Part 22 (1/2)

He scrambled up through the hatch and down the tattered fuselage.

'Nearly there,' said the Doctor.

He turned to O'Brien.

'Davey,' he said. 'I'm going to need to get this out of here somehow.'

O'Brien looked troubled.

'I can't begin to stress how important it is.'

'In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose. I deserve to get shot and if I survive this lot, that's probably what they'll do to me. What did you have in mind?'

'Wait until the soldiers are fully engaged down below and take advantage of the confusion of battle. Major Collins trusts you. You will have to get it away. We will follow as quickly as we can.'

'Now hold on, Doc... you heard what I said to Collins. I'm a soldier.

We're attacked, I stay and fight.'

'You'll make brigadier one day with thinking like that,' said the Doctor dryly. 'Captain, the fabric of the dimensions is splitting, and this is the only piece of equipment on the planet that is capable of 110 repairing it. Without this machine we're lost.'

They were interrupted by Major Collins's noisy entry through the hatch.

'What's happening, sir?' O'Brien asked.

'Seems there's about a dozen o' them, said Collins. 'They just came out of the woods. Straight-ahead charge smoke bombs, grenades, tracer, and I'd say they've got some kind of special night-vision goggles. They're well armed and well trained and fast. Special Forces, obviously. Up against them we're about twenty in total, and carrying only light arms. They were just out looking for him.

The Doctor smiled apologetically.

'They've cut the road off... we're trying to get reinforcements, but they're jamming our radio. A couple of men got out through the fence and into the woods. They should be able to raise the alarm.'

'If they ever get out of the forest,' mused the Doctor, rubbing his ankle. It was swelling badly now, and he feared to put any weight on it.

Another reason he needed Davey O'Brien.

'But even then,' Collins continued, 'there are maybe another fifteen, twenty troops in the compound and that's it.'

'Against a dozen Russians?' O'Brien chortled. 'No sweat!'

'You haven't seen the way this lot fight, said Collins. 'I've never seen anything like it. They've got most of our men pinned down in the outbuildings. Caught them by surprise, moved like lightning.'

His final words were drowned by a sickening bang that echoed around the big metal building. It shook. Several panes in the gla.s.s roof broke and fell in. There was a hot blast of air, and the shrieking, shuddering, grating of torn metal. The mighty hangar doors lay twisted, all but torn from their hinges. The enemy swarmed in.

McBride's eyes were starting to get used to the blackness. Either that, or they were starting to play tricks on him. Vague shapes emerged, then vanished again in uncertainty. He'd spent enough time snooping around in the pitch black to know the eye plays tricks, but the ear? He was sure he could hear the faintest of noises.

He was beginning to think he wasn't alone in the darkness. He groped along the wall for a light switch. It was big, the room. Huge.

And it stank.

His hand closed on a hefty switch and he threw it.

Nothing. The darkness continued unabated. Obviously not the light switch. He fumbled on.

Then he stopped. Just for a second a dull flicker of light, a spark, had faintly and briefly penetrated the darkness, somewhere up at ceiling 111 level. There was another. A momentary low, electrical buzzing. He could detect a whiff of ozone in the air.

More than that, the still of the room seemed to have been stirred. He was certain now he could hear something. Slight movement. The rustle of fur.

The room really did reek.

McBride's blood chilled. He was locked in with one of the animals.

He froze he didn't know what to do.

Keep still... don't make any sound.

h.e.l.l, animals could see in the dark. They could smell him. He was already lunch.

He definitely heard something now. The hollow clatter of cheap Metal, somewhere up around the ceiling, a brief, harsh electrical buzz, and a momentary faint red glow above him.

And something else. There was more in here than just him and some faulty wiring. A huge bulk was s.h.i.+fting, sc.r.a.ping along the floor, yawning.

That settled it. Whatever was in here was ma.s.sive. He had to find a way out.

The hums and pops overhead were more frequent now. There were more sparks too. And more definite sounds of animal movement.

Whatever was in here, there was more than one of them...

He stopped. His legs were up against something soft. Warm.

Breathing. It turned over and stretched itself - a huge arm buffeting the side of McBride's head, knocking him to his knees.

It was an ape. A big one.

It stood up. There was a sort of crack from the ceiling, and a shower of sparks that briefly lit the beast's face. A gorilla.

McBride could smell the ozone again, even against the rank, stale animal miasma that surrounded him. It reminded him of the Underground trains. Electricity.

The animal tossed its head and drew itself up to its full height.

Another cascade of sparks.

McBride scuttled away from the beast, away from the walls and into the black maw of the huge enclosure. He wasn't sure where the door was any more even if he knew how to open the cage from the inside.

There were more electrical exchanges above his head they seemed to be happening all the time now, all around the room. And there was more movement a slow, hesitant stirring all around him. Giant shadows were shuffling slowly all around him, as if in a monstrous, slow, silent dance.

They seemed barely aware of him. He edged around the sounds, constantly moving to avoid the invisible giants. More than once he b.u.mped into a wall of coa.r.s.e fur and muscle.

112.