Professor Travers made a few last-minute adjustments to his detonator. "There you are, Doctor, that what you wanted?"
"Splendid, old chap. I"ll just wire it into my timing mechanism..."
The Doctor began attaching Travers"s detonator to an intricate device of his own construction. Suddenly he noticed that Victoria was on the point of tears. "What on earth is the matter, my dear?"
"Don"t you see, Doctor? You"ve forgotten all about Jamie. If this plan of yours works, he"ll be cut off from us too!"
The Doctor stopped and put his arm round her shoulders. "I haven"t forgotten Jamie, my dear, not for one moment. But I have to think of the lives of every single person in this Fortress. And we can"t defeat the Intelligence or or help Jamie, unless we manage to survive ourselves." Patting her on the back, the Doctor returned to his work. help Jamie, unless we manage to survive ourselves." Patting her on the back, the Doctor returned to his work.
The Fortress door slid smoothly open, revealing the towering figure of a Yeti. It held a Web-gun in its giant hands.
The Yeti paused for a moment, then swung round as it picked up a signal. Moving with astonishing quietness, it progressed along the corridor to a door marked "DANGER-HIGH EXPLOSIVES". An enormous metal padlock secured the door. The Yeti reached out a huge claw and twisted off the padlock as if it was made of plasticine. It tossed the padlock into the corner beside the model Yeti, then lumbered into the Explosive Store.
In the Operations Room, the Doctor was showing the linked device to Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart. "This set to explode sixty seconds after you switch it on. You can vary the timing with this control here. If you roll the trolley from the top of a gradient you should have ample time to get dear."
"Suppose the Yeti get to it first?"
"If anyone interferes with the device, it will switch off immediately," said the Doctor with simple pride. Lethbridge-Stewart nodded approvingly. Funny little chap, this Doctor, but he certainly knew what he was about.
Sergeant Arnold hurried in. "I think we"re in trouble, sir. When we went to take the trolley out-we found the main door open."
"Why wasn"t it guarded?" snapped the Colonel Captain Knight had followed the sergeant into the room. "I"m afraid there was a mix-up, sir. The sentry was detailed to the trolley party. Sergeant Arnold thought I"d replaced him, I thought he had. Entirely my fault, sir."
"Beg your pardon, sir, it was mine," volunteered Arnold.
"I most have misunderstood the order."
"We"ll work out the blame later," the Colonel said grimly.
"I want to know what"s going on here."
"I"m afraid there"s worse to come, sir," said Knight. "One of the men found this on the floor outside the Explosives Store. This This was beside it." Knight held out the twisted remains of a heavy padlock-and one of the missing Yeti models. He put them on a nearby table. was beside it." Knight held out the twisted remains of a heavy padlock-and one of the missing Yeti models. He put them on a nearby table.
The Doctor said, "Has anyone been in the Explosives Store since this happened?"
Knight shook his head. "I put a guard on the door and came to report straight away."
Lethbridge-Stewart was already on his way, and Knight and the Doctor followed. Weans picked up the model Yeti from the table and examined it curiously.
Two soldiers stood nervously in the corridor, guns levelled at the door of the Explosives Store, as Lethbridge-Stewart and his group came to a halt and listened. Everything was quiet.
You think there"s someone in there, Doctor?" whispered Knight.
"Someone or something," answered the Doctor grimly.
"And there"s only one way to find out." Before anyone could stop him the Doctor stepped forward and flung open the door, revealing a sight that froze them with horror. The entire storeroom was packed with the pulsating, glowing ma.s.s of the Web. The Doctor slammed the door shut and stepped back. "Well," he said mildly. "Now we know! I"d get that door solidly barred if I were you."
Knight looked at Arnold, who grabbed the nearest soldier and began issuing a stream of orders. Knight, Lethbridge-Stewart and the Doctor walked back to the Operations Room. The Colonel was deep in thought.
"Holborn!" he said suddenly. "Captain Knight, remember how you went to recover the ammunition from the Holborn supply truck?"
"We had to blow that up, sir, when we were attacked."
"But you weren"t carrying all all the ammunition, were you? the ammunition, were you?
Some had to be left at Holborn. It may still be there."
"Perhaps so," agreed the Doctor dubiously. "But since the Yeti have dealt with the explosives here, they"ve probably done the same with the rest of the Holborn stuff."
"Still it"s a chance," insisted the Colonel. "And it seems to be the only one we have."
The Doctor knew it was no use trying to argue.
Lethbridge-Stewart was the kind of soldier who didn"t know the meaning of surrender. If the worst came to the worst he"d die fighting the enemy with his bare hands.
Sergeant Arnold came in and saluted. "Search completed, sir. No sign of Yeti inside the Fortress."
"Excellent. Get a squad ready to leave for Holborn right away."
"Sir!" Arnold saluted again and left the room.
Lethbridge-Stewart turned to Captain Knight, "Better tell the Professor what we"re doing."
"What about our liaison officer, Mr Chorley?"
