"Anyway, never mind me and my news, what about you? How are you enjoying the teaching?"
Barbara smiled. She replaced the cup of coffee she had been sipping from.
"I love it. I think I'm really going to enjoy myself at this school."
Linda grinned back at her. They were sitting towards the rear of the Lyons Coffee House, each with a cup of coffee and an empty plate that had once held their lunches.
"No problems then? No difficult pupils?"
Barbara thought for a moment before replying. "Well, not difficult as such..."
"But?"
Sighing, Barbara decided to tell her Cousin about the strange girl in class 5C.
"There is this one girl, Susan. She's, well, odd."
"Odd how? She's not got two heads or something, has she?"
Barbara chuckled. "No, it's not that bad. She just has some strange ideas."
Now Linda was intrigued. "In what way?"
"Well, for a start, she thought we were on a decimal system. She didn't seem to understand pounds, shillings and pence."
"Maybe she's a foreigner?"
"I don't know. Then there was this other time..."
***
"Today we will be learning about King John and the Magna Carta. In 1215, the barons forced the King to sign a charter that secured..."
A hand had gone up in the classroom. Barbara nodded to its owner.
"Yes, Susan?"
"He wasn't, Miss," Susan said.
Barbara was mystified. "Who wasn't what, Susan?"
"The King, Miss. He wasn't forced into signing anything. He was as in favour of the charter as anyone else!"
Barbara sighed. "Don't be ridiculous, Susan. King John didn't want to see his powers as King being reduced, so he was opposed to signing anything that took those powers away. He was against Magna Carta."
"No, Miss, you're wrong. I know."
"What could you know? The history books clearly state..."
"They're wrong too," Susan exclaimed. "Grandfather says that history is always written by the winning side."
"Then maybe I should meet your Grandfather."
All the colour drained from Susan's face. "That would be impossible."
"Why?"
"Because he doesn't like strangers," Susan said quietly.
One of the boys in the class, Charlie Hughes, put on a West Country accent. "We don't like strangers round 'ere!"
"That's enough, Charlie," Barbara said sternly, stemming the tide of giggles that threatened to engulf the class. "Susan, please see me after the lesson."
"Yes, Miss," Susan replied quietly.
"Now, let's get back to the lesson, shall we?"
***
"So, what happened when you talked to her after class?" Linda wanted to know.
Barbara shrugged. "Not much. She apologised profusely and said she was wrong, she had been saying it to look good with her friends. But I didn't believe it."
"Why not? It sounds quite plausible."
"There was a conviction about her when she was arguing with me that wasn't there when she said sorry. Like she didn't really mean the apology and thought she was still in the right."
"Did you speak to this Grandfather of hers?"
Barbara shook her head. "I decided to let the matter drop. I don't want to get her into trouble."
"Is he her legal guardian? What about her parents?"
"I'm not sure. I think her parents are probably dead. As far as I can tell, she lives with this Doctor Foreman, her Grandfather."
"I think you should talk to the old boy. Maybe she's finding it difficult, coming to terms with the loss of her parents. He might not be aware of any problem."
Barbara thought about that for a minute or so. Then she made a decision. "You're right. I'll go round and see him one evening."
***
Susan handed her Grandfather the magnetic clamp, as requested. She heard a grunt of effort from under the console.
"Can I help down there?" she asked.
"I'm quite alright, thank you," came his voice, muffled by the electronics spilling out from underneath.
A moment later the magnetic clamp appeared again over the top of the console. Susan grasped the tool and returned it to the kit.
The hand remained, empty. The muffled voice requested, "Neutron Ram."
Again, Susan selected the tool and placed it in the hand, which then disappeared from view.
"How are the repairs going?" she asked, loudly enough for him to hear inside the working of the console.
"There is still a lot to do, my dear," he replied. The hand reappeared, clutching the Neutron Ram. Susan went through the routine again.
"Could I have the Influx Booster Stabiliser?" She passed the tool across and once more the hand vanished.
"So we should be here for a while yet?" she inquired.
"Hmmm?" was the reply.
"I said we will be here for some time," Susan said, slightly louder.
"Oh, yes, I should say we'll be here until at least Christmas on the Earth calendar," came the voice from under the console.
The voice was followed be the white haired form of her Grandfather, rising from the floor of the console room, the Influx Booster Stabiliser in his hand and a smudge of dirt on his cheek.
"There, that should have the auxiliary power circuits back up and running."
Susan's fingers flew over the controls closest to her. She smiled at him in confirmation.
He sighed in contentment. "Another little job completed. Now, I think it's time we had dinner, don't you?"
***
Barbara knocked briefly on the door and pushed it open far enough to put her head round. The woman at the desk paused in her typing and looked over her glasses at her visitor.
"Hello, Miss Wright. What can I do for you?"
Barbara smiled. "Hello, Margaret. I was wondering if you could find me an address?"
Margaret returned the smile. "Of course. Who were you wanting?" She turned to a low table, on which rested the morning registers and a card index.
"Susan Foreman. Class 5C."
Margaret flicked through the card index, stopped, retrieved a fountain pen and notepad, wrote briefly and handed the result to Barbara.
