Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace (13 page)

‘Are you sure it’s going to work?’

‘Well, let’s keep our fingers crossed, shall we?’

‘What if it doesn’t?’

‘Oh, we’ll probably all be blown sky high, together with the island and half of the Atlantic Ocean, I dare say,’ said the Doctor cheerfully. ‘Now we have to find our way to Zaroff s laboratory. He’ll be feeling the effect of this little lot any time now!’

Professor Zaroff was once again venting his fury on his long-suffering technicians as they brought him reports and read-outs bearing impossible figures.

‘This reading must be wrong, you idiot!’ he said as he handed a computer print-out back to one of the technicians. ‘I’ll check it myself.’

He crossed over to a board of meters, and his face blanched. ‘It can’t be possible,’ he said. ‘That’s all we need now – a radiation leak! But where is it coming from?’

Hand in hand and with Jamie leading the way, Polly and Jamie edged their way carefully along a narrow ledge which teetered precariously over an abyss. At the far end of the ledge was the mouth to another tunnel which Polly hoped would take them out into the network of caves where Zaroff’s Power Complex was to be found. At least that’s what Ara’s map had said – she thought.

‘I told you – don’t look down!’ Jamie hissed as Polly tried to draw his attention down into the abyss and at the same time very nearly made him lose his footing.

Polly ignored him. ‘Look,’ she said wonderingly. ‘That wall down there – it’s glowing..

Indeed it was. A soft light, which was however more brilliant than the phosphorescence of the walls, suffused the rock face. The noise from Zaroffs power plant was much louder here and the vibration from it was already dislodging small stones and shards of rock.

‘What is it?’ asked Jamie.

‘It could be radiation.’ It was the only explanation Polly could think of.

‘What’s radiation?’ asked the eighteenth-century Scotsman.

‘Radiation? Well, it’s – it’s too difficult to explain now,’

she said feebly. ‘Look, the walls are beginning to crumble –

it must be all that vibration.’

‘But the sea’s on the other side of that wall,’ said Jamie, remembering the map Polly had thrown away. ‘If that gives way...’ He gulped and began to move more quickly along the ledge. ‘There must be a way to higher ground.’

With fear quickening their pace they hurried along the ledge and reached the mouth of the tunnel safely. It was little more than three feet high which meant that they would have to crawl along it on their hands and knees; but it did seem to move slightly upwards.

The Doctor’s sabotage of Zaroff’s reactor had been successful and the increased surge of power was already causing the narrow ledge along which they had walked to crumble away into the abyss. The sickening vibration pounded inside their heads, making them nauseous.

Opposite them the wall glowed even brighter.

Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion and an ominous rumbling. More and more rocks began to skitter down the walls.

‘What’s that?’ cried Polly nervously above the noise.

‘It’s giving way!’ shouted Jamie, pointing down at the opposite wall. ‘The sea’s breaking through!’

10

In the cave where Ara, Sean, Jacko and King Thous had paused to rest in their flight, the sound of the sea breaking through in the tunnels below filtered through as a low eerie rumbling. All around them panic-stricken Atlanteans, warned by Ara, scrambled past, heading for one of the narrow tunnels which would lead them to the surface and safety.

‘It most be the Doctor,’ said Sean. ‘He’s started to flood Atlantis. The sea’s breaking in.’

King Thous sadly turned his face away so that no one would see the tears in his eyes. ‘So... to raise Atlantis from the sea was but the dream of a madman after all...’

Ara hushed him. ‘Rest, Excellency,’ she said. ‘Don’t speak.’

‘Rest,’ repeated Jacko. ‘And you’d best forget all about that now and look to the future. That is,’ he added gloomily, ‘if we have any future.’

‘I suggest it’s time to make a move,’ said Sean. ‘There’s no telling how quickly or how far the water’s going to rise.

The sooner we reach the surface the better.’ Taking Thous’s arm he and Jacko helped the King to his feet and they began to make their way once again through the mass of fleeing shouting Atlanteans. As they did so, a hand touched Sean’s shoulder. It was Damon.

‘Thanks for warning me,’ he said.

Sean waved his thanks aside. ‘We’re all in this together now.’

‘How is my poor country, Damon?’ asked Thous.

