On Wednesday 27 February 1985 the BBC

announced that their longest running sci-fi

series, Doctor Who, was to be suspended.

Anxious fans worldwide, worried that this might

mean an end to the Time Lord’s travels, flooded

the BBC with letters of protest. Eighteen months

later the show return to the TV screens.

But missing from the Doctor’s adventures was

the series that would have been made and

shown during those lost eighteen months. Now,

available for the first time as a book, is one of

those stories:

THE ULTIMATE EVIL

With the TARDIS working perfectly the Doctor

and Peri find themselves at something of a loose

end. A holiday in Tranquela, a peace-loving

country where there has been no war for over

fifty years, seems the ideal solution.

Unfortunately their visit coincides with that of

an unscrupulous arms dealer – the

Machiavellian Dwarf Mordant . . .

ISBN 0-426-20338-0

UK: £1.99 *USA: $3.95

CANADA: $4.95 NZ: $8.99

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*AUSTRALIA: $5.95

*RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE

Science Fiction/TV Tie-in

THE MISSING

EPISODES

DOCTOR WHO

THE ULTIMATE EVIL

Based on the script of the untelevised BBC series by Wally

K Daly by arrangement with BBC Books, a division of

BBC Enterprises Ltd

WALLY K DALY

A TARGET BOOK

published by

the Paperback Division of

W. H. ALLEN & Co PLC

A Target Book

Published in 1989

by the Paperback Division of W.H. Allen & Co. PLC

Sekforde House, 175/9 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LL

Novelisation copyright © Wally K Daly, 1989

Original script copyright © Wally K Daly, 1985

‘Doctor Who’ series copyright © British Broadcasting

Corporation, 1985, 1989

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Courier International Ltd, Tiptree, Essex

ISBN 0 426 20338 0

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not,

by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or

otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent

in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it

is published and without a similar condition including this

condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eightteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

PROLOGUE

There is no total darkness in the universe. It would seem

that Nature, abhorring a vacuum, sucks light from any

source to lift the gloom.

Even here, at the very edge of the unknown that lies

beyond the accepted boundaries of time and space, the

tired rays of some long-dead sun, after a journey of a

billion human lifetimes, gather enough strength to lift

lazily the shadows on the drifting motes (of what appear to

be dust), that twist and twirl in the vastness of this empty

velvet wasteland in the backyard of beyond.

And these motes of dust, as if seeking further warmth,

drift slowly down the dead sun's rays, looming ever larger

as they approach.

Two are revealed to be meteor fragments, pitted and

scarred from millennial travel. Each is over a thousand

metres in circumference – simply cosmic dust, detritus of

some long-gone planetary disaster that will never be

recorded.

They are followed by the rusty alien husk of a burnt out

re-entry rocket that somehow lost its way and never re-

entered the unbreathable atmosphere of its home planet.

A few more meteor fragments also drift by, unworthy of

any special mention.

Then, growing ever clearer – as if denying the rule that

demands that in the wastes of space spherical is the order

of the day – a tiny cuboid slowly heaves into view. A

distant die that grows to be the size of a matchbox, a shoe

box, a kennel to a...

Finally it is revealed to be what it is: a British police

box of an old-fashioned design. And like an old British

policeman, it doesn't sway and twirl as the other objects

were seen to do, but holds rock steady in its travels.

It is – the TARDIS.

1

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor stood stock-still at the

control panel. His face was white and grim, drawn as if in a

state of shock, a patina of sweat on his brow.

He leaned forward tensely to rest on his clenched fists,

as if to stop his arms moving – to stop his hands flicking

over the panel to confirm his worse suspicions. But it was a

battle he could not win.

His right hand finally darted forward to press a button,

and, with an unusually smooth hum, the outer panelling

was withdrawn, and the skeleton of an inner section of the

control desk was, for the first time, revealed.

An electronic maze of pulsing circuitry was on view.

Pinprick lights chased each other endlessly round the

arteries of fibre optic cabling. Laser-operated relays jiggled

open and shut, dancing in synchronisation to some

unheard inner tune. The whole of the panel pulsed with

life. An electronic beast ticking over in its lair.

The Doctor stared intently into the revealed innards as

if searching for some sign. None forthcoming, in seconds

he had seen enough.

Once more his hand flicked out to depress the switch

and the panelling closed.

He flicked another switch, and a further length of

circuitry was quickly revealed. An intense stare by the

Doctor, and that panelling was also closed.

Then with a low roar of suppressed rage the Doctor

began maniacally pressing switch after switch.

All over the TARDIS various pieces of apparatus could

be heard to hum into short-lived life as they were switched

on, then instantly switched off again.

At one point the lights in the cabin flickered under the

strain of the electronic load, and the TARDIS gave a

shudder almost like a sigh.

Peri, who had been in the galley preparing a hot drink,

rushed to see what the problem could be. She emerged

hurriedly from a corridor into the cabin, then stopped and

stood staring at the Doctor’s manic activity with a look of

utter bemusement.

The Doctor finally ceased pressing switches and

stillness returned to the TARDIS. He continued to stare at

the control panel, his face full of incredulous disbelief at

what he had discovered.

Then he lifted his eyes to look blankly into the distance

ahead, and spoke quietly to himself in a voice filled with

horror.

‘This is disastrous! Absolutely disastrous.’

2

On the other side of the universe, untroubled by the

Doctor’s apparent despair, a small planetoid floated in

velvet blackness.

This object, denying the universal rule, was truly black.

Light and all other electronic and magnetic waves bent

around it and sped away into space leaving it invisible to

the naked eye.

Indeed, if human eye could have seen this object, a

highly unlikely occurrence considering its in-built ability

to repel light, they would have noted something not quite

right about it.

Hard to bring to mind what the problem was with this

obviously inanimate object, but – not quite right. Simply –

too perfect perhaps?

The deep-throated hum of a powerful motor was heard.

And the barrenness of the planetoid’s surface was rudely

broken as a two-metre square section at its pitted centre

started to sink smoothly beneath the surface, then slid

away to a hidden storage space inside.

Bright light shafted out from the revealed interior, and

through its intensity a highly polished slab of steel rose to

fill the vacated hole.

The light silhouetted an object on the surface of the

massively thick plate. It was shaped like a telescope and

had a casing of glass, within which flickers of electrons

danced and played. It was obviously a weapon of some sort.

The steel plate, when flush with the surface, came to a

halt and the hole was sealed once more, blotting out the

inner light. The hum of the motors died away and the eerie

silence of space descended shroud-like.

But not for long. Another sound was soon heard, and

the weapon slowly rotated on its axis, its head dipping to

find its target.

A planet of twin continents appeared in the weapon’s

view-finder.

One continent (known to its inhabitants as Arneliera)

was eternally swathed in mist.

The other was a bright green jewel of a place floating in

tranquillity in a blue, blue sea. And it was to this second

continent – Tranquela – that the gun was directed.

On that continent – unaware that they were in the field of

an alien gun, poised hidden from sight at the brink of their

atmosphere – two scientists, one male, one female,

diligently worked in their underground laboratory.

Their grey hair reflected not only their age but also the

amount of worrying research they had shared over the

years.

The man – Ravlos – paused in the experiment that he

was conducting to look to his wife Kareelya with care in

his eyes. The workload they were undertaking, deep

underground in the palace compound of their ruler

Abatan, was a strain on both of them. Ravlos was worried

for Kareelya; neither of them was getting any younger.

‘Are you all right?’

Kareelya looked up, surprised at the intruding voice,

but seeing the look of concern in his eyes her reply was

equally gentle and given with a smile.

‘I am fine, Ravlos, fine.’

‘Good.’

And, satisfied, he went back to the task in hand,

unaware of the nightmare that was about to befall them.

A short walk from the palace laboratory, a hillside led

gently upwards to a grassy peak. On the other side of this

peak a sheer cliff-face fell to blue waters that broke against

jagged rocks far below.

On this grassy plateau a handsome young couple sat

hand in hand enjoying the view. They were both dressed in

the finery that indicated their royal status. The man was

Locas, son of Abatan. And the young woman, whom he

hoped soon to marry, was called Mariana.

In build and general looks she was not unlike Peri, slim

and dark-haired, but her nature was calmer. Locas knew

she would make a good wife.

After some moments of quietly perusing the beautiful

view, Mariana turned to look at Locas, an edge of doubt

clouding her face.

‘Are you sure it will be safe?’

He smiled at her to ease her fear. What they had decided

to do was indeed dangerous in these troubled times, but he

was quietly confident that the strength of his love would be

sufficient to overcome the threat.

‘I am sure.’

Gently they kissed.

3

On the surface of the planetoid the tripod-based gun

pulsed with a new purpose. The electrons that once drifted

aimlessly, now formed themselves into a laser-thin beam

stretching from the base to the nozzle, as if hungry to

escape the confines of the glass barrel.

They were held in check for the moment, as inside the

planetoid the final positioning of the cross-hatching,

marking the field which the gun would cover, was verified

on an intricate display panel.

The creature who checked the positioning was the evil

Dwarf Mordant. He was chuckling to himself with pleasure

at the thought of the mayhem he was about to unleash. A

dribble of saliva escaped his mouth and trickled down his

chin. With force of habit his tongue unrolled and licked it

back into the scaly toothless hole from where it had

emerged.

Meanwhile his webbed, three-fingered hands flicked

over the control panel, tuning the beam and verifying the

area on the planet he was about to attack.

The two eyes on stubby flexible stalks above his

forehead watched screens at opposite ends of the panelling.

Occasionally, out of a lifetime’s habit, he also scanned

the ten crystal globes that rested in pride of place on top of

the panel. Not really expecting them to shine with life –

but ever hopeful. The cold yellow eye at the centre of

Mordant’s forehead steadfastly watched the gauge that

indicated the power level achieved by the gun.

Finally, as the gauge reached maximum intensity,

Mordant was satisfied.

He gave a high-pitched chuckle full of a wicked,

childish glee – then pressed the button that would release

the laser light to do its evil work.

The planetoid bucked as the gun fired, and Mordant

shrilled a happy cry.

‘Go get them, gun!’

In the laboratory Ravlos stopped working, his gentle face

suddenly suffused with evil. Silently, he laid the piece of

equipment he was holding down on the workbench and

turned to look at his wife Kareelya, still busy near by, with

loathing in his eyes.

His hand stretched out to lift up a heavy length of pipe

that was lying on the bench, and he quietly crossed

towards her, hefting the metal in his hand. It was obvious

he was intent on clubbing her down.

He was still a short distance from her when an animal

roar of fury escaped his throat. Kareelya looked up

alarmed, her eyes momentarily tinged with fear as Ravlos

ran towards her, ready to smash her skull with the pipe.

But before he could reach her, he was pulled up short

and fell heavily to the floor. He scrabbled wildly at the

heavy duty chain he found was shackled around his ankle

and fastened off to the wall nearest to him. But it was no

good – he could not reach her.

After her momentary fear Kareelya too had changed.

From being a sweet and loving wife, she also turned into a

savage snarling animal.

She grabbed the nearest implement with which she

could inflict damage (in her case a sharp cutting tool) and

strained to reach Ravlos. Her struggling was in vain. She

too was shackled around her ankle, chained off to the

opposite wall to Ravlos, and also just out of reach.

Unable to attack, they ended up facing each other at a

distance of a few feet, making ferocious guttural animal

noises of rage – desperate to inflict hurt, but too far apart to succeed.

At the same second, on the high cliff-face, Mariana looked

peacefully out to sea.

Behind her Locas stealthily approached. The same look

of murderous madness was in his eyes as was in the eyes of

Ravlos. He was intent on killing his love.

At the last moment Mariana turned, but it was too late.

Without hesitation Locas pushed her as she turned and she

only had time to scream, ‘No, Locas!’ before she plunged

over the cliffs to the rocks far below, his name echoing

away on her lips.

And Locas, without remorse, simply threw back his

head and howled a wild laugh.

Inside the distant planetoid the laugh was echoed by the

evil Dwarf Mordant.

The terror was once more successfully unleashed.

Mordant flicked a toggle switch and the cabin was

suddenly filled with the noise of the mayhem and murder

that was under way on the whole of the continent of

Tranquela.

And he laughed uproariously with the joy of it.

4

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor finally stopped his dashing

about the cabin and ended up once more blankly staring at

the control panel.

Having managed to keep out of the way and stay silent

for what she considered quite long enough, Peri decided to

ask the obvious. ‘What is it?’

She left a pause for the reply, but as none was

forthcoming, she crossed to where he stood at the panel

and touched him on the shoulder to make sure she had his

attention.

‘What is it, Doctor? What’s the matter?’

Slowly, as if in a trance, he turned to look at her. She was surprised at the lack of animation in his face, almost as

though the spirit had gone out of him.

After a long pause he finally spoke dully. ‘Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.’

Peri was momentarily thrown by the unlikely response,

then managed to voice her surprise. ‘But you said it was

absolutely disastrous!’

The Doctor started to pace once more, but always

ending up looking at the control panel in utter disbelief.

‘It is. Absolutely disastrous! The TARDIS at this

moment is totally fault-free. Every piece of equipment is

functioning perfectly.’

In spite of herself Peri was forced to exclaim in surprise

at such an unlikely event.

‘What – no faults at all?!’

‘Exactly! Name any time – anywhere in the universe –

and I could land you there, to the stated milli-second,

within a metre of the named spot, without a hiccup of

trouble along the way.’

Peri broke into a beaming smile at the thought of so

unlikely an occurrence. ‘But that’s marvellous!’

‘Marvellous! Marvellous!! You call it "marvellous"!’

The Doctor was plainly shocked at her reaction and

momentarily stopped his pacing to stare at her, appalled by

her lack of understanding. ‘Peri – it is disastrous!’

‘But why?’

Once more he started to pace as he spoke. ‘Have you any

conception of the hours, the years, the lifetimes I’ve spent

trying to keep the TARDIS functioning?’

Peri managed to hide her smile at the thought of the

understatement she was about to make. ‘You have –

perhaps – mentioned it once or twice...’

But the Doctor was too wrapped up in his dilemma to

notice the sarcasm, and he talked on for his own benefit,

ignoring her occasional interjections. ‘The times its

waywardness has brought me to the brink of disaster?’

‘Well – yes...’

‘The times I’ve cursed its sheer unruly cussedness to

damnation?’

‘Yes, of course I have! That’s why I think it’s marvellous

that now it’s fault-free.’

He stopped once more and looked at her coolly. ‘Ask

yourself one simple question Peri – what do I do now?’

The unexpected question threw her. She answered,

bemused, ‘Do?’

‘Yes – do.’

There was a short pause as she considered the

conundrum. ‘I don’t think I understand?’

The Doctor painfully spelt it out as if to a child. ‘When

we are not off on a mission – but aboard the TARDIS –

what do I do?’

She thought about it momentarily, then found the

obvious answer. ‘You sort out the faults that won’t let us

get wherever you want us to go to next.’

The Doctor’s face beamed at her brilliance. ‘Exactly!

Now I have nowhere I particularly want to go and no task

to perform – and this is the time the TARDIS chooses to

turn on me with this vicious display of goodness, and

unwonted mechanical and electrical magnanimity. Now do

you see why it is disasterous? I have nothing, at all, to do!’

She finally saw that for the Doctor the threatened

inactivity could indeed be a problem – but had no

difficulty whatever in coming up with the perfect solution.

‘There’s only one answer, Doctor.’

His face lit with hope. ‘An answer?’

‘Yes – you’ll have to take a holiday.’

The Doctor was suitably aghast at the thought. ‘What! A

holiday – me?’

Peri then smiled her most winning smile. ‘And me, of

course – somewhere nice and peaceful – but not Majorca.’

On the continent of Tranquela, in the state room of the

ruler Abatan, there were three cells placed in a row at the

centre of the chamber.

The bars of the cells made an incongruous sight in such

stately splendour. Even more incongruous was that in the

far left cell, Abatan, renowned as peace-bringer, and

dressed in his sacred robes of office, was holding the bars

of the cell in an iron grip and screaming in rage and hate at

the occupier of the far right-hand cell, his second-in-

command, Escoval.

For his part Escoval screamed equally loudly at Abatan.

Only the empty cell at the centre of the group of three

stopped them reaching each other and inflicting mortal

damage, as they both fought with all their might to break

the bars that divided them.

Their screams of rage were all but drowned by the

ferocious battle-cries of their guards, who were chained

around the room at intervals, just unable to reach each other but desperately wanting to – and to attack.

At the same moment, just a few floors below in the

basement laboratory, Ravlos and Kareelya still fought

against their chains, hoping to get free and kill each other.

At which point, on the distant planetoid, the gun on its

tripod lost its power, and stopped lancing out its evil ray.

Inside the ship Mordant had switched the dial to zero.

Now he sat back with a look of smug satisfaction on his

ugly face and whispered to himself evilly, ‘Don’t worry,

good citizens of Tranquela – soon Mordant will come to

save you from the tragedy that appears to have befallen

you.’

With which he started to laugh, laughing so loud and

long that he finally fell off the high stool on which he

perched. His laughter cut off with a shriek of fear as he

found himself falling.

But the laughter didn’t disappear.

An echo of his laugh was heard, followed by the chant:

‘Stupid little man! Stupid little man!’

Mordant leapt to his feet and looked around for

something to throw at the small abusive bird that swung in

a cage in the corner of the cabin.

He picked up one of the small round globes that rested

on top of the panel and threw it at the bird with all his

might.

The ball hit the cage squarely, setting it swinging,

bounced from the wall to the floor, and then, undamaged,

bounced back up in the air.

The bird furiously squawked its anger, while Mordant

screamed, equally loudly, ‘Just keep quiet, right! Otherwise

you’re done for! Cooked, carved, and out of here for ever!

Right?!’

To which the bird replied with a screech – ‘Stupid little

man! Stupid little man!’

At that moment one of those galactic quirks of

coincidence, that perhaps go some way towards proving the

theory that all life is but a gamble, took place.

The moment that the globe Mordant had thrown at the

bird finally came to rest on the floor at his feet, was the

same moment that the memory of the globe’s exact copy,

hidden in the TARDIS storage locker, came into the

Doctor’s mind.

‘A what?’ said Peri in reply to the Doctor’s muttered

word.

‘A holiday ball, Peri. A holiday ball.’

‘And what does that do?’

‘Well,’ replied the Doctor. ‘Let us go and find it – and I

will show you.’

5

High on the clifftop, Locas – the madness having left him

– stood looking down to the cruel rocks below for any sign

of his loved one, Mariana.

No sign was to be seen.

He looked to the lowering sky – tears pouring down his

face. ‘Mariana! I did love you! It isn’t all my fault! The evil

force was too strong!’

He moved back a few paces, all ready to run forward and

plunge over the cliff to his death and follow his beloved,

whom he had so cruelly killed, to her watery grave, then he

paused. ‘No. That way is too easy. No one would ever know

what a treacherous deed Locas had done. I will go and

confess all to my father – and let the Council do to me what

my wickedness deserves. I pray that it is to be put to death.’

Meanwhile, in the state rooms of Abatan, and throughout

the whole continent, sanity slowly returned. The madness

having passed, Abatan had sunk exhausted to the bench

inside the cell in which he had been locked.

The guards also had stopped their screaming, and

leaned against the wall, or squatted on their heels at their

post, exhausted, and waiting for the command to unchain.

The last to calm down was Escoval.

Having given one last shout of his hate for Abatan – he

stopped, wiped his hand over his forehead as one would

coming out of a trance – and then he also slowly sank

exhausted on the bench in his cell.

The silence held until Escoval spoke. ‘I think it has

passed again.’

There was a pause, then Abatan agreed. ‘It would appear

so.’ When Abatan next spoke, his voice carried with it the

authority of one who had ruled for a lifetime. ‘Palace

Guards! Free yourselves!’

As the guards removed keys from their pockets, and

threw them the short distance that separated them from

their fellow-guards, Abatan took a key from the deep

pocket of his silken garment and threw it through the

empty centre cage to Escoval, calling as he did so, ‘Here!’

Escoval, having caught the key, in his turn threw a key

taken from his pocket to Abatan, speaking angrily as he

did so. ‘You’ve got to do something, Abatan!’

Abatan unlocked his cell without replying.

Escoval was not intent on letting the subject go away.

‘How long are you going to let the Amelierons savage us

like this? This dreadful new weapon of theirs is bringing

our country to its knees...’

Abatan spoke as he crossed to an ornate chair. ‘We can’t

be sure it is the Amelierons. We can’t even be sure that it is

a weapon that causes this killing madness that strikes us

down.’

By now Escoval was also out of his cell. He crossed to

the chair of office into which Abatan tiredly sank. ‘What

other explanation is there?’

Abatan thought about it momentarily, but could find no

suitable reply.

Escoval pressed on with his argument. ‘Our people are

killing each other every day, Abatan; mother kills

daughter; son kills father; lover kills loved one; it must be the Amelierons. They’ve always hated our race, and now

they have some dreadful new weapon that turns us into

cruel animals – let us reopen the Armoury and teach them

a lesson.’

The very thought of such an extreme solution stung

Abatan into an angry reply. ‘No! The pact made by my

father’s father with the Amelieron leaders has held over

fifty years! I will not be the one to break it without

indisputable proof!’

Escoval had seen the glimmer of a possibility of finally

getting his own way. ‘And when you have indisputable

proof?’

Abatan paused before replying, and then gave

judgement. ‘Then, and only then, will I act.’

Not satisfied, Escoval decided to goad him a little.

‘Meanwhile you stand idly by and let our people – the ones

who cannot get to their chains – butcher each other for

hours every day?’

Abatan’s face immediately flushed at the reprimand,

and the inherent accusation that he was not a caring leader.

‘Your tone is insolent, Escoval.’

Though he didn’t voice it, the look on Escoval’s face

suggested quite clearly that he intended to be.

Abatan was driven by this look to make a comment it

would not normally have been in his nature to make. ‘Do

not forget you are of the "Second" family, not of the

"First".’

It was now the turn of Escoval to flush with anger. This

was truly a slap in the face. Abatan, seeing that he had

indeed offended, attempted to take the edge off the remark

with an explanation. ‘I do not stand idly by. Even now,

Ravlos and his good wife Kareelya, on my orders, are

working on a project to discover what is causing this

violence in our midst. When the cause is found, they will

also try to produce an answer to it.’

‘And if they discover that it is indeed the work of the

Amelierons?’

Abatan thought about it, and came to a conclusion that

saddened him. Escoval was right – the pact would then

have to be broken. ‘We shall reopen the Armoury – and

attack.’

The look on Escoval’s face indicated that nothing would

please him more. Abatan noted it and decided to stress the

point. ‘But – until I receive positive proof- the truce holds.’

The guards, who had released themselves from their

chains were standing at their posts.

As Abatan stood and, after one final glance at Escoval,

walked towards the massive doors of the chamber – the

guards leapt to their positions, two to open the doors, the

rest to follow him.

Escoval coldly watched them go. And as the doors

closed behind them, he allowed himself a wicked smile.

Abatan had given him information that he would find of

great use.

He spoke his thought out loud. ‘So – Ravlos and

Kareelya seek a solution, do they? Perhaps they can use

some advice.’ And with a brief bark of laughter at the thought he too headed for the chamber doors.

6

In a side corridor off the TARDIS’s main chamber there

was a small cupboard at floor level into which the Doctor

had disappeared bodily, leaving his legs behind as the only

mark of his presence.

Around him were a variety of objects that he had tossed

out of the cupboard so he could more easily find what he

was looking for.

Peri stood among the assorted items waiting for the next

appearance of the Doctor so that she could question him.

She didn’t have long to wait.

Two more objects flew out, and then the Doctor

emerged to inspect with interest an item he held in his

hand. It was simply a square box with leads attached. He

pulled one of the leads out and it unfurled – then he let it

go, and it wound back into its cavity.

The Doctor seemed quite pleased and put the box down

with the rest.

Before he could disappear back into the cupboard once

more Peri asked her question. ‘What are you doing,

Doctor?’

