Doctor Who and the Robots of Death

by Terrance Dicks

  Poul started running.

  A metallic chime rang through the Sandminer. 'Attention everybody, this is the Commander. All checks complete, all systems clear and running. Security robots commence hatch lock sequence.' Uvanov turned to Toos. 'How's it bearing?'

  'Range two, running time point four three, ground centre zero, zero, zero.'

  'Coming straight down our throats. We'll really be able to suck the pay-stream out of this one.'

  V.32 said, 'Monitors indicate obstruction on forward scoop deck, Commander.'

  Uvanov sighed, wondering why robot efficiency had to be unaccompanied by any trace of initiative. 'Then get it cleared, V.32, get it cleared!'

  'Yes, Commander.'

  The Doctor and Leela emerged from the TARDIS to find themselves inside an enormous shadowy chamber with high metal walls. It was rather like being an ant inside a biscuit-tin, thought the Doctor, though the metal surface wasn't smooth and shiny, but scarred and pitted, scored as if by the impact of thousands of diamond-hard granules.

  He slipped a jeweller's eye-glass from his pocket and used it to study the nearest wall.

  Leela watched him. 'What is it, Doctor?'

  'Some kind of specially hardened alloy, scored all over. It must come in under a lot of pressure.'

  'What must?'

  'Whatever they fill this thing up with ..

  A dim light was seeping into the chamber from the far wall. The Doctor and Leela began moving towards it.

  (As they moved away, a hydraulic grab slid smoothly down from the darkness above them. It picked up the TARDIS in an enormous metal claw and lifted it silently out of sight. V.32 had removed the obstruction.)

  Leela tensed, sensing rather than hearing the faint vibration of the machinery. 'Doctor!'

  'What?'

  'I heard something, back there.'

  Leela glanced over her shoulder, but the area they'd left was shrouded in darkness. The Doctor was still striding towards the light. 'Mmm?' he said absently, and kept on going.

  Leela followed, and found him gazing in fascination at the end wall of the metal chamber. It was pierced by a series of slits, like tall thin doorways, running almost up to roof level. Through them filtered a murky, yellow light.

  'This is very interesting,' he murmured.

  'Doctor,' whispered Leela fiercely. 'I heard something, back there.'

  The Doctor gazed up at the long row of slits. Beside each one was a folded-back metal shutter. Obviously the gaps could be opened and closed. 'It comes in here!'

  'What does?'

  'Whatever it is!'

  Leela sighed.

  'Range point three eight seven,' said Toos. 'Running time, point one three, ground centre zero nine three.'

  Uvanov cursed under his breath. 'It's veering away from us.' He touched a communicator button. 'Borg, where's that power? We've got to get after it.'

  Borg was down in the drive area, supervising the build-up of the massive atomic motors that could send the huge bulk of the Sandminer scuttling across the desert like some great crab. His voice came from the speaker. 'Power's coming, sir.'

  'So's old age, Borg, but I don't want to spend mine sitting in this desert waiting for you to do your job.' 'Switching to motive power now—sir.'

  Uvanov studied the screen. 'We may just catch the edge of the storm, but we'll have to chase to stay there ..

  Intent on the readings, he didn't see Poul come into the room. 'Commander?'

  Uvanov didn't look up.

  'What is it?'

  'Chub's dead.'

  There was a shocked silence.

  'Dead?' said Zilda unbelievingly.

  Uvanov stared stupidly at Poul. 'Are you sure?'

  'Of course I'm sure.'

  Uvanov rubbed a hand across his eyes, his attention moving back towards the screen. He'd never liked Chub very much anyway. 'All right, then, he's dead. First things first. There's nothing we can do for him now.'

  'He's been murdered, Commander.'

  'How do you know?'

  'Because people don't strangle themselves.'

  'Strangled?'

  'That's right. He's in one of the forward storage lockers.'

  Toos said, 'You'll have to abort this one, Commander.'

  Uvanov was outraged. 'What? And lose the storm? We're almost on it.'

  'Poul's talking about murder, Commander.'

  'I'm talking about money,'said Uvanov simply. 'We're going after that storm.'

  The Doctor and Leela were right up to the metal wall now, peering through the nearest slit.

