Attack and Counterattack
A Speed Racer Fanfic by "Freddo"
Chapter Thirteen "Hell in the Jungle"
-----------------------------------------------------
First…Reiterating some copyrights and credits....etc….
Speed Racer is (c) 2005 by Speed
Racer Enterprises.
Star Blazers is (c) 2005 by
Voyager Entertainment.
Doctor Who is (c) 2005 by the
British Broadcasting Corporation. I don't own any of these properties...Freddo
Second: This is it; the final
chapter, at last! Hope you like it…Freddo
July 16, 1968
The
Near the El Tigre
Pyramid
0622 Hours (Local Time)
Trixie’s
pajamas were torn, and her feet were bleeding as the Master used Snake Oiler to
drive her through the hot jungle like an animal. She had been tied up with a
vine, and Snake was leading her along by the end of the vine, like a dog on a
leash.
She
missed Speed more than ever, and she was horribly depressed; particularly since
she could see the El Tigre Pyramid looming in the distance, just across the
rushing river.
“Don’t
worry, we’re not far,” said the Master as he walked along with a machete in one
hand and his damnable TCE gun in the other hand. Trixie wasn’t sure where he
had hidden the sphere, but she could feel its presence on his person, even
though she was about nine feet away from him.
The
hypnotized form of Snake wasn’t letting her get any closer to the Master than
that.
Trixie
knew that the R’Khells were enemies, but she was still
sickened at the cold manner in which the Master had killed them. She even felt
pity for Karnaz himself. She wondered vaguely if Karnaz had been really evil
deep down; or if he had just been forced to follow orders like any soldier.
Her
train of thought was derailed when she saw six practically naked men leaping
out of the rain forest before them. They had spears, and she couldn’t
understand their tribal language, but she guessed that they were trying to bar
the way to the group.
I wish they were on
our side, she thought in a gloomy fashion. Of course, I know the last bunch of them tried to kill us; well, I’m
sure they did. Spears and blowgun darts must mean they aren’t friendly.
Trixie
shivered as she remembered what she had seen. She had seen the corpses of
Brazilian Army troops, corpses of what she guessed were members of another
tribe (who had worn loincloths), and corpses of these men, men who wore only
feathers on their heads and rude cords and a small bit of grass around their
waists; men who had painted their faces to resemble skulls. These were men who,
as she had seen in a most nauseating manner, enjoyed eating human flesh. She
guessed that…because she had seen one of them bending over a dead Brazilian
soldier, and…
No, don’t think about
that… thought Trixie. Because
of what’s at stake, pray that the Star Force gets hold of us before the Master
gets to that pyramid, or pray that…they kill us….quickly…and keep us from
getting there.
“sama la cana de irvara k’ raza d’ mooti!” yelled the tallest of the natives, the one that
Trixie guessed was the leader.
The
Master answered him in the same rude tribal dialect, saying that he didn’t care
if he had been seen with the Manyadas before; he meant to pass to El Tigre.
“Why
do you want to go to our sacred pyramid, outsider?” demanded the native in his
tongue. Trixie had no idea what he was actually saying, but she knew he was
challenging the Master.
“I
have the permission of your chief,” replied the Master in the tribal dialect. “Yanna ladda,” he
said, which meant, “I speak truly.” Then, he snapped, in the local dialect, “I
bring a sacrifice for your jaguar god. This girl must be slain at the pyramid.
After I offer her blood to your god, you can dine on the rest.”
“Shanna da wa yanna ladda ne?”
demanded the native commander. The Master knew he said; How do I know you speak truly?
“I
am a mighty shaman of my people!” snapped the Master. “I have demonstrated my
dark magic to your chief and your shaman. I am stronger than your shaman.”
“How
do we know this?” challenged the tribal guard commander.
“Your
shaman! Here he is! Gaze upon him!” snapped the Master. Trixie then felt sick
as he withdrew the shrunken doll that had been the tribe’s shaman. Thanks to
the Master’s Tissue Compression Eliminator, he was shaman no more.
“What
sort of magic is this?” yelled the tribal troop leader. “Why should we not kill
you now?”
The
Master pointed the TCE at him. He smiled and fired.
The
others looked on in awe as the beam came out of the weapon. They looked on in
shock as their leader turned into a shrunken doll.
The
Master looked at the heavily-feathered man he knew was the second-in-command of
this guard band, and he tossed the corpse at him. “Here is your Band Chief
Iyada,” said the Master. “He is dead because he has offended me and I have used
my magic! Do you wish to die, too, Warrior Shanda?”
The
fearful warrior started at the sudden use of his name, wondering how the Master
knew it. He promptly knelt before the Master and began to salaam him fiercely
while he said, “Ode…ode…ode….ode…ode…ode yo…yo ode…yo…ode…”
“That’s
right, worship me,” said the Master with a sardonic grin in English. “You see,
I truly am a god, at least as far as you are concerned…”
Trixie
shivered, guessing that, soon, she would be taken over the bridge.
She
looked at the bridge…and began to get an idea…maybe…just maybe…she could escape…even
though it would mean a swim in the raging Amazon below…
The
Doctor continued to walk through the jungle, with both of the Wildstars,
Fernandez, Hemsford, and the other Brazilian troops walking behind him. Speed
was behind them, talking with one of the Space Marines as they went deeper into
the jungle.
“Yes,
the old man’s definitely on a trail of some sort. And I smell water.”
“How
can you smell water in this rotting jungle?” asked Speed.
“Lots
of survival training,” said the Space Marine. “Oh, by the way, my name’s
Sergeant Reyes. I could understand a bit of what the Brazilians were saying
before; my native Spanish is pretty close to Portuguese.”
