Doctor Who_ The Rescue Part 6

The Doctor grinned in the torchlight. 'Just a matter of diagonal thinking, Chesterton...' His grin faded when nothing else happened. 'Let go of the ring!' he suddenly shouted.

Ian gaped at him in disbelief. 'But I'll fall if I let go.'

The Doctor shook his head tetchily. 'Not if you just let go for a second,' he snapped. 'That's all I need.'

Steeling himself, Ian released his hands for as long as he dared and then grabbed hold of the ring again. At the same time the Doctor made some delicate adjustments to the first ring as if he were working a complicated key into a lock. The second ring suddenly snapped back into its socket with a bang, almost jerking Ian off the ledge. With a m.u.f.fled whirring noise the blades and the slab of rock between them slowly retracted against the cavern wall.

'My coat!' yelled the Doctor as the nearer row of blades vanished into its niche.

Ian flung out his and and just caught the frock coat as it was pushed off the end of the top blade by the edges of the thin slot housing it.

'Don't jerk the ring!' warned the Doctor as Ian pulled himself back against the wall.

Ian pa.s.sed the Doctor his coat and pressed himself thankfully against the rock. 'Well done, Doctor! Let's hope there aren't any more nasty little surprises like this in store for us.'

'The sleeve is torn,' complained the Doctor, handing Ian the torch and struggling into his trusty garment. 'What a shame. I've hardly worn it.'

Ian smiled to himself and shone the torch ahead. 'If we use the slots for the blades as hand-holds we should be able to pull ourselves onto the b.u.t.tress without jerking this confounded ring,' he suggested. 'So, come on, Doctor. And don't touch anything!'

Below them the huge beast dragged itself along the cavern floor frequently stopping to rear up and sniff at the narrow ledge running along the rock wall. Beyond the b.u.t.tress the ledge angled slightly downwards so that each time the creature stopped, its gnas.h.i.+ng jaws chopped at the dank air closer and closer to the hazardous shelf along which Ian and the Doctor were gingerly making their way in search of the cavern entrance.

Soon the prey would be within easy reach!

6.

Barbara knelt beside Bennett's motionless body which lay where it had fallen, half-way between the hatchway and the bunk. Vicki hovered anxiously nearby.

'Is he dead?' Vicki asked in a quavering voice, wringing her hands.

Barbara finished checking Bennett's pulse and laid her palm on his brow. 'No, he's alive,' she replied eventually.

'It must have been the effort of walking that made him collapse like that.'

'If he does not recover...' Vicki began. She bit her lip and gazed intently at Bennett's pallid features.

Barbara loosened the round collar of his tight-fitting tunic. 'Look, he's coming round,' she murmured as Bennett's eyelids flickered. 'How do you feel?' she asked gently as the big man opened his eyes.

Bennett stared blankly up at her and his head lolled wearily from side to side.

'This is Barbara...' Vicki said, leaning tentatively over him.

Bennett nodded feebly. 'Koquillion told me about your arrival,' he told Barbara. 'He killed your companions.'

Barbara's lips trembled but she managed to keep herself detached from the awful possibility. 'I'm sure... I'm sure they have survived somehow,' she said, smiling bravely.

All at once Bennett raised a hand and pulled Barbara's head down closer to his own. 'Koquillion never makes mistakes,' he rapped in a surprisingly alert tone.

Barbara freed herself and shrugged. 'Well, he made a mistake about me, didn't he!' she retorted, with a glance at Vicki's frightened face. 'I don't think he's so infallible.

Next time the ugly brute shows up I think we ought to surprise him. He doesn't know I'm here, so why don't we set a trap of some kind and overpower him?'

Vicki's face suddenly lit up with reborn determination and she clutched Bennett's shoulder. 'Bennett, that's a wonderful idea isn't it!' she cried. 'The three of us should be able to do something something to avenge all those cold-blooded murders.' to avenge all those cold-blooded murders.'

Bennett's pockmarked features creased with contempt.

'No, it d.a.m.n well is not not a wonderful idea!' he shouted. a wonderful idea!' he shouted.

'Revenge is a barbaric affair. We humans should have no truck with anything so despicable.'

Barbara was shocked to see how instantly Vicki's spirit was broken and how easily she was cowed. She rounded on Bennett. 'It's worth a try,' she insisted. 'What have you both got to lose anyway? You won't be any the worse off if it fails.'

Bennett struggled into a sitting position. 'Won't we!' he scoffed. 'There is a rescue craft on its way, or has the stupid girl not told you that?' He glared fiercely at the cowering Vicki. 'We sit here quietly and do as Koquillion tells us and then perhaps we get a chance to escape... Go back to Earth or at least somewhere we can live decently.'

