A mysterious plague strikes Space Beacon Nerva, killing
its victims within minutes. When DOCTOR WHO lands,
only four humans remain alive. One of these seems to be
in league with the nearby planet of gold, Voga... Or is he in
fact working for the dreaded CYBERMEN, who are now
determined to finally destroy their old enemies, the
VOGANS?
The Doctor, Sarah and Harry find themselves caught in
the midst of a terrifying struggle to death - between the
ruthless, power-hungry Cybermen and the desperate
determined Vogans.

ISBN 0 426 10997 X
         DOCTOR WHO AND
         THE REVENGE OF
          THE CYBERMEN
Based on the BBC television serial Doctor Who and the Revenge of
  the Cybermenby Gerry Davis by arrangement with the British
                   Broadcasting Corporation




               TERRANCE DICKS




                         published by
                   The Paperback Division of
                    W. H. Allen & Co. Ltd
CONTENTS

The Creation of the Cybermen
1 Return to Peril
2 The Cybermat Strikes
3 A Hot Spot for the Doctor
4 A Visit to Voga
5 Rebellion!
6 Attack of the Cybermen
7 The Living Bombs
8 Journey into Peril
9 Countdown on Voga
10 Explosion!
11 Skystriker!
12 'The Biggest Bang in History'
First published simultaneously in Great Britain by Tandem
Publishing Ltd, and Allan Wingate (Publishers) Ltd, 1976

Text of book copyright © Terrance Dicks and Gerry Davis, 1976
'Doctor Who' series copyright © British Broadcasting Corporation
1976

Target books are published by Tandem Publishing Ltd.
14 Gloucester Road, London SW7 4RD
A Howard and Wyndham Company

Printed and bound in Great Britain
by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk

ISBN 0 426 10997 X

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of
trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated
without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or
cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar
condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent
purchaser.
          The Creation of the Cybermen
       Centuries ago by our Earth time, a race of men on the far-
distant Planet of Telos sought immortality. They perfected the art of
cybernetics—the reproduction of machine functions in human
beings. As bodies became old and diseased, they were replaced limb
by limb, with plastic and steel.
       Finally, even the human circulation and nervous system were
re-created, and brains replaced by computers. The first Cybermen
were born.
       Their metal limbs gave them the strength of ten men, and their
in-built respiratory system allowed them to live in the airless vacuum
of Space. They were immune to cold and heat, and immensely
intelligent and resourceful. Their large, silver bodies became
practically indestructible.
       Their main impediment was one that only flesh and blood men
would have recognized: they had no heart, no emotions, no feelings.
They lived by the inexorable laws of pure logic. Love, hate, anger,
even fear, were eliminated from their lives when the last flesh was
replaced by plastic.
       They achieved their immortality at a terrible price. They
became dehumanized monsters. And, like human monsters down
through all the ages of Earth, they became aware of the lack of love
and feeling in their lives and substituted another goal—power!
                            1
                      Return to Peril
       In the silent blackness of deep space, the gleaming metal shape
of Space Beacon Nerva hung like a giant gyroscope. There was no
indication of life—it looked silent, somehow dead. Inside the huge
space station, too, all seemed silent and empty. Control rooms,
corridors, living quarters, everywhere was deserted.
       In an empty control room, the air seemed to shimmer and blur.
Three people appeared out of nowhere; a slim, dark, pretty girl, a
broad-shouldered, square-jawed young man and a very tall, thin man
whose motley collection of vaguely Bohemian garments included an
incredibly long scarf and a battered soft hat jammed on top of a mop
of wildly curling brown hair. The girl was called Sarah Jane Smith,
the young man Harry Sullivan. Both were companions of the third
arrival, that mysterious traveler in Time and Space known only as the
Doctor.
       Sarah shivered and looked around, glad to recognize familiar
surroundings. 'Thank Heavens for that, we've made it.' But something
seemed to puzzle her. The place was the same, yet subtly different.
She looked hopefully at the Doctor. 'We have made it—haven't we?'
       The Doctor could never understand that Sarah sometimes
found it hard to share his habitual cheery optimism. 'Of course we've
made it, Sarah. Did you think we wouldn't?'
       Sarah nodded decisively. 'In these past few weeks, yes. Quite
frequently.'
       Harry Sullivan grinned, thinking to himself that Sarah had
excellent reasons for her recent doubts. He'd doubted his own chance
of survival quite a few times since first meeting the Doctor.
       It had all started with that terrifying business of the Giant
Robot. Harry Sullivan, newly appointed medical officer to the United
Nations Intelligence Taskforce—UNIT for short—had been given
the job of looking after that organization's Scientific Adviser, who
was in fact the Doctor, recently recovered from some mysterious
illness which had left him, it appeared, a changed man. The robot
business had been bad enough, but at least it had all happened on
Earth—an Earth which Harry sometimes wondered if he'd ever see
again. Rashly following the Doctor and Sarah into what looked like
an old-fashioned police call box, Harry had found himself whipped
away from Earth and thrown into a series of horrifying adventures in
Time and Space.
       They had just escaped, barely, from the most recent, an attempt
by the Doctor to go back in Time and prevent the growing menace of
the Daleks.* On this occasion they had traveled not in the police box,
the Doctor's TARDIS, but by means of a Time bracelet provided by
the Doctor's mysterious superiors, the Time Lords. Now that same
bracelet had brought them back to the space station, scene of an
earlier adventure, where they were supposed to pick up the TARDIS
and go home. Harry looked around the empty control room. 'I say,
Doctor, the TARDIS isn't here.'
       The Doctor sighed. 'I was wondering when you'd notice that.'
       Sarah stared at him accusingly. 'Something's gone wrong,
hasn't it?'
       The Doctor held up his wrist, adorned with a heavy,
elaboratedy decorated bracelet. 'There's really nothing that can go
wrong with a Time bracelet...' He shook the bracelet, holding it close
to his ear. 'Apart from a molecular short circuit,' he added sadly.
       'All right, Doctor,' said Sarah. 'Tell us the worst. Where is the
TARDIS?'
       The Doctor rubbed his fingers through his tangled curls. 'Well,'
he began hopefully, 'I think there's been a little temporal
displacement, you see. We've arrived too early and the TARDIS just
hasn't got here yet.' The Doctor beamed, as if this solved everything.
       Sarah wasn't satisfied. 'How early are we?'
       'Oh, about a thousand years or so.' The Doctor looked carefully
at the equipment in the control room. 'In this era, the space station's
doing the kind of job it was originally meant for—a beacon to guide
and service space freighters.'


*
    See Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks.
       'So we've got to hang about here for a thousand years or so,
waiting for the TARDIS to turn up?'
       'No, of course not, Sarah. The TARDIS will be drifting toward
us through Time—and as soon as the Time Lords realize what's
happened, they'll hurry it up for us.' The Doctor slipped the Time
bracelet from his wrist, shook it again and tossed it casually onto a
nearby control console.
       Harry looked at him in astonishment. 'Don't you want it any
more?'
       'No. It's no more use to us now.'
       'Can I have it then—as a souvenir?'
       The Doctor chuckled. 'Certainly, Harry. But you'd better look
after it very carefully.'
       'Oh, I shall. Thanks awfully!' Harry reached eagerly for the
Time bracelet—just as it shimmered and vanished. He turned
indignantly to the Doctor. 'You knew that was going to happen!'
       'Who, me?' asked the Doctor innocently. Before Harry could
protest further, the Doctor went on, 'Let's take a look around to pass
the time, shall we? Now, as I remember, this door leads to the
perimeter corridor...' The Doctor slid open the connecting door. A
stiff corpse fell out, landing almost on top of him.
       Instinctively the Doctor jumped back, and the falling body
crashed to the floor. All three stared horrified at the corpse for a
moment. It was the body of a man in his thirties, wearing the simple
coverall-type uniform of a Space Technician. Harry knelt by the
body and made a swift examination. 'He's dead all right, poor guy.
Dead some time...'
       'How long?' snapped the Doctor.
       Harry shrugged. 'Hard to say. A week or two, could be longer.
There's very little putrefaction, though.'
       The Doctor nodded. 'Sterile environment, you see. Cause of
death?'
       'No sign of injury... I'd have to do a proper autopsy.'
       Sarah recovered from her horror-stricken silence. 'He must
have been leaning against the other side of that door when he died.
But they wouldn't have just left him there, not for two weeks, would
they, Doctor?'
       'Not unless there was something very badly wrong here.' The
Doctor stepped past the body and went through the door. Then he
stopped, as if frozen in horror. Harry and Sarah came up behind,
looking past him into the corridor. They too stopped, frozen in the
same horrified disbelief.
       The long perimeter corridor stretched ahead, curving out of
sight in the distance as it followed the outer contours of the space
station. The corridor was full of dead bodies. Corpse after corpse, a
long line of them stretching ahead, twisted and contorted in the stiff,
ungainly attitudes of sudden death. Sarah buried her face in the
Doctor's shoulder. 'They're all dead. Everyone on this space station
must be dead...'

       But Sarah was wrong. Not everyone on Nerva Beacon was
dead. Not yet. In a small control room on the far side of the base, a
Communications Technician named Warner was slumped over his
control panel, face gray with fatigue. He jerked into life as a sharp,
pinging signal sound filled the room. Rubbing his eyes, he checked
his space-radar screen, and flipped a switch. 'This is Nerva Beacon
calling Pluto—Earth flight one-five. Are you reading me?'
       A voice crackled out of the speaker. 'We read you clear, Nerva
Beacon. Our dropover time estimated at thirteen-twenty.'
       'Your dropover is canceled, repeat, canceled. This beacon is
now a quarantined zone, due to an outbreak of space-plague. Your
dropover is transferred to Ganymede Beacon, one-nine-six-zero-
seven-zero-two. Shall I repeat?'
       'Thank you, Nerva Beacon, we have co-ordinates.' There was a
moment's pause, then the voice from the speaker said awkwardly,
'How bad is it? If there's anything we can do...'
       Warner grinned wryly, and tried to force some cheerfulness
into his voice. 'Thanks for the offer, but our medical team is getting
things under control.'
       There was another pause and then the voice said, 'We have a
query, Nerva Beacon. Our First Officer has a brother doing a tour
with you—Crewmaster Colville. He'd like to know if he's O.K., or...'
       Warner gave a wince of pain, but he carefully kept his voice
matter-of-fact. 'Hold contact, I'll check for you.' He flipped his
internal communications switch, closing the space relay so the pilot
couldn't hear him. 'Commander Stevenson...'
       In a nearby crewroom, Commander Stevenson rolled wearily
from his bunk as he heard his name. He stumbled to the control
console. 'Stevenson here.'
       Warner's voice came over the intercom. 'I'm in contact with the
Pluto—Earth flight, sir. One of the crew wants news of his brother,
Crew-master Colville. What do I tell him?'
       Stevenson rubbed a hand across his aching red-rimmed eyes.
Colville was dead of course. Everyone was dead except for Warner,
Stevenson himself and the two other men in the room with him. Four
survivors, from a crew of over forty. Grimly Stevenson said, 'Tell
him Colville's fine, and the epidemic's almost over. Just that and
nothing else.' He switched off the intercom and stood leaning wearily
against the console for a moment. One of the men on the bunks, a
civilian named Kellman, propped himself up on an elbow. Since he
had no duties, nothing to do but eat and sleep, he looked plump and
rested, unlike the gray-haired Stevenson, whose face was drawn with
exhaustion.
       With his habitual sneer Kellman said, 'Why don't you tell them
the truth, Commander?'
       Stevenson was too tired even to be angry. 'I am following the
orders of Earth Central Control.'
       'Operating the Beacon to the last man?'
       'If necessary, yes.' There was a tinge of contempt in
Stevenson's voice. 'You're a civilian, Professor Kellman. You
wouldn't understand.'
       Kellman yawned and stretched luxuriously. 'How much longer
can you go on—three of you trying to do the work of forty-three?'
       The third man in the room was awake by now, a tough, burly
crew member called Lester, fiercely loyal to his Commander. He got
slowly off his bunk and moved menacingly toward Kellman.
       'Don't worry, Professor. We've managed for two weeks, we'll
manage for another one.'
       'And another—and another? This Beacon's finished, Lester...'
       Stevenson spoke with weary patience, 'Nerva Beacon has to
remain operative until every space-freighter has the new asteroid on
its star-chart. Until then, there's a constant danger of space
collision...'
       Rudely Kellman interrupted, 'You deserve a medal, all of you.
Self-sacrifice beyond the call of stupidity...'
       Lester moved quickly toward him, a brawny clenched fist
drawn back, but Kellman, fresh and alert after plenty of sleep,
dodged quickly past the exhausted crewman and slipped out of the
room, closing the door behind him. Lester slumped back onto his
bunk. Stevenson gave a sympathetic grin. 'I know. I've lost most of
my crew these last few weeks, good friends among them. Yet a
miserable creature like that is still alive.'
       Lester stretched out. 'Shut himself away in his office, didn't he,
sir, soon as the plague started. Now it seems to be over, he's poking
his nose out of his rathole.' Lester's voice slurred, his head nodded
and he drifted back into sleep.
       Stevenson went to his desk and started shuffling through his
duty rosters. Three men to do the work of forty. Kellman was right—
it was ridiculous. It was only possible because all three worked to a
killing schedule—long hours of duty with the bare minimum of
sleep. Kellman had refused to even attempt to help, claiming that he
lacked the necessary skills. This despite the fact that he was a trained
exographer, a planetary surveyor sent to investigate the new asteroid
that had so mysteriously appeared in the orbit of Jupiter. But
Kellman's job had been finished before the space-plague struck. Now
he was just a useless passenger, an irritant to the nerves of the other
survivors. Wondering why the space-plague had seen fit to spare
someone who was not only unnecessary but nasty with it, Stevenson
carried on with his impossible task.

      For the rest of her life Sarah Jane Smith was to be haunted by
the memory of that nightmarish stumble down the long curved
corridor filled with corpses. She closed her eyes for most of it,
clutching the Doctor's sleeve and trying not to think about the stiff,
pathetic figures as she edged blindly past them. Once a corpse,
disturbed by the Doctor's passing, fell suddenly toward her with
claw-like hands that seemed to be reaching out. Sarah choked off her
scream and moved grimly on.
       Suddenly she became aware that the Doctor had stopped. She
opened her eyes. A steel door stretched across the corridor, barring
the way ahead of them. The Doctor operated the control panel set in
the corridor wall. Nothing happened. 'Seems to be jammed,' he
muttered. 'The controls are locked.'
       Harry looked grim. 'So we can't get any further?' He glanced
quickly at Sarah, wondering if she would be able to bear it if they
had to retrace their steps.
       The Doctor nodded toward the line of bodies stretching away
behind them. 'These poor chaps couldn't get any further, either,' he
said thoughtfully. 'They were sealed off in this aft-section, left here
to die. So whatever did it must be on the other side of this door.' He
produced his sonic-screwdriver and began to dismantle the door
control panel.
       Harry said dubiously, 'Are you sure you want that door open,
Doctor?'
       The Doctor nodded. 'It's always better to know what you're up
against, Harry. Besides, if the co-ordinates slip, the TARDIS could
pop up almost anywhere on this Beacon. We've got to be able to
move around and find it...'
       The Doctor went on working. Harry gave Sarah a consoling
hug. 'Don't worry, old girl, we'll soon be out of here.' Sarah managed
a rather feeble smile.
       As they watched the Doctor plunge into a tangle of electronic
circuitry with his usual cheerful confidence, something moved along
the corridor behind them. It scurried between the corpses, triangular
in shape, metallic body scaled like a silverfish, large red electronic
eyes glowing on top of its head. It was like a giant metal rat. As
Sarah and Harry watched the Doctor work, the strange metal beast
slid closer and closer to them. When it was just a few feet from
Sarah's back, it stopped, as if poised to spring...
                          2
                 The Cybermat Strikes
       Sarah's life was saved by her exceptionally good peripheral
vision. The metal creature moved a little to one side of her, as if to
get a clear spring at her throat. Sarah caught a flash of movement in
the corner of her eye, spun round and reacted in true feminine style;
she let out a loud, hearty scream. The Doctor whirled around, and the
sonic-screwdriver in his hand was pointed straight at the creature. Its
'eyes' glowed an angry red as the sonic vibrations reached it; it
reversed with bewildering speed and shot off down the corridor,
disappearing into an open grating like a mouse into its hole.
       Harry blinked. 'What was it, Doctor? A metal rat?'
       The Doctor shook his head. 'Not a rat—a cybermat,' he said,
unconsciously dropping into rhyme. Refusing to say another word,
he went on with his work.

       Communications Technician Warner's head was nodding over
his instrument console. He was nearing the end of his tour of duty,
and could think only of the few hours of sleep he would be allowed
before the remorseless schedule of Nerva Beacon summoned him
back to duty. At least this last hour should be a quiet one. Unless
there was an emergency, no more spaceships were due to approach
the Beacon during this watch. But the silence made it all the harder
to keep awake. Suppose there was an emergency, and it found him
sleeping? Slipping imperceptibly into sleep, Warner began to dream
that he'd slept through an emergency call and was being
courtmartialed. In the confused jumble of his dream he heard a voice,
and realized with a shock that the voice was real.
       'I am calling Nerva Beacon. Can anyone hear me? I am calling
Nerva Beacon...' The voice was thick, throaty, somehow alien, even
beneath the distorting crackle of the static.
       Warner jerked awake, shook his head to clear it and reached
for his console. 'Hullo, this is Nerva Beacon. Do you read me?'
       The harsh alien voice came through again. 'I hear you. Is that
Nerva Beacon?' The voice was faint and crackling, almost inaudible.
       Warner adjusted his controls to try and improve reception. 'I
read you, but very faintly. Please return to one-two-seven point
three-five and repeat your message.' He made further adjustments,
listened, but heard only the crackle of static. A shadow fell across the
console and Warner looked up. Kellman was standing behind him,
his face curiously set and intent. Warner fiddled with his controls,
got nothing but more static, and gave up. He glanced at Kellman.
'This new asteroid of yours, Professor, are you sure there's no life on
it?'
       'On Voga? Of course not. How can there be?'
       Warner punched up a picture of the asteroid on his vision
scanner. The asteroid hung in space, its scarred and pitted surface
dark and mysterious. 'I just picked up a call—and that's the only
place it could have come from.'
       Kellman sneered. 'Hallucinations, Warner. You've been sitting
here too long.'
       Warner yawned and rubbed his eyes. He nodded toward the
scanner screen. 'Where did that thing come from?'
       'Nobody knows. It drifted into our system years ago. They
detected it when it was captured by Jupiter.'
       'So there could be life on it?' persisted Warner.
       Kellman gave a snort of irritation. 'Impossible,' he said softly.
'An asteroid that size, drifting in the vacuum between star systems...
nothing could have lived under those conditions.'
       Warner was unshaken. 'Well, something did, because that's
where that transmission came from.'
       Kellman gave an impatient sigh. 'Warner, I'm the exologist,
remember? I've been down on Voga. I've set up a transmat station.
I've spent six months studying rock samples from Voga... what are
you doing?'
       Warner's hands were flickering over a small keyboard.
Lettering appeared on a mini-screen in front of him.
UNIDENTIFIED CALL FROM VOGA. 18.57 HOURS. DAY 3.
WEEK 47. Warner replied, 'I'm putting the transmission in my log.
Standard procedure.'
      'You're mad,' snarled Kellman. 'I've said all along it was a
mistake to keep this control room operative.'
      Warner looked at him in astonishment, puzzled by the violence
of Kellman's reaction. 'That's the Commander's decision. Nothing to
do with you, is it?'
      Kellman seemed to calm down a little. 'This place is away
from the safe area. Every time you go down that perimeter corridor
you risk spreading the plague. We should shut down completely.'
      Warner looked hard at him. 'Then why are you here so often?
Anyway, if the Commander says we stay operational, we stay
operational.'
      Kellman seemed about to speak, changed his mind, turned and
stalked from the room. Warner shrugged and returned to his watch,
checking the space-radar screen for activity. There was nothing. He
yawned again. Not long to go now, and Lester would relieve him.
Vaguely he wondered why Kellman had found the idea of
transmissions from Voga so upsetting.

