by Gerry Davis
'What's that?'
But Haydon didn't wait to explain.
'Come on!' he shouted. 'Let's run it again and see what happens—but Jamie boy, keep your eyes off the wall, will you! You work the controls this time and I'll watch.'
'Right.'
'This is the one you press,' said Haydon, 'and for Pete's sake, don't press any other one or anything might happen.'
Jamie walked over to the controls, his hand ready over the button. Haydon stood opposite the wall of images, but as far away as he could, with one hand holding the console rail to keep himself in touch with reality and prevent being drawn towards it.
'O.K.,' said Haydon. 'Now, press the first button.'
'I can't understand it,' said Professor Parry, irritably. Professor Parry and Klieg were still trying to work out the symbolic logic that would tell them the key secret of Telos: where the tombs of the Cybermen were located; where, in this great complex of metal going down to who-knew-what depths, and how many miles of subterranean catacombs, were the bodies of the Cybermen themselves?
'I can't understand why when this whole building is alive that hatch stays firmly closed.' Parry pointed over to the central conning-tower-like hatch.
'It's only a matter of time.' Klieg carefully began another sequence of buttons.
'You've said that before, Mr Klieg,' said the Professor, now definitely ratty. 'Where are your mathematics, Mr Klieg? You gave me to understand this sort of thing was right up your line of country, when you asked to join this expedition.'
Klieg ignored him. He finished his selection of the coloured buttons and again nothing happened The hatch remained closed.
'I suggest you use deduction or even induction, rather than simple trial and error, Mr Klieg,' snapped the Professor.
Klieg did not reply—checking his notes for the next sequence of numbers.
'The tombs of the Cybermen must be below ground,' said the Professor. 'And their records must be there, too. If we can't get down there, then all our work here and—the sacrifice of that unfortunate fellow's life—will go in vain.'
The Professor felt that the death of the crewman at the doors would be somehow justified if they found the great archaeological treasure they were seeking. A find that would make Professor Parry the outstanding archaeologist of his time.
'And a great deal more than that will be in vain,' said Klieg to himself.
'I beg your pardon?' said the Professor, still angry with the other man and his arrogant manner. If only scholars didn't need money all the time!
'Just talking to myself—that's all. Now if you would perhaps photograph this room and leave me to my work. We shall make much better progress.' Parry glared at him for a moment, then turned away.
In the Cyberman recharging room, Viner, aided by Kaftan, was examining the mechanism of the huge Cyberform.
'That's all you can remember—darkness, no sparks, flashes, electrical shocks?' The Doctor spoke quietly to Victoria, who was sitting down, now calm and composed again, on a bench by the console.
'Yes, Doctor. I don't think I was actually touching any part of the interior.'
'Hmm.' The Doctor looked down at her heavy practical walking shoes with rubber soles. 'I see. Of course, you are a little smaller than the average Cyberman... and very, very lucky.' He turned away. 'Come on.'
'Where to, Doctor?'
'Eh?' He turned back as if surprised that she had not read his thoughts. 'To find Jamie, of course.'
'Jamie?'
'We haven't seen him for nearly an hour—goodness knows what trouble he's in, by. now.'
'You think he's in trouble, Doctor?' said Victoria a little anxiously.
The Doctor smiled for the first time since entering the grim Cyberman recharging room. 'Well, look at you—it only took you twenty-five minutes to get yourself nearly fried. Out!'
He pushed the girl before him and they left the room. As they left Viner looked up from his notetaking and glanced at Kaftan.
'I sometimes feel that man has been here before,' he said a little pettishly. 'He never tries to record or examine anything, you notice.'
Kaftan nodded. 'I have noticed. As if he understands the whole workings here.'
'Exactly. And regards our work as a waste of time.' Viner snapped his notebook shut.. 'We might be better occupied in following him.'
'You follow him, Mr Viner. I will stay here.' Kaftan, smiled, her eyes dark and inscrutable.
'Yes, I think I will.' Viner nodded to her, adjusted his glasses and went over to the archway—then remembered his manners. 'But, are you sure you're not afraid of being left alone?'
