DOCTOR WHO.

MINDWARP.

PHILIP MARTIN.

One.

The softly lit oval courtroom was in recess; empty except for the Doctor and a guard. The Doctor stared moodily at the giant screen that dominated the courtroom. On that screen of the Matrix of Time he had already witnessed one past adventure; now he awaited the ordeal of having his latest activities on Thoros-Beta examined, dissected, judged.

The Doctor moved his head from side to side, trying to shake fragments of memory into a coherent whole.

Nothing came, neither pattern nor sense. He saw, in his mind's eye, a huge rock; a pink ocean, Peri's terrified expression as he raised an arm to strike her. Strike Strike her? her?

Why? Why? Helplessly the Doctor tried to remember the crime that had caused the Council of Time Lords to s.n.a.t.c.h him out of time and place him on trial for all his lives.

Soon the second part of his prosecution would begin.

How, the Doctor asked himself again, could he defend himself when he could not even remember the offence of which he was accused? 'Crimes against the inviolate laws of evolution,' the Inquisitor's clerk had intoned when reading out the charges. What did that that mean exactly? The Doctor did not know. His attention was caught by a sigh of disturbed air as a panel opened to the left of the Matrix screen and the squat figure of Zon, Keeper of the Record of Time, waddled into the chamber. Watching the fat shape straining against his cream uniform the Doctor thought the official looked like a dumpling. A dumpling immersed in the stew of time. mean exactly? The Doctor did not know. His attention was caught by a sigh of disturbed air as a panel opened to the left of the Matrix screen and the squat figure of Zon, Keeper of the Record of Time, waddled into the chamber. Watching the fat shape straining against his cream uniform the Doctor thought the official looked like a dumpling. A dumpling immersed in the stew of time.

Zon bowed needlessly to the ornately carved wooden chair that sat in lonely prominence below the centre of the screen before ambling towards the battery of Matrix time control panels.

The clerk of the court and the jury members were next to appear, their wide collars of stiffened lace rustling like the giant b.u.t.terflies of Genveron. As the twelve Time Lords seated themselves below the throne of justice, a sinister figure, dressed in funereal black, appeared through the Advocate's door.

The Doctor forced himself to make a cheery wave of welcome to his adversary. Pointedly the Valeyard ignored the gesture and went to his lectern and began to busy himself with reviewing his notes for the prosecution of the Doctor.

The scene in the courtroom was almost set with only one vital partic.i.p.ant missing. After another minute, an august presence appeared, resplendent in the gold and silver robe of supreme Gallifreyan justice. Haughty and remote, the Inquisitor showed the sash of her authority to the court. Gracefully the Inquisitor acknowledged the respectful bows of all in the court noting that even the rebellious Doctor seemed to be lowering his head, though, in truth, the Doctor was staring at his feet in a desperate attempt to marshal his thoughts and had hardly noticed the arrival of the Inquisitor.

Attack, the Doctor thought as the supreme justice seated herself.

The Valeyard adjusted his black advocate's cap, looking as gloomy as a messenger of death.

'Members of the Court, we have just witnessed another glorious escapade of the meddling Time Lord known as the Doctor.'

Before he could continue the Doctor was on his feet waving his arms wildly and advancing on the Valeyard.

'My lady, I ask that the court protect me from the abuse of the brickyard!'

'Sit down and shut up,' the voice of the Inquisitor cracked across the courtroom, sending the Doctor back to his seat like a crestfallen schoolboy.

'Thank you, Sagacity,' the oily tone of the Valeyard stung the Doctor into retaliation.

'Sagacity! Since when has "Sagacity" been used in a Gallifreyan court of law?'

'I am simply showing respect for our learned Inquisitor.'

'Creep!'

'Doctor...'

'I apologise, my lady.'

The Inquisitor pointedly turned to the Valeyard. 'May we be allowed to view some evidence?'

'Certainly, Sagacity. I wish to examine the record of the Doctor's last adventure. The one that he was engaged in when he had to be expelled from Time and brought before this court.'

'Proceed.'

The Valeyard motioned to the Keeper of the Matrix.

The screen glowed into life and revealed another screen on which twin worlds were to be seen, first at a distance, then in sudden close-up before receding almost instantly into the far perspective once again.

'Whoops, missed!' exclaimed the Doctor's image on the Matriz screen.

'Not again, we're like a yo-yo not a TARDIS.'

'Oh, shut up, Peri, anyone can make a mistake.'

'Missing your worldfall by a million miles is some mistake, Doc.'

'Mere bagatelle,' the Doctor said, flicking with nonchalance a co-ordinator vector switch. Nothing much happened except that on the TARDIS screen the two planets jumped half a million miles nearer to them. The colouring of the two worlds became more distinctive.

'Ugh!' Peri pointed at the smaller of two worlds, 'what a horrible mess of colours...'

'Mmm,' the Doctor glanced at the green, blue and pink blotches that mottled the garishly coloured world which now filled the screen. 'Seems all right to me.'

