Rodan sighed. 'I don't suppose you've got a sonic screwdriver?'
Kelner stared despairingly round the defence control room, still almost in ruins after K9's attack. 'So much damage,' he moaned, 'so much disorder...'
'I must have my reinforcements!' growled Stor.
'There may be some way of patching control though,' said Kelner dubiously. 'But it will take time...'
'My general insists on immediate entry,' said Stor throatily. 'If I cannot fulfill his orders, it will be my military duty to die. But before I die, you will die, Time Lord!'
Hastily Kelner set to work.
Rodan had disappeared underneath the TARDIS console, only her feet still visible.
'Are you all right down there?' called the Doctor.
Rodan's head popped up. 'Of course I am. Crimps please.'
'Crimps,' repeated the Doctor and fished a complex-looking tool from a jumbled electronic tool-box at his side. 'Are you sure you know what you're doing?'
'Of course I do. Five two lever!'
The Doctor found the lever and passed it down. He patted the TARDIS console consolingly. 'Now don't you worry old girl, this won't hurt a bit!'
As Rodan worked on, the Doctor said broodingly, 'Unless we can stop them, the Sontarans will rampage not only through this universe and this time, but all universes, and all times. Nasty thought, isn't it. So we've just got to stop them, you see, we've just got to.'
Rodan muttered something that sounded like 'inkle grooner'.
The Doctor passed her another tool. 'They're after the Sash of Rassilon, the Rod, and most especially the Great Key. Those three, linked into the Matrix, provide the sum total of Time Lord power. Yes, that's what they want all right!'
Rodan appeared from beneath the TARDIS console and said loudly, 'Junk!'
The Doctor stared at her.
'Junk,' repeated Rodan. 'This whole contraption is a load of junk!'
'You're talking about my TARDIS!'
Rodan grinned at him. 'It worked though, all the same!' She switched on the scanner. 'Look!'
A pattern of sinister shapes appeared on the screen. 'Arrow head, arrow wings, arrow shaft,' said the Doctor softly. 'A classic Sontaran formation. It's an entire battle fleet!'
'Whatever it is, it's outside the quantum force-field,' said Rodan triumphantly. 'The defence screens are working again! We're safe!'
The Doctor brooded over the screen. 'You haven't seen what a Sontaran battle fleet can do! Are you sure the defence screen will hold?'
Rodan nodded. 'Yes, Your Excellency. As long as the TARDIS is secure, you control the defence screens.'
Kelner straightened up from the tangled ruins of a control bank. 'It's useless. Primary, secondary and tertiary circuits are out of order.'
'Repair them,' said Stor remorselessly.
'It's not a question of repair, Excellency. The damaged circuits seem to have been by-passed. The only way of doing that is through a type forty capsule and the only one of those in operation at the moment is the one used by the President!'
' "Dok-tor" ' roared Stor. His fist smashed down on a control bank shattering it still further.
Fear sent Kelner's brain into over-drive. 'There may be an alternative. If I can by-pass his stabiliser circuits...' With renewed energy, Kelner set to work.
Some time later he straightened up, eyes gleaming with sly malice. 'Let's try it, then. If it works, the Doctor is in for a very unpleasant surprise.' He began throwing a series of switches, one by one.
The patched up equipment began throbbing with power. Something was happening.
'Better, Time Lord, better!' whispered Stor.
The TARDIS control room began to blur and shimmer as though dematerialising from the inside.
'What's happening?' screamed Rodan.
'Someone's reversed our stabiliser banks!'
'That's impossible. Only a high-ranking Time Lord could do that.'
'It's that toad Kelner!'
'What's going to happen to us?'
'If this keeps up, we'll all be dematerialised. It's like being hurled straight into a Black Star!'
Rodan fell, unconscious. The Doctor clutched the console for support, as the TARDIS began to blur and spin. Reality was fading before his eyes...
Failsafe
The Doctor became aware that someone was shaking his shoulder. It was Leela. Somehow she had fought her way back to him through the shuddering, vibrating TARDIS.
'Leela, get Rodan out of here,' shouted the Doctor.
