Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders

10
Return to Earth
When all the excitement surrounding the disappearance of
Lupton and Sarah had died down, Mike Yates found himself
suffering from a powerful feeling of anti-climax. There had been
no news of the Doctor since his mad dash back to the TARDIS,
and Yates couldn’t summon up the courage to call the Brigadier
and ask him for an explanation.
The night after the disappearance there had been one
minor mystery to divert his mind. Unable to sleep, he’d gone
down to the library to get a book, and disturbed some
mysterious visitor.
He’d caught a glimpse of a bulky figure disappearing
through the French windows and thought it might be Tommy.
But it didn’t seem likely. Yates had then chosen a book for
himself and gone to bed.
It wasn’t till the afternoon of the following day that he got
the feeling that things were happening again. Lupton’s old
cronies – Barnes, Moss, Keaver, and Lands – started gathering
for whispered conversations in corners. Yates decided to keep an
eye on them. It would give him something to do.
Meanwhile, in his cubby hole under the stairs, Tommy sat
grappling with a tremendous problem. Something wonderful
and frightening was happening to Tommy. He was starting to
think. The transformation had begun just after Lupton, the
Doctor, and Tommy’s new friend Sarah, had all disappeared.
Tommy had tried to give Sarah the blue crystal for a present
before she vanished. Now she had gone, he was left with it on his
hands – and on his conscience. Tommy knew that it was wrong
of him to have stolen the crystal from Lupton’s room. His