       Back in the perimeter corridor, the Doctor had at last managed
to remove a panel in the door that barred their way. He reached
through and groped for the controls on the other side. 'If one of you
would hold the door so it doesn't open too suddenly...' Obligingly
Harry Sullivan leaned his weight against the door. The Doctor
touched the unseen control panel. 'That's the idea, Harry. I'm very
attached to my humerus, and I'd hate to lose it.' Harry felt the door
start to slide back. Hastily the Doctor pulled his arm out of the panel,
nodded to Harry who stood back, and the door slid open. Sarah
looked down the corridor ahead, vastly relieved that there seemed to
be no more corpses. They all stepped past the door and the Doctor
operated the controls to close it behind them. Cautiously they moved
on their way.

      In his control room, Warner jerked awake once more, as one of
the dials in front of him began to flicker. He leaned forward and
spoke into the intercom. 'Hullo, Commander? Listen, sir, somebody
has just operated the shutter in the aft perimeter corridor. I know it's
impossible, but it's happened. The information's right here on the
electronic register.'
        The Commander's voice came back through the speaker. 'All
right, Warner, we'll check it out.'
        In the crewroom Lester and Stevenson looked blankly at each
other. Lester shook his head in puzzlement. 'Everybody in that aft
section had the plague, Commander. There can't be anyone still
alive.'
        Stevenson nodded. 'I sealed the connecting doors myself. Well,
we'd better check the corridor.' He went to a wall locker, took out
two hand-blasters and gave one to Lester. 'Just in case.' They both
went out.
        In the control room, Warner stared at his dials and wondered
what was going on. Forgotten on the screen, the asteroid Voga hung
mysteriously in Space.

       Although he didn't know it, Warner had been right about the
transmission. It had come from Voga. In a control room deep inside
that planet, the alien operator who had made it was slumped dead
over his instruments. Blaster in hand, another alien creature,
obviously some kind of security guard, stood watching over the body
of the fellow-Vogan he had just killed.
       Two more Vogans strode into the room. Like the guard and the
dead radio operator, they were humanoid in form, with high-domed
foreheads and dark-furred faces. Their eyes were large and luminous,
like those of creatures accustomed to the dark, and the lighting in the
room would have been uncomfortably dim for human eyes. Unlike
the overalled radio operator and the grimly uniformed guard, the two
new arrivals wore the clothes of high-ranking officials, with
elaborate robes and high-collared ceremonial cloaks. Their boots,
their belt clasps, their chains of office and insignia, all had the dull
yellow gleam of solid gold.
       Vorus, the bigger and more senior of the two Vogans, prodded
the body of the radio operator with the tip of one golden boot. It
slumped to the floor like a rag-filled sack. His bulging, luminous
eyes swung round onto the guard, who stood rigidly to attention.
'You did well. You will be suitably rewarded. Now take this thing
away and bury it. Bury it deep.'
       As the guard dragged the body away, Magrik, Vorus's
assistant, came deferentially forward, recoiling from his leader's
angry glare. 'Why?' growled Vorus. 'Why did he do it?'
       Timidly Magrik said, 'Perhaps your plan frightened him,
Vorus. Indeed, it often frightens me.'
       'But you would not have warned the humans. You feel no
kinship with them?'
       Hastily Magrik said, 'Oh no, no indeed. It is just that so many
things may go wrong...'
       Vorus mastered his impatience. Magrik was a timid fool, even
for a Vogan, but he was also a scientific genius, and Vorus needed
him. The big Vogan put a powerful arm round Magrik's thin
shoulders.
       'Never fear, Magrik. The plan is a great one and it will work.
You and I will make it work. When the time is right, Nerva Beacon
will be shattered into drifting Space-dust.'
       'But can we trust our agent?'
       'We can trust his greed,' growled Vorus contemptuously. He
tapped the huge buckle on his cloak. 'Gold buys humans, Magrik, and
we have more gold here on Voga than in the rest of the galaxy.'
       'If our agent is trustworthy, why has he not communicated?'
persisted Magrik timidly.
       'It is better that he should not. By now the Cybermen may be
monitoring our radio link.'
       Magrik shuddered. 'The very mention of Cybermen fills me
with unspeakable dread.'
       Vorus's voice was unexpectedly kind. 'You feel fear because
you have lived too long in darkness. When I lead our people into the
light, all these ancient fears will drop away. We shall destroy the
Cybermen.'
       Magrik nodded eagerly. 'You are right, Vorus, I know it. If
only I did not feel so afraid...'

     Warner's head nodded as he struggled desperately to stay
awake. His relief was overdue now. Wryly he told himself that it was
his own fault. If he hadn't sent Lester and the commander off on
some wild goose chase.... He wondered how they were getting on, if
they'd found anything.
       From a floor-level grating the metallic, rat-like shape of a
Cybermat slid silently into the room. It swiveled round as if
scanning, and its electronic eyes glowed red as it fixed on Warner. It
glided closer, reared up and launched itself like a rocket at Warner's
throat. Warner was briefly aware of a silvery flashing through the air,
then something cold and metallic struck him in the throat, and he felt
agonizing twin stabs of pain in his neck. Reeling, he flung the thing
away from him. The Cybermat crashed against the wall, slid to the
floor, then, apparently unharmed, scurried back into its grating.
       Warner felt a burning fever spread through his veins. His blood
seemed to be on fire, and there was a roaring in his ears. He lurched
toward the alarm switch, but before he could reach it the roaring
blackness swallowed him up and he slumped to the floor.
       Kellman appeared in the doorway. He looked down at
Warner's body but made no attempt to help him. With a smile of
quiet satisfaction, he crossed to the control console, opened a panel,
took out the day's log tape cassette and dropped it into his pocket.
Without giving Warner a second glance, he walked quickly from the
room.

       Lester and Commander Stevenson stood looking in puzzlement
at the connecting door that the Doctor had opened some time earlier.
Stevenson examined the area around the missing panel. 'The rivets
have been taken out from the other side.'
       Lester seemed confused. 'But how, sir? They're blind-headed,
nothing to give any purchase.'
       'Then they must have been loosened with a sonic-vibrator!'
       'That's pretty sophisticated technology, sir. We've nothing like
that on the Beacon.'
       'Exactly. So Warner was right. Somebody did come through.'
Stevenson hefted his blaster pistol thoughtfully. 'Come on. We'll just
have to check section by section. And move quietly.'
        The Doctor, Sarah and Harry stood looking round a deserted
control room. Sarah shook her head. 'We're going around in circles.
I'm sure we've been here before.'
        The Doctor patted her on the shoulder. 'That was the aft
control—this is the forward area.'
        Harry sounded glum. 'Well, wherever it is, still no TARDIS.'
        The Doctor grinned reassuringly. 'Don't worry; it'll turn up
soon.'
        Harry said sceptically, 'It'll just, what d'you call it—
materialize, will it?'
        'That's right. Only we'll have to be around when it does. It
won't wait for us, you see, we've got to catch it when it's in our Time
co-ordinate, or it'll drift on past.'
        Sarah had a picture of a phantom TARDIS, forever bobbing on
ahead of them, always just out of reach. 'Worse than trying to catch a
London bus,' she grumbled.
        Two men carrying ugly-looking blasters leaped through the
doorway, aiming the weapons straight at them. The Doctor ignored
the interruption. 'Anyway, when it does arrive...'
        The older of the two men snapped, 'Get your hands up!'
        'Certainly,' said the Doctor amiably, raising his hands to
shoulder height. 'As I was saying, Harry, when the TARDIS does
arrive...'
        Obviously taken aback at being totally ignored, the younger
man shouted, 'Who are you? How did you get here?'
        The Doctor performed introductions, with all the aplomb of a
vicar at a garden party. 'This is Miss Sarah Jane Smith, this young
man is Harry Sullivan and I'm the Doctor. And you are?'
        'My name's Lester. This is Commander Stevenson. I want to
know...'
        A third man appeared in the doorway. Stevenson didn't seem
pleased to see him. 'What do you want, Professor Kellman? We're a
little busy at the moment.'
        Kellman looked curiously at the three new arrivals and said,
'You'd better come to the sub-control room, Commander. There's an
emergency.'
       Stevenson hesitated, then waved his blaster at the captives. 'All
right, you three, move. You're coming with us.'
       A few minutes later they were all standing in a smaller control
room, where the body of a man lay slumped on the floor. Stevenson
gasped, 'Warner!' Gently he turned the body over. A network of
spidery black lines ran up from the man's throat, covering one side of
his face almost to the temple.
       The Commander stood up, his face grim and set. He gave
Lester an agonized look. Lester said, 'You want me to do it, sir?'
       Stevenson shook his head. 'No. It's my job.' He slid back the
bolt of his blaster and took careful aim at Warner's head.
       Sarah rushed forward. 'What are you doing? You mustn't!'
       'This man has contracted space plague. There's only one way
to deal with it.'
       'But he's ill—he needs treatment.'
       'There is no treatment. All we can do is stop the plague
spreading further. I must shoot him.'
                          3
              A Hot Spot for the Doctor
       Calmly the Doctor stepped forward, placing himself between
Stevenson's blaster and the body on the floor. 'I'm sorry,' he said
gently, 'I can't possibly allow you to do that.' Such was the authority
in the Doctor's voice, that Stevenson found himself lowering his
blaster, without quite realizing why.
       'You can't allow it,' he said slowly. 'And just who might you
be?'
       'I happen to be a doctor. So is my colleague here. Miss Smith
is our assistant.'
       Suddenly Kellman broke in, 'You'd better kill all three of them,
Commander. They've carried the plague into this section.'
       The Doctor gave him a look of some distaste, then turned back
to Stevenson. 'Commander, who is this homicidal maniac?'
       Stevenson ignored the question, staring at the Doctor with
sudden hope. 'You say you're doctors? Did Earth Center send you?'
       'We're from Earth, yes,' said the Doctor, feeling he could be
excused a little evasiveness in the circumstances. 'The important
thing is that we've come to help you.' He knelt by Warner's body.
       Again Kellman interrupted. 'Help us? Do you realize you've
carried the infection from the aft section into here?'
       Sarah was no scientist, but even she could see the fallacy in
this. 'Use your common sense. If we carried the infection, how come
this poor man's ill—and we aren't? He was here before us.'
       Harry added his support. 'Maybe the virus hopped off us and
dashed in here ahead, eh?'
       The Doctor got slowly to his feet. 'Whatever's attacking this
man, and all the others—it isn't plague, Commander.'
       Stevenson rubbed a hand over his forehead, fighting off a
sudden wave of fatigue. 'Well, according to our medical team it is.'
       'Did they manage to identify the virus?' asked the Doctor.
       Lester shook his head. 'They didn't get much chance. All the
medical people went down with plague first.'
       'Did they now? Don't you find that rather significant?'
       'We reckoned maybe it started in their labs. Some virus
mutating in a test tube.'
       'I very much doubt it,' said the Doctor briskly. 'Well, now
you've got a new medical team. Dr. Sullivan, will you see to the
patient? I wish to continue my investigations.'
       Commander Stevenson felt that everything was being taken
out of his hands. Whoever this odd-looking stranger was, he didn't
lack assurance. Half-resentful, half-relieved he said, 'All right, I'll
allow you to examine him. It'll have to be in the crewroom though.
This control room must be kept operational.'
       This produced another outburst from Kellman. 'Oh yes—we
must keep operational at all costs!' Aware that everyone was staring
at him, he turned and strode from the room.
       Stevenson slid into Warner's seat behind the console. 'Lester,
you look after the doctors. I'll take over the console, you relieve me
when you can.'
       Lester, Harry and Sarah carried the unconscious Warner out of
the room. Mechanically, Stevenson started checking over his
instrument panel. The Doctor wandered around the room, as if he
didn't quite know what he was looking for, stooping to examine some
tiny scratches on wall and floor.
       In his tiny metal-walled room, Kellman sat hunched over a
listening device. It had been a simple matter to 'bug' the control
room, and now he wanted to know what this too-knowing stranger
was up to. The voices of the Doctor and Stevenson came through
quite clearly.
       The Doctor found yet another tiny scratch on the edge of the
instrument console. 'Have you noticed these rather strange scratches,
Commander? They seem to crop up all over your base.'
       'I can't say I have. Is it important?'
       The Doctor smiled. 'Everything's important, Commander, in its
own way.' Leaning over Stevenson's shoulder he flicked open the
access panel to the log-recording section. He looked at the row of
cassettes—with their obvious gaps. 'Well, well, well... do you know,
Commander, I've already made three interesting discoveries about
this plague virus of yours?'
       Stevenson looked up. 'Three discoveries?'
       The Doctor nodded solemnly. 'One, it can scratch metal. Two,
it attacks so suddenly that the victims can't reach an alarm just a few
feet away. Three, it steals tape cassettes from log books. An
acquisitive and literate little virus, wouldn't you say?'
       Wearily Stevenson shook his head, trying to take it all in. 'Just
what are you telling me, Doctor?'
       'As I said before—some hostile force is attacking your crew
members. But it certainly isn't any kind of plague.'
       'Then what is it?'
       The Doctor wasn't quite ready to answer that question. He took
refuge in a sudden change of subject. 'Who's that singularly
unpleasant civilian of yours?'
       Stevenson explained about Kellman, and his role in studying
the new asteroid, Voga. He was quite unprepared for the violence of
the Doctor's reaction.
       'That's it—Voga!' shouted the Doctor, smacking himself on the
forehead with a blow like a pistol shot. 'Of course!'
       'Of course, what?'
       'This chap Kellman—has he actually been down there?'
       'Yes, of course. He spent some time studying the thing. He
even set up a transmat station to link the Beacon and Voga.'
       'Voga,' said the Doctor slowly. 'The legendary Voga, the planet
made of gold. This makes it certain—they must be involved.'
       'Who must?'
       The Doctor looked at him, his face suddenly grave. 'I'm sorry
to have to tell you, Commander, that we're up against the Cybermen.'
       The name rang only the faintest of bells in Stevenson's mind.
Some legendary war, long centuries ago.... There had been so many
enemies when Man first ventured out among the stars. 'We defeated
them, didn't we, hundreds of years ago? I thought they'd died out.'
       The Doctor shook his head. 'Disappeared, certainly. Most of
their ships vanished after the attack on Voga, after the end of the
Cyberwar. Not the same as dying out, Commander. They're totally
ruthless, with a great determination to survive, and to conquer. They
won't have forgiven Mankind...'
      In his office, Kellman switched off his listening device and sat
brooding for a moment. There was no doubt in his mind that the
Doctor knew too much. Two things were clear. The Doctor must be
dealt with. And the Master Plan must be brought forward. Kellman
went to a hidden locker and produced a communications device of a
strange and alien design. He connected it to the Beacon's power line
and began tapping out an urgent message.

       On one of the moons of Jupiter an alien spaceship lay hidden.
Its lines were harsh and ugly, vicious and functional, like everything
made by Cybermen. Inside that ship, giant silver figures sat listening
to Kellman's message, considering its many implications. No one
spoke. All turned and looked at the central figure, the Cyberleader.
He would decide. The others would obey without question. The
Cyberleader raised his hand in an abrupt gesture of decision. One of
the crew stretched out a giant hand toward the firing levers, and the
countdown began. Minutes later the Cybership, scarred and battered,
but still efficient and deadly, took off from its hiding place and set a
course for Nerva Beacon. The Cybermen were on their way.

       In the crewroom, Harry Sullivan looked up from the
unconscious figure of Warner and shook his head, 'It beats me. He's
in a deep coma, but his temperature is shooting up and up.'
       Sarah was holding Warner's wrist. 'Harry, I make his pulse a
hundred and twenty!'
       Lester wasn't surprised. 'It's always the same, Doc. They just
seem to burn up. He's lasted longer than most.'
       Sarah let go of Warner's wrist. 'How long ago did all this start?'
       Lester thought for a moment. 'This must be... yeah, the
seventy-ninth day, I reckon.'
       'Didn't they send you any help?'
       'Earth Center decided to isolate us. Better to lose one Beacon
crew than spread some unknown plague through the galaxy.'
       Suddenly Warner choked and twisted. Lester sighed. 'That's
about it. That's how all the others went.'
       The Doctor and Commander Stevenson hurried into the
crewroom. Harry looked up. 'I'm afraid he's beyond help, Doctor.'
       The Doctor leaned over Warner, who was moaning and
twisting as the fires of his fever consumed him. Gently steadying the
man's head, the Doctor produced a magnifying glass and examined
Warner's neck. 'You see, Harry—here? Two tiny punctures...'
       Harry peered through the magnifying glass. 'Like the bite of a
serpent.'
       'Exactly like, Harry. This man's been injected with some kind
of venom.'
       Warner convulsed in a final paroxysm, went rigid, then lay
quite still. The Doctor sighed, and pulled a sheet over his face. As if
lost in thought, the Doctor began walking slowly from the room.
Harry called after him, 'Doctor, where are you going?'
       'Hunting, Harry. I smell a rat.' And with that the Doctor was
gone.
       Stevenson gave a baffled frown. 'This is all beyond me. But I
can tell you one thing. There are no rats on this Beacon. Or snakes
either, come to that.'
       'Don't worry, Commander,' said Sarah solemnly. 'If the
Doctor's scented a rat, he'll find one.'

       Unsure exactly where to start his rat hunt, the Doctor walked
slowly along the perimeter corridor. He heard a metallic rattle and
instinctively flattened himself against the wall. Further down the
corridor a door opened, and Kellman emerged, locking the door
behind him. He moved off down the corridor, luckily in the direction
that took him away from the Doctor.
       Never one to ignore a nudge from fate, the Doctor waited till
Kellman was out of sight, then slipped cautiously up to his door. A
few minutes work with his sonic-screwdriver dealt with the lock, and
the Doctor was soon inside Kellman's tiny office.
       There wasn't much to look at. A day bed, a locker, a desk-
table, a filing cabinet and a chair. That was it. The Doctor leafed
aimlessly through a selection of files, abandoned them, and started
tapping the walls. A quick search revealed Kellman's hidden locker.
The Doctor examined the communication device, shivered at its alien
design and put it back, closing the locker.
        He turned his attention to the big clothes locker. There was
little to see, just the bare minimum of serviceable clothing. An old
pair of shoes was stuffed away in one corner. The Doctor lifted them
out, one in each hand and hefted them, weighing and comparing. He
tipped up the left shoe and a small string-necked bag fell onto the
floor. The Doctor picked it up, carried it over to the table and tipped
a little of the bag's contents into his palm. The bag held dust, heavy
yellow, metallic dust. The Doctor took a pinch between finger and
thumb, rubbing them together. Only one metal in the cosmos had that
slippery, almost oily feel.
        'Gold,' he said softly. 'Solid gold...'
        There was a sudden rattle at the door and the handle started
moving. Stuffing the bag in his pocket, the Doctor moved too...
        Outside in the corridor, Kellman wondered why the lock on his
door felt suddenly strange and stiff. He forced it open, and entered
the room. It was as quiet and empty as when he had left it. He went
to the desk and took a small metal box from a drawer. He put the box
onto the metal desk top and then paused. Something seemed slippery
between the two metal surfaces. He lifted the box, wetted a finger,
ran it along the desktop. The finger was thinly coated with gold.
        Kellman glanced carefully around the room, keeping quite
still. There was only one possible hiding place—under the day bed.
Kellman considered for a moment, then suddenly smiled. He had
thought of a way to make things hot for his unseen visitor. He
crossed to a wall panel and lifted it off to expose the controls for the
underfloor heating system. He removed some fuses, wrenched out
and cross-connected some wires, then left the room, locking the door
behind him.
        Stretched flat on his face under the day bed, the Doctor had
had little better than a worm's-eye view of Kellman, seeing no more
than his boots as he'd moved about the room. Conscious that his own
position was rather lacking in dignity, he was very relieved when
Kellman went out. The Doctor waited a moment longer, just in case
of a sudden return, gazing abstractedly at the plastic-composition
floor a few inches beneath his nose. He noticed something very odd
about that floor. It was smoking. Indeed, it was starting to bubble and
crack. The Doctor shot out from under the bed like a scalded cat and
jumped on top of it. The floor of the room was hissing and bubbling
like molten larva. Blasts of heat and choking smoke were wafting up
from it. The Doctor wound his scarf over his mouth and leaned
awkwardly over to try to reach the lock of the door. Little spurts of
flickering flame began blossoming in the molten plastic, like yellow
flowers.

