He looked quickly round the workshop. The benches were far less cluttered now. Most of the damaged equipment had already been repaired and replaced in the scout ship. "A few more hours and that ship will be ready for blast-off."
Rubeish nodded. "He"s been working these people at a killing pace. Come over here." He led them to a corner of the workshop, where exhausted men lay piled in a heap.
Their tasks completed, many of the scientists had collapsed into a semi-coma. "No sleep, precious little food," said Rubeish bitterly. "They"ve been dropping like flies."
Sarah looked at the pile of human bodies in horror.
Most of the men seemed just barely alive. "We"ve got to help them, Doctor."
"I"m afraid there"s no time, Sarah," said the Doctor sadly.
"But some of them will die if they don"t get attention soon."
"They"ll all die if we don"t stop Linx, and so will we. When that ship blasts off there"ll be a tremendous explosion. Everyone in this castle will die!" The Doctor knelt beside one of the unconscious men and peered closely into his eyes...
Half-tired, half-drunk, Irongron and Bloodaxe dozed at the table in the great hall, heads buried in their arms. A sudden shattering crash jerked them awake. They jumped up in alarm to see Linx standing before them. An enormous wooden crate lay at his feet-they had been woken by the noise when Linx had thrown it down. "I keep my bargain, Irongron. These are the rest of the weapons I promised you."
Irongron tried to drag the crate towards him, and found he could barely move it. He lifted the lid and took out one of the rifles. "More weapons from the stars! My thanks, good toad-face-good Linx, I mean. And what of the new iron man you promised me?"
"I shall complete the improved fighting robot before I leave-if I have time."
Irongron"s face hardened. "If you wish to leave at all, good Linx, you"d do well to learn to obey me. I say you will not go yet."
"Do you dare to threaten me? I shall leave when I am ready-and that will be very soon."
"Will you carry your starship on your back, good toad?
You needed my knaves to bring it here and you need them to take it hence."
"The ship is repaired now. Evidently you have no understanding of the forces used in interstellar travel. I repeat, I leave when I am ready. You would be foolish to attempt to stop me."
Unaware that Linx was already on his way back, the Doctor was shining a torch-like device into the eyes of one of the hypnotised scientists.
"What are you doing?" asked Rubeish peevishly.
"Trying to break the hypnosis. It"s very deep but if the brain receives signals, it might work..."
"Even if it does, I still can"t see what you intend..."
"Don"t you want to get back to the twentieth century?"
"Steak!" said Rubeish wistfully. "Mushrooms, lobster, chocolate. Oh, dear me yes, Doctor. It"s very interesting here, but I"m not as pure a scientist as I thought!"
The Doctor continued his examination. "If I can get these poor fellows to respond, I can use Linx"s osmic projector to return them to their own time."
Sarah stared at him. "Osmic projector?"
"Back there, on the table." The Doctor pointed to a large and complicated-looking piece of alien equipment which stood a little apart from the rest. It looked something like a futuristic film projector.
"Why not just send "em back as they are?" asked Sarah practically.
"Too risky. With their minds in this state, the temporal transition could damage them permanently. No use sending back mindless idiots."
"Never heard so much gobbledygook in my life,"
muttered Rubeish. "Still, I expect you know what you"re talking about."
"Polka time!" said the Doctor exultantly.
"What?"
"I"ve found the anti-hypnotic beat-it"s like polka time.
Look, he"s responding."
Rubeish looked. The scientist was muttering and stirring, like someone roused from a very deep sleep. He moaned and tried to sit up-just as heavy footsteps approached the workshop door. The Doctor grabbed Sarah and dragged her behind a column.
Linx came down the stairs into the workshop. He paused, staring around him suspiciously as if sensing something wrong. He looked at the huddled bodies in the corner. One of the discarded slave-workers was moaning, trying weakly to get to his feet.
Linx frowned. He walked over to those few slaves still at work, and watched them for a moment. One of them staggered wearily back and collapsed. Linx s.n.a.t.c.hed the ray-gun from his belt and gave the fallen scientist a low-intensity blast. The man moaned and twitched, but he was still too feeble to rise. "Up!" commanded Linx. "Get up and work or I will kill you!" He gave the writhing body another blast.
The Doctor felt Sarah struggling to rise. He pushed her back out of sight, then stepped out of hiding and confronted Linx. "Leave the man alone."
Immediately the ray-gun was raised to cover him.
"Aaah!" Linx gave a growling purr of satisfaction. "How fortunate that you have returned, Doctor. My failure to destroy you was the one thing that marred the pleasure of my departure from this miserable planet!"
"Don"t you want to know why why I returned, Linx?" I returned, Linx?"
Linx raised the ray-gun. "No. It is of no interest to me."
"Wait!" The Doctor was talking for his life. "I came to offer you my help."
Intrigued, Linx paused. "We are sworn enemies, Doctor.
Why should you help me?"
