Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Copyright
The Sontaran Games
Jacqueline Rayner
* * *
Chapter One
THE ROOM WAS briefly lit up as the Doctor left the TARDIS. Then he shut the doors of his time machine behind him, and the room became dark again.
The Doctor started to walk forward, but stumbled. He pulled a torch out of his pocket and switched it on. Pointing the beam at his feet, he looked to see what had tripped him up. There on the ground was a pair of thick rubber boots and what looked like a toolbox.
He raised the torch, and a pale face screamed out of the blackness at him.
The Doctor barked in surprise, sounding like a startled seal. The torch beam wobbled for a moment as he stepped backwards. Then he laughed in relief, as he saw that this was no deadly alien – it was just a young woman. She was wearing a swimming costume, which seemed strange to the Doctor, as it was obviously the middle of the night. But then perhaps on this planet his blue suit, brown coat and trainers would look odd.
‘Where did you come from?’ he asked the young woman. ‘There was no one here a minute ago!’ Then he remembered his manners, and added, ‘I’m sorry I scared you.’
She didn’t answer, just asked him the same question. ‘Where did you come from?’
‘Just now? Oh, the planet Pootle,’ the Doctor replied. He waved his hand in the air to indicate somewhere a long way off. The light from the torch bounced around the room as he did so. ‘Ever been there?’
She stared at him for a moment and finally said, ‘No.’
‘Lovely beaches, but the sharks are deadly. As in, three metres tall with guns. So I made a quick getaway and ended up here, in your lovely, er, house.’
‘You mean BASE,’ the girl said.
‘Base? Like an army base? Base camp?’
‘No, this is BASE. The British Academy of Sporting Excellence.’
The Doctor screwed up his face. ‘British? So, I’m on Earth?’
‘Yes,’ she replied, earning a giant grin from the Doctor.
‘Great! I love Earth!’
‘Mm. Me too,’ said the young woman. She was giving the Doctor an odd look. There again, he thought, it might just be an effect of the torchlight.
From somewhere to the left of the Doctor came the sound of a door opening. He swung the torch round, making the young man who’d entered fling up a hand to shield his eyes. The youth blinked a few times, then squinted ahead. ‘Oh, it’s you, Emma,’ he said, sounding annoyed. ‘What was all that yelling and screaming about? After what happened to Laura and the others . . .’
‘I can look after myself, Sid,’ the girl replied. ‘Nothing’s going to happen to me.’
‘I don’t expect Laura thought anything was going to happen to her either,’ the young man began. He stopped speaking when, with a pop, a light came on. A soft yellow glow from an overhead bulb suddenly bathed the room.
‘Oh, well done,’ said Sid, turning to the Doctor. ‘You’ve sorted it!’
The Doctor glanced over his shoulder, just in case the young man was speaking to someone else. He shrugged as he put the torch back in his pocket. ‘It wasn’t me,’ he said.
‘You’re not an electrician?’ Sid looked at the toolbox by the Doctor’s feet.
‘Nope.’ The Doctor grinned. ‘I’m the Doctor, you’re Sid and I take it this is Emma.’ He turned to the girl. ‘And I would really like to know what happened to Laura and the others . . .’
Sid led the way out of the room. The Doctor had dodged questions about the large blue box that was now standing there. He didn’t want to waste time trying to explain that the box was really his spaceship. He just wanted to hear Sid and Emma’s tale.
BASE, he discovered, was a training ground for gifted athletes. All of the young people who lived there were hoping to be chosen for the Globe Games. This was a huge new sporting contest. Teams from every continent in the world would compete in track and field events, swimming, gymnastics, weightlifting and more. It seemed that anything that allowed one human being to prove himself best in a contest of speed, strength or skill was included.
Sid was a javelin thrower and Emma, as the Doctor guessed, was a swimmer. Laura had been a swimmer too.
