by John Peel
The fleet commander reported in. ‘Estimated time of arrival, seven units.’
‘When the Taranium core has been recovered,’ the Black Dalek ordered, ‘the fugitives are to be exterminated. Is that understood?’
‘Acknowledged,’ the commander agreed. ‘We will recover the core, and then obliterate the fugitives.’
* * *
It was heavy going through the swamp. Bors, Garge and Kirksen – who was nervously bringing up the rear – all carried torches made from the dried swamp reeds. They burnt fitfully, and smokily, casting a pale glow over the water-logged ground. Every step squelched. The battered moccasins that the men wore were not up to this, and were leaking cold water.
Bors halted, then turned to the others. ‘We’re getting close now,’ he said, gruffly. ‘Put out your torches.’ He plunged his own into the wet ground. It spluttered and died out. Garge did likewise, but Kirksen clutched his aloft, still nervous. ‘Put your torch out,’ Bors repeated.
‘No,’ Kirksen whimpered, staring about all over the sky. ‘Please... the screamers... the only thing that scares them away is the light.’
Garge laughed. ‘What are you scared of? They’re only bats.’
‘Bats?’ Kirksen laughed, somewhat hysterically. ‘Oh, yes – only bats! Vampires with six-foot wing-spans! I’ve seen them swarm all over a man and...’ His voice broke off, and he started shaking.
Bors grabbed Kirksen’s torch from the man and plunged it into the ground. It became very dark, and Bors could hear Kirksen’s nervous breathing. ‘Look,’ he growled, ‘if we keep together, they won’t bother us.’
Garge was less sympathetic. ‘Come on, will you?’ he called. ‘I doubt that we were the only ones who saw this ship land. We’re lucky it was so close, but there’ll be others after it soon.’
Bors nodded, which went unseen in the darkness. They could only just make each other out. Ahead of them, across the flat ground, was the ship. The lights from it were barely visible at this distance.
Kirksen whimpered to himself, looking upwards all the time. A sudden flurry of wings filled the air, and a dark shape blotted out the stars for a second. Throwing his hands over his head for whatever protection that might offer, Kirksen scuttled after his two companions.
* * *
The Doctor stood in the airlock of the ship, carefully stripping the insulation from one end of a heavy duty cable. Finally, he smiled in satisfaction, and checked his work backwards. The cable was wired into a switch by the door, by which Katarina stood, not understanding any of this.
‘Now, my dear,’ he said, slowly. ‘When I call out to you, you know what you must do, don’t you?’
She nodded. ‘I must throw this... switch.’ It made no sense to her, but the Doctor seemed all set to perform another feat of magic. ‘What is it that you are doing?’
He chuckled happily to himself. ‘I’m about to give our visitors a little shock,’ he chortled. ‘Yes, indeed, an – ah – electrifying experience.’ His puns were never good to begin with, and these went completely over the head of poor Katarina. ‘Now, you stay here, and I’ll finish my little trap.’
He stepped down from the lock, on to whatever firm ground he could find. Anyone approaching the ship would have to come towards the main airlock, and the torches had been shining in the east. He walked a few yards out from the ship, and found what he needed. A long, fairly wide pool of shallow water blocked the approach from the east. Anyone coming towards the ship would have to pass through this.
There was a sound of wings beating in the air, and the Doctor became aware of something large above him. He spun round fast, shielding his face. Whatever the creature was, it was large, and aggressive. Slashing claws narrowly missed him as the creature gained height.
‘Shoo!’ he called, ineffectually. ‘Get away, you nasty brute!’
It was obviously intending another pass. Carefully, the Doctor positioned his wire in the pool of water, and then dashed back towards the safety of the ship.
A moment later, Bors emerged from the gloom, and stared with grisly anticipation at the open airlock door. He hefted his cudgel, ready for action, and then looked back. Only Garge remained with him. ‘Where’s Kirksen?’ Bors growled.
Garge looked around, astonished. ‘He was right behind me a second ago.’ He turned his head about, but saw no sign of the other man. ‘Kirksen?’ he called softly. ‘Kirksen?’ There was no reply, and Garge turned back to Bors. ‘Shall I go and find him?’
