Sorry for the long wait!
Happy Fourth of July to any US readers.
The Doctor recounted the tale of his younger self's battle and ultimate victory over Sutekh. Bill, Nour, and any members of UNIT within earshot listened with growing dread as they realized how much psychic power, and horrific sadism and disregard for life, the Osiran had possessed. By the time the Doctor got to the end, everyone in the tent was imagining a gruesome fate for themselves and possibly their planet.
"I get that Sutekh destroyed his home planet, but you said the surviving Osirans united and chased him to Earth. So they're the good guys, right?" Bill asked.
The Time Lord got what Bill was implying. If Sutekh was the only villain in the story, and he was unequivocally dead in 1911, then whoever was buried in that strange tomb should be no threat.
Unless Sutekh wasn't the only villain in the story.
It had been millennia since the final battle of the Osirans and recorded history had passed into myth and legend. Human memory was notoriously short, and a modern society would have difficulty coming to terms with something as dramatic and world-altering as an alien civil war. No doubt the ancient Egyptian witnesses had been overwhelmed and, of course, had no idea of the events that led to extraterrestrial warfare in their land. Their accounts, which would become their religion, were colored by misunderstanding, terror, and human nature.
Given that, the Doctor found it perfectly reasonable that Sutekh had snuck in an acolyte. An Osiran sympathetic to his goal. This was the theory the Doctor proposed. His idea was instantly met with protests and questions.
"But you said he wanted to destroy everything! Who'd go along with that?"
"Why can't we, just once, get a decent alien visitor? You know, a tourist or something? Why is it always Daleks and things like this?"
Kate Stewart waded in after a few moments and ordered her troops to be silent. The noise immediately subsided. Once it was quiet, the Doctor explained his reasoning.
"Humans are by no means the only sapient species capable of joining a suicide cult," the Time Lord said. "And as for the tourists, you do get them. But they tend to use perception filters or can pass as human. You'd see them on the street and probably just think they were French."
Kate cleared her throat. "That's very interesting, Doctor, but we've got more important matters at hand than French aliens."
The Time Lord agreed. "We do need a definite answer. What is in that hole?"
"Great. How do we find out?" Bill asked. "Because I'm not volunteering to go down there."
The Doctor looked to Kate. "I don't suppose UNIT brought anything useful?"
"We've got a bomb disposal robot. It's remote controlled, it's got a camera, and it's quite maneuverable," she replied. "I can have it ready in half an hour."
A quick Jeep ride delivered the Doctor, Bill, and Kate to the hole in the ground on which the fate of the Earth rested. Moments after the trio arrived, a military transport lorry parked nearby. With fine-tuned precision, a team of soldiers removed a robot from the lorry and went about checking it.
The robot was mounted on treads like a tank and had numerous arms capable of delicate movement. The camera was likewise able to swivel in any direction and Bill assumed it would provide a much better video than Nour's cell phone.
The robot's driver hopped from the passenger side of the lorry. He introduced himself as Nicholas Bell and extended a hand, which the Doctor and Bill shook. With that out of the way, he strolled over to the robot and gave it a once-over.
"Everything in working order?" Kate asked.
Nicholas saluted Kate. "Ma'am. Looks like it survived shipping, but I'll need a bit to ensure everything's functioning. Bugger, it is hot out here. Any chance we could get a bit of shade? Don't want the circuits cooking."
Once a canopy had been erected, someone had tracked down a table and a few chairs, and a generator had been set up, Nicholas sat down with a laptop and a remote control. He ran his diagnostics, put the robot through its paces, and declared himself happy.
On Kate's command, the squad of soldiers that had been guarding the small hole were given permission to commence digging. They enlarged the hole until it was big enough to admit the robot.
"We'll have to lower it in," one of the soldiers said. "How much does it weigh?"
"Three hundred and forty-two kilos," the driver replied.
"We're going to need some rope. And some extra manpower."
While said manpower was being collected, the Doctor took a walk around the hole. The urge to get a good look inside was too powerful for the Time Lord to resist for long. He got down on his hands and knees and leaned over the edge. Bill stood next to him, ready to grab his shoulders and yank him to safety if anything happened.
Even with the entrance expanded, it was still dim within the chamber. The Doctor could make out the floor and the shape of the mummy, but no other details. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and took a quick reading.
"No radiation, nothing obviously toxic in the air, and no time anomalies," the Time Lord announced.
"Did you expect time anomalies?" Bill asked.
"Not particularly, but it never hurts to check."
Once the Doctor was out of the way, the gaggle of UNIT soldiers gently lowered the robot. The ropes were then pulled back, allowing the robot movement.
"Come on, let's get back to the tent," Bill said. "We'll get a better view."
A small crowd stood around the table. Kate was seated beside Nicholas, so she was able to make room for the Doctor and Bill. Human and Time Lord ducked around the assembled UNIT soldiers and took their front-row seats.
