Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace (2 page)

All he really wanted to do was build sandcastles.

Leaving the Doctor alone on the beach, Ben, Polly and Jamie started to climb up the side of the volcano. At first it was easy-going, the only problem being the loose shale which would slip under them and throw them back a few feet. They were on the point of giving up when Jamie noticed what seemed to be a wide natural pathway which wound its way up the side of the crater. They began to follow this. Along the way the rocky ground was pitted with potholes, and more than once Polly narrowly avoided trapping her foot. She kept quiet about it though: Ben would have a field day if he caught her complaining.

The side of the volcano was not particularly high or steep and after about forty-five minutes they were more than halfway up. Pausing for breath, Ben pointed down to the tiny figure of the Doctor on the beach. He seemed to have abandoned his attempts at building sandcastles and had rolled up his trousers and was paddling about in the water, dancing a little jig.

Jamie shook his head sympathetically. ‘Are ye sure yon Doctor’s quite right in the head?’ he asked.

Ben laughed. ‘With the Doctor you can never be too sure. He likes to enjoy himself, that’s all –’ Suddenly he felt Polly clutch his arm. ‘What is it, Duchess?’

Polly indicated a point some ten feet below them where the pathway twisted out of sight around the side of the volcano. ‘Down there, Ben,’ she said apprehensively. ‘I’m sure I saw something move...’

Ben peered down, squinting in the light of the sun which reflected off the water far below. ‘You’re round the twist, Pol,’ he scoffed. ‘There’s nothing there at all!’

‘I tell you I saw something move,’ she insisted.

‘It was probably only our shadows on the rocks.’ Ben’s tone had softened the moment he had seen that Polly was obviously quite upset. He turned to Jamie. ‘Do you see anything, mate?’

Jamie’s keen Highland eyes peered down. He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Nothing.’

‘You see,’ said Ben, ‘there’s nothing there. You must have imagined it.’

Polly bit her lip. Ben was probably right, she reasoned.

After all, who else would be on this deserted piece of volcanic rock, miles away from anywhere? Their height and position on the rock face gave them an excellent view of the bay and the surrounding area; nowhere was there any sign of habitation. She managed a half-hearted smile.

‘If you say I’m behaving just like a girl I’ll push you off this ledge, Ben Jackson,’ she threatened.

‘Come on, let’s get a move on,’ he said. ‘I want to see the top of that volcano. The view from there is going to be fantastic.’

As the three friends resumed their leisurely ascent, none of them noticed the figure which detached itself from the cover of a sheltering rocky overhang and continued its silent pursuit of them...

Within another half-hour the three companions were almost at the summit of the volcano. When they reached a large open outcrop of rock, Polly, who had been lagging behind, sat down determinedly on a large stone, and massaged her aching feet. ‘Can we stop for a breather?’ she pleaded.

‘But we’re nearly there!’ complained Jamie, realising once again that he would never really understand girls.

‘Look, Ben and I will go on. You wait here.’

‘Oh no –’ Polly began. She still hadn’t forgotten her earlier suspicion that they were being followed.

‘We won’t be gone long, love,’ Ben reassured her. ‘We’ll be back before you know it.’

Polly slowly nodded her head. ‘All right... but please be careful.’

‘There’s nothing to fret yourself about, Polly,’ Jamie said. ‘I’ve climbed higher hills than this back home in Scotland.’

With a cheery wave Ben and Jamie continued on the path to the summit, leaving Polly alone.

Idly she wandered over to the edge of the outcrop and looked out to sea. She was about half a mile above sea level and had a good view all around her. They seemed to be on the largest in a chain of islands set like teeth in the gaping maw of the ocean. Some of the ‘islands’ were little more than large rocks and none of them showed any sign of life.

A sudden noise behind her made her turn. ‘Who’s there?’ she asked. No reply came.

Warily she ventured forward and noticed for the first time, half-hidden by a pile of rocks, the mouth of a cave set into the side of the volcano. Curiosity overcame caution and she ventured inside.

The cave was huge and must have been hollowed out of the volcanic rock centuries ago. The ceiling was high, reaching up almost to the top of the volcano; pot tunnels let bright shafts of light into the otherwise gloomy interior.

