Doctor Who: The Visitation (6 page)

They did. The sibilant voice became much more friendly and Adric and Tegan realised they had said too much.

'Where is the TARDIS?' said their interrogator.

'I don't know,' said Tegan a little too quickly. 'It's in the woods. Only the Doctor knows exactly where.'

'You are crew members?'

'That's right. Vital members!'

The air-borne hologram of the Doctor dissolved into a moving image of him running with Nyssa towards the small gate in the perimeter wall.

'Are you sure?' the voice panted. 'Your companions seem to be abandoning you.' The image showed them passing through the perimeter gate. 'Perhaps you over-rate your importance.'

The hologram faded.

'Activate the poacher and his aides.' The android obeyed instantly, gliding to the control-bracelet panel. 'I want them to bring me the Doctor.'

Switches were pressed and half a mile away in the forest instructions were received.

Immediately, two villagers and the local poacher abandoned their respective tasks and made their way to a prearranged spot.

'Soon the Doctor will be my prisoner,' the voice purred, 'and his time machine will be mine.

Tegan and Adric looked at each other in despair.

Richard Mace stood with mouth wide open, staring at the enormous shape.

'What is it?' he said, sounding as though he wasn't too certain he wanted an answer.

'It's an escape pod,' said the Doctor, casually strolling up its ramp.

'Do you think it wise to enter, Doctor?' said Nyssa urgently.

'Whatever was in this thing is now safely ensconced in the manor house.'

Mace looked up at the pod. It was huge, conical in form, and a beautiful shade of gun-metal blue. On its underbelly were savage black scars acquired during its rapid descent through the Earth's atmosphere. It had half buried itself on impact, throwing up tons of soil and vegetation.

Nyssa joined the Doctor on the ramp.

'Are you coming?' she said to Mace. The actor pointed to himself as though he was being selected from a crowd and was uncertain the invitation was directed towards him or someone standing nearby. 'Come on!' shouted Nyssa as she followed the Doctor into the pod.

Richard Mace gazed at the conical shape. He didn't want to go inside the curious structure, but neither did he want to wait in the forest, alone.

Gingerly he mounted the ramp.

Inside the pod, the Doctor wandered around. 'The place has been stripped,' he said.

'And I bet the hardware's up at the house.'

Richard Mace stood in the hatchway and nervously peered inside.

'It's quite safe,' said the Doctor.

Cautiously Mace entered. 'You said it was an escape pod?'

'That's right. A sort of lifeboat. Only it comes from a ship that flies.'

Mace didn't believe a word.

'This is all that is left of the craft that brought the android to Earth.'

The actor smiled benignly, as though in the company of harmless fools and imbeciles.

'The lights you saw in the sky a few weeks ago', the Doctor said examining an insignia on an internal hatchway, 'were caused by the main part of the ship burning up in the atmosphere.'

'It's true,' said Nyssa.

'And how do you know these things?' asked Mace, his scepticism in no way concealed.

The Doctor smiled. 'That would be difficult to explain. But at least we're friendly.' He tapped the insignia on the hatch. 'Which is more than can be said for the owners of this ship.'

'Who are they?'

The Doctor turned from the hatchway. 'The insignia identifies them as Terileptils. A very clever race of warrior.'

'Warriors?' replied the actor dourly.

'Don't worry, they haven't come here to fight.'

If Mace believed the Doctor, it didn't reassure him, as his face remained drawn and tense.

'How many Terileptils could this pod carry?' said Nyssa, fiddling with the mechanism which operated the main door.

'That doesn't concern me at the moment. It's the number of androids there are. The Terileptils build those things too well.'

Silently the main door of the pod slid to.

'Are you sure the sonic booster can deal with them?'

The Doctor continued his tour of inspection.

'It has to. Their androids are programmed to protect. And the only way round them is to destroy them before they destroy you.'

This news didn't help to relax Mace's grey countenance either.

'Then we'd better hurry up with the booster.' Nyssa tapped the door-opening mechanism and watched the door slide open.

'A refresher course in android design would help,' added the Doctor.

'Android design?' Mace was flabbergasted. 'And how could you possibly get that?'

The Doctor paused in front of the actor and placed his hands together as though he were about to pray. 'Well,' he said, 'I too, have a ship of sorts.' The Doctor allowed his hands to drop to his sides. 'It isn't the most reliable of machines, but its aged memory-banks might contain something useful.'

'A ship,' said Mace doubtfully. 'Like this one?'

'Oh, no. Much more sophisticated,' Nyssa chipped in.

'And you are about to go there now?' Mace's delivery of this sentence was slow and measured; crisply enunciating each word to avoid any chance of misunderstanding.

'That's right.'

Then after a long moment, the actor said, 'May I come with you?'

'Are you beginning to believe me?' said the Doctor.

The actor indicated his surroundings. 'It seems I have little choice.'

As they emerged from the pod, Richard Mace questioned the Doctor closely concerning the secrets of how the sliding door worked. In his own mind the actor had already conceived a drama that not only featured such a door but also a wall that could be walked through. People would come from far and wide. He would be rich and famous.

But Mace's fantasy was interrupted by an urgent cal from Nyssa. A hundred yards away stood three men, two of whom were armed with farm implements – a pitchfork and an axe - the other with a longbow.

The Doctor and Mace stopped at the foot of the ramp.

