Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders

Yates nodded. ‘That’s right, Tommy. Just a game!’
‘Tommy likes games. I’ll play too.’ He looked at them
hopefully. Mike gave Sarah a despairing glance.
‘The thing is, Tommy,’ said Sarah confidingly, ‘the name of
the game is “Secrets”. It’s a secret that we’re here. You won’t tell
anyone, will you?’
Tommy shook his head. His eye was attracted by the sparkle
of Sarah’s brooch. He reached out to touch it, and Sarah said
gently, ‘Would you like it?’ Tommy nodded eagerly, and Sarah
took off the brooch and handed it to him. Delighted, Tommy
grabbed it from her, and wandered off down the corridor, totally
absorbed in his new prize.
‘A shameless display of feminine wiles!’ said Mike. ‘Come
on.’
As they approached the cellar, they could hear the sound of
low, rhythmic chanting. Mike opened the heavy wooden door,
took Sarah’s arm and guided her into the darkness. Just inside
was the little landing where he had hidden before. She gasped as
something brushed across her face. ‘Ugh! It’s thick with spiders’
webs!’
‘Sssh!’ said Mike urgently. Cautiously they peered round the
turn of the wall.
A circle of robed figures was seated round an ornate symbol,
a sort of silken poster which lay flat on the cellar floor. She
whispered in Mike’s ear. ‘What’s that they’re sitting round?’
‘It’s called a mandala – a device for focussing their
concentration.’
In the gloom of the cellar, Sarah could see Lupton leading
the chanting, with Barnes beside him. She had seen most of the
other men in her tour round the monastery. The chanting was
quickening its pace now, building up a strange sense of
foreboding. Sarah blinked. An unearthly glow was spreading
from the mandala in the centre of the circle. A sense of dread