Doctor Who_ The Paradise of Death - Barry Letts [83]
But Onya interrupted him. ‘No, no. You don’t understand. All life is sacred to the Kimonyans, even the life of the beasts they eat – but the Gargan is holy. He stands for the spirit of life and death.’
‘You mean they won’t kill a Gargan in any circumstances?’ said the Brigadier.
‘Never. And if you were to do it, it would destroy everything we’ve built up here. It’s their greatest tabu.’
Sarah was filled with the feeling of helplessness that was so familiar to her as a child. They could argue the whys and wherefores afterwards, for God’s sake. It was plain that the ‘grownups’ had no intention of doing anything at all.
Lying on one of the side benches was a neat pile of direction finders like the one Onya had carried. If she were careful, she could sidle over and nick one.
‘You see, when you come into this life, death is inevitable,’ Onya went on to say.
‘As inevitable as it is when you step into the Gargan’s domain,’ said the Doctor. ‘Of course. The Hindus have a similar concept. The God Siva and his consort Kali...’
But Sarah was content to lose the opportunity of improving her knowledge of the Hindu Pantheon. With a jerk of her head to Jeremy, who had been watching her wide-eyed, she walked as casually and as unobtrusively as she could the length of the hut, through the increasingly merry crowd in the club area, and out of the door.
‘What was it you pinched?’ said Jeremy.
She held it up to show him. ‘It’s just a matter of putting in the coordinates of the cave,’ she said, doing it as she spoke. ‘They were on the ER monitor screen, remember?
‘There, done it,’ she went on. ‘Come on!’
‘Stop! Wait for me!’ cried Jeremy, as she took off for the eastern hills. But Sarah was as unstoppable as the Juggernaut of Bengal.
The discussion continued, with very little of consequence being said. The Brigadier suggested that Kaido and his people might know some way to entice the Gargan from his den. Ungar had reported that Waldo had stirred briefly before lapsing into unconsciousness again. If the creature could be kept from him, they might be able to call to him to come out, to escape the immediate peril at least.
But then what? As Onya pointed out yet again, the Gargan’s hunt for its prey was inexorable. Once it had found Rudley’s scent it wouldn’t rest until it had made a meal of him.
Reluctantly, and with great sadness, Onya and Haban Rance came to the conclusion that this was one rescue attempt which had failed even before it was set in motion.
‘But what other option is there?’ said the Brigadier when he was alone with the Doctor. ‘We can’t just leave him there waiting to be killed.’
But the Doctor wasn’t any more sanguine about Rudley’s chances than the other two.
‘Our hands are tied, Lethbridge-Stewart. Even if we did manage to lure the beast away, the poor boy would still be doomed.’
The Brigadier had never known him to take so negative an attitude at a time of crisis.
On the other hand, he thought, the Doctor was usually right in his assessment of a situation. It did look as if Captain Rudley was a goner. Unless... Of course. Of course!
‘Unless we took him right away from here,’ he said,
‘We’ve got the flycar, after all. What’s to stop us all getting away? This can’t be the only place on the planet where we can hide from Tragan and Co.’
But it seemed that the Doctor was determined to be pessimistic. ‘It had crossed my mind. The snag about that is...’
He stopped and looked around. ‘Where’s Sarah?’ he said sharply. And Jeremy?’
The Brigadier shrugged. He hadn’t seen them for some time.
‘The little fools!’ said the Doctor, ‘They’ve gone to try a great romantic rescue!’
He set off down the hut. ‘Let’s just pray we’re in time to stop them.’
The Brigadier started after him but immediately turned back. He picked up one of small stunguns and slipped it into his pocket. No way was he going up there unarmed.
The camp was backed by a thick wood. Even after she got through that, Sarah found