Doctor Who_ The Web Of Fear Part 13

Anne gave the Doctor a triumphant hug. 'You've done it!'

' We've We've done it, my dear-with your control unit we should be able to work him over quite a distance.' He looked up at the Yeti and said, 'All right, you can put your arm down.' The Yeti obeyed. The Doctor turned to Anne. 'We must get back to H.Q. Now I know that this works, I can develop a way to block done it, my dear-with your control unit we should be able to work him over quite a distance.' He looked up at the Yeti and said, 'All right, you can put your arm down.' The Yeti obeyed. The Doctor turned to Anne. 'We must get back to H.Q. Now I know that this works, I can develop a way to block all all the Intelligence's transmissions.' the Intelligence's transmissions.'

They set off back down the tunnel, then the Doctor turned.

'Mustn't forget our new friend. Come along, old chap.'

Obediently the Yeti lumbered after them.

Evans had finished cleaning the Sergeant's wound, and was now applying a bandage. He tied the last knot and stepped back to admire his work. 'Real professional job that, Sergeant. I should have been a doctor.'

Arnold grunted. 'Well then, Doctor Evans, you can get your medical gear back to the laboratory. Then come back here and start tidying up. This place is a diabolical mess!'

Evans gathered up his things and went out. Trust a sergeant, he was thinking. Fancy worrying about spit-and-polish at a time like this.

Arnold wandered across to the indicator map and gazed blankly at it. So very few lights still burning now... He heard a scream and a clatter and ran from the room.

Evans was standing outside the laboratory, staring into the room with horror on his face. Arnold ran up to him and looked in. The laboratory wall was bulging towards them in a great swelling curve. Even as Arnold watched, cracks appeared, widened. Suddenly the whole wall burst inwards.

Through the gap poured the glowing, pulsating ma.s.s of the Web.

13.

Captives of the Intelligence The Web poured out of the widening gap, slowly and inexorably engulfing the entire laboratory. Arnold jumped back and slammed the door. 'Come on, Evans-evacuate!'

They tore through the corridors and out through the main entrance. Arnold closed and barred it behind them.

'That'll hold it for a short while. We'd better find the others and tell them H.Q.'s had it'

Evans backed away. 'Not me, Sarge.'

'Look, there's four people out there. If we don't warn them they'll be for the chop.'

Evans didn't move. 'So, four people for the chop then- no reason to make it six, now is there?'

'That's enough lip,' roared Arnold. 'Follow me, Private Evans.'

He marched down the tunnel as Evans turned and ran in the opposite direction. 'Come back, you 'orrible little man,'

shouted Arnold. But Evans was already out of sight. Arnold muttered, 'Right, lad, I'll have you for that.' He reeled and staggered for a moment, then regained control of himself.

Battered but indomitable, he set off down the tunnel.

The Doctor and Anne marched along, their Yeti following behind like some ungainly pet. Suddenly the Doctor stopped, as he heard footsteps. The Yeti brushed past him, marching on, since no one had ordered it to do anything else.

'Hey, you,' yelled the Doctor indignantly, 'Stop. Turn. Come back. Wait!'

'Why did you stop, Doctor?' asked Anne.

'Someone's coming. Since we still don't know who's working with the Intelligence and who isn't, the fewer people who know this Yeti's on our side the better.'

'How do we keep it secret?'

'Like this,' said the Doctor. He spoke into his microphone. 'Yeti! Remain here for ninety seconds. Then resume acting on instructions from the Intelligence, until you are instructed otherwise. Switch off for ninety seconds-now!'

Leaving the Yeti standing motionless behind them, the Doctor and Anne hurried away down the tunnel. A few minutes later they ran straight into Jamie and Lethbridge-Stewart.

'Och, am I glad to see you,' called Jamie. 'We came to warn you, the Web's moved as far as Warren Street.'

The Doctor patted him on the shoulder. 'It's very kind of you, but we already know. We ran straight into it.'

'Glad you're both still safe,' said the Colonel. 'Any luck with that gadget of yours?'

'Not really,' answered the Doctor evasively. 'We need to get back to H.Q. to run more tests. Any news of Victoria?'

