Beneath the Stone - Part 4

BENEATH THE STONE
Part 4
BY BERNIE FISHNOTES

The Doctor stepped forward. “I wish to parley under section fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation, This is a level five planet, under protection by galactic law.”
There was silence from the ship. Then the speaker crackled back into life. “Very well. State your name and by what authority you make such demands!”
“I am the Doctor, I’m a Time Lord, I’ve saved this planet more times than I care to remember, and if you want a higher authority, there isn’t one!”
“Is that meant to be impressive?” Caudatus’ voice replied mockingly. “Because if it is, it didn’t work. I may be a bit behind the times, but even I know that the Time Lords are extinct. If you are a Time Lord, you won’t interfere with my work.”
“Do you wanna bet?” The Doctor said.
“Leave the planet, Doctor, this is nothing to do with you.”
The Doctor was about to say something when Ben pushed him aside. “Caudatus, My Name is Ben Chatham, and I represent the Human Race. Leave this planet, or be destroyed.”
“Ah, destruction and violence. That seems to be how you humans solve all your problems.”
“You are a threat to this planet…” Ben started, but Caudatus interrupted;
“No, human, YOU are a threat to this planet. You detonate nuclear bombs in your atmosphere, you commit genocides and other atrocities, and you don’t deserve to be called a civilisation!”
“You go to planets uninvited, steal their history, killing anybody who gets in their way and enslaving a good proportion of the rest. You’re murderers, thieves and bullies!”
“If you are trying to anger me, Doctor, you are not going to succeed.”
“Oh, I think I am!” The Doctor shouted back. “You say I haven’t got the right to stand up for this planet, what gives you the right to plunder it?”
“I am an archaeologist, from the Dalmanite Empire. We are advanced enough to appreciate history, and feel that lesser races deserve to have it preserved on their behalf.”
“By taking it away?”
“They can come and see it when they are ready to understand it.”
“And who decides that? You?”
“Who else is there. We rule over half of Tarron’s Spiral, and always will! I think that proves we are superior!”
“I hate aliens with a superiority complex.” the Doctor said to Ben, then turning back to the ship. “So, is there anything I can do to stop you declaring the Earth a free-for-all?”
“No.” Caudatus replied.
“Then I’m sorry, we have nothing more to say.”
“Indeed” Caudatus agreed. The speaker crackled, and went silent.
“Well, that went well.” The Doctor said.
“Well? He’s still going to summon their fleet!”
“Not if I have anything to do with it!” The Doctor said. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out, and walked over to the ship. The gun turret turned with him, keeping him covered. He pointed his screwdriver at it, and pressed the button. The turret flopped down, dead. “Gonna have to try harder than that!” The Doctor shouted at the ship, and found the entry hatch. He got to work.

Katie and Kyle were still in the holding room, but they were not being idle. Katie had guessed that the teleportation had brought them to the surface, so escape was now possible.
Kyle was trying to force a panel off the wall. It was corroded and stiff, but he could feel it move. Katie wasn’t sure what they could do once the panel was removed, but it was better than just sitting there. They could escape, or they could just sabotage the ship. Suddenly, the panel fell of, clanging on the floor. Katie and Kyle both winced, surely Caudatus had heard that. There was no sound from the door, so they looked into the space behind the panel. It was nothing but circuit boards and wires. Katie had been hoping it might be a ventilation shaft, but this would have to do.
“Would Madame like to start pulling stuff out, or shall I?” Kyle asked.
“You’re the experienced vandal,” Katie said with a smile, “I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”
Kyle was about to grab one of the circuit bards when Katie grabbed his shoulders. “Wait!” she said “Those circuits might be live!”
“Thanks!” he said. He picked up the geophys machine, and pointed it at the electronics. “Cover your eyes!” he warned, and thrust the geophys machine into the circuits. There was a blinding flash, and Kyle was thrown across the room. Katie lowered her arm, and saw Kyle lying on the floor. As she reached him he opened his eyes. “Did it work?” he asked, a crooked smile on his face. Katie slapped his arm. “Stop scaring me like that!” she said, helping him up. They went over to the open panel, and saw that whatever Kyle had done, it was not going to be easy to repair.

Caudatus was still fuming that the Doctor had disabled his external defences when a warning light started flashing on the internal sensors. A massive systems failure had occurred in the holding room area. It had to have been the humans. He wasn’t going to let them ruin his mission. He pulled out his gun, and made his way down to the hold.

The Doctor and Ben entered the ship. It hadn’t taken long for the Doctor to get the door open, and they were climbing up a ladder when they heard footsteps. The Doctor poked his head up through a hatch and saw Caudatus leaving the cockpit. He didn’t look well, the Doctor thought, probably due to the long period of hibernation. He looked down at Ben. “Come on.” They climbed up, and stood in the cramped corridor, the walls dark and corroded. “What’s the plan?” Ben asked.
“I’ll go to the cockpit, see if I can do some damage, you go and see where he’s going.”
“What about Kyle and Katie?” Ben asked.
“With any luck, that’s where he’s going. Oh, and Ben?”
“Yes Doctor?”
“Be careful. He’s armed and ill. Never a good combination.”
“Thanks Doctor.” Ben went through the door the Doctor had seen Caudatus go through, and went down the ladder behind it.
“Right,” the Doctor said to himself, “time for some sabotage…” he clapped his hands together, and headed towards the cockpit.

