‘Perhaps not,’ said the Doctor, getting to his feet. ‘However, what if the presence of the alien organism in their cells has created a bond between them? A psychic link, if you will? One of your crew could be telepathically controlling the life form – perhaps consciously, perhaps instinctively, but controlling it either way.’
‘Why one of my crew? Why not one of Hesper’s?’
‘The creature took on a humanoid form. To me that suggests a human master.’
‘The Tarrokku are humanoid, Doctor.’
‘But recognisably alien, captain, don’t you see? The creature formed itself into an almost human shape, and was acting out the will of its master. It’s a kind of puppet, or golem.’ The Doctor looked pleased with his deduction.
Desiato snorted derisively. ‘You’re grasping at straws, Doctor. You have no more idea about what this creature truly is than I do.’
‘You aren’t willing to accept the truth!’
‘Not the truth, Doctor, your theory.’
The Doctor sighed. ‘Well, I suppose I could be mistaken. It has been known to happen. From time to time.’ He sat back down. ‘Whatever is causing the golem’s attacks, it appears to have stopped for now. I hope my friends get back soon with my equipment. Then maybe I can find out what is causing the symbiotic organism’s breakdown.’
The alien matter was oozing its way through the crack between the TARDIS doors. It glistened as it seeped through, spreading further into the console room. The normally stone grey floor was becoming enveloped by the grey mass, expanding through the room with at a terrifying rate.
‘I think we should get away from here,’ said Hesper.
‘I agree,’ said Caroline.
As one, the five of them swivelled on their heals (or hooves, in the cases of the Tarrokku) and bolted for the rear door of the room. Glancing behind him, Broon saw the monstrous mass expanding, stretching tendrils out towards them. He thought, for a moment, that he could see a face forming in the mass, but such concerns were driven from his mind as the tentacles wrapped around his body.
‘Help!’ he bellowed, as the writhing entity lifted him off his feet, dragging him towards the main body.
‘Broon!’ cried Hesper, in the futile way that people have when unable to act. He and Romat bolted to help their comrade, but they were too late. The tentacles were tightening around his body. There was an audible cracking, as his ribs snapped under the strain. He grunted in pain, unable to cry out as his lungs were crushed. The cracking became crunching as Broon’s body was wrung beyond tolerance. He died,
suspended in the air by the creature’s tentacles, which dropped him, unceremoniously, to the floor.
For a moment, none of the TARDIS’ occupants could speak. Hesper was the first to regain a hold of him.
‘We have to escape form this ship. Is there an emergency exit? An escape pod?’
‘Er, yes, yes, I think so,’ stuttered Caroline, still shocked by what she had just seen. ‘Yes,’ she said, more resolutely, ‘the Doctor showed it to us.’
The four of them hurriedly left the console room, the thrashing heap of tentacles following them. Danny grabbed the food supplies and closed and locked the door.
‘I doubt that will hold it for long,’ he said, ‘we have to get out of here. Do you remember the way to the escape pod?’
‘Yes,’ said Caroline. ‘I think so,’ she added under her breath.
They followed her down the corridor. It was much like the console room, gently illuminated roundels on white walls. It opened into a vast chamber, quite unlike the console room: ancient, baroque pillars surrounded a central well, inside which a single huge stone sphere lay. The room stretched away and upwards into shadow, giving a sense of unlimited volume.
‘Where are we?’ asked Hesper.
‘The Cloister Room,’ said Caroline. ‘I think it’s sort of like the engine room.’
‘Then this is where the creature will be heading.’
‘For the power,’ realised Caroline.
‘Where is the escape pod?’ asked Romat.
‘Through here,’ said Caroline, leading them across the room to an archway that lead to another corridor. Behind them, with a moist thud, a vast chunk of the alien matter burst into the room, sprouting tentacles that reached hungrily towards the stone sphere that enclosed the power supply.
‘Run!’ yelled Danny, somewhat redundantly, for the others had already broken into a sprint towards the exit.
They hurried down the corridor. It appeared constructed from ruddy stonework, quite like the console room. It stretched onwards into darkness. As the two humans and two Tarrokku ran, they passed all manner of oddities – a human skeleton, propped up on a stand and sporting sunglasses and a cigar; a sundial, illuminated by an unknown light source to read four o’clock; a bookshelf, stacked with tomes in unknown languages marked the corner where the passage veered right.
Danny ran directly into it, knocking books flying, and himself falling flat on his backside. With a comedy flourish, a large, leather-bound volume landed on his head with a thump.
‘Danny!’ cried Caroline, turning back to help him.
‘Is he injured?’ asked Hesper, in a voice that conveyed little care or concern.
‘I’m fine,’ replied Danny, grumpily. He lifted off the book that was now perched on his head. ‘Xtineyuuu Aff Innmmmtrelx’ it read, which Danny had no idea how to pronounce. ‘Looks like a good read,’ he quipped, as Caroline helped him up.
‘It looks like the creature has stopped pursuing us now that its found its power source,’ said Hesper, ‘but we still need to find our way out of here.’
