The Deviant Strain Read online

  The creature was over the deck plate that covered Sergeyev’s legs. Jack reached in and managed to get his hands under the man’s arms. He pulled, dragging him clear – far enough for Sergeyev to be able to push himself up and out of the crawl space. They made their way quickly down the corridor away from the creatures.

  ‘No hope for Razul and we’re still trapped,’ Sergeyev whispered. ‘They’re between us and the hatch.’

  ‘Not if I draw them off,’ Jack told him. ‘You get into one of the cabins. If they hear me, if they chase me, they won’t stop to check. Let’s hope,’ he added quietly.

  Sergeyev was shaking his head. ‘I shall draw them off. I am a combat soldier, I expect to die. You Intelligence people – no backbone.’ He smiled thinly. ‘And having seen what it does, it’s backbone it wants.’

  ‘That’s a good point,’ Jack conceded. ‘But I outrank you. Whether you like it or not, I’m in charge and you have your orders. Get in there.’

  He pushed open the nearest cabin door and thrust Sergeyev inside. He didn’t care about the noise it made. Didn’t care that the creature ahead of him was slowly oozing back down the corridor. Slowly at first, but gathering speed. That was, after all, the point.

  Sergeyev was at the door, protesting. But Jack waved him to silence.

  ‘You complain and we’re both dead. Get in there and shut the hell up!’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Sergeyev hesitated, then unbuckled the holster round his waist. He folded the belt round the pistol and handed it to Jack. ‘It might help.’

  Jack nodded. They both knew it wouldn’t. But the gesture was important, the trust it implied. ‘Thanks. I’ll give it back to you later.’

  Again, they both knew he wouldn’t. But Sergeyev nodded, saluted, stepped back from the door.

  Jack ran, stamping his feet, hearing the sound of his rapid footsteps echoing metallically round the submarine. Hoping both the creatures would follow him.

  And all too soon he was at the end of the corridor, in the wide, low room that filled the end of the sub. Alone and at the end of the road. ‘What the hell are you doing, Jack?’ he said out loud, looking round for any chance of escape. Any chance at all.

  Well, if he was going to die he might as well put it off as long as possible. There was a heavy circular door into the room. It was rusted open, but by bracing himself against the bulkhead, Jack could just manage to move it. It swung closed, desperately slowly. A blue glow lipped over the door sill and into the room. Just a bit further. A tentacle stretched inwards, feeling round, probing the air above Jack’s head. He shoved harder – a final effort.

  The weight of the door broke through the rust and it swung suddenly smoothly on its hinges. It slammed shut with a clang and Jack spun the locking wheel. There was an unholy screeching of pain and anger from the other side of the door, barely muffled by the thick metal.

  Behind him, a severed tentacle thrashed and careered about the room. It slammed into a rack of torpedoes. The rack collapsed, spilling the heavy cylinders across the floor. One of them trapped the end of the tentacle beneath it and the thing slapped spasmodically, slowly weakening while Jack ran to avoid the rolling weapons, hoping they didn’t go off.

  Finally, all was quiet and still. Jack sat down on one of the torpedoes and sighed. ‘What a life,’ he murmured.

  He glanced over at the door. Watched it shudder and strain in its frame, as the creatures outside tried to force their way in.

  EIGHT

  ROSE PICKED HER way across the enormous room. It was like a cathedral made of rusted metal. Every surface was coated with a layer of dust or corrosion. Wires and shattered components littered the floor. The whole place was lit with a pale glow that seemed to emanate from the walls, floor and ceiling. Bizarrely, there was a clipboard lying on top of one of the control panels. It looked so ordinary it was completely out of place.

  Her first thought was that it was another submarine – experimental perhaps. Open-plan. But the technology seemed so totally alien, and not just Russian-alien. Alien-alien. Blobby underwater aliens with flippers and snorkels? Get real.

  She was almost at the main control chair, facing the largest of the instrument panels, before she realised there was someone sitting in it. Or rather, there had been. The body was slumped forwards, as if all the bones had shattered. It was almost mummified it was so old – desiccated and decaying.

