DOCTOR WHO AND AN UNEARTHLY CHILD

by Terrance Dicks

  There was a shout of approval from the crowd.

  Za glared angrily at Hur. He knew that she was trying to help him, that she believed Kal's claim was impossible. But Za knew, too, that Kal was cunning. Impossible as it seemed, he would not have risked making such a claim before all the Tribe unless he was confident that he could back it up. And if Kal's creature succeeded in making fire, Za's own claim to the leadership would be gone forever.

  'I am the one who decides what is done here,' said Za. 'Not old men and women - or strangers.'

  Kal was quick to seize his advantage. 'Perhaps Za does not wish to see fire made. Perhaps he is frightened. I, Kal, am not afraid to make fire. I will make my creature create fire for the Tribe. I will take this creature to the cave of skulls, and he will die unless he tells me the secret!'

  Hurriedly, the Doctor jumped up. 'I can make fire for you,' he shouted. 'Let me go, and I'll make all the fire you want.'

  Impressed the crowd drew back. 'You don't have to be afraid of me,' said the Doctor. 'See for yourselves. I'm an old man. How could I possibly harm you?'

  'What does he say?' growled Za.

  'Fire!' said Horg in awe-stricken tones. 'He says he can make fire for us!'

  Suddenly, Kal saw his new advantage slipping away. 'For me!' he shouted. 'He will make fire for me, and I will give it to you. I will be firemaker!'

  Just as suddenly, Za saw how he could turn Kal's discovery to his own advantage. 'If the creature makes fire, he will make it for me, and for all the Tribe.'

  The Doctor meanwhile was searching frantically through his pockets. 'Where are my matches? I must find my matches!' He knew that he'd had them earlier, because he could remember lighting his pipe with them. He realised his pipe was gone as well. Had he left them both behind when he was attacked? Or had the matches dropped from his pocket when he'd been unceremoniously carted here over that savage's shoulder. Whichever was the case, the matches were gone.

  Za watched bemused, as the Doctor patted his pockets. What does he do now?'

  'See, he is Kal's creature,' said Kal. 'He will make fire only for Kal.'

  The Doctor abandoned his search in despair. 'Take me back to my ship, and I'll make you all the fire you want,' he said hopefully.

  Za swung round on Kal. 'This is more of your lies, Kal. The old man cannot make fire.'

  'There was a tree,' said Kal desperately. 'It came from nowhere. The old man came out of it, and there was fire in his fingers. Smoke came out of his mouth.'

  The men of the Tribe were muttering discontentedly. With the Doctor's failure to perform the promised miracle, opinion was beginning to swing against Kal.

  Za seized his moment. Pushing Kal aside, he sprang onto the rock himself. 'Kal wants to be as strong as Za, son of the great firemaker. Yet all he can do is lie. You heard him say we would have fire - and still we have no fire. Za does not tell you lies. He does not say, "Tonight you will be warm," and then leave you to the cold. He does not say, "I will frighten the tiger away with fire," and then let the tiger come to you in the dark. Do you want a liar for your chief?'

  There were shouts of 'No!' Men began to glare threateningly at Kal.

  Kal brandished his axe above the Doctor's head. 'Make fire!'

  The Doctor looked up helplessly. 'I cannot.'

  'You are trapped in your own lies, Kal,' said Hur mockingly. She moved closer to Za.

  Za gave a great roar of laughter. 'Look at the great chief Kal who is afraid of nothing! Oh great Kal, save us from the cold! Save us from the tiger!'

  Kal saw his hopes of leadership dissolving in the laughter of the Tribe. He grabbed the Doctor by his shoulder, lifting him almost off his feet. 'Make fire, old man! Make fire come from your fingers, as I saw today!'

  'I can't,' shouted the Doctor. 'I tell you I've lost my matches. I can't make fire - I can't!'

  Za was almost helpless with laughter. 'Let the old man die. Let us all watch the great Kal as he fights this mighty enemy!'

  Kal drew a stone knife from beneath his skins and held it to the Doctor's throat. 'Make fire! Make fire, or I will kill you now!'

  'We will keep the great Kal to hunt for us,' bellowed Za. 'It is good to have someone to laugh at!'

  Kal raised his knife.

  'No!' screamed a voice. Susan ran into the centre of the circle of astonished Tribesmen. She stumbled and fell at Kal's feet.

