DOCTOR WHO - THE INVASION

by Ian Marter

  As Walters went forward towards the cockpit section of the Hercules the Brigadier reassured his visitors as best he could. 'We're on constant alert here, Doctor. The polyvox will put you in direct contact with us at any time'

  'Jolly good,' grinned the Doctor, shutting his eyes and sipping bravely at his tea.

  A few minutes later Walters returned with a compact object resembling a small pocket torch.

  'Here you are,' boomed the Brigadier cheerfully, pressing a button to spring a short aerial out of the end of the device. 'It's on a fixed frequency. Range about a hundred kilometres. Just press the button and ask for me.'

  'Splendid!' cried the Doctor appreciatively, draining his mug with a last heroic gulp. 'As long as it doesn't play rock and roll it will come in very handy,' he added glancing severely at Jamie who was already on his feet and raring to go.

  Lethbridge-Stewart stood up briskly. 'Well, Doctor, if you're determined to conduct your own investigation I'd better organise a chopper to take you back to London. Some more tea before you go?'

  The Doctor leaped out of his chair as if he'd been stung. 'No, thank you,' he replied in a strangled voice, snatching up the polyvox unit. 'Perhaps some other time, Brigadier...'

  Zoe and Isobel stood nervously between two armed security officers in front of Vaughn's desk, while Packer hovered shiftily in the background.

  'You and your friend the Doctor have put me to considerable inconvenience today,' Vaughn purred. 'First he breaks into the building and now you ruin a rather expensive installation.'

  'Only because it refused to answer our inquiry,' Isobel retorted.

  Vaughn smiled. 'You are naturally concerned about your uncle, Miss Watkins, but I can assure you that he is perfectly well, if a trifle uncooperative at the moment. Indeed, your visit is most opportune.'

  'Why?' Zoe demanded warily.

  'The Professor needs to be encouraged to continue his invaluable work for us,' explained Vaughn blandly.

  Isobel shrugged. 'I can't persuade him to do anything.'

  Vaughn leaned forward. 'No, but I can. Now!' he murmured icily.

  The girls shivered slightly as they heard Packer sucking air through his crooked teeth in eager anticipation.

  'Mr Packet will take care of you while you're here,' Vaughn told them, nodding to his Deputy. 'He enjoys showing visitors round our facilities.'

  Packer grinned hideously. 'It will be a pleasure,' he promised, as the guards seized their captives by the arms and propelled them out of the office.

  'Oh, Packer.'

  Packer turned round to find his master gazing at him with amused concern. 'Yes, Mr.Vaughn?'

  'Don't work too hard, will you?'

  Once again the Doctor and Jamie found themselves staring with sinking hearts at the number 13 on Professor Travers's front door, while the bell rang monotonously inside.

  'Och, they must've gone out,' Jamie sighed despondently.

  Delving into his pocket the Doctor unearthed a small penknife bristling with different sized blades and all manner of attachments. Selecting one, he deftly poked it around in the lock and a few seconds later the door clicked open. They went in, calling and whistling, but the house was silent.

  In the studio they came across the remains of the sardine sandwiches. 'I don't know what they are but I'm ravenous!' cried the Doctor, biting greedily into two thick portions at once.

  'Sardines!' Jamie cheered. 'Delicious, I'm fair starved.'

  They finished the leftovers in silence. Then Jamie took out his transistor and a deafening rock number suddenly blared out, causing the Doctor to choke on his last mouthful. Snatching it away from Jamie, he was about to fling the offending device into the grate when he changed his mind, switched it off and opened the back instead.

  'Och, dinna wreck ma wee gift,' Jamie pleaded indignantly.

  Ignoring him, the Doctor took out a watchmaker's eyeglass and carefully scrutinised the inner surface of the plastic lid. 'Most ingenious...' he muttered after a while. but I wonder what it's for?'

  'What what's for?'

  'There's a micromonolithic circuit etched into the back of this casing, Jarnie.'

  'Aye, and what's that when it's at home?'

  'A hyper complex miniature array,' replied the Doctor, taking out the eyeglass and staring at Jamie with troubled eyes. 'But it has nothing whatever to do with simple radio technology.'

