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.Kemel took a step towards the doorway, aiming to leadthe way into the wing.Maxtible held up a hand. Wait, hecommanded.A second later, there was a blur of metal stabbing acrossthe opening from left to right.A thick metal spikequivered in place.Kemel jumped back, startled.Maxtiblechuckled slightly, then pressed another of the carvedleaves.The spike slowly withdrew into the left wall. This door alone may deal with the young villain,Maxtible said. But should he somehow get through here,then you must deal with him.In you go.Kemel stepped through the doorway without hesitation.As soon as he had passed through, Maxtible touched thefirst leaf again.The hidden mechanism closed the doorwayand reset the trap.The financier examined the alcove withsatisfaction, then blew out the candle.He walked slowlyback to the table in the corridor and replaced it.Perfect.Everything was now ready for the Daleks testto commence.The traps were in place, and all thatremained was to convince Jamie to undertake the rescue ofVictoria Water-field.Maxtible nodded to himself insatisfaction.It was a good job that the Doctor didn t knowof these little frills.He might have balked even more hadhe known how little chance his young companion had ofsurviving the Daleks test.14FrictionThe Doctor stared at the mirror cabinet thoughtfully fromhis perch on one of the laboratory stools.He was itching toget a good look inside the device.It was clearly the Dalekslifeline to this time and place.He had consideredsabotaging the apparatus somehow, and thus breaking thelink for the Daleks, but had decided against it.Though itwould certainly free the house and the poor unfortunateshere from the evil machinations of the Daleks, it would nothelp in the long run.The Daleks had some scheme at workwhich involved himself somehow.If he cut them off hereand now, they would simply look for another opportunityto find him and use him.And the next time they mightdecide to annihilate even more innocent souls to persuadehim to co-operate.Anyway, there was the TARDIS to think about.It wasnowhere in or about the house.Had it been, he would havebeen watched at all times and probably confined to a smallportion of the building.As his trip to look for Jamie hadproved, the Daleks clearly did not expect him to eitherescape of find the TARDIS.Ergo, it had probably beentaken through this cabinet to  where? If he knew wherethe Daleks were coming from, he might have some ideawhat lay beyond this room.The Daleks were long-versed in time manipulation.Hehad been chased through the avenues of time and space bytheir time capsules twice in his past, and they hadattempted to use their time destructor to conquer theGalaxy.Both devices had been powered by taranium, oneof the rarest substances in the universe.The Doctor hadmanaged to stop them and destroy their meagre supplies oftaranium, effectively isolating them from time travel.Itwas clear, though, that the Daleks had discovered someother method to manipulate time.They were brilliant, hehad to grant them that.This new form of time travel,though, was obviously very limited.Unlike their capsuleswhich could traverse the vortex that underlay all of reality,this new device appeared to operate on a fixed setting.They had stumbled onto the foolish experiments ofMaxtible and Waterfield and used them to establish a linkwith this time and place.Then, using this house and yearas a base, they had utilized the machinery he had beenexamining in 1966 to punch a hole in time forward acentury and a few dozen miles.But where were they coming from? And when? Was thisa small pocket of Daleks operating independently? Orcould there be a whole army of the creatures waiting at theend of their time tunnel to invade the Earth?So many questions, and so far too few answers.As the Doctor brooded about the cabinet, the dooropened.A Dalek glided out and stopped, staring in hisdirection. What are you doing? it demanded. Waiting for further instructions, he replied. Isn t thatwhat I m supposed to do?Waterfield had been hovering nervously in thebackground.Now he grasped the Doctor s arm. Please,Doctor, he begged. Do not try to provoke them. Provoke them? echoed the Doctor, as if the idea hadnever crossed his mind. My goodness, I ve agreed to helpthem, haven t I?The Dalek was clearly not fooled. We do not trust you,it grated. Well, that makes us even, doesn t it? the Doctorreplied.The Dalek moved further into the room, its eyestickswivelling to continue monitoring the Doctor. But wehave your time machine, it said. Yes. So you will obey us, the Dalek concluded.The Doctor s eyes narrowed. To find the human factor,he said, softly. Is that right? That is what they want, Waterfield broke in, nervouslywringing his hands. Very complex, the Doctor said thoughfully, watchingthe Dalek carefully.He scratched at the side of his nose. And you propose to introduce the human factor into therace of Daleks? Yes, the Dalek replied.It seemed to be rather agitated,rocking back and forth in one spot. The conquest ofhumanity has eluded us.The Daleks must know why.Interesting.This Dalek seemed almost chatty.It wasactually bothering to explain.The Doctor decided to presshis luck a bit further.While the Daleks did not always tellthe truth, they did not bother to lie without a good reason.Anything this one might let slip would be grist for themills of mental activity. But why pick on Jamie for yourtrial? His travelling with you makes him unique, the Dalekresponded.Now what could that mean? the Doctor wondered. Yes,but why him? he asked. Why don t you use me in yourtests instead? Request denied, the Dalek said promptly. Why? You have travelled too much through time, the Dalekresponded. And you are more than human [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]