The robot had powerful headlights that brought new clarity to the chamber. The chamber, as the images from the radar had suggested, was actually a tunnel. It was impossible to tell how far down into the ground the tunnel burrowed, as it looked as if it turned and sloped downward at the rear of the room.
"Should I progress?" Nicholas asked.
Kate nodded. "But slowly."
"And what about the mummy?"
"Avoid it for now."
Under Nicholas's command, the robot inched forward. Its tires crunched on the sand that had been knocked into the hole during excavation. The hulking figure of the mummy grew closer by centimeters.
"It's got some bloody big pecs," someone joked.
"Must have been doing bench presses for the past thousand years," another added.
A glare from Kate cut the chatter short. "If you can't behave, I'm sure I can find some sand for you to shovel."
On the screen, the robot was now parallel with the mummy. Its camera rotated as needed to remain trained on the only point of interest in the room. The huge mummy showed no sign of life as the bomb disposal bot crept deeper into chamber.
Suddenly the camera was aimed at the ceiling. The ceiling also looked much closer than it should have. Nicholas cursed and jabbed several buttons on the remote. On the laptop screen there was the frenetic buzz of the robot's treads spinning but finding no purchase.
"Can you turn the camera 180 degrees?" the Doctor asked.
"I can turn it a full circle," Nicholas responded. He tweaked a joystick and the camera spun.
The view went from the ceiling to the massive mummy. The camera was able to offer a lovely shot of the mummy's thick bandages and featureless face.
Upon seeing that, Kate yanked out a radio and called the soldiers stationed around the hole. They were close enough where a shout would have easily reached them, but Kate could feel an edge of panic in the room. If she started shouting, even if it was orders, she imagined she wouldn't be the only one raising their voice.
"Can anyone get a visual on the situation?"
Over the radio there was the sound of several torches being clicked on. "Just one moment, ma'am."
"The mummy appears to have…grabbed the robot. It's holding it completely off the ground," the soldier confirmed. "What would you- Oh, hello, Doctor."
Kate glanced at the empty chair that had been occupied by the Time Lord only moments before. It was then that she noticed Bill had snuck out as well. Kate sighed. Her father had often bemoaned the Doctor's habit of both appearing and disappearing with equal explanation: zero. Some things about the Doctor never changed, even if his face did.
Back at the hole, the Doctor was once again peering into the chamber. This time three helpful UNIT soldiers were providing extra light via their torches. Not that it was strictly needed. The hapless bomb disposal robot's headlights were bright enough.
"Doctor, do you have any idea how we should proceed?" Kate asked.
"I suppose we could always ask it to play nicer. Or threaten it with a time-out," the Doctor replied.
"Any serious suggestions?"
"The time-out has worked for me in the past. At least with nano-gene corrupted humans."
Kate had her mouth open to utter a snappy reply when movement on the laptop stole her voice. Simultaneously, the Doctor registered the same thing. The mummy was carrying its bounty forward, directly towards the assembled humans and Time Lord.
"Should we…fire a warning shot?" one of the soldiers asked.
"You're welcome to shoot it," the Doctor replied.
"Uh, but I thought you didn't like guns?"
"I don't, but the mummy won't mind. The Osirans designed their service droids to survive in space. Bullets aren't going to hurt it if gamma radiation and meteors can't."
The soldier decided against shooting the mummy. Unbothered, the hulking service droid continued its slow, lumbering walk. Its pace remained steady until it was directly below the hole. Once it was centered in the light filtering down from above, the mummy came to a halt.
"Suppose now would be a good time to ask if it can fly," Bill said.
"No," the Doctor replied. "They're not much for jumping or swimming either."
For thirty seconds there was no further movement from the mummy. Then, it tilted its head up, as though gazing at the people gathered above it.
"Oh, I see," the Doctor said.
Before he could elaborate, the mummy displayed by far its most explosive movement. It raised its arms just a bit higher, and then drove the bomb disposal robot into the ground. All 340 kilos of very expensive UNIT technology were crushed against the stone floor.
There was a terrible shriek of rending metal as the mummy repeatedly raised and bashed the robot. After the third slam, the headlights were extinguished. The fourth decapitated the camera, blinding everyone who wasn't watching the front-row show. The mummy continued until the robot was reduced to scrap.
Once the mummy finished laying waste to its victim, it turned from the spectators. In its usual plodding gait, it returned to its original place in the chamber.
"Let's offer Nicholas our condolences," the Doctor said. He motioned for Bill to follow him.
Once they were away from the soldiers, Bill asked, "You figured something out. What was it?"
"We're dealing with something alive, something controlling that service droid. If it was just running on its programming, it would have destroyed the robot as soon as it was in range. But someone wanted to give us a performance."
Bill sighed. "So that's bad news, huh?"
The Doctor nodded. "But there is one bright spot. I've got an idea."
"That's not always a good thing."
The Time Lord knew better than to argue.
Thanks for reading.
If anyone is curious, the weight specs for the robot are borrowed from an actual military machine created to dispose of improvised explosive devices.