Doctor Who: The Mark of the Rani by Pip Baker, Jane Baker Page A

Ravensworth selected a thick volume from his bookcase.
    Accepting it, Peri consulted the index then flipped through the pages to the appropriate illustration.
     
    ‘That’s what I need. Valerian. Know it?’
    ‘ Valerians officinalis . Matter of fact, I do. It’s an indigenous plant. Grows wild hereabouts.’
    ‘’Appen I can assist, my lord,’ Luke intervened. ‘Take Miss Peri to collect herbs.’
    ‘Excellent idea. Just be careful where you go.’
    Too true, Peri thought. She didn’t want to bump into any of the aggressors who were roaming the countryside.
    Lord Ravensworth had no qualms. ‘Not to worry, young lady. You’ll be in safe hands with Luke.’
    ‘I were thinking of Redfern Dell, m’lord.’
    ‘Couldn’t have suggested a better place myself.’
    The reptilian embryo’s membrane-covered eyes stared fixedly from a jar.
    ‘You saw the apprentice?’ the Rani asked the Master, who had come post haste from briefing Luke.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘He’ll get Stephenson to Redfern Dell?’
    ‘Not just Stephenson.’ He shuddered with disgust as she topped up the embryo jars with a green, slimy glutinous liquid.
    ‘Don’t be enigmatic. It’s out of character.’
    ‘I’ve made doubly sure. He’s been instructed to get the girl there too.’
    The additional mucus caused the baby dinosaur’s pink underbelly to float uppermost.
    ‘Is it entirely imperative for you to do that now?’
    grumbled the Master.
    ‘Be patient. Stay calm.’
    ‘I’ve waited too long for this moment to be calm. If you knew how often the Doctor’s gone out of his way to sabotage my plans!’
    ‘Only on this occasion he didn’t go out of his way, did he? You contrived to get him here.’ She put the mucus bottle in a cabinet. ‘Force the TARDIS off course, did you?
    Override the guidance system?’
     
    ‘Can we forgo the nostalgia, and concentrate on the present!’
    ‘With pleasure.’ She activated the external door mechanism. On tenterhooks, the Master barged out of the control room first.
    The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness had spread its rich mantle over the woods of Redfern Vale. Squirrels were harvesting hazel nuts and acorns. Ruby-skinned apples and russet pears weighed down the boughs in the lush valley.
    But it could have been a desolate crater on the moon for all the Rani and the Master saw as they quit the old mine and headed for the Dell.
    ‘Are you sure this plan will work?’ he queried.
    ‘I don’t make mistakes.’
    ‘If that were true you’d still be on Gallifrey.’
    ‘Experiments are always subject to the unexpected. They can be capricious.’
    ‘Capricious!’ he said incredulously. ‘Turning mice into monsters!’
    ‘A marginal error. Quickly corrected.’
    ‘The Time Lords didn’t think so.’
    ‘Petty spite on the part of the Lord President. Just because they ate his cat.’
    ‘Took a chunk out of him too, I remember! Pity it wasn’t the Doctor!’
    ‘That will soon be remedied...’ The Rani began the steep climb to the ridge above Redfern Dell.
    The glory that burnished the landscape was not wasted on the Doctor. Whatever Earth’s imperfections – and there were many – he knew of no comparable planet; the inspiration of poets, composers and artists. How could anyone want to desecrate it? He lengthened his stride but kept to the byways. A clash with roving aggressors would put everything into the melting pot.
    A vague, almost indiscernible presentiment gnawed at him.
    ‘ "Will you walk into my parlour? said the spider to the fly",’ he misquoted. ‘No, I think not...’ The Doctor abandoned the path and made a rougher trek through the bracken.
    Like a couple of vultures, the Rani and the Master lurked beneath a spreading oak.
    ‘I’d be happier if I could see them.’ The Master was chafing at the bit. The vantage point the Rani had chosen limited their view of the clearing below.
    ‘A sentiment they’d reciprocate. We stay here. Out of sight!’
    And out of sight