The Sands Of Time Part 26

'Ah, well, I'm sorry about that,' the Doctor said. 'We were on an archaeological expedition here some time ago, that's how we came to know about it. I'd be interested to hear your story.'

'You want to know about the excavations.' It was not a question. 'You were not on the expedition, I would remember you. Englishmen, I would remember.'

'Ah,' Atkins said. 'So were there other English people involved?'

Kamose shook his head. 'You are too eager for information. You should wait, draw out of me what I do not know you think is important.' He wagged a finger. 'How do you propose to pay for my information?'

The Doctor stuck his hands in his trouser pockets and leaned down towards the short Egyptian. 'How about the offer of transport to Cairo?' he asked. 'Spare those old feet of yours.'

Kamose's eyes sparkled in the torchlight. 'You have a camel?'

The Doctor laughed. 'Now who's betraying his eagerness? I can get you to Cairo far quicker than a camel.'

Kamose narrowed his eyes. 'A car could not get here, there are no roads.

Not even a landrover crosses the desert in these parts.'

'Well, of course, if you're happy walking.' The Doctor gestured to Atkins and they headed towards the main door out of the chamber.

Kamose caught up with them before they reached the corridor. 'I have decided to offer you my help,' he said.

James Norris had converted the second bedroom of his small cottage into a study. It had not taken much work, mainly a case of putting up shelves and ensuring there were enough electrical sockets and a phone line.

He was working on a set of plans for a barn conversion when there was a knock at the door. Norris lifted his head from the drawing board, and stared out of the pool of angle-poised light which was the sole illumination. He frowned, checked his watch, and went to the window.

The outside light was on, and in its glow he could see a figure standing outside the front door. He could not see her face, but he could see it was a young woman. The stairs creaked as he hurried down them. The staircase emerged into the corner of the main downstairs room. He crossed to the front door, drew back the bolt and opened it.

He started as the woman turned towards him. 'Vanessa?'

She pushed past him into the room, barely acknowledging his presence.

Her eyes scanned the surroundings, head moving to and fro as if she were searching for something.

'What the h.e.l.l's happened to you?' Norris asked. Vanessa Prior was in her night-gown. The hem was grubby and torn, and her feet were bare and muddy. Her toes curled on the carpet as she looked round.

Norris stepped towards her, reached out intending to embrace her. But before he got close enough, she stepped away, her arm flying out. He ducked, but the gesture was not a blow. She was pointing to the mantelshelf above the fireplace. And as she walked slowly, stiffly, like a sleepwalker towards it, Norris stared at the blue ring on her wedding finger, and the thick gold scarab bracelet hanging heavy on her wrist.

She stopped in front of the fireplace, silent and still for a moment. Norris crossed towards her, hesitant, worried.

'Look, if something's happened... Can I help?' Another thought occurred to him. 'Is anyone with you?' he asked. 'How did you get here? I mean -' He pointed to her night-gown.

But she ignored him, her eyes focused on the cobra poised to strike at the end of the shelf. She reached out for it.

And he caught her hand. 'Look, tell me what's wrong.' Her hand inched forwards, closer to the statue. 'Vanessa!' And she turned and glared at him.

Just for a second. Then she lashed out with her other arm, caught him across the cheek, sent him reeling across the room in surprise.

Norris lay on the floor, rubbing his jaw in painful disbelief. 'What do you think you're doing?' he shouted.

Vanessa picked up the heavy statue, winding her hand inside the snake's coils to get a better grip. She turned from the mantelpiece, and advanced on Norris. He watched her incredulously as she lifted the cobra above her head, poised to crash it down on his skull. He could feel a pulse ticking in the corner of his eye, flinched as the arm started to descend, tried to push himself back and out of the way, shook his head and tried to speak.

The snake slashed down at him, gathering speed. Between its coils, Norris could see Vanessa's eyes gleaming bright and wide like a cat launching finally at an injured mouse. He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing he could not avoid the blow.

He heard the statue connect, the wrenching tearing smas.h.i.+ng sound of it cras.h.i.+ng into something solid. And he opened his eyes again.

The statue had smashed into a small coffee table. Norris recognised it and vaguely wondered what had happened to the half empty coffee mug that had been resting on it a few moments earlier. He did not recognize the young woman who held the table, who was now struggling to prevent Vanessa from shoving her aside.