His blank look suggested that she had better enlarge on

it. ‘Why all the hyperactivity in the junk cupboard?’

He was shocked at the disparaging remark. ‘Junk

cupboard? Junk cupboard?! This stowage locker contains

some of the finest scientific ideas in the galaxy – and you

call it a junk cupboard! Look at this...’

He picked up the box he had just inspected, and pulled

one of its leads out. ‘Attach this to any receiver...’

He then pulled a second lead out. ‘... And this to the

TARDIS’s main control; and the TARDIS can instantly

travel down the wave to the source of transmission.’

Peri was not over-impressed. ‘Quite useful if one wanted

to go and complain about a TV programme in person I

suppose.’

Ignoring her lack of interest the Doctor picked another

item, a futuristic torch-like device, from the discarded pile

and switched it on; a small humming noise was heard.

As he spoke he waved it round Peri’s outline. ‘Or take

this. Point this at the outline of any article, from planet-

sized to the smallest pea. Circumscribe it. Press the second

button...’

He pressed another button on the side, and with a slight

whirring sound a small strip of paper was printed out from

a slot in the head of the object.

The Doctor glanced at the strip. ‘And there, Peri, is the

exact weight, to a microgramme, of the object

circumscribed.’

Having looked at the paper the Doctor crumpled it and

threw it into the cupboard. ‘I’d cut down on the chocolate

biscuits for a while if I were you.’

She sensibly ignored the remark. ‘So why – if everything

in there is so brilliant – is it... just dumped in there?’

‘For the same reason that if you had every kitchen aid

that was patented in any one year at any patent office in the

galaxy – you wouldn’t find a big enough kitchen to fit

them all in.’

He was about to go back into the cupboard when Peri’s

next question again stopped him. ‘You still haven’t said

what the activity is all about?’

‘On reflection, a brilliant idea on your part Peri – a

holiday would indeed be the perfect answer.’

Peri, pleased at the thought, gave him a smile. ‘Oh

goody! Where?’

‘That is the question to which I am trying to find the

answer.’

He glanced towards the cupboard and there to one side

was the item for which he had been searching.

‘Ah ah!’

‘Ah ah?’

‘Found it.’

The Doctor took out the object, gently laid it to one

side, and immediately started cramming all the other items

back into the cupboard, throwing some to the very back

with no care at all for their safety.

When they were all inside, with an effort he managed to

get the door almost shut.

There was one item still preventing the door from

closing fully. He kicked that one in to join the rest, and the

door was finally closed with a slam. ‘Good.’

Having watched his actions closely, Peri could not resist

the comment, ‘Now that’s the way to treat "some of the

finest scientific instruments in the galaxy".’

To which the Doctor replied equally brightly, ‘If they

can’t stand the heat they shouldn’t be in the hold.’

And with that he picked up the object he had been

searching for and looked at it with interest. What the

Doctor had found was a crystal ball, an exact copy of the

balls that stood on the control panel in the planetoid ship

of Dwarf Mordant.

7

Ravlos and Kareelya both sat exhausted. The madness

having passed, their desire to kill each had also gone.

Ravlos was the first to speak. ’OK now?’

She looked to him and bravely managed a smile. ‘Fine –

it’s passed again. We should be safe for the next few hours

at least.’

Ravlos nodded his head in agreement and searched in

his garment for a key. Finding it, he threw it to where she

sat on the opposite side of the laboratory. In her turn she

threw him the key she had taken from her pocket.

They unlocked their shackles and let them lie on the

floor. Having rubbed the soreness from their ankles they

crossed to the printer sitting on the workbench.

Kareelya took hold of the graph paper that was lying in

reams and started to check it.

Ravlos stood at her side and touched her on the

shoulder. She turned to look at him. His eyes were sad.

‘For whatever happened during the madness I am sorry.’

‘So am I. But we would be better off seeing what causes

it, and trying to find a way of combating it, than

apologising to each other about it.’

He smiled in the face of her good common sense. ‘As

ever – you are right.’

Then he too started checking the graph paper.

Something untoward in the printout attracted his

attention. He pointed the line out to Kareelya. ‘Look.’

She did so – puzzled. ‘What do you make of it?’

He was not sure but talked it out loud so she could share

his thoughts. ‘Tracings of some unknown emanation

outside the spectrum that we are used to working with.

Totally alien to anything that we have dealt with in our

researches so far.’

Kareelya tried to contain her excitement, but this was

obviously a breakthrough moment. ‘Do you think it could

be what we are searching for?’

Equally excited, he looked up from the graph paper.

‘That is what we must discover.’

He let the graph paper fall and crossed to the electronic

wave-inducer that was sitting in pride of place at the centre

of the workbench. He started to adjust the controls as he

spoke. ‘We shall attempt to reproduce this particular

wavelength – and test it to see if it is the one that is generating this evil among our people. If it is, we shall then

try to discover where it is emanating from.’

Kareelya had crossed to the other end of the bench

where a glass-domed helmet was sitting. She picked it up

and started adjusting the dials on its side. ‘And next time

we also test the deflector?’

Ravlos worked on. ‘It would do no harm. If the pattern

of the attacks holds true – the next period of wave

emanation will be in three hours’ time. When we chain up

– you put the helmet on to see if it deflects this "alien"

wavelength, as it does all others.’

She paused in what she was doing to look at him, an

edge of worry creeping into her voice. ‘Would it not be

better if you wore it – your brain is so much more valuable

than mine.’

He paused in what he was doing to look at her. Even

managed a smile to ease her worry.

‘Kareelya, you’ve seen me often enough in the normal

course of events go fairly "mad" when things didn’t go well in the laboratory – so the sight of me going totally "killing"

mad may be easier for you to bear than it is for me – who in

all these years have never seen my Kareelya even lose her

temper, never mind get mad at me.’

She smiled at the thought. ‘Very good, Ravlos – I will

test it next chaining.’

Without any warning one of the heavy wooden doors to

the laboratory swung open, and Escoval entered with the

sureness of one who knows he possesses great power.

Ravlos and Kareelya exchanged a glance – it was

obvious from their look that Escoval was not their

favourite person.

He crossed to the bench where they stood, taking in the

equipment lying around at a glance, particularly the

helmet still held by Kareelya.

He spoke brusquely without first having the common

courtesy to exchange a greeting. ‘Abatan has sent me to

check how successful you have been with your researches

to date. He is getting more than a little impatient with this

constant madness in our midst.’

Ravlos was surprised by the remark. ‘Abatan told me my

findings should be for his ears only.’

Escoval’s face flushed with instant anger. ‘Don’t be

impertinent, Ravlos – you are simply a scientist, and

should know that that is no way to address a member of a

ruling family.’

Kareelya, having put the dome back safely on the

workbench, spoke innocently enough, but knew it would

sting. ‘A ruler of the Second Family, that is.’ And sting it

did.

Even though it was true, Escoval was furious at the

slight. ‘You are licensed to the scientific group because you

are the wife of one who, Abatan considers, is a

distinguished scientist.’

Ravlos looked from Escoval to his wife, his look a

warning not to go too far – this man was dangerous.

Escoval was indeed dangerous – his words spat out the

threat through lips tight and pale with anger.

‘It is a licence that can be revoked for impertinence,

among other things. And you both know what that would

mean.’

They did indeed.

They exchanged a glance, and Escoval saw the look and

knew they were suitably cowed. He continued with his

mission. ‘Now would you both be good enough to give me

the results of your researches to date, so that I can report

them to Abatan.’

There was only the slightest of hesitations before Ravlos

spoke.

He had sensed there could be little danger in letting

Escoval know their findings to date. There was no way that

a member of the Families could ever be a spy.

He indicated the workbench and the equipment there as

he spoke. ‘As you see we have built a range of equipment

that will search out and record atmospheric and sub-

electronic disturbance from any known or unknown

source...’

He crossed to the graph paper and held it as he talked

on, indicating the peculiarity. ‘We have today isolated a

new and totally alien wave-form that it would appear is

spasmodically entering our atmosphere.’

He let the graph paper fall and walked back to the

equipment he had been working on. ‘We can’t be sure that

it is this "wave" that is affecting us until we have duplicated and tested it – but as the times of the outbreaks of madness

and its registering on our equipment match up perfectly, it

is highly likely that this is the cause.’

A look that was a strange mixture of worry and pleasure

crossed Escoval’s face.

‘So the Amelierons have indeed created a new weapon to

attempt to destroy us.’

As a scientist Kareelya knew that they had come

nowhere near to proving such a thing. ‘There is no way we

could prove that until we have traced its emanation

point...’

But Escoval was not to be deflected from his hypothesis

so easily. He rudely interrupted before she could complete

her thought.

‘There is no need to "prove" anything. If there’s a new weapon, they’re the only ones who could possibly have any

use for it – the Armoury will soon be reopened, and war

will be declared.’

As a man of peace Ravlos was both horror-struck at the

thought and puzzled by the necessity. ‘But why?’

It was Escoval’s turn to be surprised. ‘Why? To stop this

madness of course.’

Kareelya sensed that what she was going to say would

not be good news to Escoval – so she spoke it softly. ‘We

can do that, stop the madness, without declaring war.’

She was right to be wary. Escoval’s face had grown still

and cold. ‘How?’

She glanced at Ravlos, wondering if she had revealed too

much.

He took up the conversation. ‘If it was possible to touch

the evil inside men, and let it boil to the surface using a

"wave" – it should be simplicity itself to neutralise the

"wave" and allow goodness once more to prevail. To that end, on Kareelya’s suggestion we have created a deflector

mask.’

He indicated the glass helmet resting on the workbench.

‘If it tests out successfully, soon there should be no need

for chains.’

Kareelya rested her hand on the helmet with an air of

possession, and there was a touch of pride in her voice as

she spoke. ‘We could manufacture enough of these, within

a moon, to protect the whole population of Tranquela.’

Escoval stood stock-still at the news, almost as if in a

state of shock.

Then, without a further word, he swung round, crossed

to the door, and stormed out of the room slamming the

door behind him.

Ravlos and Kareelya watched him go, and then looked

at each other wondering if either was going to give an

explanation of his strange behaviour.

As no answer was forthcoming Ravlos allowed common

sense to prevail. ‘We both have work to do.’

And at that they returned to their tasks.

8

Having dusted the ball the Doctor rested it on the control

panel and looked at it closely. It appeared like nothing less

than a perfectly round, highly polished, translucent ostrich

egg.

Or as Peri had then put it. ‘It looks almost like a gypsy’s

crystal ball, doesn’t it. The sort they use to look into to see

the future.’

The Doctor spoke as he picked it up. ‘Probably still do.

But this, Peri, is much more useful. A "holiday ball" in fact.’

‘So you said – can’t wait to hear about it.’

The Doctor turned the ball in his hands, looking at it

closely. ‘A beautifully crafted piece of work, Peri.

Impossible even to see the join which must exist for its

electronic innards to have been inserted.’

The Doctor continued to chat on as he viewed it. ‘It was

made by the somewhat unsavoury salesmen of the planet

Salakan. A particularly nauseous example of the breed –

one Dwarf Mordant – gave me this customised model some

years back, hoping to win my aid on a project he had in

mind.’

Peri then asked the question without realising the

implication. ‘And did you?’

The Doctor glanced over the dome of the ball in her

direction. ‘Did I?’

‘Aid him.’

The Doctor was suitably aghast at the thought of taking

baubles as bribes. ‘Certainly not! As I said – a totally

unsavoury race. With him being a prime specimen of

unsavouriness.’

Having come across some prime specimens of

unsavouriness during her travels with the Doctor, Peri

wondered to herself what the Salakans’ impressive

unsavoury claim could be.

It was, yet again, as if the Doctor had managed to read

her mind.

‘Their one aim is the worthless accumulation of the

wealth of any planet that a salesman of theirs descends

upon. They find the planet’s needs – and then fulfil them.’

Peri failed to see the problem in this. ‘Well surely that

can’t be a bad thing. If the planet needs something, and

they fulfil the need, what possible harm is there in that?’

The Doctor was about to have a minor explosion at her

obvious stupidity – then he remembered that they were

supposed to be in a holiday mood.

He gained such good control over his ire that he could

finally manage an almost pleasant smile. ‘The harm, Peri,

is found in the fact that the need usually takes the form of

the addictive...’

Peri understood immediately the possible problems,

which the Doctor then went on to spell out. ‘Once the

whole planet is addicted, they are in bondage to the

Salakans for ever.’

Her face wrinkled into disgust at the thought. ‘Very

unsavoury.’

‘Quite,’ said the Doctor, quietly. ‘Add to that the fact

that if no need exists – they simply create one artificially –

and once more the planet is in bondage.’

‘But...’

And, as the Doctor said the word, he threw the ball into

the air and let it fall to the floor without attempting to

catch it.

Peri, knowing that it was going to smash into a

thousand pieces, closed her eyes in anticipation of the

explosion, and thereby missed the fact that the ball, having

bounced on the floor, shot back up again to be caught

deftly by the Doctor. ‘In this toy I must admit they had a

potential winner.’

No smash having materialised, Peri reopened her eyes.

The Doctor bounced the ball again, caught it and then

said, ‘Watch.’

He turned his left palm upward, and shaped his fingers

into a ‘claw’, resting the ball on the tips of his fingers.

After a moment there was a high-pitched musical pulse

from deep within the ball, and then the Doctor’s fingers

slowly entered it. Still clearly visible, the ball was instantly diffused with a pulsating glow of gentle light.

As Peri saw the mix of swirling colour within the globe,

her reaction was not unlike that of a child seeing snow fall

for the very first time.

She squealed her delight. ‘That’s gorgeous!’

The Doctor was suitably pleased that she was so

delighted. ‘Yes – it is quite pretty isn’t it. It recognises the pattern of my prints, and allows my fingers to enter, thus

switching itself on and making the pretty display.’

Peri gave a start when the ‘Voice’ within the ball spoke

for the first time. ‘Good-day, Doctor – how nice of you to

call upon me once more.’

‘My pleasure, Ball,’ the Doctor said cheerfully, totally

un-thrown by the intrusion of that rich, deep and mellow

voice.

‘It is many time-scales since you have had need of my

services.’

Just a hint of sorrow intruded into the timbre of the

voice as it spoke, and the inner light of the globe that

pulsed in synchronisation with the vibrations, also

dimmed slightly with sadness at the Doctor’s behaviour.

‘It is indeed a long time, Ball. It is indeed. Holidays are

not really my forte, to be honest. If it wasn’t for the

TARDIS turning on me in such an unseemly fashion, I

wouldn’t be sticking my fingers in your orifice at this very

moment.’

The ball managed a gentle chuckle at the Doctor’s

phraseology, and it was echoed by Peri.

She stopped as she realised that now she and the Doctor

were mirrored in the ball. ‘We’re reflected now, Doctor –

we weren’t before.’

‘Nothing to worry yourself with, Peri – nothing at all.’

Little understanding that it was truly very worrying

indeed.

At that very moment, in Dwarf Mordant’s ship, one of his

ever-vigilant stalk-eyes had swivelled to take in the globe

lying on the floor (where it had rolled after being thrown at

the bird) and seen that there was life there.

Mordant leaped from his place at the controls and

dashed over to kneel by the ball.

He picked it up gently and stroked it. As he stroked, the

voices of Peri and the Doctor grew louder until finally

every word could be clearly heard.

Mordant drooled with pleasure at the sight and sound.

He spoke to himself quietly. ‘A long time since you’ve

used the ball, Doctor. None of the Time Lords use the ball

as often as we Salakans had hoped – but every little bit of

information helps...’

And he started to laugh with the pleasure of having the

Doctor on view, his laugh growing ever louder until it

filled the ship and set the bird squawking once more.

‘This time I will have you in my power, Doctor! This

time I shall make a point of having you in my power!’

9

No laughter broke the silence in the state room of Abatan.

The Court of the Families was in session, and perhaps

no sadder case had ever been before them. One of their

own stood accused of murder most foul.

Locas, son of Abatan, stood, a guard on either side of

him, accused by his own confession of the murder of

Mariana, his betrothed.

Abatan sat at the centre in the sacred chair, from which

all Family justice was dispensed. Behind him stood

Escoval, his face hardly able to contain his pleasure at the

discomfiture that all the other Families must be feeling at

having to pass judgement on such a favourite son.

Guards stood alert at every exit.

And the gathering was completed by groups of ordinary

citizens who were allowed to attend, so that it could be

publicly seen that justice had indeed been done; but they

had no right to vote or speak on any matter under

discussion. Traditionally, only ‘Family’ could condemn

‘Family’ to death.

Abatan was the first to break the heavy silence that had

fallen over the throng. His voice was full of sorrow. ‘Locas,

tell us how this stupidity came to happen. You know the

rules. You know the chaining hours – and yet still you

allowed yourself to be caught out in the open with

Mariana; and then, by your own admission, brutally killed

her.’

A sigh ran round the court from those late arrivals who

were hearing the accusation for the first time.

The love of Mariana and Locas had reached the level of

a folk-tale on the continent; all had been looking forward

to the wedding.

Abatan lifted a hand for silence, which quickly fell.

‘You’ve left a good family grieving, and brought shame

on myself and the rest of the First Family; indeed, on all

our Families.’ A gentle agreement from all those around

him.

Locas finally spoke. ‘Father!’ He was cut off

immediately by the angry cry from Abatan. ‘No! Not

"father" here! I stand as one of your judges! At this

moment you are not my son.’

He held the moment so that the words could sink in.

And when the moment was right – continued, ‘Now –

speak.’

But Locas could not. It took some little while for him to

get control. And when he finally did his voice faltered with

emotion. ‘You are right – it was a stupidity. A shared

madness – but only I remain to live with the shame. When

we realised how late it was, there was still enough time to

get to our usual chaining place; but we also knew that the

love that we had for each other was so pure, so strong, that

we could never harm each other; there was no possible

danger of that. So – to prove that love, we decided to stay

unchained.’

There was a low rumble of voices as those attending

quietly expressed their opinion of such folly.

As the noise died away Locas continued. ‘Mariana’s love

was the purest – she felt no need to hurt me. But inside me

some seed of evil was there to grow. And it grew – took

over my will – and I pushed her...’

Again the excited whisper of voices filled the chamber.

Locas was publicly confessing to no less than cold-blooded

murder.

‘No! I had to push her over the cliff to her death.’

With an effort he stopped himself crying at the dreadful

memory. But there was no more to add.

Escoval’s voice cut through the air of sympathy that

Locas’s tale had generated. ‘This is nothing but an

admission of cold-blooded murder, Abatan! He could have

been chained, he should have been chained – but he walked free – and killed.’

Though Escoval was not greatly loved, there were still

those in the crowd who agreed he had a point. He pressed

his case home. ‘This was no "accident" as other recent murders have been. He must be condemned as an example

to all.’

While Escoval spoke, Ravlos had arrived at the back of

the chamber with Kareelya. Having heard enough he

pushed his way through the crowd to stand facing the

Families sitting in judgement. His voice rang through the

chamber. ‘Condemn Locas – and you condemn us all!’

Surprise at this intrusion rippled through the room.

Though Ravlos, as a scientist, had high standing in the

community, it did not give him the right to speak when

the Court was in session.

The guards were about to step forward to take him in

charge, when Abatan indicated with a wave of his hand

that Ravlos should be allowed to speak on.

He did so with sadness in his voice.

‘Locas has spoken a sad truth honestly. It would appear

that a seed of evil does indeed lurk in all our hearts. We have considered ourselves civilised, pure without being

pious, good men all, honest, open, ready to forgive, ready

to be a friend, ready to love, and it is all a sad charade.’

This caused a ripple of comment once more to fill the

chamber; however, as Ravlos continued the noise quickly

died away so that all could hear what he had to say. ‘The

truth of the matter is – we have simply crushed down the

"bad" in us. Over the last fifty years of peace, and war-free separation from our twin continent Ameliera, we have

learnt only to show our good face; locked our hate and evil

away in some dusty corner of our minds in the way we

have locked our weapons away in our Armoury, locked

them away and tried to forget they ever existed – but they

did; and they do.’

From his garment he drew a section of rolled-up graph

paper. He unfurled it and pointed at the line that he and

Kareelya had discovered earlier. ‘Someone, somewhere, has

now discovered the key to our cupboard of deep-buried

badness, and lets our hate out to play once in a while.’

He paused to allow the message to sink home. Then

spoke quietly, indicating the graph. ‘Kareelya and I have

proof.’

This was dynamite news indeed; an unknown enemy

was allegedly manipulating the mind of the planet.

Ravlos waited for the hum of noise to die away and then

continued. ‘This evidence that we have proves that Locas

is no more guilty of murder than any other of the

accidental murderers who have been allowed to walk free

from this Court of the Families. He is simply guilty of believing that total good can exist.’

There was a pause before Ravlos gave his final

judgement on all their weakness.

‘Sadly – he is wrong. It cannot.’

The fact – which did not escape Escoval – was that

Ravlos was winning the day, and quickly he tried to repair

the damage.

He crossed the chamber to face him, a sneer in his every

phrase. ‘Fine words, Ravlos – but they don’t bring a dead

Mariana back to her grieving family.’

There was sorrow once more in the voice of Ravlos.

‘Nothing could bring her back, Escoval. But that doesn’t mean they would like the head of Locas on a salver to ease

their hurt.’

As the crowd commented on the truth of this thought,

Ravlos faced up to Escoval’s cold stare. He knew he had

made a bad enemy, and that finally there might well be a

high price to be paid. Then he turned and made his way

back through the crowd to stand once more beside

Kareelya.

Abatan stood, ready to speak again, and all discussion

started to fade away. ‘It is time for the judgement. I shall

take no part in the voting.’

A hush fell over the crowd: a life now hung in the

balance. ‘How vote the Families; first those who would

condemn?’

There was no hesitation on the part of Escoval; his arm

was up ramrod straight, his fingers curled into a fist in the

accepted manner.

But he was the only one who voted that Locas should

die.

The words of Ravlos had hit home hard.

Abatan paused, so that anybody who wished could

change his mind.

Enough time having passed, he put the final half of the

question. ‘Those who would vote to forgive?’

There was a pause, then one by one the other members

of the Council of Families put up their hands, their fingers

pointing straight upwards.

They had decided that Locas’s life was to be spared.

Ravlos and Kareelya exchanged a pleased glance.

Whoever was responsible for the madness in their midst in

this instance had been cheated of their victim.

The vote having been taken Abatan waved away the

guards who stood on either side of Locas.

As Abatan spoke they moved back to their place with

the other guards in attendance.

‘You are now free to leave, Locas. I suggest you leave the

city for a while. Find a quiet place to think. Stay close to a

chaining-place and keep out of harm.’

Locas held his ground, and spoke quietly. ‘The Families

forgive me, Father – but what of you?’

Abatan, his voice heavy with sorrow, gave reply. ‘You

are my son – my seed. I bear your burden, and your guilt.’

He let the message sink home before he uttered the final

words. ‘Now go.’

Locas turned and made his way through the crowd that

was starting to disperse.

The Family members rose, talking in muted voices to

one another.

Only Escoval stood aloof from the group, unhappy that

Locas had got off so lightly, and wondering what revenge

he could bring down on the heads of Ravlos and Kareelya

for publicly thwarting him.

10

The Doctor was chatting amiably to the ball.

‘So – we want a holiday where peace is guaranteed, Ball.

No strife, no murder, no mayhem, plus...’

He paused, deciding what would make the holiday

perfect. ‘But, of course – good fishing.’

At first Peri had been rather thrown to see the Doctor

talking pleasantly to an apparently inanimate object held

in his hand, but as it was to be her holiday too, she decided

she had better join in. ‘Skies of blue, high sunshine level,

good swimming, but not Majorca.’

The Doctor lifted a quizzical eyebrow. ‘Not Majorca?’

‘Anywhere but.’

‘Right – there you have it, Ball; what do you have in

mind for us?’

With which the ball lost its swirling pattern of colour

and, to Peri’s further delight, within its orb appeared a

moving picture travelogue of a blue and luxurious holiday

beach with people sunbathing, happily playing, and

splashing in the sea, while the voice of the ball

mellifluously filled in the background detail of the scene

on view.

