Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster Read online

  Benton came into the room. 'I've just been talking to our chap who got slugged, sir, he recovered consciousness for a few minutes. He says it was Sister Lamont, from the sick-bay. And one of the lads saw her driving off.'

  'She was there when Sarah and I got locked in the decompression chamber,' the Doctor said. They really ought to have done something about Sister Lamont. Somehow she'd been overlooked in the rush of events.

  'What was she doing here?' demanded the Brigadier. 'Why kill poor old Angus?'

  'I think Angus was bug-hunting,' said the Doctor sadly. 'Sister Lamont is one of the aliens. We know from Sarah they can take on human shape. She came to recover the hug and caught him. Look!' He pointed to the stag's head. With a shock the Brigadier saw that the creature's eyes were gone. Its blind stare made the head more sinister than ever. 'The Duke of Forgill gave Angus that head,' the Doctor continued. 'Sarah said he was very proud of it.'

  'Are you suggesting that his Grace is involved in all this?' The Brigadier's conservative temperament boggled at the idea that a member of the aristocracy could be mixed up in shady doings.

  'Of course he's involved,' said the Doctor impatiently. 'I suspected as much at the castle. The death of poor Angus clinches it.'

  'Great Scott—the Duke,' muttered the Brigadier. 'And we left Miss Smith at the castle. We've got to get her back. Come on!'

  The Doctor's face was worried as he followed out to the land-rover. As Sarah had guessed, he had suspected the Duke from the very first. By revealing how much he knew of their plans, by letting them see how determined the Brigadier was to attack them, the Doctor had hoped to bluff the aliens into seeking a peaceful solution. He'd even agreed to let Sarah stay at the Castle, feeling that he and the Duke had reached a sort of unspoken truce. Now, after seeing the struck-down UNIT soldier and the murdered Angus, the Doctor was having second thoughts. Perhaps the aliens were more savagely hostile than he had realised. Perhaps, by being too clever, he had endangered Sarah's life. As the land-rover sped up the road to the castle, the Doctor hoped desperately that Sarah had stayed in the hall where they'd left her. If she went wandering off on her own... The Doctor shuddered, remembering Angus's dead face.

  The Duke of Forgill looked on with polite interest as Sarah ploughed her way through the musty books. She closed the volume she was reading, and pointed to the top shelf. 'What are those big books up there?'

  'Monastic records, Miss Smith. There was a monastery on this spot in the eleventh century.'

  'May I have a look?'

  'Certainly.' The Duke tugged on an old-fashioned bell-rope and one of the biggest men Sarah had ever seen came marching into the hall. He bowed and then glanced up questioningly.

  'Ah, Caber! Our young guest is about to delve into the mysteries of the past. Fetch her the steps, would you?'

  'Very good, your Grace.' With a distinctly hostile stare at Sarah the big man marched out again.

  Sarah had a nervous impulse to make conversation. 'Caber?' she said brightly. 'That's an unusual name, surely.'

  'It's really a kind of nickname,' explained the Duke. 'He was a champion at tossing the caber—the Highland Games, you know.'

  The big man returned with a heavy, old-fashioned set of library steps, apparently made from solid oak. He dumped them down next to Sarah, bowed, and stood waiting for instructions. The Duke turned to Sarah. 'If you'll excuse me, I have work to do.' The Duke and his giant servant left the hall.

  Left on her own, Sarah climbed the steps and started examining the books on the top shelf. She found them hard going, especially as several appeared to be written in medieval latin. She had just decided to abandon the top shelf when her foot slipped, and she nearly fell from the steps. She clutched desperately for a hold on one of the shelves; her flailing foot kicked a book somewhere on the middle row. There was a low hum of power, and below her a section of bookshelf swung away to reveal a secret door. Recovering her balance, Sarah climbed down the steps and peered through the opening. It gave on to nothing but blackness. She hunted round the library and to her delight found a big torch on one of the side tables. She shone it through the opening. A long, low, winding tunnel stretched away before her.

  For a moment Sarah wrestled with her conscience, but it didn't put up much of a fight. True, she'd promised the Doctor not to go wandering round the castle, but when a clue like this turned up, it would be a crime not to investigate. Somewhere at the back of her mind was a hope that she might find and rescue Harry Sullivan. Shining the torch before her, she crept cautiously into the tunnel.

