5. 'WORK, DAMN IT! WORK!'
In the thick gloom of the underground passage way, echoed a sharp click and the tunnels were lit by the very long, very thin bright white neon glare.‘Ah, success!’ the Doctor said, and headed down one of the tunnels.
‘What did you mean up there, when you said "this is what we’ve been hoping for"?’ Mel asked.
‘Haven’t you guessed? This is the Cadinollium hibernation tunnels...well one level down anyway. Come on, we’ve got work to do.’
~~~
*Place: Reserve Committee Rooms - Arillion Council*
*Time: 84.432*
*Topic of discussion: How to get out of Gabriel’s mess*
Second in command, Lowk Vanello, finished the last of his typing into the data banks and turned to his six fellow leaders and council members. 'So what is being done to counter-act this...this Malus?’
‘Nothing, Lowk Vanello.’
‘Nothing?’
‘Nothing.’
Silence.
‘Can’t we do anything?’
‘No. Since we abandoned the old ways, and chose the path of pacifism we have no means of combating the creature.’
‘Lowk Ragellitan - you have something to say?’
‘Yes, Lowk Vanello. It is rumoured that the Time Lord is providing a suitable solution to our problems.’
‘Oh good, we’ll leave it in his capable hands.’
*Meeting finished: Time 84.567*
*Solution: Leave it to the Time Lord*
*File: Closed*
~~~
‘This looks like it,’ he said and examined the door from top to bottom, inch by inch.
‘What are you looking for?’ asked Mel, as her eyes followed the Doctor’s hands moving up and down the doorway.
‘A door handle - and any booby traps that a "dead" race might leave to ward off souvenir collectors.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Where?’ asked the Doctor.
‘There, at the top of the door frame, a small red button.’
Even as she was pointing it out, Mel’s hand reached up and pushed the switch. There followed a series of sharp clicks and the door slid upwards, revealing a small cupboard sized room, which they both entered.
‘Going down…’ said the Doctor and pressed the only button in the lift, resulting in the door closing and the room they had entered, plummeted downwards at an incredible speed.
No sooner as it started, it stopped. The lift came to rest at the base of the shaft and the door opened.
They emerged into a large chamber which had a large arched roof in similar proportions in shape and appearance to a huge cathedral, with high, rows of long, glass-like coffins stacked up to the roof.
Each coffin contained a figure that Mel estimated to be eight feet in height. No skin was visible, as each of the warriors were completely bedecked and bristling with the most technically advanced fighting equipment Mel had ever seen.
The Doctor moved over to a row of panels and began randomly flicking switches. A hum rose from the coffins, and lines of blue electricity arced between them as the awakening began.
‘How are we going to get so many warriors up onto the surface in one small lift?’ Mel asked.
‘We’re not,’ came the reply, ‘The Malus is going to come down here.’
‘And how do you intend to do that?’
‘Like this…’ muttered the Doctor and threw the last power lever.
~~~
It was about to smash into the side of one of the many towers, when the Doctor had thrown the lever into operation.
The Malus’s head turned towards the area of the immense power source but all it could see was nothing but open waste land. Like a bear with bees buzzing around it, the Malus fell to its knees and in anger, began to tear at the earth beneath its feet.
The noise of the clawing and digging of the Malus began to shake the underground chamber in which stood the Doctor and Mel.
‘It’s working!’ said the Doctor, grinning at Mel.
‘So are they!’ she said pointing to the warriors, who had started to awake from their century of sleep.
‘And just in time too!’ said the Doctor, and dragged Mel to the lift just as the stony, bony fingers smashed their way through the thick Forastium metal ceiling.
‘Run, Mel!’ he said as the upper arm was soon visible and also one of the evil eyes that Kalikol had sketched before he had died at the hands of the creature.
The first of the Cadinollium flicked his eyes open and smashed his way out of the coffin when he saw the Malus staring at him. Raising his weapons, he unleashed five bolts of laser energy at it and was joined by two, then four then ten fellow warriors as they began to wake. The Malus spread its mouth wide and open and returned a screaming fireball at them.
The battle had begun.
~~~
Lowk Vanello was trying to tell the crowd that standing watching laser bolts fly out of a large hole might seriously damage their health, but they were enraptured.
The Doctor ran to the Lowk, introduced himself and told him to get the people away from the hole. But it was useless. They were all peering down to where their four legendary heroes and their warriors were raging war on a solitary, fire-breathing Malus.
Once again, Vanello tried to tell them that this wasn’t part of their centenary celebrations, but it was of no use. It was only when one of the spectators suddenly erupted into a six foot walking, screaming torch, did they retreat.
‘What do we do?’ Mel screamed above the chaos, as she and the Doctor retreated also
‘Not much, I’m afraid. Just wait for the inevitable…’ the Doctor called back.
~~~
The four heroes of legend, Yarok, Tarvin, Kellistor and Garkarikon held an emergency summit and finally gathered all their remaining grenades and ammunition in front of them.
The Malus glanced down at what seemed a surrender and roared. One more shot hit it out of the blue and it screamed in pain before breathing a great trail of flame downwards.
The cry of "For Arillios!" went up from the Cadinollium, as the flames ignited their equipment and caused an explosion of such proportions that the Malus, the hibernation and the Cadinollium had completely vaporised when the smoke finally cleared.
A crowd of people stood around the TARDIS as the Doctor and Mel prepared to leave.
‘I hope your energy banks are totally recharged, Doctor.’ said Lowk Vanello, supervising the last of the energy tubes being disconnected from the TARDIS. The Doctor’s handheld read-out read:
*Power 100%*
*Drive systems satisfactorily repaired to 100% efficiently*
‘Yes, thank you, Vanello, your team of technicians have certainly done a fine job on the old girl. I only need to repair the main console, but the secondary unit is quite useable.’
‘And thank you, Mel, for being so brave in helping the Doctor…’
‘Oh, it was nothing,’ she replied, catching the Doctor’s grin.
‘Well, in one hundred years you’ll have another celebration to commemorate,’ said the Doctor, ‘the vanquishing of the Malus by the Cadinollium. Oh, one last favour please, Vanello…’
‘Yes, Doctor anything you ask.’
‘Promise me that you won’t use the lance laser projectors next time, eh?’ With that he raised his hat and he and Mel entered the TARDIS. There was nothing for a minute or two and Vanello could clearly hear from inside:
‘Work, damn it, work!!’
‘Try hitting it, Doctor…’
A thump could be heard, and then a groaning noise filled the air as the TARDIS left Arillios and its people to rebuild their city.
Vanello stayed a while longer until the sound of running feet neared him. It was a guard.
Lowk Vanello, I think you should come and look at this...it appeared just after you re-energised the Doctor’s TARDIS…’
Vanello had seen it. Staring past the guard, he saw a sheet of white mist tumbling across the grass towards him, shrouding a huge mound….
‘No,’ he whispered, ‘No!’
THE END?
written by
ROBERT HAMMOND
copyright 2009
artwork by
COLIN JOHN
copyright 2009