"Whereas now," observed Penley drily, "you"re fighting fit, of course."
Storr rose to the bait as usual. "Someone"s got to do things!"
"Well that someone isn"t going to be you for a while yet.
And it serves you right."
"It"s nothing!" snapped Store. "I"ll pull through!" He gazed at his precious plants through a haze of pain, desperately trying to concentrate his mind.
"...how it was before they killed off all the plants," he gabbled, half-smiling. "There would have been Spring Spring, then- fruit, on trees, waiting to be picked..." His ravaged face tightened into bitterness once more. "Now... you d.a.m.ned scientists-destructive meddlers!" His anger subsided again.
"Killed all the plants... and flowers..."
Pcnley could see that he was slipping into a coma. Soon, there would be no wood left from their precious stock, and without that warmth, the deadly cold would start to creep into Storr"s haven. He had to act-and quickly. He stood up, and started to put on the heavy skins for snow travel. His quick and decisive movements woke Story. "What"re you doing, you fool!" mumbled the half-conscious man.
"The Base," replied Penley curtly.
Storr tried to rise, but he had no strength. He fell back helplessly, but his eyes burned with fever and accusation.
"You"re going to turn me in... like a dirty coward. I don"t want... rehabilitation... Africa..." He was nearly out, but still he protested. "Never trust... scientists."
Penley turned "It"s for your idiotic sake that I"m going!
For drugs! And if I don"t get them..." He looked down at the unconscious body, "you"re as good as dead!"
"Think!" commanded the Ice Warrior in that strange, fierce whisper. "Tell me what it was they used to give my body life!"
Victoria could see that there was no escape. But what could she tell him when she knew so little herself?
"I don"t know what it was called, so how can can I tell you?" I tell you?"
she explained desperately.
But Varga wasn"t going to be satisfied that easily.
"Describe it!" he hissed sharply.
Victoria tried hard to remember what the scientist Arden had done to the great ice block-but it was difficult.
She hadn"t really been paying attention at the time. The body inside the ice had been the subject of everyone"s fascination- and now here it was, alive and menacing, holding her prisoner!
"It was a sort of... small black box," she suggested vaguely.
"Go on!" demanded Varga with an urgent gesture.
"Explain how it worked!"
"It had wires," recalled Victoria hesitantly, then blurted out "and they connected the wires to the ice. It made a funny, quiet sort of noise-and n.o.body knew you were going to come to life, but you just did!" She paused, breathless and afraid.
But it was enough for the Ice Warrior to understand.
His great clamp-like fist pointed towards his armoured chest.
"A power source," he hissed wonderingly. "High resistance...
great heat... and then-life!" He swung round to face Victoria, and pointed the device at her terrified face.
"This room we came from," he whispered harshly, "I wish to return to it-now!"
Victoria"s face brightened. "I"ll tell you how to get there!"
The Ice Warrior wasn"t taken in by her sudden cooperation.
"You will take me there," he commanded, gripping her arm. "You will help me find the power unit. With that my men, too, can be brought back from the dead..."
Desperately, Victoria searched her mind for excuses, all the while aware of the numbing pressure on her wrist, and the delicate menace of the device on Varga"s arm.
But we"ll have to go along the corridor," she pointed out quickly. "And supposing someone sees you holding me prisoner?"
"Then I shall be forced to kill them," hissed the Martian warlord calmly. "And you also, if you attempt to call for help."
He held the device between Victoria"s frightened eyes. She swallowed hard, but spoke bravely.
"What is it?" she asked fearfully.
"It is a sonic destructor: To put it simply, it will disintegrate your brain with sound waves."
She looked at the Martian, eyes wide.
"All right," she said, trying to hide the fear in her voice.
"Are you ready now?"
Varga silently gestured for her to lead the way. Victoria slowly opened the door, praying desperately that they would meet n.o.body on their way to the medicare centre. She paused for a moment, surveying the corridor outside. It was deserted.
Varga shuffled close behind her, urging her onward. Blindly, she obeyed. The alternative was too horrible to think about...
Penley had approached the same corridor from the terrace. Huddled in a shadowy corner, he was contemplating his next move. The corridor was unusually quiet-without even the normal security guard. What could it all mean? Was something really wrong-or was it some sort of trap? He listened intently. In the far distance, he could hear the high pitch of machinery which had once been so familiar to him.
The Ioniser was still functioning then-though not for much longer, he thought grimly. But all that was Clent"s problem now. The immediate goal was to get into the medicare centre and select the drugs needed to save Storr"s life.
Suddenly, he froze. His ears had caught a sound subtly different, puzzling-coming along the corridor towards him: slow, ponderous. shuffling-and accompanied by a lighter, more timid step. He looked cautiously out from the shadows that concealed him and his eyebrows shot up in amazement.
Advancing cautiously towards the doorway of the medicare centre was a girl-but it was her companion that had shocked Penley. He had seen nothing like it on earth!
Immense-eight feet tall at least-it looked almost prehistoric.
A glint of light suddenly caught its helmet and clumsy mechanical hands. Penley barely managed to stifle a gasp. His mind raced, throwing up a flood of questions. What was it?
What was such a creature doing inside the Base? Who on earth was the girl?
Then, Penley saw the tight look of terror on the girl"s young face-barely more than a child, he realised, as she moved closer. Her slender wrist was gripped by the monster who was hulking beside her. They stopped outside the medicare doorway.
