'Have you found Ace, my companion?'
'No, we haven't, but I believe she could be in the living quarters, she must have doubled back on us earlier.'
'Listen, Valla, the only way you can kill these creatures is if you aim for any exposed flesh part of the body, preferably below the jaw at the neck, understand?'
'I understand!' came the reply and then silence followed.
Valla looked over at Lodge whose lazer was all but dead. She watched as he struggled to unholster his last remaining power pack from his side pack, but didn't see the unexpected: an Armaryte appeared from out of one of the side corridors, grabbed Lodge with both claws by his neck raising him high above the ground, hitting his head against the ceiling of the corridor. Lodge fell into unconsciousness at which point the creature broke his neck and threw his body across the corridor.
Valla screamed, 'No!' and opened fire at the creature. The creature appeared not to take any notice of the onslaught of fire and continued to move towards her until finally a final blow hit its mark and the creature fell on top of her.
Valla panicked and scrambled away from the creature and up against a wall, fear covered her face at the thought of being so close to one of them and death.
~~~
The creatures were dead.
The Doctor stepped over their corpses towards Valla who sat crying quietly to herself.
'Are you alright?' he asked.
'What do you think?' she snapped, stood up and walked away from him.
Napier examined Lodge but he was dead. He felt angry at himself for not listening to the Doctor earlier, deaths could have been prevented he thought.
'Doctor, what about Ace, your companion?' asked Napier.
'I'm alright,' came a voice as Ace turned around the corner of the corridor, 'He's the one with the problem,' she said indicating the figure of Zaran behind her.
'Zaran, what's the meaning of this?' asked Napier.
'Just shut it, Commander. Now, all of you back to communications.' Zaran in turn pointed his pistol at the others, 'I suggest you drop your weapons, you won't be needing them now.' with which Valla and Napier threw them to the ground. 'Right, move it!'
The party moved off back in the direction of the communications room. Unaware to Zaran, Ace had cautiously removed a can of Nitro-9 from her ruck-sack. The Doctor had observed this and indicated her his disapproval, but she ignored him and having started the timer she dropped the can at her feet and shouted: 'Run!'
But Zaran was too quick for her, he grabbed her jacket and held her in an arm-lock. The Doctor, Valla and Napier had started to run when it became clear that Ace's plan had gone wrong.
'Don't just stand there! Run!' shouted Ace as she struggled to free herself of Zaran's grip. 'that thing's only got seconds before it goes off! Professor!'
'Come on!' shouted the Doctor as he pushed Valla and Napier forward. The Doctor looked back at Ace and sneered, 'Ace!'
'Don't move!' shouted Zaran. 'Nobody move!' he raised his pistol and opened fire. The shot hit Napier full in the back as they moved away.
The Doctor caught him as he fell.
'If you don't move, we'll both end up as mince meat!' shouted Ace and pushed Zaran hard in the side away from the Nitro-9 just as it exploded knocking both the Doctor and Valla to the ground.
As they dusted themselves down, the Doctor called out for Ace. There was no rely, but as the smoke dispersed he could make out the figure of Zaran still holding Ace captive, and was once again pointing the lazer-pistol at them both.
'Now, let's have no more silly ideas.'
'Napier's dead,' said Valla looking up at the Doctor who intern looked at Ace. 'I'm sorry,' she said, 'really...'
The Doctor ignored her and helping Valla they moved on in the direction of the communication room.
The door to the communications room slid open. The bodies of Ridge and Santo still lay where they fell, the smell of decay now hung in the air.
Upon entering, the Doctor was aware that someone had been here before them several repairs to the communication console had been made. It was quite clear that the signal now coming through was for Zaran.
'Who could be calling you at this time of night?' mocked the Doctor.
'Shut it, or you're next, Time Lord!'
The sudden revelation surprised the Doctor, 'Do you know me?' he asked.
'He wants us dead, Professor. I heard him talking...'
'Shut it kid, or you'll go the same way as the others.'
'Who are you calling kid?'
'Quiet, Ace.' said the Doctor suddenly, he wanted to know more about Zaran and what he was up to rather than listen to her continual outbursts. 'Who are you working for? What's so important about this planet to them? Why kill innocent people? Why...'
'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!' shouted Zaran, 'You'll get your answers soon enough, Doctor, but not before I leave this planet.'
'You killed Santo,' said Valla, 'Why?' she asked.
'He was a witness to my arrival,' said the Doctor, 'there was a risk that he might warn Napier before he could set his plan...their plan into action.'
'Which was?' asked Valla.
'Which was to let the Armarytes into the base and wipe out the colonists.'
'But why?'
Zaran answered: 'It would be at least another six months before another shuttle is sent to Saros 5, in which time my masters would take complete control of the planet and its mineral wealth...'
'Taranium,' announced the Doctor.
'But there's a shuttle due any day now...' declared Valla.
'It was destroyed,' said Ace, 'we saw it happen.'
'No doubt destroyed by your "masters" ' said the Doctor.
'Who are these "masters"?' asked Valla.
But the Doctor did not answer, but he knew who they were.
Suddenly, the sound of engines roared above them distracting them as they observed a shuttle craft land upon the platform.
'My ship awaits, Doctor.' laughed Zaran.
'Aren't you going to kill us?'
'No. there are still other Armarytes crawling through the corridors of this base and they prefer fresh raw meat. And to ensure that you won't try anything to stop me from leaving, your friend here is coming with me.' Zaran grabbed Ace tighter as she struggled to fee herself. 'If you attempt to leave I'll shoot her and you wouldn't want that on your conscious, would you?'
Zaran and Ace moved towards the door, Ace called out after the Doctor, 'Professor! Professor do something!'
The Doctor stared at her, said nothing and the door closed behind them.
'You've got to help her,' said Valla.
'Which is the nearest airlock to the landing platform?'
'Airlock six.'
'Right, lead the way, but you'll have to arm yourself in case those creatures show themselves.'
Valla removed the lazer-pistol from Santo's holster and moved towards the door. As it opened the sound of roaring could be heard in the distance.
'Which direction did that come from?' asked the Doctor.
Valla indicated: 'That way, I think.'
'Which way is airlock six?'
'That way,' Valla indicated the opposite direction much to the Doctor's relief.
'Come on, let's go.' said the Doctor and both he and Valla moved off in the direction of airlock six.
~~~