Apollo 23 Page 15

  'That's right. You're all in there, I'm pleased to say. All mixed up together in the fire suppression tank. Molecules swirling round. The tiniest part of your data in every drip and drop of water in there.'

  Reeve laughed. 'I don't know what you thought you were doing, but you've destroyed them. You've killed all those people you were so desperate to save.'

  'You think so?' the Doctor murmured.

  Reeve glanced away, just for a second, sharing the joke with the other soldiers. Just a second, but it was all the Doctor needed. He whipped out his sonic

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  screwdriver and pointed it at the nearest fire alarm -on the opposite wall.

  The small glass panel on the alarm point shattered. A siren cut in immediately. The display screen the soldier was using flashed up a message:

  Fire Alert - Inert Gas Sprinklers Activated.

  'It'll take a little while for the water to get along the pipes to the sprinklers,' the Doctor said. He almost had to shout to be heard above the alarm. 'Major Carlisle should have locked open all the internal doors and bulkheads, and rigged it so all the sprinklers will go off, not just the ones in this area. I also opened a constant flow from the main reservoir so there'll be plenty of water.'

  'You're mad,' Reeve said. 'If Jackson had wiped your mind, he'd have done you a favour. As it is, he won't need to.'

  Reeve took a step back. He gripped his gun in both hands, aiming straight at the Doctor. On the far side of the cavern, water burst from a roof-mounted sprinkler. Then from another, and another. All across the vast space, water fell like rain.

  'I might have known you didn't really have a plan at all, '

  Reeve said. His finger tightened on the trigger.

  'I have a brilliant plan. The only downside...' the Doctor told Reeve as a sprinkler directly above showered water down around them '... is that we all get wet.'

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  'The only downside’ Reeve retorted, 'is that you die.' He pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot echoed off the rock walls.

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  The water was cold on her face, running down her cheeks like tears. Major Carlisle stared at the monitor showing the images from several security cameras in astonishment.

  'How in hell has he done that?' she said out loud. She laughed. 'That's brilliant. Bizarre, but brilliant.' She had to get back to the computer facility and ask him to explain what was going on. No, she decided, first she had to get to the Process Chamber and check that Amy was all right.

  Carlisle ran from the control room. The images from the cameras showed soldiers and scientists all round the base -

  just standing absolutely still. Their heads were nodded forwards, as if they had simply fallen asleep.

  'I am so glad to see you,' Amy said as Major Carlisle undid the straps holding her into the chair. 'How did 211

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  the Doctor do it? No, forget that - first tell me what he's done.'

  The last strap came free, and Carlisle stepped back to let Amy out of the process chair. Nearby, a soldier stood lazily as if he was asleep. His head was nodded forward on his chest and his eyes were closed. Water from the sprinklers ran down his face and dripped from his hair.

  'Don't ask me’ Carlisle said. 'Everyone's like this. Nurse Phillips is the same in the observation room, just like the guards outside.'

  'Everyone except Jackson,' Amy told her. 'He legged it when the guard there got the slumps. It's like...' She rubbed furiously at her wrists to try to get some circulation back. 'It's like that soldier was when he blanked out after sabotaging the systems.'

  'Is that what the Doctor's done? Blanked them all again somehow?'

  'Let's ask him. And he needs to know it didn't work on Jackson, so come on.'

  'Let's hope we can turn these sprinklers off soon.'

  They passed several soldiers on the way. All of them were slumped forward, as if sleeping. By the time they reached the cavern, Amy and Carlisle were both completely drenched.

  'I'll never be dry again,' Amy complained.

  'I suppose it is just water’ Carlisle said as they started down the steps. Water ran and dripped through the metal mesh of the treads under their feet.

  'Oh thanks for that’ Amy said. 'Goodness knows how much of it I've swallowed.'

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  'But it hasn't affected us.'

  'Apart from making us wet. Still...' Amy said as they reached the bottom of the step and saw the Doctor. Despite the situation, she couldn't stop herself from laughing at the sight. 'Could be worse.'