  There was another hatch, like the one she had entered through, on the far side of the ship. Beside it was an area taken up with long, low couches. Sleeping quarters perhaps, or a medical facility. There were sheets draped over the couches – thin and torn with age. Poking through the sheets Rose could see the remains of what looked like bodies – human bodies – beneath. She swallowed hard and ran for the hatch.

  It opened as easily as the first. Only when she opened it did she worry about what might be outside.

  In fact it was a cave – almost as big and impressive as the interior of the ship. But barnacled rock replaced corroded metal, and algae stood in for dust. Water was lapping at the edge of the shelf of rock she found herself on. The roof stretched away, gradually lowering to meet the water. The only way out of here was to swim.

  The light was strange – a glow through the open hatch of the ship and the faint, dappled moonlight that shone through the clear, cold water. It was difficult to make out much detail, but obviously there was nothing of interest or use out here. Rose turned to go back inside the ship.

  The sudden splash made her turn. Something was coming – rising up from the water, spluttering and coughing and lurching towards her. A shadow, a silhouette in the pale light. A shape looming up, arms outstretched, shaking uncontrollably.

  She just stared in disbelief as the figure staggered up onto the shelf of rock and sank to his knees.

  ‘You scared the life out of me,’ Rose said. ‘What’re you doing?’

  ‘I think . . .’ His teeth were chattering so much he could barely talk. Jack stared up at Rose, his face pale and his whole body shaking with the cold. ‘I think I’m freezing to death,’ he managed.

  ‘You’re not wrong,’ she said, and hugged him tight.

  The door was not quite closed. Sofia Barinska tapped thoughtfully on the wooden board beside the door. The girl Rose had been here – she’d left the car outside and broken the lock on the office door. What had she seen? What did she know?

  If she had gone down the tunnel, then she would find the ship. She might not understand it, might not realise what it meant. But the Doctor surely would.

  That was a risk she could not afford to take. Sofia opened the door and stepped into the darkness beyond.

  He was still shivering, but Jack no longer seemed to think he was going to die. Rose managed to prise herself away, and sacrificed her coat to the cause. He sat huddled inside it on a spare chair inside the ship. At least he was up to taking an interest now.

  ‘So who persuaded you to go swimming?’ Rose wanted to know.

  Jack pulled himself to his feet, stamping and pulling her coat tight about him. ‘It was that or an appointment with the blob creatures,’ he said.

  ‘Oh yeah. I met one of them.’

  ‘They had us trapped in the sub. Got Razul. I think Sergeyev made it. I hope.’

  ‘What do you make of this, then?’ Rose led him back to the area with the couches.

  ‘Got myself stuck in the forward torpedo room, with no way out,’ Jack was saying. ‘Well, there was a way out but it was a bit drastic.’

  ‘You had a tin-opener?’

  ‘Sort of. I opened the torpedo tubes and flooded the place. Swam out through one of the tubes when the water stopped rushing in.’

  ‘Sounds dangerous,’ Rose conceded.

  ‘I think it was. I don’t think I’ll ever be warm again in my life.’

  ‘You might as well give me my coat back, then.’

  ‘So what’s all this?’

  ‘Dunno. You tell me. You’re the expert.’

  ‘Spa
ceship. Old. Crashed. Source of the distress signal. What’s under the sheets?’

  ‘More bodies, like the pilot back there. Humanoid, I think, from the shape.’ Rose pulled back the sheet on the nearest couch.

  ‘You sure?’ Jack said quietly.

  Rose just stared. ‘What the hell is that?’

  The lecture theatre had not been used for years. But Colonel Levin had decided it was the best place to gather them all together. Several of the soldiers carried out boxes of papers and rubbish, another couple swept the floor.

  One of the patrols had returned from the docks once they found they had lost radio contact. There was no sign of the others. Levin was sure they could take care of themselves and were waiting for the fog to clear. The Doctor was not so sure. He had expected to hear back from Rose and Jack by now. He was not worried exactly, but getting anxious.

  Klebanov, in contrast to Levin’s calm, was furious. The Doctor sat sideways in his chair, arms folded, stifling a yawn as the director let off another volley of invective.