Bors spat, disgustedly. ‘No. He’s probably fled back to the cave. He’s scared stiff of the screamers.’
‘Well, let him stay there,’ Garge suggested. ‘I feel safer with him out of the way. He’s crazy, you know. I swear he is. One of these days, he’ll snap and...’ He made a suggestive sawing movement across his throat.
‘OK,’ Bors agreed. ‘We should be enough for this. You know what to do.’
Together, they moved through the darkness. Bors had his cudgel at the ready, and Garge was hefting his long stick. Both were quite prepared to kill to achieve their aims.
As they moved forward, they knew that they would soon become visible to any look-out on the ship. At that point, they would have to rush forward and gain entry before the alarm could be sounded. They stepped periodically into the puddles of water that were scattered all over the landscape, and gave none of them a second thought.
In the airlock, the Doctor rubbed his hands together, as he saw the shapes moving towards the ship. Another few seconds and... ‘Now!’ he called to Katarina. The young Trojan threw home the switch.
There was a dull hiss of sparks, and the electrical charge flashed through the small pool of water in which both Bors and Garge stood. Both men cried, jerked spasmodically, and then collapsed. The Doctor patted Katarina, and nodded in satisfaction.
‘That should be sufficient. I rather think my plan worked nicely.’
Bret poked his head into the airlock as the Doctor began to wind in the wire. ‘Just about ready for take-off,’ he said. Seeing what the Doctor was doing, he added: ‘Electrical charge? There’s not enough power in that to kill anyone.’
‘Of course not,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘But there was quite sufficient to knock them unconscious. You’d better learn now that I have no desire to kill anyone.’
It made no difference to Bret whether the convicts lived or died. He shrugged, and returned to the control room. The Doctor finished coiling the wire tidily away, and disconnected it from the electrical supply. He then followed Bret. Katarina took one last look out of the airlock, then followed.
For a few moments, the landscape was peaceful. Then, wheeling from the sky came one of the screamers. Flapping its huge wings, it hovered for a moment over the two unconscious bodies. Finally, deciding that this was no trap, it settled on to the nearer man, and began to feed. The scent of fresh blood attracted others in the vicinity, and soon Garge and Bors were lost under a cloud of feasting screamers.
They had escaped in the only way they ever would from this planet.
Inside the ship, Katarina, the Doctor, and Steven took their seats. Bret started to power up the engines, and smiled in satisfaction as everything came on-line. In moments, the power had built back up again, and they could all feel the ship straining to rise back into space.
‘What’s that red light?’ the Doctor asked, gesturing to the panel at Bret’s right hand.
‘Mmm? Oh, the outer airlock door must have been left open.’
‘I’ll get it,’ Steven volunteered.
‘No need.’ Bret pressed one of the controls, and the light went out. ‘I managed to find the right panel when we were doing the repairs,’ he explained. Then he smiled, somewhat nervously, and shot the thruster controls home.
The Spar rose, slowly at first, and then faster, up from the planet. The acceleration pressed them all back into their chairs, and they all watched on the screens as Desperus dropped away below them.
‘Look!’ the Doctor called out, gleeful
ly, gesturing to the picture. ‘The Dalek ships have made their landing! We couldn’t have picked a better time to leave!’
They could all see the small shapes of the Dalek pursuit craft, all on the ground. Their Dalek pilots had moved out, and had been working their way towards the spot where the Spar had lain. Now the Daleks would have to return to their ships before they could follow.
‘We’ve lost them now,’ Steven grinned.
‘Lost?’ The Doctor shook his head. ‘I shouldn’t count on that, young man. The Daleks won’t give up yet. They’ll pursue us as close to the Earth as they dare.’
Bret was stabilizing the ship now that they were back in space. He began powering down the take-off systems and to cut in the main drive, ready to take up their path back to the Earth. Everyone’s eyes were on him, so none of them noticed that the inner airlock door was opening slowly. A pair of eyes scanned the room, then settled on the back of Katarina’s neck.
Kirksen raised his flint knife, ready...
