'We can't just leave her here!' added Gaskin.

The Doctor whirled around to face them. 'If we don't stop Duncan, none of us will survive the night let alone Sadie. I've done my best for her. It'll have to do for now.'

'Perhaps you should stay with her, just in case,' Gaskin said to Angela.

But Angela was having none of that. 'Don't talk nonsense, Henry!

You heard what the Doctor said she's stable. There's nothing we can do for her here.'

'But '

'But nothing! Come on, you're coming with me.'

Angela grabbed him by the hand and dragged him as quickly as she could down the shattered remains of the stairs.

'But where are we going?' 'After that creature, of course,' she said as they reached the hallway.

'I'll wait here while you get your shotgun.'

'You won't need it,' the Doctor told them.

'That's what you said the last time,' Angela sold accusingly. 'And look what happened!

Next chance we get, Henry can blast the wretched creature to h.e.l.l. No one messes with Angela Hook and gets away with it!'

The Doctor opened his mouth to argue, but Martha interrupted him.

'Doctor! Look!'

Nigel Carson was already out of the front door and running for Gaskin's Daimler. Within seconds he had it open and the engine started.

'Trust him to scarper when things go wrong,' muttered Angela.

Gaskin came through with the shotgun and swore loudly as he watched his Daimler pulling away. 'How the devil did he get hold of my keys?'

'Does it matter?' asked Martha. The Daimler's wheels spat gravel at the front door as Nigel swung the car towards the gates.

But the gates had disappeared.

In their place was a tangle of wrought iron where Duncan Goode had torn his way through. The Daimler b.u.mped over the wreckage and purred away into the night, its rear lights coming on as Nigel found the headlamps.

A series of loud barks heralded the arrival of a rather dishevelled Border Collie.

'Jess!' cried Gaskin, dropping to one knee as the dog ran to him, licking his face in a mad display of affection. 'Good Lord, but I thought you'd bought it, old girl. . . '

Jess woofed and let her master ruffle the fur on her chest, She sat and panted as he straightened up and said, 'Look, Jess, I want you to stay here and guard Miss Brown, understand?'

Jess looked up at him, tongue lolling.

'Does she really understand you?' asked Angela.

'I've absolutely no idea.'

'Come on!' yelled the Doctor, who was already sprinting towards Angela's Land-Rover. 'Keys, Angela!' 'It's already open!' Martha told him as she ran for the driver's door.

'Locks don't work!'

The Doctor wrenched the pa.s.senger door open and climbed inside.

Martha was already in the driver's seat.

'But you'll still need these to start it.' Angela, very much out of breath now, threw a bunch of keys to Martha through the driver's door window.

The engine was already turning over as Gaskin helped Angela up into the vehicle. 'I don't need pushing into my own Land-Rover, thank you very much!' she roared. He apologised and clambered in after her. Martha released the handbrake and swung the vehicle towards the gates while Gaskin was still hanging out of the pa.s.senger door.

'Come on, Henry!' yelled Angela, pulling him inside. 'Don't be such a slow coach!'

The two of them collapsed into the rear seats as the Land-Rover shot forwards, wheels spinning. 'Be careful with my car!' Angela told Martha. 'It's a 1966 cla.s.sic, you know!'

'Hang on to your hat, Angela!' yelled Martha. 'We're going off-road!'

The Land-Rover bounced across the lawns and smashed through the remains of the gate, swerving from side to side. Jess ran after it, barking joyously at all the excitement, The Land-Rover hit the kerb outside and Martha took the bend on two wheels. On the back seat, Gaskin and Angel sprawled from one side to the other as the Land-Rover veered between the trees.

The Doctor twisted around and grinned over the seat at Angela. 'I love a drive in the country, don't you?'

Her terse reply was drowned out by the throb of the Land-Rover's old engine as Martha floored the accelerator. The vehicle shot up the rise of the hill, its headlamps searching the night for Nigel's Daimler.

'Where the h.e.l.l does he think he's going?' demand d Gaskin.

'He's going after Duncan,' said Martha, teeth gritted as she concentrated on the road.

'No,' said the Doctor. 'He's going after the stone.'

'Same difference.' The Land-Rover hurtled around a bend, struck a telegraph pole with a deafening clang and then skidded sideways before Martha regained control. She wrenched the metal gear stick into second and the vehicle raced on. The village shops and the Drinking Hole pub flashed past.

'There he is,' said the Doctor, pointing.

In the darkness they could see the Daimler's taillight.

For a second the Land-Rover's headlights lit up the cloud of exhaust like a silver ghost as the car swerved onto the village green.

Martha yanked the wheel around and the Land-Rover leapt onto the gra.s.s, churning the lawn up beneath its heavy tyres. Eventually, after digging deep, they found a grip and the Land-Rover surged after the Daimler.

The big car had already slewed to a halt and the driver's door was flung open. Nigel Carson staggered out, illuminated by the Land-Rover's headlights.

And beyond him, lit by the same lamps, was Duncan. The abom-inable figure was little more than a ma.s.s of tangled white weed and flailing antennae now. The long, trailing roots formed a bridal train behind it, crawling and writhing over the gra.s.s. But Nigel was hurrying after it like a groom jilted at the altar, waving his arms and shouting. 'Wait! Stop! It's me Nigel! Stop!'

The creature that had once been his friend turned and regarded him coldly. His blood-red eyes stared at Nigel as he approached.

'Nigel! Don't go near it!' shouted the Doctor as he jumped out of the Land-Rover. 'That's no longer Duncan Goode. He won't recognise you.'