  Leela looked in astonishment at the vista before her. Sand stretching away in all directions, shifting, seething multi-coloured sand, that flowed and disappeared beneath them as they moved across it. There was a low moaning sound of distant winds. 'Where are we?'

  'It's a desert,' said the Doctor cheerfully. 'Either that or the tide's gone out!'

  'Where are the trees?'

  The Doctor shrugged. 'There's no water, so nothing grows. No life at all by the look of it.'

  'It's beautiful,' whispered Leela.

  The Doctor looked at the bands of coloured sand, gleaming red, purple, black, gold in the dim yellow light of a distant sun. 'A bit garish for my taste...'

  Instinctively Leela was scanning the horizon. 'What's that, Doctor, over there?'

  The Doctor looked. There was a swirling, multi-coloured cloud on the horizon growing steadily larger. It was moving towards them just as they were moving towards it. 'Looks like a dust cloud... No, it's a sandstorm. Come on, Leela, we'd better get out of here!'

  Leela was staring in fascination at the swirling cloud. The distant howl of wind grew steadily louder—and closer.

  The Doctor grabbed her arm. 'Come on, Leela, come on. This is a Sandminer, and we're in the forward scoop.' 'What does that mean?'

  'The sandstorm's travelling at thousands of kilometres an hour, and we're heading straight towards it. As soon as it reaches us a sizeable chunk of it will come pouring through those vents. Unless we get back inside the TARDIS the sand will cut us to pieces first, then suffocate us!'

  They began running through the echoing darkness. Behind them the sound of the storm winds rose like the howling of a thousand angry demons.

  They reached the corner where they'd left the TARDIS and skidded to a halt. The TARDIS had gone. 'We've been robbed!' shouted the Doctor.

  'I told you I heard something.'

  The Doctor ignored her. 'The shutters!'

  'What?'

  The Doctor raised his voice above the howling of the storm. 'We've got to close those shutters, Leela, or we're dead!'

  3 Corpse Marker

  On the Command Deck the argument was still raging. It was Pout who ended it, an unexpected edge of command in his voice. 'You must abort, Commander. You have no choice.'

  'This time,' muttered Zilda.

  Uvanov gave her a quick glance, and turned to the communicator. 'This is the Commander. Close scoops. Trim vents. Crew stand down.' He looked round the control room. 'Satisfied, everyone?'

  The Doctor and Leela ran frantically back the way they had come, back towards the long line of open vents at the front of the scoop. The storm was nearer now, its howling louder. Outside the Sandminer the whole horizon was dark with its approaching fury. Already fine grains of sand were swirling through the vents on the hot wind, stinging their faces.

  The Doctor ran up and down the walls of the scoop, looking for a control console, an inspection hatch, anything that would enable him to get the gaping vents closed.

  There was nothing.

  The Doctor looked around him in despair. They could gain a little time by running to the back of the scoop—but only a little. Soon the fine, hot sand would pour like water

  through the vents, rising higher and higher in a hot choking tide that would eventually suffocate them...

  With a rumbling, grinding sound, the shutters began to close.

  'Perhaps somebody heard us moving,' w
hispered Leela.

  Baffled, the Doctor shook his head.

  The Doctor and Leela stared at each other in the hot, stifling darkness. They were trapped inside a giant metal box, but they were alive.

  Uvanov gazed gloomily down at the huddled body of Chub. As Commander he'd felt it was his duty to visit the scene of the crime, but he wasn't sure what to do now he was there. 'He was like this when you found him?'

  Poul nodded. 'Just a little fresher.'

  Uvanov knelt to examine the body, and then straightened up. 'You said you heard a scream?'

  'Yes.'

  'But he was strangled.'

  'The scream—stopped!'

  Uvanov reached out, took hold of a dangling arm. There was something on the back of Chub's hand—a glowing red disc. Uvanov peeled it off and held it up. 'What's this?'

  'No idea.'

  Uvanov sighed, his efforts at detection at an end. 'Crew all assembled?'

  'They should be, by now.'

  'Come on then, let's get this thing settled. Sooner we get it sorted out, the sooner we can get back to work.' Uvanov gave the body a last disgusted look, as though it had died just to annoy him. 'Tell the robots to clear up in here.' He turned away. 'Government scientists! I should never have let him on board.'

