Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion

by Malcolm Hulke

  ‘Haven’t you heard? The Doctor was the monster-maker. They caught him in the act but he escaped. Want a cup of tea?’ The corporal had been feeling lonely, and liked the look of Sarah.

  ‘That’s idiotic. What about Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates?’

  ‘They’re all out, too,’ said the corporal, ‘chasing after the Doctor.’

  ‘Then I’ll go to General Finch’s Headquarters. I’ll leave a note for the Brigadier. Have you got anything I can write with?’

  The corporal opened the Brigadier’s desk drawer, and found some paper and a pencil. ‘Will this do?’

  ‘Thanks.’ She sat down, and started writing.

  ‘It wouldn’t take a moment to make us both a cup of tea,’ said the corporal, hopefully.

  ‘You’re very kind,’ she said, still writing, ‘but there isn’t a moment to spare—’

  She stopped speaking as General Finch entered the classroom. If he was surprised to see Sarah he concealed it very well. ‘Where’s the prisoner?’ he asked Corporal Bryson.

  ‘The prisoner, sir?’ The corporal stood rigidly to attention. ‘He escaped, sir.’

  ‘I know that, man. He’s since been recaptured. I just heard it on the R/T in my car. I presumed he’d been brought back here.’

  ‘No, sir. Not here, sir.’

  ‘In any case,’ interrupted Sarah, ‘the Doctor isn’t behind it all. I know who is. I was captured and escaped. I know everything.’

  The General stood with his feet apart, hands behind his back, and tapped his left calf with his swagger cane. ‘Do you, indeed?’ He turned sharply to the corporal. ‘Dismissed!’

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘Get out!’

  ‘Yes, sir!’ Corporal Bryson saluted and hurried out of the classroom.

  The General looked back towards Sarah. ‘You were saying, Miss Smith?’

  Briefly, Sarah told General Finch what had happened to her. ‘And you know what I found when I opened that hatch? Steps leading down into a corridor in that underground control centre!’

  ‘What an extraordinary experience. But how did you get out of this place underground?’

  She eagerly told him everything. ‘I snooped about for a while. Sir Charles Grover was down there having a chat with Professor Whitaker—’

  The General cut in. ‘Is that the scientist you said had disappeared?’

  She nodded. ‘I knew him from photographs I’d seen in the newspaper files. Anyway, they didn’t see me. Eventually I found the lift that Sir Charles Grover took me down in.’

  ‘I think your story deserves my personal investigation. Have you told it to anyone else?’

  ‘There was no one here to tell.’

  ‘We must go to Sir Charles’s office immediately. I think he has a lot to answer for.’

  Fifteen minutes later, the General’s staff car drew up outside the deserted ministry. He and Sarah raced through the corridors then made their way upstairs to the Minister’s private office. It was empty. Sarah opened the door to the filing room which she knew to be a lift.

  ‘We go in here,’ she said. ‘And we press that button on the wall.’

  The General placed his finger on the button. The metal door slid across the carved wooden door and they heard the faint humming sound that Grover had said was the air-conditioning.

  ‘We’re really in a lift,’ Sarah informed him. ‘It’s very ingenious.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said General Finch. ‘You see, I devised it.’ He drew his service revolver from its holster and aimed it at Sarah. ‘I’m sorry, Miss Smith, but you’re a prisoner again.’

  She gasped. ‘I really do pick my friends.’

  ‘Perhaps we are more friendly than you imagine.’ He smiled, not unkindly she thought.

  Nothing more was said until the General and Sarah had reached the main control room. Sir Charles Grover and Professor Whitaker looked up in astonishment.

  ‘One space traveller safely returned,’ said the General, slipping his revolver back into its holster. ‘Fortunately she’s not spoken to anyone. Do, please, try not to let her escape again.’ He turned on his heel and went back down the corridor.

  Grover laughed. ‘You’re an intrepid young lady, Miss Smith! Well, what are we going to do with you now?’

  ‘Well you needn’t put me back on that stupid space ship. It’s all a fake. What you’re doing to those people is cruel. They all believe they’re travelling to a new world.’

  ‘And so they are,’ said Grover. ‘But their new world—New Earth, as they call it—will be this one swept clean and returned to its early innocence.’

  Sarah tried to understand. ‘You’re going to send them back into the past?’

