The Ice Warriors

by Brian Hayles

  ‘But that’s… incredible!’ he blurted out.

  ‘What is, Doctor?’ asked Jamie in amazement. It wasn’t often something set the Doctor back on his heels!

  ‘Jamie…’ murmured the Doctor wonderingly, ‘that’s an electronic earpiece – there, on the helmet! Almost identical to the ones used on modern space helmets!’

  Both the youngsters looked at him uncomprehendingly.

  ‘But Doctor… it can’t be,’ said Victoria finally.

  The Doctor raised his head abruptly. His voice was keen with excitement, and possibly something more… ‘Don’t you realise what this means?’

  He looked into their young faces, and saw that they did not understand. Reaching a quick decision, he hurried towards the door.

  ‘Wait here,’ he shouted back over his shoulder, ‘and don’t touch anything!’

  Jamie and Victoria were getting used to his sudden exits, and exchanged a gentle chuckle.

  ‘I wonder what sent him off like that?’ asked Jamie.

  ‘Scientists are all the same,’ replied Victoria. ‘They’re forever shouting Eureka, or something. Hey! What are you doing? Don’t be a spoilsport!’

  Half playfully, she struggled to prise Jamie out of the vibro-chair – not because the Doctor had told them not to touch it, but because she dearly wanted to have a go in it herself. ‘Me first!’ she shouted, then gasped as she felt the machine tingle into life, switched on by Jamie’s eager hand, as he relaxed in the chair.

  Neither of them noticed that more ice had fallen away from the warrior’s helmet. The power pack’s electrodes were now touching bare metal. Their excited laughter hid the hum which was coming from the prostrate form, and which seemed to be ever increasing in volume.

  They didn’t see the eye-pieces of the cruel helmet flicker, nor the reflex twitch of the great, gauntleted hand.

  Slowly but surely, the Ice Warrior was coming to life…

  3

  Creature from the Red Planet

  THE DOCTOR HAD been summoned to Clent’s meeting – but he hadn’t been told how to get there. Flustered and irritated, his brain almost bursting with the news of the terrible discovery, the Doctor turned a corner and found himself in the main reception hall. He paused, and took a deep breath. This sort of building must be like others of its period. If he could just mentally picture the architectural plans: music room ahead… next to that the ballroom or great hall… to the rear of the house, leading from the great hall… the library or study. The Doctor opened his eyes, his mind alert. The library – that was it!

  The memory of the Ioniser control room, lined with elegant bookcases and splendid antique paintings, echoed in his mind – as did the half-remembered glimpse he had had into the vast room beyond, filled with its banks of computers and monitoring equipment. That’d be the place! Quickly, he orientated himself in line with the room plan he had formed in his head and then set off once again, grimly determined.

  His latest discovery about the Ice Warrior was vitally important. Clent and the others must be told – and quickly!

  *

  In the laboratory, Jamie had at last given Victoria a turn in the vibro-chair. As the almost imperceptible tingling began she closed her eyes and smiled with childish delight. Jamie stood over her, his back to the great block of ice. Neither of them was aware that it had all but completely disintegrated, leaving the body once trapped inside it free and alive.

  Suddenly, Victoria opened her eyes, looked past Jamie – and screamed. At the same moment, Jamie heard the power pack crash to the floor, and spun round to see what had caused the noise. The massive form of the Ice Warrior was not merely free of the ice block, but was looming over him, hideously threatening! His immediate reaction, keyed by Victoria’s choked scream, was to protect her. Without hesitation, he threw himself against the motionless giant, in a vain attempt to grapple with that immense strength – but he might as well have been a wolfhound tackling a dinosaur. With one sweeping blow from its mighty arm, the Ice Warrior knocked him unconscious to the ground. With one great lumbering stride, the armoured giant reached the vibro-chair – but Victoria had already fainted. For a brief moment, the Ice Warrior gazed at her limp body, the breath seeming to hiss with difficulty through his strangely reptilian lips. He ponderously looked all around the room – as if searching for the best means of escape. Then, lifting Victoria as though she was no more than a feather, he strode past Jamie’s fallen body, through the nearest doorway, and into the corridor beyond…

  Clent and his subordinates were seated in a tight semi-circle around the table top formed by the ECCO control area. A stranger would have observed that the video-eyed communicator was not merely treated as a convenient information source, but was functioning as a member of the group. In fact, it had several jobs. Like an electronic secretary, it was taking minutes of the meeting; it produced relevant statistics when required, and it evaluated group decisions in the light of world policy. At the moment, however, it was passive. Clent was completing the summary of his confrontation with the Doctor.

