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'May I ask, sir,' said the Master to the Doctor, 'exactly who you are?'

Both Winton and Ashe looked at the Doctor. 'Yes,' said Winton, 'you've never really explained yourself.'

The Master put his arms round Ashe's and Winton's shoulders. 'Gentlemen, I suggest that we continue our discussion uninterrupted. Now let us go somewhere private to consider how I might intercede on your behalf with Earth Government' And with that the Master led Ashe and Winton away from the Doctor.

'Doctor,' said Jo, 'you've got to stop him. He's going to talk them into believing him!'

'There may be another way,' said the Doctor. 'Come on.' He strode out of the dome. Jo, not understanding, quickly followed him.

17 Captain Dent Thinks Twice

'Maintain parking orbit!'

Captain Dent barked the order to the IMC technicians in the control room. They made the necessary adjustments and the IMC ship levelled off in its ascent from the planet and went into a wide orbit.

Morgan entered. 'I've checked the stores,' he told Dent. 'They've taken our buggies, all our guns and ammunition, even our rocket pistols. They also took all our mining explosives.'

Caldwell looked across from where he had watched Dent pilot the ship back up into Space. 'How's the astrobeer supply and the stocks of victory champagne?' he asked, not expecting an answer. The others ignored him.

Morgan said, 'What do we do now, Captain Dent?'

'Stay in parking orbit,' said Dent, 'and radio IMC on Earth for a gunship.'

'Is that going to look good on our work records,' said Morgan, 'asking for help?'

Dent turned to him. 'Have you got any other ideas?' It wasn't a question, more of an expression of despair.

'As a matter of fact,' said Morgan, 'there was one strange thing. When I was being led out as a prisoner, that man the Doctor called the Adjudicator an impostor.'

Dent gave thought to that. 'You remember,' he said at last, 'when I first met the Adjudicator he refused to show me his identity card. I wonder...' Suddenly he grabbed the radio-microphone and within a few moments was talking to the Identification Tracing Department of IMC on Earth. He explained nothing of what had happened, he simply asked for an identity check on the Adjudicator of this section of the galaxy, a routine enquiry which could not reflect badly on Captain Dent in any way. Ten minutes later, in reply to Dent's query, a telephoto picture started to be printed line by line on the ship's telephoto machine. Dent and Morgan watched with increasing interest as the face appeared. It was round, chubby, the eyes were blue, the hair fair, and there was no beard. Caldwell looked at the picture over Dent's shoulder.

'Well, well,' said Caldwell , 'I guess we all got fooled.'

'Had we better report this to Earth?' said Morgan.

'No,' said Dent. He had no intention of letting IMC on Earth know that he'd been tricked. 'We'll handle this ourselves.'

'Without guns?' Morgan asked, and Dent noticed how Morgan had stopped calling him 'sir' since things had gone against them.

'We shall have to be a bit craftier,' said Dent. He turned to the technicians. 'Prepare to go into landing orbit!'

As the IMC ship gently sank back onto the planet, cushioned by its retrorockets, Captain Dent saw the sun tipping the western horizon. They landed in a small valley 35 kilometres from the colonists' dome. Finally, the ship steadied as it touched down on the planet's surface, and the motors were shut off.

'And now we wait,' said Captain Dent. 'Even without buggies, we can reach the colonists within four hours. We shall wait until night.'

18 The Master's TARDIS

The Doctor and Jo stood outside the scarlet ship in which the Master had arrived on the planet. 'It's just an ordinary spaceship,' remarked Jo, 'like the IMC one, only smaller.'

The Doctor produced a key from his pocket. 'We shall soon know,' he said, and tried the key in what seemed to be the only entrance hatch in the ship's side. The key turned easily.

'How did you get that key?' Jo asked.

The Doctor winked. 'Oh, from a previous encounter I had with the Master.