Doctor Who: The Doomsday Weapon (16 page)

Morgan returned. 'Captain Dent, sir,' he said - Dent noted with satisfaction that Morgan had started calling him 'sir' again - 'the guards are rounding up all the colonists. I've also searched the dome for that fake Adjudicator but he isn't here.'

Ashe said, 'Did you say
fake
Adjudicator?'

Dent was aroused. 'Of course, you're hoping that he'll help you people against us! Sorry, but you'll get no assistance from that direction. I want to find out who he is and what his game is. Where is he?'

'I don't know,' Ashe lied. He had no reason to believe anything Dent said.

'Or don't you want to tell us,' said Dent. He turned back to Morgan, 'Go and check his spaceship. If it's locked, use explosives. Take Caldwell with you.'

' Caldwell ?' said Morgan. He had come to think of Caldwell as not to be trusted, all too often Caldwell had said a good word for the colonists. Morgan knew that to do his job properly he had to hate the colonists.

'I said, take Caldwell .' Dent did not like his orders being questioned. 'He's our mining expert - he knows how to use explosives.'

Morgan had noticed the sting in Dent's voice. 'Yes, sir,' he said, 'right away, sir.' He hurried off, pushing by two IMC guards who held between them a colonist prisoner.

'Sir,' said one of the guards, 'this is the man you particularly wanted to see.'

Dent looked at the frightened face of the colonist. It was the man who had hit Dent in the face when Dent was trussed to his own captain's chair in the IMC ship. 'You hit me,' said Dent. The man was too terrified to speak. 'And now I can do what I like with you.' He raised his handgun and pointed it straight at the man's head.

'No!' shouted Ashe. 'That's plain murder!'

But Dent had had no real intention of shooting the man. Slowly he lowered his gun. 'Why should I waste a single bullet, when you'll all soon be in that rickety old spaceship of yours, and die together?'

Caldwell and Morgan walked well away from the scarlet spaceship, then both lay down flat on the ground to avoid the blast. They had tried battering on the hatch of the spaceship, but there had been no response from inside. Then they had tried to break it open with long-handled hatchets, but the hatchets had broken. Now Caldwell had smeared plastic explosive all round the hatch.

'If this doesn't do it,' said Caldwell , 'nothing will. Here goes.' He pressed the button of the remote-control detonator. There was a violent flash of flame, followed by the roar of the explosion. Both men got up and walked back to where the smoke was clearing.

'I hear you checked over the colonists' spaceship for them,' said Morgan.

Caldwell nodded. 'The least I could do.'

'Do they stand a chance?' asked Morgan.

'If they can ever get into free flight,' said Caldwell . 'But the whole thing's more likely to blow itself to pieces during take-off.'

'Then I'll stand well clear,' said Morgan, and laughed.

'You really hate colonists, don't you?' said Caldwell .

'I hate misfits,' said Morgan. Tlrcy were now at the spaceship's hatch. The explosives hadn't even made a mark on the surface. 'I can't believe it,' said Morgan. 'Your sure you used real explosives?'

But Caldwell was staring at the key on the ground by his foot, and now picked it up. 'Why should anyone leave this lying around?' he said, and tried it in the lock. It turned easily, and Caldwell opened the door. Morgan went in first, then stopped dead.

'The size of this place,' said Morgan in wonder. He shook his head, as though uncertain whether he was imagining things. 'It's bigger inside than out!'

Caldwell had already seen Jo standing up in the glass box, waving frantically. He hurried across to her, walking straight through the beam of the burglar alarm.

The Doctor and the Master had reached the end of the trail that led to the Primitives' underground city. The Master stared at the face of rock. 'Well,' he said, 'how do we get in?'

'I haven't the remotest idea,' said the Doctor truthfully.

'Come now, Doctor,' said the Master, effecting his most charming smile, 'we haven't come all this way just to look at a face of rock? Show me how this rock opens.'

'I think it's keyed by thought waves,' said the Doctor. 'But I've no idea how to do it. Perhaps you should have considered this possibility before you insisted on my coming with you

The Master's smile was fast fading. 'Is there some other way in?'

'Very likely,' said the Doctor, 'but I don't know that either.'

'You're hardly being helpful, Doctor.' The Master tapped the pocket containing the little black box. 'I only have to touch the red button and Miss Grant will be dead within a few seconds...'

And at that moment the bleep-bleep sound came from the black box. Puzzled, the Master reached into his pocket, brought out the little box and opened its flap.

On the miniature television screen he saw Caldwell breaking open the glass cubicle containing Jo. In sudden anger the Master put his finger on the red button. But at that moment the Doctor took advantage of the Master's distraction. With a high kick, he sent the little black box flying out of the Master's hand. With one hand stinging from the kick, the Master leapt backwards and at the same time whipped out his handgun. But the Doctor had anticipated this, and flung himself at the Master's legs. The two of them fell to the ground, the Doctor struggling to gain possession of the gun. All at once the gun was lifted from the Master's hand by the hand of a Primitive. The Doctor and the Master looked up. From the darkness, Primitives had appeared and were now surrounding them, their spears raised.

Jo was brought into the colonists' dome between Morgan and Caldwell. The place was filled with colonists each carrying some small item of tattered luggage. Dent was shouting at the armed IMC guards, 'These people are taking too much time. Keep them moving!' The guards started to herd the people down one of the corridors, the one that led to the entrance of their old spaceship. Then Dent noticed Jo. 'Where did you find her?' Caldwell explained. Dent showed little interest in why Jo had been a prisoner. 'What about that fake Adjudicator,' he asked; 'that's what I sent you for!'

'I think he wanted the Doctor to take him to the Primitives' underground city,' said Jo.

Dent looked puzzled. 'What's she talking about?'

'She tried to explain to us said Morgan. 'I can't make head nor tail of it. But if they've gone off there, they'll probably be killed by those savages.'

'Maybe,' said Dent. 'I'll send a squad of men after them once we've got rid of these characters,' and he indicated the colonists. 'Now Morgan, I want to get things
moving
.'

'Yes, sir,' said Morgan. and hurried away. Within a moment he was chivvying the colonists, hitting those who weren't moving fast enough.

'What about the girl?' Caldwell said.

Dent was about to move away. 'Oh, shove her in with the colonists,' he said, then went to help the guards herd the people down the corridor.

'I've got to stay here,' Jo pleaded. 'We've got to find the Master and stop him.'

'The who?' said Caldwell .

'You call him the Adjudicator,' she said, 'but he's really called the Master. He's a sort of super-criminal.'

'Oh, sure,' said Caldwell , scoffing. 'Any more stories like that?'

Jo looked up at Caldwell . 'Why don't you stop being so stupid?'

Caldwell was amused at being spoken to like that. 'You're a very cheeky young woman, you know.'

'It's time someone showed some sense,' Jo went on. 'The Master killed the real Adjudicator and took his place. There must be some reason for that, mustn't there?'

'I suppose so,' said Caldwell . 'Go on.'

'There's something in that Primitive city that's tremendously important,' Jo said. 'Can't you understand that?'

'You heard what Captain Dent said,' Caldwell answered. 'He's going to send a squad of our men later on.'

'Later on may be' too late,' said Jo. 'Have you got anything to do right now, apart from herding those poor people on to that old spaceship?'

'I've got no part in that,' Caldwell said quickly.

'Then how about doing something useful?' she said. 'The two of us could find out what the Master's really after.'

Caldwell took a quick look round. The place was cleared now of colonists, and both Morgan and Dent had gone out of sight driving the colonists down the corridor. 'There's a buggy outside,' he said. 'Let's go.' The two of them hurried out into the night.

Dent, Morgan, and some IMC guards returned from their efforts of packing the colonists irate the old spaceship. Dent said, 'I didn't see that hothead Winton get on the ship.'

'We'll search for him right away,' said Morgan.

But Dent checked him. 'Forget it. There's bound to be a few we missed out. We can pick them off at our leisure. I want all IMC personnel well clear of this area in case that old ship blows up while it's still on the ground.'

'If we aren't here,' said Morgan, 'what's to stop the colonists getting out of the ship and spreading all over the place again?'

Dent thought about that. 'Plant one guard with night binoculars on the nearest hill. Have him keep an eye on the spaceship from a safe distance until it takes off - or disintegrates on the ground!'

As Morgan and Dent moved away, Winton emerged from behind some sacks of seed and hurried out of the dome into the darkness.

