Heart of Stone / Death Riders Read online

  ‘And what’s one of those?’ Amy asked.

  ‘A prison,’ the Doctor said. ‘A cage. Inside, time stops. Everything is held in stasis – unchanging. In perpetuity – forever. But open the lid … ’

  ‘We hid the Chamber so it would never be found and the Drexxons would never again emerge to threaten our lands and our children,’ Pete told them.

  ‘Guessing you hid it on a bleak, barren asteroid that no one in their right mind would ever be interested in,’ the Doctor said.

  Pete nodded. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time. The Chamber is very fragile. Once positioned and sealed within a protective vault, it cannot be moved, or the barriers break down and the Chamber opens. There was a chance, just a chance, that someone might one day stumble across it. So I was appointed its guardian. My job – my life – is to make sure the Chamber is never opened.’

  ‘And I thought you were just a rude, smelly, old man,’ Rory said. ‘Oh – sorry.’

  Pete glared at him. ‘You’d smell too if you were several hundred years old.’

  ‘Um, not necessarily,’ the Doctor said quickly, gesturing for Rory to make no further comment of his own. ‘At least, I hope not. Can we move on?’

  ‘So now a Drexxon has found this Perpetuity Chamber,’ Amy said.

  ‘One must have escaped,’ Pete agreed. ‘It waited all these years. They are incredibly long-lived. I imagine it has been searching for the Chamber, using the Galactic Fair as cover for its search across the cosmos. They may be savage and vicious, but they are also very patient.’

  ‘Poor Garvo probably isn’t the first human the Drexxon has hooked up with,’ the Doctor guessed.

  ‘But that Drexxon,’ Amy said, ‘it’s just a space monkey. I mean, it’s nasty and dangerous but surely it’s not big enough to cause much trouble.’

  ‘From what you tell me, that is a small one,’ Pete said. ‘A child. That must be how we missed it.’

  ‘So, how big do they grow, exactly?’ Rory asked.

  ‘An adult Drexxon would fit in this tunnel,’ Pete said. He glanced up at the roof – five metres above their heads. ‘Just.’

  ‘But what’s the thing doing?’ Rory wondered. ‘Why’s it killing people?’

  ‘Because that’s what it does, what it enjoys,’ Pete snapped. ‘Weren’t you listening?’

  ‘There must be more to it than that,’ the Doctor said. ‘Maybe Rodge and the other victim found it sneaking about down in the tunnels. But what can it have been doing that it didn’t want them to reveal?’

  ‘The Death Ride,’ Pete said, leaping to his feet with surprising speed and agility. ‘The route of the Death Ride goes dangerously close to the Perpetuity Chamber. I’ve managed to keep them away from the main vault that holds the Chamber, but the track does go very close. If the Drexxon has sabotaged the Death Ride … ’

  The Doctor jumped to his feet as well. ‘It could crash through the vault wall,’ he finished. ‘But the Drexxon still has to open the Chamber itself. That must be sealed – tell me that’s sealed.’

  ‘It is secure,’ Pete agreed. ‘We locked it with something the Drexxons could never understand or manipulate, something that is the very opposite of the chaos and violence they live by.’

  ‘Deadlock?’ the Doctor asked. ‘Double-bolt encryption? Stasis latch? What?’

  Pete smiled. ‘Much more powerful than that, Doctor. We sealed it with music.’

  ‘Ah,’ the Doctor said. ‘Then I think we might have a problem.’

  But before anyone could ask what he meant, or how a Chamber could be sealed with music, two small figures came running up.

  ‘Harby and Vosh,’ Amy exclaimed. ‘What’s the hurry?’

  ‘You’ve got to come,’ Harby gasped through his excitement. ‘They’ve finished it.’

  ‘Finished what?’ the Doctor asked.

  ‘The Death Ride,’ Vosh said. ‘If we’re quick we can be on the first ride. People are queuing already. We thought you’d want to know.’

  ‘Absolutely we want to know,’ the Doctor agreed. He grabbed Amy’s hand and hauled her to her feet, repeating the action with Rory. ‘If that Death Ride leaves the starting point, it will crash through into the secret vault and the Drexxon will open the Perpetuity Chamber.’

