Chapter Text
The sea sparkled beneath a bright summer sky, gulls wheeling overhead in the hope that someone would prove careless with their lunch. Families wandered the promenade at an unhurried pace, children darting between adults with buckets and spades while music drifted from the amusement arcades.
Kate licked the chocolate flake balanced in her strawberry ice cream before it could melt.
Her father carried a perfectly ordinary vanilla cone.
"You always choose vanilla."
The Brigadier glanced down at it.
"It's perfectly acceptable."
"It's boring."
"I wouldn't go quite that far."
"You've got all these flavours." She waved her cone towards the kiosk behind them. "Mint. Honeycomb. Raspberry ripple. Pistachio."
"I noticed."
"And you still picked vanilla."
"I know what vanilla tastes like."
She laughed.
"That's your reason?"
"It seemed sufficient."
"You don't like surprises."
"I've had quite enough surprises to last a lifetime."
She smiled.
"I suppose alien invasions count."
"They do."
"So does meeting the Doctor?"
He looked ahead, the faintest smile touching his face.
"Frequently."
Kate nudged his arm with her shoulder.
"I still think you should have had honeycomb."
"I shall bear that in mind."
"You won't."
"No."
"I knew it."
He took another bite of his ice cream with complete composure.
Kate shook her head.
"Hopeless."
"So I've been told."
She smiled to herself.
"I quite like vanilla."
"You may have some."
"I've got my own."
"I had noticed."
Before she could think of another reply, a woman's voice carried across the promenade.
"I told you already! Just because I punched you and you didn't fall down does not mean I agreed to marry you!"
The Brigadier stopped.
The smile vanished from his face.
Kate looked up.
"Dad?"
He wasn't looking at her anymore.
He was searching the crowd.
The Brigadier stopped.
Not hesitated.
Stopped.
The easy warmth that had been there a heartbeat before vanished so completely it was as though someone had thrown a switch.
His gaze settled on the far side of the promenade.
Kate followed it automatically.
"Dad?"
He was already watching the man with Sarah Jane.
Watching the crowd.
Watching the van.
Measuring.
Without taking his eyes off the scene, he spoke.
"Kate. Stay here."
She looked at him, then beyond him to the woman still trying to wrench herself free.
"...Yes, Dad."
He nodded once and walked towards them, neither hurried nor slow.
People moved aside without quite knowing why.
Kate watched him go.
One...
Two...
She sighed.
"Oh, honestly."
She tucked the last of her ice cream into the nearest litter bin and set off after him.
Not because she'd been told to.
In spite of it.
She was Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter.
Curiosity, she had long since decided, was almost certainly hereditary.
The alien gave her another impatient shove towards the van.
Sarah Jane stumbled, caught herself and twisted sharply, wrenching her wrist half free.
"Will you stop doing that?"
"I am exercising my lawful—"
"Oh, do stop saying lawful. It loses all meaning after the fifteenth time."
She pulled again, trying to break his grip.
Then she looked up.
The Brigadier.
Walking towards them.
For a heartbeat the world seemed to right itself.
Of course.
UNIT.
The Brigadier.
Everything was going to—
No.
Her stomach dropped.
She'd seen that expression before.
The calm.
The measured stride.
The quiet certainty that meant Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart had already decided what he was going to do.
"Oh..."
She knew exactly where this was heading.
"Brigadier, don't—"
He didn't so much as break stride.
Too late.
The Brigadier stopped between Sarah Jane and the alien.
His voice was calm.
Measured.
Carrying just far enough.
"I suggest you unhand the lady."
The alien blinked.
Sarah Jane closed her eyes for the briefest moment.
"Oh, no."
The alien looked the Brigadier up and down, taking in the straight-backed posture, the unwavering gaze, the unmistakable confidence.
"You challenge claim?"
Sarah Jane's eyes flew open.
"No! He doesn't—"
"I most certainly do."
She threw both hands into the air.
"Oh, for heaven's sake."
The alien released her wrist at once.
Sarah Jane didn't find that nearly as reassuring as she should have.
Instead, he stepped away from the van and turned to face the Brigadier properly.
Several of the curious onlookers hurriedly backed away.
Kate, who had taken cover behind a parked Morris Minor before her father could spot her, peered cautiously over the bonnet.
"...This seems important."
The alien's mouth spread into what was unmistakably a grin.
