The Doctor strode purposefully along the corridor, for a relatively short man he set a brisk pace. Ace found herself, not for the first time, virtually jogging just to keep up with him. Suddenly he paused. Ace almost collided into his back as he stood there sniffing at the air.

"What's wrong?" asked Ace. "Can you sense something?"

The Doctor nodded grimly. "If my hunch is right then things are far worse than I'd feared. Ace, there's boiled cabbage for lunch in the dining room today."

"Professor!" Ace punched him playfully on the shoulder blade. "There are some evils that even you can't eradicate, school dinners are beyond help." As he turned to smile at her, Ace could not fail to notice the worried look which briefly danced across his features. "You really are worried aren't you?"

"Until I know what we're up against, yes I am. I was expecting some kind of a challenge from him by now."

"Him?"

"The Master. I'm sure he's here in this building somewhere. He must have realised that I'd turn up, I don't like this Ace. Either he's over confident or … Come on Ace!" Those little legs were off and running again.

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Mr. Grout was in great danger. In great danger of falling asleep. His initial apprehension had given way to a far more relaxed state of mind. The students actually seemed to be doing rather well. Pens on paper, a quiet but beautiful symphony. Suddenly he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Good grief, there was a man looking through the door window at him. No, not looking at him after all but looking at the students. A concerned parent, no doubt. That was all very well but there is the correct time and place for everything and an anxious parent grinning though the door was hardly going to relax their offspring, not to mention the possibility of cheating.

By the time that Mr. Grout had reached the door the strange little man was opening it. "You are not allowed in here while there's an exam in progress Mr… ?" He hissed.

"Doctor, call me Doctor. How is Bethany Tipton doing?"

Mr. Grout nodded to himself. Just as he'd thought, a stressed out parent. "Your daughter is in the middle of a very important exam. You really must wait until it's over you know. Why not grab yourself a coffee and come back later."

"My daughter?" For a moment the strange little man seemed locked in anguish. "My daughter…" He recovered quickly though. "No, no, Bethany isn't my daughter. To be honest she's not met me yet. Though I did help her out in a few years time when she was having a spot of trouble with… Ah, but I looked different then. That was three bodies ago. This is Ace, by the way."

Mr. Grout hadn't noticed the strangely dressed teenager hovering impatiently behind the Doctor. Well, strangely dressed for 2003 anyhow. Her clothes would have been highly fashionable back when he had first started teaching in the mid 1980s.

"I don't know who either of you are, or what you want here but I suggest that you leave. I really do not have time for this nonsense." Stand firm. That's the way to deal with these people he thought.

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Bethany was starting to feel the pressure. The golden rule in all exams is to make sure that you have read the question correctly before you try to answer it. She knew that. She had carefully read the question over and over again. But surely that had said to the power of three a moment ago. Now it was talking about squaring the original answer. She blinked, no, it was definitely a 2. She must have imagined the 3? Or perhaps she needed to get her eyes tested. There had been several moments throughout the course of the exam when the writing on the question paper had seemed to blur before her eyes. Oh, pull yourself together Beth! She shook her head and blinked again. The end of the exam could not come soon enough.

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Mr. Grout was facing something of a minor dilemma. He could not leave the students unsupervised but equally he needed to get rid of this pair of lunatics before they caused more trouble than they already had done. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone. He switched it on and dialled the number of the staff room telephone.

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Now alone in the staff room, the Master got out of his chair as the telephone rang. "Hello, staff room. Mr. Stream speaking."

"Ah, hello. Ernie Grout here. I'm invigilating the Maths exam in the main hall. Well at least I should be, only there's a gentleman and a young lady causing a bit of a scene here. Would you come along and escort them to the Head's office perhaps? He might be able to help them."

"Certainly, I'll be right along." The Master replaced the receiver and looked at his watch again. It was still showing him live pictures of the increasing confused Bethany Tipton. He smiled evilly. "Don't worry, nobody is going to disturb you now." With a sweep of his index finger the picture changed to show that idiot Grout trying to reason with two very familiar characters. "Ah, Doctor. On time as ever. Hmm, now how do I get you away from that hall without revealing myself?" He thought for a second and then, with his mind made up, strode towards the door to execute the next part of his plan.