Doctor Who: The Sensorites (10 page)

'Do you mistrust
them as much as all that?'

'I do not trust
them ... as much as you . . .' The Second Elder chose his words
carefully. 'They are different from us -alien beings from another
world. Their kind have brought only disease and despair to the
Sensorite Nation. What basis do we have for trusting them?'

The First Elder
considered his junior thoughtfully. The arguments he had presented
disturbed him deeply. 'I will reflect upon your advice, and weigh up
the matter,' he promised.

'As you will, sir,'
the Second Elder replied as his leader left the garden. 'But in all
dealings with these aliens I advise caution - extreme caution . . .'

In one of the
laboratories in the Science Block John had been strapped down to a
large chair. His head was covered with a kind of skull cap, attached
to which were hundreds of tiny electrodes which were in turn
connected to a large bank of instrumentation at the far end of the
room. Periodically his eyes would flicker open and shut, and even
after a few hours on the Sensorites' mind restorer his face appeared
more relaxed. A few streaks of black now ran through his white hair.

Making delicate
adjustments to a control unit at John's side was the Sensorites'
Senior Scientist. On his grey tunic he wore a vertical black band
around which coiled a spiral design. As the City Administrator
entered the room, the Scientist bowed low, affording him the respect
due to his caste.

'What is happening
here?' asked the senior Sensorite.

'I am clearing the
Earthman's mind,' explained the Scientist, discreetly adding, 'On the
orders of the First Elder.'

The Administrator
regarded John with barely disguised contempt. 'It would have been
better to kill him than cure him,' he sneered.

'Once again you
question the voice of authority.'

The Administrator
spun quickly round to see the Second Elder, recently returned from
his meeting with the First Elder, enter the room. He dismissed the
Senior Scientist.

Recovering his
composure, the Administrator explained himself: 'I am
responsible for the safety of this City and I will do anything in my
power to defend it from the aliens.'

'Be careful that
your power is not taken from you,' the Second Elder advised him.
'Whether you like it or not the man called John is to be cured: we
fulfil our promise.'

'Any moment now you
will put them in their ship and let them go,' mocked the
Administrator.

'One more insolent
word from you and I shall demand that your collar of office be taken
from you,' said the Second Elder, pointing to the black band around
the Administrator's neck. 'This man is to be cured. As for the other
one -'

The Administrator
interrupted him. 'Which other one?'

'The one called Ian
Chesterton.'

'These absurd names
they all have!' scoffed the Administrator. 'They bear no badges of
authority or position. How are we to distinguish them? They all look
the same. . . What is the matter with the other one?'

'He has contracted
the disease. But their commander, the Doctor, believes our water
supply is to blame.'

Like someone who
has had his most cherished belief suddenly swept away from under him,
the Administrator began to clutch at spurious explanations for the
Doctor's apparent co-operation. 'A brilliant scheme!' he finally
declared with irony. 'There is nothing wrong with our water supply.
But by destroying confidence in one of our necessities they hope to
bring us to their mercy!'

As the
Administrator defended his misguided beliefs, John's eyes slowly
opened, and he regarded the Sensorite with a look of fear and
recognition.

'Evil. . . evil. .
.' he muttered.

The Administrator
immediately seized on the astronaut's words. 'Even this half-broken
creature here admits the truth! These Earth-creatures are evil - they
must not be allowed to undermine the security of our Nation . . .'

The Second Elder
looked closely at the Administrator for some long seconds and then
turned to go. He had no wish to listen to any more of the
Administrator's confused and paranoid prattlings. As he left the
room, John cried out, 'No, no! Evil is here!'

The Administrator
bowed close to John's ear as the door closed behind the
Second Elder. 'Your mind is closed by the machine,' he whispered.
'You will not be believed.'

Unable to move in
the straps which bound him to the chair, John could only look at the
Administrator with terror. 'You are the enemy!' he accused.

'I am the enemy of
all Earth-creatures who come to plunder and destroy our planet,' the
Administrator declared proudly.

