"My nose never lets me down." "Well, don't overwork it, eh?" "It's rather pretty." "Too much exercise might damage its shape." "If something happens, don't say I didn't warn you." "That rocket is dangerous." "As soon as Jarvis gives the word, the laser will blast it out of existence." "Red-handed!" "What are you doing, you fool?" "!" "He's no fool!" "He's a saboteur." "It's no good." "He's wrecked it." " Completely?" " Yes." " Watch him!" " I won't give you any trouble." " Too right, you won't!" " This is the Controller." "All men on security duty to issue themselves with side arms at once." "Easy Yellow security plan to be put into effect immediately." "Two off-duty men, security section, report to the Power Room on the double." " What's the sudden panic?" " I said Bill and Jarvis were up to something." "I'll log out the blasters." "Watch the Hercules cluster." "Zoe thinks a star in Messier 13" " is about to enter the nova state." " A star blowing into 1,000 pieces!" "My nose never lets me down!" "Report." "Phase one complete." "Cybermats are launched." "Phase two complete." "You are undetected on the rocket." "Phase three ready." "Report again after phase three." "Easy Yellow alert." " You'd better check your theory." " Hercules 208 in Messier 13 is on the blink." " I'll tell you what the radiation effect will be." " Not now." " I suppose you're going to see the fun." " Somehow, I don't think this IS fun." "I see." "Yep..." " Well?" " You've done a good job, boy." " What's the damage?" " The primary relay contacts are fused shut." " I'll have to strip it down." " How long?" " Depends how much plastic he used." " How long?" " I don't know." " Surely you can give me some idea." " Without the laser beams, we're helpless." " Let's assume that the laser's finished." "The charge storage part." "Replacement could take a week." " What's the trouble, Jarvis?" " This idiot has ruined the laser!" "Poured plastic into the relay lines of the booster mirrors." " Why?" " Sabotage!" "Are you one of these "Pull back to Earth" maniacs?" " Will your friends attack now our laser's gone?" " You're talking rubbish." " You can't deny you did it." " I'm not." " Is the laser really out of action?" " Yes." "Zoe's calculated a new star going nova." " She's usually right." " How bad?" "The radiation flux will swing the shower in on us." " The laser would knock some of them out." " I'd better get started!" "We'll confirm Zoe's figures on the radar computers." "Bring him." "All hands to the Power RoomI" "What a mess!" "Hey!" "Hang on." "I'm not going to hurt you." "Where did you spring from?" "Metal." "You're a strange little creature." "Some form of space bug." "We'd better hide you, Billy Bug, or they'll think I've gone bonkers." "Let's get started right away, shall we?" "Confirm Zoe's figures on radar computers two and five." "Have you ever been in a sky station when a meteorite hit?" " I'm sorry." " Why did you do it?" " You were going to blow up the rocket." " Why not?" " I couldn't let you." " Why?" " Why?" " Because the Doctor told me to protect it." "That's marvellous. "The Doctor told me to protect it. " Don't give a reason." " Just leave me to get you out of trouble" " I had to stop them destroying the rocket." " I suppose so." " Of course I did!" "What if they'd blown the Tardis to pieces?" "I was just beginning to enjoy this little rest." " Anyway, what are you going to tell them?" " I don't know." "Jamie, what exactly did happen on the rocket?" " Don't look at me like that!" " You don't remember?" "Well, it's a bit hazy." "I found you lying near that locked Control Room." "Something had shaken up the rocket and tumbled me out of bed." " It must have made you stumble as well." " I suppose I hit my head." " You honestly can't remember?" " No, but it's at the back of my mind." "What about the machine that was going to attack you?" " Surely you remember that?" " Machine?" "No." "But there's something." "Some warning..." "Some menace..." "Report progress." "All phases proceeding as planned." "Prepare phase four." "Yes..." "Yes, it's all happening in the Hercules star cluster, OK." "I told you." "It happened in the Perseus cluster a week ago." " Yes, the laser deflected the meteorites." " Picture!" "There it is." " And emitting hard gamma already." " It's bigger than the Perseus one." "It's four magnitudes up." "I'll see if I can get some firmer information for you." " I'd better give the bad news to the Controller." " What will we do if the laser isn't repaired?" " We've got the convolute force field." " The neutron barriers won't help." "A star of this magnitude going nova deflects meteorites with a mass of 200 tons each." " 200?" " At least." " Aren't you ever wrong?" " Rarely." "It's all solid geometry to