‘There is only one planet in my memory bank

guaranteeing peace and innocent pleasure at the stated

level. A planet containing two races, each on their own

continent, who have separated their cultures totally, and

have not communicated for the last fifty of their planet

years, thereby removing much strife...’

Dwarf Mordant had been watching the unfolding

happenings on the TARDIS quite happily.

He had placed his copy of the ball on the control panel

close at hand, so he could sit with his feet up on the desk

and spy on the Doctor and Peri at his leisure, but the ball’s

next words made him sit bolt upright in his chair. ‘The

closed continent is called Ameliera, and very little is

known of it – but the continent which I am going to

suggest for your holiday...’

Mordant had finally realised what the ball was going to

suggest, but its next words were drowned by the force of

Mordant’s furious scream. ‘No! Not here you stupid ball!

Don’t suggest Tranquela! I’m doing business here setting

up a deal. I don’t want a Time Lord nosing into my affairs.

That’s why we gave them all a present of a ball each in the

first place – so we could keep track of where they were

going and avoid them! Now you’re telling him to come

here?! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!’

Mordant stopped his screaming momentarily.

On screen the Doctor spoke once more. ‘And the name

of this Arcadian continent of sunshine and permanent

peace, Ball?’

‘Tranquela,’ came the reply.

One huge scream of anger came from Mordant as the

Doctor turned to speak to Peri. ‘But of course! I should

have guessed by the description! Tranquela is the

homeland of my good friend Ravlos. Years since I’ve seen

him. The ball’s right – just the place for a quiet holiday.’

Furious beyond measure, Mordant nimbly leaped on to

the control panel and kicked the ball hard, sending it

bouncing to a far corner of the cabin, but it soon came

bounding back again, via the parrot’s cage, and caught

Mordant a hard blow on the forehead, before bouncing off

once more. The bird, being dragged from its sleep by the

blow against the cage, started squawking once more.

On the TARDIS the Doctor was totally unaware that at

that very moment Mordant was again chasing the ball,

with the Doctor’s face still at the centre, all around the

cabin of his ship, kicking it furiously every time it came to

rest.

The Doctor was also unaware that, when he finally

removed his fingers from the ball, and it once more lost its

inner light and looked as though it had ceased to function,

it worked on in Mordant’s ship.

The ball had now been irrevocably switched on, and

while in the TARDIS it could follow the Doctor’s and

Peri’s every move. Without being aware of it – they now

had a spy on board.

‘So who’s this Ravlos?’

As the Doctor set the co-ordinates for their destination,

he chatted on cheerily enough in reply to Peri’s question.

‘A scientist and sage of great antiquity. His wife Kareelya

also happens to make the best "Sucksos" I’ve ever tasted.’

‘Sucksos?’

‘A sort of cross between a scone and a chocolate biscuit,

which with your present weight I’d strongly suggest you

keep away from, Peri.’

She was suitably offended at the slight – it was the

second time her weight had come up for discussion that

day, in fact.

‘Will you stop going on about my weight, Doctor! I’m

the perfect weight for my height – I’ve never felt lighter.’

‘You forget,’ he retorted cheerily, ‘the TARDIS is

working perfectly at the moment...’

‘What difference does that make to how I feel?’

The Doctor turned and smiled a wicked little smile at

her before speaking. ‘I’ve inserted a five per cent decrease

in gravity to take the weight off my feet.’

She made a ‘Grrr’ of annoyance at being caught out in

such a way, then tried to hit back with a little sarcasm.

‘You certainly know how to make a girl feel good, don’t

you.’

The Doctor was suitably aghast at the thought. ‘I

certainly do not!’

Having set the controls to the right co-ordinates, the

Doctor switched on the main thrust unit, and the TARDIS

roared with life.

The Doctor, obviously pleased at the sweet sound it

made, announced the destination out loud. ‘To the

continent of Tranquela, and peace, perfect peace.’

Mordant, having calmed fractionally, was once more

perched at the control panel of his ship.

The viewing ball, the assault on it being temporarily

finished, was again in front of him.

The ‘scene’, that moment taking place inside the

TARDIS, was viewed in the ball as if in a round television

screen.

Mordant peered at the Doctor malevolently. ‘Right,

meddlesome Doctor – having let me have the details of

your exact landing site – let us make sure that you have a

good reception when you arrive there. A welcome that

ensures you don’t come back here again in a hurry – if

you’re still capable of going anywhere, that is.’

And with that he started to set the cross-hatching on the

control screen in front of him; pressed the button that

made the telescope gun rise to the surface of the planetoid

from the stowage locker where it rested, ready for use once

more.

The control screen swirled and shifted as the co-

ordinates were entered, and the hatching finally settled at

the exact spot where the Doctor would land.

‘So – you’ve picked a quiet stretch of beach have you,

Doctor? Good – this should be fun.’

11

There was a beautiful sunny beach on the large viewer

screen of the TARDIS.

The sea looked blue and inviting, the people, sprawled

around sunbathing, looked golden and friendly.

Peri, standing close to the screen, took it in at a glance.

‘So – this is tranquil Tranquela, is it Doctor?’

Having closed all the power systems down, the Doctor

crossed to look at the screen with her. ‘It most certainly is.

These people you see on the screen have never known war

in their lifetime. There is a system of conciliation between

the two continents, Ameliera and Tranquela, that is second

to none in the universe.’

Peri glanced at him, interested in the thought of a

trouble-free co-existence. ‘So what’s the secret?’

‘They never meet or communicate.’

Peri laughed at the thought of applying it to her life

with the Doctor. ‘We could give it a try, I suppose.’

In his turn the Doctor smiled at her, knowing they

would miss each other’s company.

Then he looked at the screen again and the people

sprawled on the beach. ‘They are in fact a people who have

almost forgotten the meaning of the word aggression.

‘But they haven’t forgotten the meaning of time.’

The Doctor was suitably perplexed by the remark.

‘Time?’

‘They’re all wearing watches even though they’re

sunbathing.’

The Doctor was impressed with Peri’s power of

perception. ‘How terribly observant of you, Peri...’

She glowed gently at the unexpected praise.

‘Let us go and find out why, shall we?’

The Doctor crossed to the control panel to adjust the

necessary door settings.

Peri, for some reason not known even to herself, was

suddenly filled with doubt. A strange premonition of

disaster flitted through her mind. ‘Won’t they worry when

you materialise the TARDIS on their beach?’

The Doctor glanced at her sharply. He seemed to sense

some edge of fear in her voice, but looking at her standing

quite calmly at the viewing screen he decided he must have

been mistaken. ‘I shouldn’t think so. They did have a very

advanced form of travel of their own, according to Ravlos

that is. Thought balloons.’

‘Thought balloons?’

‘Yes. But they ceased using them after the peace pact

with the Amelierons.’

Peri, distracted from her worries, tried to get to the

bottom of it. ‘How do you mean – thought balloons?’

The Doctor was pleased that the subject was now on

safer ground. ‘Totally empty spheroid, just large enough to

take the passenger who’s using it; climb inside; close the

entrance behind you; stretch out hands and feet to touch

the sides of the balloon in a figure "X"; think where you want to be – climb out again and there you are.’

Once more the child in Peri was on the surface. ‘But

that’s fantastic!’

The Doctor was suitably unimpressed. ‘Not that

fantastic to a Tranquelan. They do have an amazingly

advanced sense of teleportation in their make-up.’

‘It’s just that I’ve always loved the idea of flying off with

a balloon; but the idea of climbing into a balloon and

zooming off, by thought alone, is just too marvellous for

words.’

The Doctor, finished at the controls, had crossed back

to stand beside Peri. ‘Some of them, particularly the

younger ones, could actually do the same thing without

even using the balloon.’

‘How come?’

‘Turned out the balloon was more of an aid to

concentration than anything else.’

Peri remembered the Doctor’s use of the words, ‘used

to’.

‘So why did they let such an amazing skill just

disappear?’

The Doctor looked at the people on the screen while he

talked. ‘There was a danger of the truce with Ameliera

being accidentally broken. Remember – you arrive where

you think. If mid journey anybody had thought "Ameliera"

that is where they would have arrived – and the chances

were that fifty years of peaceful demarcation would have

been destroyed at a stroke. So – it was banned.’

The Doctor, having seen what he needed to see on the

screen, decided to get a move on. ‘Come! The TARDIS has

been in sight long enough without causing any

consternation; so – let’s go and say "Hello" to a few peace-loving Tranquelans, and get this holiday of ours under

way.’

Once more a whisper of fear walked across Peri’s mind.

‘You’re sure about this, Doctor? I’ve never known you to

be so quite so nonchalant about diving in to face the locals

without testing the water first.’

The Doctor had decided to ignore the message that Peri

was feeding him with her eyes, ‘Something is wrong here’,

and instead spoke cheerily. ‘My, my! We are in a colourful

mood with our metaphors today.’

With an effort Peri took on the Doctor’s flippant mood.

‘That’s what the thought of a holiday does for me. You do

think it’s safe?’

It was obvious from his smiling face that he did think

so, but he decided to voice it in any case.

‘Nothing to fear whatever.’

Mordant, his finger poised over the firing button, watched

the screen of the ball as the Doctor and Peri headed for the

door of the TARDIS and finally out of the ball’s range of

vision.

Having heard the Doctor’s last words clearly, he gave a

little evil chuckle to himself. ‘Nothing to fear whatever,

Doctor? I am afraid you are wrong. You are very wrong

indeed.’

Having walked out of vision on the ball, the Doctor and

Peri had appeared on Mordant’s main screen to be seen

exiting from the TARDIS.

The cross-hatching on that screen was covering the

people lounging in the vicinity. Their faces were clearly

visible. One of them was Locas’s.

Locas was not too immersed in his own thoughts to be

unaware of the TARDIS appearing on the beach, but his

heart was still too laden with remorse to do anything but

register its presence.

This quickly changed.

The Doctor and Peri stepped from the doors of the

TARDIS, into the sunlight and on to the beach.

Locas, leaning on his elbows, looked in that direction

and saw them, or rather saw Peri. She had the sun behind

her, and it was shining in Locas’s eyes which did perhaps

explain the mistake.

One word, spoken with wonder, escaped his lips as he

quickly sat up straight. ‘Mariana!’

12

Mordant watched the screen with interest as the Doctor

waved a friendly greeting to those people nearest; in the

fashion of their race they happily waved back.

This innocent friendliness was the goad that reminded

Mordant of his evil intent. ‘Enough of this. Time for

terror.’

With which, the button was pressed and the gun poised

laser-sharp above, all ready to fire, unleashed its deadly

load of hate-inducing waves directly on to the beach.

The Doctor and Peri were still some distance from the

nearest people on the beach when the rays of the hate gun

hit them where they lounged.

Instantly the look on their faces changed from an open

friendly greeting to an expression of hate and hostility.

The Doctor stopped in his tracks with such speed that

Peri, close behind, bumped into him and also stopped.

‘What is it, Doctor?’

The Doctor’s voice was full of tension as he spoke. ‘I

don’t know. And I don’t like it.’

Peri’s eyesight and knowledge of body language was not

as acute as the Doctor’s, so she was somewhat surprised by

his tone. ‘I can’t see anything wrong.’

And the Doctor then realised what it was. ‘Look at their

faces, Peri. It is as if their personalities are changing before our very eyes.’

The people on the beach were now slowly rising to their

feet, standing and looking with utter loathing in the

direction of Peri and the Doctor.

Locas was among those who stood.

He had fought the impulse to stand but lost.

He now hated these strangers who had appeared on the

beach; how dare they intrude on this sunny day. How dare

that woman look like his beloved Mariana.

They must be... killed.

With that he started looking for the largest rock he

could find.

Soon, following Locas’s example, all the people had

rocks in their hands and, without a word being spoken,

they crossed to stand in a half-circle facing the Doctor and

Peri, who had not moved on any further but simply stood

waiting to see how events developed.

One of the people started a long, low animal howl, that

grew as he continued.

The noise, an ancient battle-cry unheard for

generations, was slowly taken up by the rest.

It was growing to a climax as the Doctor spoke,

strangely pleasantly considering the circumstances. ‘I hate

to admit I’m wrong, Peri – but I do think in this case I’ve

been very wrong indeed. I don’t think they are in a terribly

welcoming mood just at the moment. Are you ready to

run?’

Peri bit down her fear and tried to keep the tone of her

voice as light as the Doctor’s. ‘Race you to the TARDIS.

Last one there is a cissy.’

The Doctor replied ominously, ‘I have an awful feeling

that it’s more likely that the last one there is dead.’

The howling of the crowd was about to reach its zenith

when the Doctor gave the word. ‘Run!!’

And with that word he and Peri turned and ran for the

safety of the TARDIS.

The people immediately stopped their cry and dashed as

one after them, Locas leading the way. The Doctor was

slightly in front of Peri and did not see that one of the

people following had paused momentarily to fling the rock

he carried.

High into the air it flew before plummeting into the

path of Peri who ran into it, catching herself a sickening

blow on the forehead.

She was instantly downed.

The Doctor, believing she was at his side, headed at

speed for the TARDIS, and was almost through the doors

before he realised that she was missing. He muttered her

name and turned to look for her.

The people had stopped chasing the Doctor, and they

simply circled Peri who lay semiconscious on the beach.

The rocks they held in their hands were held high, and

over her.

Peri was about to be brutally stoned to death.

In a flash the Doctor had a possible answer. It meant

going into the TARDIS and moving it closer to the scene

of the assault; so he quickly went back inside – not

understanding that he was going into immense danger.

Mordant had been busy, the crystal ball was now tuned

to take over the Doctor’s mind.

Lying on her back on the beach, Peri opened her eyes.

All that was to be seen was a circle of hate-filled faces

peering down at her, and hands held over her.

She noted that each hand was holding a heavy rock, all

ready to drop on her.

Even though dazed, she knew she was about to die, and

closed her eyes in anticipation of that cruel fate.

13

Inside the planetoid ship Dwarf Mordant laughed

uproariously at the two screens his swivel eyes were

viewing simultaneously.

On the master screen he saw the Tranquelan mob all

ready to stone Peri to death – and on the ball he watched as

inside the TARDIS, where the ball’s replica was now also

emitting a section of the hate-wave directly on to the

Doctor’s brain pattern.

Mordant’s laughter was directed more at the Doctor,

who – all thought of Peri and the necessity of rescuing her

wiped from his mind by an all-consuming hate – pondered

who he could really hurt.

Nobody came to mind.

Only Peri was in his thoughts, but she was already being

looked after by the mob.

He decided he would set the TARDIS on course for

another world where he could vent his anger on more

people.

Mordant, having seen enough, shifted forward in his seat

to lift the power on the hate-ray high enough to make

those on the beach actually drop the rocks they held,

thereby ensuring that Peri died under their weight.

Before he could do so a piercing alarm started to ring

out. This could only mean one thing - somebody was

entering his ship.

In one corner of the cabin a swirling vortex like a small

whirlwind started to appear. Mordant let go of the firing

button on the panel and dived backwards from his chair, to

press a button on the cabin wall. A tiny round metal

porthole immediately slid open in the wall, and Mordant

dived straight into it.

Once inside, he put his finger on the button that would,

if need be, instantly close the shutter behind him, and

popped his head out of the hole to see what it was that had

caused the alarm to ring.

The whirlwind finally stopped, and Mordant saw who

stood there with his eyes closed and arms folded. It was

Escoval.

Peri waited with her eyes tightly closed for as long as she

could bear the tension, then, nothing having happened, she

reopened them, and was amazed by what she saw.

Rocks fell to the sand harmlessly around her as the

people dropped them. Their faces, now back to their

normal kindly demeanour, were totally bewildered.

With muttered apologies all the people slowly drifted

back to the part of the beach they had come from, only

Locas staying behind, giving Peri his hand and helping her

to her feet. ‘Are you all right?’

She replied angrily while brushing away the sand from

the back of her thighs and mini-skirt. ‘Oh sure. Great!

Most natural thing in the world – the locals wanting to

turn me into a rock garden, not to mention a crack on the

skull. Who wouldn’t be all right in the face of such a

welcome?’

He replied in a voice that was full of apology. ‘When it

happens we can’t help ourselves.’

Peri looked at him questioningly. ‘We have no control

over what we do at all when it hits us.’

‘It?’

The question demanded explanation and he did his best

to give what little information he had.

‘A desire to hurt; to kill, even. It comes over us

spasmodically. And when it comes – nobody is safe from

its power. The strange thing is – this is the first time this

has happened during a safe period.’

Peri thought to herself: ‘If this is safe, how tough

is dangerous?’ but instead of voicing that thought she

sought further detail. ‘How, do you mean, "safe period"?’

‘The hours that it happens, have been charted by our

scientists; and providing we’re chained safely inside our

homes during these times – no harm comes to anybody.’

Peri was aghast at the thought. ‘You chain yourselves in

your homes?!’

Locas was aware that what he had said must sound very

bizarre to a stranger who had not lived through the

nightmare.

’Yes. During these times of madness we chain

ourselves.’

Peri contemplated the thought before making her reply.

‘This could turn out to be the strangest holiday I’ve ever

had.’

14

During the conversation between Peri and Locas, Mordant

spoke uncivilly to Escoval. ‘How many times do I have to

tell you? Call me on the transponder I gave you before

teleporting in. My hearts are not what they used to be.’

While he was speaking, Mordant had climbed out of the

porthole, pressed the hidden button to close it, and

climbed up to perch himself once more on the seat in front

of the control panel.

There was urgency in Escoval’s voice. ‘There was no

time! Our plan is in danger. The scientists have isolated

the "hate-wave", and believe they know how to neutralise it.’

Mordant swung around in his chair to face him. ‘What!’

‘They have disc...’

‘I heard you the first time! That cannot be allowed to

happen! You hear me? That cannot be allowed!’

Mordant then slid from his seat and went to glower

upwards at Escoval who towered above him. ‘Go back

immediately. You must destroy their equipment; that’ll

slow them down long enough for me to put my new plan

into action.’

Escoval tipped his head to one side quizzically. ‘New

plan?’

‘Yes – there is a visitor on your planet...’

He pointed his hand at the ball where at that moment

the Doctor was juggling with the controls, setting them

ready for his flight.

‘He, I feel, will do very nicely to start the necessary war

between Amelierons and Tranquelans.’

Escoval spoke, greedily hopeful. ‘And Abatan and the

whole of the First Family will be destroyed as promised?’

Mordant smiled his most humourless smile. ‘He will

indeed, my good friend. And you will – as promised – be

the new ruler of the whole of Tranquela.’

Mordant decided it was a good time to stress his

‘honourable’ intention, and his integrity in matters of

business. ‘And the whole of the universe, including the

good Doctor, knows that the word of a Salakan trader is his

bond.’

And also, he thought to himself, they are the best liars

in the universe as well.

‘Go now. You have work to do.’

Escoval closed his eyes before going into the trance that

would allow him to teleport himself back to the palace,

when Mordant’s cry stopped him. ‘Wait! Take this with

you!’

He opened his eyes to see Mordant reaching into a

container and withdrawing a thin tube, not unlike glass.

The tube had a golden hoop on its base. Mordant passed

it to Escoval who handled it gingerly.

‘Your forefinger goes through the loop at the base, and

pressing your thumb against the side fires it.’

Escoval did as directed. ‘Like that?’

He was about to press his thumb on the side when

Mordant ducked out of the tube’s path and under the

control panel, screaming a warning, ‘Not here! Don’t press

it while it’s pointing at me!!’

Escoval was quietly pleased he’d managed to frighten

Mordant.

‘Does it kill?’

Mordant slowly came back into sight.

‘No. It’s a hypno-gun.’

‘Hypno-gun?’

‘Point it and fire and the person fired at behaves

normally, but is totally in your control, and will do

everything you say.’

It was obvious from the look on Escoval’s face that the

idea appealed.

‘Tell them to forget your commands when they come

out of the trance; and they will forget.’

Escoval beamed the smile of a would-be tyrant. ‘But that

is wonderful!’

Mordant never allowed the chance to slip by of putting a

little more ‘bait’ into any conversation with a customer.

‘That’s nothing. Some of the weapons I have to sell you to

help in your coming war with the Amelierons (when, with

my help, you are leader, that is), have to be seen to be

believed. We Salakans are good and inventive craftsmen.

Now go and do what has to be done.’

Escoval closed his eyes once more, and soon he was seen

simply as a swirling vortex that quickly disappeared.

Mordant looked to the crystal ball where the Doctor was

still plainly to be seen. ‘My good Doctor, you do not know

it yet but your brain pattern is already locked into a

portion of my little hate-gun, so it can follow you wherever

you go; now I am simply going to increase the power, and

thereby turn you into a murdering animal.’

The Doctor had been gently hating without an object

for his hate. Now, as Mordant increased the power on the

section of the gun that penetrated the TARDIS and

affected his thinking, he knew he must find someone to

kill.

The Doctor realised only two people were near enough

for him to do the deed quickly, and get rid of his hungry

need.

Ravlos and Kareelya.

Having decided they must die he quickly set course for

their palace laboratory.

Mordant zoomed in through the hidden eye of the ball

and saw from the settings where the Doctor was intent on

going. ‘Perfect! Absolutely perfect.’

He would have been even more pleased to have seen that at

that very moment, in the half-gloom of the laboratory, all

the equipment was being smashed beyond redemption by

some person unseen.

15

The clifftop was deserted, and peaceful. A gentle breeze

wafted the grass, green with spring-time promise.

No stranger standing there would have guessed from the

outward tranquillity that only recently a young woman had

been pushed to a brutal death on the rocks far below, by a

boyfriend crazed with some inexplicable madness.

And now that boyfriend returned – accompanied by an

unsuspecting Peri.

After the long climb from the valley below Locas reached

the clifftop first. He stopped when he reached the peak and

looked at the vista.

Peri, who was there at his invitation, arrived very

shortly afterwards gasping to catch her breath.

When she finally managed to speak her voice came out

in a breathless wheeze. ‘Phew! That’s quite a climb.’

After looking into the middle distance for a few

moments longer, her words finally registered with Locas

and, his natural good manners returning, he turned to

smile at her. ‘But the view is worth it, I hope.’

Then, as if drawn, he slowly crossed to the cliff edge,

looked down, and then sat, his legs swinging over the

abyss.

He looked to where Peri stood watching him, then

patted the grass beside him as an indication that she

should come and join him.

With only a momentary hesitation she did so, being

careful not to look down at the drop below as she took her

seat.

They sat for a little while in silence, and then, Peri

seeing that he was obviously dogged by a very deep

sadness, decided to broach the subject. ‘Do you want to tell

me about it, Locas?’

He glanced at her briefly, and then away again. There

was a long pause before he could bring himself to explain.

‘This is the first time I’ve been here since...’ but he

couldn’t bring himself to say it yet.

He paused for a short while and then approached it from

a slightly different angle. ‘I had a woman – Mariana – so

like you in appearance that when I first saw you on the

beach I thought, it must be her returned to me. And then –

when the madness struck, and something inside me forced

me to pick up a rock and prepare to kill you, I thought –

not again. Please – not again.’

Peri didn’t miss the use of the word ‘again’. She felt a

slight chill at the thought of what this could mean, and

finally couldn’t stop herself repeating it. ‘Again?’

He turned to look at her once more. This time his face

was resolute – he must confess all. ‘Yes – again. We were to

be married. So much in love. We came here often. We

knew our love must be stronger than the terrible thing that

is afflicting our land. We knew it couldn’t touch us when

we were together unchained, our love was too strong. So we

decided, foolishly, to put our love to the test.’

Peri could guess the answer she would receive, but

asked the question anyway. ‘What happened?’

There was a long pause before Locas was able to

confront the horror of what happened that day, but finally

he began: ‘She was standing on this cliff edge, looking out

to sea, when the madness struck me. If only it had struck

her as well it would have been all right; she would have

turned to attack me too and we would have perhaps simply

fought each other until it passed; but it didn’t touch her –

only me. Her love was pure; or perhaps she was simply

unaffected. I was caught by it.

