Heart of Stone / Death Riders Page 5

  ‘What about?’ Rory asked.

  ‘Oh, you know – stuff.’

  ‘Stuff?’

  ‘Yeah. Stuff. Won’t be long.’

  How long Amy stood in the doorway of the tent staring at the scene inside, she had no idea. But it was long enough for the Doctor and Rory to come and find her to see what was happening.

  Amy said nothing. She just stood aside so they could see.

  The tent was almost empty, like a small bedsit – with just a table and chair and a mattress on the ground for a bed. Lying on the mattress was Garvo. One hand trailed off the side of the mattress. His harmonica lay where it had fallen from his grasp. The thin leash, one end still attached to his wrist, lay coiled nearby. The loop that usually enclosed Drexxon’s wrist was empty and lying curled like a question mark on the ground. Garvo’s eyes were wide open, staring unseeing at the roof of the tent.

  CHAPTER 9

  MASTER AND SLAVE

  Rory ran to the mattress and checked Garvo’s pulse.

  Amy stood watching, her knuckles pressed to her teeth. ‘I let Drexxon off the leash,’ she confessed. ‘Just for a moment, for a few seconds, that’s all. Did I do this? Is he … ?’

  ‘He’s got a pulse,’ Rory said. He could feel the faintest throbbing under his finger as he held Garvo’s wrist. ‘He’s alive. He’s breathing, look.’

  The Doctor leaned over Garvo, staring into the man’s eyes. He waved. No response. So he pulled the most outrageous face and blew a raspberry. There was still no response.

  ‘What’s wrong with him?’ Amy asked.

  ‘No sense of humour by the look of it,’ the Doctor said.

  ‘Coma of some sort?’ Rory suggested. ‘Slow pulse, shallow breathing, no awareness … ’

  ‘Loss of free will,’ the Doctor said. ‘How does that happen? Or is it something he chose to do to himself? Like taking medicine. A healing process maybe?’

  ‘Oh, come on,’ Rory said, ‘you can’t ask us to believe that someone could put themselves into a coma at will so their body can recover from some trauma.’ He caught the Doctor’s smug expression. ‘Right, self-induced coma – definitely a possibility.’

  Amy was nervously twisting the leash between her fingers. She didn’t even seem to realise she’d picked it up.

  ‘Let me see that,’ the Doctor said, jumping over the mattress and just clearing Garvo’s unmoving body. He sat down on the ground and examined the leash. A moment later, he had his sonic screwdriver out and was hard at work.

  ‘It’s just a bit of plastic, probably with a metal core,’ Rory pointed out.

  ‘Oh, it’s much more than that.’ The Doctor didn’t look up. ‘You say you slipped it off Drexxon’s wrist?’ he asked Amy, still examining the leash. ‘And Garvo didn’t like that?’

  ‘He went ape,’ Amy confirmed. ‘OK, maybe not the best expression given he’s got an alien space monkey as a pet, but he lost it big time.’

  ‘Angry?’ Rory asked.

  ‘Maybe … ’ the Doctor conceded. ‘If he thought you’d released Drexxon.’

  ‘But Drexxon went straight back to him,’ Amy pointed out.

  ‘There’d be confusion, maybe panic, when this link was broken.’ The Doctor held up the leash for them to see. ‘Perhaps Drexxon’s instinct was to seek out comfort in the only way it knew, with the only person it recognised.’

  ‘What are you saying?’ Rory asked. ‘That’s just a leash, isn’t it? Or is it?’

  The Doctor tossed it away and leaped to his feet. ‘Far more than that. It’s a neuronic control system. Nasty thing.’

  Amy frowned. ‘So, what does it do?’

  ‘Put simply, for us simple people, it links two individuals – or a person and an alien space monkey – so that one can control the other by sending mental signals down the cable inside. Hypnotism by wire.’

  Amy gave a snort that combined both satisfaction and outrage. ‘I knew he had some hold over the poor thing.’ She kicked at the mattress, where Garvo did not react.

  ‘Careful, Amy,’ Rory warned.

  ‘I told you the poor thing was a slave.’

  ‘You did,’ the Doctor admitted. ‘We should trust your instincts.’

  ‘He must have run off while Garvo’s getting his kip.’ Amy sighed. ‘The poor little thing can’t have had to survive on its own for years. It must be so scared and alone.’

