With the man and woman in custody, Jamie and Ròs went about their duties while besieged by their fellows asking for details, since little happens at the base, and the fact it wasn't people from the village, again.
They talked up a storm about conspiracies and espionage, but Jamie and Ròs didn't have anything to tell them, other than what they initially knew.
Between this and the sick soldiers relegated to the medical ward, the base usually remained quiet, bored, and aloof until inspection.
Their fifteen minutes of fame up and everyone done pestering them for details they didn't have, Jamie and Ròs settled around the cafeteria table, eating lunch.
"Maybe I should save up and get us one of those Telly combos," Jamie commented that with everyone focused on the man and woman, he ought to put money on the side, head out to a city, pick up a telly combo and a dozen VHS tapes so the soldiers at the base wouldn't spend their energy talking about nonsense.
Chewing on her chip, Ròs goes, "You can't bring those VHS tapes on base, Jamie."
Gently prodding her, Jamie asserts, "Oh! Like I'd do a thing like that, as if we didn't have issues with hygiene!"
Sighing, Ròs shook her head, as she did, she heard Jamie, "Oh, by the way, I just remembered. That new restaurant opened, say we have ourselves a trip to it when everything's said and done. Better than this slop."
A foodie at his core, Jamie scoped out every known food place within distance of the base, trying to find ones that have good food for good prices, something that's better than the issued food given to them by UNIT.
He'd also propositioned Ròs more than once to come with him, figuring two's a company and Ròs accepted his offer multiple times, due to the issued food being less than satisfactory for most soldiers at UNIT.
If not for them being able to head out to the village every now again, there'd be riots, and that said, Ròs questioned how Jamie's planning this trip to the closest city with the costs as they are, and he assured her with a toothy grin that he has a favour he planned on cashing in.
"And how are you going to make sure that the base doesn't realize that a Jeep's missing?" Ròs questioned his plan and Jamie tells her, "Oh, don't you worry my Ròs, I'll get us a Jeep to the city and back before anyone's the wiser."
Two two-way train tickets would've eaten a portion of the funds for their dinners and the telly combo with the tapes, but a filled Jeep with an extra can in the back would help them plenty in saving money.
"Only if you're sure," Ròs says as she sees cogs turning in Jamie's head as he thinks about the trip, before nixing that stray thought, "don't even think about setting up a poker tourney."
Too much trouble with playing poker with money and Brigadier Perry wasn't happy about the last tourney that happened resulting in fisticuffs between angry soldiers who were dealt bad hands.
"I'll think of something, don't you worry, maybe if luck smiles on me, I'll have enough for a night at the hotel," Jamie's toothy grin never left his face, causing Ròs to sigh as she continued munching on another chip, barely salted, no malt vinegar, just a sad little potato, the curse and a given for health standards set by the military.
Jamie cheered her up with a little bottle of hot sauce he gotten from trading things in his RAT packs with other soldiers on base, something that's done multiple times throughout the year, and anything from foreign rations fetched a hefty price, such as that bottle of hot sauce from America that Jamie traded his beef Wellington ration for.
"I don't think I have anything to trade," Ròs thoughtfully said as Jamie sat the bottle in front of her, waving his free hand as he tells her that she didn't need to trade him anything for the bottle.
Consider it a gift, of sorts.
"You sure?" Ròs looked at him, shocked he'd give her such a commodity, as he waved his hand again, saying to her that, "Oh, my Ròs, you're worth it."
Besides that, Jamie never cared for the beef Wellingtons in the RAT packs, give him the stews any day of the week.
Humbled, the usually no-nonsense Ròs thanked him for the gift, before using it on the sad potato, making it somewhat edible, the vinegar in the hot sauce wasn't like their malt vinegar, but it's the thought that counted, and Ròs shared the hot sauce with Jamie.
As they're eating their lunch, they overhear their assigned captain, Davies, coming towards them with a look on his face.
"Corporal Ramsay, Corporal Dewitt," Captain Davies greeted them, they greeted back, and he then went on to say, "Corporal Ramsay, I've noticed a minor detail in your report following the apprehension of the unknown male and female."