John struggled
wildly in his chair but to no avail. So great was his terror before
the Sensorite that his mind took the only defence it could. He
fainted cold away.

The Administrator
looked down at him contemptuously. 'Your primitive mind is too weak
to harm me,' he said.

Just then Carol
entered the room behind him. Freshly bathed and changed, and with her
fair hair let down and falling about her shoulders, she looked far
more relaxed than when the TARDIS crew had first encountered her up
in Maitland's spaceship. Now that she was free of the Sensorites'
mental assaults, and now that there was some hope for John, there was
a spring in her step and a smile on her face.

'How's John?' she
asked, and then checked herself as the Administrator turned around to
face her. 'Oh, I am sorry,' she apologised, 'I thought you were one
of the scientists.'

The Administrator's
tone was severe. 'Did you not see my collar of office?' he asked,
pointing to the black band around his neck.

'I said I'm sorry,'
she replied, slightly irritated by the Administrator's attitude.
'When your backs are turned it's very difficult to see who you are.'
She chuckled. 'I don't know what we'd do if you all changed your
badges and sashes: we wouldn't be able to tell you apart.'

'I had never
thought of that before. . .' the Administrator said slowly, struck by
the novelty of the idea.

As Carol concerned
herself with John, the Administrator walked away pensively. Already a
plan was forming in his devious mind . . .

The Doctor was
furious. He and Susan had been in the First Elder's Chamber for over
an hour, anxiously awaiting the First Elder's decision as to whether
they would be allowed entry to the TARDIS. All the while Ian had been
moaning deliriously to
himself, wracked by excruciating pains on a low couch which had been
provided for him. When the First Elder finally returned the Doctor
was tapping his coat lapels in irritation, and looked fit to explode.

'Well?' he
demanded.

'I am sorry,
Doctor,' said the Sensorite leader, 'I cannot allow you to go to your
ship.'

'You dare set
yourself up against me!' the old man thundered in a voice loud enough
to wake the dead. 'I must have the chemicals and equipment; otherwise
Chesterton will die and it will be your fault - and yours alone!'

So great was the
Doctor's fury that the Sensorite was forced to cover his ears to shut
out the painful noise. Susan immediately interposed herself between
the two opponents in an attempt to mediate.

'Please,
Grandfather,' she pleaded in a soft yet firm voice, 'he thinks you're
attacking him. Turning to the Sensorite she explained, 'We're sorry:
we don't mean to use sound as a weapon. We don't mean to hurt you.'

'Very well, I
accept your apology,' replied the First Elder and then addressed the
Doctor once more. 'Please be more careful in future,' he said with
veiled sarcasm. The Doctor shot him a glance of pure poison.

'But it is inhuman!
Ian will die if we can't help him! he protested in a harsh whisper.

'There is a
laboratory in the Palace,' the First Elder reminded him. 'You may
prove your theory there.'

'Theory!' cried the
Doctor indignantly. Susan again urged him to lower his voice as he
continued: 'Very well, I realise we have no alternative - but this
behaviour is outrageous. Susan, you must stay here with Chesterton.
Let him have as much of the crystal water as he wants; and if his
breathing gets weak, try artificial respiration.' Turning to the
First Elder, he said, 'And now, sir, to your laboratory. And let us
just hope that there is still time to save him!'

Even the Doctor had
to admit reluctantly that the Palace laboratory was impressive. Small
but very comprehensive, it contained an abundance of highly advanced
scientific equipment. The Doctor looked on approvingly as the
Sensorite scientists busied
themselves at their computer banks and work benches with
single-minded determination. The Sensorites had developed all the
sciences to a high level of sophistication; all, that is, except one,
ironically the one they needed most at the moment: for all their
intelligence and skill, the Sensorites' knowledge of chemistry was
extremely basic.

With his pince-nez
glasses perched on his nose, the Doctor addressed the two Sensorite
scientists who had been instructed to assist him. The old man was in
his element: there was nothing he liked better than showing off his
knowledge.

