DOCTOR WHO AND THE TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN

by Gerry Davis

  'Roast Veal?' asked Kaftan. 'Roast Beef? Chicken?'

  'Oh, chicken, please,' said Victoria visualising a plate weighed down with an enormous drumstick, tasty white meat and stuffing, onion sauce, brussels sprouts and roast potatoes. Kaftan handed her one of the small transparent packages.

  'What on earth is this?' asked Victoria.

  'What you have asked for—chicken, of course,' said Kaftan sharply. Was the girl stupider than she had supposed?

  Sure enough, there was a label on it saying 'Roast Chicken'. Not wanting to appear silly, she copied what Kaftan did, opening the end of the package and inserting a squirt of water from the water bottle, then massaging it until the dehydrated food swelled up.

  Out of the transparent plastic came a smell which certainly was very like roast chicken. But Victoria didn't fancy it somehow.

  'Thank you,' she said politely. 'I'm not so hungry now,' she said primly. 'I would like something to drink.'

  Kaftan reached into the aluminium box and took out a vacuum flask.

  'Perhaps you will pass me the other rucksack,' she said.

  Then, as Victoria walked over to fetch it, Kaftan quickly poured out a cup of coffee, took a small tube out of her pocket and tipped a white tablet into the cup. Victoria returned hugging the rucksack.

  'You are cold—yes?' said Kaftan kindly as Victoria shivered and nodded. 'This will warm us both up,' said Kaftan, handing her a cup of coffee. Everything about the lovely Arab woman was now warm, friendly and even motherly towards Victoria. She took the coffee and cupped her hands round its comforting warmth.

  'Here is to success in their search,' said Kaftan, raising her own cup and drinking it like a toast.

  If the two women had not been so preoccupied with their drinks they might have noticed that Victoria's handbag had moved two inches from its position on the bench.

  Inside, the long dormant Cybermat was beginning to come to life.

  The men meanwhile had climbed down the long ladder and were assembled at the foot of the wall. Ahead, the passageway, assembled in sections like a subway tunnel, sloping down into the interior of the planet.

  As the Professor shone his flashlight ahead of them, the walls reflected back a million tiny diamond-like particles of frost rime. He stamped his feet impatiently as the Doctor and Toberman climbed down beside him.

  'Hurry up,' he said, 'we've no time to linger. It's extremely cold here. Even with these anoraks.'

  Jamie looked over at Klieg who was wearing his own expensive fleece-lined jacket. 'You obviously knew what to expect,' he said.

  Klieg gave a half-smile that was more like a sneer. 'I always come prepared,' he said insultingly, glancing at the Scot's bare knees below his kilt.

  'Which way do we go?' asked Viner vaguely, looking along the tunnel both ways.

  'Hardly back upwards,' said Parry, indicating the upward sloping tunnel. 'Let's try this one.' And decisively he strode along the downward passage. The others followed, their boots crunching on the powdered ice on the floor. The corridor was cut as straight as a Roman road, no difficulties such as hard rocks or underground streams could stand in the way of a race as efficient and ruthless as the Cybermen.

  'Ah! It seems we are arriving,' said the Professor.

  As the men followed the Professor out of the tunnel, they found themselves inside a huge, cathedral-like cavern.

  As the Professor's flashlight beam crept upwards they could see that, built against the rock surface, was a huge edifice that, at first sight, resembled a vast honeycomb.

  The far wall was covered with a structure composed of hexagonal units, one neatly fitting into the other like the cells in a beehive. The surface of each cell was covered with a thin membrane, heavily coated with hoar-frost.

  The Professor shone the torch downwards and around the cavern. Beside the entrance there was a control desk, similar to the ones in the surface rooms, but there seemed to be no further extension of the tunnel beyond the room.

  'It seems we've reached a dead end.' The Professor was tired and disappointed. 'There are no Cybertombs here. We shall have to try the other tunnel.'

  The rest of the party, except for the impassive Toberman, Klieg, who was examining the control board with his torch, and the Doctor, also voiced their disappointment.

  'This will be our tomb, if we don't get back up to the surface,' Viner snorted.

