Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen (12 page)

The Doctor stood staring at the TARDIS for a moment, a maze of complex options whirling through his brain.

Finally, he decided on the simplest. He picked up a long stick and started to cautiously approach his spaceship.

At Goronwy’s place Gavrok dropped his hand. ‘Open fire!’

he cried and a withering burst of sustained fire ripped out of the trees towards the cottage. Window panes smashed and the walls were pock-marked by explosions as the ear-splitting cacophony continued. At last, Gavrok raised his hand as a signal for the men to stop firing.

The silence was eerie. Gavrok was the first to emerge from the trees, his weapons raised. He and his men fanned out as they carefully approached the cottage. Gavrok felt certain that no one could have survived the firestorm but his instincts told him to he wary.

He and his lieutenant flanked the front door. Gavrok poured another volley of fire through the door then kicked it open. He and his henchman rolled inside, firing wildly, hoping to eliminate any opposition before they had a chance to fire back.

The cottage seemed empty. Gavrok led his men from room to room, finding nothing. His face grew darker with each disappointment until he reached the rearmost room in the house. ‘Blue Moon’ was playing on the radio.

Gavrok put his finger to his lips signalling silence then crashed through the door, firing. The only victim was the old wooden radio with its fretwork grille, which was blasted into smithereens by the furious Gavrok. He whirled on the terrified Callon, standing quaking behind him.

‘Where are they, scum?’ demanded the leader of the Bannerman warfleet. "They... they were here, sir,’ sputtered Callon, fearing that unless he found some trace of the Chimeron Queen, and found it fast, his life would terminate swiftly and painfully. ‘Maybe... maybe they’re outside, sir,’ he gasped. Gavrok glared at him and turned on his heels.

Once outside Gavrok scanned the skies, thinking that they may have escaped vertically, but then something caught his eye. Projecting from under the door of the barn was a scrap of brightly-coloured material. Gavrok smirked and tiptoed up to the locked door. He blasted the heavy brass padlock with a single shot and rushed inside, followed by his men.

Another anti-climax! The barn was empty. Gavrok was about to leave when he heard a sound. A faint rumbling which grew swiftly in intensity until it was like the galloping of a multitide of horses. Gavrok and his men all looked up at the same moment in time to see a wooden feed chute swinging towards them. And tumbling down the chute was the source of the noise – about ten thousand jars of Goronwy’s finest honey. Gavrok opened his mouth to shout but was too late. An instant later the bottles hit their target and smashed, coating them all in gallons of viscous honey, so thick that they could barely move.

Gavrok and his men staggered from the barn in slow motion, trying desperately to see and breathe through the glutinous liquid. When they had managed to wipe the sticky mass from their faces, they proceeded with the task of trying to pick shards of glass from their skins and clothes. Gavrok roared in frustration and cursed the Doctor to the heavens.

However, there was worse to come. As Gavrok and his men slowly made their difficult journey towards the water’s edge they became aware of a distant droning, getting louder each second. Gavrok’s face twisted up towards the new sound and froze in horror. The very sky seemed to darken as a monstrous buzzing filled the valley.

A vast swarm of bees converged on the honey-covered Bannermen.

The Bannermen, who until now had seemed as incapable of movement as flies in amber, were suddenly galvanized into action by the bee attack. They flayed their arms in the air, beating at the attacking bees in an attempt to protect their heads and faces, and fled, led by Gavrok, straight into the waters of the reservoir. Their plunge into the icy depths worked for a brief moment, but each time they surfaced for air the Bannermen were attacked with concentrated ferocity. Gavrok stood up in the water and fired his blaster into the savage swarm but to no avail.

Within seconds he had been forced to duck under the protective waters of the reservoir once again. While in the air above the lake, the bees were grouping for a fresh assault.

At Shangri-La the dining hall had been converted into a sanatorium. The whole affair was somewhat makeshift, consisting of Vinney’s Red Cross box and a number of sheets which Weismuller was tearing into strips. Hawk sat motionless, still deeply shocked by his recent experience.

Even though his brain was dulled from the blast he was making a concerted effort to analyse the day’s events. His head and hand had been bandaged very amateurishly – the strips of sheet wound around his head were already falling down over his ears. Hawk looked a pathetic site. Delta was helping Weismuller prepare the room as a sick bay in the event of a major Bannermen attack.

