‘An escaping prisoner must expect to be shot at,’ said Gorton. ‘How is it this prisoner seems to know you, sir?’
‘He’s mistaken me for somebody else.’
‘Are there many people dressed like you., I wonder?’
Gorton put his hand on the telephone. ‘By which military authority are you in the fighting zone, sir?’
‘General Smythe,’ the Doctor said emphatically. ‘If you ask any more impertinent questions, I shall require to use your telephone to call him.’
‘There will be no need,’ said Gorton. ‘I intend to call him myself right now.’ He lifted the telephone.
‘You did say we might have some tea?’ said Zoe.
‘What?’ Gorton was surprised by the question, then remembered he was an officer and gentleman. ‘I could not deny refreshments to a lady.’
‘Thank you very much,’ said Zoe. But before Gorton could carry out the request, Zoe quickly picked up the teapot and brought it down smartly on his head. He collapsed forward onto the desk, unconscious.
‘I know you hate violence,’ she said innocently to the Doctor. ‘But it seemed the only way.’
‘Well done,’ said the Doctor. ‘Now let’s see if we can bluff our way out of here. Come on.’
He hurried to the door followed by his two companions.
‘If we could get into this place, we can get out!’ With a cheerful flourish he flung open the door.
Standing immediately outside was Captain Ransom, revolver in hand. Either side stood armed soldiers.
‘Going somewhere?’ Ransom enquired. ‘Perhaps I can give you a lift.’
3
‘This time,’ said Zoe, ‘that awful general will sentence us all to death.’
Glumly she surveyed their dismal surroundings. The trio were back in the château locked in a basement room. A little light came through a grille set near the ceiling. The place smelled of damp and age.
‘About this redcoat,’ the Doctor said to Jamie. ‘He really believed he was in 1745?’
Jamie had told the story once already. ‘That’s right, Doctor. He said he was fighting my lot, then all of a sudden he was in another war—this one. Do you think he was crazy?’
‘No crazier than our so-called court martial. Anyway, I’m glad to know they only wounded him.’ The Doctor looked around the basement room. ‘How are we going to get out of here?’
Zoe had gone to the door. ‘Shhh! I think someone’s coming.’
‘Right,’ said the Doctor. ‘You step aside, Zoe. Leave this to us.’
The Doctor and Jamie took up positions either side of the door. Listening intently they heard the foot-steps of one person approaching. Jamie grinned; knocking out one man would be easy. A key turned in the lock and the door slowly opened. Jamie was about to deliver the first blow, but the Doctor had seen who it was.
‘No, Jamie. I think this may be a friend.’
Lieutenant Carstairs came in quietly and closed the door behind him. He looked at each of the three prisoners yet said nothing.
‘You wanted to see us?’ the Doctor asked. ‘I’m afraid we can’t invite you to sit down.’
‘Who are you people?’ Carstairs asked.
The Doctor smiled. ‘Are you sure that’s what you really came to talk to us about, Lieutenant?’
‘Perhaps not.’ Carstairs hesitated. ‘I don’t understand what’s going on any more.’
‘It’s pretty simple,’ said Jamie. ‘You’ve got this war on and you’re all mad! ‘
‘Just a moment, Jamie.’ The Doctor turned back to the lieutenant. ‘What do you know about General Smythe?’
Carstairs passed a hand over his forehead. ‘That’s the point. Lady Jennifer and I have been having a talk. She thinks that court martial wasn’t at all fair.’ Then he added with some pride, ‘We’re English, you know. We believe in playing cricket, doing the right thing.’
‘Of course,’ said the Doctor. ‘But I want to take your mind back to something. You remember when Captain Ransom looked in that little room off the main office and couldn’t find the general? Then a moment later the general emerged from that same room?’
‘Yes,’ said Carstairs. ‘I think so...’
The Doctor went on, ‘The captain said, “I looked in your room, sir. You weren’t there.” General Smythe stared at the captain and said, “You looked into my room and I was sleeping.” Do you recall that?’
‘I do,’ said Carstairs. ‘It struck me as rather odd.’
‘It was even more odd when Captain Ransom replied, “I looked into your room, sir, and you were sleeping.”’ The Doctor paused to let that sink in. ‘The general was telling the captain what he had to remember.’
Carstairs looked even more worried. ‘Yes, memory...’
‘What about memory?’ asked the Doctor.
‘It all hinges on memory, don’t you see? I can’t remember things. Lady Jennifer says her memory is coming back, but not completely.’ Carstairs tried to give a boyish grin. ‘It’s all so confusing.’
