The Ice Warriors (12 page)

‘You know what Arden is like,’ he replied cheerfully – ‘full of scientific curiosity…’

‘I think we should find out,’ suggested the Doctor, again reaching for the video.

‘If you don’t mind,’ replied Clent, reaching the controls first, ‘I’ll handle this.’ He adjusted the controls and spoke crisply into the machine. ‘Base to Glacier Task Force –
Leader
Clent calling Scientist Arden. Arden, do you read me!’

There was no response other than the harsh surge of static. The videoscreen was blank. Clent frowned, and spoke again more brusquely. ‘Arden – answer me! Arden!’

The Doctor’s mouth tightened. ‘Something
is
wrong…’ he muttered. ‘I’ll never forgive myself if anything’s happened to those two youngsters.’

Jan entered briskly, still smiling from Clent’s achievement. Her face fell when she saw the two men staring anxiously at the faintly nickering videoscreen. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

‘No reply from Arden.’ Clent tried to brighten the gloom. ‘At least we’ve made the breakthrough with the Ioniser!’ He beamed at the Doctor. ‘The World Director assured me that there’ll be suitable… recognition for all the members of our little group! We’ve got that machine under complete control at last!’ But his face fell at the Doctor’s reply.

‘What a pity we shan’t be able to use it then.’

Clent and Miss Garrett looked at him blankly for a moment – then the truth of his statement sunk in.

‘You’re forgetting that Arden hasn’t yet completed his mission,’ the Doctor continued. ‘And until we know the facts about that alien spaceship, we daren’t go on!’

Penley had watched the ambush in the ice cave with horror. Minutes after the aliens had retreated into the doorway in the ice, dragging the girl with them, he had managed to pull himself together enough to scurry silently across to the two crumpled bodies. To his astonishment, he had found
that
Jamie, partly protected from the warriors’ deadly fire-power by Arden’s body, was still alive! Summoning up the strength to drag the lad’s limp form to the waiting airsled, he had brought him back to Storr’s hideout. He could do nothing to save the girl – but as he sped back to safety, his mind raced. What was behind the door in the ice?

Storr’s immediate reaction to Jamie was predictable and fierce. ‘Why bring him back here?’ he growled. ‘Another mouth to feed.’ But he changed his tune when Penley showed him the spoils he had brought on the airsled: food, a first-aid kit, and sleeping bags. He listened, frowning, to Penley’s description of the cave and the door set into the ice.

‘It has to be a spacecraft of some kind! And big enough to hold six of those hulking brutes – as well as the girl!’

Suddenly, Jamie groaned, and half-opened his bloodshot eyes. ‘Where… am I?’ he whispered hoarsely.

‘Never you mind,’ growled Storr. ‘Somewhere safe…’

‘You’re suffering from severe shock, lad,’ soothed Penley. ‘Take it easy.’

‘What happened? Where’s Arden?’ Jamie’s eyes flicked nervously from Storr to Penley.

‘Dead,’ replied Penley quietly. ‘You were both shot down by the warriors. He got the worst of it.’ He frowned, remembering that horrific moment. ‘Some sort of ray gun, I’d say.’

‘So we failed then…’ Jamie murmured bitterly.

‘Came to rescue the girl – is that it?’ demanded Storr.

Jamie tried to sit up, his eyes bright. ‘Have ye seen Victoria? Is she alive?’

The effort was too much and he fell back – but Penley’s words eased the pain. ‘Yes, she’s alive all right – but you just take it easy, lad.’ His face looked grave. ‘She’s a prisoner.’

‘Then we’ve got to save her!’ exclaimed Jamie. ‘Help me – please!’ He began to slip back into unconsciousness.

‘We’ll discuss it later,’ soothed Penley.

Storr looked from the prostrate boy to Penley, who shook his head solemnly.

‘I don’t know what his chances are, Storr,’ remarked the scientist. ‘As for the girl…’ He looked down at Jamie sadly, ‘there’s nothing
we
can do…’

Inside the spaceship, Victoria was waiting for her opportunity. Although still feigning unconsciousness, she was now sharply alert and determined to escape. She had to know if Jamie was alive or dead – and somehow she had to let the Doctor know about the aliens and the plan she had overheard them discussing earlier.

‘Will there be more Earthlings, Commander?’ Zondal had asked, obviously only too ready to kill again.

‘Not yet,’ Varga had replied. ‘If more come, we know we can destroy them. If no others seek this girl, then we know they are too few to resist us.’

