Doctor Who: The Rescue Read Online Free PDF Page A

gripped Ian’s hand tightly. ‘Yes, we did.’ She struggled to sound casual, but her voice quavered. ‘We realise it must sound fantastic, but we have no reason to lie to you.’
    Ian gave her hand a congratulatory squeeze.
    The alien creature half-turned towards the cave, as if to consider their explanation. Then it swung back to face them. ‘Are you the only personnel, or are there others?’
    ‘Yes, there’s the Doctor,’ Ian blurted out before Barbara could stop him.
    The monster’s head jerked with sudden interest. ‘A doctor?’
    Ian gave Barbara an apologetic look. ‘Yes, he’s in the TARDIS,’ he added shamefacedly.
    The creature nodded slowly. ‘I must meet this doctor,’ it rasped. ‘I will conduct you all to our citadel.’ It gestured towards the tunnel with a scything motion of its claw.
    Barbara and Ian knew they had no choice. Short of hurling themselves over the cliff there was no escape. After a mutual smile of encouragement, they stepped forward obediently.
    But the creature raised a talon, barring Barbara’s path.
    ‘Not you!’ it rasped. ‘You remain here.’
    Swallowing her fear, Barbara bravely retreated a step.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ Ian told her out of the side of his mouth.
    ‘I shan’t be long.’ Patting her arm, he edged past the grotesquely gesticulating creature and entered the tunnel.
    But instead of escorting Ian into the cave, the hideous spectre began to advance on Barbara. She backed away towards the precipice, mesmerised by the flaring red eyes.
    ‘What is the matter?’ the thing demanded harshly.
    ‘What are you afraid of?’
    Barbara hoped against hope that Ian would have the sense to rush into the cavern and warn the Doctor while the monster was distracted. ‘Keep away from me!’ she gasped, edging ever closer to the gaping drop behind her.
    ‘I am a friend,’ the thing assured her. ‘You can trust me.’
    ‘Can I?’ Barbara whimpered in desperation, craning to see if Ian had done as she hoped he would. There was no sign of him in the tunnel entrance.
    She was just about to attempt to dive past the grasping talons and make a bid to reach the tunnel herself when the creature suddenly reached out and seized her arm.
    Shrieking with terror, Barbara struggled to get free, but the sharp claws cut into her flesh. She recoiled in disgust as she felt the hot stale breath on her face. Relentlessly she was propelled backwards ever closer to the precipice, her assailant’s pustular antennae quivering only centimetres from her cheeks. Powerless to resist, she felt the crumbling lip of the ledge under her heels and the next moment she was flung off the cliff with a savage sweep of the creature’s powerful arm. She fell headlong down the steep scree, her dying scream echoing briefly among the ruins far below.
    The creature goggled over the precipice at its brutal handiwork for a moment. Then it turned towards the tunnel entrance with a vicious hiss of satisfaction, raising in its claws a kind of rectangular club about seventy centimetres long. The weapon’s head consisted of a ring of lenses and at the thinner end there was a small control grip with trigger and primer buttons and a liquid crystal sight.
    Despite its awkward pincers, the creature seemed able to manipulate the delicate adjustments quite successfully. It directed the lens head at the tunnel mouth and took careful aim with one globular red eye.
    The Doctor peered intently at the translucent chunk of rock Ian had given him, his eye hugely enlarged in the lens of the old-fashioned brass-handled magnifying glass. From time to time he consulted a dog-eared notebook on the control pedestal beside him, nodding and muttering to himself as he compared the specimen with the data scrawled untidily in the book. Eventually he shook his head in frustration at the barely decipherable notes.
    Plonking the magnifying glass on the control panel, he delved into his coat pocket and unearthed a pair of halfmoon spectacles. He