Doctor Who_ Attack of the Cybermen - Eric Saward [40]
Varne played with a switch pretending to be deeply involved with some problem. ‘What do you mean, child?’
‘I arrived with three men,’ she protested. ‘Yet you immediately knew who I wanted.’
Rost looked awkwardly at Varne. ‘You never were very bright,’ she muttered.
Varne turned away. ‘We should have killed her,’ she said coyly. ‘Then I shouldn’t need to be.’
Peri was furious. ‘You know more than you’re saying.’
Like an Edwardian paterfamilias, Varne awkwardly twiddled a lock of coarse hair on her upper lip.
Rost simply looked nervous.
‘Well?’ demanded Peri. ‘I’m waiting for an answer.’ But she didn’t really need one, having guessed the truth.
‘You know Lytton, don’t you?’ Reluctantly Rost nodded. ‘But the man’s a criminal!’
‘For what we wish him to do,’ said Varne, ‘that is an excellent qualification.’
This was another revelation. ‘He’s working for you?’
Rost placed her arm around Peri’s shoulder. ‘You must not prejudge him,’ she said gently. ‘Lytton has a most important mission – to prevent the Cybermen leaving Telos.’
Peri shrugged the arm away. ‘I thought you would have been glad to see them go.’
Rost’s face was engulfed with a look of utter despair. ‘On their departure,’ she said angrily, ‘they will destroy our refrigeration units. That is what Lytton must stop!’
Having just learned of her own planet’s impending war, she could more than empathise with the Cryons. But from what the Doctor had told her about Lytton, she couldn’t help but wonder whether they had made the right choice of knight errant.
The Doctor lumbered about his icy cold prison. Not only was he numbed by the cold, but also by the Cybermen’s intention. ‘Have you any idea how they intend to destroy Earth?’
Flast, who had been exhausted by their earlier conversation, jerked awake. ‘Destroy Earth?’ she said, rubbing her eyes. I don’t think they’ll need to go that far.’
Slowly she stood up and stretched. ‘Disrupting it would be enough. During the confusion they would invade, thereby preventing the battle which destroyed their planet.’
The Time Lord’s blood was on the verge of congealing, which forced him into a manic session of running on the spot. ‘Even to disrupt Earth,’ he panted, ‘would require a very large bomb.’
‘They have a natural one. In fact it’s heading to Earth at this very moment.’
Steam now billowed from the Time Lord, like a well-exercised horse on a frosty morning. ‘A natural one?’ He paused in his exercise, realising what she meant. ‘Halley’s Comet?’
She nodded. ‘They intend to divert it. Cause it to crash into Earth.’ Unable to help herself, Flast smiled. ‘It will make a very loud bang,’ she grinned.
But the Doctor wasn’t in the mood for jokes. ‘It will do more than that,’ he said sternly. ‘It will bring about a massive change in established history...’ He paused, wondering why the High Council on Gallifrey wasn’t doing anything about it. They must have received my distress call, he thought. At least made tentative enquiries as to its source. Even at their laziest, their most decadent, he knew they wouldn’t allow a TARDIS to be stolen.
‘What are you thinking?’ inquired Flast, concerned by his sudden silence.
He sighed. ‘Only that the Time Lords don’t seem to be doing anything about the Cybermen’s activities.’
The Cryon waved a dismissive hand. ‘Perhaps their agent is already at work.’
He didn’t believe it. ‘Then he’s taking his time. For a sta -’ Again the Doctor froze in mid-word, as a highly depressing thought slipped into his mind. ‘Wait a moment,’ he murmured. ‘It isn’t me? ’ Flast peered uncertainly at the Doctor. ‘No!’ he shouted as though addressing an unseen presence. ‘You haven’t manoeuvred me into this mess!’ The Doctor paced up and down shaking his fist at the ceiling of his prison. ‘It would have helped if you had at least let me know what you intended!’
The Cryon’s mouth gaped open. ‘ You are a Time Lord?