Doctor Who: Galaxy Four (3 page)

‘Cease fire,’ Maaga snapped and the rays vanished.

The smoke cleared from the Chumbley and they could see that it was still intact. It chittered briefly to itself and the shield vanished from its visor. Its lights still flickered busily away. Maaga took careful aim and her ray shot out at the visor. But it was an exercise in pointlessness. The visor was covered again before the ray was halfway there. Maaga grunted in exasperation. ‘Damn them.’

But the Doctor was impressed. Any intelligence which could produce a machine capable of reacting faster than a laser beam aimed at it had to be of a high order, even if it was evil and disgusting. He would definitely like to meet the Rills.

The Chumbley chittered briefly, its visor once again open, received instructions, turned and moved away. It vanished over a hill, looking totally unconcerned about what had happened to it, bent upon tending to its own affairs.

‘Well, you didn’t do him much damage, did you?’ Steven commented.

‘My only intention was to drive it off,’ Maaga said coldly. ‘We have succeeded.’ She turned to her soldiers. ‘Disarm and return to your places.’

They promptly obeyed, switching everything off, recovering the guns and crossing to sit again, all with immaculate timing, as though they themselves were machines guided by a centralised computer.

‘Zombies,’ Vicki muttered to herself.

‘You haven’t destroyed a single one of those machines yet, have you?’ the Doctor said.

Maaga was closing down her own gun. ‘We will.’

‘I think you underestimate the Rills. And why, I wonder, should they warn you that this planet is about to die?’

‘To tempt us to their ship so that they could kill us.’ ‘But they did offer to help you,’ Steven said. ‘That is what they claimed.’

‘But they might have been telling the truth,’ Vicki insisted. ‘They might have meant it.’

‘Yes, and it might all have been lies too,’ the Doctor said thoughtfully.

Maaga nodded. ‘That is precisely what I have been saying.’

The Doctor grew testy. ‘I mean that you could all be wrong and this planet might last for another billion years.’

‘We do not make mistakes like that.’

‘Really? Then yours is a very rare species indeed.’ The Doctor warmed to his theme. ‘In all my travels I’ve never come across anyone or anything that wasn’t capable of error. Even I have been known to make the odd mistake. And, if I might say so, you don’t look like any particular sort of genius to me. You can’t even work out how to stop one of those robots. You put up a very fancy display, blazing away like that, but what did it amount to in the end? Nothing.’ He waved absently in the direction of the rigid Drahvins. ‘And you surround yourself with poor half-wits like these. No, no, no, it won’t do at all. Your performance does not match up to your high opinion,of yourself. You’re as bad as that fellow Plato I once ran into. I never did manage to get it across to him that you cannot build a lasting civilisation upon slavery, no matter how benign the masters. The old question rears its ugly head: how do you explain to a fool that he’s a fool?’ He checked his temper as best he could. ‘You’d better let me run my own tests for you.’

Maaga was offended by his outburst. ‘And what makes you think you can do that?’

‘I’m a scientist, woman. I know about these things.’ She thought a mOment, then nodded. ‘Very well.’ ‘Then we’ll have to go back to the TARDIS. If you’ll excuse us...’ He moved toward the door,

indicating that Vicki and Steven should join him. ‘No,’ Maaga said. ‘You cannot all go.’

‘Oh? Why not?’ the Doctor asked.

Vicki felt her suspicions confirmed. ‘We are prisoners, aren’t we?’

‘Of course not. But if you should encounter the machines..

‘What of it?’ Steven said.

‘We could not guarantee to rescue you again.’ The Doctor waved her away. ‘Oh, you worry too much.’

‘I would feel easier if one of you remained here,’ Maaga said firmly.

It was a state of deadlock, the familiar Mexican stand-off. Doubt and suspicion hung heavy in the air. The Doctor did not want his group split up, but equally he could see no other way out. Maaga had the upper hand and she knew it. It showed in her face. There was too much arrogance about the woman, he decided. He would have to try and do something about that.

‘I’ll stay,’ Vicki said in a tight voice, seeing no other way out of the impasse.

The Doctor was about to protest, but she cut across him. ‘You’ll need Steven if you run into the Chumblies.’

The Doctor had to concede. ‘Very well. We’ll be as quick as we can. Come along, young man.’