‘I crossed to where she stood at the cliff edge... and

pushed her to her death.’

And with that, he looked at the cruel rocks far below

where the sea lashed itself to a foam and, without making a

sound, suddenly was engulfed by tears.

Peri could only look at him wide-eyed.

She was sitting next to a murderer, at the very spot

where he had committed the deed.

The laboratory of Ravlos was wrecked beyond repair.

Equipment that had taken a lifetime of work to gather

together, and therefore had attained a value that was

priceless, lay strewn about the empty room like so much

apothecary’s garbage. No item of glass remained intact,

nothing metallic stood that had not been twisted out of

shape.

The wave-detection equipment that had done such

sterling service earlier that very day now had its front

control panel kicked in, demolished beyond repair, its

innards spewing out of itself like some electronic carcass.

Into the midst of this desolation, the TARDIS

materialised. The door finally opened and the Doctor

stepped out. But it is not the Doctor we have learned to

know and love. This Doctor had a face full of evil

malevolence.

He looked at the destruction around him and gave a

pleased chuckle. Then he took the pocket control and

pressed it. The TARDIS faded from view.

At that moment his head twitched into a posture that

allowed his ears to pick up the small sound he thought he

had detected.

Yes – he was right, somebody approached.

He looked for somewhere to hide, crossed to the chosen

place and settled himself, and by the time the door opened

and Ravlos and Kareelya entered the room he was out of

view.

Ravlos was speaking as he entered. ‘Well – having

isolated the wave it shouldn’t be too difficult to...’

But the shocked exclamation from Kareelya stopped

him in mid-sentence.

It was only then that he saw the destruction of his

beloved laboratory, and one hushed exclamation escaped

his lips, an understatement of the horror he felt at the

sight. ‘Oh, no!’

Kareelya stood at his side, stock-still with the shock of

it. When she finally spoke her voice too was aghast. ‘Who

could have done such a senseless and destructive thing?’

Ravlos was shaking his head with the dawning of a

terrible thought. ‘Perhaps not senseless. Perhaps someone

in Tranquela doesn’t want us to succeed with our research.’

Dumbly, like children going to check a broken toy, they

crossed to the workbench to sift through the wreckage for

anything that might have survived the attack.

So intent were they in their search that neither saw that

the Doctor had risen from his hiding-place, and had

clutched in each hand a long shard of glass, both lethal as

daggers.

He approached them as silently as any cat, and when

directly behind them he lifted both hands high in the air –

and prepared to plunge the glass downwards into their

exposed necks.

16

Using the incredible magnification at his disposal through

a secondary facility of the hate-gun, Dwarf Mordant had

been searching for a specific target, and finally his

painstaking search had been rewarded.

On the screen in front of him was the clifftop, and

caught in the cross-hatching of the hate-gun sight was

Locas, who in his shame at his tears had stood and walked

a little way away from Peri who went on sitting at the cliff

edge.

Mordant muttered to himself as he kept track of Locas’s

pacing, but it was to Peri he referred. ‘I don’t know who

you are, woman – but if you’re with the Doctor best we

have you dead and out of it.’

And with that he gently squeezed the gun’s control.

As the ray washed over him, in a flash Locas’s tears had

gone.

His face was filled with hate.

And he was given no choice of the object of his hate.

Only one person was present, so naturally that was the

person he hated most in the world.

And as that person was sitting on the cliff edge, it was

obvious what he must do.

He must push her to her death.

Without further thought he set off stealthily creeping in

the direction of Peri, his arms stretched in front of him, to

do just that.

Kareelya could not credit what she was seeing reflected in

the domed helmet on the workbench in front of her and

Ravlos.

Distorted by the glass, she could see an elongated manic

figure who had both hands held high apparently ready to...

Before the thought could complete itself in her mind

she screamed one word, ‘Ravlos!’ and pushed her husband

hard on the shoulder to make him spin away.

At the same moment she ducked in the other direction

to avoid the blow, as the Doctor plunged the daggers down

with such force that he drove the shards of glass deep into

the workbench. As Ravlos recovered his balance after the

unexpected blow from Kareelya he saw who their attacker

was, and muttered the name, amazed: ‘The Doctor!’

Still with madness in his eyes, the Doctor fought to

retrieve his weapons from the bench. One was too deeply

buried to be freed, but the second one came out, and with a

howl of rage the Doctor turned to attack Ravlos once more.

It was clear from the mad look in his eyes what he

intended to do, so Ravlos shouted aloud, trying to get

through to the mind behind the madness. ‘Doctor! Don’t

you recognise me! It is your old friend Ravlos!’

A fractional pause as the true Doctor buried deep inside

tried to reassert his authority over this evil body and mind;

but it was no use – he knew he must kill this man.

He snarled like a ferocious animal and lifted the glass

dagger high above his head all ready to slice it down and

split Ravlos’s head in two.

Ravlos saw there was no hope for him, and closed his

eyes, ready to receive the fatal blow.

On the clifftop Peri had not even seen the danger of the

coming blow.

Locas had approached so quietly, had so stealthily crept

behind her, that even when he was directly behind her and

ready to give her the hard push on her shoulder-blades that

would send her plunging to her death – she was still

unaware of his presence.

Her life was saved by a flower, a tiny blue flower that

had somehow managed to take root at the very edge of the

cliff where she sat.

The moment that Locas went to push her with all his

might was the same moment that she chose to lean over

and sniff the flower to see if it was perfumed or not.

Locas’s push met with no resistance and he was sent

sprawling across Peri to end up somersaulting over the cliff

edge with a scream, while desperately grabbing for

anything to hold on to that would stop his fall.

The weight of his body passing over Peri nearly pulled

her over the cliff as well, but she managed to retain her

hold, shocked and bewildered – how had such a thing

come to happen?

Locas luckily had stopped his fall by grabbing a small

branch a few inches down the cliff face, but it was weak

and wouldn’t hold him for more than a few seconds. His

legs swung back and forwards over the abyss, unable to

find a toe-hold.

Peri knelt at the cliff edge, leaned down to grab Locas’s

hand and started trying to pull him upwards. But she

realised, with rising panic, that Locas, grinning madly as

he gripped her hand, was not trying to help her pull him

up, but was indeed trying to pull her over the edge as well.

Locas’s hate was so intense that he was more concerned

with killing her than with saving his own life.

17

Inside the Planetoid Dwarf Mordant watched as the crystal

that had held the picture of the Doctor about to kill Ravlos

suddenly went blank.

Without giving a thought to what would happen on the

cliff-face, he let go of the gun’s controls and leaped to grab

the crystal and shake it, trying to get some life back into it,

baffled at what could have happened.

Having released the firing button on the surface of the

planetoid, Mordant’s hate-gun sighed into silence.

What Mordant would have seen in the laboratory of

Ravlos, was that at the very moment the Doctor had been

about to deliver the killing blow – Kareelya, for some

reason which even she couldn’t fathom, had grabbed the

helmet from the workbench and popped it on the Doctor’s

head.

The Doctor was immediately blocked off from the hate-

ray that had been driving him to kill Ravlos, and was

instantly his normal self once more.

He looked to where Ravlos stood, his eyes still closed in

expectation of the blow that was going to end his life. Then

he looked to the lethal glass dagger-like weapon in his hand, and said simply: ‘Good Lord! What a to-do!’

With which Ravlos opened his eyes, took in the fact that

the Doctor was now wearing the helmet and looked to

Kareelya with warmth in his eyes, knowing she must be

the one who had put it there. He spoke his feelings simply:

‘Thank you, wife.’

At the self-same moment Peri finally managed to drag a

dazed Locas up on to the clifftop beside her.

Once the hate-ray had lost its power and stopped

pouring on him Locas had let his feet scrabble for a toe-

hold again.

Finally, having found one, he had also found the

strength to push upwards and, with Peri’s help, make the

final ascent, and to end up back on the cliff edge lying

beside a totally drawn and exhausted Peri.

What happened next came with such speed, and was so

unexpected, that she had no time or energy to resist or

protest.

Locas took her in his arms and held her close saying as

he did so, ‘Mariana! My lovely Mariana! You saved my

life!’

There was a long pause as Peri took it in, then she

released herself from his hold and sat up.

Locas also sat up and the realisation dawned that it

wasn’t his loved one.

Peri didn’t want to say it – but finally could not stop

herself. ‘Sorry, Locas. I’m not Mariana. She’s dead. You

say you didn’t mean to do it – but you killed her the same

as you’ve just tried to kill me. And I would add it is not a

very pleasant experience.’

With which she stood up and dusted herself down. As

the memory flooded back, Locas found once more he was

fighting tears.

The after-effects of the Doctor’s experience had hit home.

Seconds after his muttered remark, having dropped the

shard of glass, he suddenly felt weak at the knees. His face

could be seen clearly through the glass of the mask and

both Ravlos and Kareelya recognised the signs of the

exhaustion that was sweeping over him.

Without exchanging a word, as one they led him to sit

in a comfortable chair that had somehow escaped the

general destruction.

The Doctor lifted his hands, about to remove the helmet

that covered his head, but Ravlos gently stopped him. ‘No.

Not yet my friend. You can’t be sure the beam isn’t still

affecting you.’

When the Doctor finally spoke, he could still be clearly

heard, but there was the slightest of distortions in his

voice. ‘Beam? What beam? And what on earth took

possession of me?’

Then he realised what it must have meant – Ravlos

standing before him as if waiting to receive a mortal blow,

and a lethal weapon held in his own hand.

He was shocked at the thought of what could have

happened. ‘Ravlos! You’re all right? I didn’t harm you?’

One would wonder where Ravlos got the strength of

character from to react in the fashion he did. After all that

he had gone through, he still managed to raise a tired smile

as he replied, ‘Yes – I’m all right, Doctor.’

Then suddenly he was deeply serious again, as he

explained the facts of recent Tranquelan life to the Doctor.

‘You have been held grip by a force that allows any

"badness" within us, to override any sense of "good" we might possess.’

The Doctor was suitably disbelieving, and a spark of his

former energy returned. ‘What me! Badness? Impossible!’

Ravlos shook his head and continued, ‘I’m sorry, but it

is true.’

Kareelya, standing slightly behind Ravlos, nodded her

head in agreement. ‘For a short while you were turned into

a demented creature, Doctor, whose only thought was to

kill.’

The Doctor let out a brief whistle of surprise at the

news. ‘Well, I must say I find that thought very unpleasant,

to say the least. Somebody must have a very twisted sense

of humour indeed to be getting up to that sort of thing. I’m

totally bowled over.’

He was about to scratch his head and contemplate

further when he rediscovered the glass helmet covering it.

‘Talking of which – exactly what function is this... er...

bowl you’ve popped on my head, performing?’

Ravlos looked to Kareelya with a certain pride in

his eyes, and indicated that she should explain. She did so,

trying to keep her own euphoria, at the fact that it

obviously worked, under control.

‘We have isolated the band of wavelengths into which

this ray must fall, and this is an experimental deflecting

apparatus, that will, we hope, block them off.’

Ravlos took up the tale with unrestrained enthusiasm.

‘The good news being – as it immediately stopped the ray

affecting you Doctor – it obviously works!’

The Doctor could not resist expressing the thought that

popped into his mind. ‘It must give a great sense of relief to

the planet’s goldfish then.’

And in spite of their obvious tension both Ravlos and

Kareelya managed a smile at the thought.

The face of Escoval was on one of the banks of screens in

Mordant’s vision.

Mordant, having been thwarted by means unknown in

making the Doctor kill, was still set on bringing him

down, hence his call to Escoval.

‘You took your time – what’s the point of my fitting you

with an instant transponder if you don’t instantly

respond?’

In the face of Mordant’s ill manners Escoval’s reply was

still mild enough. ‘I was in a meeting and a long way from

my quarters.’

Mordant was not to be calmed so easily. ‘Enough

excuses! Get to the laboratory of Ravlos. They’ve somehow

managed to take the Doctor out of my control – which

means they now have some way of blanking out the power

of the hate-gun.’

Escoval’s face showed his amazement at the news. ‘But

that’s impossible! I didn’t leave one piece of equipment

there intact.’

Mordant almost fell off his stool as he vented his rage.

‘Stop arguing, Escoval, and go and do what I ask. If you

want to rule that puny little planet of yours you’d better

start jumping when I command!’

With which it was Escoval’s turn to throw a

tantrum. ‘And if you, Mordant, want to do regular business

with this "puny little planet", as you call it, you better keep a civil tongue in your head!’

Mordant was immediately at his most oily unctuous. An

attempt at an apologetic smile creased his ugly face. ‘Come,

Escoval! Let’s not lose sight of our common purpose. You

want to rule – I want to trade. We’re partners. Let us be

friends as well, shall we?’

Escoval’s very brief nod was a terse indication that a

momentary truce would be declared.

Mordant went back to the main thrust of the

conversation. ‘You will find what is protecting this

intruding Doctor?’

A cunning smile flitted across Escoval’s face. ‘I will do

better than that.’

Mordant waited hopefully, to see what Escoval would

suggest. ‘Somebody has wrecked the laboratory of Ravlos at

the most crucial point in his experiments. Obviously, if a

stranger has appeared there, he must be the one who did

it.’

Mordant clapped his three-fingered hands together

gleefully. ‘But of course he must! Brilliant!’

Escoval had not finished. ‘He must also be an

Amelieron intruder, and therefore part of the plot to bring

this wickedness among us.’

More gleeful chuckles from Mordant. ‘True! True!’

Finally Escoval came to the best part of his plan.

‘He must, therefore, be arrested, charged, and executed.’

This time the horrendous smile of Mordant

was genuine. ‘I like doing business with you Escoval –

you think just like a Salakan.’

Ravlos and Kareelya stood one on either side of the

Doctor, holding the bowl that covered his head in a steady

grip.

They were about to undertake a dangerous experiment –

to remove the helmet and see whether the Doctor was still

being affected by the hate wave or not.

Ravlos spoke quietly. ‘Right – let’s ease it off gently.

If the beam is still affecting you, we’ll know very quickly

and can instantly replace it.’

The Doctor was sure it would now be safe to remove it.

As he spoke they gently started to lift it. ‘I feel fine now, as it happens. I doubt whether there will be any prob—’

But before he could finish speaking the helmet had

reached the crown of his head, and the wave of hate hit the

Doctor once more.

He gave an animal howl of rage, and twisted out from

underneath the helmet before Ravlos and Kareelya had a

chance to replace it.

Mordant saw the crystal, now back on top of the control

panel, leap into life once more.

On it he saw the Doctor chasing Ravlos and Kareelya

around the laboratory, once more intent on killing them.

His face immediately beamed with pleasure. ‘Ah, good!

The Doctor returns once more to entertain me.’

18

In the main palace corridor, a short distance from the

laboratory, soldiers stood on guard on either side of the

massive doors of the Tranquelan Armoury.

These doors had not been opened for over fifty years,

since the truce with Ameliera had been signed in fact, and

it was an offence punishable by death for anybody to look

inside. Hence the constant guard.

While on duty the guards were chained at the ankle at a

distance that did not allow them to reach each other.

Escoval rounded the corner at speed heading for the

laboratory. As he passed the guards he spoke officiously.

‘You two. Come with me.’

The guards exchanged a look of amazement; it was

unheard of for Armoury guards to leave their post

unguarded.

The elder of the two, Shankel, spoke for both of them.

‘But, Sir, you know it is forbidden ever to leave the

Armoury doors unguarded!’

Escoval’s face clouded with anger. ‘This is an

emergency. A madman is loose in the laboratory of Ravlos.

He and his wife could be in great danger – come.’

Once more a worried glance was exchanged, and this

time unspoken agreement was reached as to what would be

their response.

Again Shankel did the talking. ‘Sorry, Sir, without

instruction from Abatan or any other of the First Family,

it would be more than our lives were worth to leave our

post. Could you perhaps call at the guard room for other

troops?’

Escoval was absolutely furious at their disobedience, not

to mention the slight in mentioning that his family was

not as powerful as the First Family.

His hand dived into his garment and pulled out the

weapon he had recently been given by Mordant.

He slotted his finger into the ring of glass, pointed it at

the guard who had not yet spoken, and fired.

No sound was heard, but a pinprick of light shot from

the barrel, hit the man squarely between the eyes, and his

face immediately lost all expression.

Shankel was amazed at this astonishing turn of events

and started to protest. ‘Excuse me, Sir. I don’t think you

should...’ But it was too late. Escoval had turned and fired

at him also, and he too was instantly still and

expressionless.

Escoval was suitably pleased with the effectiveness of

the weapon so far. All that remained was to give the

instruction as to the guards’ behaviour. ‘You will

remember nothing of what has happened here – but will

simply obey what I say without question. Afterwards you

will return to your duties here. You understand?’

They nodded their heads in silent zombie-like

agreement. Escoval smiled with pleasure. ‘Very good.

Unchain and follow me.’

In moments they had exchanged keys, unchained

themselves, and were following Escoval up the corridor

towards the laboratory.

Having thrown Kareelya roughly to one side where she

now lay in a daze, the Doctor was struggling with Ravlos

on the floor.

They rolled over and over until the Doctor was finally

on top, straddling Ravlos.

Ravlos’s strength was rapidly fading. He squirmed,

twisted and fought as long as he could to keep the Doctor’s

hands off his throat, but the battle was in vain.

The Doctor, who had the strength of a madman, finally

had him in a vice-like grip and, fingers curling around his

throat, was intent on strangling him to death.

Kareelya, meanwhile, recovered enough energy to crawl

towards the length of chain bolted to the wall near where

she lay. She dragged the heavy chain to where the Doctor

and Ravlos fought. She tried to get the shackle around the

Doctor’s ankle – but he was just out of reach.

At that moment Ravlos gathered the last of his strength

together, and with one mighty heave he bucked the Doctor

off him on to his back on the floor, and sent him

fractionally nearer to Kareelya.

The Doctor’s foot was now just close enough for

Kareelya to reach it. She slipped the shackle on and in a

trice snapped it shut, shouting as she did so. ‘To the far

corner, Ravlos! Run!’

Ravlos leaped up and away from the Doctor and ran

towards the corner as directed.

The Doctor gave a roar of anger at Ravlos’s escape,

leaped to his feet and ran furiously towards Kareelya. She

nimbly ducked under his outstretched arms and ran

towards the corner where Ravlos was sheltering.

With a scream of renewed fury the Doctor turned and

ran wildly towards the corner where both of them now

stood cowering. But the chain pulled him up short before

he could reach them, and sent him reeling to the floor once

more. He yanked at the shackle like a madman, trying to

get it off his foot, but his struggles were to no avail.

When finally he realised this, he simply stood at the

centre of the room and howled his moon-mad anger like a

hungry wolf.

Behind him the door to the laboratory started to open.

Shankel and the second guard, having opened the door,

were standing there blankly.

The Doctor heard the noise behind him, stopped

howling and turned to see who had entered. Seeing them

there made them the new focus for his anger.

The Doctor lowered his head like a bull and charged at

them with a yell.

This was the very moment that Escoval chose to step

between the two guards to see what was going on. He took

the Doctor’s head-butt full in his unprotected stomach.

The force of the blow catapulted Escoval backwards into

the corridor, and the sheer momentum of his dash carried

the Doctor through the door after him. They ended up

sprawling in the corridor with the Doctor on top, his full

weight bearing down on Escoval.

Once in the corridor the Doctor was back to his normal

self. The madness had instantly gone, and he was left

totally bemused. He climbed off Escoval and knelt beside

him, looking puzzled.

Escoval, once the Doctor’s weight had been removed,

doubled up in agony from the blow he had just received.

He screamed at the guards through his pain. ‘Arrest him,

you fools!’

As they moved trance-like to do so, one to each side of

the Doctor, he gallantly made his apologies to Escoval. ‘I

say, I’m awfully sorry. Can’t think what on earth possessed

me.’

Kareelya and Ravlos had arrived at the door, and they

stared, dumbfounded at the instant change in the Doctor’s

demeanour. The look on their faces expressed the

unspoken question. ‘What has changed his mood so

quickly?’

Locas and Peri walked along the beach together. The sun

glowing gently down on them, and the shush of the sea on

the sand on the shoreline, helped to give a sense of peace to

the occasion. The recent nightmare on the cliff edge had

already started to fade into the backyard of their minds.

But it had not totally gone.

When Locas asked if Peri would stay on for a few days’

beach holiday, there was no hesitation in her response.

‘No, it’s lovely here Locas; and I really would like to stay

and share your holiday with you, but I must go and find

the Doctor.’

‘The Doctor?’

‘My travelling companion.’

She chuckled at a thought she had had, and spoke it

aloud, almost for her own benefit. ‘Can’t wait to see the

look on his face when he realises I’m almost as good a

survivor as he is.’

Locas was toying with the problem of finding him. ‘Did

he say where he was heading?’

Peri considered the question, her brow wrinkling. ‘He

mentioned an old friend of his. Ravlis? Raverlos?

Something like...’

But Locas interrupted happily before she could finish

the thought. ‘Ravlos?!’

Peri was pleased to hear it. ‘That’s the one.’

‘Well – that explains it.’

‘It?’

‘The fact that they are old friends of this "Doctor".

Ravlos and his wife Kareelya are old friends of just about

everybody on the continent.’

‘So how do I get to where they live?’

Locas saw his opportunity of getting more time in Peri’s

company. ‘Would you like me to take you there?’

And Peri jumped at the chance. ‘Yes! That would be

great!’

She looked from one end to the other of the deserted

beach, and then back to Locas. ‘Is there a good bus service

or something?’

Locas smiled at the thought. Then his smile quickly

faded. ‘Do you trust me?’

Peri’s answering smile faded quickly. She knew her

remark was going to hurt but she made it despite herself.

‘Locas, that is a very strange question to ask someone

you’ve just tried your darndest to push over the cliff edge.’

And hurt it did. His face dropped as the black memory

intruded. Peri was instantly contrite. ‘I’m sorry – that was

uncalled for. I know it wasn’t your fault, or even you, at the

cliff – at least not the "you" I’ve come to know... and like.

And yes – this Locas I can trust.’

A slight pause, and then his jovial mood returned. ‘Put

your arms around me then.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

He simply lifted his arms so she could put her arms

around his waist and repeated the request. ‘Put your arms

around me.’

She did so, tentatively. ‘Like this?’

‘No, tighter. I’ve got to pull you along with the power of

my thoughts.’

She let go of him and stepped back. ‘Now I remember!

The Doctor said you travel by thought balloons.’

Locas laughed. ‘Who needs thought balloons? Anyway –

they’re all locked safely away in the Armoury and are

forbidden to us.’

Peri was suitably perplexed. ‘So how do you manage it?’

‘All we young ones travel by thought alone.’

Peri remembered the rest of the Doctor’s story. ‘Surely

that’s banned!’

Suddenly Locas’s face took on the look of any schoolboy

getting up to naughtiness. ‘The old ones ban – and the

young ones break the bans. I should imagine it’s the same

throughout the universe. Anyway – the only danger is

thinking of the Northern continent of Ameliera while you

travel. And who wants to think of those fanatics?’

‘Fanatics?’

Locas went on to explain. ‘History says they had a fetish

for purity and cleanliness of both body and mind – not to

mention the soul; that’s what the wars used to be about in

the olden days, trying to get our people to change their

ways.’

Peri pondered momentarily. ‘I guess it’s the same the

universe over.’

‘Quite,’ replied Locas, then continued cheerfully. ‘But

still – let’s not spoil the day by talking history – just hang

on tight and I’ll take you visiting.’

Peri once more put her arms around him. ‘Like this?’

‘Even tighter,’ replied Locas.

She tightened her grip.

‘Terrific!’ he said. ‘Now close your eyes as well.’

A momentary hesitation and then she did so. There was

a slight pause, and then she felt Locas kiss her gently on

the nose.

She opened her eyes, surprised. ‘Was that part of the

procedure?’

He laughed. ‘No – but I thought it would be nice.’

