Petrograd, October 24 1917

 As the Doctor and Wil were marched along by their captors, Wil worked at his bonds. Not too tricky. He had almost twisted one hand free already. If only the Doctor would come to properly, they might have a good chance of getting out of this situation. Unless the Doctor didn't want to. He did seem excited to have met this Lenin bloke.

 Wil saw one of the men come across to Lenin and murmur something in a low tone. "Shall we send help?" he finished.

 Before Lenin had time to reply, the quiet back street suddenly exploded into chaos; a fighting, screaming, yelling crowd spread themselves out towards them.

 "Quickly," said one of the men sharply. "We must take another route."

 Lenin hesitated and in that moment, Wil and the guard who had hold of him were cannoned into by a panic-stricken woman, running for her life. The guard fell back and, without thinking, Wil nimbly leapt to one side, pulling his hands free as he did so. The guard made a movement as if to grab hold of him again, but he was conveniently hit by a turnip. Wil paused for a split second, trying to decide whether to rejoin the group or run. Somebody elbowed him into the wall as they passed.

 "Doctor!" he yelled but his friend was still too dazed to stop anyone from turning and leaving him.

 Taking a deep breath, he set about trying to follow. Then he stopped. He had heard a yell. An extremely familiar yell.

 Look, he told himself, you could not over all this noise hear Jadi. You're imagining things.

 It didn't work. He turned and, covering his head as a bottle flew into the wall behind him, made his way down the street, towards the fighting. "I really am a fool," he muttered to himself. "Yep, if ever anyone's job description suited them down to the ground, it's me." Which was why he was heading, despite the cold, into the middle of a riot, in twentieth-century Russia, searching for Jadi, on the strength of a possibly imagined yell. Not to mention deserting the Doctor. Still, if Wil had to decide on who was most likely to come out of a bad situation unscathed, it was the Doctor, not Jadi. Besides, he couldn't go leaving the TARDIS without speaking to Jadi. There was something he had to say and if Jadi got killed in this riot, he'd have a bit of problem doing so.

 He raised his head. "She saved Tatiana from an attack by those dogs."

 "Ah," said the stranger. He was a tall, elegant man, failing to display any signs of poverty so clear in Mikhail's family. "A worthy act. So whom do I have the pleasure of greeting?"

 She rose. "Angela Ferris."

 "A foreigner, then," said the man, bowing. "I am Evgenii Shvernik. Forgive me if I enquire as to what brings you here."

 Angela forced a smile. Really, the Doctor ought to write a handy list of good excuses for situations like these. They always seemed to come to this kind of question eventually. "I was travelling. With some companions," she added, having a vague feeling that this was probably one of those periods when respectable women did not journey about the continent alone. Ha. As if she was a respectable woman.

 "You have come at a bad time," said Evgenii. "The damned workers are throwing the city into chaos and they and the peasants continue plaguing this weak Provisional Government with their demands. Trade Unions, Soviets, Factory committees; they're all the same. The mere whiff of power has just gone to their heads. I have a factory which I no longer run. It is the committee who hire and fire my workers. What say do I have?"

 Mikhail straightened himself. "Evgenii, do you have a reason for calling now? If not, I would rather you left. We fear that Alexei-"

 "Yes, yes, of course." Then he gave a slight smile. "Mikhail makes it plain where his allegiances lie. Alexei and Tatiana. Have you also met Nikolai and Sashenka- or should I say Alexandra?"

 Angela gave him a glare as Mikhail reiterated his former request.

 "I'm sorry, Mikhail, but I cannot be despondent today. Tobolsk is the location and we now have a contact there." Evgenii gave a genuine smile. "Do you still find me a nuisance?"

 Mikhail gave a short smile. "You're always a nuisance. But I do thank you for informing me. And as for your family- your uncle, is he safe?"

 "Unfortunately, no," said Evgenii. "The Bolsheviks were awaiting him in Finland."

 Angela leaned forward. "I'm sorry, but who are the Bolsheviks?"

 Several of the men with him gave him strange looks.

 "I was here once before," he said hastily. "An excellent school. I came to give a history lecture. Sadly most of the young ladies were more interested in other topics."

 Then he glanced about him. "Where's Wil?"

 "We passed through a riot," explained another of the men. "He, I'm afraid, was left behind."

 The Doctor looked at him closely and then gave a smile of delight. "Why, I do believe you're Leon Trotsky!"