The Doctor was once more a prisoner in the underground room with the frieze that told the story of the planet; but this time his companion was the Master.

'I thought you could communicate with these Primitives,' said the Master.

'They didn't hurt us,' answered the Doctor. 'Under the circumstances I thought they were quite pleasant.'

'Quite pleasant?!' The Master rubbed a bruised shoulder. 'They were extremely rough.'

'At least they didn't kill us,' said the Doctor. 'And they had the sense to relieve you of your gun.'

The loss of the gun obviously worried the Master. To cover his concern he turned to the series of wall pictures. 'Don't you think this is fascinating, Doctor? The whole story of the planet is here.'

The Doctor took another look at the crude pictures. 'If it is, perhaps you'd be good enough to explain it to me.'

'Delighted,' said the Master. 'This underground city was once the centre of a great civilisation. Through genetic engineering they developed a super-race.'

'The ones in long robes,' said the Doctor, 'with animal faces?'

'That's right...' The Master was about to continue, but the Doctor interrupted,
'You've deduced all that from these pictures?'

'Gracious no,' said the Master. 'It was all in the files of the Time Lords, which I was able to acquire.'

'Why are you so interested in the history of this planet?' asked the Doctor.

'This super-race,' said the Master, 'developed a super-weapon. Then some degeneration set in in the life strain, and they never used it'

'I see,' said the Doctor, the pictures now making more sense to him. 'And the super-race have become the priests of a lunatic religion that serves machines which they think of as gods?'

'Something like that,' said the Master.

'Well, I think I should remind you that this religion included sacrifice,' said the Doctor, 'and my guess is that we are the intended victims.'

'Surely two brains such as ours,' said the Master, 'can overcome that problem, especially when the Doomsday Weapon, as it is called, is within our grasp.'

'What do you hope to do with this weapon?'

The Master pulled at his beard, contemplating the prospect. 'There may never be any need to use it. The mere threat of its use can hold the whole galaxy to ransom.'

The Doctor said, 'How did you know that these awful IMC people would be coming to this planet?'

The Master was about to answer as the door slowly opened. The Doctor noticed that the Master's hand quickly slipped into his tunic pockets, although he had no gun there now. The long-robed creature with the otter face slowly entered, followed by a phalanx of Primitives.

'Perhaps I should have mentioned,' the Doctor told the Master, 'that I'm known in these parts. I got away with my life once, but it certainly won't happen again.'

But the Master wasn't listening. 'We come in peace and friendship,' he said loudly to the otter face. '1 wish to talk with the Guardian of the Doomsday Weapon.'

As the priest stared at the Master blindly, the Master's hand suddenly came from his pocket clutching a handful of tiny silver capsules which he threw on to the floor. With his other hand he produced a gas-mask and held it to his face. As the capsules cracked on the floor each emitted a cloud of gas. The Primitives clutched their throats, choking for air, eyes streaming with tears, and the priest wheeled round in circles screaming. 'This way,' said the Master to the Doctor through his gas-mask, 'and
do
try to hold your breath.'

As the Master hurried out of the room he saw that one of the choking Primitives now had his gun attached to a waist-band. The Master ripped it off the band, then rushed out of the mom. The Doctor, covering his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, hurried after him.

Escaping the gas and the the demented Primitives, the Master ran blindly down one corridor after another, the Doctor on his heels. Finally, the Master stopped and removed his gas-mask. He kept his gun aimed at the Doctor.

'You realise,' said the Doctor, 'that if they catch us now they will certainly kill us?'

'Then let as avoid being caught,' said the Master. With his free hand he producedfrom a pocket a tattered old map and studied it carefully. 'I think we are very near to our goal.'

'Since I've been no use to you up to now,' said the Doctor, 'why do you want me to come along?'

The Master gave his most charming smile. 'The company down here is so boring,' he said, 'and at least we understand each other. Now you read the map while I hold the gun on you so that you don't desert me in this gloomy place.' He gave the map to the Doctor; it showed the many corridors, rooms and galleries in the underground city. Over the square indicating one room a big X had been drawn. 'There's where we're making for,' said the Master. 'I don't think it should be too difficult for a fellow of your intelligence to lead us there.'