  It soon became apparent that it was Ieading downwards. It led her on and on, down and down, until Sarah began to wonder where the other end would be. Back in London perhaps, or at least in the cellars of the Tulloch village inn. Just when she began to feel she was condemned to wander in the depths of the earth for ever, she felt a faint vibration and a hum of power. A dim glow appeared in the distance. The glow became brighter and soon she didn't need the torch. She turned a corner; the light came from a kind of crystal door stretched across the passage.

  She moved closer to the door. To her astonishment, it began to rise silently into the roof. Alarmed, Sarah jumped back; the door came down again. Sarah moved forward, the door went up, and she passed underneath it. Immediately the door came down again, and Sarah, feeling trapped, started to run back. Obligingly the door rose to let her through. Reassured, she went on with her journey.

  She was now in a very different kind of corridor. The walls were made of a strange, fibrous material that seemed somehow alive. They glowed with their own inner light, and it felt like moving down a giant, plastic drain-pipe: (Although Sarah didn't realise it, she was passing through the airlock tube that connected the access tunnel to the Zygon space-ship laying hidden under the bottom of Loch Ness.)

  She came to another crystal door and went through. More glowing tunnels, twisting and turning, and then an open area. She saw a row of alcoves, like upright coffins. In each one stood a motionless human figure, its head partially concealed by a transparent dome. Sarah took a closer look. She saw the Duke of Forgill, his servant the Caber, and Sister Lamont from the sick-bay. She soon guessed that these were the real humans, kept as models for the aliens to copy. Which meant that Harry Sullivan should be here somewhere...

  Sarah moved on, and came to another door. There was a transparent panel in it, and Sarah peered through. To her delight, she saw Harry Sullivan looking back at her.

  Harry had been in the Zygon cell for what seemed an eternity, bored out of his mind, but otherwise unharmed. Once the after-effects of the Zygon stings had worn off he had felt well enough. The Zygons had even brought him food and water from time to time, though they refused to answer his questions. Harry guessed that either they planned to duplicate him again, or were saving him for interrogation when they were a trifle less busy.

  Seeing Sarah filled him with a mixture of relief and alarm. He was overjoyed to be rescued, but he wanted to get them both out of there before Sarah was made prisoner too. 'Panel just outside the door,' he called.

  'Press your hand on it.' He had observed the way the door worked whenever his food arrived.

  Obediently Sarah pressed the panel, and the door slid open. Harry jumped out. He tried to hug Sarah but a sudden thought made her jump back nervously. 'It is you, isn't it?'

  'Well, of course it is,' said Harry indignantly. Then he remembered. 'I say, they made a replica of me. Did you run into it?' Sarah nodded, and Harry thumped her on the back. 'Well don't worry, old girl. This is the genuine Sullivan. Now let's get out of here.'

  Warlord Broton, in his Duke of Forgill form, came back into the library and saw the secret door standing open. He smiled. Just as he'd thought, the girl had come to spy on him. Now she had fallen into his trap.

  He heard someone drive into the courtyard, and went to the door. The Caber was helping Sister Lamont out of the UNIT land-rover. The wounded Zygon had made a lengthy detour, returning to the castle only when it
was quite sure that UNIT had been shaken off. All three Zygons came into the great hall. Broton indicated the open panel. 'The human female has gone into the ship. You two go below and alert the crew.' The two Zygons went through into the tunnel, blood dripping from the wounded one's shoulder. Broton closed the secret panel behind them.

  In the tunnel, Harry and Sarah heard voices and movement. They ducked into an alcove, scarcely daring to breath. Sarah peeped out for an instant, and saw the Caber and Sister Lamont coming towards them. Or rather, she thought, their replicas. The real humans were still imprisoned under those sinister transparent domes. She heard their voices as they passed within touching distance.

  'Soon we shall we able to revert permanently to our normal form,' the Caber was saying. Although still in human shape, he spoke in the hissing tone of a Zygon.

  Sister Lamont replied in the same alien voice. 'Good. How I loathe this abomination of a body.'

  The two aliens went on their way. Harry and Sarah waited for a moment then continued their journey towards the surface.

  For the second time that day, the Doctor and the Brigadier drove into the courtyard of Forgill Castle. The stolen UNIT land-rover was still parked in the courtyard. They pushed open the door and entered the hall. Just as before the place was deserted.

