DOCTOR WHO AND THE THREE DOCTORS Read online

  The blob of jelly seemed to react to the sound of her voice. With a threatening crackle it began moving towards her...

  2

  Attack from the Unknown

  Jo screamed, and the Doctor turned to see what was the matter. She was backing away, the blob of jelly slithering remorselessly after her. The Doctor called, 'Jo—stand still.' With considerable effort, Jo forced herself to stop. The blob stopped too. Then, as the Doctor moved cautiously towards it, the blob changed direction, and started rolling slowly towards him. 'Jo,' he called, 'do exactly as I say. Start backing away slowly towards the door.'

  Jo obeyed. The Doctor meanwhile began to circle cautiously around the blob, doing his best to lead it away from Jo. Unerringly the blob followed his every change of direction almost, as if it was tracking him. Jo called shakily, 'Doctor, what is that thing?'

  'Never mind that now. When I tell you to run—run!'

  The Doctor started manoeuvring round his car, so that 'Bessie' was between him and the blob. 'Now, Jo, run!' he yelled. Jo sprinted for the door. For a moment the blob hesitated, as if wondering whether to follow her. Then, with terrifying speed, it made a sudden rush at the Doctor. As the blob shot towards 'Bessie', the Doctor ducked round the other side of the little car and sprinted after Jo. She was hesitating by the open door, reluctant to abandon him, when the Doctor hurtled through and, scooping Jo up before him, slammed the door shut and bolted it from the other side. As he did so a bright, silent flash came from behind them. They looked through the glass panel in the upper part of the door. The Doctor's little roadster had simply vanished. They were just in time to see the blob of jelly slither across the garage floor and disappear down the drain from which it had first appeared.

  The Brigadier looked up impatiently as Bentonentered the office.

  'Well ?' he snapped.

  Benton swallowed hard. 'Still no sign of Dr. Tyler, sir. I've re-checked the entire building. He's certainly not inside, but all the gate sentries swear he hasn't left.'

  'What about our Doctor—or have you managed to lose him as well?'

  The Brigadier's phone rang, and he snatched it up. Somehow he felt sure that it would be more bad news. He was not disappointed. He listened to the excited voice at the other end of the phone, 'What do you mean?' he barked. 'An explosion in the garage? I heard nothing...'

  To Benton's relief the Doctor chose that moment to walk in. He looked calm and unruffled—which was more than could be said for Jo Grant, who followed close behind him. The Brigadier looked up, 'Ah there you are! Apparently there was some kind of flash...'

  'There was indeed,' agreed the Doctor.

  'What happened? One of your gadgets misfire?'

  The Doctor frowned. I'm not really sure, yet. Let's say there was an energy-release of some kind,'

  "There was this horrible great blob of jelly,' Jo burst out, 'and Bessie's just vanished...' She gave an excited report of events in the garage.

  When she had finished the Brigadier gazed at her in stark disbelief. He looked at the Doctor for confirmation. The Doctor nodded. 'A rather incoherent account, but substantially correct.'

  'We've been having a little mystery of our own,' said the Brigadier grimly. He went on to tell the Doctor about the vanishing of Dr. Tyler.

  The Doctor seemed unsurprised. 'I shouldn't bother to look for him any more. I'm very much afraid he's gone where Mr. Hollis went. Where Bessie's gone too, come to that.'

  The Brigadier struggled on valiantly. 'What about this jelly—this thing that attacked you in the garage? What is it? Where does it fit in with all this business about Hollis and Dr. Tyler?'

  The Doctor dropped into a chair, swinging his long legs up to rest his heels on the Brigadier's desk-top. 'As far as I can guess—and it is only a guess so far—the jelly, thing, as you call it, is some kind of organism. An organism with a powerful hunting instinct. I believe it travelled to Earth by means of Dr. Tyler's "space-lightning", using his cosmic-ray device for the last stage of the journey.'

  'Sort of like hitching a lift?' suggested Jo brightly. Everyone ignored her.

  'All that's as may be,' snapped the Brigadier. 'What concerns us now is that the thing's here. Why? What does it want?'

  The Doctor cleared his throat. 'I hate to sound immodest,' he said gently,' but I'm very much afraid it wants me'

  The Brigadier looked at him in exasperation. 'Are you seriously trying to tell me, Doctor, that this whole thing has been arranged for your benefit?'

