Doctor Who: Timelash (6 page)

‘I want that girl alive,’ seethed Tekker. ‘If you dare come back empty-handed it will mean a Timelash execution for each and everyone of you.’

Tekker paused to check he had instilled sufficient fear into the souls of the guardoliers before him. ‘Is that understood?’ The group howled their understanding and obedience before being dismissed, leaving Tekker to move on and stimulate others into action with equal threats.

Most important of all, he had to ensure the safety and future of his own neck.

Peri scrambled along a sharp rock face which led to a narrow escarpment, giving her enough room to stop and inhale deeply. At the back of her mind lurked the chilling features of the pursuing android and, even knowing she had evaded this hunter, Peri still continued to glimpse over her shoulder all the same. She felt sticky and uncomfortable, wondering how a reunion with the Doctor could be organised. The inhospitable atmosphere and rugged terrain surrounding did little to boost a flagging morale.

Then the young traveller sensed a strange fragrance.

The smell increased, forcing Peri to investigate the source of the rich aroma. Moving off the narrow ledge, she crawled into a confined space, a small cavern eaten out of the rocks by water over hundreds of years. There in the half-light a long rounded boulder invited Peri to stretch out and relax. She did so, parking herself squarely on the wedge of compact stone. Lifting up her legs, she threw her head and shoulders back, enjoying the cold feel of the icy rock, protected from the incessant rays of the twin suns.

In the quiet of this unguarded moment, Peri effected a casual gaze about her. Then the rock beneath trembled as if monitoring an impending earthquake. She jumped to her feet and watched the granite mass elevate slowly, taking on the shape of a gross vile-headed beast. Two bright eye sockets completed the visage of this bizarre creature as its craterous mouth slid open to reveal yellow cracked teeth as sharp as any knife. It salivated with thick green spittle.

Albeit somewhat delayed, Peri unleashed an almighty scream, reeling back into the cave’s darker corner. But the truth of the matter remained - the monstrosity was eager to get its prey and there was nowhere to run.

The Doctor paced the reception room quite rattled by Tekker’s irritating grin.

‘You expect me to believe this preposterous story?’

yelled the Time Lord, puckering his mouth in disgust.

‘That a lady of the Inner Sanctum just happened to fall into the time vortex with a vitally important key to your planet’s power?’

Tekker responded to the Doctor’s high-handedness with exaggerated pomposity. He rose to his feet and delivered a look of extreme annoyance and impatience.

‘Yes, Doctor,’ he eventually concluded. ’And there’s little time left for you to retrieve it.’

The Doctor could not believe his ears, and stormed over to meet the Maylin almost nose to nose. ‘And give me one good reason why I should!’ he demanded emphatically.

Tekker returned his cheeky look with a blend of one-upmanship. ‘Peri,’ he laughed, watching his guest’s face fall.

Peri screamed, clutching the slimy wall of the tight cave as the long gnashing snout of a large Morlox trapped her in an inescapable position. Enormous fangs protruded from the bellowing creature, as it threatened Peri’s very existence. It sized up the prey before its bright bulging eyes and moved closer, ready to snatch a first bite.

‘
Fire!
’ a distant voice commanded as a burst of blaster-fire hit the elongated neck of the tunnel monstrosity, making the lumbering animal yelp and back off from its intended meal. Peri flicked her head to one side relieved by the retreat of the creature.

Four troopers headed by Katz and Sezon continued fire until they had forced the Morlox back into the murky black depths of the caves. Katz dashed forward to move Peri away, but suddenly a burning android that materialised somehow from nowhere blocked their path completely.

Sezon signalled the others to butt the smouldering remains and make a path of escape. Peri did not argue or ask questions and clung to Katz making a clean hurried exit.

The attack force led by Sezon headed for cover some way from the dangerous tunnels renowned for Morlox.

Katz hustled Peri to one side as the task force unit regrouped in the cover of some scattered rocks. Sezon stared at the unknown girl with suspicion, ordering the team to stay on watch at all times.

‘Who is she?’ quizzed the commander. Periopened her mouth to answer but was given little opportunity to respond.

Katz piped up, snapping a curt reply: ‘She’s not one of ours.’ Sezon pronounced instant judgement on the young girl, sentencing her life to be terminated at once. Peri was confused, not sure whether she could believe her ears.

