Doctor Who: The Sea-Devils (16 page)

The Chief Sea-Devil’s sentence ended there because a bullet from a .44 service rifle, travelling at three times the speed of sound, and fired by one Petty Officer Myers, had just entered and destroyed its brain. The Chief Sea-Devil fell backwards, dead before its huge body hit the floor.

Petty Officer Myers stood in the doorway and Iowered his rifle. ‘Is one of you gentlemen the Doctor?’

‘I am,’ said the Doctor. ‘What’s happened?’

‘All these creepy-crawly things had some sort of a fit,’ said the petty officer. ‘It lasted long enough for Captain Hart to release all us prisoners, and get our guns back to us. Now that we’ve fought off the monsters Captain Hart would now like to see you, sir.’

‘Yes, of course,’ said the Doctor. ‘I want you to keep an eye on this man,’ and he indicated the Master. ‘Under no circumstances may he leave here. Where is the captain?’

‘Admin. block,’ said the petty officer. He looked at the Master distastefully. ‘Don’t worry, sir. I’ll look after him.’ The Doctor hurried away.

The Master looked down at the Chief Sea-Devil’s body. ‘You have just killed one of the most intelligent creatures that ever walked on this earth,’ he told Petty Officer Myers.

‘Really, sir?’ said the petty officer. ‘They look like big frogs to me.’

The Master turned to the petty officer. ‘You’ve misunderstood the whole situation. Are you aware of that?’

The petty officer found that the Master was staring straight into his eyes. He did not feel very sure of himself. ‘I’ve misunderstood, sir?’ he said.

‘I am the Master, and you will obey me. Do you understand that?’

Petty Officer Myers felt a strange swimming sensation in his mind. ‘You are the Master,’ he repeated slowly, ‘and I shall obey.’

‘Unload your rifle,’ said the Master, still fixing the petty officer’s eyes with his steady stare.

Like a sleep-walker, the petty officer unloaded his service rifle.

‘Put your rifle to one side,’ said the Master.

The petty officer obeyed the command.

‘I am sorry to leave you,’ said the Master. ‘But I have urgent business elsewhere. Remain exactly where you are.’

‘I shall remain exactly where I am,’ said the petty officer.

The Master, however, did not hear the petty officer’s words because he was already running as fast as he could towards the quay, taking the re-activating device with him.

On the way to the administration building, the Doctor had to take cover as fighting broke out between naval ratings and a small pocket of Sea-Devils who were now trying to escape. There were three Sea-Devils hiding behind a naval bus, using rayguns on the sailors. The sailors, numbering twenty, kept up a volley of fire. Very soon another group of sailors, all armed, worked their way in behind the Sea-Devils. The battle was quickly over.

The Doctor continued on his way, then from the corner of his eye saw the Master racing towards the quay. The Master jumped into a motor-boat, started the engine and roared out towards the sea. The Doctor realised there was no time to call for help. He ran to the quay, found another motor-boat, jumped into it, and fired the motor.

The Master drove his boat in a dead straight line towards the oil-rig. Once in the open sea both boats had to contend with choppy waves; the Doctor, being in the wake of the Master’s boat, also had to contend with the wash of the boat he was pursuing. Frequently, the Master slewed his boat from side to side, to put up more wash against the oncoming Doctor, and possibly to overturn the latter’s boat. As his small craft bucked about like a wild horse, the Doctor steered straight ahead. Because the Master zig-zagged to put up more wash, and because the Doctor kept straight ahead, by the time that they neared the oil-rig the Doctor’s boat had caught up with the Master. The Doctor overhauled his boat, then came across his bows. In the moment that the two boats touched, the Doctor leapt into the Master’s boat, pushed the Master aside and stopped the motor.

‘You’re coming back with me,’ he told the Master. ‘On the contrary,’ said the Master. ‘I think you are coming with me. They’re waiting for us.’

The Master indicated the sea around them. It was swarming with Sea-Devils. Now, coming up from below, were two of the pod-like capsules into which the Sea-Devils had drawn the Doctor from the diving-bell.

‘This time,’ the Master smiled, ‘I don’t think they will listen to you at all, Doctor. You will work on the task that I set you. After that, neither I nor my friends will have any further use for you.’

