DOCTOR WHO AND THE FACE OF EVIL Page 7

  'Well, at least we've drawn them away from the village. Now we must fall back. Get the men moving, Tomas—and quietly.'

  The Doctor led Leela down yet another corridor, pausing by the open door of a small room packed with electronic equipment. Lines of monitor screens covered one wall, storage cupboards and lockers the others. He beckoned to Leela. 'Come in and shut the door.'

  Leela obeyed. 'Where are we?'

  'Auxiliary Communications Room and Stores,' said the Doctor briskly. 'I imagine Xoanon keeps an eye on everything. Let's see what's going on outside.'

  The Doctor's hands flickered over the controls and suddenly one of the screens lit up. It showed Calib, Tomas and a handful of warriors making their way back towards the village. Close behind them the trees were shaken by the movement of the huge invisible monsters.

  'Look, it's near the edge of the village,' whispered Leela. 'And the phantoms are still chasing them. They must have got through from the Beyond.'

  'Looks like it,' said the Doctor sadly. 'I didn't expect that stasis-beam to hold them forever. They're projections from the dark side of Xoanon's id. Tremendously powerful, with enough kinetic energy to kill!'

  Leela made for the door. 'I'm going back! '

  'Don't be absurd. What do you think you can do?' 'We've got to do something to help! '

  The Doctor said. 'Xoanon won't let his creatures cross the Time Barrier. Your friends will be safer inside, if I can arrange it.' He began studying the controls.

  'What about the Tesh?'

  'I didn't say they'd be safe—just safer.' The Doctor flicked another switch. 'Neeva! Neeva! Wake up, Neeva!'

  To Leela's astonishment Neeva's voice came through a nearby speaker. 'Yes, Master?'

  'Neeva,' said the Doctor impressively, 'this is Xoanon.'

  'What is your will, Master?'

  'Tell Calib to lead the people through the mouth of the—the head carved on the mountain.'

  'Through the mouth of the idol, Master? Will Calib believe that this is truly your command?'

  The Doctor thought for a moment. 'You will say these words to him: "I don't believe in ghosts either." '

  ' "I don't believe in ghosts either," ' repeated Neeva.

  'That's right. Go now and do my will.'

  'Yes... Doctor,' said Neeva's voice. Then there was silence.

  The Doctor grinned. 'I underestimated that man! And now, Leela, we've got an appointment on level thirty-seven.'

  Gentek came into the control room and bowed before Jabel. 'They cannot be found.'

  'Continue the search.'

  Gentek bowed again and turned to leave, but Jabel called him back. 'Gentek! Is the guard posted outside the Sacred Chamber?'

  'Yes, Captain.'

  Gentek left the control room. Jabel stood waiting calmly, trusting in the will of Xoanon.

  The Doctor and Leela emerged from a lift and hurried along yet another featureless metal corridor. 'This is level thirty-seven,' said the Doctor. 'If I've counted right, that is!'

  The corridor led to another wider one. They peeped round the corner and saw a set of massive steel doors, guarded by a Tesh with a disruptor gun. He looked alert and wary. There was no chance of getting past him unseen.

  They dodged back out of sight. The Doctor considered for a moment, took off his hat and handed it to Leela. She looked puzzled, then gave a delighted smile. Luring an enemy into an ambush was just the sort of thing she liked.

  Conscious of his great responsibility, the Tesh guarding the Sacred Chamber looked keenly up and down the corridor. He heard a whispered 'Psst!' and swung round, gun at the ready. A strange black object appeared round the corner for a second, at about the height of a tall man. It remained visible for a few seconds then drew back out of sight. 'Aliens!' thought the guard excitedly. He would win great praise from Jabel if he destroyed them.

  Cautiously he crept towards the corridor junction, eyes fixed on the spot where the black shape had appeared. When he was near enough he sprang round the corner, gun raised to fire—and saw only blank wall. He saw a flicker of movement below his eye level, and realised too late that his enemy was crouched down low. He caught a brief glimpse of a skin-clad Savage and lowered the gun to fire.

  Ducking under the gun, Leela caught the astonished Tesh by the sleeves of his robe, bent, twisted and threw. The Tesh hurtled over her shoulder, his head thudding into the corridor wall.