  The Doctor saw Sarah's jacket, thrown over a chair.

  'Something's happened to her.'

  The Brigadier noticed a dark patch on the floor by the bookshelves. He bent down and touched it. 'Blood!'

  There was a low hum of power and a section of the bookshelves swung open to reveal Harry and Sarah. Overjoyed at the sight of the Doctor and the Brigadier, Sarah said excitedly, 'We've found the alien base. It's under the Loch, just as you thought. And that Duke we met is an imposter...'

  'What about you two?' asked the Doctor gently.

  Sarah looked at hint indignantly, then remembered how she'd felt on first seeing Harry. The Doctor laughed. He put an arm round both their shoulders. 'It's all right, I can feel you're genuine.' And indeed he could. There was something odd about all the Zygon replicas, a flatness, a lack of human warmth. 'Good to see you again, Harry,' he said, shaking him warmly by the hand. 'Now then, this tunnel leads to the space-ship. I take it—well done, Sarah.'

  Eagerly the Doctor stepped into the passage, and vanished in the darkness. Alarmed, Sarah called out, 'Doctor, be careful...' There was a moment's silence, the sound of a scuffle, then from the blackness of the passage came a fierce shout of rage and pain, in what was unmistakably the Doctor's voice. The Brigadier drew his revolver and made for the passage. Two alien figures appeared, barring his way. He stopped in sheer amazement, never having seen Zygons in their natural shape before.

  Keeping the creatures covered he spoke over his shoulder to Sarah and Harry. 'What the devil are they?'

  'They call themselves Zygons,' said Harry.

  The Brigadier raised his revolver. 'Stand aside or I fire.'

  A voice came from behind him 'If you do, the Doctor dies instantly.'

  All three turned. Broton, also in his Zygon form, was coming down the staircase. 'The Doctor has fallen into my ambush,' he said in a gloating voice. 'We are leaving in our space-ship, and taking him with us.'

  'Leaving for where?' demanded Harry. 'You said you could never return to your own planet.'

  'That is so,' hissed Brown. 'Instead, we shall become the masters of yours.'

  'Indeed,' said the Brigadier coolly. 'How do you propose to do that? It'll take more than a few wrecked oil-rigs to conquer the Earth.'

  'Destroying the oil-rigs was only the beginning. A small trial of strength for the Skarasen. Our real attack is still to come.'

  Snatching a leather document case from the table, Broton crossed to the entrance of the secret passage and stepped inside. 'Remember, any attempt to follow and the Doctor dies!' He disappeared into the blackness and the door closed behind him.

  Sarah and Harry looked at each other in baffled despair. The Brigadier grabbed his walkie-talkie. 'Don't worry, we're not beaten yet.' Within a few moments he was in contact with H.Q. 'Benton, are those depth-charges here? Excellent! I want them at Forgill Castle —and now!'

  Not much later, Harry and Sarah were looking on anxiously as Benton supervised the setting up of a depth-charge launcher on the edge of Loch Ness.

  'I knew those charges would come in handy,' said the Brigadier with evident satisfaction.

  'What about the Doctor?' Sarah asked anxiously. 'He's down there too, you know.'

  The Brigadier sighed. 'I'm not attempting to destroy the ship. I've set the charges to explode high, just to shake 'em up a bit. When they realise we've got 'em cold, they'll come to the surface and surrender. Ready, Mr Benton?'

  Benton nodded. 'Ready, sir!'

  'Right. Fire one!'

  The depth-charge flew through the air and disappeared beneath the surface of the loch. Seconds later they heard the rumble of an under-water explosion.

  'Fire two!' A second depth-charge, a second explosion.

  Deep beneath the waters of the loch, the Zygon ship rocked and shuddered. The Doctor, a prisoner in the control room between two Zygon guards, said affably, 'Feels like my old friend the Brigadier. He does love a nice big noise, you know.'

  'We are attacked,' hissed Broton. 'Prepare for flight.' Zygon hands moved over control nodules and the hum of power rose to a crescendo.

  From the edge of the loch the Brigadier yelled happily, 'Give 'em another one!' Another depth-charge flew through the air to splash into the waters of the loch.

  The Zygon control-room juddered again.

