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Col, Ty and Candy were staring at him.

He stared back at them. ‘What? What? ’

‘Who the future are you, “Doctor”?’ demanded Ty. He could hear the quote marks in her voice. ‘And where the future have you come from?’

The Doctor’s shoulders sagged. Why was it always like this? With a resigned sigh, he reached into his inside pocket. Ty and Col – but not Candy, he noted – pulled back a little, as if he were reaching for a weapon.

‘There!’ he said triumphantly, brandishing the little wallet with the piece of psychic paper in it under their noses. ‘That should answer your questions.’

He watched them smugly as they scanned it.

‘You’re a door-to-door carpet cleaner salesman?’ said Col eventually.

‘What?’ snapped Ty, snatching the psychic paper from the Doctor’s hand. ‘This says he’s Madame Romana, Astrologer to the Stars.’ She looked at Col as if he’d gone mad, giving the Doctor the chance to grab the wallet back. He peered at it in dismay, shook it, peered at it again and gave a little moan.

‘This,’ he said firmly, brandishing it under their noses, ‘is supposed to be waterproof. I knew I should have had it laminated. . . ’

Candy wondered what she’d done, bringing this madman into the heart of their community. She’d introduced him to Professor Benson and Colin McConnon, thinking that they’d take to him in the same way that she’d done. And now here he was, talking gibberish about some bit of paper.

‘I’m going to get Pallister,’ said Col firmly, fixing the Doctor with a sharp look.

‘Well maybe that’s best,’ said the Doctor defiantly. ‘Then we can get this whole business sorted out, you can help me get my ship back from the swamp and I can be on my way. How’s that sound?’

‘Sounds fine to me,’ Col said through gritted teeth.

There was a pause. No one moved, no one said anything. ‘Go on then,’ said the Doctor, waving Col away with the tips of his fingers.

‘Run along to this Glenister, whoever he is. Tell him the Doctor will see him now.’

Col looked confused, glancing between Candy and Ty and the Doctor.

‘That’s right,’ said the Doctor pleasantly. ‘Leave me here.’ He licked his lips hungrily. ‘I haven’t eaten in, ooh, hours and I’m feeling very peckish. What are you waiting for, Col? Go on – we’ll be fine.’

‘You’re mad,’ muttered Col. ‘I’m not leaving you here with –’ He broke off as the Doctor simply strode past him as if he’d forgotten he even existed. ‘Oi!’

But the Doctor was suddenly ignoring him, examining the cages at the back of the lab. Ty’s prides and joys, thought Candy. Her babies.

‘Oooh!’ cried the Doctor, staring into the cages. ‘Otters! Otters with the faces of bears. Awwww. . . ’ he cooed suddenly. ‘Aren’t you lovely! ’

‘Doctor,’ said Ty sharply, pushing past a speechless Col. ‘I’d be careful, they have –’ ‘Rather large claws!’ finished the Doctor sharply as one of the newer specimens reached through the bars and swiped at him. He pulled back just in time, fished out a pair of dark-framed, old-fashioned glasses and popped them on, ‘And what massive teeth.’

One of the otters let out a little ‘Squee!’ at the sight of him.

He turned to the rest of them. ‘All the better,’ he grinned, ‘to eat you with!’

‘They’re vegetarians, Doctor,’ said Ty drily.

The Doctor turned back to the cages, and the otters and peered closer – but Candy noticed that this time he kept his hands firmly clasped behind his back.

‘Ahh, yes. . . You can tell the incisors are for chewing through wood.

Castoridae, then.’

‘Beavers!’ said Ty in admiration. ‘Although they’re closer – at least in appearance – to the mustelidae. Otters. They’re not quite mammals, though – closer to monotremes, really.’

‘Egg-layers?’ mused the Doctor. ‘Interesting. And semi-aquatic, judging by the webbing between the toes.’

He turned sharply and stared at Ty through narrow eyes before taking off his glasses and slipping them back in his jacket pocket.

‘So why are they here? And why are they in cages?’

‘Ty. . . ’ warned Col. He looked awkward, thought Candy, torn between fetching Pallister and keeping watch over the Doctor.

‘We’re studying them,’ Ty