'Because I am a man of science,' K'to said, 'does not mean that I lack feelings and passions. I have no wish to share the world with furry creatures. They are unclean. Insects sometimes live in their fur. They disgust me.'
'Do you see some solution to our problem?' Morka asked. 'There are few of us but millions of them.'
K'to went to a metal cupboard, opened it and brought out a sealed canister. 'In our time you worked in the domed city,' he said. 'You were not a farmer, so there were things you did not know. As a scientist I had to assist our farmers. When the apes raided their crops, the substance in this canister was used. It is lethal.'
'Can we be sure that it will work on apes as they are now?' asked Morka.
'Fortunately,' said K'to, 'we can conduct an experiment.' He turned and looked towards the prisoner cages. Major Barker was just recovering consciousness, and was rubbing his head.
'Kill him with this substance?' said Morka, not yet fully understanding. 'Killing them one at a time will not help us.'
'We shall not kill him,' said K'to. 'We shall let him free, and he will kill all the others for us.'
The Brigadier and the UNIT soldiers were making slow progress on their way out of the caves. Every foot of the field telephone cable had to be wound back on to the drum, and this slowed them down.
'We couldn't just leave the cable, could we, sir?' asked Sergeant Hawkins.
'Government property,' said the Brigadier.
'But hanging about like this, sir,' Hawkins persisted. 'We could get trapped again by a roof-fall.'
'If we are trapped again,' said the Brigadier, 'that is something I could explain to my superiors. But if I lose one foot of that wretched telephone cable, there will be an investigation into the waste of public money.'
The two soldiers winding the cable back on to the drum worked as fast as they could, and the little group of UNIT men moved forward down the passageway. Then Sergeant Hawkins stopped, and pointed his torch on to the cave floor.
'Look, sir,' he said. 'I'm sure that wasn't here before.'
The Brigadier looked down at a perfect footprint of one of the reptile fighting animals. He felt very worried about the sight of it. 'We may have to forget that wretched telephone cable after all,' he told the Sergeant.
Even as the Brigadier spoke, his words were drowned by the roar of the fighting animal which had appeared a couple of hundred feet down the passageway. Its mouth had huge pointed teeth, bared now as it advanced towards the soldiers. To the animal, these humans were food.
'Shoot for the head!' shouted the Brigadier, himself taking cover behind an outcrop of rock. All the soldiers dived for the sides of the passageway. 'Fire now!'
The soldiers opened up with a rain of bullets at the monster. The Brigadier could see bullet holes appearing in the monster's thick scaly hide, but even so the monster continued towards the soldiers, roaring and baring its long pointed teeth.
'We need explosive bullets for this,' said Hawkins, as he fired round after round at the oncoming monster.
The Brigadier saw one of the soldiers reach for a hand grenade to throw. 'No grenades,' he shouted. 'You fool —you'll bring the roof down on top of us!'
All at once the monster stopped in its advance. 'Hold your fire,' called the Brigadier. 'And put out the torches.' They all snapped off their torches. There was total darkness. Through the darkness came the heavy breathing of the monster. 'The torches were attracting it,' said the Brigadier, just loud enough for everyone in the confined space to hear.
'But we can't see how close it is now, sir,' said Sergeant Hawkins. 'It's got the advantage.'
'We can listen,' said the Brigadier.
The heavy breathing continued. Then they heard the monster move its feet. 'I think it's going away,' said the Brigadier. 'Keep those torches turned off until we can't hear it.'
The men waited, hardly daring to move. Eventually there was no sound of the monster. The Brigadier switched on his torch. The passageway ahead was empty. He straightened up. 'Torches on,' he said, and the other men switched on their torches. 'Now let's get out of these caves as quickly as we can.'
'What about the cable, sir?' said Sergeant Hawkins.
'That's right,' said the Brigadier, 'what about it?' He grinned at the Sergeant. 'For once, let's forget about government property and look after our own necks!'
The Brigadier and the soldiers ran as fast as they could down the passageway towards freedom.
