"The body isn"t going to be discovered. You"re going to hide it, somewhere in here. Maddox will be finished before very long."
"What happens then?"
"To Maddox? He will be of no further use to us. Perhaps they"ll execute him for Karina"s murder."
"What happens to us? The Base is under attack, remember."
"That doesn"t concern us either," said Nilson calmly.
"Remember our mission. Once this Base has been rendered helpless, unable to fire its proton missiles, we shall leave."
"How?"
"In the escape pod. I already have the activation keys and departure codings in my possession. An East Bloc cruiser is waiting to pick us up." His voice hardened. "Now pull yourself together, Doctor Solow. Find a place to hide that body and keep an eye on Maddox. See that no one distracts him from his task. I must return to the Bridge."
Calm and self-possessed as ever, Nilson strode from the computer bay.
Doctor Solow caught Karina"s body under the arms and began dragging it across the room. It was strange, she thought. With all her medical experience, she hadn"t realised that a dead body could be so heavy...
The gap in the doorway of airlock one was larger now, and more of the creature"s terrifying head and body could be seen.
"Take aim," yelled Bulic. "Fire!"
There was a crackle of energy. At least one of the blaster bolts struck the Myrka squarely on the forehead. It recoiled from the gap with a scream of rage. Seconds later the attack on the door recommenced with renewed fury.
The Doctor sighed. "I"m afraid it takes quite a lot to impress the Myrka."
Bulic and his men edged closer. When the Myrka appeared once more framed in the jagged gap, Bulic shouted, "Fire!"
More energy bolts poured through the gap. There was another roar from the monster, and then silence. "We hit it!" shouted Bulic exultantly.
Turlough gave a sigh of relief. "You must have killed it!"
Suddenly there was another tremendous thump. Torn from its hinges, the airlock door crashed inwards against the wall scattering Bulic"s men and trapping Tegan, who was nearest, underneath it.
The Doctor ran to help her. "Tegan, are you hurt?" He tried to pull her free. "Are you all right?"
"I"m fine, Doctor. But I can"t seem to move my leg..."
The Doctor looked. Tegan"s body was unhurt, jammed in the angle between the door and the corridor wall. By a kind of freak accident her foot, although uncrushed, was trapped by the fallen door and she couldn"t pull it free.
The Doctor glanced up at the Myrka. The bulk of its body was visible now. It was like a kind of pocket dinosaur, moving on huge back legs with smaller but still powerful limbs in front of it, a hideous dragon-like head, and a long tail. For a moment it stood waiting, surveying the scene before it.
"Fire!" shouted Bulic. "Fire again!"
A hail of energy bolts poured through the shattered doorway. The Myrka roared, more in anger than pain. It was quite unhurt.
The Doctor resumed his efforts to free Tegan. "How do you feel?"
"How would you feel if a door had fallen on you?
The Doctor heaved at the door. It shifted a little but only a very little.
"Turlough, help me!"
A little reluctantly, Turlough came to help. They both tugged at the door. Even their combined efforts seemed to shift it only fractionally.
"It"s no good," gasped Turlough. "We can"t lift it..."
The Myrka was still framed in the airlock doorway. It seemed unhurt and it made no move to advance but it wasn"t retreating either.
"Fire again!" shouted Bulic. "Close the range."
Still firing, the guards advanced on the Myrka.
The Doctor looked up and saw what was happening.
"Keep back," he shouted. "Don"t get too close and don"t let it touch you."
The warning came too late. The leading guard moved nearer and suddenly the Myrka lashed out. There was a fierce crackle and the man was flung back across the corridor.
He writhed for a moment, his body glowing with electrical energy, and then fell dead. The Myrka struck again and another guard died.
"Don"t fire any more, it"s useless," yelled the Doctor. "Get your people out of here."
Bulic raised his voice. "Clear the airlock!"
The guards began falling back.
"You too, Turlough," ordered the Doctor.
"But what about Tegan?"
"I"ll look after Tegan. Now, get out!"
Turlough fell back with the others.
"You go as well, Doctor," gasped Tegan.