       Sarah Jane Smith sat on her own in the crewroom. Harry and
Lester were carrying Warner's body off to the mortuary section.
She'd accepted eagerly when Lester had offered her a meal before
leaving, but now she was picking unenthusiastically through a plastic
box of food concentrates, most of which looked like pink bouillon
cubes, and tasted unimaginable. She realized that the crew had been
living on pills and concentrates so long they took it for granted, and
she thought longingly of steak and French fries.
       She didn't notice when the triangular silvery form of the
Cybermat slipped out of its grating, red eyes glowing as it sought its
prey.
       This time it managed to glide so close that by the time she saw
it there was no chance of escape, no time even to scream as the
Cybermat reared up and launched itself at her throat....

       In Kellman's office, the automatic sprinkler system was
struggling to put out the fire. The Doctor heaved the metal desk
across the bubbling, burning floor to the door, falling forward like a
bridge, feet on the bed, one hand supporting him on the desk. In this
position, he could—just—reach the lock with the sonic-screwdriver
in his other hand. Working one-handed, his weight bearing
agonizingly on his supporting wrist, waves of stifling heat and
choking black smoke coming up at him from the blazing floor, the
Doctor felt like a chop on a barbecue griddle. Under these conditions
it was a much tougher job to pick the lock, and the Doctor felt
consciousness slipping away as he inhaled the fumes of burning
plastic. The door sprang open at last, and the Doctor vaulted over the
desk to land in a heap in the metal-floored corridor outside. As he
picked himself up, he heard the sound of Sarah's screams. Gasping
for breath, the Doctor staggered along the corridor toward the sound.
       After the shock of seeing the Cybermat jump at her, Sarah had
got her breath back and was screaming at the top of her voice. The
Cybermat seemed clamped to her throat, and she felt twin stabs of
agonizing pain in her neck. With a final desperate effort, she
wrenched it away, hurling it across the room—to land at the feet of
the Doctor as he appeared in the doorway. The Cybermat spun round,
orientating itself. Its eyes glowed red as they fixed upon this new
victim. Rearing up, it prepared to launch itself at the Doctor....
                              4
                       A Visit to Voga
       The Doctor sidestepped nimbly as the Cybermat jumped. It
crashed into the wall beside his head, dropped to the floor, spun
around to get its bearings and reared to attack again.
       Groping in his pockets, the Doctor backed away. Just as the
creature was about to spring, the Doctor fished out the bag of gold-
dust from Kellman's room, and tipped the lot over the Cybermat. The
result was extraordinary. The creature spun around and around in a
kind of frenzy, sending off a whirling spray of gold dust. At last it
juddered to a halt. The red eyes glowed even more fiercely, then
went dark. The Cybermat was still.
       With the immediate danger past, the Doctor became aware that
Sarah was staggering toward him. Appalled, he saw the lines of
spidery black markings that were already running from her neck up
to her temple. She reeled and fell, clutching her throat and making
guttural, choking sounds. The Doctor caught her just before she hit
the floor. He was lifting her onto a bunk as Harry, Lester and the
Commander raced into the room.
       Harry hurried over to Sarah. 'What happened? We heard the
screams.'
       Lester took one look at Sarah and said grimly, 'We're too late.
She's got the plague.'
       'There is no plague,' said the Doctor. 'Only this.' He kicked the
immobilized Cybermat. It was distorted, almost melted by the effect
of the gold dust, and looked like a lump of shapeless metal scrap. 'It's
programmed to inject some alien poison into the bloodstream of its
victims.'
       Stevenson examined it with revulsion. 'Is it still dangerous,
Doctor?'
       'Not any more. But there are bound to be others around.' The
Doctor crossed over to Harry, who was trying to soothe the writhing,
gasping Sarah. Harry was very much aware that on this same bunk,
just a short time ago, he had watched Warner die, powerless to help
him. He turned his agonized face to the Doctor.
       'There must be something we can do for her.'
       The Doctor stood looking down at Sarah. He seemed lost in
contemplation. You could almost hear the whirring as his brain raced
through a variety of possible solutions. Suddenly he snapped his
fingers. 'There is, Harry. The transmat beam in the control room!'
       Harry gaped at him. His travels with the Doctor had
familiarized him with this latest triumph of man's technology, an
apparatus that could break down a living human body into a stream
of molecules, send it to a predetermined destination by a locked
transmitter beam, and reassemble it unharmed at the other end. With
transmat you could send a person as easily as a telephone message.
But how could that help Sarah?
       'Don't you see?' said the Doctor urgently. 'The transmat
disperses human molecules. The alien poison will be separated and
rejected, and when Sarah arrives she'll be cured. Come on, Harry!'
Ignoring the others, they started to carry Sarah from the room.
Automatically, Lester and the Commander followed after them.
       A few minutes later, Harry was supporting Sarah as they both
stood inside the small plain cubicle which was the Beacon terminal
for the transmat beam. The Doctor was at the nearby control console.
       'Now you know what to do, Harry? The minute you arrive, use
the reciprocator switch, and you'll be beamed straight back again. We
don't know what's on Voga, and it could be dangerous to spend much
time there.'
       Harry nodded. 'Don't worry. We'll be there and back as soon as
this thing can take us.' He tightened his grip on Sarah protectively.
The Doctor's hands flickered over the controls. Nothing happened.
He tried again. Still nothing. The Doctor ripped the back panel from
the transmat control console and stared into the intricate tangle of
electronic equipment. Lester peered over his shoulder.
       'Has it broken down, Doctor?'
       'No. This isn't a breakdown. It's sabotage. Somebody's
removed the main power source, the pentalion drive.'
       Commander Stevenson was incredulous. 'Sabotage? Who'd do
a thing like that?'
       'Who tore the tape from your radio log?' asked the Doctor
savagely. 'Who used Cybermats to murder your crew? Who's
desperate to cut all connection between this Beacon and Voga?'
       Commander Stevenson knew exactly who the Doctor meant.
'Kellman?'
       'Kellman!' confirmed the Doctor. 'Your friendly exographer is
working with the Cybermen.'
       That was enough for Lester. He rubbed his big hands together.
'Come on, Commander, let's get after him.'
       Lester and Stevenson hurried out of the room, reaching for the
blasters in their belts.
       In his fire-ruined office, Kellman took his ear from his
listening device and hurriedly started to leave. He took the small
metal box from his drawer, and opened it. Inside was a compact,
complicated piece of electronic equipment—the missing pentalion
drive. Kellman tucked it into a concealed pocket inside his tunic,
took a mini-blaster from the drawer and put it in another pocket, then
quickly left the room.
       The Doctor made no attempt to join Stevenson and Lester in
their hunt for Kellman. He was still peering into the recesses of the
transmat controls, talking almost to himself, as he carefully detached
a small wire-trailing cylinder from one of the subsidiary circuits.
'This might work at a pinch,' he muttered. 'If I can adapt the
monophode to a three-phase output...'
       From the transmat booth Harry Sullivan called, 'Hurry, Doctor,
she's dying, just like Warner. It's happening all over again.' The
Doctor looked up. Sarah had stopped struggling now, and lay limply
against Harry. The spider web network of black lines covered nearly
all her face, and her body felt hot to the touch.
       'Just hold on, old chap,' said the Doctor gently. 'I'll be as quick
as I can.' He fished a watchmaker's eyeglass from his pocket, and
screwed it in his eye. Then he took a jeweler's screwdriver from
another pocket. Slowly, and with infinite patience, he began undoing
the tiny screws that held the cylinder together.
       By the time the Commander and Lester had blasted the lock
from Kellman's door and rushed inside, there was no sign of the
missing exographer. 'Skipped,' said Lester angrily.
        The Commander glanced around the still smoke-filled room.
'And in a hurry, by the look of things. All right, let's get after him.' In
the corridor outside, Stevenson paused. 'You take that section down
there, Lester. I'll check the perimeter corridor.' The two men split up.
Blasters at the ready, they moved cautiously on their way.
        The Doctor meanwhile had finished his improvised drive
mechanism, and was hoping desperately that it would be strong
enough to provide the power surge. He called across to Harry. 'There
isn't time to wire this in properly, I'll have to hold it in. Stand by.'
One hand holding the cylinder in place, the Doctor used the other to
manipulate the controls. There was a hum of power, the transmat
booth lit up, and Harry and Sarah dematerialized. The Doctor
grinned triumphantly. Almost immediately there was a bang and a
flash from the transmat control console, and the Doctor snatched out
his hand. He jumped up and down sucking his fingers. His
improvised circuit had got Sarah and Harry to the meteorite Voga.
But how was he going to get them back again?
        As Commander Stevenson crept carefully along the perimeter
corridor, he heard stealthy movement ahead. The sound seemed to be
coming toward him. Stevenson flattened himself against the corridor
wall and waited. When the footsteps had almost reached him, he
stepped out into the corridor, blaster raised. He found himself facing
Kellman. But Kellman was holding a blaster too, and it was aimed
straight at him.
        Kellman gave his familiar sneer. 'Go ahead and fire,
Commander. At this range, neither of us will miss.'
        Feeling rather foolish, Stevenson snapped, 'Drop that blaster,
Kellman, you won't get away.'
        Blaster aimed steadily at Stevenson's midriff, Kellman groped
along the corridor wall behind him with his other hand, until he
found the handle of a door. 'I'm going into this cabin, Commander.
Lock me in if you like, or put a guard on the door. Just don't try to
come in. You'll soon have a lot more than me to worry about.'
        Kellman opened the door, and was about to slip inside when
Lester came running down the corridor. The momentary distraction
was enough. Instinctively Kellman swung his blaster toward the new
arrival, and Stevenson promptly jumped him, grabbing his wrist and
wrenching the blaster downward. Lester joined in the struggle, and
within minutes Kellman was disarmed and overpowered. None too
gently, Stevenson and Lester dragged him off down the corridor.

       In the transmat cubicle in a tunnel deep inside Voga, Harry
flicked frantically at the reciprocator switch that was supposed to
return them to Nerva Beacon. Sarah, cured but confused, stood
beside him watching his efforts. Since she had no memory of what
had happened between her being 'bitten' by the Cybermat and
recovering consciousness on Voga, she had been understandably
taken aback to find herself in a transmat cubicle in a dimly lit mining
gallery. The Doctor's unorthodox cure had certainly worked. The
spider web lines had disappeared from her face, her temperature was
back to normal and she was completely her old self again. She was
well enough to get very impatient with standing in a cubicle
watching Harry Sullivan struggle with a useless switch.
       'For goodness' sake, Harry, how long are we going to stand
here?'
       'Until this thing starts working again. Strict instructions from
the Doctor. We're staying here.'
       'I wouldn't be too sure of that, Harry' There was something
different in the tone of Sarah's voice, and Harry looked up. Two
bulging-eyed, dome-headed humanoid creatures in military uniforms
were standing over them, blasters aimed. Harry sighed, and slowly
raised his hands.

       Meanwhile, in the control room back on Nerva, Beacon,
Kellman, battered but still defiant, was glaring at his three captors in
obstinate silence. The Doctor waved toward the picture of Voga, still
punched up on the vision screen. 'There's Voga, you see,
Commander, what remains of it, and not far away, I fancy, are what
remain of the Cybermen.'
       Lester scratched his head. 'You mean the Cybermen followed
that rock into our star system—why?'
       'To destroy it. That meteorite is all that's left of Voga, once
known as the Planet of Gold. The planet was broken up by the
Cybermen, just before their defeat in the Cyberwar. They can't rest
till this last fragment is shattered too.'
        'Why is it so important to them?' asked Stevenson.
        The Doctor's voice was solemn. 'Because the Cybermen hate
gold. It's lethal to them. It's the perfect noncorrodable metal. It plates
their breathing apparatus, and, in effect, suffocates them. Doesn't it,
Professor?'
        Kellman made no reply. He gazed straight ahead, a faint sneer
on his face. The Doctor's tall figure loomed over him menacingly.
'My two friends, Harry and Sarah, are stranded on Voga, thanks to
you. I can't bring them back without the pentalion drive. Where is it?'
        Kellman still didn't speak. The Doctor turned to Lester. 'You
said you searched his cabin after you caught him?'
        Lester nodded. He pointed to a jumble of equipment on top of
one of the control panels. 'That's all we found.'
        The Doctor looked at the pile. 'Yes, I saw that earlier.
Equipment to contact his masters, more equipment to spy on his
colleagues. But what have you done with the pentalion drive,
Kellman?'
        For the first time, Kellman deigned to reply. 'I'm sorry, I've no
idea what you're talking about.'
        The Doctor looked at him thoughtfully. 'You're lying,
Professor, I'm sure of that. But why?' He wandered to the pile of
Kellman's equipment, and began idly sorting through it. He fished a
little box from beneath the pile and turned it over in his hands.
Complex controls were set into one side.
        Irritably Kellman snapped, 'What are you doing? That's part of
my surveying equipment. Leave it alone.'
        The Doctor ignored him, and went on idly fiddling with the
little box. He glanced at Lester and Stevenson. 'I think our mercenary
friend here is lying to gain time. But time for what, I wonder?'
        Kellman shot him a look of pure hatred, but made no reply. He
seemed unable to take his eyes from the box in the Doctor's hands.

      On the control deck of the Cybermen's space-ship, the leader
was listening to a report from his engineer. In his sibilant, whispering
voice the engineer said, 'Computer reports energy-discharge between
Nerva Beacon and Voga.' There was no emotion in the mechanical
voice. Cybermen do not have feelings.
      The Cyberleader's reply was equally toneless. 'Then the
humans have used their transmat beam?'
      'The inference is logical, leader.'
      'That was not in the plan. Time to docking?'
      'Sixteen minutes, leader.'
      The silver giant rose to his feet, towering in the spaceship
cabin. 'Order the boarding party to the forward hatch. I shall lead the
attack myself.'

       In the ornately decorated Guild Room on Voga, Vorus sat
brooding behind his massive desk. After a moment, the big golden
doors swung open and Magrik scurried in. He stood nervously before
the desk, and bowed his head. 'You sent for me?'
       Vorus said flatly, 'The Cybermen are on the move.'
       Immediately Magrik panicked. 'But it is too soon. We are not
ready...'
       'Our agent reported some time ago. Since then, he has been
silent. We can wait for news no longer. You have, perhaps, four
hours to complete the Skystriker.'
       'That is impossible, Vorus!'
       'Four hours, no more, Magrik, or else all our dreams are
ended.'
       Desperately Magrik tried to explain. 'The Skystriker is almost
ready, but the bomb has yet to be tested. It will take four hours or
more to fit, and with the time for the tests as well....'
       Vorus rose behind his desk, towering over the little engineer.
'Fit the bomb immediately. It will be tested when it strikes the
Beacon. Do you understand?'
       Magrik gave a sigh of assent. 'It shall be as you say, Vorus. I
will call every available engineer to the bunkers. We shall begin at
once.'
       As Magrik left, Vorus called after him, 'Tell the guards to
bring in the humans who were captured in the tunnels.'
       When Harry and Sarah were brought in through the golden
doors, Vorus ignored them for a moment or two, carrying on with his
work. Flanked by two huge armed security guards, the human
captives looked curiously around the richly decorated Guild Room.
There were hangings, drapes, shields and ornaments everywhere.
Most of them, like the big doors they had just come through,
appeared to be made from solid gold. They looked at the humanoid
creature behind the desk. It had the same high, dome-shaped
forehead and bulging luminous eyes as the guards who had captured
them. But the rich robes and the multiplicity of gold ornaments
indicated that he was a high-ranking member of this strange
underground race.
        The waiting began to get on Sarah's nerves. She leaned closer
to Harry and whispered, 'Wish he'd get on with it. The Doctor will be
worried about us.'
        'I'm worried about us,' whispered Harry. 'What is this place
anyway?'
        Sarah looked over her shoulder, and then glanced again at the
alien behind the desk. 'I can tell you what it isn't—it isn't
uninhabited.'
        Their whispering irritated Vorus, and he looked up angrily.
'Bring the prisoners to me.' The guards shoved Harry and Sarah
forward until they were standing just in front of him. Vorus looked at
them coldly. 'So—you are from the Beacon.' It was a statement, not a
question. 'Why have you come to Voga? Was it to escape the
plague?'
        Hesitantly Sarah said, 'Well, yes, it was because of the
plague...'
        Vorus leaped to his feet. 'You lie. The truth is that you came to
steal our gold.'
        'I'm not lying,' said Sarah spiritedly. 'You see I got the plague
and...'
        'You lie!' shouted Vorus again. 'If you had caught the plague
you would be dead by now. That was the plan.'
        Vorus was almost incoherent with rage, and they could make
little sense of his outburst. Harry seized on the last word of Vorus's
speech. 'Plan? You planned these deaths?' He sounded almost as
angry as the alien.
       Sarah tried to calm things down. 'We arrived on the Beacon
after the plague had started. Then I was bitten, and the Doctor put me
in the transmat beam to cure me, didn't he, Harry?'
       'That's right. I only came along to help. If the transmat had
worked we'd have gone straight back. We've no intention of stealing
your ruddy gold.'
       Vorus came round his desk and stalked menacingly up to
them—like some great cat bearing down on two mice, thought Sarah.
His voice was harsh and threatening. 'Why did you come here? How
many humans are on the Beacon now? What is their plan? What do
the know of us here on Voga?'
       Harry and Sarah exchanged glances. Neither of them spoke.
Neither had any intention of giving information about Nerva Beacon
to these alien creatures, particularly as they seemed to be somehow
implicated in the spreading of the faked plague.
       Their silence drove Vorus into a frenzy. His eyes seemed to
blaze with rage. 'When Vorus, Leader of the Guardians, asks
questions, it is not wise to refuse to answer.' Still Harry and
       Sarah said nothing. Vorus made a sign to the guards who
grabbed their arms and twisted them cruelly. 'If you do not answer
my questions you will suffer,' he hissed. 'When the guards have done
with you I shall ask again, and you will be eager to answer me.' At a
nod from Vorus the guards twisted harder, and Sarah and Harry both
gasped in pain. Vorus smiled cruelly. 'Well, humans—are you ready
to speak?'
                             5
                          Rebellion!
       Sarah felt as if her arm were being torn from its socket. She
clenched her teeth in an effort not to scream. Dimly, she was aware
of Harry, struggling to break free from his guard. Suddenly a
melodious chime rang through the council chamber. Immediately the
scene froze. Everyone stopped moving. It was obvious that the chime
had great importance for the Vogans. It rang out again, louder and
more imperious. Vorus waved angrily at the guards. 'Remove them.
Take them to the place of confinement. I will question them later.'
Sarah and Harry were dragged out.
       Vorus waited until the golden doors had closed behind them,
then touched a control button on his desk. One wall slid completely
away to reveal a giant screen. The picture on the wall showed a
room, smaller and far simpler than the one in which Vorus stood. It
was bare and functional, completely without ostentation. In it another
Vogan sat working at a simple table. He was small and slender,
dressed in plain dark robes. He looked out of the screen at Vorus and
said mildly, 'Ah, there you are, Vorus. There are matters of
importance I must discuss with you.'
       Vorus frowned. 'Indeed, Councillor Tyrum?' He waited
expectantly.
       'Not over the vision projector,' said Tyrum. 'You must come to
me here, in the city.'
       'I am not aware of any matters of such urgency...'
       'But I am,' interrupted Tyrum calmly. 'As always, Vorus, I look
forward to our meeting with the keenest pleasure. I am sending our
fastest skimmer to collect you.' He touched a control and the screen
went dark, leaving Vorus glaring angrily at its blankness. For the
hundredth time, Vorus wondered how Tyrum always made him feel
so ineffectual. The summons was worrying, coming at such a crucial
time. Nevertheless, Vorus dared not disobey. One of Tyrum's gentle
requests had the force of a royal command. For all his mildness,
Tyrum was someone to be reckoned with. As President of the High
Council, he was the most powerful being on all Voga. Resentfully,
Vorus began making preparations for his journey. The interrogation
of the two captive humans would have to wait.
       Harry and Sarah were taken to a cave just off one of the main
tunnels. It was damp and dark, the walls and roof festooned with
long, spear-like stalactites. Roughly the guards fastened them to
chains set into the rock walls, then left without a word. Sarah
slumped despondently against the wall, struggling in vain to find a
comfortable position. Harry looked around him with keen interest. 'I
say, old girl, look at those glittering bits in these rocks. All top-grade
ore, that. We're prisoners in a gold mine.'
       Sarah wriggled into a new position, and found it even less
comfortable. 'That's great. If they leave us here, we'll die rich.'
       Harry clanked his chains experimentally. 'These chains are
gold too—seems to be the only metal they use.'
       'Harry, will you shut up about the rotten gold?' muttered Sarah
crossly.
       'Twenty-four carat, I should think,' Harry added.
       'Harry, please. It's because of the gold that we're in this mess.
The stuff's no use to us, is it?'
       'It might be,' said Harry mysteriously. 'How?'
       'What I mean is, gold's a pretty soft metal, you see. If we can
find a decent bit of rock we might be able to break these chains.'
       Sarah cheered up at the prospect of action. 'Well, I suppose it's
worth a try. Can't just sit here counting our money, can we?'
       By slumping into a painful half-sitting position, they found
they could just about reach the rock floor beneath them. After some
painful contortions, Harry managed to get his hands on a piece of
rock about the size of a grapefruit. Using it as a crude hammer, he
started bashing away at Sarah's leg chains with rather more
enthusiasm than care.
       'Hey, watch it,' yelled Sarah, as a particularly vigorous thump
caught her a painful crack on the shin.
       'Sorry, old girl,' panted Harry. 'Difficult to get a good aim all
twisted around like this.' He peered at the gold loop round Sarah's
ankle. 'I think I'm flattening it though.'
       'You're flattening me, more like it. Be a bit more careful.'
       'All in a good cause,' said Harry cheerfully. He hammered
away determinedly, ignoring Sarah's occasional yells of protest. At
last he stopped and took another look. 'You know, I think you could
almost get your foot free now. Give it a try.'
       He pulled off Sarah's shoe and took a grip on her leg chain.
Sarah tugged her leg back with all the force she could manage. The
ankle loop still felt agonizingly tight.
       'Go on, heave,' said Harry encouragingly.
       'It hurts!'
       'Don't worry about that, just keep on pulling. If you didn't have
ankles like a horse...'
       'My ankles are not thick,' gasped Sarah indignantly. She gave a
final angry heave, and her foot came free.
       'Well done,' said Harry. 'Now let's have a go at the other one.'
       The second loop came free far more easily, the wristloops
followed. and soon Sarah was out of her chains altogether. She stood
and stretched luxuriously, rubbing her wrists and ankles in turn.
       'Don't just stand there,' reminded Harry. 'Have a go at getting
mine off.'
       Sarah looked around. 'Hang on, I've a better idea.' She crossed
to a jutting spear of rock, and after a struggle managed to snap it free
from its base. 'Now if we use this as a chisel and the rock as a
hammer...'
       With the improved tools the work went much more quickly,
and soon Harry was standing free beside Sarah, though not without
sustaining a few bruises in the process. He hopped about
protestingly. 'Oh my goodness. I think I'm maimed for life.'
       'I don't know what you're complaining about, the way you
whacked at me... sshh!'
       They both heard a low humming noise, coming nearer. Harry
grabbed Sarah's hand. 'Come on—we'd better run for it!'
       They dashed out of the cave and ran full speed down the mine
galleries.
       A few minutes later, a hover car full of security guards pulled
up outside the caves, and an armed guard came in to check on the
prisoners. He saw the broken chains and called his squad. They
jumped out of the car and began a methodical search for the missing
captives.

