Doctor Who_ Ultimate Treasure Part 17

'Well if I didn't know better I'd say you'd been on the sauce.'

'Pardon?'

'Drinking. Are you sure you're fine?'

Qwaid realised the conversation was dragging along. 'OK, you've had your say, he interrupted irritably. 'Take her back to her room...' There was something else he'd meant Gribbs to do.

What was it? Oh yes: 'Gribbsy, listen. We're on the edge of this...

uh, flat mess of lakes and small islands. We want to know how far it runs 'n' suchlike. When you've put the girl away, take the s.h.i.+p up so you can see what's ahead. Got that?'

'Sure, I'll have a go... if the locals'll let us.' Gribbs sounded uncertain. 'Are you sure you're you're OK?' OK?'

'Fine, fine. Call when you're ready.'

His hand dropped away from the comm link and he settled hack against a rock. Say what you liked about it being boring, but it was certainly peaceful here. The Doctor was already lying on his back again staring into nothing. Drifting down from the rock summit above them came Drorgon's snores.

Vague pangs of hunger woke Myra, but it took her some minutes to work out where she was. The sun suggested it was nearing midday. Arnella was sprawled on the sand by her side. She poked her arm listlessly. 'Come on, let's eat.' She still felt tired, but there was fish in the water and fruit on the trees, so they wouldn't have to go far to find something. No, they were keeping to their own rations, weren't they?

Arnella stirred and looked at her blearily. 'What... where?'

'Back at camp.' There was something else. Oh yes: 'Your uncle and Thorrin'll be back. Probably found out...' What had they been doing? Never mind.

They got to their feet and started trudging towards the line of rocks. Then Arnella halted. 'Something wrong,' she said doubtfully.

They looked at each other. They were still naked. Their clothes were where they had left them by the pool. They trudged back for them, though it seemed a very long way. Dressing was complicated work. Fastenings seemed suddenly immensely fiddly, and they almost fell over a couple of times while stepping into their shorts. It should have been funny, but instead it was just deeply and depressingly annoying and a hugely unnecessary effort. Easier not to bother at all, thought Myra. But she persevered doggedly. Eventually, more or less properly clothed, they set out for the camp again.

The rocky headland had grown since they last climbed it an eternity and four hours before. Was it longer to go round wading into the shallows or to cut through the lowest cleft? The decision made Myra's head ache. Then Arnella began climbing and she followed because it was easier that way.

Halfway up Myra missed her footing and slipped.

Normally she could have saved herself, but there was something wrong about the speed everything happened, both in a dreamy slow motion and yet at the same time too fast for her to react. She cracked her right s.h.i.+n hard against a projecting rock before she thudded into the yielding sand. Her skin was tougher than a human's, and so the physical damage was slight. But the pain was still considerable, and as she lay on the sand she gave loud voice to a choice series of curses.

Then she clamped her lips shut as she realised what had happened... Arnella was looking down at her with vague concern.

'Are you all right?' she mumbled, slurring her words.

Myra leapt to her feet, savouring the wonderful pain in her leg that had shocked the fog from her mind. 'What the h.e.l.l have we been doing?' she demanded. Arnella gaped back at her with slack-jawed incomprehension. Myra shook her so hard her teeth clicked, her claws digging into Arnella's flesh until she whimpered. But the light of awareness had returned to her eyes.'Don't let it get you again!' she commanded.

Arnella managed to focus oner. 'I I... I couldn't think clearly...

what was it?'

'I don't know, but we're not waiting around to find out. Let's find the others and get out of here!'

They scrambled back up the rocks and down the other side, jumping the last few metres and rolling in the sand. Myra felt her leg protest again, but that was good: it meant she was alive and not half dead. They sprinted back towards the camp. Falstaff was where they had left him, while Brockwell was sitting with his back to the tent, which was still erect, toying with its packing bag as though unsure what to do with it.

Myra and Arnella yelled, and pummelled and slapped the two men into some semblance of alertness. Even in their panic Myra noticed a flash of genuine concern on Arnella's face as she forced herself to slap Brockwell on the cheek. Brockwell's expression as he came to and realised who was striking him was also worth treasuring, but she had no time to dwell on it for the moment.

'Finish the packing while I get the others,' she commanded.

'Watch each other like gyrehawks! The moment anybody looks dopey hit them!' And she sprinted off down the beach towards the shanty village, focusing her mind totally on finding the Marquis and Thorrin, and letting the ache in her leg stimulate her anger with every step.

