by Gerry Davis
'Put that away. You can't intimidate me.'
There was a sharp stinging crack, a wisp of smoke, and then Viner reeled back against the control desk, his hand clutching his chest, an incredulous look on his face. He tried to speak, his eyes widening behind his glasses, and then sagged slowly to the ground.
'You've killed him!' Parry stared from Klieg to Viner, almost unable to realise what had happened to his well-ordered world.
'He's mad!' Jamie's dirk gleamed in the light from the control panel and he started forward, only to find the Doctor's arms around him, pinioning him with unexpected strength.
'Wait, Jamie,' he said.
He was just in time. Klieg had raised the gun again to fire at Jamie. Now he replaced it in his pocket and sprung' back to the controls—his finger stabbing a staccato tattoo on the buttons.
Again the lights came up behind the cells, the air changed to a warm blast and the ice melted—a much quicker process this time.
'Haydon dead, and now poor Viner,' said the Professor. He looked at Klieg in horror. 'What kind of man are you?'
Klieg drew out his gun again and placed it close to hand on the control console. 'You will soon find out,' he said. 'Now, back, all of you. Over there.' He pointed to a spot against the rock wall opposite the Cybermen tombs.
'Let us see what happens now,' he continued. 'As you said—this a unique archaeological event. It would be such a pity to miss it. Now stay quiet—and watch.'
He motioned to Toberman, who stooped down, picked up Viner's body as easily as a rag doll and placed it over by the others. The Professor bent over his colleague and looked up at the Doctor, who shook his head sadly.
'Look, Doctor—have ye ever seen anything like it?'
The honeycomb had cleared of ice once more and, as they watched, the Cybermen were slowly uncurling and stretching. At last the most advanced one, now in a sitting position, raised his steel fist and struck sideways, as at a gong, at the plastic membrane.
The plastic split under the blow.
Another blow from his fist and the membrane was in shreds like a split drum. The Cyberman stiffly rose up and with his arms held out like a swimmer before him, pushed his way out of the cell and stood upright in front of the honeycomb.
The terrible blank stare of the Cyberman swept over the group of humans, to Klieg at the control desk and then back to the honeycomb as he turned to face the other emerging Cybermen. One by one the huge silver giants broke out of their centuries-old cells and climbed down to stand beside their companion.
In the control room above, Kaftan sat by the console making notes on the sequence for opening the hatch. Victoria was still asleep but was making the slight movements that showed the drug was wearing off and she was near waking.
Kaftan glanced at her and then went back to her notes. At last Victoria stirred and opened her eyes. She looked around her.
'Hello,' she asked, still somewhere in her sleep world. Then, more alert, she remembered where they were. She turned and saw the hatch was down. 'What's happened? The hatch is down. Oh, good, they're back.'
She shook her head to get the sleep out of it and winced slightly from headache. Then she looked around. There was nobody there but Kaftan.
'They are still down there,' said Kaftan, entering another neat row of figures in her little book.
'Then why is the hatch closed?' asked Victoria, her head aching but now thoroughly awake. 'They won't be able to get up again.'
She rose. She looked down at Kaftan.
'I shall open it when we are ready,' said Kaftan quietly, going on with her notes.
'When who is ready?' asked the girl. 'Did you close it?'
'I did.'
Victoria looked at the Arab woman whom she had so admired, confused. There could be no good reason for Kaftan to have closed the hatch. Quickly she adjusted herself to this new character. And knew why she had slept so soundly.
'Then you had better open it again,' she said steadily.
'No,' said Kaftan, still writing. 'It must remain closed.'
And in another flash, Victoria understood why the Doctor had wanted her to stay on the surface.
'The Doctor warned me to keep an eye on you,' she snapped, furious enough to stand up to this sophisticated woman from a future age.
'That was very clever of him,' smiled Kaftan. 'You should have taken more notice of his words.'
Victoria strode up to Kaftan and pushed her away from the controls.
'Out of my way,' she stormed.
'Why?' asked Kaftan with that all-knowing smile that now made Victoria furious instead of submissive.