‘Water has already flooded most of the lower levels and the mines,’ said the surgeon. ‘It will only be a matter of time before it reaches the temple and the laboratory.’

‘And my people?’

‘Safe – for the moment. Once they heard the sea walls breaking those who had ignored the warnings began fleeing for their lives. Most of them are taking the main shaft up to the surface. Many other routes have been blocked by rockfalls. Only those faithful to Zaroff have elected to remain.’

‘And what of Lolem, the High Priest?’

Damon shook his head. ‘He is nowhere to be found; he is either dead already or he has joined the priests who were seen going to the temple to pray to Amdo.’

‘They are lost then,’ said Thous sadly. He looked pityingly at his people as they ran wildly past him to the exit tunnels. ‘Heartbreaking,’ he said. ‘A life’s work washed away... The great enemy held at bay for so many centuries... the everlasting nightmare here at last... We must start again, Damon.’

‘Look,’ said Sean practically. ‘If we don’t get a move on and get to high ground we’re all going to be turned into fish food. We’ve still got a long way to go!’

Bruised and dirty and with their clothes muddied and torn, Polly and Jamie emerged from the narrow tunnel through which they had been crawling into a small cave.

Polly looked around the gloom despairingly.

‘It’s a dead end, Jamie,’ she said woefully. ‘We’ve got to go back – there must be another turning.’

Jamie shook his head. ‘No, I looked for one on the way up. Besides, would you listen to the sound of that water?

We’d be drowned if we went back down there!’

‘But what can we do?’ Polly was beginning to sound hysterical. ‘We’ve got to get out of here somehow!’ Jamie indicated the flame of his torch. It was flickering slightly,

‘See that? There’s a draught. There must be a way out somewhere!’

His eyes searched the small cave until he finally found what he was looking for: a small gap set high in the cave wall. ‘That’s what we’ll follow,’ he said. He bent down to give Polly a lift up. ‘And cheer up, we’ll be out of here in no time at all.’

Polly smiled weakly. Little did she know that Jamie’s brightness was only an attempt to keep her spirits up.

Jamie knew full well that there was little chance of getting out of this place alive.

All activity in the laboratory was now focused in channelling the power from the generating station into the drill head. Zaroff had even cancelled any investigation into the radiation leak. All that mattered now was for the drill head to reach penetration point and for the bomb to drop successfully and crack the Earth’s crust.

But there was a slight unease in Zaroff s voice as he spoke to his men. The Doctor’s continued absence still worried him: if he had caused the radiation leak what else could he do to interrupt his great plan?

‘No one will leave this place,’ he commanded.

‘Everything will go according to schedule except that now the time of detonation will be advanced.’ He crossed over to his work place and indicated a control console. ‘The whole project will be activated by me from this control point,’ he said and then dismissed his audience. ‘That will be all until zero minus five. Return to your work.’

As the white-coated scientists and technicians moved back to their instruments there was a small commotion at the door and a tiny voice piped up: ‘Good day, I hope I’m not too late...’

Zaroff spun around furiously to see the little figure of his hated enemy in the doorway. The Doctor was beaming at him, as though he were greeting a long-lost friend, which infuriated Zaroff even more.

‘There is the man who has been trying to sabotage all our plans!’ he cried out. ‘Make sure he doesn’t leave us now!’

In a flash the black-suited guards had seized the Doctor and Ben.

‘How very nice of you,’ the Doctor said with heavy sarcasm. ‘So nice to make your guests feel comfortable.’ He looked around the laboratory, at the technicians by their controls, and at the speechless fuming Zaroff. ‘Oh dear,’ he said with mock regret. ‘I’m afraid I’ve interrupted something terribly important, haven’t I? You were just on the point of exploding your little fire-cracker, weren’t you?’

Zaroff said nothing but continued to stare hatefully at his rival. The Doctor continued to affect an air of comradely concern. ‘I do hope you’ve let these gentlemen into your big secret.’

A mutter of concern arose among the assembled scientists and technicians who had been watching the comic figure of the tramp with amused interest. Noting this, Zaroff said evenly, ‘Naturally. They share everything with me.’

‘Naturally,’ said the Doctor. ‘They can’t help themselves, can they? They must be devoted to you to allow you to blow them all to pieces..

‘What is he talking about, Professor?’ asked one of the technicians worriedly.