The two were easy to find. They were resting in the shade of a rough awning strung from the shack they had visited the previous night. Sitting beside them were a ragged grey-haired woman (how long had she been here?) and a couple of other men.

Bowls and cups made out of the half-sh.e.l.ls of tree nuts were littered about them. Please don't let them be drunk as well, Myra thought. There was no time for half-measures. She s.n.a.t.c.hed up two full cups and dashed the contents into their faces, then began the slapping and pummelling.

'Hey... what you doing?' One of the others was looking at her in vague bemus.e.m.e.nt. 'We were jus' drinking...' It hurt to see someone so enfeebled, but she could hardly dare to divide her attentions any further. Ignoring him she continued to work on rousing Thorrin and the Marquis.

When they began to respond she hauled them to their feet and sent them stumbling back in confusion towards their own camp, followed by the dull listless gazes of half a dozen lost ones who slouched in the shelter of their shacks. They met Arnella, Brockwell, and Falstaff pounding along the sands in the opposite direction with all their belongings. Barely pausing to sling their packs properly, they splashed out across the mud flats and away from the island.

Gribbs flung open the door to Peri's cabin.

'Out!' he commanded sharply. There was a look of fearful uncertainty on his face. Before she could rise from her bunk he had grabbed her arm and hauled her upright.

'Hey!' she yelped in pain and surprise, as he dragged her along the main corridor to the control cabin. 'What's wrong?'

'I can't raise Qwaid! If you're precious Doctor has pulled something, then he's going to hear you suffer!'

Qwaid was roused by his comm link beeping with shrill urgency 'Yar... wa.s.sat?'

'I've been calling and calling.' came Gribbs's voice, heavy with relief. 'What's the matter with you?'

The girl's voice cut in: 'Doctor, are you all right? Please answer -' She broke off with a loud yelp and there came the sound of a smack on flesh.

'Shut up, you!' he heard Gribbs shout. There was another smack and cry from the girl. 'Stay there and don't move, or else I'll make you wish you'd never been born!'

The commotion seemed to have roused the Doctor. He was wring blearily at the comm link, then around at their camp and Drorgon's still form slumped on the rock above. Then he leaned forward and slapped Qwaid twice - hard.

The stinging blows jolted Qwaid. He reeled backward, reaching for his holster. 'Why you -'

'That's right - stay angry!' The Doctor's fresh boyish face was flushed, his deep eyes intense, his voice urgent and commanding. 'If we stay angry we can fight it!'

'What in h.e.l.l -'

'Think how we've been behaving since dawn! We've been falling into a trap! Either something in the air itself or a mental field, inducing a state similar to the aftereffects of intoxication. Loss of concentration, reduced response to external stimuli, introversion, and extreme lethargy. We were becoming lotus caters!'

Qwaid fought to clear his head. It was true: he had been feeling a little strange. 'Who... what?'

'Never mind. Just stay angry! Pinch yourself, bite your tongue!

If we don't get clear right now we may never escape.' He scrabbled around for a fist-sized rock, forced himself to his feet and threw it up at Drorgon. There was an angry yell of pain. The Doctor picked up another rock and threw it after the first.

Drorgon slid down the slope along with a minor avalanche of pebbles, his fangs bared, growling in anger.

'It's all right, Dro,' Qwaid snapped. 'He had to wake you.

Something's been getting to us, into our minds, like we was drugged. We gotta get out of here fast. Gribbsy!' he shouted into the link. 'Get the s.h.i.+p up. Use the scope to find us the quickest way through this place.'

'OK, got ya,' Gribbs replied.

'Peri?' the Doctor shouted out as they s.n.a.t.c.hed up their packs, 'keep talking. Don't let us drift off again!'

Her voice came back tremulously. 'I understand... but what shall I say?'

'Anything! Any outside stimuli to remind us what we're meant to be doing!'

'OK... right. Well... er, Gribbs is punching a lot of b.u.t.tons...

and the controls are lighting up... OK, I'm strapping myself into the spare seat... oh, there go the rockets, or whatever they are.

We're rising... uh... it feels like an express elevator. I can see the pyramid and the wood dropping away under us. We must be a mile up already. There's the plain... all hazy and s.h.i.+mmering. We should be able to see where you are soon...'

Qwaid, Drorgon, and the Doctor ran from between the rocks and out across the mud flats. In the far distance were the specks of figures crossing the flats away from the large island. Qwaid focused his binoculars as they ran.

'They're in a hurry. Wonder if they were caught like us.'

