Doctor Who: Mission to the Unknown Read online

  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 assault. 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 ,’ the Doctor agreed with a chuckle. ‘But we can see other things. A sheet of glass 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.

  ‘Quiet!’ the Doctor hissed, holding up his hands. They listened. All about them, the bushes were rustling, as invisible shapes moved through them. ‘They’re coming.’

  The bushes parted as the Visian war party slipped into the clearing, ready for their attack. Before they could move, though, the bushes shook again. Then, from behind the Visians, a burst of fire turned the atmosphere bright. Screaming, several of the Visians must have died under the withering fire. The remainder whirled and fled.

  Before the Doctor, Steven and Sara could move, the Dalek patrol emerged from the undergrowth, their guns trained on the trio. The patrol leader moved slightly ahead of the rest.

  ‘You will come with us,’ it ordered.

  As calmly as he was able, the Doctor glanced at his two young companions. ‘I’m afraid, my friends,’ he sighed, ‘the Daleks have won.’

  Chapter 14

  Desperate Measures

  The Visians regrouped a short distance away, glaring towards the Daleks with hatred and fear in almost equal parts in their hearts. Matters had seemed bad enough when the three strange intruders had appeared earlier. Three more mouths competing for the scarce food was bad enough, but at least those creatures had not killed anyone. The new arrivals – the metallic beings – had slain several of the Visians already. To the frightened, invisible creatures, this clearly meant only one thing: the latest arrivals were intending to take over the whole foraging area by wiping out the tribe!

  The leader of the Visians whispered its instructions about. They were naturally a quiet people, since loud voices would have offset the advantages given them by their invisibility. ‘We will surround these new invaders,’ it hissed. ‘Then we shall attack them and destroy them!’

  The gathered Visians took up the quiet, intent refrain: ‘Attack! Attack! Attack!’

  The Dalek patrol leader moved forward slightly, and faced the old man, the ringleader of the thieves. ‘You will hand over the Taranium core,’ it ordered.

  The Doctor raised an eyebrow, and sneered down his nose at the Dalek. He had beaten the Daleks many times in the past, and he refused to admit that they might really have won. He had spoken earlier only to prevent their opening fire on his companions. Gripping his lapels, he said: ‘And if I do – what guarantee do I have that you won’t shoot us down immediately afterwards?’

  ‘There is no guarantee!’ the Dalek grated.

  The Dalek with the perceptor moved forwards, its device pointing directly at the Doctor and registering strongly. ‘This one is carrying the Taranium core.’

  ‘You will give it to us,’ th
e patrol leader commanded.

  ‘Doctor,’ Sara cried, stepping towards him. ‘Don’t!’

  The Dalek’s eye-stick swung around to cover her. ‘Silence! You will not speak.’

  The Doctor stepped forwards, shielding both Steven and Sara to some degree. ‘You cannot fire,’ he said, smugly. ‘You may damage the Taranium. As a way of ending this stalemate, might I suggest...’

  ‘There will be no further discussion,’ the Dalek snapped. It swung to indicate Steven and Sara. ‘These two are of no consequence. Destroy them!’

  The Daleks began to spread out about the three travellers, bringing their weapons to bear. The Doctor’s mind raced, trying to think of some way out of this situation. Both Steven and Sara backed away slightly, trying to see some avenue of escape that the Daleks had overlooked. There was none.

  Suddenly, a whispering, frantic horde of sticks and stones came hurtling down towards the Daleks. The Visians had built up their courage while the Daleks’ attention was elsewhere. They rushed into the attack, screeching, and smashing with whatever they could lay their hands on.

  Taken by surprise, the Daleks spun round to counter-attack. One Dalek’s eye-stick was smashed. Panicking, it began firing random bursts, yelling: ‘Cannot see! Cannot see!’ Most of the rocks and sticks did little damage, however, beyond denting the Dalek casings somewhat. Invisible claws grappled at the Daleks, and one was dragged by three Visians into a pool of the viscous mud, and pushed into it, face down. With a foul stench of escaping gases, the Dalek sank from sight.

