General West chose a cup from the tray and sipped at his coffee as the phony British officer was ushered out of command headquarters. ‘Of all the nerve!’

Outside in the corridor, Keating turned to the Doctor. ‘You know what’s going on here?’ he asked.

The Doctor nodded. ‘A little.’

‘Come with me,’ said the Captain.

‘You’re not going anywhere,’ said a voice. Captain Keating turned to find a gun aimed at his own head.

‘Warren!’ cried the Doctor. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

‘Most likely, I’m handing in my resignation,’ the FBI agent replied with a grim smile. He flicked the safety catch off his pistol and called into a side room. ‘I’ve got him.’

Clara appeared in the entrance to the room. ‘Bring him in,’ she ordered.

‘I really don’t think that’s a good idea …’ began the Doctor, but he was ignored. Warren led Captain Keating into the room and told him to lie down on an empty bed.

‘You don’t understand,’ growled Keating. ‘I want to help you.’

‘Then lie still like a good boy,’ hissed Clara as she strapped the Captain down. ‘This is the recovery room, where they bring patients after their operations. They have to be secured in case they fall out of bed.’

‘This isn’t the way it was supposed to happen,’ protested the Doctor but, once again, no one seemed to be listening.

‘Any luck?’ Clara called out loud.

Mae appeared from a store cupboard at the back of the room, her hands full of small glass bottles. ‘There’s plenty of medication,’ she said. ‘But nothing that appears to be a sedative.’

‘Sedative?’ repeated the Doctor, rubbing his brow. ‘And you need sedative to …’

‘To stop him from calling out for help,’ said Warren, matter-of-factly.

The Doctor sat heavily in a chair. ‘This isn’t good,’ he muttered. ‘This isn’t good at all.’

‘There isn’t any sedative left,’ said Captain Keating. ‘I put it all in the General’s coffee!’

Crash!

The Doctor leapt to his feet and ran back to the operating theatre. Inside, he found General Harley B. West slumped, unconscious, over his map. Doll heads were scattered all over the floor.

He returned to the recovery room, eyeing Keating warily. ‘You drugged your superior officer?’

‘Of course I did!’ snapped Keating. ‘You met the man – he’s insane. Desperate for a fight. I may not have his years of experience, but I know you don’t charge in and attack an opponent until you know what you’re up against.’

‘So why did you expose me?’ asked the Doctor.

‘I didn’t know who you really were,’ said Keating. ‘Other than that you definitely weren’t a genuine soldier. I couldn’t risk you springing whatever plan you had in mind the second the General collapsed.’

A grin split the Doctor’s face. ‘Sedative,’ he grinned, tapping Keating cheerily on the cheek. ‘Marvellous.’ He quickly began to undo the straps holding the Captain down.

‘You said you can find a way to stop these things,’ said Keating, sitting on the edge of the bed. ‘Is that true?’

The Doctor nodded. ‘I think so, yes. But we haven’t got much time.’

‘OK,’ said Keating, taking the Doctor’s hand and shaking it. ‘Then I’ll keep the General out of action for as long as I can. The rest is up to you.’

Chapter 9

‘We’re doing what?’ demanded Clara, catching up as the Doctor strode along a hospital corridor. Warren and Mae hurried to keep pace with the pair of them.

‘We’re going back,’ replied the Doctor. ‘Just like Mae suggested earlier. Sorry,’ he called over his shoulder. ‘I should have listened to you.’

‘But you said we can’t go back along Ben’s timeline,’ Mae pointed out.

‘We can’t,’ said the Doctor. ‘Which is just as well, as we’re not following Ben’s timeline. We’re following the Shroud’s.’

Clara grabbed the Doctor’s arm and stopped him. ‘Now you’re really not making sense,’ she said.

‘I’m making perfect sense,’ the Doctor insisted. ‘It’s not my fault if you can’t understand.’

‘OK, then,’ said Clara. ‘For the benefit of us slower folk, can you please explain what we’re about to do.’

The Doctor took a deep breath. ‘I’ve never encountered the Shroud before,’ he said, ‘and – as much as it pains me to say this – I don’t know how to stop them. So we have to go back.’

‘Back where?’ asked Warren.

‘To the last planet the Shroud attacked,’ the Doctor said. ‘I’m not exactly sure where, or when, that planet is, but a quick visit might give us a clue as to what their weakness is. Help us find a way to defeat them.’

‘Hang on,’ said Clara. ‘The TARDIS won’t even take off at the moment, let alone travel to another planet. How are we going to get there?’

‘The same way the Shroud got here,’ said the Doctor. ‘Through that wormhole, the end of which is currently surrounding the entire planet.’ With that, he marched away again.

‘If we’re not taking the TARDIS, why are you heading over there?’ Clara asked after him.

‘To get out of this ridiculous outfit!’ the Doctor called over his shoulder. ‘I’m about to do something very clever and a tiny bit against the rules of the universe. It’s important that I’m properly dressed.’

‘That’s a shame,’ said Clara with a wink to Mae. ‘I love a man in uniform.’

‘I heard that!’ shouted the Doctor. ‘Meet me outside in five minutes. And no peeking.’

By the time Clara, Mae and Warren reached the parking lot at the front of the hospital, the Doctor was already there, back in his frock coat and black jeans and bow tie. He was examining the front wall of the building with his sonic screwdriver.

‘How do you do that?’ asked Clara. ‘How do you get changed so quickly?’

‘Wibbly-wobbly wardrobe,’ said the Doctor with a sniff. ‘Now, this wall leads directly into the wormhole. Well, the whole planet does in fact. But this is where we’ll be going in. Any questions?’

Warren raised his hand. ‘Yes, actually,’ he said. ‘What in God’s name are you talking about?’

‘Oh yes,’ said the Doctor. ‘I keep forgetting you weren’t here from the start. Give me your sock.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘One of your socks,’ repeated the Doctor. ‘Give it to me. It’ll make everything much clearer.’

Shrugging, Warren kicked off a shoe and pulled off his sock. The Doctor took it and examined the red and blue diamond pattern in the material.

‘Ooh, argyle!’ he exclaimed. ‘I like those!’ He lifted up his ankle and laid the sock against it as though trying it for size. ‘Marvellous!’ He turned to Clara. ‘Make a note – after all this is over, we have to go shopping for argyle socks.’

Clara folded her arms. ‘Watch how quickly I write that down,’ she said flatly.

‘I still don’t get what this has to do with the Shroud and other planets,’ said Warren, slipping his shoe back onto his bare foot.

‘You will in a moment,’ the Doctor promised. ‘Now, watch …’ And with that, he pulled a pair of scissors from his pocket and cut the foot off the sock.

‘Hey!’ cried Warren. ‘They’re new!’

‘They’re still new,’ said the Doctor. ‘But now, they’re educational as well …’ He slipped the scissors away and pulled out a satsuma. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘Imagine this satsuma is the Earth, sitting all alone near one end of the solar system, minding its own business.’ He handed the piece of fruit to Mae, and instructed her to hold it up in the air.

‘And this,’ the Doctor continued, producing a nectarine from a different pocket, ‘is the planet the Shroud are currently on. But they want to get off this world, and get to Earth in time for dinner.’ He gave Clara the nectarine, which she also held in the air. The Doctor pulled a length of string from his trouser pocket and stretched it between the two.

‘To get from one planet to another in a straight line takes a colossal amount of energy, incredibly advanced technology and more logistical organisation than every personal assistant and secretary in the world, rolled into one. Ten thousand times that if you have to cross time as well.’ The Doctor ran his finger along the string from the nectarine to the satsuma. ‘But …’