Doctor Who_ Tenth Planet Part 9

Cutler's expression changed immediately. 'Look, girl,' he said quietly, 'I've a personal stake in this emergency. My son has been sent up in a s.p.a.ce craft, and you saw what happened to the last one!'

Polly looked at him for a moment, and then looked away. 'I'm... I'm sorry,' she mumbled.

The General nodded: 'That's O.K. Don't apologise. Just remember.'

One of the radar technicians suddenly cried out: 'General C-C-Cutler.' Everybody turned.

'Yes, what is it?'

'Strong signal on the early warning, sir. Unidentified signal.'

'Well identify it, man!'

'Well it's...' The radar technician looked confused and pointed to the screen in front of him. 'See here, sir, there are hundreds of them.'

'Hundreds of what?' asked Cutler, striding over to him.

The radar technician pointed to the circular screen-it was covered with little flecks of light.

'Travelling eastwards,' he continued. 'There see?' He indicated with his pencil. 'At an alt.i.tude of two thousand miles.'

'Yeah, I see them,' said Cutler. 'But what are they?' 's.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps. Maybe up to 250 s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps, flying round the equator in formation!'

9 Z-Bomb Alert!

'What!' Cutler stared hard at the radar technician. He swallowed visibly under the General's gaze, but nodded affirmatively. 'Then,' went on Cutler, 'that means only one thing-more Cybermen ! '

He turned to Dyson and Barclay. 'Have you made contact with Zeus Five Zeus Five yet?' yet?'

'We're still trying, General,' said Dyson.

He looked across at the Radar technician, who called, 'Coming through now, sir.

Snowcap to to Zeus Five Zeus Five. How do you read me?'

A new voice cut in on the R/T system, alert and confident. ' Zeus Five Zeus Five to to Snowcap Snowcap- loud and clear.'

Cutler stiffened at the sound of his son's voice, but gave no other visible sign that its owner was more than just another astronaut on a routine mission.

'Are you experiencing any power loss?' Cutler's hand reached for another cigar, nervously twisted it between his fingers for a minute, and then, Polly noticed, carefully replaced it in the box.

Again the voice cut in over the R/T system. 'Hey, that's a voice that sounds familiar..

Cutler moved forward in his chair. 'I repeat-any power loss?'

Terry Cutler's voice, recognising the note of command, lost its flippant edge. 'Yes, sir, there's some loss of power when I'm in orbit on the same side of Earth as this new planet. It picks up again on the far side,though. I guess I'm s.h.i.+elded there. Say, what happened to Williams and Schultz?'

Cutler's face set into a mask. The eyes of all his men were on him. 'You won't be docking with them. They... er... had some trouble. Our main priority now is to get you down.'

The atmosphere in the Control Room had now gone very quiet. There was no reply over the R/T system-the astronaut was pondering the implications of what his father had said.

Then, as if to get his son's mind off the fate of the other two men, Cutler's voice broke in. 'Son, we have signals down here of a large formation of s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps. Can you see anything up there?'

After a moment's pause, Terry's voice broke in disbelievingly, 'Is that some kind of gag?' And then, as if the astronaut remembered to whom he was speaking, he continued.

'No, sir. I've nothing to report so far.'

Again Cutler leant forward, speaking almost directly into the mike. 'They're on your orbit, some thirty miles below you.'

'Check!' Again a slight pause, then, 'No, still nothing to report. It's pretty black down there.'

'Keep your eyes skinned and report any sighting immediately-O.K.?'

'Roger, sir.'

'Take care, boy. We'll get you down as soon as we can.' Cutler switched off the R/T mike and turned to the a.s.sembled men.

'As I see it, we have three major problems: one, my son has been sent on a foolhardy mission into s.p.a.ce, and we have to bring him down. Two, we can expect another visit from these s.p.a.ce creatures. Three, that planet Mondas is draining energy from Earth.'

'There is nothing we can do about any of those things.' Dyson, who had said the words almost to himself, suddenly remembered that he had spoken them to the astronaut's father.

Cutler shook his head. 'You're wrong, Mr Dyson. We can do plenty. We can destroy Mondas!'

'But that's impossible!' Barclay broke in. 'Impossible is not in my vocabulary, Dr Barclay.'

'How do you propose to do it then, General?'

'We'll use the Z-bomb.'

After a long silence, Barclay voiced the general feeling. 'But you can't do that!'

'I can--and I will! '

'What about the radiation effect on Earth?' asked Dyson.

'That's a chance we'll just have to take.' Cutler picked up the cigar he had previously discarded. Polly, standing close by, noticed that his hand was no longer trembling. The opportunity for action must have steadied his nerves.

