Doctor Who: Vampire Science by Jonathan Blum; Kate Orman

Author:Jonathan Blum; Kate Orman
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction:Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563405665
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 1997-07-15T10:00:00+00:00

Then there was Shackle, who finally seemed to be about ready after months of patient preparation. And she would have to get down to the warehouse tonight, to see if the project was ready for the next step...

'Am I intruding?' asked the Doctor politely.

She jumped up so hard she knocked her chair over, hissing at him, eyes flaring red. He was standing right behind her and she hadn't seen or heard him approach. Behind her the door was unlocked and she hadn't heard that either.

She took a breath and let her eyes go back to normal. 'How'd you find me?' she snapped.

He tapped his temple. 'How do you think?' he said blithely.

'I could have torn you in half,' said Harris.

'That's an original way to commit suicide.'

'Just don't do it again, all right?'

The Doctor was playing with a Venus' finger-trap, poking his fingertip into its bell-shaped, hungry leaves, pulling away just before it snapped shut on him. The tiny fanglike spines on the upper leaf strained to reach him, but missed. His eyes were wide with fascination.

'I've been studying the effect of the V factor on other species,' said Joanna. She had brought him to her bestiary, a long dark room filled with cages and the smell of animals and fertiliser.

'The V factor?'

'Ahem. It's something genetic, obviously, but I haven't been able to isolate it. It could be one gene, it could be several.

Whatever it is, it's completely dominant. Add it to a rat, and you have a vampire rat. It's transformed rhesus monkeys and chickens. I've created vampire amoebas which engulf red blood cells at an incredible rate.'

'Good grief,' said the Doctor.

'I'd love to show you what we did with the cats, if we could find them. And then there was Fred the Eternal Snail.'

'You're joking.'

Joanna gave him a look that suggested she hadn't joked in centuries. 'We kept him as a mascot, until Slake stepped on him. He was still alive even then, but so badly mangled that he couldn't even slither. We had to stake him with a toothpick to put him out of his misery.'

'Good grief,' said the Doctor again.

'Of course I've always wanted to know what makes us what we are. But there was simply no way to find out, not until this past century or so, when genetics became a science. Hell, I had to wait for them to invent science.'

The Doctor had been peering at a row of test tubes. Now he looked up at her. 'You're looking for a cure,' he breathed.

'No,' said Harris. 'Lose the V factor and we lose immortality. We're not victims, Doctor: each of us chose to be what we are.'

He shook his head. 'Then why?'

'I have other, more important projects. The first step is to discover why we're dependent on human blood.' Harris flicked her ponytail back over her shoulder. 'My problem is that I'm entirely self-taught. I've made a tremendous amount of pro-gress, but I need expert help to complete the project. Now's the time.'

'Indeed.'

'With Time Lord technology –'

The Doctor raised a finger.

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