CHAPTER THIRTEEN - REVELATION
From the moment the fifth Doctor and Peri had arrived on Androzani Minor, everything had gone terribly wrong. They had became involved in the struggle between brutal gun-runners, ruthless Federation troops and the hideously mutilated Sharaz Jek, who lurked in the depths of the caves with his android army.
The key to the struggle was Spectrox, the most valuable substance in the universe. Suitably processed, Spectrox was an elixir of life, but in it's raw state it killed.
The Doctor and Peri themselves were suffering from Spectrox Toxaemia and they would both die unless an antidote could be found. Peri's condition worsened and the Doctor was forced to team up with Sharaz Jek, who explained that the milk from a queen bat would cure her. The problem was that the bats lived in the deepest caves and an enormous mud slide was imminent.
During a brutal final struggle within his hideout, Sharaz Jek was shot and killed. The liquid mud within the planet began to boil and seethe. Displaying incredible courage and stamina, the Spectrox ravaged Doctor obtained the precious bat's milk and dragged a close to death Peri into the TARDIS.
The blue Police Box faded away just as an incredible explosion of superheated mud erupted over the surface of Androzani Minor.
Fighting for each painful breath, the Doctor watched the steady rise and fall of the time rotor, then slid gently to the ground. For a moment he laid still. Then, realising that his task was not yet complete, he began crawling determinantly towards Peri. When he reached her he took out the little vial containing the bat's milk and held it to her lips.
Peri recovered almost immediately. The Doctor sank back, exhausted. He lay there for a moment, quite contented, staring at the TARDIS ceiling. Everything seemed strange, unreal. He could feel the TARDIS control room slipping away from him.
"Is this death?" said the Doctor wonderingly.
Suddenly the Doctor became aware that someone was shaking him. He opened his eyes and saw Peri.
"Ah, Peri, you better?"
"You got that bat's milk?" Peri asked, a little dazed.
The Doctor nodded. "Contains an anti-vesicant, I imagine," he said brightly. "Interesting."
"Where is it?" demanded Peri.
"What?"
"The bat's milk!"
"Finished," said the Doctor simply. "Only enough for you."
Peri stared at him in horror. "No! There must be something I can do!"
"Too late, Peri," said the Doctor calmly. "Time to say goodbye."
"Don't give up," begged Peri. "You can't leave me!"
"Might regenerate," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "I don't know. Feels - different, this time ..."
Suddenly the Doctor was nowhere, no-time, suspended in a kind of limbo.
Familiar faces appeared, floating towards him.
"What was it you always told me Doctor?" Tegan asked. "Brave heart! You'll survive."
Turlough was there. "You must survive. Too many enemies would rejoice your death."
Kamelion appeared. "Turlough speaks the truth, Doctor."
"You're needed, you mustn't die," Nyssa said.
"You know that Doctor," said Adric.
Another face appeared, driving away all the others. An evil satanic face with slanting eyebrows and a painted beard. The Master.
"No, my dear Doctor, you must die! Die, Doctor! Die, Doctor!" The Master's face grew to enormous size. He threw back his head and laughed and laughed...
Perhaps the Master's taunts affected the Doctor even more than the appeals of his old companions. The one thing the Doctor had never done in all his lives was to let the Master have the last laugh, even during the tragic events on Logopolis. Reality split, fragmented, shattered into a thousand pieces, a million choices. Somehow, amongst them all, the Doctor chose survival.
The Siralos/Master relaxed his concentration. The Doctor's fifth incarnation had been safely deposited within the Determinant. It was a pity, the Master thought, that the Doctor hadn't died on Androzani Minor. The thought of the Doctor being carried away in an agonising torment of boiling mud was a delicious one.
The Master gazed into his looking glass and observed the Doctor as he attended the controls of his beloved TARDIS. The final pawn in the last game was in place!
The Doctor studied the control panel. The TARDIS had landed. Flicking a switch he activated the scanner screen. The Doctor's eyes took in the rolling golden sands of the desert and the incredible sight of the mighty pyramids.
"Egypt!" the Doctor exclaimed, "Splendid!"
Placing his soft-brimmed hat squarely upon his head, the Doctor went outside. A small group of people were in the middle of a heated debate. Tempers were frayed.
A little man wearing a fez was remonstrating with an older, crusty looking man who was well dressed.
"I beg you not to continue, sir." the little man pleaded. "Three deaths in two days! It is the curse, I tell you! Would you not believe your own eyes!"
"Poppycock!" the other man responded. "We have just broken into the inner tomb, and it would be foolish to pull out now because of a few local superstitions!"
"It is death inside there, sir. Nothing else!"
"Let me be the judge of that, Aziz!"
"Professor Verdeghast - please listen to me!"
The Doctor had been earwigging the exchange of words and approached the men. "Ah, excuse me gentlemen, but may I be of assistance?"
Verdeghast shot the Doctor a murderous look. "No you may not!"
