Doctor Who_ The Doomsday Weapon - Malcolm Hulke [19]
'But they're going to know,' said Caldwell . 'There are no secrets between friends, and on a desolate place like this we've all got to be friends - or wouldn't you agree?'
As Caldwell spoke he touched one of the controls on the little black box. From behind him the Doctor could hear the robot move again, a manœuvre which brought it close to the Doctor's back.
'I suppose I could spare you a few minutes,' said the Doctor.
'Great,' said Caldwell , (lashing his boyish grin again. He gripped the Doctor's arm in a friendly way, led the Doctor to the door, then took a last look round at the shattered furniture. 'Something certainly made a job of wrecking this place. Good thing no one was hurt.'
'The two colonists who lived here,' the Doctor said, 'were killed.'
Caldwell released his grip on the Doctor's arm. 'Two people - killed?'
The Doctor noticed how shocked Caldwell was with the news of the deaths, almost as though Caldwell might have known the people who died. 'That's right,' he said, 'a man and his wife.'
Caldwell passed his hand over his brow. The boyish grin had vanished - he seemed totally deflated by this news. 'Well,' he murmured after a few seconds, 'the invitation still stands to come and see my people. They'll be glad to meet you. I've got a buggy outside.' With that, Caldwell walked out of the dome, apparently leaving the Doctor free now to follow or to go his own way. Whereas before the Doctor hadn't wanted to go with Caldwell, feeling it to be his first duty to tell Ashe about the arrival of an IMC survey team, now he was desperately keen to stick with Caldwell and try to find out why the news of the colonists' deaths had had such a marked effect on the man.
The Doctor left the dome. Outside stood a small electrically-powered vehicle rather like a bicycle with four wheels. Mounted on the chassis were four simple seating places. Caldwell was already sitting on one of the front seats before the steering wheel. The Doctor got on the seat beside him. Caldwell was staring straight ahead of him, as though still shocked by the news of the colonists' deaths.
'What about your robot?' the Doctor asked.
'What's that?' Caldwell turned to the Doctor. 'Oh yes, Charlie. I nearly forgot Charlie.' He pressed buttons on the little remote-control box. Within a moment the robot came walking out of the dome, and obediently climbed up and took its place on one of the back seats.
'Right,' said Caldwell , 'let's go.'
Caldwell drove in silence, apparently finding his way through reading a small compass built into the centre of the steering wheel. The Doctor soon realised that they were heading where he and Jo had left the TARDIS. 'How far are we going?' he asked the now silent Caldwell . The man grunted a reply to the effect that they only had a few kilometres to drive, but he didn't say how many. He drove in a dead straight line, up little hills and down into valleys, then up again. Nor did he make any effort to steer round the smaller boulders, the wheels of the buggy were made to bounce over almost any obstacle not larger than themselves. Eventually, the buggy was rolling down to where the Doctor and Jo had arrived. The TARDIS was gone.
'Will you stop, please,' asked the Doctor.
'My friends'll want to meet you,' Caldwell said, driving on.
'Afterwards,' said the Doctor. 'But there's something I want to check right here.' He put so much insistence into his voice that Caldwell stopped the buggy. The Doctor immediately dismounted and went to the spot where the TARDIS had materialised after its journey from Earth. He suspected the Time Lords were really in control when the TARDIS took off from UNIT Headquarters, had they now dematerialised the TARDIS, leaving both Jo and himself stranded on this desolate planet for ever?
'Hey', shouted Caldwell , 'if you're trying to run away, I can outpace you easily with the buggy!'
But the Doctor continued undeterred to the exact point where he had last seen the TARDIS. Caldwell started the buggy again, and turned it savagely to pursue the Doctor. But when Caldwell realised the Doctor