BBC - Cult - Interviews - Chapter NineBBC Cult - Printer Friendly Version
Chapter Nine - Chapter Nine
Page 1 
   

The Web of Death
The Doctor sauntered into the command centre of the Chelonian base with a 
nonchalance that made every officer on duty - and the air was alive with 
commands and orders as the war went on - stop what he was doing and look up with 
a mixture of horror and deep loathing. General Jafrid was slumped in his 
webbing, a microphone attachment clipped on his head. 'Continue bombardment in 
sectors 15 to 74. Ships five and seven are to return to base immediately for 
recharge. Remember, missile stocks are to be used sparingly.' He broke off as he 
heard the Doctor's familiar bounding footsteps. The mike dropped away from his 
lips. 'You!' he gurgled, the claws on one of his front feet curling and 
uncurling. 
'I have the oddest feeling I've been here before,' said the Doctor. He nodded to 
the stunned war team. 'Dj vu, very common among time travellers.' He paused, 
and added significantly, 'Have you ever had the feeling, General?' 
Jafrid threw back his head, emitted a terrible feral roar, and spat at the 
Doctor. A mass of bubbling, bloody phlegm smeared across his coat. Jafrid turned 
to the officer who had brought the Doctor in. 'Dekza,' he ordered, 'cut out its 
lying tongue.' 
The Doctor raised a hand. 'Wait, wait. What about the Web of Death?' 
'What about it?' 
'Well,' said the Doctor, 'without my tongue I won't be able to plead for your 
mercy or confess my treachery profusely. I'd just sort of froth and spit blood 
all over the place and you wouldn't like that. It would take the edge off the 
whole occasion, don't you think?' He used the opportunity afforded by this spiel 
to move around the centre and peer at the various instrument displays. The war 
was proceeding apace, he noted. The war zone, never the most picturesque of 
places, was now not much more than a splattered, irradiated, gas-infested mess, 
from the mountains to the marshes. 

Page 2 
   

'Step closer,' Jafrid ordered. The Doctor obeyed, coming to stand directly in 
front of his dangling support. 'You have made an enemy of me, Doctor. I placed 
my trust in you and was humiliated before my men. They saw me place my trust in 
you, and I would go to any lengths to regain their respect. Even if I have to 
tear this miserable moon apart with my bare claws.' He took a deep breath. 'Out 
there my troopers are giving their lives. Thirteen are already dead. We will all 
die if necessary to avenge the death of poor Seskwa.'
'I didn't kill Seskwa,' said the Doctor. 
Jafrid snorted. 'We saw it.' 
'You saw it through the mist of your own anxieties.' He stooped to look Jafrid 
right in the eye. 'Seskwa was already dead.' 
A flicker of curiosity passed through Jafrid's livid yellow eyes. 'What are you 
saying?' 
'A walking corpse,' the Doctor continued, lowering his voice to a dramatic 
whisper, 'a cadaver animated by a psychic force so malevolent and so 
concentrated it threatens the lives of everybody in this system. Remember the 
way he groaned and clanked?' 
Jafrid nodded. 'I advised him to consult our medical officer.' 

Page 3 
   

'There would have been little point. His implants were seizing up, General, the 
mechanisms inside rusting against decomposing flesh. The creatures that 
controlled his dead form forced him to fire missiles in this renewed conflict, 
just as they forced him to crash that tank. I've been examining their movements. 
Shortly after their arrival they were weakened and needed feeding. So they 
gobbled up a few humans they stumbled across and a couple of your troopers. And 
when Seskwa found those bodies the flies leapt on him, killed him and turned him 
to their will.' Jafrid's eyes remained implacable. 'A few slipped in here and 
did for your air-conditioning, knowing it would make you even tetchier than 
normal. By manipulating these little things they could turn the course of larger 
events. And in the tank they saw their moment and acted, knowing how you would 
react. A quick way for them to exacerbate the war. And I'll be bound something 
similar's been happening on the other side.'
Jafrid held his gaze for a long moment and then shook his head. .'I listened to 
you before. You sounded plausible then, as you do now. And I want so much to 
believe you, Doctor. But I cannot. You would have us weakened and then release 
your germ.' He nodded to Dekza, who advanced on the Doctor with a menacing gait. 