  He was holding up Captain Reeve's slumped body from behind, standing directly under a sprinkler head. The water splashed and cascaded off the two of them. The Doctor's hair was plastered down the side of his face, covering one eye. He glared at Amy.

  'It's not that funny’ he said.

  'What are you doing?' Amy s houted above the sound of the water.

  'If I let him go, he'll fall.'

  'You shouldn't have moved him,' Carlisle said. 'The others are balanced all right.'

  Several soldiers were standing clos e by, heads bowed and shoulders slumped. Another was sprawled forwards over a keyboard and display screen.

  'I was just doing a little experiment,' the Doctor said.

  'Here help me put him down. Yes, here, under the sprinkler.

  I want him to get a really good dose. Let's see if it speeds things up.'

  Carlisle carefully removed the pistol from Reeve's hand.

  'Bit late for that,' the Doctor told her. 'He's already taken his shot.'

  'What? Where?' Amy exclaimed. 'Are you hurt?'

  'No, he missed. It was just as the effect of the water got to him. Lucky for me. He slumped forward and the shot bounced off the floor somewhere.'

  'So don't keep us in suspense,' Amy said. 'What is 213

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  it with this water? Why are they all blanked out?'

  "Their minds are trying desperately to adapt.'

  On the floor between them, Reeve groaned and moved, curling into a protective ball.

  'Looks like it's working’ the Doctor went on.

  'What did you do?' Carlisle asked. 'What's in the water?'

  'They are. Their minds, at least. Remember what I said about a glass of water in the ocean? I mixed all the water containing the backed-up minds into the tank that's feeding the sprinklers. Just like Amy's own brain managed to latch on to her mind imprint when she drank her back-up, Captain Reeve is absorbing the tiniest part of his own mind through his skin.'

  'In the water from the sprinklers,' Carlisle realised.

  'Holograms.'

  'You what?' Amy said. 'Look, am I the only person here who speaks human?'

  'The whole of the mind-print encoded in every molecule,' the Doctor explained. 'Every drop of water that touches us contains the diluted mind-prints of everyone Jackson wiped. The first effect is to purge the brain of the alien influence, it's rejected as the human brain struggles to reabsorb its own pattern from the water.'

  Reeve was uncurling now and trying to sit up. He looked round in confusion.

  'The more water that hits the skin, the quicker the process,'

  the Doctor said triumphantly.

  'Um, one obvious question,' Amy said. 'If everyone's mind is in every drop of water, how does Reeve's brain know which data to absorb? Won't he

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  get a bit of everyone's mind? Won't that make him one crazy, mixed-up person?'

  The Doctor smiled and clasped his hands together behind his back. 'No, that's the clever thing. Because the brain should be able to identify its own mind-print and just take the data that belongs to it. Like recognising your own car in amongst hundreds in the supermarket car park.'

  'I often get the wrong car,' Carlisle told him.

  Amy walked slowly round the Doctor.
He turned to keep facing towards her. 'You've got your fingers crossed behind your back, haven't you?' she said accusingly.

  The Doctor's smile became slightly fixed. 'Might have.'

  'You have no idea if this is going to work or not?'

  "The theory's sound,' he protested. 'Mostly.'

  Carlis le gestured to Captain Reeve, now getting groggily to his feet. 'I think we're about to find out.'

  Reeve was looking round, confused.

  'He'll be fine,' the Doctor said. 'Really - fine.'

  'Who in blazes are you?' Reeve demanded. 'What am I doing down here?'

  'He's confused,' Amy said. 'Maybe it hasn't worked.'

  'No, it's just that the real Captain Reeve never met us,' the Doctor told her. 'We didn't arrive until after he'd been blanked.'

  'Major?' Reeve asked. 'What's going on?'

  'It's a bit tricky to explain,' Carlisle admitted. 'But it's good to have you back, Captain Reeve.'