you." "Don't you care what happens here?" "Of course." "I'm only saying what's going to happen." " Like a robot." "Facts." "Calculations." " Leo!" "A proper little brainchild - all brain and no heart!" "Gently." "Keep it upright." "Good." "Fine." "Get maintenance started on that right away, will you?" "Hello, Billy Bug." "You should have stayed where I..." "Did you do this?" "What have you done?" "What's the matter?" "Nothing." "How's it going?" "OK." "Dr Corwyn's taken me off communications." "The Controller wanted to know how you were getting on." "We're making good time." "Will you do something for me?" "Ask Spares to check their bernalium stock, will you?" "Well, that's all right, anyway." "I'll murder that little pest!" " You and your friend are healthy specimens." " We keep fit one way and another." " I suppose all this means I've got to get up." " No." "Not just yet." " Good." " Does your head ache?" " Well, it did, but it's better now." " Any loss of memory?" " Just a little." " Does it make you anxious?" "I think you'll find my psyche in very good order." "Don't strain to remember." "Concussion can bring about temporary lapses in memory." "There's quite a lot we don't know about the memory bank yet." "Good..." "I suppose you can't remember" " why you told Jamie to protect the rocket." " Oh, yes, I can." "Perfectly." " We're not saboteurs." " Probably not." "We don't want to interfere with anything here, or put you in any danger." "You saved our lives, and we're very grateful." "But you HAVE interfered." "We're in the path of the second meteorite storm within a week." " Only we have no defence against this one." " I didn't know about the meteorites." "I don't even know what they are." "The guard said you were here." " Guard?" " You can't roam about wherever you want to." " We're under arrest." " Oh, no!" "How did you pilot the rocket, Doctor?" "I don't think we've met, have we?" "Zoe..." "Doctor..." "John Smith, isn't it?" " John..." " Oh." "Yes..." " What do you do here, Zoe?" " I'm an astrophysicist." "Pure mathematics major." "Oh, I am impressed." " We use Zoe as our second opinion." " You didn't answer my question." " What question?" " I'm surprised you didn't know the answer." "Don't tell me there's something you can't work out!" "How did you pilot the rocket ship?" "I calculated its original course." "It was a service and supply ship for Number Five Station, overdue and presumed lost nine weeks ago." "The rocket couldn't have drifted 87 million miles off course." "So what's your theory?" "There's a record of the last contact with the Silver Carrier Rocket." "It had seven million miles to touch down, and enough fuel for 20 million." "It couldn't have drifted here." "It must have been driven and piloted." " A wee space detective!" " There's only one solution." "That rocket was refuelled in space - provided with another 12 fuel rods." " It's an interesting theory." " It isn't a theory." "You can't disprove the facts." "It's pure logic." "Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority." "Supposing there was a faulty automatic pilot?" "To drive a rocket 87 million miles on fuel for 20 million?" "Well, it's a possibility." "That rocket was driven here somehow." "I know it was." "We have ionised a star." "Perseid meteorites will strike the Wheel." "Phase three is in operation." "The Cybermats will consume bernalium." "Without bernalium, the Wheel will not deflect the meteorites." "They will discover bernalium on board this rocket ship." "Phase four is ready." "Remove telemeter control from Cybermats." " Let me get this right." "The bernalium is..." " It's useless." "All of it." " What about the reserve?" " Yeah..." "I had a check made of the stuff, but I'm holding most of it over in the Power Room." "We rely on those bernalium rods." "They stand up inside the X-ray laser." " What about these creatures?" " There's only one." "That's all I found." " Did anyone see it?" " No." " Did you tell anyone about it?" " You're joking!" "They think I'm a nut for messing about with space flora." " I can't tell them I found a space bug!" " What's it like?" "It's smallish - about so big." "Made of metal or some light tensile material." " And you say it eats metal?" " Not exactly." "It draws the life out of it." "Corrodes it." "You should see what it's done to the bernalium stock!" "How did this space bug get into the Wheel in the first place?" "Search me." "It could have got in through the loading bay or one of the airlocks." "Yes..." "I suppose that's possible." "What's wrong?" "You think I'm a nut too, do you?" "No, but I want to see this creature for myself." "All right." "I'll introduce you to Billy Boy." "Aargh!" " What was that scream?" " I don't know." "All the devils in hell were