Read Online Doctor Who: The Leisure Hive by David Fisher - Free Book Online
Authors: David Fisher
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for-a wall panel. The creature swiftly unscrewed the panel. Inside was a web of wires and fibres: the fibre-optic system. Other panels gave access to the various communication and life-support systems of the Hive. They were the arteries of Argolis. The creature deposited a small hexagonal box amongst the wires, and then replaced the panel.
Mena threw back her head and roared with laughter. 'You're very shrewd, Doctor,' she said. 'And very forth-right. So be it. Perhaps you deserve to learn our secret.'
She pressed a button on the desk console. Part of the wall slid back to reveal the Argolin landscape as it had been before the Foamasi War. The sheer beauty of the scene made Romana and the Doctor gasp in wonder.
'It will take three centuries before the Argolin can safely walk out onto the surface of our planet,' she continued. 'Three centuries before we can claim our inheritance.'
'And what are you going to do meanwhile?' demanded the Doctor. 'Stay in the Leisure Hive for three hundred years? Bring up generations of Argolin here? Incidentally,' he added, 'where are they? I haven't seen any children here.'
Mena smiled sadly. 'There are none,' she said. 'Every war extracts its price, and the Foamasi War exacted the most terrible price of all. We Argolin are sterile. We cannot produce children. There are no future generations. The only hope for us is to find some way of regenerating ourselves.'
She reactivated the holographic crystal which contained the recording of Hardin's experiment with the old woman. As they watched, the woman changed from age to youth. Mena stared at the scene as if hypnotized by it.
'Hardin's work offers my race its only hope of survival,' she said at last. 'Perhaps in time we will be able to rebuild Argolis and fill the Hive with our children.'
Inside a wall panel in the maze of narrow maintenance tunnels underneath the Leisure Hive there was an explosion. One of the arteries of Argol had been severed.
Suddenly the holographic crystal went black. The picture vanished.
Frowning, Mena ran a diagnostic check through the computer. ' Inter-fibral malfunction,' she diagnosed at last. The line has gone down.'
'Another accident?' queried the Doctor. 'Like the one this morning that killed that poor chap in the generator?'
Mena did not reply.
'I think someone is trying to sabotage the Hive,' said the Doctor.
A strange expression crossed Mena's face. Her eyes glazed. She staggered and would have fallen had not Hardin caught her. She clutched the table. A crystal dropped from her hair.
'Mena,' he cried.
The Doctor took charge. 'Sit her back in the chair,' he ordered. He took her pulse and began to examine her, paying particular attention to the skin round her eyes and the flesh on the backs of her hands.
'What's the matter with her?' asked Hardinj anxiously. 'She looks so ill.'
'Old,' said Brock.
'Old?'
'She's just aged about twenty years in a few seconds. Like Morix. I saw what happened to him,'
The Doctor confirmed Brock's diagnosis; 'Most remarkable,' he agreed. 'There's been a sudden cellular degeneration.'
'I don't understand,' said Hardin.
Mena took his hand in hers and grinned crookedly at him. 'Instant old age,' she said, 'it happens to us all. Sooner or later.' She seemed to revive a little. Her voice grew stronger. 'Now you know why your experiments are so important. To me, most of all. They could save my life.'
Stimson was setting up the experiment at one end of the laboratory. He kept looking over his shoulder at Hardin explaining the intricacies of the equipment to Brock and his silent lawyer who, after being missing for a while, had suddenly reappeared. The presence of the two Terrans worried Stimson. He could see that Hardin was on the verge of a breakdown.
Brock was full of enthusiasm for the project. He clapped Hardin on the shoulder. 'Sounds absolutely fascinating,' he declared. 'A real breakthrough. There is a great commercial future for a reliable rejuvenation technique.
Mena threw back her head and roared with laughter. 'You're very shrewd, Doctor,' she said. 'And very forth-right. So be it. Perhaps you deserve to learn our secret.'
She pressed a button on the desk console. Part of the wall slid back to reveal the Argolin landscape as it had been before the Foamasi War. The sheer beauty of the scene made Romana and the Doctor gasp in wonder.
'It will take three centuries before the Argolin can safely walk out onto the surface of our planet,' she continued. 'Three centuries before we can claim our inheritance.'
'And what are you going to do meanwhile?' demanded the Doctor. 'Stay in the Leisure Hive for three hundred years? Bring up generations of Argolin here? Incidentally,' he added, 'where are they? I haven't seen any children here.'
Mena smiled sadly. 'There are none,' she said. 'Every war extracts its price, and the Foamasi War exacted the most terrible price of all. We Argolin are sterile. We cannot produce children. There are no future generations. The only hope for us is to find some way of regenerating ourselves.'
She reactivated the holographic crystal which contained the recording of Hardin's experiment with the old woman. As they watched, the woman changed from age to youth. Mena stared at the scene as if hypnotized by it.
'Hardin's work offers my race its only hope of survival,' she said at last. 'Perhaps in time we will be able to rebuild Argolis and fill the Hive with our children.'
Inside a wall panel in the maze of narrow maintenance tunnels underneath the Leisure Hive there was an explosion. One of the arteries of Argol had been severed.
Suddenly the holographic crystal went black. The picture vanished.
Frowning, Mena ran a diagnostic check through the computer. ' Inter-fibral malfunction,' she diagnosed at last. The line has gone down.'
'Another accident?' queried the Doctor. 'Like the one this morning that killed that poor chap in the generator?'
Mena did not reply.
'I think someone is trying to sabotage the Hive,' said the Doctor.
A strange expression crossed Mena's face. Her eyes glazed. She staggered and would have fallen had not Hardin caught her. She clutched the table. A crystal dropped from her hair.
'Mena,' he cried.
The Doctor took charge. 'Sit her back in the chair,' he ordered. He took her pulse and began to examine her, paying particular attention to the skin round her eyes and the flesh on the backs of her hands.
'What's the matter with her?' asked Hardinj anxiously. 'She looks so ill.'
'Old,' said Brock.
'Old?'
'She's just aged about twenty years in a few seconds. Like Morix. I saw what happened to him,'
The Doctor confirmed Brock's diagnosis; 'Most remarkable,' he agreed. 'There's been a sudden cellular degeneration.'
'I don't understand,' said Hardin.
Mena took his hand in hers and grinned crookedly at him. 'Instant old age,' she said, 'it happens to us all. Sooner or later.' She seemed to revive a little. Her voice grew stronger. 'Now you know why your experiments are so important. To me, most of all. They could save my life.'
Stimson was setting up the experiment at one end of the laboratory. He kept looking over his shoulder at Hardin explaining the intricacies of the equipment to Brock and his silent lawyer who, after being missing for a while, had suddenly reappeared. The presence of the two Terrans worried Stimson. He could see that Hardin was on the verge of a breakdown.
Brock was full of enthusiasm for the project. He clapped Hardin on the shoulder. 'Sounds absolutely fascinating,' he declared. 'A real breakthrough. There is a great commercial future for a reliable rejuvenation technique.
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