Doctor Who - Short Trips (Big Finish) - 14 - The Solar System by Gary Russell

Author:Gary Russell
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: ibm
ISBN: 9781844351480
Publisher: Big Finish
Published: 2005-09-02T07:00:00+00:00

* * *

125

Panting with the effort of trying to keep up with the younger, fitter woman

and concentrating on staying on her feet as the dredger shook and

lurched, Evelyn stumbled onto the command deck behind Norma. Smoke

was drifting from the small electrical fires burning amongst the wreckage

of the control panels and filling the room. Norma had already taken

a small extinguisher and was tackling the flames. Evelyn spotted a bracket

on the wall nearby and grabbed another extinguisher, spraying its

contents onto the nearest console. She knew then that their position was

hopeless. The technology aboard the dredger might be far in advance of

her own time but even she could see that the computers on the command

deck were beyond repair.

`Look!' called Norma, pointing at the main image screen.

Despite the devastation all around, the screen was still functioning and

showing a view of the ghostly dredger they had been following for so

long. It sat there, shining red as it reflected the crackling electrical storms flashing furiously around it.

Evelyn noticed the smoke swirling around and drawing itself into a

column at the centre of the command deck. It gathered and coalesced into

the figure of a ghostly man. The phantom was tall and grey with

a ruggedly handsome face and the hint of blue shining from his eyes.

Evelyn heard the lilt of his voice as it played across her mind like fingers strumming a harp.

Norma —

—

'Thom,' said Norma, enraptured.

This couldn't be happening, thought Evelyn. Nevertheless, the evidence

of her own eyes suggested that she was seeing the ghost of Norma

Kelligan's dead husband. The voice echoed in her brain as if answering

her unspoken query.

— I am not dead —

'Then what are you?' asked Evelyn.

— I am part of the Entity — My mind and being were absorbed when my ship was destroyed —We exist in the electrical storm —

'How can you survive out there?' demanded Norma.

— The storm is similar to the electrical activity in the human brain — Our natural habitat —

Evelyn was excited by the concept of discovering an entirely new form of sentient life within the Solar System. Somehow, it pleased her to know

that life was capable of some form of existence even in the most

inhospitable environment the Universe could throw at it. She also felt

comforted by the fact that Thom Kelligan's life had carried on in some

fashion after his own death. It gave her hope.

126

—The Entity has been on Jupiter for centuries — It was not really sentient until it started to absorb the minds of the dredger crews —

`Hepton said the Entity killed the crews,' Norma pointed out.

—It was somewhat heavy-handed in its attempts to make contact — It knew no better — Hepton wanted me to contact it — To control it — I failed —

'That's what your last message meant,' realised Evelyn. 'Nothing to do

with drinking too much.'

—The Entity is angry — It will destroy everything —

'Can't you stop it?' pleaded Norma.

—It knows Hepton wants to kill it — He intends to use your dredger as a huge bomb

— With the force field gone it will

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