  'What's the last thing you remember?' the Doctor 215

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  asked, shining his sonic screwdriver in Reeve's startled face.

  'I was with Professor Jackson and Nurse Phillips, in the Process Chamber. They wanted me to look at something.

  Then...' He shook his head. 'Then this. What's happening?'

  'Alien invasion,' the Doctor said. 'Don't worry about it.

  But we'll need your help.'

  Reeve looked at the three of them: the Doctor grinning manically; Amy smiling in relief and amusement; the usually ice-calm Carlisle as drenched as the rest of them as the water continued to shower down. 'And you wondered if I was mad,'

  he said.

  Amy was starting to shiver. She was soaked through.

  'Can't we turn the sprinklers off now?'

  'Seems so,' the Doctor said. 'Now that everyone's blanked out.' He turned and headed for the stairs, splashing through the deepening puddles.

  'Except Jackson,' Carlisle pointed out.

  The Doctor froze in mid step. 'What?'

  'It didn't seem to affect Jackson,' Amy confirmed. 'He did a runner. Probably hiding out somewhere, or having a calming cup of that tea of his while he plots his next fiendish move. I mean, there's not much he can do on his own, is there?'

  'Why didn't it affect Jackson?' the Doctor demanded. He stared accusingly at Reeve.

  'Don't ask me,' he protested. 'You're the expert. I just got here, remember.'

  The Doctor was running again, but this time towards the aisles of data storage. His foot slapped down in a puddle close to Amy, splashing her legs.

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  'Oh cheers.'

  The Doctor ignored her, frantically pulling open drawers in the huge cabinets. The others hurried to join him. Amy was in time to see him pause as he opened one drawer. They were full of phials of colourless liquid.

  'The phials are all connected to the main systems. I pumped all the water out and into the tank for the sprinklers.

  Then they get refilled from main storage... If Jackson's phial was in here, he must have been mixed in with the others.'

  The Doctor barely glanced at the contents of the drawer before slamming it shut again. He pulled open the next drawer down, and they all saw that one of the phials was missing.

  'It's OK, that's you, Amy.' The Doctor turned and grinned at her. 'I did a pond water joke. Probably not worth repeating though.' He pushed the drawer shut again. The next drawer down was full, and the next.

  Before long, the Doctor had moved to the next cabinet.

  Three drawers down, another phial was missing. The Doctor tapped the empty slot with his finger. 'Want to bet that's the real Professor Jackson?'

  The Control Room was the best place to start looking for Jackson, Major Carlisle suggested. They could also turn off the sprinklers before the base flooded. The Doctor sent Captain Reeve to check on the prisoners in the hub.

  'They were all blanked by Jackson in the last few days.

  I'm hoping the sprinkler systems work over in the cells too and it isn't a separate system.'

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  'Should do,' Reeve said. 'But I'll go take a look.'

  Only certain parts of the base were covered by security cameras. Once she'd turned off the sprinklers, Carlisle checked each camera's image in turn. Most showed soldiers and staff standing slumped from the effects of the water.

  There was no sign of Jackson.

  'How long before they start to recover properly?' Amy wondered, looking at the soldier collapsed across the end of the main control console.

  'Shouldn't be too long. The ones closest to sprinklers should start to wake up first, like Reeve. Though he drank quite a lot too, I think. His mouth was open because he was threatening me when he blanked out.'

  I thought he was shooting you,' Carlisle said.

  'That too. He was multi-tasking.'

  Their conversation was interrupted by an insistent bleeping from one of the consoles.

  'Local radio signal,' Carlisle said. 'Who can that be?' She worked the controls and a voice echoed out of nearby speakers:

  '...repeat, this is Lieutenant Ashton passing over Bas e Diana. Can anyone hear me? Come in, please, Base Diana.'

  The Doctor took the microphone. 'Oh, hi, this is the Doctor. Good to know you're OK. We seem to have things pretty much under control down here. How are you?'

  'I'm fine,' Ashton replied. 'Good to know you're all sorted. Just one thing...'

