Ignoring him, Lady Peinforte began pulling at the statue hopelessly.

'Put up your hands,' said a voice. They turned to find Karl standing in the doorway, with De Flores behind him.

The machine-gun was aimed directly at them.

Even so, Lady Peinforte was defiant. 'Never,' she said unequivocally, standing in front of the tomb.

Richard's reaction was different. He immediately fell to his knees. 'You want the statue, masters?' he cried. 'Here, take it. Take it.'

Lady Peinforte looked down at him in the utmost contempt. 'Thou feeble...' she began.

'And here is the arrow,' continued Richard, s.n.a.t.c.hing it away from her and holding it out to them. 'See?' He threw the arrow into the tomb.

There was a devastating flash of light which seemed to burn through the stones of the tower to the core of time and matter itself. Even though he had closed his eyes in preparation at the last second, Richard was stunned. Karl and De Flores, however, were not expecting it and were unable to move or, temporarily, to see. 'Forgive me, lady,'

shouted Richard and, grabbing her by the waist, he threw her over his shoulder.

Lady Peinforte screamed from the depths of her being.

'Unhand me. Nooo!' Ignoring her protests, Richard forced her through the newly opened doorway into the entrance to the secret pa.s.sage. Karl, recovering, found the trigger of his gun and fired a burst of bullets into the blazing light, but the door had already swung closed behind them. Karl ran to it and began feeling the wall, trying to find a way in.

De Flores recovered himself, and approached the Nemesis in wonder, fluttering a hand at Karl in pa.s.sing. 'No matter Karl, no matter. They are of no importance.' His voice was shaking with wonder. 'We have the statue, the arrow... and the bow. We can destroy all creation.' He looked at Karl triumphantly. 'Wagner unfortunately must be rewritten.

The supermen must control the giants.'

'But how are we to control the Cybermen?' asked Karl.

'Gold overcomes them,' said De Flores. 'We have no such weakness.'

There was a sound of movement inside the sarcophagus.

They turned and looked into it. The statue's right hand had grasped the arrow and was closing slowly on it.

'See,' said De Flores, 'how the statue prepares for life.

The arms adjust their position to receive the weapons.'

Karl stared at the Nemesis, mesmerised. De Flores, although unable to transfer his gaze from the statue, none the less clicked the silver flight case unlocked and opened its lid carefully. 'Our first task then,' he continued, 'will be to take control of the extra-terrestrials.'

There was a slight sound at the doorway behind them.

The Cyber Leader, flanked by two Cybermen, had arrived.

There was the slightest pause before he spoke.

'Unfortunately,' he said, 'that will not be possible.'

De Flores backed away, nearer to the statue. A note of panic entered his voice. 'Keep away,' he shouted. 'I possess the entire statue of Nemesis. All power is mine. The life and death of everything in existence is in my hands.'

The Cyber Leader sounded almost patient. 'Then where,' he asked, is the bow?'

For the first time De Flores, aghast, looked down at the flight case. As he did so, his face turned ashen: the case was empty.

On the gra.s.s outside the TARDIS, the being who could have supplied the Cyber Leader with his answer had he been so inclined, namely the Doctor, gazed at the bow, deep in thought.

Next to him, Ace once again scrutinized the holographic image of the Earth and Moon above her ghetto blaster. The ca.s.sette turned silently in the body of the machine, but thousands of miles out in s.p.a.ce, the jazz quartet's music bounced off the moon and continued into the infinity of the universe. In front of Ace, the tiny red lights of the graphic equalizer twinkled, but otherwise there was no activity and nothing else to be seen in the image but endless empty s.p.a.ce.

Suddenly the Doctor gave a shriek. All the birds for yards around fluttered rapidly into the sky.

'Of course,' he yelled. 'It's so simple.' He leapt to his feet in excitement. 'Keep your eyes on the hologram.'

Ace, who had been doing nothing else for almost two hours, found this more than a little unnecessary. 'There's nothing there,' she replied shortly.

The Doctor jumped up and down. 'They are there!' he insisted. 'But they're shrouded.'

Without waiting to explain, he began punching b.u.t.tons on the front of the tape player. The music suddenly became audible through the speakers.

'You what?' asked Ace.

