DOCTOR WHO AND THE FACE OF EVIL Read online

  He took her hand and helped her to her feet. 'Hello, did I startle you?'

  The girl shrank back. Strange, thought the Doctor, she didn't look the nervous type. Why was she so frightened of him? He smiled reassuringly and said, 'Don't worry, I won't hurt you.'

  'The Evil One,' breathed the girl fearfully.

  The Doctor was used to unfriendly receptions, but this kind of terror was going too far.

  'Well, nobody's perfect, but that's overstating it a bit. I'm the Doctor. What's your name?'

  'Leela.' Still the same hesitant whisper.

  The Doctor tried to think of some way to reassure her. 'Leela,' he said soothingly. 'That's a nice name. I've never met anybody called Leela.' He fished a crumpled paper bag from his pocket. 'Would you like a jelly baby, Leela?'

  The girl gave a gasp of horror. 'It's true then! They used to tell us the Evil One eats babies.' She made a curious ritual gesture touching throat, left shoulder and left hip.

  'You mustn't believe all they tell you. Actually these are sweets... Have one, they're rather good.'

  The girl shook her head, staring at the bag as if it contained unimaginable horrors. All at once the forest around them seemed to come alive. Trees began shaking, the ground quivered, and from every direction there came a massive trampling sound, and a noise of deep hoarse breathing.

  The Doctor looked enquiringly at Leela. 'Either you have some very large friends with very bad colds, or we're in trouble,' he said conversationally. 'Now, which is it?'

  'They are the Monsters of the Beyond. They are your creatures.'

  'They are? I wonder if they know that. What do they look like?'

  'They cannot be seen. They are phantoms.'

  'Invisible? Then we've got a chance.' Putting his jelly babies away the Doctor dug deeper into his pockets and produced a rather ancient-looking mechanical device.

  'A magic talisman?' asked Leela reverently.

  'No, a clockwork egg-timer.' The Doctor began winding up the device, chatting quietly as he did so, apparently quite unworried by the thunderous approach of the monsters. 'The visible spectrum will be largely irrelevant to our invisible friends. They're virtually blind.'

  'Then how do they find us?'

  'Roughly speaking, they home in on our vibrations.' The Doctor carried the egg-timer over to the rocks and jammed it in a crevice. 'Now, Leela, I want you to do exactly what I say. We're going to move away, very slowly and very quietly. No matter what happens, you mustn't cry out or make any sudden move. And don't run till I tell you. Is that clear?'

  Leela looked at him in puzzlement. If this really was the Evil One, why was he going to such trouble to save her from his own creatures? She decided it was safer not to argue—she could always escape later.

  She nodded and the Doctor said, 'Good. Come on!' He took Leela's hand and they began creeping away. The crashing, trampling sounds were very close now, as if one of the monsters had moved ahead of the rest.

  Suddenly the Doctor said, 'Freeze!' and stood quite still looking behind him.

  'What's the matter?'

  'Sssh! We must tread very carefully' ' Still looking over his shoulder the Doctor took a step forward, tripped over a trailing vine and fell flat on his face.

  Immediately there was a tremendous commotion as the invisible monster came pounding even closer. Leela saw a line of enormous footprints appearing on the forest floor—footprints heading straight towards them. Terror-struck she turned to run, but a discordant jangling rang out. It was the bell on the egg-timer. Immediately the footprints veered, making their way towards this sound.

  The Doctor scrambled to his feet. 'Saved by the bell! Come on!' There came a crash from behind them, and the ringing of the bell was cut off. Leela turned and looked. Some invisible force had shattered the egg-timer into tiny fragments. Now great fountains of earth were being thrown up and even the rocks themselves hurled through the air in fragments, smashed to pieces by the invisible monster's fury. Leela shuddered, and hurried off after the Doctor.

  In the Council hut, Tomas was pleading Leela's cause to Calib. 'I tell you Neeva sent two guards in secret to kill her.'

  Calib stood silent, considering the information. Already his cunning mind was seeking ways to turn this incident to his advantage.

  'Well, if you're not interested,' said Tomas angrily.

  'But I am interested. What happened?'

  'They failed. Leela killed one, I killed the other.'