  The Doctor picked up his hat, dusted it carefully and put it back on his head. He picked up the gun and handed it to Leela. 'Keep watch?'

  'Can't I come with you?'

  The Doctor shook his head. 'Xoanon's—well, un-stable, to put it mildly. He might kill me—and he'd certainly kill you. Anyway, we need someone on guard.'

  The Doctor went up to the great doors and touched a control. The doors slid silently open. He passed through, and they closed behind him.

  11

  Xoanon

  Calib and Tomas were climbing up to the mouth of the giant head on the mountain.

  Neeva's message had been received with doubt and suspicion. Most of the Sevateem thought it was a trap devised by the Evil One.

  By now the invisible monsters were rampaging through the village smashing the flimsy huts to fragments. Most of the Tribe had fled into the forest and were crouching motionless and silent in whatever hiding-places they could find.

  Besides Neeva himself, only Calib and Tomas had been willing to obey the message. Tomas because he had hopes of finding Leela again, Calib because he was staking everything on this final gamble. If he could lead the Sevateem to victory his hold on the Chieftainship would be assured.

  Only a handful of warriors could be persuaded to accompany them. They were waiting now with Neeva, beneath the head of the idol, while Calib and Tomas scouted ahead. Calib had little taste for putting himself in danger—but he knew that a show of heroism was needed to impress his people.

  Calib clambered over the great stone teeth, and turned and pulled Tomas up beside him. He drew a deep breath. 'Well, the tunnel's here, let's take a look.' They moved cautiously down the long tunnel, Calib in the lead. Suddenly the figure of a Tesh appeared from the darkness ahead. He wore the sinister-looking protective suit, and the disruptor gun in his hands was raised to fire. Calib stood frozen in terror.

  'Calib, look out! ' yelled Tomas. Calib jumped aside, Tomas's arm flashed down, and a heavy knife thudded into the heart of the Tesh. He gasped and slid silently down the wall. Calib darted forward and snatched the gun. He turned to Tomas, who was recovering his knife. 'Keep your eyes open. Where there's one Tesh there's likely to be more.'

  From the forest below them there floated the distant sound of shattering trees, and the roar of the invisible monsters.

  'The creatures are catching up with us,' said Tomas worriedly. 'We've got to get the men inside the Barrier quickly.'

  'All right. Go back and get them moving, Tomas. I'll wait here.' Clutching the disruptor gun, Calib stared nervously into the darkness ahead.

  For a moment the Doctor stood in total darkness. A pattern of swirling multicoloured lights appeared in the darkness ahead of him, and he began walking slowly towards them. As he moved forward he began to hear voices, thousands of them it seemed, chattering, whispering, screaming. Gradually the voices seemed to blend, to merge into one compelling voice that filled the darkness all around him, coming from nowhere and from everywhere. 'Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?' demanded the voice.

  The Doctor shouted. 'I'm the Doctor!'

  There was instant silence. The lights disappeared, and the Doctor was plunged into darkness again. Then a harsh white beam shone from the darkness, seeming to fix him to the spot where he stood.

  'Who are you?' said another voice. It was a woman's voice, soft and gentle.

  'Who are you?' said the voice of a young man.

  'Who are you?' said a third voice—and the Doctor knew it was Xoanon's voice. Yet it was his own voice too. 'I am the Doctor,' he repeated.


  'Why have you come, Doctor?'

  'To correct a mistake I made when I was here long ago.'

  'We have made no mistake.' The voice split and fragmented again, tuning into a kind of chorus. 'No mistake... no mistake... no mistake...' chanted the voices eerily.

  'I made the mistake,' said the Doctor. 'When the ship first landed here, the new experimental computer failed. I thought the data core must have been damaged in the landing. So I renewed it by using a direct link with the compatible centres in my own brain.'

  'The Sidelian memory transfer,' said Xoanon's voice.

  'A variation of it, yes.'

  'Good, very good,' said Xoanon approvingly.

  The Doctor was about to go on when the personality of Xoanon split once more. 'How did he find the ship?' demanded the youthful voice.

