Doctor Who_ Mission To The Unknown Part 15

'I obey.'

On Mira, a patrol of Daleks had set out from their craft, working their way through the narrow pathways of the planet's uneven surface. It was difficult going, owing to the marshy nature of the ground. The Daleks, due to their weight, could move only slowly across large stretches of the virtually nonexistent pathways.

Numerous detours round mudholes and large pools of water were necessary.

One of the Daleks was fitted with a perceptor, one of the Daleks' standard tracking devices. It registered movement, and was extremely accurate. Abruptly, the compa.s.s-like needle began to register. 'Perceptor recording movement at very close range,'

the Dalek reported.

The patrol leader began to scan the area. Its head-section traversed 360 degrees without detecting anything. Switching to infra-red, it tried again, without success. 'No visual contact.'

The perceptor stubbornly insisted that there was a large degree of movement. Perceptor registers approaching life-forms,' the tracker insisted. The leader scanned again, still with nothing to show for its efforts. 'Perceptor registers movement in immediate vicinity.'

There was the faintest hint of a bush moving. The patrol leader spun about and fired. The bush and its environs were bathed in lethal radiation. From the air, a hideous shriek registered as the death-cry of something. The patrol leader moved forward to investigate, as it could still see nothing.

It ran directly into that nothing. Puzzled, the Dalek extended its arm. Despite the fact that it could detect nothing visually, something was sprawled across the ground just in front of it. The Dalek ran its visual equipment across its entire spectrum of operations without being able to make anything out.

Finally, it turned back to the waiting patrol.

'These creatures are invisible,' it stated. 'Keep constant checks on the perceptor. Open fire when it registers contact. We will proceed.'

Having set up their temporary camp in the small cave, the Doctor kept watch while Steven attempted to set Sara straight about what was really happening. Reluctantly, Sara had forced herself to listen, almost convinced that the story was a tissue of lies. Almost, but not quite. The terrible betrayed expression of Bret as he had died kept coming back to mind.

'I swear, everything I've told you is the truth,' Steven finished, wondering how much had got through to this cold-hearted creature. 'Mavic Chen is the traitor, not us.'

Sara shrugged. 'It's rather hard to accept. Mavic Chen is the most trusted man in the Solar System and who would take the word of a couple of s.p.a.ce travellers over his? I'd need proof of what you say to be convinced of this wild accusation.' She thought for a moment. 'This Taranium core you still have it?'

'Yes,' said the Doctor. He removed it from his pocket, and showed it to her. The small, glowing device seemed so innocent and yet how many people had already died to keep it from the Daleks?

'Anyway, it's not important any longer,' Steven said. 'It doesn't matter whether you believe us or not. Bret is on the Earth, and he'll tell the story to the right person.' He didn't see the expression on Sara's face. 'I shouldn't be surprised if he's got a fleet together to blast Kembel right out of the sky.'

'That's not very likely,' Sara said, softly.

'Then you don't know Bret Vyon,' Steven smiled. 'He's pretty efficient and convincing once he gets started. He won't take no for an answer.'

Before Steven could elaborate on Bret's virtues, Sara cut him short. 'Bret won't tell anything to anyone,' she said, flatly.

'He's dead.' Seeing Steven's stunned expression, she added: 'I killed him.'

Even the Doctor had not been prepared for this news. He and Steven looked at one another so despairingly that Sara discovered that she believed their wild story utterly. There was no way that they could have faked that look of terrible loss. Then their accusing eyes turned on her, and she knew she'd been a dreadful fool. 'I didn't know!' she yelled at them. 'I was only obeying my orders! I didn't know! I didn't know! ' She buried her face in her hands, sobbing, trying to escape those burning eyes, but she couldn't. The eyes that accused her the most were her own. ' She buried her face in her hands, sobbing, trying to escape those burning eyes, but she couldn't. The eyes that accused her the most were her own.

Steven and the Doctor were at a loss for words, and could offer her no comfort. Finally, Steven said, bleakly: 'This changes things, doesn't it?'

'I'm afraid it does,' the Doctor agreed. 'Now we are the only ones left who can warn the Earth.'

'Warn the Earth!' Steven slammed his fist onto the wall of the cave in frustration. 'Tell me how! We don't even know where we are!'

'We don't need to.'

Puzzled, Steven said: 'I don't understand you.'

With a smile, the Doctor held up the core. 'The Daleks can't go through with their plans without this.'

Elatedly, Steven nodded. 'Of course! It'll take them forever to get enough Taranium to build a replacement core.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'No, my boy, you don't understand the Daleks. They won't give up that simply. They'll track us down and come after us. They'd follow us to the ends of s.p.a.ce and time if they had to.'

'Then what do we do?'

'Wait,' said the Doctor. 'Wait until they find us. And then out-think them. Beat them at their own game. They'll be coming for us, never doubt it. When they do, we must be ready.' He gripped his lapels, and stared off into the jungle below.

Steven knew that the Doctor's optimism masked his worries.

'The odds are poor,' he observed. 'The two of us and her ' he indicated the still-sobbing Sara ' against the might of the Daleks and their allies.'