Caudatus opened the door to the holding room, and found Katie sat on the sofa. He quickly turned to where Kyle was hidden, wielding the geophys machine. “Put it down!” he shouted. Kyle considered for a moment, looking at Caudatus’s gun, and did as he was told, leaning it against the doorframe. “Sit!” Caudatus ordered, and Kyle moved over to where Katie was, sitting next to her.
“Do you two know what you’ve done?” He said angrily.
“Fucked up your plans, I hope!” Katie said defiantly.
“You’ve knocked out the life support systems for the ship. If we take off, everyone in the ship dies.” His head tilted, “At least, everybody outside the cockpit. And I so wanted you as live subjects…” He waved the gun at Katie and Kyle. “It’ll be a slow death for you, but I’m not completely heartless. I can end it quickly now…” He held the gun at arms length. “Which of you will be first?” Kyle stood up, and Caudatus steadied his gun “Why not just let us go?”
“Partly because I want something to take back to Dalmanite, but also punishment. You’ve damaged my ship, and I can’t let that go.”
“Then I’ll go first.” Kyle said. Katie tried to stop him, but he held his arm out, stopping her.
He stood, defiant, as Caudatus held the gun to his face. He closed his eyes, wishing that he’d had a chance to say goodbye to his mum, when he heard a loud thump, followed by a crumpled noise and something falling against him. He opened his eyes, and saw Ben stood in the doorway, holding the geophys machine like a club. Caudatus was lying on the floor, his gun still gripped in his hand. “A thank you would be nice!” Ben asked, indignantly.
“Nick of time or what!” Kyle said, relieved. “Where’s the Doctor?”
“Up in the cockpit, doing something clever, no doubt.” Ben answered. He tried to prise Caudatus’s gun from his hand, but it wouldn’t budge. Stepping over him, they left the chamber, and started climbing up the ladder.

The Doctor had managed to climb into the cramped cockpit, and was sitting in the pilots chair. He looked at the long-range communications systems, but they were damaged irreparably. If Caudatus was going to tell his people of Earth, he would have to do it in person. He tapped at the panels, turning off the teleport, thrusters and warp drives. The ship was disabled, but not permanently. It might take Caudatus a few minutes, but it would be operational again. Well, so he’d think...
He checked the life support, and saw that it was irreparably damaged. Caudatus would be protected by his cryochamber, built into the cockpit, so he wouldn’t be bothered about fixing that. The Doctor brought up the controls for the cryochamber, and got to work…

Ben managed to get Kyle, Katie and himself out of the ship without getting lost, and they emerged into the sunset. Katie looked around in horror at the ash-covered landscape. “What happened?” she asked.
“The Doctor set off a self-destruct mechanism in Caudatus’s probe. We hid in the TARDIS” he pointed at the TARDIS, which was still stood where it had been before.
“Where’s my car?” she said in horror. “The caravan, all gone! They were University property!”
“Don’t worry,” Ben said, “Operation Delta should be able to replace most of it. Anyway,” He added, “it was all going to be junked if you didn’t use it!”
“My car wasn’t!” she said. “It took me ages to save up enough to buy that old thing!”
“Don’t worry about it.” Kyle said. “We’re alive, we’re free, that’s good isn’t it?”
“I suppose…” Katie said. But she was still upset. She’d loved that land rover.
“Where’s Anselm?” Kyle asked, “He wasn’t…” he tailed off.
“He’s in the TARDIS” Ben said. He was still angry with him, so he’d left him in there.
“So what do we do now?” Katie asked.
“I don’t know about you,” Ben said, “but I’m going to phone UNIT. They can sort this mess out.”
“Really wouldn’t do that!” came a voice from behind them. Ben turned and saw the Doctor climbing out of the hatch.
“Why not?” Ben asked “Surely getting in professionals is the best thing in this situation.”
“Ben, that ship may be two millennia old, but it can still defend itself against anything you lot can throw against it. Nobody has died today, I’m not going to let that change.”
“What about Caudatus?” Ben asked. “If he gets back to his homeworld, they’ll ravage the Earth!”
“Don’t worry, I’ve thought of that.” The Doctor said, smiling…

Caudatus woke, and scrambled to his feet. He saw that the humans had escaped, and swore. Still, they were irrelevant now. He just needed to get back to the cockpit, take off and contact the institute back on Dalmanite. Then the humans would be sorry…
He made his way back to the cockpit, and checked the instrumentation. The Doctor had obviously tried to disable the ship, but it was laughably easy to repair. The brought all the systems back on line, plugged his suit into the cryochamber, and activated the thrusters.
Soon he would be home, and the Earth would be preserved.

