The creature retched and issued another flood of emetic, and then more, until a torrent of blood and bile had been ejected into the well. It paused for a moment and then the convulsions began again, followed by more blood.

The Doctor quietly moved for the exit, still keeping a firm hold on Nyssa's arm.

'We've seen enough,' he told her in the tunnel. 'Time we were going.'

Nyssa staggered after him. 'Why didn't it see us?'

'I don't know. It was pretty murky in there. And perhaps it was too concerned with its business to notice us.'

Nyssa wasn't prepared to argue, she was just thankful that it was over for now. She had to get away from here, far away.

Because in her mind she could hear the voice talking to the creature, imploring it to continue, begging it to spew more and more of its evil elixir so that the darkness could drink, long and deeply, of life itself.

Chapter Fifteen.

'What happened? What did you find? What's wrong with Nyssa?'

'She's just a bit tired, that's all,' the Doctor said. He lay Nyssa down on a spare bed. 'It's been quite an ordeal.' As quickly as he could, the Doctor recounted their adventure in the catacombs.

And the end of it, Tegan pulled a face. 'You mean it's like some kind of Pot Snack? Just add water and wait five minutes for a pool of delicious simmering evil?'

The Doctor winced. 'Well, it's true that it appears to require liquid reconst.i.tution, yes. Only human blood and bile rather than plain hot water.'

'That's revolting.'

'It's certainly a good story,' agreed a voice from the doorway. Silas Cadwell entered the sickbay with his hands clasped behind his back and a sardonic expression on his face. 'Pity there's no one to corroborate it.'

'Nyssa saw everything,' the Doctor argued. 'When she wakes up -'

'I mean no one reliable.' reliable.'

The Doctor looked at him wearily. 'Mr Cadwell, I offered you the chance to come with us. You refused.'

'Naturally.'

'Perhaps if you had come along, you wouldn't be so dismissive.'

Cadwell clicked his tongue. 'Ah, you mean that I might have found my my blood suitably chilled by this bubbling pool of evil slime you found?' blood suitably chilled by this bubbling pool of evil slime you found?'

He smiled. 'I think you'll find I'm made of sterner stuff than that, Doctor.'

'Whatever is trapped in that pit is powerfully telepathic and monstrously evil,' the Doctor said firmly. 'And it's trying to get free.'

'Stop it, I'll have a heart attack,' Cadwell replied. He glanced at Nyssa's supine form on the medical couch. 'Or swoon right away, like your friend.'

'Am I to understand that you're not prepared to do anything about what we've found?'

'You've found nothing, Doctor! Do you seriously expect me to act on one fanciful story and a state of self-induced hysteria?'

'Then I shall have to speak to Captain Lawrence.'

Cadwell sneered. 'He won't be interested. The captain has only one concern: securing the mineral rights to this moon for the Consortium.'

'Then it will be left to me to deal with it,' the Doctor said.

'It usually is.'

'Us to deal with it, Doctor,' Tegan corrected.

Cadwell smiled condescendingly at the pair of them. 'Oh, I wish you both luck. Be sure to give my regards to the Pot Snack of Evil, won't you?'

He laughed and then turned on his heel, marching out of the medical bay without another word.

'Doctor...' said Tegan.

The Doctor slammed his hand down on a computer bank. 'Of all the arrogant, narrow-minded stupidity!'

'Oh never mind about him, Doc,' Tegan said. 'He's just a prat in a uniform. They're all over the place. But listen, I've got some news for you!'

'What news?'

'You told me to look after Oldeman, remember? Well, he starting talking in his sleep: he wanted more neurolectrin, and -'.

'You didn't let him have it, did you?'

'Of course not. You told me not to. But he was getting pretty desperate, shouting his mouth off about all kinds of stuff to do with Professor Garondel.'

'The scientist who set up the secret research lab,'

recalled the Doctor. 'The gentleman responsible for the creation of the Bloodhunter.'

'Right. Or so we thought' Tegan looked excited. 'But I got the distinct impression from Oldeman that Garondel was little more than a lab technician. Oldeman said "I should never have taken him on". It sounded to me like it was Garondel who was trying to stop Oldeman going ahead with the project, not the other way around.'

'Really!' The Doctor whirled around and glared at Ravus Oldeman.

'I think it's high time we had another little chat with our sleeping friend!'

Silas Cadwell returned to his own cabin and shut the door.

