Doctor Who_ Mission To The Unknown Part 13

'Quite so,' the Doctor agreed. 'But now we shall never know whom we can trust!'

The conference room on Kembel had a very tense atmosphere.

Though no official meeting had been called, most of the delegates had got into the habit of spending their time there.

Trantis, above all, would stand and stare greedily at the map of the Solar System for long periods.

The Black Dalek noted this carefully. Humanoids were so predictable, so hungry for power. Yet they used it for so foolish an end! Power for the Daleks was simply a means to an end the total subjugation of the Universe to the Dalek will. Their allies at this conference were purely temporary, however deluded the delegates might be on their importance. The only way to subjugate the Universe to the Dalek will was to ensure that the Daleks were the only species left alive in it...

The door to the control room hissed open, and a Dalek moved to join the Black Dalek. 'A report from Earth,' it stated.

'Mavic Chen has almost recaptured the Taranium core, and will return here with it in two days.'

'Have the ones who stole it been exterminated?'

'The report did not say.' The Dalek's eye-stick swivelled to take in Trantis. 'But it is believed they were working under the leadership of Trantis.'

'What?' Trantis spun around, his face dark with anger. 'That is not true! It is a lie concocted by Mavic Chen. He is jealous of my power in the outer galaxies!'

That was only too plausible to the Black Dalek. On the other hand, truth was whatever was useful in a given situation and Trantis was becoming a problem with his continual demands and posturing. Mavic Chen's accusation could be 'proven' if it became necessary to destroy Trantis... as Mavic Chen well knew.

Chen was proving to be a dangerously intelligent ally. 'We shall see,' the Black Dalek finally stated. 'Has the report been confirmed?'

'No,' the messenger answered. 'It was a suspicion only.'

'It's Mavic Chen!' Trantis insisted. 'He's trying to undermine the galactic council with his accusations!'

'When Mavic Chen returns, we shall discover the truth.' The Black Dalek was totally impa.s.sive, as ever. 'Then those who stole the Taranium core will have been identified and exterminated.'

'Now what are we going to do?' Steven asked.

'I don't know,' the Doctor said, thinking furiously. 'But I do think we'd be well advised to get away from here.' He gestured to the body on the floor. 'It's quite likely that Daxter here will be missed very shortly.'

'Good idea,' Bret approved. He levered himself to his feet, and stood, a little uncertainly, on his injured leg.

Steven looked concerned. 'Are you going to be able to walk with that leg of yours?'

'I'll manage,' the agent answered. 'We can get out through the experimental sector. It's usually pretty quiet there, and there are groundcars parked outside. I can probably override one of their computers. It'll speed up our escape.'

'Right,' Steven agreed. 'Let's go.' He walked over to the door, and hit the control to open it. The door hissed aside.

'h.e.l.lo, Bret.' Kingdom stood in the doorway, her gun at the ready.

After a second of shock, Bret exclaimed: 'Sara!' He gave a sigh of relief, and a slight smile. 'Am I glad to see you. I was beginning to think there was no one I could trust.'

Sara had not returned his smile. On the contrary, her gun never wavered for an instant. Icily, she snapped: 'I don't suppose traitors have a lot of friends.'

Bret couldn't believe what she was saying. He groped for words, but none came. The one person he had been certain would help!

She held out her hand. 'The Taranium,' she said, softly.

'Give it to me.'

A sick feeling overwelmed Bret, and he sagged visibly. 'You, too?' he asked, dully. 'You, too?'

Impatiently, Sara moved forward, aiming to search Bret for the core not realizing that the Doctor had it. As she moved, Steven grabbed his chance. He jumped at her, and smashed aside her arm before she could retrain the gun on him. Then he threw her as hard as he could across the room.

'Come on,' he yelled. 'Run for it!'

The Doctor needed no further urging. Together, the two of them dashed into the corridor and away. Bret, hampered by his injured leg, was a little slower. In the doorway, he paused, looking back at Sara, still finding the fact that she was also one of the traitors hard to accept.

Sara had been slightly dazed by the force of the blow, but she shook her head, and staggered back to her feet. What a stupid move! She had been so intent on Bret that she had neglected to watch the other two men carefully enough! She dived for her pistol, and then dashed to the door. Bret was still in sight, limping down the corridor. She brought up her gun and aimed it.

'Stay where you are!' she called, fighting to keep her voice level. She knew what her orders were, but it was simpler to think about killing Bret than actually to do it. Her finger tightened on the trigger, and Bret refused to stop.