  'Sssh,' reproved the female voice. 'Don't interrupt, you'll spoil the story! '

  The Doctor groaned inwardly. When Xoanon's concentration wandered, his personality split into its divergent parts. It was like holding a conversation with an unruly crowd—a crowd of madmen.

  'This isn't a fairy tale,' shouted the Doctor. 'It actually happened. And it's vitally important to you, Xoanon. You've got to listen to me.'

  Leela knew that it wouldn't take long for the Tesh to find her, and when the first head appeared, round the corner, she was ready. She fired a rapid burst, and the head disappeared.

  Leela considered her position. She was in a kind of blind alley, the doors to the Sacred Chamber at her back. There were only two places an attack could come from, the far end of the main corridor, and the junction point with the smaller corridor to her right, where she had just shot down the Tesh.

  Another Tesh appeared at the far end, and Leela fired instantly. He fell, another Tesh appeared round the nearby corner and she fired again. 'Three down,' she thought exultantly. Full of the joy of battle, she waited, scanning the corridor ahead.

  Screwing up his eyes against the blinding light, the Doctor continued his attempt to communicate with the rational part of Xoanon's personality. 'The computer was a new, experimental model. For generations teams of technicians had worked on it trying to extend its power. Finally, without realising it, they had created life. The computer hadn't failed at all. It had evolved the first of a completely new species.'

  'A new species?' said the youthful voice mockingly. 'Oh, come now, Doctor!'

  Xoanon's attention was slipping again, and the Doctor increased the urgency in his voice. 'Yes, a new species. When I came, it was still in shock. I simply didn't recognise the birth trauma—that was my mistake. When I connected my brain to the new-born creature, it didn't just take compatible information as a machine would have done. It took everything!'

  'Fascinating,' said Xoanon politely. 'May I ask a question?' The voice changed, answered itself. 'Sssh, let him finish,' said the youth.

  Determinedly the Doctor went on. 'When the computer woke it had a complete personality. Mine. It thought I was itself—until it began to develop an-other separate self—its own self. That was when it started to go mad.'

  'And where is it, Doctor?' said Xoanon's voice, in a tone of polite enquiry. 'Where is this poor, mad, mad machine creature?'

  The Doctor drew a deep breath. Was Xoanon stable enough to accept the truth? 'It's here, Xoanon. I'm talking to it. It's you.'

  There was a moment of silence. The beam of light dimmed slowly until at last the Doctor found himself once more in darkness. 'Xoanon?' he called softly. 'Xoanon?'

  The youth's voice spoke. 'I grow tired,' it said sulkily. 'I will think you no longer, Doctor.'

  'No, wait, Xoanon,' shouted the Doctor. 'I'm the Doctor. I am real. I am separate. You must acknowledge me.'

  'I will not think you,' screamed the voice. 'We are Xoanon.'

  'You are Xoanon, and I am the Doctor.' He shouted it again and again, in an attempt to force Xoanon to accept the reality of his existence. 'I am the Doctor! I am the Doctor! I am the Doctor!'

  'No,' screamed Xoanon. 'No! No! No!'

  A tiny spot of light appeared in the distance. It expanded and came closer, became a face. The Doctor's own face, distorted with rage and hate.

  In a hundred different voices Xoanon screamed his fury, his determination to deny the Doctor's very existence. 'No,' howled the maddened voice. 'No, no, no, no, no! '

  The face came nearer and nearer, grew larger and larger. Soon it was enormous, filling the entire chamber, eyes bulging, mouth twisted in a scream of terror.

  The Doctor felt the storm of madness swirl round him, swallow him up. He buried his face in his hands to escape the terrifying sight, but there was no escape. There was nothing in the universe but the face and voice of Xoanon.

  The Doctor collapsed, writhing in agony, the voice of Xoanon filling his brain. 'Who am I? Who am I? WHO AM I?'

  12

  The Trap

  Leela's enemies were too many now for her to risk trying to pick them off one by one. Instead she laid down a steady barrage of fire, sweeping corridor end and corner alternately, forcing the enemy to keep their heads down all the time.

  It was an effective enough method, but it had one big disadvantage—as Leela realised when her disrupter gun stuttered and died. She had exhausted the charge.

