Doctor Who - [093] - The Invasion Of Time

by Terrance Dicks

  There was a whirr and a clunk from the door.

  The Doctor spoke again, managing to produce a very creditable imitation of Borusa's acid tones. 'There's nothing more useless than a lock with a voice print!' The door swung open. Behind it was a short, dark passage.

  The Doctor went down it, opened the door at the other end and emerged into the anteroom to the President's office.

  Pausing a moment to get his bearings, he hurried off in the direction of the TARDIS.

  Leela was trying to reach the TARDIS herself, but she'd been forced to hide in an alcove by the sudden appearance of a squad of guards.

  Once they'd passed by, she emerged-and heard somebody coming down the corridor. She ducked back into cover. Somebody passed by.

  Leela thought there was something very familiar about those footsteps. She popped her head out, and was just in time to see the Doctor disappearing round a corner.

  Stealthily Leela moved after him.

  Andred was in the Castellan's office, punching up shot after shot on the Capitol's video system. There were so many corridors, passages, antechambers and walkaways in the enormous old building that the chances of hitting the right one at the right time were very small, but Andred carried on trying, checking corridor after corridor in a random search pattern. Much to his own surprise, he came upon two furtive figures hurrying down a corridor. He looked up and called, 'Sir, I think I've found the alien.'

  Kelner hurried over. 'Where is she?'

  'There, sir. She's with the President.'

  Kelner was outraged. 'With the President?'

  'Well, following him, anyway, sir. Line two, zero, two, sir.'

  Kelner punched the controls on his desk monitor, and saw the Doctor striding swiftly down a corridor, Leela some little distance behind him.

  Kelner switched on a communication circuit. 'Chancellor, this is Castellan Kelner. Is the President with you, by any chance? Still resting and not to be disturbed? I see... Would you kindly inform me when he awakens? Thank you so much.'

  Kelner looked up at Andred. 'Well, don't just stand there, Commander. Get after her!'

  The Doctor had almost reached his destination when a squad of guards came marching round the corner, heading straight towards him. The Doctor made no attempt to run. As the guards came level with him he flipped open his coat. 'Bow to the Sash of Rassilon!' The guards bowed their heads in reverence at the sight of the gleaming metal sash, and the Doctor walked straight past them. The guards raised their heads to find their new President disappearing down the corridor, and a skin-clad alien figure hurrying towards them.

  Leela pointed towards the Doctor. 'I'm with him,' she said, and before the astonished guards could react, she had slipped past them and was following the Doctor.

  The Doctor hurried down the staircase that led to the antechamber, delighted to find the TARDIS still standing at the bottom. He sensed movement behind him, glanced over his shoulder, and caught a quick glimpse of Leela ducking back into cover. Quickly, he opened the TARDIS door and went inside.

  Meanwhile Andred had arrived and was interrogating his guards. 'Well, where is she?'

  'She came this way, sir, but she was with the President--'

  'Probably heading for the capsule,' muttered Andred. 'Come on I'

  Leela ran up to the TARDIS door. It was closed against her. She began hammering on the door with her fists.

  Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor stood silently, waiting. He made no attempt to open the door.

  K9 was at the Doctor's feet. They could see Leela's face on the scanner, hear her anguished voice as she pounded on the door. 'Doctor, please, open the door! Please, let me in!'

  The Doctor didn't move.

  Beside him K9's head drooped sadly.

  Andred and the guards hurried towards the TARDIS.

  The Betrayal

  Leela heard a clatter of booted feet, abandoned her attempt to get inside the TARDIS, ducked round the back of it, and sped silently away.

  Andred and his guards ran in from the other side and rushed up to the TARDIS. A guard tried unsuccessfully to open the door. 'It's locked, sir.'

  'She must be in there. If the President's in there too she may try to harm him again.' Andred studied the TARDIS door. 'These old type forties have got some kind of trionic locking device. We'll need a set of cypher ident keys. Get moving, man!'

  The guard hurried away.

  The Doctor said, 'Well, K9, what d'you think? How are we doing so far?'

  'Too many variables for accurate forecast.'

