Post by Dominic Smith on Aug 1, 2006 6:58:37 GMT -5
Chapter Thirteen
“Open this door!” yelled Agory from the clearing in the woodland, one arm pounding on the small blue wooden door before him, another holding the needle; concealing it behind his back so as to make a swift attack, he did so love springing the element of surprise. “You can’t stop me Doctor, you or that cretinous Illington.” He continued to hammer on the door panel, neglecting to wonder why it was vibrating and emitting some kind of unfeasible heat until suddenly there came a click from inside the small box, as the lock was freed and the occupants prepared to reveal themselves.
He withdrew his hand that he had used to hammer on the door with and flexed his needle arm before concealing it behind his back once more. As the door opened light poured from within the box, causing him to look away and indulge in a prolonged blink. He looked back to the inside of the box where the silhouetted figure of Lord Illington was waiting for him in the doorway; the recognisable tall sturdy build and carnation pinned in his buttonhole that had wilted somewhat in the span of the night.
“At last”, Agory breathed and lunged forward, plunging his last needle straight into the man’s heart, better to make sure the fluid entered the bloodstream right away, no point messing around with finding the right vein on his neck. He had waited too long to exercise precision, the job needed doing now, and after ridding himself of the Doctor and his friend Sarah, he could finally set his plan in motion.
Yet when he thrust the needle into Illington’s heart his whole chest seemed to compress and follow the finely tipped point as it tore through the crumpled clothes. It was only when he placed his hand on his chest that he realised he had been tricked; the clothes were mounted and stuffed on something else other that a body.
“NO!” he cried at the top of his voice, before flinching as the decoy Illington was thrust aside and the full light of the ship blinded him. Four arms reached out and pulled him inside, thrusting him down into a chair.
“Lord Illington!” he could hear Sarah calling, and as his eyes accustomed to the light he could see the doors closing and the young girl throwing what looked like a pile of rope to Illington. He could feel him binding him with it, tying him tightly to the chair and then standing back, his image coming fully back to sharpness as his sight finally cleared.
***
“Not going to ask about the ship?” the Doctor asked him whilst leaning over the console from the other side of the vast console room. Agory had said nothing since they had bundled him into the chair and tied him up. He had looked around at the glowing walls full of roundels and the grand console that stood at the centre of the room, but seemed to take it in his stride; more concerned with his own situation in terms of having lost his much needed mobility.
“What ship?” Agory asked with contempt.
“This”, the Doctor glanced around the large glowing room, “Not going to ask why it’s bigger on the inside than the outside, most people have the courtesy to”
“It’s because the inside is in a different place to the…” Lord Illington began excitedly.
“Oh shut up you pompous fool”, Agory snapped.
“Now, now”, the Doctor said as if scolding a child, “there’ll be no name calling on my ship.” He grinned and then flicked a few more switches, setting the ship in motion as the engines groaned slowly to life and the central column began to rise and fall amidst the flashing buttons of the console. He stared, transfixed to the motion for a moment, as if slightly perturbed by events that had gone before, before looking back at Agory. “So, now to business”, he continued, standing up to his full towering height and staring at him with his sparkling eyes over the console, his face occasionally obscured as the column rose and flickered.
“What business?” Agory said with growing contempt, his eyes cold and dark, his nose no more than two slits for nostrils and his lips pursed tightly.
“I need to get to your laboratory in 1765”, the Doctor explained, “I’ve got a few samples to I need to collect.”
“Do you really think I’m going to tell you?” Agory scoffed. “Do you really think I’ll let you get your hands on those chemicals?”
“Indeed I do.”
“Then you must be a greater fool than I expected”, Agory let out the hint of a smile.
“Either you tell me the location of the lab or I use a handy little gadget from my workshop to extract the information from your brain with considerable discomfort.”
“I didn’t know you cared”, Agory quipped.
“Discomfort to you, Agory”, the Doctor replied, causing the bound man to sigh.
“My humour is wasted on you Doctor”, he replied before giving Sarah and Illington, who were undressing the hat stand and packing the props back in a large wooden trunk, a look of disgust.
“So what is it to be?” the Doctor asked, still perched on the console, “truth or dare?” Agory thought for a second, shuffling in his chair and pulling unhappy faces, unmasking his apparent discomfort through his usual cool and threatening demeanour.
“London”, he said simply and quietly, “Kensington…”
***
“Are we there yet?” Sarah asked, wondering whether it was apt to inject a little humour into the situation. She had returned the trunk to the cupboard and joined the Doctor by the console as he programmed the ship’s flight.
