Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen Read Online Free

you’ll never take me. Never!’ She punched a button which abruptly shut down the video screen.
    Desolately, she sank back into her seat, not knowing what to do next. Her concentration was interrupted by a mechanical warning signal: ‘Attention incoming craft. You are approaching tollport G715. Please have your credits ready.’ Delta swung round. She raised her weapon and aimed point-blank at the flashing green signal generator, knocking it out of action. Freeing the auto drive, she took over the controls, wrenching the ship into a tight turn.
    On board an identical fighter Gavrok was leering at his viewer screen which showed the regular blip of Delta’s craft. Suddenly the blip went out. Gavrok banged the device with a gloved hand. ‘She’s somehow cut the Trace.
    Visual pursuit!’ he ordered.
    The ship’s pilot activated the optical viewer. In the distance Delta’s craft suddenly veered steeply to one side, disappearing completely from the screen. ‘Copy her vector!’ barked Gavrok at his long-suffering pilot. The pilot pulled the controls into a steep angle. ‘You’re overshooting, fool! She’s ducked into that space toll!’
    shrieked Gavrok.
    Just then, unaware of the effect it might have, the synthesized voice cut in with its now-familiar litany.
    ‘Attention incoming craft. You are approaching...’ It never managed to finish its message because Gavrok’s heavy fist smashed into the loudspeaker, silencing it for good. He glared at the pilot as their ship raced past the tollport and turned tightly, ready for a return run.
    Down on the tollport surface the bus rumbled out of the hangar onto the apron and stopped beside the TARDIS. It was guided into position by the tollport navigator waving what resembled huge ping-pong bats. As the bus went through a pre-launch check the sky was split by the scream of a jet engine. Using maximum reverse thrust, Delta managed to stop her craft within metres of the cruiser. Her ship’s hatch flew open and she sprinted across the runway to the bus, tightly clutching the silver orb. Delta jumped aboard, avoiding the searching looks of the other passengers. Murray simply assumed that she was a latecomer and continued feeding power to the engines.
    As the bus started its run, Delta glanced out of the window catching the Doctor’s eye. He was standing beside the TARDIS, his forehead wrinkled in thought. Satisfied with the checks, Murray opened up the engines to full thrust.
    The Doctor blocked his ears against the high-pitched whine and clutched at his hat as the strong backwash enveloped him. There was a brief incandescence and a screech of afterburners, then it was gone. In the sudden silence which followed, the Doctor turned his eyes skywards, scanning the void, searching for a clue. Seeing nothing unusual amongst the constellations and distant star clusters, he entered the TARDIS.
    Meanwhile, in outer space, the bus was heading towards Earth, its cargo of holiday-makers looking forward to their trip. The inky blackness outside the windows provided no clues as to their destination. A star cluster occasionally lit up the void as they hurtled through time and space. But the tourists inside the bus didn’t seem to notice; they were only concerned with having fun. The excited buzz of conversation filled the air as snacks and liquid refreshments were consumed at an alarming rate – the Navarinos were well known for their enormous appetites, Murray thought he’d create the right ambience for the journey by putting on a recording of Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around the Clock’. He leaned forward to the microphone and addressed his passengers. ‘Please keep your lapstraps fastened during the flight, and no dancing in the aisles.
    Now, are we all feeling fine?’
    ‘YES!’ they chorused.
    ‘All right,’ said Murray, setting the time indicator,
    ‘1959, here we come!’
     

Chapter Six
    Meanwhile, on Planet Earth, Hawk and Weismuller had stopped beside a small picturesque