DOCTOR WHO AND THE CAVE-MONSTERS

by Malcolm Hulke

  'Continue until we find humans,' Morka said.

  The Doctor paused. 'If you kill anyone I shall not help you.'

  'Forward,' said Morka. 'We may allow those down here to live a little longer when all those on the surface are dead. It depends if they are useful.'

  'Practical thinking,' said the Doctor. He stepped out into the corridor. Further down the corridor the Brigadier and Liz were standing at the lift door. The Brigadier was pressing the lift button. As though by instinct the Brigadier turned round.

  'Doctor!' he exclaimed. 'We thought you'd been taken prisoner. Your antidote's working fine, but now all hell's let loose in the caves. Reptiles everywhere. I've sent all my men into the caves, and now the 'phone's dead and the lift won't work...' The Brigadier's voice trailed off as he saw Morka and other reptile men come up behind the Doctor.

  'Don't make any hasty moves, Brigadier,' the Doctor said. 'We are all prisoners now. I'm sorry.'

  'Guard those apes,' said Morka, and two reptile men hurried up to the Brigadier and Liz. He turned to the Doctor. 'Take us to the source of your power.'

  The Doctor walked slowly towards the cyclotron room. The Brigadier and Liz were pushed alongside the Doctor. The three were kept bunched together, so that all could be killed instantly if they made a wrong move. As the trio entered the cyclotron room Dr. Lawrence and the technicians looked up first in surprise then in horror as the reptile men crowded in.

  'The nuclear generator must be reactivated,' said the Doctor to Dr. Lawrence. 'They need your power.'

  Dr. Lawrence's face was crimson with anger, the first time the Doctor had seen him show any real emotion. 'No! You creatures have tried to ruin the work of this research centre. You have probably ruined my career...' His protest was cut short as Morka's third eye glowed a vicious scarlet. Dr. Lawrence fell dead to the floor.

  'All apes look at the body,' said Morka. 'It is an example of what will happen to you if you are not obedient to your masters.' He looked slowly round the group of technicians, satisfied that they were all sufficiently terrified.

  The Doctor heard a trundling sound, looked behind himself and saw reptile men dragging in a tubular object on four tiny wheels. 'The destructor?' he asked.

  K'to answered. 'You will now connect the destructor to your nuclear generator.'

  'I must know the purpose of this machine,' the Doctor said. 'Otherwise I cannot properly help you.'

  K'to looked to Morka, as though asking if he may explain the purpose of the destructor to the Doctor. Morka made no sign that the Doctor could understand; his reply to K'to must have been by some kind of telepathy—thought-waves between the two reptile men. K'to turned back to the Doctor. 'Since we entered our shelter,' he explained, 'and went into total sleep, the temperature of this planet, our planet, has changed. We have detected some invisible barrier between the rays of the sun and the surface of Earth. Microwaves from the destructor will disperse this barrier, removing it for ever.'

  'The van Allen belt is indestructible,' said the Doctor, hopefully. He could not be sure this was true.

  The Brigadier asked: 'Do you mind telling me what you two are talking about?'

  'The van Allen belt,' said the Doctor, 'is named after the scientist who discovered its existence. It envelops the Earth, and protects us from the sun's most harmful rays. Without it people would die of sunburn on a cloudy day.'

  'Your people will die,' said Morka. 'We reptiles survive best in heat. All of you apes here, under the ground, will live as long as we find you useful. All mammals on the surface will die.'

  'Now look here, Doctor,' said the Brigadier, 'you mustn't do anything to help these...' He almost said 'creatures', but thought better of it. 'These people,' he said.

  'We have no alternative,' said the Doctor. He turned to Liz. 'Miss Shaw, I'm going to need your assistance.' Then he looked to the waiting technicians. 'Miss Shaw and I can manage to stoke up the nuclear generator between us. I suggest you all go to your usual controls and keep well back from the generator.' The Doctor crossed to the nuclear generator control console, followed by Liz. 'I take it you can understand these controls,' he said to her, 'they're quite simple. I want you to feed in the uranium rods one at a time as I tell you.'

  The Brigadier broke away from the reptile man who was guarding him. 'Doctor, do you know what you're doing? I understand this apparatus is all highly dangerous!'

  'Even a tin-opener,' said the Doctor, 'can be dangerous if not properly used. All this apparatus does is to make heat, great heat, when the uranium rods are lowered into place. If you're worried, you can watch them being lowered in through this panel.' The Doctor indicated the panel of thick plate glass; beyond, one could see the uranium rods suspended over the holes into which they were to be dropped. 'The heat makes steam for the turbine, and the turbine makes the electricity that our friends need for their destructor. It's all very elementary.'

  Morka stepped in between the Doctor and the Brigadier. 'If this creature bothers you,' he said, indicating the Brigadier, 'I can kill him for you.'

  'That's very kind of you,' the Doctor said, 'but that won't be necessary. He is quite a useful ape sometimes. Liz, are you ready?'

