Doctor Who: The Dominators by Ian Marter

retorted the robot.
    ‘The name’s Zoe...’ Zoe muttered to herself as she knelt beside Balan, keeping her eyes glued on the chattering Quark.
    ‘Work the specimens to exhaustion,’ Rago ordered brutally. ‘Record the times of collapse.’
    Kully had been watching Zoe’s movements like a hawk.
    Now he positioned himself so that he blocked the Quark’s view of the museum entrance. Nearby, Teel redoubled his efforts dislodging the steel rods to distract the machine’s attention.
    Very slowly Zoe stood up and started to back into the gaping doorway. The Quark was still preoccupied observing Teel’s valiant struggles... a few more backward steps and she would be within reach of the laser gun.
    Suddenly Kully realised that he could only see one Quark, the one he was blocking. He glanced fearfully round, the Quark by the target had disappeared. He tried to call out a warning to Zoe, but his throat felt like sandpaper and no sound came.
    Zoe took three more paces and then her heart froze as she heard an unearthly giggling and sparking behind her.
     
    She stopped dead. A scream flew to her lips but was never uttered. Without looking round, she began to walk slowly forward again into the open, with the robot’s mechanical footsteps shaking the floor beneath her as it followed. At every step she expected the Quark’s glowing probes to discharge their murderous ultrasonic quanta and to smash her body to fragments.
     
    6

Fighting Back
    In the cool Capitol the Councillors were locked in dispute with their Director. Senex seemed to be reconciling himself to the need for action, whereas Bovem led a majority in favour of doing nothing.
    ‘We must hope that the Doctor will succeed in devising an effective course of action,’ Senex stated firmly.
    ‘With respect, I am reluctant to rely upon the assistance of an alien,’ Deputy Bovem objected. ‘We should support the recommendations of the Emergency Committee.’
    ‘Chairman Tensa is able,’ Senex agreed, ‘but can he deal with this unprecedented crisis?’
    Bovem looked shocked. ‘Tensa has proved his competence dealing with floods, droughts, earthquakes...’
    he protested.
    The Director smiled indulgently. ‘All natural disasters, Bovem, not the result of aggressive intelligences.’
    At that moment the wall parted and a surprisingly robust young Dulcian entered with an of determined ability. A grateful sigh of relief rose from the troubled Councillors, as though all their problems were solved at last. They sat up expectantly.
    Tensa looked at them gravely. ‘We have three alternatives,’ he announced abruptly. ‘If these aliens are indeed hostile – which has not been proved beyond question – we can fight, we can flee or we can submit.’
    There was a doomed silence. The Councillors waited, as if hoping for more, for some magical solution. Tensa remained silent.
    Senex rose slowly to his feet. ‘We cannot fight, we are not able. We cannot flee, there is no refuge. We can submit, but to what?’
    ‘Who knows?’ Tensa replied curtly.
     
    The assembly stared aghast at Chairman Tensa, as though all their trust and expectations had been betrayed.
    Eventually the Director sank back into his luxurious chair.
    ‘So we can only wait...’ he concluded.
    Fortunately for Zoe, Kando had fainted and fallen on her face in the burning sand, and her collapse had distracted the Quark from Zoe’s suspicious behaviour. Having revived Kando and laid her next to Balan by the museum entrance, the others carried on the struggle to clear the drilling site, though Teel was getting rapidly weaker from the unaccustomed physical exertion. Determined as ever, Kully and Zoe had soon devised another escape plan.
    ‘So all we need now is somewhere we can hide...’ Kully whispered.
    ‘The bomb shelter,’ Teel suddenly muttered. ‘I am sure they built one... part of the atom tests.’
    Kully glanced surreptitiously at the Quarks. ‘Where is it?’ he asked, passing Teel a jagged