Fic | Doctor Who | Underground 4/4

[charleygirl]

Title: Underground Part Four 2/2
Author: charleygirl
Rating: PG
Type: Gen, action/adventure
Characters Involved/Pairing: The Eighth Doctor, Lucie Miller
Summary: Rock and roll...literally!
Disclaimer: Everything barring any original characters belongs to the BBC/Big Finish Productions. 
Author's Note: Posted in two parts as rather large!




Part One Part Two Part Three

Continued...

Lucie couldn’t remember when she’d last been so glad to see the TARDIS.

 

The journey back had been surprisingly trouble-free – she wondered whether whatever the Doctor did to the creature had made it back off completely, and told him so, but he shook his head. “They want me to come back here,” he said, “but they want it to be on their terms, not mine. We have to beat them to it.”

 

It was when they were nearly there that Lucie felt the prickling of ice down her spine again, felt the stare of unseen eyes on her back. “It’s coming.”

 

The Doctor’s face crumpled, and she guessed the thing was renewing its assault. With a supreme effort, he broke into a wobbly run, but Jason’s weight would surely slow him down…

 

“Maggie! Give us a hand!” Lucie shouted, dashing forwards to the Doctor’s side and supporting Jason’s dangling upper body. The man was still out for the count. After a moment Maggie realised what she was trying to do and took Jason’s other side. Between them the three managed to get him to the TARDIS doors, but Lucie could feel the creature getting closer. She imagined it to be like some kind of electrical current, surging through the rock to wherever it needed to be. Her hair was standing up as though it was filled with static.

 

The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS, feeling through his pockets for the key. He was visibly drooping, his hand shaking as he finally found the key and tried to put it in the lock. Lucie caught hold of his fingers and guided them – at last the door opened and they all but fell over the threshold. Behind them she could hear the ominous rumbling of the creature’s arrival.

 

“Doctor - ”

 

He swiftly laid Jason down on the chaise longue, hurrying to the console and slamming a lever home. The big double doors boomed shut. The Doctor leaned over the controls, breathing heavily. Without his usual mane of hair to hide it, Lucie could see that his face was as white as chalk. From the corner of her eye she spotted Maggie staring around her open-mouthed – normally she would have enjoyed playing on a newcomer’s reaction to the TARDIS, but they had more important things to worry about. She went to the Doctor’s side and rested a hand on his arm.

 

“What do we do now?” she asked. “I take it that this isn’t the usual ‘destroy the baddie’ scenario. What do we do about a load of living rock?”

 

His response was to start flicking switches on the console. As he worked, Lucie became aware of a familiar feeling, the same thing she had felt outside, that horrible, teeth-on-edge sensation that something unpleasant was on its way. She pulled back the sleeve of her fleece and found goose bumps standing up on the flesh of her arm.

 

“Oh, God…it’s here! It’s in here!”

 

“No.” The Doctor shook his head, his eyes squeezed shut. He tapped his temple with one long finger. “It’s in here.”

 

She gaped at him. “That thing’s in your head?”

 

“Part of it. It was trying to crush my mental defences when you gave it that blast with the sonic screwdriver. I managed to hold out but it still insinuated a tiny sliver of its consciousness into my mind. It’s feeding from my Artron energy.” He held onto the edge of the console, knuckles whitening. “I was wrong, Lucie – I assumed it wouldn’t be able to metabolise the energy from the TARDIS, but it has, and it wants more. Now it’s discovered a new taste, it wants to gorge itself.”

 

“So what do we do?”

 

“I have to get it out, before the rest of it find away to break in. If that happens they’ll take control of me, take the TARDIS and head off for a five course banquet in every star system. There’s only one way…through the telepathic circuits. I have to…nghhh!” His legs buckled, and Lucie leapt to catch him before he hit the floor. “I’m going…I’m going to need your help.”

 

“You know me, Doctor, ready for anything. What do I do?”

