Doctor Who: The Rescue by Ian Marter Read Free Book Online Page A

no, Chesterton, the Didoi had the best of reasons for avoiding death and destruction. The last time I was here the entire population numbered only a hundred or so.’
    Ian’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. ‘But that’s just a handful,’ he muttered, thinking that as far as he was concerned just one of the fearsome creatures was quite enough.
    The Doctor noddd solemnly. ‘Yes, the mere remnant of a once magnificent civilisation,’ he sighed regretfully.
    Ian stared in disbelief at the word civilisation.
    But the Doctor barely noticed him. ‘You see, this is a very unusual planet,’ he went on. ‘It orbits two stars, not just one like the Earth, and to make things even more complicated the two stars are in orbit around each other.’
    Ian looked even more incredulous.
    ‘It is known as a rotating binary,’ the Doctor continued, warming to his theme. ‘But the gravitational effects make the planet’s orbit extremely eccentric like a figure-of-eight.
    When Dido reaches a certain critical position, the combined heat, light and radiation from its two suns become so intense that the vegetation is burnt up and the seas evaporate. The inhabitants are forced to retreat underground in order to survive.’ The Doctor pondered silently for a few minutes. ‘The critical period lasts for the equivalent of hundreds of your Earth years. Very few Didoi survive each cycle, I’m afraid.’ The Doctor turned to Ian with a wan smile. ‘So you see, my boy, peaceful cooperation means everything to them. Without it, they would become extinct.
    Ian was about to remark that extinction would be no bad thing, but he decided that it was no use arguing. ‘Are you happy to go on, Doctor?’ he inquired considerately.
    The Doctor shrugged. ‘Me? Go on? Don’t ask me, Chesterton. You were the one who stopped.’
    Ian took the torch from him. ‘Yes, Doctor, and you were the one who dropped the torch!’
    Holding the torch out in front of him like a shield, Ian led the way further along the narrow, buckled defile which gradually began to widen out into a vast, black, echoing cave. Ahead of them they became aware of a heavy muffled thumping and dragging sound. Exchanging wary glances, they advanced into the gigantic dark vault and a new sound, even more menacing, sent the hair prickling on the backs of their necks. It was the sound of a massive pair of lungs expanding and collapsing with ominous and relentless power, like a steam hammer in a foundry.
    Barbara smiled gratefully as Vicki bandaged her injured hand. The ointment Vicki had applied to her face had soothed the bruises and scratches and she was already feeling much better.
    ‘I should have attended to this straight away instead of behaving so pathetically,’ Vicki said shyly. ‘I’m ashamed of myself. I don’t know what you must think of me.’
    ‘I’m very grateful to you,’ Barbara told her sincerely.
    ‘I’m jolly lucky to escape so lightly.’ She tried to move her arm, but the shoulder was stiff and swollen. ‘It’s mainly my arm. I must have wrenched it when I grabbed hold of the tree to break my fall. I hope it isn’t dislocated.’
    Vicki finished the bandage and got up to put away the medical kit. ‘I wonder if Koquillion has gone yet?’ she murmured, glancing at the shutter.
    Barbara looked round, puzzled. ‘Surely we would’ve seen him.’ There appeared to be only two hatches in the compartment.
     
    Vicki pointed to the internal shutter. ‘The hull is split wide open through there,’ she explained. ‘There is a way out through where the intermediate airlocks were.’ She gestured at the lash-up of communications equipment and at the makeshift table and bunk. ‘After the crash we set up some essential things here because the power cells are in this section. Then, after the... after the explosion I tried to make living space for myself and for Bennett.’ Vicki trailed into silence, twisting her hands in anguish.
    ‘Where were the proper living