'Because I'm going to open the hatch,' said Victoria, and reached out for the controls. She looked at the complex rows of buttons and levers, bewildered. Still smiling, Kaftan pulled out a small neat gun, similar to the one used by Klieg, and pressed it against the girl's back.
'Now, stand back,' she said gently. 'Games time is over for today.'
Victoria turned round slowly to face her and saw the gun. There was certainly no doubt now.
'That is better,' said. Kaftan pleasantly. 'Now, let us move away from these controls. We shall be more comfortable over here.'
They moved together away from the controls, back to where Victoria had been sleeping. Victoria sat down, thinking out clearly what to do next. Next to her was her handbag, a comforting bit of her past life, with the hard lump of that funny Cybermat thing in it, that she had put there despite the Doctor... She could have kicked herself for disregarding his advice. But it was too late for that now. If she didn't keep a clear mind they would all be killed. It depended on her alone.
'Why have you done this?' asked Victoria. 'You've trapped your friends down there as well as mine.'
'I shall open it—when Klieg has completed our plans," answered Kaftan. 'Meanwhile, it is safer for them to remain undisturbed. And if you touch those controls, I shall have to kill you.'
Behind Victoria, unseen by either of them, her homely leather handbag was opening slowly. Out of it moved the strange crayfish-like creature made of shining metal. Its two red 'eyes' were now alight and glowing—its antennae quivering in response to some hidden signal.
The Cybermen were now gathering opposite the centre cell in the honeycomb. This cell was larger than the rest, the membrane thicker and darker. The Cybermen seemed to be waiting for something or someone.
'Doctor,' said Jamie urgently, 'I've a feeling yon man,' he nodded to Klieg, 'has planned the whole thing. He knew that control wouldn't open the hatch.'
'So did I, Jamie.'
'You knew, Doctor!'
'Yes. I wanted to find out what he was up to.'
'And now, you know, Doctor,' said Klieg, coming up behind them, his gun held ready down by his side, shadowed by Toberman.
'We know nothing,' returned Parry, trembling with anger. 'This is the action of a lunatic,' he said, pointing to Viner's body.
'Not at all, Professor,' said Klieg. 'A necessary detail, that's all.'
'But for Heaven's sake, why? Is any scientific discovery worth the sacrifice of human life?'
'The answer is logic, my dear Professor. Logic and power,' said Klieg complacently. 'On Earth, our brotherhood of logicians is the greatest man-intelligence ever assembled. But that's not enough by itself. We need power. Power to put our ability into action. The Cybermen have that power. We have come here to find and use it.'
'So that was your motive in financing my expedition,' said the Professor.
'Precisely! Your complete lack of organisation made it ideal for our purpose.'
'And you think the Cybermen will help you?' asked the Doctor.
'Of course. I shall be their resurrector,' said Klieg, and looked on in triumph as the last Cybermen clambered down to join the thirty-strong group of silent silver giants watching the last intact cell.
But something else, too, was warmed and moved by the reactivated computers from the frozen Cyberworld: the Cybermat! Its antennae moved slowly from si
de. to side as if seeking their range. The red eyes flashed and it began to move, its body undulating like a centipede, along the table top.. It was now in Victoria's line of vision. She saw it, reacted and started back in fear.
'Keep still,' said Kaftan, raising the gun.
Victoria shook her head—staring as the Cybermat crept towards the back of the Arab woman.
'Behind you... that thing...the Cyberthing... it's come alive,' said Victoria.
Kaftan was amused. 'You are so simple,' she smiled. 'You don't really expect me to be taken in by a trick like that?'
Victoria watched, fascinated, as the Cybermat continued its silent passage along the table top. This pet of the Cyberman was no harmless toy. It crept along the table, aiming clearly for the vibration of human flesh in its path: Kaftan.
'It's true. Look!' cried Victoria, shrinking back.
The Cybermat was nearly at Kaftan's arm.
