Doctor Who and the Scales of Injustice

Doctor Who and the Scales of Injustice
by Gary Russell

Prologue
MEMORANDUM
To: Professor Andrew Montrose
Research and Development
Department of Sciences
Cambridge University
Cambridgeshire
October 14th
Dear Professor Montrose,
Regarding the existing agreement between your Department and Department C19 of HM
Government's Ministry of Defence, reference number JS/77546/cf.
As you know, C19 has, over the past few years, continued to subsidize a great number of
individual projects and courses and co-sponsored a number of staff at your facility.
As per the above agreement, C19 requests four attachments to begin immediately at
locations of our choosing. These simultaneous attachments are scheduled to run between
twelve and twenty-four months.
The researchers we require are:
Richard Atkinson Doctor James D. Griffin Doctor Elizabeth Shaw Cathryn Wildeman
Please inform the above that their attachments will be beginning on Monday 21st October.
They will be collected by our representatives and taken to their place of work.
Please inform the attachees that to comply with the Civil Defence (Amended) Act (1964)

they will be required to sign the Official Secrets Act (1963) before leaving Cambridge.
You can assure the attachees that they are not being seconded to work on any projects
that they may find morally objectionable, including weapon-development programmes,
military hardware design, or any related matters. Many thanks for your co-operation in
this matter.
Yours faithfully,
Sir John Sudbury
Administrator
Department C19
Ministry of Defence
---
Sir Marmaduke Harrington-Smythe CBE
The Glasshouse
October 14th
Dear Sir Marmaduke,
Further to your requests stated in your letter of 23rd September, I write with two
important points.
Firstly, the future of the private nursing facility known as The Glasshouse. We are
pleased to confirm that we have extended your existing contract for a further eighteen
months, effective October 31st this year. Our payments to you for this service have been
increased by 2.3%, effective the same date.
You will, I'm sure, join with me in acknowledging that there have been teething problems;
some while you were setting up this most essential service to our Ministry; others as we
co-ordinated the necessary administration (specifically the use of the Official Secrets Act
(1963)). However, the Minister now joins other members of C19, myself included, in
feeling that we have reached a satisfactory standard of care and convalescence for our
servicemen with injuries unsuitable for traditional hospital treatment, and with suitable
respect for the total confidentiality required by this Department.
The second point is the one raised in your letter of September 27th, concerning the
Glasshouse's requirement of better scientific staff to work on the materials we provide.
To this end, we are subsidizing your proposed redevelopment of the basement area into a
laboratory, provided that only staff supplied by ourselves should be aware of its existence.
In addition, four new members of staff will be supplied to you, paid for by this

Department. The team will be headed by Doctor Peter Morley, with whom you may
already be familiar through his work with the Department of Applied Sciences at
Warwick University.
If you have any further questions, please contact me at your convenience.
Yours sincerely,
Sir John Sudbury
Administrator
Department C19
Ministry of Defence
---
MEMORANDUM
FROM: Commander, British Branch, UNIT
TO: All Staff
REF: 3/0038/ALS/mh
SUBJECT: Scientific Advisor, arrival thereof
DATE: 24th October
I am pleased to announce the forthcoming arrival of Elizabeth Shaw to UNIT as our
Scientific Advisor.
Doctor Shaw has been working with the highly regarded Montrose team at Cambridge for
the last few years, and will be joining us on Monday 31st October. She will be
answerable directly to myself and Captain Munro, and will be setting up our new
scientific department. She will also work closely with Doctor Sweetman on medical
matters.
I feel sure you will join me in welcoming Doctor Shaw to our organization, and will give
her all the help and support she needs during her period of adjustment. We all look
forward to her becoming a valuable member of the team.
Brigadier A. Lethbridge-Stewart
Commander
British Branch, UNIT

---
Andrew Montrose
The Cupps House
Bridge Street
Cambridge
To: Richard Atkinson
Doctor James D. Griffin
Doctor Elizabeth Shaw
Cathryn Wildeman
October 25th
Dear Colleague,
I enclose a copy of the letter I received today from C19. You've all known that this might
happen, and it seems they finally want their pound of flesh.
All four of you will need a few days to sort out your lives and tie up your current projects.
I don't know where any of you will end up, either as a group or not. Sorry. We're pretty
much in C19's hands there. All I do know is that Sir John Sudbury is trustworthy. If he
says the work's non-military, I accept that.
I'm sorry we probably won't work together again here at Cambridge. As you know I'm