Peret and Lacey were disturbed from their tea by a cuckoo clock. Immediately, the pair of them sprang to attention. They strode over to what looked like a tickertape stock reader, and watched intently as a strip of paper was dispensed.
SYSTEM ARRIVAL. APX 590 BODIES. TWO LEAD BODIES BREAKING FORMATION AND RELAYING CORRECTLY FORMATTED RECOGNITION CODES. ASSUME ARRIVAL OF TRADING PARTY.
"Ah," Peret commented. "It appears our guests have arrived. Shall we send the signal to our second agent?"
Lacey tapped his chin. "We don't know if the weapon has been prepared yet. We'll wait for the another report from Lynch."
"How rude" the Matralan mumbled. "Do they usually do that?" "Do what usually do what?" Lynch asked. The Doctor and Rakshan were still watching the screen, while Leela still held her knife against Lynch's throat.
"Humans." The Matralan's mount gestured after Andrews' retreating form. "Mutate into degenerate simian creatures."
"Not usually, no" the Doctor replied. "But that's immaterial right now. We're about to have guests." He patted the console in front of him. "Quite an impressive set-up you've got here."
"I know." An eager lilt came into the Matralan's voice. "You'll never guess how much I paid for it. Go on, try."
The Doctor pursed his lips in thought, but before he could respond, Lynch interjected. "Are we not forgetting that there seems to be an invasion fleet on its way here?"
The primate grabbed the bottle and chugged its contents. Vickers had an experience he never wished to repeat.
The Matralan gave a shrug. (Quite an accomplishment given that its appendages were about six inches long and buried up to the second joint in its mount.) "No idea. They seemed to come out of nowhere. It's not really a war between us and them, more like a concentrated retreat on our part. We're just lucky that they haven't been particularly interested in pursuing us."
"And what are your orders if something like this were to happen?" The Doctor gestured at the viewscreen, where a pair of ships was breaking formation and heading for Earth.
The Matralan snorted. "Are you kidding? I've got no defenses against this kind of thing. I mean, granted, I was trying to breed an army to fight them, but this is way beyond what the Primus is capable of handling. Even if the entire village was fully primed, they could handle three, four ships at the most. The only thing I can do now is to get off-planet. I have to confess, I'm a little loath to do so. All my investments in this venture, gone like a puff of smoke!"
"Not good." The Doctor thrust his hands into his pockets and tried to think.
"Let them come" Rakshan declared. All eyes turned to him. "They will destroy the infestation. Perhaps not an ideal solution, but certainly an acceptable one."
"They'll also sweep across this planet like locusts. Human civilization will be completely sublimated." The Doctor took a closer look at the screen. "These aren't the type of visitors you can pacify with a glass of tea and a jelly baby."
"Acceptable losses." The Doctor turned toward Rakshan, fire in his eyes. Lynch recognized the Doctor's look of steel from earlier, and chose this moment to ask a question that had been bugging him.
"Exactly who are these invaders?" As part of standard Directory training, Lynch had been briefed on a myriad of alien species, and he might recognize this particular one. Who knows? Perhaps they meant no harm at all to Earth.
"It doesn't matter. Suffice it to say that they won't be in the mood to talk. They shouldn't even be in this corner of the cosmos. I can see why the Time Lords wanted me to deal with this... but chucking me into the situation cold was hardly the best idea they've ever had."
The slug didn't like the orders. The air around it was too dry, for some reason, and it felt as though it was carrying four times as much weight as it should. The mud in which it had been spending its rest periods had a peculiar aftertaste recently. It was not a happy little invertebrate - but the fear of punishment was more than enough to induce it to follow its master's orders.
The riderless mollusc slithered down one of the access caverns, tracing the pheremone trail of the taller, bescarfed biped. The Matralan had told it to find the route that the biped had used to enter the house, and repair any damage.
