Doctor Who: the Mutation of Time

The Daleks’ Masterplan is well under way. With the Time Destroyer, the most deadly machine ever devised, they will conquer the Universe. Only one person stands in their way— the Doctor. For he has stolen the precious Taranium core which is vital to activate the machine. Travelling through Time and Space, the doctor and his companions are forever on the move in case the Daleks track them down. But after several months, to their horror, the TARDIS indicates that they are being followed... ISBN 0 426 20344 5 DOCTOR WHO THE DALEKS’ MASTERPLAN - PART II THE MUTATION OF TIME Based on the BBC television series by Dennis Spooner and Terry Nation by arrangement with BBC Books, a division of BBC Enterprises Ltd JOHN PEEL Number 142 in the Target Doctor Who Library A TARGET BOOK published by The Paperback Division of W. H. Allen & Co. Plc A Target Book Published in 1989 by the Paperback Division of W. H. Allen & Co. Plc Sekforde House, 175/9 St John Street, London EC1V 4LL Novelisation copyright © John Peel 1989 Original script copyright © Dennis Spooner and Terry Nation 1965 ‘Doctor Who’ series copyright © British Broadcasting Corporation 1965, 1989 The BBC producer of The Daleks’ Masterplan was Verity Lambert The director was Douglas Camfield The role of the Doctor was played by William Hartnell Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading ISBN 0 426 20344 5 This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. CONTENTS 1 The Nightmare Continues 2 The Feast of Steven 3 The Toast of Christmas Past 4 Failure 5 Volcano 6 Land of the Pharaohs 7 Golden Death 8 Into the Pyramid 9 Hostages 10 Escape Switch 11 The Abandoned Planet 12 The Secret of Kembel 13 Beginning of the End 14 The Destruction of Time 15 The Nightmare is Ended 1 The Nightmare Continues Sara Kingdom awoke with a cry, sitting upright in her bed. For a few seconds, she did not recall where she was. Her heart was beating furiously, and she was still shocked from her nightmare. Gradually, as she huddled in the blankets, the room began to make sense to her. By her bed stood the cabinet with the ornate Tiffany lamp – lit. She had reverted almost to childhood recently, and found she could not sleep in the dark any longer. The nightmares seemed to cluster about her then, and she couldn’t face that. It was her old, familiar room in the TARDIS, the one she’d occupied for several months now – though in this erratic, wandering space and time-machine any measure of the passage of time was somewhat uncertain and subjective. Still, this room was the closest thing she had known to a home since her childhood, when she and Bret had... She bit back that train of thought, not wishing to bring back the memories of her dead brother, or of the recurring nightmare. She knew she would never get back to sleep now, so she rose and showered. Feeling somewhat better after this, she paused to select her clothing. Despite the large wardrobe that the Doctor had found for her in one of his voluminous store-rooms, she dressed in the inevitable black cat-suit that she had worn since she had met the Doctor and Steven. The emblem of the Special Security Service was emblazoned on the shoulders, and she felt better wearing the old, familiar uniform of the SSS. Both the Doctor and Steven had long since given up trying to persuade her to wear anything else. She left her room, and walked almost silently through the corridors of the TARDIS. Her years of training as a special agent had ingrained the habit into her system. She moved like a ghost through the deserted corridors, back towards the main area of the ship. She paused in the small alcove that held the food machine long enough to dial herself a steaming cup of coffee, then moved on to the main control room. As always, the Doctor was hunched over the controls, nursing them, clucking in mild irritation when one showed any deviation from what he believed it should read. It was ironic, really, since he had no idea how to control the ship once it was in flight. The Doctor had never bothered to settle down and learn how to operate this machine, claiming that he preferred the life of an idle wanderer. She often wondered of this was the real reason, or whether there was more to it. The Doctor let out information about himself as rarely as he could. His past was virtually a uniform blank both to Sara and to Steven Taylor, the other member of the TARDIS party. The Doctor had little cause to criticize her wearing the same outfit continually, Sara thought - for his own virtually never varied. He was dressed in the chequered trousers, frock-coat and wing-collared shirt that he always wore, and the tie knotted about his neck was as irregular as ever. His long cloak and silver-topped walking stick were on the coat-stand by the exit doors, along with his silk scarf and furry hat, should they be required. He glanced up from the console, and his brooding was forgotten as he saw her in the doorway. His old - yet somehow timeless - features creased into a sympathetic smile. ‘Up early?’ She nodded, and moved to join him at the mushroom-shaped control centre. ‘I couldn’t sleep,’ she said, sipping at the scalding coffee. ‘The dreams again?’ he asked sharply. ‘It’s always the dreams,’ she sighed. ‘I can’t stop them. I keep seeing Bret die, again and again. I keep seeing myself shooting him down without pity.’ The Doctor placed a kindly hand on her shoulder. ‘My child, you really must learn to accept that what is past is past. When you shot Bret, you were convinced that he was a traitor to everything you held dear. You couldn’t have known that he was not. Mavic Chen - the Guardian of the Solar System, the most trusted man in the planets - had assured you of that. There was no way you could have known that it was Chen who was working with the Daleks, and not your brother.’ ‘I wish I could believe that,’ Sara sighed. ‘But I should have known! Bret was my brother, and I should have known he would never be a traitor.’ The Doctor shook his head. ‘My dear, it’s not that simple. Better men than Bret have been corrupted by some hidden weakness in their souls. It could have been Bret who was the traitor. You did only what you had to do. The fault is not yours; it is Chen’s. He is the one who is to blame, not you.’ Sara shook her head. ‘You make it sound so simple - like I was just... just a tool he used to do the killing.’ ‘And that is precisely what you were, to all intents and purposes.’ The Doctor’s eyes flashed in anger. ‘You had been trained for years, you were honed, polished, and then employed as a crafted tool. The SSS developed this in you. This is the end result of that kind of training; the conscience is blurred, and whatever you are told to do becomes the right thing to do. Such organizations are powers for great evil, or great good - but the people who work for them inevitably become less and less human. It’s ironic that the guardians of liberty and freedom should be the first to lose their own liberty and freedom, isn’t it?’ ‘You’re just trying to make it appear as though I had no choice in what I did when I killed Bret.’ ‘I don’t think you could help doing it,’ the Doctor said, gently. ‘You had been trained to obey, and you did as you were ordered. But – and this is what I see as your saving grace! – when you saw what you had done, you began to question. And then you rediscovered yourself – hidden away behind the barriers of the super-agent you had been shaped into. I can safely say that with my help and influence, you have become a productive and fine human being. The person who killed Bret Vyon was the old Sara Kingdom, the tool of Mavic Chen. You, my dear, are a new and better Sara Kingdom – a human being.’ Despite herself, Sara almost. smiled at this. ‘I’d like to believe that.’ ‘Then try.’ He looked into the distance. ‘Mavic Chen is the one to be punished, child, not yourself. He plotted to betray the human race into their deaths. He sold out to the Daleks for power, and he led many good people to their deaths.’ Sara felt a burst of anger still within her heart, directed to the supreme traitor. ‘If only I could be certain that he met the death he deserved!’ ‘Rest assured that he will have done.’ The Doctor brought his attention back to Sara. ‘He made an alliance with the Daleks, and as soon as they discovered no further need for him, they were bound to have killed him.’ ‘I’d like to be certain of that!’ Sara cried.

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