  'Wait,' said the Doctor, 'if I may borrow your flashlight.' He turned to the Professor and walked over to the lower row of hexagonal cells.

  'Here,' he called. Viner, Jamie and the Professor, struck by the note of excitement in his voice, walked over to him, as he put the torch against the side of the thin, white membrane.

  The light illuminated the inside of the cell. Clearly visible inside was a hunched, humanoid figure curled up in an embryonic posture with its head on its knees.

  'I think you've found your tombs, Professor.' The Doctor handed his torch to Parry and stepped back as the others clustered around, amazed.

  'It is—the Cybermen!'

  The large silver helmet was plainly visible now, as the Professor shone his torch to and fro, around the surface of the cell.

  'Here's another.' Viner pointed to the next cell where a similar figure was crouched. The. huge cavern seemed to be taking power from their torches and, as in the tunnel, the metal held the light and reflected, it back, gradually illuminating the whole vast honeycomb.

  Klieg left the control board and strolled over to join them—apparently as unaffected by the general excitement as the stolid Toberman.

  'You don't seem surprised, Mr Klieg,' said the Doctors 'You obviously knew what to expect.'

  'Perhaps,' said Klieg. His eyes seemed to hold a different kind of excitement to the others, inner, triumphant.

  The Professor, almost in tears, was shaking hands with Viner as the other congratulated him.

  'Forgive me,' he said to the Doctor and Klieg. 'But, after so many years of work... and such. a long search...'

  Jamie had been examining one of the Cybermen through the membrane. He turned to the Doctor.' 'They didna' look dead, or even damaged.'

  'They're not,' said the Doctor. 'They are in a state of hibernation. All their power for evil is locked up in this ice. And so they must remain,' he added, almost to himself.

  'Like bees. in a gigantic honeycomb waiting for the signal to arise from their winter sleep,' said Klieg.

  'A signal they are never going to get,' said the Doctor sharply.' But Klieg merely smiled his superior closed smile, and walked back to study the control board.

  Viner, his fears returning as the euphoria of the great discovery wore off, blew into his hands to warm them. 'We had better get busy, Professor. Everything must be recorded.' He took a notebook from his pocket.

  'Eh,' said the Professor, jolted out of his reverie. 'Yes, of course. Inconsiderate of me. We must get busy. It's far too cold to stay here for long.'

  'Unless we can find a way of warming things up,' Klieg called over his shoulder.

  The Doctor, looking suspiciously over at him, saw that he was laughing quietly to himself; as though he had made a joke. The Doctor wondered again about the secret motives of Klieg and Kaftan in financing and coming on this trip. Neither seemed really interested in the pleasures and satisfactions of archaeology. With a slight stab of apprehension, he wondered how Victoria was coping, left alone with Kaftan. He had trusted to the girl's quick intelligence, but had he failed to put her on her guard with the woman?

  Victoria was not feeling either quick or intelligent. She was overpowered with sleepiness. Whenever she opened her eyes, the room seemed too bright for her, so it was easier to shut them. Why was she so sleepy, she wondered drowsily. All the strain, she supposed. But she'd stayed up here because the Doctor was worried about something. There was something she should be on her guard against... something... her head fell forward on to her chest.

  'You have hardly touched your coffee,' said Kaftan's concerned voice. 'It m
ust be cold by now. Here, I will give you some more.'

  Why does she keep on about the coffee, wondered Victoria, half inside the place of sleep.

  'No thanks,' said Victoria. 'I feel much warmer now.'

  'That is good.'

  'I just feel sleepy,' murmured Victoria and then gave in. Her head settled back against the table and she relaxed into a full sleep.

  Kaftan waited a moment, then went over to look at her. Yes, the girl was breathing the deep slow breaths of sleep, her head on her arms, her hair flowing on the table. Without wasting a moment more, she went straight to the control console, looked at it for a moment, pressed the levers and buttons, and taking a notebook from her pocket, pressed a sequence of buttons.

  Below the gears of the hatch were engaged, and as she watched, the great metal lid creaked slowly down from its upright position, until it slammed shut with a clang that echoed down the icy blackness of the shaft.

  What was that?'

