Doctor Who: Galaxy Four (5 page)

‘Are you there, Doctor?’ Steven called, in some pain now and urgently needing relief.

‘Heaven only knows where I am,’ the Doctor replied through gritted teeth. ‘But I think I’m in trouble.’

‘Are you all right if I move away?’

‘It makes no difference to me now.’

Steven stepped back and looked up. It was a strange sight that greeted his eyes, the weirdly-dressed Doctor hanging rigid with fear from the skirt of his metal enemy. Clearly something had to be done, and quickly. He sized up the situation and came up with the only answer.

‘Have you got a firm grip, Doctor?’

‘As firm as I can manage.’

‘I’m going to pull hard on your ankles.’

‘You’re going to do what?’ the Doctor cried.

But this was no time for argument. He grasped the Doctor’s ankles, readied himself and pulled hard. The Doctor hung grimly on, convinced that he was about to lose all his fingernails. ‘Have you gone mad?’ he cried as he saw the Chumbley moving inch by inch over the edge.

‘It’s the only thing to do.’

‘But you’re breaking my hands.’

‘Yes, yes, yes.’

Steven gave another tug and down the Doctor came, to be caught in Steven’s waiting arms. But he did not fall alone. The Chumbley was teetering on the edge before their dumbstruck gaze. Its wheels spun backward and soil cascaded from them. But to no avail. There came an awesome moment when it seemed to be leaning over at some forty-five degrees, then it fell to the bottom with a great crash of metal.

Steven grinned. ‘That’s what I wanted.’

The Chumbley lay on its side, quite helpless, its gun snapped, wheels spinning uselessly in the air. The arms emerged from its body and it tried to lever itself up, but the effort was in vain; they weren’t long enough. It was as much of a threat now as a tortoise flipped onto its back.

‘Can you turn it off?’ Steven asked the Doctor.

The Doctor dug about in his jacket pocket and drew out a screwdriver. ‘I can try.’ He looked sharply at Steven. ‘Always assuming, of course, that my fingers will still work.’

Steven was offended. ‘Well, we got it down, didn’t we?’

The Doctor moved cautiously toward the machine. ‘Almost disabling me in the process,’ he added. He examined the back of the machine’s headpiece. Sure enough, there was an inspection hatch there. He sighed with relief as he saw that the Rills used screws to secure such things and set to to get them out. They were tightly set but well-lubricated, so within minutes they were free and the Doctor lifted the hatch clear. Putting it aside he looked carefully at the wires, coils and other unidentifiable parts that made the robot function. He had to hand it to the Rills: they certainly were technologically advanced, sufficiently so to baffle even him initially. But it was only a matter of different means to the same end. He had encountered robots before. He would use his own advanced technique to stop the thing: that is to say, he would pull out everything within sight until his aim was achieved. Promptly he put his fingers in and did precisely that. It was quite enjoyable. Wire after wire came free under his tugging until they hung like a bunch of straw from the back of the robot’s head. And finally it was still. The wheels stopped spinning, the arms gave way and it lay there dumb and, to all intents and purposes, dead.

The Doctor stepped back and surveyed his handiwork with satisfaction. ‘That seems to have done it.

‘Good.’ Steven put his hands beneath the robot. ‘Help me get it upright, will you, Doctor?’

‘Why d’you want that?’

‘So that we can stand on it.’

The Doctor looked up at the top of the pit, shrugged and also put his hands beneath the robot. It was far from being light work. The Chumbley seemed to weigh a ton and the two were gasping for breath when they finally set it upright. Once there, however, it was easy to move. Steven trundled it to the side and scraped soil under the wheels to secure them. He hoisted himself up and made sure of his footing on the head. Then he crouched and held out his hands to the Doctor. ‘Right, up you come.’

The Doctor was baffled. ‘What foolishness is this?’

‘We get you up here, then you stand on my shoulders and climb out. It’s quite simple,’ Steven said patiently.

‘Is it?’ But he took Steven’s hands nevertheless and was hoisted up, to find himself pressed face to face against the young man, with no room to move back. ‘I don’t like this at all.’

But Steven eased himself down to a crouching position. ‘Right, Doctor. Up on my shoulders.’

Wary of falling, the Doctor scrambled up and stood with his hands against the pit side.

‘Ready?’

‘When you are.’

Steven gently eased himself upright and the Doctor’s hands stepped their way up the side and over the top. He found himself chest and shoulders above it and climbed easily onto the surface. Immediately he lay flat and stretched out his hands to Steven. The young man took them and leapt up and over. They stood and looked down upon the disabled Chumbley.

