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    Judgement

       of the

      Judoon

      COLIN BRAKE

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2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Published in 2009 by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing.Ebury Publishing is a division of the Random House Group Ltd.

© Colin Brake, 2009

Colin Brake has asserted his right to be identified as the author of thisWork in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

Doctor Who is a BBC Wales production for BBC One

Executive Producers: Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner

Original series broadcast on BBC Television. Format © BBC 1963.

`Doctor Who', `TARDIS' and the Doctor Who logo are trademarks of theBritish Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence.Judoon created by Russell T Davies.

This electronic book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by wayof trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulatedwithout the publisher's prior consent in any form other than that in whichit is published and without a similar condition including this conditionbeing imposed on the subsequent purchaser

The Random House Group Ltd Reg. No. 954009.

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found atwww.randomhouse.co.uk.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 9781409070160

Version 1.0

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          For my mother,Vivienne Yvonne Brake (19292008)

         and for my sister,

        Yvonne Lucy Hollis

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Trainee Pilot Kareel Rossiter uncrossed her fingers,opened her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. Made it!

   The hyperspace jump had been perfect: a textbooktransition between one location in real space and another,courtesy of a combination of higher mathematics andenough raw power to tear a hole through reality itself.Like an ancient icebreaker, pushing its way through polarice, the Space Freighter Tintin had thrust itself out of itshome system, passed through the inter-dimensionalmaelstrom of hyperspace and then had punched its wayback into real space in Quadrant Delta Three Black.

   Kareel glanced over at her captain and smiled.

   `All systems secure,' she reported, then somethingunexpected appeared on one of her sensor screens: a smallgreen flash showing another spacecraft. Impossibly,incredibly, another ship had just emerged from hyperspacealmost on top of them. Moments later, it was joined by asecond spacecraft the exact twin of the first and then athird appeared. The relief Kareel had felt after anothersafe hyperspace jump was evaporating faster than dew ona summer's day. Soon the chunky brick-like freighter was

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surrounded by a dozen of the alien craft: thin cylindricalrocket ships of an unfamiliar design. The young traineeran a nervous hand through her short red hair and lookedback at Captain Pakola again, unsure what to do. As ever,Pakola, his face set as if carved in coffee-coloured granite,was the epitome of calmness.

    `Open a comms channel,' he ordered, as if nothingunusual was happening.

    Kareel flicked a switch and nodded at the captain, wholeant forward to speak into the microphone built into thearm of his command chair.

    `This is Captain Mikai Pakola of the Space FreighterTintin hailing unknown ships,' he stated. `Please identifyyourselves.'

    There was no answer.

    `Sir?'

    Kareel couldn't keep a quaver out of her voice as shestruggled to comprehend the story her instruments weretelling her.

    `Captain, all systems are frozen.'

    Instantly Pakola was on his feet and leaning over herstation, checking her screens. The data was unmistakable some external force had managed to take control of theship's systems.

    `There's nothing we can do,' he whispered, patting heron the shoulder. `Nothing but wait.'

    They did not have to wait for long. A metallic clangingannounced the attachment of a boarding tunnel, then therewas the smell of burning metal, the sound of heavy bootsmarching and finally, just moments later, the alien

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intruders were on his bridge. They were powerfully builthumanoid creatures, dressed in dark armour, decoratedwith what appeared to be leather, and huge bulboushelmets. Three of the creatures took up aggressivepositions around the bridge, weapons raised. A fourthinvader then stepped through the doorway to the bridge,reaching up to release the helmet seal at the neck of hisuniform. There was a hiss of escaping gas as the suitdepressurised, and then the alien pulled the helmet clear ofhis head.

   The captain remained impassive, but Kareel couldn'thelp but gasp as the creature's features were revealed: thealien had rugged, wrinkled grey skin, a massive headfronted by a pair of vicious-looking horns one large oneand one more modest and small but bright eyes. Kareelthought it looked familiar somehow, and then sheremembered the Virtual Zoo she'd had when she wasgrowing up and realised what it was about the alien thatshe recognised; it was almost identical to a rhinoceros, thelong-extinct Earth mammal. The alien spoke in a harsh,guttural voice.

   `By rule of Galactic Law, this vessel is held in stasis,pending recovery of the criminal agent known as theInvisible Assassin. Your cooperation in this investigationis not required, but interference in our mission will betreated as a criminal act.'

   The alien adjusted a control on a device hanging fromhis belt. `You may use your internal communicationssystems,' he announced.

   Kareel was a trainee pilot not a lawyer, but she knew

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enough about legal matters to know that you didn't arguewith Galactic Law Enforcers, and it appeared that Pakolawas of a similar mind. Calmly, he ordered his crew tocooperate fully with the boarding party. In reality, theywere not required to do much in the way of cooperation;they merely had to stand by while these Galacticpolicemen searched their ship from top to bottom. Therhino-like creatures were thorough but far from gentle.They virtually took the ship to pieces, stripping panellingfrom corridors, removing fixed furniture to pull up thefloors and ripping out computer units to gain access toservice ducts. It was a search so thorough, and oneconducted with such vigour, that many vital systems wereleft completely inoperative. Finally, after three hours ofrigorous and methodical searching, the aliens began towithdraw. Their commander returned to the bridge.

   `Your manifest shows a passenger who failed to boardat your last planetfall. Designation: Aroon Manish. Why isthis man not on board?'

   Kareel watched her captain swallow hard. She hadnever seen him quite so unnerved by anything. She didn'tblame him for it. There was something inherentlyoppressive about these huge brutish creatures. Quickly,Pakola checked his log.

   `Passenger Manish never appeared at the departuregate,' he explained to the alien.

   `What was his final destination?'

   `According to his ticket New Memphis.'

   The rhino-headed creature nodded and then turned onhis heels and exited. Kareel looked over at the captain and

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raised her eyebrows. Was that it?

   `Sounds like they're leaving,' she said hopefully, as theclanking sound of the alien's marching footsteps fadedaway.

   Pakola seemed struck by a sudden thought.

   `How did they come on board?' he asked, wide-eyed.Before Kareel could reply, he had his answer as theboarding tunnel disengaged and multiple alarms sounded.

   `They didn't connect to an airlock!' screamed Kareel,as her screens flashed red. `They just cut a hole in thehull!'

   Kareel struggled to take in the crisis. Where the alienshad fixed their boarding tunnel, the Tintin now had amassive hull breach a gaping hole nearly two metres indiameter. The captain hurried to her side, and togetherthey started activating the emergency systems.

   Thank goodness the aliens removed their stasis fieldalong with the boarding tunnel, thought Kareel.

   `Bulkhead doors aren't responding,' Pakola notedtensely. `I'll just have to try and operate them manually.'

   Before Kareel could argue with him, the captain wasgone. Left alone on the bridge, she did her best to getother emergency systems under control, but it was almostimpossible. The aliens had left the ship in a terrible state.Kareel noticed that life-support systems were failing and,more crucially, oxygen levels were falling rapidlythroughout all sectors of the ship. The captain hadn't yetmanaged to isolate the hull breach. Kareel could feelherself beginning to lose consciousness. With a supremeeffort of will, she managed to prime and launch an SOS

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beacon.

   But who is going to answer an SOS out here in deepspace, she wondered. The chances of another ship apartfrom the alien fleet even being in the same star systemwere tiny. Kareel knew, as the darkness enveloped hersenses, that she was as good as dead.

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    `Ah, there you are. Welcome back!'

        Kareel groaned as she regained consciousness. Her

    beliefs about any possible afterlife were vague to say the

    least, but one thing she had been certain of was that death

    wouldn't be followed by a cheerful voice welcoming you

    back. She blinked a couple of times and made a renewed

    attempt to focus. She had a blinding headache and felt

    nauseous, but somehow she was still alive.

        She found that she was looking up at the humanoid

    face of a complete stranger. From the familiar look of the

    ceiling above the man's head it was obvious that she was

    still on board her ship. She really had survived!

        `That's it, take it easy,' said the stranger, kindly,

    noticing her confused expression.

        Kareel took a closer look at her rescuer. He appeared to

    be a human male in his thirties and had a shock of untidy

    hair on top of a thin but friendly face. The trainee pilot

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also noted that he was wearing old-fashioned dark-rimmed spectacles. The eccentricity seemed to accentuatethe man's natural good looks, and Kareel found herselfhoping that she didn't look too much of a mess. For hispart, the man was grinning wildly, as if seeing her regainconsciousness was the highlight of his day.

    `I'm alive?' she managed to croak.

    `Oh yes!' said the stranger triumphantly, anddisappeared from view for a moment, before reappearingwith a cup of water. `Here, drink this,' he suggested,helping her to sit up and passing her the water.

    `Who--' she began to ask, but the stranger interruptedher.

    `I'm the Doctor,' he told the recovering pilot. `Ihappened to be passing, heard your SOS, thought I'dbetter check it out, fixed your hull breach, repaired yourlife support, and here I am.'

    The Doctor smiled, slipping his glasses off andpocketing them with one smooth, practised movement.`Lucky I was passing, eh?'

    Having made sure that Kareel was making a goodrecovery, the Doctor left her and went to attend to the restof the crew. A few minutes later he returned with a moresombre expression on his face.

    `I'm so sorry,' he began, and Kareel could sense fromhis tone that he genuinely meant his words. `I did what Icould, but your captain was trapped in a section right nextto the hull breach. I think it would have been quick...' TheDoctor trailed off.

    Kareel nodded and sniffed back a sob. `Captain

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Pakola,' she said simply. `He was trying to shut thebulkhead doors, to isolate the hull breach...'

    `Tell me exactly what happened,' the Doctor demanded,and Kareel did. As her tale unfolded, the Doctor becamemore and more agitated. `Judoon!' he muttered furiously,when Kareel described the intruders.

    `You know them?' she asked, surprised.

    `Oh yes. All too well,' answered the Doctor airily.`Great big hulks, clumsy and blinkered. "Justice is swift,"that's one of their mottos. Truth is, with the Judoonaround, justice is usually brutal and dangerous. They'relike the Canadian Mounties they always get their man.But it's usually at a pretty high price.'

    The Doctor looked around the bridge of the freighter,still bathed in emergency red-hued lighting. `I think theycall this collateral damage.'

    `Maybe someone should point out the error of theirways to them,' suggested Kareel, not entirely seriously. Toher surprise, the Doctor just nodded in agreement.

    `Maybe someone should,' the Doctor told her. `Can'thave the Judoon blundering around like rhinos in arestaurant, dispensing justice and causing untold mayhemalong the way, can we? Where did you say they weregoing next?'

    `They were looking for this passenger who washeading for New Memphis,' Kareel told him.

    `Right then,' he said. `I'd better get on my way. Beforethe Judoon cause chaos at the New Memphis spaceport.'

    Despite everything, Kareel couldn't help but laugh outloud at that.

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   The Doctor frowned. `Did I say something funny?' heasked.

   `No, not really. It's just the idea of these Judooncausing chaos at Elvis the King Spaceport, that's all,'explained Kareel. `As if they didn't already have enoughproblems!'

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor fed the coordinates forNew Memphis into the destination controls and took amoment to tune in to local newsfeeds to discover whatKareel had been talking about. It didn't take long to findout.

   The year was 2487. The Doctor knew that this was animportant time in the long saga of humanity's explorationof the universe. At this point in the twenty-fifth century,the human race was well established amongst the stars andhad colonies scattered throughout known space.Hyperspace travel had made journeys of incredibledistances commonplace, and gigantic spaceport terminalshad developed to handle the millions of spacecraftcrisscrossing the universe. One such hub of intergalactictravel was Elvis the King Spaceport, a massive constructon an otherwise barren and uninviting planet close to amajor hyperspace nexus point, where traffic from ahundred different star systems crossed daily.

   The unexceptional planet now known as New Memphiswas a typical spaceport. Originally it had been anuninhabited small planetoid of little interest to anyone.Then it had been made the site of a small refuelling base.Slowly the base had become more and more permanent,

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growing from an automated fuel dump to a fully fledgedspaceport. The pace of development had then picked up,and the spaceport had begun to grow in both importanceand stature. Physically it grew too, and around it a widersettlement began to emerge. Over the course of a hundredyears, the quiet frontier outpost turned into a sprawlingcity-state New Memphis with a permanent populationliving on and off the trade and traffic that passed throughthe spaceport.

    New Memphis, the city-state surrounding thespaceport, had soon taken on a character of its own. It wasa place of extreme contrasts, of glittering haves anddowntrodden have-nots, of wealth and glamour, grime andcrime.

    The spaceport had also continued to develop, but nowit found itself having to seek permission from the city ithad spawned for every new stage of growth. A plan for amuch-needed thirteenth terminal had been discussed andargued over for decades before construction work hadfinally begun in 2479. Terminal 13 had finally opened justa few days ago, after a long and inglorious developmentperiod beset by delays, protests and enquiries.

    It was meant to be a state-of-the-art facility that wouldservice both passengers and freight customers withhitherto unheard of levels of efficiency and automation.

    It was meant to be the most advanced transit terminalever constructed, making travel between the starscomfortable, easy and painless.

    It was meant to make Elvis the King Spaceport themost popular nexus point for journeys across the sector.

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  Unfortunately, things had not gone according to plan.

                          * * *

`Mr Golightly, it's been seven days now; how long arethese "teething problems" of yours going to trouble you?'demanded the pretty blonde journalist. She steppedforward at the end of her question and her floatingcamera-bot had to adjust focus to catch her intenseexpression of considered indignation. Standing oppositeher, Jase Golightly, General Manager of Elvis the KingSpaceport, desperately tried to recall the media traininghe'd once been forced to undertake and managed to smileback. Keep smiling, stay calm and use her name, herepeated to himself. If only he could remember her name.

   The journalist, whose name was Stacie Jorrez, waitedpatiently while he gathered his thoughts, no doubt hopinghe would make a fool of himself.

   Golightly was a short human in his forties, withthinning hair trimmed tightly to his oval-shaped head. Hischubby features were decorated with a pair of old-fashioned steel-rimmed spectacles, a touch of eccentricitythat was confirmed by his classic pinstriped suit and thevivid red braces supporting his trousers. Sweating a littledespite the aggressive air-conditioning in his office, hepulled at the neck of his shirt.

   `Obviously things haven't gone quite as well as wehoped Sallie,' he began, still maintaining the smile, albeitwith more than a hint of desperation.

   That's a bland understatement, he thought to himself,

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but aloud he continued on a different tack.

   `But then this project has had a lot of bad luck over theyears,' he heard himself saying.

   Bad luck! There was more to it than bad lack. Butwhere had it all gone wrong? he wondered. After all theyears of planning, how had things gone so spectacularlypear-shaped? And what did that mean anyway? What wasa pear? And why were things that were the same shape aspears such bad news? He realised that he was on the vergeof hysteria and tried to pull himself together.

   `Bad luck!' repeated Stacie, as if the very idea was anaffront to her personally. `This project has been plannedfor decades but has been mismanaged at every singlestage. It has failed to meet each and every deadline, thecosts have spiralled out of control, and delays havebecome the norm.' She cast an arm in the direction of thearrivals hall behind them and added with heavy irony, `Aspassengers have been discovering since you opened aweek ago.'

   `Well, yes, I am not going to stand here before you andpretend there haven't been... problems, Sallie,' he replied.

   Stacie smiled coolly at him. `It's Stacie, actually.'

   Golightly started sweating more profusely andstammered an apology. `We... we have, er, had somesystem failures, and, er, baggage complications...software glitches...' he continued lamely.

   `But these problems have persisted, Mr Golightly, dayafter day, with no sign of improvement. I've been talkingto some of your customers, some of those travellers whohave been inconvenienced by these "systems failures".

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And they are far from happy.'

   Stacie stepped closer again, her body language totallyconfrontational now.

   `Admit it, Mr Golightly, this entire opening has beennothing short of a disaster, a disaster of crisis proportions,'she suggested. The hovering camera-bot switched anglesto take a full-screen shot of Golightly, perspiring anddesperate.

   `I think you're exaggerating slightly,' he managed toreply. `I mean, it's not as if anyone has died.'

   `Cut!'

   Within minutes, the woman and her camera-bot had lefthis office, which was placed high in the administrativeblock that formed one end of the massive terminalbuilding. Golightly's command centre, as he liked to thinkof it, had one large multifunctional wall which, at a voicecommand, could shift from opaque screen to transparentwindow overlooking the arrivals hall. The wall wascurrently in window mode, and Golightly rested his headagainst the cool plastiglass surface and looked out overthe crowds below.

   He sighed heavily. Despite his bluster with Stacie, hehad very little idea how long it might take to get thingsright. He knew he shouldn't have bowed to the pressurefrom the board to open when they did, but the investorshad poured so much capital into the new terminal that theyhadn't been prepared to wait a moment longer to go live.Now they were all facing the consequences but, somehow,it was still his problem. He had told them to be patient, towait, but they had insisted that the declared opening date

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was to be kept. The media were calling it a shambles and,looking down at the sight below him, Golightly had toagree with their analysis.

    The lines were getting out of hand. There were queuesat the various spaceliner company enquiry desks, queuesat the departure gates, queues at the customs hall, queuesat the shops, queues at the food outlets and even queues inthe toilets.

    Most of the passengers were humans, but there were anumber of aliens of various races, not to mention somerobots and androids, amongst the crowds as well.Complaining voices, speaking a variety of languages,filled the air from every direction.

    Golightly ordered the wall to switch to its opaque stateand sat down heavily at his desk. He checked his diaryand sighed again. It was time for another meeting with thesenior management team, to hear the latest list ofproblems and the ever-lengthening estimated timescalesfor putting things right. Surely something would buck thetrend and start to go right for him soon?

    His secretary appeared at the door with an apologeticlook on her face. Golightly looked up and sighed when hesaw her expression. Whatever it was, this was not going tobe good news.

    `Mr Salter called,' Miss Fallon told him. `He said he'llbe dropping by for a word before your meeting.'

    That was all he needed. Derek Salter was the largest ofthe private investors in Terminal 13 and thepersonification of all the pressures to get things right. Anunscheduled meeting with Salter was the last thing

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Golightly needed right now. It had been Salter who hadled the charge to open Terminal 13 on the originallyannounced date rather than accept a delay, and it hadsubsequently been Salter who had been first in line toblame Golightly for everything that had gone wrong.

   Golightly sighed again as the screen slipped fromopaque to newsfeed mode, and he caught sight of himselflooking fat, sweaty and rather like a rabbit caught inheadlights. `I mean, it's not as if anyone has died,' he wassaying, with a peculiar half-smile.

   Golightly hoped those words wouldn't come back tohaunt him.

The Doctor skipped around the TARDIS central console,flicking controls and adjusting his approach to NewMemphis. Materialising near a busy spaceport was adangerous exercise, and the Doctor didn't want to be thecause of a multiple pile-up. He needed to make a preciseand controlled landing inside one of the terminals itselfrather than make any kind of official approach; theTARDIS's lack of pre-authorised flight details would onlylead to awkward questions. Thankfully, it appeared thatone of the terminals the newest had some kind oftechnical glitch with its security system. With luck andsome skilful steering the TARDIS could slip inunnoticed and unannounced.

    `Terminal 13 it is then,' muttered the Doctor to himself.`Unlucky for some!'

    Deep inside the `spaceside' section of Terminal 13 aseries of connected warehouses contained the automated

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baggage-handling system that had so completely failed,thus far, to operate according to design. Integral to thesystem was a security circuit, designed to ensure that allbaggage was tracked during its entire journey through theterminal. Like many of the Terminal 13 systems, thesecurity circuit had only operated erratically since goinglive, occasionally going offline for protracted periods.Unfortunately, as the TARDIS began to materialise in oneof the darkest corners of the complex, the system flickeredback into life.

   Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor shrugged into his longbrown coat and headed for the exit. `Right then,' he said tohimself, `let's sort out these Judoon.' He stepped out and,not for the first time in his many lives, found a hostilereception waiting for him. A squad of security officers hadthe TARDIS surrounded and were pointing weapons in hisdirection. The Doctor quickly pulled the TARDIS doorshut and locked it before spinning around to face hisreception committee.

   `Were you expecting me?' he asked, raising his hands.

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    In the arrivals hall of the troubled Terminal 13 of Elvis

    the King Spaceport, a traveller destined to go right to the

    head of Jase Golightly's list of problems had just arrived

    on a shuttle from Heddon Two. The new arrival was

    currently shuffling through the slow-moving line of

    people passing through the customs hall. He looked

    somehow less concerned about the chaos than most of his

    fellow travellers. He had one of those faces that are

    impossible to remember or to describe; a plain,

    unremarkable face that is instantly forgotten.

       According to his passport, his name was Dedrik

    Gallajer, but that was not a name he had ever answered to

    before. In the previous forty-eight hours, he had used

    three different identities Gallajer, Gorgie Kenrite and

    Aroon Manish but none of these was his real name. In

    fact, the man had so many different identities to choose

    from that he had all but forgotten his original given name.

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These days, he preferred to think of himself in terms of hisrole in life, which was also the way his employersdesignated him. To those that paid for his services, he wasmerely `the Courier'.

   The Courier passed his recently acquired identitydocument to the bored-looking customs officer, giving hera friendly smile that was not reciprocated. Without givingthe passport a second look, the woman waved it through ascanner and passed it back to the man, who took it with agrunt of thanks and moved forward into the arrivals hall.

   The Courier cast a quick glance at his watch he wasrunning late. Nevertheless he didn't increase his pace;drawing attention to himself now would be a waste of allhis hard work thus far. Anonymity was important to him.He needed to be just another face in the crowd notspecial, not remarkable, not memorable. Muttering`Excuse me' again and again like a mantra, he began topush through the crowds, squeezing between the queuinghordes.

   The Courier followed the signs for the left luggage areaand made his way there as quickly as he could. He kept afirm grip on his solitary piece of carry-on luggage, a plaingrey suitcase on wheels, as he manoeuvred through thecrowds and selected a suitable locker. Stowing thesuitcase within the locker, the man closed the door andpocketed the reclaim chip. He took another look at hiswatch and stepped up his pace. Now unburdened by theluggage, he was able to move a little faster. Or at least hemight have been able to had it not been for the mass ofpassengers blocking every path. He began to duck and

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dive, weaving through the crowd, taking advantage of anysliver of space between people to slip sideways and makeprogress towards his goal. In the main he managed to dothis without making contact with anyone, but once ortwice he had a small bump and had to mutter an apology.Occasionally, someone making a similar effort to threadthemselves through the masses would collide with him. Atone point, a humanoid alien with blue skin had actuallymanaged to knock him off his feet. The alien had beenterribly embarrassed. He had helped him to his feet andapologised in a dozen languages as he brushed the Courierdown.

   `So sorry am I. Please. You not hurt?' he enquired, in astuttering approximation of human speech.

   The man travelling under the name Gallajer pushed thealien's hands away. `I'm fine, no damage done,' heinsisted and continued on his way, quickly blending intothe crowd again, just another traveller amongst themasses.

   Elsewhere in the terminal, other visitors were makingmuch more of an impact. There were two of them humans but of such a striking appearance that manywould mistake them for aliens. They were abnormally tall,nearly two metres, and dressed in suits so deeply blackthat they seemed to suck the light out of the air aroundthem. Identical designer shades covered their eyes, andtheir hair was a brilliant white. To anyone looking at thepair as they strode through the crowds (which partedbefore them, without being asked), it appeared as thoughthey were the only monochromatic element in a world of

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colour. They reached a particular café with a terrace areathat allowed diners to look out over the arrivals hall andloomed over a pair of Draconians, who quickly finishedtheir drinks and vacated their table.

   Across the arrivals hall, the Courier caught a glimpseof the two men and began to sweat. Why had Uncle sentthe Walinski brothers, of all people? For a moment hehesitated and considered his options. The Courier knewthat Uncle was the big noise in the criminal undergroundof New Memphis, but he also knew that there was a newgang in town, an upstart criminal organisation run by themysterious Madame Yilonda. His job was to take itemsfrom one place to another and not to ask too manyquestions about what he was carrying or why. Right now,he was meant to be handing over the reclaim chip to theagents Uncle had sent to the rendezvous point, and ifthose agents happened to be the Walinski brothers thenUncle must have his reasons. As far as the Courier wasconcerned, sending the Walinski brothers was akin toputting a huge spotlight on his arrival and calling upMadame Yilonda directly to tell her to take a closer look.It was a worrying thought. Why arrange for something tobe delivered from off-world with such secrecy and thenmake such a public showing of making the collection?Something didn't smell right, and the Courier was verytempted to cut and run.

   The Walinski brothers were more than just albinofreaks, though. The Courier knew their reputation well.They were Uncle's most trusted enforcers; cross Uncle,and the Walinski brothers would travel the length of the

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universe to track you down. Cutting and running was justnot an option.

                            * * *

`You can lower the weapons, you know,' the Doctor toldthe security men brightly. `I'm not about to do a runner.'

   There were four security officers in the squad, alldressed in smart, matching uniforms with polished bootsand shiny weapons. They looked young, keen and,perhaps, just a little bit nervous. Beyond their originalinstruction to the Doctor to raise his hands, they had notsaid a word. The Doctor guessed they were waiting forsomeone with more authority to arrive and take charge.

   A moment later, a man in a similar but slightly granderuniform appeared in a distant doorway and beganmarching towards them. As he approached, the Doctorcould see that he was significantly older than his officers.His lined and scarred face, coupled with his gait, told theDoctor all he needed to know. Ex-military, he decided.

   `Transit documents?' demanded the man before he hadeven reached the group.

   One of the young security guards shook his head.

   The older man came to a halt directly in front of theDoctor and subjected him to an intensive visual appraisal.

   `You realise that this is a secure area of the spaceport?'he asked eventually, maintaining eye contact as he spoke.

   The Doctor nodded and pulled his psychic paper fromhis jacket pocket, leaning forward to whisper in the man'sear. `Undercover agent, Galactic Law Authority,' he told

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him. Without replying, the ex-soldier took the wallet andgave it a long cool look before handing it back.

   `Looks like a blank sheet of paper,' he retorted. `Don'ttry any of your psychic mind games on me, sonny, not to aveteran of the Telepath Uprising of `54.'

   The Doctor quickly slipped the wallet back into hispocket and changed tack without missing a beat.

   `Veteran of the Uprising, eh? I should have guessed. Ifthey've called someone of your standing in here, thingsmust be worse than I thought.'

   The ex-soldier nodded to two of the guards who movedin and twisted the Doctor's arms behind his back.

   `And don't think you can flatter me, either,' he told theDoctor, turning his back on him. `This way please.' Theman began marching off in the direction from which hehad come. The Doctor found himself manhandled along inhis wake by two of the fresh-faced security men.

   As they walked, one of the guards gave the Doctor asympathetic look before hurrying off after hiscommanding officer.

   `Upsetting General Moret was a really bad idea,' hetold the Doctor in a whisper as he passed him.

   Considering the way things had gone, the Doctor had toagree with the analysis. Things were not looking good.

The Courier swallowed hard as he sat down at the tablewith the Walinski brothers. Three steaming cups of coffeewere waiting on the table, but something still felt odd,something didn't look quite right. Was there somethingunusual about the bubbling liquid in the cup in front of

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him or was he just being paranoid?

    `Surprised to see you boys on this errand whathappened, did one of you do something to upset Uncle?'he asked, realising that he sounded a little nervous. Howcould he let the Walinski brothers get to him like this where was his professionalism? The brothers treated thequestion as if it was rhetorical and said nothing. TheCourier glanced down at the coffee cup in front of him. Itwas still bubbling suspiciously. Better safe than sorry. Hemoved the cup and swapped it with one of the brothers'drinks.

    `Not that I don't trust you or anything... but, well, Idon't!' he explained.

    To his surprise both brothers just grinned at this and, inperfect synchronisation, they slipped their dark glasses uponto their foreheads. Two pairs of pink eyes now lookeddirectly at him.

    `No offence meant...' said one brother.

    `No offence taken...' concluded the other, completingthe sentence as if the two were part of the sameconsciousness.

    The two continued to look at him, their expressions asillegible as a medic's handwriting. The Courier picked upthe cup of coffee and raised it to his lips. He hesitated fora beat and then, under the intimidating eyes of thebrothers, he took a sip. He was relieved to find that ittasted completely normal.

    `Is the "package" secure?' asked the first brother, withthe same casual tone that one might use to discuss theweather.

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   The Courier took another sip of his coffee beforeanswering.

   `Left luggage,' he said simply, replacing the cup on thetable.

   The Walinski brother on his left held out a hand.

   `Reclaim chip?'

   The Courier noted with surprise that he was sweating.Either the Walinski brothers were getting to him or thecoffee had been hotter than he had realised. He reachedinto his pocket and felt a sharp stabbing in his stomach the chip wasn't there. Quickly he checked his otherpockets. He was sweating profusely now, heartbeat racing how was this possible? He had pocketed the chip justminutes ago.

   Both brothers kept looking at him with intenseexpressions. It was as if they were both heat sourcespouring down on him. Sweat was now running off him asif he were in a sauna. His clothes were drenched, his hairsodden. Carefully, methodically, he checked each andevery pocket of his clothing. The chip was nowhere to befound.

   `I had it a moment ago,' he told them desperately, butthey seemed to have lost patience with him. Theyexchanged a look and a nod then abruptly pushed backfrom the table and stood up. Without looking back at theCourier, they quickly moved away from the café anddisappeared into the crowd.

   The Courier didn't know what to do. When theWalinski brothers reported this failure to Uncle, he wouldbe as good as dead. Unless, somehow, he could turn this

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around and make good on his error. What could havehappened to that chip? It had been safe in his pocket andnow it was gone... Of course! Suddenly he rememberedthe blue-skinned alien who had run into him. What a foolhe had been; it was a classic pickpocket technique. Thethief would `accidentally' run into their mark and then,under cover of helping the victim to their feet, they wouldstealthily pick their pockets.

   The Courier realised that his only hope of survivingwas to find the pickpocket and get that chip back. He gotup and was surprised to find that he was unsteady on hisfeet. He swayed, his head spinning. He was still sweatingprofusely, unnaturally. All in all, he felt quite unwell.

   Pushing himself away from the table, he staggered tothe nearest washroom. He almost fell through the doorsand stumbled across to the washbasins. People wereavoiding him now, unnerved by the sight of a mansweating and shivering so badly. He realised that he mustlook quite ill to people, perhaps even dangerous. Helooked up at his reflection in the mirror above the sink andwas horrified at the sight that met his eyes. His skin wasactually glowing changing colour from a burnt orange toa deep blood-red even as he watched. He looked like he'dbeen exposed to some kind of terrible radiation source. Hejerked the tap on and splashed cold water onto his face. Ithissed, instantly turning to steam as it touched hisoverheating skin. Flailing now, he splashed more andmore water upwards onto his person but it wasn't enough.He could feel himself getting hotter and hotter, brighterand brighter.

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   Suddenly his clothes burst into flame, and seconds laterhis entire body was engulfed with fire. For a moment heburned with the intensity of an inferno and then with adeafening bang he exploded.

The Doctor and his captors had just emerged into thepublic area of Terminal 13 when the reports came in onthe security guards' radios. The screams and cries ofpanicking travellers had already alerted them to the factthat some kind of incident had occurred but, with the massof people in the arrivals hall, it was not possible todetermine the exact site of the problem just by looking.

   General Moret turned to the Doctor. `We need to attendto an emergency. You will accompany us. Make any moveto escape and my men will shoot you without warning.Understood?'

   `Crystal clear,' the Doctor replied.

   The General looked at him for a moment, then seemedto make a decision to trust the stranger and started leadingthe squad towards the incident.

   `Suspicious death of a passenger,' he told the squad asthey moved. Moments later they reached the public toiletswhere the Courier had met his fate. There was a smell inthe air, reminiscent of barbecues, and the Doctor realisedwith some horror that it was the smell of burnt flesh. TheDoctor watched, fascinated, as the General took charge,deploying his men to deal with the public and directingthe other emergency services when they arrived on thescene. Some cosmetic damage to the fixtures andfurnishings had been caused by the exploding man, but the

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intense heat had mostly been contained by automatic fire-suppressant systems.

   `At least something works round here,' muttered theyoung security officer who had spoken to the Doctorearlier. The badge on his uniform gave his name asAdams. He had been assigned the task of keeping an eyeon the prisoner while the incident was dealt with.

   `Things not been going too well?' the Doctor askedhim.

   `You can say that again,' replied Adams with feeling.`This whole terminal has been a disaster. Looks like theChief's getting the gen on what happened here.'

   On the far side of the room, a specialist medical teamwas carefully collecting what little remained of the victimand placing it on a gurney.

   The Doctor and Adams watched as General Moretthanked the attending physician and walked back to rejointhem.

   `Spontaneous human combustion,' Moret announced ashe reached them. Behind him, the paramedics beganmanoeuvring the gurney out of the room.

   `I doubt it,' commented the Doctor quietly.

   The General turned and gave him a suspicious look.`Know something we don't, do you?' he demanded.

   The Doctor shook his head. `Not about this case, no.But I know a little about so-called spontaneous humancombustion.'

   `Would you care to share your knowledge?' asked thesecurity man with more than a hint of sarcasm, anundertone the Doctor chose to ignore.

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   `Well, for a start, "spontaneous" is completely wrong.Human flesh can burn but not spontaneously; it needssomething to make it happen.'

   `So are you saying this is a murder?' asked a newvoice.

   The Doctor turned to see a slightly overweight man in asuit entering the room, the security cordon parting for himwithout any hesitation.

   Adams leant forward and whispered in the Doctor'sear. `Mr Golightly, General Manager of the spaceport.'

   The Doctor reached out and shook Golightly's hand,taking him by surprise.

   `It is a murder, I'm afraid, sir. And a rather nasty one atthat.' The Doctor flashed him one of his most confidentsmiles. `You'll be glad I'm here.'

   General Moret narrowed his eyes. `This man is aprisoner. He was in a secure area without authorisation,'he told Golightly urgently.

   The Doctor put an arm around Golightly's shoulder andturned him away from the General.

   `All a bit of a misunderstanding,' he whispered. `I'msure I can explain...' He reached inside his pocket for thewallet containing his psychic paper.

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    Outside the gleaming halls of the spaceport, the city-

    state of New Memphis was a much less glamorous

    environment. A recent edition of 1001 Galactic

    Destinations to Die Before You See had listed it in its top

    ten places to do anything to avoid visiting. In its review,

    the book had referred to its dated, functional architecture,

    the unfriendliness of its natives and the rampant crime

    levels that made New Memphis a haven for undesirables

    from across ten sectors.

       The book's summary wasn't an exaggeration. New

    Memphis was a sprawling urban mess, unplanned and

    frequently unregulated in its rapid growth. It had begun

    with living areas close to the spaceport borders and had

    spread like a rash from there: a mixture of retail,

    commercial and residential buildings, packed tightly into a

    tiny footprint of land because a) everything revolved

    around rapid access to the spaceport, and b) the original

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fuel dump had been constructed on a relatively smallisland. By the middle of the twenty-fifth century, the citywas identical to similar-sized metropolises on a thousandworlds, diverse and dynamic, rich districts and poorslums.

    It was also almost always wet. Since no one had livedthere before the starships came, it was impossible to knowwhether the local climate had always been like this, butcertainly since humans had lived on the planet it hadrained more days than not. Some suggested that thepersistent rain was a reaction to the pollution caused bythe massive spacecraft pouring in and out of the manyElvis the King terminals but it was a moot point asnobody was going to suggest anything that might limit thetraffic in any way the spaceport was too important to thelocal economy.