  Calib nodded thoughtfully. 'Neeva is beginning to make mistakes.'

  'We must call a meeting of the Council, and tell them.'

  'Tell them what?'

  'Leela was delivered to the judgement of Xoanon. Her sentence was banishment, not execution. Neeva has broken his own Law.'

  'Don't be naive, Tomas.' Calib was an experienced politician. 'Even if the Council believed you, don't you think Neeva would have an answer? He's the Speaker of the Law. He'd say Xoanon told him to send the guards.'

  Tomas said despairingly, 'There must be something we can do.'

  'There is. Neeva has promised us victory in the next raid across the Barrier. He says Xoanon has told him that this time we will win. You see what that means?'

  'If we don't win...' said Tomas slowly.

  'Exactly. Neeva's going to look like the charlatan he is. Then we can move against him—and that old fool Andor.' There was no doubt in Calib's mind as to who was going to be the new Chief.

  Tomas wasn't interested in Calib's intrigues. 'By then a lot of good men will have died, Calib. We should stop the raid.'

  'Like Leela?'

  Tomas sighed. 'Yes, she tried, didn't she? And by now she's probably dead.'

  Leela felt the strange tingling in the air, forced her way through it, and came to a halt. 'We can rest now. We're safe.'

  The Doctor came to join her. 'How can you be so sure?'

  'We're back inside the Boundary. Didn't you feel it?'

  'I certainly felt something,' said the Doctor. 'You're sure those creatures won't follow?'

  'They never cross the Boundary. You should know that.'

  'I keep telling you, Leela, I'm not the Evil One. Who saved your life, eh?'

  'You did,' agreed Leela meekly. She still wasn't sure what to make of her strange companion. He looked like the Evil One. But why didn't he act like him? And it was certainly true that he'd saved her life. Without him she'd have been crushed by the invisible monsters. Perhaps the Evil One was toying with her, saving her for some even more horrible fate... Yet somehow Leela doubted it. She had an instinct for danger, and sensed that the Doctor didn't mean her any harm.

  The Doctor was looking back the way they'd come. 'Never cross the Boundary, eh? I'm sure those things don't stay over there out of a sense of fair play. This must be a fence of some kind.'

  'A fence?'

  'That's right. An invisible fence—for invisible monsters!' The Doctor started poking around in the bushes.

  In the Inner Sanctum, Neeva knelt before the altar of Xoanon. The Sanctum formed a walled-off corner of the Council hut. It was filled with holy relics including a selection of strange and mysterious objects arranged upon the wooden altar. A technologically-minded person would have recognised, among other things, a disruptor gun, a space ship's medikit, a portable communicator, and an ultra-beam accelerator. But to Neeva, and indeed to all the Tribe of Sevateem, these were the holy relics of Xoanon, their purpose, if they had one, shrouded in sacred mystery.

  Neeva knelt before the altar, head bowed, waiting for his god to speak.

  Xoanon's voice, as always, seemed to come out of the air. 'Neeva,' it whispered eerily. 'Neeva, are you listening?'

  'Speak, Lord, your servant hears.'

  'The girl Leela has returned across the Boundary, with a companion. You have failed me.'

  'Oh great god, Xoanon, I have faithfully done all that you have commanded.'

  'You crawling thing, do you presume to argue?'

  Neeva abased himself. 'No, Lo
rd. Forgive me.'

  'Hear this, Neeva. The girl Leela, and the one who is with her must be destroyed. See that it is done.'

  3

  Captured

  It took the Doctor quite a long time to discover what he was looking for, but he found it at last, hidden beneath the roots of a dense clump of bushes. It was a plain black box with a rhythmically-flashing light set into the top. 'Just as I thought, a low-intensity sonic disruptor, set for a hundred and eighty-degree spread.'

  Leela looked at the box in awe. 'That keeps away the phantoms?'

  'Gives them a nasty headache if they get too close.' Replacing the box, the Doctor straightened up. 'There must be others set at intervals all along the Boundary.' He looked thoughtfully at Leela. 'The technology's very advanced. So your people didn't put them there—'

  Leela made the ritual gesture of protection. 'Xoanon,' she said reverently.

  'Xoanon? Who are they?'

