"I don't think he's quite awake yet!" "There's a Chumbley coming!" "Quickly!" "Oh, Doctor!" "Hurry!" "Quick!" "Come on!" "Come on, Doctor!" "This way out." "Come on!" "We'll make it!" "Oh!" "Ah!" "Oh!" "Doctor!" "I can't move it!" "It's immovable!" "Wait, wait, wait!" "I have an idea." "might be able to sabotage them." "Now be patient." "We know what this machine's for." "This is to convert air into ammonia gas." "Doctor, hurry up!" "Yes, now, have patience child." "When I've finished with... this machine I'm sure they will release you." "Never mind about that, release these bars!" "No!" "No!" "That's the last thing we do." "This is the thing that gives them the gas to breathe with." "You don't know that for certain!" "My dear child, the Rills can't go outside." "It's a foregone conclusion." "Doctor!" "They..." "I think they... want me to go with them." "Well, I think you... you'd better do what they want, hmm?" "But Doctor, that thing in there - that thing looking out of the window, what..." "Yes, that was one of the Rills, I suppose." "Doctor, I'm so scared." "Now, look, you go with them, quickly, but don't cause any trouble." "It'll give me time to see if I can help you" "I think perhaps I can do something with that machine, but I must have time!" "Hmm?" "Yes?" "All right." "Be quick." "All right, don't worry." "Goodbye!" "Dah!" "Maaga, shall we go?" "Where?" "To patrol." "I see no need." "To see what the other two are doing." "No." "But, Maaga..." "Can you hear me?" "We always go out on patrol at this time." "Yes, but not now." "Soldier Drahvins, you can't understand anything that's different, can you?" "You are made unintelligent, and you remain that way for the rest of your lives." "I told them soldiers were no good for space work." "All they can do is kill." "But they wouldn't listen." "If you are to conquer space, they said you will need soldiers." "So here I am confronted with danger." "I'm the only one able to think!" "Very well." "I am your..." "commanding officer." "I am your controller, am I not?" "Yes, Maaga." "And you obey my orders?" "Yes, Maaga." "Why?" "Because you are our leader." "And?" "You think." "And you don't know what that means." "But because I think, I order that there will be no patrol now." "We have a prisoner." "In order to save him, the other two must help us." "I do not understand why they would want to help a friend." "I know you don't." "We would not." "We would leave him here." "Yes... we would." "But I have heard of creatures like these." "They help one another." "Why, Maaga?" "I don't know." "I have heard, that on occasions they even die for one another." "Die?" "For their friends?" "There are many strange things in the universe." "I do not understand." "I know you don't." "But, despite that, you will obey orders!" "It may be that we shall kill neither the Rills nor these Earth creatures." "Not with our own hands, that is." "It may be better for us to escape in the Rills' spaceship and leave them here." "And then... when we are out in space, we can look back." "We will see a vast white, exploding planet... and know that they have died with it!" "But we will not see them die." "You will not!" "But I, at least, have enough intelligence to imagine it." "The fear... the horror... the shuddering of a planet in its last moments of life!" "And then they die." "But that is for later." "Attention!" "You will rest." "You will guard the prisoner." "You will go out and look for the Earth creatures." "Open the door." "He sleeps." "But you will not!" "He must not move!" "Oh, stop doing that!" "What do you want, anyway?" "What do you want anyway?" "We are sorry to separate you from your friend, but it was necessary." "Who are you?" "Who are you?" "We're, er... we're time travellers." "From the planet Earth." "I see." "You were sent here by the Drahvins?" "Yes." "To do us harm?" "No!" "No, you see... the Drahvins are..." "keeping a friend of ours... prisoner." "So, we had to do as they said." "What was that?" "To capture your spaceship." "Why do they want to capture it?" "We have offered to take them with us." "They didn't tell us that!" "No." "They would