  'You want to know when you can head home?' the Doctor suggested.

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  'Apart from that. There's like, lightning up here. I don't know how else to describe it.'

  'Lightning?' Amy said. 'Is that possible? I mean, in space?'

  The Doctor rubbed his wet hair vigorously. 'Not really.

  Not lightning lightning. What's it look like?'

  'A streak of light’ Ashton said. 'Like someone's turned on a huge searchlight. I can see it shining across space. Brilliant white light, I can barely look it's so bright.'

  'And where's it shining?' Carlisle asked.

  'That's just it. It's shining right at Base Diana. Right at you.'

  There was silence for several moments. The Doctor's frown deepened.

  Finally, Ashton spoke again: 'Hey, look, I'm going to be passing round the other side of the moon in a couple of minutes, so we'll lose contact. But I thought you should know.

  I'll leave that with you guys, OK?'

  Carlisle told him to call in again on his next orbit, and cut the connection.

  'What is it?' Amy asked the Doctor. ' Something Jackson's done?'

  'Their Plan B,' the Doctor said gravely. 'Should have guessed they'd have one. Jackson's sent them a message and told them to forget thought pattern transference now that we've un-blanked their people here.'

  'But, that's good isn't it?' Carlisle said.

  'Not good,' the Doctor replied. 'Not if I'm right about that light beam.'

  'Why, what is it?'

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  'I think it's a concentrated stream of data. They're not just transferring consciousness and brain wave patterns this time.'

  The main screen was still displaying the view from one of the security cameras. It showed an intersection of several corridors. Two soldiers were slumped by a doorway.

  In the middle of the inters ection, the air seemed to shimmer. A vague shape was forming within the trembling air. Shadows darkened and became more substantial. The shimmer faded, and in its place stood a figure.

  The creature was about the same height as a man. But the limbs were swollen and smooth. Its head was joined directly to the body with no neck, poking out of the plates of metallic body armour that hung round the creature's torso. A single, huge oval-shaped eye stared out from a bulbous head that was breaking out into glutinous pustules. Stubby clawed fingers clutched a brutal-looking gun made of grey metal.

  Slime drip
ped from the creature's pale green skin as it walked slowly towards the camera. It paused for a moment, as if staring into the Control Room. A hole opened beneath its eye - a wide s las h of a mouth, filled with ragged teeth. It raised its glutinous, clawed hands, aiming the gun at the camera. The end of the weapon glowed a livid red, and the screen blacked out.

  'I thought it was just increased bandwidth to send through more Talerian minds. But actually it's a matter transmission beam. Looks like the Talerians are here in force,' the Doctor said quietly. 'And in person.'

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  Th e do or t o th e Cont ro l Ro om slam m ed op en . In t h e doo rway st oo d an oth er o f th e bulbo us, slim y creat ures. It s mo uth sp lit in to wh at m igh t h av e been a sm ile, an d it raised it s gun .

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  As soon as the hideous creature appeared in the doorway, Major Carlis le hurled herself across the room. Her shoulder knocked the gun sideways. A blast of energy hurtled across the room and exploded on the wall, sending out sparks.

  The Talerian's slimy hide was contracted as Carlisle cannoned into the creature's armour, pressing it into the skin.

  But the skin was tightly sprung, like the surface of a balloon, and she found herself bouncing off, and crashing to the floor.

  With a roar of anger, the creature took several squelching steps forwards. It raised its gun again. Amy dragged Carlisle back, while the Doctor watched with apparent interest.

  'You'll probably want to keep us alive’ he told the Talerian.

  'Jackson, or whatever his real name is, wants to wipe our minds.'

  The creature hesitated, gun still aimed at Carlisle 223

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  as Amy helped her up. Then it gave another roar, and fired.

  At the same moment, the blanked and unconscious soldier sprawled across the control console groaned and straightened up. Distracted, the creature turned towards the movement. Again, its shot went wide - blasting part of the console to pieces. The soldier stared in shocked amazement.