    Just as vital to the city-state was the criminal activity.As in many frontier settlements, law was an optionalelement in New Memphis society and the various criminalgangs and crime lords were as important as, if not moreimportant than, the elected officials in shaping day to daylife in the city.

    That's not to say that there were no law-abidingcitizens in New Memphis. Just that they were notnecessarily the majority.

    In one of the city's less salubrious districts lay thedistinctly downmarket Hound Dog Shopping Mall. Whenit had first been built, it had been one of the grandest retaildevelopments in the sector, full of fashionable boutiques.Now it was a rather sad shadow of its former self, with

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numerous units lying empty and many of the others givenover to tatty stores selling factory rejects and seconds. Inthe Blue Hawaii Food Court, a few desperate souls wererisking life and limb eating poorly cooked Kronkburgersand limp fries.

   Most of the staff looked as lifeless as the food theywere serving, but one waitress seemed more alive than allthe rest put together. She was a pretty, blonde-hairedteenager, who managed to make the shapeless blueuniform look vaguely attractive as she bustled between thetables, bestowing a cheerful smile on the undeservingpunters and generally single-handedly raising the mood inthe place.

   The owner of the Food Court, a rat-faced man by thename of Sten, looked on with satisfaction as the new girl,Nikki, delivered a pair of Giant Kronkburgers to a coupleof young men who had squeezed into a booth at the veryback of the eating area. Hiring Nikki had been a reallygood move. Sten couldn't believe his luck. She was bothprettier and brighter than anyone he'd employed before.

   Nikki carefully placed the plates of food in front of thetwo men and waited. Neither of the customers evenglanced in her direction but continued to talk in hushedtones, as they had done since they had arrived twentyminutes earlier. Making sure they were still absorbed intheir conversation, she reached under the table to checkthat the device she had put there when taking their orderwas still in place. Her fingers ran over the tiny bug andconfirmed that the unit was working properly. Every detailof the men's intimate chat would be transmitted across to

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the unit's base which she had left under the counter andrecorded for posterity.

    Suddenly one of the men looked up at her.

    `Do you mind? This is a private conversation,' hehissed.

    Nikki put on a good act of being surprised.

    `What? Oh sorry I was miles away. Can I get yougentlemen anything. Relish, mustard, green sauce?' Nikkideliberately made her voice higher-pitched than normal,which immediately took a few years off her and made hersound almost childish.

    `No, nothing,' replied the man, rudely.

    `No worries,' said Nikki perkily. `If you need anythingI'll be right over there.'

    Nikki hurried back to the counter and checked the otherend of the bug. Perfect! Everything the men were sayingwas coming through loud and clear and getting capturedon the unit's memory.

    Now if they'd just say something incriminating, her job her real job would be done.

    Nikki Jupiter might have looked the part of a BlueHawaiian waitress but she was, in fact, something verydifferent.

    Nikki Jupiter, at just seventeen, was a veryaccomplished private detective.

General Moret was not impressed. Golightly had ignoredhis protests about the validity of the stranger's credentials,and seemed to have accepted the Doctor completely.Moret had been ordered to release the Doctor and to

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cooperate fully with both the stranger and the localauthorities in the investigation of the incident. GeneralMoret was far from happy with this turn of events, but hehad no choice: Golightly paid his wages. Not for the firsttime since his retirement from his first career, Moretlonged for the old days. Life as a Space Marine had beenso simple compared to this security lark.

   The Doctor was being briefed by Jase Golightly whowas telling him the whole sorry saga of Terminal 13. TheDoctor interrupted him to ask if he'd had any contact fromGalactic Law Enforcers. Golightly shook his head.

   The Doctor pulled a face. `Then I'm very sorry, but Ithink you're about to.'

   `I thought you were--' began Golightly.

   `Plainclothes,' interrupted the Doctor quickly. `Well notso much plainclothes as freelance, local expert, that kindof thing. It's the beat coppers with their size twelves youneed to worry about.'

   Golightly shook his head, not really understanding. `Ineed to get back to the office. I have to keep a lid on thisthing. Missing luggage and travel delays are one thing;passengers exploding on their way through the terminal issomething else again.'

   `There were plenty of witnesses,' commented thesecurity chief.

   Golightly stopped, realising the truth of Moret'sstatement. He thought desperately for a moment.

   `Find them. Offer them free flights, whatever it takes. Idon't want this story getting out. Not to the newsfeeds andnot to the board either.' Golightly shivered, remembering

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that Derek Salter was on his way in to see him. If Saltergot to hear about this... It wasn't worth thinking about.

   Golightly's bad day wasn't over yet. There was asudden and enormous sonic boom, and all the lights wentout. Moments later, emergency lighting came on, castingan eerie blue glow over everything. Then came the sound a regular rhythm of thudding feet, leather boots on metalwalkways, getting louder and closer.

   Golightly followed the noise, emerging from thewashroom into the arrivals hall where the crowds wereparting to let through a column of armoured creatures.Golightly had no idea whose army this was but knew itwas bad news.

   As he left, General Moret bristled; he recognisedmilitary marching when he saw it and these were clearlywell-drilled troops. He hoped they were not hostile.

   The Doctor, alone amongst the group, not only knewexactly who the strangers were but had been expectingthem. `The Galactic Law Enforcement officers I told youabout,' he whispered to Golightly. `Judoon.'

   Golightly took at step or two forward to intercept theincoming law enforcers as the Judoon came to a halt.

   `Jase Golightly, General Manager of this facility,' heintroduced himself.

   The lead Judoon inclined his head to look down at thehuman addressing him. For a long moment he seemed tobe considering his next move, and then he removed hishelmet revealing his rhino's head.

   `This terminal is under Judoon lockdown,' the JudoonCommander announced. `No one will be permitted to

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leave or enter until our search is complete. Cooperation isrequired. Under Galactic Law Statute Forty-Three, all lifeforms in this facility will present themselves for identityverification and a personal search.' He paused for amoment to allow his words to sink in. `All areas of thisterminal are to be made available for a complete search.'

   `Going to leave this place in the same state as theTintin are you?' wondered the Doctor.

   The Judoon Commander turned to glare at the Doctor.`Identify yourself,' he ordered.

   `I'm the Doctor. I happened to be passing and saved thecrew of the Tintin after you left it all but crippled,'explained the Doctor.

   `Justice must be served,' the Judoon responded. `It wasnot our intention to render the freighter inoperable.'

   `It might not have been your intention, but it was theresult,' retorted the Doctor angrily.

   The Judoon stared down at the smaller figure. `Thesearch will begin immediately. No unnecessary damagewill be caused.'

   `The search for what?' asked the Doctor.

   `The Invisible Assassin,' replied the Judoon simply.

   With that the Judoon Commander turned away andstarted to dispatch his Judoon warriors to their varioustasks in the search.

   The Doctor stepped up to stand beside Golightly. Theman was shaking, though whether from fear or anger itwas hard to say.

   `Well, at least I tried. Let's hope they find what they'relooking for quickly.'

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  `Are these your coppers with size twelve boots?'wondered Golightly.

  The Doctor nodded. `Big, brutal and clumsy. Just whatyou don't need in a police force.'

Nikki was busy wiping down the counter. Or at least thatwas what she wanted people to think she was doing. Shewas actually concentrating on the conversation going onin the rear booth. The two men were still talking, spillinguseful information about the gang they were involved with the upstart criminal organisation known as the Widow'sGang. More specifically, they had just confirmed theirpersonal involvement in the case Nikki was mostinterested in. There had been a jewellery heist last month,but the police had swiftly come to the conclusion thatthere was a lack of credible evidence to follow up and hadclosed the file after just a day's work. The shop owner,unhappy with the service, had come to the JupiterDetective Agency to see if they could succeed where thepolice had failed. Nikki had been manning the office, asshe often did when her father was out on a case, and whenhe returned that night she'd asked if she could take thejewellery investigation herself. Her dad, of course, hadsaid yes. He never could say no to his little girl.

   Thinking of her father brought Nikki up short for amoment and she lost focus on the job at hand. Where washe? It had been three weeks now since he'd gone off to doa job somewhere in the spaceport. It wasn't the first timehe'd been away, but he normally managed to keep intouch a little better than this. In twenty-one days she'd had

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a couple of e-mails and one phone message, all of suchbrevity that they hardly counted as contact at all. Whatwas really strange was that he'd said nothing about thecase he was working. Normally he shared everything withher. She didn't want to be negative or think the worst butshe knew a private detective's life was a dangerous one.People were never very happy to be snooped on.

   Suddenly she snapped out of her reverie. Somethingwas happening at the table that she was meant to bewatching. The voices in her earpiece had stopped andwhen she looked across to the seating area she could onlysee one of the men. Then the other appeared, clutching afork in one hand. He must have dropped it and duckedunder the table to find it. Nikki's heart jumped in herchest. What if he'd found the bug? Too late! Nikki couldsee that he was showing something to his friend, who nowjumped to his feet, looking around in a paranoid fashion.His eyes locked with hers, and she knew instantly that hercover was blown.

   The man who had found her little toy was alreadyrunning for the exit but the second man was reacting moreaggressively. Standing clear of the table, he reached intohis coat pocket and produced a stubby-looking handweapon.

   Diving for cover would have been one option but,without knowing exactly what the weapon could do,offence was a better strategy than defence. Nikki vaultedthe counter and ran directly towards the armed man. Inwhat seemed to be slow motion, he continued to bring theweapon up and aim it directly at her, but Nikki was no

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longer on her feet. Using a table to launch from, sheplanted her hands, jumped and twisted in the air, kickingthe weapon out of the slack-jawed gunman's hand. Shelanded like a gymnast, spun, hit out with a martial artspunch then spun again, this time on one leg, and felled theman with a sharp kick to the head. The entire fight hadtaken about five seconds, but that had been enough to givethe first man a good head start.

   Nikki immediately gave chase. The evidence she hadgathered would be useless if the guy escaped. TheWidow's Gang would make sure he disappeared for awhile if necessary; the only way to get justice for herclient and recover some of the stolen jewellery was tocapture the bloke now.

   Skidding out into the main corridor, she looked bothways. Luckily the mall was not very full and she quicklyspotted her quarry running towards the north exit. She setoff in pursuit, her long legs propelling her rapidly after theman. Shoppers, seeing the girl running towards them sopurposefully, jumped to get out of her way. Ahead of her,the man carried on but he appeared to be slowing perhaps the Giant Kronkburger was doing her a favour.

   Nikki pounded on. The man looked back over hisshoulder and saw how close his pursuer was. Suddenly hejerked to the left and ducked into a clothes shop. The storewas full of racks of factory seconds, making it an untidymaze. When Nikki reached the door she paused, unable tosee her quarry.

   Suddenly an entire rack of clothing started tippingtowards her. She jumped back and managed to get clear of

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the falling rack. As it clattered to the floor, it revealed hertarget behind it. Not hesitating, Nikki vaulted over thescattered clothes and advanced on the man, who lookedaround desperately for a weapon or some cover. Neitherwere on offer.

   Nikki set herself in a martial arts stance: arms raisedready, knees bent. The man responded by turning to run,but only succeeded in getting his feet caught up in someof the spilt clothing. He flew through the air and clatteredinto a display of shop dummies. Falling to the floorheavily, he stayed down. Nikki pulled out her phone andcalled the police.

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    Jase    Golightly stood at the wall-length window

    overlooking the arrivals hall and winced. Below him, the

    usual chaos of the past few days had been replaced by

    something far worse.

       The Judoon had poured into the terminal in massive

    numbers and had begun processing all the passengers.

    One by one, each individual was identity-checked and

    searched and, once cleared, they were sent out of the

    terminal into the wider spaceport beyond.

       Elsewhere, even more Judoon were searching every

    square centimetre of the complex, both public and

    `backstage' areas. Despite the Doctor's words of warning,

    the Judoon didn't seem to be taking any more care than

    normal about their work. Displaying the same carelessness

    that had almost destroyed the Tintin, they were now taking

    apart the not-long completed new Terminal 13.

       `Maybe they'll do you a favour in the end,' commented

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the Doctor sympathetically.

   Golightly turned away from the view. `How do youmake that out?'

   `Well, the Judoon take the heat off, don't they? For thenext few days you can blame them for your problems.'

   `You think?' Golightly didn't sound convinced.

   `And while they are here, they might turn up yourgremlins too. They might be clumsy but they're verythorough.'

   `You think this "Invisible Assassin" that they'relooking for is connected to the missing luggage?'Golightly asked.

   The Doctor shrugged. `I don't know. But I'd like tofind out.'

   Golightly looked at him carefully. `Can you help? Youseem to know these Judoon...'

   `Tell me more about what's been happening,' theDoctor suggested. `Perhaps I can see a pattern you'vemissed.'

   Golightly wandered across to the desk and sat down inhis chair. `You know about the troubled path we had totravel to even get Terminal 13 open?'

   `Oh, don't tell me public enquiries, protests, planningproblems...?'

   Golightly nodded. `Every delay you can imagine, andthen some more. But finally we got the go-ahead andconstruction began.'

   The Doctor had now moved across to the window andwas looking down on the Judoon activity below. `But theproblems continued?'

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   `No more than any other major construction project, Isuppose. But it felt endless. And then there was the rush toopen. The investors insisted that we open on the day weoriginally announced. We weren't ready. But theywouldn't listen to reason.'

   `To be fair,' interrupted a new voice, `it was me thatinsisted.'

   The Doctor turned to see that a man in an old-fashionedwheelchair was propelling himself into the room. The newarrival was in his fifties, tanned and healthy lookingdespite the wheelchair. He rolled himself over to theDoctor and extended a hand.

   `Derek Salter,' he introduced himself. `I own sixty percent of this terminal.'

   The Doctor took his hand and noted that Salter was oneof those men who used a handshake to make a point hefelt Salter's hand enclose his own and squeeze firmlywhile maintaining eye contact. `So don't let anyone kidyou. I was the one responsible. It was me that insisted weopen on time, so I'm the one with egg on my face,' heexplained, finally releasing the Doctor's hand.

   `Anyone can make a mistake,' muttered the Doctor,trying to rub some life back into his bruised hand.

   `Mistakes cost money. More to the point this mistake iscosting me money.' Salter slammed his hand down on thearmrest of his chair for emphasis. `I need this terminal tobe fully operational and a roaring success. That's thebottom line. Literally.'

   Salter spun around to face Golightly.

   `So what progress have you made? Has anyone found

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all this lost luggage? And what about the softwareglitches? And what are these alien policemen doingswarming all over the place?'

    Golightly quickly explained about the Judoon and theirsearch for the Invisible Assassin. The Doctor could seethat Salter was far from impressed.

    `That's all we need dead passengers and alienpolicemen. This is getting beyond a joke.'

    `The Doctor here's going to try and help,' Golightlytold him.

    Salter gave the Doctor an intense look. `And what areyou some kind of crisis management expert?'

    The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. `No, well,yes, maybe I am. Crisis management, yes I suppose that'swhat I do, although I'm not sure about the managementbit, sounds a bit desk-bound meetings and agendas andall that, and no offence to you, Mr Golightly, but that's notreally me.'

    Salter stared at the man in amazement. How couldanyone talk that fast for so long and say nothing?

    `So can you help with this crisis or not?' he demanded.

    `Of course I can. But first I need my... er... equipment.It's a big blue box. Perhaps General Moret could take meback to where he found me?'

    `I'll organise it right away,' promised Golightly. `Butyou'll need to clear it with your Judoon pals.'

    `They're no friends of mine, believe me,' the Doctorassured him. `But I'm sure they can be persuaded tocooperate. They're pretty monocular types onlyinterested in their own agenda.'

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   He looked over at Salter, who was staring down at thearrivals hall, with a furious expression on his face.

   `There's a lot of it about,' concluded the Doctor underhis breath.

   The offices of the Jupiter Detective Agency were notparticularly impressive, but Nikki had become used tothem. Her father didn't think the physical appearance ofthe office was that important and that was that.

   `If people are going to select a detective agency on thebasis of how luxurious the sofa in reception is,' he hadsaid the last time Nikki had suggested a makeover, `then Idon't want to do business with them.' So the firstimpression a client got was of a company that didn't wastemoney. The carpet was a little worn, the desk and chairs inreception utilitarian. The only decoration on the walls wastheir official licence to operate a detective agency. `Clientswant results, not pretty pictures,' Nikki's dad liked to say,and certainly the clients they got were always verysatisfied with the quality of the service. The only problemwas that there weren't that many clients.

   Nikki was pondering the problems of the agency as shemade her way back to the office. Perhaps it wasn't thedecor of the office that was the problem, perhaps it wasthe building itself, not to mention the neighbourhood. Asshe approached the dreary plain block, she found herselfpassing boarded-up shops and a couple of vagrantssleeping in doorways. This was the Lower East Side of thecity, an area that had been up-and-coming eighty yearsago. These days, the people had upped and gone, at leastthose with the economic muscle to move on. Those

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without much in the way of capital had no option but toremain, left behind and forgotten. There was talk ofregeneration in the newsfeeds, but whenever decisions hadto be made the investment seemed to go to the spaceportrather than the city.

   The building that housed the family business was afour-storey brownstone, full of small office units hired outto all sorts of small and usually struggling businesses. Theturnover rate was very high as the music teachers,software writers, lone accountants and estate agentsestablished businesses, hit hard times and then, inevitably,failed and went bankrupt. Nikki and her dad had beenthere for five years, and she was fairly sure they were thelongest-standing tenants.

   Nikki pushed open the street doors and made her waythrough the lobby. Once the building had maintained itsown reception, but the desk hadn't been manned for years.A panel of metallic business names listed the companiesthat had once occupied the building but now most peoplejust taped a letter heading and floor number on the wallnext to the lift.

   When she got back inside the agency office on the thirdfloor, the first thing Nikki did was to check for anymessages. To her disappointment there was nothing newfrom her father. Nikki resolved to ignore his standinginstructions and open his case file if he didn't get in touchin the next twenty-four hours.

   The phone rang and Nikki picked up the receiver with athrill of excitement. Could this be him now?

   `Jupiter Detective Agency,' she trilled in her best

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receptionist voice. `How may I help you?' She tried tohide her frustration when the voice at the other end of theline was female and clearly not her dad.

   `May I speak to Detective Jupiter, please?' asked thewoman. Nikki would have placed the owner of the voicein her seventies or eighties. There was a hint of an accentto the voice as well, but Nikki wasn't sure that she couldidentify it. Off-world perhaps.

   Nikki politely explained that the Mr Jupiter wasn'tavailable but perhaps `one of his associates' could help.The old lady hesitated and confided in Nikki that shedidn't want to be a problem. Perhaps she could try againin a day or two. Nikki knew that the agency could reallydo with the work and the income and suggested thatshe should come in as soon as possible.

   `If you have a problem that requires a detective thenyou can't afford to waste time,' she told the old lady,hoping she wasn't overdoing it. `Time is of the essence inany investigation. Trails can go cold.'

   For a moment there was no sound from the other end ofthe line and Nikki feared that she had gone too far butthen the old lady spoke again.

   `Maybe you're right. Is it possible to make anappointment to see one of Mr Jupiter's associates?'

   `Let me check,' Nikki said, relieved. She put thereceiver down on the desktop and then flicked through adiary close to the mouthpiece. There were, of course, noassociates; just Nikki's dad and herself, but she wasn'tgoing to admit that to a potential client. After a beat shepicked up the receiver.

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   `One of Mr Jupiter's junior associates could see you inan hour's time if you can get here,' she told the woman,who happily accepted the appointment.

   Nikki put the phone down and smiled to herself. If Dadwas going to keep going off like this, then she'd have tostart opening her own case files, and the little old lady'smystery whatever it proved to be could be her firstentirely solo case.

The security officer had escorted the Doctor back throughthe various corridors and passageways of the backstagebaggage area without talking to him once. A couple oftimes they were challenged by Judoon, but General Morethad been able to use his credentials to gain them freepassage to continue. He did not do it with much charm,however. The Doctor could see that the security man wasnot at all happy at the sight of aliens overrunning histerritory.

   `You're thinking that if they just told you more aboutwhat they were looking for you might be able to help,aren't you?' murmured the Doctor.

   Moret just shrugged.

   `Trouble is they don't work like that,' the Doctorcontinued, ignoring the cold shoulder. `They have theirmethods and they like to keep to them.'

   `Inefficient,'   muttered       Moret.    `Cack-handed,overbearing, unsubtle...'

   `Not impressed, I take it?' replied the Doctor.

   Moret grunted. `That's what people used to say aboutme,' he confessed, to the Doctor's surprise. `Ex-Space

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Marine coming into civilian security. Everyone thoughtI'd try to run things like we do in the military. And theywere right at first. But I soon learned otherwise.'

    `I'm afraid the Judoon aren't too hot on learning newtricks,' the Doctor told him.

    `More's the shame,' Moret stopped and opened a door.`Here we are.'

    The Doctor stepped through the doorway and foundhimself in the loading area where the TARDIS had landedjust hours earlier.

    `It's not here!' he exclaimed.

    `What?' Moret came through the door behind him andsaw for himself. The area where the TARDIS had beenstanding was completely empty.

    `Someone must have moved it,' the Doctor suggested.

    Moret shook his head. `Baggage systems were alloffline. Nothing down here could have moved a box thesize you described.'

    The Doctor turned on him. `So where is it then?'

    The security officer shrugged. `Guess it's just one morepiece of lost luggage.'

    `What?'

    `Haven't you been paying attention, Doctor? It's beenhappening for days. As well as all the delays and otherglitches, we've lost track of hundreds of pieces ofluggage. Until that tourist exploded and those rhinosturned up, tracking down the missing luggage was prioritynumber one,' he explained.

    The Doctor was deep in thought. `So the new terminalhas glitches and delays, people's luggage goes missing

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and then you have a passenger explode in one of thetoilets. Three different problems.'

    `Four if you add whatever it is those rhinos are after,'Moret pointed out.

    The Doctor, thick-rimmed glasses on, was examiningthe space where the TARDIS had been standing. `Bit of acoincidence, though, isn't it? Four different mysteries,same location.'

    `What are you suggesting?' asked the security officer.

    The Doctor stood up and returned his glasses to hispocket. `I don't know what I'm suggesting,' he confessed,`at least not yet. I'm just following a train of thought. Andit's making me suspicious. All these things; all happeningin this one terminal...' A thought struck him. `What aboutTerminals One to Twelve. How's business with them?'

    `Well, Terminal Three closed years back and TerminalEight's out of commission pending refurbishment, but theothers are all working normally,' Moret informed theDoctor.

    `No exploding passengers, no luggage going walkies?'

    Moret shook his head. `Nothing out of the ordinary atall, far as I know.'

    `Then all this,' the Doctor waved an arm around airily,`all this happening at Terminal 13. That's got to be morethan just bad luck, hasn't it?'

    `So what are you going to do about it?' wondered thesecurity officer.

    The Doctor grinned. `Get to the bottom of it, of course.Find out what's really going on. Oh I love a good mysteryme. Love four even more.'

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   He headed back through the doorway and then, withoutmissing a beat, popped his head back through again.`Although, if I'm completely honest, I could have donewithout the bloke exploding.' And then he was gone again,and the security officer found he had to run to catch upwith the annoying stranger.

   When they got back to the General Manager's Office,the Judoon Commander was already there.

   `They haven't found what they were looking for,'Golightly told the Doctor and Moret as they came into theroom.

   `Correction,' the Judoon interrupted. `We have notfound it yet. We have not concluded our business here.'

   `I thought you said you had completed your search?'spluttered Golightly indignantly.

   `We have completed our search of Terminal 13. Theother Terminals have fully functioning security logs whichhave also been scanned and checked. There is only onelogical conclusion: our quarry has managed to escapedirectly from this terminal into the city outside thisfacility.'

   `But you checked every passenger,' Moret pointed out.`Are you saying someone evaded your search?'

   The Judoon swung his massive head around to look atthe human security officer.

   `It is the only possible explanation. We must move oursearch into New Memphis itself!'

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    Nikki's meeting with her client did not begin well. As

    soon as Mrs Kellingham arrived at the Jupiter Detective

    Agency office, Nikki could see that the old woman was

    having second thoughts.

       Nikki was pleased to see that she had been right about

    the voice. Mrs Kellingham was certainly an old lady,

    though probably nearer to ninety than eighty. With the

    latest rejuvenation technology, humans routinely lived

    longer lives than ever before and to the untrained eye it

    was difficult to put an age on many older people, but

    Nikki's dad had pointed out to her the telltale signs to look

    for. Wrinkles could be ironed out, he used to tell her, but

    you can always see the tracks of the surgeon's knife.

       Mrs Kellingham was a case in point. At first glance she

    looked like a woman in her fifties auburn hair, smooth

    skin, sparkling eyes but Nikki could see through the

    cosmetic improvements. Some serious money had been

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spent on achieving Mrs Kellingham's look. Appearanceswere clearly very important to Mrs Kellingham.

   She walked into the office with a barely concealed lookof disdain on her face and, when offered a chair, shebrushed the seat before sitting as if she was worried aboutcatching something. Nikki wondered why the woman hadcome downtown to find a detective. Surely one of theirlarger, more upmarket rivals would have been a morenatural choice for a woman like Mrs Kellingham. Oncethis thought had occurred to Nikki, it nagged away at thecorner of her mind as she began the usual introduction tothe detective agency's working methods, fees andpayment system. But Mrs Kellingham waved the standardcontract away. She dropped an impressive-lookingdiamond onto the desk.

   `Worth five thousand credits at least,' she told theyoung detective simply. `Yours if you complete the case.'

   Nikki took up the gem and looked at it. To heruntrained eye it looked genuine enough, but she'd get itchecked by her jewellery client nonetheless.

   `It's a little unorthodox--' she began, but again the oldlady interrupted her.

   `I've no time for contracts and paperwork. I'm notgetting any younger. I want results, and I'm prepared topay for them.'

   `Is that why you chose us, not one of the biggeragencies?' Nikki regretted the question as soon as she'dasked it. It was both rude and foolish, and she could seefrom Mrs Kellingham's reaction that she was taken aback.

   `If you don't want the case...' she said, reaching

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forward for the gem.

    Nikki closed her fingers over the diamond. `Oh no, Ididn't mean to suggest that,' she insisted. `Of course I, we,want the job.'

    Mrs Kellingham looked at her coolly for a moment, hereyes narrowing.

    `I admire your honesty,' she said finally. `I can see thatyou need the work.'

    `We're moving to new uptown premises soon,'improvised Nikki, aware of the drabness of the office.

    `I'm sure you are. Find what was stolen from me andI'll make sure it happens. Call it a bonus.'

    Nikki's mouth hung open. Was Mrs Kellingham reallyoffering her new offices?

    `I own a lot of property uptown,' the older womenexplained. `Now, do you want to hear about my problemor should I take my business elsewhere?'

    Nikki picked up her notepad and pen and began makingnotes. Mrs Kellingham explained that she had recentlybeen on an off-world trip, a long luxury cruise that hadtaken her away for twelve months. When she hadreturned, just a couple of days earlier, she had comethrough Terminal 13 at Elvis the King Spaceport.

    Nikki made what she hoped were the appropriatesympathetic noises, and enquired as to what kind of delaysMrs Kellingham had been forced to endure.

    The older lady shrugged. `No worse than any otherspaceport,' she told the girl. `When you've travelled asmuch as I have, you get used to delays. Standing in lineisn't a problem, but becoming a victim of street crime is.'

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   Nikki frowned. `Street crime?' she asked.

   Mrs Kellingham nodded. `A pickpocket, I think.'

   `And what did he take from you?'

   To Nikki's surprise, for the first time since she hadentered the room Mrs Kellingham hesitated and looked,well, a little embarrassed. Nikki was intrigued. What hadthe old woman been carrying?

   `I must confess,' continued her client eventually, `I dofeel a bit of a fool.'

   `I don't understand,' Nikki told her, her pen poised overthe notepad ready to take down whatever Mrs Kellinghamwas about to say.

   `It's a watch. An old-fashioned mechanical timepiece.'

   Nikki still looked a little blank. `An old watch,' sherepeated, writing it down.

   `Not just an old watch. A valuable family heirloom.Handmade on Earth eight hundred years ago.'

   `So it's an antique?'

   Mrs Kellingham nodded simply. `A priceless antique.Swiss-made, and in perfect working order. It's beautiful.'

   `And you carry this valuable antique when you travel?'Nikki couldn't keep the note of incredulity out of herquestion.

   `I'm an old woman,' retorted Mrs Kellingham sharply.`If I have something beautiful I want to see it, not have itlocked away in a vault somewhere. It can do that whenI'm dead and gone.'

   Feeling admonished, Nikki apologised. `I didn't meanto be rude,' she explained.

   The old lady's expression softened. `No need to

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apologise. It was a reasonable enough question. Put itdown to an old fool's arrogance. I never for one momentconsidered anyone would try to take it from me.'

    `But someone did?'

    `I assume so. It disappeared. I know I had it on when Icame through passport control, but when I reached mydriver it was no longer on my wrist.'

    Nikki thought for a moment. `That does sound like thework of a pickpocket. Did anyone bump into you whenyou were walking through the airport?'

    Now it was Mrs Kellingham's turn to think. `Yes, yesthere was one incident,' she said after a beat. `Someonebacked into me when I was looking for my driver.'

    Nikki leant forward. `Do you remember anything aboutthis someone?' she wondered.

    `Why, yes,' Mrs Kellingham smiled. `He was soapologetic, he was almost beside himself withembarrassment. He helped me to a seat and made sure Iwas all right...' She trailed off. `You don't think he... ButI never felt a thing.' Once again Mrs Kellingham flushedwith embarrassment. `I said I was a fool,' she remindedNikki in a much less commanding tone.

    Nikki couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She was aproud woman, and yet she had fallen for one of the oldesttricks in the book.

    `Is there anything you can remember about the man about the way he looked?' she asked gently.

    Mrs Kellingham looked up sharply. `He had blue skin.Does that help?'

    Nikki smiled warmly. Perhaps this would be easier than

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she'd first thought.

`The problem is, this isn't going to be easy.'

    The Doctor had been arguing with the JudoonCommander for some time now and, as far as JaseGolightly could make out, he didn't seem to be makingany headway.

    `Further Judoon squads can be here within two days.With enough officers, we can extend our search,' insistedthe Judoon.

    `Haven't you been listening to a word I've beensaying?' the Doctor asked rhetorically. `Searching thespaceport was one thing, but that's a city out there. Homesand businesses and warehouses. Alleys and crannies andnooks and all sorts. Your usual methods aren't going towork out there.'

    `Justice must be swift,' the Judoon stated, not for thefirst time.

    `Well, it's not going to be very swift if you hang aroundwaiting for reinforcements, is it?' suggested the Doctor.`Look, the majority of the population here is human. Iknow humans. I've spent a lot of time with humans. Iknow how they think and how they deal with things. Letme go into the city and follow the trail before it goes cold.I'll find your quarry.'

    The Judoon considered for a moment and then took astep closer to the Doctor.

    `Why would you do this?' he asked.

    The Doctor shrugged. `Because I want answers.Because I don't want Judoon terrorising the city. Because

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someone's stolen my TARDIS and I want it back.'

   `Ah,' exclaimed the Judoon as the Doctor reached theend of his list. `Self-interest. I understand that motivation.But this is also a matter of honour. The Judoon cannotstand by and have another party complete our mission.'

   The Judoon turned and began to walk out of the office.

   `Wait,' cried the Doctor.

   The Judoon paused in the doorway.

   `How about a compromise?' the Doctor suggested.

   `What manner of compromise?'

   The Doctor hurried across the room to look theCommander in the eye. `You send your Judoon back toyour ships to wait. Then you and I go into the city to findyour man. Give us, what, let's say forty-eight hours. Thatgives us two days to gets results with some good old-fashioned detective work. If we get no leads in forty-eighthours, when your reinforcements arrive, then you do ityour way.'

   The Doctor watched as the Judoon Commanderconsidered the proposal. It really was uncanny how like arhino a Judoon really was. The wide lipless mouth, therows of yellowing teeth, the two horns and flared nostrils,and, perched on top of the head, two little comedy ears.Not for the first time, he wondered what kind of world hadevolved a life form like the Judoon. One day he'd have tofind out. If he ever got the TARDIS back, he remindedhimself, bringing himself back to the present.

   `You and I go into the city alone?' the Judoon asked.

   `Not scared are you?' joked the Doctor.

   `Judoon are not frightened of anything,' the alien

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retorted. `I will accept your suggestion.'

   The Doctor smiled, but then the Judoon continued tospeak.

   `But with one amendment. I will allow twenty-fourhours only for the two of us to complete the mission. Iwill arrange the withdrawal of all Judoon.'

   The Commander stepped out of the office to pass thenew orders on to the rest of the Judoon.

   Golightly, who had been listening to the exchange frombehind his desk, jumped to his feet and came over tocongratulate the Doctor.

   `As soon as those creatures go, I can get the repairteams in. You were right, Doctor. This is going to give usa chance to get back on top of things.'

   The Doctor didn't look quite so happy. `Assuming mynew friend and I can make some progress in the nexttwenty-four hours.'

   Golightly sighed. `I was trying to forget about that bit,'he confessed. `Where will you start?'

   The Doctor pushed a hand through his unruly hair.`With the exploding man, I suppose. We need to find outwho he was.'

Nikki had hit the ground running. As soon as MrsKellingham left the office, Nikki got on the phone to hercontact at police headquarters. The New Memphis Policeweren't the most efficient police service in the sector andmuch of the organisation was riddled with corruption, butthere were good men and women scattered through theranks and Janne Hoffenham was one of them. She was

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also Nikki's godmother.

   In the difficult years since Nikki's mother had died,Janne had been the most important woman in Nikki's life.She had once been her father's partner at work. WhenNikki's dad had left the police to set up the detectiveagency, Janne had remained in the force and she'd been auseful contact over the years.

   Janne had checked with the police computer and, asNikki had hoped, confirmed that there weren't that manyblue-skinned pickpockets on the books. In fact there wasjust one Horat Deselup. Although concentrating on herown case, Nikki couldn't miss the opportunity to see ifJanne had heard from her father at all, but her tentativequestion was met with an apologetic `no'.

   Putting her growing anxiety about her father's safety tothe back of her mind, Nikki set off for the neighbourhoodwhere Deselup was known to live. The police computerdidn't have an exact address for the man, but it did havedetails of a bar he was known to frequent. Stopping onlyto pick up one of the fake IDs she hoped her father didn'tknow about, Nikki headed out.

   At only seventeen, Nikki was hardly an expert on barsbut she didn't need to have seen many to know that thisparticular joint the Black Hole was not especiallyupmarket. It was dark and gloomy and full of people whodidn't seem overly bothered about either quality. Thedecoration was primitive: simple wooden furniture, barewooden floor. Nikki was surprised that there wasn't acarpet of sawdust on the ground. A long wooden-toppedbar ran along the length of one wall, with dozens of optics

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behind it. In the middle of the bar sat a gaudy, paintedglass clown full of coins some kind of charity boxcollection. Nikki noted with amusement that the puntershere seemed to treat the collection box as some kind ofgood luck charm, dropping coins into it and then pattingthe clown's head.