  She pushed aside the flap of material that formed the door to the tent.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Rory asked.

  ‘To find Drexxon. I saw him earlier, heading off down one of the tunnels. I thought Garvo must be with him, but obviously not. You coming?’

  She didn’t wait for an answer, but stepped out of the tent, allowing the flap to fall back into place.

  The Doctor was staring at his sonic screwdriver, brow furrowed in thought. ‘Rory … ’

  ‘Going after Amy,’ Rory called from the mouth of the tent.

  ‘Good. Bring her back here – quickly!’

  Rory caught the urgency in his voice. ‘Problem?’

  ‘Just get her.’

  There was no sign of Amy. By the time Rory left the tent, she had already disappeared into the crowds. Rather than go rushing off in a random direction he stood on tiptoe and tried to spot Amy’s distinctive hair. Clueless the Clown waved to him and Rory forced a smile as he waved back.

  ‘Where is she?’ the Doctor demanded from right behind Rory’s ear, making him jump.

  ‘Can’t see her. She’ll be halfway to wherever by now. You know what she’s like.’

  ‘I know what she’s like,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘But she doesn’t know what Drexxon’s like.’

  ‘The poor little monkey-boy that Garvo kept enslaved. She’ll smother him with sympathy when she finds him.’

  ‘Ugh,’ the Doctor winced. ‘I hope not. Because things are not always what they seem. And in this case they most certainly are not what they seem.’

  Something in the Doctor’s tone made Rory feel suddenly anxious and cold. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Checked the readings. The control flow is reversed.’

  ‘And in English?’

  ‘Rory, Rory, Rory,’ the Doctor said. ‘We thought the control leash was being used by Garvo to make Drexxon do what he wanted, right?’

  ‘Right.’ Rory saw the Doctor’s expression. ‘Wrong?’ he guessed again.

  ‘Wrong. Big time wrong.’

  ‘Then what?’ But even as he asked the question, Rory realised the answer. ‘You mean, Drexxon is making Garvo do what he wants? Alien space monkey enslaves the will of poor human musician?’

  The Doctor nodded. ‘Alien space monkey puts poor human musician into a coma so it can wander off for a bit and do what it likes without losing control when the leash comes off.’

  ‘Can we wake him up?’

  ‘Not safely. It takes time to wake someone from that state and then we’d have to wean him off the control. That could be tricky too, especially if he’s been under it for a while. Amy told us what happened when she broke the control link – Garvo had a breakdown. The confusion and anger and pain in his mind as he struggled to cope with what’s been done to him must have been … extreme.’

  ‘No wonder Drexxon put the leash back on quick time.’

  ‘So now we have a nasty vicious space monkey creature with sharp claws running loose in the tunnels,’ the Doctor said.

  They both thought about it for a moment.

  ‘We have to find Amy – now!’ they both said.

  ‘She mentioned seeing Drexxon go down a tunnel,’ Rory reminded the Doctor.

  ‘But which one? There are dozens. If someone saw her, we’d be able to follow.’

  ‘Who do we ask?’ Rory wondered.

  ‘Everyone!’

  They ran through the fair, calling Amy’s name and asking anyone and everyone if they had seen her. Before long, several people were helping with the search. Clueless the Clown strode above everyone, hoping to spot Amy’s di
stinctive hair.

  ‘Flame red hair?’ asked a fire-eater. ‘I’ll certainly help look. Us flamers have to stick together.’

  The man’s own head was completely bald. Rory wondered for a moment if he’d burned his hair off learning his trade. Best not to think about it, he decided. He certainly wasn’t going to ask.

  Harby and Vosh came running up to them to know what was happening.

  ‘Your friend Amy?’ Harby asked.

  ‘Not just my friend … ’ Rory started, but the Doctor nudged him to be quiet and let Harby finish.

  ‘She headed off towards Yellow Nineteen.’

  ‘About ten minutes ago,’ Vosh added.

  ‘You want us to show you?’ Harby asked. He sounded reluctant. ‘Only they’re saying the Death Ride’s nearly finished and we wanted to take a look at the starting gate.’

  ‘I know Yellow Nineteen,’ the fire-eater said. ‘It’s this way.’

  ‘Thanks for your help,’ the Doctor told the two boys.

  ‘Is there a reward if you find her?’ Vosh asked.

