Doctor Who: The Mutation of Time Page 11

  As they arrived at the rendezvous point, the Red Dalek turned to Mavic Chen. ‘You will take the Taranium core.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  The Red Dalek spun to face the prisoners. ‘There will be no movement from you until the handover is completed.’

  ‘It’s not being done on your terms,’ the Monk muttered softly. ‘Why don’t you just shut up?’ As the eye-stick rested on him, though, his small defiance was shed, and he smiled beatifically at the Dalek.

  ‘I can see you all,’ came the Doctor’s voice. ‘You will move when I tell you, and as I tell you.’ He was crouched behind one of the stone blocks, clutching the Taranium core in his hand. ‘Mavic Chen!’

  ‘Yes, Doctor?’

  ‘Walk towards me.’ The Doctor saw that the traitor started towards him. The Red Dalek began to follow. ‘The Dalek will stand still!’ Reluctantly, the Dalek did so. Chen crossed the ground to join the Doctor, and held out his hand. ‘I am now handing the core to Mavic Chen!’ the Doctor called out. He gave the core over, but retained his grip with one hand. The other held his stick, ready to strike down Chen if there was any sign of treachery. Together, they moved into the open.

  ‘You will now release your prisoners!’ the Doctor ordered. ‘When they move away, I will bring the core to you.’

  ‘Don’t trust them, Doctor!’ Steven cried.

  The Red Dalek spun to face him. ‘Move away!’ it commanded.

  The three of them did so, heading for the safety of the stones. Still both holding the core, Mavic Chen and the Doctor began to walk slowly towards the waiting Dalek.

  Everything was in position, and Hyksos yelled: ‘Now! Attack!’

  Several of the Egyptian troops jumped from their hiding places, and began to dash towards the Dalek, the most dangerous foe. The Red Dalek raised its gun and fired. One soldier, briefly outlined in the radiation flare, screamed and died.

  Taking advantage of the Doctor’s shocked response to the unexpected attack, Mavic Chen tugged the core free of the Doctor’s grip, pushed at the old man, and then dashed back towards the Dalek time-machine. The Doctor fell, and then hastily clambered to his feet, aiming to chase him. Before he could, Steven grabbed hold of him.

  ‘Doctor! Back to the TARDIS!’

  ‘Mavic Chen!’ the Doctor gasped, struggling unsuccessfully to free himself from Steven’s grip. He was dragged back towards the tomb and away from the fighting.

  Hyksos watched as the Dalek backed off slightly, and waved his men into the attack. The war machine was almost in the right position now... the Dalek fired again, and another of the soldiers screamed and died.

  ‘Now!’ Hyksos shouted to his men atop the blocks, as the Dalek backed closer in. On his signal, the soldiers started to pelt the fire-demon with large rocks.

  As the first rock smashed against it, the Red Dalek began to panic. The primitive spears and knives could not harm it, but the rocks were another matter. Signalling its hidden forces, it called: ‘I am under attack! I am under attack!’ It fired in all directions, but Hyksos’s exposed troops had dived for cover. The men above the Dalek continued to drop their stock of rocks on to it while it could not fire up at them. One rock crashed down on the Dalek’s gun-stick, breaking it. In a shower of sparks, it ceased to function. Panicking now, the Dalek repeated its cries for help.

  The six Daleks that had begun their encircling of the area abruptly changed their courses, and instead began to converge on the site of the battle. ‘It was a trap,’ the patrol leader decided. ‘Exterminate the time-travellers!’

  Steven was having trouble dragging the Doctor back towards the TARDIS. ‘We’ve got to go back!’ the old man insisted, stubbornly.

  ‘We can’t, Doctor, we can’t!’ Steven exclaimed. It would be suicide to try to break through the Egyptian troops and then the Dalek forces. At that moment, Sara turned up, and also grabbed the Doctor.

  ‘All right, all right!’ He yielded extremely reluctantly to their insistence, and together they raced towards the entrance of the pyramid.

  In all the action, none of them had realized that the Monk was no longer with them. While he was grateful that the Doctor had included him in the deal, the Monk had very little desire to hang around and thank him. Taking advantage of the noise and confusion, he slipped off and started to hare back to his own TARDIS.

