Doctor Who: The Ark (11 page)

They each wore a collar around their necks and on the collars numbers were stamped, identifying them. But they also used the collar in a special way. It apparently enabled them to speak, albeit in a mechanical, toneless way.

‘What are you doing here?’ Number Two asked.

‘Things have obviously changed,’ Steven muttered.

‘They can speak now!’ Dodo said. ‘Something that they couldn’t do before.’

‘I asked,’ Number Two repeated, ‘what are you doing here... and who are you?’

The Doctor replied. ‘We are... visitors... to this spaceship. On a second visit. We were here many centuries ago. We come as friends.’

‘Friends to whom?’ Number Two demanded.

‘To all who travel in this spaceship.’

‘You mean, to the humanoids like yourselves?’

‘Well... er... yes! But also to yourselves, the Monoids.

We were friends of all on our previous visit...’ The Doctor looked appraisingly at the weapon that Number Two was holding. ‘But things were very different then.’

‘You speak of the distant past,’ said Number Two dismissively. ‘Following the revolution, we Monoids are now the masters!’

‘And the human beings?’

‘They work for us.’ He turned to face one of the Guardians. ‘Is that not so, Yendom?’

Yendom’s reply was low and acquiescent. ‘Yes. It is true.’

‘We conquered... and they obey,’ Number Two stated.

‘And so will you... you strangers who have come into our midst. Now, you will come with us.’

‘Where?’

‘To our leader, Number One.’

He indicated the door. When the Doctor and the others hesitated uncertainly, he thrust his weapon forward, threatening them.

The Doctor sighed. ‘Might as well do what the chap says,’ the told the others. ‘Otherwise I have the feeling that the consequences could be... unfortunate!’

The Doctor led the way, holding himself erect and maintaining what dignity he could. Steven and Dodo followed, their escort party flanking them as they left the Control Room.

Number One was leaning back in a chair as he devoured grapes and drank from a goblet of wine that had been offered to him by his servant, the Guardian Maharis.

‘This fruit is excellent and the wine to my taste,’ he stated. ‘You are a good and obedient servant.’

Maharis bowed. ‘I am glad to have the honour to be such, Number One.’

The door to this Main Comfort Chamber slid open and Number Two entered. He addressed his leader. ‘Here are the strangers, Number One.’

‘Wait!’ Number One switched on a monitor. ‘Look at this page from history.’

They watched the screen on which the Doctor, Steven and Dodo were seen making their farewells prior to leaving the Ark seven hundred years before. The Doctor could be seen following the others into the TARDIS... and within moments it dissolved and disappeared as it left the Ark.

All three – Number One, Number Two and Maharis –

were fascinated by the way in which the TARDIS had vanished. Then Number One switched off the monitor and motioned to the Doctor and his companions to enter.

‘It seems that when you were here before the Guardians of that day didn’t believe that you could travel through time as well as space. Why have you come back?’ he asked.

Steven shrugged. ‘The TARDIS made the decision.’

‘Are you telling me that you can’t control your own machine?’

‘What’s it got to do with you?’ Dodo demanded.

‘Ssh... ssh, my child!’ the Doctor muttered hastily.

‘According to the History Scan you brought a strange fever that killed many of our ancestors,’ Number One said accusingly.

‘Yes. But we cured it, didn’t we?’ Dodo rejoined. ‘Or at least, the Doctor here did.’

‘He thought he did!’

‘And what do you mean by that?’ the Doctor asked.

‘You controlled the immediate impact of the fever,’

Number One replied. ‘But a mutation of it developed later on that sapped the will of the so-called Guardians.’

‘Are you saying that it was our fault that you took over?’

Dodo asked. ‘Because of that fever?’

‘In part...’

‘Were there other reasons?’ Steven enquired.

‘The main factor was the Guardians themselves. They were simple beings. Too trusting. They actually encouraged the research from which we developed our voice boxes... and carelessly left open the archive records in which were deposited the designs for these heat weapons.

It was simple then for us to make them... and they were totally unprepared for the conflict when it came.’

‘What happened?’ Dodo was curious to know.

‘Many were killed... the rest are prisoners. A fact that you will shortly see for yourselves.’ He turned in his chair.

‘Number Two, take these strangers to the Security Kitchen.’