“What
were they saying?”
“They
were saying they could smell something weird in the jungle; something not made
with hands…something…”
“Halt!”
yelled Commodore Wildstar from up front. “The Doctor’s found something…”
“What?”
asked Speed, who was temporarily forgetting his fears for Trixie by thinking of
the challenge that lay ahead.
Wildstar
motioned for him to come up.
Speed
looked on. He saw something strange standing in the jungle; something stranger
than the Doctor’s TARDIS.
This
thing, whatever it was, looked like a huge Ionic pillar that had literally
dropped into the jungle from nowhere. It looked like some forgotten,
threatening piece of something built long ago by some lost people.
“What
is it?” asked Speed. As he walked up to the object, he heard it humming softly.
“Don’t
you touch that,” snapped the Doctor. “We’ve just found the Master’s TARDIS.”
“Interesting,”
said the Doctor as he brushed its exterior with his fingers. “Remnants of
E-Spatial matter. Very interesting indeed.”
“What
is it?” said Wildstar.
“An observation.
It appears that he was delayed by a very interesting accident…”
“There
was a scuffle around here,” said Nova as she knelt to examine the footprints.
“Quite a few men with boots….set of footprints leading off…that way…and these
others…”
Derek
looked on as Nova examined the trail left in the soft mud. “Three of them; two
with boots, one set of bare feet…” Nova put her own booted foot alongside the
bare footprint for a moment. “About my size, and Trixie and I were able to wear
the same shoe size; I remember that from when I made her that outfit,” she
said. “Derek! Trixie’s alive!”
“Trixie?”
snapped Speed. “Where is she?”
“With
these two men, it looks like,” said Wildstar.
“One
of those prints is the Master’s,” said the Doctor as Speed’s heart leapt within
him. Trixie, he thought. I might see you again!
“How
do you know?” asked Derek.
“I
feel his aura in the prints,” said the Doctor as he gently touched the
footprint with his eyes closed. “The other one is Snake Oiler….and the Master
has him under hypnosis….at least as far as I can tell. His aura is very
confused, almost idiotic.”
“Figures,”
snorted Derek. “That guy is an idiot.”
Speed
had to smile at that. “I agree with you, Commodore.”
“Good
we’re in agreement,” said Derek with a smirk of his own.
“What
do we do, sir?” asked Hemsford as he looked at Derek.
“Give
me a moment to figure this one out,” said the long-haired young man as he
squinted at the trail and scratched his head. “The last thing I want,
Lieutenant, is for us to walk into some kind of ambush.”
“Amen
to that,” said Hemsford.
“But
where would they ambush us from?” said Nova. “These trees are growing so close
together…”
“Right;
this jungle is thick enough,” said the Doctor. “We follow their trail. The
water off in the distance is the Amazon. I can smell it, too, and I know we’re
not that far from the pyramid, now. Unless they find a way to get across,
they’ll be stopped there at the river. El Tigre is maybe two miles away, in
this direction. Let’s go. Follow me, quickly…but carefully.”
Wildstar
nodded. “Nova, make sure your medkit is ready. I think we’ll need it.”
“You
will,” said the Doctor.
“Why?”
“Nova,
I can detect that Trixie is losing blood. She’s been hurt. Quite
badly.”
Speed
gritted his teeth. “Whoever hurt her is gonna pay for it…”
After
they walked along for a while, Sergeant Fernandez spotted something. He motioned
for the Doctor to stop. “Look,” he said. “Signs of a tribal
war.”
“Who
is it?” said the Doctor.
“Some
of these are the Manyada people; the ones who are wearing the loincloths.
They’re at least semi-friendly toward us, and if we meet a live one, he could
serve as guide. I understand a little of their dialect.”
“And
the others? The…almost-naked men?,” added the Doctor.
“The
headhunters,” said Fernandez grimly. “I don’t know their tribal name; we call
them the Muertos people,” he said.
“The
people who seek death,” said Wildstar. “How appropriate.”
“No,”
said Nova as she looked at something in the woods and turned away with a pale,
pained face. “Oh, my God, NO!”
“Nova,
what’s wrong?” said Derek.
“Is
it Trixie?” cried Speed.
“Don’t
look, Sergeant Fernandez, It’s one of your men,” said Nova. “Or…it was…now we know those
men…cannibals…excuse me. I need to be sick…”
Nova
ran off into the underbrush. Derek could hear her coughing and gagging as she
took off. Speed hit a tree in frustration.
“I
wish we could stop this,” he said.
“The
Manyada and Muertos have been at war
for decades,” said Sergeant Fernandez. “Both of them, they claim this land. Ignorant your race planners must have been, planning car race
through this country. This is bad country here, this part of
Nova
came back a moment later. Derek held her. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,
it…it was worse even than an autopsy…evil men, those Muertos…”
“Si,” said Sergeant Fernandez grimly. “I
know all too well. There was what happened to my brother…”
“What
was that?” asked Speed.
“My
brother Raul and I served together here, once. One day, Raul took off with
patrol. Then, I found him…like…”
“The
man I saw?” asked Nova.
Fernandez
nodded. “This place is hell. And that pyramid has an evil name, too. The
Manyada, they say, it is very evil place.”
“Why
is that?” asked the Doctor.
“They
say that it was built long ago. They say that it was dropped from the sky…by
demons.”
“Demons,”
said the Doctor.
“Demons,”
said Fernandez. “From sky. So the tribal people say…”
“This
is getting stranger all the time,” said the Doctor. “Let’s go. We need to
follow that trail…”
They
made formation again and went on. As they walked on, Speed looked through the
jungle canopy.