She fired, closing her eyes at the last second. She heard the thud of Bret's body hitting the floor, and then she opened her eyes and looked. He was down, but not quite dead. Sara hurried over to him, and turned him gently on his back.

His eyes were open, and filled with pain. It was more than physical pain though that must have been extreme, and it was astonishing that he was still clinging to life. 'How?' he whispered.

'How could... Mavic Chen... have bought you? How?' His will could not hold his wrecked body together any longer. With a sigh, he died.

Sara laid him gently to the floor, fighting back the emotion that threatened to wash over her. She also held back from thinking about Bret's last words. There were still two intruders to kill.

Steven and the Doctor dashed past a sign that warned special pa.s.ses were needed to enter the next area. The last thing on their minds at the moment was approval for their various trespa.s.ses. They ran through the only door opening from the corridor.

They were in a perfectly blank room. Its white walls were devoid of features, and there was no other way out. The only thing in the room besides themselves was a strange-looking machine about the size of a man, and vaguely pyramid-shaped.

'No time to retrace out steps,' the Doctor gasped. All this exercise was quite fatiguing. At his age, he shouldn't be expected to run all the time. 'Let's hope that woman thinks we've gone elsewhere.'

Steven closed the door. 'Did you see anything of Bret?' he asked, softly. The Doctor shook his head. Steven was worried, but there was no way of checking on their friend without the risk of running into that other agent. 'Well,' Steven whispered finally, 'what do we do now?'

From the expression on the Doctor's face, the same question was going through his mind also. There was no need for him to answer, because at that moment the door opened.

Sara stood in the doorway, gun in hand. The two men stared at her in amazement. What idiots! Did they think they could escape her heat sensors by running? She brought her weapon to cover them both. 'You are trying to escape,' she said, flatly. 'That means I shall have to kill you.'

12.

Counter-plot

In another room of the experimental complex, Froyn and Rhymnal eagerly exchanged delighted smiles. Both men had been working for several years on a particularly tricky and delicate experimental procedure which was finally about to be tested for the first time. Both men hovered around a central panel in a room lined with computers. Even with the sophisticated machines of the year AD 4000, the amount of calculating needed to get this experiment perfect was staggering.

Vast rows of humming computers worked through the figures, projections, energy requirements and safety margins. The expenditure of energy alone in this experiment was horrendously high Froyn had often quipped that he was glad it wouldn't be on his personal debit. Only the Government of the Solar System could ever have afforded even to think about trying this experiment.

Rhymnal checked the final couplings, and smiled. 'Power flow is at maximum,' he reported for posterity. Naturally, they were recording the whole experiment. Everything was looking good.

'All instrumentation is green,' Froyn added. 'Starting transmitter.' He hit the controls for this, and then nodded.

'Transmitter functioning perfectly.'

Powering up another panel, Rhymnal said: 'Disseminators active. Cellular charge projecting is holding steady.'

Taking a deep breath, Froyn sat at the final control panel. It was all looking excellent. 'Countdown commencing. Ten, nine...'

In their featureless room, the Doctor and Steven were completely at the mercy of Sara Kingdom. 'Right,' she said, 'I'll give you five seconds to band over the Taranium.'

Neither of the men moved, and Sara took a step forward. At that second, the pyramid-shaped machine in the centre of the room sprang to life. Though they could not know it, the three of them were watching the transmitter powering up. They were actually standing in the room where Froyn and Rhymnal's experiment was to be conducted. In some bewilderment, Sara glanced nervously around. The featureless walls suddenly began to pulse with an inner fire.

Sara spun around, but the door through which she had entered was locked. The roof now began to pulse with the mysterious light, and then everything suddenly went white. She felt as though every fibre of her body was being stretched, strained and snapped. Awash with pain, her consciousness evaporated.

'High negative absorption,' Froyn reported, as the power discharge sent through the experimental chamber began to fall.

'Power down now.'

Rhymnal was having a difficult time keeping a smile from his face. Scientific detachment! he reminded himself. 'Projection wave is in synchronization with target figures.' He could barely keep the excitement out of his voice. 'All instruments show perfect dissemination.'

Nodding, Froyn shunted in the electronic brains. 'All controls now on to computer monitoring.' He sat back, and let out a whoop of sheer joy.

Rhymnal's face cracked from side to side in a huge smile.

'Perfect,' he crowed. 'Absolutely perfect!'

'Like a dream,' Froyn agreed. He switched on a monitor, which showed the room in which Sara had confronted the Doctor and Steven. It was perfectly empty now. The walls and roof had returned to their normal white state. The transmitter had also vanished.

The two men had very little to do for this stage of the experiment, but neither of them could simply sit still and wait.

