Doctor Who_ The Visitation - Eric Saward [27]
Reluctantly, she closed the door and walked dejectedly along the corridor, back into her room.
The sonic booster stood in the middle of the floor, wires hanging from it like tendrils from a plant.
Nyssa stood before the machine. Such was her state of mind it seemed to mock her, reminding her of her helplessness. She felt wretched, frustrated and alone.
Suddenly she turned on the sonic booster in a fit of wild anger. 'Stupid machine,' she shouted and started to kick it hard.
Lazily, the miller's horse looked up from munching a pile of hay as Mace and Tegan, controlled by the bracelets they were wearing, loaded down with reinforced ampoule-boxes, emerged from the manor house.
An early evening badger poked his head from a nearby bush and for a moment watched the strange procession, before setting off in search of supper.
Held firmly by the android, the Doctor, too, was part of the procession, only his journey was from the Terileptil's laboratory to the cellar.
The android halted near the Terileptil who was rummaging in a large box near the table where Tegan had been working. Slowly he rose clutching a pair of ancient handcuffs.
'Don't I qualify for a control bracelet?' said the Doctor.
'Your mind would over-ride the effect.'
'I wouldn't be too certain.'
The Leader's lip curled in a sort of smile as he snapped the handcuffs onto the Doctor's wrists.
'Cruder, but more effective, I think.'
The Doctor held up his hands and rattled the chain connecting the cuffs, as though testing their strength. 'Tell me,' he said, 'what happened to the occupants of this house?'
'A noble death. They were allowed to die fighting.'
The Terileptil raised a webbed hand and the android escorted the Doctor across the cel ar towards the steps where he halted.
'Do you enjoy killing?' the Doctor shouted back over his shoulder.
The Leader hissed. 'We are at war, Doctor. And war is honourable. Even on this planet it is considered so.'
'I know...' The android prodded the Doctor indicating he ascend the steps.
'But by your own admission, these people are still primitive. What's your excuse?'
The android placed a steel hand on the Doctor's shoulder and squeezed, causing the Doctor to wince.
'Take him away!' commanded the Leader.
Far more roughly than was necessary, the Doctor was dragged up the steps and along the corridor to where Adric and Tegan had been held prisoner.
While the android opened the door, the Doctor saw Richard Mace enter the tradesmen's entrance at the far end of the corridor. Although the Doctor shouted, the actor didn't respond. A moment later he was thrust into the room and the door slammed shut and was locked behind him.
Despondently the Doctor looked around, the room now completely bare, the stool and palliasse having been removed after Tegan and Adric's escape.
Even the fanlight had been sealed again, this time with heavy beams of timber.
The Doctor looked down at the handcuffs. Old-fashioned though they were, without some way of unlocking them they were as effective as any sophisticated device.
Quickly the Doctor searched in his pockets for his sonic screwdriver.
Finding it proved easier than removing it from the tangled lining of his jacket. As he tugged and pulled, other objects trapped in the folds of the pocket - safety-pins, the powerpacks found in the barn, coins of uncertain denomination and origin - cascaded to the ground. The Doctor bent down and started to gather them together. 'I must get a proper survival kit together one day,' he muttered.
With the screwdriver free, he set about trying to release himself from the cuffs. Although the sonic device was more than capable of dealing with the crude works, manipulating the screwdriver was made difficult by the very short chain connecting the cuffs.
Several minutes passed as he continued to tussle, but he couldn't quite line up the sonic beam with the lock.