Doctor Who_ Daemons - Barry Letts [30]
'Stop it! Stop it!' cried Winstanley.
For a moment, the Meter ignored him. Then, as if coming back from for away, he looked up. He snapped his fingers. At once the room was still.
'Well?'
'I'll do anything... I'll do anything you say,' gasped the terrified Squire.
'Very well. I shall be back in an hour.' The Master's speech was slurred. 'You understand?'
'Yes, yes, of course.'
The Master turned and walked out of the shattered room. Squire Winstanley sank slowly into the tapestry chair and buried his face in his trembling hands. His headache was coming back.
7 Explanations
Sitting round the rickety old oak table in the little back room of 'The Cloven Hoof Jo, Mike and Sergeant Benton were tucking into a traditional 'Ploughman's Lunch'—large slabs of cheese, crusty new bread with farm butter and crunchy pickled onions; all washed down with pints of draught cider or strong ale. Miss Hawthorne had graciously accepted one small apple, stating it as her considered opinion that too much eating in the middle of the day led to sluggish vibrations in the afternoon.
'Do come and eat something, Doctor,' called Jo.
But the Doctor was too far away to think of food. Surrounded by piles of books of every shape, size and age, he was hunting here and there through them, making notes and leaving slips of paper as book marks.
'Well, well, well! The Grimoire of Pope Honorius!' The Doctor had seized an ancient leatherbound volume with great excitement. 'A copy I never knew existed...'
'You have the pick of the finest collection of occult material in the country there, Doctor,' said Miss Hawthorne proudly, 'though why you wanted me to bring it, I can't think.'
'I hope that will become clear. Apart from anything else, I'm being pestered for an explanation. These books will help me to provide it.'
Miss Hawthorne looked puzzled. 'But Doctor, there is only one possible explanation, this is the supernatural at work.'
The Doctor looked up from his notes. 'Nonsense!' he said.
Benton thoughtfully chomped on a pickled onion. 'What about that thing that got me? That was real enough.'
The Doctor had returned to his books. 'There's nothing more real than a force-field, Sergeant,' he said, marking a large coloured picture of a goat, 'even a psionic force-field.'
Miss Hawthorne bristled. To have her cherished beliefs challenged! It was unthinkable. 'You're being deliberately obtuse, Doctor. We are dealing with the supernatural, I tell you. The Occult! Magic!'
The Doctor shook his head. 'Science,' he said.
'Magic
' Science , Miss Hawthorne.'
Mike Yates finished off his been 'Really,' he said, 'what does it matter? There's no point in getting all hot under the collar about words. The important thing is to find a way to stop it, whatever it is.'
'How can you stop it without knowing what it is?' said Jo indignantly, leaping to the Doctor's defence as usual.
'Well done, Jo,' said the Doctor, getting up, 'you're being logical at last.'
'Oh, am I? Thanks,' said Jo, doubtfully.
'We'll turn you into a scientist yet. Now then. If you've all finished perhaps we could clear a space.'
One end of the table was quickly cleared of the remains of the meal and the Doctor was able to spread out a number of books. 'Right,' he said, 'here we go,' and he opened the first book. 'Who's that?'
'It's an Egyptian god, isn't it?' said Jo.
'Top of the class. The God Khnum—one of their gods with horns.' He opened the next book. 'A Hindu Demon—with horns.' Another. And another. 'The Ancient Greek god Pan—with horns. A bust of Jupiter—with horns. A statue of Moses—yes, even he's got horns. The Minotaur—the bull-headed monster of Crete . Our old friend the' Horned Beast—the Devil with the head of a goat...' The Doctor went on opening book after book, until the table was filled with pictures of horned beings.
Miss Hawthorne was not impressed. 'You could go on all day and all night showing us pretty pictures,' she said tartly. 'It proves nothing. Horns have been a symbol of power ever since... Oh, ever since...'
'Even