‘We’re only supposed to train during the day,’ Sid told the Doctor. ‘A lot of people do some sneaky practice after the coaches have gone home, though. Anything to get an edge on the others. Only a few of us will be chosen to go to the Games, so there’s a lot of rivalry. We think that’s why Laura had gone to the pool that night.’ A sad look crossed his face. ‘It was only a week ago. It seems like for ever. She was found there the next morning, in the water. Dead.’ He bit his lip. ‘That’s why I was worried when I heard Emma scream tonight.’
The Doctor looked from one to the other. ‘Why? Is someone bumping off all the swimmers?’
Emma shook her head. ‘He means because of the power cut. The first one was that night, the night Laura died. And since then, every time the power’s gone out—’
‘Someone has died,’ Sid finished.
‘Three people so far,’ added Emma. ‘Laura, a sprinter called Joe, and Andy, a discus thrower.’
The Doctor stared at them, amazed. ‘You’re telling me that athletes are dropping like flies whenever the lights go out? Why isn’t the place crawling with police? Come to that, why haven’t you all gone home?’
Sid wouldn’t meet the Doctor’s eyes. ‘Well, there’s a lot at stake here, you know,’ he mumbled. ‘They’re going to be picking the teams soon.’
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. ‘You’re worried that an inquiry might stop you being chosen for some big egg-and-spoon race. So you’re hushing up three fishy deaths?’
Sid and Emma both looked at the floor.
The Doctor grinned. ‘Well, at least there won’t be anyone getting in my way while I look into it, then, will there?’
* * *
Chapter Two
THE COACHES DIDN’T live at BASE. Only the students stayed there full time, and they weren’t supposed to leave the complex. Contact with family and friends was forbidden. The training was tough, and it wasn’t unknown for athletes to drop out without warning. That was how the rest of the students had kept anyone from finding out about the deaths.
‘Did you really think you’d get away with it?’ the Doctor asked in disgust. He looked down at the three lifeless bodies. They had been locked in a disused changing room, laid out on wooden benches. ‘These were people, real people. People who loved them are going to come looking, in the end.’
Sid gritted his teeth. ‘Their families would understand,’ he said. ‘They know what a big deal the Games are.’
The Doctor opened his mouth, but the words stopped when he saw Emma’s face.
‘I . . . I didn’t think,’ she said. ‘I just went along with it. I hadn’t . . . I hadn’t seen any of them.’ She pointed towards one of the benches, turning her face away, so she wasn’t looking at the body. It was still dressed in a red swimming costume. ‘That’s Laura.’ She gave a half-smile. ‘My biggest rival. I think I miss her. Maybe she wasn’t such a bad person after all.’
The Doctor held out a hand
to her, and led her back out of the changing room. Sid followed. ‘You two stay here,’ he said, his voice much softer now. ‘I’ll be out in a minute.’
It was more like twenty minutes before the Doctor joined Emma and Sid in the corridor. They weren’t looking at each other. There was clearly no love lost between them. Emma was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She jumped up when the door opened, looking scared.
‘Well?’ said Sid. ‘What happened to them?’
‘They were electrocuted,’ the Doctor said.
Sid looked puzzled.
‘Zap!’ went the Doctor, in case the youth hadn’t understood. ‘A thousand volts, zzzzzz, ow! Water and electricity don’t mix. Don’t take a toaster in the bath, however peckish you’re feeling.’
‘You mean it was something in the swimming pool?’ Emma asked. ‘An accident?’
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh no. No accident. I found burns on the other two because there was no water to spread the current around. There’s something very odd going on here. So, who do you think wants to win so much that they’d commit murder?’
Sid gaped at him. ‘Murder?’
‘Could be.’
The young man shrugged his shoulders. ‘Now you mention it, it wouldn’t really be a big surprise. So, what were you doing roaming around at night, Emma?’
Emma gasped. ‘Me? What about you? Anyway, that doesn’t make sense. All the victims did different sports. If they’d all been swimmers you might be on to something, but they weren’t.’