    Nikki ordered a cola and sat at a table near the door,nursing her drink. She didn't have to wait long. Shewatched carefully as customers ordered drinks and chattedto each other and noted that, periodically, the bar staffwould carry trays of drinks into a back room though awide swing door. When the door to this rear room wasopen, Nikki had a fleeting glimpse of some card tablespicked out by low-hanging overhead spot lamps.According to the police records her godmother hadaccessed for her, gambling was Deselup's favouriteoccupation. If he wasn't already inside at one of the cardtables, he was sure to arrive soon. Nikki was justbeginning to think about ways to get herself inside theback room when the back door swung open and a coupleof players emerged. One of them had blue skin. He was atall thin man, with the long delicate fingers of a concertpianist. He moved with grace, seeming to almost floatacross the floor.

    The blue-skinned man stopped at the bar to saygoodnight to the barman and dropped a couple of coinsinto the charity box. Nikki took the opportunity to slipoutside ahead of him. It would be easier to tail himundetected if she started ahead of him.

    Once outside, she wandered over to a bus stop and

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pretended to study the timetable. The printed sheet wasprotected by a plastic case, just reflective enough forNikki to see the entrance to the bar behind her. A fewmoments later, the doors pushed open and the blue-skinned man emerged. He took off to the left, and Nikkibegan to move too. Keeping to her own side of the roadshe let him stay five or six paces ahead of her.

   For five blocks they continued without incident. Nikkinoted that they were moving back towards the spaceport.Suddenly she realised that the blue-skinned man haddisappeared from sight. How was that possible? He'dbeen there a minute ago. Nikki quickly crossed the road tothe side where her man had been walking but there was nosign of him. Had he doubled back? Was it possible that hehad spotted her?

   Nikki turned around and went back over the route theman had just passed. Suddenly someone grabbed her bythe arm and pulled her into a doorway.

   `Lost something?' hissed a voice.

   Nikki twisted her head to see the man holding her.Even in the dim light, the blue skin was unmistakable. Itwas Deselup.

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    `Keep your eyes open,' suggested the Doctor as he and

    the Judoon Commander walked towards the taxi rank

    outside the spaceport entrance.

       `For what?' grunted the Judoon, who was still not

    convinced that he was doing the right thing.

       `Anything,' replied the Doctor.

       Inside the massive terminals of the spaceport the

    atmosphere was regulated, but out in the open the Doctor

    was grateful for his heavy coat. It was cold, windy and

    wet. The lights of the city twinkled in the rain, giving it a

    fairy-tale ambience, but the Doctor wasn't fooled for a

    moment.

       There hadn't been much in the way of evidence from

    the remains of the exploding man. His clothes were no

    more than a few scraps of burnt material and there were

    no surviving documents of any kind. They had been more

    fortunate with witnesses, and a number of people had

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given good descriptions of the man in the café. When theDoctor had asked about the two other men at the table the white-haired twins in their dark suits most of thewitnesses had rapidly and suspiciously suffered aconvenient amnesia. At least locals did. Off-worlders, whohad no prior knowledge of the pair, had been moretalkative and, although the `how' remained a mystery, theDoctor and his alien partner were both fairly sure aboutwho had been responsible for the man's violent death.

   `But this murder is a local matter for local lawenforcement,' the Judoon complained when the Doctorexplained his thinking. The Doctor shook his head firmly.

   `It's all part of the bigger picture,' the Doctor insisted.`Don't leap to conclusions and don't ignore anything.That's the secret of a great detective.'

   `Detective work is slow; justice should be swift,'retorted the Judoon.

   `Don't start that again,' the Doctor urged him.

   Armed with an image of the dead man from thesecurity cameras, he and the Judoon Commander hadtalked to the passport and customs officer on duty inTerminal 13 to see if anyone recognised him. Theimposing figure of the Judoon thrusting the printout of theman under the nose of each customs officer was not agreat success. Having the massive horned head of an alienlooming over them had the unfortunate side effect ofcausing sudden and complete memory loss. Twenty-yearcustoms veterans were left quivering wrecks after beingexposed to the demanding interrogation techniques of theJudoon. Eventually, the Doctor intervened and his calmer,

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less accusatory approach had eventually produced a result.

    They had a name: Aroon Manish. They knew whatflight he had come in on. What they didn't know waswhere his luggage was.

    `Perhaps these brothers took it,' suggested the JudoonCommander. `We must locate them.'

    The Doctor agreed and, after taking advice fromGeneral Moret about how to go about things, they set offfor Police Headquarters.

    `Watch your backs there, Doctor,' the security manadvised as he escorted them to the main entrance of thespaceport.

    `You're not suggesting we shouldn't trust the police,are you?' grinned the Doctor. The General's lack of replyspoke volumes.

    The Judoon Commander was less amused. `Lawenforcers must be honourable and honest,' he insisted.

    `Of course they should,' agreed the Doctor, `but inplaces like New Memphis there are no guarantees.'

Not for the first time in her young life, Nikki was gratefulfor the martial arts lessons that her father had signed herup for at an early age. Keen that his daughter should growup able to defend herself, he had insisted that she startlessons as soon as she could walk. And Nikki had taken tothe discipline like a duck to water. She had only allowedherself to be grabbed and dragged into the dark doorwaybecause the coward had attacked without warning, butnow it was time to go on the offensive.

   `Why are you following me?' hissed the voice. She

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could hear the tension in his voice. He was scared. Whywould a man like this be scared of a seventeen-year-oldgirl? Nikki tensed her muscles ready to make a move, butheld back for a moment, realising that this was anopportunity.

   `Who said I was following you?' she replied calmly,interested to see his response.

   He tightened his grip on her arms, which he heldbehind her back. `Don't treat me like an idiot, I knowwhen I'm being followed. Are you with the Widow?'

   `You think I'd tell you if I was,' she replied haughtily.

   Her ploy worked, and the man released her, pushing herforward. She spun round to get a good look at herassailant. If his voice had sounded scared a moment ago, itwas nothing to the expression on his face now.

   `You tell Yilonda I'm strictly freelance. I'm not takingsides in no gang war,' the blue-skinned man insisted, hiseyes wide with fear. `You got that? Make sure you tellher!' With that, he turned and ran off. He dashed right intothe road and managed to duck and dance his way betweenthe hooting traffic and then disappeared up an alley on thefar side.

   Nikki grinned. That had been more successful than shecould have expected. She didn't know what it all meantyet but she was sure it would be useful intelligence intime. In the meantime, she had something else to aid hersearch. While the pickpocket had held her tight she hadturned the tables on him. Using skills that matched hisown, she had slipped a tiny tracking device into his jacketpocket. She activated her wrist-puter and searched for the

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signal. A blip announced the successful acquisition of thesignal, and a tiny blue dot appeared on the screen. Theblue-skinned man could run as much as he liked; Nikkinow knew his every move.

The gleaming tower that housed the Police HQ hadpromised much, but the reality had been a crushingdisappointment. The Doctor and the Judoon Commanderhad been passed from office to office, from waiting roomto waiting room, without actually seeing anything in theway of a serving police officer. The civilian administratorswere polite but useless to the investigators. The Doctorwas beginning to lose his patience but, unsurprisingly, itwas the Judoon Commander who lost his temper first.

    He jumped up from the seat where they'd been asked,once again, to wait and thrust his massive head throughthe small window behind which the latest receptionist wassitting. Seeing the rhino-headed alien coming towards her,the unfortunate girl had screamed and tried to jump out ofher own chair but she got tangled up in the wire from herheadset and fell back into her seat.

    `We must see an officer NOW!' barked the Judoon.`We will not tolerate any further delays.'

    `And we will not tolerate alien police operating outsidetheir jurisdiction,' added a new voice.

    The Judoon and the Doctor both turned to see a non-uniformed police officer coming to meet them. Thewoman was fifty-something, dark haired and carrying alittle more weight than was recommended for a humanoidof her height.

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   `Detective Angie Corilli,' she told them, thrusting out ahand to shake. `And I'd appreciate it if you didn'tintimidate the secretarial staff. You know how difficult itis to recruit a kid who can actually file stuff? Come thisway.'

   The Doctor was amused to see that even his aliencolleague was rendered speechless by this. The JudoonCommander looked at him, and he shrugged beforewalking in the direction the woman had indicated. Theyfollowed her down a narrow corridor from whichnumerous small offices could be accessed. The Judoon'swide shoulders brushed the walls, dislodging posters andpictures as he passed.

   Finally Corilli led them into her office. `Pardon themess,' she muttered as she moved a pile of files off one ofthe two guest chairs on one side of the desk, which itselfwas all but covered with paperwork. She glanced up at theJudoon who was wedged in the doorway. `I don't thinkthese chairs are large enough for you,' she said, a littleembarrassed.

   `I shall stand here, then,' replied the Judoon with asmuch dignity as he could muster. The Doctor, however,happily plopped himself into the chair, swinging his legsup to hang over the arm on one side.

   `Right then, tell us everything you know,' he suggested.

   Corilli laughed. `How long have you got?' she joked.

   The whole room shook as the Judoon in the doorwaystomped his feet. `Justice is swift. Not funny,' heannounced.

   `You'll have to excuse my friend,' the Doctor told the

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detective. `He's a bit keen.'

   `I've worked with the type before,' confessed Corilli.

   The room shook again. Corilli looked over at theJudoon with a pained expression. `Please don't do that.These are merely partition walls. It won't take much tobring the whole lot down.'

   `Then do not waste my time,' warned the Judoon. `Tellus about the human twins in the dark suits.'

   `The Walinski brothers Uncle's top goons.'

   `Uncle?' repeated the Doctor. `Who's "Uncle"?'

   `Bad news squared,' replied the detective, reaching fora phone. `Let me get someone in here who can tell you allabout him...'

The Casino was housed in a striking modern building atthe edge of the hotel district that ran in a thin strip like abuffer between the spaceport and the rest of downtownNew Memphis. This was the tourist-trap part of town, anarea where bars, clubs and shops never closed. It was aplace of constant noise: people, music, traffic a districtwhere darkness never fell.

   Nikki loathed it. She was much happier in the dark andgrotty downtown backstreets, with their dangerousshadows and endless rain. Here in the bright lights, Nikkifound the atmosphere electric, and not in a good way. Itfelt like she was on a movie set; everyone was just a littlebit too happy, too garrulous, too excited. As far as Nikkiwas concerned, it was as unnatural as the multicolouredneon lights that adorned every building.

   The Casino or, to give it its full title, the New

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Memphis Grand Casino and Gaming Hall was lit up somuch that it was difficult to look at it for too long withoutrisking permanent damage to your eyes. It was a magnetfor anyone with adventure in their hearts and money intheir wallets, and the management happily opened itsdoors to any, human and alien alike, who wished to spenda little time and a lot of cash at any of the gaming tableswithin. The only exception was the age rule. It was strictlyover twenty-ones only.

   Nikki looked at her reflection in a shop window. Shewas wearing her usual work clothes: a light jacket, oldjeans, sneakers. Her blonde hair was pulled back in asimple bunch and a tea-cosy-like green hat sat on herhead. She wasn't wearing any make-up to speak of and,although she was carrying plenty of ID that would qualifyher to get inside, there was no way her current appearancewould match any of the fake identities. She glanced at thewrist-puter again, and the blue flashing blip of lightconfirmed that her quarry had entered the Casino. No IDproblem for him! Nikki sighed and turned away. Sheneeded to find another way in and quickly.

   Corilli had summoned another cop to fill the Doctorand the Judoon Commander in on the Walinski brothersand their employer, the mysterious `Uncle'. DetectiveDantin was small and wiry, with a scruffy unshavenappearance. Passing him in the street, you might mistakehim for a homeless vagrant rather than a police officer, butCorilli assured her guests that Dantin was one of the best.

   `Ten years working organised crime in this city,' Corillitold them. `What he doesn't know about Uncle isn't worth

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knowing.'

    `Except how to put the creep behind bars,' grumbledDantin miserably. The Doctor wondered how many yearsit had been since the man had last smiled; his face had anexpression of barely contained anger that looked prettypermanent. He leant against the wall and folded his arms,chewing on a toothpick.

    `So this Uncle... local Mr Big, is he?' prompted theDoctor, hoping to get the man talking again.

    `You could say that,' replied Dantin, pulling thetoothpick from his mouth and flicking it, without success,in the direction of Corilli's overflowing bin. `Most citieshave a guy like him. Likes to think of himself as abusinessman, calls himself an entrepreneur. Which isfancy language for crook, if you ask me. He has somelegit operations, of course, the Casino, a propertyportfolio, that kind of thing, but that's just a smokescreenfor the real stuff. Protection, drugs, smuggling, people-trafficking... He has his fingers in pretty much everycriminal pie going. That's why he's the Uncle.'

    `And the brothers?' The question rumbled out of theJudoon's mouth suddenly. The Doctor realised thatsubconsciously both Corilli and Dantin had beenaddressing themselves almost exclusively to him, as if bynot looking at the massive alien in the room they couldpretend he didn't exist. The Doctor smiled to himself; he'dheard of the elephant in the room, but rarely the rhino.

    Dantin cleared his throat and made a visible effort tolook the Judoon in the eye as he spoke. Corilli lookedaway, preferring to read some of the backed-up paperwork

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on her desk.

   `The Walinski brothers. Albino twins. Human, not thatyou'd notice. Cold, ruthless, violent, deadly.'

   `Sounds like all too many humans, if you ask me,'commented the Doctor.

   Dantin ignored the interruption. `They're Uncle's right-hand men, his enforcers, his most loyal men.'

   The Doctor frowned. `So what are Uncle's top dogsdoing at the spaceport on a routine meet and greet?' hewondered. The question hung in the air for a second, andthen the Doctor provided his own answer. `Whatever elseit was, it wasn't a routine meeting. Can't have been.'

   `We will ask this Uncle why the brothers were at thespaceport,' suggested the Judoon Commander.

   Dantin snorted. `Yeah, like that's going to happen.'

   The Doctor shot him a sharp look. `Why not take thedirect approach?' he wondered. `Where do we find Unclethen?'

   The Doctor was amused to see the surprise on Dantin'sface. It looked as if he couldn't believe what he'd justheard.

   `What are you going to do? Walk up to Uncle and askhim to help you with your enquiries?'

   `Why not?' grinned the Doctor.

   Dantin shook his head sadly, clearly giving up on them.`The Grand Casino,' he said simply. `Grab a taxi. Even theoff-planet ming-mongs that drive most of the taxis roundhere know how to find the Casino.'

   Corilli looked up as Dantin gave the visitors a mocksalute, then shuffled out of the office.

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   The Doctor got to his feet.

   `If you don't mind, I am kinda busy,' she said.

   The Doctor nodded and thanked her for her time.

   Keeping her eyes on their backs as he and the Judoondisappeared down the corridor, Corilli reached for thephone and dialled a stored number.

   `We may have a problem,' she whispered into thephone receiver urgently.

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    Nikki put on her best smile and tried to stand tall with

    confidence but it was far from easy. The uniform for the

    female staff at the Casino had many features that were not

    to Nikki's taste, but the high-heeled shoes were definitely

    her least favourite. Then there was the skirt that was so

    short it could have doubled as a belt.

       Nikki looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep

    breath. With the costume such as it was and a serious

    amount of make-up, she reckoned she could pass herself

    off as one of the glamorous cocktail waitresses who

    serviced the high-rollers. As long as she didn't totter in the

    heels too much and give herself away. Nikki pushed open

    the door and set about playing her newly acquired role.

    She hoped the poor girl she'd borrowed the uniform and

    security pass from wouldn't get into too much trouble.

    She'd been keen enough to take Nikki's money and, while

    far from bright, she had clearly understood that this

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opportunity to get a night off at double pay was somethingshe'd need to keep secret.

    Out in the gaming halls, Nikki quickly realised she'dmade the right decision. Despite the almost indecentclothing the girls wore, they seemed to be all but invisible.The clients would snap their fingers and order drinks andsnacks, but they rarely gave the serving girls a secondglance, keeping their focus firmly on the gaming tables infront of them. Nikki was quickly able to get the lay of theland, identifying the discreetly positioned security gorillasand the surveillance cameras.

    There were five main gaming halls over two floors andtwice as many bars. An extensive behind-the-scenes areamade sure that everything ran smoothly and gave accessto kitchens, storerooms and a security suite. Access to thefirst floor from the bottom was either by a breathtakingwall-free elevator or by a spectacular escalator thatthreaded through a clever artificial waterfall withoutgetting the visitor wet. Nikki also located some liftsleading to the private upper floors from where Uncle ranhis entire operation. It had been impossible to keep herwrist-puter on whilst wearing the staff uniform, but beforeshe had changed she had confirmed that her blue-skinnedfriend was somewhere on the third floor. Somehow shehad to get up there too.

The Doctor had decided to take a more direct approachthan Nikki's.

   `I think you should wait here,' he said to the JudoonCommander when they reached the impressive-looking

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frontage of the Casino building. The Judoon looked for amoment as if he might argue the point, but then he noddedin agreement.

   Leaving his alien partner to wait for him on the otherside of the street, the Doctor simply presented himself atthe main entrance.

   `I'd like to speak to Uncle,' he said simply to thedoorman.

   `Go on, George, do as the man asks,' said a familiarvoice. A moment later, Derek Salter appeared, wheelinghimself out through a pair of automatic doors that led tothe casino proper.

   `How goes the investigation?' Salter asked the Doctor,bringing his wheelchair to a halt.

   `Early days,' replied the Doctor in a non-committalmanner.

   `Well, if you need to speak to Uncle, George here willsort you out, won't you, George?'

   The doorman George nodded nervously and turnedto use an intercom.

   `I didn't realise you and Uncle were old friends,'commented the Doctor conversationally.

   `Oh, I wouldn't say we were that,' replied Salter, `but Ioccasionally take a few credits off the old man at histables. I'd call us acquaintances rather than friends. Beseeing you.'

   And with that cheery farewell, Salter wheeled off intothe night. George the doorman came across to the Doctorand led him inside. As he passed through the automaticdoors, the Doctor cast one last glance over his shoulder at

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the distant figure of the Judoon Commander, lurking in theshadows on the far side of the street. He hoped the alienlaw enforcer's patience would hold out.

   The Doctor was escorted through the gaming hallstowards the private lifts which would take him directlyinto Uncle's personal apartment. As he moved through thegaming halls, the Doctor scanned the rooms, carefullytaking in the scene. One of the waitresses caught his eyeas she stumbled in her heels, and the Doctor put out ahand to steady her. The girl blushed and thanked him in aquiet voice and then turned quickly away without makingeye contact. The Doctor was puzzled by her bodylanguage; the girl seemed unduly tense.

   `Problem, sir?' asked the doorman, aware that theDoctor had stopped walking. He followed the stranger'sgaze and saw that he was looking at one of the waitingstaff. `Interesting uniforms, eh?' he commented.

   `Look a bit chilly to me,' commented the Doctor,turning back to his escort. `Allons-y, George, don't want tokeep Uncle waiting, do we?'

Nikki hurried to a table and leant on it heavily. That hadbeen close. Why had the stranger looked at her like that?Did he know something? Pulling herself together, shelooked back over shoulder at the new arrival beingescorted through the halls. He was humanoid, and dressedin a slightly scruffy pinstriped suit, an outfit that mighthave looked more respectable but for the sneakers on hisfeet. He was following the doorman with his hands in hispockets, walking casually but, she noted, looking around

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him the whole time. Nikki's late mother had been asensitive, but Nikki had never had any psychic twingesherself, at least not until today. There was somethingabout the stranger, something deep and mysterious, thatwas fascinating; he seemed to have an invisible aura thatdrew her attention. She found herself moving across theroom on a parallel course, keeping pace with him as hefollowed the doorman around the gaming tables.

   She realised that he was being taken towards theprivate lifts, exactly where she wanted to go herself. Shestarted clearing a table but continued to keep an eye on thestranger. She watched carefully as the doorman used anumerical keypad to call the lift. Automatically, Nikkimemorised the code and watched as the man stepped intothe lift. The doors began to close and her heart skipped abeat as he gave a little wave just before the doors closed.The doorman thought the wave was meant for him andgave a half-hearted salute in return, but Nikki knew thatthe stranger had been looking directly at her. How had heknown she was looking? Did he suspect she didn't belongthere? And, more importantly, was he going to give heraway?

When the doors opened, the Doctor was not surprised tobe met by Uncle in person. Introducing yourself to a crimelord by demanding a face-to-face visit without warningwas always going to appeal to his curiosity. What didsurprise the Doctor was Uncle himself. The Doctor hadmet a lot of powerful men, women and aliens in his ninehundred-plus years of travelling, but Uncle wasn't the

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stereotypical megalomaniac that he might have been. Infact, he was charm personified: a smallish man in hissixties, with snow-white hair and a neatly trimmed greybeard.

   The apartment itself, although expensively decoratedand furnished, was tasteful and subtle rather than the over-the-top nightmare it might have been. The colours weremuted, and sympathetic spot lighting made even the largerooms feel intimate. Works of art from all over theuniverse were displayed on the walls and in glass cases.

   Uncle had greeted the Doctor like an old friend,shaking his hand and inviting him to take tea. He led theDoctor through to a sitting room where a servant wasquietly setting down a tray containing a teapot, china, anda selection of cakes. A woman with long blonde hair,dressed in a pretty white cocktail dress, was sitting in oneof the armchairs.

   `My daughter, Hope,' Uncle introduced her with a waveof his arm. The young woman, who the Doctor judged tobe in her thirties, got up to greet him. Her hand, when hetook it to shake, felt tiny. She seemed out of place in theworld of Uncle the crime lord, and the Doctor wonderedwhat, if anything, she knew of her father's criminalactivities.

   The three of them sat and took tea, making politeconversation about the weather and the state of affairs atthe spaceport. He seemed to know that the Doctor hadonly recently arrived on New Memphis and expressed thehope that he hadn't travelled through the new and troubledTerminal 13. The Doctor assured him he'd not been that

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unlucky. He drained his cup and, placing it carefully backon the saucer, decided to get the conversation on track.

   As he explained that he was working as a consultant toboth the spaceport authorities and the police, Hope sat upand took a real interest in the topic at hand, for the firsttime in their conversation.

   `Really?' she exclaimed. `How exciting. Much moreexciting than my class of seven-year-olds.'

   Uncle shot an annoyed look in the direction of hisdaughter. `Hope is a teacher,' he explained to his visitor.`But apart from her job she doesn't get out much. She'salways been frail, and the pollution in the city plays havocwith her asthma.'

   The Doctor noted a slight narrowing of Hope's eyesand wondered for a moment if she was going to saysomething. When nothing was forthcoming, he continued.

   `I'm interested in tracking down a couple of youremployees the Walinski brothers?' he told Uncle. Uncleheld the Doctor's gaze for a moment.

   `Tall chaps, white hair, smart suits, twins...' continuedthe Doctor.

   Uncle turned to his daughter. `I suspect we're going tobe talking boring business matters, my dear, why don'tyou leave us to it? No need for you to feign interest inwhat will doubtless be tedious in the extreme for you.'

   The Doctor expected the girl to protest, but to hissurprise she merely nodded demurely and got to her feet.

   `If you gentlemen will excuse me then, I'll take myleave of you,' she said, smiling sweetly. Uncle watched asshe left the room.

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   `Lovely girl,' he commented after she had gone, `thespit of her mum but not half the brains.' Uncle turned backto look at the Doctor. `And both totally innocent andignorant about my business. Which is the way I want it toremain.' There was an undeniable undertone to his words.

   For the first time, the Doctor was getting a glimpse ofthe real Uncle the vicious crime lord lurking under thecharming exterior.

Nikki stepped into the corridor from the private lift andbreathed a sigh of relief as she realised that it was empty.She moved down the corridor and, hearing voices frombehind one door, she hurried past it. Further along thecorridor she came across what looked like a waiting area.There were a number of sofas and armchairs and lowtables with magazines.

   Sitting in one of the chairs, with his back towardsNikki, was the blue-skinned man. As she watched he gotto his feet and began pacing. Nikki drew back against thewall, watching him carefully. He pulled out acommunicator and dialled a number.

   `It's me. I'm being jerked around here. I was about toput a deal to Uncle when he suddenly decided he hadanother more urgent meeting. I've been waiting hereages.'

   Whoever was at the end of the line must have beenspeaking because Deselup shut up for a bit. He continuedpacing, and Nikki had to quickly duck down behind oneof the large sofas to avoid being seen. While there, shepulled off the painful high-heeled shoes and rubbed her

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sore ankles.

   `I'm going to give him a bit longer, but if he doesn'tshow me a bit of respect,' continued the blue-skinnedman, `I'll just go to Yilonda and see if she'll pay. Shealready put someone on my tail.' With that, the man endedhis call and sat back down in the nearest seat.

   Unfortunately, it was the sofa Nikki was hiding behind.She felt it push back under his weight, shifting it furtherback towards the wall, squashing and trapping her.

Without his daughter in the room, Uncle had become acompletely different man. The Doctor began to understandnow why so many people were afraid of him.

   `What do you want to know about the Walinskibrothers, then?' Uncle demanded without further niceties.

   The Doctor explained about the sightings of them at thespaceport and the mysterious death of the exploding man.

   `Was there anything to link my men to this death?'asked Uncle bluntly.

   `They were seen with the victim,' the Doctor explained.`They shared a table with him in a spaceport café.'

   `Hardly suspicious, though, is it?' Uncle was on hisfeet. `Don't waste my time, Doctor. I don't know whatyou thought you were doing coming here on a fishing trip,but you have to get up a lot earlier to catch me out. Mymen were at the spaceport to meet an old friend who nevershowed up. They may well have spent some time in a cafédrinking coffee. They wasted the whole morning. Peoplein my business don't like wasting time.'

   The Doctor stood up and looked Uncle directly in the

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eyes. `Which business is that then? The legit one or allyour criminal activities?' he asked levelly.

   Uncle just laughed. `Get out of here before I let mylawyers loose on you for defamation.'

   The blue-skinned man had finally run out of patience.Nikki watched him stalk away back to the lifts and wasthen able to emerge from her hiding place. Before shecould set off in pursuit of Deselup, though, another dooropened. Nikki turned and ran barefoot in the oppositedirection, hoping no one would see her.

   The corridor curved around, quickly taking her out ofsight but to be sure she began trying the doors. Findingone unlocked, she yanked it open and tumbled inside.

   It was someone's bedroom a woman's if the decorwas anything to go on. The room was all pink and whitewith soft furnishings. The carpet was thick pile and thebed was covered with a soft velvety bedspread. At thewindow, enormous braided curtains hung from just underthe ceiling to floor level. These were tied back at each sideof the window forming an ornate frame for the view outover the city.

   Curiosity getting the better of her, Nikki began to lookaround. There was a massive dressing table covered withmake-up and jewellery boxes and a huge mirrorsurrounded by individual light bulbs like a theatricaldressing room. There was one thing, however, that lookedtotally out of place. It was a small piece of technical kitabout the size of a shoe. It had some buttons, dials, a smallscreen and a retractable aerial. Was it some sort of controldevice?

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   Suddenly in the mirror she saw the door beginning toopen. She had seconds to look around for a hiding place.Luckily, there was room behind the curtain.

   Nikki held her breath as she heard the door creak open.There was no way to see anything in the room all shecould do was listen and hope that whoever it was justpassed through. She strained to hear what was happening,cursing the thick carpet which muffled all footsteps. Sheheard the door close with a click but had the visitor comein or not?

   Without warning, she got her answer as someone orsomething grabbed the curtain just above her head. Beforeshe could react, the whole curtain, rail and all, was rippedfrom the wall and thrown aside by a creature unlikeanything she had ever seen before. It was a gianthumanoid alien with the massive twin-horned head of arhinoceros.

   Later, Nikki would be furious at the way she hadreacted, but in the heat of the moment there was only onething she could do. She screamed.

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    When the Doctor reached the lift doors, they opened

    for him. He stepped in, but as soon as the doors began to

    close he jumped out again and hurried off along the

    corridor. With a bit of luck, it would be a moment or two

    before Uncle's security staff noticed his disappearance.

    Just enough time for a quick poke around behind the

    scenes. When he had emerged from his meeting with

    Uncle, he had caught a glimpse of a figure running off

    down the corridor. He couldn't be certain, but he was

    fairly sure it was a woman wearing the house waitress

    uniform almost certainly the young girl he'd seen in the

    gaming hall having balance problems with her shoes.

       Taking the same route he'd seen the running girl take,

    the Doctor found himself walking down a curved corridor.

    A muffled scream suddenly sounded from somewhere

    close by. The sound was choked off in its prime, but the

    Doctor had heard enough to trace its source to one of the

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nearest rooms. Whoever had screamed was silent now.

   The Doctor pushed open the door to the room fromwhich the half-scream had seemed to come. To hissurprise, the Judoon Commander was in the room, with ahand covering the mouth of the girl he had seendownstairs. She was struggling to get free, but the Judoonhad a good grip on her.

   `Be quiet,' the Judoon was saying urgently. `I do notwish to be discovered either!'

   `Might be a bit late for that,' commented the Doctor,announcing his presence.

   The girl and the Judoon both turned their heads to lookat him.

   `Doctor! What are you doing here?' exclaimed theJudoon.

   `I could ask you the same thing,' replied the Doctor.`You can let her go now,' he added. `She's not going toscream again, are you?' He looked at the girl and gave heran encouraging smile.

   The Judoon hesitated for a moment, just long enough togive the impression that what he was about to do was ofhis own volition rather than following the Doctor's orders,and then released the girl.

   `Who are you people?' she demanded.

   `I'm the Doctor,' the Doctor began brightly, `and this is,er...' The Doctor stopped, for once in his life lost forwords.

   `I am Judoon Commander Rok Ma,' grunted theJudoon, rescuing the floundering Doctor. `Galactic LawEnforcer.'

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   `You're cops!'

   The Doctor shrugged, awkwardly. `More sort ofinvestigators,' he explained.

   Nikki was relieved; at least they were on the right side,even if they were a little strange. She introduced herselfand told them that she too was an investigator.

   `I found something in here, something suspicious,' shetold them, showing them the control device she'd foundearlier. `It doesn't look like it belongs here.'

   The man who called himself the Doctor had slipped apair of dark-rimmed spectacles onto his face and wasexamining the device with interest.

   `What is it for?' wondered the Judoon.

   `There's a time delay on it,' the Doctor told them, `andwhatever it is, it's about to go off.'

   `Can't you switch it off?' Nikki asked.

   `No time,' replied the Doctor, throwing the device ontothe bed. `Get down!'

   The three of them took what cover they could as theDoctor called out the countdown.

   `Five... four... three... two... one!'

   Nikki wrapped her arms around her head, tuckedherself into a ball and tensed, ready for something terribleto happen. For a long moment there was nothing butsilence.

   `That was a bit disappointing,' commented the Doctorsadly.

   Suddenly an alarm began to ring, an instant clangingbell that was impossible to ignore.

   `Either we've been discovered or that's the fire alarm,'

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the Doctor mused. `Us. Fire. I think we should... get outof here. C'mon, run!'

    In the corridor, the reason for the alarm quickly becameevident. Flames were bursting out of the room in whichthe Doctor had met Uncle, and thick billowing smoke wasfilling the corridor. There was no way to get to the lifts.

    `We need to find another way out of here,' shouted theDoctor.

    The Judoon pushed open a door. `Stairs,' he announced.

    `How did you know they were there?' asked Nikkiincredulously as they started to run down the stairs.

    `My ship scanned the building before I teleported in,'explained the Judoon Commander.

    `You've got a teleport?' Nikki was fascinated. `Can'tyou beam us all out of here then?'

    The alien Judoon didn't break stride or turn to look ather. `No,' he said simply.

    `Oh, you haven't, have you?' groaned the Doctor. TheJudoon looked at him impassively. `You have,' the Doctorwent on. `You've sent your ship back into orbit. It's out ofrange.' He brightened. `Oh well, always look on the brightside no more Judoon teleporting in. Let's just hope wecan get out.'

    The trio reached the ground floor as he spoke,emerging into a scene of total chaos. The alarm waslouder here, and it became immediately clear that the firein the private apartments was not the only one. Thickblack smoke filled the air, and a large area at the side ofone of the gaming rooms was a mass of roaring flames.Screaming, panicking people were running for the exits,

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pushing each other out of the way in an effort to get out. Anumber of the staff were as frightened as the punters, but afew were trying to use emergency fire extinguishers tofight the fire.

   The Doctor hurried to help, grabbing an extinguisherand beginning to aim the foam at the flames. He turnedand saw that Nikki had turned her attention to thefrightened people, helping them find their way through thechaos to the emergency exits. The Judoon Commander,however, was just standing like a statue, watching thechaos all around him. Was it possible the giant alien wasafraid?

   `Do something useful,' the Doctor shouted at the alien.

   `This conflagration is containable,' the Judoon roaredback at the Doctor. `I have alerted local emergencyservices.'

   `Bully for you,' the Doctor replied. `But while we'rewaiting for Fireman Sam, people could lose their lives.We need to help.' The Doctor looked around, trying tomake out what was happening. The smoke was gettingquite dense now.

   `There are people trapped over there,' the Doctorobserved, waving an arm towards an area cut off from therest of the room by a wall of flame. The Judoon looked inthe direction the Doctor was indicating and then, without amoment's hesitation, he picked up a heavy gaming tableand threw it down across the flames. For a moment thetable acted like a blanket and muffled the flames. Thequartet of gamblers who had been trapped hurried acrossthe makeshift bridge to safety. The Judoon hauled the last

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of them clear as the table began to smoke and, secondslater, the flames returned, ripping through the woodentable top and reducing it to cinders.

   The room was clearing now. Most of the public hadescaped, leaving a handful of Casino staff fighting the firealongside the Doctor and the Judoon Commander. Sirensroared from outside and soon they were joined by aprofessional fire-fighting crew. A powerful vacuum devicebegan removing the smoke and numerous hoses begansoaking the flames. The Doctor and the Judoon stepped toone side, with some relief, and let the trained fire-fighterstake over. They carefully made their way through theabandoned chairs and tables of the gaming hall to thefoyer. Here groups of people clustered nervously,recounting their individual stories of escape and checkingtheir numbers. A few of them were still clutchinggambling chips and beginning to ask about getting themcashed.

   Nikki was perched on the main reception desk waitingfor them.

   `What caused it?' she wondered out loud as theywalked over to join her.

   `Incendiary device,' came the answer, but neither theDoctor nor the Judoon had provided it.

   From out of the still-smoking Casino, the figure ofUncle appeared. His face was black, but from anger ratherthan the smoke. `Someone set off a firebomb in myCasino!'

   `Who would do a thing like that?' mused the Doctor.

   `That damn Widow woman,' spat Uncle, furiously. `But

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she's gone too far this time.'

   The Doctor looked around. The fire-fighters seemed tohave got the fire under control.

   `Is everyone safe?' he asked.

   A pained expression replaced the look of fury onUncle's features.

   `Hope!' he exclaimed. `She was in the apartment but...I've not seen her.'

   The Doctor was already running in the direction of thestairwell.

   `Wait outside,' he shouted over his shoulder. `I'll beback in a jiffy!'

The Doctor took the stairs two at a time. The fire seemedto have been contained on the ground floor but it waspossible that no one knew about the fire in the privateapartments.

   He burst back into the corridor where the smoke wasdissipating. When he approached the site of the fire, herealised that the automatic emergency sprinklers had donetheir job. Downstairs the fire had been too widespread, butup here in the smaller rooms the flames had beencontained and snuffed out.