In her turn she too smiled. ‘It was.’ Then she closed her

eyes again.

‘Okay,’ said Locas, ‘let’s go.’

He put his arms around her, locking her tightly to him,

closed his eyes, and in a few seconds they started to

shimmer, grow transparent, and then with a ‘Pop’ of

dissipating energy, they disappeared from the beach.

The guards who held the Doctor were standing, blankly

moronic, one on either side of him.

Escoval, still clutching his stomach in agony, had

managed to get into a kneeling position, and with an effort

slowly climbed to his feet.

The Doctor was full of apology. ‘As I said – I am awfully

sorry.’

Escoval was not to be placated so easily. He spoke the

words through teeth clenched against the agony he was

going through. ‘You certainly will be, Doctor.’

The Doctor raised an eyebrow quizzically and voiced his

surprise. ‘You know my name?’

Escoval realised his mistake but decided the best

defence was attack. ‘Take him into the laboratory; I believe

he may have done some damage in there.’

Now it was the turn of Ravlos and Kareelya to be

surprised.

The edge of suspicion was clear in Ravlos’s voice. ‘How

did you know there was damage in the laboratory,

Escoval?’

Again Escoval was aware of suspicion. ‘I would keep

your peace, Ravlos – you’re in enough trouble already.’

Kareelya leaped on the word. ‘Trouble?’

Escoval swung his cold gaze from Ravlos to her. ‘Yes –

strange things are happening in Tranquela, and you two

are found in the company of a stranger.’

He let the thought sink in momentarily. ‘Are you part of

the Amelieron plot, perhaps?’

Ravlos’s glance, which carried the unspoken warning

that she should tread carefully, did not stop Kareelya

speaking. ‘That’s ridiculous, Escoval, and you know it!’

Ignoring her, he swung round to see the guards still

standing gormlessly either side of the Doctor. ’I said, into

the laboratory with him!’

With that the guards led the Doctor to the laboratory

door, pushing past Ravlos and Kareelya as if not seeing

them.

Once through the door the speed of the change in the

Doctor was again staggering. He was instantly a raving

madman. Without any warning he attacked both guards

with an incredible and unstoppable ferocity and within

seconds they were both poleaxed lying unconscious as the

Doctor turned his attention to Escoval, who had followed

directly behind them.

For a second Escoval stood transfixed with surprise at

the Doctor’s brutality, but as the Doctor spun, with a wild

roar of rage, to attack him, he dashed for the door.

But it was too late.

The Doctor moved with the quickness of a jungle beast

to cut him off from his escape.

Ravlos and Kareelya watched from the doorway, open-

mouthed, unaware that they too were in great danger.

Once the Doctor was done with Escoval, they would

surely be the next target.

19

There was an empty side corridor just around the corner

from the palace Armoury, and that was where Locas and

Peri shimmered into view.

Locas opened his eyes to check that they had arrived at

the right spot. They had. ‘See – easy as that.’

Hearing him speak Peri also opened her eyes and looked

around. ‘Where are we?’

‘The home palace of my father, Abatan.’

Peri’s eyes widened at the word. ‘Palace?’

Locas was proud of his father and it showed. ‘He is head

of the First Family – only fitting he should live in a palace.

The Armoury is just around the corner. I thought I’d land

us here so you could meet my good friend Shankel – he

should be on guard duty there today.’

He led her along the corridor and around the corner to

where the Armoury doors were in view. Turning the

corner he stopped dead in his tracks, obviously shocked at

what he saw. ‘No!’

Peri could see no problem. Just two ornate, very large

doors in a long empty corridor. ‘So what’s the problem?’

Locas’s tone was aghast. ‘The Armoury is unguarded!’

‘Is that bad?’

As he spoke he headed along the corridor towards the

doors. ‘It’s unheard of – something dreadful must have

happened here.’

Having reached the door he turned the large handle to

swing the doors open, explaining as he did so, ‘We must

check to make sure Shankel is not inside; that is against

the law, and punishable by death. It hasn’t been opened, or

left unguarded, for over fifty years.’

With the force of his efforts, the doors were finally

opening.

Peri had crossed to his side and was looking over his

shoulder. What they saw made them both gape with

amazement.

It was a vast warehouse.

As far upwards as they could see, and as far downwards

into the depths falling away at their feet, was layer after

layer of racking, on which weaponry of an amazing

assortment was neatly stacked.

Thousands upon thousands of what must be the

forbidden thought-balloons filled one shelf; rack upon rack

of what appeared to be tanks, stretched endlessly away in

another direction.

Rows of rockets, and missile heads, and electronic

wonders of such strange shape that the mind could not

even begin to comprehend their purpose.

Peri finally recovered enough from her surprise to make

the comment. ‘That is fantastic! I’ve never seen such a

collection.’

Suitably awed by what he was viewing, Locas spoke

almost in a whisper. ‘Folklore tells us that it goes up

sixteen storeys and down twenty. That’s why the palace

was built on the side of the mountain.’

‘You mean?...’

‘Exactly,’ said Locas, guessing her thought. ‘The

Armoury doors lead into a cavity that has been cut out of

the very centre of the mountain.’

Peri picked up an earlier word. ‘You said – folklore?’

‘That’s right – nobody’s allowed to see in here on pains

of death. For fifty years since the treaty was signed with

the Amelierons, these doors have never been opened.’

Peri again picked a phrase. ‘You say on pain of death?’

Locas’s sombre nod was reply enough.

Worried, Peri asked the obvious. ‘Well, shouldn’t we

perhaps close the doors and stop looking?’

But it was too late for them to save themselves. Unseen

by them, Abatan and a troop of guards had come around

the corner and into the Armoury corridor.

Abatan had in fact stood within earshot while most of

their conversation had taken place. Now he spoke gravely.

‘It is too late.’

Peri and Locas spun around upon hearing him speak.

One word from Locas broke the stunned silence. ‘Father!’

Abatan ignored the exclamation as if it had never been

made, but carried on talking sombrely. ‘You have looked

into the Armoury – and must stand trial before the

Families.’

Peri didn’t quite know what this meant but from the

look on Locas’s face she realised that it wasn’t exactly good

news. Abatan’s next words confirmed it.

‘Guards! Seize them.’

And rushing forward to take them roughly in hand, that

is what they did.

Other guards slammed the doors closed, and Abatan

with a wave indicated they should stay. ‘You two – take

over the duty here.’

The guards prepared to shackle themselves at their posts

as Abatan once more turned his attention to Locas. ‘Who is

this woman?’

Locas had never seen his father holding such contained

anger as he obviously now did, so he chose his words

carefully. ‘She is a visitor to our planet.’

Abatan closed his eyes and defeat was written on his

face. Then he opened them again and spoke sadly. ‘There

is no way I can save your life, Locas. You have shown our

Armoury to an outlander. Maybe if it had just been you –

youthful stupidity and missing guards – I just might have

been able to use my influence; but this makes you a traitor,

and ensures the death of both of you.’

Peri looked at Locas, hopeful that his face would

indicate it was all some terrible joke. But when he turned

and stared at her with eyes filled with despair,she knew she

was indeed going to die.

At first Mordant had been delighted that the Doctor had

once more appeared on the crystal screen in his cabin. He

had watched the long and bitter fight that took place as

Escoval skilfully defended himself from the Doctor’s

frenzied attack. During it he had screamed unheard

encouragement. ‘Get him, Escoval! Give him what for!

Remember you are a soldier like your father and

grandfather before you! Smash him to smithereens!’

But he groaned with misery as the Doctor finally caught

Escoval a pile-driver blow to the jaw that sent him reeling.

Escoval came to a halt still on his feet, a surprised look

on his face. Then his eyes glazed over, his knees buckled,

and slowly he fell, to end up lying unconscious on the

floor.

Immediately the Doctor spun round looking for another

target. And there were Ravlos and Kareelya conveniently

available in the doorway.

The Doctor ran in that direction and, as he went

through the door, he again disappeared from view on

Mordant’s crystal ball. The enraged creature screamed his

fury as he picked the crystal up and threw it at the handiest

object that would give him a suitable target.

Once more the bird’s cage was sent swinging and the

bird was left squawking. ‘Stupid man! You stupid little

man!’

Having arrived at speed in the corridor to which Ravlos

and Kareelya had retreated as he approached, and having

yet again lost all trace of madness, the Doctor pulled up

short in front of them. He guessed from the look on their

faces what had been happening.

‘Ah. Had one of my little turns again, have I?’

Kareelya nodded her head in agreement. ‘Afraid so,

Doctor.’

Ravlos was pondering on it. ‘Amazing. Only that one

room seems to be affecting you; and only you being

affected there. But no equipment in there is capable of

working.’

Kareelya had been struck by a thought. ‘It is as if you were carrying your very own personal "Hate generator".’

The Doctor clicked his fingers as the obvious answer

struck him. ‘But, of course! Why didn’t I think of it

before?’

He pointed at the helmet that Kareelya was

still carrying. ‘Let me have the protector, Kareelya.’

As she passed it to him Ravlos asked the

question. ‘What is it, Doctor? What has struck you?’

The Doctor donned the helmet as he replied, indicating

with a wave of his hand that he was talking of the

laboratory. ‘The TARDIS is in there – but not in sight.’

Having put the helmet on, he moved tentatively back

through the doorway into the laboratory, followed by

Ravlos and Kareelya, who watched him somewhat warily.

This time he was unaffected. Pleased, he said the one

word, ‘Good.’ He indicated the shackle still on his ankle.

‘Do you think you could remove this now?’

Kareelya got the key from her garment and knelt to

remove it. ‘But of course.’

As she unlocked it the Doctor noticed the unconscious

guards, and Escoval lying stunned where he had been

struck down. ‘Oh dear!’

He looked questioningly at Ravlos. ‘Did I do that?’

‘I’m afraid so, Doctor.’

Now free of his chains, the Doctor turned to Kareelya.

‘It might be a good idea to lock the door.’

She nodded her agreement and crossed the room to do

so. The Doctor made the TARDIS reappear, and turned to

Ravlos. ‘Let us enter and see if we can discover what’s

causing this bizarre behaviour.’

And with that they crossed to the TARDIS and entered,

closely followed by Kareelya. When she was safely through

the doors they closed behind her.

In the state room of Abatan, Peri and Locas were being put

in the centre cell of the group of three by the guards.

Abatan watched sadly as the cell was locked. ‘The

Council of Families will meet before the next wave of

madness is due – and your fate will then be decided. I fear

their judgement may be that you both be left here,

unchained, so you can carry out your own destruction.’

As he turned to leave the chamber Locas called out to

him. ‘Father! If there is any guilt it is mine. Let the

woman go free – she didn’t even know of the existence of

the Armoury...’

Abatan swung round and answered angrily. ‘No! You

know the rules of the truce! Any Amelieron found in

Tranquela can be killed without fear of any revenge or

reciprocation by other Amelierons; the same with any

Tranquelans found in Ameliera. In this way, and this way

only, can the peace be held.’

Locas’s amazement was in his voice. ‘But she’s not an

Amelieron!’

Abatan’s response was immediate and unanswerable.

‘How can you know that?! You’ve never been there; never

seen one; neither have I.’

Peri came to join Locas at the bars to defend herself

heatedly. ‘And neither have I. If there is a slight problem

here you take my word for it – I am not an Amelieron –

whatever that might be; I have never seen an Amelieron.

And have no wish to see an...’

Abatan cut her off short, his voice cold with contained

fury. ‘But you have seen into our Armoury. And the price

to be paid for that... sacrilege, is laid down in our law:

death.’

He held the moment, giving them a chance to comment,

but neither had an answer to this obvious truth.

When enough time had passed to be sure they were not

going to reply, he headed for the door of the chamber,

calling to the guards, who had quickly fallen into line

behind him. ‘We go to the laboratory of Ravlos, to receive

what news he has before Council meets.’

Peri and Locas, alone in their cell, exchanged a glance.

Peri finally said what she thought in an age-old remark

that left Locas looking totally bemused. ‘This is a fine old

mess you’ve got me into, Olly!’

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor slowly strolled around,

looking intently for anything that could be causing the

problem. ‘Nothing out of place. Strange.’

Ravlos and Kareelya, fascinated by the interior, also

wandered. Kareelya had picked up the crystal ball from

where it stood on the panel. ‘What’s this, Doctor?’

The Doctor turned to see to what she referred. ‘Nothing

– just a Salakan toy; sort of talking travel brochure. When

it’s alive it’s a mine of information.’

Kareelya was somewhat surprised with his reply. ‘But

it’s "alive" now.’

The Doctor crossed to her side and took the globe from

her to look at it closely before speaking. ‘No, no. It’s not

alive until I allow my fingers to penetrate its interior; and

even then it’s totally personalised – only programmed to

work for my prints.’

Kareelya was now deadly serious and intent. ‘Or your

brain-wave pattern perhaps?’

In the planetoid Mordant was watching the crystal

intently. When Kareelya had first picked it up he had

screamed with rage, ‘Put it down, you meddling woman –

you’re going to spoil everything!’

He stayed quiet and still, as if afraid that the two faces

looking intently into the crystal could see right through it

into his cabin.

The face of Ravlos also came into view. As he spoke

every word was clearly heard. ‘What are you suggesting,

Kareelya?’

Then Mordant’s worst fears were realised. She had ‘the

power’.

‘This object – though apparently dead – is alive.’

The Doctor was seen to turn to Ravlos. ‘What do you

think, my friend?’

Mordant shouted the remark to ease his tension. ‘That’s

right, Doctor! Never take the word of a woman for

anything.’

Kareelya held up her hand for the Doctor and Ravlos to

be quiet. ‘Shush!’

Then closed her eyes and concentrated intently.

Mordant immediately froze, and held his breath. He

sensed what was coming – and he was right.

‘There is someone or something at the other end of this

receiver. I almost heard what it was saying.’

Kareelya turned to look at Ravlos as if for confirmation.

‘You know my sensitivity to any wave emanation?’

He nodded his head. ‘I do indeed, Kareelya. I do

indeed.’

Kareelya then looked to the Doctor. ‘Take my word – it

is alive.’

Mordant closed his eyes in fury.

In the TARDIS the Doctor took the ball from Kareelya

and looked at it closely. Then he put it down carefully on

top of the control panel and spoke softly. ‘What does it

make you think is going on, Kareelya?’

She thought it out momentarily then replied, pacing as

she spoke. ‘If it was tuned to your brain-wave pattern,

Doctor, it could also perhaps be used to act as a local

transmitter for the hate-wave, but only affecting you.

‘It also must be of a very small power – hence its

working in the room, but not working in the corridor. And

it could certainly be the cause of your madness.’

The Doctor picked up the globe once more, stared at it

intently and spoke almost as if he were talking to Mordant,

who stared back defiantly from the planetoid.

‘How stupid of me not to realise it before. To take a gift

from a Salakan is madness indeed. All these ages this toy

has been waiting to do its work. And now – if it is doing its

work and being used against me, it can only mean one

thing: a Salakan salesman has business on this planet. And

it’s more than likely that that salesman is none other than

the detestable Dwarf Mordant who gave me this present in

the first place.’

20

The message had finally sunk home and Peri was suitably

furious with the stupidity of Locas’s father having the

temerity to suggest she could be anything but a creature

from Earth. And why it should matter in any case.

‘But this is silly! I’m no Amelieron. You know it – I

know it. And all we did was look through a stupid doorway

at thousands of ray guns and rockets and planes and what

have you.’

With contained fury Peri stood up from the bench

where she had been sitting to stand in front of Locas and

argue her point. ‘Look, Locas, I don’t want to stay here and

get driven dotty enough to try to kill you while you’re

trying to kill me. Let me hang on to you in a quick cuddle,

so you can travel us out of here!’

Locas even managed a fairly grim smile at the thought,

before explaining the impossibility of doing what she

suggested. ‘My father knows that I would never do that.

That’s why he didn’t even bother to have us guarded. I have already accidentally shamed my family’s honour –

and to leave now would simply be an admission of that

guilt. The end of the First Family’s rule would be

guaranteed.’

Peri thought about it momentarily before posing her

question. ‘How come?’

The response was instant. ‘Father would have to stand

down from that place of honour, and let the family of

Escoval take power.’

The way Locas spoke the name, almost as an oath, made

Peri realise he was not exactly a favourite. She sat down on

the bench next to him. ‘Escoval?’

‘Leader of the Second Family – an unpleasant person

with a thirst for power.’

‘Not exactly good news if he took over?’

Peri’s question was really rhetorical, but Locas answered

it anyway.

‘It would be a disaster for the whole of the planet, not

just Tranquela.’

‘Why?’ said Peri, interested.

Locas thought a moment before replying, then decided

there was no harm in telling her. ‘All know his desire to

break the truce, reopen the Armoury, and go to war with

Ameliera.’

‘But why?’

‘The Second Family have always traditionally played a

great part in the managing of any war situation. It is their

traditional skill. Now there has been no war for over fifty

years their power has faded until it is virtually non-

existent. The only way they can achieve that position of

eminence again is either by becoming First Family, or by

starting a war.’

He turned to look at Peri, and for the first time the look

in his eyes, and the strength of obligation to a greater good

in his voice, told her that she was indeed dealing with a

member of a royal family. ‘My father knows I would rather

die than let that fate befall my people, after fifty years of

hard-won peace.’

Peri spoke for her own benefit. ‘So bang goes a quick

cuddle; and exiting happily.’

Mordant was watching the crystal intently. The Doctor

was being tied outstretched to the TARDIS control panel,

his back to the controls, by Ravlos and Kareelya.

No words had been exchanged between the three of

them. The Doctor had simply gone to the stowage locker

and got a short length of thin but unbreakable twine,

handed it to Ravlos and looked at him.

Ravlos had thought a moment, then exchanged a glance

with Kareelya who had nodded her head and then spoken

the only words in the exchange. ‘A good idea, Doctor – and

chances are it will work.’

In the planetoid ship Mordant screamed furiously.

‘What will work! And why on earth don’t you talk out loud

like civilised people, so I can know what is going on!’

He stopped shouting as he noted Kareelya stop in her

task and listen intently. A pause, and then she went back to

the task of tying the Doctor.

Mordant next spoke in a whisper for his own benefit. ‘I

don’t like this, I don’t like this one bit!’

He grabbed the transponder mike and spoke into it in a

harsh and ugly whisper, ‘Escoval! Escoval, can you hear

me! We must act now! War must be declared! The Doctor

is getting too close to guessing the truth of what I plan!

Escoval! Escoval!’

Inside the laboratory, the soldiers still lay unconscious, as

did Escoval. But a whisper of words could be heard coming

from somewhere near his ear. In fact, behind his ear-lobe,

so small that it would have needed a microscope to pick it

out from any other pore, was embedded the transponder

receiver. This was where the voice was coming from.

‘Escoval! Do you hear me. Get to the transponder now! I

want to talk! Escoval, answer me!’

Escoval stirred slightly, gave a groan, and was then

unconscious once more.

Abatan and his guards had marched along the corridor and

reached the laboratory doors which they found closed

against them.

With a nod Abatan indicated to the lead guards that the

doors should be opened. The guards attempted to do so,

but found they were locked.

‘Knock.’

The word rang out tersely.

One guard rapped hard on the doors. The sound finally

echoed away – and no response was forthcoming.

Abatan’s lips were tinged white with tension. He sensed

something was wrong here. A fractional pause and then the

decision was made. ‘Break it down.’

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was now firmly strapped

down to the control panel.

It was an incongruous, and almost funny, sight to see

him so constrained and still wearing the protective dome

upon his head, but there was no trace of humour in the

voice of Ravlos as he spoke. ‘Are you sure about this,

Doctor?’

There was no hesitation in the Doctor’s voice. ‘Yes –

I’m sure.’

Kareelya then spoke the words of warning softly. ‘It may

not work.’

At which the Doctor nodded his agreement. ‘True – but

at least being tied down like this ensures that I will not be

able to attack you and Ravlos physically when the hate

strikes me.’

He managed a watery smile at the thought of the next

understatement that he was about to make. ‘If it doesn’t

work you can put the helmet straight back on me again –

and nothing will be lost. But do it quickly please – it is not

a pleasant sensation being riven by hate.’

Kareelya nodded sympathetically as she moved into a

position where she could get hold of the helmet. ‘We know

the feeling well.’

Ravlos moved into a position on the other side of

the Doctor, where he would be able to take hold of

the helmet also. ‘Very good, Doctor, if you really are sure.’

The Doctor simply nodded his head.

In unison Ravlos and Kareelya put their hands on either

side of the helmet, looked at each other silently, getting the

timing right. Then, as one they lifted it up and off his

head.

Instantly the Doctor was back to madness, and fighting

an impossible battle to escape his bonds.

His arms being held too tightly, he kicked out

desperately to get a chance to hurt Kareelya and Ravlos,

making them almost drop the bowl. But they got around

the Doctor’s flailing body, and carefully placed the helmet

over the crystal.

The Doctor’s manic gyrations instantly stopped, and he

fell back against the panel exhausted as the hate left him.

None of them knew that inside the ship of Mordant the

crystal had gone blank – and once more it had been thrown

at the cage of the long-suffering and now squawking bird,

whose cage had again been sent swinging madly.

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor instantly recovered his

strength and said in a pleasant understatement: ‘Good. It

worked. Now free me quickly – I have work to do.’

With which Ravlos and Kareelya set about doing exactly

that.

Inside the laboratory, Escoval was slowly stirring back into

consciousness.

The noise that was dragging him back to alertness was

the muffled sound of hammering coming from the other

side of the large laboratory doors. They were proving much

harder to break down than the troops or Abatan had

anticipated.

Escoval listened to the noise, momentarily wondering

what could be going on. And then the voice of Mordant, a

tiny distant hollering in his ear, registered and he gave it

his full attention, straining to hear what was being said.

‘Get to the transponder now!’ it cried. ‘Our plan is in

danger of being uncovered!’

Escoval noted that the two guards lying close by him

were slowly stirring into life, and also that some strange

box with POLICE written on the side had appeared in the

laboratory. Suddenly he had an inkling of what might be

going on. This was all something to do with the Doctor

that Mordant had mentioned.

With that the guard nearest him opened his eyes

groggily.

By now the door was starting to give way in the face of a

concerted attack, and Escoval knew what this must mean.

Abatan and his troops were on hand.

He knew what he must do to protect himself. Get the

guards back under his command. He struggled unsteadily

to his feet, fished in his pocket to find the hypno-gun;

noted that fortunately it had not been broken in his

struggle with the Doctor.

Having got it out, and hooked his finger into the trigger

mechanism, he crossed to the guard who was just starting

to sit up, and shot him once more square between the eyes.

The guard simply looked at him blankly, and then fell

back to lie still, with his sightless eyes staring upwards.

Escoval knelt at his side and lifted his head up,

whispering urgently. ‘Can you hear me?’

The guard groaned an incomprehensible reply. Escoval

persisted, urging him to attention, with a series of sharp

slaps backwards and forwards across his face. ‘Can you hear

me?’

The guard struggled unsuccessfully to escape the blows,

and then, alert once more, heaved himself to a sitting

position, managing to speak in a dull voice as he did so.

‘Yes, yes. I hear you.’

Escoval was well pleased. The tone of the man’s voice

told him what he needed to know.

The man was once more in his power. ‘Good.’

With that Escoval pointed the hypno-gun between the

guard’s eyes and shot him for the second time. ‘Just to be

sure.’ Then he spoke forcefully. ‘You will agree everything

I say is the absolute truth. Repeat.’

A momentary pause, then the guard responded. ‘You

will agree everything I say is the absolute truth.’

Escoval flushed with anger at the man’s stupidity. ‘No

no! Just remember everything I say is the absolute truth.’

A pause, and then the reply he had hoped for. ‘I will

remember.’

Meanwhile, Shankel had also surfaced to consciousness.

Without moving from where he lay he had been watching

Escoval’s treatment of his fellow-guard.

With a growing sense of outrage and fear, he had

realised what was happening. The guard had been turned

into a mindless zombie before his eyes.

