Doctor Who_ The Zarbi - Bill Strutton [40]
Vicki nudged the Doctor and pointed it out furtively as the Zarbi laid the instrument near a pile of the gold wishbone necklets.
‘What’s that thing it’s got?’
Doctor Who peered sidelong at the Zarbi and the object it was examining before laying it down.
‘Mm — looks like some sort of weapon, child...’
He returned to his calculations.
‘Yes, but what sort — it’s nothing like these creatures could make, surely?
‘That’s true — no.’
The Doctor pondered that, until a fresh burst of hummed instructions came from the Zarbis’ control panel and the great light above the web indicator glowed. The Zarbi manning it chirruped and rose to attention.
Then the Dome in the roof began to descend.
Vicki began to back away. The Zarbi had laid down the gun and was now coming towards her with a necklet levelled at her throat.
‘No...!’ she moaned. ‘No... no...’
Doctor Who stepped in the Zarbi’s way. ‘What is it you want?’ he stormed. The Zarbi extended a foreclaw and thrust the Doctor roughly aside. It seized the shrinking Vicki and clamped the necklet roughly about her throat.
Doctor Who wheeled and strode angrily towards the descending Dome. He stood beneath it, lifted his head, and raged into it.
‘What is the meaning of this? I demand the child be set free! Is this the way you reward us for our help?’
The Voice boomed back. ‘It is the way we reward your lack of it! You have had time to present the information you spoke of, yet still you delay! To teach you obedience, the child will die!’
The Doctor stiffened and shouted back. ‘If the child dies, I shall have no reason left to obey you! I have located your enemy. My calculations are complete...’
‘You lie-ie!’ The echo of the Voice’s anger surged around the Doctor deafeningly. He paused, knowing now that he must yield some information to bargain for Vicki’s safety.
‘I am telling the truth! Your enemy are massing in the vicinity of the planet Pictos...’
A pause. Then...
‘Pictos-os...?’
‘They are one hundred and forty leagues from this planet... and moving closer...’
‘How quickly-y...?’
‘At one-tenth the speed of light. Now if you wish to waste your time with idle stupid vengeance on a child in the face of invasion — you will be annihilated!’
After another pause the Dome reverberated to a question from the Voice, now calmer.
‘Where will the Menoptera land... and...?’
Doctor Who hesitated now, reluctant to reveal any more. He cast an anxious look towards Vicki, now blank of face, standing unaware before the threat of a venom grub which was now being guided towards her by a Zarbi guard.
The Doctor looked up into the Dome.
‘Your interference has so far prevented my finding that out. If we are spared further treatment of this sort, I can return to the task you set me — if it is not too late!’
There was a silence while the Voice digested this.
‘Very well - go!’
Doctor Who stood his ground. ‘Not before the child is released!’
‘Go — immediately!’
‘First, the child —!’
The Zarbi controlling the venom gun turned towards the control panel. It hummed, glowed suddenly. The Zarbi snatched the necklet from Vicki’s throat and the Dome rose into the air, Doctor Who took Vicki’s arm. and steered her towards his control table as she rubbed her eyes and awoke.
‘What... did you tell... that thing...?’ Vicki mumbled.
Doctor Who smiled. ‘Only enough to preserve our skins, my dear.’ He patted her arm, turned to his map, and then muttered, thinking.
‘We must think of something to get away from here.
Vicki — the recorder — we must find somewhere to hide it.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t intend to present them with all the information we’ve picked up on it... where they are to be attacked, for instance...’
Doctor Who paused, wondering where to conceal the recorder, when the Zarbi control panel again burst into life. Lights glowed from different points on the web indicator, buzzers of different pitch sounded through speaker lines beneath the map, and the master speaker hummed loudly with a steady flow of instructions. The Zarbi