  While the Doctor fiddled about inside the radio, muttering to himself and taking absent-minded swigs of cold coffee from Zoe's abandoned cup, Jamie wandered aimlessly around the room scowling at the zany blow-ups of Isobel adorning the walls. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks. 'Surely they'd leave us a wee note, Doctor,' he suggested.

  'On the wall!' shouted the Doctor, jumping up and tossing him the pieces of the radio.

  Jamie gaped at him in astonishment.

  'You can't lose a wall can you!' the Doctor quipped, echoing Isobel's words as he hurried into the hall.

  Jamie trailed after him, gloomily contemplating the remains of his radio.

  'Here we are,' the Doctor confirmed, twisting himself almost horizontal to decipher a patch of barely legible scrawl beside the telephone. 'Oh my goodness me,' he whispered. 'Gone to IE office to look for you. Z and I.'

  The Doctor bounded to the front door and wrenched it open. 'Come on, Jamie, we must get after them!'

  Jamie frowned wearily. 'Och, it's miles, Doctor. Could we no get a lift this time?'

  The Doctor shook his head vehemently. 'No, we most certainly could not, Jamie. We shall hail a taxi!' he insisted.

  3

  Cat and Mouse

  Crouching beside the Doctor between two huge rubbish skips in the cul-de-sac alongside the International Electrornatix Building, Jamie ground his teeth in frustration.

  'I thought we were going in there to find the lassies,' he complained.

  The Doctor shook his head determinedly. 'We'd never get past that stupid computer, Jamie. Besides, the girls might not be in there. We don't want to aggravate Vaughn unnecessarily.'

  'Then what the divil are we going to do?'

  The Doctor took out the polyvox unit given him by the Brigadier, deployed the aerial and pressed the call button. 'If the Brigadier's men are watching the building they'll know whether the girls are inside or not,' he explained.

  Eventually the Brigadier's voice crackled through a haze of interference. 'Sorry about reception, Doctor, but we're airborne at the moment. Routine change of location for security cover.'

  The Doctor asked whether Zoe and Isobel had been sighted.

  'Affirmative, Doctor. We have a report of two teenage females, one dark and one fair, clad in strange attire. Went in about an hour ago.'

  The Doctor grabbed Jamie's belt with his free hand to prevent the headstrong Highlander from dashing to the rescue there and then. He informed the Brigadier that they were going to try and enter the building from the rear.

  'Take care, Doctor,' crackled Lethbridge-Stewart. 'You may not be quite so lucky this time. Give me a shout if you hit any snags.'

  'Yes. Thank you, Brigadier. Under and off...'

  'Over and out,' came the crisp response.

  Jamie contemplated the Doctor with less than whole-hearted confidence as he struggled to stow the aerial. 'Pity it doesn't play guid tunes like ma radio used to,' he scoffed.

  They stared across at the vast expanse of coppery glass towering above them.

  'And how are we going to get in this time?' Jamie demanded sceptically.

  The Doctor grinned mischievously. 'By train, of course. But we must hurry, or we'll miss it...'

  Far above the City streets, Vaughn reclined in his chair listening to Gregory's bewildered report on the Doctor's two circuit panels.

  'They just make no sense,' whined the wretched technician helplessly. 'The connections seem completely illogical and the conductor material is no known alloy, though it resembles Helenium.'

  Vaughn took the panels and studied them, smiling myst
eriously. 'Fascinating. The Doctor intrigues me more and more,' he murmured languidly.

  'I can do more tests, Mr Vaughn...' Gregory offered anxiously.

  Vaughn waved him away. 'I think I know the solution to this little mystery,' he said quietly.

  As soon as Gregory had gone, Vaughn took out his fountain pen and twisted the cap. As the wall parted, revealing the secret apparatus, Vaughn rose and wandered over to the alcove. 'I require more data concerning the individual known as the Doctor,' he announced in a cold precise voice.

  The machine fizzed and flickered before croaking its reply. 'You have sufficient information. The Doctor is an enemy and must be destroyed.'

  'You state that you recognise the Doctor from Planet Sigma Gamma 14. How is that possible?' Vaughn persisted calmly.

  'Your inquiry is redundant,' rasped the disembodied voice.

  Vaughn's pale eyes gleamed. 'That is for me to decide.'

  'You will obey.'

