Doctor Who_ Divided Loyalties Part 10

The look Braune shot back at him told him to shut up.

Nyssa touched his sleeve. What are you worried about, Doctor?'

The Doctor stopped and surveyed the landscape. They were on the top of a mud bowl, literally a huge crater. At its centre was a jet black pyramid.

Something very powerful dragged us down to this exact spot, Nyssa. I'd like to know what, bearing in mind this is supposed to be an antisocial planet and, apparently, suddenly very quiet.' He held a finger up. Slight wind, possible rain soon.' He sniffed. Good clean air. No pollution.

No industry of any sort I suspect.'

Nyssa was s.h.i.+vering. It's also extremely cold,' she said.

Oh, you'll get used to it,' the Doctor beamed at her enthusiastically.

So,' Tegan said, pointing at the pyramid,' did they build that with their bare hands?'

Good question, Tegan. And looking at it, that seems unlikely.' He shoved a hand into the inside pocket of his cricketing jacket and retrieved a large set of binoculars. He twirled them in his hand as if surprised to find them there then, with a small shrug, pa.s.sed them to his youngest companion. Nyssa?'

Nyssa peered down at the pyramid through the binoculars. It's built from smooth black blocks, Doctor. We have a jewel on Traken that looks like this.'

Tegan eased the binoculars away from Nyssa to take a look herself. Onyx,' she said after a moment. We have jewellery on Air Australia flights that looks like that.' She smiled at Nyssa.

A hand reached over and took the gla.s.ses from Tegan - it was Sarah Townsend. After a pause, she handed them back to the Doctor.

You'll notice there are two small stumps on either side of the pyramid,' she said.

The Doctor looked, and nodded. I recognise this.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recognise this.'

As he lowered the binoculars he was aware that everyone was staring at him. Yes, well, let's not waste the daylight,' he said, and began going down the side of the crater, using a combination of tentative steps and quick leaps that sent up showers of grey mud.

Oakwood and Townsend looked at the Doctor's splattered form and their own white uniforms, and then at each other.

I'm just glad the shuttle didn't blow up like the Convergence Convergence,' Oakwood said.

Townsend smiled grimly. Glad to know the same thoughts were going through your head as mine, particularly just before we landed.'

They grinned at each other suddenly, and watched the Doctor. Haven't done this since I was ten,' the commander said and followed the Doctor, jumping slightly more often.

Only Braune looked irritated at the mess that was about to go all over him. Desorgher and Dieter gave him a friendly push, which resulted in the security man almost falling. He dropped to one knee and shot his comrades a vicious look.

Desorgher shrugged his apology and followed the others.

Finally Braune eased his way down, carefully and precisely, making sure that little else other than his knees got too muddy. When he finally reached the bottom, he was faced by a group who looked as if they had been bathing in mud.

Desorgher, particularly, was caked from his neck down.

I fell in to a... er... hole,' he said.

The Doctor, Nyssa and Oakwood were first to reach the base of the pyramid, while Dieter, Townsend and Desorgher went to look at one of the stumps.

What did you mean when you said you recognised it, Doctor?' asked Oakwood.

The Doctor was crouched down, sc.r.a.ping at the base of the pyramid. To be frank, Commander, I don't know.' He straightened up. Pyramids usually exist for a reason, you see. They are either beacons or cemeteries or land markers. One thing they usually have in common is that they are rarely alone. I would have expected to see the point of another in the distance. Or something else that would imply a method to the placement. But this one is just stuck here. It doesn't seem to relate particularly to the sun or the stars, it doesn't cast a shadow pointing at anything significant and it's situated in the centre of a crater. All very odd, wouldn't you say?'

Oakwood pursed his lips. I'm no expert on Egyptology,' he said, and walked away to join his crew.

The Doctor shook his head. Egyptology. Humans are so limited in their perceptions, so insular in their approach. You see, Nyssa, humans believe that the universe revolves around them. That everything must either affect them or be irrelevant.'

Ahem,' coughed Tegan. I am am still here, you know.' still here, you know.'

The Doctor turned to her and frowned, then smiled and gripped her shoulders. Of course you are, Tegan, I was talking generally not specifics. You are a particularly fine example of humanity and that's why we travel together.' He turned away and crouched down to examine the base of the pyramid again.

