‘We’ve run aground,’ he admitted in a whisper. ‘The drives are completely stuck.’
There was an appalled silence.
‘You mean permanently?’ Wahed asked uncertainly.
Kully nodded miserably, falling back into his seat and covering his face in his hands.
‘This certainly is exciting!’ Ernie murmured, clutching Tolata’s arm nervously.
‘Running aground on radiation-contaminated islands isn’t my idea of excitement’’ Kully wailed.
Suddenly Wahed pointed to the instruments. ‘Look, the radiation detectors are indicating zero!’ he exclaimed.
Kully peered through his stubby fingers. ‘Zero? But they can’t be.’
‘So much for your real live navigation,’ Wahed laughed.
He turned to the others. ‘Wherever we are, this can’t be the Island of Death,’ he scoffed.
Kully roused himself and thumped the console. The detectors continued to register zero radiation. ‘It must be a malfunction,’ he protested defiantly.
Behind his back, Wahed had reached across and craftily operated a series of switches.
‘Hey, what do you think you’re doing?’ Kully shouted angrily as a hatchway rumbled slowly open somewhere in the vessel.
Wahed grinned. ‘Let’s go and see where we
really
are,’
he suggested mischievously.
Kully stared at him incredulously. ‘Go out there?’ he echoed. ‘But you’ll all be cooked to a frazzle in seconds!’
Ignoring him, Wahed gestured to Tolata and Etnin to follow and walked fearlessly out of the cabin.
For a moment Kully could only watch in horrified silence as Etnin disappeared after him. Then his shiny face puckered with rage. ‘Don’t complain to me if you all kill yourselves,’ he shouted, ‘because I don’t refund money to...’ He clutched his sparse hair in panic. ‘Refund? What am I saying’ You haven’t paid me yet. Come back!’
He darted forward and seized Tolata’s arm as she was about to follow the others. ‘Don’t he a fool. This is the Island of Death!’ he screamed. ‘The detectors are malfunctioning...’
The tall girl shook herself free, reached the hatchway and jumped elegantly down into the shallows. ‘You are a rogue, Kully!’ she cried setting off eagerly up the beach through the thinning mist. ‘This can’t be the Island of Death.’
‘I tell you it is!’ Kully yelled after her. ‘And I must insist that you pay me the agreed price...’
Just then, Wahed appeared over some nearby dunes and ran down towards them. ‘People... up by the cliffs!’ he shouted v triumphantly.
‘That settles it, Kully,’ Tolata said over her shoulder.
‘There would be no people on the Island of Death ‘
‘Only the Monitoring Unit,’ Kully gasped, cowering in the hatchway as Wahed splashed towards him.
‘The two I just saw are not wearing radiation suits,’
Wahed retorted smugly.
Suddenly Etnin appeared, waving his arms excitedly.
‘They’ve got robots with them!’ he cried.
Reaching up, Wahed grabbed Kully’s pudgy hand and pulled him into the shallows. ‘Robots,’ he exclaimed.
‘Come on, Kully, perhaps we can persuade them to assist us.’ Dragging Kully behind him he set off towards the dunes.
Kully glanced back at his marooned ship listing drunkenly in the soft sand. ‘Robots!’ he muttered scornfully and stumbled reluctantly afrer the others.
Beyond the dunes, at the four of the towering cliffs near the saucer, two Quarks were being programmed by Probationer Toba. Each Quark stood about two metres tall.
It consisted of a squat ‘body’, like a heavily armoured box mounted upon two stout extendable ‘legs’ and surmounted by a large spherical ‘head’. This head was covered with a network of eyes and sensors, and resembled a crystal-studded ball. From it protruded five antennae shaped like elongated glass pyramids – one each side, front and back, and the fifth projecting vertically from the crown. For
‘arms’, each Quark possessed two extendable probes hinged across its ‘chest’ and ending in a complex ‘hand’ bristling with sensors, sockets and implements.
The robots acknowledged Toba’s instructions with a continuous metallic chuckling sound, eerily resembling the laughter of small children. Around their sharp-edged and pointed antennae, the air buzzed and crackled menacingly.
‘Drilling targets will be established at the five vector nodes and depth parameters calculated for each target...’
Toba ordered.