“Just about, not far to go in space, simple jump back in time”, the Doctor replied, jabbing at the controls as Sarah stood by his side and Lord Illington towered in the corner, watching the struggling Agory. “In fact…” the engines swelled and roared once more and then came to a sudden stop. A large thud indicated they had arrived and the two travellers looked at each other, happy that outside lay the answer to solving the problems they had stumbled across what seemed like a lifetime ago. They sought comfort in the fact they were together again, the way it always should be.
“Why do it Ian?” Lord Illington asked with a stone face from the corner of the room. “Why kill all those people, just to sit on a golden throne and bark your hollow orders? What could drive you to do such things?”
“Power”, he replied simply and let his lips curl into a stubborn smile. The Doctor looked on in disapproval and Sarah looked sadly at the floor. Lord Illington finally seemed able to shed a tear for his dead wife, and looked over to the sky.
“I do believe my bonds are loose”, Agory muttered under his breath, just loud enough for everyone to hear. The Doctor and Sarah saw through his japery straight away and turned back to the console, but Lord Illington stepped forward, reaching over him to tie the bonds again.
“No! Sarah called but it was too late. Lord Illington keeled over, choking and as Agory looked on triumphant, he rolled over on the floor. As he gurgled his last, drawn-out breaths Sarah and the Doctor could see the cause of his pain; a large knife extruding from his heart.
***
“Right, I’ll go and fetch the sample of fluid, Sarah you keep your eye on him, use this if he tries to escape again.” The Doctor said as he flung his long billowing scarf over his shoulder, adjusted his hat atop his dark brown locks and handed Sarah a small tube-like object.
“What’s this?” she asked with a distinct quiver of fear in her voice, not daring to turn back and face the now more tightly bound Agory.
“Muscle compressor; press the red button on the top and he’ll be paralysed for an hour or two.”
“But…I can’t…You” she began to protest, but the Doctor stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“You can Sarah, I know you can.” They smiled together once more before the Doctor looked over at Agory in contempt and then reached over to open the doors, moments later breathing deeply whilst stepping outside to the dim-lit space beyond.
***
The laboratory was hardly the glistening white acropolis of the TARDIS’ facilities but for the time it was advanced enough, or rather it had been.
The equipment that once lined the shelves and tables had been blown to the ground, either smashed or upturned or emptied. The back wall was covered in the green serum that had mutated Agory, glowing faintly in the dark on the night outside.
“Impossible to land in daylight I suppose”, the Doctor quipped and slowly walked over to the wall, glass being broken underfoot, chemicals fizzing and corroding the benches and the distant chanting of a drunkard in the street outside. As he approached he looked on as the liquid slowly seeped down the wall. He could see a deep intrusion into the otherwise perfectly smooth surface, where the cleaning lady had tried to clear the mess away.
The Time Lord reached forward and narrowly avoided touching the serum, instead feeling how warm it was.
“About sixty-four degrees”, he noted then reached into one of the deep pockets of his flowing coat, plucking out a large glass beaker sealed with a chunky red plastic seal.
He placed the tip of the glass against the wall and scooped it upwards, letting the warm serum pour inside and collect in the bottom. When the beaker was two thirds full he took a handkerchief from pocket and wiped away the excess around the rim and on the outside. He placed the seal on the top and as it hissed closed he turned to the TARDIS, which awaited him in the corner, providing the only light in the room.
As he stepped forward, ready to board the ship again he passed a pile of paper sitting on one of the tables. Some of it had been eroded by the spilt chemicals but the top piece was very much whole. It was a doodle Agory must have drawn, the reality of which he had seen some fifty year later on the side of a plane; the emblem of Britain, the snake eating it’s own tail.
The Time Lord sighed then continued again, unaware of a globe sitting in the corner in the shadow of the ship; it had been caught up in the blast and some of the serum had splattered across its surface, now eroding away leaving only a few remains of matter left; the world had fallen.
***
As the Doctor returned to the ship, head bowed to the ground, the first sight that met him was the crushed remains of the Muscle Compressor scattered across the floor. As he looked up from the devastation a far grimmer sight awaited him in the corner of the room.
Near to the scanner Agory’s bonds lay fallen by his chair. Agory himself stood not far beyond them, and Sarah was not far across from him. She was struggling to be let free but he had a hand clasped across her mouth, pulling her close to him and the blood-covered knife he had pointing into her back.
