Part 4 (1/2)

'Then what?'

'Shhh. Be patient. There'll be another one along in minute.'

Ace was patient. For a full five seconds.

'Another what?'

'Another sun.' She could not see his face, but she could feel the Doctor looking in her direction, and she somehow knew that he could see her.

A red glow touched the branches at the very top of the tree. It began to spread down towards them. Ace turned and peered back over her shoulder. Sure enough, a sun was rising behind her a red sun this time. When she looked back the Doctor had gone. She jumped up, walked round the grey trunk and flopped down again next to the Doctor. It was as if he had been there all his life, waiting for the sunrise.

He pointed at the glowing disc with the handle of his umbrella, holding it impossibly by the very point. 'They follow the colours of the spectrum. You've missed infra red, I'm afraid.'

Ace peered closer, and indeed it did seem that the sun was already glowing a little orange in with the red. 'How long does it take?'

'A day? From sunrise to sunset, oh, about...' He pulled out a gold watch on a chain, flicked it open and stared at it for a moment. 'Four gleebs.'

'That long?'

'Oh yes. In the summer.'

The sun continued its barely perceptible rise. It was more orange than red now.

'What's a gleeb?'

He didn't seem to hear. 'It slows down a bit as it gets higher, then speeds up on the way down.' He gestured, his hand playing the sun. They watched for a while longer.

'You've been here before.'

He smiled, but it was a dark smile with little humour in it. 'A couple of times. I staked my reputation on the beauty of the sunrise here once. Amongst other things. When I was young and fancy*free.'

'Young?' Ace was not sure the Doctor had ever been young.

'Well, younger anyway. Still young enough to bowl a good Chinaman Chinaman, but not too old to appreciate the inexplicable splendour of it all.'

'Is that why you left?'

The Doctor turned fully to her. He leaned thoughtfully on the handle of his umbrella, its point dug into the ground in front of him. 'Left where?'

'Gallifrey. You know to see the sights. Was it for ”inexplicable splendour” like this?'

It was as if he had suddenly lost interest. The Doctor unplugged his umbrella from the ground with a flourish, laid it down beside him, then s.h.i.+fted down the tree, folded his hands theatrically on his chest and lay down. His hat magically tipped itself forward as he lay back until it covered his eyes. Ace tried to peer underneath it. Was he asleep? Had she offended him? Or had he really really lost interest? lost interest?

When he spoke, nearly a minute later, just as the very centre of the sun began to edge into the yellow, it took Ace by surprise.

'I left for lots of reasons, Ace.' She was all attention. The sun continued its cabaret without an audience, 'You now, there was one tutor who wasn't such a stick*in*the*mud as the others.'

'Like Mr Briggs. He was okay. Friday afternoon French great fun. Or the weaponry officer on Belmos, not that he knew anything about weapons.'

The Doctor continued undeterred: 'I thought he might understand. So one day I went to him, after temporal engineering, and I asked him what it was all for. Why were we learning all these boring boring things? Why were we stuck in observation galleries and lecture halls, watching and learning rather than out there things? Why were we stuck in observation galleries and lecture halls, watching and learning rather than out there doing doing it all?' it all?'

'Yeah. I used to wonder that. So I went out and did it all.' She clenched her fist and her teeth as she remembered the fire and the glory. And the death. She thought for a moment of the recent stained face of Julian Winmill's mother, holding his orphaned data*pad as the tears splashed on to its casing.

The Doctor raised his hat and looked across at her as if he had forgotten she was there. 'Yes. Well, it was a bit easier for you.' He settled back into his former position. 'Anyway, he said that the theory was as important as the practice. He said that without knowing what you were doing, you couldn't know what you were doing.' His mouth smiled under the hat. 'He said I had a propensity for vulgar facetiousness. Me can you imagine?'

His voice was quiet, almost soporific, and Ace found herself drifting off. She thought about school, about home, about killing Daleks in the Hai Dow system and about sponge pudding and custard. She tried to concentrate on what the Doctor was saying, but somehow the more she concentrated, the less she was able to focus her attention.