In
the distance, he could see the top of a stepped pyramid.
So that’s it,
he thought. So, that’s El Tigre. But why
do they say it came from the sky? Strange…
“Almost
there,” said the Master with a sick leer on his face. They stopped near a shaky
plank-and-rope bridge that they had just crossed. It went over the chasm in
which the Amazon flowed to the east. He slapped Trixie as he noticed that she
was beginning to look woozy.
“What
is wrong with you?” he snapped.
“Can’t
you see I’m cut?” she wept. “My legs are bleeding. My feet are bleeding from
the stones on the trail. And my ribs…”
“Yes,
you’re in pain,” said the Master gleefully as he touched her side. Part of her
pajama top was shredded, and he could feel the cracked ribs on her right side
beneath the tautly-muscled flesh of her delicate flank. Trixie screamed as he
ripped her pajama top open, popping the remaining buttons.
“No,
it is not what you think,” he said as he covered her upper chest quickly and
then roughly tied the pajama top shut, exposing her stomach in the process. “I
don’t want you or need you in that way. Maybe my robot Snake here does, and
maybe I will let him have you when we are done. I need you alert to see how I
bring down your race, girl. I need a Witness to my grandeur. You won’t hurt
quite as much like this, and you will be able to breathe.”
“Thank
you,” said Trixie in mock gratitude as a scheme ran through her mind. “Can…can
I give you a hug for that?”
“I
said I don’t want or need you, but I do appreciate your acknowledging me as
your better at last. Yes, hug me. Feel free to do so.”
Feeling
sickened by what she was doing, Trixie hugged the Master, and, then, she
distracted him with a kiss.
He
was surprised and annoyed by this, and he was so discomfited that he didn’t
even notice Trixie reaching into the bag he carried with her eyes closed.
I carried it once
before, she thought. It
almost drive me mad, but for Speed and Earth and
everything, I can give my sanity. Let me get it….
Her
fingers clasped around the sphere, and she took the softball-sized crystal
object out of the pouch.
Then,
she broke the embrace and ran…as fast as she could.
“What?”
yelled the Master. “Curse you! You’ve got it! Come back! I order you to!”
But,
Trixie didn’t meet his gaze, since she flung herself off the bridge into the
Amazon with one mighty leap. She didn’t hear the Master raging at her to come
back, nor did she feel his TCE beam piercing into the deep, cold water near
her. She was half-drowning, and all she had on her mind was surfacing and
getting out of there as fast as her aching legs could kick her.
The
Master fired again as he roared like an animal. His
shot just missed Trixie. “Obey me!” he roared as he tried to meet her gaze.
“Bring it back!”
As
he fired and cursed, something rolled out of his pouch. It was glowing dimly,
and Snake was attracted to it.
The
Master recovered himself and keep Snake’s fingers off
the true sphere by only a millisecond.
“Stay
back! I am your Master!” ordered the evil Time Lord as he stared at Snake.
Snake again lost the ability to think on his own and he stood dumbly, drooling
as he waited for orders. “Yeah?” he said in an idiot’s slurred voice. “Whatizzit now? Boss?”
“What
is your name, fool?”
“Snakie?
Oiley Snakie? Duhhhhhhhhhhh….” At that, Snake crossed his eyes and looked at
his own index finger very intently.
“Nice
job. You are a very useful idiot now.”
“Dat
mean I’m smart?”
“Unfortunately,
the effect will wear off in time and you shall be back to your own sneering,
usual self,” said the Master. “But, we have things to do,” said the evil Time
Lord as he smiled and picked up the sphere. “Let the girl drown; don’t look
back. Follow me to El Tigre, then we shall wait.”
“Who we waitin’ for?
My daddy? Daddy’s gonna be real mad at me, yes.
Captain Terror don’t like being made fun of or made to
look stupid, no, no, no. And Snakie is gonna get his teeth knocked out by
daddy.”
“We
are waiting for the Doctor to arrive when we get there. I want him to see my
moment of utter triumph.”
“Yeah,
Doctor looks dopey. Let’s all laugh at the Doctor. Har har har har har…”
“Interesting,”
said the Master. “There is very little difference between your mentality when
you are normal and your mentality when you are made moronic, Snake.”
“Thank
you, boss.”
The
Master and Snake crossed over to the other side. “Now, use your knife. Cut the
ropes that tie the bridge to the stakes. I don’t want those troops after me;
just the Doctor and a few of his Terran friends. Besides, I will need time when
we get to El Tigre. It is a long climb to the upper level of the pyramid.”
“Gotcha,
Master.” At that, Snake cut the ropes. “Are we goin?”
“Let’s
go forward,” said the Master with an evil smile.
Trixie
struggled in the water. The current was strong, and she almost dropped the
sphere (which she didn’t know was the fake) three times as she struggled
through the water. If she hadn’t been a strong swimmer, she would have been
drowned. But, some time passed, and as her breath came in painful gasps, the
opposite shore drew nearer and nearer.
Then,
her hands dug into the mud, and she collapsed into the mud holding the sphere.
Her legs and feet still hung in the water; but here, the water wasn’t deep.
She
had made it, but she was unconscious…
A while later, Trixie Shimura heard a
voice in the darkness.
“Trixie!”
Speed, is that you?
Trixie thought.
Trixie
felt herself being shaken roughly.
“TRIXIE!”
she heard a moment later; the cry was loud and desperate.
“…Speed…?”
“She’s
saying something,” said a woman’s voice. “And she is breathing on her own.”
“Trixie?”
she heard. She felt something like hot water on her cheeks.