‘Let us kill her now. It will make no difference!’

‘No! We may need her voice to lure them here.’ The majestic head had nodded towards the complex machinery. ‘You have a more urgent task, Zondal: the propulsion unit – we need it to break free of the ice.’

The warlord had then held up the portable power pack he had removed from the radiation detector unit outside
after
killing Arden. ‘This may help us,’ he hissed, and strode across to the compact machine section out of Victoria’s line of vision.

Now, at last, she was alone. All the other warriors were preparing the spaceship for action – and the way to the airlock was clear. As long as she remembered how to work the controls! Stealthily, she crept towards the door. Her hand brushed the sensor control. With the faintest of whispers, the door opened, then shut automatically after her. Inside the airlock, she quickly found the outer door control. At her touch, it opened – and she was free!

But her immediate plan was to find Jamie. She ran to where he and Arden had fallen – and froze in shock and amazement. Jamie was gone! Her face softened at the sight of the geologist’s body – but she had no time to lose. With a simple gesture, she covered the dead man’s face, then looked wildly about her. Jamie couldn’t have been killed after all – but he might well be injured or severely wounded. She had to find him! But she saw the deep grooves in the snow – as if a heavy object had been dragged away – perhaps by a wild animal, she speculated with a shudder.

Just then her eye fell on Arden’s dead wrist, and her heart jumped. His wrist-video! If she could only make it work! It could make contact with the Base – and the Doctor! With a silent apology to the dead man for the necessary theft, she quickly eased the device from his already stiffening arm. Scurrying into the shelter of a spur of ice that hid her from the Martian spacecraft, she studied the tiny controls. To her delight, there was only one – the device must be pre-set.

‘Doctor – Leader Clent – Miss Garrett!’ she cried in an urgent whisper. ‘This is Victoria! Please – somebody answer me!’

She wasn’t to know that her every move was being watched by Varga and Zondal on the spaceship’s video system, and that even her whispered call for help was being picked up and relayed clearly to the vigilant warlord. He laughed coldly.

‘The girl has courage,’ he hissed, ‘but she is stupid to think that we would not watch her every move.’

‘She will betray us, Commander!’ declared Zondal. He pointed to the sonic cannon that could operate from the side of the ship at the touch of the button beneath his cruel fist. ‘She must be destroyed!’

‘No, Zondal,’ ordered the warlord. ‘Let her talk first. There are things we need to know.’

Just as Victoria was about to give up in tearful frustration, a small burst of sound came from the tiny communicator. The familiar face of the Doctor appeared on its screen.

‘Victoria! Where are you?’ he asked frantically. ‘Are you all right? Where’s Jamie – and Arden?’

Gulping back the tears that threatened to overcome her, Victoria briefly described the situation. ‘I don’t know where Jamie is – but Arden is dead!’ She took a deep breath, trying to thrust that terrifying memory from her mind. ‘It was the Ice Warriors. They have a terrible weapon – a sort of ray gun.’ Her voice began to rise hysterically; she tried desperately to control her shaking hands. ‘Doctor – they’re from Mars! They’re vicious – ruthless!’

Clent’s cool voice cut across her panic, and brought her
under
control once more. ‘Keep calm, girl!’ he rapped. ‘We must have facts! Tell us about the spaceship! Quickly!’

A sudden wave of anger swept over Victoria. She almost shouted at the calm face which stared back at her from the tiny video. ‘Don’t you understand? They’ve killed Arden, and Jamie’s disappeared! Don’t you even care?’

‘Of course we care, Victoria,’ came the Doctor’s gentle reply. ‘But we need to know something about that spaceship’s propulsion unit – it’s vital.’

‘Propulsion unit?’ queried Victoria blankly.

Clent’s face reappeared; his voice was sharp. ‘Engines, girl – engines!’

‘Oh, I see…’ answered Victoria tiredly. ‘I think they’re repairing the engines now.’

‘What kind are they?’ demanded Clent urgently. ‘Reactor turbine – ion jet – anti-gravity? Think, girl!’

Before Victoria could answer, a mighty shudder shook the ground, bringing a flurry of ice down from the excavated ceiling, and knocking Victoria breathless to the floor.

‘Victoria – what’s happening?’ came the Doctor’s voice. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes, I’m all right, Doctor…’ she replied. ‘It’s the glacier – we’re right inside it, and it’s moving all the time!’

‘The engines, Victoria—’ broke in Clent’s demanding tones, ‘for heaven’s sake, tell us about the engines!’

