DOCTOR WHO AND THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS

by Terrance Dicks

  He walked slowly and carefully, expecting to be challenged at any moment. Nothing happened. At last the ante-chamber came in sight. Beyond that, the Doctor knew, was the Temple itself. He paused, waiting. Still nothing. 'Ding, dong! ' said the Doctor loudly. There was no reply. He took a few paces forward and a weighted net dropped from the roof, swaddling him in its web. Sisters ran from the ante-chamber, and pulled the net tight about him, trapping his arms and legs. More Sisters appeared, carrying long sharp tridents, holding their points close to his body.

  The Doctor made no attempt to resist, watching these warlike proceedings with an air of quiet amusement, like a kindly uncle at a children's party. He looked round the circle of fiercely glaring Sisters and smiled. 'My dear young ladies,' he said reprovingly. 'We really can't go on meeting like this!'

  As always with the Sisterhood, the Doctor's little joke failed to raise even a smile. Jabbing tridents urged him forwards, and stumbling a little in the folds of the net, he was taken across the ante-chamber and into the Temple.

  8

  The Doctor Makes a Bargain

  Condo bounded swiftly across the rocks, intent on reaching the safety of the castle. In his panic-stricken hurry he failed to notice the huddled shape of Sarah beneath a nearby boulder. He had always regarded the Sisterhood with superstitious awe and terror, and it had taken all his courage just to hand over Solon's letter.

  At last the drawbridge came in sight, and Condo hurtled across it, flung open the door, and collapsed panting inside the empty hall. He looked round in puzzlement. The girl had gone. Perhaps Solon had already killed her. Condo felt an unaccustomed pang of regret. Something about Sarah's helplessness had touched a long buried streak of tenderness in him. Somehow he didn't like to think of Sarah's head in one of Solon's preserving jars.

  Slowly he made his way up to the laboratory. But that too was empty—except for the thing behind the curtains of the bed. Condo had never seen it, and had no wish to. Solon had forbidden him even to look at his creation. Condo came down the stairs into the hall again, and stood puzzled for a moment. He heard muffled sounds of shouting and pounding from somewhere below. He crossed to the stairs and called, 'Master? Master?'

  Faintly Solon's voice came back. 'Down here, Condo. Hurry!'

  Condo ran down the stairs and tried the door of the crypt. It wouldn't move. 'Door not open, Master,' he called.

  'That's because it's locked, you great oaf,' said Solon's angry voice.

  Condo turned the key and opened the door. Solon shot out of the crypt, slamming the door on the protesting voice behind him. Faithful disciple as he was, Solon felt he couldn't endure another second of Morbius's nagging reproaches.

  Condo stared at him. 'Why Master locked inside?'

  'The girl, you fool. She locked me in.' He shoved Condo towards the stairs. 'Go and find her, Condo. She can't have got far. Bring her back here. I've a score to settle with that young ladyl'

  The atmosphere in the gloomy-shadowed Temple was tense. Free of the net, but still surrounded by the three-pointed spears of his guards, the Doctor stood before Maren, who glared malevolently down from her throne. 'Why have you returned?'

  'I think I need some of that Elixir of yours.'

  'Indeed, Doctor? So at last you confess—you did come to steal the Elixir.'

  'I don't want it for myself—or for the Time Lords,' said the Doctor impatiently. 'As a matter of fact, it's your fault I need the stuff at all. Sarah was blinded by a ray from your ring. I'm told I need the Elixir to restore her sight.'

  'Solon told you this?'

  The Doctor nodded. 'That's right.'

  'Strange, Doctor. Solon knows full well that the effect of the ray lasts but a short time. It stuns the optic nerves, not destroys them. The girl will soon recover.'

  'Unnecessary journey, eh? Well, I had my suspicions, I must admit. Never mind, I wanted to have a chat with you anyway.'

  'You are rash, Doctor. Have you forgotten that we have condemned you to die?'

  The Doctor snorted impatiently. 'Oh really, we're not going through all that business again, are we? If I really intended to steal from you, I'd scarcely walk in through the front door, now would I?'

  'Then why have you come? Why did you come to Karn at all, if not to steal?'

  'Not of my own accord, I assure you. I rather fancy I was sent by the Time Lords—but I won't be able to tell you why until I know what Solon is up to.'

  'Solon cares only for his foul experiments on the bodies of the dead.'

