 rofessor,' Ace moaned, 'Where are we going?'
'I thought I'd already told you.' the Doctor replied as he dashed around the main console of the TARDIS.
Ace sighed to herself thinking how absent minded the Doctor had been lately before she continued: 'No. You said that you'd tell me where we were going when we were sure that we were going to get there alright. Since then, you've been fiddling with the controls.'
'Fiddling!' the Doctor spun round and glared at her. 'I don not fiddle, I have been making precise adjustments to our course. Arriving at exactly the correct time and place is very tricky business!'
'Alright, calm down, Professor, I was only joking.'
Good!' said the Doctor as he turned back to the console and began pressing buttons and studying dials seemingly at random.
Ace watched him for a few minutes before saying, 'Well?'
The Doctor merely said, 'Hmmm,' as he continued with his calculations.
'Professor! Don't you ever listen to what I say?' Ace cried in exasperation.
The Doctor looked up from the console, rolling his eyes. 'Alright, we're going to the planet Minardi to see an old friend.' he said as returned his attention to the console.
'Where's that and who's that?' Ace asked.
The Doctor stood up sharply and glared at her. 'Really, Ace, it's impossible to work with you around. Alright then I suppose we may as well sit and chat until we arrive.' He moved over to one of the armchairs that he'd recently moved into the control room.
 Ace followed flopping into the chair promptly, 'And?', as the Doctor leant his head back and closed his eyes.
'Hmmm? Oh yes, the planet Minardi. It's a remote colony world established in 2693 with three thousand colonists. They mine tribarium there which is highly volatile explosive, used to make various weapons like bombs and missiles. Really humanity does seem to have a fascination with destruction. If they only took the time to research things thoroughly, they'd also find that tribarium, if refined correctly, makes a very careful cure to Pilvarin, a very nasty virus that keeps popping up on a lot of their trading colonies.'
Ace interrupted him before he could start a lecture on the sins of humanity. 'Your friend, Professor?'‘Ah yes, my friend, Jane Davis. I met her twice both a very long time ago. The first time I was taking a holiday on Earth. I met a remarkable young woman, very intelligent and also very pretty-' he broke off as Ace smiled. 'That was merely an observation, Ace! We had many stimulating conversations.'
'I bet you did,' Ace replied sarcastically.
'Really, Ace, I thought that you had a better opinion of me than that.'
'Come on, Professor, we're all human.'
'Oh, now you really are being insulting. We were friends, that's all, and besides, she was in a serious relationship.' he said wistfully before continuing, 'I met her several years later - well, two to her. It was when the medics arrived with the transport to carry them onto Minardi Prime that she found out she was three months pregnant. I promised to drop in when her baby was born and that was six months ago. Or longer, depending on your perspective.'
'So, that's why we're going then?' Ace asked, turning to look at the control console as the TARDIS landed.
The Doctor stood and walked to flip on the scanner saying: ' Yes, today is the day Jane's baby is born.'
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everyones bad day page2
