Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace (7 page)

‘You won’t want to come back, mate,’ Sean said cheerfully. ‘If we do they’ll shoot as on sight! Now come on!’

As Sean had said, the tunnel widened out after a while and by the light of the two torches they were able to make quick progress. The tunnels were natural and not man-made, and seemed to move upwards.

After they had climbed for about twenty minutes the tunnel split into two, forking off in two different directions.

Ben groaned. ‘Which way now?’ he asked.

‘Does it matter?’ said Sean. ‘They both seem to be going up – probably to the main part of the city. One way’s as good as another.’

‘Let’s go about fifty paces up each tunnel and then turn back,’ suggested Jamie. ‘Jacko and I will take the high road.’

‘Which leaves me and Sean with the low road, I suppose,’ quipped Ben.

No one laughed at the puny joke. They all realised that if both of the tunnels led to a dead end they could be entombed underground in the darkness forever.

As the Doctor ran for his life down winding passageways he reflected miserably that he seemed to spend most of his time running from one danger or another. The danger this time was Damon and his guards whom he had been unable to shake off and who were even now close on his heels.

His prime object if he managed to lose his pursuers was somehow to stop Zaroff’s mad scheme, and then to find and rescue Polly, Ben and Jamie. A quick glance at the instruments in Zaroffs laboratory had told him that there was not much time left before the drill would penetrate the Earth’s crust. If he could not halt Zaroff’s Project within the next eighteen hours, then the ocean would be drained into the core and the entire planet split asunder. The only problem was: how could he stop Zaroff when it seemed that he had the whole of Atlantis on his side?

So absorbed was he in his meditations and his attempts to escape the guards that he failed to notice Ara who had just left the secret chamber behind the statue of Amdo and had stolen through the temple into the passageway outside.

They crashed into each other, and very nearly frightened themselves out of their respective skins.

Recovering himself, the Doctor recognised the girl and indicated that they should hide themselves in the shadows behind one of the huge fluted pillars which lined the passage leading to the temple. The guards were too close behind for comfort.

‘Where’s Polly?’ he asked in concern.

‘Safe,’ Ara assured him. ‘I’m bringing her some food and clothes.’

‘Well done. Now where can I find your Chief of State?’

‘In the Council Chamber. But why –’

‘Isn’t it obvious? I need to talk to him.’

Ara simply couldn’t understand why the Doctor should want to expose himself to even further danger. ‘He’ll just hand you back over to Zaroff,’ she said.

‘I’ll have to take that chance,’ determined the Doctor, and then told her to remain silent as the squad of guards led by Damon entered the passage and made their way to the entrance of the temple. Damon ordered his guards to remain outside and wait for him while he entered the temple alone. Unlike Zaroff he still respected the religion of his forefathers and had no wish to offend the priests by entering their place of worship with a squad of guards.

The Doctor and Ara held their breath as he passed close by their hiding place, but so intent was Damon on his mission that he failed to notice them.

As Damon pushed open the doors to the temple he was greeted by one of the priests. He was dressed similarly to Lolem, although his lack of expensive jewellery indicated his lower rank. Unlike Lolem he was slim and had a full head of hair and a short beard. Whereas Lolem exuded an air of sybaritic ostentation, this priest seemed more suited to a monastic life of self-denial.

Damon cast a quick eye past him and into the temple; apart from a few priests at their prayers the temple was empty. Satisfied that the Doctor wasn’t there, he turned to the priest. ‘Keep an eye out for escaped prisoners, Ramo,’

he said and described the fugitives. ‘The two young men are still in the mine’ – Damon was unaware of their recent escape – ‘but the girl and the Doctor are still at large. But we will find them; they cannot get away.’

Ramo allowed himself a wry smile. ‘And what does the great Professor Zaroff think about all this?’

‘He’s furious, of course,’ replied Damon, relaxing his guard with the priest who he had known for many years. ‘It could upset his plans.’

‘He should not have interfered with the temple sacrifice,’ Ramo said. It was clear from his tone that he believed that Zaroff had bought all his troubles on himself.

‘You’ve always hated him, Ramo. Why?’

‘He’s a destroyer,’ Ramo said. ‘He appeals to all that is base in our people. His own people cast him out of their society. I say we should do the same. He should never have come to Atlantis.’