Zaroff stammered as he searched for a credible answer.

‘Oh dear, have I dropped a brick?’ asked the Doctor, aware that he had, in fact, dropped several. His words and Zaroff’s guilty silence had unnerved the scientists who began talking among themselves in nervous whispers.

Even the guards’ grips on the Doctor and Ben slackened a little. ‘I seem to have shaken them somewhat...’ remarked the Doctor. Then his naive tone hardened into an urgent warning: ‘Zaroff, I think you ought to know that the sea has broken through and is about to overwhelm us!’

‘Don’t listen to him! The man lies!’ screeched Zaroff, not knowing whether the Doctor was telling the truth or not, concerned only with retaining the loyalty of his wavering supporters.

‘Then perhaps the distant roaring we can hear is just the goddess Amdo with indigestion!’

‘He’s right!’ said a technician. The rumbling increased as the sea smashed its way through the broken sea walls and into the lower levels of Atlantis. Panic grabbed the scientists and guards and as one they left their work and ran out of the laboratory, making for higher ground away from the threat of the encroaching waters.

Zaroff called after them, stomping his foot in ineffectual anger. ‘Don’t be fooled!’ he cried. ‘Cowards! Traitors!’

‘Time is running out, Zaroff,’ said the Doctor evenly.

‘Hadn’t you better call it a day?’

For a moment the two scientists stared at each other, their eyes locked in a desperate battle of wills. Then Zaroff slowly drew out his gun from under his tunic and pointed it at the Doctor. But Zaroff had failed to consider Ben who pounced on him from the side and knocked the gun out of his hand before he could fire a shot.

With an angry snarl Zaroff pushed Ben away and ran over to his work area, slamming his hand down on one of the controls on the console. Instantly a huge transparent screen slid down from the ceiling, separating the Doctor and Ben from the scientist and his controls. Ben bashed with his fists against the screen but it was no use; the screen was made of the hardest plastic.

Zaroff laughed at the thwarted faces of the Doctor and Ben on the outer side of the screen. ‘You see,’ he crowed; ‘I have anticipated every situation. There was always the possibility that someone would try and keep me from my destiny. No one can break through this screen, and all the controls are on this side.’ He indicated a set of instruments near the bank of computers. ‘All I have to do is press that plunger there when the level of that countdown display reaches zero and then
bang!
’ He laughed and tears began to stream down his face. ‘I tell you this so that you may share in the last great experiment of Zaroff! Hahaha!’

‘Crikey,’ said Ben. ‘He’s off his rocker.’

‘I know,’ said the Doctor and looked anxiously at his watch. ‘We’ve got to get him out of there and get to those controls. We’ve not much time left...’

‘But what can we do?’ asked Ben and glanced over to the water tank behind him. ‘How’s about getting at his pet octopus? That would get him out, wouldn’t it?’ he asked in all seriousness.

‘Ah yes, the Neptune factor...’ said the Doctor and shook his head. ‘Not now. He’s too close to success – he won’t let anything stop him now.’ He pointed out the countdown display to Ben; it read 550 and was de-creasing by the second.

‘Can’t we cut off the power or something?’

‘Nothing can stop Zaroff now!’ cried the scientist. ‘Even if you could close down the power in the generating station you could not deprive me of the power I need to activate my bomb. That is controlled from here!’

Ben looked to the Doctor for confirmation of Zaroffs claim. Slowly the Doctor nodded his head – Zaroff was telling the truth. When the countdown reached zero he would be able to explode his bomb with ease.

The cold awful truth dawned on the Doctor and Ben.

Short of a miracle nothing could stop him now; Zaroff had won after all.

11

‘It’s no use, Jamie. We’ll never make it,’ cried Polly, her eyes brimming with tears. ‘We’re never going to get out of here!’

‘Of course we are,’ Jamie reassured her firmly. ‘One more minute and then we’ll be out of this, you’ll see.’ Polly shook her head in despair. The dark oppressiveness of the tunnels through which they had been climbing was taking its toll on her. ‘And another and another and another...

Jamie, don’t you see, we’re buried alive!’

She broke down into an uncontrollable fit of sobs. Our of desperation Jamie slapped the hysterical female across the face. That shut her up.

‘Now come on, Polly,’ he said gently. ‘There’s still a chance. Get up and follow me...’