Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen (11 page)

Ray was getting exasperated. ‘But we’ve already explained who they are!’ she cried.

‘Yeah, Lex. Kinda like hitmen from Mars,’ Weismuller said.

Hawk rounded on him with a look of sheer disbelief on his face. ‘You too, Weismuller? Well, let me tell you something – whoever they are, I plan to get even.’

‘Listen!’ said Goronwy. Everyone fell silent. They could hear nothing at first, then it came faintly across the moors

– the thump of the big Vincent. Soon it came into sight.

Burton and Mel, although still whey-faced, were looking excited as the bike slewed to a stop before the others.

‘You got them out, Doctor!’ cried Ray.

‘Well done Doctor,’ said Delta, who knew that it was no simple task to outwit the Bannermen.

‘Yeah, well done Doc,’ Billy joined in as he circled his bike checking for signs of damage.

‘Thank you, but we’re not home and dry yet,’ replied the Doctor, his usual realistic self. ‘We only have a couple of minutes. Ray said that you might have some honey in store, Goronwy?’

‘Only about ten thousand jars, Doctor,’ Goronwy said with some satisfaction.

‘Excellent!’ said the Doctor, springing out of the saddle.

‘Ray and Billy come with me and Goronwy. Mel, could you please get everyone ready to move out. I have just one last thing to do.’

Goronwy led the Doctor into the barn, followed by Ray and Billy.

‘Hey! Would someone mind telling me what is really going on around here,’ said Hawk.

‘Oh! Don’t start that again,’ Mel cried. ‘We’ve told you a trillion times already. Come on. Let’s just do as the Doctor says.’

‘I don’t want any more of your fairy stories. I just want you to level with me,’ Hawk whined.

‘Shut up Hawk. Remember one of our functions is to observe and take note. We’re trained to draw our own conclusions,’ Weismuller whispered to Hawk confidently.

He had almost begun to believe his version of their struggle with the Bannermen and was feeling quite heroic.

Mel started to usher the others into the cottage, their progress punctuated by sounds of hammering and sawing coming from the barn.

On the Bannermen fighter Gavrok stood before his vid screen. The blip had centred and was giving a constant regular pulse, Their quarry had obviously arrived at their destination.

‘Signal has stabilized. Prepare to blast off,’ said Gavrok, confident that the end of his quest was near. The pilot proceeded to flip his switches and the machine’s powerful motors whined into action, The craft shuddered as the thrusters surged, lifting it skywards.

Arrex and Callon carefully parted the screen of pine branches to peer at the small cottage and barn. From this distance it appeared deserted, although there were a number of vehicles parked outside. Arrex put a magnascope to his eye and nodded to Callon. Through a window he could see Delta moving about inside the cottage. Callon snapped several lengths of silver tubing together to form a high-powered sniper’s beam-weapon.

Arrex screwed the magnascope onto the barrel of the weapon and carefully took aim, waiting only for Delta to walk into shot. In the branches above them a squirrel took flight and fled into a hole.

‘Never mind those two worthless idiots. If we can dispose of the Chimeron Queen our leader will have good reason to be pleased with us,’ said Callon.

Arrex nodded in agreement. ‘He may even reward us.’

With that thought in mind they turned to the job in hand.

Inside the cottage they were all unaware of the impending danger. Delta’s daughter was sitting solemnly in her chair, staring into space. Delta was looking through the contents of her knapsack with a worried frown – a tube of the special food was missing. She hoped that the remaining food would be sufficient to see the little girl through her changes.

Burton, ever a calm presence in a crisis, entered with a steaming tea-tray followed by Mel. Hawk and Weismuller were locked in earnest conversation in a dark corner.

Hawk played his trump card. ‘It’s our patriotic duty to call Washington, Weismuller,’ he said.

‘Yeah, well you cau do it Hawk. I ain’t licked yet,’ said Weismuller defiantly. ‘And furthermore, I consider it to be my patriotic duty to see this thing through to the end. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.’ Hawk was about to respond but he never got a chance to open his mouth.

At that precise moment the little girl sprang to her feet and uttered a piercing insect-like trilling. She started to grow, and, shedding her greenish skin, she emerged a moment later about the size of a thirteen-year-old. She had perfectly clear skin with eyes and hair just like her mother’s. Her ‘singing’ went up an octave, causing everyone to clap their hands over their ears.

