Doctor Who_ Daemons - Barry Letts [40]
The Master drew himself up. 'I charge you... and I require of you.. that you should give me your knowledge and your power.'
'Why should I?'
'So that I can rule these primitives on Earth and help them to fulfil your plan.'
'You are not one of their kind.' It was a statement rather than a question.
The Master showed no sign of surprise that the Dæmon should have recognised that he was not a native of Earth. 'I am superior to them in every possible way. That is why I should be their leader.'
There was a long silence as Azal appeared to digest this proposition. When he spoke at last, it was to demonstrate once more his uncanny power. 'There is another here of your race,' he rumbled.
This was more than the Master expected. 'He has been destroyed' he said.
'No,' said the Dæmon, unemotionally. 'You are mistaken. He lives.'
The Master frowned.
'If you are superior by virtue of your race,' continued Aral, 'then so is he. I would speak with him.'
The Master was displeased. 'I think not,' he said coldly.
The Cavern shook with the anger of the Dæmon. 'Take care, creature,' he boomed. 'With your few pitiful grams of knowledge you have summoned me here. But I am not your slave—nor are you immortal!'
The Master obviously realised that he had gone too far. 'Forgive me, Mighty One,' he said, bowing respectfully. Azal's growls subsided. 'Nevertheless,' continued the Master. 'I claim that which is rightfully mine.'
Again the Dæmon did not answer at once. At length, he spoke slowly and thoughtfully. 'It is true that your mind at least is superior to the mind of man... and your will is stronger...'
Stan couldn't take his eyes from the Master's face. It was alive with evil glee, a triumphant malice horrible to see.
'Then I am to be your choice?'
Again the silence. 'I shall consider,' he said at last.
The Master's face betrayed his disappointment. 'You will come again?' he asked flatly.
'I shall appear but once more,' replied Azal. 'But be warned... there is danger. My race destroys its failures and this planet smells to me of failure. I am the last of the Dæmons on this world. It may be that I shall destroy it and you. Do you still wish me to come again?'
The Master took a deep breath. 'I do,' he said.
9 Into Danger
Even five miles away at the heat barrier Azal's arrival made itself felt. The ground swayed like the deck of a small ship as it leaves the shelter of harbour. The jangle of the church bells came faintly across the woods and the downs, as if in warning.
The Brigadier came out of the Mobile Headquarters, just at this moment. The Doctor was directing Sergeant Osgood in the construction of a complicated piece of apparatus almost too big to fit onto the back of a Land Rover, and appeared to be quite oblivious of the shaking of the ground.
'Doctor!' called the Brigadier. 'What's going on?'
'Mm?' said the Doctor, looking up abstractedly. 'What do you want now, Lethbridge-Stewart?'
'It seems to have escaped your notice, Doctor, that there is earthquake.'
The Doctor stared vaguely over at the church. 'Oh yes, so there is. The Dæmon most have appeared once more.' He turned his attention back to Sergeant Osgood's contraption. 'No, man, no! You're trying to channel the entire output of the National Power Complex through one transistor! Reverse the polarity!'
The Brigadier felt the old feeling of frustration creeping up on him once more. But, Doctor, aren't you going to do anything about it?'
'I am doing something about it. I need that machine as much as you do. In any case, it's quite clear from Miss Hawthorne's books that the Dæmon always appears three times. It's the third appearance we have to worry about. That's when we could find ourselves in real trouble if we haven't finished this wretched machine.'
Sergeant Osgood rightly took this to be a dig at him. 'We'd get along much faster if we knew what we were doing, sir.'
'I couldn't agree with you more, Sergeant,' the Doctor said bitterly. 'Now please do your best to concentrate.'
Osgood, very conscious of the