The Doctor smiled at Aziz. "Bad tempered fellow."
"He objects to me warnings about plundering the tomb of Núr Hasaf. Three of my best men have died horribly within that place."
"How did they die?"
"Their necks were broken."
"An accident perhaps?"
"No accident! Their heads were almost completely twisted from their shoulders."
"Interesting," the Doctor said. "Tell me, where does the professor usually stay?"
"He spends the hottest part of each day in a ruined castle not far from here. It is his base of operations, but why do you ask sir?"
"Doctor, not sir." the Doctor said. "I'm going to pay the ill-mannered professor a visit."
The Doctor returned to the TARDIS and set the controls for a short trip. A few moments later, the TARDIS materialised inside the ruined castle's great hall.
Professor Hubert Verdeghast was bent intently over his book. It was a log of the complete expedition to find a fabled lost treasure of King Núr Hasaf. Verdeghast had found a small, secluded room in the west wing of the old castle. So intent was the professor on his writing, that he didn't notice the strange, shadowy figure creeping up behind him, In fact, it came as a complete surprise when his neck was broken with a sudden, swift cracking of bone. A shadow covered hand reached out and took the professor's book.
Seconds later, the Doctor bounded enthusiastically into the room. "Ah, there you are professor Verdeghast! I would like to offer you my he --"
The Doctor stared at the professor's body slumped across his desk. The poor man's dead lolled at a terrible angle. There was a sudden commotion and a tall, moustached policeman accompanied by two guards rushed into the room.
"How do you do?" said the Doctor, "my name's the Doctor, and I know this looks bad but you must believe me when I tell you that professor Verdeghast has just been murdered!"
"I am Captain Krogh of the Al-Fasil police, and you, 'Doctor' are under arrest for the murder of an innocent man!"
"Captain, please!" the Doctor pleaded. "I have just arrived here myself! Examine the body and you find that I couldn't possibly have killed him!"
Two burly guards pinned the Doctor by his arms.
"Take him away!" Krogh ordered.
At that moment Aziz burst into the room. He stopped dead, wide eyes and trembling when he saw the professor's body.
"The curse had claimed him at last!" he wailed. "The curse! The curse!"
"Get him out of here!" Krogh ordered one of the guards. "This is a crime scene for God's sake!"
Aziz and the Doctor were bundled outside.
Krogh approached the body. The dislocation of the bone was incredible. What could do that to a man's neck? The strength required must have been awesome. Krogh hoped the killer wasn't still around.
The Doctor pondered the cage-like bars of his dingy cell. One was very much like another, he thought. The cell was small and cramped and smelt rather badly. He wished that he still possessed a sonic screwdriver. That would melt the bars.
Captain Krogh appeared on the other side of the bars.
"I assume you've come to release me!" the Doctor said.
"I've come to question you."
"Oh, I see."
"That expedition into the tomb has brought with it nothing but trouble. I now have four unexplained deaths to death with."
"Captain, I assure you that I am not a killer! I can help you find the murderer."
"What makes you so sure about that?"
"I have experience in such matters." the Doctor said. "I have unfortunately witnessed many cold blooded murders."
"Are you a policeman?" Krogh asked with a raised eyebrow. "We found a British police box in the castle."
"In a way Captain, yes, I suppose I am."
Krogh unlocked the Doctor's cell. "You have my permission to assist me, 'Doctor'."
The Doctor smiled. "Thank you."
Krogh fixed the Doctor with a stern look. "Be assured about one thing Doctor, once this mystery is solved you are to return to England at once!"
The Doctor's smile faded. "If you insist."
Krogh drove the Doctor back to the castle in his jeep. "What do you want to do first?" he asked.
"I'll have a look around the professor's room, see if the killed left behind any clues."
Krogh nodded his agreement and followed the Doctor inside.
The Doctor ran his hand over the walls and floor. He noticed several strange scuff marks on the floor. They seemed familiar.
"Have you found something?" Krogh asked.
"Possibly, yes." the Doctor said. "Let's have a look around the rest of the castle shall we?"
Together they entered the great hall.
"Why would anyone want to kill the professor?" the Doctor asked aloud.
"Many people didn't want Núr Hasaf's tomb to be opened and plundered," Krogh said. "It is long rumoured to be cursed."
"Yes," the Doctor added. "But I'm fairly certain that whatever killed Verdeghast was a little more solid than an old superstition."
"What makes you sure?"
"The force required to break a man's neck, Captain."
The sound of scuffling footsteps made them both fall silent. "We are not alone, Captain," the Doctor whispered.
A short, twisted shadow moved across the great halls' floor. The weasel-like man it belonged to clutched a briefcase protectively to his thin chest.
The Doctor stepped out in front of him. "How do you do, I'm the Doctor!"
The man gasped in surprise and dropped his briefcase. The case snapped open and metallic components and wiring spilled onto the floor.
"Idiots!" the man screamed. "You startled me near to death!"