  ‘It took him just ninety seconds to propose and explain Ionisation,’ he stated, ‘and with no prior knowledge!’

  Arden was impressed, but cautious. ‘It took us and the World Academy of Scientists years.’

  ‘And the computer three millisecs,’ interrupted Miss Garrett. Brilliant though this stranger might be, he could never be superior to her beloved computer. Arden disagreed.

  ‘It couldn’t do anything without proper programming,’ he pointed out shrewdly, much to Jan’s annoyance. But Clent shared her absolute faith in the machine.

  ‘I’d like an assessment from the computer,’ he insisted, ‘before we make any final decision about this… Doctor.’

  ‘I agree,’ nodded Miss Garrett. ‘We have to be completely certain.’

  ‘ECCO!’ instructed Clent. The artificial head turned expectantly. ‘State the work potential and group value of this new member of our team.’

  The computer’s answer was immediate and passionless.

  ‘More information needed for complete evaluation. Interim judgement: high IQ but undisciplined to unit’s immediate needs. Possible use on research projects. Could be obstructive in certain subjective situations.’

  The last sentence went largely unheard. At that moment, the door burst open and the Doctor stumbled rather breathlessly into the room. ‘There you are!’ he exclaimed.

  ‘We’ve been waiting for you, Doctor,’ Clent pointed out with icy formality. ‘Perhaps you wouldn’t mind sitting down?’

  ‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere!’ replied the Doctor. ‘Why don’t you label your doors, or something?’

  ‘Perhaps you’d let us complete our official business before making unnecessary complaints about administration,’ said Clent coldly.

  ‘No, I’m afraid not,’ insisted the Doctor. ‘I’ve got something pretty important to tell you actually. It’s about that thing in the block of ice.’

  ‘The Ice Warrior!’ exclaimed Arden anxiously. ‘Has something happened to it?’

  ‘We have more serious matters on hand than amateur archaeology!’ interrupted Clent. But the Doctor was not to be shouted down.

  ‘This is serious,’ he continued grimly. ‘It’s the thing’s helmet – it’s not what we think it is.’

  ‘You’ve discovered that it’s a prehistoric drinking cup, I suppose,’ said Clent sarcastically.

  The Doctor was looking at Arden as he spoke. ‘It has electronic connections,’ he said.

  There was a tense silence, as this remark struck home. Clent frowned. Was this stranger, dressed like a scavenger but with the brain of a scientist, a complete eccentric or, even worse, a practical joker? On the other hand, his face was deadly serious.

  ‘What are you talking about, man?’ he demanded, uncertainly.

  Arden’s amazement exploded into words. ‘It’s not possible! You must’ve made a mistake!’

  ‘I’m quite sure.’ The Doctor
was almost apologetic. ‘Of course, you do realise what this means?’

  Clent said nothing, but it was obvious that thoughts were racing through his mind. Arden groped for an explanation.

  ‘It must mean…’ he paused, then plunged on, ‘it has to mean its culture was even more advanced than we first thought!’

  ‘So much more advanced,’ remarked the Doctor drily, ‘that they even had astronauts?’

  ‘What!’ exclaimed Clent.

  ‘That headpiece of his,’ observed the Doctor, ‘it’s not a warrior’s tin hat, you know. It’s a highly sophisticated space helmet!’

  Miss Garrett firmly decided that the Doctor was having them on. What he was saying was impossible – and somebody had to tell him so!

  ‘Don’t you think you’re jumping to conclusions, Doctor – for a scientist?’ she said coolly. ‘I mean to say – a prehistoric spaceman! It’s ridiculous!’

  Arden’s face was shining with excitement. The implications were fantastic! ‘If it’s true,’ he whispered, his mind in a turmoil… But the Doctor’s next words brought him down to earth.