They occupied themselves taking totally unnecessary readings that showed the energy beam was functioning exactly in accordance with their computer projections. As they worked, the door opened.

Annoyed at the interruption, Froyn glanced up. 'Who the devil are you, and who let you in here?' he demanded.

The man was dressed in black, and carried a gun in his hand. He was dark, tall and muscular, but his face looked distinctly worried. He flashed a computer ID card at them.

'Borkar,' he snapped. 'SSS.' He gestured back over his shoulder.

'That room down the corridor there what's going on? I can't get into it.'

'Your not supposed to get into it,' Rhymnal replied, angrily.

'That's why there are all those "Keep out" notices plastered all over the walls. Now, kindly go away and leave us alone. Were in the middle of a very sensitive experiment which has already been cleared by security.'

'I don't much care what you're in the middle of,' Borkar said, coldly. 'This is a security matter now.'

Rhymnal sighed in exasperation. Just like the security people to start getting fussy right in the middle of the crucial phase of their operations! They'd probably neglected to fill out some obscure form in triplicate a month ago, and the loss had just been noted. Typical. 'Look, what's this got to do with the cellular projector?'

'You what? I don't care about projectors I want to know about that room. One of our agents went into it, chasing a couple of suspects.'

'What?' Both Froyn and Rhymnal suddenly looked horrified, the blood draining from their faces.

'I'm her back-up,' Borkar explained. 'When I tried to open the door, it was shut fast. Then there was some kind of a power surge. I followed the pa.s.sage down to here.'

The two scientists exchanged very worried looks. Rhymnal finally asked: 'You say that there were people inside the projector?'

'Projector?' Borkar still had no idea what they were talking about. 'There are three people inside that room, and the door is locked. Two of them are very dangerous criminals. Now, throw your switches or whatever you do and unseal those doors so that I can get inside and help my leader.'

Rhymnal shook his head, slowly, still trying to comprehend the magnitude of this disaster. 'It wouldn't do any good, I'm afraid. The projector has already been activated.'

'What the devil are you talking about?' Borkar yelled.

Froyn answered him, softly. 'What we is that anyone who was inside that room is no longer to there. It's a cellular projector, and everything that was inside that room is being transmitted through s.p.a.ce.'

Helpfully, Rhymnal added: 'They're part of a wave-front of energy that is travelling through our Galaxy at many times the speed of light. They're billions of miles from here now if they are still alive.'

The delays were becoming quite irritating now. The Black Dalek spun to face the communications technician again. 'Is there any further report from Mavic Chen?'

'No.' The technician examined its panel. 'There has been none now for over two hours.'

Trantis felt elated by this news. 'Perhaps,' he suggested, carefully, 'Mavic Chen erred when he told you that he could recover the Taranium core as he erred when he suggested that my people were behind the theft?'

The Black Dalek had no time for the petty feuds of these foolish humanoids. 'Mavic Chen will recover the core,' it stated firmly. 'Failure to do so will lead to his immediate extermination.'

'That could be a trifle difficult,' Trantis pointed out. 'After all, the Guardian of the Solar System is on Earth now and out of reach of your weapons.'

The eye-stick spun to focus on him. 'Nowhere is out of reach of the Daleks,' the Black Dalek grated, ominously. 'We repay failure with death. Do not forget that. Ever.'

Trantis huddled deeper into the shadows, knowing that he had been given his own warning and that there would be no more.

The laboratory was becoming quite crowded by now. Borkar had made a short report over his communicator to his superiors.

Karlton and Mavic Chen had arrived as swiftly as they could, to the disgust of Froyn and Rhymnal. The two men simply wanted to continue with their readings. Three people in that room had added ma.s.s they hadn't taken into account when they had powered up the transfer beam. Who knew what it might have done to their experiment?

Mavic Chen's view of the situation was far different. He eyed agent Borkar in barely contained fury. 'I understand that you let the traitors escape!' he accused.

'Well, not exactly,' Borkar said, carefully. Answering in person for failure to the Guardian was not a way calculated to get an agent promotion. 'You see...'

Cutting him off, Chen demanded: 'Do you have them or not?'

'No, sir.'

Chen looked at him angrily, then bit back his wrath. 'Very well. Give me your report.'

Smartly, Borkar did so. 'Sir, I was back-up to agent Kingdom. She killed the traitor Vyon, then pursued the two remaining suspects into what we both believed was a normal room. When I attempted to follow to a.s.sist her, the door was locked.' He gestured at the two scientists, who were struggling to get around the other men m the room to take their readings.