  Vaughn stood his ground unflinchingly. 'Negative. I control the operation here on Earth. Unless that is agreed our cooperation is at an end,' he declared in a voice like cut glass.

  The crystal at the heart of the machine revolved rapidly, emitting myriad points of intense light. Eventually it stopped. 'It has been agreed,' it rasped.

  Vaughn smiled bleakly. 'I felt sure that your masters would be reasonable,' he purred. 'Now, how did this Doctor reach Planet Sigma Gamma 14?'

  'He possesses a device.'

  Vaughn's body tensed expectantly. 'What kind of device?' he demanded with suppressed excitement.

  The apparatus whirred and revolved. 'No further information available. The Doctor will be eliminated. The invasion must proceed,' it decreed harshly, needles of light shooting from the crystal.

  Vaughn nodded decisively. 'Oh, it will. The Doctor will be taken care of. I shall attend to it personally...'

  With a vicious twist of the pen top, Vaughn banished the thing to the darkness again behind the wall.

  Totally mystified, Jamie had followed the Doctor through a maze of alleys and back streets and finally up onto a railway embankment which snaked between warehouses and office blocks. The Doctor had skipped nimbly along the sleepers and led Jamie off on a single track branch line which curved sharply round and finally brought them into a marshalling yard enclosed by high walls at the rear of the International Electromatix Building.

  'This is a private branch line off the main line into Liverpool Street...' the Doctor explained, darting across the rusting rails towards a line of freight wagons bearing the familiar fist and lightning flash symbol of Inter-national Electromatix.

  'But how did ye ken it was here?' Jamie panted.

  'I consulted the Brigadier's excellent map,' smirked the Doctor, using the wagons as cover to approach the extensive warehouse buildings at the back of the tower. 'I memorised it to distract myself from the taste of his execrable tea.'

  Following the line of wagons in the siding they soon reached a vast covered loading bay adjoining the warehouse. It was filled with stacks of cylindrical metal containers each about two and a half metres long by about a metre in diameter. Each one had a short blunt projection at both ends and a specially shaped base to facilitate vertical stacking.

  Huddled against the coupling between two wagons, Jamie and the Doctor watched in amazement as a man with crew-cut hair wearing a blue boiler suit emerged from the warehouse carrying one of the containers as if it were a baby. He placed it carefully on one of the stacks and then returned to the warehouse.

  'Extraordinary!' marvelled the Doctor.

  'Probably empty,' Jamie whispered.

  'Let's find out,' the Doctor suggested eagerly.

  Leaving their hiding place, they ran over to the stack and attempted to lift the container. They failed even to budge it.

  'Yon fellow must be a superman,' Jamie gasped.

  The Doctor tried to raise the hinged lid, but it was securely fastened. 'I wonder what's inside?' he mused. The sound of heavy footsteps sent them scurrying behind a neighbouring stack, where they watched the same man bring an identical container and add it to the pile.

  Jamie's eyes were popping with astonishment. 'Let's find the lassies and get oot,' he urged. 'That chap gives me the heebie-jeebies.'

  When the man had gone, they crept between the endless stacks of crates desperately seeking a likely route into the main building.

  Unknown to them, robot cameras in the roof were tracking their every movement and at the top of the tower block Tobias Vaughn was observing their progress on his nine monitors, chuckling with urbane amusement.

  All at once Packer's reedy voice whined out of the intercom on Vaughn's desk. 'Mr Vaughn, the Doctor and the boy are back again... Surveillance spotted them in the warehouse.'

  Vaughn laughed sarcastically. 'I wondered how long it would take your experts to notice our intruders, Packer. They've been entertaining me for at least ten minutes.'

  'I'll issue an alert, sir.'

  Vaughn sighed despairingly. 'Packer, do try to aspire to a modicum of subtlety,' he pleaded, wincing fastidiously. 'We need a sprat to catch our mackerel. Take the young ladies down to the warehouse and pop them in their coffins.'

  Smoothing back his sleek silver hair and adjusting the silk handkerchief in his breast pocket, Vaughn strode across to his private elevator and selected Ground Floor - Express. His keen mind considered the problem of the meddlesome Doctor and his mysterious circuits as he glided earthwards.

  When the elevator stopped, Vaughn had made his decision.

