Doctor Who: The Sea-Devils (14 page)

Captain Hart went into Trenchard’s office, lifted the ’phone and realised that the dial was padlocked. ‘Find some tools,’ he called to his driver, ‘and get this padlock broken.’

‘Allow me,’ said the Doctor. He produced his sonic screwdriver and destroyed the little padlock.

‘What on earth is that gadget?’ asked Hart, as he started to dial.

‘It isn’t from Earth,’ said the Doctor.

Jo asked, ‘Why didn’t you use it when you wanted to ’phone before?’

The Doctor answered her quietly, ‘I hardly think Mr. Trenchard would have approved.’

Captain Hart was talking to the Naval Base. He asked for ambulances to be sent to take away the dead prison officers. Then he listened intently as he was told something by the person he was speaking to. When they had finished he replaced the ’phone and spoke to the Doctor. ‘The submarine has been traced, leaving here and making straight for the oil-rig.’

‘The Sea-Devils must have taken it over,’ said Jo.

‘No doubt,’ said Captain Hart, clearly sceptical that lizards could be in command of a British submarine. ‘It has now disappeared from the radar screen again close to the oil-rig, so that means it’s submerged.’

‘Then there’s only one course open to us,’ said the Doctor. ‘Can you provide me with a diving-bell?’

‘Whatever for?’ asked the captain.

‘Somebody has got to go down there and try to make contact with these creatures,’ said the Doctor.

Jo watched as Naval ratings prepared the diving-bell. It was a huge cylindrical object, the shape of an oil-drum but large enough to carry two or three people. Right now it hung suspended a few feet above the deck of the special diving-bell mother-ship. They were anchored about two miles out at sea, exactly over the last point where the submarine was traced by sonar.

The Doctor and Captain Hart came along the deck. The Doctor smiled when he saw Jo. ‘The captain’s still trying to convince me that I shouldn’t go down.’

‘You’re not a trained diver,’ said the captain.

‘But I
am
a scientist,’ said the Doctor. ‘So what I don’t know I should quickly learn.’ He called to the petty officer in charge of the preparations. ‘Ready for me, yet?’

‘Ready we are,’ said the petty officer. ‘Will you climb in now, sir?’

‘Gladly,’ said the Doctor. He turned to Jo. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back in no time.’ He gave a wave to Captain Hart then climbed into the hole at the bottom of the diving-bell. As soon as the Doctor was inside, ratings slammed home a stout metal hatch that covered the hole and pulled tight clamps all round it. The Doctor’s face appeared at one of the little observation portholes in the side of the bell, and smiled down at Jo. She waved, not with great enthusiasm.

‘Ready on the winch,’ called the petty officer.

The diving-bell hung from a deck crane. First this was swung round, so that the bell now hung over the sea. Then the sailor at the winch pulled a lever: a drum of coiled metal rope started to turn, and the diving bell slowly descended into the sea. Jo went to the side rail to watch as the bell touched the water, sank into it, was visible for a few moments through the water, then disappeared altogether.

‘You’ll get cold here,’ said Captain Hart. ‘Come into the communications cabin. We can chat to the Doctor by telephone.’

Jo followed the captain along the deck and into a small cabin filled with electronic equipment. The captain sat himself at a desk and switched on a loudspeaker and microphone. ‘
Hart speaking,
’ he said into the microphone. ‘
Can you hear me all right?
’

‘
Extremely well,
’ came the Doctor’s voice. ‘
There are some fish here taking considerable interest in me.
’

‘
You must make a pleasant change for them,
’ said the captain. ‘
Life down there must get pretty monotonous.
’

The Doctor did not reply.

‘
Are you all right?
’ asked Captain Hart.

The Doctor’s voice replied clearly.
‘Fine. But I was looking through the porthole. I thought that I saw something. How deep am I?
’

‘
You’re on rapid descent,
’ said Captain Hart, ‘
so you’re almost at sea-bed now.
’

Again, no reply. Captain Hart smiled to Jo, and Jo smiled back.

‘Must give him a chance to look through the porthole,’ said Captain Hart after some seconds had passed. ‘Like a cup of tea?’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Jo. She waited a few more seconds. ‘Hadn’t you better check if he’s all right, again?’

‘Suppose so,’ said Hart. He turned back to the microphone. ‘
What did you think you saw, Doctor?
’

No reply.

‘
Doctor,
’ said Hart, ‘
are you still hearing me all right?
’

No reply.

