Part 2 (1/2)

'My dear Miss Wright, I have many more years of experience than you can ever have dreamed of,' retorted the Doctor, furious at having his ability called into question by a mere twentieth-century Earth schoolteacher. 'I have studied at the greatest inst.i.tutions and with the most brilliant minds in the entire universe. If I cannot find the answers to this problem then I doubt very much whether your primitive mind can even discover the questions!'

Barbara darted a look of sheer, undisguised hate at the pompous, arrogant old man. If Ian had not laid a restraining hand on her shoulder there was no telling what she might have done; but the chances are that it would not have done the Doctor's health any good.

Instead she contented herself with glaring at him and then walked smartly out of the rest room in disgust.

Ian was more level-headed than Barbara and, though the Doctor's arrogant and abrasive att.i.tude infuriated him just as much, he thought it wiser to appeal to the Doctor's vanity. The man was insufferable, certainly, but he was unfortunately speaking the truth: he was indeed the only one who could rescue them from their present predicament. It would do well to flatter him for the moment.

'You must surely have some idea where we are, Doctor,' he said gently.

'Where isn't as important as isn't as important as why why, young man,' the old man said, neatly sidestepping the question. 'I have to confess that I am somewhat at a loss in this situation. Something like this has never affected the TARDIS before. But every problem has its solution. There must be an answer, there must be!'

'Perhaps the Fault Locator can tell us?' suggested Ian. He was referring to a large bank of computers in the control room which monitored and regulated every performance of the TARDIS. If any part of the time-machine was damaged in any way, the Fault Locator would point out the area to be repaired.

The Doctor nodded approvingly and led the way out of the rest room, clicking his fingers as he would if he were calling a pet poodle to heel. Ian bit his lip in an effort to control his temper and followed.

When the two men reached the control chamber Barbara was already there, standing stiffly in the shadows by the Doctor's ormolu clock, her arms folded in barely concealed irritation. She looked venomously at the Doctor and then turned sulkily away.

The Doctor ignored her, and turned to Ian. You didn't touch the controls, did you?' he asked.

'No,' said Ian. 'Something seemed to happen every time we tried to approach one of the control panels. Some sort of electrical discharge, I imagine.'

'Did you?' the Doctor asked Barbara. Her stony silence was answer enough.

The Doctor tapped his fingers together. 'I know Susan wouldn't touch the controls without my permission...' He shook his head. 'I worry about that girl,' he said, almost talking to himself. 'This temporary lapse of memory is most disturbing... it's never happened before. She's always been a very sensitive child; the shock of the explosion must have been much more traumatic than we thought..

Barbara, who had been staring into s.p.a.ce, looked over at Ian. 'I was thinking...' she began tentatively. His recent contretemps contretemps with the schoolteacher already forgotten, the Doctor seized eagerly on her words. 'Yes. what is it? Anything may help.' with the schoolteacher already forgotten, the Doctor seized eagerly on her words. 'Yes. what is it? Anything may help.'

Barbara lowered her eyes to avoid the Doctor's stare as she said, 'Well... do you think something might have got inside the s.h.i.+p?'

'Pschaw!' said the Doctor scornfully, responding exactly as Barbara had feared he would. 'My s.h.i.+p is inviolable, sacrosanct! Nothing, physical or mental can penetrate its exterior defences without my express permission.'

Barbara looked up at the old man, and stared him straight in the eyes. 'The doors were open,' she stated flatly.

'Don't be ridiculous!' The Doctor's temper was rising again. 'Susan said that too when I talked to her; but she must have been hallucinating. The doors cannot open unless the controls are operated. The very idea that they can be forced open by an outside power is preposterous!'

Intrigued by Barbara's theory, Ian ignored the Doctor, much to the latter's indignation. 'What do you mean, something might have got into the s.h.i.+p?' he asked her. 'A man or something?'

Barbara nodded.

'It's not very logical, is it?' chided the Doctor, as though he were berating a rather dull student. 'Really, Miss Wright...'

'Or something else...' continued Barbara. 'Another intelligence perhaps...'

The Doctor snorted scornfully. 'As I said, Miss Wright, it's not very logical, is it?'

