Anne looked shamefaced, and Travers grunted. "Just idle chat, Doctor. I soon put her right, didn"t I, Anne?"
She nodded. Now she had actually met the Doctor, it did seem impossible to a.s.sociate this mild and gentle figure with anything as evil as the Intelligence. Unfortunately it seemed almost equally hard to see him as the brilliant scientist described by her father.
The Doctor smiled at her and said, "I agree with Professor Travers, we"re certainly dealing with our old enemy from Tibet. And I"ll tell you something else. My guess is that the Intelligence was directly responsible for bringing me me here!" here!"
"Why should it do that?" asked Anne.
"Revenge perhaps. It"s extremely conceited conceited, and it must have hated defeat-or perhaps it has some other motive, one we don"t know about yet."
Travers seemed worried. "Thank goodness you managed to give it the slip, Doctor. The terrible thing is, I feel it"s all my fault." He gestured towards a bench full of Yeti souvenirs-damaged control spheres, parts of broken Yeti, even some of the tiny Yeti models the Intelligence used as controls. "I brought all this stuff back from Tibet with me. The monks were glad to see the back of it. There was one undamaged Yeti complete with control sphere. I needed money, so I sold the Yeti to the Julius museum. I kept the control sphere for myself. I was determined to find out how it worked. Fiddled with it for years on and off... Just as I seemed to be succeeding it disappeared."
"Back to the Yeti in the museum," said the Doctor. "Once the sphere started working, the Intelligence was able to home in on it, and get to work again."
Travers nodded. "The Yeti in the museum provided it with a ready-made pair of hands."
"I imagine it will also have found a human human agent by now; said the Doctor. "That was the way it worked in Tibet. Some poor soul, outwardly normal, but in reality completely controlled by the Intelligence." agent by now; said the Doctor. "That was the way it worked in Tibet. Some poor soul, outwardly normal, but in reality completely controlled by the Intelligence."
While they were considering this uncomfortable thought, Captain Knight came into the room. He looked round at the silent group and spoke with mock severity. "Look alive, you dozy lot! The new C.O. wants you all to attend a briefing meeting."
Anne smiled, taking up the joke. "We"re not in the army yet, you know."
Knight grinned. "You"d better tell the Colonel. Kick-off in the Common Room in a few minutes, O.K?"
As he turned to leave Victoria asked, "I don"t suppose there"s any news of Jamie?"
Knight shook his head, his face grave. "No," he said gently. "Ito afraid there"s not. He"s still missing."
Jamie and Evans were resting on Tottenham Court Road Station. Evans groped in his pockets. "Haven"t got any small change, have you, boyo? I could fancy a bar of chocolate."
Jamie shook his head. Evans wandered to a nearby chocolate machine and gave the handle a hopeful tug. To his astonishment the drawer opened, revealing a bar of chocolate.
"Well, there"s lovely," he said delightedly. He snapped the bar in two and gave half to Jamie. "Come on, let"s be moving."
"You"re in a hurry all of a sudden."
Evans was looking at the map. "Been thinking I have.
With any luck these Yeti are like lightning. Won"t strike twice in the same place. We"re pretty close to Holborn here. That"s where I get off. If I can only get back to my lorry, I"ll be away like lightning myself."
"You"re not coming back to H.Q. then?"
"Don"t need me, do they? I"d only be a hindrance.
Anyway I"m a driver, see. Not supposed to get involved in all this dangerous stuff."
"Och, all that interests you is saving your own skin," said Jamie scornfully.
Evans grinned. "Well, it"s the only one I got," he explained reasonably. "Look, boyo, they don"t stand a chance back in that Fortress. You hop it with me while you can."
Jamie shook his head. " I"m I"m not running out on my friends." not running out on my friends."
Evans stood up. "Well, I"m sorry to leave you, boyo. but you got to take care of number one in this world." With a cheery wave he jumped back on to the line and disappeared down the tunnel to Holborn.
