"Christine?" I asked as she glided towards me. "Christine, can you hear me? It's Matt. It's me, Christine." Still, the Ice Creature that used to be one of my best friends walked right past me and stood by the side of the Master, her arms loose at her sides;  it was as though I didn't exist.

"She can't hear you, Mr Mayhew," Captain Scott said. "Nothing you can say will bring her back to you. She belongs entirely to me now."

"What have you done?" I growled at him. "What have you done to her?! You promised you wouldn't hurt her!"

"I haven't hurt her, Mr Mayhew," the Master smirked. "I've upgraded her. She's now stronger, faster and more powerful." He hesitated, a smile coming to his lips as he gazed over Christine. "I have to say, she is my best creation yet."

"Turn her back!" I yelled, holding up the gun again to my head. "Turn her back and free the others right now or I swear to God that I'll shoot myself!" The Master rolled his eyes and sighed.

"You need a human to turn her back," he said. "A human must step inside the machine and sacrifice themselves for her. As there are no other humans around, that's not going to happen any time soon." I swallowed hard, the gun trembling in my hand.

This hadn't been part of the plan.

I just had to hope that Pete and the others would hurry up; I didn't know how much longer I could keep this up. Where the hell were they? The tracker in my pocket should pin point my exact location, so what was taking them so long?

"I grow tired of this game, Mr Mayhew," the Master said. "There is nowhere you can go, no way out, nothing you can do to escape. Give up to me now and I promise that it will be swift.  And of course I will liberate your friend in exchange." I looked up towards the ceiling, still holding the gun in my hands.

Above the ice, I could see dark shadows making their way carefully across the snow fields, treading cautiously. I smiled slightly to myself, knowing what was about to happen.

"I think I'll pass on your offer, Captain Scott," I said with a smirk. Before he could stop me, I bolted to the corner of the cavern, crouching down and covering my head.

Boom!

The ceiling ice shattered as Harrison, Silverton and Pete set off the charges above the cavern. Ice rained down on us some the size of boulders, others just fragments.  Within seconds,  Silverton and Harrison had abseiled down into the cavern, their guns up and ready to fire.

"Matt!" I heard Pete yell from the hole in the ceiling above my head. "Matt, are you okay?"

"I'm all right, Pete!" I shouted back. "I'm okay!"

"Okay, I'm coming down!" he yelled back.

"No, Pete!" I cried. "Get back to the boat. We'll deal with this!" There was no answer in reply so I assumed that he had taken my advice. I ran towards Silverton and Harrison who both kept their guns trained on the centre of the cavern where a pile of broken ice lay, hopefully with the Master crushed underneath.

"Stay alert," I told the two men. "we can't assume the Master is dead." As if on cue, the debris started to move and tumble off the pile. Christine suddenly burst out, snarling in anger before turning to help the Master up after her.

"Wait, is that...?" Silverton started then trailed off in complete shock.

"Yes," I said, keeping my eyes trained on the pair. "That is Captain Scott. He turned Christine." The Master finally straightened, brushing the  ice from his clothes. He laughed when he saw us, shaking his head.

"That was very well played, Mr Mayhew," he congratulated mockingly, clapping his hands slowly. "You had me talking about myself to give your friends enough time. Very clever, very clever indeed. But I'm afraid that your efforts will be to no avail." He turned to Christine. "Kill the two soldiers," he ordered. "But bring Mr Mayhew to me alive."

Suddenly, Christine rocketed towards us, her feet barely touching the frozen floor. Harrison yelped beside me and opened fire, bullets slamming into the Ice Creature. But she didn't even slow down for a second and slammed into Harrison, tackling him to the ground. They rolled across the floor until Christine came out on top, an ice dagger forming in her hand with a swirl of icy wind. She went to stab down at Harrison but Silverton shot the icicle from her hand. It shattered before she could stab Harrison.

Christine snapped her head towards Silverton, her eyes narrowing menacingly.  She snarled viciously, leaping off Harrison and steaming towards Silverton like a hunting lioness. Silverton yelped and shot Christine in the shoulder. The force of the bullet at close range made her topple to the side but just as soon as she hit the floor, an icy wind swirled around her reforming her shoulder.

"Matt!" I heard Pete shouted. I looked up and swore under my breath. Pete was dangling on a rope half way down from the hole they had blown in the ceiling.

