Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen

by Terrance Dicks

Victoria fell silent. She tottered, and the monks rushed to support her.

  ‘Release the strangers,’ said Songtsen. ‘Bid them make ready to depart.’

  Victoria was in the guest room, sitting on the bed and gazing straight in front of her, when the Doctor, Jamie and Travers were brought in by Khrisong and Thomni.

  ‘Victoria, are you all right?’ asked Jamie anxiously. She did not move,

  ‘Victoria,’ said the Doctor. The sound of his voice provoked an instant reaction.

  ‘Doctor,’ she said, ‘there is great danger. You must take me away! Take me away!’ She spoke in a sort of formal chant. She stopped, and fell into her silent trance. ‘Victoria, what is it? What’s the matter?’ said Jamie. She ignored him.

  ‘Khrisong, how long has she been like this?’ asked the Doctor.

  But before Khrisong could reply, Victoria reacted once more to the Doctor’s voice.

  ‘Doctor, there is great danger. Take me away from here. Take me away.’ Like a switched-off record she fell silent.

  ‘She’s reacting to my voice,’ said the Doctor. He moved away. ‘I’d better start whispering.’

  ‘She is still in a trance,’ said Khrisong gravely. Briefly he told the Doctor what had happened.

  ‘She must have reached the Sanctum,’ said Thomni. ‘She has seen the Holy Padmasambvha.’

  The Doctor looked up sharply. ‘Padmasambvha, the Master? Surely he must have died long ago – I met him on my last visit, and he was incredibly old then. He can’t have lived for another three hundred years.’

  ‘Padmasambvha is ageless, Doctor,’ said Khrisong gravely. ‘But how could you have known him three hundred years ago? Are you ageless, too?’

  The Doctor didn’t reply. ‘Padmasambvha – still here,’ he muttered to himself. ‘Why does nobody tell me anything?’ He moved to the door. ‘Take care of Victoria for me, Jamie,’ he whispered. ‘I shan’t be long.’

  ‘Can you no’ help her?’ demanded Jamie.

  ‘I think so, Jamie. But I have to find out something first. Khrisong, will you walk with me for a moment?’

  As they walked along the corridor together, the Doctor said, ‘Khrisong, a while ago you wanted my help. Now, you’re preparing to leave. Don’t you want to save the Monastery any more?’

  ‘I must obey the Abbot,’ said Khrisong. ‘He wishes us to leave.’

  ‘Somebody wishes it,’ replied the Doctor. ‘That’s why all this was arranged. To get you to leave. That’s why someone opened the gates to the Yeti, so they could spoil all your supplies and terrify your monks. Are you going to do what this someone wants?’

  Khrisong was silent.

  ‘I am very close to success,’ said the Doctor. ‘But I still need help.’

  They stopped at a junction of corridors. ‘If you need my help, you shall have it,’ said Khrisong.

  The Doctor smiled. ‘Thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me – I must visit an old friend; one I haven’t seen for many years.’

  ‘You go to the Sanctum, Doctor? Do you wish me to accompany you?’

  ‘That won’t be necessary, Khrisong. I already know the way.’ With a farewell nod, the Doctor set off.

  As he walked through the wrecked and deserted Monastery his mind was a ferment of ideas. Padmasambvha, still alive! He must be nearly four hundred years old – an incredible feat, even for a Tibetan master. Padmasambvha was a good man, thought the Doctor. One of the best men I’ve ever known. Who or what could change him? Lost in thought, the Doctor walked on towards the Inner Sanctum.

  In the Sanctum itself, the frail body of Padmasambvha was twisting and writhing on his chair, locked in some terrible inner struggle. ‘Oh, Great Intelligence,’ he gasped, ‘you promised me release, yet still you hold your grip on my old body. Is not your plan complete? Will not the mountain content you…’

  A vision of the cave on the mountain filled the Master’s mind. The glutinous living mass still seeped from the pyramid. More and more and more… it filled the cave… it was filling the tunnel. When would it stop? How much territory would it cover? ‘You said only the Mountain for your Experiment,’ shrieked Padmasambvha. ‘If you do not stop, you will cover the planet. You have lied to me… tricked me.’ The sound of hellish cosmic laughter seemed to fill his ears. The old Master slumped in his chair. In an appalled whisper, he said, ‘I have brought the world to its end!’

  For some time he sat on the golden throne, his breath only a shallow flutter. Then his mind sensed someone in the Anteroom. He looked at the doors. ‘Enter,’ he whispered, and the doors opened.

