Doctor Who: The Rescue by Ian Marter Page A

on this planet because Dido will be positioned exactly midway between its two suns... Here, take this and blow your nose.’ He handed Vicki his rather grubby handkerchief. ‘And give that pretty face of yours a wipe too. If you will excuse me saying so, you do look rather a mess at the moment!’
    Vicki hesitated. Then she took the handkerchief, cleaned her grimy face and blew her nose. She managed a wan but grateful smile. ‘Is that better?’
    The Doctor glanced round at Ian and Barbara, preening himself with his success. ‘Much better.’
    Ian took another sip of brownish water from a mug and brandished the signal flare pistol he had been examining.
    ‘Cheer up and stop worrying,’ he cried heartily. ‘If this Koquillion chap shows his ugly face here again we’ll make a mess of it for him!’
    But Vicki’s smile vanished as abruptly as it had appeared. ‘You must not talk like that,’ she gasped. ‘I keep trying to explain why Bennett and I have to obey Koquillion. He has protected us against the others all this time...’
    The Doctor fixed Vicki with his cold, piercing gaze. ‘My dear child, have you seen any of the others?’ he asked sharply.
     
    Vicki hesitated again, almost as if she were tempted to conceal something from them. She shook her head firmly.
    ‘No I have not and I hope I never will.’ All at once she sprang up and faced them like an animal at bay. ‘You will spoil it! I know you will. You will spoil everything!’ she shouted, pointing accusingly at Ian who was still brandishing the gun.
    The Doctor rose and took Vicki’s hands in his. ‘It’s all right, Vicki, we would not wish to jeopardise your safety,’
    he assured her quietly. ‘I promise you that we shall not interfere with the rescue. But I should like to have a chat with your Mr Bennett because I think I may be able to help you both. Would you be kind enough to take me to him?’
    Vicki’s suspicious gaze darted from one to the other.
    She seemed to have regained a streak of steely defiance.
    She shook her head vehemently. ‘The rescue craft is on the way. It will arrive soon. It is going to take us back to Earth.
    Don’t you people understand?’
    Barbara stepped forward. ‘Now, listen, Vicki, you’ve been here a long time,’ she began in her straightforward classroom manner, ‘and I don’t think you’re facing up to what Koquillion might...’
    Vicki thrust her face into Barbara’s with unexpected ferocity, her eyes blazing with resentment. ‘Yes, that is true. I have been here a long time,’ she shouted, her lip curling. ‘I know what has been going on. But you people just walk in here and assume that you are going to take control. But we don’t need you! You will only ruin everything.’
    Vicki darted up to the Doctor and then to Ian, her frail body taut with belligerent independence. ‘It was all right here before you arrived, it really was. And the Seeker is coming. Nobody invited you here! Nobody!’ Shaking with anger, she turned her back on them and leaned over the radar installation.
    The Doctor glanced gravely at Barbara and Ian and silently motioned them out of the compartment. His two companions looked at one another rather reluctantly. The arid dust outside did not exactly look inviting. However, they nodded meekly and quietly went out through the hatchway into the night, taking care to keep close together.
    The Doctor cleared his throat and joined Vicki at the radar scanner. ‘Most interesting... An X-ray scanning system and a very advanced version too,’ he remarked, genuinely surprised, and anxious to avoid broaching the subject of their recent argument. ‘The prototype systems used ordinary X-rays and were far too hazardous for general application. However these accelerated axion systems can be most satisfactory. Perhaps Mr Bennett might allow me to take a little look at it later?’
    Vicki kept her back to him and said nothing.
    The Doctor chose his words with the utmost care.
    ‘Vicki, I