‘I could report you for this, you know,’ Damon warned him.

‘You could,’ agreed Ramo, ‘but I don’t think you will.

Because deep down you feel the same. But Zaroff had given you knowledge, power – and so you, like so many others of our people, choose only to see what you wish to see.’

‘You’re wrong, Ramo,’ protested Damon. ‘Without Zaroff, Atlantis will never rise from the sea.’

From his hiding place the Doctor had been listening to the conversation with interest. He could already see in Ramo a potential ally in the struggle against Zaroff.

‘Ara, can you get Damon away?’ he whispered. ‘I want to talk to the priest alone.’

Ara nodded and silently slipped away from her hiding place. ‘Master, if you please, master,’ she called out. Damon spun round to see this girl who had apparently appeared from nowhere. ‘What is it?’

‘I believe I saw the girl you’re looking for,’ she lied.

‘Down in the market place.’

‘Show me.’ Damon followed Ara and beckoned his guards after him.

When they were safely out of sight the Doctor left his position of safety behind the pillar and approached the priest.

‘Can I have a word with you, Ramo?’ he said softly.

Ramo turned around. ‘Doctor!’ he gasped and was about to call out after the guards when the Doctor raised a hand of caution.

‘We’re both of us on the some side, Ramo,’ he claimed.

‘You distrust Zaroff out of instinct. I distrust him because I know the truth.’

Ramo looked curiously at the Doctor. ‘Why should I trust you, a stranger to our people?’

‘That’s a very good question,’ granted the Doctor. ‘I only wish I could think of a very good answer..

Ramo considered the Doctor’s hopeful, smiling face for a moment and then said, ‘All right, tell me what you know.’

The Doctor looked around the temple. ‘Can we talk here?’ he asked.

‘I know a place where we shall not be interrupted. Come along with me.’

5

Keeping to the darkest tunnels for fear that anyone should see them, Ramo took the Doctor to his private quarters. As suited the personality of their occupant, they were sparsely furnished: a bed, a table and a chair, and a small fire in the centre of the room. Ramo spent most of his time in prayer; he had no need for the material comforts which his masters enjoyed.

‘We shall not be disturbed here,’ he promised the Doctor. ‘Now tell me what you’ve found out about Zaroff.’

The Doctor looked around the room, noticing the wall lights. ‘Tell me,’ he asked. ‘Where does the light come from? Is it electricity?’

‘Electricity?’ The word came strangely to Ramo’s lips.

‘All I know is that it is a power Zaroff has given us. He says that it is a force that comes from the matter all around us, from the very heart of things.’

Nuclear power, thought the Doctor, and felt a genuine sense of respect for Zaroff s achievements. But Ramo was pressing him.

‘Zaroff says he’s going to raise Atlantis, doesn’t he?’ the Doctor asked rhetorically. ‘Well, that’s not quite true...

Zaroff has a brilliant mind – if he had a brain in it. He intends to do just the reverse – he intends to destroy Atlantis!’

Ramo’s interest was aroused by the undoubted urgency in the Doctor’s voice but he was not yet convinced. ‘How can he destroy it? We have survived flood and catastrophe for over three thousand years.’

‘He intends to drill a hole in the Earth’s crust and drain away the ocean. Have you any idea what will happen if he does?’ Ramo shook his head. ‘Well then, let me show you.’

The Doctor crossed over to the table and picked up an earthenware pot which was filled with water. He screwed the lid on tight and placed the pot on a tripod over the fee.

‘Imagine that this pot is the Earth and that the water inside is the ocean,’ he said. ‘Now, the centre of the earth is hot, far hotter than this fire. So what happens?’

‘This is mere child’s play,’ protested Ramo. ‘What has it to do with the Project?’

The Doctor raised his hands heavenwards, despairing of the priest’s dimness. ‘But don’t you see, Ramo? This pot
is
the Project!’ He pointed to the pot. The boiling water inside it was already causing it to shake on the tripod.

‘Watch. The water’s beginning to boil – but the steam can’t get out.’

‘And so?’ Even now Ramo couldn’t quite see what the Doctor was trying to prove.

‘I think we’d better stand a little further back,’ advised the Doctor and took the priest to the far corner of the room.

