14.
Katherine and Megan turned and started to dash back up the tunnel that led from the dock. But they had only got a few metres when ahead of them they spotted another three men. They were all dressed in dark suits and one who had a short beard was also carrying a briefcase. As soon as they saw the two girls, the men reached inside their jackets for blasters.
The girls changed direction yet again and ran back out of the tunnel and into the dock. The two men from the aqua-pod had now got closer. "Hey, you two; stop or we shoot!" one yelled.
But Megan and Katherine had no intention of getting caught and raced along the dock and onto the jetties. A blue bolt of energy exploded on the metal floor making Katherine jump aside with a scream. More blaster shots followed as the girls zigzagged away.
Then Megan noticed one of the hatches of the aqua-pods slightly open and she pulled Katherine over to it. She tugged hard at the hatch and pushed Katherine through as another blaster bolt exploded next to her. She risked a look backwards and saw that all five of the men were now closing in on them. With a deep breath, she jumped into the aqua-pod and pulled the hatch closed behind her.
Katherine had already reached the cockpit of the pod which was a little smaller than the one they had travelled in with JD. She quickly examined at the controls before her, trying to remember how the pod was controlled. Fortunately, Katherine had a good memory and was a fast learner. Despite her unfamiliarity with technology, she pressed the ignition button confidently and pushed the motor lever forward.
The pod surged forwards as Megan entered the cockpit and then lurched to a stop. Katherine looked back over her shoulder at Megan. "We forgot to cast off the mooring line!" shouted Megan.
"No time now!" muttered Katherine and pushed the accelerator forward again. The pod strained against the line and then, with another lurch, snapped the line and leapt forwards from the dock and under the water.
"We've done it!" Megan laughed, punching the air and looking back to see the five men standing helplessly on the jetty. They had escaped!
15.
Slocum watched furiously as the aqua-pod roared away fro the jetty and dived into the water. There would be no way to stop them before they reached the ocean now. He scratched at his beard and eyed the other men who returned his gaze nervously. "Don't just stand there," he snarled, "get to the pod and get after them!"
The men almost fell over themselves in obeying his orders and ran towards their aqua-pod so they could catch the escaping Megan and Katherine. Slocum followed after them, pulling out a small communicator from his pocket as he ran. On the back of the device were two wavy lines, one above the other. "This is Aquarius Two," Slocum said, "we're going to need back up!"
******************************
Her hands griping the controls tightly, Katherine sat nervously in the pilot's chair. She watched through the windscreen as she guided the aqua-pod carefully but quickly through the water. They had cleared the airlock from Triton station and were now back in the huge dark oceans of Lemeria.
Megan scratched her head as she studied the radar screen on the controls trying to decipher the meanings of the numbers and letters. She made some educated guesses and pressed a button. "I think I've got the hang of this," she said as a flashing icon appeared on the windscreen. "I've found where Reef City One is on the map and programmed it in. All you have to do is keep that," she pointed to the icon, "at the top of the screen and we head in the right direction! It's a bit like Sat-Nav!" she laughed. Then she frowned as another two blips appeared on the radar screen, one behind them and one in front. "Uh oh! Kath I think we're being followed! Put your foot down, those guys must want us bad!"
Katherine nodded and pushed the accelerator lever up a notch, feeling the pod quicken beneath her. "What's that other blip?" she asked without looking away from the screen in case she collided with an outcropping of the reef or any aquatic life.
"I'm not sure," began Megan, but Katherine interrupted her.
"Megan, look!"
Another aqua-pod, similar to the one they had encountered earlier, had loomed out of the darkness of the ocean and was heading straight towards them.
16.
Slocum stood behind the pilot chair and smiled with satisfaction as they chased the fleeing aqua-pod towards the back up ship. The pod tried to dart to one side but the other Aquarius ship put out a tractor beam and snared it like a fish before it had chance to escape. Now it was time to find out exactly what these two women knew!
**************************
Katherine and Megan watched with despair as their pod was dragged inexorably towards the other ship.
"Isn't there anyway we can get out of here?" cried Megan.
Katherine just shrugged helplessly. "I don't know!" The whole pod shook with the strain of the engines fighting against the pull of the beam. "It sounds like we're being ripped apart!"
Megan sat down in defeat and stabbed at the engine button. "Then we just have to sit it out!"
****************************
Slocum watched as their prey was dragged closer to the Aquarius ship. "Bring us alongside," he ordered to the pilot, "and extend an airlock. I'm going over to talk to these two'" He leant down and picked up his briefcase. They would tell him what he wanted to know- sooner or later.
****************************
The two girls heard the sound of the airlock tube as it attached to the hull of the pod and exchanged a nervous glance with each other.
"Looks like we're going to have visitors," whispered Katherine.
Megan nodded and left the cockpit with her friend as they went to meet the boarders.
****************************
The airlock opened and two Aquarius men darted through, their blasters drawn and ready to shoot down any hostile defenders that they encountered, but Katherine and Megan stood meekly in the small passenger area. The men, cautious of any trickery swept their guns around the area and then ran over to grab the two girls, forcing their arms behind their backs.