Captain Hart’s office was a mess. In the fighting that took place after Hart had released the sailor prisoners, parties of naval ratings with guns had searched every part of the Naval Base seeking Sea-Devils. A group of Sea-Devils had been found in Captain Hart’s office, and a battle had raged in there. The burning effect of the Sea-Devils’ rayguns was to be found on the door and walls, and rifle bullets had smashed through the furniture and windows. As ratings lifted out the bodies of dead Sea-Devils, Captain Hart was trying to telephone his superiors in London, but the ’phone wires had been cut in the fighting.

‘There is no need to speak to anyone in London,’ said Mr. Walker. ‘I can tell you what must be done. We need a massive underwater nuclear strike—immediately!’

Captain Hart put down the useless telephone.‘I couldn’t do that without orders from the Admiralty.’

‘Leave the question of orders to me,’ said Walker.

Jo spoke up. ‘Shouldn’t we wait till the Doctor gets here? You ought to listen to his opinion.’

‘According to your very own words,’ Walker said to Jo, ‘your friend the Doctor was last seen helping the enemy. In a time of war, people get shot for that.’

Jane Blythe hurried in. ‘Sir,’ she addressed Captain Hart. ‘I’ve found out where the Doctor is. One of the ratings saw him going off to sea in a power-boat.’

‘Going off to sea?’ Captain Hart was astounded. ‘I sent a message for him to come here immediately.’

‘I’m sorry, sir. But that’s what the rating told me. The Doctor seemed to be going after another power-boat.’

‘The Master!’ Jo exclaimed. ‘Can’t you see what’s happened?’

‘I can see very clearly,’ said Mr. Walker. ‘Your Doctor has gone over to the other side.’ He turned to Captain Hart, ‘I am giving you the following order, Captain. Strike, and strike hard, and do it now, using an underwater nuclear warhead. Obey my command, or face a charge of insubordination.’

Captain Hart looked at Jo. ‘I’m sorry, Miss Grant. I shall have to do what I’m told.’

In a workshop section of the Sea-Devils’ base, many fathoms below the surface, the Doctor again found himself being forced to help the Master complete the re-activation device. A Sea-Devil guard remained with them, its raygun pointed at the Doctor.

‘I still don’t understand why you want to help them,’ the Doctor said quietly as they worked.

‘Revenge,’ said the Master, ‘against the entire human race. It was they who sentenced me to life-long imprisonment.’

‘It was they,’ said the Doctor, ‘who did
not
sentence you to death. They had good reason to execute you. Instead, they showed mercy.’

‘For that,’ said the Master, adding another component to the already complex device. ‘I was truly grateful—while I was a prisoner. But now that I’m free, I can think clearly. And I want revenge!’ He looked across curiously at the work the Doctor was doing. ‘What are you up to?’

‘Carrying out your commands,’ said the Doctor. ‘You told me to deal with the polarity of the neutron flow.’

The Master crossed to where the Doctor was working, and looked at the complicated component which he had just attached to the device. ‘Yes, that seems all right. You’re working very well.’

‘Thank you,’ said the Doctor. ‘I think that completes the job.’

Another Sea-Devil entered the workshop. ‘I am now the new leader,’ it said slowly. ‘When will you complete your task? We wish to re-activate our kin throughout this planet!’

‘I’m pleased to report,’ said the Master, ‘that I have just finished.’ He added with a chuckle, ‘With the help of my slave, of course.’

The new Chief Sea-Devil regarded the device. ‘Then put it into operation.’

‘Delighted,’ said the Master. ‘Please stand back, Doctor.’

The Doctor stood away from the device, and the Master switched on the main electrical current. The device started to hum gently.

‘You realise,’ said the Doctor, ‘that it will take some hours for the power to build up.’

The Master ignored the Doctor’s remark, and addressed himself to the Chief Sea-Devil. ‘Within a short time from now you will begin to receive signals from your other shelters and bases as they start to revive from their hibernation. Since we no longer need the Doctor, I suggest you put him into one of your cages.’

‘I agree,’ said the Chief Sea-Devil. It raised its hand and three Sea-Devil guards entered. ‘Put these creatures into the cages. Don’t kill them yet, not until we are sure that their device works.’

The guards grabbed both the Doctor and the Master.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ the Master protested. ‘I am your friend. We made a pact.’

‘We make no pacts with apes,’ said the Chief Sea-Devil. ‘Take them away!’

‘I am a Time Lord.’ screamed the Master as the guards dragged him away. ‘They will destroy you!’

