Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders

3
The Coming of the Spider
For a moment, the Spider crouched motionless on the mandala.
Lupton and his circle were paralysed with terror. One man
leaped to his feet and ran for the steps. A strand of almost
invisible white light snaked out from the Spider’s body. As it
touched the fleeing man, he convulsed and dropped to the floor.
The Spider seemed to swing to and fro, as if scanning the
circle of men. No one dared to move. Lupton sat frozen with the
others, struggling to regain control of his will. The forbidden
books that he had stolen from Cho-Je’s library had warned that
misuse of the Rituals of Power could summon up demons. In his
eagerness for wealth and success, he had ignored the warnings.
Now it seemed that he was to pay the price of his rashness. He
searched his mind desperately for one of the Incantations of
Banishment. Finally, he assembled the words in his mind.
Moistening his lips he managed to croak out an incantation that
should have sent the creature back from whence it came. It had
absolutely no effect. Instead, Lupton felt an icy tendril of
thought reaching out to touch his mind. Then the Spider spoke
to him. Not out loud, of course, but inside his head. Her voice –
somehow Lupton knew that the creature was female – was clear,
sweet and icily evil...
‘Lupton! I have come to give you the power you seek. Why
do you try to send me away? Turn around.’
Wincing from the alien intruder in his mind, Lupton didn’t
move. The Spider spoke again, her voice sharp and
commanding. ‘Turn around, I say.’
Slowly Lupton turned his back. To their horror, those in the
circle saw the Spider quiver for a moment and then spring at