Doctor Who_ Daemons - Barry Letts [28]
' Greyhound Three. Over. '
' Is that you, Benton? What's going on? You all asleep or something? ' The Brigadier's voice was not friendly.
' Er no, sir... that is, not all of us. Over. '
' Mm... Captain Yates there? '
' No, sir. '
' The Doctor? '
' No, sir. '
' I see. Well, listen Sergeant, we still can't get through this wretched heat barrier. Incinerates anything we try. Tell the Doctor, will you? Over. '
' Sir, have you... I mean, well, can't you go round it, sir? Over. '
' The thought had occurred to me, Sergeant Benton. '
The door of the pub swung open as the Doctor walked in with Jo.
' I've sent out patrols, ' continued the Brigadier's voice, ' and as far as I can see... what's that, Osgood? Ah, yes... yes, the final report has just come through. The perimeter of this thing is an unbroken circle, ten miles in diameter, it, centre being the village church. Over. '
The Doctor walked over and took the walkie-talkie from Benton 's hand. ' Lethbridge Stewart? The Doctor here. What about going over the top of it? '
' The R.A.F. are just coming through now. Hang on a minute. ' Doubly distorted, the voice of the R.A.F. could be heard faintly—but the message was quite clear, ' Red Zero Four to Trap Two. No soap, I say again, no soap. Last test canister exploded at four thousand fire hundred feet altitude. Estimate dome-shaped barrier above village approximately one mile high at apogee. Over... '
Benton gave Jo a worried look.
' Did you hear that, Doctor? ' resumed the Brigadier, ' we're locked out. Over. '
' Or we're locked in. Thank you, Brigadier. We'll be in touch. ' And he switched off, handing the receiver back to Benton .
'You're supposed to say, “Out”, Doctor,' said the Sergeant reproachfully.
The Doctor started to unfasten his cloak. 'Well,' he said, 'we would appear to in in the middle of a sort of lethal mushroom, ten miles across and a mile high.'
Sergeant Benton got up from his chair and stretched. 'I dunno,' he said, 'I'm lost. I wish I had a clue what's going on.'
Jo brightened. 'Oh,' she said. 'Well, you see...'
'All in good time, Jo,' interrupted the Doctor, 'all in good time. Ah, Miss Hawthorne, the very person I need. And Captain Yates. Good!' And immediately he and the new arrivals plunged into a morass of plans, possibilities, ways and means.
Jo looked at the Sergeant and shrugged.
'Do you know what it's all about?' asked Benton .
'Not really,' she answered, 'just that it's aliens. From outer space.'
Sergeant Benton sighed resignedly. 'It always is,' he said.
'Come in, Vicar,' cried Montmorency Winstanley, 'the very man. Been wantin' to have a word with you. Sit down, sit down. What'll you have? Scotch?'
Mr. Magister raised a declining hand. 'Thank you, no,' he said, 'why should I put a thief into my mouth to steal away my brains?'
'Eh?'
'Paul.'
'Paul who?'
' Saint Paul , I'm afraid.'
'Ah.' The Squire decided not to have another.
'And what was it you wanted to have a word about, Squire?'
'Oh, yes.' Winstanley sat down in the tapestry armchair opposite the Vicar and leaned forward with an earnest expression. 'It's like this...' he said. There was a long pause. 'It's just that...' Another long pause.
'Yes?' said Mr. Magister encouragingly.
'Can't remember,' said the Squire, getting up and crossing to the sideboard.
'I'm not at all surprised,' said the Vicar, sympathetically. 'A man in your position, a leader... nay, the leader of the community, must have so many things on his mind.'
The Squire, with the air of a man carrying the affairs of the world on his shoulders, splashed a little soda into his whisky.
'Indeed,' the Vicar went on, 'that is precisely why I have come to see you. In troubled times like these it behoves us to stick together. Wouldn't you agree?'
'Us?' enquired the Squire, lowering himself