Doctor Who: The Ark (10 page)

Zentos finally spoke: ‘I am glad to see that you are well, Commander; but I must make sure of the others.’

He signalled to Manyak to make a monitor scan of the distant places that the Doctor and Rhos had visited. The images came in quickly and from all points the evidence was the same. All those who had been struck down by the fever were now fully recovered. Zentos turned to the Doctor.

‘It seems that I owe you a deep apology, Doctor. You and your companions.’

‘Think nothing of it, dear boy,’ the Doctor replied magnanimously. ‘Everyone can make a mistake. We made ours by bringing the fever here in the first place...’

‘And put it right by curing it,’ Zentos stated.

Manyak suddenly attracted their attention by referring to the master monitor screen. ‘Look at this,’ he called. ‘The Earth...’

They all stared in fascinated horror at the monitor screen as the Earth could be seen finally tumbling out of its normal orbit around the Sun. It hurtled towards it, first its fringes catching fire, then the whole planet transformed into a ball of flame.

‘The last moments for Earth have arrived,’ the Doctor pronounced. He turned to the Guardians and the Monoids.’Let’s hope that your Refusis turns out to be just as agreeable a place as the Earth once was.’

He made his way into the Great Hall, followed by Steven, Dodo, the Commander and the others.

‘That’s something we will never know, Doctor,’ the Commander replied. ‘Only our descendants will find that out.’

‘In seven hundred years,’ said Dodo. ‘And by that time that thing will be finished.’

She pointed to the statue of Homo Sapiens. So far only the feet and one of its ankles had taken shape.

‘That... er... thing is a symbol of hope, my dear,’ the Doctor pointed out. Then he turned to the Commander and the others. ‘Well, goodbye, my friends. And my best wishes for your journey!’

He and his companions shook hands with them all. And the Doctor, reaching the end of the line, surprised a Monoid by shaking hands with him also.

The creature stared back at him with his one, swivelling eye. Then he quietly returned the handshake... and this time did not bow, as was his custom.

Instead, he indicated to his fellow Monoids that they should accompany the Doctor. He, Steven and Dodo were driven out of the Great Hall on a conveyor, waving goodbye as they went.

The conveyor deposited the Doctor and his companions in the glade alongside the TARDIS. There were final goodbyes all round, then Dodo paused for a moment and looked around the jungle.

‘This place,’ she mused. ‘It gave us a dodgy moment or so... but now that we’re leaving, I’ll miss it.’

‘Come on, my dear,’ the Doctor urged. ‘We’re travellers... not settlers!’ He addressed Steven. ‘Get the main booster started,’ he commanded. ‘At least, I’ve taught you how to do that.’

‘Yes, Doctor,’ Steven replied. He entered the TARDIS, followed by Dodo.

The Doctor himself appeared loath to leave this green and pleasant spaceship... especially when he thought of the comparatively bumpy ride to follow in his old TARDIS.

But then he shrugged, gave the Monoids on the conveyor a final wave... and followed his companions into the craft.

A few moments later the engines could be heard whining and revving up... then, quite suddenly and to the astonishment of the watching Monoids, the TARDIS

disappeared... leaving the Ark behind.

5

In the TARDIS, as it journeyed through the cosmos, Dodo was asleep and the Doctor muffled a yawn.

‘Must get some rest myself,’ he mumbled to Steven. ‘So that will leave you in charge. Now, I’ve shown you all the main controls. Keep an eye on them, dear boy; and if anything unusual happens, call me immediately.’

‘Yes, Doctor,’ Steven agreed.

The Doctor settled himself down in a seat, allowing his head to drop back as he dozed off. Steven marvelled at the seemingly non-stop energy of the Doctor; he knew that the so-called ‘rest’ would amount to no more than a cat-nap. It was in this way that the Doctor kept going, whereas he and Dodo required several hours’ sleep in every twenty-four.

Thinking about this, he yawned as he glanced at the main control instruments.

Their readings were steady. For a moment he wondered where they might be heading now... and in which time span. Then the instruments blurred out of focus as he once again muffled a yawn.

It would be his turn to sleep properly when the Doctor and Dodo returned to duty, but Steven was having trouble in staving off the feeling of fatigue that was engulfing him.

