Caverns of Horror (short story)

Caverns of Horror was a short story published in Doctor Who Annual 1971. It featured the Third Doctor, Liz Shaw and the Brigadier.

Summary
The Doctor and Liz stare in wonder a beautiful crystalline grotto. The Brigadier has warned them to stay together. They hear rifle fire further on in the cavern and discuss recent events: the sentry that was sent back to sick bay; three earth tremors. The Doctor moves on down the tunnel, intending to stop the shooting. Liz, left behind, is grabbed by a claw from the darkness. She screams and passes out. The Doctor races back and sees her being held by what looks like a giant praying mantis. The Doctor points his laser pistol at the creature but it drops Liz and scurries off down a tunnel. The Brigadier arrives and tells the Doctor that he has lost a corporal near a large rock fall. The Doctor tells him to get his men to bring some cyanide gas and the two of them make for the rock fall, leaving two soldiers with Liz. The UNIT soldiers dig a small hole in the rocks and the Doctor squeezes through. He is grabbed at once by some of the large insects and carried to a cavern. In small niches he sees spindly bundles and smaller insects. He is pushed into one of the niches and the insects push something dark into his midriff. He explodes into horrified action, ripping the stuff from his belly and blazing away with his laser pistol.

He shoots many insects as he fights his way back to the hole in the rock fall. He fights his way through and in horror he tells Liz that the insects planted a larva on him, intending it to eat through him. He tells the soldiers to kill every insect and, in revulsion, he leaves the caves.

Characters

 * Third Doctor
 * Liz Shaw
 * Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
 * Cave insects

Continuity
to be added