzle tilted upwards, and using the last vestige of power in his storage batteries, K9 blasted away at Lowe, firing until his power was exhausted. With a choking scream, Lowe staggered and collapsed, falling dead at the Doctor's feet.
'Well done, K9, well done!' breathed the Doctor. He ran to slam the tank door shut. 'Come on, K9, let's get out of here while there's still time. They'll burst out in a minute...'
'I cannot, Doctor. All reserves finished,' whispered K9.
'Come on,' said the Doctor. Grabbing K9 by a handy antenna he began towing him.
From inside the breeding tank came the fierce gurgling voice of the Nucleus. 'Come hack, Doctor, come back. We need you!' The Doctor shuddered, and dragged K9 away.
In a patch of shadow Lcela waited, motionless, knife in hand.
Safran came cautiously down the corridor. Leela stayed completely still, let hire pass her—and then sprang, bearing him to the ground. Her knife rose and fell. Safran gave a brief choking gurgle and went limp.
Leela wiped her knife on the body and straightened up, just as the Doctor towed K9 round the corner.
'Enjoying yourself?' asked the Doctor.
'What about the Nucleus, Doctor? Did you kill it?'
'No. I lost the antibodies! '
'Never mind, Doctor,' said Leela cheerfully, 'I've found the answer—knife them in the neck!
'Can you do that to a thousand? A thousand thou-sand? You haven't seen what's hatching in that tank!' 'What are we going to do?'
'I think I've got an idea. Take K9 back to the TARDIS, he's out of juice!.'
'But Doctor...'
'Move, Leela!'
Leela shrugged, and began towing K9 away. The Doctor snatched up the fallen Lowe's blaster and began running back towards the breeding tank.
There was just one possible chance—and strangely enough, it had been Leela's idea all along...
12
Inferno
The buzzing sound was fiercer, louder now when the Doctor reached the storage area. He paused for a moment, looking round him at the looming rows of tanks. 'This one, I think,' he muttered. He spun a wheel and there was a hiss of escaping gas. The Doctor went to a tank on the other side of the one that held the Swarm. Here, too, he opened a locking valve. The gas hissed out...
The Doctor ran to the hatch on the central tank, and wedged the blaster into an angle of the iron frame which supported it at the foot. Fumbling in his pocket he produced a little ball of fishing line. He unrolled it, fastened one end to the blaster trigger, the other to the handle of the hatch. A massive thudding came from inside the tank, and the Doctor peered through the little window. The Nucleus, swollen now to enormous size, was lurching towards him through the bodies of the hatching swarm. They looked like huge, malevolent dragonflies--and more and more of them were hatching every second.
'Is that you, Time Lord?' roared the Nucleus.
The Doctor's fingers were busily checking the knots in the twine. 'Well, as far as I know, there's no one else except you and me here, so it must be me!' he babbled nonsensically.
'You are finished, Doctor!'
'Not quite,' yelled the Doctor cheerfully. He tied a final knot and checked that the blaster was securely wedged and pointing in the right direction.
'There is no escape for you now,' gloated the Nucleus. 'You are destined to become part of the Purpose...'
The Doctor stepped back. 'Well,' he said thoughtfully, 'that depends how long it's going to take you to get out of there!'
'Fool! ' screamed the Nucleus. 'Do you think a metal barrier can hope to contain the Swarm?'
But the Doctor was already tearing back towards the TARDIS.
Tentacles flailing, bulbous black eyes glaring with maniacal rage, the Nucleus hurled its enormous bulk against the inside of the hatchway door. The heavy metal began to bulge outwards.
Behind the maddened Nucleus, the fierce buzzing of the Swarm rose to a pitch of fury.
The Doctor shot into Lowe's office to find Leela and K9 waiting by the TARDIS door. Fishing the key from around his neck the Doctor opened the door and vanished inside.
'Wait, Doctor!' yelled Leela, and began heaving K9 over the threshold. No sooner were they inside than the door slammed behind them.