 "So do I," said the man.

 Lenin raised an eyebrow as they entered. "Another chess player you're fond of, Doctor?"

 He gave a disarming smile. "That was my little joke. I have read many works written by both of you. I was particularly impressed by your April Theses, Lenin, and I have come from England to assist you in this splendid enterprise."

 "Good," said Lenin. "For we must seize the moment. Already, the Military Revolutionary Committee have begun their taking of telegraph offices and railway stations."

 Another smiled, "All power to the Soviets!"

 "Doctor," said Lenin, "now that we are indoors, meet Grigorii Zinoviev, a dear ally of mine. With me are others whose names shall become famous after this night."

 The Doctor bowed his head slightly. "Indeed. You couldn't untie me, could you?"

 Trotsky and Lenin exchanged a glance.

 "No," said Trotsky. "Not just yet, Doctor."

 A young man came down the stairwell towards them. "Lenin, we are all ready."

 "Thank you, Nikolai," said Lenin. "Then let us indeed seize our moment."

 The Doctor stood back against the wall. He knew the importance of keeping history on track, but there were moments when the thought of a small word or two were tempting. Perhaps if he warned Lenin and Trotsky of Stalin now, before he was even? Perhaps then Trotsky would not meet his violent death in Mexico and Nikolai Bukharin, the young man who stood now, waiting, on the stairs, would not be tried and executed in 1938 on trumped up charges. Perhaps millions would not die of famine in the first Five Year Plan while Stalin continued to export grain. Perhaps the Gulag Archipalgo need never exist.

 The Doctor sighed. He could give his warning. He knew very well what would happen. "The Georgian?" Trotsky would ask, sounding amused and nothing more would be said or thought about it.

 Narrowly missing a low flying broken brick, he stood, whipping one of his battered clubs out. "Matches, matches," he said to himself. They were in his pocket. He pulled them out, feeling glad that he had considered the possibility that he might need to juggle with fire; lit one and held it to the club. It flared up beautifully. Wil gave a yell and swung it around wildly, making a circle around himself and Jadi.

 Now what? he thought. Ah. Slight problem. Holding the club up in the air warningly (he hoped), he made an attempt to get hold of Jadi and drag him along. He failed. "Why," he said breathlessly, dodging another missile, "do you have to be such a great lump, Mr. Bounty Hunter? Wake up!" he yelled in the other's ear. Useless.

 "Somebody help us!" shouted Wil. Stupid, stupid. He dropped the club on the ground and put all his effort into moving Jadi. They got nearly a metre before Wil was knocked over into a pile of ruined food.

 Wil got up again.

 "Ow," said Jadi.

 Wil shook the bounty hunter madly. "Jadi, wake up right now or we're both dead!"

 "What?" he asked dazedly. "Wil?"

 Wil hauled at his arm. "Stand or be trampled on, Morok! Oh help!" He sat back down in the muck as a large stone flew between them. "Let's go. Please!"

 "There was a girl," said Jadi, confused.

 Wil scrambled to his feet for what felt like the hundredth time. "I expect there was, but how about we scarper as fast as we can?"

 "Maybe you're right," agreed Jadi, lurching to his feet and falling over.

 Wil closed his eyes.

 "I'm okay," came Jadi's voice from the ground. "I'm perfectly okay. I just-"

 Wil crouched down and then helped him up, running out of the fighting and down a back street, possibly even the very one he had come from.

 "Right," said Jadi. "What's been going on?"

 Wil slid to the ground, exhausted. "The Doctor and I bumped into some famous bloke who arrested us."

 "The usual, then," summarised Jadi. "And you got away."

 Wil nodded. "My guard-person got hit by a woman and a turnip."

 "Helpful, that," said Jadi. "So, naturally, you just dived into the melee."

 Wil gave him a suspicious look. "Into the what? I didn't know you knew words like that."

 "Course I do. It means scrap, doesn't it? I know all kinds of words like *that*."

 The Fool gave a grin. "Right. Well, despite all the racket, I heard you yelling."

 "I do have a good pair of lungs," admitted Jadi modestly. "I see. Well, thanks, kid."

 Wil lifted an eyebrow, Kid. How many times... He took a deep breath. "And there's one other thing I'm going to say right now because otherwise we'll all probably go back to trying not to get killed and I have to say, well, sorry."

