Doctor Who: The Devil Goblins From Neptune (26 page)

Inside the aircraft a man whom the Brigadier recognised strode over towards him, a sickly smile on his lips. 'Ah, Brigadier. Delighted you could join us.'

'Mr Davis,' said the Brigadier, with as much civility as he could muster. 'Or whatever your real name is.'

'Bruce.' said the man matter-of-factly.

'I haven't been in touch with Captain Yates recently,' said the Brigadier, 'but, seeing you here, I wouldn't have to be a genius to put two and two together, would I?'

'And your conclusion is?'

'From what I saw back in the warehouse, I'd imagine you were working for the CIA!'

'That's very astute of you.' observed Bruce. 'I'm not sure what you saw in the material that Houghton's men had borrowed, but you may as well know that we have a long-standing interest in ALFs and UFOs.' Bruce snorted. 'I'll admit, I was sceptical at first, but the evidence I've seen...'

'Evidence?' queried the Brigadier. 'You should be aware that any material regarding possible encounters with alien life forms should be handed to -'

'I'll let my friend explain.' interrupted Bruce, moving towards the door of the B-52. A grey-suited man strode into the light, looking the Brigadier up and down.

'I'm heading out on a different plane,' said Bruce, his back still turned. 'I don't suppose we'll meet again. It's not been a pleasure.'

Once the doors had clanged shut again, Lethbridge-Stewart turned to the other man. 'And you are?'

'Names are not important.' said the man. 'What is important is that you recognise that UNIT are the new kids on the block. We've gotten quite used to getting to the alien life forms first. And we've never handed over a damn thing.'

'How long has this been going on?' asked the Brigadier.

'You mean contact with aliens? For us, it all began back in the 1940s.' The man paused as the plane manoeuvred for take-off. 'I'm a fair man, Lethbridge-Stewart. If you really want to know the truth about the extraterrestrials then I'll show you

- everything.'

'Could you give us the layman's tour of Neptune?' asked the BBC's Space Correspondent, to the relief of the assembled pressmen. Most of the first ten minutes of Professor Trainor's press conference had been depressingly technical, and filled with impenetrable jargon. The boys from the tabloids were looking bored and restless, and even the journalist from the New Scientist had a faraway look in his eyes.

As far away as the nearest boozer, at least.

'Certainly.' said the professor, with a slightly irritated sigh that seemed to ask what was wrong with the explanations he had previously given. 'Perhaps Mark can field this one.'

'What? Oh, yeah, right ... ' Mark Wilson sat up from a slumped position in the seat next to Trainor. He had hoped to get away without saying anything during the event and had been delighted with his lack of involvement so far. Now, sadly, he was going to have to sing for his supper.

'Well, Neptune's a blue planet, the eighth in our solar system, midway between Uranus and Pluto.' he said. Even the man from the Sun was finally scribbling something in his notebook. It was discovered in the 1840s, and is the smallest of the four "gas giants". It has a very eccentric orbit, at times being the furthest planet from the sun. We know very little about the planet, but we can tell from observations carried out in this country, and in America, that the atmosphere is made up largely of hydrogen and helium, that the surface temperature is minus four hundred degrees Fahrenheit, with wind speeds exceeding one thousand miles per hour.'

'Not, perhaps, the most hospitable of places to visit.' said Trainor with a quick chuckle that most of the press sycophantically joined in with.

'So, is there any chance of life on Neptune?' the man from the Daily Mirror asked.

In a word, no.' stated Trainor. 'Mind you, we said the same about Mars...' He turned to Wilson with a wicked grin.

'Sorry to interrupt, Mark. Please continue.'

'Thanks.' said Mark. 'Neptune has two moons that we know of - Triton and Nereid - and possibly several more. Our most recent probe has confirmed a faint series of rings, similar to those around Saturn. We're very interested in Triton, the larger of the moons, which is pink and almost planet-sized. Preliminary results suggest that it may have a nitrogen-based atmosphere.'

'Any chance of life there?' asked the disgruntled man from the Mirror.

'None whatsoever,' said Trainor. can guarantee there are no little green men on, or near, Neptune!'

* * *

He found himself a seat just as Trainor cracked his glib joke.