  ‘Absolutely,’ the Doctor assured him. ‘I’ll get Amy to give you a kiss.’

  Vosh stared at him as if he was mad. ‘Oh yuck!’

  Amy’s instincts told her that the poor Drexxon would keep to the shadows and the darker tunnels. That was why she hadn’t managed to spot him when she followed him before. He must be so frightened.

  The Off-Limits tunnels she’d reached before seemed like a good place to start. OK, it was Off-Limits, but Drexxon wouldn’t know that. Provided she went slowly and carefully, what danger could there really be?

  ‘Are you there?’ she called, as she made her cautious way along the tunnel. ‘Drexxon – can you hear me? It’s all right, I won’t hurt you. I know what’s been going on, what’s really been going on. I just want to help you, OK?’

  There was a scuffling from further down the tunnel. As she approached, Amy could see a section of scaffolding sticking out from the side wall. The Death Ride extended into the tunnel before curving sharply away again – round and down through the floor. This was probably one of the sections that Perpetual Pete had got so worked up about.

  The scuffling sound came again. Amy was sure she could see a pair of eyes glinting in the shadows beneath the scaffolding.

  ‘There you are.’ She stooped down and reached out into the darkness. ‘I know you’re there. It’s all right. Everything’s going to be fine.’

  Drexxon edged out of the shadows and into the dim light. The creature seemed more confident than Amy had expected. It regarded her through its small, dark eyes. It raised a paw. With a staccato ‘click’, claws sprang out from the end of the paw.

  Amy backed away, straightening up. This wasn’t right. She took a step backwards – but too late.

  With a snarl of rage, the creature hurled itself at her. Sharp teeth glinted as they caught the light. Its savage claws slashed down at Amy.

  CHAPTER 10

  THE SECRET OF THE ASTEROID

  Amy fell backwards. Claws slashed down close to her face, but somehow she managed to avoid them. She thrust her hands out, grabbing the Drexxon by the throat. The creature’s fur was like steel wool, cutting into her hands as she struggled to hold it away and keep clear of the savage claws.

  But it was a struggle she couldn’t win. The Drexxon was incredibly strong – far stronger than it looked. With every second the claws came closer. She could smell the creature’s warm, unpleasant breath. She could hear its squeals of triumph.

  Then suddenly it was gone. Amy rolled away, catching sight of the Drexxon hurtling through the air like a football. It struck the rock wall behind the scaffolding and slid to the ground.

  Above Amy, Rory was hopping on his left leg, trying to massage his right foot.

  ‘That hurt!’ he complained. ‘I’m not kicking one of those again!’

  Amy would have laughed with relief. But the Drexxon was recovering. It seemed to gather itself, ready to attack again. Amy crawled backwards, yelling at Rory to watch out. Other people were running up now – the Doctor, several of the people from the fair and a couple of miners in overalls.

  The Drexxon emerged from beneath the scaffolding. It stared at the people grouped round it with obvious anger, hissing through its sharp little teeth.

  ‘Don’t go near it,’ the Doctor warned. ‘It’s cornered and dangerous. It’s certainly not a pussycat, so don’t even think about trying to stroke it.’

  ‘As if,’ Amy muttered.

  With an echoing roar of rage, that seemed as if it must have come from a much larger animal, the Drexxon attacked again. It hurtled towards the assembled people. Most of them scattered – knocking the hopping Rory over. Only the Doctor stood his ground. The Doctor and one other man – a man stripped to the waist, holding a firebrand. Amy expected him to try to ward off the attacking creature with the burning torch he was holding. Instead, to her astonishment, he raised the firebrand above his head, turned it so the burning end was downwards and then stuck the firebrand in his mouth.

  ‘Don’t try this at home,’ the Doctor warned, stepping out of the way.

  The Drexxon leaped at the firer-eater.

  The fire-eater pulled the torch from his mouth, and blew a stream of flame at the Drexxon. It gave a shriek of pain and anger, dropping to the rock floor. The fire-eater stepped forward, ready to spew fire at it again. But the creature scampered away into the shadows. Amy could hear the click of its claws on the ground as it disappeared.

  Assured by the Doctor that there was nothing more to see, the people slowly drifted away. Some of them were frightened by what they’d seen, others assumed it was all part of a show staged by the people from the fair. There was even some applause. The Doctor thanked the fire-eater profusely. Amy ran to find Rory – who was still hopping about and complaining about his foot.

