Doctor Who_ The Doomsday Weapon - Malcolm Hulke [16]
Back at the main dome Mary, helped by Jo, had synthetic tea waiting for them all. Ashe found the Doctor already there, joking with Mary about something. Ashe went up to him.
'Thanks,' he said. 'But is this a time for jokes?'
The Doctor drew Ashe away from the two girls, now busy serving tea to the other colonists as they sadly trooped back inside. 'To live away from your Earth,' said the Doctor, 'you've got to learn more than how to sow seed and use a plough. With death, there has to be a time for tears, and then a time to rejoice in the continuation of life. Hence the tea.'
'How do you know all these things?' asked Ashe.
'You might say, said the Doctor, 'that I'm something of an historian. Except that to me the past, the present, and the future are all one.'
'All one?' said Ashe 'That's impossible!'
But there was no time to pursue their talk. Martin, the colonist who had first seen a monster, came up to them. He talked loudly so, that all the others could hear. 'It's no good, Ashe. We've got to admit defeat! We've got to go back to Earth!'
Ashe said, 'We've invested a year of our lives into this planet. We've got the beginnings of a colony...'
Martin didn't want to listen, and cut in, 'We can't even support ourselves, and now two of us are dead.'
'I wonder if I might join in the discussion?' enquired the Doctor.
Now young Winton came forward, to support Martin. 'This has nothing to do with you, whoever you are!'
'The Doctor is our guest,' Ashe reminded them. 'Please let him speak.'
'All right,' said Martin. 'But make it short.'
'What I have to say is very simple,' said the Doctor. 'I've spent some time studying your crop records. I believe that growth is inhibited by some unnatural force. We must isolate it and overcome it.'
'What about the monsters?' asked one of the women colonists. 'Can we have children grow up in a place overrun with monsters?'
'For a start,' said the Doctor, 'we know it isn't overrun with them. Only two have been sighted - and for that matter, it may be the same one seen twice. Now are you going to run like children from terrors in the dark?'
This quietened the colonists for a moment. None of them wanted to admit to being afraid. Ashe took the opportunity to speak again, 'This colony is our only chance, friends. If we leave it, we'll have nothing. If we stay, we may have a chance.'
It was Mrs. Martin, who herself had been terrorised by the monsters, who spoke up for Ashe's attitude. 'I think he's right. We've put too much work into this place to leave it now.'
'You see,' said Ashe, spurred on by Mrs. Martin's support, 'there's a chance if we keep pulling together. What we've got to do is to organise patrols for all the domes. The Doctor will help its with the agricultural problems...'
Ashe's voice trailed off as he saw the man stagger in through the main entrance He was only about twenty-five years old, but his sunken eyes and hungry face made him look fifty. His clothes were in tatters. As he entered the dome he stood there for a moment as though trying to say something, then fell forward to the ground. Mary and Jo were the first to reach the man's side. Ashe and the Doctor quickly followed with all the colonists crowding around. The Doctor gently turned the man over onto his back; Mary raised his head. Jo hurried away to get the man something to drink.
Ashe asked, 'Where are you from?'
The man opened his mouth, but he was too parched to speak. Jo brought one of the little cups of synthetic tea, and put it to the man's lips. As he drank greedily the Doctor asked Ashe, 'Isn't he one of your colonists?'
'No.' Ashe again spoke to the man, 'Can you understand me? Where are you from?'
'Colony,' the man said.
Now Winton also crouched by the man. 'There's another colony on this planet?'
The man tried to nod his head. 'I've been wandering...