‘It seems a shame to leave it like that,’ Steven said.

‘Don’t you worry, my boy, no-one abandons machinery like that. His friends will be along soon to get him out.’

‘Very soon, I should think. We’d better be on our way.’

They set off for the ship as the distant chittering of the rescue party reached their ears and speeded their steps.

The battered ship loomed above them and the Doctor paused at the entry to fish out his screwdriver again. He went to the hull and scratched through the space-dirt to the body itself. He looked closely. ‘As I thought, Steven. There’s nothing particularly advanced about this material. It’s tough, but not impregnable. A reasonably common metal with nothing special about it.’

‘So?’ Steven said.

‘So?’ The Doctor sniffed. ‘So much for their female scientists.’

‘Biased, aren’t we?’

‘Amateurism never impresses me. Well, let’s go and see our lady friends. It’s no good you standing here admiring the scenery.’

Vicki was relieved to see them. ‘What took you so long?’

‘We were held up by a Chumbley,’ Steven said. ‘Were you hurt at all?’

‘No, no, my dear.’ The Doctor smiled soothingly. ‘Even though it tried to blow up the TARDIS while we were in it.’

Maaga had entered while he was speaking. ‘He did not succeed?’

‘Well, of course he didn’t,’ the Doctor snapped. ‘We’re here, aren’t we? And my ship isn’t a piece of old tin like this.’

‘It serves its purpose.’

‘More or less. Frankly, I wouldn’t venture anywhere in it. I’d be terrified of it falling to bits about me.’

Maaga gestured to Drahvin One who had brought them in. The minion depressed a lever and the door hummed shut. The Doctor was annoyed. ‘Is that necessary?’

‘We have to protect ourselves against the machines,’ Maaga replied. ‘But we are wasting time. Did you learn anything more about this planet?’

‘Only confirming what you already know.’ The Doctor saw no reason for telling the truth. ‘This planet has exactly fourteen dawns to live. Then comes the big bang.’

Steven concealed his surprise at the Doctor’s words. He saw no reason for the lie, but then no-one ever knew what was going on in the Doctor’s mind. It was murky and devious and ploughed its own furrow, when it wasn’t flying off in all directions.

‘Fourteen dawns,’ Maaga mused. ‘Doctor, will you help us?’

‘To do what, exactly?’

‘To capture the Rills’ spaceship so that we can escape.’

‘And how do I do that, mmm? And, of course, the other question: what happens to the Rills if you succeed?’

Maaga’s lips tightened. ‘They stay on this planet.’

‘But they’ll be blown up,’ Vicki protested. ‘Why couldn’t you take them off with you?’

Maaga was growing tired of this girl. She was not used to being questioned and doubted. Hers was to command and others to obey. Without that arrangement there could be no order. And already she was being delayed. But then, she reminded herself, she had to be civil or it was possible that this strange fellow called the Doctor would refuse to help. Of course, he could be forced, but willing co-operation would be better. She contained the snappy answer she’d been about to give. ‘They are murderers and they are evil. Totally evil. If you were to see them you would know it immediately.’

‘We have only your word for that,’ the Doctor observed. ‘But I’d better point out to you that we cannot help you at all.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I kill nothing. I’m not permitted to even if I wanted to, which I don’t. As for my friends here: they aren’t made that way. No, no, anything involving the death of another being is out of the question.’

Maaga stared at him coldly. ‘I am interested to know how your species has managed to survive this long.’

‘By the use of a moral code.’

‘And what is that?’

‘I don’t believe it,’ Steven said. ‘You don’t know what a moral code is?’

‘If I did I would not have asked the question.’ ‘It’s– ‘

But he was interrupted by the Doctor. ‘Never mind all that. You might as well talk to a post for all the good it’ll do. The point is, we are in no position to be of assistance. Now if you’d be so kind as to open that door we’ll be on our way.’

‘You do not fully understand the situation,’ Maaga said. ‘It is a very basic one: either the Rills die or we do.’

The Doctor was growing tired of such single-mindedness. In fact, he wasn’t sure that it wasn’t so much single as simple. Whatever it was, it was beginning to grate on his nerves. ‘You could both get off together, couldn’t you? Did it never occur to you that if you joined forces you’d probably be away from this planet in no time at all? Your problems would then be solved, out into space and no-one left behind.’