"Pete!" I cried. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"That's Christine!" He shouted back, abseiling even further down the cavern. "We've got to save her!" I made a noise of exasperation, throwing my hands up in the air. God, this was the last thing we needed right now. One of my friends was already in danger, I didn't need Pete to be as well.

Pete finally made it down to the bottom of the cavern and I ran to him, grabbing his shoulder. "What were you thinking?" I cried.

"We're going to save Christine!" he said, his voice as determined as I had ever heard it. "I'm not abandoning her!" I growled in frustration.

"I know!" I shouted. "But we've got to keep Christine and the Master distracted until Captain Jackson finds and frees the scientists!" He nodded, looking around the cavern in increasing alarm. Christine had got to her feet and was attacking Silverton and Harrison again, shooting razor sharp icicles at them. I grabbed Pete and hauled him behind the pile of broken ice on the floor, shielding us from the battle. His gaze turned to the huge crack in the wall.

"What's through there?!" he yelled, pointing to where the Master's ship was.

"It's his ship!" I shouted. "It's how the Master got here, how he's transforming the Ice People! He's a bloody alien!" Pete's eyes went wide.

"I could check out the ship!" he said. "I can see if there's something there to help us defeat them!"

"No!" I cried but it was too late. Pete was already running across the cavern, dodging bullets and avoiding the battle between the two sailors and Christine. "Pete!" I yelled. "Pete, it's too dangerous! Pete, wait!" But there was nothing I could do. He disappeared through the crack in the ice, fading into the bright light.

I put my hands to my head but shook myself out of my daze. Harrison and Silverton needed help. We had to distract them as long as possible. I took a step forward but something behind me grabbed my coat, lifting me off my feet. I yelled out, thrashing and kicking but there was nothing I could do to free myself.

"Stop struggling, Mr Mayhew," the Master chided. "I'll make this quick." I cried out as his grip tightened and I felt another presence in my mind, probing at my thoughts and trying to push me aside.

"No!" I choked out. "Get the hell out of my head!"

"Stop resisting, Mr Mayhew," the Master growled. "You're only making this more difficult for yourself. I will win eventually." He was right and I knew it. I could already feel myself beginning to weaken from his mental attack. He was like a swarm of bees, invading every corner of my brain. I felt myself beginning to slip, my eyelids drooping-

"Hey!" A voice yelled. I snapped my eyes opened again and saw Captain Jackson behind the Master, a gun in his hand. He didn't even wait for the Master to turn around before he shot him in the back. I was dropped to the ground, gasping for breath before crawling away to the wall.

The Master looked down at the crimson stain that was spreading across his chest. He laughed sarcastically, whirling around to face Captain Jackson. "You are mistaken if you thought that would stop me," he said. He stalked towards the Captain, a ice dagger forming in his hand.

But I was quicker.

I brought up my hand with my gun, shooting the Ice Creature's Master six times in the back and legs. He crumpled onto the floor, blood pooling around him. The Captain ran to me, helping me to my feet.

"Thanks," he said, gesturing to the Master.

"What the hell took you so long?" I asked, grimacing a little.

"We were a little held up by the rest of the Ice People," he explained. "Midshipman Goodman and the others are distracting them with the boat." I nodded, staring at the Master's body.

"That won't stop him for long," I said. "He'll just heal himself and be back on us in a matter of minutes."

"I know," the Captain said. "But how do we stop him?" I shook my head but then my gaze landed on the bright light that was coming from the crack. Pete said that he might be able to find something that could help us. I had to see if he was right.

"Captain, help Silverton and Harrison fight off Christine!" I told him, gesturing to the battle that was still raging on the other side of the cavern. "I'm going to help Pete. When I say the word, get the hell out of the way, got it?" The Captain nodded gravely before sprinting to Silverton who had just been thrown across the room.

I ran to the gap in the wall, sliding through it and flew down the tunnel. The light was bright and I shielded my eyes with my hand as I ran. Finally, I burst into another cavern but skidded to a stop, staring in awe at the huge bulk of metal that was in front of me.

The ship was massive, filling the entire cavern. It was a dull grey in colour but two bright lights at the front shone like stars.

"Pete!" I yelled, snapping out of my daze. "Pete, where are you?!"

"Matt, over here!" I heard him call. I looked up and peered through the light to see him waving at me from a door-like opening in the ship. Running towards him, he grabbed my arm and dragged me inside.

