Doctor Who_ Attack of the Cybermen - Eric Saward [9]
As he spoke, a large, black shape turned into the tunnel some way ahead and started to walk towards them. Russell felt uneasy as though something evil had entered their presence.
‘It’s Payne,’ muttered Lytton.
‘You’re wrong,’ came the reply, as Russell grabbed Lytton’s arm and pulled him to a halt. ‘Look at the height and bulk of the body – it’s far too big!’
Lytton brushed away the restraining hand. ‘Nonsense,’
he said, and again started to walk towards the creature. As he did, his helmet-light picked out its black face. Where there should have been eyes and a mouth, there were slits.
Instead of ears, there were what appeared to be inverted horns that continued parallel with the side of the head, until turning ninety degrees and joining some sort of boss-like device situated at its crown.
Although Russell had caught only a glimpse of the face, he knew that its owner intended them harm. The sense of evil he had felt earlier had not been unjustified. ‘Challenge him!’ he screamed. ‘Better still – kill him!’
But Lytton wasn’t listening.
Charlie, who had been disturbed by the shouting, abandoned his hammer and joined Russell. On seeing the creature – and Russell’s fear – he experienced an unaccustomed sense of bravado. Quickly he sped down the tunnel towards Lytton and the machine pistol he was clutching. Grabbing the gun, Charlie simultaneously shoulder-butted him to one side and fired, spraying the creature’s head with the full contents of the magazine and ripping open tubes along its neck. With green fluid gushing from the fractures, the creature collapsed.
Triumphantly, Charlie threw the empty gun to one side and turned back to Lytton. Only to find more of the creatures, silver this time, but just as menacing. Behind them he could see that a section of the sewer wall, like a huge door, had swung open. Framed in the doorway were yet more silver things. Terrified, Charlie slowly raised his hands as Lytton stepped forward and bowed to one of the creatures.
‘We are your prisoners, Leader,’ Lytton said, almost sounding pleased by the fact. Charlie was even more confused. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, Griffiths, but this meeting had always been my true destination.’
Charlie nodded. It all made a bizarre sort of sense. At the back of his mind, in the deepest pit of his subconscious, he knew that robbing the Diamond Exchange had been too good to be true. ‘Aren’t you gonna introduce me?’
‘Of course.’ Lytton gave another respectful nod. ‘These, Griffiths, are your new masters...’
Charlie stared at the implacable metal faces. ‘Oh yeah...
And what are they?’
‘Cybermen! Undisputed masters of the galaxy!’
Such was Lytton’s tone, Charlie half expected a dramatic drumroll to follow his statement. Instead, he was pushed into the room that had been hidden by the hinged section of the wall. There all he could do was watch helplessly as the heavy door closed behind him.
When he had woken that morning and discovered it was raining, Charlie had felt uneasy. Things for him had never gone well on wet days, especially where crime was concerned. Now he could only hope that he was still asleep and would soon wake up to find his current situation was nothing more than a nasty dream.
But as powerful metal hands pushed him roughly around, he knew it wouldn’t happen. The only nightmare of the situation, he quickly realised, was its bleak, hopeless reality.
Charlie was not a happy man...
From an adjoining tunnel, where Russell had managed to hide during the confrontation with the Cybermen, he had witnessed Lytton’s passive surrender. Disturbed by events, he had stumbled off to fetch help, but had almost walked into a Cyber patrol. He had panicked and rushed blindly into the labyrinth of tunnels.
Now he was lost.
In spite of his training and years of experience as an undercover policeman, he had never felt so utterly helpless and alone. Exhausted, he dropped onto the wet floor of the tunnel and fell into a fitful sleep.
3
The Peripatetic Doctor
The Time Lords