The Doctor smiled at her. ‘Good point. That means the answer is likely to be something a lot more interesting.’
‘What was that noise?’ Sid asked.
All three went quiet, trying to listen. There was a heavy thumping sound, and it seemed to be getting nearer and nearer.
‘Do you have a marching band that might be getting in some late-night marching practice?’ the Doctor whispered.
Sid shook his head.
They crept down the corridor and peered round the corner. Emma gasped in horror.
Four short, burly figures were trooping towards them. Each wore a dark blue uniform that seemed to be something between spacesuit and armour. There were large, rounded helmets on top. Two carried long, thin devices in their hands. The others held weapons that looked like compact machine guns. The Doctor knew that they were all deadly.
He flung himself back round the corner, pulling Emma and Sid with him. ‘I said the answer was likely to be interesting,’ he said. ‘And that’s what I call interesting.’
‘But what are they?’ asked Sid.
The Doctor took a deep breath. ‘Sontarans!’ he said.
* * *
Chapter Three
THE DOCTOR WAITED until the Sontarans had gone past. Then he led Sid and Emma out from their hiding place.
‘We’ve got to get people out of here,’ he told the nervous pair. ‘Sontarans are ruthless and deadly, and no one is safe if they’re around.’
‘But what are they?’ asked Sid, his eyes wide.
The Doctor explained quietly as they crept away. ‘They’re warriors from the planet Sontar,’ he said. ‘They live only for battle, and it’s almost impossible to defeat them in combat. They only have one weakness, a little hole in the back of the neck called a probic vent. If you hit one there, he’ll fall over.’
‘That sounds like good advice,’ said Sid.
‘It’s not,’ the Doctor said. ‘Good advice is to keep as far away from them as possible.’
‘But what are they doing here?’ asked Emma.
The Doctor shrugged. ‘The war must have moved over here. Every few hundred years it heads towards this solar system, and Earth becomes a key battle site.’ He sighed. ‘It’s a war that will never end. The Sontarans have been fighting the Rutans for ever, or that’s what it seems like.’
‘The . . . Rutans?’ said Emma.
‘Big green shape-changing amphibious blobs.’
‘Hold on a second,’ said Sid. ‘Amphibiwhat?’
‘They live both on land and in water. Like frogs. And they’re deadly warriors. Not like frogs. Well, not like most frogs.’ He paused for a second, thoughtful.
‘The common room’s just down here,’ Sid said. ‘Anyone who’s not in bed yet will be in there. I warn you, though, they’ll think this is a plot to rob them of a place in the Games. No one trusts anyone else round here.’
There were two young women and one man in the common room. Sid introduced Karl and Jess, both tall, good-looking and black, just like Sid. Karl was a sprinter and Jess was a long-jumper. The third person was a petite red-headed gymnast called Holly.
All three seemed on edge. The first thing they wanted to know was what had happened when the lights went out. They were expecting bad news – but not the news that the Doctor gave them.
They listened, frowning, while the Doctor explained about the Sontarans. He wasn’t surprised to find they didn’t believe him.
‘It’s a trick,’ Jess said, just as Sid had predicted. ‘You want us to leave BASE so we’ll lose our chance to make the teams.’
‘No,’ said the Doctor calmly, ‘I want you to leave BASE so you’ll gain a chance to live. If you stay here, you are in great danger.’
‘From these Sun-tanners?’ she sneered, clearly not convinced by anything he’d said.
‘Sontarans.’ That was Emma. ‘We saw them, Sid and me. I agree with the Doctor. We have to get out of here.’
‘If I don’t get a good night’s sleep, I won’t be able to run well in the morning,’ Karl said. ‘Is someone paying you to upset my training?’
The Doctor slapped his hand against his forehead. ‘The only running you’ll be doing is running away!’ he told the young man. ‘This is silly! Don’t you trust anyone?’