  She tossed down the gun, drew her knife, and waited. After a moment a Tesh head appeared cautiously round the corner. When there was no shot from Leela, the head appeared again. More Tesh appeared, and still more. They advanced steadily towards Leela, covering her with their guns. She wondered why they didn't shoot and get it over with. Perhaps they'd been ordered to take her alive. Well, they wouldn't find it easy. It would cost a few Tesh lives before they subdued her.

  The Tesh came steadily onward, Leela crouched, knife in hand, poised to spring—and the lights in the corridor flickered.

  The Tesh halted, looking uneasily at each other. The lights flickered again, and then went out. In the darkness Leela heard cries of fear and the sound of panic-stricken retreat. Other lights came on, dim reddish ones, and Leela saw that the Tesh were fleeing down the corridor. She ran forward and sprang, bringing down the nearest before he could get away. To her astonishment he made no attempt to struggle. Instead he remained crouching face-down, his hands over his face.

  Leela sheathed her knife, snatched the gun from his unresisting hands. 'Tesh! What is happening?' She prodded him with her foot.

  The Tesh made no reply. Leela dropped to one knee and shoved the gun close to his ear. 'Answer, while you still have a head to answer with! '

  The man was moaning with fear. 'It is the Light of Failsafe!'

  'What does it mean?'

  'The end of the world!'

  'Why?' She jabbed him with the gun. 'Why Tesh?'

  'It means death and destruction. It happened before, at the Time of Land.' He crouched low, moaning with fear.

  Leela turned away contemptuously. 'Cowering down there won't help you.' She decided it was time to find the Doctor. Touching the control, she went through the great steel doors.

  Immediately she was assailed by a barrage of lights and sound. Xoanon was still screaming his agonised question. 'Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?'

  The Doctor writhed on the floor, hands over his ears, trying in vain to block out the sound of Xoanon's voice. The huge distorted vision of the Doctor's face hung in mid-air like a demon mask.

  Leela brought up her gun and fired, and the demon face exploded in a swirl of colours. All at once there was darkness and silence.

  Leela groped her way towards the Doctor who lay out on the floor, apparently unconscious. Grabbing him by the shoulders she started lugging him towards the door.

  As she dragged him along, swirling lights appeared in the darkness and there was a low babble of voices. Xoanon was coming back to life.

  As they came into the corridor the Doctor came to life as well. Leela helped him to his feet, and he was able to stagger the last few steps. The door closed behind them and he leaned thankfully aga
inst it, gasping for breath.

  Leela looked at him in concern. 'Are you all right, Doctor?'

  'I think so. Are you all right? What happened to you?' Leela told him of her battle with the Tesh, and its unexpected end. The Doctor said, 'Xoanon's little tantrum must have triggered off the Ship's emergency procedures.'

  'Was that Xoanon—that thing that looked like you?'

  'Yes, part of him. Everything behind that door is Xoanon. You were inside him. Most powerful computer ever built.'

  'Why was he trying to hurt you, Doctor?'

  'He's insane,' said the Doctor simply.

  'What will he do now?'

  'I imagine his first impulse will be to kill me. That will be more important to him than anything else.'

  'Why does he hate you so much?'

  'I contradict what he thinks is real. I'm a threat to his world.' The Doctor straightened up and looked round. 'Still the emergency lighting and something else...' He sniffed. 'A smell of... a smell of a smell!'

  Leela sniffed too. 'There is something. It seemed to come from the corridor wall.' She reached out her hand, but the Doctor knocked it away. 'Don't touch that!'

  He fished an old Roman denarius from his pocket and tossed it against the metal wall. There was a bright blue flash and a crackle of sparks. 'Xoanon must have shorted the main power circuit through the walls.'

  (Further down the corridor, the terrified Tesh was still crouching where Leela had left him. Suddenly he tensed, then rose slowly to his feet. He began walking along the corridor towards Leela and the Doctor who were studying the electrified wall.)

  'As traps go, a bit haphazard,' said the Doctor. 'I'd have expected something more positive...'

  The Tesh flung himself at him, seizing him by the throat. The sudden ferocity of the attack took the Doctor completely by surprise, and he fell back choking. He recovered and tried to break free, but his attacker had super-normal strength. He also had a definite purpose. Slowly but surely he was dragging the Doctor towards the electrified wall.