Knight Progenitor

Knight Progenitor Page 9

by Sharon L Reddy

PART the fabric of the universe to complete an EXPERIMENT!"

  The mousy little man looked terrified. The Doctor had shouted him into a state one step away from nervous collapse. Liberty sensed he was hiding something. "Dr. Carvin, what's the real reason you don't stop?"

  "I can't." The poor man was nearly blubbering. He was on the verge of exhaustion. "I've tried everything I can think of. Every time I try to turn it off the effect gets worse. I've been trying to shut it down since I first noticed the changes in the plants."

  The Doctor's voice was very gentle, "All right. Show me. Let's see if we can find a way to shut it off." The little scientist led the Doctor through a pair of doors. Wren and Liberty grinned at each other and followed.

  "Liberty, this is a list of numbers. Put them in that computer. Wren, your list. At that one. Dr. Carvin. Here. The most important part of this is to enter the commands at the same time. I'll call 'Now' and each of you must enter the current number immediately. Ready? Enter first number... Now."

  It was going well. They were nearly through, then the Doctor yelled, "Cancel!"

  Liberty hit the cancel and looked around. Dr. Carvin was on the floor with the Doctor kneeling over him. He said, "Colonel, get to that station. We've got five more inputs. He'll be all right for a few minutes. We must finish this now."

  It was touchy for a few minutes. The Doctor had to call out new numbers to each of them. The pause had invalidated the list. In all there were thirty-two more commands entered at each station, but it worked. Dr. Carvin would be fine. He'd collapsed from exhaustion. He was getting his first good sleep since he'd begun the experiment. Colonel Bern had re-established communication with the outside world and Wren had been invited to a dance.

  The Doctor stretched. It was a glorious June day on Earth. He sniffed the air. Ambrosia. He followed his nose through the open TARDIS door. Wren was squatting by a skillet over an open fire. The incredible fragrance was coming from the skillet. "Bass. Mom caught them this morning. Over that ridge is the North Fork of the White River. I hope you're not in a hurry to leave here, Doctor. Mom says this is one of the best fishing spots in the universe and she has this thing about fishing."

  The Doctor struggled to lift his nose out of the plate Wren had just handed him. "I am never in a hurry to leave a good fishing spot. There's this place I know where the gumblejacks--"

  Wren laughed. "Oh, no. Two of them. Hi, Mom. Are those trout?"

  Liberty walked over to Wren and displayed a string of beautiful, gleaming, fish. She noticed the Doctor was rapidly finishing off the bass she'd caught earlier. He said, "Now, where is this fishing spot?"

  "Give me a few minutes to stow these and I'll show you. I've got a small inflatable boat and tackle on the river. Probably yours. Tell me, Doctor, have you ever knocked over a windmill?"

  He stared at the TARDIS she'd just walked into. What WAS she talking about? Windmills? He realized Wren was laughing.

  "I'm sorry, Doctor. I think you're stuck with us. You see, Mom always said she was looking for a Don Quixote so she could play Sancho, but she was just too practical to follow one who didn't beat the windmills."

  Wren rose and bowed to the Doctor. "Sir Knight, you have just acquired the finest squire in Christendom, and with her, a herald."

  Later, as he stood (not really a good idea) in the little boat watching the fish in the clear stream nibbling at his bait, he thought, "A squire. Orcini had a squire." In a way the idea appealed to him. He smiled as he thought, "And my squire certainly SMELLS better than his did."

  Three things happened in such close succession they seemed nearly simultaneous. The fish took the bait, a ship flew over, and the Doctor fell in the water.

  The Doctor scrambled, dripping, from the river and ran for the TARDIS, all thoughts of fishing gone and his precious tackle box left behind. Wren and Liberty were standing in the console room when he ran in and shut the doors. Liberty looked at the very damp Doctor and said, "We saw it. From your expression, it's trouble."

  "It is." The Doctor looked at his new companions. Their lives were about to become very complicated. "The ship was Sontaran and, since it was a short range ship, there is a mother ship in orbit. That means there are a few thousand very nasty people very near by. Well, we shall just have to send them away."

  Liberty said, "They're after the time experiment aren't they? Doctor, what happens if we don't manage to 'send them away'?"

  "Time will be changed. Nothing will be as we remember it. We may all just cease to exist. Now, MAY I begin tracking that ship?" The Doctor was much too busy, and far too worried, to realize he'd finally gotten in the last word.

  By the time they'd gotten to the base, it was gone. They were in a bramble hollow. Again. He realized Liberty had expected thorns this time. She'd dressed in sturdy slacks before they'd left the TARDIS. She held out her hand to him and said, "Here, Doctor, have some blackberries. If we have to put up with the thorns, we might as well enjoy some of the fruit."

  He was just finishing off the best blackberry he'd ever had, when Wren rolled into the hollow and whispered, "Shh, there's someone out there." Wren wriggled into the opening in the bushes and lay very still for a moment, then he was up and out like a shot. The Doctor looked at Liberty. She shook her head. They would just have to wait to find out what was happening. Liberty was already moving when Wren's voice called softly, "Mom." She dove for the opening, the Doctor right behind her. Even he could tell, something had really upset Wren.

  The Doctor and Liberty looked around them. It was like a scene from some gory horror movie. The moon shone down on a clearing filled with maimed and bleeding people. Wren was carrying Alyce Raye. The Doctor hoped she was unconscious. One of her legs had the broken end of a bone sticking out. Liberty was already headed that way, so he looked around to see who else needed immediate help.

  Colonel Bern was leaning heavily on a young man. His chest was covered with blood. The Doctor hurried over and helped the young man ease him to the ground. He said, "What happened?"

  The young man said, "These THINGS attacked us. We ran for the shelters. Our weapons couldn't stop them. It seemed like every time one went down two more took its place. Once they'd driven us all to the shelters, they started blowing them up. Dad got us started out the back of the shelter just as they hit it. We're the only ones who made it."

  "I'm the Doctor. You must be Eric. Your father took a pretty nasty blow; but, if we can get him back to the TARDIS, I think he'll be all right. Liberty, we need a safe route to the TARDIS. Find us one. We're going to make a lot of noise. Wait!" Liberty had almost left before he was finished. "The Sontarans have a weakness. A small hole in the back of their necks. A blow to it will knock one out, for a while." She nodded and was gone.

  Wren said, "Doctor, Alyce needs help now. I'll organize the walking wounded and wait for Mom. You take Alyce," He gently laid the unconscious girl in the Doctor's arms. "and go now. I KNOW you can get to the TARDIS with her."

  The Doctor looked at the unconscious girl he was holding. Wren was right. Her skin was cold and clammy. She'd lost a lot of blood. He looked around him once more, noticing Dr. Carvin tearing strips off his hospital gown to bandage a young soldier's arm. He nodded to Wren and headed out of the clearing.

  He was finding it difficult to move quietly. Carrying Alyce was forcing him into the open too often. He'd been lucky so far, but he was going to have to chance crossing the large moonlit clearing in front of him. The TARDIS was just on the other side. As he stepped into the clearing a Sontaran voice said, "Stop." He turned around slowly. The Sontaran smiled and said, "No prisoners." The Doctor closed his eyes. He had been so close.

  He heard a loud thud. He opened one eye. Liberty was standing over the Sontaran. She was tucking a small blowgun into her pocket. She looked up at him and said, "I hate to kill." The Doctor watched her slip into the forest, then turne
d and headed for the TARDIS. He realized he was smiling. There was something to be said for having a really good squire.

  "That's it. We may be the only ones that got out. A hundred troops and sixty-odd assorted civilians and only the eleven of us left." The colonel put the cup of coffee he was drinking down. "Doctor, why would they attack us? Dr. Carvin's experiment was a dangerous failure. We were getting ready to dismantle the equipment and close down the research station."

  "Evidently they think you had some kind of weapon. To a Sontaran mind, anything that causes destruction is a good weapon. The time experiment was definitely destructive." The Doctor rose from his chair and added, "Now, I'd better see if there's a way to keep them from trying it out."

  As he walked through the TARDIS corridors, the Doctor thought about the way Liberty and Wren had organized things. One area of the console room had been set up for triage. He'd worked in another as surgeon. Each time he finished with an injured human another was brought. He was beginning to feel the strain when Liberty handed him a steaming cup of coffee (He'd have to find an appropriate time to tell her he preferred cocoa when he wanted to relax.) and said, "That's the last."

  She'd put everyone somewhere in the TARDIS. She seemed to know where everyone was and who he wanted to see. He'd passed her in the corridor earlier and she'd said, "Col. Bern's in the next room on your right." She was walking toward him carrying a tray. Just as he opened his mouth, she said, "Dr. Carvin's in the first room on the next corridor to your left."

  He stared after her and thought, "How DOES she do that?"

  "I've got bad news, Doctor." He turned from changing the bandage on Alyce's leg to look at Wren. "They're moving. They're dismantling everything in the lab and loading it onto a ship. They'll be done in a couple of hours."

  The Doctor turned back to Alyce. "At least that means they'll be leaving Earth. You'll be safe once they've gone. Liberty thinks several more small groups got out. Perhaps your parents were among them."

  "Doctor, do you really think my parents are alive?"

  He couldn't lie to her. "I don't know; but, if others escaped, your parents might have been among them. Col. Bern will help you look for them. I'm sorry, but we have to move you. We're going to have to follow the Sontarans." He didn't want to hurt her, but he knew it would. It would be a long time before she went to another dance.

  "Wren, set up a shelter in the clearing. Make sure there are enough supplies to last a day or two, in case they need them. They'll probably be found as soon as the Sontarans lift their defense perimeter. This place has got every military eye on the planet watching it for some kind of change. They may not know what happened here, but they know something strange is going on."

  The last piece of information had really been for Alyce's benefit. She had looked very frightened at the thought of being left in the clearing. Wren had patiently waited out the long explanation. His smile said he knew who the words had been for. He said, "Right, Doc." and was gone.

  As the Doctor turned to finish bandaging Alyce's leg, he sighed and shook his head. "Doc." he said. He looked up in surprise when he heard her laughing. It was a delightful sound. He smiled. Perhaps Liberty was right, Wren did always seem to say exactly the right thing.

  They watched the TARDIS disappear from the grove. Eric Bern turned to his father and asked, "Do we tell anyone about them? I don't think I'd believe it if someone told me they'd met a time traveler who traveled around in an old English police box saving worlds."

  "You're right. I think we'd better work out an 'official version' of what happened. If others survived, we'll have to find out if any of them mentioned the Doctor and his companions. If not, we'll just leave him out of the story."

  Eric laughed. "Dad, if we leave him out, it's going to be a very short story."

  Knight's Gambit

  "Give me the reading on that screen."

  "Four, four, seven, three. Changing. One, nine, two, eight. Changing. One, one, eight. No change." Liberty looked across the TARDIS console at the Doctor. She thought, "I wonder if he can walk on water?" and smiled.

  "There. We've locked on. Wherever they're going, we're going. Now, we've got some time. How to put it to good use?"

  He stood for a moment thinking, then realized both Liberty and Wren were waiting for him to come up with something. He said, "Well, you have good minds. Use them."

  "Doctor, how much information did you get on Dr. Carvin's experiment?" Wren looked thoughtful. "I know you shut it down, but did you get how it worked? What it did?"

  "Of course I GOT how it worked. If it hadn't been so badly aligned, it might even have worked properly."

  Liberty grinned. "I don't suppose you told them that."

  The Doctor gave her a disgusted look. "Of course not. One thing this universe doesn't need, is a bunch of amateurs mucking about with time." He stared at them as both Liberty and Wren collapsed with laughter.

  He began pulling together everything he had learned about the experiment. The Sontarans were not fools. They might even get the equipment working right. He had to stop them before that happened. Before their scientists worked out what it actually did.

  The equipment could be used as a weapon, but what had him really worried was that it could provide the basis of time travel to the Sontarans. He hadn't told Liberty and Wren, but he could have reversed a single circuit and the Earthlings would have had a functional time corridor. He had to stop the Sontarans, before they found and reversed that circuit.

  "All right, Doctor. That's enough for now. We've got dinner for you. You're starting to go in circles. Give it a rest." Liberty pushed him through the interior doors. He stopped and sniffed the air, then looked at her. She said, "The trout I caught. Come on. Let's eat." The Doctor followed her, and the wonderful aroma, deeper into the TARDIS.

  He was polishing off his second piece of trout as Wren explained, "I needed some place a small charcoal fire wouldn't be dangerous. Trout just isn't the same cooked any other way."

  "I'm sure this is the first time the cloisters were ever used for a picnic. I..." The cloister bell began to ring. He jumped up and ran for the console room. Liberty right behind him. As Wren began rapidly breaking down the picnic and putting out the little burner, he noticed the Doctor hadn't been in too big a hurry. He'd paused long enough to take the last piece of trout with him.

  "They're operating it from the ship and it's unstable. I'm going to try to break the TARDIS free of the field. We're fairly close to the edge, so we might... just... make it." He tapped in the final code and tried to hang on as the TARDIS began to buck against the boundary of the field.

  He came to with his arms wrapped around something very soft. With a start he realized it was Liberty. He started to release her, then grabbed hold of her again as the TARDIS gave another lurch and he realized she was unconscious. Wren called out, "Hang onto her. I've got you strapped down. I hope that whining noise doesn't mean we're in trouble."

  Actually it meant they were in a great deal of trouble, but he couldn't do anything about it. He could only hang on to Liberty and hope the TARDIS broke free before she was torn to pieces.

  The TARDIS gave another lurch and he almost lost his grip. He pulled Liberty to him and wrapped his arms around her. He held her tightly as the whine rose to a scream and a series of teeth rattling jars shook them. He felt the strap holding him break and a lurch sent them both rolling.

  His head was ringing, but the TARDIS was quiet. He realized he was lying on top of Liberty under the control console. He was just pushing himself off her when she opened her eyes. She looked into his eyes and said, "Oh my. Did I miss something?"

  He scrambled up so fast, he hit his head on the control console. Liberty chuckled and said, "Sit still. You're bleeding from enough places already. Since you seem to have taken better care of me than you did yourself, I'll find the med-kit."

  "Here's the
kit, Mom." Wren squatted down beside them. "I'm sorry about your belt. I didn't think it would hold as long as it did."

  No wonder that strap had been so tight. The Doctor was sure he'd wear a mark around his middle for weeks. He started to get up. He needed to see if the TARDIS was damaged. He didn't make it. His vision blurred and he found himself face down on the floor.

  "Easy now. We're going to pull you out from under the console. No! Don't try to help. Let us do it. All right. Now I'm going to turn you over. Oh, brother. Wren, get me pillows and blankets. Doctor, you're a mess."

  "And then you went flying into him and he grabbed you. I swear he was out cold when he caught you. But he had you tight and I figured the best thing to do was strap him down. The only thing I could find in a hurry was your belt. It almost wasn't long enough."

  "It wasn't long enough. I shan't be able to breathe properly for a week." The Doctor tried to lift his head, but very quickly gave it up as a bad idea.

  Liberty sat down beside him and said, "Welcome back. Don't try to move. I haven't had a chance to really look you over yet, but from what I've seen so far... Well, you're concussed, contused, and you look like you went ten rounds with a mule. You're lucky Wren got you strapped down when he did. A few more slams with you playing pinball around the console room and you'd have been in pieces. I said lay still!"

  "I can't. I've got to know how the TARDIS is and what the Sontarans are doing. Help me up. Don't argue!" He winced. Shouting hurt his head.

  "Don't say I didn't try to keep you from doing this to yourself. Wren, find some kind of chair. He's going to be too dizzy to stand long. Now, grab hold of me. No. Don't try to pull yourself up. Let me lift you to a sitting position. All right. Now."

  He hung on to her tightly as the room swung. He fought to hang on to consciousness as his vision blurred. It wasn't until after his head had stopped swimming that he made his big mistake. He tried to get to his knees.

  This time he woke up with his head in her lap. She said, "I told you to wait and let us get you up. You're hurt. Badly in some places. Like your leg. It's not broken, but, from the looks of the bruise, it ought to be. You've probably got some cracked ribs. The entire right side of your chest is contused. Wren said he watched you get slammed into the console half a dozen times before you finally hit the floor."

  "Are you all right?"

  "Yes, Doctor, Wren and I were lucky. I was knocked out and rolled under the console. Wren actually got strapped in. I've got a lump on my head and a few bruises, but, when I went rolling out from under the console, someone held on to me and that's all I got."

  "I've still got to get to the console."

  "I know. Wren's looking for some kind of brace for your leg. He's also bringing something so we can wrap those ribs. We'll get you to the console, but you'll have to let us do it."

  He was being shaken. "Oh, no you don't. Wake up. The one thing you can't do is sleep." He struggled to open his eyes. She was right. He couldn't fall asleep.

  Wren knelt down beside them. He finished unbuttoning the Doctor's shirt and said, "Oh brother, wrapping that is really going to be rough. Let's get his coat and shirt off. Sorry, Doctor, it's going to hurt. Easy. Easy. Got it. OK, Mom, I'll hold him up while you wrap. You'll hurt him less than I would. All right. I've got him."

  "Lift his arms over his head if you can. Now, I'll get this done as fast as possible. He's out again, Wren! Wake him up. I'm done here."

  "Mom, he's not coming round. Help me get him into the chair. At least he won't feel it when we move him."

  They struggled to get the unconscious Doctor into the chair without aggravating his injuries. Wren had found one with arms, so he didn't roll off the sides. Finally, Wren got behind the chair and lifted while Liberty pushed from the front.

  "Whew. Mom, do you think he'd notice if I put him on a diet?"

  "Yes, I would."

  "Hello, Doctor, nice to have you back with us." She'd been really worried. He'd been out for several minutes. "The worst is over. You're wrapped and strapped. You should be able to see the console now, but, please, don't try to stand up. You'd just fall down and I don't think Wren has enough energy left to get you into that chair again."

  "I'm not planning on making any sudden moves, but I need to see that panel, not this one." He pointed, gingerly, to the opposite side of the console.

  "No problem, Doc. I brought a chair with casters. Locking casters." Wren toed the locks and pushed the Doctor to the panel he'd indicated. "Anything else?"

  "Yes, just one thing. Don't call me Doc!" He winced. He'd forgotten shouting made his head hurt.

  Liberty and Wren both started laughing. Wren said, "You'll live." and walked through the interior doors.

  Liberty walked over and leaned on the back of the chair. She watched as he worked. She realized he was bracing himself to try to stand. She put a hand on his shoulder. "What can't you reach? Tell me what to do."

  "Flip the red switch. Now back. Now, enter one, one, three on that top keyboard. Now the red switch again. Off. Enter one, one, three again. Now the switch. Got it. Next panel."

  Gradually they worked their way around the console. He'd do everything within his reach, then Liberty would be his hands for the rest. The TARDIS had come through in better condition than he had. The Sontarans didn't seem to have fared as well. They were still nearby and two smaller ships were towing the ship the equipment was on. There was a Rutan scout ship adrift not far away. Evidently, the Sontarans had tried their new 'weapon' on it.

  He had to assume the equipment was still functional. Somehow, he had to keep the Sontaran scientists from getting their hands on it. He started to form a plan. It would be risky and Wren would have to take most of the risks. The only thing he could do right now, to reduce those risks, was try to heal himself as quickly as possible. That meant he had to put himself into a healing trance and, with a bad concussion, that too was risky.

  "Liberty, I've an idea how to stop the Sontarans, but I'm going to have to be in better condition than I am now. I've got the TARDIS following the Sontarans again. Now, I need to lie down." He tried to stand.

  Liberty caught him as he fell. She certainly was soft. As she eased him to the floor, he said, "This will do. I'm going to put myself in a healing trance. Don't try to wake me. I have to come out of it on my own."

  "All right, Doctor. Are you sure you don't want me to take you somewhere else to lie down?"

  "This will do. You've moved me about enough for one day. There's one more thing. Move one panel to your right. See the little covered panel. Lift the cover. That switch is the emergency override. It will take the TARDIS to a set of pre-set coordinates. I've set it for North America, 58th latitude, 2142. If I don't wake up, push it."

  Liberty watched him close his eyes. As soon as she knew he was unaware of her, she sat down in the chair, crossed her arms on the control console, laid her head on them, and began shedding the tears she'd been holding back all afternoon.

  Wren handed her a wad of tissues and a cup of cocoa. "His heartbeats are steady at about ten a minute. All bleeding has stopped and I think some of the swelling in his leg is going down. I could feel his knee and an hour ago I couldn't. He didn't give you any idea how long this would take?"

  "I don't think he knew. Wren, I don't think he really expected to wake up again. He set the TARDIS to take us home. He told me what to do just before he went under. I don't want to go home. I want to be with him. Oh Wren, I've finally found my Knight and he may be dying."

  Wren reached over and ruffled her hair. "My mom. Other women look for a white knight to carry them off to live happily ever after. My mom looks for a white knight so she can follow him around, carry his sword, and polish his armor. You've got a bad case of hero worship, Mother."

  "I do, don't I? You're right, but this may be one hero who deserves it. He's take
n on the job of protecting all the innocents in the universe, and he's probably capable of doing it. Why don't you get some sleep? I'll stay with him."

  "No way. You sleep. Your eyes look like you've been in a fist fight and even your hair is drooping. I know you can't bear to leave him alone lying on the floor. I'll bring you a pillow and blanket and you can lie at his feet if you want."

  Liberty smiled, "Now that you mention it, that's exactly what I had in mind."

  Wren looked uncomfortable. "Mom, be careful."

  She took a while to figure out what he meant. She WAS tired. "Don't worry. All my romantic notions about him have to do with knocking over windmills, not painting picket fences. Now get me that pillow."

  The Doctor gradually came out of his trance. He was actually rather surprised. He'd wondered if he would regenerate or, perhaps, not wake up at all. He lifted himself just enough to see Liberty sleeping at his feet. He smiled and thought, "The finest squire in Christendom." He lay back and drifted into true sleep.

  Wren realized the Doctor hadn't seen him. He was sitting with a cup of coffee where he could keep an eye on both of them. He smiled and thought, "Mom really has found her knight, and he's even more of a gallant fool than she is." Keeping this pair from getting themselves killed was going to be a full time job, but he'd never felt 'safer' in his life.

  "All right, but slowly. We'd rather not find out you aren't as well as you think you are by having you crash to the floor." Liberty aided him to a sitting position.

  "Fine. I'm quite steady. Now let's get on with it. My knee still doesn't bend well, so I'll need support on that side. Good, now up."

  He grabbed the console and helped pull himself the rest of the way up. He gingerly put weight on his injured leg until he was sure it would hold him. "I'm going to need a cane or a walking stick. Wren, see if you can find one in the wardrobe. Hand me my shirt and vest, coat too. That's better. Now, where are we?"

  Liberty smiled as the Doctor casually flipped down the cover of the emergency override as he hobbled by it. Yes, he was definitely much better. Wren handed him a cane and a cup of tea. He took them and walked to the other side of the console. Wren turned and grinned at his mother. He'd barely noticed he was there. Yes, the Doctor was well on his way to full recovery.

  "So you don't know if the TARDIS actually broke free of the field."

  The Doctor looked up from the dish of blackberries and cream Wren had brought him. "I believe that IS what I said. We might have been bouncing against the boundaries until the field was turned off."

  "Like a pinball. With the TARDIS drive as the flippers."

  "For someone from the twenty-second century, isn't that a rather antiquated simile?"

  "Probably, but I had an antiquated childhood. I lived with my grandparents for a while, but I wanted to be with Mom. I made their lives VERY difficult. Finally they told Mom to come get me. Mom was doing field work in a little place just east of the continental divide on the 58th parallel. The team was pulling together all the pieces they could find of the old gold camps. One day some helpful local brought in a carrier-load of stuff he'd found. It was a good thing it was all from the wrong period or Mom would have had his head. He'd just gathered it from a half dozen places and loaded it up. Poor guy got about an hour of instruction on how to locate, identify and NOT move archeological finds.

  There were seven old arcade games. Probably packed away since the late twentieth century. One of the engineers rigged up an appropriate power supply and his wife opened a little nostalgia cafe. Featuring old-fashioned cooking, the antique arcade games, and films from the period as background. It became quite a tourist attraction. I was their best customer. I spent hours playing pinball and watching films. There was one catch. You had to have these special old coins to play, and they weren't cheap.

  I started earning my 'play money' by running errands and sweeping up. I was eleven. Then I began to help with dishes and such. The kitchen was part of the nostalgia tour. Finally, I graduated to the real work. Ms. Ann taught me to cook."

  "I had wondered about that. You do seem to do all the meal preparation, and very well too."

  "Thank you, Doctor. I'll take that, and your appetite, as a compliment."

  The Doctor paused in his pursuit of the last blackberry around the bottom of his bowl, and gave Wren a disgusted look. "You're not still thinking of putting me on a diet, are you?"

  "Why, Doctor, of course not. You've already been on one for several days." Wren looked at the Doctor's expression. "I won't starve you, Doctor. I'm just making sure you get the right food. Mrs. Ryan taught me a lot, but Mom taught me more. She's a good cook, but she only likes to cook once in awhile. Her favorite is 'dinner for twelve surprise guests in ten minutes'. She taught me to use the good food all around me. Fish from a stream. Fruits from the forest. I can even make flatbread from wild grain.

  We stayed there until I was seventeen. Five years ago Mom got her official status as a first contact anthropologist. She'd been working toward it most of her life. She named me aide-de-camp and I went along. For three years, she worked under a supervisor. Tebatta, where we found you, was her second 'solo' mission. She dropped thirty years of work and study to follow you."

  "Thirty years! Wren, how old is your mother?"

  "I'm fifty-two, but it's not a nice question to ask about a lady." Liberty dropped the load she was carrying on the floor. She'd been exploring the TARDIS and had found some very interesting items. "I hope you don't mind. The rooms Wren and I are in are pretty bare. I found a room that looked like it had belonged to a girl, but I left it alone. It looked pretty-much untouched and I thought it might be special."

  "It is. Until recently, I had a companion named Peri. She was from twentieth century America. For a time, I believed she had been killed. Someday, I'll take some of those things to her. What have you got there? That's a Kinda helix..." He began to tell them of his adventures. He'd never really done that before. His memory had always seemed a bit hap-hazard, tossing bits and pieces to the surface at odd times. He was surprised to find how much he did remember. That he could tell.

  He watched Liberty struggle with her end of the heavy chest. He felt a bit guilty watching her, but she was right. He might re-injure himself and they were almost ready to put his plan in to operation. "I must say, you are rather fit for a human of your age."

  "Doctor, if you don't quit worrying about my age, I'm going to start reminding you of yours. What was it? Nine hundred ten or something?"

  "That's not very old for a Time Lord. I'm actually quite young."

  "Yes, well so am I. I'm under a third of my projected life-span. I told you I was a special case. One of my selected genes was for long life. Some of my ancestors lived into their hundreds in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While we're at it, I'm also stronger and heavier than I look. I've been doing hard work for years, so quit looking guilty every time you see me carrying a load. You wouldn't give it a second thought if you weren't forced to just sit and watch. You'd just walk by and pick up your own load."

  "I've been meaning to ask. Where did you get those calluses?"

  "Some of them from digging. You do a lot of that in anthropology. The rest, well, some of them from unarmed combat training, some from weapons practice."

  "Weapons practice? I thought you hated killing."

  "I do. Sometimes, the best way to avoid killing, is to be so good you don't have to."

  "With what types of weapons are you proficient?"

  "How many types of weapons are there, Doctor? Now, what is this stuff and what's it for?"

  The Doctor got out of his chair and leaned on his cane as he stood over the trunk. He pulled a small key from his pocket and handed it to Wren. "Open it."

  Wren whistled. "Where did you get this stuff? I thought you said we weren't carrying any weapons."

  "We aren't. None of t
hose work. They're part of the Sontaran space armor in the chest. Your mother could never pass, but you and I are about to become Sontaran warriors."

  "I don't like it."

  "Liberty, I'm open to suggestions. If you have a better idea, I'm PERFECTLY willing to listen! Now, CAN we get on with it?!"

  "Don't mind Mom, Doctor. She's only upset because she can't do it herself."

  Liberty gave Wren a withering look. "You don't look much like a Sontaran either. Doctor, aren't you a bit large to be a clone? And that cane is going to be a bit out of place too."

  "I'll look more like a Sontaran than an average height woman with an hour glass figure!" Why did she have to argue about everything? "I'll just have to manage without the cane."

  Wren paused in puzzling out the armor he was putting on. "Mine looks like the stuff I saw at the research station, but yours is different. Older or something."

  "It is." The Doctor was struggling to keep his balance while donning his disguise. He nearly toppled, but Liberty steadied him.

  "Here, let me do it. If you end up on the floor in all this heavy stuff, we'll need a block and tackle to get you up again."

  The Doctor smiled as Liberty began to put him into the armor. Wren caught his eye and winked. They both stood still while Liberty muttered and grumbled over every seam and fastening on their disguises. "That's the best I can do. You're ready. Now what?"

  "Now we find a quiet corner of the Sontaran ship and set the TARDIS in it."

  "Doctor, won't the TARDIS be a bit obvious? I doubt the Sontarans have many large blue objects sitting around."

  "The TARDIS can disguise herself too. She doesn't really like to. Seems to like being a 'large blue object'; but, if we ask her nicely, she'll come up with something suitable. I hope."

  The Sontaran checked the cargo hold again. He was sure he'd heard something. He didn't see anything unusual. Just stacks of crates and boxes, neatly numbered and lined up. He decided the noise was just one more malfunction caused by the use of the new weapon.

  He was glad they'd be getting that thing off the ship. It didn't work right. They were taking it to the scientists, but his commander had wanted to try it out. It had disabled the Rutan ship, but it had also disabled them. It had nearly shaken them apart before a way was found to shut it down. He hoped the scientists could make it operate properly. He longed to see it destroy a world. He smiled. A weapon suited to help fulfill the destiny of glory for the Sontaran Empire. He left the hold dreaming of the battles he would fight and the enemies he would kill to add to that glory.

  "He's gone." Liberty turned from the viewer to look at the disguised Doctor and Wren. Wren looked pretty good, but the Doctor... Well, it would have to do. He was the only one who could disable the equipment. Well, she or Wren could do it, but his way would make less noise.

  "All right, let's get on with it. Wren, I'm going to hang back a bit. You'll have to discover the whereabouts of the equipment and how it's guarded. My limp will make me an object of curiosity. Very few injured Sontarans are treated. Usually, they're just replaced. My armor doesn't show high enough rank for me to be particularly valuable. Yours; however, does. You are a Group Leader. If anyone doesn't salute you, you salute them. If asked, you're Group Leader... Stike. That should be common enough. On a ship this size, no one should ask for your unit or the number of your battle group. Liberty, open the doors."

  "All right, Doctor; but I'm warning you, if you get yourself killed, I'll break your neck."

  As they left the TARDIS, Wren was smiling inside his armor. The Doctor had just been treated to a bit of human mothering. Some form, of that particular illogical statement, had been delivered by every mother, to every child, who had ever lived on the planet.

  Just before he stepped through the doors, the Doctor turned to Liberty. "If something goes wrong, I shall try to give Wren a chance to get away. Don't do anything foolish. The override coordinates are still set. Use them."

  Liberty shut the doors and watched them on the viewer. The Doctor was already limping heavily. Every minute he wore the heavy armor would make it worse. It just wasn't going to work. She began her own preparations. She smiled. He'd noticed her figure.

  "There are two guards, and they're not sleepy." Wren had found the time equipment and cautiously led the Doctor to it. So far, the Doctor had pretty well stayed out of sight. This was the crucial test of their disguises.

  "All right, see if you can occupy them in some fashion. Did you see the layout of the room?"

  "Yes, that flat triangular part is at the far end."

  "I'd hoped it would be the other way round. It means I've got about twenty meters of room to cross."

  "More like fifty. That's not the only thing in there. There's a big array of other stuff, probably weapons, between it and the door. I'm going to see if I can get those guys to turn their backs on the door for a few seconds. You won't have much time." The Doctor gestured him on.

  Wren had done well. He'd had time to get in and well toward his objective. He pulled his favorite little tool out and scooted under the time equipment. He had removed most of his disguise. He had moved so badly in it, it was more a hindrance than an aid.

  There. He had the panel open. Now, what would be the best way to disable it permanently? "Aha," he thought, "this little circuit and this one. That one and that one... "

  "Wait! Don't kill it yet. We need to know who it is and what it's done. Let me handle this. Come out of there." Wren had barely stopped the Sontaran guard from killing the Doctor as soon as he'd seen him. He hoped he could stall things long enough to figure a way out. For both of them.

  The Doctor laid the little pile of delicate circuits on the floor and began pulling himself out from under the equipment. He had some trouble getting to his feet. The weight of the armor had played havoc with his healing leg.

  "What have you done to the weapon?" Wren hoped he sounded like an angry Sontaran. The Doctor had no chance if he were discovered as an impostor too.

  "Oh, just removed a few bits and pieces."

  "You will replace those pieces, now."

  "Oh, I don't think that would be a good idea. I've just gone to a great deal of trouble to remove them and," He brought his heel down hard on the little stack of circuitry. It hurt. "they don't seem to be in very good shape."

  "Stop! If it knew what to destroy, it will know how to replace it." Wren was trying desperately to keep the Doctor from getting himself killed and the Doctor just wouldn't cooperate. "Who are you? How did you get on this ship? You look like a primitive from the planet we took this from."

  Wren nearly threw up his hands in disgust when the Doctor said, "I am in no way primitive. I am a Time Lord. I'm called the Doctor and I've been at odds with your barbarous empire for centuries. As for how I got here, we Time Lords have ways."

  "What is going on here?"

  Wren turned. A group of Sontarans was approaching. They didn't salute him so he saluted them. "Group Leader Stike. We caught this sabotaging the new weapon."

  "Then why isn't it dead?"

  "I believed it might know how to repair the sabotage. It says it is a Time Lord and identifies itself as the Doctor. I believe I have heard of it." Wren hoped this group was from a late enough time to have heard of the Doctor.

  "A Time Lord. You have done well Group Leader. I have heard of this Doctor. Take him to be interrogated." As a group of Sontarans roughly bundled the limping Doctor from the room, the officer said, "I shall see you are commended, Group Leader Stike. We shall learn much before this one dies." The Sontaran officer turned away and Wren realized he'd been dismissed. He left the room and began to hunt the place they'd taken the Doctor. He'd begun to realize he actually HAD been trying to get himself killed. He had far too much knowledge the Sontarans wanted.