hounding someone." "You can't come out." "Is he dead?" "Yes." "I'll tell the Controller." "What's that?" "Jarvis has mounted an enquiry, but I'm more interested in this." " This was found by the body?" " Yes." "We had to take a floor plate up." "You can't cut through hyperoxide." "Its polymer strength is too great." "The Gordian knot couldn't be untied either." " I don't know what that means." " It means that er..." " It means there's always a solution." " Aye." "And the bernalium is a write-off, is it?" "Completely." "We've only got a few spares." "We'll have to get more up from Earth." "And the X-ray laser gun, the main armament of the Wheel, relies on bernalium?" " Do you think there's a connection?" " It's a possibility, isn't it?" "Jamie, what do you think?" "Me?" "There could be a saboteur on board." "Jarvis Bennett said something about a group of people. "Earth for Earth", something like that." "There ARE people who want to stop the space programme." "Suppose they'd planted a saboteur on board, waiting for the right moment?" "Along drifts the rocket, and we're aboard, so the saboteur strikes." "And murders?" "If he was caught, he may have had to kill." " It's an interesting theory..." " But it fits!" " It doesn't fit this." " Which we can't cut inside." "It's a spare part or something." "The dead man tried to defend himself with a quick-set plastic," " and it went over this bit of machinery." " Well, we can find out." "How?" " With the X-ray machine?" " Of course!" "Why didn't I think of that?" "Aye!" "Why didn't you?" "All I had to go on was the fact that hyperoxide is unbreakable." " I just didn't think of X-rays." " Common sense works wonders sometimes." "Well, at least YOU didn't think of X-rays." "That would have been awful." "You're under restriction." "You'll go back to Earth on the next ship." "I want a written report on the whole affair, and I want it tomorrow morning, first thing." "That's all." "He's confined to quarters." "Tanya, you'll take over some of Leo's operations." "Leo, I want that laser working as soon as possible." " Get onto it at once." " Controller..." "Now, all of you, let's get back to normal working conditions." "Gemma, I want a word with you in my quarters." "Laleham and Vallance are waiting for a go-ahead." " Give it." " Yes, sir." "Travel party, you may embark." "Operating air pass doors and emergency standbys." "Entering departure hatch for oxygen rating now." " Standing by." " Receiving you." "I'm sorry, Bill." " It's my own fault." "I'm a fool." " You didn't do anything." "I should have told somebody." " There WAS a creature there." " We did search round, Bill." "The place was a mess, but there was no sign of anything." "I didn't dream it, did I?" "What's the use of talking?" "Rudkin's dead." "I'd give anything to..." "What's the use of talking?" "Didn't you find some corroded metal in the Power Room?" "Yes." "Gemma wanted me to keep quiet about it until she'd talked to Jarvis." "All this work means we won't spend much time together." "I'll find someone else to keep me company." "I'd hate it if you didn't have a sense of humour." "No, no, no!" "There's too much unexplained." "Too many irrational phenomena." "What's wrong with you people?" "I can't turn round without somebody dreaming up some odd little thing happening!" " Calm down." " Did you hear that fool Duggan?" "Space rodents The man's a wreck!" " Will you listen?" " If it's sensible." "I'd like to go through some facts." "All right." "I'm listening." "One - the rocket drifts near us." "Two - drops in temperature." "Temporary." "Back to normal." "Three - drops in air pressure." "Temporary." "Back to normal." "Four - two meteorite storms of above average dimensions within seven days." "Five - two strangers arrive." "One sabotages our armaments." " Don't lump all those things together." " They could be connected." "Don't you start!" "What are you going to do?" "Make trouble?" "We've got trouble!" "You're putting your head in the sand." "Bill's so-called apparitions appeared after we saw the rocket and the air pressure dropped." "And bernalium - the one thing vital to our defences - bernalium is corroded, at a time when we're facing a big meteorite storm." " That rocket is the basis of all our troubles." " I've sent some men to look it over." "But mysteries..." "Please, Gemma, not you as well." "The X-rays are processed now." "Can you turn the light out, Jamie?" "There we go." "Let's see what we've got." "What's that?" "It's a Cybermat." "The lights, Jamie." "Cybermats!" " That means the Cybermen must be here, too!" " Yes..." "And there's only one place they can be - on that rocket!" "Agh!" "Agh!" "Agh!" "You will take us to the Wheel." "Obey." "Inside the Wheel, you will help us." "You will obey."