Doctor Who: Shining Darkness (19 page)

‘They’re heading for
The Torch
,’ Ogmunee said, almost disbelievingly.

Mesanth gave a little warble of alarm.

‘They’re going to ram it,’ he whispered.

‘Oh no they’re not,’ Garaman said through gritted teeth. ‘Target them again – this time we’re going to finish them. For good.’

‘Emergency pods are detaching,’ Kellique said, counting them off as they left, spiralling away into the darkness. ‘The crew are all safe.’

Donna had no idea whether the escape pods would be able to make their way home, or whether they’d just float around in space until they ran out of air and power. But it was better than sitting around on
The Sword of Justice
, waiting for it to hit the Cultists’ supership. Weiou flapped his hands helplessly.

‘We should be going,’ he said, over and over. ‘We should be going. I didn’t sign on for this. Oh my.’ Weiou paused as he caught sight of the display in front of Kellique. ‘The escape pods – they’ve all gone.’ He did a comedy gulp.

‘Weiou,’ said Donna brightly.

‘Yes?’ The little robot looked up at her.

‘Shut up.’ She turned back to Kellique. ‘How long until we hit that thing?’

Her mouth was dry and her pulse racing. There was
every
chance that they were going to die, but something – maybe it was the adrenalin, maybe just the rush of everything that was going on – kept her going through the panic that she could feel battering away at the back of her mind. She fought it down again as it rose up, threatening to overwhelm her and turn her into a screaming ball of mush, cowering in a corner.
It’s what the Doctor would do
, she kept telling herself.
It’s what the Doctor would do
.

‘Eight minutes,’ Kellique said, and Donna could hear the tremor in her voice.

‘Eight minutes,’ Donna repeated, more to herself. ‘Right. Can the ship be left on autopilot to ram that thing?’

Kellique nodded.

‘Good! Do what you have to – lock the controls, whatever. We’re not done yet.’

‘But all the escape pods have gone,’ protested Weiou. ‘All of them. Every last, single one—’

‘Weiou,’ said Donna gently, crouching down next to the robot. ‘D’you remember what I threatened Mother would do to you when you came aboard? Well if you don’t shut up, I’ll do it myself. We still have one escape pod.’

‘We don’t,’ protested Kellique. ‘Weiou’s right – they’ve all gone.’

‘Oh no they haven’t,’ said Donna with a smile. ‘Come on!’

Donna hovered in the doorway as Kellique set the controls on auto.

‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ glowered Boonie as Donna waved him and the others out into the corridor.

‘Trust me,’ Donna grinned, gripping the doorframe as
another
tremor shot through the ship. ‘I might not
be
a doctor – but I’ve learned a few things from a pretty good one.’

It took them almost five minutes to make their way back through the deserted, broken ship. The main corridor was blocked by fallen debris, but Mother made light work of it, lifting the twisted beams and wall panels out of the way as if they were cardboard and polystyrene. Weiou was usually the first to scoot through the gaps Mother created, until Boonie pointed out that they had no idea what lay beyond every corner, after which he huddled in the middle of the little band.

‘Nearly there,’ Donna said as they reached their destination: the ship’s small cargo hold. It was only then that Boonie realised what she was up to, and his normally miserable face broke out into a grin.

‘If you ever want a job on my ship – well, on my
next
ship—’ he began, but broke off as he saw the look on Donna’s face.

She was staring through the grimy porthole of one of
The Sword of Justice
’s bulkheads into the cargo hold. A bulkhead that was sealed shut. A bulkhead that, by all rights, should have given them access to the TARDIS. The
ultimate
escape pod.

All Donna could see through the thick glass was a bit of floor and then nothing. Nothing but empty space: the room where Boonie had stowed the TARDIS had been blown clean open in the attack, and the TARDIS, their only way off the dying ship, had gone.

‘I AM IN
so
much trouble,’ she whispered. She’d only gone and lost the TARDIS, hadn’t she? ‘Apart from the fact that we’re all going to die, of course,’ she added.

Another explosion rocked the ship, the distant screech of torn metal galvanising her into action. She turned to Kellique.

‘Right,’ she said. ‘No TARDIS. You’re
sure
there are no other escape pods? Not even an emergency one…?’ Donna shook her head. ‘What am I on about:
all
escape pods are emergency ones, aren’t they? And you’re sure the transmat is down?’

Kellique nodded.

‘What about pod eight?’ said Boonie suddenly.

‘Eight’s been out of action for months,’ Kellique reminded him.

Donna jumped at this. ‘Out of action? Why?’

‘The locking mechanism’s seized up – the external clamps have become vacuum welded.’

‘So what you saying? That it’d work if you could get it unwelded? Never heard of WD-40? Never mind,’ Donna added at their blank faces. ‘Can’t we wiggle it loose? Cut it free?’

‘Not from inside, we can’t, and the EVA suits are all gone. And besides, they’re four-person pods – and there are five of us. And Mother’s not exactly compact…’

Donna ran her hands through her hair – and was thrown against the wall as the ship bucked beneath their feet again.
Think, Donna
, she told herself.
Think!

And then she caught sight of Mother.

Mother!

D’uh!

‘You sure this is designed for four people?’ grumped Donna as she squeezed through the tiny hatch into pod eight alongside Boonie and Kellique. Arms and legs and elbows were everywhere. ‘Four midgets, maybe.’

‘Oi!’ squeaked Weiou as he, too, tumbled into one of the padded seats set around the inside of the little vehicle. ‘Nothing wrong with midgets!’