Maaga gestured to Two. She got up and opened the door and exit lock for them and the Doctor hastened out. Steven paused before following him and gave Vicki a reassuring smile. ‘I promise we won’t get lost.’

‘Please don’t,’ Vicki said in a small voice.

Steven went out and she was left alone with the Drahvins. The prospect of no company but theirs for a time did nothing to cheer her. Ah well, there was nothing for it but to wait in hope.

The Doctor and Steven moved away from the battered ship. They went cautiously, wary of attack, but of the two Steven was the more cautious, the Doctor having lost himself again in a pool of thought. He was brooding upon the fourteen dawns of life left for the planet. The trouble was that he did not know what technology either the Drahvins or the Rills had used to determine the planet’s remaining life-span. It could be quite primitive in the case of the former, but the latter had shown themselves capable of producing highly sophisticated robots, so he was inclined to believe them. Unless, as Maaga had said, they were simply trying to lead the Drahvins into a trap. There were too many ifs about the whole project for his liking and there was only one way to resolve them. He stepped up his pace as they went toward the top of the rise leading to the TARDIS.

But Steven, a little ahead of him, waved for him to stop as he peered over. The Doctor crouched and joined him.

‘Company,’ Steven said briefly.

There, below them, stood the TARDIS, a battered old police telephone box to all intents and purposes and looking very much out of place in its surroundings. Also within their field of vision were two Chumblies standing before the door. One was making obvious attempts to get in, a clawed arm raking at the lock. But it made no impression whatsoever, rake as it might. The Doctor smiled to himself. They would have to do a lot better than that.

Finally the first one desisted and turned away, to be replaced by the other. This one had more telling equipment. Jamming itself against the door it extended what looked to the observers very much like a drill.

It was a drill. Its grinding scream reached them easily as yet another attack was made on the lock. The pressure was so great that showers of sparks flew out and the Chumbley itself tottered from side to side in its efforts to hold the drill in place. From behind and above it looked like a round-bottomed old lady pottering about her domestic duties, the Doctor thought. But its intention was much more serious.

‘Can they get in?’ Steven asked worriedly.

‘I shouldn’t think so.’

‘Don’t you know?’

The Doctor nodded. ‘Pretty well. They’d have to be extremely advanced to break my force barrier.’ Steven watched the Chumbley make another attempt. ‘How do you know they aren’t?’

But the Doctor didn’t answer. He smiled interestedly down on the scene. A challenge always pleased him and here were the Rills and their robots challenging his knowledge of technology. Well, good luck to them. He had every confidence in himself.

Vicki was seated alone in the Drahvin living quarters. She felt unhappy, primarily about the solitude, but also about her conviction that Maaga meant them no good. She had been fed some form of tablet food and given a sickly-sweet drink to quench her thirst, but what she wanted most of all was her liberty. The bulkheads of this dingy ship dripped fear and threat and she was sure they did so with good reason.

It was odd that the only emotion the Drahvin minions had revealed was that of fear–and that only of Maaga. The Chumblies had frightened them not at all in either of their encounters, but Maaga was an altogether different proposition. She wondered if they were test-tube bred in such a way that the awe was born in them or if it was instilled after birth. If the latter was the case she felt sorry for them. It must have been a terrible upbringing.

Not that she was in a mood to spare much sympathy for them as she got to her feet and wandered aimlessly about the cabin. She was more concerned about the Doctor, Steven and herself. What had they got themselves into this time?

She stilled as she heard voices in the next compartment, some quiet, one harsh and bullying. Then she crossed to the adjoining bulkhead and pressed her ear against it. The harsh voice she could hear was that of Maaga. Vicki pressed even closer.

‘To lose the mesh was gross incompetence,’ she heard Maaga snarl. ‘It was our only weapon against the machines. If we lose to the Rills it will be because of you. You want that, do you?’ Her voice became sneering. ‘You want to be captured by those creeping, revolting green monsters? You want their slimy claws about your necks?’

Vicki could hear the Drahvins moaning in a terror induced solely by their leader.

‘You fools! You fools!’ she heard. ‘You will all be punished when I have time to attend to it.’

Again came the moaning and a horrified Vicki shrank away into her icy loneliness.