  The Doctor wasn't too worried about the Sontarans getting that knowledge at the moment. When t
heir mind opening equipment hadn't worked on him, they'd turned to other means. Their interrogation techniques were brutal and their primary method of coercion was pain. Two or three more sessions with the interrogator like the last one and he wouldn't have to worry at all. About anything.

  He groaned as he tried to move. They'd found his injuries and used them to good advantage. The only one they'd avoided was the one on his head. The groan would let them know he was conscious. He wondered how long it would be before they came for him again. Not long. Not very long. He waited.

  Wren found his mother in a side corridor. She was well hidden, but he'd known she was there. "He wouldn't want us to try. You know he wouldn't."

  "Yes, I know, but we have to. I can feel him waiting to die. I just can't let that happen without at least trying to save him. Maybe you can get him out. He gave me a key to the TARDIS. I don't know if he'll still have his, so you'd better take it."

  "He doesn't have it. He slipped it to me when they dragged him off. Dropped it on my boot. The TARDIS is the one thing he really doesn't want them to get."

  "Then we'll have to make sure they don't. If you're caught, ditch it. All they'll have is one large crate they can't open. Now, let's get him out of there."

  Wren had checked the cell area. It was far too heavily guarded to be an option. The interrogation room itself seemed a better choice and it was closer to the TARDIS. He'd plotted the most direct route, but he'd also plotted the least busy corridors on the map he'd given his mother. He'd switched his 'fake' weapon for the real thing. His mother was armed as well. She had her blowgun and slingshot. She was deadly with either and could use any weapon that came to hand. He made his way to the interrogation room. A lot of their plan hinged on his talking his way into it.

  "Group Leader Stike. I captured this prisoner. I wish to observe the interrogation."

  "Yes, Group Leader."

  That had been almost too easy. Wren walked through the door the guard unlocked and opened for him and almost blew it right there. His fists clenched and he almost started shooting when he saw what had been done to the Doctor.

  The rest of the armor had been stripped off him and he'd been hung by his wrists. His injured chest and leg were bloody from continual pounding. They'd evidently been working on them as the most painful, but they hadn't been exclusive.

  "Cooperate, Doctor. You have been given the opportunity to serve the Sontaran Empire. Tell us where your time ship is. We will give you rest and fluid. You will be honored for your contribution to our glorious cause." The Sontaran actually didn't seem to understand why the Doctor didn't cooperate. He just couldn't comprehend anyone not wishing to serve the Empire.

  Wren heard a soft thud behind him. It was what he'd been waiting for. He reached behind him and unlatched the door, then strode into the room. The Sontarans turned to watch him cross the room. That was the idea. To give his mother time to get in and get hidden. Several Sontarans saluted him. He saluted the one who hadn't. "Group Leader Stike, to watch the interrogation."

  "Welcome, Group Leader. You may remove your helmet."

  Uh oh. He was in trouble. "Thank you, sir, but I can only stay a short while. I have duty soon." The officer seemed mollified. Wren hoped his stay would be short enough to keep from having to make any more excuses.

  One of the Sontarans took hold of the Doctor's injured leg and gave it a vicious twist. The Doctor cried out and all hell broke loose.

  "I'm going to shoot him down. You catch him." Liberty was mad. She'd never been so mad in her whole life. She'd used the dead guard's gun to mow down everyone in the room. She was so mad, she'd almost shot Wren before she realized who he was.

  The Doctor dropped into Wren's arms. He was conscious, but just barely. "You aren't supposed to be here. You're supposed to be gone."

  "Sorry, Doctor. I've never won an argument with Mom yet." Wren looked for something to separate the Doctor's wrists.

  "Come on. There isn't time. Let's get out of here." Liberty watched Wren pick up the now unconscious Doctor in a fireman's carry. He staggered under the load. This was going to be harder than they'd anticipated. The Doctor wasn't going to be able to help.

  They'd gotten about a third of the way to the TARDIS when the alarm went up. Wren said, "I've got to put him down."

  Liberty nodded. "All right. You see if you can stall them. I'll see if I can carry him."

  "You'll do no such thing! I'll NOT be carried about by a woman half my size!"

  "Doctor!" Liberty grabbed him as Wren gently lowered him to his feet.

  "Now, since you've undertaken this foolhardy mission, perhaps we should get on with it."

  Wren ran back to slow down pursuit while his mother half-supported, half-carried, the badly injured Doctor down the corridor.

  As the Sontarans approached Wren's position, he fired a couple of shots over the heads of his mother and the Doctor. He waved the troops to a stop then, as soon as his mother and the Doctor had gotten around the corner, motioned them on. When they'd all passed him, he stepped out into the corridor and mowed them down. He ran to catch up. The next troops would probably come from the front.

  Wren raised his weapon and shot the guard by the cargo hold. The Doctor said, "That was a bit casual, wasn't it?"

  As Wren took some of the Doctor's weight off his mother, he said, "Sorry, Doctor, but I stood and watched your interrogation for awhile."

  "Oh, I see."

  They got him into the TARDIS and laid him on the floor. That was as far as they got. They stood looking down at him, not knowing where to start. He was battered. He looked up at them, smiled, and said, "Now, WILL you push that button."

  It took a while, but he healed. The great North American woods were a good place for it. One evening, as they sat round a fire eating trout from a cold mountain lake, the Doctor said, "I have enjoyed this."

  Liberty and Wren looked at each other. They both knew the Doctor was ready to leave. They got up and began stowing gear. They began to pack it all back into the TARDIS. The Doctor watched them for a few moments, then said, "And just what do you think you're doing?"

  Liberty said, "Packing. You're ready to leave."

  "Now, just a moment. You're home. It's obvious you love this place. You can't really be planning on going with me."

  "Oh, Doctor. You just don't get it, do you?" Wren paused at the TARDIS doors. "My home is wherever my mom is, and she's decided hers is with you."

  "That's right, Doctor." He turned to look at Liberty, packing up equipment behind him. "I want to see a few more windmills knocked over and you're just the knight to do it."

  "Well," thought the Doctor as he watched them, "good squires are hard to come by, and Orcini didn't have a herald."

  King's Knight

  Colleen

  The Doctor was trying to decide where to go. "Doctor," He looked at Liberty. "my son's in danger." He spun to look at Wren sprawled loosely on the TARDIS console room floor.

  "My brother. I can feel it too." Wren glided to his feet. "It's the one thing I never expected to feel. Mom?"

  "I don't know, but, if he's in danger, Katie and the kids probably are too. Doctor?"

  "Where are they? Are they on Earth?"

  "No, Mick is attached to the ambassador's staff on Micorn. It's a post he's had for four years. Micorn is very civilized. No wars for thousands of years. No hunger or poverty. They look and think more like humans than anybody else we've met. The government is basically parliamentary, but the king has real power. He's the people's advocate. He does his job well, so they keep him well. More protocol than bureaucracy, and plenty of that. He shouldn't be in danger, but he is."

  The Doctor looked at his companion for a few seconds, then smiled and said, "Shall we find out what from?"

  Liberty returned his smile and said, "Who knows? We may run into a windmill."

  "Don't worry about it. He'
s dressed so strange no one's going to be able to decide if it's 'formal attire' or not. Since he won't change, it's up to us to convince everyone it is." Wren grinned at the Doctor.

  "Thank you very much." The Doctor sounded very disgusted. "I like what I am wearing. I am a Time Lord. I don't HAVE to dress like everyone else!"

  "That's what I said. You always stick out in a crowd. Any crowd."

  "Go get ready, Mom. I saw some things in the wardrobe that would work for a Micornan royal function. I already pulled something out." Wren grinned as he and his mother went through the interior doors.

  The Doctor found himself actually staring at the pair standing before him. The transformation was incredible. He hadn't known there were items like they were wearing IN his wardrobe.

  Wren was wearing a powder blue cutaway coat over white trousers. The white ruffled shirt did look familiar, but he definitely didn't remember the large dark blue opal pinning the pale blue cravat. (Later, he would learn the opal and copper pieces were Liberty's.) Several rings flashed when Wren moved his hands. He bowed and, with a flourish, presented his mother. Liberty looked... very different. Gone were the khaki shirt and safari jacket. She was in a rich dark green, strapless, velvet gown. A girdle of copper hung from her hips emphasizing her narrow waist. A wide flexible copper collar circled her neck and lay in an arc across her bare shoulders. She wore full length copper satin gloves and a light copper chain as a coronet. Another of the large blue opals hung from the chain on her head, to lay just above the middle of her forehead. Two more swung on long copper chains from her ears.

  The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors, offered her his arm, and they stepped out into a bedroom.

  It had seemed the best place to land the TARDIS. The Doctor had said, "You'd think a palace would have an underground passage or a secret corridor, or SOMETHING!"

  Liberty explained as he closed the TARDIS doors, "They've had peace for a very long time, Doctor. People here don't think that way. But they do have duels. Honor is totally personal. You can't end up fighting a man because you disagreed with his brother, even if you killed him in a duel. It's not as bad as it sounds. There probably aren't a half dozen duels on the whole planet in a year. When there is one though, it makes a big stir. No one is told what a duel is about, and no one asks. Honor is VERY personal."

  "Could that be what this is about? Could someone have challenged your son to a duel?"

  "I don't see how. Mick's a protocol expert and there aren't six people on the planet who could give him problems in a duel. I know. I taught him. Hello, Mick."

  "Hello, Mother." The handsome, thirtyish, young man looked like a diplomat, and his brother. "I've been waiting for you. Something's going on, but I can't find out what. Mom, it's a feeling more than anything, but I think the ambassador feels it too, and maybe the king. Who's your bright colored friend. Hi, Wren."

  "Mick, this is the Doctor. I made squire a few weeks ago."

  Mick paused in reaching out his hand to the Doctor. He changed the motion smoothly to a full bow. "I am very pleased to meet you, Doctor. I should be most honored if you would allow me to present you to the king." The serious face broke out in a wide grin. The young man held out his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Mick. I guess you're the person responsible for Mom and Wren being here. Thank you."

  The Doctor was a bit disconcerted by the abrupt changes in the young man's demeanor. "Yes," he thought, "he belongs in their family." As he shook his hand, he said, "Mick, can you tell me more about this feeling of yours?" The Doctor believed him. He'd felt something as soon as he'd stepped out of the TARDIS.

  Mick looked at his mother. So, she'd found her knight. He said, "Mom, I meant what I said. All of it. Doctor, I don't have any more time now. There won't be time for anything but an intro to the ambassador, but I want to present you to the king. I'm not sure why, but I think it's important you meet him as soon as possible. We can see the ambassador tomorrow. Let's go."

  As they left the bedroom and passed through the drawing room of the suite, the Doctor noticed a strangely shaped object on a table near the door. Something about it bothered him.

  "Your Majesty, I have the honor of presenting, The Doctor. Mick had just done something no one in living memory had done. He had introduced someone to the king as an equal.

  The Doctor felt the sudden change in the room. He wished Mick had briefed him, then realized he had. He bowed deeply then stepped forward, smiled, held out his hand, and said, "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

  The king; a handsome, gray-haired man, in early middle age, slowly stood. He looked into the Doctor's eyes for a moment, then reached out and took his hand. He said, "I am pleased to meet you, Doctor. Won't you join me?"

  "Thank you, Your Majesty."

  "Please, call me Vand." He motioned for someone to bring the Doctor a chair.

  Mick turned away from the dais. He'd just given the king an outsider he could talk to. Perhaps, he'd better tell his mother and Wren he'd just crowned their knight a king.

  Mick waited. He expected them to recover soon, but the chortling noises both his mother and Wren were making were very out of keeping with their appearance. He hoped they would get over their spell of hilarity before anyone approached.

  "Well, I imagine he qualifies in one way or another. But, Mick, as an EQUAL? That's going pretty far." Liberty had regained her composure and was beginning to realize how drastic her son's action had been.

  "Mom, the king is a very good and caring man. He has family, and even friends, but absolutely no equals. Something is bothering him. He needs to be able to talk to someone without protocol and station between them. The Doctor is the best one for that or you wouldn't be with him."

  Wren said, "He's right, Mom. If there's something going on here, we need to find out what it is." He grinned. "Besides, now we won't have to constantly remind him to mind his manners. If he's a king, he doesn't need any."

  Liberty smiled. "That's true, but Mick's just made him a target. Well, at least he's dressed for the part. Get what we need. It's time to make an appearance and stir things up a bit."

  Wren bowed deeply and held it. Liberty dropped into a full curtsy and she too held it. The Doctor suddenly realized it was his cue. "Vand, I would like you to meet my companions. This is Lady Guinevere Connell and her son Galahad."

  She'd kill him. She was absolutely going to kill him. It didn't help that Wren was trying to keep a straight face on a body shaking with mirth. She said, "Your Majesty." and rose, offering her hand to the Doctor to aid her up to the dais.

  Wren moved briskly into line with the Doctor's chair and seated himself elegantly on the second step below the top of the dais. He had just announced his station to everyone present. He couldn't wait to see their reaction when his mother announced hers.

  The Doctor stepped down a step, took Liberty's hand and escorted her to the top of the dais. Her eyes warned him to be prepared and Wren's actions had gotten the attention of everyone in the room. As she held the Doctor's hand, she dipped to the king and said, "Your Majesty, I ask your leave to perform my duty and take my station in the environs of your kingdom."

  The king looked from Liberty to the Doctor with raised eyebrows. The Doctor decided a nod was all the eyebrows needed. The king turned toward the crowd and called out, "I give the Lady Guinevere her duty and her station in this kingdom. Hear it done."

  Liberty spun from the Doctor and into lotus position at the front of the dais. She faced the room from the exact center. From somewhere in the folds of her gown, she had produced a pair of jeweled short swords. She held them crossed against her chest for a moment, then swept them down and laid them on the floor, hilts exactly even with mid-thigh. She placed her hands in her lap and completed the lotus.

  The Doctor turned to the king. "She usually goes by Liberty and wears khaki." The king burst into laughter and clasped the Doctor's shoulder. Then he began to t
ell him of the dreams, and the strange feelings. Of the fear and the unaccustomed dread. He began to tell someone, for the first time, of his fears for his world.

  "You could have warned me!" The Doctor paced the console room.

  Wren was grinning. "We didn't know until Mick told us what he'd done. It was the only way to get the king to actually talk to you."

  "I was hoping to slip in quietly and have a look around. I believe you have just made us the most OBSERVED people on the PLANET! Just EXACTLY who did we announce we were, besides royalty and aliens?!"

  "Doctor, Mick introduced you as a king. You're top man. Mom's your Dogen and I'm your Saren. You wouldn't be a king without us. We're your credentials."

  The Doctor looked to Liberty for a translation. "We basically told them I'm your squire and he's your herald. We just bumped it up a few rungs. A dogen is the king's OWN guard. Armsmaster, counselor, field surgeon, whatever. One of two people, besides family, who can touch the king without asking consent first. A saren is the king's man. He's the other person who can touch the king. He's manservant, secretary, messenger and aide. He's also second in command of the king's guards. Since you only have two, Wren would get the post anyway. Now, I'm going to get out of this dress. I've got a supper date with my grandchildren."

  "Doctor, you're in for a treat." Wren paused at the interior doors. "Mick's wife Katie is probably the best cook in the galaxy. Mick says she just broke out a jar of tergo jam. If you haven't had tergo jam on hot, fresh baked, dorar bread, you haven't lived. And Katie makes them both better than any native on the planet."

  The Doctor began to look forward to the trip into the city. "Tergo jam on dorar bread. Hmmm."

  "Katie, you look terrible. What's wrong?" Liberty pulled a chair out from the kitchen table and pushed her daughter-in-law into it. She sat down beside her and took her hands.

  "Colleen's having nightmares. Two or three times a night she wakes up screaming. It's strange. She says she's afraid of the thing under her closet. I tried to get her to come sleep with us, but she threw a tantrum. She said she had to stay there or its black fingers would get all of us."

  Wren leaned through the kitchen door. "Mom, he wants you. Now."

  Liberty got up and walked toward the door. Katie watched for a few seconds, then followed. She almost ran into Liberty as she turned the corner. Liberty was standing in the archway to the living room staring at the Doctor. He was holding a piece of dorar bread smeared with tergo jam in one hand. His other arm was around two of her granddaughters. Somehow, they had squeezed into the chair with him. Her third granddaughter, three-year-old Colleen, was sitting in his lap talking to him. The tableau was completed by Mick's old cat Sacajawea. She was sitting on the back of the chair with her paws and head resting on the Doctor's shoulder. Liberty looked at her daughter-in-law, then walked over and sat down at the Doctor's feet facing him. He glanced at her. His eyes told her to listen.

  "But at night, its black fingers try to get out and get inside everybody." Little Colleen was evidently telling the Doctor about the monster under her closet.

  "How do you keep the fingers from getting out?" He looked at Liberty and, with his eyes, led her gaze to the side of the chair. There was a neat row of small dead creatures on the floor. An assortment of six rodents and birds. He tilted his head toward the cat. She knew Sacs hadn't killed them. She'd never been a mouser and she was far too old to catch a bird. She strained to hear what Colleen was saying.

  "So I put my blanky over the crack so it can't put its fingers through it and Teddy is guarding with his sword, but he needs me to help him and I can't go to sleep too much."

  "Show me." The Doctor laid down his piece of bread, smiled down at Bonnie and Moira and disengaged his arm. He turned to the cat and she removed her paws from his shoulder. Colleen climbed off his lap and he stood and took her hand. Liberty followed as her granddaughter led him to her room.

  The Doctor backed out of Colleen's closet on his hands and knees. His face was pale and dripping with sweat. He looked at Liberty and said, "I want everyone out of this house now! They can only take... " He paused and looked at Colleen. "How many?" She seemed to give the question careful thought, then held up three fingers. "three items each. If Colleen says no to anything, it's the final word. There's something here. She's the only one that's been fighting it, so it's concentrated a lot of power here. Colleen, I'm going to take you to my house, but we're going to need your teddy and blanky to guard us. The black fingers are getting too strong here." Colleen nodded and took Liberty's hand. "Liberty, you've got about five minutes. It knows I'm here and it's building its energy." Liberty nodded, picked up her granddaughter and headed for the door.

  The Doctor came out of the door at a dead run, slamming it behind him. He had a blue baby blanket and a small pink teddy bear in his hands. He opened the cab door and looked around. He said, "Where's the cat?"

  Mick said, "I guess she's still inside." They stared as the Doctor turned around and ran back toward the house.

  Colleen started screaming, "Doctor, Teddy lost his sword! Teddy lost his sword!"

  As soon as the Doctor opened the door, Sacs ran out, a bright blue feather in her mouth. The Doctor started to swing the door shut and the house exploded. He was thrown from the porch and landed heavily on his back on the sidewalk about two meters away. Sacs jumped onto his chest, laid the feather down and stood, fur standing straight out, hissing at the burning house.

  Colleen jumped off her mother's lap, grabbed the blanket and bear off Liberty's, and ran for the Doctor. Liberty bolted after her, Wren right behind. When they reached her, Liberty held up a hand to stop Wren. They watched her.

  She had spread her blanky on the Doctor's chest. She climbed up and sat in the middle of it, picked up the blue feather, stuck it under the teddy bear's arm and placed him in her lap. The cat laid down against her legs. She looked up at them and said, "It wants to hurt him because he shines."

  Wren looked at his mother and bent down to lift the Doctor's shoulders. As soon as Liberty had his legs, they lifted the Doctor, little girl and cat sitting on his chest, and carried him to the cab. They laid him on the floor and headed for the palace. Mick had kept Katie and the other girls from either interfering or assisting. He had made the Doctor a king and no one could touch him without his permission. He'd had to watch his mother struggle to carry the big man. She hadn't seemed to mind. It was almost as if she was used to lt.

  About ten minutes into the ride, the Doctor came around. Colleen threw her arms around his neck and Sacs started to purr. As Mick started to lift his daughter off the Doctor, he stopped him with a touch on his wrist.

  "Colleen, I appoint you to my personal guard. You have my permission to touch me at any time. Mick, I suppose your mother carried me." At Mick's nod, he went on, "If you see her doing it again, you have my permission to take over."

  "Doctor, can Teddy and Sacs be in your guard too?"

  He laughed as he sat up and pulled Colleen into his lap. "Yes, I'll put them in your squad. That means you're a Captain. Your grandmother is the general of the guards and your Uncle Wren is the colonel, so you have to do what they tell you."

  Liberty looked from the very serious face of her nodding granddaughter to the smiling Doctor. She thought, "Yep. Walks on water."

  "But we can't go in. It's waiting for you. It doesn't want you to get to your house."

  The Doctor looked up at Liberty and Wren then back to Colleen. "Can you tell me where it's waiting?"

  She said, "It's right beside the door. Right," She moved just to the right of the door and pointed to a spot a few inches above her head. "There."

  The Doctor was lost in thought. He'd asked the king for the suite the TARDIS was in. Now Colleen told him whatever it was that had attacked him in her closet was waiting for him in the suite. There was something. Something he'd noticed...

 
; He looked up and saw a small crowd. Liberty and her family were standing in a circle around him, but there were about a dozen onlookers standing a few steps behind them and more arriving all the time. The Doctor realized they weren't used to seeing a 'king' sitting cross-legged in the middle of a palace hallway. "Wren, I'm going to have to ask you to clear the way." He took the blue baby blanket from Liberty. "There's a dark, oddly shaped, sculpture on the table next to the door. I want you to drop the blanket over it and get rid of it. Don't touch it and don't lose the blanket. And Wren, do it fast."

  "How do I get rid of it? Smash it?"

  "No. You've got to get it completely out of the suite. Throw it out a window or something. It should be harmless as soon as it's out of my vicinity."

  "Mom, you handle the door." Liberty put her hand on the door handle and waited for Wren's cue. He set himself then nodded. She swung the door open, he dashed through, she swung it shut again. There was a loud crash, then the sound of a body falling. Liberty started to open the door, but the Doctor stopped her. He looked at Colleen and when she nodded, he took his hand off Liberty's wrist. She shoved the door open and stepped over Wren. He was lying across the doorway. The Doctor knelt down beside him. He said, "Sorry, the blanky slipped." then passed out.

  The Doctor gathered Wren in his arms and stood up. He smiled at Liberty. "My turn had to come sometime." As they walked through the suite toward the TARDIS, he said, "Find out from Mick if kings have to pay for broken windows." Liberty grinned as she moved ahead of him to open the TARDIS doors. Wren was all right. If he wasn't, the Doctor wouldn't be making bad jokes.

  The Doctor was in a bad mood. Everyone but Liberty was avoiding him. Even Sacs, the cat, had run for deep cover in the TARDIS. Liberty just grinned and leaned into the blast when he started yelling and waited for it to blow over.

  "Why," he shouted, "can't I find out anything about it? Nothing! Nothing at all! It has attacked me twice and everything here tells me it doesn't exist!" He thumped the TARDIS console.

  "Calm down, Doctor."

  "Calm down! Calm down! I'm under attack by some kind of phantom force and you tell me to CALM DOWN!"

  "Yes. It's probably lying low. It sensed you were a danger and, now that it's failed to remove you three times, it's hiding."

  "Hmm, you may be right. If it is hiding, then... " As he began to move around the TARDIS console, Liberty's smile grew wider. That had worked well.

  "He did WHAT?!"

  "Challenged him to a duel. Something's wrong, Mom." Mick looked worried. "It's totally out of character. Ambassador Corin just wouldn't do it. He's just not the same person he was yesterday. Something's changed him. Mom," Liberty looked at her eldest son closely. This sounded like it was going to be bad news. "Ambassador Corin has been planetary Swordmaster for eight years. I couldn't beat him. I don't know if you could."

  She'd been right. Bad news. VERY bad news. "Tell me about the 'code duello'. We need to find some holes in it." More bad news. There weren't any and she knew the Doctor wouldn't consider 'just leaving'. He'd found his windmill and he wouldn't stop battling until it was knocked down. Or he was.

  "Doctor," He knelt by his smallest guard. She'd brought her blanky and Teddy to the throne room with her. She held them out to him. "The black fingers want him too." She indicated the king. "They don't want to hurt him like they do you. They want to get inside him. They haven't got inside him yet because he shines too." She looked up at him and hastily added, "But not as bright as you."

  "Colleen, that's the king. Let's go see him. I think you should meet him."

  He led her across the floor and assisted her up the tall steps before the throne. "Vand, this is Colleen." The king smiled at the little girl holding a blanket and teddy bear. He liked children. "I think you should talk to her. She's been holding this malignant force at bay with her 'blanky' and 'Teddy' for some time. It wasn't strong enough to get past her. She says it's after you."

  Colleen performed a very credible curtsy and said, "Here, King," She held out the blanket and the bear. "they'll guard you while you sleep. That's when the black fingers try to get you most."

  The king said, "Thank you Colleen." He looked up at the Doctor and when he nodded, reached out and took the blanket and the bear. He made room for her on the throne and said, "Why don't you sit beside me and tell me about the black fingers?"

  Colleen looked up at the Doctor. "Captain, I'm putting you on detached duty. You are to stay with the king until he tells you you're relieved. That means, I want you to stay here and take care of him until he tells you to leave."

  "Doctor, what if I have to go potty?"

  The king and the Doctor grinned at each other. The Doctor said, "Just ask him. He'll tell someone to show you where it is, then you come right back."

  She nodded and, with a little assistance from the king, climbed up on the throne with him. As the Doctor walked away, he heard her say, "and Teddy and Sacs, she's my cat, are my sc..sc..scaud."

  When he reached Mick and Liberty, Mick said, "Doctor, you have just set a thousand years of protocol on its ear. The king never shares his throne. Not even with his OWN children."

  "She's guarding him." Mick started to laugh then stopped. The Doctor was serious. "She's very special. Somehow she sensed this before anyone else and she's found a way to fight it. The king is under attack and she's the only one who can protect him." He smiled. "I've put her on detached duty. I want you to give the king your permission to keep her with him. This thing's gotten to the ambassador. We can't let it get to the king."

  "Katie's going to have a fit. She wanted to take her back to the TARDIS with Bonnie and Moira to go to bed. Wren went along to tell them a story. I'll talk to the king and Katie, but you'll have to explain it to Bonnie and Moira. They're getting very jealous."

  As Mick made his way toward the throne, the Doctor turned to Liberty. "That's my Gawain. A good man and a good father. My parents had better luck with him than with me, or Wren."

  The Doctor looked at Mick's retreating back and thought, "Gawain, I should have guessed." He turned back to Liberty and asked, "What have you found out about the dueling code?"

  "Longswords? Longswords!"

  "I'm sorry, Mom. The Doctor doesn't get choice of weapons. The ambassador has claimed offense and, by their rules, he chooses. The Doctor sets the time and place, but it has to be within three days and less than a day on slarback away. About thirty kilometers."

  "Mick, longswords aren't for dueling. They're for hacking people to pieces. It's crazy."

  "Yes, I know. Everyone on the planet knows. There hasn't been a duel with longswords in a millennia. The bad news is," She waited for it. She knew what was coming. "the ambassador's a devoted hobbyist. He works out several hours a week. With a longsword."

  "Hmm, haven't used one of those in a while. It's going to be much more difficult to incapacitate him without doing him serious harm. Well, if I'm going to get that much exercise, I can have another slice of dorar bread and tergo jam. I wish we could have saved some of Katie's. This is good, but not as good as hers."

  Liberty clenched her fists. She thought about throwing the jam pot at him. She had just told him about the duel and the ambassador's prowess, and the only thing that seemed to pique his interest about it was as an excuse to have another slice of bread and jam. She was on the point of exploding when he stood and began pacing the room.

  "I'll need a good sword. See if the king can supply it. Make sure it's well balanced. Ask Mick to recommend a suitable site. Preferably near here. I'm going to have to build some kind of detector and see if I can get a fix on this evil. It will have to exert itself to force the ambassador to try to kill me. It's got to be psychic in nature. The attack in Colleen's closet was purely mental. With luck, when the ambassador fails to kill me, it will leave him. We've got to find out where it is and stop it before it
has a chance to get to someone else." He turned to her and said, "Well, we haven't much time. Are you going to dawdle at the table all morning?"

  "Here, Doctor. I did just like you said. When I felt the black fingers, I twisted the knob 'til the button turned red, then I pushed it."

  "Colleen, you're a very good guard. Did you have to stay up very late?"

  She looked down at her feet and twisted her dress. "No.o.o. I fell asleep. But Sacs woke me up. She always wakes me up when the black fingers come. She's my" She looked up at the Doctor and saw he was smiling. "my sentury. That's all right isn't it? You said she was in my scaud. So I asked the king and he said yes and Uncle Wren brought her and she did sentury duty."

  "It's very good. That's just what a captain's supposed to do. A captain can't do everything, so he picks the best one of his troops for each duty."

  "She, Doctor. I'm a girl!"

  "I need you here!"

  "You need me there! You're going to be fighting someone you don't want to hurt and he's going to be trying to kill you. I know you. You're going to get hurt."

  "Liberty, I know you feel you should be with me tomorrow, but I really do need you here in the console room. This is where the most important part of tomorrow's duel will take place. You're the only one who can learn everything that needs to be done in the short amount of time we have. I need to be here, but I HAVE to be there. Wren will take care of me. I need you here!"

  "All right, Doctor. I don't like it, but show me what to do." The Doctor smiled at her and began showing her how to triangulate the source of the malignancy, using the TARDIS and the remote unit Wren would be carrying. He had told her the truth. She was the only one qualified to operate the console. He hadn't told her how naked he would feel tomorrow without her at his back.

  "But why the coliseum? Couldn't we have found a nice little grove or something?"

  Wren said, "Doctor, sometimes I think you're a little thick. You're a king. You're going to duel with the Earth ambassador. With longswords. Presumably to the death." He held up a hand to stave off the Doctor's objection. "He's the planetary champion and you're the king's friend. There will be several thousand people there to see it. And it'll be broadcast all over the planet."

  The Doctor just looked at him for a moment then quietly said, "Oh, I see."

  He tested the balance and the edge of the sword Liberty had chosen for him. It was excellent. He'd known it would be. The Micornan longsword was slightly different than any he'd used before. It was double-edged and slightly curved. Thinner and lighter than an Earth sword, it was slightly thickened near the hilt to balance the flat, wedge-shaped, tip. It was a very deadly weapon designed for warfare, not dueling. Wren brought him a small shield. He refused it. He removed his coat and rolled up his sleeves, picked up the sword, and walked out into the morning sun.

  A cheer went up. The sound was deafening. The coliseum held twelve thousand, but far more had squeezed their way in. The Doctor and the ambassador met in the exact center of the coliseum.

  The ambassador was dark and handsome, his Arabic ancestry apparent in his tall, saturnine good looks. He was dressed in dark blue and carried one of the small shields. He looked a swordsman. The Doctor should have looked outclassed and out of place in his multi-colored vest and red and yellow striped pants, but he didn't. He looked like a hero, or an angel.

  He glistened in the sun. His mass of blond curls caught the light and held it. His white shirt with rolled up sleeves gleamed. He looked like the Lord Of Light come to earth. Ablaze with color and light. "Not bad," thought Wren, "not bad at all." And the diet hadn't hurt either. Then the duel began. Wren watched as the Doctor gave ground. Worried. Then he realized he was assessing his opponent. He parried every stroke beautifully. Wren watched in awe.

  It had to end soon. It seemed as if it had been going on for hours. There hadn't been a sound in the coliseum, except for the clash of steel, since the first parry, and no one had left. Both men were tiring and bleeding from a dozen cuts apiece. It was as if the world was holding its breath, waiting for the end.

  When it came, it was sudden. The ambassador off-balanced and staggered slightly after a thrust. The Doctor spun and landed a crashing blow to his temple with the pommel of his sword. The ambassador dropped to his knees and fell face down in the dirt.

  The Doctor knelt down, turned him over and checked his pulse. Satisfied he would live, he stood and plunged his sword into the ground at the ambassador's side, then turned and began walking out of the arena. The place exploded in an ear shattering roar. He walked up to Wren and gave him a tired smile. "Now I know why it's been so long since I did that. It's too much work. We'd better get back to the TARDIS or your mother... "

  Wren caught him as he fell into him. He stared in horror at the spreading stain surrounding the hilt of the knife buried deeply in the Doctor's back.

  Mick hadn't known what happened until he reached them. He'd felt Wren's shock as he was helping the dazed, and very confused, ambassador to his feet. He'd left a junior attaché trying to explain to him what he was doing in the coliseum. Wren said, "If he was put together like we are, it would have killed him instantly. He's hurt pretty badly, but it missed his hearts." He saw Mick's expression. "Yeah, hearts. Two of them. He's more special than you know. Maybe even more than Mom knows. I'm going to pull it out. Get ready with the pressure bandage. Now."

  Wren didn't know who had kept the crowd back until the king knelt in the dust beside him. He had, white-faced, Colleen with him, blanket and teddy bear in hand.

  Mick had carried Colleen and Wren and the king had carried the Doctor. They'd all ridden to the palace in the back of the ambulance. Mick offered to help with the Doctor, saying he had permission, but the king said, "No. I want to do this."

  Liberty had been waiting for them at the palace steps. She walked alongside the stretcher as Wren and the king carried it up to the suite and into the TARDIS. No one in the palace had even whispered as they walked by, but every eye followed them as they passed.

  The king had given Wren a questioning look when Liberty had them put the Doctor on the console room floor. Later Wren had explained, "She's put him back together in that same spot several times. I think she's beginning to get superstitious about it. Thinks it's lucky." The king had smiled. That's what Wren had wanted.

  It was late at night. Liberty had been watching the Doctor for hours, barely noticing when Wren handed her food or a fresh cup of coffee. He hadn't regained consciousness. The Doctor cried out and began to thrash about. Liberty dove on top of him. He was being attacked! That thing was attacking him! She yelled, "Wren! Wren, get Colleen! She's the only one who can help!"