‘Yes,’ said Caroline, vaguely, looking at one of the books. ‘The Book of Lies,’ she read from the blackened cover. ‘Oh, it’s through here,’ she said, snapping to attention. She led them through one of the old oak doors that lined this stretch of corridor.
‘Caroline, this is a kitchen,’ said Danny.
‘This is where he said it was. He showed us through this door. Don’t you remember?’
‘I don’t know which door he showed us through, but I’m sure he didn’t take us to the kitchen.’
She looked across the array of ovens, utensils and spice racks.
‘The Doctor said it periodically camouflages itself. He said we have to looked for an ‘E’ symbol, and that will be the escape pod.’
‘All right,’ said Danny sceptically, as he began to search.
The four of them overturned pots and pans, scanned doorways, opened ovens and even searched the sinks. Eventually Danny found what they were looking for.
‘It’s over here,’ he called. The others crossed the enormous kitchen to where he was standing. In front of him, in the corner of the room, was a six-foot tall white refrigerator with a pink capital ‘E’ imprinted upon its door.
‘It’s the fridge,’ he said.
‘I honestly don’t know who’s worse,’ said Caroline, ‘the Doctor or his ship.’
A sudden violent tremor knocked them to their knees. Various utensils and containers fell to the floor.
‘It would seem that the creature is becoming active again,’ said Hesper.
‘We’d better get out of here then,’ said Danny, getting to his feet.
He reached out for the stainless steel handle of the fridge. He pulled firmly. With a soft hiss, the door opened. The four of them peered inside.
Inside the fridge was a luxuriously furnished room. Three sofas and a bed, upholstered in aged brown leather, surrounded a beautifully woven rug of eastern design. In one corner of the room (which was at least ten times as large as the interior of the fridge should have been) there was a mahogany chair and bureau. On the opposite wall, a blank screen was draped with golden curtains. A teapot and six teacups with saucers sat on an elegantly carved table in the room’s centre.
‘Well, it’s a very nice escape pod,’ said Caroline.
‘It’s nicer than anywhere in the TARDIS I’ve seen,’ said Danny.
The four of them went inside. The door closed itself behind them – on this side it resembled an ancient submarine airlock, with a large, steel wheel serving as its opening mechanism.
Hesper and Romat sat down on one of the sofas.
‘It’s very comfy,’ said Romat, who up to this point had had little to say.
Danny picked up the teapot.
‘It’s warm,’ he said. ‘How? No body’s been in here – not since we started travelling with the Doctor.’
Caroline shrugged, and walked over to the bureau. She carefully opened it, swinging the wooden flap down. She sat down in front of it. Inside was a complex array of controls that appeared similar to those on the TARDIS console.
‘I’ve found the controls,’ she said, ‘but I don’t know how to use them.’
Danny walked over and gave the levers and dials a discerning examination. Then he thumped the thing. The screen opposite, and its smaller twin in the bureau flickered into life.
He shrugged off Caroline’s look. ‘It works for the Doctor,’ he said.
The screen rather unhelpfully informed them that an unknown hostile was entering the TARDIS, and requested if evacuation procedures should begin.
‘How do we work this?’ said Caroline in a nervous tone.
Hesper looked over her shoulder, startling her. He stooped close enough for his green moustache to brush the controls.
‘Although this is not a Tarrokku vessel, the control configurations do not seem entirely alien. I believe that this should be the launching mechanism.’
He reached over and pulled the big red lever at the edge of the controls.
‘Of course,’ said Danny, ‘it’s always the big red one.’
The room shuddered, and a momentary alarm gripped all four passengers, before they realised it was the launching process starting. A quiet hum emanated from the foundations of the pod, and a whirring noise, not unlike that of the TARDIS’ own engines, resounded throughout.
Caroline looked over at the centre of the room. She wasn’t even surprised to see the coffee table moving up and down.
Almost as soon as it started, the whirring stopped.
‘It doesn’t sound as though we’ve travelled far,’ she said.
Danny walked over to the door, and began turning the wheel. With the same sighing hiss, the door swung open.
He looked out. He saw the TARDIS, ensconced in grey biomatter, a few metres away.
‘We’ve landed in practically the same place,’ he complained.
‘Presumably we are at a safe distance,’ suggested Hesper.
The four occupants left the pod, the exterior of which was still distinctly fridgey in design. With a groan, the pod faded away, returning to the TARDIS.
‘Why has it gone?’ asked Danny.
‘Perhaps the power drain has affected it. Maybe it can’t stay outside the TARDIS for very long,’ said Caroline.
They watched as the TARDIS began to sink, the grey tentacles pulling it down into the earth. It descended with an unpleasant creaking sound, as the soil move aside to allow it passage. The grey monstrosity slithered over the top, and as the roof-light disappeared from view, it plugged the newly formed gap, seemingly as if it were bare rock.
They stared, dumbfounded, for a moment.
‘We’d better get back to the Doctor,’ said Danny. ‘Have you still got some supplies?’
Caroline held up the small bag she had managed to keep a hold of during the commotion. Danny held up his own bag.
‘Good. I’ve still got some food in here. That should lighten the Doctor’s mood after we tell him that his ship has been eaten by a space monster.’
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