Wil reached into the hamper and pulled another bottle of wine out. He opened the bottle and refilled his and the Doctor's cups. Wil took a swig and relaxed back into the boat.

 'Doctor?'

 'Hmmm.' The Doctor pushed down on the pole slowly, and the punt moved forward.

 'I was just wondering,' Wil took another sip, 'how old are you?'

 The Doctor pulled the pole forward and then pushed it back into the water.

 'One thousand, four hundred and ninety-nine,' he paused. 'Wow, I'll be fifteen soon.'

 'Really, when's your birthday?' Wil took another swig of wine.

 'Tomorrow.'

 Wil sat up and looked at the Doctor.

 'We should do something.'

 'Wil, you start getting sick of birthday parties after the first five hundred.'

 The punt glided along the river and under a small stone bridge. The Doctor glanced at the TARDIS on their way past. She was still parked where they had left her, in the shadow under the bridge. It was so nice for things to be so peaceful for a change. Nobody trying to kill you or steal the TARDIS or destroy the universe. He could really get quite used to this sort of lifestyle.

 'I'd be happy if things remained this casual for a few days, maybe even a week.'

 'Here, here,' said Wil, raising his glass.

 They punted on quietly for a few minutes, gliding past the University buildings and parks. There were people playing sports on the fields and in a few places there were couples engaged in their own exercise. In some cases it was more than just a couple.

 'So, Doctor, what shall we do instead of saving the otherverse?'

 'Oh. How does this sound? The Doctor's adventure in the university: Chapter three, in which the Doctor tries to find a way home, and Wil gets all wet.'

 Wil blinked slowly.

 'But I'm not wet.'

 The Doctor shifted his posture ever so slightly. The punt rocked suddenly and Wil was in the water. He burst to the surface, spluttering. He climbed back into the punt and dripped all over the hamper.

 'What was that for?' he spluttered.

 'Oh, no reason.'

 Wil sighed and lay back in the punt. The water had been cool and refreshing. The Doctor continued punting.

 'So Wil, how old are you?'

 'Ah,' Wil looked up at the Doctor. 'How long have we been traveling?'

 'One year, three weeks, two days, sixteen hours.'

 'What, you just happen to know that exactly, do you?'

 'Wil, never question a Time Lord about time.'

 'Hmm, yeah okay.'

 The Doctor looked down at Wil.

 'Well, how old is Wil Young?'

 'I guess about 19 and a bit.'

 The Doctor pushed down on the pole.

 'You know, I don't even remember when I was 19.'

 The punt bumped against the shore. Wil looked around, rather surprised that the ride had come to an end.

 'Wil, why don't you go back to the TARDIS and get changed into something dry?'

 Wil rolled out of the boat and dripped for a bit while he tried to find his legs.

 'I think I had just a little to much to drink. What are you going to do?'

 'Go and find Jadi and Angela.'

 History is, by its nature, inaccurate and full of holes. The job of a historian is to see through the inaccuracies and into the holes. Gichzian was very experienced at this job.

 He was, however, acutely aware that the recorded facts were ambiguous contradictory and, from time to time, just plain wrong. History was after all written by the winning side, even if the winning side was the bad guys.

 In this case the bad guys were monsters. Viscous cruel creatures that had long ago destroyed everything in their own universe and so they punched a hole from one universe to another. Unfortunately the other universe in question was this one. The monsters had then systematically wiped out the first race of creatures they had come across.

 Monsters with powers so great that this universe didn't stand a chance. The worst part of all of this was that at this very moment the monsters were enjoying a punt on the river.

 'So, are you going to tell him?' asked a voice behind her.

 She spun around to face the man.

 'You startled me.'

 'Yes, sorry; I assumed you knew I was there. Those implants of yours should have been able to pick up my heart's beats at twenty paces.' The man moved forward and in one fluid movement was sitting facing her. 'You haven't answered my question.'

 'Tell who what?' She looked away. She had asked partly because she didn't know what he was talking about, and partly because she hoped he didn't know what he was talking about.

 'Jadi, the truth.' The man looked towards the river.

 'Truth?'

 'The truth about who you are.'

 Everything inside her was screaming that this conversation should not be allowed to take place, she should stop now.

 'How can I tell him when I don't even know myself?'

 'Perhaps if you tell him what you do know, he'll be able to tell you what you don't.'

 She looked back at him and he wasn't there. She wasn't at all surprised.

 Oltobanig was sure that this coincided precisely with the arrival of the travelers' craft. He finally came to the conclusion that without more of these particles to study there was no way he could go any further with his investigations.