Tegan looked at Nyssa, trying to work out whether she had been insulted or complimented, or if the Doctor was just being obtuse. Nyssa shrugged, clearly unable to help.

What are you doing, Doctor?' Tegan wanted to know.

I'm trying to see how far down the pyramid goes. Whether it has been here for centuries or was placed here recently for our amus.e.m.e.nt.' He stopped. Amus.e.m.e.nt...'

His thoughts were interrupted by Desorgher. Hey, Doctor, look at this.'

He led the others to the left-hand stump. Townsend was pulling wads of mud away from the base. Doctor, it goes a long way down,' she said between exertions.

But has only been put here recently, as I surmised,' the Doctor concluded.

How d'you know that?' asked Desorgher.

Chief Townsend is finding it too easy to get the mud away.

If it had been here for centuries, that mud would be immovable once she got past the top soil'

Bit of a puzzle then,' said Oakwood.

Puzzle...' the Doctor frowned, then sighed deeply. Of course, why didn't I see it earlier!' He ran back to the pyramid, splas.h.i.+ng mud everywhere.

Look,' he was saying as the others caught up with him, look, it's built in flat sections.'

Each one about two feet high,' Tegan added.

What exactly is it, Doctor?' Oakwood was staring upwards, trying to count the sections.

It's a trap, Commander, and I think we should get away from here as fast as possible.'

A trap?' Dieter frowned. Who for?'

Me,' the Doctor said. And I've almost fallen right into it.'

Correction, Doctor,' said Townsend. You have have fallen right into it. Look.' fallen right into it. Look.'

A door had appeared at the base of the pyramid and was sliding upwards. As it rose, they could make out a person standing in the entrance, waiting for them.

The door vanished into whatever slot it fitted into above the s.p.a.ce and a man stepped forward. He was dressed in a simple linen hooded smock that stopped just below his knees. He wore sandals on his feet and a belt around his waist, giving him the appearance of a monk. He tugged his hood back, revealing a bald, deeply lined head with almost grey skin and two bright eyes that stared intently at them.

He's so old,' Tegan muttered.

I am the Observer,' the man said simply. Thank you for coming.'

h.e.l.lo, I'm the Doctor and this is -'

I know who you all are. You will enter the pyramid.'

Remember,' hissed Oakwood, it's a trap, you said.'

Yes,' the Doctor replied, then called out to the Observer. I'd rather not actually. Sorry to disturb you but my friends and I were just leaving.'

I think not.' And behind them, on the ridge, the shuttle exploded into millions of tiny fragments that embedded themselves in the mud.

Braune brought his gun up to bear, but the old Observer didn't seem perturbed. The gun just fell apart, as if corroded by rust and age. Braune frowned - and Desorgher discovered that his gun had similarly disintegrated. The Observer was, if anything, merely amused.

Enter the pyramid,' he repeated, then turned away and walked into the darkness.

Well,' the Doctor said after a few seconds. I rather think our options have been reduced to two. Stay out here or go inside.'

We should stay here then,' suggested Nurse Dieter.

Oakwood shook his head. Night's coming. Before long the temperature will drop even further and we know from our surveys how cold the surface gets. I'm afraid we'd best walk into this trap of the Doctor's.'

Not mine actually,' the Doctor said quietly, but I take your point. Tegan, Nyssa, in you go.' He counted everyone in until just he and Oakwood were still outside. I'm sorry about this, Commander. I really had no idea what to expect. And I think we can a.s.sume that the Observer was responsible for bringing us here.'

Oakwood smiled at him. Not to worry, Doctor. I've been waiting for an excuse to have an adventure ever since I got this posting. Makes a change from watching the news.' He marched inside after his crew and, shaking his head at the continual surprises humanity offered, the Doctor followed. The door slid shut behind him.

Apart from a few recent footsteps and the mound of mud that Townsend had disturbed, there was no evidence they had ever been within the crater.

Adric was seated once again in the mess, making notes. He always carried a small pencil in his breast pocket and Niki Paladopous had miraculously dug up some sheets of paper from somewhere.