"You are you?" Krogh demanded. "State your business here!"
"I am Dr. Kravaal, a colleague of the professor's." the sinister little man sneered. "I am collecting some of his belongings."
The Doctor bent down to pick up the case. The technology inside, he realised was far in advance of current Earth science. Where had it come from?
Dr. Kravaal snatched the briefcase back.
"Where did you find such sophisticated equipment?" the Doctor queried.
"None of your business!" Kravaal snapped. He went to leave but Krogh stopped him.
"Stay put!" he turned to the Doctor. "I have asked Director Rukh to visit us here. He should arrive soon."
"Who is this Director?" the Doctor asked.
"He is our equivalent of a Prime Minister."
Dr. Kravall's beady eyes scanned the room. He seemed to be waiting for something to happen. But what?
One of Krogh's guards marched up to the Captain. "Sir, we have just been informed by the Director that he is running late. He sends his apologies and would like you to visit him in his quarters in the city at sundown."
"Very well," Krogh said. "Inform the Director that --"
A bloodcurdling scream made everyone jump.
"What was that?" Kravaal stammered.
A man staggered into the great hall, clutching his throat. He had a nasty wound on his forehead, which bled freely. He tried to talk but couldn't. Taking two steps he crashed onto the floor at the Doctor's feet.
"Sovak!" Kravaal exclaimed.
The Doctor was kneeling beside the man. "He's still alive!"
Krogh cast a glance at Kravaal. "Do you know this man?"
"Yes," Kravaal croaked. "He's my assistant!"
"If you can get him to a hospital straight away, he'll survive." the Doctor said.
"I'll get one!" Kravaal said and slank from the hall.
"Looks like our killer's struck again, this time without success!" Krogh stated. The Doctor said nothing. Krogh grabbed the Doctor's arm and pulled him to one side. "What do you make of Kravaal?"
"A cat on a hot tin roof, Captain." the Doctor said.
"Yes, I thought so too," Krogh agreed. The Doctor watched as Kravaal and a band of silent men with strange absent looks on their faces bought in a stretcher and carried Sovak away.
"Funny looking fellows." the Doctor said.
"Doctor, I would like you to come with me." Krogh said.
"Certainly, where?"
"I'm going to see Director Rukh straight away," Krogh explained. "He must be informed of recent events."
"Good idea!" the Doctor remarked.
Director Rukh's quarters were inside a lush building known as the Monsoon Palace in the bustling city of Al-Fasil. Captain Krogh led the Doctor along many well decorated hallways until they finally came to the Director's quarters. Krogh knocked twice and waited. No reply. He tried again and still there was no answer from behind the door. Then they both heard a heavy thud and the sound of a struggle.
"I don't like the sound of that, Captain!" the Doctor said.
"Stand back!" Krogh cried and pulled his revolver. Several shots later and the Captain forced the door. It gave way easily and they both rushed into the Director's quarters.
Krogh froze in horror. "My God!"
Director Rukh was being strangled behind his ornate desk, but the attacker clearly wasn't human.
Krogh fired six bullets into the creature's metal, mask-like face. It simply paused in it's grisly work and looked at Krogh.
"Bullets won't work against that thing, Captain!" the Doctor warned.
"What is it?" Krogh asked.
"A Cyberman!" the Doctor said calmly. "An inhuman killer from another world, or half of one at least."
Krogh realised that the Doctor was right. The head, chest and right arm of the monster was cybernetic, but the left arm and legs were visibly human.
The incomplete Cyberman suddenly released the limp body of Director Rukh, who slid to the floor. A golden glow surrounded the Cyberman and it faded away.
"They must have an operational transmat hidden somewhere nearby." the Doctor said.
Krogh bent down to examine the Director. He glanced at the Doctor and shook his head.
"We were too late."
"The Cybermen must be using captured humans to build a new army." the Doctor said.
Krogh looked up, shocked. "You mean that thing used to be human like you and me?"
"Cybermen were exactly like us once," the Doctor said. "Over the centuries they changed, evolved into ruthless killers who lived by the cold law of absolute necessity."
"You've met them before?" Krogh asked.
"Many times, Captain." the Doctor said.
"We'd better stop them then!"
The Doctor began to pace. "Exactly! Now, if I know the Cybermen, they've probably secreted themselves in a hidden base somewhere."
"The castle!" Krogh exclaimed.
"That would make sense wouldn't it?" the Doctor said.
Krogh was already heading for the door.
The Doctor hung on for dear life as Krogh drove his keep at incredible speed across the sand. Soon they arrived back at the ruined castle.
"Is there a cellar?" the Doctor enquired.
"Yes, follow me." Krogh said.
A set of dingy steps led down to the crypt-like cellar. The Doctor and Krogh crept inside, where a strange mechanical sound could be heard. Quietly, they moved deeper inside. A terrible sight greeted them. One whole wall was taken up with a vast tomb-like edifice, which contained row upon row of dormant Cybermen, some of them still half human.
