"Kroll!" "Kroll!" "Kroll!" "Kroll rises from the depths!" "How did you know?" "Well, he probably looked more convincing from the front." "Too convincing." "But there's no need to be smug about it." "I'm not smug." "I can tell that expression, even from behind." "Sucker marks!" "Sucker marks?" "Look, sucker marks!" "Pretty ancient, too, by the way the erosions are..." "Presumably that was Kroll." "Oh." "They've told you about their local water deity, have they?" "Yes, they seem to think" "I should be quite honoured to be sacrificed to the thing." "Yeah, or to his memory." "Kroll was brought here hundreds of years ago." "He must be dead by now." "Then that explains the masquerade." "It must have been political." "Don't talk to me about politics." "Look out!" "Thawn here." "What is it, Control?" "I'm getting something very odd on the scanner, sir." "What do you mean?" "Well, it's something I don't understand." "There's movement underneath the baygule." "How do you know?" "Well, I've just done a routine scan of the bottom." "The entire picture's changed during the past hour." "The whole bed of the baygule's moved." "Well, it could just be a gas build-up." "Well, I thought of that, but..." "It's changed shape over two square miles." "All right." "Well, keep a check on it." "But let me know as soon as it starts to cone." "Right, sir." "What is it?" "Nual's brought us a message from Mensch." "The dryfoots are planning to attack us at dawn." "What, to attack us?" "You mean here in the settlement?" "They're coming in their air boats." "But that wasn't what..." "You'll have to leave here at once." "Get your people to hide out in the swamps." "We are not running from the dryfoots." "We have weapons now." "But you don't know how to use them." "A rifle's not a difficult weapon." "You have to know one end from the other, Varlik." "Like all dryfoots, Rohm-Dutt, because we lead a simple life, you think we're fools." "All I'm saying is that you're not ready to fight yet and, if you stay here, you'll get trapped and stand no chance." "But, if you split into small groups and spread your people across the swamps, they'll never hit you." "Our plans are made." "Our men are moving into position." "We will ambush them on the lakes, in the open." "We can take them by surprise." "There's only a handful of them." "Chief, Chief, even if you succeed, it won't be the end." "They're the invaders of our waters, the aggressors." "They have no right here!" "And there are many on Delta Magna who support our cause." "Why else would the Sons of Earth send us weapons?" "I still say it's too soon to fight." "You would rather we waited until you are safely back on Delta Magna?" "I came here to supply arms, not to fight." "But you will fight with us now, Rohm-Dutt." "We need every gun." "I wonder where they found that." "Look, it's a genuine antique!" "Fascinating." "Are you all right?" "Doctor, there's something I have to tell you." "What?" "I dropped the Tracer." "What!" "I picked it up." "Well, let's get out of here and find the fifth segment!" "It would be extremely foolhardy trying to cross the swamp in the dark." "Yes, but what about our monster?" "He's liable to back at any moment with his friends!" "I don't think so." "They're more likely to be digging trenches." "Why?" "They expect to be attacked" "at any moment." "Really?" "Yes, I followed a Swampie carrying vital information." "How did you manage that?" "Well..." "Shh." "Well, it wasn't too difficult." "The technicians at the refinery were so busy trying to find an excuse to start a massacre, I just slipped away." "What is this refinery?" "They keep accusing me of coming from it." "It's a primitive methane catalysing refinery." "A pilot plant for bigger things, they hope." "Who's "they"?" "The Earth colonists from Delta Magna." "They're the ones who shipped the little green men up here." "Ah, because they thought this moon was no use to anybody." "That's right." "Of course that was all a long time ago." "And now they've found something here they want, they're trying to get rid of them again." "Precisely." "But methane?" "Yes." "I wouldn't have thought it was worthwhile." "They're producing 100 tons of compressed protein twice a day." "As much as that?" "Yes." "They're sending it back to Delta Magna in orbit shot capsules." "But it doesn't make sense." "I mean, how can they possibly produce that much protein?" "Where is it coming from?" "I don't know." "I