Hunt to the Death (short story)

Hunt to the Death was a short story published in Doctor Who Annual 1973. It featured the Third Doctor and Jo Grant.

Summary
Something materialises among a flock of sheep on the Yorkshire moors. It takes the shape of a giant mantis with a dozen legs and takes some time to recover from its journey through time. It hears a faint whining noise and sinks into the hillside in alarm. The whine increases and four squat humanoids materialise in the same spot. They wear silver-grey uniforms and have glistening helmets. Armed with bulbous ray-guns, they fan out to search. They detect the place where the Kelad stood and vanish. Jo and the Doctor are driving across the moors in his yellow car when their headlights pick out a distressed man in climbing gear. He asks for help in the form of a pothole rescue party. He is Bill Harkin from Manchester and one of his three companions has broken his leg in Tumbling Pot. They drive to a phone box and call the police then head to the mouth of the pothole.

They accompany Harkin down the rope ladder into the cave and down a steep tunnel. On the way they meet one of the squat aliens whom the Doctor greets as Fhibo. It transpires that the Doctor went to Llios in his TARDIS and freed the people from the Kelads, robots with warped minds. Fhibo explains that his people are hunting down every Kelad until they are wiped out.

Their conversation is interrupted by a scream from below. Harkin strides off to investigate and Fhibo vanishes. The Doctor and Jo follow Harkin, eventually crawling through narrow tunnels. Jo's clothes are torn and wet but she insists on going on. Another scream leads them to a large cave here the giant Kelad has three humans pinned in the corner. The Doctor instructs everyone to whistle to confuse the robot's radar while they help the injured man onto a ledge. As it begins to attack again Fhibo and his men arrive and shoot the Kelad which crumples to the floor.

On the surface Bill Harkin is waiting for the approaching rescue party, telling Jo he intends to go back down to dismantle the robot, but the Doctor tells him that Fhibo will have taken it as a trophy.

Characters

 * Third Doctor
 * Jo Grant
 * Bill Harkin
 * Fhibo
 * Kelad

Continuity
to be added