       Commander Stevenson had been hammering away at Kellman
for what seemed ages now, but the prisoner showed no signs of
breaking down. He sat slumped on a stool, gazing straight ahead,
either ignoring the Commander's questions, or at best making some
brief, sneering reply. The Doctor was lounging in a corner of the
control room, following the interrogation keenly, but taking no part
in it. Lester looked on impatiently. The brawny crewman was
wishing that the Commander would turn Kellman over to him for a
few minutes, let him thump some answers out of the man.
       Commander Stevenson, at the end of his patience, decided on
tougher measures. He drew his blaster and cocked it, leveling it at
Kellman's head. 'Nerva Beacon is on full Red One alert—the
equivalent to a time of war. As Station Commander under these
conditions, there are certain crimes where I can order immediate
execution.'
       Kellman gazed ahead, saying nothing.
       In a voice shaking with anger Stevenson said, 'You have
murdered forty-seven of my men. You have jeopardised the success
of this Beacon's mission.'
       Kellman glanced up at him. 'You're talking absolute rubbish.'
       Stevenson jammed the blaster to Kellman's head. 'What's it
going to be, Kelknan? Will you tell us where you've hidden the
pentalion drive, or do you prefer to die here and now?'
       Kellman yawned. 'You're not frightening me, Commander.
You won't shoot.'
       'I have every right to shoot you here and now—'
       'Maybe you have. But you won't do it.' Kellman's voice was
quietly complacent. He'd come to know the Commander well during
his tour of duty on Nerva Beacon. He knew that Stevenson was
simply incapable of shooting him down in cold blood, however great
the provocation.
       Stevenson knew it too. He sighed and lowered the blaster.
With a weary persistence he returned to the attack. He nodded to the
little box, still in the Doctor's hands. 'The Doctor says that thing
controls the Cybermats.'
       For the first time Kellman showed signs of tension. He
snapped, 'Well, I say it's an instrument for analysing mineral
elements. Every exographer carries one.'
       The Doctor spoke for the first time. 'You're still lying,
Professor Kellman,' he said mildly.
       'Can you prove it?' sneered Kellman.
       'Why, yes, I believe I can. I think I've finally got the hang of
your little toy.' The Doctor made a few adjustments to the box's
controls, and it hummed faintly. Kellman's eyes widened, but he still
didn't speak. For a moment nothing happened. Then Lester gave a
yell and leaped back as a Cybermat appeared at a duct near his feet,
and slid silently into the room. Lester grabbed for the blaster in his
belt. But the Cybermat ignored him. It swiveled round on its own
axis as if scanning the room, its eyes glowing red. Stevenson aimed
his blaster at it, but the Doctor, the box still in his hands, caught his
eye and gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head. Stevenson
stood quite still. The Cybermat ignored him. It ignored the Doctor
too, halting only when it turned to face Kellman, who crouched
terrified on his stool in the corner. Remorselessly the Cybermat
glided toward him.
       Kellman croaked, 'Do something... for Heaven's sake, one of
you stop it!'
       Nobody moved. The Doctor, Lester and Stevenson stood
silently watching as the Cybermat glided closer and closer to the
terrified Kellman. It stopped, just a few inches away from his stool.
The Doctor spoke, 'Of course you could still tell me where the
pentalion drive is hidden after you've been bitten, but you'll be
cutting it rather fine. You'll only have a few seconds of
consciousness left then, you see, and unless you do manage to tell
me, you'll die in agony as the others died.' The Doctor's voice was
calm and reasonable, as if explaining an interesting experiment to a
class of students.
       As the Cybermat reared up for its spring, Kellman's nerve
broke. 'All right, all right, I'll tell you,' he screamed. 'It's here round
my neck, it was here all the time.' Frantically Kellman's fingers
scrabbled at the thin silver chain round his neck, and he tugged a
heavy metal locket from inside his shirt. He fumbled with the hidden
catch and the locket sprang open to reveal the missing pentalion
drive, which he'd hidden in the secret compartment inside.
        The Doctor adjusted controls on the little box, and the
Cybermat lowered itself to the ground, spun around, whirred and
became dormant, the red glow fading slowly from its eyes. Kicking it
casually into a corner, the Doctor walked across to Kellman and took
the pentalion drive from him. 'Full of little tricks, aren't we?' He
looked at the tiny but vital piece of electronic equipment in his palm.
'Still, all's well that ends well. Now we can get Harry and Sarah
back!'
        The Doctor strode rapidly across to the transmat cubicle, with
Lester behind. 'You whistled that thing in, didn't you?' asked Lester
admiringly. 'How did you know it would only attack Kellman?'
        'Ah, that was the tricky bit. I had to set the controls to home in
on his brainwaves.' The Doctor stopped by the transmat control
console and peered into its innards thoughtfully. 'Now this is a much
more difficult job.' He looked up at Lester solemnly. 'Do you realize,
if I put this thing back the wrong way around, the entire Beacon
would probably disintegrate?'
        Lester gulped and stepped back. 'Ah... yes. Right then, Doctor,
I'll leave you to it.' Lester hurried away. The Doctor grinned and
went on with his task.

       In the office of Councillor Tyrum, Vorus stood arrogantly
before his smaller colleague. He had been kept waiting for some
time, and he was in a mood of savage impatience. He spoke with
elaborately sarcastic politeness. 'You said a matter of importance.
Chief Councillor?'
       Tyrum looked infuriatingly blank for a moment, almost as if
he'd forgotten why he'd summoned Vorus. 'Ah, yes. I have had a
report that two aliens—two humans—have been seen on Voga.'
       Vorus thought quickly. Should he confess that the aliens were
his prisoners? No, that was too dangerous. If Tyrum insisted on
interrogating the humans, they might tell him of events on the
Beacon—and that would mean the end of his great plan. Vorus said
nothing.
       'By ancient tradition,' continued Tyrum coldly, 'your guards
control the upper galleries and the routes to the surface. If humans
have set foot on Voga, it must be with your knowledge, even,
perhaps, with your connivance.'
       Vorus took refuge in bluster. 'You have no proof of these
allegations,' he growled.
       Placidly Tyrum said, 'Nevertheless, I believe them to be true.'
The Councillor moved to a curtained alcove. 'Whatever is happening
in the upper galleries, it has not passed unnoticed. Strange stories
have reached my ears. Now your guards have resorted to murder—
and that I can prove!' Tyrum ripped aside the curtain. Behind it, in
the alcove, lay the body of the dead radio operator, killed by Vorus's
guard for attempting to send a warning message to Nerva Beacon. 'A
squad of your guards was detected attempting to conceal the corpse
in the lower galleries.'
       Vorus looked at the body, unmoved. 'This does not concern
you, Councillor Tyrum. It was a matter of internal discipline.'
       For the first time, Tyrum showed signs of anger. 'Does it not? I
know your ambitions, Vorus. I know you would have Voga a great
power again, trading our gold with the other planets of the galaxy.'
       'And why not? Why must we live forever underground,
cowering from the memory of things that happened centuries ago?'
       'Because this way we survive!' Tyrum hammered his fist on the
desk. 'In the past our gold brought us greatness, and the greatness in
turn brought only sorrow and destruction. We became involved in the
Cyberwar; we earned the undying hatred of the Cybermen. Now,
while no one suspects that Voga is inhabited, that this is the famous
planet of gold—we remain safe.'
       Sheer rage overcame Vorus's habitual awe of Tyrum. 'Safe!' he
shouted. 'Must we think only of safety? You have the philosophy of a
cringing cave mouse, Tyrum.'
       'And you are a gambler with a mad thirst for power. That is
why I can no longer trust you and your Guardians. The Council
Militia are taking control of the galleries.'
       Vorus was outraged. For generations the Guardians, armed
troops of the Vogan Guild, had been responsible for the security of
the mine galleries that riddled the planet. 'You cannot do this!' he
choked.
       'It is the lawful decision of the Council. The Militia are moving
into the galleries at this very moment. Your men are outnumbered,
and the troops will crush any resistance.'
       Vorus drew his blaster and strode to the door. 'We shall see,' he
growled.
       Tyrum leaped to his feet. 'If you resist the lawful decision of
the Council, it will be an act of rebellion!'
       'Then I rebel!' shouted Vorus. 'And when my rebellion is over,
you and your Council will rule Voga no more!'
       Angrily he turned and strode from the room.
                           6
               Attack of the Cybermen
       The Doctor made a last micro-adjustment to the reinstalled
pentalion drive, and straightened up, taking the jeweler's eyeglass
from his eye and wiping his brow. He replaced the access panel on
the console and then operated the controls. There was a satisfactory
hum of power, the transmat booth lit up—and nothing happened. The
Doctor carried out the transportation procedure again, and yet again.
Still no result.
       Commander Stevenson came over to him and glanced at the
empty cubicle. 'What's the matter, isn't it working?'
       'It's working all right. Ticking over on full power. Harry and
Sarah must have left the receptor area.' The Doctor noticed
Stevenson's worried expression. 'Has something happened?'
       'We've picked up a spaceship on our radar scanners.'
       'That's normal enough, surely?' The Doctor went on fiddling
with the transmat controls.
       'Not this one. There are no more ships due in this section for
twelve days. And this particular spaceship seems to be heading
straight for us.'
       'I'll come and take a look.' As the Doctor followed Stevenson
he thought to himself that he had a pretty good idea, who that
spaceship belonged to. Maybe Harry and Sarah were safer where
they were.