Jo went to the microphone. ‘
Doctor! Will you please answer!
’

Silence.

Captain Hart jumped up and hurried out of the cabin, Jo following. By the time she had caught up with him, he had issued the order for the diving-bell to be winched up at fastest possible speed.

It took five minutes, with the winch drum turning at top speed, before the diving-bell came burbling up through the water. The crane arm was swung inboard, and then the winch operator gently brought the diving-bell down to within a few feet of the deck. The petty officer and his ratings tore at the clamps holding the hatch. The moment the hatch fell open, the petty officer poked his head up inside the diving-bell. Then he withdrew his head and turned to Captain Hart.

‘It’s empty, sir,’ he said. ‘The Doctor’s vanished.’

11 ‘Depth Charges Away!’

When the forlorn Captain Hart and Jo returned to the captain’s office at the Naval Base, it was to find a portly gentleman seated at the desk having a very hearty breakfast.

‘Robert Walker,’ he announced himself, holding his hand across the remains of bacon-and-egg to be shaken. ‘Parliamentary Private Secretary.’

‘How do you do,’ said Captain Hart, a little surprised to find his office being used as a restaurant. He introduced Jo, but Walker took no interest in her.

Walker explained that the Government had put him in complete charge of the situation. He buttered toast and added to it rough-cut marmalade while Captain Hart reported on the loss of the submarine and now the mysterious disappearance of the Doctor.

‘There’s no question as to what must happen now,’ said Walker, his mouth full of toast. He was about to say more, but Jane Blythe hurried in with a pot of fresh coffee and that took all of Walker’s immediate interest. ‘Thank you,’ he said, opening the lid to peer inside. ‘It still doesn’t look very strong to me.’

‘I’ll take it back to the steward if you wish, Mr. Walker,’ said Jane.

Walker raised his hand in protest. ‘This is a time of emergency, a time when we must all make sacrifices. Weak coffee will have to suffice.’ He turned back to Captain Hart. ‘Where was I?’

‘You were just about to butter that bit of toast,’ said Jo, pointing to some uneaten toast.

‘And you were going to say,’ said Captain Hart, ‘what must happen now.’

‘Ah yes,’ and Walker started buttering more toast. ‘This is a time for an all-out attack. In your absence I, on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government, have ordered a fleet of ships and planes to the centre of the trouble. We shall totally exterminate the monsters that you described in your report to the Minister.’

Captain Hart was shocked. ‘The submarine is down there—and the Doctor too, if he’s still alive.’

‘As I said earlier,’ Walker went on, ‘we must make sacrifices.’ He looked over to Jo. ‘Could you pass me the marmalade, my dear?’

The Doctor and the Master stood side by side facing the Chief Sea-Devil. They were in the main hall of the Sea-Devils’ vast underwater shelter. The walls, doors, and even what furniture existed were all made of iron. The Chief Sea-Devil sat on an iron throne, flanked by his guards.

‘This is our planet,’ said the Chief Sea-Devil. ‘My people ruled Earth when Man was only an ape.’

‘I know what happened,’ said the Doctor. ‘I have met your people before, in caves in another part of England. You feared that the arrival of another smaller planet, coming towards Earth from Space, would make life on the surface impossible. So you built these shelters. But the smaller planet did not harm Earth; it went into orbit round it, and is now the Moon.’

The Chief Sea-Devil nodded. ‘For that reason our temporary hibernation was prolonged by millions of years. ‘This oil-rig’—he pointed upwards—‘has awoken us. Now we intend to reclaim what is rightfully ours.’

The Master spoke up. ‘With my help you can do that! Mankind will be destroyed or enslaved.’

‘Is it not better to try for peace?’ said the Doctor. ‘Why not share the planet with Man?’

The Master laughed. ‘Don’t listen to this person, I beg you. Man is busily exterminating every other species on the planet. Can you deny that, Doctor?’

The Doctor could not deny the truth. ‘Man has been foolish. It is true that many species have been wiped out—’

‘The dodo,’ cut in the Master, ‘the passenger pigeon, the great auk, the blue buck, marsupials in Australia... In the first seventy years of this century, humans have totally destroyed more than seventy species!’

‘I admit that,’ said the Doctor. ‘But Man can learn.’ He turned back to the Chief Sea-Devil. ‘Allow me to return to the surface, to arrange peace between you and Mankind.’

‘If you release him,’ said the Master, he will return with ships that can drop underwater bombs to destroy you. The Doctor is your most deadly enemy. I urge you to kill him now!’