"An entire Cyber-army," the Doctor whispered. "Lying in wait to re-activate and mobilise!"
"Very astute of you!" a voice sneered from the shadows.
"Sovak!" Krogh gasped, "You're unharmed!"
"I think you'll find that Mr. Sovak is working for the Cybermen." the Doctor said. "What do you have to gain?"
"Drop your weapon!" Sovak ordered Krogh.
Dr. Kravaal appeared from a concealed door and he also had a gun trained on the Doctor and Krogh. It was a Cyber-gun.
"You're meddling in our affairs have caused us to accelerate our plans." Kravaal explained. "Sovak - awaken the Cybermen!"
"Madness!" the Doctor cried. "Half of them are still part human!"
"Nethertheless, we have no choice now." Kravaal said. "Soon the pair of you will become Cybermen."
Sovak activated a control panel and a vast electrical pulse filled the cellar. The incomplete Cybermen began to moan and writhe. Suddenly the moaning turned into cries of agony both human and cybernetic as blue electric fire burst from one Cyberman to another.
"Sovak - do something!" Kravaal cried.
Before Sovak had a chance, the entire wall containing the tortured Cybermen exploded in a flash of blinding light. The Doctor threw himself on top of Krogh as they were thrown to the floor. All was silent after the blast. A horrible stench filled the air.
Kravaal crawled to his feet, still clutching the Cyber-gun. Sovak's horribly burned remains smouldered on the floor.
"Stay where you are!" Kravaal sneered.
"It's over Kravaal, can't you see that?" the Doctor said.
"Professor Verdeghast's expedition discovered a dormant Cyber-ship beneath the pyramid." Kravaal said. "One of them made contact and promised myself and Sovak a share in their power once the Earth was under their control."
"How could you trust things that do such cruel acts towards others?" Krogh asked.
"Cruelty doesn't come into it," Kravaal stated. "They did it to themselves, so they think nothing of putting other people through the Cyber process."
"Gives a nasty twist to the precept! Do unto others' doesn't it" the Doctor said.
Something big looked up behind Kravaal. He spun around and trembled before the figure of the fully completed and functional Cyberleader. It jabbed a finger at him accusingly.
"Betrayal!" It rumbled.
Kravaal dropped the Cyber-gun. "No, it wasn't me - I swear to you, I am loyal!"
"Sabotage!"
Kravaal fell to his knees. "No, please - it was an accident!"
The Cyberleader raised his own gun and fired. Kravaal screamed in agony as the deadly radiation blast tore thought his body. Every molecule in his body was disintegrated and he flopped over the remains of Sovak, a smoking husk.
The Cyberleader advanced on the Doctor. "We meet again, Time Lord."
"Unpleasantly so." the Doctor quipped.
"You will take me to your TARDIS." the Cyberleader intoned.
"No, I won't." the Doctor said.
"Then you will be eradicated!" the Cyberleader said and raised it's weapon.
Krogh threw himself at the Cyberleader's chest, spoiling his aim. The Doctor grabbed Kravaal's discarded gun as the Cyberleader threw Krogh from him. The Captain slid down a wall, stunned.
The Doctor fired, point blank at the Cyberleader. His chest unit exploded in a shower of sparks. The Cyberleader screamed, dropped his gun and sank to his knees.
"For Adric!" the Doctor said and fired twice more into the Cyberleader.
A terribly moan of agony, an explosion of milky internal fluid from it's mouthpiece, a final jerking spasm and the Cyberleader expired. Thick, green liquid poured from it's gaping wounds.
The Doctor looked at the dazed Krogh. Satisfied that he would live, the Doctor rushed upstairs and dived into his TARDIS. He breathed a sigh of relief as he set the TARDIS in flight.
"Damn you Siralos!" the Master raged. "Are you not my puppet? The Doctor was supposed to die in the sudden explosion!"
The furious renegade concentrated his mind.
"Siralos, you are mine, your will is subjugated - OBEY ME!" The Master relaxed and smiled.
"Very well, Siralos, I have allowed you a momentary glimpse of rebellion, now - serve me!"
The Doctor had collapsed onto the floor. He had just saved Peri. He wasn't sure if he would be able to regenerate. He saw the faces of old companions, urging him to survive. Then the Master appeared and put thing's into perspective. He was dying from Spectrox Toxaemia.
"No, my dear Doctor, you must die! Die, Doctor, Die!"
The Master held up the cube containing the fifth Doctor.
"Thank you Siralos!" the Master chuckled. "At last Doctor, I have beaten you completely!"
The Master placed the cube with all the others. "Now that you are encapsulated in all your regenerations forever, Doctor, the universe is mine for taking!"
Nothing could stop the Master now.
The Doctor was defeated.
Trapped in limbo, the eighth Doctor felt the disappearance of his fifth and final free incarnation. The Master had won. It couldn't end like this! Could it?