  'Experiments, yes—but to what purpose? Why was he so keen on getting his hands on my head? I must know what Solon intends... I have the feeling that something incredibly evil is brewing.'

  'If that was so, we should know of it.' It was Ohica who spoke. 'Nothing happens on Karn without our knowledge.'

  'A Time Lord could live here without your knowledge. He could place a barrier around his mind.'

  Maren leaned forward on her throne. 'What are you suggesting?'

  'Morbius was a Time Lord.'

  There was a moment of silence. Then Maren rose to her feet. 'That name again! I tell you Morbius is dead. I saw his execution. I saw the body placed in the dispersal chamber. Nothing of Morbius, not the smallest atom, exists' '

  The Doctor frowned. It was clear that Maren believed what she was saying—and yet... The Doctor remembered the sudden impression of mind-contact just as he was losing consciousness under Solon's drugged wine.. 'Was Solon living on Karn at that time?'

  Maren gestured dismissively. 'Who knows? There were many on Karn, then. They came from all over the galaxy to attend the trial of Morbius.'

  The Doctor stood lost in thought. He remembered the story well, though he himself had taken no part in it. Still a fugitive from his own people he had been roaming distant galaxies in his TARDIS, swearing to have no further part in the concerns of the Time Lords. The Doctor smiled ironically, remembering how things had turned out.

  But in those days... even in the remotest parts of the Universe, rumours had reached him. Morbius, greatest of the High Council of the Time Lords, had sought to lead his people into paths of domination and conquest. Rejected by his people, he had fled from them in rage and anger. He had gone from planet to planet, preaching his gospel of conquest and destruction, raising an army of followers, leaving chaos and destruction behind him. Finally the Time Lords had rallied. They too had raised an army, an alliance of all the civilised life-forms menaced by Morbius and his hordes. They had hunted him through the galaxy, cornered him here on Karn, defeated him in one last terrible battle that had left the planet in ruins. Shaken out of their usual complacency by the revolt, the Time Lords had acted swiftly for once. Morbius had been tried and executed immediately, on the planet that was the scene of his final defeat.

  Musingly the Doctor said, 'Morbius was a war criminal, right enough. A ruthless dictator who wanted to rule the entire galaxy. But even in defeat, he had millions of fanatical followers and admirers.'

  'Riff-raff,' said Maren contemptuously. 'Mercenaries! The army he brought to Karn was the scum of the galaxy.'

  Ohica took up the story. 'And why did he bring them here? Why choose Karn? Because he had promised his followers immortality. He promised them the Elixir of Life!'

  Maren spoke broodingly. 'Morbius betrayed our secret. Since then we must remain constantly on guard against the entire cosmos. Yet we can still defend ourselves!'

  'Yes, and that's another thing,' said the Doctor sternly. 'You really can't go on dragging innocent travellers to their deaths, wrecking their spaceships with telekinetic energy.'

  'Innocent?' snapped Maren. 'They come to steal. 'Some perhaps,' agreed the Doctor. 'Others might just be passing by, as I was. No, if I'm going to help you, there must be no more indiscriminate destruction of spaceships. Is it a bargain?'

  For a moment Maren was struck speechless by the Doctor's audacity. She had ruled for so long that she was unable to take in the idea that someone was giving her orders. Furiou
sly she said, 'Your insolence is limitless, Doctor. I have only to raise a finger and. you will be put to death.'

  The Doctor shrugged. 'No doubt. But I'd be very little use to you dead, Maren. And you do have a problem.' He nodded towards the alcove, where the great bronze shields were once more in place. 'No Flame, no Elixir. Pretty soon, no Sisterhood.'

  'When the Flame dies, the Sisterhood dies. So it is ordained,' said Ohica sadly.

  'Rubbish! The Flame is a natural phenomenon, despite all the mumbo-jumbo you ladies have built up over the years. There's nothing mystical about it. If the Flame is dying there's a reason, a natural scientific, physical reason.'

  'Blasphemer!' shrieked Maren. 'I have served the Flame for centuries and I know. There is nothing to be done.'

  The Doctor spread his hands. 'Then there's no harm in letting me try—is there?'

  'He is right, Maren. Let him try to help us!'

  Maren turned in astonishment, and Ohica quailed beneath the High Priestess's angry glare. Her voice trembled, but she forced herself to go on. 'I mean no offence, High One. But I say again. Let him try. Where is the harm?'

