Doctor Who_ Divided Loyalties Part 3

Sarah Townsend seemed equally unfl.u.s.tered as she marched in, a data pad in her hand, reading from the scrolling notes. She liked her pad. And why not? She was one of only three people to have one. Had this been a big frontier-expanded exploration ship everyone would have one.

Probably two or three. But not here. Not on a s.p.a.ce station guarding a silly planet.

Well?'

Sarah was frowning. Nothing sir, except a momentary energy surge in the stacks. Which is odd...'

As there aren't any energy pods or devices in the stacks,'

Oakwood finished.

Kris, this spike happened at exactly the same second we lost contact, give or take a point three shift.'

Exact second?'

As I say...'

Give or take a point three shift. Hmmm' Oakwood stood up and straightened his uniform. Nothing, no matter how insignificant, should be overlooked CPO Townsend. Care to accompany me to the stacks?'

Grinning, Sarah Townsend nodded, automatically tapping her wrist communicator. Mr Braune, meet myself and the commander at Elevator 4, please.' A bleep by way of reply made her smile. Braune, their solitary security officer, had been with them for less than three months and already had it reputation for an inability to waste words.

She followed Oakwood out of his quarters and towards the elevator. Lieutenant Paladopous caught up with them. Hey, bossman, the readings from that energy spike are really weird.

Nothing I've ever encountered before, but at the same time there's nothing to link it with Dymok and the situation down there. It could be a coincidence.'

b.l.o.o.d.y convenient one,' Oakwood snapped. How weird is weird?'

A displacement field in some respects. But whereas our displacement fields are used to move heavy machinery and cargo, this is more like it displaced... well, nothing. And everything. For a moment, it's like the air in the room was just eased around. Compacted.'

Townsend frowned now. You mean, like something replaced the air?'

Molecularly yes. Like something just appeared in there. So the air molecules had to move around to accommodate it.

Which is, of course, nonsense.'

Absolutely. Arrant nonsense,' confirmed Oakwood. Still, let's go see if the laws of physics have been changed or not.'

He buzzed for the elevator and the doors slid open, revealing a bear of a man: Braune.

Morning, Drew,' Oakwood said brightly. Braune nodded his acknowledgement but said nothing. A smile pa.s.sed between Townsend and Paladopous - Braune was acting exactly as they knew he would.

The rest of the elevator trip was in silence until they arrived at the stacks.

The stacks was the station's engine room' - a vast series of interlinked box-like rooms with control panels featuring a life-support system, power, computer relay and similar essentials. There were also, along the walls on the outside of the station, a series of small cargo bays where supplies could be brought aboard and where links to ships could be attached.

The station was not designed to allow them to dock - indeed, the station only possessed one six-man scout craft attached by an umbilical arm directly below the stacks.

It was towards one of the cargo bays that Braune led the officers right now.

Suddenly he stopped and put his hand up, regulation style, to stop them.

They listened.

Voices. No one from the crew should be down here - it was all automated. Besides which, the voices weren't talking about the current problems that were on everyone else's lips.

Pirates?' mouthed Townsend.

Paladopous shrugged but Braune shook his head and mouthed two words back, taking a side-arm from under his jacket as he did so.

Or saboteurs!'

Fascinating structure, this,' the Doctor was saying. One of a cla.s.s of s.p.a.ce station constructed, oh, around the mid-twenty-fourth century, when Earth's empire was at its height.'

Why are humans so interested in empires?' Nyssa asked.

The Doctor stopped suddenly and looked around him in every direction, as if trying to get his bearings. Err... this way I think actually. Sorry, Nyssa? Oh yes, well you see whereas on Traken your union only stretched through five or six planets in your own solar system, Earthmen are a very inquisitive, adventurous breed. They hate confinement, always seeking to better themselves. And in any species, there's always room for improvement. Wouldn't you agree, Tegan?'

Tegan, however, had found something interesting. It was an identification plate embedded in a wall of the corridor.

The Doctor peered at the plate, then breathed hard on it and wiped the bra.s.s clean with his sleeve. Well spotted, Tegan. Yes, look I was right. How nice.' He tapped at the wordage. Look Nyssa, commissioned in two thousand, three hundred and seventy-eight..'

Place looks a bit battered actually.' That was Adric.

The Doctor briefly closed his eyes. Yes, thank you, Adric, you may be right. The structure may have been out here a few years already. But essentially we're looking at a cla.s.sic of its type.' He tapped the nameplate again. Little Boy II,' he read.

How typically human - irony, coincidence or ignorance, I wonder which?'

Nyssa frowned, clearly confused.

Now I have become Death. The Destroyer of worlds. The Doctor peered at the inscription. I do rather hope it's coincidence.' He wandered on and Tegan shook her head at Nyssa's inquiry. The quotation was probably Keats or Wordsworth. Or maybe Sh.e.l.ley - that Ozymandias' thing, perhaps.

Adric pushed past them to keep up with the Doctor and then stopped. Look,' he said, as if he'd discovered a treasure chest rather than a directional indicator. Elevator 4 is this way.'

Why are we suddenly looking for an elevator?' Tegan asked, but before the Doctor could think of an answer, Adric had speeded up his pace and vanished around the corner, in the direction of the elevator.

With a groan, the Doctor started after him and then, as he reached the corner, stopped.

Oh dear,' he said quietly, more to himself than Tegan or Nyssa.