  ‘I mean, the thing looks like a furry football. A furry football with teeth and claws, but even so. It certainly doesn’t feel like one.’

  Amy hugged him. ‘Never mind. Thanks anyway. I love you even if you can’t walk. Or play football. Should have left it to the Doctor.’

  Rory managed to stand up long enough to give her a hug back.

  ‘So, what’s going on?’ Amy demanded. ‘And what’s the plan now?’

  ‘Drexxon was controlling Garvo – he was the slave, not the poor ickle cute monkey space alien,’ Rory explained.

  ‘And as for a plan,’ the Doctor added, ‘I need to talk to the one person who might know what’s really going on. And here he comes now.’

  Amy turned to see where the Doctor was looking. A figure was approaching along the tunnel, shuffling into the dim light.

  ‘You know this tunnel is Off-Limits,’ the old man wheezed.

  ‘Absolutely,’ the Doctor told him. ‘Amy – meet Perpetual Pete. He’s going to tell us all he knows about the Drexxons, and why this perfectly safe tunnel that’s not in any danger of collapse – along with so many others – is Off-Limits.’

  ‘Drexxons?’ Perpetual Pete asked. Even in the dim light, he seemed to have gone as pale as his straggly white beard. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Yeah, you do,’ the Doctor told him. ‘It’s time you told us why you’re so desperate to keep people away from certain parts of this asteroid and out of specific tunnels. It’s time for you to tell us what you’re doing here. And who you really are.’

  ‘I’ve been here, on this asteroid, for a very long time,’ Perpetual Pete said.

  ‘So I gathered,’ Rory said.

  The Doctor glared at him to be quiet. The four of them – the Doctor, Amy, Rory and Perpetual Pete were sitting on the tunnel floor close to the scaffolding as Pete told his story. Everyone else had returned to the fair or gone back to work.

  ‘I’ve been here longer than anyone else knows or can remember,’ Pete went on, as if Rory had not spoken. ‘They think my job is to keep them safe. And they’re right.’ He broke off into thoughtful silence.<
br />
  ‘But you’re not keeping them safe in the way they think,’ the Doctor prompted.

  ‘No, I’m not,’ Perpetual Pete confessed. ‘I don’t work for the Interplanetary Mining Corporation who own this asteroid and pay their wages. The executives at IMC don’t care about the safety of their workers. In fact, they’d rather the miners did work in unsafe tunnels if it makes them more money.’

  ‘So who does pay you?’ Amy asked.

  ‘I was given a job, and the means to carry it out, before there even was a mine here. Before IMC and the other corporations even existed. I tried to warn off the first pioneers and prospectors. When they discovered trisilicate and the company’s drilling robots moved in, I did my best to steer them away from a particular part of this asteroid. And I succeeded. But then, when they’d worked out one area they moved on to another and then another. It’s been a constant battle to steer them away from certain tunnels – tunnels that were here already, like this one. Tunnels drilled for a very different purpose over seven hundred years ago, when I was a young man.’

  ‘But why?’ Amy asked. ‘Why did you want to keep people away from these tunnels?’ She glanced round nervously.

  ‘Because of the Drexxons,’ the Doctor said. ‘Am I right, or am I totally and absolutely correct?’

  Perpetual Pete was nodding. ‘Almost a thousand years ago, the Drexxons rampaged through this whole sector of space. That was long before the humans came.’ He smiled, chipped and yellowed teeth glinting. ‘Does it surprise you to learn I’m not human?’

  ‘There’s a lot of it about, actually,’ Rory said.

  ‘Oh.’ Pete seemed disappointed not to have provoked gasps of astonishment. ‘Well, never mind. Anyway, as I say, the Drexxons rampaged through space. They attacked planet after planet, killing and destroying. Not for any reason – they didn’t want an empire or wealth or power. They just did it because they could. Because they enjoyed it. And you know, that made it worse.’

  ‘I bet,’ the Doctor murmured.

  ‘Finally we managed to round them up. A combined force, led by General Petrovnal, defeated the Drexxons. We offered them a planetary system of their own if they’d just stay there and live in peace. But even against such huge odds, they wouldn’t surrender. After a terrible battle, a battle that lasted for over a decade, we managed to trap them all inside a Perpetuity Chamber.’