Doctor Who_ Daemons - Barry Letts [64]
'Open fire!'
As soon as two machine guns were in position, Mike Yates gave the order. As the shells slammed into the body of the gargoyle, he staggered under the weight of the blows, recovered and began to move forward like a Polar explorer breasting a blizzard. Supporting himself against the left-hand gate-post, he raised his hand. A flash of unearthly brightness and one of the machine guns disappeared, together with both its crew.
'Cease fire,' yelled the Brigadier above the chatter of the remaining gun. He looked with horror at the wisp of smoke, which was all that was left of two of his men, not to mention the weapon. Ordering an immediate withdrawal to a safe distance, so far as that could be judged, he held a quick council-of-war with Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton.
'Might as well use a peashooter on four-inch armour,' said Mike, gloomily.
'Get the bazooka set up, Sergeant,' ordered the Brigadier.
'Yessir,' answered Benton .
In double-quick time the bazooka was loaded with a high explosive missile From the partial cover of one of the churchyard's side walls, Benton aimed it at Bok, who was now patrolling to and fro among the tombstones.
'Fire in your own time, Sergeant,' said Yates. Benton nodded, waiting for the opportunity for a perfect shot. It seemed like long minutes rather than a few seconds, before he pulled the trigger. The projectile hit the grotesque stone creature fair and square, blew up and shattered him into hundreds of pieces no bigger than a fist.
'You've done it! Well done, Sergeant!' cried the Brigadier.
Benton 's slightly complacent grin turned to a look of consternation. All the pieces of stone were rising from the ground, in complete defiance of the Laws of Physics, and coming together like an oversized three-dimensional jig-saw puzzle; and there sat Bok, as good as new, as ready as ever to annihilate anybody incautious enough to walk into his view.
'I told you so!'
The Brigadier turned. Miss Hawthorne had been watching the whole fiasco.
And now perhaps,' she went on infuriatingly, 'you'll be ready to listen to reason. How about letting me have a go?'
By the time Stan Wilkins had recovered his senses he had remembered everything up to the moment of his own intervention. But what had happened after that? The girl! Was she safe? With a surge of relief, he saw her standing by a tall figure with white hair, wearing a cloak. Whoever this might be, he seemed to have no fear of Azal. Looking steadily up at the Dæmon, who had his enormous hand outstretched with clawed forefinger pointing menacingly, the stranger was speaking in a clear firm voice.
'If you kill me now, you will wonder through all eternity whether you should have listened to my words...'
For a while nobody moved and nobody spoke. Then the Master burst out. 'Well? Why do you wait?' Again a long silence. Again the Master spoke. 'You waste time, Azal. I order you to destroy him.'
This was a tactical error. Azal dropped his arm and looked down at the Master with hooded eyes. 'I command,' he said, 'I do not obey.'
The Master was not one to give up easily. 'But when I called you... you came.'
The Dæmon's inscrutable stare did not change. 'I answered your call because the time had come for my awakening. It was my will that someone should awaken me. It chanced to be you.'
The Master scowled. 'Without me...' he began.
'Without you, I should still sleep as I have slept these many centuries. But you were the mere instrument of my will. The time had come.'
'The time for the completion of the experiment?'