Doctor Who_ Attack of the Cybermen - Eric Saward [45]
Rost glared at the Doctor. ‘Please remove your TARDIS
from Telos,’ she said sternly, ‘before you need rescuing again.’
He nodded, then indicated a greasy stain, all that remained of Varne. ‘Sorry about your friend,’ he said.
‘Just go, Doctor.’
‘And what about you?’
‘We shall survive.’
Escorted by Rost, the Doctor and Peri made their way back to the TARDIS. ‘I promise you won’t see me or the TARDIS again.’ The Time Lord raised his hand in a Cryon greeting. ‘Come along, Peri.’
‘What about Lytton?’ Puzzled, he paused.
‘Lytton’s been captured by the Cybermen,’ she exclaimed.
‘Then he should be happy.’
‘You don’t understand.’ Peri was becoming agitated.
‘Lytton’s working for the Cryons! He always has been.’
The Doctor was stunned, but Rost confirmed that it was true.
‘You can’t leave him to die,’ urged Peri.
Neither did the doctor particularly want to tangle with Lytton again. He thought for a moment then turned to Rost. ‘Where is Lytton likely to be?’
‘Last reports say that he is in the laboratory of the Cyber Controller.’
‘All right,’ he said after a long pause, ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
Rost gave a funny little bow. ‘We are grateful, Time Lord.’
‘Oh, by the way,’ he said, pushing open the TARDIS
door, ‘you’d better get your people away from here.’ Rost didn’t understand.
‘While I was a prisoner I met a friend of yours.’
The Cryon thought for a moment. ‘Flast?’ He nodded.
‘But we thought she was dead.’
‘She soon will be: she intends to explode a room full of vastial.’
Grabbing Peri by the arm, he pushed her into the TARDIS. ‘Good luck.’
Again Rost saluted.
Once inside the TARDIS, the Doctor set to work calculating the precise position of the Cyber Controller’s laboratory. Although he was getting quite good at controlling the erratic nature of the TARDIS, all it would require would be one small miscalculation and the time machine would materialise inside a wall. The last time this happened it had taken him nearly five days to extricate himself. As Flast was desperate to set off her bomb, the Doctor was aware it was an error best not made.
A Cyber Leader with an escort of three Cybermen entered the refrigeration unit where Flast was held prisoner.
‘Search the room,’ ordered the Cyber Leader. ‘The Time Lord may have set a trap using the vastial.’
Immediately the Cybermen started their hunt. Flast watched as they searched dangerously near to the box with the sonic lance.
‘You!’ called the Cyber Leader. ‘Come here.’ Slowly Flast limped towards him. ‘How long ago did the Time Lord escape?’ She shrugged; but the Leader wasn’t prepared to accept such casualness and viciously grabbed her by the neck. ‘Answer my question!’ he demanded.
Flast gagged as the collar of her tunic bit into her skin.
‘Don’t know,’ she choked. ‘Don’t have an instrument for measuring time.’
The Cyberman remained dogmatic. ‘You will answer my question.’
‘I cannot!’
Unimpressed by her excuses, he lifted her clear of the ground and hurled her across the room like a ragdoll. ‘Did the Time Lord open any of the vastial boxes?’ Stunned by her fall, Flast was unable to reply. ‘Take her outside,’
ordered the Leader.
Like a bundle of dirty washing, Flast was picked up and carried into the warm corridor. Dumping her on the ground, the Cyberman moved back to the doorway where the Cyber Leader was waiting.
‘You still have a few moments to change you mind,’ he said.
Flast didn’t speak or move, but lay where she had been thrown. But as the warmth of the corridor began to penetrate her tunic, so did the pain. At first it felt like sharp needles pricking at her skin. As the temperature rose, the sensation changed to that of boiling water. It was then that Flast began to scream. As she blindly dragged herself back to the safety of the refrigeration room, steam began to pour from her body – she was beginning literally to melt. Digging nails hard into the floor, she