Doctor Who BBCN10 - The Nightmare of Black Island by Doctor Who Page A

vanishing through neat holes in the rock.
    He scrambled up on to a large boulder and peered at them. ‘No prizes for guessing where they go!’
    ‘Doctor?’
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    Bronwyn poked her head tentatively into the cave.
    ‘Bronwyn! Lovely! Come and look at what you’ve found. Smashing little interstellar hopper. Dual plasma-injection engines, toughened duralinium hull with built-in force-shield deflectors, go-faster paint job and probably a CD changer in the boot!’
    Bronwyn shuffled forward nervously. ‘Are there. . . are there any. . . ’
    ‘Occupants? Nah! Not round here, at any rate.’
    He jumped down from his perch to her side. ‘I think that they think they’ve parked somewhere safe. See that?’ He pointed at a cluster of circuit boards hanging from an exposed hatch on the side of the spacecraft’s hull. ‘That’s the imaging circuit of a cloaking-shield generator, or at least it would be if it wasn’t all banged up and broken and nibbled by sea bass. That’s how they’ve kept it hidden all this time and why you’ve not seen it before now. But they’ve been unlucky, didn’t bargain on the sea being so unpredictable. It’s bashed the ship against the rocks, quite recently by the looks of things, hit a vital spot, probably invalidated their no claims bonus. Now, that’s very unlucky for them, but very, very lucky for us, ’cause otherwise you’d never have found it.’
    ‘But why?’ Bronwyn was looking frightened. ‘Why are they here?’
    The Doctor nodded at the cables that clung to the walls. ‘I think it’s got something to do with the lighthouse. Come on! Let’s go and see if I’m right!’
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    Rosehadneverbeensogladtoseetheskyinherlife. Usingthetorch that Ali had brought, the two of them had made swift progress through the tunnel, eventually reaching a large metal shutter bolted to the wall. It was rusted and corroded, but had been levered open with an old railway sleeper. By the two boys presumably. A shaft of weak sunlight sliced across the wet brickwork, rain spattering fitfully through the gap.
    Rose looked at how far it had been prised open. It was going to be a tight squeeze to get through. Ali had wanted to go first, but Rose held her back, still not sure of what they were going to find on the other side.
    Handing Ali the torch, she peered through the gap. The tunnel opened into a ramshackle lean-to in the corner of a sprawling courtyard. Packing crates, oil drums and the remains of an old sit-on lawnmower stopped her getting a better view. She pushed herself flat against the wall, forcing one shoulder through, then the other.
    Rust and dirt streaked the front of her parka but Rose didn’t care, she was out.
    Keeping low behind the piles of junk, she scurried forward, check-67

    ing that the coast was clear. The courtyard was empty. It had obviously been stables for the rectory at one point, though now it was more like a junkyard. Once-ornate furniture lay in disregarded piles, the upholstery sodden and dirty. Paintings with broken frames and torn canvases were stacked against one wall, while a huge elegant dining table, its varnished surface streaked with scratches, was propped up in a corner. Presumably they had all been cleared out to make way for the beds and medical equipment that Morton had installed in the dining room.
    On the other side of the courtyard was the house. Half a dozen tall, cylindrical metal bins were clustered together along the rear wall next to a winding fire escape. At some point Rose needed to take a look in those bins, but not with Ali around. God only knew what she was going to find inside.
    Alongside the bins, almost at floor level, was a row of small, dirty windows. The cellar. Rose nodded. The two boys had said they’d been able to see into the cellar. That was where she would start.
    ‘Rose!’
    Ali was watching her from the tunnel, eyes wide. Rose had hoped that common sense and more than a little fear would make the girl stay put in the safety of