"We"ve more in common than you think. You want to leave Earth, don"t you? Well, I want you to go, provided you undo the harm you"ve caused. De-hypnotise these men, and send them home. Help me capture Irongron and turn him over to Sir Edward. Recover all the weapons you"ve made and stack them up in this room. I"ll help you to complete the repairs to your scout ship and you can take off. The blast will destroy weapons and castle together and you can get back to your precious war."
Linx listened to this speech in impa.s.sive silence. When the Doctor finished, he still said nothing.
"Well?" said the Doctor impatiently. "What do you say, Commander Linx?"
The wide, lipless mouth stretched in a smile. "You wish for my answer, Doctor?"
"Yes, of course I do." , "Then here it is." Linx set his ray-gun to maximum and fired.
14.
The Robot"s Return For a second the Doctor twisted in the deadly red glow.
Sarah leaped from hiding and tried to push Linx"s arm aside. She was unable to move it more than a fraction, but it was enough to deflect the ray from the Doctor. He collapsed gasping against a pillar.
Linx sent Sarah staggering with a sweep of his arm.
"The female too. It seems I am doubly fortunate."
Another slave worker staggered and fell. Linx kicked him to his feet. "Up! Get back to your work!" Groaning the prisoner obeyed.
"Your prisoners are physically exhausted," said the Doctor painfully. "They"ve gone for days without rest."
"They can still work," said Linx brutally.
"Not for much longer."
"I do not need them for much longer. I owe these primitives nothing. My concern is to rejoin the glorious struggle for the supremacy we Sontarans deserve."
"That"s an old familiar tune, Linx. There"s no such thing as a super-race."
"Your Time Lord philosophy is egalitarian twaddle. It is your weak spot."
The Doctor had almost recovered by now. Luckily his exposure to Linx"s ray-gun had been brief. He straightened up, raising his voice. "Ah, but every species has its weak spot, Linx. For instance, you Sontarans can only be harmed by an attack on the probic vent-the aperture on the back of your neck, where you plug in for your energy."
From where she stood, Sarah could see a small circular hole at the back of Linx"s s.p.a.ce-suit-where the nape of the neck would have been on a human being. She wondered why the Doctor was telling Linx something he already knew. Then she realised. The Doctor wasn"t telling Linx at all. He was telling Rubeish. The old man had armed himself with a metal bar, and he was creeping slowly up behind the Sontaran. With aggravating slowness Rubeish took out his home-made spectacles and peered through them, a.s.suring himself of his target.
Linx was answering the Doctor. "In our case, that weakness is a strength, since it ensures that we must always face our enemies. Now, Doctor, to return to the question of your destruction. I imagine it would cause maximum distress if you first witnessed the death of your female companion." He swung the ray gun on Sarah and she backed away. Linx paused, savouring the moment.
The Doctor gathered his returning strength for a desperate attack-and Rubeish stepped up behind the Sontaran and swung his iron bar, slamming it down on the probic vent. Linx gave a weird howl of agony, and crashed to the ground with a thud that shook the workshop.
"Well done, old chap," said the Doctor.
Sarah ran across to him. "Are you all right?"
"Oh, I think so. I only got a brief blast. But I wouldn"t have been in a few seconds. Thank you, Sarah."
"My pleasure," said Sarah cheerfully. "Now hadn"t we better be getting on with the rest of your master plan?"
"Quite right. You"ll be careful, won"t you?"
Sarah nodded. "You too, Doctor." She hurried up the steps.
The Doctor turned to Rubeish. Now, if we can secure our Sontaran friend, Professor, we can get on with restoring his unfortunate victims."
Rubeish hurried over to a bench and produced a coil of metal-cored plastic flex. "Will this help?"
The Doctor patted him on the back. "Rubeish, my dear fellow, you really are invaluable!"
Dragging Linx to one side, they trussed him up with the flex, winding coil after coil around the stocky body.
The Doctor tied a final knot and straightened up.
"There, that should hold him for a time, even on Earth."
"What do you mean-even on Earth?"
"He comes from a high-gravity planet. Fortunately his muscles are designed for load-bearing, rather than leverage."
"Fascinating," said Rubeish. "You know, Doctor, I"d always a.s.sumed that creatures from such a planet would have developed a pressure-balanced physiology. Consider certain types of sea weed..."
A voice from the top of the stairs interrupted him.
"Linx! Linx, I say!"
The Doctor dragged Rubeish behind a pillar. "Linx,"
called the voice again.
The Doctor cupped his hands to his mouth and gave a fair imitation of the Sontaran"s booming voice. "Who speaks?"
"Bloodaxe. I come with a message from Captain Irongron. He commands your presence."
"I am busy," boomed the Doctor.
"He says you must come soon-or he will send men to fetch you."
"Too scared to come right in-luckily for us," muttered the Doctor.
"Who"s this Irongron he mentioned?"
"The owner of this castle."
"Good chap, is he?"
The Doctor smiled. "Well I wouldn"t exactly recommend him for the Royal Society. Now then, Rubeish, you saw how I brought these people round?"
"Yes, yes, a simple repet.i.tive optical stimulus."
The Doctor pa.s.sed him the little torch. "Quite so! I"ll leave you to get on with it."