Delta, who moments before had been standing in front of the window, dived out of sight. She reacted not an instant too soon – the window exploded under the impact of a high-density stream of particles and a great chunk of plaster was kicked out of the opposite wall by the force of the blast.

Crouching under the window, Delta pulled her weapon from her tunic and adopted a two handed firing stance.

Suddenly she leapt up and stood in the window, taking aim at the snipers hiding in the distant trees. She snapped off a couple of quick shots then ducked out of sight again, waiting for the answering fusillade of shots from the woods.

Arrex was lying on the pine needles, his purplish blood seeping into the brown earth. Callon still had his hands clamped over his ears, the Chimeron noise having the effect of paralysing him with pain. He glanced at the cottage and forced his frozen legs into action. Leaving Arrex behind, he staggered away through the pine forest.

Branches cracked all around him as Delta fired another volley from the cottage.

The Chimeron war cry and fusillade of shots brought the Doctor, Billy, Ray and Goronwy rushing from the barn. The Doctor saw Delta standing in the window, her smoking phaser still in her hand. She slowly put her weapon away and was joined by her daughter. The Doctor smiled when he saw the change in the young girl. ‘She saved Delta’s life with her warning cry. She’s entering the singing time,’ he said.

Billy glanced anxiously towards the woods. ‘Do you think there are any more of them?’ he asked.

‘Certainly,’ snapped the Doctor, ‘which is why we should get back to the TARDIS immediately. They could arrive at any time.’ The Doctor raised his voice. ‘Get ready to leave at once!’ he cried. The cottage door opened and Mel appeared, leading the shaken inhabitants.

On board the Bannerman fighter Gavrok snapped a fresh clip into his weapon. The ship’s instruments indicated that they were right above the blipping tracer.

‘Prepare to land,’ he hissed. The pilot locked the craft into

‘DESCEND’ mode.

A strange convoy had assembled outside Goronwy’s cottage. Ray was at the head of the column with the Doctor riding pillion. Behind them was the Vincent with Billy, Delta and her daughter. The final vehicle in the convoy was the Morris, containing Hawk, Weismuller, Burton, Goronwy and Mel. Hawk and Weismuller sat in the front with the others squashed in the back.

‘I see why they call this car a Morris Minor,’ said Weismuller. ‘Next time we’ll go for something a bit bigger

– something more America!’

The Doctor suddenly remembered something. ‘One last touch,’ he muttered. Leaping down from the scooter he took a scarf from around Delta’s neck and stuck it under the closed door of the barn.

He left a scrap of the brightly coloured material projecting from the door and then strode over to the open window of the cottage. He reached in through the window and turned on the radio at full blast.

The Doctor hopped back onto the scooter and gave the signal. ‘Let’s move out!’ he shouted, and the strange convoy started off to the roar of exhausts.

The Bannerman fighter had landed in the corner of the field. The hatch flew open and Gavrok and six of his armed cohorts sprang out. Gavrok stared angrily around, searching for his quarry. ‘What’s this?’ he growled. A terrified Bannerman handed him the portable blip screen.

An unmoving dot appeared on the screen. It equated with a spotted goat which was quietly chewing on a length of twine in the corner of the field. Gavrok strode over to the goat. There, around its neck, was the silver tracker dart, tied in place with a neat pink ribbon. He snatched it off and stared at the dart in his hand.

Gavrok’s face slowly grew purple with rage. He spun around looking for someone to blame. Not wanting to catch Gavrok’s eye his men stared intently at imaginary objects on the ground.

Callon, scratched and bleeding from his flight through the bushes, was gasping as he emerged from the woods. He had run non-stop for several miles. He found himself at the edge of a field with a dry stone wall surrounding it. He glanced up and could hardly believe his good fortune –

there in the far corner of the field was his fighter! And some distance away he saw his beloved leader, standing beside a goat. He couldn’t help noticing the terrible look on Gavrok’s face and hoped that one of his colleagues was in more trouble than him. ‘Gavrok! Gavrok!’ cried the exhausted Callon, clambering over the fence.

Gavrok looked up on hearing his name. What he saw only succeeded in making him more angry. Callon had lost his banners, his weapons and his dignity. He was no longer fit to be called a Bannerman. Gavrok raised his blaster and aimed at the hapless soldier.