  CHAPTER 11

  STOP THE TRAIN

  ‘Garvo is the key – literally,’ the Doctor said, as they hurried back down the tunnels towards the Galactic Fair.

  ‘I still don’t get this music thing,’ Rory admitted.

  ‘As the Doctor says, the Drexxon must have had many “masters” like this over the years,’ Perpetual Pete said. ‘Ready for when it found the Chamber.’ Pete hadn’t been to the fair, so he had not seen Drexxon or Garvo. The Doctor and his friends had quickly explained the situation and what they’d found out.

  ‘The Chamber is sealed with a musical key,’ the Doctor said. ‘Literally a musical key. It’s like a code, only instead of typing in numbers or letters, you play musical notes. Play the right notes or chords in the right sequence and it opens the Perpetuity Chamber.’

  ‘But you still have to know the combination of notes, right?’ Amy asked.

  ‘Right. But think about it – Garvo has been seen wandering the tunnels playing his harmonica. Drexxon had to be sure that the Chamber was even here. He’s probably been to hundreds of possible locations while travelling with the fair, or on his own. Now he knows, and he’s been probing the defences, getting feedback in some way. Working out the combination so that – once he breaks into the vault – he knows how to open the Chamber. By now, he knows the exact musical notes to play.’

  ‘I should have gone to the fair,’ Perpetual Pete grumbled. ‘If I had, I probably would have seen the Drexxon and I could have taken action to protect the Vault and the Chamber within it. But I thought it was a waste of time.’

  ‘Having fun is never a waste of time, General,’ the Doctor said.

  Rory gasped. ‘You mean he is – ’

  ‘Now I am just Pete,’ the old man said, cutting off Rory’s question.

  ‘But Doctor,’ Amy said, ‘if Garvo is in a coma or whatever back at the fair, then how will Drexxon open the Chamber, even if the Death Ride does smash open the vault?’

  The Doctor paused in mid-step. They were hurrying back along the main tunnel, and he hopped several times before coming to a halt.

  ‘That’s brilliant, Amy. Of course. We have to get to Garvo – without him, Drexxon’s powerless.’

  ‘He can still sabotage the Death Ride,’ Rory pointed out.

  ‘So – are we not going on the Death Ride, then?’ Harby asked.

  ‘Absolutely not,’ the Doctor told the two boys. ‘It’s dangerous.’

  ‘Yes!’ Vosh agreed. ‘It’s dangerous and wicked and cool.’

  ‘No, no, no – not that sort of dangerous. I mean it’s dangerous dangerous.’

  The two boys looked at each other, obviously disappointed.

  ‘Look,’ the Doctor said, ‘we need to get to the fair and make sure Garvo is all right and that Drexxon doesn’t try to hurt him. I want you two – and Rory – to get to the Death Ride as quick as you can.’

  ‘But not go on it?’ Rory checked. ‘Absolutely not to go on the dangerous up and down roller coaster ride thing, yes?’

  ‘Yes. I mean, no – you don’t go on it. You have to stop the Death Ride from operating. Make sure they don’t try to run it. Do whatever you have to.’

  Rory nodded. ‘Leave it to us. Shouldn’t be a problem.’

  ‘Great,’ the Doctor said. ‘Off you go.’

  Harby led Vosh and Rory down a side tunnel.

  ‘Hey,’ Perpetual Pete called after them, ‘that tunnel’s Off-Lim–’ He stopped and shook his head. ‘Oh, never mind,’ he muttered.

  The Galactic Fair was as crowded as ever. The Doctor, Amy and Perpetual Pete forced their way through the mass of people towards Garvo’s tent.

  ‘I can’t see that I’ve missed much,’ Pete said, as Cl
ueless the Clown waved to them from his stilts. Pete glared back at him.

  ‘Ever tried candyfloss?’ Amy asked.

  ‘Can’t say that I have. What’s special about candyfloss?’

  ‘You know how usually with food, you eat it and then it’s gone?’ the Doctor said.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well, with candyfloss – it’s gone before you eat it!’

  ‘Perfect food for time travellers,’ Amy said.

  ‘That and Backwards Bananas,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘Oh, and vomit fruit.’

  ‘I don’t want to know,’ Amy insisted.