“Be
careful,” said an authoritative voice that she vaguely remembered. “I need to
take that; she may be affected by it as soon as she regains full
consciousness.”
Trixie
held on weakly as someone took the cool, hard globe from her hand. “nooo…” she muttered.
“Gentlemen,
step away,” said the gentle female voice. “She needs privacy while I check her
vitals.”
“Just
a moment longer, Nova,” begged the familiar voice. Then, Trixie’s head was
raised, and a face swam into focus. “Trixie? Honey?”
“Speed?”
said Trixie. “Were you crying for me? Is that what that water was…I…?”
“Trixie…you’ve
come back to me,” sobbed Speed.
“Oh,
Speed….you’re there…” At that, she and Speed exchanged a weak, gasping kiss…
“I
need to be alone with her for a moment, gentlemen. Please leave us alone!” said
Nova. Trixie looked on, puzzled, as Nova pulled things from her medkit with one
hand, and, oddly, opened her own uniform at the neckline with the other.
“Why’re you doing that?” asked Trixie.
“Don’t
worry; Derek says some of us will have to swim across the river, because that
bridge is cut. I have a swimsuit on under my uniform, so you need the upper
part of it more than I do right now.”
“Why?”
“I
have to undress you to treat you and tape you up,” said Nova as Trixie realized
they were alone. “And, those pajamas are in tatters…you’re barely decent…”
“So?”
said Trixie.
“Relax;
it’ll be better soon,” said Nova in a soft voice as she stripped down to her
own two-piece swimsuit. Then, she began to undress Trixie like a child.
“So?”
said Commodore Wildstar as the Doctor thoughtfully looked at the sphere. “Do we
have it?”
“No,”
said the Doctor. “Trixie tried hard; I took the images of the struggle from her
mind. By bad luck, or by good luck, she got the fake sphere. The Master still
has the real one. And now, he is just a half mile away from El Tigre.”
“We’d
better hurry,” said Speed. Hemsford nodded agreement.
“Yes
and no,” said the Doctor. “It will take even the Master some time to climb the
pyramid, so we shall only need a small party to intercept him and Snake. When
we were around his TARDIS, I also observed signs that it had been Time-Rammed
and damaged. You recall, the boy did it; unwittingly, of course…”
“So,
Spritle delayed the Master?” said
Speed in awe.
“There
are times when
“I
can still help,” said Trixie bravely as Nova appeared, helping her across the
muddy, uneven ground. Trixie was now clad in the upper leotard-like half of
Nova’s uniform, with the cuts on her legs and feet bandaged carefully with
combat dressing Nova had made. Nova herself now wore only a white two-piece
swimsuit along with her sidearm on its belt; she carried the remains of
Trixie’s pajamas, her medkit, and her own boots and tights in her free hand.
With most of her form exposed, Derek could see that Nova was rather pale, but
her dark brown eyes shone with defiance, as did Trixie’s sea-green eyes.
“How
is she?” asked Speed.
“Many
cuts, the aftereffects of that drug, and two broken ribs, which I taped up,”
said Nova. “I think she should be kept here.”
“I
agree,” said Commodore Wildstar.
“NO,”
said Trixie firmly. As Speed pulled off his shirt to prepare for their swim, he
said, “Trixie, I love you, but you’re hurt…you can’t swim that current again.
It nearly took you from me.”
“I
can’t let you go alone,” she said. “Nor can I let you face the Master alone,
Speed. The same goes for you, Derek, Doctor, and you, Nova. You literally took
the clothes off your back for me. And…”
“Trixie,
there’s something I want to give you before I go into the water,” said Speed
after he took off his shoes and rolled up his pant legs to his knees, just as
Commodore Wildstar was doing. “I…I was hoping to give this to you under better
circumstances…but, well…I’d better do it now.”
Speed
Racer then pulled out of his pocket a small box, and he opened it. Inside was
an exquisite diamond ring, made of a fragment of Iscandarian diamond. “Trixie,”
he asked as he went down to one knee. “Will….will you marry me?”
Trixie’s
mouth fell open. “Oh…Speed…uh…I…”
“Trixie?”
“Yes,
Speed…I will…I will..,” she sobbed. At that, the others applauded as Speed
placed the ring on Trixie’s finger. Then, he said, “Now, as your fiancee’ I am
begging you not to try swimming that river with us…”
“Speed…I
want to..”
“Actually,
I have found a means by which she can do that,” said the Doctor, who came back
from the riverbank, still fully dressed in his exquisite dark clothing, shoes,
frilled shirt, jacket, and opera cape. Wildstar vaguely wondered how the old
man could stand the jungle heat dressed like that until he remembered that this
old man was not human. “I found a native dugout canoe and paddles. I will
paddle her across, while the rest of you swim. Lieutenant Hemsford, consider
this our base camp. Make sure no one follows us.”
“Of course…Commodore?”
Wildstar,
who was now shirtless, barefoot, and had his pants rolled up above his knees,
said, “Hemsford, secure the area. Keep an eye out for any intruders. I leave
you in command.”
“Yes,
sir,” said Hemsford with a salute. “C’mon, men! Spread
out!”
“Well,
let’s go,” said the Doctor. He smiled as Wildstar and Nova embraced, and Speed
and Trixie kissed before he gently took Trixie with him. Then, he said,
“Trixie, this way. My friends….we shall meet soon…”
Jungle birds and creatures twittered loudly
about half a mile away across the river.
“What’s
this place?” asked Snake as he looked at a clearing that suddenly opened out of
the jungle.
“El
Tigre,” said the Master with a pleased smile.
