Doctor Who_ The Sea-Devils - Malcolm Hulke [5]
Jo got the point. The coincidence made her forget all her physical discomforts. ‘The Master is a sort of fallen Time Lord!’
‘Exactly,’ affirmed the Doctor. ‘Now, shall we go and pay him a visit?’
After another twenty minutes of hard trudge along the country road, the Doctor and Jo arrived at the gates to the grounds of the château. It was easy to see that big changes had taken place on account of the Master. A wall about four feet tall ran along the entire perimeter of the vast grounds, as far as the eye could see. Little nubs of metal stood up from the wall at regular intervals evidence that in earlier times it had been surmounted by wrought-iron railings. Jo remembered being told that during the Second World War almost all fences and railings in Britain were taken by the Government because of the desperate need for all types of metal to make guns, ships, and bombs. Many old buildings had never had their railings replaced; here, however, a brand new electrified fence had been built on the inside of the old wall. The actual gates, however, were clearly the originals; indeed, some metal gates of supposedly excellent workmanship were spared during the war. They stood about twelve feet high, set between huge stone uprights. But now one of the gates had had a big notice screwed to it, the warning you see outside any of Her Majesty’s prisons: in rather stilted English it solemnly warned the visitor of the punishments they might receive if they helped, assisted, or encouraged any prisoner in an attempt to escape. Almost hidden among the nightmare of Victorian iron-work was a small push-button for a bell.
The Doctor put his finger to it, and pushed.
A gatekeeper’s cottage stood just to one side of the drive on the other side of the gates. Jo saw a uniformed prison officer come from the cottage towards them..
‘What is it?’ The prison officer stood a few feet from the gates and made no attempt to open them.
‘We’ve called to visit the prisoner,’ the Doctor shouted back.
The prison officer remained where he was. ‘Got your VO’s?’
‘Got our what?’ said the Doctor.
Jo quickly fished in a pocket and produced their two special visitor’s papers issued to the Doctor by the Ministry of the Interior. She held them through the gates. ‘We haven’t got Visitors’ Orders,’ Jo explained, ‘but these were issued by the Minister himself.’
Now the prison officer came forward and carefully examined the two passes. ‘Got anything to identify yourselves?’
Jo handed in their two UNIT passes. ‘The Doctor actually helped to catch the prisoner,’ she said, pointedly.
‘Really?’ said the prison officer and continued mildly, ‘and I’m the Lord Mayor of London.’ He produced a key from his extraordinarily long key chain and unlocked the gates. The moment Jo and the Doctor had stepped inside, the prison officer locked the gates behind them. ‘Keep within two paces of me,’ he ordered, and started walking towards the gatekeeper’s cottage. Just outside it, on the driveway itself, was a wooden sentry-box. Within was a telephone which the prison officer now lifted. He dialled two digits and waited for an answer. ‘Gatehouse here, sir,’ he said. ‘Two visitors for the prisoner, sir. They have identified themselves as UNIT personnel, and they have authority to make the visit from the Minister.’ He listened for a moment. ‘Yes, sir. Right away, sir.’ He put down the ’phone, put two fingers into his mouth and whistled. Like a jack-in-the-box another prison officer came hurrying out of the cottage.
‘These two for the château,’ said the first prison officer. ‘Jump to it.’
The other officer wheeled about, and disappeared round the side of the cottage. A moment later he came back, driving a Minimoke.
‘Show him your passes,’ said the first prison officer, ‘and he’ll drive you up there.’
‘But we’ve already shown you our passes,’ the Doctor protested.
‘How is he to know,’ said the first prison officer, ‘that you and I aren’t in a conspiracy to free the prisoner?’
For a second