Doctor Who: The Sensorites (6 page)

A bony
protruberance in the middle of their faces was the only evidence of a
nose which evolution had deemed no longer necessary for their
survival. Beneath their beards a small mouth twitched, but made no
sound.

Little more than
five feet high, they were each dressed in a one-piece, high-necked
grey tunic, across the arms of which were three broad black bands.
Hanging by plastic strips from each of their belts was a white disc:
one Sensorite also carried a small racquet-like device which seemed
to be made of some kind of ivory.

The most bizarre
thing about them was their feet which were flat, circular pads about
eighteen inches in diameter. Despite their clumsy appearance they
enabled the Sensorites to move with an almost feline grace, making
not a sound on the metal floor of the storeroom. As they advanced
upon Ian and Barbara they moved in perfect unison, each one knowing
exactly what the other one was thinking.

Like helpless mice
face-to-face with a cat, Ian and Barbara stood transfixed to the spot
by the Sensorites' glare and the waves of fear which emanated from
them.

They struggled
painfully against their emotions, tried to rationalise their terror.
Slowly they began to back away from the Sensorites who continued
their relentless advance.

As the two humans
retreated down the aisles of the storeroom, never once taking their
eyes off the approaching aliens, Ian grabbed a large iron spanner
from one of the equipment shelves. He raised it threateningly at the
Sensorites who instinctively cowered away.

The two groups
stood motionless, glaring at each other, daring the other to make the
next move. After what seemed like an eternity the Sensorites resumed
their steady pace towards the two terror-struck teachers.

At last Ian and
Barbara reached the half-open door; they passed through it and
slammed it shut with a gasp of relief.

'Find Maitland,'
ordered Ian. 'Ask him how to lock these doors. We must keep the
Sensorites confined to this area of the ship.'

Barbara began to
protest but Ian cut her short: 'Don't worry about me! Go!'

She nodded meekly
and rushed off as the door leading to the storeroom opened, allowing
the Sensorites to pass through. Ian moved back again, his body
tensed, and the knuckles of his hand showing white as he grasped the
spanner tightly.

'Who are you?' he
demanded of the aliens. 'What do you want?'

No reply.

'Goddam it, why
won't you speak?'

As if in reply, one
of the Sensorites raised its arm and extended a long-fingered hand
towards Ian's forehead.

He jumped away
instantly, once more raising the spanner above his head, ready to
strike. Again the Sensorites reacted to his threat of physical
violence by taking a step backwards, before resuming their silent,
terrifying approach.

Back on the flight
deck Maitland and Carol had recovered physically from the Sensorites'
attack; mentally, however, they were still in
a state of acute shock. Barbara was desperately trying to wrench from
Maitland instructions as to how to confine the Sensorites to that
part of the ship where they now were.

'It's no use,
Barbara,' the Doctor said, turning away from Carol's impassive form.
'This poor girl's just the same. They'll recover shortly but now -
when we need them the most - they're useless. Try the sick member of
the crew.'

'But he'll be in no
position to help,' protested Barbara.

'Just do as I say!'

It seemed almost
inhumanly cruel to wake John up from the first untroubled sleep he
had had for months . . . but it was the only chance they had left.
Barbara hurried out of the flight deck and down the short way to
John's cabin.

She roused him from
his sleep, begging with him to help them against the creatures he
feared most in this world. Wouldn't he try and do it - for his
friends? He nodded bravely and allowed Barbara to escort him to the
storeroom.

As Barbara helped
him along the passageway in search of Ian and the Sensorites they
formed a pitiful spectacle: a half-deranged astronaut and a
schoolteacher centuries out of her time, and both scared nearly to
death.

When they finally
found Ian in a secondary corridor he was still engaged in his macabre
dance with the aliens, raising his spanner menacingly at them as he
backed out through yet another door. Taking his eyes off the aliens
for the first time, he turned with glad relief to his two friends.
Barbara urged John to lock the door. She looked on with an almost
maternal pride as John challenged the Sensorites.

