The Doctor knocked on the door of Tegan’s room. He heard her call out to him and pushed the door open. She was sitting on her bed reading a book. She put it under her pillow quickly, as if she didn’t want him to notice the title. His quick eyes caught the image of a luxury train and the author’s name. She had been reading Murder on The Orient Express.

“That’s a coincidence,” he said. “Remember our trip last year.”

“I remember,” Tegan said, but without enthusiasm. The Doctor was puzzled. He had heard her tell complete strangers about her trip on the Orient Express with enthusiasm.

“What’s up?” He sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to touch her hand gently. She didn’t withdraw her hand. That was a good sign.

“I just feel... It was rough on the Sea Base. So many people died.... so many innocent people....”

“Yes,” The Doctor agreed. “Humans... and the Silurians and Sea Devils. It shouldn’t have been that way. But... Tegan... I was proud of you. I know you were scared, and you were hurt, too. But you were brave. And you were more than that. You were compassionate. You were the best a Human can be when so many on Sea Base were being the worst. I’m proud of you.”

Tegan gave a weak smile. Being complimented by The Doctor meant a lot to her.

“Tulough was pretty brave,” she said. “And loyal, too. He stuck up for you, Doctor. And when that lot would have left you to die he went back for you.”

“Yes, he did. I was touched by his faith in me. Now that he’s free of the Black Guardian his true nature has surfaced. His people have a right to be proud of him.”

“Whoever they are,” Tegan added, remembering that Turlough was not Human and not from Earth.

“That’s for him to disclose, when he feels he can do so,” The Doctor said. “Meanwhile, I was thinking about a party. I found this in a cupboard.”

Tegan glanced at a handwritten letter addressed to one Lord Peter Palmer inviting him and his friends to a New Years Eve party at the London home of Lady Margery Astoria. The cream coloured notepaper, edged in gold, had an elaborate crest at the top.

“Lady Astoria?” she queried. “Lord Peter Palmer...”

“Remember, on the train. Cecelia Hayes mentioned that she met me briefly at the party. When I tracked down Lady Astoria’s jewels.”

“Lord Palmer tracked down the jewels.”

“Seems like I AM Lord Palmer. I hadn’t been to Lady Astoria’s party at the time, though. That’s why I thought it would be nice...”

“It would be nicer if Nyssa and Adric were coming, too,” Tegan said quietly.

“Ah,” The Doctor understood, now. “You’re missing them.”

“When things were tough, like they were on Sea Base, I always had Nyssa to talk to about it all. You know... girl to girl sort of thing. Even... when Adric... we were there for each other.”

“I’ve always been there for you,” The Doctor pointed out. “You can talk to me. I know it’s not the same... but you CAN, any time.”

“I know that, Doc,” Tegan assured him. “Right from the start you were great. When you told me about Aunt Vanessa... you were so kind about it. And you helped me cope with the Mara... and...”

“I’m sorry that you seem to have suffered so much in the course of our adventures,” The Doctor admitted. “You have been hurt so often, mentally and physically and some of it is my fault.”

“All of it’s your fault, Doctor,” Tegan replied with a flash of her old fierceness. “But I forgive you.”

“Good, then how about you put on a dress suitable for partying in exclusive London society on the Eve of 1935 and I’ll get out my top hat and tails and be your escort for the night.”

“Escort?” Tegan smiled widely despite her solemn mood. “You mean... like a date?”

“Just this once, yes,” The Doctor told her. “I would be honoured.”

Turlough was excited by the prospect of a society party, too, though less so by the need to wear formal clothes.

“This is worse than school uniform,” he complained about the formal evening suit he was wearing along with a silk top hat. The Doctor was wearing the same, which was enough of a change from his usual attire to mark this evening as special.

“You both look like Fred Astaire,” Tegan told them. “Very suave.”

“And you would give Ginger a run for her money,” The Doctor replied. Tegan looked extremely elegant in a golden-brown silk satin evening dress that hugged her figure from the fan shaped bodice to just below the knee where it again fanned out into a wide skirt around her ankles. Matching dancing pumps peeped out from under the skirt and she had tiny silk fans in her hair. To complete the ensemble she was carrying a fan shaped clutch purse with a few necessary cosmetics in.

The TARDIS was parked at the end of the elegant Chelsea street. Tegan wrapped a cream coloured cashmere shawl around her shoulders as the party stepped out and hurried to number four, the London home of Lady Astoria.