Chapter 10
The Sacrifice
Kirksen had not – as Bors had believed – returned to the cave when he slipped into the darkness. Instead, he had been hiding out close by his two companions. He had heard Garge call, and ignored it, and then watched them move on to attack the ship. Kirksen giggled to himself in the darkness; he had it all figured out. Bors and Garge would attack the ship. The crew would fight back. Even if his companions won the fight, they would both be tired, and perhaps one might be dead. If they lost the fight, then the surviving crew would be tired. Either way, Kirksen could jump the survivors, fresh for the fight. He’d make his escape from this hell-hole of a planet, but he’d do it alone.
Then he had seen Bors and Garge electrified. Kirksen fought down his panic, watching as the strangers in the ship recovered their trap. When all was clear, he had started edging towards the ship. The sudden descent of the screamers to feast off his former allies sent him scuttling quickly for the only hiding-place left him – the open airlock of the ship. He had tumbled inside, quivering, seconds before Bret had sealed it for the take-off.
Once the ship had left Desperus’s atmosphere, Kirksen knew that he had almost made it to safety. He peeked through the glass panel set in the inner airlock, and studied the crew in the control room. There was an old man, and two younger ones, working the controls. One of them had a gun, but it was holstered. He could be a problem. Then there was a young girl, standing with her back to him, watching the control screens. It was perfect... exactly what he needed.
Quietly, he opened the airlock door a crack, just far enough to allow him to slip out silently. No one suspected that he was there until he grabbed Katarina’s hair roughly, jerking back her head and laying his stone knife across her jugular vein.
At her startled scream, the three men whipped around. Steven started to move, but Kirksen shook his head. ‘Back,’ he warned. ‘Stay back.’ He giggled softly, his face contorting as he did so. ‘Any of you come near me, and I’ll kill her. You understand?’
Katarina struggled, trying to get free, but Kirksen kept his grip on her long hair, which he twisted cruelly. The knife constantly threatened to break her skin. Furious at this, Steven made a bid to step forward, but the Doctor restrained his headstrong friend.
‘Careful, my boy!’ he warned. ‘I do believe he means what he says!’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Kirksen agreed, grinning. ‘Yeah, I sure do mean it.’ He pulled on Katarina’s hair again, and giggled when she gasped in pain. ‘Now – which of you is piloting this ship?’
‘I am.’ Bret’s voice was cold and emotionless.
‘Good, good. Now, you’ll do exactly what I tell you to do.’ He giggled happily to himself. ‘You may be the pilot, but from here on, I’m the captain. Now, where are we headed?’
‘New Washington, Earth.’
‘No!’ Kirksen screamed. ‘Change it! We’ve got to go somewhere else!’
‘We can’t do that,’ the Doctor replied, in alarm. ‘It’s vital that we get back to Earth! We must warn them of the Dalek power-base on Kembel!’
Kirksen shook his head, laughing. ‘Oh, no! You’re crazy. How long d’you think I’d stay free if we went back to Earth? They’d pick me up inside a week, and I’d be sent back to that filthy Devil’s Planet!’ He thought for a second. ‘Change the course to Kembel.’
‘Kembel!’ Bret exploded. ‘We can’t do that! The Daleks are there.’
That didn’t interest Kirksen directly. He had never stayed in school longer than he was forced to, and knew nothing of history. ‘That’s right. Whoever these Daleks are, they’ll help me. If they’re against Earth, I’m on their side.’
‘I very much doubt that the Daleks would see it quite like that,’ the Doctor warned. ‘They’re evil creatures, thoroughly despicable!’
‘Yeah? Well, I’ve spent twenty years with people like that. I’ll feel right at home there. Set the controls!’ He looked at the three men with fury. None of them moved. ‘Set the controls!’ he screamed again, this time making a motion across Katarina’s throat with the knife.
Reluctantly, Bret moved to do as he was told. As he crossed past Steven, the younger man used his chance to snatch up a heavy spanner and throw it towards Kirksen. Only the convict’s finely tuned reactions saved his head from being hit, and the spanner clattered off the wall behind him.
The Doctor, Bret and Steven all tried to move at once while Kirksen was off balance. Keeping his grip on Katarina, though, Kirksen lunged backwards into the airlock. Once he had Katarina inside, he slammed the airlock door control, and the heavy bulkhead hissed closed behind them.
Steven drew up short, then turned to Bret. ‘You said you’d figured out the controls now – get this open from the panel!’
