Part 6 (2/2)

A wolflike grin came to the mouth of Yrcanos. Placing a platelike hand on either side of Peri's head he stared into her eyes.

'I am the victor of 97 battles, 1008 skirmishes, none of them minor.'

Peri felt his hands begin to exert frightening pressure.

'Can you feel my power, my strength?' Peri tried to nod but that was made impossible by his powerful grip. A voice cut in. A voice dripping with s.a.d.i.s.tic pleasure.

'Go on, flatten her face, slowly, slowly...'

With a gasp, Peri realised the voice belonged to the Doctor who was trying to egg Yrcanos on to crush her skull for his entertainment.

Yrcanos laughed. 'Blood, Doctor, is that what you crave?'

'Yes, oh, yes. But do it slowly so that the victim feels the terror of an extended death.'

Peri yelled out. 'Yrcanos, don't add me to your victims!'

'Why not?' the Doctor urged.

The laugh of the warlord echoed around the gallery bounding back at them from the rocky walls.

'The Doctor thirsts for blood. Let us not disappoint him. Let's move.' Yrcanos released Peri and shoved her playfully towards the inanely grinning Doctor. With a guffaw the King strode off into the mist. In imitation, the Doctor pushed Peri ahead of him.

'You heard the King... move...!'

'Doctor...'

'Move!' The voice of the Doctor was harsh and fearsome in its intensity. Frightened by the latest turn in her predicament Peri hurried after Yrcanos, not sure if she might not be safer with the warlike King than the increasingly treacherous Doctor.

A line of Thoros-Alphans, clutching their djellabas for warmth about them, shuffled along in a line that wound in a half-circle following the curve of the induction centre.

They were waiting to be examined and a.s.sessed for suitability for labour in the service of the mentors. Black-uniformed guards watched the miserable line of men and women and children move towards the screening centre where an aged medical officer, Marne, sat at the controls of a body scanner that could a.s.sess the state of health of a body almost instantly.

'Next,' the Mentor said, his voice weary with boredom.

Already that day he had dealt with 424 immigrants.

The latest scrawny specimen grasped the computer terminal rods under instruction from a technician. 'Mentor Marne, we are ready.'

'Yes, don't shout,' Marne had unusually sensitive hearing and the everyday sounds of life underground were often distressing to him. Marne extended a long index finger and pressed the key of a.s.sessment. The a.s.sessor Unit buzzed and clicked busily before displaying data on its VDU. This was echoed by a ghostly metallic synthesised voice that intoned 'Reject disease renal incipient. Reject! Reject!'

Two guards hustled away the Alphan, pausing only to salute Officer Frax who had entered the area of the Induction centre at the head of a search patrol. Then it was the turn of Frax to salute, for, from another linking pa.s.sageway, came Sil and his party. Meeting in the centre the leaders of the search parties began to confer.

There was a third entrance that led into the circular s.p.a.ce that contained the Centre for Induction. Aleng this, drawn towards the light and activity, came Yrcanos, Peri and the Doctor.

Cautiously Yrcanos peered around the corner, taking in the line of Alphans, the guards and the patrols of Sil and Frax who had merged together.

'What's going on?' Peri tried to stretch her neck to see around the bulk of the King.

'They bring all new slaves here. But see, lady, those guarding them have weapons: liquifiers that we must obtain.'

'We? That includes me, huh?'

'On my planet a Warrior Queen fights alongside her King.'

'We're not on your world, Buster!' Peri's voice was almost as pugnacious in tone as his. A slow smile of delight spread across the broad mouth of Yrcanos. 'It does not matter. The same rule applies, come...'

The Doctor seemed dazed again. He had propped himself up against a wall and stared across at the wall opposite. Peri could not decide what had more expression, that wall or the Time Lord.

'Come on!' A large hand took hers and pulled Peri into the light of the open chamber.

After the mists and semi-darkness of the caves and tunnels the glare seemed intense, but still the strong hand propelled her towards the line of Alphans.

The guards responsible for watching the immigrants had eyes only for the meeting of Sil and Frax who were involved in an angry exchange.

'Which corridors and tunnels have not yet been searched?' the voice of Sil carried across to the guards around the computer a.s.sessor unit.

'Ow!' Marne winced at the angry tones of his fellow Mentor. 'How can someone like Sil possess a voice that can both shrill and grate at the same time?' he asked plaintively of no one in particular.

'Everywhere has been searched,' Frax was saying in reply to Sil. 'Except for those outlets to the Sea of Turmoil.'

'Then search there there, stupid!'

Frax motioned to his patrol to follow Sil's order. As the guards began to disperse Yrcanos prepared to make his move. Having taken Peri through the queue of immigrants the King was now within striking distance of a guard who had a weapon held loosely in his holster belt. Yrcanos glanced over his shoulder and indicated his target. Peri nodded in dumb a.s.sent. Then stealthily Yrcanos closed in on his quarry. Three steps away from his prey Yrcanos froze as a voice called urgently across the chamber.

'Look out, behind you!' It was the voice of the Doctor.

The threatened guard turned, saw the danger from Yrcanos and went to draw his phaser while another guard bravely ran to tackle the barbariam King. Easily checking the rush of the guard, Yrcanos then hoisted up his attacker like a sack of barley and hurled the unfortunate guard towards his fellows.

Vaulting over the terrified Marne, who sat with his hands pressed to his ears, Yrcanos made for the nearest exit, a.s.suming that to be the direction in which Peri had gone. Instead, Peri had momentarily dropped from sight, having seen a phaser weapon fall to the floor during the chaos that ensued from Yrcanos hurling the guard across the chamber. She retrieved the phaser, then stood and levelled the weapon towards the guards who had started to regroup. Sil, halfway across to where the Doctor was being held prisoner, frantically made his bearers halt as Peri turned her attention towards him Everyone waited for Peri to make the next move.

Praying that her voice would be strong and firm she called across to the Doctor. 'Doctor come over here!'

'No thanks...' came the reply.

'Doctor...?' the bewilderment was clear in her faltering reply.

'Charge her down!' Sil yelled.

Peri turned the panel on the phaser b.u.t.t and pressed the activator trigger. Nothing happened. With guards rus.h.i.+ng towards her, Peri threw the useless weapon at them and ran for the corridor down which Yrcanos had disappeared. The guards ali hesitated, turning to Sil who was interested only in the Doctor. The latter smiled as his enemy approached him 'Doctor, the pleasure of your company is, of course, infinite.' Sil paused to savour the moment. 'But why have you chosen to warn us rather than help your friends?'

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