Vicki considered this for a moment and her chin jutted out defiantly. 'But we could still go!' she blurted out.

Bennett laughed cruelly. 'You are a child. You have no knowledge of these things.'

'Just a minute...' Barbara interrupted.

But Bennett forged relentlessly on. 'If we do dispose of Koquillion we gain nothing at all. And if things go wrong then he will kill us.'

Vicki's frail body slumped in defeat. 'Yes, yes, Bennett is right, Barbara.'

'Of course I am right!' Bennett shouted boorishly. 'Just because I am injured and forced to lie on that bunk all the time you must not a.s.sume that I've lost the use of my brain!'

Barbara nodded and gave him a faint smile.

Bennett softened a little. 'Would you be kind enough to a.s.sist me back to my quarters?' he asked in a calmer voice.

The two girls helped him to his feet. It was no easy task manoeuvering the big man through the hatch and across the fantastic muddle of wreckage between the compartments. When they reached the hatch to Bennett's quarters, he eased himself free.

'You will obey Koquillion?' he asked them earnestly.

'You do realise what is at stake?'

Barbara nodded.

'Thank you,' he said.

'I'll help you to your bunk,' Barbara offered.

'No need. I can manage,' Bennett insisted.

Barbara stepped forward to help him through the narrow opening.

The big man rounded on her savagely. ' I said I can I said I can manage! manage! ' he snarled, almost hurling her aside. ' he snarled, almost hurling her aside.

Barbara s.h.i.+ed away, staring in confusion.

Bennett quickly pulled himself together. Sweeping the lank black hair off his face, he smiled at her apologetically.

'Thank you, but I shall be fine,' he a.s.sured her quietly, moving inside and sliding the shutter closed.

Vicki touched Barbara's arm diffidently. 'It is getting late. I must go out and collect the water,' she confided meekly. 'It grows dark very suddenly here on Dido. Would you be kind and set out the things for our meal, Barbara?'

Barbara's face brightened immediately. 'I'm starving starving,'

she confessed.

Vicki smiled. 'We only have emergency rations,' she warned. 'Open a sachet and add water.'

Barbara wrinkled her nose and shrugged. 'Beggars can't be choosers, Vicki. It sounds just like home. Show me where everything is.'

Along the base of the cliffs at some distance from the wreck of Astra Nine Astra Nine there was a huge shallow crater in the sand and scree. Under the cliff, just below the lip of the crater, a thin trickle of discoloured water issued out of the rock close to the mouth of a low tunnel. In fact, the water ran out of a broken-off pipe, buckled sections of which could be seen sticking up at intervals out of the sand between the crater and the ruined terraces nearby. there was a huge shallow crater in the sand and scree. Under the cliff, just below the lip of the crater, a thin trickle of discoloured water issued out of the rock close to the mouth of a low tunnel. In fact, the water ran out of a broken-off pipe, buckled sections of which could be seen sticking up at intervals out of the sand between the crater and the ruined terraces nearby.

The pipe had obviously once provided the water supply to the former community from some source up in the range of mountains. All around the broken stump of pipe, a profusion of glossy-leaved shrubs and small trees not found elsewhere on the arid plains grew in the waterlogged sand among the rocks and boulders. Many of the bushes were torn and splintered and stripped of their lush foliage as if some large creature had feasted off them regularly. The muddy sand was trampled and beaten and bore the countless prints of large three-toed feet.

In the low evening light, Vicki's long shadow stretched across the crater as she walked around the edge to the broken pipe. She carried a pair of plastic containers suspended from her shoulder by a cord. Humming to herself, she watched the warm murky liquid cut its short dark trail in the sand before being quickly swallowed up into the insatiable desert. A few giant flying beetles were foraging around in the mud and Vicki gazed dreamily at the brilliant colours encrusting their hard sh.e.l.ls like precious stones as she positioned the first container under the jagged end of the pipe.

She frowned as she noticed that the noise of the water running into the bottle sounded feebler than usual. 'The supply must be drying up...' she murmured to herself, acutely aware of how vital that faltering trickle was to the survival of herself and of Bennett, and now perhaps of Barbara too. She glanced up into the dull coppery sky.

Dido's one currently visible sun now hung low close to the horizon, and the scattered solitary thorns and cacti raised their arms to the heavens in perpetual despair, like refugees in the distance.

It took ages for the container to fill and Vicki started daydreaming as she knelt in the hot sand. She was totally unaware of the slow, heavy dragging sound coming from the tunnel entrance a short distance away along the base of the cliff

She did not notice the monstrous bulk of the sand creature emerging into the open and advancing through the scrub and thorns towards the lusher vegetation around the crater. Its huge head tossed and sniffed at the air and its great gaping jaws opened and sliced shut again with relentless purpose as it loomed up behind the innocent figure kneeling in the sand.