"Accepted."
The Brigadier frowned.
"I'm sorry?"
"Challenge accepted."
Sarah Jane's eyes widened.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
The alien took two deliberate steps away from the van, planting his feet squarely on the pavement.
Around them, the small crowd instinctively backed away, forming an untidy circle.
The Brigadier glanced briefly at Sarah Jane.
"Would you care to explain?"
"Not now!"
She rubbed at her wrist.
"Just... try not to win."
He looked at her.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Please."
The alien lunged.
The Brigadier moved almost before the attack had begun.
One hand caught the alien's wrist.
The other turned his shoulder aside.
The alien stumbled past him, thrown off balance more by surprise than force.
A murmur ran through the crowd.
The alien recovered quickly, circling.
"You fight well."
"I should rather not."
"But you continue."
"You've left me very little choice."
The second attack came lower.
The Brigadier stepped inside it, drove an elbow into the alien's ribs and swept his legs cleanly from beneath him.
The alien hit the promenade with a satisfying thump before rolling back to his feet.
Sarah Jane buried her face in one hand.
"Oh, honestly..."
"Brigadier!"
He caught another punch, twisted the alien's arm neatly behind his back and released him before any real damage was done.
"Stop winning!"
"I wasn't aware I was keeping score."
"You really are!"
The alien charged again with a roar.
The Brigadier sighed almost imperceptibly.
He waited.
One step.
Two.
At the last possible moment he pivoted, took hold of the alien's momentum and sent him sprawling onto his back with enough force to knock the breath from his lungs.
Before the alien could recover, the Brigadier had one polished shoe planted firmly against his chest.
"That," he said evenly, "will do."
The alien looked up at him for a long moment.
Then both hands shot into the air.
"Enough! Enough! Fair challenge!"
The Brigadier removed his foot and stepped back.
He gave his jacket a small, absent tug where it had creased.
"Good."
The alien climbed slowly to his feet.
He looked at Sarah Jane.
Then at the Brigadier.
He nodded once, entirely satisfied.
"Claim transferred."
Silence.
Sarah Jane stared at him.
The colour drained from her face.
"...Oh no."
The alien climbed slowly to his feet, brushing sand from the front of his jacket as though the whole affair had been an enjoyable misunderstanding.
He smiled broadly.
A soft pulse of pale blue light rippled through the air.
Sarah Jane felt warmth spread across her wrist.
She looked down.
An intricate silver band circled it, delicate lines twisting over one another in patterns that seemed almost to move beneath the surface.
"...No."
She looked at her other hand.
Then very, very slowly raised her eyes to the Brigadier.
An identical band gleamed against the sleeve of his blazer.
For a moment nobody spoke.
Sarah Jane stared at it.
Then at him.
"Brigadier..."
Her voice came out almost painfully calm.
"...what did you just do?"
The alien finished dusting himself off and beamed at them both.
"Witnessed combat challenge. Winner claims bride. Binding registered with Shadow Proclamation."
The Brigadier blinked once.
"...I beg your pardon?"
The alien pointed happily at the bands around their wrists.
"Marriage binding."
Sarah Jane closed her eyes.
One hand came up to cover her face.
"I tried to warn you."
The Brigadier examined the bracelet with the same careful attention he might have given an unfamiliar piece of military equipment.
He turned his wrist over once.
It remained exactly where it was.
He looked across at Sarah Jane.
She was still hiding behind her hand.
He looked back at the alien.
"...You are telling me," he said with painstaking precision, "that Miss Smith and I are now married."
The alien's grin somehow became even wider.
"Yes!"
Sarah Jane let out a long, defeated sigh.
"I knew this was going to happen."
The Brigadier looked at her.
"You did?"
"I knew where it was heading."
"You might have mentioned it."
"I tried."
"You told me not to win."
"Yes!"
"I assumed you were concerned for my safety."
"I was concerned for my marital status."
Kate, who had been watching the entire exchange from behind the parked Morris Minor, frowned at the glowing band on her father's wrist.
She looked from him to Sarah Jane.
Then back again.
"...Dad?"
The Brigadier closed his eyes for the briefest of moments.
"Yes, Tiger?"
"I think your holiday just got complicated."
She emerged from behind the parked vehicle as though she had every right to be there and came to a stop beside her father, glanced at the silver band around his wrist, then at the matching one circling Sarah Jane's.