Jamie finished his chocolate and went to study the map.
If he could find his way on to the Northern Line, the next station would be Goodge Street. If only the Web hadn"t blocked the tunnels... Jamie went through the station arch, and followed the signs to the Northern Line. The empty station was gloomy and cavernous in the dim emergency lighting and his footsteps echoed with a sinister hollowness.
Jamie was in a fine state of nerves by the time he found the right platform and jumped down on to the track. He walked along the tunnels for some time, listening to the sound of his own footsteps. Then he stopped. Each footstep had an echo.
Someone was following him along the tunnel. He stopped again. The footsteps stopped too. He moved on, and the ghostly footsteps followed him.
Jamie put on a spurt, ducked into an alcove and waited.
After a moment"s hesitation the footsteps started again, moving closer. To his astonishment, Jamie saw Evans creeping along the tunnel. Jamie stepped out of hiding and shouted, "Boo!"
Evans jumped. He gasped with relief. "Gave me a nasty fright you did, boyo."
"I thought you were going to Holborn?"
"Well, I changed my mind see. Started thinking about what you said, about deserting my mates."
Jamie gave him a sceptical look.
Evans said, "Oh, all right then. I tried to get out but the gates were locked. I got scared on my own and came to look for you!"
Jamie looked at him in exasperation: Then he found himself smiling. There was something rather disarming about Evans"s frank timidity. "Och, come along, man. Let"s try to get back to the Fortress. Maybe the Doctor"s turned up by now."
The Doctor sat patiently in the Common Room while Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart lectured them all on the crisis.
The Doctor had already picked up most of the information from Travers, but it was interesting to see it all set out in order.
Lethbridge-Stewart was very thorough. Using a slide projector as a visual aid he took them through the entire history of events, starting with the disappearance of Travers"s reactivated sphere, followed by the vanishing of the Yeti in the museum. He covered the first appearances of the mist, followed by the appearance of the Web in the tunnels and finally the arrival of the Yeti. He described the Government"s counter-measures, the setting up of a scientific investigation unit headed by Travers, here in the old war-time Fortress at Goodge Street, with a military unit to protect it.
"Unfortunately the enemy has counter-attacked in force. The Web has been moving steadily closer despite all our attempts to stop it." He pointed to a wall map. "Above ground, it covers roughly the area enclosed by the Circle Line. Underground, much of that same area is now invaded by the Web. We are besieged." The Colonel tucked his cane back under his arm.
"So much for the past. Now let"s have some constructive suggestions. Professor Travers?"
Travers obviously didn"t care for the Colonel"s military manner. He muttered rather sulkily, "I"ve been working on a method of jamming the Yeti transmissions. My daughter is trying to develop a control unit to switch them off. So far we"ve not had much success. Now the Doctor"s here I hope we"ll do better."
The Doctor smiled modestly, but said nothing.
Lethbridge-Stewart pa.s.sed on, "Captain Knight?"
"We"ve not had much success either, sir.
Communications are our main problem. The mist and the Web absorb radio waves a lot of the time, particularly over any distance. The Yeti cut phone lines as soon as they"re laid.
We"ve tried blowing tunnels to bold back the Web but they"ve managed to sabotage that too. We"re running low on supplies and explosives, particularly hand-grenades. Whenever a truck tries to get through, the Yeti ambush it. They seem to know what we"re planning to do before we start."
As he finished his tale of woe, Knight seemed unaware of the implications of his words, but they were not lost on the Doctor. He looked round the faces in the room. Travers and his daughter, Harold Chorley, Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart and Captain Knight, Sergeant Arnold standing rigidly to attention. Had the Intelligence already chosen its agent? It could be anyone in the room-except of course for himself and Victoria.
Chorley jumped to his feet. "Isn"t it time we started discussing evacuation plans, Colonel? With the. Web creeping steadily closer it will soon be too late."
