‘Then it won’t take you as long to get home from there, will it “mate”,’ Donna snapped. ‘How much will it cost?

Cos I guarantee the Doctor’s not got much cash on him.

And as I already subbed Granddad tonight, I might as well do him too.’

‘One hundred.’

‘OK,’ the Doctor said.

‘OK?’ squawked Donna. ‘How is a hundred quid “OK”?’

The Doctor ignored her and leaned towards the driver.

‘But I need to get there a bit quick.’

‘Hundred and twenty, then.’

‘Whatever,’ the Doctor sighed. ‘Donna, I’ll see you tomorrow. You can get another cab home from here, yes?

Oh, and Donna?’

‘Yes?’

‘You got that hundred and twenty pounds on you?’

Donna looked like she was going to clobber him, then spoke to the driver. ‘Essex,’ she snapped. ‘Via a cashpoint, please.’

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. ‘Donna?’

‘Sunshine,’ Donna grinned. ‘If I’m giving you a hundred plus to go to a snazzy radio telescope, I’m coming along for the ride.’

The Doctor beamed. ‘Hoped you’d say that.’

And the taxi drove up towards Kensington as the Doctor and Donna made plans.

Wilf and Netty were saying their farewells, apologising for bringing the night to a premature end.

‘We’ll do this again soon,’ Ariadne Holt told them.

‘And have the actual presentation.’

‘I’m so sorry to have to dash off,’ Wilf lied, ‘but something has come up. I need to see Miss Goodhart home. Please forgive me.’

‘Nothing to forgive,’ Crossland said, slapping his back.

‘Any excuse for a dinner party, eh? Next week’s meeting?’

On his face, Wilf had a fixed smile, but his eyes told a different story. ‘I’d really enjoy that,’ he said.

Netty leaned in and whispered to him. ‘They’ll be all right. The Doctor knows what he’s doing.’

Wilf smiled at her, trying to look more reassured than he actually felt.

He wondered if he should have gone with them.

And he wondered more what Sylvia was going to say when he turned up just after midnight without them.

The Copernicus Array was in darkness when the cab pulled up in the public car park. Donna paid the grumpy driver, who headed Londonwards as quickly as possible.

‘Can I just ask how we get home from here?’ she hissed to the Doctor as they snuck about in the darkness. ‘It’s a long way back.’

‘Walk?’

Donna poked his shoulder, and as he looked at her, she motioned downwards, implying he should look at her clothing.

‘You look lovely,’ he smiled, putting his brainy specs on.

‘Well thank you, Casanova, but that wasn’t my point. I am dolled up to the eyeballs in a party frock that isn’t designed to be worn on a forty-mile trek across England.’

She sighed. ‘I had to borrow this, you know. Veena’s not going to forgive me if it gets damaged. And if she doesn’t forgive me, God knows what she’ll do to you when I tell her who it was that made me walk all that way in it.’

‘Don’t tell her, then.’

Donna gave up and tried a new tack. ‘OK, so why are we here and why are the lights off? Surely, if it’s an observatory and it’s night time, this place should be at the

height of its working day?’

‘Good point, well observed. And that’s why we’re crawling around in the car park and bushes and not marching up to the front door.’

‘But I thought your mate worked here.’

‘He does.’

‘So why aren’t we marching up to the front door and saying, “Hello, mate of the Doctor’s, you called, we came”?’

The Doctor was staring at a car parked across the lawn in the staff car park. ‘What’s wrong with that car?’

Donna peered through the gloom. ‘They don’t know how to park straight?’

‘And?’

‘They’ll ruin the grass?’

‘And?’

‘And… the lights are dying?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘So?’

The Doctor grinned. ‘Think about it. How old does that car look?’

‘New. So it should’ve beeped to tell them they’d left their lights on. So they ignored it. And if it’s that new, the thingy wotsit that makes the lights work shouldn’t lose power so soon. Dad left the lights on overnight a couple of years ago and they were still on the next morning and the car was fine. And his car was ancient.’

The Doctor walked towards the car, sonic screwdriver in hand, and scanned the vehicle. ‘Huge energy drain, locally,’ he muttered.

Donna tapped his arm. ‘Hey, you seen that?’

The Doctor followed her view. Up in the sky was a grinning face made of stars. ‘City glow must’ve hidden that on the drive out here,’ he said quietly.

‘Fireworks?’

‘Let’s hope most people think so,’ he replied.

‘Not fireworks, then.’

‘Not fireworks,’ he confirmed. ‘A Chaos Body at work.’

‘What’s a Chaos Body when it’s at home?’

The Doctor shrugged. ‘No idea. Your granddad introduced me to the concept last night. But a new star that can draw other stars across the sky into an alignment like that? Pretty chaotic I’d say.’

‘Me too.’ Donna wandered up to the front door of the Copernicus Array building. ‘Well, we’re not gonna learn much out here, are we?’ She found a number of bells and rang the one that said EMERGENCY ONLY.

Nothing happened.

‘Local energy drain, I’d guess.’ Donna smiled at him.

The Doctor sighed and caught up with her, zapping the door with the sonic and pushing it open.

Total darkness.

‘So, who’s this Professor matey of yours, then?’

The Doctor was using the blue glow of the sonic as a torch, trying to identify office nameplates. ‘Met him years ago. One of a number of people on this planet who I can turn to from time to time if I need specialist help. And they can call me if they need me, vice versa.’ He pointed upwards. ‘Professor Melville’s office is one floor up, the

array’s control room is out the back, across the gardens and turn left.’

‘Dull office or exciting telescope?’

The Doctor grinned, looking slightly spooky in the blue light of his sonic. ‘Are you trying to influence my choices, Donna Noble?’

‘Course telescope not, Doctor. I wouldn’t telescope dream of trying to telescope tell you what to do or where to go.’

The Doctor gave her a look at the last comment, and she laughed. ‘Well, all right,’ she said, ‘but not in that sense.’

‘For some reason, I think we should investigate the telescope.’

‘It’s like Derren Brown’s in this very room,’ Donna laughed.

They followed the corridor from the front door till they reached a set of French windows leading out to a patio.

The Doctor sonicked them open, and they went back out into the cool night air.

‘We’re being watched,’ Donna said after they’d been walking for a couple of minutes.

‘How do you know?’

‘My hair is curling,’ she replied. ‘That and the fact that I can see them ahead of us.’

The Doctor peered further into the gloom.

There was a group of men and women standing by the entrance to the Array itself.

Donna looked up at the cold metal structure of steps and walkways leading to a cabin that was dominated by

the bowl-shaped radar dish that made up the Array.

‘I’m impressed,’ she said.

‘By them?’

‘No, by the Array. Never seen a radio telescope before, except on the telly. Nice.’ She suddenly called out to the group. ‘Nice dish you’ve got, thanks for letting us come and view it. Is there a gift shop? Love to buy my granddad a mug with a picture on it. Or a fridge magnet.’

‘Or,’ the Doctor joined in, ‘a tea towel. Do you do tea towels? Everyone does tea towels these days. Never been sure why you’d buy a tea towel of somewhere, but there you go.’

No response from the group.

‘I’m actually looking for a Professor Melville,’ the Doctor continued. ‘Is he here? Is he all right?’

A small man with a scar on his cheek stepped forward.