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Bernice leant forward, and flashed her eyes at the proprietor, who dragged himself away from his movie. 'I don't have any money, but I think I have something you might find of interest.' She lent forward and whispered into his ear, before pulling back. 'Do you want that?' Bernice asked softly.

'If you'l do that for me,' the fat little man said in all seriousness, 'then you can have as much connect time as you want, and free cappuccinos.'

***

'I'm on the surface, chaps'. Two other astronauts followed him out, and they spent some time bouncing around, getting used to the idea that they were on an alien planet. 'Keep that camera pointing that way, Bob. There's a beautiful violet sky,'

Eve yawned. After the tenth time, even men on Mars lost their novelty value. 'Top the report with it.'

'Yeah, you're right,' Alan conceded, stabbing the pause button. 'Then establishing shots of the museum. Your commentary over that leading to the interview with the Mission Controller ... '

'Theo Ogilvy.'

'Ogilvy, that's it. Cut out his waffle, concentrate on the technical stuff, then finish with Greyhaven.'

'No, no,' Eve objected, 'Finish on me updating the progress - we want it to be current. I'll phone the office at the Space Centre and get the latest news just before we do the uplink.'

Alan rewound the tape. 'Any word on where we're going next?'

'Kyle wanted me to investigate the Loch Ness Monster.'

'I hope you told him to - '

'I did, Alan, don't worry. I'm not get lumbered with al that "Real-life X Files" crap. I convinced him that we should do a feature on Lord Greyhaven.'

Alan looked up, a smirk on his face. 'Did you indeed?'

'The guy's a national hero here, and he's pretty big back in the States, too. Remember him on Nightline? He lives in a stately home, but he's a brilliant scientist and a billionaire businessman. Good pictures, topical. People need heroes nowadays.'

'Wow, yeah, he's sort of a cross between Batman and Alfred the butler. And luckily he gave you the number for that flashing red phone of his.'

'That too,' she laughed, 'and don't even think of bringing the Bat-Pole into the conversation right now. We'll get this done, then check the file on Greyhaven, see what we can find.'

'Sure. Whatever.' Alan turned back to the screen.

***

'Bernice, I don't think that man has ever been so happy in his life.' The Doctor said as he typed in the guest log-in.

'He's got Jason to thank for the last half hour.' Benny slotted the first disk into the drive.

'Really?' The program manager came up. The Doctor double-clicked on the right icon.

'Oh yes, I did all sorts of things with Jason that I'd never have dreamt of doing before. Going to an all-night Star Trek movie festival was one of them. I'm amazed that I could remember so much about the plots of the ninth and tenth films. We might not have any money, but that's the sort of information money can't buy. I've not just altered the web of time or anything, have I?'

'I wouldn't have thought so,' the Doctor murmured. 'And two-thirds of the way through the tenth film ... '

Benny nodded. 'Yes. It's very poignant. They knew it was his last one, you see. They could get away with al sorts of stuff.'

39

Pictures and text scrol ed across the screen. Benny could tell straight away that it was a map of Mars. The information was gradually becoming more detailed. Final y the Mission Badge flashed up onto the screen, along with a caption: SEALED ORDERS. MISSION DIRECTIVES. APPROVED 2/1/97.

A huge smile spread across the Doctor's face. 'These are satellite photos taken by Mariner and the Hubble Telescope of the Martian surface. This shows the landing zone and the parameters of the geological survey.' The picture zoomed in on the Mare Sirenum. 'Timothy Todd knew that there was going to be trouble. So he must have already known about the archway.'

They scanned the screen for a minute or so, eventual y agreeing where the arch would be located. There was no sign of it on the pictures.

'How well do you know that area, Bernice?'