Touch The Sky: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 3]

The Poison Sky (Part 3)

The Doctor and Colonel Mace had retreated to the latter's tiny office in the field base. "Why are they defending the factory only after we were inside?" Mace questioned.

"Because they wanted UNIT here,"the Doctor realized. "You gave them something they needed. Something now hidden inside the factory. Something precious."

"We've got to recover it," Mace said. "This cordolaine signal thing, how does it work?"

"It's the bullets," the Time Lord explained absently. "It causes expansion of the copper shell."

"Excellent. I'm on it."

"For the billionth time, you can't fight Sontarans!" the Doctor called after Mace's retreating form. He scoffed, before catching the eye of the nearest UNIT officer. "Phone. Have you got a phone? I need your mobile. Quickly, hurry up." Phone acquired, he moved back to the tiny office.

"Where are you?" came Donna's voice after a moment.

"Still on Earth. But don't worry, I've got my secret weapon."

"What's that?"

"You."

"Somehow that's not making me happy," she said, disgruntled. "Can't you just zap us down to Earth with that remote thing?"

"Yeah, haven't got a remote, though I really should. I need you on that ship. That's why I made them move the TARDIS. I'm sorry, but you've got to go outside."

"But there's Sonterins out there," she said, butchering the name again.

"Sontarans. But they'll all be on battle stations right now. They don't exactly walk about having coffee. I can talk you through it."

"But what if they find me?"

"I know," the Doctor said. "And I wouldn't ask, but there's nothing else I can do. The whole planet is choking, Donna. Listen, is Matt still there?"

"Yeah, he's here," she answered. He had, in fact, leaned in close enough to hear what the Time Lord was saying.

"Good. Now whatever you do, stick together. Do not split up. You got that?"

"Yeah," she said, before drawing in a breath. "What do you need us to do?"

"The Sontarans are inside the factory which means they've got a teleport link with the ship, but they'll have deadlocked it," he explained. "I need you to reopen the link."

"But I can't even mend a fuse!"

"Donna, stop talking about yourself like that," the Doctor chided. "You can do this, I promise."

Donna poked her head out the door, seeing the back of a Sontaran standing at attention outside. "There's a Sonterin—Sontaran," she hissed.

"Did he see you?"

"No, he's got his back to me."

"Right, Donna, listen, on the back of his neck on the collar, there's a sort of plug, like a hole. The probic vent. One blow to the probic vent knocks them out."

"But he's going to kill me."

"I'm sorry, I swear I'm so sorry," the Doctor said, scrubbing a hand over his face. "But you've got to try."

"Do you want me to...?" Matt started, though he had a feeling he knew what the answer would be. Sooner or later, they all had a moment to shine on their own. Now it was Donna's.

She shook her head, walking up the ramp and reaching for the mallet the Doctor kept under the console. With a steady breath, she slipped out, raising it and thwacking the probic vent as hard as she could. The Sontaran fell like a sack of potatoes and Donna looked back at Matt, a startled grin on her face. "Back of the neck," she gloated under her breath into the phone.