Confused, Ròs says to him, "I was thorough, captain, down to the fiber of that man's coat!"
Slowly nodding, Captain Davies tells her, "They searched for the… police box… was it? It wasn't there."
Crossing her arms, Ròs goes, "Captain, there's no possible way that anyone could've walked off with a police box!"
Her captain countered, "Nor way for anyone to bring one this far into the countryside to place it in the substation. Are you sure you saw it?"
Aghast, Ròs chewed on her inner lip, reminding herself of who she's talking with, before replying, "Yes, sir, I saw it with my own two eyes. Talk to the man and woman, it had to been theirs."
If there's anyone who knew more, it's the ones who put that police box there that know where it went, Ròs and Jamie were thorough, there's no way they missed someone in their search.
Jamie spoke up, saying, "Aye, sir, you have to believe Ròs, she wouldn't lie about something like this."
Captain Davies turned his head towards Jamie, processing what the two told him, before acknowledging that of all people, Ròs wouldn't lie about something foolish like a police box.
"However, I'm not the only one you have to convince," Captain Davies warns that while he trusted Ròs, those above their ranks may not feel the same way.
Frowning, Ròs then asked him, "Who are they, why would they want with the substation, for?"
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Captain Davies tells her that he doesn't know, Brigadier Perry has that authority, other than that, he doesn't know much more than they do.
Informing them of their duties for the evening, Captain Davies moved on from their table, leaving them to speak among themselves.
"How could it have moved?" Ròs blinked as she couldn't believe what their captain told them, that the police box she found wasn't at the substation where it should've been, leading Jamie to wonder if there was something off about it.
Of all things discovered in restricted space, a police box wouldn't normally come to mind.
"Great, I'm going to be the laughingstock come review," Ròs grimaced as Captain Davies warned her that the higher ranks would've become skeptical at her report, without the police box, she doesn't have proof, and one captain wouldn't sway them, none.
She doubted the man and woman would've coped to the police box, either, especially if they know the base didn't find and retrieve it.
"Unless," Jamie spoke up as an idea crossed his mind, with Ròs looking at him with curiosity, and he raised his finger as he finished his thoughts, "… they don't know that we know!"
Raising her brow, Ròs looked at him before Jamie expressed a ploy to force the man and woman into revealing what they know of the police box, by making it seem like UNIT has it.
With everything structured as it is, the two wouldn't known anything about what became of the police box, so if there's anyone else involved, well, then there's proof.
"Jamie, we're not allowed," Ròs reminded him that talking to the man and woman isn't allowed unless ordered and if they try something funny, it's their heads.
Crossing his arms, Jamie pondered their choices, before exhaling, "There's gotta be a way to prove you're right!"
Her head hung low, Ròs sighed heavily, braving her upcoming review with everyone above their rank looking into the report, with her unable to take it out without risking violations, they're going to see that notation on a blue police box, without it in custody, and that's that.
"Wait!" Jamie spoke up before dropping his voice, pulling Ròs closer to him as he says, "that woman dropped something just before I caught up to her. I forgot to turn it in 'cause I didn't think nothing of it."
Recoiling in her spot, Ròs exhaled, "Jamie! Your arse is on the line if they find out!"
Gesturing with his hand, Jamie calmed her, telling her that it was an honest mistake, besides that, he checked it out, all it was's some sort of ID holder with a blank sheet of laminated paper inside it.
"How's that going to help us?" Ròs found it improbable that a blank sheet of laminated paper's going to get her proof that there was a police box in the substation.
His dark eyes moving around, seeing where everyone's situated in the cafeteria, Jamie pulled out the leather ID holder, flipping it open, showing Ròs the laminated paper.
That's all it is, laminated paper.
"Next thing you'll tell me, it's two tickets to paradise!" Ròs winced at the sight, before Jamie recoiled it, his dark eyes falling on the laminated paper, before they widened in shock.
Blinking, Ròs asks him what's wrong, and he showed her.
That laminated paper, it became… a plane ticket… for two… location… Paradise… Mexico?