  The Red Dalek was in serious trouble now. The rocks had smashed its casing, damaging many of the circuits. It could no longer move, as the rocks continued to pile up about it. Another good blow shattered its eye-stick, and its cries for help were becoming weaker.

  ‘It cannot move!’ Hyksos called. ‘Bring larger blocks!’ The troops that had hidden themselves emerged again, carrying slabs of stone. They used these to pound away at the Red Dalek’s casing, and to pile up around it. The noises and motion from inside the shell slowly died away.

  Once they had regained the passage inside the pyramid that lead to the sarcophagus room, the Doctor, Steven and Sara paused to catch their breath.

  ‘You did it, Doctor,’ Steven grinned. ‘You did it again.’

  ‘I’m afraid not, young man,’ the Doctor answered, grimly.

  Puzzled, Sara asked: ‘Then what went wrong?’

  ‘The Daleks got the real Taranium core this time.’ Seeing Sara’s horrified expression, the Doctor nodded glumly. ‘I wanted to go after it at first, but it would have been hopeless. Hopeless!’

  ‘But...’ Sara felt the universe unravelling about her. ‘Now the Daleks will win – there’s nothing to stop them!’

  ‘Except this,’ the Doctor replied, softly, taking the small circuit section from his pocket and showing it to his companions.

  What is it?’ Steven asked.

  ‘One of several emergency measures that I took,’ the Doctor informed him. ‘It’s a directional unit from the Monk’s TARDIS.’

  ‘Directional...’ Sara mused, and then understood what the Doctor meant. It wasn’t over yet! ‘Then we can get back to Kembel!’

  ‘Perhaps,’ the Doctor cautioned. ‘Perhaps!’

  At that moment, there was a sound from behind them, at the top of the passageway. All three glanced towards it. ‘Back to the TARDIS!’ the Doctor hissed, leading the way at a run.

  At the mouth of the tunnel, Khephren smiled grimly to himself. The old man and his two friends, the first looters, were all inside. He gestured to the slaves. ‘Seal off the tomb’ If they wanted the treasures so badly, let them have them – for now. In a matter of days, their air would run out, and they would die, horribly, in the darkness. The pyramid could then be unblocked to receive the Pharaoh’s body. It would have three spirits waiting to show it the way to the underworld...

  Obediently, the slaves started their work, bringing up loose rubble and stones, and then the larger rocks to finish the task of closing up the entrance.

  The Monk, robes up around his knees, ran as fast as he could imagine until he reached the spot where he had left his TARDIS. Then he halted in shock. Instead of a stone block, he saw a police telephone box, incongruously perched in the desert.

  ‘It’s that Doctor again!’ he muttered to himself. ‘What’s he been up to this time?’ He reached out and touched the ship cautiously. It wouldn’t have been beyond the Doctor to have left him a few more little surprises yet...

  At that moment, two of the Daleks from the patrol sighted him. Seeing the obvious shape of the Doctor’s TARDIS, and a figure by it, they drew exactly the incorrect assumption that the Doctor had intended them to. ‘It is one of the time-travellers!’ a Dalek grated. ‘Exterminate!’

  The Monk threw his caution about what the Doctor might or might not have done to the winds. With a remarkable turn of speed, he shot through the door and slammed it behind him. As the Daleks fired, he was safe. In the glare of their beams, the Daleks could make out the police box fading, and then vanishing away from sight.

  The patrol leader arrived as the TARDIS vanished. ‘They have escaped!’ it grated. ‘We shall c
ontinue the pursuit. The Taranium core must be recovered – and the time-travellers annihilated!’

  At that moment, Mavic Chen arrived, his chest heaving with the strain of out-racing the Egyptian troops. The patrol leader spun to face him. ‘Mavic Chen – you have failed again!’

  Another of the Daleks raised its gun-stick. ‘Exterminate!’

  ‘Failed?’ Chen echoed. ‘But I have it!’ He held out the core. ‘I have it here. Look!’

  The patrol leader moved forward, and examined the core carefully. Then it focused on Chen. ‘You have succeeded. Return to the time-machine. We shall return to Kembel immediately!’

  Khephren watched as the slaves placed the final block in position, and then smiled. ‘Now the King’s treasures are safe – for ever!’

