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‘Do they?’

‘They’ve contacted a dozen of their associates, all over the country. They’ve got quite a grapevine. Academics, astronomers, journalists, a Local Group of the Professor X

Appreciation Society.’ He turned his cup around in his hands.

‘Isaac,’ he finished gloomily, ‘was very careful not to mention any names.’

Chris said, ‘The Admiral says the Lacaillan mothership is due here the night after tomorrow. They’ll make the pickup with or without Ia Jareshth.’

Benny looked at Chris and Roz, sitting together across the booth.

‘I’m worried about the timing,’ said Roz. ‘We turn up, and almost immediately they’re missing an alien.’

No, thought Benny, trying not to smile at the pair of them.

They couldn’t be.

The Doctor frowned, looking into his cup as though trying to read the tea leaves. ‘I rather think Isaac’s worried about the timing as well.’

‘Yeah, but what I mean is, have we done or changed anything that might’ve caused this?’

‘We have to find her,’ said Chris. ‘Show them that we’re on their side.’

‘I’ve been thinking.’ The Doctor pushed his tea to one side. ‘Perhaps I should go away for a little while.’

‘What?’ said Chris. ‘Where?’

‘Isaac can’t relax while I’m here,’ he said. ‘Perhaps I should give him and Benny a little time to get to know one another.’

Benny put her arms over his shoulders and hugged him from behind. ‘Of course not. We have to help them now that we’re here. Besides, I want you two to get along.’

Chris jabbed a finger at Jason in a not very subtle gesture. Benny looked over to where her husband was glumly pouring himself and Albinex another drink. She sighed, and changed tables again.

‘I’ve been part of the operation since the beginning, I’m proud to say.’ Albinex was diminutive and fashionable, his hair gel intact despite the rain. ‘The Tisiphone caused a few interesting radar blips, but for the most part, their arrival went unnoticed. Except by me. I’d been watching for new arrivals ever since I crashed here in the fifties.’

Benny sat down and picked up the bottle, pouring some of the whisky into her empty coffee mug. ‘They must have been in a state.’

‘The Admiral was as cool as ice. The others were in shock. He still does that in an emergency, just switches it all off and gets on with the job.’ Albinex took a mouthful of whisky. ‘They ended up piling into my van, and I drove them back to my flat in Ammanford. Beilby died two days later, insisting they didn’t take him to a hospital.’

‘How did Little Caldwell begin?’

‘At first it was a library in Llanelli. Then it was a centre for the homeless in London. Those were good years, the late sixties and early seventies. Busy years, too. While UNIT was mopping up the invasions, we were mopping up after UNIT.’

‘Albinex,’ called Isaac, from across the room.

‘Sir.’ Albinex got up. ‘Excuse me.’

Jason and Benny sat opposite each other for a few moments, Jason toying with his glass.

‘Wish you wouldn’t do that,’ he said.

‘What?’

‘You know what I mean. What does my body language tell you, then? That I’m jealous of your father?’

Benny sat back. If anyone had heard, they were politely pretending they hadn’t. ‘I wasn’t trying to read you,’ she said.

‘Actually, I was just thinking —’

‘Can I just talk about it?’ said Jason. ‘Can I just talk and you listen?’

Benny swallowed hard and said, ‘Let’s go outside, then.’

Outside it was raining fiercely onto the awning, a wide puddle forming in the gutter. Jason stood with his hands in his pockets, staring into the near-darkness. Benny folded her arms and waited.

‘I’ve been looking into myself. You know?’ he said, eventually. ‘And I think I’ve always been jealous of him, right from the start.’

‘Jealous of my dad?’

‘When you used to talk about him, I could hear this terrible... all your life you’d been walking around like a jigsaw puzzle missing one piece. I wanted to go and find him and bring him back for you, and make everything all right.’

Benny glanced back at the shop. The hologram made it look empty and dark. Jason said, ‘It was bad enough