Doctor Who_ The Ice Warriors - Brian Hayles [26]
‘You mean he took the girl as a hostage?’
Before the Doctor could tell Clent of the fear that was in his mind, the doors burst open and Miss Garrett entered. Her face looked tense. Close behind her came Arden and Jame, both now dressed for their journey to the ice face. They slopped short at the sight of Clent and the wrecked laboratory.
‘Leader Clent, what has happened?’ demanded Jan, hurrying towards him. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I was attacked by that confounded ice-age monster of yours, Arden!’ The pain in his head forced him to control his anger, but his voice was harsh. ‘I want it found—immediately!
And captured!’
Jan looked in dismay towards Arden, then faced Clent bravely. ‘We’ve just had a report from the outer perimeter,’
she said. ‘The... creature has smashed its way out—and it’s got the girl.’
‘If we go now we can soon catch up with it!’ exclaimed Jamie. ‘But they won’t let us without your say-so.’
‘If you’d got ready when I told you—’ rasped Clent, but Arden quickly cut in to defend the Scots lad.
‘We’ve prepared ourselves as quickly as we could, Clent!
If we’d been any quicker, we’d have got outside before the creature.’
‘It’s heading for the glacier, I’d say,’ said the Doctor,
‘and it’s taken at least one power pack with is—and, of course, Victoria.’
‘A power pack?’ asked Jamie. ‘What for?’
It was Arden who offered the solution that had already crossed the Doctor’s mind. ‘He’s going to try and bring the others back to life!’ His eyes blazed with excitement. ‘There are others like him up there—there must be!’
‘Arden,’ interrupted Clent coldly, ‘you were given the task of establishing the presence of an alien energy unit—not a menagerie! And I would prefer positive facts,’ he added cuttingly, ‘not schoolboy speculation!’
‘Then what are we waiting for?’ demanded Jamie restlessly. ‘let’s go!’
‘Not until dawn breaks, lad,’ said Arden. ‘It won’t be long,’ he added, seeing the dismay on the boy’s face.
‘Stalking the Ice Warrior by night’d be impossible, Jamie,’ the Doctor pointed out. ‘He’s no fool—’
‘But he’s got Victoria!’ protested Jamie fiercely.
‘As a hostage, lad,’ insisted the Doctor patiently. ‘He wouldn’t hump her all the way to the glacier if she wasn’t going to be useful in some way, would he?’
‘Then you reckon she’ll be safe?’ Even when the reassurance came from the Doctor, Jamie wasn’t entirely convinced. But in the circumstances, it looked as though he had no choice.
‘Of course,’ replied the Doctor, forcing himself to sound cheerful. ‘Now that all your gear is ready, you can set out at first light. And it isn’t as if we don’t know where he’s going, is it?’
Clent, now fully recovered, cut in sharply. ‘How many times do I have to remind you, Doctor,’ he snapped, ‘that we are not chasing monsters all over that ice mountain!’
‘You really are very dense sometimes, Clent old chap,’
observed the Doctor. ‘With any luck, this creature will do our job for us! If there is a space craft, he’ll lead us to it. Don’t you see?’ Seeing the grudging agreement on Clent’s face, he added, ‘And as for digging his chums out of the glacier, it’ll take him ages bare-handed and alone! Isn’t that so, Arden?’
Arden nodded, remembering how long it had taken Davis, using the best of equipment. But his eyes met the Doctor’s. He was suddenly aware that he wasn’t alone is wondering what other surprises the Ice Warrior might have in store for his human opponents...
Victoria didn’t regain consciousness until she found herself sprawling and spluttering in the skin-tingling freshness of a moonlit snowdrift She scrambled to her feet almost automatically, dusted the snow from her clothes, turned to look at her surroundings—and choked on a scream.
The Ice Warrior was standing massively silhouetted against the night sky. His dark-screened eyes, eerie and menacing,