Doctor Who: Coldheart by Trevor Baxendale

Author:Trevor Baxendale
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Tags: Science-Fiction:Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563555957
Publisher: BBC Worldwide Americas
Published: 2000-04-03T10:00:00+00:00

* * *

Later in the evening of that day, the Doctor was finally granted an audience with the Forum. He swept into the chamber with Compassion in tow, and Brevus trying to hurry in before him as protocol would normally require.

There was an odd atmosphere in the Forum chamber that the Doctor detected instantly: not exactly tension, but a definite strain. Anavolus, Tor Grymna and Old Krumm were all formally seated, their faces impassive, and the air was decidedly cool.

‘Well, you’re a sorrowful-looking bunch,’ said the Doctor. He tossed a screwed-up paper bag at Tor Grymna, who caught it instinctively. ‘Have a mint humbug.’

Tor Grymna peered into the bag with some trepidation, but the Doctor was already talking again. ‘We’ve seen the slimers, and a pretty unfriendly lot they were too. You were quite right on that score. I had a little chat with someone called Revan.’

A little chat? mouthed Compassion silently at Brevus, who shrugged nervously.

‘Revan?’ echoed Anavolus.

‘Leader of the slimers, sort of,’ explained the Doctor. ‘Not very pleasant company, I admit, and prone to unnecessary belligerence, but he does have some very valid grievances.’

‘The slimers have been unhinged by their mutation,’ said Tor Grymna evenly. His eyes never left the Doctor. ‘Understandable, in the circumstances.’

‘Yes, yes, yes. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t the victims here. Revan’s intent on causing trouble for you, I’m afraid, and I can’t say I blame him.’

‘Really?’ Tor Grymna said dryly.

‘But that’, continued the Doctor, raising a finger in emphasis, ‘is not what I’ve come to warn you about.’

‘What have you come to warn us about?’ asked Anavolus patiently.

‘There’s something down in the deep caves beneath the ice mine,’ replied the Doctor. His voice, light but clipped, commanded everyone’s attention. Compassion secretly marvelled at his ability to talk apparent rubbish with a straight face.

‘I don’t know what it is yet,’ the Doctor went on, ‘but it has infected the lowermost ice reservoirs that you have been thawing and using for Baktan’s water supply. Something in that water has caused a genetic anomaly in the Eskoni reproductive cycle. The result is a sudden, massive mutation of the normal cell structure, probably triggered by hormonal changes. I haven’t had time to come up with the details, because I think time is something we don’t have a lot of. We need to find out exactly what it is lurking down in the caves, and quickly.’

There was a shocked silence.

‘If you don’t get this thing sorted soon, it’s going to cause a real problem for your long-term survival,’ said Compassion sharply. ‘How long do you think you’ll last when every single one of your children turns into a slimer? Because that’s what’s going to happen.’

‘You’re sure about this, Doctor?’ asked Anavolus.

The Doctor took a deep breath. ‘We have to get down in those caves and find the cause of the infection. If we can stop it in time, your population might stand a chance of recovery.’

‘Go down?’ queried Tor Grymna. ‘Into the caves?’

‘I’d’ve gone alone, but Brevus here thinks we’ll need proper supplies, men, equipment, that sort of thing.

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