Doctor Who - The Colony Of Lies Part 4

"Who else is it going to be?"

As the Doctor and Zoe made their way towards the light, neither of them was aware that a security system had been triggered by their travelling companion. Relays that had been inactive for over a century suddenly burst into life. Electronic messages ran back and forth from sensors in the bulkhead to a central command-processing unit. Rendered in audible fashion the signals would have sounded like a trill of bleeps and high-pitched tones. Translated into colloquial English they might have sounded more like this: What the h.e.l.l was that banging?

No idea.

Check it out.

I"ll just send Bob. No need for a general call-up, eh?

Just get him down there now and get him to tell us what"s happening then!

Okay, okay, keep your hair on...

Impatient to reach some open air Zoe had taken the lead, but found that she had to keep going back to fetch the Doctor as he became fascinated by some piece of equipment or another.

Finally she"d grabbed his hand, and started to drag him along. She suddenly felt his hand pull away from her and heard a strangled cry. Turning, she saw that the Doctor was being held by a newcomer - some kind of humanoid robot.

For a moment Zoe thought that the Doctor had been wrong and it was a Cyberman, but a second glance told her that this wasn"t one of the semi-organic monsters who had attempted to invade the Wheel. This robot was white and silver, its limbs solid steel cylinders with bulkier hands and feet. Zoe could see that one of the panels on the bulkhead had opened and she guessed this was where the robot had come from so quickly and silently.

Unlike the robot servitors she had known on the Wheel this was a basically humanoid creature, a primitive android, although the metallic arms and control cables made it look more like an animated drawing of a human skeleton and nervous system than a real person. It had gripped the Doctor around the neck, tightly. Zoe could hear the Doctor gasping for breath and knew she had to act quickly. The robot attacker didn"t seem to have any means of expressing itself and Zoe had a hunch that it was a relatively unsophisticated machine. It seemed to be a fighting robot, programmed for defensive and offensive action, but little else. If she could just make it regard her as a more immediate threat surely it would leave the Doctor alone.

Zoe cast about for something she could use to attack the robot. Her eyes lighted upon what was could only be a fire extinguisher. She grabbed the small metallic tube and pointed the nozzle in the direction of the robot. She felt a bit of a fool but it was a weapon of sorts.

"Let the Doctor go," she ordered the robot, more in hope than expectation. The robot took a step forward, without releasing its grip on the Doctor at all. Zoe fingered the firing mechanism and shot a burst of the chemical fire r.e.t.a.r.dant into the metallic face" of the warrior robot. Instantly it re-evaluated her status, and elevated her to enemy number one.

Dropping the Doctor like a sack of potatoes, it strode forward with unexpected speed and wrenched the extinguisher from her grasp, before advancing on Zoe. Unable to help herself, Zoe let out a high-pitched scream.

On the floor the Doctor was recovering from his ordeal with his customary speed. He had already pulled out his trusty sonic screwdriver and was making adjustments to it. By now Zoe was in the grip of the robot, which had lifted her by her neck into the air. Zoe was sure it was about to snap her neck like a twig but to her intense relief the Doctor activated the sonic device and the robot instantly froze. The Doctor helped her prise the robotic hands from her neck and she dropped to the floor.

While Zoe recovered her breath the Doctor took a quick look at the robot, uncovering a service panel and exposing its electronic innards. "A kind of walking weapon?" suggested Zoe.

The Doctor nodded. "Effective but limited. I"ll just have to wipe its short-term memory. We don"t want its command systems to get the wrong idea about us, do we?"

The Doctor made a few pa.s.ses with the sonic device and then sealed the unit back up. The robot sprang back to life and retraced its steps into the bulkhead. A smooth door slid back into place and, a few moments later, there was no sign that the robot had ever been there.

"What was something like that doing on a colony ship?"

wondered Zoe. The Doctor shrugged. "To defend the colonists from any hostile local wildlife, perhaps? They don"t appear to have needed it though.

"Do you think there are any more of them behind there?"

Zoe asked, looking back along the length of the bulkhead.

The Doctor shook his head. "What would be the point of that?

If each of those panels contained one of those you"d have a virtual army. I hardly think a colony ship would make s.p.a.ce for a robot army, do you?"

Zoe had to admit that it was unlikely. But then, she added, it was fairly unlikely that the systems to waken a defence drone like that were still active after the crash. The Doctor shook his head in disagreement. "Some of these things can remain dormant for centuries, even longer. You"d be surprised, Zoe."