Suddenly with an ear-slitting crack! the pot exploded, sending shards of debris flying off in all directions.

For a moment neither man said anything. The Doctor glanced over at Ramo: the priest was visibly shaken and his already pale face was even whiter.

‘This is what will happen,’ said the Doctor. ‘Zaroff does indeed intend to raise Atlantis – but in little pieces.’

‘You swear this is true?’ Ramo’s voice was trembling.

‘Well, I thought I might mention it... Of course, if you don’t mind being blown up..

The Doctor looked at Ramo again. He had carefully staged the demonstration to shock the priest into making a decision. If the Doctor could win the priest’s confidence and trust then he might at least have a chance of convincing the leader of Atlantis too.

‘Can you stop Zaroff?’ asked Ramo finally.

‘I am not the ruler of Atlantis,’ the Doctor said archly.

‘If I took you to our ruler, King Thous, could you convince him?’

‘I might..

‘Very well then,’ decided Ramo. ‘Come along. We must hurry.’

Ben and Sean had explored their tunnel without much success. After a few yards it had narrowed to a dead end.

Resigned, they retraced their steps back to the intersection of the two tunnels. They sat gloomily down on two large rocks while they waited for Jamie and Jacko to return from their search. Everywhere they heard the constant drip-drip-drip of water which echoed eerily around the small cave. This system of tunnels obviously ran very near to the sea wall which encircled Atlantis.

‘What beats me is why Atlantis hasn’t been discovered before,’ said Ben.

‘Maybe it has,’ guessed Sean. ‘But nobody got back to tell the tale. They were turned into Fish People or enslaved like us.’

‘Yeah, could be... but what I can’t understand is why these Atlanteans stay down here in the caves. Why don’t they go up and live on the island itself?’

‘They’ve got this crazy attachment to their old land.

They think it’s holy or something,’ said Sean. ‘They refuse to go up unless Atlantis goes up with them. Some of them were allowed to go to the surface from time to time to collect food, I believe; but even that’s been stopped now.’

Suddenly Jacko came running back out of the tunnel he and Jamie had been exploring. His face and clothes were covered with chalky-white dust.

‘What is it?’ asked Ben, suddenly concerned.

Jacko paused to catch his breath; he was clearly shaken.

‘There’s been an accident,’ he managed to say. Ben needed to hear no more and sprang to his feet, running off down the tunnel. Sean and Jacko followed him.

The tunnel Jamie and Jacko had been exploring had at first appeared to be a dead end; they found themselves facing a seemingly impenetrable wall of large rocks. They were about to give up and return to the others when Jamie had noticed a tiny gap in the wall. Even though it was so small Jamie had attempted to squeeze through it. All he had managed to do, however, was to get himself stuck. It had taken all of his pushing and Jacko’s pulling to get him out of the crack, but in doing so they had managed to disturb the delicately placed rocks. Jacko had managed to jump out of the way of the falling rocks, but Jamie bore the full force of them. He lay senseless on the floor, partly buried by the rock fall.

Ben, Sean and Jacko frantically lifted the large rocks off the young Highlander. Jamie was battered and bruised and a trickle of blood ran down the side of his head. Ben ripped off a strip of cloth from his shirt and mopped the wound.

Thankfully the cut was little more than a graze and Jamie was still breathing.

‘He’ll be all right in a minute,’ he told the others. ‘He’s just a bit shaken, that’s all.’

‘But look what he’s found,’ Sean said and pointed beyond the pile of rocks. The rockfall had uncovered a concealed pathway, the rocks which had fallen on Jamie had obviously been put there deliberately to seal off the passage from any escaping slaves.

Jamie recovered quickly and, helping him along, Ben, Sean and Jacko ventured onto the pathway. It was, in fact, a narrow ledge overlooking a deep abyss. The four men could hear down below them the sound of running water.

Atlantis seemed to be full of these strange subterranean streams and lakes. The ledge was damp and the slippery surface of the rock impeded their progress even more.

As they edged their way carefully along, their fingers probed for handholds in the wall, anything to help them keep their balance. But the wall behind them was as smooth as glass and sloped outwards at an alarming angle.

Desperately they joined hands and moved along the ledge slowly. It was the wisest and also the most dangerous thing to do. One false step or slip from anyone could send all four of them plummeting into the chasm to their doom.