Doctor Who_ Attack of the Cybermen - Eric Saward [26]
‘And don’t leave the inspection pit until I get there.’
‘No, Doctor,’ she said, tartly.
‘And save your breath for climbing!’
‘Yes, Doctor.’
Once Peri was high enough, Russell scrambled onto the ladder. At first he attempted to use his damaged leg, but found it easier to pull himself up on his arms. While Russell struggled, the Doctor ran a little way back along the sewer to act as rearguard.
As he waited in the shadows, listening, he recalled his last encounter with the Cybermen and how his young companion, Adric, had died in an attempt to defeat them.
Of all the enemies he had faced, he knew that he despised them most. Even more than the hated Daleks. There was something about their cold, emotionless minds, obsessed with total domination, that put his nerves on edge. He could understand, if not approve, the average tyrant who gloried in power and its manipulation. But the Cybermen glorified in nothing. They had no faith, philosophy or culture of any kind. They didn’t make anything useful, other than objects of war. The peoples they defeated were obliterated, and any prisoners taken were turned into emotionless creatures like themselves. Where Cybermen had passed there was always total destruction. Never the briefest moment of compassion shown. Simply death and annihilation.
The Doctor glanced over his shoulder and saw that both Peri and Russell had reached the top of the ladder. Quickly he ran back and climbed up himself, fmding his companions, as though under siege in a trench, stooped in the inspection pit.
‘No one out there,’ muttered Peri. ‘Not even the other policeman.’
Cautiously, the Time Lord peered over the edge of the pit. He could see that the part of the cuff attached to the bench was still in place, but the half retaining the policeman’s hand had been snapped off at the chain.
Knowing this would require enormous strength, he assumed that Cybermen had been in the garage.
This was very bad news indeed, for if the Cybermen had come this far, they might also have entered the TARDIS.
Through the open garage door, the Doctor could see his time machine, still in the guise of a pipe organ, parked in the forecourt. Everything seemed quiet, but that was no indication of what could await them inside.
Quietly, as the Doctor briefed them about what might have occurred, the trio climbed out of the pit. Russell untangled, from a deep pocket, the heavy automatic Peri had taken earlier from the uniformed policeman. He gave it to her and then drew the Beretta, checked the contents of the magazine and cocked it. With the Doctor in the lead, the trio made their way to the back of the organ. ‘This wasn’t here earlier,’ said Russell, feeling foolish that he had been asked to creep up on a musical instrument.
‘I’ll explain later,’ the Doctor whispered.
Silently they climbed into the back of the organ, passed through the black, temporal void that separated the outer shell of the TARDIS from its infinite interior and pushed open the console room’s double doors.
The Doctor raised the Cyber gun and scanned the empty room. Apart from a tiny light quietly pulsing on the console, everything was still and quiet. The Time Lord let out a slow sigh of relief. Knowing how the Cybermen preferred a stand-up fight, this was where he had expected to encounter them.
So far so good, he thought, edging his way cautiously into the room. This observation had no sooner crackled across his synapse, than a massive metal hand swung round from behind one of the doors and gripped him by the throat. Screaming, he dropped his gun, and tore at the powerful fingers.
In a desperate attempt to break the murderous grip, Russell beat the Cyberman’s hand with the butt of his gun, but it remained impervious.
Realising the Doctor had but seconds to live, Russell raised his heavy automatic, aimed at the vent that should have been the Cyberman’s mouth and fired. He continued to squeeze the trigger until the gun’s magazine was empty and the Cyberman destroyed.
‘Careful,’ the Time Lord croaked, clutching his bruised neck, ‘there