  'He'd probably agree with you!'

  Uvanov was already striding down the corridor. 'Poul!'

  'Coming, Commander.' With a last thoughtful look at the body, Poul followed Uvanov from the room.

  By methodically feeling his way around the walls of their metal prison, the Doctor had located the outline of some kind of service hatch. 'This must be the way out—though whether we can get it open...' He began fishing in his pocket for his sonic screwdriver.

  'I do not like this metal world, Doctor.'

  'Well, we can't get out of it until we find the TARDIS...' 'Watch out!' screamed Leela suddenly.

  The Doctor jumped back as the service door slid open, revealing a group of tall figures on the other side.

  Leela stared at them in astonishment. They wore quilted trousers and tunics in some silvery material, with high, polished boots. At the throat each wore a square metal collar-badge bearing letters and numbers. The most astonishing thing about them was their faces. They were made of metal, smooth and statue-like with impossibly regular features like a stylised human face. Their metal hair swept back in sculptured waves, their wide, staring eyes were curiously blank.

  It wasn't what Leela saw that worried her, it was what she felt. The creatures were human yet not human, alive and not alive. Her knife was already in her hand, and she crouched to attack.

  The Doctor put a hand on her arm. 'It's all right, Leela, they won't harm us, they can't. They're robots!'

  The crew of the Sandminer formed a scattered circle in the recreation area. Uvanov marched in, Poul close behind him, and stared importantly around him. 'All present?'

  Dask said, 'Kerril's not here yet.'

  'Why not?'

  'He's on his way,' said Toos soothingly. 'He was in the rear section, it'll take him a while to get here.'

  Uvanov nodded. 'Right, we'll make a start then.' He gazed round the circle of faces, some hostile, some suspicious, some just plain puzzled. 'Now, you all know Chub is dead. One of you killed him.'

  'One of us, surely,' objected Zilda.

  Uvanov stared irritably at the dark girl. 'That's what I said.'

  'No,' said Poul. 'You said "one of you".'

  Uvanov saw the distinction. He'd unconsciously left himself out of the group of suspects. They were putting him back in.

  'All right, then, one of us. The question is, which one?'

  'And why?' added Toos.

  Uvanov shrugged. 'Well, this is a two-year tour. Maybe Chub was beginning to get on somebody's nerves?' He stared accusingly round the little group as if hoping for an instant confession, his eyes fixing at last on Borg. The burly crewman realised everyone was staring at him. 'Me?'

  Zilda gave Uvanov a thoughtful look. 'He was certainly getting on your nerves, Commander.'

  'You all know where I was,' said Uvanov. 'In the main control room.'

  They all looked at Borg. 'I was on the power deck,' he protested. 'Dask was with me.'

  Uvanov pounced. 'All the time?'

  'No,' said Dask. 'Not all the time—I went to check the synchro relays.'

  Everyone was looking at Borg again. He jumped angrily to his feet. 'Now look, I had nothing against Chub. Okay, he talked too much—'

  Zilda said excitedly, 'Poul heard the scream—'

  Cass interrupted her. 'Says he heard the scream. We've only his word.'

  Poul stared at him. 'Why should I lie?'

  Uvanov gave Cass a reproving look. 'You interrupted Zilda, Cass,' he said, in mock horror. 'Founding Family people never interrupt each other—do they, Zilda?'

  Poul made a twisting gesture. 'Somebody interrupted Chub—with both hands.'

  Still in the same tone of mock-reproof, Uvanov said, 'Please, Poul, we're waiting for Zilda.'

  Sulkily Zilda said, 'I was simply going to say that the scream could have been—arranged.'

  'How?'

  'A recording.'

  'What would be the point?'

  Zilda gave him a look of triumphant hatred. 'To provide an alibi, Commander. You sent Poul to look for Chub. You could have arranged it all, made sure you were on the control deck when the body was found. We still don't know when Chub was actually killed.'

  Toos said, 'You're suggesting the poor man was already dead when Poul heard the scream?'

  'Nice try, Zilda,' said Uvanov sardonically. 'A bit far-fetched, though, isn't it?' He held up a glowing red disc. 'Now, does anyone know what this is?'

