CHAPTER 5

THE NIGHTMARE CAVERNS

Barbara clawed at the hands of Ian Chesterton, now clamped around her neck. Her mind fought against unconsciousness as black clouds seemed to roll down over her vision and she felt the agony of Ian's thumbs pressing into her windpipe.

She lunged and kicked with her feet and Ian gave a short yelp and he recoiled backwards. Barbara heard herself whoop in air and then let out a short scream of pain and fear. She became aware that Ian was now sitting upright facing her.

He lunged forward and she shrieked again.

"Barbara! What is it, Barbara? What's happened?" She cowered from him, her hands instinctively protectively girdling her throat.

"Barbara!"

"Go away," she rasped. He froze at her obvious terror. Tears welled up in her eyes and trickled down her pallid face.

"Barbara. What is it? What's happened to you?" demanded Ian.

"What's happened to ME!" whimpered Barbara. She was still staring at Ian with fear in her eyes. She began shaking.

"Barbara! For heavens sake, what's…" Ian's voice tailed off and he darted his gaze around him. His expression, at first uncomprehending, changed with the growing realisation that it was HE that was the source of Barbara's terror. Still trembling and cowering, she stared back.

"What? How did I…? Oh, Barbara! What happened? What did I do?" Ian's voice rose to a shout.

Barbara, her hands still girdling her neck, struggled to speak. "You…you tried to strangle me. Oh Ian! You tried to strangle me!" she broke down into whooping, painful, sobs.

"What! Barbara…I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He moved forward to comfort her but froze as she, still sobbing loudly, recoiled again.

"Barbara. It's alright now. I had a nightmare. I dreamed I was strangling…Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I'm awake now. It's alright! It's alright!. I'm awake now. I wouldn't hurt you. You know I wouldn't hurt you!" Barbara rubbed her throat and tried to control her anguish and fear. She again stared at Ian, mistrust and apprehension still uppermost in her expression.

"Barbara. Barbara…I wouldn't knowingly hurt you. You must trust me. Do you trust me? Eh?" There was a long silence during which they stared into each others eyes. Barbara's fear and mistrust ebbed away.

"Yes," she whispered tentatively. Ian breathed a sigh of relief and reached forward to embrace her. He felt Barbara's body tense but he forced himself to ignore her reaction.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I would never do anything to hurt you. Never."

"No they're not there," said Ian returning from the great icy entrance chamber "I don't understand it. Why would they have gone off without us? Without even waking us?"

Barbara sat hunched against the icy wall of the tunnel. She looked up at him. "Oh, I don't know," she croaked wearily. "Did you check to see if they've gone back outside?"

Ian looked down at Barbara thoughtfully. "Back up those ice steps you mean? No, I don't think so."

"But did you look?" she snapped back, barely suppressing a shout. She winced and rubbed at her throat.

"Hey! Hey, now!" said Ian softly, sitting down alongside her. He put an arm around her and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "No, I didn't go back up those steps to look. It took us long enough to get down them. I don't think they would have gone back up there. Why would they, eh? If anything the Doctor would want to get nearer to the TARDIS. There would be no point in going back up there. Would there, eh?"

Ian smiled broadly at Barbara and she faintly smiled at him. "Yes. You're right I suppose, Ian. I'm sorry. But where could they be?"

"Oh, I expect the Doctor's gone on his holidays and he's taken Vicki with him," grinned Ian. Barbara rolled her eyes upwards in mock exasperation and then grinned back.

Ian looked relieved at his success in diffusing some of Barbara's tension. "How are you feeling now?" he asked.

A darker look once again flitted across her face. "My throat is painful. Otherwise I'm alright," she replied coolly. There followed a long pause. "Ian, did you say you were dreaming?"

"Yes, I was."

Barbara looked thoughtful. "I had a nightmare, too. I think the dream was supposed to be about my first day of teaching. The school was horrible and so were the children. You were in the dream, well, as I said it was a nightmare really. It ended with you strangling me. Then I woke up and…you were actually strangling me."

A look of wonder grew alongside the look of concern on Ian's face. "How odd," he mused.

"Your dream," began Barbara, "was it the same one you had in the ship?"

"No. No, it wasn't." He released his arm from Barbara's shoulder, "Believe it or not, in my dream I was living in times of old. I was Sir Lancelot, gallantly riding on my white charger."

"You! Sir Lancelot!" Ian was glad to see Barbara smile in mirth at him.

