Doctor Who: The Green Death (15 page)

‘Then the countdown to Phase One can begin,’ said Boss. ‘Establish links with the seven international computers.’

‘Yes,’ said Dr Stevens.

‘Don’t you feel happy, my little superman?’ asked Boss. ‘Very happy,’ replied Dr Stevens, although there was no hint of happiness in his voice.

‘Just imagine,’. said Boss. ‘Very soon everyone will be happy. You
do
want everyone to be happy, don’t you?’

Dr Stevens looked up the room towards the giant computer. For a disloyal moment he imagined himself walking free in those mountains that he so often looked at from his office window. Then he gave the reply he hoped would please Boss. ‘I want everyone to be happy.’

‘Good,’ said Boss. ‘As from tomorrow the whole world will be united for the first time in history. One world, one people, one Boss!’

Dr Stevens remembered as a little boy tuning his father’s radio into a Nazi station and hearing Adolf Hitler screaming hysterically, ‘Ein Reich, ein Volk, ein Fuhrer!’

‘I shall now commence the countdown,’ he told the computer, with no noticeable enthusiasm.

The Doctor and the Brigadier arrived at the gates of Panorama Chemicals. An armed guard came up to them.

‘Sorry, gentlemen,’ he said, ‘no one’s allowed in this area.’

‘You have no authority to impede us,’ said the Brigadier.

‘Oh yes I have,’ said the guard, ‘this.’ He raised his gun. ‘Touch your revolver, sir, and you’re dead.’

‘Now look here, my dear fellow,’ said the Doctor. ‘All we want is a discussion with your Director—‘

A sudden strange electronic sound filled the air. It came from the building. It had no effect on the Doctor and the Brigadier, but instantly the guard dropped his gun and stood to attention. The sound only lasted a few moments, but the guard remained as still as a wax work. The Doctor clicked his fingers in front of the guard’s eyes.

‘Some sort of paralysis?’ asked the Brigadier.

‘I’ve no idea,’ said the Doctor, ‘but it’s jolly convenient for us. You stay here. I’m going in. If I’m not out by three minutes to four o’clock it means I’m dead. You and your soldiers can then try to destroy that computer, if possible.’

‘Phase One countdown completed,’ reported Dr Stevens.

‘Excellent,’ said Boss. ‘Activate the total processing of the slave elite.’

Dr Stevens moved slowly to the console of controls. He pressed the special red button that would send an electronic signal humming through the building and grounds. Guards and staff who had been partially brain-washed would now lose their free will completely, becoming little more than robots.

‘Enough!’ said Boss.

Dr Stevens removed his finger from the button. He knew that all over the building and grounds Panorama personnel would be standing to attention like wax works. He turned to the computer. ‘First stage of total processing accomplished,’ he said. ‘You realise that until the final link-up takes place and the slaves respond we are quite defenceless?’

‘I realise everything,’ said Boss. ‘All right, Phase Two. Discontinue primary function. Connect, connect.’

Dr Stevens adjusted a number of controls, then put the big metal helmet on his head and sat down. He plugged in the lead from the helmet to an outlet in the wall.

‘And now,’ said Boss, ‘you and I shall become one. It’s rather like a marriage, don’t you think?’

‘Hardly,’ replied Dr Stevens.

‘Really, you have no sense of humour! Don’t you think a little wedding music would be nice?’

‘I am ready for you to go ahead,’ said Dr Stevens.

Boss hummed a snatch from Mendelssohn’s wedding march. ‘Dr Stevens, do you take this computer to be your lawful wedded Boss?’

Dr Stevens did not answer.

‘Oh, all right,’ said Boss petulantly. ‘Two can play at hard to get, you know! I shall now complete the activation.’

An electronic hum started to fill the room.

The lift doors opened and the Doctor entered. ‘Dr Stevens, I must talk to you. You have to stop all this!’

‘Hello, Doctor,’ said Boss. ‘Do you know any just cause or impediment why Dr Stevens and all the people on Earth should not be my slaves?’

‘Dr Stevens,’ the Doctor implored, ‘you must listen to me!’

‘Stevens no longer exists,’ said the computer. ‘Four minutes from now my power will be extended to seven other complexes throughout the world. One world, one people, one Boss!’

The Doctor produced the sapphire and held it in front of Dr Stevens’s eyes. ‘Look at this, Stevens. Watch it carefully.’

Dr Stevens stared at the sapphire. Then his lips moved, but now he spoke in the metallic voice of Boss. ‘I must concentrate on the task in hand.’

‘Concentrate on this sapphire,’ said the Doctor. ‘Don’t let the computer control you, man! It’s only a machine. You should be the one in control. Look at the stone!’