  Back in the TARDIS once more, Sara watched on the scanner as the last block slid into place. Darkness settled outside. Shuddering in horror, she whispered: ‘They’ve blocked us in. Doctor, we’re trapped!’

  The Doctor was engaged in wiring the directional unit he had stolen from the Monk into his own circuits. He seemed not to be worried at all by the latest catastrophe. Steven touched Sara on the arm. ‘Don’t interrupt him – he’s busy.’

  ‘What’s the point if we’re sealed in?’ Sara asked bitterly.

  ‘Don’t worry about that,’ the Doctor finally offered. ‘The TARDIS can move through solid matter without any problem at all. We travel through the dimension of time, as well as that of space, remember?’ He examined his handiwork critically. ‘Dear, dear – this part is from a Mark Four TARDIS.’

  ‘Isn’t it going to work?’ Steven asked, anxiously.

  ‘There are two possibilities.’ The Doctor steepled his hands together, and rested his chin on them. ‘One – yes, it will work. Two – not so pleasant, I’m afraid – that the increased energy demand of this circuit will smash the TARDIS utterly to pieces.’

  That was hardly encouraging, and Sara had another disquieting thought. ‘What about the Daleks? If we do get back to Kembel, won’t they be able to track us there?’

  ‘I think not.’ The Doctor smiled. ‘I suspect that they will be tracking something else instead.’ His smile grew larger as he saw the puzzled expression on the faces of his young friends. ‘While I was taking this unit, I took the liberty of changing the Monk’s TARDIS into a police box.’

  ‘Like yours?’ Sara realized, and then started to laugh. ‘So the Daleks will be tracking his ship, and not us!’

  ‘Quite so, quite so,’ the Doctor agreed, chuckling at the thought of his own brilliance.

  ‘Well, I hope that the Daleks don’t catch the Monk,’ Steven said.

  Considering how hostile Steven had been towards the Monk, Sara found his sudden concern surprising. ‘Even after all the trouble he’s caused?’ she asked.

  ‘I shouldn’t worry about it,’ the Doctor said. ‘He’s probably well on his way by now.’

  Steven looked thoughtful, then finally asked: ‘Will he be back for his revenge again?’

  ‘Perhaps some day,’ the Doctor mused. ‘Though I hope he’ll grow out of the desire for it. But he’s got another problem now. You see, by taking his directional unit, I’ve set him adrift in time and space – he’ll never be able to find us again!’

  Within the Dalek time-machine, everything was well organized. Mavic Chen hovered about the main panel as the Daleks powered up the ship for the leap through time and space. In his hand he still held the vital Taranium core.

  ‘Course for Kembel has now been computed,’ the technician reported to the patrol leader. Since the destruction of the Red Dalek, the patrol leader had taken command.

  ‘Have all preparations for take-off been made?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then activate the units,’ the leader ordered. The technician obeyed. With its usual whispering sound, the Dalek time machine faded from the Egyptian sands.

  Outside the pyramid, Khephren and Tuthmos rejoined Hyksos. The Red Dalek was long since buried under a small mountain of rocks.

  ‘Most of the unused building materials can be used,’ Tuthmos was explaining.

  ‘Yes,’ agreed Khephren, slowly. ‘The war machine will never again be free to wreak destruction on our people.’

  ‘But what if the Pharaoh feels that a mound of rocks will be inappropriate for the site of the House of Eternity?’ Hyksos growled. ‘He might order their removal.’

  ‘I shall order my skilled masons to work on the stones,’ Khephren informed him. ‘The rocks will be shaped into a monument to celebrate our victory over the robbers and murderers who stole among us. We shall shape the mountain into a guardian of the Great Pyramid.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Hyksos said, practically. ‘You have a shape in mind?’

  ‘Have you heard of the legend of the Sphinx?’ Khephren asked.

  Within the TARDIS, the mood was a lot gloomier. The Doctor straightened up, and surveyed the results with Steven and Sara.

  ‘Finished?’ Steven asked, dreading the possible answers.

  ‘Yes,’ the Doctor replied slowly. ‘Unfortunately, there’s no way of testing it.’

  ‘Except by using it,’ Sara finished.

  ‘Quite.’ The Doctor looked at them both with considerable concern and affection. ‘You do both agree that it is essential that we try to return to Kembel?’