  As Wren opened the doors to run out, Colleen ran in. Blanky, Teddy, and cat with her. She threw herself on the Doctor yelling, "No! You can't have him! He's MY Doctor! I'm his guard and you CAN'T HAVE HIM!" She threw her blanky over his head, wrapped his hands around her teddy with its blue feather sword, and threw her arms around his neck. Sacajawea leaned against his head arched her back and hissed. "Grandma! Grandma! Help me! It's got him! It's hurting him!" Liberty reached out and touched her granddaughter and 'helped'.

  Wren saw the king standing in the TARDIS doorway in his nightshirt. A panting man was trying to hand him a dressing gown and slippers. The king waved him away, walked in, sat down on the floor and put his hand on Colleen.

  Liberty felt Wren put his hands on her shoulders and she felt him... helping. "Come on, Doctor. You have to help too! You have to help!" Colleen was doing her best to shake the Doctor. "Come on, Doctor. You have to shine!" Liberty 'felt' it happen. The Doctor was out of danger. Considering his physical condition, 'no longer under attack' was probably a better description. Colleen pulled her blanky off his head and kissed him on the cheek.

  "I TOLD you that's where it was." Colleen sounded disgusted. They'd done the
triangulation and the source was under the place where Colleen's closet had once been. "Yes and Sacs told me too. I'm sorry I wasn't listening."

  "Yeah, he can be a bit thick at times. That's why he has us to guard him."

  Colleen looked from the Doctor to Wren. "He's not thick. He just thinks a lot. He gets stracted."

  Wren laughed. "Doctor, I think you've made yourself a real friend."

  "More than one, I hope." King Vand walked in and handed the Doctor a folded piece of paper. "There was something there before. A factory. And it had a sub-floor. We've sounded it." Noticing the expression on the Doctor's face, he added, "We were very careful, Doctor. This is our world. We're not going to just stand back and let you fight for it for us. The open area is about two by three kern. I believe that is approximately the same in your meters. We have also found the access to it."

  "Access?" The Doctor sounded surprised.

  The king took the paper from the Doctor, unfolded it and spread it out. "Yes." He pointed to the map of the city. "Here. Someone's tunneled a very long way to get to the place under Colleen's closet. Doctor, this was a deliberate attack."

  "Yes, and, if it hadn't been under Colleen's closet, it would have been successful. I wonder if it was after Mick. Why else tunnel that far? I wonder how long she's been fighting it"

  "Since my last birthday party. I thought my new toys didn't like me. But I was little then."

  Wren said, "Doctor, her birthday is ten days away. She's been thwarting some psycho's plan to mess up a nice planet by herself for a year, and she'll be three."

  "You're right. I'll have to do it alone."

  "You're not going anywhere alone. Mom would kill you herself before she'd let you go alone and where she goes... "

  "Doctor," The king laid his arm gently across the Doctor's shoulders. Wren knew enough about the protocol of Micorn to know it was a gesture a king couldn't make. "you were not alone when you lay unconscious and under attack, and I have not been alone since I took your hand."

  "That's not fair! You're not going to take me. I've been scared all along and now it's scared and you're not going to take me! You have to take me!"

  Colleen climbed down from the tall chair they'd brought to the console room for her and walked over to the Doctor and the king. "Doctor, we all have to go. It's scared of US, but it's not scared of you. This time you have to be LISTENING!"

  "Colleen, I'm listening. We'll take you."

  "And Teddy and Sacs too."

  "Anyone else?"

  "Yes." She'd thought about it before. "Daddy and Moira and Bonnie and we better bring Mommy too. She'll be mad if we leave her out."

  The Doctor looked at her. She was quite serious. "We'll take US all."

  He had found the access tunnel. It was low and his back was not being helped by either walking bent over or bumping into the roof.

  "Grandma! Grandma! He went by himself! We have to catch him!"

  She'd known something was wrong. He'd said he was going to visit the ambassador. "Wren, get the others! Everyone! Colleen, get your squad and the king. I'll get transport."

  They were on their way in less than five minutes. As they raced through the streets, Colleen said, "Uncle Wren, you were right. He IS thick." They laughed. It helped. He'd gotten quite a head start.

  He wasn't as far ahead of them as they thought. He was moving carefully. He'd seen several small, dead, animals. Something down here killed with something other than psychic energy. He wished he'd brought a radiation meter with him.

  Liberty held the radiation meter in front of her. "I was right. It's hot. But not hot enough to hurt us. Let's go." They moved much faster than the Doctor had. None of them gasped if they bumped the roof.

  Colleen pulled away from Wren and ran ahead of them. She had to stay where there was light to see her way, but her urgency pushed them. "Come on, come on! It knows he's here. It's waiting for him! It wants to hurt him! It wants to hurt him!" She raced into the darkness.

  It waited until he reached the vault, then attacked. He fought back. He knew he was losing, but fought on. He would fight until he could fight no more, but he was losing. And it knew it. And was enjoying it.

  Liberty put on a burst of speed. Shorter than the men, she was less impaired by the low ceiling. Soon, the light picked out Colleen. "Come on, Grandma! I can't go fast in the dark."

  Sacajawea found him first. She rubbed the length of his body and stopped by his head hissing. He knew she was there, but it held no significance for him. He was losing.

  Liberty was passed by Bonnie and Moira. She was surprised. Mick must have brought them. That meant her whole family was about to follow the Doctor into battle. She could feel he was in trouble. Bad trouble.

  Suddenly the girls were gone from her light. She found she could go faster. She found them and 'helped'.

  When the others burst into the chamber, the Doctor was sitting on the floor with Colleen on his lap. Bonnie and Moira were at his sides. His arms were wrapped around the three of them. Liberty stood behind him, her hands on his shoulders. Wren and Mick each laid a hand on her shoulder. Mick nearly let go when he felt the king's arm around his shoulders. Katie slipped under his free arm and they 'helped'.

  It was a device. A focusing unit of some type. They had not found the attacker, merely disabled the weapon. Colleen told them it had run away to hide.

  "I don't recognize the technology. I was hoping it would give me some idea who built it."

  "Sit still! There, new bandage. Try not to get this one so messy. Stay away from places with low ceilings for awhile." There was a knock on the door to the suite. Liberty laid the med-kit down and went out to answer it.

  The king had assigned Mick's family apartments. They had the suite and the TARDIS to themselves. Sacs still thought they were hers, but she'd laid claim to the apartments too, and was splitting her time between them. They left the TARDIS doors open most of the time. Mostly for her benefit.

  Liberty came back in and handed the Doctor an envelope. "This one's for you. Here's yours Wren. I've already got mine."

  They were commanded (The Doctor's said invited.) to a birthday party. The Doctor looked up and said, "Her birthday isn't until next week. I wonder what this is about."

  "We'll know soon. It starts in an hour. Oh, yes! Bonnie, our messenger, said it's a secret." Liberty stowed the med-kit. "I'm going to get ready. I 'm going to a party."

  Wren was helping the Doctor disassemble the device on the console room floor when Liberty said, "Gentlemen, we have a royal function to attend."

  "Mom, you look great." Liberty was wearing a light peach chiffon dress. Wren offered her his arm and the Doctor glared at him and offered his. Liberty took the Doctor's. Wren bowed them through the door and they went to a birthday party.

  "No, Colleen," King Vand explained, "this is your last birthday party over again. You see, I didn't know you were fighting the black fingers, but, if I had, I'd have given you a special present."

  "You're going to give it to me now?"

  "Yes. I think this is the right time. Do you mind if I give other people presents at your party too?"

  "Oh no, I like presents, even other peoples. I have a present for you too."

  "Ladies and gentlemen," There were a great number of those standing about. It was a very large party. "this party is for a very special friend of mine, and yours." He took Colleen's hand. "I present, Miss Colleen Connell."

  Colleen's curtsy wasn't quite as good as last time, so she did it again, and it must have been better because everybody clapped.

  "Colleen has been protecting our world from a danger we didn't even know was there. She began on the day of her last birthday party. I wish to give her something I would have given her then. Colleen, I appoint you to the King's Guard. I give you the rank of Captain and give you command of Company C of the Palace Cavalry." He wave
d toward the door.

  A man was leading three ponies through it. Colleen squealed, "A pony! A real EARTH pony! Is it really mine? The one with the white feet. Can it be mine?"

  "Whichever one you want. The others are for the members of your company."

  "Is a company like a sc-wad?"

  "Yes, but it's bigger."

  "It's easier to say too. Bonnie and Moira want to be guards too. Can they be in my company?"

  "Oh, what a good idea, and since Teddy can't hold on and Sacs would rather walk there are just enough ponies."

  "You're silly. They were for them all the time. You just want me to say it."

  Bonnie and Moira had been paying very close attention. Little girls of five and six like ponies too. When the king said they were theirs, they broke free of their mother and ran for them.

  "Colleen, I have another present for you, but it's just words."

  "That's all right. Word presents are nice too."

  The king laughed. He called out, "I give the Lady Colleen Connell the duty and station of King's Friend. I give this station to all members of her family. I declare this in perpetuity. I create this station at the king's side. I declare the duty to be as an equal. I declare this for her father, her mother, her siblings, for her grandmother and uncle. I have set the protocol. Hear it done."

  The Doctor was enjoying himself. The king had just blown a gale force breath of fresh air through his world. He watched as Colleen tugged on the king's sleeve.

  "Now it's my turn." She handed him the battered blue baby blanket. She had wrapped it in ribbon. A LOT of ribbon. "This is for you. If you put it on your chair behind your head, it will keep the black fingers away til I get there. It's just in case."

  The king took the ribbon off the blanket. It took a while. Then he carried the blanket to his throne. He laid it across the back of the throne. The Doctor realized he'd been here before, but it was actually later. He remembered the battered blanket on the throne. He had asked about it. He'd been told it was a gift from the child who had saved the world. He smiled. Micorn would remember. He realized Colleen and the king were coming toward them.

  "Doctor, Lady, Sir," Oh my, that sounded formal. "you have aided my world and you have taught me much. I give you... my friendship. He bowed at the waist, then stepped forward and held out his hand to the Doctor. When he took his hand, Vand winked. The Doctor knew he planned on dropping a bombshell, but he didn't know what it was. The wink had reassured him he wasn't going to be in the blast area.

  He motioned Mick over to him. "Ladies and gentlemen, word has come that Ambassador Corin has been named to a cabinet post on Earth. I present my good friend, the new Earth ambassador, Gawain Michael Connell."

  The Doctor knew the king had done something unusual, but something told him the king was planning something much more drastic. Vand took Mick's hand and shook it, then he casually reached out and laid his arm across his shoulders. The Doctor heard chins hitting the floor all over the room.

  He felt a tug at his coat. He knelt. "I'm sorry, Colleen. I wasn't paying attention."

  "Doctor, I need to tell you something, but not with everybody around." He took her hand and they went to find somewhere to talk.

  Liberty watched them leave. Later, when people started looking for them, she covered for them as best she could. When they returned, she went to kiss her other grandchildren good-by. They were leaving. She got Wren's attention and they said good-by to Colleen. "He thinks you're not coming. Why does he always think he's got to do it by himself? Grandma, Uncle Wren, take care of him. He's special. He shines." She giggled. "Almost as much as me and Sacs."

  "But WHY do you want to come with me?"

  "All right, Doctor. What's up? Why don't you want us along? What did Colleen tell you?"

  They were determined to go with him. He said, "Liberty, don't you wonder why Colleen's so grown up? Why she talks so well?"

  Liberty was lost. Where was this leading? "I'm her grandmother. I expect her to be head and shoulders above the rest."

  "She's far more than that. When the machine under her closet was switched on, somehow, so was she. She's an incredible telepath. The reason she always understands is she can see it in your mind when you tell her something. Her mental powers will grow as she learns to use them. The sad part is, she never really got to be just a little girl."

  Liberty understood what he meant and it saddened her, but he was evading the issue. "Doctor, WHAT did she tell you?"

  "I took her to the planetarium and she showed me the point of origin of the black fingers. It's my home system."

  Wren said, "What's so bad about that? You'll get a chance to visit home."

  The Doctor gave him a disgusted look. "I don't want to visit. I don't like to visit! I don't LIKE my home planet!"

  "Then we might as well get it over with." Liberty grinned. "Besides, we haven't finished knocking over this windmill yet. I want to find the slimy creep that messed with my granddaughter's mind."

  The Doctor threw up his hands and surrendered. He began laying in the coordinates. He was worried for them all. Colleen had told him two things he hadn't mentioned.

  She had told him, "You shine, Doctor, but you're a helper." and when she had pointed to his star, she'd said, "That's where he is, but just before he hid he was laughing. Doctor, he knows your REAL name."

  Wren said, "I'm going to fix dinner. I'm hungry."

  "I'm going to get out of this dress and back into khaki. I think we're about to go back to work."

  The Doctor thought, "Back to work. Back to Gallifrey." He began to smile. He wondered what they'd think of his squire and his herald on Gallifrey. He realized he was beginning to look forward to finding out.

  Knight Knight

  "Lord President, There IS no better authority."

  "But Doctor, a four-year-old child."

  He was becoming frustrated. Since he couldn't shout at her, he attempted sweet reason. "She is a very special child. At the age of three she developed a telepathic bond with a CAT!"

  Oops, that hadn't sounded like 'sweet reason'. He tried again. "She fought a psychic weapon for a year. When it was destroyed, she followed its operator here. I am not becoming involved in someone else's problem. She told me where, but she didn't tell me WHEN! I NEED T0 USE THE MATRIX!" Well, it had begun like 'sweet reason'.

  "Please, Madame President, may I speak?" She looked at the young human male. He was attractive and exceptionally well mannered for the species. She nodded. "My niece fought for a world much different from my own. A world much more like yours." She drew up in her chair. She wasn't sure she liked her world being compared with a primitive society. "It was a world where people lived their lives in fulfilling work, the benefits of which were shared by all. No person would think of using coercion or violence to gain power over his fellows. Honor was a personal thing and all had honor. Someone tried to change that world. My niece said that person was on this world. Your world is far more powerful and a far richer prize than was Micorn. I believe a weapon developed is usually tested. This is a psychic weapon, designed to be used against a telepathic race, and it is here. Somewhen."

  She looked at the three before her. The woman had impressed her too. As for the Doctor... "Doctor, you may have access to the matrix."

  "Nothing, nothing at all."

  That bothered Liberty. Not that he'd found nothing, that he hadn't yelled about it. "Doctor, you said Colleen pointed to your home SYSTEM." He looked at her, turned, and left. She smiled.

  The Doctor was pacing. He'd found something, but he wasn't sure it was the right something. "In a way, Colleen was just too efficient." He had their attention. "She stopped the weapon before we found out what it actually did. It would help if I knew what it's wielder had planned to D0 with it."

  "Doctor," He turned to Wren. "you said you weren't familiar with the technology. I'd s
ay that means it's probably not from anywhere nearby. You'd know the technologies of anyone the Time Lords had met. This alien is close to Gallifrey, but he's hidden."

  "I think so too. In the past. We're dealing with a time traveler and he's not Gallifreyan. I had almost hoped it was the Master." They knew who the Master was, though they'd never encountered him. "We have to assume another race wants Gallifrey out of the way so they can do as they please with time. If time is changed, the Matrix is changed. I've noticed a change. Yesterday I found nothing. Today I found an archeological dig on an asteroid, a section of tunnels and some kind of base. There were no artifacts, but it was not built with any known tools."

  He was already laying in the coordinates. He did not tell them how far into the past he was taking them. How did one explain the Dark Time?

  "Isn't landing in the middle of the base a bit like knocking on the sleeping dragon's nose?" Liberty sensed the Doctor's unease. Since the battle under Colleen's closet, she had begun to feel much more from Wren and the Doctor. She knew she could pull back if she wanted, but this wasn't the time. There was something about this whole trip that bothered him. "That's it, Doctor. I think you'd better tell us what we're getting into. If you think the safest place to land the TARDIS is on top of the enemy, then there are things you're not telling us. Things we need to know."

  "I can't tell you much." Seeing her expression, he explained. "No Time Lord could. It was a time of evil on Gallifrey. Knowledge from this time is forbidden. I call it the Dark Time. This time I'm not going to break the rules. We shouldn't be in this time at all and I may have to answer for it. The asteroid is the only place I CAN land."

  Liberty nodded. "All right. Now I know why we're knocking on the dragon's nose. How far back into this Dark Time are we going?"

  "Near the end. The Rise of Rassilon is very near." He wondered at her question. He had not wanted to go further into the Dark Time. He actually didn't know if it was possible.

  "I was just thinking... Well, what would a psychic weapon, that could cause a good man to attempt to kill you, do to a telepathic race new to their powers and just a few steps beyond barbarism?"

  He stared at her. She'd just given him a gift. A reason why his people had gone mad with their new power. A reason for the abuses. A reason for the time when... He shook himself free from memories he DIDN'T have. "It's possible. It could explain much, but it is now a part of history and we mustn't tamper with it. I'm taking us to the time just before the base was abandoned."

  "We just HELPED!" Oh dear, she was shouting at HIM. Liberty calmed herself. "Doctor, I can't describe it. You were there. What did you do?"

  "I wasn't in the same position you were. It was attacking me. I just fought back. In a way, I was the focal point, but Colleen was the focus."

  "I see what you mean. You were already engaged with it. When Colleen pulled you in, you were already on the merry-go-round. The rest of us had to catch hold and jump on."

  Her metaphor left something to be desired. It made it sound as though he'd just been along for the ride. "Colleen focused the power you gave her. I may have to try to do that too. I need to know more about it."

  Liberty searched the memories of how she'd felt when he had been under attack. She didn't like them. "I was angry, and scared. I wanted it to leave you alone. I willed myself to believe I was helping you. I think the belief may have been more important than the will."

  "That would make sense. A three-year-old would believe a cat, a blanket and a teddy bear could protect her and they would give her a focus."

  "Doctor, I do remember one other incident that felt much the same. It occurred to me briefly when you were lying on the TARDIS floor."

  "Well, what was it?" She was smiling at him. Looking at her smile, he began to wonder if he really wanted to know.

  "I think I was about nine at the time. Doctor, trying to save you was a lot like believing real hard that Tinkerbelle was real. I wonder what Wren's fixing for dinner."

  She turned and walked through the interior doors. It was just as well. He really couldn't think of anything to say.

  "Get him into the TARDIS and get the doors closed!" He'd misjudged a little. The aliens were leaving when they arrived. The man at his feet had been trying to stop them, or destroy them before they got away. The aliens had a time ship. He had the TARDIS tracking it. The man at his feet was Gallifreyan.

  "He's in bad shape, Doctor. We're going to have to hurry to save him. Doctor, what is it? What's wrong?"

  "I don't know if I should." The Doctor looked at Liberty's stunned expression. "He's obviously the reason the aliens left. Somehow, this one man found out they were here. Came and, literally, drove them off. Would he have survived if we weren't here? If I save him, will I be the cause of the change in the Matrix?"

  "Doctor," Wren was holding the med-kit out to him. "you can't stand and watch him die. It would haunt you forever. We're not sure we aren't supposed to save him. You explained it to us yourself. Follow your instincts."

  Liberty was rapidly exposing the man's wounds to be treated. She didn't look up as she said, "Philosophy and paradox be damned! This guy's dying. We fix him up, take him with us, then decide if we should bring him back. Problem solved. Now, HELP!" The Doctor took the med-kit from Wren. He knelt beside the young man and soon all three of them were working to save him, and they were succeeding. He decided he really didn't want to know if he COULD have stood by and watched him die.

  "But who are you and where did you come from?"

  The young man had only been conscious a few moments and he was already asking difficult questions. "Please, I've told you I need time to answer that. For now, I'm the Doctor, that's Liberty and that's Wren! And THAT'S ALL I CAN TELL YOU!"

  This was not going well. They were glaring at each other. Wren decided to pour some oil on the waters and hoped it wouldn't ignite. The Doctor wasn't going to like what he was going to say. "The Doctor is a member of your race. We're not. We're from your future. This is a delicate time for your world and you and he really shouldn't know too much about each other. We're friends. Do you really WANT to know the future? Knowing that knowledge could change it? Saving you was the first choice the Doctor had to make. He didn't have much time to consider it. Give him time to decide what to tell you. It's his world that could be changed."

  The young man stared at the Doctor. The Doctor turned from giving Wren a dirty look and looked right into that stare. He could almost see the logic chains hooking together as the young man assimilated what Wren had told him. "Thank you, now I know why you won't tell me anything."

  The Doctor smiled at him. He liked him. Almost seemed to know him. He moved away from that thought quickly. Wren was right. He could also learn too much. "You now know more about who we are and where we come from than I wanted you to know. You are now in the same situation I am. Each of us has knowledge he should not share. You see the burden I tried to spare you."

  "Yes, but I'd rather carry a burden than trip over it in the dark."

  Liberty was mediator. They were actually afraid to talk to each other. Not because they squabbled incessantly, which they did, but because they were so curious about each other. "This is silly. We can't keep calling, "Hey you". You say you can't give us your name. All right, I don't think the Doctor really wants to know it. Sometimes good sense overcomes curiosity, but with him it doesn't happen often. Look at him. I don't know who he is. I just follow him around. He's my hero and my best friend, but who is he? All I know is, he's the one I'll follow. And he CHOSE to be the Doctor. Who are you?"

  Oh heavens, she hadn't been prepared for that at all. Something had just happened when he smiled. Somehow, she knew just what he was and it made sense. It was why he'd been on that base alone. They had another knight riding with them.

  "I don't think I'm ready to have anybody put 'the' in front of my na
me." The smile went away. "When you need me, yell Tech. I've responded to that before."

  "That spot was tender. Are you sure?"

  The smile was back when he said, "The really important thing is, I know you're talking to me when you say duck. Tech will do it."

  "Yes, it's the same. This is technology made by something that thinks differently. All the equipment here was like this."

  "We're dealing with three digits, one opposing. About a meter and a half tall. Very heavy. Hmm." She looked at the room around her. She knew she sensed something. Something in the layout. "Multiples of three! Insectoid! Look for chitin!"

  Tech looked at Wren, eyebrows raised. "Mom's a first contact cultural anthropologist."

  "No, I'm a squire."

  "I think I'm lost. A squire?"

  Tech looked anything but lost. He'd found things in the wardrobe that suited him. The cream V-neck and brown bomber jacket accented his wide shoulders and set off his reddish-blonde hair and mustache. He wore a pair of desert tan camouflage pants tucked into brown boots. Liberty decided he'd chosen the pants for their pockets. He should have looked casual. He didn't. He looked elegant and... dangerous. Liberty ran a hand through her hair. It was getting too long. Almost three centimeters. She'd gotten distracted. Wren was grinning at her.

  He'd found another pair of 'blue jeans' in the wardrobe. She smiled. He had indulged his love of early entertainment media ever since they'd joined the Doctor. Today he was...Oh dear, what was his name? Early film, mid-twentieth century. Aha! James Dean. She came back to the conversation as Wren began to explain, "It has to do with an old book... " Tech heard the story of Don Quixote.

  Liberty finished it with, "So when we ran into the Doctor, I appointed myself squire and got into the business of knocking over windmills."

  Tech laughed. "I like that. I guess that's what I'm trying to do." He sobered. "My society is sick, but there are some good people in it. I'm here because one of those people changed."

  The Doctor walked in just as he'd spoken. "They've landed. Shall we pay them a visit?" The smiles he got were his answer. They'd waited ten days. Found and dismantled every scrap of equipment the aliens had left. And waited. It had given Tech time to heal. Now they were ready.

  He'd realized Tech was going to learn things about the TARDIS, but he'd been surprised at how much and how fast he'd learned. "I'm not supposed to show you that. I'm not supposed to have entered your time! I'm not supposed to be taking you with me! And I am definitely NOT SUPPOSED TO BE TEACHING YOU ABOUT THE TARDIS!"

  "I already know the theory and the basic mechanics. They're being merrily abused in my time. You might as well let me help you. You're not showing me unknown technology. Just newer."

  The Doctor threw up his hands and when Liberty found them, they both had their heads in an open panel under the console.

  "So I began to look for the source of the technology. I threw together a tracking device and followed the signal to the asteroid. I guess I got a little carried away. Basically, I walked in shooting." They'd heard most of the story before, but this was the first time Tech had put it all together for them. "I don't know why, maybe because they knew you were coming, but they packed up and ran. When I heard the TARDIS, I got curious. And careless. I passed a cross corridor without checking it and they came out behind me. They're cowards. They ran as soon as they saw the TARDIS. Like Liberty said, insectoid. Chitin, but thin. When I blew one apart, I saw it had an interior skeletal structure. I wanted to examine one, but they took the dead with them. Even cleaned the walls and the floor where I'd splattered a couple."

  "They probably used them to stock the larder for the trip." Tech stared at the Doctor. "Insects don't waste food. There are some interesting religious developments in insectoid cultures and a predominance of the 'all soul' type. However, these do not seem to be of such 'enlightened' belief. How did you plan to get back to Gallifrey?"

  "I took a ship. Stole it, I guess. They'd done something to my best friend and I just took what I needed to stop them. There's an armory a few pieces of equipment short too. I've got explosives on the ship. I was planning on blowing the base so they couldn't come back to it. Guess I won't get the chance now."

  The Doctor looked very uncomfortable. "We came back to your time because I noticed a change in history. From what you've just told me, I caused it."

  "The ruins!" Tech gave Liberty a blank look. "One day there was nothing and the next there was a record of the ruins of the base being discovered. Our arrival kept you from blowing them up."

  "There are some very stringent laws governing time travel. It seems I've just broken them. Again. At least I'm in the good graces of the High Council. Perhaps they'll overlook it." The Doctor turned back to his instruments. As he did, he thought, "But I doubt it."

  "We've come a long way. In both time and space. Evidently Micorn was about mid-way point of both journeys. From what you've told us, they used the journey to improve the weapon. Several people on Micorn felt the weapon being used. But you say no one on Gallifrey noticed it. I'm afraid they've made it more powerful too. If they have, we've got a problem. Ah, we've landed. Shall we see where we are?" The Doctor turned on the viewscreen.

  It was the densest jungle Liberty had ever seen. Moving through it was nearly impossible and they didn't really know if they were headed in the right direction. The Doctor had located an underground power source and they were working their way toward it. It was slow going. "This isn't good. We're going to be exhausted when we get there." She mopped her brow with her sleeve. "Doctor, I think... Look out!"

  Liberty tackled Wren. He had been about to attack the Doctor with his machete. Tech helped her wrestle him down, then knocked him out with a punch to the jaw.

  "Well, they know we're here." They looked up at the Doctor. "Let's get him to the TARDIS. Let's hope they concentrate on him and don't try for another of us."

  "Doctor, you've got a focusing unit. Maybe we can use it to figure out how to build something to interfere with the signals." Tech was pleased. For a moment, after he'd slugged Wren, Liberty had looked lost. His idea had helped. Now she looked mad.

  The Doctor had put Wren under with some kind of neural block. Liberty had just checked on him and he was sleeping peacefully. She walked into the console room and nearly tripped over the mess.

  The whole floor was covered with bits and pieces of equipment. The Doctor and Tech were crawling around among them. She watched as they picked up piece after piece, examined them, and dropped them back into the mess.

  "There HAS to be something here we can use. Aha! This might do it." Liberty smiled at the two of them sitting in the floor, heads together over the little piece of equipment the Doctor had found. It looked as if they'd be busy for awhile. She'd have to do something about dinner. She sighed. She hated cooking.

  "Well, we won't know until we try it."

  Tech and the Doctor looked insulted. She smiled. "We have a test subject and I want him back. I've got a hole where he's supposed to be. Besides, if I have to cook another meal, I'm going to scream."

  Tech grinned at her. She was a terrific cook; but she'd let them know, in no uncertain terms, how she felt about it. "If he's still being influenced, this should stop it. Then he can fix dinner while we build three more."

  "We've been lucky so far. Somehow, this thing can affect us in the TARDIS. The fact it hasn't attacked another of us is a good indication it's still got Wren." The Doctor smiled at Liberty. "Let's see if we can get him back for you."

  They took the device they'd built, a headband filled with circuitry, to Wren's room. The Doctor awakened him and he went for his throat. Tech slapped the headband on him.

  "What the... " Wren jerked his hands back. "What's going on?"

  "You've been under the influence of our friends. Welcome back." The Doctor stopped Wren from touching the hea
dband. "That's what brought you back." He looked at Tech and said, "Three more." Tech nodded and they headed for the console room.

  "OK, Mom. Brief me." She gave him the rundown and he said, "Uh huh, so for two days you've been doing the cooking. I suppose you woke me up just in time to fix dinner." Liberty laughed and hugged him. It was good to have him back, but she was still mad.

  The Doctor turned the piece of equipment Tech had just handed him over in his hands. Liberty wondered about his odd expression. Tech was watching him too. "Yes, I think it will work, but I won't use it." Seeing Tech's shocked expression, he added, "You will. You built it and I think you should be the one to wear it. We've already learned we're 'helpers'. Colleen was our focus last time. You're going to have to be the focus this time."

  "It's an amplifier not a focus. It'll increase our power to fight this thing."

  The Doctor smiled and said softly, "Yes, I know." He gave the device to Tech, said, "Shall we?" and opened the TARDIS doors.

  They stood at the entrance to the dark tunnel and prepared themselves. Tech had been shocked when the Doctor told him there were no weapons in the TARDIS. He'd gotten angry and they'd ended in a shouting match. Liberty had followed him when he stormed out of the console room. He'd calmed down when she said, "Something will come to hand. It always does."

  The Doctor switched on his torch and they followed him into the tunnel. It was wider and higher than the one on Micorn. More like the ones at the asteroid base. The men still had to duck now and then, but at least they didn't have to try to fight or run bent over. It had been worrying Liberty.

  They were under attack! The first bolt had nearly given Liberty her haircut. She watched as Wren inched his way toward the side tunnel the bolt had come from. He took something from his pocket and rolled it down the tunnel. The tunnel filled with smoke. Pink smoke.

  Tech was into the tunnel like a shot. Wren right behind him. They came strolling back out almost immediately. Both wearing grins and carrying weapons.

  As they moved into a lit area, the Doctor laid a hand on Liberty's shoulder. He waited until Wren and Tech were a few paces ahead then quietly said, "I've reset the emergency override. It will take you to the asteroid. I know you think it's your place to protect me, but I need you to help me protect him. If it's a choice between us, it must be him. He must return to Gallifrey."

  Liberty nodded. She'd never see the Doctor so serious. It would go against her every instinct, but she would do as he asked.

  They'd had a couple more skirmishes and Liberty had picked up a weapon. She'd been surprised when the Doctor had accepted the one Wren held out to him. She'd agreed to do what he'd asked her, but hadn't realized how serious he was until he dived into a crossfire to kill a bug that had a bead on Tech.

  They dove for cover. The tunnel was a maelstrom of deadly beams. They'd found the center of the complex and an army. Tech spun around the corner into the room. The Doctor yelled, "No!" and passed her at a run. She and Wren dashed after him.

  He knelt in front of Tech's body with no cover. Liberty and Wren wove and dodged to his side. He'd cleared half the room when he took a hit and went down.

  Wren was mad. So was Liberty. They stood side by side and killed. Suddenly it was over. The last few had died covering the retreat of a group bearing a large object down a side tunnel. As they gently lifted the Doctor off Tech and turned him over, he opened his eyes. "How is he?" Liberty realized how important the answer was to him and turned to check.

  "He's alive, but hurt pretty bad." She smiled at the Doctor. "He'll patch." His relieved smile was her reward.

  Tech regained consciousness as she worked on him. She'd started on him because that's what the Doctor wanted. "We've got to keep going. We can't give them time to regroup or get away." He just couldn't understand why the Doctor wanted to go back to the TARDIS.

  Liberty said, "He's right. We have to finish this. I know what you're trying to do, but he's right. You know it."

  "Yes," The Doctor turned to Tech. "but don't do anything like that again. You nearly got us all killed." Tech looked a bit confused, but nodded.

  They made a rather sad looking war party. Both Tech and the Doctor needed help. Liberty struggled to keep the Doctor on his feet and her weapon ready.

  They surprised the 'bugs' loading equipment into a ship. They cut down a group of them and Wren threw something into the hatch to keep it from closing. Tech took the device he'd built and clipped it to the front of his headband. He nodded and Liberty and Wren helped the two injured men into the ship.

  It was obscene. Liberty's stomach turned at the sight of the bloated, hideous, thing that must once have been a humanoid. They'd cut down the rest of the bugs and were now facing the creature that had tried to destroy two worlds.

  It attacked the Doctor. The headbands had kept the weapon from focusing on them, but this was a direct psychic attack. The Doctor fell against Liberty. She caught him and slowed his fall to the floor. Wren eased Tech down beside the Doctor. He turned toward the obscene thing in the box and closed his eyes. Liberty realized what he was doing and laid a hand on his shoulder and 'helped'. She felt when Wren joined in. Then the Doctor joined.

  Tech reached out and took the Doctor's hand and Liberty was caught up in the incredible burst of power. She could see the psychic force with her eyes. The Doctor and Tech didn't shine. They blazed with energy.

  Liberty almost dropped out of contact when they broke through to the, hate-filled, cesspool of its mind. Then she remembered this thing had touched her granddaughter and all she wanted to do was kill it.

  It screamed and died.

  Wren destroyed everything. No one would use the ship to travel in time again. There wasn't enough of it left to even know it was a time ship.

  They'd nearly gotten to the surface when Tech said, "Sorry." and slipped to the ground unconscious.

  "You'll have to carry him. I'll make it on my own. Get him to the TARDIS. I'll catch up."

  He hadn't. They'd found him lying in the middle of the path they'd cleared, not two hundred meters from where they'd left him. He'd regained consciousness briefly when they got him to the TARDIS. He said, "How is he?" When Liberty told him he was alive, he'd said, "Hit the button."

  They needed help, but she couldn't give it to them. Something more had happened to them. Something she didn't understand. She thought they were dying, but she didn't understand why.

  The Doctor regained full consciousness shortly after the TARDIS landed on the asteroid. When she told him Tech's condition, he'd said, "Take me to him. I'll have to take us both into trance. I have to do it. He has to live."

  They laid them side by side on the console room floor. Wren was right. She was getting superstitious about it. The Doctor had reached out, placed his hand on Tech and closed his eyes. Tech had cried out, the Doctor's back had arched... Then Tech changed. Then they lay still.