  The Doctor walked slowly towards the throne. He looked at the shrunken figure upon it, saddened by the toll the years had taken of his old friend. Padmasambvha had been old when the Doctor first met him – well over a hundred. But he had still been vigorous, clear-skinned and bright-eyed. Now he was a shattered husk of a man, his life prolonged beyond any natural length. But why, the Doctor wondered, and how?

  Padmasambvha’s voice was a little more than a breath. ‘Greetings, Doctor. It is good to see your face after so long.’

  The Doctor said quietly, ‘What has happened to you, old friend?’

  Padmasambvha could speak only with a tremendous effort. ‘I have been kept alive,’ he whispered feebly. ‘I did not know… did not realise… Intelligence… formless… on the Astral plane… it wished for form… substance… said it was experiment… long life and knowledge, in return for my help.’

  The Doctor leaned forward. The thin reedy voice was scarcely audible. It was as though something was trying to stop the Master from speaking. The thin whisper went on… ‘Refused to let me go… on and on… not experiment but conquest!’ The last word came out in a sudden gasp.

  Then the body of Padmasambvha writhed and twisted. It actually rose in the air and hung suspended. Then it dropped to the chair, limp, like a rag doll.

  The Doctor leaned forward urgently. He felt the heart, the pulse, held his magnifying glass before the withered lips to test for breath. Nothing. Grim-faced, the Doctor turned and left the room.

  For a moment there was silence. Then suddenly the body of Padmasambvha jerked and twisted. It sat bolt upright on the throne filled with new vigour. The eyes that glared after the Doctor were ablaze with malevolence. The Great Intelligence was back in control.

  10

  Peril on the Mountain

  Jamie sat uneasily watching the still-motionless Victoria. They were alone. Travers had wandered off somewhere. Jamie had tried speaking to her loudly and commandingly, gently and persuasively, all to no avail. In sudden exasperation, he picked up a stool and slammed it down on the ground just behind her. The stool shattered to pieces. Victoria didn’t stir.

  ‘What on earth are you doing, Jamie?’ He looked up to see the Doctor in the doorway. Before Jamie could answer, Victoria reacted to the Doctor’s voice. ‘Doctor, there is great danger! You must take me away! You must take me away! Take me away!’ This time there was an added note of sheer hysteria in her voice.

  ‘You’ve got to do something, Doctor,’ said Jamie desperately. ‘I’ve tried everything and she takes no notice at all. She sounds as if she’s getting worse!’

  The Doctor went over to the bed, and stood over Victoria. He said gently, ‘Victoria, my dear—’

  This time her voice was a scream of terror. ‘Doctor – take me away! Take me away!’

  ‘No, Victoria!’ There was a whiplash crack of authority in the Doctor’s voice. Victoria stopped her screaming, and gazed up at him in panic… ‘Listen to me, Victoria,’ said the Doctor firmly. ‘You are no longer in the Monastery, you are back in the TARDIS. You are safe, do you understand. Safe in the TARDIS.’

  She looked up at him wonderingly. ‘Safe?’ she whispered.

  ‘Look at me,’ murmured the Doctor soothingly. ‘You are tired, your eyes are closing, let yourself relax…’

  Victoria’s eyes closed and her head nodded. So did Jamie’s. The Doctor jabbed him in the ribs. ‘Not you, Jamie
!’

  Jamie came awake with a jerk, grinned sheepishly, and said, ‘What now?’

  ‘I’ve got to try to erase this implanted fear, if I can,’ said the Doctor. ‘It’s increasing all the time.’

  ‘Suppose you can’t?’ Jamie asked anxiously.

  ‘We’ll have to do as she says and take her away. Otherwise she’ll go out of her mind.’

  Jamie looked at him in horror. ‘That’s the object of all this,’ said the Doctor gently. ‘To make sure we leave with the others.’

  He snapped his fingers in front of Victoria’s face. Her eyes opened. ‘Listen, Victoria, you are not in the TARDIS. You are in the cell with Thomni. Do you understand?’ Victoria nodded slowly. The Doctor went on in the same compelling tone. ‘Jamie and I have come to release you. We have taken you back to the guest room. You have been dozing. You will wake up in a moment, happy but still a little tired. Do you understand?’ Again Victoria nodded. She slipped back slowly on to the bed, her eyes closing. She was asleep.

  ‘I’ve erased the memory of whatever happened after she left the cell,’ said the Doctor. ‘She should be all right now.’

