felt Polly’s grip on his arm tighten and her distorted scream in his ears nearly deafened him.
Ben took a few steps back, instinctively.
A hideous alien face was staring out at him from under the cowl. Its eyes were wide like a fish’s, unseeing.
It was lying in a mass of dried blood.
IX
‘Come on out, Kay-Deeeeees. I got a mouthful of laser waiting just-for-yooooou…’
‘Shut it, Frog.’ Roba’s gun pointed the way ahead through the darkness. ‘You know, I hate your crazy voice already. If you’re a frog, swallow some of these damned bugs.’ He looked down at her in the gloom, her bulging eyes, stubbly head, her twisted grin. He wondered how she just carried on, as messed up as she was. Then his sympathy snapped into annoyance as she started up her crackling warble again and waved her rifle about.
‘We should take out every one of these bugs, Roba.’
‘You’re crazy.’
‘Every one of them.’ She slapped a hand over a mass of them quivering on the wall, and wiped it down the curve of her hip. ‘Get some numbers on the scanner we can count.’
Roba shook his head again. ‘Why’d I get paired with you?’
‘Just lucky, honey.’
‘
You
ain’t.’
Frog shrugged. The half-smile stayed on her lips as usual.
A few metres later, the tunnel ended in big, bronzed double doors. ‘Bet they lead someplace bad,’ Frog observed.
X
‘What is it, Doctor?’ Ben asked, his voice cracking high in alarm. He turned away from the hideous, glistening head of the thing, sickened.
But before the Doctor could reply, a low rumbling note sounded in the cavern, not carried by the spacesuits’ helmets.
‘There’s air in here,’ Polly realised, holding on to Ben now with both arms. ‘If we can hear something outside the helmets, there must be air, to carry the sound.’
‘Indeed,’ muttered the Doctor. A faint display flickered over the glass of his helmet. ‘Yes, and I believe it’s breathable.’
‘But Doctor,’ Ben protested, ‘you said –’
‘– that there was a vacuum in here, yes,’ said the Doctor irritably. ‘It would seem the situation has changed.’
‘It’s getting lighter, too,’ breathed Polly. The globe of her helmet knocked against Ben’s as she looked around.
Ben swallowed hard. ‘She’s right, Doctor.’ The broken glass above them was glowing now, magnifying the light the Doctor had thrown at the ceiling a hundred times.
Another deep, sonorous tone rang out, and the grating of metal on rock.
Polly looked terrified. ‘What’s happening?’
The Doctor came over to stand beside them, gesturing to the far wall where a pentagonal shape glowed with a cold sodium brightness. ‘It would appear a doorway is opening.’
Ben ripped the helmet from his suit and gulped down musty air. ‘Something’s coming?’
‘Coming to get us!’ Polly breathed as she took off her own space helmet and gripped it tightly in both hands. ‘To get us like it got that horrible thing there!’
‘Perhaps,’ said the Doctor, heavily. ‘And I wonder, did these unfortunate creatures here share in its fate?’
The Doctor was gesturing to a glassy rectangular shape standing on a raised flat dais beside the TARDIS. They’d missed it in the dark. Now, in the rippling sparkle of the growing light, Ben watched transfixed as grotesque nightmare shapes began to form inside the glass. Dark shadows gradually resolved themselves into twisted humanoid figures the same size and shape as the dead thing in the chair.
The space helmet slipped from Ben’s fingers and cracked open on the ground.
He was staring at monsters, frozen in glass at the moment of violent death.
C HAPTER T HREE
D EATH C OMES AS THE E ND
I
THERE WERE NINE of the creatures. They were massive, alien. The heavy lumpen faces were contorted in pain. Each one was dressed in once-white robes now caked black with dried blood.
Ben turned to Polly. She stared at the waxwork-like horrors for a few moments, then screamed.
The door
Ben took a few steps back, instinctively.
A hideous alien face was staring out at him from under the cowl. Its eyes were wide like a fish’s, unseeing.
It was lying in a mass of dried blood.
IX
‘Come on out, Kay-Deeeeees. I got a mouthful of laser waiting just-for-yooooou…’
‘Shut it, Frog.’ Roba’s gun pointed the way ahead through the darkness. ‘You know, I hate your crazy voice already. If you’re a frog, swallow some of these damned bugs.’ He looked down at her in the gloom, her bulging eyes, stubbly head, her twisted grin. He wondered how she just carried on, as messed up as she was. Then his sympathy snapped into annoyance as she started up her crackling warble again and waved her rifle about.
‘We should take out every one of these bugs, Roba.’
‘You’re crazy.’
‘Every one of them.’ She slapped a hand over a mass of them quivering on the wall, and wiped it down the curve of her hip. ‘Get some numbers on the scanner we can count.’
Roba shook his head again. ‘Why’d I get paired with you?’
‘Just lucky, honey.’
‘
You
ain’t.’
Frog shrugged. The half-smile stayed on her lips as usual.
A few metres later, the tunnel ended in big, bronzed double doors. ‘Bet they lead someplace bad,’ Frog observed.
X
‘What is it, Doctor?’ Ben asked, his voice cracking high in alarm. He turned away from the hideous, glistening head of the thing, sickened.
But before the Doctor could reply, a low rumbling note sounded in the cavern, not carried by the spacesuits’ helmets.
‘There’s air in here,’ Polly realised, holding on to Ben now with both arms. ‘If we can hear something outside the helmets, there must be air, to carry the sound.’
‘Indeed,’ muttered the Doctor. A faint display flickered over the glass of his helmet. ‘Yes, and I believe it’s breathable.’
‘But Doctor,’ Ben protested, ‘you said –’
‘– that there was a vacuum in here, yes,’ said the Doctor irritably. ‘It would seem the situation has changed.’
‘It’s getting lighter, too,’ breathed Polly. The globe of her helmet knocked against Ben’s as she looked around.
Ben swallowed hard. ‘She’s right, Doctor.’ The broken glass above them was glowing now, magnifying the light the Doctor had thrown at the ceiling a hundred times.
Another deep, sonorous tone rang out, and the grating of metal on rock.
Polly looked terrified. ‘What’s happening?’
The Doctor came over to stand beside them, gesturing to the far wall where a pentagonal shape glowed with a cold sodium brightness. ‘It would appear a doorway is opening.’
Ben ripped the helmet from his suit and gulped down musty air. ‘Something’s coming?’
‘Coming to get us!’ Polly breathed as she took off her own space helmet and gripped it tightly in both hands. ‘To get us like it got that horrible thing there!’
‘Perhaps,’ said the Doctor, heavily. ‘And I wonder, did these unfortunate creatures here share in its fate?’
The Doctor was gesturing to a glassy rectangular shape standing on a raised flat dais beside the TARDIS. They’d missed it in the dark. Now, in the rippling sparkle of the growing light, Ben watched transfixed as grotesque nightmare shapes began to form inside the glass. Dark shadows gradually resolved themselves into twisted humanoid figures the same size and shape as the dead thing in the chair.
The space helmet slipped from Ben’s fingers and cracked open on the ground.
He was staring at monsters, frozen in glass at the moment of violent death.
C HAPTER T HREE
D EATH C OMES AS THE E ND
I
THERE WERE NINE of the creatures. They were massive, alien. The heavy lumpen faces were contorted in pain. Each one was dressed in once-white robes now caked black with dried blood.
Ben turned to Polly. She stared at the waxwork-like horrors for a few moments, then screamed.
The door
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