  It had been two days. There had been no change. Liberty bent down to listen to the Doctor's heartbeats. They were stronger! Still slow, but stronger. She checked Tech. The same. They were going to make it. She burst into tears.

  She and Wren were sitting beside them on the floor when they opened their eyes. They looked at each other and smiled. The Doctor looked up at Liberty and, still smiling, drifted off to sleep.

  They said good-by to Tech. As he turned and strode away, a stranger, but still Tech, the Doctor said, "I must go back to Gallifrey. I have to take you home."

  He hadn't. He finally gave up the idea when Liberty told him, "You'll have to physically drag me out of here, and Wren too. And we'll be fighting all the way. You aren't going to face any 'consequences' without us."

  They landed on Gallifrey and were met by a contingent of guards. Liberty and Wren were taken to a room and the Doctor was led away.

  He came back smiling. "The matrix showed everything back to normal. Even the
discovery of the ruins is gone. He must have blown them up. I'm in trouble for going back to the Dark Time, but, since my actions didn't cause change, they're prepared to forgive me." He smiled and Liberty's heart leapt. Time to find another windmill. This one was down.

  Wren took her aside when they reached the TARDIS. "Mom, before Tech left he told me the thing we killed was one of them. It was the shock of recognizing him as he died that almost killed them. Of seeing what had been done to him."

  The Doctor was watching them. Wren said, "And I'm supposed to tell you he'll remember everything, but he'll be careful."

  Liberty said, "You recognized him before we joined. That's why you were so desperate to protect him. He was more important to you than anything else. Your own life. Stopping that creature. Anything."

  The Doctor smiled. "Yes, he was too important to allow to die. He learned too much from me about the future, but it may be he was meant to. Well, we shall never know. I was just lucky no one on Gallifrey realized just how much. Or who he was."

  Liberty realized what she'd sensed when Tech and the Doctor had first touched minds as they'd battled the creature. Recognition. But it had been Tech who recognized the Doctor.

  "I think we need a vacation. I know a place where the gumblejacks... "

  Wren shook his head. If they were going to swap fish stories, he'd go fix dinner. He wondered how gumblejack tasted pan fried over an open fire.

  Knight en Passant

  Piece of the Past

  "That's an emergency signal." The Doctor tracked the signal. It was coming from nearby.

  "Well, I guess we'll just have to postpone finding out what gumblejack taste like." Wren grinned at his mother.

  Liberty said, "You just don't like to fish, Wren. You'd be glad for any excuse to postpone a fishing trip."

  "Got it." The Doctor set the TARDIS coordinates for the source of the signal.

  It was a passenger ship and it didn't belong on this planet, or any other. The person who had brought it in was a magician. He'd done the impossible. He must have brought it in flat and low and skipped through the atmosphere, then a thousand kilometers across the sea. It had ground onto the shore about ninety meters and stopped. There was evidence of an orderly evacuation toward higher ground.

  "Well, now we know where the beacon came from. Let's go see who needs help." The Doctor glared at Liberty. That was his line. She grinned at him and said, "Who knows? We might find a windmill."

  The Doctor smiled and opened the TARDIS doors and the three of them walked out into the tropical sun.

  "We're in trouble." The Doctor turned his head to see Wren. Since they were both chained spread-eagled between two posts, the comment was superfluous, but it did tell him Wren was conscious.

  "I'd have thought that was obvious. Where's your mother? Is she all right?"

  Wren could feel his mother nearby. Since his psychic bond with her was operating, she too was conscious. "She's close. And worried. So am I. Time travel may not be so great after all."

  "I have a feeling you know where we are. Would you like to share that information?"

  "Mom worked with an Orsadan anthropologist for awhile. In our time they're a very civilized race of merchants. Durba said they had a barbaric past, so Mom and I got him to tell us about it. He was a great storyteller. We seem to have landed in a piece of that past. It's considered an embarrassment. We're in the exotic selection hold of an Orsadan slave trader. And Doctor, we're probably several million kilometers from the TARDIS and getting farther away fast."

  Liberty felt Wren wake up. He'd know where they were. She knew the Doctor hadn't known. She'd felt his curiosity. She was in the same position the men were in. Chained in a cell. She was being treated as an exotic. So were Wren and the Doctor. If they hadn't been, the Doctor would have been much more uncomfortable. He'd have been cold. Only exotics were allowed to keep their 'costumes'.

  She needed to think of a way to keep them together. Escape would be even more difficult if they were on different planets. She had to think of a way to convince the Orsadans it would be more profitable to treat them as a set.

  She jerked against her chains. The Doctor's feeling of searing loss had taken her by surprise. It puzzled her for a moment. Then she smiled and thought, "Don't worry, Doctor, we'll find the TARDIS."

  She realized she had found a way to keep them together. The consequences of using it were more than she wanted to think about, but she had a way. She began to prepare herself for the ordeal.

  They brought Liberty in and chained her with her back to them. The Doctor was glad to see her unharmed, but the look on her face had told him something was going to happen.

  All Orsadans were big, well over two meters tall, but the one approaching Wren was huge. He walked behind him, wrapped his arms around his solar plexus and squeezed. Wren struggled to breathe. Liberty struggled against her chains. The Orsadan in charge nodded to the guard and he released Wren. The Doctor realized it was his turn.

  The Doctor could feel the guard behind him. He knew they were waiting for Liberty to relax. They wanted what they did to him to surprise her.

  When it came, it surprised him too. He reeled from the chop at the side of his neck. It had been perfectly placed to cause the most pain in muscles pulled taught by chains.

  The Orsadan chief slaver said, "You have not lied to me little one. I shall sell you as a set." He smiled. It wasn't very pleasant. "I shall hope your purchaser enjoys seeing you writhe in pleasure more than in pain."

  When the Orsadans had left, Liberty said, "Sorry. It was the only way I could think of to keep us together. I just hope I didn't make us TOO valuable."

  They went through three more demonstrations before they were sold. They found out Wren responded to what was done to his mother, though his response wasn't as strong as hers to him. They were terribly disappointed to find out the bond between Liberty and the Doctor worked only one way.

  They were coffled and led through the corridors of the ship to a hatchway. They crossed through a boarding tube to another ship and were led to a room in the center of it. There, the coffle was removed.

  Their hands were bound and a ten centimeter chain was linked from their wrists to metal collars placed round their necks. They were then chained by one ankle to rings set in the floor. They were placed equidistant from each other about four meters apart.

  When all the Orsadans had left but one, he said, "Your master has bought all the cargo of Tuldan. He does not often buy exotics. You were very expensive. Your master will be here soon to see if he has gotten good value."

  They found they really had nothing to talk about. They'd been glad to hear the liner passengers were aboard. They were potential allies, but they didn't know enough yet to make any plans. They made themselves as comfortable as possible on the cushions heaped around the room and sat down to wait for their master. They didn't have to wait long.

  "Come ladies, see what I have gotten for you. The Orsadan entering the room was a good two and a half meters tall. He led a procession of bejeweled women of his race through the door. "I have been told the female responds to the feelings of the males."

  They stood at the Orsadans' entrance. The Doctor watched the group break up to examine their newly acquired possessions. One of the big women walked over to him. "This will be interesting." She touched his hair. He pulled his head away. It made her angry, then she laughed. "Yes interesting. You, little golden one. What feelings do you have that will make the female leap. I, Taban, shall learn them." She turned and went to examine the others.

  It hadn't been too bad. Wren and Liberty had gotten most of the attention, but the Doctor had seen Taban watching him. There'd been another demonstration, but they were valuable property and care was taken not to damage them. Then they were separated.

  The separation was hardest on the Doctor. Wren at least knew whether or not Liberty wa
s all right, and through her the Doctor.

  The Doctor looked around the small cell. There was a sleeping shelf attached to the wall and a chair bolted to the floor. The lavatory had no door, but was angled so the camera mounted in the high ceiling didn't peer in. His hands had been unchained, but he still wore a collar around his neck. He didn't like it. He knew he was in the kind of cell given a prized slave. He wasn't complimented. He lay down on the shelf, turned his back to the camera and began to go through his pockets. Maybe the Orsadans had missed something.

  About ten meters away, Liberty was doing the same thing. She was having better luck. Because she'd made them part of her garments, she still had two weapons. She wore a sling as a belt and the flexible little blowgun as a bracelet. Its darts were tucked in a compartment in her shoe heel. The TARDIS key the Doctor had given her was still on a chain around her neck. If they got back to it, at least they'd be able to get in.

  Wren was sitting on the floor of his cell. He could feel his mother nearby. He could tell the Doctor was also nearby and unharmed, otherwise she wouldn't have been so calm. He wasn't too worried about himself. Women were women and the Orsadans had been fascinated by his blond hair and light eyes. Their race had neither. Their fair skin and hair was the reason the Doctor and he had been classified as exotics and exhibited as a set.

  Most exotics were for show, a form of ostentation. He could handle being shown off, but was worried about the Doctor. The Orsadan male's chief wife had given him and his mother a cursory inspection, but spent most of her time watching the Doctor. He was going to have to do something about that. This was one terrain he knew better than the Doctor. He was going to have to be Galahad. He hoped he would have the chance to distract her before the Doctor made himself a challenge, if it wasn't already too late.

  He knew his mother was armed. He hoped she came up with something soon. Someone was going to want to try out the psychic bond and he didn't find the Orsadan women that attractive.

  Liberty could feel Wren damping the bond between them. That meant he was up to something she wouldn't approve of. He'd seen a threat she hadn't. What had she missed? Liberty saw deeper than Wren. They had very little time to get out of this. The Doctor couldn't be broken to slavery, so someone would have to try. She needed to find some friends. That beacon had been a trap. Somewhere in the maw of this vast ship were some very angry liner passengers. She'd be mad if somebody messed up her vacation. Now, how to meet them?

  The Doctor was pleased. Somehow, the Orsadans had missed the tiny tool in his vest pocket and he still had his TARDIS key. It had seemed a part of his 'costume'.

  He wasn't nearly as naive about women as Wren thought. One didn't live nine hundred years without learning some things. He knew what he'd done when he'd jerked away from Taban. She was going to be a problem, but the male was the danger.

  The Doctor had watched him while his wives had examined them. He was showing them off, but they were HIS new toys. He had enjoyed seeing Liberty react when the bond was demonstrated. He had seen the Doctor watching him and had smiled at him. It was a cold smile beneath eyes glittering with cruelty.

  He heard someone at the door of his cell. He rolled off the shelf and stood as the door opened. A guard stepped in and held a weapon on him while another hobbled him and chained his wrists at his throat. He was pushed through the cell door. Four more guards waited for him to get his balance, then one attached a leash to his wrists and tugged him into motion. Wren and Liberty both saw the Doctor as he was led past their cells accompanied by six guards. Things had just gotten more difficult. Someone had decided the Doctor was dangerous.

  Taban was furious. Valda had presented the pretty exotics as new toys, then refused to let her play with them. Valda was becoming too arrogant. He had forgotten from where his power and fortune had come. He had been only an officer on her father's ship when she had chosen him. This ship and his position in the trading guild had been part of her dowry when she became his chief wife. It was time he was reminded.

  "I am Valda. I am your master. You will tell me your name. If I choose, you will be allowed to keep it."

  The Doctor looked at the Orsadan towering over him. He'd been led to this room and forced to his knees before the dais on which Valda stood. The whole set-up was designed to be intimidating. "I am called the Doctor." He hoped he sounded intimidated. He had tried.

  "Doctor. Yes, I will let you keep it, for now. You are my slave, Doctor. You do not know what that means. Yet. I shall enjoy teaching you. Take him to the chamber and prepare him."

  As the Doctor was lifted to his feet and led away under guard, he thought, "Well, that didn't work." He just hadn't had enough practice at sounding intimidated.

  Liberty and Wren were escorted from their cells. Neither was hobbled, but their wrists were chained at their throats. Only four guards escorted the two of them. Liberty smiled at Wren. The Orsadans didn't consider them a danger. It was a mistake Liberty intended to see they regretted.

  The Doctor had made contact with the people from the liner. Well, one of them anyway. Her captain. He was in pretty bad shape, but not so far gone he didn't recognize an ally when one was chained next to him. He said, "Welcome to hell. I'm Jandar, until recently, captain of the Star Liner Princess Charra."

  He didn't know what the Orsadans had used to disable his ship, but he didn't think they'd expected it to be caught in the gravity well of the planet. They'd been delighted he'd saved so many of the passengers for them. They'd caught them in the hills not far from the crash site. Jandar had surrendered. He'd had two hundred unarmed passengers and only he and three of the crew had weapons. The ship had been traveling light or the fifty or so armed Orsadans would have had over a thousand new slaves.

  The captain was able to tell the Doctor a little about the ship they were on and where it was going. It was gathering that information that had gotten him into his present situation. Good slaves didn't ask questions. He was being taught to be a good slave. It wasn't working.

  The Doctor was impressed with the smile the captain had given him with battered lips. This man wouldn't be broken. He hoped he could find a way out of this before Valda killed the man trying.

  He'd been chained to a wall by his collar. His hobbles had been removed and replaced by heavy leg irons. Valda had called this room "the chamber". The Doctor looked at the equipment in the room. It gleamed. But no amount of polishing by hard-driven slaves could hide its nature. He was in a chamber all right. A torture chamber. He wondered if Liberty and Wren were all right.

  Wren had been separated from his mother. The guards had led him to a room, chained his ankle to a ring set in the middle of the floor and left him. He settled himself on the heaped pillows that covered the floor of the small room and waited. He worked to close down the link with his mother even further. Whatever was going to happen here, he didn't want her involved.

  "Damn him." Liberty thought. "He's expecting trouble and he's shutting me out." Wren couldn't cut the bond completely. She'd always know where he was and if he was injured, but he'd just closed everything else off. She was glad they'd never told the Doctor the bond could be damped. As long as he didn't know, he wouldn't try to find a way to do it. The bond was his best chance of staying alive. As soon as she stopped responding to what was done to him, someone would kill him trying to make him a slave. As long as the bond worked, care would be taken not to damage him severely. If it stopped working, he would no longer be entertaining.

  She reached out and 'felt' for the Doctor, then she began doing something she'd sworn she'd never do again. She opened the pathways that had been closed since Wren's father had been slowly crushed to death. She'd never told the Doctor how strong her psychic power actually was. She was a full empath. She began to build a bond that would attune her emotions and body to his. She would feel everything he felt. And if he died, she would probably die too, as
she so nearly had when her husband had been killed.

  There was a large viewscreen on the wall opposite the door she was led through. She was chained between two posts with her back to it. She watched as several laughing and chatting Orsadans made themselves comfortable on the heaped pillows. They were making sure they had a good view of her and the screen. She was glad Wren had damped the bond. He'd been anticipating something. If she and the Doctor were about to become the main attraction, he wouldn't be involved. She thought, "Hang on, Doctor. I'm with you."

  Wren smiled. Just before he'd closed off the bond, he'd felt his mother 'reaching' for the Doctor. He'd been waiting for her to do that for years. It meant she was finally healing. He just wished she'd chosen some other time to do it. He had a feeling the healing process was going to be very painful. He stood up. He had company. Three of Valda's youngest wives had just entered the room. He thought, "Time to be Galahad." and smiled and bowed to them.

  "Welcome back." The Doctor turned his head to see Jandar. "You must be something special. They quit working you over as soon as you passed out. Usually, it takes them awhile to notice."

  The Doctor pushed himself to his feet. He'd been chained to the wall again. This time by the wrists and not the throat. The Orsadans had stripped him to the waist, but his shirt, vest, and coat were nearby. He hurt and he was cold, but he was worried about Liberty.

  Liberty awoke feeling cold, then she realized it was the Doctor who was cold. Wren was back! And feeling smug. He'd accomplished something. He was worried about her, but it couldn't dampen his elation.

  Liberty rolled over on the cushions and groaned. She'd pulled some muscles fighting her chains when they'd begun on the Doctor. She smiled. She wasn't chained. They'd seen her as a victim. A female slave writhing helplessly in response to the torture of the Doctor. It was time to show them they were wrong.

  "Bring them both." Taban walked out of the chamber. The Doctor and Jandar looked at each other. Something was up. They were hobbled and led from the chamber. The Doctor noted a slave had picked up his clothes and was following. He smiled. If he could get to his vest pocket, he could free Jandar. They were led to a sumptuously appointed room and chained to the floor by both ankles about three meters apart. Jandar said, "Uh, oh." and the Doctor turned to look.

  Taban had entered the room by another door. She was wearing something filmy. The Doctor decided Jandar had summed up the situation well. "Uh, oh" was exactly what he was thinking too.

  Liberty pulled the unconscious guard out of sight and stopped. She puzzled over what she was feeling from the Doctor for a moment, then nearly laughed out loud. He'd faced the torture with total calm. She'd felt him worrying about her, but he hadn't been worried about himself. But now... She grinned. The Doctor needed rescuing.

  Wren felt a bit guilty as he eased the sweet young thing to the floor. He'd led her on. He'd had her send the others away so they'd have more privacy. He'd told her he was shy and wanted to be alone with her. He'd made it seem his chains were interfering with what she, so much, wanted him to do. She'd freed him and he'd knocked her cold. Not a nice way to treat a lady. He grinned.

  Now, to begin reducing the number of guards. They'd have to take over the ship to get back to the TARDIS. He wondered if the liner passengers would be interested in a little slave rebellion.

  Taban was pleased. Valda had left the ship for his meeting with a buyer in such a hurry he hadn't told the guards of the chamber not to give her the male. She would have the female brought later. Valda was a fool. The male understood pain. It held no terror for him. She would break this one. Her way.

  She began her examination with the new one. She didn't understand why he'd been with the others in the trading hold. He too was an exotic. His pale blue skin fascinated her. Too bad it had been so badly marred. She lowered a chain from the ceiling and fastened it to his collar. Only dangerous and recalcitrant slaves were taken to the chamber. She would take no chances.

  The Doctor watched as Taban examined Jandar. She touched his injuries gently. He held very still while her hands roamed over his body. He gave the Doctor an ironic smile. Jandar's smile didn't worry him, but Taban's did. It clearly said, "You're next."

  She finished her very personal examination of Jandar and lowered a chain over the Doctor. She clipped it to his collar and ran a finger down his chest. He tried not to flinch, but wasn't completely successful. She laughed and left the room, taking the guards with her. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief and wondered how long his reprieve would last.

  Jandar said, "You're going to have to stop giving her what she wants." The Doctor stared at him. "She's bored. She's Valda's chief wife and, unless he orders otherwise, every slave on this ship is hers. They vie for her attention. She can grant privileges and favors. You're outraged at her attention. You present a challenge. You aren't boring."

  Liberty was happily lowering the odds on her way to the slave holds. She hadn't killed anyone, but the drug on her little darts would keep the guards unconscious for some time. The only problem was, she didn't know for how long.

  "Hi, Mom." Wren grinned at her and helped her stuff the guard out of sight. She jumped and he raised his eyebrows at her. Obviously, something was happening to the Doctor.

  Liberty said, "Taban." and grinned. "He's all right. Right now he's uncomfortable and very nervous. Well, he'll just have to put up with it for awhile. There's no point in getting him loose until we have some chance of keeping him loose. She hasn't really started on him yet. We'll get him if she does."

  They began cutting down the odds some more as they headed for the depths of the ship. That's where new slaves would be held.

  Liberty and Wren peered around the corner at the heavily guarded door. So far they'd taken out every guard they'd come across, silently, and without raising an alarm. They weren't going to be able to do that this time.

  Wren nodded he was ready and his mother stepped around the corner and shot down the guards. He grabbed the bundle of weapons they'd collected and raced through the doors his mother had opened. He shot one guard as he reached for an alarm. His mother shot the other from the doorway. Wren searched the dead guards for keys to the cells.

  Liberty stood guard at the doors. This was the most dangerous time. They had to free the prisoners and get them out quickly. Their plan had no chance if they couldn't hold the exit doors. A nearly naked man, carrying one of the weapons Wren and she had collected, stepped through the door and took a position nearby. He grinned and said, "Navigator Midor Ron, at your service."

  "Liberty, at yours."

  He laughed. "How appropriate." Liberty grinned at him. Soon several more people, wearing slave rags and bearing weapons, joined them. Liberty smiled at the two women who nodded to her and set out to reconnoiter the corridor. She recognized professionals when she saw them. They had at least two trained soldiers with them.

  The women returned and waved an all clear. Liberty waved to Wren and he began to organize the unarmed into a quiet exodus. Two armed men joined the two women and they began leading the freed prisoners down the corridor. She watched the people stream past. She waited for Wren. Something was bothering him. "Mom, they've got about thirty kids in there. I freed them, but I'm afraid to bring them out."

  "You'll have to. If we leave them, they could be used as hostages. Brief them on what to do when the shooting starts. We'll do our best to protect them." Wren nodded and went back in.

  Soon the children began to come out two-by-two. Wren had hooked them up in a 'buddy' system, an older child paired with a small one. The first, a boy about twelve, nodded to her and led his buddy into the corridor. The total silence of the children was eerie. It, more than anything else, told her what they had suffered. Her hands tightened on the weapon. Someone would pay.

  Wren and Navigator Ron joined her and they made up a rear guard. They followed
the children down the corridor. Each time they passed a cross corridor, another armed person joined them. There were more of them than the weapons Wren had carried could account for. The two soldiers had been busy. She and Wren hid an Orsadan lying in the floor. His throat had been cut. She'd been right. She smiled. She'd found her allies, and they were mad.

  Taban had not returned. An Orsadan male had released them from the ceiling chains and they had dropped gratefully to the floor. Jandar had told him the Doctor was cold and pointed out Taban's displeasure if he became ill. The Orsadan had thrown the Doctor's garments at him in a wad. As soon as he'd gone, the Doctor pulled his vest to him. He held up the tiny tool and Jandar grinned. They began working their way towards each other. The Doctor hoped they could get close enough.

  "Captain Illus Pern, and this is Lt. Marka Sild."

  "Liberty Connell." She shook hands with the two women. They'd led them to a large room with several exits. They'd been slaves long enough to want several routes of escape. They were sorting out the non-combatants and making plans to arm the rest. Wren had taken a sortie group out to break open an arms locker they'd passed. They hadn't broken into it before, because it was sure to be... A loud klaxon began to sound. Liberty thought, "Yep. Alarmed." She felt Wren coming and prepared to give him covering fire. She nodded and Illus swung the door open. Wren and four others ran through the door weighted with weapons. A woman into tears. There had been five with Wren. Her husband had not returned. He was their first casualty. There would be more. The crying woman picked up a weapon.

  "The Doctor's up to something." They'd gotten the alarm turned off. One of the freed slaves knew what to do and who to say he was, and had reported it as a malfunction. Evidently they were fairly common. Some of people with them had been here awhile. Liberty thought of the guard with his throat cut, "Yep. Mad."

  Liberty had felt the Doctor's nervousness turn to anticipation. She could feel he actually wanted Taban's attention. "Yes. He's DEFINITELY up to something."

  The Doctor had just gotten Jandar's wrists free when Taban walked in. He tossed their lock pick on a pillow by Jandar and they both sat up. Jandar holding his wrists as if chained. They'd almost been too far apart for the Doctor to free him. They had raw ankles and necks from pulling against their bonds. This time the Doctor had to keep Taban's attention fixed on him. There were no guards in the room, but if she discovered Jandar was partially free, all their efforts would have been wasted. He needn't have worried.

  "Now, little gold one, little slave, it is your turn. You know pain too well. Do you know other feelings as well? What is the matter, little slave? Do you not wish to watch?" She had addressed the latter to Jandar. He had his back to them. When he shook his head and bowed it, she laughed. "Very well, pretty slave, but you will know what is done. I've not finished with you yet."

  The Doctor watched Taban attach a chain to a ring in the floor. She approached him and he began to move away from her. She reached out and grabbed a handful of his hair and shoved his head forward. She clipped the other end of the chain to the back of his collar. She was very fast. She'd had a lot of practice. She pulled him backwards to the floor with the chain and snubbed it tight against the ring. The Doctor thought, "A lot of practice."

  "Taban, I'm warning you to stop." Oh, he had her attention all right. She thought he was hilarious. She played with his hair. He pulled away from her and glared at her. She thought that was very funny too. As she reached for him again, he thought, "Hurry up, Jandar, I may be TOO good at keeping her interested."

  Taban was delighted. Every time she touched him, he flinched. She began to explore his chest and his struggles increased. She was really enjoying herself when Jandar hit her in the head. As Jandar rolled her off of him, he said, "About time!"

  "Sorry, Doctor. It took me awhile to figure out how to pick the locks. I got pretty good by the second one." He had to agree. It only took Jandar a few seconds to free him. They removed their collars.

  The Doctor dropped his beside Taban and dusted his hands. "I did warn you."

  "He's on the loose. I'll go get him." Liberty nodded at Wren and rolled through the door he yanked open for her. She shot two very surprised guards and ran down the corridor as Wren dragged them out of sight. The Doctor wasn't far away.

  Liberty shot a guard taking a bead on the Doctor's back. He turned at the sound and smiled at her. "Jandar, this is Liberty."

  Liberty nodded at the man and said, "This way."

  As usual, he was being difficult. "Doctor, just how do you propose to take the bridge if you won't take a weapon."

  "Liberty, we've been through this before."

  Jandar caught her eye. He hefted his weapon and winked. She turned her attention back to the Doctor and said, "You're right. We've been through it before. Usually, just before I patch you up on the TARDIS floor." They had about eighty armed. They were splitting into four groups. She was taking hers to engineering. Wren was taking the largest contingent to the barracks deck and the Doctor was leading the offensive on the bridge. Ten would guard the non-combatants.

  The Doctor smiled and said, "Shall we?" Liberty grinned. This windmill was about to fall.

  Wren grinned at Captain Pern. They'd taken the barracks without losses. They disarmed the prisoners and herded them into a room they'd chosen as a lock-up. Wren said, "You five on guard. The rest with me." They headed for the Orsadan living quarters.

  Liberty's party hadn't been so lucky. She'd lost two men in the battle for engineering. The Orsadans had fought to the last. As soon as the last Orsadan was down, the engineers from the liner moved in and began familiarizing themselves with the equipment.

  The bridge assault group was pinned down. Fire from two heavy beam weapons made the corridor intersection deadly. Jandar made an 'around' motion with his hand and the Doctor nodded. They slid backwards down the corridor and rejoined their 'troops'.

  Navigator Ron grinned at the receding backs of his captain and the Doctor as they ran back down the corridor. Each one planning on coming up behind a beamer and taking it out. He thought, "One unarmed and the other undressed. What a pair."

  He waited for the firing to stop. He had no doubt it would.

  The Doctor said, "Hello" and raised his hands. Two of the four Orsadans at the weapon covered him. They walked over to him and pushed him forward between them. Perfect. He swung his elbows into them, dived at the feet of the two squatting by the gun and bowled them over. He swung the gun to cover them as they got to their feet. Well, two of them. The two he'd hit seemed to be having problems getting to theirs. One making retching noises. The other not making any noises at all. Jandar grinned as the Doctor went to work on the lock.

  "It's one of these. But I don't know which one." Jandar held the three wires out to the Doctor. They'd taken the bridge, but their problems weren't over. Someone had hit the self-destruct and it was ticking their lives away.

  They were lying on their backs under the main computer control of the ship. They'd tracked the self-destruct to it. The Doctor said, "Aha! That one." and clipped the green one. A cheer went up and they smiled at each other and slid out from under the console.

  Navigator Ron grinned down at them. "That was too close." The timer on the self-destruct had stopped on two.

  They'd put the Orsadans off the ship at a trading post. They hadn't found Valda and one of the ship's shuttles was gone. Jandar landed his shuttle by the wrecked ship. He turned to the Doctor. ''She'll never fly the stars again, but, thanks to you, I will."

  The Doctor smiled, opened the shuttle door, and climbed out.

  "He doesn't like to say good-by." Liberty shook Jandar's hand. "Thanks. Having you with him meant a lot to him." Wren shook his hand, winked, and climbed out. Jandar powered up and took off. He had some very late passengers to deliver.

  "I think you should stand very still, Doctor." Th
e Doctor turned around and slowly raised his hands. Valda was holding a weapon on him. "You see, I realized just how valuable you are. You brought a very good price. Oh, and your companions too." Liberty and Wren walked up hands raised, an armed Orsadan behind each one of them. "Doctor, meet your new master." He smiled his cruel smile. He died smiling.

  The Doctor looked down at his body, shook his head and said, "Valda, didn't anyone ever teach you not to bargain with the Devil."

  Sign for Evil

  Liberty dropped her TARDIS key and got Wren's attention. She triangulated the spot with her eyes and he nodded. She'd seen the Doctor ditch his. He DID NOT want these people in the TARDIS.

  "Well, Doctor, so nice of you to visit my time. I despaired of ever seeing you again. I see you have changed, and your companions are new too. Won't you introduce me?"

  "Liberty, Wren, this is Corbin Ben. One of the most despicable tyrants any poor planet ever had as a ruler."

  "Your manners have not improved, Doctor."

  "Let my companions go, Ben. They have no part in this."

  "Doctor, that would be foolish. I just paid such a high price for them." He kicked the body at his feet, and laughed.

  "Well, the TARDIS is with us this time." Liberty smiled.

  "May I remind you, The KEYS are back on the PLANET!" Wren got his attention and led his eyes to his shoe. He squeezed the little trigger mechanism with his toes in just the right way... The sole dropped down and on it lay a TARDIS key.

  Liberty almost gasped at the Doctor's elation. This would not do. This was too personal. She began to damp the bond she had with him. She had strengthened it at need, but it certainly wasn't needed now. The Doctor had VERY strong emotions, about EVERYTHING. She found it extremely distracting. Wren was grinning at her.

  "Why has this guy got it in for you?"

  The Doctor glared at Wren. "You use more twentieth century slang than Peri did, and at least she was from that century. The 'guy' has 'it in' for me because I took a planet away from him."

  "You did WHAT?" Liberty decided they might be in real trouble.

  "Well, he wasn't treating it very nicely." The Doctor looked at his two companions, rolling around in mirth on the bunks in the cell, and shook his head.

  "So what he wants to do is use the TARDIS to go back in time to defeat you. He wants to use you to defeat you." Liberty decided time travel was confusing and the 'guy' they were dealing with was deranged. That's just what they needed, a powerful cold-blooded killer (with a grudge) that was SEVERELY deranged. Bi.i.i.g windmill.

  "Just how long ago was this, Doctor?"

  Why did Wren have to ask such difficult questions? "For him, probably not more than ten or fifteen years. For me, a couple of regenerations." They'd seen Tech regenerate, but the Doctor hadn't really explained what they'd seen. Explanation led to memories. Memories were adventures. Adventures were stories. Time passed.

  They took Liberty away. The Doctor had warned her they would. Ben's ideas ran to brutality, oppression, and a male dominated society. It was one of the reasons the Doctor had taken his planet away. That and the deaths and the tortures and the maimings... But women weren't people to him. He underestimated them. And Liberty.

  "She's all right. Disgusted, but all right. I think they're making her cook. That's the only thing I can think of that would make her feel like that." Wren didn't tell the Doctor his mother had been beaten into doing the work. It didn't have to be done. She'd have done the work. The beating was just a gratuitous cruelty. Wren thought, "That's one." Since one was all he ever gave anybody. Ben had used his. He didn't worry about the guard who had beaten his mother. She would take care of him.

  "Be reasonable, Doctor. Your friend need not suffer. You can stop it."

  "Look, Ben, you KNOW I haven't got a key. You've searched me. I can't even get into the TARDIS MYSELF! I can't give you what I DON'T HAVE!"

  "Doctor, you were going to the TARDIS when Valda stopped you. If you couldn't get in, why were you going to it?"

  "I had a key then. I disposed of it when I saw you. I'd rather not be able to use her myself, than let you have her. Now, let him DOWN!" Ben nodded and Wren was lowered to the floor. When his feet touched the floor, Wren said, "That's two."

  They'd been pushed into a shuttle under guard. They'd arrived at Ben's new stronghold. He had another planet. Not as rich or as populated, but another planet. The Doctor watched them lead Liberty away. Again. He was becoming VERY angry. He didn't know Wren had marked another guard. The one who had pushed his mother. Wren murmured, "That's three." Ben was dead. Now to figure out how to kill him.

  The Doctor helped Wren to the cell. It was a different cell, but a cell is a cell. This one was on the ground. "You've got to escape. Ben will go on using you to hurt me."

  Wren knew the Doctor was right. He had to get away. "All right. But I won't be far away and I won't leave you. Not Mom, and not you. This is one windmill I want to see topple." The Doctor gently lowered his companion to a bunk in the cell. He carefully checked the bruises and the strains. Wren couldn't feel the Doctor's anger, but he could feel his mother's. If his mother was picking up that much from the Doctor... especially after he'd felt her damping the link. He said, "Thank you." and slept.

  He'd been right. The Doctor was angry. Although that hardly described the emotion. He'd freed a planet from Ben because of the way he'd abused its people. Now he had abused the Doctor's companions. No, anger didn't really do it justice. The Doctor was just, plain, mad.

  "That's stupid. Who told you that and why in the world did you believe them?" Liberty was shocked at the women's attitudes. 'Why, our Lord did.' 'A woman's place is known.' 'It is the law.' 'Our place is to serve.' Liberty threw up her hands in disgust. This was going to be difficult. It was going to require more than training. So she started from the beginning. She began teaching them to read. Then they told her of the old women.

  The Doctor had been wrong. It had been twenty-six years since he had taken Ben's planet from him. And he had been very busy. He'd taken over the colony world of Cordahm and begun changing it to suit him. Small children were taken from their parents. Their parents and the older children had been put to work. Corbin Ben had worked a generation to death.

  His stronghold was built of bones and mortared with blood.

  The psychic scream crashed through him. It left him lying on the floor of the cell. Wren was unconscious on the bunk. The Doctor worked to awaken Wren. He didn't think it had been Liberty, but only Wren could tell him. "Hello," Wren smiled up at the Doctor. "That was quite a blast. Any ideas on who it was?"

  "That's what I was going to ask you. The only thing I'm sure of is, it was a woman. You've just told me it wasn't your mother. Somewhere on this planet is a very powerful telepath and she's screaming for help."

  Wren nodded. "All right. I'm gone. Do you want me to leave you anything?"

  "No, take everything. Hat to shoes."