There seemed little point in being rescued only to find her fate sealed yet again.

‘Wait, I’m not a spy,’ she insisted, looking imploringly at Katz who was more her age. ‘Please, you’ve got to believe me.’

Something in Peri’s tone made Katz interested in hearing more, even though Sezon goaded her on to carry out his sentence of execution upon the suspected spy from the Citadel. Peri begged to be given a chance to prove her innocence, but the impatient rebel leader preferred simply to carry on their day’s strike without having to drag dead wood with them.

‘I said, kill her!’ Sezon was losing his temper now. ‘She’s bound to be one of the Borad’s lackeys. Come on, we’re wasting time.’

The vault of the Borad was buried deep within the Citadel.

This nerve centre drained large reserves of power, in order to convert pure energy to activate the many time experiments conducted by Karfel’s tyrannical ruler. His insatiable obsession with time continued to feature as an all-consuming passion. No one quite knew what exactly he was searching for, though many had experienced the ‘side’

discoveries he had already made. One such find was the Timelash: a temporal corridor spanning centuries and galaxies through the universe.

The Borad moved along his control banks, gliding to a halt in his high-backed chair. The motors were charged to contend with a heavy weight. Despite his light framed appearance on Karfel viewing screens, the Borad remained a bulky mass that could not support itself any longer.

Androids offered the ruler individual attention, and were programmed to guard and protect the being that had stolen the freedom and liberty of a once peace-loving society.

Lifting his stocky black gloved hand, the ruler activated a replay tape on which was recorded Peri’s image. The Borad closely observed the young attractive outline of the Time Lord’s assistant with relish.

‘A plucky creature who knows how to look after herself,’

he said, thinking out loud. ‘I have a use for this pretty little time-traveller. If she’s still alive, bring her to me.’

The nearest android registered its agreement to the order and made mechanical movements to the sealing doors so as to carry out the request. The Borad continued to observe a still picture of Peri. He was becoming more and more infatuated with this vision of loveliness.

‘I have long been waiting for someone as lovely as you, my dear.’

The Doctor’s brain buzzed as he considered possible solutions to the predicament before him. Should he leave Peri in search of a lost lady of the Council and her amulet?

Or refuse Tekker’s demands, calling his bluff? Essentially his young assistant’s safety was of paramount importance, and he owed it to her not to forget.

‘Blast you, Tekker,’ grunted the Doctor in dismay.

‘What have you done with Peri?’ Tekker gleamed as the Time Lord continued. ‘When I was last in nineteenth-century America I learned the term ‘Mexican Stand Off’.

On Orion it’s called a ’double-edged matrix marker’, and on Karfel ...’

‘On Karfel, Doctor,’ interrupted Tekker, ‘you call it power to the one holding the trump card. Admit defeat. Go on, you’ve got everything to lose by not following my simple request.’

‘Simple,’ muttered the Doctor. ‘Simple!’ he shouted above Tekker’s voice. There was a pregnant pause. ‘Simple!!’ the Doctor bellowed loudly across the echoing room.

An android edged forward, making its presence known, raising an arm as if to threaten. ‘Time to go, Doctor,’ rolled Tekker glibly as he pointed in the direction of the TARDIS. ‘Pleasant journey.’

Knowing there was little choice in the matter, the Doctor reluctantly opened the TARDIS door. Tekker waved gleefully, realising he had won his first tussle with the famous Doctor. The Doctor himself bit his tongue in an effort not to lose control of his cool exterior even though he was burning with a white hot rage within. A final look at Tekker sent the Time Lord inside the TARDIS, operating the door mechanism with a flick of annoyance.

‘Just wait till I get back, Tekker,’ muttered the Doctor to himself. He stood before the centre console and glared at the levers in his reach. Clearly he knew what he had to do, but the idea of leaving Peri, even for a modicum of time, played heavily on his conscience. He had to make some effort to trace her, but how?

A sudden flash of inspiration reminded him of Karfelon body temperature. It was 37.6 celsius, somewhat lower than his hot-blooded assistant. If he could just scan the area around the Citadel, maybe he could pinpoint her whereabouts and simply rematerialise to pilot a rescue.

