Read Online Doctor Who: Sontaran Experiment by Ian Marter - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Ian Marter
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Vural, his eyes fixed on Styr as if hypnotised. ‘It gave us more time...’
‘That first night—after the ship exploded—he was missing for hours,’ muttered Erak with narrowed eyes.
‘It was for us ,’ Vural shrieked, sweat pouring down his face.
Styr, who had been observing the scene with scornful amusement, silenced the three crewmen with a raucous hiss. He listened intently to the rapid series of bleeps—like morse code—which had suddenly issued from the communicator at his side. When the transmission ceased, he hurriedly began tapping a coded programme into the control unit built into his belt. Chattering quietly, the Scavenger rose up and tightened its grip on the three captives.
‘You can resolve your pathetic dispute together in the next experiment,’ Styr gasped. ‘I advise you to conserve all your energies until then.’
With that, Styr turned abruptly away and lurched towards one of the ravines radiating from the hollow, his gimlet eyes blazing and his nostrils roaring with streams of vapour. The Scavenger glided smoothly towards an area covered with massive flat rocks on the other side of the landing area, the three crewmen stumbling painfully behind. It then began to prepare them for the most fiendish experiment of all.
The Doctor felt as if he had been falling for hours.
Although he knew that his hands had only freed themselves from the Terullian discs a split-second previously, it seemed to be taking an eternity for him to thrust his way through the almost non-existent remains of the geon field. Suspended half way through the gap between the buttresses, he felt as though he were falling forward and yet not moving at all. The Doctor knew that without enough forward velocity he could be caught for ever, as long as the geon field persisted. There was absolutely nothing that even a Time Lord could do once he was caught up in it.
To his delight, he suddenly began to feel the slightest sensation of progress. Gradually at first, and then with increasing speed he felt himself toppling forward.
At last he staggered on to all fours inside the alcove where Sarah lay. For a few minutes he knelt there, fighting the nausea in his stomach and the agonising pains shooting through his whole body. Then he dragged himself across to Sarah.
‘Sarah... Sarah Jane?’ he whispered, grasping her stiff, cold hands. There was no response. The Doctor glanced around at the walls of the crevasse, and then brushed at the ground with his blistered hands. Suddenly his eyes lit up with renewed hope. ‘Neuro-Manipulation Chamber,’ he breathed. Gently he shook Sarah by the shoulders. ‘Sarah...
nothing has happened to you,’ he murmured. ‘Not really...
Do you understand me, my dear? It was all an illusion... it was all in your mind.’
Something about Sarah’s unblinking stare made the Doctor pause. He leaned forward and listened for her heartbeat. Then his face went white as marble. ‘Oh, Sarah,’
he murmured. ‘Poor Sarah Jane...’
‘Very touching,’ sneered a gasping voice behind him.
The Doctor spun round to confront the pulsating figure of Styr in the entrance.
‘You unspeakable abomination,’ the Doctor murmured, rising slowly to his feet. ‘Why have you done this?’
Styr snorted, his hoggish nostrils dilating and his curved teeth grinding shrilly against each other. ‘I did nothing,’ he retorted. ‘I merely stimulated and revived the fears which lay buried in the female’s sub-conscious. She was her own victim.’
‘You senselessly destroyed an innocent girl,’ the Doctor shouted. ‘What possible harm could she have done to you and your kind?’
Styr ignored the accusation and lumbered forward several paces, his pincers opening and shutting impatiently. ‘You would appear to have exceptional powers,’ he panted, ‘and will be a most interesting subject, much more worthy of investigation...’
The Doctor sprang forward. Grabbing one arm, he swung it with all his strength and
‘That first night—after the ship exploded—he was missing for hours,’ muttered Erak with narrowed eyes.
‘It was for us ,’ Vural shrieked, sweat pouring down his face.
Styr, who had been observing the scene with scornful amusement, silenced the three crewmen with a raucous hiss. He listened intently to the rapid series of bleeps—like morse code—which had suddenly issued from the communicator at his side. When the transmission ceased, he hurriedly began tapping a coded programme into the control unit built into his belt. Chattering quietly, the Scavenger rose up and tightened its grip on the three captives.
‘You can resolve your pathetic dispute together in the next experiment,’ Styr gasped. ‘I advise you to conserve all your energies until then.’
With that, Styr turned abruptly away and lurched towards one of the ravines radiating from the hollow, his gimlet eyes blazing and his nostrils roaring with streams of vapour. The Scavenger glided smoothly towards an area covered with massive flat rocks on the other side of the landing area, the three crewmen stumbling painfully behind. It then began to prepare them for the most fiendish experiment of all.
The Doctor felt as if he had been falling for hours.
Although he knew that his hands had only freed themselves from the Terullian discs a split-second previously, it seemed to be taking an eternity for him to thrust his way through the almost non-existent remains of the geon field. Suspended half way through the gap between the buttresses, he felt as though he were falling forward and yet not moving at all. The Doctor knew that without enough forward velocity he could be caught for ever, as long as the geon field persisted. There was absolutely nothing that even a Time Lord could do once he was caught up in it.
To his delight, he suddenly began to feel the slightest sensation of progress. Gradually at first, and then with increasing speed he felt himself toppling forward.
At last he staggered on to all fours inside the alcove where Sarah lay. For a few minutes he knelt there, fighting the nausea in his stomach and the agonising pains shooting through his whole body. Then he dragged himself across to Sarah.
‘Sarah... Sarah Jane?’ he whispered, grasping her stiff, cold hands. There was no response. The Doctor glanced around at the walls of the crevasse, and then brushed at the ground with his blistered hands. Suddenly his eyes lit up with renewed hope. ‘Neuro-Manipulation Chamber,’ he breathed. Gently he shook Sarah by the shoulders. ‘Sarah...
nothing has happened to you,’ he murmured. ‘Not really...
Do you understand me, my dear? It was all an illusion... it was all in your mind.’
Something about Sarah’s unblinking stare made the Doctor pause. He leaned forward and listened for her heartbeat. Then his face went white as marble. ‘Oh, Sarah,’
he murmured. ‘Poor Sarah Jane...’
‘Very touching,’ sneered a gasping voice behind him.
The Doctor spun round to confront the pulsating figure of Styr in the entrance.
‘You unspeakable abomination,’ the Doctor murmured, rising slowly to his feet. ‘Why have you done this?’
Styr snorted, his hoggish nostrils dilating and his curved teeth grinding shrilly against each other. ‘I did nothing,’ he retorted. ‘I merely stimulated and revived the fears which lay buried in the female’s sub-conscious. She was her own victim.’
‘You senselessly destroyed an innocent girl,’ the Doctor shouted. ‘What possible harm could she have done to you and your kind?’
Styr ignored the accusation and lumbered forward several paces, his pincers opening and shutting impatiently. ‘You would appear to have exceptional powers,’ he panted, ‘and will be a most interesting subject, much more worthy of investigation...’
The Doctor sprang forward. Grabbing one arm, he swung it with all his strength and
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