"Hey, watch it!" shouted Megan angrily, "We give in okay!"
"Just leave us alone!" added Katherine, wincing as the man grabbed her.
"Do as she says," ordered Slocum as he left the airlock and the two thugs hastily obeyed leaving the girls rubbing their bruised arms.
"Now then," smiled Slocum coldly, "you're going to tell me exactly where we can find Davenport and the million credits he stole from Aquarius!"
17.
Megan glanced angrily at Katherine; she knew she had been right never to trust JD! "We don't know," she fumed. "He conned us too and took all our money. When you find him, we want a bit of him as well!"
Slocum gave a sarcastic chuckle. "So you were just innocent bystanders?"
Katherine nodded. "Yes. We only just arrived on Reef City yesterday!" she pleaded.
"Oh I know," answered Slocum, "I had you checked out. But you were spending a lot of credits in those shops."
"That was ours," said Megan.
"Really, can you prove that?" asked Slocum. After the girls hesitated he reached into his case. "No I thought not. I'm going to put this on your wrist," he said to Katherine, pulling out a device that looked like a large wristwatch with several wires that connected it to a small laptop. "It'll tell me if you're lying," he continued as he pulled Katherine towards him. "If you are, we'll shoot you here and now!"
************************
Megan and Katherine sat gloomily in the hotel restaurant but this time neither felt like eating or drinking. And even if they did, they had no credits to pay for it.
Fortunately, Slocum had believed Katherine once she had told their story attached to his machine. He seemed to be satisfied that the answers she gave were truthful and that they were innocent of defrauding the Aquarius Corporation and not in partnership with JD. There was an awkward moment when he had asked them how they had arrived on the planet, but Megan had managed to steer the conversation away from mentioning the Doctor.
Slocum had returned them to Reef City One in the aqua-pod and advised them to leave as soon as they could. He, and the other 'investigators,' had then left to try and pick up the trail of JD again. The girls certainly had no affection for the man who had set them up and robbed them, but they knew that no amount of bargaining would have an effect on Slocum and his men who would kill JD without a second's hesitation.
Megan played idly with the business card that JD had given her what seemed like a century ago but was less than twenty four hours. She turned it over in her hands and fumed silently.
Suddenly she turned the card back over and angled it towards the light. On the back of the card were some small indentations that looked liked numbers.
18.
Katherine glanced towards Megan. "What are you doing?"
Megan quickly grabbed a pen from the bar and rubbed it gently across the card. "Someone was pressing on this card when they wrote something down, look!" She held up the card. "D12 does that mean?"
Katherine shrugged in despair, but after a moment her eyes lit up as realisation dawned. "It's a jetty number. I saw codes like this when we got on the pod both here and on Triton Station!"
"Dock 12, Jetty 31!" exclaimed Megan. She hopped off the stool. "Come on, what are we waiting for?"
The girls were so excited about discovering the information that they didn't notice a man in an expensive suit quickly finishing his drink and following them from the restaurant.
***********************
Slocum put down the communicator. "It looks like those two managed to lie after all. They're heading for Dock 12." He clicked his briefcase shut and gestured to the three men who sat around the table with him. "Let's see what they really know and then we kill them!"
************************
Megan and Katherine stared at the gleaming aqua-pod that was moored at Jetty 31. It was a small, but clearly expensive model – the aqua-pod equivalent of a Ferrari thought Megan angrily. They peered in through the glass of the passenger lounge and could see someone moving about inside so quickly ducked back out of sight.
"What are we going to do," whispered Katherine, "just walk in?"
"We bluff it out!" decided Megan and then, with a deep breath, pulled back the hatch and stepped through before Katherine could stop her.
She was half way down the steps into the passenger lounge when someone stepped through from the cockpit.
JD looked astonished and dropped the glass he had been holding.
Megan's face twisted with anger and she threw herself at JD, pummelling him with her fists. "You swine, you stole our money and set us up!" she screamed.
Katherine was right behind her friend and looked around for something heavy to pick up in case things turned even nastier than they were already.
"Hold it right there!" Another man stepped from the cockpit pointing a blaster at them and Katherine gasped as she recognised him.
It was Bradley.
19.
JD soon managed to get over the initial shock of seeing the two girls, grabbed Megan's arms and threw her off him. "It's your own fault," he snarled. "If you go spending enough credits, you'll get noticed!"
Katherine and a still incensed Megan stood side by side. Katherine stared at Bradley who held the gun on them. "But you were dead," she stammered. "Tyson said you'd been poisoned!"
Bradley smiled grimly. "Being dead is a good way of getting away with robbing Aquarius. They're not going to go after a corpse!"
JD nodded. "And bribing Tyson was easy enough. Just as easy as making it look like him and the lovely Dara had disappeared. They're probably miles away now!"
"So it was all a trick just for us?" spat Megan
JD shrugged. "Not quite. The two Lemerians were quite well connected too." He rummaged in his pocket and produced two credit chips. "And really, it was all for these!" he grinned. He threw one of them at Megan who caught it. "Empty now though," JD sneered.
Suddenly there was a movement from outside the pod as a shadow passed the passenger lounge windows.
Bradley turned to JD in alarm. "It's Aquarius!"