  ‘The invisible creatures must be exterminated!’ the patrol leader ordered, rather unnecessarily, since the Daleks had already begun firing. ‘They must not be allowed to interfere!’

  Seizing their chance, the Doctor, Sara and Steven dashed off into the jungle. The Visians must have seen them, but had correctly identified the Daleks as the greater danger, to be settled first.

  The battle was very short-lived. The Daleks simply moved together into a tight circle, their guns facing out-wards. They then began to fire heavy bursts in all directions. Screams and the crash of falling bodies proved that the Visians were suffering heavy losses. Finally, the few demoralized survivors fled into the jungle.

  ‘Cease firing,’ the patrol leader ordered.

  ‘They have been driven off,’ the perceptor Dalek observed. ‘Or exterminated.’

  ‘Search for the fugitives,’ the leader responded. ‘They have no means of escape from this planet. They must be annihilated!’

  Breaking into small groups, the Daleks began to fan out from the clearing, searching for traces of the escaped captives.

  Fighting to regain their breath, Sara, Steven and the Doctor had paused some distance away. They heard no signs of pursuit as yet. ‘Can’t hear anything now,’ Sara gasped.

  ‘It was a quick battle,’ Steven replied grimly. ‘I think we all know who won.’

  The Doctor nodded, clutching at his side as he struggled to regain his composure. ‘Yes, the Daleks will be following our trail. If we want to get away from this planet, we must move very fast – very fast indeed!’ He started off again.

  Sara glanced at Steven, puzzled. ‘How do we get off this planet?’ He shrugged; the Doctor would let them know his plan in his own sweet time. Till then, all they could do was to follow him.

  It was quite intolerable. The Black Dalek glared down at the communications area with increased disgust. A servitor moved forward. The Black Dalek snapped: ‘Are the fugitives still avoiding the Dalek patrols?’

  ‘Yes. There has been no further contact with them.’

  ‘Their recapture is simply a matter of time,’ the Black Dalek stated. ‘There is no avenue of escape for them from Mira!’ Though certain that this was true, the fact that the thieves of the core had already eluded capture on two other worlds gave the Black Dalek pause. These three humans were not typical of their species. Few had ever lived so long with such a pursuit force after them. It was as if they were used to the Dalek methods – and that was surely impossible! Humans had had no contact with the Daleks now for several centuries, and humans could not survive such a length of time. They could not know the Dalek ways – could they?

  Exactly as the Doctor had suspected, the Dalek saucer lay in another of the small clearings. The heavy casings of the Daleks had sunk several inches into the Miran mud, and the trail had been simple to backtrack to this point. Hidden in the bushes, the three travellers peered out at the Dalek ship. It was a classic saucer shape, with a raised dome. Below, the ship stood on long legs. A central pod hung below the body, the exit door still open. From the door, a ramp led to the ground.

  At the top of the ramp stood a Dalek guard.

  The Doctor chuckled to himself, and gestured. ‘There seems to be only one Dalek guard!’

  Sara nodded, thoughtfully. ‘So we take their ship to escape!’ she breathed in admiration. ‘Right, the best way to do it is to rush that guard from three sides at once.’

  ‘Huh!’ Steven snorted. ‘Best way!’

  Before Sara could retort, the Doctor held up a cautioning hand. ‘Steven’s right, my dear. There’s a far better way. That Dalek could shoot us all down before we got anywhere near it. I have a plan. Just remember that the Dalek sees through that eye-stick on the top of its dome, and it cannot react faster than that stick can move! Now, Steven, this is what I want you to do...’

  The Doctor hastily outlined his plan for the others. When he was certain that they had grasped it, he nodded, and moved off through the bushes. Sara glanced at Steven, unhappy over the plan.

  ‘I don’t like it,’ she admitted. ‘I still favour a frontal attack.’

  ‘That’s because you’ve not dealt with the Daleks before,’ he answered. ‘We have no option but to follow the Doctor’s plans. He knows what he’s doing.’ Privately, Steven hoped that the Doctor really did know what he was doing...

