The Doctor was sat on the wooden bench when Ben found him. He was sat still, arms folded, legs crossed. Perhaps he was having a sulk.

"So this is where you're hiding?"

Immediately the little man turned around, and stood up, but he soon sat back down again, arms again folded.

Ben sat on the adjacent green plastic chair. "We've got a lovely day for it, haven't we?"

This produced a murmur, and a sigh. "Oh, Ben, I do wish I knew what we were doing here." He let his arms sag. "This is beginning to try my patience."

Ben thought of Polly, laid down in the back bedroom, tears dripping onto the blanket. "Yeah, tell me about it."

***

It had been a pleasant enough idea to begin with. The Doctor had suggested a trip to the seaside. No monsters, no aliens. Just buckets and spades.

Polly had openly wondered about returning home, but Ben had been happier at the idea of some rest and relaxation. With the TARDIS, maybe they could travel to some really exotic hot beach. Laze by the waters, drinking cocktails like the Officers did.

Then they had landed in a garage.

The house was equally empty, and the Doctor was quite baffled as to what had gone awry. Nevertheless, he had apologised, and they had gone back into the Ship.

Which had refused to move. Oh, there was energy for light, for heat, for food. But the central power unit, the console, was dead as a doorpost.

Taking it as a sign of some impending global calamity, the Doctor had determined to call for help. But the telephone in the house wasn't working either. The television and the radio weren't working. The lights worked, the heating system growled into life. But that was all.

The Doctor had decided to go exploring the place where they had landed. From an upstairs window, they could see that the house was part of an estate, with a small green opposite.

The front door had refused to open.

The latch did not appear to be on, and it wasn't as though the door was somehow blocking the gap. It just would not move. Ben and the Doctor had put their shoulders to work, but to no avail.

The garage door was similarly immobile.

Deciding it was time for desperate measures, the Doctor had tried to smash the front window in the living room. It had not yielded.

Out in the garden, they tried the door set into the hedge at the far end. But it wouldn't give.

The Doctor had tried to give Ben a leg-up, to climb over the hedge. But Ben seemed to suffer nausea when he tried, and fell down. Sensing a hint, the Doctor had announced that they were trapped somehow.

***

That had been yesterday.

Polly had noticed the silence first. Not only were they under what the Doctor called a "communications blanket", there was also no sound of birds, or of any other life, wild or otherwise.

The Doctor had spent all night trying to understand the state of the TARDIS, whilst Ben and Polly had slept in their rooms, appreciating a chance for a little breather.

Now it seemed hopeless. Polly was distraught, afraid she would be a prisoner now, growing old and bored forever.

The Doctor's main emotion seemed to be annoyance. He had tried any number of ways to get through to the TARDIS, but whatever the problem, he was at a loss to diagnose it.

Ben didn't expect they would be here for too long. Whatever the problem, it wouldn't just stick them here for good.

As he sat by the Doctor, on the patio at the end of the garden, he looked up at the window of the house. Polly was in there, and he hated to leave her alone. But surely she was safe, there was nothing in the house...

"Here, Doctor, have you noticed?"

"What, Ben?"

The sailor pointed at the house. "This house is on the end of a terrace, right? So, do you think the lofts back onto each other?"

The expression on the Doctor's face was a marvel. In seconds, the doubts washed away, replaced by a familiar pizzazz.

"The loft! We haven't tried that!"

They raced back up the garden, through the kitchen, up the stairs and into the bathroom.

Ben stuck his head in on Polly. She had stopped crying, and looked up at the sound of his entrance. "Hold on, Duchess! We're not done for yet!"

As he left to help the Doctor lift the wooden cover into the loft, Polly dried her eyes with her sleeves. Whatever else she thought about Ben, he rarely lost his spark.

***

A few minutes later, after finding a stepladder, manoeuvring it up the stairs and into position, the Doctor and Ben stood in the loft. It was dark and dusty. It did not seem to back onto the adjoining house. But on the other hand, it wasn't empty.

Neither of them recognised the creature, but the Doctor decided it wasn't going to kill them, so he got closer.

"Er, hello, there. I am, er, well, you can call me Doctor. This is my good friend, Ben Jackson."

"Ugh!" came a familiar voice from the ladder.

The Doctor looked back. "Ah, yes, and that is another good friend, Polly. Do you have a name?"

The creature was humanoid, a strangely dark turquoise colour, and it lay worryingly flat. It looked at the Doctor, and started to speak.

"Have I served my penance?"

Polly stood behind Ben, and he turned to protect her. A prisoner - that explained a lot.

"Have you been kept a prisoner here?" asked the Doctor.

The creature looked puzzled at them. "Are you not guards?"

"No. There are no guards." The Doctor half-turned away. "Well, if you think we're guards, then your actual guards must look a bit like us. We haven't seen anyone like us, therefore there must not be any guards around." He returned his attention to the creature. "What was your crime?"

"I stole the Kurrezbolm Crown. I pleaded guilty, and they sent me here. Said they had 12,385 other offences on my record. But I only stole one object!" The voice was weary, not angry.

"How long have you been here?"

"Time has no record in this place. That's how the sentence works. I think. I have been waiting for release for a very long time."

"What is your name? Where have you come from?"

"I am Prisoner RDS 251. I forget the name I had before that... I was sentenced at the High Court in the City of Xaster. Judge... no, forgotten him too."

The Doctor put his arm around the creature, and helped it to its feet, uncertainly. Its weight was distastefully low.

"How does the punishment work, er, RDS?"

"The guards have the keys. They tricked me into coming up here, saying it was more comfortable. I haven't heard anything of them in a long time."

"So you have been starved, too! I find this whole situation quite terrible!"

