Read Online Doctor Who: The Sensorites by Nigel Robinson - Free Book Online

anything, put the light out again,' he told
Ian and Barbara. 'I won't put up with this nonsense: dictated to by
petty thieves and my own grandchild!' And with that he stalked off in
the direction of the flight deck.
    Barbara watched him
go. 'I've never seen him so angry before,' she said to Ian.
    'Susan set him
off,' he replied. 'The Sensorites must have hypnotised her.'
    Barbara smiled.
'No, I don't think so ... She's just growing up, that's all. . .'
    In a quiet corner
of the flight deck, away from the ears of Maitland and Carol, the
Doctor held his granddaughter affectionately in his arms.
    'Now, what is all
this?' he asked. 'Setting yourself up against me?'
    'I didn't,
Grandfather . . .' Susan began to protest.
    'I think I'm the
best judge of that, Susan,' said the Doctor, some of his former
sternness returning to his voice.
    Susan raised her
head to meet her grandfather's gaze. 'I have opinions too,' she
argued.
    'My dear girl, the
purpose of growing old is to accumulate knowledge and wisdom and to
help other people,' the Docto: declared loftily. He sounded exactly
like the Victorian head master of an English public school.
    'So, I'm to be
treated like a little child!' said Susan breaking away from her
grandfather's embrace.
    'If you behave like
one - yes!' he snapped back.
    Stuggling to remain
calm Susan pleaded with the Doctor 'I understand the Sensorites,' she
said. 'They're really very timid little people. Because my mind and
theirs can some times communicate they trust me.'
    'I assure you we
will make use of that fact,' the Doctor promised her. 'But not
without discussion. You will not make decisions on your own accord.
Is that quite clear?'
    Susan took a deep
breath: 'I won't be pushed aside, Grandfather. I'm not a child
anymore.'
    Unnoticed by the
Doctor and Susan, the Sensorites had entered the flight deck with Ian
and Barbara. They had been listening with interest to the
conversation.
    'Why do you make
her unhappy?' the first Sensorite asked the Doctor.
    'We can read the
misery in her mind,' the other explained.
    Grateful for an
opportunity to attack an opponent with some verbal abuse,
the Doctor turned savagely on the two aliens. 'It's a good thing you
can't read the anger in my mind,' he began, deliberately raising his
voice. 'In all the years my granddaughter and I have been travelling
we have never had an argument. And now you creatures have caused
one!'
    Susan urged him to
be silent. 'I'll do as you tell me, Grandfather,' she promised. 'I'll
stay with you.'
    Caught off-guard,
the Doctor was for once lost for words. Eventually he managed to say,
'Very well - now let's work together and get back the lock of the
TARDIS.'
    'We have orders
from the First Elder, our leader,' the first Sensorite said. 'We are
to listen to you and transmit your words to him.'
    The Doctor once
more appointed himself the spokesman for his and Maitland's crew.
'I'm afraid that isn't good enough: I would like to talk to the First
Elder face-to-face,' he said. 'I want to arrange the release of this
spaceship.' The first Sensorite held his mind transmitter to his
forehead, sending the Doctor's words back to the Sense-Sphere as the
Doctor continued: 'Tell him we're not pirates or plunderers. There's
only one treasure we desire from him: freedom!'
    Carol sat on the
edge of John's bed, looking down sadly at the sleeping form of the
disturbed mineralogist. As if to reassure herself of the presence of
the man she loved she affectionately caressed his cheek.
    Suddenly he sat
bolt upright, his eyes staring ahead with fear.
    Carol took him by
the shoulders and gently pushed him back down on the bed; just as she
would to a child who had woken up from a terrible nightmare.
    'It's all right,
John,' she whispered comfortingly, 'I'm here.'
    She searched in his
eyes for a glimmer of recognition, some acknowledgement that he
remembered who she was. 'John ... do you know who I am?' she asked.
She silently prayed for the answer she most desired.
    John