      At that particular moment, Harry and Sarah were running
along an endless succession of seemingly identical mine galleries,
trying to find their way back to the transmat terminal. Suddenly
Harry stopped. 'Listen!'
      Sarah listened. A distant rumbling and crackling came from
somewhere not far away. 'What is it?'
      'Shooting,' said Harry grimly. 'They must be fighting among
themselves.'
       'That's marvelous. As if we hadn't enough troubles, we have to
land up in the middle of a war.'
       'Oh no, we don't,' said Harry determinedly. 'We'll stay out of
their way and let 'em get on with it.'
       They started running away from the direction of the shooting.
Unfortunately their chosen route led them straight into a squad of
Council Militia, coming up as reinforcements. The Militia instantly
covered them with their blasters. Harry sighed and raised his hands.
'Sorry, old girl—but here we go again!'
       Outside the Guild Hall, Vorus's Guardians were fighting
valiantly, although they were both outnumbered and outweaponed by
Tyrum's Militia. The Guardians were driven back and back until they
had to make their final stand directly outside the great golden doors.
       Sheprah, Captain of the Militia, called, 'Surrender! Further
bloodshed is useless.' His only answer was a crackle of blaster fire.
       Vorus came out of the Guild Hall and shouted defiantly. 'We
shall fight to the last man. No one enters the Guild Hall of the
Guardians.'
       Sheprah considered. He knew Vorus's Guardians to be
fanatically loyal to their chief. Moreover they were well dug in, and
he might lose most of his men before he could capture the Guild
Hall. He turned to his number two. 'Hold your positions. I shall go
and seek orders from Tyrum.'
       The Militia settled themselves in for a siege. One or two shots
were exchanged, but it was obvious they were making no real
attempt to advance further. Vorus went back to the Guild Hall, where
he found Magrik waiting in a state of utter panic. Ignoring him, he
turned to his military aide. 'We must hold this position at all costs. If
Tyrum finds the Skystriker, all our work will have been for nothing.'
The Guardsian saluted and returned to organize the defense. Vorus
turned to Magrik. 'I shall have the two human captives killed at once.
If they fall into Tyrum's hands, they might arouse his suspicions of us
even further.'
       Nervously Magrik stammered, 'That is what I came to tell you.
Just before the Militia attacked us, the two humans escaped. By now
they may already be in Tyrum's hands.'
         Commander Stevenson stood behind Lester as he sat at the
control console. On the space radar screen, a blip of light was
moving steadily forward. Stevenson said, 'Have another go at making
contact.'
         Obediently, Lester flicked his speaker switch. 'This is Nerva
Beacon. Nerva Beacon to approaching spacecraft. Do you read me?'
There was no reply. The blip of light continued its remorseless
progression.
         'Try again,' snapped the Commander. 'They're heading straight
for us.'
         Lester tried again. 'This is Nerva Beacon. You are approaching
Nerva Beacon. We are quarantined with space-plague. I repeat. We
have plague aboard the Beacon. For your own safety, stand away.'
         There was nothing but the crackle of space-static in reply.
         'I don't think they'll answer you,' said the Doctor gently. 'Not if
they're who I think they are.'
         Lester said, 'Look, Commander, they're moving into a docking
orbit. I'll see if I can get a visual scanner contact.' Lester manipulated
controls, and on a second screen the shape of the spaceship slowly
appeared. They all studied it for a moment. It was old and scarred,
yet still somehow terrifyingly alien.
         Stevenson shook his head. 'Never seen that type before. Have
you, Doctor?'
         The Doctor nodded. 'I'm afraid I have, a long, long time ago. I
hoped never to see one again. Those are Cybermen.'
         There was a distant clang, and the Beacon seemed to shudder a
little. 'They're docking,' said Lester.
         The Doctor was already on his way out of the room. 'Come on,
both of you. We've got to stop them getting on board. Where's the
airlock?'
         The three men ran down the perimeter corridor and into the
docking section at the far end. The Doctor opened the massive door
to the airlock chamber and looked inside. With a surge of relief he
saw that the far door, the one that led to the connection tunnel onto
which approaching spaceships must lock, was still closed. The
Doctor grabbed Lester by the arm. 'Tools, man. If we can jam the
hydraulic control we can still keep them out, at least for a time.'
       Lester hauled open a tool locker, while the Doctor started
unclipping an inspection hatch. He lifted it off to reveal a maze of
heavy hydraulic piping. Taking a heavy monkey wrench from Lester,
the Doctor started to unscrew the main power feed. Or rather he tried
to unscrew it. But with the long quarantine period on the Beacon, the
docking bay hadn't been used for some time. There had been no
proper maintenance since all the engineers were dead. The big
locking nut was jammed tight, and nothing the Doctor could do
would shift it.
       He heaved away desperately, unable to get proper leverage in
the confined space. Suddenly Lester tapped his shoulder. 'Doctor,
look!'
       There was a hiss of pressure and the door of the airlock began
to sigh open. 'We're too late,' the Doctor yelled. 'They're coming
through!'
       He bustled Lester out of the airlock chamber and followed him
through the door that led to the corridor, where Commander
Stevenson was waiting. Stevenson said urgently, 'What's happening?'
       'Cybermen,' said the Doctor briefly. 'Come on, we'd better run
for it. If we hide out in the maintenance section...' The Doctor
stopped talking, realizing that Stevenson was making no attempt to
move. He had drawn his blaster and was covering the door to the
airlock chamber. 'Commander, come on,' repeated the Doctor.
       Stevenson shook his head. 'Sorry, Doctor. You do what you
like, but it's my job to stay here.' He turned to Lester. 'That's a fairly
narrow door space, and we can bracket them with a crossfire from
our blasters.' Lester nodded, drawing his own weapon.
       The Doctor was almost tearing his hair in impatience. 'I admire
your courage, Commander, but not your good sense. We're dealing
with Cybermen. Attacking them with those hand-blasters is like
hunting elephants with a peashooter. Come away while there's still
time.'
       But there was no more time. The Doctor, who had his back to
the airlock door, saw Stevenson gazing over his shoulder, his eyes
widening in horror. The Doctor whirled around. Towering in the
doorway stood the giant silver figure of a Cyberman. Others could be
seen coming through into the airlock behind it.
       Stevenson could scarcely believe his eyes. He'd heard of
Cybermen, even seen old pictures of them, but meeting one at close
quarters like this was very different. The creature was at least seven
feet tall, maybe more. It was made entirely of some kind of silvery
material, that might have been either metal or plastic. There was no
real difference between the Cyberman's face and body, its clothes
and the many strange-shaped accessories attached to its chest.
       The face was a terrifyingly blank parody of humanity, round
circles for eyes, a thin slit for a mouth. Above the forehead was what
looked like some kind of lamp, and two strange handle-like
projections took the place of ears. There were weapons in the
Cyberman's hands, plain foot-long metal rods with white cylinders
on the end.
       It took only a few seconds for Lester and Stevenson to get over
their astonishment. 'Right, let 'em have it!' yelled the Commander.
       The Doctor's cry of 'No—don't try it!' was drowned in the
crackle of blasters, as both men opened fire at the Cyberleader. The
silver giant reeled back a little at the double-blaster impact, but
showed no sign of being really harmed. It raised its Cyberweapon
and the cylinder at the end glowed brightly. The Cyberleader fired,
and the first shot dropped Stevenson where he stood. A second sent
Lester crashing against the corridor wall and he slid slowly to the
ground.
       By now the Doctor was already haring along the perimeter
corridor. 'Stop,' shouted the Cyberleader in its toneless inhuman
voice. The Doctor ran even faster. The Cyberleader raised its weapon
and fired for the third time. The Doctor spun around, crashed against
a wall and dropped to the floor.
       Tonelessly the Cyberleader spoke to the other Cybermen now
crowding into the corridor. 'All resistance has been overcome. The
Beacon is ours.' There was no triumph in its voice; Cybermen have
no feelings. It was merely recording the facts.
       The Cybermen spread out and began to search the Beacon,
making sure there were no more pockets of resistance. One of them
came to a doorway in the corridor and paused, listening. The sound
of muffled banging and yelling came from the other side of the door.
The Cyberman reached out a giant silver hand and tried to open the
door. It was locked, so the Cyberman simply ripped it off its hinges,
tearing the steel sheeting like paper. Cowering in a corner of the
room was a human, and the Cyberman raised its weapon.
       Terrified, Kellman yelled, 'Don't shoot, I'm your friend. I'm the
one who's helping you.' The Cyberman paused. Unaware that he was
using one of science-fiction's immortal cliches, Kellman said, 'Take
me to your leader.'
       The Cyberman said, 'Come,' and herded Kellman along the
corridor. It took him to the crewroom, where the bodies of the
Doctor, Lester and the Commander were piled in a heap on the floor,
the Cyberleader standing over them.
       It turned and said, 'You are Kellman?'
       Kellman nodded, looking down at the bodies. 'You haven't
killed them all?'
       'Of course not. They are necessary to our plan.'
       Kellman knelt by the Doctor's body and started to go through
his pockets. The Cyberleader said, 'What are you doing, Kellman?'
       'This is the stranger I reported, the one who calls himself the
Doctor.'
       The Cyberleader reacted. 'There is a traditional enemy of our
people known as the Doctor.'
       'You think it's the same man?'
       'That is not possible. The Doctor defeated us hundreds of Earth
years ago. Humans do not live so long. In addition, his appearance
does not match our records. Why do you search him?'
       'He was the reason I had to advance your plan. He's more
intelligent than the others, more dangerous. I'd just like to know who
and what he is.'
       'What have you discovered?'
       Kellman looked at his haul. 'So far, a bag of jelly beans, a half-
eaten apple and a yo-yo. I think I'll give up.'
       He got to his feet and joined the Cyberleader, who was
spreading out a map on a nearby chart table. 'Is that the Vogan cave
system?'
       'That is correct. Once our landing is detected, the Vogans will
attack us in force.'
       'I shouldn't worry. They've only got light armaments, nothing
that will affect your Cybermen.'
       'Where is the main shaft?'
       Kellman jabbed a finger at the map. 'Here. I explored it for you
myself. It runs deep into the very core of Voga.'
       'How far is the shaft from the transmat receptor area?'
       'A matter of yards. I set up the receptor station as close as
possible.'
       The Cyberleader studied the map a moment longer. 'Excellent.
You have done well, Kellman.'
       The Doctor, whose system was far more resilient than that of
any human, had recovered full consciousness some time ago, and had
been listening to this conversation with keen interest. Bored with his
role of mere audience, he suddenly chimed in. 'One thing intrigues
me, Kellman, what do you get out of this—Voga's gold?'
       The Cyberleader swung around. 'There will be no gold, human.
Voga is to be totally destroyed.'
       'Didn't you try that once before?' the Doctor asked chattily.
       'This time we shall not fail. You three will help us. That is why
your lives have been spared.'
       'I was wondering why you hadn't killed us. But I'm curious to
know why you need our help.'
       The Cyberleader pointed to the center of the map. 'The heart of
Voga, is almost pure gold.'
       The Doctor stood up, and strolled casually over to the map.
The Cyberman on guard at the door raised its weapon threateningly,
but the Doctor ignored the gesture. 'Yes, I see. And gold is poison to
you, isn't it?'
       'Gold is inimical to our functioning,' confirmed the
Cyberleader. 'Therefore three human organisms have been
preserved.'
       'And what are we three organisms supposed to do for you?'
       'You will carry the bombs into the main shaft. Once they are
all in position, they will be detonated by remote control, destroying
Voga completely.'
       'Killing us too, of course?' said the Doctor calmly.
      'Of course. That is of no importance. You will have served
your purpose.'
      The Doctor looked at the grim face of Kellman, and at the
impassive features of the Cybermen. Then, incredibly, he grinned.
      'Well, well, well,' he said cheerily. 'Isn't it wonderful to feel
wanted!'
                            7
                    The Living Bombs
       Captain Sheprah, the commander of Tyrum's City Militia,
reported back to his chief. 'There is no further resistance in the mine
galleries. The Guardians are holding a defensive position outside the
Guild Chambers.'
       Tyrum nodded. 'That is as I expected. Let them hold their
precious Guild Hall—for the moment. Offer them a truce.'
       'We could take the Guild Chambers with one determined
assault.'
       'And lose the lives of many of our people? No—we shall wait.'
       Reluctantly Sheprah accepted the decision. 'There is one
further matter, Councillor. Two humans have been captured in the
galleries.'
       Tyrum listened keenly as Sheprah told of the discovery of
Harry and Sarah. 'It appears they were escaping from Vorus,'
concluded Sheprah. 'We also captured a squad of Vorus's men. They
were hunting the humans. Their instructions were to find and kill
them.'
       Tyrum brooded over the implications of Sheprah's story. 'Let
me see the humans,' he ordered. Sheprah beckoned to a guard and
dispatched him to fetch Harry and Sarah. Tyrum looked grimly at his
Captain. 'If Vorus has committed treason, he will be fortunate if he
dies in battle before I reach him.'
       'You think he is a traitor, Councillor?'
       'I think he has been holding secret negotiations with the
humans. Promising them gold in return for weapons.'
       Sheprah, who was no politician, was baffled. 'Why should he
do that? Ah, I see... ' He answered his own question. 'To seize power
here on Voga!'
       'Vorus has never concealed his ambition to replace me. But I
never thought that even he would be reckless enough to expose us to
our enemies.'
       Sheprah was out of his depth again. 'You think that the humans
are now our enemies? Surely they were our allies long ago?'
       'After the cataclysm of our ancient past, we have survived only
by regarding all outsiders as hostile. Now I must discover how far
Vorus has involved us with these aliens.' He turned as the guard
brought in the two prisoners. Sheprah left, to return to his troops.
       For the second time, Harry and Sarah were brought as captives
before a high-ranking Vogan. But the mild-mannered Tyrum made a
far more favorable impression on them than had the blustering
Vorus, though both sensed an edge of steel beneath the mildness.
       Tyrum rose as they entered, and made a formal bow.
'Greetings. I am Tyrum, Chief Councillor of Voga.'
       Harry was rather taken aback by the politeness of this
reception, but did his best to rise to the occasion. 'Er... how d'you
do?' he stammered. 'I'm Harry Sullivan. This is my friend, Sarah Jane
Smith.' Tyrum bowed again. Sarah wondered if she ought to curtsy,
but decided against it, contenting herself with a short bob.
       'Tell me,' said Tyrum, 'what is your mission here on Voga?'
For all Tyrum's gentle manner, it was clear that he was determined to
get a satisfactory answer from them.
       'Mission?' said Sarah hurriedly. 'We haven't got any mission.
Have we, Harry?'
       'That's true enough,' Harry confirmed. 'We just came here more
or less by accident. Nothing to do with us, really.'
       Tyrum looked from one to the other of them. 'Explain,' he
ordered.
       Harry Sullivan sighed and mopped his brow. 'All right, I'll
have a shot, if you insist. But I warn you, it's a very long story.'
       Helped and prompted by Sarah, Harry stumbled through an
edited account of their arrival on the Beacon and subsequent journey
to Voga. 'And here we are,' he ended, a little lamely.
       Tyrum thought over what he had heard. 'One thing confuses
me. At first you spoke of this scourge that attacked the humans as a
space-plague. Then, later, you said that it was poison.'
       Sarah shrugged. 'We're as puzzled as you are. At first everyone
was convinced that it was an illness.'
       Harry joined in. 'Then the Doctor discovered it was some kind
of poison.'
       Tyrum considered for a moment longer then said decisively, 'I
believe your story, humans.'
       Sarah sighed with relief. 'Well, it is the truth,' she said.
       'However, if you are simply innocent travelers, why did Vorus
send guards after you to kill you, before you fell into my hands?'
Tyrum persisted.
       'I say, did he do that?' asked Harry indignantly. Tyrum
explained about the captured guards and the story they had told.
       'Well I'm sure I don't know why,' said Sarah, 'unless it's just
pure nastiness. We haven't done him any harm.'
       Tyrum was thinking aloud. 'Clearly, he feels that you are
capable of harming him. He must think you know something that
would incriminate him.'
       'Incriminate him in what?' asked Sarah.
       'Some plot against the state—and against me!'
       'But we only met him for a few minutes—didn't we, Harry?'
Harry nodded. Tyrum began to pace about the room in his agitation.
       'It is something about the Beacon,' he muttered, almost to
himself. 'My suspicions about Vorus harden into certainty. He has
always had vast ambitions.' Tyrum turned to Harry and Sarah. 'This
city in which you stand was once the underground survival chamber
for our people. We have lived here ever since, those who remained of
us, hidden beneath the surface of our shattered planet, unseen and
safe from further attack by our enemies, the Cybermen.' There were
centuries of fear and hatred in the way that Tyrum hissed this last
word. He looked keenly at them. 'You have heard of the Cybermen?'
       Sarah frowned. 'I've heard the Doctor speak of them. Weren't
they supposed to be wiped out hundreds of years ago?'
       'That reminds me,' Harry interrupted. 'The metal thing that
attacked Sarah... well, earlier the Doctor said it was called a
Cybermat.' Harry could still hear the Doctor's unconscious rhyme,
'Not a rat—a Cybermat.'
       There was a look of horror on Tyrum's face. 'Can it be? Has
Vorus, in his madness, brought upon our heads the revenge of the
Cybermen?' Tyrum made for the door. 'You will both come with me,'
he ordered.
       Sarah and Harry followed. 'Where to?' asked Sarah.
       'To the gold mines. It is high time that Vorus explained
himself!'
       Vorus, at that moment, was confronting Sheprah in the area
just before the Guild Hall. The two leaders had met for an arranged
parley, at the heads of their respective troops.
       Arrogant as ever, Vorus said, 'Well, Sheprah, what have you to
say to me?'
       'I offer a truce. My soldiers will hold their present positions.
For the time being, we shall not attack your Guild Chambers.'
       'You show good sense. Your city scum would be badly beaten.'
       Sheprah controlled himself, remembering Tyrum's orders. 'We
shall not attack unless we are provoked, Vorus,' he snapped. 'If we do
attack, we shall sweep you aside and destroy you.' Pleased with his
parting shot, Sheprah went back to his men. Vorus glowered after
him, then returned to the Guild Chambers. Magrik was waiting for
him. Vorus glared furiously down at the little scientist.
       'Well, is the rocket prepared?'
       'Another hour,' said Magrik nervously.
       'We may not have an hour,' growled Vorus. 'By now the
Cybermen will be on the Beacon. And we don't know how much
longer Tyrum and his scum will hold off.'
       'But our human agent, Kellman. Surely he too is still on the
Beacon. Did we not promise to wait until he was safe on Voga?'
       It was clear that Vorus was in no mood to worry about
Kellman's safety. 'Circumstances have changed. It is simpler this
way. Even if the Cybermen suspect Kellman's story, he will die with
them before he can betray us.'
       Magrik nodded. No doubt Vorus knew best, as always. 'Very
well,' he said. 'I will notify you as soon as countdown is ready to
begin.'

     Unaware that he had just been callously abandoned by his
Vogan allies, Kellman stood looking on as the Cyberleader tested the
transmat beam. The blank silver mask swung round toward him. 'All
is in order here. There is no malfunction at this end.'
       Kellman fought to make his voice casual but convincing.
'There's a fault at the Vogan end, you see. The Doctor was unable to
get his two friends back. Must be a faulty reciprocator diode. Unless
you send me down to fix it, the Cybermen you send to Voga will be
unable to return.'
       The flat mechanical voice said, 'Your concern for humans has
been replaced by concern for Cybermen, Kellman? Explain.'
       Kellman felt a wave of panic. If he didn't get down to Voga in
time to warn them of the Cybermen's plan, the gold he hungered for
would be blown to smithereens. Worse still, he himself might be
trapped on the Beacon when the Vogan rocket struck. Unaware of
each other's plans, Cybermen and Vogans were about to attempt
mutual destruction—with Kellman caught in the middle. Forcing
himself to speak with calm indifference, Kellman said, 'Suit yourself,
but I'm only trying to help, just as I've always done. I set up the
transmat on Voga, didn't I? I controlled the Cybermats for you.'
       'That is true. You have been promised great rewards for your
assistance.'
       'And that's why I want to go down to Voga. To see that nothing
goes wrong with the transmat and spoils your plans. After all, if the
trouble spreads to this end, you may not even be able to get your
bombs down onto the planet.'
       Kellman held his breath, as the Cyberleader considered. Then
to his vast relief it said tonelessly. 'Very well. But you would be wise
to return as soon as possible. Once the detonation cycle commences
on the bombs, it will not be arrested.'
       Kellman stepped into the transmat booth, the Cyberleader
operated the controls and Kellman vanished.
       Marched along by his Cybermen guards, the Doctor arrived
just in time to hear the end of the conversation and see Kellman
dematerialize. Other guards brought Lester and the Commander
along with him. Still more Cybermen were carrying objects that
resembled metal rucksacks, very much like the backpacks worn by
the early astronauts. The little party assembled by the transmat booth,
and the Cybermen put their burdens down in.a corner, handling them,
the Doctor noticed, with enormous care.
       The Doctor nodded toward the backpacks. 'And what have we
got there then—are we going camping?'
       The Cyberleader showed no reaction to the Doctor's joke. Very
hard to get a laugh out of a Cyberman, thought the Doctor ruefully.
But at least it gave him the information he was after. 'These are
cobalt bombs. The most compact and powerful explosive devices
ever invented.'
       'Wasn't their use banned by the Armageddon Convention?' The
Doctor was referring to a famous interplanetary treaty, in which the
more intelligent races of the galaxy had attempted to outlaw some of
the more lethal weapons of destruction. The Cybermen, like the
Daleks, had refused to sign, or even to attend the convention.
Cybermen did not subscribe to any theory of morality when it came
to war. Total destruction of the enemy was their one aim.
       Taking careful note of the position of the bombs, the Doctor
asked casually, 'Tell me, what inducements did you offer Kellman?'
       'The matter is of no concern to you.'
       'Oh, everything interests me,' said the Doctor sincerely. 'But
what puzzles me is the fact that Cybermen have nothing any human
could possibly want.'
       'Your statement is incorrect.'
       The Doctor seemed determined to be as tactless as possible.
'Well, what have you got?' he asked scornfully. 'No home planet, no
position in the galaxy, no influence, nothing. You're just a pathetic
collection of tin soldiers, skulking about the galaxy in a worn-out
spaceship.'
       The Commander and Lester looked at each other in horror,
wondering why the Doctor seemed so set on provoking their captors.
       The Cyberleader took a pace closer to the Doctor, towering
over him menacingly. 'You speak unwisely. The Cybermen are
destined to become rulers of all the cosmos.'
       'I don't think so, somehow. You tried that once, and were very
nearly wiped out.'
       It seemed almost possible to detect the overtones of hate in the
Cyberman's voice. 'Because of Voga, and its gold. If the humans had
not been able to call upon the resources of Voga, the Cyberwar
would have ended in glorious triumph.'
       'But it did end in glorious triumph,' said the Doctor
infuriatingly. 'Triumph for the humans. Once they'd found your
weakness, that was the end of the Cybermen.'
       The silver giant took another step toward the Doctor. 'That is
why Voga must be destroyed, before we begin our second campaign.'
       The Doctor didn't seem impressed. 'Having another go, are
you?'
       The Cyberleader's voice rose in volume and intensity. 'We
have parts stored in secret hiding places to build a new Cyberarmy.
This time it will be invincible. Cybermen function more efficiently
than animal organisms. Therefore we must rule the galaxy.'
       The Doctor shook his head. 'Loose thinking, old chap,' he said,
almost sympathetically. 'The trouble with you Cybermen is you've
got hydraulic muscles and hydraulic brains to go with 'em.'
       For some reason this childish insult finally broke through the
Cyberleader's control. It took a final step forward, the silver arm
sweeping upward for a blow. As Lester yelled, 'Look out,' the silver
arm swept down toward the Doctor.
       The Doctor grabbed the arm, already moving backward,
converting its momentum into a series of reverse head-over-heels
rolls that landed him in the corner by the silver packs containing the
bombs. He grabbed one of the backpacks and jumped to his feet,
holding it out before him. 'Very unstable things, these cobalt bombs,'
gasped the Doctor. 'Could be very dangerous if I dropped this...'
Deliberately, the Doctor let go of the bomb...
                            8
                     Journey into Peril
       Time seemed frozen as the bomb dropped from the Doctor's
hands. Then, deftly, he caught it by one of the dangling straps. Lester
and Stevenson gasped with relief, and even the Cyberleader took a
sudden step backward.
       Pleased with the effect of his demonstration, the Doctor looked
around. 'Now I'll tell you what you're going to do, Cyberleader. You
and your crew are going back to the airlock, back into your ship, and
away from here as fast as you can. If you don't I'll explode this cobalt
bomb, and we'll all turn into space dust together.'
       'If you explode the bomb you will destroy yourself and your
fellow humans,' droned the Cyberman.
       'I know. But then we stand a good chance of being blown up
anyway, so there's really nothing to lose, is there?'
       From somewhere in the Cyberleader's chest unit, an alarm
signal was sending out a steady, inaudible pulse. Inaudible to human
beings, that is. But in a nearby corridor the lamp in the head of a
patrolling Cyberman suddenly glowed brightly, and it swung round
to answer the signal.
       'Well, what's it to be?' the Doctor was asking. 'I trust you'll
have the sense to live and fight another day?'
       'We accept your terms' said the Cyberleader in his emotionless
voice. Scarcely able to believe what was happening, the Commander
and Lester watchbd as the Cyberleader and his men began moving
slowly in the direction of the airlock. Still clutching the bomb, the
Doctor backed away before them—and straight into the arms of a
Cyberman sentry, who had loomed suddenly up behind him.
       Giant silver arms crushed the breath from the Doctor's body.
With a final effort he threw the bomb pack away from him. The
Cyberleader glided forward and caught it before it touched the
ground, lowering it delicately into the corner with the other bombs.
       The Doctor, meanwhile, was struggling and choking in the
steely hug of the Cyberman. One massive arm was locked around his
throat, cutting off the air. The Cyberleader spoke. 'Do not kill him.
He can still be useful to us.' The Cyberman released the Doctor, who
crumpled unconscious to the ground.

       As soon as he arrived on Voga, Kellman began hurrying along
the mine galleries on his way to warn Vorus of the coming attack. As
he ran through the gloomy tunnels, he was worried by the sound of
distant blaster fire. Something was happening on Voga, something
that wasn't part of the plan.
       Suddenly a powerful beam of light pinned him to the wall of
the gallery. He looked around, blinking. He could see shadowy
armed figures moving behind the light beam. 'It's all right,' Kellman
called, 'I'm a friend. Take me to Vorus, he's expecting me.'
       Unfortunately for Kellman, he had run into a patrol of Tyrum's
City Militia, who were unimpressed by the mention of Vorus's name.
       'Vorus is no longer in charge here,' said the Militia Captain
gruffly. 'We shall take you to see Tyrum.'
       As the soldiers began to bustle him away, Kellman kicked and
struggled wildly. 'No, no,' he yelled, 'you don't understand. I must see
Vorus. I've got something to tell him. You're in danger, all of you... '
He subsided as one of the guards gave him a thump with a blaster
butt to quiet him, and he was half-dragged, half-carried away. The
Militia Captain sighed. These wretched humans were popping up all
over the place nowadays. Still, Tyrum would know how to deal with
them.

