Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [20]
The skinheads’ entire hopes of liberty and life for the future were at that moment centred on the two distant figures they could see approaching them through the forest. Unfortunately, their attempted yells through the gags had as yet failed to attract the attention they desperately needed. The two seemed entirely intent on the objects they were carrying. The girl’s attention was obviously focused on the bizarre ghetto blaster to which she was evidently listening on headphones, while the strange man’s was occupied by the thin metal object which he was carrying in a peculiar way, as though they were both following it. As they emerged from the trees it could be seen that this was a bow, flashing with strange silver light.
Their voices drifted across.
‘I’m sure I’m nearly getting something, Professor,’ said Ace.
The Doctor was hurrying on. ‘Static,’ he said shortly.
‘Listen,’ Ace told him. She flicked a switch on the ghetto blaster. Sound came through the speakers: a distorted electronic burst. The Doctor, however, stopped, his ears pricking up as instantly as a dog’s. His eyes narrowed.
‘You could be right after all,’ he agreed slowly. ‘Could be, shmould be,’ said Ace. ‘It’s definitely an alien device: it must be the Cybermen.’
The Doctor smiled indulgently. ‘But,’ he told her gently, ‘they’re scrambling their signal. If we try to make sense of that we could be here for ever. Much better to find them with our eyes and ears. Come on.’
But Ace remained where she stood. An idea had occurred to her. ‘What,’ she said, ‘if we jam their transmission?’
‘I suppose it might interfere with the coding...’ The Doctor looked at her anew. There were quite frequently moments when she surprised even him. This, he realized, was one. ‘... so we could listen in. Not bad. Have you got anything handy?’
Reaching into her pocket, Ace triumphantly pulled out a cassette. It was the one she had bought from the jazz band at the pub after their untimely summons into their present circumstances. Recalling the Doctor saying there was no time for her to obtain it, she said with a certain playfulness: ‘This do?’
The Doctor grinned. ‘Perfect,’ he replied.
Ace slotted it in and pressed the play button. They waited intently, too absorbed to notice the strained but faint and gagged cries for help drifting towards them from the nearby tree.
‘Commence final phase,’ the Cyber Leader grated at the communications console operator. ‘Repeat. Commence final phase.’ Lights twinkled on the console and the transmission, coded instantly, was transmitted immediately. The Lieutenant shifted.
‘I must repeat my objection to the transmission of incorrect data, Leader,’ he said again. The Leader turned to him slowly. He continued undeterred, however. ‘Our force does not,’ he emphasized, ‘yet possess all three units of validium.’
There was a silence. ‘You are outside your function,’
grated the Cyber Leader.
The communications console operator cut in. ‘Your transmission has been received, leader.’
The Cyber Leader nodded slowly in satisfaction.
‘Repeat once more,’ he said, ‘then relay the response.’
Suddenly, the entire communications console began to emit a high pitched screech. Warning lights flashed erratically. The Cybermen moved around it.
‘Report!’ the Cyber Leader said to the console operator.
The operator hurriedly checked his readings.
‘Interference,’ he said quickly. ‘Transmission and reception affected.’
‘Interference?’ the Leader was so ominously calm he might simply have been requesting a weather report. ‘From what source? Provide more information.’
There was a delay as the computer checked and double-checked the circuits. The Cyber Lieutenant listened in to the interference impatiently. He was at a loss. ‘It’s a completely unknown form of sound, Leader,’ he reported.
‘Open the monitor facility,’ ordered the Cyber Leader.
The console communications operator did as he was told and flicked the switch.
The crypt