'The odds are great,' the Doctor agreed. 'But, then, so are the stakes the life of every man, woman and child on Earth.'

After a moment's pause, he added, more practically: 'The sun is going down. I suspect that it will get quite cold when night falls.

I'll go and look for some wood to start a fire.' He glanced over at Sara. 'In the meantime, do try to comfort her. Crying women make me most uncomfortable.'

As the Doctor disappeared into the trees, Steven walked carefully over to Sara. He put a gentle arm about her. 'Sara,' he began, but she wrenched away from him this time not loathing him, but herself.

'Let me alone,' she gasped between sobs. 'Please.' Steven could see that she was fighting an inner battle, but knew that she simply had to be wrenched out of it, or she'd be useless to them.

'Look,' he said, awkwardly, 'it wasn't your fault. Like you said, you were just acting on orders. How could you know that Bret wasn't a traitor when your superiors told you he was?'

She looked up, drawn and haggard. 'I killed him,' she said.

'I just obeyed what they told me without question. I should have known Bret better than to believe he was a traitor. I should have asked questions! I should have doubted!'

'Did... did you know Bret?'

'Know him?' She looked as though her life were emptied of meaning. 'He was my brother.'

Mavic Chen looked around his office with considerable regret.

He had spent years building up this collection of artwork, and all the power and wealth that it represented. In a short while, the Daleks would annihilate it all. He would miss these paintings, and the statues, but one had to make sacrifices. He looked up as Karlton entered.

'I have a s.h.i.+p ready for you,' the security man reported.

'Good.' Chen stepped to the window, looking over New Was.h.i.+ngton. The vast metropolis teamed with life at least, for now. 'I believe that the Daleks must have reached Mira by now.'

'Yes. It looks as though the Daleks accepted my story.'

'And why shouldn't they?' Chen turned his back on the ma.s.s of humanity outside. 'I must be there when the Taranium core is brought back to Kembel.'

'If it is,' Karlton cautioned. 'We don't know that it and the traitors survived the transportation to Mira.'

Chen waved the possibility away. 'Those scientists may have been narrow-minded, but they were quite certain that their foolish experiment went satisfactorily. Now, wait until you hear from me. a.s.semble the force in orbit about Venus. We know the date of the Dalek attack on Earth. When this occurs, the Daleks will be too busy to pay heed to your fleet. Whatever happens, we shall outwit the Daleks.'

Karlton nodded. 'We should be able to destroy Kembel at that time with ease. But that will give us mastery of only this Galaxy.'

Chen put an arm about his a.s.sistant's shoulder. 'Karlton, you lack vision. Why do you think I want to be on hand when the Daleks recover the core? I shall be on Kembel, with the Time Destructor. While the Daleks are expending their forces on obliterating the Earth, we shall take possession of the Time Destructor, and turn it on them. With the power of the Time Destructor in our hands, we shall be able to conquer more than this Galaxy we shall become the masters of the entire Universe!'

The Doctor bustled about in the trees, collecting the wood for kindling a fire. He was by no means certain they would need one, but he had been unable to bear that wretched woman's crying any longer. Overt displays of sentimentality always pained him. He rummaged about for sticks that were dry enough to catch alight no simple task in this damp place.

There was a slight noise in the bushes ahead, and the Doctor carefully continued his work of collecting wood. His eyes, however, never left the bushes. He found a stick that was about four feet long, and fairly hefty. Dropping his pile of kindling, he used the stick to swipe hard at the bush.

He hit nothing but the leaves, which rustled and gave way.

There was a sound of laboured breathing to his right, and he spun about, brandis.h.i.+ng his stick. There was more of the rasping breathing from the left, and then from all about him. He was being surrounded by these invisible foes. He lashed out with the stick, only to have something unseen grab it and tear it from his hands. Something jumped at him from behind, and he felt long, thin talons clutching for his throat. The weight of the creature dragged the Doctor to the muddy ground.

Groping about, the Doctor's hands closed about a small rock. Wrenching it free of the mud's sticky embrace, he swung the rock backwards. He was rewarded by the sound and feel of it striking something. A reedy cry burst from the air, and the claws were gone. Staggering to his feet, the Doctor was breathing heavily. In this humidity, any exertions were very tiring. He glared about, waiting for any sounds that might betray one of his attackers.

The Visians had paused as the Doctor had fought. They were not brave by nature, preferring to use their invisibility as a cloak to ambush their food. Still, there were enough of them now to give one another courage. 'Kill the intruder,' the first Visian whispered, in its wet, reedy tones. 'Kill it.'

The rest of the group took up this thought, as they edged in closer to the Doctor. He could see nothing, but their thin voices carried very clearly. 'Kill it... kill it... kill it...'

Nervously, the Doctor began backing away. He b.u.mped into something invisible, and then wrenched himself free. 'Steven!'

he yelled. 'Steven!' The forms were closing in about him when he saw Steven das.h.i.+ng on to the scene.