Shankel had managed to stagger to his feet. Though his

head was swimming, he set off, slowly creeping towards

Escoval where he crouched over the guard.

He was almost upon him when a shard of glass that he

hadn’t seen crunched under his foot.

Escoval spun round at the noise and saw Shankel.

Shankel suddenly thought better of attacking him –

after all he was a member of the Families – and instead ran

for the laboratory doors hoping to get them open and let

his fellow-guards in.

But as he reached the door Escoval fired, hitting him in

the back of the neck.

He spun around to face Escoval, and the next shot

scored a hit right between his eyes. He was left standing at

the door, which had finally crumbled open behind him.

Escoval screamed his command against the noise of the

falling door. ‘You will agree! Everything I say is the

absolute truth!!’

And with that, as Shankel nodded his head in unspoken

agreement, the door opened behind him and thrust him to

one side.

By the time the door was fully open, Escoval was back

lying on the floor pretending to be semiconscious, the

hypnotised guard nearest to him looking down at him

dully.

The doors having opened the guards with Abatan

immediately took Shankel prisoner, holding him tight,

while others crossed to do likewise to the guard looking

down on Escoval.

Abatan, seeing Escoval lying there, quickly crossed to

him and knelt beside him, lifting his head and speaking

loudly enough to override his apparent unconsciousness.

‘Escoval. Escoval.’

Slowly, Escoval’s eyes flickered open with the feigned

returning of his senses.

Abatan urgently continued his questioning. ‘What

happened here?’

But Escoval was in no hurry to reply. In fact he was

secretly rather enjoying the game, knowing that he had the

hypnotised guards in his power.

Finally he sat up, as if suddenly coming to his full

senses.

He looked at the TARDIS, then turned to speak

earnestly to Abatan. ‘We must stop them!’

Abatan was suitably perplexed. ‘Stop who?’

Escoval dropped the bombshell. ‘Ravlos and Kareelya!’

He was not to be disappointed. Abatan reacted with the

expected cry of amazement. ‘What?!’

And then Escoval’s lying was in full flood. ‘They

smashed all the equipment so we couldn’t trace the source

of the hate ray. I found them doing it – ran to get these

guards from the Armoury, and when we came back, there

was an Amelieron here with them, he attacked all three of

us and then...’

His wave indicated the TARDIS. ‘They climbed into

that Amelieron ship – and for all I know they’re still in

there.’

Abatan crossed to Shankel where he stood dumbly at

the door. He knew Shankel well through his friendship

with his son Locas, and knew him as an honourable and

honest young man.

He spoke the question softly. ‘Is this true?’

A pause, so long it felt to Escoval that his heart would

stop beating any second with the tension of the moment.

He should not have worried. The Dwarf had given him

a powerful weapon indeed.

Shankel finally nodded an unspoken, ‘Yes.’

But that was not good enough for Abatan, he wanted to

hear the words for himself. He repeated the question more

forcefully. ‘I ask if this thing that Escoval tells me is true?!’

The guard simply stared at him blankly.

‘Answer me! Or suffer the consequences for such

disobedience!’

Finally, again much to the relief of Escoval, Shankel

spoke. His sentences clipped, and his words mono-syllabic,

but clearly understandable, confirmed the lie. ‘Yes. It is

true. We left the Armoury unguarded. Came here with

Escoval. Ravlos and Kareelya were smashing equipment.

An Amelieron was here with them – attacked us. Then

they went into...’ Then he pointed at the TARDIS, not

having any word to describe it but the one planted by

Escoval. ‘... the Amelieron ship.’

Abatan looked thoughtfully at Shankel for a moment.

He was of a mind that something was not right, but had no

way of being able to say what it was. Finally he decided

what was the correct course of action. ‘Take both these

guards to the cells. They must face Council for this breach

of duty. There is no excuse for leaving the Armoury

unguarded, not even Amelieron intruders.’

And as they were led away Escoval gloated at Abatan’s

choice of words. He had obviously accepted Escoval’s

story, hook, line and sinker.

With luck, war with Ameliera would soon be declared.

21

Ravlos and Kareelya were watching Escoval on the viewing

screen, and shaking their heads in disbelief at what they

saw and heard.

Having safely neutralised the crystal by putting the

wave deflector over it, the Doctor had switched on the

screen to ensure that the way was clear for them to return

to the laboratory. Instead of finding the way clear – they

discovered treachery beyond their wildest imagining.

Escoval was breaking the cardinal rule.

Members of the Family never lied.

So it was almost with sadness that Ravlos spoke, as they

watched the guards taking the blank-faced Shankel and his

fellow-guard away.

‘So – now we see the truth of the matter. Escoval is

indeed a warmongering traitor, and also undoubtedly was

responsible for smashing our equipment and putting our

researches back, maybe by months.’

There was no sadness in Kareelya’s voice when she

spoke, only sheer amazement at the stupidity of Escoval’s

action. ‘But why? What possible good can he achieve by

putting Tranquela at risk of war with Ameliera like this?

For all we know it may not be they who are responsible for

what has been happening.’

The Doctor spoke quite softly as he continued to watch

the screen intently. ‘I would say undoubtedly not Ameliera.

But if Escoval has his way, war will be declared, and your fellow-continent will soon be attacked.’

Ravlos was appalled at the thought and his words

succinctly explained the reason why. ‘But they won’t be

expecting it – thousands of innocent people will die. The

Armouries of both countries contain weapons of

unbelievable ferocity.’

The Doctor viewed the screen for a few seconds more

before turning to look at Ravlos, to whom he spoke in a voice almost tinged with jollity. ‘Then we must go and

warn them – mustn’t we.’

Kareelya blurted out the remark before she could stop

hereslf. ‘No! Not us! Our presence would be a breach of the

truce!’

Then she realised how sharply she had spoken. ‘Sorry,

Doctor.’

‘No harm in speaking one’s mind Kareelya – no harm at

all.’

Ravlos clarified the position with a few well-chosen

words. ‘Kareelya is right. Our presence could indeed start

the war we are trying to avoid.’

The Doctor responded yet again in the same cheery

mood. ‘Then it would indeed be rather foolish for you both

to travel with me.’

‘True,’ said Ravlos, and then continued, ‘We must stay

here – try to clear our good name. Convince Abatan of the

truth of the matter – that Escoval is a traitor.’

Kareelya knew she was asking a lot of their recently

arrived friend, but she asked in any case. ‘Will you carry

the message to them, Doctor?’

He had no hesitation whatever. ‘But of course. I trust

these Amelierons are a reasonably understanding sort of a

bunch? Not the sort who might pop me into a pot and boil

me up for supper or any such?’

Ravlos and Kareelya exchanged a glance that didn’t

escape the Doctor. ‘Ah – I see. You mean they might just pop me into a pot for supper.’

It was Kareelya who explained the glance they had

exchanged. ‘We quite simply have no idea, Doctor.’

Ravlos took up the story. ‘All communication was

severed after the pact, that was one of the agreements the

pact contained, so we simply don’t know how their culture

has developed over the last fifty years or so.’

The Doctor mused on it, and then having given a

thoughtful, ‘Ah.’ He continued, ‘Any hints as to the way

their culture was likely to go before the parting of the

ways?’

Ravlos shook his head regretfully. ‘I was only a young

boy at the time of the separation.’

Kareelya remembered a detail that might have a

bearing. ‘They were a very religious people, I seem to

recall; with an advanced awareness of "good".’

Ravlos was pleased at the thought. ‘Chances are they’ll

still be a peaceful race then?’

Kareelya nodded her head in agreement.

The Doctor looked quietly relieved; he felt he had had

enough excitement for one ‘holiday’ already. ‘Oh – good –

that’s nice to know.’

If only he had known how obsessed the Amelierons had

become in their mania for total goodness – he might not

have been quite so nonchalant. But now he looked back to

the screen, and his muttered, ‘Ah,’ made Ravlos and

Kareelya also look in that direction.

Abatan had approached the TARDIS and was looking at

it coldly as if he could see right through it. His command

rang out clearly in the TARDIS. ‘Break down its doors.’

As the guards moved forward, the Doctor could only

smile at the idea. ‘They haven’t got a chance of

succeeding.’

In the bare cells centred in the luxury of Abatan’s state

room, Peri and Locas sat, glum.

They had talked the subject of their captivity around

and around to the point that there was nothing else to be

said about it. Now they simply sat and waited to see what

fate would finally bring them.

They didn’t have long to wait.

In the distance they heard the noise of troops

approaching, and soon the guard detail entered into the

chamber with Shankel and the other zombie of a guard

under close arrest.

Locas leaped to his feet and, rushing to the front of the

cell he gripped the bars tightly. In his utter amazement he

said just one word, ‘Shankel!’

But Shankel didn’t react to the name at all. It was as if

he had never heard it before. He simply went on staring

blankly ahead as he was led unprotesting, with the other

guard, into the right-hand cell.

Peri had come to join Locas at the bars, seeing from the

look of horror on his face that there was something deeply

wrong.

She asked the question quietly. ‘Who is he?’

Locas spoke in a voice that was tinged in disbelief as to

what he was seeing happening. ‘It is my friend Shankel.

The one who I was taking you to meet at the Armoury.

But...’

He crossed to the side bars that gave him the clearest

view of his friend, and what he saw appalled him. He spoke

in a voice tinged with horror. ‘There’s something

dreadfully wrong with him, and with the other one –

almost as if they were... brain dead.’

Escoval had watched with mounting pleasure the

unsuccessful attempts of the guards to force open the doors

of the TARDIS.

He realised that he now had the perfect excuse for

achieving what he most desired – the reopening of the

Armoury. Even though he tried, he could not hide the

sneer in his voice as he spoke. ‘It is no use trying to open it

by brute force, Abatan – you’re obviously going to have to

get a "Ray-Burner" from the Armoury. That will go

through it like a knife through lard.’

There was an air of desperation in the voice of Abatan as

he screamed his one-word reply. ‘No!’

Suddenly he had understood that Escoval was indeed

driving him into a corner from which there would be no

escape.

And Escoval of course recognised the tone, and knew he

had Abatan against the wall. His voice was again full of

scorn, but this time he did not even try to hide it. ‘What

other answer is there, "First Family Leader"?’

Abatan flushed to hear his rank used as an insult, but

held his tongue.

Escoval continued goading him. ‘Are you simply going

to stand by and let the traitors, your "trusted friends", Ravlos and Kareelya, just fly out of here with all their

knowledge of our defence and Armoury, along with the

Amelieron spy? Is that what you really intend?’

He let that sink in before he laid on the ultimate threat.

‘What do you think the rest of the Families will make of it,

Abatan?’

He knew that Escoval was right. If that happened, and

Ravlos and Kareelya truly were traitors, his rule would

indeed be finished. The loss of office would be no great

burden, but the thought of a man of Escoval’s character

ruling his beloved homeland was truly unthinkable.

Finally, when he accepted that the guards were not

going to be able to open the TARDIS by brute force alone,

he was left with no other option than the option he hated

even contemplating.

It looked, unless some miracle soon ensued, that the

Tranquelan Armoury would have to be reopened.

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor had watched Ravlos and

Kareelya viewing the screen and listening to the discussion

that was taking place between Escoval and Abatan intently.

He sensed that there was more import to the exchange

than he had appreciated.

It was apparently no longer simply about trying to force

an entrance to the TARDIS. Greater issues were obviously

at stake. But what were they?

When Ravlos spoke, after one quick glance at Kareelya

to see in her eyes that she agreed with him, all was made

clear. ‘We must go now, Doctor. Escoval is very persuasive.

Once the Armoury is opened the fifty-year truce is

officially broken. It is easier then to go forward and attack

Ameliera, just in case, than to wait for the attack to come

from them.’

Kareelya took up the story with sorrow in her voice.

‘You see the problem, Doctor? To get inside to us, they

have to open the Armoury – and war would follow. We

would perhaps be responsible for that war. And even if it

cost our lives – we could not take on that burden.’

With that Ravlos took her hand tenderly, then looked

once more at the Doctor. ‘We will go now, Doctor – face

our fate. And to you is left the task of warning the

Amelierons of what may happen. Please do not fail us.’

There was still something niggling at the back of the

Doctor’s mind.

They were simply too despondent about their chance of

surviving. He decided to clarify it. ‘Surely, if you tell

Abatan the truth of the situation – that Escoval is lying in

his teeth – all should be all right. Yes?’

Kareelya’s gentle smile at the preposterous situation was

very poignant, and the Doctor realised even before she

spoke that they were indeed probably going to their death.

‘The only problem is, Doctor, the leaders of the

Families physically cannot lie. That is their one major

strength, instilled from birth. They quite simply never,

ever lie.’

Ravlos let that knowledge sink in before taking it to its

natural conclusion. ‘But, as you clearly see – Escoval is

lying. He somehow has recovered the ability to lie. What

an incredibly powerful weapon he therefore has in his

hands.’

Kareelya then stated the final truth. ‘How do we, mere

scientists, convince the Council of Families that one of

their number, after thousands of years of Family rule

unblemished by such a dishonourable achievement, is

committing such an impossible offence?’

They let the Doctor consider the conundrum for a few

seconds, but no answer was forthcoming. Ravlos made the

request. ‘Would you open the doors, Doctor?’

The Doctor nodded sadly, desperate to argue them into

escaping, but knowing it was not his place to interfere. ‘But

of course.’

He crossed to the control panel and energised the motor

that would open the doors of the TARDIS, and send

Ravlos and Kareelya to certain doom.

At that moment, in the laboratory, Abatan’s lips formed to

make the command that would send troops dashing to

open the Armoury doors. He gathered his breath to cry out

the order.

Escoval knew it. He had been watching Abatan’s face as

he deliberated, and sensed the moment of his greatest

ambition was upon him, Abatan was going to give the

command now!

But before he could speak the doors of the TARDIS flew

open and Kareelya and Ravlos appeared on the step.

Escoval was furious beyond measure, but not too furious

to know what he must do next.

As the doors opened the troops fell back a little way. All

watched intently. And none saw that Escoval had slipped

the hypno-gun from his pocket and on to his finger, fired

twice with dreadful accuracy, spearing both Ravlos and

Kareelya between the eyes with the gun’s minuscule ray.

As the TARDIS disappeared, and the troops fell even

further back with the surprise of its departure, he took

advantage of the opportunity, and rushed forward to grab

both Kareelya and Ravlos by their unresisting arms.

Looking them in the face one after the other to ensure

their eyes were on him, he screamed at them in a pretence

of anger, as he instilled in them his hypnotic command.

‘Tell Abatan that everything I told him was true! You

wrecked the laboratory! You had an Amelieron spy here!

Ameliera is about to attack us and take us by surprise! You

are their spies! Tell him this is true! Tell him – traitors!’

Abatan dashed forward to grab Escoval roughly, and

pull him away from his old friends Ravlos and Kareelya.

‘No more, Escoval! I want to hear it from their lips, not from yours!’

Escoval once more smiled his smug smile – he knew the

damage had been done. ‘Suit yourself, Abatan – ask away.’

And that is what he did, gently. ‘Is this true, Ravlos –

Kareelya? Is this terrible thing that Escoval says true?’

There was a long pause. A pause that was so long that

Escoval once again began to worry that the gun had not

worked.

He need not have worried. When they spoke in unison

they were condemning themselves to death. ‘Yes – it is

true.’

For a moment there was disbelief in Abatan’s face. Then

he realised the only thing that could be done in the face of

such a confession. The country must be protected.

He spoke the words that had not been spoken since the

days of his father’s father. ‘Open the Armoury! Alert all

our forces! From this moment the truce is at an end; and

we are at war with the Amelierons!’

And with a dismissive wave to indicate Ravlos and

Kareelya he said to the nearest guard, ‘Take the traitors to

their cells.’

As Abatan left the chamber, Escoval simply stood and

smiled with unrestrained joy at the sheer pleasure of his

achievement.

He had managed to get the first world war in fifty years

successfully under way.

22

Inside the TARDIS, unaware of the fact that Ravlos and

Kareelya were now indeed in very deep trouble, the Doctor

was well pleased with the performance of his sometimes

recalcitrant vehicle.

Within seconds it settled down at the chosen

destination in Ameliera without a whisper of a problem,

and one word escaped the Doctor’s lips, ‘Perfect.’

He leant forward and switched on the viewing screen,

and as it sprang into life, he gave a ‘Humph’ of surprise at

what was in view.

Nothing.

Nothing but swirling mist, that is.

‘Strange.’ He checked the control panel, mumbling to

himself as he did so. ‘All appears to be in order. Correct

settings, correct co-ordinates, but...’

He went on to flick the viewing screen through a range

of colour changes. Infra red, to ochre, yellow, green, and

finally back to standard; and still there was only mist to be

seen. ‘Nothing.’

He glanced at another dial. ‘Well – atmosphere normal

enough – better pop out and take a look.’

He pressed the control, and the door smoothly opened.

He crossed to look out but all that was to be seen was the

same swirling mist. A blank, impenetrable wall that cut his

vision down to no more than half a metre.

Fingers of mist crept into the doorway, and in a

moment his decision was made. ‘Ah well. Nothing

venture...’

He stepped through the doorway of the TARDIS into

the blanket of enshrouding grey.

‘... nothing gain.’

He closed the door behind him, and moved forward a

few paces. Immediately the TARDIS was engulfed in grey

and disappeared from his view. He moved further forward

and glanced around. Wherever he looked he was faced by

the same solid wall of all-embracing greyness. He thought

he heard something and listened intently, his head cocked

to one side as if to catch the slightest sound.

Out of the greyness, pinpricks of light were

approaching. He turned around and discovered he was, as

he had guessed he would be, surrounded by a circle of

minuscule sparks of light, brightening as they moved ever

closer. They progressed through the mist, until he could

see that the light was coming from tiny cones of glass

sitting on top of thin glass barrels.

They were almost resting against the Doctor before he

could confirm that the glass barrels were indeed guns.

The guns were held by humanoid individuals dressed in

white boiler suits, their faces obscured by glass-domed

helmets that allowed no view to the interior.

When all were in position around the Doctor, each gun

just a fraction away from him in a perfect circle, they

stopped.

The long silence that then held was finally broken by

the Doctor himself, speaking at his cheeriest. ‘How nice of

you all to come and greet me like this.’

In the state room of Abatan, Peri and Locas were again

standing at the bars of their centre cell.

This time they were watching as guards put Ravlos and

Kareelya in the last vacant cell, to the left of them. They

were just as blank-eyed as Shankel and the other guard

who still sat in a daze at that very moment.

In the distance voices could be heard issuing urgent

orders, and feet could be heard running to obey. Locas

wondered what could be afoot to cause so much furore.

Ravlos and Kareelya being safely in the cell, the guards

withdrew, locking the door behind them.

Locas’s voice was horror-struck as he spoke. ‘Look at

them, Peri! Exactly the same as Shankel and the other

guard.’

She had seen as much, and now asked the obvious

question. ‘But what is it? What’s wrong with them?’

Locas shook his head, puzzled. ‘I just don’t know...’

The noise in the corridor grew in intensity, and Locas

swung his head round to look in that direction. ‘Listen!’

They both strained to hear what was being shouted by

the guards, but could not make out the words.

In a sudden fury Locas went from the front bars where

he stood, and crossed to the bars that divided their cell

from the cell that Shankel was in. Quite harshly he

grabbed Shankel by the hair and dragged him closer to the

bars that separated them.

‘Shankel! Shankel!! Speak to me!’

There was no reaction.

Locas put his other hand through the bars and slapped

Shankel back and forth across the face to get some life back

into him. ‘Speak to me!’

Finally Shankel spoke, in the voice of an automaton,

stilted and slow... ‘Escoval is right. Ravlos and Kareelya

were smashing equipment; an Amelieron spy who was with

them struck us both down.’

Locas and Peri exchanged a glance, and then Locas

couldn’t stop himself exclaiming. ‘That’s crazy! Why on

earth would Ravlos and Kareelya do anything so stupid?!’

But Peri had had a sudden thought. ‘Ask him to

describe the spy, Locas!’

’Why?’

Peri wasn’t ready to reveal her reason yet. ‘It’s just a

hunch – ask him.’

Locas leant closer to the bars. ‘Tell us what this

Amelieron spy looked like, Shankel.’

There was a long pause before Shankel spoke – but

when he did there was no doubt at all in Peri’s mind as to

whom he was describing.

‘Blond curly hair – grey eyes – a coat of many colours...’

‘I thought as much – it’s the Doctor without a doubt!’

interrupted Peri.

Locas let go of Shankel, who slumped back in his seat,

and crossed to the cell that housed Ravlos and Kareelya.

‘Ravlos! Ravlos! It’s me, Locas. Tell me what happened to

you!’

He paused hopefully, but no reply was forthcoming.

Then a look of determination came over Locas’s face

and he closed his eyes tightly, concentrated, and

disappeared.

Before Peri had had time to recover from the surprise of

his disappearance, he had materialised in the left-hand cell

and was leaning over Ravlos and talking to him urgently.

‘Ravlos! What is wrong with you?!’

No reply. Locas took him and shook him none too

gently by the shoulders, repeating the question as he did

so. ‘Ravlos! Tell me what is wrong with you!’

And finally, and very mechanically, Ravlos spoke.

‘Escoval tells the truth. We wrecked the laboratory. There

was an Amelieron spy here called the Doctor. We are spies

as well. Amelierons are about to attack Tranquela.’

Locas straightened up, aghast. Closed his eyes,

shimmered, disappeared, and then reappeared once more

standing beside Peri, looking deeply troubled.

‘What does this mean, Locas? We know the Doctor’s

not an Amelieron – they know it as well. And they can’t

really be spies, can they?’

Locas’s answer came without hesitation. ‘No –

impossible. But it is not Ravlos speaking.’

Peri couldn’t stop the surprised exclamation. ‘What!’

‘I’m sure that Escoval has somehow managed to take

over their minds – and the minds of Shankel and the other

guard.’

As Peri took this in, he continued. ‘If they all lie on his

behalf – it can only mean one thing. He has broken the

cardinal rule of the Families by lying, himself.’

‘Is that bad?’

’Unforgivable. I further think that the noise we can hear

in the corridor indicates that Escoval had also finally had

his way; I believe that war with the Amelierons is probably

imminent.’

‘But surely from what you say your father would never

allow that.’

Locas shook his head sadly. ‘My father would never

believe that Escoval could lie – therefore if he is deceived

convincingly enough, he might well think he had no other

option to save Tranquela, but by going to war with

Ameliera.’

Suddenly Peri knew the only sensible thing they could

do. ‘We’ve got to get out of here and find the Doctor. He’s

the only one who’s going to sort this mess out.’

But she had not reckoned on Locas’s deeply ingrained

sense of tradition. ‘I can’t, Peri. Family honour forbids it.’

The answer came spontaneously to her lips. ‘What’s

family honour compared to the life of your whole planet –

you tell me that, Locas?’

And she saw that she had won her point.

The grey of the Amelieron mist was an unbroken blanket.

Suddenly, through the mist a figure appeared. He was

surrounded by pinpricks of light, and the lights were seen

to be guns, and the guns were held by white-clothed,

faceless figures.

Having reached a certain point the figures indicated the

Doctor should stop. No words had been exchanged, he

simply knew they wanted him to stop.

So he stopped.

All those that had guarded him moved slowly

backwards, disappearing one by one into the embracing

arms of the mist, the last sight being the pinpricks of light.

They too finally vanished and the Doctor was left standing

alone, wondering what was to happen next.

A sucking noise was heard, not unlike the sound made

by a large vacuum cleaner. At ground level all around the

Doctor, at a distance of a few metres, the mist started to

disappear into vents. It was sucked away so efficiently that

in no time at all, all vestiges of its presence were gone, and

the Doctor was left standing in what turned out to be a

clinically clean, blindingly white room.

He looked around in his usual interested fashion and

took note of the fact that there was no furniture save a

white plasticised table with two moulded armchairs to

either side of it.

There were no windows, and the source of light could

not be seen, but it was everywhere, and very bright. He also

noted that there was no obvious door to the room.