  'This place is like a maze,' Jamie complained as he and the Doctor threaded their way cautiously among the identical stacks, keeping their eyes skinned for any more boiler-suited Hercules.

  Suddenly they froze as two piercing screams echoed around the vast warehouse.

  'Zoe and Isobel!' Jamie hissed, pointing back towards the loading bay.

  Turning, they ran on tip-toe in the direction of the marshalling yard. Crouching in the shadows between the stacks, they watched as Packer supervised two men loading two containers into the last wagon of the train. Jamie gasped as he caught a glimpse of a fluttering string of feathers trapped between the lid and the rim of one of the metal cases.

  'Doctor... Zoe's in that crate!' he exclaimed, standing upright with fists clenched and pulse racing madly. 'Jamie, wait!' growled the Doctor, grabbing his arm.

  But the impulsive boy shook himself free and sprinted towards the wagons yelling at the top of his voice 'What have ye done with Zoe...!'

  The Doctor chewed the frayed edge of his cravat in anguish as he saw Packer whip round and snatch out a pistol as Jamie bore down on him. Springing into view, he scampered in pursuit, shouting to Jamie to stop behaving like an idiot.

  Two steel-helmeted guards armed with sten guns suddenly appeared between the wagons and Jamie stumbled to a halt. Turning, he saw two more guards appear behind the Doctor. It was hopeless. The two friends stood side by side panting for breath as the four guards closed in on them, slipping their safety catches. Packer's weak face lit up in cowardly triumph. 'Rats,' he hissed, strutting malevolently towards them. 'Rats in a trap.'

  As the guards forced their captives back towards the warehouse, Packer exulted in his victory. 'Don't you understand - this is private property, a restricted area,' he whined.

  'What have you done with Zoe and Isobel?' Jamie demanded savagely. 'We heard them screaming.'

  'Silence!' Packer snapped.

  'We saw the box with...'

  Packer lashed Jamie brutally across the face with his leather glove. 'I told you to be quiet.'

  The Doctor gasped with shock as Jamie staggered against him clutching his ear, with blood seeping from his nose.

  Before Packer could repeat the vicious blow, Vaughn's measured tones rang out. 'Packer, you really must try to curb this violent streak in your nature, though I admit the situation is a trifle provoking.'

  Flanked by two armed guards, the Director of International Electro
matix strode towards them, wagging his finger at the Doctor. 'You really are beginning to try our patience,' he chided menacingly.

  The Doctor cleared his throat with undisguised distaste. 'We came to look for two young friends of ours, Mr Vaughn.'

  Vaughn nodded. 'Two young ladies.'

  'You see,' Jamie exploded. 'He admits they're here.'

  Vaughn shook his head regretfully. 'Correction. They were here. You appear to have been chasing one another's tails. They came here in search of you.'

  'And where are they now?' the Doctor inquired calmly.

  'They departed.'

  'Aye. In one of your tin coffins!' Jamie shouted.

  Vaughn glanced scornfully at the Doctor. 'Really...' he protested.

  'We did hear someone scream,' the Doctor quietly pointed out.

  'And Zoe's boa is sticking out of one of the boxes,' Jamie persisted, wiping the blood from his nose.

  Vaughn threw hack his head and roared with laughter. 'What a fertile imagination you have, young man,' he said tartly.

  The Doctor placed a restraining hand on Jamie's shoulder. 'Mr Vaughn, it would set our minds at rest if you would permit us to examine the boxes in the last wagon... in case there has been an accident,' he ventured tactfully.

  Vaughn spread his arms generously. 'But of course,' he agreed readily. He turned to Packer who was sulking at having the limelight stolen from him. 'No doubt the Doctor is referring to the empty crates in transit back to the factories,' he said, with a significant sideways glance of his hooded eyes.

  'Yes, Mr Vaughn. The train's due out any minute.'

  'Then we must waste no more time,' Vaughn smiled. 'After you, Doctor.'

  As Jamie and the Doctor eagerly set off back towards the marshalling yard, Vaughn signalled secretly to Packer and then caught up with them.

  Packer pulled back his left sleeve, exposing a miniaturised two-way radio no bigger than a wristwatch. Pressing a tiny button, he whispered urgently into it. 'Traffic? Top priority. Get the return transit rolling at once. Do you hear me? Right now.'