Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks by Terrance Dicks

Author:Terrance Dicks
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction:Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426200420
Publisher: Target Books
Published: 1983-05-15T10:00:00+00:00

8 Bellal

The Doctor hacked slowly away.

The silver snake reared higher, weaving its head to and fro as if searching for him. It gave a weird electronic howl. The blunt head stabbed suddenly towards him, and now the Doctor saw that it wasn't a living creature at all. It was made of flexible metallic tubing, and the red eye was a monitor lens. The length of the thing was enormous. It stretched back and back, until it disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.

Not a snake then, decided the Doctor, but part of a mechanised root system—a kind of extendable probe, presumably sent out by the City. In that case why the howl? To scare off intruders? Or perhaps the noise acted as a kind of sonar, detecting the presence of intruders by bouncing off sound waves... The Doctor received sudden, unwelcome confirmation of his theory. The probe howled again, then, as if the sound had given it a fix, it slithered suddenly towards him.

The Doctor backed away, and tripped over a loose chunk of rock. The fall saved his life. The probe lunged with the speed of a striking cobra, and a bolt of energy sizzled over the Doctor's head, blasting a chunk out of the tunnel wall. The Doctor rolled over, sprang to his feet, and ran. The probe undulated after him, making a hungry, moaning sound.

The Doctor shot back round the bend, spotted another rock-fissure on his right and squeezed himself into it. He wriggled back and back into the darkness until the fissure became too narrow for him to go further. He saw the gleaming metal probe shoot past the fissure. It howled again, then stopped and hovered, realising that somehow it had lost its prey. Red eye glowing in the darkness, the blunt head hovered in mid-air, hunting for the Doctor...

Sarah gazed at the ghastly apparition in horror. It took a pace forward, and Sarah backed hurriedly away. 'Keep back! Keep away from me...'

The apparition spoke. 'Please... do not be afraid.' Its voice was low and gentle, almost child-like.

As she began to recover from the shock of its sudden appearance, Sarah realised the creature wasn't so very terrifying after all. To begin with it was very small, not much bigger than a child. It wore a tattered greenish garment that covered arms and legs and body so closely that at first sight it looked like the creature's skin. The head was small and round, completely hairless, with small ears and enormous staring eyes. The face was a dull, fish-belly white, and seemed to be faintly luminous. With a sudden lizard-like movement, the creature scuttled closer. 'I mean you no harm. I will help you if I can.'

'Who are you?' whispered Sarah.

'I am called Bellal. I am an Exxilon, a native of this planet. But my people do not share the belief's of those others, the ones who tried to sacrifice you. They consider us their enemies.'

Sarah thought it was bad enough being on this planet, without having to listen to a lecture on its politics.

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