Obediently, the Karkus aimed his plastic pop-gun. A series of explosions followed, and the toy soldiers staggered back, toppling over, one on top of another tumbling down like... a line of toy soldiers.
The Master watched this new development with horror, and s.n.a.t.c.hed up his pen, beginning to write: "But then the Karkus realised his mistake he knew that he had been tricked. He had to face his real enemies... And turned his gun upon Jamie and Zoe."
The Karkus followed instructions, and turned to face the young travellers: they found themselves looking into the muzzle of his s.p.a.ce weapon.
"Look out, Zoe!" yelled Jamie. "Duck!"
The Master scribbled on: "With Jamie and Zoe fixed in his sights, the Karkus pressed the trigger "
At once he was countered by the Doctor, who completed the sentence for him: "... But the power of the weapon had failed completely: the gun was useless, and he threw it away." (He added with a grin: "You"ll have to do better than that, my friend!") "Tchah!" The Master redoubled his speed: his pen raced across the paper. "Suddenly a swashbuckling figure appeared poet and swordsman, the famous Cyrano de Bergerac... Remorselessly Cyrano advanced upon those who had dared to poke fun at his nose... "
"Just a minute my turn!" gasped the Doctor. "Cyrano found himself face to face with a fearless musketeer, that prince of duellists, D"Artagnan!"
On the roof, Jamie and Zoe turned their heads from left to right and back again, as if they were spectators at some surrealist tennis-match. From one end of the battlements, Cyrano brandished his sword threateningly, while from the other side D"Artagnan leapt to their defence, ready to do or die with his flashing rapier.
As fast as one champion appeared, another materialised to out-match him when Cyrano seemed to be on the ropes, the Master switched characters duelling-swords weren"t lethal enough: he"d have to introduce cutla.s.ses... "Cancel Cyrano subst.i.tute Blackbeard the Pirate!"
D"Artagnan found himself unarmed, as the hefty thwack of a heavy cutla.s.s knocked his sword from his grasp, and the bloodthirsty buccaneer loomed above him, laughing coa.r.s.ely as he raised his weapon to deliver the death blow.
"Cancel D"Artagnan!" snapped the Doctor. "And subst.i.tute Sir Lancelot in full armour!"
As the cutla.s.s swung down D"Artagnan was replaced by an imposing figure clad from top to toe in steel and chain-mail. The sword hit it with a resounding clang, and Blackbeard staggered back, dropping his weapon and nursing his bruised fingers.
Amid all this confusion, n.o.body noticed that Jamie and Zoe had slipped away. They found an open dormer window in a sloping roof, and scrambled inside: they knew they had to find the Doctor, and rescue him before it was too late.
But perhaps it was already too late for the metallic voice of the computer, speaking through the mouth of the Master, was issuing a new command: "The Doctor must be stopped... He is expendable... Destroy him."
The Master opened his eyes, and exclaimed in dismay, in his own mild, elderly tones: "Oh, no don"t do that he"s the only person I can entrust with my job I can"t go on forever... Give me one more chance, please!"
Then his eyes closed, and the giant brain changed from yellow to a poisonous green, as the metallic voice thundered: "You have failed: The Master Brain must be protected against any overloading... Robot force will deal with the enemy... Set Robot weapons to destructor beams."
From his gla.s.s case,.the Doctor saw the White Robots moving in for the kill: and the ribbed lenses which they usually held had now been replaced by wicked-looking pointed objects... As he watched, these objects opened up like the petals of a steel flower and at the heart of each "flower", where the stamen might have been, he saw the deadly pinpoint of a laser gun, trained upon him.
"Remove him from captivity." The commands rolled on remorselessly: and the gla.s.s panel that boxed him in slid away while the metal fastenings that bound his neck, wrists and ankles sprang open. He was free at last free to step forward and meet his doom.
"Oh, my goodness I must think... " he told himself.
"How can I write myself out of this? Let me see: "As the White Robots advanced upon the Doc " No, I can"t say that!"
He caught himself up in the nick of time once again, he had almost converted himself into fiction: that was not the way out.
Unseen, Zoe and Jamie had tiptoed into the Control Centre, and stood watching and listening appalled by the situation. "What can we do?" Jamie whispered. "We can"t fight those brutes on our own."
