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Jane said brightly. ‘It was just a coincidence the first time. We were both investigating something and –’
    ‘The first time?’ cut in Jo. ‘It was more than once?’ She smiled slightly, to hide her disappointment. ‘He must have really liked you.’
    Sarah Jane said nothing.
    Jo carried on, thankfully changing the subject. ‘Funny thing is, Sarah Jane, I always had this notion, this thought, that if the Doctor died, one day, even if he was on Metebelis Three, or Solos, or another universe, I’d feel it.’ She touched her chest. ‘Here. In my heart.’
    And Sarah Jane’s hand was over her own heart, and she was nodding. ‘That’s exactly what I thought! But I didn’t feel a thing.’
    ‘Nor me. Not a peep!’
    Sarah Jane suddenly got animated and after a glance at the curiously-way-too-close Shansheeth, she looked Jo straight in the eye.
    ‘Do you think the same as me?’
    ‘That he’s still alive?’
    Sarah Jane nodded furiously. ‘Yes. Yes, he has to be. Because if anyone would know he wasn’t, it’d be you and I!’
    And the Shansheeth backed away slowly.
    Clyde had been watching all this and at that point, he leaned over to Rani. ‘She’s not letting it go, is she?’
    Rani shrugged. ‘Maybe she is right, after all.’ Rani nodded slightly towards the obsequious Shansheeth now returning to their places. ‘And they give me the creeps.’
    ‘Ooh,’ Clyde smiled, ‘what happened to not judging them?’
    Rani frowned. ‘I’m serious, there’s something weird and –’
    ‘Hiya.’
    Rani and Clyde were cut off by the guy who’d turned up with Jo Jones sitting behind them.
    ‘Sorry,’ he whispered. ‘But everyone else is about a hundred years old in here. Fancied talking to someone who might smile occasionally.’
    Clyde liked him immediately and offered his hand. ‘Clyde Langer, mate.’
    Rani introduced herself as well.
    ‘My name’s Santiago, and that’s my Gran,’ he said, pointing at Jo.
    ‘Good name,’ Rani said.
    Santiago grinned at the compliment. ‘It’s where I was born. In a caravan at the foothills of the Andes.’
    ‘Should’ve called you Andy,’ laughed Clyde and the other two smiled at this.
    Then there was a noise from Azure who was now back right in front of the teenagers.
    ‘With respect,’ he intoned pointedly, ‘the Cradle will continue. Binding you all in sorrow.’
    Rani pulled a face. ‘I think he’s telling us to behave.’
    Clyde nodded. ‘Like your Dad at school assembly.’
    Santiago shrugged. ‘Wouldn’t know. Never been to school.’
    ‘No way! You are officially the luckiest bloke on Earth,’ said Clyde. ‘How come?’
    ‘We’re always travelling the world.’
    ‘You rich?’
    ‘Nah, exactly the opposite. But Mum and
    Dad – and they got this from Gran – spend their lives going from country to country.’
    ‘Doing what?’ asked Rani.
    ‘Protesting, mainly.’ Santiago seemed so enthusiastic, so obviously proud of his parents, his eyes glinted passionately as he talked. ‘At the G8 summit, Mum chained herself to the railings. And at the Climate Change Conference, Dad got arrested. Twice! Mum’s in Japan right now, on a little boat, stopping those whalers.’
    ‘Whoa!’ Clyde was impressed. ‘Serious life.’
    Santiago nodded. ‘Just to get here today, Gran and me, we were on the Southern plateau of Tierra del Fuego, so we had to hike to Buenos Aires, get a boat to Las Malvenas, then a cargo plane across the Atlantic to Dublin, then the ferry to Wales.’ He smiled at the memory. ‘It was fantastic. Where are you guys from?’
    ‘Ealing,’ Clyde and Rani said simultaneously. And slightly apologetically.
    At which point, the Cradle of the Lost Chords was strummed again by the red-bejewelled Shansheeth, and so the Service of Remembrance began.

Chapter Six
    The cradle sings
    The service was over and most of the dignitaries had either left or returned to whatever meagre bedrooms UNIT had provided.
    For Sarah Jane, Clyde