‘It is witchcraft,’ snarled Khrisong. ‘The thing is a servant of the devil.’
The Doctor shook his head. ‘Not quite. It’s some kind of robot, I think.’
‘No wonder we couldna kill it with spears,’ said Jamie.
‘The thing is,’ said the Doctor, ‘why did it stop working?’ He returned to his examination.
‘Maybe something inside it got broken in the fall?’ suggested Victoria.
The Doctor was examining the fur on the creature’s massive chest. ‘Wait a moment,’ he muttered. ‘Jamie, lend me your knife.’ Jamie slipped the dagger from his stocking, and passed it to the Doctor. Slipping the point into a crevice in the fur, the Doctor prised open a little trapdoor, revealing a hollow, empty space.
‘There’s nothing in there,’ said Victoria.
‘No, but there should be. When you trapped it, Jamie, you must have dislodged its control unit. That’s why it went dead.’
‘So if it gets its control unit back,’ said Jamie slowly, ‘it could come to life?’
The Doctor nodded gravely. ‘Yes, Jamie, I think it could.’
Outside the Monastery, the silver sphere embedded in the ground stirred feebly, trying to free itself. But the icy mud held it gripped fast. It began to pulse rhythmically, sending out some kind of signal.
In the Doctor’s quarters, the little silver sphere came to life. It, too, pulsed with a signal. Then it rolled slowly from the bed, on to the floor and out of the room.
A kitchen monk came along the corridor, on his way to clear away the remains of the Doctor’s meal. As he approached, the little sphere rolled into a dark corner. Once the monk had gone, the sphere resumed its journey, moving inch by inch towards its ultimate destination – the ‘dead’ Yeti on the table in the Great Hall. It had a long way to go. The Great Hall was in a distant part of the Monastery. But it would get there in the end.
5
The Secret of the Inner Sanctum
Hands deep in his pockets, the Doctor paced up and down the Great Hall. ‘We’ve got to find that control unit. It’s far too dangerous to be left around.’
Jamie nodded in vigorous agreement. ‘You’re telling me. We dinna want yon beastie coming to life again. Especially now we’ve brought it in here with us.’
‘Exactly,’ said the Doctor. ‘Come on.’ He set off briskly for the door, but the tall figure of Khrisong barred his way.
‘Where are you going?’ demanded Khrisong sternly.
The Doctor looked up at him impatiently. ‘To have a look outside the gates.’
‘No, I will not allow it.’
The Doctor sighed. ‘My dear chap, why ever not?’
‘You say someone made this creature and sent it against us? Why? Who wishes harm to the monks of Det-sen? I will trust no stranger until these questions are answered.’
Jamie glared at Khrisong furiously. ‘Have we no’ convinced you yet? We’re on your side!’
‘Khrisong,’ said the Doctor patiently, ‘why won’t you let us help you?’
‘I do not need your help. Thomni, guard these strangers well.’ Khrisong turned and strode from the room.
The Doctor shook his head. ‘My word, he’s an obstinate fellow.’
Travers cleared his throat. ‘Afraid you’re right, Doctor. Still, that’s it. Nothing more we can do. Think I’ll get some sleep. Night everybody.’ Travers bustled from the room, suddenly in a great hurry.
He ran along the corridor and out into the courtyard. Over by the closed and barred door, he could hear Khrisong talking to the sentry. ‘No one is to leave the Monastery. And be watchful. The Yeti are even more dangerous than we feared. Send men to fasten with chains the one that we captured.’ As Khrisong strode back across the courtyard, Travers intercepted him.
‘Khrisong! I must talk to you.’
Khrisong paused reluctantly. ‘Well?’
Travers’ voice was low and urgent. ‘We know now that the creatures who’ve been attacking you are robots. They’re not the real Yeti at all. I’ve always said the Yeti were timid and harmless. You’ve got to let me go out and find their cave. Perhaps there may still be some real Yeti there. I must know. Otherwise the whole point of my expedition will be lost.’
‘No. I will not allow anyone to leave.’
‘You can’t give me orders, you know,’ said Travers truculently. ‘I’m not one of your monks.’
‘I command here. And I say no one is to leave. Anyone may be controlling these monsters. Even you.’