‘Yes, Number One.’

‘And when you have done that call a Grand Council meeting of the Monoids up to Number Twenty.’

‘It will be done.’ Number Two indicated the door to the Doctor and his companions. ‘This way,’ he commanded.

The Doctor looked for a moment as though he might argue with Number One, but then shrugged and led Steven and Dodo out of the Main Comfort Chamber.

Number One looked at Maharis with his one, swivelling eye. ‘I trust that the visit by these strangers won’t give you any strange ideas, Maharis?’

‘Er, no, Number One,’ Maharis replied. ‘I am content to obey the Monoid Order.’

Number One nodded, satisfied with this answer.

In the Security Kitchen a Guardian, Dassuk, whispered to a girl: ‘Who told you all this?’

‘One of the subject Guardians passed the information on when he passed by the door just now,’ Venussa replied.

‘Strangers? But what sort of strangers?’

‘Human beings!’

‘Then I’m afraid the Monoids will make very short work of them.’

‘Not so far,’ she answered. ‘They’ve been taken prisoner.’

‘Well, that proves it’s only a rumour! Just like many others that we’ve heard down through the years. Look, Venussa, you know how far the Ark has travelled... and how the Monoids made constant searches for our kind after they took over... so where could these so-called human beings have come from?’

‘From Earth!’

‘Impossible! The Earth has been destroyed.’

‘But they came from it millions of years ago. They’ve travelled through time...’

‘That isn’t possible!’ He regarded her sceptically. ‘I think you’ve been a prisoner for far too long!’

‘Oh, but it could be true, Dassuk,’ Venussa replied.

‘Don’t you remember the stories about the time when this space voyage was begun? When a Doctor and a young couple came and then went again? Why, they were the first people to call this ship the Ark!’

‘That’s just a legend. And legends won’t help us regain control of the Ark!’

On their escorted journey through the spaceship the Doctor and his companions had noticed the changed conditions. Now they saw more Monoids, each armed with a weapon similar to the one Number Two carried... and realised that the Monoids were indeed in total control of the Ark.

A party of captive Guardians shuffled past them, hauling materials in the manner of pack-mules. An armed Monoid followed in their wake.

One of the Guardians stumbled, to be caught by the Doctor.

‘Thank you,’ the Guardian murmured. Then he looked at the Doctor’s clothing in puzzled amazement. ‘What...

who are you...?’ he asked.

‘I am the Doctor,’ came the reply. ‘And these are my companions, Steven and Dorothea!’

‘Dodo!’ she snapped.

‘But what part of the Ark do you come from?’ the Guardian called back as he stumbled on with his load.

‘Stop talking, there!’ the Monoid in charge of his party shouted. He, Number Seven, then addressed Number Two.

‘What have you got here, Number Two?’

‘Strangers!’ Number Two replied tersely.

The Doctor and the others were led on beyond the work party they had passed and, in the Great Hall, Number Two called for them to halt for a moment. He pointed upwards.

‘You see!’ he said. ‘That statue is the symbol of our Monoid Order!’

They stared at it, noting the human feet and calves...

and then the scaly arms emerging from its tunic, the whole topped by the one-eyed, mop-thatched head.

‘Nonsense!’ Dodo snorted. ‘You may have taken it over, but you didn’t think it up or start it.’

‘Don’t provoke him,’ the Doctor murmured.

The Monoid stared at Dodo, his one eye fixed on her.

‘Well... on second thoughts... it’s not bad!’ she said.

‘After all, any carnival would love to have it.’

The Monoid gestured to them to keep walking and they filed out of the Great Hall.

The door of the Security Kitchen was opened and the party of captives was ushered inside.

‘This way, Doctor,’ Number Two said. ‘And bring your friends in with you.’ He indicated the work tables. ‘You will stay in this place and take on the task of preparing our food. You will not leave here. This is where you will work... and this is where you will sleep, like the others of your kind. Above all, you must always be obedient prisoners!’

The Doctor listened to this with his head cocked slightly. Then he bowed... and, after a moment, Dodo and Steven followed suit.

‘Good. I do not think you will be much trouble... any more than the others have been.’ Number Two seemed satisfied and left the Security Kitchen.

The arrival of the Doctor and his companions had aroused the curiosity of the prisoners working in the kitchen. Venussa left her work place, followed by Dassuk.

