his face. ‘Curiouser and curiouser,’ he murmured, sniffing the air like a bloodhound picking up a scent. ‘And the temptation is quite irresistible!’
Vicki was in the middle of explaining to Barbara and Ian how she came to be marooned on Dido with only Bennett for company.
‘After my mother died my father was offered a place on the Astra Nine project. I did not want to leave Earth at first,’ she recalled wistfully, her face unbearably sad. ‘But the Greenhouse Effect...’
‘What’s that?’ Ian asked, eager to gather any information that would be useful to him as science teacher at Coal Hill School – that is, if he ever returned there.
‘Because of the increase in the carbon dioxide content of Earth’s atmosphere, the average world temperature rose and there was a danger that the polar ice would melt...’
Vicki explained.
‘Causing catastrophic floods,’ Ian murmured, nodding thoughtfully.
‘So in the end Father persuaded me to go with him,’
Vicki continued. ‘As I told you, we left Earth in 2493. We were the ninth group of colonists to the planet Astra.’
‘And what caused you to crash here?’ Ian asked.
Vicki looked blank and aimless again. She shrugged and spread her hands. ‘Some of the crew suspected sabotage. I have no idea what happened. All I remember is a horrible, sickening vibration. There was a radiation leak in the main core or something.’ She shuddered. ‘We were thrown off course and captured by Dido’s gravitational field.’
‘How long have you been stranded here?’ Barbara asked gently.
‘It seems like a whole lifetime.’
Ian moved to the interior hatch. ‘Talking of time, the Doctor’s taking rather a lot of it. What’s he doing in there?’
Vicki looked sharply at him. ‘We must not disturb them!’ she snapped.
‘I shan’t disturb them. If they don’t want to be interrupted, they only have to say so,’ Ian replied casually, surprised at Vicki’s outburst.
Ian clambered through the intermediate compartment and knocked on the partly open shutter. ‘Doctor? Mr Bennett? Can I come in a minute?’
There was no reply.
Barbara and Vicki watched through the internal hatchway as Ian tried to force the shutter wider apart.
‘Doctor? Mr Bennett?’ he repeated.
Still there was no response.
A rough grating noise from inside Bennett’s compartment filled Ian with alarm. ‘Doctor? Are you all right in there?’ he shouted, struggling to force his broad shoulders through the narrow gap. He stumbled inside and stared around him in amazement. ‘They’ve disappeared!’
he called, scratching his head. ‘They’ve gone! There’s no sign of them at all.’
He spent several minutes searching the compartment for some clue as to where the Doctor and the mysterious Bennett might be. Baffled, he gave up and clambered back through the intermediate compartment and through the internal hatch. ‘I don’t understand it at all...’ he said to Barbara and Vicki.
But he was talking to himself. Barbara and Vicki had vanished!
9
Crouching low, the Doctor scuttled through the rocks past the huge motionless corpse of the silicodon and across the shallow crater towards the entrance to the low tunnel from which he and Ian had emerged earlier.
Although he had the torch in his pocket, he was grateful for the pale waxy light which Dido’s three visible moons cast over the wasted planet since he was anxious not to give away his presence, at least for the moment.
He stopped among a thick tangle of thorn trees, threw back his head and listened intently to the weird sounds which filled the chill air. They were like the distant but bloodcurdling nocturnal moans of mysterious and unimaginable creatures. Although the Doctor scanned the craggy ridges, the deserted terraces and the surrounding plain, he could see nothing that might be responsible for the nightmarish sounds. Perhaps they came from within the planet itself—a kind of mourning lament for some lost
Vicki was in the middle of explaining to Barbara and Ian how she came to be marooned on Dido with only Bennett for company.
‘After my mother died my father was offered a place on the Astra Nine project. I did not want to leave Earth at first,’ she recalled wistfully, her face unbearably sad. ‘But the Greenhouse Effect...’
‘What’s that?’ Ian asked, eager to gather any information that would be useful to him as science teacher at Coal Hill School – that is, if he ever returned there.
‘Because of the increase in the carbon dioxide content of Earth’s atmosphere, the average world temperature rose and there was a danger that the polar ice would melt...’
Vicki explained.
‘Causing catastrophic floods,’ Ian murmured, nodding thoughtfully.
‘So in the end Father persuaded me to go with him,’
Vicki continued. ‘As I told you, we left Earth in 2493. We were the ninth group of colonists to the planet Astra.’
‘And what caused you to crash here?’ Ian asked.
Vicki looked blank and aimless again. She shrugged and spread her hands. ‘Some of the crew suspected sabotage. I have no idea what happened. All I remember is a horrible, sickening vibration. There was a radiation leak in the main core or something.’ She shuddered. ‘We were thrown off course and captured by Dido’s gravitational field.’
‘How long have you been stranded here?’ Barbara asked gently.
‘It seems like a whole lifetime.’
Ian moved to the interior hatch. ‘Talking of time, the Doctor’s taking rather a lot of it. What’s he doing in there?’
Vicki looked sharply at him. ‘We must not disturb them!’ she snapped.
‘I shan’t disturb them. If they don’t want to be interrupted, they only have to say so,’ Ian replied casually, surprised at Vicki’s outburst.
Ian clambered through the intermediate compartment and knocked on the partly open shutter. ‘Doctor? Mr Bennett? Can I come in a minute?’
There was no reply.
Barbara and Vicki watched through the internal hatchway as Ian tried to force the shutter wider apart.
‘Doctor? Mr Bennett?’ he repeated.
Still there was no response.
A rough grating noise from inside Bennett’s compartment filled Ian with alarm. ‘Doctor? Are you all right in there?’ he shouted, struggling to force his broad shoulders through the narrow gap. He stumbled inside and stared around him in amazement. ‘They’ve disappeared!’
he called, scratching his head. ‘They’ve gone! There’s no sign of them at all.’
He spent several minutes searching the compartment for some clue as to where the Doctor and the mysterious Bennett might be. Baffled, he gave up and clambered back through the intermediate compartment and through the internal hatch. ‘I don’t understand it at all...’ he said to Barbara and Vicki.
But he was talking to himself. Barbara and Vicki had vanished!
9
Crouching low, the Doctor scuttled through the rocks past the huge motionless corpse of the silicodon and across the shallow crater towards the entrance to the low tunnel from which he and Ian had emerged earlier.
Although he had the torch in his pocket, he was grateful for the pale waxy light which Dido’s three visible moons cast over the wasted planet since he was anxious not to give away his presence, at least for the moment.
He stopped among a thick tangle of thorn trees, threw back his head and listened intently to the weird sounds which filled the chill air. They were like the distant but bloodcurdling nocturnal moans of mysterious and unimaginable creatures. Although the Doctor scanned the craggy ridges, the deserted terraces and the surrounding plain, he could see nothing that might be responsible for the nightmarish sounds. Perhaps they came from within the planet itself—a kind of mourning lament for some lost
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