The Doctor slipped his hands into his pockets. "What else can you sense?"
"My people enjoy a very close bond with the earth, Doctor. And by earth earth I I mean the mean the ground, the rock and soil we stand on, and not the planet from which humans originate." ground, the rock and soil we stand on, and not the planet from which humans originate."
"The Vega "Vinculum," Vega "Vinculum," said the Doctor. said the Doctor.
Jaal smiled. "You are familiar with both my people and and my my religion. You are indeed a most extraordinary man." religion. You are indeed a most extraordinary man."
"I find that people are often defined by their beliefs."
"Vegans believe in the soil, the ground, the womb of life.
Our connection to the forces that govern the land around us is inextricable. We can sense things that other species cannot. You asked what I could sense here, on this moon"
Vega Jaal turned and his face pa.s.sed into shadow. "I can sense the darkness, and I can sense death. And that is all." And that is all."
The Doctor found the words quite chilling. He took a step closer. Is that why you are afraid?"
Vega Jaal let out a snort of derision. "A mole-man, scared of the dark?"
"I"ve never cared for that term."
"It"s what humans have always called us."
"As you have already pointed out, I"m not human."
Jaal"s voice dropped to a whisper. "Is that why you can sense it too?"
"You can feel that feel that there. is something wrong here, can"t you?" there. is something wrong here, can"t you?"
"Something sick in the heart of this moon."
"Possibly. I"d like to know what it is."
Jaal shook his head. "You mustn"t. You mustn"t. mustn"t. It will destroy you. Go now, while you still can" It will destroy you. Go now, while you still can"
"I can"t," said the Doctor, also in a whisper. "I can"t."
"Nyssa?"
She jumped. "Tegan! Can you feel it?" Her voice was brittle, her hands deathly cold as they gripped Tegan"s arm.
"Feel what?"
"It"s here," breathed Nyssa. "And it knows we"re here, too!"
She was pale and shaking. Tegan sat down and put an arm around her shoulders. "Take deep breaths and try to relax. I"ll get you a drink."
Nyssa clutched at her suddenly. "No, don"t leave me! me!
Stay here, please." here, please."
"All right, calm down. I"m not going anywhere."
Nyssa seemed to make a conscious effort to control her breathing. Gradually she settled down, sagging against Tegan as the anxiety drained away. "I"m sorry."
Tegan hugged her. "It"s all right. No worries!"
"I wish the Doctor were here." whispered Nyssa.
"You have to help me," the Doctor urged. "I must know what it is that you can sense"
Vega Jaal would not face him. "To know it would be to die. That is all I can tell you, Doctor."
The Doctor clenched his fists in frustration, walking around the Vegan so that he could look into his eyes. In the darkness of the pa.s.sageway, it was difficult to see Jaal at all.
"There must be more."
"But that"s just just it," replied Jaal, his voice wavering with despair. "Darkness! Death! it," replied Jaal, his voice wavering with despair. "Darkness! Death! Nothing Nothing else!" else!"
The Doctor sighed. "So what do you propose to do about it?"
"Leave. We should all leave. Now"
"Somehow, I can"t see Stoker and her men agreeing to that."
"Then they are doomed."
"Stoker says her ship isn"t due to arrive for another two days. You can"t leave."
Vega Jaal didn"t reply. In the gloom, the Doctor could see that he had crossed his long, thick forearms across his chest so that his splayed fingers hovered over his own shoulders.
Each finger was hooked and rigid. "That is a Vegan sign to ward off evil forces," noted the Doctor quietly. "Something"s coming, isn"t it? You can sense it!"
The Doctor whirled around, alerted by a sound he couldn"t hear. The darkness further into the tunnel had become thicker, almost as if the shadows were gathering around them with the patience of hunters.
Vega Jaal was mumbling a prayer in his own tongue; he could hardly be seen now in the darkness. The Doctor turned his attention fully toward the hunting shadows, searching the blackness for sound, movement, anything. He let go of Jaal and slowly moved towards the back of the tunnel.
There was something there. If only he could see it properly, up close.
The knot of darkness drew itself tighter.
The Doctor stepped closer. He reached out a hand, but he could no longer see it.