'I tried to follow their arguments, but I still felt it wall topsy*turvy. All backwards. All theory and no reality. However exciting and interesting it is for the first half*hour, just doing the same things repet.i.tively get tedious...'

It didn't help that they kept s.h.i.+fting round the tree; the Doctor edging round to keep pace with the sun he wasn't watching as it moved overhead, Ace following the Doctor to try to hear the words she wasn't listening to. She was just wondering if he was doing it on purpose, when she realized he had stopped talking.

She did a quick back*track, trying to remember what he had last said. She thought it was something like 'And do you know what I said to her?' but she could not be sure. So she kept quiet.

The sun was a flaming ball of indigo as it continued its descent. They were back where they had started, and Ace had seen it all before. Well wicked. She shuffled her position, but it was still uncomfortable. Funny that the ground had been so soft and inviting when they had first arrived. When the sky was green and everything was new and exciting. She stole a look at the Doctor. He was leaning forward, staring intently at the mountains as the light shone off their slopes and played over their peaks. It looked as if he was set for the next thousand years.

Ace fidgeted a bit more, but there was no reaction. She coughed nothing.

'Doctor?'

Hee turned slowly towards her, the brim of his hat shading his eyes so that all she could see were the points of the pupils as they reflected the darkness. 'Hmm?'

'I'm bored shall we go?'

For a moment he was silent. Then he was suddenly on his feet, TARDIS key in hand. Ace leaped up too, dusting herself down. She hurried after the Doctor as he strode purposefully towards the TARDIS, key itching for the lock.

'You know, Ace,' the Doctor said as she caught up, that's exactly exactly what I said.' The Doctor's eyes lit up and his face opened into a huge smile. He turned the key and the door swung open. what I said.' The Doctor's eyes lit up and his face opened into a huge smile. He turned the key and the door swung open.

'No!' Benny was adamant. 'I can't accept that. I'm sorry. The damage to the fabric and whatever is actually within the theatre area, whatever artefacts remain, could be tremendous.' They were behaving more like Ace than like experienced archaeologists.

Lannic sighed. They had been through it a dozen times. 'You do accept that there is no other way? Unless we blast our way through the mud, we're not going to even get to the main complex in the time we have. Whatever artefacts there may or may not be will simply stay there.'

'Well maybe that's not such a bad thing.' Benny looked round the group, her eyes begging for some support. Gilmanuk was silent had been for the last hour. Probably too embarra.s.sed to say what he thought, and probably didn't think it would matter anyway. Tashman, Krayn and Cambri were unloading what they could into a temporary holding section immediately outside the s.h.i.+p. They had erected a prefabricated covered area to keep the rain off. It was set fairly securely into the mud. Tashman was driving a loader back and forth between the area and the hold, avoiding the debate. Cambri was sorting out the crates as they were unloaded..

Krayn occasionally wandered over, muttered unhelpful comments, then wandered off again, organizing Tashman's outbound loads. He had arrived in time to catch Bernice's remarks, and rubbed his nose on the back of his hand thoughtfully.

'I agree with Professor Summerfield,' Klasvik said, looking directly at Lannic. 'We are archaeologists. If we cannot uncover the past without destroying it, then perhaps we should let it lie until somebody else can.'

'Even the Rippeareans?'

'Yes, if necessary. Remember the damage Rumbelow and Proctor inflicted on the remains of Trajan Five great discoveries, yes, but who can tell what was lost because of their inept.i.tude? I'm sorry, but Bernice is right.' Benny noticed how he paused slightly before using her Christian name. 'We are letting our enthusiasm cloud our scientific judgement.'

'What would you suggest then? That we leave, abandon the site, and maybe it will never be excavated? Or maybe the Rippeareans will destroy it as they pa.s.s.'

'What do you mean by ”blast”?' Krayn was standing almost directly behind Lannic when he asked. His voice caught her by surprise.

'I'm sorry?'