Doctor Who: The Dominators by Ian Marter Read Free Book Online Page B

glanced uncertainly at Kully. ‘Well... I haven’t actually seen the spacecraft and the robots...’ she mumbled apprehensively, ‘but Jamie and the Doctor...’
    With unexpected force, Senex freed himself from Kully’s tenacious grasp. ‘So. We have only your word Kully; he breathed. ‘And bitter experience has taught us all just how reliable that is.’
    Inside the ruined museum the tension was becoming unbearable as Jamie and the Doctor stood facing one another a few metres apart, each guarded by a Quark with its probes extended and primed. Rago had handed the Doctor the laser gun from the showcase.
    ‘What is it?’ the Dominator demanded.
    The Doctor peered at the weapon short-sightedly. ‘Its a sort of a gun...’
    ‘Explain its function.’
    The Doctor hesitated. ‘Well, I... it kills people...’
    ‘Fire it!’ Rago commanded.
    Jamie’s heart leapt into his throat as the Doctor pointed the laser vaguely in his direction while preending to work out its mechanism, but he gritted his teeth and kept quiet.
    For a few awful seconds the incessant chattering of the Quarks’ circuits was the only sound.
    Then Rago snatched the weapon and handed it to Jamie.
    ‘You fire it!’ he rapped.
    Jamie frowned. ‘Ah dinna ken how ta werk it,’ he mumbled. pointing the barrel at Toba.
    There was a violent bleating and flashing from the two robots and Jamie immediately swung the laser towards the Doctor.
    ‘Obey!’ Toba bellowed.
    Suddenly the weapon emitted a shrill whirring and the Doctor ducked out of range with a genuine gasp of fright.
    Jamie continued to fumble and the gun repeated the whirring several times but did not discharge.
    The Doctor was trembling and sweating but he pulled himself together and managed to grin simple-mindedly at the Dominators. ‘We don’t really understand such devices on Dulkis,’ he blustered. ‘You see, we haven’t used them for decades...’
    Rago took the laser from Jamie and aimed it point-blank at the Doctor’s head. ‘So you do not understand this weapon?’ he said quietly.
    The Doctor shook his head, licking his dry lips. All at once the laser whirred and then fired. The Doctor had no time to even flinch. Jamie screamed in horror and covered his face.
    ‘Neutral mode,’ Rago explained, smiling cruelly at the Doctor’s sweat-soaked face, ‘for testing only.’
    Jamie was almost crying with relief and for a while the Doctor was unable to speak.
    ‘Ah yes, the Clever Ones,’ he eventually muttered. ‘They invented the weapons, but they stopped us using them...’
    Rago’s interest was aroused. ‘Clever Ones? Then there are two distinct species on this planet?’ he suggested.
    The Doctor nodded resentfully. ‘Not many Clever Ones left now. We don’t like them. They tell us what to do.’
    Tossing the gun aside, Rago grunted with satisfaction.
    ‘There appears to be no danger from these primitives and the others are pacifists,’ he brusquely informed Toba.
    The Probationer raised his huge grasping gloves. ‘These primitives are useless to us. They should be destroyed.’
    Rago turned on him. ‘Negative. They can perform menial tasks for us in due course’ The Navigator swung round to the cowering and inanely grinning Doctor. ‘Keep away from us and from the Quarks until you are required,’
    he commanded. Then he strode out followed by Toba and the two robots.
    When they had gone, Jamie and the Doctor hugged each other in sheer relief.
    ‘Well done, Jamie,’ cried the Doctor, dabbing at his face with a large spotted handkerchief, ‘but perhaps you were just a trifle too convincing when they ordered you to shoot me!’
    ‘Bloodthirsty lot,’ Jamie said with a shudder. ‘But what are they after, Doctor?’
    ‘Judging by that message they sent to their Fleet Leader, I’d guess it’s fuel of some kind.’
    ‘But why do they want slaves? They’ve got those Quark beasties.’
    The Doctor folded his handkerchief thoughtfully into smaller and smaller