  "Mom won't like it. She prefers us in one place."

  "Solve that. I want her out too. Wren, if you get the chance, push the button." Wren nodded. It was only a small lie. He and his mother would never take the TARDIS and leave the Doctor with Corbin Ben.

  They'd been careful with their conversation. They were sure they were monitored. Neither of them were worried about talking of Wren's planned escape. Wren would choose the time and he would go.

  "Doctor, Ben knows you haven't got a TARDIS key. What does he want from you?"

  "I'd been wondering that myself. It's more than revenge. Otherwise, my stay here would have been short and quite painful. Perhaps we've just been given our first clue as to what it is."

  "Yeah, and he's been using me to soften you up. Well, take care of yourself or Mom'll break your arm." He grinned at the Doctor. They'd just said good-by. It might be days before Wren found his escape route; but he would, and
he would leave.

  "They're up to something. I can feel it."

  "You speak to shadows. It frightens me."

  "I'm, sorry Shala." Liberty smiled at her prize pupil. "I was thinking out loud. It's a bad habit."

  "Yes, Liberty, if the men hear you, you will be beaten. Women are not allowed to have thoughts that do not concern work."

  Liberty almost laughed. She and Shala were in a broom cupboard with four women posted as sentries. They had a stolen book and Liberty was teaching her to read. If they were caught, both teacher and student would be publicly flogged to death. And Shala was worried she might get beaten for talking out loud.

  "Liberty, your smile tells me what you think. Learning to read is worth risking death. Talking is not worth being beaten."

  She looked into the big brown eyes of the lovely young woman who worked so hard to learn. Shala was very intelligent. Many of the women were, but Shala burned with a desire for knowledge. It didn't make what she had to say any easier. "Shala, I must leave." She could feel Wren preparing and that he wanted her. "I must seek out the old women in the hills. The one I serve will need their aid. He will change your world, but we must help him."

  "I have seen the one you serve. He is not like the other men. Tanda spilled hot soup on him, but he smiled and did not beat her."

  "He has never beaten anyone. His nature is to help and heal. It's why he is caged. Corbin Ben fears him. Shala, if I wanted to send a message to him from the hills, could I?"

  She looked frightened, but said, "If a message is given to the cook, we will give it to him. But, if you go, who will teach us?"

  "You'll teach others. You've learned enough to share your knowledge." Shala looked surprised and pleased. Liberty smiled. There had been a flicker of pride. Women weren't allowed pride. Yes, this world would be changed.

  The Doctor had been taken away. The guard got too near the cell. Wren left.

  "Hi, Mom. Good to see you." He hugged her. She looked tired. "What's the quickest way out?" Liberty led him through the women's quarters. He was appalled at the conditions. The Orsadans had treated their slaves better. He smiled at the disguise they had prepared for him. He'd always looked good in blue.

  They slipped through the scullery door and out into the courtyard. The guard at the gate was surprised to see two women. You might say he died of surprise.

  As soon as they were out, they ditched their skirts. Wren laughed when his mother kicked hers under a rock. He felt how glad she was to be back in khaki. Time to go to work.

  They separated. Liberty went to look for the old women in the hills. Wren headed into the town. It was time to foment a little rebellion.

  The Doctor groaned when he moved. He had the cell to himself. Ben hadn't been pleased with Wren's escape. He'd taken out his displeasure on the Doctor. He smiled. Ben hadn't mentioned Liberty. She was just a woman. He might not even know she was gone. The Doctor knew. A terrified girl had slipped him a carefully, and badly, written note. Liberty was at liberty and Ben would find out what 'just a woman' could do. A girl was thrown into his cell. The guard slammed the door behind her and said, "Tend him." The Doctor watched her try to get up. It took her three attempts. He reached out his hand to her and she shrank back. She was terrified, and in nearly as bad condition as he was.

  "Hello, I'm the Doctor. I won't hurt you. What's your name?" She shook her head. He was puzzled, then she showed him. Someone had cut out her tongue. It had been done recently. He added one more coal to the burning anger at what Ben had done to these people. She was not much more than a child, perhaps seventeen. What had she done that she had been so cruelly mutilated?

  Later, when Ben once more required his presence at dinner (The Doctor had always wondered about people that wanted his company for pleasant conversation after they'd beaten him.), a woman leaned near him and whispered, "Her name is Calla."

  The Doctor was teaching her to sign. It was a slow process. She couldn't read so she couldn't spell things out. Gradually they worked out a system. The process went much faster once he began to sign to her rather than speak aloud. That was when she realized he was teaching her a true language.

  Calla came and went with near equanimity. The Doctor didn't know why they had been brought together, but Ben had a reason. He always did. The Doctor also didn't know she was teaching all the women to sign. And Shala was teaching them to read. He had gained many friends and allies. He just didn't know it yet.

  One night he was awakened by a psychic scream. Calla was sleeping on the floor of his cell. She'd be beaten if she slept on a bunk. She was having a nightmare. The scream had come from her. As he awoke her to comfort her, the Doctor thought, "Well, I've found our telepath. Now I know why Ben put us together. I just wish I knew what he expected to get out of it."

  Liberty climbed into the hills, found a prominent ledge and assumed a lotus position. The old women would find her.

  "You have come from the dark castle. What do you want here?"

  "Old women, indeed." thought Liberty. The woman standing by her wasn't more than fifty and in good shape. She'd seen no women over about thirty in Ben's stronghold. "I've come to find the women in the hills. I've come to teach them to do battle. I've come to help them free their world. My name is Liberty."

  "We've been waiting for you. You are expected. Tarna told us you would come."

  Liberty rose and followed her deeper into the hills. Her curiosity was gnawing at her, but she didn't voice her questions. But she thought, "They've been waiting for me? I'm expected? And just who is Tarna?" She couldn't wait to find out.

  The tavern was full of young men when some of Ben's guards entered. Wren made himself invisible in the shadows. He thought they might be looking for him, but they were just out for a drink. They were loud and arrogant and the young men didn't seem to like them. One of them backhanded a serving girl and Wren tensed. He watched one of the young men reach down and help her up. Most of the men had ignored her. Wren smiled. He would be the first he talked to. He was already a rebel. "Hello, my name is Galahad. I think we should talk. Do you know a place?"

  Wren watched the young man look him over. He could see his decision before he spoke. He shook Wren's outstretched hand and said, "Peral. Come with me."

  As they left the tavern, Wren thought, "Liberty in the hills, Peral in the streets, and the Doctor in the castle. This world is about to change." He smiled.

  "You have disappointed me again, Doctor." The Doctor watched Ben pace. He waited for an explanation. The comment had been a preface. "You have not taught the girl to speak with her mind. I had her tongue cut out so she couldn't speak with it. She should have reached out with her thoughts. She has her mother's power. I gave her to you to learn to hear and speak with her mind and you taught her to talk with her fingers. You have wasted much time."

  "Why do you need a telepath?" He wasn't sure he'd get a response. Ben wasn't one of those who felt he had to explain to his victims why they were being abused.

  "I plan to take back my world. If I cannot use your TARDIS, then I shall use her. She will tell me who holds the power. She will tell me when they are alone and can be killed. She will tell me where they are vulnerable. She will tell me all their secrets. I decided to cut off her hands, so she could not speak with them. I'm giving you an opportunity to prevent it. You will teach her to speak with her mind or I will use other ways."

  "Ben, I'm not that kind of telepath. I don't know if I can teach her something I can't do."

  "You have twenty-five days, Doctor."

  Liberty stood very still. The woman she was teaching to use a bow watched her and waited. Tarna became this way sometimes.

  Something had upset the Doctor badly. She could feel it, even through the damped link. She 'reached' for him.

  The anger rocked her. So did the iron resolve beneath it. Something had happened
she just didn't understand. The Doctor had decided to kill Corbin Ben.

  As the Doctor's fury washed over her, she began to damp the bond. When she recovered enough of her composure, she looked around. All the women were gathered around her and Tarna was seated on the ground at her side. She sat down beside her and waited. She was finally going to get an explanation.

  "I am a telepath. Once I was Corbin Ben's telepath. I don't come from this world. Ben brought me with him. His mind was ugly, but he was my savior. I avoided peering into his thoughts. I wanted to believe the man who saved me was good. I was being burned as a witch when he rescued me. I hid my knowledge of him from myself and served him. I bore him a child. I hid from what he was, but I could not hide from what he was doing to this world. The agony of his victims and death cries of hundreds forced me to see him as he was. I escaped with my child. We were hunted. I was too valuable to allow to go free. I had placed my child on the ground while I hunted for a route off a ledge. I slipped and fell. Ben's guards found and took her, but left me for dead. The women of these hills found me. These women are the only ones of a generation to survive. They escaped one-by-one from work parties. No men escaped, but these were only women and not worth pursuing. The one you touched is with my daughter. Ben seeks to awake her power. To force her to speak with her mind, he cut out the tongue of his own child. When she screamed in her mind, I knew three others heard. I sought you and learned you were coming. Now Ben seeks to force another. The one you touched must teach my child to speak with her mind or Ben will use his ways."

  Liberty was stunned. She had classed Ben as a particularly nasty villain, but he was a monster. Any person who could mutilate their own child was completely evil. Now she understood the Doctor's decision.

  "Yes, and we must help him. He cannot awake Calla's power alone. He has been given twenty-five days. We must be ready in that time." Tarna smiled at Liberty. It was the first she'd seen her smile.

  Wren 'felt' the emotions his mother was feeling. They seared through the link he had with her. The first wave of fury that crashed through him had come from the Doctor, but the cold, deadly, anger he was now feeling was all Mom.

  He pulled himself away from the anger and back to the job at hand. "All right, we've got an army. Let's get them trained." Wren looked at his cadre of 'officers'. They were all about his age. He too had learned of the murdered generation. A few children had been old enough to remember and they had told others. Once their world had been a pleasant place. These would make it one again.

  "Calla, slow down. Now tell me again." The Doctor watched her quick fingers as she told of young men missing from the town. No one knew how many or who was missing, just that some were gone. The guards were frustrated. Each time they thought they had a name, the man turned up. Calla made the sign for laughter.

  The Doctor leaned against the wall of his cell and smiled. He recognized a training rotation in her description. He hoped Wren knew of the guards' frustration. It would please him immensely.

  The Doctor slipped the note the woman handed him in his pocket. She signed it came from the hills. He almost missed the message. He hadn't known Calla was teaching the women to sign. He smiled. The women were allies. He'd needed some in the castle. Now he knew he had them. He finished his mandatory dinner with Ben and was taken back to his cell. It was from Liberty. It said, "We know your deadline. I'm with Calla's mother. We'll be ready."

  "Calla," he signed, "did you know your mother was alive?" Her expression told him she hadn't. "She's with my friend in the hills. They are going to help us free your world from Corbin Ben." He used the sign for evil. She'd chosen it as Ben's designation. "We need to prepare to help them. Do you think the women will help? Wait. Slow down."

  She told him of the women and of Liberty's gift to them. She had taught them to read and given them pride in themselves. His gift had been a language the cruel ones did not understand. The women would help. They'd been waiting for him to ask.

  He needed a plan of the castle. The women drew him one. He slipped the napkin it was on into his pocket. He needed to know how far the spaceport was and how many ships Ben had. One of Wren's young men counted and the women got the information to him. He needed to know how many troops Ben had and if he was hiring mercenaries. One of the cleaning women stood guard while Shala read the papers on his desk. Two hundred and yes, but not yet, were the messages they signed to him at dinner.

  He tried to help Calla tap her power; not for Ben,

  for her.

  "He's ready." Liberty smiled at Tarna. Tarna smiled back. Neither of those smiles was pleasant. They were ready too.

  "It's time." The young men gathered in the cave with Wren grinned. Those grins were not pleasant either.

  "Doctor, your time is nearly up. You have made no progress with the girl. She still cannot speak with her mind."

  "I told you, Ben, I'm not that kind of telepath. She doesn't know how to tap the power and I can't show her."

  "You have four more days, Doctor."

  The Doctor thought, "No, Ben, you have three." and continued to organize the plan of attack with the women as he sat at the dinner table with Ben.

  "All right, we've got to take the spaceport, then Ben's ship in orbit. Try not to kill the shuttle pilot. He'll have all the right answers to get us aboard." Wren looked around him. Peral was smiling. He looked like a hungry wolf. He clapped him on the back and said, "Let's do it."

  "There are about fifty guards barracked at the spaceport. Wren's group will take them out. There are another fifty in the castle. The women there will take out as many as they can. That leaves us with the hundred barracked outside the castle walls." Liberty looked at the women around her. Each had a bow and they used them well. They were all smiling. They too reminded one of wolves on the hunt. She said, "Shall we go, ladies?"

  The cook prepared the poison. The Doctor had told the women to drug the guards. It was his way not to kill. It was not theirs. They bore the scars of too many beatings. The cook prepared the poison and she smiled.

  "We need weapons. We'll have to get them from the guards. We've got to take some out quietly until enough of us are armed." Wren's young men could all use the weapons they planned to take. They had stolen two and taken turns practicing with them. The weapons were exhausted, but they had learned to use them well.

  Peral said, "Sentries first?" Wren nodded. They set out armed with nothing but a piece of strong string. It made an excellent garrote.

  They collected fourteen weapons. Wren said, "Down to thirty-six. Not bad odds. Time to do it."

  They lost eight in the attack on the spaceport. Ben lost fifty. The shuttle only held ten. Wren had nine with him. The shuttle pilot was from the planet. He remembered his mother. There were twenty-four on the ship. The shuttle pilot drew a map and showed them where he thought they'd be. No one on the ship was from his world. They were more of Ben's off-world guards.

  The shuttle pilot walked up to the guard in the landing bay, handed him a stack of papers and stabbed him. The last thing the guard saw was the shuttle pilot's smile. Wren led them into the ship and they cleared it. They lost two more men. Wren found the TARDIS in one of the cargo holds. The shuttle pilot was wounded, but he whistled cheerfully as he flew them back to the spaceport.

  There were a hundred guards with beam weapons, but they faced a hundred women with bows and good cover. The guards killed twelve, but the women killed a hundred. The last fifty made a mistake and took cover in the barracks. They died quickly. Liberty had taught the women to make explosives. Liberty gathered her chosen warriors around her. There were twenty. She said, "Time to take the castle."

  The guard was delighted with the woman serving him. She seemed so eager to please. He drank the wine and died. He'd been right about one thing. She was eager. The women reduced the guard to about twenty, but that was all t
hey could get. They opened the gates for Liberty's warriors.

  "You've done this! You've taught the girl mind-speech and the two of you have organized a rebellion."

  "No, Ben. Calla can't communicate telepathically and I've been here." The Doctor spoke very softly. Ben was holding a weapon. He looked crazed.

  Ben motioned two of his remaining guards to bring Calla and the Doctor and they were brutally dragged from the cell. The Doctor didn't put up any resistance. Ben was dragging Calla by the arm and would have killed her without a second thought. He led them to the center of the citadel. He had gathered his remaining guards there. He threw Calla down, then clubbed the Doctor with his weapon. When Calla ran to the Doctor's side, he kicked her away.

  Two guards fell with arrows in their throats. Three more were cut down by beam weapons. One drank a glass of wine he found beside him and died retching. The Doctor got to his knees and said, "Give up, Ben. You're defeated. You've got nowhere to go and your guards are losing."

  "No! You've done this!" Ben pointed his weapon at the Doctor's head. "I may be defeated, but you won't live to see it.

  "NO!"

  The telepathic shout went through the Doctor like a knife. He fought against the link, but Calla was too strong. He was pulled in with the others. With Tarna, and Liberty, and Wren.

  Calla pulled them in, took their anger and used it. Ben learned how much he was hated as he died.

  The Doctor desperately tried to break the link. He couldn't. Calla broke him open. Merged him with the others. Completely. He knew the depth of Liberty's love, and Wren's. He knew Calla loved him as a father and he knew Tarna's gratitude. He blazed in their minds. His presence burned through them and filled them completely. Calla had broken his barriers and he engulfed them. They were drowning in the fire of him and they knew him. All of him.

  Calla dropped the link in shock. She knew what she had done to him. She began to cry. She had violated him. She had opened half-healed wounds and laid bare scars of memories he kept hidden even from himself. The Doctor pulled her to him and comforted her.

  Liberty and Tarna climbed the barricades and walked by the guards standing with their hands raised. They too sought comfort. He held out his arms and they knelt beside him and he held them.

  Wren walked by the guards and knelt by his mother and she pulled him in. The Doctor held the four of them and said good-by. His travels with Liberty and Wren were over. They were now a danger to him. They had come to know him too well.

  "I'll take you home." They stood in front of the TARDIS in the ship's hold.

  "No, Doctor. We've decided to stay here. These people need us. They have a world to rebuild. They need a good cultural anthropologist, and Wren's the best there is to teach the men the proper way to treat women. This is the best place for us. Here in the past. You have few enemies in this time. We'll stay here." He nodded and opened the TARDIS door. They followed him in and went to get their things. They returned wearing the packs they'd worn when he met them. Liberty threw her arms around him. "Doctor, you have a home now. Here. In this place. In this time. Come home to us now and then. Come home to the ones who know you."

  "I shall miss you, Liberty. You are the finest squire ever a knight had, and I shall miss my herald." He disengaged himself from Liberty and took Wren's hand. He smiled at them as they left.

  When he'd closed the doors, he said, "I shall miss you, indeed."

  They watched as the TARDIS disappeared. Liberty turned to Wren and he put his arm around her. She said, "I guess I'll always wonder if he's all right."

  "He'll be OK, Mom. Someone else will find him and appoint themselves squire." He knew what she really meant. Her link with the Doctor was broken. Gone in the instant of total bonding. As they walked to the shuttle, amongst people whose language they no longer understood; he thought, "Come back someday, Doctor. Come back and see what she's made of the world you gave her."

  Thank Heaven for Little Girls

  Jo and Andy

  The Doctor picked up his fishing rod and tackle box and opened the TARDIS doors. He'd decided a little fishing trip was in order. He'd just chosen a likely looking spot when he heard the sound of weapons being fired. He left his tackle box and fishing rod on the ground and began running in the direction of, what sounded like, a full scale battle.

  A man crouched in front of a small wrecked ship and fought valiantly against several others. The Doctor couldn't see the others, they had good cover; but he saw beams from several locations flick out at the man. He decided which side he was on and headed out to reduce the odds.

  The man's attackers were human, as he had appeared to be. They were a rather unsavory lot. The Doctor looked for a place on their clothes clean enough to wipe his greasy fingers. He'd come up behind two of them and slammed their heads together. It was how his hands had gotten greasy. He heard an "Oof " to his left and realized he had help. Someone else was working to even the odds.

  The firing stopped and he heard the bushes rustle as three of the attackers ran away. Not just unsavory, cowardly too. Three to one; well, two; or was it three; just weren't good enough odds. He hurried toward the man by the ship. He'd been wounded pretty badly. The fact that he'd still been fighting had been the reason the Doctor had decided to help him. At least, that was the excuse he gave himself.

  The Doctor said, "I'm here to help." The injured man lowered the weapon and the Doctor lowered his hands and moved forward to see what he could do for him.

  "Thank you." The man looked up at him. "I couldn't let them take us."

  The Doctor quickly exposed the gaping wound in the man's chest. "Let's see if we can do something about this." He doubted he could, but he began to try.

  "No, I know how bad it is. I'm not going to make it this time." He smiled. "Take care of my girls."

  The Doctor quietly said, "Sorry, my friend." and closed the dead man's eyes. He heard soft sobbing behind him and turned around. The two girls holding each other and crying were about seventeen. They were tall with ash blond hair. One's hair was very short, the other's hung to her shoulders. They, like the man, were wearing miner's coveralls. They were obviously twins.

  The Doctor started to say hello, then stopped and waited. The short-haired one had climbed into the wrecked ship. She returned carrying a silver blanket and three shovels. She handed one to her sister and one to him. She looked around the clearing and chose a spot under a flowering tree laden with blooms.

  She began digging and her sister walked over and joined her. The Doctor rose from his place at the dead man's side and helped them dig the grave. While he and the short-haired girl finished covering the grave, her sister prepared a head stone. She carved out letters with a small sonic drill. He helped them set the stone in place. It said, "William Theodore Merrill. Daddy."

  He realized the girls were waiting for him. They'd both picked up packs from somewhere and were standing and watching him. He decided they weren't ready to talk yet, so he turned and led them toward the TARDIS.

  He opened the TARDIS doors and walked in. When he turned to the girls, one had his fishing rod and the other his tackle box. He smiled. They'd seen them and picked them up for him. They were looking around the console room. They spoke for the first time. The short-haired one said, "Wow." and her sister said, "Yeah.", then they looked at him.

  "I'm the Doctor. This is the TARDIS. Where would you like me to take you?"

  The girl with short hair said, "I'm Roweena Joanna Merrill. Call me Jo. My sister is Romana Andrea. Andy for easy. Thanks, Doctor, but we don't have anywhere to go.

  The Doctor was so surprised at hearing the name Romana he almost missed the last statement. How had she gotten that name? "Don't you have a home or family somewhere? I can take you anywhere."

  Andy said, "No. Our mother died years ago and Dad was all the family we had. I heard him tell you to take care of us, tha
t's why we followed you. But it's all right, you don't have to. This planet looks viable enough. We'll be able to get by here."

  The Doctor wasn't about to leave two teenage girls stranded on an uninhabited planet, with only a wrecked ship and their father's grave for company. "Why don't you come with me?" They set their packs down.

  As the he closed the TARDIS doors, the Doctor thought, "I was a bit lonely." He'd just acquired new companions.

  "Dad was a mineralogist, but he always called himself 'just a prospector'. He was a hopeless romantic. Couldn't help it."

  "He had a space ship instead of a mule, but he saw himself as an old-time gold hunter."

  "This time he hit paydirt. Not gold, hetaxite. But he wasn't going to file a claim."

  "The planet the hetaxite lode is on is inhabited by a peaceful race of primitives."

  "Dad didn't want to see them exploited."

  "But he just had to know if he was right."

  "So he took a sample to an assayer."

  "That's where we picked up the claim jumpers."

  "They wanted Dad, but weren't too worried about killing him."

  "They could get the location from the ship's nav-comp disk."

  "It just would have been more convenient to have him."

  "He knew the exact location of the deposit."

  The Doctor smiled. The girls had taken turns on the explanation. It was something he'd noticed in identical twins before. They seemed to realize why he was smiling.

  Jo said, "Sorry, bad habit."

  Andy added, "It used to drive Dad crazy."

  The girls looked at each other. Jo said, "Doctor, I've got the nav-disk, but we think the jumpers might be able to backtrack us."

  "The place Dad had the ore assayed is pretty close to where he found it."

  "The thing is... the natives are friendly and, well... "

  "They don't stand a chance against people like the ones who killed Dad."

  The Doctor held out his hand and Jo took the nav-disk out of her pocket and handed it to him. Both girls smiled. It was the first time. It was very nice.

  The Doctor showed the girls around the TARDIS. He was surprised when they chose separate rooms. Despite their tendency to take a sentence apiece in a conversation, their personalities seemed to be quite different. Neither could be termed a 'quiet type', but Andy was less outgoing than Jo. Jo seemed to be all 'bounce and energy'. Andy was 'grace' and fluid movement. They'd been delighted when he'd shown them the wardrobe, and he'd left them happily picking through the clothes. They were nearing their destination when the girls entered the console room. Jo was wearing a pale blue 'T-shirt' and 'jeans' with a dark blue, pocket covered, vest. The Doctor smiled and decided Wren would have liked the way they looked on her.

  Andy had chosen a dark brown, mid-calf length, split skirt. She wore a tan shirt belted over the skirt and a pair of sturdy brown boots. The skirt had big deep pockets and the Doctor noticed they bulged slightly.

  "We've landed. Shall we have a look?" He turned on the viewscreen.

  They'd been right. The 'jumpers' had backtracked their ship.

  There must have been two groups, because it looked like this bunch had been on the planet for awhile. The native town had been devastated and emptied. Or nearly. Jo had found the body of a small, greenish-skinned, humanoid child in the rubble of a building. She'd said, "Damn." brushed tears from her eyes and started following the trail of the natives. They found them.

  A group of about a hundred were working. There were men, women, and even children digging at the side of a hill. With their hands. They were guarded by about fifteen heavily armed men. The guards needed baths. The Doctor could smell the one standing a few meters away from his hiding place in the bushes.

  He felt a light tap on his shoulder, turned and followed the beckoning hand of Jo. She led him a couple hundred meters to a small clearing. Andy was sitting on a rock talking to a boy of about twelve squatting at her feet. She looked up at him. "I guess the fact I can talk to him has something to do with you. This is Tai. We met him when we were here before. He was as surprised as I was we could communicate in words. We'd worked out some signs before."

  "Hello, Tai. I'm the Doctor. We're going to try to help your people. Why don't you tell us what happened here?"

  The story wasn't very long. A ship had landed. People had gone to greet it. The people from the ship smelled bad. Some of them had gone off while his people had danced for the others. One of the strangers had run into the dancers' circle and yelled and gestured excitedly to the others. They had all gotten up and left. They had very bad manners.

  The next day they'd attacked the town, rounded everyone up, herded them off, and put them to work digging in the hill. They'd missed him because he was fishing. That was three days ago. He'd been sneaking his people food. The men didn't feed them much and the little ones were weak from work and hunger. He'd seen one of them kick a little one who fell down. He didn't like them.

  "We don't like them either, Tai." The Doctor turned to Jo. "Help him find food for the children. I'm going to find out how many of them there are and how they're organized. They're riffraff, but they'll have a leader, someone strong enough to bully them into working together." As he slipped into the forest, he didn't realize he had company. Andy was right behind him, moving with the silent grace of a stalking panther. He felt the gun in his back and raised his hands.

  "Help me get him out of sight." He turned and saw Andy dragging a very dead man into the bushes. He had a shuriken in his right temple.

  He helped with the body and watched as she removed the shuriken and daintily cleaned it with leaves.

  "Andy, thank you, but I don't like killing anyone unnecessarily."

  "Neither do I, Doctor; but he was pulling the trigger. The star was the only thing I had that could stop him. You're lucky. If he hadn't wanted to savor the moment, you'd have been dead before he was."

  "Oh. I see."

  There were about forty of them and they called their boss the Shark. He was from a heavy planet called Nandahlia and he ruled them with fear and avarice.

  "We've heard of him. He's a notorious pirate. But I've never heard of him doing anything like this." Jo shook her head. "He's got to be working with someone else. He hasn't got the brains to get the hetaxite refined and sold."

  "Doctor," Andy looked thoughtful. "Jo's right. There's someone off-planet actually running this."

  "I agree. Let's get rid of this trash for the mirrans and find him. The best place to start is probably the assay office. But first, we need to 'take out the garbage'." He looked at Tai's wolfish smile and sighed. The end of innocence. The new generation of mirrans would not be as 'peaceful and friendly'. Another mark against the person who had instigated this horror.

  That night they saw to it that all the natives were well fed. In the morning two guards, several small children, and a pair of old women were missing from the work site. The women and children weren't missed.

  The one called the Shark was angry. There were three men missing. He had the only ship, so they hadn't set up shop for themselves somewhere. The natives were weaklings. They made good slave labor, but they weren't capable of making anybody disappear. He slammed his fist into a boulder and watched it turn to rubble. He'd find out who was behind this and he'd make them pay.

  The Shark was wrong. Tai had killed the guards. The first with his knife when he'd caught him sneaking onto the site; the second with the dead guard's weapon when he came to investigate the noise. The Doctor had asked him to give up the weapon and he'd said, "No. I am a man among my people. Someday, I will lead them. I will keep this weapon until it is not needed." It had hurt them all to see the gentle child become a warrior. He came back from feeding his people that night with five boys about his age. They all had weapons and wolfish smiles. In the morning the Shark was missing five more guards.

  "I've
got to stop this somehow. I can't let any more of these children be turned into killers."

  "Doctor, I don't think it can be stopped. Nothing short of getting them off-planet will save those guards. These boys are hunters among their people."

  "Jo's right, we see them as boys, but that's not how they see themselves. They've passed some kind of ritual into manhood and they are adults."

  Jo and Andy were right and he knew it, but he still had to find a way to stop it. "I'm going to set the TARDIS to follow the Shark's ship then I'm going to get it off this planet. There. One button and she'll follow. In case I don't come back, this is the emergency override. It will take you to some friends of mine."

  He left the TARDIS. Andy and Jo followed. Silently. They trailed him to the work site and watched as he walked into the open and said, "Hello, I'm the Doctor. I think you should leave this planet." to a very surprised guard.

  It was a shame the Shark hadn't believed him. It would have saved him a lot of pain and the Shark nine more guards. The Doctor pushed himself up off the filthy floor and leaned against the wall of the room they'd locked him in. He felt the ship powering up. Maybe the Shark had decided he was telling him the truth. He wiped the blood from his mouth and essayed a small smile.

  "I'm not going to just take the TARDIS to his 'friends' without him. We've got to think of something and fast." Jo was pacing the console room, her route reminiscent of the Doctor's.

  "Jo? Andy?" It was Tai's voice, coming from just outside the open TARDIS door. He and his five friends were standing a few meters away. "The bad ones have left. They killed our leader, then ran to their ship when we shot the one who killed him from the trees. We know they have taken the Doctor. They had great fear. Only the Doctor could have made them fear us. Tomorrow, I become leader of my people. I shall remember his wisdom. We have brought a gift so he will know I have listened." He nodded and the boys brought a heavy bundle from the woods.

  Jo and Andy led them into the TARDIS and showed them where to stow it. They smiled at each other. This was a gift the Doctor would truly appreciate. If they could find him. They said good-by and prepared themselves. It was risky...

  "I think it's this one."

  "We'll only get one chance, Andy. You have to be sure."

  "I can't be sure. We've only seen him do it once."

  "Well, anything's better than just sitting here dithering. Let's do it."

  They raised crossed fingers in the air, then each reached out a hand and pushed the button they'd chosen together. If they were right and it was the last button the Doctor had pushed before they had taken off, the TARDIS would follow the Shark's ship. If they were not...

  The central column on the console began to rise and fall. They shook hands and Jo said, "All right, Doctor, we're on our way."

  Andy smiled and added, "With gifts."

  "Hello, Doctor. I hope you have enjoyed my associate's hospitality."

  Two men lifted him to his feet. They held him up to face her. "Hello, Varna, you're a long way from home. Things get a little too warm on Syrdis?"

  "I had something very nice going until you showed up. Now you've interfered with another operation. You've made me very angry, Doctor. I'd kill you, but I've been offered a great deal of money for you. Someone else wants you. They specified alive, but not in what condition. I shall give you to them. Alive."

  She left and the two men dropped him and followed her. They hadn't left a guard on him. He wasn't going anywhere. He had 'enjoyed' too much of the Shark's 'hospitality'. At least this floor was cleaner than the last.

  The assayist smiled his oily smile at the two pretty girls who had just entered his office. They were unescorted and he knew someone who liked young human females. He was totaling up the price they'd bring when Jo grabbed him by his shirt front and hauled him across his desk. "I think you have a lot to tell us." Jo smiled a sweet smile at him. "Why don't you begin with who you told about the hetaxite our father brought to be assayed?"

  He pulled himself free and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know anything about any hetaxite." He reached for the weapon under his desk. He didn't make it. Andy kicked him in the head. She had long legs.

  Jo said, "Gee, Andy, you're getting better. You didn't kill this one. He's even still conscious."

  "Thanks, Jo. I've been practicing. All those bodies were getting a little embarrassing." She knelt down on the floor beside him and smiled. "I believe my sister asked you a question."

  They dropped him off at a police station. Still talking. Somebody named Varna had the Doctor and she didn't sound very nice. But, first things first. They went to sink the Shark.

  Jo smiled sweetly at Andy. "Gee, maybe we should leave before someone asks us to pay for the hole in the landing pad."

  "Yes, it's too bad the Shark went back on board when he did. Another two minutes and he'd have gotten to see it explode."

  They left the spaceport and went to find someone named Varna.

  "Don't kill him and don't break anything yet. I want this to last awhile. I have four days before I turn him over. I intend to enjoy them. I've been waiting for this a long time." The Doctor groaned and Varna smiled. They had barely gotten started when a distant explosion shook the building. A man yelled her name from somewhere. "I hate interruptions. Leave him. I'm not finished with you, Doctor. I'll be looking forward to our next date." She laughed and left.

  The Doctor began working to free his hands. Ropes were easier than manacles to get out of. Ah, did that one slip a little? He wished he could see what he was doing, but when your hands are tied behind your back...

  He got free and to the door. It was locked. He found what was left of his shirt and his coat and vest tossed in a corner. He searched his vest pocket. Yes! He crawled back to the door, dragging his coat and vest with him. He wished he could put them on, but one of his arms wasn't working very well and it would take time. And he was sure he didn't have much. He pulled the little screwdriver/lockpick from his vest and went to work on the door. He hoped it wasn't guarded. The only way he'd be able to dispose of a guard was if he'd lean down to be hit.

  He was out! Now he needed somewhere to hide. He couldn't walk yet and he was sure he'd be noticed crawling out the front door. He found a trash chute and strength to climb into it. It was a tight fit, but gradually he slid to the basement. He decided the rubbish bin was a good place to hide. It would have to be. He couldn't climb out. He smiled. Varna would be upset he'd 'stood her up' for their 'date'. He burrowed into the trash and rested.

  "What do you mean, he's gone? He can't be! He couldn't even stand, let alone escape. Search the building. He can't have gotten far." The Doctor had been right. Varna was very upset, but not just because he'd 'stood her up'. In three days the Doctor's buyers would arrive and one didn't disappoint them. Daleks did not take disappointment well.

  She decided he'd had help. He wasn't in the building. The only thing they'd found was his bloody rag of a shirt. She'd held it for a moment and smiled, then dropped it back on the floor. The Shark had made a nice chunk of change betting on how many strokes it would take to cut it off with a whip. She'd enjoyed the story. She'd just decided to call on him for help when she was told someone had blown up his ship with him in it. Yes, the Doctor had help. She began to look for the ones who were helping him.

  "The place is a fortress. There are at least two guards at every door and they're in an uproar. They can't seem to find the Doctor." Jo smiled at Andy. "They think he had help."

