037 - Doctor Who and the Keeper of Traken

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2024-12-14 0 0 384.38KB 113 页 5.9玖币

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For ages past, the Union of Traken has lived in peace and

harmony thanks to the power of the Source, controlled by

generations of Keepers.

But the current Keeper, his powers waning, senses some all-

pervading evil about to invade his world. He summons the

Doctor to his aid.

To save Traken the Doctor fights the terrifying Melkur—only

to find that this new enemy conceals an older and even

deadlier foe—one the Doctor has encountered before...

ISBN 0 426 20148 5

DOCTOR WHO

AND THE

KEEPER OF TRAKEN

Based on the BBC television serial by Johnny Byrne by

arrangement with the British Broadcasting Corporation

TERRANCE DICKS

published by

The Paperback Division of

W. H. Allen & Co. Ltd

A Target Book

Published in 1982

by the Paperback Division of W. H. Allen & Co. Ltd.

A Howard & Wyndham Company

44 Hill Street, London W1X 8LB

Corporation 1982

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading

ISBN 0 426 20148 5

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way

of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise

circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of

binding or cover other than that in which it is published and

without a similar condition including this condition being

imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

CONTENTS

1 Escape to Danger

2 Melkur Awakes

3 Intruders

4 The Voice of Melkur

5 Melkur’s Secret

6 The Net

7 Prisoners of Melkur

8 A Place to Hide

9 Death of a Keeper

10 The Rule of Melkur

11 The Last Resort

12 The Enemy

Escape to Danger

The Doctor had escaped.

Not for the first time, of course. In his many lives he had

escaped from many dangers. But this was something special.

This time he had escaped not from some monster’s cave or

tyrant’s dungeon, but from a sort of pocket-sized parallel

universe, called E-space.

Now the Doctor stood in his shirt-sleeves in the TARDIS

control room, gazing at the crowded starscape on the big

scanner screen.

Beside him was a smallish, round-faced, snub-nosed lad with

an expression of cheerful impudence. This was Adric the only

one of the Doctor’s companions to make the journey back to N-

space, the normal universe.

The Doctor’s other companion, the Time Lady Romana.

had decided to stay in E-space, pursuing her crusade against the

slavery that had angered and revolted her. Perhaps that was

what Romana had always needed, mused the Doctor, a cause to

devote herself to whole-heartedly. She had never been really

happy as a footloose wanderer through time and space. At least

she had K9 to help her. The Doctor smiled at the thought of the

oddly-assorted duo: the cool sophisticated Time Lady and the

opinionated little computer in the shape of a robot dog. They

made a formidable combination.

Adric’s voice interrupted the Doctor’s thoughts. ‘So this is N-

space?’

The Doctor studied the star-filled screen with satisfaction.

‘The old home universe! It’s many times larger than the one

you’re used to, of course.’

‘All those stars! Do you really know them all?’

‘Only the interesting ones!’

‘How can you tell which is which?’

‘Oh. you know.’ said the Doctor vaguely. ‘probability theory,

that sort of thing.’ He frowned at the screen. ‘I can’t quite see

how we’ve ended up in this neighbourhood, though. We’re

supposed to be re-turning to Gallifrey. Oh, well...’ The Doctor

shrugged. Pin-point accuracy had never been a feature of the

TARDIS navigational systems.

‘I don’t see how probability theory comes into it!’ said Adric.

The Doctor looked thoughtfully at him. Adric was naturally

shrewd, and he’d learned a great deal since becoming the

Doctor’s companion. Some of his questions were becoming

disturbingly acute. ‘Now see here, Adric. I give you a privileged

glimpse into the mystery of time, open your mind to adventure

beyond imagining—and you have the audacity to criticise my

logic?’

‘All I’m saying is a lot of what you say doesn’t actually make

much sense.’

‘Oh, you’ve noticed that have you? Well, as long as that’s

understood, you and I are going to get on splendidly!’

Adric returned his attention to the screen.’Where are we.

anyway?’

‘Somewhere in the region of Mettula Orionsis, I should say.

Does that make sense?’

Adric studied the navigational console. ‘Well, it’s what it says

here.’

‘You’re starting to get the hang of that console.’ The Doctor

touched a control, narrowing the display on the screen to a

particular star-cluster. ‘That’s the Traken Union—famous for its

universal harmony. A whole empire held together by...’ The

Doctor paused, groping for some way to express the incredibly

complex bio-electronic structure that united the Traken Empire.

‘Held together by...’

‘Well?’

‘Just by people being terribly nice to each other!’

‘That makes a change.’

‘Mind you. I haven’t actually been there... as far as I can

remember. I just know it by repute.’

‘Is that why we’re going there now?’

‘Going to Traken? Who says so?’

‘You’ve set the controls to take us there’

The Doctor looked down at the console. ‘You mean you set

them.’

