Doctor Who: The Sensorites (18 page)

'So you had to blow
up the craft.' The Doctor completed his sentence for him. 'Yes, well,
I quite understand. You did what you had to do. In war one must make
sacrifices.'

'Yes . . .' The
Commander was truly saddened by what he felt he had had to do. Then
his face brightened. 'Still, I suppose I can get another spaceship. I
can afford it now. The planet's very rich, you know.'

'Oh yes, we do know
- molybdenum,' said Ian and then wished he handn't. Suspicion burned
in the Commander's eyes.

'You know about
that then, do you?' he said. 'You do realise that this war has been
fought by me and my men and that any treasure trove here is ours?'

'Quite right, sir,'
agreed the Doctor, hastily anxious to placate him. 'Isn't that so,
Chesterton?' Ian nodded his head vigorously.

'I'm prepared to
back up my statement with force if necessary,' the Commander warned.
He stood to his feet and gestured about the cave. 'I have good
supplies here, loyal men . . . You're
hardly in a position to fight me. I have my men,' he repeated, 'and
my organisation.'

The Doctor shook
his head sadly at the pathetic sight of a finely trained space
officer brought down to being a broken man playing a desperate game
of make-believe.

Suddenly Number One
burst into the cave: 'Commander! A warning in Route Two! Intruders!'

The Commander
turned viciously on the Doctor and Ian. 'Have you been telling me
lies?' he demanded. 'You have brought other people down here, haven't
you?'

The Doctor and Ian
violently denied this; they had no idea who or what was out in the
tunnels. The Commander ignored their protests.

'Perhaps they're
allies of the Sensorites,' said Number One.

'No, they're
spies!' barked the Commander. He grabbed the Doctor by the collar of
his cloak and glared hard into his eyes. 'The war isn't over at all,
is it?' he said. 'I knew it was too good to be true!'

Ian pulled the
Commander's hands away from the Doctor. 'Just a minute,' he said. 'We
didn't know about any warning system. . .'

'Of course you
didn't!' shrieked the Commander. He addressed his deputy: 'Number
One, organise a court-martial immediately!'

Onto this absurd
scene of danger came suddenly the two people the Doctor and Ian least
expected to see. Ian stared open-mouthed at the figures in the cave
entrance. 'Barbara! John!'

The Commander
turned around wildly. 'Who are these people?' he demanded to know.
How could they have broken through what he believed to be a highly
elaborate security system, and beaten the full might of his
organisation?

The Doctor and Ian
strode forwards to greet Barbara and John. There was a gentle smile
on the Doctor's lips as he turned to the dumbfounded Commander. No
matter how the astronaut's mind was broken he would surely see that
the newcomers were not Sensorites; one was even wearing a space
uniform.

'I'm afraid you've
misjudged us, sir,' he said charitably.

'These people are
part of the committee to welcome you. We have all come down here to
take you up to the surface.'

The Commander
remained puzzled until Ian added: 'To celebrate your victory over the
Sensorites.'

'What's going on?'
Barbara whispered to Ian. She was just as confused as the Commander.

'Play it cool,' Ian
whispered back, kicking her lightly on the shin.

'Who is this?' the
Commander asked, pointing at Barbara.

'She is our . . .
our navigator,' explained the Doctor. 'She will lead us back.'

The Commander
regarded the party with suspicion until finally John's uniform
convinced him of the truth of the Doctor's words. The Commander
reasoned that no member of the space corps would ever ally himself
with the Sensorites.

So, the war was
over at last and the Sensorites had been subdued. The battle had been
hard, but his men had fought well; he would miss their companionship.
It was with a touch of sadness that he finally said: 'Well, I'm glad
it's all over. I'm looking forward to a bit of a rest - for a while.'

'And you and your
men deserve it, sir!' agreed the Doctor. 'I dare say you'll be
heralded as heroes when you get back to Earth!'

'I only did what
was my duty,' said the Commander. Snapping out of his melancholy he
addressed Number One who had been standing by, following the course
of the conversation. 'Assemble the men - we will be leaving
immediately,' he said. 'It seems we have a victory to celebrate ...
By the way, you might like to pass on my congratulations to the men.'