 

She listened carefully as he haltingly gave her the instructions, and called the somewhat gob smacked Maggie over to lend a hand. Fortunately, Maggie was rather efficient, and once given something practical to do, became the soul of organisation, for which Lucie was thankful, as the Doctor’s instructions didn’t make a whole lot of sense. In fact, Maggie turned out to be a dab hand at finding strangely-named TARDIS controls, Lucie being reduced to translating gibberish like ‘telepathic conduits’ into ‘those funny metal plate thingies’.

 

After what seemed like a month and a half but was probably really only about five minutes, the Doctor suddenly sat bolt upright from where he’d been leaning against Lucie, as though he’d been electrocuted. “It’s here,” he said, “Quickly!”

 

Maggie and Lucie braced him between them, propping him up against the console and placing his outstretched hands on the metal contact plates on the ledge. As they did the scanner flickered on, and they got a good look at what was happening outside.

 

“Oh bleedin’ hell…” Lucie gasped.

 

There was rock. Nothing but rock. Where a few minutes ago there had been a big, dank, dripping cave, now there was nothing for the scanner to see but a wall. The TARDIS had been entombed.

 

The Doctor saw it too. He stiffened, hands clenching on the metal plates. “Hurry…” he breathed, “…before it finds a way inside…”

 

“Here goes…” Maggie reached over and flicked a series of switches, glancing anxiously back at the Doctor.

 

The effect was alarming. His face was contorted, sweat running down his forehead, blue energy crackling through his fingers and across the console, snaking up and round the time rotor as though the whole thing had just been electrified. A moment later the rotor began to move, the piston inside moving up and down – startled, Lucie looked up at the scanner but the ship hadn’t moved. There was a burst of light from inside the glass column, and she was forced to cover her eyes.

 

When she lowered her hand, there was a big pink bubble suspended in midair on the other side of the console. Something was thrashing about inside it, tentacles rising from the swirling mass and slapping against the sides of the sphere – she jumped as one hit the surface hard, only to shrink back as it encountered some sort of barrier, sparks trailing from it.

 

“It worked…thank goodness.” The Doctor had straightened slightly, opening his eyes.

 

Lucie blinked. “That’s it? That’s the thing that was in your head?”

 

“Pretty, isn’t it? And that’s just a tiny piece of it.”

 

“You mean there’s more?” Maggie asked in revulsion.

 

“Oh, yes. Many other little slivers that make up the whole. It’s a gestalt, many minds that make up the whole creature.” Removing the thing’s presence in his mind seemed to have restored some of the Doctor’s energy. His hands raced across the console, pulling levers and twisting dials. “Now we just have to lure in the rest of it.”

 

“How will you do that?”

 

“Carrot on a stick?” Lucie suggested.

 

“I don’t think that would satisfy it for long. No, I’m going to give it what it wants – a concentrated meal of Artron energy,” said the Doctor.

 

“Is that really such a good idea?”

 

“Think about it: it’s never digested Artron energy before. Well, not properly, only what it’s siphoned from me. Compared to the real thing it’s like drinking squash instead of fruit juice.”

 

“Diluted?” said Maggie.

 

“Precisely.” The Doctor’s hand came to rest on a large red button. “Now imagine what will happen when it tries to consume the full-strength Artron energy. It’s pretty powerful stuff, you know – powers thousands of TARDISes, throughout space and time, as well as everything back on Gallifrey. If you eat too much, you get - ”

 

Lucie smiled. “Indigestion.”

 

The creature in the bubble writhed like a bag of snakes. Another tendril hit the barrier, making the energy that contained it spark and crackle again. Maggie jumped.

 

Doctor…do not do this…

 

The Doctor ignored it. “Now,” he said, touching the button with one finger, “if this works, it should map the telepathic circuits onto the outer plasmic shell, at the same time boosting the TARDIS’s energy signature…”

 

“And for those of us who don’t speak fluent technobabble…?” prompted Lucie.

 

“It should be rather like sounding the dinner gong.”

 

Doctor…you cannot do this to us…you are our tool…our creature…

 

The Doctor pushed the button home.

