Doctor Who: The Blood Cell by James Goss

Author:James Goss
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780804140935
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2014-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

A camera finally found Prisoner 428. His wiry figure was squeezed into a service shaft (I dreaded to think how he’d got into it), wrapping itself around various pipes. He reached four mounds in the duct floor, spaced out between various vents and grilles.

‘If I’ve memorised your schematic, this is where the release clamps are. Wondered what these beauties were.’ He tapped four objects, which, now I looked at them, did seem remarkably like clamps. ‘And yes, the power has failed to them. Still, not a problem.’ He wielded a lever. ‘Archimedes once said to me that if I gave him a lever big enough, he could move the world,’ He threw the lever over his shoulder. ‘Sadly, not going to work this time.’

He sank to the floor, regarding the clamps like a chess master, then pulled out the blowtorch. ‘I need to soften the metal up a bit, and this thing should be pretty effective.’

He got to work, playing flames from the torch’s highest setting over the metal. I could tell it was pretty hot, as the surrounding cladding on various pipes began to smoulder, filling the screen with smoke.

428 worked in silence apart from the occasional cough. Then he stood up and reached for the lever, ‘Kind of like making a crème brûlée. Chat about cooking with Clara won’t you, eh, next time you see her?’

He was talking to me.

‘It’s just …’ He began working his lever under one of the clamps, and, true to his word, it did start to twist like spun sugar. ‘I rather fear the conversation you have with her will be a bit glum otherwise, ooh, there we go. That’s one.’ He moved on to the next clamp. ‘Tell your weird Oracle to behave himself and get the Baxter Drive ready. Which, incidentally, I’m standing on top of. That’s what all the grilles are for. In case you were curious. I assure you I’m very curious about them. I’m basically stood on top of a giant radioactive pressure cooker. Ah-ha, two down.’ 428 leant back, staggering a little. ‘The Greek God Vulcan did all his best metalwork at the bottom of a volcano. I tell you now, Health and Safety would be on him like a ton of bricks. Yeah … already getting a little toasty.’ The picture was swimming slightly and the smoke was everywhere in the duct.

428 started on the third clamp. ‘I can tell he’s started up the drive. I hope your Oracle’s a poppet and doesn’t fully engage until I’ve finished. It really would be awful being poached for nothing.’

Hearing this, Bentley began a frantic conversation. I could see the access door to Level 7 was now shut. I could also see that power levels across the prison were sinking dangerously low. The air was becoming stifling. My throat tickled. I was beginning to feel sympathy with 428’s terrible situation.

‘Here’s the thing,’ said 428, ‘You can see it’s not very likely I’m coming out of here alive. You’ve worked that out.

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