   The Doctor stepped into the room where he'd metUncle and crossed the sodden carpet. Looking up, henoticed something attached to one of the light fittings.Pulling the sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket, hefired a blast of sound into the air. The little black box fellinto his outstretched hand.

   `Ouch!' It was still hot. The Doctor dropped it and it

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continued to smoulder on the carpet. He quickly adjustedthe screwdriver's settings and gave the box another dose.This time the little firebomb behaved itself and shut down.The Doctor bent down to examine it. There wassomething familiar about the design of the unit, somethinghe knew he should recognise, but for the moment it eludedhim.

   He heard movement in the corridor and rememberedthat he was here looking for someone. He ran out into thecorridor and caught a glimpse of white clothingdisappearing around the corner.

   `Wait!' he cried and ran after the figure.

   A moment later he reached the lifts, where the figurewas revealed to be Uncle's daughter. She was stabbing afinger at the lift controls with determination and littlepatience. She was coughing a little but other than that sheseemed unhurt.

   `I don't think the lifts are working right now.'

   Hope jumped at the sound of his voice.

   `What are you doing here, creeping around?' shecomplained. `You nearly gave me a heart attack.'

   `Sorry,' the Doctor apologised, `I didn't mean to scareyou. In fact I came to, well, rescue you. From the fire...'

   `A knight in shining armour!' she smiled.

   `More of a brown suit, really, but I suppose beggarscan't be choosers,' replied the Doctor, returning her smile.

   `I found this in my room,' Hope continued, showinghim something she had in her hand. The Doctor realisedthat it was the control device they'd found earlier.

   `Let me see,' he murmured, holding his hand out. She

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passed it over and he took a closer look.

    Looking at it again the Doctor made the connection tothe similar box he'd just found in Uncle's meeting room the firebomb that had started the conflagration. They wereof the same design, a linked pair. A firebomb and adetonation device.

    `Do you know what it is?' Hope wondered.

    The Doctor nodded, as he led Hope towards the stairs.`It's the signal device that just set off these firebombs.'

    `Firebombs!' she exclaimed, looking around fearfully.

    `It's OK,' he reassured her. `It's all under control.'

    `How many bombs were there?' she asked, nervously.

    `There was at least one more, downstairs, but it's beendealt with.' He produced the sonic screwdriver and zappedthe control box. `And now if there are any more hiddenaround here they won't go off,' he assured her.

    He led her towards the stairs. `Where did you say youfound this?' he asked her as they walked.

    `Back there,' Hope told him, waving rather impreciselyback towards her room. `I saw someone drop it.'

    `Really?'

    Hope nodded vigorously. `Is it a clue? Will it help catchwhoever did this?' she asked hopefully.

    The Doctor just shrugged. `You never know,' he toldher. `So tell me what you saw.'

    `There was a man, he was lurking in my room, doingsomething with that box. When he saw me, he dropped it,pushed past me and ran off. Not long after that the firealarms went off,' she recalled.

    `And would you recognise the man again?' wondered

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the Doctor.

   Hope stopped and looked at him with wide eyes. `Ofcourse I would. He had blue skin!'

                           * * *

Uncle was overjoyed when the Doctor emerged from thestill-smoking Casino with Hope. The anger was all gonenow, replaced with a deep gratitude. The Doctor felt alittle uncomfortable, but realised that it might be useful tobe owed a favour by such a powerful man.

    `How can I ever thank you?' Uncle asked him.

    The Doctor paused. `I'll let you know,' he told thecrime lord and moved off towards the Judoon who wasstanding nearby with Nikki. She'd obviously managed toretrieve her own clothes and had got rid of the Casinouniform. She was now deep in conversation with theJudoon Commander, comparing notes.

    `This girl has information that might aid us,' the Judoonannounced as the Doctor joined them.

    `Looks like the case I'm working is linked to yourexploding man thing,' Nikki said brightly. `Maybe we canhelp each other out?'

    `I thought private detectives liked to work alone?' theDoctor observed.

    `Not me,' Nikki replied. `I prefer to work in a team.Usually I'm partnering Dad. It's his detective agency.'

    `Then we will work with your father,' rumbled theJudoon. `This is dangerous work for a young female.'

    `What's with the dinosaur here?' retorted Nikki,

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affronted. `For your information, my dad's on anothercase right now, so it's me or nothing.'

    The Doctor stepped between them. `I'm sure we can allwork together,' he told them, grinning. `Three heads arebetter than one. And my head's gotta be worth more thanone on its own. So that's at least four...'

    `Doctor!' the Judoon interrupted him. `Just tell us whathappened with Uncle's daughter. Did you find anythingelse in there?'

    The Doctor frowned. `I'm not sure,' he confessed andtold his new partners about the conversation he had justhad with Uncle's daughter.

    `The prime suspect for these firebombs appears to bethis blue-skinned man,' the Judoon Commander stated.

    Nikki shook her head. `No, that's not right,' sheinsisted. `Deselup's a pickpocket, not an arsonist. Andanyway I followed him here tonight he didn't have anybombs with him then, I'm sure of it.'

    The Doctor pulled a face. `I suppose Hope must havebeen mistaken about what she saw.'

    `We'll just have to track Deselup down and ask himourselves,' Nikki suggested.

    The Doctor was deep in thought. The Walinski brothershad been at the spaceport for a reason, he was sure aboutit. The exploding man had been killed, but that couldn'thave been their prime mission. No, they must have beenthere for something else. Something the man who'd diedwas meant to give them.

    `But he didn't give it to them because he didn't haveit!' the Doctor concluded his analysis out loud. Nikki and

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the Judoon Commander just looked at him as if he wasmad. Quickly the Doctor outlined his theory.

    `The man who died was meant to deliver something tothe Walinski brothers,' explained the Doctor. `Probablysomething to do with that Invisible Assassin. But when themoment came he couldn't deliver the, well, whatever itis.'

    `Because ol' Deselup had taken it from his pocket,'Nikki concluded, following the Doctor's thinking. `Nowonder he was nervous,' she added.

    The Doctor nodded. `That's why he was here to tryand do a deal on the whatever it is that he purloined fromthe man who died. He must have seen the Walinskibrothers with the victim at the spaceport and put two andtwo together.'

    `We need to speak to this pickpocket,' the Judoonrumbled. `How are we going to find him?'

    `Oh that's no problem,' announced Nikki holding upher wrist-puter. `I planted a tracker on him,' she told themproudly, `so wherever he is in the city, I can find him.Shall we go?'

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    It was raining again, a light persistent rain that entirely

    failed to make the city feel any cleaner. The dark shadows

    remained and, as the mismatched trio of investigators

    walked along the streets, they were aware of suspicious

    glances coming their way from all directions. It was a

    hostile environment, where passers-by dropped their

    heads and hurried along without making eye contact with

    any stranger. As they walked, Nikki filled in the Doctor

    and the Judoon Commander about the recent history of the

    city.

       `It's a mess,' she confessed. `It sort of grew without

    proper planning so it's a real mixture of styles, all sorts of

    buildings all jammed on top of each other.'

       `According to our scans ninety-eight per cent of the

    planetary surface is undeveloped,' the Judoon told them.

       `That's cos no one's interested in the planet itself,'

    Nikki pointed out. `All this,' she waved at the city around

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her, `all this is here because of the spaceport. That's whyit's crammed in.'

    `So who's this Widow woman, then?' asked the Doctor,recalling Uncle's reaction to the incendiaries.

    `A place like this is a breeding ground for crime. That'swhat Dad says anyway.' Nikki grinned. `Good for those ofus in the private investigation business but tough on thecity sometimes. It's like there's two cities in one, really.There's the legal one, with the City Council and the PoliceService and the Spaceport Authority, and then there's awhole other world, an underground. And that's ruled bythe criminal gangs.'

    Nikki explained that Uncle had been the kingpin in thecity for as long as anyone could remember. `Apparently,he started out on the street but worked his way up thecriminal ladder. Eventually, he killed the previous gangleader and took over. Since then he's ruled with an ironfist. Nothing criminal goes on without Uncle'sorganisation knowing about it. The joke around here isthat his gang is more efficient than the City Council!'

    `That is anarchy,' complained the Judoon.`Lawbreakers should face justice.'

    `Yeah, well, if we had an army of blokes like you,maybe they would,' replied Nikki.

    `Don't even think about it!' warned the Doctor.

    The Judoon shook his massive head. `This is outsidemy jurisdiction. My only concern is to apprehend theInvisible Assassin.'

    `And when we catch up with our light-fingered blue-skinned friend we'll be a step closer to achieving that,'

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promised the Doctor.

   `Trouble is, Uncle's not the man he used to be,' Nikkicontinued her explanation. `There's a new organisation intown. They're called the Widow's Gang. About eighteenmonths ago, this mystery woman appeared on the scene,linking up some of the minor gangs into a super-gangpowerful enough to take on Uncle. She took advantage ofthe fact that Uncle had put a lot of noses out of joint overthe years.'

   `Is that literally or metaphorically?' wondered theDoctor.

   `Both. Let's face it, in Uncle's line of work you'regoing to make enemies. But until the Widow came along,all his enemies hated each other as much as they hatedhim, if not more. The Widow changed that. She madethem see their antipathy towards Uncle as commonground and she built on that.'

   `But who is this Widow?' demanded the JudoonCommander.

   Nikki shrugged. `That's the thing. No one knowsanything save her name Madame Yilonda. She's amystery. She just appeared out of nowhere. Even aftereighteen months, there's no more information about her,not even what she looks like. For all we know, she couldbe an alien like you!' Nikki looked at the Judoon againand shook her head. `Maybe not like you,' she correctedherself.

   `Someone must know something,' the Doctor pointedout.

   `Well if they do, they're not saying.' Nikki was looking

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at her wrist-puter. `Deselup's stopped moving,' sheannounced.

   `So where is he?' the Judoon Commander asked.

   `In there!' she said triumphantly. She pointed to abrightly lit building across the road. `I should haveknown,' she added.

   `Why?' asked the Doctor.

   `Because the Spa is where everyone says you'll find theWidow's Web.'

   The Doctor nodded and shot a look at the Judoon.

   `Fancy a sauna? It'll do wonders for your skin!'

Inside the Spa, the blue-skinned man was looking aroundnervously. Deselup was a loner, used to keeping awayfrom the gangs as much as possible. His only real contactswith the wider criminal community were the fences whotransformed the valuable items he acquired into hard cash.The gangs were dangerous territory, full of paranoia,suspicion and double-dealing; Deselup had always keptwell clear of it all.

   The incident at the spaceport had changed all that. He'dseen the newsfeeds' coverage of the mysterious death, andwhen they had flashed an image of the dead man onscreen his memory flashed too. He had always had a goodmemory for faces and he recognised the man instantly. Hehad been one of his victims this morning at the spaceport.He had taken a left-luggage reclaim chip from him, butwith the chaos at the spaceport this morning he had nothad the chance to discover what treasure had been left inthe locker by the now deceased visitor. Seeing what had

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happened to the man himself, he wasn't entirely sure nowthat he wanted to know. But someone would, he was sure.The presence of the Walinski brothers suggested thatUncle might have an interest so, having made sure thechip itself was secure, Deselup had ventured into Uncle'sdomain to see if he could secure a price for the chip.

   Uncle, however, had treated him like dirt, whichannoyed the pickpocket. He might only be a street thief inUncle's eyes, but there was no excuse for dismissing himso casually. He'd been asked to wait, while moreimportant visitors were entertained. At first he hadaccepted it, but the longer he had waited the more theanger at his treatment had built. Finally he had snapped.Uncle could rot. There were other people in town whomight pay for the chip, of that he was sure. For a startthere was the Widow. She'd sent that girl to tail himearlier, hadn't she? The Widow would pay good moneyfor the chip and whatever it would give access to in thatlocker. Terminal 13 might be in complete lockdown at themoment, but eventually things would return to normal andthe Widow could then use the reclaim chip to pick up theprize whatever it was! Confident that the Widow wouldpay handsomely where Uncle had failed, he had headeddirectly to the Spa, with a grin on his face.

   That had been before he had been admitted to theWidow's base itself. Situated in basement levels below theSpa, it was a dark and creepy place, a location lacking inatmosphere that instantly drained him of every vestige ofthe confidence he had been feeling.

   In one of the early expansions of the city, there had

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been a fledgling underground train system, now longabandoned and, for the most part, forgotten. Here in oneof the old stations the Widow had made her nest. Sheshared her domain with rats, cockroaches and spiders andkept the place in semi-darkness.

    Deselup shivered as a something scuttled and squeakedin the shadows.

    `Don't worry,' a sultry voice surprised him, `we keepthem well fed.'

    Deselup spun round as a figure stepped forward fromthe darkness. It was a woman. She was dressed in afigure-hugging, low-cut black dress that emphasised everycurve of her perfectly proportioned body, and she had aneat black bob of hair framing a ghostly pale face. Herlipstick was a vivid, dark shade of red, and her eyes wereall but concealed behind huge blue-tinged shades.

    `I have something you might be interested in,' he toldthe woman, coming directly to the point.

    The woman looked him up and down coolly. `Really?You surprise me,' she told him.

    `I don't know exactly what it is,' he continued, `but itmust be worth a small fortune.'

    The woman said nothing. Deselup started to sweat,despite the cool temperature in this underground lair.

    `Whatever it is, Uncle wants it,' he stammered, playinghis trump card.

    To his relief it worked. The mention of Uncle's namehad an immediate effect on the Widow. She took a stepcloser and stood next to him, laying an arm across hisshoulder.

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   `Why didn't you say so to start with?' she asked him, ina friendlier tone. `Tell me more...'

The Spa was a place of peace and relaxation, its onepurpose to be an oasis of calm spirituality in the beatingheart of the naked city. It was a place designed to be ahaven where the harsh realities of life in New Memphiscould be forgotten. It was not a venue where violence waseither expected or welcome. It was therefore not preparedin any way, shape or form for the arrival of a JudoonCommander, brandishing a weapon in each hand andcrashing, literally, through the double glass doors leadingto the reception atrium.

   The Judoon Commander, following the Doctor'ssuggestion to the letter, flicked off his translation unit andbarked at the terrified customers in his native tongue.

   `Ra, Ho, Bo, No, Ho-So, Ro,' he intoned, each clippedsyllable emerging like a bullet from a rapid-firing machinegun.

   The clientele at the Spa were terrified. The Judoonreactivated his translation unit and addressed the coweringhumans who trembled in front of him.

   `Under Galactic Law, I order that you give up the entityknown as Horat Deselup,' he intoned gravely.

   One man, dressed in a fluffy towelling gown andwearing thick-soled flip-flops, managed to find his voice.`I think you might be in the wrong building,' hestammered. Then, as an afterthought, he added, `Sir.'

   Outside the Spa entrance, the Doctor and Nikki waitedin the shadows.

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   `How long do we give him?' asked Nikki.

   `I reckon he'll have made an impact by now,' suggestedthe Doctor. `Follow me.' He led the way into the building.

   As they expected, everyone in the foyer was looking inthe direction of the Judoon, who was now barking out along list of what Nikki presumed were genuine galacticlaws that the Spa clients and management were in dangerof breaking. The Doctor nodded at the damage that theJudoon had caused when he had made his entrance.Amongst the rubble of what had been the doorway, Nikkicould see that the Judoon had cleverly managed to takeout the security camera that would normally record theimage of all visitors. Keeping close to the wall, andmaking sure everyone continued to be occupied by theantics of the Judoon Commander, the Doctor and Nikkireached the lifts. The floor indicator showed only threefloors above, but the Doctor applied the sonic screwdriverand soon had access to the hidden lower levels. The doorsof the lift slid open, and the Doctor and Nikki jumpedinside, confident that no one had noticed them.

   The doors of the lift opened again to reveal the darkand dusty old underground station. `Just like the old WhiteCity,' the Doctor muttered to himself with a grin. `I loveold railway stations. Never know what you're going tofind in them. Blokes worshipping old books and fightingover water, giant robotic yeti. Of course, sometimes it'sjust men with guns...' His voice trailed off.

   `What sort of guns?' asked Nikki, who was walkingbehind him and cannoned into his back when he stoppedsuddenly.

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    `Those sort of guns,' said the Doctor and stepped to oneside to show Nikki the man standing in front of themholding a massive gun in each hand.

    The man was not tall, but what he lacked in height hemade up for in width. He was very large and managed tomake his smart suit look as if it had been purchased for aman half his size. His puffy face was impassive, withblunt features and no hair. His eyes were invisible, hiddenbehind trendy shades.

    When he spoke, it was in a surprisingly quiet voice thatwas almost a whisper, but there was nothing gentle aboutit. It was a deathly voice, a gravelly, husky voice thatmade every utterance sound like a threat. `The Widow willsee you now,' he said simply and jerked the guns in thedirection he wanted them to move.

    The giant gunman herded Nikki and the Doctor into aroom where the Widow was waiting perched, cross-leggedon an incongruous leather sofa.

    `I am Madame Yilonda,' she introduced herself,without moving from her semi-prone position, `and I don'tlike people sneaking around my property.'

    Nikki stepped forward. `We didn't want to bother you,we know you're busy. We're just looking for someone.'

    `And who would that be?' the woman asked, shiftinglightly on the sofa and making her curves even moreobvious. Nikki glanced at the Doctor but he didn't seem tohave noticed.

    `A man called Deselup. A pickpocket. Blue-skinned?'answered Nikki, making her last response more of aquestion in intonation.

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   `Never seen the man,' the Widow told her firmly. `NowI suggest you turn around and leave my premises before Idecide to turn my new bodyguard here on you. He assuresme that he is capable of killing a man in ninety-sixdifferent ways with his bare hands, and he's a bit out ofpractice.'

   `Bit out of shape more like,' Nikki joked cheekily.

   With a grunt, the bodyguard took a step closer to Nikki,but for some reason she didn't feel scared. Although helooked fearsome, some instinct was telling Nikki that hewas a pussycat inside.

   `Taron, no,' ordered the Widow, and the massive figureof the bodyguard took up his former position.

   Nikki frowned. The name Taron sounded familiar butshe couldn't place it.

   Before she could give it any further thought, shenoticed the Doctor bounding forward towards the Widow.He extended his hand to shake hers.

   `So sorry to bother you,' he was saying, `but it's lovelyto meet you.'

   Taken by surprise, the Widow allowed him to take herhand, but to her astonishment he didn't shake it but bent tokiss it. He looked up at her and gave her a wink. `Thanksfor your time!'

   Finally, he released her hand and stepped back, almoststepping on Taron's toes. The Doctor glanced over hisshoulder and then back at the Widow.

   `We'll be going now, then,' he said quickly, steppinground the bulky bodyguard and bundling Nikki back theway they had come. `No need to show us out.'

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                          * * *

Deselup was sweating again. Why did things keep goingwrong for him? Why couldn't a man make a dishonestbuck without all these problems all the time? Just when hethought things were going well with the Widow, there hadbeen some commotion in the Spa above and the meetingwas abandoned. The Widow's fat bodyguard had appearedand escorted him to a waiting area and, once again, theblue-skinned man had been sidelined.

   Deselup got to his feet. He was sick of being treatedlike this. He left the waiting area and went in search of anexit. If this Spa had been built over the ruins of the oldsubway station, there had to be stairs somewhere headingback to the surface. Eventually he found what he waslooking for and, after a short climb, he emerged into oneof the private areas of the Spa. It was strangelydepopulated. Had the Spa closed? Was it that late? Amoment later, the reason became clear. Standing in thefoyer of the Spa was a massive alien clad in leather battlearmour and carrying a vicious-looking weapon. His greyskin was wrinkled and mottled and his long snout wastopped by two gleaming horns. Two tiny eyes burnt with ablack intensity either side of the second horn, and on topof his head two strangely small ears could be seen. Thealien opened his mouth to reveal huge yellowing teeth.Even from here the fetid smell that emerged from thatmouth made the pickpocket gag.

   In a day that had been far from one of his best already,

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this was a new low. It was the most terrifying sight he hadever seen but it was about to get even worse. The creatureturned his head towards him and the tiny eyes locked onhis own. The alien raised his arm and cried out butDeselup didn't wait to hear what the nightmare had to sayto him. Instead he bolted, crashing through the remains ofthe door and disappearing into the night. He ran as if hislife depended on it, and he didn't once look back.

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    The all-night café that they found in a street around the

    corner from the Spa was a popular haunt for shift workers

    and anyone else who slept during daylight and worked

    through the night.

       Carlos the proprietor prided himself on a strict no-

    questions-asked rule when it came to his punters. His café

    had been the location for all sorts of assignations for

    cheating husbands, assassin-briefing wives, last-minute

    negotiations, hard-bargained deals and betrayals both

    professional and personal. Carlos just took the punters'

    money, provided them with the food and drink they

    ordered and let them conduct their business whatever it

    was without interference or comment. If asked, he never,

    ever remembered a face, let alone a name or a fragment of

    conversation. His cultivated lack of interest was a vital

    skill and kept him safe in a dangerous world.

       Tonight, however, he was sorely tempted. Tonight

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curiosity flared in him for the first time in years. The threestrangers were an odd team a young girl, a local by herclothes and accent, a humanoid off-worlder with busyeyes, and a rhinoceros in some kind of battle garb.

   Carlos burned with a desire to know more but, true tohimself, he merely produced their drinks and hurried backbehind the counter before he could even overhear themerest sliver of their no doubt fascinating conversation.

The Doctor watched the café owner as he walked backbehind his counter. When he was sure that the man wasout of earshot, he spoke to his friends.

   `Not going too well, is it?' he whispered.

   `I am sorry,' rumbled the Judoon Commander. `I wasnot fast enough to catch our quarry.'

   `Never mind, big guy,' said Nikki sympathetically.`We've still got my tracker. We can find him.'

   `And he'll run again,' complained the Judoon. `Let mebring my men down. With a thousand Judoon on thestreets we'll soon corner him.'

   The Doctor shook his head. `It will cause a riot.Haven't you learnt anything yet? Sometimes less is more.'

   `Less effective. Less successful. Less efficient. LessJustice,' intoned the Judoon and then made a noise thatsounded like a tumble dryer starting up. It was only whenNikki saw the alien's shoulders were shaking that sherealised he was laughing. She winked at the Doctor,warming to the alien. He might be big and scary, but hehad a sense of humour and was able to laugh at himself.

   `You know, maybe we're going about this the wrong

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way,' suggested the Doctor.

   `You can say that again, hey Jude?' Nikki said cheekily,nudging the arm of the alien.

   `No, I'm serious. If we think our blue-skinned friendtook something from the man at the airport, something hethinks is valuable, why would he have it on him?' theDoctor pointed out.

   `You're right,' agreed Nikki. `He wouldn't walk aboutwith the merchandise while trying to negotiate a deal. Notwith the people he was trying to deal with. That'd besuicide.'

   `No honour amongst thieves,' added the Doctor.

   `There is never honour in theft,' proclaimed the JudoonCommander, but Nikki could now recognise the twinkle inthe eye that indicated a degree of irony in his words.

   `So where would a man like that hide somethingvaluable?'

   `Well, we could start with his home,' suggested Nikki,`but we don't know where he lives.'

   `Somebody must. We know his name. Let's call ourfriends at Police HQ.'

   The Doctor borrowed Nikki's communicator andplaced a call to Detective Corilli's office. Corilli herselfwas unavailable, but Dantin was able to give them theinformation they needed. The Doctor thanked the scruffydetective for his assistance and ended the call. He handedthe phone back to Nikki, but the Judoon Commanderreached out to take it from him. He quickly jabbed at thecontrols and then passed it to Nikki.

   `What did you do?' she asked, taking the communicator

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back.

   `Installed Judoon contact frequencies,' he answered. `Ifwe become separated, you will be able to contact me ormy men.'

   Nikki grinned. `Cheers, Jude, that's brilliant.'

   The Doctor got to his feet. `Come on then, let's getgoing,' he suggested.

   `Service is swift,' the Judoon Commander told Carlosas he left a large tip on the table. `Thank you.'

Uncle was not at all happy, and he wanted the Walinskibrothers to share his pain.

   `How could this happen?' he demanded, as he paced infront of the brothers. `An incendiary bomb attack on myheadquarters, on my private apartments! This is a step toofar!'

   Wisely, the brothers said nothing, allowing Uncle tocontinue venting his fury without interruption.

   `This has to be the work of that Widow woman,whoever she is,' he declared, coming to a halt andeyeballing both men.

   `If you two hadn't failed to pick up the InvisibleAssassin at the spaceport, then this might never havehappened!'

   Again, the Walinski brothers chose to remain silent,rather than make any effort to explain their actions.

   Uncle stopped pacing, coming to a decision. `We mustfinish this, and soon. We can't let her get away with this.'

   `We could retaliate in kind,' suggested one of thebrothers finally.

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   `Raze that Spa place of hers to the ground?' continuedthe other.

   Uncle shook his head. `We don't need anything socrude. Let the Invisible Assassin do his work.'

   The brothers kept their eyes firmly fixed on the floor,both aware of their failure at the airport.

   `The Courier was telling the truth; he did not have thereclaim chip. I had our people at the City Morgue checkhis personal effects,' said Uncle. He shot a withering lookat them both. `It might have been a good idea to havelooked for it yourselves before going ahead and killinghim.' He activated a viewscreen and showed the brothers aclip taken from a security camera earlier that evening. Itshowed the blue-skinned man arriving at the Casino.

   `His name's Horat Deselup,' Uncle told them. `He washere just before the explosions. Said he wanted to talk tome about some business. Apparently he had something hewas certain I'd be interested in acquiring.'

   The brothers exchanged a quick look with each other. Itdid not go unnoticed by Uncle.

   `My thoughts exactly. So I did some checking. Turnsout this Deselup is a pickpocket, who often works at thespaceport...'

   Uncle paused, hoping for a response, but the brothersjust stood like robots waiting for further instructions.Robot henchmen, he sometimes thought, might have beena better idea.

   `Find him. Get that reclaim chip,' ordered Uncle, `andmake sure he knows how grateful we are to him forlooking after it.'

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  The brothers nodded curtly and withdrew.

The Doctor had persuaded the Judoon Commander that itwas unnecessary to call one of his ships into range inorder to teleport them across the city. Instead they hadtaken a cab. This proved to be a costly mistake when theJudoon managed to rip a massive tear in the roof of thevehicle with his horns when trying to squeeze into the rearcompartment, but the instant admission of responsibilityand the promise of full and speedy compensation pacifiedthe angry off-worlder taxi driver, and they were able tocomplete their journey. It wasn't stylish, or particularlycomfortable, but it didn't take too long in the end.

    `There it is,' said Nikki, pointing as she hopped out ofthe cab. The cabbie had pulled over a few metres past thejunction of 12th and Main, and the target building was alittle bit further back on the actual corner. It was a largeapartment block, with narrow ledges circling the buildingat five-storey intervals. There was a small unimpressiveentrance at street level leading to the lifts which gaveaccess to the thirty storeys above.

    `Most of the upper floors are commercial lets,'explained Nikki as the Doctor struggled to help theJudoon escape from the tiny space he'd not long managedto squeeze into. `Our man's got an apartment on the fifthfloor,' she added. `Pickpocketing must be a lucrativebusiness,' she mused. `This is a nice neighbourhood.

    With a final effort, the Doctor managed to get enoughmomentum to pull the Judoon clear of the cab. He poppedlike a cork from a champagne bottle, knocking the Doctor

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off his feet and tearing a new gouge in the top of the doorframe as he exited. Nikki looked back at them and raisedan eyebrow.

   `I thought we were meant to be inconspicuous,' shecommented, but how that was a realistic prospect whenyou were accompanied by an unforgettable alien like theJudoon was, perhaps, a moot point. Nevertheless, despitehis size and looks, the Judoon seemed to fit into the streetsof New Memphis better than Nikki would have imagined.Perhaps it was something about his bulk and innatebrutality that made him seem at home in this environment.Nikki realised with some surprise that she was beginningto like the giant alien.

   `Sorry,' said the Doctor as the Judoon wordlesslyhelped him to his feet. Nikki grinned. The Doctor waseasy to like, and he seemed to fit in everywhere andanywhere. But there was something secret about him,Nikki felt; a grief or a loneliness that he just couldn't quitekeep hidden. She just knew instinctively that he waspassing through and would soon move on from NewMemphis, still looking for something he didn't even knowhe'd lost.

   They managed to get access to the apartment withsurprising ease. The Doctor used something he calledpsychic paper to persuade the security man at the door thatthey were inspectors from the health and safetydepartment, and then Nikki had used her own specialskills to pick the lock of the apartment they wanted to getinto.

   `Family business, remember. Dad says I was born

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picking locks,' she explained with a grin.

   The Doctor and the Judoon exchanged a concernedlook. Nikki had explained to them earlier about her fathercurrently being missing, and both of them were worried ather slightly cavalier attitude to the situation. Nikki's voicetrembled slightly as she said the word Dad, and for amoment she looked much younger than her years.

   `Your father will return soon,' said the Judoon, laying agentle, reassuring hand on her shoulder. She gave a bravesmile and patted the Judoon's gloved hand, gratefully.

   Beyond the door was a small hallway leading to aninner door. Nikki grabbed the handle confidently, pulledand nearly dislocated her shoulder. `It's locked,' sheannounced, rubbing her shoulder.

   They took turns to try and open the door but withoutsuccess. It proved impervious to Nikki's lock-pickingskills and immune to the Doctor's sonic device. `Deadlocksealed,' he muttered to himself. Finally the Judoon madehis attempt brute force. He crashed into the door withhis full weight, at speed, and only managed to bounce offand nearly crush the Doctor and Nikki.

   `Somebody doesn't want any visitors,' the Doctorcommented.

   `Just have to try Plan B then,' grinned Nikki.

   A few minutes later, Nikki was beginning to wonder ifPlan B hadn't been adopted a little bit too quickly andthat, perhaps, jumping on to Plan C or Plan D (whichcould have involved going home and sleeping) might havebeen a better option. Plan C had been quite good, too,involving getting the Judoon fleet back in range and using

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the teleport, but the time factor had made that a non-starter, so it was back to Plan B.

   Unfortunately Plan B involved her inching her wayalong the narrow ledge that ran around the building belowthe window line. It was about twenty centimetres wide,just enough for her to stand on. Both the JudoonCommander and the Doctor had wanted to try but bothwere too big for the job; Nikki was their only hope. Theidea was to creep along the ledge from another apartmenton the same floor to the windows of the apartment behindthe locked door. The theory being that the windows wouldbe less well protected than the door.

   With the wind whistling round her face and the soundsof the city below her, Nikki was seriously regretting heragreement to the plan.

   `Another metre,' shouted the Doctor, encouragingly,leaning out of the window she had climbed through just afew minutes earlier. Behind him she could see the massivefigure of the Judoon Commander holding tightly to theimprovised safety rope. Without thinking about itconsciously, Nikki checked the knotted sheets tied aroundher waist. The Doctor had assured her that he had beentaught to tie knots by someone called Baden-Powell,which was meant to reassure her, but she couldn't helpthinking that the most likely outcome if she happened toslip would be that the string of ripped sheets that hercompanions had made into a rope would just tear. Withthat thought in mind, she pressed herself harder backagainst the wall behind her and made another side steptowards her goal. A few more vertiginous moments later

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and she reached the cool surface of the target window.

   Now the tricky bit, she thought to herself. Carefully,she pulled the Doctor's sonic device from her pocket.He'd given her precise instructions and pre-set it, and allshe had to do was press a small round control at the baseof the rod. Nikki hadn't realised how cold her hands hadbecome. Her fingers couldn't seem to grip properly, andshe felt the device begin to slip from her grasp. Quickly,she brought her other hand round and caught the devicebefore it could fall more than a few centimetres. But theaction of swinging her arm around unbalanced her and shewobbled awkwardly for what felt like months. Finally, sheregained her balance and leant back against the window.She carefully reached out to where the window lock wasand applied the sonic device. To her great relief, she hearda pop as the mechanism released, and she was able to slidethe window along and fall into the relative safety of theapartment.

   Inside it was dark and, for a moment, Nikki just laybeneath the window where she had landed, grateful to beaway from the risk of falling. As she lay there, her eyesadjusted to the low level of light and she could begin tomake out her surroundings. Her heart sank as she took inthe state the room was in. It was a mess. Someone hadclearly beaten them to it. The room had been thoroughlyransacked with brutal efficiency. The intruders hadmeticulously taken the apartment apart, searching eachand every corner of the room for something. Nikki got toher feet and looked around her every cupboard, everydrawer, every box had been pulled apart and checked. The

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apartment consisted of a living room with kitchen area, abedroom and a bathroom. Nikki hesitated should sherush to let the Doctor and the Judoon Commander in orshould she take a look around first? It wouldn't take amoment just to check the other rooms, would it? If theywere intact then they'd know the intruders had found whatthey were looking for.

   Nikki pushed open the door of the bedroom and founda light switch on the wall just inside the room. She madethe mistake of looking up towards the light fitting to checkand, as it flashed into life, she was momentarily blinded.She blinked, and then froze. Across the room, either sideof the bed, were two identical men. For a split second,Nikki thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, butthen she recognised them and her heart almost stopped.The Walinski brothers.

   Time seemed to stand still. The white-haired brotherslooked at each other quickly. Some people believed theywere mute, and there were whispers that the siblings hadparanormal abilities. In fact, they were men of few words,and they certainly needed no words right now. With a curtnod, one of the brothers pressed a control on a wrist-mounted device and, without any further warning, Nikkiwas assaulted by a wave of sound. It was a high-pitchedoscillating scream which seemed to penetrate to the verycore of her being. It was like being attacked by a razor-wire-thin spike of frozen metal. Nikki clasped her handsto her ears but it was impossible to shut out the sound.Consciousness slipped away from Nikki as blood began todrip from her ears.

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                          * * *

The Walinski brothers watched without any visible sign ofemotion as the girl collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.The brother who had activated the weapon switched it offand they continued their search without giving her asecond look. A few moments later, they left the room in astate of complete chaos. Clothes and possessions werespilt all over the floor, drawers were hanging out of units,their contents scattered to all four corners of the room.The brothers' search had been thorough but unsuccessful.Wordlessly, they left the room, stepping over Nikki's bodyas if it were just another piece of debris.

   In the main room, the brothers stopped. Their searchhad been a failure, but they had not finished with theapartment yet. Moving with speed and efficiency, they setdown the incendiary devices they had brought with themand primed each one. Then they released the deadlockeddoor and exited, shutting and resealing the door as theyleft.

   Seconds later, the incendiary devices activated,exploding into small fireballs that instantly spread to thecarpets and furniture. Within twenty seconds of thebrothers' exit, the apartment was a raging inferno.

   In the bedroom, Nikki began to stir. As she regainedconsciousness, she coughed, finding it difficult to breathe.She realised that she was surrounded by dense smoke.Quickly she got to her feet and pulled the bedroom dooropen. Beyond it she could see nothing except huge flamesand more black smoke. She was trapped.

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    The Doctor was worried. The Judoon Commander was

    no expert on humanoid body language, but even he could

    tell from his companion's relentless pacing that he was

    anxious about the girl.

        The Doctor had not wanted to allow her to make this

    attempt to gain admittance to the apartment by such a

    dangerous route, but he had been outvoted. Nikki had

    insisted on going ahead, and the Judoon Commander had

    agreed that it was the logical thing to do. The Doctor had

    checked and rechecked the safety line that they had made

    from bed sheets, and only when he was certain that it

    would hold had he opened the window and let Nikki out

    onto the ledge.