  In the garage,' said Jo slowly, 'as soon as it got near you, it ignored me.'

  The Brigadier got up. 'Well, whatever it is, it's arrived and it's hostile. What do we do? How do we find it?'

  The Doctor, too, rose to his feet. 'No need for us to try and find it. Brigadier. If we wait, it will find us.'

  In the darkness of the drainage system under the UNIT building the blob of jelly lay motionless, waiting. Suddenly it began to glow and crackle with energy. And it started to grow. As it grew, it divided into two. Each of those two pieces divided yet again. The process continued. Two pieces, four pieces, eight pieces, sixteen pieces) thirty-two pieces... Soon an army of them swarmed through the drainage pipes, making their way towards the surface...

  In a quiet side-road at the back of UNIT H.Q., a glowing, crackling blob of jelly emerged from a drain. For a moment it lay in the gutter, then it started to grow, swelling to the size of a man. As it grew, it changed, taking on roughly, very roughly, the shape of a man. A huge figure with round featureless head and thick blobby arms and legs, it stood motionless for a moment, then began shambling purposefully towards UNIT. A moment later another blob of jelly emerged crackling from the drain. It too began to grow and change shape. Before very long, a second nightmarish creature lurched off after the first.

  All round the UNIT building, the same process was being repeated. The blobs of jelly emerged from drains, grew, changed shape, and began their remorseless advance. Before very long a hideous, shambling, monstrous army was encircling UNIT H.Q., moving in closer and closer.

  The main gate sentry saw them first, and frankly didn't believe his eyes. A quivering line of faceless horrors marched steadily towards him. Too astonished to challenge them, or even to give the alarm, he simply opened fire at the nearest with his Sterling submachine gun. It didn't help. He saw the bullets slice through the jelly-like substance of the creatures' bodies. They continued their advance without even a pause.

  Corporal Palmer, in charge of the guard, ran out from his guard-room at the sound of the shooting. He saw the terrified sentry, too frightened even to reload, clutching an empty gun and backing slowly away. Shoving the soldier in front of him, he dashed back into the guard-room and sounded the General Alarm siren. Its harsh wailing note set the whole building in motion. Soldiers carrying arms ran at once to their battle stations, those without made for the armoury, where the Armourer was already issuing rifles, grenades and Sterlings.

  Sergeant Benton used his rank to jump the queue and grabbed an anti-tank rifle. Experience of hostile alien life-forms had taught him that the heavier your armament the better. Shouldering the cumbersome weapon with ease, he ran to see what the blazes was going on.

  All around the building he found a weird battle taking place. The terrifying jelly-creatures were swarming everywhere, ignoring the fusillade of shots being poured into them. Yet despite their fearsome appearance, they didn't seem to hurt you unless you touched them. As Benton ran up to the main gate, he saw a terrified soldier stumble into one of them. A crackle of energy threw the man a good twenty feet, smashing him into the wall.

  Dropping to one knee, Benton levelled his anti-tank gun and fired. With a dull 'crump' the explosive shell blasted the jelly-creature into a hundred pieces. Benton smiled in satisfaction&mdashthen he saw the little blobs of jelly roll back together into a great blob, and the creature start moving towards him once more. Dodging out of its way, he grabbed for his walkie-talkie.

  In the Doctor's laboratory, Jo
Grant listened as Benton's voice came through on the field-radio. From all around she could hear the rattle of gunfire, the sound of exploding grenades. She looked across at the Doctor. Absorbed in a batch of Tyler's computer print-outs, he seemed to be ignoring the whole battle.

  She heard the Brigadier say, 'All right, Sergeant Benton, move the men out. Complete evacuation!' He turned to the Doctor, and snapped, 'Doctor, for heaven's sake! We're under attack. What are these creatures? Where do they come from?'

  The Doctor looked up, 'Obviously from the same source as that thing in the garage. First the scout, then the reinforcements. Sound grasp of military tactics, wouldn't you say. Brigadier?'

  The Brigadier exploded. 'Never mind all that—what do we do?'

  'Nothing,' said the Doctor calmly. 'They're not interested in you or your men. Keep out of their way and they won't harm you.'

  'What about you, Doctor?'

