Part 2 (1/2)

'There,' said the Doctor, 'it was.'

Ace shone her torch and read the notice aloud. 'This case contained the Bow of Nemesis, property of the Crown, which disappeared mysteriously in 1788. Legend has it that unless a place is kept for the bow in the castle, the entire silver statue will return to destroy the world.'

The Doctor gazed dejectedly at the empty case. 'For once, legend is entirely correct. It has just come back.'

For a second time, the already dim electric lights flickered noticeably for a moment, then returned to normal. 'And now this,' he added bitterly.

'It's just the electricity,' said Ace. 'It does that sometimes, even in 1988. What I want to know is, how can a statue destroy the world?'

The Doctor, however, was already hurrying towards the TARDIS. Ace followed. 'No time?' she asked.

The Doctor activated the door, which opened obediently. 'I'll tell you three hundred and fifty years ago,'

he promised.

The candles were almost burnt out now and the already dark room was even more gloomy. The remains of the fire provided such light as there was. The TARDIS materialized just outside the pentacle. The Doctor and Ace crept into the room.

'Ssh,' whispered the Doctor. 'We don't know who's at home.'

Ace whispered back firmly. 'We've got a deal, Professor,'

she reminded him.

'We're in Windsor, of course,' whispered the Doctor impatiently. 'A few hundred yards from the castle.' He was already busy, searching among the shadows of the room.

Ace looked around nervously and shuddered involuntarily.

There was an atmosphere of evil about the room and, she decided, about the house as a whole. She followed the Doctor.

'And it really is 1638?' she asked.

'It certainly is,' replied the Doctor briskly. 'And furthermore... don't move don't move!'

Ace froze. She peered through the darkness, straining to see what had so shocked the Doctor. 'Don't come any nearer,' he hissed, before she could ask.

He moved forward. Behind a chair, the elderly mathematician's body lay in a wide puddle of congealing blood. The whites of his eyes stared dully up at them. Ace caught her breath.

'Whose house is this?' she heard herself ask.

The Doctor was kneeling to examine the body. 'A lady's,' he replied grimly.

'She's got funny ideas about home furnis.h.i.+ng,' said Ace in disgust. She turned away and opened the window. The night was a velvet curtain and the air was the freshest she had ever breathed. She felt a little better.

'Lady Peinforte's nothing if not original,' continued the Doctor. He picked up a scroll of calculation and examined it carefully. 'But I'm afraid this poor man was employed for his useful rather than ornamental qualities. He was a scholar.' Pulling out his abacus, he made a rapid series of calculations, checking the figures on the scroll against his own conclusions. He returned the abacus to his pocket thoughtfully. 'He's done remarkably well too,' he added.

'In a matter of months since I left here, he's worked out the exact date and time when the meteor known as the Nemesis will return. November the twenty-third...'

'1988,' supplied Ace.

'And Lady Peinforte has rewarded him with her usual generosity.' The Doctor covered the mathematician's face with a cloth and stood up.

'So the bow belonged to her?'

'To a statue of her. She had it made from some silver metal which fell from the sky into the meadow out there.'

There was a sudden creak from the corner of the room.

Ace jumped. The Doctor smiled bitterly. 'It's all right.

There's no one here now apart from our late friend. Lady Peinforte will be in Windsor all right, but three hundred and fifty years in the future.'

Ace was surprised. 'How can she get to 1988?'

It was clear that the Doctor's mind was occupied with distant problems. He spoke absently, staring at the fire.

'She'll have used the arrow, of course. She had certain rudimentary ideas about time travel black magic mostly as well as what might be called a nose for secrets.'

'So it wasn't silver, this stuff that fell out of the sky?'

The Doctor snorted with something that was almost laughter. 'Unfortunately, Lady Peinforte discovered it was something rather more unusual: the living metal validium.'

Ace looked blank.

'The most dangerous substance in existence.'

Three hundred and fifty years in the future, although, as the Doctor rightly surmised, only a few hundred yards away, the arrow glowed dully in Lady Peinforte's hand as she wrapped it in a towel from behind the counter of the Princess of Wales Burger Bar. Richard struggled with the baffling complexity of the Yale lock on the door. Latches had evidently grown more complex since his time, he thought. Lady Peinforte was, as usual, impatient.

'Now we have but to take the statue,' she said. 'The peasants will be much excited and we can pa.s.s among them unnoticed and find our opportunity to seize it. Hurry, there's no time to lose.'

The door, however, refused to yield. Outside there was another of the roars which had disturbed Richard previously. He watched in wonder as a police car sped past, its blue light flas.h.i.+ng on the roof. Sensing its purpose, Lady Peinforte could wait no longer. 'Hurry!' she yelled.

'The rogue will have the Nemesis.'

The lock, however, still refused to move. 'I have not seen the like of it, my lady,' Richard admitted nervously.

Lady Peinforte gave a screech of frustration. 'Am I to be a prisoner in my own house while world dominion waits beyond the door?' she screamed. 'I'd have got married if I'd wanted that.'

Richard was secretly not altogether unhappy that they were, at least temporarily, forced to remain in the relative safety of the building. Who could tell how many more of the roaring carriages there were outside? 'Such light without fire,' he breathed. 'And the noise. We must take care, my lady.'