        There had been no sign of life since the tension in the

    line had been released as Nikki had tumbled through into

    the next door apartment and untied the sheets. The Doctor

    had grabbed an empty glass and held it up to the wall,

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placing his ear next to it to hear anything that might begoing on.

   He shook his head in frustration. `Nothing,' hereported.

   The Judoon Commander grunted an acknowledgement.`She is an effective intruder,' he commented.

   The Doctor turned away from the wall, surprised at thetone in the alien's voice. Was there a hint of warmth inthat statement? Was the Judoon Commander beginning tohave some kind of emotional attachment to the youngdetective?

   Perhaps he had misjudged the Judoon race, hepondered. He felt a little embarrassed to admit it, but itwas very easy to tar an entire species with the same brush.Bad move, Doctor, he told himself, you should knowbetter. If even clone races like Sontarans could havedistinct personalities, then alien races like the KhellianHorde, the Hath and the Judoon were bound to be morevaried. After all, the Doctor thought, I've met Cybermenwith personality and even Daleks with their own minds,why should the Judoon be any different?

   The Judoon Commander was looking at a handheldscanner, his eyes narrowing. `Increased temperature,' heannounced tensely.

   `Heat?'

   `Fire!' concluded the Judoon. And even as he wasspeaking an alarm began to sound.

   `We have to get her out of there!' the Doctor yelled.

   Without speaking, the Judoon marched across the roomand reached out to touch the wall. He gave it a quick tap

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and then returned to his original position and lowered hishead.

   `You've got to be kidding me,' gasped the Doctor, butthe Judoon Commander was entirely serious.

   `Stand clear,' suggested the Judoon Commander andthen, with a sudden burst of speed, he charged across theroom, leading with the larger horn on his head. He crashedinto and through the wall, sending plaster and brickfragments in every direction.

   Immediately, thick black smoke poured into the roomthrough the hole that the alien had just created. TheJudoon pulled his head out and took a second run at thewall. This time he was able to enlarge the hole, and heplunged his entire body through the room into the smokeand flames beyond. Before the Doctor could join him, theJudoon was back, cradling a figure in his massive arms.Again without speaking, the Judoon ran straight past theDoctor and out of the apartment.

   The Doctor finally caught up with the Judoon andNikki outside the building. The Judoon, although helooked huge and ponderous, was actually capable ofimpressive bursts of speed. With Nikki in his arms, he hadrun at full speed to the emergency stairwell and thenhurtled down, three, four steps at a time in an effort to getthe girl to fresh air and safety. By the time the Doctorjoined them in the street opposite the apartment building,the pair of them seemed to have recovered completely.

   `I've never seen anything like it,' Nikki was laughing.`Suddenly in the middle of the wall there was this greathorn sticking out!'

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    `My father always told me to use my head,' the Judoontold her, his shoulders wobbling as he too laughed.

    The Doctor felt a little bit left out. `Are you OK,Nikki?' he asked. `Smoke can do nasty things.'

    Nikki explained that she'd soaked a piece of fabric inwater, held it over her mouth and nose and kept close tothe floor. `That way most of the smoke was above me, andI avoided inhaling too much of it.'

    The Judoon Commander caught the Doctor's eye. `Itold you this one was efficient,' he said, with more than ahint of pride.

    The Doctor brought them back to reality and pointedout that the fire had destroyed their lead.

    `It was the Walinski brothers,' Nikki told them. `Theywere in the apartment when I got there.'

    The Doctor nodded, taking the information in andadding it to everything else they'd seen. `Time for a nicelittle bit of Hercule Poirot,' he announced to his baffledcompanions. `Use the little grey cells. That AgathaChristie, she was brilliant!'

    The Judoon Commander stared at the Doctor for amoment then turned back to Nikki. `These brothers beganthe fire deliberately?' Nikki nodded. `Then we must addarson and attempted murder to the charges when we arrestthem,' concluded the Judoon. `Justice--'

    `Should be swift!' Nikki butted in. `I can't argue withthat they did try and kill me. But you know what wasmost disturbing about it? It was so casual, like I was a bugor something tiny, an irritant.'

    The Doctor was shaking his head. `No, I don't think

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they were trying to kill you at all. You were right youweren't important enough to them.'

    `Cheers,' replied Nikki, slightly miffed.

    `No, listen,' continued the Doctor, `that fire wasn't foryou, it was to destroy the apartment. Think about it, usethose little grey cells. Why would they want to do that?'

    `To cover their tracks?' suggested Nikki.

    `Why bother to do that, if they'd found what they werelooking for?' The Doctor scratched his head, frustrated.`No, that's not it,' he muttered, running things through inhis head. `Ah!' he announced suddenly. `Then that mustmean they didn't find what they were looking for.'

    `Well if they didn't find it and we didn't find it...'Nikki began.

    `... maybe it was never there,' finished the Judoon.

    The Doctor looked at both his companions and nodded.`Come on then,' he announced in an excited tone. `We'restill in the game!'

    `But where are we going?'

    `If our blue-skinned friend didn't hide whatever it is athome, he must have hidden it somewhere else, somewherehe knows pretty well.'

    The Doctor began to walk away, heading back towardsthe heart of the city. The Judoon Commander fell into stepbeside him.

    Nikki ran after them. `So where are we going?' shedemanded as she caught up.

    `The Black Hole,' replied the Doctor, grinning. `It's abar.'

    Nikki clicked her fingers. `I know it. It's the bar where

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I first found Deselup. But how do you know about that?'

    The Doctor just smiled mysteriously and marched on.

Devoid of customers, silent and dark, the cavernous BlackHole bar was a very different place to the noisy, busyplace it had been earlier in the night. Where earlier patronshad been jammed up against each other, now there wasspace. With the optics locked behind metal shutters, onlythe lingering smell of alcohol and smoke gave any clue asto the nature of the enterprise.

   The Doctor had used his sonic screwdriver to disablethe intruder alarms and Nikki had worked her lock-picking magic on a rear door. Now the three mismatcheddetectives were examining the interior with one thought atthe front of their minds.

   `Where would you hide something, in a place like this?'The Doctor vocalised the question they were all askingthemselves. The Judoon upended the nearest table.

   `Not here,' he answered, after checking the undersideof the table for anything that might have been concealedthere. He stepped towards the next table but the Doctorquickly moved in front of him.

   `No, no, no,' insisted the Doctor. `Let's be logical.'

   The Judoon Commander exchanged a look with Nikki,who was already looking under tables herself. `Go onthen,' she prompted. `Share that great brain with us meremortals!'

   The Doctor said nothing but started walking around theroom. Suddenly he sat down and put his feet up on a table,resting his hands behind his head. `We need to put

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ourselves in his head, see the world the way he does.That's the only way to get to what was he thinking...'

   `He was thinking that he had something valuable thatother people wanted,' offered the Judoon.

   `And that holding on to it might prove dangerous,'added Nikki.

   `Right,' agreed the Doctor, leaping up again. `So whatdoes he do? He's sitting here, drinking, looking around fora safe place to hide something.'

   `How big is this something?' wondered the Judoon.

   `Good question,' agreed the Doctor. `Nikki?'

   Nikki shrugged. `Can't be that big if it was somethinghe pickpocketed. Probably no bigger than a human palm.A coin, a key, something like that?'

   She looked around the room carefully. Tables, booths,benches lots of furniture but not many hiding places.The Doctor was walking towards the bar itself, a longwooden-topped counter with a number of stools alignedalong it. He hopped up onto one of the stools andswivelled round. `Whatever it is has got to be somewhereit won't be found by the wrong person,' suggested theDoctor, `but somewhere that can be reached by the personwho pays the right price for the information...'

   The Doctor continued his spin, the stool now turninghim away from Nikki and the Judoon Commander andback towards the bar. He stuck out an arm and knockedthe charity box a gaudy clown which toppled and thenfell.

   The Doctor made no move to try and catch it as ittumbled towards the solid floor, where it smashed on

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impact, unleashing a wave of small change.

   `Oops!' the Doctor muttered without a trace ofcontrition and slipped off the stool. Reaching down, heplunged his hand directly into the pile of coins and pulledout a small card with a glistening micro-chip on it. Heheld it up, grinning.

   `What do we have here then?' he wondered, throwing ittowards Nikki who caught it one-handed. She gave it aquick glance but she was already pretty sure she knewwhat it was.

   `Access chip for a left-luggage locker at Terminal 13,'she announced cheerfully. `Nice one, Doctor.'

   The Judoon Commander came across and took the cardfrom the girl. In his gloved hand, the device looked evensmaller. `Is this all there is?' he demanded. `This is theprize?'

   The Doctor shrugged. `Not exactly, it's more of a keyto the prize. The question is, what exactly will we findinside that locker?'

   `You want to go and find out?' asked Nikki,enthusiastically.

   The Doctor's eyes twinkled. `Oh yes!' he replied,`Shall we?'

   `Wait!' It was the Judoon Commander. He lookedtroubled. `We promised the local law authority that wewould cooperate fully,' he reminded them.

   The Doctor sighed. The Judoon was right, they hadpromised to keep Detective Corilli in the loop. After all, ithad been Dantin's intelligence that had provided theDoctor with the address of the bar.

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   `Are you serious?' asked Nikki, incredulously. `Youthink they'd go out of their way to help us? Why shouldwe owe them anything?'

   `Because they are the law,' insisted the Judoon.

   Reluctantly, Nikki allowed her companions to persuadeher, and she put a call through to Corilli. To her surprise,she got connected immediately. She flicked hercommunicator to loudspeaker so they could all hear andbe heard.

   `Looks like a left-luggage access chip from thespaceport,' Nikki explained, after telling Corilli how theyhad found it.

   `Now all we have to do is to find the door that keyopens,' added the Doctor.

   `Wait there,' ordered the policewoman after a moment'sconsideration. `I'll get over there and we'll go find outwhat this is all about.' She terminated the call.

   `She could have said thank you,' Nikki complained.

   `I'm sure she will when she gets here,' the Doctor toldher.

   Nikki shrugged and got to her feet. `Yeah, well, I needsome air. You guys may be doing all right, but I still needto find Mrs Kellingham's watch,' she reminded them.

   She headed towards the exit, and the JudoonCommander instantly got to his feet to follow her. TheDoctor stopped him with a swift shake of the head.

   When the door stopped swinging behind Nikki, theJudoon turned to the Doctor.

   `She's worrying about her father.' It was a statementrather than a question and it took the Doctor by surprise.

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    `Every time she looks at her communicator, you cansee the disappointment in her eyes,' the Judoon continued.`She can't quite believe her father hasn't made more of aneffort to contact her.'

    `You may be right,' the Doctor agreed. `You don't missa trick, do you?'

    `Justice must be vigilant,' the Judoon told him gravely.

    `Keep `em peeled,' said the Doctor with a wink.

    The Judoon just looked at him blankly.

    `You never seen Police Five?' asked the Doctor, hisface falling. `No?' He grinned. `Oh well, don't worry some things are beyond translation.'

    They heard the door to the street bang open again. Amoment later the interior door to the main bar swung opentoo. Nikki came through the door, but she was not alone.Immediately behind her came a brutal-looking thug,holding a weapon to her head. He pushed Nikki forwardand came further into the room.

    `No one move, no one gets hurt,' he told them as half adozen other men entered behind him, all brandishingweapons. The Doctor instantly raised his hands andnodded to the Judoon to do the same. Two of the menquickly patted down the Doctor and the Judoon, removingthe alien's weapons and the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

    `Sorry,' Nikki said, trying and failing to keep the fearout of her voice. `They came out of nowhere. At first Ithought it was Corilli--' she continued.

    `But the good detective couldn't get away so she sentus,' a new but familiar voice concluded her sentence.

    `Uncle!' said the Doctor as the crime lord joined his

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men in the bar.

   Uncle was holding the reclaim chip in his hand. Nikkishot a look at the Doctor and mouthed a `Sorry'.

   `Thank you for tracking this down,' Uncle told himwith more than a hint of irony. `You've saved me a lot ofbother.'

   `Glad to be of service,' replied the Doctor sarcastically.`Now would you mind asking your friend there to removethat blaster from the side of my friend's head?'

   `I'm sorry, but that won't be possible just yet.' Uncledusted down a chair and sat carefully. `I need you to dome one more little errand before I can release the younglady.'

   `Judoon do not run errands,' insisted the JudoonCommander in a low and threatening tone.

   `Then it's time you started,' Uncle snapped back. `Iwant you and the Doctor to go and collect the contents ofthe locker this key opens.'

   He tossed the access chip card across the room and theDoctor caught it deftly with one hand while keeping hiseyes on Uncle the entire time.

   `With Terminal 13 still locked down, it's a little hard toget access at the moment,' Uncle continued, `but I'm sureyou two will find a way...'

   The Doctor nodded curtly, accepting the mission.

   `You will speak to no one about this, you will godirectly to the spaceport and you will bring the contents ofthe locker to the Casino within six hours,' ordered Unclesimply.

   `Or?' The Doctor raised an eyebrow. `Just so I know.'

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   Uncle smiled coldly and got to his feet. `Let's just say apromising career in the private detective business mightbe terminated tragically and prematurely.' He nodded atNikki's captor, who responded by ushering their prisonertowards the door.

   `Don't worry about me,' Nikki called out as she wasmanhandled out of the room.

   Uncle's men started to move towards the exit, walkingbackwards and keeping their weapons pointed at theDoctor and the Judoon Commander at every stage. At thedoor, Uncle placed the Judoon blaster and the Doctor'ssonic screwdriver on a small table.

   `Six hours,' he repeated and then he was gone.

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    Jase Golightly was exhausted. It had been another long

    day at the office for him. Technically, it was already

    tomorrow and he had meetings lined up in just a few

    hours' time, but if he didn't at least make the effort to go

    home and try to sleep even if it was only for an hour or

    two then he'd never be ready. Golightly wanted a

    shower. He wanted something to eat. He wanted his bed.

    What he didn't want was to walk out of the main entrance

    to the spaceport and run into two of the aliens who had

    caused so much trouble earlier in the day.

       `Mr Golightly! Just the man we wanted to see,' said the

    humanoid one, who had called himself the Doctor.

       `We need access to the left-luggage areas,' said the

    rhino-headed one, in his familiar brusque manner.

       A thousand answers ran through Golightly's head, from

    the mildly rude and sarcastic to the deeply offensive and

    aggressive, but in the end he merely muttered a resigned

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`yes' and turned on his heels to lead his visitors backinside the spaceport.

    `So is this something to do with the Invisible Assassin?What have you found out about the man who exploded?'he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

    `We cannot say,' the Judoon Commander told himfirmly.

    `But... I need to know. The problems in Terminal 13,the disappearing luggage, you said you thought it was allconnected. Please, I need to know what you'vediscovered.'

    `I said we cannot tell you,' thundered the larger alien.

    `But...'

    The humanoid part of the duo turned to give him asympathetic look and shook his head. `Really, we can'ttell you anything,' he said, in a kinder tone. `Just take itfrom me that we will tell you everything you need toknow when we're free to do so. But we are makingprogress, I promise you.'

    Jase looked the man in the eyes and could see that hewas being genuine. If he couldn't tell him any moredetails at the moment then there was a good reason for it,and he'd just have to accept that.

    `OK, I can wait,' he agreed, `but I will want a fullexplanation in time.'

    `Good,' the Doctor cut in. `Look, can we get on? We'reon a bit of a short fuse and we need to get to those left-luggage lockers.'

    A new figure suddenly appeared in the corridor aheadof them. `I'm sorry, but in matters of security I have

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ultimate authority,' said a familiar voice, `and unless youcan satisfy me as to what you are here for, you're notgoing anywhere near any lockers.'

   General Moret stood in front of them, arms folded andhis expression fixed.

   `So, what's it going to be?'

   Jase saw the Doctor and the larger alien exchange alook, but he couldn't decipher the meaning behind it. Whywere they being so secretive? What were they really herefor? Perhaps, Golightly began to wonder, perhaps Moretwas right to insist on some answers.

If you are going to be taken prisoner and held as ahostage, thought Nikki, then her present experience wasprobably the best way to have it happen.

   After the initial shock and discomfort of being grabbedfrom behind and having a gun pointed at her head hadreceded, her subsequent treatment had been much moreagreeable. Uncle explained that she would be taken backto the Casino in his own car. With just one armedbodyguard to keep her in check, the journey was almostpleasant. Uncle's car was a luxury model with inertiadampeners that all but removed any sensation ofmovement. As they drove, Uncle engaged her in casualconversation, as if they had met across a dining table at adinner party rather than as prisoner and captor. Uncle wasintrigued at her involvement in her father's business.

   `A real family business?' he said, in a tone thatsuggested both approval and a hint of jealousy.

   `I guess so,' Nikki replied. `I suppose I grew up seeing

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Dad at work and never thought about doing anythingelse.'

   Uncle sighed. `I sometimes wish I had a similarrelationship with my daughter,' he confessed.

   Nikki realised she couldn't really see Uncle as a father.`What does your daughter think of the kind of work youdo?' she asked him bluntly.

   `She knows nothing of my work,' Uncle explained.`She just knows that I am in business and that's all sheneeds to know. I want her to have nothing to do with thissordid world.'

   `You don't want her to take over from you eventually?'Nikki asked.

   `This isn't a business, girl, it's organised crime. It's dogeat dog. A matter of escalating violence and rawaggression. It's no way to live,' replied Uncle withsurprising bitterness.

   `So why do it?'

   Uncle shrugged. `It's all I know. But Hope lives in adifferent world, and I intend to keep it that way. I'm doingthis for her so she has the choices and opportunities that Ididn't.'

   For a moment, Nikki almost felt sorry for the man. Hischoice of lifestyle, of career, had denied him thepossibility of a full and proper father-daughterrelationship, a special bond that she almost took forgranted.

   Unfortunately, this train of thought forced Nikki toconfront, once again, the fact that her own father seemedto be missing. Was it possible that he was in the same

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state as she was, captured by some criminal enemy, andunable to make contact? She tried to think back over thepast few days and weeks to see if there was anything inher father's recent caseload that might explain hisabsence. Lost in her own thoughts, the conversationbetween her and Uncle died a natural death, and theyspent the rest of the journey in silence.

    She was locked in a room somewhere above the Casinogaming hall. She had access to a bathroom, water to drinkand even some food but, despite all these niceties, she wasstill a prisoner. Outside the door, one of Uncle's men stoodguard, with instructions, Uncle warned her, that she was tobe shot on sight if she tried to escape. Nikki knew hewasn't joking, but escape was far from her mind. Shewasn't even curious about the Doctor and the JudoonCommander and their progress at the spaceport.

    The only thing running through Nikki's mind, as shelay on the couch in her well-appointed prison cell, was asingle question.

    Where are you, Dad?

`It's quite simple,' explained General Moret for the thirdtime. `Either you tell me what you're doing here or youcan leave now.'

    The Doctor sighed. The military mind, as ever, was anintractable beast. `I'm asking you to trust me,' he saidpatiently.

    `This is a matter of life and death,' proclaimed theJudoon, simply and bluntly.

    `Really? Whose?' insisted the spaceport security chief.

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   `Yours if you do not cooperate,' hissed the Judoon,any patience he had rapidly evaporating.

   `Oh, that helps,' groaned the Doctor, putting out arestraining hand.

   `You should listen to your friend,' sneered the General,`I don't take kindly to threats.'

   `It was not a threat,' insisted the Judoon. `It was apromise.'

   The General and the Judoon glared at each other for along moment. Although one was nearly twice the height ofthe other, and one was totally human and one a humanoidalien with the head of a rhino, there was a definitesimilarity between them, as if one were a distorted funfairimage of the other, thought Golightly before steppingsmartly between them like a referee in a boxing match.

   `Now, now, we're all on the same side,' he said in avoice about a hundred times brighter than he felt inside.`Can't we work out a compromise?'

   The Doctor agreed with this suggestion. `We just needto locate the left-luggage locker that this access codeopens,' he said holding up the tiny micro-chipped card,`and then we need to take the contents.'

   `Where to?' demanded the security chief.

   `That's the bit I can't tell you,' the Doctor confessed.`But whatever it is in that locker, people have died over it.We'll take it out of the locker and out of the spaceport.Whatever it is, it will have no further effect on anythinghappening here.' The Doctor looked the General in the eyeand raised a quizzical eyebrow. `That's your mainconcern, isn't it? The security of the spaceport and all

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those who use it?'

   General Moret nodded. `Of course it is.'

   `So if you take us to the left luggage, we can get onwith making this spaceport a safer place.' The Doctorsmiled, pleased with his diplomacy.

   General Moret hesitated and then turned on his heel.`Follow me,' he ordered and marched off.

   The Doctor leant over to whisper up at the Judoon'sear. `See. Wasn't so bad, was it?'

   `We are not finished with the man yet,' commented theJudoon firmly.

   The Doctor glanced over at Golightly, who raised hiseyebrows in sympathy. `Come on then,' Jase said. `Let'sget on with it. I was hoping to get some sleep before myworking day starts again.'

   `When's that, then?' asked the Doctor.

   Golightly made a big deal of consulting his watch. `Inabout four hours,' he sighed and began walking off afterhis security chief and the Judoon, who were already thirtymetres away.

One thing Nikki did know about her father was that hewouldn't want her to waste time and effort thinking abouthim when she needed to look after herself. Right now shewas a prisoner, and her friends were being coerced intosomething because she was being held hostage. Sheneeded to do something to improve all their positions. Sheforced herself to move on from worrying about her fatherand started looking around the room with a new focus.

   When she'd first been placed here she'd been distracted

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by the creature comforts, but now she was looking at itwith more analytical eyes. She needed to escape and asquickly as possible. If Uncle did not have her as a hostagethen the Doctor and the Judoon Commander would notneed to do anything for him.

   There were two doors in the room the main door tothe corridor, beyond which the guard stood ready toprevent any exit, and the door to the en suite bathroom.The bathroom itself offered no possibility of escape there was a small basin, a toilet, a shower and aventilation grille. Nikki took a quick look behind thegrille, hoping that there might be a shaft of sufficient sizefor her to use, but the pipes were no wider than her armand would have been a close fit for a rat let alone a youngwoman.

   Nikki's next focus was the windows, but they werefirmly locked shut. Nikki was privately quite relieved todiscover this she had no appetite for any more daredevilclimbing around buildings tonight; one such adventurewas enough for one evening. Having discounted the usualentrances and exits, she began to consider alternatives.The floor was covered with a thick carpet, but shemanaged to dislodge it at one corner of the room andpulled it back, revealing a solid floor below. Nopossibility of escape there, not without a drill of somekind.

   If you can't go down, Nikki pondered, perhaps you cango up. The ceiling was tiled and, when she climbed on to atable to investigate it, she discovered that it was asuspended ceiling. The tiles lay on a thin steel framework.

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She pushed up at a tile and dislodged it, allowing her tosee the metal frame more clearly. There looked to be abouta metre of space above the ceiling, a perfect hiding place.There was only one question would the metalframework bear her weight?

    `Only one way to find out,' she muttered to herself andshe jumped up, grabbing hold of the metal crossbar. Toher delight, she found that it was quite solid and seemed tocope with her hanging from it without bending in theslightest. From there it was just a matter of swinging a legup until she could hook one over another of the metalbars. Not for the first time today, she was grateful for allthe encouragement her father had given her, not just toexcel at the mental skills that a good detective needed butalso to keep her body fit and agile. With the grace of aborn gymnast, Nikki managed to get herself into the crawlspace above the ceiling and was then able to replace thetiles to remove any evidence of her means of departure.

    Once she was in the crawlspace, she made anotherdiscovery. The area of metal framework extended beyondthe area of the room she had been kept in. Obviously atsome point this floor of the building had been reworked tomake smaller rooms where larger rooms had once been.Carefully she began to crawl across the framework, awayfrom the room she had been held in.

    Nikki pulled back a ceiling tile and found herselflooking down on Uncle himself sat at a desk. Carefully,she replaced the tile, not wanting to make any sound thatmight make the crime lord look up.

    She crawled on a little further, taking care not to let any

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of her limbs hang under the metal frame. It was a slowprocess but finally she reached a place where she couldhear no sound from below. She lifted a tile and checked no one there. Carefully she let herself hang down from theframe. Unfortunately there was no table so she had abigger drop to contend with, but she braced herself, let goand landed perfectly.

   She allowed herself a little grin. So far so good. Theroom she had entered was in semi-darkness and appearedto be some kind of storeroom. She went to the door andwas delighted to discover that it was not locked. Sheopened it a crack and took a peak into the corridorbeyond. All clear. Moving quietly and with great caution,she stepped out into the corridor and walked away.

   The corridor curved around and eventually led to a pairof lifts. Nearby she could see a door leading to stairwell.Which to take the stairs or one of the lifts? She hesitatedand that proved to be her undoing. Without her noticing,the lift nearest to her was activated. Suddenly the doorsstarted to open.

   Nikki was caught, exposed in the area just in front ofthe lifts. The doors continued to open. Nikki stood frozento the spot as the opening doors revealed the contents ofthe lift two familiar and terrifying figures in matchingdark suits. The Walinski brothers!

   The brothers stepped quickly out of the lift, separatingslightly so they could cut off her possible routes of escapeto the left and to the right. Nikki backed up until she feltthe wall behind her. The brothers closed in on herrelentlessly.

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    Nikki was trapped. With the brothers closing in on each

    side she had literally no place to run. There was no option

    but to fight. But these were Uncle's main enforcers how

    could a teenage girl defeat the infamous Walinski

    brothers?

       She flicked a glance at each brother in turn, looking for

    a hint of weakness, a clue as to where to attack first but

    there was nothing.

       The two men were like mirror images of each other

    even their slow relentless progress towards her seemed

    synchronised, like a practised ballet of looming danger.

    The twins were moving as one. Perhaps that was the

    weakness she was looking for?

       Nikki felt along the wall for something she could use.

    Her hand reached a wall-mounted planter full of flowers

    and she grabbed a handful of the soil. Then, at exactly the

    same moment, she kicked out at the brother on her left and

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threw the soil into the face of the brother on her right.

   Nikki was delighted to see that her hunch had beencorrect. Both men's hands flew to their faces to shieldthemselves from the soil, even though the brother on herleft had nothing to hide from. Her kick landedundefended, in lefty's solar plexus and he instantlydoubled up. Nikki spun and kicked out again, this time inthe direction of righty, who was scraping mud off his face.Again her kick connected and, with both of the brothersoff balance and distracted, Nikki dashed forward betweenthem, towards the lift.

   Suddenly her feet were running in mid-air as rock-steady hands grabbed her under the arms. Then she foundherself jerked backwards and upwards before she crashedinto the wall. She fell, dislodging the flower planter,which landed on her head. The brothers had recoveredwith incredible speed, and now it was Nikki who laybreathless and helpless while they advanced once more.For once, their usually blank faces were showing somesign of emotion: they were angry, furious. Nikki realisedthat she really was in a lot of trouble now. `Never bother awasp's nest,' her dad had always told her, but she'd welland truly put her foot in one this time.

   The brothers loomed over her and, despite herdetermination to be resilient, Nikki couldn't help butsqueeze her eyes closed. She waited for what seemed likean eternity, but nothing happened. Bravely she opened hereyes and found that time seemed to be standing still. Thebrothers were still hanging over her but they seemedsomehow lifeless, like statues. Suddenly the pair of them

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keeled over, revealing another figure standing behindthem, holding a stun gun in each hand. Nikki's eyeswidened in surprise.

   `You?!'

   It was Taron, the bulky but dangerous bodyguard whoworked for the Widow. What was he doing here and whyhad he helped her? Nikki swallowed hard. Things mightjust have gone from bad to worse.

The scale of the spaceport was impressive, even to theDoctor, who had seen his fair share of such places in hismany lives. Much of the traffic that passed through wasjust that passing traffic, stopping only for fuel and othersupplies. Another major element of the spaceport'sbusiness was its function as a travel hub, a place wherepassengers and freight could transfer from one ship toanother to continue a long-haul multi-operator journey.There were, therefore, extensive left-luggage storagefacilities throughout the spaceport, including four withinTerminal 13 itself. The Doctor was worried that theymight have to check each one in turn. Golightly was ableto reassure him.

   `Each chip has a unique identification code,' heexplained, `so we can track down the locker associatedwith this card without any trouble.'

   `And here we are, gentlemen,' announced GeneralMoret as he led them into another huge warehouse. Asthey entered, the automatic systems reacted to theirpresence and low-level lighting came on, revealing thetrue extent of the space they had entered. The Doctor

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thought the room was probably the size of a football pitch,about the same size as the swimming pool he'd once hadin the TARDIS, and it was full of long lines of metalliclockers, in horizontal and vertical rows.

   The security officer passed the access code cardthrough a reader, and a distant locker instantly lit up.Without a word, the Judoon Commander reached over andtook the card from the reader and began to march in thedirection of the spotlighted locker. The Doctor hurried tofollow him.

   `So some time yesterday the man who exploded musthave come in here and deposited something in that locker,is that right?' asked Golightly, trying to keep up withevents.

   `That's what we think,' agreed the Doctor. `Somethingof value that Uncle was expecting to have the Walinskibrothers collect for him.'

   `But they never got the chip card from him?'

   `No. But we managed to track it down, so now maybewe'll find out why that man was murdered,' said theDoctor.

   `And take it to the police, I guess?' Golightly persisted.

   The Doctor hesitated. He didn't like to lie but at thesame time he didn't want to risk anything happening toNikki if he didn't follow Uncle's instructions to the letter.

   The Judoon Commander thumped a locker infrustration, creating a diversion that enabled the Doctor tosidestep the awkward question.

   `What's wrong now?' he asked the alien.

   `It doesn't work,' snapped the Judoon Commander.

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`The locker won't open.'

   The Doctor could see that the Judoon was worried andangry but not just about the locker. Like the Doctor, hehad Nikki's safety at the forefront of his mind. The alienwas clearly taking Nikki's predicament very closely toheart. They both knew that if they couldn't get the lockerto open, Nikki's life would be in grave danger.

Nikki got to her feet, brushing soil and mud from herclothes and hair. The Widow's bodyguard just stood andwatched her, his piggy little eyes almost invisible in thefat folds of flesh on his face.

   `Thank you,' she said politely. `Mind if I go now?'

   Not entirely surprisingly, the man held up a hand.

   `Yeah, I thought not. So what do you want from me?'Nikki retorted with more courage in her voice than she feltinside.

   An unexpected emotion seemed to burn in Taron's eyesfor a split second was it amusement?

   `Where are the others?' he rasped in his breathy sibilantwhisper of a voice.

   Nikki shrugged. `Don't know who you mean!' shemuttered.

   `The Doctor and the other alien the warrior havethey gone to the spaceport? Did you find the key?'

   Nikki was surprised. How did the Widow's bodyguardknow so much about what they were doing? Nikkirealised that her thoughts were pretty transparent as Taroncontinued.

   `Don't worry about how and what I know,' he hissed.

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`Just answer my question. And be quick. That stun chargewon't keep these boys quiet for long.'

   Nikki considered her options. The man already seemedto know more than he should. Would it really makeanything any worse to answer his questions?

   `Yes, they've gone to the spaceport,' she confessed,hoping she was doing the right thing.

   `And they have the key? The access code?'

   `Yes, they have everything. Whatever that man wascarrying, they'll be collecting any time now.'

   The widow's bodyguard nodded and considered theinformation for a moment. Nikki decided to try and ask aquestion of her own.

   `I guess the Widow wants a piece of that herself, is thatwhy you're asking?' she wondered.

   Taron shook his head gravely. `She may already haveher hands on it.'

   `What do you mean?'

   `It doesn't matter,' Taron insisted.

   `It matters to me. My friends have gone to get thiswhatever it is, and you think your boss is going to get itherself? I don't like the sound of that,' fumed Nikki,getting angry.

   Again Taron held out a pacifying hand to her, like aparent trying to get a whining child to be quiet.

   `I know you've no reason to do this, but trust me. It'scomplicated. Very complicated. But if you trust me, noone will get hurt,' Taron whispered hoarsely, looking deepinto Nikki's furious eyes.

   `Trust you? You're the Widow's bodyguard. Why

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should I trust you?'

  `Because things aren't always what they seem,' repliedTaron. The Walinski brothers began to stir. `They'll beawake in a minute. Find somewhere to hide. You'll domore for your friends here than elsewhere. Now move.'

  Again Nikki hesitated. Should she listen to this man orshould she just take her chance to escape?

  `Trust me, Nikki. You must trust me.' Taron repeated.

The Judoon Commander drove his fist into the door of theadjacent locker, and it caved in as if made of cardboard.Golightly's mouth dropped open at this demonstration ofsheer power and strength.

   `That's not going to help,' said the Doctor calmly.

   `It made me feel better,' muttered the Judoon, onceagain displaying a hitherto rarely seen sense of humour.

   `Wait!' Golightly stepped forward before any moredamage to spaceport property was attempted. `Let me try,'he suggested, reaching to take the access card from theJudoon's gloved hand. Fixing him with a glare, the Judoonhanded over the tiny piece of plastic.

   `Security at Terminal 13 is state of the art,' Golightlycontinued, `and these cards have some user-definedelements that can be set when they are initialised.'

   The Doctor frowned. `So the user can prevent anyoneelse using the card?'

   `No, that might be a step too far,' Golightly explained.`But you can set a time limit, or restrict access to membersof certain species.'

   `But the man is dead,' pointed out the Judoon. `How

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can we ask him about its settings now?'

   Golightly gave the alien the smile of a stage magicianabout to perform the Indian Rope Trick. He pulled asimilar-looking card from his jacket pocket. He thenapproached the locker with a card in each hand. First heswiped their key through the reader and then, confidently,he swiped his own key. Golightly stepped back andwaited.

   For a moment nothing happened, and the Doctor beganto wonder if the Judoon's punishment of the adjacentlocker might not have damaged the mechanisms of theone they were interested in. Then, with a soft click, thedoor of the locker unlocked and swung silently open.

   `Are you telling me that we could have come to you inthe beginning and you could have opened that locker?'rumbled the Judoon, fearing that they had spent precioustime on a wild goose chase.

   Golightly hurriedly reassured him. `Well, I could haveused my master key to open every locker, but that couldhave taken years,' he clarified. `You needed that key toknow which locker to open so you can recover your...'

   He paused and bent to peer into the cavernous locker,which was about a metre square and about three metresdeep. At first glance it seemed to be empty, but then theDoctor's eyes adjusted to the lack of light and he couldmake out a single rectangular shape, pushed right to theback of the space. Golightly dropped to his knees andreached in to retrieve the object.

   `... suitcase,' he announced, as he emerged into thelight once more, dragging with him a rather nondescript

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and distinctly plain suitcase of a classic if not old-fashioned design.

   The four of them stood around the case and looked at itwith a mixture of confusion and disbelief.

   `This is the package? Just this?' demanded the Judoon,poking it with his foot.

   `Careful, if this is the Invisible Assassin's luggage itcould be booby-trapped,' warned the security officer,gently moving the Doctor and Golightly back from thecase.

   Carefully, Moret got to his knees and listened to thecase. The Judoon Commander loomed over him, casting adark shadow. Moret looked over his shoulder and glared atthe alien.

   `Would you mind stepping back give me some space,not to mention light, to work in?'

   With a grunt, which may or may not have been a yes,the Judoon Commander took a few steps back and joinedthe Doctor and Golightly. The Doctor instantly leanedtowards the Judoon.

