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card back – but Celia took her by surprise by grabbing the turtle, too. She proffered it to the old woman, a pleading look in her eyes. ‘Please,’ she said, and something must have touched a nerve. The woman nodded, and reached in her bag. Seconds later, Celia was holding a little reptile with three black stripes on the back of its shell, and Martha’s turtle was tucked inside the pink straw bag.

Celia snapped into Earther mode, using the pendant to freeze the small creature into immobility, but Martha was staring after the departing woman in dismay. ‘But… she’ll kill that turtle. Eat it.’

‘Yes, she will,’ said Celia. ‘That’s what happens. Did you think we were at a pet store?’

‘But we can’t just let her go and cut its head off.’

Celia’s face hardened. There’s a whole crate of turtles back there. They’re all going to be killed. You want to rescue them all, take them back to the wild? They’ll be caught again by some peasant wanting the money, and be back at the market tomorrow. And you know what? You’d have just upped the demand for turtles, and they’d catch a load extra to replace them.’

‘But…’ Martha knew Celia was telling the truth – but she knew, too, that she didn’t want to live her life like that. ‘Not being able to do everything doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything,’ she said. ‘You just have to do as much as you can. Save one turtle here. Save one person there. I know I can’t heal everyone in the world, but that’s not going to stop me being a doctor.’

There was a pause, during which Martha thought ‘oops’ and Celia’s eyes widened. ‘I thought you were supposed to be some sort of detective.’

‘I’m undercover?’ suggested Martha hopefully.

‘A doctor working undercover as a detective?’

‘Um… Look, that doesn’t matter right now; I’m going after the other turtle.’ Martha turned her back on Celia, looking round for the old woman. But while they’d been arguing, she’d disappeared.

Martha was ready to start searching – but Celia grabbed hold of the pendant round her neck, nearly strangling her. ‘I think you’ve got some explaining to do to Eve,’ she said, pressing the blue button…

They both disappeared.

And so the other turtle died.

THE ISPYDER BOOK OF EARTH CREATURES

CHINESE THREE‐STRIPED BOX TURTLE

Cuora trifasciata

Location: China, Vietnam

This turtle can easily be recognised by the three black stripes on its brown carapace. It also has a black stripe on its green or yellow head.

Addendum:

Last reported sighting: AD 2062.

Cause of extinction: hunting by man for meat and medicine trade.

ISpyder points value: 700

THE ISPYDER BOOK OF EARTH CREATURES

Creature Points

Subtotal 33899

Dodo 800

Megatherium 500

Paradise parrot 500

Velociraptor 250

Mountain gorilla 500

Aye‐aye 900

Siberian tiger 600

Kakapo 900

Indefatigable Galapagos mouse 1500

Stegosaurus 500

Triceratops 550

Diplodocus 600

Ankylosaurus 650

Dimetrodon 600

Passenger pigeon 100

Thylacine 250

Black rhinoceros 300

Mervin the missing link 23500

Tau duck 5

Dong tao chicken 4

Red‐eared slider 40

Chinese three‐striped box turtle 350

TEN

Celia and Martha materialised in the Earth section, but in an area unfamiliar to Martha. The museum’s arrangements seemed haphazard to her: reptiles mingling with mammals; fish next to birds; creatures from the Cretaceous period side by side with animals that had still been alive in her day. Here, the turtle’s new home was adjacent to a box containing a dragonfly nearly a metre across, with a terrifying‐looking bird towering behind, its head the size of a horse and its beak hooked and vicious. According to a small sign it was a phorusrhacos, and Martha made up her mind then and there to look it up in the ISpyder guide as soon as possible, so she could find out exactly when and where it walked the Earth and ask the Doctor never, ever to take her there.

But she didn’t have time to spare for that sort of thing now. Celia had taken a brief second to check that the turtle was properly in place, and had