Doctor Who PDA71 - Island of Death (3rd) by Barry Letts

Author:Barry Letts
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-07-13T02:42:33+00:00

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The next shot the Doctor wanted her to get was one of the temple. But that, too, was easier said than done.

To start with, it was nearly a mile away - and they could hardly dance like Dorothy and her friends up the yellow-brick road. In any case, thought Sarah, according to the Polaroid it was really more of a mule-track, like the one they‟d come across in Anatolia, when Jenny took the wrong turning. For that matter, the guard showed no sign of moving off. And there‟d bound to be some of his mates scattered along the way.

So they had to make their way through the jungle, which turned out to be more difficult than one might think.

Clambering up and down the sandy slopes, and fighting through the thick vegetation in the dips between, was extraordinarily tiring.

But even worse, there would be moments, brief flashes, when the trees, the beautiful flowering bushes and the lush undergrowth seemed to vanish and in their stead she found herself struggling with thorny shrubs, and the scent of tropical flowers was transmuted into the stink of the guano that covered the rocks at their feet. At first, it lasted only a fleeting moment at a time, but as it happened more and more often, it lasted longer, and in the end took over completely.

The Doctor glanced round at her. „It‟s wearing off,‟ he said, and ploughed on.

They must have been nearly there, when everything became too much. The effort of moving at all, together with the turmoil in her mind, brought Sarah to a halt.

„I‟m sorry, Doctor,‟ she gasped, as he showed no signs of stopping for a rest, „I‟m knackered! You‟d better go on without me. Here, take the camera.‟

„Of course not,‟ he said, immediately turning back. „How very thoughtless of me. We can‟t waste time, but a few minutes either way won‟t make a scrap of difference.

„Here, come and sit down,‟ he went on, indicating a convenient rock.

After a moment, she couldn‟t help blurting out what was uppermost in her thoughts. „What is going on, Doctor? Is it a sort of hypnotism, or what?‟

„Keep your voice down,‟ he said, with a glance in the direction of the road.

„Sorry,‟ she said in a half-whisper. „But I‟m thoroughly con-fused. We all saw the same things didn‟t we? I mean, everybody gets different trips on acid and stuff, don‟t they?

So how can it be the effect of the juice, or the mist?‟

„I‟m not absolutely certain myself yet,‟ he said after a pause. „A whole world has been constructed. As you say, we all experienced it. It‟s not the first time I‟ve come across something of the sort. In fact, you‟ve seen it yourself.‟

„You mean the Experienced Reality thing on Parakon?‟

„That‟s right.‟

„A sort of telepathic computer, wasn‟t it?‟

„More accurately, a radiated matrix of modulated psycho-magnetic beams.‟

Well, of course it was. How stupid of her not to know that!

„So this is the same sort of thing?‟ she asked.

The Doctor shook his head. „It can‟t be.

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