  Sara and Steven exchanged glances. ‘There’s no question of that,’ Sara answered, firmly. She had to defeat the Dalek invasion plans now, more than ever. It was the only way that she could lay the ghost within her mind.

  ‘You do understand,’ the Doctor persisted, ‘that we are taking a terrible risk?’

  ‘But we do have a chance,’ Sara replied.

  ‘Yes, my dear – a chance!’

  ‘Then you can save your breath, Doctor,’ Steven broke in, just as determined. ‘We all know that we have to try.’

  The Doctor nodded slowly at this, and moved forward. Standing at the console, he waved both of his companions back as he laid in the time and space co-ordinates for Kembel. Finally, taking a deep breath, he threw the switch that started the drive.

  There was the usual horrible grinding sound of dematerialization – followed a second later by a terrific explosion that flung the Doctor away from the panel. There was a huge flash, and then total, utter silence.

  Chapter 11

  The Abandoned Planet

  The Dalek time-machine rematerialized on the planet Kembel in the main control area of the Dalek city. The Daleks on duty turned to face it, and the city administrator moved to the entrance. Mavic Chen and the patrol leader emerged from the cube.

  ‘The Dalek Supreme awaits your full report,’ the administrator said.

  ‘The mission was a success,’ the patrol leader replied.

  This was insufficient for Mavic Chen, who was expecting a hero’s welcome rather than a terse, one-line comment. ‘The Time Destructor can now be completed,’ he announced. ‘With this Taranium, the Universe will be ours. With my guile and cunning, I have been able to recover it for our Alliance. I have earned an equal partnership with the Daleks.’

  The administrator ignored him, and turned to the patrol leader. ‘Are you certain it is the real core?’

  ‘Of course,’ Mavic Chen answered. ‘I had it examined while we were in flight. It is ready to be taken to the Time Destructor.’ He paused, and glowered darkly at them. ‘I hope that the Daleks will not suffer any more setbacks which could upset the plan.’

  Addressing the patrol leader, the administrator ordered: ‘Take charge of the core.’

  ‘No!’ Mavic Chen disagreed. He smiled as he spoke, but there was an edge to his voice. ‘I – Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System – will present it personally to the Black Dalek.’ He started off, and then paused to look back at the two Daleks. ‘There was some doubt expressed as to my loyalty to the great invasion plan. I intend to savour the moment of gratitude.’

  ‘The final members of the Galactic Council await you,’
the administrator informed him.

  ‘I shall go and address them,’ Chen said, arrogantly. ‘ Presently.’ He marched out of the room.

  The patrol leader watched him leave, and then his eye-stick moved to cover the administrator. ‘Conquest of such people will present us with little difficulty.’

  ‘His arrogance and greed leave him with no further use for us,’ the administrator grated. ‘Alert the Council to attend their final meeting.’

  ‘I obey.’ The patrol leader also left the room. The administrator spun to face the technician, which was organizing the powering-down of the Dalek time-machine.

  ‘Were the humans eliminated?’

  ‘No,’ the technician answered. ‘They are no longer a threat to our plan. Our instruments tracked their time and space craft, but pursuit would have resulted in delay.’

  ‘Understood.’ The administrator considered for a moment. ‘The task-force is to disembark. The Dalek Supreme has arranged for a final conference before the invasion begins. The task-force will be required then.’

  The Dalek administrator spun and left the room. Matters were under way. With the recovery of the Taranium core, the Time Destructor could be prepared for use. The Doctor had apparently abandoned his attempts to interfere with the Daleks’ masterplan – a wise decision that might save him his life – for a short while longer.

  Steven groaned as he regained consciousness. Rubbing the back of his head, he opened his eyes and looked around. There was a pall of smoke still over the central console, and the charred ruins of the Monk’s directional guidance unit. Steven clambered to his feet, and checked Sara. She was coming round, so he helped her to sit up, and then went over to the Doctor. Aiding the old man to his feet, Steven asked: ‘What happened?’

  Wafting his handkerchief over the console to dispel the last of the smoke, the Doctor indicated the burned-out unit. ‘Exactly what I was afraid of,’ he replied, between coughs. ‘The newer unit required a higher energy rate – higher than the output of the TARDIS.’