On to Segment 8 and our heroes have a doozey of a situation to escape from.

So let's continue.

Chapter 7: An Unconventional Surrender

As the warships drew closer to the Mantasphids' hive, Martha turned to the Doctor in horror. "So we're just gonna stand here while they vapourize us out of existence?"

"Unless the Queen decides to surrender," he replied.

At that moment, having heard about her colony's fate, the massive Mantasphid had become completely terror-stricken. "Mergrass, what do we do?"

"You're asking me?" The Anuran arms dealer raised a scaly eyebrow curtly.

"You are my military advisor," the Queen shrieked in fear. "You know tactics, you know weapons. HELP US!"

"Sorry, your majesty," Mergrass retorted gruffly. "I would have happily helped you when I thought I was getting paid, but without the key-coder, the weapons are useless and without my money, you get nothing. Goodbye, you sniffling insect, you deserve what you're about to get…" And he walked out the hive without another word.

"Mergrass!" the Queen called out. "Mergrass, come back!" But her pleas went unheard.

"The rotter," Martha scowled.

"We need to keep track of Mergrass," the Doctor reminded her. "He still has the data-chip we need to continue this treasure hunt."

"But we can't leave the Mantasphids to die," Martha retorted.

"That's up to the Queen."

With Mergrass gone, the Mantasphid Queen let out a chirruping sighed and her antennae drooped in defeat. "It is decided," she muttered. "We have no choice but… to surrender… to the fleshy bipeds?"

"Ah, at last!" The Doctor turned to the young soldier. "Pilot Kelvin, have you got a communications system of some kind?"

"Yes sir, inside my helmet," Kelvin replied with a nod. "But I'm afraid it was damaged during the crash."

"Oh, we'll soon have that sorted," the Doctor beamed as he whipped out his sonic screwdriver. Carefully he pulled the helmet off Kelvin's head and set to work on the radio.

"Hurry, hurry!" the Queen urged. "We want to surrender!"

"And you will," the Doctor promised. "Just give me a few seconds…"

"But, Doctor," Kelvin said. "Our Command has no protocol for negotiation with the Mantasphids."

"Then make one!" Martha demanded.

"I can't!" Kelvin retorted. "They invaded our homes and killed our families, all for a load of dung!"

"They are also living sentient beings that have a right to exist," the Doctor argued. "Maybe not here, but somewhere in the universe… Ah, got it!" With a smile, he flipped the helmet up and plonked it back onto Kelvin's head. "Now, let's hear what your Command has to say…"

He pressed a button on the side and a voice then issued through the armour's speakers. "Mantasphid hive destruction will commence in sixty seconds."

The Doctor's face fell. "Oh, that's not good…"

"Please, Doctor, hurry!" the Queen pleaded.

Martha scratched her head in quick thought. "Doctor, listen… if the bugs can't surrender, then… surely we can, can't we?"

The Doctor whirled round and stared at her in a look of surprised comprehension. "Martha Jones, you are BRILLIANT!" He turned back to Kelvin. "Pilot, tell them to open up a visual channel."

The pilot looked stunned. "What?"

"Just do it!"

"Hurry, Doctor!" the Mantasphid squealed.

On the main brig of the Command's ship, the General watched on the screen as the Mantasphid hive drew closer. In a few seconds, the wretched insects would be destroyed and Myarr would be theirs once more…

Just then, a loud crackling interrupted his thoughts and he quickly switched on his radio. "Yes, who is this?"

"Control, this is Pilot Kelvin."

The General got out his chair in alarm. "Pilot Kelvin, I thought you were dead! Where are you?"

"Inside the Mantasphid hive."

"What? But how-"

"There's no time to explain, but it's imperative that you open a visual link to my helmet's communication link now. Please respond…"

"No doubt the bugs want to give another of their 'we'll never surrender' speeches," the General sighed to himself but he responded, "Roger."

He pressed a button on the panel and the screen's image changed to static and then to his surprise, instead of the insect face of the Queen, the scowling face of a human in his thirties appeared on the screen.

"Ahoy there, ye Earth Command nobodies!" the human growled like a pirate. "You got Doctor Vile, pirate of the seven constellations giving you a big white flag!"

"What in the name of Earth…?" the General cried out as he grabbed the radio and shouted, "Who are you? What are you doing working with these bugs?"

