Free Doctor Who: The Space Museum by Glyn Jones Page A

be.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘We’ll make contact before we show ourselves.’ ‘How?’
    ‘Capture either the old one or the very young one. We can talk to them. Then, if everything looks all right, let them introduce us to the others. Is it agreed?’
    ‘Agreed!’ said Bo.
    ‘All right.’ Tor held up his hand for the others to hold back while he took a quick look into the corridor.
    ‘They’ve gone to the left,’ he informed his companions, ‘We’ll cut through the Triphid Section. Come on.’
    Barbara hugged herself, not from cold, and shivered violently. ‘I hate to admit it,’ she said, her voice trembling, ‘But I am scared, really scared. They must have found the TARDIS by now; why has no-one come?’
    ‘I should think, by mere chance, we’ve been lucky enough to avoid them so far,’ Ian suggested, ‘But I don’t reckon on our luck lasting too long. What I can’t understand is why they don’t have a security system. You know, something like automatic surveillance system in every room.’
    There was no alarm on that case you took the gun from,’ Vicki pointed out.’
    ‘No, that’s right!’
    ‘The whole planet’s probably so secure maybe they feel they don’t need one,’ Vicki continued. ‘Who’s going to steal anything from this place? They’ve probably got a customs post at the point of departure. And just as you’re going out through the green exit a voice behind you will say, "Excuse me, Earth people, have you anything to declare?" And then you’ll have to say, "Yes, there’s this ray gun I nicked. Watch out, it’s loaded!"’
    Ian examined the weapon with renewed interest, turning it over in his hands. ‘I never did find that out, did I?’ he said.
    ‘Well, for goodness sake, don’t try now!’ Barbara alrnost screeched in sudden panic. ‘You could bring the whole place tumbling down around our ears.’
    ‘Like the walls of Jericho,’ Vicki said.
    ‘Well, if I have to try it out on a live target, and if it doesn’t work, it’ll be too late, won’t it?’ Ian argued. ‘Can’t be helped. Even if it doesn’t bring the place tumbling down, it could bring those... those people, whatever they are, down on us.’
    ‘Like the hordes of Ghengis Khan,’ Vicki said.
    ‘Oh, shut up, Vicki! Shut up!’ Barbara slapped her hands over her ears and closed her eyes screwing her eyelids up tight.
    ‘Sorry,’ Vicki said. She pulled down the corners of her mouth and turned an ‘I didn’t mean anything by it’ face on Ian. Ian frowned in sympathetic understanding and put an arm around Barbara.
    ‘Come on, Barbara...’ He gave her shoulders a little squeeze... ‘Don’t take on now. We’ll be okay.’
    Barbara opened her eyes, removed her hands from her ears, lowered her shoulders, took a deep breath and nodded; even attempted a little smile.
    ‘Good.’ Ian smiled back, jerked his head forward, and they moved off once more.
    But the Doctor, unlike Barbara, wasn’t feeling in the least nervous. In fact he was growing extremely bored with their aimless peripatetic wanderings and was engrossed in an exhibit. Vicki joined him in passing, pausing to arch her back and look sideways over her shoulder.
    ‘Oh!’ she exclaimed. ‘’That’s nice. A model of a flying saucer. Isn’t it good? Such detail.’
    ‘That’s because it’s the real thing,’ the Doctor said. ‘What!’ Vicki stared at him disbelievingly.
    ‘Oh, yes. Yes, it is,’ he insisted. ‘It’s not a model at all. It’s the real thing, believe me.’
    Vicki moved closer and the Doctor hurriedly gestured for her not to go too close to the sensor. She tip-toed to the side of the cabinet.
    ‘But so small!’ She exclaimed. ‘Who could get into that?’ ‘Size is relative, Vicki, like everything else. Just think of a microbe in a mastodon’s stomach.’
    ‘Mastodon?’
    All right, elephant then.’
    ‘Doctor...’
    ‘Hmm?’ He looked up. Vicki indicated the imminent departure of Ian and Barbara from the