Doctor Who: Target - Novelisations [074] - Time-Flight by Peter Grimwade

Author:Peter Grimwade
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426192978
Publisher: Target Books
Published: 1983-11-14T23:00:00+00:00

8

The Power in the Sanctum

‘As gullible as ever, my dear Doctor.’ The Master’s eyes gleamed with exultation. The incursion into the Sanctum had been a setback which cost him his disguise, but he had humiliated his rival. Very shortly, using the Doctor’s TARDIS, he would penetrate the power centre himself.

‘So you did escape from Castrovalva.’ The Doctor confronted his old enemy. ‘I should have guessed.’

But there was never a moment when the Doctor suspected the prosthetic persona of Kalid concealed the evil Time Lord. Nor could he imagine how the Master had gained control of the unseen power that maintained his disguise in the same way as it controlled the Plasmatons. ‘How you love the company of fools.’ The Master was watching Hayter dismember the apparatus beneath the crystal ball. Neither the Professor nor the crew had any great interest in the meeting of the two arch adversaries. For a brief moment Professor Hayter held the stage.

‘Magic, as in lantern,’ he lectured. ‘Sophisticated and terrifying, I do not dispute…’

‘Hang on a moment, Professor!’ Flight Engineer Scobie, who knew a great deal more about electronics than Professor Hayter, had been examining the centrepiece of the chamber. He turned to the Professor like a recalcitrant student. ‘This crystal,’ he objected. ‘There’s no connection, no radio link…’

The Doctor joined them. ‘That crystal is just a point of focus. The communication is purely telepathic.’

‘Then what’s all this equipment for?’ snapped the indomitably sceptical old man.

‘What indeed!’ said the Doctor, examining with mounting excitement the bits and pieces Hayter had removed. He turned back to the Master.

‘These components are from your TARDIS!’

The Master was looking less pleased with himself. The Doctor felt his self-confidence returning as he realised the Master’s predicament.

‘You’re stranded here,’ he went on. ‘That time contour was a desperate lifeline to the future.’

The Master did not deny it. His eyes narrowed. He spoke softly; he was chillingly polite. ‘I need your TARDIS to penetrate the Sanctum.’

Another piece of the jigsaw fell into place. The Master needed the power in the Sanctum as a new energy source for his own time machine. The Doctor wondered again what kind of power it could be.

Perhaps the Master would reveal the information. ‘I think you might be too late,’ he said provocatively. ‘The power seems to have expended itself.’

The Master quickly put him right. ‘The recuperation will be swift. Your companions have disturbed the neuronic nucleus…’ His face twisted with pleasure. ‘But they will have paid for that incursion with their lives.’

There was consternation amongst the young crew members. The Doctor fought back a feeling of panic with the ruthless logic of his own observations.

‘Tegan and Nyssa are as likely to have been protected as destroyed,’ he assured the others. ‘The power works against you as well as for you,’ he reminded the Master.

The Master knew this only too well. It was the reason for his anxiety and haste. He needed the force under his total control. ‘The key, Doctor.’ He raised the Tissue Compression Eliminator.

The black, twig-like thing with its bulbous end didn’t frighten Bilton and Scobie.

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