The Doctor and Jo have gone off in the TARDIS, leaving the Brigadier and UNIT facing a deadly mystery – and a moral dilemma Robbery and murder are on the increase in Britain as disputes between underworld gangs escalate into open warfare on the streets The Master seems inextricably linked to the chaos – despite the fact he is safely under lock and key Meanwhile UNIT is called in when a plane missing in strange circumstances is rediscovered – contaminated with radiation and particle damage that cannot possibly have occured on Earth As the mystery deepens, what little light they can shed on the matter leads the Brigadier to believe that with the Doctor away, Earth’s only hope may lie with its greatest enemy Featuring the Master and UNIT, plus Ian and Barbara, this adventure takes place between the tv stories THE DAY OF THE DALEKS and THE SEA DEVILS, and is concurrent with THE CURSE OF PELADON THE FACE OF THE ENEMY DAVID A MCINTEE No dedication this time – I’ve learned my lesson ‘Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even in the demons of the pit.’ Dracula Published by BBC Books an imprint of BBC Worldwide Publishing BBC Worldwide Ltd, Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane London W12 0TT First published 1998 Copyright © David A McIntee 1998 The moral right of the authors has been asserted Original series broadcast on the BBC Format © BBC 1963 Doctor Who and TARDIS are trademarks of the BBC ISBN 563 40580 Imaging by Black Sheep, copyright © BBC 1998 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham Cover printed by Belmont Press Ltd, Northampton Contents Habitual Bit Of Waffle At The Start Prologue Chapter Chapter 21 Chapter 37 Chapter 49 Chapter 61 Chapter 73 Chapter 85 Chapter 97 Chapter 111 Chapter 10 123 Chapter 11 133 Chapter 12 145 Chapter 13 153 Chapter 14 163 Chapter 15 179 Chapter 16 185 Chapter 17 193 Chapter 18 203 Chapter 19 215 Chapter 20 223 Chapter 21 229 Epilogue 239 HABITUAL BIT OF WAFFLE AT THE START When I saw Gary Russell at the launch party for this series of books he said, ‘But you got up on stage in LA and said you weren’t doing any more.’ Not to mention hinting as much last time I lied Well, actually, at the time, the information I’d had about the Beeb’s terms and plans was wrong So once he set me right, I changed my mind So now you know who to thank/blame (delete as applicable, and I look forward to watching the fur fly on RADW) Besides, the appeal of completing a themed Master triptych was just too strong Apart from Gary, thanks this time go to Stephen Cole at the Beeb, Roger Clark again, Keith Topping and Martin Day, and Steve Lyons I’ve become known for trying to get the period details right in my books, however this is a UNIT story Therefore, in the interests of keeping the timescale infuriatingly vague, I’ve introduced a few deliberate anachronisms (e.g the navy’s IDPF set-up was only introduced a few years ago, and certainly not in the 1970s) But then, I’m still waiting for all those manned spaceflights launched from Britain For what it’s worth, though, my personal feeling is that the story is set in 1976, since The Mind of Evil predates Chairman Mao’s death in that year, and Zygons is no earlier than 1979 (Maggie ) The Brig’s retirement from Mawdryn openly contradicts Pyramids of Mars, when Sarah claims to come from 1980 (which fits with Zygons being 1979) Day of the Daleks and The Time Monster are both set in late September, which would make them at least a year apart So Mind of Evil is either late 1975 or early 1976, The Daemons is May 1976, Day September 1976 and Time Monster September 1977 That contradicts Mawdryn Undead, of course, but I’ve always felt that, since the Doctor had to slip the TARDIS sideways in that story to escape the warp ellipse, the Earth-based sections of that story were set in some parallel universe Now if William Russell had been available to reprise Ian as originally planned, we wouldn’t have to wonder about these things PROLOGUE The British field headquarters of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce at Denham didn’t look any different from any other well-maintained stately home in the Home Counties Not to any overflights by aircraft or satellites, at least Up close, there was a permanently manned gatepost and various subtle fences and alarm systems concealed in the surrounding hedgerows All the security was very low key, though, in contrast to the sort of bristling fortresses that were built around such facilities elsewhere in the world The only person on duty at the front desk at this hour was Sergeant John Benton He was relaxing behind the desk, reading a battered Badger paperback, when Jo Grant breezed in through the door, her slight frame wrapped in a pink and lilac floral-print dress and high-heeled boots ‘Special occasion, Miss?’ he asked She nodded proudly ‘Mike Yates is taking me to see the new Woody Allen film.’ ‘Rather you two than me,’ Benton replied He’d always preferred something more in the Carry On line himself when it came to comedy Jo smiled ‘I know what you mean – he’s not really that funny, is he? But I’ve already seen the other film that’s on Is Mike off yet?’ ‘He’s around somewhere D’you want me to put out a call for him, let him know you’re here?’ She shook her head ‘Just tell him when he comes in.’ ‘Right you are.’ Jo had known she was a little early, but it didn’t bother her In any case, the extra time would give her a chance to see how the Doctor was getting on with his newest experiment She didn’t understand more than one word in ten of what he said about the TARDIS, but he was her friend and so she cared about how he was getting on Yesterday he had said he was sure the TARDIS was working now, but he had made that claim before, and somewhere inside she wanted to check that he hadn’t been disappointed again The Doctor was busy at the TARDIS console when she arrived in the laboratory Although the wide six-sided electronic toadstool belonged inside the TARDIS, the Doctor had recently removed it for ease of getting at the tools in the lab while working Though internally a very sophisticated space-time vessel, the TARDIS had the appearance of an old police box He looked up as she entered, his lined face – which still somehow seemed youthful – forming into a beatific smile under his personal cloud of white hair ‘Hello, Jo I thought this was your night off.’ She smiled back; it was infectious somehow ‘It is, but I couldn’t stay away Besides, I’m waiting for Captain Yates.’ ‘He was in just a minute ago.’ Jo hesitated before asking, sure that the Doctor would have an explanation, then brought up something that had been preying on her mind for some time ‘Doctor, how are you going to get the console through the TARDIS door?’ He grinned ‘I just altered the TARDIS’s architectural configuration software to place the console outside at the end of a link.’ ‘You mean the TARDIS can put parts of it outside itself.’ The Doctor gave her a look that suggested she was naive even to have to think that ‘Of course You can stick your tongue out, can’t you? This isn’t much different.’ Cheekily, she did just that, knowing he wouldn’t be offended The Doctor made some sort of adjustment to a circuit on the console and stepped back The console obligingly wavered and slowly vanished The Doctor nodded to himself and went into the TARDIS Jo followed cautiously The last time she had followed him into the TARDIS, it had whisked her off 500 years into the future Inside, she found the central console back in its proper place and the Doctor openly admiring his handiwork ‘There we are, Jo; good as new.’ ‘You really mean the TARDIS is working again?’ Jo didn’t want to sound doubtful, but the Doctor had made this claim before ‘Yes, of course I’ve run all the tests and diagnostic cycles on the console and everything worked perfectly Now all that’s needed is a quick shakedown flight, just to iron out any bumps.’ He looked at her, and she immediately knew he was going to invite her along ‘Look, Jo, why don’t you co–’ ‘Come with you?’ She was tempted to laugh ‘Well, Mike will be along in a minute ’ The Doctor scratched his nose ‘Yes, well, we’ll be back by then This’ll just be a short trip – round the Moon, say – and we’ll be back the instant we left, like on our trip to Exarius.’ ‘Not entirely like that trip, I hope,’ Jo said with feeling On that occasion, they had been caught between thuggish industrialists and hostile aliens, with the addition of the Master to complicate things ‘No, of course not.’ ... takes place between the tv stories THE DAY OF THE DALEKS and THE SEA DEVILS, and is concurrent with THE CURSE OF PELADON THE FACE OF THE ENEMY DAVID A MCINTEE No dedication this time – I’ve learned... forward and attached a small coil of blasting cord to the metal bar that stretched across the doors at chest height She stepped aside and he set off the charge A small thud, and the halves of the. .. growths of moss-covered tree trunks and the rusty carpet of leaves Then he saw the tailfin of an aircraft through the trees A thin-faced RAF officer, his scrawny frame wrapped in a greatcoat, stomped