  ‘The clever thing with that is,’ the Doctor went on, ignoring her, ‘it’s so disgusting that just the thought of eating it makes you sick. And you’re so sick you’ll eat anything afterwards, even a vomit fruit. Effect and cause instead of the other way round. I try to avoid them myself,’ he added, ‘especially after that unfortunate incident with the Queen Mother.’

  Finally they reached Garvo’s tent. But when they hurried inside, the mattress on the floor was empty. Garvo had gone.

  ‘Could he have just, I don’t know, woken up and wandered off?’ Amy asked.

  The Doctor shook his head. ‘Drexxon had to wake him by reconnecting the link. The leash has gone, and so has his harmonica.’

  ‘But they’d have to be right there, inside the vault, to open the Perpetuity Chamber,’ Pete said. ‘And unless the vault is breached, they can’t get inside.’

  ‘They’re heading for the Death Ride,’ Amy realised. ‘Drexxon will want to be on it when it crashes through the vault wall, if that’s what’s going to happen.’

  ‘It is, unless Rory and his young friends can stop the ride,’ the Doctor said.

  ‘The Drexxon will do anything to prevent that,’ Perpetual Pete told them. ‘Your friend and the boys could be in great danger.’

  ‘Death Ride?’ Amy suggested.

  The Doctor nodded. ‘Death Ride.’

  The start of the Death Ride was another large cavern cut into the rock of the asteroid. The roof was so high it was out of sight. A tall scaffolding tower with steep steps built into the side of it stood in the centre of the cavern. People were already queuing all the way up the steps. The ride itself plunged down towards the floor, levelling out for about thirty metres, then dipping sharply down through a hole in the ground.

  At the top of the ride, the Death Ride train was a string of eight small, green, open-topped compartments on wheels. It looked like a caterpillar about to climb down the curving stem of a leaf.

  A large crowd of people had assembled to watch the first Death Ride. The Doctor, Amy and Perpetual Pete pushed and shoved their way through to the front.

  ‘I just hope Rory is up there telling them not to let it go ahead,’ the Doctor said.

  ‘Guess again,’ Amy told him. ‘He’s over there.’

  Rory was standing with Harby and Vosh at the bottom of the steps. He saw the Doctor and Amy approaching and waved.

  ‘Have you told them?’ the Doctor demanded as soon as he was within earshot. ‘Have you stopped the Death Ride?’

  ‘Um,’ Rory said. He looked at Harby and Vosh, who shuffled their feet in embarrassment. ‘Sort of yes and no.’

  ‘Meaning what?’ Pete asked.

  ‘Meaning, yes we’ve told them. And no, we haven’t actually stopped it. Not as such. They’re going ahead. In about five minutes, actually. Sorry about that.’

  ‘Sorry?’ the Doctor stared at him in astonishment. ‘The Drexxons are about to be unleashed and everyone on that ride, to say nothing of all the other people on this asteroid, could die. Sorry?!’

  ‘We did actually mention that,’ Rory said sheepishly.

  ‘Did you tell them what’s going on?’ Perpetual Pete asked.

  Rory nodded. ‘Yes. Yes, we did.’

  Vosh explained: ‘Rory was great. He told them that a nasty vicious alien space monkey had sabotaged the ride so it would crash and the alien space monkey could release its bloodthirsty, warlike race from a special prison that’s been hidden for centuries and which can only be opened with a mouth organ.’

  ‘They didn’t seem to believe me,’ Rory added.

  ‘Possibly too much information, do you think?’ the Doctor suggested. ‘Maybe, “there’s a slight technical problem with this ride, and everyone might die horribly in a crash,” would have done?’

  Rory nodded slowly. ‘Possibly. You want to try?’ he offered.

  ‘Twenty!’ someone yelled through a loudspeaker from the top of the tower. ‘Nineteen!’

  ‘I think it’s a bit late for that.’

  The crowd joined in the countdown.

  ‘So, what now?’ Amy asked. She had to shout to be heard above the countdown.

  ‘Change of plan,’ the Doctor decided. He looked at Rory through narrowed eyes. ‘You and Amy … I’ll talk to you two in a moment. First …’ He crouched down to talk to Harby and Vosh. ‘Can you find some of your friends from the orchestra? As many as you can, with their instruments. I need them here fast. In fact, faster than that!’ He straightened up. ‘How long do we have?’ he asked Pete.