Leela began dragging Rodan towards the door.
The Doctor lurched over to the console and smashed his fist down on a transparent plastic cover. There was a fierce klaxon like hooting. Gradually the interior of the TARDIS returned to normal...
Kelner studied instrument readings, and shook his head in disappointment. 'I'm afraid the Doctor was too quick for us.'
'What has happened,' demanded Stor.
'He's managed to re-stabilise - thrown the failsafe switch on his time capsule. It's fixed in its present state for eternity - or until he turns off the failsafe switch.'
'Then he is trapped!'
'Trapped, and the Great Key with him,' said Kelner sadly. 'I could have done so much with that Great Key.'
Stor interrupted Kelner's dreams of power. 'Can we enter his capsule?'
'I have enterance probes for all Time Capsules,' said Kelner slowly. 'It ought to be possible.'
'Then fetch the relevant probes. We shall go to this TARDIS.'
The Doctor closed the door from the control room and locked it. He produced a small silver tube. 'Nobody can re-set the system without this in. Where are the others, Leela?'
'In the bathroom.'
'The bathroom? Leela, you mean to say you got lost? You, the great huntress, got lost!' Chuckling the Doctor led them away.
Supporting the still-dazed Rodan, Leela followed him. 'Well, it's bigger than it looks this TARDIS of yours,' she muttered sulkily.
The exterior door of the TARDIS sprang open, revealing Stor, a Sontaran trooper, and Castellan Kelner.
Stor stared contemptuously around him. 'This machine is obsolete.'
'It was withdrawn some time ago,' said Kelner defensively.
'Can you make the systems function again, so that we regain control of the defence systems?'
'I doubt it,' said Kelner gloomily.
'Later you will make it work, or you will die,' said Stor. 'But first we must capture "Dok-tor".'
The Sontaran trooper was trying to open the inner door without success. 'He has half-fastened it with some kind of locking device,' he reported.
'He is still trapped,' said Stor gloatingly. 'There may be many inner chambers, but this is the only way out, is that not so, Time Lord?' Kelner nodded miserably.
'I shall have the door open soon,' said the trooper.
'Then we have him,' said Stor exultantly. 'And he has the Great Key. I want Dok-tor captured unharmed, remember. I wish to deal with him personally.'
The Doctor was leading the way through semi-darkness down a seemingly endless stairway.
'Don't worry," he said confidently, 'I've got a perfect sense of direction. We're close to store-room twenty-three-A if I'm not mistaken. Come on!'
Leela was almost certain that the Doctor was mistaken. 'Where are we going, Doctor?'
'To the workshop, where I sent Andred and K9.'
The Doctor led them through a gloomy maze of storerooms and tunnels, chatting brightly all the while. 'You see the advantage of this antiquated TARDIS of mine is that it's fully equipped and completely reliable...'
'Completely?' said Leela meaningfully.
The Doctor coughed. 'Well, almost completely.'
They came to a metal tunnel and the Doctor said, 'Here we are, service tunnel three, sector two five. Nearly there!'
Some considerable time later they found themselves trailing wearily along a metal walkway and the Doctor said uneasily, 'It's odd, you know, but I could have sworn we
'd been here before.'
'We have,' said Leela grimly. 'We're going round in circles, Doctor.'
'Nonsense, that must have been sector twenty-three-B. It's very like this one.'
They followed him down a flight of stairs. Rodan saying the whole place needed re-decoration, the Doctor protesting that he had more important things to deal with. They were still wrangling when they climbed some steps and reached the tunnel again.
'Doctor we have been here before,' insisted Leela.
'It's just an illusion. It's called déjà vu, very common with time travellers.'
'Tell him, Rodan,' said Leela wearily.
'She's right, Doctor. We've been this way before.'
'Nonsense! I know the way round the TARDIS like the back of my hand.' The Doctor gave the back of his hand a thoughtful look, and they set off again.
This time they emerged into an enormous conservatory, crowded with lush green vegetation and bright with tropical plants. The air was warm and humid, and they seemed to be under an enormous glass dome beneath a blazing sun. Leela was astonished, and even Rodan was taken aback.