Engaging the necessary circuits, the Doctor decided to put his plan into action. His searching eyes scanned the oval tracker screen intently. Myriad dots of life slowly emerged from the darkness of the rotund glass. Adjusting the appartus finely, the Doctor hoped to pick out just one brighter than all the others, but even the optimistic Time Lord soon realised his task was going to he too tough,

‘Come on Peri, show yourself. You’re here somewhere, I know you are.’

Sezon paced the area around Peri who was now securely manacled.

‘Who are you?’ he growled, in an unfriendly manner.

Katz looked on, watching the captured ‘guest’ react to the bombardment of interrogation.

‘Are you a spy for the Borad?’

Peri pulled forward from her bindings. ‘Who?’

‘Don’t mess with us.’ The rebel leader placed his hand blaster against her perspiring cheek. ‘Or you know what’ll happen.’

Peri, quite scared now, appealed to Katz with a look of desperation. The response was positive and Katz instinctively knew Peri was not guilty of espionage.

‘Come on, you must tell us,’ she said imploringly. ‘I’m patient, but my colleague Sezon’s less tolerant.’

Peri squirmed and looked up again at the deadly barrel of the sonic blaster.

‘He means it, you know.’

Sezon released the safety catch.

‘Okay, okay,’ Peri directed her voice to Katz. ‘But you’ll never believe me.’

Katz frowned. ‘Try me.’

Peri didn’t know where to begin, but taking a deep breath, exhaled her story.

‘I travelled here with the Doctor -’

Sezon grunted and immediately interrupted her flow. ‘You must take us for fools. Next you’ll he talking of the TARDIS.’

‘But that’s right,’ she nodded, looking to Katz for some sign of support. Sezon, however, pushed the nozzle of the blaster between Peri’s eyes. ‘Five seconds,’ he uttered.

Katz tossed the weapon to one side, rattled by her colleague’s eagerness to indulge in more violence.

‘There’s another way. I have an idea.’

The Doctor cursed his luck and shut down his thermal search circuit with one stroke of his right index finger. The lights on the unit diminished until there was a jet black screen once more.

The co-ordinates were now set for the ultimate destination of the Timelash, Earth, though the Doctor had reasoned there would be a time deflection co-efficient to take into account, due to Vena transcending the vortex through the TARDIS. A date was then entered into the ship’s computers and a course was set for Victorian England.

Katz fumbled in her tunic and retrieved a small silver locket which she gingerly opened in front of Peri’s wide-eyed stare.

‘The pendant was given to my father by the Doctor’s assistant on her visit to Karfel. If you are who you say you are, you should know her name.’

Peri glanced at the small photograph and lock of hair inside the locket. She grimaced, wracking her brains to remember the girl’s face.

‘The Doctor had so many assistants. I can’t remember them all.’

Sezon repositioned his blaster.

‘Wait!’ Peri yelled. ‘I’m thinking. Give me a chance!’

A pregnant pause ignited the vague name in her mind.

Gradually the word took shape until it reached the tip of her tongue, and was promptly spat out, just in the nick of time.

‘Jo! Jo Grant!’

Katz puffed, relieved, almost as if it were her life that had been threatened. Turning to Sezon, she flashed him a single admonishing look which signified her feelings in the matter.

Katz freed Peri in state of glee. Not only had she prevented a further display of violence, a necessary but loathsome evil in her mind, but she had gained a special friend, one who knew the Doctor personally.

Peri asked the obvious about their connections with her mentor.

‘My father and the Doctor were very good friends, Peri.

They spent many happy hours together when he was last on Karfel.’ Katz went on to explain how the Doctor had saved the planet from starvation by inventing a technique to manufacture grain artificially in large quantities. This was something quite incredible on a planet with few resources and endless waste areas. ‘The technique was very successful,’ Katz continued, ‘and Karfel flourished. For a time everything went extremely well, but when the Doctor left us, there was a change in government. My father, the Maylin, was murdered.’ Even though Katz had recounted the story many times, she had to stop to regain her composure. Sezon stepped forward to comfort her but she waved him back. ‘I’m all right.’ Bidding Peri to sit with them, she continued her account. ‘Of course I can’t prove it, but it all adds up.’ Peri’s view of Karfel was now taking shape for the worst which only made her fret more for the safety of the Doctor.