PART THREE.

EXIT WOUNDS.

What's gone, and what's past help should be past grief - William Shakespeare Shakespeare

Chapter Nineteen.

The Doctor ducked instinctively when he heard the crash.

The lab complex heaved as if struck by an earthquake. The floor bucked beneath his feet and equipment scattered off the work surfaces.

The laboratory continued to shudder for several seconds as something huge sc.r.a.ped along the rock above: a few small stones fell through the cracks in the roof and a cloud of dust filled the room.

The Doctor held onto the nearest solid object: the door.

He felt, rather than heard, a ma.s.sive explosion and the lab shook again. A number of ceiling tiles fell down with a clatter around him and then there was silence.

He listened to his own breathing for a few seconds.

Something akin to real panic was making his hearts race; breathing slowly and deeply he fought to control the hammering double-beat. He then peered warily at the ceiling, but there was no way to a.s.sess the damage. All he could do was hope that it, and the thousands of tons of rock above it, would hold up.

The whole moon seemed to let out a groan of despair.

The Doctor closed his eyes, trying not to imagine what had actually happened, trying not to visualise the wreckage or consider the implications. Tegan. Nyssa.

He couldn't move.

He was paralysed, frozen against the door. He was leaning on it, like a drunk or a man at sea in a storm, unable to stand upright. He could feel the deep, insidious cold seeping through his clothes, crawling under his skin, chilling his blood. His hands were stuck to the doorframe.

There was a loud, metallic crack and something gave fractionally beneath him.

He looked down. Around the edge of the door, there was a shadow.

It was oozing through the crack, a thin glimmer of absolute darkness. It was coming for him.

The Doctor tore himself from the door and hurled himself across the lab, skidding on the debris. He reached the exit and charged back up the steps.

Tegan coughed and spat out blood, found it tasted of smoke and nearly retched.

She was on all fours, trying to keep a grip on the floor.

The deck was leaning up at a crazy angle. If she let go she would slide right down to who knew what. Behind her she could hear the snap and crackle of flames, smell the fumes from burning electric cables and plastic whatever. All around her she could see a haze of black fog. She knew that if she didn't move soon the smoke would kill her.

And the heat.

Rabbits! This place was on fire. fire.

'Nyssa?'

'Over here!' Nyssa appeared through the smoke, her face smudged black, her eyes wide with shock.

With Nyssa's help Tegan climbed off the inclined deck and slid over to one of the control seats. It was bent back on itself, parallel with the floor. Leaning over it was Stoker, blood running freely down her face from her nose.

'We've got to get out of here,' Tegan said. 'The whole place might blow up any second.'

'It's a miracle we survived,' Nyssa said.

'Not a miracle,' gasped Stoker. She raised a hand and pointed across the twisted remains of the bridge. A body was slumped over the helm controls: Lawrence. 'He tried to pull us out of the dive at the last second. I saw him!'

'Is he hurt?' asked Tegan.

'He's dead,' said Stoker flatly.

Tegan moved towards the helm to check, but the deck shifted suddenly beneath her. A metallic grinding noise filled the smoky air as the bows started to collapse. The whole port side of the bridge suddenly fell away, sheered clean off the ship by the crash. Electrical cables and power lines snapped and gushed sparks everywhere. Tegan jumped back, crouching low. Smoke rolled out towards the empty s.p.a.ce and for a second they all had a glimpse of dark, sharp rock jutting through the metal and plastic of the hull. A cold wind blew in.

Something exploded on the far side of the bridge, flames spurting along the floor. The entire ship lurched and sank against the rock with a terrible noise. Lawrence's body slipped off the helm console and rolled lifelessly onto the deck. The breeze threw a sheet of flames over him.

'No!' Stoker cried out, falling to her knees.

Tegan grabbed hold of her. 'Come on. If we don't move we'll all burn to death.'

Tegan and Nyssa helped Stoker up and together they tried to cross to the rear of the bridge where the exit was. An angry fire was chewing its way through the plastic of the frame, and the airlock itself was bent right out of shape.

'Exit's blocked,' Tegan called over the noise of the flames.

'We'll have to get out that way,' Nyssa said, pointing to the huge rent on the port side.

They staggered across the deck, leaning against the tilt.

Halfway across, Tegan slipped on something and they all fell in a painful heap. The fire roared behind them, reaching out with scalding hands, trying to catch hold of anything flammable.

