The Dowager Suite was two floors up, and rather dusty. There were very plush furnishings, however, a couple of very large beds in seperate rooms, and a couple of small ones in a tiny cupboard of a room, presumably meant for the Queen Mother's maids. There was a large fireplace, mercifully unlit, given the heat, even at night-time. Bookshelves contained books, a wind-up gramophone had several records on 78" shellac, and under other circumstances, it might have been a fairly pleasant place to spend a few days. Provided it had been dusted.

The Lieutenant and his troops led the ladies to their suite, then sneered, departed - and locked the door behind him. For all the assurances that they were not under arrest, they were certainly not being given any freedom to roam.

There were bars on the windows. They looked new. As HQ for the local staff officers, presumably the whole building had seen a degree of reinforcement. It made climbing out to freedom vexingly impossible.

As soon as they were alone, Amy went to try the door. The fact it was locked was aggravating, but not any kind of surprise. She went to the windows to try the bars... no joy. Even if they could get rid of them, it was a long way down to the square, and given the location, it was probably very busy at all hours, being next to the HQ.

"Well, for people who aren't under arrest, this looks exactly like a cell. A very comfortable cell." She flopped into an over-stuffed armchair. It gave off a puff of dust. "Ack! You can tell it's all men about this place, they wouldn't know a duster if it bit them!"

She glowered about the room. "It's not a trip through time if we don't get locked up at least once! Soon as it is quiet, I say we whip out the sonic, rescue Harry, and high-tail it after Mortimus! I really don't want to be here for the Battle of the Somme! We nobble this meddler, history stays the same, and nobody has to go and be nice to Hitler!"

Even as she said it, she knew it was futile. Things were never that easy. Aside from the fact that getting out of the building would prove to be a pretty tall order, they still had no idea where Mortimus was, precisely. Sure, the tracker gadget that Drax gave them would sort of point at him, or whatever it was meant to do, but they still had to actually find the blasted man! And that wasn't going to happen so long as the British Army kept interfering!

(Admittedly, their interference meant that they were all still alive, and not dead in a ditch in No Man's Land, but this was a technicality she was prepared to overlook as it did not suit her narrative. Amy had an enormous capacity for re-writing events to suit her own point of view.)

Victoria looked around, frowning herself at the dusty conditions.  "I am not one to complain, or at least not much.  What a beast that officer was!  Detain us until we are sent back!  Keep poor Harry as a objector!  I would think we would be put to work as nurses or something and he would be put in uniform and sent to the front!"

She sighed.  "We must find a way out.  I fear my only skill is screaming."

Leela paced around the room. "I would have imagined they would desire our services against the enemy. We must be stealthy; we cannot fight these men, one of them could be Amy's ancestor."

There was not any easy way out of the suite, there were too many soldiers about, and even with the sonic to deal with locks and window bars, getting all of them out of the building and away was a logistical nightmare - and one that would leave Harry still in the clutches of the very strange General. So some time passed, and it was a hot, heavy evening, in a dusty room. It was no jail cell, but it still was uncomfortable.

It was difficult to say how much time elapsed, as the elaborate clock on the mantlepiece had stopped, probably years ago. But it felt longer than it was. Time always drags in such situations. But eventually, there was a scrabbling at the door, and it unlocked. It opened, and a very large hostess trolley was pushed into the room. It had multiple levels, covered in crockery and food, a samovar, and there was even a bottle of decent wine in an ice bucket. White, of course.

The trolley was being pushed by someone in a kitchen apron and chef's hat. He was marvellously rotund, with a florid face, truly feral muttonchops that looked like they could house a flock of birds, and a similarly untended moustache. Possibly he had not had time to deal with them. His age was uncertain, but there was no doubt he was some distance on the wrong side of sixty.

He closed the door after nodding politely to the guard, and wheeled to trolley into the centre of the room. Then, in a truly unexpected display of animation for a portly old chap, he strode over to Leela, threw his hat aside, and took her by the hand, pumping it furiously in a manner that was possibly a real risk to his continued survival, given her instincts and tendency to react with knife and attitude to any unexpected assault.

When he spoke, his voice was a rich, plum pudding of a voice, and far more vibrant (and relieved) than his age might suggest. "Miss Leela, it is you! I was sure it was when I saw you come inside this military monolith! Ha! Now we'll see some sense! This whole beastly business will be sorted by elevenses, mark my word, now you and the Doctor are here! This bally war will be over and we can all get back to a proper, sensible sort of life, or my name is not Henry Gordon Jago!"