Suddenly o of the Quarks emitted a vicious sparking between the points of its antennae. Toba wheeled round and saw three distant figures running across the dunes towards the saucer, shouting and gesticulating. He watched them impassively fora moment and then a kind of smile cracked around his hard mouth. He glanced furtively towards the saucer and then rasped out an order. The Quarks immediately turned, deploying their probes and aiming at the approaching figures.
‘Destroy them.’ Toba hissed, in obsessive whisper.
There was a brief wailing and bleating sound, followed bya series of whiplike cracks as bolts of ultrasonic energy burst simultaneously from the Quarks’ probes. Wahed, Tolata and Etnin were flung into the air like helpless puppets before collapsing in shapeless broken bundles in the sand. ‘Recharge force units!’ Toba rapped, licking his thin dry lips with relish.
The Quarks chuckled harshly in anticipation.
‘Is there trouble, Probationer Toba?’
Toba started guiltily as Rago strode out of the access hatch at the base of the shaft.
‘I have dealt with three alien beings, Navigator Rago,’
he reported, smartly recovering his composure.
‘Dead?’
‘Affirmative.’
Rago strode menacingly over to him. ‘That was unnecessary, a waste of vital energy reserves,’ he hissed.
‘Resume your proper functions immediately.’
‘Command accepted,’ Toba acknowledged. His eyes glowered with resentment and he resolved to avenge his humiliation as he watched Rago marching off to examine the remains of his victims.
Some distance along the wandering ridge of the sand-cliffs, Kully lay among some boulders, paralysed with horror at what he had just witnessed and stunned by his miraculous escape. Now he was stranded on the Island, alone and defenceless against an unknown enemy.
Eventually pulling himself together, he massaged the wrenched ankle that had made him tall behind the others –
ironically, saving his life – and tried to think.
All at once the rocks started trembling and clattering together around him. Holding his breath, he listened as a screeching and groaning rose from somewhere below him.
Then he scrambled to his feet and frantically clawed his way up the cliff-face whimpering with terror.
Below, a shabby, rickety structure topped by a flashing yellow beacon gradually became visible against the cliff.
After a few seconds the beacon stopped flashing, the ground ceased to vibrate and there was silence...
After a while the door of the police public call-box creaked open and a short dark-haired little man ambled out, yawning and sleepily rubbing his eyes. He was wearing grubby checked trousers, a kind of frayed frock-coat and a threadbare and none too clean shirt, with a bootlace tie negligently knotted under his jutting chin. His shoes were scuffed and down-at-heel and his manner was carefree and unassuming. Stretching, he shook himself and looked keenly around with dark humorous eyes, sniffing at the air expectantly.
‘Ah yes...indeed yes...’ he muttered happily.
‘Are ye all right, Doctor?’ demanded a gruff Scots voice as a tough-looking young lad dressed in a kilt complete with sporran, sleeveless furry jacket and knee-length socks with heavy boots emerged behind him, brandishing a folded deckchair.
‘Just a little tired, Jamie,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Mental projection can be an exhausting business, you know.’
Behind Jamie, a lively teenage girl with a round face and short black hair dressed in slacks and a tee-shirt peered round the police-box door. ‘You need a rest, Doctor,’ she announced firmly.
‘My dear Zoe, we all do,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘That’s precisely why we came to Dulkis. This is a splendid little planet.’ He took the deckchair from Jamie and set it up on the sand.
Jamie grunted sceptically. ‘Och, we’ve heard that one before.’
‘You mean there won’t be any Cybermen or Daleks?’
Zoe complained, wrinkling her nose in disappointment as she stared around them. ‘Is the whole planet as dreary as this?’
The Doctor settled himself comfortably in the deckchair. ‘Dear me, no,’ he chuckled patiently, ‘this is just a small island. The main cities are quite extraordinary and you’ll find the Dulcians are an extremely advanced people, gentle and friendly and very...’
A tremendous explosion drowned the rest of the Doctor’s words. He leaped out of the deckchair, which collapsed in a heap.
‘Whatever was that?’ exclaimed Zoe, covering her ringing ears.
‘It came frae over this way!’ cried Jamie,running off along the base of the cliff.
The Doctor and Zoe set off in pursuit. Eventually they came upon the wreckage of a low L-shaped building, half buried in the sand in a kind of horseshoe indentation in the chff. Shattered concrete slabs and twisted metal framework were scattered everywhere. A gaping hole in one wall held charred window frames and the remains of a heavy door.
‘What were you just saying about the gentle, friendly Dulcians, Doctor?’ Zoe teased as they surveyed the ruin.
