Mission to Magnus - Anzor's TARDIS Interior

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Mission to Magnus
by Philip Martin

A Target Book
Published in 1990
by the Paperback Division of W.H. Allen & Co. Plc
26 Grand Union Center,
338 Ladbroke Grove London W10 SA11
Novelisation copyright © Philip Martin, 1990
Original script copyright © Philip Martin, 1985
'Doctor Who' series copyright © British Broadcasting
Corporation, 1985, 1990
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Cox & Wymann Ltd, Reading, Berks
ISBN 0 426 20347 x

Anzor's TARDIS Interior

Passage on Anzor's personality

'I know of only one circumstance that might allow
TARDIS takeover; switch on the scanner, Peri.'
Dutifully, Peri obeyed, then started with fear as the
screen cleared to reveal the image of a gloomy looking face
with a long nose, the eyes of an angry ferret and wearing a
top hat whose brim was encircled with a purple band of
cloth once much favoured by Victorian undertakers. The
yellow hued skin wrinkled, as thin lips spread into a
sneering grimace.
'Greetings, dears, how kind to answer my call so
promptly. Do identify yourselves, your TARDIS seems
familiar but names never were my strong point.'

Spoiler

Peri waited for the Doctor's reply, her eyes remaining
fixed on the strange apparition. When no reply came she
turned and saw, to her amazement, the Doctor cowering on
his knees at the base of the TARDIS control panel,
trembling and sweating with fear.
'Doctor, what are you doing?'
'Shut up, Peri. He mustn't see me!'
'Who...?' Peri dropped down beside the terrified Doctor.
'What is it? Why are you shivering?'
'Don't let him see me!'
'Doctor...' Peri started, only to be interrupted by a
booming laugh from the screen.
'Did I hear "Doctor"? Is it the Doctor I have drawn to
me?' The laugh became more strident, forcing the Doctor
to thrust his fingers into his ears in panic and close his
eyes, as if he were a frightened child.
'I'm not here. I'm not here. I'm not here!' the Doctor
chanted as if the words would form a spell that would
release him from whatever fear had possessed him.
'Oh, stop it, you big baby!' Peri cried in exasperation
and jumped to her feet. 'Who are you?' she demanded of
the sinister figure on the screen.
Once again the narrow lips parted into a contemptuous
sneer. The voice, deep and mocking, called across the
TARDIS control room.
'Doctor! You cowardly snivelling little sneak. Stand up
at once!'
With horrified fascination Peri saw her companion haul
himself to his feet like a chastened schoolboy.
'Sorry,' the Doctor muttered at the screen.
'Sorry? Sorry was never enough to pardon such a boy.
Grovelling! Errant!'
'Sorry, Anzor, sorry even so.'
The cadaverous yellow skull now seemed to dominate
every corner of the control room.
'Gather yourself, Doctor.' The voice of Anzor had
developed a grating authority. 'Collect your inferior wits.
Listen to me. Your TARDIS is to be set into transreplicator
mode instantly.'
'I... I...' the Doctor began to stutter. Then he cried in
fear as Anzor showed a short blue rod with a glowing
orange tip.
'Remember this, Doctor?' Anzor's voice dripped with
oily menace. 'Must I revive your memory of my
galvanizer?'
'Yes, I... I... mean no, Anzor; just doing it. Sorry...
sorry!' His fingers clawed hurriedly at the combination of
switches demanded by Ansor.
Peri stared open-mouthed at the Doctor. She was used
to his asperity, but this abject terror was just too much for
her. On a sudden impulse she turned the switch that
controlled the screen. With a fading roar the image of
Anzor disappeared. Horrified, the Doctor turned on her.
'You've done it now, you have... it wasn't me, Anzor,
honest, it was Peri!' As if to mirror Anzor's rage the
TARDIS began to shake and shudder as if pummelled by a
meteorite storm. Desperately Peri and the Doctor clung to
each other.
'What's happened? Doctor? What did I do?'
'Antagonised Anzor! You're for it you are, Peri, you
wait. He'll take his galvanizer to you!'
The vibrations became intolerable. The TARDIS
seemed about to buckle from the forces being exerted on its
structure.
'We're being shaken to pieces!' Peri cried out, holding
her hands to her ears.
'That's the trans-replicator mode. Through its use one
TARDIS can replace another in space. Useful for repairs or
obtaining a replacement immediately.'
'You're letting that undertaker freak swap with us, just
like that?'
The Doctor looked away, shifting his gaze uneasily.
'You don't understand. Anzor will have his reasons.'
'This Anzor, who is he?'
'You'll find out,' the Doctor said grimly. As if to
emphasize his words the shaking steadied to a low
malevolent ripple of constant movement, as if building for
one final convulsion.
'Anzor is a Time Lord,' the Doctor added. 'The son of a
former council leader. I haven't seen him for aeons. Back
in my childhood he used to dominate all our lives.'
'Do you admire him?'
'No. Not admire exactly.'
'Fear then?'
'No. At school, on Gallifrey... the class of the fourth
millennium. Anzor was the... what's the word?'
