The text 'Do you agree' was hyperlinked. 'That's where the trail starts,' said Mickey. 'Finally, you get a phone number.' He gestured to a notepad, where a mobile number had been scribbled down. 'You want someone dead this person's prepared to sell you a winning scratchcard. Treat them to a holiday. They never come back. No blame attached.' He shivered.

The Doctor picked up Mickey's mobile off the desk without asking. He walked into the other room. Rose and Mickey looked at each other. 'It's sick, isn't it?' said Mickey.

She nodded, not really able to bring herself to add to that. Totally sick. Utterly sick. Lose all faith in human nature sick. 'How's the knee?'

'Sore,' he said. 'Don't know how I'm going to cope, to be honest.'

She grimaced in sympathy.

'What I really need is someone to help me out look after me, put me to bed, that sort of thing.'

'Shame I'm busy saving the world,' she said. 'I'll phone social services, if you like. They can sent round some nice old granny to give you a bed bath.'

Mickey grinned. 'Oh, what a shame the Doctor's using my phone.'

'Oh, look, he's finished,' said Rose as the Doctor walked back in. But their banter was cut short by the expression on the Doctor's face. 'What is it?' Rose said.

'Five hundred quid,' said the Doctor. 'That's how much death costs off the Internet. Not much more than a wide*screen telly.'

'You spoke to someone?' asked Rose.

The Doctor nodded. 'And it didn't sound as if I was the first to call. I reckon your mum's not the only one who's been mugged for her winning scratchcard.'

Rose thought of her mum, lying bruised and b.l.o.o.d.y in a hospital bed. 'We've got to stop this,' she said.

'Well, yeah,' said the Doctor. 'That's the general idea.' He reached out a hand and squeezed her arm, a comforting gesture that belied the very slight sarcasm of his words. Rose noticed Mickey's face. He didn't like it; didn't like their closeness. She understood, but didn't have time now to worry about Mickey's feelings.

'We've got to stop it at the source,' the Doctor was saying. 'It's spreading out all over the place down here. Look, this Internet stuff has only just started. Nothing stolen before this afternoon, far as we know. Earliest anyone can get anything by post is tomorrow morning. We've got to get to the planet where it's all happening before then, stop it there. Then it won't matter who's got the games, who wins the holidays.'

Rose dragged her attention back to the conversation. 'What, you found out where this planet is?' she asked. 'Can we dash off to the rescue?'

The Doctor's face hardened. 'No,' he said, clenching his fists. 'I got its name, but it doesn't mean a thing.'

'You could pay 500 quid to this bloke and go on the holiday,' Mickey suggested, and Rose was fairly sure she didn't really detect just a hint of malice, just the tiniest indication that Mickey wouldn't mind too much if the Doctor went off 'on holiday' and never came back.

'There's an idea,' said the Doctor.

'What, really?' said Mickey, slightly incredulous.

The Doctor soon deflated him. 'Not your actual idea, obviously,' he said. 'That's pretty stupid. But it's given me an idea... If we could just get hold of one of those holiday scratchcards. With the Quevvils' teleportation technology, it'd be bound to have a directional circuit in it... I could plug that into the TARDIS...' He bounded over to the door. 'Come on, you two.' Mickey gestured at his knee. 'Come on, then, just Rose. I need your life savings. We're buying scratchcards until we get one that wins the holiday.'

At which point Rose remembered her meeting with Dilys by the Quevvils' booth. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a small cardboard rectangle. 'What, like this one?' she said. 'Didn't really seem important earlier...'

She wasn't sure from the Doctor's expression whether he wanted to smack her or kiss her.

'Nice one, Rose,' said Mickey.

The Doctor left Mickey with instructions to keep sowing Internet dissent about Death to Mantodeans Death to Mantodeans, make it seem as undesirable as possible, see if their rumour about the consoles catching fire could spread any further.

Mickey suggested actually setting fire to one and calling the local papers, but changed his mind halfway through explaining the plan when he realised that it would be his flat at risk, and with his knee he couldn't actually run away if things went wrong.

'Plus, it's another stupid idea,' commented the Doctor, not unkindly.

'And look after yourself,' said Rose. 'Oh, and could you make sure Mrs Burton gets her shopping basket on wheels back.'

'Yeah, course,' said Mickey, sounding a bit worried. 'But you're coming back, ain't ya?'

'Course we are,' said Rose. But the thing was, when you went off into time and s.p.a.ce in the TARDIS, you were never entirely sure.

Mickey hobbled across to the front door to see them off. 'I'd stick a wedge under it or something till you can get it fixed,' said the Doctor. 'Don't forget that the Quevvils know where you live.'

'You said you smashed their teleport system!' said Rose.