He regarded them
nervously for a few seconds and then slammed the door shut in their
faces. He keyed out a combination on a small multi-squared panel at
the side of the door. Smiling with pleasure he turned to Barbara.
'They can't open it now-I made sure of that.'

Without really
thinking what she was doing Barbara hugged him: it was the only way
there was of expressing thanks to a child who had just faced his
greatest fear for the sake of his friends.

Then she turned to
Ian with concern. 'Are you all right?' she asked. 'They didn't harm
you?'

'No . . .' Ian said
thoughtfully. 'I think they were as frightened of me as I was of them
. . .'

'Yes, they're not
very aggressive, are they . . .' Barbara said, begining to wonder if
things were quite as simple as they appeared to be. 'Come on, let's
get back to the others.'

When they reached
the flight deck they found the Doctor and Susan fussing over Maitland
and Carol who had started emerging from their state of shock.They
looked up in surprise as Ian's party burst through the open door.
Barbara instructed John to lock that door too.

As the door slid
slowly down into place, Ian turned to the Doctor and Susan, his face
set in defiance. 'Now we'll see what these Sensorites can do.'

Even the advanced
technology of the twenty-eighth century was no match for the science
of the Sensorites. Using the small racquet-like device it was a
relatively simple matter for them to burn through the locking
mechanism of the door which John had closed on them.

They walked without
haste down the passage leading to the flight deck. When they reached
the large circular door, the armed Sensorite raised his device again,
but his companion stayed his arm and shook his head. There was a
better way. . .

A flash of unspoken
agreement passed between them, and they both raised the ivory discs
which they carried at their sides to their foreheads. The veins at
their temples pulsed even more strongly as they used the discs to
reach out to the one person on board the ship who would hear and
understand them.

While the others
were busy discussing means of fighting back at the Sensorites, and
indeed what plans the Sensorites might have for them, Susan had
distanced herself from her companions. She could feel a tingling at
the back of her skull and seemed to hear a voice - or rather a
whisper - echo somewhere inside her mind. The voice seemed to be
coming from a very long way away.

As she
concentrated, the sound of her friends' conversation grew fainter as
the 'inner' voice resolved itself into something much more
distinct.

'Yes. But they
won't agree to that!' she said suddenly.

The others looked
up in astonishment at Susan's outburst. 'Agree?' asked the Doctor.
'What on Earth are you talking about, child?'

'I'm sure they'll
talk to you,' Susan continued, not hearing her grandfather's
question. Then she turned and addressed her bewildered companions.
'The Sensorites want to know if it's all right for them to talk to
you,' she explained.

'You mean to say
you've actually made mental contact with them?' asked an incredulous
Ian. Was there no end to his former pupil's strange talents?

'Of course we shall
see them,' announced the Doctor. 'But they must agree not to harm us.
Otherwise I shall fight them,' he warned.

Susan nodded and
turned away again. She pressed her hands to her temples and stared
blankly into space as she tried once more to make telepathic contact
with the Sensorites. Unskilled at telepathy, she silently mouthed her
words as she communicated them to the aliens.

After a short while
she walked, as if in a dream, to the main exit door and unlocked it,
following John's previous actions in reverse. The door slid smoothly
upwards to reveal the two figures of the waiting Sensorites. They
stepped cautiously onto the flight deck.

Their effect upon
the humans was immediate. Maitland and Carol cowered away from the
creatures they had lived in fear of for so long; John who had been
sitting slouched in a corner began to whimper to himself; Ian and
Barbara, seeing their pursuers for the first time in the full light
rather than the shadows of the rest of the ship, watched with
apprehension as they surveyed the flight deck.

The Doctor regarded
them with the same searching curiosity he accorded all new life
forms. Only Susan was unmoved, standing by the door in her
half-trance state.

'Which one is the
Doctor?' one Sensorite asked the other.

'The one with the
long white hair.'

The Sensorites'
voices were husky and soft, almost a whisper; a fact the Doctor did
not hesitate to point out. He hated not being able to listen on to a
conversation, especially when it was so
obviously about him.

'Speak up,' he
demanded imperiously. 'I can't hear you.'

'We apologise,'
said the first Sensorite, raising his voice slightly. 'We were
talking to each other.'