Flinching, Ròs sees the ticket as Jamie stared it at awe, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, before he closed the ID holder with a look on his face.
"You… saw that… right?" Jamie asked if his mind played tricks on him, but Ròs affirmed that it isn't, she saw it too, and now curious as to what this piece of laminated paper was, as when Jamie opened it again, it was back to being a plain laminated paper.
Cogs turned in his head before Jamie says, "Hey, what if we can use this thing to talk to them, get them to tell us where that police box went?"
Having gotten it from that woman, Jamie thinks that with it, he can force the man and woman into telling them everything they know.
Frowning, Ròs was unsure of the idea, before Jamie reminded her that they couldn't wait around hoping the man and woman say something that proves her right.
By the time they do, it'll be too late.
"Jamie, what if we get caught?" Ròs brought up the chances, before Jamie took her hands with his, promising her that he'll do everything he can to make it right if that happens, but this's their only option.
Thinking it over, Ròs asked him, "How are we supposed to do it?"
Glancing around the cafeteria as officers, corporals, name it, ate around the tables, Jamie gets an idea, "Dinner. That's how. We'll convince them we're bringing the two their dinner, get them to talk, then."
Since it's too late to sneak off to talk to them over lunch, as it's almost over and they've already gotten their lunches, Jamie concluded they'll convince people they're responsible taking dinner to the prisoners.
There hasn't been murmurs of their release or transfer, anything suggesting they're leaving tonight, so they have the opportunity.
Afterwards, it's hard to guess what'll happen to them, but Jamie knows, they won't have the opportunity, then.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Ròs looked at Jamie, sure of his plan, as he reached over and grabbed a chip off his tray.
Lunch concluded and the duo returned to their duties, Jamie held onto the strange laminated paper, playing with in-between duties, and amazed at the properties it possessed.
Seemingly, the moment Jamie says something such as tickets or other, it would mimic them accurately, and like it did before, when time passed, it returned to the plain laminated paper.
Messing with it, Jamie couldn't find anything unusual.
It looked like an ordinary piece of paper, but somehow transformed to anything Jamie says.
It would've added to the theory that they're dealing with spies and espionage, but Jame isn't sure.
Maybe they weren't trained to identify every trick in a spy's handbook, but they're trained enough to spot the tell-tale signs.
Whatever Jamie picked up, it's too sophisticated.
He'll get his answers with Ròs when they commence their plan bringing the man and woman their dinners.
Patrolling the hallway leading to the medical ward, beyond, the sick bay, Jamie stopped short of the doors, inside he heard the nurses and the doctors talking amongst themselves.
Ever since the accident, they've been busied with the exposed soldiers.
Methane gas.
Poor bastards.
Details sparse, but something happened during a training exercise, none of the soldiers realized what happened until they started showing symptoms.
Since, they've been quarantined in the medical wards while doctors and nurses worked around the clock.
Among the exposed soldiers, one of Jamie's friends, Owen, good man, bad luck with poker games.
As he turned around to walk up the hallway, Jamie heard the doors behind him open and closed, a nurse, about thirty, married with a son, with a cart filled with dirty trays smelling of lunch moved through the hall, before Jamie stops her.
"Nurse Cranston, is there any update on the boys?" Jamie asks her about her patients and as she stood behind the cart, her baby blue eyes reflecting him, she responded, "Sorry, corporal, you know I can't say much."
Recoiling, Jamie says, "It's been days, is there any changes in them, at all?"
Thinking it over, Nurse Cranston finally says, "It's touch and go bases, corporal, but the doctors believe the symptoms are finally going away."
It'll still be time before anyone can go through those doors and see them, but the nurse says that they're recovering slowly.
"If they been exposed any longer, I dare say it'd be an empty sick bay," Nurse Cranston frowns as she's thankful that someone spotted the signs of the exposure and stopped the exercise before it progressed any further.
Jamie let her through as she pushed the cart through the hallway, returning the trays to the cafeteria.
"Aye, a miracle," Jamie frowns before returning to his duties.