Doctor Who_ The Visitation - Eric Saward [12]
Tegan moved away from the cages to the wine rack, where Richard Mace was struggling to remove the cork from a bottle. As she approached, he turned, proudly displaying his prize, his face covered with a large, silly grin.
Tegan chuckled. 'Don't get too drunk.'
Mace didn't reply. Instead his expression turned to one of horror as he saw the black shape over Tegan's shoulder. Tegan turned to see what had scared him, while the actor started to scream.
'Don't!' the Doctor shouted, seeing Mace draw his pistols. But he was too late. The loud report of the discharged pistols echoed around the room.
The android, undamaged, lifted his hand as though to point. Blind with fear, Mace fled across the cellar and up the steps.
The android turned, his direction and range-finder locked onto the fleeing actor. Just as he fired, Adric leapt onto the android's back, causing the beam of energy to miss its target, but it hit Tegan instead, who immediately collapsed.
'Nyssa, run!' shouted the Doctor.
Confused and uncertain, she hesitated to move. 'What about you?'
'Just get out of here!'
Nyssa ran to the steps while a struggling Adric was effortlessly flicked from the android's back. The boy screamed as he rolled over in the air and struck the stone slabs of the floor. The android then turned towards the Doctor, who was sprinting across the cellar towards the Soliton machine. Again he raised his index finger and prepared to fire as the Doctor flung himself onto the gas unit and groped wildly for the controls.
The android paused as a loud hiss emitted from the machine.
'I don't know if you can understand me,' said the Doctor, climbing down from the Soliton unit, 'but I would like to point out how inflammable Soliton becomes when mixed freely with oxygen.'
Quickly he moved away from the machine and across the floor to Tegan.
Lifting her arm, he felt her pulse: it was erratic. 'If you fire that beam of yours,' he continued, you'll turn this house into an inferno.'
The android lowered his hand and started to move towards the Doctor, forcing him to abandon Tegan and retreat to the cellar steps. Although his trick had worked, the android was still capable of crushing the Doctor in his steel fingers.
Reluctantly the Doctor backed up the stairs, but instead of following, the android side-stepped to the Soliton machine and readjusted the controls. It would take but thirty seconds before the Soliton level dropped sufficiently for the android to use his blaster.
Adric seemed to be recovering. 'I'll be back as soon as I can.' the Doctor shouted. But Adric didn't hear anything as he slipped back into oblivion.
Richard Mace charged into the main hall, wide-eyed with fear and panic. Thrusting his pistols into his waistband, he stumbled across the room, his only thought to get out of the house and as far away as possible.
'Wait,' shouted a breathless voice, but Mace didn't falter. 'Please wait.'
A panting Nyssa tumbled into the room. 'We must help the Doctor.'
'Your Doctor is a dead man!' The actor fumbled with the handle of the door which led to the hallway. 'Did you not see who was in the cellar?' He threw the door open. 'It was Death, the Great Reaper!'
'That's what you're supposed to think.'
'Then what was it?' Mace was not keen to argue with a fool.
'An android, a mechanical man, a machine.'
'Perfectly correct,' said the Doctor, appearing at the landing door behind them.
Mace slowly turned, his terror renewed. 'You are supposed to be dead, sir,' he said, feeling for the reassuring shape of the crucifix under his shirt.
'Not this time.'
'Then your mind is addled! It was Death. You saw the effect my pistols had on him.'
'It takes more than a pair of flintlocks to damage an android.'
'Then there is no place in this house for me.' Mace disappeared into the hallway.
'Let him go, Doctor.'