Travers was about to argue further, then a sudden thought struck him. He glanced over at the sentry, not far away. ‘Thank you, Khrisong, old chap. Thank you very much!’ said Travers in a suddenly loud voice. He saw the sentry glance towards them.
‘Why do you thank me?’ snapped Khrisong.
Travers smiled. ‘For making me see sense,’ he said quietly. Then, raising his voice again, ‘Well, thanks again. Good night.’
Khrisong stared at him as if he were mad, and strode away. Travers waited until he was out of sight, then walked quickly across to the sentry at the gate. ‘I’ve just been having a word with Khrisong,’ he said. ‘He’s given me permission to leave the Monastery.’
In the Great Hall, the Doctor was getting nowhere.
‘I’m sorry, Doctor,’ said Thomni firmly. ‘I myself would trust you. But I must obey the orders of Khrisong.’
‘I suppose you must,’ said the Doctor sadly. He wandered back to the table where the Yeti lay stretched out.
‘Doctor,’ said Victoria timidly, ‘that space you found in the Yeti’s chest – it’s round, isn’t it?’
The Doctor nodded. ‘That’s right, my dear. Why do you ask?’
‘Well,’ said Victoria, ‘that silver sphere thing we took from the cave… that was round, too. It would just about fit in that space.’
‘Aye, so it would,’ said Jamie excitedly. ‘It could be one of those control units too!’
The Doctor struck his forehead and groaned. ‘I’m an idiot. An absolute imbecile. You’re quite right, of course. Let’s go and find it.’
Guided by a puzzled but helpful Thomni, they hurried down the endless corridors of the rambling old Monastery, on the way back to the Doctor’s room. ‘It’s a good job you’re with us,’ gasped Victoria. ‘This place is a real rabbit-warren.’
At the sound of their approaching feet in the corridor, the little silver sphere rolled swiftly under the base of a statue of Buddha which stood nearby. The Doctor and his party hurried past. Once they were gone, the sphere rolled from under the statue, and, hugging the darkest corners, moved slowly on its way.
In his room, the Doctor was rummaging frantically on his bed. ‘I left it here, just under the pillow. I know I did!’
Victoria and Jamie joined in the search. ‘Well, it’s no’ here now,’ said Jamie when they had finished. ‘Someone must have taken it.’
‘Travers!’ said Victoria suddenly. ‘I thought it was odd, the way he rushed off.’
‘It does seem a possibility,’ agreed the Doctor. ‘I hate to accuse anyone without proof – but perhaps we’d better ask him.’
‘I will take you to his room,’ said Thomni. ‘It is next to yours.’ He led them a little way along the corridor to a small bare room, much like the Doctor’s. ‘You see,’ said Victoria triumphantly. ‘He’s not here – and he said he was going to sleep.’
‘We could search the place,’ suggested Jamie.
The Doctor frowned. ‘I don’t think that would be any use. If he has taken it, he’ll have it on him. We’ll have to find him.’
‘All verra well,’ said Jamie, ‘but where do we start in a place this size?’
The Doctor was already on his way to the door. ‘At the main gate, I think. Since he isn’t in his room, he’s probably trying to leave the Monastery.’
After another dash along the corridors, they reached the courtyard. The Doctor rushed up to the sentry at the doors. ‘Have you seen Mr Travers, by any chance?’
‘Gone?’ snapped Thomni. ‘Out of the Monastery?’
‘Yes, Captain. He told me Khrisong had given his permission.’
‘That is impossible. He has tricked you.’
Thomni turned to the Doctor. ‘We must inform Khrisong of what has happened. He is with the Abbot Songtsen. Will you come with me, please?’
As they walked across the courtyard, the Doctor said thoughtfully, ‘I still can’t believe Travers has anything to do with controlling these robots. Or with taking the sphere come to that.’
Victoria looked at him affectionately. As usual, the Doctor was being far too trusting. He always found it hard to think ill of anybody. ‘Well, one thing’s certain, Doctor,’ she told him. ‘That sphere couldn’t have moved off on its own.’ She had no idea that, in a corridor not far away, the little silver sphere was doing exactly that.
With the Abbot Songtsen at his side, Khrisong strode into the Great Hall. ‘The monster is here, Lord Abbot. I have had it fastened down with chains…’ Khrisong stopped short at the sight of Sapan and Rinchen. The two old lamas were building an elaborate framework of wood and coloured threads, which completely surrounded the prostrate body of the Yeti. ‘What are you doing?’ Khrisong asked impatiently.
