1 Entranced.
A trader is starting his day at an ancient warehouse. His cart is piled high with goods and his horses are being brought to him by a stable hand. He should make a handsome profit from these wares. It is mostly pottery with a few wooden tables. His journey will take him to the antipodes. He looks at his timepiece, a large watch on a chain. He must go now, or he will arrive late for the warehouse to unload his wagon.
Horses harnessed to his cart; he sets off down the dirt track. He dreams that one day the roads will improve, but they aren't his responsibility, so he just carries on (head in the sand).
Although the planet, Portintrade, isn't small, he knows he can reach his destination within the hour. He laughs. He has been using the TradeWays portal all his life. His father before him.
He drives his cart to the centre of the city, pausing only briefly for a snack at a SandwichPost café.
In the café, he meets a young woman who asks him about himself.
"Hi who are you?" Crystelle asks. "What do you do?"
"Hi, my name is Bokar. I trade in pottery."
"Trading?" Crystelle asks. "Where are you going?"
"I'm heading for Ostra."
"Where's that?" Crystelle asks. She had been asked to find out as much as she can about how this planet worked. Maybe the Doctor was writing a Guide to the Universe, she wonders?
"It's on the other side of the planet – the antipodes."
"The antipodes?" Crystelle is stunned. This is a fairly large planet. "How long will that take?"
"Less than an hour," Bokar says.
"Under an hour?" Crystelle finds this hard to believe. "For this size of planet?"
"Yes," Bokar says. "Where are you from? You should know about TradeWays."
"I'm not from around here," Crystelle wants to try to avoid drawing attention to her history. "How does that work? Can you show me?"
"Sure." Bokar accepts that she must be one of the countryside bumpkins who have never been anywhere. He likes this one.
"Thank you," Crystelle says. She is pleased. She will see something useful here.
They go out of the café with a snack Bokar bought and Crystelle gets onto his cart with him. They start off down the road.
As they go, Bokar explains about TradeWays. "TradeWays wasn't its name when it was built. Then it was called Entranced, a trade name of the portal installation company, Entranced Intergalactic, that installed it. They tried to sell it to us. Doubt we could have afforded it.
"Each of nine cities spread over the whole planet had a portal with eight massive doorways installed in a circle, each doorway large enough for a laden cart to go through, each connecting to one of the other eight cities. Each portal looks a bit like an ancient structure with a lintel over the top of each portal.
"Above the portal door are the destination city names, you'll see them. Any trader or pedestrian can pass through the portal at any time, either way; you can see what traffic is coming the other way easily enough."
After only a few more minutes they arrive at the TradeWays portal. If Crystelle had been from Earth, she would have thought about a small, neat Stonehenge.
Bokar's new companion is alert and interested. The plan was to take her to the TradeWays portal so that she could see, but he wonders if she would like to see through the other side of the portal and see the antipodes. He is tempted.
"I can show you Ostra, the warehouse, and with luck I'll be able to come back within the hour." He knows that would be pushing it, but it should theoretically be possible.
"That sounds great," Crystelle replies. She is game.
They approach the portal. Above their portal doorway, a sign "Ostra" tells them that they are on the right track.
The trader, Bokar, drives his cart at a steady pace along the bumpy track towards the portal that he needed to use. Through the portal they could see that the light on the other side in Ostra was fading. The start of the day here was the end of their day.
He would be treated well. If he couldn't unload and re-load his cart before sundown, he would be given a free night's lodging at the TradeWays Inn, not that it was very comfortable, but he could cope.
"Early morning here," Bokar says. "Look, the sun is over there, well above the horizon. But it's evening there in Ostra."
They pass through the portal.
"Look, now the sun is over there, low down towards the horizon, but it's nearly setting," Bokar points out.
"So it is," Crystelle says. "Can I see the warehouse?"
"Yes, I'm going straight there," Bokar says, munching the remnant of his breakfast sandwich.
Bokar drives his cart to the warehouse, it's only a few minutes from the portal, yet the sun is going down fast. "Bother. There doesn't look to be enough time to unload and re-load on my own. Could you help me unload? Mostly pottery, so don't go dropping it!"
He stops the cart by a warehouse unloading bay. He signals to a horse boy that he wants to keep the horses for now, in case he can re-load his cart in time for the return journey.
Crystelle helps him. She is beginning to contemplate what she is going to do if the trader doesn't get his cart re-loaded.
The trader thanks her but has to relinquish his horses; the end of the day has come and loading in the dark isn't possible.
"Can I walk back to the portal?" Crystelle asks.
"No," Bokar replies. "The light falls far too fast, and then there is no light at all. It will be all we can do to get set up with bunk accommodation as it is." He walks to a doorway and asks for two for the night. As he doesn't have to pay, it makes no difference to him. Crystelle now begins to worry what the Doctor and Ommera will do if she isn't back.
As there is still light, she asks directions back to the portal and runs for it. She arrives back at the portal as the light fades out completely. She can't make out the signs above the portals it is so dark. If she goes through the wrong one, she could be lost for ages. She goes through the one that is aligned with the road she came from the warehouse on.
The day is in full swing. She looks back at the portal she had just walked through. Black night there, only a tiny area illuminated by light from the portal. Has she got back to the right place? Is there only the trader, Bokar, who would be able to say? She has no idea what the name of the original city was. She walks along the road aligned with that portal and sees the SandwichPost café. She is much relieved. She has learnt much and wants to tell the Doctor. But where is he? She wanders back to the portal confluence of ways. She sees the Ostra sign above the dark portal.
Her attention is drawn to another portal. There are solidly erected barriers around it. Where does it go to? Have they fallen out with that city? She looks around for someone to ask, but everyone is busy scurrying around on their errands. There is a bench and she sits down on it. As she sits, she reads the sign over the barricaded portal, Sol. She wanders over to the barricades. Inside the barricades, by the portal there is a space large enough for a cart. The portal shows a green field and blue sky. Why should it be barricaded?
What have the Doctor and Ommera discovered? What is wrong with the barricaded portal?