The Doctor took it all for granted. He stared at an ornamental clock standing against one wall. 'Slow again,' he said reprovingly, and adjusted the hands. Then with a sigh of relief, he sank into a chair.
A Sontaran trooper hurried back into the control room carrying a long plastic tube filled with complex circuitry. Watched by the impatient Stor, he applied the end of the rod to the locked door. After a moment the rod began to glow as a colossal flow of energy was channelled through it.
Kelner, meanwhile, had completed his examination of the TARDIS console. 'I'm sorry, sir, but it's impossible to reactivate. The Doctor has removed a primary refraction tube from the failsafe control. With that circuit missing, no one can do anything to the TARDIS.'
'So,' hissed Stor. 'I cannot destroy the TARDIS and the Doctor cannot escape. Stalemate! Trooper, how much longer to open that door?'
'Not long, sir, I'm very nearly through...'
The Doctor jumped to his feet. 'Come on, we can't lounge about here all day.'
Leela sighed. 'Doctor, you just said you wanted a rest.'
'I've just had one I Let's go and see K9, he should be re-charged by now.'
It took a little more wandering and wrangling, but at last they found their way into the workshop, an enormous room filled with benches, lathes, and equipment for making or repairing practically anything. K9 was standing by close to a power socket, antenna plugged in patiently absorbing energy.
'Andred was standing over him. 'If I had a dog like you in my unit, K9, I'd make him a sergeant!'
'Hello, boy,' said the Doctor cheerfully. 'How's it going?'
'Nothing is going anywhere Master,' pointed out K9 with an automaton's logic. 'We are in a state of perfect inertia!'
'I don't really like the idea of inertia being perfect...'
Leela knelt beside K9 and patted his head.
'Is he ready?' asked the Doctor.
Andred nodded. 'Re-charged to capacity, just as you ordered, Doctor.'
'Good.'
A light flashed on the wall, and a buzzer sounded.
"What's that?' asked Leela.
'Early warning system. They've broken through the door downstairs.'
Squat and menacing, Stor stood for a moment in the open doorway. He raised his helmet and set it upon his head. 'Now, Dok-tor, we shall do battle on your own ground." Followed by his aide, Stor marched determinedly into the interior of the TARDIS.
K9 and the Doctor were deep in low voiced conversation. 'You understand, K9, you may pass on the information you have absorbed to Rodan, when I have prepared her-but to no one else.'
'Not even you, Master?'
'It's my plan K9, naturally I have to know about it! Leela, have you got the Key?'
Leela produced the Key and handed it to him.
'Look at me, Rodan!' commanded the Doctor softly. He stroked Rodan's forehead with his fingers, and she fell into a light hypnotic trance. 'Are you listening to me, Rodan.'
'Yes.'
'You will help, K9. You will carry out his instructions. When he asks you will give him his Key. You will give it to K9 or me, but to no one else, do you understand.'
'I understand.'
'Good! Watch the door will you Andred?'
The Doctor produced the Circlet and perched it on K9's head. 'It's up to you now, K9!'
'Master!'
'Leela, Andred, you come with me.'
'Whereto?'
'To the bathroom, of course!'
The Doctor set off briskly, and the others followed.
Rodan turned and looked expectantly at K9. She looked bright and alert, and not in the least hypnotised.
K9 swivelled to face the rack of storage shelves. 'One rod of type three iridium alloy, one metre in length. Five copper conduction discs."
As K9 called out his weird shopping list, Rodan found the items he demanded and arranged them on a workbench.
Stor was descending the steps, followed by Kelner and a Sontaran trooper.
At the foot of the steps, Stor produced a device from his belt-pouch, studied the readings then put the little machine away in disgust. 'Very clever, Dok-tor.'
'What's happened?' asked Kelner nervously.
'The Doctor has set up a form of biological barrage, so that my tracking device cannot trace the life-forms of his party. Without the tracer we may never find him. We must return to the control room and destroy the barrier.'
'The barrage is probably powered by an ancilliary generator,' said Kelner. 'If I can find it, we can shut off the barrage.'
