Doctor Who The Evil of the Dale John Peel

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.Find the Doctor! it ordered all Daleks, Locate him – but do not destroy him! Yet.1To Set A TrapThe roar of another jet taking off faded away overhead.The Doctor had taken about as much of the noise as he could stand for one day.With the menace of the Chameleons over, he felt the urge to be on his way again.His hands clasped across his chest, he watched Ben and Polly walk away across the tarmac towards the arrivals building.The two young people had been travelling with him on his aimless wanderings through time and space for quite some time but now that they were back on their familiar Earth, they had elected to stay behind and resume their normal lives.The Doctor couldn’t blame them.Sooner or later everyone who journeyed with him felt the need to set down roots again, to be part of some society instead of ranging through the far reaches of the cosmos.His own wanderlust was unabated, but he knew that other people were not so blessed – or cursed – as he.And, through some vagary of fate, or perhaps of the TARDIS itself, the Doctor had managed to bring Ben and Polly back to July 20th, 1966; the very day and hour that they had started on their adventures with him.It was curious to think that just over twenty miles to the north of Gatwick airport at this very moment, Ben and Polly were rushing into the TARDIS to begin the adventures that they were now walking away from.With a pang, the Doctor realized that he was there, too: his older self (or younger self, chronologically speaking), with flowing white hair and grouchy manners that he had thankfully lost in his regeneration.He much preferred this younger look, with the Beatle-like mop of dark hair, the impish face with the puckish little grin, the untidy but very practical clothing, and much better manners, too.Still, it would be tempting to take a quick trip to see his former self, even though crossing one’s own time-line was strictly forbidden.There were so many things he could tell himself, so that when he met the—That was why meeting oneself was contrary to all of the laws of time.He knew that everything would turn out fine.It already had.Best to forget the temptations and just clamber into the TARDIS and be off to – who could say?His old time and space craft had a whimsical notion of travel.It didn’t much matter what he did with the controls, it went where it wanted to go and that was that.Since the Doctor had no particular agenda or purpose in mind in his travels, he was content to leave the ship to wend its path with a fairly light controlling touch of his hands.‘Come along, Jamie,’ he said to his last remaining companion.‘I think it’s time that we were off, too.’‘Aye,’ agreed Jamie, ‘I’ve had my fill of this place.’ His thick Scottish brogue had softened somewhat since he’d first met the Doctor in the aftermath of the battle of Culloden Field.This proud piper of the Clan McCrimmon had been one of the few survivors of that horrendous massacre, when the British redcoats had defeated the ragtag army of Bonnie Prince Charlie on April 16th, 1746.He’d also seen wonders that no one in his day would have dreamed possible; aeroplanes, for example.He’d quickly grown used to those in the course of the Chameleon invasion of Earth.Now those odd, faceless beings had left the Earth again, seeking a different path for themselves, and Jamie was just as eager to be off.The thing now was to find the TARDIS.When they had landed, the battered blue Police telephone box had materialized on one of the runways.It had promptly been moved to prevent an accident.Jean Rook, secretary to the airport’s commander, had given the Doctor very clear directions as to where the TARDIS had been taken.Running through the instructions again in his mind, the Doctor led Jamie through the maze of support buildings and hangars.‘Is it much further?’ Jamie grumbled.‘Nearly there,’ the Doctor promised.He pointed at one of the hangars.‘Unless I’m very much mistaken, we should find the TARDIS inside that building there.’It was almost impossible to miss the suspicion in Jamie’s eye, but the Doctor seemingly managed it.The young Scot knew that the Doctor’s memory was shaky at best.‘Aye?’ he asked, skeptically.‘Well, let’s have a look, shall we?’Over the other noises of the airport, there came the sound of an engine starting.Through the open doors of the hangar, an open-backed lorry backed out.With a grinding clash of gears, it started off towards the airport exit.‘Doctor!’ yelled Jamie in alarm.He pointed at the lorry.Tied securely into place on the back of the vehicle was the TARDIS.‘Oh my,’ muttered the Doctor.Jamie didn’t wait.He set off after the lorry as fast as he could, his kilt flying up around his thighs.The Doctor, legs and arms windmilling as he ran, strove to keep up.The lorry turned the corner and disappeared into the gap between two hangars, picking up speed as it went.Jamie was yelling for the driver to stop, but it was unlikely he would be heard over the roaring engine – assuming the driver would want to stop if he knew he was being chased.The Doctor wasn’t sure they could catch the vehicle, given the start it had, but if it had to stop anywhere they might stand a chance.Skidding into the turn, Jamie was brought up short by a wire-meshed gate.It had been locked already.The lorry was trundling away.It made another turn and disappeared from view, heading towards the London road exit of the airport.Jamie threw himself at the fence, prepared to climb it to continue the chase.The Doctor, his chest heaving and his breathing heavy, grabbed his companion by the ankles before he could clamber over.‘It’s no use, Jamie,’ he gasped.‘They’re too far ahead.’From his place on the fence, the young Scot stared down bleakly at the Doctor.‘We canna just let them go,’ he complained.‘They’ve stolen the TARDIS!’‘I’m well aware of that,’ the Doctor answered.‘But there’s more than one way to skin a cat.Let’s try and do this the less strenuous way, shall we?’Jamie stared through the fence.The lorry was long gone, and the sound of its engine had faded into the background racket of the airport.He sighed and climbed down.‘Aye, I suppose we’d better.’ He frowned at the Doctor.‘But how many ways are there to skin a cat? And why would you want to? There’s not enough meat on one to cook.’The Doctor shook his head.‘It’s just an expression, Jamie.It means that there are other avenues to explore beyond the obvious one of haring after that lorry [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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