Chapter Eight
"Doctor, Doctor are you alright?" came a voice from high above him, The Doctor had no idea where he was, slowly he opened his eyes and saw the dark skinned face of The Skymaster. He tried to sit up "Take it easy" said The Skymaster. "You just appeared on the bridge. We've brought you to the infirmary. How are you feeling?"
The Doctor felt like he had just been run over by a bus "I'm ok" he lied "Just a little shaken, I need to get back to G.I.N. HQ"
"How is he?" The Skymaster asked and The Doctor noticed a very pretty woman was standing behind him, with her blonde hair and clear blue eyes she reminded The Doctor of the avatar he ahd seen on the X10 screen she too was dressed in Skybase uniform but with a red cross at the top of her sleeves. "This is Skymedic Cherry. Our chief Medical Officer, how is he?"
"A bit starved of rest, but he has travelled through a teleport between a spaceship and a planet. But I think he is alright to get to G.I.N. HQ."
"Right Doctor I'll take you to the panel you rigged last time you were here." The Skymaster said and walked The Doctor out of the infirmary.
"We can't open it Commander" Miss Barrett said "No key we possess will open it."
"Use a laser and blast it open" Lyons said angrily
"That could damage the dialect instruments inside" Miss Barrett replied
"Not to mention scratching the paintwork" came a voice from behind
Lyons turned to see The Doctor standing behind him "Doctor" he said "You're alive"
"Alive, breathing and keep your thieving hands of my machine" he said sternly.
Just then Miss Barett's computer began screeching, she leant over and switched if off. "That was the tracker, Commander must have come back online."
"Well Doctor, what happened" Lyons asked
"Too much" The Doctor replied "To begin with Harvey McKenzie isn't the one main opposition. But I need you Jemima to find out some main factors."
"Yes Doctor" Miss Barrett said
"Find out if any company owned the Tenworth Factory prior to Skylight Electronics. If so find a staff rota and see if there was someone called 'Professor Ormerod' and see what they were working on?"
Miss Barrett nodded "Commander" The Doctor said "Can we go to your office to discuss our next course of action."
Inside Commander Lyons' office The Doctor explained the whole story. I took the best part of an hour. Finally Lyons replied "I see, so it's this. What did you say it was called?"
"X10" The Doctor corrected "Well McKenzie showed me some simple step-by-step guide to helping people install new software, but from I heard it seems to be something more. McKenzie was talking about X10 like it's some sort of computer that can think."
"A computer, that can think" Commander Lyons replied "The impossible."
The Doctor shook his head "No Commander, is it Stupid? Yes. Is it Unethical? Definitely, but Impossible no. I fear that it's something so dangerous it could threaten the entire planet. McKenzie's technical mind is completely inferior when compared to whatever it is we are facing."
Just then there was a knock on the door and Miss Barrett entered "Commander" she said "I have the information That The Doctor required" she asked
"Ah Jemima thank you very much." Miss Barrett had a large brown folder in her hands which she passed to The Doctor. "Now tell me" The Doctor began "Are you one of those people who manage to remember everything you found out?"
"Yes" Miss Barrett replied "Standard G.I.N. training."
"Right" The Doctor responded "Well tell me everything you found about the Tenworth Factory."
"The Factory building was built in the late 1930s" Miss Barrett Began "With the rising threat of war, it was made into a munitions plant making everything from bullets to bombs. Even after World War II it continued making weapons up until the mid-50s when the M.O.D. decommissioned it."
"The Cold war was mainly between the US and the USSR" added Lyons "Britain was still on guard but we didn't have stupid amounts of weapons stock piled like Americans did. Many old war buildings were decommissioned and sold to civilian property developers"
"I see" The Doctor said with a tone of thoughtfulness in his voice "Carry On" he added to Miss Barrett
"In 1965" she continued "The building was sold to a company called 'TCC' the Tenworth Computer Company. They planned to create mass produced computers and create the computer market."
"That can't be write" The Doctor said "The personal computer wouldn't be mass produced till 1981"
"It just says they attempted, doesn't say if they succeeded." Miss Barrett added "from 67 to72, TCC was quite prosperous making components for other main electrical devices, but not mass producing anything. However by 1975 profits began to dwindle and TCC went into liquidation in April 1981. Then something strange happened."
"Strange in what way?" asked Lyons
"Between May 1981 and January 1982 A large majority of US soldiers appeared at the Tenworth Factory. American GI's with guns and jeeps, there were also several Japanese Dignitaries main technical minds from some of the biggest companies in the world. They sieged the factory and explored it from top to bottom."
"Any Idea who sent them?" Lyons questioned
"According one eye witness the letter 'FBI' were written on one of the jeeps"
"I wonder what they were looking for?" The Doctor asked "Why would the FBI be interested in a computer factory in North Yorkshire"
"Typical Americans" Lyons said with a hint of frustration in his voice. "They don't seem to understand the art of international security is to see and not be seen. Anyway I have an idea. I'll get a satellite link to Washington The head of A.A.I.A is one Colonel Christopher Dettelbach. He should know."
"When did McKenzie take over?" The Doctor asked
"2000" Miss Barrett replied "and they have occupied the property ever since. But there was an odd thing that happened in 1992. Three twelve boys camping on the moor noticed strange flickering lights from inside the deserted factory buildings and strange noises. They claim it sounded the buzzing of electricity or the whirr of machines. But that was not possible as no-one had entered the factory complex for over a year."
"Did they report their findings?" The Doctor asked
"Yeah local police station but nothing was done. As for your next question" Miss Barrett added "I found a record of all staff at TCC. One of which was Professor Hector Ormerod. Who was one of the most senior technicians? Ormerod said with TCC until the end, now runs a sheep farm in the Australian outback. Has broken away from the world of technology only has a simple landline telephone no computer, television nothing"
"No chance of us getting him back" The Doctor sighed
"Au contra" Lyons said "I'll ring Whitehall and they'll get the British Embassy and they'll get him here of a satellite link. Will take a few hours. I suggest you go to Kings Cross Station and get a train up to Tenworth."
"With due respect Commander I have a better way." The Doctor interrupted and his broke into a smile.