  Maren brooded for a long time. It was hard for her to change ideas that had crystallised over so many centuries. But if there was any hope that the Sisterhood could be saved... She gestured abruptly, 'Let the guards retire to the outer chamber.'

  The spear-carrying Sisters silently withdrew. Maren hobbled over to the alcove, and threw back the bronze gates. 'You are privileged, Doctor. No eyes outside our order are permitted to look upon the Flame of Life.'

  The Doctor saw that the Flame was indeed very low. Flickering and weak, it was no more than a few inches high. He peered at it. Is it always this reddish colour?'

  'Always.'

  'Fascinating.' The Doctor leaned over the flame till he was in danger of singeing the end of his nose. 'Presumably the heat of the Flame causes oxidisation of the minerals in the rock... there's a chemical reaction with rising super-heated gases from deep in the heart of the planet... and your Elixir forms in here.' The Doctor straightened up, tapping the silver chalice set into the bowl of rock. 'Incredible! The impossible dream of a thousand alchemists, dripping like tea from an urn.'

  Maren shook her head impatiently at the Doctor's flood of scientific speculation. 'Do not try to understand, Doctor,' she intoned solemnly. 'These are mysteries beyond the reach of the mind.'

  The Doctor smiled. 'I doubt they're beyond the reach of a decent spectograph, my dear Maren. One could probably analyse your Elixir and reproduce it by the gallon, but the consequences would be catastrophic. That's why the Time Lords have always helped you to keep your precious secret.'

  Maren shook her head disgustedly, but Ohica was intrigued. 'What do you mean, Doctor? Why catastrophic?'

  'Everyone wanting to live for ever?' The Doctor shook his head. 'It would lead to universal stagnation. Death is the price we pay for progress.'

  Maren was stung into a reply. 'You speak in riddles, Doctor, like all your race. You Time Lords were glad enough of our Elixir—and glad enough to keep it to yourselves.'

  The Doctor sighed. 'We use the Elixir, true, Maren. But we don't depend on it. It's a useful medicine, where there's some difficulty in body regeneration. But we don't take it regularly as you dootherwise we'd fall into the same trap.'

  'Trap?' demanded Maren indignantly. 'And what trap have we fallen into, Doctor?'

  'Immortality,' said the Doctor simply. 'We Time Lords live long, and we live many lives. But we are not immortal, Maren, nor do we wish to be. With us bodily regeneration is a natural process. In time it comes to an end, and we die, as do all living things.' The Doctor looked sympathetically at Maren's wizened form. 'You were old when the Elixir was discovered, Maren. How many centuries have passed while you lived in these caves unchanged? How long since anything here has changed?' His voice hardened. 'You think you have eternal life? Look around you. You have condemned yourself to eternal death!'

  Ohica whispered. 'It is true, Doctor. Nothing here ever changes.'

  The Doctor felt a little ashamed of his sudden outburst. 'Precisely my point, my dear. No progress, you see!' He started groping in his capacious pockets. 'Now let me see. As I remember I spent last November the Fifth on the planet Earth. They have a kind of Ceremony of the Flame themselves, you know.'

  Ohica looked on in astonishment as the Doctor produced a stubby cylinder from his pocket. It was wrapped in brightly coloured paper and there was a twist of dark-blue paper at one end. The Doctor beamed. 'Now then, ladies, I advise you to stand well back!'

  Ohica stared at him. 'What is that, Doctor?'

  The Doctor read the writing on the side of the cylinder. 'They call it a Little Demon.' He touched the blue paper to the tiny Flame, and as it began to smoulder, he forced it through the crevice from which the Flame issued.

  Maren ran forward in horror. 'Stop! No one has ever touched the sacred Flame...'

  There was a sudden pop, and the Flame went out. 'The Flame is dead! ' gasped Ohica.

  Maren looked appalled, then sprang into furious life. 'Guards, take him,' she screamed. Spear-carrying Sisters ran back into the chamber. In an instant the needle-sharp points were at the Doctor's throat. 'You have defiled the secret of the Flame.' hissed Maren. 'Now your blood shall wet the sacred rocks to mourn its passing! Kill him!' The spears came closer, the Doctor backed towards the alcove... There was a sudden roar, a gush of smoke and the Flame spurted high in the fountain, higher than ever before. The awe-stricken guards drew back. Mayen and Ohica fell to their knees.

