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'What about Robins, sir?'

'Two of you men,' called the Brigadier, 'come and give Robins a hand.'

Two soldiers sprang forward and helped Robins to his feet.

'Now then, men,' shouted the Brigadier, 'back down the passageway to base. And sharp about it!'

Grinning, all the men scrambled to their feet and started moving off down the passageway.

Okdel's third eye stopped pulsating. He turned to the Doctor.

'The apes in the cave have been released.'

'Thank you,' said the Doctor. 'Are any of them hurt?'

'No,' said Okdel. 'They are all unharmed.'

'Good. Now you must allow me to return, and I shall tell the humans what you have done.'

Morka entered and stood himself directly in front of Okdcl.

'Why have you released the humans?'

Okdel said, 'I have decided it is possible for the two species to live together on this planet.'

'This planet is ours!' Morka stormed.

'Not exclusively,' said the Doctor.

'We are the masters of our planet by birthright,' said Morka.

'All other species are inferior.'

'This other species,' said Okdel, 'has developed its own civilisation. We must accept them, and hope that they will accept us.'

'They are savages,' said Morka. 'See this wound in my leg?

This is the work of these animals.'

'That was a mistake,' said Okdel. 'These are intelligent beings.

We can reason with them.'

'If they are so intelligent,' Morka said, 'they can serve us as slaves. Either they accept that, or we destroy them!'

'I shall decide what is to become of the humans,' said Okdel.

'Not you. Now leave me.'

For a moment Morka's third eye glowed in uncontrollable rage, and the Doctor felt a twinge of pain across his own forehead. Then Morka turned and left the inner room.

As Morka left the inner room, his thin body quivered with rage. In the far corner the scientist K'to was completing the de-hibernation of yet another reptile man. Morka crossed over to K'to.

'Okdel speaks of sharing our planet with apes,' he said.

'And your opinion?' asked K'to carefully.

'We should kill them all.'

K'to said, 'Since our time they have mutated and developed far beyond anything we ever expected. That is obvious from the two specimens we have caught.'

'They are still mammals,' said Morka, 'the lowest form of life!'

'Okdel is the leader of this shelter,' said K'to. 'Perhaps when the other shelters have been found and reactivated, there will be different ideas among the other leaders.'

But Morka was not really listening. 'I trapped the humans in the caves, and Okdel has released them. Now I shall try to destroy them!'

'It is dangerous to disobey Okdel,' said K'to.

Morka raised a hand. 'Silence!' His third eye started to pulsate as he concentrated. K'to remained watching Morka, wondering what was going on in his mind, and what effect it was having on the humans in the caves.

The UNIT soldiers came along the passageway, all in good spirits now. One or two were whistling a familiar tune. The first one to start behaving strangely was Sergeant Hawkins. He stopped suddenly and blinked. The Brigadier hurried up beside him.

'What's the matter, Sergeant?'

'Don't know, sir. I just felt a bit peculiar for a moment.'

Hawkins shook his head, then continued to walk forward. From behind them there was a sudden scream. Both Hawkins and the Brigadier whirled round to see Robins fighting desperately with the two soldiers who had been helping him.

'Robins!' The Brigadier doubled back to the soldier. 'We're getting you back to base as quickly as possible, Robins. Now pull yourself together!'

Robins glared at the Brigaclier, his eyes wild with fear. Then, using enormous strength, he broke free from the two soldiers on either side of him and darted off down one of the smaller tunnels.

The Bridadier rushed after him. 'Robins,' he called, 'I've no idea where this goes. You'll get yourself lost.'

The tunnel was quite short. It opened up into a dome-roofed cave. There was a wide ledge where the tunnel came out, then a black chasm. As the Brigadier came out on to the ledge,