The First Elder
silently congratulated himself: it was the right answer - the role of
Second Elder was not for those who harboured personal ambition.
With due ceremony
he removed the Administrator's collar and replaced it with the sash
of Second Elder. 'Accept this sash. I make you my advisor,' he
pronounced. 'From this moment on you will be known as Second Elder,
second on the Sense-Sphere only to me. And once this order has been made only a breach
of trust can set it aside.'
The Administrator
raised his bowed head with genuine pride, and smiled a secret smile.
At last the Sensorite Nation would have as one of its leaders a
Sensorite of courage and vision, one who would lead the Sensorites on
to greatness; and to think that these stupid Earth-creatures had
played right into his hands and brought him to this position! It only
confirmed what he already knew: they were obviously inferior beings.
After performing
the investiture the First Elder requested that the Doctor, Ian and
Susan leave him and his new advisor to discuss matters arising from
the new appointment.
'Certainly, sir,'
agreed the Doctor. 'My companions and I will pay a visit to John and
note his progress.'
As the Doctor led
his friends out of the room Susan reminded Ian about asking
permission for Barbara to come down to the planet. 'This isn't quite
the time,' he remarked wryly, smiling at the puffed-up figure of the
Administrator. He was revelling in his new office as Second Elder. As
they made to leave, Ian offered his congratulations to the Sensorite.
The Administrator
looked at the Earthman with obvious disdain and snapped back, 'When
you address one of the Elders you call him sir!'
For two long days
John had been submitted to treatment on the Sensorites' mind restorer
and now was the moment of truth. Carol watched on nervously as the
Senior Scientist unstrapped John from the chair, removing the domed
apparatus from his head and disconnecting the wires which had been
taped to his body. Within minutes she would know whether the man she
had loved would ever be cured and returned to her. Her whole future
hinged on the outcome.
John groaned and
raised his hands to his eyes, rubbing them in an attempt to refocus
his vision. Carol bent down to him, looking enquiringly in his face
for any sign of recognition.
'Carol. . . my head
. . . hurts . . .' he complained.
'That will pass,'
the Senior Scientist assured him and distanced himself slightly from
the couple.
John smiled down
affectionately at his fiancee and stroked a lock of her hair.
His voice was soft and tender, all fear finally taken away. 'Carol,
he said, you're crying.'
'I'm all right,
John, really I am,' she sobbed. 'It's just that I haven't seen you
smile in such a long time . . .'
'But we can't have
you crying, can we?' he chided her good-naturedly. 'I'm better now -
there's no need to worry anymore.'
'All those months
with you, scared, frightened, never knowing who I was - it was so
awful. Do you remember any of it at all?'
John shuddered
involuntarily, thinking back to his time on board the spaceship.
'Some of it,' he said, 'but most of the time it seems like a bad
dream, a nightmare.' He smiled at Carol again. 'All I really know is
that it seem a very long time.'
He stood up from
the chair and Carol rose to take him lovingly in her arms. 'Oh, John,
I can't tell you how I feel,' she whispered. She kissed him, running
her fingers through his hair which was now completely black, visible
proof of the success of the Sensorites' treatment. 'Welcome home,
John, welcome home.'
The Senior
Scientist had been observing this display of love with curiosity:
such ostentation was unknown to the highly sophisticated Sensorite
race. 'It is indeed a time of great happiness for both of you,' he
ventured.
Carol smiled her
agreement and introduced the Scientist to John as the one who had
cured him. John held out his hand to the Scientist.
'What do you ask
for?' asked the puzzled Sensorite.
John smiled. 'We
have a custom on Earth of shaking hands with someone in friendship,'
he said.
The Senior
Scientist reflected for a moment on the humans' peculiar predilection
for physical contact, and then offered his hand in return. 'Then
I accept your friendship,' he said, 'as I hope you will accept mine.'
It was at this
happy scene that the Doctor, Ian and Susan entered the room. Susan
bounced up to John, glad to see that he was completely recovered from
his traumatic ordeal. 'Do you remember us?' she chirped.
John grinned. 'I
remember you distinctly,' he teased.
