Doctor Who: Timelash by Glen McCoy Read Free Book Online

especially for a second-time visitor.
    She looked at the Doctor attempting to bounce a sudden thought, but the Doctor was already poking his inquisitive nature into every nook in the room.
    ‘It’s so dull here,’ Peri eventually bleated.
    ‘What? Bored already?’ Peri smiled.
    ‘No, I mean dull as in the whole place lacks sparkle. It’s all so matt and lifeless.’
    The point was instantly fed into the Doctor’s hungry mental computer. He churned the idea about, coming to no real conclusion. Yet he had to admit that Peri had a valid point, though he was not going to tell her that. Peri continued to survey the plants in the reception room with interest.
    ‘Ah!’ croaked the Time Lord, making his assistant jump ten paces.
    ‘What?’
    ‘I think we’ve cracked it.’
    ‘Well?’ Peri glared at her chief source of inspiration only to get a limited response. Footsteps could be heard and Tekker’s return prompted the Doctor to revert to his passive saunter, both hand’s firmly clasped behind his back.
    The Maylin darted back into the room as swiftly as he had departed, beating a path to the Doctor and attracting the Time Lord’s undivided attention. An enigmatic glint sparked across his prying eyes as if he were desperate to engage in mind games with the famous time-traveller.
    Offering Peri the chance to explore the plant life that littered the Citadel’s extensive network of corridors, Tekker dangled a metaphorical carrot before the Doctor, tempting him to learn more about the Timelash - the massive time vortex in space. Peri listed a string of good reasons why she ought not to leave her companion, but stood little chance of being taken seriously after the Doctor himself fully agreed she should take her guided tour. And that was that. Councillor Brunner escorted the young visitor out of the chamber and around the Citadel complex while other business was discussed behind closed doors.
    A concealed guardolier primed his neck-loop standing in readiness to act on command. He squinted at Peri as she sauntered past with Brunner, his fingers eager to operate the device he was fully trained to use.
    ‘Beautiful flora,’ said Peri, trying hard to be polite as well as conversational.
    ‘From Bandril,’ returned Brunner, quickly giving her a potted background on the flowering shrub under her gentle touch. ‘Mind the next one,’ Brunner warned, telling his guest of the dangers of the violet-striped flower that emitted a steam of acidic juice when agitated. Peri stuck her tongue out at the plant as Brunner led the way forward.
    She was not enjoying her trip at all, all too eager to be back at the Doctor’s side.
    Brunner’s communicator summoned the councillor away, leaving Peri to wander on her own. She paced a long corridor that led to a large door with a central locking device. Not wishing to pursue that direction, she turned to see the giant features of a guardolier in full uniform facing her. Timid, she smiled at the veiled soldier, but there was no response. Instead the Karfel warrior opened the clasp of the neck-loop harness, pointing the awesome instrument in Peri’s direction. Further menacing movements led her to commence a hurried retreat, but despite calls for help, she was now very much on her own, facing the first of many major challenges on this dangerous planet.
     
    5

Negotiating the Timelash
    Peri managed to escape the Citadel before the fire of an android, who had joined in the pursuit, hit its intended target. Closing the heavy hatchway behind her, which led on to the planet’s dry surface, she scrambled clear of the massive pyramid structure and darted into a rocky area with plenty of cover.
    She stopped to catch her breath, gazing up at the view of a crimson skyline. The giant fireballs of Rearbus and Selynx, Karfel’s twin suns beat down an acrid heat on Peri’s sweating forehead. She could feel her pulse race to keep her frightened body functioning as her spirit regained composure despite