Doctor Who_ Illegal Alien - Mike Tucker [99]
'I think that should do the trick,' said the Doctor.
'Terminate revival process.'
There was an electric burp from the Cybercommand unit and the chamber was filled with the sound of machinery winding down. About three dozen of the silver giants stood in a circle around the Doctor and the little, humming console.
Their computer brains throbbed with strange new instructions pirate machine codes, program overrides which each new mind accepted like sweets from a stranger. Newborns, innocent and unknowing, they gazed upon the little man who was their sworn enemy and waited for a loving word to drop from his lips.
'Destroy' said the Doctor. 'Destroy everything.'
An SS lieutenant ran up to Hartmann and saluted smartly.
'The assault groups are ready, Captain,' he announced.
'Shall we commence the attack?'
'No,' replied the SS captain, his eyes still closed, a gentle smile playing across his lips, his voice little more than a whisper. 'I shall lead the attack myself.'
Even for Ace, it was getting loud in there. Weapons drawn, the Cybermen were firing on the machinery that lined the room, firing on the cocoons in which they had lain and those in which their stilldormant brothers even now slept by the hundred. The Cyberwall was erupting with repeated minivolcanoes of steam and sparks. Foamy, glutinous Cyberfluids oozed from pipes and dripped and slid between panels and crevices, or exploded in waves of grease and mineral salts into the huge room. The whole, vast hibernation unit was starting to glow a deep red.
'I think it's going to blow!' she shouted to the Doctor over the constant
hissing and exploding. 'We should get out of here!'
'I agree,' the Doctor replied. 'I'm planning something of a grand finale, and I really wouldn't want to get caught up in it.
Where's '
He didn't finish the sentence. At that moment there was a loud, dull explosion and the metal double doors that separated the Cyberchamber from the rest of the compound flew inward off their hinges.
Ace coughed, choking on smoke. Further explosions followed. Through the haze and confusion she could see Cybermen staggering under the impact of the staccato blasts, reeling, struggling to orientate themselves.
The doors at the other side of the expanse burst open.
More smoke. More explosions.
The Cybermen whirled in confusion.
A German stickgrenade rattled across the floor and stopped at Ace's feet.
It didn't explode.
In an endless split second she had stooped, picked it up by its wooden handle and hurled it back into the smoke. The metal head of the deadly device burst before it hit the ground.
Ace felt a tugging at her shoulder. The Doctor was pulling her behind a heavy concrete pillar. He dropped on to his haunches, one hand clamping his hat to his head, the other tugging Ace down with him, as a hail of machinegun fire raked the air above them.
'I didn't expect them to respond with such force,' he yelled.
The room was full of greyand blackuniformed soldiers, firing on the Cybermen at pointblank range. The Cybermen seemed confused, stumbling and dancing under the hail of bullets, firing randomly, still hitting more of their own equipment than anything else.
A Cyberman collapsed, sprawling and writhing, sickly white sputum gushing from a chest unit ripped apart by a grenade and a ballet of heavy bullets.
'Don't just stand there,' the Doctor bellowed into the confusion. 'Defend yourselves!'
He leaned towards Ace.
'They're disorientated,' he said. 'My fault, I'm afraid.'
Machinegun in hand, Captain Hartmann paused in a pipelined alcove and surveyed the chaos. The Cybermen were difficult to kill that much he could see but a few had gone down under the combined effects of explosives and closerange machinegun fire. He smiled. His forces were slowly gaining the upper hand. He was proving his point.
Soon the Cybermen would see it. Their raw power was perfectly complemented by the dynamism and courage of the Reich soldiery.
A Cyberman spun round in front of him. Its blank eyes held