'I warn you! Will nothing keep you still,' said Kaftan dangerously, moving the gun up and pointing it at Victoria's head. The Cybermat reached a point six inches from the woman, paused, then sprang up on to her shoulder. Kaftan screamed and dropped her gun as she felt claw-like spikes dig into her back.
Victoria rushed forward, grasped the Cybermat, wrenched it from the woman's back and flung it to the ground. It landed on its back, its antennae moving wildly, then slowly righted itself and curled back into position like a scorpion, ready to strike. This time it was aimed at Victoria.
She picked up the gun, dropped by Kaftan, aimed at the metal vermin—and fired.
The bullet seemed to bounce off the creature. It reared itself back on its hind legs ready to spring. Again and again she fired. One of the red eye lights went out. She continued firing, hitting the silver body at point-blank range and bouncing it away from them with the impact of the bullets.
Finally it lay on its backboth lights out, the faint whirring noise it had made when attacked dying out the metal shell curling over like a dead woodlouse.
Kaftan was still lying on the metal floor, stunned by the horrible sting of the Cybermat.
Victoria shook her, but the woman was unconscious, her head lolling back. She ran over to the controls and stared at them hopelessly. Then she remembered Captain Hopper and his crew. She ran towards the outer door. She must get help, and quickly!
Inside the cavern the silent group of Cybermen were watching as one of their number approached the largest Cybertomb. He stopped outside, turned back to the others and looked around the circle. One by one they all raised their right arms in silent assent. The Cyberman turned back to the cell face and released three special catches. He swung open the membrane like a door.
Watching from the other side of the cavern, the humans gasped as yet another Cyberman was revealed inside the cell.
This one was larger than all the rest with a black helmet instead of a silver one.
Klieg walked forward three paces towards the Cybermen, his face lit up with excitement as he watched the giant Cyberman slowly uncurl and emerge from the cell.
'He's the biggest of them all,' Jamie said in an awed whisper. 'Like the queen bee in the hive. Who is he?'
'I'm not sure, Jamie.' The Doctor sounded equally awed. 'I think he must be their leader.' He searched his memory for the right word. 'I think they call him their Controller.'
The Cyberman finished climbing out of the cell and stretched up to his full height of seven feet—some three inches taller than the giant Toberman.
Klieg could contain himself no longer. All his carefully laid plans had now come to fruition. He stepped forward confidently, facing. the black-headed Cyberleader.
'I am Klieg. Eric Klieg. You may have heard of me. I am the President of the Brotherhood of Logicians. We planned for this moment—many, many years ago.'
There was no answer from the huge Cybercontroller and his waiting half circle of Cybermen. With their black eye holes and impassive metallic masks for faces they might have been a group of space-age statues.
Klieg looked around, a trifle uneasy at their complete lack of reaction, then plucked up courage and moved closer.
'Don't you understand. You are alive because of us. Because of me! I reactivated you.' He pointed to the control board.
'Don't listen to him!' Professor Parry started forward but the Doctor held his arm and motioned him to keep silent. Neither the Cyberman nor Klieg seemed to have noticed the interruption.
'Now that you are alive again, you can help us. We need your power, you need our mass intelligence.'
There was still no reaction from the waiting Cybermen. Klieg became annoyed with them.
'Are you listening to me? I released you. You belong to me... Ah!'
The Cyberman Controller's huge steel hand shot out and gripped Klieg by the shoulder in an agonising grasp. The man gasped, his face whitening, his eyes widening in pain, as the Cyberman slowly pushed him down to a kneeling position in front of him.
'Now, you belong to us.' He looked over Klieg at the others. 'All of you!'
The Cybermen turned at an unspoken command of their leader and, with slow deliberate steps, started walking towards the Doctor and the others.
9
The Cyberman Controller
The Controller of the Cybermen raised his hand. The Cybermen stopped, facing the humans. Silence:
Everyone and everything looked at the Controller, waited for him to make the next move. But he stood still, as if welcoming a response from the humans.
'How did you know that we would come to release you?' asked Professor Parry. 'You could have remained frozen for ever.'
