‘Are these things still dangerous dead?’
‘Relatively, their minds contain a cosmic link that can last for generations, sometimes aeons. Although from the look of this one, it had barely any chance to thrive at all.’
The hive shook in a low groan of frenzy. They each held onto one another. Steadying their standings, Tegan became curious about the poor souls lost in the fallen spacecraft.
‘Do you think that the spaceship crash-landing here was an accident?’
‘In my experience accidents never happen unless absolutely necessary.’
They made their way along an uneven stretch of filthy terrain. Light shone around them while thinly veiled in a potent stream of noxious gases. An unruly pool of green matter lay ahead, cocooned in an immersion of living fauna.
‘Stop, now’s the time we should be cautious.’
In the slight step of their shoe soles, they could see a full grown Wirrn gestating in a wall-bound chamber, and further away other cocoons bubbled before them in their dozens.
‘Oh my good heavens.’ said Tegan.
They came to a three way section of passages, two corridors to either side beside them, and one passage leading down into a rotting birthing complex.
From behind, the Black Guardian appeared in the guise of an upper body broadcast, ‘Hello, my enemy, this is your one true deceiver.’
Tegan and the Doctor lean away, ‘What do you want with us?’
‘I would have thought that was obvious. You have eluded my capture in the past, but now, I trust that you will never escape my diabolical Wirrn hive.’
The Doctor replied, ‘This is not the product of a sound mind. These creatures cannot be bargained with, and that spacecraft… what have you done with it?’
‘Mere moments, Doctor. I have spent lifetimes building this place. It began with the corruption of a young helmsman on a space freighter, in nightmares worse than you can imagine, I plunged his ship towards this planet and sank it into a bath of living Wirrn plasma.The first colony lived and died out many decades ago, but now, a new breed are growing stronger, and I trust that you will not be strong enough to stop them!’
A tendril burst through some nearby membrane. More feelers made their way through falling dollops of sludge, ‘Oh dear…’
‘…Run!’ said the Doctor.
An insane laugh echoed from behind them, Tegan and the Doctor ran through the chamber. Almost seven Wirrn bodies emerged alongside.
‘Be careful! Don’t touch any membrane!’
The Doctor held onto his hat while an updraft caught them. They stood near another gouged column of orange bubbles with only a trifle sense of orientation.
‘This way.’ said the Doctor, and he ran ahead.
Turlough deflected through some long oblong powdery hallway. The screams in his mind kept him tense as the hive seemed to rock back and forth. The young man lost his balance and plunged his foot into a burst of spore ridden fungus.
‘Doctor? Doctor? Are you here!?’ he screamed.
Out of sight, and away from the Wirrn horde. Tegan and the Doctor both stop to listen.
‘Doctor! Doctor! Can you hear me!?’ screamed Turlough.
‘Yes! Yes! I can hear you!’
‘The TARDIS is waiting in the spacecraft!’
‘We know! Keep agile! Try to meet us there, safely!’
A Wirrn appeared over their shoulders. Tegan shook the Doctor and they both ran away. She sped around a distant corner, but the Doctor stood curiously by an upright mossy pillar.
Darkly, the Wirrn horde emerged from the shadows.
The Doctor’s hat had fallen from the speed as He and Tegan found an open wall ahead of them; brightly grey and wide open through the ground and ceiling. Spirals of rotting hide all conjoined down into the thin little streams of plasma. At the crest of a plateau they could see down upon the broken spacecraft.
‘From the point of their birth, the Wirrn are at their most dangerous.’
‘I kind of figured that out for myself.’ Tegan said
Bunches of Wirrn all swarmed around the plateau; green ebullient membrane glowed upon their brown scaly hides, each hissing in haughty fits of desperation.
The Doctor became careful with his balance. He stood firm with his legs leaning sturdily. Tegan held onto his fingers and hopped down onto the level peelings.
The Wirrn slithered and watched the two as they make their way towards the ship.
Turlough had run from a detached balcony overlooking the entire scene. ‘Doctor, there’s an opening on the other side!’ he screamed.
‘Good. Get down here, we haven’t much time.’
Turlough dropped along the slope with his feet trembling downwards. He hopped over little pools of membrane careful to make his way into the hands of Tegan.
The Wirrn began to descend while the Doctor led them all around the spacecraft. He slid over a broken wing, and back on his feet again in a gentle lumber. The three of them found their way to the opening.
‘All right, be careful.’ and he nursed Tegan into the craft, ‘You can trust this is my shortest jaunt with the Black Guardian, Turlough.’
A great voice rang through the chamber, ‘Doctor, your time is finished! Prepare to serve me in the guise of your worst enemy!’
‘Into the ship.’ he said.
Tegan led ahead through a crooked shadowy hallway as the Doctor and Turlough followed as best they could. Turlough stumbled against the wall to steady himself.
The Wirrn came down in droves around the ship. A fresh batch of new-born telepaths rallying in packs with their hums of thirst retched in their grimly green radiance.
The trio went deeper within the spacecraft, and Turlough came to the aid of Tegan, guiding her through the corridor. ‘It’s this way.’ he said, and lunged through a cobweb.
The Wirrn began to enter the spacecraft.
‘Is there a computer in this vessel?’ said the Doctor.
‘I noticed one in the cockpit. We’re almost there.’
They came into an enclosed chamber. The TARDIS stood before them in a cool blue shade. Away from the two young companions, the Doctor checked if the computer had any residual powers.
‘Just as I thought, the system’s still active!’
The Wirrn were piling in behind them. Tegan ran for the door and blocked it with her shoulder, just in time to see the first one come into vision.
A relay of network energy glows before his eyes and the Doctor began to shuffle through a series of digital cross-references, ‘Hold them back! We need time!’
The screeches and hums became deafening. Turlough lunged at the door and braced it with his hands, ‘We can’t hold them back, indefinitely.’
‘It’s not indefinite, when there’s only a short amount of time left.’ he said, and typed with his fingers chattering furiously, ‘I’ve indicated a self-destruct order into the computer’s central ordinance systems.’
He stood back from the monitor, ‘We have 20 seconds from this point.’ and he slapped at the keyboard, ‘Alright, into the TARDIS!’
Tegan and Turlough came away from the door; it burst open to reveal a new-born Wirrn. The TARDIS doors opened and the two young companions ran inside. Three frothing Wirrn entered the cockpit as the TARDIS doors closed.
The Doctor typed some coordinates into the trans-dimensional transduction mainframe. In the space of a second, the TARDIS dematerialized from Alpha Andromeda 5, and while in the gulf of an astral rotation, an enormous explosion engulfed the hive.
It was all too quick for them to remember. Just a brief pocket in time for the TARDIS crew to apply some universal justice, ‘We really need to take a vacation.’ said Tegan.
All of a sudden the lights went out and a subtle red tinge alit around them, ‘Is it another short circuit?’ said Turlough, nervously.
‘I’m not sure. It shouldn’t be too brief, but who knows, maybe it’s a sign we should search around for some leisure time.’ said the Doctor, and Turlough’s eyes roll.
The console glowed behind Turlough while he sat down on the floor clutching his knees. He could see a chess set over in the corner, and wonders if Tegan might like a game presently.
written by
MATTHEW SENKOWSKI
copyright 2015
artwork by
COLIN JOHN
copyright 2015