       The Doctor came around to find himself being buckled into a
kind of harness by the giant hands of the Cybermen. He moved his
shoulders, and felt the weight of the bomb pack. Lester and the
Commander were already strapped into their packs. The Doctor
struggled to his feet, shaking his head to clear it.
       'Two bombs should be sufficient to complete the destruction of
Voga,' the Cyberleader was saying. 'To make completely certain, we
are using three.' Cybermen hands twisted the giant metal buckles on
the three backpacks carried by the humans, locking them into place.
       A little shakily, but cheerful as ever, the Doctor said, 'We seem
to have reached a rather interesting stage. Perhaps you could explain
what's going on?'
       'You would do well, all of you, to concentrate on what I am
saying,' said the Cyberleader. 'Your lives depend on your
understanding.' He indicated the buckles on the bomb packs they
were wearing. 'The buckles contain explosive charges, which are
now primed.' He pointed to a piece of portable communications
equipment, standing between two Cybermen. Its main feature was a
large countdown clock, the last segment of which was colored red.
'Any attempt to remove the harness before the countdown enters the
red zone will cause a secondary explosion. It will not detonate the
main bombs, which are now shielded, but it will destroy the human
carrier and his companions. Do you understand?'
       'Oh I think so,' said the Doctor. 'If we try to take off the bombs
before we've put them where you want them, then we get blown to
bits?'
       'Correct. You would do well to hold that thought in your mind.'
       'I shall,' promised the Doctor. 'Still, it doesn't really matter to
us, does it? When we do place your bombs for you, we'll be blown
up in the big explosion anyway.'
       'Incorrect. Your journey will be timed so that you place the
bombs in position just as the countdown enters the red zone.'
       The Doctor looked at the clock. 'Ah, I see. At quarter to
twelve, so to speak. Then what happens?'
       'You will have most of the red zone period, something in
excess of fourteen minutes, to make the return journey to the
transmat beam and send yourself back to this Beacon. When you
arrive, you will be rewarded and given your freedom.'
       An old twentieth-century slang phrase popped into the Doctor's
mind. 'You must be pulling my leg.' But he didn't try it on the
Cybermen. Instead he asked, 'How will you know if we're obeying
your instructions?'
       'We shall follow your progress by radar. If you deviate from
your directed route, we shall send a signal to Voga, and the relay
device will explode the bombs.'
       The Doctor looked at the piece of equipment crowned by the
big countdown clock. 'I see. So this is the relay device, this thing
with the alarm clock on? And it will be coming down to Voga with
us?'
       'Correct. Two guards will beam down to Voga with you, taking
the relay device. They will wait by the tunnel, next to the transmat
station. When you have completed your mission, you will all return
to the Beacon, before the final explosion.'
       'But if we stray off our route, you'll see it on your radar, the
guards will beam back to the Beacon, leaving the relay, you'll press
the button here, and up we go?'
       'Correct. Your only hope of survival is to obey. You will leave
now.'
       The Doctor settled his bomb pack more comfortably, for all the
world like a hiker about to set off on a day's walk. 'Why not? I think
we've covered everything.' The Doctor's mind was racing as he went
over and over the plan. If we try to take the packs off too soon, we'll
below ourselves up, he thought. If we don't go where they want us to,
they'll blow us up. If we do do what they want, we'll blow up an
entire planet. The Doctor could see only one possible loophole. He
could take the bombs to the detonation zone, take off the packs once
the countdown clock was in the final red sector, then use his fifteen
minutes not to escape, but to attempt to defuse the three cobalt
bombs. It was the slimmest of chances but it was the only one he
could see.
       One of the Cybermen bustled the Doctor impatiently toward
the transmat booth. The Doctor raised a warning hand. 'Careful, old
chap! You never know, I might go off.'
       The Doctor and his guard stepped into the transmat booth and
were dematerialized. The two other humans, the other guard and the
relay equipment were all dispatched after him. The Cyberleader
watched them go with satisfaction. How transparent and emotional
these animal organisms were. It had been easy to follow the thoughts
in the Doctor's mind. That single loophole had been left deliberately,
left to give him a hope of escape, to be sure that he would follow the
plan to the last. What the Doctor did not know was that his fifteen
minutes' grace after removing the packs did not exist. Once the
countdown clock entered the red sector, which should be just as the
Doctor and his friends put the bombs in position, the bombs would
explode immediately, putting an end to the Doctor, his friends and
the Planet Voga. The Doctor would trouble them no more. Neither
would the Vogans and their gold.
       The Cyberleader touched a control on the special console in
front of him. The countdown had begun.
       On Voga, the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester, and the two
Cybermen with the relay equipment, stood by the transmat station.
One of the Cybermen pointed. 'That tunnel will lead you to the main
shaft, which leads to the explosion area. Here is your chart. Go.'
       The Doctor took the chart and the three set off, weighed down
by their bomb packs. On top of the relay device, the countdown
clock ticked remorselessly. Beside it the two silver giants waited.
Suddenly one of them alerted, pointed down the gallery. The sound
of marching feet, coming nearer. The Cybermen concealed
themselves in the tunnel mouth.
       A squad of City Militia, on their way to join the siege of the
Guild Hall, were amazed to find a piece of obviously alien
equipment ticking away in one of their galleries. Breaking ranks they
crowded round, examining it. One of them stretched out a hand to
touch it. A Cyberman stepped from the tunnel mouth and blasted him
down. A second Cyberman joined him, and the Militia broke and
fled, making no attempt to return the fire. They ran along the
galleries screaming with panic. The ancient nightmares had come to
life. Cybermen had returned to Voga.
       Trudging along the tunnel, the Doctor and his companions
heard the crackle of Cyberweapons. The looked at each other but
said nothing. It was easy enough to imagine what had happened.
There was nothing they could do to help, and the ghastly weight of
the bomb packs on their backs was a constant reminder of their own
peril.
       After a moment, Lester said, 'Doctor, do you reckon they
meant that stuff about giving us time to escape?'
       The Doctor sighed. 'I doubt it. Once we get the bombs to the
explosion zone, we'll have outlived our usefulness.'
       Stevenson nodded. He too had little faith in the promises of the
Cybermen. 'So what do we do, then?'
       'We keep moving,' said the Doctor simply.
       'Why bother?' demanded Lester. 'Why don't we just stay here?'
       'Because they'll blow us up if we do—and that's a moment I'm
anxious to postpone as long as possible. While there's life, you
know... something will turn up.'
       'It had better,' said Lester grimly. They all trudged on their
way.
       In the control room on Nerva Beacon, the Cyberleader tracked
their progress on his radar-scanner. A Cyberman approached with a
message from the relay guards. 'All initial resistance has been easily
crushed.'
       'That is good.' The Cyberleader studied the moving dot on the
radar scope that monitored the progress of the Doctor and his two
companions. 'The bomb party is now one hundred meters below the
surface.'
       Offering the remark as a simple statement of fact, the
Cyberman said, 'Kellman has failed to return.'
       'It is of no importance,' replied the Cyberleader. 'His part in the
operation is now at an end.'

      Kellman, by now, was standing before Tyrum, flanked by two
City Militiamen. They had brought him in just as Tyrum was setting
off with Sarah and Harry to see Vorus. Tyrum was subjecting
Kellman to a long and patient interrogation, determined to discover
exactly what had been happening on Nerva Beacon, and how it
would affect the safety of his beloved Voga. Sarah and Harry stood
by listening impatiently, as Tyrum went over and over the same
ground. 'Tell me again,' he persisted, 'what exactly is your connection
with Vorus?'
      Kellman was in a difficult position. He did not know or trust
Tyrum, knowing only that Vorus considered him an enemy. Under
the circumstances, Kellman dared not reveal his knowledge of the
Cybermen's plans to send living bombs to the heart of Voga. He
feared this would so anger the aliens that they might execute him
immediately. His only hope was to persuade Vorus to fire the rocket
before the bombs could be detonated. Picking his words carefully,
Kellman said, 'Vorus and I were working together. We planned to
lure the Cybermen into a trap and destroy them.'
       'How? What trap?'
       'Nerva Beacon itself is the trap. Vorus has a rocket with an
armed warhead pointed straight at the Beacon.'
       Sarah looked at Harry. Neither of them was surprised to learn
that Kellman had been working with the Cybermen, and also
conspiring to betray the Cybermen to the Vogans. And frankly they
didn't much care whether Kellman was a double or only a single
traitor. But the threat to the Beacon did concern them. As far as they
knew (thanks to Kellman's silence about the Cybermen's plan) the
Doctor was still on the Beacon.
       Kellman was beginning to panic. 'Look, we're wasting time.
While we stand here, the Cybermen are planning to blow up your
planet.'
       'How are they planning to do this?' demanded Tyrum.
       Kellman hesitated. Perhaps he'd better tell them about the
bombs after all. Perhaps their technology was sufficiently advanced
to be able to disarm the cobalt bombs. He was about to speak, when
Sheprah rushed into the room. 'Councillor, the Cybermen are already
on Voga. They've landed on the first level.'
       'How many? What are they doing?'
       Sheprah was puzzled. 'According to my reports, only two. And
they do nothing. They have some apparatus, and they wait, killing all
who approach. Our weapons have no effect on them.'
       'What about back in the Cyberwar?' interrupted Harry. 'You
had weapons to defeat them then.' He vaguely remembered what the
Doctor had told him about the Cyberwar.
       Tyrum turned on him angrily. 'We provided only the gold. The
weapons, the technology to use the gold, came from the Earthmen.
That is why we were defenseless when the Cybermen attacked us.'
       'You'll never stop the Cybermen,' shouted Kellman. 'Vorus's
rocket is your only hope. He can blast that Beacon out of the sky.'
       Tyrum came to a decision. 'Sheprah, keep guard on the
Cybermen. If they attempt to move, if more come to join them, attack
with every weapon we have. The rest of you, follow me. We're going
to speak with Vorus!'
       As Tyrum and his Militiamen bustled them along the mine
galleries toward the Guild Hall, one thought filled Kellman's mind.
Somewhere, deep below them, three trudging figures were carrying
the deadly cobalt bombs to the heart of Voga.
       The Cyberleader had only to press a button, and the whole of
Voga would disintegrate into a shower of flaming planetary debris.
He wondered how much time they had left....
                          9
                  Countdown on Voga
       As Tyrum and his party entered the big cave that opened out
before the golden doors of the Guild Hall, guards stepped from
hiding, covering them with blasters. Tyrum attempted to wave them
away. 'Do you not recognize me? I am Tyrum, Chief Councillor of
all Voga. Stand aside!'
       The Guard Captain looked dubious, but seemed prepared to
listen. Tyrum was just about to demand that a messenger be sent to
Vorus when Kellman, the remorselessly ticking countdown clock of
the Cybermen filling his mind, ran forward in blind panic, trying to
force his way through the guards. 'Get out of the way, you fools,' he
screamed. 'We've got to see Vorus, or we'll all be killed.'
       Faced with sudden attack from a screaming alien shrieking
threats at them, the guards' reaction was natural enough. One of them
shoved Kellman brutally away, another clubbed him down with his
blaster. Instinctively, Tyrum's Militiamen came to Kellman's defense,
blasters were fired and a general, confused struggle broke out, with
both Tyrum and the Guard Captain trying to restrain their men and
sort things out.
       Harry grabbed Sarah and pulled her out of harm's way; they
crouched out of sight in an alcove of rocks. Sarah peeped out. No one
seemed to have noticed them. She turned back to Harry. 'I'm going to
try to reach the transmat. Someone's got to get back to the Beacon
and warn the Doctor.'
       Harry looked worried, but didn't try to stop her. He knew that
Sarah had always refused to accept the role of the helpless heroine,
and her mind was obviously made up. He patted her on the shoulder
and said, 'All right, old girl, off you go. I'll stay here, there may be
something I can do on this end.'
       Sarah slipped away from the fighting, going back the way they
had come. Harry turned his attention back to the battle, and was just
in time to see Vorus stride out through the golden doors of the Guild
Hall and bellow, 'Stop! What is happening here?'
       For all his faults, thought Harry, Vorus certainly had
personality. The City Guards stopped firing, and the Militia did the
same. Vorus spotted Tyrum and strode toward him. 'You should
know better than to use force, Tyrum. Why do you break the truce?'
       'Simply a misunderstanding. Vorus, our planet is being
invaded. At such a time Vogans should fight together, not against
each other.'
       Kellman, his head bleeding from the blaster blow, staggered
toward them, thrusting Tyrum aside. 'The rocket,' he gasped. 'Is it
ready to fire?'
       Vorus glanced at Tyrum, then decided there was no more point
in deception. 'Almost. The bomb head is now being fitted.'
       Kellman wiped the blood from his eyes. 'Too late! The
Cybermen have already landed.'
       Vorus grabbed him and shook him. 'What? If you have
betrayed us, human... '
       Kellman wrenched himself free. 'I tried to warn you. Once
they were on the Beacon they moved faster than I'd allowed for...
there was no way I could stop them.'
       Tyrum pushed his way forward. 'Where is this rocket that you
speak of, Vorus? It really exists?'
       'Indeed it does. Come, I will show you.' Vorus was almost glad
that his long-cherished master plan was at last out in the open.
       Tyrum paused, looked around, then turned to Harry. 'Where is
the human female?'
       'She's gone. She's going to try to get back to the Beacon and
warn the Doctor.'
       Kellman looked appalled. 'She mustn't...'
       'Well, if your friend here's going to aim rocket missiles at the
Beacon, of course she wants to warn the Doctor and the others. What
do you expect?'
       'But the Doctor's here,' shrieked Kellman. 'They're using him
and the others to carry the bombs to the heart of the planet. The
Cybermen can't do it themselves because of the way gold affects
them...' His voice choked off as Harry grabbed him.
       It took Vorus and two of his strongest guards to drag Harry
away from Kellman's throat. Harry was shaking with rage. 'You
knew about this—and you still helped them?'
       'I didn't know,' said Kellman defensively. 'Not about the plan
to use humans, not at first anyway. I knew they wanted humans left
alive, but I thought it was for hostages, or for interrogation. At least I
came down here to warn you; I could have stayed safe on the
Beacon.'
       'And let your precious gold be blown to pieces,' said Harry
scornfully. 'Oh no, you couldn't face that.' He pulled himself free of
the guards.
       Kellman moved closer to Vorus for protection. 'I didn't know
about the bomb plan. I thought they'd mass on the Beacon ready to
invade, and you could blow them all up.'
       'And so we shall,' said Vorus confidently. 'The rocket will soon
be ready.'
       'Soon?' shouted Kellman. 'You fools, don't you realize what's
happened? The girl knows about the rocket. If she starts blabbing to
the Cybermen, they won't wait for their zero-hour. They'll explode
their bombs now!'

       Luckily for Sarah, the approach tunnel she emerged from took
her out quite close to the Cybermen as they stood guarding their
relay device. She looked at it curiously, wondering what was the
purpose of the ticking clock. The single pointer was now very close
to the red sector, though Sarah, of course, was still unaware of its
deadly significance. She was unaware, too, that the Doctor was
already on Voga. She was determined to reach the Beacon and warn
him.
       The transmat booth was fairly near to the guarding Cybermen,
and Sarah wondered how she was going to reach it undetected. Then
she heard shooting further down the tunnel. A squad of Sheprah's
Militia had managed to work their way along the tunnel toward the
Cybermen, and had embarked on a brave but foolhardy attack, quite
against Sheprah's orders. Ignoring the blasters, the silver giants
strode forward, firing as they came. The tips of their Cyberweapons
glowed red, and Vogan after Vogan crumpled and fell.
       Sarah seized her opportunity. She ran to the transmat booth, set
the controls and transmitted herself back to the Beacon. By the time
the Cybermen resumed position, their attackers driven back or
destroyed, the transmat booth was empty.
       As Sarah materialized on the Beacon, the Cyberleader and his
second-in-command were intent upon their radar screen, and she was
able to slip unseen into hiding, behind a seemingly unused control
console in one corner. She heard the Cybermen say, 'Average
progression rate is fifty meters per minute.' Sarah wondered what
they could be talking about, not realizing that the one doing the
progressing was the Doctor.
       The Cyberleader said, 'Excellent. They will reach the
detonation area in seventeen minutes.'
       The second Cyberman studied the radar screen more intently.
'Distortion on our radar scope is increasing, because of the heavy
gold concentration. The three humans carrying the bombs can no
longer be identified by separate signals.'
       'It is not important. The Doctor does not know it. Since he
believes he will still have time to escape after reaching the detonation
area., he will follow our plan. He does not know that the bombs will
explode when the countdown reaches the red sector.'
       By now Sarah realized what was happening. She was trapped
on the Beacon. And the Doctor was on Voga, carrying a bomb that
was going to explode... in seventeen minutes.

       In the work area of engineer Magrik, Harry, Tyrum and
Kellman stood looking at the embodiment of Vorus's dream. His
rocket, the Skystriker, towered above them. It had been built in a
shaft that led directly to the planet surface, forming a kind of
underground launch pad. Vorus gestured proudly toward the slim,
deadly looking rocket. 'Magrik and his team worked on this rocket
for two years,' he said bitterly. 'Two years, and now we lose the race
by minutes!'
       Kellman grabbed his arm. 'There could still be a chance. If you
can fire the rocket before the Cyberbombs are in position...'
       Vorus shook his head disgustedly. 'Magrik reports a delay in
fitting the bomb head. It will be another twenty minutes at least. We
have gambled and lost, Kellman.'
       Everyone stood looking at the rocket in gloomy, fatalistic
silence. Everyone but Harry Sullivan, who had decided that it was
time for some positive action. He was bitterly aware of the dilemma
that faced him. If the rocket was fired, Sarah would die on the
Beacon with the Cybermen. If it wasn't fired, everyone on Voga
would die, himself and the Doctor included. Harry worked out the
only possible course of action. The Vogans, naturally enough, would
refuse to think of anything else while their planet was in danger.
First, he had somehow to stop the firing of the Cyberbombs, thus
saving himself, the Doctor and the Planet Voga. Then, and only then,
could he plead with the Vogans to delay the firing of the rocket long
enough to allow Sarah to be rescued.
       Harry started putting his decision into effect. He turned to
Kellman, who cowered away nervously, and said, 'Is there any way,
any way at all, we can stop those bombs going off?'
       Kellman shook his head. 'They'll be detonated by remote
control and... the relay! That's it. If we can destroy the relay...'
Excitedly, Kellman explained. The Cybermen's detonation signal
from Nerva Beacon could only work if it was boosted by an on-
planet relay device. This was the piece of apparatus the Cybermen
had brought with them to Voga.
       'That's it,' said Harry decisively. 'Vorus, Tyrum, you must
combine your men and make an all-out attack on the Cybermen.
There are only two of them, you'll have to overwhelm them by sheer
numbers. Tell your troops the survival of the planet depends on it.'
       'We can try,' said Tyrum. 'It is probably hopeless, but we can
try.' He sent for Sheprah and gave the necessary orders. Vorus called
in his Guard Captain and did the same. When the two soldiers, allies
instead of enemies now, had left, Tyrum turned angrily on Vorus.
'You are insane, Vorus, do you realize that? We have both sent our
men out to die—and you have brought about the destruction of your
race.'
       Vorus was unrepentant. 'I brought them freedom! Freedom to
live on the surface, freedom from fear... Freedom to live like Vogans,
not like worms cowering in the dirt!'
       Tyrum waved scornfully at Kellman. 'And this great plan was
conceived in the company of such as this one. A double agent, a
traitor, a murderer of his own kind... a man whose only loyalty was
to himself, and to the gold he hoped to win.'
       Vorus hammered his fist on the rocket gantry. 'The plan would
have worked. Just a little more time, that's all we needed...'
       Harry decided he'd heard enough speech-making. 'Look, all
this recrimination is pretty pointless. There's one more thing we can
try. We can get into the main shaft and somehow stop those bombs
being planted. That may puzzle the Cybermen, give us a bit more
time to take the relay.'
       'And how do we do that?' demanded Kellman scornfully. 'The
Cybermen are holding the entrance. If an army of Vogans can't get
past them...'
       'Well, isn't there some other way into the shaft? This place is
riddled with tunnels. There jolly well should be something we can
use.'
       'Only that central shaft penetrates so deep,' explained Kellman
wearily. 'The other galleries simply don't connect with it.'
       Tyrum intervened. 'Wait—let me think... the shaft was
widened when I was young. There was a cross shaft, a narrow one
for ventilation purposes. It might still be passable...'
       Harry made for the door. 'Well, for Pete's sake, let's go and
see.'
       Tyrum led them out of Magrik's workshop and through a maze
of mine galleries. At last he paused before a dusty, hanging arras and
ripped it aside. A dark, narrow opening was revealed.
       'There it is,' said Tyrum delightedly. 'I am no longer young, but
my memory does not play me false. I was serving as an Engineering
Apprentice in those years and...'
       Harry was in no mood for reminiscences. 'Will we be able to
get through it?'
       Tyrum frowned. 'The passage runs for a very long way. It
should still be passable, but it has been long disused. The rock is
loose... it will be very dangerous.'
       'That's all right,' said Harry. 'It's worth a try.'
       Kellman said scornfully, 'Well, I wish you luck...'
       He turned to move away but Harry grabbed his arm. 'You'll do
more than that, Kellman, my friend. You're coming with me.'
       Kellman backed away in panic. 'No... I won't. You're crazy...'
       Harry turned to Tyrum. 'You said yourself that this man is a
traitor and a murderer. Thanks to him, your planet and my friends are
in danger of being blown up. Isn't it right that he should come with
me, try to undo some of the harm he has done?'
       Tyrum nodded gravely. 'It is just.'
       Kellman ran to Vorus. 'Please, don't let them make me. We
were allies, partners...'
       Vorus pushed him away. 'The alliance is over. You failed.
What do I care what becomes of you?' He turned away.
       Kellman looked around at the circle of grim faces. At a nod
from Tyrum, the Militiamen of his escort raised their blasters.
       'Come on,' said Harry, 'what are we waiting for?'
       He shoved Kellman into the dark opening, and crawled in after
him.
                             10
                          Explosion!
       The cross shaft was just wide enough to edge through, just
high enough to move along in a semi-crouch. Jagged pieces of rock
tore at their clothing, and sometimes chunks of loose rock, disturbed
by their passage, crashed to the tunnel floor behind them. The air
soon became filled with rock dust and they coughed and choked as
they struggled along. From time to time Kellman stopped, pleading
that he couldn't go on. Harry ignored the protests, shoving him ahead
ruthlessly. If there was danger at the end of the passage, Harry was
quite prepared for Kellman to run into it first. He soon lost all track
of Time. The passage led on and on, down and down, and the
journey seemed endless.