'Shrouded,' he repeated. 'They don't show up. But,' he continued hitting switches, 'if we keep jamming their communications they'll be forced to reveal themselves.' He completed his adjustments to the controls. The music increased in volume. The Doctor checked his arrangement of the switches. 'Ba.s.s... treble... O please let me be right.'

He suddenly appeared to catch himself out. 'Who am I talking to?' he asked aloud in surprise. 'Balance.'

The music reached a crescendo. As it did so, tiny dots began to appear on the hologram in the vicinity of the moon. They multiplied and spread like a rash across the screen.

The Doctor recoiled in shock. Ace was petrified.

'What... what are they?' she managed to ask.

'Focus,' said the Doctor. He further adjusted the tape deck's switches. The holographic image zoomed in and selected three of the tiny dots around the Moon. As Ace watched, they became larger, sharpening into visibility. A giant s.p.a.cecraft with two smaller ones in attendance hung ominously in s.p.a.ce over the Moon. At last the Doctor answered.

'Cyber warships,' he said quietly. He tore his gaze from the image and turned to face her. 'Thousands of them. And they're invisible.'

Ace paled. Her mind was reeling at the shock of the image in front of her. The Doctor was clearly very deeply disturbed. 'And it's all my fault,' he whispered. He switched off the hologram sharply and they sat in silence, stunned with shock. Ace noticed distantly that a light drizzle had begun to fall, but it seemed as if it were happening somewhere else, a long way off.

At length she roused herself, forcing herself to speak.

'What,' she began hesitantly, 'what can we do?'

The Doctor looked up at her, as though surprised to remember she was present, so deeply did he appear to be immersed in the terrible problem that confronted him. His eyes were distant and strange. Suddenly he became his normal jaunty self and he smiled cheerfully. 'I think our best move,' he said brightly, 'is to walk into the crypt with the bow.' He sat back and looked at Ace with satisfaction.

Ace stared at him blankly. 'Professor,' she asked, 'are you losing your marbles?'

The Doctor leaned forward. 'We've got to get the bow into the statue's hands to activate the validium,' he told her firmly.

'But there is just one little problem isn't there?' Ace reminded him. There were moments when she really had to take care of the Doctor. 'We won't just be able to walk straight out again, will we?'

The Doctor, however, seemed unsurprised at this. 'No,'

he agreed briskly, 'we certainly won't. We'll have to keep the Cybermen talking for some time.'

'And this is the only way,' asked Ace doubtfully.

The Doctor smiled rea.s.suringly. 'I've always believed in the direct approach,' he said. Then he became serious. He put his hand on her shoulder. 'You can still make it back to the TARDIS,' he said quietly.

Ace flared. 'Are we going or what?' she said, already on her feet.

Side by side, they walked out of the trees and into the open. The bow in the Doctor's hands was pulsating with silver light. Ahead of them, the dark tower of the crypt stood dark in the grey rain, silent and suffused with an eerie sense of danger.

Inside the crypt, at least as far as De Flores was concerned, all was far from well. 'Surely we can negotiate this...' words temporarily failed him, '... misunderstanding,' he desperately concluded, facing the expressionless Cybermen. The empty bow case yawned at him, seemingly in cavernous mockery.

The Cyber leader was imperturbable. 'Our understanding is perfect,' he replied. 'You thought you had all three components of the statue and naturally wished to destroy us.'

'You're completely mistaken...' Karl attempted, putting his best learned lessons to frantic use.

The Cyber Leader lifted his weapon fractionally.

'Silence,' he said unnecessarily.

Suddenly the statue moved. The tomb shook and the quality of light emanating from it changed just enough to divert their attention to itself momentarily. Even the Cybermen turned. As they did so, De Flores slipped a hand into his pocket.

The Cyber Lieutenant turned to his Leader. 'Validium activity indicates the proximity of the bow, Leader,' he said.

'Excellent,' the Cyber Leader replied calmly. 'Kill them.'

As the Cybermen turned to obey the order, De Flores's hand came out of his pocket, casting a golden cloud over them. The thought flashed into Karl's brain that De Flores' eventuality had indeed arisen. There was no time, however, to reflect on his mentor's foresight. The Cybermen looked like human beings caught in a swarm of hostile wasps. The gold dust affected them all instantly and they doubled up, turning and trying to escape it. The air of the small stone room was filled with the rattling of their alarm. De Flores and Karl took immediate advantage of the confusion. Pushing past the struggling Cybermen, they charged outside. The Cyber Leader was the first to rally himself. 'Pursue them,' he croaked. The Cybermen followed De Flores and Karl into the outside air.