Kaftan raised her head proudly. 'I am never afraid.'
Viner peered at her anxiously for a moment, then left.
In the target room Jamie and Haydon had made Some progress. Jamie had pressed the button, standing with his eyes away from the wall, and the dancing circles were again swirling in their intricate patterns. Haydon, his hands gripping the rail, had his eyes closed, only risking the odd look.
'Is that all?' asked Haydon. 'Nothing more happening from that button?'
'Aye, that's all,' said Jamie.
'Any more buttons we haven't tried?'
'Och, two you didn't find.' Jamie was pleased 'with himself. 'You have to lift up this wee tray herethey're underneath it. White and black. What do they do?'
Haydon looked over briefly. 'I'm not sure, but we'll soon find out.' He turned his back on the colours and walked over to the opposite wall. 'I'm going to trace the source.of these shapes. There must be a projector somewhere.'
He passed his hand along the gleaming wall, but felt nothing.
'When I give the word,' he said, 'press both buttons.'
'Together?' asked Jamie.
'Yes. They must be set there to work in unison.'
'Aye, then,' said Jamie. 'When you're ready.'
Haydon walked back to the centre rail, held it and looked back at the moving circles.
'O.K.,' said Haydon. 'Go ahead.'
Jamie stretched his hand and put his thumb on the black button, his forefinger on to the white. He pressed them both down—hard!
Whirr! Hmmm! Whirr! The sound came from the end of the room opposite the circles.
There was a flash of light at the far end of the room, the wall lit up like sheet lightning.
'JAMIE!'
It was the Doctor's voice, as he and Victoria rushed in from the door.
'DON'T TOUCH THAT CONTROL!' shouted the Doctor.
'It's too late, Doctor, I have.'
The Doctor rushed over to the controls and tried to release the two depressed buttons. But they wouldn't come up. Rapidly the Doctor glanced at the rest of the panel, working out its possible function with supermind speed.
'What's the matter, Doctor?' asked Jamie. After all, nothing terrible had happened yet. They'd had far worse on this nasty planet.
As he spoke, the far wall seemed to lose its light and grow dark. They saw it was not a wall:, it was doors silently gliding open. Out of the blackness loomed a huge figure. A silvery apparition with gigantic limbs and a massive helmet for a face. Victoria screamed. Behind her, Viner, who had just entered the room stopped, aghast, his mouth open.
But the silver figure with the blank face raised its metal fist and in its fist was something like a gun, black and menacing. Every human stood there, mesmerised with fear.
The Cyberman went on raising his gun, slowly, slowly. It was pointing at them, they could see the dark hole of the barrel.
'Down.' The Doctor pulled Victoria to the ground followed by Jamie and Viner. FLASH! There was a cry of agony. Lying on the floor they saw Haydon twitching, his eyes wide. Out of his tunic at his neck, arms and legs poured smoke, thick yellow smoke. Almost in slow motion his body crumpled up and he fell to the ground, his eyes open, staring.
7
The Finding of the Cybermat
The others clutched the floor in fear, but almost before they had time to look up again, the f
igure of the Cyberman had stepped back and the doors had glided shut.
They all lay absolutely still, expecting with every second another terrible flash and the Cybergun delivering its terrible, lethal charge at them. But as seconds ticked by and nothing happened, Jamie, impatient as always, raised his head.
'Wait!' said the Doctor. They lay there for another two minutes before he motioned them to their feet and went over to look at Haydon, signalling the others back. Then he took out his handkerchief and placed it over the man's face.
'Now, Jamie,' said the Doctor in a businesslike voice, 'what exactly happened here? What did you do? What sequence did you use?'
Jamie looked puzzled.
'Sequence? Och, I just pressed these two,' said Jamie, indicating black and white buttons, now fully extended again. Then, realising, 'I've killed him, Doctor.'
Victoria turned to him and held his hand as Professor Parry bustled in, absorbed in his research.
'Doctor,' he said, 'if you could spare us a moment...' He gasped, seeing Haydon's body, ran over to it, bent down and removed the handkerchief from the wide, staring eyes.
'Haydon!' He turned round fiercely on the others. 'What's happened to him?'
