Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker (6 page)

'No!' Dodo screamed. 'Steven don't.'
Steven started up and turned towards her. 'What's the matter now?' he
said a trifle crossly.

Dodo pulled him away from the chair.
'Don't risk it. None of the Toymaker's toys are jokes - six of these
chairs may destroy us. That may be one of the deadly ones.'

'A charming thought,' Steven nodded
ironically. 'You're right, I'm sure.' Steven looked around the room.
'Let's open these cupboards.'

Dodo shuddered. 'They're made to look
just like TARDISes. They may be as deadly as the chairs.'

Steven thought for a moment then shook
his head. 'I don't think so,' he said. 'Don't forget, the magic
number is seven and there are only four of these and there were none
in the other room.' He crossed over to the one nearest the door,
opened it, then started back in amazement.

'What is it?' cried Dodo, running over
to him. She looked inside and gave a little shriek.

Inside the cupboard were two life-size
dolls, made up as ballerinas, with large painted eyes, hair, short
dance tutus, and ballet shoes.

'It's all right,' said Steven. 'They're
only dolls. Let's see if there are any more of these.' He walked over
to the second TARDIS cupboard and flung the door open. 'Here look,'
he said. Inside were two more of the lifelike dolls.

Dodo had by now recovered her
equilibrium and nodded. 'That makes four,' she said. 'Let's see what
we've got over here.' She ran over to a third TARDIS cupboard and
pulled it open. 'Look,' she said. Inside were standing three more
dolls: two ballerinas and one male dancer dressed in tights and
doublet as though they were ready to dance one of the great classic
ballets like Gisele or Swan Lake.

'Hey,' said Dodo excitedly. 'This one
looks like Rudolph Nureyev.' She was a great ballet fan. She reached
in to pull out the male doll but Steven called over and stopped her.

'Don't touch the dolls,' he said.

'What's wrong?' Dodo queried.

'There are seven of them. They could be
the deadly ones, or some other dangerous creature. The riddle said
six deadly sisters. It matches. What was that last line' again?'

Dodo tried to remember: 'I've got it.
Call the servants without voice ... But you can't call something
without speaking!'

'Ah,' said Steven. 'They haven't got
voices, that's true, but we have, remember, so let's try and see if
they obey our commands.' He turned back to one of the cupboards and
called out. 'Dolls! Come out!'

Dodo edged slightly behind Steven,
waiting to see what would happen, not at all sure she wanted to see these dolls come to life. But nothing
happened. The dolls remained where they were, leaning against the
walls of the small TARDIS cupboards.

Steven scratched his head. 'They must
be the servants,' he said. 'Let's take a risk then.' He reached
inside one of the cupboards and pulled a ballerina doll out, then
pulled the second one out. He dumped them both on the floor. Next, he
moved down to the second cupboard and started bringing out the dolls.

Dodo, meanwhile, was standing there
looking at the fourth cupboard. 'With those seven dolls in the three
cupboards,' she said. 'I wonder what's in the fourth cupboard.'

'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'
said Steven suddenly looking round. 'Perhaps,' he said, 'it could be
the real TARDIS.' He dropped the second pair of dolls on the floor,
crossed over to the fourth cupboard, reached out and tried the door.

It wouldn't open.

As Dodo and Steven gazed preoccupied at
the fourth cupboard, neither of them noticed the other three doors
silently swinging shut behind them.

'It can't be the real TARDIS,' said
Dodo disappointed. 'It won't open.'

Steven snapped his fingers. 'But of
course,' he said. 'We're being foolish. How can it open? The Doctor
has the key.'

'We've forgotten all about him,' said
Dodo anxiously. 'I wonder where he's arrived at in the game. I'll
check back with the tally recorder, there must be one here somewhere.
They're in every other room.' She looked around and spotted the
robot, showing the Doctor's
tally, standing near the entrance to
the room. 'The Doctor's over half-way,' she said. 'Come on, if we're
going to use the dolls in the chairs, we'd better hurry before the
others get here.'

Dodo and Steven turned to get the dolls
only to be confronted by the King and Queen of Hearts who had entered
unseen behind them. The Queen nodded meaningfully to the King. 'Those
peasants again,' she said. 'What are you doing? Caught you in the act
this time.'

The King looked over at the dolls they
were carrying. 'They seem to be playing with dolls, m'dear,' he said.

'I can see that,' the Queen said
savagely. 'The point is, what are they doing with them?'

Dodo had been studying the King and
Queen intently, and she turned to Steven. 'They seem very real to
me,' she said. 'I think we ought to talk to them.' She turned to the
Queen. 'We're going to use them to test the chairs.'

The Queen's eyebrows rose: 'Test them?'

'Yes,' said Dodo. 'Six are dangerous;
only one is safe. You know, I feel very foolish,' she said giggling a
little. 'Talking to a playing card.'

The Queen was outraged, her chin went
even higher in the air. 'playing card?' she cried.

'Well,' said Dodo, 'aren't you?'

Steven tapped her on the shoulder.
'Listen,' he said. 'It's useless talking to them, they're only the
products of the Toymaker's imagination.'

The Queen looked even more indignant.
'We're as real as you are. Henry!' she called.

The King shuffled forward. 'Yes,
m'dear?'

'Let this wretched girl feel your arm.'

'Eh what? Feel my arm?' the King said
confused.

The Queen impatiently grabbed Dodo's
arm and put it onto the King's. 'There child. Isn't that an arm? Not
much of one, I grant you - but a real arm nevertheless.'

Dodo looked excitedly over to Steven.
'It is! Steven, these are real people! Feel his arm.'

'I don't want to feel his arm,' Steven
said a little pettishly. 'I'll take your word for it.' He turned back
to the King and Queen. 'Well, if you're real people, how did you get
in here, and how did you get into that ridiculous costume.'

The King nodded a little wearily. 'Oh,'
he said. 'It would take too long to explain m'boy, but we're victims
of the Toymaker, same as you. Now for instance, if I were to sit in
this chair I expect -'

He was about to sit in one of the
thrones until the Queen screamed at him. 'Don't sit there! You don't
know what will happen!'

'No, of course,' said the King. 'What
do we do?'

'We'll have to use the dolls,' said the
Queen imperiously. 'Let's each choose a doll and then we can take
turns to test out the thrones. Then we'll find out the answer.'

Dodo looked back a little indignantly.
'But that's not fair,' she said. 'We found the dolls, they're ours!
We were supposed to be playing against each other.'

'But that can't be right,' said the
Queen. 'There are four dolls and four of us. We must be meant to have
one each. That's what's fair!'

'Then,' said the King, 'we all have a
chance to test a chair before sitting on it ourselves.'

Dodo looked confused for a minute.
'What do you mean one each?' she said. 'What about -' Before she
could go any further, Steven quickly cut in. 'It's all right Dodo.'

Dodo still looked confused. 'But what
about -' she pointed over to the other cupboards which contained the
three dolls.

'I said,' said Steven meaningfully,
'that it'll be all right.'

He edged a little closer to her and
said under his breath, 'Belt up.' Then he turned to the King and
Queen. 'Go ahead,' he said. 'Choose your dolls.'

Dodo, still pursuing her line of
thought, said, 'I don't understand,' she said to Steven. 'What about
the others?'

This time it was the King who cut in.
'Now,' he said, 'don't you fuss yourself, m'dear. The point of this
game is to see who picks the chair that isn't dangerous. Whoever does
that is the winner. If you win you get your TARDIS back. If we win we
get our liberty. All quite simple.'

'They're quite right, Dodo,' said
Steven. 'Choose your doll and keep quiet! Come on.'

Dodo nodded. 'Very well.' Steven and
Dodo each picked up a doll and set off towards the first throne room.
'Oh, are you going?' said the King, just noticing.

'We'll see you later,' said Steven.

The Queen said, 'I thought we were
going to play this together.'

'As there are seven chairs, I thought
that Dodo and I might try our luck in the other room. Then we'll all
have an equal chance.

'Oh,' said the King. 'Certainly,
certainly, anything you like. Good luck.'

Steven, still carrying the doll, walked
over to the passageway and called to Dodo, 'Dodo get a move on!'

'All right,' said Dodo a trifle
crossly, 'I'm coming. They're rather big for me to handle.' She
followed Steven outside.

After they left, the King turned back
to the Queen. 'Charming young couple, aren't they.'

The Queen frowned. 'It's not very
charming to be told you're not real. I was not amused. Now, which
throne.'

'Well,' said the King. 'None of them
look much like my throne, m'dear.'

'Then just pick one out at random,'
said the Queen.

The King closed his eyes and started:
'Eeny, meeny, miney, mo.' When he got to mo, he was about to put his
hand on one of the chairs when the Queen stopped him. 'No, Henry,'
she said. 'Put the doll on it - not your hand.'

The King picked the doll up off the
floor and threw it on chair number seven. As soon as the doll landed,
two clamps came out of the chair - one across the legs, one across
the chest, fastening the doll firmly to the chair which then began to
vibrate furiously.

'Henry!' cried the Queen appalled. The
Hearts looked at the chair. The doll was shaking so rapidly that it
seemed that her head would come off.

Dodo and Steven, preoccupied in
dragging their huge life-size ballerina dolls, didn't notice the
Joker and Cyril dozing on the thick carpets of the throne room, until
Steven fell over them.

'What on earth?' he bagan and then
looked down as the Joker squirmed away from him. 'Oh no,' he said.
'Look at this, Dodo. More playing cards!'

Dodo looked down at them and couldn't
help smiling at the lugubrious shocked expression of the Joker.
'Look,' she said. 'That one's a Joker and there, there's a Jack.'

Steven picked up the doll, which he had
dropped as he tripped, and dragged it over nearer the thrones. He
beckoned to Dodo to come over and join him.

When she came up to him, he said in a
quick whisper, 'Leave them alone. Concentrate. You nearly gave the
game away in the other room. They think there are only four dolls. If
everyone picks the wrong chair for the dolls, then we are going to
need these others. That's why I wanted you to keep quiet about them.'

This outraged Dodo's English sense of
fair play. 'Oh, but that's not fair,' she said. 'I mean, they seem so
nice and friendly.'

Steven scowled at her. 'That's what you
said about the two clowns and they cheated, didn't they? Can't you
remember that we must beat every opponent the Toymaker throws up
against us. Otherwise, we'll never get the TARDIS back. This is not a
party, you know. This is as dangerous as meeting the Monoids. Only
this time, we haven't got space guns to defend us. We've only got our
wits.'

'Are you sure,' said Dodo, 'that if we
explained that to the King and Queen, they wouldn't help us.'

Steven shook his head: 'It's too great
a risk to take. They belong to the Toymaker, always remember that. He
wants to keep us here, or at any rate, he wants to keep the Doctor
here.'

'I don't understand that,' said Dodo.
'Why does he want to keep the Doctor here?'

'I don't know,' Steven shook his head.
'And it doesn't really matter does it? The important thing is that we
must find the TARDIS before he completes all the moves of the game
he's playing with the Toymaker. Now,' he said, 'the important thing
seems to be to find the lucky chair before the others and sit in it
like any other game of musical chairs. Throw your doll,' he said,
'into one of those chairs.'

'Throw it!' exclaimed Dodo. 'It's
heavy. I'll just put it there.' She started to lift the doll.

Steven stopped her. 'Look,' he said,
'if you place it in the chair you might get hurt. There might be some
form of electric current. I don't want to see either of us
electrocuted. Give it to me and I'll throw it on.'

Dodo handed the doll over to Steven who
flung it onto the chair marked 'three'. There was a flash which made
them start back. Thick black smoke started pouring from the doll.

'Faugh,' exclaimed Steven vainly
beating at the clouds of smoke given off by the chair and the doll.
The smoke began to clear and they could see the doll, charred, singed
and blackened, sprawling grotesquely across the seat.

'Oh no,' said Dodo. 'What happened to
her?'

'There,' said Steven. 'As I suspected,
some kind of electrocution. That could have been us.'

Dodo nodded grimly. 'I see what you
mean by it not being a party.'

Behind them, Cyril the Jack slowly
shook himself, overhearing the last sentence. He sat up. 'Party,' he
said. 'Is it time for tea yet? I smell crumpets toasting.' He looked
over at the burnt doll then wrinkled his nose. 'Or perhaps not
crumpets,' he said. 'What's that?' The Jack rose up quickly, looked
at Steven and Dodo, and nervously backed away from the chair.

'Don't be scared of us,' said Dodo. She
moved towards him but he turned and bolted into the passage to the
other throne room.

Steven, meanwhile, had raised the other
doll. 'Stand by,' he said. 'It's time we tried out chair number one.'
Steven raised his doll and flung it onto the chair.