Doctor Who_ Cave Monsters - Malcolm Hulke [16]
Then the Doctor heard from far down the cave a strange electronic fluting sound. The monster paused, attracted by the sound.
The sound was repeated, following a distinct pattern of notes. Slowly the tyrannosaurus reared up to its full height—and then, to the Doctor's amazement, turned round. With an overall length of forty-five feet from nose to tail, this was not easy in the confined gallery of the cave. It first turned its body to face the opposite direction, then curled round its huge murderous tail, so that the Doctor had to jump out of the way. The fluting sound was repeated, and the tyrannosaurus ambled off down the cave, obedient as a dog being called home by its master.
Able to breath freely again, the Doctor reached down to pick up his torch. As he did so, he noticed that in a patch of soft sand the monster had left one perfect footprint. Very excited with his discovery, the Doctor hurried back the way he had come.
6
Into the Caves
At last Major Barker felt that something useful was going to happen. This strange man, the Doctor, had been into the caves alone, and had returned with an extraordinary report about meeting a monster. Well, Barker wasn't fool enough to believe that sort of thing; but at least the report had prompted the Brigadier to organise an armed search of the caves.
'Would you care to come with us?' asked the Brigadier. It was just what Barker had been waiting for. 'I shall lead the attack,' he replied.
'We're not sure that we're going to attack anything,' said the Doctor. That was typical of the man. If you are going into caves with guns, you are going to attack, or why else go? Still, Barker tried to be agreeable.
'Quite so,' he said to the Doctor. 'But we must be ready for anything.'
The team consisted of the Doctor, the Brigadier, Sergeant Hawkins and a UNIT private, and, of course, Major Barker. All, except the Doctor, carried guns. Barker carried not only his holstered Enfield six-shooter, but also a high-velocity rifle. If there were any foreign spies to be found in the caves, Barker knew how to deal with them. As they set off in Jeeps from the research centre car park, Barker felt quite elated. It reminded him of times when he had gone hunting in Africa. To him, those were the good days when Britain still had colonies. It was all over now, of course, but he liked to ponder on those memories.
The Jeeps wound down the rough track to the main road, then cut back across open country to the main mouth of the caves complex. The Brigadier jumped down from the leading Jeep. 'All right,' he called, 'this way.'
Barker was willing to follow at this stage. Later, inside the caves, he intended to get ahead of the others. He wanted to make quite sure that if they found a spy, there would be no nonsense with him. Shoot first, ask questions afterwards. That was Barker's motto.
The little group tramped through the first passageway of the caves, flashing their torches ahead and down every alcove on each side. Then the Brigadier stopped. 'Doctor, you say you found a footprint. Can you lead us to it?'
The Doctor went on ahead. This really tickled Barker. He hadn't liked the Doctor from the start, and looked forward to seeing the Doctor make a fool of himself. After a few minutes they came to a fork, and the Doctor took the left branch. He walked ahead a little way, then stopped.
'It was about here,' said the Doctor.
The Brigadier said, 'No one move, and everyone flash their torches on the floor.'
The Doctor moved carefully towards a small area of flat sand in the cave floor. 'It was here,' he said.
' Was?' asked the Brigadier.
'It's been brushed over,' the Doctor