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He glanced back at her. She was staring at the wall. The Admiral pushing the button. It’s not every day you find out your friend of twenty years has been a bad guy all along. The missiles going up.

God! Did Benny know? She must know by now. Sorry, big sister. I guess we both lost our dad today.

Joel had only ever seen about ten different species of aliens. Now he was looking at dozens, all shapes and sizes.

If only this was another adventure. He’d loved being part of this magical world, where wild things happened. Now it was dead. Now it was gone. Nuked.

Joel shook his head slightly. He still wasn’t crying, though there was an iceberg in his chest. Well, he’d only been here for eight months. It didn’t mean all that much.

His good hand found the window catch’ and he pushed it open.

‘You said,’ called one of the aliens, ‘we were going to fight the Daleks.’

‘We might still get our chance.’ Isaac’s voice rang out. A leader’s voice — everyone was listening. ‘But we have to deal with the immediate problem. I had carefully worked out the nuclear part of the strategy. But I have no idea what Albinex plans. Whatever it is, it doesn’t involve any of you.’

‘So where izzy?’ purred a Ra’ashet, turning its catfish face to look at him. ‘Let’s go rip him to pieces.’

‘He’s got the destructor codes,’ said the Admiral. ‘And our intelligence about USAF Greenham Common. He’s going to launch one or more of the cruise missiles.’

‘He wants power,’ said a dark-coated ex-MIB. ‘Five’ll get you eight he points the thing at a major city and starts making demands.’

‘Yeah,’ said the Ra’ashet. ‘So let’s get over there and wait for him to show.’

‘No,’ said Isaac. The aliens waited for him to speak. ‘We can’t risk randomly changing history by revealing you.

Anything could happen.’

‘We’ve been waiting for years,’ said another alien, tall, thin and lavender, a species Joel didn’t recognize. ‘You’ve been keeping us hidden and safe for all this time. You can’t leave us out of it now.’

A murmur of agreement went through the crowd.

‘There’s something else,’ said Isaac.

They fell silent again.

‘Even if we defeat Albinex, we still can’t go ahead with the original plan.’ More murmurs. Joel rested his head on the cold glass, wondering what would happen next. Not that he cared any more.

‘You said you had it worked out in every detail,’ said a talking cat. ‘We’ve been waiting.’

‘Admiral,’ purred the Ra’ashet, ‘we trust you, yessss? But if you’ve lost your bottttttle, let us take over. We’ll peel and eat Albinex and we’ll get on with the plan.’

‘You don’t understand,’ said Isaac. ‘The plan itself is wrong. I’ve... had some expert advice. The changes to history I thought would happen might not happen at all. We might end up destroying the planet instead of saving it. I was wrong. And I’ve involved you all in my wrong, wrong plan.’

Joel’s heart pounded. He wasn’t going to do it. The Admiral wasn’t going to do it after all.

That was when he started to cry.

A ripple of sudden realization and fear moved through the crowd. Oh God, would they attack him? Tear him apart and carry out his plan?

Before anything could happen’ another voice rang out across the packed street.

‘I’d like a word,’ said the Doctor. ‘If you don’t mind.’

31 We got the bombs

Some of the aliens gasped. Some grabbed for the weapons they’d left behind. At least two started to twitch uncontrollably. And one six-foot, fur-covered humanoid ran away waving its three arms and yelling, and drove off in its Mini.

The Doctor looked down into their faces, coolly. Teeth were bared. Tentacles were writhing. Eyes were flashing with fear and rage. At one time or another, almost every one of these people had been his mortal enemy.

‘The first thing,’ he told them, ‘is not to panic.’

Isaac put a hand on his shoulder. The gesture seemed to calm some of the aliens. But the Ra’ashet was salivating, long feelers twitching at the edges of his mouth.

‘Right now,’ said the Doctor’ ‘I’m as