"There will be no no evacuation. This Unit will remain at its post and attempt to defeat the enemy until the last possible moment." evacuation. This Unit will remain at its post and attempt to defeat the enemy until the last possible moment."
"Then you"ll all die down here!"
"Sit down, Mr Chorley!" The whiplash of authority in the Colonel"s voice slammed Chorley back in his seat.
Weams hurried into the room with a sheet of paper.
"Latest plottings of,the Web movements, sir."
The Colonel studied the report, his face grave.
"Queensway, Lancaster Gate, Strand, Chancery Lane, all gone in the last half-hour." He moved to the map on the wall. "How long do you think we"ve got, Professor?"
Travers studied the map. "Difficult to say. At this rate, we"re dealing in hours rather than days."
"We need time," said the Doctor. "Time for Travers and myself to find the solution. If you can blow this tunnel here,"
he pointed to the map, "we can seal ourselves off for a bit."
Lethbridge-Stewart nodded approvingly. "Good practical suggestion. Explosives, Captain Knight?"
"Just about enough left for the job, sir."
"Excuse me, sir," said Sergeant Arnold. "Suppose the Yeti smother the charge like they did last time?"
The Doctor looked thoughtful. "Have you got anything on wheels? Something that will actually run along the track?"
Knight looked at Arnold, who said, "I think there"s a baggage trolley in stores somewhere. We could adjust the wheel-gauge..."
"Then it"s simple. Load the explosives on the trolley and attach a timing device. Blow the thing up while it"s still on the move-before the Yeti can use their Web-gun."
"Excellent idea," agreed the Colonel even more enthusiastically.
"Splendid," said the Doctor. "Captain Knight. if you and the Sergeant will see to the trolley, the Professor and I will rig up a detonator for you."
Somehow the Doctor seemed to have taken charge.
There was a general bustle of movement as everyone started to go out. "What about me?" said Chorley plaintively.
"Like to help, would you?" said the Colonel heartily.
"Splendid, you can be liaison officer, keep track of all our progress. Corporal Blake, sec Mr Chorley has everything he needs. I think I"ll just take a general look around, get my bearings... Let me know when things are organised."
He hurried out of the room. Private Weams glanced at Captain Knight. "Things seem to be moving a bit, sir. Think the Doctor"s idea will work?"
Knight glanced at the map, thinking of the relentless advance of the Web. "It had better..." he said grimly. "Come on, let"s get to the stores."
The soldiers left, Victoria and Anne following the Doctor and Travers. Chorley was alone, staring at the map.
An expression of cold calculation slowly spread over his face...
A short time later, the Fortress was humming with activity. Blake and Weams were in the Operations Room, plotting the movements of the Web. Travers, Anne and the Doctor, watched by Victoria, were happily rigging up a Yeti-proof detonator and timing device. A party of soldiers was wrestling with a heavy baggage trolley. In the midst of all this activity someone moved quietly along the outer corridor and opened the locking clamps on the door that led to the tunnels. The Fortress was open to attack.
8.
Return of the Yeti Victoria put down the little Yeti with a shudder. The last time she"d seen such a model it had been in the hands of the old monk, Padmasambvha. Controlled by the great Intelligence, he was using the model to summon the Yeti for their attack on Det-Sen Monastery. The Doctor glanced up from his work. "My word, that looks familiar. Doesn"t work, does it?"
Anne Travers shook her head. "It"s dead, so are the others, all four of them."
Victoria looked at the bench. "Four? There"s only one here."
Travers spoke abstractedly. "Others must be about somewhere. Have a look, will you?"
The Doctor and Travers returned to their work, while Victoria started hunting through the jumble of electronic parts and Yeti relics on the bench. But she didn"t find the missing model Yeti. Unseen hands had already placed one of them in a dark corner just outside the Explosives Store. The Yeti model was giving out a faint, almost inaudible, electronic bleep.
In the tunnel near the Fortress, a Yeti stood motionless, waiting. As the signal from the model reached it, it jerked into life and began lumbering slowly towards the Fortress.