Part 26 (1/2)

The main door slid open and the Doctor and Romana breezed in. 'h.e.l.lo, all!'

'Not you again!' Xais exclaimed.

'You're not very good at locking people up, are you?' the Doctor said politely. 'It's no wonder you prefer to kill them.'

He turned to the brothers. 'Gentlemen, before either of you do anything rash, like shooting anybody, I think it's time you found out a few facts.' He coughed. 'Er, Romana.'

Romana stepped forward. 'There isn't any belzite on this planet,' she said simply. 'We've seen a mineralogical survey.

There's none here.'

'She's lying,' Xais said. 'Believe nothing the girl says, she's an investigator!'

Charlie turned his black eyes on Xais. 'They expect me to be surprised.'

'We know that,' said Eddie, his mouth trembling with confusion and anger. 'But this mountain range. What's she after there? It's got to be worth something.'

'Only to her,' said the Doctor. 'You see, Xais is interested in helicon, which I dare say is to be found in the mountains, but isn't going to be much use to you. Unless you're thinking of going into the pipeline-making business.'

Xais, torn between priorities, swung her face towards him.

An orange beam shot from her eyes and he sank to the ground slowly, hands covering his face.

'Doctor!' cried Romana.

'n.o.body puts one over on us!' Eddie aimed his revolver at Xais and steadied his trembling gun arm.

Aware of his action, Xais turned instinctively, freeing the Doctor from the deadly beam of her eyes.

Eddie fired. The shot went wide of Xais.

Xais's angry stare transfixed Eddie. The revolver fell from his hand. The beam of pure hate lifted him off his feet. His eyes bulged with agony.

A second later, what was left of his body squelched to the floor.

Charlie pulled his own revolver from his jacket and fired four bullets into Xais. She was thrown back by each blast but still clung to life, the mask forcing her on. 'Fool!' she screamed.

Romana helped the Doctor to his feet. They watched as Charlie fired another three bullets into Xais's chest. b.l.o.o.d.y holes opened up all over her white tunic. Still she advanced.

'Do you think you can kill me?' she taunted Charlie.

The lips of the mask moved. The face of Xais lived again.

It twisted into an expression of grotesque silver hate.

'I exist!' the mask shouted. 'The transfer is complete! I cannot be destroyed!'

More bullets tore into the body beneath the mask. It crumpled and fell in a gruesome red heap. The mask screamed its defiance and closed its eyes.

Charlie ignored the Doctor and Romana and moved to the smashed remains of his brother. 'No,' he said through gritted teeth. 'No. Not Ed. My own...' He faltered at the sight of the splattered body. 'My own flesh and blood. I'll bring the lot of them down for this.' His eyes glistened. 'The whole lot of them.'

On the other side of the survey room, the Doctor was picking himself up. 'Are you all right?' asked Romana.

'I think so,' he said. He blinked rapidly and wiggled his fingers. 'Yes, I think I had a narrow escape.'

Pyerpoint had remained perfectly still during the blood-soaked altercations of the last few minutes. Suddenly he sprang into life. He leapt across the survey room, bent over the body of Xais, and ripped off the mask.

'Where are you off to with that?' the Doctor called.

Pyerpoint fired two beams from his laser pistol in the Doctor's general direction and sped out of the survey room.

The Doctor shuddered. 'It's just as well, Romana, that the people who try to kill me are all such bad shots.'

They looked down at the body of Margo. Romana knelt and turned it over. The arm flopped pathetically.

Where the mask had been, where the face should have been, was a flat lump of pink flesh. There were no features.

Romana recoiled. 'What happened to her?'

'She was absorbed,' the Doctor said sadly. 'Xais transferred totally.' He shook his head. 'The powers of activated helicon are more terrible than even I had dared to imagine.' He indicated the door. 'Let's get after him.'

Romana ran from the room, picking her way around the corpse of Eddie. The Doctor turned for a last look at the survey room.

Charlie's ma.s.sive hand clamped on his shoulder. The other hand still held the smoking revolver that had stopped Xais.

'Sc.u.m!' Charlie spat. 'Why don't I shoot your knees away right now?'

The Doctor backed away, but the grip on his arm was alarmingly strong. 'Please,' he said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. 'I understand how you must feel. But you don't want to do anything hasty. I mean, it's always better to allow for a sensible interval of grief before taking any rash action.

After all, you're not one of those people who gets into a rage and starts killing whoever happens to be about.'

A moist clicking sound came from the back of Charlie's throat.

'Well, perhaps you are,' said the Doctor.

Pyerpoint kept to the better-lit areas of the base, and followed them to a round junction halfway along one of the outer arms.

The mind that had kept ahead through forty years of deliberation in the service of the law had already formulated a new plan to cope with the altered situation. If this base had been constructed to standard design, the section he was searching for would be just here.

An open door ahead led to a room that smelt of fuel fluids.