‘This is our – well, hospital is an exaggeration, it’s a medical centre of sorts.’ Desiato stopped at another of the twisted, grey structures, this one ballooning outwards to form an oblong shape. ‘We care for those afflicted by the disease as best we can. But all we can feed them are the crops we grow here, and much of that seems to be infected. We’ve destroyed all the crops we have identified as supporting the pathogen, but more cases turn up. It must be spreading through the whole farming system.’ He sighed, a deep and angry sound. ‘It does have a certain irony, I suppose. We land on a planet that supports more food than our population needs, and it turns out to be fatal to us!’
‘Fatal?’ said the Doctor. ‘How many have died from this?’
‘Three,’ said Hesper. ‘Martins, Atkinson and Yono. All within the last two months. The symptoms progress at different rates in different individuals.’
They entered the enclosure.
Inside were nine humans, lying in beds that appeared quite out of place – rickety, grey plastic affairs, presumably cobbled together from parts of the escape pod. All the patients were deathly pale, their eyes rimmed red, lips swollen and cracked. None of them had their eyes open. From the harsh, rasping sound they made, it was clearly a struggle for them just to breathe. Some of them sported pinkish swellings on their flesh.
Caroline held back a surge of bile in her throat. She couldn’t help but be reminded of a documentary she had once seen on the television back home – it had featured a reconstruction of a medieval plague house, filled with dying peasants. This was just like it – except that these were no actors. They were real people, dying.
The Doctor gingerly walked up to one of them. He crouched beside the girl, took her hand in his. ‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘We’re here to help.’ His voice was calm, soft and soothing, almost a whisper, quite unlike his usual boisterous exclamations.
Danny looked at the girl. She was gaunt, her hair straggly, her skin like that of a cadaver. He couldn’t help notice how pretty she would have been – should have been.
‘It’s no use, Doctor,’ came Hesper’s bass voice, breaking the peace that had ensconced the room. ‘She’s insensible. They all are.’
He looked round at Caroline and Danny.
‘I’d like you two to head back to the TARDIS. Pick up a medical kit – I’d like to do an analysis of this pathogen. And get some food, as much as you can carry.’
‘Okay,’ said Danny. He didn’t much feel like arguing any more.
Danny and Caroline trudged back to the TARDIS, accompanied by Hesper, and two Tarrokku whom he had assigned to help collect supplies.
‘Which one’s which again?’ asked Danny under his breath.
Caroline rolled her eyes. ‘Romat is the dark, muscly one and Broon is the small, stocky one with the reedy voice.’
‘Right.’ I can’t help it, said Danny to himself. I’m only human; they all look pretty much the same to me.
‘So,’ said Caroline, eager to move on to something new in case the Tarrokku were offended. ‘Tell me about your world. What is it called again?’
Hesper cleared his throat, an oddly human gesture.
‘Tarrokk. It’s the fourth planet orbiting an orange dwarf star in the Pylea Sector.’
‘What’s it like?’
Hesper sighed. ‘It is truly beautiful. It’s surrounded by vast, blue rings, that span the night and day sky shining down a soft glow onto the land. There are vast mountain ranges that cover the world. Once every year, the people of my village head into the mountains nearby, on a pilgrimage to the highest plateau. All of us sit up there, watching the star set until, when the darkness comes, the rings are pushed by the magnetic winds of our sister planet and come into alignment with us. The sky is set ablaze by the vast band of azure for three days, giving extra life to our crops in time for harvest, and we feast and drink and sing.’
‘It sounds wonderful’
‘It is.’ He sighed again, deeper and far more melancholy this time. ‘I haven’t seen it in seven years.’
‘Why did you go to war with the Earth?’ asked Caroline.
‘The Earth went to war with us. We just wanted to be left alone. We were happy on our planet. But then Terran ships came. They landed on our world, claiming to be a peaceful delegation. We welcomed them to start with, not wanting to encourage enmity. But more ships came, and we realised that peace was not their way. They claimed Tarrokk for the Earth Empire, told us that we could continue to coexist if we gave them sovereign rights to our resources.’ Hesper’s muscular lips twisted in hatred. ‘Their arrogance caused the war. They truly believe that they have the right to take whatever they want from the Universe. “The inevitable cost of expansion” they called it. They apologised to our people, but when we cried out against them, they began to slaughter us, destroy our cities. We forced them off our planet, and the war continued in space. We were slowly driving them away during my last battle. Then we were brought here.’
