Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker (11 page)

'It looks like a huge pinball machine,'
said Dodo excitedly. The reason for the glare as they had come out of
the dark passage was now apparent. They were confronted by a room in
which the ceiling, the walls and the floor were illuminated from
behind. On the lighted floor was a series of triangles like the ones
found on arcade pinball machines. These were also lighted up in
different colours. The triangles were numbered one to fourteen.
Triangle fourteen was much bigger than the others and had the word
Home flashing on the top. The numbered triangles led in a twisting
snake-like fashion around the room before ending upon the home
triangle.

'This looks much easier than the other
games,' said Dodo. She turned to Cyril. For answer, Cyril bent down
and opened up a school satchel he had left lying on the floor. From
the satchel he brought a large dice and a dice shaker, placing them
on the floor near the first triangle marked Start.

'Here's the dice,' said Cyril. 'When
it's your turn to move, throw it and the number will show on the
indicator over there.' Cyril pointed over to the back of the room
where there was yet another TARDIS. Beside it, was a large cylinder,
like a barber's pole with bright red, white and blue stripes. It was
turning slowly and, as it turned, a message formed on the side. The
riddle became visible. Lady Luck will show the way, win the game, or
here you'll stay.

'You move forward the same number of
triangles as the number shown on the dice. It's really very simple:
the first one to reach triangle fourteen' - he pointed over to the
Home triangle, - is the winner!'

'It's almost too easy,' said Steven.
'What's the catch?'

'No catch,' said Cyril, looking blandly
from one to the other with his large, blue eyes. 'First home is the
winner.'

'I still don't understand.' Steven
shook his head. 'That gives us a two to one chance over you.'

'Oh,' said Cyril. His blue eyes grew
even wider and more deceptively innocent-looking. 'Why, so it does.
But there it is. I shall just have to put up with it, won't I? We
shall all jump from one triangle to another and the one who gets
there, Home, is the winner.'

'Why jump?' asked Steven. 'Why can't we
just walk on the floor from one triangle to another?'

'Oh,' said Cyril. 'Of course, you can
walk if you like, but I shouldn't if I were you.'

'Why not?' asked Dodo.

'Because after triangle number four all
the area between the spaces is electrified and you'll be killed.'
Cyril's face creased into an entirely cherubic little smile as his
eyes flicked from Dodo to Steven.

In the Toymaker's private office, the
Toymaker, with his hands folded mandarin style, was gloating to the
Doctor. 'I don't think your friends will do so well now, Doctor. Cyril hates to lose, so he
makes sure he never does.'

The Doctor's hand hesitated. Above them
the tally recorder flashed the move 905.

'Oh, please don't stop playing,' said
the Toy maker. 'You're so near the end now. Soon we'll discover
whether or not you got the sequence right.'

'Right now you need help.' The Toymaker
raised his voice to the high-pitched sound he used to give commands
to the trilogic game. 'Go from move 930.' Immediately there was a
clicking noise and the pieces started flying across the board of
their own volition until the tally indicator clicked up to 930.

'There,' said the Toymaker. 'At this
rate, you'll finish long before Dodo and Steven reach the TARDIS. And
you'll have to stay here. You know, your two friends will make such
charming dolls. Look over here.'

The Toymaker walked over to the doll's
house and opened it. 'Look, two chairs, all ready and waiting for
them. And here, I've had some special costumes made for when they
play games.' The Toymaker opened a tiny wardrobe and pulled out two
intricately crafted Victorian children's suits. 'They'll be
companions for Cyril. The poor boy gets very lonely at times.'

Steve and Dodo were now ready to start
the game.

'Ready?' said Cyril. 'Jolly good show.
Now, you know what to do?' Dodo and Steven nodded.

'Right ho then, ladies first.' He bowed
to Dodo who took up the shaker and threw the dice onto the nearest
triangle; it showed a three. Counting from the start triangle, she
hopped a little unsteadily over to triangle four.

Cyril turned to Steven. 'You next,' he
said.

Steven looked at him suspiciously.
'You're just too good to be true, you are,' he said. Cyril gave
another bland cherubic smile and Steven threw the dice and got a
four. Hopping past Dodo, he landed on triangle number five.

A buzzer sounded. Steven looked around:
there on the indicator, the letters resolved themselves into a
direction which said, Move forward two paces.

