Doctor Who: Galaxy Four by William Emms Read Free Book Online Page B

anger. Indeed, it sometimes crossed his mind that he could be taken as a model for all life forms to shape themselves upon. They would be the beneficiaries. So why was this stupid woman pointing this ridiculous weapon at him?
    ‘Oh, put it away,’ he said testily. ‘You’ve no intention of using it.’
    ‘But I have,’ Maaga replied. ‘You may look down on our technology, but I assure you our weapons are most efficient, as am I.’
    ‘I’m no use to you dead. Surely you can see that.’
    ‘No-one spoke of death.’ She lowered the gun slightly. ‘But if I point this at your hand and press the –’
    She went no further because Steven leapt at her. He grasped the gun with both hands and wrenched it upward, thinking to snatch it from her grasp. But he was surprised by the unexpected strength of the Drahvin leader. Startled though she was, she retained an iron grip on the weapon and even started to force it down again. Steven was up to that, however. He tightened his grip, now on her knuckles, braced himself and squeezed with all his strength. Maaga gasped with pain, but still held on. Nothing in her training had taught her to accept defeat and she had no intention of learning such a lesson now. This particular intruder was a nuisance. It was time he died. Men were a burden at the best of times, as she well knew. They served no purpose other than to irritate and obstruct, as this one was doing. Time was drifting away and she had to get herself and her soldiers off the planet before it split asunder and hurled its debris into the eternity of dead space. Something had to be done, so she did it. She rammed her knee up at Steven’s groin.
    But he had been waiting for exactly that. Retaining his grip with one hand, he dropped the other to below her lifted knee and yanked hard. Over she went, like a toppled doll, to crash onto the deck with an ugly thud, her head connecting as well and wiping out her mind for a matter of seconds. That was enough for Steven. By the time she was blinking her way back to clarity and intending to renew the fight, he was standing over her with the gun pointed at her head. Beside him was Vicki, clutching a drink container that she had obviously intended to use for purposes other than that for which it was designed. Maaga felt no fear, but duty had to be borne in mind: her duty was to get her ship and soldiers into space or, short of her ship, that of the Rills. To do that she had to remain alive. Yet there were several ways of achieving that end.
    She narrowed her eyes calculatingly. ‘You would not dare kill me.’
    Steven smiled. It was not a nice smile – it lacked warmth. ‘Try me.’
    The Doctor could see that the young man was not in the best of moods. He rather fancied that, pushed too far, he might do something foolish. Something decisive was called for. ‘Let’s go,’ he said, ‘while there’s still time.’
    Steven backed away, his knuckle showing too white on the gun. Maaga lay still, deciding she had pushed matters as far as they would go. The man looked nervous. From such a state of mind evil things can come. She might get damaged and that would do no good for her crew. Best to leave things as they stood. ‘You will help us,’ was as much as she could muster.
    ‘Place no bets,’ Steven said, his brain still in a turmoil of rage. He knew he hated the woman and he knew that it was not just because she had proved so strong, but he really disliked her and the temptation to do her a serious injury was almost irresistible. If he yielded to it, he would feel a lot better. But not later, he reminded himself, not later. Then would come the misgivings, the remorse. Never before in his life had he fought a woman. It was not an experience he would choose to repeat. Yet his finger still itched on the trigger. He viewed the supine Maaga and said, very gently, ‘The next time we run across each other, step aside. My good breeding is leaving me.’
    Maaga only stared at him – and