  Liz nodded.

  K'to said, 'You must first connect our destructor to your power supply.'

  'I thought you would use induction,' said the Doctor. 'That is how you stole electricity before.'

  'He jokes,' said Morka. 'Explain.'

  'With induction,' said K'to, taking the Doctor quite seriously, 'we lost a great deal of your power. Induction is not as efficient as direct contact.'

  The Doctor looked round the technicians. 'Can one of you connect this thing to the main power supply, please?' None of the technicians moved, either through fear or not wishing to help the reptile invaders. 'Come along now,' said the Doctor, 'just one volunteer, please.'

  Miss Travis, the young technician who had brought in coffee for Mr. Masters that the Doctor had drunk, stepped forward. 'Perhaps I can do it.'

  K'to immediately stepped up to Miss Travis with the end of the cable that led from the destructor. 'You make connection,' he said.

  Miss Travis looked at the cable. 'I'll need a knife,' she said. No one responded.

  'Surely someone has a knife,' the Doctor said. 'We can't stop the greatest scientific experiment in Earth's history through not having a knife between us!'

  Still no one responded.

  Liz said, 'I believe the Brigadier has a penknife.'

  'If that's the case,' said the Doctor, 'kindly produce it immediately.'

  Slowly, without a word, the Brigadier drew from his pocket a boy's penknife and handed it to Miss Travis. 'Thank you,' she said, and set to work cutting away the coating of the destructor's cable to the bare wires inside.

  The Doctor turned to Liz. 'Lower in number one rod now, please.'

  Liz moved one of the reactor controls. The Brigadier squinted through the smoked panel of glass and saw one of the hanging uranium rods slowly sink down into the hole beneath it. Instantly there was a hum of power in the room, and the fingers of a dozen control dials quivered. The Doctor, however, seemed to be occupied with the mass of wires and fuses immediately under the reactor controls.

  'Number one rod in position,' Liz reported.

  'Excellent,' said the Doctor, not looking up, 'now lower in number two.'

  Liz moved another control. The second uranium rod slowly sank into the hole beneath it. The fingers of the dials quivered again, registering greater power output. K'to looked down at the Doctor curiously.

  'What are you doing?' asked K'to.

  The Doctor briefly looked up from his work on the wires under the control panel. 'This plant clearly has to produce more power than it has ever done before. I'm trying to make sure that that is possible.'

  K'to didn't seem satisfied. 'Power is not increased by interference with the circuits of the controls,' he said.

  'I am trying to adapt the controls,' said the Doctor. 'Look, do you really
want to stop this whole delicate operation for me to explain in detail how I am trying to help you?'

  Morka stepped in between K'to and the Doctor. 'The ape is showing obedience.' He looked down at the Doctor. 'More power, immediately!'

  'Certainly,' said the Doctor. 'Liz, lower in number three rod now.'

  Liz moved the third control in the row on the console. The hum of power was now ear-splitting and the control dials were nearing the word 'DANGER'. One of the technicians stood up to protest. 'You're making more power than an atomic bomb, Doctor! You'll kill us all..

  Morka swung round to the technician, his third eye ablaze with redness. The technician gasped, then fell across his desk. Morka looked at the other humans. 'No more talk!' Then he turned back to the Doctor. 'More power, immediately!'

  The Doctor said, 'Liz, lower in number four rod.' Liz moved the 'four' control.

  'Now five and six together,' the Doctor said, straightening up from his work on the circuits under the console.

  Liz moved the final two controls. The fifth and sixth uranium rods slowly sank into their respective holes. The fingers of all the dials held steady at a point well beyond the word 'DANGER'.

  Miss Travis had finished her work exposing the wires of the destructor unit's cable. 'I'm ready to connect,' she told the Doctor.

  'Thank you,' said the Doctor. 'I shall take over now.' He took the destructor's cable, crossed to a wall terminal point, checked that it was turned to 'Off', then connected the two bared wires of the cable. Then he pulled a switch beside the terminal point to its 'On' position. He crossed back to the control console, put his hand on the lever that would make the final connection of power between the generator and the wall terminal point. 'Let us see how well your destructor works,' he said.

  As the Doctor started to move the lever, K'to sprang forward hissing. 'It's a trick! I know it is a trick!'

  But the Doctor had already pulled the lever. The destructor hummed with power for a few seconds; then a huge crack appeared along one side of it and smoke belched from the crack.

  K'to turned to Morka. 'Kill him! He has destroyed the destructor!'

  Morka turned to the Doctor, but his third eye did not yet glow its fatal red colour. 'Stop everything! Turn off the generator!'

  'I can't,' said the Doctor. 'I've destroyed the circuits of the control console. The reactor is at this moment turning into an atomic bomb. In a few moments it will explode. You will die with us. The radiation will leak into your own shelter, destroying all those of you not killed instantly by the explosion. I can only advise you to get back to your shelter as quickly as possible and seal yourselves up. Then you may be safe.'

  Morka asked K'to, 'Can this be true?'

