DOCTOR WHO AND AN UNEARTHLY CHILD

by Terrance Dicks

  Ian said, 'These people just don't understand kindness or friendship. See if you can explain, in a way she'll understand, Barbara.'

  'We will make him well again,' said Barbara gently. 'We will teach you how fire is made. All we ask in return is that you show us the way back to our own cave.'

  A feeble voice from the ground said, 'Listen to them, Hur. They speak truth. They did not kill me.' By now Za was conscious, though still dazed.

  'I'm getting worried about the time,' said Ian. 'We've been here far too long. Are we all ready?'

  'I'm terribly thirsty,' said Susan. 'Can I just go and get a drink?'

  Ian nodded, and Susan went over to Hur and said hopefully, 'Water?'

  Hur led the way to the stream and Susan followed.

  'Be careful!' called Barbara.

  Susan looked at the Doctor, who was standing a little apart, sulking. 'Do you want some water, grandfather?'

  'No, I do not!'

  'What about giving us a hand here, Doctor?' called Ian.

  The Doctor folded his arms and turned his back.

  'Don't take any notice of him,' said Susan over her shoulder. 'He's often like this, especially when he doesn't get his own way!'

  Ian finished checking over the stretcher. It would have to be pretty solid to carry Za's weight.

  'Maybe it was a good idea making friends with these two,' said Barbara hopefully. 'We might even stand a better chance of getting back to the ship.'

  Ian looked up from his task and saw that the Doctor had picked up a heavy pointed stone and was advancing stealthily towards Za.

  He sprang up and gripped the Doctor's wrist. 'What are you doing?'

  'Let go of me,' said the Doctor indignantly. 'I was just going to ask him to draw some kind of map on the ground, to show us the way back to the TARDIS.'

  Ian looked narrowly at the old man. Just how much ruthlessness was the Doctor capable of, if he felt it might save his own and Susan's life?

  He took the stone from the Doctor's hand and tossed it aside. 'It's a good idea, Doctor, but I don't think he's in a fit state to draw any maps. We'd better get going.'

  Susan and Hur were back from the stream by now, and the Doctor looked on scornfully, while Ian and the three girls struggled to roll Za onto the stretcher. They managed it at last.

  'Will you take one end, please, Doctor?' said Ian. 'You surely don't expect me to carry him?'

  'You surely don't expect one of the girls to do it?' said Ian blandly. 'Lead the way please, Susan.'

  Fuming, the Doctor picked up his end of the stretcher, Ian took the other, and the little party set off.

  Kal had roused the rest of the Tribe, and they were milling about confusedly outside the main cave. 'The strangers have gone,' shouted Kal. 'Za and Hur have gone with them. We must go after them and bring them back.'

  'Hur would not help the strangers to escape,' said Horg.

  'She has gone with them all the same.'

  Horg shook his head in puzzlement. 'Where is Old Mother? Has she gone with them too?'

  'She sits silent in the cave of skulls,' said Kal. 'I saw her there, but she would not move or speak.' Horg led the way to the cave of skulls and they all crowded inside.

  Old Mother sat cross-legged, staring into space, leaning against a pyramid of skulls.

  'She will tell you what happened,' said Kal. 'Ask her.'

  Horg reached out and touched Old Mother on the shoulder. She tipped over sideways, and fell stiffly to the ground. 'She is dead.'

  In a loud, compelling voice Kal said, 'My eyes tell me what happened here. I see pictures as I do when I sleep. Za and Hur came here to free the strangers, so that they could steal the secret of fire for themselves. Old Mother tried to stop them, and Za killed her. Za has gone with them. He is taking them back to their own tree in return for the secret.'

  Horg said slowly, 'The old woman is dead. Za and the strangers are gone. It must have been as your eyes saw it.'

  'I am your leader now,' shouted Kal. 'Follow me, and I will lead you to the strangers!'

  It was Susan who reached the edge of the forest first. Pushing her way through a screen of bushes, she peered out onto the darkened plain and shouted, 'There! Over there! I can see the TARDIS!'

  The others plodded slowly after her along the path. Carrying the weight of Za had slowed them down to a crawl. Frequent rests had been necessary, and it had taken them an incredibly long time to reach the edge of the forest. But they were here at last, and safety was in sight.

