by Brian Hayles
There was a mystery afoot, involving the strange, warrior-like alien, the girl – and the scruffy-looking stranger he’d met in the medicare laboratory. Very odd, that one – what was he doing at the Base? How was it that he knew so much about Clent, and the problems that idiot brought on himself? Why had he asked him to come back to the Base? The man had a sense of humour, too… and that was unusual in itself. What was his link with the girl – and the creature from the ice?
He was certain that the ungainly monster he’d seen had something to do with Arden’s excavations at the glacier face; and there had only been one way to satisfy his questioning mind: go and investigate.
Penley lurched forward through the drifting snow, moving diagonally across the slope that would bring him close to the excavation site. But at the top of the wind-skimmed ridge, he paused and crouched, his eyes squinting into the wind, hardly able to believe what he saw.
The usually smooth curve of the glacier, instead of gleaming dully in the fading moonlight, glinted and sparkled like a frozen waterfall. In front of the shattered crystalline wall, ankle deep in ice fragments, towered the alien creature. Its arm was pointed at the ice face and, even at this distance the whine of some unseen device could be heard, faint but jarring to the ear. And as Penley watched, great frozen gouts of ice spurted and crumpled away, as though struck by a gigantic, invisible hammer! The creature was carving its way into the heart of the glacier!
Penley shaded his eyes and peered harder into the stinging spume of snow. Now he could make out the girl – apparently helping, though without much enthusiasm. But it was what stood beyond, gaunt and gleaming in the thin light of the dying moon, that caught Penley’s eye and held it in unbelieving amazement. Like prehistoric stone monoliths, carved and dragged from the face of the glacier, towered four immense blocks of ice.
At last the searing whine of the sonic weapon ceased. With a series of great heaves, Varga tore the last remaining block of ice free of the glacier, and dragged it across to the others. The five gleaming crags loomed menacingly against the night sky; Victoria seemed to flinch from their cold power. Varga strode proudly up to them, and struck the fractured ice with his great fist.
‘It is done,’ he hissed, elated. ‘They are free!’
He wheeled to face Victoria, and snapped out his orders. ‘Bring the power packs to me!’
She could do nothing but obey. Snatching them from her, he deftly placed the electrodes at key points on the first two blocks of ice. They began to hum ominously. Varga faced his comrades boldly, and barked a command at their lifeless forms.
‘Awake from the dead!’
5
The Omega Factor
DAWN AT LAST. Outside the Base airlock, the equipment that Arden and Jamie would need for their investigation was already packed aboard the sleek form of the airsled. It included all the usual snowtrek survival gear: drilling tools, power packs and self-heating food dispensers. But most important of all was the directional radiation detector, which would locate and identify any potentially dangerous fissionable energy source in the glacier. Both Jamie and Arden were eager to set off, but Clent had insisted on the standard formality of departure briefing. Jamie stamped his feet impatiently as he spoke to the Doctor.
‘Does he always have to do everything by the rule-book? Why doesn’t he just wish us luck and let us get on with it!’
The Doctor shrugged. Clent was too complex a person to explain easily to someone as young and direct as Jamie.
‘Forget about Clent, lad, and concentrate on being careful…’ Then he added thoughtfully, ‘Keep an eye on Arden, too. I don’t think he quite realises how dangerous that creature is.’
Jamie knew that well enough, and wasn’t afraid to admit it. ‘After what happened in the laboratory, he must be blind then!’
‘He is a scientist, after all,’ murmured the Doctor, his eyes glinting mischievously. ‘You know what they’re like.’ Jamie caught his glance, and chuckled, remembering what he’d had to put up with from the Doctor in the past.
‘Aye! I know that all right!’
The briefing over, Arden was eager to leave. His enthusiasm bubbled over as Clent followed him through the airlock door.
‘I hope we’ll at least get a chance of taking a film of the warrior!’ he blurted out boyishly. ‘Mind you – we’ll have to tread carefully. We don’t know how many more of them will turn up.’
