‘Doctor?’ said Desiato, prodding him gently with an outstretched finger.
The Doctor looked up at the captain, his eyes sharp and piercing.
‘Crumpets,’ said the Doctor.
‘I don’t understand…’ said Desiato, giving the Doctor a suitably baffled look.
‘The symbiote’s bio-structure,’ the Doctor elucidated, ‘is a lot like a crumpet. It absorbs foreign materials, building them up inside, and using them as raw matter from which to produce more of itself.’ He seemed to think about it a little further. ‘A little like a crumpet sopping up butter, I thought, though it’s a strained analogy, now that I say it aloud.’
‘Doctor, there’s been another attack.’
‘Where? When?’ the Doctor leapt up.
‘On the edges of the crop fields, in the early hours of the morning. I think you should come and see…’
‘See what?’ said the Doctor, doubting it was anything comforting.
‘You’ll understand when you see it.’
The Doctor and Desiato walked out of the settlement, towards the fields. Over the bank of the silver, shimmering river, stood a wall of seven-foot tall blue crops, their sturdy branches twisting around each other, forming a single vast barrier. A pathway had been hacked through their solid, almost military unity. Desiato led the Doctor along the path. They strode along the rough soil, surrounded by the towering plants, tough, leathery leaves whipping their faces. The Doctor had to tug his coat off the boughs on which it snagged several times, tutting with irritation as he walked. Quite suddenly, the crops ceased, the tangle of leaves and branches opening into a wide, sparse field. And that is when the Doctor saw it. Even he, who had seen many horrors in his time, felt a wave of nausea roll over him. He clamped his hand to his mouth as he looked at it.
The Doctor concluded five Tarrokku were in the field, but only by counting their heads. Tufts of green fur lay around the corpses, their limbs twisted into sickening shapes. Deep maroon blood stained the soil. Bones poked through flesh, their sharp, broken edges tearing through the tough skin. One of the Tarrokku’s arms – lying some distance away from the rest of the remains – was still clutching a makeshift hoe, raised in a futile attempt at defiance.
‘An act of pure hatred,’ whispered the Doctor, truly horrified.
‘Doctor?’ said Desiato, not quite hearing him.
‘Whoever is controlling the creature is motivated by a burning hatred of the Tarrokku. Surely you cannot think otherwise after seeing this?’
‘No, Doctor, I cannot. I also cannot see how we can stop someone who has control of a life form capable of such destruction.’
The Doctor turned away from the carnage, unable to look at it any longer.
‘In my travels through space and time, I have seen things you would not believe. I have seen beauty so breathtaking I could scarcely blink for fear of missing the tiniest second of it. I have also seen terror and despair, destruction on scales that would appal the most cruel and uncaring of individuals. I have seen things that have made me give up all hope. And I have seen triumph. I have seen the repressed fighting back; I have seen the weak and helpless find the strength to overcome those who would destroy them. I know we will stop whomever is behind this slaughter before he can continue.’
‘We should bury the bodies,’ said Desiato. ‘Once we’ve, uh, sorted them into individuals. The Tarrokku don’t place any spiritual importance on the body; a ceremony will be held to commemorate them when we go back.’
‘Did any of them have family here?’ asked the Doctor.
‘Tau and Reta were brothers. Other than that, no. But we all consider ourselves as part of the same family, in a way. At least, some of us do. It’s clear that others don’t.’
The Doctor picked up a spade that lay on the ground, its handle twisted; presumably an attempt had been made to use it for defence. He started digging.
The Doctor and Desiato trudged back into the settlement in silence, dust and dirt caking their clothes.
Danny and Caroline ran up to him. The Doctor saw the anxiety and fear in their eyes.
‘What’s happened?’ he grabbed Caroline by the shoulders.
‘The alien thing,’ she gasped, ‘it killed one of Hesper’s people, and then, then…’
‘Then it swallowed the TARDIS,’ said Danny.
‘It did what?’ shouted the Doctor. ‘How did this happen?’
‘It forced its way in, and started feeding off the stone eye,’ said Caroline.
‘It fed off the Eye? How? It must be draining energy via the Eye from the TARDIS energy banks – this is very serious. And you say it swallowed the TARDIS?’
‘It sucked it underground. We used an escape pod to get out.’
‘More of an escape fridge, really,’ said Danny.