Sid laughed grimly. ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet, Doctor. Notice that this lot all do different sports? You won’t even get two teammates in the same room. They’d stab each other in the back before you could say “Paula Radcliffe”.’
The Doctor shook his head, amazed. ‘How did you ever manage to work together long enough to cover up three murders? That really was a triumph of selfishness over spite.’
Sid shrugged. He turned to the others. ‘Look, it’s not a trick, right. These monsters have got guns.’
In the end, Karl, Holly and even Jess agreed to go with the Doctor. ‘But if there’s no sign of these alien things, I’m coming straight back,’ said Jess, grumpily.
The six of them made their way upstairs towards the bedrooms. ‘I could set off the fire alarm,’ said Holly. ‘That would wake everyone up, and give them a reason to get out. Then you wouldn’t have to explain all about the monsters.’
‘Nah,’ said Jess. ‘Leave them there. If the monsters get them all, I get a place in the Games.’
The Doctor ignored Jess, but gave Holly a big smile. ‘The fire alarm’s a good idea. But there could be panic, people running here, there and all over the place. Then the Sontarans might get a bit trigger-happy, and we really don’t want that.’
They were still trying to come up with a plan when they reached the upper floor. But it turned out that they didn’t need one. They were too late.
‘Are they the aliens?’ gasped Jess, no longer stroppy. She stared as two Sontarans herded a crowd of sleepy, scared people down the corridor at gun-point.
‘Oh yes,’ said the Doctor. He took a deep breath and pointed away from the Sontarans. ‘Right. You five, that way. Quick and quiet as you can. Use doors, windows, cat flaps, anything, just get out of here and don’t come back.’
‘But what about you?’ asked Emma.
He shrugged. ‘Someone’s got to get the rest of the students out. That’s my job.’ She didn’t look happy, so he kept on. ‘I mean, that’s my job. No pay, no sick days, no desk with my name on it, but it’s what I do. Fight monsters. Rescue people.’
‘I hear you, man,’ said Karl. ‘I’m out of here!’ The tall sprinter hurried off, his trainers
making no noise as he ran. Jess, Holly and Sid followed. With a last glance at the Doctor, Emma went too.
There was a door at the end of the corridor leading to a fire escape. Karl pushed down the metal bar that was supposed to open it. Nothing happened.
‘It can’t be locked!’ Jess said, a note of fear in her voice. ‘You’re not allowed to lock fire exits! It’s the law!’ She rattled the metal bar as Sid came forward to have a go. His arm muscles stood out as he pushed, but the door just would not open.
The Doctor had started to follow the Sontarans. He returned to the athletes when he heard the panic at the door. He pulled a slim metal tube from his pocket as he joined them.
‘Sonic screwdriver,’ he told the frantic five. ‘Don’t worry, this will get you out.’
He twisted the end of the sonic and the tip began to glow blue. He waved it across the fire door.
Nothing happened.
‘Right,’ said the Doctor. ‘Everyone back downstairs.’
They hurried back the way they’d come, then Karl led the way to the building’s main door. It wouldn’t open, even with the sonic screwdriver.
‘We’ve got to get out!’ yelled Jess. The others tried to ‘shhh’ her, but she was too upset. She ran into the common room and picked up a chair.
‘No!’ cried Emma, realising what Jess planned to do. ‘The Sontarans will hear the crash!’
It was too late. Jess raised the chair above her head and threw it as hard as she could at a window.
Everyone held their breath.
The chair bounced off the window.
The Doctor sighed. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘It looks like the Sontarans have sealed the building.’
‘You mean . . .?’ Holly began.
Emma finished the sentence for her. ‘We’re trapped,’ she said.
* * *
Chapter Four
EVERYONE WAS QUIET for a few moments as this sank in. Then the Doctor gave a yelp. ‘No, we’re not trapped!’ He led the way out of the common room. ‘Now, I don’t normally do this, and you’ve all got to promise not to touch anything. We’re going to my ship.’
Doctor Who: The Sontaran Games Page 1
