91Èȱ¬

"And are you going to destroy me?" asked the Doctor, slowly standing up. "Of course not," George said, breaking open the shotgun. Jo looked confused. "I'm sorry," she said, "what's going on?"

"Jo, there are some people on this planet of yours who have such stubborn personalities that they are virtually impossible to hypnotize. Mr Barford has such a stubborn personality. No offence, Mr Barford." "None taken, Doctor." "I recognized this in Mr Barford, but I was hoping the Master wouldn't." "I get it," said Jo. "You got Mr Barford to go up to the Master, and pretend to be hypnotized." "Exactly, Jo."

He turned back to George. "So what have you found out?" "Not a lot, I'm afraid. He's not one for talking much to hypnotized lackeys, and when he does it's all boasting and obscure soliloquies. Still, I do know that there's something on Lakey Hill that he's interested in." "On," mused the Doctor, "or perhaps under." "Like the Daemon ship at Devil's End." "Indeed Jo. We could be dealing with something very old and very dangerous."

* * *

Clive Horrobin got out of the car, handcuffed between his two warders. A tall, important looking man in army uniform, with a neatly-trimmed moustache, walked over. "Ah, you must be Mr Horrobin." "That's right, sir," said one of the warders. "I'm Mackay, from Slade Prison. If you'd just sign here to show that you've taken custody of the prisoner." "Yes, of course," the army man said, signing the warder's clipboard.

The other warder unlocked Clive's handcuffs. "He's all yours now, sir," said Mackay. "And you're welcome to him." Mackay and his companion got back into the car, and drove off.

Clive rubbed his wrists. "Right," the soldier said. "I'm Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart." He held out his hand. Clive ignored it. "So, what am I doing here?" "It happens that we have a need, one which you are uniquely placed to satisfy. We need someone who has a detailed knowledge of these tunnels. We think you hid in them when you were on the run from the police." "I might have done. What's in it for me?" "I'm sure we can look to a reduction of your sentence, if you are seen to be co-operating." "Oh right. Okay then."

Oh, this was going to be so easy. He'd spent enough time in the old mines to know them like the back of his hand. He'd soon slip the toy soldiers, and then he'd be away. "Got a brew, mate?" he said. The Brigadier looked at him hard. "Mr Horrobin, I don't recommend that you cross me. You wouldn't like the consequences." He walked off, leaving Clive wondering why he wasn't feeling quite so cocky any more.

* * *

"I don't suppose you could give me a lift back to the village, Mr Barford? I really must get these samples analyzed." The Doctor, George and Jo were heading out of the workshop, and walking across the farmyard of Bridge Farm. Tony, and Pat had gone inside the farm house, to comfort their distressed daughter. "While you're doing that, Doctor, I could go and have a look at Lakey Hill." "Oh no, Jo, don't do that. Whatever's there is far too dangerous to be tackled until we know more about it, and why the Master and the Nestenes are so keen to get their hands on it." "You think they're both after it." "It's too much of a coincidence otherwise."

* * *

Across the farmyard, Siobhan Hathaway stood, unnoticed. The instruction came through. "Destroy!" She raised her arm, and the fingers fell away at the knuckle.

"Oi! Doctor! Look out!" The Doctor looked up, to see a tall, rangy youth. He instantly took in the direction the lad was pointing in, towards a woman who looked just like any other country yuppy – except that her hand had hinged open to reveal an electric weapon. She was clearly an Auton replica.

The charge struck the wall of the workshop, just above the Doctor's head. Goerge snapped the shotgun closed, swiftly took aim, and, with a skill borne of decades of plucking pheasants out of the sky, loosed both barrels off at the Auton. They struck 'her' dead centre, the shot ripping her blouse to shreds. A human being would have fallen over dead, but the Auton just looked down at the damage, and then shot at George.

George ducked to avoid the blast, and reloaded. He took careful aim, and fired again. This time, instead of shooting at the centre of the target, he shot at the Auton's hand. He scored a direct hit, and had the satisfaction of seeing sparks and smoke come out of the Auton's weapon.

"Good shot, Mr Barford," said the Doctor. The Auton looked confused for a moment, standing unmoving. "What's she doing?" asked Jo. "'It', Jo, not 'she'. 'It' is waiting for new instructions." The Auton turned and started moving towards its car. "Ah, there we are. It's being withdrawn, because it can't hurt us anymore. I think I need to follow it; it should lead me straight to the Nestenes' base." "On Grange Farm?" "We'll have to see about that."

The Doctor leapt up, and sprinted for the MG Midget. "I'm just borrowing your car, old chap," he said, as he shot past Tony Archer at the window. "Thanks very much." "Now wait a minute –" began Tony. But the Doctor had already leapt in the car, started it up, and spun it out of the farmyard. "How did he do that?" said Tony. "The keys are still on the kitchen table."

* * *

The Auton that had stolen Siobhan Hathaway's form was steering the car down country lanes with the shattered stump of its right hand. Suddenly there was a cheery toot on a horn from behind. The Auton looked into the mirror, and saw the Doctor, driving Tony Archer's red MG Midget. It pressed on the accelerator.

* * *

The Doctor was very impressed with the Midget. It had obviously been well looked-after, and was highly responsive to the controls. Unfortunately, he had got a bit carried away, and got too close to the Auton ahead. This had caused the Auton to speed up, and the Doctor was now having to put in some pretty fancy driving to keep up. As the Auton's car came into the village, it lost control. The car slewed to the right, and rolled over on its roof twice, before ending up inverted in the duck pond.

The Doctor threw the Midget to the left, and screeched to a halt. He got out to see the Auton struggling through the water of the pond. "Don't worry, Doctor, I'll sort this out." Joe Grundy held up a large piece of electronic equipment, and untidy mass of wires and circuits, with a small antenna on top. He pointed it at the Auton, and switched it on. The Auton fell over, as if it was a puppet that had its strings cut. "Mr Grundy! I was going to let it get away! I was trying to follow it to its control centre." "Oh. Ah. Sorry 'bout that. But I weren't to know, were I?" "I suppose not," said the Doctor. "But it puts us right back at square one."

* * *

Siobhan Hathaway woke up. She was strapped to the kitchen table, and electrodes were taped to her head. "What the –" she thought. "Hey!" she shouted. "Hey, what's going on!" Her husband, Tim, came in the room. "Tim, what on earth am I doing here? Did you tie me up like this? I know our marriage has been hitting a difficult spell, but you didn't need to go this far ..."

Tim looked at her. "I'm sorry, Siobhan," he said in a flat, lifeless voice, "but your usefulness is over." He raised his hand, and the fingers dropped away.

Part Eight>>