  The Doctor nodded at the TARDIS in the corner. 'Don't worry, I'll be all right. You go and look after your men. Brigadier.'

  This was a suggestion the Brigadier found hard to refuse. The safety of his men was always his first concern.

  'Very well, Doctor, if you're sure. Come along, Miss Grant.' The Brigadier ran out of the room. Jo didn't move.

  The Doctor said gently, 'I really think you ought to leave as well, Jo.'

  She shook her head determinedly. 'And walk into one of those nasties? Not a chance. I'm staying with you.'

  'Please, Jo. It's only when you are with me that you're in any danger. On your own you can walk straight by them and they'll ignore you.'

  The ground-floor window was thrown up, and Sergeant Benton climbed over the sill. 'Doctor, Miss Grant,' he yelled. 'You've got to get out of here. Those things are making straight for the lab.'

  The Doctor picked Jo up bodily and carried her across to the window.

  'On the contrary, Sergeant Benton, you get out of here. And take Miss Grant with you, if you have to carry her!'

  He tried to pass Jo over to Benton. She said, 'Oh no you don't' and started struggling wildly. Before they could all untangle themselves, there was a sudden flash and the laboratory door disappeared. A milling crowd of the jelly-creatures at once filled the empty space. They had already begun to recombine merging into one another to form a huge blob, a larger version of the one that had attacked them in the garage. It was as though, their target found, they no longer needed their ghastly attempt at a human shape.

  Another blob, equally large, appeared at the window, cutting off their retreat. As the two masses of jelly lurched towards them the Doctor ran to the TARDIS and unlocked the door. Into the TARDIS, both of you,' he snapped. He bundled Jo and Sergeant Benton inside, then leaped in after them, shutting the TARDIS door just as the combined mass of jelly slammed against it.

  Inside the TARDIS the Doctor ran to the control console and started flicking switches. With its usual groaning sound the centre column began moving up and down.

  Jo looked surprised, 'I thought the TARDIS was grounded, Doctor?'

  'So it is! But while it's ticking over, the force-field is in operation.' Jo suddenly noticed Sergeant Benton, who was standing quite still, his eyes wide open, his mouth, clamped shut. She realised it was the first time he had ever been inside the TARDIS, and smiled sympathetically. She could well remember how she'd felt on first seeing the big gleaming control room that was so impossibly packed inside the battered old police box. The Doctor followed the direction of her glance. He too smiled to see the big Sergeant standing almost to attention with astonishment. 'Well,' asked the Doctor briskly, 'aren't you going to say "It's bigger on the inside than on the outside"? Everyone else does.'

  Benton made an effort to keep his voice steady. 'That's pretty obvious, isn't it? Anyway, nothing to do with you surprises me now, Doc!'

  The Doctor chuckled, went across to the console and switched on the scanner screen. The others gathered round him, looking at the scene inside the laboratory. The jelly-creature, all its parts now combined into one enormous lump, was lashing to and fro, throwing out occasional tentacles, rather like a giant amoeba. Whenever it touched the TARDIS it recoiled with an angry crackle, but whenever it touched anything else there was a fierce silent flash, and that object vanished. Chairs, desk, laboratory benches, cupboards, they all went, until the laboratory was virtually empty. Except, that is, for the TARDIS, which still sat stubbornly in its corner.

  Jo looked away from the screen with a shudder. 'What's it doing, Doctor?'

  'Trying to carry out its instructions, I imagine, and getting in a rare old tizzy because it can't.' The Doctor opened a concealed hatch in the console. Beneath it was a tiny red button. He looked at it for a long time, and sighed. 'It's no good. I'll have to use it.' Almost as if forcing himself, he pressed the little button and closed the hatch.

  'Use what?' asked Jo, curiously.

  'The SOS—this is one of the very few times in my life when I've had to ask Them for help.'

  Jo knew that the Doctor was talking about his own race, the mysterious all-powerful Time Lords. It was by their decree that he was presently exiled to Earth, and to have to ask for their help must have cost him a great deal. She said, 'Things must be pretty serious then.'

  The Doctor looked at the scanner screen, which showed the angry jelly-monster still thrashing angrily about in the empty laboratory.

  'They are, Jo. Very serious indeed. The whole of the Universe is in danger!'

