Doctor Who_ War Games - Malcolm Hulke [40]
‘He’s just the person I need,’ said the Doctor. ‘Quickly, get him untied and sit him on a chair.’
On the war map a bright red ring glowed all around the château.
‘Smythe should have destroyed that apparatus as we ordered him,’ said the War Chief.
‘And we should have sent in my security guards,’ said the Security Chief.
‘Silence!’ said the War Lord. ‘I will not have this bickering. The use of human specimens to smash the bandits has failed. We must now take direct action.
Security Chief, prepare a landing party.’
*
In the absence of the proper cowl, the Doctor had attached wires from the processing machine to a German steel helmet. Now he removed it from the head of the young British corporal. All the resistance fighters watched to see if the de-processing had worked. The Doctor snapped his fingers in front of the corporal’s eyes.
‘Come on,’ he said sharply. ‘What can you see?’ The young man looked around the motley group of soldiers.
‘Where am I? Who are you all?’
‘He seems pretty confused,’ said Lieutenant Carstairs.
‘Wouldn’t you be,’ responded the Doctor, ‘if one moment you think you’re fighting the Germans, and the next you know you’re in a room surrounded by Turks, Russians, Frenchmen and Germans?’ He turned back to the corporal. ‘What can you remember?’
‘I was on the Somme.’ He smiled as he remembered some good news. ‘The Americans have just declared war on the Kaiser. That means we can’t lose now.’ Confusion returned to his face. ‘Then everything went funny. Have I been hit? Is this heaven?’
‘This proves that machine works,’ said Sergeant Russell.
He grinned. ‘But we’re going to have to explain a lot to these fellows—’
The sound came from the bedroom. At first it was almost inaudible against the chatter of the exultant resistance fighters. By the time it had impinged on everyone’s mind, the materialisation noise of the sidrat was almost complete.
‘Take up positions of defence,’ ordered Lieutenant Carstairs. ‘Get these tables up as barricades! ‘
The soldiers scrambled to get the trestle tables across the floor to use as shields. A group of soldiers rushed to the bedroom door, firing their assorted rifles, shotguns and revolvers into the room. In return came the zing of stun-guns. Two men fell dead. All at once silver-uniformed security guards were coming through the door, firing their stun-guns indiscriminately. Three guards made straight for the Doctor, grabbing him before he had time to move.
‘Don’t shoot!’ Jamie yelled. ‘You’ll hit the Doctor!’
The Doctor was dragged, kicking and struggling, into the bedroom. The security guards withdrew as quickly as they came. An Austro-Hungarian soldier raced to the bedroom door, fired a shot, and recoiled as he was hit by a stun-gun.
The sidrat’s dematerialisation sound filled the whole château.
9
The Trap
The Security Chief looked down at his prisoner. The Doctor was securely strapped to a chair, the pain cowl over his head.
‘Admit it,’ said the Security Chief. ‘Admit that the War Chief sent for you. You are both of the same race. Your arrival on this planet is part of a plot to betray us to the Time Lords!’
‘You would never believe the truth,’ said the Doctor. ‘So I prefer to remain silent.’
‘What you prefer doesn’t matter.’ The Security Chief signalled to a guard to turn on the power. ‘Can you feel pain coursing through your head? Believe me, I can destroy your mind. When I have finished with you, you will be an imbecile.’
The door of the security room flew open. The War Chief and two of his bodyguards stepped in.
‘Are you trying to kill him?’ the War Chief demanded.
The Security Chief signalled for the power to be turned off. ‘I’m trying to get the truth from him.’
‘I congratulate you on the capture, but you will never make him talk that way. He is of my race. Your machines cannot work on us if we choose to resist.’
The Security Chief stepped back. ‘You admit that you know him, War Chief?’
‘Of course. And only I can deal with him. Release him.
He’s coming with me.’