haven't discovered that yet." "But they're producing it and in sufficient quantities to make it worth fighting over." "Yes." "This lot are spoiling for a war too." "The whole idea of this sacrifice was to propitiate Kroll and get him on their side." "That's why I said it was political." "And there's a gun runner here called Rohm-Dutt." "He thinks I've been sent here to get evidence against him." "Rohm-Dutt?" "So Thawn was right about the guns." "I wonder..." "What?" "Well, who's paying Rohm-Dutt?" "I mean, they obviously don't use money here." "Doctor, does it matter?" "Let's just get out of here and find the segment and leave them to it." "It'll be dawn soon." "At the bottom of that shaft, there'll be an underground passage." "I wonder where it leads to?" "I hate underground passages." "So do I." "You can see how it's moved?" "I've been recording these scans every five minutes." "What's the latest picture?" "Coming up." "That's weird." "It's as though something's lifted up the whole bed" "and then settled back again." "Yeah." "It can't be a gas build-up, not over such a wide area." "Well, we'd better sink a probe right into the centre and take some samples." "That fellow's disappeared." "Huh?" "That Doctor fellow has disappeared, gone, not a trace." "Well, have you looked in his quarters?" "He said he was going to get some sleep." "I have searched the whole station, everywhere, and one of the boats is missing." "Do you suppose that he could be connected with this?" "I wonder." "Why, what's going on?" "Something very odd is going on on the lake bed, look." "Have you seen anything like this before?" "No, I haven't." "It's on such a big scale." "I doubt our mystery friend could manage anything that size on his own." "If he is on his own." "Of course, when we picked him up he was talking about looking for some friend." "Well, maybe there's more than one." "We don't even know how he got here." "Or how long he's been here." "Well, the only track of anything we picked up, apart from your own ship, was of whatever followed you down." "I think it's too much of a coincidence." "You know we assumed it was Rohm-Dutt's ship that had landed." "We haven't found it, though, have we?" "It could've belonged to this fellow, I suppose." "He's been here with us, so he couldn't have done much by himself." "But if he's got friends out there, well, we're in trouble." "So what are they up to?" "Obvious, isn't it?" "They're trying to sabotage the plant." "Well, any activity on the lake bed could disturb the methane source." "Of course." "Now I don't know where this fellow comes from, but he's obviously got considerable scientific knowledge." "Look at the way he knew all about this plant." "Unless, of course, he was very well-briefed." "It could've been an act." "No, no, no." "Not when he was talking about inserting the plasmin catalyst." "That's true." "But whatever he is, I think that he's helping the Swampies." "You say one of the boats is missing?" "Yeah." "Well, if he took a boat rather than a swamp glider, it means that he doesn't want the noise of an engine." "That also means he's trying to cross the swamps on foot." "Why would he take that risk?" "Because he's a Swampie-lover!" "I've told you!" "He's in with them!" "You think he's gone to warn them that we're coming?" "Exactly." "I had an instinct about him from the very start." "He was too glib by half." "Ah, yes." "He's one of those fanatics from Sons of Earth." "Well, they won't be much help to him, will they, when he starts wandering off the path." "He can't have got very far." "So I'll take Mensch and head him off in a glider." "I wouldn't bother." "He'll probably drown anyway." "Oh, I intend to make quite certain of it." "What's that you've got?" "I think it's an illustrated history of the tribe." "A sort of Bayeux tapestry with footnotes." "Oh, a sort of Holy Writ." "I think it's atrociously writ." "But the pictures aren't bad, look." "That shows them being evicted from Delta Magna." "Where they originally came from." "That's right, yes." "They were given this moon as a sort of reservation." "Look, there you are." "There's Kroll and his aquarium." "What did I tell you?" "Sucker marks!" "What's the footnote?" "Let me see." ""And Kroll..." ""When Kroll awakened, he saw that the people were fat and indolent," ""and then Kroll became angry" ""and he struck them down, swallowing into him the symbol of his power" ""and killing all who were in the