‘No!’ the Doctor cried, urgently. ‘He could kill her in there before we could get near him.’
‘But we’ve got to do something,’ Bret protested. ‘We can’t just leave them in there Poor Katarina must be terrified.’
The Doctor knew that she must indeed be frightened, but this was not the time for action. He only hoped that he could convince his two companions of that. Young men tended to be so impetuous! ‘We have no alternative. At the moment, he is holding all of the high cards.’
Steven glared at the door, seeing Kirksen inside, holding the knife on Katarina. ‘Look, he’s got to be bluffing! He daren’t kill her. What would he gain?’
‘Normally, I would agree with you, my boy,’ said the Doctor, slowly. ‘But did you see his face? He’s not sane, not sane at all. The normal rules of logic mean nothing when dealing with a mind like that. If we prod him too far, he might very well kill her.’
Bret nodded. ‘Murder would be nothing novel to an inmate of Desperus.’ He shook his head. ‘We’ll simply have to sweat this one out.’
The Black Dalek was not at all pleased with what had happened. Its eye-stick centred on the screen connecting the Kembel control centre with the Dalek pursuit fleet. The pursuit task force had allowed the intruders to escape with the core from Desperus. ‘Estimated time of interception?’ it demanded.
‘Seventeen units.’
The Black Dalek ran the figure through its internal computers, and arrived at a decision. ‘This would place you too close to the Earth. We cannot chance the humans becoming suspicious of Dalek manoeuvres so close to the Solar System. Break off pursuit and return to Kembel.’
‘I obey.’ The pursuit leader cut the communication beam
Turning to the monitor supervisor, the Black Dalek grated: ‘Contact Mavic Chen. He must recapture the Taranium core and the creatures who stole it.’
‘I obey.’
As the supervisor turned to begin signalling Chen on their tight-beam channel, the Black Dalek spun about to face the mission controller. ‘Destroy pursuit ships,’ it commanded. ‘They have failed in their mission. We do not tolerate failure.’
The controller moved to its panel, and keyed in a sequence. The long-range radar screens sudden
ly went blank. The Black Dalek glided out of the room. It was always a good incentive to the workers to show them the results of failure. It inspired them to work well and avoid making foolish mistakes.
* * *
Seeing that the three men were showing no signs of trying to prise him out of the airlock, Kirksen relaxed slightly. He loosened his grip on Katarina, and she managed to tear herself free from him. There wasn’t far she could go, but she collapsed in a corner, hugging herself, and trying to stay brave. Kirksen saw her efforts, and then giggled. He moved slowly towards her.
‘Pretty hair,’ he whispered, still giggling. He reached out to touch it. Katarina shuddered. Kirksen ran his fingers through the locks, enjoying the feel of a woman’s hair again. It was so long since he had felt anything this delicate. ‘Pretty hair,’ he repeated, then slashed down with the knife. Katarina squealed, but all he severed was a lock of her hair. Still giggling to himself, he began to wrap the hair in and out of his fingers. After a moment, he dragged himself back from his private world of madness and threw the hair aside. Then he crossed to the microphone on the wall and triggered it. ‘Listen to me, out there,’ he called.
The Doctor, Bret and Steven ceased their talking, and glanced towards him. Kirksen continued: ‘Listen carefully. You’ll do exactly as I say. Exactly .’ Satisfied that he had their attention, he carried on with his thoughts. ‘I’m not going to kill the girl. No, no, killing her – that would be silly. Then I wouldn’t have a hostage.’ He grinned again, his lop-sided, evil smile. ‘But life could become very painful for her. I’m sure you know what I mean.’ He raised the knife, so that they certainly would understand him. ‘Unless you do exactly as I say.’
The Doctor and Steven, their faces mirroring the pain and fear for Katarina that they felt, moved closer to the airlock. Bret, on the contrary, moved towards the control panel. Seeing the Doctor and Steven peering in at him, Kirksen smiled again, then twisted, swiftly, and severed another lock of hair from Katarina’s head. Holding up his hand, he turned his palm over, allowing the hair to fall gently to the floor. It was an unsubtle demonstration, but it provoked the fear that he wanted them to feel. ‘Change course for Kembel,’ he ordered. ‘Now!’