‘Give me a chance!’ protested Victoria. ‘I’m trying to think!’

But Varga had heard enough. With a curt gesture, he ordered one of the warriors to the airlock door.

‘She must say no more. Turoc, bring the girl in here – quickly!’

Zondal turned to his commander. ‘It would be easier – and quicker – to kill her now.’

‘You do not understand, Zondal,’ breathed Varga harshly. ‘There are questions she must answer! Why are the Earthlings so interested in our engines? Why are they afraid?’ He turned away from the viewing screen for a moment and looked thoughtfully back towards the engine room. ‘We must have these answers, Zondal,’ he hissed – ‘and quickly!’

In that brief moment, if he or Zondal had been watching, they would have seen Victoria’s tense reaction to the opening of the door in the ice. She spoke quickly into the communicator, and prepared to make her escape. ‘There’s someone coming from the spaceship. I’m going to have to run for it!’

‘Try to get back to Base, Victoria!’ urged the Doctor – but Victoria was no longer listening. With a tightening of her throat, she realised that the Ice Warrior now standing in the open airlock was cutting off her escape route out of the cave and down the hillside to the Base. Turoc paused and, turning in a slow arc, activated his radar detector. As it started to pulse, Victoria looked desperately about her and, without further hesitation, took her only escape route – through the tunnels that led deeper into the glacier…

Turoc had not seen her swift escape from the cave – but his finding device registered an alien presence moving through the maze of ice grottoes beyond the spaceship. He followed with great crushing strides, smashing his way into
the
main tunnel, the finding device guiding him relentlessly on. Ahead of him, running and clambering desperately over the debris of fallen ice, Victoria looked for an escape route that would take her out of the mountain of ice and into the open snow. But whichever way she turned, the Ice Warrior was behind her, driving her further and further into the heart of the glacier. She stumbled; her heart sank. There was no escape – she was trapped!

Clent turned bitterly away from the blank screen, and ground his fist into the palm of his hand. ‘It’s hopeless! We know nothing! We’re helpless!’ He turned on the Doctor, who was dialling a chemical formula on the automatic dispenser. ‘What on earth are you doing? There’s no time for playthings!’

‘The position isn’t good, I agree,’ mused the Doctor. ‘Jamie has vanished. Victoria is on the run. And we still don’t know anything useful about that spacecraft’s propulsion unit, do we?’ The machine delivered two small phials into his waiting hand. He smiled. ‘Perhaps this will help.’

‘Ammonium sulphide?’ asked Clent in astonishment. ‘You’re crazy!’

‘Am I really? Think a moment, will you? We know these aliens are from Mars. What do we know of their planet’s atmospheric conditions? Mmm?’

It was Jan who answered, just as puzzled as Clent. ‘It’s chiefly nitrogen, with virtually no oxygen or hydrogen.’

‘So they wouldn’t enjoy sniffing this little mixture, would they?’

Clent looked intrigued, though not convinced. ‘You
don’t
mean you’re going to use this stuff as a form of toxic gas!’ He paused. ‘And anyway, how do you propose to get it to them?’

‘I’ll take it myself. Oh, I’m aware we’ve lost Arden already – but I know what to expect, remember. He didn’t.’ He smiled at the two innocent-looking phials, one in each hand. ‘That’s why I’m going prepared.’

Clent glared at him furiously. ‘I refuse to let you go! I dare not lose any more personnel!’

‘My dear chap, I’m not even on your pay roll. The Ioniser will work very well without me – and after all,
someone
has to identify that alien propulsion unit, don’t they?’ He paused and grinned. ‘Who better than me?’

‘Very well, Doctor – on your own head be it. I agree – but strictly under protest!’

‘Thank you. I hoped you’d see it my way; Now – a small matter of communication!’

Jan produced a wrist-video, demonstrating it as she strapped it on to the Doctor’s wrist. ‘This is identical to the one that Victoria was using,’ she explained.

Clent looked amazed. ‘Is that all you’re taking?’ he gasped, indicating the wrist-video and the two phials.

‘There’s nothing else I need, is there?’ replied the Doctor innocently. ‘What do you suggest?’

‘Weapons, man!’ Clent exclaimed. ‘Those warriors are armed!’

‘But I’m not going there to fight a duel. That isn’t what I’ve got in mind at all.’

Clent stared at him blankly. What was this ridiculous man up to now? As though the question had been asked
aloud,
the Doctor promptly supplied the answer. ‘

I’m going to let them take me prisoner.’