‘I don’t want you exposing yourself to unnecessary risks, Arden – remember that!’ replied Clent crisply.
Arden paused and faced Clent, his face sober. ‘Listen, Clent, we both know that I’m responsible for what’s happened – as well as Davis’s death. I’m not likely to be that stupid again, believe me!’
Clent didn’t reply immediately. They both knew that if a dangerous power source was discovered in the glacier, Arden’s archaeological adventure would in fact have saved Clent and the Base from complete annihilation. If the warrior had been left in the ice, no one would have been wise to the possible danger.
‘Just get that information back to Base,’ insisted Clent. ‘And no desperate attempts to rescue the girl. She’s the least of our worries.’
‘Well I’m no leaving Victoria to that creature up there if there’s half a chance of saving her!’ snapped Jamie, who had heard the last remark.
‘You will take your orders from Scientist Arden!’ replied Clent, and disappeared through the door before Arden and Jamie had stepped into the airlock – and from there into the Arctic world outside. Once the temperature-sealed door had closed, even the Doctor couldn’t hear the whine of the airsled as it skimmed across the snow towards the glacier. He turned and followed Clent back to the main building.
Clent was waiting for him in the corridor.
‘Come along, Doctor,’ he said genially. ‘Time for you to show us what you can do.’
The Doctor forced a smile. He would much rather be with Jamie on the way to the ice face – but for now at least, his immediate purpose lay in unravelling the mystery of the Ioniser malfunction. It had to be prevented from happening again. ‘By the way,’ he asked, ‘what was Penley working on when he left?’
The Doctor noted the effect of his question with interest. Clent glowered and looked the Doctor in the face. ‘That information is top secret.’ Turning on his heel, he brusquely led the way inside.
Storr thumped the table top angrily. ‘A creature carved out of the ice! It’s you that’s been in a coma!’
‘I’m telling you – it was real, and terrifying. And I’m not one for fairy stories – any more than you are. If I’d only seen it at the glacier, I’d agree with you. But it was inside the Base as well.’
Storr stared at him. ‘Leave me out of your fun and games, then!’ he growled. ‘I’ve got enough to cope with.’
‘You’re certainly back to your old cheerful self,’ said Penley – and then stopped. ‘What’s the matter?’
Storr moved swiftly towards Penley, and whispered into his ear. ‘Someone’s outside. Not an animal – human. Trying to get in!’
‘They must’ve tracked me back here from the Base. Quick – hide yourself. We don’t want you carted off to Africa yet.’
In a second, Storr had hidden himself, and Penley was to all intents and purposes alone. Satisfied, he moved to boldly confront the intruder – and stepped back in surprise at the sight of Jan Garrett when he drew back the interior screen.
Penley’s eyes glanced quickly behind Jan. She shook her head.
‘It’s all right – I’m alone.’
‘Well, now you’ve followed me here, what do you want?’ She had moved farther inside; the screen fell back across the doorway.
‘Elric…’ It was months now since anyone had called him by his first name. Jan had been his equal then; a genuine friend who showed some understanding of and sympathy for his clash with Clent – but not, he remembered bitterly, a fellow protester. Miss Garrett was too ambitious for that.
‘You haven’t f
orgotten my face then, Miss Garrett,’ he said politely. He glanced at her lapel. ‘No orders of merit yet? Not even for trying to cope with that stupid machine.’
‘You’re the only one who ever understood it,’ she answered bluntly. ‘We’re in desperate trouble – help us!’
‘Us? Does that include Clent?’
‘He doesn’t know I’m here.’
‘I was going to say – he’s the last person to need me! All he needs is a mirror – preferably rose-tinted and of the magnifying sort.’
‘He’s ready to admit… that you have the knowledge he requires. He needs you – it’s the only way he can be sure that the Ioniser will be permanently stabilised.’
