Doctor Who: The Doomsday Weapon (15 page)

'Maintain parking orbit!'

Captain Dent barked the order to the IMC technicians in the control room. They made the necessary adjustments and the IMC ship levelled off in its ascent from the planet and went into a wide orbit.

Morgan entered. 'I've checked the stores,' he told Dent. 'They've taken our buggies, all our guns and ammunition, even our rocket pistols. They also took all our mining explosives.'

Caldwell looked across from where he had watched Dent pilot the ship back up into Space. 'How's the astrobeer supply and the stocks of victory champagne?' he asked, not expecting an answer. The others ignored him.

Morgan said, 'What do we do now, Captain Dent?'

'Stay in parking orbit,' said Dent, 'and radio IMC on Earth for a gunship.'

'Is that going to look good on our work records,' said Morgan, 'asking for help?'

Dent turned to him. 'Have you got any other ideas?' It wasn't a question, more of an expression of despair.

'As a matter of fact,' said Morgan, 'there was one strange thing. When I was being led out as a prisoner, that man the Doctor called the Adjudicator an impostor.'

Dent gave thought to that. 'You remember,' he said at last, 'when I first met the Adjudicator he refused to show me his identity card. I wonder...' Suddenly he grabbed the radio-microphone and within a few moments was talking to the Identification Tracing Department of IMC on Earth. He explained nothing of what had happened, he simply asked for an identity check on the Adjudicator of this section of the galaxy, a routine enquiry which could not reflect badly on Captain Dent in any way. Ten minutes later, in reply to Dent's query, a telephoto picture started to be printed line by line on the ship's telephoto machine. Dent and Morgan watched with increasing interest as the face appeared. It was round, chubby, the eyes were blue, the hair fair, and there was no beard. Caldwell looked at the picture over Dent's shoulder.

'Well, well,' said Caldwell , 'I guess we all got fooled.'

'Had we better report this to Earth?' said Morgan.

'No,' said Dent. He had no intention of letting IMC on Earth know that he'd been tricked. 'We'll handle this ourselves.'

'Without guns?' Morgan asked, and Dent noticed how Morgan had stopped calling him 'sir' since things had gone against them.

'We shall have to be a bit craftier,' said Dent. He turned to the technicians. 'Prepare to go into landing orbit!'

As the IMC ship gently sank back onto the planet, cushioned by its retrorockets, Captain Dent saw the sun tipping the western horizon. They landed in a small valley 35 kilometres from the colonists' dome. Finally, the ship steadied as it touched down on the planet's surface, and the motors were shut off.

'And now we wait,' said Captain Dent. 'Even without buggies, we can reach the colonists within four hours. We shall wait until night.'

The Doctor and Jo stood outside the scarlet ship in which the Master had arrived on the planet. 'It's just an ordinary spaceship,' remarked Jo, 'like the IMC one, only smaller.'

The Doctor produced a key from his pocket. 'We shall soon know,' he said, and tried the key in what seemed to be the only entrance hatch in the ship's side. The key turned easily.

'How did you get that key?' Jo asked.

The Doctor winked. 'Oh, from a previous encounter I had with the Master. Anyway, it works.' He pulled open the hatch and they went inside.

Jo looked about in astonishment. Except for minor differences, it was exactly like the inside of the Doctor's TARDIS. 'It is a TARDIS,' she said. 'Why did you want to come here?'

'To see what I can find,' said the Doctor evasively. 'Now be careful!' He put a hand on Jo's shoulder to stop her going forward, and with the other hand pointed to a small white light in the wall close to them. The light shone a beam on to an electroplate opposite. 'A rather crude burglar alarm,' said the Doctor, 'let's duck under it'

They crawled on hands and knees under the beam of light, then stood up. 'What do you hope to find?' said Jo.

The Doctor was already looking in cupboards and drawers. 'Something that might tell me why the Master has come to this planet,' he said. 'You try that filings cabinet,' he said, pointing to a set of deep drawers.

