Steve Cole - Doctor Who - The Knight, The Fool and The Dead

If I die, I’ll regenerate , the Doctor thought, and maybe I’ll have enough residual energy to let us fight our way through or maybe I won’t . The Mantis claw closed clumsily on his throat as the revenants pressed in. He felt it tighten, and all he could think was, I. Don’t. Want. To—

With a fizz of energy, a luminous robot the size of a tank burst from nowhere, appearing right in the middle of the revenants. It hit the ground running on huge caterpillar tracks, trapping bodies beneath it as it trundled forward. The revenants fell as the robot rumbled through the ranks, and the Mantis was knocked reeling away by the sudden stir of bodies.

The Doctor stared. ‘Doesn’t look like Kotturuh technology …’

As the tank bore down on them, ready to crush them into the rock, Brian thrust out Mr Ball. Crackles of energy flooded through the metalwork. Inches from the Doctor’s legs, the tank stalled, shifted gears and swung round, spluttering and whining like a beast at bay.

‘It may not be our taxi but I’m taking it anyway!’ The Doctor jumped nimbly onto the huge machine and clung on as Brian climbed up beside him. Jerking back and forth, the tank smashed and scraped against the wall where the two of them had been pinned moments earlier. A kind of turret rose up from the body of the tank and rotated around as if getting a 360-view. The Doctor changed a setting on the sonic then almost slipped and fell as the machine reversed at speed into the gibbering throng. He saw the unfortunates who’d been run down were getting back up despite their injuries, no trace of pain, or feeling at all.

And straight away they were back, coming for the Doctor and Brian.

The barbed gargoyle thing extended a mottled, segmented stinger from its back, ready to strike at Brian – the feverish movement at odds with the dull drone of its voice: ‘… Betel asha … tisa-two-erba-zero-sebe thalathun …’ But then a glittering drill-bit as thick as a forearm whirled out from inside the robot and scored a bloodless hole right through the gargoyle’s segmented tail.

‘Diamond core extractor!’ the Doctor shouted, pressing the sonic to the side of the robot. ‘This is a mining machine.’ The sonic buzzed, and the tank lurched into a higher gear, steering wildly through the throng until it broke free of the hordes and rumbled back down along the tunnel – dragging the impaled gargoyle along with it.

‘I’ve hijacked the controls,’ the Doctor shouted, fighting to stay out of reach of the gargoyle which was still swinging its bladed claws. ‘See if I can drive us straight back to the TARDIS.’

Brian crushed up close against him to avoid the gargoyle’s thrashing limbs. ‘We have failed to locate Estinee …’

‘Perhaps this thing can help us!’ the Doctor yelled back.

Veering wildly through the gloom, dragging the thrashing revenant behind them, the Doctor saw writhing shadows form in the air around the vast arena. Kotturuh were starting to assemble – to observe or to act? Desperately the Doctor swerved away from them into the tunnel. ‘Come on, come on, not far now …’

The machine jerked to a halt and hurled them clear like a bucking bronco. The Doctor went head over heels while Brian was sent tumbling against the wall.

‘Whoever was operating it, they’ve taken back control!’ The Doctor watched as the mining machine and its struggling gargoyle shone together in glow-worm light.

The turret of the machine flipped open and a girl’s head with wild hair like seagrass peeped out from inside.

‘Estinee!’ the Doctor shouted. How’d she gotten in there?

The girl ducked back down inside as the storm of golden light grew fiercer about her. Then the machine vanished, and only the echoes of the revenant’s voice lingered in the darkness: ‘… seven-gamma-asha … betel asha … tisa-two-erba …’

‘Teleport.’ The Doctor scrambled up. ‘Must’ve pushed through that same worn spot in the shield we did, where the Kotturuh ships slip through.’

‘The child was our target,’ Brian tutted. ‘Mr Ball’s professional pride is hurt.’

‘It’s Estinee getting hurt I’m worried about.’ The Doctor heard the whisper and whirl of Kotturuh taking solid shape from out of the air. He dragged Brian up and started off again along the tunnel. ‘Come on, we’ve got to get to the TARDIS before we’re noticed, and track that teleport trace.’

‘And take revenge,’ Brian suggested.

‘No. Take care of Estinee.’

‘Permanently?’

‘Not that kind of taking care …’

They reached the TARDIS and pushed inside the turquoise churn of the vast interior. The Doctor scanned for power signatures, spied the transmat trail. He spun a dial and reached for the dematerialisation lever.

The veiled, embroidered bulk of a Kotturuh appeared beside him. The Doctor tried to recoil but his body wouldn’t move.

‘We warned you, little one,’ came the grave whisper, as a grey, glittering hand reached out for his neck. ‘You believe you can steal from us?’

‘I …’ The Doctor gritted his teeth, panting out the words with all his strength. ‘I came … to save a life.’

‘The child? She was brought here because the Kotturuh revere life.’

‘Sure you do,’ said the Doctor, ‘the same way a vivisectionist reveres rats.’

‘Little foolish knight, your mind has brushed our Design. Now you can be useful to us.’ As if to emphasise its words, the Kotturuh’s hand closed on the Doctor’s windpipe. ‘You will learn of the gift of Death …’

Then the Kotturuh was gone. The TARDIS engines were harrumphing with conviction. Brian stood with his hand on the dematerialisation lever, watching him closely.

‘What happened?’ Brian asked. ‘Mr Ball suspected a seizure of some kind.’

The Doctor rubbed his throat. You could say I was seized , he tried to say. But while his lips were moving, different words and numbers were dragging themselves from his bruised throat. He tried to swallow them back.

‘ Betel four-seron-four … What? kaffa four-four-sky betel … What? ’

‘Astrotemporal coordinates?’ Brian queried.

‘The Kotturuh. One of them was here.’

‘In the TARDIS? Are you sure?’

‘I’m sure.’

‘I did not observe—’

‘ Betel four-seron …’ The Doctor sat up in a snap. ‘Astronavigational coordinates. Like the ones the revenants were babbling?’

‘Exactly so. Betel four-seron-four kaffa four-four-sky betel … ’ Brian paused. ‘I will need to check the figures to be precise. But I believe they refer to the position of the planet Andalia in around two or three weeks from now.’

‘But the Kotturuh already went to Andalia,’ the Doctor protested. ‘It’s been invaded. Repurposed, laid waste to, shattered.’

‘It has.’ Brian inclined his head regretfully. ‘You haven’t.’

Second Interlude

Rose woke from haunted dreams to find a ghost had come with her: a dark figure, watching from the shadows at the end of her bed.

For a second, feverish still, she remembered her dream. Death – the big man with the dark cloak and scythe – he’d come for her, he’d followed her out of the nightmares.

‘No,’ Rose breathed. ‘I won’t go. Not now, after everything we’ve …’ Then she realised Death didn’t have ears that stuck out that way, and that the black robe was really a leather jacket and the curve of the scythe was that big, beaming grin as the figure stepped into the light.

‘’Ullo, Rose! You’re awake, fantastic.’

‘Is it? Think I’m better off out of it.’ She smiled back at the Doctor, couldn’t help herself, however bad she felt. ‘I must look like death.’