For indeed, it was he. Older, fatter, but just as twinkly of eye and extravagant of manner.

"Mister Jago!" Leela said as she returned his handshake vigorously, pleased to see him. "This is Henry Jago, he owns a theatre. The Doctor took me there once. I wore a dress, it was all quite... charming" she said, recalling a word the doctor had said that she did not find much use for. Despite Leela's usual styles and warrior nature, she was not completely immune to the attraction of a nice dress. "Although the tribe then had lots of rules that were very hard to understand and did not seem to make sense. Jago helped us defeat Magnus Greel, the time-traveler, with an act of bravery. Jago, These are my friends Susan, Victoria and Amy. Unfortunately, the Doctor is not with us." As they talk, she digs into the food; no reason to wait on good nutrition.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:29, Sun 01 Oct 2023.

Victoria's eyes widened at the funny older man. Why, he was a funny as her Doctor, and just as vivacious.  What a character!

She almost curtseyed to him, but instead put her hand out.  "Miss Victoria Waterfield, sir.  It is a pleasure.  I fear, or perhaps may say, am fortunate, that I have never met another time travelor other than my lovely Doctor and Jaime, but he told me of the Time Meddler, so I know some of it.  Thank you for the lovely repast.  It is most appreciated."

And with that, she realized she had talked too much, so she stepped back with a blush.

Amy had ben spending time by the window, looking out through bars, hoping to see any sign of a chance to escape, or some mischief afoot. It had all been depressingly normal.

The arrival of the large and rather extravagant man made her smile a little. Oh yes, this was definitely the sort of man her Doctor would have in his little book of names. And he had brought food. She went to explore it, but even as she was eyeing the trolley, she sidled up behind the man and said. "I am Amy Pond. And any friend of the Doctor is a friend of ours! But what's your story? You don't look much like a soldier boy! What are you doing in France right now? It's the last place anybody sensible wants to be!" She paused, realising that she was in France, with her friends. Well, one thing nobody could accuse her of being, much of the time, was sensible. "Is this some secret undercover investigation?"

That also made her brain skip a few gears. One thing this Jago person was not, was unobtrusive.

The food is not the finest ever, but it is far better than the trench dwellers would receive. Brown Windsor soup, some sort of rice and bacon risotto, treacle sponge, acceptable wine, bread and fresh butter... It was nothing like as fancy as the repast served by the Time Lords, but under the circumstances, it was remarkable.

Mr Jago sat down and heaved a great sigh. "Caught by my own cleverness. Always my downfall. So many people off at the front, and the bombs falling over London, I thought I could get a decent show going. Raise morale, and make a fair few sheckels at the same time. I rounded up a lot of performers, all keen as mustard, since very few theatres are open for the duration. Laid on a bill like you never saw! Only the very best! And said it was a fund raiser and morale booster, for the boys at the front. Well, after a couple of shows, strike me pink if Her Majesty the Queen did not show up herself! And she loved it! Called me up to the palace. I'm thinking, ho ho Henry, soon you'll have By Appointment to HRH Queen Mary on the poster... but no. She said it was such a good show, I should take it off to France and let the lads in the trenches have a bit of fun. Soon as she said it, I was trapped! Most of the performers vanished so fast you'd not see their heels for dust. So now I am stuck here in the danger zone because Queen Mary said I had to go, the Professor is up to his eyes in a field hospital, and there's some mighty rum goings on to boot!"

He helped himself to a bread roll, and picked at it nervously. "I've not been able to get to the bottom of it. But there's something going on. Some malicious miscreant is taking control of soldiers. Left them all... empty. Hollowed out, like the shell after eating a boiled egg. Still looks eggy... but there's nothing inside but air. I think there's something afoot, out in No Man's Land. Wouldn't be surprised to find some villain has set themselves up out there and is taking over both sides, though what for I couldn't guess. And with the Doctor off doing god knows what, it's up to us to sort it all out!"

Over the years, he had got more proactive about this sort of thing. Though he had no real idea where to start with this predicament.

"First things first - we better get your friend out of chokey, and out of this army headquarters. What are you all doing here, anyway? I am always charmed to meet such delightful ladies, but you picked the deuce of a time and place to come sight seeing!"

Although Leela know Jago was capable of acts of bravery and skill, she was still always slightly surprised that he actually managed to come through. "We shall deal with your problem. With one of your problems-I do not think I can help you perform your show."

"We are here because the Doctor is missing" she said, deciding to deal with the situation with characteristic bluntness.