'What exactly is the Z-bomb, General?'

Cutler turned to answer Ben's question. 'It is a bomb that could, if rightly timed, split this planet of ours right in half. Two or three of them are positioned in strategic points around the globe. We have one, and the means for delivering it-square on Mondas ! '

Dr Barclay still seemed unable to grasp the full implications of the General's decision. 'You can't use the Z-bomb unless you have instructions from Geneva.'

Cutler sneered. 'Don't worry, fella-I'll get instructions, right here and now.'

He walked across to the R/T console. 'Get me Geneva!'

In the International s.p.a.ce Headquarters, a broad blue band-marking the flight line of the Cybermen s.p.a.ce fleet-was inching its way across the surface of the large illuminated wall map. Glowing red dots dotted about the world indicated possible landing sites. Wigner, the strain and tension now showing in his sweating face, was still in icy command of the situation.

The R/T communications man spoke up. 'General Cutler, sir.'

'O.K. Put him through.'

'Mr Secretary?'

'Yes, General?' Wigner leant back in his chair. 'The expected attack-they've been sighted in force.'

Wigner nodded wearily: 'We're getting reports. They're coming in from all parts of the Earth. To make matters worse, the energy drain is increasing rapidly.' He looked down at another batch of teletyped messages which had been thrust in front of him. 'General, you must hold on as best you can.'

Cutler spoke crisply and confidently. 'I think we can do better than just hold on, sir.

I'd like permission to take offensive action against this planet.'

Wigner raised his eyebrows. 'What action?'

'The Z-bomb-mounted in the warhead of the Demeter rocket. It's powerful enough to explode Mondas completely.'

Wigner glanced towards his aides-they included scientists, soldiers and two top international civil servants. Without the slightest hesitation, each man shook his head.

Wigner turned back to the console. 'No-we can't take the risk. It might have disastrous effects on Earth's atmosphere! Before taking any action like this we would have to consult our top scientists-which would take time.'

'Respectfully, sir, we're too late. We've already run out of time. This is an emergency.'

'Precisely.' Wigner's thin lips set firmly as he recognised and resented the slighty contemptuous inflection in the General's voice. 'We must know exactly what we are doing.'

'No, sir. No time. We will have to take the chance.'

'Listen to me, General. You must take no precipitous action. And that's an order! It is quite out of the question at the present time.'

Wigner and his aides waited for the expected out-burst at the other end of the line-but it didn't come.

But Cutler's voice when it came back to them seemed gentler, more concilatory: 'O.K., Mr Secretary, I understand.'

Wigner relaxed slightly in his chair.

'But, sir...'

'Yes, General?'

'I do have your authority to take any action that may seem necessary to stop the Cybermen?'

'Yes, General, all I.S.C. military commanders have that authority. You must do all you can.'

'Thank you, sir.'

The general reaction in the Snowcap base was one of relief that Cutler had accepted his superior's decision.

Polly even felt a small sprig of sympathy as Cutler, his shoulders bowed, walked back to his seat at the console. Wigner's decision, whatever it may have meant for the world at large, must surely have meant the end of Terry Cutler. But Polly's sympathy soon vanished as Cutler, a slight smile on his lips, began to speak with. as much arrogant confidence as before.

'O.K., gentlemen. Prepare to start the count down.'

'B... but,' Barclay stammered slightly, voicing the general bewilderment, 'surely you haven't got the authority to use this Z-Bomb. The Director-General just said so!'

'What you heard, Dr Barclay, was Secretary Wigner authorising the use of any step necessary to stop the Cybermen.' His jaw set. 'So get moving!'

There was a moment's silence as the men looked at the General irresolutely. Ben spoke up. 'Yeah, I bet that didn't include using the Z-bomb, though, did it?'

Cutler rose to his feet: 'Those are my orders.'

Ben turned to Dr Barclay : 'Go on, you're the expert, tell him he can't use that bomb. We'll all go up with it!'

Cutler glared at them for a moment, and then spoke quietly, menacingly.

'Ever since you came into this base, you and the old man have tried to poke your noses into things that are not your business!' He turned to the guards. 'Take them out of here and lock them up.'

Polly turned to the Doctor. During the preceeding activity, he had been slumped in a chair by one of the consoles, his eyes looking down at the desk, his face giving no indication of his thoughts. What could be the matter with him?

Polly grasped his arm. 'Are you all right, Doctor?' The Doctor nodded. 'Yes, child.'

'Then please, please,' she continued, looking desperately round as the guards started to make their way across the room, 'say something.'

The Doctor looked up tiredly and called over to Cutler. 'General! Just a moment.