Callon felt the blood drain from his face and knew that he would have to act quickly to save his life. ‘I found their hideout, sir!’ he blurted. Gavrok looked with great distaste at the shabby soldier, undecided as to whether or not he should shoot. Finally, he lowered his weapon and Callon exhaled with relief.

Callon stumbled the last few yards to his leader before he dropped to his knees with exhaustion. Gavrok and the other Bannermen gathered around him while, panting heavily, he told them the full story. When he had finished Gavrok grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to his feet.

‘I have decided not to kill you this time, worm. Not because I am feeling merciful, you understand. That would be the mark of a weak leader. But because we may need every blaster that’s available. Even if it does belong to a miserable coward.’ Pushing Callon away Gavrok ordered,

‘Tidy yourself up.’ Callon made a frantic effort to comply with his leader’s wishes.

The strange convoy led by Ray and the Doctor threaded its way across the moors, heading towards Shangri-La and the final confrontation. More than one stomach was churning with nervous tension at the thought of what lay ahead.

Gavrok and his men, under direction from Callon, had also arrived at what they believed would be the final confrontation. They stood in the woods, surrounding Goronwy’s farm, surveying the cottage. Rock ‘n’ roll drifted to them on the breeze. Gavrok stood on the dead Arrex’s hand without seeming to notice. ‘Stand by to storm the dwelling,’ he ordered.

The convoy hurtled through the gates at Shangri-La and stopped beside the TARDIS. The Doctor was as usual in control, but a certain urgency conveyed itself. He turned to Burton, saying, ‘We will draw the Bannermen away when we leave. You should be perfectly safe since they are primarily interested in Delta. I’ll prepare the TARDIS for immediate take-off.’

The Doctor produced his key and started advancing towards the TARDIS. He suddenly stopped and squatted down, picking up a fragment of something lying charred in the dust. ‘Keep back! It’s been booby-trapped. Mel, please get everyone inside the camp.’

Hawk, who by now was completely fed up with all the strange notions strode forward and pointed at the TARDIS. ‘Booby-trapped? Who does he think he’s kidding. Ain’t nothin’ but a callbox,’ he said confidently.

‘Look up there,’ said the Doctor, pointing at the blue pyramid on top of the TARDIS. ‘Next to the light, a small beam weapon. It emits a cone of sensitivity all around the TARDIS. Anything entering the cone detonates an explosion.’

‘Sure it does,’ said Hawk laughing to himself.

‘Can’t you somehow get around it?’ asked Ray, ignoring Hawk’s remark.

The Doctor shook his head. ‘Unfortunately not. It’s a very sophisticated system.’

Hawk elbowed his way forwards. ‘Yeah, well I reckon this is all so much eyewash. I’m gonna call the chief...’

Before anyone could stop him Hawk stomped towards the TARDIS. The Doctor dived at him, managing to catch his ankle as Hawk’s hand entered the sonic cone – BOOM!

The blast threw Hawk onto his back, his face and hand blackened. He scrabbled to his feet, blowing on his burned hand, his eyes wildly spinning in his head.

‘I tried to warn you,’ said the Doctor sternly, ‘If you’d stepped right into the beam you would have been atomized!’

‘I... er...’ muttered Hawk. ‘This is all too much.’

‘C’mon back to camp, Lex,’ said Weismuller, gently trying to lead him back to safety.

‘But... but I was zapped by a callbox!’ Hawk shook his head a few times then turned to Weismuller with eyes as wide as saucers. ‘They’re all from outer space, Weismuller.’

‘Yeah, I know. It sure looks that way. Come on buddy, let’s get you fixed up,’ said Weismuller, leading the stunned Hawk away to the camp. Every few seconds the limping Hawk would turn his head back to look at the TARDIS.

‘Mr Burton, would you please take everyone back to the safety of the camp while I try and defuse this booby-trap. If it explodes with full force it’ll take us all with it,’ said the Doctor.

Burton nodded and started to shepherd everyone to safety. He was completely at ease now that he was back on familiar territory. He looked on the Doctor as the Commanding Officer and was prepared to carry out his instructions without hesitation. He knew how important it was to maintain discipline. If only that Hawk fellow had followed orders he wouldn’t be in the state he was in now.

Although he thought perhaps it was a little unkind, he considered Hawk’s unfortunate accident to be a useful lesson and one that he hoped the others had learned from.