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And indeed, the first shots of the rebellion had already
been fired. Summoned by the alarm, a squad of palace
guards ran towards the armoury-only to be shot down by
rebels, armed with Federation blasters. Several of the
guards fell, and the rest turned and fled.
The triumphant rebels headed back to the mines.
Ettis stood at the door to the communications room,
listening to the distant rattle of blaster fire and the shouts
of the guards. He rounded angrily on Alpha Centauri. ‘You
have betrayed me—you set off the alarm.’
Alpha Centauri backed away. ‘I warned you I did not
fully understand the controls. It was an accident... ‘
Ettis raised his sword, Alpha Centauri cowered back,
and Sarah stepped between them. ‘What does it matter
now? You’ve got what you came for. Why don’t you escape
while you’ve still got the chance?’
‘Excellent advice, alien,’ snarled Ettis. ‘I shall take you
with me, as a hostage.’
Grabbing Sarah by the wrist, he dragged her from the
room, along the corridor and around the corner out of
sight.
Alpha Centauri followed cautiously. He stopped by the
prone body of Eckersley. ‘Engineer Eckersley, please. You
must wake up!’
Eckersley moaned and stirred.
As the rebels pulled down the torch-holder to open the
secret passage, Ettis ran along the corridor, dragging Sarah
behind him.
‘All is well? We have the weapons? Come then!’
Carrying the stolen blasters, the rebels hurried through
the secret entrance.
Ettis watched them impatiently. Suddenly more guards
appeared, running down the corridor towards them.
‘Hurry!’ yelled Ettis, and Sarah wrenched herself free
and ran back down the corridor. Ettis set off in pursuit,
realised he would only be captured himself, and darted
back into the secret passage, closing the door behind him.
As he reached them, Ortron appeared. ‘Seize her,’ he
called. ‘Do not let her escape!’
‘I don’t want to escape,’ protested Sarah. ‘I’ve escaped
already—from them!’
‘Take her to the temple,’ ordered Ortron. Guards
grabbed hold of Sarah and dragged her away.
The Doctor and Gebek had just entered the secret tunnel
when they met Ettis and his rebels, running the other way.
Arms filled with blasters, they dashed past them down the
tunnel. Gebek grabbed hold of Ettis, as he brought up the
rear. ‘Ettis what new madness is this?’
‘It is victory, Gebek!’ Triumphantly Ettis brandished a
stolen blaster. ‘Now we have Federation weapons, we shall
see who rules on Peladon!’ Pulling himself free, he hurried
after the others.
Gebek looked after him despairingly. ‘I must go with
them, Doctor—perhaps I can prevent more bloodshed.’
‘Yes, of course. It’s all right, Gebek, I know where I am
now.’
Gebek hurried off, and the Doctor went on down the
tunnel. He would make for the passage that led to the
temple, he decided.
Eckersley stood rubbing his aching head, looking
despairingly around the looted armoury. ‘That’s really
done it. With modern weapons in their hands, there’s no
end to the damage these lunatics can do.’
Alpha Centauri’s tentacles drooped disconsolately. ‘It is
all my fault. I shall resign immediately.’
‘Well, it’s done now. No use going on about it.’
‘I could have faced death for myself, Eckersley, in an
honourable cause. But he threatened the Doctor’s friend,
and I was unable to stand by and see violence inflicted on a
fellow creature.’
Eckersley rubbed his still-aching head. ‘Where is the
girl, anyway?’
‘Ettis took her as a hostage. Presumably she is still his
prisoner.’
The guard Captain said importantly, ‘No, Excellency,
she was captured by the guards. Chancellor Ortron believes
that she was helping the rebels.’
‘Where is she now?’
The guard Captain lowered his voice in awe. ‘She has,
been taken to the temple—for judgement.’
Sarah stood before the altar flanked by guards. Torchlight
flickered on the snarling features of the great stone image
of Aggedor.
From behind the altar, Ortron thundered. ‘Admit it,
you were in collusion with the rebel Ettis.’
‘Of course I wasn’t!’
‘Was it not because of you that the Ambassador was
forced to open the door to the armoury?’
‘Well, I suppose it was, in a way, but . . .’
‘So you admit your guilt!’ thundered Ortron.
‘The Ambassador had to open the door to save my life—
Ettis said he’d kill me if he didn’t do it. You can’t say that
means I was helping him.’
‘You came to this planet to stir up the common people,
to overthrow their rightful rulers, the nobility of Peladon.
You joined forces with the, traitor Ettis, while the Doctor
allied himself with the other traitor, Gebek.’
Suddenly the Doctor stepped forward from the shadows.
‘Forgive me, old chap, but you really have got things all
wrong.’
Sarah said delightedly, ‘Doctor, you’re all right! They
said you’d been blown up in the cavern.’
‘I very nearly was, Sarah. Luckily Gebek got me out.’
‘Ettis has just robbed the armoury . . .’
‘I know. Gebek and I met him in the tunnels.’
Ortron was quick to seize on this damaging admission.
‘So you admit your guilt, do you, Doctor?’
‘My dear chap, you’re really not listening,’ said the
Doctor soothingly. ‘No one is admitting anything because
there’s nothing to admit. All the same, if you want my
advice, you’ll get on good terms with Gebek. Without him
you’ll have a full-scale rebellion on your hands in no time.’
‘I need no advice from saboteurs,’ growled Ortron.
‘Your trouble is, you won’t take advice from anyone!
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