Major Barker found himself lying on his back on the floor of the great cathedral-like cave. Daylight filtered in from the opening up near the roof of the cave. He sat up and tried to remember what had happened. Everything was rather confused. He could remember the man-trap that caught him by the ankles, and those horrible reptile faces advancing on him. Then he was a prisoner for some time, held in a cage like an animal. There was another prisoner, that Doctor fellow, but one of the reptiles took him away.
Now his memory started to come back. The Doctor had been a traitor, and had wanted to help these lizards.
Perhaps they had taken the Doctor away to kill him. No decent person liked traitors. But these were lizards, not 'persons'. Major Barker rubbed his head. It was all very strange.
His arm itched. He pulled up the sleeve of his jacket to scratch his arm. He looked at the flesh of his forearm, saw a little cut in the flesh. How had he been cut there? He could not remember. Anyway, it was a very tiny wound, nothing to worry about. But it itched badly, and he scratched at it viciously. Then he looked at the blood on his fingers from the wound. Perhaps best not to scratch it, he thought. His hands and fingers were filthy with cave dust, and he might infect the wound. He steeled himself not to feel the itch, and to leave his arm alone.
He stood up and looked about himself. So, he thought, he had somehow escaped. The trouble was, he couldn't remember escaping. Still, the mind can play strange tricks. Obviously he must have escaped or he would not be in this cave now, a free man. Somehow in his escape he must have banged his head against a rock, and that's why he was lying unconscious on the cave floor. All he had to do now was to find his way out of the caves, and obviously the quickest way was to climb up to that little circle of daylight near the roof.
He started to move off when his foot kicked something. For a ghastly moment he expected a man-trap to grab his ankles. But nothing happened. He looked down, saw his rifle lying on the floor. He picked it up, checked that it still worked. Then he started to climb up the rocks leading to the daylight.
From a dark recess between rocks, the reptile scientist K'to watched Major Barker with considerable interest. Once Major Barker had reached the circle of daylight, K'to moved towards the great rock, pulsated his third eye and opened the rock. He went inside, and the rock closed behind him.
The Doctor was alone in the inner room, where Okdel had left him. The moment Okdel left, the Doctor tried the door, only to find Okdel had locked it. The Doctor interested himself in a screen in the wall. There were a number of dials and buttons set in the wall immediately under the screen, and experimentally the Doctor tried some of these controls. Instantly the screen lit up showing a map of Earth before the Great Continental Drift. He touched the controls again. The map vanished from the screen and was replaced by an aerial view of a domed city. Then the door opened and Okdel entered, carrying a metal canister.
'You must have had a great civilisation,' said the Doctor, indicating the picture of the city on the screen.
Okdel ignored the Doctor's remark. 'I have spoken to the others of your plan,' he said.. 'Some wish to live in peace with the humans, and others do not. But without my knowing, something has happened which may change all our plans. The other prisoner has been released.'
Then the door opened and Okdel entered, carrying a metal canister
'I'm very pleased to hear that,' said the Doctor.
Okdel raised a scaly hand to silence the Doctor. 'No, you will not be pleased. He has been infected with a deadly virus which may destroy all his species
.' Okdel paused, and swayed a little from side to side. 'It is not my doing. I am sorry.'
'What will this virus do?' asked the Doctor.
'I saw it used against the apes,' said Okdel. 'It was very cruel. First it causes a surge of energy which burns up the body's resources. With some, death follows almost immediately, with great pain. With others, the afflicted ones wander mindlessly over great distances, infecting all others. The disease spreads with incredible speed.'
'Is there an antidote?' said the Doctor, 'any cure?'
'I do not know,' said Okdel. 'Since it only affected the apes, we had no need to develop an antidote. That is why I have brought you this.' He offered the canister to the Doctor. 'Your civilisation has scientists, has it?'
'Yes,' said the Doctor.
'The virus is in this substance. Take it to your scientists, ask them to develop an antidote.'
The Doctor took the canister, holding it very carefully. 'That might take weeks.'