The Abbot smiled. ‘They are constructing a ghost trap, Khrisong. Is it not so, my brethren?’
Sapan nodded proudly. ‘We have built a spirit trap about the monster, to restrain its evil, my Abbot.’
‘It was well thought of,’ said the Abbot gently. ‘You are wise, Sapan.’
Khrisong laughed. ‘I think my chains will be of more use,’ he said. ‘See, Lord Abbot.’ Khrisong pointed to the heavy chains which now fastened the Yeti to the great stone table.
Offended, the two old lamas prepared to go. Sapan paused by the door. ‘You should never have allowed this monster to be brought into the Monastery, Khrisong,’ he reproved. And with this parting shot, he followed his friend down the corridor.
Khrisong shouted after him. ‘What I allow is my business, Sapan.’
Songtsen held up a restraining hand. ‘Gently, my son.’
Khrisong looked rather ashamed of himself. ‘I am sorry, my Abbot. Sapan and his fellow lamas find much fault in me of late.’
‘Harsh words are like blunted arrows, my son. Only the truth can make them sharp.’
‘I have only tried to do my duty, my Abbot. The protection of the Monastery is in my hands.’
‘I know, Khrisong. Your task is not an easy one.’
Khrisong gazed down at the tethered Yeti. ‘And such is our adversary. It is against these creatures that I must protect you. My life is nothing if I fail.’ He gestured angrily towards the monster, still terrifying as it lay motionless. ‘Can I combat this with mildness?’
‘Our ways are the ways of peace, my son. You must not seek to change them.’
‘I fight to preserve them, my Abbot. There is no other way.’
A strange, faraway expression came over the old Abbot’s face. ‘There is. It is merely obscured to our simple minds. I will seek guidance of our Master, Padmasambvha.’ The Abbot sank cross-legged to the floor, in the classic position for meditation.
The Doctor rushed into the room, followed by Thomni, Jamie and Victoria. With a quick glance at Songtsen, who didn’t appear even to see him, the Doctor said, ‘Khrisong! Did you give Travers permission to leave the Monastery?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Well, he’s awa’,’ said Jamie.
Briefly the Doctor explained what had happened.
Khrisong marched to the door. ‘You will come with me, Doctor.’ The Doctor looked pleased. ‘Going to let me help at last, are you?’
‘No, Doctor. I merely wish to make sure that you do not vanish also.’ With that, Khrisong strode from the room, the Doctor and Jamie following him.
Victoria hung back for a word with Thomni. She rather liked the shy young warrior monk. She indicated the Abbot, still sitting motionless. ‘Is he all right?’
‘Oh yes,’ whispered Thomni reverently. ‘He is in a trance. We must leave him.’
Victoria jumped, as suddenly the old Abbot spoke, in a distant faraway voice. ‘Yes, Master, I will obey. I come.’ Moving like a sleep-walker, the Abbot rose and walked slowly from the room.
‘Who was he talking to?’ whispered Victoria.
Thomni’s voice was hushed in awe. ‘To our Master, Padmasambvha, in the Holy Sanctum.’
‘Your Master? I thought the Abbot was in charge?’
‘And so he is. But above him is the Most Holy Padmasambvha, who rules us all.’
‘What’s he like?’ asked Victoria curiously.
‘I do not know. I have never seen him.’ Thomni believed he was speaking the truth – his visit to the Inner Sanctum had been wiped from his mind.
‘How long has he been here?’
Thomni shrugged. ‘Forever, perhaps. He is ageless.’
A look of mischief came over Victoria’s face. ‘Can’t we go to this Sanctum place, and take a peep at him?’
Thomni was appalled. ‘Most certainly not. Only the Abbot may enter the Sanctum.’
‘Don’t you want to know what your Master looks like? Surely you do?’
Thomni was firm. ‘No, I do not. It is forbidden, and I have been brought up in the path of obedience. Now, Victoria, I think I must take you to your room. You will be safe there, till your friends return to look after you.’
Victoria sighed to herself, as Thomni marched her off. He was very nice, but he really was rather a stick-in-the-mud. Path of obedience, indeed. Victoria had her own ideas about that. But for the moment she said nothing. Smiling meekly at Thomni she followed him down the corridor.
