13th_sherlock | Part 75 - Serpent's Venom

THE ADVENTURES OF A CONSULTING TIME LORD
by Soledad
CHAPTER 05 – THE SERPENT’S LAIR

Author’s note: This story takes place several weeks after “The Blind Banker” but before “The Great Game”. The Ophidian was borrowed from the Star Trek – The Next Generation episode “Time’s Arrow” but has different traits and purposes here.

The “science” in this chapter is wacky at best, but again, so is it generally with Dr. Who. I don’t really expect anyone to buy it – it’s only there to drive the plot forth, so bear with me.

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PART 75 – SERPENT’S VENOM

Anthea, Martha and Mickey had nearly finished the thorough examination of Julia Morstan’s room when the door flew open and Mycroft stormed in, holding his fountain pen as if it were a weapon. Which, under certain circumstances it could very well be, of course.

“Get away from the ventilator shaft!” he snapped at Mickey.”In fact, get behind us, both you and Dr Jones. Anthea, drop the disguise and initiate Emergency Protocol Delta Nine, now!”

After a moment of hesitation on behalf of Mickey and Martha who had never seen her in battle modus before, the android removed the perception filter that made her look like Mary Morstan and dropped her human disguise entirely. Cybernetic implants emerged from under her synthetic skin, spread and melded with each other, until every single inch of her was covered in paper-thin, gleaming titanium alloy – with the exception of her eyes, which were now protected by transparent metallic eyelids. Only her voice remained the same: deceivingly soft and gentle.

“Stay behind me, sir,” she said.”Your body is as vulnerable as that of any other human; and you don’t have a protective exoskeleton as I do.”

“I’m afraid not even your battle-dress would provide enough protection against an Ophidian,” Mycroft replied dryly. “Damned thing is in a quantum flux, switching between realities at will. My pen is our only chance; if I can hit its central nerve knot with a well-aimed bundle of quantum energy, I might be able to interrupt its cycle and trap it in a single form permanently.”

“You might?” Martha didn’t like the sound of that.

“It’s all purely theoretical,” Mycroft admitted. “Has never been tried before. But it’s our best shot.”

“Well, let’s hope it will be your best shot, boss,” Mickey muttered under his breath,” Or we are so screwed...”

“I shall endeavour to do my best, Mr Smith,” Mycroft replied loftily. “Just stay back and don’t make any abrupt movements. They’re predators that attack what they see as flying prey.”

“See?” Mickey stared at the diamond-shaped head of the alien snake that appeared in the ventilator shift at that moment with vague disgust. “It doesn’t even have eyes!”

“Not obvious ones like yours and mine, true,” Mycroft agreed. “However, those silver speckles all over its body are visual receptors. Not terribly good ones, granted, but with them it can perceive light, darkness, colours and movement around itself in a two-metre-radius well enough, so hold back.”

“I’ll distract it,” Anthea offered, “They’re attracted to shiny objects, like magpies. The bigger and shinier, the better – and in this armour I’m certainly shiny enough.”

Mycroft nodded.”Keep it occupied until I can manoeuvre myself into a good shooting position.”

“Will do, sir,” she promised.

The alien was oozing out of the ventilator shaft, slowly like molten glass... or molten metal. As soon as it reached the floor, it zoomed on to Anthea, who didn’t move from the spot, just swayed back and forth slowly, in an almost hypnotic pattern. To the two ex-companions’ surprise, the alien serpent rose with fluid grace until it was only touching the floor with the last ten inches of its body, its eyeless head reaching to Anthea’s shoulder, and began to sway in unison with her. It was like watching a snake charmer with a cobra; Martha and Mickey forgot to even breathe.

Anthea made slow, subtle changes that served to expose the most vulnerable part of the alien’s anatomy to Mycroft. The Time Lord stood utterly still, so that he wouldn’t catch the creature’s many “eyes”; fortunately, in his dark suit he was near-invisible for the Ophidian. But its hearing was acute, and it would soon pick up his heartbeat, so he had to hurry.

