First Doctor, 1965, story 27, Galaxy 4.
FOUR HUNDRED DAWNS (1)
The First Doctor, Vicki and Steven Taylor arrive on an eerily silent planet. The Doctor evaluates the planet and discovers that it can sustain life but seems to have nothing living on it. This piques the curiosity of the Doctor, who is keen to investigate this anomaly. Steven is more interested in finding somewhere to swim. Just before they exit the TARDIS the crew discover a small robot feeling its way around the ship before communicating with something else with a glowing antenna. Vicki christens the machines Chumblies.
Once the Chumbley has left the TARDIS the Doctor and his companions go out and explore the planet. It has three suns and vegetation but, as yet, no sign of animals. Before they can get far, the Chumbley returns. It indicates to the Doctor and his friends that it wants them to follow it. Steven is wary. He tries to attack it. In a show of force, the machine produces a gun from its shell and sets fire to a plant. The Doctor and his companions are led away.
They have not gotten far when a group of women lying in wait for the Chumbley throw a metal mesh on the machine and deactivate it. The women introduce themselves as Drahvins, from the planet Drahva in Galaxy Four. They say that the robots are controlled by a race called the Rill, who are not to be trusted. The Drahvins say that they will take the travellers back to their ship for safety and introduce them to their leader, Maaga. However when they try to remove the mesh they find it is attached magnetically to the Chumbley. Before they can make their escape three more Chumblies appear and force the travellers and the Drahvins to flee. The new Chumblies remove the metal mesh from the prone Chumbley, which reactivates itself, and they head off in pursuit of the Doctor.
The Doctor, his companions and the Drahvins make it to the Drahvin spaceship. There they are reprimanded by Maaga for the loss of the metal mesh. After Maaga has dismissed the Drahvins, she addresses the Doctor and his companions. She explains that the Drahvins are a powerful race of women warriors who use men only for hunting. They were exploring in this part of the galaxy when their ship was shot down by the Rill. They are desperate to get off the planet because the Rill have informed them that the planet will explode in fourteen days. Their plan is to capture the Rill ship and escape.
Steven is suspicious of the Drahvin. It seems to be they who are in the wrong rather than the Rill. His position is strengthened when Maaga reveals that the Rill have offered help but the Drahvin have refused for fear of being killed.
This story is interrupted when Chumblies approach the ship. The Drahvin attack them and the Chumblies deactivate briefly, but then go on their way. Playing on the suspicions that Steven has roused in the Drahvin, the Doctor says that he is a scientist. He will learn if the planet is to explode in a fortnight and see if the Rill have been misleading the Drahvin. The Drahvin agree to this but demand one of the TARDIS crew stays with them. They insist that this is not a matter of hostages, but to have fewer unaccompanied people wandering the planet. Vicki volunteers to stay and the Doctor reluctantly assents.
When the Doctor and Steven arrive at the TARDIS they find a Chumbley trying to break the TARDIS' force barrier. Steven and the Doctor hide until the Chumbley leaves. Back at the Drahvin ship, Maaga humiliates the other Drahvins for losing the metal mesh, blaming them for ruining the whole mission.
After trying to break into the TARDIS the Chumbley gives up. The Doctor and Steven enter the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor consults his astral map and finds the planet doesn't have a fortnight until its destruction. It has only two days!
TRAP OF STEEL (2)
The Doctor and Steven decide they must leave immediately, save Vicki and warn the Drahvins. However, the Chumblies return, this time with heavy explosives. It does no damage to the TARDIS. After they leave, the Doctor and Steven race back to the Drahvin ship. In the Drahvin ship Vicki is fed up with the food and is worried about her friends. Maaga refuses to let her leave.
When Steven and the Doctor get back to the Drahvin ship, Steven points out it is made of a metal that the Chumblies' ray can penetrate. The Doctor ponders why the Chumblies have not destroyed their "enemies". Inside the ship the Doctor hides the truth from the Drahvin and again tries to convince them to befriend the Rills and work together. Maaga rejects this again. She grows suspicious of the Doctor and pulls a gun on him. Under this threat the Doctor admits they have only two days. He offers to bargain with the Rill for a peace treaty. The Drahvin agree but retain Vicki as an insurance policy. Steven offers himself as a hostage. Vicki and the Doctor leave for the Rill ship.