Barbara soon completed the simple task of laying out the items for their coming meal. She was so famished that even the prospect of soup and a kind of reconst.i.tuted meatloaf held all the promise of a magnificent banquet.

She browsed around among Vicki's rock and crystal specimens for a while, but quickly grew more and more impatient and even more conscious of her rumbling stomach. She went over to the exterior hatch and looked outside. There was no sign of Vicki. The evening felt suddenly much cooler so she stepped out of the hull and wandered about for a few minutes to enjoy the relief of fresher air. In awed astonishment she stared at the ma.s.sive sphere and the giant cylinders belonging to the other sections of the wreck, amazed at the sheer size of the crashed s.p.a.cecraft.

She was just about to walk along to take a closer look at the spherical a.s.sembly, when she suddenly caught sight of Vicki dawdling along the rim of the crater with the heavy water containers slung over her shoulder. She waved to her, signalling that she would come and help, but Vicki appeared not to have seen her and stopped to pick up an unusual rock she had noticed.

The next moment, the giant lumbering shape of the sand creature rose up the slope of the crater behind Vicki and bore down on her like a bulldozer. Barbara tried to yell a warning, but her dry throat produced nothing but a rasping croak.

Then she remembered the Very pistol. She rushed into the hull and took the gun from the locker. With trembling fingers she loaded several of the big cartridges into the chamber and dashed back outside. In the distance she could see Vicki standing facing the advancing monster as if rooted to the spot. The hideous creature had lowered its head as if preparing to charge and trample its paralysed victim underfoot.

'Vicki! Get down! Get down!' Barbara screamed, aiming the pistol at the monster's bellowing mouth.

Vicki spun round to face her. 'No, Barbara! No... No...

No!' she yelled, waving her arms frantically.

But Barbara could not distinguish Vicki's words amidst the creature's strident bellowing. Steadying the gun with both hands, she squeezed the trigger b.u.t.ton. The gun recoiled with a whiperack and a second later the monster's head was engulfed in a gigantic incandescent fireball. The explosion threw Vicki onto her back and its ferocious white heat immediately turned the surrounding foliage into a roaring inferno. Barbara watched in horror. The creature's death throes took several minutes, its colossal bulk thras.h.i.+ng and writhing and its las.h.i.+ng tail narrowly missing Vicki as it cracked rocks in two and carved great scars out of the sand.

Vicki got slowly to her feet and gazed at the enormous smouldering toffee-like blob that had been the creature's head. Then she picked up the water bottles and set off towards the wreck.

Barbara stared at the modest-looking object in her hand, stunned by the effect it had produced. No Very pistol that she had heard of could have done anything remotely like it.

Having successfully negotiated the b.u.t.tress, the Doctor and Ian had gradually worked their way warily down the sloping, crumbling ledge towards the floor of the cavern, poised to react instantly should the hungry monster attack.

But for some time now they had neither heard nor seen any sign of the creature. It had completely vanished.

'Doctor, I think I can see daylight!' Ian pointed to a faint smudge of light ahead of them.

About twenty metres from the point where the ledge finally descended to the cave floor, it suddenly broadened out and they were able to twist round and walk normally down the slope instead of having to move sideways with their backs against the wall.

Suddenly the Doctor stopped. 'Chesterton, give me the torch!' Ian handed it over and the Doctor shone the beam over a strange grooved panel in the rock shaped like a door.

Thoughtfully he ran his fingers over the worn ornamentation carved in the rectangular panel, muttering to himself as though he recognised it. 'This might well lead somewhere,' he declared eventually.

Ian peered at the weird hieroglyphic characters which resembled writing on an Egyptian frieze and shrugged.

'Most doors do, Doctor. Come on, I think we're nearly there.'

The Doctor lingered, testing the flush edges of the panel with his fingernail. There was no kind of handle or lock.

Then he shook his head decisively. 'Might take quite some time to open it. No, Chesterton, in my opinion we should try the obvious way first.' He set off again, glancing back over his shoulder at the mysterious portal. 'But keep a sharp look-out, just in case somebody or something tries to creep up behind us!'

Soon they felt the warmish dry air on their faces as they approached the low overgrown and boulder-strewn entrance to the tunnel.

'I was right!' crowed the Doctor, forging ahead eagerly.

'We have reached the surface..

His triumphant words were drowned by a sharp bang followed by a huge dull explosion which lit up the mouth of the tunnel with a macabre greenish-white glare.

The Doctor threw himself backwards and collided with Ian so that they both fell in a struggling heap in the sand.

Then they froze as a terrible harsh screeching noise erupted outside.

'What is that?' Ian whispered.

'It sounded like some sort of gun.'