Her gaze moved back and forth between them once.
"Well," she said thoughtfully, "that's new."
The Brigadier looked at her.
"Kate."
She met his eyes without the slightest trace of guilt.
"You told me to stay there."
"I did."
She nodded towards the Morris Minor.
"I did stay there."
A tiny pause.
"...Until you walked away."
The Brigadier regarded her for a long moment.
"I believe," he said at last, "that was not the spirit of my instruction."
"No."
"It was not."
"But it was the wording."
"It most certainly was not."
"It was close."
Sarah Jane made a strange sound.
It escaped before she could stop it.
She pressed a hand over her mouth.
The Brigadier turned.
"Miss Smith?"
She shook her head.
Another laugh slipped out.
"Oh, don't..."
She took one look at the matching bracelets again.
At the Brigadier's expression.
At Kate, trying—and failing—to look entirely innocent.
The laugh broke free completely.
It doubled her over.
She leaned on her knees, laughing so hard she could barely breathe.
"I'm sorry..."
She wasn't.
"I know I shouldn't..."
Another peal of laughter escaped her.
"It's just..."
She looked up at the Brigadier, who was still standing with all the dignity of a senior British officer who had somehow acquired an unexpected wife during a family holiday.
That only made it worse.
"Oh, this is ridiculous."
The Brigadier waited with remarkable patience for her to recover.
"I take it," he said when she finally managed to draw breath, "that you find our predicament amusing."
Sarah Jane wiped tears from the corners of her eyes.
"No."
A hiccup of laughter betrayed her.
"...Maybe a little."
"A little."
She nodded.
"Only because I did try to stop you."
"I recall being told not to win."
"Exactly."
"I confess I failed to appreciate the significance."
"No," Sarah Jane said, another smile tugging at her lips. "You really, really did."
The café overlooked the sea.
It was busy enough that nobody paid much attention to the unusual collection occupying the corner table. Holidaymakers were more interested in fish and chips than glowing silver bracelets.
Sarah Jane wrapped both hands around a mug of tea she hadn't yet touched.
The Brigadier had removed his jacket despite the breeze. The bracelet still gleamed quietly around his wrist, entirely unimpressed by his attempts to ignore it.
Kate sat opposite them with a plate of chips and the expression of someone who had accidentally wandered into the best afternoon of her summer.
For several moments nobody spoke.
Finally the Brigadier folded his hands on the table.
"Miss Smith."
She looked up over the rim of her mug.
"Yes?"
"I should like to know why you were allowing yourself to be abducted."
"I wasn't allowing it."
"You were being escorted towards a van."
"I noticed."
"You appeared to be making only limited progress in preventing it."
"I was gathering information."
"You were being kidnapped."
"I was investigating."
"You were being kidnapped while investigating."
Sarah Jane took a sip of tea.
"It can be both."
"It should not be."
She set the mug down.
"I've been following the story for nearly three weeks."
Kate leaned forward a fraction.
"What story?"
"Young women disappearing."
Her expression lost its humour.
"They weren't running away. They weren't being murdered. They simply... vanished."
She glanced out towards the sea.
"They all disappeared within twenty miles of the coast."
"So you came alone," said the Brigadier.
"Yes."
"You informed no one."
"I informed my editor."
"I was not referring to your editor."
She smiled faintly.
"I know."
He held her gaze.
"You deliberately allowed these people to believe they could take you."
"I needed to know where they were taking the women."
"And had they succeeded?"
Sarah Jane shrugged.
"I'd have worked it out."
The Brigadier's eyebrows rose almost imperceptibly.
"Would you."
"They're registered with the Shadow Proclamation."
"You recognised them."
"Not the species. The procedure."
She lifted her wrist.
"The marriage customs gave it away."
"You knew about them."
"I've run into the Shadow Proclamation before."
"And your plan was..."
"To get taken."
He stared at her.
"...Miss Smith."
"They wouldn't have hurt me."
"You cannot possibly know that."
"I was fairly certain."
"Fairly."
"They're traffickers."
Kate blinked.
"They're what?"
Sarah Jane's expression hardened.
"They steal women."
The amusement vanished from the table.
"They don't think of it that way," Sarah Jane continued. "To them, they're redistributing suitable mates to worlds where there aren't enough females. Everything's legal. Proper paperwork. Registered transfers."
