'No, really,' Rose had laughed, 'that's what he said: Dennis the Menace.'

Domnic had swallowed. 'Will I... Will we see you again?'

'Doubt it,' she had said regretfully. Then, turning back to the cabinet, she had paused and added, 'Well... maybe in your dreams.'

Then she'd darted forward, kissed Domnic quickly on the cheek and disappeared with a wink and a grin.

The door had shut again behind her and Domnic had been startled by the rasping, grating sound of some unearthly engine.

And he'd watched agog as, yet again, something unbelievable had happened.

The new show came on promptly at seven. It was about Hal Gryden, of course, travelling in his s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p to other worlds and teaching them how to dream and it was everything that had been promised of it.

Domnic Allen was glued to the screen, hardly daring to blink until the episode was over. He could almost feel new ideas expanding and combining inside his head.

That night, for once, he like many others would go to sleep happy.

And dream of monsters at the foot of the bed.

Acknowledgements

First off, thanks to Neil Harding for pa.s.sing on an anecdote about an employer who thought that those taking part in roleplaying games were 'detached from reality'. In typical Doctor Who Doctor Who fas.h.i.+on, I exaggerated this to form the basis of my book. Thanks also to Neil for technical a.s.sistance as usual, and to Helen Raynor at the fas.h.i.+on, I exaggerated this to form the basis of my book. Thanks also to Neil for technical a.s.sistance as usual, and to Helen Raynor at the Doctor Who Doctor Who production office for trusting me with a couple of Top Secret scripts so I could find out a bit more about this Captain Jack guy! production office for trusting me with a couple of Top Secret scripts so I could find out a bit more about this Captain Jack guy!

And of course this book wouldn't be what it is without my editor, Justin Richards. In fact, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those wonderful people who've let me play in the Doctor's universe for the past thirteen years and in particular I'm hugely grateful to Peter DarvillEvans for taking a chance on an untried writer all that time ago.

About the Author.

Steve Lyons has written nearly twenty novels, several audio dramas and many short stories, starring characters from the X-Men and SpiderMan to the Tomorrow People and Sapphire & Steel. He has also cowritten a number of books about TV shows, including Cunning: The Blackadder Programme Guide Cunning: The Blackadder Programme Guide and the bestselling and the bestselling Red Dwarf Programme Guide Red Dwarf Programme Guide.

His previous Doctor Who work includes the novels Conundrum Conundrum, The Witch Hunters The Witch Hunters and and The Crooked World The Crooked World, audio dramas The Fires of Vulcan The Fires of Vulcan and and Colditz Colditz, and work for the official Doctor Who Magazine Doctor Who Magazine. He lives in Salford, near Manchester.