Doctor Who_ Curse of Peladon - Brian Hayles [5]
Then, almost within reach, she slipped—and the TARDIS
shuddered. In that brief moment of panic, Jo flattened herself against the floor, heart pumping furiously.
‘Come on, Jo!’ The Doctor’s voice, low and urgent, made her look up. His hand was reaching for hers, only inches away—
but her panic paralysed her. She couldn’t move.
‘Very gently, Jo...’ murmured the Doctor, the calmness in his eyes giving her strength. ‘Give me your right hand...’
Willing herself into motion, Jo reached out. Just as her hand touched the Doctors, the TARDIS moved again. She closed her eyes tight, and gripped hard.
Still his voice was there, calm and clear. ‘That’s it... now the other hand...’
Her eyes now fixed on the Doctors face, Jo brought her hand into his confident grasp. For a moment, locked together at arm’s length, they breathed and listened tensely to the rumble of disintegrating rock outside.
Then, taking all Jo’s weight, the Doctor leaned hard backwards and rapped out the command: ‘Pull yourself out—
now!’
In a flurry of wind-whipped dust and rocks, Jo was outside, falling on top of the Doctor, all of a heap—but safe. Breathless, she saw the Doctor staring past her. When she turned, the TARDIS was gone. She looked back at the Doctor in dismay.
Then, realising that she too could have been swept down to the awful rocks below, she heaved a shuddering sigh of relief. The Doctor gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, then moved past her to the rock edge. She crawled up to his shoulder and looked down. Kneeling there together, they watched the tumbling fall of the bizarre blue box as it vanished into the echoing shadows, far beneath them.
Jo gasped with horror. ‘It’ll be smashed to bits!’
The Doctor drew her back from the edge, gently. ‘No it won’t, Jo,’ he said patiently. ‘The TARDIS may have its faults, but it is indestructible... ‘
‘After a fall like that?’ Jo couldn’t believe it. ‘It’s hundreds of feet down—you can’t even see the bottom!’
‘Our real worry, observed the Doctor thoughtfully, ‘is how to get to it from here...’
Jo looked from his frowning face to the chasm at their feet.
She shivered.
‘It’s impossible,’ she said.
A sudden gust of wind ruled the Doctor’s hair, and he narrowed his eyes against its sting. ‘I’m afraid you might be right, Jo...’ he mused.
Jo followed his gaze as he tried to follow the line of the broken path, upwards. As he looked, an even brighter flash of lightning than before lit the crags above them. The Doctors face grew alert, and he pointed upwards, urgently. Jo looked too, but had to wait for the next lightning flash before she could see the grim castle which topped the mountain peak far above.
‘I think we’ll go and ask for help...’ said the Doctor, brightly.
‘Up there... ?’ exclaimed Jo in dismay.
‘Somebody must be home,’ remarked the Doctor drily,
‘unless you have a better idea?’
‘But we don’t know who they are,’ cried Jo, ‘or even where we are. We could be anywhere!’
The Doctor tested his first foothold. ‘Exactly!’ he declared.
‘And we won’t find out any quicker, hanging about out here in this weather, will we?’
She stared at him aghast, the wind whipping her cloak about her. ‘You don’t mean... we’ve got to climb?’
The Doctor smiled at her, reassuringly. ‘Once we reach a regular pathway, it’ll be easier. You’ll see, Jo.’
She smiled weakly, and tried to put the memory of the falling TARDIS out of her mind. ‘After this,’ she shouted above the storm, ‘Everest will be simple!’
And, boldly, they began to climb.
The tragedy of Torbis’ death loomed like a hovering bird of prey over the citadel; but Peladon knew what he had to do. He had made a solemn promise to the old man, and he would keep it. The killing, whatever the real reason behind it, must not be allowed to destroy the dream for which Torbis had fought with such determination. As the body of the Chancellor was being richly prepared for traditional burning, Peladon was