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'Eat.' said Arlo.

Benton took the sweet and slipped it into his mouth. He felt the rice paper exterior crumble on his tongue, and tasted the bitter sherbet within. He grimaced as his mouth went momentarily numb.

'Come in.' said Arlo. 'Come in. The ceremony is about to begin.' 'What the hell was...?' Benton managed to mumble.

'The sacrificial wafer. With a mescaline coating. Time to fly, soldier boy.'

'I feel... I feel odd.’ said Benton, his voice sounding muffled and slurred.

'Take it as it comes.' said Saddest Moon. 'It's the weirdest trip, baby. But good, you know?'

Just let yourself float downstream.' continued Starchild.

'Relax.'

'Can't.' said Benton, struggling to hold his fragmenting mind together. It's too much... '

He screamed as his senses flooded with information.'

everything was expanding, becoming more intense. Colours were brighter, sounds sharper. He felt as though his eyeballs were on statks and he was seeing everything from a new, strange perspective.

Around him, people's faces were melting, coagulating into new shapes.

'He can't handle it.' he heard someone say, but Arlo's voice cut through everything like a hot knife through butter.

'It's cool.' said Arlo strongly.

Benton looked towards the sky. It was the bluest sky he had ever seen in his life. Bluer than blue.

'I'm up there.' he suddenly said.

'sure man, sure.' soothed Arlo.

then the sky began to darken.

Benton began to panic. 'They're coming.' he shouted, his hands shaking in front of his face as he tried to cover his eyes to shut out the overwhelming sensations.

'What a mong.' said Scouse with a sarcastic sneer. 'He can't take

But others were looking to the skies and gasping. The sky was black with countless twittering raven-like shapes, flocking over them.

'Oh Jesus.' said Arlo, without any apparent irony. Behind him, the goblins began to swoop down on to their prey.

CHAPTER 17

Mike Yates stared back at the reflection of himself in the mirror, his face covered with shaving cream. 'And another thing.' he said, waving his Wilkinson Sword razor for emphasis. 'This Valentina Whatsherbloodyname. Now, I'm no chauvinist, but I don't see why she should be placed in charge of UNIT in the Brigadier's absence.'

Sounds like chauvinism to me.

'No, absolutely not,' said Yates, finally beginning to shave. 'Women have many noble and varied qualities. But they're simply not as strong as men in a physical situation. A biological fact. End of story.' He paused. 'People always get me wrong about this.' I actually believe in women's lib. But you've got to draw the line somewhere, haven't you? I mean, that women's football team that wants to get into the league

... It's just stupid. They've got Chelsea - what more do they want?'

Satisfied, Yates worked at the bristles on his upper lip for a moment.

Perhaps their brains make up for the lack of brawn.

'Look, this thing with the Russian woman isn't really about feminism.' he stated firmly. 'It's a matter of national sovereignty. We're both captains. She's coming to the UK. So I should be in charge.'

Before the inner voice could say another word there was a knock at the door. 'It's Corporal Bell, sir. Come to drive you to Baize Norton.'

'Come in, Carol,' said Yates. won't be a jiffy.'

There was a pause. 'Are you alone?'

Mike was surprised. 'Yeah. Why do you ask?'

thought I heard voices.'

'Oh,' said Mike, his face flushing beneath the shaving foam.

'Oh, I was... I was just doing the crossword.'

In the bathroom? You bark!

Bell paused. 'I'll just wait out here, if you don't mind,' she said.

Yates arrived at Brize Norton just as the VC10 touched down.

He stepped from the car, pulling on his peaked cap, and strode across to the plane.

The Doctor, Liz and Shuskin came down the steps and on to the runway. All seemed tired, and Yates was shocked to see that the Doctor's face was covered with tiny cuts.

'Welcome back.' he said brightly.

'Hello, Mike.' said the Doctor.

'How's Benton?' asked Liz.

was OK, but he released himself