‘But that explosion couldna have caused all this...’ Jamie observed.
The Doctor frowned and deep lines formed at the corners of his nose and ran down each side of his mouth.
He picked up a fragment of concrete and crumbled it thoughtfully. ‘Quite right, Jamie. All this happened many years ago,’ he murmured. ‘Probably the result of an atomic explosion...’
Jamie and Zoe exchanged anxious glances as the Doctor cautiously approached the dark hole and ventured inside the ruin. With the recent detonation still throbbing in their ears, they tentatively followed.
‘I just don’t understand it...’ the Doctor was muttering as he peered around. Against the walls stood large display-cabinets made of a kind of thick perspex material, dusty but completely undamaged. They contained all kinds ofsophisticated devices, some of which were obviously very old, while others looked new and unused.
‘Looks like some kind of museum,’ said Zoe, wandering through the gloom and round the angle into the shorter arm of the building.
‘Exactly. A war museum,’ agreed the Doctor.
Jamie had lifted a slim rifle like weapon out of its case and was squinting into its electronic sight. ‘But you said the Dulcians were a peaceful lot, Doctor,’ he protested, waving the gun carelessly about.
‘Oh, these are very ancient weapons,’ the Doctor explained. ‘They banned these gadgets decades ago.’
At that moment an intense beam of energy shot across the building and, with a crack, punched a hole in the remains of the door.
‘Careful Jamie,’ the Doctor yelled, lunging forward and snatching the deadly laser from him.
Jamie went pale and giggled nervously as the Doctor replaced the thing gingerly on its stand. Then a fearful shriek made them both spin round.
‘Zoe...!’ the Doctor cried, rushing across to the right-angled corner of the building with Jamie at his heels. Zoe came towards them in the half-light, backing slowly away from a spine-chilling scene at the far end of the room. Four figures were seated around a circular table, their bodies frozen into grotesquely contorted positions. Their clothing was charred and rotten, here and there fused into a glassy lump with their roasted and flayed flesh. The eyeless faces were burned beyond recognition.
Jamie put his hand to his mouth. ‘What... what happened to them?’ he gasped, his stomach rising.
Signing to his young companions to stay put, the Doctor slowly approached the nightmarish tableau. Then as he drew near he began to shake with laughter. ‘Oh dear me...’ he chuckled, shaking his head. ‘Of course... of course...’ He beckoned them over.
Zoe and Jame stared at each other in astonishment and then reluctantly crept forward. Just as they reached him, the Doctor gave the nearest figure a sharp nudge. It slumped sideways and its head twisted off and rolled across the table before bouncing onto the floor. They gaped at their smiling friend in horrified disbelief.
‘Well, don’t you see?’ giggled the Doctor. ‘They’re dummies. Just dummies!’
‘But why? What are they here for?’ Jamie demanded after a shocked pause, still not convinced.
Without replying, the Doctor thrust his hands deep into his pockets and started shuffling round and round the table muttering quietly to himself.
Zoe was still staring fixedly at the macabre tableau in front of her. ‘Doctor, did you check the radiation levels before we left the TARDIS?’ she demanded.
The Doctor stopped in his cracks. ‘Zoe, that’s just what I was trying to remember. I’m sure I did.’
Zoe shuddered slightly. ‘This place reminds me of those old atomic test ranges on Earth,’ she said nervously.
The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. ‘Yes, Zoe, I think you may be right. But why on Dulkis?’
Jamie looked puzzled. ‘But you said the Dulcians...’
‘Oh, they certainly outlawed war..’ the Doctor agreed.
Zoe moved back into the other half of the building. ‘I think ought to get back to the TARDIS and check the radiation levels again, Doctor,’ she urged him.
‘There must be some other explanation...’ the Doctor murmured, shaking his head in perplexity as he and Jamie followed.
There was a fearful gasp from Zoe. Jamie and the Doctor looked up sharply. Three tall figures in dazzling white proteetivc suits with smoked-glass visors were looming among the display cases, their heavily rhythmic breathing hissing and roaring through the respirators. Very slowly the three apparitions raised their large gloved hands and advanced towards then.
2
Still badly shocked after seeing, first, his three companions cold-bloodedly murdered and, now, his stranded hovercraft blown to smithereens by the alien robots in a gigantic explosion, Kully had been scrambling among the cliffs desperately trying to find out what was happening.