Nyssa crawled on with Stoker, coughing and choking on the fumes Tegan found that she had slipped in something wet and red: a stream of blood that ran from beneath Lawrence's body. The blood sizzled as the flames lapped it up.

She caught up with Nyssa and Stoker. 'How are we going to get out?' she demanded. They could all see the rock, but they could also see the razor-sharp, metal teeth of the Adamantium Adamantium where it had bitten into the moon's surface. where it had bitten into the moon's surface.

The three of them let out a loud squeak of surprise as the deck suddenly moved again, slipping down the rock. Sparks flew from the metal as it grazed against the stone.

'We've got to move soon!' Nyssa shouted. The metallic sc.r.a.pe of hull against the rock outside was now constant and control consoles were bursting into flames all over the bridge.

The ship was determined to die; it was writhing in agony, but all the time pushing itself harder against the spears of rock upon which it was impaled.

Tegan guided Stoker towards the jagged metal precipice.

'We'll lower you down.'

Another explosion rocked the ship and it pitched sideways, hurling the three of them towards the hole. Tegan felt her head hit something hard and then had a confused glimpse of the rocks. She scrabbled for a grip and felt her wrist grasped by a strong, warm hand.

'Don't worry, I've got you.'

'Doctor!' she yelled, opening her eyes. The Doctor was holding her, pulling her out onto the rock. His white trainers stood out starkly against the slippery black stone as he braced himself to take her weight.

'Thought you might need a hand,' he told her.

'Where the h.e.l.l were you?' Tegan climbed onto the rock and yanked her arm free. 'Where's Nyssa and Stoker?'

'They're all right,' the Doctor said. 'They've already made it down to the ground: it's not far.'

Tegan heard Nyssa call out, saw her standing on the moon's surface a couple of metres away. Stoker was kneeling on the ground next to her.

'If you're going to jump,' said the Doctor in her ear, 'I'd advise you to do so sooner rather than later. I don't know how much longer this wreckage is going to stay put.'

As if to underline his concern, the Adamantium Adamantium gave another terrible death-rattle. Tegan jumped down from the rock and joined the others, the Doctor following. 'I suggest we get away from here,' he urged them. gave another terrible death-rattle. Tegan jumped down from the rock and joined the others, the Doctor following. 'I suggest we get away from here,' he urged them.

'Where's Captain Lawrence?'

'Dead,' said Tegan. 'It was Lawrence who crashed the ship.'

'Was it indeed?'

'No,' said Stoker defiantly. 'It wasn't him! It was the Dark.'

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. 'I'm very sorry.'

Stoker lowered her head. 'Just get me away from here.'

'What about Cadwell?' asked the Doctor.

'I don't know,' said Tegan. 'He wasn't on the bridge when we crashed.'

'He was confined to his quarters,' the Doctor reminded them. 'He might still be there.'

'He's probably been killed!'

'I'll have to check,' the Doctor said. He turned and climbed back up the rock towards the tangled wreck of the Adamanttum's bridge.

'Don't be stupid!' Tegan called after him.

'It's too dangerous!' Nyssa argued.

The Doctor paused on the threshold of the wreckage. 'He could be trapped, or hurt. We can't leave him.'

Tegan said, 'Yes we can! Doctor, this thing could blow up at any moment!'

'I'll be back in a jiffy,' he called, disappearing inside the bridge.

Smoke rolled out of the torn hull and the metal groaned again.

'He's mad,' Stoker said dully. 'It's suicide.'

'The Doctor specialises in suicide attempts,' Tegan said.

An explosion rocked the front end of the ship and flames blew out of the open wound in the hull. The three of them turned and ran as the bows of the ship disintegrated in a ball of orange flames.

The Adamantium Adamantium was on its side, nose buried in the rocky surface of the moon, snorting flames. The tail fins stood proudly from was on its side, nose buried in the rocky surface of the moon, snorting flames. The tail fins stood proudly from its its aft end, the thrusters still glowing, but the main hull was ruptured and charred. aft end, the thrusters still glowing, but the main hull was ruptured and charred.

Fire was spreading quickly throughout the vessel: flames could be seen through the portholes.

'He'll never get out,' Tegan said miserably. Another conflagration erupted around the ship's bows and the bridge collapsed into a tangle of burning metal. The rest of the ship sank with a final, metallic rending and smaller, brighter explosions ripped along the length of the hull like gunfire.

'We've got to get right away from here,' Stoker said.