Nigel didn't even glance at the Doctor. 'I'm not talking to Duncan,'

he said.

The creature still held the stone in one claw. It was glowing green now, emitting sharp crackles of energy as it neared the well.

The Doctor grabbed hold of Nigel. 'It doesn't need you any more!

Forget it!'

'No!' Nigel shook him off and stepped towards the monster. 'No, I won't believe that. . . ' Martha caught up with the Doctor. 'What's happening?'

'The brain has to be united with the Vurosis in order to start the rising,' said the Doctor, eyes wide with fear. 'Nigel thinks it's still interested in him. He couldn't be more wrong.'

'Nigel!' Martha shouted. 'Keep back!'

But Nigel paid no attention. He walked determinedly towards the shambling creature, apparently unafraid.

By now, the people who had been in the pub had heard the commotion and were coming out to investigate. Soon there was a small crowd milling about outside, some of them still holding pint gla.s.ses.

A few wandered across the village green, alarmed by the fact that a Daimler and a Land-Rover had skidded to a halt by the old wishing well.

'Wretched joy riders,' called one of the people crossly.

'Come in from the town, they have.'

'No, that's Henry Gaskin's Daimler.'

'And Angela Hook's Land-Rover! What's going on?' The people stopped in their tracks when they saw Nigel Carson and the weed creature in the Land-Rover headlights. Someone screamed.

Gaskin stalked forward and someone else shouted 'Blimey, he's got a gun!'

'Let me through,' said Gaskin, pushing past the Doctor and Martha.

Angela hurried after him.

'No,' said the Doctor, grabbing Gaskin by the arm. 'I won't let you shoot it!'

He pulled away. 'I'm not letting that d.a.m.ned monster go loose, Doctor!'

Nigel Carson had nearly reached it. The creature towered over him, tendrils of milky-white weeds dangling from its hands and shoulders.

As Nigel drew closer, the thing's jaws unfolded and it hissed at him.

Brown saliva sprayed through the air but Nigel barely flinched. He held out his hand towards the creature. 'Please. . . let me have it. . . '

The creature hissed again, its tongues twisting in its mouth as it backed away towards the well.

The Doctor started forwards. 'Oh no. . . ' 'Give it to me!' bellowed Nigel, and the creature retaliated by lashing out with its free arm. The claw caught Nigel on the side of the head and hurled him to the ground where he lay stunned.

'Shoot the ruddy thing!' cried someone from the pub.

Gaskin raised the shotgun to his cheek and took aim. He had the monster square in his sights and at such close range he couldn't possibly miss. But as he squeezed the trigger, the Doctor pushed the barrel skywards. The gun went off harmlessly into the night and the crowd gasped as the sound of the shot echoed around the village.

'What are you doing?' Gaskin snarled at the Doctor.

'Too many people have died because of this already,' the Doctor replied angrily. 'There's no need for any more.'

'But look at that thing!'

'Somewhere inside that thing is Duncan Goode,' snapped the Doctor. 'He didn't choose to be here doing this.'

'That's as maybe,' Gaskin argued. 'But doing it he is. Look.'

The creature was leaning over the well. It held the brain aloft for a moment, as if savouring the moment. The well was filled with a bright green light, shining up expectantly, hungrily, from the depths.

'If what you have told us is true, that thing's about to deliver the creature's brain,' Gaskin said. 'According to you, that could ultimately mean the death of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people. . . '

'Millions, in the end,' agreed the Doctor. He watched helplessly as sparks of green energy reached up out of the well, s.n.a.t.c.hing impatiently at the brain.

'Then surely one life is worth all those?' Gaskin asked, raising his shotgun again. 'It may save countless people in the long run.'

'Sorry,' said the Doctor, pushing the gun barrel down, towards the ground this time. He held it fast in a surprisingly strong grip. 'I don't work like that. No sacrifices. Not if I can help it.'

'And can you?'

The Doctor looked up at the creature as it let out a horrific cry of triumph and let go of the brain. It dropped straight down into the well amid a fierce crackle of green energy.

'Oh, not good,' said the Doctor. 'Not good at all.' Martha and Angela joined them as the green light seemed to fade from the well until there was nothing visible except the dark hole.

The creature sank to its knees with a strange groan, as if all the fury contained within was simply draining away. The white weeds coiled madly, out of control, as if they were trying to escape.

'What's happening to it?' asked Angela.

The Doctor started forward. 'The Vurosis has got what it wants so now it's finished with Duncan. It's letting him go. . . '

The creature collapsed onto the gra.s.s with an inarticulate cry. It was all the more pathetic a sight because the cry was that of a man in great pain and despair. The weeds writhed and shrank as the Doctor approached. He knelt by the creature as the weeds were sucked back into the man's body, withdrawing beneath the rippling flesh. Wounds closed over them and for a second the weeds remained visible as a web of veins pulsing beneath the skin. Then they sank away, leaving the human being behind.

Martha joined the Doctor and watched with him as Duncan's face popped and cracked back into its normal shape, the bones reforming and the skin returning to its natural hue. Dressed in the rags of his own clothes, Duncan lay shivering on the gra.s.s. His eyes were rolled up into his head and his blond hair was stuck to his head with sweat, but otherwise he appeared unharmed.

'I can't believe it,' Martha whispered. 'Will he be all right?' I mean really all right?'

'I don't know.'

The Doctor helped Duncan sit up. His eyes fluttered open and a weak smile appeared when he saw Martha. 'I told you. . .