‘Hesper, I’m sorry,’ said Caroline, realising that it was a somewhat redundant remark. ‘I had no idea…’
‘How can you have no idea what your people are doing in the galaxy?’
‘I… I don’t understand…’
‘The Earth Empire has swarmed across the galaxy, attacking, conquering, destroying. You must know what they have been doing in the name of your planet. Then there are your little establishments that pinch and take technology for their own.’
‘We’re not from around here,’ said Danny, butting in. ‘We know nothing about the wars. It’s nothing to do with us. We’re trying to help. Perhaps we shouldn’t bother.’
Hesper seemed to take control of himself once more. He looked away from the pair of them.
‘I apologise,’ he said. ‘I realise the war was nothing to do with you. It is … difficult, sometimes, to remain calm when I am reminded of it. It is sometimes easy to forget on this world, where our people have lived together.’
They remained silent for some time.
When she was sure that Hesper was involved enough with his own people not to overhear, Caroline whispered to Danny, ‘Thanks for stepping in.’
‘Don’t mention it. I didn’t think you could face up to a seven-foot green camel person on your own.’
‘Probably not.’ After a pause, she said, a little tentatively, ‘I do understand what he means though. It can’t have been easy putting it behind him, living with humans.’
Danny grunted.
‘Sorry?’ said Caroline.
‘I’m not so sure he has put it behind him. I’ve got a very bad feeling about Hesper.’
The Doctor was talking to Desiato in the main hall. The Doctor had a sample of the crops that had been grown on Terrakk, and was grinding them up in a mortar and pestle. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out what looked like a filofax.
‘What exactly are you doing Doctor?’ said Desiato.
‘I carry some scientific equipment with me at all times. I should be able to begin analysing these samples.’
‘I hope you can discover something new. We’ve taken them apart to the molecule and haven’t been able to deduce what’s causing the illness.’
‘Then how do you know it’s a pathogen?’
‘Because those who are suffering from the disease are riddled with them. And, before you ask, we aren’t sure if it’s really from the food supply. There just seems to be no other way it could have been contracted. The air is pure, as is the water, but the soil is teeming with life forms.’
‘Tell me,’ said the Doctor, pulling a test tube out of his little case, ‘are the pathogens amalgamated with this symbiotic life form, like the other organisms on the planet?’ He poured the clear fluid into the crushed crops, whereupon it did nothing. He looked at it. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Blow that one, then.’
‘They are, yes.’
‘Hmm,’ said the Doctor, his brow furrowed. ‘So it must be native – but if so, how can it be so suited to human physiology? He pulled at the wall, twisting a tendril of living putty between his fingers. He let it go, and it slithered back into the surface. ‘This being is everywhere on this planet – tell me, have you been able to test your own cells for its presence?’
‘No, Doctor, we never - ’
There was a scream from outside.
‘What the hell - ’ exclaimed Desiato, running outside. The Doctor followed.
A twisting tendril of grey symbiote flesh was protruding from a gash in the ground. It was wrapped around a Tarrokku. She was struggling against the thrashing tentacle, clawing away at it. Pieces came away in her hoofed fingers, giving her no leeway on her assailant. Dozens of colonists had gathered, but none seemed to know how to act. Desiato put his hand inside his jacket, pulled out a worn looking silver pistol, and fired it at the tentacle. It blistered, released its grip, and disappeared back in to the rift it had come from. The Tarrokku fell to the ground.
The Doctor and Desiato rushed over to her.
‘Are you hurt Lensher?’ cried Desiato.
‘No, I think I’m okay,’ she said, gasping for breath. ‘Maybe a few bones broken.’
The Doctor looked back at the rift from which the tentacle came.
‘Get back, everyone,’ he shouted. ‘It’s coming back!’
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