Part 11 (1/2)

The Doctor nodded.

'What we don't know,' said Peri, 'is the name of this planet.'

'You mean he hasn't told you?' Glitz gave the Doctor a reproachful look. 'A man of your learning - tut tut!' He turned to Peri. 'It's Earth, of course.'

Peri gave the Doctor a triumphant look. 'I said so, didn't I?'

'But it's in the wrong place,' protested the Doctor.

Glitz shrugged. 'Only by a couple of light years.'

'That's why the lost expedition missed it,' said Dibber.

'What lost expedition?'

'Andromeda bunged off these robots in a relief s.h.i.+p'

'Don't prattle Dibber,' snapped Glitz. 'All that was a long time ago.'

Balazar cleared his throat. 'The word ”Earth” is mentioned many times by that great writer HM Stationery Office.'

As no-one quite knew what to say to this, there was an awkward silence, finally broken by a shattering crash as the Service Robot smashed straight through the wall of the hut, showering rubble everywhere.

'I thought we'd seen the last of him as well,' said Dibber.

The robot stood swinging to and for as if uncertain what to do next.

'Shut up Dibber,' whispered Glitz, ducking behind his burly colleague for shelter. 'Stand in front of me where I can keep an eye on you.'

'Keep calm and stay still everyone,' said the Doctor quietly. 'It's looking for me, but I think it's still confused.'

Balazar and Broken Tooth were a little behind the Robot. They managed to slip through the open gap without being seen, but suddenly the robot got a fix on the Doctor and began advancing towards him.

'Can't you shake its hand or something?' suggested Glitz.

The Doctor stepped boldly forward. 'How do you do? I am known as the Doctor.'

He reached out and grasped an arm-like protrusion on the robot's casing - and received a shock that threw him clear across the hut.

Advancing on its victim, the robot extruded a number of steely, rope-like filaments. They whipped around the Doctor and dragged him towards the robot, las.h.i.+ng him to its casing in a sort of metallic spider's web.

Its victim firmly secured, the robot turned and trundled through the gap in the shattered wall.

'Now's our chance, Dibber,' said Glitz.

'We've got to help the Doctor,' screamed Peri.

'He'll be all right,' said Glitz soothingly. 'He's in good hands! Come on!'

'No!' protested Peri, but Glitz and Dibber dragged her away between them.

For the second time, Broken Tooth had the unhappy duty of telling Queen Katryca that she had lost her prisoners.

'Escaped? Again? I told you to guard them!'

'The Immortal came and took them,' said Balazar.

Katryca stared unbelievingly at him.

'We both saw him,' said Broken Tooth. 'He walked through the wall!'

Katryca leaped to her feet. 'Get the guns!' she ordered.

As the Service Robot moved away from the village, Drathro studied the monitor, brooding over the implications of what he had seen.

'Habitations! Only man makes habitations. All life on this planet perished in the fire. If men now live on the surface, they must have come from my biosphere. From here, underground...'

'How could that be?' said Humker, shocked.

'It is forbidden,' said Tandrell. 'All work-units obey your orders.' Drathro's deep voice was angry. 'Some must have escaped. They were helped to escape. That is what has happened.'

'They are not important,' said Humker.

'They are out of control' roared Drathro. 'Outside my plan.'

Tandrell nodded. 'They are outlaws.'

'Now my existence is threatened,' boomed Drathro.

'They have destroyed the source of my energy. We must take measures. Create a defensive system. Identify and destroy the traitors!'

Drathro was becoming paranoid.

In the Courtroom, the Doctor rose in indignation. 'All this is irrelevant and hypothetical.'

'Background testimony,' snapped the Valeyard.

'What possible value does the... farmyard here think there is in listening to a half-incapacitated robot, and a couple of diminuitive nitwits?'

'You are allowing your disrespect to show again, Doctor,' said the Inquisitor icily.

'I'm sorry, My Lady. But the question still stands.'

'The Valeyard has the right to include any evidence he considers relevant - provided he can justify its inclusion.'

'But surely,' said the Doctor, 'any record relating to persons not in my presence must be sheer conjecture?'