Doctor Who: Target - Novelisations [066] - The Tomb of the Cybermen by Gerry Davis

Author:Gerry Davis
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426110767
Publisher: Target Books
Published: 1977-12-31T23:00:00+00:00

9

The Cyberman Controller

The Controller of the Cybermen raised his hand. The Cybermen stopped, facing the humans. Silence: Everyone and everything looked at the Controller, waited for him to make the next move. But he stood still, as if welcoming a response from the humans.

‘How did you know that we would come to release you?’ asked Professor Parry. ‘You could have remained frozen for ever.’

‘The humanoid mind,’ said the low vibrating chord that was the Controller’s voice. ‘You are curious.’

‘As I thought,’ said the Doctor. ‘A trap. A very ingenious trap, too.’

‘What do you mean, ingenious?’ asked the Professor, confused.

‘Don’t you see – they only want superior intellects – that’s why they have made the trap so complicated. If it was too easy, everyone could have wandered down here.’

They looked at the great gleaming figure that stood before them. It seemed to nod slightly, like a god who chooses for the moment to be benign.

‘We knew intelligent life would visit our planet some day,’ said the Controller.

‘And we’ve done exactly as you calculated, haven’t we?’ said the Doctor. ‘Followed your directions to the letter. You should be very pleased. What else can we do for you? Perhaps we can go now?’

‘We cannot let you leave,’ said the Controller loudly. ‘You belong to us.’

His voice echoed and vibrated in the cavern and along the corridor.

Above the hatch, where the terrible voice did not reach, Victoria had fetched Captain Hopper and Callum from the orbiter and the two of them were examining the controls. Victoria was impatiently trying to hurry up the slow, deliberate Captain. But Hopper, seeing Kaftan’s unconscious body on the floor, and still suspecting the Doctor and his entourage, wouldn’t be hurried.

‘Come on, quickly,’ she said. ‘You must find the opening device for me. I don’t know which it is.’

‘Now hold hard, young lady,’ said the Captain. ‘I’m not pulling any levers until I know just what it’s all about.’

‘I don’t reckon we should have left the orbiter, Captain,’ said Callum suspiciously. He indicated Kaftan. ‘She’s O.K. She only fainted. I can’t see much else wrong here.’

‘Not much wrong… are you blind, the pair of you?’ shouted Victoria, hot with fury. She went over to the hatch, which was shut tight. ‘What about this?’

‘I don’t see any change in this room, Vic,’ said Callum slowly.

Victoria was so furious she didn’t have time to comment on being called ‘Vic’. ‘That’s just it,’ she shouted at them, out of breath.

‘The others are down there now. The Professor, Jamie, the Doctor…’

Kaftan, on the floor, stirred and opened her eyes.

‘Well, in that case, Vic,’ drawled the Captain, as though trying to calm an hysterical child. ‘Why close the hatch down on them? It don’t make sense.’

‘I didn’t,’ snapped Victoria. ‘And don’t call me “Vic”. She closed the hatch.’ She indicated Kaftan.

‘Oh, really?’ said the Captain, humouring the young girl. ‘Did she now?’ He smiled, not taking her angry mood seriously.

‘Are you going to help me or not?’ asked Victoria in a voice every bit as cool and cutting as her father’s when he was about to demolish an academic colleague.

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