The Chief Sea-Devil raised his green scaly hand. ‘We appreciate your friendship,’ he told the Master, ‘but you speak too much. I must now think.’

The lids of the Chief Sea-Devil’s eyes slowly closed, and for a full minute he seemed almost to be asleep. As he thought he gently rocked forwards and backwards. Then the eyes opened again. He was looking at the Doctor.

‘You will negotiate a truce between my people and the humans,’ he told the Doctor. ‘We shall return you to the shore unharmed.’ He signalled to his guards. ‘Prepare the capsule.’ He referred to the pod-like capsule into which the Doctor had been drawn from the diving-bell.

‘I warn you,’ shouted the Master, ‘you are throwing away the control of this planet. These humans will never make peace with you—’

The Master’s words were drowned by the sound of a huge underwater explosion close to the Sea-Devils’ shelter. It was followed by another and then another even more violent explosion that rocked the shelter. One of the Sea-Devils went to an electronic screen set in the metal wall, and turned it on. The screen showed twenty or more little blobs of glowing light. He pointed to the screen. ‘Ships on the surface above us. The humans are attacking us.’

‘You see,’ said the Master. ‘This is what the humans are really like.’

The Chief Sea-Devil stood up, gripping the arm of his metal throne as more explosions rocked the shelter. He pointed at the Doctor. ‘Take him away and kill him!’

Sea-Devil guards immediately gripped the Doctor’s arms to drag him away.

‘Listen to me,’ called the Doctor, but already he was being dragged out of the main hall.

The Chief Sea-Devil issued orders. ‘Send our best swimmers to the surface. Destroy each of these ships. Let no human sailor survive!’

The guards were about to carry out the order, but the Master called: ‘No! Wait. The humans will retaliate by dropping underwater bombs from their flying machines, and against that you have no defence.’

There were three more violent explosions, dangerously close now.

‘Would you have us killed?’ asked the Chief Sea-Devil.

‘There is a better way,’ said the Master. ‘To help revive the rest of your people from hibernation, I need time. We can gain that if we make the humans believe they have won. Send to the surface one dead member of your species. That will convince the humans that their underwater bombs have been successful, and they will go away.’

‘None of my people have been killed,’ said the Chief Sea-Devil.

The Master looked round at the guards, finding it difficult not to smile. ‘Then you will have to arrange that, won’t you?’

His arms pinioned behind his back, the Doctor was dragged from the main hall by two Sea-Devil guards. As they went down a long metal corridor, no doubt to the Doctor’s place of execution, the explosions outside shook the shelter so badly that a metal plate fell from the roof and knocked out one of the Sea-Devils. With one arm free, the Doctor was able to spring loose from the other guard. The surviving guard raised his raygun to fire, but already the Doctor had grabbed the raygun of his fallen comrade. The Doctor fired first. The surviving guard survived no more, and fell dead next to his unconscious companion. The Doctor sprinted down the corridor and quickly found himself in what seemed to be the penal section of the shelter. Lieutenant Ridgway and Sub-Lieutenant Mitchell stared at the Doctor through the bars of a cage. ‘Who the blazes are you?’ asked Lieutenant Ridgway not without reason.

‘We’ll leave the introductions till later,’ said the Doctor. ‘Now stand back.’

He aimed the Sea-Devil’s raygun at the lock of the cage, and pressed the control button. The lock disintegrated into liquid metal. Ridgway and Mitchell were free.

‘Those explosions,’ said Mitchell, ‘they’ve stopped.’ It was true. There hadn’t been a detonation for at least two minutes.

‘Well let’s not stop and chat about it,’ said Ridgway. ‘We’ve got to find the sub. I think it was this way...’

Ridgway led the trio down a maze of corridors, trying to recall how he and Mitchell were brought to the cage. Because Ridgway was now the pathfinder, the Doctor gave him the Sea-Devil’s raygun.

‘The sub was drawn by some force into a kind of underwater harbour,’ said Ridgway, as he turned down another corridor. He stopped dead. At the end of the passage was a Sea-Devil, its back turned to them. ‘What do you think is the range of this raygun?’ he asked the Doctor.

‘I’ve no idea,’ said the Doctor.

‘Well,’ said Ridgway, ‘it isn’t very gentlemanly to shoot a fellow in the back, but here goes.’ He aimed the raygun, pressed the control, and the Sea-Devil leapt into the air then fell heavily.