Doctor Who: Fury From the Deep Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked around her.
    Everything seemed to be just very slightly out of focus.
    The room was suddenly flooded by a burst of sunshine.
    Maggie gradually eased herself up from the bed, steadied herself, and went to the window.
    The snow had stopped falling, and that which had settled was beginning to thaw. But the sky was still a relentless sheet of dark grey, relieved only by an unexpected chink of sunlight. Maggie looked up and felt the brief caress of warmth on her cheeks. But the glare was too much, so she quickly shielded her eyes with one hand, and left the room.
    By the time she reached the kitchen, Maggie was feeling very shaky indeed. She made straight for the internal communications video, set in the wall above the dishwasher, then, using the remote control transmitter, tapped out three numbers. Almost immediately, Price's face appeared on the monitor screen. 'Control!'
    Cold beads of sweat were pouring down Maggie's face, and she found it hard to speak: 'M - Mrs Harris. Married Q - Quarters Block 420. Is m - my husband there p-please?'
    'We have an emergency on here at the moment, Mrs Harris. Is anything wrong?' asked Price.
    'C-could you please f-find him. Tell him... tell him I'm not feeling very well.'
    'Right away, Mrs Harris!' Price's face disappeared from the monitor screen.
    Maggie found her way to a chair at the kitchen table by the back door. Her head was now throbbing with pain. As she sat there, her mind became restless and confused. She could hear voices, all talking together at the same time. Dozens of them. Hundreds.
    Suddenly, she looked up with a start. The voices had gone, to be replaced immediately by another, more positive sound. Thumping.
    Pulsating. Maggie's eyes were rivetted towards the back door. The thumping sound was becoming louder, and louder. It was like listening to the sound of her own heartbeat...
     
    At the Refinery, someone was moving around in the darkness of the Oxygen Store Room. He was tall and thin, and was clothed from head to foot in a white tunic, trousers, cap, and gloves. Only the face of the mysterious figure could not be seen. It was hidden behind a rubber gas mask.
    Slowly, methodically, the white gloved hands felt their way along the rows of emergency oxygen cylinders. Finally, they selected one, broke the seal on the cylinder cap, and turned on the tap.
    Immediately, a hissing sound was heard. White gloves moved on, then did the same with two other cylinders. Gradually, the hissing sound increased.
    Suddenly, the masked figure turned in alarm towards the door.
     
    Victoria was snooping around the corridor outside. She tried the handle of a door marked LABORATORY 2 . It was locked. She turned with a start. Footsteps were approaching the far end of the corridor. She looked around frantically for the quickest means of escape. On the opposite side of the corridor was a door marked OXYGEN EMERGENCY SUPPLY . She tried the handle and the door opened. She rushed in. As she did so, Harris came hurrying down the corridor.
    Inside the Oyxgen Store Room, Victoria listened at the door.
    The sound of Harris's footsteps outside gradually disappeared.
    Victoria breathed a sigh of relief.
    As she was about to leave the room, Victoria heard the hissing sound of escaping oxygen. She tried to turn on the light, but it wasn't working. The fumes started to make her cough a little, so she covered her mouth with one hand. "Then she quickly felt her way around in the dark, searching the racks of cylinders to find out where the escaping gas was coming from. Within a moment or so, she had managed to turn off all the taps.
    The room was now silent again, and Victoria began to recover from the overpowering atmosphere. It was only then that she realised she was not alone. She slowly looked around, her eyes desperately trying to penetrate the eerie darkness of the room.
    'Who's there?' Her voice was no more than a timid whisper.
    Suddenly, a shaft of light from the corridor outside, beamed straight