Jamie nodded eagerly. 'She and Travers are being kept prisoners at Piccadilly. Arnold managed to survive the Web- he saw them.'

The Doctor seemed about to speak, but Anne Travers looked at her watch. 'Time's nearly up, Doc-tor. If we're going to get back to H.Q. and work on the control box...'

The little group hurried back towards Goodge Street. In the tunnel behind them the Doctor's Yeti suddenly came to life. An electronic signal bleeped out, and two more Yeti appeared from further down the tunnel...

As the Doctor and his party were moving along the side-tunnel to the Fortress, they heard footsteps coming towards them. Sergeant Arnold ran up to them. Staggering a little, he came to attention in front of the Colonel and saluted. 'H.Q.'s gone, sir. The Web burst through the wall. Whole place will be swamped by now.'

Lethbridge-Stewart absorbed the news of this fresh disaster with his usual coolness. 'Anyone hurt? Where's Evans?'

'I'm afraid he cracked, sir. Scarpered.'

Jamie heard movement in the tunnel behind them. He swung round. 'Look out-Yeti.' Three Yeti were advancing down the tunnel towards them, their s.h.a.ggy bulk filling the entire tunnel.

Anne moved closer to the Doctor and whispered, 'Which one is ours?'

'No idea,' he whispered back. 'They all look alike to me!'

The three Yeti moved forward. Behind the Doctor and his friends was only the Web-filled Fortress. They were trapped.

Private Evans was running frantically away from the Fortress when he saw a Yeti coming towards him. He dived into an alcove and crouched motionless. The Yeti lumbered past. With a sigh of relief, Evans jumped out of hiding and ran on, only to encounter a second Yeti. He backed away, babbling idiotically. 'If you're looking for your friend, he went that way!' The Yeti shot out an arm and grabbed Evans by the shoulder. The second Yeti reappeared and grabbed him by the other shoulder. They lifted him clear of the ground, and with Evans dangling between them, set off down the tunnel.

Evans smiled weakly. 'Going for a little walk, are we? There's lovely!'

The Yeti herded their prisoners to a junction and then halted. The leading Yeti began sending out signals. Arnold whispered to the Colonel, 'When we move on, I'll try and make a break for it, sir. Maybe these things don't count too well. If I'm on the loose I'll follow and try to help somehow.'

The Colonel nodded. 'All right, Sergeant, it's worth a try.'

The Yeti received another signal, and moved on. As they pa.s.sed a side tunnel, Lethbridge-Stewart stumbled into the Doctor. In the moment of confusion, Arnold slipped away into the side tunnel. The rest of the party were herded on...

Apparently the Yeti had noticed nothing.

Travers and Victoria were taken along the platform, up endless steps, and finally into the ticket hall at Piccadilly Circus. The big round area was silent and empty, and standing incongruously before the 1icket office was a large gla.s.s pyramid, linked to a throne like seat. A metal circlet, on a flexible arm, was suspended from the apex of the pyramid, to that it hung above the throne.

Travers moved to look closer at the pyramid. The Yeti warned him off with a menacing growl.

Victoria grabbed his arm. 'Look!' The shadow of a human figure moved in one of the tiled pa.s.sages leading out of the concourse. 'Who's there?' called Travers. The shadow drew back, and the footsteps moved away.

'Do you think it was the Intelligence?' whispered Victoria.

Travers shrugged. 'I doubt if the Intelligence has a human form. Maybe it was one of its human servants-like me a while ago.' Travers spoke bitterly, aware how easily he could be brought under control again. 'If only there was something we could do!'

'The Doctor will turn up to help us,' Victoria said confidently. 'He always does.'

'Not this time, my dear. With you as a hostage, he'll have no alternative but to surrender.'

Over the loudspeaker system, the voice of the Intelligence boomed, 'You are right, Professor, the Doctor must must surrender. He will be here soon. He is our guest of honour. Meanwhile do not attempt to interfere or my Yeti will destroy you...' surrender. He will be here soon. He is our guest of honour. Meanwhile do not attempt to interfere or my Yeti will destroy you...'