  ‘If it’s true,’ the Doctor repeated grimly, ‘the Ioniser programme here could be finished for good.’

  Clent had the barest premonition of what the Doctor’s warning could mean. But it was too startling to be admitted openly.

  ‘In what way?’ he asked, smiling. ‘How can one deep-frozen body, no matter how many centuries old, affect our project? You’re talking nonsense, my dear chap!’

  The Doctor studied Clent’s seemingly amused face, and understood why he didn’t want to admit the truth. It really was an impossible dilemma – but it had to be faced. He sighed. He’d better explain, gently – as if to children.

  ‘How did the Ice Warrior get there then?’ The others remained silent, baffled. ‘He didn’t walk there, did he?’

  Reluctantly, Clent answered. ‘If what you say is true… he must have arrived… by spaceship.’

  ‘And where’s that spaceship now, do you reckon?’ enquired the Doctor gently. He answered his own question. ‘In the glacier…’

  Arden began to daydream again, his eyes shining with the possibilities. ‘It could still be intact! The Ice Warrior showed no signs of damage or mutilation. They might not have crashed; they might have actually landed – to explore Earth!’ He turned from Miss Garrett to Clent, almost begging them to share his exultation. ‘Can’t you see what it means? Intelligent contact with beings from another planet!’

  The Doctor spoke more soberly. ‘I think Leader Clent also sees the inherent dangers.’

  Clent nodded grimly. ‘The propulsion unit of the spacecraft…’ he began.

  Jan, too, saw what the Doctor was getting at, and whispered, ‘Could it be reactor powered?’

  ‘Quite so, Miss Garrett,’ applauded the Doctor. ‘And if you were to use the Ioniser at anything like full power…’

  ‘The heat…’ she hesitated, then went on, ‘the spaceship’s reactor could go critical… and we’d have no way of preventing it from exploding…’

  ‘The radiation…’ Arden looked at the others, his face now full of anxiety. ‘The whole area would be contaminated – possibly for centuries!’

  ‘And what if we don’t use the Ioniser – what happens then?’ broke in Clent. ‘We are part of a world plan! If we hold back, the whole operation must fail!’

  ‘We could try holding it at minimal power,’ suggested Jan.

  ‘You know that won’t work!’ snapped Clent. ‘It increases the risks of a power feed-back here, with a resulting explosion in our own reactor!’

  At last it had been spelled out. While the others considered their desperate position, the Doctor murmured his apology.

  ‘Sorry. But I thought you ought to know.’

  ‘You were quite right to do so,’ Clent acknowledged with a tired gesture. ‘We must inform the computer, of course.’

  Before he could take steps to do so, the doors clattered open, to reveal Jamie, still dazed. He clung desperately to the doorframe. A trickle of blood had dried on his forehead.

  ‘Doctor!’ he called out, his face tense with effort.

  Within seconds, the Doctor had helped Jamie into the nearest chair. He saw at a glance that the cut on Jamie’s head was no more than a graze. But it was obvious that something was seriously the matter. And where was Victoria? Jamie’s breathless words explained everything – and added yet another amazing twist to the already desperate situation.

  ‘It’s that Warrior fellow!’ he gasped. ‘He’s come alive!’

  Both Clent and Miss Garrett were stunned into silence, but Arden cried out in disbelief. ‘What!’

  ‘I couldn’t stop him. He packs a punch like a charging bull!’

  ‘Victoria,’ demanded the Doctor, ‘where is she? Is she all right?’

  Jamie looked at him, sober-faced, and shook his head miserably. ‘I don’t know,’ he muttered. ‘He took her with him!’

  With Clent leading the way, it was only a matter of minutes before the group arrived at the laboratory. The scene spoke for itself: the trolley, empty but for a mass of crushed ice, the shattered power pack, and the overturned vibro-chair. The Ice Warrior’s past had erupted into the present. Jamie, still dazed, sat down. While the others talked, the Doctor examined the trolley and the electrodes that had once been attached to the great ice block.

  ‘There’s something very strange about this,’ he remarked.

  Clent, utterly bewildered, was questioning Jamie. ‘But what did you do to make it happen?’