  Jamie looked at him with respect. ‘I didna realise you could do that sort of thing, Doctor.’

  ‘I don’t like to do it, Jamie. It’s a serious thing to tamper with the mind. But in an emergency like this…’

  Suddenly Victoria sat up, yawning. She smiled at them. ‘I must have dropped off. I am glad you came and got me out of that cell. I was so bored…’

  She turned to Jamie who was staring at her open-mouthed. ‘What are you gawping at, Jamie? Anyone would think there was something wrong with me!’

  The Doctor chuckled. ‘Stay with her, Jamie. I’ve got work to do.’ Gathering up his detection device, he slipped away before Jamie could ask him what he’d discovered.

  The Doctor found Travers on one of the observation platforms, gazing up the mountainside with his old binoculars. ‘They’re still up there, Doctor,’ he said. ‘Look.’ He handed over the field glasses.

  Peering through them, the Doctor could see several Yeti dotted about the mountainside, motionless and waiting… ‘I must go back up there,’ he said softly. ‘One more reading and I can track their control source. I could do with some help.’

  Travers looked at him uneasily. ‘What about the boy?’

  ‘He’s staying here to look after Victoria. They’ll leave with the monks.’

  Travers nodded. ‘All right, Doctor, I’m your man. I reckon I owe you something.’

  Some time later, the Doctor and Travers were well on the way up the mountainside. They rounded a bend and saw three Yeti guarding the path a little way ahead. The Doctor turned to Travers. ‘Now we need to provoke it enough to send out a signal. If you’ll take the reading…’ He started to hand over the black box.

  Travers shook his head. ‘I don’t know how that thing works, Doctor. You take the readings and I’ll stir ’em up.’

  The Doctor looked dubious. ‘I don’t like to ask you to take the risk…’

  ‘Rot,’ said Travers stoutly, ‘I can take care of myself.’

  He came out from behind the boulders and marched boldly up to one of the Yeti. It didn’t move. ‘Boo!’ Travers yelled. Still nothing. Then, suddenly, all the Yeti came to life. They started moving forwards. ‘Are you getting your readings, Doctor?’ yelled Travers, backing away in alarm. He jumped aside, out of their way.

  The Doctor, head bent over the flickering dials, did not reply. He seemed oblivious of the little group of Yeti marching straight towards him. ‘Look out, Doctor,’ Travers yelled. The Yeti marched on, past the Doctor, ignoring him completely. They veered off at a tangent across the mountainside, and disappeared from sight behind some boulders. Travers shook his head. ‘Wonder what caused that?’ he muttered. He went back to the Doctor, who was still studying his dials. ‘I said did you get your reading?’ he asked. The Doctor nodded, his face worried.

  ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I’m afraid I did. We’d better be getting back.’

  Followed by a puzzled Travers, the Doctor started scrambling down the path. He was frowning furiously, lost in some very unpleasant thoughts.

  Supervised by the Abbot Songtsen, a sad little procession of monks and warriors was assembling in the courtyard. They were bundled up in their warmest robes. The young warriors were making up heavy packs, containing such provisions as they had been able to salvage from the wreckage. Jamie and Victoria stood looking on.

  Khrisong entered the courtyard from the Monastery and hurried over to them. ‘My warriors have searched every room. There is no sign of the Doctor, or of Travers,’ he whispered. Going over to Songtsen he said, ‘It is as you wished, my Abbot. Every room in the Monastery is empty.’

  ‘It is well,’ said Songtsen gravely. ‘I will ask a final blessing of the Master, Padmasambvha, then we shall leave.’ He went inside the Monastery.

  Victoria frowned. ‘Master? Padmasambvha? That sounds…’

  ‘Dinna think about it,’ said Jamie fiercely. ‘Think about something else. Anything!’

  Victoria looked at him in puzzlement. Luckily there was an immediate distraction. The Doctor and Travers came into the courtyard. Victoria rushed up to the Doctor and hugged him in delight. ‘You’re back! Where have you been?’

  The Doctor disengaged himself with an absent-minded ‘There, there,’ and went over to Khrisong and Thomni. ‘I’ve found it,’ he said urgently. ‘Khrisong, I’ve found the source of the transmissions controlling the Yeti!’

  Khrisong indicated the little procession forming up for departure. ‘I fear you are too late.’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ interrupted the Doctor. ‘As I suspected all along, it’s here, in the Monastery.’ He looked at his box. ‘It’s transmitting now, at this very moment.’