Jo looked through the files. 'Do you think he's after that duralinium stuff, like the IMC people?' she asked. But the Doctor was too busy making his own search, or didn't think the question worth answering. Jo shrugged, and continued searching through the files. Then she came across a folder containing a plastic document bearing a colour photograph of a clean-shaven man with a round chubby face, blue eyes, and fair hair. Wording on the document stated that it had been issued by the Bureau of Interplanetary Affairs and described the bearer, one Martin Jurgen, as an official Adjudicator. 'I think this is worth looking at,' Jo said, showing the document to the Doctor. 'It's the man the Master is impersonating.'

The Doctor looked sadly at the photograph. 'Poor Martin Jurgen, whoever he was, is probably floating for all eternity in Space, or atomised.'

'Well, come on,' said Jo, let's take that and show it to Mr. Ashe.' In her eagerness as she made for the door her legs passed through the beam of light...

At that moment a bleep-bleep sound came from a pocket in the Master's tunic. He was with John Ashe in the latter's quarters in the dome, and together they were studying some crude maps which Ashe had drawn of the area of the colony.

'Excuse me,' said the Master with a smile, and drew from his pocket a small black box that fitted neatly into his palm. He opened a panel in the box, revealing a tiny television screen. On it he could clearly see the Doctor and Jo in his TARDIS. He didn't let Ashe see the screen.

'What's that?' said Ashe.

'A useful little device,' said the Master. 'A remote-control alarm in case someone tampers with my spaceship. Probably one of the Primitives touched the outside of the craft. It's of no importance.' He closed the panel. 'Now then, Mr. Ashe, you were telling me about the underground Primitive City ?...'

As the Master returned the little black box into his pocket, his thumb gently squeezed a button in its side.

'Come on, Doctor,' said Jo, 'what I found is enough to prove to Mr. Ashe that the Master isn't the Adjudicator. Let's go before the Master comes and catches us here.'

The Doctor straightened up from the drawers he had been searching. 'All right, Jo.' He turned, then froze. 'Jo! You've crossed back through the alarm beam!' And already the button on the side of the Master's little alarm box had activated poisonous gas to be pumped into the TARDIS. It came through six grills set near the floor, and it came under pressure. Its effect was to be almost instantaneous. The ship's only exit door automatically closed.

Half-an-hour later the Doctor started to come to. He was lying where he had fallen, looking up into the Master's face. The Master had an aerosol spray in his hand, aimed at the Doctor. 'A little device to speed up the recovery of those overcome by my sleeping gas,' said the Master, now putting aside the aerosol spray can. 'How are you feeling?'

The Doctor had a sick headache. He looked round for Jo. 'Where is Miss Grant?' he asked.

'Over there,' said the Master. He pointed to a tall up-right glass cubicle. Jo was inside, sitting on the floor with her head between her legs. 'She's perfectly safe,' said the Master, '
and
secure. In a short time she'll sleep off that whiff of gas and wake up. However,' he continued, producing his bleep-bleep box, 'this little gadget has more than one control. The black button is for sleeping gas. But the red button, once pressed, would fill Miss Grant's glass case with nerve gas. She would die within a few minutes of total paralysis.' He put the little black box into his tunic pocket. 'Now Doctor, I understand you've visited the Primitives' underground city. I want you to take me there.'

The Doctor slowly got to his feet. '
That's
the real reason for your coming to this planet, isn't it?'

'Possibly,' said the Master. 'Shall we go?'

'The Primitives don't like intruders,' said the Doctor. 'It may be dangerous.'

'You've been there and come out alive,' said the Master. 'In any case, concern yourself solely with Miss Grant's welfare.
And
mine. So remember, if any harm comes to me, I shall press that red button.' He went to the door and held it open for the Doctor. 'One thing puzzles me, though. How did you get into my TARDIS?'

'Without difficulty,' said the Doctor, avoiding a direct answer, and hoping that the Master wasn't going to press the point.

'Well,' said the Master, 'you were still caught by the burglar alarm, so not to worry.' They were outside now and he stopped to close and lock the hatch. With the Master's back turned, the Doctor quietly dropped the key on the soft dusty soil at his feet, in the hope that someone might find it. The Master turned back to him, pocketing his own key. 'All right then, Doctor, lead me to the Primitives' underground city!'

'What is it you want there?' asked the Doctor, genuinely puzzled.

'What have I ever wanted?' replied the Master. 'Power! Complete and total power! And through you, Doctor, I am going to get it.'