  The guard Dalek moved slowly backwards and forwards at the top of the ramp, awaiting the return of the patrol, or fresh instructions. It had been doing this for several hours, patiently, and nothing had happened. Suddenly, its sensors located something moving.

  It looked around, and saw the elderly human move slowly from the trees. The creature did not seem to be armed in any way, but the Dalek levelled its gun in case. ‘Remain where you are!’ it commanded.

  ‘Certainly,’ the Doctor agreed cheerfully. He considered raising his arms, but that was such a tiring position in which to stand. Instead, he let them fall to his side, clearly empty. ‘I have come to give myself up.’

  The Dalek glided down the ramp towards him, cautiously. ‘Are you the being with the Taranium core?’

  ‘I am,’ the Doctor replied. ‘I realized how foolish I was being, that I am naturally no match for the Daleks. I will give you back the core, in exchange for your taking myself and my friends away from this wretched world.’

  The Dalek examined the Doctor, thoughtfully. What the alien had said made perfect sense to it. The mention of the friends reminded the Dalek that there were two more of the aliens. ‘Where are the others?’ it asked.

  Gesturing behind himself, the Doctor said: ‘Over here, in the bushes. They will come when I call.’

  Again, this was logical – but still the guard was suspicious. Why had the human so suddenly come to its senses? Was there some kind of trickery involved? It started to scan the bushes, slowly turning its head to do in. The Doctor began to sweat, because Steven was creeping up from behind the Dalek, a handful of mud ready to be used as a weapon. If the Dalek spun about much more...

  ‘Here!’ the Doctor said, suddenly, reaching towards his pocket. ‘I will give you the Taranium core.’

  At this, the Dalek’s attention returned firmly to the Doctor, much to Steven’s relief. The Doctor drew out the box containing the core, and held it slightly out.

  ‘Do you wish me to hand it to you?’ he asked, smiling. his most beatific smile. ‘Or would you rather I took it aboard your ship, mmm?’


  The guard considered the matter. ‘You will wait there until the patrol returns,’ it decided. ‘Tell the others to join you. If you make any attempt to escape...’

  ‘Escape?’ the Doctor interrupted, waving the thought airily away. ‘You seem to forget that we came here and surrendered of our own free will!’

  At that moment, Steven was close enough. He leaped for the Dalek, his hand slapping the mud over the eye-stick. The Dalek’s head swivelled as it sought blindly for the source of the attack. Steven gave it a push, spinning the body so that if it fired, it would not hit the Doctor. Then he sprinted after the Doctor and Sara up the Dalek boarding ramp.

  ‘Halt!’ the guard screamed. ‘Halt!’ It fired, randomly, in a number of directions. It had no way of telling what – if anything – it was hitting, but this was all that it could do.

  ‘Cease firing!’ the patrol leader ordered, as it emerged from the jungle with the rest of the Daleks. ‘Otherwise we will sustain damage.’

  Obediently, the guard stopped. ‘The fugitives are aboard the pursuit ship,’ it informed its superior.

  The patrol leader needed no further information. ‘Board the ship!’ it ordered the patrol. ‘Exterminate the fugitives!’

  The Doctor knew how lucky they were that the Daleks were such remorselessly logical beings. Their control boards were always laid out along much the same lines. He could not read their peculiar, angular script, but had no need to. He had examined a number of Dalek installations and craft during his numerous encounters with them, and was fairly familiar with the design that he faced now.

  Though some of the Daleks possessed mechanical claws on their arm-sticks, most of them were fitted with the suction-cup devices instead. To adapt to those, the Dalek panels were always either touch or light activated. After a few nerve-racking seconds, the Doctor managed to unscramble the design of the control board. He began to power up the ship, building up the drive as fast as he dared. ‘Hurry, Doctor!’ Sara urged.

  He nodded, his fingers flying over the control panels. Steven glanced out of the nearest viewport, and stiffened.