11.
Takeover As he stumbled on through the caves, the Doctor was vaguely aware that conditions were far from normal. It was hotter for one thing, and every now and again the ground beneath him seemed to shake and tremble.
He was making his way through a long narrow cave littered with standing boulders when he heard a dull roar from somewhere ahead. The sound became louder and louder, as if something huge was moving towards him. A hot wind rushed down the tunnel.
The Doctor spotted a jagged, flat-topped rock close by.
He began scaling it with painful effort, flattening himself out as he reached the top.
Suddenly a stream of boiling mud flooded through the caves, pouring over the ground and flying through the air at the same time, forced through the caves under pressure by some vast eruption in the seething planetary core.
The Doctor lay flat, shielding his face, waiting until the mud burst had pa.s.sed. He scrambled down from his rock and plodded on his way, slipping and stumbling on a rock floor that was now spattered with deposits of steaming mud.
Like some black phantom, Sharaz Jek hurried through the caves, desperate to reach his base before the next mud burst. He reached the corridor outside the workroom at last. Opening the door he went inside. Peri was still laying on her workbench, wrapped in a blanket.
Tenderly Sharaz Jek lifted her to her feet... The door behind him flew open revealing the pursuing Ch.e.l.lak.
Ch.e.l.lak raised his gun to fire. Without letting go of Peri, Sharaz Jek kicked it from his hand.
With a roar of anger Ch.e.l.lak sprang, bearing both Peri and Sharaz Jek to the ground.
The two men grappled fiercely, rolling over and over, while Peri huddled sobbing beneath her blanket.
Fighting with maniacal strength, Sharaz Jek heaved Ch.e.l.lak to his feet, forcing him back towards the open door.
Struggling desperately, Ch.e.l.lak tried to get a grip on Sharaz Jek"s throat. His hands slipped upwards, and somehow he tore the mask away from Sharaz Jek"s face.
At the sight of the mutilated features Ch.e.l.lak gave a choking scream. His eyes widened in horror and his strength seemed to slip away.
Before he could recover himself, Sharaz Jek hurled him through the door, closing and locking it behind him.
Ch.e.l.lak picked himself up just in time to hear the rumbling of the mud burst as it surged towards him. He hammered frantically on the door. "Jek!" he screamed.
"Jek!" But it was too late.
An avalanche of boiling mud poured down the corridor and swept him away.
On the other side of the door, Sharaz Jek staggered over to Peri. She lay crouched on the floor, curled up like a baby, the blanket covering her face.
Tenderly, Sharaz Jek pulled it away. "Nothing can hurt you now," he whispered.
Peri opened her eyes and looked into the unmasked face of Sharaz Jek.
Like Ch.e.l.lak before her, she gave a scream of pure horror. Her reaction struck Sharaz Jek like a blow.
Covering his face with his hands he leaped away from her.
He scrambled under a workbench and lay there, hunched up and sobbing with misery.
Morgus was about to inform his faithful a.s.sistant Krau Timmin, of the change in his plans. Still sitting in Stotz"s pilot chair, he punched up the vidcode for his own office.
Krau Timmin appeared on the screen, elegant as ever in her blue business robe, blonde hair immaculately in place.
"Krau Timmin, I would like you to " Morgus broke off, staring hard at the screen. "Krau Timmin, are you sitting at my desk?"
"Yes. This call is on the secret line. I am simply endeavouring to maintain your traditions."
"Krau Timrnin, I don"t like your tone -"
Incredibly, she interrupted him. "I wish that was all I didn"t like about you."
"How dare you speak to me like that? I"ll have you punished for this insolence."
Krau Timmin laughed. "I don"t think so, Morgus.
You"re finished."
Morgus glared furiously at the cool figure on the screen.
"What do you mean?"
"Washed up," explained Krau Timmin kindly. "Kaput!
The Praesidium has issued warrants for your arrest on seventeen counts, ranging from the murder of the President to treason, grand fraud, embezzlement oh yes, and that little business at Northcawl copper mines. They know about that as well."
"Falsehoods," snarled Morgus. "Fabricated charges, malicious lies. They can"t possibly have any proof."
"It"s all fully doc.u.mented, I"m afraid and they have an excellent witness."
"Impossible! Who is this malicious slanderer?"
"Me," said Krau Timrnin coolly.
So comical was the look of astonishment on Morgus"s face that Stotz laughed out loud.
"Does that really surprise you, Morgus?" Krau Timmin went on sweetly. "Do you really think I didn"t know what was going on here?"
"You betrayed me?" whispered Morgus. "After all these years?"
