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Several of the tombs directly below his own hiding place
were completely blocked by shattered masonry fallen from the
tiers above. Frantically, the Doctor set to work to try and clear
the huge slabs away from the openings. Somewhere beneath the
mass of debris Romana, Garron and K9 were helplessly trapped
inside the ancient graves. The more the Doctor struggled the
more he began to fear that they would have to remain there,
entombed in the vast mausoleum forever...
Chapter 8
The Doctor Changes Sides
As they struggled on through the maze of caverns, as quietly as
they could for fear of rousing any of the Shrivenzales from their
lairs, Unstoffe found himself unable to keep up with his nimble
guide and eventually he sank down on a boulder, his mouth dry
and his heart hammering furiously in his aching chest.
‘We m-must rest... so little... air...’ he gasped. Binro retraced
his steps and sat down next to him. ‘There must be a way up to
the surface somewhere,’ he grinned encouragingly.
Unstoffe undid his belt and set down the heavy pouch
between them, glad to shed the weight for a moment.
Binro stared at his panting companion with a puzzled frown.
‘How is it done? How do you run between the suns?’ he asked
shyly.
Unstoffe shook his head helplessly. ‘If we sat here for... for
the rest of our lives, I couldn’t explain.’ he mumbled. Binro
nodded sadly. Unstoffe reached into the pouch and pulled out
the nugget of Jethryk. It gleamed brightly even in the feeble
flicker of the horn lamp. ‘There is enough energy in this to
move us to many thousands of suns,’ he murmured.
Binro took the glittering stone and gazed at it with innocent
wonder. ‘There is so much to learn. We on Ribos must seem like
children to you.’ he whispered, turning the nugget so that it
reflected the lamplight in brilliant blue and silver flashes.
Unstoffe shook his head vehemently. ‘Only kids would fight
over a lump of rock,’ he murmured. Binro carefully handed him
the Jetlrryk. ‘You did not steal this from the Sacred Reliquary,’
he said in an awed, hushed voice.
‘No, it belongs to Garron. We arranged to meet in the
Concourse if anything went wrong,’ Unstoffe said quietly. ‘He
never showed up. He’s in dead trouble.’
‘Garron... the one who sent his voice through the air into
your hand,’ Binro guessed. Unstoffe nodded gloomily.’You are
worried about him,’ Binro said, his bright eyes full of concern.
‘We’ve worked together a long time,’ Unstoffe mumbled.
‘This would probably have been our last job. Only it isn’t ending
quite the way we planned.’ He shoved the nugget away in the
pouch.
Binro sprang up, his leathery little face smiling eagerly: ‘I
will go back and look for your friend and bring him here,’ he
cried. ‘Then you will be able to finish your work together.’
Unstoffe peered in amazement at Binro’s innocently
expectant eyes: ‘But... could you find your way?’ he asked,
doubtfully.
Binro nodded, his wizened body tensed in readiness.
Unstoffe was baffled. ‘You... you risk your life for a complete
stranger?’ he stammered.
‘For years I was reviled and jeered at,’ Binro interrupted,
‘until I even began to doubt myself. But you came and told me I
was right. Just to know that is worth an old man’s life.’
Binro held out his crippled hands in farewell.
‘Here, take this in case Garron suspects a trick,’ Unstoffe
found himself saying as he slipped off his wrist transmitter and
held it out. Before he realised what was happening, Binro had
taken the device from him and snatched up the lamp. Unstoffe
had no chance to change his mind before the elfin creature
darted away and was instantly swallowed up in the darkness.
‘Doctor, you realise that your clumsy behaviour nearly caused us
all to be killed.’
Romana’s protest startled the Doctor so badly that he let go
of the heavy slab of rock he was struggling to shift and dropped
it onto his foot. Hopping about grimacing with pain, he stared at
the slim white figure silhouetted against the light from Garron’s
torch as they approached him along the gully.
‘If you call that nearly getting killed, then you haven’t lived,’
he cried clutching his throbbing toes. Then he stood quite still
and frowned at them. ‘Why aren’t you both dead?’ he demanded
irritably, picking up his flashlight and shining it in their shocked
faces. ‘I absolutely refuse to believe in ghosts.’
With ice-cold calmness Romana explained how she and
Garron had managed to break out of the back of their niche
when the opening had become blocked, and how they had
escaped through the tomb on the other side into the
neighbouring gully.
The Doctor smiled. ‘I am delighted to see you; he cried,
‘although your unexpected resurrection almost gave me hearts’
failure.’
‘You appear to suffer from an unconscious death-wish
syndrome, Doctor,’ Romana retorted, brushing the dust out of
her hair and her robe with exaggerated ferocity.
Garron thrust his ruffled perspiring bulk between them.
‘May I remind you that we are supposedly searching for my
invaluable young colleague?’ he declared affectedly.
‘Who has in his possession an even more invaluable lump of
Jethryk,’ the Doctor added, whipping the Locatormutor Core
out of his pocket and adjusting the signal.
Garron threw up his hands and shrugged. ‘What is property
at such a time as this?’ he protested, watching the Doctor like a
hawk.
‘In grave danger of giving us the slip completely if this
gadget is anything to go by,’ the Doctor answered, handing the
bleeping Core to Romana. ‘I do hope you know how to work this
because I’m getting rather bored with it,’ he grinned.
Taking them both firmly by the arm, the Doctor pointed his
two puzzled friends in the direction of the Catacombs. ‘Now you
go that way and I’ll go this way,’ he said cheerfully, whirling
round and setting off in the opposite direction back towards the
city.
‘But where are you going?’ Romana asked.
The Doctor turned. ‘One of us has to keep an eye on the
Graff and I’ve just been unanimously elected,’ he chuckled.
Garron shone his torch at the Doctor. ‘You’re going back to
the city, and leaving us down here?’ he exclaimed suspiciously.
The Doctor nodded impatiently. ‘Well, off you go,’ he cried.
There was a disjointed whirring noise and K9 trundled
round a corner and ran straight into the Doctor’s foot.
‘And where have you been?’ the Doctor demanded, staring
resentfully at the creature’s dusty and dented bodywork. ‘No,
don’t even begin to tell me,’ he ordered as K9’s memory circuits
buzzed into life. ‘Just look after those two until I get back.’
‘Affirmative, master,’ K9 acknowledged.
With a flamboyant wave of his hat the Doctor spun round
and strode off along the gully in pursuit of the Graff Vynda Ka
and his retinue, without so much as a backward glance.
Romana and Garron stared at one another for a moment in
utter
confusion.
Then
Garron
indicated
the
bleeping
Locatormutor in Romana’s slim white hands. ‘Well, my dear,’ he
beamed, hitching Krolon’s laser-spear and charger unit more
firmly into his belt. ‘Don’t you think it’s time we got going?’
Just as they moved off along the gully, a fierce snarling
erupted from the shadows somewhere ahead of them. Romana
kept her eyes firmly in front of her and walked cautiously but
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