  3

  The Menace of the Black Hole

  On a monitor screen, millions of light-years away across the galaxies, the Doctor's SOS showed up as a tiny blinking light. The monitor was one of many in the vast Temporal Control Room of the Time Lords. It was many years since the Doctor had stood in that room. If he could have seen it at this moment, he would have been shocked and horrified.

  Usually the Temporal Control Room was a busy bustling place, hundreds of monitor screens glowing brightly, Time Lords moving around busily as they carried out their work of charting the Time Streams of the Universe, keeping a benevolent and watchful eye on innumerable planets and times. But now the huge hall was in semi-darkness, only a few of the Temporal Monitors were still in operation, their lights glowing faintly in the surrounding gloom. Across the almost empty hall walked two Senior Time Lords, the President of the High Council and his Chancellor. Their appearance would have given the Doctor the greatest shock of all. Despite their age and wisdom, the Senior Time Lords had always been lively, vigorous figures, burning with energy and authority. But this was true no longer. Under the dignity of the flowing, ornamental robes were two tired and frightened old men.

  The Chancellor looked at the winking light of the Doctor's signal. 'The Doctor is still holding out?'

  The President nodded sadly. 'We were about to seek his help. Now he asks for ours. And we have none to give him.'

  The Chancellor brooded for a moment. 'And the source of our present energy loss—it is still under observation?'

  The President led him to another monitor nearby. This screen showed a panorama of deep space, filled with thousands of stars. But at the centre of it all, there was a sinister change. A jagged black hole in space, which seemed to pulse and quiver with evil life.

  'A hole in space,' said the Chancellor slowly. 'A no-where, a no-place, a void. According to all known scientific laws, nothing can exist there. Yet somehow, through that hole, vital cosmic energy is draining away despite all we can do to stop it.'

  The President checked some readings on a nearby control console. 'The energy loss is worsening, my lord. Soon the Time Travel facility itself will be endangered. Without it we shall be helpless.' He smashed his fist down on the console. 'We are being consumed, my lord, by a Force equal yet opposite to our own, from the Universe of Anti-matter. I am sure that this attack on the Doctor is yet another manifestation of that Force.'

  The Chancellor led the way back to the screen showing the SOS. 'Ah yes, the Doctor,' he brooded.

  'He
has asked for our help, and it is our duty to give it. Whatever his errors, he is still a Time Lord.'

  'No-one can be spared, my lord. Everyone, every scrap of our power, is needed to combat the energy-drain. Unless... unless... Yes ! It's the only way. If your excellency will accompany me?'

  With suddenly renewed energy, the President strode to another section of the vast Control Room. Scurrying a little, his dignity forgotten, the Chancellor followed him. The two old men halted before a darkened screen where a Junior Time Lord sat in gloomy idleness. He started, as the President tapped him on the shoulder. 'Show me a section of the Doctor's earlier time stream—before he changed his appearance.' Astonished, the young Time Lord, a boy of a mere two hundred years, glanced up at his superior's face. 'Show me!' ordered the President. The young Time Lord's hands flickered over the complex controls before him, and the screen glowed into life. A picture formed, the savage and hostile landscape of some primitive planet. Across it was running a rather small man in eccentric and colourful clothing. From the pace at which he was moving it seemed likely that something very nasty indeed was after him.

  The President turned triumphantly to the Chancellor. 'You see, my lord? We cannot help the Doctor, but perhaps he can help himself !'

  The Chancellor was appalled. 'I forbid it. You cannot allow him to cross his own time stream and meet his earlier self. The First Time Law expressly forbids—'

  The President interrupted him, in itself an unheard-of audacity. He gestured round the almost-empty, darkened hall. 'We are all of us fighting for our lives. Is this a time for rules?'

  'You cannot do this!'

  The President's voice was firm. 'My lord, I must. I must and I will. It is the Doctor's only hope. Ours too, perhaps.'

  For a moment the two old men glared at each other. The Junior Time Lord sat like a mouse, scarcely daring to breathe. The Chancellor's eyes fell first. 'Very well. On your own head be it.' Salvaging his dignity as best he could, the Chancellor turned and strode from the hall. The President turned to the quaking young Time Lord and began rapping out instructions. Once again the Junior Time Lord's hands began moving across the controls...