  'Report,' ordered Broton.

  'All damage minor. Main systems functional.'

  'Maximum flight range?'

  'Seven hundred earth miles.'

  Another explosion rocked the ship.

  On the loch side, the Brigadier gave a smile of satisfaction as the rumble of the last explosion died away. 'That should teach 'em we mean business.'

  In the control-room the Doctor looked on with interest as the Zygon crew moved into a final burst of almost panic-stricken activity.

  'Activate dynacron thrust,' screamed Broton.

  The power hum went up another notch, but the Doctor's cheerful voice could still be heard over the din. 'Going somewhere, are we?' he asked cheerfully.

  The Brigadier and his friends watched the still surface of the loch. Suddenly the water began to steam and bubble. The Brigadier nodded in satisfaction. 'You see—they're coming up.'

  And indeed the Zygons were coming up, but not in the way the Brigadier had imagined, like a World War II submarine surfacing to surrender. Looking like a vast, barnacle-covered crab-shell, the Zygon ship broke the surface of the loch like an underwater missile, and shot straight up into the air.

  The Brigadier, Sarah and Harry watched as the strangely-shaped vessel streaked up into the sky and disappeared over the trees. 'Well, Brigadier,' said Sarah grimly. 'What now?'

  For once the Brigadier was lost for words.

  10 Plan for Conquest

  It took the Brigadier only a moment to recover his self-possession. 'Benton! Get the men back into the vehicles. We'll be leaving here straight away.'

  Harry gazed up into the sky trying to catch a last glimpse of the disappearing space-ship. 'Where can they be heading? Broton said their ship was crippled.'

  In the Zygon control-room, Broton snapped, 'Check remar pulsator.'

  'You'll never get this old banger out of earth's gravity,' said the Doctor cheerfully. 'Your dynacron drive's out of phase—listen!' And indeed there was an irregular jarring note in the electronic hum filling the control-room.

  'Silence,' hissed Broton. 'Unnecessary speech is forbidden here.'

  'No wonder your conversation's so dull...' The Doctor knew he'd made a mistake as soon as he spoke. He'd finally driven Broton too far. The Zygon lunged forward, claw-like hand out-stretched, and sent a savage blast of energy through the Doctor that dropped him unconscious to t
he floor.

  Beside the loch, the Brigadier was barking orders into his walkie-talkie. 'That's right, emergency alert to all radar stations. Alien spacecraft heading due south from Loch Ness.

  'Alert Strike Command, but warn them there is to be no attack, I repeat, no attack, until ordered by me. Have my aircraft standing by at Inverness, fuelled for immediate return to London. That is all. Out.'

  The Brigadier jumped into his land-rover, where Harry and Sarah were waiting for him.

  'Brigadier,' asked Sarah, 'Shouldn't we search the castle before we leave?'

  'What for? There's nobody there now.'

  'We might find some kind of clue. Something to tell us where the Zygons have gone.'

  'Or at least what they plan to do,' supported Harry.

  The Brigadier looked dubious. 'Suppose it might be worth a look—just on the off-chance. I've got to get back to Tulloch and co-ordinate things. I'll drop you two off at the castle, if you like.'

  The Doctor recovered consciousness in the little cell that had once held Harry Sullivan. He heard Broton's voice. 'The humans will attempt to follow our course by their primitive radar. Transmit maximum jamming signal.'

  'Yes, Commander.' The other Zygon marched away. Weakly the Doctor said, 'You've been hiding too long, Broton. It's become a habit.'

  Broton looked down at him dispassionately. 'What do you mean?'

  'I thought your plan was to rule the world?'

  'The plan has not changed.'

  The Doctor struggled to his feet. 'Well, there you are then. You can't rule the world if you're in hiding. You have to step out on a balcony from time to time and wave a gracious claw.'

  It was obvious Broton didn't share the Doctor's sense of humour. 'In a few hours,' he said solemnly, 'there will be no more need for secrecy. Have no doubt, Doctor, your world will recognise its new master.'

  A wave of giddiness carne over the Doctor and he leaned against the cell wall. Two Zygon stings in rapid succession had been a bit much, even for his resilient constitution. 'Well, Brown, we shall see what we shall see!' he said feebly. It wasn't much of. a riposte, but it was the best he could manage for the moment.