'Germ?' The Doctor leant closer. 'Jafrid, you've seen that substance - you know 
it cannot kill. It preserves meat for the creatures invading this place.' 
'There are no invaders.' Jafrid nodded to an officer. 'You. Is the Web 
prepared?' 
'Yes, sir. The strands are loosened and ready to take the strain.' 
Jafrid opened his mouth wide and gurgled. 'Slow agony, Doctor. The strands of 
the Web constrict at a rate of half an inch every ten minutes. Initially you 
will experience only discomfort. Then a slight tingling across your 
shoulderblades, a tugging at the base of your spine. After a couple of hours 
your muscles will start to stretch and your limbs will lock. Then utter, 
infinite agony, until you are torn into four. And though it shames me to admit 
it, I will savour every moment. Take him.' 
Dekza cuffed the Doctor across the back of his knees and he sank to the floor. 
'I wish you'd stop doing that,' he told Dekza as he was dragged towards an 
internal door. 
Jafrid lowered his webbing and made to follow. His attention was caught by 
Fritchoff, who had lingered on the threshold, whimpering. 'Who is this one?' 

Page 4 
   

'I ordered it killed, sir,' said Dekza, sounding mildly surprised.
'Wait.' Fritchoff came forward, and babbled. 'I'm not with the Doctor. I only 
met him a couple of hours ago. I'm non-aligned to any recognized political 
grouping and I'm prepared to adjust my agenda to whatever you require in the 
spirit of affirmation for your long an arduous struggle against the imperialist 
denizens of my homeworld.' 
Jafrid sagged. 'Oh yes. Have it put down straight away.' 



'This is the most dismal farrago of lies I have witnessed in the fullness of my 
career,' said Harmock, picturing himself on public broadcast later delivering 
the same line. 'I never thought a member of the Opposition, weak-willed and 
prone to fancies as they are, would stoop to such a level. The words came 
easily, as ever. 
'Members of what Opposition?' Romana asked. 'So far as I can tell, there are 
none apart from us.' 
Harmock sighed. 'Have you gone quite mad? I'm getting worried.' This was, he 
thought, going to look so good in the papers. The Opposition would never get in 
again. 
'She's right,' said Stokes with vigour. 'Harmock, I've never seen any other 
politicians here in the dome. There's you, and the people walking up and down 
and up an down the corridors all day. And the Femdroids. And it never occurred 
to me, all the time I was here, that there nobody else in the dome.' He pointed 
to the lamp above the desk. 'Because of those.' 
'It is part of the conditioning,' K9 put in. 'The technique blocks certain areas 
of meaning from the human mind.' His head dropped a little. 'Even my cerebral 
core was affected.' 

Page 5 
   

'Rubbish!' Harmock stood up. 'I see the Opposition; often as I see my own 
ministers. There's... Rabley, and you lot, and ...' He faltered. His own 
ministers. He had mentioned them automatically. But he couldn't recall aIl of 
their faces, let alone their names. He sat down again 'This is silly. I have to 
think.'
'It's a charade, Harmock.' Romana gestured out at the city. 'Played out for the 
benefit of the people out there, to get them fighting. Everything in this dome, 
and possibly everything outside, is controlled by the Femdroids.' 
At this Harmock smiled. 'Nonsense. No, no, young lady. They're very much under 
my control, as Premier.' He produced a red plastic card from his inside pocket. 
'I have this.' The card felt good and solid in his grip. 'Deactivation key. It 
fits in the apparatus below here, in master control.' 
Stokes snapped his fingers. 'That computer room place?' He turned to Romana, 
suddenly eager. 'On the level below here there's a central exchange. I've been 
there when I was first shown round.' 
Harmock held the card up triumphantly. 'All I have to do is slot this in and key 
in the deactivation code and the Femdroids would grind to a halt. But I can't 
imagine why I would ever want to.' He gestured to the city. 'Now, we have enough 
troubles at the moment without this scaremongering and mudslinging.' 
Stokes put out his hand. His face was purple and sweaty. 'Give me that key.' 
Before Harmock could react he had reached out and snatched it away. 
'Don't be a fool,' said Harmock as Stokes made for the door. 'It will work only 
if you key in the correct code, which only I know.' 
'They're crazy, Harmock,' Stokes shrieked. 'And we're their playthings. Dolls 
playing with their owners, leading us all in a danse macabre.' 
Harmock reared up. 'Put that key down or I'll...' 
'Yes?' Romana prompted. 
'I'll call Galatea,' Harmock finished, his shoulders sagging. His mind was 
refusing to function normally, and his mouth felt dry. It was as if somebody had 
literally pulled a rug from underneath his feet, and, toppling and unsteady, he 
collapsed into his chair. 

