Part 35 (2/2)
The gun ran out of rounds. She flung it uselessly at the brute. The monster bellowed in triumph and raised its clawed hand to strike.
'Daniel!' called Victoria.
The claws faltered, dipped slightly, then rose again.
'Daniel! I know you're still clinging there.'
Again the monster faltered. It angled slowly towards Victoria, its clawed hand still raised.
She crossed the floor, walking straight up to the huge creature. 'Daniel. Remember your disciplines.'
The Yeti turned completely, towering over her. She faced up to its gaze. Its hand came down in a strange human gesture of contemplation, tapping at teeth it did not have in its colossal head.
From the floor close by came Christopher's burst of mocking laughter.
The Yeti started to growl.
'Daniel,' Victoria repeated quietly. 'What do you seek?'
The creature stirred uneasily, but its attention was held.
Victoria thought back to Tibet. An ancient lama had once asked her that question. Whatever else had happened since, the answer she had given had been undeniable.
'Daniel. Remember the disciplines you have learned.
Remember your inner strength. We all have it. You among all of us are strong. Above all things, remember the Truth.'
She felt the stirrings of his mind trapped inside the thing he had become. It was all confusion. There was guilt and sorrow and terrible pain. More than anything, she recognized a will to survive, not to give in. There was a single thought that she heard repeatedly. It said, I want to fly away.
'Remember what we are taught, Daniel,' she said. 'Fight the evil. Remember the sword that cuts through the thorns of deceit. Be the Sword of Truth, Daniel. Cut yourself free.
Remember.'
The Yeti stirred again. Its claws started to rise.
'Daniel!' scolded Victoria.
A face slid in from the side. 'You're dead, Danny boy!'
sneered Christopher.
A rage erupted in the Yeti. It roared its fury. Victoria ducked clear as the monster went berserk, flailing and thras.h.i.+ng in the air. Fighting an invisible force. Fighting inside itself.
Christopher did not move fast enough. The Yeti s.n.a.t.c.hed at him, catching him in a monstrous bear hug.
'No, Daniel!' pleaded Victoria. 'Not him! Destroy the generators!'
The Yeti tossed Christopher's broken corpse aside. Still enraged, it was casting wildly about for anything on which to vent its confusion.
'Here!' Victoria called, pointing to the control consoles.
The Yeti bore down on her instead.
'Daniel!' she shouted. 'The Truth!'
The creature reeled in despair.
Sarah suddenly charged out of nowhere, cannoning into the Yeti with all her might. Caught off balance, the huge creature toppled sideways onto the console.
There was an eruption of smoke and sparks. In the heart of it Victoria could see the Yeti striking repeatedly at the disintegrating machinery.
The whine of the generators began to pitch down.
No longer. He couldn't hold the shrieking sphere off any longer.
The Brigadier saw the cadaver that had once been Professor Edward Travers lunge wildly at Kate. Smoke was seeping out of its clothes. The corpse swung at her with its stick, blocking her path to him.
'Access denied!' declaimed its tortured voice. 'Access denied!'
The pyramid on the stone plinth suddenly fell apart in an eruption of sparks. The globes scattered across the square around him like a break on a snooker table.
The beams from the roof pyramid flickered and died.
The UNIT Captain slumped to the ground like a discarded puppet. Two Yeti at the top of the steps swayed and tumbled forward, reeking of smoke.
The attacking sphere lost all of its will. Lethbridge-Stewart tossed it contemptuously aside and struggled to his feet.
The Travers body was casting about in the detritus of its perdition. 'I am not defeated!' it croaked.
The Brigadier marched towards it, ready to show it the door. 'Leave our world alone.'
' My My world!' Travers's arm rose up to strike like a Yeti. The Brigadier caught it by the skinny wrist. It was hot as a fever world!' Travers's arm rose up to strike like a Yeti. The Brigadier caught it by the skinny wrist. It was hot as a fever burning up.
Eye to smoking eye.
'You're not wanted here. Go back to h.e.l.l. Back where you came from!'
The Intelligence in Travers darted its eyes around the arena.
Everywhere the Chillys were standing, pulling off their headphones. The Children of the New World, Children of the Old Earth, eyes ablaze with the power it had unlocked in them.
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