Doctor Who_ The Devil Goblins From Neptune - Keith Topping [73]
Above him was an office, a dim light shining through the window. The Brigadier crouched low, and moved closer to the rickety iron steps that led up to the badly painted door. As he shuffled forward his attention was caught by the man directly above him at the office window. Lethbridge-Stewart didn't need to be told that it was Houghton.
Brigadier removed his machine pistol and checked the magazine, clicking it into place. So this was it.' war - to the death. Lethbridge-Stewart knelt, steadying his aim with his non-shooting hand, aiming the gun towards the man silhouetted in the light of the window.
Easy. So very easy.
Do it!
The metal sight crossed the man's head, moved down on to his chest.
Lethbridge-Stewart's mind erupted in a cacophony of voices. Shoot him! End it! Now!
So very easy.
Too easy.
'No,' said Lethbridge-Stewart loudly. Loud enough that even those in the office heard him. The sound brought the men unloading the truck running towards him, their guns pointing in his direction. The Brigadier knelt and placed his gun on the floor.
'Do not move!' said a man above him. The Brigadier kept his downturned hands pressed against the damp ground.
'Who you are? Why are you here?' asked the man, whom the Brigadier took to be Houghton.
'I'm here... I was here to kill you, said the Brigadier. 'I had my orders, but...' He paused. 'Things are rarely as simple as they first seem.'
Houghton looked at him curiously. 'Stand up,' he ordered.
As he got to his feet, Lethbridge-Stewart realised that he knew several of his captors by sight. Staff from UNIT HQ.
What was worse, they knew him.
'It's the Brigadier,' said a Frenchman whom Lethbridge-Stewart knew to be a sergeant attached to the administration section. 'What?' exclaimed Houghton angrily.
'Now you know me,' said the Brigadier evenly, 'I would appreciate the same courtesy.'
'Major Mick Houghton,' said the man, snapping to attention with a salute that, in the circumstances, was both absurd and yet performed with supreme dignity.
'Stand at ease,' said the Brigadier, with much the same quality. This was getting silly. 'What on Earth is going on?'
'Perhaps you could tell us that, sir.' said Houghton.
It seemed that they were all UNIT troops, and Lethbridge-Stewart outranked the lot of them. 'Lay down your weapons, then we'll talk.' It was a ludicrous request to make, but it made about as much sense as most of the other things Lethbridge-Stewart had said and done during the previous forty-eight hours.
The men glanced at Houghton, who nodded. The soldiers put down their guns.
'The office would seem as good a place as any.'
concluded Lethbridge-Stewart, marching up the stairs.
Liz and Shuskin set off towards the mine, staying close to the trees, their feet crunching on the layer of ice and snow that lay over the dark soil. Liz risked a sideways glance at Shuskin. She was watching the sky intently, her finger on the trigger of the Kalashnikov. She indicated that they should head towards the closest of the alien towers. Even from here Liz could see that the conveyor belt that ran down into the heart of the mine was motionless.
The silo-like building, when they finally reached it, seemed to have been constructed from the same tough, blemish-free material as the roads that criss-crossed the taiga. It was surprisingly warm to the touch, reflecting back what sunlight there was. There seemed to be no windows or door in the structure; it simply sprouted from the ground like some silver toadstool.
Shuskin gestured towards the top of the conveyor belt.
There was an engine of some sort - Liz could make out gears and cogs - and presumably the ore was refined in one of the buildings down in the mine, and then brought up here to be stored and -
No, she saw what Shuskin meant now. 'It's all one solid piece,' he said. 'It's not a motor at all. More like a statue.'
Shuskin nodded, her fears