Ben shooed Polly back to the stairs, then moved to help the Doctor carry their new acquaintance.

"What are we going to do, Doc?"

"We can't leave him here. I estimate he's been here for decades, perhaps centuries. I'm sure he's served due time. The question is, how do we get him back to his home?"

Slowly, they all managed to descend the stepladder, and RDS seemed quite bemused that his cell was now a house.

"This has been decorated," he told them.

"Polly, could you see if there is any food downstairs?" She scurried down the stairs.

RDS was standing better now, despite the lack of movement, and the Doctor's voiced expectation that the creature's muscles would have atrophied.

"No food!" she called back.

"Well, at least there'll be food in the TARDIS. Come on, RDS, let's get you out of here."

***

At the bottom of the stairs, Ben noticed that Polly had slipped off.

The Doctor led RDS through to the garage, where it seemed quite bemused by the new object on the landscape.

"Halt!"

The Doctor scurried around in front of RDS, as three armed men appeared from behind the TARDIS. One had Polly in a vice-like grip, with a weapon pointed at her head. Ben reacted to move forward, but the Doctor held him back.

"Well, well. I presume you are this poor chap's guards? You've been rather slack, haven't you? This person's been kept in appalling conditions, and rather severely sentenced too, considering. What are you going to do about it?"

The guard holding Polly seemed to be the mouthpiece of the operation. He spoke every word with a menace that sent shivers down Ben's neck.

"This criminal was found guilty by Judge Zilka, and was sentenced to a million years in this maximum security facility. By attempting to break him out, you three are all guilty of criminal misdemeanour, and will be sent to Psarkul to face trial."

"A million years! For stealing a crown?"

"The Kurrezbolm Crown is a sacred totem, and a vital part of the Psarkul Annual Ceremony. Its theft equated to treason against the lives of all those who dwell on our fair planet. An example had to be set, there could be no laxity. There were other offences taken into consideration too."

"A million years, though. He's no harm to you! I'm sure he's served enough punishment, particularly restricted from food and movement. What about parole?"

The guard sniggered. "If I were you, I'd be more worried about the sentences you'll all be getting. Abetting a known felon... especially a notorious one like this... that could be a thousand years minimum."

Ben had heard enough. The guards all appeared to be human, although the Doctor had once given him some advice about appearances being especially deceptive outside Earth. He would have to hope it wasn't true in this case.

He shoved the Doctor and RDS forward, snatched a carving knife from where it lay discarded on the table, then waved it at the guards.

"Oh, Ben, that's not the way!"

As the vocal guard seemed to waver his aim, the Doctor grabbed the knife and held it to RDS' throat.

"Release my friend there, or this prisoner will receive a curtailment to his sentence!"

The two lead guards looked at each other, and their leader, who looked none too pleased.

"You don't want that, do you? He must be kept alive as an example, mustn't he?"

"I warn you, you're only making things worse for yourself..."

"Release my friend!"

Polly took advantage of the drop in pressure at her throat to stamp on her captor's foot, and then she turned and kneed him where she expected it would hurt.

As the two guards turned to deal with her, Ben leapt at them, knocking them to the floor.

The Doctor motioned for RDS to sit down out of harm's way. Then, he collared the vocal guard, and held the knife to his nose.

"Please don't make me use this, officer. Now, I want this cell closed down. I will ensure this prisoner is returned home, or moved to a safe place, if necessary. Do you agree with these terms?"

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

"No."

The guard handed the Doctor a key from his belt, and pointed to a wall-unit which, on previous inspection, the Doctor had assumed to be an air-vent. He inserted the key, and found the front opened, allowing him access to a mini-computer screen. He soon found the alarm circuit, and switched it off.

Immediately, there was a hum, as the radio juddered back to life. Satisfied, he took RDS by the arm, and led him into the TARDIS, letting Polly keep an eye on him.

Ben had the three guards under the aim of the gun he had snatched from them. The Doctor waved his friend to the doorway of the TARDIS.

"Now, gentlemen, I want you to know that I plan to take this poor victim to a place where I believe you will have no hold over him. Then, I might very well drop in on this Psarkul. If you think this is justice, I think you need some education. If necessary, I can report you to the highest authorities. So, beware!"

He nudged Ben into the TARDIS, and then closed the door behind him. To the open-mouthed astonishment of the guards, the blue box faded from before their very eyes.

The officer turned to his subordinates and shrugged. It was time to go home. No doubt there would be another prisoner to guard soon.

***

In the TARDIS, the Doctor was making small adjustments, and the Ship soon landed. After checking that the atmospherics were reasonable, he led RDS outside.

"Now, I want you to listen to me, and remember what I say. I can't condone your being a criminal, but I feel you had rather a raw deal there. Wherever we are, I think you will be safe from the Psarkul justice system. Equally, I am expecting you to have learned a lesson from this. You have a second chance now. Please try and use it properly."

RDS looked at the strange little man who had proved so clever. "Thank you, Doctor. I will try."

"Good. Well, goodbye, then." At the door of the TARDIS, he turned and added, "Perhaps you should try becoming a storyteller."

Moments later, it was RDS' turn to marvel at the disappearing box.

"Perhaps I should..."

***

"You were brave, there, Ben. And you, Polly. I do wish there weren't people as brutal as that around."

"Are we going to this Psarkul, then?" asked Ben.

"Now, you know as well as I do that when we get there, it might owe more to luck than judgement, but I hope to do something about it. Eventually." His tone seemed to have become melancholy. "It can be infuriating to be presented with a situation like that, and not be able to follow up on it."

"Will he be alright there, Doctor?"

The Doctor smiled at Polly. However much a criminal RDS had been, she still saw it on a simpler level.

"I hope so. I really hope so. Now, the seaside, wasn't it?"