  'Come on, Doctor,' shouted Ian. 'We're nearly there, just one final effort.'

  'Yes, yes, very well,' grumbled the Doctor.

  'Barbara, you and Susan hold back the bushes so we can get the stretcher through,' said Ian.

  Barbara and Susan pulled the screen of bushes aside, and Ian led the way through the gap with the stretcher. As he came out onto the plain, he could make out the square blue shape of the TARDIS just ahead.

  Suddenly, to his horror, he saw a number of burly, skin-clad figures emerge from behind the TARDIS and advance towards them.

  'Back!' shouted Ian. He retreated clumsily back into the forest, hampered by the stretcher, swung round and saw another group of tribesmen blocking the path.

  The leader had a short jutting beard, and there was a stone knife in his hand.

  They were trapped.

  10

  Captured

  The Tribe was holding a council.

  The four recaptured prisoners stood before Horg and the rest of the Tribe, guarded by a circle of warriors, led by Kal. Za was there too, still on his improvised stretcher, which had been placed on the ground before the flat-topped rock. Hur knelt anxiously beside him. A kind of trial was taking place, with Kal accusing Za, and justifying his own actions to the Tribe.

  The Doctor and the others watched carefully, realising that their own fates were probably at stake as well.

  Kal was concluding his story. 'Za and the woman were going with the strangers - with our enemies! I led the others and we stopped them, brought them back here.'

  'The strangers are not our enemies,' said Hur. 'They saved Za from death when the tiger attacked him by the stream.'

  'Hear the woman speak for the strangers,' sneered Kal. 'She and Za let them out of the cave of skulls, and fled with them.'

  'You lie,' shouted Hur. 'Old Mother set them free.'

  'Is Za so weak that his woman must speak for him?'

  'I say it was Old Mother! She showed them another way from the cave of skulls. She will tell you!'

  'The old woman speaks no more,' said Kal. 'She does not say she did this, or did that. Old Mother is dead. Za killed her.'

  Kal stooped and snatched the stone knife from beneath Za's skins. 'See! Here is the knife Za killed her with!'

  There was a rumble of anger from the Tribe.

  Suddenly, the Doctor spoke, his voice loud and commanding. 'The knife has no blood on it.'

  Everyone stared at the knife. As the Doctor had said, the stone blade was clean.

  Kal looked down at the knife in his hand. 'It is a bad knife! It does not show the things it has done.'

  The Doctor laughed scornfully. 'It is a finer knife than yours.'

  Kal hurled the knife to the ground. 'I say it is a bad knife.'

  The Doctor pointed to the knife where it lay on the ground. 'I say this is a fine knife. It can cut and it can stab. It is a knife for a chief. I have never seen a better knife than this.'

  'I will show you one!' Kal snatched out his own knife and held it out. It was a fine knife indeed - and the blade was caked with dried blood.

  The Doctor's voice rang out. 'Your knife shows the things that it has done. Your knife has blood on it! Who killed the old woman?'

  Za raised himself on one elbow. 'I did not kill her.' He struggled to his feet, and stood swaying to and fro a moment. 'Kal killed her!'

  'The old woman set the strangers free,' screamed Kal. 'She showed the the way to leave the cave of skulls w
ithout moving the great stone. I, Kal, killed her!'

  The Doctor stepped forward, spreading out his hands. In some extraordinary way he was dominating the whole savage gathering. 'Is this your strong leader? One who kills your old women in his fury? He is a bad leader. He will kill you all when he is angry.' He leaned across to Ian and spoke in his normal voice. 'Follow my example, young man!'

  The Doctor bent and picked up a stone and hurled it at Kal. 'Drive him out!'

  Kal gave a roar of anger, and brandished his knife.

  Ian, too, grabbed a stone and flung it at Kal.

  'Yes, drive him out. He kills old women!'

  Hur snatched up a stone and threw it. 'Kal is evil! Drive him out!'

  Reeling a little, Za bent and picked up a stone. 'Drive him out!'

  Suddenly, everyone was picking up stones and throwing them. Kal stood helplessly for a moment in the hail of missiles, and then turned and fled into the darkness.

