Doctor Who: BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures [007] - Kursaal by Peter Anghelides

Author:Peter Anghelides
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563405788
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 1998-02-13T23:00:00+00:00

10

‘No deals, Doctor’

The earth scattered in a spreading semicircle across the marble floor, spraying towards their feet. Cockaigne started to back away, panic rising in him, as he tried to remember where he had propped the shovel. The Doctor held him by the forearm. ‘Stay calm,’ he was saying. ‘They may let us leave.’

A crumpled shape appeared through the hole in the wall. ‘You wish,’ it said.

Cockaigne goggled at the newcomer, who was pointing a percussion weapon at a point midway between him and the Doctor. The Doctor, curiously, was grinning. ‘Captain Kadijk,’ he beamed. ‘What a relief. Do you know there are dangerous animals in these tunnels?’

He peered into the gloom behind the captain, but saw only a couple of security guards struggling through the narrow gap.

‘We dealt with them outside,’ said Kadijk, then jerked his head in the direction of the Doctor and Cockaigne. ‘Bring them through, and hurry – the Big Bang is in twenty minutes.’ Cockaigne motioned forward, but stopped when Kadijk’s gun moved to cover him. ‘It’s all right, Captain. I’ve deactivated the excavation bomb.’

‘That must make a pleasant change for you,’ snapped Kadijk. ‘Move out – it’s the other bomb I’m worried about.’

‘The other bomb?’ said the Doctor.

Kadijk had moved behind them now as the guards hustled them through the newly dug hole. ‘The excavation plan shows one in here to bring down this structure, and another, smaller charge further underground to collapse the tunnel system. You can stay and watch if you like.’

Cockaigne tried to shrug off the weapon that prodded him on through the tunnel, but the guard just pushed it back into place more firmly. As they stumbled onward, they passed the torn remains of two wolves, their broken bodies riddled with gunshot wounds. The creatures must have scurried back to face the oncoming security team, and been cut down in a volley of gunshots – too far into the tunnels from the cathedral for Cockaigne to hear. As he passed them, they were being placed into body bags by the police team and dragged towards the exit. He wondered if one of them was Sharstone.

By the time they reached the expedition cavern, Cockaigne had steeled himself for the sight of the other wolf, the one that he had decapitated. He could see Johnson’s body on a stretcher, roughly covered with a grubby blanket, the pale skin of her hand and forearm visible where they dangled over one side. Two other police guards hefted the stretcher and carried it from the cavern. The Doctor hurried ahead of his guard, crouching down by the sloping wall of the cavern and staring intently at something.

‘Fascinating.’

Cockaigne looked across, and saw a severed human head, with its tongue protruding too far out of the gritted teeth. He recognised it, and felt his stomach make an involuntary convulsion. Beneath the dirt and blood, the head was obviously Olivier’s.

Kadijk confronted the Doctor by stepping in front of Cockaigne, mercifully blocking off the Sight. ‘Tick tick, Doctor. Fifteen minutes.

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