Doctor Who: Ribos Operation by Ian Marter, British Broadcasting Corporation Page B

voice.’
    ‘But does he trust you?’ Romana said under her breath,
taking her finger from the bristling connection.
    Garron bent over the table and spoke into the curious
apparatus which the Doctor had put together: ‘Hello... Hello
Unstoffe... This is Garron...’
    Just then there was a sudden commotion outside the
chamber: the clatter of heavy armour and urgent muffled
shouting.
    ‘It’s too late,’ Romana cried. ‘It’s too late—they’ve come to
kill us all.’
    Motioning Garron to keep talking the Doctor rushed over
and listened at the door. In just a few seconds they would know
their fate.

Chapter 7
Escape Into the Unknown
    Outside the chamber the three Levithian sentries had been
startled by the sudden appearance of K9 round a corner some
way along the passage. With swift disciplined movements they
formed a compact defensive group, charged their laser-spears
and took careful aim at the strange device bearing down on
them. Meanwhile K9’s circuits were buzzing away, rapidly
computing their average bodyweight and the thickness of their
armour plating in order to calculate a suitable stun level.
    Microseconds before the Levithians could press their
discharge buttons they were all three silhouetted in a brilliant
flash from K9’s muzzle, which sent them reeling back against the
door to their Prince’s quarters. Like three monstrous puppets
they slid clumsily down the rough woodwork into a tangled heap
on the flagstones.
    K9 came to rest in front of them. ‘Most satisfactory,’ he
announced.
    The Doctor flung open the door, revealing the three
Levithian Guards spreadeagled on the threshold and K9
standing impassively over his victims buzzing quietly to himself.
    ‘What kept you K9?’ the Doctor cried delightedly, stepping
over the unconscious sentries.’ We’ve been on tenterhooks for
hours.’
    ‘Topographical difficulties, master,’ K9 replied.
    The Doctor patted the creature’s whirring head: ‘Of
course—you can’t manage stairs, poor old thing,’ he murmured
kindly.
    Romana clambered past the huddled bodies followed closely
by Garron. ‘Are they dead?’ she asked with a grimace of distaste.
    The Doctor gave her a shocked look. ‘Of course they aren’t
dead,’ he cried. ‘What an idea.’
    ‘Negative, Mistress,’ K9 added. ‘Stun was calibrated at zero
nine atmospheres.’
    ‘They’ll be out for hours,’ the Doctor muttered, dragging
the first of the limp bodies through into the Graff’s quarters.
    ‘Correction, master: period of immobilisation estimated at
three point two nine hours,’ K9 announced crisply.
    ‘All right, all right. Stop showing off,’ the Doctor scolded
irritably as he and Garron dealt with the other two Guards.
    Shutting the door firmly behind him, the Doctor asked
Garron to lead the way to the Concourse. Sticking the laser-spear and charger unit which he had taken from Krolon into his
belt, Garron set off quickly along the passage.
    ‘Don’t stop at every corner, K9,’ the Doctor called. ‘We have
very little time.’
    Romana looked extremely unhappy as she and the Doctor
hurried along behind the waddling con-man. ‘You are going to
trust that petty trickster, Doctor?’ she whispered incredulously.
    The Doctor nodded vigorously: ‘No more than he is going
to trust us, my dear...’ he murmured.
    ‘Then why are we helping him?’ Romana demanded in an
undertone grabbing the Doctor’s sleeve and attempting to slow
him down.
    The Doctor continued to forge ahead. ‘We are not helping
him,’ he muttered out of the corner of his mouth. ‘He is helping
us.’
    Romana cast her eyes upward and shook her head, dumb
with exasperation. She had the Locatormutor Core safely tucked
into her robe, and it was becoming increasingly apparent to her
that she would be forced to continue the search for the First
Segment of the Key to Time all by herself...
    The strident warbling from Unstoffe’s wrist seemed to shatter
the silence around Binro’s tiny hovel and echo among the