The
two men stood in a clearing that was somewhere between a quarter-mile to a
half-mile square. The jungle floor slowly faded as flagstones came out of the
dirt and mud. Finally, about a hundred feet into the clearing, the ground
surface was totally covered with stone. The stone surface was studded here and
there with stone obelisks in a square pattern, forming two rings.
The
obelisks were carved with leering faces and strange birds, creatures, and the
images of skulls. They had iron rings neatly driven into the top. Even Snake
was nauseated when he saw what one of the iron rings was used for.
A
human corpse, or, more properly, a human skeleton hung
on one of the obelisks. It was still articulated, so the shape of the body it
had once been could still be seen, even though the mandible below the skull
hung slackly in the leering smile of Death.
“Sic transit Gloria mundi,” said the Master
softly. “So passes the glory of this world. I see ashes at the bottom of the
heap,” said the Master as he looked below the skeleton’s bony toes. He looked
at the leg bones. “By the pelvis she was female, by the bones, she was eaten. I
think our headhunting friends use this place as a sacred area of some sort.”
“Who
was she?” said Snake. “This is sick. Even for me.”
“Outsider
they captured,” said the Master softly. He picked something half-burned out of
the heap of ashes. “New Testament; Portuguese. A
missionary, I would think. A martyr, it is obvious. Not that this matters. If
there is truly a God, she is safe with Him. If not, then she shall just go to
my glory soon, like all ash, like all dust in a new primordial explosion;
unless the Universe begins surrendering en masse to me. Oh, you don’t
understand me, Oiler. I made you too idiotic to care.”
“The
pyramid’s damn big, boss,” said Snake.
“Oh,
yes, that,” said the Master as he turned around with an evil glare in his eyes.
He
beheld El Tigre up close for the first time. It consisted of twenty terraced
levels. Each terraced level was a “step” about ten feet high, with a staircase
going up each step in turn from the bottom to the top of the next level. The
pyramid was of some dark basalt, and was magnificently carved, with straight
edges obvious even after centuries of age.
As
Snake and the Master came to the foot of the first staircase, which was ten
steps high, the Master looked closely at the stone. Strange symbols, leering
faces, pentacles, and skulls were carved in the living rock itself. There was
an inscription above the top of the first staircase, carved in an archway in
strange letters.
“Ancient writing?
Mayan?” said Snake.
“R’kesh,”
said the Master softly. “Ancestral language of the R’Khells we dealt with so
recently. This was placed here by some alien intelligence, and that was long,
long ago. Back when there were Giants in the Earth, I think,” said the Master
with a pleased smile. He looked up at the stone and read, “I, Lord Ekogaru the Great, have placed this here in order to foster the
glory and honor that is mine. Let death come to any who profanes my ground; the
place of my throne on this world someday, without my let or leave…”
“What
does that mean?”
“The
so-called god or priest who made this globe once walked the Earth here. Not
surprising. Maybe not even he knew the power it held. Those R’Khells seldom
do,” said the Master as he exposed the globe. The inside of the sphere awoke
with an angry red glare as soon as the Master’s boots touched the stone of the
El Tigre Pyramid.
Aliscea
Rosstowski awoke from her mid-morning nap on the Argo with a start.
“No,”
she said. “It’s been awakened. My God, who brought it there without making the
proper preparations? Surely not the Doctor. This has
to be stopped, and quickly…”
At
that, Aliscea stood up and dressed as quickly as she could. The alien female of
Pellias hoped she could put a stop to this…abomination…before it was too late.
Across
the river, as the Doctor helped Trixie out of the dugout canoe, he suddenly
fell to his knees in pain.
“Doctor!”
said Trixie. “What’s wrong?”
Nova,
Derek, and Speed noticed it as soon as they caught their collective breath.
With water still dripping from their hair, they ran up to the Doctor.
“What’s
wrong?” asked Derek.
“Are
you all right?” cried Nova.
“Sir,”
said Speed.
“Something
terrible has happened; the Master is at the ley line with the sphere,” snapped
the Doctor. “Aliscea told me that he could unleash a power that could consume
him along with the planet…and part of this Galaxy…if he is not stopped at once.
Run as you have never ran before!”
At
that, the old Time Lord ran off with a tremendous speed. Speed, wishing he had
the Mach Five now, ran just behind him, carrying Trixie piggyback on his
shoulders. Derek and Nova ran along with him, with air burning in their lungs
as they ran hard.
Three
mad minutes later, they were running across the flagstones of the El Tigre
Ground, watching the Master as he was already a quarter of the way up the
pyramid.
“You
think you’re going to stop me?” he yelled in rage as the globe burned in his
hands like an angry red flame.
“Master,”
said the Doctor as he led the way up the stairs. “You must reconsider! If you
plan what you are planning, the damage to the time stream shall be…”
“It
shall be what?” said the Master as he drew his TCE gun.
In
sheer rage, Derek drew his sidearm. He aimed quickly and shot the Master’s left
hand, shooting the weapon out of his hand with a blue laser burst from his
Astro-Automatic.
The
Master snarled, but then he noticed that Nova had her weapon out, too. “Put
that sphere down, and your hands up!” she snapped.
“try shooting me now,” said the Master as a pink field came
from the sphere and surrounded him.
“We
won’t try it; we’ll do it!” roared Derek. He snarled as he fired again.
The
shot only bounced off.
“What?”
snarled Derek. “Kuso!”
he snapped, reverting back to the Japanese of his youth.
Nova
fired, with the same result.
The
Doctor looked up at the Master, raised his hand, and said with a burning gaze
as he looked into the Master’s eyes, “Master, you will think only my thoughts;
consider only my wishes. You will put that down at once.”
