Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [30]
The Doctor sighed, and beamed after her in admiration as he moved to follow. He knew all along he had been right about Ace.
Unfortunately, neither of them noticed that the tape, which was still playing silently, was about to reach its end.
Inside the crypt, Karl was also smiling in satisfaction as the final attachment for Cyber programming was fitted to De Flores’ body. The Cyberman responsible stepped back and pressed the preliminary switch.
A few feet away, at the communications console, things were not proceeding so happily. ‘The Cyber Fleet is still not receiving our transmissions, Leader,’ said the Lieutenant.
The Cyber Leader was perplexed. He reviewed the situation again, and once more reached no conclusion. ‘Is there any pattern to the jamming signal?’ he asked, exasperated.
‘It is meaningless,’ replied the Lieutenant tonelessly.
‘Let me examine it,’ ordered the Leader.
The Lieutenant pressed a switch and the monitor speaker opened up. The crypt was flooded instantly with the music of the jazz quartet. The Cybermen stood still, bemused.
The music came to its finale and ended. The sound of cheers and applause which replaced it stirred a deep, long forgotten and almost extinct wisp of memory in the Leader’s brain cells. He scanned them to attempt to identify it.
‘I have heard that sound before,’ he said slowly.
The applause continued, mixing with cheers, whistles, and cries for more. The the sound stopped and there was a loud click. The communications console instantly sprang back into life: lights reilluminated, circuits were once again complete, and the normal buzz of healthy electronic activity became audible once again.
The Lieutenant turned immediately to the Leader.
‘Transmission channels are clear again, Leader,’ he reported perfunctorily.
‘Splendid. Their arrival is imminent.’
Weakly, De Flores struggled in his technological prison.
‘You fool,’ he croaked. ‘The statue’s power is nothing without the bow.’ He rattled his wires desperately but to no avail, and fell back against the wall. His eyes were turning purple and his face was deathly white. The Cyber Leader glanced at him contemptuously, but could not resist speaking for the benefit of his Lieutenant.
‘We shall shortly obtain the bow,’ he replied.
De Flores cackled with the laughter of the deranged. He was clearly exerting all his considerable mental power to countering the programming energies, although clearly growing weaker by the moment. ‘Obtain it?’ he repeated.
‘From the Doctor?’ he cackled again. ‘You delude yourself.
He is no common adversary.’ De Flores summoned the last of his waning strength to draw himself up to his full height. ‘Do you imagine,’ he boomed imperiously, ‘he will simply walk in here and hand it over?’
‘Good afternoon,’ came a familiar voice. In astonishment, they all turned towards the doorway where Ace and the Doctor stood, the latter raising his hat politely with one hand. In the other he held the bow of Nemesis.
There was a cataclysmic silence. Even the Cyber Leader was overcome, although he was the first to speak. ‘Doctor,’
he managed.
The Doctor smiled cheerfully. ‘Yes, here we are,’ he confirmed as though they had arrived a few minutes late for a tea party after a minor parking problem. ‘Sorry we couldn’t be here earlier, but we were held up on the way.’
His voice echoed in the stunned silence. The Doctor was fully in charge of the moment, and enjoying himself tremendously. He gestured courteously to Ace. ‘You remember my companion Ace, of course?’ he looked around at them all anxiously for confirmation.
As he did so, the Cyber Leader uttered a metallic snarl and snatched at the bow. The Doctor, however, was far too quick for him and skipped nimbly aside.
The Cyber Leader glared at him. The strength of the Cyber Leader’s will was so palpable that Ace shuddered.