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Alf knew she shouldn’t be doing this. She should kill them from a distance. But she had no gun: she would have to get one later and she couldn’t let the Crocodilemen get away. At least, that is what she told herself. Alf electrified the suit. She stepped up to meet her opponent and dropped to her knees almost instantly to avoid his first attack. The blow would’ve killed her, but she avoided it, and his next. She dodged and weaved through his limbs. He was a flurry of movement and attacks, and she felt like he was moving in slow motion as the battle computer hijacked her nervous system and programmed her with all the moves she needed. She struck her first blow, and the electrical charge knocked the Crocodileman down. He was flung backwards by a kick to his chest, and she leapt after him, hammering blows into his face. She tore muscle, and flesh and chipped bone. He was dead, but she continued to beat him, until she had removed his jaw. She stood; her suit covered in blood and watched the others back away. She held the jaw like a trophy. Another stepped up to her, the one who’d been taken in the dinosaur’s jaws. He was still bleeding. She threw the jaw at him and the carefully placed impact shattered his neck. She turned to the last one and challenged him too. And he smiled at her. She dropped to her knees, clutching her head. She was in agony. Until, suddenly, it stopped. She collapsed fully to the ground, clutching her head. Her brain felt like concrete. ‘I was transmitting an electrical disruption field. It was controlling the electrical signals in your brain that control your thought. You couldn’t form a single thought, because I didn’t want you to.’ She craned her neck upwards and looked at the Crocodileman. A strange, oily black substance seeped from his eyes and mouth. It acted like a living thing and swirled itself into a humanoid shape, and then peeled back in certain areas to reveal flesh: a deathly white flesh, which looked exactly like clay. The figure was completely hairless, with black orbs for eyes. It was dressed in black leather, with a long jacket down to its ankles. It had almost no defining features to its face, with a lipless slit for a mouth and a vague impression of a nose. ‘I am Noan,’ it said. ‘I am the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. I could have killed you easily just then. But I did not.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because you have the stink of the Doctor on you.’ The crystal web had arrived in the atmosphere above the zoo, hitting it at just the right angle, so that when it struck the planetary shields it was shattered into thousands of pieces that slipped through the defence screen. The pieces started to spiral towards the planet, drawn inexorably by gravity. Before they could, they started to grow, as new parts of the web were spun. Soon the entire planet was surrounded by another mathematically perfect design, of the same crystal web. They formed a network prison across the entire planet, and the spiders poured through the channels to the zoo. The advance party had found food… ‘I’m an Omnisci,’ the figure explained. ‘I know what an Omnisci looks like,’ Alf shouted, ‘I just want to know how you did that!’ ‘Our species has complete control over its own genetic code. I can copy the genetic code of any person I encounter. I can manipulate morphic fields to absorb species characteristics and I can absorb technology into my biodata.’ ‘Like weapons systems.’ It wasn’t a question, but a statement - Alf had finally realised what was going on. ‘Very useful, as a bounty hunter.’ ‘Well that’s very impressive, but unless you’re here to help me you can piss off.’ ‘I have been hired by two separate parties to prevent as many extinctions as possible. My own people, and a race called the Qux, wished their preservation. They have a vested interest in the continuation of the zoo.’ ‘So… you want to help me?’ she asked. ‘Yes, but right now we should be finding the Doctor.’ ‘The Doctor? You know he’s here?’ ‘His biodata scent is burned into the minds of all our people. I knew he was here as soon as I entered the zoo.’ Nick’s head felt as if it was going to burst. He could feel the Doctor’s mind straining to get out of his skull, with loose thoughts flaking into his own mind. He had to get to the medical bay soon or the Doctor’s mind would explode inside his skull. He grabbed a wall to steady himself. His head felt as though it weighed tonnes. He staggered a few steps further, and slumped against the wall of the medical chamber. The wall irised open at a mental command. It came from his head but it wasn’t his. He stumbled through, lines and distances swirling and confusing his perception. He walked to the Doctor’s floating body, held aloft by the blue light of the suspension field. All his senses had now blurred into one, indistinct but burning knowledge. The Doctor’s body was his goal. He reached out a hand for it, and grasped something. He could feel the Doctor’s thoughts flake out of his brain and flow through him to the body. He staggered back. He’d done it. He’d saved the Doctor, and himself. Perhaps now they could think about getting out of this mess. The Doctor’s eyes slowly prised open. They were blood red orbs. His face split into two, divided by a wicked grin. ‘Hello, Nick.’ The voice wasn’t the Doctor’s. Nick shivered uncontrollably at the sound of it. It made him feel sick and weak. ‘Thank you for delivering the Doctor’s mind to me. The Doctor killed me once, and so now I’ve taken control of his body and I’m eating his mind.’ ‘NO!’ Nick screamed. He ran at the creature in the Doctor’s body. The force field switched off. He half noticed this - the creature must have done it with the power of the Doctor’s brain. Suddenly his thoughts were not his own. A presence entered his mind. He felt sick. It was evil and corrupt and he wasn’t sure he would ever feel right again. He wanted to get away, but he couldn’t. He knelt and kissed the Doctor’s feet. ‘The untapped potential of the Doctor’s brain is now mine to command.’ Every word made Nick want to be sick. He continued to kiss the Doctor’s feet. ‘Are you enjoying this Doctor?’ With another jolt Nick realised the Doctor must still be conscious inside his own brain. Conscious but powerless, as this creature abused his body and mind. Nick felt the presence leave his brain. He collapsed, feeling sick, hollow and empty. He craned his neck to see Alf and Noan, turning a corridor. They spied them through the door in the medical bay and Alf started to run over. Beat. Alf pulled out a gun on the Doctor’s body. Beat. Nick tried to speak but he couldn’t. Beat. Noan shuddered and exploded, spraying black slime over the corridor. Beat. The Doctor looked down and grinned again. Beat. Alf stopped moving. Beat. Nick slowly stood up. Beat. Alf shot his arm off - it was torn from his body in a spray of gore. Beat. Alf screamed in pain, trying to resist, bleeding through her eyes. Beat. She took aim again. Beat. She shot his leg and it turned in to a bloody mess. Beat. Nick crumpled to the floor. Beat. Alf came closer. Beat. She shot him in the chest. Beat. Nick’s face creased with silent agony, running wet with tears. Beat. Alf came closer. Beat. Blood bubbled up from the back of Nick’s throat. Beat. She took him in her arms, and kissed him. Beat. He didn’t notice the weapon against his forehead. Beat. She pulled back. Beat. He cried, and begged her not to do it. Beat. She pulled the trigger. Beat. End of Chapter Three
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