The
Master backed slowly up the stairs as Snake picked up his fallen TCE blaster
and backed into the pink field, which now covered the pyramid’s entire eleventh
terrace. “You will follow my wishes, Doctor,” he replied. “I am your Master…”
“No,”
responded the Doctor. “You are but the learner, I am
your master…”
“My
wishes shall be paramount,” said the Master as he climbed to the thirteenth
terrace.
“No,
mine,” said the Doctor as they drew closer; the Master was on the sixteenth
terrace; the Doctor and the others were on the fourteenth terrace now, as Speed
helped Trixie up the steep stairs step by step, as fast as they could go.
“Your
wishes are folly,” said the Doctor as they reached the sixteenth terrace.
“Yours
are insipid,” said the Master from the eighteenth terrace as Snake noticed they
were near the top. “Obey me!”
“You
shall destroy us all,” said the Doctor as he reached the seventeenth terrace.
“You
are holding back humanity,” said the Master as he reached the twentieth level.
He backed slowly towards a stone altar at the apex of the pyramid. He could go
no higher. “Now, we are at the heights!”
“Or
is that the depths?” said the Doctor as he climbed to the top with rage in his
eyes. A cold wind began to blow as the Master carefully took the sphere and
rested it in a hemispherical niche covered with strange signs and symbols in
the center of the altar. It burned lurid white as soon as it touched the stone
of the pyramid.
“I’m
going to…” hissed Speed.
“No,
leave this to me,” said the Doctor. The Doctor stared down the Master with
burning eyes as he shook, gathering all of his energies for this final attempt.
“Master…you must give way and…”
The
Master glared back at the Doctor and said, “No.” Then, he took a device from
his pocket, even as the Doctor took a similar device from his.
The
Master’s device was a relay unit.
The
Doctor’s was his sonic screwdriver.
Speed,
Trixie, Derek, Nova, and Snake looked on in a strange fear and awe as the two
Time Lords stared each other down.
The
Doctor smiled. “Give it your best, Master.”
“What?”
cried Derek. “You can’t…”
“Let
him try first,” said the Doctor as he adjusted his sonic screwdriver in a calm
and very unobtrusive fashion. He’s doing
exactly what I want him to do, thought the
white-haired Time Lord with a small grin. Now,
if I can only keep him from noticing as he tells the Universe how great he is…I
can get to work…
“Very
well,” said the Master. He cleared his throat and then spoke into his device.
His voice echoed unnaturally across the jungle, as if it were amplified, as he
said, “Peoples of the Universe, Lords of
Gallifrey, it is imperative that I have your full attention…”
Near
Venus, on the R’Khell flagship, Captain Skaren, who was now the surviving
ranking officer ever since the death of Karnaz, started as soon as he heard the
Master.
“Defiler!” he roared. “All ships, prepare
to warp towards Earth, attack formation. Aim at the southern continent when you
emerge from hyperspace, with all guns! I want that continent vaporized!”
Sirens
blew throughout the R’Khell fleet as it rapidly prepared to make a space warp….
“…the
moment has come,” said the Master grandly, “To decide if you wish to remain alive under my authority, or fade as
you disappear into a new Universal Void. Even now, I am beginning to rework the
block transfer equations underlying the Cosmos. Even now, I am proceeding to…”
“Good,”
said the Doctor softly. “Heaven be with me now,” he said softly as he used his
Sonic Screwdriver to quietly turn the flaming globe about ninety degrees in its
socket. The color of its flame turned from white to flaming blue-white as the
humans shielded their eyes in pain, unable to bear the bizarre, supernal light
any longer.
“..since
I have received no answer in the affirmative,” said the
Master. “I shall proceed to commence with
the restructuring of the…”
“SHALL
YOU, NOW?” said a deep, sepulchral voice from the flame that was the sphere.
The flame flashed once, and then dimmed abruptly to a dull blue glow.
“Carry
out the transference!” snapped the Master. “I command you! I am your Master!”
“You
are not my Master; I could tell you never were my Master,” said the voice from
the sphere. “He Who is above all is, for the nonce,
anyway, the Master. At least until I walk the Earth again. I,
who made this pyramid in the deeps of Time, laugh at you and your arrogance.
I, who was old when your Time Lord dignitary Rassilon himself was young, merely
laugh at your arrogance, Master, so-called.”
“no,” said Derek. “Nova, I recognize that voice.”
“It
can’t be,” she said. “It can’t be…he…we killed him! We…”
“Who
is this?” asked Speed.
“Who?”
cried Trixie.
“Our
recent enemy….Ek…Ek…”
Then,
a spectral form rose from the globe. It was in robes, and there was a face;
human-appearing, but very arrogant, with long, wild hair and a heavy, sneering
mustache. “I made this. I live in this, even though my physical form has died. Greetings, Commodore Wildstar, greetings, Nova, killer of my
beloved Yvona. I am Ekogaru the Great. I live.”
“So?”
snapped the Master. “Whoever you are, you are under my power! The circle
indicates it.”
“It
was moved,” said the shade of Ekogaru, the R’Khell/Rikashan engineer, sorcerer,
and madman that Wildstar and Nova had so recently fought. “You, Master, are now
subject to me as long as I am here. I regret that I cannot remain here. You,
Derek, can be confident of that. But, before this globe crumbles, I can take
it, and myself, elsewhere. If I can take you with me, perhaps you will become a
mindless shell to house me.”
“Try
it,” said the Master.
“I
will not try it,” said Ekogaru. “I’ll do
it.”
“You
will not,” said the Doctor. “At least you will not, and cannot, use him as a
vessel. Take him you might, but you are forbidden from inhabiting him.”