'School bully?'
'Shush! He might be listening!'
The Doctor's obvious cowardice provoked Peri's
fighting spirit. 'Let him!' she said and slammed down the
switch to bring back the scanner screen. A dazzling star
field appeared. When their sight adjusted to the screen
they saw. two planets in close proximity to each other.
Poised between the two blue and white worlds was a
spacecraft floating motionless in space.
'That's Anzor's ship?' Peri pointed.
'His TARDIS? No.' Thoughtfully the Doctor tried the
navigational controls. Neither response nor movement
could be detected.
'I think Anzor has been trapped in a force field -
probably caused by that starship.'
'They dragged us here then?'
'No. Only another Time Lord could do that by
activating the distress attraction signal. That's what pulled
us through space and time: Anzor's call.'
Peri stared at the Doctor, slowly realizing the
implication of his words.
'We're taking his place. Held hostage by that ship. We
stay until we can attract another TARDIS. Great! The last
one stays for evermore!'
'No. We can't do that. We can't attract another
TARDIS. Only Gallifreyan Council ships have that
emergency compulsion facility. Anzor must be on a
mission. Amazing that: I mean, he used to make me do his
navigational homework. Didn't know his vectors from his
velocities.'
'A dunce as well as a bully. What a jerk. Why didn't you
stand up to him, Doctor?'
'Easy for you. You're a girl.' The Doctor grimaced at a
sudden memory. 'Somebody stood up to him - Cheevah,
his name was. Anzor sealed him in a block of crystal and
dropped him from a great height into the school yard.'
'Very funny.' Peri spoke witheringly.
'We had to pretend it was or get a shock from that orbstick
of his.'
'Doctor, get us out of here. I've heard enough of this
Anzor creep!'
The Doctor's face showed his horrified reaction to Peri's
incautious words.
'Shush!' he admonished, looking at the screen as if the
bully might reappear at any moment. Peri pouted - a sure
sign she was at the end of her patience.
'Creep. Creep. Anzor is a creep!'
In an agony of apprehension the Doctor closed his eyes,
as if waiting for an invisible blow to fall. When nothing
happened Peri nudged him. 'Nothing's up, Doc, relax.
Grow up and start thinking about freeing us from limbo.'
With a shake of his shoulders the Doctor tried to thrust
away the memories of past terrors and to concentrate on
the screen. At first his gaze was unsteady, as if he expected
to be confronted again by Anzor; when the star field
remained steady before him he began to concentrate fully
on the motionless spacecraft.
'I've seen that ship. Somewhere. Long time ago or at
least a similar model...' Adjusting the scanner to a sharper
focus brought an enlarged view of the craft. 'It's survived
quite a few flights and battles - look at the repairs... scars...
and the weaponry - they're firing, Peri.'
'Who are they firing at?' said Peri, realizing that the
waves of disturbed vision she was experiencing were due to
the distorting effect of power transference.
'I don't know. It must be directed down at the planet
below. Some sort of sonic cannon, I think - certainly a
massive power bombardment. At least it isn't aimed at us,
not yet. We must get clear, Peri, before they turn their
firepower upon us.'
'What have I just been saying?' Peri said with
exasperation, watching the Doctor fiddling with the
controls of the TARDIS without the slightest effect.
'How are we...?' she started.
'To escape? That answer will become absolutely
obvious...' the Doctor paused, a small gleam of his usual
high spirits returning.
'... as soon as we can think of it.'

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Anzor's Tardis Exterior

The blasted gnarled tree trunk completed its appearance,
its branches clawing towards the pink dome of the palace
ceiling. Sil, carried by the women attendants, came to rest
before what he hoped would be the entrance to the object.
A panel opened silently and a tall, sombrely dressed figure
stepped from inside the tree, doffing his top hat so that its
purple band could swirl impressively.
'My dear!' Sil cried, It's been ages. Thoros Beta, wasn't
it?'
'Probably,' Anzor said non-committally, his eyes taking
in the opulent furnishings of Sil's apartment with faint
disapproval of such ostentation.
'I've been waiting many days for your arrival, my dear
Anzor.'

Anzor's TARDIS Interior

The ancient oak that was the exterior of Anzor's TARDIS
resisted the initial attempts at entry, but when Jarmaya's
ring was unsheathed and pointed at the bully he agreed to
open up without any further fuss. The examiner group
entered the TARDIS and found a control room made
untidy by discarded items of sombre clothing. Zandusia
went to the panel that housed the TARDIS controls. Her
gaze was one of intense excitement. Turning to Jarmaya
she said: 'Imagine what time travel would mean to us.
Imagine the power for good it would give.'
'Yes, Rana.'
'The two Time Lords, they must show us the means of
time travel.'