Before anyone had a chance to reply, Viner ran forward hysterically.
'He's dead!' he shouted. 'Another corpse! It's this damned building. It's watching us, it's alive, it'll get us all, if we stay here. We've got to leave!'
'Silence, man! Control yourself!' shouted the Professor. He looked down at Haydon again. He'd known him as a promising student and had been pleased when a few years later Haydon had come to his office to ask if he could do some research on the history of the Cybermen with him. He could see the young man now, standing eagerly in front of his desk in the old university building in southern England. So far away... now.
'Terrible,' said the Professor quietly. 'Terrible. Poor Haydon.'
He gazed down at the body. Then he stirred.
'How did it happen?' he asked. But Viner, still shocked, was pressed against the indifferent silvery wall, as far from the terrible doors as he could get.
'We've got to get out of this building,' he was muttering, gazing wildly about him. 'It's deadly. They'll kill us all if we don't get back to the orbiter.'
'They?' asked the Doctor sharply.
'The Cybermen!' whispered Viner. 'Didn't you see him?'
'A Cyberman?' asked the Professor. 'A live Cyberman? My dear Viner, they've been dead for the last five hundred years.'
'I tell you there was a Cyberman and he came out of there.' He pointed to the doors. Parry looked unbelievingly at the hysterical man.
'He's right,' said Jamie.
The Doctor was examining the. doors. Parry moved towards the screen.
'Keep back,' screamed Viner. 'Keep back! You'll bring it out again.'.
'The question is,' said the Doctor calmly, 'what killed him?'
'But you saw the Cyberman, Doctor,' said Victoria.
'I saw something,' said the Doctor.
'For Heaven's sake, what else!' said Viner.
'Haydon looked at the screen,' the Doctor said, 'in the same direction as you were facing, right?'
'Of course,' said Viner, 'must you state the obvious?'
'Not quite so obvious,' said the Doctor, 'when you consider. that he was shot in the back.'
'In the back?' exclaimed Jamie.
'Are you sure, Doctor?' the Professor interjected.
'See for yourself,' said the Doctor gravely.
The Professor and Viner crouched over Haydon's body and gingerly turned him over. They all saw a large ragged circular burn mark on the material. The Doctor looked round the room. 'If the Cyberman didn't shoot him, then who did?' he said. 'The answer lies over there, I think.' He went over to the wall he had been examining. 'Jamie...'
'Aye, Doctor?'
'Can you remember what you did—the exact sequence?'
'Oh, I'm not sure.'
'You must try, Jamie,' said the Doctor firmly. 'I want you to repeat the operation when I give the word.'
'Very well, Doctor,' said Jamie, looking anxiously at the control console. 'If you really think...' He stopped, not wanting to show his fear.
'You're crazy, man!' shouted Viner. 'You'll bring out... that... thing again!'
'I hope not,' said the Doctor offhandedly. 'We'll just have to see.'
'When you're ready, Jamie,' said the Doctor crisply, 'let me know.'
'Aye, any time you want, Doctor.'
The Doctor turned to face Viner and the others. 'There is a distinct element of risk in what I am doing, so I suggest that anyone who wants to leave should do so now.'
They looked back at him, knowing the danger was real and close. Viner was in such a panic he couldn't move. He stood where he was, pressed stiffly against the wall. The Professor set his stiff upper lip bravely to face death in the cause of science. Victoria was ready to go anywhere the Doctor went. But Jamie, who enjoyed life and didn't see the point of throwing it away in this spooky place if he didn't have to, stepped down from the console platform and started firmly for the doorway.
'No, Jamie,' came the Doctor's voice. 'Not you.'
For a moment the young Scot hesitated. 'Of course, if you're afraid?' Jamie stiffened, glared at the Doctor, and stepped back on to the platform.
'Can't you stop all this? He'll kill us all!' cried Viner to the Professor.
'Not if you keep back, I won't,' said the Doctor lightly. 'Keep back against that wall in the corner there... please, Mr Viner,' he added, because although the others had moved to the safest place, Viner didn't apparently know who he was and what he was doing.
