Doctor Who_ The Zarbi - Bill Strutton [25]
and pointed towards Tardis . Another Zarbi gestured again to the motionless venom grub, summoning it with a foreclaw, guiding it till the great armour-backed insect had wheeled to threaten Ian and Vicki; she caught her breath, clung to Ian, and called nervously ‘What do they want, Doctor?’
Ian said, frowning, ‘It looks as if they want something out of the ship.’
‘Yes. They don’t seem keen on going inside themselves.
Why, I wonder?’
The Zarbi leader gestured again, impatiently. This time it pointed at the venom grub, at Ian and Vicki, then again directed Doctor Who towards the ship. Doctor Who sighed, inclined his head obediently.
‘I must do as they say -- whatever that is. Otherwise.. He grimaced and smiled at them, and walked towards Tardis .
Ian and Vicki stared after him. Ian muttered, ‘Vicki —
what happened after we left to explore this place?’
Vicki put a hand to her head.
‘I’m... not sure. I was asleep. Then those noises started up, and the ship began rocking — horribly. I could see on the scanner they were dragging the ship away.’
Suddenly a thought struck Ian and he gripped Vicki by the arms.
‘I completely forgot!’ he said. He stared at Vicki.
‘Barbara! Where is she?’ He shook Vicki in a sudden fit of anxiety. ‘ Where’s... Barbara? ’
In the cave from which Barbara had fled, the Menoptera now held a worried council.
Vrestin stood up and paced back and forth, his magnificent wings folded.
‘I don’t think the earth girl will betray us,’ he declared.
‘Keep watch, Challis. We others must get a warning through.’
He moved to the wall of the cave, bent down and rolled a rock aside. Challis crept towards the mouth of the cave, peered outward and took up a watchful station there.
The fourth Menoptera, Zota, caught at Vrestin’s arm.
He said anxiously, ‘The Zarbi are all around. If we break communicator silence now, they will find us!’
Hrostar, Vrestin’s deputy, shook his head.
‘That we shall have to risk. Vrestin is right. We are unimportant, remember. We must get a message through.’
Vrestin was dragging a metal box out from behind the rock. Several dials shone on the face of the box, which was surmounted by an oddly shaped antenna.
He grunted. ‘Hrostar... help me with this...’
‘Use that and we shall be destroyed,’ Zota protested fearfully.
Vrestin straightened and turned. ‘If we do not contact our forces — it’s they who face destruction.’
Vrestin switched on the box. Two small bulbs glowed into life at the ends of the antennae. A low hum sounded from the set. Vrestin turned a dial.
‘We must warn them of the power we found on this planet,’ he muttered. ‘And the weaponry which faces them.
These Zarbi are organized in a way we could never have believed — if we hadn’t actually seen it...’
He clicked on another switch and bent towards the speaker panel in the set while Zota stared anxiously towards the cave entrance. Vrestin began calling.
‘Pilot party to Menoptera invasion force. Calling Menoptera spearhead.’
He flicked up a switch while he and Hrostar listened anxiously. Static speckled their reception, crackling harshly over the speaker, but otherwise there was no response.
Vrestin frowned, flipped back the speaker switch, and repeated, ‘Pilot party to Menoptera invasion force. Urgent reconnaissance report. Acknowledge please.’
They listened again. Hrostar shook his head doubtfully.
‘They are within reach of the enemy locators. They will not risk breaking communicator silence.’
‘They will,’ Vrestin declared. ‘They can bounce their signals to us off satellite Taron to mask their source.’ He repeated urgently into the speaker, ‘Menoptera spearhead!
Acknowledge reception!’
But only the familiar crackle of static answered them.
Hrostar got up.
‘It’s no use. The cave is blanking off our transmission.’
Vrestin rose too. ‘Yes,’ he muttered grimly. ‘We must send from the open.’
They stared at each other, realizing what that meant.
Operating a transmitter out in the open would invite certain discovery by the Zarbi. Vrestin looked towards the figures of