Текст книги "Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child"

Автор книги: Terrance Dicks

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Horg shook his head in puzzlement. 'Where is Old Mother?

Has she gone with them too?'

'She sits silent in the cave of skulls,' said Kal. 'I saw her there, but she would not move or speak.' Horg led the way to the cave of skulls and they all crowded inside.

Old Mother sat cross-legged, staring into space, leaning against a pyramid of skulls.

'She will tell you what happened,' said Kal. 'Ask her.'

Horg reached out and touched Old Mother on the shoulder.

She tipped over sideways, and fell stiffly to the ground. 'She is dead.'

In a loud, compelling voice Kal said, 'My eyes tell me what happened here. I see pictures as I do when I sleep. Za and Hur came here to free the strangers, so that they could steal the secret of fire for themselves. Old Mother tried to stop them, and Za killed her. Za has gone with them. He is taking them back to their own tree in return for the secret.'

Horg said slowly, 'The old woman is dead. Za and the strangers are gone. It must have been as your eyes saw it.'

'I am your leader now,' shouted Kal. 'Follow me, and I will lead you to the strangers!'

It was Susan who reached the edge of the forest first. Pushing her way through a screen of bushes, she peered out onto the darkened plain and shouted, 'There! Over there! I can see the TARDIS!'

The others plodded slowly after her along the path. Carrying the weight of Za had slowed them down to a crawl. Frequent rests had been necessary, and it had taken them an incredibly long time to reach the edge of the forest. But they were here at last, and safety was in sight.

'Come on, Doctor,' shouted Ian. 'We're nearly there, just one final effort.'

'Yes, yes, very well,' grumbled the Doctor.

'Barbara, you and Susan hold back the bushes so we can get the stretcher through,' said Ian.

Barbara and Susan pulled the screen of bushes aside, and Ian led the way through the gap with the stretcher. As he came out onto the plain, he could make out the square blue shape of the TARDIS

just ahead.

Suddenly, to his horror, he saw a number of burly, skin-clad figures emerge from behind the TARDIS and advance towards them.

'Back!' shouted Ian. He retreated clumsily back into the forest, hampered by the stretcher, swung round and saw another group of tribesmen blocking the path.

The leader had a short jutting beard, and there was a stone knife in his hand.

They were trapped.

10

Captured

The Tribe was holding a council.

The four recaptured prisoners stood before Horg and the rest of the Tribe, guarded by a circle of warriors, led by Kal. Za was there too, still on his improvised stretcher, which had been placed on the ground before the flat-topped rock. Hur knelt anxiously beside him.

A kind of trial was taking place, with Kal accusing Za, and justifying his own actions to the Tribe.

The Doctor and the others watched carefully, realising that their own fates were probably at stake as well.

Kal was concluding his story. 'Za and the woman were going with the strangers – with our enemies! I led the others and we stopped them, brought them back here.'

'The strangers are not our enemies,' said Hur. 'They saved Za from death when the tiger attacked him by the stream.'

'Hear the woman speak for the strangers,' sneered Kal. 'She and Za let them out of the cave of skulls, and fled with them.'

'You lie,' shouted Hur. 'Old Mother set them free.'

'Is Za so weak that his woman must speak for him?'

'I say it was Old Mother! She showed them another way from the cave of skulls. She will tell you!'

'The old woman speaks no more,' said Kal. 'She does not say she did this, or did that. Old Mother is dead. Za killed her.'

Kal stooped and snatched the stone knife from beneath Za's skins. 'See! Here is the knife Za killed her with!'

There was a rumble of anger from the Tribe.

Suddenly, the Doctor spoke, his voice loud and commanding.

'The knife has no blood on it.'

Everyone stared at the knife. As the Doctor had said, the stone blade was clean.

Kal looked down at the knife in his hand. 'It is a bad knife! It does not show the things it has done.'

The Doctor laughed scornfully. 'It is a finer knife than yours.'

Kal hurled the knife to the ground. 'I say it is a bad knife.'

The Doctor pointed to the knife where it lay on the ground. 'I say this is a fine knife. It can cut and it can stab. It is a knife for a chief. I have never seen a better knife than this.'

'I will show you one!' Kal snatched out his own knife and held it out. It was a fine knife indeed – and the blade was caked with dried blood.

The Doctor's voice rang out. 'Your knife shows the things that it has done. Your knife has blood on it! Who killed the old woman?'

Za raised himself on one elbow. 'I did not kill her.' He struggled to his feet, and stood swaying to and fro a moment. 'Kal killed her!'

'The old woman set the strangers free,' screamed Kal. 'She showed the the way to leave the cave of skulls without moving the great stone. I, Kal, killed her!'

