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.The huge vertical shaft was a cold and eerie place, running parallel to the giant impeller itself, and extending deep into the bowels of the earth beneath the Refinery.Near the surface, small oval windows were cut into the circular metallic walls, but these were used mainly to check for any possible fractures in the pipeline tube.The only light available was that filtering down from the surface, and despite the air-conditioning system in the shaft, the air was thick and stifling.Slowly, the lift platform descended to the base of the shaft, its passenger light casting a lattice of shadows around the metallic walls.Van Lutyens stood there alone, staring up at the anxious faces that were peering down at him from the surface, dreading what might be waiting for him below.As the lift eased deeper and deeper into the earth, he felt as though he was drowning, his whole life dancing before him.Suddenly, the lift came to an abrupt halt.It had reached its final destination, the base of the shaft.Van Lutyens paused a moment, and took one last look up at the group of faces peering down at him from the surface.They were now no more than a small blob of blurred light.Then he raised the lift's safety rail, turned on his torch, and stepped out onto a narrow metal ledge which completely encircled the walls of the shaft.Without the pulverising sound of the giant impeller, the shaft seemed to be simmering with dark secrets, bathed in an unnatural silence.Every step that the Dutchman took sent echoes reverberating around the huge metallic cylinder.Van Lutyens moved slowly, cautiously.The beam from his electronic torch darted from one part of the wall to another.So far so good.Everything just as it should be.At least, that's the way it looked.He moved on.Eventually, the Dutchman's torch found what it was searching for.The beam fell onto a steel airlock door in the floor of the shaft, which gave access to the pipeline tube beneath the Refinery.Climbing down from the inspection ledge, van Lutyens placed his torch on the floor, and slowly started turning the airlock wheel.It moved stubbornly, with a metallic grating sound that sent piercing echoes around the cylindrical walls.As soon as he was satisfied that the wheel was fully unlocked, van Lutyens took a deep breath, and using all his strength, gradually pulled open the door.He paused a moment and listened.Complete silence.He stooped down to peer through the open door in the floor.Pitch dark.Not a sound.He picked up his torch again, and directed its beam down into the chamber beneath.The horror was immediate.The eerie silence suddenlyexploded into a cacophony of frenzied sound.It was the heartbeat.Thumping.Pulsating.The entire shaft area was vibrating.Van Lutyens was paralysed with fear.By the lightof his torch he stared in terror at the cataclysmic sight beneath him.The entire pipeline chamber was engulfed in a seething, shapeless mass of seaweed formations, all pulsating, thumping, squealing in a surge of white bubbling foam.It was a nightmare vision, a breeding ground for an alien life-force from the dark depths of the ocean.It was a colony of devils!'Van Lutyens.' The Doctor's voice echoed down the lift shaft, but it had to compete with the awesome sound of the alien heartbeat.'Doctor!' Van Lutyens yelled back frantically, but in his panic to escape, he dropped his torch and the beam went out, plunging the shaft into darkness again.He leapt up quickly, and tried to scramble back onto the inspection ledge.But it was too late.He started to cough and splutter.There was a hissing sound, and the smell of gas filled the shaft.He turned quickly, to look back over his shoulder.Even in the dark he could see it, the shapeless form of a massive Weed Creature, rising up from the foam, hissing deadly gas fumes, its tendrils slowly snaking their way towards van Lutyens.Van Lutyens made one last attempt to climb up onto the inspection ledge.But the creature's tendrils were on him, wrapping themselves around his ankles, pulling him back towards the foam.The Dutchman only had time to scream once.Van Lutyens's scream sent a cold chill of terror amongst the group waiting at the surface of the lift shaft.'Get him up!' yelled the Chief Engineer.The tension had drained all the blood from his face.Mr Oak pressed the lift operating button.A humming sound was heard, and the lift started its slow ascent to the surface.'Doctor, what is it? What's happened?' Victoria had entered the Impeller Area.'It's van Lutyens, the Dutchman,' said Jamie gloomily.'He's down there.'Victoria went to the edge of the shaft and looked down at the approaching lift
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