The door was opened by a butler. The Doctor introduced himself as Lord Palmer, and they were conveyed indoors to a warmly lit hallway and then into a finely decorated drawing room where a number of guests were already gathered. Tegan was gratified to notice that her gown compared favourably with those worn by the bone fide 1935 society ladies. The men, old and young, all looked like variations on Fred Astaire. The Doctor and Turlough would fit in easily.

A woman who just had to be Lady Astoria was the centre of attention among the crowd. She was in her late thirties with deep auburn hair exquisitely coiffured and her make up perfectly applied. She was wearing a mint green backless and sleeveless dress. The expanse of flesh between the bodice and neck was enhanced by an emerald that was an inch and a half across and glittered in the light from the electric chandelier. It was impossible not to look at it rather than at her face. Tall men stooped to see it better. Short women looked directly at her so beautifully decorated bosom.

When the butler announced Lord Palmer, the Honourable Mr Victor Turlough and the Honorable Miss Tegan Jovanka, she broke off from the social group she was with and came to greet them. Turlough’s eyes turned from her face to the emerald. His eyes flickered back to her face but they slid back down again.

Tegan looked closely at the jewel and was impressed by it. Tulough couldn’t take his eyes off it – unless it really was Lady Astoria’s bosom that attracted him.

The Doctor kept his eyes on the jewel for a few seconds longer than seemed strictly necessary, and then deliberately looked at Lady Astoria’s face instead. Tegan watched him as he chatted with her, though. His eyes really did slide down every so often to the glittering emerald.

Tegan took hold of Turlough’s arm and steered him towards the window. They looked out at a dark Chelsea street full of the four storey high London houses of well off people, stockbrokers and bankers and ladies of independent means like Lady Astoria.

“Hello,” said a woman with an American accent. bTegan half turned and saw a tall, slender woman with a cigarette in a long holder. “I was just admiring your dress. It must be Italian.”

“I... er... yes... it is,” Tegan agreed. It could have been from Mars for all she knew. It came from the TARDIS wardrobe. But if it looked Italian it would do for her. “Oh... you’re Cecilia Hayes. We met on...”

She stopped. Of course, Cecilia hadn’t been on the Orient Express yet. That was next year for her.

“I’ve seen some of your films,” she amended quickly. “It’s funny, but it feels as if we really did meet. But that’s the magic of the silver screen, I suppose.”

“It must be. But... your accent, my dear. You’re not from these parts, either?”

“Brisbane, Australia,” Tegan admitted. “I’m travelling with The... I mean... with Lord Peter. And this is my friend, Turlough... he’s from Ireland.”

Turlough’s accent wasn’t even remotely Irish, but The Doctor had pointed out that his name was. In Ireland a turlough was a transitory lake that only appeared in wet weather and dried up in high summer. So in social settings like this it was useful to pass him off as Irish. Nobody commented on his lack of an accent.

“Pleased to meet you, Turlough,” Cecilia said to him. Then her eyes turned towards the street outside. “Tegan... look around carefully. Do you see that man down there. I think he’s watching this house.”

Tegan turned her head carefully. She looked down at the pool of light beneath one of the electric lamps. Beyond the light was a shadow that could have been a man... possibly.

“I’m always in the limelight,” Cecilia remarked. “I mean, literally. I can recognise somebody standing in the dark outside of the light. There’s a man there. He’s been there all the time we’ve been talking.”

“It could be nothing,” Tegan said. “But...perhaps we should tell The Doctor... I mean... Lord Palmer. If he thinks it’s suspicious...”

She turned and looked at The Doctor. He was still talking to Lady Astoria. That is to say, she was talking to him. Telling him that they thought there was a stranger watching the house in front of her might be tricky.

“It’s all right,” Cecilia told her. “He’s gone.”

Tegan looked back and saw that she was right. There was nobody in the shadows, now.

“Maybe he was just lighting a cigarette,” she said. She was about to say something else when Lady Astoria’s butler announced that dinner was served. The double doors to the dining room were opened and the guests went through to take their places.

Tegan was pleased to find that she was seated next to Cecilia and her husband. She liked them both. The problems that troubled them on the Orient Express were obviously still to come and they were relaxed and happy. Cecilia talked about her upcoming film. The plot seemed a thin one, involving a wealthy businessman who meets a struggling dancer in Shanghai. A few misunderstandings and coincidences later and they have a happy ending with a fairy tale wedding in a big white gown.