The Doctor stepped forward, spreading out his hands. In some extraordinary way he was dominating the whole savage gathering. 'Is this your strong leader? One who kills your old women in his fury?

He is a bad leader. He will kill you all when he is angry.' He leaned across to Ian and spoke in his normal voice. 'Follow my example, young man!'

The Doctor bent and picked up a stone and hurled it at Kal.

'Drive him out!'

Kal gave a roar of anger, and brandished his knife.

Ian, too, grabbed a stone and flung it at Kal.

'Yes, drive him out. He kills old women!'

Hur snatched up a stone and threw it. 'Kal is evil! Drive him out!'

Reeling a little, Za bent and picked up a stone. 'Drive him out!'

Suddenly, everyone was picking up stones and throwing them.

Kal stood helplessly for a moment in the hail of missiles, and then turned and fled into the darkness.

'Well done, Doctor,' whispered Barbara.

The Doctor gave her a self-satisfied smirk. 'Child's play, my dear. These people are just as susceptible to mass hysteria as the people of your own time.'

The victory over Kal seemed to have given Za back his strength. 'Kal is no longer of this Tribe,' he shouted. 'We will watch for him. If he comes back we will kill him.'

Hur said anxiously, 'Kal is strong, and you are weak from your wounds. He will kill you if he can.'

'Remember,' said Ian. 'Kal is not stronger than the whole Tribe.'

Za looked hard at Ian, as if struggling to understand the new idea. At last he nodded, pleased. 'We will all fight Kal, if he comes back.' Za pointed to one of the young warriors. 'You will watch for him!'

The warrior nodded and moved away from the cave, looking in the direction in which Kal had fled.

His authority restored, Za turned to the other warriors. 'Return the prisoners to the cave of skulls.'

Ian sprang forward. 'No, Za. I am your friend. Take us to the place where Kal found us, and I will make fire for you.'

Za ignored him, selecting other Tribesmen. 'We shall use the great stone to close the cave again, and you will stand by another place that I will show you.' He raised his voice. 'Take them away!'

Tribesmen descended on the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara, gripping their arms.

'Don't struggle,' called the Doctor. Rather unnecessarily, thought Ian, since struggle against their brutish captors would have been quite useless.

They were dragged away.

Za watched them thrust into the cave and saw the stone rolled tight against the entrance. He turned to a warrior and led him to a clump of bushes not far from the cave. 'The other way out of the cave leads here. If you see them come out – kill them.'

In the cave of skulls, the Doctor and his companions stood looking around them in despair. A hazardous escape, a long and dangerous journey, and now they were back where they had started, in this terrible cave with its piles of rotting skulls and its cloying stench of death.

Barbara saw the body of Old Mother at the back of the cave and gave a scream of horror. 'This place is evil,' she sobbed. 'Evil!'

'At least they haven't tied our hands this time. Well, Doctor, what do we do now? Got any bright ideas?'

The Doctor stood lost in thought, rubbing his chin. He looked up. 'As a matter of fact, young man – I have!'

Za and Hur were talking, standing by the flat stone in front of the great cave. Za was almost himself again by now. The claw marks on his arm and shoulder had stopped bleeding, and he was able to ignore them. His mind was full of questions.

'Tell me what happened after I fought with the beast in the forest.'

'You were stronger than the beast,' said Hur proudly. 'It took away your axe-head in its side. You lay on the earth, covered with the blood of the beast. I thought you were dead.'

'And the strangers? Tell me what they did!'

'The young man of their tribe came towards you. He did not kill you. He told me his name.'

'His name?'

'He said his name was Friend.'

'They must have come from the other side of the mountains,'

said Za thoughtfully.

'But nothing lives there.'

'So we thought. But I see that we were wrong. This new tribe comes from there. Tell me more of what happened. Tell me what the strangers did next.'

Hur frowned, struggling to remember. 'I did not understand them, Za. They moved slowly, and their faces were not fierce. They cared for your wounds, and carried you on their skins, as a mother carries her baby. Why did they not kill us, Za? We were their enemies. We made them captive.'

Za shrugged helplessly. 'They are a new tribe. They are not like us. Not like Kal's tribe either. Their minds hold strange thoughts.

The young one, the one called Friend, spoke strange words to us.'

'I do not remember.'

Za frowned with the effort of recollection. 'He said, "Kal is not stronger than the whole Tribe."'

'I do not understand.'

'It is a new thought,' said Za. 'But I understand. Except for me, Kal is the strongest warrior in the whole Tribe. And I was weak. But the whole Tribe drove Kal away with the stones. Even the old men and women, even the children, were stronger than Kal, together.'