  'Xoanon is Xoanon. He is worshipped by the Tribe of Sevateem. They cast me out for speaking against him. It is said that he is held captive...'

  'Really? By the Evil One, I presume?'

  Leela nodded. 'And by his followers, the Tesh.' Leela's head was whirling with speculations. 'Maybe Neeva is right. Perhaps there is a holy purpose. I just don't know what to believe any more.'

  'That's a healthy sign. Never be too certain of anything, Leela, it's a sign of limited intelligence. And just where is Xoanon supposed to be held captive?'

  Leela's reply came in a kind of ritualised chant. 'Within the Black Wall, wherein lies Paradise.'

  'Is that just religious gobbledygook? Or is there an actual place?'

  'There is the Wall.'

  'Is there? Splendid. Show me.'

  Leela stared at him. Surely the stranger couldn't be the Evil One, or he wouldn't need to be shown the Wall he himself had made. Or was it all a trick? Still very much on her guard, Leela led the way through the forest.

  'Why?' demanded Andor angrily. 'Why has the game disappeared from the forest? Where is the love of Xoanon for his people? Where is your magic, Neeva?'

  Neeva looked up at the angry figure on the throne. 'Xoanon knows that there are those amongst the Tribe who do not wish to fight.'

  'And so he starves us?'

  'How can he bless those who do not love him? There will be food for those who brave the Wall in his name.'

  'Men do not fight well on empty stomachs,' growled Andor.

  Neeva's voice was calm, persuasive, totally assured. 'Soon the gap in the Wall will appear. Then you will summon the warriors and I will speak the Litany before the attack. I will tell you when it is time.'

  Andor waved dismissively. 'Go! And do not delay too long.'

  Neeva inclined his head—not the bow of a servant to his king but a nod between equals—and returned to his Sanctum. Andor watched him go, his face heavy with rage. Always the same smooth answers, the well-rehearsed reciting of the Law. Meanwhile the Tribe went hungry, and there were those who plotted against him. Andor knew that unless Neeva's promises were fulfilled, unless there was food and victory soon, the Sevateem would demand a new chief.

  His gloomy reflections were interrupted by Tomas who strode abruptly into the Council hut and bowed before the throne. 'Well, Tomas?' growled Andor.

  'There is something I must say.'

  'Then say it, boy.'

  'I agree with Leela—about the attack. It's madness. It will be just like all the other times. Many of us will die, and we shall achieve nothing.'

  'Nevertheless, we shall attack. It is the will of Xoanon.'

  'We have only Neeva's word for that.'

  (Alerted by the mention of his name Neeva moved closer to the door of the Sanctum.)

  Andor climbed stiffly from his throne and put a massive hand on Tomas's shoulders. 'You must have faith, my son.'

  'In the word of a murderer? Neeva sent men in secret to kill Leela. Or did you already know that?'

  'Watch your tongue, boy,' said Andor roughly. 'Don't let me hear you speak against the attack again. We shall strive to free Xoanon from the Tesh. And we shall do it together, as one people.'

  Tomas bowed his head in resignation. 'Yes, Andor,' he said, and allowed Andor to lead him from the hut.

  Neeva watched them from the Sanctum. Something would have to be done about Tomas, he decided.

  The Doctor strode abstractedly through the forest, his mind still worrying at long-buried memories. Xoanon! Why was that name so familiar to him? He'd never been to this planet before. Or had he?

  All at once he realised Leela had disappeared. One minute she was beside him, the next she was gone. He looked round. 'Leela, where are you?' He heard her voice from somewhere about knee level.

  'Doctor, get under cover. Quickly, I thought I heard something.' Leela had hidden inside a clump of bushes at the base of a giant tree. She crouched perfectly still, merging with her surroundings like a wild animal.

  'Leela, we don't have time to play games.'

  'You don't understand...'

  'No, no, you don't understand,' said the Doctor tolerantly. 'Look, if they're all busy preparing for this attack on the Wall, they're scarcely likely to send patrols out just on the off-chance that you might come back.'

  The Doctor beamed, pleased with his own impeccable logic, and two crossbow bolts thudded into the tree beside him. 'Of course,' he continued thoughtfully, 'I could be wrong about that!'

  From somewhere in the trees a voice shouted, 'You, stand still.'

