Doctor Who: The Visitation Read Online Free PDF Page B

owner reached the top of the staircase.
     
    It was the android, beautiful and deadly, who had killed Sir John and his two children.
    He paused for a moment, then clipped on a mask and raised the hood of his cloak.
    Slowly he descended the stairs.
     
     
    Cautiously, the Doctor and his party made their way along the passage, checking doors as they went, but with little success. They were all locked.
     
    'What's that smell?' said Adric.
     
    'Soliton gas.'
     
    'I thought I recognised it,' said Nyssa.
     
    Tegan coughed. 'Who'd want this sort of atmosphere? It's stifling.'
     
    'Someone who needs it to breathe properly,' said the Doctor, trying the last door in the passage. The handle gave. 'This could be it.'
     
    Carefully he inched the door open and purple light spilled into the passageway. The Doctor peered round the door and down into a cellar. No one was there. Slowly he allowed the door to swing open to its widest point.
     
    Cautiously he entered, and descended the steps.
     
    Tegan followed. 'It's spooky,' she said.
     
     
    In the purple gloom, hundreds of tiny cages could be seen stacked along one of the walls. At the far end of the cellar was an enormous rack containing dozens of bottles of wine. The others fol owed and started to explore the cel ar.
     
    'Doctor,' called Nyssa. She was standing in front of a green cylinder that was silently pulsating. 'It's the Soliton gas machine.'
     
    With hand on pistol, Mace edged his way towards the wine rack. 'How is this place lit?'
     
    'Vintaric crystals,' said the Doctor, joining Nyssa by the gas machine.
     
    'It's quite a common form of lighting.'
     
    'Really,' the actor grunted, unconvinced. The sight of so much wine was proving too difficult to resist. A bottle or two would help pull everything back into a more realistic perspective, he thought. With loving care, Mace withdrew a bottle from the rack.
    'Nectar,' he whispered joyously.
     
    Adric watched him. 'What does that stuff taste like?'
     
    'Ambrosia!'
     
    Adric thought for a moment. 'And what does that taste like?'
     
    Mace scowled. Foolish boy, he thought.
     
    While the Doctor and Nyssa continued their inspection of the Soliton machine, Tegan wandered about the cellar. As she drew near to the tiny cages, she heard squeaking.
    'Doctor,' she said. 'These cages are full of rats.'
     
    'Don't touch anything,' said the Doctor as he walked over to look.
     
    Tegan screwed up her face in disgust. 'You must be joking. I feel itchy just looking at them.'
     
    Silently and unnoticed, the android descended the stairs, wearing the mask of a grotesque death's-head. Draped in his heavy black cloak, all that it required was a scythe to complete the impersonation of Death, the Great Reaper.
     
    Tegan moved away from the cages to the wine rack, where Richard Mace was struggling to remove the cork from a bottle. As she approached, he turned, proudly displaying his prize, his face covered with a large, silly grin.
     
    Tegan chuckled. 'Don't get too drunk.'
     
     
    Mace didn't reply. Instead his expression turned to one of horror as he saw the black shape over Tegan's shoulder. Tegan turned to see what had scared him, while the actor started to scream.
     
    'Don't!' the Doctor shouted, seeing Mace draw his pistols. But he was too late. The loud report of the discharged pistols echoed around the room.
     
    The android, undamaged, lifted his hand as though to point. Blind with fear, Mace fled across the cellar and up the steps.
     
    The android turned, his direction and range-finder locked onto the fleeing actor. Just as he fired, Adric leapt onto the android's back, causing the beam of energy to miss its target, but it hit Tegan instead, who immediately collapsed.
     
    'Nyssa, run!' shouted the Doctor.
     
    Confused and uncertain, she hesitated to move. 'What about you?'
     
    'Just get out of here!'
     
    Nyssa ran to the steps while a struggling Adric was effortlessly flicked from the android's back. The boy screamed as