“It sounds great,” Tegan lied with as much conviction as she could muster. “I hope it’ll make millions for you.”

“Hardly millions,” Cecilia answered. “I do very well. I’m not on fixed contract rates. I make enough to live this kind of high life, nice clothes, jewels, international travel. But millions... Besides, it can’t last forever. There are plenty of pretty women in Hollywood who can act as well as I can. And some of them are younger. But for as long as I’m the one they want, I’ll make the most of it.”

“Good for you,” Tegan told her.

“What about you?” Cecilia asked. “What do you do when you’re home in Australia?”

“I...” Tegan hesitated. She tried to remember if the job of air hostess existed yet in the 1930s. Were commercial airlines that advanced, yet?

Then the lights went out. All of the lights, even the candles in the settings around the table. There were theatrical shrieks from some of the women and at least two of the men before everything went quiet apart from the soft, squishing sound of unconscious people falling forwards into their desserts.

Turlough was one of the few people who heard that particular sound. He strained his eyes for any scrap of light, but there was none. That puzzled him. There were street lamps outside and the curtains were not so thick as to blot them out completely. He ought to have been able to see where the window was.

Then there was a light in the room. A blue-white light sweeping across the faces of the diners. There were people walking around behind the seated guests. They were dressed as waiters, the caterers who had been serving the meal. But if they were employed by Lady Astoria she needed to reconsider her equal opportunities policy.

They were aliens. Turlough looked at their deep green faces through half closed eyes, keeping as still as he possibly could. He knew it would do him no good to reveal that he was not affected by whatever had sent everyone else to sleep.

They didn’t speak to each other. They seemed to know what they were doing without spoken communication. That meant telepathy or some sort of really subtle body language. He watched them checking each of the guests at the table until they came to Lady Astoria herself. She seemed to be the target.

Or at least her emerald was. The green men all got very excited when they saw the jewel. Their hands all reached out towards it, even those too far away to possibly touch it. Then the leader snatched the emerald on its chain and held it up for them all to see. They crowded closer but without any recognisable words, any snarl or hiss, he adopted what in any language was a defensive stance. The others backed off. He put the pendant around his own neck and the others all bowed to him before he turned and left the room, followed by the newly subservient crowd. The room was dark and quiet again.

Turlough wondered what he ought to do. Should he try to follow the green men or...

“Stay still, Turlough,” The Doctor whispered. “We’re going to be transmatted back again in a few moments. Don’t get yourself left behind on their ship.”

“Ship?” Turlough queried. “But...”

“That’s why it went dark,” The Doctor answered him. “We... all of us... everyone around the table, and the table itself, were transmatted onto the Eikili ship. All the humans were knocked out by it. There was a neural feedback. Didn’t affect me, obviously. And it looks like your species are just different enough from Earth humans to be unaffected, too.”

“Tegan?”

“Keep still. It’s best if we’re sitting exactly where we were before we were transmatted. Otherwise things can go wrong.”

“Wrong like...”

“Rematerialising half way through the dinner table.”

“Erkk.”

Then the lights came on again – which is to say, according to The Doctor, they had been transmatted back to Lady Astoria’s dining room. The Doctor counted to ten and then stood up. Turlough stood, too. He immediately looked at Tegan. She was one of the people who had not fallen into her pudding. She would probably be glad of that when she woke up. The Doctor gently lifted those who had and wiped their faces with napkins to spare their embarrassment as they slowly began to regain consciousness.

“What happened?” That was the question they were all asking. “Why were we asleep?” “What happened to the crème caramel?” was a low priority but one or two of them did wonder about the mess on their plates.

“My Emerald!” Lady Astoria shrieked. “I’ve been robbed.”

“Yes, you have,” The Doctor said calmly. “Everyone, please give me your attention.”

He only had to repeat himself once before he got their attention. A hush came over the interrupted diners as they turned to look at the famous detective, Lord Peter Palmer. He walked slowly around the table with his fingers pressed against his forehead as if in the sort of deep thought Agatha Christie attributed to Hercule Poiroit. They waited with bated breath for him to speak.

