It was dusk on a crispy Autumn day. In a large park, three boys were kicking around a football, each one trying to show off his moves. They were shouting friendly insults back and forth as they ran down the grassy field. They were so absorbed in their game that they failed to notice the sun slip beneath the horizon, and the stars beginning to twinkle in the darker part of the sky. They also failed to notice a strange, blue haze that was moving slowly overhead, creeping towards them from the direction of the fading sun. The park was surrounded by trees, and as the strange blue haze edged closer it seemed to be spewing bolts of blue lightening onto the highest branches. It was the eldest boy, Peter, who saw the haze first. He stopped in his tracks to stare, letting the ball fly past him. The other two boys stopped as well, and looked up to see the encrouching blue cloud.

"What is that thing?" said Peter.

"I dunno." his friend George came to stand next to him, studying the cloud. "I've never seen anything like it."

The youngest boy, Adam, stayed the farthest back. "Whatever it is, it looks dangerous. I think we should probably get out of here." He started to back up as he was speaking. "What if it's aliens or something?"

"Don't be stupid" Peter said scornfully. "It's just a cloud, a thunderstorm."

"A thunderstorm?" said George skeptically. "But it's so small, and it's not raining or anything."

The blue cloud had cleared the edges of the trees and was now drifting over the grassy field.

"Come on, let's not stand around debating it, we've got to get out of here, it's coming closer!" Adam was pleading with his friends. "Whatever it is, the adults can sort it out."

Peter snorted back at him. "Oh fine, we'll go home now you big baby." He looked back up at the cloud, which was now almost over them. "But I have to grab my ball first."

Adam cried out "No Peter, don't go, we can get it later! I have a bad feeling that thing's dangerous. "

But Peter ignored him, and as he crouched down to pick up the ball the blue cloud moved directly over him, and stopped.

George gasped. "What's it doing now? It's not moving anymore!"

Peter looked up above him, the ball clutched in his hands. He looked as though he now regretted his decision to recover it. "Why's it stopping over me?" Panic was beginning to creep into his voice.

"Move out of there!" Adam shouted. "Just get away, now!"

No sooner had Peter started away from the cloud when a large blue bolt burst out, hitting Peter square in the back. His scream ended midway as both he and the cloud vanished. The ball fell to the ground, bouncing slightly and rolling to a halt. It was singed and slightly smoldering.

The Doctor was snoozing in a large sunchair, lightly snoring. The brim of his hat was pulled down over his eyes and a old book was in imminent danger of sliding off of his lap. A cold cup of tea sat on the table beside him. His mouth was covered in the large folds of his scarf, making him look rather like a large pile of old clothes waiting for the wash. Underneath his hat his eyes flew open. He had an uncanny sense of when he was about to be disturbed.

Someone tapped on his shoulder. "Sir?"

He ignored it, feining sleep.

"Sir?"

He snored a little louder.

The tapping became incessant. "Sir?"

The Doctors voice was slightly muffled by his scarfe. "I say, didn't I give orders not to be disturbed? I'm fairly sure I did."

The attendant, a young woman, wondered if the Doctor was even a guest in the hotel as she had never seen him before. "Sir, I do apologize, but I do have an urgent telephone call for you."

"Telephone call?"

"Yes sir, from a Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. He says it is terribly important and that he really must speak to you right away."

At this the Doctor pulled the brim of his hat from his eyes and looked up at the girl, who was waiting with a telephone on a tray. "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart calling me?"

"Yes sir"

The Doctor sighed. "All right, give me the phone." She handed him the receiver and he pulled down his scarfe to hold it to his mouth.

"Hello Brigadier, I'm fairly sure I gave orders not to be disturbed, didn't I?"

"Yes well Doctor this is an emergency, I need you at UNIT headquarters, on the double."

"Ah yes, you see Brigidier I would love to help you but I really must get back to finishing my nap. How did you find me anyway? You're lucky I happened to be on Earth."

"We have people who are always on the look out for your infernal blue box, the moment it is sighted it is reported directly back to me."

"So you're spying on me now? Why should I help you at all?"

The Brigadiers response was crisp. "Because Doctor, a young boy has been killed by an unknown entity, and we need to find out what it is before it kills again. But of course, if your nap is more important..."

"No no, of course not Brigadier." The Doctor was slightly mollified. "I'll be there shortly." He hung up the phone, and the attendant stared at him. He stood up, and the book fell to the ground. "Well, got to be off. Official business and all that nonsense." He grinned his big teeth at her, and stooped down to pick up his book. The attendant still stood, staring at him. "Oh I see, you must want a tip or something right?" With his free hand he patted his pockets and pulled out a small coin which he pressed in her hand. As he walked away she looked down at the silver coin in her palm. It was an ancient Roman denarius. When she looked up again the man was gone, and for a few seconds she could hear a strange, wheezing sound coming from the direction he had disappeared.

The Brigadier tapped his foot impatiently, and wondered what was keeping the Doctor. It had been hours since the phone call, and there was still no sign of him. He looked over at Benton. "What exactly is the point of having a time machine if you are never going to show up anywhere on time?"

"Don't worry Sir, I'm sure he'll be along any minute." Benton tried to reassure him. "You know how he is."

The Brigadier was getting more irritated by the moment. "Yes well my time is extremely valuble, and it cannot be wasted by me having to wait for some arrogant-"

A loud whirring, groaning sound cut him off, and a blue police box began to materialize a few feet away from him.