'Of course,' said Okdel. 'I fear many of the human species will die. That cannot now be avoided. But with this substance, you have a slight chance.' Okdel turned to the door and opened it again. 'Now I shall release you. You must come with me.'
'What about your friends who have released this virus?' the Doctor said, as he followed Okdel out of the inner room.
'I hope they will understand why I have released you,' Okdel said, leading the Doctor towards the door to another inner room. 'If they do not, they will be very angry.'
Okdel stopped at the door to the other inner room. He looked at the lock, and for a second his third eye glowed red. The lock clicked, and the door opened by itself. 'Go through there,' said Okdel. 'Other doors will open as you go forward. Then you will find yourself outside this shelter and in a great cave. From there you must find your own way.'
'Thank you,' said the Doctor. 'I hope that we shall meet again soon.'
Okdel said nothing. The Doctor entered the inner room, and the door closed soundlessly behind him. Then another door in front of him opened, just as Okdel had promised.
Okdel stood by the door for some minutes after the Doctor had gone. He felt very old. It was still so difficult for him to accept that up on ground-level nothing remained of his civilisation. He thought about these hot arid places which the Doctor had said the humans might set aside for the reptile people to live in—the Sahara, Arabia, Central Australia. None of these names meant anything to Okdel. He felt too old and tired to think of building new domed cities.
Slowly he walked back to the inner room where he had talked with the Doctor. The picture of a domed city was still on the screen. He went up to the screen and touched a control. A moving picture appeared showing his people's first attempt at flight. The flying-machine was very small and only carried two young reptile men. The picture cut to a crowd waving to the brave young aviators. All this had happened when Okdel was young. Later their flying-machines were developed to carry hundreds of passengers at a time. He turned another control to bring up a picture of more personal memories. It showed himself as a young reptile man winning a race. His limbs were far too old and fragile to race now. The picture changed, and there was an ape in a cage in Okdel's garden. His friends had thought him very strange to keep an ape as a pet, but Okdel had taken a liking to the animal. The ape jumped about the cave, then picked up a slate and a pencil and started to make a crude drawing of animals and reptile men. This had always fascinated Okdel, the fact that an animal could draw pictures. He wished that he had been able to bring his pet ape with him into the shelter.
Suddenly he was aware that he was not alone. He switched off the screen and turned round. Morka and K'to had entered the room and were standing side by side. Okdel knew what was going to happen.
'Where is the other human?' said Morka.
'I have released him,' said Okdel. 'I gave him the substance so that the humans can find an antidote.'
'You want them to destroy us?' said Morka.
'They will not destroy us,' said Okdel, 'and we need not destroy them. There are places on the planet where our species can continue to live.'
'They will not allow us to live,' said K'to. 'The ape Quinn told us how the humans are killing off all other species on the planet. They are mammals, yet they exterminate other mammals. What chance have we while these humans exist?'
'If we fight them,' said Okdel, 'they will win.'
'Never!' said Morka. 'The lethal substance could kill them all if you had not interfered.'
Okdel sensed that his life was almost at an end. He said what was truly in his mind. 'The planet is cooler, the atmosphere thinner, than in our day. All our civilisation is destroyed. Perhaps it is a mistake even to think of starting again.'
'You propose that vermin shall take our world?' said Morka.
'They have already taken it,' said Okdel. 'We can but hope for the smallest share.'
'You have betrayed us,' said Morka. He turned to K'to. 'Kill him now!'
Okdel saw the two third eyes before him turn to a brilliant red. The pain raced through his old limbs. For a moment he remembered himself as a tiny reptile baby, breaking out from its egg. Then his mind went blank and he was dead.
16
The Itch
The Right Honourable Frederick Masters presided over the meeting from what was normally Dr. Lawrence's chair behind the desk. Dr. Lawrence had to occupy one of the hard-backed chairs, and sat next to Liz. On the other side of Liz was Major Barker and the Brigadier. She noticed how Major Barker was sweating profusely, and kept scratching at his arm.
'I tell you,' said Barker, 'that Doctor is a traitor! He's co-operating with them.'
'Co-operating with reptile men,' said Masters, turning to the Brigadier. 'Do you believe in these creatures?'