 

The effect was immediate, and alarming. The creature screamed, a horrible unearthly sound, and the TARDIS shuddered, as though some curious giant had picked it up and was shaking it to see what was inside. Lucie grabbed for one of the girders and held on as the console room vibrated around her. She looked up at the scanner again to see that something was happening outside, too – the rock that cocooned the TARDIS was cracking, shattering and breaking away, chunks rolling down the side of the ship in great clouds of enveloping dust. It was like watching an earthquake rip through. The sound of the creature’s screeching rose louder and louder over the din, the ball of tentacles in the bubble growing larger and larger, thrashing around dementedly. On the console the Doctor turned a dial – the TARDIS rolled like a ship on a stormy sea, throwing Lucie and Maggie to the floor and tipping Jason from his couch. Lucie pulled herself upright in time to see the light of the time rotor flare, glowing brighter and brighter until she thought it might blind her; the electricity she’d seen before encircling the glass like a halo of blue fire.

 

“Doctor!”

 

He was manipulating the controls desperately, turning the dial back, but it didn’t seem to be making any difference. “The circuits have overloaded! I can’t - ”

 

His words were lost in the noise of what sounded like a massive explosion. The TARDIS rocked, Lucie’s head hit the base of one of the girders and everything went black.

 

 

***

 

 

She groaned. Her head felt as though it might split in two.

 

“Lucie? Lucie, can you hear me?”

 

After a moment she tried opening her eyes, and immediately recoiled at the light. “Oi! Turn it down, will you? It’s blinding me!”

 

“I think she’ll  be all right,” said a dark smudge that she took to be the Doctor. He sounded amused, and she wished she had the energy to slap him. Energy…

 

She sat bolt upright, and immediately wished she hadn’t. “That thing! Where is it? What - ”

 

“Lucie, Lucie, Lucie, it’s all right.” The Doctor rested a hand on her shoulder, gently easing her back down onto the couch. “It worked. It’s all over.”

 

Lucie groaned again. “What, you mean I missed it? Great.”

 

“We all missed it,” said Maggie, appearing behind the Doctor in Lucie’s line of vision. Behind her, Lucie could see Jason, his head bandaged, slumped down in the Doctor’s armchair. And beyond him…

 

The pink bubble was still there, hovering above the floor. Inside it, the creature was still, no longer writhing around like a mad thing. “Is it dead?” Lucie asked.

 

The Doctor shook his head. “No, just dormant again. It’s got nothing to feed on in there. That’s the state it’s been in for most of its time on Earth, only managing to have a snack when some unwary person ventured into the caves.”

 

“Like the men who died?” Maggie asked.

 

“Yes. Sucked dry, I should think. And I’m fairly sure that the reason why both the village and the miners left the site was because of the influence that thing sent out. It was trying to sneak into their minds, but the lead down there made a pretty effective barrier – it couldn’t actually do anything unless its victim was on the spot, so to speak. Hence the feeling that someone was watching you when you went below.”

 

She thought about that for a moment, and then nodded. “It makes sense. And Jason couldn’t feel it because he’s not so susceptible to suggestion?”

 

“No, I think it’s more the case that he just refused to listen to what it was trying to tell him. Until this morning, when he had to pass beyond the barrier,” said the Doctor.

 

“So,” said Lucie, feeling left out of the conversation, “What do we do with that thing now?”

 

“Drop it off on some uninhabited planet in a backwater system where it can’t do any damage.” There was a low moan from behind, and Jason stirred in the chair. “Ah, Mr Lane! Welcome back.”

 

“Wha…what’s going on?” Jason demanded, sitting up and staring around him at the Gothic majesty of the console room. His eyes were like saucers. “Where the hell am I?”

 

“You’re in my ship,” said the Doctor.

 

“Inside a police box,” Maggie added helpfully, “It’s bigger on the inside.”

 

For a long moment, Jason just stared at them both. The he started to laugh. “What? You’re jerking my chain. A police box? That’s a good one. How’s it all done – mirrors?”

 

The Doctor looked at Maggie and sighed. “Yes, Mr Lane, it’s an illusion. All done with mirrors.”

