Sting of Zygons (Stephen Cole) by Sting of the Zygons (Stephen Cole) (v1.0)

Author:Sting of the Zygons (Stephen Cole) (v1.0)
Language: eng
Format: epub

FOURTEEN

In the weirdly lit grotto of the Zygon laboratory, the Doctor had been working on the activator for over an hour. Now and then, Felic would stop to query a procedure or advise on the crystal calibration. But the Zygon was being annoyingly evasive when it came to the real questions on the Doctor’s mind.

Even so, there was no harm in trying.

‘To be going to all this trouble to gain control over a rogue Skarasen,’ he said, ‘presumably you’ve either got lots and lots of them and you can see the problem arising again… Or else you’ve got very few. Maybe even just one.’

‘This matter does not concern you,’ hissed Felic.

‘It concerns me a lot,’ the Doctor snapped, pulling off his glasses. ‘I know what just one of your pets can do. And I guess it must concern someone else pretty badly too, or else why would they kill the first Skarasen?’

Felic remained impassive. ‘Continue the work.’

‘I saw the state of the Skarasen corpse on the lakeshore,’ the Doctor persisted. ‘Who did it? Why are they after you?’

‘We destroyed the Skarasen adult,’ the Zygon said quietly.

The Doctor stared at him, dumbfounded. ‘What?’

‘The stellar catastrophe that damaged our ship also affected the brain‐​computer interfaces of our Skarasens.’

‘Supercharged particle emission?’

Felic looked away. ‘We did not realise the problem until the two beasts were fully reared beneath the waters here. The brain tissue became inflamed. Our creatures became… deranged. Attempts at diastellic therapy in the adult only aggravated the inflammation. The feedback swamped the control cortex and caused…’

‘Yeah.’ The Doctor pictured the blackened remains of the Skarasen’s steel skull. ‘Yeah, I saw what it caused.’

‘We tried to recall the juvenile here –’

‘Where it ran amok through the village.’

‘Its brain is shutting down. This is why it lies stupefied in the lake.’ Felic hissed heavily. ‘It must be removed and secured long enough to carry out the correct therapies. Or else it too will die.’

‘Only you don’t have the strength to secure it yourselves, now, do you?’ The Doctor watched him closely. ‘You’ve tried, you just get mauled. Your little outpost here is dying, just as Taro said. No food, no strength, no protection. And if this Skarasen dies now, so will you. Which is why you’ve manipulated the humans into capturing it for you.’

‘Proceed with the work,’ said Felic.

‘You know, I thought at first some alien hunter was after you and your Skarasens.’ The Doctor gave a mock laugh. ‘How wrong was I? There’s no one after you, no danger of innocent humans being caught in the crossfire of some alien vendetta. Nah, it’s just you Zygons – killing people, stealing away their loved ones and replacing them with your kind…’

‘Work!’ the Zygon demanded.

The Doctor shook his head. ‘You’ve tricked these people, goaded them into the hunt, let your creation kill and destroy so they have no choice but to go after it. You’ve pointed out its hiding places to them, because you know that if they leave it alone it’ll die, and you with it.

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