Doctor Who_ The Zarbi - Bill Strutton [37]
‘And yet they are now the masters?’
‘They became organized, warlike... and as they did so –
that building back there from which you escaped... it... just, well, appeared from nowhere – growing, spreading out. We had no weapons – we had never needed them, till then.
Too late. They suddenly overran us.’
‘So you left the planet?’ Ian asked.
‘We had no choice. We scratched a bare existence on a planet near Pictos – and planned, multiplied, all for the day when we would return!’
Vrestin rose and peered out again over the rocks.
Ian said, ‘And now you’re ready?’
‘No!’ Vrestin said curtly. ‘Nowhere near ready. But our elders realized that when the strands of these Zarbi buildings, these webs you see everywhere — when they have joined up across our planet here -- we shall have lost forever. Even with such little chance, we have to attack.
Now!’
‘But their tunnels... their building... their organization.
What intelligence brought all that into being? Surely not these Zarbi?’
Vrestin did not answer. He straightened. ‘I think it is safe to go now. I will direct you on your journey. I must continue my watch on their headquarters.’
‘You? Alone?’
‘I am the only survivor of our landing-party. I must render what service I can for our main force, when it lands.’
‘What can you do on your own?’ Ian protested. ‘There are four of our party — two of them inside that headquarters. Help us — and we shall find a way of helping you. The Doctor’s wits are more than a match for the Zarbi — or whatever is behind them...!’
Ian wished he could be wholly sure of his own boast.
‘The... Doctor?’
‘He is the head of our party. A brilliant man of science, who has travelled infinitely in time and space.’
Vrestin hesitated, doubtful. Ian urged him. ‘Take me to this... Crater! In return we’ll do whatever we can... get word to the Doctor... glean their secrets, their plans! You know the country, but it is we who could have the power to help your invasion!’
Vrestin pondered this. He stared across the landscape at the glow of the light from the Zarbi Headquarters. He looked uneasily skyward.
Finally he nodded. ‘Perhaps you are right. One alone can perhaps do little. Come. We can risk moving now.’
Vrestin climbed up out of the hollow, looked about him carefully, beckoned to Ian, and led on.
They flitted quietly from the shadow of one crag to another, holding their breath to listen for any alien sound.
Vrestin pointed ahead of them.
‘No cover there. We shall just have to cross it openly.’
He stepped out, leading the way up a bare rise, ploughing now in sandy ground. At the top he looked down, surveying the landscape ahead. He stretched out a slim hand to the rocky horizon.
‘That is the way to the Crater of Needles...’
‘How far?’
‘We should be there in two hours.’
Ian nodded and prepared to follow the tall Menoptera.
Suddenly the humming and the chirruping shattered the silent air. The Zarbi rose out of the soft sand straight ahead of them, rearing their evil heads, and with them a squat, snouted venom grub, too, emerged from its cover of sand and slithered on its multiple legs into position, barring the way.
Ian wheeled. He saw a thin outcrop of rock rising out of the sand away to their right and yelled.
‘Over there!’
Vrestin turned and they both raced for its scanty cover, slithering down an incline over the rise.
A Zarbi gestured quickly with its claw. The sting grub spat fire. Sparks skittered off the rocks and an acrid smouldering rose in the air as Ian and Vrestin threw themselves and slid behind their cover. They both stared wildly about and again Ian spotted a fresh refuge.
In the semicircle of rocks a small cave-like opening yawned, partly screened by a drift of sand.
‘Vrestin! Here!’
Ian gripped the Menoptera and pulled him, slithering towards the opening as the sand around them now flashed and smouldered under the fire of the venom grub. He urged Vrestin in through the narrow opening and turned for a last look round. He was about to follow the Menoptera in when a choked hollow yell issued from