"Nooooo!"
From the moment the fifth Doctor and Peri had arrived on Androzani Minor, everything had gone terribly wrong. They had became involved in the struggle between brutal gun-runners, ruthless Federation troops and the hideously mutilated Sharaz Jek, who lurked in the depths of the caves with his android army.
The key to the struggle was Spectrox, the most valuable substance in the universe. Suitably processed, Spectrox was an elixir of life, but in it's raw state it killed.
The Doctor and Peri themselves were suffering from Spectrox Toxaemia and they would both die unless an antidote could be found. Peri's condition worsened and the Doctor was forced to team up with Sharaz Jek, who explained that the milk from a queen bat would cure her. The problem was that the bats lived in the deepest caves and an enormous mud slide was imminent.
During a brutal final struggle within his hideout, Sharaz Jek was shot and killed. The liquid mud within the planet began to boil and seethe. Displaying incredible courage and stamina, the Spectrox ravaged Doctor obtained the precious bat's milk and dragged a close to death Peri into the TARDIS.
The blue Police Box faded away just as an incredible explosion of superheated mud erupted over the surface of Androzani Minor.
Fighting for each painful breath, the Doctor watched the steady rise and fall of the time rotor, then slid gently to the ground. For a moment he laid still. Then, realising that his task was not yet complete, he began crawling determinantly towards Peri. When he reached her he took out the little vial containing the bat's milk and held it to her lips.
Peri recovered almost immediately. The Doctor sank back, exhausted. He lay there for a moment, quite contented, staring at the TARDIS ceiling. Everything seemed strange, unreal. He could feel the TARDIS control room slipping away from him.
"Is this death?" said the Doctor wonderingly.
Suddenly the Doctor became aware that someone was shaking him. He opened his eyes and saw Peri.
"Ah, Peri, you better?"
"You got that bat's milk?" Peri asked, a little dazed.
The Doctor nodded. "Contains an anti-vesicant, I imagine," he said brightly. "Interesting."
"Where is it?" demanded Peri.
"What?"
"The bat's milk!"
"Finished," said the Doctor simply. "Only enough for you."
Peri stared at him in horror. "No! There must be something I can do!"
"Too late, Peri," said the Doctor calmly. "Time to say goodbye."
"Don't give up," begged Peri. "You can't leave me!"
"Might regenerate," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "I don't know. Feels - different, this time ..."
Suddenly the Doctor was nowhere, no-time, suspended in a kind of limbo.
Familiar faces appeared, floating towards him.
"What was it you always told me Doctor?" Tegan asked. "Brave heart! You'll survive."
Turlough was there. "You must survive. Too many enemies would rejoice your death."
Kamelion appeared. "Turlough speaks the truth, Doctor."
"You're needed, you mustn't die," Nyssa said.
"You know that Doctor," said Adric.
Another face appeared, driving away all the others. An evil satanic face with slanting eyebrows and a painted beard. The Master.
"No, my dear Doctor, you must die! Die, Doctor! Die, Doctor!" The Master's face grew to enormous size. He threw back his head and laughed and laughed...
Perhaps the Master's taunts affected the Doctor even more than the appeals of his old companions. The one thing the Doctor had never done in all his lives was to let the Master have the last laugh, even during the tragic events on Logopolis. Reality split, fragmented, shattered into a thousand pieces, a million choices. Somehow, amongst them all, the Doctor chose survival.
The Siralos/Master relaxed his concentration. The Doctor's fifth incarnation had been safely deposited within the Determinant. It was a pity, the Master thought, that the Doctor hadn't died on Androzani Minor. The thought of the Doctor being carried away in an agonising torment of boiling mud was a delicious one.
The Master gazed into his looking glass and observed the Doctor as he attended the controls of his beloved TARDIS. The final pawn in the last game was in place!
The Doctor studied the control panel. The TARDIS had landed. Flicking a switch he activated the scanner screen. The Doctor's eyes took in the rolling golden sands of the desert and the incredible sight of the mighty pyramids.
"Egypt!" the Doctor exclaimed, "Splendid!"
Placing his soft-brimmed hat squarely upon his head, the Doctor went outside. A small group of people were in the middle of a heated debate. Tempers were frayed.
A little man wearing a fez was remonstrating with an older, crusty looking man who was well dressed.
"I beg you not to continue, sir." the little man pleaded. "Three deaths in two days! It is the curse, I tell you! Would you not believe your own eyes!"
"Poppycock!" the other man responded. "We have just broken into the inner tomb, and it would be foolish to pull out now because of a few local superstitions!"
"It is death inside there, sir. Nothing else!"
"Let me be the judge of that, Aziz!"
"Professor Verdeghast - please listen to me!"
The Doctor had been earwigging the exchange of words and approached the men. "Ah, excuse me gentlemen, but may I be of assistance?"
Verdeghast shot the Doctor a murderous look. "No you may not!"
