Doctor Who_ The Ice Warriors - Brian Hayles [13]
‘Our civilisation is supremely efficient, my boy—thanks to the guidance we receive from the Intercontinental Computer Complex. With its help, we conquered the problem of world famine many years ago, using artificial foods, and protein recycling. Un-fortunately, the recycling process got rather out of hand...’
‘I suppose you started artificial recycling of waste gases to produce more oxygen,’ remarked the Doctor, frowning.
‘That,’ agreed Clent, ‘plus a massive increase in intensive depollution processes.’ He looked defensively at the Doctor. ‘A minor error in atmospheric prediction...’
‘But one which produced a nasty imbalance in the protective layers of the earth’s atmosphere,’ added the Doctor soberly.
‘Suddenly, one year...’ Clent paused, still remembering the terrible event, ‘... there was no Spring.’ No one spoke for a moment. Then Clent continued breezily.
‘The danger wasn’t understood at first—not until the polar ice caps started to advance.’ He smiled confidently. ‘But we soon came up with the answer to that!’
‘This blessed Ioniser, do you mean?’ questioned Jamie.
‘Precisely,’ beamed Clent. But Jamie wasn’t to be put off so easily.
‘Precisely what, though?’ he asked shrewdly. ‘What does it do exactly?’
Miss Garrett cut in with an explanation. ‘Ionisation is a method of intensifying the sun’s heat on to the earth—but only on selected areas.’
‘Try thinking of it as a sort of burning glass, Jamie,’
added the Doctor. Jamie’s face immediately brightened. ‘Och, now I understand!’ he cried, ‘Like ye can burn paper and make fire?’
‘So you can actually melt the glaciers and change the weather?’ Victoria asked Clent, wide-eyed. ‘When certain difficulties are overcome,’ he said. ‘It’s a highly complex system,’ stated Miss Garrett. ‘The focusing process is very delicate, and there aren’t enough specialists who understand its manipulation.’
‘Can’t afford to make mistakes, can you?’ observed the Doctor. ‘Might cause some nasty floods if all that ice melted too quickly.’
‘There’s the opposite problem, too,’ admitted Clent.
‘The ionisation process can produce temperatures intense enough to melt rock.’
‘But your computer can’t quite manage to strike the happy medium,’ reasoned the Doctor—‘at least, not without the assistance of one of those specialists you’re so short of...’
‘One of my scientists—a chap called Penley—had some sort of a breakdown, and went missing.’ Clent paused; he didn’t like asking favours. ‘I’d like you to take his place. It’s a worthwhile mission. Will you join us?’
The Doctor caught the resigned look that passed between Jamie and Victoria—they knew what his decision would be.
‘I’m willing to try,’ he said modestly.
Good!’ exclaimed Clent, smiling broadly. ‘Er... you have worked with computers, I presume?’
‘No more than necessary,’ muttered the Doctor.
‘Miss Garrett is our technical expert,’ CIent beamed.
‘She’ll help you.’
Miss Garrett was proud of her computer training, and intended the Doctor to know it. ‘Our computers check every decision to eliminate the risk of failure,’ she declared. ‘Our standards are of the highest—’
‘So I’ve noticed,’ remarked the Doctor with a wry smile.
‘Who sets these standards, though?’ demanded Victoria, who had a distinct aversion to bossy machines. Miss Garrett looked at the pretty teenager over her glasses.
‘World Computer Control, of course,’ she snapped.
‘Another machine?’ queried Jamie, amazed. ‘In charge of what everybody does? Och, that’s ridiculous!’
‘The machine,’ snapped Miss Garrett, ‘is rational, coherent, and infallible!’
‘But not very human,’ suggested the Doctor. He turned to face Clent. ‘Is that why Penley defected?’
‘The pressure of work here has driven some men into...
weakness.’
‘But not you.’
Clent faced the Doctor squarely, and replied with a tense dignity.
‘I have a job to do... and I do not intend to fail. My duty is to make the Ionisation programme succeed—and save five thousand years of European civilisation! I must