“Upstart?”
said Ekogaru. “Who are you?”
“You
know me,” said the Doctor. “Some have called me Merlin, Plenipotentiary of the
Hidden Flame, Guardian of Time, Time’s Champion…”
“Nice
titles,” said Ekogaru.
“Gregory,”
said the Doctor. Speed started at the use of his proper Christian name.
“Doctor?”
he said.
“You
hold the most innocence of the group here. Tell him to leave.”
“I
can’t,” said Speed.
“You
can,” said the Doctor. “In the name of all that is Holy to you. Have faith!”
Speed
thought of his years of Sunday school training, and then he said, “In the name
of the LORD Je…”
“I take the hint!” roared Ekogaru. “DO
NOT INVOKE HIS NAME! Farewell!”
There
was a clap of thunder and lightning at the top of the pyramid, and it shook.
A
moment later, before everyone’s dazzled eyes, there was a clean, clear breeze.
No one quite knew what had happened, until they noticed that the Master was
gone. So was the spectral form…
…and
so was the globe.
“My
God,” said Speed. “Doctor…did we…?”
“Yes,
and no,” said the Doctor as he quietly raised a hand over the group, almost as
if in benediction. “forget,”
he whispered in a low voice. “Slowly, of course.”
Nova
stood blinking tears out of her eyes. “Well, there was…a ghost?”
“The
globe, suffice it to say, is gone.”
“Where?”
said Derek.
“Scattered, to the time streams.
There, who knows? It is no longer in our hands. Another has charge of it now….”
“Who?”
said Trixie.
“Certainly not the so-called Master,
nor the ghost who was here, nor even his lord.
One beyond that, maybe, one who lived in a time not even I can travel to…”
“Doctor?”
said Nova.
“For
eons, the Time Lords have wondered why one small time period is forbidden to us
to observe; forbidden to our time capsules, forbidden for us to view in the
Matrix…forbidden to touch…It is between 6 BCE, your time, to about 34 CE, your
time. I would love to investigate that time, see if the stories in your history
about it are true; but it is forbidden for us to look into that. Why?”
“Well,”
said Trixie. “Maybe…it’s because some things…some events, must be looked at…”
“by faith…,” said Nova. “Not by sight.”
Snake
stood up. “Hey!” he sneered. “Is this church, or what? Speed, I oughta punch
you right in the…”
“Why
don’t you try it, for what you did to Trixie?” roared Speed. “And for making
fun of things you cannot…”
At
that, Aliscea appeared out of nowhere on the top of the pyramid. “I missed
everything?”
“You
did,” said the Doctor. “It is over. I played…a small part….”
“I
know what transpired,” said Aliscea. “It is out of our hands now. Oh, Derek, sir, the R’Khell fleet vanished.”
“Where?”
said Wildstar.
“They
were on attack approach. They warped, and they never emerged from hyperspace.
Terrible shame, isn’t it?”
Derek
smiled. “Yeah, what a shame. Well, Speed, when you
re-run the Trans-America race, don’t expect to see Team Rouge there.”
“Or
Team Omega,” said the Doctor.
“I’ll
take you to the TARDIS,” said Aliscea. “Nova, Derek?”
“We
have to follow you,” said Speed.
“Why?”
said Aliscea.
“Well,
Spritle, Chim-Chim and Sparky…they’re still there…”
“You’ll
see them in a moment,” said Aliscea softly. “Time, I think, for us to say our
goodbyes?”
“What
about me?” sneered Snake.
“Your
father is coming for you,” said
Aliscea. “And he isn’t happy.”
“Well,
looks like this is goodbye,” said Commodore Wildstar. He shook hands with
Speed. “I wish you could have stayed with us a little longer, but…”
“You
have places to go,” said Speed.
“Goodbye,
Trixie,” said Nova. “I’ll always remember you.”
“Me
too,” said Trixie.
“Best
wishes to all of you,” said the Doctor. “Look after Snake, Speed. He’s still
not quite right…”
Speed
nodded reluctantly. “I’ll try…I…”
Then,
a moment of time seemed to pass. The last thing that Speed could remember was
Aliscea raising her hand…and…for a moment, she burned bright like an angel
straight from the Presence…
Then,
a moment later, Speed said, “Trixie, we’re engaged, right?”
“Uh-huh,”
said Trixie.
“Yeah,
you’re engaged all right,” said Snake. “The thought makes me sick, Racer.”
“Shut
up!” snapped Speed. “Then…where are the others?”
“What
others?” said Trixie. “Weren’t we holding a dry run
for the race, when we crashed here and got lost with this creep?” snapped Trixie.
“Yeah…that
was around the time we drove here after
“There
were other people here,” said Speed. “I know it…”
“No
there weren’t,” said Snake. “And whose idea was it to climb up this stupid
thing anyway, in the middle of the jungle?”
“Search
me,” said Trixie. “Yours? And what am I doing in this
funny…dance leotard?” she said as she looked down at herself in the yellow and
black outfit she wore. Her legs and feet were bare, and dirty…there was some
vague memory about cuts and a friend giving it to her, but…
“You
can walk okay?” said Speed.
“Of
course I can, even though I might break my neck going down this thing,” said
Trixie.
“Don’t
look at me weird,” said Snake, who again wore his full helmet and uniform,
although it was very dirty. He thought there was
nothing unusual about that. Trixie then looked down and wondered why she had
been thinking about a dance outfit when she wore her usual pink blouse, capris,
and loafers. Speed then looked down at his shirt and thought This thing needs a wash…
“Where
did you get this diamond from, Speed?” asked Trixie as they climbed down the
pyramid together, with Snake Oiler following as he cursed and muttered like
Gollum behind them.
