Caught in the Web (short story)

Caught in the Web was a short story published in Doctor Who Annual 1971. It featured the Third Doctor, Liz Shaw and the Brigadier.

Summary
UNIT are guarding Dr Rossi while he examines dust from the latest planetary probe. To ensure maximum security he is being hidden in the desert near Tripoli. In the laboratory, the Italian doctor demonstrates his discovery by shining an ultra-violet lamp on some dust. The dust shimmers and swirls, transfixing both men until the Brigadier switches off the lamp in alarm. They realise that what they have found could be of enormous benefit, or enormous threat, to mankind. The Brigadier asks Rossi not to continue with his investigation until the Doctor is brought from London to aid him. He glances at the television screen monitoring the slopes of Black Peak outside the laboratory. After he looks away he misses the sight of two camouflaged men murdering the UNIT guards outside.

When the Doctor's plane arrives at the landing strip beneath Black Peak the sun is setting. The Doctor and a UNIT captain stride up to the slopes of the peak and discover the corpses of the guards. Inside, the Brigadier tells them that Dr Rossi has been kidnapped and the space dust stolen. After he has described the reaction of the dust to ultra=violet light the Doctor looks concerned. He says that he knows the planet of its origin and its inhabitants. He says that he has a vibro bank in his London laboratory that will help him detect the missing sample.

Back in London, Liz Shaw breaks off from her attempts to find a way for UNIT to fight off the threat of the Autons. She is peeved that the Doctor left her without warning but watches in interest as he shines ultra-violet light on the sample of dust that the Brigadier has managed to borrow. The Doctor tells them that the sample is from the planet Sequiz and is quite dangerous.

Soon after, the Doctor, Brigadier and captain are making their way through Arctic snow towards a building where the Doctor has located the stolen dust. The Doctor strides up to the guards outside the building. They shoot him and he falls. The Brigadier tells the captain not to worry as the Doctor cannot be hurt before he and the captain shoot the guards as the Doctor regains his feet. They enter the laboratory just as Dr Rossi is repeating his experiment. They warn him to stop but he carries on regardless. The dust swirls, there is an eerie sound and the dust becomes a malevolent alien form. Rossi collapses and the Doctor wrestles with the alien. There is a flash and the alien is gone. The Doctor tells them that the Sequiz threat is over but he says that he doesn't know what the alien actually was.

Characters

 * Third Doctor
 * Liz Shaw
 * Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
 * Dr. Rossi

Continuity
to be added