“Yes, a dastardly and cunning crime has been committed. Lady Astoria’s gem was stolen while we were all unconscious. A fast acting drug in the water glasses, I suspect. The absence of the catering staff leads me to suspect that they were responsible. They will have made a clean getaway by now. The trail is cold. But all is not lost. I have clues enough to begin a search. Lady Astoria, you may, of course, wish to call the police. A crime has been committed, after all. But if you would prefer to leave the matter in my hands, I assure you, I will have your jewel returned to you by the stroke of midnight.”

“I say,” remarked one of the Fred Astaire look-alikes with a title before his name. “That sounds like a challenge. Ten guineas says Lord Peter does it.”

Another man bet five guineas he wouldn’t be back by midnight. A bet of another ten guineas was put on him being a full hour early. In the midst of the chatter The Doctor and Turlough slipped out of the room.

“Hey, where do you two think you’re going?” Tegan demanded, running to catch up with them as they were at the front door. “You’re not leaving me behind.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” The Doctor replied. “But I thought you were still recovering from the knockout drops.”

“It wasn’t knockout drops,” Tegan said scornfully. “And if it was, it wasn’t in the water. Lord Tetherington never touched the water. Nor did Lady Marchmount. They were both on the hard stuff from the moment they sat down.”

“You’re quite right, Tegan,” The Doctor told her. “It wasn’t the water.” He quickly filled her in on what HAD happened. Her eyes opened wide as Turlough described the green--faced people.

“Not... Doctor... not Silurians again?”

“No, they’re not reptilian,” The Doctor corrected her. “They are humanoid, descended from an ape-like being just like you. They’re vegetarians. Their bodies retain chlorophyll from their food which gives them a shiny green skin colour.”

“And they have a thing for emeralds?” Tegan asked. “Is that why they stole Lady Astoria’s jewel?”

“Partly,” The Doctor replied. They were outside in the street, now. He looked up at the window of Lady Astoria’s drawing room. A slender female figure that might have been Cecilia Hayes was looking out.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Tegan told him. “We saw somebody standing out here on the street, earlier. Hiding in the shadows.”

“Yes, I expect you did,” The Doctor said very nonchalantly, as if strange people hiding in the shadows was normal in Chelsea. He crossed the street quickly and slipped into the shadows himself. When Turlough and Tegan caught up with him, he was not alone.

“But he’s....” Turlough exclaimed.

“This is Mug-Dixi,” The Doctor said, introducing the man dressed in smart evening suit just like every other man in the neighbourhood seemed to be. He stood out only in that his face was a glossy green colour. Tegan thought it was SO green it looked fake, like the overdone make up of the Bad Witch in a production of The Wizard of Oz she remembered seeing in Brisbane a few years before she joined The Doctor’s crew.

“Mug-Dixi?” Vislor Turlough queried. “Odd name.”

“It’s a very common name on Eikil, where he comes from,” The Doctor explained. “He’s a private detective and he was tracking down the crown jewel of Eikil. He was very close when the Texi-Kago gang struck and escaped with it, which is very bad news for Eikilians.”

“Why?” Tegan asked. She noted that they were walking back towards the TARDIS. Mug-Dixi walked with them. He stepped aboard the TARDIS with them at The Doctor’s invitation, and didn’t seem very surprised by what it looked like inside.

“The Crown Jewel of Eikil is the symbol of supreme rule on our world,” Mug-Dixi explained. “The one who owns it owns everything, rules all, and can expect the unswerving loyalty of every Eikilian.”

“That’s why the others bowed to the one who took the emerald,” Turlough said. “But if this geezer stole it... well, surely you don’t just take orders from whoever has the thing. What if somebody steals it from him... and what if it gets stolen again. You could have a new ruler every day and they’d all be jewel thieves.”

“The true ruler has protection around his person at all times,” Mug-Dixi replied. “At least he is supposed to. The last ruler was killed on a state visit to Ir in the Ganneymede sector and the jewel disappeared. I was sent to retrieve it on behalf of the true ruler’s son, who should naturally inherit the throne. I traced it to this planet, where it had come into the possession of one of the natives...”

“Lady Astoria...”

“Indeed, that one. I was planning to retrieve it tonight. But the Texi-Kago struck unexpectedly. I was unable to intervene. And now, all is lost unless...”

Mug-Dixi looked at The Doctor pleadingly. He was looking at the navigation console.

“As it happens, I think I can help,” The Doctor told him. “There is a ship leaving Earth’s orbit right now. It has the distinctive exhaust trace of an Eikilian cruiser. It won’t be able to reach light speed until it clears the solar system. Plenty of time to catch up with it. Did you have any special plan once aboard?”

