Beside him the Brigadier heard the Doctor whisper, "Like a kind of brain..."
The Axon went on, "Surely it would be simpler if I were to demonstrate Axonite? Then you may take this sample and examine it for yourselves." He moved to the recess and took from it another casket. "We have captured a small living creature of your planet." The Axon put his hand inside the casket and took out a toad, placing it carefully on the floor in front of him.
The toad crouched motionless, looking around it with jewelled eyes. The Axon produced a transparent device rather like a large hypodermic. A blob of Axonite could be seen glowing somewhere inside it. He touched the toad gently on its glistening back. "A painless lasonic injection..."
The scene was at once mysterious and absurd, thought the Brigadier. There they all stood in the glowing heart of this mysterious s.p.a.ce craft, confronting these golden-skinned, smooth-tongued Axons-and their pet toad!
Suddenly the toad began to grow. It grew and grew until it towered over them, transformed from a humble toad into a terrifying monster. They could see the pulsing of the enormous throat, the gleam of r the huge eyes. The great mouth opened and the long tongue flicked out... Chinn screamed and scrambled backwards, cannoning into the rest of them...
The Axon touched the monster"s back with his device. "The process is, of course, reversible." The monster began to shrink, dwindling with incredible speed until it was once more a harmless toad, blinking up at them. The Axon lifted it carefully and returned it to its casket.
"If this had been one of your food animals... I am sure you can see the possibilities for alleviating your world food problems."
The Brigadier had a sudden staggering vision of cattle as big as houses, pigs like giant barrage-balloons. He shook his head to clear it, and heard the Doctor asking another of his awkward questions.
"Does this process also apply to inorganic materials? To fissionable material?"
The Axon nodded gravely. "With certain necessary adaptations."
Winser grabbed Hardiman"s arm in a painful grip and whispered, "We must must have it. Whatever they want give it to them! We have it. Whatever they want give it to them! We must must have Axonite!" have Axonite!"
Chinn scrambled to his feet and tried to regain his composure.
He managed to address the Axon in something like his usual pompous tones. "If the British Government is to consent to this arrangement, an agreement will have to be properly negotiated..."
The Doctor"s voice cut across Chinn"s flow of words. "Do you really believe this substance is going to benefit you? Your world should be allowed to develop at its own pace..."
Winser whispered fiercely, "We are being offered the greatest scientific discovery since-since atomic energy."
"Exactly. And look at the use you made of that! It was touch and go whether you annihilated yourselves..."
Chinn came to Winser"s support. "Brigadier, I must insist you silence this man. He is jeopardising vital negotiations..."
But the Brigadier had reached some conclusions of his own.
"Mr Chinn, if this material leaves this s.p.a.ceship, it will do so in my possession. This is a matter for the entire United Nations. The consequences are of international importance and the U.N. will decide..."
Chinn waved a dismissive hand. "This ship is on British soil, and the offer made by our friends here...
The clear voice of the Axon cut across their wrangling. "Since there is so much disagreement amongst so few-what of the whole planet? We shall withdraw and give you time to decide..."
Followed by his family the Axon stepped back into the recess.
The children disappeared through a small door. The Axon man and woman stood patiently waiting. For a moment there was silence.
Then the arguments broke out with renewed force...
Jo Grant moved slowly along the glowing corridor. It seemed to go on endlessly, winding to and fro so that she soon lost all sense of direction. Panic-stricken she decided to go back and find the others. She turned and ran the way she had come. Suddenly she heard a voice, faint but clear. It was a man"s voice and there was an edge of panic to it. "Help, help," it was calling. "Somebody get me out of here."
Despite the faintness, Jo recognised the voice immediately. It was Bill Filer. She remembered Benton"s message just before she left the Mobile H.Q. Something about a body-and an American car. Jo guessed at once what must have happened. Filer had got here before them, and somehow he"d been captured. She moved in the direction of the voice, calling, "Filer? Mr Filer, where are you?"
The faint voice seemed to vibrate along the glowing walls.
"Help... help..." Then it faded away.
Jo called again, "Mr Filer! Can you hear me?"
This time there was no reply and she hammered her fist angrily against the wall. Behind her, the opposite wall of the corridor began to bulge outwards. The bulge was about the size and shape of a man.
But the shape that emerged from it was no more than a ghastly parody of a man, a shambling shapeless creature that seemed made up of hundreds of squirming tentacles...
Alarmed by a sudden rustling noise, Jo swung round. She screamed as the quivering horror advanced towards her...
4.
Enter the Master Bill Filer awoke, his mind still full of the horror of the great glowing eye. He thought he"d been having a bad dream till the restraining pressure of the tentacles told him the nightmare was ghastly reality. For a moment he panicked. "Help! Help! " he yelled.
"Somebody get me out of here!" For a moment he actually thought he heard a reply, someone calling his name. "Help! Help!" he yelled again.
"You"re wasting your time, my friend."
Filer looked round wildly. Fully awake at last, he realised that this place of imprisonment had changed. He was in a small enclosed s.p.a.ce, a glowing-walled cell. Tentacles growing from walls and floor held him firmly in place. On the other side of the cell, more tentacles were securing another prisoner. Filer looked curiously at him. The man wore a dark suit, with a high-collared jacket. Although he wasn"t particularly big, his compact body gave an impression of immense power. He had a small, neatly-pointed black beard and dark burning eyes. His voice was deep and resonant. "Who are you? What is your name?"
