Doctor Who: BBC Past Doctor Adventures [073] - Fear Itself by Nick Wallace

Author:Nick Wallace
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563486343
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2005-11-06T23:00:00+00:00

MARS

It had taken a while for Anji to understand, but the Martians were like the homeless two centuries ago. When you first arrived in London, you would see them: sleeping on the Embankment or drinking by Hungerford footbridge. But they would slowly become background, until one day all you noticed was the book fair by the National Film Theatre or the sun shining on the Thames.

The Martians were like that. A small handful had jobs as bodyguards; the rest just looked sad and alone in the human tent-cities. After six months, they slipped from your sight, lost in what their world had become.

They proved harder to forget when they stepped out of the background and into her office, taking Anji and her colleagues hostage.

The siege had been going on for five days.

The Martians’ bulk only exaggerated the fragile nature of the prefabricated office. A punch from one of them was enough to put a hole in the plasti-board partitions; one burst from a sonic weapon levelled a wall.

They were demanding the return of their planet. The usual aim of the militant clans. The only question was whether the answer involved the deaths of the hostages as well as their captors.

Michael was off-planet, on assignment. Anji wasn’t sure whether that made it better or worse. The past couple of months had been difficult; something she couldn’t pin down.

They hadn’t argued or stopped talking, but their marriage felt increasingly distant, like it was one step removed from her life.

‘Anji,’ Michelle hissed.

Anji looked up. The Martians were talking in clusters, taking up different positions. The background noise that had filtered into the building – sirens, engines in hover mode – had faded. It meant only one thing: the police had cleared out, Earth Forces had been called in and the end was very close indeed.

Anji nodded to where the bureau’s desks had been overturned. ‘Get everyone back,’ she said softly. ‘Find some cover.’

Michelle looked confused for a moment, then realisation dawned. ‘Oh, no,’ she whispered, and turned to tell someone else.

Then it was too late.

The building jumped, air filled with dust and debris as detonations thudded in every direction. Anji was thrown back on the floor, and when she lifted her head she could see Michelle screaming but heard nothing. The fingertip she touched to her ear came away bloody.

There were flashes of light through the smoke and the dust.

The Martian closest to her had raised its hand towards the dust storm, but the hand and the sonic weapon lodged in the forearm were obliterated before it could fire. It staggered backwards, silent holes punched in its chest armour, green blood spitting across the carpet.

The floor shook as the dead Martian landed next to Anji.

She pushed herself back, eyes fixed on the corpse, only dimly aware of the other gun flashes around them. Then she bumped into Michelle and turned to see what she was looking at.

The smoke billowed in strange patterns around the Martians’ sonic blasts. But through the clouds you could see tall figures calmly advancing through the debris.

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