not." "They would rather kill." "They hate us." "Well, you did kill one of them." "We kill no one!" "But they..." "Look, who is talking?" "Is it... is it this Chumbley or is it someone else?" "You call the machines Chumblies?" "Yes." "The Chumblies have a speaker in them." "They are transmitting our thoughts." "Your... your thoughts?" "We do not speak like you." "We have no vocal chords." "We communicate in thought." "Who are you?" "We are the Rills." "Why can't I see you?" "It is better that you do not." "Not all the dominant species in the universe look like humans." "Our appearance might shock you as it shocked the Drahvins." "The Drahvins said that you attacked them." "That is short of the truth." "We were investigating outer space when we encountered a strange ship." "Rills do not attack or kill without good reason, so we stopped our ship." "Their ship also stopped." "We hung in space facing each other." "We could have turned and gone away but we were afraid that we would be attacked." "Yes, what happened?" "For four dawns we hung there." "Then we decided to turn." "As we were doing so the Drahvins fired." "Immediately we did the same, and both ships crashed." "When we escaped from our ship we discovered that we could not breathe the atmosphere here, but we had a small supply of our own and set out to help the Drahvins." "The first one we found was badly injured." "We started to help the soldier." "Then Maaga, their leader, appeared." "She started to shoot at us, so we left." "We could have fought back." "Our weapons are superior to theirs." "But, we do not kill!" "The Drahvins do!" "When we looked back, we saw Maaga kill the injured soldier." "But all the Drahvins believe that you did that!" "We know." "That is why they keep attacking us." "Would you really have taken those people off with you?" "Why not?" "What do we gain if they die?" "We will help you rescue your friend." "Something is worrying you?" "Yes, I..." "I wish I could see the whole of you." "It is better that you don't." "Besides, we cannot come out." "In order to live we must have ammoniac gas." "So we live in here in a compartment where it is filtered in." "You mean you can't breathe oxygen at all?" "No." "Our home planet..." "What is it?" "You must let me out quickly, or you'll all be killed!" "Killed?" "By whom?" "By the Doctor he's trying to wreck your machine for making ammoniac gas!" "He's trying to escape!" "Stop!" "Don't shoot." "You can't escape." "Give up and we will not harm you." "Oh, I'd be a fool to believe that, wouldn't I?" "Don't do it, Doctor!" "Doctor!" "Oh!" "Child!" "Oh!" "Oh!" "I was going to be too late." "Are you sure you're all right, child, hmm?" "Yes." "And the Rills won't harm us." "They want to help." "We were told your friend is in danger." "...is that a Rill talking?" "Yes." "Well, answer him." "Oh yes, you were told correctly!" "Doctor, they're not deaf!" "Oh, I..." "I... oh, I'm sorry." "I beg your pardon." "I..." "I thought you couldn't hear." "We are not deaf, you know." "Perhaps you will both come inside." "Ah, yes." "It does occurs to me that if we do that we, er, might be trapped, hmm?" "Doctor, if the Rills wanted to harm us, the Chumbley could shoot us now." "Ah, yes." "Indeed." "Of course, child." "Yes, that's quite true, quite true." "Yes." "Well, lead the way!" "Ah... er, lead the way." "As it happens, I'd like to take a look round." "Er, what's this?" "What's this fellow doing, hmm?" "Going to repair the damage you have done." "Ah, yes." "Quite so." "Tell me, what do these Rills look like, hmm?" "They won't show themselves, Doctor." "Oh?" "Why ever not?" "Because our appearance would not be pleasant to you." "Oh, what nonsense!" "We're not children, you know?" "It is best you do not see us." "Oh, very well." "Carry on, carry on." "Oh, what utter rubbish, isn't it?" "Oh, yes." "This... uh, this drill rigging here." "Eh, tell me, what is it you're drilling for, hmm?" "Power." "We must have power for launching our spaceship." "The suns are too weak to supply this power, therefore by drilling we may find some in the ground." "Very well, if you take my advice, you'll get a move