‘I’m surprised it hasn’t already run wild, to tell the truth. Especially when I heard the evacuation broadcast. Some fluke saved him, I suppose?’
‘A stranger came. He’s eccentric – and infuriatingly like you. He doesn’t think much of computers,’ she added.
Penley smiled as he remembered the clownish intruder he’d met over Clent’s unconscious body. ‘Good for him!’
‘But he doesn’t know it all!’ protested Jan. ‘Only you know all the imperfections of Ioniser theory – even this stranger says it needs an expert!’
‘And what does Clent say?’
‘You know how proud he is. But his back’s to the wall. Sooner or later he’s going to have to make his report to the World Authority…’
‘So sooner than have to admit failure, he’d like me back so he can produce a scapegoat! No thanks – let him face the music himself!’
‘It was never easy. It’s ten times worse now. Arden’s made a fantastic discovery in the glacier.’ She took a deep breath and stared at Penley. ‘Aliens.’
To her surprise, Penley didn’t even smile. He leant forward, his eyes keenly interested. ‘Of course!’ he exclaimed. ‘It must be alien! That thing could never be an Earth hybrid or a throw-back!’ He saw her look of surprise, and explained, ‘I’ve seen it, you understand, at close range – working at the ice face, blasting great chunks free!’
There was a small silence before Jan spoke again; this time her voice sounded strained. ‘We think there may be an alien spaceship buried inside the ice,’ continued Jan, ‘and if it contains a nuclear power source…’
She didn’t need to say any more. But Penley’s brutal answer shook her.
‘Then Clent’s got no option, has he? He daren’t use the Ioniser any more. He’ll have to evacuate!’
Jan’s anger flared. ‘You know what’s at stake! Five thousand years of civilisation! Clent won’t give that up – none of us will! Even you can’t deny what we’re here for!’ She paused, trying to control her anger. ‘Doesn’t our civilisation mean anything to you?’
‘I know what it means to Clent!’ replied Penley sharply. ‘It’s a computerised ant heap! Well I’m a man – not a machine! I’d sooner live with the Ice Age than with his sort of robot universe!’
He paused for breath. Jan took out her tranquilliser gun and pointed it straight at him. ‘You must be desperate,’ he remarked. ‘But it’ll do no good. You’ll never manage to carry me even as far as your airsled.’
‘I’m willing to try,’ she said, then yelped with pain as Storr knocked the weapon sharply from her numbed hand. She turned, stared at Penley’s savage-faced companion, and drew back nervously, holding her wrist. ‘Who… are you?’ she whispered.
‘A friend,’ said Penley, picking up the gun before Storr could reach it. ‘You’ve said enough, Jan. Now leave us in peace. I’m not coming back with you – that’s final.’
Storr turned on Penley. ‘You’re not letting her walk out of here just like that! Once she gets back there, she’ll have this place swarming with security!’ Desperate for a weapon, Storr snatched up a knife – but Penley’s voice brought him to a halt.
‘Storr – no!’ The gun was pointing at Storr now. He dropped the knife back on to the table.
‘It’s the only way!’
‘It’s not my way – or yours,’ replied Penley calmly, then switched his gaze to Jan. ‘She won’t give us away. I’m sure of that.’
‘I give you my word…’ Jan said quietly.
Storr turned away, disgusted by Penley’s weakness. ‘I don’t trust any of them,’ snarled the burly hunter, ‘whatever they say!’
Penley pointed to the door with the gun. ‘Return to Base, Miss Garrett.’
‘And wait for Doomsday,’ she murmured with a resigned shrug of her shoulders. She gave him one last look, then moved to the door while Penley held the screening skin to one side. For a brief moment they were out of earshot of Storr, and Penley took his opportunity quickly.
‘If you still have trouble from the Ioniser,’ he murmured, handing Jan back the gun, look up my notes on the Omega Factor. Good luck…’
He pushed her outside into the snow, and returned to the warmth of the stove. Storr was standing by it, his face unusually thoughtful.
