Doctor Who - Target Novelisations - 029 - The Green Death by Malcolm Hulke & Robert Sloman

Author:Malcolm Hulke & Robert Sloman [Hulke, Malcolm & Sloman, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Children's Stories
ISBN: 9780426106470
Publisher: Target Books
Published: 1975-07-14T07:00:00+00:00

Dr Bell turned away and busied himself with checking dials against the figures on his clipboard.

‘You knew all along,’ said Elgin. ‘There is a connection between the green death and our oil waste, isn’t there?’

Dr Bell was staring at a row of small dials but his eyes were not focussing. His face contorted again. ‘Danger.

Death.’ He had difficulty forming the words.

Elgin came close and looked into Dr Bell’s face. ‘What’s up with you? Have you been drinking or taking drugs?’

‘Danger, death,’ Dr Bell repeated, as though he had not heard Elgin.

Elgin took Dr Bell by the shoulders and shook him gently. ‘You seem to be in a trance! Wake up, man! Tell me what this is all about.’

The scientific officer blinked, and sighed deeply. ‘You ask too many questions. Don’t you earn enough money?

Isn’t your office big enough?’

‘This is the best job I’ve ever had,’ said Elgin, truthfully,

‘but we aren’t talking about that. A moment ago you said the words “danger” and “death”. What were you talking about?’

‘I said no such words,’ said Dr Bell, and seemed to believe it. ‘Now you must let me get on. I need to complete the transfer.’

‘And then what?’ asked Elgin. ‘More waste straight down into the mine?’

‘The waste has to go somewhere.’

‘But I understand there are two people trapped down there,’ Elgin exclaimed. ‘You might kill them!’

‘In that eventuality,’ said Dr Bell, ‘I suggest that you sit at your desk and write a press release to explain it was an accident. That, remember, is your job here. And don’t forget, it’s a very well paid job you have.’

The Doctor and Jo continued their long hard climb up the old mine shaft.

‘Why was it dug at this angle?’ asked Jo, gasping for breath.

‘I think this tunnel is a geological fault,’ said the Doctor. ‘We think of the earth beneath our feet as being packed tight, but it isn’t really. Apart from mines there are caves, even rivers running underground. I don’t think this was man-made.’

‘Human-made, if you don’t mind,’ corrected Jo.

‘What?’ The Doctor had gone on ahead and now turned back.

‘People say “man-made” as though men are the only people who ever make anything. There are also women, and I’m one of them.’ She paused. ‘A very tired one at the moment.’

‘It flattens out up here,’ the Doctor called. ‘We can take a rest.’

Jo struggled up another few yards, and found the Doctor standing in a cave with a flat floor. She sat down immediately, exhausted. ‘At least there are none of those awful things here!’ She looked round, her helmet light playing over the walls of the cave. She stopped when her light shone on a small ledge. Nestled into the ledge were four large eggs, the size of rugby footballs. ‘What are those?’

The Doctor crossed to the ledge and looked keenly at the four objects on the ledge. ‘Some sort of eggs, I imagine.’

‘Eggs from what?’ said Jo.

‘I don’t know what they’re from,’ said the Doctor, ‘but I can guess what they hatch out into.

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