"Will there be anything else, Miss Wright?"
"No, thank you Margaret, this will be fine." She folded the paper and slipped it into the pocket of her cardigan.
***
The Doctor stepped out of the cafe and looked around himself. And smiled.
Yes, he could see why Susan liked it here so much. Even he found the simplicity of life here quite refreshing. So many of their travels had been hectic, rushing around trying to find a way out of a tricky situation. Never time to stop and admire the scenery, to smell the roses and pause for a while.
Not that the scenery here was anything special. An ordinary street with houses, a couple of shops and Harry's cafe. But he liked it. So much so that it had become his evening routine. A cup of tea and a chat with Harry, the owner. A refreshing change indeed.
There was still much to do with the repairs to the Ship and Susan would be out with her friends, as she was so often these days, so he wouldn't have help. He set off back towards Totters Lane and the TARDIS.
***
Barbara got off the bus and looked around. Her eye was caught by a street sign opposite. Totters Lane. That was the one she was looking for. Checking first for traffic, she crossed the road.
She walked down, checking house numbers as she went. Fifty Two. She was on the right side of the street at least.
Consulting the piece of paper, she confirmed she was looking for seventy six. A bit further to go yet, she decided.
When the houses ran out, she wasn't expecting it. She looked at the last house in the line. Seventy Four. She frowned.
Walking a little further, she found a pair of gates set into the wall that ran from the last house. There was a name and address painted on the gates in large letters.
I.M.FOREMAN - Scrap Merchants, Totters Lane.
She was mystified. Susan's Grandfather was supposed to be a Doctor, not a Scrap Merchant. She walked a little further, but all there she could find was the far wall of the junk yard, which turned ninety degrees into the next street.
This was very odd, Barbara decided, standing once more outside the gates of the junk yard. She placed her hand on the gate, intending to look inside, but stopped herself. This was stupid. The secretary must have made a mistake, she told herself. The name on the gate was a coincidence.
Convincing herself of this, she turned and walked slowly back up Totters Lane to the bus stop at the end of the street.
***
The Doctor enjoyed walking through the gathering gloom of evening, breathing in the crisp air of late October. Yes, he could get used to this world, he thought.
As he turned into Totters Lane, he noticed a woman walking down the street ahead of him. In the nearly three months he had now been on Earth, he had come to know, at least by sight, with the people who lived around the junk yard. This wasn't one of them.
She was probably lost, he thought. Maybe he should ask if he could direct her. He was becoming quite familiar with the streets around their landing site. Then he decided against it. She would find her way.
Without giving the woman another thought, he pushed open the gate of 76 Totters Lane and headed towards the Ship.
***
"But, what I meant to say was, well, heating the metal bar obviously causes it to expand. It's such a simple experiment. Can't we do something more challenging?"
Ian was dumbfounded. "Like what, Susan? Quantum Physics?"
Susan's face brightened. "Can we? I was always good at Quantum Physics!"
"I was being ironic, Susan. Quantum Physics isn't part of the syllabus. I'm sorry if I'm boring you with these simple experiments, but it is my job."
"What, to bore us, sir?" asked Karen White. The girls and boys around her sniggered.
"That wasn't what I meant," Ian replied tolerantly. Susan had lapsed into silence. "Susan?"
"I'm sorry, sir," she mumbled and sat down, blushing bright red.
Ian considered continuing his talk with her, but decided to leave it until after class. She was self-conscious enough right now, better not to add to her misery.
However, when the bell rang, Charlie Hughes came forward to ask him a question about their homework and Susan managed to slip out of the class without him noticing until it was too late.
Another time, Ian thought as he headed for the staff room.
***
The Doctor coasted the bicycle round a corner and into the next corridor. This was certainly one of his better ideas, he mused.
This section of the corridor looked very familiar. He had been here a few weeks ago, he remembered, on one of his exploration trips.
He pulled up outside a particular door. He remembered wanting to look inside, when Susan's voice had called him to other things. Well, it would be a couple of hours before she returned home, more than enough time to check this entire corridor.
The Doctor leaned the bicycle against the wall beside the door and pushed down the handle. The door opened smoothly, onto darkness.
No, there was a faint light, coming from the roundels inside the room. There was also a faint hum, like a powerful device in stand-by mode.
Pulling a flashlight from his pocket, he swung it around the room. When it found the casket, he gasped.
The legends of his people were many and varied. But all revolved around certain events and people. Rassilon and Omega. The Eye of Harmony. The Dark Times. The Death Zone. And, of course, The Hand of Omega.
It was just his luck, he thought as he gazed at the Hand of Omega, to borrow a TARDIS containing one of the ancient relics. No wonder they wanted it back so much. And how they had been able to track them down a couple of times in the vortex. With the Hand on board, the Ship must stick out like a sore thumb.
A frown crossed the Doctor's face. This was a serious development. He had to get rid of the Hand somehow, then they must flee this world and time. Without the Hand on board, they could stay one step ahead of pursuit for a long time.
But what to do with it, that was the question. It was too powerful to just dump somewhere.
Closing the door carefully, the Doctor climbed back aboard his bicycle, deep in thought.
