CHAPTER THREE

"Unami Duck and scallops with sea trout. I thought you'd be excited about that" said Ace as she tucked into her dinner, whilst her ever constant companion and mentor, known to her by the pet name of Professor but widely known in his circle of acquaintances as The Doctor, was attempting to successfully unfold a deck chair indoors, all while acquiring looks from the remaining customers situated at the Number 27 restaurant in Portsmouth where they were dining

"I played a rather harsh trick on the last person who tried to put me on a diet" said The Doctor as he finally managed to get the chair in an upright position and settled down on it, checking a small pocket watch as he did so.

"Finish up in ten minutes. We're going to take a short trip outside Portsmouth"

"To do what Professor?" asked Ace

"It's about pleasure. A pleasure to do business"

"Trouble brewing?" asked Ace

"We're going to see a show. And you're not to like it"

"If it's clowns, I don't sweat any after the psychic circus fiasco" said Ace, beaming with confidence.

She knelt down to look at her kit bag and took out a newspaper from it, she opened up the pages while The Doctor looked at his watch intently. Ace skimmed through a few pages of the paper.

"It's like they got Frank Bough to write these articles up Professor" said Ace, "All this stuff in here about finding common approaches, it reminds me of the uneasy sight of him behind a desk on Breakfast Time, you know, back when they really started to slide against that other show, the one with the giant puppet rat"

"Ah yes, giant rats, the great Greel gambit...a most heinous challenge to overcome for the noblest of savages I have ever known..." said The Doctor as he indulged in the wisps of remembrance, reflecting on the era of the fourth, "There was an era Ace, filled with peril of the most macabre kind, everything seemed to conspire to take me and my company to the darkest corners, to contend with the most desperate of characters. The TARDIS in a gothic frame of mind as well as look, frankly I think she just missed me using the central console room, everything brightened up afterwards"

"There was still danger right?" asked Ace

"Always is" said The Doctor.

He looked around him, watching a child in particular play about with a happy meal toy attained in a McDonalds.

"That's not his you know, it belongs to the mother. She likes the appeal of the meal that brings happiness. Simplest thing, nothing too big with calories, less preservatives, makes her feel very complete. The child wants what her husband is having. A bigger meal, he wants to feel important, the toy is a distraction, keeping him from making too much noise, but he's already thinking the tears have to come across his face eventually, make his demands heard, he likes the food, he wants to taste the splendour of adulthood, he's so very afraid, he thinks he'll stay that age forever, small and fragile, forever simple. Some of the others aren't so lucky, some of them liked the show, some of them pass through the ages wondering if their number will ever be called up...their age of understanding, their age of strength, their..."

"Everyone can hear you Professor" whispered Ace

"Speak up Ace, this isn't boarding school" The Doctor responded, almost taking offense to Ace's cautious words as the perplexed gazes of those inhabiting the restaurant glared down upon the two, including the family with the children.

"I'm sorry" said Ace apologetically, "Still...So much insight into what a child's thinking...next you'll be telling me you can totally interpret baby speak" remarked Ace

"I could probably hope to stand the habit nearer the end of my lives than the beginning" said The Doctor.

"Professor" Ace said, "Have you read this main headline? 'Hayling Island local Kristine Rimmer returns after several year absence. A young woman was discovered at the harbour area of Hayling Island Beach by a young man, Eliot Wright, the young woman was dazed, confused and seemed to remember a fleeting relationship with Mr. Wright and little else that has transpired in the years she was absent from home, Wright denies ever having known her. He is being held for questioning while Ms. Rimmer remains with her family"

"Transference...he's getting closer to making the supreme mistake" whispered The Doctor

"Now who' in class?" said Ace

"If this were a maths class, I would be lecturing that person for making a supreme miscalculation" The Doctor replied

"Who Professor?"

"Who indeed" The Doctor replied, before standing up, checking his watch and urging Ace to follow him outside.

"We're taking the trip now" he said, a little more loudly this time, wanting everyone to hear him

"My apologies...I've made him go on a diet, he's a bit crabby about that" said Ace to the remaining customers.

As they exited the door, the young child put down his toy and rushed over to intercept them

"Rufus, come back here" snapped his concerned mother as Rufus walked up to The Doctor and kicked him in the leg

"I don't like you" said the child with a salty tone.

"Barely a footstep out of the sand and you've learned the lesson. Thank you" The Doctor replied, smiling, he tipped his hat to the boy, and walked out of the restaurant, with Ace hastily following

"What was that about?" said Ace

"Ace, today you're going to learn a vital lesson in what happens when you dislike something to an obsessive degree...do you like the taste of concrete?"

"I don't think anyone does Professor" said Ace

"Precisely why so few are made of such stuff...but the ones that are. They can turn the tides"

"So what are we to that?" said Ace

"We tame the tides"