"Do you... don't touch it." He pushed her hand away where it had instinctively lifted to pick at the corner of the bandage. "Do you feel any better?"
"I'm all right," she said with a determined smile. "I've done worse to my finger with a carving knife. I still don't understand why he did it, though. I thought he was your friend."
"Yes, well, let's not exaggerate." He picked up the box and carried it away to stow in a cupboard. "I'm afraid he has a rather adventurous concept of the ends justifying the means. It's my fault as usual. I should never have let you go off to meet him alone like that. I think I was actually starting to trust him there for a while."
Alison walked in, her contemplative gaze falling immediately on the Doctor, the Master shadowing her noiselessly. Jenny shifted warily on the table at his approach but stayed calm. He barely glanced at her. The Doctor looked around the silent gathering and made the effort to speak up and take charge.
"Right. Well now that all questions have been answered and things that belong in the past are being allowed to stay there, let's consider the future. We have to deal with those bloodsucking little horrors before they cause any more harm."
The Master spoke placidly.
"Well, I know what I'd do."
"I know what you'd do as well," said the Doctor with a cold look. "And the fact it's what you'd do is reason enough to try and think of something else."
"Do you mind including the rest of us in this?" asked Alison in annoyance while the Master shrugged unconcernedly. The Doctor looked irritated but summoned the patience to reply.
"The damage our beloved companion here did to the saucer's energy core is fixable. Not only that, but now we have precise details of the coding that was used to distort it in the first place we can configure it to emit radiation in a curative pattern that will undo the genetic damage that's been done so far. The victims could all be restored."
Jenny perked up at this.
"Master George? You can cure him? You can bring him back?"
"I think so, yes. And also the alien crew of that ship who were just passing innocently by your planet when they were attacked."
"Unfortunately," the Master interjected, "While the damage was caused remotely the repair is much more complicated and will have to be done manually. Much as I'd love to volunteer, I'm trapped in the Tardis, which leaves the Doctor the only one qualified for the task of re-entering the spacecraft, gaining access to the engine room and doing about two hours of highly complex and delicate work in there, all without being sucked dry like an old winesack by those endearing homunculi."
"Well, that's impossible, isn't it?" said Alison. "You might get back in but there's no way you'd be left in peace to work for more than a few minutes."
"Right," said the Doctor. "That's why we have to get rid of the creatures before I start. And because we're bearing in mind that they're innocent victims in this, we have to do that without harming them in any way."
"Which isn't as implausible as it might sound," the Master came back in. "We have one of them captive. You've already discovered that the others will respond to the distress call of their fellows. So the obvious approach is to lock up our prisoner somewhere defensible, let it recover, and then hold off the attack of the creatures drawn by its cry until the Doctor has had time to do what needs to be done. I would suggest that the mansion house is the only suitable place." He spread his hands like a jeweller displaying his prize wares . "Simple, you see?"
The Doctor shook his head.
"It would be incredibly dangerous, both for the people defending the house and for the aliens. Someone would get killed."
"Come now, Doctor," the Master said easily. "You know as well as I do that your real objection to the idea is that it gives you a nice, safe job while everyone else goes into peril. Your chivalrous instincts rebel against the concept."
"No," the Doctor said stubbornly.
Alison glanced at Jenny, saw the fear but also the assent in her face, and spoke up:
"Doctor, if this is the only way..."
"No," he said again, and now there was a sudden brightness in his voice. He looked the Master in the eye and the corner of his mouth twisted up in a smile. "I've got a better idea."
--------------------
The early morning dew was still fresh on the grass when Alison and Jenny trudged back up the path and pushed open the main door of the mansion.
"Guess we should be grateful no one bolted the thing," Alison reflected, rubbing dusty eyes while glancing about the empty, silent hallway. "Oh well, since we're surplus to requirements I'm going to go and get about forty-eight hours' sleep. You?"
"Oh, you go on, miss," said Jenny, looking oppressed by these familiar surroundings, her posture becoming stooped. "I've got to... oh no."
She was looking through the open doorway into the study. Alison circled round to see, and found Lord Carstairs sitting slumped in an armchair, fast asleep. He wore a heavy overcoat, mud-stained boots, and cradled his shotgun in his arms like a baby.
"Oh, Lord." Jenny clapped her hand to her forehead. "He must have been tramping around looking for goblins all night. He does that sometimes. He'll be all stiff and in a foul temper when he wakes up."
"Yeah? Those rocks on the hill can't be more than half a mile away. He can't have been looking very hard."
"Well, no, I think he just wanders around the grounds. It makes him very angry that he never catches anything." She turned hastily to go. "It won't be so bad if I wake him with breakfast. I'd better get started."
"Wait!" Alison grasped her hands. "You can't be serious. You've been up all night helping us fight monsters and you've been stabbed in the neck. Surely if I explain he'll give you a few hours off?"
"Well, he might," said Jenny with a regretful smile. "But he'll be expecting the cook to produce a hearty meal. That's something you won't be able to explain."
Alison accepted this ruefully and released her hold.
"Okay. Well, I'll give you a hand."
Jenny smiled again in an apologetic way.
"I've seen all the wonderful machines you have. Do you know how to cook on a cast iron wood burning stove?"
Alison winced guiltily.
"You've got me there."
"Don't worry, miss, I'll be fine. Anyway, the Doctor says he can cure Master George and make the goblins go away and then the other servants will come back and I won't have to do everything myself any more." She ducked her head shyly. "He's nice, isn't he?"
"Who?" There was a pause while Alison genuinely couldn't understand who she was talking about. "Oh!" She blinked. "The Doctor? Well, it's not the first word that springs to mind."
Jenny looked confused and grudgingly Alison took pity on her and gave ground.
"He's nice to you. He likes you."
"Really?" Jenny's eyes widened. "Me?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it. It took me a while to cotton on when I first met him."
"Oh." Jenny frowned over this puzzling concept, then discarded it with an air of decision. "I'd better get started on breakfast."
She disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. Left alone Alison plodded wearily upstairs towards her bedroom. The second they were both gone Carstairs' eyes peeled open.
"The rocks." His voice was so compressed and hardened by emotion that it was perfectly flat and toneless. "On the hill."
His grip tightened on his shotgun.