"And why not?" he replied in mock outrage. "I've always fancied myself as the night in shining armour type." Barbara smiled again as she looked at him with genuine affection in her eyes.

"The girls in 5C said I looked like the actor that used to play him on the telly, er, what's his name?"

"William Russell," answered Barbara. "Yes, you do. Your voices are similar too." Her face puckered into a grin as Ian nodded his affirmation. "Mind you, he was slimmer and younger than you and…"

"Alright! Alright! I get the message," protested Ian, laughing. Barbara also chuckled. They smiled fondly at each other for a brief moment.

Then Ian's expression became more serious. "The dream ended with me climbing up the outside of a tower to free a damsel in distress. Barbara, in my dream that was you." She looked sharply at him. He continued, "As I was untying you, so you changed in front of my eyes. You became some sort of a dragon-thing. It had clawed hands which got hold of me. In order to try to escape I had to grab the creature's neck and strangle it."

Ian stared downwards, a look of sorrow in his eyes. "I really am…"

Barbara raised a gloved finger and pressed it to his lips. "It's alright, Ian. We none of us can help our dreams."

He smiled gratefully at her. "Am I forgiven, then?" he asked. She nodded and smiled.

"Ah, well, we had better do something about finding the Doctor and Vicki," he said at length.

"Yes," said Barbara, who was the first to move, "Come along, then, Sir Lancelot."

Several minutes later Ian and Barbara were picking their way along the tunnel, moving further away from the entrance cavern.

"Ian, we surely couldn't have been asleep for very long. Do you think, perhaps, they might have failed to get off to sleep and so, er, in the end decided to go on and have a look ahead? They wouldn't have expected us to wake."

"What, you mean that they might have planned to return to where we were after an hour or two?"

"Yes. After all, you know how curious they are."

"Hmm! Maybe but it's not very likely, Barbara."

"So you think something has happened to them?"

"I don't know," Ian shook his head wearily. Just ahead of them the tunnel sharply turned a corner. Ian motioned for Barbara to stay back. Peering round the corner he suddenly exclaimed "There they…"

Barbara swiftly moved up alongside Ian, to see the tunnel open out, a few metres further on, into a small ice chamber. Other tunnels led off from this chamber. On the floor at the centre of the enclave lay Vicki, various large fragments of ice scattered around her. The Doctor stood over Vicki's sleeping form. Barbara's inhaling breath wheezed as she realised what was about to happen. The Doctor, a glazed look in his eyes, was straining to lift a large chunk of ice to above the height of his shoulders. He was about to smash it down onto Vicki's head!

"Stop!" bellowed Ian, his feet slipping on the ice as he propelled himself forward. Ian reached the Doctor just as the old man started to heave the ice chunk downwards. Ian lunged at the Doctor, thrusting his on hands onto the ice chunk and pushing it and the old man backwards. Ian saw the glassy surface of the ice floor of the cavern rushing up to meet him. He pushed his hands forward but his forehead thumped sickeningly on the ice. As he slithered to a stop he just had time to turn his head, in his pain and dizziness, and note the Doctor's body laying nearby before the darkness completely closed in.

Emerging from a pool of blackness and pain, Ian became aware that he was laying on his back and that a blurred figured was leaning over him. The figure spoke with a voice that sounded like it came from far away. "Ian! Ian! Are you alright? Oh! I've been so worried!"

Ian recognised the steadily sharpening figure. "Vicki," he rasped. "What…Oh!" he exclaimed as a sudden stab of pain throbbed across his forehead. He breathed heavily as a wave of nausea swept over him.

"Oh dear! You've gone quite white, Ian. Just try to rest for a minute."

"Yes, I will," he whispered. Ian succumbed to the weariness pervading his body and he closed his eyes and just lay back and relaxed for a few minutes. He decided that whatever dangers were around, well, they would just have to wait until he was more ready to deal with them.

At length he opened his eyes again. He was now feeling much better. Much stronger. Turning his head he saw that Vicki was leaning over the inert form of the Doctor. Ian turned his head about to search the ice chamber. There was no sign of Barbara. Ian levered himself into a sitting position, fighting the throbbing pain in his head and a slight feeling of dizziness. Mercifully both sensations began to ebb away again as he sat upright, resting his gloved palms of the icy floor.

Vicki moved over to him. "Are you feeling better now?" she asked.

"Yes, thanks. Where has Barbara gone?"

"Oh! You don't know either?" replied the girl as the concern on her face deepened.

Ian sighed. "She was with me. We came looking for you and the Doctor." Ian glanced at the figure of the Doctor as the memory of what he had witnessed returned. He looked sharply at Vicki. "What happened? What made you both go wandering off?"

"I don't know, Ian. One moment I was with you and the Doctor and Barbara in the tunnel, then next I was laying on the floor in here with both you and the Doctor unconscious. He's got a nasty bruise on the back of his head. You've got one on your forehead. Barbara wasn't here. I called out to her but there was no answer." Vicki sat back on her haunches.

"Oh!" remarked Ian. Then he looked levelly at the girl. "Barbara was with me, Vicki. When we found you both, you were laying on the ground in her and the Doctor was standing over you. He was about to smash a large piece of ice down on your head."

"What! Oh, Ian, no! You're wrong." she protested, "He wouldn't! The Doctor's a kind man. He wouldn't do anything like that. He couldn't! Why do you say such a thing?"

"Quite so!" blurted a harsh voice that startled them both.

"Well, young man, what do you have to say for yourself, eh?" barked the Doctor, now sitting upright, the cold look of accusation on his face matching the tone of his voice.

"It's as I tried to tell you after we lost the ship," began Ian assertively, "Something is affecting you. It is affecting us all…"

"Oh! Don't start all that nonsense again!" spluttered the Doctor, "It won't do. It won't do at all!" The old man's suspicion and annoyance was rapidly turning into cold fury. "After all that I have done for you! I want to know why, eh? What is the meaning of this?"

"Alright then! Tell me how you got here, eh? In this chamber, eh?" demanded Ian.

"Eh?"

Ian's voice got progressively louder. "Tell me how you got here! You went to sleep in the tunnel with the rest of us didn't you? Tell me how you got here!"

A momentary doubt flitted across the Doctor's face. "You carried me here! You must have carried me here while I slept – er." The Doctor didn't sound convinced by his own argument.

"I carried you here?" pressed Ian, "Without waking you, eh?" The Doctor's face puckered into one of those expressions characteristic of him when he was forced to accept that he might just be wrong about something.

"I tell you, Doctor, that the same influence that got hold of us in the ship is still affecting us here on this planet. It is obviously trying to control us. Trying to get us to mistrust each other, and argue with each other," Ian paused and then added more quietly, "and perhaps even to kill each other."

The Doctor gave Ian a sharp look before turning away just a little. He puckered his lips and seemed to stare through the nearby walls of the ice cavern and off into the far distance. The old man's expression became reflective.

After a long pause Vicki said, "I think you're right Ian. We have all been a bit different since the TARDIS was held in space. You had those nightmares and I had one, too."

Ian's eyes widened. "Nightmares! Yes, of course, Vicki, the nightmares! A while ago, back in the tunnel, both Barbara and I had nightmares. Her's ended with me strangling her and I had a dream that ended with me strangling her. When I woke up, I found her cringing back from me terrified, She said that I HAD actually tried to strangle her! And what's worse, I think I did because she was rubbing at her neck, which was obviously painful and it had marks on it!"

"Oh, Ian!" blurted Vicki.

The Doctor sharply looked back to Ian. "You say you dreamt you were trying to strangle Barbara. She dreamt this also?"

"Yes," said Ian ruefully.

The Doctor stared down at a patch of ground a little to the side of Ian. After a pause he started to speak again, without looking up. "I'm beginning to think that you might be correct in your assertions young man. Might be, I say. I am not sure yet."

Ian bristled. "After all we've been through together you surely can't suspect Barbara or I of…" Ian was silenced by the Doctor's raised hand and a keen alertness in his expression. They all heard the noise of rapid footfalls slapping on the icy floor in one of the tunnels branching off the chamber.

"What…?" blurted Vicki but she was silenced by a harsh look from the Doctor and a sharp wave of his raised hand. The trio listened intently as the rapidly slapping footfalls faded into the distance.

"I don't think that could have been Barbara," observed Ian at length.

"No, indeed," agreed the Doctor. "Vicki, my child, will you please help me up. Er, Chesterton I think it is time we were on the move."

Vicki tried to help the Doctor stand but his feet slipped on the ice and he fell back into a sitting position. He groaned and put a hand to the back of his head. "Oh dear!" he moaned. Ian, also still groggy, got up and crossed to the old man. They took an arm each and helped him to his feet.

Suddenly the Doctor, a look of accusation and anger once again on his face, roughly shook off the hands of his helpers. "Get your hands off me!" he snarled, "The audacity of it! You plot my destruction with the Daleks and…"

"Doctor! Wake up! It's happening again!" yelled Ian.

The Doctor spluttered loudly. "Happening? Happening? The only thing that has happened here is that you have poisoned Susan…Oh, my poor dear Susan." The Doctor sank to his knees. "Susan! Oh Susan! My Susan!" The Doctor's voice dissolved into choking sobs and his eyes brimmed with tears.

Ian crouched down and shook the Doctor by his shoulders. "Doctor! For heaven's sake Doctor! Wake Up! Susan's not dead. We left her on Earth, remember? You wanted her to stay on Earth with David Cambell. Remember, Doctor. You must remember! Something is attacking your mind!"

Suddenly the Doctor stopped sobbing. Shocked, he looked from Ian to Vicki and then back to Ian again. His expression became resolute. He grabbed Ian's and Vicki's arms once again and hoisted himself to his feet, ignoring the fact that Vicki was herself having to struggle to stay upright as he hauled himself up. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" the old man blasted out each word in turn with increasing loudness, "My mind IS being attacked! Yes, it IS! Well, I won't have it! I won't have it! Do you hear me? Wherever you are, do you hear me?" The Doctor was now yelling into the frigid air with the full power of his voice. "I know, now, I know! That is it! That is the last time you will invade my mind! The last! I will pit my wits against you and defeat you!" He shook with fury as his shouted words echoed down the icy corridors that lead from the chamber.

The Doctor looked from one to the other of his shocked friends. "Playing with our minds! Pah! We'll see! We'll see…" The Doctor stopped in mid-stream as they all heard the sound of rapidly slapping and scurrying footsteps. These were obviously from many pairs of feet, all rapidly approaching.

"This way!" said Ian, urgently beckoning them into a nearby tunnel. Almost immediately the three slithered to a stop as a ghastly apparition rounded a corner and appeared in front of them. It was tall with an animal-like body covered in bristly yellow-white fur but with the large glistening black compound eyes of an insect and two short horn-like antennae sticking out from the forehead.

As the trio turned and fled back to the ice chamber, so more of the creatures appeared from each of the entrances. Many were armed with long rods and blade-like weapons. The Doctor, Ian and Vicki huddled in the middle of the chamber. Vicki squealed in terror as they were surrounded by the menacingly advancing creatures.

The girl made as if to run but the Doctor grabbed her arm. "Keep still, child! Quite still!" The Doctor's face puckered with indignation as he glared round him at the creatures. Ian stared wide-eyed and ashen-faced.

The creatures were all about two metres in height. A grey line in the fur below the huge compound eyes marked the creature's mouths. Some of the creatures were open-mouthed and panting. Their thin black lips and needle-like teeth gave their mouths a distinctly canine appearance; something like that of a small dog such as a Yorkshire terrier. The horns protruding from their heads were white and ribbed near the stalk but becoming darker and thinner towards the small black ball at each tip. The creatures feet and hands were very large, the fingers being curved and more closely resembling claws.

The creatures prodded the terrified travellers with their rods and blades. The Doctor's indignation began to boil over into anger. "How dare…" he began.

"Silence vermin!" came the wheezing interruption from one of the creatures bearing a large black rod, "Where have you come from? I have never seen the like of you before." The Doctor glared at him defiantly.

"Well?" rattled the creature in a loud hiss. Ian and Vicki glanced nervously at the still defiant Doctor. The creature advanced menacingly on the Doctor, pushing the end of the black rod into the old man's chest. "Well?" it demanded. There was no mistaking the threat and menace conveyed in the rattling hiss.

The Doctor gripped the lapels of his fur coat and angled his head back to look defiantly into the large compound eyes of the creature. "For one thing, we are NOT vermin, we are peaceful travellers," began the Doctor forcibly. "For another," his expression became supercilious and he looked airily around him, "I could hardly answer you when you called for silence, now could I?" Ian closed his eyes as the Doctor chuckled. Ian wished the Doctor would be a little less proud and arrogant at times like this.

After a pause the creature started up a panting-wheezing sound, obviously its equivalent of laughter. The Doctor stared capriciously back into the eyes of the hideous animal. It started to turn away from the Doctor. It then suddenly swung back, thumping the end of the black rod hard into the Doctor's chest. With a cry of shock and pain the Doctor crumpled to the ground.

"Pick the vermin up!" rasped the creature at Ian and Vicki. "It will learn, as you will, that you do not even dare to attempt to show disrespect to the Caspicooga!" The creature then turned away to address its fellows while Ian and Vicki stooped to help the groaning Doctor back to his feet.

