Now that she wasn't being cut to pieces, the feeling of the grass
against Vicki's legs was a welcome distraction; she found she was
calming down, a little. Neither she nor Barbara said much as they walked
along. Ian still seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood, and was hanging
back. It was odd; she could understand his anger at the Doctor - it
echoed her own grief - but now he seemed to be avoiding her and Barbara
as well.
Then she heard him call. "Hang on, you two! Something's gone into my
foot." Turning, Vicki saw him propping himself up against one of the
standing stones, desperately trying to get his shoe off. She glanced at
Barbara, who was looking concerned; and they both hurried back. Even
before they got there he had slumped down, and was sitting with his back
to the stone, holding his foot. "That's torn it," he said. "Quite a bit
of poison's got in there."
Barbara moved forward, and Vicki hung back - her friend had the right to
be first by his side. But Ian stopped her when she went to take a look
at his foot.
"Stay clear, Barbara - it's no good, I'm not worth bothering with.
Unless you're able to analyse the poison. And it could be spread by
contact, so might get you."
"No!" cried Barbara. Even from behind Vicki could see the tenseness of
her shoulders, the way she strained to go to him even though what he
said made sense. "There must be something we can do?"
There was an odd look on Ian's face, not at all what Vicki would have
expected in these circumstances. "Sorry, Barbara, you've got to reach
the TARDIS for the bio-analyser, right now."
Of course! thought Vicki. Not only could that identify the poison, it
should be able to synthesise an antidote - if they could get it here in
time. Ian was trying to get up, but couldn't manage it. "'kay, it's
happening. I can't move my legs." His words were starting to slur.
Barbara nodded. "Right, I'm going. Do you want Vicki to stay with you?"
"I don't need her here! Just get on your way, Barbara, for Heaven's sake! Get me help!"
"Alright then. We'll be back as soon as we can." Barbara leaned forward
and lowered her voice, though Vicki could still make out the words as
she attempted to bully Ian into staying alive until they returned. It
was good psychology; she hoped it would be enough.
Something was niggling, though, as they ran for the ship, Ian's cries
echoing in their ears. The phrases he had used were awkward, and gave
her the same sense of wrongness she'd got when listening to the Doctor's
ranting. Well, not quite the same - the Doctor's speech patterns had
been closer to normal - but neither of them had sounded right. She
mentioned it to Barbara.
"Well, of course Ian didn't sound the same! He's been poisoned!"
And that was that. Vicki could see there was no sense in pursuing the
subject right now, but she thought about it as they ran. It was more
than just the voices, she realised; Ian's expression didn't look as if
it was being warped by delirium, but more as if he were experiencing
events... differently.
She was still trying to figure it out when they got back to the TARDIS.
Next Time:
The Talking Stones of Tyron, scene 2
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