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‘You know rather a lot for a human,’ the man said, his voice suddenly becoming much thinner and reedier, inflections and intonations creeping into it that made it almost musical.

‘I know rather a lot for anyone, actually. And I’m not human

– at least not in the way you think.’

‘Why are you here on Earth?’

‘We’re here to help a friend. What about you? Unless I’m getting confused – and I must admit I’ve been doing rather a lot of that recently – Earth isn’t in the Annarene Protectorate, is it?’

The man looked at the woman, and Ace wondered if they were communicating telepathically. He looked back at the Doctor. ‘We are here on a surveillance mission.’

Aren’t you just! thought Ace, wishing she could pull the Doctor to one side and tell him what she knew about the tweedies. Tell him that they weren’t to be trusted; that they had some sort of coffin device that stank of rotting flesh and that-

‘And who,’ continued the Doctor, ‘are you surveying, exactly? The house? Sooal? Perhaps you know a certain Miss Chambers that we’re having difficulty locating.’

At the mention of Sooal’s name, the two of them gave odd little jerks and glanced at each other again.

‘Wouldn’t it be quicker if we just talked,’ the Doctor said tiredly. ‘Having to read the nuances of your rather badly-practised body language every time I say something is going to become very wearing – not to mention time-consuming.’

‘Who sent you here?’ asked the man.

The Doctor gave a sigh. ‘You know, if I had a penny for every time I’ve been asked that.. Have you noticed,’ he said, turning briefly to Ace, ‘there’s a very unhealthy sense of paranoia around here.’ He turned back to the tweedies, grasping the handle of his umbrella with both hands. ‘I haven’t been sent here by anyone. I came to help a friend – Doctor Brunner. I don’t know if you’ve met her.’ Their faces were blank. ‘Oh well. As I said, she asked for our help and here we are. Now, what about you two – three?’ he added, glancing at the dog.

‘Sooal is a war criminal,’ the man said slowly, glancing at the woman as if seeking her approval. Ace was sure she saw a small, almost imperceptible nod. ‘Four years ago, the Tulkan Empire was on the point of making a decisive strike against the Protectorate. But we succeeded in capturing the Tulkan War Council and sentenced them to have their memories wiped and to be incarcerated on a penal world.’

‘Most merciful,’ the Doctor muttered.

The man continued as if the Doctor had said nothing. ‘But the ship taking them there was hijacked, stolen by Sooal and his followers. They fled to Earth. When the treachery of Sooal was discovered we followed them here.’

‘I suspected something of the sort,’ said the Doctor airily -

although Ace suspected that he’d suspected nothing of the sort.

‘And Sooal’s been trying to revive their memories, has he? Not a very efficient mind-wipe you performed on them, was it? And With Eddie’s memories revived, I have a feeling that this little drama is entering its final act.’ He looked up at the house and pursed his lips. ‘And I do so hate to miss final acts, don’t you?

Who’s buying the popcorn?’

And with that, he stepped neatly around the tweedies and set off for Graystairs.

Ace caught up with him, glancing over her shoulder to see the tweedies striding purposefully after them, the dog at their side. ‘I thought Eddie’s memory was still blocked.’

‘That’s what Eddie wanted us to think – otherwise we might not have been so keen to let him go.’

‘So they’re ready to do... whatever it is that Tulks do, then?’

‘Murder, conquer, enslave, brutalise? Oh yes, I imagine they’re quite ready to do that. The only question is,’ he lowered his voice as they walked, ‘why they haven’t already started it.

Why is it that they were so desperate to get Eddie restored?’

‘Maybe they just thought it would be bad manners to start without him. Anyway these Annarene -’

‘Careful, Ace,’ the Doctor said, not looking at her.

‘Remember: walls have ears. And so do they,’