Rose joined in with the laughter around the room. And he continued to snigger long after the subject had changed.

Benton was taken to one of the caravans by several of the Venus People. He was given a white smock to put on and had his other clothes taken away.

If you wanna be one of us, you got to look like one of us.'

said Scouse with a snarl that suggested he still wasn't convinced by Benton's story.

After a while, Arlo appeared at the caravan door.

Is he ready to rock, or what?' he asked, and Benton was brought to the fireside, where all of the Venus People sat in a large circle. 'This is the appointed place.' said Arlo solemnly, as Benton was forced to kneel before him.

'What's all this in aid of?' asked Benton.

'The Treatment,' said Arlo. 'This is where you enlist again, soldier boy. You've got to go through the ceremony, or, like, it's no deal. Dig?'

'Dug.' said Benton, and swallowed as Arlo pulled a large dagger from his voluminous kaftan.

'Where those of the former age turned to violence and the spilling of blood, we turn away from such things.'

announced Ada to the hushed Venus People. He hurled the knife into the fire. where it landed on the remains of Benton's handgun.

'Where those of the former age lived by words, we live by deeds.' said Arlo, pulling pages from what seemed to be an old leather-bound Bible. He threw these into the fire.

'Where those of the former age looked to a new heaven and a new earth, we look beyond this planet for our deliverance.' He took something from his pocket. 'This is our body,' said Arlo to Benton in a whisper.

Benton looked at Arlo's outstretched hand, and saw a flying-saucer-shaped sherbet sweet.

'Eat.' said Arlo.

Benton took the sweet and slipped it into his mouth. He felt the rice paper exterior crumble on his tongue, and tasted the bitter sherbet within. He grimaced as his mouth went momentarily numb.

'Come in.' said Arlo. 'Come in. The ceremony is about to begin.' 'What the hell was...?' Benton managed to mumble.

'The sacrificial wafer. With a mescaline coating. Time to fly, soldier boy.'

'I feel... I feel odd.’ said Benton, his voice sounding muffled and slurred.

'Take it as it comes.' said Saddest Moon. 'It's the weirdest trip, baby. But good, you know?'

Just let yourself float downstream.' continued Starchild.

'Relax.'

'Can't.' said Benton, struggling to hold his fragmenting mind together. It's too much... '

He screamed as his senses flooded with information.'

everything was expanding, becoming more intense. Colours were brighter, sounds sharper. He felt as though his eyeballs were on statks and he was seeing everything from a new, strange perspective.

Around him, people's faces were melting, coagulating into new shapes.

'He can't handle it.' he heard someone say, but Arlo's voice cut through everything like a hot knife through butter.

'It's cool.' said Arlo strongly.

Benton looked towards the sky. It was the bluest sky he had ever seen in his life. Bluer than blue.

'I'm up there.' he suddenly said.

'sure man, sure.' soothed Arlo.

then the sky began to darken.

Benton began to panic. 'They're coming.' he shouted, his hands shaking in front of his face as he tried to cover his eyes to shut out the overwhelming sensations.

'What a mong.' said Scouse with a sarcastic sneer. 'He can't take

But others were looking to the skies and gasping. The sky was black with countless twittering raven-like shapes, flocking over them.

'Oh Jesus.' said Arlo, without any apparent irony. Behind him, the goblins began to swoop down on to their prey.

Mike Yates stared back at the reflection of himself in the mirror, his face covered with shaving cream. 'And another thing.' he said, waving his Wilkinson Sword razor for emphasis. 'This Valentina Whatsherbloodyname. Now, I'm no chauvinist, but I don't see why she should be placed in charge of UNIT in the Brigadier's absence.'

Sounds like chauvinism to me
.

'No, absolutely not,' said Yates, finally beginning to shave. 'Women have many noble and varied qualities. But they're simply not as strong as men in a physical situation. A biological fact. End of story.' He paused. 'People always get me wrong about this.' I actually believe in women's lib. But you've got to draw the line somewhere, haven't you? I mean, that women's football team that wants to get into the league

... It's just stupid. They've got Chelsea - what more do they want?'

Satisfied, Yates worked at the bristles on his upper lip for a moment.