       The Doctor and his two companions had very similar feelings.
Their traveling conditions were somewhat better, since the shaft they
were following was big enough to walk along in comparative
comfort. But there was always the weight of the bomb packs to
contend with, loading down their bodies, and filling their minds with
the thought of sudden death. They spoke little. Each bomb pack bore
a slave clock, which reproduced the movements of the countdown
clock on Nerva Beacon. Each one of them could see the clocks on his
companions' packs, could see how soon the countdown pointer
would enter the red sector.
       'Soon be there, Doctor,' said Lester. There was an appeal in his
voice.
       The Doctor gave him a cheery nod. 'Won't be long.'
       'One way or the other,' grunted the Commander. He was the
older of the two humans, and he was already showing signs of
physical exhaustion.
       The Doctor walked on. Soon he must make a decision. Should
he stop now, try to get the packs off, try to defuse the bombs? Should
he wait till they were in the detonation zone, where the packs could
be taken off safely? Would the Cybermen give them any time? Or
would the bombs explode the minute they were in place?
       The Doctor looked at the slave clock on Lester's pack,
estimated times and distances, and came to a decision. In fact he did
have a plan, but it was so desperate and suicidal that he had left it till
the last possible moment in the hope that something safer would
occur to him. Nothing had. He stopped walking, and the others
stopped too. 'Time to get busy, gentlemen,' he said. 'Now let me tell
you my plan...'
       Although they had no way of realizing it, Kellman and Harry
were moving in a line that would make their path intersect with that
of the Doctor. They were moving—until they found the end of the
tunnel blocked by a rock-fall. Kellman turned in relief. 'It's blocked.
We'll have to go back.'
       Harry shook his head. 'Oh no. If it's blocked, we unblock it.'
He squeezed to a position by Kellman and started heaving at the rock
pile. The rocks shifted—and so did other loose rocks somewhere in
the tunnel roof.
       'This is friable rock,' said Kellman. 'It's dangerous. You could
easily bring the whole tunnel down.'
       Harry went on heaving. 'One way or another, Kellman, we're
probably going to cash in our chips soon. So we might as well die
trying. Now get to work.'
       Reluctantly Kellman began shifting rocks. The rock pile was
loose, and it was easy enough to move the boulders. In fact the ease
with which the rocks moved away was alarming, as they brought
others tumbling after them. Harry found a big, central boulder which
seemed to be the keystone of the pile. 'Come on,' he grunted, 'If we
get this one moved, we're through!' He heaved at the boulder,
Kellman unwillingly helping him. The boulder stirred, came loose
and shot free. Other rocks tumbled down in a growing cascade.
       'Look out,' Kellman yelled his last words, 'The whole lot's
coming down...' They were surrounded by falling rocks.
       The Doctor had just finished explaining his plan to Lester and
the Commander when a whole section of shaft wall fell in on them,
burying all three in a rumbling cascade which included rocks large
and small, dirt, dust and debris, and the bodies of Kellman and Harry
Sullivan as they hurtled through the air and dropped down into the
main shaft. A glancing rock grazed the Doctor's head and he took a
sudden and unexpected nap.
       Coughing and choking, his head ringing and bruises all over
him, Harry Sullivan struggled to his feet. He seemed to be
surrounded by fallen rocks and fallen bodies. The nearest was
Kellman, his neck twisted at a strange angle, obviously broken in the
fall. Harry felt no sympathy. As far as he was concerned, Kellman
had been luckier than he deserved. But next to Kellman was the body
of the Doctor, slumped face down with the bomb pack on his back.
Lester and the Commander lay in a heap near by, both similarly
loaded.
       The pulse in the Doctor's neck was beating steadily, and Harry
decided he'd soon wake up. The first thing was to get this wretched
bomb away from him. Be a nice surprise when he woke up. Harry
studied the complex arrangement of steel webbing and heavy buckles
holding the pack in place. Surely, if he unfastened this main clip
here.... Wonder the Doctor hadn't thought of that himself. As Harry
reached out to touch the steel buckle a croaking voice behind him
called out, 'No! Don't touch that!'
       Harry turned. Lester had struggled to his feet, face blackened
with grime. He was waving desperately at Harry. 'Don't touch that...'
       'Just going to get the pack off him,' said Harry, rather hurt at
this lack of welcome.
       'Booby trapped,' coughed Lester. 'It'll explode.'
       Hurriedly Harry snatched his fingers away. The Doctor
meanwhile was stirring. He struggled over onto his back, and lay
looking upwards. 'Harry,' he said gently. 'Well, if it isn't Harry
Sullivan.'
       'That's right, Doctor,' said Harry. 'Come to give you a hand.'
He looked at the Doctor with concern. There seemed to be something
odd about his manner. Maybe that knock on the head, touch of
concussion perhaps. Harry gave the Doctor a reassuring smile.
       'Harry,' said the Doctor, 'was it you who brought the wall of
the shaft crashing down on us?'
       'Well, I'm afraid it was, Doctor,' admitted Harry. 'You see, I
was trying to get to you through the ventilation shaft and...'
      'And were you just about to undo my exploding pack buckle?'
      'Ah—well, you see, Doctor, I didn't know they were
explosive.and...'
      The Doctor struggled to a sitting position. He threw back his
head and bellowed at the top of his voice, 'Harry Sullivan is an idiot!'
The shout echoed around the tunnel. The Doctor got to his feet,
slapped Harry on the back and said, 'Nevertheless I'm very glad to
see you again.' He looked across to where Lester was helping the
Commander to his feet. 'Now then, gentlemen, as I was saying when
we were interrupted, it's time to carry out my plan. Commander, are
you fit enough to go on?'
      Stevenson stretched and winced. 'I'll manage. Won't be for
very much longer anyway—whatever happens.' Stevenson moved on
down the shaft.
      To Harry's astonishment the Doctor led the rest of them in the
opposite direction. At a sharp trot, he set off back the way they had
come. Stevenson continued toward the detonation area alone. The
clock on his bomb pack showed nine more minutes to zone red.

      The Cyberleader had not broken his concentration on the radar
screen for a solitary second. His second-in-command approached.
'Our surface party reports constant Vogan attacks. The Vogans have
been driven off with heavy casualties.'
      The Cyberleader did not look up from the screen. 'Intensify the
radar signal amplification.'
      The Cyberman checked controls. 'It is already at maximum,
leader.'
      The great silver head, with its blank circles for eyes, swung
round angrily. 'The signal is not satisfactory. It is impossible to
interpret clearly.'
      'That is due to the high gold concentration of the planet. Gold
impairs the functioning of all our technology.'
      The Cyberleader knew this well enough, But his instincts told
him that something was wrong. But what? 'The signal appears to
indicate movement forward and backward. That is not possible.'
      'Perhaps the humans have divided, leader. Shall we detonate
now?'
      The Cyberleader considered. From her hiding place, Sarah
watched him, waiting in agony for his answer.
      'What depths have the bomb carriers reached?'
      'Sixteen hundred meters, leader.'
      The Cyberleader came to a decision. 'Then we shall wait. I
estimate that they are eight minutes from the detonation zone. One
bomb at least will be in place, and that will be enough. In eight
minutes the accursed planet of gold will be totally destroyed.' Even
in the flat, toneless voice, Sarah could detect his eager anticipation.
'The planet will be annihilated. It will be totally vaporized. Eight
more minutes... '

       At a point quite close to the tunnel entrance, but well out of
sight of the two Cybermen, the Doctor, Harry and Lester were
crouching down. All three were crunching up small rocks, using big
ones as hammers, producing an ever-growing pile of rock dust. Or
rather gold dust, thought Harry. The concentration of the precious
metal in the soft Vogan rock was astonishingly high, and Harry
estimated that the rock dust was at least 50 percent pure gold, and
maybe more. As they worked, the Doctor suddenly asked, 'Where's
Sarah?'
       Harry sighed. 'I'm not too sure, Doctor. She left me to try and
get back to the Beacon...'
       'What? Whatever for?'
       'Well, she thought you were still up there. She wanted to warn
you about this rocket.'
       The Doctor struggled to remain calm. 'Er—what rocket would
that be, Harry?'
       Harry scratched his head. It all seemed very complicated. 'It
seems the late Professor Kellman—he bought it back in that
rockfall—wasn't really working for the Cybermen. At least he was—
but he was planning to double-cross them with these other guys...'
       'The Vogans?' prompted the Doctor.
       'That's right. I'm awfully bad on names. So anyway, he lured
the Cybermen onto the Beacon so they'd be a sitting target for this
whacking great rocket.' Harry paused for breath. 'The only thing is,
the rocket isn't ready yet, so things have gone a bit wrong.'
       'Yes they have, haven't they,' agreed the Doctor. 'Just as well,
if Sarah's on the Beacon.'
       Lester glanced at the clock on the Doctor's bomb pack. 'Only
another five minutes, Doctor.'
       The Doctor looked at the dust pile. 'How much have we got
then? Oh well, it'll have to do. Harry, are you sure you've grasped all
the implications of my plan?'
       Harry straightened up. 'Well, it's pretty simple, isn't it? We just
creep up on the Cybermen and chuck this gold dust into their chest
units. Straightforward enough.'
       Lester shook his head, and the Doctor grinned at Harry
affectionately. 'That's the idea, Harry. Well, good luck. Let's get
moving.'

       Tyrum and Vorus stood waiting in the workshop. The rocket
was still not ready and the nerves of both Vogans were frayed. They
were locked in bitter, useless argument. 'I promise you this,' Tyrum
was saying, 'if our planet survives your folly, you will stand trial for
treason.'
       'I shall stand my trial gladly,' boasted Vorus. 'I shall tell the
people my reasons, of my plan to free them...'
       The entry of Sheprah interrupted. him. The soldier's face was
grim and despairing. 'We are beaten, Councillor. Our people have
withdrawn. So many have died that they refuse to attack the
Cybermen again.'
       'Order them back,' stormed Vorus. 'Command them. Unless
they succeed we shall all die.'
       Sheprah shook his head. 'It would be useless. They need time
to regroup, to recover morale.'
       'There is no time,' shouted Vorus. 'They must attack!'
       Ignoring him, Tyrum put his hand on Sheprah's arm. 'Come,
old friend, I will speak to them. I am no longer young... but if I lead
the last attack, perhaps they will be shamed into following me.'

       The Doctor, Harry and Lester stood waiting at the head of the
shaft. Peering around the corner, the Doctor could just see the two
silver giants, guarding their relay apparatus. Their attention seemed
concentrated away from the shaft as they looked down the tunnel,
alert for further Vogan attacks. The Doctor glanced at the clock on
Lester's pack. Only a couple of minutes to go. He tapped Harry and
Lester on the shoulder. 'Now!' he whispered. One by one they crept
from the tunnel toward the Cybermen. Each had hands full of gold
dust.
       For an amazingly long time, their luck held good. The
Cybermen were concerned only with danger from the Vogans, and
the thought that the humans might come back down the shaft had not
occurred to them. The Doctor's party was almost within striking
distance, he was poised to spring, when one of the Cybermen turned
around. It was Harry Sullivan who saved them. Fresher than the
Doctor and Lester, unencumbered by the heavy packs, he sprinted
forward like a champion, legs pumping desperately. He moved so
fast that before the Cyberman could even raise his weapon, Harry
was attacking it. Since Harry was now too close to be shot at, the
Cyberman caught him in its crushing steel hug, increasing the
pressure remorselessly. For a moment Harry's arms were trapped by
his sides, but he managed to wrench one arm free, and obeying the
Doctor's instructions, he ground the gold dust mixture into the
Cyberman's chest unit. The effect was amazing. The grip on him
loosened at once and the Cyberman staggered back. Freeing his other
arm, Harry applied the second dose and the Cyberman gave a weird
electronic howl. It staggered back, buckled at the knees and
collapsed, green fluid oozing from its joints...
       While all this was going on, the Doctor and Lester were having
a much tougher time. The second Cyberman had enough warning to
open fire, and they flung themselves aside just in time. Before it
could fire again, they closed in, ducking under the Cyberweapon and
trying to get close enough to use the gold dust. The Cyberman drove
them off with great flailing blows. First Lester, and then the Doctor
were sent flying across the cave. The Doctor hit the wall, and
collapsed half-stunned. The Cyberman raised its gun...
       Lester acted without thinking. He hurled himself at the
Cyberman in a kind of low rugby tackle, and sent it staggering back
into the relay apparatus. As the two of them fell on top of the relay
machine, Lester deliberately reached up for one of his pack buckles...
        Harry turned from dealing with his Cyberman just in time to
take in the scene. It remained forever photographed on his memory:
the Doctor slumped against the far wall, blood trickling from his
temple; Lester and the Cyberman collapsed across the relay
apparatus. Lester's fingers undoing his pack buckle...
        The explosion sent Harry flying across the cave and brought
down a considerable chunk of the roof. When he picked himself up
he saw that Lester, the Cyberman and the relay unit were buried
together under an enormous pile of boulders. Only the clock part,
battered and wrenched half-off, projected from the pile. The pointer
was just fractionally clear of zone red.
        Harry ran to the Doctor and helped him up. The Doctor reeled
a little, and recovered himself. He looked at the pile of rocks, and the
shattered relay machine. Harry spoke the thought in both their minds,
'It's pretty badly smashed, Doctor, but it could still be working.'
        The Doctor nodded. Slowly he raised his hands to his
shoulders. 'I know. There's only one way to find out.' The Doctor
started to unbuckle his pack...
                              11
                          Skystriker!
       His fingers perfectly steady, the Doctor undid the last buckle
and eased the bomb pack from his shoulders, lowering it carefully to
the ground. Harry let out a long breath. 'It's all right,' he said
unbelievingly. 'It didn't go off.'
       The Doctor looked at the rock pile, under which lay the
shattered bodies of Lester and the Cyberman. 'Lester sacrificed
himself to blow up the relay apparatus,' he said quietly. 'He knew it
was the only way. With the relay smashed, the buckle explosive
charges become inoperative. The Cybermen can't detonate the cobalt
bombs either.'
       'So we're safe, then?'
       'Only for a little while, Harry. There'll be a Beacon full of very
angry Cybermen up there—they're bound to think of some other
plan.'
       Suddenly Harry remembered. 'And Sarah's still up there with
them.' They heard the sound of running footsteps. Tyrum, Sheprah
and a jubilant crowd of Vogans were coming down the tunnel toward
them.

      The Cyberleader stabbed angrily at his controls. 'We have lost
radar contact.'
      The second-in-command looked up from another row of
instruments. 'All information-flow from the planet has stopped. The
countdown has ceased also.'
      The Cyberleader glanced at the picture of Voga on his vision
screen. 'I shall detonate by manual control—now!'
      As his hand went for the detonator switch, Sarah dashed from
her hiding place and tried to pull away his arm. She was unable to
move it. The other Cyberman reached out his huge silver hand, and
plucked Sarah away almost casually, flinging her across the width of
the control room. She crashed into the metal wall, and slid to the
floor. Ignoring her, the Cyberleader reached for the detonator switch
and pulled it savagely. He fixed his eyes on the screen, waiting to see
the picture of Voga disintegrate. Nothing happened. Voga hung
peacefully in space, solidly and obstinately there. The Cyberleader
crashed his metal fist down on the console. 'We have failed. Why?
Why?'
        When Sarah came to, she found herself tightly bound with
some kind of plastic flex and dumped in a corner. The Cyberleader
had considered killing her, but decided to keep her alive in order to
interrogate her. Sarah wriggled round to a position where she could
see the vision screen. Nothing had changed. The Cybermen sat
studying their control console, and the picture of the Planet Voga still
filled the screen. Exultantly Sarah said, 'So you failed, then. Voga's
still there. The Doctor's beaten you.'
        The toneless mechanical voice showed no disappointment,
admitted no defeat. 'We are not beaten. Our computers are assessing
an alternative plan.'
        'The best plan you could make is to clear off this Beacon
before the Vogan's rocket...'
        Sarah stopped, wondering if she was giving the Cybermen
information that might help them.
        The Cyberleader spoke harshly, 'Continue. If you do not, you
will be forced.'
        Sarah told herself the secret was out now anyway. 'Your friend
Kellman wasn't really on your side at all,' she said with some
satisfaction. 'He led you into a trap. The Vogans have a rocket aimed
straight at this Beacon.'
        'You are lying.'
        Sarah shrugged. 'All right. Just you stick around and see; you'll
find out the hard way.'
        'If the Vogans had such a rocket, they would have used it
before now.'
        'Maybe it wasn't ready. All I know is, before I left Voga I
heard Kellman urging them to use it.'
        The coldly logical brain of the Cyberleader continued to
evaulate the problem. 'If they have a rocket, they have not fired it.
The logical conclusion is: it is not ready, or it has malfunctioned.
This information does not affect our alternative plan. We shall
proceed. Voga will be destroyed.'

       In the great Guild Hall everyone was making a fuss of the
Doctor, who was getting rather bored with it all.
       'Human,' said Tyrum impressively, 'we shall be eternally
grateful for your act in saving our planet...'
       'Please don't keep calling me "human",' said the Doctor rather
peevishly. 'It's not really accurate. "Doctor" will do very nicely.'
       Vorus, meanwhile, was setting the giant vision screen to show
a picture of the Skystriker. 'There, Doctor,' he sad proudly.
       'That's your rocket is it?' said the Doctor, doing his best to be
polite. 'Yes, very nice.'
       It was clear that Vorus was hurt by the Doctor's lack of
enthusiasm. 'That is my Skystriker,' he said proudly. He turned
eagerly as Magrik entered the room. 'Magrik, what news?'
       'Everything is ready. We can begin the countdown.' Magrik
looked relieved to be bringing good news for once.
       'At last!' Vorus pressed a hidden button in his desk, and a panel
slid back, revealing a full set of rocket firing controls. 'I have waited
so long to use these...'
       'I wonder if you'd mind waiting just a little longer?' The Doctor
moved quickly across the room, and edged himself between Vorus
and the controls. 'Before you do anything rash, like pressing another
button, can I suggest a possible alternative solution?'
       'What alternative can there be? We must fire the Skystriker!'
       'I know how keen you are to use your little toy, old chap,' said
the Doctor soothingly. 'But first, let me transmat back to the Beacon
and try dealing with the Cybermen myself.'
       'Yourself? You would go alone?' said Vorus in astonishment.
       'All I ask is that you give me fifteen minutes. If I haven't come
through on the radio to tell you all is well by the end of that time—
well, light the blue touch paper, and good luck to you.'
       Tyrum came forward, putting his hand on the Doctor's arm.
'You have already done so much for us. Why should you risk your
life for us again?'
        'Well, it isn't really for you—it's for Sarah. She's risked her life
trying to save mine. The least I can do is to try to save her in return.'
The Doctor looked at the worried faces of the two Vogan leaders.
'Just fifteen minutes,' he said persuasively. 'Is that so intolerable?'
        Obviously Vorus thought it was. 'I have worked and planned
for this moment for years—and now you ask me to wait.'
        Tyrum spoke up, 'We owe you too much to refuse you,
Doctor.'
        He looked sternly at Vorus, who said, 'Fifteen minutes then—
and not one second longer.'
        'I'm coming too, Doctor,' said Harry firmly.
        'Oh no, you're not,' answered the Doctor, even more firmly.
Harry had his strong points, but secrecy and subtlety were not among
them. 'Anyway, I've got a job for you. Go and find the Commander.
The poor chap's still wondering if his bomb's going up or not.'
        The Doctor turned to the others. 'Well, I'd better be on my
way... oh, just one more thing. I wonder if I could trouble you for a
nice big bag of gold dust?'