  'What variables?'

  'Illogicality of humanoid procedures.'

  The Doctor grinned ruefully. 'Like me, you mean?'

  'Affirmative, Master!'

  'All right, then. How am I?'

  The Doctor stood still, while K9 scanned him with his scissors.

  'Cerebral circuits in functional order. Physical condition-dubious.'

  'Thank you very much!'

  K9 wasn't programmed for irony. 'Risks taken appear to have been justified by results.'

  'What are our chances if we proceed?'

  'Actions so far indicate a success probability of thirty-nine point seven five.'

  'That bad, eh?' said the Doctor thoughtfully. 'Are you sure?'

  'Affirmative.'

  The Doctor produced the map from Borusa's desk. 'Listen, I've discovered the location of the security control room-directly under the Panopticon, level three zero.'

  K9 whirred and clicked. 'Success probability increased to forty-eight point three five.'

  'That's better, eh? Not bad odds at all.'

  'Any plan incorporating success factor below six five point zero is not advisable,' said K9 primly.

  The Doctor began pacing to and fro. 'Suppose I can throw a mirror cast? A shadow shift to create a false image for space traffic control?'

  'The plan is feasible. I suggest you proceed as follows--'

  The Doctor held up his hand. 'Can I finish, please? I shall reflect the transmission beam off the security shield, feed it back through a linked crystal bank and boost it through the transducer.'

  'I could not have given a better formulation of the plan myself, Master.'

  'No, I don't think you could!'

  'Possibility of your formulation being better than mine less than one per cent, however,' said K9 smugly.

  'You really are the most insufferably arrogant, overbearing...'

  The Doctor broke off, smiling in spite of himself. 'You know, someone once said something very like that about me!'

  'Correction Master. Many people have said something like that about you.'

  'At least no one's ever called me smug!'

  'Correction, Master. Many people have--'

  'That will do, K9! Now listen... if you destroy Security Control after I feed in the doppler effect and eliminate the Red Shift then surely the Invasion must succeed?'

  'Probability of invasion success under conditions described rise to ninety-eight point two.'

  The Doctor beamed. 'Well, what's a couple of points between friends?' He went to the TARDIS console and set to work.

  Leela ran on and on through endless corridors, across bridges and walkways, through cloisters and anterooms until at last she found herself in a corridor that ended in a big arched doorway.

  Cautiously, she moved through it and found herself in a small domed chamber. It held a control console, a set of monitor screens and an attractive, but bored young woman in Time Lord dress.

  Without looking up the young woman said calmly. 'Come in!'

  Leela crept forward drawing her knife. 'Where are your guards?' she whispered fiercely.

  'I don't need any."

  Leela stepped swiftly forward and rebounded from an invisible barrier.

  The young woman smiled. 'There's a forcefield between you and me. Between me and everybody, come to that. This is one of the highest security rated rooms in the entire Capitol.' She looked up at Leela. 'You must be that alien everyone's lo
oking for. Leela isn't it? My name's Rodan. Put that ridiculous knife away before you hurt yourself.'

  Leela sheathed the knife. 'The Doctor is always telling me to do that! Why do you not tell them I am here?'

  'Why bother. That's their affair.'

  'Whose affair?'

  'The guards, the Time Lords, all the other boring people.'

  She waved at the console and the monitors. 'Do you realise I've passed the Seventh Grade? Yet here I am, nothing more than a glorified traffic guard?'

  'You are a guard?' Instinctively Leela drew her knife again.

  'Oh do stop cavorting about like that, it's so undignified.'

  Baffled and angry, Leela sheathed the knife again.

  There was a buzzing from the instrument console. 'Oh, not again,' said Rodan wearily. 'Excuse me.' She touched controls and one of the monitors lit up. It showed a series of brightly coloured dots moving across a dark background. Rodan spoke into a communications unit in the same bored voice. 'Traffic control here. Yes, I have them on tracking. Clearance authorised.' She switched off the communicator. 'Primitive space fleet, neo-crystalline structure, atomic power and weaponry. On its way to blast some planet into dust, I suppose.'