“I
don’t remember,” said Speed. “Tiffany’s?”
“Maybe,”
said Trixie.
“I
saw ya buy it,” sneered Snake. “It WAS at Tiffany’s.”
“Oh?
How do you know?” snapped Speed.
“I
was there, even though I was hung over. Okay, I was buyin’ something cheap for my
girlfriend, ya jerk! Hey, look….”
They
looked down at the court around the bottom of the pyramid. Three race cars
appeared down the path; namely, the Mach Five, driven by Sparky, the Shooting
Star, driven by Racer X, and the Car Acrobatic Team’s #13, driven by Captain
Terror.
“Look!
They’re back!” yelled Speed. He ran up to the Mach Five and said, “Sparky,
where were you?”
“Funny,
I don’t remember,” said the mechanic.
There
was a banging from inside the Mach Five’s trunk. Speed opened it, and Sprite
and Chim-Chim came out, carrying lots of candy. “Funny, did we fall asleep? I
don’t remember how we got here, Speed. But I remember this funny dream, about a
flying ship, a man with white hair, and a phone booth with miles of corridors
and candy machines inside it…”
“You
must have been thinking of some book you read,” chided Trixie.
“Where
were you?” demanded Captain Terror as he grabbed Snake by the shirt. “You know
it is against our rules to randomly consort with rival teams...they might find
out our methods from you! Did you tell them anything, Snake?”
“No…we
got lost together here spyin’ on each other…”
“He
may have been drinking, Captain Terror,” said Racer X helpfully.
“Drinking
a week before a race?” roared Captain Terror. “You’re fined five thousand for
that, Snake! Now get in the car, and shut up!”
Snake
cursed as he sat in the navigator’s seat in his own #13.
Then,
Racer X said. “They’re changing the location of the finish line of the
Trans-America Race, Speed. It’ll be at the border of Kapetopac. They’re afraid
to let outsiders in now after that recent crisis with the Soviets and
Americans.”
“I
forgot about that,” said Trixie. “What was that about?”
“It
was about
Trixie,
in the meantime, looked through the Mach Five’s trunk. “Speed?
Where did you buy this?”
“Buy
what?”
“This pretty sundress?
And these sandals? Did you get these for me in
“No,
I think…it was in
Speed
then looked at one of the obelisks nearby. He wondered who had died recently;
at the bottom of one of the obelisks was something that looked like a fresh
grave, marked with a cross, flowers, and a wreath. He knew that for some reason
the local natives really feared Christianity, and he guessed the cross meant
they would leave this lonely resting place alone.
A
moment later, three Brazilian soldiers showed up on foot, in fresh fatigues.
“We
were looking for you,” said a man who wore sergeant’s stripes.
“Have
we met?” asked Speed.
“No,
we haven’t,” said the Sergeant. “I am Sergeant Rodriguez. I’d advise you to
leave soon…this area…it is dangerous…”
“Why?”
“The
natives,” he said. “Follow us; we have an armored personnel carrier.”
“We’ll
do that,” said Racer X as he got back into the Shooting Star. “Thank you.”
“Speed?”
asked Trixie. “Look!”
“Where?”
“The
western sky…there’s a shooting star…”
“In the daytime?”
“Uh-huh,”
said Trixie. “I wonder why it’s heading west? Funny
thing, meteors…”
“Yeah…”, said Speed, as the meteor flashed brightly once, and then
just faded into the empty blue sky.
THIRTY SECONDS LATER
IN
THE YEAR 2204….
“Warp
completed!” said Kitano proudly on the Argo’s
bridge.
“Boy,
that one was a doozie,” said
Eager. “Longest test warp to Mars I ever took.”
“Radar
normal,” said Nova from her post. Of course, to her, sitting at her post again
in full uniform was nothing particularly strange; she kept a neat appearance in
uniform.
“Funny
thing, warp illusions,” said Sandor from the Argo’s science station as Mars loomed up in the windows. At Homer’s
post, communications were normal; they were in touch with the Tenth Defense
Squadron, with whom, later today, the Star Force would take some maneuvers.
“What
do you mean?” asked Nova.
“Nothing.
You know how sometimes you remember them?” said Sandor.
“And
sometimes you can’t?” said Commodore Wildstar, back from the Captain’s post. He
got up, brushing some dust off his impeccable bridge coat. “Funny thing…I
remember I had some kind of warp dream about Ekogaru…”
“I
remember something about a girlfriend and the jungle,” said Nova as she pulled
her boot off and rested her bare foot on the deck for a moment.
“Nova,
why are you doing that?” said Derek.
“There
was a pretty big rock in here; against my foot. God knows how it got here.”
“You
okay?”
“Fine,”
said Nova as she put her boot back on.
“Sure
you’re okay?” said Derek.
“You’ll
be fine,” said Aliscea softly as she walked over. “It’s really nothing…nothing
at all…”
But,
she felt worried as she said this. Then, the alien girl hid her feelings with a
wink at her husband Paul, who was at the Argo’s
Combat station. “Let’s get on with this training mission, okay?”
“Okay,”
said Commodore Wildstar. “Places, everyone!” he snapped. “What are we running,
a cadet ship? Let’s look sharp here! It’s not like the world nearly ended or
anything!”
But,
Derek didn’t know why this was ironic. Which was fine…
For
now…he was not meant to know.
And
neither were the others. Not a one.
On
the TARDIS, even as the Doctor sat drinking some tea, he tried to remember what
had happened over the past few days.
For
some reason, for the life of him, he couldn’t do so.
END.
To Return to the Introduction for "Attack and Counterattack" click here