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then focused the periscope on Rago. The Navigator was
pressing the tips of the bristling glass spikes in an
apparently random sequence and with each movement the
pink glow intensified. Eventually the glass shell came apart
and Rago delicately withdrew the opalescent egg within.
‘Criticality minus beta.’
Unable to watch any longer, the Doctor closed his eyes
and leaned his forehead against the periscope ‘We’re too
late...’ he sighed dejectedly. ‘We’ve failed...’
‘We’re through, Doctor!’
Spinning round, the Doctor saw Jamie’s dirt-streaked
smile filling the tunnel mouth.
‘Only a wee bit too far to the left,’ Jamie cried as he
clambered out. ‘Not bad at all.’
The Doctor whipped back to the periscope. Rago was
lending over the borehole, the seeding trigger poised in his
outstretched hands.
In a single bound, the Doctor flung himself at the
tunnel and vanished into the darkness.
Zoe flew to the periscope. She uttered a cry of despair.
Rago’s hands were empty. ‘It’s gone... we missed it,’ she
said, trifling a sob of disappointment.
There was a long silence. Jamie, Zoe, Kando, Teel and
Kully stared glumly at one another and then turned
anxiously towards the tunnel.
After a while, they heard muffled mutterings and then a
frantic scrambling. Gradually the Doctor emerged feet first
from the narrow opening. He stood up and then turned to
face the astonished group. He was holding the huge egg as
though it were a bomb.
‘You did it.’ whispered Zoe.
‘So, we are saved,’ Kando burst out, with a brilliant
smile.
‘Not quite saved...’ murmured the Doctor, moving in
slow motion as if the slightest shock could he disastrous.’
We still have to neutralise it.’ With infinite care, he turned
the glowing device over and over in his trembling hands.
Then he looked at them, appalled. ‘It’s sealed... completely
sealed...’ he gasped. ‘I can’t open it.’
They all stared at him helplessly.
‘Ye mean it was all for nothing?’ Jamie exclaimed
bitterly. ‘Are we going to he blown to smithereens after
all?’
The Doctor nodded. ‘I’m afraid so, Jamie. Unless we can
get it away from Dulkis immediately..
Teel and Kando were kneeling beside Kully. Their
three faces were overcast with incredulity and anguish.
Jamie and Zoe gazed at the Time Lord with barely
concealed resentment.
Suddenly
the
Doctor
grinned
mischievously.
‘Whatever’s the matter with you all?’ he demanded,
weighing the lethal object almost nonchalantly in one
hand, his eyes beginning to twinkle. ‘Teel and Kando, you
take Kully to the capsule near the saucer, get back to the
Capitol and warn them that there might be a little
earthquake and a volcano or two popping up here and
there. Jamie and Zoe, you go straight back to the TARDIS
and wait there for me...’
He was interrupted by a chorus of protest.
‘But why? What are you going to do?’ Jamie demanded.
‘No time to explain now,’ the Doctor cried, pushing his
way through them to the periscope. ‘Ah good, coast’s clear
at last’ He at scrambled up the mound of sand under the
trap-door, clutching the seeding trigger under his arm like
a rugby ball.
Kully tried to get up. ‘But you must come with us to the
Capitol. My father will want to see you...’
‘So sorry. Some other time. Got to dash...’ The Doctor
planted his head against the hatch and pushed it open with
a crash.
‘On behalf of the Dulcian crommunity...’ Teel began,
standing up with shy solemnity.
‘Apologies. Not now. Compliments and so on to the
esteemed Council...’ the Doctor waved.
A moment later he was gone.
There was a stunned silence.
‘Where’s he gone?’ Zoe asked at last.
Jame shrugged. ‘Och, we’ll just have to do as he says. I
hope he’s not up to anything too daft though...’
Inside the giant saucer, the Dominators were completing
final preparations for firing the perimeter rockets and for
immediate take-off from Dulkis. The control centre
hummed and flickered with intense activity.
‘Remaining Quarks about to board,’ Toba reported.
‘Particle flux?’
‘Confirmed.’
‘Good. Perimeter targets primed,’ Rago checked.
‘Seeding trigger in situ. Approaching criticality minus
alpha,’ Toba warned.
‘Affirmative. Target projectile and take-off countdowns
locked in sequence.’
At that moment, beneath the massive craft, a dapper
figure was scurrying breathlessly up behind the last Quark
as it entered the elevator at the foot of the central shaft.
Just as the access panel began to close, the figure took
something out of his coat and placed it carefully on the
floor of the cubicle behind the robot.
‘Just a little something for the journey...’ he murmured,
jumping back in the nick of time as the hatch clicked shut.
Then he turned and ran away across the dunes as fast as
his short legs would carry him.
High up in the control centre, Toba was monitoring the
flight
displays.
‘Propulsion
flux
at
optimum,’
he
announced.
‘Initiate take-off,’ Rago ordered.
A colossal shudder ran through the saucer as it wobbled
and then began to rise slowly from the sand.
‘Target rockets fired. All maximum penetration...’ Rago
reported with satisfaction. ‘Seeding trigger now at critical...
at critical plus... plus...’
Toba glanced across at his superior in alarm. Rago was
staring in utter disbelief at the elevator cubicle which had
just brought up the last of the Quarks.
‘Toba...’ Rago gasped in a hoarse nightmarish croak,
pointing at the floor of the cubicle. ‘Toba... abandon..
At that moment, the saucer tipped slightly and
something rolled out of the cubicle and trundled noisily
across the deck towards the dais. It was the seeding trigger,
now glowing a deep crimson.
The Dominators gaped speechlessly at the giant egg as it
zig-zagged around the gently gyrating deck, glowing
brighter and hotter every second...
The vast saucer had shrieked away into the Dulcian
evening sky just as Jamie reached the TARDIS, after
helping Teel and Kando to carry Kully to the capsule.
‘Thank goodness you’re safe!’ cried Zoe, meeting him in
the doorway. ‘But there’s no sign of the Doctor yet.’
‘Och, I knew I should’ve gone with him...’ Jamie panted,
shaking his head ruefully.
All at once there was a mighty roaring noise and a jet of
flame erupted out of the sand nearby. They flung
themselves face-down and covered their heads. After a few
seconds the roaring ceased and the ground stopped
shaking. A thick column of smoke and sand hung over the
TARDIS. Badly shaken, they scrambled up. In the distance
they could see three similar pall of smoke rising high in
the air.
‘They’ve just fired the rockets at the perimeter [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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