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'Not really, no.'

'Very good then. I think we've left it long enough. If you'd all move to the end of the tent. It would help, if you could pray with me. It doesn't matter what you pray, so long as you concentrate on freeing David from the demon possessing him.' He positioned them around the tent all looking towards David and then, kneeling at the foot of the table, he held the Bible to his chest and started to murmur prayers.

Ace tried to think of something suitable to communicate to a God that she had never really believed in despite, at some points in her life, wishing that He was there. She realized finally that, as with the faith that had driven back the Haemovores during World War Two, it wasn't important what you believed in but it was the mere act of wishing for David's recovery that was required: With this thought, she looked to the Doctor and saw that his lips bore a faint smile. She looked closer and saw how drained he appeared. Worried, and adding a silent prayer for the Doctor's recovery, she returned her attention to David and Inspector Stevens.

He placed the Bible on the table and began to ring the small bell above David's head. He raised his arms to the sky and called out. ‘Foul spirit, by the holy trinity I command thee to leave this soul in peace. Avaunt!'

The air seemed to thicken perceptibly and the noise from without was dampened. There was a feeling as of forces gathering at the periphery of the tent. Stevens rang the bell again and brought his hands slamming against his chest.

‘Avaunt ye, ghast,' he ordered. 'In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost I adjure thee -

go back when thou came from! I, Graham Stevens command it in the name of God!'

Was that a distant roll of thunder, bringing with it the promise of purification by fire and water? Ace sensed a presence writhing at the centre of the table, above David's chest.

‘Get thee hence!'

The Doctor suddenly raised his voice, screwed his eyes up tight and pressed his palms together like a child praying at the end of school. ‘From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night, good Lord, deliver us!’ he requested in his thickest Scottish brogue.

Immediately, all the tension dissolved back into the thin air 'I think that's quite enough of that,' he continued, opening his eyes. Let’s try this more scientifically. These protoplasmic beings are terribly primitive with no developed nervous system. That’s why they're such perfect symbiotes. Now, as David is unconscious, the protoplasm will be relying on its own instincts . . . which will lead it to be afraid of fire. So let's see if we can make it emerge with flames.' He took the candles and brought them up against the canvas of the tent. The fabric resisted at first, but then the fire took.

‘Are you sure about this, Doctor?' Ace asked:

'I'm sure that it will be rather more effective than the rudimentary hypnotic suggestion that Inspector Stevens was practising. I think you should all leave the tent. This could be dangerous.' There were no protests. The Doctor had great authority in his voice. Only Stevens, peeved at being so rudely cut off, lingered momentarily and then left.

When they were outside, the Doctor pressed his hands to David's chest. He could feel the creature writhing just below the diaphragm. As it withdrew its tendrils from throughout David's body, the boy was restored more and more to normality. The Doctor searched out the creature's primitive mind and detected a slight glimmering of telepathic power there. It was easy for the Doctor, who, ever since he had seen a world end in flames, had held a slight but very definite fear of fire, to generate enough of a telepathic picture for the creature to pick up and be afraid of.

The others waited outside and watched as the flames spread to the roof and finally engulfed the entire tent. Ace was on the verge of going in to save the Doctor when he erupted from the flames carrying David. He dropped the boy on the ground and then looked