Although Delta busied herself with her sick bay chores she knew that there was a strong possibility that it would never be used. Tears welled in her eyes when she thought of her beautiful daughter’s life being in mortal danger. She had never hated anyone in her life before, always considering it to be a destructive emotion, however, at this moment in time, Gavrok was the prime recipient of her feeling of loathing.

Just then Burton bustled in, wearing plus fours and his favourite duck-stalking hat. A shotgun was crooked under his arm, and although he looked slightly comical there was nothing amusing about his expression.

‘Has anyone seen Billy?’ he asked impatiently.

‘He’s just checking the fire equipment. I’ll fetch him,’

said Delta and hurried into a small store room. Rows of red-painted fire buckets stood filled with white beach sand.

Billy stood by a length of fire hose and was putting something into his mouth when he heard Delta’s quick footsteps approaching. Whatever it was, he hid it behind his back and turned to face her with a guilty smile. Delta immediately sensed something was wrong. ‘What are you hiding, Billy?’ she demanded.

Billy tried to think of an excuse but realized that it was hopeless. He produced the empty tube of high-protein larva food from behind his back. The colour drained from Delta’s face. ‘Billy! You haven’t been eating it, have you?’

‘I had to, Delta. I’m not a Chimeron, but if I’m to come with you then I have to become one...’ he explained miserably.

‘But it’s never been tried before! It might kill you,’ said Delta, feeling a wave of helplessness sweep over her.

‘It’ll be all right, I think. Look at my hair – and my eyes

– they’re already turning,’ said Billy, looking at his reflection in the stainless steel side of a fire extinguisher.

He tried to sound optimistic, but still felt a certain dread at how the untried chemical might affect a human being.

Delta stepped closer to Billy, checking his eyes. It was true, small green flecks had started to appear around his dark pupils.

Delta felt her heart beating faster as she and Billy stepped closer to each other, seeking comfort in each other’s eyes. Their lips were about to touch when a cough from the door brough them instantly back to reality.

Burton stood there looking faintly embarrassed. ‘Sorry to interrupt, Billy, but I need a hand in the office,’ he said, somewhat more gruffly than was strictly necessary.

‘Sure thing, Mr Burton,’ said Billy, smiling bravely at Delta before following Burton towards his office. Delta looked again at the empty protein tube in her hand and her face grew grave – anything could happen to Billy but this wasn’t the time to think about it. A Bannermen attack could come at any moment.

She was, however, strangely moved by Billy’s actions.

‘He must really love me,’ Delta said out loud, then lapsed into silence. After all, she thought, no rational person would endanger their life without good reason... If they managed to survive all this chaos there would be much to do. Chumeria would never again be the same in her lifetime, but with a good man by her side she could certainly put her beloved planet on the road to recovery.

She felt a warm glow in the pit of her stomach and smiled to herself. How ironic, she thought – at last she had found true love, but she might never live to enjoy it.

Outside the camp, the Doctor was on his hands and knees, drawing a circle in the dirt around the TARDIS.

When he was finished he gingerly poked a stick across the line; it immediately exploded.

The Doctor sighed and got to his feet, dusting himself down. This was going to be a lot more difficult than he had originally thought. Ray appeared at his elbow. ‘What are you doing, Doctor?’ she asked.

‘I’m marking out exactly where the sonic cone meets the ground,’ he said by way of an explanation. Ray looked dumbfounded. ‘Why?’

‘Because the beam comes from above it and casts a small

"shadow" directly around the base of the TARDIS. If we can tunnel under the cone and emerge in the shadow area then I can disarm it. Is there a spade back at the camp?’ he asked, peering with ferocious intensity at the sonic cone atop the TARDIS.

‘Uh... Doctor...’ said Ray, a tremor in her voice.

The Doctor started to brush aside her imagined objections, ‘I know it’s time-consuming but it’s our only choice... ‘ he muttered.

‘Uh... Doctor...’ said Ray again. This time a sense of urgency conveyed itself to theDoctor and he looked at her face. She was looking at something some distance away.

The Doctor followed the line of her eyes and sighed.

‘Sooner than I thought,’ he said in a resigned tone.

