The Doctor was not to be silenced. "I am sorry, My Lady, but I am not given to violence as the Valeyard here suggests. Occasionally I may be forced to resort to a modic.u.m of force"
"Please be silent, Doctor," interrupted the Inquisitor.
"You will be given ample opportunity to put your case at a later time. Valeyard, I would appreciate it if these brutal and repet.i.tious scenes could be kept to a minimum."
The Valeyard bowed. "My Lady, it is certainly not my wish to cause you an unnecessary affront - but the accused"s offences are such that a certain amount of graphic detail is unavoidable."
The Inquisitor sighed. "Very well. Continue!"
While the Doctor"s party was being marched back through the woods towards the village, Merdeen was moving swiftly through the tunnels. Suddenly Grell appeared in front of him.
He was carrying a loaded hand-crossbow - and the weapon was aimed at Merdeen.
"You seem lost," taunted Grell.
"Not I," said Merdeen. "Although you, Grell, seem to have mislaid your train."
"Stealth is better achieved on foot - especially when we hunt dark secrets."
"I thought we hunted the Doctor," said Merdeen.
"Him too."
Suddenly the voice of Drathro sounded in Merdeen"s helmet.
"Merdeen!"
"Immortal?"
"I have urgent work for Balazar, but I cannot fmd him."
"I will search for him at once, Immortal."
Merdeen moved away. The crossbow in Grell"s hand moved to cover him. "Where are you going?"
"I am commanded by the Immortal to find Balazar. You will continue your search for the Doctor." Ignoring the crossbow, Merdeen moved away.
In the tunnel near the entrance the Service Robot suddenly whirred into life. Lurching a little, it moved away.
In the control room, Tandrell was jubilant. "I did it. I reactivated the robot!"
"I think you"ll find I did it," sneered Humker.
"I did!"
"No, I did it!"
"Silence," roared Drathro. "You drain my energy reserve with your constant infantile bickering."
His two a.s.sistants fell into a sulky silence.
Sitting on her carved wooden throne, before the altar of the Sacred Flame, a triumphant Queen Katryca surveyed her recovered captives. Her eye fastened on a cowering Glitz.
"So," she said silkily, "My hospitality was not to your liking?"
Glitz made a feeble attempt at a smile. "Just needed to step out for a breath of air."
Katryca looked curiously at her one new captive. "And who is this?"
The Doctor beamed. "How do you do? I am known as the Doctor. There"s been a terrible mistake, I really shouldn"t be here."
Katryca studied him. "Another Star Traveller?"
"In a manner of speaking," said the Doctor modestly.
"And are you interested in the great totem of Haldron?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"She means the black-light convertor," muttered Glitz.
"Ah, yes indeed," said the Doctor. "Now, how could you possibly have known that?"
Katryca turned to Broken Tooth. "Has he been searched for guns?"
"He has none, Your Majesty," said Broken Tooth.
"That makes you very unusual - for a Star Traveller, Doctor," said Katryca. "Especially one who is interested in the great totem."
"I"ve come to repair it," explained the Doctor.
"You are prompt, Doctor," snapped Katryca. "Your friends have only just damaged it!"
"Those are not my friends, Your Majesty. And your great totem is not what is seems."
"Please explain."
"Its function is to convert ultra!-violet rays into black light..."
"Interesting," said Katryca. ""Though I do not understand what you are saying."
The Doctor said, "Well, Drathro, the Immortal, depends on black light to function."
Katryca said, "Yet your friend here told me that the totem was a navigational beacon."
"He lies," said the Doctor.
Katryca nodded. "It seems to be a common complaint amongst Star Travellers."
"I am not a liar," protested Glitz unconvincingly.
"How shall I know who lies and who speaks truth," said Katryca. "All I am certain of is that our G.o.ds are angered at your coming. I shall read their wishes in the flames."
The Doctor turned to go. "I"m sorry to appear discourteous, but I really must be getting back to Drathro"
"Remain where you are!" ordered Katryca. The raised spears of her guards reinforced her words.
"You have no quarrel with us," protested the Doctor. He waved towards Dibber and Glitz. "They"re the one"s who destroyed your totem."
"You are all Star Travellers," said Katryca coldly. "Star Travelling is forbidden by the G.o.ds." She pointed to Salazar, who bowed low. "The underground dweller shall be accepted into our tribe. As for the rest - remove them from my sight!"
9.
The Attack of the Robot It had been a long and difficult task manoeuvering the Service Robot up to the Surface, but Humker and Tandrell had managed it at last.
Now the Robot was outside, trundling on its caterpillar tracks through the woods, en route to the native village.
What the robot saw through its vision circuitry was relayed onto the monitor screen.
Tandrell and Humker were surveying the results with distaste.
"All that unpleasant green," said Humker.
"It is "vegetation"," said Tandrell.
Humker looked at the metal shape towering over them.
"Why was it not burned, Drathro?"
"Only part of the planet was consumed by fire."
"But what is the function of this vegetation?" asked Humker.
"It supports primitive life," rumbled Drathro.
"Primitive life is unnecessary," said Tandrell fastidiously.
"So vegetation is unnecessary," concluded Humker.
"Your syllogism is also unnecessary," said Tandrell triumphantly.
Humker scowled. "It is not a true syllogism, Tandrell. It contained only the major and minor premiss."
"It was still unnecessary," said Tandrell petulantly. "Like so much else that you say, Humker."
"See," said Humker, pointing to the monitor. The village wall and the group of stone dwellings beyond had just appeared on the screen.
The Doctor, Peri, Dibber and Glitz were marched into the prison but by Broken Tooth and Balazar.
"Thought we"d seen the last of this place," muttered Dibber.
"Look, Balazar," said the Doctor urgently. "You"ve got to help us get out of here."
Balazar shrank back. "I dare not, Doctor."
Broken Tooth glanced uneasily at the guards outside the door. "The Queen would burn us in your place if we helped you escape."
"If I don"t get out of here we"ll all burn," said the Doctor grimly.
Glitz scowled at him. "Well, you"re the Time Lord.
Haven"t you got a ring you can rub, or a magic lamp?
Something for these little emergencies."
"Hardly," said the Doctor. "More your style, I"d have thought. Anyway, what did bring you here?"
"Purely a private enterprise, Doctor," said Glitz hurriedly. "The collection of a few mouldering files, of no value except to scholars like myself."
"I see. You"re a scholarly philanthropist, are you?"
"My description exactly, Doctor!"
"Who goes around blowing up black-light convertors?"
added the Doctor unkindly.
Glitz shrugged. "A small expediency. If I am to endow a library on my home planet of Salostopus"
"In the constellation of Andromeda?" interrupted the Doctor.
"You know of it?"