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'I'm busy,' said French.

'So am I, Doctor.' replied Yates angrily. 'I've now had two incidents under my command. One fatal'

French shrugged in seeming disinterest. 'Then you'd be better off cracking puerile one-liners with the local constabulary.' His voice was even and calm. 'Talk to them.'

'I'm talking to you!' hissed Yates through gritted teeth. 'So tell me something I want to know.'

If French was taken aback by Mike's anger, he didn't show it. 'Go and get yourself a cup of tea, Claire.' he said.

'You look knackered - you'll have been up half the night.'

The secretary left the room quickly, blushing slightly.

French sat in her chair and dropped the autopsy report on the desk. 'Pull up a seat, Captain.'

Mike considered standing as a show of strength but French's apparent disinterest in continuing the fight persuaded him to opt for comfort. He sat opposite the doctor and asked the obvious question. 'So.' how did he die?'

'Fractured skull, massive cerebral haemorrhage. Struck by a blunt instrument at the back of the skull. Probably the lead piping. In the laboratory.'

'By?' asked Mike.

'Who do you think I am? Dixon of Dock Green?' French glanced down at the file. 'Mind you, it's possible he just hit his head on the floor when he fell. That would be consistent with the evidence.'

'And the acid?'

'Nasty stuff. Went right through muscle and bone.

Certainly it contributed to the poor chap's death. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if getting it in the face caused him to fall over and smash his bonce. I'm not being too technical for you here, am I?' Yates ignored the man's facetiousness.

'However, the interesting thing is that most of the acid was applied after death.'

'What?'

'Thought that would surprise you. Most of the stuff on the face and all of it on the hands by the look of the tissue damage and the splash marks around the body. Now, I don't want to tell you your job, but...'

'It sounds as though the murderer didn't want the victim to be identified, either facially or by fingerprints.'

'Very good, Captain.' said French. 'Do you do this for a living?' 'Which means that the body may not be Bruce Davis.'

'That's right.'

Yates considered this for a moment. 'The man who died was wearing Bruce's clothes. That suggests to me that the corpse is either him or was killed by him.'

'Only one way to tell for sure,' agreed French. 'Dental records. I'll send Claire to fetch them when she gets back from her tea break'

'Good man,' said Yates, standing quickly. 'It's time the Brigadier was brought up to speed.'

'And if you can't get in touch with him again?' asked French with a hint of sympathy in his voice.

'Then,' said Mike, 'I guess it's down to me. Again.'

'Don't be a fool, Captain Shuskin,' said the Doctor.

Liz and Shuskin spun round. He was still lying on the ground, his eyes closed.

'Sorry?' said Liz in surprise.

The Doctor sat bolt upright. 'I'm advising Captain Shuskin to

be cautious.' he said, staring ahead unblinkingly for a moment.

'The fallout would be enormous. Make you very unpopular with the rest of the world'

Shuskin snorted. 'So we sit here and do nothing?'

'Of course not,' said the Doctor, getting to his feet.

'Are you all right?' asked Liz.

'I'm very well, thank you. Just catching up on forty winks.

Soul-catching can be rather tiring'

'Well, next time, how about warning me before collapsing in a heap?'

'I'll try to bear that in mind,' said the Doctor. He turned to the Soviet captain. 'Now then, my dear, subtlety is what we require. Just a few of us, moving through the forest, have a chance of getting safely to the base. Then we can see what's there, and make a fair and balanced decision. Much better than blundering in with nuclear weapons flying all over the place, wouldn't you say?'

'I am not convinced. We will just be picked off like vermin'

The Doctor pointed towards the blackened remains of the Waro creature. 'They are very reliant on those primitive artificial wings,' he said. 'Give me a few minutes, and I'll come up with something