  'Well done, Doctor,' whispered Barbara.

  The Doctor gave her a self-satisfied smirk. 'Child's play, my dear. These people are just as susceptible to mass hysteria as the people of your own time.'

  The victory over Kal seemed to have given Za back his strength. 'Kal is no longer of this Tribe,' he shouted. 'We will watch for him. If he comes back we will kill him.'

  Hur said anxiously, 'Kal is strong, and you are weak from your wounds. He will kill you if he can.'

  'Remember,' said Ian. 'Kal is not stronger than the whole Tribe.'

  Za looked hard at Ian, as if struggling to understand the new idea. At last he nodded, pleased. 'We will all fight Kal, if he comes back.' Za pointed to one of the young warriors. 'You will watch for him!'

  The warrior nodded and moved away from the cave, looking in the direction in which Kal had fled.

  His authority restored, Za turned to the other warriors. 'Return the prisoners to the cave of skulls.'

  Ian sprang forward. 'No, Za. I am your friend. Take us to the place where Kal found us, and I will make fire for you.'

  Za ignored him, selecting other Tribesmen. 'We shall use the great stone to close the cave again, and you will stand by another place that I will show you.' He raised his voice. 'Take them away!'

  Tribesmen descended on the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara, gripping their arms.

  'Don't struggle,' called the Doctor. Rather unnecessarily, thought Ian, since struggle against their brutish captors would have been quite useless.

  They were dragged away.

  Za watched them thrust into the cave and saw the stone rolled tight against the entrance. He turned to a warrior and led him to a clump of bushes not far from the cave. 'The other way out of the cave leads here. If you see them come out - kill them.'

  In the cave of skulls, the Doctor and his companions stood looking around them in despair. A hazardous escape, a long and dangerous journey, and now they were back where they had started, in this terrible cave with its piles of rotting skulls and its cloying stench of death.

  Barbara saw the body of Old Mother at the back of the cave and gave a scream of horror. 'This place is evil,' she sobbed. 'Evil!'

  'At least they haven't tied our hands this time. Well, Doctor, what do we do now? Got any bright ideas?'

  The Doctor stood lost in thought, rubbing his chin. He looked up. 'As a matter of fact, young man - I have!'

  Za and Hur were talking, standing by the flat stone in front of the great cave. Za was almost himself again by now. The claw marks on his arm and shoulder had stopped bleeding, and he was able to ignore them. His mind was full of questions.

  'Tell me what happened after I fought with the beast in the forest.'

  'You were stronger than the beast,' said Hur proudly. 'It took away your axe-head in its side. You lay on the earth, covered with the blood of the beast. I thought you were dead.'

  'And the strangers? Tell me what they did!'

  'The young man of their tribe came towards you. He did not kill you. He told me his name.'

  'His name?'

  'He said his name was Friend.'

  'They must have come from the other side of the mountains,' said Za thoughtfully.

  'But nothing lives there.'

  'So we thought. But I see that we were wrong. This new tribe comes from there. Tell me more of what happened. Tell me what the strangers did next.'

  Hur frowned, struggling to remember. 'I did not understand them, Za. They moved slowly, and their faces were not fierce. They cared for your wounds, and carried you on their skins, as a mother carries her baby. Why did they not kill us, Za? We were their enemies. We made them captive.'

  Za shrugged helplessly. 'They are a new tribe. They are not like us. Not like Kal's tribe either. Their minds hold strange thoughts. The young one, the one called Friend, spoke strange words to us.'

  'I do not remember.'

  Za frowned with the effort of recollection. 'He said, "Kal is not stronger than the whole Tribe."'

  'I do not understand.'

  'It is a new thought,' said Za. 'But I understand. Except for me, Kal is the strongest warrior in the whole Tribe. And I was weak. But the whole Tribe drove Kal away with the stones. Even the old men and women, even the children, were stronger than Kal, together.'

  Za wrestled with this new concept of co-operation. 'The whole Tribe can gather more fruit than one. The whole Tribe can kill the beasts in the forest, where just one hunter would die.'