temple, even Hajes the priest." ""Great was the lamentation of the people" ""but Kroll returned to the water and slept."" "Oh, I like a book with a happy ending." ""Thus was the third manifestation of..."" "Well, he's obviously one of those monsters who's not always about the place." "No." "Just pops up every couple of centuries." "Yeah." "Still, a dormancy period of that length would indicate a creature of massive size." "You think Kroll really exists?" "Well, does it matter?" "Hmm?" "Does it really matter?" "You know what I think?" "I think that Kroll's still around and he's just about due for his fourth manifestation." "Well, if we had any sense, we wouldn't stay." "Yeah." "Let's get out of here." "Come on!" "That way." "Where did he come from?" "I don't know." "He struck me from behind." "So the sacrifice was not made." "No one must hear of this, Skart." "They would think it a bad omen." "If the dryfoot woman is gone, we can say that Kroll took her." "Then there must be fresh blood on the stone." "I will see to it when we return." "Trust me, Ranquin." "No, don't fire yet." "There must be a second boat." "Ahhh!" "Thawn, it's me, Rohm-Dutt!" "Kroll!" "Kroll!" "Great Kroll!" "Kroll!" "Kroll!" "Spare thy true servants!" "Kroll rose from the deep to protect us, his people!" "Let us give thanks to Kroll!" "No, Ranquin, first let us catch Rohm-Dutt." "We've a score to settle with him!" "Feeling better?" "So, was Mensch killed?" "I think so." "I didn't stay to watch." "Oh, the size of that thing was unbelievable." "Why haven't we come across it before, sir?" "It's probably a deep-water thing." "Even so, it's odd we haven't spotted it before now, if it's as big as you say it is." "You saw nothing of the Doctor?" "No." "He'd obviously arrived there already." "The Swampies were waiting for us." "So he did warn them." "And they were armed!" "The Swampies with guns?" "Yes!" "Rohm-Dutt was with them." "So they're obviously all in this together." "Yes, so they were the Doctor's friends." "Yes." "They must have arrived in the same ship." "And it's got to be the Sons of Earth who are behind this." "They're the only people with the resources or indeed the motive!" "Shouldn't we send for reinforcements, sir?" "A police unit?" "No!" "The authorities are far too soft." "Besides, once they start interfering, you can never get rid of them." "We'll handle this one by ourselves." "And in my way." "Your way?" "Final!" "We get rid of the problem once and for all." "No." "It's the only way." "What about that creature, sir?" "Well, we've got to deal with that first." "That's obvious." "It's out there lurking somewhere, so once we've located it, we can then finish it off with depth charges." "I'll see what the underwater scanners are registering." "Look at this." "What?" "Well, I think it's a defective scanner." "Where's Dugeen?" "It's his rest period, sir." "Well, get him down here!" "Harg here, Dugeen." "You're needed in Control." "Now?" "Right away." "See, that's scanner 12." "If I try scanner 14, it's on the same parallel." "Why, it's just the same." "We have a signal, but no image." "Well, both scanners can't be defective!" "What's the problem?" "Scanners 12 and 14 are not registering anything." "Well, they were all right when I left them." "They're not now." "They're still functioning." "Then why aren't we getting an image?" "Because..." "Because something is blotting them out." "Look, I'll try a transverse." "What do you make of that?" "Well, that's what's covering the scanners." "It's probably just a mass of sediment thrown up when the lake bed moved." "That's what I saw." "Those scanners are 400 yards apart!" "I tell you, that is what I saw!" "That thing is alive!" "I told them they had those figures wrong, but, of course, I didn't know about Kroll then." "What are you talking about?" "The refinery." "There can't be enough sediment in that place to produce the volume of methane they claim to have found," "so where's it coming from?" "Kroll!" "What?" "Yes." "If a thing that size takes a nap every couple of centuries, its feeding processes must continue independently," "probably through its tentacles." "Yes." "And Thawn's men vanished while they were taking methane samples, drilling into the sediment." "Like prodding a sleeping tiger." "Yes." "Got it!" "The refinery's heat exchangers must've raised the lake temperature by several degrees already, and the noise of their orbit shot is rousing