Doctor Who: Galaxy Four

1 Four Hundred Dawns

The Doctor was puzzled. He had brought the TARDIS back into time and space, switched off the controls and turned on the external scanner. But as he moved the scanner from one angle to another he grew more uneasy. It wasn’t that there was anything particularly wrong about the landscape he was viewing, at least not within his experience. In fact, it was quite appealing. But there was something wrong out there and he couldn’t yet put his finger on exactly what it was.

The terrain wasn’t exactly welcoming, he had to admit that. It was black, bearing a strong resemblance to tarmac. But numerous cracks had appeared in the surface and out of these trees and plant life had sprung in abundance. There were even flowers, though no evidence of how they were pollinated. He could see nothing even resembling a butterfly. Come to that, there was no sign of bird life either. He continued to stare intently at the screen.

Behind him Vicki was cutting Steven’s hair. Her dark eyes moved from the job in hand to stare intently at the Doctor. ‘Arrived, have we?’

The Doctor’s attention remained on the screen. ‘We have, my dear.’

Steven raised his head from the angle at which Vicki had tilted it. ‘Good. Where?’

‘Ah.’ The Doctor examined the control panel. ‘Somewhere in Galaxy Four. I don’t know exactly where, I’m afraid. But... there’s something not quite right about it.’

Steven stood up and he and Vicki crossed the console room to join the Doctor in staring at the screen. Neither was overly impressed. Vicki did not care for the black surface, though Steven did find a redeeming feature in the plants. He tousled his fair hair where Vicki had last been clipping and looked more closely. There was something distinctly odd about the scene, something missing. He felt uneasy. Like the Doctor, he could see no sign of animal life, but there was something else. After all, life could be underground, or even concealed somewhere in the greenery. So what was it?

‘Could you put the sound on, please, Doctor?’ The Doctor checked his instruments and made an adjustment. ‘It is on. Full now.’

They all listened intently and heard not a sound. The silence was quite overpowering. They could almost feel it. There was no sound whatsoever, not even of wind. All the trio could hear was their own breathing; all they could feel was the beating of their hearts.

‘Weird,’ whispered Vicki.

But the Doctor was again surveying his instruments. Everything was in satisfactory working order.

He stood back and sighed: ‘Atmospheric pressure, temperature, oxygen content, radiation, all satisfactory.’ He looked again at the scanner. ‘I wonder if it’s possible to have a planet so obviously conducive to life, yet... without any?’

‘Well, I’ve finished chopping Steven’s hair. Can we go out and see?’

The Doctor shrugged. ‘I don’t see why not. There’s just a chance that we might get some peace.’

‘For a change,’ Steven added dryly. ‘Perhaps there’s even a river or a lake. Fancy a swim, Doctor?’

‘Young man, this is a scientific expedition,’ the Doctor replied tartly. ‘It pays always to be cautious.’

‘There’s a limit to – ‘ Steven broke off as something banged against the side of the TARDIS.

They looked at each other, startled, and there was yet another bump. The Doctor raised his hand for silence. Whatever it was continued to keep knocking against the TARDIS, proceeding along one side, then another, obviously investigating the machine. And now they could hear something else: a curious chittering and jingling sound, obviously emanating from the intruder.

‘What is it?’ Vicki whispered.

‘Something mechanical,’ the Doctor answered. ‘A robot of some sort.’

‘But why the knocking?’ Steven wondered.

‘I would guess that it’s blind and has to proceed by touch,’ the Doctor said.

The knocking ceased, the intruder having completed its circuit of the TARDIS. It fell silent and they heard it moving away.

‘Look,’ Vicki said, pointing at the screen.

They followed her gaze and saw their visitor. It was a short, round structure made of some metallic substance. It could not have stood much more than four feet in height. The body consisted of a round base, a rather larger main body and a smaller shoulder section. The facial section was a grill, surmounted by a skull-like cap from which antennae protruded. The grill contained what looked very much like a gun. It came to a halt some ten metres away and faced the TARDIS again. A series of coloured lights started flashing in its head and it emitted a soft, high note.

The Doctor was fascinated. He noted too that around the base were a number of pear-shaped instruments which he took to be sensors.

‘It looks to me as though it’s sending a message,’ Steven said.

The Doctor nodded. ‘To its controllers, whoever they are.’

Steven grimaced. ‘Or whatever they are.’

The robot was on the move again. It turned and began to trundle away. Vicki was still staring at it. ‘Look how it moves,’ she said. ‘It’s got a sort of "chumbley" movement.’

Steven stared at her in disbelief. ‘Chumbley?’

‘Yes. Can’t you see?’ Her attractive face weakened as she nearly lost conviction. ‘All sort of... chumbley.’

‘Well, he’s gone now,’ the Doctor said. But he was thinking how wrong he had been in deciding there was no life on the planet. Not only was there life, but highly intelligent life at that. It took considerable technical skill and knowledge to bring into being a robot such as they had been watching. The question was: what sort of intelligence? He had encountered many varieties of intelligent life forms and not all of them had been friendly. Well, there was only one way to find out.

‘We’ll have the doors open,’ he said.

Steven was recalling the Doctor’s previous words of caution. ‘Wouldn’t it be better to wait for a while? Those things might be dangerous.’

But the Doctor ignored him. He pressed the control button and the door swung open. Picking up his stick, he made for the open air, a strange but brave sight in his battered trousers and frock coat, cravat fluttering about his neck, and his white hair not as tidy as it might have been. Vicki and Steven exchanged a slightly worried glance, then followed. Once outside, the Doctor breathed in deeply and with enjoyment. ‘Delightful. Just the right oxygen content.’

‘And the flowers smell lovely,’ Vicki said.

Steven, however, was shielding his eyes and looking into the sky. ‘I see we’ve got three suns. I wonder which one we revolve around?’