'No, it isn't-but does it have to be!' burst out Barbara, angered once again by the Doctor's lofty att.i.tude. 'Perhaps I am overreacting to the situation; perhaps I am letting my imagination run away with me. But at least I am trying to come up with some answers. And anyway, what if it isn't logical? Why don't you admit that things aren't always logical? After all we've been through-'

The Doctor wagged an admonis.h.i.+ng finger at Barbara. 'Really, Miss Wright,' he said patronisingly, 'if you can't contribute anything useful to our discussions I suggest you-'

'Well, what do you suggest? You're being so very high and mighty. You're supposed to have all the answers. So you you tell us what's happening around here. Go on-tell us!' tell us what's happening around here. Go on-tell us!'

The Doctor turned away from her. Barbara had touched a raw nerve. 'I have been very patient with you, Miss Wright,' he prevaricated. 'But really, there is no more time for any of your absurd theories.'

Ian attempted to calm the tension which was building up between the Doctor and Barbara. 'It's probably only a mechanical fault,' he said reasonably.

'Exactly!' said the Doctor, pleased that at least one of his two ludicrous human companions was showing a little bit of common sense. 'A mechanical fault, that's what it must be. But what worries me is that it may be the main power unit. If that is the fault it could cause us quite a bit of trouble. If this is the case I shall have to attend to the TARDIS's engines.'

He turned back to Ian, once more ill-manneredly ignoring Barbara. 'Young man, now that Susan is out of action I think that you will have to try and help me with the Fault Locator. It won't take long.'

Ian nodded but added a word of caution. 'All right. But I wouldn't go near the central console if I were you, Doctor. It might give you an electric shock!'

'What? Oh yes, a very wise piece of advice indeed, Chesterton. Now do come along!'

The Doctor crossed over the floor of the control room towards the unit which held the Fault Locator computer. Before he joined him Ian turned back to Barbara who was standing by the door which led into the other parts of the s.h.i.+p.

'I swear I'm going to throttle him one day,' Barbara said.

Ian smiled. 'You'll have to get in the queue.' he said. 'Barbara-'

'Keep an eye on Susan?'

Ian nodded. 'Don't tell her about anything being on the s.h.i.+p,' he whispered, sounding almost conspiratorial. 'The less said, the better.'

'Come along, Chesterton!' the Doctor called unpatiently from the other end of the control room.

Ian shrugged and went over to join his older companion. Barbara paused for a moment before leaving the room, giving Susan, who had been standing unseen in the doorway, listening, the chance to stride back down the corridor to her room. As she pa.s.sed through the rest room she quickly picked up the pair of scissors which Ian had relieved her of and placed there earlier. She had heard every word spoken by Ian and Barbara.

Don't tell her about anything being on the s.h.i.+p . So, reasoned Susan in her confused state of mind, something had indeed come aboard the TARDIS. And what was more, Ian and Barbara knew what it was. . So, reasoned Susan in her confused state of mind, something had indeed come aboard the TARDIS. And what was more, Ian and Barbara knew what it was.

The Fault Locator was, in fact, a series of computers and monitors which lined one entire wall of the TARDIS control room. It was separated from the rest of the chamber by a large transparent screen.

Most of the half-light in the control room found its source here; for some reason the strange power loss which affected most of the TARDIS's instruments did not seem to have influenced the Fault Locator. The only other source of illumination in the room appeared to come from the overhead shaft of light above the time rotor in the centre of the control console.

The Doctor indicated a VDU screen to Ian. 'Now, young man, what you will see on that screen is a series of letters and numbers. Each one represents a particular piece of instrumentation on board my s.h.i.+p. Should any of those numbers flash that will mean that that piece of equipment is malfunctioning.'

Ian signalled his understanding and the Doctor punched out a program on the Fault Locator's computer keyboard. A series of consecutive numbers began to appear before Ian's eyes.

Ian stared at the digital read-out for ten minutes, his face macabrely illuminated by the emerald green glow of the video screen. Finally every single piece of machinery and instrumentation in the TARDIS had been accounted for. He turned to the Doctor who was expectantly awaiting his report.