The spider had
found its way back to its master very easily. It's
body materialised back on the panel of components it had originally entered
through. There was one thing that was different about it. The spider seemed to
have put on a bit of weight.
‘Oh, so you're back are you?’ The spider looked at
the man happily. ‘I thought I told you not to nibble anything
important.’ The spider looked away sheepishly. The Intruder saw this and
said, ‘Still, not to worry my friend. I see from your little weight
problem
that you have found some silver for me.’ The spider looked
back at him and nodded. The Intruder then held out his hand and the
spider
scuttled along it to his palm. He thought to himself that it was a pity
that he
had to destroy the spider. It seemed to have developed a little
personality of
it's own. Still, he would see what he could do about the sad situation.
As in
its creation, he enclosed it within both hands. After a moment he opened
his
hands. The likeable spider had been converted into the raw material he
needed
for the bridging unit. He then clasped his hands together again. This
time in his hand was a small, silver printed circuit board. It looked
like a
perfectly normal circuit, but the strange thing about it was that the
fact that
there seemed to be a spider's head embossed on its corner. The head
appeared to
be smiling.
~~~
The sun started to set on the gardens. The shadows it caused grew
longer. Dodo sat on the grass beside the locked TARDIS. If you looked at her
closely, you could tell from the look on her face that she was very unhappy
with her lot.
The air around her
was just starting to get a little chilly. She looked around her surroundings
for the umpteenth time, and decided to get up and give the TARDIS doors a
vicious beating. As she went to do this, the doors opened unexpectedly in front
of her.
The Doctor looked
from out of the open doors at her. He said, ‘Come on, my dear.’ She
paused and looked rather defiantly at him in amazement. ‘Hurry up will
you. We haven't got much time left!’
~~~
Back
in the void
between the plasmic shells, a ripple of turbulence hit the Intruder.
‘The owner must have opened the main doors. I wonder if he has gone to
get reinforcements?’ As he just recovered, a second ripple hit him.
Logically, he thought to
himself, the pilot must have now closed them again. As he relaxed a
second time
he said, ‘It seems as if I will have to pull my finger out.’ With that
utterance, he placed the silver bridging unit that he held
against the area of open TARDIS circuitry. As they touched there was a
melding
of both. The Intruder looked very happy with his handy work. ‘It won’t
be long before I can complete the task that I started.’ Then he
questioned the bridging unit, ‘Are you ready yet?’ The spider's head on
the unit looked at him and smiled again. The unit
continued with the final stages.
~~~
Lights started to
flash wildly on the console. Someone was tampering with the operations of the
TARDIS. The Doctor,
followed by Dodo moved from the console to the fault
locator. He suddenly stopped dead and to his amazement a new display
screen had appeared below the usual digital display. He turned to Dodo and
said, ‘This is most strange, my child. It may sound insane, but that screen
seems to have appeared from out of thin air!’
She looked at him
strangely.
‘Are you quite sure about this Doctor?’
The Doctor caught her
in a cold stare.
‘Are you intending to question my eyesight? Um? Or are you insinuating that I've become senile?’
Dodo looked at him
apologetically, ‘I'm sorry Doctor. I didn't mean to imply anything. I thought you might
have simply made a mistake.’ There was a pause.
The Doctor's attitude
softened and he replied, ‘I am very glad to hear it my dear. But I want to make something very
clear. I may be a little long in the tooth, but I am still the owner of this
vessel. I do not think I could make a mistake such as this!’
Dodo looked happier
and said, ‘That's all right. All I can say is sorry again, Doc.’
He smiled at her and
added, ‘Very well. Ah, one final thing my dear child. Please kindly refrain from
referring to me as DOC! It really is most irritating!’ With the air cleared
between them, as far as he was concerned, the Doctor turned his attention back towards the new screen.
~~~
The bridging unit had
almost completed its job. It wouldn't be long before the Intruder could pass
into the TARDIS interior. Then the Intruder would have to secure it from the
pilot. This wouldn't give him any problem. From what he could gather from
tapping the TARDIS telepathic circuits, the pilot seemed to be a frail old man.
The machine itself was an old vessel and was not in the best of conditions. He
only hoped it could get him to his destination, in one piece. He must overcome
the pilot carefully, and not damage him. All in all, he could not see that
anything could go wrong.
He looked again at the bridging unit. This time it
winked at him.
It was nearly time, and this would be a pushover. How
wrong could he have been?
~~~
The Doctor and Dodo
stared at the message on the screen. As he touched the screen it spoke:
++IMMINENT DISRUPTION
OF CONSOLE ROOM WALL FABRIC…ALIEN INTRUDER MAY SEEK CONTROL OR DESTRUCTION OF
VESSEL…DO YOU WISH TO ACTIVATE DIMENSIONAL CONTAINMENT FIELD UNIT?++
The Doctor replied, ‘Yes.’
The voice continued: ++UNIT WILL BE SET UP IN CONSOLE ROOM. ACTIVATOR WILL BE LINKED TO MAIN
DRIVE SWITCH.
DECISION AS TO WHETHER ALIEN IS DESTROYED WILL BE LEFT
TO PILOT.++
He turned from the
screen and crossed to the central console. Dodo turned to him and said, ‘You can't just destroy the alien for no reason.’