Kellique shook her head as she buckled up. ‘You sure this is going to work?’ she asked Donna.

‘No,’ replied Donna sharply. ‘Of course I’m not sure this is going to work, but if you’ve got a better idea, now might be quite a good time to tell us about it. Mother!’ Donna craned her neck to see Mother, still outside the pod’s hatch. ‘You ready?’

Mother nodded silently – and with a dull clang the hatch sealed itself.

‘Well,’ said Donna, sitting back and smiling. ‘Isn’t this nice? Very cosy. How long will it take her, d’you think?’ she added as they were rattled by another – much bigger, much closer – explosion from somewhere on
The Sword of Justice
.

‘Now there’s no one left on board,’ Boonie said, checking his watch, ‘Mother can just open the bulkhead and get out that way. If this is going to work, we’ll know about it soon. One way or another.’

Donna took a deep breath. She only hoped she wasn’t condemning them all to death in the escape pod. The realisation that, even if they could get the escape pod free, there wouldn’t be room on board for Mother had been the trigger: in a flash Donna had realised that, of course, Mother didn’t
need
air. (Neither did Weiou, but Weiou didn’t have the brute strength that Mother did).

The plan was obvious in its simplicity. Maybe
too
obvious – which made Donna a bit suspicious of it: the three humans and Weiou could get in the pod, Mother could clamber outside the ship and free the docking clamps before hitching a ride on the outside of the pod. Kellique had checked that the pod’s thrusters were still working, so there’d be no problem in steering it towards the space station that had emerged from Sentilli. Obviously, there was no way to tell what kind of welcome they’d receive when they got there; but it had to be better than staying to be blown up.

All four of them started as a sudden harsh, metallic clanging sounded through the pod’s hull. And then another. It was like something monstrous was trying to tear its way in.

‘Sound worse than it is,’ said Kellique, registering the look on Donna’s face. ‘Trust me. Even if I’m
not
a doctor.’ She smiled grimly.

There were more clangs – and then an ominous grinding sound.

One final clang and a creaking, tearing groan that seemed to drag on for ever before it ended in silence.

‘She’s done it!’ cried Kellique. ‘That’s the clamps disengage- whoa!’

The pod suddenly lurched, and it was only the fact that they’d all belted themselves in that stopped them from being flung around the cramped interior. The lights suddenly dimmed to red.

‘What is it with the red lights on spaceships?’ complained Donna. ‘It’s not like we
need
a status report from them, is it? Oh God, I feel…’

‘Gravity’s offline,’ said Kellique.

‘Never have guessed,’ said Donna, trying to keep a grip on the contents of her stomach.

‘Whoo!’ cried Weiou excitedly. ‘Hang on everyone – here we go!’

Anyone watching from outside would have been clenching their fists in anticipation: a line of explosions was bursting out from the skin of
The Sword of Justice
, rippling along it, twisting and warping the vessel’s hull, heading towards the tiny blister of emergency pod eight. And, hugging itself tight to the pod was Mother, spreadeagled on the top of it and clinging on for dear life.

With a flare of blue light, the pod’s thrusters fired up
and
it popped free of the ship, as the wave of explosions swept across the mothership. Slowly, but building up speed rapidly, the pod jetted out into the cold blackness of space, a tiny, silhouetted spot against the raging inferno it was leaving behind.

In mute disbelief, still held in the robot’s steely embrace, the Doctor could only watch as
The Sword of Justice
slowly accelerated through the Sentilli system, on a collision course with
The Torch
.

It was a brave – but futile – hope.

Streams of gas and fuel trailed out behind the pathetic, battered wreck of a ship, turning it into an artificial comet. All across its hull, lights were going out. Tiny explosions erupted all over its surface, sending clouds of sparkling debris out into space. The absence of a sun made it hard to make out any details, but the
Dark Light
’s sensors were enhancing the image, showing the death throes of the ship in all their sad glory.

Donna…

The Doctor could only hope that she’d either escaped in a lifeboat, or that she’d had the sense to take shelter in the TARDIS. Assuming that his lovely little blue box hadn’t already been blown out into space.

‘Target acquired,’ said Ogmunee with relish, catching the Doctor’s eye and flashing him a cruel, toothy smile.

‘Finish it,’ Garaman said, almost wearily. ‘We’ve got more important things to be getting on with.’

From the side of the screen, a thick pencil of deep purple light sprang up, stretching away into space, skewering
The
Sword
of Justice
through its flank like it were a kebab. For a moment, nothing happened – the ship continued to move, allowing the beam to slice it open along its side. And then a cascade of explosions started up, glowing boils of gas erupting into the darkness, one after another. Finally, the little ship could stand no more. As the purple ray reached the tail of the ship, its innards began to glow – first a dull red, and then upwards, faster and faster, through yellow and white through to an eye-searing blue. And then the screen flared white and the Doctor closed his eyes.

Donna
.

‘THIS MUST HAVE
cost a small fortune,’ the Doctor whispered in awe as they made their way through the darkened space station. He was in a grim mood after the destruction of Boonie’s ship.

The Torch
, it became clear as soon as Garaman, Mesanth, the Doctor and the blonde robot had transmatted aboard it, was more than just a spaceship.

‘Several fortunes,’ said Garaman proudly. ‘And none of them small. You’d be surprised how many philanthropists are behind us, even if they can’t come out and openly admit it.’