"No, but didn"t you hear what the Master said?" hissed Zoe. "That computer bank controls everything here and it"s dangerously near to overloading... So let"s overload it!"
The Doctor was now backed up against the giant brain, and the Robots held their laser weapons poised, ready to fire.
"It is a pity to destroy a mind as intelligent as yours, Doctor," said the Master, "but you leave us no alternative...
Very well: take aim disintegrate!"
The White Robots lifted their guns and as they squeezed the triggers, Zoe dashed to the control unit and began to press all the b.u.t.tons, one after another.
At this point, everything seemed to happen at once. The Master screamed: "Stop her! She will wreck our plans "
The Robots swung round, undecided, uncertain which order to obey. The Doctor seized his opportunity and made a flying leap for the control desk, helping Zoe as she punched up every function of the computer, sending the entire operation into a frenzy of whirring and clicking and flashing: tapes unwound, revolved, unspooled upon the television screens a score of images danced crazily the Karkus scaling a cliff...
But these s.n.a.t.c.hes of fiction had all slipped out of gear: the unicorn galloped the wrong way the Medusa retreated instead of advancing the Karkus was climbing backwards... The overloaded computer had been thrown into complete chaos, and was running in reverse.
The giant brain turned black, and a gibbering voice tried to take control, repeating again and again: " Destroy Destroy destroy - destroy! " "
Totally disorientated, the Robots fired their laser guns at random: several of them were aiming in the direction of the computer, and in a series of blinding flashes, whole banks of apparatus went up in flames.
In the middle of this carnage, the Doctor put his arm around the Master"s shoulders, who lay motionless, slumped across his desk. Then the Doctor remembered the two electrodes plugged into the old man"s skullcap, and quickly removed them.
The old man stirred and opened his eyes: "Where am I?
What"s happening?" he asked faintly.
"Jamie give me a hand help me get him to his feet,"
the Doctor panted.
"What do we want him for?" Jamie asked. "He"s the one who caused all the trouble!"
"Don"t argue there isn"t time just do as I say."
Zoe went to their a.s.sistance, and between them they managed to drag the old man away from his desk, out of the centre of the holocaust.
One explosion after another rocked the library and on one of the television screens, where the picture was still running backwards, a tiny image appeared: the TARDIS, as it had been at the moment when it exploded and fell apart. Now, in reverse sequence the various fragments flew together, dropped into place, resumed their accustomed shape...
The Doctor, half-carrying the old man, was on his way out of the library with his companions close behind him and they all stopped short as they turned a corner and found their own beloved TARDIS waiting for them. The light on top was winking and blinking: which meant there was no time to be lost. They opened the door, and went in into the real TARDIS this time.
Gently, the Doctor lowered the old man into a chair; he looked about him in mild amazement, like someone waking from a dream, and said: "Dear me I"m not altogether sure where I am... Is this the office of The Ensign The Ensign magazine?" magazine?"
He had become a frail, harmless old gentleman once more, now he was no longer part of the computer circuit.
The Doctor tried to explain: "You were kidnapped, just as we were they have been using your mind... But now with any luck we"ll try to get you home."
"Do you really think we"ll get away?" Zoe asked, as another explosion, louder than all the rest, rocked the TARDIS upon its base. "What"s happening out there?"
"That depends how efficient the Robots are. I rather hope that at this moment they"re all fully occupied in destroying one another and and that hideous giant brain as well!" that hideous giant brain as well!"
"But what about Gulliver and the Karkus and all our friends?"
"Zoe, do try to think clearly. Our friends are all fictional characters they"ll go on existing in their own dimension.
You can"t blow up a fictional character, can you? Their stories will last for ever... But for the time being, I think it"s time to call a halt to this particular story... Jamie, make ready for take-off."
The old gentleman in half-moon gla.s.ses still looked a little dazed. "I don"t quite follow have I got to finish off another story?"
"No, sir, not this time... " said the Doctor.. "If you"d allow me, I"ll simply add the last word... "
And as he switched on the powerful drive-motor that would take the TARDIS off on yet another journey, he spelled it out for them: Finis or, if you prefer it or, if you prefer it
THE END.