Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [71]
Dafydd didn‟t answer. He‟d be glad to see the back of Brother Will. He‟d always been a bully.
„It‟s vanished!‟
They had risked going through the gap in the rocks that, the day before, had taken them to the clearing at the foot of the great marble staircase.
„I mean to say! How could we have climbed it, if it wasn‟t there?‟ said Sarah in a half-whisper.
„All perception has a large input from the various structures of the brain,‟ the Doctor replied, equally quietly.
„The raw sense perceptions would never mean anything. They have to be recognised, and categorised. And a lot more than fifty per cent of that process is a matter of making new clay fit into the old mould.‟
„But if there‟s nothing there to be recognised...?‟
„There‟s a track, isn‟t there? And your brain was manipulated in some way by your Skang friends.‟
„No friends of mine,‟ muttered Sarah.
The Doctor didn‟t reply, but silently pointed upwards.
Of course. The temple had disappeared as well. Instead of the graceful pillars that had so elegantly crowned the summit, there was nothing but a few piles of boulders.
Now, why should she feel so sad? Yesterday, the tears had sprung to her eyes at the very beauty of what they were seeing. But now she felt as if she‟d lost something... no, somebody. It was like grieving for a dead friend.
She pulled out the Polaroid, and took a shot. Whether it would convince the Brig was doubtful. Everything looked so different it hardly seemed that they were in the same place.
* * *
„There. Where that bit sticks out. That‟s where I was standing when I saw them. Just below there, right at the bottom in the undergrowth.‟
Would he take the bait?
With a sceptical look at Dafydd, Brother Will strode across to the very edge and peered over.
Now! Slip away into the bushes, and try not to notice him as he turns to comment; and try not to hear the sound of the running footsteps, and the gut-wrenching yell that follows, only to be abruptly chopped off.
In the awful silence afterwards, Dafydd scurried back the way they‟d come, in a total panic, as if he were being chased.
„Oh, my God!‟
The Doctor had turned back at the sound of the scream.
„What? What was it?‟
„A man! I saw a man falling!‟
„From the top?‟
„Must have been. Come on!‟ Sarah took off along the track that had been cleared at the bottom of the cliff.
„Sarah, come back!‟
But if she heard his hoarse shout, she took no notice.
Good grief! If the guards saw her, they‟d be in real trouble.
The Doctor gave a quick look round, and ran after her as she disappeared around the corner.
It was typical of Sarah. It wouldn‟t be the first time her impulsiveness had led them into real danger. Nobody could survive a fall like that. He‟d be smashed into a bloody mess.
She was going to be very shaken by what she found.
But even the Doctor was utterly taken aback by what he saw when he caught her up.
Her shoulders heaving as she tried to get her breath, she was looking incredulously at the body at her feet. It was dressed in the flowing white robe of a teacher. The legs and feet were hidden by the undergrowth, but the upper torso and the head had landed on the path, face down. It wasn‟t a man at all. It was a Skang.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
„I... I don‟t get it,‟ said Sarah. I‟d swear this is where he fell.‟
The Doctor was squatting down beside the alien corpse, turning it over to examine its features more closely. „It‟s amazingly light in weight,‟ he murmured. He put out a hand to close the great staring eyes. He touched the proboscis and looked closely at its needle tip.
He looked up at Sarah. „Are you sure that this wasn‟t what you saw?‟
„Quite sure. It was a man. I only got a glimpse, but there‟s no way I could have made a mistake. I mean, look at the size of its head.‟
It certainly didn‟t seem likely.
The Doctor stood up. His face was grave. „You know what this means, don‟t you? You‟d better get a shot of it.‟ But before she could even get the camera out, his head snapped round.
Voices. Somebody was coming.
As they crouched in the shadow of