'Now, gentlemen,'
he began, like a lecturer in the classroom, 'I believe your people
are dying off because there is atropine poisoning in the water.' He
took out of his jacket pocket the notebook he always carried with
him, and consulted it. 'These are the symptoms: abdominal pains; a
sharp rise in bodily temperature, pulse rates become very rapid; a
rash may appear; and the mouth and throat become very fiery: exactly
the symptoms of our young friend Chesterton. What we have to do,
gentlemen, is to establish that this is indeed atropine poisoning,
and then prescribe a remedy.'

'But we have
already tested the water,' objected the first scientist.

'Then we shall have
to try again, shan't we?' the Doctor said. 'The strange thing is that
not all of your people have died.'

'Three in every
ten,' offered the second scientist. 'Last year it was two in every
ten.'

'Of course, some of
you may be able to resist it. And pehaps some of the water is good

'But all the water
is the same,' protested the second scientist.

'But surely from
different outlets?'

'There are ten
Districts in the City - but only one source.'

'Then there
definitely is a poison at work. I know the signs,' said the Doctor.
'We must test samples from each and every District. Which District
did this one come from?' he asked, taking up a specimen tube of water
from the workbench.

'This Palace,'
replied the first scientist. 'It is in District Ten.'

'Then we will test
this first - but there's not a moment to lose. I want samples from
all the other Districts immediately -it's imperative!'

The Doctor's
intention was to test samples of water from each of the reservoirs
serving the City's Ten Districts. By adding a specially prepared
chemical solution to each of the samples he hoped to detect the
presence of atropine poisoning in the water. If poison was present
the treated sample would turn dark in colour; if no poison was
present it would remain clear.

Hours passed slowly
as the Doctor and his two assistants conducted their series of tests
on the water samples. From time to time the First or the Second Elder
would enter the laboratory to enquire after their progress and bring
news of Ian.

Despite all of
Susan's attention the schoolteacher was rapidly getting worse. His
forehead was bathed in a cold sweat and he was becoming more and more
delirious. Each time the Sensorites returned to them Susan would look
up anxiously, but each time the only answer they could give her was a
sad shake of the head.

Finally after
almost five hours of testing and retesting the Doctor turned
triumphantly around to his Sensorite helpers. In his right hand he
held aloft the specimen tube taken from District Eight: the water
inside it had turned a deep black.

'Just as I
suspected!' he pronounced. 'Atropine poisoning!'

The Second Elder
hurried to the Chamber of the First Elder to break the good news. The
Sensorite leader received him with caution. 'Has the Doctor
discovered a cure?' he asked.

'He says so: he has
identified the poison in our water. Physo-stirate-salicilate' - he
pronounced the strange words carefully - 'is the antidote.'

'Remarkable!'
rejoiced the First Elder. 'See to it that the antidote is produced in
great quantities. Instruct our Senior Scientist to make regular
reports on the progress.' Almost as an afterthought he said, 'And
convey to the Doctor my congratulations.'

'I will, sir,' said
the Second Elder. 'And now I ask to be excused. I have an
appointment with the City Administrator.

The First Elder
dismissed his second-in-command and walked over to Susan who was
still nursing the unconscious Ian.

'The Doctor has had
some success,' he said softly. 'A remedy will be available soon.'

Susan's tears of
relief came quickly. She looked down at Ian's still form. 'Do you
hear that, Ian?' she said. 'You're going to be all right.'

The Second Elder
had been surprised to receive a request for an audience from the City
Administrator. After the happenings of the past few hours he would
have thought that he was the last Sensorite he wanted to see. But if
the Administrator wished to explain his unruly behaviour the Second
Elder would be more than ready to listen; after all, they were still
Sensorites.

He was therefore
more than a little taken aback when, immediately upon entering the
Disintegrator Room, he was violently seized by two Sensorite
servants.

The Administrator
waddled up to his superior and removed the mind transmitter he always
wore at his belt.