The Bannermen fighter had just landed at the far side of the camp and the hatch was already swinging open. ‘Plan B!’ cried the Doctor, grabbing Ray’s hand and running for the safety of the camp as fast as they could.

Inside the dining hall Mel had set up a human chain, ferrying buckets from the fire equipment room to the centre of the hall. Although Hawk was part of the chain he was still in something of a daze and would occasionally tip his bucket onto the floor, turn it end up and sit down, lost in thought. He was in just such a position when the door flew open and the Doctor burst in crying, ‘They’re here!

Delta, you and your daughter come with me. Everyone else remain in here until it’s safe to come out. Did you remember the beeswax, Goronwy?’

Goronwy dug in the pockets of his overall and produced a couple of yellow wax tablets, one of which he passed to the Doctor.

‘Thanks. Where are Burton and Billy?’ he asked.

‘They’re in Mr Burton’s office,’ said Mel.

The Doctor, Delta and the girl all ran from the dining hall. Mel immediately started barricading the doors with up-ended tables. Weismuller and Goronwy were doing their best but they really could have used some help from Hawk, who was still sitting on his bucket and staring into space.

‘Hawk! Do you think perhaps you could make an effort for once. You only suffered a few minor burns,’ said Weismuller irritably. Hawk completely ignored him. ‘I’m gonna put this down in my report, Hawk. And I might not even want to partner you, next time out.’ Hawk was like a marble bust.

Inside Burton’s office things had taken on a distinctly militaristic appearance. Burton took his ancient ceremonial sword off the wall and carefully drew it out of its sheath.

Billy had expected to see a dull and rusty blade, but was impressed by the gleaming, razor-edged weapon with which Burton was energetically slashing the air. He finally handed it to Billy, saying ‘I haven’t used it in over 40 years but it’ll still put the wind up a Bannerman!’

‘I’ll guard the dining hall, Mr Burton,’ said Billy, feeling a rush of courage as the blade whistled through the air.

Burton seemed to have been transported back to another era, sniffing the air, trying to get the scent of battle.

‘Through shot and shell, eh Billy. We’ll teach these blighters a lesson...’

The door opened and the Doctor entered, leading Delta and her daughter. The Doctor surveyed the preparations with some satisfaction. ‘Excellent effort, Mr Burton. Billy, could you please fetch a ladder.’

‘Right away, Doctor,’ said Billy, sheathing his sword and scuttling out of the door.

Billy smiled at Delta feeling quite important now that he was fully armed. ‘Don’t worry Delta – those Bannermen will be sorry they ever left... er... wherever it was they came from.’ Delta smiled at Billy encouragingly.

The Doctor turned to Delta. ‘Now, are you sure that you know what you have to do?’

‘Yes, Doctor,’ she replied.

‘Then it’s only Mr Burton who needs to be briefed.

Now, if you could just turn on your Public Address system..

Burton clicked on the heavy amplifier and stood the microphone on his desk. Everything was ready...

Inside the Bannermen ship the pilot had just unlocked the heavy arms arsenal. As the soldiers leapt through the door they were issued with a brace of weapons.

The Bannermen all looked a sorry sight after the bee attack, with faces puffy, eyes closing, and lumps and stings covering every inch of exposed flesh. Gavrok was the worst stung and consequently in the worst mood. His unstoppable rage had transformed itself into a deadly blood lust. As his men streamed past he gave them a final word of warning. ‘Once inside you will kill everyone except the young princess. I will take care of her personally.’

Gavrok jumped out of the hatch and strode off towards the camp.

Billy was dragging the powerful speaker box from his room while the Doctor leant a ladder against the wall of Burton’s office. The Doctor ascended the ladder with Billy clambering up behind him, hauling the speaker box.

Together they managed to get the heavy object onto the apex of the roof. In the distance they could see the sinister black uniforms of the approaching Bannermen. Wires dangled from the speaker box into Burton’s office.

Billy watched nervously as the Bannermen came closer.

‘Now?’

‘Not yet...’ said the Doctor, keenly watching the approaching danger. ‘What a charming bunch they are. It looks rather like they may have been in recent combat with a swarm of bees,’ he chuckled. Billy was too tense to see the joke and kept his eyes firmly on the Bannermen.