Doctor Who by David Bailey

Author:David Bailey [Bailey, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405926287
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
Published: 2015-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Riches

Zero-1 hadn’t seen many humans in his travels. The Empire of Eternal Victory had spent centuries conquering galaxy after galaxy – but none of those galaxies had contained many of these strange creatures. It was only as the Empire forged a new path into this galaxy – he believed they called it the Milky Way – that Zero-1 had started to come across the species more and more often.

Humans were fleshy and weak, but that wasn’t unusual. Most of the Empire’s enemies had been fleshy and weak. They chattered and panicked and dashed around like frightened mice. This latest bunch of humans were brave, though. Zero-1 would grant them that. They had stood up to him and his troops. They seemed to be led by this one called the Doctor: he was a strange human, there was something different about him. Under his leadership, the humans had dared to meet them as they boarded this ship and had demanded that they turn around and leave.

They were funny, Zero-1 decided. This bravery was amusing. But not amusing enough to spare their pitiful lives …

The Doctor was talking now. He was trying to come up with some sort of plan, some way of saving their ship from its inevitable fate. The Doctor could scheme and struggle all he liked, the Empire would still triumph.

From his hiding place at the back of the sickbay, Zero-1 continued to listen in to their conversation. And he soon heard something that would change his plans …

‘It was a spider!’ the one called Rory said, terror in his voice. (For some reason, Rory and another of the humans had been soaking wet when they arrived in the room. They had quickly found some towels in one of the medical storage cupboards and were doing their best to get dry.)

The girl known as Amy looked sceptical. ‘You what? A spider? In space?’

The Doctor nodded, a solemn look on his face. ‘A diamondweb spider, one of the rarest creatures in the universe. I knew what it was the minute I saw its web.’ He rubbed his chin with his fingers, lost in thought. ‘I haven’t seen one in centuries,’ he whispered to himself. ‘I thought they’d all died out. This could be the last of its kind …’

‘And we’re caught in its web!’ The girl was unmoved by the Doctor’s reverie.

‘That’s right,’ said the Doctor, ‘we are. It’s going to eat the Black Horizon for breakfast! That’s what these spiders do. They feed on metal. They spin their webs in asteroid fields, and catch any stray metal that floats by. Usually, they make do with the ore in floating rocks or all the little bits of glittery spacedust passing through on the solar breeze. Sometimes, their webs even catch comets!’

‘Comets?’ Rory said with a gasp. ‘But they’re huge!’

‘Yes, well, so are diamondweb spiders. And their webs are tough, I mean really tough. Strong enough to stop a comet in its tracks, and certainly strong enough to snare the occasional unlucky spaceship.

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