Read Online Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen by Malcolm Kohll - Free Book Online Page B

swaggered about, barking his orders and watching with satisfaction as his men scurried to obey.
    A glowing grid-map of Wales had just appeared on Gavrok’s vid screen. In the centre of the map was an orange pulsing square. ‘She is somewhere in this quadrant.
    It’s a pity that we had to destroy the beacon when we killed the mercenary. We’ll have to scan the whole area until we can find some sort of advanced technology emissions,’
    growled Gavrok, staring at the light patterns dancing before his face.
    At the edge of a wooded copse, smoke kept drifting into Weismuller’s eyes as he attempted to cook a sausage over a dying fire. Finally, when the sausage had turned black, Weismuller withdrew it from the embers, blew on it repeatedly and took a large bite.
    He quickly spat out the mouthful of charred meat, and held up the remains of the sausage – inside the burnt exterior the meat was raw. The small brown pup tent was pitched in the background, next to the Morris which was intended to act as a kind of windbreak. In a fit of temper he took the sausage from the end of the stick and flung it as hard as he could, narrowly missing Hawk who sat nearby with the valve radio in his lap and the earphones on his head. He twiddled the dial one way and then the other, his face growing more sour with each revolution.
    ‘You’re wasting your time, Hawk,’ said Weismuller crossly.
    ‘Well, it’s better than stopping every passing stranger and asking them if they’ve seen our lost satellite,’ snapped Hawk. ‘All that gets us is a reputation for being crazy.’
    ‘But there’s no point in listening to the radio, Hawk. It’s stopped transmitting – that’s why we’ve got to look for it,’
    said Weismuller.
    ‘Then I’ll listen to the Voice of America! Anything’s better than your yammering!’ said Hawk, turning the volume to maximum and yanking out the earphones.
    The radio blared forth masking the sound of Ray’s scooter, as she and the Doctor belted around the corner and pulled up with a screech.
    ‘Excuse me,’ said the Doctor. ‘But have you seen a couple go by here? Fellow on a big black motorbike with a woman in a green polka dot dress?’
    Hawk and Weismuller shared a look. ‘No sir, we ain’t seen no sign of life this morning. Ain’t that right Hawk?’
    said Weismuller.
    ‘hope, not even an iddy biddy squirrel,’ Hawk chuckled.
    ‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen a...’
    Hawk got no further as Weismuller jabbed him m the ribs. ‘Forget it Hawk.’
    ‘There’s one more place we can try, Doctor,’ said Ray.
    ‘Then let’s go!’ yelled the Doctor as she accelerated away.
    Hawk looked at Weismuller, ‘I thought you said we had to look for it,’ he said.
    ‘That’s right I did, but that sure doesn’t include asking every Tom, Dick or Harry. Don’t forget, Weismuller, this is a top secret mission. We have to show a little caution –
    we’re just supposed to be a couple of regular guys out on a camping trip.’ Weismuller nodded as he threaded another sausage onto the stick.
     
    At Shangri-La the Navarinos had all gathered around the Nostalgia Trips cruiser. Their bags had all been stashed in the hold and they waited only for the navipod to resume normal working. They were very impatient to be away and kept scanning the empty skies for any sign of a Bannerman spaceship. One dumpy little Navarino promised that if she were to arrived home safely she would never leave Navarro again.
    Murray and Mel were peering into the jar. ‘I don’t know much about cyrstalline structures,’ said Mel, ‘But that looks about cooked.’
    ‘I think you’re right, Mel. It does look ready. Shall we chance it?’ asked Murray.
    Mel nodded in agreement. ‘Here we go then. Carefully does it...’ Murray eased his fingers into the bubbling red fluid and slowly withdrew the shimmering crystal cluster.
    He eased it out of the liquid and held it aloft, a smile of satisfaction on his face. However, the wet surface