The Doctor smiled at Aziz. "Bad tempered fellow."
"He objects to me warnings about plundering the tomb of Núr Hasaf. Three of my best men have died horribly within that place."
"How did they die?"
"Their necks were broken."
"An accident perhaps?"
"No accident! Their heads were almost completely twisted from their shoulders."
"Interesting," the Doctor said. "Tell me, where does the professor usually stay?"
"He spends the hottest part of each day in a ruined castle not far from here. It is his base of operations, but why do you ask sir?"
"Doctor, not sir." the Doctor said. "I'm going to pay the ill-mannered professor a visit."
The Doctor returned to the TARDIS and set the controls for a short trip. A few moments later, the TARDIS materialised inside the ruined castle's great hall.
Professor Hubert Verdeghast was bent intently over his book. It was a log of the complete expedition to find a fabled lost treasure of King Núr Hasaf. Verdeghast had found a small, secluded room in the west wing of the old castle. So intent was the professor on his writing, that he didn't notice the strange, shadowy figure creeping up behind him, In fact, it came as a complete surprise when his neck was broken with a sudden, swift cracking of bone. A shadow covered hand reached out and took the professor's book.
Seconds later, the Doctor bounded enthusiastically into the room. "Ah, there you are professor Verdeghast! I would like to offer you my he --"
The Doctor stared at the professor's body slumped across his desk. The poor man's dead lolled at a terrible angle. There was a sudden commotion and a tall, moustached policeman accompanied by two guards rushed into the room.
"How do you do?" said the Doctor, "my name's the Doctor, and I know this looks bad but you must believe me when I tell you that professor Verdeghast has just been murdered!"
"I am Captain Krogh of the Al-Fasil police, and you, 'Doctor' are under arrest for the murder of an innocent man!"
"Captain, please!" the Doctor pleaded. "I have just arrived here myself! Examine the body and you find that I couldn't possibly have killed him!"
Two burly guards pinned the Doctor by his arms.
"Take him away!" Krogh ordered.
At that moment Aziz burst into the room. He stopped dead, wide eyes and trembling when he saw the professor's body.
"The curse had claimed him at last!" he wailed. "The curse! The curse!"
"Get him out of here!" Krogh ordered one of the guards. "This is a crime scene for God's sake!"
Aziz and the Doctor were bundled outside.
Krogh approached the body. The dislocation of the bone was incredible. What could do that to a man's neck? The strength required must have been awesome. Krogh hoped the killer wasn't still around.
The Doctor pondered the cage-like bars of his dingy cell. One was very much like another, he thought. The cell was small and cramped and smelt rather badly. He wished that he still possessed a sonic screwdriver. That would melt the bars.
Captain Krogh appeared on the other side of the bars.
"I assume you've come to release me!" the Doctor said.
"I've come to question you."
"Oh, I see."
"That expedition into the tomb has brought with it nothing but trouble. I now have four unexplained deaths to death with."
"Captain, I assure you that I am not a killer! I can help you find the murderer."
"What makes you so sure about that?"
"I have experience in such matters." the Doctor said. "I have unfortunately witnessed many cold blooded murders."
"Are you a policeman?" Krogh asked with a raised eyebrow. "We found a British police box in the castle."
"In a way Captain, yes, I suppose I am."
Krogh unlocked the Doctor's cell. "You have my permission to assist me, 'Doctor'."
The Doctor smiled. "Thank you."
Krogh fixed the Doctor with a stern look. "Be assured about one thing Doctor, once this mystery is solved you are to return to England at once!"
The Doctor's smile faded. "If you insist."
Krogh drove the Doctor back to the castle in his jeep. "What do you want to do first?" he asked.
"I'll have a look around the professor's room, see if the killed left behind any clues."
Krogh nodded his agreement and followed the Doctor inside.
The Doctor ran his hand over the walls and floor. He noticed several strange scuff marks on the floor. They seemed familiar.
"Have you found something?" Krogh asked.
"Possibly, yes." the Doctor said. "Let's have a look around the rest of the castle shall we?"
Together they entered the great hall.
"Why would anyone want to kill the professor?" the Doctor asked aloud.
"Many people didn't want Núr Hasaf's tomb to be opened and plundered," Krogh said. "It is long rumoured to be cursed."
"Yes," the Doctor added. "But I'm fairly certain that whatever killed Verdeghast was a little more solid than an old superstition."
"What makes you sure?"
"The force required to break a man's neck, Captain."
The sound of scuffling footsteps made them both fall silent. "We are not alone, Captain," the Doctor whispered.
A short, twisted shadow moved across the great halls' floor. The weasel-like man it belonged to clutched a briefcase protectively to his thin chest.
The Doctor stepped out in front of him. "How do you do, I'm the Doctor!"
The man gasped in surprise and dropped his briefcase. The case snapped open and metallic components and wiring spilled onto the floor.
"Idiots!" the man screamed. "You startled me near to death!"