'Do you know who they are?' said the Doctor.

'They're from the local village.' Mace drew his pistols as the three men fanned out into an arc. 'The one with the bow is the poacher.'

'You can put those away.'

Mace frowned at the Doctor.

'Look at their wrists. They're wearing control bracelets.'

Mace cocked his pistols. 'In my experience, most men are cowards, sir. The poacher and his friends are no exception. They will run.'

The poacher fitted an arrow to his bow.

'The bracelets over-ride fear,' said the Doctor. 'The only way you will stop them, is to kill them. So back into the pod. They're only interested in me.

'Let me kill them.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'At the moment there are only three. Fire those things and we could have a dozen to contend with.'

Mace opened his mouth to protest.

'Save your breath,' said the Doctor. 'Into the pod. And take Nyssa with you.'

Mace and Nyssa backed up the ramp, leaving the Doctor to face the poacher and his companions alone.

'Are you the Doctor?' the poacher asked him.

'I am indeed. How do you do?'

'You must come with us.'

'I think not.'

With Mace and Nyssa safely inside, the Doctor felt it was time for him to edge his way towards the hatch. Although he talked constantly, bombarding their controlled minds with endless questions, they remained undaunted. The poacher raised the bow to the firing position, his powerful arm drawing back the bow string. The Doctor continued to chatter away, his eye firmly fixed on the tempered steel arrowhead. He was now within a few feet of the hatch.

'Stop! Or I fire!'

'All right. I'll come with you.' The Doctor moved a step or two down the ramp. The poacher momentarily relaxed, allowing his bow to dip. Having anticipated this lapse of concentration, the Doctor turned, flung himself up the ramp and dived through the hatch. As he flew in, Nyssa hit the door-closing mechanism. The hatch started to slide to, but not before the poacher's arrow was able to find its mark in the padded bulkhead, only a few inches from the Doctor's head.

With the hatch tightly shut, it was difficult to tell which of the trio was shaking most.

'Are you all right?' said Nyssa.

The Doctor nodded as he climbed to his feet. As he did so, the pod started to echo with the sound of metal against metal.

'What's that?' demanded Mace.

'Our friendly neighbourhood axeman trying to break in.'

'He'll never cut through that hatch,' said Nyssa with relief.

'You're right.' The Doctor moved quickly to the far end of the pod. 'But he might get lucky and hit the opening mechanism on the outside.'

Mace again drew his pistols.

'Forget those. We can get out through the back door.' The Doctor prodded the hatchway he had examined earlier. 'Emergency escape hatch. Crouch down.'

Such was the urgency in his voice, they obeyed without question.

Nyssa and Mace watched as the Doctor started to fiddle with the insignia on the hatch.

First he pressed it, then carefully felt round its edges, searching for the release mechanism he knew must be there - somewhere.

'Can I help?' said Nyssa.

'Just stay where you are.'

The sound of the axe striking the main hatch grew more frantic as he tugged at the insignia. Suddenly the insignia gave with a jerk and twisted on its pivot, revealing a small hole. The Doctor inserted his finger and pressed.

Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing. 'I need a lever,' he called. 'I can't shift the release mechanism.'

Nyssa scuttled across the pod floor, extracted the poacher's arrow from the bulkhead and handed it to the Doctor.

'Excellent,' he said, inserting it into the hole and pressing it hard.

There was a loud click and a small porthole opened, revealing the release handle. 'Are you ready?'

Nyssa crouched down by Mace.

The Doctor discarded the arrow, grasped the release handle and wrenched it down.

Suddenly the pod was filled with the piercing sound of a klaxon as a warning light built into the hatch started to pulsate. The Doctor quickly joined Mace and Nyssa, crouching down alongside them.

'What is this?' said Mace pointing at the emergency hatch.

'Just keep your head down.'

As the Doctor spoke, the explosive bolts were detonated, hurling the emergency hatch clear of the pod.

'Let's go!' The Doctor leapt to his feet and ran to the opening. 'Quickly!'

His companions needed no encouragement. Nyssa and Mace shot past the Doctor, out through the escape exit, into the sunshine and the forest.

The heavy wooden door slammed shut. Adric and Tegan stood in the middle of the cold dank room and dejectedly stared about it. Apart from a split palliasse and a wooden stool, the room was empty.

Adric crossed to the tiny window set high in the wall, and gazed at its heavy bars. 'Well, we won't get through those. Not without a cutting device.' He then walked around the walls tapping them, but their solidness absorbed the sound. Suddenly his frustration welled up and he hit the wall with the flat of his hand. 'I'm a fool!' he shouted. 'I should never have mentioned the TARDIS.'

'Don't let it get you down.' Tegan lowered herself onto the stool. 'If you hadn't told him, I would. I don't think he was kidding about torturing us.'

'We've got to get out of here and warn the Doctor.'

Tegan closed her eyes. She felt exhausted, a hundred years old. Her chest was still sore from where the stun ray had hit her. But most of all, she was afraid, more scared than she had ever been before. Her own mortality seemed to be staring her in the face.

For the first time in her life she felt she might die.

The poacher leapt from the ramp of the pod as the Doctor and friends disappeared into the forest. Flicking a switch on his control bracelet, he spoke into a tiny, concealed microphone.

'Have found the Doctor,' he said. 'At your craft. But has escaped. I am about to track him.'