“Open this door!” yelled Agory from the clearing in the woodland, one arm pounding on the small blue wooden door before him, another holding the needle; concealing it behind his back so as to make a swift attack, he did so love springing the element of surprise. “You can’t stop me Doctor, you or that cretinous Illington.” He continued to hammer on the door panel, neglecting to wonder why it was vibrating and emitting some kind of unfeasible heat until suddenly there came a click from inside the small box, as the lock was freed and the occupants prepared to reveal themselves.
He withdrew his hand that he had used to hammer on the door with and flexed his needle arm before concealing it behind his back once more. As the door opened light poured from within the box, causing him to look away and indulge in a prolonged blink. He looked back to the inside of the box where the silhouetted figure of Lord Illington was waiting for him in the doorway; the recognisable tall sturdy build and carnation pinned in his buttonhole that had wilted somewhat in the span of the night.
“At last”, Agory breathed and lunged forward, plunging his last needle straight into the man’s heart, better to make sure the fluid entered the bloodstream right away, no point messing around with finding the right vein on his neck. He had waited too long to exercise precision, the job needed doing now, and after ridding himself of the Doctor and his friend Sarah, he could finally set his plan in motion.
Yet when he thrust the needle into Illington’s heart his whole chest seemed to compress and follow the finely tipped point as it tore through the crumpled clothes. It was only when he placed his hand on his chest that he realised he had been tricked; the clothes were mounted and stuffed on something else other that a body.
“NO!” he cried at the top of his voice, before flinching as the decoy Illington was thrust aside and the full light of the ship blinded him. Four arms reached out and pulled him inside, thrusting him down into a chair.
“Lord Illington!” he could hear Sarah calling, and as his eyes accustomed to the light he could see the doors closing and the young girl throwing what looked like a pile of rope to Illington. He could feel him binding him with it, tying him tightly to the chair and then standing back, his image coming fully back to sharpness as his sight finally cleared.
***
“Not going to ask about the ship?” the Doctor asked him whilst leaning over the console from the other side of the vast console room. Agory had said nothing since they had bundled him into the chair and tied him up. He had looked around at the glowing walls full of roundels and the grand console that stood at the centre of the room, but seemed to take it in his stride; more concerned with his own situation in terms of having lost his much needed mobility.
“What ship?” Agory asked with contempt.
“This”, the Doctor glanced around the large glowing room, “Not going to ask why it’s bigger on the inside than the outside, most people have the courtesy to”
“It’s because the inside is in a different place to the…” Lord Illington began excitedly.
“Oh shut up you pompous fool”, Agory snapped.
“Now, now”, the Doctor said as if scolding a child, “there’ll be no name calling on my ship.” He grinned and then flicked a few more switches, setting the ship in motion as the engines groaned slowly to life and the central column began to rise and fall amidst the flashing buttons of the console. He stared, transfixed to the motion for a moment, as if slightly perturbed by events that had gone before, before looking back at Agory. “So, now to business”, he continued, standing up to his full towering height and staring at him with his sparkling eyes over the console, his face occasionally obscured as the column rose and flickered.
“What business?” Agory said with growing contempt, his eyes cold and dark, his nose no more than two slits for nostrils and his lips pursed tightly.
“I need to get to your laboratory in 1765”, the Doctor explained, “I’ve got a few samples to I need to collect.”
“Do you really think I’m going to tell you?” Agory scoffed. “Do you really think I’ll let you get your hands on those chemicals?”
“Indeed I do.”
“Then you must be a greater fool than I expected”, Agory let out the hint of a smile.
“Either you tell me the location of the lab or I use a handy little gadget from my workshop to extract the information from your brain with considerable discomfort.”
“I didn’t know you cared”, Agory quipped.
“Discomfort to you, Agory”, the Doctor replied, causing the bound man to sigh.
“My humour is wasted on you Doctor”, he replied before giving Sarah and Illington, who were undressing the hat stand and packing the props back in a large wooden trunk, a look of disgust.
“So what is it to be?” the Doctor asked, still perched on the console, “truth or dare?” Agory thought for a second, shuffling in his chair and pulling unhappy faces, unmasking his apparent discomfort through his usual cool and threatening demeanour.
“London”, he said simply and quietly, “Kensington…”
***
“Are we there yet?” Sarah asked, wondering whether it was apt to inject a little humour into the situation. She had returned the trunk to the cupboard and joined the Doctor by the console as he programmed the ship’s flight.
