Didn't quite make the 7th of February either... Well. The next one should be out on the 14th of March.


The roads are clear so they walk in the almost silence of the countryside.

It would be nice, Missy thinks, if the circumstances were different.

The roads quickly turn to country lanes, hemmed in with hedges and covered in grit and tracks of dirt from the fields. Tress meet overhead occasionally and there's something like safety, implicit in their canopy's shadow, which lets the two breathe a little more easily as they pass under them, unease settling in again as the sunlight hits them full.

They stop only for seconds, enough time for the Mistress to check the phone, nod, and continue on the way they had been going. They listen the whole time for cars, anxious about hearing even the hum of a tractor.

After a far shorter amount of time than it feels the two come to the end of the directions that the Time Lady has been pulling from the phone and stand at an intersection of three roads. Tracks are worn deep into the earth at the entrance to a field in front of them, gate shut tightly and wound around with rope, and to their left, open slightly and crooked on its old hinges. It's this second one that they've been directed to.

The Mistress pushes it and it resists just slightly. She holds it open for Bill who steps through, tension running through her shoulders and spine decreasing just a little from being off the road.

Missy watches her back and frowns a little .

Bill turns to face her, standing on top of a rise next to the furrows cut into the ground by tractor wheels, as she sets the gate back as close to its original position as she can. The Mistress takes her time with it, trying to clear the thoughts from her head about how the human looks, one hip cocked with the unevenness of the ground, arms crossed, clearly worried, clothing somewhat dusty and crumpled strangely from having lived in it for the last few days. Her hair is similarly caught, far neater than Missy's own but clearly worn the same way for longer than she usually would.

In short the Time Lady is once again extremely distracted by thoughts that Bill would probably not have minded if Missy had just said something smarter after kissing her.

Eventually she manages to put them aside.

She doesn't apologise to Bill but she wants to in a way that she can't really describe to herself or figure out what the reasoning behind it would be.

There's a tin shed behind Bill, only about three metres tall and five metres across by the looks of it. The metal is corrugated and more well-kept than most of the things that they have seen since moving across the water, painted with some kind of paint which has started to peel away at the corners. There's an old trough outside, far more rusted and filled with orange water. The door on the side slides open relatively despite the way it groans.

Bill shudders at the noise.

"I feel like they'll hear us in Paris with that." She says in a way which is clearly meant to be joking but is actually a real concern. Her lips twist up in a wry smile which is closer to a grimace than anything else. Her voice is a strange thing after the lack of human noises around them.

"It's okay, we couldn't hear any cars and I'd know if there were any people around." The Time Lady reassures her, gesturing through the doors into the dark interior after taking a cursory glance around the inside to check it's safe.

The human hums a little in response, nodding, and steps inside the windowless box.

Missy steps in after her and closes it shut as far as she can, sliding the bolts into place at the bottom and top of the doors.

"At least we'll be secure in here." She says, dusting her hand off slightly on her clothes, dried mud leaving pale marks on the fabric.

She slips the phone out of her pocket again and finds the 'on' button in the dark, clicking through the settings until she gets to a torch which she flashes around the entirety of the room, blinding Bill temporarily who covers her eyes.

"Look where you're pointing that thing." The human complains, rubbing her face.

The Time Lady apologises quickly, taking more care to not shine the light directly into Bill's eyes as she inspects the thin covering of hay on the floor and the cobwebs on the ceiling, briefly pausing on the bare walls.

The room is small, probably used to keep horses in at some point, and there's concrete under the hay, ridged and solid. Nowhere for anyone to hide.

The Mistress knocks on the wall and listens to the sound, Bill jumps as she does and Missy apologises again, passing the human the torch.

Just the one layer of metal. Nowhere to put microphones inside it.

"Well. I think we're safe for now." The Mistress sums up, kicking a little at the hay. Her shoes bounce against the concrete somewhat, "what was in those bags again?"

"Can you really think about food at a time like this?" Bill asks, one eyebrow raised in the washed-out light of the torch. Her voice is somewhat quiet, as if she's worried about an echo.

The Time Lady smiles.

"Well there is little else to do. I'm more concerned for you eating though- I don't need to eat all that often but you need to eat at least three times a day, correct?" She says, gently taking hold of Bill's arm and guiding her to sit on the floor and slip the bag off of her shoulder. The Mistress steadies her with a hand on her other shoulder.

"I promise you that this is as safe as it can be. I've been in a lot of traps and have set a lot of traps and this is definitely, probably not a trap." The Time Lady says, trying to smile as convincingly as she is convinced.

Bill sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers as she puts the phone on the floor, torchlight pointing up to the ceiling.

"Yes, yes. I know. I trust you." Bill says, sounding tired, "I just. What if you're wrong and we get caught? It was bad enough before we started but what will happen if we get caught before we get anywhere near the monks? What will happen to you? What will happen to me?" The human asks, voice cracking a little as she meets Missy's gaze, gesturing to the Time Lady and then herself.

The Mistress is quiet for a moment, squatting down to be on the same level as Bill. She sighs too, closing her eyes.

"We are okay and I will try to make sure that we aren't caught. I am very good at getting out of bad situations. If we get caught you will be placed somewhere more secure where you can't do damage to their regime. They can't tamper with your mind because that is what is allowing them such complete control over the planet. No matter what happens you will be okay and we'll be careful so you don't have to go through that." The Time Lady promises.

Bill breathes in and out through her nose, trying to calm herself.

"But what about you?" Bill asks, meeting Missy's eyes again, "what happens to you if we get caught?" She asks.

The Mistress shuffles uncomfortably but thinks for a moment, trying to search the likely possibilities.

"Well," she starts slowly, formulating the words that she wants to say, "it is somewhat likely that I'll be put back with the Doctor again. I- failing that," the Mistress says, "failing that it's probable that they will find some other use for me or kill me, knowing my track record or just thinking I'm a normal human anarchist. I'm not exactly- the person I used to be isn't exactly safe to have around." The Time Lady admits, swallowing and looking at Bill's left arm, below her hand on the human's shoulder.

Her eyes prickle more than she's willing to confess even to herself and she blinks to disperse them, sniffing loudly and swallowing again.

"So. We aren't getting caught, alright?" The Mistress says, attempting a smile and squeezing Bill's shoulders. She clears her throat and breathes evenly.

"Anyway," the Time Lady says, snatching up the phone on the floor, "I need to let them know we're here."