In fact, hundreds of kilometres above the surface of the planet, something was happening that perfectly demonstrated the Doctor"s point. Slowly and majestically the ECSV Hannibal Hannibal was moving into orbit. On board, the crew were still scanning in vain for further radio contact from the rebel colonists. Their communications equipment scanned every conceivable wavelength and frequency but found only static. was moving into orbit. On board, the crew were still scanning in vain for further radio contact from the rebel colonists. Their communications equipment scanned every conceivable wavelength and frequency but found only static.

However, there were signals travelling in the other direction: from planetary orbit to the surface of the planet.

Signals that were cloaked and shielded and beyond the Hannibal's ability to detect. ability to detect.

Inside an artificial satellite, disguised as an asteroid, the arrival of the Earth Colony Support Vessel had been registered by automatic systems that had been dormant for even longer than the ones the Doctor and Zoe had just tripped. Recently reactivated when Max Forde had first powered up some of the systems inside the alien bunker on the planet, the Planetary Defence System was now, once again, primed and ready for action. The asteroid-based weapons were brought on line and targeted on the approaching ship. After scans failed to recognise the Hannibal, an electronic decision was made and the signal to fire was given. But although the defence systems had survived in standby mode for over a century, the ammunition had not. The offensive weapon energy cells were depleted: no offensive firepower was available to destroy the ship. an electronic decision was made and the signal to fire was given. But although the defence systems had survived in standby mode for over a century, the ammunition had not. The offensive weapon energy cells were depleted: no offensive firepower was available to destroy the ship.

Unable to fulfil its primary programming, the system moved to a secondary function and sent a signal to its base on Axista Four from which the artificial asteroid had been launched a hundred years ago.

Although the Hannibal Hannibal was incapable of registering the signal, there was another facility with the ability both to receive the signal and react to its instructions. In the alien bunker communications computers that had not functioned for years suddenly flickered into activity. was incapable of registering the signal, there was another facility with the ability both to receive the signal and react to its instructions. In the alien bunker communications computers that had not functioned for years suddenly flickered into activity.

Max Forde, checking the aliens in their suspended animation cabinets, saw no clue to this activity. The feint hum of the alien technology that had been a constant since he had first found the hidden bunker merely increased by a tiny fraction, but Max didn"t notice the minor change in tone.

He took one last look at the strange canine-like but humanoid aliens - and the parasitic creatures stuck to their chests - and headed for the exit.

Moments later, the main computer responded to the instruction from the orbiting defence station and fired a sequence of signals to the first of the sleeping pods. There was no immediate reaction from the aliens themselves, but had Max still been there he might have noticed a subtle twitching in the parasite creatures as their skin began to turn from brown to a vivid green.

It was not much of a posse, but this late in the Planet Fall celebration it had been hard to round up many who were capable of mounting any defence against the suspected Realist raid. In the end, Tam had to settle for a small party consisting of himself, the inevitable Val Freedom and the Fison brothers, two Gen-Two boys who had an allergy to alcohol and were, therefore, the only volunteers that he could guarantee to be totally sober. All four were armed with a combination of rifles and handguns.

Cal Fison led the way, carrying a heavy searchlight-style torch to penetrate the dark of the ship. The raiders would no doubt be looting the stores in the remaining holds and that was where the posse would look for them first. But they would at least have the advantage of light.

The Doctor and Zoe had come to an enforced stop. Their path blocked by a small mountain of debris above which, tantalisingly, was a rip in the fabric of the ship"s hull displaying the darkening sky.

"I don"t think we can get up to it, can we, Doctor?" Zoe said in a disappointed tone.

The Doctor sighed and shook his head. "No, I rather think we can"t," he said, extending a comforting arm around her shoulders and pulling her around to face back the way they had come.

"Are you sure we can"t get back to the TARDIS and go, just for once?" she pleaded.

"Not without Jamie," was the Doctor"s only reply. Zoe felt a pang of guilt. How could she have forgotten Jamie like that?

"Did I hear someone mention my name?" A familiar voice emerged from the darkness, followed a moment later by the equally familiar figure that accompanied it. Jamie was slightly embarra.s.sed when Zoe flung her arms around him and gave him a welcoming hug, no doubt all the stronger for her moment of guilt.

"And who"s your friend, Jamie?" asked the Doctor with interest.