Za wrestled with this new concept of co-operation. 'The whole Tribe can gather more fruit than one. The whole Tribe can kill the beasts in the forest, where just one hunter would die.'

'Their minds are not like ours,' agreed Hur. 'Perhaps they come from Orb. That is what the old men are saying. They say we must return them to Orb in sacrifice.'

'No, they come from a tribe across the mountains. They can make fire, but they do not want to tell us, because our Tribe would become as strong as theirs.'

'What will you do with the strangers, Za? Will you kill them?'

Za shook his head. 'Your father, Horg, says that the leader must know how to make fire. I do not wish to be driven into the forest, like Kal. I must learn to make fire. The strangers must teach me. Otherwise they will die.'

Za strode up and down for a moment, and then turned to Hur. 'I am going to speak with the strangers again.'

'Will you ask them to show you how to make fire?'

Za nodded. 'I shall ask them many things. I shall learn from their new thoughts. I want to hear more things that I can remember.'

He looked solemnly at Hur. 'A leader has many things to remember!'

Using his authority as leader, Za snatched an axe from the nearest Tribesman, and headed for the cave.

In the cave of skulls, Ian, working under the Doctor's instructions, was making a kind of bow with one of his shoe-laces and a bendy piece of wood, one of the branches at the back of the cave. A long thin piece of wood, like an arrow, was wrapped in the middle of the shoe-lace.

'I hope this works, Doctor,' said Ian. 'Sure you wouldn't like to have a go?'

'No, no, young man. I merely provided the theory. The practice calls for strong wrists and unending patience, and I have neither.'

Barbara looked at the apparatus in some puzzlement. 'I still don't see how you think you're going to make fire with some kind of toy bow and arrow.'

'Easy to see you're not a science teacher,' said Ian. 'Energy into heat, remember. The idea is, I rotate the arrow bit against a chunk of dry wood, very fast and for a very long time. All my hard work gets converted into heat – and with any luck, into fire.'

'I see. The proverbial rubbing two sticks together?'

'That's right. Any boy scout is supposed to be able to do it. I only hope I can!'

Susan appeared with a flat round stone with a hollow depression in the middle – a kind of natural bowl. 'Is this the sort of thing you want?'

'That'll do fine.'

'You'll need something very dry and tindery,' said Barbara.

'Dead leaves and old grass should do it.' She found a supply of both at the back of the cave. Carefully avoiding Old Mother's body, she carried them back.

'Good,' said Ian. 'Now, I put this bit of dry wood in the bowl, we pack the dry leaves and grass around it... so... and away we go!'

Ian stood the arrow in the bowl, point downwards, and held it in position with another piece of wood in his left hand. By moving the bow in his right hand backwards and forwards, he began turning the point of the arrow round and round on the flat piece of wood. He worked away steadily, and soon the point had formed a kind of groove. Round and round, moved the arrow on the piece of wood, but there was no sign of fire...

'It's no use you all standing over me,' said Ian irritably. 'It isn't going to burst into flames straight away you know. It'll probably take all night!'

Za marched up to the sentry he had left outside the second exit from the cave. 'I go in to speak with the strange tribe. If anyone but me comes out, you will kill them.'

The tribesman nodded and Za went into the tunnel.

In the hillside immediately above the exit, there was a ledge of rock. On it lay Kal. His eyes were blazing with hatred, and the stone knife was gripped tightly in his hand.

He looked hungrily down at the unsuspecting sentry – all that stood between him and his revenge.

11

The Firemaker

Despite Ian's protests, the others were still standing round him watching his efforts. As Barbara had remarked, there wasn't really a great deal else to do in the cave, and since all their lives depended on his efforts, they could scarcely be blamed for taking an interest.

'I think I can smell something,' said Susan suddenly.

'So can I,' agreed Barbara. 'A sort of scorching...'

'You're doing it!' said Susan excitedly. 'It's going to work!'

Ian's forehead was dripping with sweat, and his wrists felt as if they were on fire themselves. 'Not yet,' he grunted. 'Long way... to go... yet.'

Suddenly Za appeared from the back of the cave. 'What is this?

What are you doing?'

'We are making fire,' said the Doctor impressively.

('I like the "we",' thought Ian mutinously. 'Who's doing all the work?')

Za looked down at Ian. 'Friend?'

Ian looked up, stopping his work in surprise. 'What?'

'Don't stop,' said the Doctor quickly. Hurriedly, Ian went on with his unending twirling of the stick.

'Hur said you called yourself Friend,' said Za. 'I am Za. I am leader. Are you the leader of this tribe?'

