Tegan felt she had a right to be upset.

The police officer sat handcuffed to the Australian, staring impassively towards the aisle, leaving Tegan trying to watch the scenery trundle past.

But all she could see was a repeated image of the Doctor and Adric thrown from the train.

At top speed.

***

Sergeant Willow was at the end of his tether. He had loathed having to handcuff himself to this young woman, Nyssa. But with the safety of the Prince at risk, he felt that the only safe plan was to keep these troublemakers where he could be certain they were harmless.

To be fair, she seemed more interested in weeping into a handkerchief, but rebels would go to any lengths in the pursuit of their twisted aims.

He gave PC Darlow a nod of sympathetic understanding. It had been cruel to order his junior to take reponsibility for the more dangerous of the two ladies, but Willow hadn't earned his rank by letting other people take advantage of him. Darlow would learn this lesson, too.

Besides, they would reach Pnagstol Station in an hour, and then someone else could take care of the Prince, and he could get these two into cells.

***

The Prince was reading again.

As his Loyal Assistant of several years' service, it was not Awlax's place to query his master's bidding, only to help effect it to a degree that caused least social discord.

But it did rankle that after insisting on taking this stupidly antiquated transport, he then seemed determined to obliterate all aspect of it from his conscious mind.

Awlax looked down the corridor. The Regal Carriage was quiet, of course, since turning the pages of a book creates very little aural disturbance. The bulk of the available din was coming from the racketing noise coming from the substandard carriages further down the train as they clattered in uneasy motion. He had heard nothing more interesting since that fracas a while back with those two madmen. It had sent a spike of pleasure to his heart to know they had been thrown off the train. Jolly well serve them right. They had got off lightly in his view.

"Is something the matter?"

Startled, but careful not to show it, Awlax stepped out of the corridor. "Oh no, your Highness. All is ship-shape."

The Prince wrinkled his nose at his Assistant's sloppy mannerism, but returned to his reading with a sigh.

***

Adric had to admire the Doctor, really.

He had complained bitterly of the injustice, even as he was landing on the side of the track, rolling down the grassy slope. Then when he had come to rest, he had checked that the Alzarian was safe, and able to walk, and started back up the slope.

"How will we get back to Tegan and Nyssa?" Adric asked.

The Doctor seemed to pause, as if actually thinking straight about their predicament, instead of relying on blind instinct. "We shall have to follow the tracks, until we find some faster way to catch them up. Come on!" Then, he had started lightly jogging - although to Adric, it felt like a real slog.

***

"Where is this train going again?"

Darlow sighed. "You're still maintaining this pretence of ignorance, then. Well, alright. We should be arriving at Pnagstol in around 45 minutes. From there, you will be escorted to the cells at the police station."

"Don't we even get a chance to make our plea?" Tegan was aghast at the thought of summary imprisonment.

"Sarge has made his decision. You're all proved subversives, caught in an attempt on the life of the Next Monarch. Your stay in the cells will be brief, until such a time as your public execution can be arranged."

"Execution? But you can't-"

"Look, miss, even if your story is true, you're alien vagrants, and all the more likely to try a stunt like this. Can you prove your innocence?"

She turned away, wiping a tear from her eye. "Not without the Doctor..."

***

The commission to transport the Prince was an inestimable honour. That he had made plain that his decision to patronise the small-scale Candaman Express was due to their long-standing commitments to public safety, and minimal impact on the wider environment, meant that this journey was their big chance.

Although it would have been unseemly to make capital from this PR coup before the Prince had arrived, as soon as he reached Pnagstol it would be all systems go. Candaman would begin a new advertising campaign to coincide with the launch of its new fleet of engines.

The MD had made the personal choice to greet the Prince on his arrival. He was also in contact with one of the board members, who was travelling on the train incognito. All was proceeding smoothly, so he was told.

He didn't know the full story, of course.

***

The train passed over a bump in the track, and Nyssa was slightly alarmed to wake up, and realise she had fallen asleep. Perhaps it had been all the stress of the trip, or worry over the Doctor and Adric.

As she tried to stretch her arm, she felt its constraint, and realised she was handcuffed. When she saw Willow staring at her, she remembered again the events of their arrival on this planet...

...how it had all seemed so simple when they left the TARDIS. Just a short stroll across the mountain, then back along the train that ran across the lower slopes. A good exercise for a fit crew, the Doctor had said. Clear the air, allow Tegan to take her mind off the flight they couldn't possibly be late for.

That when they had arrived at the train station, sore of foot, and short of breath, the Doctor had bartered four tickets for the train's return journey. Once they had got underway, the Doctor had gone for a stroll, whilst she and the others sat tired on their seats, thinking about the warm soak they could have when they got back to the ship.

Of course, the Doctor had been ages, and Adric had gone to find him. He seemed to have recovered already, and so she had been happy to let him go.

Then the shouting had started.

Before they knew it, she and Tegan watched as the Doctor and Adric, protesting their innocence, were being hauled past to the rear of the train. Supporting each other, they had hobbled after to see what was happening-

She jerked out of her reverie, but it was too late. That final image, of her two friends being slung out of the back of the train, like discarded rubbish, was too stark to forget.

Though Tegan had protested loudly about it, all she had achieved was to be handcuffed next to the more brutish of the two policemen.

Now they travelled in silence, still ignorant of what crimes had been so great, that murder was the instant solution?

***

Awlax got up to stretch his legs again. It beat him how the Prince could maintain the same position for so long without any discomfort.

He realised belatedly that at least his master had put down his book, and was staring out of the window, at the landscapes outside. It would give his eyes a break, for one thing.