She looked down at the bracelet.
"It just happens that the women don't get a vote."
The Brigadier's jaw tightened.
"And you intended to dismantle this operation yourself."
"I intended to find out where the women were being held."
"Alone."
"I've done dangerous things before."
"I am well aware of that."
There was no sharpness in his voice now.
Only quiet certainty.
"You have an unfortunate habit of placing yourself between innocent people and very dangerous situations."
Sarah Jane smiled.
"It's worked so far."
"It will not continue to do so indefinitely."
She opened her mouth.
He spoke before she could.
"I have read your articles."
That caught her off guard.
"You have?"
"I have."
"You never said."
"I did not consider it necessary."
Kate looked between them.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"You consistently place yourself in situations from which there is no obvious means of escape."
Sarah Jane tilted her head.
"I usually find one."
"You rely rather heavily on 'usually.'"
"I've got an excellent success rate."
"You have survived."
"That's generally considered a success."
"It is not the standard I would use."
She looked at him for a moment.
There it was.
Not annoyance.
Not really.
Concern.
She softened.
"I honestly thought I'd be all right."
"I do not doubt that you did."
"And I know more about the Shadow Proclamation than you do."
"I've no reason to doubt that either."
His fingers brushed the silver band circling his wrist.
"Unfortunately, the knowledge you omitted to share appears to have been rather significant."
Sarah Jane sighed.
"I know."
Kate rested her chin in her hand.
This was magnificent.
They weren't arguing.
Not properly.
Dad wasn't telling Sarah Jane off.
Sarah Jane wasn't backing down.
They were... circling each other.
Like two people trying very hard to establish whose concern for the other was more justified.
She reached for another chip.
Nobody noticed.
Probably because they were both too busy pretending they weren't worried about each other.
Kate smiled to herself.
This was much better than television.
Sarah Jane stared into her tea for a long moment.
"...There is one other thing."
The Brigadier looked up.
"I suspected as much."
"It's not ideal."
"I had gathered that."
She drew a slow breath.
"The marriage..."
She glanced at the bracelet.
"...isn't just recognised by his people."
Silence.
"It's recognised by the Shadow Proclamation."
The Brigadier frowned slightly.
"And that carries what significance?"
Sarah Jane gave him an apologetic smile.
"The Shadow Proclamation is... rather large."
"How large?"
"Most of known space."
Kate's eyes widened.
"Oh."
Sarah Jane nodded.
"Yes."
The Brigadier remained perfectly composed.
"I see."
"No, I don't think you quite do."
She rubbed absent-mindedly at the bracelet.
"The Shadow Proclamation keeps records. Treaties. Civil law. Trade law. Marriages."
"And?"
"And they tend to expect member worlds to recognise one another's legal registrations."
The Brigadier was quiet for a moment.
"Miss Smith..."
"...Yes?"
"What, precisely, does that mean?"
She looked faintly embarrassed.
"It means that if we traveled to quite a lot of planets..."
"...Yes?"
"...they would consider us legally married."
Kate's chips paused halfway to her mouth.
"Oh."
Sarah Jane nodded.
"Again... yes."
The Brigadier absorbed that without any visible reaction.
"I see."
Sarah Jane winced.
"There is a little more."
"I rather thought there might be."
She pointed gently between them.
"Different worlds have different marriage laws."
"I should imagine so."
"Some are fairly modern."
"And others?"
She gave him a look.
"Some are... less enlightened."
He waited.
"On a handful of worlds..."
She chose her words carefully.
"...the husband would have legal authority over where I traveled."
Kate nearly dropped a chip.
"What?"
Sarah Jane held up a hand.
"Only off-world."
The Brigadier's expression didn't change.
"I should hope so."
"And," Sarah Jane continued quickly, "before you object..."
"I had every intention of objecting."
"...there are also worlds where the wife has legal authority over the husband."
He blinked.
"I'm sorry?"
She gave a small shrug.
"On those planets, I could legally prevent you traveling off-world without my permission."
Kate looked from one to the other.
"So..."
She frowned.
"...sometimes Dad's in charge..."
She pointed at Sarah Jane.
"...and sometimes you are."
Sarah Jane nodded.
"Basically."
Kate considered that.
"...That seems unnecessarily complicated."
"I've always thought so."
The Brigadier folded his hands together.
"Fortunately, neither of us has any intention of exercising authority over the other."
