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Cloak billowing, Yong clattered across the flagstones and collided with Thoss.

The old Ismetch sank to his knees. ‘Forgive me, master,’ he mumbled. ‘I have sinned.’

‘Who are you?’ sneered Yong. ‘Get your dirty claws off me.’

He pushed Thoss to the floor and ran up the steps to the throne. Diving behind it, he pulled out the great gilded cross and clutched it to his breast.

‘Why have you come? To torment me? To test us all?’ pleaded Thoss.

Yong skidded towards the concealed machinery and glanced up at the circular panel in the ceiling.

‘What are you talking about, you old fool? Now get out of my way, I have work to do.’

Thoss prostrated himself at Yong’s feet and pulled at the former Magna’s ankles. Yong pressed his blaster onto the old man’s crest. ‘Get off me or I’ll blow your head off.’

Thoss bowed, his old body sinking pathetically. ‘If that is your will. The will of the Keth.’

Yong shrugged and pumped bolt after bolt into Thoss’s skull. The old man’s kneeling corpse stood upright for a moment then slumped to the floor.

Yong tutted at the blood which pooled around his feet. ‘Messy,’ he drawled.

A blaster‐bolt crackled over his head. He responded in kind as the two pursuing Chaptermen crashed into the room, concealing themselves at once.

Yong scooped up the great cross and ran towards the directional controls.

A Chapterman appeared directly in his path and blasted at him. Yong raised the huge cross and it took the full impact, the gilded flames melting and dripping down the front of his gown.

Yong cursed and cast the cross aside. It clattered to the floor next to Thoss’s body.

He would never get to the machinery now. His only hope to sabotage the Doctor’s work was to return to the power room itself.

He dived for cover as the second Chapterman appeared from behind the throne.

‘I’m disappointed in you,’ cried Yong. ‘So fickle. After all I’ve done for you, you take orders from a midget!’

He peered around the corner of a pillar. He could clearly see both men and the path back to the double doors was clear. Rapidly he zigzagged across the cathedral and slammed the doors shut behind him.

The two Chaptermen set off in angry pursuit, jumping over the blood of Thoss as they careered for the doors.

* * *

Ace. Jones and a single Chapterman ran down the corridors of the seminary, having split off from the other three.

‘This is getting us nowhere,’ panted Jones. ‘He could be anywhere.’

‘He’s a nutter,’ said Ace, ‘and a single‐minded nutter at that. He won’t have just run away. He’ll be heading for the power room.’

Jones nodded quickly. ‘This way then.’

They scurried off.

* * *

Yong pelted up the winding black spiral stairs to the power room, his eyes afire with determination and a manic smile fixed to his face.

He pulled on a pair of goggles and banged open the door. Before him, the artificial sun glowed with power, its intensity increasing as the Doctor’s plan unfolded. He noticed the dead body of the acne‐scarred Chapterman, propped up by the guard‐rail of the gently throbbing sun, but did not bother to wonder why he had died. Or who might have killed him.

Instead, he pulled the bulky communicator from the Chapterman’s belt and switched it on.

‘You are ingenious, Doctor,’ he shouted into it. ‘But I did promise sabotage if the opportunity arose.’

The Doctor’s voice crackled through. ‘Yong? Is that – Where are you?’

‘He’s in the power room. Must be,’ came Grek’s voice.

Yong grinned, sweat dripping off the end of his nose. ‘Your scaly friend is correct. I’m in the power room. And I’m about to undo all that work we laboured so hard on.’

The Doctor’s voice was feverish with anxiety. ‘Yong! Think what you’re doing. That creature down there is death personified. All your work will count for nothing. Your chapter, all life, all life will be annihilated. Think, man! Think!’

Yong smiled, his goggles shining glassily in the light from the sun. ‘No! NO! That creature is Saint Anthony! He has shown me the way. This is his