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'Yes.'

'So where is it, Mr Limb? Where is it?'

George Limb began climbing the grand staircase.

'Well, naturally, I put it in the guest room,' he said.

George Limb stopped outside the room that contained the Cyberman.

'Oh, dear,' he muttered. The door stood slightly open.

'This door was locked, I'm certain. I hope Ace didn't decide to explore up here.

He pushed the door open and stepped into the shadows.

'You didn't tell her about this?'

'No, Doctor. The young lady seemed to have gone through enough. Besides, how does one speak of the unspeakable?'

Light filled the room.

The Cyberman lay, motionless, against the far wall. The only sound it made was a low, continuous hiss, like the escape of gas. The Doctor scurried across the room and squatted in front of it. 'Yes, it's as I thought. Its immune system has packed up. Couldn't cope. Hmm... It's a Cyberleader.'

A Cyber... leader?' George Limb stood over the Doctor.

'Yes... ' said the Doctor thoughtfully. 'Different design.

Different markings. You can tell from what's left of its head.

But what was it doing here?'

'I must say,' said George Limb, 'I feel perfectly dreadful about my hand in all this. I fear of late I have been... a little obsessive about the Lurker. Ever since I had my intuition about what it might be,' He shook his head sadly. 'An old man's tomfoolery. Trying to catch a monster, indeed.

'A remarkable achievement, Mr Limb. Particularly in someone of your... that is... how old are you?'

'Seventyeight last month,' George Limb replied. 'And your words are very gracious, Doctor. But nonetheless I feel as if I have meddled in things that man should leave alone. I feel like Dr Jekyll, Doctor. I feel like Dr Frankenstein. I even have my own monster. I feel like a pennydreadful character in a cheap novel.'

'I don't suppose,' the Doctor smiled ' you would have a workshop or laboratory in the house, Dr Frankenstein?'

'The cellar!' The Doctor clapped his hands. 'Where else?'

Between the two of them they had just dragged the cyberleader down three flights of stairs. George Limb leaned against the wall, struggling for breath. The cellar was long and narrow, and poorly lit.

'There isn't much here, Doctor,' Limb apologised. 'I haven't pursued an active scientific life for many a long year?

This will do very well,' the Doctor replied. 'We have the main requirement for our little experiment.'

He slapped the long wooden workbench which sat in the middle of the room.

'Our monster has his slab.'

They heaved the Cyberleader on to the bench, the Doctor struggling to keep the torso together, Limb barely able to lift the treetrunk legs.

'Now,' the Doctor said to the wheezing, groaning man next to him, 'a drip. I take it you have some blood plasma left.'

Still hunched and gasping, George Limb opened an old wooden sideboard that stood in the corner. He fished out a bag of blood.

'We need to set up a drip of some kind,' the Doctor said.

'I...' George Limb croaked. 'I was going to set up a drip for the creature, Doctor, but it was still too active. It smashed up anything within its reach. I still have the equipment.'

'Excellent! Electrical components!'

'Electrical components?'

'Potentiometers. A variable resistor.'

'You're going to build a transformer, Doctor!'

'A transformer. Yes, I am. Components, Mr Limb.'

Suddenly active again, George Limb dragged an old cardboard box from a shelf.

'Lipton's,' said the Doctor, peering at the faded side of the box. He rummaged around inside. His face lit up.

'Mr Limb, this isn't an old tinnedfruit box. This is Aladdin's cave!'

The old man was struggling to drag a large metal frame across the floor. Like a grownup rediscovering his childhood toys, the Doctor let his fingers play among the knobs and valves. He stopped. His face became

serious.

'Mr Limb, this is perfect. Ace would have loved this.'

With reverential care he lifted from the bottom of the box a greypainted metal case surmounted by two knobs, a large metal switch, and a single coloured light. HornbyDublo was stamped