'Where are we going?' Brockwell asked as they splashed through the mud.

'Away from that place,' said Myra determinedly.

'But how do we know this is the right way?'

'We'll chance it. Do you want to stay here any longer trying to get directions out of those poor drossers?'

'Is that a darker line... on the horizon ahead?'Thorrin panted.

Brockwell narrowed his eyes. 'Yes... I think so, Professor. Higher ground, maybe?'

'That'll do as well as anywhere,' said Myra.

'It's no use, Qwaid,' Gribbs said. 'All I can see beyond the plain is haze, even through the scope filters.'

'Well overfly us then,' Qwaid ordered.

There was a pause, then Gribbs's voice came back unsteadily.

'I can't... make it happen. Like in the pyramid when we tried to pull the triggers. I'm trying to move the 'stick forward... but I can't.'

"The Gelsandorans are making sure we play the game by their rules, the Doctor observed.

'Try harder!' Qwaid shouted into the comm link. In the distance Thorrin's party had disappeared behind an island, and if they lost their tracks he knew they couldn't afford the time picking them up again. What would happen if they were here for another night and started to get tired?

'Its no good, Peri's voice cut in. 'I can see him trying, but he simply can't make his hands work properly.'

'All right,' Qwaid relented. 'We'll just have to do the best we can for ourselves. Put the s.h.i.+p down again.'

'But how do I get to you when you've found the treasure?'

Gribbs asked.

'Then we'll have won. No need to play any more tricks on us.'

'OK, I hope so. I'll just -'

'Attention, attention!'

A loud voice had issued from the control-cabin speakers and echoed clearly over the comm link. As he heard the harsh crisp tones, Qwaid stumbled to a halt, the colour draining from his face.

The voice was unmistakably Alpha's.

In the Falcon's Falcon's control room Peri saw Gribbs struck rigid; an expression of utter horror distorted his features. The unknown grating voice continued. control room Peri saw Gribbs struck rigid; an expression of utter horror distorted his features. The unknown grating voice continued.

"Ibis is a time-coded recording. As I have not reset this system for a significant interval, I must a.s.sume some misfortune has befallen me and this s.h.i.+p is being operated without my approval.

To ensure no one profits from my incapacitation or untimely demise, I have installed a cutout circuit in the Falcon Falcon which will render all systems inoperative until freed by a certain code known only to myself.' which will render all systems inoperative until freed by a certain code known only to myself.'

And all the lights on the control board went out and a moment later the hum of the thrusters faded away.

The Falcon's Falcon's nose dropped and it began to fall freely. Peri's stomach tried to climb into her throat and she swallowed to prevent herself throwing up. Terrified, Gribbs stabbed desperately at b.u.t.tons on the control board, but nothing worked. nose dropped and it began to fall freely. Peri's stomach tried to climb into her throat and she swallowed to prevent herself throwing up. Terrified, Gribbs stabbed desperately at b.u.t.tons on the control board, but nothing worked.

The wooded landscape of Gelsandor spun below them, growing larger by the second as they dropped out of the sky.

CHAPTER 16.

A FRIEND IN NEED.

The shrill whine of air speeding over the hull began to penetrate the control cabin. Through the forward ports Peri saw the green forest canopy rus.h.i.+ng up to meet them. She heard both Qwaid and the Doctor shouting over the comm link but could not make her mouth shape any words of reply.

Gribbs suddenly ceased to stab at the useless controls, reached up over his head with both hands, grasped the raised bar of the headrest, and pulled forward and down sharply. A transparent tinted canopy unfolded out of the seat frame, covering his head and shoulders. With a sharp crack of exploding bolts, a section of cabin roof above his chair blew outwards, letting in white light and a blast of shrieking air. A telescoping guide rail sprang up from the back of his chair and through the open panel in the roof. A rocket charge ignited with a bang and a roar, and Gribbs and his ejector seat were blasted upward through the hatch and into the blue sky beyond in a cloud of smoke.

Peri gaped at the empty s.p.a.ce beside her, then at the treetops that were beginning to blur across the viewport. She reached up, grasped and pulled.

The bolts cracked, the guide rail thudded, the seat charge ignited. For a moment she felt as though her spine was going to collapse under the acceleration. Then there was light around her and a shocking smack of racing air striking the front of her body and tearing at her clothes. The rocket charge cut and she tumbled freely for a second in silence. Then there came a vibration and a snapping of fabric, a jerk and a bounce and a gradual swaying motion.