The Doctor frowned
and said,
‘The decision is mine, and mine alone.’ He stood silently in thought. His hands clutching both lapels of his
frock coat. After a moment, he moved his hands to the console to steady himself
and announced,’Before I despatch it, or if I despatch it, I will want to know
its reason for disturbing my peace.’ After he said this,
he realised that he would have to keep his dark side in check.
Dodo started to plead
with him,
‘I don't care what you say. Whatever happens please
don't kill it.’
He
looked at her and uttered, regretting his earlier statement, ‘Of
course I won’t kill it! What sort of a barbarian do you take me for?’
After this his hands returned to his lapels.
The bridging unit signalled to the Intruder that it had finished its
task. He reached towards it, his fingers making contact. As they touched it,
his entire body was thrust through the gap it had created.
The Doctor heard Dodo scream, ‘Doctor quickly! Look
at the wall!’
As he looked,
he could see what had alarmed her. The shape of a body
was slowly emerging from the fabric of the roundelled wall. After a moment, it
resolved itself into the shape of a man and as it became totally
corporeal, you could see he was wearing a grey suit and a striking silver
waistcoat. On his shoulder sat a smiling silver spider.
The Intruder looked at the Doctor, and said, ‘I want this vessel, old man. Please don't try to
stop me. I wouldn't like to damage any of your tissues.’ The Intruder became
fully corporeal and now stood before the Doctor, over whom he seemed to tower.
The Doctor stared at him and said, in an icy tone, ‘Don't try to intimidate me, young man. In my time, I've
been threatened by the masters of the arts. To be perfectly frank with you, I don't think you measure up to any of
them!’
The Intruder laughed and then replied, ‘Very tough
talking
from an old man that is on the verge of total cell rejuvenation.’ He
then tried to probe the Doctor's mind for more information, but the
Doctor realised this and set up a mental block.
‘Well, well.’ The Doctor paused and then continued, ‘Tried to have another
rummage through my mind, did you? Unfortunately, you won’t get away with that
parlour trick again.’ The Doctor laughed.
The Intruder seemed to shrug this off. He crossed to
the console and
started to set co-ordinates. He detected a movement behind him. He
sensed it
was Dodo. Without looking, he clicked his fingers. Dodo found that she
couldn't move a muscle. The Doctor moved to the opposite side of the
console looking over at the Intruder.
‘I hope my
young friend here, Dodo is unharmed.’
The Intruder looked at him and nodded and reached for the drive
switch. The Doctor saw this, his face grim and said, ‘I really think that you should reconsider this folly.’
‘Whatever you say now cannot stop me. I require this craft.’ affirmed the intruder.
‘Very well, carry on with this madness. But on your own head be it!’
The Intruder flicked the drive switch to the 'ON'
position and to his
annoyance, he was sucked into the dimensional containment field and was
now trapped without any escape.
The Doctor peered at the little figure
within the centre of the field. ‘I did try to warn you, my dear fellow.’
He gave the
containment field a loving pat and walked back to the console. As he
approached
it, he could see that Dodo was starting to recover from her paralysis
remarkable fast. He put his arm around her, and led her from the console
room. As they entered
the corridor the Doctor said, ‘After all that excitement, I think we
both could do
with a nice rest and some refreshment. Don't you agree my child?’ She
replied, ‘I think you're absolutely right.’ They decided to head
to the lounge.
~~~
The
quaint little cafe was closed, but then again it always
was. Inside it, there were eight tables, each of which had a red and
white
checked tablecloth on it along with usual condiments, and gleamingly
clean knives, forks and spoons. If you looked towards
the only window in the cafe, you could see that the curtains matched the
table
clothes
in colour and pattern. If you were of a mind to draw the curtains, and
look
out of the window, you would get quite a shock. The sight that would
greet you
wasn't one of a peaceful street scene, that you would generally come to
expect, but one of a vastly infinite starry void. The cafe seemed to be
suspended in space.
In the corner of the quaint cafe, sat a man and women. She was a tall,
slim blonde dressed in a blue satin dress. The man was blonde, as well,
and wore a grey suit and tie. They were the cafe's only customers, and they had
been here for quite a time. For longer, in fact, than they could care to remember. The couple sat at opposite sides of one of
the tables. They held hands across it. A faint blue glow enveloped them, and they
stared intently into each other's eyes, or was it each other's minds. The man spoke to her in her mind, ‘Can you take time back, to where
we were before this trap was sprung?’
Her mind spoke back to him, ‘No, I'm not able to here. I think
there must be some kind of barrier.’
‘So, we really are confined in this place for the foreseeable future.’
‘I think we may be trapped here for eternity!’ It seemed there was no escape
for the couple. Unless, of course, help came from outside.
~~~
Time passed.
The Doctor had been
enjoying a refreshing rest in the lounge area of the TARDIS. Relaxed
he left the lounge and once again stood in the console room, in front of
his prisoner. ‘So my friend, it seems that you have a lot of explaining
to do.’ He peered into the containment field's interior.
The Intruder looked back at him. ‘I've already told you, old man, that I need your ship.’