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said Yates.

'I'm not so sure.' said the Doctor. 'That looks like a twenty-four-carat alien spaceship to me. So the question is.'

who's flying it, and why?'

It had taken the Brigadier some time to become used to the idea of flying through the air on a transparent magic carpet, still less one that was travelling at Mach 4.

Trainor, on the other hand, had rolled into a ball on the invisible floor of the alien spacecraft, his arms over his head and his eyes closed. One of the Nedenah had been particularly concerned by the professor's plight, and had tried to reassure the man. 'It is a purely optical rather than a physical process. You are in no danger.'

The professor merely whimpered.

Now, in the height of battle, even the Brigadier could empathise with Trainor. The ship was surrounded by a dark swarm of grotesque goblin creatures, and the Brigadier felt unusually vulnerable. It was difficult to remind oneself that they couldn't see inside the ship, and that there was a barrier between the saliva-flecked faces and the ship's occupants.

'Whenever a creature landed on the invisible hull, some metres away, there was a spark of what looked like static electricity, and the goblin fell away.

The Brigadier stared down at his feet, watching the devilish creatures spiralling away to the desert floor, and then felt nauseous with vertigo. 'So, these are the Waro?' he said, never afraid to ask the obvious question.

'Yes.' said one of the Nedenah, turning away from a bank of only partly visible controls.

The Brigadier pointed to a dark and smoking shape on the desert floor. 'And that's the air force base where the cobalt-60 is stored?'

'Yes.'

'Which the Waro need to prime their larger bombs?'

'Yes. The bombs destroy entire ecosystems, rendering Earth uninhabitable to all but their own kind.' The Nedenah spoke in a singsong voice that made the words all the more horrifying.

'Thank you.' said the Brigadier, suppressing a shudder as a Waro seemed to career in his direction before vanishing in a flash of static. 'I like to know what's going on, that's all.'

The larger weapons of the Nedenah craft fired again, arcing outwards in myriad directions.

'It's all right, Professor, I think we're winning,' stated Lethbridge-Stewart.

Trainor groaned, and pulled his arms tighter over his head.

When Lethbridge-Stewart looked up again, he felt a hard lump form in his throat. Two of the hideous Waro creatures were flying straight for the ship in close formation. Even from this distance, the Brigadier could see their red eyes, dark with murderous hatred.

Lethbridge-Stewart was about to warn a nearby Nedenah when his attention was caught by the bulky black object that the Waro carried between them. 'That looks suspiciously like... ' The Brigadier paused, aware of Trainor's fragile grip on sanity. 'What do you think?' he asked the Nedenah.

It is an explosive device.' replied the alien, matter-of-factly. 'The Waro are known for such crude weaponry.'

The Waro were now mere feet from the ship's seemingly transparent hull. 'They're going to hit!' the Brigadier said, aghast, as the creatures, using the last of their strength, threw themselves towards him.

'Nearly there.' said the Doctor, loudly enough for the UNIT

soldiers towards the front of the narrow crevasse to hear.

'Good.' said Shuskin. 'I am not used to sitting still while people around me are dying.'

There was a massive explosion from somewhere above them. Shuskin immediately raised her binoculars skyward, although it was obvious that the large alien craft had been hit.

It seems one of the Waro got through, planting explosives that the ship could not destroy,' announced Shuskin.

The silver egg began to list to one side. A few moments later there was another, even larger explosion, a plume of orange smoke burning briefly on the hull.

It began to fall from the sky.

'I suggest you go and investigate.' said the Doctor, returning his attention to the device just as the ship thumped into the desert. The explosion was bright enough to