Doctor Who_ The Sea-Devils - Malcolm Hulke [28]
The Doctor smiled. ‘You don’t seem very surprised at the news.’
Trenchard tried to get his shattered mind in order. He should treat this a joke. It was the only thing he could do.
‘I think you must be suffering from some mental aberration,’ he said, touching his forehead, ‘you know, a touch of the old berry-berry or something. Would you like to sit down and have a brandy?’
‘I saw the Master with my own eyes at the Naval Base,’ said Jo.
‘Come now, Miss Grant,’ said Trenchard, ‘that’s quite impossible.’
‘A Chief Petty Officer caught the Master masquerading as a senior naval officer,’ said the Doctor, ‘stealing electronic equipment. The Master knocked the man out.’
Now Trenchard was really worried. The Master had said nothing to him about his encounter with a Chief Petty Officer. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I’d better look into this. Will you both wait here, please?’
Trenchard rose and went to the door.
Jo said, ‘Why not use that monitor of yours?—see if he’s still in his room?’
Trenchard hesitated, and tried to think of some reason for not doing the obvious. ‘Don’t really like gadgets,’ he said. ‘I want to see my prisoner with my own eyes.’ He went out.
The Doctor immediately went to the ’phone on Trenchard’s desk. As with all telephones in prisons, it had a little chain and padlock that immobilised the dial. He turned to Jo. ‘Take the Jeep and get back to the Naval Base straight away. ’Phone UNIT—tell them that Trenchard and his entire staff must be arrested immediately!’
Jo said, ‘What are you going to do?’
‘Be a good guest,’ said the Doctor, ‘and twiddle my thumbs until Mr. Trenchard comes back.’
Trenchard felt that he was making no impression on the Master at all. Here he was, telling the man that he’d been spotted when he was at the Naval Base, and the Master wasn’t making any reaction at all. He seemed to be totally absorbed in drawing a diagram of electrical circuits, something quite beyond Trenchard’s understanding.
‘Will you listen to me?’ said Trenchard, aware that he was going red in the face. ‘They know everything!’
At last the Master turned away from his work. ‘They think they know something, that’s all,’ he said. ‘Why not ask the Doctor to come down here and see me for himself?’
‘Of course I can do that,’ said Trenchard, ‘but it won’t make any difference. I wish you’d told me about that man you nearly killed. You shouldn’t have kept that to yourself!’
‘You’d only have panicked,’ said the Master, which Trenchard knew was probably true. ‘Send the Doctor down here and I’ll tell him what we’re doing.’
Trenchard was outraged. ‘You mustn’t! You said yourself it must be kept a secret until we can prove that what we are doing is right.’
‘The Doctor is a very intelligent man, Mr. Trenchard,’ said the Master. ‘He’ll understand, and he may be willing to help us.’
‘And if he doesn’t?’ Trenchard asked.
The Master shrugged. ‘People can only leave this place with your permission—Governor.’ His voice acquired a rough hard edge: ‘Now send him down here by himself. No prison officers present. Leave the rest to me. I’ll win him over.’
Trenchard left to carry out the Master’s order. All his time in the army had taught him that the simplest solution to any problem was to carry out an order given by someone else. Once Trenchard had gone, the Master quickly put away the diagram he was working on. Then, just to be on the safe side, he took a cushion and rammed it in the front of the television camera eye that continuously overlooked him. Satisfied that he could not be observed, he banged on the door. It was immediately opened by the prison officer on guard.
‘Would you come in here a moment,’ said the Master. ‘I think something’s wrong with the air-conditioning. There’s no air coming in up there.’ He pointed to one of the grilles near the ceiling.
The prison officer looked up towards the grille, taking his eyes off the Master for a moment. With a flashing karate chop, the Master knocked the officer unconscious