'Come on, man,' said the Professor.
Viner joined the others in the corner by the entrance arch.
'Right, Jamie,' said the Doctor. 'Now!'
Jamie pressed the white and black buttons.
FLASH! Unable to look away they stared as the doors glided quietly open, the gleam of silver, the realisation that this was the shape of a Cyberman they were looking at a Cyberman holding a long black Cyberweapon.
'Look the other way! The other way!' said the Doctor.
Only Jamie and Victoria dared to look, and therea panel slid back and revealed a gun similar to the one held by the Cyberman.
There sounded the low rattle of the Cyberweapon. It had fired at the Cyberman. Victoria screamed as the Cyberman's head rocked on the huge shoulders, toppled forward and off.
The Doctor leaned over the controls and flicked a switch by the two firing buttons. This time both the doors and the panel which had covered the gun remained open. Cautiously the Doctor moved forward.
'Careful, Doctor...' said Victoria.
'Quite safe now, I think,' said the Doctor as he walked across to fhe open doors where the body of the Cyberman lay sprawled.
'Don't—' squeaked Viner, but the Doctor had already crouched down and touched the trunk of the dead Cyberman. They watched, fascinated, as he lifted the great silver trunk and looked inside. It was as empty as a suit of armour..
'There, you see, it's only a model—a mock-up,' said the Doctor.
The Professor, ever curious, leaned forward and tried to touch the gun, but the Doctor stopped him. 'Careful. That may be real!'
'It's a trap,' said Viner.
'Oh, I don't think it's anything as elaborate as that,' said the Doctor, 'more likely it's a testing room for weapons. This,' he said, turning over one of the great silver limbs, 'is a purely robotic Cyberman. It contains no humanoid material. It's simply made as a target for weapons.'
Once he had explained it, they relaxed. But Haydon was still dead.
'Let's go back to the control room with this poor fellow,' said Parry.
Viner and Jamie picked up Haydon's body.
'What's that?' said Victoria suddenly, pointing to the silver fish creature that Jamie had been examining.
'Och, only some wee creature I found on the floor,' said Jamie over his shoulder as they carried
Haydon away. Poor Haydon, he'd been afraid of the wee silver beastie, Jamie thought, as they manoeuvred the body through the door and along the corridor.
'It's a fossil,' said Victoria curiously, as she picked it up. It did look a bit like a crustacean from hundreds of millions of years ago that had turned to silvery metal instead of stone.
'Victoria,' said the Doctor sharply, coming over to her. 'Be very careful. Let me see it.'
He took it from her gingerly, looked at the holes in the head where the 'eyes'. and 'mouth' would be, and examined the antennae closely.
'It looks inactive,' he said, 'but it's not a fossil, Victoria. It's a...' He hesitated, trying to remember a small fact from the recesses of his mind, then took his dog-eared diary out of his pocket and looked up something. under the 'C's.
'Here we are—a Cybermat!'
'What is a Cybermat, Doctor?' asked Victoria.
'Oh, it's one of those...' he began, but thought she had had enough unpleasant stories for a while. 'I'd just leave it alone if I were you.'
He went out after the others. Victoria, whose scientific curiosity, inherited from her father, didn't allow her to leave something unanswered once she had begun to wonder about it, made a face at his know-all back, picked up the Cybermat for later examination and put it in the large handbag she always carried.
In the great hall of the main control room Kaftan and Klieg were still standing by the master code console. The scientist was still wrestling with the symbols, trying to work out the correct sequence and getting more and more irritable when it continued to elude him.
The sound of a footstep made them look up. Toberman stood silently before them, his arms folded.
'Well?' asked Kaftan curtly.
'It is done,' said Toberman.
She nodded with a half-smile.
'Good.' She waved him back.
Toberman stood aside.
But Klieg was still absorbed in the code machine. 'I'll never completely understand this code,' he said crossly. 'The sequence just doesn't make sense.'
Kaftan looked at him derisively. 'You, a logician, and you say a code the brilliant Cybermen invented doesn't make sense! What you mean is your brain's not up to it, eh? You must. work harder. You must master it.'