“My plan was to substitute this for the true Crown Jewel,” Mug-Dixi said. He held up a huge gem that looked exactly like the one stolen from Lady Astoria. The Doctor took it from him and examined it very carefully.

“This is a genuine emerald,” he said. “Identical to the Crown Jewel.”

“So why not give that one to the rightful heir and let him tell everyone it’s the real thing?” Tegan asked.

“Because the real Jewel is imbued with a charm that makes all Eikilians worship it,” Mug-Dixi answered. “This one is merely a valuable stone.”

Tegan and Turlough looked at each other and shrugged. It made precious little sense to them.

“A charm?” Turlough ventured. “Like... magic?”

“It would be a low level gamma-micron field,” The Doctor explained. “Not magic, just rather oddball science. Gamma-micron particles affect the brain in a peculiar way. It even affected the humans at the party. All of them were drawn to the emerald in a vague way. That’s why all the men seemed to be more than unusually interested in Lady Astoria’s bosom. In Eikilian minds it is utterly compulsive. Worship, yes. And for the ambitious, an uncontrollable covetousness.”

“The One Ring,” Tegan commented. “That sort of covetousness can’t do anyone any good.”

“I agree,” The Doctor told her. “It really is time the Eikilians found a better way of choosing their government. But they’re so hung up on accepting rule by the possessor of the Crown Jewel.”

Mug-Dixi didn’t seem offended by the criticism of his people and their way of life. Indeed, he seemed distracted from the conversation altogether. He was looking at the viewscreen which showed the TARDIS to be hanging in space near a large ship.

Three other ships were approaching it.

“The Faw-Las, Sis-Lez and Te-Jo gangs,” Mug-Dixi said. “They’re all after the Crown Jewel, too.”

“How many more are likely to turn up?” Tegan demanded. “This is our solar system, not a battleground.”

She sounded so fierce The Doctor half expected her to open a communication and order the four ships to leave the area. She might have done, too. But events took a startling and violent turn just then. The viewscreen dimmed to shield all their eyes as the three extra ships all exploded one after the other leaving the original one, belonging to the Texi-Kago gang, surrounded by glowing debris.

“What happened?” Tegan asked.

“The Texi-Kago fired on them. They must have accessed the base codes of the three ships and brought down their shields, first. Then they fired.”

“They killed them.”

“All that for an emerald!” Tegan summed it up that way. Mug-Dixi started to tell her again about the importance of the emerald to Eikilian politics but she rounded on him angrily.

“Shut up,” she said. “Don’t you get it? Life is precious. All life. Even green faced life. You don’t just fight and kill each other for a piece of compressed mineral that shines a bit. Life is more important than any emerald. Even that damn one. It’s disgusting. And...”

She ran out of words, but her point was made.

“We still have to get it back,” Mug-Dixi insisted. “Texi-Kago ruling Eikilian would be unthinkable. The man is a thug of the worst kind.”

“We’re going to do that,” The Doctor promised. “Materialising on the Texi-Kago ship’s bridge right now.”

The time rotor wheezed up and down four times as they moved from space orbit to within the ship and came to a stop. The Doctor frowned at the life signs monitor and then looked up at the viewscreen. Tegan gave a horrified cry.

“It might be better if you didn’t come out,” The Doctor said to her. But she followed him and Mug-Dixi and an equally horrified Turlough out onto the bridge.

“Are they all dead?” she asked as they looked around at a scene of chaos and murder. Bodies were strewn all over, most of them shot in the head or torso. Their blood, a deep blue colour, stained the floor and gave off a pungent smell like india ink mixed with beef kidneys. Some of them were still wearing the waiter uniforms from Lady Astoria’s dinner party, proving that this was, indeed, the gang that had stolen the jewel.

“I’m picking up one weak lifesign,” Mug-Dixi said, consulting the ship’s own environmental monitor. “That way.”

The Doctor led the party across the bridge to a sealed door marked ‘escape pod’. He confirmed that the pod had not been launched and put his hand against the door release. There was a hiss of compressed air and it slid open.

The Texi-Kago leader fell out of the pod. He was covered in blood from a wound in his stomach. He breathed shallowly twice and died before anyone could do anything about it.