  ‘No, my dear. That, we have discovered, is technically impossible. Instead, Professor Whitaker is going to bring the past to them.’

  Professor Whitaker smiled. He always liked to hear his name mentioned. ‘I shall roll back Time to the Golden Age of youth, beauty, and innocence.’

  Sarah asked, ‘And what about all the people alive on Earth now?’

  ‘They’ll know nothing about it,’ Grover answered her.

  She tried to work it out. ‘Is that why you produced the monsters—to get people out of the way so they wouldn’t be affected?’

  ‘Why not tell her the truth,’ said Whitaker. ‘She’s going to realise sooner or later.’

  ‘It may be difficult for you to understand,’ Grover turned to Sarah. ‘When the Timescoop activates Operation Golden Age, the only people to remain in existence will be those in its immediate proximity. That is to say, the people in the space ship and ourselves. The others will vanish.’

  ‘That’s mass murder!’

  ‘As I said,’ Grover continued calmly, ‘they will know nothing about it. We had to clear London so that undesirable people, people not approved by us as right-thinking, wouldn’t be taken back through Time with us.’

  ‘What a disgusting idea,’ she blurted out, ‘to destroy the whole world because it isn’t quite as you like it!’

  ‘Eventually, you will see our point of view, Miss Smith,’ Grover straightened up. ‘Now we have much work to do. Operation Golden Age is close at hand. Professor Whitaker is about to materialise dinosaurs throughout London, finally to clear the streets of soldiers, looters, and anyone else who may still be in the area. Then you will accompany us back through Time to the pure unpolluted world which we seek. The world as you know it will no longer exist, and will never have existed!’

  9

  Operation Golden Age

  ‘…Patrol 29 to Base. Time 0925 hrs. Monster sighted in Cornwall Gardens, Kensington. Believed to be tyrannosaurus rex. Am engaging with mortars…’

  ‘…Time 0927. UNIT patrol 57 to UNIT Headquarters. Pterodactyl at Tower of London is attacking the ravens. UNIT personnel moving in to fight and destroy…’

  ‘…Command to all Army and UNIT personnel in the Greater London Area. Tall fair-haired man—known as the Doctor, and proved responsible for monster invasion—to be taken dead or alive. Last seen near Marble Arch in stolen Army jeep. Repeat: to be taken dead or alive. By order of General Finch…’

  ‘… Finchley Road, North West London. Patrol 69 to base. Large monster, believed to be diplodocus, trapped in Alyth Gardens. Twitch of tail demolished synogogue and five houses. We are attacking with CS gas. Time 0945 hours…’

  ‘…General Finch to all patrols. Do not waste time seeking and attacking monsters during this new outbreak. Give top priority to apprehending the Doctor, who must be taken dead or alive. I repeat, concentrate on finding the Doctor. By order of General Finch, Commander-in-Chief, Greater London Emergency Area…’

  The Doctor’s stolen jeep screamed to a stop as a tyrannosaurus rex reared up in front of him. The Doctor put the vehicle into reverse gear, did a smart three-point turn, and drove off in the opposite direction—to find himself facing another tyrannosaurus rex. He swerved, crashing the jeep into the wall of a factory. Steam billowed from under the bo
nnet. The Doctor tried to start the engine again but even the self-starter wouldn’t turn. Hearing the roars of the two monsters close behind him, he turned, expecting to have to duck from the open jaws. But the great reptiles were fighting each other, one tearing savagely at the other’s neck. The Doctor seized his opportunity. He jumped out of the wrecked jeep and ran down the street. A small two-legged dinosaur, no taller than a dog, suddenly materialised beside him, snapping at his trouser legs. The Doctor kicked it away. It sprawled in the road, wimpering like a puppy.

  The Doctor turned a corner. He had to find another vehicle. He must reach the control centre and somehow destroy it. An army jeep was now approaching. Hoping to win over the soldiers, the Doctor raised his arms, motioning the jeep to stop. He put his best smile on.

  The jeep stopped some yards away. A soldier jumped up from the back seat and carefully aimed a rifle at the Doctor’s head.

  ‘Don’t shoot,’ called the Doctor. ‘I’m the one person who can help you!’

  General Finch rose up from the seat beside the soldier. He pushed the soldier’s rifle away. ‘Leave him to me!’ he barked. He drew his revolver from its holster, released the safety catch, and took careful aim.

