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‘What happened to the Tisiphone?’ She put the book back under WOMEN’S SPIRITUALITY.

‘We appeared halfway between Earth and Mars, and limped as close to Earth as we dared.’ He was tapping keys, bringing up the inventory program. ‘Then we sent the ship on a course for the sun and crammed ourselves into an escape pod.’

‘Where did you land?’

‘In the Welsh countryside. We were lucky to come down over land. Hogan got married nine years ago. He’s living in Upper Norwood. Beilby died of the common cold. And no one knows what happened to Langford.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘That was all a very long time ago.’ The PC beeped. ‘This thing is ready at last. You know, the onetime M’Kabel —

that’s Tony’s real name — pulled the cover off this thing, he looked inside and just started to laugh.’

‘I didn’t know Tzun laughed.’

‘Neither did I.’

‘Grief!’ said Benny, picking up a different book. ‘ The Shoreditch Incident, by H.O. Macbeth.’

‘Autographed,’ said Isaac.

‘You’ve met him?’

Isaac nodded at her across the room. ‘We had dinner together last year. Don’t tell me you were at Shoreditch?’

‘Before my time.’ Benny flipped through the pages, her eyebrows skittering up her forehead. ‘I wonder how many of these are about the Doctor.’

‘Dozens of refugees have landed on our doorstep because of him.’

Benny frowned. ‘He’s saved this world a hundred times.’

‘Of course,’ said Isaac. ‘And I’ve met hundreds of the survivors. You should meet Adam Colby — he’s still got the nightmares, seven years later.’

She crossed the floor, put her hands on his. ‘You have to get to know him,’ she said. ‘He’s not at all like you think he is.

You know, he stood in for you at my wedding?’

Isaac looked down at her hands. ‘So much of what we do has revolved around him for such a long time, and we know so little about him.’ He looked back up at her. ‘We dance around in a ring and suppose —’

‘But the secret sits in the middle and knows,’ finished Benny.

They looked at one another in astonishment.

‘I used to say that when you were a child. When you asked awkward questions,’ said Isaac.

He put a hand on top of hers.

‘No blasters,’ said Joel. ‘We don’t have any weapons at all.

And they’re not allowed inside the perimeter of the village.’

‘That’s not going to make the star cops happy,’ said Jason. He was looking out through the door. ‘There’d better be more than one bedroom in those houses.’

‘Well, of course there is,’ said Joel, wiping down the counter. ‘Which year did you say you were from?’

Jason hesitated. ‘This one,’ he said.

‘You’re from now?’

‘Yeah, but I spent a lot of time out in space. Long story.

Me and Benny have been living in the twentysixth century.’

He tested a mouthful of forgotten cappuccino. It was cold.

‘You know, I’d sort of prepared myself not to say anything futuristic that might give us away.’

‘Yeah,’ said Joel. He threw the damp cloth into the sink with a flick of his wrist.

‘But nothing about us surprises you at all.’

‘It’s like that Foglio ‘toon,’ said Joel, as Jason sat down again. ‘Where all the people are running screaming from the alien, but the fan is saying, “Long trip?” ‘

‘I’ll take your word for it,’ said Jason. ‘Is everybody in Little Caldwell as relaxed as you are?’

It’s just us, the crew and the guests. Except for Mr Sullivan in the post office. He’s been here twenty years and he still hasn’t noticed anything weird. We try not to keep lots of aliens around. London’s the best place for them, or sometimes New York.’

‘What about Tony?’

‘Oh, he’s been part of the crew almost from the start. He was a kind of backwards case — he deserted from the Tzun when they were trying to invade in the fifties. He’s our computer expert. He did stuff to my Commodore 64 that’ll be advanced even in ten years’ time.’

‘And what about you?’

‘Oh... I’m a latecomer,’ said Joel, fumbling with a packet of cigarettes. ‘They needed a fan real bad. What people think about aliens mostly comes from films and TV. Thank God for ET and CE3K.’

‘Why no guns?’ said Jason.

‘Because