Finally, Anthea had managed to make the serpent turn enough so that its puffed-up hood was directly in Mycroft’s firing line. All he had to do was to activate his pen and hit the major nerve knot with the quantum beam.

Even so, he barely managed it. The Ophidian picked up the low hum of the energy build-up coming from the pen and recoiled like a striking cobra. It was lightning-fast in attack mode – much faster than one would have expected.

Fortunately, Time Lord reflexes were pretty quick, too, even in human disguise. The tightly bundled quantum energy beam hit the Ophidian on the right spot; it writhed as if it had been electrocuted and released a high-pitched noise of distress that shattered the window planes in a second. Shards of broken glass were raining everywhere; Martha and Mickey grabbed the first available screen to save themselves, and Martha briefly wondered if they’d all go deaf from the noise, soon.

But that was basically the end of it. In the next moment the serpent went still, twitching harmlessly – and helplessly – on the floor.

“Are you all right, my dear?” Mycroft asked Anthea who had been swept off her feet during the throes of the creature.

“I’m damaged, sir; but nothing that couldn’t be repaired, given enough time and the right tools,” she clambered back to her feet and pushed the control implant to take her armour melt back into her body.

It was a cool effect; like the helmets of Ra’s guards in the original Stargate movie, Mickey found. That movie really had the best special effects, even if one preferred the TV-series.

“Is it dead?” he edged closer to the still twitching creature. ”Or do we need to finish it off?”

“It is hibernating; sort of,” Mycroft replied. “Ophidians do that when their ability to switch dimensions is compromised. That is how they can live for centuries. Bring the containment box; we’ll put it into a cryogenic unit in the basement for the time being.”

“I’ll do that, sir,” Anthea offered. “You’ll need to deal with Dr Roylott; he’s the more dangerous partner in this symbiosis.”

“Symbiosis?” Martha echoed in shock.”With this... thing?”

“Ophidians aren’t sentient creatures; well, not very much,” Mycroft explained.”On their homeworld, which is a gas giant in the Rho Corona Borealis system, a quarter closer to its sun than Earth to Sol, they float in the upper layers of the atmosphere, hunting smaller airborne creatures that feed on the gas and the solar energy. They are, however, capable of latching onto other life forms and can be steered by a higher intellect.”

“But how did it end up on Earth?” Martha asked.

Mycroft shrugged. “According to Mr Jones, the Indian subcontinent seems to have its own, much smaller version of the Rift, running right under Delhi. Which is why Torchwood used to have a house there. Perhaps it simply fell through the anomaly centuries ago, and Dr Roylott happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

“But that would mean the man is several hundred years old!” Mickey protested. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know,” Mycroft admitted. “But Mummy’s analysis of his tissue sample shows that he is, indeed, at least two hundred years old; probably even older.”

“Rejuvenation through transfer of life energy from one human to another,” Ianto’s voice supplied, as the young man came over from Dr Roylott’s room. “It seems that Ophidians can do that if trained properly... and kept from switching dimensions.”

“Mr Jones,” Mycroft said coldly.”I thought I told you to keep an eye on Dr Roylott.”

“It’s not necessary, sir,” Ianto replied, completely unfazed. “He’s dying. If you want to ask him any questions, I suggest that you hurry up, cos he won’t last much longer. Without the Ophidian to replenish his life energy, his condition is deteriorating rapidly.”

Mycroft glanced at Anthea and the android nodded.

“Go, sir; Mr Smith and I are more than capable of dealing with things here. And Dr Roylott may be in need for medical assistance.”

“I’m afraid he’s beyond any doctor’s help,” Ianto said. “There’s no medicine against old age, and that’s finally caught up with him.”

“Oh, very funny, Mr Jones,” Mycroft rolled his eyes but followed his ninja butler, as Sherlock would call the young Welshman, back to Dr Roylott’s room.

~TBC~