"You are you?" Krogh demanded. "State your business here!"
"I am Dr. Kravaal, a colleague of the professor's." the sinister little man sneered. "I am collecting some of his belongings."
The Doctor bent down to pick up the case. The technology inside, he realised was far in advance of current Earth science. Where had it come from?
Dr. Kravaal snatched the briefcase back.
"Where did you find such sophisticated equipment?" the Doctor queried.
"None of your business!" Kravaal snapped. He went to leave but Krogh stopped him.
"Stay put!" he turned to the Doctor. "I have asked Director Rukh to visit us here. He should arrive soon."
"Who is this Director?" the Doctor asked.
"He is our equivalent of a Prime Minister."
Dr. Kravall's beady eyes scanned the room. He seemed to be waiting for something to happen. But what?
One of Krogh's guards marched up to the Captain. "Sir, we have just been informed by the Director that he is running late. He sends his apologies and would like you to visit him in his quarters in the city at sundown."
"Very well," Krogh said. "Inform the Director that --"
A bloodcurdling scream made everyone jump.
"What was that?" Kravaal stammered.
A man staggered into the great hall, clutching his throat. He had a nasty wound on his forehead, which bled freely. He tried to talk but couldn't. Taking two steps he crashed onto the floor at the Doctor's feet.
"Sovak!" Kravaal exclaimed.
The Doctor was kneeling beside the man. "He's still alive!"
Krogh cast a glance at Kravaal. "Do you know this man?"
"Yes," Kravaal croaked. "He's my assistant!"
"If you can get him to a hospital straight away, he'll survive." the Doctor said.
"I'll get one!" Kravaal said and slank from the hall.
"Looks like our killer's struck again, this time without success!" Krogh stated. The Doctor said nothing. Krogh grabbed the Doctor's arm and pulled him to one side. "What do you make of Kravaal?"
"A cat on a hot tin roof, Captain." the Doctor said.
"Yes, I thought so too," Krogh agreed. The Doctor watched as Kravaal and a band of silent men with strange absent looks on their faces bought in a stretcher and carried Sovak away.
"Funny looking fellows." the Doctor said.
"Doctor, I would like you to come with me." Krogh said.
"Certainly, where?"
"I'm going to see Director Rukh straight away," Krogh explained. "He must be informed of recent events."
"Good idea!" the Doctor remarked.
Director Rukh's quarters were inside a lush building known as the Monsoon Palace in the bustling city of Al-Fasil. Captain Krogh led the Doctor along many well decorated hallways until they finally came to the Director's quarters. Krogh knocked twice and waited. No reply. He tried again and still there was no answer from behind the door. Then they both heard a heavy thud and the sound of a struggle.
"I don't like the sound of that, Captain!" the Doctor said.
"Stand back!" Krogh cried and pulled his revolver. Several shots later and the Captain forced the door. It gave way easily and they both rushed into the Director's quarters.
Krogh froze in horror. "My God!"
Director Rukh was being strangled behind his ornate desk, but the attacker clearly wasn't human.
Krogh fired six bullets into the creature's metal, mask-like face. It simply paused in it's grisly work and looked at Krogh.
"Bullets won't work against that thing, Captain!" the Doctor warned.
"What is it?" Krogh asked.
"A Cyberman!" the Doctor said calmly. "An inhuman killer from another world, or half of one at least."
Krogh realised that the Doctor was right. The head, chest and right arm of the monster was cybernetic, but the left arm and legs were visibly human.
The incomplete Cyberman suddenly released the limp body of Director Rukh, who slid to the floor. A golden glow surrounded the Cyberman and it faded away.
"They must have an operational transmat hidden somewhere nearby." the Doctor said.
Krogh bent down to examine the Director. He glanced at the Doctor and shook his head.
"We were too late."
"The Cybermen must be using captured humans to build a new army." the Doctor said.
Krogh looked up, shocked. "You mean that thing used to be human like you and me?"
"Cybermen were exactly like us once," the Doctor said. "Over the centuries they changed, evolved into ruthless killers who lived by the cold law of absolute necessity."
"You've met them before?" Krogh asked.
"Many times, Captain." the Doctor said.
"We'd better stop them then!"
The Doctor began to pace. "Exactly! Now, if I know the Cybermen, they've probably secreted themselves in a hidden base somewhere."
"The castle!" Krogh exclaimed.
"That would make sense wouldn't it?" the Doctor said.
Krogh was already heading for the door.
The Doctor hung on for dear life as Krogh drove his keep at incredible speed across the sand. Soon they arrived back at the ruined castle.
"Is there a cellar?" the Doctor enquired.
"Yes, follow me." Krogh said.
A set of dingy steps led down to the crypt-like cellar. The Doctor and Krogh crept inside, where a strange mechanical sound could be heard. Quietly, they moved deeper inside. A terrible sight greeted them. One whole wall was taken up with a vast tomb-like edifice, which contained row upon row of dormant Cybermen, some of them still half human.