'Do this, and you will be well rewarded. Lead me to this device.'
What Leela referred to as the bathroom was in fact the swimming pool she had been using earlier. It was here that they found Borusa, stretched out comfortably on a low couch, calm and relaxed as always. 'Doctor!'
'There you are, Chancellor,' said the Doctor equally calmly. 'I'm sorry to disturb you, but I think you'd better come with us to somewhere a bit safer. Don't want you to fall into the hands of the Sontarans, do we. Terrible chaps! It's all a question of breeding, you know.'
Borusa rose and allowed the Doctor to lead him away. 'Surely, it isn't just their breeding which concerns you, Doctor?'
'Oh, but it is, I assure you. They breed at the rate of about a million a minute! This way Chancellor.' As they turned to leave, Stor and his trooper appeared at the far end of the room.
Stor raised his blaster and fired.
14
The Chase
A second before the Doctor turned for a final glance round and saw the menacing figures just in time. 'Get down!' he yelled. Everyone ducked, and Stor's blaster-bolt crackled over their heads.
Before Stor could fire again, the Doctor and his group were through the end doors and haring down the corridor beyond.
Stor and the Sontaran trooper ran after them.
The Doctor led his party down a long corridor lined with doors. Suddenly the Doctor stopped. 'Wait! We'd better split up. Pick a door, any door!'
The Doctor, Borusa, Leela and Andred all ran through different doors and found themselves mysteriously all in the same place, a kind of mini-hospital with rows of curtained beds.
'I do wish you would stabilise your pedestrian infrastructure, Doctor,' said Borusa peevishly. 'Where are we now?'
'Sick bay?' The Doctor pointed to a door at the far end. 'Come on, Chancellor, we can get out this way. Lock the door Andred.'
The Doctor hurried Borusa down the ward. Andred locked and barred the door, Leela waiting beside him.
Andred slid the last of the heavy bolts. 'That should do it,' he said.
Stor smashed straight through the door, firing as he came.
A random bolt caught Andred's arm and sent him flying across the room. Leela dived for cover beneath abed.
Luckily for both of them, Stor and his trooper were more interested in the retreating forms of t
he Doctor and Borusa, who could just be seen disappearing through the far door. 'After them,' roared Stor.
Brushing aside the shattered fragments of the door frame, Stor thundered down the ward and out of sight, his trooper behind him.
Leela emerged from hiding and went over to Andred, who had rolled into a corner, clutching his wounded arm. She helped him to his feet. 'Come on, let's get out of here.'
'You go, Leela. I'll hold them off if they come back.'
'How?' asked Leela practically. 'Come on, we'll go this way.'
They went back through the door and into the corridor.
When they arrived in the conservatory, the Doctor and Borusa were waiting for them-rather to Leela's surprise, as she'd been certain the Doctor would get them lost again.
'Ah, there you are!' he called cheerfully. He noticed Andred clutching his arm, 'You're hurt, Andred. Is it bad?'
'Only a graze, Doctor but the arm's numb. I'm sorry, but I won't be much use for a while.' Andred's face was white with shock and it was clear it would take him some time to recover.
'Leela, you'd better take Andred and the Chancellor back to the workshop,' ordered the Doctor. 'Do you know the way this time?'
'I knew the way last time, Doctor.'
'Through that door there, sharp right, down two levels...'
Leela held up her hand. 'Please, no directions, Doctor. It will be easier without them!'
Leela led Andred and Borusa away, and the Doctor waited, considering his next move. The situation really didn't call for very much planning. All he had to do was stay alive until Rodan finished the task he had given her. But with Stor and his troopers rampaging round the TARDIS that might not be too easy.
Stor's blaster wouldn't work in the main control room of course, but the protective effect of the stabiliser field didn't extend to the rest of the ship. And even in the control room he wouldn't be safe, since Stor would be quite happy to throttle him or crush him to death.
Sontarans were appallingly strong, and the Doctor knew that if they once got their hands on him he would be done for.
Doctor Who - [093] - The Invasion Of Time Page 10