Perhaps their brains make up for the lack of brawn.

'Look, this thing with the Russian woman isn't really about feminism.' he stated firmly. 'It's a matter of national sovereignty. We're both captains. She's coming to the UK. So I should be in charge.'

Before the inner voice could say another word there was a knock at the door. 'It's Corporal Bell, sir. Come to drive you to Baize Norton.'

'Come in, Carol,' said Yates. won't be a jiffy.'

There was a pause. 'Are you alone?'

Mike was surprised. 'Yeah. Why do you ask?'

thought I heard voices.'

'Oh,' said Mike, his face flushing beneath the shaving foam.

'Oh, I was... I was just doing the crossword.'

In the bathroom? You bark!

Bell paused. 'I'll just wait out here, if you don't mind,' she said.

Yates arrived at Brize Norton just as the VC10 touched down.

He stepped from the car, pulling on his peaked cap, and strode across to the plane.

The Doctor, Liz and Shuskin came down the steps and on to the runway. All seemed tired, and Yates was shocked to see that the Doctor's face was covered with tiny cuts.

'Welcome back.' he said brightly.

'Hello, Mike.' said the Doctor.

'How's Benton?' asked Liz.

was OK, but he released himself from hospital, and no one's seen hide nor hair of him since.'

'You have received our preliminary report?' asked Shuskin, cutting through the small talk.

'Yes, sir. You must be relieved that the number of aliens at the Siberian bridgehead is diminishing rapidly.'

'We now have wider concerns, Captain.' said Shuskin.

'We need to find their site in Great Britain.'

'Not that we can be entirely convinced that they mean to attack here, either,' said the Doctor. 'The Waro have devastated entire worlds. They will almost certainly strike where we least expect them.'

Liz shook her head. 'No,' she said firmly. was thinking about that on the plane. You said you don't believe in coincidences. Well, what can be more coincidental than us finding out that the Waro come from one of Neptune's moons just as British Rocket Group are announcing the results of their latest probes to the planet?'

'You think there's a connection?' asked Yates.

'Liz has a point.' said the Doctor. 'What if one of the BRG

probes went to Triton?'

'So Professor Trainor has been working for the Waro?'

'Possibly.' said the Doctor, his eyes downcast. 'Or perhaps they're forcing him to cooperate. No one in England knows more about Neptune and its satellites than Trainor.'

'Which means at the very least he is a target.' said Yates.

'How was the press conference?' asked the Doctor.

'Went without a hitch yesterday.’ Yates smiled, seeing what the Doctor was getting at. 'But then, anyone with designs on the professor would hardly want to kidnap him from under the eyes of UNIT.'

'Whereas today?'

'He's unguarded.'

'I'II go up and see him,' said Liz.

'No.' said Yates. don't want you putting your life at risk when we have no idea -'

'But we don't want to alarm him - or those who are watching him - either,' interrupted Liz. have a legitimate reason to be there.'

'This sounds sensible,' said Shuskin.

She'd been silent for so long Yates was starting to think she wasn't even listening. He glared at her, when her face was turned away, but said nothing.

'I'll take that as agreement.' said Liz.

The Doctor was about to say something when Yates's radio crackled into life. Even over the hissing static Yates could tell it was Benton. And he was screaming.

'They've come up out of the stones! The goblins are here!'

Viscount Rose sat in the drawing room of his father's stately home. He looked up from The Times, casting a jaundiced eye around the room. The Rossettis and Hunts and the other early works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood would be the next to go, exquisite works of art and priceless family heirlooms sacrificed to the greater good. But so be it. Rose's reward lay in heaven, or at least somewhere far beyond these rooms of dust and decay that stank of mothballs.

He laughed out loud. Perhaps he would sell the Bronzino in the hall. That had always been his father's particular favourite.

An almost inaudible rap on the door was followed by the entrance of his butler.

'What is it, Miller?' Rose asked, angry at the interruption.

'My apologies, sir, but the young gentleman is here to see you.'

'What?' Rose sat upright. 'That scruffy, good-for-nothing vagabond has dragged his stinking carcass here?'

'Indeed, sir,' said Miller gravely. 'He's in the great hall.