Free Doctor Who: Galaxy Four by William Emms

difficult to believe that an animal like that has "considerable intelligence".!
    ‘Animal?’ The Doctor tutted to himself. ‘No intelligence indeed. When will you learn that not all life forms are structured like man? Some ‘are better, some not. But they all have one thing in common: they’ve learned to adapt. And sometimes from that adaptation comes intelligence, as in this case.’
    ‘But that scaly head!’
    ‘What of it?’
    ‘It’s horrid!’
    ‘I do hope it isn’t listening to you,’ the Doctor said reprovingly. ‘For all you know, it finds our appearance revolting. I can’t think why it shouldn’t. I’m not too fond of mine.’
    ‘It’s a good deal better than that.’
    ‘A charming if somewhat back-handed compliment.’ He returned his gaze to the eyes, to see again what Vicki could not, the high intelligence. The eyelids blinked only every fifteen or so seconds, coming down like purple blinds in a most leisurely manner and contrasting oddly with the green scales, to open again equally as calmly. He wondered what it made of them. Whatever it was, the Rill showed no alarm, which indicated to the Doctor that either it knew no fear or felt quite secure where it was. He wished he could communicate, but knew that no sound, however loud, could penetrate the ship’s walls. It seemed a pity. He put his hands together and bowed slightly to indicate that he came in peace. Nothing happened. He repeated the gesture and again the response was nil. He sighed. ‘I’m afraid it doesn’t speak our language. I might as well beat my head against a brick wall. Such a pity. I know I could learn something worthwhile from it.’
    ‘It seems to me you’re presuming too much,’ Vicki said dustily.
    The Doctor turned to her with raised eyebrows. ‘And what, pray, do you know of other life forms? Is your experience so vast that you can tell me what I can see and what I can’t? Have you been a time-traveller so long?’
    Vicki was put down. ‘Sorry, Doctor. But I do find it very frightening.’
    ‘Then don’t. If you stumble through life believing that anything that doesn’t look like you is necessarily bad you’ll make a very poor fist of it. A little more tolerance is what you need and much less of this burgeoning female arrogance I seem to be encountering all the time since we landed. Claims of superiority I always find extremely boring. There’s always someone better–except in my case, of course.’
    Vicki knew he was only half ribbing her. The other half was intended as a salutary lesson. She hung her head, only to lift it again in a listening attitude. ‘I think there’s a Chumbley coming.’
    The ‘Doctor heard it too, the chittering growing louder as it approached. ‘This way. Quickly.’
    He led the way to an entry leading away from the sound and they bolted into it. They came to a dead halt at the sight of another machine heading straight for them, turned and rushed back into the chamber to take another way out. Finding one that seemed safe they raced into that and along the passageway. Short as the distance was, it seemed to take them forever before they saw daylight ahead.
    ‘Come on, come on,’ the Doctor panted. ‘They’ll be on us in a minute.’
    He shot out into the waning daylight and turned for Vicki who had fallen behind, despite her younger legs. She was only seconds behind, but they were some two too many. Just as she was about to reach the exit a heavy metal grill crashed down before her. The Doctor looked on in consternation as she banged into it, taken too much by surprise to stop. Her face suddenly white, she grasped the entrapping bars. ‘Doctor!’ she cried in desperate fear.
    The Doctor stepped forward and examined the bars. They looked solid, but he wrenched at them just the same. They were immovable and now the sound of the pursuing Chumbley was very close. ‘Hang on, Vicki,’ he said, looking about for anything that might help. His eye fell on a grill like the one he