 "You do?" Jadi gave him a surprised look. "Er, what about?" He narrowed his eyes. "You haven't been pinching stuff again?"

 Wil sat up striaght. "No, I haven't! I don't pinch stuff!"

 "Oh, no?" responded Jadi. "What about when I met you for the first time?"

 He shrugged. "I thought you were going to shoot me or something." "Well, what d'you want to say sorry for?"

 Wil recovered his dignity. "For- oh, it's so embarrassing. Look, when I behaved like a stupid kid over- over you and Angela. I mean, I shouldn't have yelled at you. Even if I was annoyed, it's not *your* fault, any way you look at it."

 "Ah. Right. Okay," said Jadi, equally embarrassed. "Thanks, kid. Er- no hard feelings, then?"

 Wil gave him a smile. "Of course not. I was just a bit what you might call mixed-up at the time. Anyway," he added as he got to his feet, "I just think it's nice to know that romance isn't dead by the time you get to your age." he walked on.

 Jadi spluttered.

 "Don't call me kid, then," said Wil, turning back.

 The bounty hunter caught up with him. "You do realise that hundreds have been splintered for saying less?"

 "Probably," said Wil unconcernedly. "To whom?"

 Jadi marched ahead of him and halted him. "To me, squirt."

 "Oh, what a frightening insult," said Wil.

 He glared. "This was supposed to be an apology?"

 "Oh, yes. Sorry." Then Wil gave another grin. "Hey, I'm just a poor, ignorant fool, unschooled in these-"

 Jadi interrupted. "Now that does really get me. All this 'poor fool' business, feeling sorry for yourself and slinking round the TARDIS like you think you don't belong there. You think you've got troubles?"

 "I-" began Wil. Then he looked confused. "I-"

 Jadi shrugged and walked on.

 "I don't slink around the TARDIS," objected Wil. "How do you slink?"

 He halted again. "I don't slink, you slink."

 "If you mean *stink*," said Wil ruefully, "I think I agree. Anyway, I felt like a nuisance. A bit three's-a-crowd, if you know what I mean. Not to mention-" He stopped and reddened.

 Jadi became instantly curious. "Not to mention what?"

 "Getting sneered at by *me*! No," said Wil firmly. "Not me. By- by- a vicious hallucination every time I got half dead-"

 "Not very handy when you're with the Doctor," sympathised Jadi. "Anyway, don't you think we need to find Angela and the Doctor?"

 Wil nodded.

 "Right," said Jadi striding off purposefully.

 Wil ran after. "Wait!"

 "Why?"

 "Because this is a dead end," said Wil. "How about we go this way instead, saving all that banging our heads against brick walls?"

 Jadi paused, then turned around. "See, kid? What have you got to worry about?"

 "My seriously messed up psyche?" countered Wil. "Being lost in the violent past? Then there's Denurys, with Harsferd and that promise I made to a native and- and how to stop you calling me kid!"

 Jadi looked down at him. "There you go, moaning again."

 "You asked," muttered Wil.

 "Of course," said Mikhail respectfully.

 Evgenii laughed. "In any case, you know how women always fail to understand politics. The male sphere and all that."

 Angela smiled sweetly, while contemplating what she could use to commit non-anachronistic murder. "The Bolsheviks are a political faction, then?"

 "Yes," Mikhail told her. "Within the new Provisional Government, there are Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, but the Bolsheviks are the most radical and they are behind the city Soviets. We fear that there will be trouble and we wish to prevent it by returning our rightful ruler, the Tsar. Besides, they wish to back out of the war with Germany, with the greatest of dishonour. It was through making a pact with our enemies that they were able to return to the motherland."

 Evgenii made an impatient movement. "Mikhail, you really are the most trusting fool I ever knew! We could be arrested as reactionaries for that kind of talk. I could follow my uncle abroad."

 "No, you couldn't," pointed out Mikhail. "Kerensky has stopped that since the Bolsheviks intefered and started arresting the exiles." He gave Angela a smile. "Evgenii here is the nephew of a nobleman and one of the Tsar's most staunch supporters. He was exiled for being a reactionary, but the Bolsheviks decided that was too lenient."

 Angela nodded. "I see."

 "So we intend to release the Tsar." Mikhail finished. "It is the only way to end this madness."

 Evgenii gave a sigh. "You do make things so difficult at times, Mikhail. I'm afraid, my dear, that you must come with me. You know a little too much-"

 "No need," interrupted Mikhail. "She shall stay here. Besides, I believe we can trust her."

