Part 12 (1/2)

The Doctor eyed him suspiciously. 'Are you sure?'

'Of course I'm sure. The mean free path would be reduced to a matter of millimetres. It can't be done, Doctor.' Mockingly he added, 'Not even with faith and hope.'

The Doctor glanced at the door. 'Al right, we'll risk the guards. But we'll have to be careful.'

The TARDIS carrying Adric and Nyssa had arrived at its destination, and materialised discreetly in the shadows around the base of the Pharos antenna. Inside, the two companions had been watching the huge basket-like structure on the viewer screen.

'So that's what the Earth people are using to beam messages to the stars,' said Nyssa.

'Trying to call up alien intelligences.'

'Then they should be very pleased to see us,' Adric said, pulling the door-release lever.

'Except that they won't be.' The sound of dawn birdsong filtered in as the big double door swung inwards.

'Why not?' Nyssa asked.

'People never are when they get what they've always wanted,' Adric replied.

'You'll see.'

Together they stepped cautiously out into the cold morning air and ran for cover.

At the end of the corridor the Doctor paused to lift a slat of the venetian blinds. Tucked into the shadows on the far side of the car park, he saw the unmistakable blue shape of the TARDIS.

The double doors were ajar, and in the opening loomed the vague outline of the figure that had fol owed him to Logopolis and back. Something distinctly proprietorial about the patient way he waited in the TARDIS entrance sent a chill through the Doctor's body.

'Hey, Doc, are you OK?' Tegan was by his side, recalling him to the business in hand.

The Doctor turned from the window, instantly himself again. He knew the danger of showing any sign of weakness in front of the Master. 'This is going to need split-second timing,' he said crisply. 'We've got to get across to the antenna control room and re-align it on whatever's left of Logopolis. That way we should be near enough to that CVE the Monitor was trying to re-open.

The Master confirmed the plan with a nod.

'Good,' said the Doctor. 'Then follow me. And watch out for those security guards.'

Downstairs the sonic screwdriver made quick work of the chain on the safety door that lead out into the enclosure, and from there it was a short sprint across open ground to the cover of the row of huts. They pressed themselves up against the wall while a group of early morning workmen wheeled their bicycles in through the main gate and ambled past within a few feet from where they stood. The Doctor contemplated the open ground between them and the antenna, mounted on its cl.u.s.ter of girders and gantries. The sky was getting lighter, and every delay made the venture more dangerous. Just as he judged it right to move, two security men pulled open the main gate, allowing a car to roll slowly in towards the Doctor and his party, cutting off their direct route to the antenna.

The Doctor pul ed Tegan back into the shadow of the huts, but behind them the Master, tiring of the delay, reached into his coat for the weapon he had intended to use on the technician.

The Doctor noticed the movement, and turned in time to grab the weapon just as it was about to go off. But the noise of the scuffle alerted the two security men, and a voice shouted, 'Intruders! Come on, after them!'

The Doctor broke cover, and Tegan had no choice but to follow his flapping scarf and coat. This wasn't her idea of fun, playing some maniac game of tag, in and out of the low buildings. At least the Doctor seemed to have some sense of the geography of the place, avoiding the culs-de-sacs between the huts. Then they rounded a corner and ran straight into the workmen. There was a sudden tangle of limbs and a clatter of bicycles.

Tegan managed to evade the grabbing hands, but with his great loose coat and his flying scarf the Doctor was an easier quarry. Looking behind her Tegan saw the security men closing in.

Then came a brief flash of light and a short sizzling sound. The Doctor looked up from his struggle to see the Master had missed his aim at the workmen, but was still pointing the deadly weapon. With a howl of rage he shook off his a.s.sailants and dived for the Master, grabbing the device and hurling it across the asphalt path.

'Sentimental fool,' hissed the Master, throwing him back against one of the huts.

'Thanks to you we're weaponless.' The Doctor hit the slatted walls with a thud that knocked the air from his lungs.

If it hadn't been for the intervention of Adric and Nyssa at that moment he would certainly have been captured. At the approach of the workmen with their bicycles the two companions had shrunk back behind a water barrel outside one of the huts. Adric knew that the Watcher had brought them there to help the Doctor, but until the moment came he hadn't been sure exactly how.