‘Impossible.’

‘What’s so impossible about it?’ Steven asked. ‘Have you ever tried being friendly?’

‘Oh, she wouldn’t do that,’ Vicki said scornfully. ‘I reckon she wants to be enemies.’

‘The situation was forced upon us,’ Maaga replied. ‘They killed one of my soldiers.’

‘It could have been a mistake,’ Steven pointed out. ‘After all, there you were out in space and you suddenly encountered each other.’ A thought occurred to him. ‘Who fired first, by the way?’

‘They did. They were upon us before we even knew of their presence. All we did know was that we were hit, and badly at that. Naturally, we returned their fire.’

‘Naturally,’ Vicki said in a voice totally lacking conviction.

The Doctor emerged from the reverie he had fallen into. ‘There is one thing.’

‘And what is that?’

‘How does it come about that you know what the Rills look like? I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of them.’

For the first time Maaga faltered. ‘We fought them on this planet: We drove them back into their space vessel and they have not emerged since, only sending their machines out on patrol.’ Her expression was one of distaste. ‘They are vile creatures, revolting to see and disgusting to smell. That you could even think of us befriending them is incredible.’

The Doctor eyed her beadily. ‘I see. Then I’d better sum things up for you.’

‘Please do.’

‘Oh, I shall. Don’t worry about that. And it’s really very simple.’ He waved a hand vaguely about him. ‘All of this is not our business, not our business at all. We don’t know you and we don’t know the Rills either. Speaking for myself, I can’t say that I particularly want to, which applies to both of you. Yet you ask for our help, with no evidence whatsoever that you’ve tried to help yourselves. Well, I’ll tell you now, you aren’t going to get it. I’ve never heard such nonsense in my life. Why you don’t send one of your minions out to talk peace I really don’t know. But since you won’t, take it from me, you’re on your own.’

Maaga’s voice was chill. ‘I have explained everything to you.’

‘Not necessarily to my satisfaction.’

‘What is it that would satisfy you?’

‘Talking to someone with a grain of sensitivity would be a start,’ the Doctor snapped. ‘Talking to you is very much akin to going for a walk with a tree. Nothing moves. The response is nil. Since you can’t go away, we will. Kindly open that door.’

Maaga’s response was predictable. The Doctor saw it happening before it actually did. She took her handgun from her holster and pointed it at him. ‘You will please change your mind.’

The Doctor shook his head. ‘No.’

The atmosphere could have been sliced with a knife. Vicki and Steven looked on in tense alarm as the Doctor eyed the weapon and the woman holding it. He cared for neither. In fact his indifference was turning to active dislike. Here he was pursuing his normal life of scientific enquiry and suddenly finding himself being dragooned into what bore all the makings of an all-out war. It was all too much. Why, oh why, did these things keep happening to him? Assuming there was a God, he seemed to look upon the Doctor with an ironic eye. Benevolence would make a nice change, a spell of peace and quiet somewhere with nothing at all happening and no-one threatening his tranquillity of mind. And he had to admit that for himself: he was a serene person, not given to such trivial emotions as impatience or anger. Indeed, it sometimes crossed his mind that he could be taken as a model for all life forms to shape themselves upon. They would be the beneficiaries. So why was this stupid woman pointing this ridiculous weapon at him?

‘Oh, put it away,’ he said testily. ‘You’ve no intention of using it.’

‘But I have,’ Maaga replied. ‘You may look down on our technology, but I assure you our weapons are most efficient, as am I.’

‘I’m no use to you dead. Surely you can see that.’

‘No-one spoke of death.’ She lowered the gun slightly. ‘But if I point this at your hand and press the –’

She went no further because Steven leapt at her. He grasped the gun with both hands and wrenched it upward, thinking to snatch it from her grasp. But he was surprised by the unexpected strength of the Drahvin leader. Startled though she was, she retained an iron grip on the weapon and even started to force it down again. Steven was up to that, however. He tightened his grip, now on her knuckles, braced himself and squeezed with all his strength. Maaga gasped with pain, but still held on. Nothing in her training had taught her to accept defeat and she had no intention of learning such a lesson now. This particular intruder was a nuisance. It was time he died. Men were a burden at the best of times, as she well knew. They served no purpose other than to irritate and obstruct, as this one was doing. Time was drifting away and she had to get herself and her soldiers off the planet before it split asunder and hurled its debris into the eternity of dead space. Something had to be done, so she did it. She rammed her knee up at Steven’s groin.