Rana Zandusia looked around at the gathering that had
assembled inside Anzor's TARDIS.

Spoiler

Jarmaya and Ulema
waited respectfully behind her with two attendants holding
ray-sticks in case of disturbance. Sil was greedily taking in
every detail of the control systems, while the two Time
Lords stood glowering at each other. 'Let us try to travel
through the fabric of time, shall we?' she said softly.
'Wait a minute,' the Doctor said. 'Anzor can't drive -
he's the worst navigator imaginable. You might wish to go
back to primordial slime with him but I don't.'
'I wouldn't tell them anything of importance,' Anzor
snorted. 'You're to blame, Doctor Blabbermouth!'
'Me!' the Doctor cried. 'Who was it let them into the
TARDIS? That's forbidden, and you know it!'
'I wanted to save damage to my door, that's all!' Anzor
retorted. The two Time Lords glared at each other, the
Doctor slowly overcoming his long held fear of the school
bully.
'This will sound wonderful in your report back to the
Council of Gallifrey. Lost - one TARDIS.'
'It isn't lost yet, Doctor.'
The Doctor continued to stare at Anzor, his voice
strengthening as he realized that the fear he had felt since
his schooldays was no longer necessary.
'Tell these women, Anzor. Tell them about how your
TARDIS operates and they will give the details to someone
like Sil. He will develop a process of mass production and
bring about wilful distortion of the continuum of time.'
Sil laughed delightedly at such a prospect. Anzor
scowled at the Doctor ferociously. But before he could
reply Rana Zandusia intervened. 'You also spoke to us,
Doctor, before our brain intersector, Ulema, failed through
lack of concentrated attention.'
Anzor laughed. 'Blabbed did he? What did he blab
about? Let me see!' Anzor reached for a printout sheet held
by Ulema, who moved away from his clutching hand.
'Let him see.' Zandusia ordered. The sheet was handed
to Anzor, who scanned it rapidly with an expression of
scornful glee.
'Hah! You accuse me, Doctor, you talk of me... It's here,
the formula for time travel!'
'Let me...' the Doctor stared at the sheet and turned,
with an expression of dismay, to Ulema. 'How did you
obtain this?'
Ulema smiled with enjoyment. 'You thought you were
so clever! When I was in your mind I could visualize what
you were suppressing. I recalled it all later after your little
moment of triumph.'
The Doctor bowed in acknowledgement. Sil clapped his
hands, making a wet slapping sound. 'Let us test the
Doctor's information!'
An assistant stepped forward, took the print-out and
turned to Rana Zandusia for permission to continue. The
tall ruler nodded almost imperceptibly, and the assistant
began to make a series of adjustments to the settings.
Intent on translating the details of the formula, the young
attendant had placed her ray-stick on the console top and
Anzor saw the opportunity. With a sudden darting
movement he grabbed the stick and fumbled with its
control trigger, sending a searing ray of energy that
narrowly missed the Doctor. Scattering in panic the party
of women retreated through the door of the TARDIS. Only
the Doctor stood his ground. 'Anzor, please listen to me.'
'Shut up, Doctor, you are cluttering up my TARDIS!'
'Anzor, listen!'
'No. It is your turn to do that. Sorry I can't administer
the beating you deserve, but when I get back to Gallifrey, I
will blacken your name for all time.' Anzor began to laugh
with malice and enjoyment.
The Doctor tried to interrupt once more.
'Please...'
'Out!' Anzor gestured with the energy weapon.
The Doctor eyed the ray-stick nervously. Raising his
hands in a gesture of surrender, he backed out of the
TARDIS. The gnarled door panel closed on Anzor's
gloating face, grinning at him with malicious triumph.
Shaking his head the Doctor turned away as the party of
angry women led by Zandusia and Sil surrounded him.
Before anyone could speak the trumpeting sound of
dematerialization filled the room. Terrified, the women
backed away.
'What?' Zandusia cried in fear.
'TARDIS dematerialization,' the Doctor said.
'Then your friend has escaped.'
The Doctor looked around at the distraught faces about
him.
'Not really. I played a trick - a double bluff. Ulema, I
knew you had registered that formula, taken it from my
mind. Those instructions were designed to take Anzor's
TARDIS on a very slow ride back to the beginning of time.
I thought that was the best solution, to take Anzor's
TARDIS out of your reach for ever.'
Ulema was stunned. 'But Anzor can halt your setting.
He can change course, surely?'
The Doctor looked thoughtfully at the space where the
ancient oak had stood.
'I doubt it. He's not a skilled navigator. Ah, well, he can
try bullying molluscs and pterodactyls, or make a study of
mesozoic slime mould,' the Doctor said cheerfully.

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