  Close behind her came Ian and Barbara.

  Ian leaped forward and grappled with Kal. For a moment they struggled furiously. Another Tribesman raised a stone axe above Ian's head. He was about to strike when the Doctor shouted commandingly, 'Stop! If he dies, there will be no fire!'

  The Tribesman halted the downward movement of the club, and looked inquiringly at Za. 'Kill them,' shrieked Old Mother.

  Za considered. 'No. We do not kill them.'

  'They are enemies. They must die!'

  Impressively, Za said, 'When Orb brings the fire to the sky, let him look down on them as his sacrifices. That is the time they shall die - and Orb will be pleased with us, and give us fire. Put them in the cave of skulls.'

  The four strangers were dragged off struggling. Kal looked thoughtfully at Za, and slipped away.

  Horg put his hand on Hur's shoulder to draw her away, but Za stepped down from the rock, and took Hur's arm. 'The woman is mine.'

  'My daughter is for the leader of the Tribe.'

  'Yes,' said Za. 'I am leader. The woman is mine.'

  Horg sighed. 'I do not like what has happened. I do not understand.'

  'Old men never like new things to happen.'

  'In the time of your father, I was his chief warrior. He was a great leader of many men.'

  'Yes, many men,' repeated Za bitterly. 'They all died when Orb left the skies and the great cold was on the ground. Now Orb will give me fire again. To me, not you. Just as you will give me Hur.'

  Consolingly, Hur said, 'Za, too, will be a great leader of many men. If you give me to him, Za will remember, and always give you meat.'

  Accepting the inevitable, Horg bowed his head and moved away.

  Old Mother stared broodingly at Za. 'There were leaders before there was fire,' she muttered. 'Fire angers the gods. Fire will kill us all in the end. You should have killed the four strangers. Kill them!'

  Za shook his head, looking into the gathering darkness. 'It shall be as I have said. We wait until Orb shines again in the sky. Then they will die.'

  Arms and legs trussed like captured animals, Ian, Barbara, the Doctor and Susan lay in a smaller cave, just behind the main one. After binding their arms and legs, their captors had thrown them into the cave and retreated hastily, almost as if they were afraid to stay, rolling a great stone to block the door.

  The cave was small and dark, and it stank of death. There were skulls everywhere, arranged in pyramids on the ground.

  'Are you all right?' gasped Ian. 'They didn't hurt you?'

  'No, I'm all right.' Barbara's voice was trembling. 'I'm frightened, Ian.'

  Ian could offer little consolation. 'Try and hang on. We'll get out of this somehow.'

  There was hysteria in Barbara's voice. 'How? How are we going to get out of it?'

  'We shall need to be cunning,' said the Doctor thoughtfully. He seemed remarkably spry after his ordeal, already he was busy struggling with his bonds. After a moment he said, 'I hope you can get yourself free, Mr Chesterton - because I can't.' He looked at the others. 'I'm sorry. All this is my fault. I'm desperately sorry.'

  'Grandfather, no,' sobbed Susan. 'We'll find a way out. You mustn't blame yourself.'

  ('Why not,' thought Ian sourly. 'The old fool's quite right, it is all his fault!')

  The Doctor looked at the pile of skulls in front of him. He shoved one towards Ian with his feet. 'Look at that, young man!'

  Clumsily Ian picked it up. (Luckily, their hands had been tied in front of them.) 'It's a skull.' He tossed it aside, leaned forward and picked another from the pile, and then another examini
ng them carefully. 'They're all the same,' he whispered. 'The crowns have been split open!'

  7

  The Knife

  The Tribe was sleeping.

  Huddled together for warmth, wrapped in such skins as they possessed, the cave people slept, dreaming of fire, trying to forget the deadly cold that seeped through the caves - the cold that would grow fiercer, stronger, night by night. Unless the fire came back soon, there would come mornings when the weak ones, the women and children and the old would not wake. When the cold was at its fiercest, even strong men died in the night.

  Only Old Mother was still awake. Fire leaped in her mind too, but not as a saviour, a protector. To Old Mother fire was an evil demon. Her confused mind associated it with the death of her husband, Gor, and with all the misfortunes that had come upon the Tribe.

  The strangers threatened to bring fire. The strangers were evil, too. Old Mother thought for a long time, wondering how she might save the Tribe from the menace of fire. At last she thought of a way.

