Captain Wilson opened the door to Ringstone village hall and followed Colonel Dickinson inside. All around them, the inhabitants of the village were being treated by a team of army medics.
Wilson spotted Corporal Palmer amongst the crowds, talking with Kevin Alperton. The two men made their way through the bustle towards him. Wilson smiled to himself as he caught a snatch of their conversation. The pair had been bonding over their love of horror films.
‘OK, The Wolf Man. Original 1941 Universal version, or 2010 remake?’
‘Are you serious?’ Kevin Alperton gave Palmer an unbelieving look. ‘Universal every time!’
‘Agreed.’ Palmer grinned. ‘Well, what about the Clash of the Titans remake? Better than the 1970s film?’
Kevin thought for a moment. ‘Well the original is a Ray Harryhausen movie …’ He shook his head. ‘But, it’s got that stupid clockwork owl in it. Plus, I think the scorpions are more realistic in the remake.’
‘Well, we’d know, wouldn’t we, kid?’
‘Corporal …’
Palmer jumped to attention as he spotted the two officers. ‘Sir!’
‘At ease, Corporal.’ Colonel Dickinson glanced around the village hall. ‘How are these people doing?’
‘Pretty good. High levels of Scopolamine in the bloodstream is the main issue. It’ll take some time for the drug to clear their systems completely, but they’ll all make a full recovery. Other than that, there are a few cuts and bruises from the explosion, a couple of mild concussions and one broken wrist.’
Dickinson nodded in approval. All three men knew that it could have been an awful lot worse. ‘The Scopolamine …’ he said thoughtfully. ‘It can induce short-term memory loss, yes?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Well, that might be a blessing in the long run. Could save an awful lot of awkward questions.’ He sighed. ‘Well, I’ve got to debrief the Secretary of State for Defence. I’ll leave you to clear up matters here, Captain Wilson.’
Wilson saluted smartly. ‘Sir.’
Colonel Dickinson returned the salute, then gave Wilson a warm smile. ‘Thank you, Captain. You saved a lot of lives today. I’m very grateful to you.’ Pulling on his cap, he turned and pushed his way through the crowd to the open door.
Captain Wilson watched as Dickinson was led off to a car waiting on the village green. As the car pulled away there was the roar of a diesel engine and a truck pulled into the village. They had been coming and going all night, taking away the charred and broken pieces of the Wyrrester’s body, removing the hybrid insects and machinery from the industrial estate. Everything was being bundled into unmarked crates and spirited away by black-uniformed special ops soldiers. Wilson wasn’t happy about it one bit, and neither was the colonel, but their orders were clear. Cooperate, or be relieved of duty. Clearfield’s records had noted the number of giant insects that had been released into the village, and as far as they could tell all of them had been destroyed except for one of the mosquitoes. Wilson’s team had been tasked with tracking it down.
‘Any idea where they’re taking everything, sir?’ asked Palmer, following Wilson’s gaze.
‘I’ve been told not to ask that question, Corporal,’ said Wilson grimly. ‘Department C-19 are in charge, and apparently that’s all the information that we need to know.’
‘It’s probably just like the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ piped up Kevin. ‘There’ll be a big warehouse somewhere, where they’ll lock everything away, and we’ll never hear of any of this again.’
Wilson nodded. If that truly were the case, if the world never heard of the Bell again, then that would suit him just fine.
Angela stood with Clara, Robin Sanford and Charlie Bevan in the meadow on the outskirts of Ringstone, watching as the Doctor unlocked the doors of his police box. He had moved it here as soon as the soldiers had started arriving, muttering something about ‘never forgiving Winston Churchill for offering that reward’.
Angela didn’t know whether to take him seriously or not. She turned to look at Clara. The young woman looked very pale and very tired. ‘Are you OK?’
‘Me? Oh, yeah. I’m fine.’ Clara smiled
‘But that thing … It really did take over your body, didn’t it?’
‘All in a day’s work.’ She tried her best to keep her voice light, but her smile faded at the memory.
Angela held her gaze. ‘The thing is, you really mean that, don’t you?’
Clara gave her a hug. ‘Trust me. I’ll be fine.’
‘Right, we should be on our way.’ The Doctor glared at army trucks and soldiers swarming through the village. ‘Getting too busy around here for my liking.’
‘Do you think they’ll try and repair the Bell?’ asked Robin anxiously. ‘Try and start up the experiments again?’
‘Well, they’re stupid enough to try,’ said the Doctor witheringly. ‘So, just in case, I’ve done enough damage to the machinery to keep them busy repairing it for decades.’
‘And what about Clearfield?’ asked Charlie. ‘What will have happened to him?’
‘I really don’t know,’ said the Doctor quietly. ‘He stepped into the influence of the techno-circle at the exact moment that it went into reverse phase. His body was either totally dismembered at an atomic level by the teleport beam, or …’
‘Or he’s on Typholchaktas?’ Clara starred at him in horror.
The Doctor nodded. ‘He finally gets to see his alien world.’
Clara shuddered. A single human being alone on a planet of billions of Wyrresters. Even after all that the scientist had done, she wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone.
The five of them stood in silence for a moment, but then the clatter of an army helicopter whirling through the night sky spurred the Doctor into action.
Grabbing hold of Clara’s hand, he hurried her over towards the TARDIS and pushed her inside. Clara managed to shout a hurried series of goodbyes before the doors slammed shut and the light on top of the police box started to flash steadily.
Angela watched in amazement as, with a swirl of wind and a grating, asthmatic roar, the police box vanished from view.
‘Well, I’ll be damned …’ Robin Sanford stared open-mouthed at the patch of grass where the box had just been. ‘I knew that I’d heard a wheezing groaning noise that night!’
With a laugh, Angela linked one arm with him and the other with Charlie, and led the two men back towards the village.