Tight-lipped, he crossed to his personal computer terminal and switched it on. He worked at the machine for several minutes, studying the contents of various files in his private database very closely.

'I'll be d.a.m.ned,' said Stoker, sitting 'up suddenly in front of the puter display. 'He's just opened the file.'

Lawrence leant closer. 'That's a stroke of luck!'

'Don't knock it,' Stoker said. 'Luck happens.'

'What's he up to?'

'Wait a sec, we should be able to get a clear view of the whole file.'

Alone in his quarters, Silas Cadwell closed the puter down and stood up.

He had an uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched. Nothing definite, just some kind of sixth sense. He wasn't unduly worried; it simply meant that the time had come to act.

Cadwell was a man with a mission. Actually, it was more than a mission: it was an inheritance, a fantastic duty that had been pa.s.sed down to him and which would take his actions completely outside the remit of the Consortium.

He pressed a switch on his desk and the drawer buzzed open. He took out a plastic box and placed it carefully on the surface. The biometric lock was triggered by a specially coded DNA strand in Cadwell's saliva.

He licked a fingertip, wiped it along the sensor, and the box flipped open.

Inside were the components for a squat metal projectile weapon. He a.s.sembled it quickly and efficiently. The handgun was small, powerful, extremely expensive and strictly illegal for civilian or even Consortium use. It fired specks of super-dense matter, sometimes called Dwarf Star Alloy. In single-shot mode it could decapitate a man, and at close range a sustained stream could rip open a Dalek. It used a single cell of depleted ranidium for a power source and this was shielded against most shipboard sensors, rendering the weapon to all intents and purposes undetectable.

Cadwell carefully inserted the tiny but heavy magazine. It contained five DSA "dot" rounds and that would be more than enough firepower for what he intended.

Next he took out four identical plastic canisters from his secure locker. He slipped them neatly into a pack and hung it over one shoulder. He was ready.

Comforted by the steely weight of the gun in his pocket, Cadwell left his cabin for the last time.

Ravus Oldeman returned to full consciousness very quickly.

Tegan didn't know whether this was natural or a result of the medical computer's drugs cycle, but when the scientist opened his eyes they seemed to be bright and piercing.

They focussed quickly on the first thing they saw: a small medical injector held between the Doctor's finger and thumb.

'Neurolectrin.' Oldeman reached up to s.n.a.t.c.h the ampoule, but it disappeared.

The Doctor spread his fingers. 'Now you see it... now you don't.'

'Give me the neurolectrin,' Oldeman rasped, trying to sit up. 'I need another dose.'

'I don't think so,' the Doctor told him coolly. 'Not yet at any rate'

'I'll suffer permanent brain-damage without it!'

'I'm willing to let a few brain cells wither on the vine, if necessary.'

Oldeman gritted his teeth. 'I am due another dose. The medical computer will confirm it!'

'I know you're due another dose,' the Doctor said. 'All I said was not yet.' not yet.'

Oldeman sank back onto the couch, his ribs heaving. He licked his lips. 'What do you think you're playing at, man? Call yourself a doctor?'

'The Doctor, if you don't mind. I'm very particular about that: I've always been a stickler for accuracy.' Doctor, if you don't mind. I'm very particular about that: I've always been a stickler for accuracy.'

Oldeman shook his head, confused. 'What do you want?'

'The truth!'

'What?'

The Doctor leaned over the scientist, dangling the neurolectrin injector, which had magically reappeared in his hand, right in front of him. 'I want the truth, Oldeman. Or should I say Professor Professor Oldeman?' Oldeman?'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean that you've been lying to us, Professor. Professor. It wasn't Garondel who set up the secret research base here on Akoshemon's moon. It was you. It wasn't Garondel who set up the secret research base here on Akoshemon's moon. It was you.

It wasn't Garondel who insisted on including Akoshemon DNA in the genetic mix, it was you. you. It wasn't Garondel who rode roughshod over everyone else's instinct for caution when trying to generate a life-form based on a human-Akoshemon combination. It wasn't Garondel who rode roughshod over everyone else's instinct for caution when trying to generate a life-form based on a human-Akoshemon combination. It was you.' It was you.'

Oldeman stared at the Doctor in panic, finally glancing at Tegan, who stood with her arms folded by the Doctor's side.

'Hard luck, Oldeman,' she said. 'You talk in your sleep.'

'Not very original,' the Doctor said. 'But quite revealing'

'You don't understand the whole truth.' Oldeman spat.