‘No. I assumed you did.’

‘But I didn’t, did I?’ said the Doctor thoughtfully. ‘Now. I

wonder what probability theory would have to say about that!’

The Doctor went over to the big old-fashioned hatstand that

stood incongruously beside the console. It held a long flowing

coat, an incredibly long scarf and a hat with a broad floppy brim.

The Doctor took down the coat and slipped into it, nearly

upsetting the hatstand in the process. ‘Why does this thing

always wobble?’ he muttered indignantly. ‘You stick a book

under one leg, then you need a book under the next one and so

on, round and round, doing all the legs in turn. It’s perfectly

infuriating.’

Adric was busy at the console. ‘Doctor, there’s something

wrong with the controls!’

‘What? Oh, yes, well there would be.’ The Doctor went over

to join him. ‘What’s the problem?’

‘They seem to be operating themselves! As far as I can make

out, we’ve gone into orbit round one of those planets.’

The Doctor studied the console, and nodded thoughtfully. ‘I

thought so!’

‘You thought what?’

‘I thought you might appreciate it if I appeared to be in

control of the situation. I mean, we could always panic, I

suppose, but where would that get us?’

Adric was beginning to panic already. ‘But what’s

happening?’

‘I haven’t the faintest idea.’

‘You’re supposed to know these things. You’re a Time Lord,

aren’t you?’

‘My dear Adric, if I knew what was going to happen all the

time there’d be no fun in anything—’ The Doctor broke off,

staring over Adric’s shoulder. ‘Hello!’

Adric whirled round. A kind of golden throne had appeared

in the TARDIS. Huddled back in its velvety black lining was an

incredibly old man. He wore a high-collared golden robe with an

ornate stripe down the sleeves. His face was wrinkled like a

winter-stored apple, and he had a high, bald forehead and a

straggling white beard. He looked frail, almost emaciated, except

for his eyes, which blazed with intelligence and life.

‘How do you do, Doctor?’ The voice, too, was old and feeble,

but there was a thread of vitality in it that matched the eyes.

Adric stared at the apparition in horror. The Doctor put a

reassuring hand on his shoulder. ‘It’s all right, Adric, keep calm.

This, I imagine is the Keeper of Traken.’

‘Well guessed. Doctor,’ said the ancient voice. ‘It appears

that the reports of your intelligence are true.’

‘Oh, it wasn’t difficult.’ said the Doctor modestly. ‘There

can’t be many people in the Universe with the power to take

control of the TARDIS. And as for just dropping in like this...’

‘You’re taking it all very calmly,’ whispered Adric. ‘What’s

going on?’

‘Time reveals all, Adric,’ said the Doctor, hoping that it

would. He turned to their strange visitor. ‘Well, Keeper, how

can I help you?’

The Keeper paused for a moment, gathering his strength.

‘Listen closely, Doctor. As you see, the passing ages have taken

their toll.’

‘I know the feeling!’

‘The time of my Dissolution is near, and the power

entrusted to me is ebbing away.’

‘Your powers are still fairly impressive.’ said the Doctor

drily. ‘I couldn’t flit around in an old chair like that!’

‘I have all the minds of the Union to draw on. I am only the

organising principle.’ The Keeper paused. ‘It is in the name of

that Union that I ask you to come to Traken.’

‘Well...’ said the Doctor dubiously.

‘You do well to hesitate. Doctor. Think carefully before you

agree. There is great danger, for you and for your companion.’

The Doctor brightened, intrigued rather than discouraged

by the promise of danger. ‘How so, Keeper?’

‘I fear our beloved world of Traken faces disaster.’

Adric gave the Doctor a sceptical look. ‘I thought you said

they lived in universal harmony.’

‘Sssh!’ said the Doctor, but the Keeper had overheard.

‘The Doctor has not exaggerated. Since the time of the first

Keeper, our Union has indeed been the most harmonious in the

Universe.’ He looked at the Doctor in mild surprise. ‘Does the

boy not know that?’

‘He’s not... local,’ said the Doctor hurriedly. ‘Not from these

parts.’

Adric blinked.

Suddenly the Keeper was somewhere else, his throne just in

front of the TARDIS scanner screen.’How vain one can be! I

thought the whole Universe knew the history of our little

Empire.’

Adric looked puzzled and the Doctor said, ‘It really is an

extraordinary place, Traken. They say the atmosphere of

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摘要：

Foragespast,theUnionofTrakenhaslivedinpeaceandharmonythankstothepoweroftheSource,controlledbygenerationsofKeepers.ButthecurrentKeeper,hispowerswaning,sensessomeall-pervadingevilabouttoinvadehisworld.HesummonstheDoctortohisaid.TosaveTrakentheDoctorfightstheterrifyingMelkur—onlytofindthatthisnewenemyc...

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