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Alarmed, Miss Dawson looked round. 'Where?'

'Oh, not roaming around the house,' he said with that smile of his. 'It's the one they're hunting. I've got it locked up safe and sound in the store-room.'

'But it's killed somebody,' she said. 'It might kill you!' She realised how terribly fond she was of Dr. Quinn, even if she had started to doubt whether he was at all fond of her.

'It's wounded and it's weak,' he said. 'I have the key to the situation,' and he produced a big old-fashioned key and laughed. 'If it wants out, if it even wants food, it's got to tell me what I want to know. It needs heat to stay alive, and it needs to be fed.'

'Do you really believe you can make a deal with a monster?'

she asked.

'It's a matter of common sense,' he said. 'The other reptiles don't know where it is, and it doesn't know how to get back to their shelter in the caves. So, unless it's willing to co-operate I'm going to starve it and turn off the central-heating.'

'You might start doing that now,' she said. She sniffed. 'I can smell burning. Are you sure the central-heating is safe?'

'I've had it full on before...' Dr. Quinn stopped, and also sniffed. 'Just a moment.' He got up and opened the door to the hall. A cloud of smoke poured in from the hall. Dr. Quinn stood there as though he could not believe what he was seeing.

'What is it?' said Miss Dawson.

'It's breaking out,' he said, and seemed unable to move from where he was standing.

Miss Dawson rushed over to the door. The hall was full of smoke. Through the smoke she could see the door to the store cupboard glowing red with heat. Suddenly the door completely disintegrated into a mound of brilliantly red ashes and the reptile man stepped through into the hall. The third eye in its forehead was glowing as brilliantly as the embers at its feet.

The third eye glowed a more brilliant red for a few seconds, and Dr.

Quinn crumpled to the floor...

'I'm going to help you,' Dr. Quinn said. 'I was going to bring you food and water, and take you back to your people...' Dr. Quinn's words ended in a strangled scream as the reptile man turned to face him. The third eye glowed a more brilliant red for a few seconds, and Dr. Quinn crumpled to the floor and was silent.

'Please,' said Miss Dawson, 'please don't kill me. I mean you no harm. I want to live. Don't kill me, please.'

The glow of the third eye subsided.

'You are intruders on our planet,' said the reptile man. 'You will all die eventually.' He walked slowly across the hall, one arm raised. Miss Dawson nerved herself for the blow. The palm of the reptile hand hit her across the side of her face, and she fell unconscious on top of Dr. Quinn.

13

The Prisoner

The Doctor, the Brigadier, and Liz sat on hard-backed chairs in front of Dr. Lawrence's desk. Dr. Lawrence was a very angry man. 'I just don't understand what you think you're doing,' he said, directing his remark to the Brigadier. 'You came down here to deal with the problems which I set out in my paper to the Minister. All you've done is chase about in the caves, and mount some sort of man-hunt in the surrounding countryside. On top of all that, you have allowed that fool, Major Barker, to escape from the sick-bay and knock out one of your own guards.'

The Brigadier said, 'I agree that we haven't got very far with our investigation, Dr. Lawrence...'

Dr. Lawrence cut in without listening to the rest of what the Brigadier might have said. ' "Haven't got very far"? That is the understatement of the century! We are still suffering from these power losses. You have come up with no explanation about that!'

The Doctor said, 'I believe the power is being drained off by some means we don't understand yet.'

Dr. Lawrence turned and looked at the Doctor. 'My dear sir, even I could have told you that!'

'The problem,' said the Brigadier, 'seems to lie in the caves.'

'If only the research centre had been built somewhere else,'

said Liz, not very helpfully. 'You see, that's the trouble.'

Dr. Lawrence