  A voice from behind the Doctor shouted, ‘My prisoner, if you don’t mind, General.’

  The Doctor swung round. The Brigadier had pulled up behind him in his UNIT jeep.

  ‘Get out of the way, Brigadier,’ roared the General.

  The Brigadier’s voice remained calm. ‘I’m sorry, sir, but this man is a UNIT prisoner. I’m taking him into custody.’

  ‘I told you to get out of my way, Brigadier!’ shouted the General.

  The Brigadier turned to Sergeant Benton who sat in the jeep beside him. ‘Sergeant!’ he ordered. Benton knew exactly what to do. Benton stood up and trained a sub-machine gun on the General.

  The General’s face turned scarlet. ‘You realise this is mutiny?’

  ‘There’s no question of mutiny,’ shouted the Brigadier. ‘I’m only doing my job.’

  For seconds they remained stock still, the General aiming his revolver at the Doctor, and Sergeant Benton training his sub-machine gun on the General and his soldiers. Then the General slipped back the safety catch, and returned his revolver to its holster. With as much dignity as he could muster he barked, ‘Brigadier, you will place this man under close arrest. I am holding you personally responsible for him.’ He sat down and nodded to his driver. With a look of relief on his face, the driver slipped the jeep into gear and drove away as fast as possible.

  ‘Well, Doctor,’ said the Brigadier, ‘are you coming with us?’

  ‘To be held in custody again, while these people destroy everything?’

  ‘First let’s go back to my Headquarters,’ said the Brigadier, ‘then we’ll talk about it.’

  Professor Whitaker stepped back from the Timescoop. ‘That’s all I can do now until the power builds up again,’ he informed Sir Charles Grover and Captain Yates. ‘I’ve produced as many monsters as I can, certainly enough to finally clear Central London.’

  Yates turned to Grover. ‘What do we intend to do about Miss Smith, sir?’

  ‘She won’t be harmed in any way,’ smiled Grover. ‘I have great admiration for her spirit. That’s why I tried to establish her on the space ship. Sheer bad luck that she recovered consciousness too soon.’

  The military phone rang and Whitaker answered. ‘It’s for you,’ he told Grover. ‘The General.’

  Grover took the phone. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Finch here. The Brigadier’s recaptured the Doctor. They held a gun on me, defied my orders. There was nothing I could do.’

  Grover didn’t like that development, but was not a man for recriminations. ‘It doesn’t matter now. We’re into the final stage of Operation Golden Age.’

  ‘It jolly well does matter,’ replied the General urgently. ‘The Doctor has too great an influence on the Brigadier. What do you suggest we do?’

  ‘I think it’s best if you leave this to me now. You order the final evacuation of London—we want all these soldiers out of the way. I shall deal with the Doctor from my end.’

  He put down the phone before Finch could reply, and turned to Captain Yates. ‘Captain, there’s something that only you can do. I hope that I can trust you completely…’

  Butler led Sarah down a corridor and unlocked the door to a store room. It contained a number of empty tea chests and packing cases.

  ‘Go in. You won’t be in here long.’

  She looked around the little room, then back at Butler. ‘You’d be quite handsome without that scar, you know.’

  Over the years Butler had learnt to live with his disfigurement. He had got used to people looking away, pretending not to see it. ‘I can’t help the way I look.’

  ‘Oh yes, you can. Plastic surgery would fix that. But there won’t be any medicine or operating theatres back in this stupid Golden Age you people dream about. Still, maybe you like being ugly. It makes you look more sinister and criminal. How did you get it—in a fight?’

  ‘Not exactly. I was a London fireman. I tried to save a child that had crawled out of an open window and was stranded on a high ledge. I managed to pass it to safety all right—but I fell thirty feet through a glass roof.’ He started to close the door.

  ‘Please don’t go,’ she called. ‘I said a terrible thing. I’m sorry!’

  But the door closed and she heard the lock turn in it. She tried rattling the door handle, but the door was heavy and wouldn’t budge. Then she caught sight of a small airvent high in the ceiling. She started to pile packing cases, one on top of another.

  Corporal Bryson was removing the rest of the flags from the map of London. As he was taking down the map itself, the Brigadier, the Doctor and Sergeant Benton entered.

  ‘What the blazes are you doing?’ asked the Brigadier.

  ‘Orders, sir,’ Bryson sprang to attention. ‘General Finch has issued a general order for all Army and UNIT personnel to leave London. I thought you’d know about it, sir.’

  ‘This is ridiculous,’ said the Brigadier. ‘The whole of London is crawling with monsters. What about the spotting patrols?’

  ‘All gone, sir. Everybody is out of the zone.’

  The Doctor spoke up angrily. ‘Now do you see? General Finch is just as involved as Sir Charles Grover. I’m pretty sure Captain Yates is in it, too.’

  The Brigadier slumped down at his desk. ‘Now that’s one thing I cannot believe, not Mike Yates…’ He caught sight of Sarah’s note. He read it quickly and handed it to the Doctor.

  ‘This confirms everything,’ said the Doctor. ‘The existence of the underground control centre and Grover’s involvement.’

  ‘But where the blazes is Sarah?’ The Brigadier turned to Corporal Bryson. ‘When was this note left?’

  ‘Very early this morning, sir. She went off with General Finch.’

  The Doctor and the Brigadier looked at each other. ‘There’s no doubt about it,’ said the Doctor. ‘General Finch is in this up to the hilt of his ceremonial sword.’

  ‘Benton,’ snapped the Brigadier, ‘get me UNIT Headquarters in Geneva!’ Although UNIT was in part under the jurisdiction of the British Army, the Brigadier’s final authority was vested in the Supreme Headquarters of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce at Geneva, Switzerland. The Brigadier turned back to the Doctor. ‘I shall speak to Geneva, and they can talk to the British Government in exile in Harrogate. The Government here will listen to Geneva, whereas I doubt if they’ll listen to me.’

  ‘There’s no time left for talking. We must attack that underground control centre now,’ said the Doctor.

  ‘Permission to speak,’ said Corporal Bryson, who was still standing to attention.

  ‘What is it?’ asked the Brigadier.

  ‘Well, sir, are we evacuating or not, sir? I mean, should I remove all our things from this classroom?’

  ‘Definitely not!’

  ‘In th
at case, sir, what should I do?’

  The Doctor gave the willing corporal a friendly smile. ‘Why not make us all a nice cup of tea?’

  ‘Yes, sir!’ The corporal grinned and hurried out of the classroom, happy to feel useful.

  Sergeant Benton called to the Brigadier from his position at the radio transmitter apparatus in the corner. ‘I have Geneva on the line, sir.’

  The Brigadier reached for his desk phone. At the same moment Captain Yates entered from the corridor where he had been listening. ‘Cancel that call please, Sergeant Benton. We won’t be needing it.’

  The Brigadier looked up. ‘Mike, what d’you think you’re doing?’

  The Captain pulled his revolver from its holster. ‘I’m sorry, sir. Please don’t touch that phone. Doctor—Sergeant Benton—come and stand over with the Brigadier.’

  ‘Are you going to shoot us all, Mike?’ asked the Doctor.

  ‘Not unless you force me to. Sergeant, I told you to come and stand over here, otherwise I may have to kill the Brigadier.’

  Sergeant Benton slowly rose from his seat at the R/T apparatus and crossed the classroom.

  ‘Captain Yates,’ said the Brigadier, squaring his shoulders, ‘I trust you realise how serious it is to hold a gun on a superior officer?’

  Yates nodded. ‘I realise everything, sir. But our plan must go ahead.’

  The Doctor’s voice was friendly ‘How did you get involved in this, Mike?’

  ‘It was after that business with the giant maggots in Wales. You remember I was sent on leave for quite a time.’

  ‘You were very disturbed,’ said the Brigadier. ‘I think you still are!’

  The Doctor frowned at the Brigadier, as though asking him to keep his mouth shut. ‘Do go on, Mike.’

  ‘I had a lot of time on my hands, and I went along to one of the Save Planet Earth meetings and heard Sir Charles Grover speak. It convinced me.’

  ‘What do you hope to gain out of this?’ asked the Brigadier. ‘To become Commander-in-Chief of their army or something?’

  ‘I look for no personal gain, sir. All I want is a new world. Earth used to be a simpler, cleaner place. It has all become too complicated and corrupt. We intend to roll back Time.’