Norris hauled himself to his feet, and went to help the stranger. Together they managed to push Vanessa back towards the fireplace. Norris grabbed Vanessa by the shoulders, unsure whether to keep her at arms' length or hug her to him.

'What is it? What's wrong?' he asked as he struggled to hold her still.

The young woman who had saved his life was still trying to pull the cobra statue from Vanessa's grasp, but without success. She did seem to be managing to stop her from using it as a weapon, though. 'It's no good,' the woman said. 'She's not listening, or she can't hear you.'

Norris ignored her. 'Vanessa, look - it's me, James.' The fire in Vanessa's eyes did not diminish. She still struggled to escape, to smash the snake across his face. 'Vanessa,' he was close to tears, holding her still by the shoulders, shaking her with no effect. 'I love you.'

He let go of her, and she fell towards him. Norris clasped Vanessa to him, and pressed his mouth to hers. For a moment she was unresponsive, like a statue. Then she twisted, pulled away, her face suddenly creasing in bewilderment, tears welling in her eyes.

'James?' Her voice was scarcely a murmur. She looked round, as if surprised, as if waking up disoriented. Then her eyelids fluttered, and she crumpled to the floor. Norris and the woman stood over her, breathing deeply and watching to see what would happen. But Vanessa seemed to be unconscious.

The woman bent down and tried to prise the cobra from Vanessa's grip.

After a while pulling at the long slender fingers, she gave up. 'It's no good, she won't let it go.' 'We should lie her down,' Norris said quietly.

'The sofa?'

Norris nodded. As they lifted Vanessa's limp body on to the couch, he asked: 'Do you come from New Zealand?'

'Australia.' The woman straightened Vanessa's legs, then stepped back and dusted her hands against each other. 'But not today.' She turned to Norris. She was quite small, with straight dark hair cut short. 'I'm Tegan.'

Then he knelt down beside his fiance and took her hand. The large ring made it awkward to hold, but did not move when he gave a gentle tug to try to remove it. 'Will she be all right?'

'Yes,' Tegan said after the briefest pause. 'Yes, of course she will.'

Ra.s.sul's eyes snapped open. 'Something has happened,' he muttered.

'The link is broken.'

He stared across the moonlit moors in the direction of Norris's cottage. A faint mist was rising from the area of swamp. He had driven as close as the van would get to the back of the house. A frontal approach was too risky, he could not afford to be seen, did not want to reveal his hand too early.

And using Vanessa had seemed a simple and efficient solution.

But now something had gone wrong. So he must play another card.

Ra.s.sul turned to the huge bandaged figures beside him, and gave a curt nod. The nearest mummy lurched forward and started its laborious progress towards the house. The full moon glinted off the murky surface of the swampy water. The mummy started to wade through, leaning forward as it pushed its way forward. The surface sc.u.m receded in large ripples as the enormous figure broke the surface tension and pressed its way through the swamp.

Kamose took in the TARDIS without comment. If he was impressed, he did not show it. He grunted in a non-committal way and sat down cross-legged on the floor of the console room.

Atkins stood beside Kamose as the Doctor set about adjusting controls on the console. 'How do you know about the excavations at the tomb?' he asked. 'You say the work was done twenty-three years ago.'

Kamose nodded. 'I was there,' he said simply. 'They were looking for workers, and I had a mother and a family to feed. Then.' He rearranged the rags he was wearing and patted his canva.s.s bag to check it was still there.

'You were a part of the expedition?' Atkins asked.

Kamose nodded. 'It was well-paid work. Three weeks we spent, working in s.h.i.+fts all day and all night. Each piece of stone was numbered and coded before we could remove it. Then it was packed away and labelled again.'

'Why?' Kamose looked up. 'So that they could reconstruct the tomb exactly.'

The Doctor had joined them, the central column of the console rising and falling slowly behind him. 'So that who could reconstruct it?' he asked.

Kamose looked from the Doctor to Atkins, as if unable to believe they did not know.

'You are from England, no?'

Atkins nodded.

'And you have not seen the tomb? The reconstruction?'

'Seen it?' the Doctor asked. 'See it where?'

'They told us it was to be rebuilt. In the British Museum.'

