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laboratory test, and come up with precisely nothing. Winser slammed
his fist down on the bench. 'Dammit, it must show some response to
something.'
The Doctor shook his head. 'It's programmed not to. It's
deliberately resisting analysis.'
Winser regarded him bitterly. 'Well go on say, "I told you
so".'
'I told you so,' repeated the Doctor obligingly. 'Now perhaps
you'll listen. Particle acceleration is the only answer. Break it down
and force it to analyse itself! '
'No. I won't risk my equipment.'
'Then will you risk mine?'
'I thought you said this... TARDIS wasn't working.'
'Ah well there is a certain malfunction in the drive system,
but the rest is all right. If we could link through to the reactor and
bypass the malfunction...'
Winser began to look more hopeful. 'If your equipment is
compatible with my Particle Accelerator... it might work...'
And so might the TARDIS, thought the Doctor, though he
didn't say so aloud. 'Well, it's worth a try, isn't it? After all, what else
is there left to use? Now if you can convince the powers that be to
bring my TARDIS down here... It's not far away, at UNIT H.Q.'
'Just you leave it to me.' Winser marched towards the iron
staircase with the air of a man determined to stand no nonsense.
The Doctor smiled, and looked at the casket of Axonite. 'And
now for you, my friend,' he murmured quietly. The Doctor was sure
Chinn wouldn't agree immediately which meant Winser would be
tied up for quite some time.
Carefully picking up the golden casket, the Doctor moved
towards the Particle Accelerator.
He put the Axonite down on the console, and began adjusting
control-settings. He had just pulled back the transparent door when
he heard the lab door open. Presumably Winser had returned
unexpectedly... But when he looked up he saw that it wasn't Winser.
It was Filer. 'Filer, my dear chap. Did you escape?' There was no
reply. The Doctor looked again. The newcomer certainly looked like
Filer, exactly like him. But he held himself with a certain stiffness,
and the face was completely expressionless. The Doctor had
encountered human replication before, during his battle with the
Autons. So despite the amazing resemblance, he wasn't deceived by
the creature that stalked towards him. This Filer was a fake.
The Doctor was even more sure when the replica spoke. The
flatness of the voice was another give-away. 'Come with me, Doctor.
You must come to Axos.'
'Nonsense,' said the Doctor briskly. 'I've no intention of
coming with you anywhere. You're not Filer.'
'Come to Axos.' The replica seized the Doctor's arm in an iron
grip, repeating the phrase like a broken record. 'You must come to
Axos.'
The Doctor felt himself being dragged towards the laboratory
door. Only his knowledge of Venusian Aikido enabled him to break
free. He gripped the replica's arm, twisted, threw... The fake Filer
reeled across the laboratory and slammed into a bench, sending
retorts and test tubes crashing to the floor.
A human being would have been stunned by such a fall. But
the Axon stumbled to its feet and headed back towards the Doctor.
'You will come to Axos.' Its arm flashed out with amazing speed,
clubbing the Doctor to the ground. The Axon began dragging him to
the door.
Suddenly another, identical figure appeared in the doorway
the real Filer. The replica dropped the Doctor, and moved in to the
attack.
Confronted by his double, Bill Filer reacted with swift
efficiency. He sprang forward and delivered two swift chopping
blows which should have knocked the creature out. It ignored the
blows, moving forward remorselessly. Bill Filer backed away
drawing his Colt Cobra. 'Doc, keep down,' he yelled, and pulled the
trigger again and again.
The crash of the heavy revolver filled the laboratory. The
impact of the bullets sent the replica staggering back but that was
all. Recovering its balance it stalked forward once more...
Abandoning his gun, Filer closed with it. They fought fiercely,
exchanging savage blows. Like the Doctor before him, Filer found
himself no match for the Axon's inhuman strength. He managed to
trip it and send it staggering... Filer grabbed a lab stool to smash
down on the Axon and the Doctor staggered dazedly to his feet and
grabbed him. Desperately the real Filer yelled, 'No, Doc, no... it's me!
'
The Doctor realised he was wrestling with the real flesh and
blood. Releasing Filer he swung round. They were just in front of the
Particle Accelerator and the Axon replica, on its feet once more,
was rushing towards them. They jumped aside, Filer thrust out a
foot and the Axon shot straight through the open door of the
Particle Accelerator. Quickly the Doctor slammed the door shut
behind it, leaped to the power-lever and yanked it up to maximum.
Through the transparent door Filer looked on in horror at what
seemed like his own destruction. The Axon replica disintegrated in
the fierce blast of energy, turning first to a seething blob of Axonite,
and then to a fine powdery dust. Shuddering, Filer turned away. 'I'm
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