Read Online Doctor Who: Earthshock by Ian Marter - Free Book Online Page B

silos.
    Adric started glancing uneasily over his shoulder. 'Doctor, I've suddenly got the feeling we were spotted a long time ago...' he breathed.
    The Doctor rubbed his hands approvingly and quickened his step. 'You mean we're being followed?' he whispered loudly with a grin.
    'Why don't they show themselves?' Adric demanded unhappily.
    Suddenly they both froze as two prolonged and piercing screams tore through the hold. The horrifying sound lingered, echoing round the dark recesses between the silos for several seconds.
     
     

32
    Adric spun round and stared back down the alleyway. There was nothing there.
    The Doctor had turned pale. 'This way,' he whispered and ran swiftly off along a side corridor with Adric hard on his heels. The hold was filled with a raucous klaxon alarm which made the hair rise on the backs of their necks. In a few seconds, they stumbled across the bodies of Vance and Buchanan sprawled in the shadows.
    They had been savagely beaten to death.
    'What a mess,' Adric gasped, wincing at the fearful wounds gouged in the crewmen's heads. 'Doctor, let's get out of here before we're caught and blamed.'
    The Doctor knelt beside the bodies rapt in thought. 'They're dead. I've seen injuries inflicted this way before...' he mused, as if trying hard to remember something.
    Adric seized his shoulder. 'This is hardly the time for a trip down memory lane, Doctor,' he protested nervously.
    The Doctor leant over and gently closed the corpses' wildly staring eyes. Then he stood up. 'Coming, Adric...' he murmured quietly.
    They turned to find themselves up against the barrel of Ringway's laser pistol.
    His bloodless lips were pressed tightly together and his grey eyes smouldered with anger. 'Stowaways!' he breathed. The pistol emitted a faint whirring sound as Ringway aimed it into their faces. 'On this ship we execute murderers!' he whined.
    'Then I sincerely hope that you make sure that you execute the right people,'
    the Doctor retorted. He gestured at the two brutally beaten victims. 'How could we have done this without covering ourselves in blood?' he demanded logically.
    Ringway said nothing.
    'And we are not stowaways. We have transport of our own,' Adric added feebly, gesturing vaguely across the hold.
    'No tricks!' Ringway snapped. 'Stowaways or pirates - you're still murderers.
    Now move!' He jerked his head in the direction of the nearest stairway leading up to bridge level. The prisoners reluctantly began walking with Ringway covering them from behind.
    Suddenly the Doctor stopped and turned sharply. 'How do you know they are dead?' he said challengingly.
    Ringway's finger twitched slightly and his pistol emitted another short burst of whirring. 'Don't tempt me...' he said harshly, forcing them forward again.
    When they had gone, a huge black shadow suddenly stretched across the two bleeding corpses. As it lingered a moment the air was filled with a rhythmic hissing.
    Then, with a flash of silver, the mysterious figure disappeared.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

33
     
6. Monstrous Awakenings
    The Cyberleader had watched the capture of Adric and the Doctor with fascinated concentration as it was revealed in vivid detail on the holovisor disc.
    'Even under threat of death the Doctor displays all the arrogance characteristic of a Time Lord,' he exclaimed, leaning forward, the faint mechanical and electronic sounds beginning to speed up inside him. 'The Doctor must remain alive so that he can suffer for all our past humiliations...' he concluded with chilling deliberation.
    'It is time to secure the freighter,' the Deputy announced, moving round the module to the main panel and waiting expectantly for instructions.
    The Cyberleader switched off the holovisor as Adric and the Doctor were marched away. 'It is time. Activate the first taskforce,' he ordered. 'The crew is small.
    They will offer little resistance.'
    The Deputy keyed a series of commands into the module. 'Condensors