"TerranceDicks-DrWho-DoctorWhoAndTheMonsterOfPeladon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dicks Terence)

Fifty years after his first visit to Peladon, the Doctor returns to find that Queen Thalira has inherited a troubled kingdom from her father.
Membership of the Galactic Federation was expected to bring peace and prosperity to the planet, but the spirit of the sacred monster Aggedor is once more spreading terror and death.
The Doctor uncovers a treacherous plot to steal the mineral wealth of Peladon, and is again confronted by his old enemies - the Ice Warriors.



DOCTOR WHO AND THE MONSTER OF PELADON
Based on the BBC television serial by Brian Hayles by arrangement with the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Novelised by Terrance Dicks.

A Target Book Published in 1980 By the Paperback Division of W. H. Allen & Co. Ltd A Howard & Wyndham Company 44 Hill Street, London W 1X 8LB
Copyright (c) 1980 by Terrance Dicks and Brian Hayles `Doctor Who' series copyright (c) 1980 by the British Broadcasting Corporation
ISBN 0 426 20132 9
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Made and printed in Great Britain by The Anchor Press Ltd, Tiptree, Essex

Contents
01 Return to Peladon
02 Aggedor Strikes Again
03 The Fugitives
04 The Hostage
05 The Wrath of Aggedor
06 The Intruder
07 The Ice Warriors
08 The Madman
09 The Return of Aggedor
10 Trapped in the Refinery
11 The Threat
12 Aggedor's Sacrifice

01 Return to Peladon

On the remote edges of the galaxy was a planet called Peladon. It was a bleak and mountainous place, lashed by howling storms, lit at night by the fierce blaze of three moons. A primitive, barbarous world, inhabited by warriors, hunters, and savage beasts, fierce bear-like creatures with tusks and one mighty horn, who roamed the wooded slopes of the high mountains.
The warriors of Peladon both hunted and worshipped the beast called Aggedor. No young Peladonian was reckoned truly a man until he had slain one in single combat. Because of its strength and valour, Aggedor became the sacred symbol of the Royal House of Peladon. Unfortunately, it also became very nearly extinct.
Time brought other changes. Under a young and progressive king, Peladon joined the Galactic Federation, allying itself with other more civilised planets.
The alliance was not accomplished without difficulty. Hepesh, High Priest of Peladon clung fiercely to the old ways, rebelling against his king and combining with a treacherous Federation delegate called Arcturus to keep Peladon isolated. The plot was foiled by a wandering Time Lord called the Doctor. He arrived on Peladon apparently by chance, was mistaken for a Federation delegate, and later vanished as mysteriously as he had come.
Time passed, and King Peladon was succeeded by his daughter. The Galactic Federation became embroiled in war with Galaxy Five, and suddenly Peladon was a planet of vital strategic importance. The mountains and rocks of Peladon were rich in trisilicate, a mineral vital to the war effort.
Now more intensive mining began, and Federation technicians were brought in to speed up the process.
The war with Galaxy Five dragged Peladon towards a technological future with brutal speed. Clashes between the old ways and the new were inevitable, and once again there were rumblings of mutiny from the more traditionally minded Peladonians. Was this all the benefit of joining the Federation - more toil in the mines, now under alien overseers?
Affairs on Peladon were moving towards a crisis. Then the Doctor reappeared. .
A little party of miners toiled through an immense cavern deep in the heart of Mount Megeshra, sacred mountain of Peladon. They wore rough working-clothes, and their hands and faces were grained deep with trisilicate dust. The cathedral-like cavern was the meeting point of many tunnels and mine galleries, and its strangely twisted stalagmites and stalactites gave a weird subterranean beauty to the scene.
Between them the miners trundled a sonic lance, a device like a small wheeled cannon, newly introduced into the mining operation. Ettis, the squad leader harried them along, a thin, wiry young man, sharp-featured and sharp-voiced.
`Come on, come on, keep it moving. Mustn't keep our lords and masters waiting.' He pointed to a tunnel directly ahead. `Straight down there.'
Suddenly a glowing spot appeared on the cavern wall. With terrifying speed it grew into a blazing corona of light, and in the heart of the fireball appeared a familiar and terrifying form.
The miners staggered back, before the blast of heat, covering their eyes and bowing their heads in fear.
A ray of light sped from the heart of the apparition. It touched one of the miners, his body glowed brightly, and he screamed once and vanished. His fellows turned and fled in terror. Behind them the glowing apparition faded from the cavern wall.
In a tunnel not far away, two relative newcomers to Peladon were engaged in an earnest technical discussion. One was called Vega Nexos, a mole-man from the planet Vega. Most of the inhabitants of Vega lived in tunnels of one kind or another, and the Vegans were famous mining engineers, who sold their skills all over the galaxy. The second was an Earthman called Eckersley, a tall, lean man with a wry, sardonic face. Like Vega Nexos, he was a mining engineer. Both wore light silver cover-alls - the badge of the technician throughout the galaxy.
Eckersley was brandishing a chunk of rock, shot through with gleaming metallic veins. `I agree, the quality's marvellous - but we're not even producing enough to refine yet.'
Vega Nexos gave a snort of discontent. `How can we, when these primitives cling to their picks and shovels? We bring modern equipment here and they refuse to let us use it.'