Part 3 (1/2)

5

The Magic of Kalid

'Sheraz, sheraz, tumal baloor ...' The thin, strangulated voice that chanted these arcane words could have been that of a muezzin summoning the faithful to prayer. But it was no holy man who stood before the great crystal ball in the sombre heart of the Citadel that the Doctor and Tegan had seen on the horizon, and the power that Kalid called forth was as dark as the granite walls of the chamber where he practised his magic arts.

The Doctor was right to fear such a man as this; for Kalid was no ordinary conjuror.

He was no ordinary man either, with his yellow oriental face, bloated like the body of a drowned dog and gangrenous with age and excess, with broken teeth and rotting gums that contorted his mouth into a permanent leer. His height too, for a Chinaman - if that was his race - was remarkable, and his girth, concealed by a bright coat of damask, as monstrous as the force he invoked.

'Sheraz, sheraz, tumaal ...' Kalid called again and the crystal clouded. He gazed in the swirling mists and saw the Doctor and Tegan wandering back from the ruined s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. He was pleased with the power at his command. He could see ail things; and all things obeyed his will.

'Verram, verram, xeraak namaan ...' He would show his power to this Doctor.

The Doctor meanwhile, had returned to a very frightened Captain Stapley.

'Those creatures!' The Captain had no words to describe the emanations that he had seen spirit away his two crew members. 'They just took off with Bilton and Scobie!'

The Doctor's first thought was that Stapley had been hallucinating again. But Nyssa, who was much less susceptible, was as upset as the Captain by what had just happened.

If any doubt remained in the Doctor's mind as to the reality of what Captain Stapley and Nyssa had just witnessed, it was about to be dispelled.

As the voice of Kalid echoed in the darkness of the Citadel, another cloud appeared. The Doctor saw the horror on the faces of Tegan and the Captain. 'Behind you, Doctor!' hissed Stapley. The Doctor had no time even to turn and face the horrid eviscerations that had formed behind him. He was instantly absorbed into the shapeless ma.s.s.

The Doctor felt like a drowning man who has gone under for the third time. He knew there was no point in struggling. In fact, there was a strange calm at the centre of the agglomeration.

He could hear a murmuring, like the distant roar of the sea in a conch sh.e.l.l. It was almost as if a giant had woken from a deep sleep and was trying to whisper some great confidence. Was it his imagination, or could he hear someone or something calling out to him? 'Doctor ...

Doctor ... Help ... Help!'

There was no doubt about it. Some unknown intelligence was trying to communicate.

'Help us, Doctor!' The voice was growing stronger and more desperate.

'Beware ... beware the renegade! Help!' The voice grew incoherent as if terrified at its own revelation.

'Stop!'

Captain Stapley and Tegan turned from their efforts to free the Doctor to face Nyssa who was watching their exertions with a faraway look on her face.

'You mustn't fight it!' Although she couldn't herself hear the distant voices, she just knew the Doctor wasn't in danger.

And in the Citadel, Kalid, who saw everything in the crystal sphere, knew that he must release the Doctor before the voices betrayed him.

'Evaneragh!' he cried out.

'What's happening now?' Tegan could suddenly see the shadow of the Doctor inside the coc.o.o.n.

As quickly as it had materialised, the substance dissolved and evaporated, leaving the Doctor, looking rather surprised, on the ground.

Stapley rushed forward to help him. The Doctor smiled rea.s.suringly.

'Captain Stapley, are you all right?'

'Am I all right!' The Captain was amazed at the sheer nerve of the man.

The Doctor got to his feet and dusted himself down.

'Those were the creatures that got hold of Bilton and Scobie!'

'What creatures?'

'Those blobs!'

'You mean the Plasmatons?'

'Is that what you call them?'

'Protein agglomeration.' The Doctor was casually matter of fact.

'Random particles a.s.sembled from the atmosphere. Quite inanimate I a.s.sure you.'

Captain Stapley had twice, now, seen the Plasmatons, and in his opinion they were highly animate. He considered the Doctor's eccentric explanation dangerously inadequate. 'But, Doctor,' he protested, 'there's no technique that could create matter like that, out of thin air!'

'Isn't there?' The Doctor instantly countered his objection. 'What about the energy that telepathically generated the illusion we were at Heathrow! Do you think that can't operate on a physical level?'

Captain Stapley shook his head and wondered for a moment if he was in a madhouse.

'Doctor!' Nyssa interrupted. She had something far more serious to recount than a visit from the Plasmatons. But no one was listening.

'Simply a form of psychokinesis,' the Doctor continued.

'You mean that spoon-bending nonsense?'

'Doctor!' Nyssa tried once more to prise into their conversation. 'Those people were taking away the TARDIS!'

The Doctor's shock at the theft of the TARDIS was equalled only by Kalid's joy as the great box was trundled into his chamber by the impressed workforce of airline pa.s.sengers that Nyssa and Stapley had spotted leaving the Concorde.

'You have your work. Go to it!' Kalid dismissed his labourers.

As the bemused business executives and cabin staff wandered out of the chamber, Kalid moved eagerly towards the TARDIS. He had seen it before in the crystal and longed for the moment when it would be his.

He stretched out a jaundiced hand to the door.

It was locked.

'Didn't you even bother to see where they were taking it?' The Doctor was appalled they had let the TARDIS be removed so easily.