Then. as the reptilian giant biped thrust the doors open with one blow of his ma.s.sive arm, the girl looked about her desperately, before being dragged inside. Her eyes widened as she saw Penley. His first reaction was to rush forward to help-but something in her face stopped the movement almost before it began. Although her eyes pleaded with him, her head gave the slightest of negative movements-stay away! Penley was soon to know why. As though angered by the girl"s reluctance to go through the medicare doors, the monster pointed his free arm directly at her head. The gesture was unmistakable, and Penley caught a clear glimpse of the strange tubular device... The girl obediently stumbled into the room and out of sight, followed by the ma.s.sive creature. Once more the corridor was silent and empty, leaving Penley totally unnerved and desperate to know what to do next.
Inside the medicare centre Varga paused, taking h the room and its complex equipment. On the far side of the room stood the trolley that had once borne his lifeless body. It was slopping with water and fragments of melting ice. Satisfied, he released Victoria from his iron grasp.
"This is the place..." he hissed, then gestured curtly at Victoria, who was standing frightened and helpless in the centre of the room. "The black box!" he exclaimed. "Find it!
Quickly!"
A rare calm reigned in the control room complex. For the first time in weeks, the Ioniser hadn"t kept everyone in a state of permanent tension. Jan moved along the ranks of monitor technicians, and felt almost elated. This was how their great project should be-totally under control.
She glanced across at the ECCO conference table, where Clent and the Doctor were studying circuit blueprints on the videoscreen. Could one man make such a difference, she wondered, as she studied the clownish figure seated by Leader Clent. Her respect for his intelligence far outweighed her displeasure at his irreverent treatment of her or his impudent smile. She also knew that Clent had accepted the Doctor as his equal-in brainpocrer if not in authority. And this had been the most important factor of all in stabilising the near-to-panic atmosphere. She sighed inwardly. If only Penley could see the place like this instead of as it had been the day he stormed out under a hail of sarcasm from Clent...
Clent looked at the Doctor, who was concentrating on the videoscreen by his side. "I still say it needs an expert,"
commented the Doctor, nodding towards the elaborate circuitry designs on the videoscreen. "Can"t you afford one?"
Clent"s face stiffened. Had the Doctor been reading his mind? "I choose not to," he clipped.
"Why?"
"You are not here to question my decisions! You have no authority."
"I know," agreed the Doctor, unruffled. "I"m here to help-if I so choose." He smiled. "I think we should trust each other, don"t you?"
With an effort, Clent controlled the instinctive resentment he felt whenever this bitter subject cropped up: a rational explanation should clear this matter up once and for all, he decided. He didn"t realise that behind the Doctor"s seemingly innocent and trusting gaze was a probing intelligence that could-if need be-winkle the truth out of a giant clam.
"You"ll appreciate," stated Clent, "the importance of this mission. I was chosen because I never fail. My record is one hundred per cent success. And I"ve handled some big projects, I a.s.sure you. Doctor." He paused, and frowned. "As always, I hand-picked my team... but for once, I made a vital mistake..."
"This chap Penley?" suggested the Doctor, knowingly.
Clent nodded. "The best man in Europe for Ionisation studies... but as it turned out, hopelessly temperamental!"
The Doctor looked at Clent shrewdly. The Leader"s defensive reaction had already revealed what was wrong.
"Temperamental," the Doctor queried gently. "or individual?
Creative scientists have to be allowed some freedom of thought you know, otherwise-"
Cleat cut in angrily, stung by the way in which the Doctor had hit the nail on the head. "Creative poppyc.o.c.k!
When Penley walked out of here, he publicly proclaimed himself to be criminally irresponsible!"
"You don"t think, then, that what he did could have been a simple gesture of protest?"
"He was always protesting! This unit is a team-a team with a mission! If we fail, how can others expect to succeed?"
"And it"ll be your name that suffers, of course," replied the Doctor keenly. "And that"s important to you, isn"t it?"
Suddenly Clent was on the defensive. "I lead the team, but I depend on the experts that I select. With the exception of Penley, my judgement was sound. But others won"t see it that way. They"ll only mark up the failure!"
"So you really need this chap Penley."
"No! I do not not need Penley!" Then he added hastily, "But I do need an equivalent brain to take over from where that... need Penley!" Then he added hastily, "But I do need an equivalent brain to take over from where that...
traitor left off! Normally, it would take months to train up a stranger." His face had a look of desperation. "There simply isn"t time-that"s the truth of the matter! And that"s why we need you you!"
"I"ll do what I can. But I think you ought to understand that personally I prefer trusting human beings rather than computers."
Clent"s face grew stern and proud. His hand came to rest on ECCO"s control panel. "I trust n.o.body, Doctor.
Human emotions are too unreliable." Suddenly, as though at the flick of a switch, he dismissed the whole subject from his mind, and became brisk and purposeful once more. "If you require any further data, Miss Garrett will obtain it for you.
I"ll go and check that there is a working area cleared ready for you in the medicare centre. Perhaps you"d like to join me there when you"re ready?" With that he strode off. The Doctor stared after him, and thoughtfully shook his head...
Varga was becoming more and more furious. Victoria, sensing that his anger was increasing, searched ever more hurriedly for the vital power pack. At the sound of smashing gla.s.s, she spun round. With one sweep of his mighty arm, Varga had cleared a nearby bench of its chemical apparatus.
He turned to her, his breath coming in fearful gasps.
"Where is this power source!" he snarled, moving towards her with mighty strides. "Do not try to trick met if it is not here-"
His threat was lost as he overturned a cupboard in his effort to reach Victoria. As it fell, a jumble of equipment fell out-among it several power packs. Varga stopped, and studied the confusion of gear at his feet. He looked up at Victoria, whose tense face showed her relief. She nodded.
"Yes," she whispered. "Those are the ones."
She watched as the Ice Warrior picked up a couple by their leads, and began to examine them triumphantly. What would he do now? As though in answer to her unspoken thought, Varga turned his mighty head towards her and spoke.