Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker (2 page)

Confused, Steven raised his hand to his
brow. 'But Doctor,' he said, 'it looked so real.'

'There is nothing there,' the Doctor
repeated. 'Nothing at all. You must believe me.'

'What's the matter, Doctor?' Dodo
chipped in. 'I couldn't see anything on the screen. I can't even see
a screen.' She walked over and suddenly started back in amazement. 'I
thought I saw something!'

'No,' said the Doctor, 'you didn't.
Turn away quickly.'

Dodo obediently turned towards the
Doctor. 'Who is the Celestial Toymaker?' she queried.

'A powerful evil.' The Doctor's face
darkened. 'He has created a universe entirely in his own vision,
where he manipulates people and turns them into his playthings. He
gains control of your mind through these screens. Be careful, it's a trap.'

'Really, Doctor.' The Toymaker's laugh
was low and musical. The Doctor and his companions turned. There
standing facing them was the tall, imposing figure of the Celestial
Toy maker.

'What a spoilsport you are, Doctor. I
thought they would enjoy my memory window.'

'Look where he's standing,' said
Steven. 'Isn't that

'Yes!' Dodo echoed. They both looked
around. The TARDIS had disappeared; the Toymaker was standing at the
apex of the lines in place of the TARDIS.

"What have you done with the
TARDIS?' cried Dodo.

'Don't worry my dear, just watch over
there.' Almost hypnotised, Dodo turned to look at the nearest wall,
unnoticed by the Doctor and Steven who were both caught up in the
powerful hypnotic presence of the Toymaker.

'I suppose I should have guessed it was
you when I realised the power of the force field you put around the
TARDIS,' said the Doctor.

The Toymaker nodded slowly, an ironical
smile on his face. 'Of course, Doctor. I have been waiting for you
for such a long time.'

Dodo stared at the wall, which
gradually became a screen and then resolved itself into a
three-dimensional picture of an English living room. Dodo looked
forward excitedly, 'It's home!' she said. 'And that's...' Her face
suddenly fell. A man was coming towards her from the screen. He shook
his head sadly and Dodo realised that also standing in front of her
was her younger self dressed in British school uniform: black
stockings, gymslip and beret. As Dodo watched, her younger self
turned away in tears and hid her face.

'It's me,' Dodo's voice became choked
with emotion. 'It's the day my mother died. That's awful!'

The Doctor, suddenly realising what had
happened, turned abruptly. 'Come away, child, this instant!'

Steven ran over to Dodo and, seeing she
was unable to drag heTself away, swung her around. As he did so, the
picture faded and Dodo buried her face in Steven's shoulder.

'What a shame,' the Toymaker's smooth
deep tones cut in. 'I thought my little invention would amuse them
and juggle their memories.'

'Your inventions are evil like
yourself,' the Doctor sharply rejoined. He turned back to Steven and
Dodo. 'You must be very careful. Everything here contains a hidden
menace. Nothing is just for fun.'

Steven looked at the Doctor, being
careful not to glance at the many walls around the room. 'What's the
idea of it?'

'He is trying to get us in his power
and make us a permanent fixture in his universe,' said the Doctor.
'That's the reason for those wall screens. He's using your mind and
imagination against you. Those are memory devices that project
difficult and upsetting times in your previous lives. You must fight
it.'

Dodo looked up and pushed away from
Steven. 'Can't we just go? I hate this place,' she said.

'How, my child?' The Doctor shrugged.
'That's the question.'

'In the TARDIS, of course. As always,'
said Dodo.

Once more the Toymaker, who had kept
silent through this exchange merely glancing from face to face with
his hooded snake eyes, interjected. 'Ah, but which TARDIS? Take your
choice.'

The Toymaker slowly stretched his arm
out. The ring on his finger again began to pulsate and the circles of
light began moving towards the wall. As the Doctor and his companions
watched, they saw the wall begin to change colour and vibrate; then
it slowly resolved into a picture of an endless conveyor belt of
TARDIS police boxes slowly moving by them.

Steven shook his head in confusion.
'There are hundreds of them.'

'Yes,' said the Toymaker, 'hundreds.
Take your choice. Come, Doctor.'

'No!' said the Doctor sharply.

Steven and Dodo tore their eyes away
from the wall and turned back, but the Doctor and the Toymaker had
both disappeared and the room was completely empty.

Steven and Dodo looked at each other,
filled with a new sense of dread - first they had lost the TARDIS,
and now the Doctor.

'Doctor,' Steven called.

'Have you gone invisible again?' Dodo
echoed.

They listened for the Doctor's voice.
Then Steven shook his head: 'He's gone this time. That mandarin or
whoever he is has spirited him away somewhere.'

Dodo looked despondent. 'I don't like
it,' she said. 'We should never have stayed. We should have got back
in the TARDIS while the going was good.

'I don't think it would have helped,'
said Steven. 'Anyway it's too late now.'

'Who was that man?' said Dodo.

Again Steven shook his head, 'I don't
know, but we've got to find the Doctor.'

Steven glanced quickly around the room
but none of the walls was illuminated. He pointed to the cupboard.
'Perhaps there's a way out through that cupboard over there,' he
said.

They moved towards the cupboard and
just as Steven stretched his arm out, the door was flung open. A
clown's head appeared around the corner - the male clown.

Further down appeared the red-headed
smiling face of the female clown. 'I'm Clara,' she said. The two
clowns stepped out of the cupboard and looked around the room, miming
wonderment mixed with a little anxiety.

'What on earth ...' Steven began. But
the clowns immediately stopped and put their fingers to their mouths.

'Shh' said Clara. 'Shush' said Joey.

'Better keep quiet, Steven,' Dodo
whispered.

Steven, belligerent as ever, squared
his shoulders. He didn't like being told what to do even by the
Doctor, but especially not from a couple of silly-looking clowns.

'I will not!' he began, then paused as
Joey suddenly extended his hand out towards him. Dodo, irritated as
she often was by Steven's tough guy attitude, moved away from him a
little sulkily. Clara put her finger to her lips and brought a hand
from behind her back revealing a large balloon and a hat pin; unseen
by Steven who was looking suspiciously at the clown with his
proffered hand.

Clara, a figure of fun and mischief,
pantomimed to Dodo not to say anything and then knelt behind Steven.
Dodo's face cleared - these were funny clowns. She stifled a giggle.
Steven finally decided that the clown did not offer much of a threat.
'Hello then,' he said a little sulkily, and reached to take the
clown's hand in his.

As Steven shook Joey's hand, the clown
backed away leaving his hand in Steven's. It came away and stretched
to a three or four foot long false arm.

Steven threw it down in disgust just as
Clara stuck the pin into the balloon behind him. As Joey gave him a
little push, he jumped back nervously, falling over Clara.

The expression on Steven's face was too
much for Dodo. After all the tension, she was ready for a laugh, and
laugh she did at his furious face looking up at them. The clowns also
held their sides and mimed convulsive laughter.

Gulping, Dodo said, 'If you could only
see your face.' She laughed again.

Steven scowled up at her and then
scrambled to his feet. 'Very funny,' he said, dusting his trousers
off. 'What have you got to laugh about?' 'Oh, come on, Steven,' said
Dodo still gasping for breath. 'If you could see it from my angle
you'd think it was pretty funny too.'

She felt a tap on her shoulder and
turned. Joey was holding a large bunch of flowers. He raised them to
his nostrils and did an elaborate pantomime of smelling the fresh
scents of the flowers. Then he made an elaborate bow and slowly
presented her with the bouquet.

Dodo gazed in wonderment: there were
roses and carnations, irises and some flowers she didn't even
recognise - a magnificent bouquet. Her eyes widened.

'They're not for me?' she said. She
looked at Joey who gravely nodded his head. Then she looked at Clara,
her face fixed in her usual smile, who nodded and gave a curtsey.

'Oh,' said Dodo, 'I can't thank you
enough. They're just beautiful. No-one has ever given me flowers
before.'

She stretched out her hand, took the
bouquet from Joey and raised them to her face. As she grasped the
stalks, a strong jet of water sprung out into her face and hair,
saturating her.

Dodo stepped back and dropped the
flowers. Steven's loud laugh rang out in the room. 'If you could only
see your face!' he mimicked in Dodo's high-pitched voice. 'We need a
laugh, don't we?' The sight of Dodo's woe-begone face was too much
for him and he turned away, laughing.

Dodo reached in her pocket and brought
out a handkerchief and started mopping herself. 'That's not funny at
all.'

'Oh, but it was,' said Steven, still
laughing. 'I'm not at all sure I like these clowns,' said Dodo.
Steven turned to the clowns who had been pointing at Dodo and
mimicking silent laughter again.

'Can't either of you speak?' said
Steven. He turned to Joey. Joey pressed a button on his clown costume
which made a slightly raucous sound which could have been a
raspberry.

Steven turned to the other clown: 'How
about you?' Clara's mouth suddenly opened, giving out a high-pitched
voice that started low and rose up the scale.

'Yes,' she squeaked, 'I can talk, I can
say lots of things. Once you get me started I can't stop. I can talk
about -'

'Right, right,' said Steven cutting in,
'that's enough.' He looked from one to the other. 'Look,' he said.
'What do you two want with us?'

The smooth mellow tones of the Toymaker
echoed behind Steven: 'They've come to entertain you both. To play a
game with you.'

Steven and Dodo wheeled and backed
slightly away from the tall, thin-faced Toymaker. 'Thanks very

much,' said Steven dryly. 'We've been
entertained, and we're not in the mood for any other games right now.
Perhaps you'll tell us where you have taken the Doctor.'

'Taken the Doctor?' said the Toymaker
silkily, his voice taking on an ironic edge. 'Nowhere! The Doctor and
I have to play a little game together. You can follow the results on
that board.'

The Toymaker turned and pointed to one
of the walls just as a robot appeared. Again the Toymaker raised his
hand and the robot slowly came forward towards them. It was a large
featureless black robot with arms and legs and, in place of a chest
unit was a large monitor screen; it had flashing lights for eyes.

'If you watch that board,' said the
Toymaker, 'you will see the results of a little game the Doctor and I
will play together. It's called the trilogic game. I'm sure the
Doctor will be a worthy opponent.'

Dodo turned to him angrily, 'We're not
interested in your silly games, we want to go back to the TARDIS.'

The Toymaker smiled and slowly shook
his head. 'Not quite yet, my young friends.' He pointed. Over behind
them the clowns had been bringing a series of objects out from the
cupboard as if setting up for a children's game. 'I'm afraid you
cannot go back to the TARDIS yet, it's impossible.'

'Impossible?' Steven and Dodo spoke
together.

Again the Toymaker smiled his cat-like
smile. 'Well, not quite impossible. But you'll have to win a few
games first. At the end of each game you'll find a TARDIS which may
or may not be the real one.'

Steven looked at him. 'What do you
mean, the real one?'

'Oh, you'll find out when you open the
door,' he said. 'As you have already noticed, I have many copies of
the TARDIS around.'

'Are you saying,' Dodo came forward a
pace, 'we have to win a game before we can get to the TARDIS?'

The Toymaker nodded. 'Yes. Several
games, in fact.'

'And if we lose?' said Steven.

Again, the Toymaker smiled and folded
his arms in a classic Mandarin pose. 'You will both stay here forever
as my guests.'

Dodo looked at Steven. 'I think we'd
better play this silly game, Steven,' she said.

Steven shook his head angrily. 'I don't
see why we should humour him. He must be crazy.'

'That's just it. I'm sure he its
crazy,' said Dodo. 'But we'd better do as he says, otherwise we'll
never get out.

They turned back to where the Toymaker
had been watching this little exchange with his usual amused smile.
'Well?' he said.

Steven nodded reluctantly. 'We'll play
your little games. If we win, we get the TARDIS back, okay?'

'But of course,' the Toymaker rejoined.

'And if we lose?' said Steven.

'That would be too bad,' said the
Toymaker. 'You will never see the TARDIS again.'

'Wait a minute -' Steven stepped
forward angrily but the Toymaker slowly vanished.

Dodo grasped his arm. 'You never asked
him about the Doctor.'

'I suppose he's got this game to play,'
said Steven. 'This I don't understand, I'm glad we're not playing it.
It looks very complicated.' Steven walked over and studied the
monitor on the robot which showed the triangular board marked A, B
and C. In each corner there was a pile of triangular counters piled
up like three pyramids.

'Then what are we playing?' asked Dodo.
'I don't understand.' The two clowns came up to them and they noticed
that the clowns had set up a series of obstacles around the room.
'Look what they've done,' said Dodo.