The wasteland sat in its shroud of silence that erupted after Mok had felt the MP's power. A ghostly cascade of mist flowed and moved over the crater smashed ground, dodging the empty uniforms of soldiers from Haft control. Yet...a noise, a slow repetitive bleep...bleep...bleep...emitted from the small communicator that had tumbled from Mok's pouch scant seconds before the fiery melt. The noise continued 'bleeping' out a message to the dead...
The 'bleeps' soon found accompaniment in the form of a wheezing groaning noise. The TARDIS' shimmering shape found substance and solidity and stood like a huge blue tombstone in the deserted, war stricken area.
The door was slammed back and the Doctor marched out, obviously in the foulest of moods. He turned to the blue box and gave it a kick from his red and green coloured shoe. 'Why?' he shouted at the TARDIS and then at the deserted landscape, 'Why? Why break down now - now of all times. I haven't visited Mecotos Gamma for centuries, you know - so you decide to break down! Typical!' He roared to the silent blue bulk that sat obscurely perched on the burnt ground.
The door opened again, this time more quietly and Peri emerged from the time machine. She glanced around her and, being quite unaware that she wasn't on the famous Mecotos Gamma asked the obvious question:
'Where are we?'
The Doctor looked at her, muttered something along the lines of 'Harrumph!' and sat down on a boulder. Peri knew this mood well - the Doctor's sixth body and personality used it often. It was his " Things aren't going my way and I'm going to let the world know about it" mood and it was pointless trying to make sensible conversation. She heard a noise at her feet and picked up a small black 'bleeping' box. She showed the Doctor.
'What's this?' she asked, turning the box over in her hands.
'If it's a bomb, throw it into the TARDIS...' he muttered and turned away.
Peri pocketed the device and walked a little way over the rugged land. She tripped on something bulky and she fell to the ground heavily. She rolled over and saw what it was she had fallen over...she screamed...
~~~
Peri's scream shattered the stillness of Kayj's control room. Everyone froze. The doors hummed open again, the men saluted again.
'Replay!' he shouted to the Communications Officer, before settling down in his white chair. The officer did as he was commanded and hit 'play'.
The scream cut its way through the air again. The men froze and listened.
'When did this take place?' Kayj asked.
Gaust checked through the reams of computer readout on his desk. 'Battlefield sensors registered this, er...noise about two minutes ago. Five minutes before hand, a faint sort of wheezing noise was detected and muffled speech. All the detectors picked up was the word "Mecotos Gamma", sir.'
Kayj swung his chair to the communications Officer. 'The scream was definitely "female", was it?' The officer nodded. Kayj looked thoughtful. Noises, speech and a female scream - all taking place a good half hour after Mok and his cronies were melted. Kayj walked to the communications outlet and activated the microphone. His voice bellowed from every speaker in The Ivory Tower:
'Every available combat unit get kitted up and search area nine of the battlefield...I want anyone, anyone out there to be brought here dead or alive...'
~~~
The Doctor helped Peri to her feet and sat her down on a boulder. 'Are you okay?' he queried the shaking girl. She nodded and tried to smile. She couldn't. The Doctor put his coat around her shoulders and walked over to the object that had felled Peri.
It was the uniform of a soldier - yet, not just a uniform. Because seeping out of the empty legs and arms of the uniform was liquid flesh and bone, tissue and skin. A plastic I.D. tag with the name "Hite" punched into it was slowly sinking in the remnants of the melted man. The Doctor could understand Peri's revulsion - it was a barbaric way to die, even in war. He trotted back over to the young American and helped her up.
'Shall we try for Mecotos Gamma again?' he asked.
Peri smiled and nodded, allowing herself to be led away to the battered blue box that stood in front of them. A noise. A click of a rifle having its safety catch removed suddenly hit the silent air.
The Doctor and Peri froze, hardly daring to breath. Another click, followed by uniformed figures emerging from the shroud of mist, each carrying automatic machine guns. Guns that were levelled at them both.
The Doctor glanced at Peri. Should he risk it? Should he risk throwing open the door to the TARDIS and diving in with his young companion and vanishing? Should he put their lives on the line? He glanced at the blue time machine - so near, yet so far. Should he risk it?
No.
He dropped the TARDIS key into his pocket and slowly raised his hands. Peri did likewise, and they were marched off to The Ivory Tower for a meeting with Commander Kayj.
~~~
3. Interrogation
The Doctor was bound with the hands behind his back; his legs were tied by a vicious knot and he was blindfolded. Peri, however was just handcuffed.
Kayj walked back and forth in front of them, as thou inspecting men on a parade ground, or giving his judgement on a picture in a gallery. He stopped. 'I repeat my question - what were you doing in the main battle zone? You're quite obviously not soldiers, so what are you? Spies?'
Peri remained silent, the memory of the liquid soldiers still fresh in her mind. The Doctor jerked his hand around, staring with blinded eyes. trying to find the source of the voice.
'We're just travellers. Our..."transportation" was meant to be taking us to Mecotos Gamma when we got caught up in your petty pathetic war!'
Kayj's flat palm smashed across the Doctor's face. 'This war,' he said, 'is our glory - our win...our...' he was interrupted by Gaust.
'What he has just said confirms that they were in the area we scanned - the Mecotos Gamma bit fits perfectly.'
Kayj nodded. 'Prepare the Sensitrome,' he muttered and walked over to Peri. 'So you won't talk, eh? Well, the Sensitrome will give us all the answers...all the truth. Pity you won't live long after the process...' He gave a long chilling laugh and ordered the guards to take the young girl.
Peri struggled and turned to the Doctor for advice, but his masked face prevented him from seeing Peri's horrified look. The door closed behind her. The Doctor was alone with Kayj.
'You, I presume are the owner of those disgusting melting devices?' the Doctor ventured. Again, the hand smashed across his face.
'Disgusting? DISGUSTING!? You call two years solid research into the ultimate weapon disgusting?' Kayj felt like killing the Doctor.
The Doctor smiled. 'Oh well, if it took two years...' he paused. 'It's a total waste of time as well as disgusting!'
Kayj resisted the temptation of smashing the Doctor in the face again. 'You wait until the Sensitrome does the torture on your mind. You wait until you get an autopsy on your brain cells - while you're still alive. Because that will wipe the smile off your face once and for all!' He stormed out of the room, leaving the Doctor alone to try and get out of the bonds that held him.
~~~
Peri kicked and Peri screamed. But that didn't deter the guards from strapping her down to the couch and lowering the head cap of the Sensitrome onto her head.
'Any last messages?' Gaust asked. Peri tried to look at him.
'Yeah,' she said, 'Go to hell!'
Gaust leaned over her and tightened the straps making Peri wince as they bit her skin. As the strap on her waist was tightened, a small object fell from the pocket - the communicator she had found on the battlefield earlier. Gaust picked it up and smiled. 'The Sensitrome won't be necessary now,' he told the operators. 'We've all the answers we need...' He gripped the black box tightly and marched Peri off to Kayj yet again.
~~~