Maybe the after-effects of that fever he had experienced on the Ark, he thought; but no, that must be a long way back now, and the TARDIS and the Ark were travelling apart, putting time and distance between them.

It was no good. Steven just had to sit down. He could just as easily watch the instruments from a sitting position andthere was no sense in inviting a chance relapse.

As he seated himself, he failed to notice that his sleeve had caught the lever of one of the main instruments and altered its position.

‘Wake up!’ the Doctor snapped.

Steven jerked to full consciousness to find the irate Doctor and Dodo standing over him.

‘Oh... sorry, but I must have dozed off,’ Steven said.

‘Dozed?’ the Doctor demanded. He glanced impatiently at the instruments. ‘According to these we’ve wandered off any kind of target. Heaven knows where we are now!’ He studied the Main Indicator. ‘And according to this we’re about to make a landing!’

Dodo peered over his shoulder. ‘Any idea where, Doctor?’

‘No! Thanks to Steven here we’ve completely lost track.’

‘Sorry, Doctor,’ Steven mumbled.

The Doctor relented, ‘Don’t worry about it, my dear boy. Perhaps it’s my fault, asking you to do too much, too soon.’

There was a shivering motion throughout the TARDIS.

‘Hang on!’ the Doctor cried out. ‘It
is
a landing!’

Dodo grabbed a console, ‘I’ve never liked this part! We always assume that we’re going to come down on land, but what happens if we end up in the middle of some flipping ocean?’

The Doctor glared at her impatiently. ‘Then we get wet, my dear. Very wet indeed!’

Then the grinding and winding and whirl of machinery ceased as the TARDIS settled down. The Doctor looked again uncertainly at his instruments... then reached forward and operated the exit door lever.

It swung open and Dodo moved toward it. The Doctor caught her sleeve and held her back.

‘Not so fast, my dear,’ he said. ‘I’ll go first; you two follow me after I’ve had a chance to look around.’

The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS... and looked around in amazement. He called back: ‘Come on out here, both of you!’

Doctor and Dodo did so... and, in turn, cried out in astonishment when they saw where they were.

‘But it can’t be...’ Steven ejaculated.

‘Too fantastic to be true!’ Dodo exclaimed.

‘But that’s it!’ the Doctor answered. ‘Fantastic but true!’

They were back in the jungle glade aboard the Ark!

They had made a hurried survey of their surroundings.

‘The same place – the exact same place,’ the Doctor observed.

‘But that can’t be,’ Dodo said. ‘We’ve only been gone a short time.’

‘Time is only relative, my dear,’ the Doctor rejoined.

‘I’ve always told you that.’ He glanced around. ‘It is the same place... but there are things about it that are different.’

‘What, for instance?’ Steven asked.

‘The trees... the foliage... most things look the same,’ the Doctor mused. ‘Yet there is a difference about the flora that puzzles me.’

Dodo cupped her hands to her mouth and called out:

‘Guardians! Monoids! We’re back!’

There was no reply.

‘Let’s go to the city,’ Steven suggested. ‘Maybe we can find them there!’

‘Er... yes,’ the Doctor agreed cautiously. ‘No harm in that, I suppose.’

But there was the threat of harm as they moved through the jungle on their way to the city.

All around them they could hear the animals stirring, howling and crying out in a way that they had not done previously. Ahead of them they saw a tiger tracking a gazelle, but this time behaving as it has done in ages past on Earth. The gazelle was grazing, but pricked up its cars when it sensed danger... and took off in flight as the tiger closed in on it. There was a brief skirmish, raising a cloud of dust, as the tiger pounced on the gazelle and killed it.

They froze in horror on seeing this.

‘That’s not the way that other tiger behaved,’ Dodo Finally said.

‘No,’ said the Doctor. ‘So, as far as the animals are concerned, we had better not trust them.’

They continued on their way, eventually reaching the safety of the city.

Within, in the vast corridors that led to the centre of the city, they sensed that things were not as they had been.

‘Where’s everyone?’ Steven queried.

‘Maybe it’s some kind of galactic holiday,’ Dodo suggested without conviction.

The Doctor was thoughtful as he continued walking forward, glancing right and left. Finally he led them into the Great Hall.

