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'With your qualifications,' said Masters, 'I should think that very easy. We have posts open in laboratories and research centres all over the country—for junior technicians.' He smiled again. 'You don't really want to be the first rat to leave a sinking ship, do you?'

'I know that if I remain here, and finally this place has to be written-off as a total loss, you people in the government will always hold the blame against me!'

'Come now,' said Masters. 'We aren't as beastly as that!' He paused again for effect. 'But you don't seem to have made much of a success of it all.'

Dr. Lawrence sat down in one of the hard-backed chairs. He felt very tired and miserable. He knew he wouldn't get his own chair back while Masters remained here. 'What do you want me to do?' he asked.

'Some coffee would be nice,' said Masters.

'I've already ordered it.'

'And a little scientific progress would be even nicer,' said Masters. 'We sent you the Brigadier. Has he been of much help?'

Dr. Lawrence shook his head. 'None at all, so far as I can see.'

The door was flung open and the Doctor and Liz entered, both grimy with cave dust. 'Dr. Lawrence,' said the Doctor, 'have you just had a power failure?'

'We're always having power failures,' said Dr. Lawrence.

'But the time of the last one,' said the Doctor urgently. 'It's most important.'

'At four twenty-two,' said Dr. Lawrence. 'Now, if you don't mind, I'm trying to have a discussion with...'

But the Doctor ignored Dr. Lawrence and turned to Liz. 'You see, it fits exactly. I checked my watch when we saw the reptile being de-hibernated.'

'May I ask who you are, sir?' said Masters with edgeto his voice.

'You may indeed,' said the Doctor, and as he spoke Miss Travis entered with a tray of coffee for two. 'How terribly thoughtful of you, my dear,' he said to the startled girl technician, then turned to Dr. Lawrence. 'Your people do look after us terribly well down here.'

He took the tray from Miss Travis, set it on the desk in front of Masters and started to pour two cups of coffee. 'How many sugars, Liz?'

'One,' she said.

'To keep that figure of yours,' said the Doctor. 'Very wise.'

'That coffee,' said Dr. Lawrence, 'was ordered for myself and the Permanent Under Secretary!'

'Really?' The Doctor was already sipping the cup he had poured for himself. 'Well, when he gets here, Miss Travis can make some more.'

'I'm already here,' said Masters.

The Doctor turned and looked down at Masters. 'My dear fellow, how appallingly thoughtless of me. Here, it's yours.'

Masters looked at the proffered cup. The Doctor's grimy finger-marks were all over it. 'I can wait,' he said. 'Why did you want to know the time of the last power loss?'

'Because we saw what happened to all your electricity,' said the Doctor. 'They use induction, you see, instead of cables.'

' They?' Masters was by now keenly interested.

'The reptiles,' said Liz. 'Like lizards.'

Masters drew back in his chair, not wishing to be contaminated by the madness of the two grimy people standing before him.

'Lizards who know how to use electricity'

'It's quite logical,' said the Doctor. 'Humans sometimes use electricity to get muscles to work again.'

'Excuse me, sir,' said Miss Travis, who had been waiting by the open door, 'but should I get more coffee?'

'Yes,' said Dr. Lawrence. 'A great amount of very black coffee.'

Miss Travis turned to go, and collided with the Brigadier as he entered. 'Mr. Masters,' he said, going forward to shake hands. 'I've only just heard of your arrival. How are my reinforcements coming along?'

'They're not,' said Masters. 'That's one of the reasons I'm here. I really can't get the Regular Army to send support for you on the basis of a wild tale about monsters in caves.'

'But we have overwhelming evidence that there is something hostile in those caves,' said the Brigadier. 'The caves are vast, with a great many galleries and passageways. I need a lot of men to cover them completely.'

'Having covered them completely,' asked the Doctor, 'what