  She rose stealthily, creeping across the silent cave to the place where Za lay sleeping, Hur at his side. Za's precious knife lay close to his out-stretched hand. The knife was a long thin sliver of stone, its edge ground sharp. Old Mother reached out for it.

  Za twitched and muttered in his sleep, as if suspecting her intention and she drew back her hand. He slept again. Old Mother snatched up the knife, and scuttled away.

  Hur watched her through half-open eyes, and wondered what she should do.

  Ian was holding his tied hands out before him, stretching his bonds in the hope of slipping free of them, but the strips of rawhide were tough and sinewy, and there was little give.

  Susan was searching the floor of the cave for sharp-edged stones. 'Here's another one with a rough edge.' She picked it up and hopped over to Ian, hampered by the fact that both her hands and feet were bound.

  Ian took the stone in his own bound hands, and moved over to Barbara who stretched her tied hands flat on the ground. Ian began sawing at the thongs with the stone. 'It's no good the stone's too soft. The edge keeps crumbling.'

  'The whole thing is hopeless,' grumbled the Doctor. 'Even if you could get us free, we'd never manage to move the stone blocking the door.'

  Ian raised his head, sniffing. 'There's air coming into this cave from somewhere - somewhere else beside the door, I mean.'

  'So there is,' said Barbara. 'I can feel it on my face.'

  'It may only be a small opening though. Don't count on it..

  'Why not - you obviously are,' muttered the Doctor.

  'Of course, I am. Any hope is better than none. It's no good just lying there criticising us. Do something. Help us to get out of here if you're so clever!' Ian tossed the stone aside. 'It's hopeless,' he said, promptly contradicting himself.

  'Don't give up, Ian, please,' begged Barbara. 'All right. Come on, Susan, let's look for a better piece of rock.'

  The Doctor had been silent since Ian's outburst. For once, he had lost his usual air of complacent superiority. A little sheepishly, he said, 'Don't waste your time with stones. Try one of the shattered skulls. A good sharp piece of bone will be more useful.'

  'Good idea,' said Ian. He began rooting in the grisly pile of skulls.

  The Doctor seemed quite prepared to take charge again. 'We must concentrate our efforts, young man. We must all take turns in trying to cut your hands free.'

  'Surely we ought to get the girls loose -'

  'No, no, you first. You're the strongest, you may have to protect us...'

  Ian nodded, impressed both by his own responsibility, and by the Doctor's ruthless grasp of priorities. He found a skull that had been split almost in two, with -a satisfyingly sharp edge at the break point. Silently, he handed it to the doctor, and stretched out his bound hands.

  The Doctor began sawing at Ian's bonds. For a long time he worked furiously. At last he stopped, gasping with effort. 'Susan, you try for a while. My arms are tired.'

  'Yes, grandfather.' Susan took the piece of skull, and began sawing busily away.

  The Doctor moved over to Barbara, who was staring blankly into the darkness, her face white and drawn. 'Don't think about failure,' said the Doctor gently. 'We shall get free, and we shall all escape from this terrible place.'

  'What?'Barbara scarcely seemed to understand him.

  'Try and remember how you and the others found your way here. Concentrate solely on that, retrace every step of the journey in your mind.'

  'Yes, all right, if I can.' Barbara looked at him in surprise. 'You're trying to help me, aren't you?'

  'Fear makes good companions of all of us, Miss Wright.'

  'I didn't think you were ever afraid, Doctor.'

  'Fear is with all of us, and always will be,' said the Doctor quietly. 'But so is the other sensation that always lives with it.'

  'What sensation?'

  'Your companion referred to it a little while ago. Hope, Miss Wright. Hope!'

  Susan went on sawing at Ian's bonds until she too grew tired, then Barbara took over. All their work seemed to have made only the slightest impression on the thick leather thongs - it was obviously going to be a very long time before they were weakened enough to be broken.

  Susan sat close to the Doctor, watching Barbara work. She was dozing a little when she heard a strange rustling sound behind her. She turned around. In the far corner of the cave was a framework of branches, decorated with more of the ghastly, grinning skulls. The rustling was coming from that corner. To her horror, Susan saw that the skulls were moving. 'Look!' she screamed, and everyone turned round.