'They might fix it!' replied the Doctor.

'Thanks for the cheerful thought,' said Mickey. 'I'll sleep so soundly tonight now.'

Rose heard the door shut behind them as they started down the stairs. 'We're gonna be able to stop this, aren't we?' she asked the Doctor.

'It'll be a cinch,' he replied.

'No more humans getting their heads bitten off by aliens?'

'And no more aliens getting shot by humans,' said the Doctor. 'Don't worry. We'll stop it, no problem.'

A figure had slipped into the shadows of a doorway as the Doctor and Rose left Mickey's flat. Now it left its hiding place and peered round the corner to watch them as they went down the stairs: the tall, arrogant bloke and the mouthy tart. He'd wipe the smiles off their faces. They weren't going to get in his way again.

'You ain't gonna stop this,' grunted Darren Pye, spitting after the retreating figures. 'I'm the one who's gonna stop you you.'

TWELVE.

'I love you, Robert.' The beautiful girl with the long blonde hair who looked a bit like Suzie Price who looked a bit like Suzie Price was gazing at him in adoration. 'I've been watching you, couldn't keep my eyes off you. I watched how you dealt with those terrible aliens. The way you grabbed that iron bar and used it like a sword, the way you fenced with that alien and drove him off... You must be a master swordsman!' was gazing at him in adoration. 'I've been watching you, couldn't keep my eyes off you. I watched how you dealt with those terrible aliens. The way you grabbed that iron bar and used it like a sword, the way you fenced with that alien and drove him off... You must be a master swordsman!'

Robert smiled modestly, indicating that he'd never tried before, it had just come naturally.

And it came just as naturally to put his arms around her; the most natural thing in the world to lean down as she leaned up and they put their lips together and kissed, their first kiss, his first kiss, the softest, most beautiful kiss in the world...

But she was sitting over the other side of the room and had barely looked in his direction, and when she had she hadn't noticed him, and she'd probably heard his mum call him 'Bobbles'...

And then the leader of the aliens, the one that Robert had defeated in battle, had taken off his mask and underneath he had the head of a porcupine and underneath he had the head of a porcupine had taken off his mask, and said, in his cold, deep voice, 'I am your father, Robert.'

And Robert knew that it had ever been their destiny to meet in this way, and that he must destroy his mother mother father as the ultimate triumph of good over evil. father as the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

And then he might get another kiss.

Mickey looked around the lounge, and finally picked up a TV mag. 'Won't be needing this any more,' he murmured, casting a rueful eye over at the gap where only that morning the television had stood. Then he slowly made his way back to the front door, and, crouching down with a lot of yelps of pain although probably not as many as if anyone had been present to potentially offer sympathy wedged the magazine between the frame and the door. It probably wouldn't stand much, but would prevent anyone bursting in on him. He glanced up at the wall, where a large red sign instructed people to STOP. Shame aliens didn't pay any attention to that.

He had taken two shuffling steps back from the door when he heard a noise on the other side. The aliens? Mickey hurriedly looked round for a weapon. But no, a second's concentration and he realised it was footsteps. Human footsteps. The Doctor and Rose, having forgotten something? No, it was only one person. The burglar, returning for more?

Mickey kept still and silent. Inside he was laughing and pointing at himself for the paranoia, but exposure to the Doctor had had an effect. There were some scary things out there. 'Don't have nightmares,' Crimewatch always said, but they were trying to persuade people it was statistically unlikely for the awful things they were showing to happen to any particular audience member, and when you'd been there and done that on what seemed like a regular basis now, you stopped believing the plat.i.tudes.

Were the footsteps going to pa.s.s his door? No. They stopped right outside it.

And tried the handle.

A legitimate visitor would knock at this point, or call out or something.

No one knocked, and no one called out. Instead, they tried shoving the door again. The door opened a centimetre or so, the magazine beginning to scrunch up. A rough, male voice said, 'Open up, Smith.' Darren Pye.

Mickey didn't say a word. He began to back away, as quietly as he could, looking for something else he could use to keep the door shut.

'I know you're in there, Smith. I know your freaky friends brought some of them games here, and I want 'em.'

'Well, you can't have them,' called back Mickey, forgetting he was pretending not to be there.

It sounded as if Darren was giving the door a kicking. Amazingly, the magazine was still wedged tightly beneath it, preventing it from opening, but any moment he'd have it off its hinges.

But then the noise stopped. Mickey suddenly stood up straight, alerted by a feeling that he couldn't quite place. A tingle in the air, and for some reason Pancake Day came to mind... He heard a shout of alarm from outside the door, probably the nearest anyone had ever heard Darren Pye get to shock and fear.