        Still trussed up in her corner, Sarah watched and listened as the
Cyberman and his number two went over a series of complex
computer printouts. They seemed to be finalizing some kind of plan.
'Point of impact?' demanded the Cyberleader.
        'Twenty-three degrees, seven minutes. North one-six-zero
degrees, twenty minutes East. The planetary crust is weakest at that
point.'
        'Velocity at impact?'
        'Ten thousand light units. The Beacon will attain that velocity
seven minutes before impact.'
        'Explosive force required to disintegrate planet?'
        'One thousand kilos per unit.'
        The Cyberleader went over the plan in his mind once more.
Nothing had been forgotten. This time failure was impossible, since
no human element was involved. 'Excellent! Execute the plan. Order
the necessary bomb load to be brought to the Beacon.'
        'Yes, leader.'
       As his subordinate left the room, the Cyberleader turned to
Sarah. 'It may be of interest to you to know our alternative plan. It is
to load this Beacon with cobalt bombs, primed to detonate on impact,
and then to use the Beacon's spacedrive to crash it into the planet
Voga.' The Cyberleader paused to savor the horror on Sarah's face.
'At the moment of impact, we shall be observing from our spaceship.
You will have a much closer view.'
       The Cyberleader followed his second-in-command out of the
room. Sarah began struggling desperately, hopelessly, against her
bonds. Suddenly she heard the faint hum of the transmat. To her
astonished delight the Doctor was beaming down at her. He hurried
over, fished out a very old jackknife and started cutting her bonds.
'Listen, Doctor,' Sarah whispered excitedly. 'The Cybermen are
planning to load this Beacon with bombs and crash it into Voga.'
       'Oh, dear. And meanwhile the Vogans are just itching to fire
their rocket at us.' He glanced around the room and saw the
Cybermat control box Kellman had used standing forgotten on a
table. 'Just bring that along, will you, Sarah, and we'll see what we
can do,' he said briskly. 'Quickly now!' He strode out of the room.
Sarah grabbed the control box and hurried after him.
       They slipped quietly into the perimeter corridor. Cybermen
could be seen coming along from the direction of the airlock. They
were carrying squat black cylinders, about the size of gasoline
drums. 'Fetching more cobalt bombs from their ship,' muttered the
Doctor.
       They heard the voice of the Cyberleader. 'Take the bombs into
the impact area. Maximum urgency is imperative.'
       The Doctor pulled Sarah away. 'Come on, we'll hide out in the
crewroom. We should be safe enough there. Cybermen don't need to
sleep!'

       Magrik looked at a clock inset into the rocket control console.
'Seven minutes to commencement of countdown,' he said. There was
a pause.
       Suddenly Vorus snorted, 'What can the Doctor do in such a
time? We should never have agreed to this delay.' His hand reached
for the controls.
       Sternly Tyrum said, 'Stand back from the controls, Vorus.
There are, as Magrik reminds us, another seven minutes to go.'
       Vorus glared angrily at him. 'Very well, Tyrum, I shall wait.
But when I press this button, it will mean not only the end of the
Cybermen, but a new rule for Voga. My rule.'
       'That will be for the people to decide.'
       Vorus waved at the Skystriker on the screen. 'This was my
idea. I planned it. I shall be hailed as the people's liberator.'
       Tyrum sniffed. 'You came close to being their destroyer.'
       'That will be forgotten in our triumph. The people will beg me
to lead them...'
       Harry hurried in with the Commander trailing behind him.
He'd found Stevenson waiting grimly for death at the end of the
shaft. The Commander still looked dazed, as if he couldn't believe in
his deliverance. Harry saw that old Vorus was making speeches
again, and interrupted ruthlessly. 'Any word from the Doctor?'
       Vorus didn't care to be cut off in full oratorical flow. 'No—nor
do I think there will be...'
       'Five more minutes,' said Magrik quietly.
       Vorus touched a communications switch and spoke into a
concealed microphone. 'Control to firing bunker. Five minutes to
countdown.'

       Sarah was enjoying a welcome rest. Stretched out on a bunk,
she watched the Doctor screw the base plate back on a Cybermat.
       'You really think it'll work, Doctor?' she asked doubtfully.
       The Doctor looked hurt. 'Well, of course it will—I think.'
       There was a hum of power, and the whole room began
vibrating gently. Sarah looked round. 'What's happening?'
       'They've started the Beacon's engines.'

      The Cyberleader looked at the empty corner where Sarah had
been thrown, and at the trailing flex on the floor. 'She has been freed.
Logic suggests that the Doctor has returned from Voga. If he is on
board he will attempt to thwart our plan. Search the forward areas.
Locate and destroy any animal organisms.'
       A Cyberman moved immediately from the control room. The
Cyberleader turned to his number two, who was at the Beacon's
engine controls. 'Increase thrust ten levels.'
       The Cyberman's hands moved over the controls. 'Thrust
increased ten levels. Control response, normal. Engine response
effective.'
       'Engage hyperdrive!'
       The power hum built up steadily.

       The Docor finished final adjustments to the Cybermat's control
box. Sarah, listening at the door, heard heavy footsteps in the
corridor outside. 'They're coming, Doctor. Hurry!'
       The Doctor put the Cybermat carefully on the floor and pulled
Sarah into an empty clothes locker, leaving the door slightly ajar.
They heard the door open, and saw a Cyberman stalk into the room.
Its round eye slots scanned the room. It began moving purposefully
toward their locker. The Doctor fiddled with the control box, and the
Cybermat suddenly came to life. Its eyes glowed red, and it began
moving toward the Cyberman. As the Cyberman reached out a hand
for the locker door, the Cybermat sprang. It clung to the Cyberman's
neck, and its twin plungers injected pure gold dust into the
Cyberman's hydraulic system. The Cyberman gave a strange
electronic screech and keeled over, just like the one Harry had killed
on Voga. Sarah shuddered at the sight of the green hydraulic fluid
oozing from its joints. The Doctor grabbed her hand, and pulled her
out of the locker. 'Well, there's one down. Come on!' Picking up his
Cybermat, rather as if it were a pet poodle, the Doctor hurried Sarah
from the crew room.

      Magrik leaned forward and spoke to the firing bunker. 'Two
minutes to countdown, stand by.'
      Vorus could wait no longer. 'Enough of this nonsense. The
countdown will take place immediately.'
      Magrik looked up from his controls. 'Vorus, look. The target
sensor has reacted. The Beacon must be moving!'
      Vorus moved to the controls and thrust Magrik aside. 'It's
moving toward us—it's on a collision course!' He snapped the
internal communications switch. 'Activate the rocket. Begin
countdown. I shall fire the rocket from here, when countdown is
over.'
       'Now just a minute,' protested Harry. 'You promised the Doctor
fifteen minutes and that's what he's getting. Every last second of
them.' He tried to step in front of Vorus, but the big Vogan gave him
a shove that sent him staggering back. Vorus's hands were on the
controls.
       A voice crackled over the speaker. 'Ten, nine, eight, seven...'
       Vorus waited eagerly, hand poised over the controls. Tyrum
produced a blaster from beneath his robes. 'Stand back, Vorus.'
       Vorus heard only the countdown. 'Four, three, two, one...'
       Tyrum fired. Vorus slumped forward over the controls,
pressing the firing button as he fell. He twisted round to see the
vision screen. The Skystriker was lifting off on a column of fire. 'My
glory,' mumbled Vorus thickly. 'My Skystriker... ' Then he died.

       The Cybermen watched on their vision screen as Voga came
closer. The Cyberleader turned to his second-in-command. 'It will be
a glorious spectacle. The fireball will extend one point five million
miles.'
       A third Cyberman entered the control room. 'The evacuation of
the Beacon is complete. One Cyberwarrior is still searching for the
Doctor.'
       'Recall him. If the Doctor is on board, he will perish when the
Beacon strikes Voga.'
       The Doctor was not only on board, but just behind them. He
slipped into the control room, put down his Cybermat and turned it
loose. It sped straight for the third Cyberman, fastening on to his
neck and pumping the deadly gold dust into his veins. The Cyberman
shrieked, staggering around the room in its dying convulsions. The
Doctor leaped forward, hurling his bag of gold dust at the other two
Cybermen. Unfortunately the third Cyberman stumbled right across
his path and got the full impact of the second dose. It crumpled and
died, leaving the Doctor facing two very live Cybermen, completely
empty-handed. Since his hands were empty he raised them above his
head. Sarah, lurking just behind him in the doorway, did the same.
      The Cyberleader snatched up its weapon and took aim. 'If you
kill us now, we'll miss the big bang,' said the Doctor almost
conversationally, nodding toward the vision screen. Voga was very
near now.

       The Cyberleader nodded slowly. 'You do well to remind me,
Doctor.' He nodded to his second-in-command, who produced a reel
of flex. 'You will tie up your companion, Doctor, then I shall tie you.
Tie her firmly, if you wish to live a few minutes longer.'
       The Doctor obeyed. On the screen the Planet Voga rushed ever
nearer.
       'Hurry,' ordered the Cyberleader.
       The Doctor looked up. 'You want me to make a good job of it,
don't you?' he asked indignantly.

       Tyrum looked at the control panel clock and sighed. 'The
Doctor's time is up. I fear that he has failed.'
       Harry made a great effort to sound confident. 'Don't be too
sure. The Doctor always leaves things to the last minute.'
       The Commander looked at the vision screen, where they could
see the Skystriker rocket soaring upward. 'Well, he's got about six
minutes now, before the rocket hits the Beacon. If he doesn't
transmat off by then...'
       Harry was shocked to hear how short a time was left. The
Commander saw his face. 'Sorry, Harry. Now the Beacon's moving
toward the rocket, same as the rocket's going toward the Beacon.
Cuts down the impact time...'
       They all looked at the screen. The rocket soared higher.

      The Cyberleader tested the Doctor's bonds, and then Sarah's.
'Good. We shall now return to our ship and blast clear of the Beacon.
You are both very privileged. You are about to die in the biggest
explosion ever to be witnessed in this solar system.'
      The Cyberleader stalked away.
      Sarah and the Doctor looked at each other. Then they both
looked at the vision screen, where the Planet Voga seemed to be
rushing swiftly toward them.
                        12
           'The Biggest Bang in History'
      'How long have we got, Doctor?'
      'Assuming the Vogan rocket's on its way—two or three
minutes. You'd better get a move on.'
      'Escape, you mean? I'm afraid you made far too good a job of
these knots.'
      'I hope so. I tied them with a special trick sheepshank I learned
from Harry Houdini. Pull your left wrist up, and your right wrist
down. You'll be free in no time.'
      Sarah tried it. Nothing happened. 'I'm sorry, Doctor. You must
have learned it wrong.'

       Magrik looked up from his instruments. 'The radar shows
something moving away from the Beacon.'
       'It must be the Cybership,' said Harry disgustedly. 'They're
getting away.'
       Tyrum shook his head sadly. 'So it is all for nothing. The
rocket will strike the empty Beacon.'
       'Right—except it may not be empty,' said Harry. 'If the Doctor
and Sarah are still alive, they'll be on the Beacon.'
       The voice on the intercom spoke. 'Engineer Magrik to the
firing bay. There is a leak in the rocket fuel section.' Magrik hurried
out. No one noticed him leave. All eyes were fixed on the vision
screen, where Skystriker soared ever higher.

        'Well, try your right wrist up and your left wrist down. Maybe
I tied it backward.'
        Sarah tried. 'The knots are moving,' she gasped. One hand
came free, then the other.
        'Good girl. Now, hurry and untie mine. That rocket's a bit too
close for comfort.'
      As soon as he was free, the Doctor made for the space radio.
'Hullo Voga, hullo Voga, can you hear me? This is the Doctor on
Nerva Beacon.'
      In the Guild Hall there was wild excitement as the Doctor's
voice crackled from their speaker. Harry leaned forward. 'Doctor!
Are you all right?'
      'Is the Commander there?'
      'Here, Doctor,' Stevenson's voice came through.
      'Tell Vorus the Cybermen have left the Beacon. Tell him to
aim the rocket at their space-ship.'
      'Vorus is dead, Doctor. No one here knows how to work the
rocket controls. We could send for Magrik...'
      'No time. You'll have to do it, Commander. Just a second...'
      The Doctor adjusted the scanner controls. The picture on the
screen changed to one of the rocket approaching. The nose cone
seemed enormous. The rocket was almost upon them.
      Even as he adjusted the scanner the Doctor was summoning to
his mind's eye a picture of the rocket controls on Voga. How proudly
Vorus had displayed them. 'Commander, listen to me. There should
be two quadrant levers on the left of the panel. Got them?'
      The Commander's hands hovered over the controls. 'Got them,
Doctor.'
      The Doctor's voice was calm and reassuring. 'The top one
controls the angle of flight, the lower is the direction and stabilizer
control. Pull the top lever across the quadrant, then move the other
downward.' Trying to keep his hands from shaking, the Commander
obeyed.
      The Doctor and Sarah stared as if hypnotized at the screen.
The rocket's bomb-laden nose cone seemed almost to touch them.
Suddenly the angle of the picture changed. The head-on view of the
rocket was replaced by a fleeting side view as it whizzed past them,
and away into Space.
      The Doctor let out a long whistling breath. 'Well done,
Commander. Now you've got the hang of the controls, send that
rocket after the Cybership.'
      'It'll be a pleasure, Doctor.'
        Sarah said slowly, 'Doctor, a ghastly thought's just struck me...
we're still heading for the biggest bang in history. I mean, the Beacon
is still rushing toward Voga, loaded with bombs.'
        The Doctor chuckled. 'Not for long, my dear Sarah.' He
switched the scanner picture back to Voga. The planet was now so
near that its jagged mountainy surface seemed within reaching
distance. It was rushing closer and closer. The Doctor moved over to
the Beacon controls and pulled the flight-trimmer levers. They
refused to budge. 'Those sneaking treacherous tin men have locked
the controls,' he yelled.
        'What does that mean?'
        'It means we're heading for the biggest bang in history.'

       The Commander was hunched over the rocket controls,
making delicate adjustments to the directional levers. Magrik was
back by now, but the Commander refused to let him take over. This
was one job he wanted to finish himself. Harry leaned over his
shoulder. 'You're closing in, Commander. Just a touch more
starboard...'
       The Commander made a fractional adjustment, and sat back.
Just a few more seconds, he thought. On the vision screen the picture
now showed the Vogan rocket hurtling toward the Cybership.

      The Cyberleader looked with satisfaction on his scanner. On a
nearby radar screen, no one noticed a tiny dot moving closer and
closer.
      Confidently the Cyberleader intoned, 'The Beacon will impact
on Voga in three and a half minutes.'
      Suddenly a Cyberman shouted, 'Leader, the radar screen. A
missile is approaching us...'
      The Cyberleader rapped out orders. 'Engage full thrust. Take
evasive action. Deploy full energy shield...'
      He was still giving orders to deal with the situation as the
Vogan rocket struck.
      The Cybership disintegrated in a shattering blast of heat.
        On Voga there was a stunned silence. Harry spoke first. 'Well,
that's the Cybermen finished.'
        'Never again will they be a threat to Voga,' said Tyrum. To
himself he thought that Vorus and his rocket had come in useful after
all. He would see that Vorus received full posthumous credit. A
martyr was so much more satisfactory than a political rival.
        Magrik looked up from the radar screen. 'Why does the Doctor
not put the Beacon back on its proper course? It appears to be still
heading straight for us.'
        Appalled, they all stared at the radar screen. The Commander
looked at Harry. 'He's right,' he said quietly.
        Harry coughed. 'Better give him a shout, eh? He tends to have
these absentminded spells.'

       The Doctor had ripped off the inspection cover of the Beacon
controls, and was heaving with a heavy wrench at the massive
hydraulic controls inside. They had been locked with a Cyberman's
strength, and showed no signs of shifting.
       'Maybe you're turning it the wrong way,' suggested Sarah. The
Doctor scowled at her, and went on working. On the scanner you
could almost count the pebbles on Voga's surface.
       A nervous voice came over the radio. 'Er, I say, Doctor?'
       Sarah went to answer it. 'Yes, Harry? The Doctor's a bit busy.'
       'Hullo, Sarah. The thing is, you appear to be heading straight
for us.'
       'We're aware of that, Harry. Very much so. Just to cheer you
up, we are also loaded with Cyberbombs.'
       'And what's the Doctor doing?'
       The Doctor looked up. 'I'm doing my best, Harry,' he yelled.
He gave a final heave, the massive locking nut gave a little, and then
came free. The Doctor flung down the wrench with a clang and ran
back to the controls. They could hear the engines roaring now as they
entered Voga's atmosphere...

      In the Guild Hall, the picture of the approaching Beacon
completely filled the giant vision screen. Tyrum fell back screaming
in panic. 'It's going to hit! It's going to hit!'
       The Doctor leaned over the Beacon controls. 'That should do
it. Now, if only she'll answer in time...' He heaved on the flight
trimmers. This time they moved freely. Sarah saw the close-up of
Voga on the screen tilt and move away from them. She clutched at
the console for support as the floor rocked under her. As the Doctor
wrestled with the controls, the surface of Voga zoomed closer and
then lurched away again. The peak of what looked like a small
mountain rushed straight toward them.
       Sarah screamed, 'We're going to crash, Doctor.'
       'Hang on,' he yelled encouragingly. 'Can't pull back too sharply
at this speed or the Beacon will break up. Wasn't built for acrobatics,
poor old girl.' He eased the levers back....
       Miraculously the mountain vanished from the screen to be
replaced by empty sky. The Doctor made a few more adjustments,
and locked the controls. He stepped back, shaking his head, almost
unable to believe that they'd survived. 'I've put her on automatic.
She'll return to her proper orbit now.'
       He saw that Sarah was staring over his shoulder, her mouth
wide open. In an uncanny silence, the TARDIS was materializing on
the other side of the control room. The Doctor gave a satisfied nod.
'Splendid timing. I'd better just set the drift compensators. Don't want
her wandering off again.' Fishing out his key, the doctor entered the
TARDIS.
       There was a faint hum from the transmat booth and Harry
materialized, shaken but cheerful. He stepped out, and looked toward
the TARDIS. 'I see old faithful's turned up again?'
       Sarah nodded, surprised to find herself as calm as he was. She
supposed so much had happened recently that they'd both lost the
capacity to be surprised. 'It's all go, isn't it?'
       The Doctor popped his head out of the TARDIS. 'Ah, there
you are, Harry. Don't just stand there, you two, come on inside.'
       As they entered the TARDIS, Harry was protesting, 'The
Commander will be up in a minute. Old Tyrum too, probably.
Shouldn't we wait and say goodbye?'
       The Doctor operated the door controls, and started take-off
procedure. 'Better not, Harry. Simpler to slip away. Besides, I'm
wanted urgently back on Earth.'
       'How do you know that?'
       The Doctor pointed to an odd-looking technical device,
bleeping away in a corner. 'Because I left the Brigadier a Space-Time
telegraph, for use in case of a real emergency.'
       The familiar groaning noise filled the TARDIS as she took off.
Raising her voice, Sarah said, 'And he's used it—this telegraph
thing?'
       'He has.' Take-off noise died away. The TARDIS was in the
Space-Time vortex once again.
       Harry gave the Doctor a sceptical look. 'Are you really sure
that bleeping is the Brigadier calling us from Earth?'
       'Of course I am, Harry.'
       Sarah could understand Harry's feelings. The Brigadier, their
old friends in UNIT, and twentieth-century Earth seemed like an
infinitely remote dream. Were they really going back this time?
       The Doctor seemed to sense their disbelief. 'Now see here, you
two. I can even tell you exactly where on your little planet the
Brigadier's calling from. To the nearest mile or so!'
       Harry and Sarah just looked at him.
       The Doctor crossed over to his telegraph device and touched a
control. A miniature screen popped up. It showed a picture of the
Earth. The Doctor made adjustments and the picture narrowed down
to show Europe, then the British Isles, then Scotland, then a
particular part of Scotland. The Doctor peered at the screen, his face
alive with excitement. 'I say, this is interesting,' he cried. 'I wonder
why the Brigadier's calling us from somewhere near Loch Ness†?'




†
    You can discover the answer in Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster.