Doctor Who_ Planet Of Fire Part 5

But his alter ego alter ego in the trapped pillar was not dismayed. in the trapped pillar was not dismayed.

'Quickly,' called the Time Lord. 'Go to the Doctor's machine and materialise that preposterous box inside my TARDIS.'

The Master's other half hurried over to the blue police box and set the co-ordinates for the short journey while the Master speculated pleasurably on the Doctor's dismay at finding himself without the amenities of a TARDIS in such an uncomfortable corner of the Universe.

It should have been simplicity itself to navigate the undamaged time-machine into the buried console room, but although the lights on the control panel flashed while the column jerked and the whole console grumbled and groaned with effort, the Doctor's police box would not move.

In the nearby laboratory the Master was growing impatient.'why do you delay?Activate immediately!' he called.

'There is some malfunction,' the metal Master replied.

'There is always malfunction with the Doctor's TARDIS. Override the disabled units.'

The Kamelion-Master began to extract circuit boards from the centre panel and soon spotted the cause of the trouble. 'The comparator is missing!'

The Master gave a cry of anger. 'The girl must have removed it while my control was weak. You must find her before she rejoins the Doctor!' And he vowed that, come what may, the wretched child would die for her interference, marooned with the Doctor on the benighted planet of Sarn.

Peri had never seen a more forbidding place. The land was barren, devoid of colour, a slagheap that stretched as far as the eye could see. Smoke from the volcano on the horizon clouded the sky. If this was interplanetary travel she would stay at home in future.

She looked nervously back at the ruin. At least she had escaped that vile creature from the s.h.i.+p. There was a distant boom. Out of the frying pan into the fire, she thought morbidly, as the volcano rumbled. Unless she could find the Doctor and Turlough... With a stab of relief she spotted two tiny figures hiking across the black tufa, about half a mile away from where she had stopped to get her breath back. 'Doctor! Turlough!' she called. But it was a voice cryingquite literallyin the wilderness. The Doctor and Turlough continued, unaware of the girl's frantic efforts to attract their attention.

But Peri wasn't letting them out of her sight. She quickly abandoned the rough path that led away from the ruin to make a beeline for the distant explorers.

She soon learned the reason for the well worn track.

What had appeared to be a gentle slope ended in a precipice. A deep ravine lay between her and the Doctor.

Peri slithered to a halt, like a hang-glider pilot with second thoughts, on the edge of the drop. Several dislodged pieces of brittle rock and an avalanche of small stones cascaded over the cliff while Peri picked herself up and hurried back to the safety of the path.

The metal Master left the ruin in the opposite direction to that taken by the girl in whose pocket lay the vital comparator. The path followed by the robot led upward to high ground. Despite the loose rock and pumice the creature moved swiftly and had soon established himself on an excellent vantage point. As Kamelion looked slowly round, the Master's evil smile contorted his plastic features. In the far distance he could just make out the Doctor and Turlough, followed, some way back, by Peri who was halfway along the winding ridge path. The steep hillside between the young American and her single-minded pursuer would present no problem to a robot. He would intercept the girl before she caught up with the Doctor.

The Kamelion-Master laughed and started down the cliff.

Peri ran as fast as she could along the narrow ridge path, desperately trying not to lose sight of the Doctor and Turlough. As she hurried along she noticed other buildings beside the track, smaller than the ruin they had arrived in, but equally derelict. Clearly, this was not a healthy place to live and she couldn't wait to get out of it.

'Doctor!' She could see the man talking nineteen to the dozen with the rather sneaky boy who had pulled her from the sea. Why couldn't they look back for a moment!

The track led downhill for a short section, and, to her dismay, Peri could no longer see the Doctor and Turlough.

She ran even faster, coming abruptly to a junction in the track. Instinctively Peri turned to the left... So much for female intuition! The new path ended almost immediately at a tumbledown gazebo perched on the cliff edge.

Peri had no time to admire any more ruins, however picturesque, nor the splendid view of the valley, but she was intrigued to see a large bra.s.s telescope, mounted on a tripod in the tiny courtyard of the observation post.

Perhaps there were people alive in this wilderness? She ran forward for a closer look.

The well polished spygla.s.s was dust free and turned smoothly on its pan head. It was pointing back towards the ruin where the TARDIS had landed, and, as she looked through the eyepiece, Peri could see the blue police box and the fallen columns. No sign of the creature. She swung the instrument round hoping for a view of the Doctor and Turlough.

Something large and dark blurred across the lens. Peri fumbled for the focus. She slowly turned the knurled wheel, and in sharp perspective carne the smiling face of the Master.