Art appreciation was, the Doctor had told him, a purely subjective matter. One artist may paint a glorious sweep of yellow flowers in a field, capturing the image perfectly, almost like a photograph. Another may opt to exaggerate the image, making the flowers out of proportion to the background and foreground. Another painter could make the flowers angular and two-dimensional, and yet another represent the scene with three yellow splodges of paint on a blue background. But each of them had their own worth and their own admirers.

Adric never understood why people painted pictures. Art was almost unknown on Alzarius - after all, who needed it?

The only time it existed was in the purely practical application of schematics and design. Ill.u.s.trations in the books to show which parts of the Starliner fitted where, and how to replace them. They were line drawings essentially - colour was an even bigger rarity.

Adric had found his appreciation of art going in the direction of an interest in the art of pure mathematics. He wore his gold-edged star badge with pride - it marked him out as having achieved much in the field of maths and related sciences.

So when Niki Paladopous had given him a pile of trajectories, positionals and theoretical astrophysics problems, he was, as Niki had said, like a pig in mud'. This was his domain. This was where he was an artist - sifting through numericals, cosines and astronomical trigonometry, making sense of it all. He sort of guessed that Niki had given him this stuff to keep him happy and amused, but he didn't mind. If the Doctor didn't consider him reliable enough any more, well, that was his his problem. problem.

Maybe he could stay here, with these people. If the Doctor had everything he needed in Tegan and Nyssa, maybe this was somewhere he could call home now. Oh, it wasn't exactly racing around the s.p.a.ce-time vortex, saving civilisations and righting wrongs, but that wasn't as much fun as it had been any longer.

He tried his best - really he did, but still no one really wanted him there. He tried being nice to the girls, telling them when they weren't looking as nice as they had the day before, but they just said he was being rude, which was so stupid. One day they would spend ages putting make-up on their faces, getting it right. The next day, they wouldn't spend quite as much time and look a little different, but then not want this pointed out.

How do I look today?' Tegan would ask, and Adric would tell her.

Typical girl - just like the ones back at home. He never understood them either.

He'd make jokes - asking for the sodium chloride instead of salt at meal times, educated sort of quips like that. Even if Tegan and Nyssa didn't get them, the Doctor ought to. But no, he just sided with the girls and ignored him.

Adric looked down at the notes he had been making, doodles more than anything, while his mind wandered to his role within the TARDIS crew.

Earth was at co-ordinates 5XA8000-743-7, while Little Boy II Little Boy II was at 6AA2357-576-8, on a curve of 314 degrees from the galactic centre. If the Doctor, the was at 6AA2357-576-8, on a curve of 314 degrees from the galactic centre. If the Doctor, the old old Doctor, had been travelling away from Earth on a similar trajectory - the TARDIS always s.h.i.+fted through the s.p.a.ce-time vortex before entering real s.p.a.ce at 67 degrees on a curvature of... of... Doctor, had been travelling away from Earth on a similar trajectory - the TARDIS always s.h.i.+fted through the s.p.a.ce-time vortex before entering real s.p.a.ce at 67 degrees on a curvature of... of...

Yes! When he had left Earth a year or so ago, with their old friends Romana and K9, they had been travelling... there... Adric made a crosspoint on his notes, and drew a series of curves, allowing for spatial drift and the slight variance given by the s.p.a.ce-time vortex distortion as the TARDIS s.h.i.+fted...

The entry point into his own pocket universe was the CVE through which the Doctor and Romana and K9 had travelled to reach Alzarius. They had been going to the Doctor's home planet, Gallifrey, but went through the Ca.s.seopeian CVE at 3C461-3044-7. If Adric reversed those co-ordinates, maybe he could plot a course back through the CVE - go home! Find out what was happening on the Starliner, see if they'd got to Terradon yet, or returned to Alzarius or...

Alzarius? Something at the back of his mind nagged him.

He'd... dreamt about Alzarius recently, or something. Only it wasn't a dream - it was more recent than that surely? He hadn't en asleep for about eight hours and this was definitely something newer...

Then it struck him - a flood of memories, breaking through whatever had blocked them.

The Toymaker,' he muttered.