   `Do you recall mentioning the Invisible Assassin toGeneral Moret?' he whispered urgently, while keeping hiseyes fixed on Moret who was now examining the casecarefully and cautiously.

   The Judoon Commander's eyes narrowed as thesignificance of the Doctor's question dawned on him.

   Moret got to his feet, holding the suitcase in one hand.

   `I think I should take this to a place of safety beforeanyone tries to open it,' he announced and began to walktowards the door. `Give me an hour, and I'll let you know

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what I find,' he added.

   The Doctor nodded at the Judoon who quickly movedto stand between Moret and the door.

   `That's very kind of you,' said the Doctor evenly, `butwe can handle it from here.' He held a hand out to take thecase but Moret stepped away from him and, suddenly,there was a weapon in his hand. The old soldier raised theweapon and aimed it directly at Golightly.

   `No,' he insisted, `that is not going to be possible.'

   `Moret, what are you doing?' screamed Golightly, hiseyes focused on the barrel of the gun pointing directlytowards his heart.

   `Taking this to my boss,' explained the ex-soldier. `TheWidow badly wants this, and what the Widow wants theWidow gets. Now, you two,' he gestured at the Doctor andthe Judoon, `get over here now or I'll shoot Mr Golightly.'

   For a moment it looked as if the Judoon Commanderwould ignore the threat and charge at Moret himself, butthe Doctor managed to catch his eye. Slowly the JudoonCommander and the Doctor moved away from the door.

   `But why? Why are you doing this?' Golightly waswide-eyed, as much from confusion as from fear.

   `Once a mercenary, always a mercenary,' explainedMoret simply. `Every man has his price.'

   The General backed towards the exit, his eyes flickingbetween the three of them while maintaining his aim atGolightly's chest. At the door he paused.

   `But you work for me, for the spaceport,' Golightlyreplied, still not understanding.

   `Then you can consider this my resignation,' Moret told

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Golightly. Suddenly dropping the barrel of the weapon, hefired off a single shot in the direction of the generalmanager's leg. Golightly cried out in pain and fell,clutching his damaged limb. The Doctor and the JudoonCommander ran to his aid. When they glanced back at thedoor, Moret was gone.

   The Doctor ran across to the door and pulled at thehandle but without any success.

   `Locked!' he reported turning back to the Judoon.`How is he?'

   The Judoon was examining Golightly, who had lostconsciousness, blood pooling under his damaged leg. `Heneeds medical attention urgently.'

   The Doctor had his sonic screwdriver in his hands andmade a renewed attempt to open the door, but the lockwould not open.

   `Oh, why is everything deadlocked sealed these days?'moaned the Doctor. `We have to find another way out.'

   The Judoon, now carrying the limp body of Golightlyin his arms, stood up and looked around.

   `That might take some time,' he pointed out grimly.`And we do not have that luxury.'

   Blood continued to drip relentlessly from theunconscious man's injury, like sand pouring through anhourglass. Time was running out.

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    The Walinski brothers were standing in front of Uncle,

    unflinching, as he unleashed his fury upon them for the

    second time that day.

       `What is the point,' he fumed, `of holding a hostage and

    not knowing where she is?'

       The brothers said nothing.

       `And then you came across her and managed to let her

    elude you again! First the disaster at the spaceport, now

    this. What's happened to you? You've turned into a pair of

    clowns.'

       For once, the impassive faces of the brothers revealed

    some emotion: their mouths tightened and they seemed to

    recoil at the accusation. Seeing the reaction, Uncle

    ploughed on.

       `Yes clowns! You're rapidly becoming a laughing

    stock. People used to be afraid of you now when you

    enter a room, all you will hear is laughter.' Uncle paused,

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gathering his thoughts. `But when they laugh at you, theylaugh at me and I will not tolerate that!' The last fewwords were bellowed with the full force of Uncle's anger.There was no sign of the benign, loving parent hepresented when Hope was around now; this was the furyof a dangerous and ruthless man.

    `With any luck, the Doctor and that alien will haveconcluded their business at the spaceport by now, so thegirl's escape will not affect my plans,' Uncle told them,calming down. `When the Invisible Assassin strikes, wewill regain our honour. No one will be laughing when theWidow and her whole pathetic organisation are wiped outfor good.'

    Nikki could not help but shiver as she heard the mantalk so casually about taking so many lives. She hadalways known that the crime lords were cold and ruthlessbut had never really seen the extent of their evil first hand.

    She was back in the crawlspace above the false ceilingsof the rooms on this floor, perched above Uncle's office.She had lifted one ceiling tile just enough to watch andlisten to the scene unfolding beneath her. Part of herwondered if she should have ignored the advice of theWidow's bodyguard and just escaped when she had thechance, but something about the way the stranger hadspoken to her had convinced her to stay. As the brothershad begun to recover consciousness, Nikki had looked fora way to get back into the crawlspace. When sheexplained how she had escaped, the mysterious Taron hadhelped her climb back before disappearing himself. `I wasnever here,' he told her with a peculiar grin, as if making a

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joke only he could understand, and then he was gone.

   Now, lying here above Uncle's office, her thoughtsonce again turned to the stranger. Why had he helped her?How had he got into Uncle's HQ with such ease? Andwho was he? Nikki added it all to the list of questionsbeing raised by this case and promised herself that she'dfind answers to all of them in due course.

   Below, Uncle seemed to have overcome his anger andwas now smiling. Beaming, he sat back at his desk, put hisfeet up and threw his head back. Nikki froze, hoping hewouldn't spot the slightly out-of-place ceiling panel. For along moment, she held her breath. Was he looking up atthe ceiling? Was he looking at her? She closed her eyes,like a little child playing hide-and-seek, hoping that if shecouldn't see him, he wouldn't be able to see her.

   She heard something move and, despite her fear,opened her eyes. Uncle was no longer there. Nikkiswallowed hard. Was this it? Was she about to bediscovered?

Golightly was groaning, slipping between consciousnessand unconsciousness with ever-increasing rapidity. TheDoctor had made a temporary dressing with a strip ofmaterial torn from the poor man's own shirt, but thebleeding had hardly been staunched. The Doctor lookedup at the Judoon who had been looking on at his first aidefforts with concern and interest.

   `Any joy on an alternative exit?' he asked, more inhope than expectation.

   The Judoon shook his head. `Nothing.'

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   The Doctor laid Golightly gently on the ground, andmade a makeshift support out of the manager's suit jacket.He got to his feet and began to look around. `Take a lookat that door and then look at these lockers,' he suggested.`What do you notice?'

   The Judoon shrugged. `I do not know what you wantme to say.'

   The Doctor tapped the nearest locker, which made asatisfying hollow, metallic sound. `These are solid,'explained the Doctor. `Unless they were actually builthere, which I doubt, each of these lockers was broughtinto this room. But not through that door it's not wideenough. So there must be another way in.'

   The Judoon started to move around the room, tappingthe walls. The Doctor did the same the thing, listeningcarefully to the sound.

   `These walls are solid,' reported the Judoon.

   `But this one isn't,' replied the Doctor triumphantly andplayed a little drum roll on the wall with both hands toprove his point. `This wall must have been put in after thelockers.'

   The Judoon marched across to take a look for himself.`In that case it is the weakest part of the structure,' heconcluded. Without warning he pulled his arm back andpunched forward. The metal surface of the wall crumpled,leaving a massive indentation. The Judoon punched againand again but, although the metal bent and twisted, it didnot break.

   The alien stopped to contemplate the damage he hadinflicted so far. `Nearly there,' he announced and then

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took a few steps away from the dented part of the wall,lowered his head and charged. His larger horn ripped intothe weakened part of the wall and burst through. A secondrun widened the hole and then, with his gloved hands, theJudoon was able to peel the wall back like the lid of a tinof sardines to create a gap large enough for them all topass through.

   `That wall-bursting thing could become a nasty habit,'commented the Doctor as he climbed carefully throughthe jagged-edged hole.

   The Judoon, carrying the moaning figure of Golightly,followed him.

   `That could make me a crashing bore,' he said sternlyand made the strange noise that the Doctor now knew tobe laughter.

   `Oi! Leave the appalling puns to me,' the Doctor saidwith a grin. `I've got form. Right, allons-y. First priority:some medical attention for our friend here, and then...' Hetrailed off.

   `What?' asked the Judoon, clearly still smarting aboutthe way they had allowed their prize to be taken fromthem by Moret.

   `Then we'd better get that case back,' said the Doctorwith grim determination. `Before anyone else gets hurt.'

Moret hurried through the wet and slippery streets,oblivious to the downpour that was rapidly soaking him tothe skin. His heart was beating quickly in his chest, hisbreathing was slightly laboured. Although he wasnavigating through the city on autopilot, dodging traffic

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without really seeing it, inside he was more alert than hehad been for years.

   It was like being back in combat. For the first time in aslong as he could remember, he felt properly alive.Adrenalin was running through his system, activating oldsenses and awakening long-buried memories.

   He had enjoyed being a soldier. Life had been brutallysimple: he was paid to fight and to kill and to followorders. For twenty years he did just that, defending hishomeworld against aliens of all descriptions.

   And then, without warning, his political masters andtheir enemies had rediscovered the lost arts of diplomacy.A new spirit of tolerance and understanding began tospread through the region. Peace treaties and ceasefiresand talk of reconciliation became the new status quo.Warfare itself became unfashionable and outdated.

   For a man like Moret, this had been a bitter pill toswallow. He left his home planet vowing never to return.Eventually he had pitched up in New Memphis desperatefor work. One of Uncle's men had spotted him on arrivaland recognised his potential, and soon he was secretlyworking for Uncle's organisation while running spaceportsecurity. But Uncle had treated him no better than thepoliticians had back home, so now he had a new boss the Widow. At last he had found an employer who wouldshow him some respect.

   The rain continued to fall from the sky in torrents.Moret blinked raindrops out of his eyes and crossedanother street, slipping between the slow-moving traffic. Abus passed him, its wheels hitting a puddle where a drain

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was blocked and sending a huge wave of dirty water intothe air and over Moret.

   Barely looking at the bus, Moret pulled out a weapon,pointed it behind him and shot out one of the vehicle'sfront tyres. It careered out of control and shot across anintersection. Horns blasted and there was the sound ofmultiple collisions, but Moret never looked back. He wasfocused on just one thing. Getting this precious package tothe Widow and, more importantly, getting the gratitude hedeserved.

Golightly was sitting up in a hospital bed, looking pale butat least alive.

    `I can't believe Moret is crooked,' he was saying,shaking his head to emphasise his disbelief.

    The Judoon Commander just snorted but the Doctornodded sympathetically.

    `Well, that's humans for you,' he said. `Great actors.Infinite capacity for deception.'

    `Which is why so many galactic criminals are human,'muttered the Judoon.

    The Doctor shot him an annoyed look and continued.`Ah, but they also have an infinite capacity to do the rightthing. Like Nikki,' he added looking directly at theJudoon.

    The Judoon Commander took his point.

    `If this human is now safe,' he began, nodding atGolightly, `then we should go after the suitcase.'

    `Do you need details of where Moret lives?' offeredGolightly, acutely aware that his injury had caused the

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Doctor and the Judoon to postpone an immediate pursuitof the traitor.

   The Doctor shook his head firmly. `He's not goinghome,' he said with confidence. `He'll be taking thatsuitcase directly to the Widow herself.'

   `Then it's time for another visit to the Spa,' the Judoonsuggested with a nod of agreement. `Allons-y!'

Moret reached his destination and was quickly usheredinto a waiting area beyond the main Spa. Inside he wassearched by the sweaty bodyguard, Taron. The overweightnewcomer patted him down efficiently and gave him theall-clear. Moret regarded him with suspicious eyes.

    Taron was new to the Widow's outfit and had not beenaround when she had recruited Moret from Uncle'semploy. It had happened very suddenly and withoutwarning. Moret had gone to visit Uncle, under cover ofusing the Casino. Uncle had arranged for him to bebrought up to his private suite of offices above thegambling halls where he had berated him for his stupidity.Moret winced at the memory of the way Uncle had treatedhim. Uncle had reminded him that his value as aninformant was his impeccable record and reputation; to beseen gambling was to put all that in danger. Moret likethe good soldier he was had stood blank-faced and letthe verbal abuse roll over him. He had heard far worsefrom his commanding officers in his fighting days, andwords had little effect on him. Suddenly, however, Uncle'sattitude had changed. It was so sudden, it was almost as ifa switch had been flicked and a whole new personality

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activated. A door had opened and a pretty pale youngwoman had entered the room. Uncle, suddenly smilingand gentle, had introduced Moret to his daughter, Hope.The girl had smiled shyly and shaken his hand with a limpwrist and a grasp so weak that he could barely feel thecontact. Uncle had told Hope that Moret was an old friendand had placed an arm round his shoulders. Unclesqueezed tight, his fingers painfully burying themselves inthe ex-soldier's flesh. All the while, Uncle had maintainedhis air of genteel happiness the very image of the perfecthost. Finally Moret had managed to extricate himself,make credible excuses and get away. At the door, he'dgiven one last glance back into the room. Hope, thedaughter, had been waving at him with a vacant orperhaps wistful expression on her face; behind her, Unclehad been standing with one hand raised in a gesture ofgoodbye while his eyes burned with contempt and anger.Moret had left the meeting determined to extract himselffrom Uncle's employ and, as luck would have it, that veryevening he was contacted by the Widow.

   That had been some months earlier, and Moret hadbeen here a number of times for clandestine meetings withhis new colleagues. At first, Moret had been a frequentsounding board for the Widow as she outlined plans andconstructed strategy, but more recently Taron had usurpedthat role. That would have been enough on its own toengender antipathy towards Taron in Moret but there wasmore. Moret prided himself on having developed excellentinstincts over the years. On the battlefield, it operated likea sixth sense, warning him of danger. In civilian life, it

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just reacted to people when he met them, giving him anintrinsic gut feeling about who he could and could nottrust. When it came to Taron, Moret did not trust him asfar as he could throw him. There was something about theman that set every warning bell in Moret's head ringingbut what exactly it was he couldn't say. In public, the mentolerated each other but when together their eyes wererarely far from each other, ever vigilant.

   Taron completed the body search and with a non-specific grunt indicated that Moret should enter the suitebehind him. Picking up his precious cargo the suitcase Moret opened the door and went in.

Outside the Spa, the Judoon Commander found a place ofconcealment and settled down to wait. After a lot ofdiscussion it had been agreed that it would be best, on thisoccasion, if the Doctor attempted to get inside theWidow's base of operations on his own. In fact, now thatthe Judoon Commander thought about it, although therehad been an illusion of discussion, the Doctor had donemost of the talking. Humans liked to talk, the JudoonCommander had noticed and, although the Doctor was nothuman, he clearly shared a lot of characteristics with therace and not just the obvious physical ones.

   The Doctor was a strange case. The Judoon'sexperience of humans was relatively limited, but in mostof his encounters with them the alien had found them tobe essentially simple creatures. Not particularlytrustworthy, or complicated, they tended to look afternumber one and talk a lot. In contrast, the Judoon found

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the Doctor utterly trustworthy and full of honour.Although he seemed uninterested in military matters, theJudoon was sure that there was some conflict in theDoctor's past. Beneath his energy and relentlessenthusiasm for all and sundry, there was a sadness and abitterness that just occasionally an observant viewer couldspot.

   Just now had been a typical example. The Doctor hadall but waltzed off, grinning with anticipation at trying toget back inside the Widow's domain, armed with nothingbut his sonic tool and a quick wit. The Judoon had urgedcaution and had reminded him of Nikki's situation, butthat had only seemed to make him more manicallycheerful. `Don't get your horns in a knot,' the Doctor hadsaid, grinning wildly. `I'll be back before you know it.'

   With that, the Doctor had disappeared into the Spa,leaving the Judoon to wait in the rain. That had been halfan hour earlier. Since then, nothing of any significancehad happened.

   Suddenly, the Judoon Commander became aware of apresence behind him and felt the cold barrel of an energyweapon being pressed into the back of his neck.

   `Turn around slowly,' hissed a voice in his ear.

   Carefully, the Judoon Commander did as he had beenasked.

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    When the Doctor left his Judoon companion, he

    crossed the street towards the Spa but did not enter the

    building. Instead, he walked past the notices offering

    facials and head massages, keeping his eyes directed at the

    pavement itself. In a side street, he saw what he had been

    looking for a manhole cover. It took a little effort to lift

    the heavy metal cover for a moment he considered going

    back to get the Judoon's assistance but finally the heavy

    disc shifted in his hands and he was able to pull it clear.

    The shaft beneath was pitch black, but the sonic

    screwdriver provided enough light to reveal a metal ladder

    descending into the sewer system. The Doctor began to

    climb down, pulling the cover back. It dropped into place

    with a loud clang, shutting out the sounds and light from

    above.

       Moving carefully on the ill-maintained and rusty

    ladder, the Doctor soon found himself at the bottom of the

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shaft in a wide cylindrical tunnel. His eyes had adjusted tothe lack of light and he was able to make out some detailsof his surroundings. A central channel in the lowest part ofthe tunnel was a river of raw sewerage, which gave theenvironment a distinctive and quite unpleasant odour. Tothe Doctor's relief, there was a flat walkway built into theside of the tunnel, allowing access without the need towade through the foul stream itself. The Doctor quicklytook his bearings and headed in the direction of the Spa.

   The Doctor was working on the theory that theunderground systems of sewerage and transport would beconnected at some point, and his hunch proved right. Hesoon reached a much bigger, horizontal tunnel where thefloor was covered with metallic rails rather than a river ofwaste. The Doctor smiled to himself, rememberingprevious adventures in underground transport tunnels.Usually they had involved unspeakable creatures, but theonly monsters on this world were distinctly human innature. Creatures like Uncle and the Widow, who usedtheir gang members like chess masters casually sacrificingpawns, were far more horrifying than any so-calledmonster that he'd met. The Judoon may have been proneto overkill, as he had witnessed many times, but they werehonourable. At least they believed in justice, even if theirjustice was sometimes rather harsh and inflexible. Here onNew Memphis, there seemed precious little justice. Peoplelike Nikki and her father were the exceptions rather thanthe rule. Again the thought of Nikki, held hostage byUncle, spurred the Doctor on. He had to find a way intothe Widow's lair and retrieve that suitcase.

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   The Doctor stopped and applied his exceptional senseof direction before choosing which way to go. A fewmoments later, he was delighted to find himself enteringan area that was lit by powerful lights.

   Suddenly, someone or something grabbed him frombehind.

   `Give me one good reason not to kill you right now,'hissed an angry but familiar voice in his ear.

   The Doctor sighed. It was Moret, and he didn't seempleased to see him.

The Judoon Commander regarded his assailant with cooleyes. Somehow, this large and flabby human had managedto creep up on a trained Judoon officer of the law and takehis weapon from its holster without him noticing. Howwas that possible? The Widow's bodyguard took a stepback and flipped the weapon over, holding it by the barrel.

   `I am not your enemy,' Taron stated simply and reachedout, offering the weapon back to the Judoon. The galacticlaw officer opened his gloved palm to take back theweapon, but hesitantly, still not entirely sure that heshould trust this corpulent human. Without taking his eyesfrom the man's face, the Judoon took back his weapon andslipped it back into its rightful place on his hip.

   `Who are you, then?' he asked finally, his voice a lowrumble.

   Taron smiled mysteriously.

   `The Widow is a criminal,' the Judoon stated, `and youwork for her, therefore...'

   `I must be a criminal too,' the man finished the

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statement for him. `Not necessarily.'

   `Then explain yourself,' demanded the Judoon.

   Rather than give a direct answer, the bodyguardreached into his pocket and produced a small metallicdevice.

   `Take this,' he instructed, passing him what the Judooncould now see was one of the local communicator devices,similar in design to the one that Nikki had.

   `The girl is safe,' he added, almost as if he was able toread the Judoon's mind. `She's at large at Uncle's Casino you can use that to contact her to confirm my story.'

   The Judoon just looked at the device, tiny in hismassive gloved hands and then at the stranger again.

   `Go on,' insisted the bodyguard. `Try.'

The Doctor had not given Moret one good reason not tokill him.

   He had given him multiple reasons, firing off one afteranother in a long speech that tried the ex-soldier'spatience long before the Doctor ran out of breath. Thetactic had worked, however, and Moret had dragged theDoctor away to meet with the Widow.

   She was in the room where he had encountered herbefore, dressed in another figure-hugging dress. She layon her chaise longue and took a long look at the Doctorand his captor.

   `You've excelled, Moret. Two deliveries in one night!'

   Moret bowed his head. `I hope I haven't embarrassedMr Taron,' he said, in an even tone. `It is, after all, his jobto protect you, isn't it?'

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    The Widow frowned. `Where is Taron, I wonder?'

    `Perhaps it's his tea break?' offered the Doctor. He tooka step forward. `Look, this has all been a terriblemisunderstanding. Classic really, the old suitcaseswitcheroo at the airport sort of thing. If you can just letme have my case back...'

    The Widow raised a hand. `Can you just stop babblingfor a moment?' she demanded.

    `It's all he seems to do,' agreed Moret, balefully.

    `Babble? Babble!' complained the Doctor. `What kindof idiot do you think I am? It's just there's a lot to say.'

    `Well, it can wait,' insisted the Widow firmly. `First Iwant to let Uncle know that we've... acquired his case.Then we'll decide what to do with you. Until then, Moret,if he opens his mouth, shoot him.'

    The Doctor looked across at Moret to see how seriouslyhe was going to take this order and saw the gun ready inhis hand. Quickly he ran a hand along his mouth in azipping motion and gave the Widow the thumbs up. Thewoman sighed and got to her feet. Behind her, the Doctorsaw a large screen which was clearly connected to somecommunications equipment. A technician was operatingthe controls.

    `Open Channel D and get me Uncle,' the Widowordered. She turned and smiled at the Doctor. `I'm goingto enjoy this.'

The Judoon found himself happier than he might haveimagined possible when he heard the human girl's voicewhispering from the tiny communications device.

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    `You are free, Nikki?' he asked.

    `Yeah, but I'm still here at Uncle's. Taron said it was agood idea,' she told him.

    The Judoon glanced over at the bodyguard, watchinghim with patient eyes. `You trust this Taron?'

    There was a pause and then Nikki answered. `Yeah, Ido. Not sure why. Call it instinct.'

    The Judoon grunted, taking the information in. `Then Ishall trust him myself. The Doctor has gone to get thesuitcase. We will return with it shortly.'

    The conversation over, the Judoon flipped thecommunicator closed and placed it in one of the pocketsof his uniform.

    `Thank you,' he said to Taron, genuinely. He wassurprised at how worried he had been about the humangirl, and how much better he felt now that he knew thatshe was relatively safe.

    `I need to get back to my post,' Taron told him quickly,`but there's one more thing I need to give you.'

    He passed over a small card with a computer chip set init. The Judoon examined it curiously.

    `Another locker key?' he asked.

    `Not exactly. It's a security override for the Widow'sbase. Access all areas. You may need it.'

    Taron began to move away. `When we meet again,keep my secret,' he requested. The Judoon nodded, andthe mysterious bodyguard hurried away through the rain.

The Doctor watched carefully as the two crime lordsconfronted each other across their communications

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screens. The Widow was bristling with the excitement ofthe moment, triumphant at getting one over on her enemy.For his part, Uncle was comparatively still, angry butcontained.

   `Your Invisible Assassin isn't going to be very effectivewithout his equipment, is he, Uncle?' the Widow crowed,revealing the suitcase.

   Uncle said nothing. His expression was fixed inneutral, but a rich mixture of emotions burned in his eyes.

   `You're getting old, Uncle. You're past it! It's time foryou to move on. If only you had a son to pass the familybusiness on to.'

   As she spoke, the Doctor noted the Widow's bodylanguage with interest. She was shaking with emotion,leaning forward into the camera transmitting her image, asif she wanted to be there in person, parading Uncle'sfailure right in front of his face.

   `I have no son,' he retorted calmly, `and I will not allowmy daughter into this world of violence. But I do not needto. I am not going anywhere.'

   Uncle made a stab at defiance, but to the Doctor's mindthere was something ringing false about his statement. Itfelt somehow... rehearsed. Yes, that was it. Somehow itwasn't as spontaneous as it should have been in thecircumstances. It was almost as if Uncle had beenexpecting this call. Was that possible? The Doctor leantforward, about to contribute to the conversation himself,but Moret raised the gun slightly and he fell back into hisenforced silence.

   `We'll see,' countered the Widow. `When I have the

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secrets of the Invisible Assassin, perhaps you will be hisnext victim. Goodbye, old man.'

   She waved a hand to the technician to terminate theconnection. The image of Uncle disappeared from thelarge screen, but in the last second that his face could beseen the Doctor saw what appeared to be a triumphantgrin cross the man's face.

   Something wasn't right here. If only he knew what itwas.

From her vantage point above Uncle's office, Nikki hadwatched the conversation between the crime lord and theWidow with interest. From where she was watching, shehad a good view of Uncle's body language and he seemedcalm and in control throughout, despite the apparentsetback.

   Uncle was not watching the screen alone. The Walinskibrothers were also there, and a fourth person, who hadarrived just before the call came through. For a while theidentity of this new arrival eluded Nikki. But when theconversation ended she spoke, and Nikki instantlyrecognised the voice. It was the police officer, Corilli, whohad set them up earlier.

   `I don't get it, Uncle,' said Corilli. `Why are yougrinning? The Widow's got your stuff.'

   Uncle laughed out loud. `That's why you make such agood policewoman, Corilli,' he said, patting the woman onthe shoulder. `You're so lacking in imagination.'

   Corilli frowned, her brows scrunching together tocreate deep furrows across her forehead. `You wanted her

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to have the suitcase?' she asked finally, squeezing thethought out of her head like the last toothpaste in the tube.

   `Brilliant. Make the lady Commissioner of Police!'Uncle replied.

   `But why?' Corilli was still struggling to make sense ofthe situation.

   Suddenly the humour vanished from Uncle'sdemeanour. `Why?' he echoed the corrupt policewoman.`I'll tell you why. Because there is no Invisible Assassin.Not in the sense of a person anyway. The InvisibleAssassin isn't a person at all; it's a thing. A virus. Anartificial bio-agent that kills.'

   The policewoman's jaw dropped open. `You're goingto release a deadly virus in the city? Are you mad?'

   `Mad? I'm furious,' retorted Uncle. `But not suicidal.The virus is very special. Short-lived in an oxygen-basedatmosphere.'

   Uncle sat back in his chair and put his hands behind hishead.

   `Brilliant or what?'

   `So what happens? How does it work?' asked Corilli.

   Uncle leaned forward over his desk, placing his handsdown.

   `Couldn't be simpler. She opens the case; she releasesthe virus. Thirty seconds later...' Uncle slammed his handdown on the desk, making everything on it jump. `She'sdead!'

The Judoon Commander was beginning to almost enjoybeing in the rain. His uniform was mostly waterproof, and

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the rain hitting the exposed skin of his head was quiterefreshing. The only negative was the occasional dripwhich managed to slip between the collar of his uniformand his neck, but the discomfort of this was not too greatto bear. The raindrops running over the wrinkles of hisface were quite invigorating. He glanced over at the Spaand wondered if, perhaps, there was something to be saidfor some appropriate skin care. Something throbbed in hisleg and he realised that it was the communications devicegiven to him by Taron. He extracted it and flipped it open.It was Nikki.

   `Listen, Jude, this is important. The Widow mustn'topen the suitcase,' she told him urgently. Quickly shepassed on everything she had learned from eavesdroppingon Uncle. The Judoon listened carefully and promisedNikki that he would do what he could.

   With the need for speed overriding the need forcaution, the Judoon Commander dashed across the streetand straight into the Spa. Screaming patrons, some ofwhom had only just recovered from his visit earlier in theevening, hurried out of his way. Using the override keythat Taron had given him, the Judoon Commanderaccessed the lift to the lower levels.

Inside the Widow's lair, the atmosphere was strangelytense. Taron the bodyguard had recently arrived and hadclearly been put out to discover Moret there. The fact thatthe spaceport security officer had managed to capture theDoctor whilst Taron had been strangely absent from hispost was an additional slur.

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   `Taron, you disappoint me,' the Widow said. `Younearly missed my moment of triumph.'

   `My apologies, Madame Yilonda,' he replied, bowinghis head.

   `Never mind.' The Widow started to reach for thesuitcase. `You are in time for the main event.'

   She leant over the suitcase and reached for the clasps.

   Suddenly a new figure burst into the room. Thelumbering bulk of the Judoon Commander ran directlytowards the Widow. Both Moret and Taron steppedforward into his path but he bulldozed straight throughthem, pushing them aside like rag dolls.

   `Stop!' he roared, `don't touch that, or you will die!'

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    For a moment it was as if time had stood still. Moret and

    Taron got to their feet, and Moret immediately drew his

    weapon and pointed it at the Judoon Commander.

       `Wait,' ordered the Widow. She looked down at the

    suitcase and then up at the alien.

       `Explain yourself,' she demanded.

       The Judoon took a moment to gather himself. `It's a

    trap,' he said finally. `The suitcase is a dummy. There is

    nothing in it except a virus. A deadly virus that will kill

    you!'

       The Widow recoiled from the suitcase as if it were

    about to explode.

       `So that's what they mean by an Invisible Assassin,'

    murmured the Doctor.

       `How do I know this is not another trick? A double

    bluff. Has Uncle sent you here with this story, thinking me

    gullible?' wondered the Widow.

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   The Judoon shook his head. `This information camefrom our colleague. A spy inside Uncle's Casino.'

   The Doctor caught his eye and the Judoon nodded Nikki was safe.

   The Widow was pacing, trying to take in this latestinformation. `It's too much, all this lying, spying, double-dealing, how do I know who to trust?' She seemed to betalking to herself, ignoring the rest of the room.

   The Doctor looked around at the others. Moret waspatiently waiting to see what the Widow would do next.He could see that the Judoon was readying himself forpossible action but Taron was less patient. He took a stepor two towards the suitcase and reached out to grab it. TheWidow saw his movement and grabbed the gun out of asurprised Moret's hand. Before anyone could react or sayanything, she shot her new bodyguard in the leg.

   `Get back!' she screamed, with a distinct note ofhysteria in her voice. She's losing it, thought the Doctor,she needs to be handled very carefully.

   He raised his hands and took a step forward. `It's OK,'he began but he got no further.

   `OK? OK!' she bellowed. `Nothing is OK. It's all gonewrong. Uncle's made me look a fool.'

   Behind her, the Doctor could see Taron lying on thefloor clutching his leg, his face a mask of agony. TheWidow made an effort to pull herself together.

   `Moret, there are secure storerooms down there.' Shepointed off down a brick-lined tunnel. `Lock these two inone of them.' She waved her purloined weapon at theDoctor and the injured Taron.

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   `What about the big guy?' asked the ex-security officer.

   The Widow smiled for the first time since the JudoonCommander's arrival. `I've got a little job for him.'

   The Doctor was allowed to help Taron to his feet. Thelarge man was not nearly as heavy as he looked. With theDoctor's support, he was able to walk down the tunnel toone of the storerooms. Moret pushed them roughlythrough the thick metal door and then secured it.

   The Doctor listened to the heavy locks falling intoposition and then turned to look at Taron, who had foundsome boxes to sit on.

   `Right then,' said the Doctor, with the air of a manwhose patience had been severely tested. `Why don't youexplain exactly who you are, and why, when you're shotin the thigh, you don't appear to bleed?'

The Judoon Commander stood statue-still, waiting andwatching as the Widow considered her next move.Between them lay the suitcase, its deadly virus still safelyconcealed within.

   The woman finally stopped pacing and looked into thealien's deep-set eyes.

   `Take it back to him,' she whispered. `Tell him hisInvisible Assassin has failed.'

   She picked up the case and held it out for the JudoonCommander to take from her.

   `And tell him that I expected more from him. Anassassin is a coward's way of dealing with a problem.When word of this spreads and I'll make sure it does he'll be a complete joke. He's finished.'

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   Her smile grew wider but her eyes became even colder,hidden behind the cool blue of her oversized shades.

   `Unless he cares to come to a compromise. I'm areasonable woman. It's just possible that I could bepersuaded to forget that this ever happened, for the rightprice.'

   She stepped away and returned to her chaise longue.She settled herself down before continuing in a voice nowrich with confidence.

   `This is a big city and there's room for both of us. Atleast there will be if he withdraws from certainneighbourhoods and lets my people take over. Tell him Iexpect a first offer within twelve hours. And he'd bettermake it a good one!'

Nikki hadn't heard anything for an hour now. What washappening? She could only assume that things were notgoing well, but without contact from her friends she hadno clue what to do next.

   She had reacted instinctively to warn the Widow of thedanger in the suitcase, but that act of humanity seemed tohave backfired. The Doctor and the Judoon Commanderhad entered the Widow's base and just disappeared.Meanwhile, she was lurking around the access tunnels andventilation shafts of the Casino like a rat in thewainscoting. It was like the business with her Dad. Thebest thing she could do was not to worry and keep busy.She decided that her best bet was to keep close tabs onUncle and his people.

   The crawlspace in the ceiling had become quite

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uncomfortable, so Nikki had managed to find somewhereto climb back down. Then, making sure that she wasn'tseen by anyone, she explored the various rooms that madeup this level of the building. There were guest rooms,mainly dormant, storerooms and various family spaces.There was also a room that reminded her of a meetingroom or boardroom. It had seating for twelve at a large,highly polished table, surrounded on three sides by wallsdecorated with large screens. At the rear of the room werea number of sideboard-style cupboards, mostly filled withcrockery.

   Suddenly, Nikki heard the sound of approachingvoices. As they came closer, she recognised theunmistakable tones of Uncle himself. Were they comingtowards her? Of course they are, she told herself, so makeyourself scarce. There was only one door to and from theroom and no time to get on the table to access thecrawlspace. She had little choice it was either hide underthe table itself or squeeze into the cupboards. Nikki tookanother quick glance at the cupboards and realised thatthey really weren't a viable option. She got on her handsand knees and crawled quickly under the table. It was ovaland it bulged out quite widely in the middle, making anarea that offered a degree of cover. As long as no onecoming in had really long legs, she would be OK. Hidingunder the table, she thought to herself with a grin. Whatwould Dad say to that?

The Doctor was looking at the wound in Taron's leg.There was indeed no blood, just a rip in the skin and

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underneath that...

    `Padding?' the Doctor frowned.

    The man who had called himself Taron smiled andreached up to his neck. He tugged and pulled at the foldsof skin around his neck and then began to pull his face off.It was a mask; a brilliant, lifelike prosthetic face.Underneath was a much thinner-faced man with the samelively eyes and grin as Taron but with radically differentfeatures.

    `Detective Jupiter, I presume,' said the Doctor holdingout a hand. `I know your daughter.'

    Nikki's father was continuing to remove his disguise.Underneath the padding and the Taron costume, he waswearing a lightweight suit. `Excuse the smell,' he told theDoctor. `It's pretty hot in that get-up.'

    `I can imagine,' smiled the Doctor.

    `Call me Conrad,' said the man, finally shaking theDoctor's hand.

    `How long have you been undercover, Conrad?' askedthe Doctor.

    `Weeks. Tough case,' explained Conrad Jupiter. `Andit's been so full-on I've not been able to get word toNikki. How is she?'

    The Doctor pulled a face. `Well, OK,' he answered. `Atleast I think so. It's a bit complicated. She's kind of got atough case of her own. And me and the Judoon are tryingto help her.'