The Doctor was already busy at the controls. the central column began its rise and fall, the TARDIS was in flight.
'Why did you not wait for us?' demanded Leela crossly. 'What's the hurry?'
The Doctor leaned back against the TARDIS console, too out of breath to explain the desperate need for haste. 'You'll see, Leela. You'll see! ' He turned on the scanner.
With a final tremendous heave, the Nucleus burst open the hatchway door. The string round the blaster trigger tightened and the blaster fired—straight into the methane storage tank opposite. There was a ferocious roar, and a searing pillar of fire sprang from the tank. As the Nucleus lurched from the tank, the swirling gases around it exploded into flame.
With a last gurgling scream. the Nucleus and all its brood vanished, consumed in the roaring sea of fire...
Hovering in space at a safe distance, the Doctor and Leela watched the explosion on the TARDIS scanner screen. It was an incredible sight. First the storage station itself sent out a flowering rose of flame. The flames grew and grew until the en
tire satellite was ablaze, a roaring ball of fire against the blackness of space.
The Doctor chuckled and rubbed his hands, as if warming them against the blaze.
'Is it gone?' asked Lecla, awestruck.
'Yes!' said the Doctor exultantly.
'All of it?'
'Yes! Methane atmosphere, you see. Mix well with oxygen, fire off a blaster and run!'
The Doctor leaned down to the recovering K9. 'That was a good idea of mine to blow it up, eh, K9?'
'Affirmative,' said K9 faintly.
'What do you mean, a good idea of yours?' said Leela indignantly. 'That was my ideal '
'What was?'
'To blow it up!'
'Well, then you should be feeling very happy,' said the Doctor, quite unabashed.
'Yes, I am...' said Leela, smiling. Then her face became serious. 'I suppose we'd better return K9 to Professor Marius. I mean, he isn't ours—is he?'
Things were almost back to normal in the reception area at the Foundation. The icily efficient receptionist sat enthroned behind her desk, ready to book in new arrivals. Lofty consultants strode through the white corridors in solitary majesty, while little groups of nurses and students hurried by. And the Doctor and Leela stood by the open door of the TARDIS, about to say good-bye to Professor Marius and the faithful K9—who was now restored to full vigour, his storage cells recharged.
Everyone was a little sad at the parting. Marius shook the Doctor warmly by the hand. 'Good-bye, Doctor. And thank you for everything you've done for us! '
'It was a pleasure, Professor. And we mustn't forget K9. Do you know, without K9's help, I think we'd all be part of the Swarm by now...'
Leela nodded. 'We'd never have managed without him—her—it! Sorry, K9.'
'Apologies are not necessary.' Leela bent down and patted him, and K9 said, 'Thank you—Mistress.'
Marius laughed. 'K9 seems to have taken to you.'
Leela nodded without saying anything.
Marius looked from her to the Doctor and came to a decision. He cleared his throat. 'Harrum, well, actually...'
'What is it, Professor?'
'Well, actually I have to return to Earth shortly, and you could do me a great favour. Do you think you could possibly—'
Excitedly Leela finished his sentence. 'Take K9 with us?'
'Yes!' beamed Marius.
Leela was ecstatic. 'Please, Doctor, please, please, let's take him!
Leela looked beseechingly at the Doctor. Before he could say yes or no, K9 shot through the open door of the TARDIS like a dog returning to his kennel.
Marius smiled. 'I'm afraid K9 seems to have made up his own mind.'
Leela dashed into the TARDIS after K9, the Doctor waved good-bye and followed her and the TARDIS door closed. There was a wheeling, groaning sound, and it faded away.
A little sadly, Marius watched it go. Then he brightened. 'Oh, well, I only hope K9 is TARDIS trained!' Chuckling at his own little joke. Professor Marius went on his way. It was nice to think that his old friend was in such good hands...
DOCTOR WHO AND THE INVISIBLE ENEMY Page 8