  Viner, whose fear made his ears sharp as a bat's, lifted his head as the distant sound of the slamming hatch echoed as a muffled thump, along the metal corridor.

  'It sounded like...'

  The Doctor, Jamie, Viner and the Professor turned and listened with dread as the vibrations trembled into silence.

  'It's the hatch,' said Jamie.

  Only Klieg and Toberman seemed unworried. They exchanged quick glances. The Professor, his camera busy at the far end of the vault, seemed unconscious of the situation. Jamie, followed by Viner, turned and rushed along the frozen tunnel towards the entrance well, slipping and scraping on the ice-covered metal floor. It seemed longer now, an unrelenting climb. They got to the shaft, gasping for breath, their lungs hurting with the cold, and gazed up. Above them there was no friendly circle of light, only the faint phosphorescence of the shaft walls.

  'It's closed!' shouted Jamie, his voice cracking.

  He started up the ladder, his fear making the larger-than-man-sized gaps between each rung hardly noticeable. He must get it open. But as he climbed he remembered the heavy sound of the gears. No one with human strength could open that great metal hatch and he knew it.

  Viner had started on the bottom rung of the ladder, but halfway up its icy gaps filled him with the fear of falling. He gazed upwards, panicking.

  'What's the use?' he called to Jamie, who was still climbing. 'We're trapped down here, now. We'll never survive in this cold.'

  Jamie ignored him and climbed on. 'Better get back,' Viner added to himself. Let Jamie look after himself, he thought.

  He climbed down the ladder and ran back along the tunnel.

  'Well?' said the Doctor, as Viner re-entered the vast cavern.

  'It's closed,' said Viner gasping for breath. 'What have they done that for?' he added shakily. 'What are they playing at?'

  'Perhaps it wasn't them,' said the Doctor. Viner looked at him with growing horror.

  'Where's Jamie?' asked the Doctor.

  'He went up the ladder to try it.'

  Viner rushed over to the Professor who was still calmly photographing the glittering tiers of Cybertombs. 'Professor—' he began.

  The Professor waved him to silence as he crouched for the perfect shot. These pictures, he could see them already, beamed on to the viewing screens of half the universe—'Professor Parry Discovers the Lost Tombs of the Cybermen'...

  'Professor, listen to me, for Heaven's sake!' squawked Viner, jabbing him in the shoulder and spoiling his angled close-up shot of a tomb. 'The hatch is down. The hatch is down, Professor. We're trapped down here.'

  Realising the situation at last, the Professor straightened up. 'Eh? Trapped ? Are you sure ?' He looked at the little scientist. 'But there are some of my party up there.'

  'Of course I'm sure,' snapped Viner. 'You know how heavy that thing is. It's down now.'

  He looked round him and as he looked, the ice seemed to creep closer.

  'We must do something. I'll give us a couple of hours in here at the most!'

  Professor Parry looked confused. He looked around uncertainly. Klieg was still standing at the control console, not bothering to join in the conversation, and Toberman stood next to him, as if waiting for a command.

  'Mr Klieg doesn't seem too worried,' said the Doctor.

  'No,' said Klieg over his shoulder. 'No, Doctor. I'm not.'

  Jamie ran back in. 'It's nae good,' he said. 'Stuck fast! I can't make anyone hear.'

  'You see,' said Viner, in an I-told-you-so voice.

  But the others were looking at Klieg. He alone seemed unshaken by their plight—filled with a new assurance. He turned.

  'There is an easy way out of our situation.'

  'I—you've found something? Quick man, tell me,' said Viner.

  'Of course,' said Klieg icily. 'You're forgetting something. A simple law of logic. If it closes it can be opened. From here.' He pointed to the central control.

  'Conveniently labelled in symbolic logic, I see,' said the Doctor.

  He examined the lever shape. 'Fits a human hand too. Hmmm!'

  'You mean—not a Cyberman hand...' said Jamie, next to him, beginning to get the idea. 'Why would they do that?'

  The Doctor did not answer, merely glancing expectantly at Klieg—waiting for his move.

  'So,' said Klieg crisply. 'There is a simple way out again. Via this control.' He turned back to the. board followed by the others.

  'If you will stand clear, I will operate the sequence.'

