Part 13 (2/2)

'The Major's just a fink, man. A big fink with bra.s.s b.u.t.tons. A major fink.'

Ray smiled. 'Pardon me, cats.' He went into the bathroom and shut the door.

There was the sound of running water. The Doctor promptly squatted down and studied the papers on the floor.

'What does it mean?' said Ace.

'No idea,' said the Doctor. It's in code.' He began to gather up the papers, folding them and putting them in the pocket of his jacket. 'Ray isn't a very good spy,' he said. 'He's supposed to destroy the message after memorising it.'

'I still don't like the idea of us helping a spy.'

'Ray is much more than just a spy. Do you remember I told you I had a long discussion with him today about physics? Well, I made a startling discovery.'

'He's a c.r.a.p physicist.'

'He's a very good physicist. Much too good. Impossibly good. His knowledge is far too sophisticated for this period in history.'

'Uh-oh,' said Ace.

'In fact it's become clear to me that this Ray Morita is actually a particle physicist from the twenty-first century.'83.

'He's a time traveller?'

'No, a dimension traveller.'

'That's why you said ”this Ray Morita” because there's more than one of him.'

'Exactly. Very good, Ace. Only one of him in this dimension. The Ray Morita from this dimension lived in the twentieth century and was a schoolteacher and a mediocre physicist.'

'And left-handed.'

'And left-handed, indeed. His right-handed counterpart from an alternate universe lived in the twenty-first century. He was brought here when they removed the original Ray Morita.'

'They?'

'He's not the only one from another dimension.' The Doctor went to the box of records where Ray had placed the Lady Silk disc. He picked it up and inspected it. Before Ace could ask him what he meant, the toilet flushed and Ray stepped out of the bathroom, adjusting his beret on his head and tugging at his shorts. Ace smelled the powerful nose-singeing aroma of his cheap cologne, which he'd clearly splashed on for her benefit. She stared at him, this anachronism, this intruder from another world.

Ray peered at her uneasily. 'What's wrong, man?' Before she could reply there was a sudden violent hammering at the door. Ray cursed and lumbered towards it. As he did so, the Doctor stepped suddenly towards the open window and, with a snap of the wrist, sent the Lady Silk record spinning out into the darkness. Ace thought she heard the crash of the sh.e.l.lac disc breaking against a nearby tree, but she couldn't be sure because at that moment Ray came back into the room with Major Butcher.

Butcher looked even more angry than usual. 'All right, what's going on here?' he said. The Doctor smiled at him blandly.

'A late night discussion about physics between myself and Dr Morita. My a.s.sistant Acacia was kind enough to agree to help us out with our calculations.'

'Yeah, that's right man, that's right, that's right,' said Ray, who was nervously circling the room, apparently searching for the incriminating papers and the Lady Silk record which the Doctor had disposed of. For a moment Ray looked bewildered, then he seemed to accept that some miracle had intervened on his behalf, and turned to Major Butcher with a tentative smile.

'So what brings you here, man?'

Butcher regarded him with contempt. 'You were pretty quick to get away from the pond today.'

'I was being shot at, man. And like I was telling these cats, I don't like to be shot at. That's not my scene. No Normandy landings for Cosmic Ray. No man. I serve my country in different ways. They also serve who stay at home 84and that's me, baby, that's me. Providing a vital part of a vital project here on the home front.'

'Is that so,' said Butcher. 'Is that what you're doing here?'

'd.a.m.n right. I didn't sign up to get shot at.'

'She wasn't shooting at you,' said Butcher. 'She was shooting at me.'

'No man, she was shooting at me,' said Ray.

'And me,' said Ace.

'She was shooting at all of us,' said the Doctor, in the tone of one placating a group of small children. The others turned to look at him with uniform affronted stares. 'I know a threat to our lives tends to personalise everything,'

said the Doctor. 'But we must be realistic.'

'If you're being realistic, then Rosalita wasn't shooting at him,' said Butcher, looking at Ray. 'In fact he went there to meet her. They were in collusion.'

'Oh, hey, that's just not true man,' said Ray, brus.h.i.+ng nervously at his goatee.

'I was just there to meet with Private Dobbsy and score some cactus needles.

Speaking of which, that's my cue baby.' Ray went to the record player and proceeded to remove the needle from the arm and replace it with a new one.

Butcher stared at him, then turned to look at Ace and the Doctor. His eyes were cold. 'You don't fool me. None of you fool me. All of you are up to something.'

'You've had a long day, Major,' said the Doctor solicitously.

'Don't tell me what kind of a day I've had,' snapped Butcher. 'I've just come from Henbest.'

'Oh really? How is the Professor?'

'Working late. He said that you'd both been fully interviewed by him and had emerged with flying colours.'

'Excellent,' said the Doctor, smiling politely.

'He said that neither of you could possibly be any kind of a security risk, and that you're both very nice people.'

'How kind of him.'

Butcher grinned wolfishly. 'This is John Henbest we're talking about here, remember.'

'Perhaps he's turned over a new leaf.'

'He didn't turn over a new anything. You got to him.' He looked at the Doctor then at Ace, a slow, contemptuous glance. 'I don't know how you got to him, but you did.'

The Doctor smiled. 'Professor Henbest would say that you're being incipiently paranoid.'

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