"Actually, these bugs have been working fer me," Doctor Vile replied. "Fact is, me and me mad mucker Martha here…"

At this, a dark-skinned woman's face appeared next to him. "Arrr," she snarled. "Avast and shiver me timbers, me hearties!"

"Uh, no, no, don't do that," Doctor Vile hissed as he moved her aside. "Anyway, we've been ruling over these insect raiders, held their queenie hostage and forced them to conquer this here planet for our own means. But your pilot here tells us that you plan to vapourise us and, we has to admit, you've got us beaten. So, come on in and get us! We surrender! Arrr!"

And with that, the face disappeared from the screen.

"Well I never," the General muttered.

In the hive, the Doctor coughed a little and smiled. "Well, that should do it."

"What have you done, Doctor?" the Mantasphid Queen cried out.

"I've taken the rap for you, your majesty, and ended your war."

"They'll never believe it," Martha scoffed.

The Doctor gave a sly grin. "Oh, you reckon?"

Just then, she heard the noise of the warships fading away and then another command issued from the speakers, "All units, hive destruction cancelled. Your priority now is to apprehend male human codename Doctor Vile."

Martha was silent for a moment then she let out a cheer. "YES! You did it!"

"It was your idea, Martha," the Doctor beamed.

"Yes but it was brilliant, don't you think… Doctor Vile?"

"Aye-aye, matey," the Doctor chuckled.

Kelvin just shook his head in disbelief and the Mantasphid Queen let out a purr of relief. "How can we ever thank you, Doctor?"

"That's easy," the Doctor replied, suddenly serious. "You bugs work with the humans, not against them. Why, young Kelvin here would make a great ambassador."

Kelvin started in surprise. "Me? But we don't have any negotiation protocols, remember?"

"Then we'll make one for you…" The Doctor turned to the Queen. "Now, listen, your majesty, the humans' farms are going to need power. Light and heat will be hard to come by in an oil-starved universe, right?"

"Right," Martha agreed. "And you are naturally phosphorescent, so you can offer your services to them."

"Exactly," the Doctor agreed. "Think you can make a deal?"

"Yeah," Martha finished. "You give the humans enough light and warmth to grow their crops and you will get all the dung you could ever want! So, what do you say?"

Kelvin glanced up at the Queen for a moment and then he slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think we can work out an agreement."

The Queen tilted its head in thought. "It is rather unorthodox… but I suppose we can help these fleshy bipeds… as long as we get all that lovely dung!"

"Brilliant!" Martha smiled then she turned to the Doctor. "So what's next?"

"We skedaddle out of here before any of Kelvin's mates arrive," the Doctor replied as he ushered her out the cave entrance. "Good luck, everyone!"

Kelvin and the Mantasphids waved them goodbye then returned to their negotiations.

Once outside, the Doctor and Martha set off into the dark jungle at a run, hoping to get a head start on the human forces.

"So what now?" Martha called out as they ran. "We catch up with Mergrass and go?"

At that moment, the Doctor skidded to a halt. "Oh, I think we've found him…"

Martha went up to his side and let out a gasp of horror. "Oh no, no!"

They had stumbled across Mergrass's hovercraft and lying next to it in a puddle of water was an empty spacesuit. The hoses were bent at an angle and the scuba tank had a hole blasted into one side. "What happened?" Martha breathed.

"Sudden dehydration," the Doctor muttered. "His tank was ruptured and without water to breathe, he just… shriveled away." He then spotted the data-chip still attached to the collar of the suit. "I'll take the data-chip and we'll go."

"We can't just leave him!" Martha cried out. "It's like Captain Kaliko all over again!"

"Isn't it just?" the Doctor agreed as he knelt down and pulled the chip off. "But Martha, we can't stay, we're criminals, remember? I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do for him now. Come on!"

Soon, they were back in the safety of the TARDIS and the Doctor plugged the third data-chip into his computer. Martha watched him in silence, still thinking about all that had happened. In their quest to find the Infinite, two people who owned a piece of the recorder had been found murdered but the chips had been left behind, so she ruled out Baltazar in her suspicions. But nobody else knew about the Infinite's existence, if it existed at all, so why had Kaliko and Mergrass been killed?

"Next data-chip's been located," the Doctor called out. "According to the computer, it's um… it on the uh… oh."

"Where?" Martha asked. "Is it somewhere bad?"

The Doctor ruffled his hair with one hand before turning around and asking, "Are you wearing thermals?"