  ‘You have taken over my institute, filled it with your troops, encouraged Minin to indulge his bureaucratic fantasies, lost radio contact with your men, and now I discover you have invited some old workman from the village in for a drink!’

  Levin raised an eyebrow. ‘The radio blackout is a temporary phenomenon caused by the weather,’ he said. ‘And Minin has been cross-checking the supplies situation for me. We must know what equipment and facilities we have available to us. As for this old man . . .’ He looked round, obviously expecting an explanation from one of his men.

  The Doctor sighed and put his hand up. ‘That was me,’ he admitted. ‘And it wasn’t just some old man. It was Pavel Vahlen’s father. He wanted to see his son’s body, and I certainly wasn’t about to tell him he couldn’t because it might give some officious director an ulcer.’ He met Klebanov’s glare with a grin. ‘Oh, and it’s not the weather, by the way.’

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘The problem with the radio. It’s not the weather, it’s the stones. In the circle. There’s a vein of quartz-like material threaded through them.’

  He looked at Catherine, who nodded in agreement.

  ‘It seems to resonate, much like quartz,’ she said. ‘The Doctor thinks it’s powerful enough to interfere with any transmissions.’

  ‘Rubbish!’ Klebanov announced. ‘We’d have had trouble before now.’

  ‘You have,’ the Doctor told him. ‘It’s all in the logs. And strangely, as Alex here and I have found out, it tends to coincide with the deaths. Oh, yes,’ he told Levin, ‘they’re not new either.’ He stood up. ‘Now, if we’re all done, I’ve got things to do. And so’s everyone else.’

  ‘Oh, really?’ Klebanov sneered.

  ‘Oh, really,’ the Doctor replied darkly. ‘Levin needs to organise patrols. There’s something nasty out there and we have to know what and where it is. Boris and Catherine need to analyse the weird rock sample I brought and see if they can find a way to stop this radio jamming. Alex and I have some more investigations to conclude, as well as finding Rose and Jack. If anyone can walk into trouble, they can. And you . . .’ He shrugged. ‘I dunno. I s’pose you must have something you can be getting on with.’

  The meeting broke up with Levin telling his men he’d speak to them separately. The scientists, Minin and the Doctor took the hint and left quietly. Except Klebanov, who stamped out.

  ‘So what’s his problem?’ the Doctor asked Alex Minin when they got back to his office.

  ‘Klebanov? He likes to be in control. He’s afraid his power is being taken away.’

  ‘And what’s his background? Where’s he from?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Thought you had access to all the files.’

  Alex nodded. ‘So I do. But Klebanov doesn’t have a file. He was here when I first arrived. Been here longer than anyone can recall. He’s older than he looks.’

  ‘Aren’t we all,’ the Doctor muttered.

  ‘I can show you the records if you want. Whole room full of them.’

  ‘Might be fun,’ the Doctor agreed.

  Alex laughed. ‘I don’t know about fun.’ He led the way out of the office and down the corridor. ‘I actually asked Klebanov for his file once. He got very angry. That was when he told everyone I’d been asking about the monkeys. You’ve heard about that, I expect?’

  ‘Oh yeah. It was mentioned.’

  ‘Wish I hadn’t mentioned it now. Seemed important at the time.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  It was obviously something that still rankled. ‘I mean,’ he said, ‘I know it’s before I even came here, but the paperwork’s all filed away and in order. The simians – that’s how they’re referred to – the simians were shipped out. They were signed for off the supply ship at the docks. Yet no one knows what happened to them. They’re obviously not here. But what would anyone want with half a dozen monkeys in a place like Novrosk?’

  ‘Well, I’ve never seen anything like it,’ Jack confessed. He had Rose’s coat draped over his shoulders like a cape and he’d just about stopped shivering.

  ‘Nor me.’

  ‘I guessed that.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  They both stared down at the body on the couch. It was old and decaying, like the pilot. But it seemed a completely different species. In fact, it looked like more than one species. Parts of the body were almost human, or had been. But others seemed to have been grafted on. Or perhaps it was the other way round.