"Just look at this!" Pete exclaimed as I gazed around. The ship was just as big on the inside as it was on the outside. Lights flashed and blinked at us and a strange humming sound could be heard beneath my feet. I stared ahead at the console, looking in disbelief at the amount of buttons there were. The window screen was above it and I could see the battle still raging in the next cavern. 

"How the hell are we meant to find something to help us?" I whispered to Pete.

"Already done it," Pete said, pointing to the largest button on the console. It had a drawing on it,  depicting a gun. "I have no idea was it does, but I'm pretty sure that it will kill the Master." I nodded, stepping towards it.

Suddenly, a painful shriek filled my head. I groaned, collapsing to my knees and clutching my head in my hands. God, it was loud and painful, as if my brain was being stabbed by a thousand tiny hot knives. I managed to bring my gaze up to look out into the next cavern.

It was the Master, just standing calmly in his ragged, blood soaked clothes in front of the ship.

He did not look pleased.

"I warned you, Mr Mayhew," he growled in my head. "I gave you a chance and you wasted it. Now, I shall make you watch as I kill all of your friends."

"Matt!" Pete shouted, crouching by my side with a hand on my shoulder. "Matt, what is it?! What can I do?!"

"It's the Master!" I yelled through the pain of the screeching in my head. "He's in my head." Pete straightened and swore as he saw the Master.

"Jesus," he said. "Matt, what do I do?"

"Shoot him!" I shouted. "Shoot him now!" Pete scrambled towards the console, slamming his hand down onto the button.

For five excruciating seconds, nothing happened. But then the humming got louder, becoming more of a buzzing by the second. The entire ship shook violently, preparing itself for the shot.

Through the window shield, I spotted the Captain, Harrison and Silverton take cover in the next cavern having figured out what was about to happen. Pete looked frantic as the lights in the ship turned red.

"Why isn't it working?" he yelled. "It should be working-"

Boom!

The ship shuddered as a green ball of energy shot out from a gun below. It struck the Master who I felt cry out in my head. I screamed in agony, crying out as I felt his desperateness ad his pain.

Then there was silence.

Slowly, I stood to my feet, staring into the cavern outside. There wasn't any trace of the Master anywhere apart from a small crater in the ice where he had been standing.

"He's gone," Pete whispered. "He's really gone. Killed by his own ship." I nodded, hardly believing it myself. Hopefully my great uncle was now at peace, where ever the next life took him. Suddenly, I shook myself out of my daze, gripping Pete's arm.

"Christine!"  I exclaimed. We bolted from the ship and into the next cavern where the Captain, Silverton and Harrison where painfully getting to their feet. They all had numerous cuts and bruises, but  didn't appear to have any serious injuries.

Christine was stood in the middle of the cavern, her face expressionless. She was standing completely still, staring into space.

"Christine," I whispered. She didn't move a muscle.

"Why hasn't she turned back?" Pete asked. "I though if we killed the Master, then she'd turn back." I shook my head, remembering my conversation with the Master earlier.

"We can't," I said. "Not without a human. There's a machine in the ship that transfers matter. She needs someone to sacrifice themselves to turn her back." I took a deep breath. "I got her into this mess. I'll do it." Pete looked at me then sighed, closing his eyes.

"No, you won't," he said quietly. "But I will." I snapped my head towards him.

"What?" I exclaimed. "Pete, you can't! You have a granddaughter to spend your retirement with. Christine wouldn't want you to give that up! Let me do it." Pete just looked at me sadly.

"Matt, I'm sixty years old," he said. "I've lived most of my life. You and Christine are just starting out. You could do some amazing things. This is what I want." I looked at him, my mouth shaping words but no sound coming out. Tears pricked in my eyes. Pete laughed a little and hugged me.

"Matthew Mayhew, crying," he laughed. He then cleared his throat. "Just do me one favour."

"Name it," I whispered.

"Tell Lily what I did," he said. "Tell her that we saved everyone." I nodded, sniffing.

"Of course." He smiled, clapping me on the shoulder. He went around, saying goodbye to Silverton, Harrison and the Captain. To my surprise, each of them were choked up. We then took Christine to the ship, guiding her to the machine.

I turned to Pete one last time, shaking his hand and hugging him tightly. "Good luck, Matt," he whispered in my ear. Before I could say anything else to him, he released me, stepping into the other side of the machine. I heard the buzzing sound again then steam blasted out, hissing like snakes. There was one last beep then the machine powered down. I wiped my eyes and went towards the first chamber.

The moment of truth.

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