Then Mickey realised: this was what it had felt like just before the aliens the Quevvils had burst into his flat. The Doctor's warning had been right; they must have been able to fix their teleport system, and they'd just materialised the other side of his front door.

They'd be after the Doctor. Had to be. But maybe they still thought Mickey was an expert; maybe with the Doctor not here they'd try to kidnap Mickey again... Or, worse, maybe they'd worked out that Mickey wasn't an expert, and they wouldn't want to risk him spreading details of their plans or their underground base or their true nature...

There was no other exit from his flat. Even in full health he couldn't hope to outmanoeuvre the Quevvils and their flying quills and their laser guns; with his dodgy knee he had no chance. Mickey hurried back as fast as he could, eager to find a hiding place. But then he heard voices from outside.

'How on Earth did you do that?' yelled Darren Pye.

Then came the voice of a Quevvil: 'This human has witnessed our materialisation! He must be destroyed!'

Mickey froze, waiting for the hiss of the laser beam, the scream of the dying man. But it didn't come.

'No!' yelled Darren Pye. 'I can help you!'

There was a pause, then a Quevvil said, 'Explain.'

Darren was gabbling now. 'I know what you are, right? I know what you're doing. I heard those freaks talking. You're aliens, right, and you want to kill these insect things. That's cool. I saw you appear before, out of thin air like that. I want to help.'

A Quevvil Mickey had no idea if it was the same or a different one said, 'You have not yet explained how you intend to help us.'

'I've already sorted it. Spreading these things over the country. Getting people who know what they're doing.'

And the unsurprise of the century: Darren Pye was the dealer. The death dealer. The one who would send your anyone to their death for less than the price of a telly. And thinking of tellies, he probably had a fair idea where Mickey's had gone too; why else would he have been hanging around here to hear the Doctor and Rose talking, to see the Quevvils appear...

And the Quevvil replied, 'We have already located the person we need. We have come here to fetch him.'

'What, that Doctor freak?' said Darren. 'He's not here.'

Mickey didn't know what happened next, but Darren let out a yelp. 'No! Look, I said I could help you. I'll tell you where he is. All I want is that you make me your sole dealer on Earth. People'll pay good money for this stuff. I just want a cut. Look, do we have a deal?'

There was a pause, then a Quevvil said, 'Yes. Tell us where this "Doctor freak" is.'

'Right. Yeah. Right. He's gone to your planet, him and that little cow. He's got a thing called a tarpit or something. He's plugging one of your cards in it and it'll take him there.'

There was another pause.

'We must warn Frinel,' said one Quevvil.

'We must return to Toop,' said the voice of another.

'What about this human? Shall I kill him?'

There was a yell from Darren Pye. 'We had a deal! I said I'd help you!'

The Quevvil spoke again. 'No. Bring him with us. We cannot afford to leave behind a human who knows the truth, but if this human wants to help us... he can play the game.'

There was another yell from Darren, abruptly cut off. Mickey shivered. Had they killed him after all? But no, there was the lemony scent in the air again, and the fizzy feeling that made his hair stand on end.

He left it for a couple of minutes, but couldn't stand the suspense any longer than that. He limped to the front door, and put his ear against it. Not a sound. He pulled away the crumpled magazine, and eased open the door. No one was outside: no humans, no aliens.

Mickey slammed the door, shoved the magazine under it again, stumbled back into the lounge and collapsed on a chair. His knee was hurting like crazy, but all he could think about was the Doctor and Rose. The monsters knew they were on their way. They'd be waiting for them. And there was no way on Earth he could let them know about it.

They were hand in hand, and they almost jogged back to the TARDIS. It was a time machine, but somehow time still seemed of the essence.

The Doctor, annoyingly, hadn't told Rose his plan. This either meant that he didn't have one, or he just expected her to do what he asked her, when he asked her, without worrying about silly little things like explanations or reasons for it. But she didn't have to put up with that. 'What's the plan then?' she asked as they came up to the TARDIS, reasoning she might as well know the worst sooner rather than later. Just because it was the Doctor's time machine, that didn't mean she had to play entirely by his rules.

'I'm gonna try an' home in on this Mantodean stronghold. Rescue anyone still in there. Then find where they're holding the people ready to play the game. Rescue them. Persuade the Quevvils not to do this any more. When we don't succeed, do something clever which means they can't do it whether they want to or not.'

'Great,' she said. 'I approve.'

'I'm glad you approve,' the Doctor replied, getting out his TARDIS key.

'How're we going to do all that then?' she asked. 'Bribe them with salt?'

The Doctor had earlier seemed not entirely impressed by her salt brainwave. She'd explained it in detail while they'd been trooping round all the flats.