  'Their minds are not like ours,' agreed Hur. 'Perhaps they come from Orb. That is what the old men are saying. They say we must return them to Orb in sacrifice.'

  'No, they come from a tribe across the mountains. They can make fire, but they do not want to tell us, because our Tribe would become as strong as theirs.'

  'What will you do with the strangers, Za? Will you kill them?'

  Za shook his head. 'Your father, Horg, says that the leader must know how to make fire. I do not wish to be driven into the forest, like Kal. I must learn to make fire. The strangers must teach me. Otherwise they will die.'

  Za strode up and down for a moment, and then turned to Hur. 'I am going to speak with the strangers again.'

  'Will you ask them to show you how to make fire?'

  Za nodded. 'I shall ask them many things. I shall learn from their new thoughts. I want to hear more things that I can remember.' He looked solemnly at Hur. 'A leader has many things to remember!' Using his authority as leader, Za snatched an axe from the nearest Tribesman, and headed for the cave.

  In the cave of skulls, Ian, working under the Doctor's instructions, was making a kind of bow with one of his shoe-laces and a bendy piece of wood, one of the branches at the back of the cave. A long thin piece of wood, like an arrow, was wrapped in the middle of the shoe-lace.

  'I hope this works, Doctor,' said Ian. 'Sure you wouldn't like to have a go?'

  'No, no, young man. I merely provided the theory. The practice calls for strong wrists and unending patience, and I have neither.'

  Barbara looked at the apparatus in some puzzlement. 'I still don't see how you think you're going to make fire with some kind of toy bow and arrow.'

  'Easy to see you're not a science teacher,' said Ian. 'Energy into heat, remember. The idea is, I rotate the arrow bit against a chunk of dry wood, very fast and for a very long time. All my hard work gets converted into heat - and with any luck, into fire.'

  'I see. The proverbial rubbing two sticks together?'

  'That's right. Any boy scout is supposed to be able to do it. I only hope I can!'

  Susan appeared with a flat round stone with a hollow depression in the middle - a kind of natural bowl. 'Is this the sort of thing you want?'

  'That'll do fine.'

  'You'll need something very dry and tindery,' said Barbara. 'Dead leaves and old grass should do it.' She found a supply of both at the back of the cave. Carefully avoiding Old Mother's body, she carried them back.

  'Good,' said Ian. 'Now, I put this bit of dry wood in the bowl, we pack the dry le
aves and grass around it... so... and away we go!'

  Ian stood the arrow in the bowl, point downwards, and held it in position with another piece of wood in his left hand. By moving the bow in his right hand backwards and forwards, he began turning the point of the arrow round and round on the flat piece of wood. He worked away steadily, and soon the point had formed a kind of groove. Round and round, moved the arrow on the piece of wood, but there was no sign of fire...

  'It's no use you all standing over me,' said Ian irritably. 'It isn't going to burst into flames straight away you know. It'll probably take all night!'

  Za marched up to the sentry he had left outside the second exit from the cave. 'I go in to speak with the strange tribe. If anyone but me comes out, you will kill them.'

  The tribesman nodded and Za went into the tunnel.

  In the hillside immediately above the exit, there was a ledge of rock. On it lay Kal. His eyes were blazing with hatred, and the stone knife was gripped tightly in his hand.

  He looked hungrily down at the unsuspecting sentry - all that stood between him and his revenge.

  11

  The Firemaker

  Despite Ian's protests, the others were still standing round him watching his efforts. As Barbara had remarked, there wasn't really a great deal else to do in the cave, and since all their lives depended on his efforts, they could scarcely be blamed for taking an interest.

  'I think I can smell something,' said Susan suddenly.

  'So can I,' agreed Barbara. 'A sort of scorching...'

  'You're doing it!' said Susan excitedly. 'It's going to work!'

  Ian's forehead was dripping with sweat, and his wrists felt as if they were on fire themselves. 'Not yet,' he grunted. 'Long way... to go... yet.'

  Suddenly Za appeared from the back of the cave. 'What is this? What are you doing?'

  'We are making fire,' said the Doctor impressively.

  ('I like the "we",' thought Ian mutinously. 'Who's doing all the work?')

  Za looked down at Ian. 'Friend?'