The Chumbley was still drilling away at the lock of the TARDIS and achieving the same result: it had no effect whatsoever. The lock remained as it always had been, old, rusted and impervious. The Chumbley backed away, retracted the drill and seemed to stand a moment in contemplation. This, it would appear, was something quite beyond its experience, the enigma beyond the puzzle. But, not to be defeated too easily, it had one more try. Its gun came down and pointed at the lock. A moment later the light beam flashed out and locked in a blaze of flame on the keyhole. Some ten seconds later the Chumbley desisted and the smoke cleared. Another useless attempt. The TARDIS stood as it always had, in supreme indifference.

The Chumbley backed away and turned. The lights in its visor came to life and flickered busily as it communicated with its controller. Then they went out again. Both Chumblies made their way off into the distance, mission most decidedly not accomplished.

Once they were out of sight the Doctor and Steven scrambled their way down to the TARDIS. The Doctor immediately went to the lock and was well pleased. ‘Look at that, my boy,’ he said. ‘Not a scratch. Not even a scorch-mark. I excelled myself with that force field, I really did.’

There were occasions when Steven found it difficult to distinguish between pride and conceit in the Doctor. He sighed, ‘Are we going inside or not?’

The Doctor started. ‘What? Oh, yes, yes, yes.’ He took the key from his pocket and opened the TARDIS door. ‘Good job you’re here to remind me what I’m supposed to be doing, eh?’

‘You’re so right,’ Steven said, following him in.

Once they were inside, the doors closed behind them. The Doctor crossed to the control panel and began to press a button here and a button there, his fingers seeming to know more about what they were doing than he did himself. Steven watched as, that series of operations completed, he took to adjusting dials one after another. Finally he grunted and straightened up. He flicked a switch and the astral map came to glowing life on the screen above the panel.

‘That’s the stuff,’ the Doctor muttered, eyeing the dots on the map, each one representing a planet in the sector in which they now found themselves. He made some more adjustments, then pressed another button. One of the dots became a pulsating glow of red. ‘There we are, Steven, now we know our exact whereabouts.’

‘Do we?’

‘Well, I do. That’ll suffice for the moment. Now.. He moved to the side and began to work over more buttons and dials, but thoughtfully this time, considering each move he was making. ‘Let’s see if we can work the oracle.’

Steven looked on in fascination. ‘Don’t you know?’ ‘Not always. This instrument takes time to adjust to new surroundings and we haven’t been here long.’ ‘Long enough for me.’

But the Doctor was lost again in his instruments. He stared at the astral map. Nothing happened. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. ‘What a time to choose to become temperamental!’

‘No luck?’ Steven asked.

‘All is not yet lost.’ He returned to his work, glancing repeatedly at the screen, then slowly turned one last dial, his face tense, his eyes narrowed. And there on the screen appeared two lines of numbers and symbols Steven had never seen before.

‘That’s it,’ the Doctor said in satisfaction. He slid open a drawer and withdrew a heavy book which he set down on the panel. Constantly glancing at the screen he leafed this way and that through the pages. ‘Now we’ll find out just what is happening.’

Steven could sense his concentration and said nothing. He felt like a prisoner in court as he awaited the verdict, always assuming there was one on the way. An erratic man was the Doctor and as likely to go one way as another. He contained himself until the Doctor looked up.

‘Well, Doctor?’ he said.

The Doctor met his eyes, but his thoughts were obviously elsewhere. ‘The Rills were right. This planet is doomed.’

‘Then we’d better get off it, hadn’t we?’

‘That would seem the most sensible course. But do you think the Drahvins will let us?’

Steven shrugged. ‘What are we to them?’

‘A possible means of escape,’ the Doctor said. ‘Surely you saw their killer instinct. They want our help to wipe out the Rills, so that they can take their ship and clear off out of it.’

‘Why haven’t they had a shot at the TARDIS, then?’

‘That’s just it. They’ve got their priorities wrong. Kill first, escape afterwards.’ He gave a smile in which there was no humour. ‘Odd, isn’t it? Such attractive life forms, yet with that stream of evil running through them.’

‘You can’t be sure of that.’ Steven didn’t know why he should appear to be defending the Drahvins other than that he was reluctant to believe such beauty walking hand in hand with the figure of death.