Doctor Who Future (Series Three)

The Crimes of Peladon : Episode Five

The water started to froth as a metallic box rose out of it.

"Where did that come from?" Stacy asked.

"I forgot," Susie panicked. "Not only is there a crystalline element in the water. It's dark water."

"The Doctor told me about that, it hides metal," Stacy ran to the door. "The door! Its automatically locked itself."

"Tepish must have set this trap," Susie ran to the door with her. "He said he didnt want people going into the pool."

The metal box started to open to reveal small yellow particles floating out of it.

"Hostile Nanogenes!" Susie yelled. "We're done for!"

They flew up over the water and closer and closer to them.

"Help Us! Somebody Help Us!"

* * *

Meanwhile elsewhere, Max and Centauri were searching the first floor of the castle.

"Where do you think they would be?" Max asked Centauri.

"Honestly I have no idea," Centauri squeaked. "There are so many secrets of this castle and most of them haven't even been discovered yet."

"Surely there are plans of this building," Max frowned at Centauri.

"As far as I know, any plans of this castle were destroyed years and years ago," Centaur sighed.

"Too bad," Max rolled his eyes. "Where are you from then Centauri," he looked down at its tentacles. "I assume that you're not a native of this planet."

"I'm from Proxima Centauri B, it's quite a lovely planet," Centauri explained.

"Sounds nice," Max smiled at it. "As a delegate, what sort of powers do you have."

"Unfortunately, not many," Alpha Centauri stared off into the distance in dissapointment. "I do not agree with some of the punishments that Beta Centauris and Minor Centauris have to deal with. Some of them are imprisoned like on Earth but most of them are banished to junk planets. In very rare cases, my people are executed."

"That's terrible," Max patted it on the back.

"If I had any sense of power, I would put a stop to that," Centauri told him as they entered the throne room.

The flames that once burned alight on the walls were gone and what remained was cold, charred, dusty wood.

The golden throne was dirty and dusty. Nobody had sat there for months.

A casket lay on a table in the corner of the room. Max addressed it.

"Is that the queen," he asked.

"Yes," Alpha Centauri sniffled with sadness. "Sorry," it started crying. "Its so upsetting seeing the throne room like this."

"I know," Max sighed. "Which wall leads to the inner sanctum?"

"This way," Centauri tried to be strong as she directed the way towards a wall. "Can you pull that torch down, my tentacles wont reach."

"Sure thing," Max pulled the torch down and then placed it back up on the wall.

A dark passage was revealed in the wall. Max felt anxious.

"You go first," Centauri waved at the door with a tentacle.

"Why dont you?" Max suggested casually.

"Gender identities first," Centauri gestured to the passage once more.

"Alright," Max sighed before he lead the way. "Alright..."

* * *

The Doctor climbed a crevice and looked around himself.

"I knew this was a labyrinth, but I didnt realise it was this big," the Doctor lowered himself down. "Hang on, why didnt I think of this?"

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned for life signals.

The sonic bleeped and showed one not too far below him.

"I think I will follow that, I might find a delegate."

* * *

Max stared up at the massive statue he found when he entered the inner sanctum.

"What's that supposed to be?" Max asked.

"Agador," Centauri answered.

"Agador?" Max was confused.

"It was a creature worshiped by Peladons people," Centauri explained.

"Right," Max nodded.

"In fact it's actually sacrilege to be in here," Centauri informed him.

"Yeah, the Doctor warned us about the sacrilege stuff," Max turned to Alpha Centauri.

"The Doctor actually had to fight for his life in the pit because of it," Alpha Centauri then realised. "The Pit! We should search the pit."

"Okay," Max agreed. "Theres clearly nothing in here."

* * *

The Doctor had traced the life signal to a wall somewhere near the top of the tunnel system.

He traversed along an edge to find a touch. He lowered it and fell into a room.

As he got up and looked around him, he realised he had found a laboratory.

He wedged a table in the tunnel enterance to ensure that it didnt close before he travelled deeper into the lab.

The tank caught his attention as he scanned it with his sonic.

It didnt take long for him to realise the life source came from inside the tank.

He then saw the stairs and decided to climb up them.

When he was at the top he stared down at the creature in the tank with amazement.

The long reptilian tube like body was wrapped around the bloodless corpse of the guard it had been fed an hour prior. It's big chameleon like head raised as it sensed the Doctor.

"Hello," the Doctor looked down at it. "Do you speak?"

He had no reply.

"Okay," the Doctor took one final look at it before he lowered himself down the stairs once more. "That animal has been illegally trafficked from another planet. The Crimes of Peladon just continue and continue."

* * *

The large door creaked open as Centauri and Max entered the stand.

Luckily, some of the torches on the walls were still lit.

"Interesting," Centuari noticed the torches on the wall. "Tepish closed this area and promised to punish anyone that entered it. I was sure nobody had been here in months."

"That doesnt matter," Max looked down into the pit. "What does matter is how do I get down to the bottom of the pit?"

"That rope there," Centauri addressed the rope. "I shall lower you down."

"Okay thanks," Max grabbed onto the rope and put his full weight onto it as Centauri pulled a wheel in the corner of the room.

He was slowly lowered into the pit, he was 75 ft up, then 60, then 55.

"What's that light there?" Max noticed something directly above him.

"There's fire!" Centauri screamed. "The rope is burning through!"

"But that's a 50 ft drop," Max yelled. "Centauri!"

Centauri screamed with fear as the rope snapped and Max fell over 50 ft into the pit.