John Ashe lay in bed, trying to read in order to calm his troubled mind. He had brought two books with him from Earth, one was on agriculture, from the days before all Earth's food was taken from the seas; the other was copy of something written thousands of yews ago, and was largely about someone called God. It was this second book he now tried to read, not because he really understood it, but because the strange language fascinated him. It contained four versions of a story about a man who sacrificed his own life for the the sake of others. It was this part of the book that most interested Ashe, because it was so difficult to understand. Why, he asked himself, should anyone willingly give his own life for other people? His thinking as interrupted by Winton and Smedley entering his sleeping quarters.

'Where's the Adjudicator?' said Winton.

Ashe put down the book. 'Why do you want him?'

'We're sending him back to Earth,' said Smedley, 'right now.'

'But he may be able to help us,' Ashe said. 'Although he took a decision against us, he is really a fair man. He believes we may have grounds for an appeal.'

'He's twisted you round his little finger,' Winton said. 'Where's he gone?'

Ashe knew it was no good arguing. 'To his spaceship. He said he was going to meet the Doctor there.'

'That's another one we want off this planet,' said Smedley. 'We've never really known where he came from.'

Ashe hoped they would leave him now, but they had other pressing business. 'We want those IMC guns,' said Winton. They lay in a crate next to Ashe's bed.

'You've no need for them,' said Ashe. 'You've already got your own guns'

'Ours are like pea-shooters compared with the IMC guns,' said Winton. 'What if Earth Government sends soldiers? - we'll need high-powered guns then.'

'If that happens,' Ashe said, 'I'll issue them. But if the Adjudicator helps us it will never come to that.'

'Yes,' said Smedley, '
if.
'

'You know I'm the leader now,' said Winton. 'Those guns should be under my authority!'

'Except,' said Ashe, 'I happen to have them in here. So get out of my quarters!'

Winton and Smedley turned and went away, slamming the door of Ashe's sleeping room. Ashe got up from his bed to lock the door, to make sure Winton couldn't come back when Ashe was asleep to take the guns. Then he had second thoughts. Doors were never locked in the dome, except to stop the Primitives from stealing their scarce food supplies. If Winton found the door locked, it would be thought an aggressive act by Ashe. And Ashe believed that with patience he could win back the support of the colonists. He knew Winton meant well, but the colony needed Ashe's calmness and maturity. He got back onto his bed, and tried once more to read his book.

There was a gentle tap on the door. 'Come in,' he called, hoping it was Winton so that they could make friends again. There was another tap. 'I said “come in” he called. Suddenly the door burst open and Morgan and Captain Dent rushed into the room and pinioned Ashe on his bed before he could move. The room seemed suddenly full with the black uniforms of IMC guards as they helped themselves to their high-powered weapons.

A moment later, Ashe heard shots from the colonists' shotguns down the corridor. An IMC guard reeled into the room, shot in the head. Other IMC guards took up defensive positions in the doorway and returned the fire.

Dent held a handgun at Ashe's head and Morgan went to the door and called to the colonists, 'Stop firing or we kill Ashe!'

The firing continued, and Ashe wondered if none of the colonists now cared whether he lived or died. Morgan called again, this time louder, 'Stop firing or we kill Ashe on the count of three. One, two...' The firing abruptly stopped.

Still holding the gun at Ashe's head, Dent ordered, 'Have all the colonists in the outlying domes brought in for the trial.'

Morgan went away to carry out Dent's orders. 'Trial?' said Ashe. 'What trial?'

'The Adjudicator's decision made me legal Governor of this planet,' said Dent. 'You will be charged with armed rebellion against Earth Government. Under the law, every man who carried a gun can be executed.'

'You'd never do that,' said Ashe. 'The ordinary people on Earth would be horrified. They'd turn against IMC, and make the Earth Government disown you!'

Dent smiled. 'Perhaps you've got a point there,' he said, putting away his gun now all danger was over. 'So I might give you an alternative.' The smile suddenly faded, 'You can pack yourself and all your colonist friends into that old spaceship of yours and get off this planet!'

'Our spaceship can never make another journey,' said Ashe, 'it's too old. Don't you realise what may happen?'

'Every year,' said Dent, 'thousands of people are killed in accidents. My only concern is the good name of IMC. Whatever happens to you all once you're off this planet, it can't reflect on us'