Doctor Who: Space War (12 page)

The Prince roared at her, ‘Be silent, female!

‘Be silent yourself! Doctor, it’s the sound the Ogrons make.’

The Doctor nodded. ‘Your Majesty, I fear something may be very wrong. The ship that’s just landed in your grounds, I beg you to place it under guard immediately.’

‘Under guard?’ said the Emperor. ‘A moment ago you wished me to receive this special mission from the President of Earth.’

‘The Doctor’s changing his tune,’ said the Master, very sure of himself now. ‘He knows that justice is at hand.’

‘Your Majesty,’ said the Doctor, ‘please take warning—’

But he was too late. From outside the throne room they heard the crackle of blaster guns. The guards surrounding the Doctor and Jo turned to the entrance, in time to be shot down by a mob of six invading Ogrons.

‘Soldiers from Earth!’ shouted the Draconian Prince. ‘This is war!

‘They’re Ogrons,’ screamed Jo. ‘And don’t tell me to shut up.’

‘They are Earthmen.’ said the Prince, firing at the Ogrons with a small blaster gun plucked from his sleeve.

The Doctor grabbed Jo’s arm. ‘Don’t stop to argue. Get out of the crossfire! ‘

The Master saw the Doctor propelling Jo to a point of safety behind the Emperor’s throne. ‘Get them,’ he shouted at the Ogrons. ‘Get my prisoners.’

But other Draconian Palace guards had now entered the battle, outnumbering the Ogrons. The Doctor looked out from their point of hiding. ‘They’re being driven off, but the Master’s getting away with them.’

‘Then let him go,’ said Jo.

‘My prisoners,’ shouted the Master, now nearing the door to escape. ‘You must get them. That is a command.’

A huge, lumbering Ogron caught sight of the Doctor’s head and marched across to him, shooting down a Draconian guard in the way. Another Draconian opened fire on the Ogron and he turned to fire back. The Doctor seized his opportunity to attack. Coming up behind the Ogron he applied a Venusian Karate hold to the monster’s thick neck. With painful slowness, the Ogron sank to his knees and finally fell in a faint on the floor. The Doctor looked up to find himself surrounded by menacing Draconian guards. The other Ogrons, with the Master, had disappeared. From the Palace grounds came the roar of a spaceship taking off.

The Prince looked up to his father. ‘Now will you believe in the treachery of Earthmen? They attacked our palace to rescue their agents.’ He turned to the guards surrounding the Doctor. ‘Destroy him! ‘

The guards raised their blaster guns to kill the Doctor.

‘No!’ screamed Jo, with such power that even the guards paused to turn to her. ‘Your Majesty, what do you see lying on the floor here?’

Forgetting the rule that no female might speak in his presence, the old Emperor looked at the prostrate Ogron. ‘I see one of your Earth soldiers, though why your companion attacked him I do not fully understand.’

‘Because he is
not
an Earth soldier,’ said the Doctor. ‘Jo, can you still hear that sound?’

She listened. ‘Yes, but it’s fading. It’s almost gone.’

‘Your Majesty, I beg you,’ said the Doctor. ‘Look again.’

The Emperor blinked and turned back his gaze to the huge form lying unconscious on the throne room floor. The strange sound no longer affected his mind and he saw what he believed to be an Earth soldier turn into an Ogron. ‘Do not destroy him,’ he said, indicating the Doctor who was still threatened by Draconian blaster guns. ‘He has spoken the truth. Now we shall listen to more from him.’

The Master sat at the controls of the Ogrons’ spaceship as it zoomed away from the Planet of Draconia. ‘Not a bad operation,’ he said to the Ogron seated in the co-pilot’s position. ‘But unfortunately you bungled the most important part. You allowed the Doctor to escape.’

‘We rescued you,’ mumbled the Ogron. ‘That important.’

The Master laughed. ‘To me
and
to you! Without me you wouldn’t have enough brains between you to make a wheelbarrow. Anyhow, there is one consolation. The Draconian Emperor is now convinced of the wickedness of Earthmen. With any luck he’ll have the Doctor executed.’

A second Ogron entered the flight deck, his thick-set semi-human face twitching with worry. ‘I count us,’ he said, as though this conveyed all that was on his mind.

‘Marvellous,’ said the Master. ‘Soon you’ll learn to read.’

‘I count us,’ the Ogron repeated. ‘One of us is missing.’

The Master turned. ‘Missing where?’

‘He left behind. Doctor got him.’

