Doctor Who_ Attack of the Cybermen - Eric Saward [28]
‘Not through my TARDIS!’ growled the Doctor. ‘It will take forever to learn how it functions.’
‘We already have our own time vessel.’
The Time Lord laughed, but it was empty and hollow.
The Doctor knew Cybermen did not boast.
Lytton, who was standing by the closed double door, shifted the weight of his body from one foot to the other.
‘The Cyber Leader speaks the truth,’ he said, matter-of-factly. ‘They have a craft on the dark side of the moon.’
‘Really.’ The Doctor glared at him and foolishly contorted his face into an expression of contempt. The gesture proved as hollow as his laugh. ‘I know Cyber technology,’ he muttered. ‘It will be many years before they are capable of time travel.’
Grabbing the Doctor by his collar, the Leader pushed him towards the navigational section of the console. ‘You will learn that I do not lie,’ he said. ‘Now set the co-ordinates for Telos. The Cyber Controller wishes to speak to you.’
The Doctor didn’t respond but inside his head he was reeling. The last time he was on Telos he had killed the Controller, sealing him in the labyrinth of his own tombs.
‘He’s still alive?’
‘You did not destroy him, Doctor – he was merely damaged.’ Stunned, the Doctor nodded, allowing his head to foolishly bob up and down as though his neck were a spring. ‘Now set the co-ordinates!’
The Doctor obeyed and pressed the master control. The TARDIS dematerialised.
The room was dark and cluttered with panels of electronic circuitry. Fibre-optic cables hung from open roundals and their covers were strewn across the floor. This was where the Cyber Leader had locked the Doctor and the others for safe keeping.
In the middle of the debris stood Charlie Griffiths and Peri. Watched by Lytton, the Doctor was pacing up and down. ‘This is bad news...’ he muttered to himself. ‘ Very bad news. How could they have discovered the Laws of Time?’
‘They haven’t,’ said Lytton casually.
The Doctor wasn’t certain whether to believe him. ‘You said they had a craft on the dark side of the moon.’
‘That’s right.’ Lytton was enjoying the sight of a flustered Time Lord. ‘But they didn’t build it.’
‘So where did they get it?’
‘Engine problems forced it to land on Telos. They simply captured it.’
This pleased the Doctor even less. ‘So now they have two: one to operate; the other to dismantle for research.’
He wrung his hands as he continued to pace up and down.
‘There must be a way to stop them. With the ability to travel in time, they’ll cause havoc.’ The Doctor turned in mid-step to Lytton. ‘Have you ever been to Telos?’ He shook his head. ‘Then how do you know what happened there?’
Lytton’s bottom lip quivered, but didn’t quite make the full smile. ‘Does it matter?’ he said, trying to sound enigmatic. ‘Be grateful you’re still alive.’
Peri was growing tired of their banter. ‘I assume this is Commander Lytton?’ she said firmly. ‘The one who worked for the Daleks?’
The reference to the Daleks seemed momentarily to upset him. ‘That wasn’t out of choice,’ Lytton protested.
‘Anyway, that hardly affects the situation now, as I’m plainly not working for the Cybermen. Like you, I’m a prisoner.’
‘More likely a spy!’ snarled the Doctor.
Peri shrugged in despair. ‘Does it really matter?’ She was suddenly angry. ‘He won’t learn very much. And neither will this arguing get us out of our current mess!’
The echo of her anger hovered in the air for a moment.
‘She’s right.’ Charlie Griffiths had found his tongue. ‘I don’t begin to understand what’s going on, but if we’re going to get out of this alive, we’ll have to co-operate.’
Lytton glanced at the Doctor. ‘I’m prepared to,’ he said.
The Time Lord reluctantly nodded his agreement. ‘Don’t be so grudging,’ mocked Lytton. ‘I’m a reformed character.
You can trust me.’
Inside his head, the Doctor roared with ironic laughter.
He would rather trust a wounded speelsnape, the most vicious creature in the Universe, than place one ounce of reliance on a man like Lytton.
In the TARDIS’ console room a coded