"You fools, they've followed you!" JD snarled at the two girls.
Suddenly, everything seemed to happen at once. The hatch behind the girls started to open and Katherine took advantage of the distraction to pick up the heavy glass water jug she had seen earlier and hurl it at Bradley. It hit the man on the shoulder and with a cry he dropped the gun.
Then there was the explosion of an energy blast over the girl's heads. Slocum stood at the top of the steps, his blaster still smoking, and with a groan, Bradley crashed lifeless to the floor.
JD didn't pause as he dashed up the opposite steps and into the cockpit.
Megan and Katherine threw themselves hurriedly behind some couches, not wanting to get between Slocum and JD. Fortunately, Slocum ignored them as he strode through the lounge, obviously intending to kill the thief that had stolen the Aquarius credits.
But now another Aquarius man had appeared at the top of the steps and pointed his blaster at Katherine with a savage grin on his face.
There was nowhere else to hide as the explosive shot of a blaster rang out.
20.
Suddenly, the engines of the aqua-pod roared into life and it darted away from the jetty, throwing the Aquarius killer that was threatening Katherine off balance and backwards into the water of the dock with a cry.
Katherine was thrown to the floor with a scream but Megan managed to crawl forwards and see what was happening in the cockpit. Slocum had just reached the top of the steps as JD had started the aqua-pod's engines, and the shot that he had fired had not killed JD but instead blown a large hole in the cockpit front window. Now Slocum held precariously onto a handrail as the pod accelerated away.
JD kicked out at Slocum and the blaster fell from his grip and clattered to the floor. With a snarl, Slocum hurled himself onto JD and the two men fell backwards onto the controls of the pod. As they did so, their bodies hit the rudder control of the pod sending it into a deep dive. Slocum and JD were thrown forward and with a terrible cry, both men vanished through the gaping and jagged hole in the front of cockpit window.
Dock water began to flood into the pod with incredible speed as the pod dived below the waters.
Katherine crawled across to Megan. "What are we going to do?" she yelled as water rushed around them and rapidly started to fill the cabin.
Then there was a sudden jolt and the girls felt the pod's dive abruptly halt. The pod levelled out and then, much to their relief, it started heading back towards the surface, water draining out from the shattered cockpit screen.
After a few seconds, the pod erupted onto the surface of the water as Megan and Katherine looked up through the lounge windows in astonishment.
Hovering a few metres above the surface of the water was the familiar blue shape of the TARDIS, a golden energy beam projecting from the lamp on the roof and enveloping the aqua-pod. The door to the TARDIS opened and the Doctor leant out, hanging onto the door.
"Do you miss me?" he grinned.
The two girls, with grins from ear to ear, rushed to the aqua-pod hatch and opened it. The Doctor stretched out his hand and first Megan and then Katherine jumped into the TARDIS and hugged him together. The Doctor returned the hug with an even bigger grin.
"How did you find us?" asked Megan with relief.
"Still got that credit chip?" winked the Doctor and Megan nodded. "The TARDIS homed in on a little transceiver I put onto it. "He winked. "Think of everything me! Now then," the Doctor rubbed his hands together, "been having fun have we?"
Next Time: The Doctor, Katherine and Megan arrive back on Earth in the Wild West as they struggle to save the Earth in 'Avatars of Stone'.
Ocean of Deceit - Confidential.
The idea for this story came after I had the idea for 'Never Say Die'. I knew that if I was effectively killing off the Brigadier, I didn't want to have companions cluttering up the story as it would just be a two –hander between the Doctor and his oldest friend.
Coupled with this was the desire to emulate the TV show and do a 'Doc-lite' story, so I decided to just use the characters of Katherine and Megan in this one.
If you have two female characters, and I wanted a kind of 'road movie' to explore them a bit more, the natural source is the film 'Thelma and Louise'. The names of two of the characters in 'Ocean' were also taken from the film – JD and Slocum. For the casting of the two parts, I went for Ian Kelsey for JD, and a familiar name for Slocum with Maurice Roeves (Stotz from 'Androzani').
The prologue of 'Ocean' was actually written last, but I knew I wanted a 'flash-forward' start with them in mortal peril, before rewinding and starting the story afresh. The classic ending of 'Thelma and Louise' was the two girls driving of a cliff into the Grand Canyon, so I tried my best to get my story somewhere in that direction!
In fact, the world of Lemeria was devised to just that end after discarding an earlier idea of having an artificial world with lots of different cities and places in huge glass domes in space and 'warping' between them. In that version, Katherine and Megan were going to be heading into a black hole at the end!
So space became water and shuttles became aqua-pods. But the idea of 'driving' between places like you would pull into a garage or service station (like Triton station), was still the same.
In a very early draft, the native population of Lemeria (who I imagined looked a bit like Terileptils by the way) had a much larger role and were behind trying to get the Aquarius Corporation off Lemeria, but this had to go as there was not enough time to do the subplot justice.
I hope you enjoyed reading the story and this little insight into the creation of it. I think I tried to push the format a bit and do something a little different and I think it worked well.
Back to a far more traditional story next time, and the start of another two part adventure.