  'It's a corpse marker,' said Dask.

  'A what?'

  'A Robot Deactivation Disc. They use them in the robot construction centres. If ever you used the Stop Circuit, and turned off all our robots, they'd have to go back to the Centre for renovation. Each one would be marked with one of those discs to show it as a deactivated robot. The technicians call them corpse markers. It's a sort of joke,' he concluded lamely.

  Borg took the disc from Dask's hand. 'Not just a murderer, then. Seems like one of us is a maniac as well.'

  'Use your brains, Borg,' said Cass scornfully. 'We'd know if one of us was mad.'

  Borg's hand flashed out and slapped the disc onto the back of Cass's hand. 'Ah, but we don't—do we?'

  In contrast to the angry wrangling in the recreation area, all was calm and order on the Command Deck—but then, of course, robots not humans were in charge.

  V.14 was studying the spectroscope screen. 'Storm approaching, scale sixteen, range nine point eight, timed two zero one, vector seven two and holding.'

  SV.7 turned. 'Very well, fourteen. Full crew alert.'

  A steady insistent chime began sounding through the Sandminer.

  'All but the two new humans in the rear section are accounted for,' said SV.7 placidly. 'The Sandminer is now under complete robot control. Begin the check sequence.'

  The Commander's cabin was large and comfortable, even more luxuriously furnished than the rest of the human quarters. The Doctor and Leela entered, ushered in by a robot with V.9 on its collar badge. Leela threw herself down onto a couch, while the Doctor started wandering curiously about the room, looking at the hanging tapestries, the statues and pieces of sculpture, the soft couches and low tables. There was a curtained-off sleeping-cubicle in one corner.

  Leela looked at the robot in the doorway. 'Doctor, how do you know the mechanical men aren't hostile?'

  'Robots are programmed to help people, not hurt them.' He wandered up to the tall figure in the doorway. 'You won't hurt us, will you?'

  'Please wait here,' said V.9 impassively. It stepped out into the corridor, and the door closed behind it. Immediately, the Doctor tried to reopen the door. It was locked.

  Leela looked round, wondering at the contrast between the luxury of the cabin and the star
k metal corridors they'd passed along to reach it. 'What is this place, Doctor? What's it all for?'

  'Mineral extraction,' said the Doctor. 'Much of the surface of this planet is a sea of fine sand, several miles deep and constantly moving. It must contain valuable mineral elements, otherwise they wouldn't be going to all this trouble.'

  Leela looked blankly at him, and the Doctor went on with his lecture. 'I've seen a similar operation on Korlano-Beta. The miner moves over the surface searching for useful ores. Naturally the heavier elements tend to sink in the sand, so a really good storm's a bonus, stirs things up.'

  'Sometimes you speak like a Tesh, Doctor!'

  'Thank you.'

  'It was not well meant. And these creepy mechanical men, you're sure they're feeling friendly?'

  'Robots don't have feelings of any kind, Leela. It's the people they serve we have to worry about.'

  'Perhaps there are no people here?'

  The Doctor sank into a comfortable chair. 'Look at this place, Leela. Robots don't need comfort, let alone luxury. They don't even sit down, so they don't need chairs. Certainly not padded ones, like these.'

  Leela grinned. 'Because they have no feelings, you mean?'

  A robot entered, a different one this time, the letters SV.7 on its collar. 'Please identify yourselves.'

  The Doctor sprang to his feet. 'Well, I'm the Doctor, and that's Leela. I wonder if it's possible for us to see whoever's in charge? I'd like to thank them for saving our lives.'

  'I command here,' said SV.7 levelly.

  'Ah! Well—thank you for saving our lives.'

  'What are you doing here?' said the inhumanly placid voice.

  Leela played for time. 'The other mechanical man told us to wait here.'

  There was no impatience in the robot voice. 'What were you doing in the scoop?'

  'Trying to get out,' said the Doctor cheerfully.

  'Please wait here,' said SV.7 and disappeared into the corridor. The door closed behind it.

  'Talkative chap, isn't he?' The Doctor tried the door again, found it locked, fished out his sonic screwdriver and began attacking the control panel beside it.