Ace frowned. "I don"t..."
"Just eat, Ace. Talk later."
Ace was hungrier than she realized, and she tucked in to cold meat and salad, followed by trifle and cream and washed down by champagne. The Doctor pecked and sipped at this and that in his usual birdlike fashion and so they ate together in silence, finishing the meal with coffee from a silver vacuum jug.
When the meal was over, the Doctor rose and headed for the bathroom, beckoning the puzzled Ace to follow. In the luxurious bathroom the Doctor put the plug in the enormous bath and turned on hot and cold taps together. The room filled with steam, and the sound of running water.
The Doctor perched on the wide rim of the bath, and beckoned Ace to sit beside him. "All right, fire away!"
Ace had seen enough spy movies to realize what was going on. "You think our suite"s bugged."
"I"m sure of it."
"I thought we were supposed to be honoured guests?"
"We are. Doesn"t mean they trust us."
"But Professor -"
"Look, Ace, these people live in a world of treachery and betrayal, a constant jockeying for position and power. That"s why they scare so easily.
They don"t trust their dearest friends or their oldest colleagues. They don"t even trust themselves. . . "
In a nearby store cupboard, Hemmings stood over an earphone-wearing technician. The man took off his headphones and looked up. "Nothing, Lieutenant. Just running water. There"s conversation underneath, but I can"t make anything out. They appear to be in the bathroom."
"Both of them?"
"Apparently, sir," said the technician woodenly. It wasn"t for the likes of him to speculate on the personal habits of important Reich officials.
"I offered to stay and wait on them, sir," said the waiter. "They wouldn"t have it, threw me out."
Hemmings nodded. "Here, let me try..." Pushing the technician aside he put on the earphones.
"We came here after the Timewyrm, right?" said Ace. "So what do you think you"re doing, playing top n.a.z.i?"
"Oh, do think, Ace," said the Doctor. "You"ve got a brain, why not use it?
We follow the time-path indicator here - and run straight into evidence of time tampering. Obviously it needs investigating."
"I suppose so."
"Now this is a society of top dogs and underdogs - and if I"m to investigate I have to be a top dog at least for a time."
Ace changed tack. "Are you sure the Timewyrm"s responsible for whatever"s happened?"
"Well, no," admitted the Doctor. "We may have stumbled on to a completely different time-crime - like a policeman chasing one burglar who trips over another."
"But you think it"s the Timewyrm?"
"To be honest, I"m not sure."
"Why not?"
"I told you already - it just doesn"t seem like her style."
"What style? Evil, destructive and raving bonkers?"
"Precisely. In her present state the Timewyrm"s a positive hurricane of evil.
She"ll storm through the universe, leaving a trail of destruction behind her."
"So?"
"Well, this business is too fiddly for her, too well planned. To interfere with history just enough to change the result of World War Two would call for some very delicate adjustments. A hurricane doesn"t sit down and fiddle with things. It just smashes them up."
"So why don"t we go back to the TARDIS and start again?"
"Because even if we have stumbled on a completely different crime, it still has to be investigated."
"Never mind investigating, Professor - why don"t we do something about it?"
"Such as?"
Ace considered. "Well, you said that old bloke we met was probably in the resistance, right?"
"Go on."
"Well, let"s get in contact with him, and give the resistance a hand. I"ve been doing a bit of work on intro-nine, actually, and you could rig up a few rayguns..."
Hemmings jumped, pushing back the earphones.
"Something wrong, sir?" asked the technician.
"He"s yelling," said Hemmings.
"Yelling what?"
" "No!" or to be precise, "No! No! No! No! No!" "
He replaced the earphones, but now he could hear only the sounds of rushing water.
The Doctor had remembered the microphones and was whispering furiously into Ace"s ear. "You"ve seen the state of things here, haven"t you?
Torture, brutality, oppression, starvation, all going on years after it ought to have been put a stop to?"
Ace nodded dumbly.
"And do you know what caused it?" hissed the Doctor.
"Interference with time?"
"Precisely! And you want to cure it with even more ma.s.sive interference, disaster piled on disaster!"
"And you"ve got a better idea?"