 Shocked by this, Angela said rashly. "You can. I promise you, I will not give you away to anyone."

 "And will you help us?"

 She heard the cries from the other room and said, "Yes."

 "I think a little action is called for," he decided, marching about the room. He peered out of the small window. It was dark outside. The revolution had begun by now. He tutted to himself. He could not arrive in the midst of Red October and spend the night in a disused girls' seminary.

 Hands first, he decided, closing his eyes in concentration. He managed to reach one pocket and tried to find something useful.

 "Jelly baby, no," he murmured. "Aha!" He carefully withdrew a sheathed ceremonial dagger. With it, after he had slid the sheath off, he cut the rope.

 He looked at the instrument of freedom in puzzlement. "I do wonder how that got there. Oh, well. No time for that now."

 The Doctor now just had to get out of the Institute.

 After a few moments, Jadi stopped. "Look, kid, this is getting us nowhere. How do we know where Ferris is or where your rebel friends took the Doctor?"

 "We don't," admitted Wil. "Perhaps we should work out where he *will* be rather than where he is."

 "Eh?"

 Wil made the most of a short moment of superiority. "Knowing the Doctor as we do-"

 "As we do, yes."

 He continued, "We might be able to work out where we'll find him next. So we're in the middle of a city. There's riots going on and tonight there's going to be a revolution and the government will be overthrown."

 "Ah," said Jadi. "So we find the government and wait for the Doctor to turn up."

 Wil nodded. "Good, isn't it?"

 "Good?" said Jadi. "It's insane, but as long as it involves going somewhere warm, I don't care anymore."

 "Oh."

 "There's a big flaw, as well," pointed out the bounty hunter. "You may not have noticed this, but neither of us know where it would be."

 Wil was about to agree with this and then he paused. "That's not true. The Doctor *told* me. He said there was a Provisional Government, based in- in the Winter Palace. We just have to ask the way to the Winter Palace!"

 "Let's go!" said Jadi.

 Wil followed on behind.

 With these two trusty aides he soon emerged on the other side of the door, locked it again and set off merrily down the stairs. No good sitting about when there was a government to overthrow!

 "Right, let`s get inside it, then," said Jadi.

 Wil gave him an incredulous look. "Inside it? Did you say that *I* was insane?"

 "Look," said Jadi. "I'm not staying outside in this ice age for a moment longer. Now, we don`t look like proper guards, right?"

 "R-right," Wil agreed, his teeth chattering. Is that s-supposed to be an advantage?"

 Jadi sighed at his friend`s obtuseness. "See that lot over there, trying to get in? Do they look like guards?"

 "Ah," said Wil, beginning to cotton on. "S-so if w-we g-get in they`ll just think 'hey, well done' or something?"

 Jadi nodded.

 "And wh-what about the proper guards inside who`ll think we`re Bol-bol-whatevers and who`ll shoot us?"

 Jadi shrugged. "Do what the Doctor does. Improvise."

 "Oh, g-good," said Wil. "Melodrama or musical?"

 The bounty hunter ignored this ridiculous suggestion. "Just get over the railings before we both freeze!"

 "Yes, sir!" said Wil. He scrambled up, despite the cold, vaulted over the top and landed unhurt on the other side.

 Jadi followed in a more ungainly fashion, with much complaint, swearing and a descent that was more of a fall than a leap.

 He looked across to see Wil backing away from a large dog and decided he had better help. "Club!"

 "What?" said Wil, pressed up against the railings.

 Jadi rolled his eyes. "Don't you carry the stupid things around with you?"

 Cautiously, Wil reached one hand into his pocket, the other into his bag. They re-emerged with a magic wand and an apple. "Jadi!"

 "What am I supposed to do?" grumbled the other, drawing his laser and shooting the animal.

 Wil sagged with relief.

 "Your turn now," said Jadi. "Watch that guard!"

 Wil waved the wand. Surprisingly, nothing happened.

 They ran.

 "Where do you think you're going?" queried a man, stood to the side of him, holding a gun.

 The Doctor backed away. "What are *you* still doing here?"

 "I'm on my way out. However, something tells me that you are the foreigner who was supposed to be safely locked up upstairs-"

 The Doctor sighed. "I always knew I wouldn't want to meet you- Josef."

 To be continued...