  The result was a grotesque amalgam of human and animal. Dried, wrinkled dead skin gave way to matted fur. The taut, parched skin round the mouth suddenly extended into a dark, brittle snout. What should have been a foot had long, jointed toes curled into a tight grip like a fist.

  ‘Frankenstein meets Planet of the Apes,’ Rose said.

  Jack was checking the other couches. All had similar creatures lying under the sheets. Six in all. ‘What the hell happened here?’ he wondered.

  Before they could speculate, the hatch on the other side of the ship swung open. Sofia Barinska stepped into the ship. ‘I thought I might find you here,’ she said.

  ‘It’s OK. Just that policewoman,’ Jack said.

  Rose stepped in front of him, keeping him back. ‘It’s not OK,’ she told him. ‘She was old, dying. Then she sort of revitalised in a chair thing.’

  Jack looked from Rose to Sofia, who was standing with her arms folded and watching them with amusement. ‘Really?’

  ‘Really. That was after she tried to kill me, of course.’

  Sofia unfolded her arms and started across the ship towards them. ‘I shall make a better job of it this time,’ she said.

  All trace of tiredness or age had gone as she leaped at them. Rose recognised the knife from the kitchen as it swung towards her.

  Her cry was lost in the sound of the gunshot. The knife went flying. Sofia was clutching her bloody hand. Jack was standing with the pistol braced in both hands. Rose’s coat had fallen from his shoulders and lay in a heap on the floor.

  The second shot caught Sofia in the chest, driving her backwards and knocking her off her feet.

  Rose grabbed her coat. ‘Come on.’

  But Sofia was struggling slowly to her feet, chest a mess of red, hands slick and wet as they scrabbled for a hold on the floor to push herself up.

  Another shot. Then Jack was grabbing Rose’s hand and pulling her the other way – back towards the medical area.

  ‘No, no,’ she protested. ‘We can get out down the tunnel.’

  But Jack wasn’t listening. He dragged her through the hatch and slammed it shut behind them.

  ‘She’s dead,’ Rose protested.

  ‘Sure? Because I’m not hanging around to check.’ He was spinning the locking wheel on the outside of the hatch. ‘There has to be a way to keep this closed.’

  ‘Why does there?’

  ‘Because we need it.’

  ‘And what now, then, Masterm
ind? I thought you’d had enough of swimming.’

  ‘I have.’ He was smiling. ‘We go up the steps.’

  ‘You what?’ Rose turned to see where Jack was pointing. ‘Oh, right.’

  A flight of steps had been cut into the rock beside where the ship was embedded in the cave. She hadn’t seen that before, hidden as they were in the shadows. But then she’d been more concerned with stopping Jack from freezing to death.

  ‘I can guess where they go,’ he was saying as he led the way.

  Rose followed, pulling on her coat as she went. ‘Good. Because I’ve no idea where I am.’

  There was a door at the top. An ordinary door of the sort that might lead into an office. It opened a couple of inches, then stopped. Jack put his shoulder to it and Rose could hear something heavy shifting on the other side. She looked through the widening gap and saw a mass of cardboard boxes piled up against the door.

  The door jammed. Rose helped Jack shove, but it wouldn’t open any further. ‘We’re never getting through there,’ she said.

  As she spoke, a pair of hands appeared the other side of the door and started lifting the boxes away.

  ‘Friend or foe?’ Rose whispered.

  ‘We’ll soon find out.’

  The door was swinging open. Beyond it was a small room. The floor was stacked high with the cardboard boxes. Papers spilled across the floor. A rack of metal shelves dominated the opposite wall, more boxes crammed into it.

  And in the middle of it all stood a tall man with thinning, greying hair wearing a crumpled suit. Beside him was the Doctor.

  ‘Oh, thank God, it’s you,’ Rose said. ‘Hey, you’ll never guess what we’ve found.’

  The Doctor was peering past them, although all he could possibly see was a rock wall and the steps leading down into the cave. ‘So that must be the secret way down to the old spaceship, right?’ he said. He grinned, hugged Rose to him with one hand and slapped Jack on the back with the other. ‘Fantastic!’

  NINE