Liz couldn't stop herself answering for the Brigadier. 'Mr. Masters, I've seen them. Everything Major Barker says is true—except about the Doctor being a traitor.'
Major Barker swung round to face Liz. 'You weren't there when he started to make deals with them!' He scratched furiously at his arm, then tried to stop himself.
'If I may make a point,' said Dr. Lawrence, 'I find this all scientifically impossible. In any case, the point at issue is these power losses!'
'I agree,' said Masters, 'but I really cannot prepare a report for the government on the basis of what I've heard so far.'
Major Barker exploded. 'There's no time for reports, sir! We must blow up every entrance to those caves before they over-run us.'
'I agree,' said Dr. Lawrence, 'that would probably be very sensible.'
'It wouldn't stop your power losses,' Liz said. 'And you mustn't blow up the entrances while the Doctor is still down there.'
Masters turned to the Brigadier. 'I believe you told your Doctor that the caves were out-of-bounds to him—is that correct?'
The Brigadier mumbled over his words. 'Well, yes, er, I did advise him to keep clear of the caves...'
'Advice which he ignored?' said Masters, cutting in.
'He's a very self-willed fellow,' said the Brigadier.
'A traitor, if you ask me!' shouted Major Barker. Masters swung round to face Barker. 'I didn't ask you, and I'd be glad if you would remember that I am chairing this meeting. And another thing, Major Barker: stop scratching yourself. It annoys me.'
Major Barker stopped scratching himself instantly, shocked by the way he had been spoken to. Liz looked from him to Masters. Masters didn't look at all well. Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead.
'Now then,' said Masters, who seemed to be losing his grip of the meeting, 'where had we got to?'
'We have to rescue the Doctor,' said Liz, taking the opportunity to make her point. 'He's still in the caves.'
The Brigadier said, 'Well, I can't mount a proper rescue until I get an adequate number of troops and equipment.'
'I don't think a rescue is really included on our agenda,' said Masters. 'The Doctor defied the Brigadier's ban, and went into the caves of his own free will.'
Liz protested, 'That doesn't mean you can leave him there!'
'How thoughtful of you, Liz!' The Doctor's voice boomed from the open door. Everyone swung round to see the Doctor as he entered. He carried in his hand the metal canister. 'Now I want you all to move away from Major Barker.' He turned to Barker with a smile. 'Sorry to be treating you like a leper, old man, but—well, that is what you are for the time being.'
Major Barker rose slowly, quivering with rage. His face had gone beetroot. Liz thought one of the veins in his temples might burst at any moment. 'You blackguard,' he said to the Doctor. 'You filthy traitor! I'm placing you under arrest.'
Major Barker moved to grab the Doctor, but the Doctor quickly sidestepped out of Barker's way. 'Listen to me, Major,' he said, 'you're an ill man. You have a terrible infection.'
'What are you talking about?' Barker demanded. 'You, sir, are a criminal of the worst order. I've told them all about you. I'm taking you into custody, and I suggest that you come quietly.' The Major crossed to the Doctor and tried to grip his ann.
The Doctor stepped back again. 'I warn you, Major, you're an ill man. And above all, you musn't touch anyone...'
The Major staggered, then lunged forward at the Doctor. The Doctor backed as far as he could, until his back was against the wall. Suddenly the Major stopped in his advance. He closed his eyes for a moment, then suddenly grabbed at his own wrist as though it was burning. 'My arm,' he said, his voice hardly audible, 'it's killing me.' He staggered again, and sank to his knees, then pulled up his jacket and shirt sleeve. A huge bright red mark stood out on his arm where previously there had been the tiny wound. 'It's festering,' he gasped, 'I'll lose my arm. The pain—it's too much...' He suddenly colapsed in a faint.
The Doctor knelt down and examined the mark on Barker's arm. Meanwhile Dr. Lawrence had lifted his internal 'phone and was telling Dr. Meredith to hurry along here from the sick-bay. The Brigadier and Masters came and looked down at the bright red mark on Barker's arm.
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