‘OOH!’ MOANED THE Ship as she engaged her makeshift relative dimensional stabiliser once again and shifted out of the space-time vortex to materialise back in normal space. ‘That hit the spot!’
‘I hope you’ve kept your defence shield up,’ called the Doctor, who was polishing off the last of the delicious treats from the golden trolley.
‘I followed your orders to the letter, Doctor,’ trilled the Ship happily. ‘We have now materialised at the specified coordinates as instructed. Nobody, not even Skagra, can possibly tell that we have arrived. Big as I am, I can be an inconspicuous little thing when I want to be, you know.’
Through the forward screen Chris could see only a pair of large circular white doors at the end of a rocky corridor. ‘It doesn’t look very inspiring.’
‘You can find any number of amazing things at the end of a corridor,’ said the Doctor. ‘At the moment, I’d just settle for the one. Romana. Though the TARDIS comes a close second, naturally.’
K-9’s ears twizzled excitedly. ‘Confirm proximity of Mistress Romana and the TARDIS, Master.’
‘It must be my lucky day,’ cried the Doctor. ‘I should have gone for three wishes and bunged in peace across the universe while I was at it.’ He clapped his hands together. ‘Right, this should be a simple enough rescue mission. Come on, you three!’ He made for the gap where the door leading from the command deck used to be, Chris and K-9 following.
‘I’m afraid I cannot join you, Doctor,’ said the Ship. ‘But thank you very much for the invitation. It’s certainly never been extended to me before. Oh my, you have given me rather a lot to think about.’
The Doctor stopped a moment and looked up. ‘Well, sorry, I didn’t mean to.’
‘Oh please,’ said the Ship, ‘there’s no need to apologise. I’m sure that all forms of life, no matter what the definition of life may be, must at some point be forced to consider the great abstracts of existence such as love, death, happiness, even personal morality. You, Doctor, have opened my eyes to these big questions. I’m going to go through everything I have in my data store on these weighty topics and then I’m going to jolly well form some definite opinions on them.’
‘Good luck with that,’ said Chris.
The Ship seemed to pick up on the irony in his tone. ‘Oh, I’ll find the answers, don’t you worry little Earth person,’ it said a little snappily.
‘Imperative we commence rescue mission, Master,’ entreated K-9, his servos revving.
‘Quite right,’ said the Doctor. ‘Come on, you two, best feet forward.’ He strode out with K-9, Chris hurrying after.
‘Have we got a plan, then?’ asked Chris.
The Doctor grinned a huge grin. ‘I don’t know, but it’ll be fun finding out. Keep up, Bristol.’
Romana had lost all hope. She stood under guard and watched as more and more Kraags strutted from the generation chamber and into the observation dome. There were now at least five hundred of the creatures arrayed in military formations before Skagra. He stood at the console, the book clutched tightly in his gloved hand.
Finally the Kraag Commander emerged and stomped over to its master. It bowed its crowned head to him and rasped, ‘Main-stage generation complete, my lord. We have a full complement.’
Skagra nodded. ‘Good. Then proceed to your stations.’
The Kraag Commander bowed again, and gestured to the ranks of his fellows. Immediately, in perfect unison, the long formations of Kraags marched out through a series of dark, almost invisible arches cut roughly into every side of the huge arena. Romana watched as the fiery army filed out, the glow in the room diminishing in their wake, until just the Kraag Commander and one other remained, both standing uncomfortably close to her, their red eyes fixed on Skagra.
Skagra indicated the TARDIS. ‘We shall depart immediately for Shada! Bring the Time Lady.’
Romana felt a pang of deep despair. The battered blue box, which had always symbolised warmth and security to her, now looked like an alien object, its wooden exterior illuminated oddly by the sickly red glow of her Kraag escort and the harsh, cold light thrown down from a billion suns.
Then she became aware that Skagra’s face had set in an expression even stonier and more imperturbable than usual. He was staring over her shoulder at something.
She felt a familiar tap-tap on that shoulder.
She whirled around, and saw the Doctor, accompanied by Chris Parsons and K-9.
‘Doctor!’ Her hearts surged with relief. ‘You’re alive!’
The Doctor coughed, ‘Well there’s been a certain amount of debate on that topic of late, but generally speaking I think I’d agree with that statement. Hello Romana.’
Romana grinned. How had she ever believed the Doctor was dead? ‘But how did you get here?’
‘Ah,’ said the Doctor, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, ‘these kind gentlemen escorted us.’ Two more Kraags stood threateningly behind his small group.
And Romana’s hearts sank once again. All this despair, hope, cruelly crushed hope and despair again wasn’t doing them any good at all, she reflected.
But the Doctor was alive.
And that meant anything could happen.