The Doctor, having seen enough, spoke his thought out

loud for the benefit of anyone who might be listening.

‘Dentist’s waiting-room perhaps?’

The voice when it came was deep and well modulated,

but having no hint of friendship or welcome in it whatever.

‘You may be seated, intruder.’

The Doctor looked around to see if he could pinpoint

where the voice was emanating from, but failed to do so.

‘I’ll stand, if it’s all the same to you.’

There was a click, and from the walls projected thin

nozzles, covering every possible line of fire in the room.

‘You will sit or be evaporated – the choice is yours. You

have ten seconds to decide. One, two, three, four...’

The Doctor spoke nonchalantly enough. ‘Feet are

feeling a bit tired, now you come to mention it.’

But the voice was counting on. ‘... Five, six...’

The Doctor was slowly strolling to the white table at the

room’s centre. ‘Probably as well if I gave them a bit of a rest.’

Remorselessly the numbers kept coming. ‘... Seven,

eight, nine...’

At which point the Doctor reached the table and sat on

one of the chairs. ‘Mm – quite comfortable as it happens.’

The voice stopped counting as the Doctor sat. There

was a short pause and the barrels smoothly withdrew – the

wall was matt white and flat once more.

The Doctor was just feeling the smoothness of the

chair’s arms when two hoops of strong white flexible

material flicked out from under the arms to pinion his

wrists tightly. As he struggled to get free his legs became

level with the front legs of the chair, and two further bands

snaked out from there and wrapped themselves around his

ankles.

Realising his struggles were in vain he stopped, and

waited to see what was in store for him next.

A humming noise was heard, and a section of the white

wall started to slide aside.

If the Doctor had thought the light in the room was

bright, he now knew that he had been overestimating its

qualities. The light that shafted through the opening was

painful in its intensity.

The Doctor closed his eyes, trying to blot it out, but it

burned on even through the closed lids.

A tall thin figure of a man walked through the light and

entered the room. He was wearing an all-white suit, as had

the others, and he also wore a concave glass visor, through

which nothing of his face could be seen.

As he paused menacingly at the doorway, the section of

wall closed behind him, and the lighting diminished to its

former level.

The Doctor finally opened his eyes. Saw the figure in

front of him. And said the only thing that seemed to fit the

occasion.

‘Good evening! How nice of you to drop in!’

23

Escoval was in the Armoury corridor watching the frenzied

activity of the troops with unrestrained joy.

Armament that had not seen the light of day for over

fifty years was being brought out of storage looking as good

as new.

The storing away had been executed by his grandfather,

who had told him at his knee what he done to ensure that

it would not deteriorate.

And now, as powerful-looking weapons were brought

out in ever-increasing loads, Escoval knew that Grandad

had truly done his work well.

Soon he would win the battle. And with Mordant’s help

he would also soon rule Tranquela.

Finally, satisfied with what he had seen, he turned and

walked away.

Having greeted the white-clad stranger the Doctor said no

more. He simply waited to see what would develop next.

The figure crossed to sit in the chair opposite him. A long

pause ensued which was finally broken by the Doctor.

‘Weather a bit inclement for this time of year?’

The figure put his hands under the arms of his chair

and pulled a thin cable from each. Each cable had a

miniature cuff on the end.

The Doctor chatted on cheerily. ‘Might come on to rain

later if the mists don’t let up.’

The figure clipped the cuffs around the Doctor’s wrists

just in front of the plastic hoops that already held his

hands in an iron grip. Having done that he rested his arms

back on his own chair.

The Doctor sensed it might be dangerous, but he could

not resist one final comment. ‘Of course – might be snow

rather than...’

He had sensed rightly. As the Doctor spoke the figure

simply pressed down on the arms of the chair, and the

Doctor was immediately racked by unbelievable pain as an

electric current was delivered through the thin cuff. He

screamed then, and the pain was gone.

The Doctor was left drained.

When the man spoke again there was menace in his

voice. And he made it chillingly clear what the threat was.

‘Enough of the flippancy. You are here on trial for your

life.’

In the cell Peri was still trying to get Locas to see the sense

of what she was suggesting. ‘You must do it, Locas! Your

country depends on it. You said it yourself! Obviously

your father’s been taken in by Escoval’s lies – simply

because he knows it’s impossible that anyone of the

Families could lie. You’ve got to get us to the Doctor now!’

Finally common sense prevailed.

He agreed. ‘You’re right! If I’m to die in any case –

better to die trying to stop Escoval’s plans.’

Peri was overjoyed. ‘Great! Now what?!’

Locas thought momentarily and then he had it. ‘Tell me

what I would have to "picture" to be sure to arrive with this Doctor of yours?’

A moment’s thought and Peri knew. ‘Well – the

TARDIS I suppose.’

‘The TARDIS?’

‘The ship he travels in. It looks like an old British police

box.’

‘British? Police box?’

Peri saw that it might be slightly more difficult that she

had anticipated. Then she had the perfect idea. ‘No! Tell

you what – imagine a round crystal like this.’

She indicated the shape of the holiday ball. ‘Got it?’

Locas nodded his head.

‘Good. The Doctor’s got one in the TARDIS, and there

couldn’t be another like it within light years of this place.’

Now there was no further hesitation. Locas was as eager

to be under way as Peri was.

‘Right. A large crystal it is then.’

He opened his arms, Peri crossed to where he stood, he

folded his arms tightly around her, they both closed their

eyes. Shimmered.

And the centre cell was empty.

Mordant was so ecstatic with the news that Escoval was

bringing him via the transponder screen that he hadn’t

even noticed he was drooling uncontrollably. He simply sat

at the control panel with a euphoric smile on his ugly face,

ignoring the dribble.

Escoval finally got to the point, and gave him the news

he was longing to hear. ‘So very shortly the first missiles

will be launched!’said Escoval.

Mordant gave a ‘Yarrow!’ of joy, with such intensity

that the bird was instantly awake and squawking!

It looked in Mordant’s direction and started shouting.

‘You’re drooling again! You’re drooling again!’

Mordant’s tongue unrolled on automatic pilot and

scooped up the gob while at the same time he grabbed a

convenient crystal to throw at the cage, sending it

swinging, and the bird screamed even louder.

At the same time he managed to carry on shouting his

joyous thanks to Escoval. ‘Excellent news, Escoval! I shall

hold back on the hate beam this session – and reposition it

so that the Amelierons can be washed with fear; that way

the battle will be over very quickly. And then all that

remains...’

But he was interrupted by the raucous alarm bell that

forewarned him that his ship was being entered.

As a whirling apparition started materialising just to

one side of the control desk in the cabin, he flung himself

backwards, pressing the button to open his bolthole in the

wall and screaming, ‘Escoval! I am being invaded!!’

He dived into it, and the round steel shutter closed

behind him. Escoval switched off and disappeared from the

screen, by which time Peri and Locas had arrived safely –

at the wrong destination.

Locas, opening his eyes, first caught a glimpse of the

disappearing Mordant and exclaimed, ‘What was that?’

Peri had more important things on her mind. ‘Never

mind what it was – we’re in the wrong place!’

Locas picked up the crystal that Mordant had thrown at

the bird, then saw the others lined up on top of the control

panel. He pointed at them. ‘Look.’

She looked at them, then took the one he was holding.

‘They’re the same crystals all right – but this most

definitely isn’t the TARDIS.’

She put the one she was holding down again. ‘Just think

of just one crystal exactly like that in the centre of a...’ She fought for the apt words. ‘A large squarish box? Yes that’s

it, that should get us there nicely. Ready?’

He indicated that he was ready by opening his arms.

Peri joined him, and once he had her held tightly, they

closed their eyes, shimmered, and disappeared.

The alarm bells, that had been ringing all the while in

the background, stopped.

There was the slightest of pauses, then the steel shutter

covering the porthole in the wall slid aside and Mordant

popped his head out. Once he was sure that the coast was

clear, he climbed out muttering to himself darkly as he

once more crossed to the control panel.

‘Is there no privacy left on this planet?!’

24

The Doctor’s face was drained of colour.

He had lost track of how many times the electric shock

had been administered, as his inquisitor tried to crush his

spirit with the high-voltage charge delivered through the

cuffs on his wrists.

His white-suited tormentor was now speaking of the

Doctor with utter contempt, the disgust he felt apparent in

his voice.

The Doctor listened carefully, knowing that this

statement could provide the key to the mentality of the

Amelieron race.

There was a trace of horror also present in the voice as

he spoke on. ‘The mists have deodorised you, sanitised

you, bacteriolised you, but still you are unclean. What sort

of race are you Tranquelans to come before us naked in

this fashion?’

The word ‘naked’ fascinated the Doctor. He was

dressed, therefore there was another Amelieron definition

of the word that he must seek out.

‘Laying aside for the moment the fact that I am not a

Tranquelan – how can you say I’m naked? I thought I was

quite reasonably turned out considering the small

difficulties I’ve been undergoing lately.’

He saw that the figure was about to apply pressure to the

arms of his chair and administer yet another shock, and

understood it was not what he said as much as the way he

said it that was causing the anger.

He quickly tried to right the situation, before the

electric charge could be administered.

‘That wasn’t flippancy as you may think from the tone I

delivered the words in, as is the way on my home planet,

but genuine interest. How do you define – undressed?’

There was a pause as the man considered whether the

Doctor spoke the truth. Having decided he probably did he

released the arms of his chair and sat comfortably once

more.

‘You allow yourself to see without an Interceptor, to

hear without an Interceptor, to speak without an

Interceptor; you probably even think without an

Interceptor.’

To understand what was being said the Doctor needed

to have the phraseology translated. ‘Interceptor?’

‘Yes – Interceptor.’

He touched the helmet he was wearing to indicate to

what he referred.

‘This, like all other Interceptors in our world, is hooked

into "Central Computer" where is held all knowledge of what is "Good" and what is "Bad".’

The voice had spoken with pride. And the Doctor knew

he must tread warily.

‘And what is the function of "Central Computer" in this affair?’

Again the pride was clear in the voice, and the Doctor

realised it was almost messianic; he was speaking as if of a

‘God’.

‘It filters out all evil, whether visual, oral, or mental;

and allows us to be totally pure. A punishment is

automatically administered by "Central Computer" if self-generated evil in any form is allowed to persist in the mind

of the wearer.’

The words escaped the Doctor’s lips before he could

stop them. ‘Obviously not much good on human "pongs" if my presence is causing such a furore.’

The figure pressed the arms of the chair with such

violence that obviously he had been deeply stung by the

Doctor’s tone.

The Doctor writhed in agony as the shock juddered

through his body. Finally the chair arms were released and

the torture stopped.

The Doctor fell back drained. ‘Be warned. I am capable

of killing you with this little toy.’

Slowly the Doctor recovered to the point where he could

speak. ‘Wouldn’t killing be considered an evil by your

"Central Computer"?’

The answer came back without any hesitation.

‘Certainly not. You are not a "person" by our or its standard

– simply a "thing". And things can be killed without

compunction. Now, why do you come to Ameliera,

Tranquelan intruder? Surely you must know the price of

breaking the truce?’

The Doctor hazarded a guess. ‘Death?’

‘Quite,’ replied the figure. ‘So why do you come here

courting death, stranger?’

The Doctor took his time about replying; he was intent

on not receiving any more jolts. Finally he spoke. ‘As I said

– I am not a Tranquelan as you appear to think, though

some of my best friends are and I feel no shame for that. I

travelled here on their behalf to bring you a warning.’

The man straightened up in his chair at the word. ‘A

warning?’

‘Yes.’ The Doctor continued. ‘Owing to a slight

misunderstanding and a massive injection of

Machiavellian shenanigans, war has been declared by the

Tranquelans. You are in fact – about to be attacked.’

There was a pause as the man took this in. Cocking his

head to one side as if listening.

And then it dawned upon the Doctor that that was

exactly what he was doing. He was letting ‘Central

Computer’ consider the implications and give him

instructions as to his reaction.

Finally he straightened his head and spoke. ‘Good.’ The

Doctor was surprised at such a nonchalant reaction.

‘Good?’

And then the reason was made crystal clear. ‘Yes. I have

consulted "Central Computer" and its judgement has been issued.

‘If you are an example of the sort of creature that now

inhabits Tranquela, then you all deserve to be destroyed.

‘Our Armoury has been kept in good order. We would

never of course attack and break the fifty-year truce. We

are too honourable for such a course. But when attacked we

shall repel, and then invade – and destroy.’

With that he put his hand back on the arm of his chair,

and the Doctor braced himself for the shock. But none was

forthcoming.

All that happened was the cuffs around his wrists

unlocked themselves, and flew back into their storage

space under the arms of the opposite chair. Likewise the

bands around his arms and legs sprang back into the

hidden storage space from whence they had come.

The Doctor massaged his wrists and twirled his feet to

get the circulation moving as the Amelieron continued

talking.

‘"Central Computer" has further decided that you shall be allowed to go free, and take the message back to the rest

of your disgusting race. We shall fight this war and win.

And soon every man and woman and child in Tranquela

will have the ultimate privilage of being masked and under

the care of "Central Computer".’

25

The TARDIS control area was empty of life. Suddenly, just

to one side of the control panel itself, a whirlwind was seen

to spin, and as it settled Peri and Locas appeared once

more.

They opened their eyes in unison, and Peri gave a tiny

scream of delight on realising they had made it. ‘You’ve

done it, Locas!’

He was a little perplexed. ‘But where is this crystal you

spoke of?’

Peri looked round and spied it under the glass helmet.

She crossed to where the helmet stood, took it off the

crystal, and stood it on one side, then picked up the crystal

to show him. ‘See. This is the one I was talking about.’

Then she put it back on to the control panel. But did

not put the bowl back on it. .

Inside his ship Mordant was delighted to see that once

more the crystal had come back to life, and the scene in the

TARDIS was again clearly in his view.

‘Well, well, well. So we’re back in contact with the

dreadful Doctor, are we.’

As Peri and Locas spoke, he stroked the crystal to make

their voices loud enough to hear without it being a strain

and, once happy with the level, listened intently.

‘But where is this Doctor?’ said Locas.

‘Good question,’ agreed Mordant cheerily.

‘Oh – I doubt whether he’s far,’ Peri replied.

‘However far is not far enough young lady,’ Mordant

said tetchily.

Peri continued. ‘Let’s go and find him, shall we?’

Mordant had heard enough. He crossed to the control

carrying the ball with him. Pressed a button and spoke

tersely.

‘Escoval! It’s Mordant. Get up here. I want to talk to you

about the final details of our deal now the battle is about to

commence.’

With which he looked at the crystal and watched the

disappearing backs of Peri and Locas.

‘Go get him, children! Tell him Mordant awaits!’

And with that he burst into peal after peal of maniacal

laughter.

Having walked through the TARDIS doors, and a few

paces into the mist, Peri and Locas were engulfed in it.

And lost. Peri grabbed Locas’s arm. ‘This is crazy! Let’s go

back to the TARDIS.’

Locas was agreeable enough. ’OK.’

But they set off back fractionally in the wrong direction,

and the TARDIS wasn’t where they expected.

Soon they were stumbling around blindly, desperately

feeling for its comforting surface. It was nowhere to be

found.

‘Peri!’ Locas called out sharply.

She stopped feeling for the TARDIS, her arms

outstretched, and instead looked in the same direction as

Locas.

Pinprick lights were approaching out of the gloom. The

lights moved ever closer, until finally they were

surrounded. They could distinguish that the lights were on

guns, and that the guns were carried by masked figures

dressed all over in white.

In their cell in the state room of Abatan, Ravlos and

Kareelya were still befuddled, but slowly, very slowly, they

were coming out of their hypno-gun-induced coma and

back to their senses. In the far cell Shankel was also

stirring into life.

Abatan and two guards walked into the chamber. All

three were now armed. Abatan crossed to the centre cell

purposefully, intent on having words with Locas. He

stopped, horror-struck, in his tracks, when he saw the

centre cell was empty.

When he spoke his voice was full of defeat. ‘Oh, no

Locas! How could you do such a thing? We shall never be

able to lift our heads in Council again.’

Abatan turned and addressed the guards. ‘Come. Let us

to battle. My son has already taken the coward’s route.’

As they turned to walk away, Ravlos gathered his

strength and called out weakly. ‘Wait, Abatan! I must tell

you the truth before you go...’

Abatan turned to look at him and spoke coldly. ‘Too

late, Ravlos. You have already told the truth, old man; you

are a traitor, by your own admission.’

Ravlos struggled to the front of the cell. As he spoke

Kareelya sat up to listen. ‘No! Only under the influence of

Escoval! He pointed something at me as I came out of the

ship. Some sort of hypno-gun I would imagine. I lied! As

did Kareelya.’

And then, realising the enormity of what he was about

to say, his voice fell almost to a whisper. ‘Same as he,

Escoval, lied.’

Abatan screamed his furious reply at such a major slur

against a member of a Family. ‘That is impossible! The

Families cannot lie!’

There was a long pause before Ravlos could say the

words. But he knew they must be said. ‘I am afraid it is

true.’ He let that sink in before continuing with the

catalogue of deceit.

‘There was no Amelieron spy; only an old friend of ours

called the Doctor. Escoval knew his name; and also knew

he wasn’t from Ameliera. But Escoval did the impossible.

He lied about him.’

Shankel had by now managed to crawl to the bars of his

cell. He spoke weakly.

‘Escoval shot me and the guard with some sort of gun

also. He made us leave our post. We also lied.’

Abatan finally understood that they were both speaking

the truth. His mind raced with thoughts of what must be

done. In a flash he had it. ‘We must stop the conflict!’

Kareelya called from the back of the cell, where she had

by now recovered enough to have taken in all the previous

discussion. ‘It is too late, Abatan. The Doctor went to warn

the Amelierons – now they too will be preparing to attack,

in their own defence.’

Slowly the full reality of what was afoot hit Abatan. He

shook his head sadly. ‘This is madness. Sheer madness.

And Escoval shall pay with his life.’

The same moment that Abatan spoke, the gun on the

surface of Mordant’s planetoid ship swung in an arc, until

finally it was directed at its new target, Ameliera.

And the electrons dancing in the barrel of the gun,

waiting to be released, slowly changed colour from a deep

and burning maroon to a perfect, buttercup yellow.

No word was spoken by the figures surrounding Peri and

Locas; they simply continued to menace them with their

guns.

Peri wondered what was to happen next. In her wildest

imaginings she would not have come to the right answer.

The Doctor came marching out of the mist through the

circle of gunmen, pushing any barrels that got in his path

nonchalantly out of the way.

When he finally reached the amazed Peri his greeting

was the usual cheery remark, ‘Ah, Peri. How nice of you to

drop in and see me like this. And who’s the young chap

you’ve brought along with you?’

She could not believe it. ‘Is that all you’ve got to say?

The last time you saw me I was a guaranteed "goner", about to be stoned to death.’

‘True,’ said the Doctor jovially. ‘But as you’re not "gone"

it obviously worked itself out in the end so we needn’t

waste our time chattering on about it.’

She was lost for a reply, a fact the Doctor noted with

satisfaction, and he carried on talking in the face of it.

‘There are of course much more important things to be

done – so let’s get the introductions of the way, then be on

our way.’

Peri did exactly that. ‘Locas – meet the Doctor.’ Locas

smiled a greeting. ‘Hello.’

The Doctor took his hand and shook it briefly.

‘Delighted I’m sure. Right – off we go.’

Peri waved at the guards still surrounding them in tight

formation. ‘What about this lot?’

The Doctor looked around trying to work out to whom

she referred. ‘This lot?!’

And then he had it. ‘Oh, that lot. They’re all right – sort

of escort I think – be glad to see the back of us. We

apparently possess a somewhat putrid pong – spiritually

speaking, that is.’

Peri was suitably irate at the thought. ‘I’d prefer you

spoke for yourself, thank you very much.’

‘Don’t blame me,’ said the Doctor. ‘Address your

complaint to "Central Computer".’

And then he turned to talk in a friendly fashion to those

who surrounded them. ‘Right chaps. Like to lead us back

to our motor?’

26

Inside his ship, Mordant watched Escoval poring over the

documentation that he had handed him as soon as he

arrived, with extreme interest.

This was the moment that the Salakans loved. The

signing of the first contract. Once this piece of paper was

signed, the planet was as good as theirs.

The paperwork was always passed to any given client at

the precise moment of maximum stress. Just when the

client was in sight of what he thought was to be his victory,

in fact. The client usually signed it with barely a glance.

Escoval was different. He finally stopped reading and

looked up. ‘But there’s no term to this agreement?’

Though somewhat surprised at Escoval’s astuteness in

noticing the point, considering the stress he was under,

Mordant wasn’t to be thrown. ‘Of course there’s no term to

it. Once war is re-established, it’ll never go away. You’ll

need new and ever more sophisticated weapons every

couple of years at least, plus some way of keeping your

enemies... content. Why put a term to it when it’ll

obviously be an ongoing situation?’

Escoval’s face hardened at the thought. ‘I can’t agree to

that.’

There was a choice available to Mordant: he could cajole

or threaten. He decided to threaten.

‘That’s all right. I’ll turn the fear ray on your troops

instead of on the Amelieron troops. If you think my hate

gun was strong – you should see what naked fear does to a

man. And that’s what it’s programmed to send at the

moment. Your men would flee the battle in seconds –

screaming, same as the Amelierons are going to do –

providing I direct it at them, that is.’

It was as if Escoval were seeing Mordant for the first

time. ‘You are a hard man, Mordant.’

Mordant smiled, pleased at the thought. And then he

played his trump card, Escoval’s ambition. ‘Do you want to

rule this planet or don’t you? It is as simple as that.’

Escoval considered the point momentarily. And the

answer was that of course he did. He bent over and signed

the first contract with a flourish.

Mordant said just one word. ‘Good.’ Then he took the

paper from Escoval, rolled it up and crossed to the panel.

‘And now, let me show you what my little gun can produce

in the way of fear. The gun is directed at Ameliera now, so

your troops are quite safe.’

He went to turn a switch, and as he did so noticed that

the Doctor was once more on the crystal in the TARDIS.

‘So – the Doctor is back on the TARDIS once more;

who better to demonstrate the power of the fear wave. Now

I’ll make him dance for you.’

He was about to flood the TARDIS with fear via the

crystal when Escoval’s cry stopped him. ‘No! Let us wait,

listen, and see what he has discovered!’

The Doctor had stopped in the middle of the cabin and

was looking intently at Peri.

She had just told him of their strange adventure whilst

trying to rejoin him and the TARDIS. Hearing the story of

the man fleeing into a secret compartment in the ship’s

wall was what had fascinated him.

‘And what did this little man look like?’

‘Hard to say. We only caught a glimpse of him as he

disappeared into this "porthole" thing like an agitated monkey.’

Locas added his memory of the incident. ‘Small

and ugly would just about sum him up from what I saw.’

And now the Doctor knew who it most likely

was. ‘Dwarf Mordant to a "T". I thought as much. All we’ve got to do now is to find out where the drooling little toad

is, and this business will be settled in no time.’

And with that, to Locas and Peri’s amazement, the

Doctor was racing across the TARDIS heading for the

crystal on the control panel. Not knowing that Mordant at

the same second, having first screamed at Escoval, ‘He’s

going to put the bowl back on the transmitter!’, was also

running, intent on pressing the button that would make

the Doctor his slave once more.

Luckily, the Doctor got there first, and in a flash the

deflector bowl was safely back on the crystal making it

harmless once more, with the Doctor left standing there

panting.

When he had finally recovered his breath he looked to

Peri and chided her. ‘Peri. How many times do I have to

tell you? Don’t interfere with things that don’t concern

you.’

The answer came in a flash. ‘Obviously a few more

times yet, Doctor.’

And then she gave him her friendliest smile. ‘Good to

be back.’

When Escoval finally got bored with Mordant kicking the

now dead crystal around the cabin, he interrupted with a

question, ‘So he escapes?’

Mordant stopped raging and thought about it. Then his

face beamed with pleasure. He had the answer.