    `And how's that going?' Nikki's father asked directly.

    The Doctor wrapped a long arm around the back of hisneck and scratched distractedly. `Not too well,' he

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confessed. He frowned as another thought hit him.

    `So tell me, what exactly were you undercover to findout?' he asked casually.

    Conrad smiled. `Something, anything, about theWidow, of course.'

    `Any luck with that?'

    `I've found out lots. About the Widow's operation,about the things that have been happening at Terminal 13,lots of stuff,' Conrad told the Doctor with some pride.

    `But not who she really is or the real reason for herdetermination to bring down Uncle?' the Doctor pointedout, slightly deflating the detective. He shook his headsadly.

    The Doctor turned away and began examining thewalls for signs of weakness. `She's Uncle's daughter,' hesaid casually, turning around to enjoy the look on thedetective's face.

    `Hope?!'

    The Doctor nodded. `Hope,' he repeated, and watched abizarre set of expressions cross the man's face as heabsorbed the information.

    `But... what... she...' he spluttered on for a longmoment, starting and stopping a dozen responses beforesitting back down on his seat and shaking his head inamazement. `A disguise?'

    `Not quite as involved as the one you've been wearing but a wig, change in make-up, different posture, bodylanguage. She's quite an actress,' explained the Doctor.

    `But you saw through her,' Conrad was impressed.

    `It's all in the hands,' the Doctor told him with a smile.

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`Very hard to disguise hands.'

   Conrad looked up at the Doctor, wide-eyed, shaking hishead in amazement. `Now you've told me, I can see it,' heagreed. `At least I can see the how... but what about thewhy?'

   `Dads and daughters,' muttered the Doctor by way of areply. `Difficult relationship. Can be, anyway...'

   `So this crime war all these deaths and beatings andgang warfare it's all about a father and his daughter withrelationship issues!'

   The Doctor nodded. `If only they could go on daytimeTV and resolve things that way,' he joked. `"My Dad's ACrime Lord but he wants me to go to Finishing School",that sort of thing!'

   Conrad stopped laughing as a fresh thought hit him.

   `But the Widow's sent that case back to Uncle. Whywould she do that? Unless...' he began.

   `Unless she's tampered with it in some way,' continuedthe Doctor, following Conrad's train of thought.

   `That virus could be released at any time. We need toget out of here and make sure Uncle doesn't open thatcase,' declared Conrad Jupiter determinedly.

   The Doctor smiled approvingly. `Right, then. Firstthings first. How exactly do we get out of here?'

From her new hiding place, Nikki watched as variouspairs of feet entered the room and took seats. Mostseemed humanoid wearing trousers and shoes, but onepair of feet, dressed in heavy boots, had a distinctly alienlook. Nikki grinned to herself as she heard the now

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familiar tones of the Judoon Commander.

    `With the compliments of the Widow,' announced theJudoon formally, putting something down on the table.

    Nikki wondered what it could be.

    `The Invisible Assassin,' the Judoon continued,answering Nikki's unspoken question. `The Widow thinksit the weapon of a coward.'

    Nikki could hear the sharp intake of breath that gaveaway Uncle's reaction to this statement.

    The Judoon continued without pausing or allowingUncle to get a word in. `The Widow wanted me to pass onher terms for not letting the facts about your cowardlyattack become public knowledge.'

    Finally Uncle spoke. In a voice trembling with rage hedemanded to know what she meant by terms.

    `What does she want from me?' he demanded.

    The Judoon explained. `She wants a deal. "A slice ofthe action" that is the phrase she used. A much biggerslice.'

    Uncle grunted, as he processed the information. He wasunable to take his eyes from the suitcase. Why was it backhere? How could she have known? He refocused hisattention on the alien's words. The Widow wanted a lot.

    `And while we are talking of deals,' the JudoonCommander pressed on, `what of the girl?'

    Uncle's eyes remained focused on the suitcase. `Girl?What girl?'

    Charming, thought Nikki to herself.

    `You held our friend hostage,' the alien reminded him.

    `Never mind her, why didn't the Widow woman open

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the suitcase?' he demanded.

   The alien looked back at him impassively, the narroweyes set deep in his giant head regarding Uncle withoutblinking. There was a movement in the shoulders thatmight have been a shrug but might just as well have beenthe massive creature breathing.

   `She should be dead,' insisted Uncle.

   `The Widow is most certainly not dead,' the alienintoned, and made a sound which might have been alaugh. `She said there had been a mistake. She'd beenunder the impression that this was a gift to her from youbut now she realises her error she asked me to return it.Now my friend. Where is she?'

   Uncle nodded to the two heavies who lurked near to hisdesk. Both drew their weapons in preparation.

   `She escaped,' he replied eventually. `I don't knowwhere she is now. Take him!'

   The last was an order to his two underlings. They firedtheir weapons simultaneously, launching high-voltageelectric shocks that hit the Judoon before he could beginto take any evasive action. Instantly, the alien lostconsciousness, toppling over like a dislodged statue,landing face down on the table, and embedding his largerhorn in the wood.

   Beneath the table, the horn came within ten centimetresof extending the damage to Nikki's skull. She duckeddown and started to crawl away from the point of impact,fearing that the table might collapse.

   `Not so tough now, are you?' she heard Unclemuttering. `Right, gentlemen. Back to business. Any reply

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from Golightly yet?'

    Nikki heard no answer and could only assume that anyreply had been a shake of the head judging by Uncle'sresponse.

    She heard him sigh heavily. `What will it take beforethey close that place down? It should have closed the dayit opened. All that lost luggage, all the delays, they shouldbe on their knees.'

    For a moment Uncle was silent, lost in thought andthen, without warning, he slammed down his palms on thetable. Nikki nearly jumped out of her skin.

    `Activate the devices. If they won't close the placebecause of operational problems, perhaps a series ofdevastating terrorist attacks might change their minds.'

    `What about the alien?' asked one of Uncle's men.

    There was a long pause and then a throaty laugh asUncle came up with an answer.

    `Let's kill two birds with one stone,' she heard him say.`We'll chain him up to the biggest bomb of the lot andsplatter him across the whole terminal!'

    Nikki's blood turned to ice in her veins as she listenedto Uncle's next statement.

    `One hundred separate explosions all over Terminal 13 if that doesn't get their attention, nothing will. TheWidow is nothing in this City, this is my territory, andafter tonight everyone will remember that.'

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    The Doctor had tapped and listened to the solid-

    sounding brick walls, examined the low ceiling with

    similar care and then turned to the floor. While Conrad

    watched, he knelt to examine the floor covering. It

    appeared to be old faded carpet. The Doctor scurried

    across to the wall and tried to insert his fingers between

    the edge of the carpet and the wall itself.

       `So what did you find out about Terminal 13?' he asked

    unexpectedly.

       Conrad was wrong-footed. `Sorry?'

       The Doctor gave the carpet a tug, but hadn't freed

    enough to get sufficient grip. `You said you'd found out a

    lot about what's being going on at Terminal 13.'

       Recovering, Conrad nodded. `Yes, you could say that.'

       `Who's behind it then the Widow or Uncle?'

       `What makes you think it has to be one of them?' asked

    Conrad, his surprise at the question evident in his voice.

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   The Doctor grunted and pulled at the carpet again. Thistime it moved, ripping clear of ancient dried-out glue.`Call it a hunch.'

   `You don't believe it's the work of the direct-actionbranch of an environmental protection protest group,then?'

   The Doctor looked up from his struggle with the carpet.`Feel free to lend a hand,' he suggested.

   `Sorry,' Conrad said, bending down to aid the Doctor inhis task. Together, the men managed to pull the carpetfurther from the floor.

   `It seemed clear to me that the missing luggage and theother problems were part of an organised pattern,' theDoctor explained, `but I don't think that it's down to anykind of protest group. That sort of direct action tends to bemore... spontaneous and sporadic. This has beenrelentless, cumulative...'

   Slowly, the pair peeled the carpet back, rolling it up andrevealing wooden floorboards below.

   `You asked Uncle or the Widow; it was Uncle,' Conradtold the Doctor, who raised his eyebrows at theinformation.

   `And the motive?' asked the Doctor. `Why wouldUncle want Terminal 13 shut down?'

   `Uncle wouldn't,' smiled Conrad. `But Salter does.'

   `The man who built the place?'

   Conrad was nodding again. `He over-extended himself,apparently. Spent a fortune to build it, and now he can'tafford to run it.'

   `But surely when it's operational it's making some

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money. Why would having it closed be of any use to him?'asked the Doctor, genuinely confused.

   He pulled his sonic screwdriver from an inside pocketand, after making a minute adjustment to the almostinvisible controls on the device, he began using it toremove the nails from the floorboards.

   Without needing to be told, Conrad began helping theDoctor lift the floorboards as the securing nails wereremoved.

   `Economics, isn't it?' Conrad ventured. `You're right.Common sense says keep the place open and keep somecash flow going, but it doesn't quite work like that.Basically, it's one of the oldest cons in the book... IfTerminal 13 hadn't opened on time, Salter would havebeen hit with financial penalty payments that would havebankrupted him three times over. So it had to open when itdid, come what may. Once that had happened, if it wasthen forced to close down, say for operational reasons ordue to external factors like, well, sabotage or violentprotests or something like that...'

   Enough floorboards had been removed now to revealsome space underneath the floor the bare bricks of theold tunnels the storerooms had been built into. The Doctorgrinned and finished Conrad's sentence for him.

   `Then there would be a massive insurance payout!' Hedropped down into the hole.

   `Exactly,' Conrad called after him. `Like I said, it's theconman's classic the insurance scam.'

   `But on a really large scale,' commented the Doctor,popping his head out of the hole. `Are you coming?'

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   Conrad followed the Doctor down the hole and into thedarkness beyond.

To Nikki's great relief, Uncle's musclemen had managedto remove the Judoon from the table without damaging it or the Judoon further. She'd watched from the far endof the underside of the table as four of Uncle's strongesthad struggled to lift the unconscious alien onto a trolleyand then wheeled him away. As soon as she was sure thatthe room was empty again, Nikki emerged from herhiding place and stretched gratefully. She seemed to havespent an awful lot of time recently in confined spaces andwas looking forward to a shower and standing upright fora change.

   First of all, though, she knew she had to do somethingabout these bombs. From what she had gathered, Unclehad planted a hundred bombs in various locations aroundthe new Terminal 13. Listening to Uncle discussing thiswith his men, she'd discovered that these devices hadbeen placed months or maybe years ago during theconstruction of the new facility. They were like sleeperagents, ready to be woken when needed. And that'sexactly what he had done just now: a signal had been sent,priming each device and initiating a countdown.

   Nikki knew that the most important thing was to getsome kind of warning out, but the more information shecould give the authorities the better. Surely there must besome more data on these devices, maybe even somerecord of where they were located. And her currentposition, inside Uncle's headquarters, was the perfect

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place to find any such details.

   Nikki moved out of the boardroom and started lookingfor somewhere with a computer terminal. Luck seemed tobe on her side. Ever since her encounter with themysterious Taron, things seemed to have been going rightfor her. She quickly secured the door of the room andactivated the computer. Her dad had trained her in everyaspect of IT from a very early age, claiming thatinformation was the prime currency for a detective andthat access to the wealth of information held on computerswas a vital element in most investigations. Now was thetime to put that training to the test.

The tunnel under the floorboards had been dark andunpleasant, but that had only been the beginning. TheDoctor had soon found an access shaft leading to furthertunnels, and together the detective and the Time Lordslowly descended further into the real underworld of NewMemphis.

    The lower they travelled, the more primitive the tunnelsbecame, not to mention smaller and wetter. The only lightcame from the Doctor's multifunctional tool, the sonicscrewdriver. Its pale blue glow managed to infect thedarkness and allowed Conrad to make out his immediatesurroundings but not, thankfully, the precise shapes of thesmall creatures that skittered and squealed around theirfeet as they moved through the tunnel.

    To pass the time, the Doctor had been telling Conrad alittle of their adventures thus far. Conrad was pleased thatNikki had fallen in with such good company, although he

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confessed to having had his doubts about the rhino-headedalien.

   `I know what you mean,' agreed the Doctor. `I think Imight have been a bit quick myself. Not like me to judgeon appearances, don't like to do that as a rule. But you seethose Judoon, marching about in those suits, and you justcan't help yourself.'

   `The one you've been working with seems OK, though,doesn't he?' Conrad suggested.

   The Doctor grunted. `Yeah, I really got him wrong.He's a bit of a joker on the quiet you know.'

   `Really?' Conrad couldn't quite believe that.

   `Yeah,' continued the Doctor, `I reckon he should giveup the galactic law enforcing and try a bit of stand-up. Ah,here we are.'

   The Doctor held the sonic screwdriver high in the air,its blue light revealing a rusty metal ladder whichdisappeared upwards into a tall shaft.

   `Bit of a downdraft,' mused the Doctor. `Reckon that'sthe way out then. Who's going first?'

Nikki didn't know whether to laugh or cry. On the onehand, she'd succeeded beyond her wildest dreams shehad a full list of the locations for the bombs. But she alsohad details of the time fuses on each one.

   The devices had staggered detonation times and, if theinformation she had was correct, the first of those bombswould explode just three hours after the priming signal.How long was it since she had been in the boardroom?How long before that first explosion would tear through

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the terminal building?

    Nikki looked at her communicator. Who to call? Halfthe police force were in the pocket of Uncle or the Widowor both. What about the authorities at the spaceport? Butwith the defection of General Moret, the securitydepartment would be in a mess. If only the JudoonCommander were with her at least he'd be able to calldown his legions.

    That was it. The Judoon! Their ships were in orbit.They had teleport capability. And they had the manpower.All she had to do was make contact. She knew that therewas no way her handheld communicator was up to thetask. She'd need something a little more powerful thanthat to make her call. Would Uncle have somethingsuitable? Could her incredible streak of luck hold out?

    Nikki set off to look and, to her delight, it seemed thatUncle did indeed have just such a facility in this verybuilding. But that was as far as her luck held. Thecommunications room was permanently manned.

    Currently there was a young man on duty, sitting at themain console, flicking through various channels including,Nikki noted with interest, police surveillance cameras andthe security system at the spaceport. She was sure shecould use this system to make contact with the Judoonship, but she had to do something about the young manfirst. Come on, girl, she told herself. He's a man. Youknow how stupid they are.

    She knocked at the door and composed herself into avision of innocent confusion. Pitching her voice higher,she asked innocently, `Excuse me, can you like help me or

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something?' The man swivelled in his seat to face her. Hewas younger than she had first thought.

   She smiled sweetly at him and opened her eyes wider.`Oh, I'm sorry, I can see you're busy...' Nikki turned towalk away, hoping she hadn't overplayed it.

   `No wait,' said the young man.

   She turned back quickly and took a step into the room.

   `What are you doing here?' he demanded.

   `I'm looking for the gaming hall. I went to the ladiesand got lost... I think I got in the wrong lift,' sheexplained, maintaining her role perfectly.

   `You really did,' the man replied, and to her relief hegave her a smile. `What's a nice girl like you doing in acasino anyway?'

   He got to his feet and started to cross the room towardsher. Nikki gulped. She hadn't prepared this role in depth.She thought fast.

   `I'm here with some girls from the office. It's Bali'shen do. I've never been anywhere like it. Isn't it exciting?'

   She allowed the guy to put a hand on her elbow andlead her back into the corridor.

   `I guess first time it is. After that it's a bit dull, if youask me,' confessed the young man. He took her towardsthe lifts. `I'll get you back to your friends, don't worry.'He jabbed a finger at the control to call the lift.

   `Oh, but I don't really like lifts,' Nikki squealed,shivering as if in fear. `Can I take the stairs?'

   The man sighed, and again Nikki worried that shemight be overegging the pudding, but he just crossed thehall and opened a door.

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   `Stairwell's down here,' he said with just a hint ofimpatience.

   Nikki hurried across the hall and screamed, pointinginto the stairwell. `What's that? Is it a rat?'

   The man leant forward to look in the direction she waspointing and she karate-chopped him on the back of theneck. The unfortunate technician went down like a sack ofbricks. Nikki ran back to the communications room. Aslong as no one else was using the stairs and who didthese days she should have enough time to make hercall.

   She shut the door behind her and, checking with hercommunicator where the Judoon Commander had storedthe Judoon contact details earlier, she started to enter thefrequency into the console.

The Judoon Commander stirred and began to open hiseyes. It had been a long time since an enemy had renderedhim unconscious. In fact, now that he thought about it, thelast time he had been forced into unconsciousness hadbeen in an undisciplined ruck during Basic Training, andthat had been due to a pair of senior recruits double-teaming to take him down from behind.

   He opened his eyes just a little at first in case he wasbeing watched, but it was immediately clear that he wasalone. Wherever he was, it was quite dark and cool.

   He opened his eyes further and tried to move his headbut discovered that he was chained tightly to a metalfixture. Near him, he could see a pack of explosivesattached to an electronic timer. A small digital display

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showed a countdown. 1:31. Did he have ninety minutes orninety seconds? He tried to pull at the chain but withoutany success.

   The chain was made of thick metal links and waswrapped around his limbs and neck multiple times. Hisopportunity for movement was negligible. If he had beenconscious whilst being chained he might have been able tomake it harder for his captors to tie him so tightly, butinstead he was as trussed up as it was possible to be. Therewas no way he was going to get out of here withoutassistance.

   All he could do was hope that the Doctor and Nikkiwould find him and soon. He looked over at the readout.1:30. Ninety minutes then.

   Ninety minutes to live.

Talking to the Judoon fleet proved to be harder than Nikkihad originally imagined.

   `Ro, Mi, Do, Ro-Ma,' the Judoon had barked at her, assoon as a visual connection was established. Having spentsome time with the Judoon Commander, Nikki could seehow different the individual Judoon were. This one lookedmuch younger than `her' one, with smaller tusks and lesswrinkly skin. He also seemed a little bit dimmer.

   `Er, hello. Do you speak Standard?'

   The Judoon on her screen frowned and then fiddledwith something off screen. She heard her voice playedback and then, to her relief, the Judoon began to makesounds she could recognise as words.

   `This is an official Judoon command channel.

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Unauthorised communication is not allowed. Immediatetermination will ensue,' barked the Judoon, quotingchapter and verse from his training manual.

    `No, wait a mo,' shouted Nikki urgently. `I have amessage from your Commander.'

    `Commander?'

    `Commander Rok Ma,' she clarified.

    There was a long moment while the communicationsofficer considered this new information.

    `Wait,' he said eventually, and the screen went blank.

    `No, don't put me on hold,' wailed Nikki but it was toolate, the screen had gone blank. Nikki tapped her fingersnervously and waited. At least they're not playing mesome annoying music, she thought.

    Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probablyjust a couple of minutes, the screen flickered back intolife. Another Judoon had now joined the first. This oneproved to be a little bit more imaginative and intelligentthat the first.

    `Why has Commander Rok Ma asked a local to contactus? Where is he?' demanded the new arrival.

    `It's a long story,' sighed Nikki.

    She patiently explained the entire situation. To herrelief the Judoon seemed to get the message, finally.

    `Upload your data concerning the location of theseexplosive devices,' the more senior alien instructed her.`Judoon bomb-disposal teams will be deployed byteleport.'

    Relieved that some action to deal with the threat wasnow being taken, Nikki's attention turned to her friends.

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The Judoon's question had been a sound one. Whereexactly had the Judoon Commander been taken? And whathad happened to the Doctor? If only her dad was with her.Nikki felt more alone than she had felt for years.

   She glanced up at the various TV screens and her heartjumped. There on one of the screens, approaching theexterior of the Casino, were two unmistakable figures.Damp, dirty but unbowed it was the Doctor and...

   `Dad!'

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    The Doctor smiled as Nikki hugged her father. The final

    part of their journey had been the easiest as locked Casino

    doors had mysteriously opened for them and lifts seemed

    to have been sent to collect them. The Doctor quickly

    figured out that Nikki had access to the control systems

    and was aiding them, but said nothing to Conrad. So when

    the lift doors had opened on the floor above the Casino

    and Nikki had been there to meet them, there was a

    wonderful parade of emotion across the detective's face

    from surprise to disbelief and then to complete delight.

       It was Nikki who broke the embrace first, however.

    Quickly she filled them in on the situation with the bombs

    and the solution that she had found.

       `You called down the Judoon?' the Doctor asked in

    awe. `And they're coming?'

       `I managed to persuade them. I pointed out that their

    Commander was in danger; that seemed to do the trick,'

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she explained.

   `Got to be careful with Judoon,' muttered the Doctor.`They'll try and arrest the whole planet if anythinghappens to him.'

   The Doctor questioned Nikki about the bombs whenshe discovered the information about their locations, hadthere been any indication of a deactivation control?

   `If they could be primed by a single signal, there's achance that they can be turned off the same way,' heexplained.

   `There was something, but it was password protected,'said Nikki.

   `Something else for me to discuss with Uncle,'muttered the Doctor, `and another reason to keep himalive. He doesn't seem like the kind of man who wouldwrite a password down anywhere.'

   `What about the Judoon Commander?' asked Nikki.She explained about his capture and what Uncle haddecided to do with him. `The bombs are on offset timers.With any luck, the Judoon will deal with most, but theymight not get to them all in time. If we can't get thepassword, Rok Ma might still be killed.'

   `Let's go rescue him, then,' suggested Conrad, leadingNikki towards the lifts. `It's the least we can do after allhe's done for us.'

Jase Golightly, bandaged and on crutches, watched thealien policemen swarming like ants all over his Terminal13, for the second time in as many days. On this occasion,however, he was quite pleased to have them there.

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Delighted, in fact. One by one, the Judoon were findingand dealing with the explosive devices.

    It was taking a long time, though. Each location fromthe information downloaded by Nikki was anapproximation, and each device had been well hidden,sometimes built into the actual structure of the building.Uncle's plans had been made a long time ago, and hispeople had been able to infiltrate the army of builders andconstruction workers who had made Terminal 13. Theseeds of the new facility's destruction had beenincorporated into its very structure. Getting at thosedevices now required a certain amount of effort. Watchingone team of Judoon dismantling a wall, Golightlywondered for a moment if the bomb itself wouldn't doless damage, but then one of the aliens had accidentallytriggered the detonator. The explosion was instant anddevastating. When the dust settled, Golightly saw that thedamage it had caused was extensive. All three aliensworking on that site had been killed instantly. And thishad been just one bomb. One of a hundred. Golightlyswallowed hard, realising just how much danger the entireterminal was in. Whatever the cost, the Judoon had to findand disarm the bombs.

    So far, the Judoon had located forty-seven of thehundred devices; one had just exploded, thirty-two hadbeen disarmed or rendered inactive, thirteen had tamper-prevention circuitry which was causing the Judoon bomb-disposal experts some problems, and the final one had justbegun to accelerate its timer when it had been exposed tothe air. Judoon were continuing to work on the device

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while some of their colleagues were evacuating theimmediate area. From his vantage point, looking out overthe terminal from his office, Golightly watched in horroras a section of wall disappeared in an orange ball of flame.

The Doctor approached Uncle's office but, before hecould enter, two familiar dark-suited, white-haired figuresappeared in the corridor and barred his way.

   `The brothers Walinski, hello,' said the Doctor. `Sorrybut I don't have time for any meaningless violence rightnow.'

   The brothers looked at each other then back to theDoctor and shrugged. They weren't interested in what hehad time for. He took another step forward and theytensed, ready for action.

   `Actually,' continued the Doctor in the same casualtone, `I never have any time for meaningless violence.'

   He took another deliberate step forwards and thebrothers, moving in unison like synchronised divers, bothstruck at the Doctor's neck. The twin blow should havekilled their opponent on impact, but there was no impact.Instead, somehow, the stick-thin interloper had grabbedeach of their arms and squeezed. Suddenly both brotherswere on their knees as paralysing pain shot up their armsand into the rest of their bodies. The Doctor released hisgrip on their wrists and stepped past the two brothers, whoknelt frozen in place like statues. Slowly, but still inperfect synchronisation, the brothers toppled over onto thefloor, out cold.

   The Doctor liked to make a big entrance whenever

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possible, so he flung open the doors to Uncle's office.

    `Right, sunshine,' he announced, `time to get serious.'

    Uncle was sitting at his desk, his chair turned around sohe could look at the bank of monitors to the side of theroom. He showed no sign of having heard the Doctor atall.

    `Oi! I'm talking to you!' The Doctor was getting a littleangry now. Still the crime lord failed to react. A terriblethought occurred to the Doctor. He moved further into theroom. The suitcase which had caused so much trouble waslying on the floor close to the desk. As the Doctor camecloser, he could see that it was open. The virus had beenreleased.

    The Doctor ran the rest of the way across the room andspun Uncle's chair round. The man was ashen and almostcompletely paralysed, but there was still life in him. Hischest heaved with the effort of breathing and his eyes metthe Doctor's, full of questions. But the Doctor hadquestions of his own.

    `Why open the case? Are you crazy?' he demanded.

    Uncle managed to shake his head a little.

    `It shouldn't affect me. It's a... targeted virus.'

    `Targeted?'

    `On... specific DNA...'

    The Doctor bowed his head, finally understanding.

    `You got a sample of the Widow's DNA and had thevirus constructed to attack just that DNA?' he whispered.

    Uncle nodded.

    `Oh I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,' muttered the Doctor withgenuine emotion.

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   The dying man struggled to speak.

   `I don't underst...' he gasped.

   `Understand?' completed the Doctor. `No, I can seethat. You're a brute and a bully. You create discord andfear and encourage the worst aspects of humanity. Andyou don't understand why people keep thwarting yourwill, and trying to close down your operations. You knowwhy that is? Because most people are decent and honest.Most people want to play by the rules. Most people wantto treat other people fairly.'

   `Like my Hope...' Uncle suggested, his words no morethan a faint whisper now.

   The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, taken aback bythe depth of the man's ignorance.

   `Hope? Your daughter, the teacher in the pretty dresses,with the perfect manners? She's the reason you're in thisstate!'

   The Doctor could see that Uncle had no idea what hewas saying.

   `You commissioned an invisible assassin, a DNA-coded virus to take out the Widow, Madame Yilonda? Butwhen it came back to you and she was still alive, you hadto have a look yourself, didn't you? See if something hadgone wrong. But it hadn't. The system was still intact untilyou went and opened the box. And then the virus attackedyou.' The Doctor paused. `Why do you think it did that?'

   The Doctor saw the poor man's eyes widen as theimplication sank in.

   `Yes, because you share the same DNA as the Widow.Your enemy Yilonda is Hope your daughter.'

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   The Doctor sat on the desk and let this sink in. `Tell methe password to stop the explosions. Make the last thingyou do a good thing.' He knelt to look the dying man inthe eye. `Please. Haven't enough people died?'

   The crime lord looked as if he was about to reply, butno sound emerged. Uncle was dead. And his secret haddied with him.

Nikki and her father reached Terminal 13 to find a sceneof utter chaos. Judoon were everywhere, searching out thevarious bombs and trying to disarm them. The emergencyservices were dealing with the aftermath of the twodevices that had gone off, trying to contain fires and avoidcollapsing masonry.

   The two detectives located Golightly and cross-referenced his data on which devices had been locatedwith Nikki's original list. They quickly established that theJudoon Commander himself had not yet been found.

   `If Uncle's men brought him here tonight,' reasonedConrad, `then it must be an area of the terminal that iseasy to access.'

   `It's a secure site,' complained Golighty indignantly.`No one can just stroll in here.'

   `But that's the point,' Nikki responded. `They musthave.' She had an idea. `Can you pull up the fullschematics for the terminal the original plans?'

   Golightly hesitated. `They are not meant to be publicdocuments.'

   `We're trying to save lives not steal secrets,' Nikki toldhim firmly.

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   Golightly turned away from the viewing window andcrossed the room to his computer terminal. Quickly, hecalled up the files Nikki had requested. She then overlaidthe data on the location of the explosive devices. Conradand Nikki looked at the combined graphic closely.

   `There,' said Conrad finally, jabbing at the screen witha stubby finger.

   He was pointing at an access tunnel, at the lowestbasement level which connected to the adjacent terminals.Golightly leaned over their shoulders to look.

   `Emergency cross-terminal access tunnel,' heexplained. `Usually deadlock sealed.'

   Conrad looked at him. `How much do you want to betthat the locks are off right now?'

The Doctor stared at the viewscreen and waited. It was along shot but it was the only option he had. Unlesssomeone else knew the secret. Someone really close toUncle.

   He had made the call and asked to speak to the Widow.The receptionist at the Spa had made a big play of notknowing what he was talking about, but the Doctor hadignored the pretence. `Just get this message to her. I needto talk to her urgently. Tell her it's about Hope,' he hadsaid clearly.

   The receptionist had put him on hold and then, amoment or two later had come back and told him to standby. That had been two minutes ago. Was the Widow goingto take his call or not?

   Finally the screen flickered back into life, and he was

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looking at the face of the Widow Madame Yilonda.

   `You can take off the disguise,' the Doctor said simply.`I know who you are, Hope.'

   For a moment nothing happened and the Doctorwondered if his audio signal was not getting through, butthen the woman on the screen removed her oversizedtinted glasses and reached up to take the dark-haired wigoff her head. Underneath, her natural blonde hair wastightly coiled but the transformation was still striking.Where a moment ago he had been looking at the face ofMadame Yilonda, he was now seeing the gentle featuresof Uncle's daughter, Hope. When she spoke it was withthe much lighter voice of Hope.

   `You're a perceptive man, Doctor,' she told him.`Unlike my foolish father.'

   `Your late foolish father,' the Doctor said simply. `I'msorry.'

   He expected delight, but in fact the news seemed toshake Hope badly.

   `Dead?' she asked, obviously in shock.

   `That's what you wanted, isn't it?'

   `I- I don't know,' she stammered. `I just wanted him tocare.'

   To the Doctor's surprise, she began to cry and, as thetears fell, words tumbled from her lips.

   `He shut me out. From when I was tiny. Maybe hewanted a son, I don't know. But he never wanted me toknow anything about him or his work. It was like I didn'tknow him...'

   `I'm so sorry,' murmured the Doctor.

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   `I thought maybe when I turned eighteen things wouldbe different. That he'd let me in. But he didn't. So Icreated the Widow. As a way to get back at him...'

   She wiped a hand across her face, drying the tears, andas she did the harder edge of the Widow crept back intoher voice.

   `I wanted to be part of his life, but he wouldn't have it.So I had to find a way to force the issue. I wanted to takehis empire bit by bit until he had nothing. And then I wasgoing to tell him the truth.'

   Hope or was it Yilonda pulled herself together. `Isthat why you called? To tell me he's dead?'

   The Doctor shook his head. `I need your help,' hereplied, and explained about the situation with the bombsand the password.

   `Your secret need not come out. The Widow can justdisappear. As Hope you can take over Uncle's legitimatebusinesses and start a new life. Just help me work out thepassword.'

Golightly had not taken Conrad's bet which was just aswell for him as the massive circular metal doors to theemergency tunnel were completely unlocked. Half akilometre along the cold and dark tunnel they found theJudoon Commander. The readout on the explosive devicewas down to 9:45 less than ten minutes.

   `Don't worry,' Nikki told the Judoon Commander.`We'll get you out of there.'

   `There's no time,' he insisted. `Get away from herebefore it's too late.'

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   Conrad was following the chain, looking for whateverit was that was securing it. `Got it,' he exclaimed. Thechain was held by a single massive padlock.

   Golightly took one look at it and cheered. `It's one ofours. They must have used spaceport materials.'

   Conrad looked at him. `You have a key?'

   Golightly nodded and sent a Judoon trooper to hisoffice to fetch the necessary key.

   Nikki looked at the countdown. Eight minutes.

Hope was trying, but without success.

   `He never had a pet name for me when I was little,' shetold the Doctor, a little sadly. `I never saw him much.'

   `What about your first pet? A favourite family holidaydestination. Your first cuddly toy?' suggested the Doctor.

   Hope shook her head. `We never had any of those.'

   The Doctor snapped his fingers. `Your mother! Whatwas her name?'

   Hope stared at the Doctor, the tears rolling down herface again. `I don't know... I never knew her. She diedgiving birth to me. And that's all I know.'

   `Thank you,' said the Doctor. `At least you tried.'

   `But what happens now? To me? The virus is loose inthe atmosphere. Will it kill me too?'

   The Doctor looked grim. `I really don't know. Rightnow, if I were you, I'd leave the planet at the firstopportunity and let things cool down before you comeback.'

The Judoon trooper returned with the key, and within

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moments his Commander was free. The timer on thebomb now read 2:15. The Judoon Commander lookedaround at their position.

   `If this explodes, the damage will be extensive,' hemuttered.

   `I think I can disconnect the detonator,' said Conrad,examining the device.

   `Dad no, it's too late!' Nikki screamed.

   Conrad looked at the Judoon Commander. `Get her tosafety please.'

   The Judoon Commander nodded and picked up Nikkiin one arm. He barked something at the Judoon trooper inhis own language, and the trooper grabbed Golightly in asimilar fashion. The two Judoon then set off down thetunnel at full speed, putting as much distance as theycould between themselves and the explosive device.

   `Dad!' screamed Nikki desperately, pummelling theJudoon Commander's back with her fists, but Conrad hadalready turned back to the task at hand. The Judoon surgedonwards back towards the massive door at the end of thetunnel.

   The last thing she saw as they disappeared around thecurve of the tunnel was her father hunched directly overthe device and the glowing red numerals on the timer:1:58... 1:57... 1:56...

The Doctor returned to Uncle's corpse and gently closedthe dead man's eyes.

   `Excuse me,' he said unnecessarily, and began to searchthrough Uncle's pockets. There was nothing in them no

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wallets, no family photos, nothing. The Doctor slipped hisglasses on and looked around the desk. Nothing personalhere either. Surely he would have something. Humansalways kept mementos, keepsakes, rings...

    Of course, thought the Doctor, rings. Throughout theknown universe the ring was a symbol of unity betweenlife mates. He checked Uncle's hands. There was a ring a plain band on his wedding finger.

    He slipped the ring from the dead man's hand. It took abit of effort the ring had clearly not been removed often.Inside there was an inscription: a date and two names.Vikta and Malinda. Bingo.

    The Doctor hurried across to the computer console.

The Judoon burst out of the tunnel back into the basementlevel of Terminal 13 and put down their human cargo.Immediately, Nikki made to run back into the tunnel, butthe Judoon Commander was too quick for her and held herback.

   `No,' he said with surprising gentleness. `I promisedyour father I would keep you safe.'

The Doctor typed the word `Malinda' in and pressed enter.He held his breath and then the screen reset, giving himaccess to the override. Quickly, he sent the signal tocancel the remaining explosions.

The Judoon Commander was shaken by a massiveexplosion from within the tunnel.

  `No!' screamed Nikki. But it was too late.

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    The      Doctor had done it. The cancellation signal

    deactivated all of the remaining devices and then, at a less

    frantic rate, the Judoon were able to render each and every

    one of them safe. For a while, all was chaos as emergency

    services dealt with the aftermath of the crisis. It took some

    time before the Doctor could be reunited with his friends

    at the spaceport. When he finally found them, Nikki was

    in a state of shock and the Judoon Commander was doing

    his best to comfort her.

       `Conrad?' asked the Doctor when he joined them.

    Leaving Nikki sipping from a hot drink, the Judoon

    Commander shook his head gently and joined the Doctor.