As they caught up with him, Tegan could see the cause of the Doctor's worry.

Adric was being held by a large bearded man who was holding a gun to his head. Three other people, two men and a woman, faced the Doctor and the two girls.

Terribly sorry,' the Doctor began, boyish enthusiasm.

Always gets him into trouble..'

The people opposite him weren't buying any of it.

Who the h.e.l.l are you?'

The Doctor raised his hands in surrender and Tegan did the same. After a moment's pause, Nyssa seemed to grasp the idea of the gesture and did likewise.

h.e.l.lo. My name is the Doctor. If you could just release Adric, it would make discussions less stressful for all of us, you know.'

Instead, the man with the gun gripped Adric tighter, making the boy wince.

The man who had spoken walked forward. Although he wasn't obviously armed, Tegan was impressed by his presence. He seemed to be in his early forties, slightly thinning on top, and with a small scar above his left eye. His rich, jet black skin suggested to Tegan that his origins were probably somewhere in Ethiopia, or whatever the equivalent was by the twenty-fourth century Commander..?' This was a soft warning from the tall, blonde woman behind him. Beside her was a thin man with a lean, but attractive face which, despite his current frown, somehow looked as if it normally never stopped smiling.

The commander held up his hand to her and continued forward. It's OK, Chief. If this doctor makes any untoward moves, Mr Braune will shoot his young friend instantly.'

That really won't be necessary. We're not here to hurt anyone. We are just travellers who got a little lost.'

Yeah, too right,' Tegan heard herself say. She wished she hadn't - and a look from the Doctor suggested he echoed that.

Lost? Out here? I don't think so, Doctor whoever you are.'

The commander didn't seem to be fazed by their appearance, however, Tegan noted. He seemed more curious than worried. You're from Dymok, right?'

Traken actually,' offered Nyssa.

And he's from Gallifrey,' Tegan said.

Again the Doctor screwed up his face in despair.

Hey, she'd only been trying to help.

This is irrelevant,' he said. Please, our... craft is docked in your cargo bay back there. We'll just be on our way and you can forget all about us.'

The commander shook his head, the overhead lights glinting on his high cheekbones and strong jaw. No. I think we need to see a craft that has managed to dock with this station.'

Of course,' the Doctor tutted. No docking system access by transfer tube from a larger ship. This is a Mark VI, isn't it?'

The commander shrugged. He pointed back the way they had come.

I had a model kit of one of these once, you know,' the Doctor continued. Lost the umbilical to the scout ship, though. Broke off I suppose. Nothing lasts..?'

His banter stopped as the commander propelled him onwards with the muzzle of his gun. With a shrug and a sigh, Tegan walked ahead. Guns. Always men with guns...'

Break into s.p.a.ce stations a lot, do you?' That was the woman, the chief. Don't look like traditional s.p.a.ce pirates to me.'

The Doctor started to try and explain the rhetorical nature of Tegan's comment but the fourth, as yet undemonstrative, member of the crew bustled past them, a small portable doohickey bleeping in his hand. Tegan just knew it was homing in on the TARDIS and by the time they all reached the cargo bay, the man was walking around the craft, frowning.

It's here, Commander, and yet it's not. It is registering but constantly fluctuating. It's like this thing isn't real..?'

Thank you, Lieutenant,' the commander said. That's very helpful'

Tegan thought it was quite a good description of the TARDIS - she'd not been travelling in it for more than a few weeks now, and she certainly didn't understand it. However, she expected the Doctor to agree with the lieutenant's description, and was taken aback when he moved away from the commander's gun and s.n.a.t.c.hed the contraption the young man was using right out of his hand.

That's not right..' he muttered. Not right at all.' Then with a long sigh he lowered the device and, with a resigned look on his face, turned towards her.

Tegan, have you been messing with the TARDIS controls again?'

No,' she said. As if he could think she'd do that!

No, Doctor, I am very much afraid to say that was me,' said a new voice, apparently out of thin air.

Because if you have, we could be in trouble,' the Doctor continued as if no one had spoken. I really think it's time we left before involving these poor people in anything...

problematic.'

But Tegan wasn't really concentrating on him. Someone, someone not actually in the cargo bay with them, had spoken. She knew it wasn't just her that had heard it - Nyssa and Adric were frowning, looking around. But the Doctor and the station personnel ignored them, concentrating on the lieutenant's portable device. The Doctor pocketed it and reached out towards the TARDIS. He whipped his hand back suddenly.

A force field!' he exclaimed.

Who spoke just now?' was Tegan's question.

Can someone let me go please,' was Adric's rather feeble whinge. At a nod from the commander the burly security man, Braune, indeed relaxed his grip on the boy, who walked jauntily over to Nyssa. He was all smiles, completely forgetting that it was his pathetic need to explore that had got them into this mess.

But the Doctor took no notice. He was standing staring at the TARDIS door, frowning hard. Then he shoved his hands disgruntledly into his pockets, turned around suddenly and stared at the commander.

Time for the truth I'm afraid, Commander.'

That is rather what I have been asking for,' retorted the older man.

And who who spoke?' asked Nyssa aside to Adric, but he just shook his head. spoke?' asked Nyssa aside to Adric, but he just shook his head.

Tell me when you lost contact with Dymok exactly. And why you haven't reported it to Earth yet, hmmm?'