'What is it you
want of us?' the Doctor asked sharply. 'Why don't you let these Earth
people go home, hmm?'

The first Sensorite
moved further into the room; only the Doctor did not back away from
him.

'None of you can
ever again leave the area of the Sense-Sphere.' The statement was
final and unequivocal.

'Why not?' asked
Ian.

'You know the
answer to that. . .'

'Molybdenum,' he
said, and saw the Sensorite bow his head in confirmation. 'But we're
not interested in it.'

'So you say,' said
the second Sensorite. 'Once before we trusted Earthmen - to our great
cost. They came to the Sense-Sphere and caused us a terrible
affliction. We shall not allow it to happen again.'

'What do you expect
us to do?' asked Maitland, overcoming his innate fear of the aliens.
'Drift around in space forever?'

'No,' answered the
second Sensorite. 'Your case has been debated and it has been decided
that you must all come back with us. A special area has been prepared
on the Sense-Sphere where you will live and be looked after.'

'These people
cannot possibly agree to your demands,' retorted the Doctor.

'We do not wish to
harm you, but you will do exactly as we tell you. You have no
choice.' The first Sensorite's voice was flat and emotionless.

'But my party does
have a choice,' the Doctor claimed. 'I assure you we have no
intention of spending the rest of our lives with you. You must get
off this ship!'

'What will happen
if we refuse?'

'Then we will
attack you,' joined in Ian.

The second
Sensorite pointed to Maitland, Carol and John who were watching the
scene, frozen in fear. 'The other Earth people will not be able to
help you,' he stated simply.

'Surely we've
proved that we don't need any help,' said Barbara.

The Sensorite's
response was quick and frighteningly true: 'You have only proved that
you can lock doors. We can unlock them.'

'Talking of locks,'
said the Doctor indignantly, 'you took the lock from my ship - I want
it back immediately!'

'You are in no
position to threaten us,' the first Sensorite reminded him. There was
a small touch of arrogance in his voice.

Determined to teach
these impertinent creatures a lesson they would not forget, the
Doctor said, 'I don't make idle threats - but I do keep promises. And
I promise you that I can cause you more trouble than you ever dreamed
possible if you do not return my property!'

It was no mean
boast, as many people from the Doctor's past could testify; but its
effect upon the Sensorites was extraordinary - and totally
unexpected. As the Doctor raised his voice in anger and outrage, the
Sensorites staggered away from him, clutching their ears in pain. It
was as though the loudness of the Doctor's voice was too much for
their sensitive ears to bear.

'We must . .
.decide . . . what we shall do,' the second Sensorite said, and with
his companion moved swiftly out of the room. As they left, Susan
closed the door behind them. The Doctor watched the departing aliens
with interest: so, they weren't all-powerful after all... 'What did
they mean, "decide"?' asked Barbara. 'Sounds as if there's
something else they can do to us,' suggested Ian ominously.

The Doctor looked
thoughtfully at his granddaughter. She had emerged from her dazed
state the instant the Sensorites had left the flight deck. 'They
might have been referring to Susan,' he said. 'Your mind is
particularly sensitive, my child. The Sensorites only spoke to you
this time. Next time - if there is a next time - they might try to
control your mind.' 'Isn't there any way you can get into your ship,
Doctor?' asked an anxious Maitland.

The Doctor shook
his head. 'Not until they return what is mine.'

'But they might
never give it back to you,' said Carol. The Doctor smiled at her.
'Then we shall have to take it from them, shan't
we? They're not invincible!' He addressed the rest of his companions:
'They seem to find loud noises uncomfortable, for one thing. And
another: did any of you notice the pupils of their eyes?' They all
shook their heads.

'They're very
large,' said the old man. 'Even in here they were fully dilated to
receive as much light as possible.' 'What on Earth are you getting
at, Doctor?' asked Ian. 'It's a fallacy that cats can see in the
dark; they just see better than humans because the iris of their eyes
dilate at night,' explained the Doctor. 'Now, the Sensorites' eyes
are the exact opposite of a cat's . . .'