Doctor Who: The Savages (3 page)

And as she slipped away through the bushes Chal called softly to her, ‘Be careful how you go. Take care through the Craters.’

Without a sound she had ducked out of sight and vanished like a young animal.

‘The gods go with her,’ whispered Chal.

Nanina kept an eye on the one patrol man she could see as she wriggled from cover to cover, and then gained some protection behind a ridge of rocks. The going was easier now, but she didn’t drop her vigilance. The fear of the hunters was so great, and the terror of being caught ran through her whole being, but she was determined to get back to the caves unseen. She crouched down behind the strange indented terrain as she began to make her way across the barren land, pitted like the surface of a moon, which her people called the Craters.

Somewhere on this same wide expanse Exorse was moving cautiously from rocky outcrop to rocky outcrop, his light gun at the ready, keeping a sharp look-out from left to right. He didn’t want to stay in this wretched place longer than he had to. The sooner they made a killing the better. He kept his finger constantly on the trigger of his gun. He knew he might not get more than one chance. Those they hunted moved at speed. He could hope for only one glimpse, and he would have to take it. He moved softly over the dry stones.

The tour of the city was a series of surprises for Steven and Dodo.

It had been left to two of the attendants to show them round, and they were soon on very friendly terms. The girl was one of those who had given the Doctor his robes. She was named Flower, and the young man who pointed out most of the ‘sights’ was called Avon. He was bespectacled, and a little pompous, but he did his best to make sure the visitors enjoyed their journey through the city’s beauty spots. He seemed to know most things, whereas Flower admitted she was a little shaky with her facts.

However Flower was sure of some things. ‘We have built into the city a life-giving sun of our own. Isn’t that right, Avon?’

Avon nodded. ‘It’s a man’s intellect that decides the heat and cold of our lives.’

‘Yes,’ added Flower. ‘And after all, the Elders know what’s best for us.’ She looked up at the synthetic sky and added wistfully, ‘Although it would be rather nice to know what real things are like sometimes.’

‘Real what?’ asked Avon pompously.

‘You know... Real rain, real wind, real sunshine.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ Avon indicated the panorama of the city which they could see through the arcades that surrounded them. They have given us all this.’

‘It’s beautiful,’ said Dodo.

‘And what’s more,’ he continued, ‘our artists have every opportunity to develop their talents. Here everyone has a chance to fulfill himself.’

Steven looked round in admiration. ‘It’s certainly a wonderful place. How have you managed it? I mean, what’s the secret?’

There was a moment of silence. Flower looked startled.

‘Secret? What makes you think we have a secret?’ ‘Well, other civilisations have failed to make this sort of advance,’ said Steven.

‘That doesn’t mean —’ began Flower, but Avon cut her off.

‘Be quiet, Flower,’ he said sharply. He turned to Steven. ‘Our scientists have made one simple discovery,’ he said. ‘Due to this they have found the way to give us all greater energy, greater intellect, and greater potential.’

‘One simple discovery?’ repeated Steven in amazement.

‘What is it?’ asked Dodo.

Avon hesitated. ‘That is something best discussed by the Elders and your Doctor.’

3 ‘A Remarkable Advance, Gentlemen. I’d Like To Know How’

The Doctor was a resplendent figure in his new robes as he sat in conference with Jano and the Elders of the City. They had considered many subjects, but the Doctor felt they had not touched on anything really fundamental.

He looked round at his hosts and lifted his arms to show off his cloak. ‘Well, gentlemen,’ he said, ‘you can’t expect me to wear these fine robes without asking a few important questions. After all, I have my reputation to think of.’

The others looked a little taken aback. ‘What do you mean?’ asked Jano.

‘If I accept your honours,’ explained the Doctor, ‘it means I must endorse your way of life. I really can’t do that without knowing something about it.’

‘But Doctor, surely you know a great deal about us?’

‘I know you are well in advance of other planets, but I don’t know how you managed to achieve this. You’ve made a remarkable advance, gentlemen. Now I’d like to know how.’

There was a moment’s silence from the others. It seemed to the Doctor they were waiting for Jano to speak.