Page 6 
   

K9, who had been taking regular peeks out of the door, called suddenly, 
'Mistress. Femdroids are approaching. Advise this door be sealed.' Romana 
followed his suggestion. She leapt for the door control and the two halves of 
the white portal began to slide together.
Relief bathed Harmock as the two Femdroids advanced down the facing corridor. He 
didn't recognise them, and they were dressed in black rather than blue, but he 
was sure they were going to set everything to rights. He watched as they brought 
up their hands, and revealed slender, clear, glass devices shaped like long 
needles. There was a strange ripple in the air and an electronic burbling noise; 
and then blue sparkles shot from the devices and went streaking through the door 
to disperse harmlessly over his head. The door closed. 
He threw himself behind his desk, panting, his chest heaving in and out. 'My 
God!' he heard Stokes say. Underneath the desk he could see the artist's purple 
face. 
'Now do you believe us?' 
'I'm sure they have good reasons,' replied Harmock. He raised his head above the 
desk. 'Hello, ladies, I-' 
The voice of Galatea came from above, making them all jump. 'Harmock, Stokes, 
you must surrender yourselves. You shall be reconditioned. The others are to 
die.' 
'Straight to the point as ever,' said Stokes. 'What are we going to do?' The 
door was taking the force of the Femdroids' weapons, but already a blue sheen 
was starting to cut through the flimsy material. 
'K9, how long will that door hold them?' asked Romana 
'Estimate four minutes,' he replied after a moment's thought. Romana was already 
reaching in her pockets. 'How long would it take me to reconnect your laser with 
this?' 
She produced an extendable metallic tool. 
'Estimate six minutes,' said K9 sadly. 'I did advise this repair be carried out 
earlier.' 

Page 7 
   

'It's still worth a try.' She set to work, bringing the end of the tool to bear 
on the dog's nose. Harmock shook his head. 'I can't see why you've upset them so 
much. They're normally such normal, level-headed young girls.'
Stokes, with an anxious glance at the door, vaulted around the desk and grabbed 
him by the collar. 'Listen, you oaf, isn't there a back way out? This is a 
politician's residence - there's got to be.' 
Harmock thought and pointed to the panel located under his desk. He had never 
really thought about it before. 'There's that service hatch. But it doesn't go 
any- where.' 
'And where does it go?' Stokes demanded. 
'I don't know,' Harmock burbled. 'I've never looked.' 
'But down, eh?' Stokes rubbed his hands together. 'Right.' He crawled over to 
the hatch and fiddled with the catches. It opened with a creak, and Stokes swung 
his leg over into the space revealed, which was just large enough for him to 
escape through. 'Romana,' he called, 'I'm -' The door sparkled and cracked. 'Oh, 
there's no time to waste. Goodbye.' Intent on her work she didn't even look up. 
'Goodbye, Harmock.' He threw his other leg through and started to descend. 
'I can't imagine what you hope to achieve, Stokes,' Harmock called after him. 
'If you'd only stay up here we could sit down and talk things out. Galatea is a 
very reasonable woman, you know, and this is a very beautiful place...' 
'Quickly, Mistress,' chirped K9. 'The door will not hold.' 
'I'm going as fast as I can.' Romana had opened the small nostril that contained 
K9's laser and was welding together some of the components inside. 
'Suggest you crosshatch the light refractor to the rationic synference,' said K9 
urgently. 
'I am,' she snapped. 

Page 8 
   

The door buckled and flying blue sparks showered them. 'Hurry,' said K9.
'I am,' Romana snapped again. 



Liris stood in the corridor outside, watching as the Killers sliced through the 
door of the Premier's study. She turned to Galatea. 'This was never part of the 
Creators' program, Galatea.' She could feel nausea welling inside her, a sure 
sign her purpose was being perverted. 'Is the scenario so important?' 
'Nothing is more important,' said Galatea. 
'Then what,' asked Liris, 'is this higher power to which you refer?' 
'Keep to your place, Liris,' said Galatea. She smiled. 'Ah, the door is 
weakening.' 