"Naturally! I propose to trace the interference to its source, and then correct it."
"Suppose it all started years ago?"
"Then we go back in the TARDIS and nip it in the bud."
"We happen to have lost the TARDIS, remember?"
"Come on, Ace, use your head. Who took the TARDIS?"
"According to that old codger it was the British Free Corps."
"And where would they take it?"
"To their HQ, I suppose. . . " Ace looked at him. "Here?"
"Right here. It"s in the cellars under guard, not far from where we were locked up."
Ace was too tired to argue. "All right, Professor, you win. What do you want me to do?"
In a low confidential voice the Doctor told her.
"I can handle that," said Ace when he"d finished. "What now?"
The Doctor peered into the huge bath which was nearly full. "Well, your bath"s ready, so you might as well use it. Then I suggest you get some sleep. There are night things in the bedroom."
"What about you?"
"Sleep is for tortoises," said the Doctor.
"Come on now, Professor."
"My dear Ace, our sitting room is full of huge armchairs and overstuffed sofas. I shall be perfectly comfortable, I a.s.sure you. I"ve got a lot of thinking to do."
Ace yawned. "Okay, if you"re sure . . . Oh yeah, something else. Why did you ask for that smoothie Hemmings to be your aide? You made such a fool of him, he must hate your guts."
The Doctor chuckled. "You"re probably right."
"Then why - "
"Because I like to have my enemies where I can see them. Which reminds me..." The Doctor leaned forward and turned off the bath-taps.
In the store room, Hemmings was concentrating furiously, but could only hear the sound of running water and the occasional garbled word. Then the noise of the water stopped, and he heard the Doctor"s incisive voice in his ear. "Lieutenant Hemmings! Report to me at nine a.m. sharp, if you please.
We have a busy day ahead."
"Jawohl, Herr Doktor!" muttered Hemmings savagely.
Tearing off the headphones he hurled them across the room.
6: INVESTIGATIONS.
Ace was being chased down endless metal corridors by a huge black swastika-wearing Dalek. Its sucker arm was thrust stiffly upwards and it was chanting "Heil Doktor! Heil Doktor!" in a harsh metallic voice. She wanted to stop and protest that this was all wrong, but she knew that the Dalek would kill her before she could explain properly. Another Dalek appeared, carrying a breakfast-tray. Ace could smell coffee and bacon...
But could she trust Dalek catering?
With profound relief Ace work up - and immediately started worrying again.
She was in a silk nightdress, sleeping between fine linen sheets. She opened her eyes and saw a hotel bedroom, decorated in a style of luxury to which she"d never been accustomed. Had she drifted from one dream to another? No, the room and the bed were real enough. So was the smell of coffee and bacon. So was the brisk rap on the door and the Doctor"s voice.
"Come on, Ace, rise and shine. Most of the toast"s gone already. . . "
After a hasty wash Ace scrambled into her clothes and emerged to find the Doctor, spick and span and apparently rested, finishing off his share of a hearty breakfast.
Despite his threat there was plenty of toast left. Plenty of everything really, coffee, bacon, eggs, and some rice and fish stuff the Doctor called kedgeree.
Ace piled her plate high and tucked in. "Do you well here, don"t they?"
"It"s the Freikorps HQ," said the Doctor. "The loyal supporters of the Reich deserve the best."
Ace looked out at the view of London, grey buildings beyond a grey river.
"What about them out there? The ordinary people."
"I"m sure they"re provided with a nourishing diet adequate to their needs,"
said the Doctor straight faced.
Ace remembered the thin tea and sawdust buns at the coffee stall. She opened her mouth to argue, but the Doctor pointed upwards and put a finger to his ears and then to his lips.
"Yes, I"m sure they are," she said, and went on munching, though with less enjoyment than before.
"We need to keep our strength up, Ace," said the Doctor gently. "We"ve got an important job to do."
"I"m looking forward to it," said Ace. Let the unseen listeners make what they liked out of that!
Overnight an a.s.sortment of garments had appeared, laid out on chairs in the little hallway of the suite. The Doctor wandered over to them and started trying things on. As Ace finished her third cup of coffee he called, "Ace? What do you think?"