  "Well, we know he's still in there somewhere. At least he's alive. I think it's time he got out. Any ideas?"

  "Uh oh, Andy, we've got company." Andy turned around and smiled at the man holding a gun on them.

  "This isn't exactly the way in I had in mind, Jo."

  "Actually, I'm usually the back door type myself."

  They were stand
ing in the foyer of the building about to meet Varna, or so one of the four men holding weapons on them said.

  "Where did you find them?" Andy and Jo decided the beautiful woman with the ugly voice was Varna.

  "Hiding in the bushes out back. They seemed real interested in the place, so I brought 'em in for a look around." The man who had captured them sounded smug. Jo decided something would have to be done about him. Later.

  Varna looked over the two pretty girls in front of her. She decided they weren't the ones helping the Doctor. They wouldn't know how. She said, "They might be useful as hostages. They must have thought he was still here. You, girl, what are your names?"

  "I'm Roweena and my sister is Romana. Hostages for what?"

  "The Doctor. You're just the type of useless twits he hauls around with him."

  "Not us." Andy didn't think they qualified under the useless twits clause.

  "What kind of Doctor?" Jo decided things could be clearer.

  Varna couldn't waste any more time on children. "Lock them up. This time put a guard on the door. Somebody got in here once, I don't want it happening again. It doesn't make any difference if you girls are with him or not. He's a gold plated hero and he'd trade himself for anybody. You'll do as well as the next."

  Jo decided she didn't like Varna. Andy decided likewise. Their Daddy had taught them to keep things tidy. It was time to take Varna out. She was trash.

  They locked them up and Jo handed Andy the Doctor's shirt. "That's why they're sure he had help. Not good."

  "Jo, that woman is greasy and disgusting. She just washes and wears nice clothes to hide it."

  "Yeah, she needs a real bath. She's too mad at the Doctor for this to be over a minor loss like Mirra. Maybe he gave her one."

  "I think he's cute."

  "Andy, don't you dare tell him that! At least not yet. After he gets used to us, we'll both tell him."

  "Our first loud discussion. It's a dirty trick, but it's definitely a great way to win an argument."

  "It always worked on Daddy."

  They cried awhile. There was nothing else to do and they needed to get it out of their systems. They didn't mention why they were crying. Such indulgence should serve a purpose. Varna stuck her head in, saw them bawling and retreated saying, "Stupid girls." They smiled and began crying again. They'd earned it.

  The Doctor was doing better. He'd gotten his vest and coat on. They hurt, but he needed the warmth. He'd decided he actually didn't have any severely damaged parts. He needed rest more than anything, and time, which he didn't have. He had three days to get beyond the reach of the Daleks. And he didn't have the TARDIS. Oh well, since he really couldn't do anything about anything at this point...

  He drifted off to sleep in the rubbish bin; with a woman, who thought a date involved contusions, on the first floor; two girls, who thought telling him he was cute was a good way to win an argument, on the second; and the daleks two and a half days away.

  "I'm bored." Jo began pacing the near empty room. "A chair and two tables does not a furnished room make."

  "I was thinking of painting a mural, but I've only one color of nail polish with me."

  "Badly furnished, bare walls,"

  "The faint miasma of deliberately spilled blood,"

  "The Doctor's blood,"

  "Makes me believe this sojourn should end."

  "Makes two of us,"

  "Unanimous."

  Andy knocked on the door. When the guard opened it, she passed him to Jo, stepped out and tapped the other guard on the chin. He folded nicely. They left them sleeping peacefully side by side. They added another pair. After all, Varna was sure help had come from outside. They didn't want to disillusion their hostess. That wouldn't be nice. Their daddy had taught them to be polite.

  "All right, Jo, let's find him. Your way and mine. Meet you."

  Andy looked both ways, then started walking. Jo started closely examining the floor. They moved quickly down the hall, one on the trail of evidence, the other on the trail of logic. When the trails met, they found him. Actually, Jo landed on him and rolled him out of the way so Andy didn't. The first thing he said was, "You're not supposed to be here."

  "Sorry, Doctor, must have pushed the wrong button. This is where the TARDIS brought us." Jo watched him gain strength. The TARDIS meant a great deal to him. Maybe, more than even he knew.

  "Hello, Doctor, I thought we decided they were the trash." Andy was appalled. Varna was right. He had to have help. That's why he was still in the building, he couldn't get any further.

  "What are you doing here?"

  "Why, Doctor, looking for you, though coming inside was Varna's idea. I must say, she leaves a bit to be desired as a host."

  "Look, Andy, I know you really enjoy long talks with him, but I think we need to assess his condition."

  "You're right. We won't know how difficult the chore of rescuing him will be until we do."

  "I believe I have some say in this matter."

  Both Jo and Andy looked surprised. Andy said, "Why, Doctor, whoever told you that? Now hold still while I check your ribs."

  They'd gotten him out of the rubbish bin and carried him to an old couch. He'd protested. They told him to be quiet. They had two days until the daleks arrived.

  "I don't understand why they didn't search for you."

  "It probably has something to do with the two unconscious guards by the back door." Andy dipped the cloth in the water again and washed a bit more abuse off the Doctor. Jo had found the door to the kitchen and had brought things they needed, like food and soap. They had water. There was a lavatory in the basement, but Andy wouldn't even go in it until Jo got it clean.

  "You left two guards unconscious?"

  "No, Doctor, four. There were two guarding the room we were in." She smiled at his expression. "Daddy thought girls should be able to take care of themselves."

  "And anyone else who was a problem. Hi, Andy. Doctor, you look better. Well, there are about forty of them. Most, in and out. Usually about twenty-five or so in the building. Varna's got something else going and it smells bad. I couldn't find out what it was, but she was entertaining a couple of political types and they were real friendly. The Mirra problem isn't over yet either. I heard her tell one of them she had an untapped source of hetaxite. She's got a reward out for you, Doctor. Every cheap hood and piece of trash in the streets is looking for you." Jo took Andy's place by the Doctor and Andy started to pace.

  "Government types, hetaxite, daleks, this woman is busy."

  "She always was."

  "Oh ho," thought Andy, "we get to learn what this is about."

  "It sounds like she may be trying to set up the same thing she was involved in when I ran into her on Syrdis. She had a contract with the government to supply high grade barium ore. She was using their prisons as a labor pool, but she wasn't exclusive. She was collecting for maintaining the prisoners and for the ore they dug. The problem was, she wasn't maintaining them. She was working them to death. She had a pair of rather unsavory judges who never dismissed a case and crews who collected anyone who had indulged too much in a half dozen cities in the system. One of her crews collected me."

  Andy turned to look at him and Jo stopped sponging. She said, "Why, Doctor, you've surprised us. Does this mean we'll have to pour you back to the TARDIS on Saturday nights?"

  He gave her a dirty look. "It was a ploy. I'd seen one of her crews collecting drunks and decided to investigate. I'm afraid I did a rather thorough job of ruining Varna's tidy little scheme."

  Andy said, "You were right, Jo, he gave her a bath."

  "Yes, but she needs another."

  "She's not set up yet."

  "I'd rather stop her now."

  "We could let the daleks do it for us."

  "I wouldn't do that to anyone, even her."

  "Would you mind if I joined this discussion?" They bo
th looked at him. The Doctor realized they were waiting for him to join the discussion. "We may be able to use them to make her life difficult. She wouldn't have a great deal of time to set up anything nasty if she were constantly looking over her shoulder for Daleks."

  "That's a wonderful idea, Doctor." Andy knelt by the couch and smiled at him.

  Jo grinned and said, "Now, how to accomplish it without being caught in the middle?"

  "Perhaps, we should devise a plan."

  "Arrange things."

  "Makes me believe she's about to get a bath."

  "Makes two of us."

  "Unanimous."

  The Doctor looked from one to the other. He was beginning to realize his new companions were much more than 'two teenage girls'.

  Jo went out. No one saw her leave by a basement window or return by the same route. She brought a friend back with her. "Michael Winn, my sister Andy and the Doctor. Michael is a special investigator for the tax bureau. He gives baths to judges and politicians who get dirty. He's been watching Varna's friends."

  The Doctor sat up to shake his hand. Since he managed it almost by himself, Andy and Jo decided he was getting better. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Winn."

  "Just Mike. It looks like you made someone pretty angry. Jo briefed me on the situation. I've got a quiet little restriction order going through. I can't stop everyone who tries to get to Mirra, so I've got a friend of mine moving in to see the mirrans aren't exploited. He'll treat them straight and see they get the benefits of the hetaxite. He won't take advantage of them and, if they don't want the hetaxite mined, he'll hold the mineral rights so no one else can mine it. He has inter-stellar connections and a good relationship with every government in the sector. Varna hasn't filed a claim. If she had, she'd have been tough to stop."

  "She doesn't think about doing things legally. She wouldn't file a claim until she had the operation running. I take it you're looking for evidence against her government associates." At Mike's nod, the Doctor explained how Varna had run the Syrdis operation.

  Jo took Mike back to his office and he set the plan in motion.

  Varna was delighted. The Penal Commissioner was coming to dinner. One of her judges was bringing him. It seemed the commissioner was a betting man and he'd had a run of bad luck. He was looking for a bit of extra cash to pay off a few bad debts. She wasn't too happy about giving him 'up front' money, but decided to look on it as an investment. Things were going extremely well. Now, if she could just locate the Doctor before the daleks arrived, everything would be perfect. She should have just killed him, but the daleks had offered so much for him...

  The daleks were one day away.

  "The dinner went well. The Commissioner was terrific. Got down and got oily with the judges and Varna. Convinced them completely. I saw Varna hand him the envelope of money before he left. Mike's got his evidence." Jo was pleased, Varna was about to get her bath. "It won't take him long to get a warrant."

  "I just hope he gets it before the Daleks arrive." Andy was worried. Taking out the trash was important, but she'd prefer not to fight her way through Daleks getting the Doctor to the TARDIS.

  "Help me up." The Doctor had decided he'd been on the couch long enough. They got him to his feet, but he wasn't very steady. "We need to get out of here. Daleks are very prompt. I'd rather not be here when they arrive. The fact they want me alive, indicates they have something in particular they want me for. I'd prefer not to find out what it is. If I hadn't been worried we'd need to hide rather quickly, I'd have done something to heal myself and we could have gotten out yesterday. Now we may not have time."

  "I'm going to get something to fight them with. Just in case we need it. Andy, do you want projectile or beam?"

  "Beam. I'll get the Doctor moving while you're gone."

  "Now, wait just a minute. The object is to get out of here, not take on the daleks."

  "Why, Doctor, we don't plan to take on the Daleks, but Daddy always taught us to be prepared for the worst case."

  "How about you, Doctor? Would you like something for worst case?" Jo knew he didn't like weapons, but not asking would have been very impolite.

  "You sound like you're going shopping."

  "But, Doctor, I am." Jo grinned at him and left. She'd bring something extra back for him. Just in case.

  Mike showed up with most of the city police force and a warrant for Varna. A few fools had thought they'd fight it out. The police were very well trained. The building had been cleared and Mike had come down to help get the Doctor out. Then the daleks arrived.

  "There are six of them and they're looking for Varna and you, Doctor." Jo had done a bit of reconnoiter. "I don't think we have much time. They won't skip the basement."

  "All right, give me the projectile weapon you brought." Jo handed the Doctor the gun. "Now, find me some cover by the stairs. Stairs aren't their strong point. If they come down, we might be able to pick them off one at a time. I'll shoot out the eyepiece, but a blind dalek is still dangerous."

  "Will these help?" Jo produced a grenade from a vest pocket. "I only brought seven." The Doctor smiled.

  Jo and Andy were impressed. They'd been visited by four Daleks and the Doctor had blinded each one with a single shot. They'd taken turns with Mike planting the grenades. Now there were two left, but they weren't cooperating.

  "Now we find out if they REALLY want me alive. We need to get out of this basement. Before the Daleks decide to drop the building on us. I'll need help to get up the stairs quietly. Mike?"

  Mike helped the Doctor to the small landing at the top of the stairs. Jo went out the basement window and in through the one in the dining room. They needed to know what the Daleks were up to. She dropped back into the basement, smiled pleasantly, and said, "They're very busy getting ready to blow the place up. I think we should leave."

  "Our sojourn here should end."

  "Been long enough."

  "Makes me think tis time to depart."

  "Makes two of us,"

  "Unanimous."

  When Mike raised an eyebrow at him, the Doctor said, "Twins."

  Jo quietly opened the basement door. There was a dalek planting explosives in the kitchen. Andy slipped through the door and under the table. She signaled to Jo they were on a timer. When they got rid of the Daleks, they would still need to get out of the building in a hurry.

  The Doctor nodded and Jo swung the door open. He shot out the dalek's eyepiece and Andy planted the grenade. One dalek left. And they were out of the basement.

  The dalek caught them in the hall. It grazed Mike and he fell with the Doctor. The Doctor rolled over and shot out its eyepiece from the floor. Jo and Andy each planted a grenade. They liked Mike. They headed for the nearest exit. The Doctor insisted they get Mike out first. He struggled to his feet and, using the wall for support, followed them. He was almost to the door when the building exploded.

  When he came to, Jo and Andy were carrying him away from the burning wreckage of the building. His first comment on waking was "WHY do I ALWAYS end up being carried about by WOMEN?! Put me DOWN!"

  Jo and Andy grinned and carried him to safety. They placed him next to Mike leaning against a tree across the street from the merrily burning fire. They watched as the city fire department got the blaze under control. An ambulance came for Mike, then one came for the Doctor. He protested. The lady ambulance driver and the twins ignored him and bundled him into the back of it. Jo rode up front with the driver and Andy rode in back with the Doctor.

  "I will NOT be taken to the hospital!" Andy just smiled at him. "I am NOT hurt that badly! I wish to go to the TARDIS! I don't NEED a doctor! I'll be PERFECTLY fine without one!"

  "Doctor, you're so cute when you're mad." Andy smiled. She couldn't wait to tell Jo. The Doctor just looked at her. She could see him trying to think of something to say. Yes, it worked well.

&nb
sp; They got him to the hospital, on a gurney, that into a lift and Jo pushed the button. He was still protesting and they were still smiling at him when the doors opened.

  They pushed him across the hospital basement. By this time, the Doctor had realized something was going on. It wasn't until they pushed him around a large stack of linens that he discovered what it was. They helped him off the gurney and Jo shoved it back out into the basement, then Andy closed the TARDIS doors.

  Andy said, "I think this journey should recommence."

  "Interruption's over."

  "Makes me believe we should depart."

  "Makes two of us,"

  They both smiled as the Doctor said, "Unanimous."

  "We have a gift for you, Doctor." Andy was watching him closely. He was setting coordinates on the console. She was in a good position to watch. She was holding him up. "Tai brought it just before we left Mirra. We put it in your room. As soon as you're done here, we'll take you there. And to a bath."

  "Now, JUST a minute! I'll MANAGE a bath MYSELF, thank you."

  "Relax, Doctor, we weren't planning on bathing you, just getting you there. While you bathe, we'll try to find you a shirt and get your coat clean. Then we'll give you Tai's present."

  He really did feel better. The hot bath had helped immensely. He wasn't used to having anyone in his room, but Jo had brought a tray of cakes and cocoa and it didn't look like she and Andy were planning on leaving.

  The TARDIS was on her way to a favorite fishing spot of his and, by the time she got there, he'd be healed enough to enjoy it. Andy rose from her chair, across from where he lay propped up on his bed, and said, "I think it's time to give you Tai's present. Jo, help me pull it out." The Doctor was surprised when they pulled a very large bundle from beneath his bed. "This is Tai's present to you. He said it was to show you he'd listened. He's the leader of his people now and this gift shows he'll be a good one."

  They opened the bundle and watched the Doctor's face. His smile was one of deep satisfaction. The bundle contained eighteen beam weapons. Yes, Tai had listened.

  Colleen and James

  "Doctor! Help!"

  He came up from his place by the fire with the skillet in his hand. He'd been frying the fish he'd caught. Andy and Jo were sitting across the fire watching him.

  "Someone I know just called for help. Get everything into the TARDIS. We're going to Micorn."

  The telepathic call had been from Colleen. All grown up, but Colleen. He calculated the time in his head and realized she was about nineteen. He smiled as he set the coordinates. She would like Jo and Andy.

  Colleen wasn't on Micorn, but the king was delighted to see him. Vand was still healthy and active, and still making changes. The Doctor smiled as he left the throne room. Vand's grandchildren had been climbing all over the throne while he and Vand had sat on the steps and talked. He set the coordinates for Earth, but she wasn't there either.

  Bonnie told him she'd gone on vacation, but something had happened to her, she could feel it. He had gotten her planned route and set the TARDIS to follow. He tracked her through her first three stops, then she disappeared.

  "She disappeared in this sector, along with twenty other passengers and the ship they were on. I'm going to try to reach her telepathically. Don't touch me. This may take some time. I've never tried to contact her before."

  "Doctor, wouldn't you like a pillow or something?" He'd laid down on the console room floor and Andy was standing over him. Jo was leaning on the console a few feet away.

  "No this will do."

  They watched him for a few moments, then went to find some dinner. They didn't know how long he'd be, but they were sure he'd be hungry when he awoke, or whatever you called it. He always was. He was sitting up with a rather dazed expression on his face when they returned. Jo handed him a plate and fork and he just sat holding them for a moment. "I found her, or rather, she found me. It was a bit like communicating with a super-nova. She's in trouble all right, but only because she was on the ship. The raiders were after someone else. The man she's decided to marry. Well, we shall just have to meet him." He began laying in the coordinates of the space station Colleen had identified as her location.

  Jo said, "Doctor, did she tell you who took them and why?"

  "No, she's trying to keep anyone from finding out she's a telepath, but I got the impression her captors were non-human."

  The TARDIS landed in a storage locker. The Doctor picked the lock on the door and Jo slipped out before he could stop her. Andy said, "You might as well wait for her here, Doctor. She'll be back with the information we need soon."

  Jo slipped through the door and said, "Ugh! What a nasty bunch." Since the Doctor and Andy were waiting patiently (Well, Andy was waiting patiently.) for an explanation, she told them what she'd learned.

  The station had been taken over by diriths. A rather difficult concept to grasp. Diriths were not prone to cooperation, especially with other diriths. "Dirith doesn't have space capability." The Doctor was wondering how the big reptiles had gotten to the station.

  "They've got the crew of the station running it. They probably did the same thing to get here. Being eaten for supper if you don't cooperate is an effective method of coercion. Especially since diriths like their dinner alive." Jo added, "Ugh."

  Andy looked thoughtful. "They want something from this friend of your friend very badly, Doctor. Jo, did you find out where they're keeping the prisoners?"

  Jo looked at them a few seconds, then said, "Next to their dining room."

  Colleen knew the Doctor was nearby. As soon as he'd opened the TARDIS doors, she'd seen him shining. She mopped the sweat off her face (reptiles like it warm), and smiled. Help had come. Now all she had to do was wait. And hope the diriths didn't get hungry.

  "I think we should get the passengers out first. We'll bring them to the TARDIS. Then we'll find out what this is about and do something about the rest of the people they're holding. Jo, how heavily are the passengers guarded?"

  "Not very. I think you're right, Doctor. The only reason I found them was because I followed a dirith. I think he was grocery shopping. Doctor, diriths are hard to knock out and even harder to kill. I kind of wish we hadn't buried all those weapons when we went fishing."

  "They have one weak point. There's a place just behind their earholes that's not armor plated. It's the spot they try for when they fight each other. Of course, getting past all those teeth makes it difficult to reach it, even for another dirith. Let's get those people out of there."

  They only ran into one dirith on the way. Andy had jumped on it as it tried to bite the Doctor's head off. She'd pulled something long, thin, and very sharp from her hair and inserted it neatly into the spot the Doctor had told her about. It had taken she and Jo pulling, and the Doctor pushing from beneath, to get it off him. Andy had apologized for dropping it on him.

  Colleen had known he was coming and had everyone ready to move out. They'd made it back to the TARDIS and Andy had led them all to the swimming pool. The rest of the people had seemed delighted to stay there, but Colleen had returned to the console room with Andy.

  "You look like your grandmother." Her red hair was quite a bit longer, but the Doctor could see Liberty in everything about her.

  "Thank you, Doctor. I've missed you too." Andy and Jo watched in surprise as she ran to him, threw her arms around his neck, and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "I knew you'd come."

  He smiled fondly. "Now, what's this about the diriths taking your young man?"

  Colleen told them the little she knew. The diriths were slightly telepathic and she'd been afraid to probe them. They wanted something from James and she'd been afraid they might be able to use her to get it. James worked for the Earth government. He was a treaty negotiator. He was on a long overdue vacation after some very hard work. She didn't know what it was, but he had been very elated
about it. "There's just one thing, Doctor. He doesn't know he's going to marry me yet and I'd prefer to tell him myself." The girls laughed at his expression. It was the beginning of a great friendship. He'd been right. Colleen liked Jo and Andy.

  The disappearance of their larder had upset the diriths. Twice on their way to free James and the station crew, they'd stepped over evidence that the dirith 'spirit of cooperation' had ended. They added three more to the litter on the floor before they freed the rest of the prisoners.

  The remaining diriths had taken off in the ship they'd arrived in after the station crew reduced their number by four more. They'd found James. Diriths didn't torture, but they got angry. He had bruises and cracked ribs. And he was dying. It hadn't occurred to the diriths to give him food, or water.

  They found the passenger ship crew among the station crew. The diriths had reduced the station crew a bit too far, and they'd been co-opted to help keep it functioning. The passenger ship departed for its destination. It was five people short. Two were with the Doctor. The other three...

  "Where am I?"

  "Hello, James. You're aboard the Doctor's ship, the TARDIS. He rescued us."

  "You're Colleen."

  "Yes, we met when you boarded the Mina at Teris City."

  The Doctor listened to the brief conversation and smiled. Colleen hadn't mentioned the fact that she'd only met her young man a few hours before the Mina had been hijacked. He did not doubt for a moment that Colleen would marry the young man. It would be a very interesting process to watch.

  "James, this is the Doctor. He's a very special friend of my family. Doctor, this is James Royce."

  "Hello, James, it's nice to have you with us."

  "Thank you. Actually, I'm rather surprised to be here, or anywhere, to tell the truth."

  "Yes, they didn't take very good care of you, considering the effort they put into getting you. Why don't you tell me what they were after?" He saw the guarded look that came into James' eyes. He smiled. "The diriths knew enough about it to come after you and it was important enough several of them worked together."

  "I really can't tell you, Doctor. I'm sorry."

  "James, something you know has set a series of events in motion. Several people have already died horrible deaths. Colleen believes I should help you. I agree. There's something very unpleasant happening. If you want to stop it, you'll need my help."

  "James, the Doctor is the king of Micorn's friend."

  The Doctor saw James' eyes widen. "But that was years ago."

  "Well, yes, but not as many as that. Actually, it's only been a little more than two for me."

  James looked to Colleen for an explanation. "The Doctor isn't human, James. He's a Time Lord. When I called him, I wasn't sure I'd find him. He might have been in the past, or the future. It could have been two hundred years for him instead of two, and he might have looked totally different."

  "Colleen Connell. I knew it sounded familiar. I just didn't put it together."

  Colleen laughed. "I was delighted you didn't. Sometimes it's nice to be just another girl. Vand is a sweetheart, but being his friend is a bit public."

  "Ahem." The Doctor was feeling a bit left out. In other circumstances, he'd have quietly slipped out, but something about the whole situation bothered him. What had gotten the diriths to cooperate? "James, I think you should know, the TARDIS is on its way to Dirith."

  "Actually, Doctor, Miris is where we should go."

  "I'll change the coordinates."

  The Doctor was smiling as he made his way to the console room. James was well on his way to becoming a husband.

  "It just doesn't make any SENSE! The diriths wouldn't have gone to all that trouble to get the route of an ORE shipment! There HAS to be something more to it!"

  "Calm down, Doctor, you'll figure it out. You just don't have enough info yet." Jo smiled and watched him pace.

  "Jo's right, Doctor, all you're doing is wearing out the floor." Andy was smiling too.

  "James has told you what he knows. We just don't have enough of the background to know where his piece of the puzzle fits." Colleen knew that Jo and Andy were gleefully anticipating something.

  "I am PERFECTLY calm! We have enough 'INFO' to begin to put the 'PUZZLE' together! And I am not WEARING OUT THE FLOOR!"

  Jo said, "Doctor, did you know you're cute when you shout?"

  Colleen watched the Doctor. He was totally at a loss for words. She saw Andy give Jo a small 'thumbs up'. She followed them through the interior doors and found them giggling in the corridor.

  "Oh, it was perfect." Andy struggled to say.

  "All right, what's going on?" Colleen had learned not to casually peer into other people's minds by the time she was six, but she was tempted. When they'd composed themselves enough to talk, Jo and Andy explained. When Colleen recovered from her giggles, she said, "It wouldn't work with my dad, but you're right. It's the perfect way to stop an argument with the Doctor."

  "You're right, Doctor. It doesn't make any sense." Andy felt a bit guilty about the dirty trick she and Jo had played on him. She'd brought tea and cakes to the console room. Colleen had baked the cakes.

  "Hmm?" The Doctor was musing on the delicious cakes and his memories of dorar bread and tergo jam. It was obvious Katie had taught Colleen to cook.

  "Maybe, we've cast the diriths in the wrong role. Perhaps they're just extras being paid to do one scene." She'd gotten his attention. He'd paused with a cake halfway to his mouth.

  "It's possible, but I can't see diriths working for profit. They don't even have a monetary system. The dirithas carry on all trade. The male territorial instinct is so strong they avoid any contact. That's why this incident is so odd."

  "Perhaps someone offered them a planet. This cluster is full of viable uninhabited planets. A small harem of fifteen or twenty darithas and the promise of a continent to himself would probably get a dirith to really try to cooperate."

  "Andy, you're a genius."

  "Yes, Doctor, but I hide it well."

  "They decided to stay and help them rebuild their world."

  "Doctor, there's something you're not telling me."

  "Colleen, don't ask me what it is. I offered to bring them home, but they felt they were needed."

  "All right. I know they're happy. I just never understood why they left you. Especially Grandma, her letters never mentioned a reason."

  "Letters?"

  "Oops. Yes, letters. You brought them to us when I was about seven. You looked totally different, but I recognized you immediately. You'd been to see Grandma and Uncle Wren and you brought us stacks of letters." She watched him slowly smile. Yes, something had happened. Something had caused the separation and it still hurt.

  "Thank you. It's nice to know I'll see them again. How is James? We're about to land on Miris and we're going to need him. The mirisians don't like strangers."

  "James is much better." They both turned as he walked through the doors. He looked much better. Colleen's tender care had worked wonders. One could still see a few signs of mis-treatment, but he looked very different from the dying man the Doctor had carried aboard the TARDIS a few days before. He'd found the wardrobe and garments suitable for Miris. He was tall and rapier slender and the dark formal day-wear suited him well. He'd also found a dark cloak with rich green satin lining. His dark curly hair was brushed back off his face and his intense green eyes glittered with humor. Colleen thought he was beautiful.

  "I don't have my credentials with me, so we'll need to go to the embassy first. The ambassador should be briefed. This trade treaty was the result of years of work. The mirisians distrust of strangers verges on paranoia. It took twenty years of careful negotiation before they'd allow an embassy and it's the only one. As far as we know, this is the first trade treaty they've signed. Its secrecy was to protect the position of the First Citizen."

 
"Hmm. Isn't it a bit unusual for Earth to conduct secret trade negotiations to protect the power of an individual?"

  "Yes, Doctor, but he's the only one willing to bring Miris into contact with other worlds. The idea was to establish the trade and then tell the people. If he could show proof of its benefits to them, they'd accept it. There are only nine of us that are supposed to know about it. Six from the Earth delegation and three from Miris. One of those nine must have talked. Since I know it wasn't me, that leaves eight. I should go to the embassy alone. I've been seen on Miris before. I'm afraid, as a group, we'd attract too much attention. The mirisians are avian descended and our plumage is all wrong."

  James needn't have worried. The TARDIS landed in the very startled Earth ambassador's office. He stepped out and calmed the ambassador, then the others joined him. "Ambassador Renkoski, I would like to introduce some valued friends. The Doctor, Miss Colleen Connell, Misses Jo and Andy Merrill. The Doctor and Miss Connell are the King of Micorn's friends."

  The ambassador paused in reaching out his hand to stare in surprise at James. He'd known him for several years and had been willing to accept his friends for that reason. Now... He finished his arrested motion, shook hands with the Doctor, said, "Sir." then bowed over Colleen's hand and kissed it. He turned to Jo and Andy and they stuck out their hands and grinned at him. He shook them and turned back to James. He looked a bit dazed. He'd just met a pair of diplomatic legends, and they'd arrived in his office in a blue box!

  James grinned. "The Doctor rescued Miss Connell and I from a very bad situation. A group of diriths hijacked the ship we were on and were holding us prisoner on a space station."

  "A GROUP of diriths?!"

  "Yes, they were after the route of the ore carrier."

  The ambassador looked stunned. The Doctor decided it was time to take a part in the discussion. "Someone wants this trade agreement to fail. The ore shipments aren't valuable enough for anyone to go to all this trouble. We've come to find out who it is and stop them."

  "There are only nine of us that know about it. Two are in this room. Three are back on Earth. One is aboard a ship that won't reach its destination for two months. The remaining three are mirisian. The First Citizen and his two most trusted aides. None of the three on Earth would have had time to set this up." The ambassador looked very thoughtful. "It has to be one of the First Citizen's aides. I can tell him we suspect them, but he won't believe it. One of them is his brother. The other is his best friend. They've been friends since childhood."

  The ambassador looked very worried. "Doctor, this is far more serious than the failure of a trade agreement. If that ore ship was hijacked, Earth would be blamed. No mirisian would believe one of them was responsible. We're strangers; therefore, untrustworthy. The loss of the ore ship could lead to war between Earth and Miris."

  "Ambassador, we'll need credentials for James, Colleen, and myself. I want you to arrange for me to meet the First Citizen."

  "We'll need credentials too." Jo wasn't about to be left out. "You're not going anywhere without us. Not after last time."

  "Don't argue, Doctor." Andy definitely agreed with Jo on this issue. "We'll dress appropriately and be ready in minutes." They walked back into the TARDIS.

  The ambassador was smiling broadly. "Credentials for five then. I have a teenage daughter, Doctor. I've learned there are times when there's no point in arguing. I have a feeling those two would follow you, with or without credentials. Now, I'll need your full names."

  The man preparing the documents had a great deal of difficulty in accepting the idea that one of them should be made out for "The Doctor". He kept asking, "Doctor who?" The answer, "Precisely." didn't assuage his confusion at all.

  The appointment was made and the ambassador provided them with transport. They arrived at the First Citizen's residence in the ambassador's official vehicle. They presented their credentials (Andy had the Doctor's. He'd forgotten them.) and the letter of introduction from the ambassador. Then they were asked to wait.

  "Doctor, if you don't sit down and relax, Jo is going to tell you you're cute again." Andy almost laughed as he quickly found a chair, but it didn't last long. She didn't threaten him again. He was deep in thought, not pacing from impatience.

  "James, tell me about the mirisian governmental system."

  "It's representative in nature, but the positions are hereditary. Any representative in the Citizen's Congress can be recalled and another of his family placed in office. If there are no other males in his direct line, another family is elevated to First status. Females are well organized and politically powerful, but can't hold office." The ladies' expressions made him smile. "They are; however, in the majority of powerful positions in the bureaucracy. The recall system is simple, but there hasn't been one in decades.

  The Doctor stopped pacing and stood very still. It was quite some time before he said, "James, how is another family chosen for First status?"

  "I'm not sure. We know there's a very involved selection procedure dating back centuries. There's some type of ritual, but we've never been able to learn anything about it other than its name. It's called the Challenge of Honor."

  "You said one of the First Citizen's aides was his brother, how many other males are in his direct line?"

  "None." Before James could ask the Doctor the reason for the question, a functionary arrived to escort them to the First Citizen's office.

  He stood to greet them, then dismissed his secretary. He said, "I've learned my name is very difficult for humans to pronounce. First Citizen is a bit long. Call me Mish and I shall call you...?"

  "I'm the Doctor, this is Colleen, the two behind me are Andy and Jo, and I believe you are already acquainted with James."

  "Yes, we've worked together before. I'm sorry I kept you waiting. Something happened that required my immediate attention. I'm not sure what this is about, but Ambassador Renkoski said it was extremely urgent."

  The Doctor smiled. He'd liked Mish instantly. He gave him an account of the hijack and finished with, "Mish, the time factor involved indicates the leak is here. Someone has learned of the agreement and is trying to destroy it."

  "Doctor, I can't imagine how, but I agree with you. The emergency I just dealt with may have been caused by a 'leak' as you called it. Two families are feuding. There have actually been acts of violence on both sides. I haven't been able to discover a reason for the dispute. Feud is not a normal state amongst my people. There hasn't been one since my ancestor was chosen as First Citizen. Someone may be trying to bring my family down with the information and at least two families know about it. If more learn, we'll have open warfare, with every family fighting with all others. My brother and I have no one to designate champion and my friend !Tcla has no adult male relatives. Someone else is responsible for this. There are a great many that distrust Earth. It is why I insisted the agreement be secret until it proved successful. Perhaps I should have trusted my people, but I feared the violence my recall would initiate."

  "Doctor," Andy had been following the discussion closely. "If two families are feuding, the secret is out. Maybe we can trace the leak from them to its source. Someone is telling a lot of people about it. Who would profit most? Somebody wants Miris in civil unrest and maybe at war with Earth. Who?"

  "A good question, Andy, but one that has to take second place right now. Mish, you really should tell your people about the agreement. A secret known by all is not dangerous. Then, I think you and I should talk about recall. I'd like to meet your brother and !Tcla. They should know what's happening."

  James helped write the announcement, then he and Colleen returned to the embassy to brief the ambassador and help him prepare a statement. The Doctor tried to send Jo and Andy with them, but they insisted on waiting for him outside the First Citizen's office. Two other mirisians entered and eventually left. It was more than three hours befor
e the Doctor finally came out.

  "The announcement goes out planet-wide this evening. I have something to do tonight and you cannot go with me, so I want you to start looking for the leak and Andy's 'person that would profit most'. Get the ambassador, James and Colleen to help. I'll be staying here. See if you can have something for me when I return."