Zoe disentangled herself from her Scottish friend and looked past him to see what the Doctor was talking about.

Another figure stepped forward from the darkness. To Zoe"s relief it was a young boy, tall and handsome but hard to put an age to. Zoe thought he was probably in his mid-teens but he could easily have been older. Jamie made the introductions, happy for once to be in possession of more facts about the place where they had landed than even Zoe and the Doctor.

"This is Billy Joe," he began but before he could complete the social niceties he was caught in the glare of a powerful spotlight. Peering through the slit between his fingers he could just about make out a humanoid figure shining a torch down on them from an upper deck, through the gaping hole in the floor. Three other men were with him.

"Put your hands up and don"t move," ordered a voice from another position and a man emerged from the shadows pointing a rifle at them. As he approached he clicked the safety off. As usual, the Doctor didn"t seem to be at all surprised to be surrounded by strangers pointing weapons at him.

"Well, which is it?" he demanded petulantly. "Do you want us to raise our hands or not move? We can"t do both. They"re mutually exclusive you see..."

Shielding his eyes with his hand, the Doctor peered up in the general direction of the newcomers. Seconds later he had an answer as a shot rang out...

"Doctor!" cried Zoe as the Doctor spun round and fell to the floor.

EPISODE TWO.

Chapter Four.

A single shot rang out, and Jamie watched in horror as the Doctor spun around on his toes and fell heavily to the floor.

"Get down," he heard his own voice cry out and he was pleased to see Zoe and Billy Joe doing just that as he flung himself to the side and down, rolling out of the glare of the spotlight.

The beam of light swung around looking for them, but Zoe, Billy Joe and Jamie had taken the chance to find better hiding places. From his position, tucked in behind what had once been some kind of drinks machine, Jamie looked back into the area where they had been caught. As the arc of light swept over the area again he noted with a combination of amazement and concern that the Doctor"s p.r.o.ne figure was no longer anywhere to be seen. A voice in his ear nearly made Jamie jump out of his skin. "I thought that might make them stop and think."

Jamie whirled round and there was the Doctor, smiling broadly as if this was all a game of hide and seek. "Doctor," he whispered, "could you nae have let us know you were okay when you went down?"

"Was it very convincing?" the Doctor asked hopefully. "I do hope so. You see, in my experience people firing a warning shot like that rarely expect to hit anything. Always do the unexpected, Jamie. Keeps people on their toes."

"Ah well, it did that sure enough."

"Let"s work our way round to Zoe over there and get out of here before they find us."

They could hear the angry voices of Tam"s posse clambering down from their lofty positions, clearly intending to pursue them on the same level. And then they heard some more shooting. But this time it was clear that they were not the targets.

"I don"t Like the sound of that," said the Doctor as he and Jamie rejoined Zoe and Billy Joe. "Are they confused as to where we are?" he asked the boy Billy Joe shook his head.

"Guess they"ve found someone else in the No-Go Zone for shooting practice."

"No-Go Zone?" repeated Zoe, puzzled.

"Yeah, this entire wreck is off-limits. That"s why the Gen-Twos get so totally flat-lined over intruders. Don"t matter to them whether it"s Realists or anyone else."

Jamie was shaking his head. "I didnae catch a word of that!"

Zoe couldn"t resist digging him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Now you know how we feel trying to decipher your dialect!"

she teased.

"At least I"m talking English!" retorted Jamie.

"And so is our friend here. Aren"t you?" added the Doctor, addressing Billy Joe directly. "Mid-twenty-sixth century, unless I"m much mistaken..." The Doctor pondered a moment and then spoke again to the young colonist. "Those Gen-Two guys just don"t scan a "cept do they?"

Zoe and Jamie exchanged a look of horror; the Doctor was talking nonsense, surely? But Billy Joe was slack-jawed in amazement, grinning and nodding his head.

"You"re pretty high-spec for a Gen-Zero."

"Why, thank you," replied the Doctor, pleased with himself.

"I"ve always felt I had a certain way with language..."

Zoe"s mind was on more practical matters. The sounds of gunfire were continuing, and she had a nasty suspicion that they were getting nearer. "So who are the Realists, then?" she asked, picking up on something Billy Joe had said a moment ago.

"Really, Zoe, this is no time for abstract philosophy,"

muttered the Doctor before the conversation was completely overtaken by events as a man suddenly fell from the sky, dropping his rifle. Billy Joe realised that it was a man he"d not seen for years, one of the rebels who"d left at the time his father had died. He thought the man"s name was Gathan.