So compelling was the voice that Filer answered without question. "Bill Filer. American Intelligence." He gazed bemusedly at the other man. Surely his appearance was familiar. No, not his appearance. His description. Filer struggled to regain his concentration. "And who the h.e.l.l are you?"
The bearded man smiled ironically. "At the moment I am simply your fellow captive, Filer. In more fortunate circ.u.mstances, I am known as the Master!"
Although Jo didn"t realise it, she was now very close to the chamber where she"d left the others. The sound of her terrified screams broke up their heated discussion.
The Doctor dashed out of the chamber and along the corridor, the Brigadier close behind. Hardiman and Winser were about to follow when Chinn gestured them to remain. He turned to the Axon.
"Now perhaps we can talk without perpetual interference from UNIT.
About this agreement..."
The Axon was not listening. He had pressed his hand to a section of wall which seemed to grow brighter at his touch. He stood for a moment as if communing with the very fabric of the ship, then said politely. "I"m afraid there is some crisis. I must investigate."
"Then perhaps you would escort me from your ship? Discreetly as possible. I must get in touch with my Minister."
"Of course." The Axon gestured towards the Axon woman. She indicated that Chinn should follow her, and led him towards the small door. The Axon hurried out after the Doctor. Hardiman and Winser were left gazing helplessly at each other.
After a moment Hardiman said doubtfully, "Winser, are you sure..."
"I"m sure that Axonite offers the greatest potential for scientific advancement we"ve ever known." There was a fanatical light in Winser"s eyes. "It ties in with my own research with the Particle Accelerator-immeasurably more advanced, of course. We must have Axonite, here in the Nuton laboratories. Whatever the cost..."
The Doctor found Jo crumpled on the floor in a dead faint.
Standing over her was the golden figure of an Axon. For a moment the Doctor thought that the Axon he"d left in the chamber had somehow arrived ahead of him, since the appearance was identical.
Same inhumanly handsome features, same pale golden skin.
The Axon backed slowly away as the Doctor ran up. He didn"t speak as the Doctor knelt by Jo and examined her. She was already recovering. After a moment she opened her eyes and said dazedly, "Doctor?"
"It"s all right, Jo, you"re safe now. What happened?"
"I saw this thing... this monster. It was all slimy and tentacled..."
Jo"s voice began rising in panic.
"Jo-it"s all right. There"s nothing to be afraid of." The Doctor helped Jo to get to her feet.
Masking his concern with abruptness, the Brigadier said, "May I ask what you"re doing here, Miss Grant? I gave you explicit orders."
"I know. I"m afraid I followed you in. Then I heard Bill Filer"s voice..."
"Filer-in here?"
"I tried to find him... then this awful thing appeared. It came right out of the wall at me..."
The Axon they had first encountered, presumably their leader, thought the Brigadier, came quietly up to them. He looked at his fellow Axon for a moment. Without a word the Axon turned and walked away. Calmly the Axon leader said, "I think I can explain. We are close to the organic power-sources here. Emission from the energy cells, weak as it is, might still have affected your sense perceptions, causing you to hallucinate."
"What about the voice I heard?"
The Doctor patted her shoulder. "All part of the hallucination, Jo." he said rea.s.suringly. "Even I was affected when I first carne in.
Let"s go back to the others."
In a small communications booth inside the Mobile H.Q., Chinn stood impatiently waiting as the UNIT R/T Operator linked him up with Whitehall. When at last the call was through Chinn said abruptly. "Just wait outside, will you?"
"Sir?"
"Wait outside! "
The R/T Operator looked doubtful, but he knew Chinn was some kind of VIP. He said woodenly. "Very good, sir," and left Chinn alone in the little booth. The Minister"s face appeared on the monitor screen. He looked rather like a cunning old bloodhound. Chinn poured out his story, careful to emphasise the immense potential value of Axonite and the obstructive att.i.tude taken by the Brigadier and his eccentric Scientific Adviser. He explained his plan for dealing with them, and secured the Minister"s permission to a.s.sume special powers. But the Minister"s final words were far from encouraging.
"You"re sure sure you can handle this, Chinn?" you can handle this, Chinn?"
"With the special powers I"ve requested, yes, sir."
"Because if you"re not, remember this. It"s your head on the block, Chinn, not mine." With a certain relish in his voice the Minister went on, "If anything should should go awry, Chinn, your reputation, indeed your whole career will be ruined. You will bear that in mind, won"t you?" go awry, Chinn, your reputation, indeed your whole career will be ruined. You will bear that in mind, won"t you?"
Chinn gulped. "Yes, sir."
"Remember Chinn, no one is indispensable-except me, of course."
"Quite sir. About the special powers..."
"I"ll get in touch with the Regulars right away." The Minister was unable to resist a final jibe. "Just keep me informed, won"t you?
Remember, you"re the man on the spot-in more ways than one!" The Minister smiled appreciatively at his own joke, then the screen went dark.
Chinn looked at his watch. "Right, Brigadier," he thought. "Now we"ll see where the real real power lies..." power lies..."
The Axon was concluding a polished speech of apology.