The Doctor walked quietly with the guards to the prison area of the shelter. Ahead in the seemingly endless corridors, the Master struggled between two Sea-Devils, and was partly dragged to the cages. They were put into the same cage, the door was locked, and the Sea-Devils went away. The Master grabbed at the bars of the cage and shouted: ‘I am the Master! I demand to be released!’

There was no answer.

‘You seem to have lost your touch,’ said the Doctor quietly.

The Master turned on him, his eyes blazing. ‘Once they see that the device really works, they will release me!’

‘I doubt it,’ said the Doctor. ‘Just before you switched on, I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow.’

The Master was appalled. ‘You did
what
? There’ll be a reverse feedback into their entire power system! This whole shelter will explode. We’ll be killed!’

‘That’s right,’ said the Doctor, ‘in about ten minutes from now.’

The Master turned back to the gaping hole of the corridor they had been brought down. ‘Guards! Come back! You’ve got to release me!’

‘Even if they listened to you,’ continued the Doctor calmly, ‘which I doubt if they will, it would be no good. I built a destructor mechanism into the major control switch. It cannot now be turned off.’ He felt into his coat pocket and brought out his sonic screwdriver. ‘Now, if you will stand away from that lock, my friend, let’s see what we can do.’

‘Even if you can open that lock,’ said the Master, ‘what then? We’d drown before we ever got to the surface.’

‘Not necessarily,’ said the Doctor. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the lock. From inside the lock they heard a number of clicks, as the internal bars and levers fell back into the unlocked position. ‘There, that seems to have done it.’ He pulled open the door. ‘Now follow me and do exactly what I tell you.’

The Doctor led the Master to where the Sea-Devils had dumped equipment taken from the submarine. They seemed to have lifted out everything removable, including the submarine’s escape apparatuses. The Doctor selected two sets of oxygen canisters, harnesses, and face masks. ‘Get that on,’ he ordered, and the Master obeyed without question.

‘How do we get out of there?’ said the Master, strapping on the harness.

‘The way we came in,’ said the Doctor. ‘There must be an airlock somewhere—the place they brought us in in those pods. Nov follow me.’

As they hurried away from the cages to seek the airlock, the humming sound of the sabotaged re-activation device began to fill the entire underwater shelter.

Fifty feet above the choppy surface of the sea, young Lieutenant Scott held his helicopter in a hovering position. His petty officer navigator looked down at the surface.

‘What are we supposed to be looking for, sir?’ asked the petty officer.

‘One, possibly two, men,’ replied Lieutenant Scott. He looked to a point about a mile away from the oil-rig. A light cruiser was coming in fast. He knew it carried underwater nuclear missiles. Captain Hart had told Scott to do whatever he could to save the Doctor before the missiles were dropped.

‘Down there!’ shouted the petty officer. ‘There’s two of them!’

Lieutenant Scott looked straight below where two heads were bobbing about in the water. ‘Get winching,’ he told his petty officer, then gently lowered the helicopter to within a few feet of the surface. The petty officer threw out the cradle on its long line, and lowered it to within inches of the Master. The Master grabbed at the cradle, heaving himself up out of the water. The petty officer set the electric winch in motion, and wound up the cradle towards the belly of the helicopter. Reaching out, he grabbed the Master’s hand and pulled him inboard. Then he dropped the cradle again to the Doctor. A minute later the Doctor, too, was scrambling inboard.

‘Welcome on board,’ shouted Lieutenant Scott. He pointed to the light cruiser. ‘Just in time, too. That thing’s going to blast those monsters into another world.’

‘It won’t be necessary,’ said the Doctor. ‘At least, I don’t think so.’

Before his words were fully uttered, the sea below them started to boil as a huge explosion took place many fathoms below. The sea rose up in a great mountain of water, foaming white on top, then slowly subsided.

‘Very clever of you,’ said the Master. ‘Do you realise you have just committed mass murder?’

The Doctor looked down at the seething waters as the helicopter turned and flew them back to safety. He said nothing. What the Master had just said was true.

Jo, Captain Hart and Mr. Walker were all waiting at the Naval Base’s heliport as the helicopter slowly dropped down to land. There was an ambulance standing by, with two ambulance men ready with a stretcher. The helicopter landed, and the first out was the Doctor, followed by Lieutenant Scott.

‘Well done,’ said Captain Hart. ‘What’s this about the Master?’