  K'to didn't answer. He was staring at the destructor as it slowly melted with heat. A watery tear ran down the scales of his cheek. 'With the destructor we could have returned our planet to what it was when we were the masters.'

  Morka's third eye flashed red at K'to, and K'to winced in pain. 'Can this be true?' he repeated.

  'It is all true,' said K'to. 'We must return to our shelter or die.' He looked again at the destructor. It was now a mound of shapeless metal on the floor.

  Morka looked round the room at the humans. 'I do not understand,' he said. 'You have sacrificed yourselves so that other apes may live. My people would not have behaved like that.'

  'Perhaps,' said the Doctor, 'that is why the apes—the humans—are such a successful species. They do not only think of themselves.'

  'Well, apes,' said Morka, 'you can all die together in the explosion.' He signalled to K'to and the other reptile men, turned and led them away. None of the humans moved a muscle until the last of the reptile men had gone. Then the Brigadier broke into a grin.

  'Jolly good work, Doctor,' he said. 'Now for goodness' sake turn this thing off.'

  'What I said was true,' the Doctor answered. 'I can't turn it off.'

  The Brigadier looked stunned. 'Are you aware that the lift isn't working? We're all trapped down here!'

  The Doctor turned to the technicians. 'If any of you has any idea how to stop the generator from becoming an atomic bomb, now would be a good time to speak up.'

  'I think I know how,' said Miss Travis. 'The control console has a fail-safe mechanism. May I show you?' She crossed to the console, looked under the panel where the Doctor had dislocated the control circuit. 'It's here,' she said. 'All we have to do is to pull out a fuse.'

  Miss Travis calmly put her hand in among the now tangled wires of the control circuits, reached as far as possible and pulled out a single fuse. Instantly all the uranium rods started to rise up into their neutral positions. The fingers of the dials slowly sank from 'DANGER' back to 'ZERO'.

  'Miss Travis,' said the Brigadier, 'you are a very level-headed young woman. I'm sure you will become a great scientist one day.'

  'I don't know about that,' she said. 'After all this, I think I'd rather work in a bank.'

  19

  The Lie

  The Doctor and Liz got into Bessie in the research centre car park. The Brigadier had come to say goodbye.

  'Going straight back to London?' asked the Brigadier.

  'Yes,' said the Doctor.

  'No,' said Liz.

  'Well, make your minds up,' the Brigadier said.

  'Since we're in Derbyshire,' Liz said, 'I want to see over some of the potteries. You know, Denby and Crown Derby.'

  'What a good idea,' the Brigadier said. 'I wish I could join you.'

  'How long are you staying on here?' asked the Doctor.

  The Brigadier shrugged. 'Just one or two things to clear up,' he said. 'Routine matters.'

  'You do understand the caves must not be touched,' the Doctor said. 'I want to return here next week with a team of scientists to try to make peaceful contact with the reptile men. There's a living museum down there, and if we can get on friendly terms with them there's a great deal we can learn about the origin of life on this planet.'

  'On my honour,' the Brigadier said. 'If I so much as see a reptile man, I shall go out of my way to be nice to him.'

  'You don't really take this seriously,' the Doctor said. 'These creatures have as much right to this planet as you have. I'm going to ask the Prime Minister to have it put to the United Nations that the reptile people be formally invited to share the world.'

  'Don't worry,' the Brigadier said. He looked at his watch, and seemed now to want to get rid of the Doctor and Liz. 'No harm will come to your reptiles. Now you'd better be off. Enjoy your trip to the potteries!'

  'Possibly,' said the Doctor. He started the engine. 'Where are all your soldiers?'

  'My soldiers?' said the Brigadier, as though he might be trying to hide something. 'Oh, they're out and about, cleaning up the mess and all that.' He again glanced at his watch.

  'I see,' said the Doctor, realising that there was something the Brigadier didn't want him to know. 'Well, no more violence or killing. I'll see you in London.'

  The Doctor slowly drove Bessie out of the car park and down the gravel road to the main road. As they turned into the main road he said, 'The Brigadier's got something up his sleeve, you know.'

  Liz didn't answer. She just looked straight ahead down the road.

  The Doctor slowed down the car and stopped. 'Something's going on that I don't know about,' he said. 'And you know what it is!'

  Liz turned to him. 'Doctor, not everyone thinks like you...'

  Her words were interrupted by a series of violent explosions. The Doctor turned and looked towards the main opening to the caves. A huge cloud of smoke and dust was belching out of the cave. Then there was another explosion, and the entrance to the cave collapsed in a huge deluge of huge rocks.

  'He's sealed them in,' the Doctor said quietly.

  Liz nodded. 'He had to. They'd never have accepted sharing this world.'

  The Doctor felt anger rising in him. 'We've lost the chance to find out now,' he said. 'We shall never know.'

 
; The Doctor started up the car again and continued along the main road in silence.

  * * *

  [*] The transfer of electric or magnetic force through proximity but without direct contact.