‘Lieutenant,’ said the Doctor. ‘Would you allow us to see into that other room? The one that the general came from?’
‘It’s his bedroom, I believe.’
‘Whatever it’s supposed to be,’ the Doctor insisted, ‘may we see inside it?’
They all looked at the young man, waiting for his answer.
‘We won’t run away,’ Zoe promised. ‘We want to help you.’
‘You do promise not to escape again?’ said Carstairs. ‘It would be my duty to shoot you, including the young lady.
Is that understood?’
‘We give our solemn promise,’ the Doctor assured him.
‘Then wait here until I return.’ Lieutenant Carstairs left the basement room as quietly as he had arrived. Jamie went forward to pull open the door just as they heard the key turn in the lock.
‘I can’t say my job here is particularly easy,’ Captain Ransom was saying. He was sitting back, drinking a cup of tea that Lady Jennifer had made for them both. ‘There’s a dashed lot of paper work. Can you imagine, one of the forward posts lost a hundred and fifty shovels last week, couldn’t account for them.’
‘That must have been very annoying,’ said Lady Jennifer. She had been listening to Ransom for the past half hour and was very bored. But she had promised Carstairs to keep him talking while the lieutenant made his secret visit to the prisoners.
‘Jolly inefficient,’ said Ransom. He checked his watch.
‘Well, it’s been nice talking, Lady Jennifer. I’d better rouse up another execution party. If that spy hasn’t been shot dead by the time General Smythe returns, my life won’t be worth living.’ He laughed and picked up his cap.
‘Must you go? I’d so much like to hear more about shovels and things.’ Jennifer desperately tried to think of some way to keep him in the room.
‘Well, as a matter of fact, there are some other interesting things I could tell you. For instance—’
To Jennifer’s relief the phone rang. She picked it up on the basement extension,’ Lieutenant Carstairs whispered.
‘Now is the time to get Ransom out of the main office.’
‘Why, certainly, General Smythe,’ Jennifer said brightly.
‘I’ll tell him immediately.’
‘Is that for me?’ said Ransom, reaching for the phone.
‘Oh, sorry.’ She had replaced it on the cradle. ‘How stupid of me not to let you speak to him. General Smythe wants you at number seventeen command post immediately.’
‘Really? What’s he doing there? It’s the farthest end of the section.’
‘It was not for me to ask,’ said Jennifer. ‘He sounded in a great hurry.’
Ransom considered. ‘I’d better go and shoot the condemned man myself before I go.’ He drew his revolver.
‘Wouldn’t that be against King’s Regulations, a one-man firing squad?’
‘I suppose you’re right.’ He holstered the gun. ‘Don’t you think it was a bright idea of mine, looking for them at the prison? I tried to think of the most unlikely place they would be, and there they were.’
‘It was a brilliant stroke,’ she agreed.
‘Not exactly brilliant, ma’am. Just tried to use a bit of common sense.’ He finished the remains of his tea. ‘All right, off I go to number seventeen command post. Very nice talking with you.’ He hurried out of the office.
As a precaution, Jennifer went to the shattered windows to watch Captain Ransom get into his car and drive away.
When she was sure he had gone she returned to the telephone. She was about to pick it up as Carstairs entered with the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. This was something she hadn’t expected.
‘Those people are prisoners,’ she protested to Carstairs.
‘We agreed you should go and talk to them, but not to release them.’
Carstairs went directly to the general’s bedroom. ‘It’s all right. They won’t run away.’ He opened the door. ‘Is this what you want to see?’
The Doctor went into the little room. ‘Now, where could the General have been when Captain Ransom looked in here and didn’t see him?’
‘Out through this window,’ said Jamie. He went up to the window and looked. ‘No, it’s got bars.’
‘A trap door?’ Zoe suggested. She looked at the floor.
‘Some kind of invisible door in a wall?’ said Carstairs.
‘At music halls I’ve seen conjurors do all sorts of extraordinary tricks.’
‘It’s possible,’ the Doctor said. He went along the walls tapping. As he came to the photograph of the Royal Family he pushed it to one side to see if anything was hidden behind it. ‘Well, well, look at what we have here!’
‘It’s a video screen,’ Zoe exclaimed. ‘Did they have television in 1917?’
‘No more than they had English redcoats,’ the Doctor said. ‘Lieutenant Carstairs, Lady Jennifer, take a look at this.’