"Think of it this way, Morgus I deposed you. I I am now Chairman and Chief Director of the Sirius Conglomerate. am now Chairman and Chief Director of the Sirius Conglomerate.
Oh, and incidentally, the Government have seized all your private a.s.sets, including those secret funds you had salted away on the outer planets. Goodbye, Morgus."
Abruptly she severed the connection and the screen went blank. For a moment Morgus just sat there stunned.
Then he said fiercely, "I"m not beaten yet. There is still the spectrox." He looked round the control room. "There are four of us here, more than enough to handle Jek." He stood up. "Now, pick up your guns and let"s go."
n.o.body moved.
"Did you hear what I said? Let"s move!"
"We ain"t going anywhere," said Krelper. "Except maybe back to Major."
"I"ve paid you well for these trips. Now, do as I say."
Krelper shook his head. "The way we see it, we already got two kilos of spectrox. That"s enough for us."
"Two kilos!" sneered Morgus. "I tell you, Jek"s got tons of it stored away."
"Yeah? Well, we ain"t getting our heads blown off by Jek"s dummies, or boiled alive in that mud. Not for twenty tons we ain"t."
Morgus glared furiously at them. "You cowardly miserable curs!" He swung round. "What about you, Stotz?
Are you staying here with this gutter trash?"
Stotz hesitated for a moment. Then he rose, picking up his gun. "I"ll go with you, Morgus. I"ve got a few old scores to settle with Sharaz Jek."
Morgus strode out of the control room, and Stotz followed him. He stopped in the doorway, smiling, raising a hand in salute. "Bye, Krelper" Krelper nodded, and Stotz went out of the control room.
The two gun-runners heard the outer door open and close.
Krelper hurried towards the pilot chair but before he reached it he heard a gasp from Stark. Swinging round, he saw Stotz in the control room doorway, machine-pistol raised.
Before Krelper could move or speak, Stotz fired a staccato burst, mowing him down. A second burst disposed of Stark.
Stotz turned and left the ship.
The Doctor staggered on through the caves, stumbling and sliding on the mud-smeared rocky floor.
He slipped, going down an incline, picked himself up and found himself looking at the legs of an android. The Doctor looked up, expecting the muzzle of the machine-pistol to swing round towards him. But the android ignored him, staring over his head.
It was standing on a ledge, a little higher than the Doctor, and as he watched, it toppled slowly forwards. The Doctor jumped aside as the android crashed to the ground.
He examined it briefly: there was a line of bullet holes across its chest. Clearly there had been some kind of battle...
The Doctor moved on.
Not far away, two oddly-a.s.sorted colleagues were picking their way through the mud. Stotz and Morgus were crossing a great cave filled with standing boulders.
Stotz came to a sudden halt. Morgus looked at him impatiently. "Stolz, you must lead. You know the way."
Calmly, Stotz sat down on a convenient rock. "Sure! But before we go any further, Morgus, let"s get a couple of things straight."
"What kind of things?"
Stotz grinned insolently at him. "An hour ago you were the boss. Now that"s all changed. You"re the same as me now." Stotz slapped his machine-pistol. "A man with a gun."
Morgus stared at hirn in genuine astonishment. "I, the same as you? I am Morgus! I am descended from the first colonists."
"You"re wanted for murder and treason. You"re on the run, Morgus!"
"And you are wasting time, Stotz."
Stutz was enjoying his new-found equality. "You want me to help you, right? Well, if we do happen to come out of this with any spectrox, there"s going to be none of that four parts for you and one for me stuff. We split right down the middle, all right?"
"Of course. Now lead the way."
Satisfied that he had the upper hand, Stotz moved on.
Morgus shot a glance of burning hatred at his retreating back. It was intolerable to be obliged to negotiate with such sc.u.m. But of course, it was only temporary. Once the spectrox was safely in Morgus"s hands, he would have no further need for Stotz...
The Doctor hammered desperately on the door to the workroom. "Sharaz Jek! Let me in!"
Somewhat to his surprise the door swung open, revealing the masked figure of Sharaz Jek, cradling Peri in his arms. The Doctor went inside.
Sharaz Jek began walking up and clown, cradling the unconscious Peri like a child. "She is so beautiful," he crooned. "So beautiful... so beautiful!"
It was immediately clear to the Doctor that Sharaz Jek"s grip on sanity, never very secure, was slipping rapidly.
"How is she, Jek?"
"She is dying, Doctor. She has spectrox toxaemia."
"I know," said the Doctor briefly. Taking Peri from Jek"s arms, he laid her gently on a workbench, and examined her. Her face was flushed and her temperature incredibly high.
The Doctor plucked the stick of celery from his lapel and squeezed it under Peri"s nose.