"No. I"m not leaving you. Now, I"ll lift, you pull!"
The Doctor heaved at the door, while Tegan struggled to pull her foot free.
It moved a little, and then jammed again.
"You go as well, Doctor. No point in us both dying."
"Who"s talking about dying?" said the Doctor cheerfully, and heaved again at the door.
Luckily the Myra showed no sign of leaving the airlock.
It stood poised, its great dragon-like head swaying to and fro, as if surveying the scene of its victory.
Curious that electrical effect, thought the Doctor.
Somehow the Silurians had engineered the thing so that its body contained a ma.s.sive electric charge that could be discharged at will a sort of cross between a dinosaur and an electric eel.
The Doctor paused, considering the problem.
Fortunately Tegan"s foot was only trapped, not mangled. It only needed the door to shift a very little more and she would be able to pull free. The Doctor thought about various alternative plans: some kind of grease or oil perhaps.
No time... The Myrka roared.
"Hurry, Doctor," urged Tegan. "That thing"s getting restless. It"s starting to edge its way out of the airlock."
The Myrka roared again.
The Doctor redoubled his efforts.
By now Bulic"s men had pulled back beyond the bulkhead area, and Turlough was swept along with them.
One of the crew thrust something into his hand. "Here!" It was a blaster-rifle dropped by one of the dead guards.
"Thanks," said Turlough a little dubiously.
He moved closer to Bulic, who was speaking urgently into his portable communicator, reporting to Vorshak.
"The creature"s already in, sir," he was saying. "I"m afraid our weapons seem to be useless against it."
"Use grenades!" ordered Vorshak.
"We can"t, sir. The Doctor and the girl are too close.
They"re trapped by the airlock."
"Has the creature pa.s.sed beyond the main bulkhead door?"
"No sir. It"s still in the airlock."
"Then close the door. Seal off the bulkhead immediately."
To close the bulkhead would cut off the Doctor and Tegan"s only possible escape route.
"No!" shouted Turlough instinctively.
Vorshak"s voice said angrily, "Who"s that? What do you mean, no? The safety of the Base depends on it. Do it, Bulic. That"s an order."
Bulic looked helplessly at Turlough. "I"m sorry." He moved towards a wall control panel.
"No, wait!" shouted Turlough. He tried to push Bulic away, but a shoulder-charge from a burly guard sent him flying.
Bulic stabbed at the control panel and the ma.s.sive bulkhead door began to close.
The Doctor glanced over his shoulder. "They"re closing the bulkhead! Come on, Tegan, one more try!"
There was immense strength in the Doctor"s relatively slight frame. Summoning all his inner resources he gave one enormous heave. At the same time the Myrka started to advance. One of its huge feet stepped on the edge of the door which raised the end that had been trapping Tegan"s foot a few inches. At the same time Tegan pulled back on her foot until it felt as if it would come off and suddenly she was free.
"Thank you so much," said the Doctor to the Myrka.
The Doctor grabbed Tegan"s hand and pulled her towards the fast-closing bulkhead door.
He was just too late. The final struggle had taken just a few seconds too long, and they reached the bulkhead door just as it slammed closed before them, cutting off their retreat.
The Doctor and Tegan turned in time to see the Myrka step over the fallen door and out of the airlock. It stood quite still for a moment, then it began moving towards them.
"Brave heart, Tegan," whispered the Doctor.
Tegan was almost too indignant to be afraid. "Brave heart?" she said incredulously. "Brave heart? Doctor, that thing is going to kill us!"
7.
The Breakthrough Turlough picked himself up, the blaster-rifle still in his hand. He levelled it at Bulic"s head. "Open that bulkhead door!"
"I can"t," said Bulic calmly. "Not even if I wanted to. The controls are locked now. It can only be opened from the Bridge."
Turlough glared wildly at him, not sure if Bulic was lying or not, and almost angry enough to shoot him down anyway. Then he whirled round, and ran off down the corridor.
A guard made to follow him, but Bulic held the man back. "Let him go," he said, not unsympathetically.