Doctor Who: Target - Novelisations [028] - The Giant Robot by Terrance Dicks

Author:Terrance Dicks
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426112792
Publisher: Target Books
Published: 1983-05-14T22:00:00+00:00

7

The World in Danger

The Doctor ducked, as a metal hand whizzed past his head. He backed rapidly away, and the Robot came after him, stalking him like a great metal cat. Even as the Robot was chasing him, the Doctor found time to admire its evident power and strength; the smooth precision of its movements. The Robot lunged forward again, and boomed out, ‘PLEASE DO NOT RESIST. I DO NOT WISH TO CAUSE YOU UNNECESSARY PAIN.’

‘Very kind of you, I’m sure,’ gasped the Doctor, and dodged another savage blow. As the Robot poised itself to spring again, the Doctor shouted, ‘Stop! What is your Prime Directive?’

Just as the Doctor had hoped, this key phrase made the Robot hesitate. ‘I MUST SERVE HUMANITY AND NEVER HARM IT.’

‘Then you must not harm me. I am a friend of humanity.’

For a moment the Robot stood motionless. The Doctor smiled in satisfaction. The Robot moved forward again. ‘I WAS WARNED THAT YOU WOULD TRY AND TRICK ME. YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF HUMANITY. YOU MUST HE DESTROYED.’

Deciding that it was time to abandon argument for action, the Doctor slipped nimbly past the Robot, and ran towards the door through which he had just entered. The Robot’s footsteps pounding behind him, he tugged frantically at the handle. The door had been locked from the outside. Spinning round, the Doctor ducked again – just in time! The Robot’s fist shot over his head and smashed a hole in the plaster of the wall. The Doctor made for the centre of the room. If the Robot cornered him, he was done for. Groping in his pocket for some kind of useful weapon, he found a handful of marbles. Hopefully, he tossed them in the Robot’s path. For a moment, the Robot skidded. Then, recovering its balance, it stamped its feet down hard. The marbles shattered into powdered glass.

The Doctor attempted to trip the Robot with his long scarf, but it brushed the material aside with ease. The Doctor tried again. Sweeping off his floppy, wide-brimmed hat, he skimmed it towards the Robot’s head. It fell squarely over its eyes. The Robot froze. Smiling at his own cleverness, the Doctor walked up to the Robot. It didn’t move. He came closer, closer – and a metal arm flailed out at him, missing by inches as he jumped back. The hat fell from the Robot’s head and it returned to the attack.

As the Doctor backed away, he realised that the Robot had the intelligence not only to avoid traps, but to set traps of its own. The metal hands reached out for him again, and the Doctor leaped clear. His only hope was to keep moving.

In the nightmare chase that followed, Kettlewell’s laboratory was completely wrecked. During the struggle, the Doctor hit the Robot with practically everything movable in the room. He smashed at it with stools, chairs – even a heavy trestle table. Nothing stopped it, or even slowed it down.

The Robot was virtually invincible. The Doctor soon

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