‘These aliens,’ he brooded. ‘They really exist, then…’
Penley was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to wonder at the fact that Storr was expressing such interest in what was, after all, a scientific supposition.
‘Yes,’ declared Penley firmly, shrugging on his snow garments, ‘and I intend to find out more about them.’ With hardly a glance back, he shuffled quickly outside, and began his uphill trek to the glacier.
Somehow, Victoria had managed to snatch a few hours of fitful sleep. Every time she had woken up, Varga had been moving from one melting block of ice to the other, almost willing the creatures inside back to life… At dawn she awoke fully, and, shivering with cold, stared towards the glacier face in numb disbelief. Only two blocks of ice remained, and these were rapidly disintegrating as the creatures inside strove to break out – almost like dragon-men from monstrous frozen eggs, she thought. Their comrades stood around them, urging them into life with a chorus of hissing. Frightened yet fascinated, Victoria began to notice the differences between them: Varga’s bearing and style of helmet and reptilian armour seemed of a superior nature to the others. He seemed to delegate more and more of the physical tasks to a second-in-command – whose name, Victoria gathered, was Zondal. He was just as gigantic in stature, but his whole aspect was fiercer and more repellent; and he snapped at and bullied the others. The remaining four warriors, including the two who had at last broken free of the ice, were less elegant and more clumsy than Varga, whose majestic bearing, seen in daylight, fitted all Victoria’s ideas of a warlord. Zondal was harshly ordering the warriors into a simple formation, ready for inspection. Varga turned and, seeing Victoria crouched and awake, strode over to her.
‘You see?’ He proudly gestured towards his warriors. ‘It has worked! All my crew are alive! The ice is our friend!’
‘Then you don’t need me,’ replied Victoria. ‘Let me go back to my own people, please!’
The Martian warlord stared at her coldly. ‘You will stay here with us,’ he hissed. ‘If you value your life, obey – and do not anger us!’
‘But I’m no use to you!’ protested Victoria. ‘You don’t need me – you have your warriors now.’
Ignoring this plea, Varga turned and summoned his second-in-command. ‘Zondal!’ As the warrior approached him and saluted in the Martian fashion – clenched fist to left shoulder – Varga continued, ‘You will locate our buried spaceship without delay!’
‘That will not be difficult, Commander,’ came the harsh reply.
‘You will then gain access to it by excavating into the glacier…’ Varga paused. ‘The cave that you will form will also act as an efficient trap. Proceed!’
Zondal saluted again, turned, and began to place his men at key points facing the glacier. Victoria had overheard Varga’s strategy; her eyes were wide with alarm. ‘But you don’t need a trap. No one wants to attack you!’ His grim face was implacable. She pleaded desperately. ‘If you let them, they may be able to help you. You’ve only got to ask.’
Victoria protested, close to tears. ‘You’d still be dead and frozen solid in there,’ she cried out, pointing at the glacier, ‘if it wasn’t for us humans!’
‘You are a child!’ he sneered, then turned to watch Zondal organise the other warriors. Victoria wasn’t going to be put off that easily.
‘But what are you going to do with me?’
‘A trap needs bait,’ hissed the warlord. ‘You will be the bait that draws your friends towards us.’
‘No!’ cried Victoria, in dismay. But there was no appeal against the cruel decision.
‘Be silent!’ ordered Varga. The violence in his voice quelled his prisoner completely. She huddled silently close to the snow crevasse, sullenly watching Zondal and his men.
At Varga’s command, the sounding sensors on their breastplates glowed and pulsed – just as his own had done when he set out to locate his comrades. Zondal then strode forward, marked out a target area on the ice face, and gave the order.
‘Sonic destructors at the ready!’
The four warriors raised their forearms in unison. The four tubular devices, pointed towards the target area.