  Khrisong looked round. ‘But we are all here, in this courtyard… all but… the Abbot Songtsen!’

  The Doctor nodded. ‘I fear so. Now that the Master is dead, he’s the only one left.’

  ‘The Master dead?’ said Thomni.

  The Doctor nodded sadly. ‘I should have told you earlier. We’d better find Songtsen.’

  ‘No!’ said Khrisong fiercely. ‘I will deal with him. It is my right.’

  The Doctor looked at him dubiously. ‘He too has great powers,’ he said.

  ‘He is still my Abbot,’ said Khrisong confidently. ‘He will not harm me.’ He turned and left. The Doctor was worried. Could Khrisong deal with the Abbot? The Doctor knew that if Padmasambvha had been alive, Khrisong wouldn’t have stood a chance. But since it was only Songtsen…

  Travers said suddenly, ‘Songtsen! He was with them He was with the Yeti on the mountainside. And there was a cave…’

  A look of horror came over Travers’ face as memory flooded back to him. Briefly, he described seeing Songtsen escorted by Yeti, and the growing, swelling horror in the cave.

  ‘If Songtsen can control the Yeti, he’s more dangerous than I’d thought,’ said the Doctor. ‘I think I’d better go and help Khrisong.’

  Khrisong marched into the Anteroom, a burly, warlike figure, sword in hand. He towered over the frail figure of the Abbot who stood, in an attitude of prayer, before the doors to the Sanctum. ‘You must come with me, Lord Abbot,’ said Khrisong, gruffly. ‘You must come away from this place.’

  Songtsen looked up at him with mild surprise. ‘What madness is this?’

  ‘The Doctor has discovered your guilt,’ said Khrisong. ‘You must answer to the brethren for your crimes.’

  He seized the Abbot as if to drag him away by force. Then a voice spoke out of the air. ‘Khrisong!’

  Khrisong glared round. ‘Padmasambvha. The Doctor told us you were dead.’

  ‘I am deathless, Khrisong.’ There was a cold gloating note in the voice.

  ‘Do not try to frighten me. I demand to know what is happening here!’

  Songtsen was appalled. ‘Demand, Khrisong? You are in the presence of the Master.’<
br />
  ‘A Master of the Yeti?’ demanded Khrisong. ‘A Master who has destroyed his own monastery?’

  Songtsen turned towards the closed door. ‘Forgive him, oh Master.’

  ‘Of course,’ said the cold voice. ‘But our brother must not depart thinking that I am other than I am. Bring him to me, Songtsen!’

  Songtsen said tonelessly, ‘I obey, master.’ Looking down at him, Khrisong saw that the Abbot seemed almost in a state of trance, his eyes staring sightlessly ahead.

  ‘What is this?’ he growled suspiciously.

  The doors to the Sanctum swung open. ‘You may enter,’ said Songtsen. ‘But give me your sword. You may not go armed into the presence of Padmasambvha.’

  Khrisong hesitated. ‘Do you fear us, Khrisong?’ asked the voice. ‘We are two old men!’

  Khrisong handed over his sword. He went towards the doors. Songtsen, the sword in his hands, was behind him.

  Khrisong stopped cautiously on the threshold to the Sanctum. He peered through the gloom at the figure on the throne. His eyes widened in awe. ‘Padmasambvha,’ he whispered. ‘So you are not dead!’

  ‘No, my son, but you are,’ said the cold voice.

  Behind Khrisong, Songtsen raised the sword, and thrust with savage force. Khrisong gasped and wheeled round. His eyes, filled with pain and unbelief, fixed on those of his Abbot. Khrisong took a couple of tottering steps forward and collapsed. The doors to the Sanctum swung to.

  In the Sanctum, the body of Padmasambvha writhed on the throne. For a moment a different voice emerged from the withered lips, as the personality of the real Padmasambvha broke through. ‘Why do you make me do this? Release me, I beg of you…’

  Then, as the Intelligence reasserted its control, the cold voice filled the room. ‘You have done well, Songtsen. Take the monks from the Monastery, and never return.’

  In the Anteroom, Songtsen said, ‘I obey, master.’ He was about to leave when the Doctor, Thomni and Jamie rushed into the room. They found him standing over Khrisong’s body, the bloodstained sword in his hands.

  The little group stopped at the threshold, appalled. ‘Lord Abbot!’ called Thomni in horror. He rushed to kneel by Khrisong’s body. Songtsen looked down in horror. ‘What has happened? Who has slain Khrisong?’ he asked.