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and it tilted violently, sending them all skidding across the
sloping deck and into the rear wall. The gigantic craft
vibrated as if it were going to shake itself to pieces and the
noise was so loud that Adric could not hear what Berger
and Briggs were screaming at him, although their faces
were almost touching his. All three tried to crawl back up
the steep slope towards the console, but the deck was far
too slippery and an overwhelming centrifugal force seemed
to be crushing them down.
‘I can’t... I can’t move...’ Adric gasped, fighting for
breath.
As the dreadful howling reached a climax, they stared
helplessly up at the warning lights that flashed urgently all
over the console, until the irresistible force drove their
heads against the cold metal floor.
In the hold, the Cybermen had just begun to gain ground,
trampling heedlessly on their fallen as they surged up the
stairway and onto the walkway above. As the freighter went
out of control, the troopers were thrown forward against
their makeshift barricade; but the Cybermen were
completely disorientated: they staggered and slid all over
the place and then lay immobilised, their electro-
gyroscopic balancing mechanisms utterly ineffective. The
troopers saw
Scott’s mouth opening and shutting in his contorted
face as he tried to shout orders to them, but no sound
penetrated through the cataclysmic roaring and buffeting
of the shuddering spacecraft...
The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan watched in silence as the
image of the freighter faded and reappeared and faded
again on the viewer in the TARDIS control chamber.
‘What’s happening, Doctor?’ Nyssa exclaimed, as the
flickering grew faster and faster.
In a few seconds the freighter’s image had disappeared
altogether.
‘Where’s it gone?’ Tegan cried, her voice breaking with
tension.
‘The freighter seems to have entered a warp spiral,’
murmured the Doctor mysteriously. ‘It’s going backwards.’
The Cyberleader raised his blaster. ‘You will follow,
Doctor,’ he ordered.
The Doctor’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Follow?’ he snorted.
‘Where?’
‘Follow them...’ the Cyberleader rasped threateningly,
‘You will rematerialise the TARDIS on board the
freighter.’
‘That’s quite impossible!’ the Doctor protested, as the
image of the huge craft reappeared on the screen for a
second and then promptly faded again. I’ve got nothing to
lock on to. The freighter’s co-ordinates are randomly
fluctuating—that’s why it keeps fading.’
The towering automaton emitted a sharp, oily sigh.
‘You will do as I command, Doctor.’
The Doctor shrugged. ‘I’ve already told you...’ he
stalled.
Tegan glared defiantly at the Cyberleader. ‘Well, if the
freighter’s going backwards now — the Earth must be
safe,’ she butted in.
The Doctor glanced at the instruments on the console
and then shook his head regretfully. ‘I’m sorry, Tegan,
although the freighter is spiralling backwards in time, I’m
afraid it’s still following the same spatial vectors,’ he
pointed out quietly.
On the viewer, the freighter reappeared faintly.
‘Towards Earth...?’ Tegan asked lamely. The Doctor
nodded.
The Cyberleader bubbled with satisfaction. ‘Excellent,
Doctor, Earth will therefore be destroyed long before it
ever existed in the form you have known it,’ he purred.
Tegan turned to the Doctor, tears welling in her eyes. ‘Is
that true?’ she murmured incredulously.
‘It
is
entirely
possible...’
the
Doctor
admitted
ambiguously.
Just then, the freighter’s image had stabilised on the
screen and it was now sharply in focus again. Far beyond
it, among the brilliant background of stars filling the rest
of the viewer, a tiny bluish-white disc had appeared and
was slowly growing larger.
‘Earth...’ the Doctor whispered, almost reverently.
Speechless, Nyssa and Tegan watched the beautiful,
serene planet glowing in the sunlight.
‘Excellent. Hold this position, Doctor,’ the Cyberleader
ordered, with a hiss of anticipation. ‘We shall observe the
impact from here.’
Studiously avoiding his young friends’ accusing stares,
the Doctor gazed at the screen, his hands thrust deep into
his jacket pockets. His fingers eventually closed round
something sharp and metallic which had been lying there
forgotten: the gold-rimmed star awarded to Adric for
Mathematical Excellence. Every now and then, the Doctor
glanced out of the corner of his eye at the console displays
which showed how far back in time the freighter was
taking the TARDIS as it hurtled inexorably towards the
Earth.
Gradually, the faintest of smiles began to flicker around
the Doctor’s mouth...
10
Triumph and Tragedy
With the memory of the freighter’s ominous death-howl
still ringing in their ears, Adric. Briggs and Berger hauled
themselves groggily to their feet as the cumbersome ship
slowly righted itself again and the vibrations died away.
‘I feel as if I’ve been walked on by an entire army!’
Briggs complained, following the other two over to the
console. ‘What happened?’
‘We accelerated into a time spiral,’ Berger exclaimed,
quickly checking the displays. ‘We’ve travelled backwards
in time...’ she added in astonishment.
‘But that’s impossible!’ Briggs laughed, after a stunned
silence.
‘Don’t you believe it!’ Adric said, tackling the solution
of the second logic code on the main computer.
At that moment Scott ran onto the bridge, followed by
his three surviving troopers who formed a battered and
exhausted semicircle round the entrance, their blasters
aimed at the walkway outside.
‘That was some bump!’ Scott panted. ‘What happened?’
Briggs
sank
into
her
command
seat,
staring
apprehensively at Adric and Berger who worked feverishly
away at the computer. ‘Don’t even ask,’ she sighed, in a
drained voice. She punched a series of buttons in the arm
of the seat and a brilliant star-field flashed onto the main
navigation monitor. In the very centre of the screen glowed
the Earth. ‘Anyway it hasn’t made the slightest difference,’
she muttered hopelessly, gesturing up at the screen. ‘We’re
still bang on course.’
Adric frowned hard at the long sequence of numbers
rapidly appearing on the computer display. Then he darted
over to the code racks attached to the side of the navigation
system and swiftly revolved the discs on the second set.
There was a hum followed by a pause and then a sharp
click.
‘That’s it. The second logic code should be released
now!’ he cried, waving excitedly across to First Officer
Berger.
Berger immediately responded at the controls. There
was an anxious silence while she checked her instruments.
Meanwhile Scott joined his troopers on guard at the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]