Chapter Three

The White Cliffs of Dover were one of the most recognisably British sights of the Second World War. They were the first things that sailors and pilots would see as they arrived, and their imposing nature made them an icon. In Napoleonic times, a network of secret underground tunnels had been excavated within the cliffs, in preparation for an attack from the French. The tunnels were disbanded after the attack never came, and when the war with Germany started the British military found themselves with a perfect location to carry out their most top secret military operations. They strengthened the existing tunnels and extended the exiting network, creating five levels of tunnels spanning several hundred metres below Dover Castle and creating tunnels that would have been several miles in length of they had been made into one long tunnel.

In early 1941, the tunnels were at their most industrious. And in one small section of one of the less busy tunnels, a faint breeze and an odd grinding noise could have been heard by someone passing by. As it happened, there was no-one nearby, which was lucky for them – anyone passing by would have had a heart attack at the sight of a police box materialising in the middle of a tunnel, and a tall, gangly man in a pinstripe suit and light brown calf-length coat emerging from inside it.

The Doctor poked his head out of the TARDIS and looked around. Frowning slightly, he strode out and walked towards the nearest wall, looking up at the light fixings and then down at the floor. As he looked around, his thoughts were momentarily interrupted by Rose

"Right …" she said, following the Doctor out of the TARDIS and looking around intently. "Where are we? I mean, when are we? I mean, I know we're in the Second World War, but what year?"

But the Doctor didn't hear her. As he continued to inspect their surroundings, he absent-mindedly whistled the opening bars of "There'll Be Bluebirds Over The White Cliffs Of Dover". He scratched one of the walls with his fingernail and examined it closely as he continued to whistle, before looking up and down the tunnel with an amused expression on his face. Rose caught this expression and frowned.

"Doctor?" she asked. "When are we?" She followed the Doctor's gaze down the tunnel and a thought struck her. "Where are we? I thought we were going back to—"

"D'you know," he began, not having been listening to Rose, "the TARDIS never ceases to amaze me. I set the co-ordinates for London, and instead I get Dover." He rolled his eyes and walked back over to his ship, giving it an appreciative pat. "Typical."

"Dover?" Rose said dubiously. "We're in Dover?"

"Yup," the Doctor confirmed. "The famous White Cliffs of Dover, to be precise. Although how we managed to end up here, I'll never know …"

"Mickey's mate Stan used to come here all the time on booze cruises," she told him, looking around absently. She began to stroll up and down the tunnel back and forth past the TARDIS. "Brought back half a truckload of Stella Artois once. Took us months to drink it all." Rose stopped dead in her tracks as she suddenly realised what the Doctor had said to her. Cliffs?

"Hang on …" she said slowly. "The White Cliffs of Dover? As in, those whacking great chalk things?"

"Yup," The Doctor said, grinning. "Those whacking great chalk things." He scratched the wall again and showed Rose. "That's what this is. Chalk."

"But …" This didn't make sense. "They're cliffs."

"Your point being?"

"Cliffs are by the sea."

"Yeah?"

"We're underground."

The Doctor smiled at Rose's logic. He decided that his newest incarnation was much fonder of humans than his last one. Yes, they were still stupid apes, but it wasn't their fault – they just hadn't fully realised their potential yet. Human beings would be great one day, once they'd evolved bigger and faster brains. I'm definitely recycling Four, he thought to himself. Humans could very well be my favourite species again.

Rose raised an eyebrow at the Doctor as he looked at her with a slight smile. He wasn't being patronising at all, but she still felt a little stupid occasionally when she got something wrong. She did appreciate the new Doctor not insulting humans on a daily basis, but that didn't stop her from feeling silly every now and then. After all, he was a Time Lord. He knew more than her entire planet ever would. And right now, she felt very silly indeed for pointing out that they were, in fact,underground.

"Aren't we?"

"Well," said the Doctor gently, not wanting to make Rose feel inferior, "it depends on what you mean by 'underground'. Technically, we are below ground level. However, we are also technically above sea level. So I'd say we're in the ground rather than under it."

Rose raised an eyebrow and sighed.

"Just when I thought you were starting to show a bit of normality …"

"We're definitely in the 20th century," he continued. "The electric light fittings say as much. All we have to do is find someone nearby who can tell us what the year is."

"Someone nearby?" Rose said incredulously. It was at times like this when she wondered who of the two of them had the more common sense. "Doctor, we're in the middle of a tunnel, in the middle of a cliff. Why would there be anybody about? There's obviously no people anywhere near here!"

The Doctor opened his mouth to object – if they were in the late 20th century (which he hoped they weren't), the tunnels would be swarming with guided tours and tourists taking photographs – but before he got round to answering Rose, a noise interrupted him. Distantly, he heard the sound of a bell ringing. He and Rose turned their heads in the direction of the bell, which was getting slowly and steadily louder. Clearly, they were not as underground as they thought. The Doctor looked round at Rose and raised an eyebrow.

"What does that sound like to you?" he asked.

"I dunno …" Rose said truthfully. She thought wildly for something intelligent to say and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "An ambulance, maybe?" Stupid idea. Ambulances weren't underground! "But—"

"Now, why would they bring an ambulance to a place where there are no people?" The Doctor grinned smugly and grabbed Rose's hand as he began to run in the direction of the ambulance bell. Rose couldn't help feeling exhilarated whenever they were running towards danger, but a tiny little thought at the back of her brain reminded her that, just this once, her big mouth and stupid comments had been right. She grinned at the thought as she and the Doctor ran through the maze of tunnels, towards the nearest exit.