Part 14 (1/2)

No expedition had ever returned from that terrible planet. Incredibly cunning and ferociously powerful, the mind parasites drained the energy of any intelligent beings they encountered.

The Master had brought one here, imprisoned in a force-field, disguised as a Machine, to serve his own evil purposes. Judging by his eagerness to pa.s.s on the care of the creature to the Doctor, it was rapidly growing too strong for him.

Jo wandered back to the window. 'Doctor, look. It's the Master. He seems to be leaving.'

Peering cautiously through the window curtains, the Doctor saw the Master standing by his black limousine, having a last word with Mailer who, in turn, seemed to have just arrived in a Black Maria, with a number of other convicts.

The Master got into the limousine, and it drove away.

'Right,' said the Doctor. 'Now's our chance!'

Jo nodded eagerly. 'We can slip out by the hospital and through the rear courtyard.'

'I didn't mean our chance to escape, Jo. I meant my chance to get into the Process Chamber, and destroy the creature in the Machine.'

'I see.'

Jo tried to hand over the gun she had taken from Vosper, but the Doctor waved it away.

'You keep it, Jo, you're trained to use those things. They only make me nervous.'

They hurried out.

After a good deal of banging and shouting, Charlie and Vosper had been released by a pa.s.sing fellow prisoner.

Charlie had promptly got hold of a gun, and gone off in search of the Doctor, the blow with the tray still very fresh in his mind, with a headache and a b.u.mp on his head to make sure he didn't forget.

His search of the corridors and courtyards had been fruitless, and now he was returning towards the Process Chamber in case the Doctor had taken refuge there.

Suddenly the air in front of him seemed to ripple with a blood-red glow. It cleared, and there was the Keller Machine in the middle of the corridor. It was throbbing angrily.

Charlie stared in astonishment and screamed as the mind parasite sucked his mental energy, his very life force, out of his mind and body with a dreadful voracious hunger.

Charlie fell dead, no more than an empty husk.

The air s.h.i.+mmered and the Machine disappeared.

A few minutes later the Doctor and Jo came hurrying along the corridor and almost stumbled over the body. The Doctor knelt to examine it.

'Look at his face,' whispered Jo. 'He must have been terrified, just like the others.'

The Doctor rose. 'Yes. Perhaps the creature has learned to move.'

'How?'

'Teleportation. Come on, Jo.'

They hurried down the corridor and went into the Process Chamber. The Machine was gone.

'You were right, Doctor,' whispered Jo.

A voice said, 'Drop the gun, girly.'

Vosper and Mailer were standing in the doorway. Both were armed.

Mailer raised his heavy automatic. 'I think I've had just about enough of you.'

The Doctor began talking, in the hope of distracting Mailer. 'Maybe so, but before you pull that trigger, I think I should warn you '

Suddenly the Doctor broke off.

He stared over Mailer's shoulder, eyes widening in horror.

'What's the matter with you?' snarled Mailer.

'Look behind you!'

'I've heard that one before.'

'Look behind you!' whispered the Doctor.

Such was the urgency in his voice that Mailer turned.

The Keller Machine was materialising in the corridor behind Vosper.

Hearing the throbbing, Vosper swung round, and fired a shot at the Machine. It sucked him towards it like a magnet, held him writhing and screaming for a moment, dropped the discarded body and disappeared.

The Doctor swept Jo into hiding behind the console, while Mailer had flattened himself against the wall just outside the door.

When the Machine vanished, Jo and the Doctor emerged cautiously from hiding.

There was a throbbing sound, a blood-red glow, and the Keller Machine materialised in front of them...

12.

The Escape For a moment Jo and the Doctor stood motionless.

The Machine was throbbing, and they could feel its power, drawing them towards it.

Suddenly Mailer sprang through the doorway. One hand was clutching his forehead, the other held an automatic. Face twisted with terror, he fired wildly at the Machine, then turned and fled down the corridor.