The Craters always struck terror into Nanina. There seemed no way of crossing the area without having to scramble over open stretches. And then the gaunt rocks assumed such strange shapes, like the hunters in hiding. Her heart leapt to her mouth. Was there someone in the shadows ahead? Or was she imagining dangers? She crouched at the base of a rock and waited, listening for the faintest sound.

She was right to be wary. Exorse was coming through the scrubland towards her. He wasn’t sure if something had moved on the other side of the big crater. He began to close in on the rocks that littered the land. She could hear his footsteps, even though he came very softly over the pebbles. Like the rest of her people she could pick up the slightest sound.

But what could she do? It was too late to turn and run. From a hiding place on the ridge Chal and Tor watched anxiously.

‘I don’t see her,’ whispered Tor. ‘She must have got away safely.’

Chal shook his head. ‘She hasn’t crossed the ravine. She must still be hiding.’

‘Can you see the hunter?’ asked Tor.

‘He is going into the ravine,’ said Chal.

At that moment they saw Nanina. She rose from the ground and started to run, racing like a frightened animal through the thorn bushes, leaping over the scrub that barred her path, scrambling over rocks, and all the time throwing startled looks back over her shoulder.

Neither Chal nor Tor could see what had frightened her so. The hunter was now in the ravine and they couldn’t see him. And when they did, it was too late to shout to the girl. For Exorse had climbed to the top of the crater rim, and could look down on the fleeing girl.

He raised his light gun.

‘Nanina!’ shouted Chal. He jumped up. Perhaps he could distract the hunter. Perhaps he could manage to win for Nanina an extra few seconds to get out of range.

But Exorse paid him no attention. He fired... and a beam of light was seen to play over the girl. She seemed to be suddenly helpless in its ray, going rigid, powerless. And as Exorse moved forward with the light gun still trained on her, she moved as he directed her, as though manipulated, without a will of her own.

‘He’s taken her!’ cried Tor in despair.

The two men watched the hunter march back the way he had come, the girl moving unnaturally ahead, as he appeared to drive her before him.

The watchers knew there was nothing they could do.

The Doctor gave his full attention as Jano spoke. Everyone else was silent. They knew how much hung on what their leader said, and more especially how this stranger reacted to it.

‘Life lives on other forms of life, as you know, Doctor,’ Jano was saying. ‘Wild beasts prey on other animals. Mankind must have food, water, oxygen.’

‘My dear fellow,’ said the Doctor, ‘it is obvious to the meanest intellect that you have found some more effective source of energy. Mental, physical, creative.’

‘That’s true, Doctor.’ Jano was choosing his words carefully. ‘We have learned how to transfer the energy of life, the basic essence, to ourselves. We can tap it in its purest form. We can recharge ourselves with life’s vital force.’

All eyes were on the Doctor. What would he understand by that?

Exorse was leading Nanina from the scrubland. She was trapped in a beam of light, moving forward almost mechanically. In a few more steps they would be out of this wild country and heading for the City.

Chal’s voice reached them clearly, a shout from amongst the rocks.

‘Leave her, hunter! Leave the girl! Take me in her place.’

It was a despairing cry and Exorse strode on as though he had not heard it.

Jano led the Doctor to a table on the other side of the room. The Elders followed. On it was constructed a complicated model, a mass of equipment, a scientific lay-out of vats, pipes, dials and instruments, such as the Doctor had never seen in his endless time-travelling. But he quickly analysed the principle that governed the process.

What he didn’t yet understand was the reason for the operation.

Jano pointed to the items in turn. ‘The life energy which we accumulate we are able to store in power vats such as these, rather as one would store electricity in an old-fashioned battery. Then when the Elders decide that some member of our community is in need of new force, this energy can be transferred directly.’

‘Into the person you have selected?’ The Doctor wanted to be quite sure he had understood.

‘Exactly. In this way we give ourselves new powers, the ability to continue our work, the chances to develop intellectual or artistic genius.’

The Doctor nodded. His thoughts were racing ahead to a question that appalled him. ‘You will have to use a very high level of life to make this transfer effective,’ he said.

‘That is correct,’ replied Jano. ‘We have to absorb only a very special form of animal vitality.’