Outside, the ship started to hum. The Doctor, Ben, Kyle and Katie all ran to the TARDIS, and watched the ship. The air filled with static as it violently trembled, and the ship exploded in a white flash, which knocked everybody to their feet. There was silence, and they got to their feet. The ship was still there.
“Nothing happened!” Kyle said.
“Yes it did!” the Doctor said. He pointed at the ship. “Look at it closely.”
Katie moved towards it, brushing ash off her coat. “It’s granite!” she said. “The ship’s been reburied!”
“About three miles down.” The Doctor said, a small smile on his face. “Shouldn’t be discovered for a while, anyway.”
“What happened?” Ben asked, brushing off the ash from his jacket. It was probably ruined, and it had cost him nearly £200.
“I re-arranged some of the drive systems. The takeoff thrusters must have been switched with the teleport. Still, he should be alright, I souped up his cryochamber, he can survive down there for millions of years now.”
“So he’s still alive?” Ben asked.
“Oh yes!” The Doctor said. “Like I said, nobody dies if I can help it!”
“What about my car?” Katie said.
“Won’t the insurance cover it?” Ben asked.
“How do I prove it’s gone? It’s been vaporised!”
“Hold on…” The Doctor said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out some keys. “Go to the lockup on Martill Road in Maidstone, Number 12. There should be a land rover in there, have it.”
Katie took the key. “Really? I can have it?”
“I never use it. Might want to get it MOT’d though, its tax disk has probably run out too, but it’ll still run.” The Doctor gave her a big smile.
“Thank you!” she said, hugging him.
Once she’d let go, The Doctor turned to Ben. “Ben, I’m sorry for snapping at you. It’s been a stressful day, I was in a bad mood, you know how it is. Well done on rescuing these two.”
“All in a day’s work!” Ben said, soaking up the praise. “Sorry for calling you away from that museum.”
“That’s alright. I might be able to get back in, there’s a woman on the academic staff, Professor Song, who might be willing to let me visit again.” His eyes showed he was remembering something sad, and then brightened again. “Oh, that reminds me.” He pointed at Ben. “Ha!” he laughed.
Ben looked offended. “What was that about?”
“Private joke.” The Doctor said. “Actually, I have something you might find useful in the TARDIS library. Come on, I’ll give you a lift home, and see if I can find it.”
They entered the TARDIS, which started to shudder, the wheezing, groaning noise fading away with it, leaving the granite spaceship standing on a sheet of ash in the middle of the English countryside.

Anselm was in the TARDIS library when the Doctor and Ben came in. “Hello Anselm, feeling better?” The Doctor asked.
“Yes, thank you.” Anselm answered. “I’ve just been perusing these fine publications. You have a very impressive library.”
“Yeah,” the Doctor said, wondering why Anselm was talking like that. “Just don’t read anything that hasn’t been written yet.” He went over to one of the shelves, and pulled out a small leather-bound book. “Here you go Ben!” he said, handing it over.
Ben looked at the cover. “All the Strange, Strange Creatures?” He read from the cover. He opened it up, and saw it was an electronic book.
“Excuse the colourful title,” the Doctor said. “It’s a guide to aliens. Almost every alien race is in there, with strengths, weaknesses, everything. Might be useful for saving the world.”
“Thanks!” Ben said. “How does it work?”
“Either type in the name, or used the check list. It usually gets it right that way.”
“Are humans in here?”
“Yeah…” The Doctor said.
Ben typed in Human, and read the description.
“Mostly Harmless?” he raised an eyebrow at the Doctor.
“Yeah, sorry, I wrote that one. But the rest are more precise. Try the Dalmanites”
Ben did so, and the page filled with writing, and a picture.
“Doctor, do the Dalmanites ever find the Earth?”
“Yes, they do, in about a hundred and fifty years time. Not a good time to visit the Earth.”
“Why?”
“Cos it’s right in the middle of the Dalek Invasion. Some say the entire Dalmanite fleet was destroyed in a matter of minutes...” He looked sad. Even though they were planning on ravaging the Earth, nobody deserved to die, not when there was a choice.
“Anyway,” The Doctor said. “Come with me, you two, we’ve got to get you home.”
He put his arms round Ben and Anslem’s shoulders, and led them back towards the console room.

Kyle and Katie were both sat on the pilots chair in silence. Katie broke the silence. “You’re not that bad.” She said.
“You’re not bad either,” Kyle said.
“Thanks,” Katie said. She leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek, but pulled away sharply as The Doctor, Ben and Anselm entered the room.
The time rotor shuddered to a halt, and the Doctor announced they had arrived. Ben lead the way to the doors, and opened them to find himself in his flat. They all stepped out, leaving the Doctor stood in the doorway. “Right, I’ll be off then. See you around!” the Doctor said, then ducked inside the TARDIS, closing the door behind him. The TARDIS started to shudder, and then faded from view. Ben looked at the book he’d been given. This would be vital for his and Operation Delta’s fight to protect the Earth from whatever may threaten it…