[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
interception. They must prevent the seeding trigger from
reaching the centre bore target.
Armed with the phials of colourless liquid and the box
of tiny pills, they followed the meandering cliff-edge in the
direction of the saucer until they reached one of the
perimeter sites guarded by two silent and motionless
Quarks below them. They crouched at the edge. Jamie held
out a phial and nodded. Kully dropped in a silver pill and
began counting while Jamie jammed in the cork. Then
Jamie hurled the bomb as far as he could and they both
flattened themselves and waited.
‘Seven... eight... nine...’ Kully muttered.
There was a brilliant blue flash and a huge bang. They
craned over the edge to see one of the robots marching
spasmodically round and round in circles, jerking its
probes and its antennae, while its distress signal blurted
out in strangled metallic rasps.
Jame frowned. ‘Not quite enough.’ He held out another
phial, Kully popped in a pill, Jamie corked the tube and
flung it.
There was another explosion. This time fragments of
metal flew up in the air together with a fountain of sand.
Again Kully and Jamie peered down. One Quark was
scattered in pieces over the dunes. The other was wheeling
crazily round on the spot, squeaking and grating with
smoke pouring out of its head, its antennae hanging like
rotten leaves.
‘This is fun,’ Jamie grinned.
‘Let’s do some more,’ Kully agreed.
They scrambled up and followed the clifftop until they
eventually reached another of the perimeter sites. As
before, two silent Quarks were guarding it
‘This is just a wee bit too easy,’ Jamie chuckled as they
prepared another bomb.
Kully popped in the silver pill. ‘As easy as one... two...’
Toba was making final depth-soundings on the centre bore
when he suddenly heard distant explosions and then the
Quarks’ feeble distress signals. Spitting with fury, he was
about order the two Quarks to disconnect from the rig and
to hunt down and destroy the alien attackers, when he
remembered Rago’s warning. Grinding his flinty teeth in
frustration, he prepared to resume drilling.
At that moment, Rago appeared from the direction of
the saucer. The expression on the Navigator’s face sent a
chilly spasm through Toba’s massive frame.
‘More Quarks have been destroyed or incapacitated,’
stormed Rago accusingly.
Toba allowed himself an ironic smile. ‘You should have
permitted me to destroy the primitives.’
‘Silence!’ Rago thundered. ‘We now have only eight
operational Quarks. Power levels are minimal. Report
reserve status,’ he ordered, turning to the Quarks.
‘Two units,’ bleated one.
‘Five units,’ bleated the other.
Rage’s jaw creaked as he grimaced with rage. ‘Barely
sufficient to complete drilling,’ he rasped. ‘The rockets are
installed, Toba. Inform me as soon as your operations here
are concluded.’
‘Command accepted.’
As the Navigator strode away, the rig blared into life
again beginning the crucial final stage of the bore.
On the clifftop above, two figures knelt in the sand.
‘They’ve started drilling again,’ Jamie mouthed. ‘We
still have a chance...’
The sound of the drilling starting up again brought a
profound sigh of relief from the Doctor as he grabbed the
next plastic sheet filled with sand from Kando at the
mouth of the tunnel and handed it to Zoe, who emptied it
onto the huge pile growing ever larger in the middle of the
shelter. At least the race to intercept the seeding trigger
was not yet lost, but there was so little time left...
‘How much further have you got, Teel?’the Doctor
called into the vibrating darkness of the runnel.
‘A little more than my own length...’ came the brave
young Dulcian’s muffled reply.
The Doctor did a quick mental calculation and turned
to Zoe. ‘Still a long, long way to go...’ he frowned. ‘Teel,
coem out and rest now. Zoe’s turn.’
When Teels’ feet appeared. the Doctor and Kando
reached into the hole and pulled him out. The exhausted
Dulcian, covered in dirt and sweat, staggered to a bench
and collapsed gratefully. Armed with Jamie’s dirk gripped
between her teeth, be clambered into the tunnel and
dragged herself into the hot, throbbing gloom by walking
on her dhows and knees.
When she reached the face, she pulled the plastic sheet
out of her belt and spread it out as best she could behind
her. The vibration of the drilling rig caused a constant
trickle of sand to run into her eyes as she dug desperately
away at the crumbling sandstone ahead, scraping the loose
sand past her body and onto the sheet so that the others
could empty it periodically in the shelter. The task was
agonisingly slow and awkward and it was horrifying to feel
that the shuddering tunnel might collapse at any moment
and trap her.
Eventually she stopped to rest her aching arms a
moment. All at once the tunnel shook with a series of
violent shocks. Zoe’s heart almost froze as the tunnel
started cracking all around her.
In the shelter, the Doctor had dived for the periscope.
‘Jamie and Kully have attacked the rig!’ he shouted,
cheering as the two Quarks careered sideways and the rig
itself toppled over, belching smoke and sparks. ‘Zoe, the
drilling’s stopped!’
‘So will the tunnelling if they’re not careful...’ muttered
Zoe, digging away again for all she was worth.
Peering through the eyepiece, the Doctor watched Rago
rush into view escorted by three Quarks. Expertly he lip-
read the hurried dialogue between the two Dominators.
‘See what damage your “harmless” aliens are doing with
their primitive explosives? Now we must surely destroy
them,’ Tuba insisted.
Rago flung out his huge hand. ‘Replace the rig and
continue. I shall personally pursue and destroy these
saboteurs,’ he retorted.
Seeing
his
revenge
denied
him,
Toba
sullenly
concurred. As Rago set off towards the gorge, accompanied
by the three Quarks, Toba struggled to re-position the rig
over the target. The Doctor said nothing as he re-joined
the others at the mouth of the tunnel, but his gentle face
betrayed increasing anxiety about the fate of Jamie and the
diminishing likelihood of thwarting the Dominators in
their evil purpose.
Unaware of Rago’s intentions, Jamie and Kully slid helter-
skelter down into the canyon on their way back to the
shelter. No sooner had they reached the bottom than they
were dismayed to see Rago and his Quarks advancing
inexorably along the floor of the canyon towards them.
Whooping with delight, Kully started preparing a bomb,
but Jamie grabbed his arm and yanked him roughly back
up the slope. Their progress was painfully slow as the sand
gave under them, forcing them to take three steps for every
one gained in height.
Rage’s eyes burned with contempt as he ordered his
squad to attack. Three pairs of probes were trained in
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]