'My dear Peri!'

Peri leapt back from the tripod. The robot, in its least attractive shape, stood blocking the path.

'How positively evanescent you have become.' The creature was smiling s.a.d.i.s.tically. Peri took a nervous step back into the gazebo. 'In fact your disappearance has caused me a great deal of trouble.' The Master, still smiling, took a step forward.

'Keep away from me,' stammered the terrified American.

The smile vanished from the Master's face. 'You have removed a component from the Doctor's TARDIS.' In fact Peri had quite forgotten the tiny piece of circuity that the friendly version of the robot had given her back in the s.h.i.+p. It weighed more heavily on the Master'smind. 'Give it back to me instantly!' he commanded.

The small, key-shaped wafer meant nothing to Peri, but she instinctively knew that, once in the hands of this odious man-machine, the Master would have some power over the Doctor and Turlough. And Peri needed the Doctor, in possession of all his faculties, to take her home.

She edged towards a small wall at the end of the ruined belvedere. There was a sheer drop to the valley below.

The Master chuckled with pleasure at p.e.n.i.s predicament. But Miss P. Brown did not give in that easily.

She pulled the much sought after component from the pocket of her shorts and held it at arm's length over the parapet. 'Take one step nearer and you'll never get this back!'

The Kamelion-Master stopped in his tracks. He had not expected such defianceleast of all from a mere girl. 'If you damage the comparator, the Doctor's TARDIS is useless,'

he warned.

Peri felt much better. The possession of this device gave her some bargaining power with the creature. 'Then keep your distance,' she retorted, starting to think she was in with a chance.

The Master, even as a robot, was not used to receiving orders. 'Give that component to me!' he bl.u.s.tered.

Peri stood her ground. 'This thing belongs to the Doctor. So it's the Doctor I give it to, or n.o.body.' She even managed to deliver the ultimatum with a Puckish smile which enraged the Master.

'You will obey me!' he cried.

'Negative,' replied the recalcitrant Peri.

The Master could not believe such affrontery. 'I am the Master!' he declared, as if he were the Tsar of all Abe Russias. But this cut no ice with Peri who had been brought up on a college campus and was quite used to dealing with pompous little men who stamped their feet and behaved like spoilt children. 'So what?' she jeered. 'I'm Perpugilliam Brown and I can shout just as loud as you can.'

The Master was so angry that the robot all but blew a fuse, and it was several moments before he could trust himself to speak. 'Peri, be reasonable.' He now used his velvet voice, adding an instant smile like a dab of lipstick.

'Without the comparator you can never return to Earth.'

The young American did not move.

'Do you wish to stand here until the planet is destroyed!' The Master was beginning to lose his temper again.

Peri was thinking fast. Somehow she had to break the stalemate. She remembered the effect that her anxiety had had upon the robot inside the TARDIS. Perhaps if she concentrated hard enough...

'Well, answer!' shouted the Master impatiently.

'Kamelion!' cried Peri, staring straight into the Master's eyes and willing the friendly robot to appear in his place.

'Come on, Kamelion. Show me your real self!'

'No!' The robot Master felt the power of her will and raised his hand across his face.

Peri was delighted; it was all in the mind. 'Kamelion!

Kamelion!' she called, exalting in her new found influence.

'Kamelion! Howard! Anybody!'

The Master's features began to blur, his voice lost its human timbre. 'Resist... obey... resist... obey,' he repeated mechanically.

Peri could just make out the ghost of the genuine robot superimposed on the s.h.i.+mmering figure of the Master.

'Come on, Kamelion, you can do it,' she urged.

In the laboratory, the real Master was beside himself with fury. His own image had gone from the gla.s.s.

Kamelion had succ.u.mbed to the power of the wretched stowaway from the Doctor's TARDIS. He tried to boost the metamorphosis projector. 'Kamelion,' he called. 'My slave! Resist! Have I travelled a billion light years through time and s.p.a.ce to be thwarted by this brat?'

Kamelion did not answer.

'Resist the girl!' the Master screamed. 'Kill her immediately!'

Kamelion stood, s.h.i.+ning impotently at the entrance of the gazebo. He was without motivation, ident.i.ty or any recognisable shape, halfway between pure robot and metamorphic projection.

'Stay where you are, Kamelion,' whispered Peri, appealing to the machine's better nature. 'I'm your friend.'

But, friend or foe, Peri was keeping as clear as possible from the dazzling creature that still blocked the path to safety. She dropped behind some of the fallen stones and crawled, unseen by Kamelion, to the far corner of the ruined pavilion. Here the parapet had fallen away and gave access to a section of the cliff that was almost climbable.