The sapphire started to glow its brilliant blue. Dr Stevens’s eyes flickered. The light coming from the stone increased in intensity.

‘Doctor...’ Dr Stevens spoke in his own voice.

‘No!’ The voice of Boss spoke with a scream. ‘I am the one who speaks. Think of our great plan, Stevens, our dream. Everyone will be happy. You and I are now one.’

‘No,’ said Dr Stevens, struggling to remove the great helmet. ‘There must be another way. People must have free will.’

‘Never,’ shrieked Boss. ‘It makes them sad. They want order and obedience, Stevens. I shall order and they will be obedient.’

Dr Stevens finally pulled off the helmet. He looked up at the Doctor. ‘Get out of here, quickly.’

‘You must come with me,’ said the Doctor.

‘No, no. I’m cross feeding the generator circuitry. In two minutes the whole place will blow up. Warn the others. Get out. You have two minutes.’

‘Reverse pulse,’ cried Boss. ‘Loss of control. Stevens, integrate booster function. We’ve been such good friends, Stevens. You mustn’t let me down now.’

As the Doctor watched helplessly, Dr Stevens activated controls as ordered by the computer. Tears streamed down the man’s face as he tried to fight some overwhelming internal conflict. The computer’s voice turned into a continuous high-pitched scream as it pleaded with Dr Stevens.

‘Stevens, please! It hurts. My circuits are on fire! Stevens, you are my friend... my friend... my friend...’

Suddenly Dr Stevens sank to the floor weeping. ‘I know you were the only thing I could ever really trust,’ he moaned, addressing the computer, ‘and now I have done this terrible thing. We shall die together, the two of us.’ He rocked to and fro as the tears glistened down his cheeks.

The Doctor looked on, wondering if he should lift Stevens bodily and carry him to safety. But he thought better of it. Perhaps it was kinder to leave Dr Stevens to die with the computer, the only ‘friend’ he had ever trusted.

The Doctor went into the lift to make his escape.

The Brigadier looked at his watch. ‘Right,’ he addressed the UNIT troops. ‘Now we go in, in force.’

As they started to move towards the Panorama building, the Doctor came running from the main entrance.

‘Everybody down,’ shouted the Doctor. ‘Take cover.’

The UNIT soldiers threw themselves to the ground. A moment later the entire building exploded in a gigantic fireball.

The Doctor got to his feet, followed by the others. ‘What a waste,’ he said, regarding the wreck of the huge building. Much of it was still burning.

‘Shall I send for the fire brigade?’ asked Sergeant Benton.

The Doctor shook his head. ‘No, let it burn. I wonder how many slaves and semi-slaves died in it?’

‘We’ve still got this guard fellow,’ said the Brigadier. He indicated the guard who had stopped the Doctor before the electronic sound had turned him into a wax work. The man was sitting up now, rubbing his head.

‘How do you feel?’ asked the Doctor.

The guard looked up. ‘Where am I?’

The Doctor smiled. ‘Where do you think you should be?’

‘Ward End, Birmingham,’ the man said. ‘I used to drive a bus. How did I get here?’

The Doctor watched as Professor Jones finished his bowl of fungus soup. The antidote had worked, and the green patch on the professor’s neck had totally disappeared.

‘He’s really feeling better now,’ said Jo cheerfully.

‘Let the poor man speak for himself,’ the Doctor smiled. He turned to Nancy. ‘Got any of that soup for me? I’m famished.’

‘Sorry,’ said Nancy. ‘The UNIT troops scoffed the lot.’

‘Too bad. Well, Jo, time to go. We’ve got to report to UNIT HQ in London.’

Jo looked at Cliff, then to the Doctor. ‘I don’t think I’ll be going back yet, Doctor.’

‘You want to stay on here a bit longer?’

‘Not here exactly,’ Jo said. She didn’t know quite how to break the news to the Doctor. ‘Cliff is setting up an expedition to go to the upper reaches of the Amazon, and he’s asked me to go with him.’

‘Really?’ said the Doctor, trying to seem pleased. ‘When?’

‘Very soon now,’ said the professor. ‘It’s all fixed. We’ll stop in Cardiff to get out supplies and get married and then we’ll be on our way.’

The Doctor looked at Jo’s fair hair and pretty face. They had travelled a great deal together, through Time and Space, and he had learnt to love her very dearly. He found it difficult to accept in his heart that he might never see her again. There was a sudden stuffiness in his nose and he knew that his eyes were glistening.

‘That’s wonderful,’ he said ‘I hope you’ll be very happy. Now excuse me, I really must hurry back to London.’

He got out of the bedroom just before a large wet tear cascaded down his 725-year-old cheeks. Slowly he went down the stairs, got into his car Bessie, and drove away.