"An entire Cyber-army," the Doctor whispered. "Lying in wait to re-activate and mobilise!"
"Very astute of you!" a voice sneered from the shadows.
"Sovak!" Krogh gasped, "You're unharmed!"
"I think you'll find that Mr. Sovak is working for the Cybermen." the Doctor said. "What do you have to gain?"
"Drop your weapon!" Sovak ordered Krogh.
Dr. Kravaal appeared from a concealed door and he also had a gun trained on the Doctor and Krogh. It was a Cyber-gun.
"You're meddling in our affairs have caused us to accelerate our plans." Kravaal explained. "Sovak - awaken the Cybermen!"
"Madness!" the Doctor cried. "Half of them are still part human!"
"Nethertheless, we have no choice now." Kravaal said. "Soon the pair of you will become Cybermen."
Sovak activated a control panel and a vast electrical pulse filled the cellar. The incomplete Cybermen began to moan and writhe. Suddenly the moaning turned into cries of agony both human and cybernetic as blue electric fire burst from one Cyberman to another.
"Sovak - do something!" Kravaal cried.
Before Sovak had a chance, the entire wall containing the tortured Cybermen exploded in a flash of blinding light. The Doctor threw himself on top of Krogh as they were thrown to the floor. All was silent after the blast. A horrible stench filled the air.
Kravaal crawled to his feet, still clutching the Cyber-gun. Sovak's horribly burned remains smouldered on the floor.
"Stay where you are!" Kravaal sneered.
"It's over Kravaal, can't you see that?" the Doctor said.
"Professor Verdeghast's expedition discovered a dormant Cyber-ship beneath the pyramid." Kravaal said. "One of them made contact and promised myself and Sovak a share in their power once the Earth was under their control."
"How could you trust things that do such cruel acts towards others?" Krogh asked.
"Cruelty doesn't come into it," Kravaal stated. "They did it to themselves, so they think nothing of putting other people through the Cyber process."
"Gives a nasty twist to the precept! Do unto others' doesn't it" the Doctor said.
Something big looked up behind Kravaal. He spun around and trembled before the figure of the fully completed and functional Cyberleader. It jabbed a finger at him accusingly.
"Betrayal!" It rumbled.
Kravaal dropped the Cyber-gun. "No, it wasn't me - I swear to you, I am loyal!"
"Sabotage!"
Kravaal fell to his knees. "No, please - it was an accident!"
The Cyberleader raised his own gun and fired. Kravaal screamed in agony as the deadly radiation blast tore thought his body. Every molecule in his body was disintegrated and he flopped over the remains of Sovak, a smoking husk.
The Cyberleader advanced on the Doctor. "We meet again, Time Lord."
"Unpleasantly so." the Doctor quipped.
"You will take me to your TARDIS." the Cyberleader intoned.
"No, I won't." the Doctor said.
"Then you will be eradicated!" the Cyberleader said and raised it's weapon.
Krogh threw himself at the Cyberleader's chest, spoiling his aim. The Doctor grabbed Kravaal's discarded gun as the Cyberleader threw Krogh from him. The Captain slid down a wall, stunned.
The Doctor fired, point blank at the Cyberleader. His chest unit exploded in a shower of sparks. The Cyberleader screamed, dropped his gun and sank to his knees.
"For Adric!" the Doctor said and fired twice more into the Cyberleader.
A terribly moan of agony, an explosion of milky internal fluid from it's mouthpiece, a final jerking spasm and the Cyberleader expired. Thick, green liquid poured from it's gaping wounds.
The Doctor looked at the dazed Krogh. Satisfied that he would live, the Doctor rushed upstairs and dived into his TARDIS. He breathed a sigh of relief as he set the TARDIS in flight.
"Damn you Siralos!" the Master raged. "Are you not my puppet? The Doctor was supposed to die in the sudden explosion!"
The furious renegade concentrated his mind.
"Siralos, you are mine, your will is subjugated - OBEY ME!" The Master relaxed and smiled.
"Very well, Siralos, I have allowed you a momentary glimpse of rebellion, now - serve me!"
The Doctor had collapsed onto the floor. He had just saved Peri. He wasn't sure if he would be able to regenerate. He saw the faces of old companions, urging him to survive. Then the Master appeared and put thing's into perspective. He was dying from Spectrox Toxaemia.
"No, my dear Doctor, you must die! Die, Doctor, Die!"
The Master held up the cube containing the fifth Doctor.
"Thank you Siralos!" the Master chuckled. "At last Doctor, I have beaten you completely!"
The Master placed the cube with all the others. "Now that you are encapsulated in all your regenerations forever, Doctor, the universe is mine for taking!"
Nothing could stop the Master now.
The Doctor was defeated.
Trapped in limbo, the eighth Doctor felt the disappearance of his fifth and final free incarnation. The Master had won. It couldn't end like this! Could it?
"Nooooo!"