 It was time for his studies to go out of the lab.

 He pulled his hands out of his pockets. His right hand was empty. His left hand held his floppy blue hat. He put the hat on his head and walked off towards the buildings.

 The university itself was an impressive place. Not large, but stately. The river snaked its way through the middle of the university. From the river, wide sweeping lawns ran towards the buildings. Pathways went everywhere.

 Then the Doctor hit upon what it was that made this place so peaceful. There was no transport system. No roads, no trains, no airbuses. Just people walking from on place to another.

 The Doctor stopped a young man as he walked past.

 'Can I help you?'

 'Yes I was wondering if you could direct me to the physics department...'

 'Which physics department?'

 'How many do you have?'

 'Four: imaginary, unlikely, flawed and practical.'

 'Ah, then I think I'll start at the practical.'

 The young man gave the Doctor a set of unnecessarily complicated directions. The Doctor followed them precisely and found the department.

 The Doctor spoke to the Dean for about half an hour. Eventually, the Dean gave the Doctor a practical physics textbook. The Doctor headed back to the TARDIS to check a few things.

 The scanner was telling him that the box was made from something that approximated solid plasma. There were some very strange dimensional readings and a few energy signatures that he didn't recognize at all.

 It was a this point that Oltobanig noticed the tall man standing beside him.

 'Hello,' said the stranger.

 He was wearing a long jacket that might have been green, a dark red waistcoat, a white shirt, tan pants and a floppy blue hat. From under the hat sprung a mass of long light brown curls.

 'Hi. I was just looking at your, er, craft.'

 'Would you like to have a look inside? I'm the Doctor, by the way.'

 The Doctor offered his hand and then withdrew it when it wasn't accepted.

 'Inside?'

 The Doctor put his key in the lock and turned it. The doors swung open and a soft humming sound echoed out.

 'Yes, inside; it's up to you.'

 The Doctor disappeared into his TARDIS.

 The Dean put his scanner in his pocket and quickly walked off in the direction of the history department.

 Oh well, he hadn't really been expecting anything, but it had been worth a shot.

 He put his "Practical Physics" textbook on the console. His plan was simple: if he could cross reference the physical properties of this universe with his own then he might be able to work out how to get everyone home.

 Maybe.

 Anyway, it could wait; nobody here seemed to want to kill them. He went off and made a cup of tea.

 When the Doctor got back to the console room Jadi was waiting for him.

 'Jadi, how are you?'

 'Good, fine, just fine, why shouldn't I be?'

 'Why don't you sit down and have some tea?'

 'Sure, why not.'

 The Doctor sat in his arm chair, Jadi sat opposite.

 'So tell me, mister Morok, what is the bounty for Angela's safe return?' asked the Doctor.

 'Enough.' Jadi didn't want to talk about it.

 'Enough for someone like you to retire and never have to work again?' the Doctor sipped his tea and watched Jadi closely.

 'Yeah.'

 'But you're a man of taste; you would want a good life, and you're not that old. So I'd say it would have to be a very impressive sum of money.'

 'Whatever.'

 'And why does whoever it is want Angela?'

 'She stole something.' Jadi stopped, suddenly realizing that the Doctor was leading him somewhere.

 'What did she steal?'

 'I'm not sure exactly, it wasn't really part of the briefing. Non relevant information.' Jadi couldn't help himself, he had to know where the Doctor was taking this. He had to know what it was that the Doctor had already worked out.

 'Could whatever it is possibly be worth the bounty you were offered?'

 'I don't know. Given the people involved, probably not. Oh.'

 The Doctor sipped his tea again.

 'What are you saying, Doctor?'

 'That our Miss Ferris is not a common thief; I doubt there is anything common about her at all. Personally, I think we should spend a little bit of time finding out what exactly is going on before you hand her over to whoever they are.'

 'Have we had this conversation before?'

 The Doctor looked at Jadi for a moment.

 'No, why?'

 'I'm getting the strangest feeling of deja vu.'

 'Really, hmm... I wonder... No no no, that's just too silly. I'm sure it's nothing.'

 'Well?'

 'Well what? Olf, I don't know. We have no proof that these are the same people.'

 'They have to be -- how many travelers from another universe can there be?'

 'Thousand, millions, who knows? That's my whole point, we don't know!'

 'We can't just let them stay.'

 'It's not up to us anyway. We have to follow the rules of the Faction. If we don't, all our diligence will be for nothing.'

 'Well, we must have enough to take this to the Vicar.'

 'Yes, the Vicar must decide what to do.'

 To be continued...