Still working, Ian glanced up at the Doctor, who was staring loftily into space.

Ian nodded towards the Doctor. 'No. He is our leader.'

'What are you going to do with us?' asked Susan anxiously.

'Are you going to set us free?'

Za looked thoughtfully at them. 'The old men of the Tribe have been talking. They say you are from Orb, the sun. They say that when you are returned to him we shall have fire again.'

'Returned? How?' asked the Doctor sharply.

'Sacrificed – on the stone of death, outside the great cave. The old men say your deaths will bring back fire.'

'But that's not true,' said Barbara horrified. 'If you kill us, you'll never have fire.'

'That is what I think,' said Za. 'I think you are a new tribe from the other side of the mountain. Show me how to make fire and I will take you back.' Za paused. 'If you do not show me how to make fire soon, I do not think I will be able to stop your dying on the stone of death.'

Ian had been toiling away all this time. Suddenly, he shouted,

'It's working. I really think it's beginning to work!'

Everyone crowded round. A tiny wisp of smoke was rising from the dried grass around the flat piece of wood. 'Put some more dry grass and leaves there, Barbara. Gently though, don't smother it.'

Susan and Barbara crouched beside him, watching eagerly.

The Doctor stared imperiously at Za. 'Do you understand what we are doing? We are making fire for you.'

'I am watching.'

'The whole Tribe should be watching,' said Ian. 'Then everybody would know how to make fire.'

'Only the leader makes fire,' growled Za. 'Everybody cannot be the leader.'

'True enough – but in our tribe the firemaker is the least important man.'

'I do not believe this.'

'Oh yes,' said the Doctor loftily. 'He is the least important because in our tribe we can all make fire.'

Susan put her lips to Barbara's ear. 'I hope he doesn't make grandfather prove that!'

There was a sudden shout from Ian. 'Susan, Barbara! Blow gently just here!'

They knelt beside him and began blowing on the smouldering grass. 'Not too much,' warned Ian. 'That's right. It's glowing. There are embers there. Give me some more grass, Susan.'

By now a thin column of smoke was rising from the grass.

Suddenly there was a crackling. A flame leaped up, and then another...

Ian threw aside the bow and began feeding the tiny blaze with grass and twigs. The flames grew higher, higher, until a little fire was burning on the stone.

'You've done it,' shouted Susan excitedly. 'Ian, you've done it!'

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.

Barbara patted him on the back. 'Congratulations, Ian. Well done!'

Only the Doctor did not speak. He was watching Za.

Za was gazing into the flames in utter fascination.

'Fire!' he murmured. 'Fire is back!'

Horg and the elders and the rest of the warriors were gathered around the flat-topped stone of sacrifice, talking in low voices. 'Za has been long in the cave of skulls,' said one of the warriors. 'Soon Orb will rise in the sky.'

'Za talks to the strangers,' said Hur. 'He is learning their secrets.'

'When Orb touches the stone he must bring them out,' said another. 'We shall spill their blood on the stone of sacrifice.'

'And so we wait,' grumbled Horg. 'Za talks – and we have no meat, no fruits from the trees, no roots. Za is no leader.'

'If Za could hear you speak, he would kill you,' said Hur angrily.' You would lie on the old stone till your blood runs out.'

'Perhaps Za is letting the strangers go,' said Horg suspiciously.

'Perhaps he is setting them free, as Old Mother did.'

'It is a lie,' shouted Hur. 'Za sent a warrior to watch over the cave. He told him to kill the strangers if they came out.'

But the muttering went on. Hur, listened, worried. Unless Za acted soon, the Tribe would turn on him and destroy him.

The sentry outside the cave was not a very alert guard. Like all Za's people, he lacked the discipline for any prolonged task. Besides, what was the point of guarding the strangers when Za was with them?

Kal dropped from the rock above, soft-footed like a great cat, and took the guard around the throat from behind.

For a moment they stood locked in silent struggle, Kal's muscles swelling with the effort. Then the guard fell dead to the ground.

Kal drew his knife, and slipped into the tunnel that led to the cave of skulls.

The little blaze had been built up into a proper fire, blazing merrily in the centre of the cave. His brow furrowed, Za listened as Ian explained the working of the fire-bow.

The leaping flames cast giant shadows on the wall – and suddenly Susan realised that one of the shadows was not their own.

A sixth shadow, huge and menacing, loomed high on the cave wall.

'Look!' screamed Susan.

They turned and saw Kal, knife in hand, advancing from the back of the cave.

Za snatched up his axe, and went to meet him.

