Doctor Who_ The Caves Of Androzani Part 9

Stotz nodded to Krelper, who moved forwards nervously, taking the bags from the android and hurriedly stepping back.

Stotz glared angrily at Sharaz Jek. 'The suppliers aren't going to like this, Jek.'

'Then tell them that if they will supply gas weapons as agreed, and deliver them safely, I will pay eight kilos for the next s.h.i.+pment.'

Suddenly Sharaz. Jek's arm swept out, and he smashed his open hand to the side of the Doctor's neck. The Doctor staggered and almost fell, but he recovered himself, and looked back at Jek unafraid.

'When I ask a question, Doctor, I do not expect flippancy,' whispered Sharaz Jek. 'Where is the girl?

Where is Peri?'

The Doctor rubbed his aching neck. 'I wish I knew.'

Sharaz Jek nodded to the androids. 'Take him.'

Two androids closed in on the Doctor.

'Tear his arms out slowly,' ordered kit.

Each android took one of the Doctor's arms, and soon he was stretched out between them, like the rope in a tug-of-war. 'You know the power an android can exert, Doctor,'

said Sharaz Jek softly. 'After your arms, they will remove your legs. Now, where is the girl?'

The Doctor felt his shoulder joints beginning to crack.

'I don't know,' he gasped. 'We got into a shoot-out with one of your androids.'

Suddenly Sharaz Jek seemed to lose control. 'You can't protect her,' he shrieked. 'I shall tear the truth out of you!'

'I think she's with Salateen,' gasped the Doctor. 'That's all I know...'

This time Sharaz Jek believed him. 'Release him!' The androids released the Doctor's arms and he collapsed in a heap, rubbing his aching shoulder joints.

'Salateen!' whispered Sharaz Jek. 'In that case, they've probably reached the Army HQ.'

The Doctor looked up at him. 'If they have, then it's round two to the Army, I'd say.'

'You know nothing,' sneered Sharaz Jek. He began pacing about the workshop, muttering obsessively. 'I must find her. I must get the girl back...'

Stutz indicated the Doctor. 'What about him?'

'He is of no interest to me now.'

'Then I think I'd like to take him back to Major with us.

The Boss will want to question him. I think he's a spy why else would he be snooping around?'

Stotz didn't really care if the Doctor was a spy or not.

He was anxious to salvage what little credit he could from this disastrous trip, and the capture of a spy would at least he something in his favour.

Sharaz Jek glanced indifferently down at the Doctor.

'He told me he was ' He broke off. 'It is of no matter what he is. If you want him, take him. I must find the girl.'

Followed by his androids, Sharaz Jek hurried from the workshop.

Stotz heaved the Doctor to his feet. 'When we get back to Major, you're going to wish those androids had finished the job,' he said gloatingly. 'You'll be worked over by experts there.'

The Doctor was dragged away.

Although there is only one cure for spectrox toxaemia, it is possible to counteract the effects, at least for a while.

Salateen was in the process of shooting a powerful stimulant into the unconscious Peri's bloodstream.

They were in General Ch.e.l.lak's private quarters; the tiny bedroom and bathroom adjoining the General's office was one of the privileges of rank.

The injection-gun gave a faint pop, and there was a brief glow on Peri's wound. She came suddenly back to consciousness. She looked around her, struggling to take in her surroundings. 'What's happening?' she muttered.

'Where am I?'

Salateen clapped his hand over her mouth. 'Sss.h.!.+' He looked anxiously at the thin wall dividing them from the office.

In the office Ch.e.l.lak was concluding a briefing session with his aide the android Major Salateen. The information content of the briefing had been carefully chosen to deceive Sharaz Jek.

'No further orders, Major,' concluded General Ch.e.l.lak.

But the android's keen ears had caught the suppressed muttering from the adjoining room. It turned slowly, staring at the wall. Its x-ray vision penetrated the thin part.i.tion, showing Peri stretched out on the bunk, with Salateen beside her, his hand still over her mouth.

'I said no further orders,' repeated Ch.e.l.lak.

'Very good, sir,' said the android Salateen. It stared at the wall for a moment longer, then turned, looking impa.s.sively at the General.

Now that he knew the truth, Ch.e.l.lak wondered how he could ever have been deceived. To cover his nervousness he snapped, 'Well, was there anything else?'

'The magma pressure is still increasing,' said the android levelly.

