Part 17 (2/2)

When he looked for the time machine again, it had gone.

135.

15.Dr Who in an Exciting Adventure with...

Three cloaked figures walked sedately along Street 524: a gloomy, disused thoroughfare on the periphery of the settled area of Detrios's underground. Their heads were bowed, their faces hidden by Hessian folds. The dim, orange phosph.o.r.escence of the tunnel walls cast twisted, elongated shadows. Soft mumblings rose as the cultists prayed to the might of Enros. The faint odour of incense was barely discernible.

As they reached the rusted ladder to the surface, Kat'lanna pulled back her hood and emitted a long-contained whoop of joy. 'You know, I really didn't think this'd work!'

Chris stared at the TARDIS's scanner screen long after its shutters had closed. It was only when he became aware of Dr Who's intense eyes on the back of his head that he turned and forced himself to smile at the strange man. 'Very . . .

interesting,' he said.

'Yes, we do have some rather spectacular adventures, do Jason and I. What did you think of my daring rescue of the Budgerigar Princess?'

Chris nodded. 'Very heroic. And I'm glad the Trods didn't manage to steal the Orb of the Vampire Birds. But . . .'

Dr Who's expression darkened as Chris faltered. 'Yes?' he prompted, with an undertone of menace.

'Well, the planet Arcalis. You destroyed it.'

'The Trods destroyed it!'

'I mean you didn't prevent it.'

'I never said I was perfect,' Dr Who responded indignantly. 'I shan't show you any more of my past adventures if this is your reaction.'

136.

'But you introduced that story as a great victory,' Chris protested. 'And yes, you stopped the Trods from taking over, but you also failed to prevent the destruction of a planet full of .

. . of Budgerigar People.' He didn't believe he was saying this.

'It hardly matters. We made up the budgerigars anyway. We made up everything except the singing plants.' Dr Who turned his back in disgust and strode out.

Left alone in the humming room, Chris frowned and asked himself: 'What singing plants?'

The taller, more st.u.r.dy of Kat's rescuers mounted the ladder grimly. 'We'll have been missed. This operation has blown our cover but good!' He clambered upwards and heaved his shoulders against the hatchway. The Miracle's sparkling, blue-green light fell down upon them. It made Kat s.h.i.+ver.

The other man squeezed her arm rea.s.suringly. 'Don't mind Rokk. It was him who insisted we get you out. And we do still have some infiltrators left in the cult.'

'Thanks, Myrg. Where are we going?'

Myrg nodded upwards. 'We got a message. Some of the rebels have regrouped up there.' He shrugged off his disguise and hauled his wiry form up onto the ladder. Kat followed.

They emerged into the city - the one she had thought of as her own. It was good to smell its sweet air again and to feel its dust s.h.i.+fting under her feet. But Kat felt uncomfortable in a temperature which had never before bothered her: the cold against which the Miracle did little.

Rokk was squatting on his haunches, scanning the horizon alertly. 'We're vulnerable up here,' he stated. Kat didn't feel it.

She felt emboldened by the familiar surroundings and also by Rokk's presence. He had always been one of Mort's more physically capable followers - and vociferous too, often bordering on the outright stubborn and quick-tempered. There were few people she would rather have beside her in a fight.

'There's no danger,' she a.s.serted. 'n.o.body comes out here.

Even the builders have hardly moved away from the Citadel area.'

'And there's more work than ever to do there now,' Myrg 137 added supportively, a hint of satisfaction in his voice at the recent fate of the Superior's would-be seat of power.

'I still don't like it,' their self-elected leader rumbled. 'We'd better keep moving.'

Kat looked back at the hatchway, suddenly reluctant to leave it. 'Hang on! The cultists still have a friend of mine down there.'

'We can't go back!'

'But he's special! He's an alien. He'd be useful to us.' To us?

she wondered. Or just to me?

'Oh, him!' Rokk grunted. 'He's gone. We couldn't save him.'

He sprinted across and into the cover of a dilapidated building.

'He's not dead,' Myrg a.s.sured Kat, seeing her horrified reaction. 'He was going to be sacrificed. Like Rokk said, there was nothing we could do. Then this . . .' He faltered and Kat could see he was grasping for words. 'There was this trumpeting sound and a blue box appeared from nowhere. Two pink-skinned men ran out and . . . grabbed him! That was when we came for you, whilst Enros's people were distracted. I know, it sounds unbelievable.'

'No, no!' Kat was elated. 'That means that Christopher's safe.

His friends have rescued him. And they'll be back to help us.'

Chris caught up with Dr Who in the corridor. He wanted answers.

'Look,' his pilot said impatiently, not breaking his stride, 'it's simple: first, we land somewhere and discover an injustice.'

'Okay.'

'We confront the rulers to see if they'll change their ways.

They never do, of course, but it's polite to ask.'

Of course.'

'So we foment rebellion.'

'How?'

'We talk to the underprivileged: those who have been disenfranchized or perhaps imprisoned because of their opposition to the planet's dictator. Often, there's some sort of rebel group already in existence, so all we have to do is help it.'

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