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'Right,' replied the Doctor.

'I knew that. I was just wearing it to annoy you.'

'I know,' the Doctor said, smiling.

The engines of the TARDIS reached a crescendo, and then began to quieten.

'So what do you think of the clothes?' she asked, half raising her arms self-consciously.

The Doctor blinked, and then his smile expanded into a grin as though he was only now seeing her for the first time. 'You look delightful; he said.

Sam pulled a face. 'Oh, cheers,' she said, nonplussed. 'I don't think I want to look delightful.'

'How do you want to look?' asked the Doctor.

'I dunno. Cool. Confident.'

'You definitely look cool,' said the Doctor. 'In fact, you'll be one of the coolest people around.The 1890s equivalent of a... a Spice Girl.'

'I think I'd better take that as a compliment; said Sam carefully. 'Otherwise I might end up giving you a slap.'

The TARDIS engines ground to a halt.The time rotor ceased its gnashing.

The Doctor turned his attention back to the console, checked the instruments, then smiled. 'Splendid,' he said.'We're where we're supposed to be. I'm getting the hang of this.'

He operated the lever that opened the doors and jumped down from the control dais. Sam hastily took off her Walkman, tossed it on to a nearby chair which the Doctor had told her had once been the throne of a pretender to the title of Earth Empress, and followed him outside.

In fact, she all but cannoned into the back of him, because he was standing very still on what appeared to be a towpath, surrounded by drifting fog, looking around suspiciously.

'Oof,' she said.'What's up, Doctor?'

He frowned. 'This isn't right,' he murmured. 'This isn't right at all.'

Sam felt her spirits sinking. 'What's not right?' she asked dangerously.

'Well, look around you. It's dark.'

'So? It tends to do that at night-time.You've probably been too busy saving planets and stuff to notice before.'

'No, no, you don't understand. The TARDIS instruments distinctly stated that we had arrived in London at two p.m. on January the eleventh, 1894.As I see it, this could mean one of two things. Either some great catastrophe has befallen the Earth which has plunged the planet into darkness. Or...'

'Or?' prompted Sam.

'Or it's not two p.m.'

She sighed.'What you mean is, you've got it wrong again. I bet we're not on Earth at all!'

'No no no no no,' said the Doctor quickly, holding up his hands as though to stem her anger. 'The TARDIS has probably just got her a.m.s and her p.m.s mixed up. She gets a bit forgetful sometimes. Dear old thing.' He turned and patted the TARDlS's chipped and battered exterior, then pulled the door shut.'No, this is Earth all right. Smell that air.'

Sam did so, almost choking on the sulphurous fog.

'Only London smells like this,' said the Doctor cheerfully.'It has a certain...

ethos.A certain bouquet.' He paused, looking puzzled.

'What's the matter?'

'Déjà vu ,'said the Doctor, then shrugged.'Occupational hazard. Come on.'

He strode off along the towpath.There was a high, rough-hewn flood wall on his left, and on his right a drop into foggy blackness from which could be heard the gentle lap of water.

'Where are we going?' Sam asked, having almost to jog to keep up with his long-legged strides.

'We're going to a little bookshop I know to buy a copy of last month's Strand magazine. It should still be on sale.'

'Right.Er... why?'

'Because my issue met with a little accident.'

'God, are we living dangerously or what?' said Sam a little ruefully.Then she frowned.'Doctor?'

'Hmm?'

'I think I might have spotted a minor flaw in your plan.'

'Really?' said the Doctor, surprised. 'And what might that be?'

'Where are we going to find a bookshop that's open at two o'clock in the morning?'

The Doctor stopped dead, and again Sam almost walked into the back of him. 'Ah,' he said. 'I wondered when you were going to notice that.'

'Oh yeah, sure,' she said.'So what are we going to do? Go