Part 11 (1/2)

Bilton couldn't agree more.

'If there was a radio ...' The Captain was still determined to escape. 'We might be able to send a Mayday signal.'

'Who's going to answer it?' His copilot was less optimistic.

'Perhaps the Doctor has a remote navigational ...' He got no further.

'What's the matter, Skipper?'

Captain Stapley was staring in utter disbelief over Andrew Bilton's shoulder, at the entrance to the inner TARDIS. 'How did you get in here?'

In the doorway stood Professor Hayter. Without saying a word, the Professor moved slowly towards them.

The Doctor sat on the floor of the empty Sanctum. He was profoundly depressed. He took no interest in the efforts of Tegan and Nyssa to find where the stones had been loosened.

'If the Master's installed the Xeraphin in his TARDIS, there's no limit to his powers,' he said dejectedly. He realised that they had been fighting not only the Master, but half the Xeraphin race - possibly the most brilliant minds in the universe. Kalid had been a disguise, not only for his old adversary, but a focus for the minds of the evil Xeraphin.

'There must be some way to stop the Master.' Tegan had more fight in her.

The Doctor suddenly felt ashamed that he had been willing to give up so easily. He looked round the Sanctum, but with the Xeraphin gone, there was no way of releasing the doors and finding the way back through the cunning labyrinth that had delivered Tegan and Nyssa to the inner chamber.

He got to his feet and walked over to the collection of rocks from which Nyssa had launched her bombardment of the nucleus. They were indeed amazingly heavy - doubtless souvenirs from the home planet.

With a rock apiece they all three battered the wall of the Sanctum. But for all their weight, the strange mineral lumps disintegrated on contact with the stone of the chamber. They would need help from outside. But the Doctor could think of no way of making contact. He fought back another wave of despair.

'Listen!' The girls' sharp ears had picked up a familiar sound.

In the s.p.a.ce left by the sarcophagus they could see the nascent shape of the TARDIS. The Doctor was flabbergasted. Only the Master would have been able to navigate his time machine. But with the Xeraphin on board his own vehicle, he should have no further interest in the Sanctum or any use for the Doctor's TARDIS.

They all hid behind the police box as the door opened. The Doctor crept to the corner and peered round. The sight of Captain Stapley and Andrew Bilton standing in the entrance delighted him. He rushed forward and grasped Stapley by the hand.

'Are we glad to see you, Doctor!' said the Captain.

'Are we glad to see the TARDIS!' said Tegan.

'My dear Captain, you really are the most remarkable man.' The Doctor was beaming. 'To pilot the TARDIS, and with such precision.'

The Doctor, thought the Captain, has rather got the wrong end of the stick; but before he could explain they were all shepherded through the door of the TARDIS.

'You have control, as they say.' The Doctor waved Captain Stapley towards the console, still astounded at the Concorde pilot's uncanny knack with coordinates.

The Captain was quick to explain that, in any travelling by phone box, he and Bilton were strictly pa.s.sengers.

'Then how did you pilot yourself here?' asked Nyssa.

”The Professor, of course,' answered Andrew.

'What!'

'Didn't you instruct him on how to fly the TARDIS?'

'No,' said the Doctor quietly.

Bilton looked round the console room. 'Where is the Professor? He was here a moment ago.'

There was an eery silence. Saying nothing, the Doctor began to set the coordinates. It was left to Tegan to break the news to Bilton and Stapley. She spoke quietly and unemotionally. 'Professor Hayter is dead.'

Scobie wanted desperately to help the pa.s.sengers. They stood in a long crocodile beside the rotunda, like a queue at a check-in desk. In fact, several had visas and boarding cards in their hands. He made a quick count of the uniforms amongst the crowd; nine of them. Except for Professor Hayter this must be the full complement of flight 192. If only he could keep them all together.

But the Master, the Tissue Compression Eliminator in his hand, prowled like a wolf round a flock of sheep. Scobie stayed in the shadows.

The line moved forward. First one, then another, then another of the waiting men and women walked straight into the pillar. Roger Scobie was no longer even surprised. Anything could happen in this place.

And it did. With a whirring and a clattering, the column, the pa.s.sengers, the crew members and the Master all vanished.

No-one on board the Doctor's TARDIS could explain how Professor Hayter could have appeared in the control room and set the coordinates so accurately for the Sanctum.

'A telepathic projection?' hazarded the Doctor.

'Perhaps he isn't dead,' suggested Nyssa.

'The man was atomised!' Tegan had seen it with her own eyes.

'No!' Nyssa spoke again with that sudden mysterious insight. 'He was absorbed into the Xeraphin life force.'

The Doctor now knew that all was not lost. Even the Xeraphin - at least the white Xeraphin - were fighting back.

For a while after the departure of the Master, Roger Scobie was alone in the great hall. He thought, for a rather sobering minute or two, that he might be alone in the whole Citadel, perhaps the only example of h.o.m.o sapiens in the entire prehistoric world. It was a great comfort to see the Doctor's TARDIS materialise in front of him.

'Roger, you're safe!' The Captain ran towards his Flight Engineer.

'This place is getting just like Heathrow,' joked Scobie, disguising, with a quick wisecrack, the extent of his relief.

The Doctor overheard him. 'Have you seen another TARDIS?'

'Would that be a sort of Greek pillar?'

'Could well be.'

'It disappeared a few minutes ago.'

'We've lost him!' exclaimed Nyssa in dismay.

The Doctor didn't think so. 'The Master must still be in the same time zone, and probably not far away.'

'How do you know that?'

The Master's TARDIS won't be fully operational yet. He's got the nucleus inside all right, but he'll need to work on it.'

Scobie was explaining to Bilton and Stapley what had happened to Captain Urquhart and his pa.s.sengers. 'Like animals into the ark. I've heard of a football team getting into a telephone kiosk, but this was ridiculous ...' He stopped. The Doctor was staring at him, a look of horror on his face.