The Lair of Zarbi Supremo ( short story ) The Lair of Zarbi Supremo was a fifteen - page prose story published by World Distributors in September 1965 . It was the first short story to be published in the " Doctor Who Annual 1966 " . The enemy of the story was the Zarbi Supremo . Dr Who finds himself back on Vortis and must rescue groups of humans and Menoptera from an intelligent Zarbi power . Summary . The Doctor returns to Vortis . He hears a voice calling through his radio to warn Earth about the Zarbi Supremo . Using the directional aerial on his radio , the Doctor locates the source of the transmission . It is a metal sphere half buried between two Zarbi anthills . Once inside , he finds it is a spaceship , the " Solar Queen " . A tape recorder is producing the radio warning . Investigating further , he finds a boy , Gordon Hamilton , and his unconscious father . Gordon tells the Doctor that the other six crew members went to explore nearby spaceships that were also on the planet ' s surface , ships that they believe the inhabitants of Vortis are planning to use for an invasion of Earth . The Doctor , confused because of Vortis ' distance from the Earth , isn ' t sure of the boy ' s story , but Gordon tells the Doctor how his father , before falling unconscious , eavesdropped on the Zarbi ' s telepathic communications . Gordon ' s father understood that the Zarbi were after the Earth ' s water and vegetation and that the invasion was being planned by the Zarbi Supremo . The Doctor and Gordon search for the ship ' s missing crew members . Outside the Doctor and Gordon come across motionless Zarbi . At first thinking they may be dead , the Doctor finds that these Zarbi are made of metal and seem to be robots . Opening the robot Zarbi , the Doctor finds a dead Menoptera , one of the peaceful , butterfly - like inhabitants of Vortis . Removing the Menoptera bodies from two of the robot Zarbi , the Doctor and Gordon crawl inside . The Doctor determines how to control them . Using his radio , he sends a powerful signal to find the missing crewmembers . Instead of raising the crew , the signal stops the Zarbi in their tracks . When the Zarbi began moving again , the Doctor tells Gordon that the radio almost gave them away . Gordon realises that the other crew members ' radios likely caused their capture . The Zarbi , now all moving in one direction , sweep the Doctor and Gordon along into a large , squat anthill containing great machines and engines manned by Zarbi workers . The Doctor and Gordon arrive at a great , underground amphitheatre . At its centre is the Zarbi Supremo , three times the size of an average specimen . Standing before the Zarbi Supremo are the six missing crew members from the " Solar Queen " and a party of Menoptera , all with collars around their necks holding them motionless . Slowly , the Doctor guides the two robot Zarbi through the crowd to the front of the throng . The lead Menoptera tells the Zarbi Supremo they will not help in his invasion plans of Earth . They will go to war against the Zarbi to stop them . After the Zarbi Supremo kills the lead Menoptera , the Doctor and Gordon use their robot Zarbis ' mandibles to remove the collars from the crew members ' necks . The Doctor calls on the crew members to shoot the Zarbi Supremo . While most of the bullet s miss or bounce harmlessly off , enough find their way through to kill the Zarbi Supremo . Once the Zarbi Supremo dies , the rest of the Zarbi wander around the chamber , paying no attention to the humans and Menoptera . Once freed from their collars , the Menoptera tell the Doctor that over the years , the Zarbi evolved an intelligent leader who dreamt of conquest . The Menoptera built their first weapons to fight them and had many robot Zarbi throughout the amphitheatre . The Doctor and crew of the " Solar Queen " return to check on Gordon ' s father . Although still unconscious , he is doing better . One of the crew verifies Gordon ' s story that Vortis is near Jupiter ' s moons . One of the Menoptera explains that great engines was built by the Zarbi to guide their world in search of a green , wet world like Earth . The Menoptera fly the Doctor back to the TARDIS and say goodbye , telling him of their legends about him and his ship . References . " to be added "