A few hundred feet down the twisting passage, the mount came across the Xhirlim, trapped in the cavern, wailing mournfully as more of its tail slipped down its throat. The slug considered the best way to repair such damage. One possibility was to use some of its gastric juices to dissolve the trapped worm, but data processors quickly suggested a better idea. It began applying its acids to the surrounding rock, and soon enough of the wall was removed so that the Xhirlim could move freely.
The snakelike creature removed its tail from its mouth after what seemed like an eternity of torment. Hunger blossomed in its stomach, and it looked for a snack. One of its offspring was chewing on rock for some reason, and it opened its mouth wide in order to snap the little creature up. A light snack, but it would suffice.
Eventually his wandering brought him down to the wine cellar. Down in a corner, the orangutan sat behind a table and an empty bottle of (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MONTRESSORE). The orangutan swivelled its head toward him and spoke: "Aaggtluuuzzz. Antlooz. Andrews."
A low buzz sounded within Andrews' head, and he had the sudden desire to pick up the bottle. Hands sprouting with orange hair grasped the neck, despite their rapidly degenerating opposable thumbs. As soon as he touched the glass, the buzz resolved itself into a male voice, a voice he hadn't heard since his therapy in Scotland.
*When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning or in rain?* A throaty, self-deprecating chuckle echoed in Andrews shattered mind. The orangutan drew back its lips in a ... I suppose the only term to use is "smile."
It left the protective moisture of the caverns and ventured out into the open air. After only a few minutes of searching, it arrived at the cove in which Vickers first arrived. The beast picked up the almost forgotten artifact that Vickers had used to precipitate his transformation, and loaded it on its back.
It then turned back toward the villa, eager to complete its instructions. Fear of punishments goaded it into its final task: preparing the escape capsule for immediate departure.
Lynch tried to filter out the Doctor's words, and concentrate on Leela's pulse. He wasn't yet completely sure that she was human. Humans were easy to overpower, but Lynch didn't want to take the risk of using an attack tailor-made for a human opponent on an alien - particularly not when said alien was holding a knife to his throat.
The Matralan snorted derisively. "Leave. Fall back to the homeworld and wait for reassignment. Of course, I'd rather stay and protect my investment, but still...."
The huntress shifted her arm slightly, and Lynch caught sight of a bruise on her forearm. It was all the confirmation he needed. Lynch extended a hand and jabbed at a pressure point on the back of her neck. She'd been caught off guard, and her grip on the knife went slack. Lynch was already moving, scooping the blade out of her slack fingers, and hurtling toward the Doctor. "La verite est la dehors!" he cried, holding the knife so that its blade would make a horizontal incision in the Doctor's chest, a way to maximise the damage to a bi-cardial circulatory system.
A loud belching sound came from closer to the viewscreen, and Rakshan's weapon vomited up a shot. The greenish liquid impacted on Lynch's neck, and the man screamed incoherently. He fell to the ground, writhing in agony. His mouth contorted in pain, but no sound escaped his lips: the weapon had already done its damage to vocal cords.
Leela sprang to her feet, scooped up her weapon from the floor, and prepared to attack Lynch. When she saw the state he was in, she sheathed her knife and looked toward the Doctor.
"Where is the Matralan?" Rakshan hissed. The Doctor and Leela turned toward the spot where the little creature had been just a few moments ago.
"I don't know" the Doctor confessed. "I didn't see it leave." Lynch gave a final thrash, and then was motionless forever. The Doctor crossed to the viewscreen. "Perhaps something here can tell us. Ah-ha!"
"What?" Leela joined the Doctor in front of the screen.
"I've found a communications system. We can call for help. Of course, I can't think of anyone who would be of any help, but you never know."
From outside the villa, there came a sound of an escape pod being activated.
"The sadist has fled." Rakshan altered the settings on its weapon with an almost loving caress. "I see only one course of action." It fired at the bank of instruments, rendering them completely useless. "Let the invaders come. They will destroy the infestation, and we may leave and pursue the Matralan. Earth may burn, for all I care."
To Be Continued