"What d"you think you"re doing?" demanded a voice from behind him. The Doctor felt the tension snap in his mind with painful force, and he whirled around just as a powerful lamp was switched on. The shadows retreated after only a moment"s hesitation. The Doctor was left squinting into the brilliance, raising a hand to block the worst of it. "Who"s that?"
"It"s me, Bunny," the voice boomed down the tunnel, sounding ludicrously confident. "Is that you, Doctor? With Vega Jaal?"
The Doctor felt physically exhausted. "I"m glad you"re here, Bunny."
"It"s always nice to feel wanted. What"s the matter? You look like you"ve seen a ghost."
"Shine your torch down here, would you?" asked the Doctor, pointing towards the back of the tunnel wall.
Moments ago it had been lost in the blackness, now it was plainly rock. But there was something there.
Bunny gave a low whistle. "Well. How the heck did you find that?"
"I don"t really know," said the Doctor. "Perhaps I"m just lucky."
It was a door. Cut into the rock, tall as a man and perhaps half as wide. The Doctor reached out and brushed away the cobwebs that covered it, revealing an ancient, pitted metal surface.
"I think you"d better fetch Stoker," he told Bunny. "Tell her that your mining expedition has just become an archaeological dig after all."
Chapter Six.
Nothing kills a party like bad news.
The discovery of the door caused mixed feelings."
confusion, consternation, irritation, even trepidation, and in roughly that order. All translated into bad news. bad news. Stoker"s men were poised to make themselves rich; they didn"t want any interruptions. Stoker"s men were poised to make themselves rich; they didn"t want any interruptions.
"I haven"t got time for this," was Stoker"s predictable response.
Bunny said, "We"ve got to check it out. You know the regulations."
"Regulations be d.a.m.ned, d.a.m.ned, Bunny! We"ve bent all the rules there are to get here and it"s paid off. Don"t tell me you"re going to throw it all away on this nonsense." Bunny! We"ve bent all the rules there are to get here and it"s paid off. Don"t tell me you"re going to throw it all away on this nonsense."
They were in the comms area, the makeshift office.
Stoker was pacing the floor, Bunny Cheung was leaning against the bank of communications gear.
"The door is there, I"ve seen it. We can"t ignore it."
Stoker fumed for half a minute, hands on hips. "This could ruin everything, Bunny."
"I know. I"m sorry." Bunny put his hand on her shoulder.
"We have to take a look, at the very least. It may be nothing."
"I doubt that," said the Doctor.
"Who asked you?" snapped Stoker. "If it weren"t for you, we wouldn"t be in this mess. No one would"ve have found it."
"That doesn"t make it right. You can"t rip the mineral wealth out of this moon knowing that someone, or something, is buried here."
"It could be thousands of years old," Bunny pointed out.
The Doctor shook his head. "Judging by the corrosion of the metal, I"d say it was no more than a century old, possibly two."
"Ironic, isn"t it?" said Stoker, utterly deflated. "All that guff about being archaeologists. What a b.l.o.o.d.y joke. All right: what do you you think think is is down there?" down there?"
"I"m afraid I"ll have to take a look before we can find that out."
She swore, once and with pa.s.sion. "Let"s get it over with"
Tegan and Nyssa finally caught up with the Doctor when he emerged from his meeting with Stoker and Bunny Cheung.
"Hey, what"s going on?" Tegan demanded to know, falling into step. "Is there a problem?"
The Doctor was clearly energised and ready for action.
Sometimes it could be exhilarating to ride on his coat tails; other times it could be simply infuriating. "Nyssa, how are you feeling?" he asked cheerily. "Bearing up?"
"Just about."
"Jolly good!" The Doctor strode on. "Come on, keep up!"
"Hold on a minute!" Tegan grabbed hold of the Doctor"s arm. "Explanation. Now."
The Doctor caught the look in both Tegan and Nyssa"s eyes. All right..." He stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets.
"There"s a distinct possibility that there is more to this moon than an abundance of lexium. There"s a sign that it could have been previously inhabited, or used for some purpose by intelligent life."
Tegan said, "Stoker doesn"t look very happy about that."