Doctor Who: The Visitation by Eric Saward Read Free Book Online Page B

striking the main hatch grew more frantic as he tugged at the insignia. Suddenly the insignia gave with a jerk and twisted on its pivot, revealing a small hole. The Doctor inserted his finger and pressed.
     
    Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing. 'I need a lever,' he called. 'I can't shift the release mechanism.'
     
     
    Nyssa scuttled across the pod floor, extracted the poacher's arrow from the bulkhead and handed it to the Doctor.
     
    'Excellent,' he said, inserting it into the hole and pressing it hard.
     
    There was a loud click and a small porthole opened, revealing the release handle. 'Are you ready?'
     
    Nyssa crouched down by Mace.
     
    The Doctor discarded the arrow, grasped the release handle and wrenched it down.
     
    Suddenly the pod was filled with the piercing sound of a klaxon as a warning light built into the hatch started to pulsate. The Doctor quickly joined Mace and Nyssa, crouching down alongside them.
     
    'What is this?' said Mace pointing at the emergency hatch.
     
    'Just keep your head down.'
     
    As the Doctor spoke, the explosive bolts were detonated, hurling the emergency hatch clear of the pod.
     
    'Let's go!' The Doctor leapt to his feet and ran to the opening. 'Quickly!'
     
    His companions needed no encouragement. Nyssa and Mace shot past the Doctor, out through the escape exit, into the sunshine and the forest.
     
     
     
    The heavy wooden door slammed shut. Adric and Tegan stood in the middle of the cold dank room and dejectedly stared about it. Apart from a split palliasse and a wooden stool, the room was empty.
     
    Adric crossed to the tiny window set high in the wall, and gazed at its heavy bars. 'Well, we won't get through those. Not without a cutting device.' He then walked around the walls tapping them, but their solidness absorbed the sound. Suddenly his frustration welled up and he hit the wall with the flat of his hand. 'I'm a fool!' he shouted. 'I should never have mentioned the TARDIS.'
     
    'Don't let it get you down.' Tegan lowered herself onto the stool. 'If you hadn't told him, I would. I don't think he was kidding about torturing us.'
     
    'We've got to get out of here and warn the Doctor.'
     
     
    Tegan closed her eyes. She felt exhausted, a hundred years old. Her chest was still sore from where the stun ray had hit her. But most of all, she was afraid, more scared than she had ever been before. Her own mortality seemed to be staring her in the face.
    For the first time in her life she felt she might die.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Six
    The poacher leapt from the ramp of the pod as the Doctor and friends disappeared into the forest. Flicking a switch on his control bracelet, he spoke into a tiny, concealed microphone.
     
    'Have found the Doctor,' he said. 'At your craft. But has escaped. I am about to track him.'
     
    'Wait!' The sibilant voice of the Terileptil Leader was heard. 'Follow but do not capture.
    Report when he reaches his own craft.'
     
     
     
    The Doctor's party jogged on, but the portly Mace was suffering badly. 'I'm dead,' he shouted, coming to a sudden halt. 'My frame was never designed for rapid acceleration.'
     
    Anxiously the Doctor glanced over his shoulder. 'You can't rest yet.'
     
    But Mace wasn't listening. He staggered over to the stump of a tree and collapsed.
    Limply he pointed in the direction from where they had just come. 'They're not following,'
    he said, 'we're quite safe.' Suddenly he closed his eyes and allowed his head to topple forward onto his chest.
     
    'Are you all right?' said Nyssa.
     
    'No, madam,' he groaned. 'I am about to die.'
     
    'You haven't got time,' said the Doctor.
     
    Mace looked up at the Time Lord. 'You are a cruel man, sir. I cannot go on.
     
    I cannot move from this spot unless supported by a horse.' He mopped his brow with a filthy square of