Steven turned back to Cyril. 'It said
move forward two paces. Do I?'

'Oh, you are a lucky chap,' said Cyril.
'Yes, go on to number seven.'

'Oh, one thing I didn't tell you by the
way,' Cyril called as Steven hopped two more paces to land on number
seven. 'When a player lands on an occupied triangle, the first player
has to go back to the starting post.'

'Great,' said Steven to Dodo. 'Now I
see why he let us go first. Well, go on them. Don't keep us in
suspense.'

Cyril took the dice shaker and threw a
two. He grimaced and jumped two squares to square three.

'My turn now,' said Dodo. She
reachedover and took the dice from Cyril and threw herself a three.
'Look,' she said to Steven. 'I've got a -' As the implications of the
number three sank in, her face fell. 'Oh, dear,' she said. 'That
means I'll be coming on your square, Steven.'

Steven turned back to Cyril. 'Surely we
can't send each other home,' he queried. 'We're playing together.'

'Those are the rules,' said Cyril a
little smugly. 'You'll never win if you don't follow them.'

Dodo jumped on to Steven's square.
'He's right, Steven,' she said. 'We must play fair. We are two to
one, after all.'

Steven nodded a little ungraciously.
'All right. But keep an eye on him.' He hopped from triangle to
triangle back to the start. When he landed on the start triangle, it
lighted up with the words Miss a turn.

Steven looked down in dismay. 'What
does this mean?' he queried.

Cyril turned to Dodo laughing. 'He's
pretending he doesn't know how to play,' he said. 'What a sense of
humour.' He turned back to Steven. 'It means you miss your next turn.
It's all part of the game. It's my turn now.' Taking the dice, he
threw a three as the other two looked at him suspiciously.

'Oh, a three. I'm still just behind
you,' he said to Dodo. Dodo nodded and turned back towards where the
robot had now appeared with the chest screen showing the Doctor's
progress in the trilogic game.

'Look, Steven,' she said. 'The robot
again. And it's got the Doctor's score on it. The Doctor's reached
950. We'll have to hurry.'

She turned back again and gave a
scream, staggering and almost falling off her triangle. Someone with
a hideous mask was leering at her. The mask dropped and Cyril was
revealed.

'It's only me, Cyril,' said the
schoolboy. Steven jumped over to join them.

'I told you about those idiotic jokes,'
he said threateningly. 'She nearly fell off.'

Cyril laughed. 'All in the game, old
chap. Now, you both go back to the start. You've broken the rules by
coming here.'

'That's not fair,' said Dodo.

'He cheated,' said Cyril. 'Moved ahead
when it wasn't his turn. Now he must go back to the start. I've
landed on your square.' He turned to Dodo. 'So back you both go.'

Steven's patience reached its limit.
'I've had enough of this,' he said. 'You make the rules up as you go
along. Come on, Dodo, we'll go to the finish and see if that's the
real TARDIS.' Steven turned and hopped on the next triangle moving
towards the Home triangle with the TARDIS behind it.

There was a thunderclap and the
Toymaker appeared on the next triangle. 'Don't you like my little
game?' he asked.

Steven stopped short,' startled for a
moment, then he shook his head. 'No, I don't,' he said.

'What a pity,' said the Toymaker. 'To
give up now after having overcome so many obstacles.'

Dodo shook her head: 'We're not giving
up.'

'Are you sure?' asked the Toymaker. 'It
sounded like it.'

'I must get to the end of this,' said
Steven. He tried to get past the Toymaker but seemed to bang up
against some invisible wall. He reached his hand out - there was
something blocking the way.

'It's no use,' he said. 'There's some
sort of invisible barrier here.'

'Precisely,' said the Toymaker. 'A
barrier that yields only to those who play fairly. Those are the
rules. Now perhaps you will go back to the starting platform as
requested.' The Toymaker gave one of his slow smiles and vanished.

Steven stared after him for a moment,
then turned back to Dodo. 'Come on, Dodo,' he said. They went back to
the beginning.

As Steven landed on number four,
something hit him a sharp stinging blow on the back of his neck. He
teetered for a moment, raising his hand at the sting and nearly fell.

'Ouch,' he said. 'What on earth was
that?' He turned around. Cyril was putting a catapult away in his
pocket.