  "Doctor, you're up to something. We'll go, but we don't like it." Andy nodded. She agreed with Jo. "Just make sure you get back tonight. We'd rather not have to turn this planet upside down looking for you."

  `

  "I'll be with Mish. He should be able to take care of me." He smiled fondly and shook his head as they left. They wouldn't be happy with him when he returned to the TARDIS.

  The rituals were old and bloody. The old priestess wasn't happy about an alien going through them, but was Mish's friend and understood the need. She began to see the wisdom of his choice when the Doctor went through one, then the other. Few would have been able to do it. Mish remained at the temple to complete the documents and his brother, !Tkor, and !Tcla took the Doctor back to the embassy. The Doctor had been right. Andy and Jo were NOT pleased.

  "You didn't tell us, because you knew we wouldn't let you go alone. You should have at least waited a few days between them." Jo was really mad at him.

  "I didn't have time. Now I'm a member of Mish's family and, since I'm not serving in the government, I could be designated champion."

  "Doctor," Andy paused in treating him. "these wounds are designed to leave a pattern of scars. They've been deliberately widened and abraded with something."

  "Yes. Salt."

  He wouldn't let them bandage him and they wouldn't let him put on a shirt. It wasn't until Jo saw blood on the floor that they realized more than his upper body was involved. Andy told Colleen and she sent James to him. He was pale and a bit sick-looking when he came from the Doctor's room, but he wouldn't talk about it.

  Colleen had known what was happening to him, but she'd also known his need to do it. She hadn't told any of the others. She didn't tell him. Knowing she felt his pain would only be a burden. She cried herself to sleep, glad she had a room to herself. It had been her grandmother's.

  The Doctor healed himself as quickly as he could. He was dressed and in the console room pacing when Jo went hunting for him the next afternoon.

  "Doctor, you should be in bed."

  "I'm not hurt badly and I'm healing well. How far have you gotten in tracing our leak?"

  "The two women who work for the Mining Commission put two and two together. Their families are feuding. We found something else." The Doctor could tell by her tone the news wasn't going to be good. "There was a listening device in the ambassador's office. The signal was going off-planet. To Earth."

  The vote on recall wasn't high enough to pass. But, since it was over forty percent, the First Citizen's family could be challenged by others. Mish chose the first family challenge to be accepted carefully. If the Doctor defeated their champion, the others would withdraw.

  The challenge was an all male affair. Only the families involved and the arbiter were allowed to be present. Mish and !Tkor were the Doctor's family. There were nearly forty in the other.

  The arbiter identified the champions by their scars and they were led to a room filled with ancient weapons. The two champions entered and the door was closed. No one was allowed to watch the combat. They waited for one to come out. It was the Doctor. The arbiter declared the challenge complete and the Doctor said, "Please, find me a medical kit. I've hurt him far more than I intended."

  Mish followed the Doctor back into the challenge room and gave him the kit. He watched as he deftly stitched the pumping artery and closed the wound in the defeated man's arm. The man regained consciousness as the Doctor tied off the last stitch. The Doctor helped him to his feet and said, "I'm sorry. I hadn't seen that move before. I misjudged badly." The greatest champion in the world nodded to the man that had just defeated him.

  The Doctor aided him to his family. Mish watched him watching the Doctor walk away. There was worship in his eyes. He smiled. He had chosen his champion and his new brother well. There would be no more challenges.

  Colleen contacted her father on Earth. He was one of very few she could converse with telepathically. He would arrange for an investigation and the results would be awaiting them when they arrived. He would not. He was being sent to attempt to avert a war. He was sorry he'd miss the Doctor. They stayed on Earth just long enough for Bonnie and Moira to arrive and Katie to serve the Doctor tergo jam and dorar bread (The King of Micorn provided the ingredients and Katie kept him supplied.), then they set out again. The Doctor insisted Bonnie, Moira and Katie accompany them. It was December of 2165.

  The investigation had traced the signal to the closed Sleden embassy. Mick wouldn't miss the Doctor. They followed him to Sleden. It was one system beyond Dirith.

  "Doctor, it's good to see you." Mick had reached that indeterminate 'somewhere in their forties' age that, in his family, lasted for decades.

  "Hello, Mick. We need to talk."

  "This way, Doctor." Mick wondered what the Doctor had learned that had brought him out of the TARDIS alone. He led him the short distance from the courtyard to his office in the embassy, then watched as the Doctor paced.

  "Bonnie says she's engaged and Moira seems to have someone special. Where are they?"

  "Paul is attached to the embassy on Micorn and David is here."

  "Mick I have your entire family with me. All of them." He smiled. "I even have your cats. All seven of them. I can't explain my reasons to you. I'm doing something I'm not allowed to do, but someday I'll have to face Liberty."

  "Doctor, you have our complete trust. I don't know what you want us to do, but we'll do it."

  "Don't go back to Earth. Mick, don't ask! I'll take you to Micorn, to your mother, even leave you here. I want you to arrange it so David and Paul? don't go back either."

  "All right, Doctor. We'll go to Micorn. I'll arrange to have David attached to my personal staff. We'll take him with us. I suppose you wish this kept between us or you wouldn't be here alone. I'll try not to speculate on the reasons."

  "Good. I think we should get back to the TARDIS. Andy and Jo may decide to come looking for me if I don't return soon."

  The cats liked the Doctor. Every time he turned around, he tripped over one. Every time he sat down, at least two tried to sit on his lap. He yelled he was sick of cats, but they didn't believe him. One was currently maintaining a precarious position on his chair back as he and Mick put together the pieces of the puzzle.

  "There's off-planet influence at work here, Doctor. The war party has had a major infusion of funds. They've mounted an all out propaganda attack against Earth. I'm going to use my 'plenipotentiary' status to obtain funds to fight back."

  "Mick, someone's spending a great deal to foment a war between this cluster and Earth. Who?" As soon as he asked the question, he realized he knew the answer.

  The Ambassador released his total budget and Mick and James used it to help the peace party fight the propaganda war.

  Jo and Andy asked for access to any computer terminal tied to the Sleden central net. They were shown to a public information terminal. Jo took something from her pocket and attached it to the terminal and Andy sat down at the keyboard.

  "The funds are being distributed by someone named Rirteeth Lir. He also paid for a trader named Silith Por to make an extended trip to Dirith. Someone wants this whole cluster at war with Earth."

  "Jo's right, Doctor. I found money trails from here to every anti-Earth organization in the cluster. I tracked the money trail back as far as I could. A series of numbered accounts on banking worlds, then nothing."

  "Thank you. Give your information to Mick."

  Andy and Jo watched him walk through the interior doors. Jo said, "He knows something he's not telling
us."

  "He knows who's doing this. He's not helping and he's very sad about it." Andy shook her head. "Jo, I think this is one riddle I'm not going to look for the answer to. At least not yet. Let's get our info to Mick."

  "All right, but someday I want the answer."

  Rirteeth Lir had made only one mistake. He'd chosen Silith Por to go to Dirith. Por liked to drink, and brag. He bragged to the member of the peace party buying him drinks. The propaganda war ended when the vid of Por, telling of promising to give the diriths Earth, and what left was of its people after the war, hit the air.

  Rirteeth Lir admitted distributing the funds, but he didn't know where they came from. He was sure someone very rich hated Earth as much as he did. He was sure it was another Sleden patriot. He refused to believe they were coming from outside the cluster.

  Mick had accomplished his mission. He had David and James assigned to him and the Doctor took them all to Micorn.

  "Doctor, you were the first true friend I'd ever had. You should know you can trust me." The king was greatly distressed at the sadness he saw in the Doctor.

  "Vand, I travel in time. I meddle a bit more than I should, but there are events I cannot change."

  "Doctor, whatever is coming has nothing to do with Micorn or you wouldn't have brought Mick and his family here. I am your friend." He laid his arm across the Doctor's shoulders. "I had never done this until I met you, nor" He smiled. "shared my throne with a child. Share your burden. I ask it as your friend."

  "I have a granddaughter... "

  Colleen straightened her veil. Hers would be the first traditional Earth wedding on Micorn. She'd rushed James a bit, but wanted the Doctor present. She knew why he was sad, but she'd never told anyone, including him, anything she knew about him. She smiled. She also hadn't told him her grandmother had congratulated her on becoming Mrs. James Royce in a letter he'd delivered when she was seven.

  King Vand officiated, he'd received his credentials from the planetary government of Earth. Her father gave her away and David was best man. (James had asked the Doctor, but he'd gently refused, saying he'd been on the planetary vid net once too often.) Paul and another young man attached to the embassy were groomsmen. Bonnie was maid of honor and Moira and one of the king's daughters were bridesmaids. Two of the king's grandchildren were flower girl and ring bearer. The Doctor sat with Katie in the front row. Andy and Jo sat behind him. The wedding was beautiful.

  Colleen, James, and Ring Vand took the marriage certificate to the Doctor to sign as witness. He was delighted. They all knew he was leaving. He would not be at the big reception that evening.

  Andy and Jo stalled him. They were pretty good at it, but they could tell he was becoming impatient.

  They were waiting for him at the door of the TARDIS. All of them. Mick had two bottles of champagne. David and Paul had a small cake and serving implements. Bonnie and Moira had napkins and silver. The king held up a jar of tergo jam and Katie lifted the cover of the basket she was carrying and the aroma of hot, fresh-baked, dorar bread filled the air. Colleen and James arrived, hands full of champagne glasses, and they all stood grinning at him.

  He smiled and opened the TARDIS door.

  Mad Sunday

  "Endless journey, ever wandering,"

  "No excitement."

  "Pond to pond and world to world,"

  The Doctor had a good idea what was coming. Things HAD been rather quiet lately.

  "Tired of fish."

  "Makes me think of new destinations."

  "Makes two of us."

  "Unanimous!"

  "We're bored Doctor." Jo stowed the fishing gear with a bang of finality. "And I'm beginning to hate fish."

  "What did you have in mind?" He'd never admit it, but he was a bit tired of fishing too. Things had been very quiet lately and he'd stopped at most of his favorite places.

  "Noise and excitement."

  "Theatres and lots of people." Andy had her own ideas of a good time.

  "I know just the place. The TARDIS will be a bit out of place. They'll have stopped using the pattern she's based on in the time we arrive."

  "Couldn't be any more out of place than in the middle of that stone age village. Those people were terrified." Andy loved the expression on his face. "They thought you were a god."

  "Yeah, they wanted to give you the chief's daughter." Jo was giggling almost too hard to talk.

  "Then they decided they should sacrifice someone to you." Andy wasn't in much better shape than Jo.

  "Well, I stopped it." The Doctor wasn't too happy with the way this discussion was going.

  "Yes, Doctor, we know. Probably permanently. That was quite a talk you gave them." It had been. Jo had been impressed.

  "I liked the part on sanitation." Andy was serious. Several people had died because they were fouling their water supply. The Doctor had taught them to take their waste below the village and get their water upstream.

  " I'm taking you to see how your ancestors lived."

  "Earth! You're taking us to Earth! When?"

  "Late twentieth century. There's an island in the middle of the Irish sea that should fulfill both your requests."

  "Doctor, if we're going to the late twentieth century, we'll need some of their money." Andy had been through this before. It just wasn't something he thought about.

  "Try the wardrobe, I think there's some in a drawer somewhere."

  Andy found the drawer with the money in it. There was all kinds. She knew she was looking for the paper kind, so she sorted through the wads and stacks and pulled out everything she could find from twentieth century Earth. She carried the large stack of paper to the console room and said, "This is all from the right time, but it's a real variety. Which kind do we need?"

  "The ones that say pound, nothing later than about nineteen-ninety."

  "Most of this says dollars."

  "I wonder how I got that. I haven't spent much time in North America. You can exchange it at a bank."

  She re-sorted, returned the balance to the wardrobe and counted what was left. There were three hundred twelve of the dollars and one hundred sixty of the pounds. Then she found another stack. Evidently it wouldn't fit in the drawer. It had been tossed in a corner nearby. It was a big stack. It said pounds too, but was different. She took it all back to the console room. "Doctor, I found some more of the pound things, but they're not the same."

  "Let me see. Ah, perfect. Manx money. The Isle of Man. I think I won that at a casino there once. I wasn't paying enough attention and it just accumulated. That's where we're going."

  The TARDIS landed in a hotel room. She'd been landing inside buildings rather often of late. The Doctor wondered if she was tired of being rained on, then dismissed the thought.

  Andy, ever practical about such things, took a stack of money and went to find the innkeeper. Jo headed for the big windows. "Wow, what are those?"

  The Doctor joined her at the window to see what had gotten her so excited. "Those are motorcycles. We seem to have arrived during TT fortnight."

  "Doctor can I get one of those to ride?"

  "I doubt it. Every one of those is the pride and joy of its owner, but you may find someone to give you a ride."

  "Terrific! Let's go."

  They met Andy on the stairs. "He was a little surprised. Someone just moved out an hour ago. It may have been the only empty room in the city. I told him we'd just learned about it and our source didn't say how she'd known it was empty. Here are your keys. Someone just changed the linens, so we don't have to worry about a maid wandering in and seeing the TARDIS."

  "Andy, did you see those motorcycles on the sidewalk? I'm going to find someone to give me a ride."

  "I HEARD them. I got a race schedule for you. There's something they call 'Mad Sunday' tomorrow. I guess it's an everyone, with the courage or foolishness, participates kind of thing."

&
nbsp; "Yes, and too often some of them die." Mad Sunday was not one of the Doctor's favorite memories.

  The Doctor was wrong. Jo got a motorcycle. She bought it. The stack of money Andy had handed her had several thousand pound notes in it. The man who sold it to her was surprised at the way she rode. He'd looked a bit confused when she told him it wasn't much different than riding a grav scoot. He told her she had to have a helmet, so she bought two. One for herself and an extra one for Andy. She spent ten minutes watching in the repair shop and five minutes in a library reading about internal combustion engines. She decided she was ready and went for a ride around the island. She learned motorcycles were called 'bikes', and she found a some 'leathers' on sale. She bought three 'nice and roomy' two piece sets in white. She was going to ride in the 'Mad Sunday' race. The Doctor was NOT happy about it.

  That evening he took them to a play at the Gaiety Theatre. He explained it had been built in the Victorian age, then had to give them a brief lesson on that. They enjoyed the play immensely, and the beautiful old theatre even more. When they walked by the ladies holding a bed sheet to collect donations to restore it, Andy dropped in several of the thousand pound notes. She wrapped them in a one so she wouldn't attract attention. The actor, who had asked for contributions at the end of the play, had said they needed three hundred fifty thousand pounds to restore it. She was a bit sorry she didn't have that much. He had been very good, and cute too. "Doctor, what's wrong?" He had come to a dead stop in the middle of the stairs.

  "Something's here. Something evil. It's not in the theatre, but it's somewhere nearby." He began to walk rapidly down the steps. Jo and Andy smiled at each other and hurried to catch up. Excitement at last.

  "I can't find it! I can feel it, but I can't FIND it!"

  Andy watched him pace the console room. He was really upset. "Doctor, what do you feel?"

  "A hunger. It's like something I've felt before, but I can't remember where. Something evil is here and it's hungry. Why here? What does it want here? And WHY CAN'T I FIND IT?!"

  "Maybe it's here for the races." Jo had come into the console room dressed in 'leathers'. The race was about to start.

  "Be careful, Jo. You're inexperienced and this is a very dangerous event. For riders and spectators. The last time I was here a rider hit a wall. His motorcycle exploded. Not only was he killed, but three people sitting on the wall died."

  "Jo, the Doctor says this thing's hungry. If it's here for the races, it may feed on the kind of thing he's talking about."

  "I'll be careful. I'm not planning on winning, just participating. Are you going to watch me ride?"

  "Of course. Couldn't let my little sister ride in a big race without cheering her on."

  "Little sister! Four minutes does not a little sister make. I've got to get going."

  "We'll catch one of the buses, won't we, Doctor?"

  "Hmm?" He'd been thinking about Andy's comment. The hunger he'd felt could be for the kind of violent death that came, so suddenly, on Mad Sunday. "Yes, we'll be there."

  Jo and Andy laughed. He'd missed a piece of the conversation. Again. Jo left the TARDIS and Andy checked the timetable for the buses. The Doctor still stood lost in thought in the console room.

  "Doctor? Doctor! We have to hurry. The bus leaves in about five minutes."

  "Andy, get us a motorcycle. Do it fast. We have to catch Jo."

  Andy found a motorcycle with a 'For Sale' sign on it and handed its surprised owner cash. He'd run for the title while she stood impatiently waiting for him. She'd found a helmet to borrow and grabbed the one Jo had gotten for her. She'd been surprised when the Doctor had jumped on the bike and started it. He'd said, "Get on and hang on."

  Oh my, but the Doctor could ride. She still had the helmet she'd brought for him hanging on her arm. She wished he'd taken time to put it on. It kept banging her elbow. She leaned into another curve with him and felt her skirt brush the road. Jo was fifteen minutes ahead, but they were catching up. Fast.

  Jo had gotten a good position. There'd been a bit of a shuffle. It seemed someone had to drop out. Some biker had tried to pinch her. She didn't think she had broken his arm, but he seemed to think she had.

  "Give me that helmet. We'll never reach her in time. Get to the middle of the course. We'll drop out there."

  Andy handed him the red helmet and watched him pull into the pack. He definitely stood out amidst all that black leather. She sweet-talked a young man into giving her a lift and sat on a grassy spot a few meters from the road.

  The Doctor had found it. The hunger was all around him, but was strongest in front. One of these riders was not what he seemed. The race began and he started working his way through the pack. A rider in front of him spun into a wall. He could feel disappointment in the hunger. The rider wasn't badly hurt.

  He laid the bike over and took the curve on the high side. When he brought it up, he passed a half dozen more. He was still too far away from Jo.

  A rider slid out of control on the next curve. His bike hit the wall, but he was thrown clear. The hunger was disappointed again. The Doctor swerved around the wreckage and the people swiftly clearing the road. He hit the throttle and pulled out of the pack. Jo was in the lead of the next pack ahead.

  He was having trouble getting through. The bikes were running close. He knew if he broke in someone would be forced to the wall. A gap appeared and he raced through it. Just a few more.

  Two bikes pulled even with Jo. One of the riders kicked the bike of the other. The rider was good. He swerved and slowed. The Doctor passed him. He'd felt the hunger's disappointment. He'd found it. And it was riding next to Jo.

  She pulled a bit ahead and was alone when she took the next curve. The Doctor blessed the person who had given such loving care to the bike he was riding. He took the curve and pulled even with the hunger.

  Jo saw the Doctor in her mirror. He could have caught her on the big bike he was riding, but he didn't. He signaled her off the course and she hunted for a place to drop out. She found an open spot and pulled off. As she yanked off her helmet, she saw Andy running toward her.

  "What's going on?"

  "I'm not sure. I think that thing was in the race with you."

  "If it's in the race, the Doctor's found it. He was dead even with the bike behind me and he had enough power to pull ahead. Where did he get that bike? It's beautiful."

  "He told me to get one and I bought it."

  "He's terrific. I haven't seen anyone here who can ride the way he can."

  "The trip down here had its moments."

  The hunger knew he was there. It had tried to force him into the wall on the last curve. He had to get it out of the race. Mad Sunday had enough death without it. He pulled closer to the black bike with its black helmed rider. The thing turned its black visor toward him and kicked out at him. He swerved and it missed. He closed with it. He'd decided the only way to take it out was to go with it. He looked for a break in the wall.

  Jo and Andy were catching up. They were sure he'd need them. They caught the pack he was leading, but couldn't get through. Jo's bike didn't have the power, not with two on it. Jo was watching the road and Andy was watching the Doctor. "It tried for him, but he dodged it. Jo! He's going to force it off the road!"

  The Doctor saw the break he needed and swerved into the thing. He throttled the big bike and pushed it through the gap. He dropped the bike and went down hard, but he'd seen the thing crash into some rocks. It was out of the race. And it was mad. He was getting to his feet when it attacked him. He fought to get its hands off his throat. It was incredibly strong. He felt himself losing consciousness.

  "It's got the Doctor!" Andy grabbed a rock and ran for it. Jo dropped the bike and ran after her. She had the bike's 'lock-up' chain in her hand. They attacked it and it released the Doctor. It turned on them, but they were just too quic
k for it. It screamed its anger and frustration and left. Jo and Andy stared at the empty leathers and helmet lying between them on the ground.

  "The Doctor!" Andy turned and ran for him. That thing had had him by the throat. He was conscious and sitting up when they reached him. Andy undid his helmet and Jo yanked it off.

  "I would appreciate it if you left my ears." Andy and Jo laughed. He was definitely all right.

  The Doctor was totally motionless. He had been that way for several minutes. Jo sighed and leaned on the console. He hadn't been happy when she'd had those sweet young men bring both motorcycles up to their room. The innkeeper hadn't been happy either. Andy had assuaged the innkeeper's anger with money and a promise not to get oil on the carpet. Jo had told the Doctor he was cute. She and Andy had found a place to stow the bikes in a room filled with some kind of sports gear and returned to the console room. The Doctor hadn't moved since they got there.

  "Yes!" The Doctor began laying in coordinates on the console. "I know where it's going. I knew I recognized it. It certainly recognized me. I don't know how it got free. I'll just have to imprison it again."

  The TARDIS lurched. Sometimes the Doctor rushed her a bit. Jo and Andy smiled. They were on their way. Somewhere.

  The maid heard a strange noise coming from room eleven. She knocked, then searched through her keys and opened the door. The room was empty and there were two keys laying on one of the beds. The Doctor had forgotten to leave his.

  "You'll need cold weather gear. Arto isn't very hospitable in this era. It's in the middle of an ice age."

  "Doctor, what is this thing we're chasing? All we found were empty clothes."

  "The people of Arto called it the wraith, Andy. It feeds on violent death. Earth is in the same spiral arm and it can send its energy across several light years, but it's much weaker than on its home planet. Arto nearly destroyed itself in war. The population is low and they've lost most of their technology. The wraith caused most of the wars. On Arto it has enough strength to take over a person. It was very hungry. There must not be enough people left on Arto to feed its hunger. I'm afraid it may have been free for awhile."

  "You said you imprisoned it before. Why didn't you kill it?"

  "Jo, I try not to kill anything, but, in this case, I just couldn't find any way to kill it."

  "Doctor, does this wraith thing have a physical component?" Andy was having a little trouble with the concept of something that was just a hunger.

  "I don't know. I searched for something at the time, but I had it trapped and I was needed somewhere else. Now I wish I had stayed to find out. The trick I used to trap it won't work again."

  The Doctor was right. Arto was cold! "Doctor, don't you want a parka." Andy didn't understand. He got cold when he took his coat off.

  "No, I've adjusted my metabolism. I usually don't bother when it's just a bit too cool. It's only a few degrees below zero. If it doesn't get too much colder, I'll be fine. I'll need a bit more food and rest, but that shouldn't be a problem."

  Jo said, "Just a minute, Doctor, I forgot something." When she came out of the TARDIS, she was wearing a pack. She winked at Andy.

  "Now, CAN we go?"

  "Yes, Doctor. Where are we going?" Since the TARDIS was sitting in a drift and there wasn't anything but snow in sight, it seemed like a reasonable question.

  The Doctor looked at the small piece of equipment in his hand and pointed. "That way." He led them across the packed snow.

  They found the wraith, or rather, it found them. It was wearing the body of an old shaman. "So nice of you to visit, Doctor. I hoped you would follow. This time I have trapped you. For two thousand years your prison held my energy. When this fool found and broke the cube, it was freed. I rewarded him well." It laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound. "I kept his body alive. It has been useful. Do you know how hungry I became in those years, Doctor? So hungry, this tribe of my worshippers is all that is left of the people of Arto. They have killed all the others that I might feed. They call me Lithma, the hungry one. I am my own high priest."

  "Is this little talk supposed to be entertaining, or are you TRYING to bore me?"

  Andy thought, "Uh, oh. He's made him mad now." It wasn't what she would have done. She usually tried to keep high priests, standing in front of bloodstained alters, happy. ESPECIALLY, when she was bound hand and foot, lying on the ground, surrounded by club wielding primitives.

  "I shall entertain you, Doctor. This body is old and feeble. I have decided yours would suit me well."

  "It won't work, Lithma, or whatever you call yourself. I'm a Time Lord. Ten of you wouldn't have enough power to take my body."

  The old priest's body fell to the ground and the Doctor jerked against the ropes holding him. Jo and Andy knew he was fighting the wraith. Neither realized they were holding their breath.

  It was over quickly. The Doctor smiled at them. The old priest slowly stood. He didn't seem to be in very good condition.

  "I warned you. Feeling a bit weak in the knees? Giddy? Perhaps you should take a nap. That body doesn't look too healthy."

  "I shall take another when it suits me."

  "Perhaps, but not mine."

  "I shall feed on your death agony, Doctor. And that of your companions. Take them away. There will be a feast of sacrifice tonight."

  "Millions. It's killed millions. The only reason these few are left is to keep it supplied with bodies. It's driven them back to the stone age. I'll have to find a way to kill lt."

  "Doctor, might I mention the fact we seem to be tonight's planned entertainment?"

  "Andy's right, Doctor. It's going to be hard to kill it if we're dead. Don't you think we should escape first and figure out how to kill it later?"

  The Doctor smiled and raised his hands in the air. "They aren't very good at knots." He untied his feet, then Jo and Andy. He motioned them to silence and pulled the skin hanging over the front of the ice cave aside a few millimeters. He held up two fingers and pointed to the right and left. Andy and Jo positioned themselves on the left. He nodded and they moved.

  The escape hadn't gone exactly as planned. The Doctor wasn't with them. He'd been hit by a thrown club. It slowed him just enough for one of the natives to tackle him. He'd yelled, "Go! Use the emergency override!"

  They hadn't planned on using it, but the question had become academic. Lithma had the TARDIS well guarded. There were eight of them. "Well, so much for that idea. Shall we try another?" Andy blew on her fingers. They'd taken her gloves when they tied her hands.

  Jo was pulling off her parka. The cave they'd found was warmer than standing in the wind, but Andy thought it a bit silly. "Help me out of this, Andy. I'm having trouble getting it past the pack."

  "I thought you dropped the pack." She held a sleeve and Jo pulled her arm out.

  "That was the other one. I brought two."

  "I thought you looked a little fat."

  Jo was unwinding several silver survival blankets from around her waist. "There's food in there and some mittens. They're under the coat I brought for the Doctor. Oh, and I picked up your stars."

  "Jo, you've got the makings of an arsenal in here."

  "Yeah, we should be able to make some 'chucks and those two metal bars should make good sticks. I've got an idea, but we need to get to the TARDIS."

  They'd tried not to kill them, but a couple hadn't cooperated. They tied the six, who were unconscious, together in a neat little bundle and covered them with blankets and snow. It would keep them from freezing. It also made them very hard to see. They went into the TARDIS and began working on Jo's plan. Andy added that artistic flair and they were ready.

  "Come on, Andy. It's nearly sundown. He said tonight and it's getting that way fast."

  "Jo, this is very heavy. I'm going as fast as I can."

  The Doctor was the center of attention. Lithma had t
he whole tribe watching him. Considering he was tied securely to the alter, it seemed rather a waste of personnel. He hoped Andy and Jo had done what they were supposed to this time.

  "It is almost time for you to die, Doctor. I shall have you killed slowly. A spirit as strong as yours will feed me well."

  "Are you planning on talking me to death, Lithma? Your litany becomes very boring." Why did everyone hit him?

  "I promise you, Doctor. You shall not be bored for very much longer. Now I must lead my people in their worship. Their blood-lust will serve as a splendid appetizer for your death agony."

  "Does that mean ANOTHER boring litany?"

  Jo slipped out of the big ice cave the tribe was gathered in and ran back to where Andy was waiting. "They've got him tied down on the alter. Looks like they're working themselves up for it."

  "We need to time this for most effect. Any estimates?"

  "I'd say ten minutes. They're real involved in what they're doing. I think we can get a lot closer without anyone noticing."

  "Give me the machete. I'll cut him free. Oof, this thing is very heavy, but this will be worth the effort"

  "Yeah, too bad we won't have time to watch their faces." Jo smiled a pleasant smile. Andy smiled back.

  "And now, Doctor, it is time for you to die."

  The Doctor watched as the tribe raised their clubs in the air. He thought, "Oh, that kind of death."

  There was a loud roar and the tribe dropped their clubs and ran. Lithma screamed, "They're machines, you fools!" He raised his club over the Doctor's head, but he didn't bring it down. Club and hands went flying off. Liberty had liked a sharp machete.

  The Doctor rolled off the alter and jumped on the motorcycle. Andy climbed on behind. As they raced through the cave entrance and down the track Andy and Jo had made with the bikes, he shouted, "You're not supposed to be here!"

  "I thought the Viking helmets and red gauze streamers were a good touch. How about you, Doctor?"

  "They did add a nice theatrical flair."

  "Thank you, Jo, Doctor."

  They were in the cave Jo and Andy had set up as a camp. They'd hidden it by the simple expedient of filling the entrance with snow. They'd poked several holes through the ice at the rear of it and had blocked the light, but not the air, from going through them. They hadn't gone back to the TARDIS because Lithma knew where it was and the Doctor had no intention of leaving yet. They were sitting around a cozy fire having dinner. Both the dinner and the makings of the fire had come from Jo's pack. The fire wouldn't last long. The food was already gone.

  "Well, we know it has a physical component." Andy and Jo waited. THEY didn't know. The Doctor smiled. "It said I'd locked its ENERGY away. Now all we have to do is find it."

  "Doctor, it's going to have to take over someone else. Andy definitely messed up its last residence. How long will it take?"

  "A few seconds. It will take time to savor it. It's in a new body by now. Probably the young male who was leading the dancers. It definitely wouldn't want another old one."

  "Doctor, if these are all the people left on this world, it would make sense if it kept them near its physical component."

  "I agree, Andy. I think it's in that cave. I could feel its hunger all around me. I looked for anything unusual, but I didn't see anything old enough."

  "How old would it need to be?"

  "Probably ten thousand years or more."

  "There was one thing in that cave old enough." He stared at her in surprise. "You were tied to it. When I hit that alter to cut your ropes, I chipped three or four centimeters of ancient blood off it. I'd say it's been in pretty steady use for more than ten thousand years."

  "That's it!" He jumped up and began pacing. Andy and Jo smiled at each other and scooted to one side of the fire to give him room. Wouldn't do to get in the way of his thinking.

  "That cave would be a stone amphitheater in warmer times. It would always be there. Long use in some ancient sacrificial ritual embodied it with blood-lust. When the sacrifices stopped, it had enough energy to reach out and feed on war. It would have grown stronger with every poor soldier who died. No wonder its hunger was all around me. Well, we shall just have to destroy it."

  "How do we destroy a rock, Doctor?" Jo was practical about such things.

  "Hmm, yes, that is a problem."

  "Why not wash it?" The Doctor and Jo both stared at her. "Well, if it's the accumulated sacrifices of thousands of years that brought it to life, what happens if we 'wash all the sins away'?"

  "Not wash them away, burn them away! It just might work. I'll need a strong light source and a power supply, a focusing unit. I think I've got a ruby somewhere."

  "Doctor, if you're planning to build a laser, I've already got one." Jo smiled at his expression. "Well, actually, we have one."

  Andy said, "Dad's laser drill! I'd forgotten about it. But we haven't got enough power packs to heat that rock."

  "We can use the motorcycles for power. I've got a store of petrol in the TARDIS. Don't look at me like that. It's stored properly. Actually, it's in a dimensional pocket. Don't ask! The explanation would take YEARS."

  "Doctor, why do you have petrol?" Jo hadn't even heard of it until she'd learned she needed it for her motorcycle.

  "I once spent a number of years on twentieth-century Earth. It wasn't my idea, but, if I had to be stuck somewhere, it was where I'd have chosen. I had an automobile. Her name was Bessie."

  Jo and Andy laughed. The Doctor's expression when he spoke of 'Bessie' was one of pure love. The Doctor gave them a disgusted look and said, "When this spell of hilarity ends, we still have two problems to solve." They stifled their giggles and waited. "We have to get everything we need from the TARDIS and find a way to get seventy or so angry natives to leave home. Preferably, long enough to 'burn away the sins of the past'."

  They tried not to kill any of the guards on the TARDIS. This time they cooperated. They rolled them into a pile and threw blankets over them. They didn't tie them. They expected to be gone before any of them awoke from their little nap.

  The Doctor and Andy carried gasoline and the laser drill back to the cave. Jo had the equipment and tools the Doctor needed to build an adapter to power the laser with her. She was almost to the cave when the Doctor ran by her saying, "Sorry, I forgot something."

  She sighed, followed him back to the TARDIS and started brushing his tracks away again as he ran back toward the cave. Even having to do it twice, was easier than getting rid of the tracks of the bikes. THAT had been a real chore.

  "It MUST be me! They won't all chase you!"

  "Doctor, you can barely fit through that hole."

  "Andy's right. If you get stuck, this whole thing gets stuck."

  "Thank you, very much. You just be ready. I shall have good incentive to 'fit through that hole'. I shall have most of the population of this planet chasing me!"

  He did. He'd shown himself at the cave mouth, then run. The natives poured out after him. The one in the lead had been the young dancer he'd noted before. He'd been screaming at the rest to run faster. The words had been Lithma's.

  He ran through the cave they'd prepared and dived through the hole. Well, part way through. Jo grabbed him by the coat collar and pulled him free. As they rolled the rock into place, her expression clearly said, "I told you so."

  They ran to see how Andy was doing with her avalanche.

  "I couldn't get them all. There are still a dozen or so running loose. I couldn't wait any longer. One had already come back out. I think he might be able to dig himself out of the snow. I hope so."

  "You did well, Andy. We trapped more than I actually expected. Let's get to the cave. They'll dig their way out soon and we need to finish before then."

  They pulled the snow covered blanket off the bikes and kicked them over. Jo remembered where the trail they'd made was, so they were only plowing thr
ough a few centimeters of snow, but riding a motorcycle through ANY snow is not easy.

  The cave wasn't empty until they rode in. It emptied quickly on their arrival. The Doctor gunned the big bike and the roaring echoes sent the few women, children and old ones scurrying for the exit. They also brought a rather large piece of the roof down almost on top of him.