  ‘It’s a long ride. I guess that’s part of the attraction. But I’d estimate it will pass closest to the vault in about eight minutes.’

  ‘That’s how long you have,’ the Doctor told the boys. ‘Meet in the tunnel out there in less than eight minutes – the sooner, the better.’ He pointed to the tunnel they’d come down. ‘Now, scoot!’

  The countdown reached zero. They all looked up at the rails, high above them, as with a rumble and roar, the Death Ride train started, ever so slowly, to move forwards.

  ‘And what about us?’ Amy asked.

  The Death Ride was gathering speed, plunging down the track towards them.

  ‘Anything we can do,’ Rory shouted. ‘Anything at all.’

  The Doctor grinned. ‘In which case, I want you on that train.’

  ‘You are kidding!’ Amy told him.

  ‘Garvo and Drexxon are probably on board. You have to stop the ride safely, break the link between the two of them, and help anyone who gets hurt. OK?’ He paused for less than a second for any objections as the Death Ride hurtled down the track. ‘Well, off you go then.’

  CHAPTER 12

  DEATH RIDE

  Catching the Train of Death, as Amy was already thinking of it, turned out to be easier than she expected. Or at least, not quite as difficult and dangerous. The train was already slowing as it reached the bottom of the scaffolding. The next section of track ran across the floor of the cavern before plunging sharply down through the ground to the level below.

  But before it took the plunge, the train was designed to slow almost to a stop for a few moments. Partly, this was to heighten the excitement amongst the passengers. Partly, it was so that anyone who realised from the experience of the first, fairly tame, drop that they didn’t actually want to continue with the ride could get off.

  An automatic announcement warned people this really was their very last chance to get off the ride and to be careful leaving their carriage. Of course, no one was supposed to get on the ride at this stage. But Amy was already racing towards where the train had slowed right down. Rory was close behind her. The Doctor too was running, his floppy hair blown back out of his face for once. Perpetual Pete had made no effort to keep up with them and Amy could see him in the distance, shaking his head in sad disbelief.

  The train was slowly starting to pick up speed again by the time they reached it.

  ‘There are no spare seats,’ Rory shouted.

  ‘Wimp,’ Amy shouted back.

  The Doctor was leaning in over the side of the rear carriage, hurrying to keep up as the train started to pull away more quickly. He pointed at a young boy sitting with a couple of friends. ‘You – are you in the orchestra?’

  The boy looked round, then pointed to himself to ask: ‘You mean me?’

  ‘Yes, you,’ the Doctor shouted. ‘You are, aren’t you? I saw you
playing a trombone.’

  The boy nodded guiltily, though he obviously had no idea what the problem was.

  ‘Right,’ the Doctor ordered, ‘out!’ Running to catch up with the next of the little green open-topped carriages, he caught sight of another child who was part of the orchestra – a small girl trying to hide behind a larger girl. ‘And you – come on.’

  ‘What’s he doing?’ Rory gasped.

  The train was moving away faster now, heading for the hole in the floor of the cavern.

  ‘Just get in,’ Amy yelled at him, levering herself up and over the open side of the carriage. ‘At least there are seats now,’ she told Rory, as the Doctor lifted two more orchestra children bodily from the next carriage and dumped them on the ground beside him.

  ‘Anyone else? Anyone else in the orchestra?’ the Doctor shouted up the length of the train. ‘If so, I want you off this train now. Understood? I’m not mucking about, this is important.’

  A few hands slowly and nervously went up. A man, a young woman, two more boys and a girl undid their harnesses and climbed awkwardly off the train. They had to jump as the train picked up speed. Amy and Rory flopped down into spare seats next to each other.

  ‘No time to sit down!’ the Doctor shouted to them. ‘You’ve got a job to do, remember?’

  ‘And what about you and Pete?’ Rory called back to him.

  The train gathered speed, leaving the Doctor behind, with a small group of children and a couple of adults. His answer was almost lost in the rush of air and the screams of the people in the front carriage as it began to fall.

  But Amy thought the Doctor called back: ‘I’m hoping Pete has a skiffle board, and I’m going to organise a concert.’

  But she didn’t have time to worry about that. The train was picking up speed, leaving the Doctor and his new friends far behind. Amy stood up to see them disappear into the distance, but Rory pulled her back down again.