'Hurrah!' said Cyril. 'One up for me.
Now it's my turn.' He threw a two with the dice and advanced two more
triangles.

Steven rejoined Dodo on the start
triangle. 'I'm going to see if there is any barrier around his back
side,' he said.

'Oh don't,' said Dodo. 'Whose turn is
it?'

'Mine,' said Steven. He rolled the dice
shaker and got a six. 'That's better.' He looked up and called across
to Cyril. 'Do I get a second turn for a six?'

Cyril looked down his nose. 'Certainly
not!' he said.

Steven nodded dryly. He was beginning
to get the hang of this game. 'I thought not somehow,' he said.

In the Toymaker's office, the Toymaker
smiled at the invisible Doctor. 'I've had to speak to your friends,
Doctor,' he said. 'It seems they do not know how to play a game
fairly. But don't worry, Cyril seems to have the game nicely in hand.
I don't think your friends are going to get the TARDIS back. As you
are certain to lose, I feel I should be kinder to you.' He
clicked his fingers. 'There, I've given you back your voice. You are
no longer under the ban of silence.'

The Doctor's hand continued to move
above the trilogic board. The tally recorder registered 960.

'Now you're sulking,' said the Toymaker
irritated. 'Have you forgotten how to speak?'

For a moment the hand hesitated, then
the Doctor's voice came out clear. 'Throughout the game,' said the
Doctor, 'you have done everything in your power to break my
concentration. It is very unlikely that you will succeed now.'

'Perhaps this will alter your
concentration,' said the Toymaker. 'Look, Doctor.' He pointed over to
the screen and the picture reappeared. 'Your friend Steven has had to
miss a turn.'

Back in the toyroom, Steven had just
landed on a triangle near the middle of the game with Dodo two
triangles behind him and Cyril now only four from the finish line.
Steven's triangle read Miss a turn.

Cyril turned back smugly. 'You haven't
a hope of beating me now! Why don't you both give up? I only need a
three to win.'

Steven ignored him and turned to Dodo.
'It's up to you now,' he said. Dodo shook her dice shaker and brought
out the dice watched eagerly by Steven.

Neither of them saw Cyril bring out a
packet of powder and carefully spread it over most of the triangle on
which he was standing. He stealthily tried a foot on it. The foot
slid towards the edge. He drew it back and smiled.

'Look,' said Dodo. 'A six!' She started
jumping on the triangles until she was up to the square behind Cyril.
'I only need a four to get home now,' she said.

Cyril looked even more sulky. He was
fast losing his cherubic quality. His blue eyes now looked hard and
cold. 'But it's my turn first,' he said pouting. 'Too bad, isn't it?'

He threw his dice and it showed a two.
Then he hopped forward two paces. The triangle lighted up with the
message Go back four paces.

Cyril looked around quickly at the
other two. Steven and Dodo were watching the counter on the trilogic
game which had now gone up to 980. Cyril bent down, trying to block
the message with his body while he tied his shoelace. But Dodo caught
him out of the corner of her eye.

'Steven, look,' she said. 'He has to go
back four paces.'

'Now who's trying to cheat?' said
Steven.

'Give a chap time to tie his shoelace,'
said the schoolboy. He straightened up and sulkily jumped back past
Dodo, being very careful to land on the unslippery part of the
triangle onto which he had put the powder.

'That's better,' said Steven. 'Go on,
Dodo, you must get a four.' Dodo took the dice shaker up and shook it
only to be interrupted by a howl of agony. She turned back quickly.
Cyril was lying over the triangle with one foot dangling over the
edge. As she watched he brought it up and she could see blood soaking
his stocking.

'He's hurt himself,' said Dodo.

Steven shook his head. 'It's a trick.
Throw the dice,' he said.

Cyril's shrieks got worse. He pulled
his shoes off and Dodo saw that his entire sock was soaked with
blood.

'He's bleeding,' said Dodo. 'His foot
must have slipped off and touched the floor. He's really hurt badly,
Steven. We can't just leave him there.

'Go ahead and play!' said Steven
urgently.

'No,' said Dodo. 'I'm going to help
him.' Dodo jumped back to Cyril's square and immediately bent down to
examine his foot. 'Where does it hurt?' she said concerned. 'We'd
better take your sock off.' She started pulling it and then looked at
her hands. 'This isn't blood,' she said. 'It's red ink.'