Unfortunately Tegan had a very similar idea. As the two security men came pounding up to the scene she rushed forward waving her arms and shouting at the top of her voice, 'You've got all this totally topsy-turvy. The Doctor's here to help, and if you stop him it could be the last thing you'll ever do.'

At the same time Adric had moved out into the open. He hadn't intended to topple the water barrel on the way, but the result certainly heightened the atmosphere of total confusion that was suddenly unleashed on the Pharos Project.

While Nyssa signalled to Tegan to stay quiet, Adric declared loudly: 'Nyssa and I have heard your message across the universe and have come to answer your cal .'

The Master tugged at the Doctor's coat. 'You and I have work to do,' he whispered.

Though reluctant to leave his companions, the Doctor was bound to agree. He followed the Master discreetly out of sight, around the corner of the hut.

'Message?' one of the security men was saying. 'What? Who are you people?' It was Nyssa's turn for theatricalities. 'We are the alien beings you seek.'

'We are intelligences from deep s.p.a.ce,' Adric chimed in. The chief security man gestured ineffectually for silence. 'Now just a minute . . . Please!'

'Every word of this is true,' Tegan shouted, her outback Aussie voice easily the loudest present. 'Wel , come on, you lot! Don't just stand about. Let's go and see someone in authority!'

The Doctor found himself running towards the antenna on his own. At the absurd risk of being seen by the security men the Master had hung back, losing precious moments to scan the ground. He wasn't going to let the Doctor's delicate sensibilities deprive him of the companions.h.i.+p of his favourite weapon.

Luckily for the Master, the two security men and the workmen were engrossed in their interrogation of Tegan, Adric and Nyssa. He scooped up the weapon and, with a sardonic glance in the direction of the antenna, where the Doctor could be seen beginning the long climb up the steel ladder, he doubled back towards the computer room.

The technician was stirring. His first, and last, conscious awareness was of powerful arms grabbing his white coat and hauling him to his feet. He felt cold metal against the side of his head, and then there was a sizzle and a smell of ozone and the world exploded into a giant dome of light. The Master pocketed the ca.s.sette recorder. A moment later he and the plump fluted column had vanished from the computer room.

From the door of the TARDIS the Watcher had seen the Master retracing his steps to the computer room, as he saw now the Doctor's perilous ascent of the Pharos antenna.

These were the conditions of the moment he knew had to come. In his mind was a clock, its hands closing on the inevitable vertical of midnight.

The higher the Doctor climbed the more the wind lashed at him, bellowing out his coat like some wild red sail. His hands ached on the cold metal rungs, and at one point he paused to fumble in his pockets for gloves. He took the opportunity to look down to the dizzyingly diminished enclosure, just in time to see the tiny figures of Adric, Nyssa and Tegan being marched into the building by the security guards.

There were no gloves, and by the time he arrived at the parapet his knuckles were blue.

He leant for a moment against the rail and took stock of the geography. The articulating structure he was standing on was designed to revolve about the base as the antenna tracked across the sky. The swaying metal walkway ahead formed a long thin bridge across to the bowl of the parabolic aerial. The cable strapped to the railing like the sinew of a giant arm lead back from the bowl to a large box-like construction near where the Doctor stood. He pushed open the door and looked inside. As he had deduced from the cable, it was the antenna control room. What he had not expected to find was the Master, calmly making connections to an electrical conduit in the wall.

'I decided to use my TARDIS after all,' the Master said without interrupting his work.

The Doctor noticed the ugly column in one corner of the room. He took out the light speed overdrive from his top pocket. 'You didn't miss this?' 'I gave you that to demonstrate my trust, Doctor. But I do not take foolish risks. There is the real light speed overdrive.'

The Master waved towards the work-bench, where a similar device glowed among the dials and switches. 'We have only to connect this feed from the computer room, and the job is done.' He handed the end of the jumper wire to the Doctor. 'As you devised the plan, I think the honour should be yours, Doctor.' And with that he strolled out onto the parapet.