The emerald fell out of his dead hand. Turlough picked it up. The Doctor stepped forward and covered the body with a piece of cloth that appeared to be the flag of the Texi-Kago family. Then he went to the bridge computer. He found the ship’s log and replayed it.

“They fought among themselves,” he said. “After killing the opposition, they turned on each other, each suspecting the other of coveting the emerald. The leader shot dozens of them in the belief that they wanted to usurp him. Finally he and his first officer were left in a stand off. They were both mortally wounded. The leader reached the escape pod, but it was too late.”

Tegan was crying openly. The Texi-Kago were a ruthless gang of thieves. So were the ones who had been killed on the other ships. She didn’t even hold out much hope for the Eikilian race generally. But the sheer waste of life appalled her. The Doctor looked at her and felt guilty. He had brought her to Lady Astoria’s party as a respite from the carnage she had witnessed on the Sea Base, and she was in the thick of it again.

“Show me that other emerald,” Turlough said to Mug-Dixi. “The duplicate one you were going to palm off on him.”

Mug Dixi passed him the duplicate. As he did so, he reached for the true Crown Jewel, but Turlough snatched his hand back out of reach. He held up both emeralds and studied them critically.

“No,” he said finally. “I can’t tell the difference. They’re the same. As near as matters. I don’t know what the fuss is all about. Tegan, what do you think?”

He held them out to Tegan. She shook her head impatiently. She had already made her feelings about the emerald clear. She didn’t care if there was a difference or not. But Turlough pressed them into her hands. She looked at them once and gave them back to him.

“They look the same to me,” she said. “Except nobody murders anyone about the other one.”

“Please,” Mug Dixi begged. “Please let me have the True Crown Jewel. I will take it to Eikil as soon as possible. The rightful ruler will make sure it does not fall into the wrong hands again.”

Turlough passed the Crown Jewel to Mug-Dixi. He looked at it carefully for a moment then put it into a velvet bag and hid it within his clothes.

“Tell your rightful ruler that I’ll be watching him,” The Doctor said. “If I think he isn’t the right hand for any reason I’ll be having strong words. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir,” Mug Dixi answered. “I... won’t detain you. I’ll use auto pilot to return to Eikil with this ship...”

“You do that,” The Doctor said to him. “Come on, both of you. Turlough, mind you don’t lose that jewel. We can keep our promise to Lady Astoria. Back before midnight.”

Turlough pocketed the duplicate emerald and strolled back to the TARDIS. Tegan walked with him. She still looked unhappy. The Doctor followed behind and closed the door as he stepped inside.

They returned to the party at ten to midnight, Turlough bearing the emerald proudly. Lady Astoria was delighted. The wagerer who had put money on them arriving at ten to midnight was triumphant. Tegan smiled warmly at Cecilia Hayes who pressed a glass of champagne into her hands and congratulated her on a great piece of detective work.

“I really didn’t do anything,” Tegan assured her. “I just... tagged along. The Doctor... Lord Peter... he’s the clever one. Never mind all that. Tell me about your next film again.”

Tegan just didn’t want to have to make up a story about chasing villains through the streets of London. She let Cecilia talk while she watched Lady Astoria with her jewel restored. She noted that everyone still found themselves drawn to her bosom.

Midnight came and they all joined hands to sing Auld Lang Syne and welcome in the new year. Afterwards, though, Tegan found Turlough and drew him away from the throng of revellers.

“I tried to mix the two emeralds up,” she said. “I think you did, too. So Mug-Dixi couldn’t tell which was in which hand. Did he know you passed him the duplicate?”

“I think he did,” Turlough replied. “But he didn’t say anything. I think he realises it’s for the best. The Doctor says the gamma micron particles have only a minor effect on humans. They just make Lady Astoria the most popular lady at the party. It’s safe here. Nobody will kill anyone for it.”

“And the Eikilians might stop killing each other for it,” Tegan added. “I hope.”

“So do I,” Turlough agreed.

“Well done, both of you,” The Doctor said, putting his arms around them both. “I had an idea like that in mind. But you worked it out all by yourselves.”

“I wish we could have found a way to do it before so many of them died,” Tegan pointed out.

“Yes,” The Doctor sighed. “I agree. But we did our best. So braveheart, Tegan. You did well, my dear girl. Now come and have some more champagne and listen to Lady Astoria tell everyone what a fantastic detective I am.”

“You mean what a fantastic detective Lord Peter is,” Tegan reminded him.

“Him, too,” The Doctor replied.