  'Then you must stop them.'

  Rodan was horrified. 'What? That would be against every law of Gallifrey. We never interfere, you know, only observe.'

  'What if they were to attack you?'

  'Then they would be very stupid. Nothing-nothing-can get past the transduction barrier.' She yawned. 'Personally I find astrophysics a huge bore, don't you?'

  Leela nodded dumbly.

  Rodan said, 'Oh good, I knew I'd like you! Why don't you come in?' She touched a control, the invisible barrier vanished, and Leela fell into the room.

  The Doctor looked up from the TARDIS console. 'K9, it's time for you to go and destroy the transduction barrier. Give me a few minutes to get away, and then set off.'

  'Affirmative.'

  'Good luck, K9,' said the Doctor softly. He opened the TARDIS door.

  Andred and his guards were still grouped round the TARDIS awaiting the arrival of the keys. 'It seems to be fixed in this ridiculous shape,' said Andred amusedly. 'I wonder what it was imitating when it got stuck.'

  The door opened and the Doctor appeared. Andred and the guards came to attention. 'My Lord President!'

  The Doctor gave a start. 'Jelly babies,' he said mysteriously.

  'I beg your pardon, sir?'

  'I'd left my jelly babies in the TARDIS.' The Doctor produced a crumpled paper bag. 'Try one!'

  Andred took one of the sweets and popped it cautiously in his mouth.

  The Doctor said encouragingly. 'They're a delicacy I discovered on the planet Earth...'

  Andred said indistinctly. 'That's Sol Three in Mutter's Spiral, isn't it, sir?'

  'Well done, quite right. Do you like the jelly baby?'

  'Delicious, sir.'

  The Doctor pressed a sweet into his hand. 'Have another! Anybody who likes jelly babies can't be all bad.' He lowered his voice confidentially. 'You won't mention our meeting to the Chancellor, will you? I don't think he appreciates jelly babies, he's got a frivolous mind.'

  Andred was baffled but loyal. 'If that is what you wish, sir, I shall say nothing.'

  'Good! Now-have you caught the girl yet?'

  'No sir. We thought she might be in your capsule.'

  'No, no,' said the Doctor airily, 'there's no one else in there.' He took Andred's arm, leading him away from the TARDIS. 'It's absolutely vital that she's caught and expelled from the Capitol. Absolutely vital!'

  'Vital, sir,' repeated Andred. 'I'll see to it sir. Guards, follow me!'

  For a moment the TARDIS stood there alone. Then Andred's guard bustled up carrying a flat box of cypher indent keys. He was surprised to find that everyone had gone, and even more surprised to find that the TARDIS door was now ajar.

  Cautiously, he pushed it open and went inside.

  Since he was a Time Lord guard, he was not surprised at the spacious control room within. What did surprise him was the dog-like metal automaton that peered curiously up at him.

  Dropping the box of keys, he reached for his staser pistol.

  K9 set his blaster on stun and shot the guard down. He glided past the man's unconscious body and out of the TARDIS.

  Kelner tapped lightly on the door of the President's office and pushed it open. Borusa sat behind the President's desk. Trying it out for size no doubt, thought Kelner, who had ambitions in that direction himself. His face a mask of polite concern Kelner said, 'My apologies, Chancellor. I take it the President is still resting in your chambers?"

  The hawk-faced old man looked up at him. 'He is.'

  'He has been there all the time?'

  'He has. And I have been here.'

  'I think you should rouse him now,' said Kelner delicately. 'I should very much like to speak to him...'

  Borusa looked thoughtfully at him for a moment, then rose and headed for the door. Politely Kelner moved aside to let him pass.

  As the Doctor came back through the secret passage, there was a rapping on the outer door.

  He heard Borusa's voice. 'Your Excellency, Castellan Kelner wishes to speak to you.'

  The Doctor dashed to the couch and flung himself down. In a sleepy voice he called, 'What? Oh, very well, bring him in.'

  Borusa and Kelner came into the room.

  Kelner said obsequiously. 'I trust Your Excellency is rested?'

