Doctor Who_ Space War - Malcolm Hulke [42]
On the flight deck the Doctor had finally managed to get a stupefying Venusian Karate hold on the Ogron’s thick neck. The Ogron slowly sank to his knees, unconscious, and the Doctor carefully lowered him to the floor.
‘We’ve been boarded,’ the Doctor shouted to the Prince. ‘Find weapons.’
The Prince didn’t have to be told. He was already opening lockers and cupboards in the hope of finding blaster guns. ‘Here,’ he said, having found what he was looking for, ‘take one of these.’ He handed over an oflicial Earth Interplanetary Police blaster gun just as the first boarding Ogron arrived at the doorway to the flight deck.
The Master waited impatiently in the safety of the Ogrons’ spaceship flight deck. ‘What’s happening? They should have overpowered everyone on board by now. Must I do everything myself!’
As he stood up to go and check how the boarding party was getting on, the Ogron co-pilot pointed to the monitor screen. ‘Master, something come.’
He stopped to look. An Earth battle cruiser was fast approaching the two locked-on spaceships. ‘Well, I’ll be...’ He started issuing orders. ‘Recall the boarding party. We’ll unlock as soon as they’re back on board.’
On the Earth spaceship, the Doctor and the Prince with their blaster guns had proved more than a match for the Ogrons. Growling in anger at the burn wounds inflicted on them, the Ogrons retreated down the corridor to the air-lock, dragging with them the Ogron put unconscious by the Doctor’s karate hold. They jostled each other to get through the air-lock door, tumbled into their own ship, closed its door, and immediately unlocked from, the Earth ship.
In a howling wind, all the air inside the Earth ship escaped through the open air-lock. Both the Doctor and the Prince, gasping for breath, were sucked bodily into the hold in time to see the semi-conscious Draconian guard sliding along the floor towards the gaping air-lock door. The Prince threw himself to the floor, hooked a leg through the bars of the cage, and grabbed the guard’s leg. Meanwhile the Doctor worked his way from one secure hand-hold to another until he had reached the door. For a second he found himself looking into the emptiness of Space. Then he slammed shut the door and sank to the floor, his lungs bursting. With the air-lock door closed once again, the ship’s air pressure sensor automatically started to pump in air from the high-pressure tanks.
‘We’ll be all right in a minute or two,’ said the Doctor, at last able to breathe. Then he realised what had happened. ‘ Jo! They’ve taken Jo!’
11 Planet of the Ogrons
A giant Ogron pushed Jo up the corridor of the Ogrons’ spaceship and into the flight deck, twisting her arms behind her back.
‘We get girl, Master.’
The Master, preoccupied with piloting the ship away from the approaching Earth battle cruiser, remained some moments looking at the control dials. Then he turned to face Jo. ‘Well, I suppose you’ll have to do, Miss Grant, though I did rather want the Doctor.’ He looked up at the towering Ogron. ‘You blundering oafs, why didn’t you get him?’
‘He shoot with gun.’
‘Obviously he didn’t shoot with a blow pipe—’ He stopped mid-sentence as a burst of static came over the loudspeaker. ‘Everyone shut up. I want to listen to this.’ He increased the volume.
A voice said, ‘This is Earth battle cruiser X-29. Identify yourself.’
The Doctor’s voice replied. ‘This is Earth police spaceship 2390. We are on a special mission to the President.’
‘Identify the ship that has just unlocked from you. They do not answer my signals.’
The Master chuckled. ‘Of course not, you twit!’
The Doctor’s voice came again over the loudspeaker. ‘You must pursue and capture that ship immediately. It