Chapter Six
The blob slowly inched its way out of the jar, before forming a small pool on the table.
"What do you want?" asked the Doctor, cutting to the chase.
Power. The voice seemed to surround them, echoing as if in an air pocket in an underwater cave.
"Interesting," murmured the Doctor, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Telepathic communication. No wonder you got into Susan's mind so easily, telepathy's your first language!"
Need Power.
"Alright, alright, you need power," said the Doctor. "What for?"
Heart Failure.
"Heart Failure?" Susan was confused. "What does it mean by that?"
No one answered. The Doctor turned to look at the Elders, who'd all gone a very pale blue.
"Are you sure?" asked Sani fearfully.
Need Power. Heart Failure. You have Power. Give us Power! Plato launched himself off the table and onto the Doctor. Susan yelled in dismay as she watched the blob force its way into the Doctor's eyes, nose, ears and mouth. The Doctor grimaced.
"Unpleasant," he groaned, his hands to his head.
"Plato's … inside you."
"I was aware of that, thanks," snapped the Doctor. His knees buckled and he sank to the floor, rubbing his temples. Susan knelt beside him.
"What's he up to?"
"Having a good poke at my defences, that's for sure," the Doctor said through gritted teeth. All of a sudden, he yelled. "Ah ha! That's what he's after!"
"What?" asked Susan and the Elders all at once.
"Power!" exclaimed the Doctor triumphantly, jumping to his feet and clicking his fingers, as if he should have realised it all along.
The other exchanged glances.
"He… already told us that," said Jerom slowly.
"Yeah, but now I know what sort of power he means!"
"Which is…" prompted Susan after a few seconds.
"The same stuff that the TARDIS runs on."
"Time energy?"
"Got it in one. You can tell you're one of my descendants," smiled the Doctor. He swayed slightly. "Okay, um… Susan? Hold this, will you?" He handed her the empty jar and whipped his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket.
"What're you up to?" asked Susan warily.
"I have a little gate-crasher in my head and I've tried to ask him politely to leave, but he just won't listen and I am now obliged to use force." He pointed the sonic at his head. A high-pitched wail came from it, growing more and more intense, until everyone was wincing at the onslaught on his or her ears. Then they saw what looked like water dribbling from the Doctor's mouth, and Susan leapt forward to catch it in the jar, screwing on the lid, tight. The Doctor shuddered.
"Not pleasant, is it?" said Susan, handing him the jar back.
"Nope."
"Excuse me." Susan sighed before turning to look at Ylea; she really was getting sick of the woman.
"You used that thing on Kaelah yesterday," she said. "Why didn't it work like that then?"
"Higher frequency, this time. Of course, the minute I see her, I'll use it, but first we need to find her, and ascertain whether anyone else has been possessed."
"Well, I think you can tick both things off your list," said Susan, turning white.
"Why's that?"
"Kaelah and Jalem are here, that's why." She pointed at the doorway where the two stood, their eyes aglow.
DW
Donna was starting to feel a little better, though her head still throbbed nastily if she moved too quickly. She didn't know where she was, but she did know that the room she was in was small, cold, lit by one small, flickering crystal, and had about an inch of water on the floor. She was soaked from lying there.
Great, she thought. I recover from one illness, only to find myself courting another. She was alone now. The two pairs of feet she'd seen had left before she'd recovered enough to try and find out who their owners were. She knew they were Atlantean, but that was all.
Swaying and shivering slightly, Donna got to her feet and tried the door, just visible in the faint light. No luck. It was locked tight, and she couldn't see a keyhole to try and pick it with her hairpin.
A faint trickling reached her ears. At the same time, she became aware that the water was higher than it had been before. There was a leak somewhere.
The water was rising.
DW
The Doctor, Susan and the council members had all backed into a corner. Kaelah had run at the Doctor and knocked the sonic screwdriver out of his hand, crushing it beneath her foot. The Doctor had been rather upset about this, until Susan had whispered something in his ear and winked. Now he stood at the front of the little group huddled in the corner, his hands stuffed moodily in his pockets. Jalem and Kaelah were keeping them there with some rather sharp-looking spears. Behind them, a couple of blobs jiggled. The Doctor had very quickly stuffed Plato back in his pocket.
"Kaelah, Jalem, what is the meaning of this?" demanded Ylea angrily, stepping forward as far as she could without getting speared. The Doctor grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Don't. It's Kaelah and Jalem's bodies, but you're not addressing their minds. We have to tread carefully here. I doubt the blobs will have any qualms about disposing of them if they get in the way."
Ylea's skin turned even paler than before, and she stepped back.
"Come with us," said Kaelah's voice. Susan shivered involuntarily; she could have sworn she'd heard waves crashing behind each word. Then Jalem jabbed her in the arm when she didn't move.
"Ouch!" Her hand flew to her arm, and came away smeared with blood. She grasped the wound harder.
"Hey, hey, none of that!" cried the Doctor angrily, jumping back onto Heram's webbed foot as Kaelah turned her spear on him. There was a moment of jumbled confusion as the Doctor apologised profusely to everyone and everything, a blob or two got trodden on, Susan transferred something form her jeans pocket to her sleeve, and Heram cursed a lot in Atlantean- the TARDIS never seemed to translate those bits- then Jalem shouted, the sound of a tsunami behind his words.
"Silence! You will follow us to the Heart!"
The Elders all gasped.
"The Heart of Atlantis?"
DW
The water was higher, Donna was wetter, but she was still trapped. She'd yelled until she was blue in the face, and them some more, but to no avail. Wistfully, she wondered if it was possible to do a spot of instant evolution and get herself some gills, but she doubted it. She gave up shouting, partly because she wasn't sure how much oxygen she had left, but also because it was obvious there was no one nearby.
She splashed angrily, the water at her knees now. She decided the try and get the light crystal and have a closer look at it, for some reason she didn't know. As her fingers touched it, it flashed so brightly her eyes hurt. But in that brief moment of light, she'd seen an opening in the ceiling above. Time to get out.