"We will take these strange animals to Kalrach. He will want to examine and interrogate them." The creature again started its panting-wheezing version of laughter, as it half turned back to its prisoners. "Kalrach will teach them to have proper respect for the Caspicooga!"

The journey seemed a very long one. They passed along tunnels and through one cavern after another. Often they had to negotiate steps of ice, always downwards, never up. The Caspicooga creatures set a vigorous pace. After nearly an hour Vicki was breathing heavily, as was Ian. The Doctor seemed the worst affected as he was panting increasingly volubly and his face was covered by a sheen of sweat which had now frozen into a frost, sparkling and glistening in the tawny light.

The group entered yet another cavern, linked to others with tunnels, and they faced yet another descent down an icy staircase. "Please, I can't…" pleaded the Doctor, then 'Aaargh!' he cried as a black rod was jabbed into his back.

Suddenly all was mayhem. Shouts and snarls filled the air as more of the creatures, these ones having mottled dark grey fur, rather than yellowish-white, poured from the tunnel entrances that were set into the walls of the chamber. The grey-furred and white-furred creatures engaged in ferocious combat. Clubs thumped sickeningly down against furry bodies and blades ripped into flesh and spears pierced deeply into their living targets. The air was filled with agonised cries and howls. Vicki was knocked from her feet and she squealed as she started to slither down the staircase. In the confusion, Ian made a grab for the Doctor and hauled him out from a scrum of several fighting creatures.

"Vicki! Vicki!" Ian shouted but he heard no reply above the snarling, and howling. "Come on Doctor!" he shouted and he grabbed the Doctor's arm and dragged him over to one of the entrances on one side of the cavern.

"Alright! Let go!" protested the Doctor loudly, as he shook off Ian's grip, "Can you see Vicki, my boy?" Ian did not have time to answer. Their attention was grabbed by a loud snarl as one of the white-furred creatures came thundering towards them, bearing one of the black, truncheon-like, implements. The creature raised the weapon but its snarl turned into a loud scream as a short spear thudded into its flank. The Doctor and Ian began to move aside to make way but were forcibly barged apart by the animal's falling body. It thumped to the floor and slithered a short distance further up the tunnel before stopping. It writhed and gave a long rattling hiss in its agony.

"Quick! Down here!" snapped the Doctor as he was already beginning to move down the tunnel, stepping to one side of the groaning creature on the floor. Ian, numbed with shock, followed.

"Wait, Doctor! Vicki! What about Vicki?" protested Ian a moment later.

"We can't help her at the moment, can we!" snapped the old man, "We must first find some safety for ourselves. Now come on!" The Doctor did not wait for Ian's answer. He broke into a slithering run down the icy passageway. After a glance back at the mayhem and sickening carnage in the chamber, Ian reluctantly began running after the Doctor. Ian quickly caught up with the old man.

The Doctor's panting breath wheezed loudly. Then sounds from behind them prompted Ian to look back. "They're coming after us!" he cried. The Doctor did not answer but his old face contorted as he tried to force his old body to move faster.

"I'll go on!" shouted Ian, overtaking the Doctor. Moments later huge clawed hands closed over the Doctor's shoulders and one of the beasts brought him forcibly to rest. Two other creatures ran past in pursuit of Ian.

The creature who had hold of the Doctor turned the old man slowly round to face it. The creature was one of the grey-furred variety. It had the same heavy build and dog-like mouth of the white-furred type. Apart from the darker body hair, the only other difference was in the antennae which were completely black with this one.

The insect-like compound eyes stared impassively down at the Doctor. "Please…let me…sit…" panted the old man as he allowed his legs to buckle. This drew a vicious snarl from the creature and the talon-like hands dug painfully into the Doctor's shoulders and hauled him back upright. After an angry glare at his tormentor, the Doctor closed his eyes and let his head hang down as he fought to recover from his breathlessness.

Moments later the Doctor looked back up the tunnel in response to the sound of Ian being marched back between the other two grey-furred creatures. "Sorry Doctor, I couldn't…"

"Silence!" barked one of the two creatures holding Ian, at the same time as it wrenched at his arm.

"We will take them to Kanga. Come!" intoned the Doctor's captor.

Moments later the group emerged back into the cavern. They were joined by others of the grey-furred creatures. There were none of the white-furred creatures still standing. The Doctor and Ian, still being forcibly marched, looked around them at the sickening sight of bodies and blood. "There was another of us," said the Doctor shakily. "Where is she?"