"No."
"Quite."
They reached that conclusion with remarkable ease.
Sarah Jane relaxed a little.
"Good."
The Brigadier looked at the bracelet again.
"I trust that resolves the matter."
Sarah Jane looked away.
Kate noticed immediately.
"Dad..."
He looked at Sarah Jane.
"There is more."
"A tiny bit."
"How tiny?"
She held her thumb and forefinger a fraction apart.
"...Relatively."
"Miss Smith."
She sighed.
"The Shadow Proclamation has an... unfortunate habit."
"What sort of habit?"
"They're very good at recognising local jurisdictions."
The Brigadier was suddenly very still.
"Meaning?"
"They don't just keep their own records."
"They also..."
Sarah Jane nodded once.
"...notify the appropriate civil authorities."
Silence settled over the table.
Kate looked at her father.
Then at Sarah Jane.
Then back again.
Sarah Jane gave them both a weak smile.
"If they've decided Earth counts as a member jurisdiction..."
The Brigadier finished the sentence for her.
"...they may already have registered the marriage here."
"I'm afraid they might."
"In the United Kingdom."
"They do seem rather fond of proper paperwork."
The Brigadier leaned back in his chair.
For the first time since Sarah Jane had known him, he looked genuinely at a loss for words.
Kate broke the silence.
"...Does that mean..."
Neither adult answered.
Kate tried again.
"...Dad?"
He looked at her.
"...I believe," he said with great care, "we may need to make several enquiries before returning home."
Sarah Jane nodded.
"I was rather hoping you'd say that."
She looked down at the bracelet once more.
"...Though if I'm honest..."
"What?"
"I'd really like to find whoever thought selling women across the galaxy was acceptable."
The Brigadier met her eyes.
For the first time since they'd sat down, they were thinking about exactly the same thing.
"The marriage," he said quietly, "can wait."
Sarah Jane's expression hardened.
"The women can't."
"No."
He reached for his tea.
"They cannot.
Yates looked from the bracelet on Sarah Jane's wrist to the matching one on the Brigadier's.
A slow grin spread across his face.
"...Well."
The Brigadier didn't even look up from the operations table.
"Captain."
"I disappear for a weekend."
"Captain."
"I come back and you've somehow managed to marry Sarah Jane Smith."
Sarah Jane held up a hand.
"Accidentally."
"So I've heard."
"It wasn't deliberate."
"I gathered."
She sighed.
"He punched an alien."
The Brigadier looked faintly resigned.
"The alien attacked me."
"I know."
Yates folded his arms.
"I've got to say..."
He looked thoughtfully at Sarah Jane.
"If it had been me accidentally married to you..."
Sarah Jane narrowed her eyes.
"I wouldn't be in any particular hurry to get it annulled."
Sarah Jane pointed a finger at him.
"Careful."
"Oh?"
"I bite."
Yates laughed.
"I've absolutely no doubt."
She kept looking at him for another second before turning back to the map.
"Good."
The room settled.
Benton began laying reconnaissance photographs across the table.
Sarah Jane moved around to stand beside the Brigadier, immediately pointing out one of the buildings.
"They'll use this one."
"Why?"
"No windows."
The Brigadier nodded.
"Agreed."
She reached past him for a grease pencil without asking.
He moved half a step aside before she had to.
Neither noticed.
Yates did.
He looked across at Benton.
Then at Kate.
Lowering his voice just enough that Sarah Jane wouldn't hear, he nodded towards the pair bent over the map.
"I'll wager she doesn't."
Kate frowned.
"Doesn't what?"
"Bite."
Benton looked over.
Sarah Jane was quietly correcting one of the Brigadier's estimates.
He listened.
Changed it without argument.
"...No," Benton admitted.
"I don't believe she does."
Kate smiled to herself.
"I noticed."
The warehouse looked abandoned.
It smelled of salt and damp timber, the upper windows boarded over years ago, the corrugated roof rattling softly in the evening wind.
Sarah Jane crouched beside the side entrance, peering through a narrow crack.
"Two guards."
The Brigadier nodded once.
"Benton."
The sergeant moved without a word, slipping around the opposite side of the building.
Yates settled beside a stack of empty crates, waiting.
Sarah Jane looked back at the Brigadier.
"They'll have some sort of alarm."
"I assumed as much."