       `He wanted to try and disarm the bomb in the tunnel,'

    he explained.

       The Doctor looked appalled. `Don't tell me I was too

    late?'

       The Judoon shrugged his massive shoulders. `There

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was an explosion. The tunnel collapsed. Rescue teams aretrying to get in there now.'

   The Doctor glanced over at Nikki. `How is she?'

   The Judoon shrugged again.

   Suddenly there was a commotion from the direction ofthe tunnel. A couple of firemen wearing brightly coloureduniforms appeared, dragging an anti-gravity stretcherbehind them.

   Nikki jumped to her feet, seeing a human form on thestretcher. `Dad?'

   One of the firemen glanced up at her. `Your father's alucky man. He'll need to spend some time in hospital, buthe should make it.'

   `He survived the bomb?' asked the Judoon.

   `The bomb never went off,' the fireman explained. `Hemust have managed to separate the detonator from themain explosives and hurl it away. The detonator went offand brought the tunnel down but the main explosivesnever fired.'

   Nikki couldn't help herself and began to cry tears ofjoy.

   `We'd better get him to the ER,' said the fireman.

   Nikki turned and flung her arms around the Judoon,who looked startled. `We did it,' she declared, giving thealien a huge hug. `We really did it.'

   Over her head, the Judoon looked at the Doctor whocouldn't help but laugh at the sight before him.

   `Just a few loose ends to sort out now,' declared theDoctor. `Like Mr Salter.'

   `That's all in hand,' said a new voice. The Doctor

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turned and saw that they had been joined by DetectiveDantin and, still on his crutches, Jase Golightly.

   `In fact, we're just off to pick up Salter now,' Dantintold them. `Would you care to join us?'

   The Doctor glanced at his friends.

   `I think I'd prefer to go to the hospital,' said Nikki.

   `But I would like to see this Salter arrested,' the Judoonrumbled, with enthusiasm.

   `Me too,' said the Doctor.

Salter was not hard to find. He lived in a massive towerblock known, modestly, as Salter Towers, whichdominated the downtown skyline. On the ground floor ithoused an upmarket mall where some of the mostexclusive designer labels in the sector could be found.Above that was a five-star hotel, and above that wereSalter's own private apartments. The building wasdecorated with lots of strange and outlandish designfeatures. Statues of mythical creatures were attached tothe roof; massive overhanging balconies clung to the sidesof the building like limpets, and the walls themselvescurved upwards, making the tower block wider at the topthan at its base. It was the most original-looking buildingin all of New Memphis.

    Armed police in flak jackets and lightweight bodyarmour swarmed around the base of the tower like ants.The Doctor and the Judoon Commander were impressedat the military-style operation that Dantin had put togetherso quickly. Time was of the essence. With the collapse ofthe bombing campaign, Salter had to be aware that his

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role in the plan was about to become public knowledge.Dantin was determined, however, that Salter would notescape justice. He knew they had to move fast. `Justicemust be swift,' he had said, with a nod ofacknowledgement in the direction of the JudoonCommander.

   Dantin gave the order to go in. The officers entered thebuilding in waves, securing and then searching each area,then each floor, before moving on.

   `Almost like Judoon,' muttered the Judoon Commanderas he and the Doctor looked on from Dantin's commandposition.

   `But is that a good thing?' asked the Doctor in a hushedwhisper.

   `Not necessarily,' the alien whispered back. The Doctorgrinned clearly lessons had been learned.

   Slowly the reports came back in from the searchparties. Floor by floor they were giving an all-clear nosign of Salter. Soon the police had moved through themall levels and the hotel above and were ready to moveon to the private apartments.

   `That's where we'll find him,' Dantin told his guestsconfidently.

   The Doctor and the Judoon exchanged looks, notsharing Dantin's confidence.

   They were not surprised twenty minutes later when thesearchers reported a total lack of success. They hadcovered all the emergency stairwells and shut down eachelevator; they were certain that Salter had not had theopportunity to escape, but nevertheless they had been

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unable to find the man. Dantin was both furious andbemused.

   `We have him on a security camera entering a lift twohours ago,' he explained, `and the lift went up. He has tobe in that apartment.'

   The Doctor and the Judoon Commander followedDantin into the building to see for themselves.

   `Which elevator did he go into?' asked the Doctor.

   Dantin showed him. `It's a private lift to the top fivefloors which are exclusively Salter's private areas; the liftdoesn't stop on any other floors,' he explained.

   Dantin was called away by one of his men to look atthe latest enhancement of the grainy security video,leaving the Doctor and the Judoon at the private lift. Thealien jabbed a thick gloved finger at the call button andthe indicator above the doors lit up to show that a lift wascoming down from above.

   `Salter entered the lift and went up,' the Judoon stated,`and it doesn't seem to have come down again, sologically the man must still be up there.'

   `And yet the police couldn't find him.'

   The lift arrived with a ping, and the doors slid opensilently. The Doctor instantly stepped inside and theJudoon followed him. He watched with interest as theDoctor produced his slim sonic device from his jacketpocket.

   `Did you notice anything about this building when wewere outside?' asked the Doctor suddenly.

   The Judoon frowned. `Only that it was bigger than itneeded to be.'

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    `Yeah, you're right,' the Doctor nodded and adjustedthe settings on his sonic device. `It's all a bit over the top,isn't it. Demanding to be looked at. It draws your eyes tocertain parts of the design. Like a magician directing yourgaze to where he wants you to look.'

    `You think it's some kind of trick?'

    The Doctor zapped the lift controls with a blast of sonicenergy. The lift responded by closing the doors. A momentlater, it started to rise with an almost imperceptiblemotion. The numbers on the readout began to rise; 1, 2,3...

    `Salter's penthouse is meant to have five floors,' theDoctor told the Judoon, `but if you actually look at thebuilding from the outside, the windows are the wrongsize. There's a hidden floor!'

    The readout reached 5 and the lift stopped. The Doctorfrowned, adjusted the settings on his sonic tool again andaimed it at the controls. The lift began to move again.`That's more like it,' muttered the Doctor, pocketing hisdevice. `Mr Salter really wants to keep his secrets...'

    A few seconds later, the lift stopped and the doorsopened.

    `But secrets are meant to be discovered,' said theDoctor with a smile.

    He stepped forward and found himself in a corridor.The Judoon hurried out after him.

    `I'll go left,' suggested the Doctor, `you go that way.But first...' The Doctor turned back to look at the lift andfired another zap of compressed sound at it from hispencil-like tool. `I'll just lock this in case he manages to

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slip past us.'

   The Judoon nodded and set off in the direction theDoctor had indicated. He gripped his weapon in his hand.Salter had been responsible for the deaths of a number ofJudoon officers, and the Commander was determined that,for Salter, justice would be both swift and deadly.

The Doctor moved slowly along the corridor, which gaveaccess to a number of rooms. From somewhere nearby, hecould hear the sound of talking. Had the Judoon foundtheir man first?

   The Doctor increased his pace and soon reached thesource of the noises. It was a large room, mostly indarkness. A massive viewscreen was displaying anewsfeed about the success of the police in thwarting theterrorist action at Terminal 13.

   Sitting in front of the screen with a drink in his handwas Salter.

   `You must be disappointed,' said the Doctor withsavage sarcasm. `No one seems to be giving you thecredit.'

   If the Doctor had been hoping to surprise Salter, he wasdisappointed. The man calmly turned his wheelchairaround, as if he had been expecting the Doctor.

   `It's not the credit I need,' Salter replied. `It's justcredit.'

   The Doctor sighed. `All this death and destruction and it's all about something as trivial as money?'

   `It's always about money, Doctor,' Salter said, rollingforwards. `Everything has its price. And everyone.'

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    The Doctor shook his head. `No,' he said firmly. `Noteveryone.'

    Salter laughed. `You're above such things, are you?Lucky you. The rest of us live in the real world.'

    `But you put money into building the new terminal why fill it with bombs?'

    `Insurance,' Salter answered. `Insurance is a way ofpreparing yourself for an unknown future. Everything inlife's a gamble, one way or another.'

    `But it's gambling that got you into trouble in the firstplace, am I right? Cards and the tables, bigger and biggerlosses...?'

    Salter shrugged. `It's not an original story,' heconfessed, `but I doubt it's been done on this scale manytimes.'

    `You owed Uncle so much that you needed to sabotageyour own building?' The Doctor's tone made it clear howappalled he was.

    `It was meant to be a win-win. Uncle would get hisstatus back, and I would clear my debts,' explained Salter.

    `And what about the death and destruction?' demandedthe Doctor.

    `You know the old saying about making omelettes...'

    The Doctor's eyes narrowed. `You just made your lastmistake, Mr Salter. A hint of regret, a little compassion,that might have saved you, but you just don't care, doyou? So now I will not be showing you any mercy.'

    `What are you going to do?' laughed Salter, pointing asmall but deadly handgun at the Doctor. `Talk me intogiving myself up?'

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   `Put down the weapon,' said the Doctor simply.

   `Make me,' replied Salter, holding his gaze.

   For a long moment there was silence.

   `You see, you are powerless,' said Salter withsatisfaction.

   The Doctor shook his head. `I don't think so. Do you?'This last question was directed at a point somewherebehind Salter. The old man spun around in his chair andfound himself looking into the barrel of a Judoon blaster.

   `For a creature of that size, my friend can moveincredibly quietly,' said the Doctor.

   `Justice should be swift,' the Judoon told the man in thewheelchair, `but it does not have to be noisy!'

   Salter started to laugh.

   `What's so funny?' demanded the Judoon.

   `You people. With your ridiculous ideas about fairnessand justice.' He spun his chair to look back at the Doctor.

   `You said you had no price. But you were lying.'

   Salter flicked a switch on his chair, some kind ofremote control, and a group of lights in the corner of theroom came on to reveal a familiar blue box.

   `Something you value quite a lot, I believe.'

   The Doctor said nothing. There was something aboutthe image that didn't ring true. The way it shimmered...`That's just a hologram,' he realised.

   `Of course. I have the real item hidden away. Alongwith all the other missing luggage. More insurance. Beltand braces. If anything happens to me, you will neverknow where. Believe me. If you want that thing back...you're going to have to let me escape.'

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   The Doctor shook his head gently. `I know where themissing luggage is,' he said simply. Salter just stared athim, his mouth hanging open. The Judoon Commanderreached down and removed the weapon from his hand anddropped it to the floor.

   Salter rolled his chair backwards, looking upapprehensively at the Judoon.

   `What's he going to do with me?' he stammered,glancing round to address the Doctor.

   The Doctor shrugged. `That's up to him.'

   The Judoon took a step forward. `Your bombs killedseven Judoon,' he told Salter. `Justice must be swift.'

   He raised his blaster and extended his arm. `But theremust be due process.'

   He lowered his aim and vaporised Salter's gun.

   `Derek Salter, you are under arrest for crimes againstthe people of New Memphis and the Judoon,' the JudoonCommander told Salter formally. `Anything you say canand will be recorded and may be used in a court of law.'

   The Doctor grinned. `In other words,' he added, `you'renicked!'

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    The Doctor and the Judoon Commander were sitting in

    a small café set in the foyer of one of the best hospitals in

    New Memphis.

       The Doctor sipped at his coffee and looked around at

    the patients and visitors passing through the open foyer.

       `There ought to be a little shop,' he murmured, a little

    disappointedly.

       `There is one,' rumbled the Judoon, pointing towards a

    door leading to a side corridor. `It's down there.'

       The Doctor shot him a surprised look.

       `I needed to buy a card for Nikki's father,' explained

    the Judoon.

       For the last two days, the Doctor and the Judoon

    Commander had been busy aiding the city and the

    spaceport authorities recover from the mayhem of the

    previous forty-eight hours. Judoon troops had been

    dispatched to make safe all the sites where explosive

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devices had been left and to make repairs whereexplosions had gone off.

   Detective Corilli had been arrested on multiplecorruption charges and a thorough purge of the policeservice was being carried out. The Doctor had beenoccupied helping the newly promoted Head of Detectives Dantin crack down on the crime syndicates that hadbeen run by Uncle and his daughter. The two organisationswere mirror images of each other, and both weredependent on the leadership of their respective crimelords. Unfortunately, both of them were dead.

   Hope had not managed to take the Doctor's advice. Atleast not quickly enough. She had been found near to thespaceport, the second and final victim of the InvisibleAssassin.

   In the vacuum created by the disappearance of bothUncle and the Widow, the two criminal operations were inconsiderable disarray. The police were able to pick up andcharge a number of people for crimes dating back manymonths, if not years. Overnight it was as if New Memphishad turned over a new leaf.

   `It won't last,' Nikki had said with considerablecynicism for one so young. `There will still be plenty ofwork for detectives like me and Dad.'

   The Doctor and the Judoon Commander had exchangeda look of concern at Nikki's words; neither of them wassure how much work Conrad would be capable of forsome time. He had survived the tunnel damage caused bythe detonator, but not without cost. He had numerousbroken bones and had suffered a lot of organ trauma.

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Although neither the Doctor nor the Judoon wanted tomention it to Nikki, his long-term prognosis was far frompositive. That was one of the reasons that they were herenow, in the hospital. The consultants working on Conradwanted to bring Nikki up to date with their latest thinking,and she had asked her two friends to come with her.

   The Doctor looked over at his Judoon friend. `Won'tJudoon High Command be expecting you and your shipsback on patrol?' he asked.

   `The fleet has already departed this sector,' replied theJudoon to the Doctor's surprise.

   `They've gone without you?'

   `I...' The Judoon hesitated, as if unable to think of theright word. `I resigned,' he said finally.

   The Doctor just stared at him. `Resigned?'

   The alien nodded. `I've learnt a new way to achievejustice... There is much work that needs to be done herein New Memphis.'

   `Well, yes, I can see that... I am sure Dantin would behappy to take you on.'

   Before they could discuss the matter further, Nikkijoined them.

   `They say you can come in now,' she told them.

The life-support equipment was discreet rather thanoverwhelming, but the Doctor could see at a glance thatConrad was in pretty bad shape. He lay in a support bedwith wires, sensors and tubes connected to variousmachines and monitors.

  `He was very lucky,' Nikki confessed. `If it hadn't have

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been for you two, he wouldn't be here at all.'

    `And if I'd let you go back into that tunnel you wouldbe in the same condition,' added the Judoon gently.

    Nikki nodded, acknowledging the facts. `Thank you,'she said simply.

    The Doctor cleared his throat. `So what will you donow, Nikki?'

    The girl shrugged. `I guess I'll carry on the DetectiveAgency as best I can until Dad is well enough to comeback to work.'

    `That could be months,' the Doctor pointed out.

    `Maybe you could stick around a little longer and helpme out?' she asked with a grin.

    The Doctor shook his head. `Me. A private detective?Sorry, Nikki, it's just not me. I'm a traveller; I've gottravelling to do... Places to go, monsters to scare, that sortof thing... But I do know of a suitably qualified candidateif you're looking for some help with the Agency...'

    The Doctor trailed off and looked over at the JudoonCommander.

    `Him?' said Nikki.

    `Me?' said the Judoon.

    `Why not?' grinned the Doctor. `Nikki needs some helpat the Detective Agency; you want to stick around NewMemphis and do some good it's a perfect fit.'

    The Judoon lowered his head, embarrassed at therecommendation.

    `You realise I'd be the boss, right?' Nikki pointed out.

    `Of course,' rumbled the Judoon.

    `And we'd need to work on some of your people skills,'

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she grinned.

    `Justice must be swift,' the Judoon reminded her.

    `But it's not just about the rules, is it?' Nikki countered.`It's about empathy, sympathy, understanding people. Ithas to be done with a little... humanity.'

    The Judoon nodded. `Or Judoonity,' he said, and startedchuckling. `Don't you agree, Doctor?'

    They both turned to the Doctor but he was no longerthere.

    `Doctor?'

    Nikki ran to the door and looked up and down thecorridor outside but there was no sign of the Doctor.

    The Judoon came up quietly behind her and gentlyplaced a hand on her shoulder. `I don't think he likesgoodbyes.'

There was one goodbye that the Doctor did want to make.He made his way back to Terminal 13 to check on JaseGolightly. He found the General Manager in a muchhappier state of mind and improving physically as well.

   The new facility was now open again (although therewere still a number of outstanding repair jobs), thebacklog of missing luggage was being dealt with and, forthe first time in the troubled terminal's history, thingswere running smoothly.

   `There's just one thing I don't understand,' Golightlysaid when the Doctor popped his head in to check on him.

   `Only one?' joked the Doctor.

   `How did you know where to find the missingluggage?'

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   The Doctor smiled. `My blue box gives off a veryparticular energy signal. I knew I could find it. And Iknew it'd be with the rest of the missing luggage. I justgot our Judoon friends to scan for it. Job done!'

   Golightly glanced at his watch. `Sorry, Doctor. I don'tmean to be rude, but I've got a media interview to give...'

   `Don't worry about me,' replied the Doctor. `I'm offnow.'

   The journalist Stacie Jorrez arrived and began settingup for the interview. The Doctor watched as Golightlystarted answering her questions.

   `So is this really a story with a happy ending?' askedthe pretty young woman as her camera-bot floatedbetween herself and Golightly.

   The lens on the bot swung around to focus on Jase,who smiled and answered in a relaxed fashion.

   `Long-distance travel is always stressful, Stacie,' headmitted, `but here at Elvis the King Spaceport, andparticularly here in Terminal 13, we are dedicated tomaking the whole process as straightforward as possible.We're here to enhance your travelling experience...'

   The Doctor smiled to himself. For better or worse,Terminal 13 was back in business. Personally he preferreda less public form of transport.

Nikki sat in her chair behind the desk at the JupiterDetective Agency and watched as her new partner showedtheir client in.

   Mrs Kellingham looked a little nervous as the massivealien figure pulled out a chair for her, but she hid it well.

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She'd been brought up to treat all living creatures withrespect and, as an experienced traveller, she was used todealing with aliens. Nevertheless, she'd never been quiteso close to anything as big as a Judoon before.

    She sat in the seat, gingerly, and waited for the younggirl to speak. Nikki pushed a small box across the desktowards the elderly lady.

    `Please open it,' she said, trying not to grin broadly.

    With nervous fingers, Mrs Kellingham opened the boxand gasped. Inside the box was her watch. Nikki felt herheart leap as she saw tears form in the eyes of the old lady.Mrs Kellingham lifted the watch out of the box and fixedit on her bony wrist.

    `I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am...' shebegan, her voice quavering with emotion.

    `It's my partner you should thank,' Nikki told her,nodding in the direction of the Judoon, who bowed hishead modestly.

    `You were the one who found my watch?'

    `We worked the case together,' explained the Judoon.`We knew that the watch wasn't at the thief's apartment,so we had to track down his fence.'

    `A third party that trades in stolen goods,' explainedNikki quickly.

    `And when we found the right fence, he was persuadedto give the watch back,' concluded the Judoon.

    `My friend can be very persuasive,' added Nikki.

    Mrs Kellingham smiled. `I'm sure he can be,' sheagreed. `He's joined your Agency?'

    Nikki nodded.

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   `Then you will need those new offices I was talkingabout before. I'll have my property manager contact you,'the old lady promised her.

   Nikki was stunned. Finally things were looking up forthe Jupiter Detective Agency.

   `That's why we do this,' Nikki told the Judoon, afterMrs Kellingham had settled her bill and left.

   `For the money?' rumbled the Judoon, and laughed hisdrain-clearer laugh.

   `For the job satisfaction,' she said slapping his wristplayfully.

   Nikki leant back in her chair and put her feet up.

   `You know I think this new partnership is going towork out just fine.'

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was wandering around thesix-sided console, adjusting various controls. He hadenjoyed his time on New Memphis. It had reminded himof something that he should never have forgotten: that heshould always look beyond the surface when dealing withalien races like the Judoon. He had made all sorts ofassumptions about the Judoon Commander, and many ofthem had been wrong. He hoped the Judoon would enjoyhis new life working with Nikki and her dad. He waslucky to have found such good people. For a moment, theDoctor stopped, deep in thought and memory. TheTARDIS felt so empty without a travelling companion.With a heavy sigh, he pulled down a lever and set theTARDIS in flight.

   The Doctor sat back on the padded seat and put his feet

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up on the edge of the console. No one else was around totell him not to. He sighed again. One day, he would meetsomeone to share his travels with him he always dideventually. He'd had a peculiar feeling for some timerecently that change was coming, he was sure of it, hecould feel something lurking in his near future, somethingbig, terrible and yet inevitable...

    The Doctor shook his head. No point moping aboutthings that hadn't happened yet. The future his future was a blank book. He had no way of knowing what it heldfor him; what monsters he might fight, what evil he mightencounter, what worlds he might see, but he did know onething... it would be an adventure!

Somewhere in the immense nothingness of the Vortex, animpossible blue box went spinning on its way...

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                   AcknowledgementsI am indebted to a number of people who have helped me inproducing Judgement of the Judoon, and I'd like to take thisopportunity to thank them all.

    First of all thanks to Albert DePetrillo, Nicholas Payne andCaroline Newbury at BBC Books, who all do such a great job, notonly on this book but across the Doctor Who range. Thanks inparticular to Justin Richards for giving me the opportunity tocontribute to the world of Doctor Who fiction once again, and a bigthanks to Steve Tribe for his excellent and efficient editing!

    I also need to thank my patient family my wife Kerry and mychildren Cefn and Kassia who have had to put up with mewandering around the house muttering Judoon catchphrases formonths on end.

    Thanks, of course, must also go to the guv'nor, Russell T Davies,for creating the wonderful Judoon in the first place, and to the designteam at BBC Wales for their brilliant realisation on screen, whichhelped make this such a fun book to write. Thanks also to TerranceDicks who made the Judoon's first appearance in print so memorable.It was an honour and a challenge to produce the Judoon's nextappearance after two RTD scripts and a Terrance Dicks book!

    Thanks, too, to David Tennant, whose energy, enthusiasm anddedication to the role has made the Tenth Doctor such a joy to write.

    The biggest thanks of all to everyone at BBC Wales, who all workso hard to bring Doctor Who to our screens. For those of us who cancount our time as Doctor Who fans in decades, the last few years havebeen an incredible time. The Doctor promised us an incrediblejourney, and he hasn't let us down. So my final thanks, if you'llexcuse the strange timey-wimeyness of it all, is a thank you for thefuture of Doctor Who! Thanks, then, to Steven Moffat, Piers Wengerand, of course, Matt Smith and all the writers who are busy creatingthe Eleventh Doctor's first series of adventures even as you read thisbook... This really is just the beginning!

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              Also available from BBC Books

               featuring the Doctor and Rose

    as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper:

                 THE CLOCKWISE MAN

                   by Justin Richards

                THE MONSTERS INSIDE

                    by Stephen Cole

                  WINNER TAKES ALL

                  by Jacqueline Rayner

                 THE DEVIANT STRAIN

                   by Justin Richards

                      ONLY HUMAN

                     by Gareth Roberts

              THE STEALERS OF DREAMS

                    by Steve Lyons

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           Also available from BBC Books

           featuring the Doctor and Rose

    as played by David Tennant and Billie Piper:

               THE STONE ROSE

               by Jacqueline Rayner

         THE FEAST OF THE DROWNED

                by Stephen Cole

         THE RESURRECTION CASKET

               by Justin Richards

     THE NIGHTMARE OF BLACK ISLAND

              by Mike Tucker

          THE ART OF DESTRUCTION

               by Stephen Cole

            THE PRICE OF PARADISE

                 by Colin Brake

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             featuring the Doctor and Martha

    as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:

               STING OF THE ZYGONS

                   by Stephen Cole

                  THE LAST DODO

                 by Jacqueline Rayner

                  WOODEN HEART

                   by Martin Day

                 FOREVER AUTUMN

                   by Mark Morris

                   SICK BUILDING

                     by Paul Magrs

                    WETWORLD

                 by Mark Michalowski

                   WISHING WELL

                    by Mark Morris

                 THE PIRATE LOOP

                  by Simon Guerrier

                   PEACEMAKER

                  by James Swallow

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                  Also available from BBC Books:

                    The Encyclopedia

                           by Gary Russell

                       ISBN 978 1 846 07291 8

                               £14.99

                 Do you know what was playing

                      on Cassanda's iPod?

                      What was the name of

                     Shakespeare's lost play?

     Where were the Slitheen planning to hide a tribophysical

            waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?

      There's no need to search time and space it's all right

    here. From Autons to Anne Droid, from Cat Nuns to Canary

     Wharf, from Plasmavores to Pig Slaves... everything you

    need to know about everything you didn't know you needed

                   to know about Doctor Who.

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                    Also available from BBC Books

                   featuring the Doctor and Donna

          as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:

                  Martha in the Mirror

                          by Justin Richards

                        ISBN 978 1 846 07420 2

                    UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

        Castle Extremis whoever holds it can control the

     provinces either side that have been at war for centuries.

      Now the castle is about to play host to the signing of a

     peace treaty. But as the Doctor and Martha find out, not

                  everyone wants the war to end.

    Who is the strange little girl who haunts the castle? What is

    the secret of the book the Doctor finds, its pages made from

      thin, brittle glass? Who is the hooded figure that watches

     from the shadows? And what is the secret of the legendary

                            Mortal Mirror?

    The Doctor and Martha don't have long to find the answers

     an army is on the march, and the castle will soon be under

                        siege once more...

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                    Also available from BBC Books

                   featuring the Doctor and Donna

          as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:

                         Snow Globe 7

                             by Mike Tucker

                         ISBN 978 1 846 07421 9

                     UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

           Earth, 2099. Global warming is devastating the

               climate. The polar ice caps are melting.

     In a desperate attempt at preservation, the governments of

       the world have removed vast sections of the Arctic and

    Antarctic and set them inside huge domes across the world.

        The Doctor and Martha arrive in SnowGlobe 7 in the

    Middle East, hoping for peace and relaxation. But they soon

        discover that it's not only ice and snow that has been

                    preserved beneath the Dome.

     While Martha struggles to help with an infection sweeping

    through the Dome, the Doctor discovers an alien threat that

    has lain hidden since the last ice age. A threat that is starting

                               to thaw.

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                    Also available from BBC Books

                   featuring the Doctor and Donna

          as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:

                     The Many Hands

                             by Dale Smith

                         ISBN 978 1 846 07422 6

                     UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

      The Nor' Loch is being filled in. If you ask the soldiers

     there, they'll tell you it's a stinking cesspool that the city

     can do without. But that doesn't explain why the workers

         won't go near the place without an armed guard.

      That doesn't explain why they whisper stories about the

    loch giving up its dead, about the minister who walked into

              his church twelve years after he died...

    It doesn't explain why, as they work, they whisper about a

                       man called the Doctor.

         And about the many hands of Alexander Monro.

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                   Also available from BBC Books:

             Starships and Spacestations

                           by Justin Richards

                        ISBN 978 1 84607 423 3

                      £7.99 US $12.99/$15.99 CDN

    The Doctor has his TARDIS to get him from place to place

    and time to time, but the rest of the Universe relies on more

          conventional transport... From the British Space

    Programme of the late twentieth century to Earth's Empire

     in the far future, from the terrifying Dalek Fleet to deadly

     Cyber Ships, this book documents the many starships and

       spacestations that the Doctor and his companions have

                     encountered on their travels.

    He has been held prisoner in space, escaped from the moon,

     witnessed the arrival of the Sycorax and the crash landing

      of a space pig... More than anyone else, the Doctor has

      seen the development of space travel between countless

                                worlds.

     This stunningly illustrated book tells the amazing story of

    Earth's ventures into space, examines the many alien fleets

    who have paid Earth a visit, and explores the other starships

      and spacestations that the Doctor has encountered on his

                            many travels...

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                   Also available from BBC Books

                   featuring the Doctor and Donna

           as played by David Tennant and Catherine Tate:

                       Ghosts of India

                            by Mark Morris

                        ISBN 978 1 846 07559 9

                    UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

     India in 1947 is a country in the grip of chaos a country

      torn apart by internal strife. When the Doctor and Donna

       arrive in Calcutta, they are instantly swept up in violent

                                  events.

    Barely escaping with their lives, they discover that the city

     is rife with tales of `half-made men', who roam the streets

      at night and steal people away. These creatures, it is said,

    are as white as salt and have only shadows where their eyes

                                should be.

       With help from India's great spiritual leader, Mohandas

         `Mahatma' Gandhi, the Doctor and Donna set out to

                       investigate these rumours.

     What is the real truth behind the `half-made men'? Why is

     Gandhi's role in history under threat? And has an ancient,

     all-powerful god of destruction really come back to wreak

                     his vengeance upon the Earth?

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                  Also available from BBC Books

                  featuring the Doctor and Donna

          as played by David Tennant and Catherine Tate:

                     The Doctor Trap

                        by Simon Messingham

                       ISBN 978 1 846 07558 0

                   UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

    Sebastiene was perhaps once human. He might look like a

    nineteenth-century nobleman, but in truth he is a ruthless

       hunter. He likes nothing more than luring difficult

    opposition to a planet, then hunting them down for sport.

    And now he's caught them all from Zargregs to Moogs,

                   and even the odd Eternal...

     In fact, Sebastiene is after only one more prize. For this

     trophy, he knows he is going to need help. He's brought

    together the finest hunters in the universe to play the most

       dangerous game for the deadliest quarry of them all.

      They are hunting for the last of the Time Lords the

                             Doctor.

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                   Also available from BBC Books

                   featuring the Doctor and Donna

           as played by David Tennant and Catherine Tate:

                     Shining Darkness

                          by Mark Michalowski

                        ISBN 978 1 846 07557 5

                    UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

     For Donna Noble, the Andromeda galaxy is a long, long

    way from home. But even two and a half million light years

         from Earth, danger lurks around every corner...

      A visit to an art gallery turns into a race across space to

        uncover the secret behind a shadowy organisation.

        From the desert world of Karris to the interplanetary

      scrapyard of Junk, the Doctor and Donna discover that

      appearances can be deceptive, that enemies are lurking

      around every corner and that the centuries-long peace

    between humans and machines may be about to come to an

                               end.

    Because waiting in the wings to bring chaos to the galaxy is

                  the Cult of Shining Darkness.

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                   Also available from BBC Books:

           The Time Traveller's Almanac

                            by Steve Tribe

                        ISBN 978 1 846 07572 8

                               £14.99

         Who are the eminent artists of the 16th, 19th or 21st

      centuries? What are the mysteries of Carrionite science?

      Where do the Daleks come from? Answers to all of these

        questions and more are found in The Time Traveller's

            Almanac, the ultimate intergalactic fact-finder.

      The Almanac draws on resources far and wide, from the

       beginning of time to the end of the universe, to provide

         information on key historical events and great lives,

    important issues in science, technology and the arts, and the

                   stories that have defined each era.

         Fully illustrated with photos and artwork, The Time

     Traveller's Almanac provides an essential biography of the

                         Doctor Who universe.

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                  Also available from BBC Books

                 featuring the Doctor and Donna

        as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:

                The Story of Martha

                           by Dan Abnett

            with David Roden, Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis,

                 Robert Shearman, and Simon Jowett

                      ISBN 978 1 846 07561 2

                  UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

     For a year, while the Master ruled over Earth, Martha

     Jones travelled the world telling people stories about

      the Doctor. She told people of how the Doctor has

     saved them before, and how he will save them again.

      This is that story. It tells of Martha's travels from

      her arrival on Earth as the Toclafane attacked and

      decimated the population through to her return to

     Britain to face the Master. It tells how she spread the

     word and told people about the Doctor. The story of

              how she survived that terrible year.

     But it's more than that. This is also a collection of the

    stories she tells the stories of adventures she had with

      the Doctor that we haven't heard about before. The

           stories that inspired and saved the world...

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                Coming Soon from BBC Books

                     featuring the Doctor

                 as played by David Tennant:

                      The Eyeless

                         by Lance Parkin

                     ISBN 978 1 846 07562 9

                 UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

       At the heart of the ruined city of Arcopolis is the

     Fortress. It's a brutal structure placed here by one of

    the sides in a devastating intergalactic war that's long

    ended. Fifteen years ago, the entire population of the

     planet was killed in an instant by the weapon housed

    deep in the heart of the Fortress. Now only the ghosts

                              remain.

     The Doctor arrives, and determines to fight his way

      past the Fortress's automatic defences and put the

     weapon beyond use. But he soon discovers he's not

    the only person in Arcopolis. What is the true nature

    of the weapon? Is the planet really haunted? Who are

    the Eyeless? And what will happen if they get to the

                 weapon before the Doctor?

    The Doctor has a fight on his hands. And this time he's

                        all on his own.

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                   Coming Soon from BBC Books

                        featuring the Doctor

                    as played by David Tennant:

                The Slitheen Excursion

                           by Simon Guerrier

                        ISBN 978 1 846 07640 4

                    UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

    1500BC King Actaeus and his subjects live in mortal fear

    of the awesome gods who have come to visit their kingdom

         in ancient Greece. Except the Doctor, visiting with

       university student June, knows they're not gods at all.

                           They're aliens.

    For the aliens, it's the perfect holiday they get to tour the

      sights of a primitive planet and even take part in local

     customs. Like gladiatorial games, or hunting down and

               killing humans who won't be missed.

     With June's enthusiastic help, the Doctor soon meets the

    travel agents behind this deadly package holiday company

          his old enemies the Slitheen. But can he bring the

      Slitheen excursion to an end without endangering more

      lives? And how are events in ancient Greece linked to a

          modern-day alien plot to destroy what's left of the

                             Parthenon?

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                 Coming Soon from BBC Books

                      featuring the Doctor

                  as played by David Tennant:

               Prisoner of the Daleks

                       by Trevor Baxendale

                     ISBN 978 1 846 07641 1

                 UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

       The Daleks are advancing, their empire constantly

       expanding into Earth's space. The Earth forces are

      resisting the Daleks in every way they can. But the

    battles rage on across countless solar systems. And now

         the future of our galaxy hangs in the balance...

     The Doctor finds himself stranded on board a starship

       near the frontline with a group of ruthless bounty

    hunters. Earth Command will pay them for every Dalek

      they kill, every eye stalk they bring back as proof.

    With the Doctor's help, the bounty hunters achieve the

     ultimate prize: a Dalek prisoner intact, powerless,

    and ready for interrogation. But where the Daleks are

    involved, nothing is what it seems, and no one is safe.

    Before long the tables will be turned, and how will the

        Doctor survive when he becomes a prisoner of

                         the Daleks?

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                   Coming Soon from BBC Books:

                 Companions and Allies

                             by Steve Tribe

                        ISBN 978 1 846 07749 4

                    UK £7.99 US $12.99/$15.99 CDN

      The Doctor has been travelling through space and time

      for centuries, showing his friends and companions the

     wonders of the universe. From Sarah Jane Smith and the

    Brigadier to Martha Jones and Donna Noble, Companions

    and Allies celebrates the friends who have been by his side

     and the heroes that have helped him battle his deadliest

                           foes. Find out:

    · How the First Doctor uprooted schoolteachers Ian and

    Barbara from their twentieth-century lives

    · Why the Third Doctor worked for UNIT

    · How the Fifth Doctor sacrificed his life for Peri

    · Who helped the Eighth Doctor save Earth from

    the Master

    · What became of Rose Tyler and her family

       And much more. Beautifully illustrated and including

          for the first time a complete story guide to the

      adventures of all ten Doctors, this is the definitive guide

                 to the Doctor's intergalactic family.

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