At the far end of the cave Polly saw the dark entrance to a tunnel which she supposed must lead into yet another cave.

A few fragments of broken pottery littered the floor and as Polly bent down to pick some up her eyes were caught by the paintings on the wall. Excited, all her fear now forgotten, she stood up to examine them more closely.

They were painted in bright colours, unweathered by the passage of time, and their elaborate style seemed strangely familiar. Polly thought back to school trips spent at the British Museum but she could not place the period.

There were pictures of warriors wielding swords and spears, and ladies in long flowing dresses, their tresses tightly tied back, waiting for their husbands to return from the wars. Alongside them was the motif of a large fish-like creature, its jaws wide open as though it was preparing to swallow the figures up; this design was repeated all over the wall.

So absorbed was Polly in the cave paintings that she never even heard the figure which crept up behind her until it was much too late.

Outside on the face of the volcano Ben and Jamie heard the sound of Polly’s screams as they split the quiet afternoon air. Leaping back down onto the pathway, they scrambled down to the rocky plateau where they had left her a few minutes ago. For the first time they too noticed the cave entrance and rushed inside. Polly was nowhere to be seen.

‘She must be here somewhere,’ said Ben. ‘She can’t just have vanished into thin air.’

Jamie darted over to the far side of the cave, his eyes attracted by something lying by the mouth of the tunnel.

He picked it up: it was Polly’s scarf.

‘She must have gone down there,’ he said.

Ben peered down into the gloom of the tunnel. It seemed to be a natural fissure, possibly created by the volcano’s last eruption centuries ago, and was wide enough for several men to walk abreast. It sloped downwards.

Although the walls of the tunnel glowed with a weird phosphorescence Ben and Jamie could only see a few feet in front of them.

‘Come on, Jamie,’ said Ben, leading the way down into the tunnel. ‘Let’s hope the Doctor was right when he said this volcano’s extinct!’

For about five minutes Ben and Jamie stumbled on down the tunnel, calling out Polly’s name but receiving no reply apart from the eerie echo of their own voices. As they made their way down they too noticed that the walls of the tunnel were covered with the some motif that was in the cave: a huge fish swallowing up people.

The tunnel eventually levelled off and Ben and Jamie found themselves at a set of crossroads off which there led three different tunnels.

‘Now where?’ groaned Jamie.

‘I don’t think we’ve got much choice in the matter,’ said Ben. ‘Look.’

Facing them, and seemingly having appeared from out of nowhere, stood five steely-eyed figures. Dressed in what seemed to bean elaborate sort of armour made of seashells and wearing plumed helmets on their heads, they pointed long tridents at Ben and Jamie.

Ignoring Ben and Jamie’s protests and without saying a word, the guards forced their captives down one of the tunnels and into yet another cave. Dominating this cave was a large cage, attached to a wheel and pulley system which hung from the roof. In appearance it was similar to the cages used in coal-mines with the exception that the closely-set vertical bars of this cage made it a very effective prison cell. The cage dangled over a large gaping pit which obviously led down into the heart of the volcano.

Prodding Ben and Jamie with their tridents, the silent guards pushed the two men into the cage and locked the door behind them. As they became accustomed to the darkness they saw another figure crouched in the corner of the cage.

‘Polly!’ cried Ben, rushing to her side. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I think so,’ she said. She had obviously been crying and her mascara was smudged. But who are those men?’

‘Search me. They didn’t say a word to us. Foreign, more than likely.’

They all turned as the door to the cage clanked open once again. The Doctor was unceremoniously pushed in to join them and the door slammed shut behind him.

‘So they got you too?’ he said and added mournfully:

‘They wouldn’t even let me take my bucket and spade..’.

‘Never mind about that now,’ said Jamie. ‘Where are we?’

‘Somewhere deep inside the volcano in a network of natural caves and tunnels, I imagine,’ said the Doctor. ‘It’s really all quite fascinating. Did any of you notice those cave paintings?’

‘Yes,’ said Polly. ‘The same fish motif repeated over and over again. Just as if it was trying to tell us a story –

Doctor, what’s happening?’

The wheel and pulley overhead gave an ear-splitting screech and began to turn. The cage started to swing sickeningly from side to side.