‘The Master’s face was suffused with anger. ‘And you let it happen? You great dolts! Once the hypno-sound has faded the Draconians will know who really attacked them.’

‘What must we do?’

‘There’s only one thing we can do.’ replied the Master. ‘The Doctor and his captured Ogron must never reach Earth.’

The Ogron captured by the Doctor lay bound hand and foot on the throne room floor, a Draconian guard standing over him. Conscious now, the Ogron’s eyes darted from the guard to the trio at the foot of the throne steps, the Doctor, Jo and the Prince. He was terrified they would torture hirn now that he was helpless.

‘Have you come round, old chap?’ The Doctor crossed to the Ogron. ‘Why does the Master want war between Earth and Draconia?’

The Ogron replied, ‘We obey the Master.’

‘It hasn’t done you much good, has it? Did he ever explain why he wants to start a major war?’

‘We obey, not ask.’

The Draconian Prince called from where he stood near the throne. ‘Did you attack our spaceships and those of the Earthmen?’

‘We obey...’

‘I shall use the mind probe on him,’ announced the Prince. ‘That will force him to talk.’

‘You’ll be wasting your time,’ said the Doctor. ‘The Ogrons have the greatest defence of all—stupidity. He hasn’t got a mind to probe!’

‘I should like to ask something,’ said the Emperor in his fragile, high-pitched voice. ‘Why did that sound make us see this creature as a soldier from Earth?’

‘Because you’re frightened of the people from Earth,’ said Jo.

‘Be silent, female!’ roared the Prince. ‘Draconians fear nothing.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ she retorted. ‘Of course you do. You fear them and they fear you. That’s why when Earthmen heard the sound, they saw Draconians.’

‘It’s true.’ said the Emperor. ‘We both fear each other.’

‘And fear breeds hatred,’ said the Doctor. ‘Fear leads people into war.’

The Emperor slowly, thoughtfully, nodded his head. ‘As happened before with the terrible cost of life. We shall tell the Earthmen what has happened here. They too must know the truth.’

‘They will not believe us,’ said the Prince.

‘Your son is right,’ added the Doctor. ‘Therefore I suggest a special mission be sent to Earth. ‘We can take the Ogron as evidence.’

The Prince hissed. ‘You imagine a Draconian ship can cross the frontier in Space now without being destroyed by the Earth ships? You forget that the two empires are on the verge of war.’

‘Then we can use the ship the Master brought us in,’ said Jo. ‘It’s an Earth police spaceship.’

‘I have warned you,’ said the Prince, cold with anger. ‘Females are not permitted to speak.’

The Emperor raised his claw. ‘The female may speak. We must respect the peculiar customs of our guests.’ He turned to Jo. ‘Your suggestion has merit.’

‘Thank you,’ she replied, then turned to the Prince. ‘See!’

The Emperor continued to speak. ‘You, Doctor, will go with this mission. And you, my son, will lead it.’

Jo made her way down the spaceship’s main corridor to the cage where she and the Doctor had been held prisoner. She carried a container of food for the Ogron who now stood glaring angrily through the bars at his Draconian guard. To Jo’s relief she saw that the Draconians had clamped a new bar into position to replace the one the Doctor had cut away with his string file.

‘I’ve brought you something to eat,’ she announced. ‘This is going to be a long journey to Earth.’

She offered the container at arm’s length. The Ogron reached out a hairy fist and snatched it. He prised open the lid, picked an item wrapped in tin-foil and put it down his mouth.

‘You’re supposed to unwrap the stuff first,’ Jo warned. But the Ogron had already swallowed and was now stuffing his mouth full with another item from the container, tin-foil and all. Jo turned to the Draconian guard. ‘You want to be careful. They’re not as stupid as they look.’

The guard ignored her.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘I know—females are not allowed to speak. I can’t imagine how you treat your poor wives.’ She turned and went to the flight deck where the Doctor was piloting the ship.

The Draconian guard, bored by his task of watching over the ape-like creature in the cage, crossed to a port hole and looked out. While the guard had his back turned, the Ogron took the opportunity to match his strength against the bars of the cage. Exerting great force he fractionally bent two bars, widening the gap between them.

‘The guard turned back from the port-hole. The Ogron slunk into a corner, innocently taking further items from the food container. The Earth girl had said they were in for a long journey. With any luck, the Ogron hoped, the Draconian guard would stop watching over him long enough for a renewed attack on the bars.

Jo returned to the flight deck. ‘Where are we now?’