‘Not quite. Being on Ameliera they’re still in the path of

the main beam of my gun. The setting is now to fear. Let’s

see how they like a touch of that particular nastiness.’

Having switched on the gun and heard it roar into life

above his head, he turned back to Escoval. ‘And now – to

the other paperwork.’

Escoval was somewhat surprised. ‘But we’ve already

signed the contract.’

‘No no no,’ said Mordant. ‘That was only the document

of intent – now we get down to the main detail and the

paperwork proper.’

With which he brought out a stack of contracts already

filled in and ready for signing. ‘Get on with it, shall we?’

Mordant did not give a further thought to the Doctor

and those on the TARDIS – he knew that resisting the fear

ray was hopeless, and that they would be under its power

until he chose to switch it off.

He was right.

On the TARDIS the effect was traumatic beyond

imagining. Being in the direct line of fire, Peri was the first

one the fear washed over, closely followed by Locas.

Terrified, they clutched each other for comfort, but only

momentarily.

Peri suddenly became the object of Locas’s fear. She was

the most terrifying person in the world. Locas broke free

with a scream and ran to hide in a corner as far away from

her as possible. Curling up into a tight foetal ball that he

hoped would make it impossible for her or anybody else to

attack him, his teeth chattering uncontrollably, he sat and

simply sobbed.

Peri was totally uninterested in Locas’s problems, for

she had seen the Doctor and he had become the focus of

her terror. He was now a grotesque monster. Every being

that she had ever been afraid of as a child was seen in his

face. He changed from one to the other before her eyes. She

ran away to another corner as far away from him and Locas

as possible, crying and shouting, ‘Don’t hurt me, bogey

man! Please don’t hurt me!’

And as for the Doctor?

He had simply slumped down at the control desk

shaking from head to toe, and looking at the panel which

suddenly started to writhe before his eyes, undulating like

a snake, until finally it started to crawl with life.

Various toggle switches and handles on the control

panel had taken on a life of their own. Every crawling

creature that man had ever feared was there. Spiders,

snakes, toads, centipedes, rats – all were present, and all

were looking at the Doctor malevolently; he could clearly

see the desire they had to kill him.

27

Mordant was checking the viewing screen. Flicking from

place to place, he dropped in on various parts of Ameliera.

Wherever he looked he saw the same thing – white-

uniformed figures clutching at their helmets which

overheated as Central Computer tried, and failed, to keep

the fear that was flooding in under control.

As each helmet failed its wearer fell to the ground,

writhing with terror.

Well pleased with what he had seen, Mordant turned to

look at Escoval who was just signing the last few papers.

‘Good. The Doctor will be well taken care of; and by the

look of it, the Amelierons won’t be retaliating at all when

the attack is under way.’

Escoval crossed to him and gave him the papers, looking

at the screen as he did so. ‘That will be as soon as I return –

they look ready to surrender without a shot being fired.’

‘Quite,’ said Mordant. Then he looked at Escoval,

appraising him. ‘So, Escoval – your victory will be assured.

And to you is then left the small task of removing Abatan

and taking the rule yourself. Do you think you’ll be

capable of doing so?’

Escoval was smugly confident. ‘It should present no

difficulty. It is after all in my blood. In fact, being honest,

it will be a pleasure. For years my family have suffered

under his patronising First Family posturing – now I’ll go

and kill him, and delight in the task.’

With which he closed his eyes ready to transport

himself out of the ship.

But Mordant’s cry stopped him in his tracks. ‘Not so

fast, Escoval! There is one last paper to be signed.’

Escoval opened his eyes. Now they were hooded with

displeasure. He was hungry to get the war under way and

over with, so he could exercise the joy of power. His voice

was cold and quite threatening when he finally spoke. ‘One

more?’

Mordant saw that he was pushing Escoval’s patience to

the utmost. But that was no bad thing. The angrier he was

the quicker he would sign what was put in front of him to

get it over with.

Mordant spoke at his crawlingly sycophantic best. ‘We

Salakans like to make sure that all the people we... help...

on various planets are quite aware of the finer details of the

various contracts, and what their part in the bargain must

be before we help complete the destruction of their enemy.

We now have the future trade contract to consider.’

‘Future trade?’ It was obviously the first that Escoval

had heard of this particular item.

‘Yes. You will have a new continent in your control –

but how to control your new continent, and keep them

happy, is of great importance to us.’

Escoval brightened. ‘You have a... substance?’

‘We have a substance. It’s not cheap – but there again

guaranteed peace never is. Also we have mining contracts

on other worlds where your prisoners, the Amelierons,

could earn the exchequer much-needed financing.’

Escoval smiled at the wealth of ‘goodies’ that Mordant

and his countrymen, the Salakans, had on offer. ‘Then let

us talk.’

The Doctor was fighting one of the greatest battles of his

life. Peri and Locas were too locked in their own terror to

be even aware of his. He knew there was only one way out

of the predicament that they were in. He had guessed quite

correctly that he was being washed by some version of

generated emotion. And as Mordant had used hate on the

Tranquelans, common sense dictated that the Amelierons

could be weakened and best prepared for battle by being

washed by fear.

It took no great leap of the imagination to come to the

conclusion that if he could get away from the continent of

Ameliera, and out of the gun’s rays, the problem would

probably disappear. He closed his eyes to hide the

monstrous writhing of the control panel. As the mouths of

the tiny monsters still gnashed their teeth at him in his

mind’s eye, he spoke to himself through lips and jaws

clenched tight against the nightmare that was filling his

brain. ‘Must try to control it. Must try to move out of its

path.’

Eyes still closed, he struggled to stand, and having been

driven to his knees once by the weight of his fear, he

finally managed it. He knew that if he opened his eyes he

would be lost. So, instead, he started to set the controls by

touch alone.

They still writhed underneath his hands. Instead of

feeling solid steel and plastic, he was feeling soft furry

creatures that wriggled as he touched them, and the scaled

and slimy bodies of snakes and cockroaches were also

there.

He started to feel that they were crawling up his arms

under his jacket sleeves, nipping him as they went; but he

didn’t give up on his task. Even though he longed to

scream to get away from the tension and pain of it, he

persisted.

Finally, when he felt the course was set, he opened his

eyes and looked for the starting button; and there it was in

front of him.

Trouble was – it was nestling at the back of the throat of

a giant ferret. The ferret’s mouth was wide open. Its razor-

sharp teeth were held ready to bite down hard and inflict a

cruel wound if the Doctor even dared to put his hand in its

throat to press the button. But, closing his eyes once more,

that is exactly what the Doctor did. As expected no wound

was inflicted, and the TARDIS sprang into life, the lights

dimmed momentarily, and the journey, no sooner started,

was over.

The ship was now out of the fear zone, and the madness

was behind them.

Peri and Locas shook the last vestiges of horror out of

their minds, stood and crossed groggily to where the

Doctor calmly checked the position they had arrived at.

‘Good. Safe in a different time layer.’

Peri got enough control to ask the question. ‘What was

all that about?!’

The Doctor was now moving purposefully, and spoke as

he did so. ‘Fear, I would imagine. Simply fear. But a

mighty weapon indeed.’

He was soon at the storage locker and searching for the

object he required.

Peri was there at his shoulder, questioning him further.

‘Fear?’

He searched on as he spoke. ‘Take every fear that man is

heir to – agoraphobia, zenophobia, vertigo; whatever you

will – put them in a pot and stir them up together and

that’s what you get. Naked fear.’

Peri was horrified at the thought. ‘But who would do

such a thing?’

The Doctor had found what he was searching for. The

square box with leads attached that he had shown Peri the

day before. He came out of the locker and closed the door

behind him as he spoke. ‘Dwarf Mordant would.’

Locas had joined them and he now asked the obvious.

‘But why?’

The Doctor was crossing to the control panel and Peri

and Locas followed. ‘A very good question and one that I

hope shortly to have the answer to.’

Peri was struck with another thought. ‘Do you think it

was just us that were affected?’

The Doctor looked at her and shook his head gravely.

‘No. At a guess I’d say the whole continent of Amelieron.

And, before you ask the question, I should imagine to

make them too frightened to fight – but to save the

guesswork we’ll go and ask Mordant, shall we?’

And with that he started to attach the leads that

unfurled from the box as he pulled them, two to the helmet

covering the crystal, and another two to the TARDIS’s

controls.

Locas watched what the Doctor was doing, fascinated.

‘What is that thing, Doctor?’

‘Care to explain, Peri?’

She thought a moment and then remembered. ‘It’s a

"wave tracker" that the Doctor keeps in his junk cupboard.’

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow, but didn’t

make any comment.

Peri continued. ‘The idea is if you attach it to the

TARDIS’s controls, and the source of the wave, it will take

us right to the point of the wave’s emanation.’

The Doctor, having finished attaching the leads, stood

back happily to view his work as he spoke. ‘Well

remembered, Peri. And now...’ he said switching on the

TARDIS main engine. ‘Let us beam ourselves along the

crystal’s path to arrive, as Peri so succinctly put it, at the

very source of its emanation where, if I’m not very much

mistaken, we shall find the dreadful Dwarf Mordant.’

28

Mordant was watching Escoval, who was reading the final

and most complex of the agreements for the third time.

Finally he could not resist commenting. ‘I said read the

small print. Not try to memorise it.’

Escoval ignored the comment and went on slowly

reading. Mordant was getting quietly irate. ‘Just sign it,

Escoval! Why all this mistrust?’

Escoval looked at him coolly. ‘Because, as future ruler, I

want to know exactly what I’m letting my planet in for.’

As he spoke, behind them, and unseen by either of

them, the TARDIS started slowly materialising along-side

the control panel. Having arrived along the path of the

wave emanation, no alarm had been triggered.

And so it was, as Escoval bent to sign the final

agreement, and Mordant smiled gleefully, the doors of the

TARDIS slid open and Locas was there to see the deed

being done.

His fury grew as he took in the scene, dwarf and traitor

side by side.

Finally the tension was too great and he had to speak.

His voice rang out clear and accusingly. ‘Escoval! You are a

traitor!’

At that both Mordant and Escoval swung round to see

who spoke. Mordant, immediately he saw the presence of

the TARDIS, the Doctor and the strangers standing in its

doorway, pressed the button on the wall beside him. The

panel having slid aside, he dived head first through, to

disappear inside. The panel clanged shut behind him.

Escoval left equally quickly. He simply closed his eyes,

shimmered, and was gone.

As he vanished Locas closed his eyes and also

disappeared.

The Doctor and Peri were left in the cabin alone. He

turned to Peri and spoke with feigned seriousness.

‘Perhaps there’s something in what the Amelierons say

about our smell after all.’

Escoval re-materialised as he had planned, in an empty

corridor around the corner from the Armoury. He took out

the hypno-gun and held it at the ready, then started

walking to the Armoury corridor.

At that moment Abatan came around the corner with

two armed guards. They stopped in their tracks as they saw

who was there, the very man they were searching for.

Seeing him, Abatan could not stop himself exclaiming

furiously, ‘Escoval! I have been searching for you! Ravlos

and Kareelya are now free, as are the guards. You are a

traitor, and perhaps, even worse, a liar!’

Before he could say another word Escoval lifted the

hypno-gun and coolly shot the two guards between the

eyes. They didn’t even have time to lift their own guns

before being turned into mindless automatons.

Escoval smiled and then gave the instruction to the

guards calmly, pointing at Abatan as he did so. ‘Kill him!’

As one, the guards turned their guns on Abatan.

At the same moment, further along the corridor behind

Escoval, Locas appeared. ‘Escoval! I’m going to kill you!’

Escoval swung around to face the unarmed Locas as

shots rang out behind him.

Knowing that Abatan was now dead, and he had all the

time in the world, he decided to make the most of it. He

drew his hand gun very slowly against the unprotected

Locas, rather hoping that he might try to de-materialise to

escape his fate, then he could shoot him as he departed,

and Locas would have arrived at his destination dead.

But Locas showed no sign of doing so.

After a pause Escoval finally spoke, spelling out his

intent. ‘Now your father is dead, Locas, you are the last

remaining member of the hateful and over-proud First

Family to be removed.’

He smiled and raised his gun into firing position. ‘It is

my pleasure to perform that simple task.’

It was at that moment that the voice of the ‘dead’

Abatan rang out, echoing loudly down the corridor. ‘Not

quite dead, Escoval!’

The guards, as commanded by Escoval, had indeed

pulled their triggers to shoot Abatan at point-blank range.

But their action, done against their will, and slowed by the

effects of the hypno-gun, had been signalled to Abatan,

who, at the very last second, jumped out of the line of fire.

The two guards, having accidentally shot each other,

were lying on the floor of the corridor, mortally wounded.

On hearing the voice, Escoval swung round desperately,

his face horror-struck with the shock of hearing Abatan

speak, when he had known he must surely be dead.

Abatan did not hesitate.

As Escoval raised his gun to fire it was too late.

Abatan shot him dead.

Inside Dwarf Mordant’s planetoid ship the Doctor

hummed a little tune to himself as he waited for a reply

from the wall that he had just sharply rapped with his

knuckles.

As no reply was forthcoming, he knocked again, this

time directly on the porthole of metal through which

Mordant had fled, calling as he did so. ‘Come out Mordant!

I know you’re in there!’

There was another long pause.

Peri was standing beside the Doctor and she asked the

obvious, ‘Will he finally come out, do you think?’

‘Oh yes,’ said the Doctor. ‘And he’ll have some little

surprise in store for us, I shouldn’t wonder.’

And with that there was a deep rumble and the whole of

the wall containing the porthole started to move aside.

Inside the revealed cubicle a massive black, steel-clad

robot was to be seen. It was threatening in its immensity

and as its eyes rolled into life and it moved forward with a

roar, Peri gave a scream.

Then it stopped just in front of them and lifted its arms

high above their heads, all ready to smash them down and

club both of them to death.

In the corridor Abatan turned Escoval over with his foot.

Locas walked along the corridor to join him.

Abatan looked at him, and then said without expression,

‘The traitor is dead. All that remains is to let the

Amelierons know what has been going on here.’

He looked at Locas coolly, wondering if he would be

brave enough to take on the task.

Locas did not disappoint him. He simply said, ‘Leave it

with me, Father.’

He closed his eyes, and disappeared from the corridor.

The robot’s arms were still aloft when it gave a final roar.

Peri fell to her knees and rolled to one side to escape the

blow, then she was on her feet and running for the

TARDIS. ‘Come on Doctor! Quickly!’

But getting to the doors she realised that she was by

herself and that the Doctor hadn’t even flinched.

Instead he did a thing that amazed her. Even though she

was used to seeing the Doctor do unlikely things, this was

quite staggering in its silliness.

As the robot stopped roaring the Doctor simply

knocked loudly on the robot’s steel breastplate as if he was

knocking on somebody’s front door. He spoke loudly and

commandingly as he did so.

‘Come on Mordant! I know you’re in there. Get out

here, we have things to discuss.’

There was the slightest of pauses, then the robot’s

breastplate slid aside, and Mordant’s face appeared at the

opening. ‘Hello Doctor! What a nice surprise!’

And with that Mordant was climbing out of the hole

and dropping to the floor. Mumbling to himself as he did

so. ‘Pity about that – it usually works.’

Peri came out of the doorway of the TARDIS and

headed for where the Doctor and Mordant stood.

The Doctor was speaking to him quite gently as if to a

naughty child who didn’t really know any better.

‘Now what is going on here, Mordant? Even by normal

Salakan standards you’re causing something of a kerfuffle

on this innocent little planet. What’s it all about?’

Mordant, having been spoken to like a child, started to

behave like one. He dropped his head, held his hands

behind his back and stood in front of the Doctor shifting

from foot to foot as he explained.

‘Always the same when it comes to the arms trade

Doctor – I mean if they won’t fight how are we going to

move our weapons?’

‘The arms trade?’ said Peri in a voice tinged with

horror.

Mordant looked at her with a face full of bravado. ‘Yeh.

What’s it to you?’

And with that he crossed to the control panel and

climbed up on to his seat to check that everything was in

order.

The Doctor explained it to Peri. ‘Among their many

industries the Salakan production of arms is unmatched in

the universe.’

Mordant, hearing the Doctor, could not resist throwing

in the sulky comment, ‘Oh yes. And we salesmen have our

work cut out at the best of times to shift them all. But if a

planet won’t have wars it’s disastrous. Still – now I’ve got

this bunch sorted out it’ll be a great help.’

With that he carried on adjusting the dials, while

speaking aloud for his own benefit. ‘Right – now I’ve got

the Amelierons cowed with fear; just direct a bit of evil at

the Tranquelans, and the war will be under way in a flash.’

The Doctor’s one word cracked through the cabin with

the force of a whip. ‘Stop!’

Having momentarily frozen, Mordant turned and spoke

in a voice full of amazement. ‘Stop?’

The Doctor strolled over to the panel where Mordant

was sitting. ‘Yes. You’re finished here, Mordant.’

The Doctor leant over and checked the possible

calibrations on the emotion gun. ‘Right. Change the setting

to "Goodness and Peace" and bathe both continents in its glow.’

Mordant was beside himself with a combination of fury

and disbelief. ‘You’ve got to be joking?! They’d both reseal

their Armouries! The war wouldn’t even start!’

The Doctor nodded his head agreeably. ‘Exactly.’

Mordant looked as though he was about to have an attack

of apoplexy, jiggling angrily on his seat, and in great

danger of falling off.

‘You can’t make me do such a despicable thing as spread

peace, Doctor! It’s unnatural!’

The Doctor smiled happily at him. ‘Can’t I now?

Remember the Time Lord’s golden rule, Mordant?’

And with that the Doctor indicated the ten crystal balls

neatly lined up along the top of the control panel.

Mordant’s face dropped as he realised what the Doctor

meant. ‘Oh dear! I was forgetting. You’re right of course.

Still – there are plenty more planets to go and work on, and

I didn’t think much of this one in any case.’

And with that he started resetting the gun’s emotion

control, speaking as he did so. ‘Peace and goodness it is

then. Yuk!’

Having reset the controls he turned to look at the

Doctor. ‘There we go, Doctor. You want this to be a boring

old peaceful planet, and that’s exactly what you’ll have

now. Happy?’

‘Happy enough for now. All that remains is to see you

safely off the premises.’

’OK Doc, fair enough.’ He indicated the TARDIS. ‘If

you shift the bus I’ll be on my way.’

29

Watched by Locas and Abatan, the last of the weapons

were going back into the Armoury, hopefully never again

to see the light of day in their lifetime.

Locas turned and watched his father’s tired face, the

strain of the last few hours clearly etched there. Finally he

touched his arm to attract his attention. Abatan turned to

look at him.

There was a pause before Locas spoke. ‘All forgiven,

Father?’

There was a long pause before Abatan replied. ‘There is

no longer anything to forgive. Your bravery in going to see

the leader of the Amelierons and asking that the truce be

reinstated showed me you were no coward.’

Locas thought briefly of his recent trip into the mists of

Ameliera to talk to their leader and then wiped it out of his

mind. He had been more frightened than at any other time

in his life, but it had had to be done if war was to be averted.

He concentrated once more on what his father was

saying. ‘I now understand you did all you did for the good

of the planet. And now the Amelierons have agreed that

the truce will continue – we are as we were before. Your

friend the Doctor is at this moment seeing that the source

of the madness is safely removed – so, peace once more will

reign.’

As he spoke, the last of the weapons went inside and the

doors of the Armoury swung closed with a satisfying clang.

Two soldiers took up positions of guard on either side,

and the rest of the troops started making their way back to

their quarters.

After a long pause Abatan spoke again, an air of

weariness in his voice. ‘When I am sure the war is truly

over, and peace has truly returned, I will be free to break a

vow that I made to an old friend, and let you into a secret,

Locas.’

Locas turned to look at him, wondering exactly what

the secret could be.

The TARDIS is suspended in space standing sentinel to a planetoid.

The planetoid has a gigantic telescopic gun on top of it.

Motors are heard to roar and the gun sinks out of sight into the bowels of the planetoid, to be replaced by a section that matches the rest of the surface exactly.

A long pause ensues, and then, with a roar, the planetoid is on its way, disappearing into the distance, to who knows where.

Mordant having gone, the war is truly at an end, and the

Doctor and Peri are free to go about their business once more.

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor was yet again busy at the

storage locker searching for something as Peri chatted on.

‘But what I still don’t understand, Doctor, is why your

pointing at the crystals on the control panel should have

changed his mind so quickly?’

The Doctor continued his search as he replied. ‘He

knows the golden rule.’

‘The golden rule?’

The Doctor paused in his search to explain. ‘The Time

Lords have an unbending rule as to anybody convicted of

spying on them.’

Peri started to get the gist of what Mordant had been up

to. ‘Those other crystals were spying on other Time

Lords?!’

‘The potential was there – yes.’

The Doctor searched on.

‘And Mordant knew the punishment applicable. Hence

his speed at agreeing to destroy the crystals and to forget

his business on that particular planet.’

Peri had the feeling she might not like to know the

answer, but asked the question in any case. ‘And the

punishment?’

The Doctor found what he was looking for, a dog-eared

magazine. He brought it out of the cupboard and closed

the door. ‘Gene manipulation. Mordant’s parents would

have been sought out – and it would have been arranged

that instead of this Mordant being born, another Mordant

would have been born. Minus the desire to spy of course.

Mordant knew that if that happened he’d never make it to

be Salakan’s top salesman which he undoubtedly is. So –

better and safer simply to find another market-place.’

The Doctor blew the dust off the magazine, saying, ‘Just

what we need.’

And with that he headed back to the main cabin, Peri

following. ‘But what is it, Doctor?’

He smiled at her. ‘A holiday brochure. I think we really

could do with a holiday now.’

Peri was suitably pleased. ‘Now that is a great idea!’

The Doctor started flicking through the magazine.

‘Anywhere in particular you’d like to try?’

And in a flash Peri had it. ‘How about Majorca?’

The Doctor smiled at the thought of her change of view.

‘Good! One last message to Locas to let him know that

Mordant has truly gone, and we’ll be on our way.’

Locas went to his father in the state room to give him the

message that he had just received from the Doctor and

Peri.

It was truly at an end.

His father smiled, relieved, and came to him and took

his hand.

When he spoke there was a softness in his voice that

Locas had never heard before. ‘We parents are funny when

it comes to protecting our children. We try to save them

from as much harm as we possibly can. So much so that

sometimes our children get hurt.’

Locas was totally thrown by the conversation. He had

never heard his father talk in such an emotional way. It

seemed almost as if he was fighting tears.

‘There was a father who didn’t want to risk his child

being hurt any further; so he made me promise I would not

speak until the war was at an end, even though it cost me

dear not to speak, because you were also being hurt.’

Locas remembered the cryptic remark his father had

made earlier about some secret he had to reveal, and

wondered if this was going to be it. He waited with bated

breath to hear what was going to be said.

When it came it was a bombshell.

Abatan spoke it very quietly, almost in a whisper, as

though he were afraid to say it aloud in case it turned out

not to be true. What he said was -

’Mariana is not dead.’

Locas’s head reeled with the impact of the news; he

couldn’t believe he had heard correctly. ‘But Father, I saw

her die.’

Abatan shook his head. ‘You saw her fall, Locas.’

He let that sink in before he continued. ‘As she fell, she

closed her eyes, and thought of home, and the parents she

loved. And that is where she safely transported. She was in

a state of shock but safe.

‘Some days later, when she finally recovered enough to

speak, and her parents heard her story, she was banned

from seeing you until the madness was over.

‘Her father told me yesterday that she was alive – but

swore me to secrecy.’

Abatan looked to a guard on the far side who stood by a

small door that led to a courtyard beyond. ‘Open the door,’

Abatan called.

The door was opened, and into the chamber walked

Mariana. Locas ran towards her screaming her name with

joy.

Abatan and the guards simply watched with pleasure as

the children fell into each other’s arms, and embraced for

the whole world to see.

Document Outline

Front cover

Rear cover

Title page

Copyright

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine