7.
"Doctor, get down!" screamed Katherine from across the laboratory, but the Doctor just smiled reassuringly at her and held up his trusty sonic screwdriver. As the tip glowed with an intense blue light, there was a short high pitched whine and suddenly smoke began to pour from the heads of the robots. They emitted an electronic groan and then their heads dropped forwards, all power gone from their circuits.
The Doctor grinned with delight at his own cleverness and put his sonic screwdriver back in his pocket as he approached the still smoking drones.
"What did you do?" asked Jack in amazement, standing up from behind the console.
"Simple," boasted the Doctor, waving his hand next to the drone to waft away the smoke. "I told you that their cores had been reprogrammed remotely by a link. I just set up a resonance pattern at the same frequency. The interference blew their minds – literally!"
"Then you can overcome any drones that are hostile?" asked Bergen carefully, slinging his rifle over his shoulder as he approached the Doctor and inspected the destroyed drones.
The Doctor shook his head. "No, one time trick only I'm afraid. Whoever is controlling theses things, can simply switch frequencies. I only knew this one because it was registered on the cortex I examined."
"Then we're no better off," grunted Bergen, disappointed that they didn't have a permanent weapon.
The Doctor shook his head. "Nope, I'm afraid not!"
Bergen regarded the destroyed drones and let out a breath. He looked over at Connor who just nodded grimly. "Then the intelligence we received was correct, he is responsible!" grunted Bergen
The Doctor straightened up and took off his glasses. "Who is responsible Captain?" he asked curiously.
"It's Denham of course." Bergen replied curtly.
The Doctor glanced at Jack to see if recognised the name, but Jack just shrugged and shook his head. "We've never heard of him," the Doctor grinned at Bergen, "Denham who?"
Bergen looked unbelievingly at the Doctor. "You've not heard of Joseph Denham, the computer mogul, the guy who used to run the entire EtherNet interstellar communication network?" he spluttered.
Katherine looked up at the Doctor for an explanation of the strange words. "How spacecraft communicate over interstellar distances. A bit like the Internet but with more knobs on, and less junk mail!" he said quickly before turning back to Bergen and shook his head. "No, can't say I have. Famous is he?"
8.
Corporal Connor looked between the Doctor, Jack and Katherine and shook his head in disbelief. "I don't get it! Where have you guys been living all these years?"
The Doctor made a face. "Oh, around and about, you know; Renaissance France, here and there."
Bergen was about to deliver a cutting reply to the Doctor's foolishness when Jack interrupted him. "You said 'used' to run? Is he retired now or did he sell out or something?" he asked shrewdly.
"Hardly," Bergen grunted, "he was just found to be dabbling in some very nasty businesses in his spare time- government deals, blackmail, weaponry development, even some smuggling and gunrunning."
"He sounds like a terrible man," said Katherine, shaking her head.
"A bored rich guy, getting his kicks from bigger and bigger risks," Bergen continued. "The Alliance discovered what he was doing and took over his companies."
"So why do you think that is Denham's work?" asked the Doctor, pointing to the deactivated robots.
"Because the intelligence we received on him coming here, plus the fact that Denham ran dozens of robotic and electronics firms. He could control the drones using a remote link you found; he was a genius with robotics!" Bergen paused and looked away. "And we've got one of his former 'associates' here in prison!"
The Doctor's eyes narrowed with curiosity. "You mentioned a prison before Captain. What kind of prison?"
Bergen shook his head firmly. "No Doctor. I'm sorry, but that's top security. Even with all this, I can't divulge any more military secrets. I'd be court-martialled!"
Jack stared at Bergen in amazement. "You're kidding!" he exploded angrily. "After all that we've done?"
Katherine nodded in support. "Can't you see that the Doctor just wants to help?"
Bergen smiled ruefully. "We never did get round to checking those clearances did we! I appreciate your help, but you could be anyone. Let's just say the prisoners here are important ones!"
The Doctor just shrugged, understanding Bergen's sense of duty. The military could be so frustrating at times. "As you wish Captain," he said carefully. "But I think we should head for Control."
"I agree!" Bergen muttered, happy to drop the subject of the prison. He walked towards the open hatch and past the deactivated drones. "Come on," he said, looking into the corridor, his blaster rifle ready in his hands
The Doctor, Katherine and Jack, with Connor acting as a rear guard behind them, followed Bergen from the laboratory and back into the dark and cold corridor of the Sanctuary base.
9.
They had only gone a few metres when there was a sudden heavy mechanical clanking from a side corridor. A huge bronze android, easily two metres tall, emerged from the corridor and strode towards them. As Bergen and Connor started to raise their blasters to attack it, the android stopped and raised a massive arm that clearly carried a built-in heavy energy weapon.
A handsome man, perhaps in his late thirties and wearing a heavy fur jacket over an expensive looking suit stepped from behind the android. He had a square jaw, close cut, slicked back dark hair, and deep brown eyes. He gave a thin smile at the Doctor and the others. "So you're the irritation that needs to be eliminated?"
Bergen and Connor quickly raised their blasters. "You'll pay for this!" Bergen snarled furiously
The man raised an eyebrow and glanced at the bronze android next to him as it powered up the weaponry in the massive arm. "I don't think so Captain!" he said coldly.
Before anything else could happen, the Doctor stepped forward with a pleasant smile on his face. "I'm the Doctor. You must be Mr. Joseph Denham?" He put his hands out and gently pushed Bergen and Connor's blaster rifles so they pointed at the floor.
Denham's mouth twitched sardonically. "My reputation precedes me. Since these two idiots couldn't have managed to disrupt my remote signal in a million years, it must have been you Doctor?"
The Doctor shrugged modestly. "My reputation precedes me."
Denham actually laughed at the Doctor's reply, and the Doctor joined in before Denham's eyes grew cold again. "Drop your weapons guys," Denham whispered, "or my metallic friend Max here will kill you before you have a chance to fire a shot!"
Bergen looked like he was going to argue and test out the android's reactions but he caught the Doctor's eye and nodded to Connor. Both soldiers reluctantly placed their weapons on the floor. The android raised an arm again and a bright blue beam of energy shot out and melted the rifles into scrap.
"Alright," said the Doctor breezily, "now we're defenceless and you have us at your mercy so to speak, why don't we all sit down and have a nice cuppa?"
Denham smiled again, but his smile was cold and hard. "I'm more of a bourbon man myself Doctor, and I'm afraid I have no time for any niceties" he asked sarcastically.
"If you like, although I always feel better after a nice cuppa" continued the Doctor innocently. "Anyway, why you're here is obvious. Organising a little prison break are we Mr. Denham?"
10.
Denham's eyes flashed dangerously at the mention of the prison. "How do you know?"
The Doctor just smiled and avoided the question. "I don't think I've introduced my two friends, Jack Harkness and Katherine de Gallois?"
Denham hardly spared them a glance but spoke to the Doctor again. "It's nice to have friends Doctor. People you care about. I think you could be useful to me. They're not useful, well not directly….." He left the threat hanging in the air before turning to the android. "Max, bring them. Kill them if they attempt anything!" He turned back to the Doctor and gestured along the corridor. "Doctor, come with me," he ordered.
Smiling reassuringly at Jack and Katherine, the Doctor put his hands in his pockets as he strolled next to Denham. "Going to the Control Area are we?"
"That's right" Denham said as they walked. "You're going to open the Chamber for me."
The android waited until Jack, Katherine, Bergen and Connor had started to follow Denham and the Doctor, then turned and marched closely behind them, its impassive gaze monitoring their every move.
"Chamber?" the Doctor repeated, intrigued despite himself. He looked back to Bergen, but the Captain avoided his gaze. "Ooh, a 'Chamber of Secrets'. JK eat your heart out! This all sounds very interesting."
They walked deeper into the base and through several hatchways without any further encounter. Denham stopped suddenly at a junction with two hatches. "Max," he ordered, "put these four in here and guard them. If they attempt to escape, or if you get a signal from me, kill them, understand?"
Katherine looked imploringly at the Doctor, but he seemed to be studying Denham as if sizing him up. He noticed Katherine's look and gave her a reassuring wink and a nod.
The android obeyed Denham's order and opened one of the hatches next to it. Bergen and Connor, followed by a hostile Jack and a very nervous Katherine, went through the hatch and into a small storeroom beyond. The android stood next to the hatch, pressed another control, and the hatch rolled shut.
Denham held up a small remote device. "This is my insurance Doctor! Don't be stupid enough to think I won't use it. Now," he gestured to the other hatch, "follow me, we have work to do!"
With a last concerned look at the android and the room that contained his friends, the Doctor followed Denham through the other hatch and deeper into the base.
11.
The Doctor and Denham had walked through the base for several minutes. They had encountered another patrol of robotic drones but unlike the previous hostilities, these drones had just ignored them.
"Very impressive," murmured the Doctor as he watched them depart. "Complete control!"
Denham smiled coldly but said nothing and soon the pair had reached a large hatch in front of them. Denham tapped in a code sequence on a panel next to the hatch. It rolled open and Denham stepped through followed by the Doctor. They were in a very large circular room, at least ten metres in diameter. He and Denham stood on a metal gantry that ran around the circumference of the chamber. The Doctor walked to the edge of the gantry, gripped the handrail, and looked down into the chamber below. There were the usual and expected banks of computers, panels and screens. Several robotic drones moved around the chamber, presumably still under Denham's control. The Doctor's jaw stiffened as he noticed a neat pile of dead bodies – soldiers and scientists – that had been moved to the edge of the room where they would no longer hinder the drones.
Denham noticed the Doctor's expression of disgust and fury as he started down a metal staircase into the chamber. "It was necessary," he said coldly.
The Doctor didn't answer, but followed Denham down the stairway. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw something incredible on one wall. It looked like a huge, circular screen about five metres in diameter, but it shimmered and pulsated with a blue-green light.
"This is the Chamber," explained Denham as the pair approached it. "That's where the prisoners are kept – inside individual stasis pods."
The Doctor blew a silent whistle of appreciation and then he smiled. "And you can't get through?"
Denham's mouth twitched. "A slight oversight; the personnel here proved uncooperative and my drones weren't programmed to bargain."
The Doctor's expression hardened and he glanced back to the bodies. "So I see!"
"I could get it open, naturally," boasted Denham, "but now you're here I can save some time." He faced the Doctor directly. "Impress me. Open the Chamber and I'll let you and your friends go. If not," he held up the remote device, "I'll kill them one by one!"
12.
Jack looked around the small storeroom that they had been locked inside. It was empty apart from some bare shelves and he couldn't see anything that was immediately useful. Frustrated and angry, he slammed his fist down on one of the shelves with a yell. Although he had been locked up many times in his life, he always hated being caged.
Katherine stood on tiptoe and peered out of the small window in the hatch to see the android Max positioned outside. "That metal man is still there," she reported.
Connor stood next to her, looking over her shoulder and out through the window at Max. "He's some piece of machinery; probably an android soldier," he said with grudging admiration. "I bet he was a prototype that Denham was developing to sell to some military!"
Katherine looked at Connor uncomprehendingly. "I don't understand a word of what you say!" she sighed.
Bergen angrily paced around the small room. He knew that most, if not all, the personnel on the base had been killed by Denham and his reprogrammed drones. "Forget the technology discussion Corporal, we have to get out of here and stop Denham!" he yelled.
"Yeah, you got any bright ideas?" snapped Jack, still worried about the Doctor.
Bergen rounded on the American angrily, his fists bunching and clearly furious. "Well I don't hear you suggesting anything useful either!"
Connor leapt across the room and got between Bergen and Jack before anything further developed. "Hey guys, Captain, drop it okay?"
Bergen stared at Connor for a moment before nodding. He raised his hands to indicate that he wasn't about to lose control and just turned away. Jack, still breathing hard with adrenalin, glared at the two soldiers. But then he too took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair with frustration
Katherine could see that the urgency of the situation was getting to the three soldiers; all of whom longed for action and were worried about what was happening outside. She interrupted the tension as she walked across the room, an idea forming in her mind. "These shelves," she wondered, looking at the freestanding metal shelves that cut the storeroom into aisles. "How heavy are they?"
13.
In front of the Chamber in the control area, the Doctor regarded Denham silently. He had no doubt that the ruthless businessman would kill his friends. Unfortunately, he didn't think Denham would let them all go if he got what he wanted anyway! "Killing my friends would be a mistake," he told Denham flatly.
Denham raised the remote device. "It's a mistake I'm willing to make!"
The Doctor took a breath. Opening the Chamber would buy them some time and the Doctor was curious of what he might find inside there. Something didn't quite make sense. He started to take off his coat. "How can I refuse an offer like that?" he said dryly.
"Good," Denham replied with no trace of humour. "I have," he paused slightly, "another matter to attend to. I'll be back shortly to check on your progress." He indicated the service robots that moved around the room. "My drones will supervise you so that you don't do anything foolish." Denham produced a small communicator from his pocket and put it on a computer panel. "When you open the chamber, contact me." He turned to leave through another hatch. "If I haven't heard from you before I return, I'll signal Max to kill your friends anyway!" With a last hard look, Denham closed the hatch behind him and was gone.
The Doctor scratched the back of his head. He was bursting with questions but didn't think that Denham was the type of man to open up. There was also something about Denham that was strange, but the Doctor couldn't quite put his finger on it. He turned his attention to the Chamber and looked at it with curiosity, walking close to it and putting on his glasses.
He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed a short burst at the Chamber. The colour of the screen remained unchanged. "Nope, its deadlock sealed naturally," muttered the Doctor, putting the screwdriver back in his pocket.
Biting his lip in concentration, he tentatively reached out a hand towards it. As his hand got closer to the shimmering light, there was a sudden discharge of raw energy.
A huge blue spark leapt out and hurled the Doctor senseless to the floor.