The House Of The Shadows
CHAPTER 3
The Doctor suggested that he and Martha move to the centre of the room underneath the gravity globe. to stay in the light whilst they tried to work out an escape plan. Martha took this opportunity to ask the Doctor a few questions.
"So was it a Vashta Nerada that killed that girl Elizabeth Gail?" asked Martha.
"Most likely" replied the Doctor.
They looked over to the doorway and saw that it was now totally pitch black.
"Where do the Vashta Nerada originate from Doctor?"
"Vashta Nerada can be found on any world where there's meat"
"Even Earth?'
"Even Earth. But the thing I don't understand is normally on Earth they are only found in small numbers. Harmless and benign they usually just live of road kill. So how come a swarm of aggressive Vastra Nerada are inhabiting this house?" said the Doctor getting frustrated by his lack of knowledge about the situation.
The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to brighten the strength of the gravity globe hoping to use it to keep the Vashta Nerada at away from them. Then he realised something...
"Of course!" shouted the Doctor.
"Of course what?" asked Martha confused by the Doctors outburst.
"I think I've figured out why a swarm of aggressive Vashta Nerada are in inhabiting this house. Vashta Nerada spores grow in certain types of trees. When they get old enough the spores get released. Well on some worlds entire forests are filled with Vashta Nerada swarms. What if the wood that this house is made from is actually not from earth but from a Vashta Nerada forest..."
In that case did the being who made this house not know the wood was infested or did they build the house because the wood was infested wondered Martha.
"So if this house was deliberately made by an alien to be infested with Vashta Nerada then what if they left some of their technology behind?" Martha asked.
The Doctor did a scan for alien technology with his Screwdriver and got a faint trace of something from one of the upper floors or possibly the attic.
"Martha Jones I think you may have just found away for us to banish the Vashta Nerada and escape from this house!"
Armed with a Sonic Screwdriver, a dimensionally transcendental picnic basket, the sonically boosted gravity globe and the device the Doctor had been working on earlier. The Doctor and Martha proceeded to make their way through the house and up to the attic to find out what the alien tech was and if it could really help them with their current predicament.
The journey was very intense in the total darkness surrounded by an army of carnivorous shadows protected by a sphere of light that only just covered both of them. In the ground floor hallway Martha was sure she saw a something shift. On the second floor landing the Doctor was sure he could hear them breathing or maybe it was laughing... Eventually they managed to make it to the attic in one piece but both shaken by their experience along the way.
The only way into the attic was through a small trapdoor that was out of reach of both the Doctor and Martha. Neither of them even came close enough to be able to clamber into the door. The Doctor was just able to nudge the door open a little with alot of stretching and balancing so that if they were able to get onto the roof they could make it into the attic.
"Its no use Martha we just cant make it into the attic."
"But Doctor we have to that equipment could be our only change of survival and could help us stop other people falling victim to the Vashta Nerada."
"Well their is one way we might be able to make it up too the attic."
"What is it?" interrupted Martha eager to hear the Doctors solution.
"It's incredibly risky, dangerous and just a little stupid."
"What is it?" repeated Martha.
"We destroy the gravity globe. The updraft created by destroying the globe should be more than enough to get us safely into the attic but that will also mean that we lose our main light source leaving us open the Vashta Nerada."
"Doctor we don't have any other option we have to at least attempt it."
"OK Martha Jones I'm going to destroy it now."
The Doctor shattered the globe and plunged himself and Martha into total darkness...
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