  'If it is the opening device,' said the Doctor softly.

  'It is obviously an opening device of some kind, Doctor,' said Klieg, smiling.

  'Hurry it up. I don't know how you can all be so blasted calm about it,' blurted Viner. 'I'm half frozen.'

  Jamie looked at him in disgust. 'If you'd help for a wee change,' he said, 'instead of always moaning.' He started back along the tunnel.

  'I'll tell you if it works,' he called to the Doctor and Klieg. 'Go ahead.'

  Decisively Klieg followed a simple sequence of levers and coloured buttons. The switchboard lighted up and the dynamo-like hum told him the controls were working. Klieg finished his sequence, watched closely by the Doctor, then stood back with arms folded, watching the dials.

  There followed what seemed like an endless pause to the waiting men.

  Then Jamie entered, out of breath and despondent. 'Nae, it didna work.'

  Viner turned away stricken. They all looked along the icy tunnel, as though it could somehow show them the opened hatch and that everything would be all right. Even after they had realised that the hatch would not open, the others stood silent, each with his private thoughts.

  The Professor felt something on his cheek. Something that in normal circumstances he would hardly have noticed—a drop of water. He brushed it away, then his mind registered the significance of it.

  'Water!' he said aloud. Drops of water were beginning to fall all over the cavern now.

  'It's getting warmer,' said Jamie.

  With the warmer air the light inside the cavern was steadily increasing in intensity. The three-storey honey-comb of cells seemed to be illuminated from behind. The huge curled-up Cybermen were becoming visible in sharp focus as the ice melted from the outside of. the clear plastic membranes.

  There was something threatening in the three banked rows of insect-like figures as the cavern lightened. Only the Professor seemed impervious to the threat—like a happy child he reloaded his camera and darted forward, recording his find for posterity.

  'Perfect! Perfect! Gentlemen!' he called to the others. 'They are in perfect condition. This is unique in archaeology.'

  It was Viner who noticed it first.

  'Professor,' he called, pointing to the nearest Cyberman. 'I'm sure that one moved!'

  'Nonsense,' said Parry.

  'No, he's right.' Jamie's keen eyes roved over the now defrosted cells. 'Look! Up there.'

  In the middle of the second row of cells, one of the Cybermen was visibly stretching his body�
��stiffly, one small jerk at a time, like a chick emerging from an egg.

  'My God!' Viner's voice had shrunk to a whisper. 'They're all moving!'

  The process of defreezing had now accelerated. Water was streaming clown the side of the honeycomb and 'running away in specially built gullies. The air in the cavern was now oppressively warm and humid.

  All over the honeycomb the Cybermen were coming to life, their huge limbs illuminated from behind in a slow-motion shadow ballet.

  The men stared, as if hypnotised. Viner finally broke the silence.

  'You fool!' He turned to Klieg. 'You must have worked the wrong controls. We must shut it down—quickly!'

  He rushed to the control panel and with an insight bred of desperation, managed to reverse the 'start-up' sequence activated by Klieg.

  Almost immediately cold air began to blow into the cavern, once more the sheets of water froze against the honeycomb. Inside the cells the Cybermen's movement stopped and they froze back into immobility like run-down clockwork dolls. The light began to fade once more.

  Klieg, who had been watching, as hypnotised by the terrible ballet as the others, snapped back into life.

  'What... what is happening?' He swung back on Viner, his eyes wild. 'Get away from those controls.'

  Viner raised his slight body to its full height and stared back at Klieg through his glasses. 'Certainly not!'

  Klieg put his hand into the inside pocket of his coat and brought out a small but deadly handgun.

  'What are you doing, man?' The Professor was now hopelessly bewildered by events. Jamie stepped forward but was blocked by the giant Toberman, arms folded, protecting Klieg.

  'Keep back.' Klieg's voice rose in pitch and emphasis. 'All of you. I shall not hesitate to kill. For the last time.' He turned to Viner. 'Stand away from those controls.'

  The little man, whose nagging anxieties and complaints had got on the nerves of his companions through-out the expedition, now showed an unexpected reserve of will and courage. He stared unflinchingly into the mouth of the levelled gun.