‘Finish the game,’ Smith called back to his class as she led him away by the arm, quite a bit faster than he was able to walk. ‘Then go in for prep if I’m not back.’

Hutchinson stared after them, shaking his head at the little man. ‘Have a nice time, Smith,’ he snarled. ‘The Head’s going to love this.’

‘Bernice, where are you taking me?’ Smith protested, shaking off her arm. They were marching through the orchard that bordered the school, a vast, overgrown river of fruit trees that was part of the Marcham Estate. They had already ventured too far off the footpath for Smith’s liking. This was almost certainly trespassing.

‘To…’ Bernice stopped and turned slowly, pointing at strange red marks on three trees. She settled on the middle one. ‘This particular tree. Sit down under it. We’re about to recreate a moment in history.’

Smith sat, cross-legged, under the tree, looking rather embarrassed. ‘Which one?’

‘Newton and the apple.’ Benny put her foot up on a low branch and started to climb up the tree.

Smith looked quickly away. ‘Those trousers are rather immodest.’

Benny frowned as she climbed. ‘I’m not used to you noticing things like that. Ah, here we are.’ The crown of the tree was swollen, as if a growth of some kind was inside. Following the instructions in the Doctor’s note, Benny had put the red sphere there and watched as the tree’s wood had grown to encompass it in seconds.

Apparently, Time Lord biodata had that effect on living things, making them a bit like Time Lords. A Time Lord-ish tree wouldn’t be as disturbing as a Time Lord-ish person, or even sheep. Benny wondered if the tree’s bark rings were forming question marks or something. Indeed, in the brief time that she’d handled the Pod, Benny herself had felt an odd sense of presence to the thing. For the same reasons, the sphere couldn’t be kept in the TARDIS. It would mess up the telepathic circuits.

She pulled the TARDIS key from her pocket, and, dangling it over the tree, slapped the swollen wood three times with her hand.

The wood flowed back like liquid, to reveal⁠ —

⁠— an empty, ball-shaped cavity.

Benny swore six times. ‘And is that really ladylike language?’ asked Smith.

‘Shut up,’ Benny snapped. ‘Whether you know it or not, we’re both in a great deal of trouble.’

Sitting at a little distance from the other boys, Tim sneaked a look at the red sphere in his pocket.

He’d found it when he was walking on his own in the orchard. He’d felt drawn to a particular tree, and sat down in its shadow. Before long, he’d fallen asleep.

When he awoke, the red sphere was sitting on his chest.