Doctor Who: Daemons by Barry Letts

Author:Barry Letts
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science-Fiction:Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780426113324
Publisher: Target Books
Published: 1993-12-15T10:00:00+00:00

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 Brigadier's presence, struggled to keep quiet.

A corporal appeared in the doorway of the Mobile H.Q., and handed the Brigadier a signal.

'Excellent,' he said as he read it. 'Right, Osgood, we've fixed it with the electricity wallahs for the power to be off for fifteen minutes. Are you ready to link up?'

'No, sir.'

'Well, when will you be ready, for heaven's sake?'

Osgood shrugged. The Doctor answered for him. 'Christmas after next, I should say. A rough estimate, of course.'

Stung by this sarcasm, Osgood could not stop his feelings from spilling over. 'If you push 10,000 volts through this lash-up, you'll blow it, anyway,' he complained.

'Just do what you're told, Sergeant,' said the Brigadier calmly. 'The Doctor knows what he's doing.'

'Yes, sir,' replied the Sergeant, obviously not believing a word of it, and moved away to sort out the junction boxes ready-for the link-up to the electricity supply. The Brigadier moved as dose to the Doctor as the heat barrier would let him.

' Do you know what you're doing?' he asked quietly.

The Doctor smiled charmingly. 'My dear chap,' he said, 'I can't wait to find out!'

That Jo did not sleep right through the earthquake caused by the appearanee of Azal was perhaps

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