‘Well, at least you’re safe. The TARDIS, however, may not be so lucky. If we can’t find it soon, it may be totally drained of power. And then we won’t be going anywhere.’ The Doctor grabbed the bag out of Caroline’s hands. ‘At least you found my medical equipment. If I can find a way to neutralise the symbiotic tissue, I may be able to help those who are dying from its effects – or lack thereof – and find a way to free the TARDIS. Perhaps I can even find a way of stopping the golem creature that has been attacking the Tarrokku.’
The Doctor dashed sideways and ran towards the ‘hospital’. Caroline and Danny darted after him. When they entered the building, the Doctor was already sitting at the makeshift medical desk, unloading various gizmos from his medical bag. He removed the sliver of flesh from under the microscope and loaded into a small perspex sample box. He activated a small black box from his bag, which immediately sprung into life, lights flickering on its display.
‘What’s that Doctor?’ asked Danny. ‘It looks like a tricorder out of Star Trek.’
‘Yes,’ said the Doctor. ‘Well, I saw the programme from time to time when it was first broadcast, and I thought to myself what a good idea it was. I decided to build one for myself, but I didn’t have the components for a long time. But recently I got the chance to put one together, and I think it works rather well.’
He loaded the sample box into the front of the machine, which flickered as it analysed the structure. The Doctor stood up and walked over to the various patients suffering from the disease, scanning them with his gadget. He nodded thoughtfully, and began to scan the various nurses who were caring for the patients.
‘Do you mind,’ said one middle-aged woman, who was recording the temperature of one of the sick.
‘Not at all,’ said the Doctor absently, continuing his readings. ‘Carry on.’
She returned, irritated, to her work.
‘Aha!’ cried the Doctor, causing the nurse to jump a short distance into the air and drop her equipment.
‘What Doctor?’ asked Caroline.
‘It’s just as I thought. The cells of most of the humans on this planet are ensconced in the symbiote’s tissue, but the sick cells are not – they’ve fought the symbiote as if it were a pathogen.’
‘I thought it was a pathogen causing the illness.’
‘No that’s what the colonists believed, although – of course! It makes perfect sense now.’
Caroline waited for several seconds, before, sighing deeply, asking ‘What does, Doctor?’
‘Hhm? Oh, yes, well, there must have been a pathogen to start with – some organism that was capable of penetrating the symbiote’s defences, probably with the help of its own symbiotic tissue. The bodies of the infected could have adapted to fight it off, like any other infection, and that would have been fine if it had stopped. The problem arose because the immune system now identified the symbiotic tissue as a threatening foreign body. The bodies of the sick still need the life form to survive prolonged exposure to this environment, but now they’re fighting it off.’
The Doctor was becoming over-excited, as he often did when he’d come to some intriguing conclusion. Caroline decided to bring him back down to Earth a little – his ego did sometimes get the better of him.
‘So Doctor, just how do we help them now?’
‘Ah, well you see, all we need do is convince their immune systems that the symbiote is not a threat. Oh. I see what you mean. That will be difficult.’ The Doctor looked rather smaller than had done moments before. ‘I’m sure I’ll come up with something.’
The planet was infused with the life form. It spread through the rocks, assimilated microbes, entered plants and assisted animals. It helped the other life on the planet live together – in many ways, it was the planet. In return for maintaining the ecosystem, its own system was cleansed and nourished by the other life on the world. It had existed like this for millions of years, unchanging as the other life of the world evolved and adapted. For all this time it had existed, but had been unaware of its existence – it neither thought, nor felt, it simply lived. Now, however, things were slightly different.
Life forms had arrived on the planet from somewhere else. This had never happened before. It sensed their arrival, as it would sense any other life form in its aegis, entering and absorbing them, as they became part of its world. For a time, this was good. As part of the great entity, they thrived, a new harmony created between them. Then, after some time, one of the creatures contacted him. It had not meant to, but its emotions had overcome its mind and reached out. Now, for the first time, the planet life form felt thought, and assimilated it into its system. In return, those parts of it touched by thought belonged to the creature. It was a new level of cooperation. The two life forms’ influence on each other grew, and for the first time, the world felt anger. And it was good.
The world being started aping the form of its new benefactor, to better express its rage. For the first time, it had become violent, and its growing self-awareness allowed it to relish the experience. As it grew stronger, it had also grown hungrier. It had lacked the energy to act in great force, until another group of life forms arrived on the surface; one of the beings, that carried the others within itself, was a source of tremendous energy; the world being, in another change of behaviour, turned predatory. Part of it was no longer acting in symbiosis, but as a parasite, and as it fed, its strength grew. As did its anger.
Under the surface of the planet, the TARDIS stood, alone, the alien infesting its structure draining its energy. It needed the Doctor. But the Doctor could not hear its cries.
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