Ian laughed as
Susan flushed with embarrassment. 'Well, I'm Ian,' he said, 'and this
is the Doctor, Susan's grandfather. Barbara, our other companion, is
up in the spaceship with Captain Maitland.'
The Doctor stepped
forward. 'I'm glad to see that you don't bear any grudges towards the
Sensorites, young man,' he said.
'That's all in the
past now, Doctor. We've got to think about the present - and the
future.' He winked at Carol, who tightened her grip on his hand.
'Excellent,
excellent,' approved the Doctor. Perhaps there was hope for Ian and
Barbara's preposterous species after all if such good sense prevailed
into the twenty-eighth century. He turned to the Senior Scientist and
indicated that he should accompany him: he wanted to check on the
progress of the manufacture and distribution of the antidote to the
atropine poisoning.
As the two
scientists left the room they failed to notice the Administrator who
quickly concealed himself in an archway in the passage outside. When
the Doctor and his Sensorite associate had passed, he returned to the
half-open door of the Medical Unit and listened.
'John,' began
Susan, 'all the time you were ill you were trying to tell us
something.'
John tried to
recreate those painful memories. 'Yes . . there was a Sensorite here
who was dangerous. It's all very hazy, but I know there was a plot
against you.'
All eyes turned as
the Administrator abruptly entered the room. 'Can you identify this
Sensorite?' he asked cautiously.
John shook his
head. 'No . . . but I do remember there was something peculiar about
his clothes. I remember -'
The Sensorite cut
him short. 'Yes. It must have been the Sensorite who has just been
killed,' he said hastily and then turned to Susan. 'The First Elder
wishes to talk to the Doctor. You will inform him,' he said crisply
and walked smartly out of the room.
'All right!' she
said, indignant at his curtness. She pulled a face at his back as the
door closed behind him.
'He's not very
friendly,' remarked Ian.
'He's just been
made Second Elder, remember,' said Susan,
'I imagine he's
trying out his new authority.'
'Well, I wouldn't
like to cross him!' laughed Carol. 'Come on, let's go and find the
Doctor.
The production of
the antidote was progressing at a steady rate and with typical
Sensorite efficiency. Reports of successful treatments were coming in
from all parts of the City, In the Scientific Unit itself the Doctor
was welcomed with great respect and some awe: it was a state of
affairs he thoroughly approved of.
Satisfied that all
his instructions were being followed the Doctor turned his attention
to rummaging through the files and records of the Scientific Unit -
all in the name of research, of course. As the Doctor had reminded
Ian some time ago he could never be accused of being overly curious .
. .
When Ian and the
others found him, he and the Senior Scientist were poring over a mass
of papers and objects. Among them was a large map.
'What's all that?'
asked Ian.
The Doctor looked
up. 'Things left behind by the humans in the spacecraft that
exploded,' he explained. 'Family snapshots, mementoes, that sort of
thing. But this here is very interesting.' He showed Ian the map.
'It's a rough plan of the aqueduct.'
'Yes, one of the
humans was very interested in the aqueduct,' added the Senior
Scientist.
'Is that so?' asked
the Doctor with real interest.
Susan suddenly
remembered the reason they had come in search of the Doctor.
'Grandfather, the First Elder wants to talk to you.'
The Doctor grunted
with indifference, far more concerned with the map. Noticing his
interest, the Senior Scientist offered to provide him with a proper
plan of the aqueduct system, rather than the rough sketch he had
here. 'The City Administrator can surely have no objection,' he said
and left the room.
Ever since her last
meeting with the Administrator, there had been something nagging at
the back of Susan's mind. Perhaps it was just intuition, or this
special sixth sense she seemed to possess on the Sense-Sphere, but
something had seemed not quite
right. Suddenly she realised what it was. 'The City Administrator!'
she cried. 'It was him!'
'What on Earth are
you talking about, child?' asked the Doctor.
'The Sensorite who
was against us: the Administrator said it was the Second Elder, the
Sensorite who had just died. But the Administrator was wearing the
Second Elder's sash ...' she said excitedly.