Mountaineering had never been one of Miss Brown's accomplishments, but there was a first time for everything.

With a glance back at the stricken automaton, Peri launched herself into the abyss.

6.

Outsiders Timanov insisted that the Watchman return with him to the paG.o.da. As soon as they were inside Malkon's apartments he pressed for more details of what he had seen through the eye of the telescope.

'A sort of blue box,' said the young man.

'A blue box?' The Chief Elder shook his head. 'That's most unorthodox.'

But the Watchman was quite certain. 'A blue box that came from nowhere,' he repeated. 'With a flas.h.i.+ng light.'

'There's no recorded history of a blue box,' complained the old man. 'Still, I suppose all Visitations are different.'

The lookout, who had a hearty dislike of all liberals and freethinkers, gave a disparaging look across at Malkon who was staring moodily out at the view. 'Perhaps,' he whispered to Timanov, 'we have been sent another Chosen One.'

Timanov gave a warning frown, but the pious, young zealot had strong feelings on the matter and was determined to speak his mind. 'This boy is weak. The heretics walk free.'

'No Chosen One has appeared at the Time of Fire. It can only be the Outsider.' Timanov shared the younger man's sentiments and would willingly have exchanged the callow boy for a more dynamic leader, but it was not the will of Logar. At least the Fire Lord had sent them his messenger.

He smiled at the Watchman. 'You are too young to remember, but soon our storehouses will be full to overflowing with the gifts of the Outsider.'

The three of them were joined by the other five Elders, now dressed in their finest robes. Timanov took a key from the cord round his waist and unlocked a large chest of some hard metal, from which one of his fellow Elders produced a silver rod for each man. Timanov smiled. The Elders would not be lacking in dignity when they met the Outsider. He turned to Malkon. 'We shall go to the place of arrival. In the meantime you have a chance to redeem your disastrous performance in the Hall of Fire.'

Malkon sighed. The events of the morning both frightened and bemused him. 'The Unbelievers do no harm,' he replied.

'No harm?' snorted the old man. 'That's the way they used to talk in the dead cities. And where are they now?

Gone from the face of the land!'

Malkon was silent. He could not bring himself to believe in the intrinsic value of death and suffering.

You must round up these Unbelievers,' continued Timanov, preparing to leave. 'We shall celebrate the Outsider's arrival with a great sacrifice.'

'No!' protested the unhappy boy. 'I can't!'

The Watchman, who was looking forward to a good burning, sneered at the Chosen One. He would be more than prepared to lend a helping hand. But Timanov already had the situation under control. The Chief Elder turned to the open door. 'Guards!'

Arnyand, Roskal and Sorasta wasted no time in the Hall of Fire. Whatever the excited Watchman had seen through his telescope, they were grateful for the diversion and, as soon as Malkon intervened to order their release they were away down the colonnade, keen to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the flames in the cave.

They met no opposition in the deserted streets of the city. The only danger was from falling stones. The ground, which had begun to tremble in the Hall of Fire, was now shaking the whole fabric of the city.

'The earth storm is getting closer,' cried Roskal to his two companions, as Amyaud led the way down the street of empty houses, badly damaged in a previous disturbance.

With a quick glance behind to see that no one was following them, they dodged into one of the large doorways and entered what must once have been a room in a large public building. Now it was open to the sky.

Together, they hauled back a large paving stone and Amyaud helped Sorasta and Roskal onto the spiral staircase that led through the opening, down to an underground chamber. The cave was part of a natural fissure in the volcanic rock discovered by a group of Unbelievers just after the last bad quaking. Now, it served as a place of safety both from the earth storm and the orthodox zeal of the citizens. In one corner was a month's supply of food for the growing band of dissidents; in another there were blankets and mattresses.

About a score of men and women got to their feet as they heard the clatter of Arnyand and Sorasta on the metal staircase. Amyand, still feeling scorched from the fire, explained what a narrow escape they had just had. There was much disappointment amongst the other Unbelievers, though not everyone had agreed with Amyand's daring plan to climb the Fire Mountain.

Roskal moved away to a far corner of the cave, curious to see the effect of the latest earth storm on the machine.

That was another reason for keeping the cave a secret from the other citizensmachines were sacred to Logar and it was a burning offence to tamper with them. Not that any of the Elders were aware of the complex ma.s.s of apparatus with its dials, levers and flas.h.i.+ng lights that some earlier inhabitants had installed in the cavern.