  The Doctor nodded, and Kelner went on, 'I'm afraid I must tell you that the girl Leela has evaded our guards and is still in hiding somewhere in the Capitol.'

  The Doctor rose angrily. 'How did this happen?'

  'A regrettable oversight on the part of the guards.'

  'She must be found,' shouted the Doctor. 'You are responsible for security, Castellan. See to it! Immediately !'

  'Immediately, Your Excellency,' said Kelner, and scuttled away.

  The Doctor said curtly, 'Borusa, call a meeting of my Council at once.'

  'May I enquire--?'

  'No!' said the Doctor rudely. 'You may not. Summon the meeting, immediately. No excuses!'

  (Sleek, immense, shark-like, the Vardan flag-ship sped towards Gallifrey.)

  Lights began flashing madly on Rodan's console, and she stared incredulously at the instrument readings. 'It can't be... no one would dare.' She flicked the communicator switch. 'Space traffic control here. An alien space craft, two spans distance course zeroed in to Gallifrey. Raise transduction barrier to factor five. Repeat factor five. Immediate and urgent. Red Alert, repeat Red Alert!'

  The stunned body of a technician lay sprawled across the doorway of the transduction barrier control room.

  K9 glided past and regarded the massive equipment banks in front of him. Immense, automated incredibly powerful, the machinery in this room controlled the colossal forces that had kept Gallifrey safe from all invasion-until now.

  Setting his blaster to maximum, K9 opened fire. Laser beams crackled, electrical panels sparked and burnt out, complex transduction circuitry melted and fused... Soon the room was filled with smoke and flame.

  Rodan was shouting into her communicator. 'Find him. I must find the Castellan! The transduction barrier has failed. Gallifrey is being invaded!' Rodan broke off as if unable to believe the horror of her own words.

  Kelner entered the Panopticon conference hall to find the rest of the High Council already assembled. The Doctor lounged in his place at the head of the table. Kelner bowed low and took his place with the others.

  The Doctor rose, looking mockingly around the set faces. 'My apologies for the haste, gentlemen, but this is no ordinary Council meeting. Today I am privileged to introduce you to your new masters.'

  Three shimmering shapes began materialising in front of the conference table.

  The Doctor threw back his head and let out a howl of maniacal laughter.

  The Invasion

  The strange thing about th
e Vardans was that they weren't quite there. It was as if they existed in some other dimension, some other reality. The astonished High Council saw three tall, shimmering shapes, cloaked and hooded figures with the vaguest hint of features under the hoods. But somehow it was impossible to get a really good look at the Vardans. Something about them turned away the eyes.

  At first, Borusa was more concerned with the improper behaviour of the Doctor than with the invading aliens. 'He is mad, I knew it!' Then he turned his attention to the invaders. 'Guards, destroy them!'

  The nearest guard levelled his staser at the invaders. There was a flash of light from one of the shining shapes and the guard fell dead. It was as simple and horrible as that.

  'Resistance is useless. Tell them, Doctor.' The voice was harsh and thin, and had something of the eerily unreal quality of the Vardans themselves. They were like ghosts, thought Borusa dazedly. Gallifrey was being invaded by shining ghosts!

  'Resistance is useless,' repeated the Doctor obediently. 'The Vardans have more power than you have ever dreamed of, more knowledge than you could ever hope for. You must submit, as I did when I first made contact with them.'

  'And when was that?' demanded Borusa.

  'A long time ago,' said the Doctor wearily. 'I received a telepathic message from the Matrix, warning me of their power, I decided to join them.'

  Borusa gestured towards the shapes. 'You knew of this all the time-before your induction?'

  'Even before that.'

  'You disappoint me Doctor. I expected more of you.'

  'Did you really? Thank you, Chancellor.' The Doctor turned to address the High Council. 'You will disperse and await my next commands. Inform the Capitol what has happened. There must be no resistance.'

  Silently the Council began filing from the room. They seemed dazed, crushed-all except Borusa. 'You have no right to do this,' he said furiously.

  'Borusa, have you carried out my orders?' said the Doctor suddenly.