Kroll!" "Doctor." "What?" "We've got company." "What?" "Well, you'd better introduce me." "As what?" "Oh, I don't know." "As a wise and wonderful person who wants to help." "Don't exaggerate." "This is..." "Seize them!" "I told you not to exaggerate." "Who's that?" "Rohm-Dutt." "A popular figure in these parts about an hour ago." "Ah." "Soon, dryfoot, you will wish you had died on the Stone of Blood." "Guard the dryfoots, Varlik." "No harm must come to them." "I will talk to Kroll and he will tell me by which of the seven holy rituals they must meet death." "Those depth charges are not going to make much impression on that creature." "Not unless you hit a vital spot first time and you can't guarantee that." "We've got nothing else." "Can you think of a better way of killing it?" "Thawn, we've been here months and this is the first time we've ever set eyes on this creature." "Now, surely, if it were hostile, we'd have known of it before!" "I've seen it!" "It's hostile!" "All right, all I'm saying is that those depth charges will only provoke it." "Director!" "This thing's moving again." "Is it coming this way?" "Well, it's coming closer, but not directly towards us." "Well, this station isn't designed for torsional stresses." "Not like an ocean refinery." "It's stopped again." "Well, perhaps it might feed on the bottom." "It's moving along the lake bed." "I'm not interested in its feeding habits, Fenner, unless they happen to include us!" "Look, if it feeds and lives in the water, then maybe we could poison it by dropping cobalt around it." "Radiation?" "Harg, how long would that take?" "Impossible to say, sir." "That size, it could be tough enough to withstand a massive dose." "I still favour depth charges." "I'll go and check how many we've got." "Well, if Thawn wants to depth-charge it, he's going to get us all killed." "I didn't like the bit about death according to one of the seven holy rituals." "No." "Probably the usual things, fire, water, hanging upside-down over a pit of vipers." "That's only three." "Varlik." "Help me." "You're a traitor!" "Now listen, now listen, Varlik, we're good friends, you and I, huh?" "Now I've got a lot of money back in Delta Magna." "A lot of money..." "It's your greed that brought you to this, Rohm-Dutt." "You betrayed the people of the lakes." "You bought us weapons that were old and rotten." "No." "I told you they had to be cleaned." "We examined them." "The barrels are bent." "The metal corroded." "You thought you'd be safely away from here before we tried to use them." "No, it's not true, Varlik." "I bought them in good faith." "Now, let me explain to..." "There's nothing to explain." "We heard you call out to the leader of the dryfoots." "Do you think we're fools?" "I was confused!" "I mean, the sight of Kroll..." "It was a plot!" "You bought us rotten weapons so that we'd enter into a battle that we couldn't win." "Oh, no, you've cheated us, Rohm-Dutt, just as the dryfoots have always cheated our people." "You see, the weight of history's against you." "Oh, what do you know of it?" "I know a rogue when I see a rogue and I've no desire to die in the company of a rogue." "Have you any desire to die in the company of a rogue?" "I'd rather not die at all." "I know that feeling." "It hasn't moved for 15 minutes." "There's movement on the edge." "Rising and falling regularly." "Could be its breathing organs." "Ahhh!" "The pump chamber!" "Here comes the verdict." "The Great One condemns the prisoners to die by the seventh holy ritual of the old book." "Seven's my lucky number!" "Take them to the place of execution." "Ranquin..." "Silence!" "Wasting his breath." "I want to know why we're being executed." "This one knows what he has done." "You, dryfoot, have aroused the wrath of the Great One by denying him his promised victim." "He's not the Great One." "He's the Insignificant One!" "If you're going to have someone imitate Kroll, it's ought to be more convincing." "When the servants of Kroll appear in his guise, they are part of him." "Doing as he bids them." "They're simply keeping a myth alive." "None of you here has ever seen Kroll." "You weren't even born at the time of the third manifestation." "Kroll rose before us at dawn today." "We were waiting to kill the dryfoots when the Great One appeared" "and drove them away." "What?" "Ahhh!" "Enough talk." "Take them away." "So Kroll's on the move." "I've less time than I thought." "Ahhh!" "Harg!"