"It won't be electrical."
"No?"
She smiled.
"Too easy."
He almost smiled back.
"Of course."
She disappeared into the darkness before he could stop her.
"...Miss Smith."
"I'm only looking."
"You have a rather expansive definition of 'looking.'"
"I've been told."
He sighed.
"Frequently."
She grinned over her shoulder.
"Usually by people called Alistair."
Then she was gone.
Yates watched her vanish through a gap that looked far too small for a human being.
"...You know," he murmured.
"I can see why journalists make you nervous."
"They do."
The Brigadier adjusted the radio in his hand.
"And Miss Smith in particular."
"They do."
A click sounded in Sarah Jane's earpiece.
"Found it."
"Already?"
"I told you it wouldn't be electrical."
"What is it?"
She sounded almost disappointed.
"A biological lock."
Yates blinked.
"A what?"
"It thought I was furniture."
There was a short silence.
"...Should I ask?"
"No."
Another pause.
"...Actually..."
The heavy side door clicked.
"...Definitely don't ask."
The Brigadier looked at Yates.
"I suspect that's sensible advice."
The rescue itself took less than five minutes.
The guards never expected resistance.
The women were frightened more than injured, huddled together behind shimmering energy bars that vanished the moment Sarah Jane disconnected the field generator.
"It's all right," she said gently.
"We're getting you home."
One young woman burst into tears.
Another simply nodded, clutching the hand of the woman beside her.
Behind them came the sound of boots.
"Clear!"
Benton's voice.
"Warehouse secure."
The Brigadier rounded the final corner just as Yates marched their unwilling prisoner into the centre of the room.
The alien looked remarkably cheerful for someone with his hands restrained behind his back.
"Oh!"
He brightened further when he saw the Brigadier.
"My victorious rival."
The Brigadier regarded him steadily.
"I don't believe we've been introduced."
"You fought magnificently."
"Thank you."
"I have spoken highly of you."
"I'm delighted."
The alien's gaze shifted to Sarah Jane.
She folded her arms.
He smiled approvingly.
"You chose well."
"I beg your pardon?"
He nodded enthusiastically towards Sarah Jane.
"Excellent mate."
Sarah Jane stared.
"I was not chosen."
"Very spirited."
"I object to nearly everything you've said since we met."
He looked at the Brigadier.
"See?"
Sarah Jane threw both hands into the air.
"I am standing right here!"
The alien beamed.
"Very spirited."
Yates bit the inside of his cheek.
Benton developed an intense interest in checking the restraints.
The Brigadier remained perfectly composed.
"I'm afraid you've rather misunderstood the situation."
The alien looked puzzled.
"No."
"I have."
"You abducted British citizens."
"I redistributed eligible females."
"You trafficked women."
"I completed lawful transfers."
"You assaulted them."
"I persuaded them."
Sarah Jane took one step forward.
"You chloroformed one."
He looked faintly embarrassed.
"She was unusually persuasive."
Sarah Jane opened her mouth.
Closed it again.
"Brigadier."
"Yes, Miss Smith?"
"If I hit him..."
"I would advise against it."
"I wasn't going to hit him very hard."
"I rather suspected you were."
The alien looked between them.
"Oh."
He brightened again.
"You work together."
"We do."
"I approve."
Sarah Jane looked heavenward.
"Please stop."
The Brigadier folded his arms.
"I imagine you're beginning to appreciate the seriousness of your position."
The alien looked genuinely surprised.
"Oh, no."
"No?"
"This is a juvenile offence."
There was a long silence.
"I'm sorry," said the Brigadier.
"You are?"
"I am under the age of majority."
Sarah Jane frowned.
"How old are you?"
"Forty-three."
She blinked.
"...Forty-three."
"Yes."
"How old is adulthood?"
"Eighty-nine."
Yates stared.
Benton slowly lowered his notebook.
The alien shrugged.
"My record will be expunged in forty-five years."
Another silence settled over the warehouse.
Sarah Jane looked at the Brigadier.
The Brigadier looked at Sarah Jane.
Then, very quietly, he said,
"I rather think we shall be having a conversation with the Shadow Proclamation."
Sarah Jane nodded.
"Oh yes."
She looked back at the prisoner.
"A very long conversation."
The alien smiled.
"They're usually quite pleasant."
Sarah Jane sighed.
"I was afraid you were going to say that."