Stifling a yawn, Awlax looked out into the corridor again. He exchanged a smile of sympathy as one of the passengers headed past towards the ablution tank. Even on such a relatively short journey, the bladder seemed to mutiny almost as soon as they left the station.

Sighing, he turned back to retake his seat.

***

Adric was amazed that he was keeping pace with the Doctor. Especially when he seemed to be nursing the bruises and grazes that had come from his fall.

But when he had started jogging down a side track, Adric wondered whether he might have been hit on the head.

"Doctor, they're getting away!"

Either he hadn't heard, or was deliberately not responding, but Adric walked after him all the same. Perhaps he had found a bicycle or something...

***

Darlow heard the noise first, casting a querulous look over at his superior.

Willow soon realised where the sound had come from, and was up and moving in seconds. Nyssa seemed to hang from his wrist, as she was pulled along after him.

Tegan stood up quicker. When she saw Darlow register this, she said, "Look, we can work this together a lot better than if you drag me all over the place! Come on!"

For a rebel, she was either too pragmatic to be difficult, or she was being really devious.

Darlow decided he didn't have time to think about it.

***

The Doctor was wearing a bigger smile than Adric had seen since they had left Castrovalva.

The contraption that he was standing on seemed to consist of a wooden board, with a couple of handles on top, and four wheels beneath.

"Hop aboard, Adric!"

Bemused, the Alzarian clambered up, grabbing hold of one of the handles.

"Now, the trick is synchronicity. When I push down, you pull up, then you pull down, and I push up. We should catch that train a lot quicker now!"

A few experimental twists later, and a check on the points, and they were back on the trail of the runaway train.

***

The Prince stared down at Awlax's body, a large crimson patch on his back. Then he looked up at his assailant.

The madman held aloft a hunting knife that the Prince associated with the tribes of the Saqqal. He recalled being shown its effectiveness when used in a hunt, how it sliced through even the bones of the Ultap. Now it looked as if it would be slicing through his, rather more tender, skeleton.

"Stop! Police!"

It was Willow, and he seemed to have taken the assailant's attention. The Prince tensed on his seat, trying to judge whether he should spring to his own defence, or wait and allow the professionals to deserve their glory.

The blade flashed down.

***

Ahead on the platform, the covert news of the attack on the Prince caused the MD of Candaman Express to faint. As a guard rushed to attend him, the transmitter he had been listening to, fell to the ground, emitting its tiny monologue to anyone within earshot.

***

It was all Adric could do not to obstruct the Doctor, who seemed to be pumping the handle like a man possessed.

Somehow between them, they had developed a rhythm that was hurtling them along the track, although the train remained as stubbornly out of sight as ever.

"We'll never catch them!" he cried.

"Save your breath!" snapped the Doctor.

But in fact, they could see a small speck up ahead, which was slowly, but surely, increasing in size. Though it was tempting to think it was some sort of optical illusion, the truth was simpler.

The train had stopped moving.

***

Cadrew was a quiet lifer, or so his boss persisted in saying. Not the most outstanding train driver on the line, although as Cadrew retorted, there wasn't much scope for improvement anyway.

But sometimes he pulled off a piece of business that showed his brain was focussed on what mattered.

When he heard the sounds of shouting, he considered the hoohah that would be caused by a delay in the journey.

Then he pulled the brake anyway.

***

As the train suddenly jerked into a slowing motion, Willow's survival instinct momentarily over-rode his sense of duty. He moved to avoid the blade.

Consequently, the blade missed him, striking instead the metal chain that connected him to Nyssa, and with the tension broken, both fell to the floor. The blade twisted out of the madman's grip, and for a moment, he paused, lost for direction.

Darlow, buoyed by Tegan's begrudging help, moved forward, punching the madman on the jaw, sending him back into the carriage.

***

On the platform, a small crowd had cottoned on to the transmitter, and were waiting tensely for the news of what was happening.

'Are you alright?'

A pause.

'Yes, I'm unhurt.'

"Hooray!" shouted one of the commuters. "The Prince is saved!"

***

Now that the train was stopped, and the distance to it shortening all the time, Adric decided they would probably reach it quite soon. He was tempted to relax slightly, but the Doctor was still pushing full pelt.

"Doctor, the slope-" began Adric.

About to snap back, the Doctor suddenly gaped, staring down at the track, and the lie of the land. There was a small, but definite decline in the gradient, and therefore their already impressive momentum would propel them towards their target without the need for over-exertion.

"Hold tight, Adric!"

***

Willow had allowed Darlow to slap the handcuffs on the madman, as a reward for his bravery in the line of duty.

"You'll get a commendation for this, lad," he added.

The Prince had allowed them to sit in the Regal Carriage, to allow them to keep an official lid on matters, and not to cause too great a panic to other passengers.

"I shall certainly be proud to bestow upon you both a reward for your devotion."

"What about me?" asked Tegan.

The Sergeant stared down his nose at her. It pained him to admit it, but both the ladies had shown willing and courage in the circumstances. "There'll still need to be an investigation into your conduct on this train, and that of your late colleagues."

"Late?" came a slightly indignant voice. "We went as fast as we could!"

"Doctor?" Tegan couldn't believe her eyes, but as she looked, she saw the Doctor, and Adric, looking a little battered, but unbowed.

"I trust the Prince is unharmed?"

"Yes, thank you, Doctor. May I apologise for my officers' earlier actions? The true culprit has now been apprehended."

"Quite alright. We all make mistakes, eh, Sergeant?"

Sergeant Willow had the good grace to look stunned.