'Captain, listen to me...'
Jackson waved him aside. 'Not now, Doctor. Tala, don't lose her!'
'Jackson, course two, four, zero takes us right back into the nebula!'
'That's right, Doctor. If that's where the P7E is, that's where we go.'
'That could mean destruction!'
'It means the end of the Quest. If P7E went in there, so can we.'
'But P7E didn't go in there,' shouted the Doctor despairingly. 'She couldn't have! She must have been there from the very beginning. The nebula formed around her.'
'How do you know?'
'It's elementary physics-the still centre of the raging storm. She may be in there, and she may be safe-but if you try to reach her, it'll mean your own destruction.'
'If P7E is in there, then we must find her,' said Jackson calmly. 'That is our purpose-destruction is a chance we take. The Quest is the Quest.'
Jackson was quite serious. The long years of searching had made him totally obsessional. If tracking down the P7E meant deliberate suicide, he would steer his ship to destruction in the calm conviction that he was only doing his duty.
'Jackson, I can't allow that!'
'You can't allow it, Doctor? You have no choice.'
Jackson nodded to Herrick, and as the Doctor bent to uncouple K9, Herrick tackled him from behind, a forearm like an iron bar across his windpipe.
'K9, stop!' gasped the Doctor.
Leela drew her knife. 'You! Let the Doctor go.'
Jackson was already covering her with his blaster.
'Don't move!'
There was a moment of tense silence, broken by K9's plaintive voice. 'Query stop. Stop what? Please amplify instruction.'
'Doctor, tell it we're going on,' ordered Jackson.
Herrick's arm tightened.
'We're going on, K9,' croaked the Doctor.
Jackson gave a nod of satisfaction. 'Herrick, strap these two into their couches.'
Herrick released the Doctor, stepped back and drew his blaster. 'Quickly, you two.'
The Doctor and Leela were bustled to a spare acceleration couch on the command deck and strapped into place.
'Right.' snapped Jackson. 'Everyone back to their stations. Tala. don't lose that signal!'
On the vision screen, the nebula grew steadily larger.
The Doctor watched it despairingly. It was ironic, he thought. His efforts to pull the TARDIS free of the nebula had landed him on a space ship with a crew of lunatics heading determinedly towards it.
The Doctor saw a swarm of tiny objects swirling about the fringes of the nebula. 'Jackson, look out! We're heading straight into a meteor swarm.' Almost immediately there was a series of clangs and thumps as meteorites began slamming into the hull. If a really big one hit them...
'Shields up!' ordered Jackson. Heavy metal shields began sliding across the viewing-port. The ship reeled and shook under the continuous impact of the meteorites. It was like being inside a tin can with someone throwing stones at the outside. Throwing, and hitting...
'Jackson, this is hopeless,' yelled the Doctor.
Leela leaned forward, shouting above the din 'What's happening?'
'We're being sucked through the outer meteorite layer.
The meteorites are smashing us to pieces.'
'What did you say, Doctor?'
Everything went absolutely quiet.
'They're smashing us to-'
The Doctor broke off, his voice loud in the sudden silence.
'They are?' asked Leela, puzzled.
The Doctor sat quiet, trying to work out what was happening. He could hear the signal from the P7E, fading, fading...
'Damage report?' asked Jackson calmly.
Tala looked up. 'I think we've lost right and left auxiliaries.'
'And the solar sail, plus all external antennae,' said Orfe.
'Hull's taken a battering,' said Herrick. 'Sealer pumps are still working though.'
Tala completed the report. 'Main drive positive, on course and holding, all major systems functional.'
'Then we go on. Raise the heat shields, Tala, and take her on manual.'
Slowly the metal shields slid back, everyone waiting to see what they would reveal.
There was an astonished silence. Through the viewing-port they saw not the fiery nebula, not even the blackness of space. They saw a wall of rocks.
Chapter Five.
Buried Alive Tala was calling out instrument readings. 'Signal fading, sir. Forward visibility nil. We're losing acceleration.'
'Full boost on both motors.'
A grinding roar of power, as the ship's drive was strained to its limits.
'Full power, sir. But we're still slowing down.'
The steady double beat of the P7E faded still further, and became silent. 'Signal going... signal gone...' said Tala.
'Acceleration lost... we're drifting... all major systems still functional...'
Jackson hammered a fist down on his console. ' Then why Then why aren't we moving? aren't we moving? ' '
'Don't you know?' said the Doctor quietly.
'You do, I suppose?'
'What's your normal hull thickness?'
'Three metres twenty.'
The Doctor raised his voice. 'K9, what's our present hull thickness?'
'Hull thickness seventy metres-increasing.'
'Seventy metres!' repeated Jackson unbelievingly.
'We're being buried alive in the heart of a new-born world.'
'That's impossible!'
'No, it's not impossible, Jackson,' said the Doctor wearily. 'Simply gravity. Elementary physics, remember?
This ship is a large heavy object, surrounded by lumps of smaller, lighter material. Our gravitational pull is stronger than theirs. We attract them, they stick to us. The heavier we get, the faster we grow. It all snowballs. We're being buried, barnacled by meteorites. We're being turned into a We're being turned into a planet! planet! ' '
The Minyan patrol ship drifted silently through space.
It no longer resembled any kind of space craft. It was a huge floating ball of rock, almost indistinguishable from the meteorites surrounding it.
'Still,' said the Doctor cheerfully, 'if it wasn't for our protective layer of debris, the meteorites would have smashed us to smithereens long ago. Can't have everything, can you?'
'Look at him,' shouted Herrick. 'He's laughing at us!'
'Is there any way out, Doctor?' asked Jackson.
'I don't known... You could try using the laser cannon.'
'Of course, we'll blast a tunnel and force our way out on ion drive!' Jackson swung round. 'Tala, do we have the power?'
'It would take up all our reserve, Captain. It could blow the drive units.'
'It's either that or be stuck here for eternity.' Jackson came to a decision. 'We'll try it. Herrick, fire both laser cannons full power.'
Herrick gave him a dubious look, and reached for the laser controls. 'Fire one! Fire two!' There was a kind of muffled boom, and the red glare of the laser beams filled the control room.
The rock wall beyond the viewing-ports remained unchanged.
K9's voice cut into the tense silence. 'Hull thickness, ninety metres, increasing... ninety-five metres, increasing.'
'Carry on firing, Herrick,' said the Doctor calmly.
Herrick looked at Jackson, who hesitated, then nodded.
Again there came the roar of the cannon, and the red glare of the laser beams.
The needles on Tala's instruments were quivering in the red danger sector. 'The forward hull's buckling, sir!
'Carry on, Herrick,' ordered the Doctor.
Herrick fired again, 'Stop it,' screamed Tala. 'We're melting our own hull!'
'Carry on, Herrick,' said the Doctor implacably. 'Keep firing-it's our only chance!'
Herrick fired again and again until the laser controls erupted into sparks and smoke beneath his hands. 'It's no use-the cannons are disintegrating!'
The electronic voice of K9 reported, 'Hull thickness, one hundred metres.' Suddenly it rose to a higher note.
'Penetration-you have penetration!'
'Now, Tala,' shouted Jackson.
Tala thrust the power-controls to maximum. There was a roar of tortured engines as the ship juddered, vibrated and broke free. The wall of meteorites was gone. In its place an enormous grey sphere filled the viewing-port.