Norris and Tegan sat on the floor beside the couch sipping brandy.

Vanessa was still unconscious, the snake statue gripped firmly in her hand.

Tegan was unusually quiet, while Norris was uncharacteristically garrulous.

He was keen to talk about Vanessa, about how they met at Prior's, about the party the previous night. Tegan told him a little about the Doctor, but Norris took this as an opening to talk about the party again. Yes, he had met the Doctor and Atkins, but he did not remember Tegan.

Tegan was doing her best to draw the conversation back to the subject of Vanessa and what might be wrong with her. 'I saw her last night,' she said, 'outside the kitchen. She seemed a bit distant. Like a sleepwalker.'

'We had an argument.' Norris said. He leaned over and stroked Vanessa's hair. 'Nothing important. It never is.' He half smiled sadly. 'My fault, of course. I forget how young she is. How sensitive.'

Tegan opened her mouth to reply. But before she could speak, they both heard the sound of heavy footsteps dragging on the gravel outside.

'Are you expecting anyone else?'

Norris climbed to his feet. 'I wasn't expecting anyone at all.' He walked quickly to the front door and slid home the bolt. Then he went over to a tall wooden cabinet beside the door to the kitchen, scrabbled around on the top and pulled down a key. 'You never know,' he said quietly as he unlocked the cabinet. Inside was a bag of golf clubs, a fis.h.i.+ng rod, and a double-barrelled shotgun. He pulled out the shotgun and hunted through a pile of junk at the bottom of the cabinet for a box of cartridges.

The footsteps were louder now, shuffling towards the front door. Tegan stood against the far wall, listening for a knock, hoping that it was as simple as someone lost on the moors. Beside her Norris broke open the shotgun, pushed in two cartridges, and snapped it shut again.

The silence seemed to last forever as they stood together, facing the front door of the cottage. Then the handle moved, turned, and they could hear the rattle as the door was pushed against the bolt. The rattling stopped, and Tegan crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping whoever was at the door would give up and move on.

The sound was amplified in the confines of the cottage, echoing off the stone walls. With a wrenching noise like a scream of tortured agony, the door hinges were ripped from the frame. The door splintered, exploding inwards. Pieces of wood flew across the room, scattering over the carpet.

The screws holding the bolt tore from their sockets, and the shattered remains of the heavy door crashed to the floor.

The figure in the doorway was thrown into silhouette by the bright moonlight outside. It paused for a moment on the threshold, then stepped inside, bandaged feet smas.h.i.+ng through the panels of the door lying in front of it.

Tegan screamed. She recognized the mummy as identical to the creatures that had attacked the camp in Egypt. The lower half of its body was soaking wet, discoloured with grime and mud.

Norris gaped at the mummy in amazement. Then he raised the shotgun to his shoulder, and fired. One of the barrels spat flame, and the mummy lurched back under the impact. The bandages on the upper body tore and smoked as the lead shot ripped through. The creature steadied itself, and started across the room towards them.

'Run!' Tegan shouted, pulling at Norris's sleeve. 'You can't stop that thing.'

But Norris stood his ground as the mummy lurched towards them. Then it halted. And Tegan realized with horror what it had actually come for. It had stopped in front of the sofa, and as they watched, it bent slowly forwards, reaching out for the unconscious body of Vanessa.

'No,' shouted Norris, dropping the gun and hurling himself across the room at the mummy. He dived over the back of the couch and collided with the creature's chest, sending it reeling backwards. He landed in a winded heap on the carpet. The mummy recovered immediately and started back towards Vanessa. Norris grabbed at its foot, hugged it to him in a tight embrace, and grunted in pain as the mummy wrenched it free from his grasp.

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Tegan grabbed the gun from the floor, and leaped between the mummy and Vanessa. 'I don't know if you understand this,' she said, 'but stop right there, Boris.'

The mummy took no notice, reaching out to brush aside the weapon just as Tegan closed her eyes and fired. The shot ripped up the mummy's outstretched arm and tore into its shoulder. It staggered back, cloth smouldering and torn across its chest. Then it smashed Tegan aside and continued inexorably across the room. It bent down in front of the couch, reaching out for Vanessa. Then, surprisingly gently, it scooped her limp body into its arms and lifted her up.