"Well thank heavens for that, finally." The Brigadier straightened up to face the Tardis and waited for the Doctor to emerge. After a moment the door opened, and out walked a gangly, skinny young man. He wore a tweed jacket with a red bow tie, and his face was chasmed by the massive grin he was bestowing upon the Brigadier. Grabbing the Brigadiers shoulders, the strange young man stretched out his long neck until they were almost nose to nose, and rapidly moved his eyes back and forth.

"Oh Brigadier, it really has been too long, it's wonderful to see you!"

The Brigadier cleared his throat loudly in irritation. "Yes, and who might you be? Where is the Doctor? We've been waiting here for hours."

The young man laughed. "Yes I didn't think you would recognize me. I'm the Doctor! My face may have changed but you've seen that before, I would've thought you knew me well enough by now, Brigadier." He winked at Benton as he said this.

The Brigadier remained unmoved. "So tell me, how am I supposed to tell if you're an imposter if you keep changing your face? If that really is you, Doctor."

The young man shrugged. "Well, I'd have thought the Tardis would've given it away, but if you don't want my help..." He turned and started back towards the blue box.

"No, no Doctor please." The Brigadier grabbed his arm. "I believe you, but you must understand that it can be difficult getting used to. This is the fourth or fifth face I've seen, how many more are you planning to show up with?" He walked to a desk and picked up a file. "And what the blazes took you so long to get here? I called you hours ago!"

The Doctor looked apologetic. "I'm truly sorry for that Brigadier. I did leave immediately after speaking to you, but I took a rather indirect route. It seemed that the Tardis had other plans at the time, so just in case I forgot about your call, I tied a knot in my hanky!" He pulled the hanky triumphantly out of his pocket. "But then I forgot about the hanky, and when I finally found it, I couldn't remember what the knot was for. And it was quite some time before I remembered again. In fact, I'm bending some rules of time right now even being here, so when you see me again after this you mustn't tell me that you've seen me. Got it?"

The Brigadier held a hand to his head as though staving off a sudden headache. "No Doctor I do not. None of this conversation has made any sense since you've arrived. Right now all I care about is figuring out what this entity is. I don't care what face you've got as long as you'll help us, and quite frankly I don't care to hear any of your nonsensical explanations at the moment."

"Well, well somebody is feeling a little grumpy today, aren't we Brigadier?" The Doctor laughed. "But you're right, it is time to get serious. And I'm being serious about not telling anyone I was here, not even Sarah Jane. Chances are the next time you'll see me I'll be...hold on a second." He tipped his head and pondered, counting on his fingers. "Blonde, I think I'll be blonde next time you see me. But that's beside the point, you can't tell anyone that you've seen this particular face, shame that might be." He slapped his own cheeks as he said this, and then grabbed the file out of the Brigadiers hand. "Right, so this must be the file? What kind of entity did you say we were dealing with?"

The Brigadier grabbed the file back. "That is the problem Doctor, we don't know. That's why I called you, something which I am now starting to regret."

"Aw come on now Brigadier, you know you can count on me to help! Now tell me what happened."

The Brigadier briefed the Doctor on the file, and showed him pictures from the scene.

"Mainly what we've got to go on is the eye witness reports of the two children who saw it happen."

The Doctor squinted at one of the pictures. "I'm confused, you told me a boy had been killed, but you haven't found a body? Maybe he just ran away and these two boys are covering for him with some wild story."

"Naturally that's what I thought at first too. But the football we recovered at the scene had a residue that contained organic components not found on Earth, that is why you were called."

The Doctor was still skeptical. "But you haven't recovered a body. Without a body, how can you prove that someone was killed?"

The Brigadier hestitated. "We found seperate, human oraganic residue. We believe the boy was incinerated, so there couldn't be a body."

"Hmmm, well that seems rather convenient, doesn't it Brigadier? Sounds like the perfect crime, almost too perfect. I don't know, there's something weird about the whole thing. It just doesn't feel...right. What would be the motiviation for a giant cloud to come to Earth, just to kill a young boy? What's described in the file sounds more like a transmat, and the cloud was scanning or transmitting something."

It was the Brigadiers turn to be skeptical. "And what would be the motivation for that?"

The Doctor tapped his head. "That's what I'm here to find out!" He walked over to the Tardis and beckoned the Brigadier. "Coming?"

The Brigadier showed his exasperation. "Coming where? What the devil are you on about now, you've only just arrived."

The Doctor was still waiting by the door. "And now I'm leaving. Are you coming with me? I'd like to examine the field where this apparent murder, or abudction, took place."

"Yes Doctor, that's a good idea, but I'll meet you there by train. I'm not stepping foot in that box again." The Brigadier took a step back.

"Aw come on, you'll love it! I've got the whole place redecorated, I'd like to know what you think!"

"I see, just like you've redecorated your face."

The Doctor grinned. "Exactly! Now hurry Brigadier, we haven't got all day."

Relenting, the Brigadier sighed. "Oh all right Doctor, but you had better get me back in one piece." He marched towards the door. "Benton, you're in charge here until I get back." He glared at the Doctor. "Which should be very soon."

The Doctor laughed. "Oh of course Brigadier, I'll have us back before we left." They walked in and the door shut behind them. After a few seconds the Tardis dematerialized, fading into empty space.