Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child

Barbara pointed. 'Look, there's a cut in his forehead - the tiger must have stunned him.' Ian bathed the cut, and Za moaned and stirred. Ian looked ruefully at Barbara. 'We seemed to have missed our chance of getting away. I bet your flat must be just littered with stray cats and dogs.'

'They're human beings, Ian,' said Barbara again.

'All right, I know.'

Ian looked up at the Doctor, who stood scowling down at them. 'Have you got medical supplies in the ship? Antiseptic?'

'This is preposterous,' spluttered the Doctor. 'One moment we are desperately trying to get away from these savages and now -'

'Now we're helping them! I know. You're a Doctor. Do something.'

'I am not a Doctor of medicine, young man.'

'Grandfather, we should make friends with them,' urged Susan.

'Maybe they'll help us.'

'Ridiculous!'

'Why?' said Barbara angrily. 'Why must you treat everyone and everything as less important than yourself?'

The Doctor looked severely at her. 'I suppose you think that everything you do is reasonable, and everything I do is inhuman. But suppose your judgement's wrong, not mine? If these two savages can follow us, so can their fellows. The whole Tribe may be upon us at any moment!'

'The Tribe sleeps,' said Hur.

'And the old woman who set us free, mm? What about her?'

'You're right, Doctor. We're too exposed here.' The Doctor nodded complacently - but his expression changed rapidly when Ian went on, 'We'll make a stretcher and carry him with us!'

'You're not proposing to take him back to the ship?'

'We can make the stretcher with our coats,' said Ian briskly.

'Barbara, Susan, see if you can break off a couple of long straight branches from those bushes.'

As she moved away, Barbara said, 'Maybe the old woman won't give us away. She helped us, she won't want the others to know.'

'Do you think these people have logic and reason,' said the Doctor furiously. 'Can't you see, their minds change as rapidly as night follows day. She may well be telling the entire Tribe at this very moment...'

Sometime in the night Kal woke, warned by some instinct of danger. He looked around him. Everything seemed normal. Then he saw that Old Mother was gone. And Za and Hur... Something was happening. Whatever it was, it must be concerned with the strangers.

Za had betrayed him, he was trying to force the strangers to give him the secret of the fire.

Kal rose, knife in hand, and made his way stealthily to the cave of skulls. His suspicions were confirmed, when he saw that the great stone had been moved aside.

He slipped through the gap and saw to his astonishment that the cave held no strangers, and no Za. Only Old Mother lay moaning on the ground.

Kal dragged her to her feet. 'The strange creatures - where are they?'

'They have gone,' said Old Mother, a gleam of triumph in her eyes.

'How did they move the stone?'

'Za moved it.'

'Za has gone with them? Tell me, old woman, tell me!'

The old woman pointed to the back of the cave. 'Za and Hur went after the strangers. Through there. There is another way.'

'The strangers' hands and feet were bound,' said Kal fiercely.

'Za set them free! They have gone with Za to show him how to make fire.'

' I set them free,' said Old Mother proudly. 'Now they will not make fire any more. There will be no more fire!'

'You freed them?' Kal saw an end to all his hopes - the secret of fire lost, or given to Za - and all because of this meddling old woman. 'You freed them?'

A surge of blind rage swept through him, and suddenly the stone knife in his hand was buried in Old Mother's heart.

The old woman stared disbelievingly down at the knife for a moment, then fell dead at his feet.

Kal plucked out the knife, wet with the old woman's blood, and thrust it beneath his skins. He would have to think of something to tell the Tribe.

Ian was busy showing Susan and Barbara how to make an improvised stretcher. 'The poles go through the sleeves of the coats like that you see...'

Susan knelt to wipe Za's forehead, but Hur thrust her rudely away. 'No. He is mine.'

'I was only trying to help him.'

Ian smiled. 'I think she's jealous of you, Susan.'

Baffled, Hur looked around the group. 'I do not understand any of you. You are like a mother with a baby. Za is your enemy. Why do you not kill him?'

Ian said, 'These people just don't understand kindness or friendship. See if you can explain, in a way she'll understand, Barbara.'

'We will make him well again,' said Barbara gently. 'We will teach you how fire is made. All we ask in return is that you show us the way back to our own cave.'

A feeble voice from the ground said, 'Listen to them, Hur.

They speak truth. They did not kill me.' By now Za was conscious, though still dazed.

'I'm getting worried about the time,' said Ian. 'We've been here far too long. Are we all ready?'

'I'm terribly thirsty,' said Susan. 'Can I just go and get a drink?'

Ian nodded, and Susan went over to Hur and said hopefully,

'Water?'

Hur led the way to the stream and Susan followed.

'Be careful!' called Barbara.

Susan looked at the Doctor, who was standing a little apart, sulking. 'Do you want some water, grandfather?'

'No, I do not!'

'What about giving us a hand here, Doctor?' called Ian.

The Doctor folded his arms and turned his back.

'Don't take any notice of him,' said Susan over her shoulder.

'He's often like this, especially when he doesn't get his own way!'

Ian finished checking over the stretcher. It would have to be pretty solid to carry Za's weight.

'Maybe it was a good idea making friends with these two,' said Barbara hopefully. 'We might even stand a better chance of getting back to the ship.'

Ian looked up from his task and saw that the Doctor had picked up a heavy pointed stone and was advancing stealthily towards Za.

He sprang up and gripped the Doctor's wrist. 'What are you doing?'

'Let go of me,' said the Doctor indignantly. 'I was just going to ask him to draw some kind of map on the ground, to show us the way back to the TARDIS.'

Ian looked narrowly at the old man. Just how much ruthlessness was the Doctor capable of, if he felt it might save his own and Susan's life?

He took the stone from the Doctor's hand and tossed it aside.

'It's a good idea, Doctor, but I don't think he's in a fit state to draw any maps. We'd better get going.'

Susan and Hur were back from the stream by now, and the Doctor looked on scornfully, while Ian and the three girls struggled to roll Za onto the stretcher. They managed it at last.

'Will you take one end, please, Doctor?' said Ian. 'You surely don't expect me to carry him?'

'You surely don't expect one of the girls to do it?' said Ian blandly. 'Lead the way please, Susan.'

Fuming, the Doctor picked up his end of the stretcher, Ian took the other, and the little party set off.

Kal had roused the rest of the Tribe, and they were milling about confusedly outside the main cave. 'The strangers have gone,'

shouted Kal. 'Za and Hur have gone with them. We must go after them and bring them back.'

'Hur would not help the strangers to escape,' said Horg.

'She has gone with them all the same.'

Horg shook his head in puzzlement. 'Where is Old Mother?

Has she gone with them too?'

'She sits silent in the cave of skulls,' said Kal. 'I saw her there, but she would not move or speak.' Horg led the way to the cave of skulls and they all crowded inside.