Taking in the sight of the Doctor, standing apparently alone, but hearing the voices chanting, Steven realized that the old man surrounded by the aliens. He looked about, and saw the stick that the Visians had torn from the Doctor's grip. Taking it up, Steven gave an incoherent yell, and dashed forwards, whipping the stick back and forth.

He was happy when the stick connected with one of the creatures. A mournful wail, then Steven rammed the being with his shoulder. He felt the creature go staggering off. Another invisible enemy screamed and collapsed under a heavy blow from the stick. Then Steven was with the Doctor.

'Capital, my boy, capital!' the Doctor approved. 'Now, let's get out of here.'

Together, they moved forwards. Steven kept the stick whirling, but hit nothing. Clearly the aliens had fallen back under the fury of his a.s.sault. With one accord, they dashed back towards the cave.

Left alone by Steven, Sara had glanced nervously through the hanging lianas at the trees below. Then, though the air was still, she saw one of the vines move. There was an alien with her in the cave.

She didn't feel as frightened now as when she had woken in the forest earlier, to find herself attacked by things she couldn't see. Her training had been thorough, and she was mentally prepared for an invisible opponent. Besides, she wasn't as weaponless as she appeared, simply because her blaster was gone. She flicked her right wrist, and a thin knife snapped into her grip from its concealed sheath on her forearm.

The floor of the cave, like almost all of the surface of this world, was partly a pool of mud. Sara saw the markings of a clawed foot suddenly appear at one point, and lunged at that spot with her knife. There was a squawk, and the creature back-pedalled furiously. Sara dashed forward after it, and slipped in the mud. She rolled, fast, in case the creature attacked, and then sprang back to her feet.

There was neither sight nor sound of anything with her in the cave. Sara brushed at the mud on her skin, uncomfortably aware of the fact that her clothes were covered in the stuff. At that moment, the Doctor and Steven came staggering up to the cave mouth. Sawing back and forth with her knife to deter the invisible creature from attacking her, Sara retreated to join them.

'Careful,' she warned them. 'There's one of those things in the cave.'

'Great,' Steven said, pessimistically. 'And there're dozens more of them behind us.'

'What we need to know,' the Doctor said, thoughtfully, looking at Sara's dirty costume, 'is the nature of these creatures.

If we knew what they looked like, then perhaps we should perceive some weaknesses in them, mmm?'

'But they're invisible,' objected Sara. 'We can't see them.'

'Perhaps not them them,' the Doctor agreed with a chuckle. 'But we can see other things. A sheet of gla.s.s might be almost invisible, but if you painted it, then you could see it without difficulty.'

Sara caught on quickly. With a delighted grin, she pointed to herself. 'Mud!'

'I don't understand,' Steven objected.

The Doctor's patted him on the arm. 'My dear boy, I don't expect you to. We're a splendid team, you and I. I supply the brains and you supply the brawn. Now, listen, you trust me, don't you?'

'Why do I get a bad feeling about this?'

'Of course you do,' the Doctor said, answering his own question. 'Now, I wouldn't ask you to do anything that was dangerous, would I?'

Steven glared at him, but the Doctor smiled, disarmingly. 'It is vital, young man, that we know what these creatures look like.'

'So what do I have to do?' Steven demanded.

Waving his hand airily, the Doctor said: 'It's nothing, nothing at all. Just go into the cave and tackle that creature.'

'What?' Steven exploded.

'Just drag it out here,' the Doctor amplified. 'Sara and I will do the rest.'

'But I could get killed!'

'Killed.' The Doctor looked as though the thought had never occurred to him. Then he shook his head firmly. 'No, I don't think so. I'm almost certain that there's no danger of that.

Now, go along with you, there's a good fellow.'

Grinning, Sara added: 'We'll be right here.'

'Thanks a lot!'

'Do hurry up,' the Doctor snapped. 'If you dilly-dally much longer, we'll have the rest of them on our necks, too.'

Steven took a deep breath and stepped forward, rather reluctantly. He turned around again. 'I hope you know what I'm doing!' He stepped into the cave before he had a chance to think too hard about what he was doing.

There was total silence in the cave. Steven glanced around, then something hit him, hard. The invisible creature had jumped at him, flailing away. With a cry, Steven started to fight back, struggling to get a grip on the thing as it twisted and squirmed. Claws raked at him, and he strove to keep them from cutting him. Something like a beak smacked the side of his face.

Steven felt bony ribs, and squeezed hard. The thing squalled, and struggled harder.

Steven staggered back out of the cave, fighting at the creature. Instantly, the Doctor and Sara leaped to help him.

They each grabbed a handful of invisible flesh and bones, and dragged the creature away from Steven. With one accord, they tossed it into one of the pits of bubbling mud. The creature splattered into it, sank, and then exploded out again.

They had a very brief glimpse of it thin, bony, with two long, clawed arms, feet like birds' claws, and a narrow head with a beak. It screamed, and dashed into the jungle, leaving a trail of mud behind it.

'How horrible!' Sara breathed.

Steven straightened his clothing. 'It wasn't any fun grabbing it,' he complained.