But his ident.i.ty was not really important any more, as he was dead as a doornail. Suddenly the gun battle that had been raging was all around them. Run!" ordered the Doctor, not for the first time in his long life, and, taking Zoe by the hand, he started zigzagging away from the conflict. Jamie would have followed but he noticed that Billy Joe was transfixed, rooted to the spot, looking at the blood still pouring out of the multiple wounds on the Realist"s chest.

"Come on," Jamie said urgently, "we have to get out of here."

He grabbed the boy by the shoulders and shook him. Come on!" Billy Joe seemed to come to with a start, as if suddenly aware of his surroundings. "This way," he suggested and led Jamie towards a wall where a grille led to a service duct.

"But the Doctor and Zoe went the other way," Jamie began to complain, but even as he spoke he knew it was too late.

The two opposing forces were now between them and the Doctor; there was no way to take the same route. Despite his best intentions, they had been separated.

Hali couldn"t work out what had gone wrong. They"d reached the ship without being seen and used one of their regular routes into the remains of the cargo holds. They"d quickly filled their bags with as much loot as they could reasonably manage and within an hour of entering they had been ready to begin the journey home. And that was when everything had become complicated. En route En route to their exit they"d suddenly heard gunfire. Gathan, thinking he had been shot at, fired off a shot in return, which rather exposed their position. to their exit they"d suddenly heard gunfire. Gathan, thinking he had been shot at, fired off a shot in return, which rather exposed their position.

Suddenly, they"d found themselves face to face with a quartet of Loyalists, armed and in a dangerous mood. They"d tried to make a run for it but the Loyalists had the advantage of knowing the territory better and it was a struggle to make any progress. Then Gathan had suggested that they split up - Lord knows why she had listened to him but she had.

Gathan had set off at angle, intending to draw their fire - which he did. Unfortunately he did it too well and paid the ultimate price. Chamick had been next, shot in the back as they had stopped to discuss their next move. Now it was just herself and Saro.

Hali moved slowly along a corridor, trying to progress as quietly as she could. She stopped, listening hard, trying to work out where the posse was now. She knew they were outnumbered and was beginning to wonder whether she would ever get back to Max. She couldn"t hear the Loyalists; the guns had gone silent, but she could hear a metallic rustling. It seemed to be coming from behind the wall.

Suddenly a grille popped out and a face appeared.

"Don"t shoot, don"t shoot me!" said the youth who squeezed himself out of the grille keeping his hands held high. A moment later a second youth appeared, older than the first and wearing some kind of skirt. He too held his hands up and let the younger man do the talking.

"Are you Realists?" he demanded. Hali nodded. The boy smiled. "Promise to take me to your base and I"ll get you out of here. I know my way around."

Hali frowned, trying to weigh up the boy.

"You want to leave Plymouth Hope?"

"I want to live in the twenty-sixth century not the Dark Ages!"

Hali glanced at Saro, who shrugged. It was up to her. Hali looked again at the two youths, unarmed and innocent-looking, and decided to risk it.

"Okay. Deal."

Jamie watched as the blonde-haired woman shook Billy Joe"s hand. He wasn"t sure that going with these people was the best idea but it had to beat staying here with people shooting at him. And he knew that Zoe would be all right with the Doctor. Or at least he hoped she would be. He climbed back into the service duct to take up the rear position in their little convoy and pulled the grille back into place.

Zoe was running as fast as she could, still holding the Doctor"s hand. She"d never had much time for exercise in her old life, on the Wheel. Oh, she"d put in the regulation hours on the treadmills and exercise bikes, but she"d never found much pleasure in the task, preferring to spend her leisure time absorbing data from every source she could lay her hands on. Since leaving the Wheel, however, all she ever seemed to do was run. Running for cover, running for her life, running away from some monster or another. At least here it was just people she was running from, albeit people with guns. She was beginning to tire of monsters. The Doctor stopped suddenly and Zoe, caught by surprise, thundered into his back.

"Sorry Doctor, what -?" she began but then she fell silent as she saw the reason for the Doctor"s sudden halt. A large angry-looking man with a scruffy beard was standing in front of them holding an old-fashioned rifle in his hands, which was pointing directly at the Doctor"s chest. The Doctor raised his hands, slowly. The man let the rifle drop slightly, acknowledging the Doctor"s surrender.