Inside the loading area the battle raged on. More Guards appeared in answer to the alarm summons, but Jackson and the others fought on undismayed, catching the blaster-bolts of their enemies on their shield guns and using the deadly weapons to terrible effect.
Tala and her little army of freed slaves fought like demons. Every time a Guard fell, another slave s.n.a.t.c.hed his weapon and joined the battle.
Soon Jackson realised that something completely unexpected was happening. They were winning. "Forward!"
he yelled and led a charge that drove the Guards back into the tunnels of the ship.
Rask dived into cover and used his communicator, panic in his voice. "They"re driving us back. There are too many of them. They"ve armed the slaves-it"s a full-scale revolt. They"re too strong for us, I need reinforcements..."
Rask and his fellow Guards had been terrorising slaves for too long. They had lost their taste for real fighting.
In the security section, Tarn, Lakh and Ankh listened in horror to the panic-stricken voice babbling from the speaker.
"Hold them!" ordered Tarn. "You must hold on."
Ankh thrust him away from the communicator. "Rask! I order you to stand and fight. You must protect the Oracle."
"Master, we cannot hold them back much longer. We must retreat!"
"No excuses! Stand and fight!"
Still strapped in the interrogation chair, Herrick laughed despite his weakness. "There"s no stopping us now.
A hundred thousand years of searching... I smell victory!"
Lakh ignored him, turning to his fellow Seer. "Let us consider. What is more important-these cylinders, or the safety of the Oracle?"
"The Oracle, of course, but-"
"Then should we not give them what they seek and let them depart?"
"But what they seek does not exist!"
"The Oracle will know. Why should we destroy each other?" He went over to Herrick. "These cylinders-tell us what they look like. If they are indeed here, you shall have them and take them to your comrades."
"You will set me free?"
"Yes!"
"There are two of them, made of solid gold, and stamped with the mark of Minyos. They are the length of a man"s hand."
"Good, Tarn, tell Rask what we have decided. He is to arrange a truce."
Tarn hurried to the communicator.
Deep inside the side-tunnels, the Doctor paused at a junction, getting his bearings. "This way, I think."
Leela shook her head. "No."
"Why not?"
"There are Guards moving this way."
"Ah!" The Doctor noticed a grille set into the wall.
"What"s behind there, Idas? Does it lead inside the Citadel?"
"I don"t know."
"I think it must. Let"s find out, shall we?" The Doctor produced his sonic screwdriver, and set to work on the hatch-bolts.
By the time the squad of Guards came thundering down the tunnel it was empty. They were in too much of a hurry to notice that the hatch cover was slightly ajar.
The Doctor and his companions found themselves inside a narrow ventilation shaft, just big enough to move along if you knelt down. The Doctor wriggled happily into its depths, and the others followed.
Some time later, the Doctor paused and raised his hand.
"If my sense of direction"s still working, we ought to be nearly there!" They came to another wall vent and Leela peered through.
"Look, Doctor! We"ve arrived!"
They looked through the grille. Two hooded figures bowed before a screen of flickering lights.
Lakh bowed low before the Oracle. "The intruders are defeating us," he said bluntly. "They will destroy us, destroy you you, unless they are given these cylinders."
There was a long pause. Then the husky whisper of the Oracle said, "Shall they not be destroyed by that which they so desperately desire?"
"Can it be done?"
"Cannot all things be done-by me?"
The light-panel flashed and flickered, there was a hum of power-and a column rose out of the main console. On it rested two golden cylinders.
Lakh took them, bowed low and left the control room.
"They"re giving up without a fight?" whispered Leela.
The Doctor rubbed his chin. "Yes, it certainly seems like it."
"Why?"
"That"s what"s worrying me!" In the Doctor"s experience rational acceptance of defeat wasn"t a characteristic of dictators. Now that he knew what the Oracle was, it seemed even less likely. "Let"s take a look round, shall we?"
He set to work on the grille.
Crouched down behind one of the trucks, Jackson said suddenly, "Orfe, listen. They"re not firing back!"
The fierce whistle of blaster fire had diminished. All the shooting was coming from their own side.
Jackson shouted, "Hold your fire, everybody!"
After the uproar of battle, the silence was deafening.
They heard footsteps coming towards them. Rask appeared, his empty hands spread wide before him.
Jackson stood up.
"Careful," whispered Orfe, "it could be a trick."
"Be ready, then."
Rask came nearer and halted. "I have been ordered to speak with you."
"You wish to surrender?"
"We offer a truce."
"On what terms?"
"You may take what you came for and depart, leaving us to our own ways. Agree-or your comrade will be executed."
"What comrade? Herrick is dead!"
"You think so, Captain?"
Rask stepped aside. Herrick was behind him, flanked by Guards. He was bruised and limping and weary, but his face was filled with an almost unearthly joy. He held a golden cylinder in each hand. "Captain, I"ve got them! The Quest is over!"
Herrick was sobbing with emotion. "The Quest is over, Captain. The Quest is over! The Quest is over! " "
Jackson walked slowly out to meet him. "At last," he whispered. At last...
The Doctor helped Leela and Idas through the grille. "Stay here!"
Clutching the sword, the Doctor began prowling about the control room. Everything was gloomy and silent. The ceremonial hangings, the temple lamps, the general atmosphere of centuries of disuse gave the place the air of a temple or a tomb.
The Doctor crept stealthily around, studying the disused control console and the unmoving dials. He opened a wall locker and gave a sigh of satisfaction. Shelves lined with spare parts. Burglar-like, the Doctor began filling his pockets.
When he had finished, he closed the locker and walked up to the altar at the end of the control room. He studied the great lamp burning over the light-screen. He bowed and said, "Hullo, Oracle."
Lights flickered on the screen, feebly at first and then more vigorously. A husky voice whispered, "What is it that you want?"
"The cylinders. The Race Bank of the Minyans."
"Have they not been given?"
"Well- have have they? That"s what I"m asking!" they? That"s what I"m asking!"
The voice hissed furiously, "Who are you to dare question my word?"
"Who do I have to be to dare to question your word?
After all, you"re only a computer, you know. Programmed to preserve your own safety and that of the ship. You were made to serve, not rule. But after the crash you took over, didn"t you? Set up this disgusting society of Guards and Seers and slaves just so you you could survive!" could survive!"
" Who are you? Who are you? " "
"I"ll give you a clue, shall I? If it wasn"t for my people you"d never have existed."
"What people?"
"The ones the Minyans called the G.o.ds."
"G.o.ds!" The husky voice was scornful. "There are no G.o.ds but me! Have I not created myself? Do I not rule? Am I not all-powerful?"
"Well, yes and no... In here, you are. But nowhere else.
You"re just another machine with megalomania, another insane object, a self-aggrandising artefact." The Doctor laughed scornfully and turned away. "You"re nothing- nothing but a ma.s.s of superheated junk with delusions of grandeur!"
As the Doctor had hoped, the string of insults provoked the Oracle to uncontrollable rage. "Nothing!" it roared. "Am I not the Keeper of the Race Bank of Minyos?"
The Doctor spun round. "Still the Keeper, are you? So you"ve still got them!"
"I am the Keeper," roared the insane voice.
The Doctor was studying the main console. As he"d hoped, there was a socket in its base.
"Keeper? You"re nothing but a mechanical moneybox- and I"ve got the key. Give me that sword, Leela."
Taking the sword from Idas, Leela ran across to the Doctor and pa.s.sed it over. He thrust it to the hilt into the socket and began turning it like a giant key.
The Oracle gave an agonised shout, "Destroy him!
Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!"