For a moment they circled around the fire, eyeing each other, and then simultaneously, both sprang to the attack. It was a savage, brutal fight – all the more savage because soon both men lost their weapons. A lucky blow from Za's axe shattered Kal's knife to fragments. As Za raised the axe to strike, Kal sprang in beneath it, grappling with him. For a moment they struggled for possession of the axe. Suddenly Kal twisted it from Za's grasp, losing hold of it himself in the process. The axe clattered to the floor, and from then on the two men fought like wild animals with teeth and claws.

Susan buried her head on Barbara's shoulder and both looked away. Ian watched the fight with horrified fascination. The Doctor looked on dispassionately, following the progress of the battle like some Roman emperor watching two gladiators in the arena.

For some time it was hard to tell who was gaining the upper hand. Za was bulkier and stronger, but Kal was quicker and lithe as a cat. Time and time again, he twisted free from Za's hold. But Za's greater strength gave him victory in the end. Catching Kal in a terrible grip, he hurled him bodily to the ground. As Kal lay there half-stunned, Za snatched up a great rock and brought it smashing down...

Now there was one more shattered skull in the cave of skulls.

Outside the cave, the Tribe was growing impatient. As the first rays of the sun struck the stone of sacrifice, Horg gave an angry roar.

'Orb is above us, and still there is no fire. Orb waits for his sacrifice!

Call Za! Tell him to bring the strangers from out of the cave of skulls! If he does not we will sacrifice him with them!'

Za dragged Kal's body to the back of the cave, picked up his axe, and came slowly back to the fire. There was blood on his hands.

'Kal is dead now. I am leader – and we have fire!'

Suddenly there came the sound of angry shouts from outside the cave.

'Za! Za! Bring out the strangers! The strangers must be sacrificed to Orb!'

'Za! Za! Za!'

The chanting grew louder, angrier.

Ian took a long stick and lit the end in the fire. He handed it to Za. 'Here! Show this to your tribe!'

Za took the blazing branch. 'You will wait here.'

'We'll come out with you.'

'No. You will wait here!'

Holding the blazing branch high above him, Za went through the tunnel.

Angrily Ian watched him go. 'Why can't we go with him?'

'It might be safer in here,' said the Doctor. 'Let him go, Chesterton, let him go. Let him show the Tribe fire, establish his leadership. Then he'll set us free.'

The chanting came to an instant halt when Za marched out of the cave bearing his blazing torch.

He advanced on the circle of warriors, and they shrank fearfully back. Za held out the torch. 'Fire!'

Horg stretched out his hand to the flames, and nodded reverently.

Za looked challengingly around the circle. 'Kal is dead. I give you fire. I am the leader.'

Horg bowed his head. 'Yes. You are the leader.'

'We shall give food and water to the new tribe in the cave of skulls,' ordered Za.

'There is no meat.'

Za looked at the rising sun. 'I shall go into the forest and bring back meat.'

Horg licked his lips hungrily. 'Yes. I remember how well the meat and the fire join together.'

'We shall join them again. Guard the new tribe well. They must be here when I get back. The rest of you gather wood. We shall keep the fire alive in the great cave.'

Za handed the blazing branch to Horg, and headed for the forest.

Hur watched him go, her eyes shining with pride. 'Bring fruit and water,' she ordered. 'I must feed the new tribe – as Za, the leader, commands.'

Inside the cave of skulls, the wait seemed endless. 'It didn't work,' said Ian. 'He's going to keep us here.'

'Someone's coming,' called Susan.

Hur came into the cave carrying fruit wrapped in a piece of skin.

'Look, what's going on?' demanded Ian. 'Why are we being kept here?'

Hur put the fruit down by the fire. 'Za has gone into the forest to hunt. Later there will be meat for you.'

'Why can't we go outside?' asked Barbara. 'Please let us go out,' pleaded Susan. 'It's terrible in here.'

'Za has ordered that you stay. Za is the leader.'

'But we helped you! We even gave you fire.'

'Yes, we have fire now,' said Hur flatly.

Hur started to move away, but Barbara caught her by the arm.

'How long have we got to stay in here? How long must we stay with you?'

'Forever,' said Hur simply. Pulling herself free, she turned and left the cave.

'We have fire now,' mimicked Ian bitterly. 'Yes, and I was the one who gave it to them – like a fool. I should have waited, bargained with them...'

'Don't worry, my boy, you did the right thing,' said the Doctor.

'The only possible thing.'

Barbara nodded. 'At least we're still alive. We'd have been sacrificed by now if we hadn't given them fire.'

Susan looked round the gloomy cave. The light from the little fire played eerily on the shattered skulls.

'Forever,' she whispered. 'You heard what she said. They're going to keep us here forever...'

12