‘It’s all right everyone,’ the Doctor said calmly as the others tried to keep their balance, ‘I think we’re about to go down. Hold tight.’

Sure enough, the cage began to descend into the pit, at first slowly and then faster and faster.

‘First floor electrical goods,’ muttered the Doctor who seemed to be taking it all in his stride.

‘Where are we going?’ asked Polly.

‘Perhaps we’ll find out soon.’

‘Wherever it is it must be a long way down,’ said Ben.

‘We must be below sea level already,’ said the Doctor, finding that he had to shout to make himself heard above the din of the lift mechanism and the rush of air. ‘I wonder how far this thing goes down.’

‘Doctor, it’s getting difficult to breathe,’ said Jamie. ‘I don’t feel very well either,’ said Polly.

‘Now don’t be frightened, anybody,’ said the Doctor.

‘It’s only the effect of the increased pressure. It’ll pass soon.’

But the Doctor found he was talking to himself. Polly and Jamie were out cold, knocked unconscious by the increased pressure, and Ben’s eyelids were flickering shut too. As the lift sped ever faster into the bowels of the Earth the Doctor felt his own consciousness slipping slowly away too.

Then everything went black.

2

The cage came to a surprisingly gentle halt in a large stone chamber. As Ben’s eyes opened and came into focus the first thing he saw was the Doctor sitting cross-legged on the floor of the cage, playing a whimsical tune on his recorder. The next thing he saw was that the door to the cage was opened. He tried to stand up, but the world was still spinning sickeningly around him.

‘It opened automatically the minute we touched ground,’ the Doctor said in answer to Ben’s unspoken question and then indicated a metal door set in the far wall of the chamber. ‘That door, however, is still locked. No doubt someone will come to release us when they’re ready.

They wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble otherwise.

Now, you’d better see to Polly and Jamie.’

Ben shook his two companions awake. ‘Come on, rise and shine!’ he said with a cheeriness he did not feel.

Jamie opened one reluctant eye, and then another. ‘I feel like I’m dead,’ he groaned as he struggled into a sitting position and adjusted his Highland regalia and kilt. ‘I certainly wish I was...’ he said as he felt his head pounding.

The last time he’d felt like this was when he had tasted his laird’s best malt for the first time at a Hogmanay festival.

‘You’re not dead, old son,’ smiled Ben. ‘You’ve just got a touch of the submariners, that’s all. We must be miles below ground now, under the sea.’ As he helped to rouse Polly, he indicated the room in which they now found themselves. ‘It’s some sort of decompression chamber,’ he explained to Jamie whose only response was a look of blank incomprehension.

Ben turned to the Doctor. ‘Who do you reckon those geezers who put us down here were, Doctor?’

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. ‘Troglodytes,’ he suggested.

‘What?’

‘Troglodytes,’ he repeated. ‘Ancient tribes from North Africa who used to dwell in caves.’ The Doctor didn’t sound too sure. ‘Of course, that’s only one possibility,’ he admitted and began rummaging in his capacious pockets for his diary.

‘Did you hear that, Jamie?’ said Ben. ‘Cavemen! You’d better watch it: with that kilt you might be mistaken for a girl!’

Jamie gave Ben an evil look which could have decimated the entire English army.

The Doctor flicked through the pages of his diary, trying in vain to decipher his own atrocious hand-writing.

‘Of course, we might not be in the right time period,’ he said, and frowned as he tried to read a passage which was partially concealed by a very large ink blot. ‘It’s very difficult to put a date on these people.’

‘I don’t think it is,’ announced Polly. She had risen shakily to her feet and had been wandering around, picking her way through the rubble which lay all about the chamber.

‘All right then,’ challenged the Doctor. ‘When?’

Polly affected an air of academic nonchanlance. ‘Oh, I’d say about 1970,’ she said airily.

Can you prove it?’ asked the Doctor, his eyes narrowing.

‘Yeah, go on, Polly,’ said Ben. ‘Prove it.’

‘
Voilà!
’ With all the smugness of a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat she handed a small broken pot she had found to the Doctor.

‘How very interesting,’ muttered the Doctor as he studied the pot closely, like an antique dealer trying to assess the value of an object. ‘Aztec... fake, of course.’

‘How can you tell, Doctor?’ asked Ben.