Free Doctor Who: Earthshock by Ian Marter Page A

I'd rather have Vance and Buchanan alive,' Ringway retorted in an accusing tone.
    For a moment Briggs looked as though she would fling herself at Ringway, but she controlled herself and turned to the Doctor with a sour smile. 'And I suppose you're going to tell me that you know nothing about my three missing crew either.'
    'How could we? We've only just arrived on board your ship, Madam,' replied the Doctor courteously.
    Briggs gave a strange, whooping laugh. 'Only just arrived...' she echoed, as if enjoying a joke. Then her face hardened. 'Well someone is responsible...' she snarled.
    'It isn't us,' Adric protested aggressively.
    At that moment a warning tone sounded from the main console and a computer print-out started chattering furiously.
    'Another power surge, Captain,' First Officer Berger cried, turning apprehensively to the monitors displaying elaborate coloured diagrams of the freighter's systems. 'But the tracer circuits are still completely jammed.'
    'Not again!' Briggs moaned, clasping her head in both hands.
    A faint tremor vibrated through the ship and the Doctor instinctively stepped forward to examine the monitors.
    'Is this your doing?' Briggs demanded, her mouth drawn tight with suspicion.
    Ringway's laser whirred softly.
     
     

35
    Ignoring Ringway and his threatening attitude, the Doctor turned earnestly to the Captain. 'We may not have much time...' he warned her. As quickly and simply as he could, he explained the events which had brought them to the freighter. Briggs and Berger listened with increasing incredulity while Ringway watched the Doctor with a dangerous frown.
    When the Doctor had finished, Briggs gaped at him for several seconds in silence, her angular features flushed and blotchy. 'A bomb... on Earth... controlled from this ship!' she scoffed at last. 'Are you a comedy troupe or something?'
    'At least the story's original,' Berger muttered, desperately trying to make some sense of the mysterious readings on the instruments.
    'Every word of it is true!' Adric insisted indignantly.
    Captain Briggs thrust her face close to the Doctor's. 'Are you trying to make a fool of me?' she murmured menacingly.
    Ringway flourished his pistol impatiently. 'He's obviously just playing for time,' he sneered.
    The Doctor spoke confidentially to the Captain. 'You have admitted yourself that things have happened which you cannot explain,' he reminded her reasonably.
    'It doesn't follow that there's a gang of conspirators hidden aboard my ship planning to blow up the Earth!' she shouted shrilly, pacing agitatedly in front of the console.
    'Your crew members who disappeared or were murdered may have discovered otherwise...' the Doctor said quietly, with a penetrating stare at Ringway.
    Ringway snorted. 'All this is just a diversion, Captain.'
    Once again the systems warning sounded urgently from the console.
    'It's happening again,' Berger cried distractedly. This time she succeeded in instructing the computer to search for the source of the power loss.
    The Doctor watched carefully as a fluorescent tracer blip began rushing along the enormously complex grid showing the ship's electrical systems on the display monitor. 'How often has this occurred?' he asked.
    'Several times since we left Toobes Major, but never on this scale before,'
    Berger replied. Just then the blip stopped and a whole section of the electronic diagram started flashing. 'The main hold!' Berger exclaimed in astonishment.
    The Captain spun round abruptly. 'Mister Ringway take a squad down there immediately,' she ordered.
    The Navigating Officer hesitated, glancing from Briggs to the Doctor and back again.
    'What are you carrying in those silos?' the Doctor asked, frowning at the spasmodic flickering of the few surveillance monitors still operating.
    'Mineral ores,' Ringway blurted out, a merest hint of bravado passing over his pinched features as the laser pistol wavered slightly in his clammy grasp.
    Briggs slapped her gloved hand against the