Again, no sign of life, either on the Hall floor or on the galleries that surrounded it. The Doctor paused, deep in thought. But then he looked up, startled, as Dodo cried out: ‘Doctor... Steven... look!’ She pointed. ‘The statue!

They’ve finished building it!’

All three stared at it.

It stood there, dominating the Great Hall as it was meant to do. Towering over them. Looking roughly like the plan they had originally been shown.

But there was a vital difference and Steven was the first to notice it. ‘It wasn’t meant to look like that...’

‘What do you mean?’ asked the Doctor.

‘... it was meant to represent Homo Sapiens... but that head on top... it’s the head of a Monoid!’

‘Good heavens, dear boy, you’re right!’

‘They must have made some kind of mistake,’ Dodo said. ‘But some mistake! There’s a lot of difference between a human head and one of those one-eyed creatures!’

‘Yes, my dear,’ the Doctor observed, ‘but whatever the confusion, one fact remains...’

‘What’s that?’ Steven asked.

‘The statue is finished,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Which means that seven hundred years have passed since we last stood here!’

‘Seven hundred...’ Dodo echoed. Then she shuddered.

‘No wonder the place feels so different. Grotty...’ She hesitated as she felt the Doctor glance at her sharply. ‘But seven hundred years – that’s the time the Guardians estimated that their journey would take them to reach Refusis.’

‘Only one place to find out what’s happened,’ said the Doctor briskly, starting to stride away.

‘Where’s that?’ Steven asked.

‘The Control Room.’

The Control Room was deserted when they entered it. The Doctor looked around and, followed by the others, moved over to the central bank of monitor screens.

He studied the flight and guidance controls. ‘There have been some changes,’ he announced. ‘Everything about this Master Deck is automatic now. No hands-on required...

just leave it to the program of the Main Edicts that were laid down at the beginning of the Ark’s voyage.’

‘Then where is this spaceship now?’ Steven asked.

The Doctor had been studying a main screen. ‘Close to its target planet,’ he stated. ‘I think that must be Refusis there.’

He indicated a planet that was looming large on the screen.

‘In that case, where are the Guardians?’ Dodo asked.

‘Well, at least the descendants of the ones that we knew before? Surely they must be around somewhere...’

The Doctor had been operating the controls on the secondary monitor screens. Familiar scenes appeared: the jungle, the desert, the cultivated lands, the polar regions, and the caverns where the trays were kept, holding in micro-form and in suspension the beings brought from the Earth many decades before.

‘Nothing about those places seems to have changed,’

Steven observed. ‘But there’s still no signs of ordinary life.’

‘I think that’s where you’re wrong, my boy,’ the Doctor exclaimed. ‘Look at that!’

An image appeared on the screen that showed them the first sign of a Guardian since they had re-entered the Ark.

But there was something different about this man.

Instead of moving confidently, he behaved in a near-servile manner as he picked up a flask and a cup and brought them forward to a reptilian hand that reached out to receive the offering of refreshment.

‘But that looks like a Monoid!’ Steven exclaimed.

‘And the Guardian seems to be working for it like some kind of a servant,’ Dodo said.

The Doctor had searched among other screens and indicated another image.

‘He’s not the only one who’s doing that!’ he said.

On the screen they could see several Guardians at work in a kitchen, preparing food... while in the background a Monoid watched their every move.

‘The Guardians appear to be slaves!’ Steven said.

‘Yes!’ the Doctor agreed. ‘And the Monoids seem to be their overlords!’

As they watched, one of the Guardians accidentally dropped several plates. He bent to pick them up but before he could do so the Monoid raised a weapon and pointed it at him.

There was a sustained flash... and the Guardian was extinguished, dissolving to nothing.

‘What was that?’ gasped Steven in astonishment.

‘Some kind of gun,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Probably based on a laser principle. A Particle Destructor. Very effective...

and, as you saw, very deadly.’

‘What happened to the spaceship of brotherly love?’

Dodo demanded. ‘Where Guardians and Monoids worked together for one common purpose?’

‘Obviously things have changed!’ the Doctor mused.

Then he glanced up. ‘But I think we might get some of the answers now.’

Monoids had entered the Control Room, followed by a couple of subservient Guardians. These Monoids were armed with the same weapons the Doctor and his companions had seen on the monitor; and, in addition to their obvious status as rulers, there were other things that were different about them.