The speaker licked off. Travers groaned. 'And to think that what's happened is all my fault...' He buried his face in his hands.

Down below, the Doctor and his group waited on a platform. It was almost as if they were about to make their entrance in some formal ceremony. Jamie looked at the Yeti guarding them. 'It's a pity you didna' have any success with your gadget, Doctor.'

'Oh, but we did,' whispered the Doctor. 'I'm waiting for the moment to use it.' Swiftly he told Jamie what had happened in the tunnels before they met, and of the Yeti under their control. 'Trouble is I've lost track of him.' he concluded sadly.

'Och, that's a great help.'

'I want you to find him, Jamie. Take this and keep calling our Yeti. He's bound to come eventually.' The Doctor slipped the radio-microphone round Jamie's neck, hiding it under his wide-collared shirt.

'How will I know if I've got the right one?'

The Doctor grinned. 'You'll soon find out if you haven't.

Now then, Jamie, we've got to hide you. I hope you don't suffer from claustrophobia?'

Harold Chorley and Sergeant Arnold ran into each other in a nearby tunnel, to their mutual surprise. Chorley immediately burst into a flood of explanations, telling how he had wandered lost in the tunnels, dodging the Yeti and driven ever back by the advancing Web.

Arnold looked on impa.s.sively as Chorley faltered to a stop. 'We'd all forgotten you, Mr Chorley. Wonderful how you managed to survive all that time, isn't it?'

Chorley backed away. 'What are you implying?'

'Just wondering, that's all, sir. And now I think you'd better come with me, don't you?' Arnold gripped Chorley's arm with one of his strong hands, and led him away.

On the platform, the Doctor, Lethbridge-Stewart and Anne Travers were still waiting. Jamie was nowhere in sight.

Doctor, why not use the control device on these Yeti?'

whispered Anne. 'We could get away...' The Doctor shook his head. 'And leave Victoria, and your father? Besides I'm looking forward to meeting the Intelligence.'

The Colonel looked keenly at him. 'You're going to surrender, Doctor? Arnold's still free-and now there's Jamie.

Maybe they'll be able to do something.'

Before the Doctor could reply, two Yeti appeared, carrying Evans between them. They dumped him beside the other captives and moved away. Lethbridge-Stewart glared at him. 'Sergeant Arnold told me you deserted, Private Evans.

Didn't do you much good, did it?'

Evans was shocked. 'Me desert, sir? Sergeant Arnold mast have misunderstood. I decided to make a heroic attempt to go for help, single-handed you see.' He looked round nervously. 'Er-is Sergeant Arnold here?'

'No... luckily for you.'

Evans looked very relieved.

The Yeti were signalling once more. One of them separated the Doctor from the others. The Colonel made a move to stop them, but the Doctor called, 'No! Whatever you do, don't struggle. Don't try to resist them...' His voice faded as the Yeti urged him away.

Evans shook his head. 'He needn't worry, I I won't struggle!' won't struggle!'

There was a further wait, then one of the Yeti began to herd them after the Doctor. 'Seems as if it's tune for us all to get fell in, sir,' said Evans.

The last captives had gone, and the platform was empty.

Slowly the lid of a big metal sandbin was raised, and Jamie peeped out from his hiding place.

After climbing endless stairs the Doctor was taken into a tiled pa.s.sage, leading to the main concourse. A Yeti stood waiting, a strange helmet-like device in its hands. It raised the helmet as if to lower it on to the Doctor's head. 'Just a minute, old chap,' said the Doctor politely-and operated the control device hidden in his pocket. Both Yeti froze. The Doctor smiled contentedly. 'Now then, let's have a look at that contraption.' Reaching up carefully, the Doctor took the device from the Yetis claw-like hands...

When Anne Travers was led into the main concourse with the Colonel and Evans. she saw her father and Victoria standing motionless before the pyramid. She can to her father and hugged him. 'Father, what happened? Are you all right again?'

To her relief it was his own voice that answered, the familiar kindly face that looked down at her. 'Don't worry, Anne, they haven't hurt us.'