The Cavalier eventually remembered the Doctor emptying his pockets in the frantic search for the sonic screwdriver, and handing various other items in his possession to his fellow Time Lord. In the confusion, the Cavalier must have pocketed the whistle absent-mindedly. With nothing else to occupy his time, he shrugged his shoulders and blew into the whistle. He was disappointed to find that it made no sound. He tried it again. Still nothing.
At that moment, much to the Cavalier’s surprise, the back wall of the prison cell exploded, showering him with dust that swirled around the cramped space, pouring into his eyes and lungs. He coughed and spluttered, and tried to see again.
The Cavalier's vision began to clear, and he looked up. He saw, trundling out of the chaos, a small robotic dog. Smoke was still trickling out of the machine’s recently fired gun, which quickly retracted back into its head. His ears twitched nervously. 'You called, Master?' he asked.
The Cavalier looked at the dog, then at the whistle--the dog whistle, he realised--and broke out into a huge grin. 'Oh,' he said, surprised and delighted all at once. 'That was handy.'
'You are not the Doctor-Master. Appearance correlates with that of the rogue Time Lord known as the Cavalier.'
'My reputation precedes me, I suppose. Thanks for the rescue.'
'I am K-9. I am at your service.'
'We need to get out of here,' said the Cavalier, 'and return to the Doctor. He needs my help, I’m sure of it. I can’t let him face this on his own.'
K-9 began to wag his tail excitedly at the mention of his master’s name. 'Affirmative! I can manipulate the residual teleport energy that remains from the Kuricam's presence.' There was a hint of pride in his voice, like he had been waiting for a moment to be the hero for far too long. 'We can make one single trip across Time and Space. Would you like me to lock onto the Doctor-Master's location?'
'Do it, K-9!' cried the Cavalier.
A great whirring noise filled the air, as K-9 began to shake violently, glowing with a bright light. One moment he and the Cavalier were in the cell, and the next they had blinked out of existence.
A few seconds later, Camera 3-7-9, in charge of monitoring the condition of Prisoner Number One of Great Important Who Must Never Ever Be Allowed To Escape Under Any Circumstances Whatsoever, returned from its tea break. It scanned the cell and found, much to its surprise and horror, that the one they called the Cavalier was gone. Thinking fast, it raised the alarm, but then suddenly realised that it would quite rightly be blamed. Its love of tea and biscuits would be its undoing, as it was always going to be. So Camera 3-7-9 disappeared, to take early retirement.
The lamp atop the TARDIS lit up the darkness, as the police box faded into existence. The Doctor stepped out, followed by Romana. He reached into his pocket and retrieved two torches, one of which he threw to his companion. The beams of light sliced through the heavy blackness, though there was little of interest to see.
'What is this place?' asked Romana. It made her feel uneasy, and chilled her to her very core.
'We're on the Zeronaughts' home world, in what appears to be a temple or fortress of some kind,' the Doctor replied. 'The heart of their empire. They built this place to work in secret, so the stories say. No one could find them here, or even suspect what they were doing. All this time, they were working to destabilise the universe. I only hope that we haven't left it too late.'
Noticing his sadness, Romana took hold of his hand. 'We can do this, Doctor,' she said warmly. 'Don't give up, not yet. First, we do our best to fix it.'
The Doctor nodded. 'Let's have a look around.'
Their footsteps echoed around the stony halls of what appeared to be a crypt. The two of them climbed a staircase, of which one of steps crumbled beneath the Doctor's weight. Romana held him steady, and together they continued on.
In the darkness, the torchlight reflected off something shiny. The Doctor and Romana froze, spooked. Looking closer, they realised they were looking at a suit of armour, exactly as the Zeronaught they had previously encountered had wore, though this one was still, immobile. It was stood upright in a space in the rocky wall.
The Doctor cautiously approached it, urging Romana to stay back. He looked into the suit's dead eyes, and seemed relieved to get not reaction. He tapped the armour and observed the hollow sound. Waving the sonic screwdriver over it, he broke into a smile.
'Diagnosis?' Romana asked.
'Defunct,' the Doctor declared. 'Out of action. Put aside for repairs, perhaps? Or waiting for a new occupant? Not sure, but either way it's no threat to us.'
'Good,' said Romana. 'That's very good. Extremely really very good.'
'Why?'
The Doctor turned as Romana shone her torch around the rest of the chamber. At least a dozen other suits--maybe more--lined the room. They were in a similar state to the one the Doctor had examined. He began to pace around the room, examining each of them in turn. Romana stood back, watching him.
'This is fascinating!' he said. 'Oh, I could get some marvellous data from these, maybe even work out their Achilles' Heel...'
'Nice man, Achilles,' said Romana.
The Doctor screwed his face up in disagreement. 'A bit fictional for my liking.'
Romana smirked at him. 'Says the man who's friends with Sherlock Holmes.'
'That's different!' cried the Doctor defensively. He thought for a moment. 'I'm not sure why, but it probably is...' The Doctor patted himself, but seemingly couldn't find what he needed 'Romana, could you fetch me some equipment from the TARDIS? I'll need to run some tests on these suits here.'
Romana nodded agreeably: anything, however slight or trivial, was better than staying in this crypt, surrounded by a dozen jet-black suits of armour. 'What do you need?'
'The blue doo-dad, and the light-up flashing thingymajig.'
His companion sighed. 'Don't get too technical, will you, Doctor?'
Regardless, she headed off. It worried her slightly that she knew exactly what the Doctor was referring to. He was having a terribly detrimental effect on her thorough and lengthy education, she thought, as she wandered back to the TARDIS.
Romana froze. 'It's gone?' she muttered under her breath, unable to believe it. She opened her mouth to call up to the Doctor, but a panicked outcry, which she recognised as coming from him, interrupted her.
Turning on her heels, Romana ran to his aid. But in her haste, she forgot about the broken step. She tripped and landed flat on her face. Shaken, she tried to focus as she thought she heard footsteps, though she couldn't be certain. Her head was spinning, and she couldn't see straight. Sensing someone stood over her, she looked up and her vision began to clear. Two Zeronaughts were restraining the Doctor, holding him tightly. Unable to move, he gave a weak smile as he looked down at Romana.
Another two of the walking suits of armour appeared behind her, hauling Romana to her feet. "You said they were broken!" she cried, noticing that all the suits were very much not broken.
'They were. This whole thing--them coming back to life--is completely impossible...' The Doctor trailed off, thinking hard. 'No. Oh, of course not. To these guys, nothing is impossible. Just improbable.'
The Zeronaughts led the Doctor and Romana into the darkness, into the unknown.
END OF PART THREE
written by
SAMUEL MARKS
copyright 2014
artwork by
COLIN JOHN
copyright 2014
copyright 2014