on." "There's very little time left." "You know about the explosion of this planet?" "Oh, yes!" "We know more than you." "Your timing is wrong." "The disintegration of this planet is not fourteen dawns away." "It is now less than two dawns." "Two dawns!" "Two dawns." "Then we have no chance of survival!" "But you've repaired your ship." "Yes, but the only power we find is a gas, and that is of no use to us." "We have no means of converting it into the sun-ray power we need." "think I might be able to supply you with the power you need." "Yes, I think I'll help you, since you're so willing to help us." "We would be deeply grateful." "You keep saying we." "How many of you are there?" "Four." "That doesn't seem many for manning a spaceship." "We were twelve." "Eight of us died in the crash." "First I will need some metal-cored cable." "We have some." "Splendid." "Splendid." "I think I can put into effect the transference of power from my ship to this." "Now, first of all, I must..." "I must have a conversion." "Now is that possible?" "We shall do all that you say, you are our only..." "Ah." "What's that?" "What's the matter, hmm?" "We have just received a message from a machine." "A Chumbley?" "It is by the Drahvin spaceship." "It reports that a being, not Drahvin, came out of it." "Steven." "It detected that he was a friend of yours but before contact could be made, he went back in again." "He still thinks the Chumblies are dangerous, you see." "Doctor, let me go and tell him..." "That won't be necessary, my dear." "He's quite capable of looking after himself." "Now, the cable, please, the cable!" "Do you hear me, Earthman?" "Yes, I hear you." "Throw down your gun, and we will set you free." "Very well, but if you try to come through here you may kill one of us, but we will surely kill you." "Yes, outside a Rills' machine waits to kill also." "All right." "Then I'll stay here." "I may be trapped but you can't harm me." "You are in the airlock." "On the wall there are some dials." "They are pressure gauges." "So?" "We can empty the oxygen out of that section, and you will suffocate." "If you touch that, the door will open completely leaving you at the mercy of the machine." "Ready?" "Pressure?" "Normal." "Temperature?" "Normal." "Good." "Empty the airlock!" "Yes, Earthman." "The air is already leaving the airlock." "You have three choices." "Three?" "Stay there and die, go outside and be killed by the machine or surrender!" "Yes, good." "Good." "Yes, I think that's enough." "That should be all right." "Now then, let me have your arm." "That's splendid." "Now, follow me to the ship." "Our thanks." "What does that mean?" "The Chumbley has reported that your friend is still in the ship." "But he is making noises it cannot understand." "It says they sound like..." "cries of distress!" "Doctor!" "I must go at once!" "You cannot help him alone!" "We will send two more Chumbley machines with you." "But what can they do?" "Cut open the ship, if necessary!" "Doctor, come on!" "Go!" "Quickly!" "The Chumbley reports that the sounds are weakening!" "You stay here, child!" "No, I'm coming with you!" "All right!" "Come, then, come!" "Come along!" "And you - stay here until you receive a message!" "Come on!" "Quickly!" "Quickly!" "Quick!" "Halt or I fire!" "Do not move!" "What is wrong?" "Where are you going?" "Back to your spaceship, of course." "The machines are our enemies." "Why do you bring them too?" "We're going to help you and Maaga and the rest to get to the Rill spaceship." "We wish to save lives, not to destroy them." "Maaga does not trust you!" "I do not trust you!" "Listen, we have captured these machines." "They do anything we tell them now." "Watch." "Come forward." "Stop." "Go back." "Stop." "You see?" "Down, madam!" "Oh!" "Listen to me!" "Kill me now!" "I have failed my duty!" "Nonsense!" "Now, let us stop this thought of killing anyone." "Now, madam, back to your spaceship." "Back please." "Go on!" "Hurry!" "Why do you not give up, Earthman?" "I'd rather face the Chumblies than you any day." "That will not work now." "The pressure has locked the door." "You must surrender, or die!"