  ‘How do I know? We were just talking, and then I turned, and there he was – standing right over me!’

  ‘It’s impossible,’ insisted Arden.

  ‘For a human being, perhaps…’ said the Doctor, mysteriously.

  Clent stared at him, uncomprehending.

  ‘Look at this table,’ the Doctor pointed to its surface. It was cracked and bubbled – as though scorched by fire.

  ‘But that would take immense heat!’ exclaimed Clent.

  ‘The electricity—’ offered Jamie.

  Arden rejected this. ‘I used a low voltage, deliberately!’

  ‘But a high current, I believe,’ pointed out the Doctor.

  ‘Yes… but it was safe – there was no fire risk!’ retorted the geologist.

  ‘It isn’t necessarily a question of actual fire,’ explained the Doctor. ‘Suppose that current flowed through a high resistance. What would be the result?’

  ‘Extremely high temperatures,’ replied Jan. ‘You mean, that thing…’

  ‘I said it wasn’t human, didn’t I?’ the Doctor reminded her. ‘In my opinion, the sudden build-up of heat shocked him back into neural activity.’

  ‘And what about Victoria?’ demanded Jamie, clearheaded and alert once more. ‘What can we do to save her?’

  A surge of guilt flowed over the Doctor’s mind. He faced Jamie tensely, the scientific problem forgotten.

  ‘You’re right, Jamie. We’ve got to find her! They couldn’t have got far!’

  Clent, too, had reacted sharply to the reminder that an undesirable alien menace was loose within the Base complex; less important was its helpless hostage. He moved quickly to the video-communicator.

  ‘Danger. Red alert!’ he snapped to all channels within the Base. ‘Intruders within Base perimeter. Capture and control – priority one!’

  But Jamie wasn’t impressed. ‘What good’s that? Suppose they’re already out of it? We’ve got to go after them – now!’

  ‘My dear chap, I’m very sorry, but we’re down to emergency personnel only. I cannot release men to go wandering off outside this Base. It’d be madness!’

  ‘But the girl’s life may be at stake!’ added the Doctor. ‘You have to make a search party available!’

  Jan Garrett saw Clent’s mouth tighten stubbornly. No matter how much the Doctor argued, the Leader had made up his mind. But there was one possible way out.

  ‘Leader Clent,’ sh
e suggested calmly, ‘we must inform the computer.’ She paused, knowing he had to agree, then went on, ‘It could soon tell us whether it is possible to reallocate the work schedule to release a rescue party.’

  The others watched tensely as Clent considered Jan’s shrewd suggestion. He reluctantly nodded his head.

  ‘Very well, we will put it to the computer…’

  Unknown to Clent and the Doctor, Victoria was being held prisoner only a hundred yards away. At the first sound of the security alarm, the Ice Warrior had entered the nearest convenient bolt hole – a medical store room.

  Victoria had still been unconscious when they had taken cover. Coming round now, she had no idea where she was. All that she could see from the corner where she lay huddled, was the gigantic form of the Ice Warrior. He was standing by the door, listening intently. The distant alarm call stopped abruptly. Seemingly satisfied, the creature now turned towards Victoria – and she saw his cruel face clearly for the first time.

  Her throat became so tight with fear that she could scarcely gasp… The so-called armour of the helmet-head and massive body was in fact tough, and reptilian in substance – but unlike animal eyes, its hard glass-covered eye sockets revealed no emotion. Only a vaguely flickering light illuminated their dark depths.

  Like the eyes, the creature’s ears looked mechanical in design – electronic, as the Doctor had said. But the mouth was different: mobile, leathery, lizard-like. It seemed to be forever struggling to snatch in precious air, with the result that every breath, every word it uttered, hissed snake-like from that menacing head. From the huge shoulders downwards, the armoured skin took on the shape of a great protective shell.

  Victoria noticed with a shudder that instead of hands, or even webbed, reptilian claws, the arms ended in what looked like metallic clamps. And from the right forearm, compact and sleek, but as though part of the creature’s physical anatomy, projected a strange, tubular device – rather like the telescopic sights of a rifle. Victoria had no time for further speculation. The Ice Warrior was now looming over her, cruel and menacing.

  ‘Stand!’ it commanded.