The door gave way with a final splintering crack that made Harmock cover his 
ears. Its two halves came crashing down, revealing a lot of blue smoke and the 
two poised Killer Femdroids. 'They're coming though,' he yelled, still uncertain 
where his allegiance should lie. 
Romana stood and put away her repair tool. 'K9?' 
'Defensive capability restored, Mistress,' he said. 'I am ready to retaliate. 
Suggest you take cover.' 
Romana sprinted behind the desk and pulled Harmock down with her. She looked 
around, confused. 'Where's Stokes?' 
Harmock pointed to the open inspection hatch. 'The coward went down there.' 
The smoke was now clear. The Killers advanced, stepping over the jagged outline 
of the hole they had made. 
K9 trundled forward. 'Surrender. My marksmanship and firepower are superior.' 
They ignored him and raised their weapons to fire. 





Page 9 
   

The Web of Death was made of a sticky grey substance that tingled strangely 
around the Doctor's neck, wrists and ankles when they were forced through it. It 
was suspended like a wall hanging on one wall of a ceremonially ornamented 
chamber, was rectangular in shape, and was fastened by metal spikes at its four 
comers.
The Doctor watched as, to a slow, martial drumbeat, General Jafrid, Dekza and a 
couple of other officers shuffled in and took their positions below him. 'This 
is actually quite comfy,' he told them. 
'In eleven hours you will not think so, Doctor,' said Jafrid. 'In eleven hours 
your screams will resound about this chamber.' 
'Haven't you got a war to go to?' 
'Every one of my men is an expert. Already we have destroyed half of your puny 
parasite troopers.' 
The Doctor concealed his anger and irritation by rubbing his nose with his 
elbow. 'Excuse me. There, that's better. Sorry, you were saying?' 
'We are winning this war, Doctor. You were foolish to rouse us. 
The Doctor looked him straight in the eye. 'Your heart's not really in it, 
though, is it, Jafrid?' 
Jafrid reared up. 'What?' 
'You like the humans. They are your friends. You wish this would all stop. And 
it can, believe me. Continue along this path and you'll be giving your lives for 
nothing.' 
'Silence!' 
The Doctor went on, talking for his life. 'This planet is no more than an hors 
d'oeuvre. A cosmic breadstick. The creatures that are coming here want you dead, 
Jafrid. All those bodies out there in the mud are going to get eaten. You're 
playing right into the hands of the flies.' 
'The what?' 
'The flies,' the Doctor said urgently. 'Don't you remember how they used to buzz 
about poor Seskwa?' 

Page 10 
   

Jafrid snarled. 'You insult my intelligence, Doctor. Dekza, take the strain.'
Dekza crossed to an illuminated panel and tweaked a small control. Immediately 
the Doctor felt a slight tension as the Web's strands tightened. 



Stokes was guided as if by divine providence to the dome's control room. The 
inspection tunnel ended in a similar panel to the one in Harmock's office, which 
sprang open easily to reveal a small room packed with equipment he didn't like 
the look of. 
He was certain he'd been here before - there was a vaguely familiar look to some 
of the consoles and gadgets littered about. 
He crossed the room and shuddered as he passed a row of deactivated Femdroids, 
their beautiful faces wide-eyed but sightless, their shapely figures cocooned in 
individual berths. The facing wall was taken up by a huge screen on which 
Harmock's office was displayed. He saw Harmock and Romana crouched behind the 
desk, with K9 out front blasting at the Femdroids. 
In front of the screen was a large control board that winked with myriad 
switches and dials. At its centre was a small slot. 'There we are. This'll slow 
things down a bit.' 
He inserted the deactivator key. It was accepted, and a small keyboard flipped 
up from an adjacent panel. It was covered in mathematical notation. 'Oh God, 
this could take hours.' Stokes was preparing to punch blindly at the keys until 
he found the correct combination, when an idea struck him. 
He, delved in his pocket and pulled out a hammer. 
'Well', he reflected, remembering a promise made centuries ago, 'the man did say 
it would come in useful.' 
He brought the hammer crashing down on the controls. 





