Free Doctor Who: Timelash by Glen McCoy

he’d return.’
    Kendron made no reply, and bowed his head over the controls. Soon the faint outline of the TARDIS grew to fuller form in the main chamber as its silhouette materialised fully like a blue monolith.
    ‘He can’t do this,’ the councillor complained. ‘He gave his word, I heard him.’
    Brunner, less naïve, scowled at Kendron’s weak nature.
    ‘Say much more and you’ll be joining the Doctor and his friends in the Timelash. Now get the vortex ready. You heard our Maylin - he wants them all despatched.’
    Kendron did as he was bid and the humming of the Timelash gently took its place in the relative silence of the Inner Sanctum. Within minute it was primed to send more victims into the depths of oblivion.
     
    7

Fight or Perish
    The Doctor could hardly wait for the TARDIS doors to open, bowling out like a flash of lightning into the Inner Sanctum with Herbert hot on his heels.
    The ‘welcoming committee’ of Karfelons and guardoliers, spearheaded by the Maylin Tekker, closed ranks. Their faces of gloom contrasted with the last occasion the TARDIS had arrived. Tekker outstretched his long hand and directed his interest to the amulet in the Time Lord’s grip.
    ‘I’ll take that, Doctor.’
    Vena looked daggers at the Karfelon she and her father once trusted. ‘Who pulls your strings now, Tekker?’ she asked.
    The Doctor had other priorities. ‘Where’s Peri?’
    No direct answer was forthcoming.
    Herbert, in a world of his own, continued to make endless notes in his pocket book as if he were part of some scientific expedition.
    Tekker stood fast and wiggled the ends of his fingers.
    ‘No amulet, no Peri.’
    With a sigh of disgust the Doctor sharply ejected the amulet and chain into his adversary’s hand, then once more enquired after his companion.
    With a single curt wave from the Maylin, the room’s lighting dimmed as if all power was being diverted elsewhere. The Timelash doors gradually opened revealing a bright swirling tornado within. The Inner Sanctum doors swung open allowing Mykros, Sezon and Katz to be brought in, each neck-looped to a guardolier. Seven rebels in all faced the fate of uncertainty: the Timelash.
    The Doctor turned crimson at such treachery. ‘You gave me your word - you microcephalic apostate!’
     
    Tekker merely tendered a sickening grin of satisfaction.
    He had received precisely what he wanted, completing the Borad’s explicit instructions.
    ‘You are all to be subjected to the Timelash,’ the Maylin gloated, in a high-pitched cackle. ‘You first, Doctor. It appears the great Time Lord has actually run out of time.’
    A single android strode forward and gripped the back of the Doctor’s neck without warning, slowly manipulating him towards the dazzling void of the Timelash. Mykros and Vena exchanged fearful glances. It seemed their joyous reunion was to be shortlived. Sezon and Katz boiled over with bitter emotion, powerless to help their ally who was now at the mouth of the time corridor. Within seconds he would be hurled into the vortex to endure an unknown future - if he were to survive the trip at all.
    Some distance away, Peri puffed as she was marched to a scientific laboratory displaying a vast array of technical paraphernalia. An elderly Karfelon approached her guardolier and commanded him to release his hold on the prisoner. The Karfelon, whom Peri took for a scientist, produced a small metal canister and body strap which he fitted to her without explanation.
    Neck-looped once more, Peri was removed in another direction with the light cylinder firmly in place. Its purpose and content remained a mystery. Peri was undeniably anxious - not only for herself, but for the Doctor too.
    The android relentlessly pushed its metal claw into the Doctor’s neck, forcing him forward. Oblivion was but a step away. The Time Lord dug deep into his bulging pockets and produced the mirror he had borrowed from Herbert’s cabin. Angling a reflection directly into