Read Doctor Who: The Visitation for Free Online

he rolled over in the air and struck the stone slabs of the floor. The android then turned towards the Doctor, who was sprinting across the cellar towards the Soliton machine. Again he raised his index finger and prepared to fire as the Doctor flung himself onto the gas unit and groped wildly for the controls.
     
    The android paused as a loud hiss emitted from the machine.
     
    'I don't know if you can understand me,' said the Doctor, climbing down from the Soliton unit, 'but I would like to point out how inflammable Soliton becomes when mixed freely with oxygen.'
     
    Quickly he moved away from the machine and across the floor to Tegan.
     
    Lifting her arm, he felt her pulse: it was erratic. 'If you fire that beam of yours,' he continued, you'll turn this house into an inferno.'
     
    The android lowered his hand and started to move towards the Doctor, forcing him to abandon Tegan and retreat to the cellar steps. Although his trick had worked, the android was still capable of crushing the Doctor in his steel fingers.
     
    Reluctantly the Doctor backed up the stairs, but instead of following, the android side-stepped to the Soliton machine and readjusted the controls. It would take but thirty seconds before the Soliton level dropped sufficiently for the android to use his blaster.
     
     
    Adric seemed to be recovering. 'I'll be back as soon as I can.' the Doctor shouted. But Adric didn't hear anything as he slipped back into oblivion.
     
     
    Richard Mace charged into the main hall, wide-eyed with fear and panic. Thrusting his pistols into his waistband, he stumbled across the room, his only thought to get out of the house and as far away as possible.
     
    'Wait,' shouted a breathless voice, but Mace didn't falter. 'Please wait.'
     
    A panting Nyssa tumbled into the room. 'We must help the Doctor.'
     
    'Your Doctor is a dead man!' The actor fumbled with the handle of the door which led to the hallway. 'Did you not see who was in the cellar?' He threw the door open. 'It was Death, the Great Reaper!'
     
    'That's what you're supposed to think.'
     
    'Then what was it?' Mace was not keen to argue with a fool.
     
    'An android, a mechanical man, a machine.'
     
    'Perfectly correct,' said the Doctor, appearing at the landing door behind them.
     
    Mace slowly turned, his terror renewed. 'You are supposed to be dead, sir,' he said, feeling for the reassuring shape of the crucifix under his shirt.
     
    'Not this time.'
     
    'Then your mind is addled! It was Death. You saw the effect my pistols had on him.'
     
    'It takes more than a pair of flintlocks to damage an android.'
     
    'Then there is no place in this house for me.' Mace disappeared into the hallway.
     
    'Let him go, Doctor.'
     
    'We need all the help we can get,' he said, crossing the room. 'Adric and Tegan are hurt.'
     
    But Mace's only interest was getting the front door open.
     
    'Death has them now,' he said over his shoulder. 'There is nothing I can do.' With the bolts released, the heavy door swung open and Mace stepped out into the sunlight.
    Nyssa and the Doctor followed.
     
     
    'If it hadn't been for Adric, you would still be in that cel ar.'
     
    'I am grateful to the boy. But trying to rescue him would be nothing more than a futile gesture.'
     
    Gravel spat from beneath the Doctor's boots as he angrily caught up with Mace and grabbed him by the neck of his leather jerkin, spinning him round.
     
    'Now listen to me!'
     
    'That isn't the way, Doctor,' said Nyssa.
     
    He released the actor. 'I'm sorry,' he said a little awkwardly. 'I didn't mean to do that.'
     
    Mace tugged at his jerkin, attempting to restore both its shape and his dignity. 'I realise how you feel about the boy,' he said at last. 'But I would rather be sealed up in a plague house than go back into that cellar.'
     
    The Doctor ran his fingers nervously through his hair. 'Let me start again,' he said. 'The android, like the ornament around your neck, is not from this