Chapter 7
Kane is standing alone in the Restricted zone, staring at the statue. "One day, when we return home, I shall erect colossal statues in your honour." Kane gets into his refrigeration unit.
"Current ambient temperature minus ten Celsius. Target temperature minus a hundred and ninety three Celsius. Cabinet temperature dropping," says the computer.
Ace, Mel and Nita are chatting over coffee in the lower levels.
"There's something I've never told anyone," says Ace. "Do you promise not to laugh, and not to tell no one?"
"Of course," Mel and Nita both agree.
"It's my name. It's not really Ace. My real name's Dorothy. That's how I knew they couldn't be my real mum and dad. My real mum and dad would never have given me a naff name like Dorothy." She stood up, collecting their coffee cups and stuffing them in her rucksack. "Come on."
Kracauer enters the Restricted zone.
"Minus one hundred and fifty. Minus one hundred and sixty. Minus one hundred and seventy," says the computer.
Kracauer starts moving controls on the wall panel.
"Cabinet temperature rising. Minus one hundred and sixty," says the computer.
Ace, Mel and Nita reach an Ice junction, which led down another cliff.
"Down there?" asks Mel, doubtfully.
"I suppose so," Ace shrugs.
The Doctor and Glitz slither round the corner behind them.
"Ah, Mel, you've brought my umbrella."
"Oh, Doctor!" cries Nita, relieved.
"Professor!" cries Ace. She sneers at Glitz, "Bilge bag."
"What's that?" asks Glitz.
"Now, now, stop this squabbling. There's no place for animosity on a serious scientific undertaking," says the Doctor.
"Do you mean the dragon?" asks Mel.
"Well, it's not so much a dragon as more of a semi-organic vertebrate with a highly developed cerebral cortex."
"And it's got laser beams in its eyes. It tried to kill us," says Ace.
"Yes," agrees Nita.
"Really? Well, I wonder what you did to annoy it?" asks the Doctor.
"It just came at us, Professor. No warning."
"Really. Well, let's see what this vertebrate with laser beams has got to say for itself," says the Doctor.
A zombie steps out in front of them.
"Hello," the Doctor greets it. "Where might you have popped up from, then?"
"He's been sent by Kane, Doctor," explains Mel.
"He's got masses of them frozen in his deep freeze," continues Ace.
"Cryogenesis, eh?" ponders the Doctor.
"Hang about," Glitz interjects. "I'd recognise that mutinous expression anywhere."
"Friend of yours, is he?" Ace sneers.
Glitz addresses the Zombie: "Pudovkin, old son, you've no idea how pleased I am to see you again."
"It's no good, Glitz," says the Doctor, gently. "Ace says he's been cryogenically frozen."
"What about the time we captured that space freighter loaded up with all that natural fruit alcohol. We got well dehydrated that night, didn't we?"
"It's no use. Deep cryogenics freezes the neural pathways."
"Oh, come on, old son. A joke's a joke. It's me, Sabalom Glitz."
"It's completely impossible for him to recall any events prior to cryogenesis."
"I remember," says Pudovkin, in a monotone.
"Except in cases of overwhelming hatred or anger," the Doctor corrects himself.
"I remember how you always had the best of our pickings."
"I don't recall," Glitz denies.
"I remember. I remember how you sold our entire crew to Kane to be frozen as mercenaries."
The dragon appears behind them.
"Oh now, come on, old son, don't go jumping to conclusions."
"I thought he was a friend of yours," says Ace.
Pudovkin raises his gun.
"More of an acquaintance, actually," says Glitz.
The dragon shoots Pudovkin. The Doctor raises his hat to it.
"We don't mean you any harm. Do you understand?"
"It's friendly," Nita realizes.
The dragon gestures and walks to the ice flower decorated entrance.
"It wants us to go with it, Professor."
"Well, let's see what our new friend wants to show us, shall we?"
In the Restricted zone, the statue of Xana is melting.
"Warning, defrost threshold crossed. Cabinet temperature rising. Plus one Celsius. Plus two Celsius. Plus three Celsius" says the computer.
Kane's cabinet opens.
"Plus four Celsius."
"What's happening?" gasps Kane. "Can't breathe. Too warm. Kracauer, what is this?"
Then Kane sees the statue. "No, not my statue. No! Who has desecrated the monument? Who?"
Kane lunges at Kracauer's face but he runs out of the room.
"Belazs!"
Kane resets the temperature controls.
"Target temperature minus a hundred and ninety three Celsius. Temperature dropping to zero Celsius. Minus ten Celsius. Minus twenty Celsius."
The Doctor and his friends finally find the Singing Trees.
"This is beautiful, Doctor," gasps Nita.
"Here, I can hear singing. Where's it coming from, Professor?" asks Ace.
"I think he wants us to watch," says the Doctor.
"What's he doing, Professor?"
The dragon fires short burst of laser energy at a crystal.
"Ah, so that's what this is all about, a polydimensional scanning imager," the Doctor realizes. "And I bet the creature's using itself as the energy source."
A hologram appears of a lady.
"Planetary archives, criminal history segment ninety three twelve oh three. Two of the most vicious examples of the criminal mentality have been the leaders of the notorious Kane-Xana gang. Until its demise, this gang carried out systematic violence and extortion unequalled in its brutality. In view of the sheer evil of his crimes, Kane is to be exiled from the planet Proamon and never allowed to return home. He will be banished to the barren planet of Svartos, which has a permanently frozen dark side on which he can survive."
Kane enters the Refrigeration room, hands behind his back. "Ah, my dear Belazs. You know, I've been thinking. I've been thinking of your request to leave. You've been with me a long time now. I've grown very fond of you, but I've been thinking it over carefully and I've decided. You may leave me."
Belazs is astonished. "Leave?"
"Whenever you wish. Go in fortune and happiness."
Kane grabs her face in his hands. "You traitor. I've been planning my revenge for three thousand years. How can you stand in my way now I am so close?"
At the Singing Trees, the Doctor and his friends are still staring at the Archivist hologram.
"Kane's partner, the woman Xana, killed herself during the final siege of the gang's headquarters to avoid being arrested and tried for her crimes."
The hologram fades away.
"Fascinating," remarks the Doctor.
"Well, that explains about Kane, but where does the creature come from?" wonders Nita.
"And what about the fabulous treasure? Is this it?" asks Glitz.
"Oh, no, no," answers the Doctor. "We might be deep beneath Iceworld, but Kane could find his way here easily enough. No, the treasure's got to be somewhere else, somewhere beyond Kane's reach. What does he fear most?"
"Heat," answers Ace. "It'll kill him."
"Precisely," the Doctor agrees. "And what better way of protecting the real treasure than to leave a fire-breathing dragon to guard it? What better protection than if the dragon is the treasure."
"The creature, the treasure?" asks Mel.
"Am I right?" the Doctor asks the Dragon. "Are you the one that everyone's looking for, treasure?"
The top of the dragon's head opens, and a crystal rises up, sparking electricity.
"It must be worth a fortune," Glitz salivates.
"No, look past the gold and the gemstone, Glitz. Look at the fire inside. A source of intense optical energy."
In the Restricted zone, Kane is listening to the conversation.
"Look at it through Kane's eyes," says the Doctor. "See it as an evil mind would see it."
"At last," says Kane, gleefully. "After three thousand years, the Dragonfire shall be mine."