 

“Thought so.” Jason smiled smugly. He looked around him again. “Pretty impressive, though. I could’ve almost believed it was real!”

 

Lucie shook her head. Bloody-minded to the last, still clinging onto his own narrow version of reality.

 

“Riiight!” said the Doctor, reaching for the door lever. “Time to say goodbye, I’m afraid. Lucie and I have an appointment on Artus Prime, and we’re already three thousand years late.”

 

Maggie hesitated for a moment, and then held out a hand. “Thank you, Doctor. You managed to exorcise the caves – no one else has done that!”

 

“Oh, they just lacked the right equipment.” He smiled and shook her hand. “Goodbye, Maggie.”

 

“Bye, Maggie,” said Lucie from the couch. She nodded towards Jason, who was still looking around and muttering to himself. “Try and prise open his mind a bit, will you?”

 

“I’ll do my best. Come on, Jase, we’ve got customers,” Maggie said, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the door.

 

He looked startled. “What? Oh, yeah, right.”

 

“Goodbye, Mr Lane,” called the Doctor. Jason gave him a funny look and a half-hearted wave before he followed Maggie out into the sunshine.

 

Lucie dragged herself from the chaise longue and joined the Doctor at the console. Someone had taken off her sandals while she’d been unconscious, and the cool parquet of the floor felt wonderful under her bare feet, even if her head did hurt like mad. The Doctor’s suit was in ruins, the material shredded, one sleeve missing and the other hanging off at the shoulder. “You’ve wrecked that,” she remarked, trying to brush some of the dust away.

 

“Lucie, I’ve told you before – there’s no point in me wearing ‘posh gear’ in my line of work. Look what happens to it!” He shrugged out of the remains of the jacket and dropped it on the floor, reaching for the old green velvet frock coat that hung on the hat stand. He pulled it on and struck a pose, arms held wide as if to say, “See?”

 

She laughed and shook her head again, immediately wishing that she hadn’t. “Oww. Will everything be OK with the mine?” she asked. “Now the creature’s gone?”

 

“Oh, I should think so. No more unpleasant alien influence, no more ghost stories.”

 

“That’s a shame. I’m rather partial to the odd ghost story.”

 

There was a shout from outside. The Doctor turned on the scanner and his eyebrows shot up. “Oh, dear…” Swiftly he pulled the lever to shut the doors.

 

“Doctor?” Lucie peered round him at the screen as he started pushing buttons, readying the TARDIS for dematerialisation. All she could see was a very angry Jason, turning towards the ship and opening his mouth to say something.

 

“Time we were somewhere else, I think…”

 

 

***

 

 

Jason stared at the devastation where the mine entrance had once been.

 

Matt had got the visitors to safety at the bottom of the hill, but nothing could disguise the great smoking crater where the mine used to be. Half the hillside seemed to have fallen in, though thankfully the offices and the shop were still intact. Dust was rising from the hole, bowling its way down the hill in the breeze.

 

Jason swore. Loudly. And then he swore again. Maggie was just staring in astonishment. After several moments of paralysis, Jason finally thought to ask the man responsible what the hell he thought he was playing at. “Doctor!” he yelled, turning round, “Doctor, who the bloody hell is going to pay for all this?!”

 

As he turned, an appalling trumpeting noise came from behind. He’d heard that noise before somewhere…

 

He blinked. The hill path was empty. No sign of the Doctor, Lucie or that weird place he and Maggie had just walked out of. Nothing. Just the grass waving in the wind and a couple of sheep cropping at the shoots on the side of the path. Amazed, confused and furious, he turned back to the crater in the hill. Down on the road he could see the blue flashing lights of an approaching police car.

 

Jason swore for the third time. “How are we meant to explain this?”

 

There was a cough from somewhere to his left. He looked round to see a tall, elderly man with a clipped grey moustache and regimental tie standing there. A customer? Jason readied himself to take on a complaint, but the man raised just his panama hat and smiled.

 

“Excuse me,” he said in perfect public school tones, “I couldn’t help overhearing. I think I may be able to help you…”

 

 

FIN