  'Oh absolutely,' called the Doctor. Without looking round he hissed, 'Leela, I don't think they've spotted you. Stay out of sight—and get moving.'

  'I can't leave you. They'll kill you.'

  'Go away,' whispered the Doctor urgently. He heard the rustle of movement behind him, and a harsh voice said, 'You! Who are you?'

  'I'm the Doctor. Who are you—and why are you shooting at me?'

  'Where's Leela?'

  'Who?' asked the Doctor innocently.

  'Spread out and search,' ordered the voice. 'She must be round here somewhere.'

  Before the warriors could obey, the Doctor said quickly, 'Would you mind terribly if I turned round? I feel a bit silly talking to this tree.' Without waiting for a reply, the Doctor turned. Four crossbow-carrying warriors were grouped round him in a semicircle. As they saw his face they instinctively fell back, each one making the ritual sign of protection. 'The Evil One,' whispered their leader.

  The Doctor started walking towards them. 'Oh dear, you too?' He lowered his voice to a blood-curdling whisper. 'Then tread softly gentlemen, or I'll turn you all into toads! ' He heard the faintest of sounds behind him as Leela slipped away into the undergrowth.

  As the Doctor came up to the nearest warrior, the man cowered back, again touching throat, shoulder and hip in the sign of protection. 'That gesture you all make,' said the Doctor conversationally. 'Presumably it's to ward off evil? But do you realise it's also the sequence for checking the seals on a Starfall Seven space suit? And what makes it especially interesting is that none of you know what a space suit is—do you?'

  The Doctor snatched a jelly baby from the bag in his pocket and held it under the astonished warrior's nose. 'Now drop your weapons all of you—or I'll kill your friend here with this deadly jelly baby! '

  But the warriors ignored the threat, levelling their crossbows at the Doctor. 'Kill him, then,' challenged the leader. The Doctor paused. Leela should be well clear by now. He popped the jelly baby into his mouth and said rather indistinctly, 'I don't take orders from you, my good man. Take me to your leader.'

  It was late by the time the Doctor and his guards reached the village. They had taken him a long, roundabout way through the forest, and during the last stages of the journey they had insisted on blindfolding him with his own scarf. The Doctor had submitted without resistance. He was determined to find out what was going on on this strange planet, and the village seemed as good a place to start as any.

  He knew when
they'd arrived by the harsh challenge of the sentry at the gate, the muttered replies of his guards. He was bustled into some kind of building. 'Bring it forward,' commanded a gruff voice, and the scarf was roughly pulled from the Doctor's eyes.

  He found himself in the middle of a huge circular hut lit by flaring torches set around the walls. Immediately before him was a metal chair upon which sat a grizzled warrior in ornate ceremonial robes. (The Doctor noticed without much surprise that the metal throne was the ejector seat of a Starfall Seven space ship, and the Chief's regalia included a space-sextant slung round his neck on a leather thong.) The hut was full of savage-looking skin-clad warriors, armed with crossbows, spears and knives.

  As the scarf fell away and the Doctor's face was revealed, there was a gasp of horror. Undaunted by this reception, he said cheerfully, 'Good evening. I think you're all going to be very happy I came here tonight.'

  In the rear wall of the Sanctum the point of a knife suddenly appeared through the woven reeds of the wall. The knife point was pulled back, leaving a small hole in the wall. From the other side, Leela peered through it—just in time to see Neeva adjust his ceremonial robes and sweep out into the main hut. Despite her suspicions of the Doctor she found she was unable to leave him to his fate. Quickly she set to work to enlarge the hole.

  The Doctor stood very still as the fantastic figure strode towards him. But now his calm was shaken at the sight of the complex arrangement of transparent tubing and electronic circuitry that the Witch Doctor was brandishing under his nose.

  'I should be careful with that thing if I were you... It's an ultraheam accelerator.'

  Neeva sneered. 'See how it fears the sacred relics of Xoanon! '

  'There happens to be a charge in there, you could transform this whole village into a smoky hole in the ground.'

  'Hear how it threatens us!' chanted Neeva.

  'Why don't you just untie my hands,' suggested the Doctor. 'I've an idea what happened here. Perhaps I can help to solve your problems.'