At the main gate the unfortunate sentry was wishing he had never been born. ‘But I saw you speak to him, Khrisong. I heard him thank you. Naturally, I thought…’
‘You are a fool,’ snapped Khrisong.
‘Well, what’s done is done,’ interrupted the Doctor ‘The important thing is that we examine a control unit. The one Jamie brought down from the mountains has vanished.’
‘Aye, that’s right,’ Jamie joined in. ‘So you’ve got to let us go outside and look for the other one – the one that fell from the Yeti when we trapped it. It canna be far.’
For a long moment, Khrisong stood silent, considering. Then he nodded. ‘Very well.’ Jamie sighed with relief, and made for the doors. Khrisong held up a forbidding hand. ‘No. I will go.’
Jamie watched resentfully, as the sentry opened the doors just enough for Khrisong to slip out into the night.
‘Never mind, Jamie,’ said the Doctor consolingly. ‘At least someone’s looking for the thing.’
Not far away, in the hush of the Inner Sanctum, Padmasambvha sat brooding. There was a small table just before him, the kind that might have been used to hold a chessboard. On it there stood instead a kind of model landscape – a relief-map of the Monastery, the mountain, and all the surrounding terrain. Little figures stood on the map, models of the Yeti, each about three inches high. Padmasambvha stretched out a withered, claw-like hand. For a moment, the hand hovered over the board, as the old Master focused the power of his will on the symbolic map. Then the hand picked up first one and then another of the Yeti models, and moved them from a position on the lower slopes of the mountain to one very close to the Monastery doors.
Out on the cold, dark mountainside two Yeti were standing. At the precise moment that Padmasambvha’s withered hand moved their model counterparts, the two Yeti began lumbering towards the Monastery.
Crouched behind a nearby boulder, a dark shape stirred. Travers watched as the two Yeti moved away. He was shivering with a mixture of excitement and terror. He got up, and continued his journey up the mountain.
Padmasambvha looked up from the board. The Abbot Songtsen was beside him, eyes glazed and face blank, held in a trance by the force of his Master’s will.
‘The Doctor is wise,’ said Padmasambvha softly. ‘His eyes are not closed in ignorance. But his mind is too complex. I cannot control it, as I control yours, Songtsen.’ There was a hint of something cold and gloating in the thin, old voice. It was as though something else, some other being, spoke through the old monk’s mouth.
‘I must make sure that the Great Plan is imperilled no further.’
Again the withered hand stretched out and moved the two Yeti. This time they were almost at the Monastery doors.
In the circle of torchlight outside the Monastery doors Khrisong continued his search, unaware of the two giant, shaggy forms moving closer and closer.
6
A Yeti Comes to Life!
The Doctor and Jamie peered anxiously out of the Monastery door. In the torchlight they could see Khrisong, methodically searching the trampled ground in the area where the Yeti had fallen.
‘Khrisong,’ called the Doctor. ‘Why don’t you let us come out and give you a hand?’
‘No!’ Khrisong shouted back. ‘You will stay where you are.’ The sentry raised his spear, barring their exit.
Suddenly, Khrisong stooped down. At his feet was something that looked like a large pebble. But surely it was too round, too smooth? He prised it from the icy mud, and scraped it clean. Suddenly the sphere glowed in his hand, and emitted a high-pitched note. Khrisong jumped back, dropping the sphere in amazement.
The sphere gave out a second high-pitched note. As if in response to a signal, two Yeti loomed out of the darkness.
From the gateway, the Doctor shouted a warning. ‘Khrisong! Look out! Yeti!’ Khrisong looked up to see the two giant shapes bearing down on him. He backed away in horror. Then suddenly he stopped, holding his ground. The Yeti came menacingly on.
‘Leave it, Khrisong!’ the Doctor shouted. ‘Come back in, you don’t stand a chance.’
But in an act of lunatic courage, Khrisong dashed forward, snatching up the sphere from under the Yeti’s feet. He turned to run for the doors, only to find the second Yeti barring his way. With terrifying speed a massive paw shot out and grabbed his wrist. Khrisong was a big, heavy man, but the Yeti held him dangling in the air, like a doll in the hand of a careless child. Khrisong screamed with pain, twisting and thrashing about, but he was utterly helpless.
Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen Page 6