'Thank you very
much, sir.' Number One saluted and went off to find Number Two - the
only other person the Commander had to command.

As they waited for
the 'men' to be assembled the Doctor looked enquiringly at Barbara
who was standing by, holding in her hand the mind transmitter which
would lead them back to the surface. Satisfied that Barbara was quite
capable of guiding them out, he waved the rest of his party forward
and brought up the rear with the Commander.

'Come along,' he
said. 'The sooner we're out of these dark tunnels and back into the
sunshine, the better.'

Waiting by the
entrance to the aqueduct was the Senior Warrior and one of his
soldiers. They were both armed. The Senior Warrior held a mind
transmitter pressed to his forehead; in his mind he could hear
Susan's voice directing Barbara and her small group back through the
tunnels.

'They are coming,'
he advised his subordinate. 'You will hide yourself out of sight
behind one of the pipes. When they are all out you will step forward
and prevent them going back into the aqueduct.'

The Warrior
indicated his agreement and backed away. The Senior Warrior stood
slightly away from the aqueduct entrance, his gun primed and ready in
his hand.

Anxious minutes
passed and then the Senior Warrior discerned a movement in the
darkness of the tunnel. Spearheaded by Numbers One and Two the party
of humans emerged from the tunnels, their eyes squinting as they
accustomed themselves to the light.

The Senior Warrior
stepped out in front of them. 'It is useless to resist', he warned,
pointing his gun directly at the two mad astronauts who were waving
their clubs about threateningly. One and Two looked despairingly back
at Ian, Barbara and John, and recognised their complicity in the
ambush.

The war was finally
at an end. They dropped their clubs and meekly allowed themselves to
be led away.

'I think John and I
can handle these two,' Ian told the Senior Warrior. 'You wait for the
Doctor and the other one. Lead on, Barbara.'

As Barbara took her
party away, the Doctor and the Commander emerged from the tunnel
entrance. The Commander instantly saw the waiting Senior Warrior and
called pleadingly after his men. There was only one Sensorite: they
could easily overcome it. But his men had lost the will to fight;
they turned back sadly to look at their commander before disappearing
through the exit and up to the surface.

The Commander moved
to retreat into the tunnel but the hidden Sensorite stepped out to
prevent his escape. The Earthman looked at
the Doctor with hate in his eyes. 'Treachery!' he cried.

The Doctor rested a
comforting hand on his shoulder. 'It's all over now,' he said gently,
aware of what the man must be going through.

'Treachery!'
repeated the Commander and knocked the Doctor aside. In a final act
of desperate courage he ran for the Senior Warrior. But before he
could reach him a beam of invisible energy from the Sensorite's gun
hit him full square in the chest. With a groan he fell senseless to
the ground.

The Doctor stepped
over to the Commander's prostrate form and looked down. He was still
breathing. 'Pitiful fellow,' he sighed as the Senior Warrior joined
him. 'I know he did your people incalculable harm -'

The Senior Warrior
gently interrupted the old man. 'I could have killed him - I
certainly wanted to,' he said slowly, almost wonderingly. 'But that
would not have been the way, would it?'

The Doctor smiled.
'No . . .'

'He could have
destroyed the entire Sensorite Nation . . .' continued the Senior
Warrior.

'Yes, but the fact
is you didn't kill him,' pointed out the Doctor. 'And that shows
great promise for the future of your people.'

As they walked away
the Doctor smiled inwardly to himself. There were those who said that
he shouldn't meddle in the affairs of others, that he shouldn't
become involved; at times he might be inclined to agree with them.
But when his presence could generate such noble ideas in people,
teach them the meaning of compassion and understanding, well, then
perhaps this aimless wandering of his might have some secret purpose
after all.

Several days later
Barbara and Ian were in the First Elder's chamber, taking their
farewells of the Sensorite leader. The First Elder had politely urged
the TARDIS crew to stay for a while longer, but they had refused just
as politely. All they really wanted to do was leave - and perhaps one
day return to their own space and time. 'Captain Maitland has agreed
to take the survivors back to Earth,' Ian
explained in answer to the First Elder's expressed concern and regret
that nothing could be done for them on the Sense-Sphere.

