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By Root 759 0

an old student of his who was, he understood, currently working for UNIT, could be spared for the luncheon. 'You must appreciate, Professor, that UNIT'S work has security implications, and that I'm not able to give specific details about any of our staff. That information is classified.' He was about to begin quoting the Official Secrets Act when he detected disappointment in the professor's voice and asked who the person in question was.

'Dr Elizabeth Shaw,' said the professor. It was the straightest answer that Lethbridge-Stewart had ever heard the professor give. 'That's a coincidence.' he said. 'Dr Shaw is my liaison officer. I imagine she'll be with you quite soon.

Good day, Professor.' And with that he put the phone down before the old man could add anything further 'No wonder she was so keen to do this,' said the Brigadier, half to himself.

'I expected a lecture on how it was demeaning for someone of her abilities to have to trail up to Cambridge like an errand girl...'

The Brigadier stared at Yates with a suspicious look on his face. 'Did you know anything about this, Captain?'

'No, sir,' said Yates. 'I wasn't even aware that Liz was working this weekend.'

'Well, anyway, I have a small job for you, too,'

'If you want me to go back to my old school, sir, I'm afraid the answer's no.' I don't think they'd be too thrilled to see me!'

Ice formed on the upper reaches of the Brigadier.

'Sorry, sir, just a joke'

'No one enjoys a good joke more than I do, Captain,' said the Brigadier. 'But...' He paused. Was there a specific reason why you came to see me?'

'Two reasons, sir,' said Yates, clearly relieved to have escaped the wrath of Lethbridge-Stewart with his rank intact.

'Firstly, I've just received this memo from the Home Office. I'm afraid they've turned down your request to D-notice that pop record you were concerned about. The one about Mars, sir.'

Lethbridge-Stewart tapped the desktop angrily.

'Bureaucratic oafs. That song's obviously based on leaked information concerning the Carrington fiasco. The Brigadier took the memo from Yates and scanned it for a moment, searching for loopholes 'Yates, I want this Bowery chap placed under twenty-four-hour surveillance. If he so much as sneezes I want to know about it.'

'Understood, sir,' said Yates, saluting. 'And sir, I have Bruce Davis outside.'

'Who?'

'The new crash retrieval officer from New York.'

Lethbridge-Stewart nodded. 'Well, you'd better show him in, Captain. We don't want the Americans to think we're all bungling incompetents, do we?'

The morning after the attempted kidnap, the Doctor was again travelling down the country lanes between UNIT HQ

and the tracking station. On this occasion the journey was uneventful, if less comfortable.' the rigid metal seating of an armoured personnel carrier was no match for Bessie's forgiving, leather-clad seats. The conversation, too, had taken a turn for the worse, Benton joining in the ribald banter of the accompanying UNIT troops and seeming to have little time for the introspection of the previous day. When they finally reached the radar station, the Doctor was both relieved and delighted to find that one of the technicians working at the station was Sam, a young American whom he had personally recruited to UNIT's research-and-development wing during a lecture tour of the United States the previous year. 'I see they've given you the most boring job imaginable,'

said the Doctor.

'It could be worse, Dr Smith,' said the young man. 'I could be making the tea!'

The Doctor immediately set about examining the equipment, Benton looking over his shoulder. 'This machinery is working perfectly,' the Doctor concluded triumphantly after several minutes.

'Never doubted it,' replied Benton with a hint of sarcasm.

'Ah, but the Brigadier did. I really wish that man would listen to what I say once in a while' He turned to face Sam.

'Were you here when the large mass was picked up?' he asked.

'Yes. It frightened me to death. At first I thought it was just a meteor, but it was about the size of Rhode Island. If that