  The pile of branches was pushed aside from behind, sending skulls bouncing and rolling across the floor. A ghastly figure appeared, a skinny old woman with straggling white hair. There was a long stone knife in her hand.

  Brandishing it menacingly, she advanced upon the helpless prisoners. 'Fire is evil,' she chanted. 'You will not make fire!'

  Hur nudged Za into wakefulness. He opened his eyes, reaching instinctively for his axe. Hur put her finger to her lips and led him between the piles of sleeping figures and outside the cave. They stood shivering in the night wind. Za blinked at her, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his fists. 'What is it? Why do you wake me? Tell me!'

  'I saw the old woman take your knife.'

  'If you saw - why did you let her? She is old. You could have held her.'

  Hur answered his question with another. 'Why did she take it?'

  'Who knows? Perhaps she has gone into the forest to hunt!'

  'No,' said Hur. 'I have thought long on this. She has gone to kill the strangers.'

  'Did she say this?'

  'She took your knife. She is afraid of fire.'

  'You should have stopped her.'

  'Kal was in the cave. Leaders are awake when others sleep. You must stop her.' Hur paused, looking hard at Za. 'The strange tribe will not be able to show you how to make fire if the old woman kills them.'

  'But if I stop her from killing them they will give fire to me - and not to Kal. Come!'

  They hurried to the entrance to the cave of skulls - and saw the great stone still blocking the door.

  'The old woman could not have gone into the cave,' said Za angrily. 'The stone is there. Why do you tell me this lie?'

  Hur went to the cave mouth. She pressed her ear to the little gap between the stone and the edge of the cave entrance. She beckoned to Za. 'Listen!'

  Za listened. 'I hear the old woman in the cave. She is talking to them.' Dropping his axe, Za began heaving the stone. At first it would not move, but gradually it started to rock, more and more. Hur ran to help...

  It took the Doctor quite a while to realise what the old woman wanted. She was gabbling hysterically about fire, waving the knife threateningly at them. 'What does she want, Doctor?' sobbed Barbara. 'is she going to kill us?'

  'No, I don't think so. As far as I can make out she's terrified of fire - she's offering to let us go if we promise no
t to make it.'

  The old woman nodded eagerly. 'I will set you free, if you go away and do not make fire. Fire will bring trouble and death to the Tribe.'

  'Let us go,' said the Doctor, instantly. 'Let us go and there will be no fire.'

  They became aware of a grinding noise from the mouth of the cave. Someone was rocking the stone. There was a bellow of rage.

  'Someone is coming,' said the Doctor. 'Quickly now!' He held out his wrists, and the old woman sawed at the bonds with the stone knife until they parted. 'Now my feet!' The old woman stooped and cut the bonds from the Doctor's feet. One by one she freed them.

  All the time the great boulder blocking the entrance rocked more and more.

  The old woman pointed to the way she had come in - there was a narrow opening concealed behind the bushes. 'You must hurry. Follow the tunnel, and then take the path into the forest. You can hide there.'

  'Hurry,' shouted Ian. 'They'll be here in a minute.' The Doctor went through the tunnel, then Barbara, then Susan and finally Ian himself.

  Minutes after they had disappeared, the boulder shifted enough to leave a gap at the entrance. Za squeezed through, Hur close behind.

  'Where are they?' roared Za.

  Hur looked at the discarded lashings on the floor of the cave. 'She did not kill them. She has set them free.'

  Za saw his knife in Old Mother's hand, and snatched it from her. 'Why, old woman? Why?'

  'They would have made fire,' moaned Old Mother. 'They would have made fire.'

  Hur's sharp eyes had spotted the opening at the back of the cave. 'They have gone this way. Here, Za!'

  Za headed for the gap, and Old Mother wound her skinny arms around him, trying to hold him back. Angrily, Za threw her aside. She stumbled to the floor, and lay there half-stunned.

  Za peered into the tunnel and hesitated. 'They have gone into the night.'

  Hur said, 'They have taken the secret of fire with them.'

  'The beasts will kill them. They will kill us if we follow.'

  Hur went back to the cave entrance, recovered Za's axe, and brought it back to him. She pressed it into his hand. 'You are the leader, Za,' said Hur softly. 'You are strong, as strong as the beasts. You will be stronger still, once you know how fire is made. Stronger than Kal.'