Doctor Who_ Cave Monsters - Malcolm Hulke [10]
'I'm sorry to be so ignorant,' said Miss Dawson, 'but who was D. E. Hughes?'
'Exactly!' exclaimed Dr. Quinn, then returned to his lecture-hall voice to reel off more information from his mental store of knowledge: 'Professor D. E. Hughes, a professor of music, invented radio in 1879, and built a primitive transmitter in his home in Great Portland Street, London. I bet you thought Marconi invented radio!'
Miss Dawson didn't answer that. 'What do you hope to find out from these creatures?'
Dr. Quinn blew smoke and thought for a moment. 'How the world was millions and millions of years ago,' he said thoughtfully,
'what the temperature was like, the flora and fauna. Above all, I believe that they knew the true ancestors of Mankind.'
'What will you do with this information?' she asked.
'I shall publish a paper—perhaps a book. It will be the most widely read book in the world.' He turned and looked at her with his disarming smile. 'Wouldn't you like to know someone who is as famous as Charles Darwin?'
Miss Dawson could see now that Dr. Quinn was not the quiet little man she had imagined. She asked, 'Do you think you can get all this information from your reptile people, and walk away with notes for your book? What do you think they are going to do?'
'Go back into their hole in the ground,' said Dr. Quinn, 'if they're sensible.'
It was some time after this conversation that the power losses started at the research centre. Just as the nuclear reactor was building up to maximum power, all its current would be mysteriously drawn off, sometimes plunging the research centre into temporary darkness.
After it had happened twice in one week, Miss Dawson went one day to Dr. Quinn's office. She found him looking at a model globe of the world, which he quickly put out of sight in a cupboard.
'My dear Miss Dawson,' he said, 'do sit down. Not that the chairs in this office are very comfortable...'
He produced a metal-backed chair for her, and she sat. 'It's about these power losses,' she said. 'Do you know what causes them?'
'I thought our dear director, Dr. Lawrence, was looking after that,' said Dr. Quinn.
She nerved herself to say what was on her mind: 'It's got something to do with those creatures you told me about, hasn't it?'
Dr. Quinn got out his pipe, then thought better of it and put the pipe back into his pocket. 'The truth is that the enormous volume of electrical power we create down here triggered off the reptile people in the first place.'
'Triggered off?' She didn't understand.
'They were hibernating,' said Dr. Quinn. 'I've no idea how or why—they haven't explained that to me yet. But our electricity woke up one of them, and he set about waking up the others. When it suits them, they draw off our power to de-hibernate more of their kind.'
'How have they managed to build cables,' she asked, 'from their shelter to our research centre?'
'They haven't,' he said. 'In some ways their civilisation was more advanced than ours. By induction* they can transfer electrical power through earth, rock, anything.'
'You must tell them to stop!' She realised she had spoken like a schoolmistress talking about naughty children.
'I think that's more than my life is worth,' said Dr. Quinn. 'In any case, they're not holding up our work too much. And what we're doing here isn't half as important as what I'm doing getting to know these creatures.'
'But Dr. Lawrence is going to bring in UNIT,' she said. 'Were you aware of that?'
For the first time Dr. Quinn frowned. 'No, he didn't tell me. He should have done.' Then he smiled his usual cheery smile. 'Still, we shall have to see how it all works out, won't we?'
'You must