Ch.e.l.lak shrugged. 'It's been high before without anything happening. I'm sure the engineers will give us ample warning if there's a mud burst on the way.'

'There should be time to get the barriers down sir. But a sudden burst could wipe out our forward patrols.'

'That's a calculated risk, Major. We cannot suspend all forward operations because sometime during the next month there might be a mud burst.'

The android's mouth twitched in the half-smile that was so typical of Salateen. 'No, sir, of course not.'

Ch.e.l.lak sat marvelling at Sharaz Jek's skill. The android saluted and left the office.

Ch.e.l.lak turned and hurried into his quarters. 'That android suspects something.'

Salateen nodded uneasily, 'They can detect human body heat even through a wall,' he said unaware that the android's x-ray vision had already uncovered their secret.

Ch.e.l.lak said, 'We'll have to get it off the base somehow, that's the only thing for it!' He glanced down at Peri. 'How do you feel?'

Peri felt sick and dizzy and her body was racked with shooting pains. 'Awful. Not that you care.'

Ch.e.l.lak tilted her head back, raising an eyelid with his thumb. He studied the eyeball for a moment, then turned away. 'I don't think she'll be any use to us.'

'I'll give her another injection in an hour, sir,' said Salateen. 'She'll make it.'

They might have been talking about a sick horse, thought Peri, or a broken-down car. 'You two are all heart,'

she muttered.

Ch.e.l.lak glared down at her. 'If you weren't dying anyway, I'd probably have you shot. You may not have been gun-running, but any dealings with the enemy are punishable by death.'

'Dealings with the enemy? What dealings?'

'Sharaz Jek went to great lengths to rescue you and your friend the Doctor from execution. He didn't do that out of kindness.'

'Look,' said Peri desperately. 'The Doctor and I were just as much Sharaz Jek's prisoners as Salateen here. And if it hadn't been for the Doctor we'd all still be his prisoners now.'

'That is actually true sir,' confirmed Salateen.

Defeated in logic, Ch.e.l.lak took refuge in authority.

'Well, it's academic now anyway. I just want her fit enough to guide one of the first a.s.sault-groups.'

'Fat chance the way I feel,' muttered Peri.

But no one was listening to her.

The Doctor's captors led him steadily upwards, until they reached a long ravine that rose steeply to the surface.

The Doctor raised his head, drinking in the fresh, dry air. Shafts of desert sunlight pierced down through the gloom.

A dull roaring came from just beyond the end of the ravine. 'What's that?' asked the Doctor feebly.

'Our s.h.i.+p,' said Stotz with satisfaction. 'Right on time.

Hurry it up.'

The Doctor sank slowly to the ground. 'Can't,' he gasped. 'My legs seem to be going numb. I suppose that's stage three.'

'Stage three of what?'

'I believe it's called spectrox toxaemia.'

Stotz stared at him. 'You've been messing around with raw spectrox?'

'Yes,' said the Doctor painfully. 'Why don't you just leave me here to die?'

For a moment Stotz seemed to consider it, but then he shook his head. 'You'll last long enough for questioning.'

He heaved the Doctor brutally to his feet. 'Take his other arm, Krelper, we'll be at the s.h.i.+p in a few minutes.'

Krelper grabbed the Doctor's arm. 'Come on, you.

Move!'

The Doctor was dragged towards his uncertain fate.

8.

The Boss Ch.e.l.lak was examining the belt-plate which Salateen had taken from Peri. It was a gold disc with a red border, studded around the edge.

'How does it work?'

'Apparently it emits a low-frequency signal,' said Salateen. 'Something the androids recognise as friendly.'

Ch.e.l.lak returned the disc. 'Seems simple enough. If our artificers could knock up a few hundred of these...'

'That's what I thought, sir.'

'Right,' said Ch.e.l.lak decisively. 'We'll attend to it as soon as I've got that android off the base.'

'How will you do that, sir?'

'Send it on a fool's errand, well out of the way.'

Salateen said, 'Anything you tell the android will be known to Jek within seconds. It will have to sound convincing or he'll get suspicious.'

Ch.e.l.lak gave him an irritated look. 'Yes, Major, I realise that. What do you suggest?'

Salateen said thoughtfully. 'Perhaps you could reinforce what you say by putting a call through to Trau Morgus? If you tell Morgus you've located Jek's headquarters and give out a set of bogus co-ordinates '