The Doctor remembered the brightness, freshness and intelligence of the young people who had welcomed him. What could it be that they had absorbed which had brought them such rewards?

Wherever Flower and Avon took their two guests, music followed them, and the vista always stretched before them in a continuous pattern.of satisfying pictures.

But Flower didn’t want them to think life in the city was always serious; it was not like a continuous lecture in a university. ‘We play games,’ she insisted. ‘We go hunting. We dance. Life is very happy. We do what we want, and we go where we want.’

But at that moment Avon called out sharply to Dodo who had fallen behind a few steps, ‘Don’t go that way!’ That rather spoilt the effect Flower was trying to create.

‘I thought you said we could go anywhere,’ said Dodo.

‘It leads to the lands beyond the City,’ explained Avon.

‘Don’t you ever go outside?’ Dodo was surprised. ‘We’re not allowed to,’ said Flower.

‘There’s no need,’ added Avon.

‘I mean, everything we want is in our City,’ said Flower.

‘What about the men we met outside?’ asked Steven.

‘They are guards,’ Flower told him.

‘To keep back the savages?’ asked Dodo.

‘The savages?’ Avon looked shocked.

‘The men in animal skins,’ said Dodo.

‘Did you see them?’

Dodo nodded, ‘Yes. They threw spears at us.’ Avon seemed to recover his good spirits. ‘Yes,’ he admitted, ‘the guards are there to control these creatures. That is why we seldom go beyond the City.’

‘Let’s forget such a dismal subject,’ said Flower lightly. ‘Come on. We’ll show you the stadium. There’ll be a celebration there tonight. Especially for you.’

Flower hurried on and Avon followed with Steven. Dodo was about to go after them when she saw a narrow window which appeared to look out to the world beyond. She pressed her face against the glass.

She could just see the rough scrubland they had journeyed through, edged with rocks and bushes. And as she watched, she saw Exorse, the young man who had welcomed them, walking past. He was heading for a fortified door set in the side of the City wall. And ahead of him, walking in a strange fashion, rather like a marionette, was a girl — one of the savages by the look of her, dressed in skins. Dodo watched blankly as they passed. It didn’t make sense.

She heard Avon calling, ‘Dodo..

‘I’m coming,’ she said, and hurried after the others.

When she caught up with them, she complained in a whisper to Steven. ‘Every time I want to stop and look at something they stop me.’

‘You’re a guest here,’ Steven reproved her. ‘Try to behave like one.’

‘I hate conducted tours,’ said Dodo.

‘What kept you?’ asked Steven.

‘I saw that guard go past. He had a prisoner.’ ‘That’s nonsense,’ said Steven. ‘They wouldn’t have prisoners in a place like this.’

‘He had one of those savages with him. A girl. Walking along in front of him.’

‘Not trying to escape? Dodo, really.’

‘It’s true. He was shining some sort of a light on her. Like a torch. And she was somehow gripped by it.’

‘Come on, you two,’ called Flower.

‘They are always so cautious about what they show us,’ said Dodo.

‘You imagine things,’ said Steven, but he began to wonder himself, as they joined the others.

Dodo fell into step beside them, but she had already decided they were not going to find out any really interesting things about the City if it was left to their two hosts.

The door in the City wall had opened as Exorse operated the release mechanism on it, and he moved inside with the girl ahead of him.

Before them lay a corridor leading to another door. For a moment Exorse allowed the light gun to play on the second door. It was as though some support had been removed from Nanina as the light passed from her body. She went limp, almost collapsing, steadying herself against the side of the corridor.

She pleaded faintly, ‘Please... Please. Let me go.’ But it was as though Exorse had not heard her.

He adjusted the dials beside the door, arranging his personal combination, and a bell rang in the distance.

It sounded on a wall in the central scientific control laboratory, and triggered off a pattern of lights. Just below it were a battery of instruments, pipes and vats, in fact the exact replica of the model the Doctor had already seen. Only in this instance the entire room was full of them, and they were huge.

For the most part, the control room was run automatically and required only a minimum staff. It was supervised by Doctor Senta, a sharp-featured man in his late thirties, intelligent, quick thinking, brisk and efficient. He glanced up at the indicators.