The Doctor finished locking the door of the TARDIS. ‘It’s quite possible that they revolve around us.’ He straightened and pocketed the key, glanced at Vicki who was examining the flowers, then at the terrain surrounding them. It reminded him of a past experience. ‘The silence is just like it was on the planet Xeros.’

Vicki turned from examining the flowers. ‘We haven’t jumped a time-track again, have we?’

‘No, no, my child. Not this time.’ He tilted his head to the side. ‘But I don’t like the silence. Not at all.’ Vicki gasped. ‘Doctor!’

The Doctor and Steven looked at her, then followed her pointing finger’. A Chumbley had appeared from behind the TARDIiS and was obviously sensing them. Lights were flashing on the grill of this one as well. But what made it decidedly ominous was that its gun was pointed directly at them.

‘Keep still,’ the Doctor said. ‘Don’t do anything to alarm it.’

He moved cautiously nearer the machine, examining it carefully. Ignoring his admonition, Steven also moved, but sideways, hoping to be able to do some damage once out of range of the gun.

For lack of anything more inspiring to do, the Doctor addressed the machine: ‘We wish you no harm. We come in peace.’

The robot remained stationary and silent.

‘I don’t think it can speak,’ Vicki said.

But the Doctor was still observing and noting that beneath the head-grill was what looked very much to be a speaker. It had the necessary mesh covering which gave it every evidence of being a sound-box. Why, then, did it remain silent?

It didn’t, however, remain silent for long. From it suddenly came a rapid chittering sound, like that of a tape being run backwards at speed. Equally as suddenly it stopped. The Doctor was fascinated. He had no idea what it was trying to say, or even if it was directed at them. It could just as well be transmitting a message back to its unknown controller. He remained still.

But Steven did not. Slowly he crouched to pick up a lump of black rock. What he had not calculated upon was the slight sound he made in doing so. In a flash the Chumbley backed a little and trained its gun on him.

The Doctor was exasperated. ‘You idiot!’

‘I was only trying to –’

‘Yes, yes, very noble of you,’ the Doctor cut in. ‘Now that thing is on its guard and we could be in deep trouble.’ He paused a moment. ‘Interesting, though. Did you notice that it wasn’t aware of what you were doing until you made a noise?’

Steven nodded. ‘So it’s blind.’

‘But it can hear,’ Vicki said.

‘And very accurately at that,’ the Doctor added. ‘It might also be locating us by heat waves, or something of the sort.’

Again came the chittering sound and the Chumbley moved forward, heading for the Doctor. It reached him and nudged him. The Doctor stepped back. It did the same again, pushing him back yet another step. Then it turned and headed for Vicki and Steven, obviously intent on giving them the same treatment.

‘It’s trying to get us to go somewhere,’ Vicki said.

‘Indeed,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘But stand still. Don’t let it move you.’

The Chumbley nudged against them both in turn and each stepped back into place as soon as the opportunity offered. It would have been an amusing sight were it not for the gun constantly covering them.

Finally the Chumbley backed away and remained still for a moment, clearly receiving a message. Then it chittered briefly to itself and rotated its gun until it pointed at some vegetation. The three looked on with some trepidation as a brilliant white ray leapt out, accompanied by a piercingly high shriek. It swept across the greenery and turned all into flame. Then the ray cut off and the gun turned back to them.

‘As neat a threat as I ever saw,’ the Doctor said. ‘We’d better do what the thing wants.’

They grouped together and set off across the dark landscape in the direction the Chumbley had indicated. The Chumbley came jinking after them. Then it scooted up to the front, then to the side, then back behind them, for all the world like a destroyer herding a convoy into harbour. It occurred to the Doctor that as well as guiding them, it seemed almost to be guarding them. He glanced again about him, but could still see no movement. Perhaps the thing was programmed to a certain pattern of behaviour and had no alternative but to behave as it did.

Drahvins One and Two watched the group approach the ledge on which they had hidden themselves. They were women. They had long, blonde hair and would have been considered extremely attractive by any man were it not for the total lack of warmth in their faces which were straight and set, reflecting no emotion whatsoever. Both wore the same dark, high-necked uniform dress and each carried a gun, rather like a twentieth-century Earth machine-gun, except that what came from the barrel could not possibly be bullets. Where the man-made variety carried a bullet clip these had a power pack. The Drahvins held them confidently. They well knew how to use them.

As the sound of the Chumbley grew louder Drahvin Two set down her gun and grasped one side of a sheet of metallic mesh which lay at her feet. Her companion took the other side and they waited, stony-faced, as the party came into view beneath them, the Doctor leading, Vicki and Steven behind him, and the Chumbley following up.

The Drahvins moved to the edge, awaited the right moment, then hurled the mesh down on the Chumbley. As soon as the mesh enveloped it the machine came to an abrupt halt and fell silent. Two immediately picked up her gun and ran down the bank toward the Doctor. One remained on guard, also now once again armed.

The Doctor came to a halt and looked cautiously at the beautiful woman approaching. It seemed to him that there was something of a surplus of weapons on this planet. He did not greatly care for that. Nor was he much taken with the way they always seemed to be pointed at him, as this one was. It might well have a beautiful woman at the end of it, but her eyes looked cold and intense.

‘Who is she?’ Vicki wondered.

‘I’ve no idea,’ Steven said. ‘But she’s a lovely surprise.’

Two lowered her gun slightly. ‘We are the Drahvin.’

‘And what might the Drahvin be?’ asked the Doctor. ‘We are from the planet Drahva in Galaxy Four.’ The Doctor nodded. He was familiar with that part of the universe, though not the exact planet. ‘And what do you want of us?’

‘We came to rescue you.’ She nodded in the direction of the immobilised Chumbley. ‘They are our enemies.’