The fleeing pair were nearing the cover, if not a.s.sured safety of the edge of the forest when Karl leaped onto De Flores, bringing him to the ground. They rolled, struggling on the gra.s.s as the Cybermen caught up and surrounded them.

'You fool,' panted De Flores at his protege. 'They're going to kill us.'

Karl got to his feet and looked down at the elderly man with contempt. 'Herr De Flores,' he said, 'your day is over.'

De Flores stared wildly at him, and looked hopelessly round at the Cybermen. 'You betray me?' he asked in astonishment. His voice became almost plaintive. 'Have I taught you nothing?'

'Everything,' replied Karl, apparently with complete satisfaction, 'which is why we now part company.' He smiled, and gestured to the Cybermen. 'I'm afraid,' he told De Flores, 'you fail to understand history in addition to Wagner.'

De Flores looked as though he could not believe his ears. 'I?' he stuttered.

'Supermen are all very well,' Karl continued smoothly.

Suddenly his tone became steely. 'But the giants are the master race.' He turned to the Cyber Leader triumphantly.

'Here he is,' he said, indicating the crumpled figure at his feet. 'Now make me one of you.'

There was a pause as the Cyber Leader seemed to consider the proposal. Finally he came to a decision. 'You show potential,' he replied. 'Very well.' He turned to his Lieutenant. 'Have them both programmed at once,' he ordered.

De Flores and Karl were led away. The Leader addressed the remaining Cybermen. 'We must complete the statue immediately,' he said firmly. 'Locate the bow.

Destroy the Doctor and his companion.'

7.

In a thickly overgrown part of the forest a quarter of a mile away, the bushes rustled, indicating the approach of human beings to the wildlife in the area. As the birds flew hurriedly away the undergrowth parted to reveal Lady Peinforte, now led by Richard.

Behind them the dark mouth of a pa.s.sageway yawned in the shadows.

Richard blinked in the daylight and breathed deeply in inexpressible relief. He had not expected to ever see the sunlight again. He turned to her ladyship. She looked pale, dazed and disoriented. He led her to a rock and helped her sit down on it. She allowed him to do so as though she were in a dream or drugged. Richard looked at her in concern. She stared in front of her, apparently unseeing, entirely occupied with her inner world.

Richard coughed and, when this failed to elicit any reaction, spoke gently. 'How is't with you my lady?' he asked.

There was a pause. He was not sure whether she had registered his question, and was about to try another when at last, wearily, she replied.

'I understand not,' she said distantly. She was still not facing him.

'What's to understand?' asked Richard.

There was a long silence. Lady Peinforte appeared to be wrestling with a major problem. Finally she took a deep breath and looked at him directly for the first time.

'Always I have treated you badly,' she said slowly. 'I have done you no service, shown you no kindness. Yet,' she hesitated, 'yet you risk your life to save me. Why so?'

'Should I not?' asked Richard.

Lady Peinforte laughed bitterly. It was her customary laugh, harsh and cutting. Yet there was a softness in it too which he had never heard before. 'I do not live in the world of should,' she said emphatically. 'But you... you are a good man, Richard, and I am evil.' Richard looked at her, filled with profound sadness. He was also relieved, knowing now the moment had arrived.

'My lady,' he said softly, 'we have no more weapons.'

Lady Peinforte's moment of vulnerability snapped closed like a book. Her expression was replaced at once by its usual cold demeanour. 'You are wrong,' she replied with her familiar icy firmness. 'I have one more yet that will not fail: my knowledge. I will have the statue of Nemesis.' She rose to her feet.

Making their way towards the crypt the Doctor suddenly became aware that Ace was no longer beside him. He stopped, and looked round.

She was standing still a few paces behind him, an expression of indecision on her face. 'Doctor...' she said, and halted. She evidently did not know how to say what was troubling her. The Doctor looked at her in his kindliest manner and smiled encouragingly.

'Ace?' he said.

'Look,' said Ace. 'Let's be honest, right?'

'By all means. Are we ever anything else?'