Chapter Twelve

Ray nodded. 'They were testing the gas on prisoners. They would turn up in Prison Service vans and be led into the - ' he broke off. 'This was happening in Berkshire. It still is. They forced us to do it, at gunpoint. I - ' he was having difficulty speaking now. I put her arm over his shoulder.

'They were gassing prisoners?' Captain Ford asked quietly.

I nodded. 'Fifteen miles away from here, and then burying the bodies in mass graves. Ray managed to escape, he's been wandering the countryside ever since.'

'But how did the Martians manage to set all this up without anyone knowing?'

'The Home Office must have helped set it up,' Bambera said. 'They must be co-operating with this. People knew.'

'And now we know,' I said quietly. 'So do we stay here and let it carry on?'

There was fire in Lethbridge-Stewart's eyes. 'No. We fight it,' he said. 'We fight it and we stop it. In twenty four hours, the last Martian will have left British soil.'

'How, exactly?’ Bambera asked.

The Brigadier broke into a broad smile. 'I’m glad you asked me that question ... '