  'Soot,' said the Doctor, happily regarding the leaping fountain of the Flame. 'Centuries of corrosion, you see. There'll be no charge—but I would like a little help with my problems now.'

  Maren rose to her feet, and waved the trembling guards away. 'Of course,' continued the Doctor chattily, 'it will be quite a while before you get more Elixir. The rock has to warm right through.'

  Maren hobbled back to her throne and stared almost angrily down at the Doctor. 'So now you expect us to show our gratitude? Is that it, Doctor?'

  The Doctor looked thoughtfully at her. 'Well...' he said deprecatingly. As a matter of fact, the Doctor wasn't sure what he expected. True he had solved Maren's problem. But he had forced the solution on her in a way that challenged her most precious beliefs. It wasn't hard for him to guess what was in Maren's mind. If she killed him now, no one need ever know that she had been forced to accept his help. Everything could go on as it had for so many centuries. To one of Maren's autocratic temperament, the temptation must be a strong one. Would she order the Sisterhood to help him—or kill him?

  Calmly the Doctor waited for Maren's decision.

  9

  The Monster Walks

  Sarah must have stumbled blindly across the rocky plains for most of the day. Hunger and thirst made her delirious, and she lost all sense of time. Finally, too weary even to crawl, she collapsed into an exhausted sleep.

  When she awoke it had become much colder, and Sarah guessed the sun must be going down. It would soon be night. One good thing about being blind, she reflected bitterly, you were no worse off when it got dark. Except, she suddenly realised, it made her chances of being found by the Doctor even slimmer. Wearily Sarah started getting to her feet. There seemed no point in going on—but it was better than freezing to death on the spot. Maybe she'd survive a few hours longer if she kept moving. She put a hand out to steady herself and touched something smooth and rounded. Not rock, but leather or plastic.

  With a thrill of horror Sarah realised she was touching the toe-cap of an enormous boot. A giant hand clamped round her wrist and dragged her to her feet. She stretched her other hand out before her and touched—what? An arm? It seemed to be made of some hard unyielding material—and ended not in a hand but a steel hook! Sarah had been found at last. But not by the Doctor. By Condo.

  She began struggling wildly. 'Please, let me go. I've got to find the Doctor.'

  The deep voice gro
wled, 'No. Girl come. Master send Condo find girl.'

  'Why—What does he want me for?'

  'Master very angry. Maybe kill!'

  Sarah remembered locking Solon in the crypt. Clearly he was taking it badly. She tried to pull away. 'No, let me go, please.'

  'Master say find girl—Condo obey! But Condo not kill. Girl pretty. Condo like.'

  Sarah paused. The thought of making an ally of this murderous barbarian was something that simply hadn't occurred to her. But she could certainly do with a friend. 'Well if you'd stop breaking my arm, I might like you a bit better.'

  There was sadness in the deep voice. 'Girl not like Condo. Condo ugly. Girl afraid.'

  Sarah said coaxingly. 'Nonsense, Condo. Look, please let me go, I need to find the Doctor.'

  'Doctor dead. Solon trick him. Betray to Sisters—Sisters kill! '

  'No, you're Iying. He isn't dead, he can't be.'

  'Doctor dead. Better you come now. Master want.'

  Ignoring Sarah's protests, Condo slung her over his shoulder like a sack and bounded back towards the castle.

  Some time later after a very bumpy journey, Condo carried Sarah into the hall, up the stairs and dumped her down in a chair in Solon's laboratory. She heard Solon's angry voice. 'Condo, you fool—at last! Why did it take you so long to find one blind girl?'

  'Girl travel far—brave.' said Condo defensively. 'Master not hurt girl.'

  'Why I've misjudged you,' sneered Solon. 'Under that brutish exterior there's a tender, compassionate nature.'

  'Condo like girl.' There was a note of dangerous obstinacy in the deep voice. 'Master not hurt.'

  'Dear me, he's such a romantic.'

  Realising Solon was addressing her, Sarah muttered weakly, 'You think you're a bundle of laughs, don't you?' It wasn't much of a come-back but she was too exhausted to manage anything in the way of sparkling repartee.

  Sarah felt Condo's big hand touch her hair. 'Hair pretty.'

  Solon lost patience. 'All right, Condo, that's enough drooling for now. You'd better get her some food and drink if you're so worried about her. From the looks of her she'll probably die on us if we don't feed her.'