There was a door at the end of the corridor leading to a fire escape. Karl pushed down the metal bar that was supposed to open it. Nothing happened.

‘It can’t be locked!’ Jess said, a note of fear in her voice. ‘You’re not allowed to lock fire exits! It’s the law!’ She rattled the metal bar as Sid came forward to have a go. His arm muscles stood out as he pushed, but the door just would not open.

The Doctor had started to follow the Sontarans. He returned to the athletes when he heard the panic at the door. He pulled a slim metal tube from his pocket as he joined them.

‘Sonic screwdriver,’ he told the frantic five. ‘Don’t worry, this will get you out.’

He twisted the end of the sonic and the tip began to glow blue. He waved it across the fire door.

Nothing happened.

‘Right,’ said the Doctor. ‘Everyone back downstairs.’

They hurried back the way they’d come, then Karl led the way to the building’s main door. It wouldn’t open, even with the sonic screwdriver.

‘We’ve got to get out!’ yelled Jess. The others tried to ‘shhh’ her, but she was too upset. She ran into the common room and picked up a chair.

‘No!’ cried Emma, realising what Jess planned to do. ‘The Sontarans will hear the crash!’

It was too late. Jess raised the chair above her head and threw it as hard as she could at a window.

Everyone held their breath.

The chair bounced off the window.

The Doctor sighed. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘It looks like the Sontarans have sealed the building.’

‘You mean . . .?’ Holly began.

Emma finished the sentence for her. ‘We’re trapped,’ she said.

Chapter Four

EVERYONE WAS QUIET for a few moments as this sank in. Then the Doctor gave a yelp. ‘No, we’re not trapped!’ He led the way out of the common room. ‘Now, I don’t normally do this, and you’ve all got to promise not to touch anything. We’re going to my ship.’

‘Your ship?’ Emma said. ‘You mean, your spaceship?’

‘Spaceship, time ship, whatever you want to call it.’ A sad look crossed his face. ‘I met some good people not long ago, and the Sontarans killed them. I don’t want that to happen again, not if I can help it. I’m getting you out of here.’

They were halfway to the TARDIS when everything went dark.

Holly gasped. ‘The power’s gone off again!’

There was silence. The Doctor guessed that all the students were thinking the same thing. After a few moments, Sid put the thought into words. ‘Every time there’s been a power cut, someone’s died.’

‘Not every time,’ said Emma. ‘No one died earlier tonight when the power went off, did they?’

‘Perhaps we just haven’t found the body yet,’ said Jess, her voice sounding scared. ‘Perhaps it’s floating in the swimming pool like Laura, or shoved under the stairs like Andy. Perhaps we’ll go round the corner and trip over it!’

Holly stumbled and gave a shriek. ‘The body!’ she cried. ‘It’s the body!’

The Doctor whipped his torch from his pocket and turned it on. The light showed what Holly had fallen over. It wasn’t a body. It was a pair of chunky rubber boots.

‘I fell over these earlier!’ the Doctor told them. ‘That means we’re right by the TARDIS!’

He waved the torch beam around, looking for his ship.

It lit up the helmeted head of a Sontaran, standing right in front of them. There was a large black gun in its hand that was pointing straight at the Doctor.

Then the Sontaran flung up its other hand to

cover the eye slots in its helmet.

The Doctor yelled in delight. ‘It’s dazzled!’ he cried. ‘As long as I shine the torch in its eyes, it can’t see us!’

He jumped to one side as the alien fired a shot towards the voice. He didn’t let the torch beam waver, though.

The Doctor thrust a hand in his pocket and pulled out the TARDIS key. He threw it back over his shoulder, yelling ‘Catch!’

‘Got it!’ Jess called back.

‘Good girl! Now, there’s a big blue box just over there. You won’t be able to see that it’s blue in the dark, but trust me. Let everyone in and wait for me.’

A laser beam from the Sontaran’s gun briefly lit up the TARDIS. ‘There you go!’ cried the Doctor as he hopped out of the way again.

He could hear the footsteps as Jess hurried forward. ‘Where’s the keyhole?’ she called. ‘Oh wait, here it—’

There was a huge flash. Pale green light flared around the TARDIS. Holly and Emma screamed, Sid and Karl yelled, but there was no sound from Jess.

They all blinked as the lights came back on. Then they saw Jess. She was lying on the floor by the TARDIS. A melted, twisted scrap of metal in her hand was all that remained of the key. Her eyes were open, but saw nothing. She was dead.

Chapter Five

THERE WAS NO time to mourn Jess.

With the lights back on, the Sontaran was able to see again. Its gun was steady now, pointing straight at the Doctor.

‘You will come with me!’ the alien said, its voice deep and harsh.

‘Ah,’ said the Doctor. ‘The thing is, you see, I don’t really want to do that.’

‘Then you will die.’ The monster’s massive, three-fingered hands gripped the weapon tighter.

‘Ah!’ said the Doctor again. ‘I don’t really want to do that either!’

He was staring straight at the Sontaran. He hoped that if he kept eye contact, the alien would forget about the students behind it. They were all frozen to the spot, none of them daring to move.

‘And you might not want me to do that, if you knew who I was,’ he continued. ‘I’m not one of the sports students.’

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the toolbox, still lying by the TARDIS. ‘Not saying

I don’t like sports, of course. Darts, now. Quite keen on darts. Just like little javelins, they are.’

He saw javelin-thrower Sid’s head jerk up at that.

‘Except that instead of trying to throw them a long way,’ he went on, ‘you’re trying to hit a small target.’

‘Stop your chatter!’ shouted the Sontaran, still aiming the gun at the Doctor. ‘If you do not belong to this place, you will tell me why you are here!’

‘Well, I’ve come to fix things,’ said the Doctor. ‘Come to fix problems using my trusty toolbox. Everyone should have a toolbox. Full of handy tools. Chisels, screwdrivers – just like little darts . . .’

The Sontaran kept staring at the Doctor. Its gun was still pointing towards him. But then, very slowly, it toppled forward like a felled tree. A screwdriver was sticking out of the back of its neck.

‘Ha ha!’ The Doctor punched the air, and ran forward to shake Sid’s hand. ‘Well done you! You shouldn’t be an athlete, you should be a spy, you’re that good at working out coded messages!’

Sid looked a bit bashful. ‘I should have thought of it myself,’ he said. ‘You’d told us before about the Sontaran’s weak spot, and the toolbox was just sitting there . . .’

‘Is it dead?’ asked Holly, looking down at the prone alien.

The Doctor shook his head. ‘Just knocked out,’ he said. ‘So we’d better make tracks before it comes round.’

All five of them turned to the TARDIS.

‘Jess is dead, though,’ said Emma. She was staring at the girl who still lay in front of the ship’s doors.

‘Massive electric shock, just like the others,’ said the Doctor, kneeling down beside the body. He looked at the melted key in Jess’s hand and pulled a face.

‘Can we get into your ship without the key?’ asked Karl.

The Doctor wrinkled his nose. ‘I can sort that. I’m more worried that the TARDIS is still packing a charge, though.’

‘Surely Jess would have earthed it,’ Karl said.

The Doctor was already pulling on the heavy rubber boots. He added a pair of thick insulated gloves that were poking out of the toolbox. ‘Proper electrician’s gear,’ he commented. ‘Better safe than sorry.’