Doctor Who_ Daemons - Barry Letts [35]
'You have chosen wisely,' he was saying... 'Everything is possible if you follow me. You can be the rulers! I offer you the world!'
A great round of applause greeted his peroration. At this moment, however, Tom Wilkins pushed his way through to the front.
'Mr. Magister...'
'Yes? What is it? Why do you interrupt me?'
'It's that Doctor...'
The Master snapped his fingers irritably to stop any further indiscretion. Coming swiftly down to Wilkins, he inclined his head and listened to Tom's whispered report. Then, having murmured a word or two of orders, he stood upright and another snap of his fingers sent Tom scurrying for the door. This little demonstration of power did not go unnoticed by the audience, who found it not at all to their liking. In those few short moments he had lost them.
'Very well then,' he resumed, silencing the angry buzz of chatter, 'the world can be yours. All I ask in return is your submission; your obedience to my will!'
No one spoke for a long moment. It was the Squire who found the voice of the meeting. 'What's all this about submission and obedience? You said we were going to rule...'
The Master's patience snapped. ' You rule! You are but dust beneath my feet! You refuse my offer. Very well, I will give you another choice, serve me or I shall destroy you!'
A shock of fear; he meant it.
'Well, if that's your brave new world, you can keep it,' said Winstanley, walking down the stairs. 'I think this meeting is at an end. I should be grateful, Vicar, if you would be to good as to leave.'
The Master smiled. Throwing back his head, he uttered curious chattering noise from the back of his throat. Almost immediately the immense stained-glass window shattered into a hundred thousand splinters of colour, like a shower of gemstones, and Bok, the stone gargoyle, landed at the Master's side.
The Master snapped his fingers yet once more and pointed at the Squire, in whose face anger, amazement and terror could all be seen. Bok raised a twisted claw. There was a flash of red fire, a puff of smoke—and the Squire had disappeared, vaporised.
The Master spoke into the sudden silence. 'Is there anyone who agrees with the Squire?'
Not surprisingly, nobody did.
'Thank you,' the Master continued. 'It does my heart good to know that I have such a willing band of followers!' He looked round the room and smiled benevolently. 'Today is May Day. Go and enjoy yourselves. Celebrate the festival with your families. When I need you, I shall send for you...'
And he laid a kindly hand on the head of the faithful Bok, crouching balefully at his side.
8 The Second Appearance
'But are you sure you can manage?' said Miss Hawthorne anxiously, as Sergeant Benton carried the large pile of books through the door, and out onto the green.
'Not the first time I've had a bit of a punch-up, Miss Hawthorne; said the Sergeant, 'and I don't suppose it'll be the last.'
'You're a very courageous young man,' she said, following him out.
Mike Yates closed the door behind them and watched, smiling through the window, as the big Sergeant and the wiry little spinster crossed the middle of the green, where the UNIT helicopter was standing patiently chewing the cud.
'Well,' he thought, as he turned back into the room, 'what now?' He and the Sergeant had been ordered by the Brigadier to 'stay put and keep your eyes peeled', an order which he had every intention of interpreting very liberally, should the occasion arise. For the moment, however, he seemed to be stuck here with no particular job to do. Right, this was a good chance to have another go at thinking things out—without going to sleep, this time! Jo was quite right. Blowing things up was no way to solve a problem. Brain was the thing, not brawn. So, where had they got to? Where as the enemy? Ah, but first, who was the enemy? The Master or the Dæmon? Both of course, but still, even if they managed to sort out the Master—and that was a big enough job in itself—they would still have to face the Dæmon. So, where was he? According to Miss Hawthorne's story, he was almost certainly