'They were
completely insane,' Barbara said. 'They really believed that they
were at war with you.'

The First Elder
nodded, indicating that no matter what atrocious crimes they had
committed they had been forgiven: these dark days would be forever
blotted from the Sensorites' history books. 'At some time they must
have opened their minds or experimented with the mind transmitters,'
he surmised. 'Every rational thought was crushed out and all that was
left was the game they played - the game of war.'

They thought over
the First Elder's words and then Barbara asked: 'What about the City
Administrator - the Second Elder, I mean.'

'Your finding the
altered map in his handwriting in the aqueduct proves his treachery,'
said the First Elder, embarrassed that he should have been deceived
for so long. 'But you should have voiced your suspicions to me.'

'Would you have
listened?' asked Barbara.

'Perhaps not. . .'

'What will happen
to him now?'

'His mind was
warped by ambition and fear. But like the men in the caves he truly
believed that what he was doing was right. He shall be banished to
the Outer Wastes.'

Ian approved the
First Elder's decision. 'I think we should be going back up to the
ship now,' he suggested tactfully.

The First Elder
granted them permission to leave. 'I shall arrange transportation,'
he said. 'The others have already left for the ship. Your lock has
also been returned and sealed back into its proper place.'

An awkward silence
followed. Then the First Elder waved the two humans on their way.

'We have learnt
much from you,' he conceded. 'Go now. And take the gratitude of the
Sensorite Nation with you.'

Back in the TARDIS
the Doctor was standing by the control console, irritably tapping his
fingers together. 'Where are those other two, hmmm?' he asked Susan
who was standing in a corner of the console room, idly toying with
the antique astrolabe there.

'Oh, they're
coming,' she said distractedly, and sauntered over to her
grandfather's side. He put his arm around her, pleased that they had
a few moments to themselves for once.

'What's the matter,
my child?' he asked with grandfatherly concern.

'I talked to the
Senior Scientists before I left,' Susan revealed. 'The Sense-Sphere
has an extraordinary number of ultra high frequencies. So once I
leave I won't be able to keep on using thought transference.'

Her grandfather
smiled kindly at her. 'It's rather a relief, I think. After all, no
one likes an eavesdropper around, do they?'

Susan smiled up
gratefully at him as he continued. 'But you obviously have a gift in
that direction and once we get home to our own place I think we
should try to perfect it.'

'When will we get
home, Grandfather?' Susan asked wistfully.

The Doctor sighed.
'I don't know, my child,' he said, his eyes seeming to look thousands
of light years into the distance. 'This Ship of mine seems to be an
aimless thing. However, we don't worry about that, do we? Do you?' he
asked pointedly.

Susan smiled
half-heartedly, remembering John and Carol's joy at being able to go
home. 'Sometimes I feel I'd like to belong somewhere, not just be a
wanderer,' she said, and then caught her grandfather's look of
dismay. 'Still, I'm not unhappy here with you,' she added quickly.

'Good!' said the
Doctor and hugged her gratefully.

As he released his
granddaughter from his embrace Ian and Barbara walked through the
open double doors. Embarrassed at their witnessing this show of
affection, the Doctor turned on them tetchily. 'Always the last! I
very nearly left without you,' he said and then operated a control on
the console.

The doors closed
and shortly afterwards the familiar grinding noise of
dematerialisation filled the console room. The TARDIS was once more
on its way through space and time.

'Let's have a look
at the scanner and see Maitland off, shall we?' suggested the Doctor,
operating the scanner control.

'At least he knows
where he's going,' joked Ian, and looked up at the image of the
departing spaceship on the screen. The Doctor caught the veiled
criticism in Ian's quip and darted him a look which would have frozen
a supernova. Resolving to teach that impertinent young man a lesson
one day soon, he rejoined the others watching Maitland's departure on
the screen.

As Maitland's ship
sailed further away only Barbara stood apart from her companions and
watched the TARDIS scanner with some misgiving.