'What are you
getting at Susan?' asked Ian, as mystified as the Doctor.
'Don't you see?'
the girl went on, stamping her foot in frustration. 'We can only tell
the difference between the Sensorites by the sashes they wear. If the
Second Elder really was the culprit, why didn't John recognise the
Administrator as our enemy - he was wearing the Second Elder's sash.'
She looked at John. 'John, you said there was something odd about the
evil Sensorite. Was it his collar?'
'Yes, that was it!'
John confirmed.
'Then the City
Administrator is our enemy,' declared Susan triumphantly.
Ian let Susan's
arguments sink in. 'The one who's just been made Second Elder...'
'Yes.' Susan nodded
enthusiastically. 'When John was ill he must have given himself
away.'
'If this is true,
Susan, we are in serious trouble,' said the Doctor. 'That Sensorite
has power now.'
'Yes.' agreed Ian.
'And what is worse, we gave it to him . . .'
The Doctor and Ian
had learned enough of Sensorite society to realise that no accusation
against the Administrator would bear weight with the First Elder
unless they could back it up with hard evidence. And the only
evidence they had was John's testimony, hardly enough on which to
base a case.
Faced with an
unfounded accusation against his chief advisor, and that advisor's
claim that the humans were working against the glorious Sensorite
Nation, it was easy to see who the First Elder would most readily
believe. Looked at quite dispassionately, the TARDIS crew and their
friends had more to gain in undermining the Sensorites: the precious molybdenum for one
thing. And it was futile to ask the First Elder for that sort of
trust which the Sensorites seemed to give blindly to each other.
The only way to
prove their innocence and the Administrator's guilt was to go back
down into the aqueduct and discover who or what was deliberately
poisoning the Sensorites' water supply. Otherwise it would only be a
matter of time before the wily Administrator convinced the First
Elder and the Sensorites that they were responsible for bringing
death to the Sense-Sphere.
After they had
outlined their intention to go down to the aqueduct to the First
Elder, of course omitting to tell him the real reasons for doing so,
the leader of the Sensorite Nation expressed his disbelief. Surely
they did not want to go back down into the noise and the darkness to
face the Monsters of the Caves once more?
'I assure you, my
good sir, we shall be perfectly all right,' the Doctor said
confidently.
The First Elder
considered. 'Very well,' he at last agreed. 'But I insist that you
take light with you, and such arms as we can provide.'
As the Doctor and
Ian agreed the Elder raised his mind transmitter to his forehead to
contact his Senior Warrior.
(In another part of
the Palace the Senior Warrior acknowledged his leader's command and
made his way to the Armoury.)
'Now, we do have a
little problem, sir: my granddaughter Susan,' began the Doctor.
The First Elder
tilted his head in interest as the Doctor continued: 'She's sure to
want to come with us; and between you and me, she might get in the
way, I wonder if you would mind keeping a little secret for me?'
'It shall be done,'
the First Elder conceded. 'I shall not let her know of your trip to
the aqueduct.'
Ian breathed a sigh
of relief and gratitude. Despite what the Doctor had said to the
First Elder their expedition might indeed prove to be dangerous, and
the less Susan knew about it the better. Recently she had been
showing a marked independence of spirit and if she found out about
the journey she would have insisted on accompanying them. And the dark cave system
was certainly not the place for a young girl.
'I wonder too,
sir,' said the Doctor, now somewhat pushing his luck, 'if our
companion, Barbara, might be allowed to come down to the
Sense-Sphere. She could keep Susan company while Chesterton and I are
away . . .' The Doctor tried to study his host's enigmatic face,
anxiously awaiting the answer.
'Very well,' the
First Elder said resignedly. 'It will be arranged.'
'Splendid!' beamed
the Doctor, once more satisfied that he had got all his own way.
It was simplicity
itself for the Administrator to release the Engineer from prison.
Using his newly acquired authority -this time legitimately - as
Second Elder of the Sensorite Nation he had merely to request the
Engineer's release from the Sensorite gaoler and it was done. No
forms to fill in, no questions asked, no fuss at all: on such lines
was Sensorite society run.