'Hmm...' Peri said, looking at the Doctor's coat of many clashing colours. 'I expect you find that mish mash of colour attractive, huh?'

'Not bad.'

'The other planet next to it, the normal-looking one. I don't suppose that's Thoros-Beta by any chance?'

The Doctor, concentrating on timing the final flip that would send the TARDIS to their destination, simply grunted out his reply. 'Alpha, that's Thoros-Alpha.'

'And we're headed for the other one, eventually?'

'Hope so.' The Doctor stood back after making final adjustments to the navigational co-ordinates. The TARDIS' driving column turned and rose up and down a dozen times then fell gracefully into repose.

On the viewing screen of the TARDIS nothing could now be seen but a vast expanse of ocean the colour of candy floss the pink clashing against the horizon of an apple-green sky.

'I feel sick just from looking at this Thoros-Beta,' Peri said.

'I think it's rather attractive,' the Doctor said then turned away from the screen and began to peer about him.

'What are you looking for, Doctor?'

'That phaser, I know I put it somewhere safe...'

'In your pocket?'

'No.'

'Doctor...' Peri said in exasperation and began hunting through the debris that littered the floor of the TARDIS.

Finally, behind a pair of Venusian lung clamps, she located the dangerous weapon that had caused them to travel through s.p.a.ce to Thoros-Beta.

'Ugh!'

'What is it, Peri?'

'This thing feels nasty... Sticky...'

'Oh, that'll be from the blood of the dead Warlord.

Bring it along, Peri, bring it along.'

'Doctor...'

But her companion had already ambled away out of the control room and seconds later she heard the exit doors open.

Crossly, she followed, holding the phaser gingerly at arm's length from her.

If from a distance the planet had seemed a wild hotchpotch of colour, on closer acquaintance Thoros-Beta held a brooding menace that owed much to the precipitous purple mountains that rose steeply from near to the rocky sh.o.r.e on which the TARDIS had materialised.

'What a dump,' Peri said, surveying the sh.o.r.eline then staring up at the bane cliffs that towered above them.

'Peri, can you see any vegetation?'

'Over there.' Peri pointed at a ma.s.s of creepers that intertwined into a tangled ma.s.s at the foot of a rock-face a little way from them.

'Are you sure this is the right place, Doctor?'

'Yes,' the Doctor said, surveying the coast first one way then the other.

'Doctor, there's no sign of life, none at all.'

'Never mind. Fancy a swim?'

'In that goo... no thanks.'

'Pretty colour, though. So much better than the blue and green water on that Earth of yours.'

Peri thought of her honre planet and experienced the longing that she knew could so quickly become homesickness. In order to stem the feeling she said, 'I can't get over the weirdness of this place.'

'No?' The Doctor took the phaser from Peri's hand and began to examine the strange weapon for the umpteenth time. 'This was manufactured here. I'm sure of it, Peri.'

'Oh, yes.'

'It seems to have a multiple function...' Nimbly the Doctor's fingers began to manipulate panels and interlocking segments on the ornately tooled b.u.t.t of the weapon. 'Mm. That must give a varying range of force projection...' Peri watched the Doctor make an adjustment, then, to her constemation, she saw the phaser begin to glow and then release a blinding beam of laser force. As luck would have it, the force bolt beamed away from them and centred on a sizeable boulder that stood a dozen paces away.

'Doctor, look, the rock, it's melting!' Fascinated they watched the boulder start to return to its molten state.

Before meltdown was complete, the moleculer structure shattered, showering the beach with burning fragments.

Fortunately none touched Peri and the Doctor but the flash of force had been a fearsome reminder of the potency of the sophisticated energy weapon that they had discovered on the barbaric world of Thordon.

Peri and the Doctor stared at the burnt patch of rubble where the boulder had been, then at each other.

'Quite advanced,' the Doctor said, turning a restrainer ring that he hoped was the safety mechanism.

'Is that all you can say? That rock...'

'Yes. Yes. don't be a scaredy cat, Peri.'

'Doctor, don't point the gun at me!'

'Sorry.'

Warily Peri pointed at the phaser. 'Are you sure that was made here?'

'Oh, yes. A dying warlord wouldn't use his last breath to lie.'

'Then where is everybody, Doctor?'

'Peri, if aliens landed in the centre of the Sahara desert, what impression would they receive of your honre planet?'

'Oh, all right.' Peri moved away impatiently. The Doctor stayed where he was, staring thoughtfully at the jumbie of rock and shingle that comprised the beach.

'Mm,' the Doctor said examining a chunk of rock.

'Soft... bit like limestone... chalk... flaking.'

'Come on, Peri,' the Doctor said, striding along purposefully towards the jumble of blackened vegetation at the foot of the purple cliff.

Hurrying to keep alongside him, Peri soon lost her breath and was pleased when the Doctor paused and began to examine the incoming tidal currents of the pink sea.