The couple stared at the wall. ‘Look at what?’ Carstairs asked.
‘That thing,’ said Jamie. ‘It’s right before your eyes, man.’
Lady Jennifer was puzzled. ‘What are we supposed to be looking at?’
‘Concentrate,’ the Doctor implored. ‘Look at the wall and concentrate.’
‘I’ll try.’ Jennifer narrowed her eyes. She gave a little start. ‘My goodness, there’s a sort of frame there, a blank picture. And what are these knobs?’ Instinctively she reached forward and touched the ‘on’ control.
‘I can see it too,’ said Carstairs with astonishment. ‘Not very clearly, but I can just see it in the wall. What’s it for?’
‘It’s like a telephone,’ Zoe explained, ‘but one where people can see each other.’
‘Then who’s at the receiving end?’ Carstairs asked.
‘That’s what we have to find out.’ The Doctor noticed a small red light had started to glow. ‘Good heavens, this thing is working.’ He reached forward and touched the ‘off’
control.
‘We didn’t see anyone on the screen,’ said Zoe.
‘No, but someone may have seen us,’ the Doctor said.
‘Lieutenant Carstairs, Lady Jennifer, you must help us get away from here at once. And you must come too. All our lives may be in danger now.’
‘You gave a promise,’ Carstairs reminded the Doctor.
‘You said you wouldn’t run away.’
‘He says we must go, too,’ Jennifer reminded him. ‘I think he’s right. We must get away from this place and from General Smythe and... and try to get our wits together.’
‘What if we go to the Field-Marshal?’ Carstairs suggested. ‘Tell him everything.’
‘Unless we leave quickly,’ said the Doctor, ‘we won’t get to anyone.’ He moved to the open door. ‘I and my friends are going to leave now, Lieutenant. Will you shoot us down in cold blood?’
Once again the trio looked to Carstairs for his decision.
It was taken by Lady Jennifer.
‘I shall go with them,’ she said. ‘You’ll have to shoot me, too.’
‘It’s all right,’ said Carstairs. ‘We’ll all go together.’
Ten minutes after the group had left the bedroom, General Smythe’s Space and Inter-time Directional Robot All-purpose Transporter, known by its initials SIDRAT re-materialised in the corner and resumed its appearance of a wardrobe. The general stepped out. He went straight to the photograph of the Royal Family, slid it to one side and checked that the controls of his telecommunications unit were correctly set. It was annoying that the Doctor had discovered so much, but there was little he could do to upset the plans of the War Lords. Anyway, he and his friends would soon be dead. If the two humans who had seen the telecommunications unit survived they would be re-processed. General Smythe had been busy talking with his fellow War Lords when Lady Jennifer accidentally turned on the video. Fortunately, another War Lord had spotted the monitor for the 1917 Zone be-come live. His description of the faces he saw staring into the screen told Smythe everything he needed to know.
Satisfied that the telecommunications unit had not been damaged, Smythe went into the main office. He was surprised to find Captain Ransom calmly reading a book.
‘Oh, General,’ said Ransom, springing to his feet. ‘I didn’t know you were back, sir.’
It crossed Smythe’s mind that he should tell Ransom he had personally witnessed his return by motor car, and to get Ransom to repeat it. But he couldn’t be bothered. More pressing matters were at hand.
‘Why wasn’t the spy shot?’ he asked.
‘The firing squad was sniped at,’ said Ransom. ‘It was all very confused. Still,’ he added, trying to be cheerful, ‘under the circumstances it’s just as well the man’s still alive.’
‘Really? Why?’
‘He’s being taken to the Field-Marshal, sir.’
Smythe wondered if Ransom had gone quietly mad.
‘Would you mind explaining what you’re talking about, Ransom?’
Ransom gulped. ‘First there was your phone call, sir, ordering me to meet you at number seventeen command post.’
‘
He’s definitely gone mad,
’ Smythe thought. He said, ‘I told you to meet me?’
‘Yes, sir. So I went there but I couldn’t find you. On my return I arrived in time to find Lieutenant Carstairs and Lady Jennifer taking the prisoners to the Field-Marshal in accordance with your instructions.’
‘My instructions? What instructions?’
‘The instructions you had given to Lieutenant Carstairs over the telephone while I was at number seventeen command post looking for you, sir.’
‘You did nothing to stop Carstairs taking the prisoners away?’
‘Well, I asked Carstairs if it was definitely your voice when he received the telephone call. He assured me that you had spoken to him personally, sir.’