The Doctor looked at the ship’s instruments, made a rapid mental calculation. ‘Just about to cross the frontier into Earth’s Space.’

She was pleased. ‘That’s good.’

‘Unless your Earthmen destroy us,’ said the Draconian Prince uneasily.

The Doctor smiled. ‘We’re in an Earth police ship, remember, even if it is stolen.’

The Prince was staring at one of the radar screens. ‘What’s that?’ He pointed to a small blob of light on the screen.

The Doctor studied the blob of light. ‘It’s another spaceship. They seem to be following us. I wonder what it can be?’

In the control cabin of the Ogrons’ spaceship the Master was also studying a blob of light on his screen. ‘That must be them,’ he announced to the Ogrons standing round. ‘No other ship would be on course for Earth at a time like this.’

An Ogron spoke up, ‘
We
are on course for Earth.’

The Master sighed with exasperation. ‘Because we are following them, you idiot. Now shut up and let me concentrate.’ In his head he did a sum to work out the relative speeds of the two ships. ‘Soon we shall be in striking distance.’

‘What you will do, Master?’

‘I’d like to take the Doctor alive, if I can. But if not I shall blow him to pieces. A pity, really.’

‘You not wish kill him?’

‘Of course I do, you fool.’ said the Master. ‘But to use rocket fire at long range, somehow it lacks the personal touch! When he dies I want to see the surprised look on his face.’

The Doctor, Jo and the Prince all concentrated on the radar screen. The light blob was very large now.

‘They’re closing in,’ said the Doctor. ‘It may be a frontier patrol ship coming to investigate us.’

Jo said, ‘Can’t we talk to them by radio, say who we are?’

The Doctor nodded. ‘We can try.’ He looked about the controls for the radio-telephone equipment, pulled a microphone close to his lips. ‘This is Earth police spaceship’—he noticed a plate pinned over the instrument panel; it carried a number-’2390, on a special mission to the President of Earth. Do you read me?’

The Ogrons clustering round the Master grinned. One of them voiced their feelings. ‘You very lucky, Master. Out of bigness of Space you find right ship.’

‘This isn’t luck,’ said the Master scathingly. ‘I worked it all out. Once they realised they’d got one of you lot as prisoner, their first thought would he to take him to Earth to show the President. Then they’d realise that a Draconian space ship entering Earth Space at this time would be destroyed out of hand, so they would use the Earth police ship that I inadvertently provided them.’

One of the Ogrons frowned, deep furrows appearing on his sloping primitive forehead. ‘How you know all this when you not talk to them?’

‘I just explained, I worked it out! This is like playing a game of chess.’

‘Chess?’ repeated the Ogron.

‘Oh, forget it!’

The Doctor’s voice came over the loudspeaker a second time. ‘I repeat, this is Earth police spaceship 2390. Do you read me?’

The Master turned to speak into the radio microphone. To the astonishment of the Ogrons, he spoke with a voice entirely different from his own. ‘This is Earth police spaceship 142. Your ship is one that has been reported stolen. You will please reduce speed so that we can board you.’

An Ogron asked, ‘How you make voice different?’

‘Because I’m a genius,’ replied the Master.

The Doctor again spoke into the microphone. ‘Police spaceship 2390 to 142. We have recaptured this ship and are taking it to Earth.’

Over the loudspeaker a voice answered. ‘Reduce speed so that we can board you.’

‘Why should we submit to this delay?’ said the Prince. ‘Our mission has diplomatic immunity.’

‘Unfortunately they don’t know that,’ said the Doc-tor. He turned to the microphone. ‘We are reducing speed as you request.’

Jo looked worried. ‘Doctor, we don’t know that it’s really the police.’

He nodded. ‘Exactly, Jo. I want to get them into the range of the visual scanner.’

The Doctor activated controls that fired one of the forward rocket motors for a five second burst, slowing the spaceship by thousands of miles per minute.

‘Now,’ he said, turning to the controls that operated the external television eyes of the ship, ‘let’s see if we can pick them up on the screen.’

On the monitor screen a spaceship could be seen in the distance. The Doctor adjusted the controls, so that the picture zoomed in on the spaceship.

‘It’s the Ogrons!’ Jo exclaimed.

A blinding flash of light glared on the ship’s starboard side as a rocket-missile exploded. Half dosing his eyes to reduce the glare, the Doctor moved the ship’s directional controls. The ship dived steeply while at the same time swerving to one side. Jo and the Prince were thrown to the floor.