"A few of the Caspicooga escaped," came the harsh reply from the Doctor's captor, "If she is still alive she must be with them."

The Doctor and Ian looked at each other in despair as they were forced by their captors to move into another icy tunnel.

This time the journey through yet more of the icy caverns and tunnels was mercifully short. The group moved in almost total silence, snarls and menacing movements resulting whenever the Doctor or Ian tried to speak. At one point the party came across three more of the white-furred Caspicooga. They tried to flee but were chased, caught, and then slaughtered by the grey-furred creatures.

After passing through one final tunnel, the group emerged into a huge cavern, crowded with more of the grey-furred natives. Although the cavern was still walled, floored, and roofed in ice like everywhere else, it differed in that it was full or artefacts. Parts of the cavern were sectioned off by large screens made of some sort of animal skin. In other places there were tent-like constructions. There were also pieces of crudely made furniture, mainly tables and chairs, all of which were all very large and wide, variously dotted about.

The Doctor and Ian stared about them as more of the inhabitants of the cavern surrounded the group. Dozens of pairs of compound eyes glistened in the ochre glow and the air was filled with the sound of rasping whispers.

Fear and despair fought for dominance in Vicki's mind. She had known fear before. Fear and loneliness. Never before, though, had she felt hopelessness to such a degree. Even when she was trapped with Bennett on Dido, there did seem to be at least some hope of a rescue. Now she felt no hope whatsoever. Her two captors marched her further and further away from the cavern and her friends. Did the Doctor and Ian even survive that awful battle? Onwards and ever deeper into this icy underworld the two loathsome animals forced her to go. What eventual fait would await her?

As an escape from the horrors of her present reality, Vicki let her mind wander into daydreams and memories. She thought of her childhood home on Earth and the friends she had back then. She thought of games played in the garden in warm sunshine. She thought of her mother and her father…

"Stop that noise!" barked the creature who held Vicki's left arm as Vicki began sobbing.

"It must be damaged. There is liquid coming from its eyes," intoned the other.

The first creature hissed loudly and stopped, stepping back from the girl but still holding Vicki's arm. "Is that poison?" it rattled in alarm. The second creature also sharply stepped back, holding Vicki at arm's length.

Vicki thought quickly. Clearing her throat and doing her best to put on a menacing expression she said "Yes! And… and it can infect you without you even having to touch it! Unless you let me go, I will kill you both!" Both her captors let go at the same instant. Vicki backed away, then turned on her heels and ran. I must get back to that cavern and try to find the Doctor and Ian, she thought.

Meanwhile both her former captors stood facing one another. "I do not think it was poison," growled one of them. "Why did the vermin not spray it over us?"

"What was it then?" said the other.

"I don't know but perhaps it was some waste fluid discharge."

"And the vermin used it to trick us?"

"Yes, I think so."

The other creature snarled angrily. "We should take the risk and recapture it. Kalrach will be displeased if we do not."

Vicki slithered to a stop in the small chamber at the end of the long corridor. She tried to remember which of the four entrances they had come from. Suddenly she heard the sound of rapid, slapping, footfalls echoing from the corridor. Her ruse had not worked for long. The two creatures were after her again. She felt the faint glimmer of hope being snuffed out once more. All the other tunnels leading off the chamber were very long and very straight. There was no cover. There was nowhere to hide.

She blindly chose one of the tunnels and ran as fast as she could. She wished hard for the tunnel to turn a corner but it was as straight as a ruler. Even worse, the end of it seemed a very long way in the distance. It was with a terrible sinking feeling that she heard a harsh voice echoing up the corridor after her, "Here! It is in this one!" Still Vicki ran as fast as she could. Her lungs strained painfully to drag in the icy air and she felt the beginnings of a stitch pain in her side. Not daring to look back, her terror grew as she heard the rapid slapping of the footfalls of the creatures getting nearer and nearer.

Suddenly a screech was driven from her as a hairy talon hooked across the front of her face and pulled her backwards. Her legs buckled from under her and she fell painfully back onto the icy floor of the tunnel and slithered to a stop laying on her back.

She cringed as one of the horrible creatures stood over her, snarling loudly. It bent forward and extended a hand of talon-like fingers down towards her face. She screamed.

"Don't damage it!" urged the other creature who moved up alongside the first, "Kalrach will want it undamaged." With an angry snarl the menacing creature retracted its hand and stood back upright. "He will probably wish to have it dissected for study after he has interrogated it," continued the other.

"I hope so!" growled the first creature slowly, "I hope so!"