'The humanoid mind,' said the low vibrating chord that was the Controller's voice. 'You are curious.'
'As I thought,' said the Doctor. 'A trap. A very ingenious trap, too.'
'What do you mean, ingenious?' asked the Professor, confused.
'Don't you see—they only want superior intellects—that's why they have made the trap so complicated. If it was too easy, everyone could have wandered down here.'
They looked at the great gleaming figure that stood before them. It seemed to nod slightly, like a god who chooses for the moment to be benign.
'We knew intelligent life would visit our planet. some day,' said the Controller.
'And we've done exactly as you calculated, haven't we?' said the Doctor. 'Followed your directions to the letter. You should be very pleased. What else can we do for you? Perhaps we can go now?'
'We cannot let you leave,' said the Controller loudly. 'You belong to us.'
His voice echoed and vibrated in the cavern and along the corridor.
Above the hatch, where the terrible voice did not reach, Victoria had fetched Captain Hopper and Callum from the orbiter and the two of them were examining the controls. Victoria was impatiently trying to hurry up the slow, deliberate Captain. But Hopper, seeing Kaftan's unconscious body on the floor, and still suspecting the Doctor and his entourage, wouldn't be hurried.
'Come on, quickly,' she said. 'You must find ,the opening device for me. I don't know which it is.'
'Now hold hard, young lady,' said the Captain. 'I'm not pulling any levers until I know just what it's all about.'
'I don't reckon we should have left the orbiter, Captain,' said Callum suspiciously. He indicated Kaftan. 'She's O.K. She only fainted. I can't see much else wrong here.'
'Not much wrong... are you blind, the pair of you?' shouted Victoria, hot with fury. She went over to the hatch, which was shut tight. 'What about this?'
'I don't see any change in this room, Vic,' said Callum slowly.
Victoria was so furious she didn't have time to comment on being called 'Vic'. 'That's just it,' she shouted at them, out of breath. 'The others are down there now. The Professor, Jamie, the Doctor..
Kaftan, on the floor, stirred and opened her eyes.
'Well, in that case, Vic,' drawled the Captain, as though trying to calm an hysterical child. 'Why close the hatch down on them? It don't make sense.'
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'I didn't,' snapped Victoria. 'And don't call me "Vic". She closed the hatch.' She indicated Kaftan.
'Oh, really?' said the Captain, humouring the young girl. 'Did she now?' He smiled, not taking her angry mood seriously.
'Are you going to help me or not?' asked Victoria in a voice every bit as cool and cutting as her father's when he was about to demolish an academic colleague. 'They're probably freezing to death down there. If you won't help, I'll pull all the levers on this board and see what happens.'
'I wouldn't do that, Vic,' said the Captain, still amused but giving in to her evident concern. 'O.K. then. We'd better do as the little lady says.' He turned to Callum and pointed over to the control column.
The three of them gathered around the control console. Behind them Kaftan again opened her eyes, more awake this time and taking careful note of what was happening.
'Now,' said the Captain more briskly. 'Were you here when they opened it all up?'
'Yes,' said Victoria.
'Then,' said Hopper, 'you must have some idea how they did it, right?'
'I don't know,' said Victoria, still furious with his manner, but too absorbed in the problem to let it worry her. 'I wasn't really looking. I think it was one of these lever things down here.'
She indicated the left-hand side of the board.
'She thinks!' said Callum scornfully.
Victoria glared at him but he was beginning to examine the wiring system at the left of the board. Even if he didn't know as much symbolic logic as Klieg or the Doctor, he was a first-class electrical engineer, able to calculate which wire led to which lever...
After the Controller Cyberman had spoken, he turned back to his Cybermen. The humans had edged back towards the tunnel entrance.
'Can we not make a run for it, Doctor?' whispered Jamie.
The Doctor shook his head.
'We'd never even reach the ladder. Too risky.'
'What can we do?' asked Parry, frankly, turning to the Doctor for help.
'Play for time and watch for our chance,'. said the Doctor decisively. 'Leave it to me.'