Page 11 
   

The first of the Killers fell in a smoking heap, its hand blown off: its face 
shattered. K9 beeped proudly. 'Target destroyed, Mistress.'
'Good boy, K9,' called Romana. She saw the second Killer advance and raise its 
weapon, now aiming not at her but at K9 himself, and cried, 'Watch out!' 
A red blast shot from K9's nose laser and sliced through the Femdroid at the arm 
joint. It slumped and staggered forward, then fell still in an odd, crooked 
pose. 
Romana waited for the smoke to settle, then stood up from behind the desk and 
brushed her velvet jacket down; Through the door stepped Galatea, as icily 
composed as ever, with Liris trailing behind. She squared up to them. 'You're 
finished. Let these people go.' 
Galatea looked disparagingly from her to K9 and to the fallen Killers. 'It is 
always the way with organics.' She turned to Liris. 'You understand now why we 
could not tell her the truth? Rash action would be the result.' 
She turned back to Romana. 'I reign over nothing and nobody. I am merely a 
servant of my Creators. I exist to fulfil my program. The maximum happiness for 
all citizens of Metralubit.' 
'You can drop the pretence.' Romana gestured out at the burning city. 'Do you 
call that happiness?' 
Liris spoke, her tone almost pitying. 'You cannot understand the good that is 
done here, Romana.' 
'Good?' Romana stepped forward. 'There are two billion people on this planet. 
How many are you going to kill this time?' 
Galatea frowned and looked up. 'I do not like this. It is not how the scenario 
was intended.' She seemed almost to be speaking to somebody else, another 
invisible presence in the room. 'She is a danger to us all. You must-' Romana 
was about to ask who she was addressing when the lights flickered, and there was 
a sudden, high-pitched signal of incredible ferocity. 
K9 started to spin. 'Mistress!' he called. 'Assistance, Mistress! ' 

Page 12 
   

A moment later Galatea and Liris both clapped their hands to their heads and 
started to moan softly. It was a haunting sound, electronic burbles breaking 
through the normally calm pitch of their voices. 'No,' said Galatea still 
looking up. 'What - what is happening?'
Romana hurried to K9's side. She put out a hand and tried to stop his crazy 
spin, but his casing was burning hot. 'Electrical interference,' he called, his 
tail wagging up and down frantically. 'Massive etheric disturbance.' 
Harmock tapped Romana on the shoulder. 'I don't understand what's going on.' All 
his pomposity and strength of character had disappeared. He looked like a 
frightened old man. 
'Galatea!' Liris called out. Her knees buckled and with an odd grinding sound 
she keeled over. 'The master control!' 
'It must be Stokes,' said Romana. 'I suppose everybody gets a turn at making 
themselves useful once in their life.' 
K9 managed to croak, 'Negative, Mistress. There is danger. Reverse flux is 
gathering strength.' His casing starting to glow red hot. 'Please take cover.' 
Romana felt Harmock dragging her away. 'K9, the must be some way to stop this!' 
she called. She could not bear the thought of seeing him explode before her 
eyes. 
'My force... field... is strong...' K9 gasped. He was now not much more than a 
red steaming blur. 
Liris's head hit the floor and she gasped, 'Galatea, the plan will come to 
nought.' 
Galatea was still on her feet, her eyes turned upwards accusingly. 'It must 
succeed, Liris... I know it will... has been promised to me ...' 
'We are dying, Galatea,' gasped Liris. 'The organics ... doomed without us ...' 
There was an odd, sparking noise from somewhere inside her and she fell still. 
Galatea pulled herself over to the window and collapsed against the glass. 'I 
tried...' she whispered as the energy left her and her fingers slid down. 'I 
tried to save you...' 
What happened next was obscured from Romana's view by the heat haze coming off 
K9. She was conscious of a moment's turbulence, enough to match a seismic 
tremor. Then the high-pitched tone oscillated a curved even higher, passing 
beyond the range of hearing. This was accompanied by a noise like sizzling as K9 
started to slow down and the glow surrounding him began to turn pink and then 
fade away. 
And then there was an awful, total silence. The room went totally quiet; the 
dome's background hum was gone the sounds of the riots outside cut out. 

Page 13 
   




Page 14 
   

Harmock stirred. 'What in heaven's name is going on? With some difficulty he 
pulled himself up to his feet 'I'm still completely in the dark, and I must 
demand immediate explanation for -' He broke off and put a hand to his mouth. 
'Oh, my...'
Romana looked closely at K9 as he reached a stop. 'K9 are you all right?' 
'Affirmative.' He turned about to face her, coughed and twittered. 'There is 
some damage to my circuitry. The disturbance was strong.' 
Harmock tapped Romana on the shoulder. 'Look,' he said, his mouth opening and 
closing in a startled 'o'. 'Look.' He pointed through the window. 
Romana brushed him away. 'What about the Femdroids?' 
K9 turned his eyestalk on their prone bodies. 'No activity, Mistress. They have 
been incapacitated.' 
Romana felt a rush of relief 'That's a start, anyway.' She stood up and said to 
Harmock, 'Now you and your people can begin to...' 
The words died in her throat. 
Through the window she could see the city - the same curving white towers, parks 
and tubeways. But it was intact, if rather overgrown. It was also totally empty. 