“Just about, not far to go in space, simple jump back in time”, the Doctor replied, jabbing at the controls as Sarah stood by his side and Lord Illington towered in the corner, watching the struggling Agory. “In fact…” the engines swelled and roared once more and then came to a sudden stop. A large thud indicated they had arrived and the two travellers looked at each other, happy that outside lay the answer to solving the problems they had stumbled across what seemed like a lifetime ago. They sought comfort in the fact they were together again, the way it always should be.
“Why do it Ian?” Lord Illington asked with a stone face from the corner of the room. “Why kill all those people, just to sit on a golden throne and bark your hollow orders? What could drive you to do such things?”
“Power”, he replied simply and let his lips curl into a stubborn smile. The Doctor looked on in disapproval and Sarah looked sadly at the floor. Lord Illington finally seemed able to shed a tear for his dead wife, and looked over to the sky.
“I do believe my bonds are loose”, Agory muttered under his breath, just loud enough for everyone to hear. The Doctor and Sarah saw through his japery straight away and turned back to the console, but Lord Illington stepped forward, reaching over him to tie the bonds again.
“No! Sarah called but it was too late. Lord Illington keeled over, choking and as Agory looked on triumphant, he rolled over on the floor. As he gurgled his last, drawn-out breaths Sarah and the Doctor could see the cause of his pain; a large knife extruding from his heart.
***
“Right, I’ll go and fetch the sample of fluid, Sarah you keep your eye on him, use this if he tries to escape again.” The Doctor said as he flung his long billowing scarf over his shoulder, adjusted his hat atop his dark brown locks and handed Sarah a small tube-like object.
“What’s this?” she asked with a distinct quiver of fear in her voice, not daring to turn back and face the now more tightly bound Agory.
“Muscle compressor; press the red button on the top and he’ll be paralysed for an hour or two.”
“But…I can’t…You” she began to protest, but the Doctor stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“You can Sarah, I know you can.” They smiled together once more before the Doctor looked over at Agory in contempt and then reached over to open the doors, moments later breathing deeply whilst stepping outside to the dim-lit space beyond.
***
The laboratory was hardly the glistening white acropolis of the TARDIS’ facilities but for the time it was advanced enough, or rather it had been.
The equipment that once lined the shelves and tables had been blown to the ground, either smashed or upturned or emptied. The back wall was covered in the green serum that had mutated Agory, glowing faintly in the dark on the night outside.
“Impossible to land in daylight I suppose”, the Doctor quipped and slowly walked over to the wall, glass being broken underfoot, chemicals fizzing and corroding the benches and the distant chanting of a drunkard in the street outside. As he approached he looked on as the liquid slowly seeped down the wall. He could see a deep intrusion into the otherwise perfectly smooth surface, where the cleaning lady had tried to clear the mess away.
The Time Lord reached forward and narrowly avoided touching the serum, instead feeling how warm it was.
“About sixty-four degrees”, he noted then reached into one of the deep pockets of his flowing coat, plucking out a large glass beaker sealed with a chunky red plastic seal.
He placed the tip of the glass against the wall and scooped it upwards, letting the warm serum pour inside and collect in the bottom. When the beaker was two thirds full he took a handkerchief from pocket and wiped away the excess around the rim and on the outside. He placed the seal on the top and as it hissed closed he turned to the TARDIS, which awaited him in the corner, providing the only light in the room.
As he stepped forward, ready to board the ship again he passed a pile of paper sitting on one of the tables. Some of it had been eroded by the spilt chemicals but the top piece was very much whole. It was a doodle Agory must have drawn, the reality of which he had seen some fifty year later on the side of a plane; the emblem of Britain, the snake eating it’s own tail.
The Time Lord sighed then continued again, unaware of a globe sitting in the corner in the shadow of the ship; it had been caught up in the blast and some of the serum had splattered across its surface, now eroding away leaving only a few remains of matter left; the world had fallen.
***
As the Doctor returned to the ship, head bowed to the ground, the first sight that met him was the crushed remains of the Muscle Compressor scattered across the floor. As he looked up from the devastation a far grimmer sight awaited him in the corner of the room.
Near to the scanner Agory’s bonds lay fallen by his chair. Agory himself stood not far beyond them, and Sarah was not far across from him. She was struggling to be let free but he had a hand clasped across her mouth, pulling her close to him and the blood-covered knife he had pointing into her back.