‘Doctor?’ she queried. ‘Did he say... Doctor?’

‘Yes, he did.’

‘Have you been here before? On the Ark, I mean?’

The Doctor nodded.

‘But that’s incredible!’ Dassuk exclaimed. ‘How in space did you do it?’

‘If I were to tell you, young man, you wouldn’t believe me!’ the Doctor informed him.

Steven cut in: ‘And besides, we’ve got far more important things to talk about! We’ve got to find a way of getting out of this place!’

At the Grand Council Meeting he had convened in a Special Chamber, Number One was addressing Numbers Two to Twenty.

‘In a short while, Refusis will be ours. We will land there. And there we will create a Monoid world!’

There was a rumour of approval from the Council. Then Number Four spoke up: ‘But, Number One, what about the Guardians?’

‘I have a simple plan that will destroy them,’ Number One stated. ‘When we create our new world on that planet it will be without any memory of – or reference to – the time when we were secondary beings.’

‘That’s as it should be,’ Number Two agreed.

‘But at this moment we cannot be sure what Refusis is really like,’ Number One continued. ‘Or what kind of creatures the Refusians are. So I am sending a forward landing party ahead of us.’

‘But in that case the Refusians will be forewarned,’

objected Number Two.

‘I have thought of that,’ Number One replied. ‘So I want you to listen to my plan...’

In the Security Kitchen Dodo was in her element as she talked with the captive Guardians. ‘
I
was the first one to call this ship the Ark!’

‘And when you came here you brought that strange fever... and the Doctor was the one who cured it,’ Dassuk recalled.

‘Of course!’

‘But that fever – and its consequences – were our undoing.’

Venussa interjected: ‘Take no notice of him. Dassuk was born a cynic.’

‘Then he’ll probably die as one,’ the Doctor observed.

‘That is, unless we do something quickly about this situation.’

‘Are there many other Guardians like yourselves being held prisoner?’ Steven asked.

‘The majority,’ Dassuk replied. ‘But on the other hand there are those who have chosen to serve the Monoids. The subservient ones.’

‘But why don’t we just choose our moment and jump on the Monoids?’ Dodo asked. ‘Better to die fighting than...’

‘We feel like that sometimes. But you forget that they are armed with the heat guns whereas we are not. And those weapons are lethal.’

‘But we could take the chance and try to seize one,’

Steven urged. ‘Then challenge them at their own game.’

‘They are very careful. The Monoids never put them down.’

‘But the situation is an urgent one,’ the Doctor said.

‘Time is running out. Soon the landings will start on the planet Refusis.’

‘Fetch the Doctor and the girl who came with him,’

Number One instructed Number Two.

‘Yes, Number One,’ Number Two replied.

He moved out of the Council Chamber while Number One addressed the other Monoids.

‘Their presence here is something that we can turn to our own advantage. They will act as our shield in our first probes on the strange planet. And if they are injured or destroyed in the attempt that will help save Monoid lives!’

‘Do you think you can make this attempt?’ Dodo asked.

‘We must try,’ Dassuk answered. ‘Otherwise there will be no future for us. And our forefathers might just as well have stayed on the Earth and died with it.’

Venussa had been listening near the door. ‘They are coming back!’ she hissed urgently.

They hastily spread themselves out, taking up planned positions. The door slid open and an armed Monoid entered. He looked around and demanded, ‘Why aren’t you working?’

Venussa caught a nodded signal from Steven and purposely tipped a plate onto the floor, where it clattered loudly. The Monoid turned to look at it and Steven called out, ‘Now!’

He and several others tackled the Monoid from behind, quickly pinning back his arms. At the same time Dassuk wrested the weapon from the Monoid’s grasp, but in the skirmish was unable to hold onto it. It fell to the floor.

The door slid open again and another Monoid, Number Two, entered. He took in the situation at a glance and exclaimed, ‘What is this!?’

A young Guardian hastily reached for the weapon that lay on the floor. Immediately Number Two levelled his own weapon at him. There was a blast... and the young Guardian was exterminated.

Number Two covered the rest of them with his lethal weapon. Dassuk, Steven and the others recognised that their action had failed and released the Monoid they were holding. He immediately picked up the heat gun that had been wrested from him.