reaching into the sack and producing a tube of the green high-protein larva food. Putting it into his pocket he stepped outside to join the others.
Some distance away Arrex held the open spiked collar in his hand, his anger matched only by his fear of Gavrok.
There was nothing else for it but to contact his chief. He clicked on his radio transmitter. ‘Tracker darts in place, sir,’ he said confidently, hoping that the good news would outweigh the bad. ‘And the... uh... prisoners have escaped, sir,’ he said, glancing nervously at Callon for support.
Callon was staring at the ground. He had witnessed the wrath of Gavrok many times before and wasn’t too hopeful about his response to their blunder.
There was a long silent pause. Finally, Gavrok spoke,
‘Pursue at once. I will follow the signal.’ The radio whined, indicating that the discussion was over. Arrex and Callon shared a sigh of relief and set off down the road at a fast jog, not quite knowing where they were going or what they hoped to find. But anything was better than waiting there for Gavrok to arrive.
‘We should have put their craft out of action,’ said Callon. Arrex laughed. ‘That piece of primitive technology was only fit for humanoids. We can move faster of foot.
They can’t have got far away. We’ll find them and when we do...’
‘They won’t try and escape again in a hurry,’ said Callon completing the sentence.
They both felt more confident that they would be able to put matters right. Above all else, they had to avoid irritating Gavrok any further.
Meanwhile, the Doctor kicked the Vincent into neutral as they approached a crossroads. Burton pointed the way and they tore off down the road, the silver tracker dart still stuck firmly in the nose of the sidecar.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Gavrok was standing near the gates of Shangri-La, staring at a small fiat screen in his hand. He was following the radar blip being emitted by the tracker dart. ‘Return to the fighter!’ he snarled at his men.
They slung their weapons over their shoulders and started towards their craft. Gavrock trailed behind, still staring at his blip screen, a look of intense irritation on his face. He was about to hand it to his adjutant when he suddenly noticed an orange glow impinging onto the screen from the direction of the TARDIS. Gavrok stopped and slowly turned his screen towards the Doctor’s craft. As he approached the TARDIS the whole surface lit up with a tangerine tinge, indicating a vessel of considerable power.
‘So, Doctor,’ smirked Gavrok to himself, ‘we have found your ship. It will be your downfall.’
Gavrok threw hack his head and let out a shrill whistle which stopped the Bannermen in their tracks. Gesturing to the nearest Bannerman, Gavrok harked, ‘Sonic cone! At once!’ The nervous soldier ran towards Gavrok, at the same time reaching into his pouch and producing a small blue pyramid-shaped object. He carefully handed the cone to Gavrok who growled at him. The Bannerman immediately locked his fingers to form a stirrup.
Gavrok stood in the man’s hands and reached up onto the top of the TARDIS where he steadied the sonic cone in place. He then removed the safety screw, giving him five seconds to get clear. He hopped down and he and the Bannermen moved well clear of the TARDIS. Gavrok took the priming box from his belt and hit the red button. An answering red light started flashing on the sonic cone. The weapon was now fully armed and ready to go.
It worked by emitting a cone of ultrasonic sound which radiated within a specific area around it. If anything were to break the sonic cone by attempting to enter its parameters it would trigger a massive explosion. The TARDIS had been booby-trapped in such a way that anyone entering the craft would be blown into a million pieces.
Gavrok picked up a stick and tossed it in a slow arc towards the invisible force field. As the twig entered the field of power it atomized in a
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