"Less anyone tells him the better. Only gave him the job to keep him quiet. I"ll leave some men behind, Doctor. You and the Professor will be quite safe here."
"Will we? Don"t forget, Colonel, someone here is under the control of the Intelligence. That door didn"t open itself- and someone had to place this model to guide the Yeti"
"Traitor in the camp, eh? Then we must find him!"
"How can we? We were moving about all over the place when it happened. Could have been anyone-even you, Colonell"
"Or you, Doctor?" They looked at each other for a moment, and then the Colonel smiled. "We"ve got to trust someone, Doctor, so we may as well start with each other. I"ll keep an eye on my party, you take care of things here, eh?"
The Doctor nodded, curiously pleased by the Colonel"s trust. Starchy sort of fellow this Colonel, but a man you could rely on. Unaware that this was the beginning of a long friendship, they both hurried out of the room.
In the Common Room, Victoria was chatting to Harold Chorley. She"d gone to make some tea and found him sitting in lonely state, a liaison officer no one wanted to liaise with.
He seemed grateful for her company, and was being exceptionally charming. Chorley was a skilled interviewer, who knew how to use the soft approach when it paid him. To her surprise, Victoria was soon telling him all about the TARDIS. Chorley listened, struggling to understand. "And you say this machine of the Doctor"s could get you out of here?"
"Yes, of course it could. The TARDIS can go anywhere."
"And it"s still at Covent Garden where you left it?"
"I suppose it must be."
"Then why doesn"t the Doctor use it to rescue us all?"
"I suppose he will, if there"s no alternative. But he won"t leave until Jamie turns up. And now they"re going to blow up the tunnel..." Victoria held back a sob.
The Doctor came into the room and looked at them, sensing something strange in the atmosphere.
Chorley spoke in a strained voice. "We were just talking about you, Doctor... I hadn"t realised..." Suddenly he rushed from the room.
The Doctor looked after him in astonishment. "What"s the matter with him?"
"I think he"s worried about them blowing up the tunnel."
"He needn"t be-I doubt if they"ll succeed," said the Doctor. "Anyway, why should he worry about that?"
"He"s got some idea you could take us all away in the TARDIS-he doesn"t want us to be cut off from it."
"Victoria-you didn"t tell him about the TARDIS?"
Victoria nodded. It was impossible to explain the impact of Chorley"s charm. "You don"t think he wants to steal it?" she asked in sudden alarm.
"I wouldn"t put it past him." The Doctor tried the door.
It was locked. "Oh, Victoria," he said reproachfully. Victoria started to cry.
As Harold Chorley hurried to the Fortress exit, he was surprised to find it open. Jamie and Evans, back at last, were just being admitted by a suspicious sentry. "Has the Colonel"s party already left?" Chorley gasped breathlessly.
It was Jamie who answered. "Aye, they"re already off to Holborn. We pa.s.sed them on the way down the tunnel."
Before anyone could stop him, Chorley dashed into the tunnel. The sentry decided he could look after himself, and closed and barred the door again. Jamie and Evans moved along the Fortress corridors. They heard a m.u.f.fled banging from the door of the Common Room, which seemed to be locked on the outside. Jamie unlocked and opened the door.
Victoria and the Doctor fell out almost on top of him. There was a brief and rapturous reunion which the Doctor interrupted by saying urgently, "Jamie, have you seen Chorley?"
"Aye, just a minute ago. He went out as we came in.
Seemed in a rare old state, too."
"Come on!" The Doctor ran down the corridor. Jamie and Victoria looked helplessly at each other and set off in pursuit. After a moment"s hesitation, Evans followed them them.
There was clearly something nasty going on here, and he didn"t want to face it alone. Maybe there would be safety in numbers.
He caught up with them just as the Doctor was persuading the reluctant sentries to open the main door yet again.
"What do you think I am," one of them grumbled.
"Doorman at Harrods?"
Jamie, the Doctor, Victoria and Evans rushed out into the tunnels. The sentry slammed the door behind them and turned back to his mate. "This time it stays closed."
A giant shape began moving quietly down the corridor towards them.
Travers threw down his tweezers in disgust, and looked up from the control sphere. "Well, where is the Doctor, then?
I"ve gone as far on this as I can without his help. Gives you a job to do and then disappears."
Anne smiled. "Shall I go and see if he"s back yet?" Before Travers could reply, there was a distant thump, and a m.u.f.fled scream. Travers got to his feet. "Stay here, Anne." Ignoring her protests, he moved into the corridor.
Everything seemed quiet. Travers began moving towards the direction of the sound. The noise appeared to come from the Operations Room. He walked along the corridor and looked inside.
Private Weams lay sprawled on the ground. Travers ran to him at once, and knelt by the body. Weams was quite dead, his neck broken by a single savage blow. On the floor beside him lay the model Yeti.
As Travers reached for it, a shadow fell over him. He looked up. Moving towards him was the ma.s.sive form of a Yeti. Travers rose and backed away. The Yeti moved closer, reaching out for him...