  He brushed ice from his hair and grabbed the laser. Andy threw gasoline on the alter and Jo lit it, just to get things started. He hooked one of the power leads to the big bike and tossed the other to Andy. She and Jo hooked it up. He pulled his goggles on, flipped the lens that would spread the drill's beam down, and began to heat the burning blood from the inside.

  It was taking too long! They were getting low on fuel. Jo added the last to the tanks and signaled to Andy. They headed for the cave entrance. She was right. The natives were coming towards them at a run. They'd gotten through the snow a little too soon. Jo saw Andy take her stance and she took hers. They would give the Doctor as much time as they could. They were almost upon them when the man in the lead screamed, fell, and lay still. All the natives stopped. It took awhile. The ones in back kept running into the ones in front of them.

  There was a loud CRACK. Then another. The bikes shut down and the Doctor walked out brushing ice from his hair and shoulders. First one, then another, of the people of Arto dropped to their knees and laid their foreheads in the snow. Soon all were genuflecting to the Doctor. Jo and Andy started to laugh. The Doctor looked disgusted. He said, "Oh, no. Not again."

  They left him giving his talk at the cave mouth and went in to see. They'd heard this lecture before.

  The alter was split in three, red-hot, pieces. The stains of ten thousand years of death were gone. They cleared ice and snow that had fallen on the bikes and rolled them to the front of the cave just as the Doctor finished his little talk. Jo climbed on her bike and Andy climbed on behind her. The Doctor looked at them a moment, then smiled and shook his head. He climbed on the magnificent, chrome red, modified, Ducatti and kicked it over. Jo started her red Kawasaki and they followed him to the TARDIS.

  "I just picked up the terms, Doctor. I don't really know what they mean."

  "Such as?"

  "Bikes, kicking it over, high-side."

  "Bike from bicycle. A two wheeled pedaled conveyance. Kicking it over. Hmm, that's a little more difficult. Old motorcycles used a kick start, some of them still do. It was a lever you pushed with your foot to turn the engine over, build up compression. It took a great deal of force so you jumped on it and 'kicked it over'. Sometimes it kicked back. Believe me, turning a key is much easier, although it doesn't give you the feel a kick-start does. Now, high-side. Most roads are banked so that curves are highest on the outer side. It means you're on the outside edge with nowhere to go if you make a mistake. When motorcycle riders say someone took the high-side, they usually mean he crashed and died. Jo, Mad Sunday is usually called 'Bloody Sunday'. It usually lives up to its name."

  "Doctor, it would have more than lived up to it, if you hadn't been there. Those riders had a guardian angel riding with them this year." She turned and walked through the interior doors.

  "First, they tell me I'm cute. Now, she calls me an angel. I'm going to have to do something about those girls." He smiled.

  Under the Age

  "I don't actually know when you're from."

  "You mean, after all that trouble with Varna, you don't know the time period?" Jo was surprised. He'd seemed rather well acquainted with the time.

  "I believe that IS what I said."

  "We're not going to be much help if you want the exact year, Doctor. It really wasn't something Dad paid much attention to."

  "That's true, Doctor. We kept track of our age, because he didn't. I think he knew if we slipped an extra birthday in, but I've never been sure." Andy wondered where this was leading. It certainly seemed a strange question for him to ask.

  "An approximation would do."

  Andy and Jo conferred for a moment, then Andy said, "Approximately 2240 in old Earth designation."

  "2240! Then you knew... "

  "Yes, Doctor. It took us awhile, but we did figure it out. The date itself didn't mean that much to us, but, by the time you'd gathered ALL Mick's family on Micorn, we knew."

  "Andy worked it out. She did it for me. I was lost when you stopped helping Mick and James. So, Andy found the reason."

  "I'm sorry. I just couldn't tell anyone. I bent some very stringent laws governing time travel. I'd been there. I knew what it would be like on Earth. I couldn't leave them there."

  "Doctor, this is still leading up to something. Jo and I will answer anything we can, but our own knowledge of the past is a bit sketchy. Dad didn't talk about it much."

  "How did you get your name?"

  "My name? Which one?"

  "Romana."

  "I think it was someone our mother knew. She died in an accident before we were two, so we don't really know much about it."

  "When we asked Dad about our mother, he'd get this wistful, sad, look. We basically stopped asking, but I think my name was picked to go with Andy's."

  "I knew someone named Romana. She was a Time Lord."

  "Doctor, give us some time and we'll put together all the pieces we have to the story. About the only thing we can say for certain is we're nineteen and our mother's name was Corinne Barry."

  "We've landed. I have a treat for you."

  "Doctor, this is not what I call a treat." Jo was pretty sure he realized it, but she had decided to make certain.

  "Spending time in a cell is NOT what I had in mind. Something very strange has happened here. This was a strong and peaceful democracy. It hasn't been that long since I was here. Something has changed it drastically."

  "I should say. Democracies don't usually have most of their population in uniform. This looks more like a totalitarian system."

  "You're right, Andy." He began to pace the two and a half meter length of the cell. "This has all the earmarks of a dictatorship. I can't imagine how it could have come about. I don't think it's been more than twenty years, their time, since I was last here. These people act as if they're preparing for war, but with who?"

  "Maybe another country. From the looks of things, they aren't advanced enough to be fighting another world."

  "That's what's so odd, Jo. There's only one major continent on this planet. The democratic government was worldwide. Well, we shall just have to find out what happened."

  "Come on, get out of there. Fast. One of our people is holding the door, but he won't last long if he's discovered."

  They followed the gray-haired man through the prison hall and passed another man in late middle age standing over a young guard lying in a doorway. Several men and two women joined them as they were led through the prison. All were over forty.

  They were led into another cell and watched as the back wall swung outward and revealed a dark tunnel. When they'd all entered, the last man closed the door and lights came on. The man who had opened their cell led them onward. Eventually, they reached a large open area filled with people and equipment. None were younger than the group with them.

  "This isn't the same man."

  The Doctor turned to see who had spoken. He smiled and said, "I'm the same person, Jordan, I just look different. I've regenerated several times since I was here. It's been many more years for me than for you."

  "Are you really the Doctor? I couldn't believe it when I heard you were here. It was the answer to a prayer."

  "I'm here. But I must say, here is NOT what I expected."

  The story wasn't very long. There'd been an election and a man named Cordis Parman had won. He'd garnered the vote of everyone under the age of thirty-five. And the turnout in that age group was near one hundred percent. Since young people usually had the worst voter turnout, it had been a strange occurrence.
r />   Within two elections, the entire congress had been replaced with people under thirty-five. Two weeks afterward they'd voted to suspend the constitution, dissolve the congress, and make Parman Governor General for life. None of the people, over thirty-five, had even heard of Parman before his name appeared on the ballot.

  Parman had instituted a military dictatorship. The entire world had been placed under martial law. No person over thirty-five was allowed to hold any position in the government and anyone voicing an objection was imprisoned without trial. It had all happened within the last five years. The older generation had formed a resistance. Most of the best military and scientific minds were members. A few of the finest scientists over forty worked for Parman, but they did so under duress, locked in isolated laboratories guarded like prisons.

  "They're gearing up for war, but we don't know who they intend to fight. There's no one on this world. We're not going to fight them. They're our children. We resist by trying to find out what's happening, but we had to get you out. We need you."

  "Jordan, what do you know about Parman?"

  "Very little. We have no records other than birth and school attendance and those could have been forged. The only thing we're sure of is he's older than forty, which is now the maximum age for any other political position. We don't even know what he looks like. He's never appeared in public or on vid and there are no stills of him either."

  "Doctor?"

  "Jordan, these are my companions. Andy and her sister Jo. What is it, Andy?"

  "It sounds like this man Parman found a way to brainwash a whole generation. Organization like that takes time. A great deal of time. More than five years."

  "Your companion is right, Doctor. We've looked for anything out of the ordinary as far back as twenty years, but we've found nothing."

  "Jordan is right. I've checked through all the data they've collected, and there's a great deal of it, and there's nothing unusual."

  "Doctor," He waited. Andy sounded thoughtful and her thoughts were usually good ones. "if there's nothing out of the ordinary, then maybe you should check the ordinary. Things that every young person goes through."

  "I think you need a spy." Jo had decided who that spy was going to be.

  "Jo, it's too dangerous. You don't know the culture or the people."

  "Jordan's people could brief me. I'm the only real choice. Andy could do it, but she's a bit too bright. I'm just average enough not to be noticed."

  The Doctor smiled at her and said, "Jo, there is nothing 'just average' about either of you. I don't enjoy the idea, but you're right. We need information. I'll talk to Jordan. Andy, your idea makes sense too. We should check the 'ordinary'. Come on, let's go see what Jordan thinks."

  Jo had gotten a bit more 'briefing' than she expected. A pair of used-to-be college professors had gone on for hours, then quizzed her. The political science prof wasn't too bad, but that history professor was a real stickler for detail. She'd also gotten a rundown on the baracan's science.

  Andy had helped tint her skin to the ruddy tone she'd need to pass and her hair had been dyed brown. Her dark blue eyes were unusual, but not unknown, so she hadn't had to wear contacts. Jordan's people supplied her with documents and inserted fake records of her childhood. She was officially Jolin Mordan. Her cover was about to get its first test. Two uniformed women were approaching.

  "Documents." She handed her forged papers over and tried not to hold her breath. The woman looked at them and handed them back. "You will find lodging at the women's free barracks." They moved on and Jo headed for the barracks.

  Her documents said she had been ordered to the capital. She was supposedly from a city at the southern tip of the continent. She was here to teach martial arts. It was a good cover.

  "I've checked everything I can think of; inoculations, school curricula, even popular music. I can't find anything. Nothing covers a broad enough area."

  "I can't find anything either, Doctor. I thought we'd find it in the inoculations, but there's a wide-spread religious group whose children don't get them. They're not immune to this either. Everyone under the age of forty has dropped out of the church."

  "We're missing something, Andy. Something that happens to every child. I just can't think of anything."

  Andy started to giggle. She said, "I can think of one thing. It's probably been too long ago for you to remember, but Jo and I had terrible problems. Dad really wasn't prepared for it."

  The Doctor puzzled over what she'd said for a moment. What could have happened to him so long ago he wouldn't remember? He decided there were too many things in that category, so he started from the other direction. She was obviously waiting for him to work it out. What wouldn't their father have been equipped to handle?

  "Puberty!"

  "I knew you'd get it eventually. The hormone changes could trigger something everyone is exposed to. Air, water, anything."

  "If puberty is the trigger, Parman has been setting this up for more than twenty years. He would have already set it in motion when I was here last time. Let's check your theory. It's the best we have so far."

  Jo couldn't believe the total dedication she'd run into. No one griped about anything. No one. And no one knew who they were planning on going to war with, but they were all busily preparing.

  When she realized no one asked any questions, she made sure she didn't either. Soon seemed to be the catch-word. Everyone said it. That and Parman says prepare.

  One of her students had accidentally broken the arm of another in an exercise. As the student had been taken for treatment, he'd said, "I will heal soon. I will be back. Parman says prepare." It was spooky.

  She'd seen some small children playing and had stopped to watch. They seemed perfectly normal, but at about the age of twelve or thirteen they changed. They became very serious and started working industriously.

  She'd had some time off and had visited some of the hangouts her students frequented. There was no alcohol and no laughter. All the conversation revolved around work. There were never any arguments. No flirtation.

  Personal liaisons did not exist. Couples were ordered together, matched by a bureau in Parman's administration and assigned housing in couple's barracks. Children were raised in creches. Interestingly, all the people working in the creches were over forty. Child care seemed to be the only important job they held. All other adults under forty lived in single sex barracks. It was spooky.

  She only had one piece of information that was truly valuable. She'd caught a glimpse of Parman. She'd been teaching a class at the barracks in the Governor General's compound and he'd looked out a window. Parman was an alien. His skin was the wrong color.

  She used a piece of her free time to check on the TARDIS. It hadn't been moved from the little park where they'd landed, but it was surrounded by guards. A crew was busily trying to open it. It looked like they'd been at it a long time. She smiled and decided to get what she knew to the Doctor.

  "I found it. The continent and the five inhabited islands are being bombarded with low level radiation of a very peculiar kind. It's coming from space. From a single point in space. Jordan's people found a subliminal suggestion planted in the educational programming used in the first year of school. They hadn't discovered it before because they were concentrating their efforts on the ages of twelve to twenty. It's very simple, just prepare and follow Parman. They've checked and it's been in the program for thirty-six years."

  "Hello, Doctor. Hi, Andy."

  "Jo! When did you get back?!"

  Jo smiled at him. His relief at seeing her was obvious. He was a bit of a mother hen. "Just now, Doctor. I put everyone out there off and came to find you and Andy. I didn't learn much. I've only got one piece of real information. Parman's an alien."

  "I had decided he was, but I needed your confirmation. Barac doesn't have the science to put a program like this
together. It's time I talked to Parman."

  They tried to talk him out of it. All of them. Jo and Andy, because he refused to let them go with him; Jordan, because he knew too much about the resistance. Jo and Andy gave up. When he didn't yell at them, just quietly said, "I'm going. Alone." they realized he believed it had to be done.

  He solved the problem of how to meet Parman by the simple expedient of knocking on his front door. When the young man in uniform answered it, the Doctor said, "I'm the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. The blue box you can't open is my TARDIS. Tell Parman I want to see him. Do it now."

  He stood in the foyer under guard for less than ten minutes before he was ushered into Parman's office. "Hello, Doctor, I'm Parman. You may not believe this, but I'm very pleased you're here." He held out his hand and smiled.

  The Doctor shook his hand. Planetary Dictator didn't seem to fit the pleasant sixty-ish man standing in front of him. "I'm surprised to say the least. I want to know why you've taken over this world."

  "To keep it from being destroyed. I come from Dismar. It's about ten light years distant. The government is an oppressive totalitarianism. The methods I used to take over here were developed by my government. They didn't work on me because I never went through puberty. At least, not until I escaped. I gave myself hormone injections once I got here. After I was sure the radiation effects had worn off. Dismar intends to destroy this world. They've picked up transmissions from it and they fear it. I couldn't let that happen."

  "You've chosen a strange way to accomplish an altruistic goal, Parman. Why didn't you just warn these people?"

  "Doctor, this was a totally open democracy. There was no way it could have maintained silence. If Dismar had learned I'd warned them, they'd have launched an attack forty years ago. An attack to destroy, not conquer. Barac had no defenses capable of stopping a missile bombardment. Now they do. I've been feeding scientific 'discoveries' to them for forty years. Five years ago I mobilized the population I'd prepared. They're ready. Dismar's government has been in power for nearly two hundred years. They work to a plan. The attack on Barac is part of a forty year plan. Now they're ready. I expect the attack within a few days. I'm going to turn the government back over to the baracans. I've already sent a message to Jordan Parath. Yes, Doctor, I've always known about the resistance. I've seen to it that every new scientific 'discovery' was leaked to them. I've tried to care for their children. The bureau that arranges couples uses every childhood record and personality assessment available. Very few of the marriages arranged will fail. It hurt me to take away the joys of youth, but I saw no other way. I had to take away freedom to preserve it. Now it is done."

  The Doctor understood Parman's goals, but he definitely disagreed with his methods. "Parman, you've brainwashed almost two generations of these people. There is no way to undo that."

  "Yes, Doctor, there is. I will make my first planet-wide address at mid-day tomorrow. It will consist of three words. Think for yourself. I will then remove myself from office and give this residence to the resistance as their command post. I think your friend Jordan will make an excellent Governor General. He wasn't doing too badly at it when I took it away from him."

  Suddenly Parman smiled. The Doctor decided he'd probably done it far too seldom. "What are you planning on doing after tomorrow?"

  "Doctor, I would have thought that would be obvious. I plan on going to prison."

  In three minutes, a world changed. Within hours, the generations were working together. In two days, generals took over superbly trained troops. And husbands and wives argued, and made up. The entire population prepared for war. It came.

  Parman had been wrong. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Sentence suspended. Jordan appointed him 'Special Aide to the Governor'. Jordan was no fool.

  When the missiles started to fall, every scientific 'prison' became a defense facility. It hadn't taken the scientists more than a few weeks to understand why they were being 'imprisoned'. They'd cooperated willingly for five years. They were not fools either.

  Few missiles were actually launched. Dismar wanted, needed, a conquest. They needed the resources of another captive population, and the mineral wealth of another planet. Troop ships fell from the sky by thousands. They met defense forces in millions. Parman had trained the youth and Jordan had trained the mature. Every hand knew a weapon. When the first troop shuttle returned to its mother ship loaded with baracan troops, Dismar lost its first ship. It was the only one. The rest ran. The troops on the planet were left behind. They fought on. They hadn't been told to stop.

  "You knew this was going to happen."

  "Yes, Doctor, I did."

  "No one surrenders. They have to be killed. The severely injured get up from their hospital beds and attack their doctors."

  "They haven't been told to stop."

  "How do we tell them?"

  Parman had tears in his eyes as he said, "We don't."

  "I can't accept that. There must be a way. Those people aren't complete automatons. There must be a way to reach them."

  "I'm afraid you're wrong on both counts, Doctor. They are, and there isn't. I've spent forty years looking for a solution. Those are people of my own world."

  "Why can't we do what you did here, tell them to think for themselves?"

  "All orders go through channels. Each person listens only to a specific chain of command. The top of all channels and all chains is the Presidium. It consists of eight men, all of whom must be present, who give all orders. There is no way to stop it."

  "Parman, I will find a way. I must."

  "I truly hope you do, Doctor. I truly pray you do."

  "I'm going to need your assistance. I think Jordan will parole you to me." It was the third time the Doctor had seen him smile. He still looked out of practice.

  Jordan stopped the fighting. He drugged the water supply. Everywhere. Every baracan soldier had been ordered to fill three canteens the night before. For thirty-six hours a world slept. All but the soldiers, and those in the Governor General's compound.

  For thirty-six hours every baracan soldier gently carried his enemies to transport. In thirty-six hours every dismarian soldier was on one of the five islands far from the continent. There were no baracans on the islands.

  The dismarians would have everything they needed to survive. The island populations had left the doors to their homes open, but they had taken every boat, aircraft, and tool of manufacture.

  The problem had been removed, but not solved.

  "There must be a way to break the conditioning. There must." He brought up another screen.

  Andy was getting worried about the Doctor. He'd spent days searching the TARDIS data banks. He was actually wearing himself out. She didn't think he'd slept more than an hour total in the last five days. The only reason he'd eaten was because she put food, literally, in his hand. And he really didn't notice he was eating. She went to find Jo. This needed both of them.

  "Doctor. Doctor!" Jo shook her head. She hadn't even gotten a 'Hmm' out of him. "DOCTOR!"

  "Yes, what is it?"

  "We've got an idea. Maybe you're looking for the WRONG solution." At least she'd gotten his attention. "Instead of breaking the conditioning, maybe you should be trying to cure it."

  "I beg your pardon."

  Andy said, "Treat it like a disease or poison. Look for a cure or antidote."

  "I THOUGHT that was what I was doing!"

  Good. He'd yelled. Jo felt much better. She'd been worried too. "That's not the way I meant. They've been, call it, infected. Maybe we should give them an antibiotic. Something to, like, un-trigger them. Andy, I'm not putting this very well. Help."

  Andy started to speak, but he held up his hand. "No, Andy, she put it very well. Jo, what did you have in mind. Specifically."

  "I really haven't got that far. I guess I ki
nd of thought another radiation that was anti this one."

  "Andy, your sister is a genius."

  "Yes, Doctor, but she hides it even better than I do." The Doctor smiled. She'd missed it.

  Parman had built the unit, but he really didn't understand it. The pieces had come from Dismar. He'd copied a set of plans and stolen the pieces one screw and nut at a time over a period of three years. He'd been sixteen when he began. He'd had a deadline. Someone would discover his disorder and give him hormones. He escaped a few minutes before a medical team came for him. He'd watched them from the bushes across from his home. He had been surreptitiously putting an old moth-balled ship into running order. That night he'd stolen it.

  He'd spent six and a half days hiding in the asteroid belt of the Dismar system with all power off. That was the amount of time the air in the ship would last. He'd almost misjudged. He'd been unconscious, and nearly frozen, when the timer he'd set turned on the life support system.

  The Doctor made a promise to himself. Someday, he would hear Parman laugh.

  "The only thing to do is go get it, take it apart, and see what makes it tick." The Doctor realized 'tick' had lost them. "I'm sorry. That's a bit of human phraseology. I seem to have picked up a lot of it. It means, makes it work."

  "I had gathered that. I'd just never heard it before. I think I like it." Jordan smiled. "Humans seem to have rather colorful speech, if one can judge by your companions."

  "Actually, my companions are less prone to it than most. Now, Parman, we need its location. I hope a troop shuttle will reach it. The TARDIS isn't really equipped for satellite retrieval."

  "They won't, but my ship will. I left it on the smaller moon. A shuttle can reach it. I'm afraid my shuttle crash landed and burned. I was a rather inexperienced pilot. I was scheduled to become a waste collector. Spacecraft weren't in my curricula."

  They took it apart. The Doctor marveled at the intricate detail of the filtering process and Parman's skill in assembling it. Once they understood the 'infection', they began looking for a 'cure'.

  The Doctor had a team of the best scientific minds on the planet working with him, but it took time. Once they thought they'd found it. They tried it on one of the islands, but the dismarian soldiers drilled on.

  "We've found it! This time I'm sure of it!" Jo and Andy were delighted. The Doctor had hunted for them to tell them.

  It worked! The dismarians' orderly ranks dissolved in chaos. Boats set out from the continent. The dismarians would be frightened and confused. They would need help. It was on the way.

  But it had taken too long. Missiles began to rain from the sky. A few got through. Dismar had decided to destroy Barac.

  "I'm going to Dismar."

  "Doctor, you can't be serious!" Jordan was astounded. "Parman's told you what it's like there. They'd kill you."

  "I plan to surrender.

  If anything, Parman and Jordan looked even more incredulous. "I'm going to take one of our little 'cures' with me. I'll try to get it as close to the military command center as possible, then I'll surrender. The TARDIS and I should keep them curious long enough for it to begin working. You now have Parman's ship. See if you can create some havoc. I've rebuilt the broadcast device to use the equipment we built. Use it on some of the dismarian ships. If you can capture a few of them, take them to Dismar. See if you can get rid of their broadcast satellites."

  They never got a chance to protest. He walked out as soon as he'd finished.

  Jo and Andy were sure the Doctor was up to something. "I think we should get to the TARDIS, Andy. He's going to do something dangerous. He was just TOO nice to me this morning."

  "I think you're right. He smiled at me and it was almost sad-looking. I think he really didn't expect to see me again."

  They beat him to the TARDIS, but not by much. When they ran to hide, Andy said, "I feel guilty, but I'd rather feel guilty than let him go alone."

  Jo shook her head. "I don't. He's going to need us. I'd feel guilty if I wasn't there."

  The Doctor actually got the device onto the grounds of the military center. He set it deep in a hedge and switched it on. He'd gotten about thirty meters away from it when he was shot.

  He'd been lucky. The soldier who shot him had either been so bad, or so good, he'd only grazed his scalp. He awoke in a cell. He thought, "Well, so much for surrendering."

  He sat up carefully and felt his head. It hadn't been bandaged and was still bleeding. He hadn't been unconscious for more than a few minutes. He smiled. In a few hours, things would begin to become very confused in the command center.

  "Who are you and where do you come from?"

  The Doctor wondered if his interrogator knew any other questions. "I've told you several times. I'm the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. I came from the blue box down the street from where your trooper shot me."

  "What are you doing here?"

  Well, well, a new question. "I travel a lot. I just drop in to meet people and have a look around." He'd thought about saying, "Hanging by my wrists and dripping blood on the floor.", but didn't think the man in front of him would appreciate the humor.

  "Why don't you just let me go? I'll get back in my ship and leave. You obviously don't want visitors." Why did everyone he met hit him?

  A man walked in and gave his interrogator a piece of paper. He looked at it and left the room. The Doctor sighed. He supposed he'd just have to 'hang around' until he came back.

  He didn't come back, but someone else came in. Several someone elses. They released him from the wall and he said, "Thank you." One of the six guards almost said something, then stopped. He looked a bit confused. The Doctor smiled at him.

  They'd decided to try something else. Drugs. The Doctor took a nap. The cot was comfortable and he'd been a bit short of sleep lately. They didn't seem very happy the drug hadn't had any effect on him, so he told them it left a bad taste in his mouth. Someone had hit him. You just couldn't please some people.

  The six guards returned, or perhaps it was six different guards, and escorted him through a lot of building. He was shoved into the back of a vehicle and they climbed in. He smiled and, briefly, one smiled back. He looked a bit confused.

  He was escorted through a lot of building again and locked in another cell. He laid down on the bunk and finished his nap.

  Andy and Jo were angry. They'd left the TARDIS right behind him and had seen him shot. They knew he wasn't badly hurt. They were trying to find a way into the building when he was brought out. They'd decided the vehicle bay was the best way in, so were nearby. His scalp was still bleeding. So was his lip. They got mad.

  Jo relieved a trooper of duty and his weapon with a quick chop and followed Andy. She had relieved a driver of his vehicle. Neither soldier would awake soon and they'd left them out of sight. Couldn't leave them where someone would trip over them. Their Daddy had always taught them to be tidy.

  They caught up with the other vehicle just as it passed the TARDIS. There were several troopers trying to open it. They kept getting in each other's way. Things seemed a bit confused.

  They parked the vehicle and began to look for a way into another big building. They'd seen the Doctor pushed through the doors. He'd fallen and one of the guards had kicked him. They were both smiling pleasantly. They were very mad.

  They really looked the place over carefully. It wasn't so much guarded as tended, by dozens of soldiers. They stood rigidly at attention at every door. It was very inconvenient. "Jo, our skin's the right color on this planet. A lot of people are going in and out. Why don't we just walk in the front door?"

  "My skin's almost the right color. I still have a few tinted creases. I guess that means I can't take the weapon."

  "We'll get you another one inside. I promise."

  They walked in the door and down the hall as if they knew where they were going. They took the fi
rst flight of stairs down. Most cultures kept prisoners in the basement. They reached the cell area just as the Doctor was pushed into a lift. They sighed and went up the stairs. Quickly. They wanted to see where the lift stopped. It stopped at the top, the eighth floor. They peeked through the stair doors at the four troopers standing at attention in the large open area. They were happy to see the Doctor's escort leave.

  "I'm sorry you gentlemen don't know what a Time Lord is, but, if you treat all visitors this way, it's no wonder. I know I wouldn't visit again."

  The eight men facing him behind the clear heavy panels had to be the Presidium. Actually, men probably wasn't the right term. The Doctor had seen enough eunuchs to recognize one, or eight, when he saw them. Parman had told him members of the Presidium were selected for the position in childhood and spent their lives being prepared. The Doctor now knew what one of those preparations was. The Presidium wasn't affected by the radiation.

  "He's a fool. Have him disposed of."

  The Doctor decided he didn't like the fat one in the middle. Clown he might accept, but fool he definitely was not. He wondered how things were going at the military center.

  "Agreed. Have him removed." They voted and it was unanimous.

  The Doctor decided he didn't like any of them.

  "Wait. The guard detail is back." Andy had been about to throw a few stars when Jo stopped her. They watched as the Doctor was pushed into the lift again and headed back down the stairs. They saw him loaded into the same vehicle he'd arrived in. Jo retrieved her weapon and they climbed back in the same vehicle THEY'D arrived in and followed it back to the military center. The troopers had stopped trying to get into the TARDIS. They'd loaded it on a truck and were moving it. The Doctor wouldn't be happy. He liked his TARDIS left where he put it. Now to make sure he had the chance to be unhappy. They looked for a way into the building. They found two guards arguing and slipped past them. They were both smiling. Things seemed to be getting a bit disorganized.

  The Doctor decided it was probably his own fault. They probably didn't leave prisoners manacled when they put them in cells normally, but things didn't seem quite normal. He tried to find a comfortable position on the bunk with his hands behind his back. He wondered how he was to be 'disposed of'.

  Things were getting simpler. Andy decided a young soldier looked lost and sweet, strolled up and asked him where the prisoners were kept. She smiled at him. He gulped a couple times and told her. She thanked him, kissed him on the cheek and strolled away. They decided not to take any chances with the guards on the cell block. Andy chose one and Jo took the other. They made them pliable and stuffed them in a storage closet. They had to leave the two inside the door behind a desk. They couldn't find a closet. Jo found the Doctor's cell and Andy opened it. They were very quiet. He was asleep and they figured the extra six seconds would do him good. He hadn't gotten a lot lately. They stooped down in front of him and his eyes snapped open. He said, "You're not supposed to be here."

  Andy pulled something long, thin, and very sharp from her hair and picked the lock on the manacles. The Doctor dropped them on the bunk closed, pulled a card from the air, and left it. They relocked the door to the cell and replaced the keys on the guard's belt. A little more confusion wouldn't hurt.

  "Why couldn't they just leave it where it was?" They shushed him. They'd found the TARDIS, but there were about forty people in the room with it. A large laser was being used on the door.

  Jo said, "Damn, look at those three by the table over there. Doctor, they found your toy." The men were busily dismantling it.

  "Well, we shall just have to build another. Let's find a parts store."

  The Doctor called it cramped, Jo called it convenient, and Andy called it cozy. They'd found a storage shed on the grounds of the lab where the radiation units were built. Jo found where completed units were stored and removed them. She left the empty containers, because the shelves had looked so bare without them. There were eight of them. They kept having to remind the Doctor not to sing while he was rebuilding them. They left one switched on in the little shed and went to find homes for the rest.

  "These are much more powerful than the unit I brought. They're designed to be used on a planet from space. I had to decrease the emission rate considerably, but they'll still work much faster."

  "Doctor, once we hide that unit, we need to hide. It's going to get real strange here. I want someplace I can relax and watch."

  "How about that building over there, Jo? The top floor looks empty. We'll leave this unit under those bushes." He'd had enough small places lately. The shed hadn't been any bigger than the cell. The top floor of the warehouse looked nice and roomy. It was. It also had water, a lavatory, and about eight million packages of food. The food was field rations and not very good, but it was food. They relaxed; they rested; and they watched.

  "I think we should go get the TARDIS."

  It had been four days and things were very confused. The Doctor had just seen two fights and a flirtation on the street below. All in the last ten minutes.

  "Doctor, how long would it take Jordan to get here?"

  "About ten days, Andy. Why?"

  "Ten days is plenty of time to start a freedom movement."

  He smiled at her and nodded.

  Andy and Jo recruited and the Doctor taught. Philosophy, ethics, political science. He also taught them what had been done to them. But the most important thing he taught them was to think for themselves. They taught others.

  It was twenty days before Jordan and Parman arrived. The planet was in full scale revolution, but of a very quiet nature. No shots were fired. No one was killed. No totalitarianism died more peacefully. People just quit doing what they were ordered to do.

  As orders ended, cooperation began. They were escorted to the Doctor's temporary school by a young man who was 'just helping out'. They stood in the shadows and watched for a few moments.

  They'd expected to find the planet in chaos. They'd replaced the satellites with their own. They had expected chaos and found good order. And they had found the reason.

  "I am not going!"

  "Doctor, it's in your honor. It wouldn't be polite not to go." Andy just couldn't understand. It wasn't a political reception. It was a dance.

  "You would be missed, Doctor." Parman didn't understand it either. He was looking forward to it. He'd never been to a dance.

  "You go. I'll wait for you. I hate being lionized." He realized he'd lost them. "Made a fuss over. I don't like it, and I'M NOT GOING!"

  Jo said, "Doctor, you're just so cute when you get stubborn." and she and Andy went to get ready.

  The Doctor just watched them go. She'd called him cute. Again. And he hadn't been able to think of anything to say. Again.

  He spun around and smiled. Parman was half-lying on the console, too weak with laughter to stand. He began to laugh too. That evening he took Jo and Andy to the dance. He felt like celebrating. Now, if the High Council just didn't find out...

  Circle of Prophecy

  "Dad met our mother on a planet called Duram's Strike. I guess it was pretty inhospitable."

  "But very rich in valuable minerals."

  "Especially vanadium."

  The Doctor smiled. Jo had started the tale, now they were telling the story a line apiece. They were going to tell him as much as they knew about Andy's name: Romana Andrea. "Dad was prospecting alone in the hills."

  "He heard a ship crash and went looking for it."

  "He pulled two women from the wreckage."

  "They were both alive, but in pretty bad shape."

  "There was some type of alien with them."

  "But it was dead."

  "He didn't know what it was."

  "Just that it was big and furry."

  "He'd set up camp in a cave and gotten one of the women to it."

  "He was about half-way there
with the other when he heard the ship blow."

  "Duram's Strike had pretty primitive facilities."

  "He figured he could give the women as good care as they'd get in town."

  "Besides, he had a prospecting scoot for transport."

  "And wasn't sure he could get them both on it."

  "Both women had long blond hair."

  "But one's had been singed pretty bad."

  "He wasn't sure either of them was going to make it."

  "It was two days before one of them woke up."

  "It was our mother."

  "I guess the first thing she asked was if the other woman was alive."

  "Dad told her yes."

  "He told us Mother told him she was too important to too many to lose."

  "I guess the other woman woke up not much later."

  "We don't know how long he took care of them."

  "But it must have been quite awhile."

  "Mother seemed the worst off."

  "The other woman helped him take care of her."

  "She wouldn't tell him anything about herself."

  "Told him the less he knew, the safer he was."

  "As soon as she knew Mom was going to make it, she said she had to leave."

  "I guess Mother and Dad were already in love."

  "Mother seemed to think she should go with her."

  "But she told her, her place was with Dad."

  "Dad took her to town and got supplies."

  "He never saw her again."

  "She never even told him her name."

  "Dad and Mother got married on Duram's Strike."

  "They were real happy together."

  "Hopping from world to world prospecting."

  "Finding just a bit more than they needed to survive."

  "They'd been married about four years when we came along."

  "Mother named us."

  "Dad always figured Romana had been the other woman's name."

  "He'd never heard it before."

  "About a year and a half after we were born."

  "They were on a world called Opal."

  "Another barely habitable mining planet."

  "Mother went to town for supplies and didn't come back."

  "A prospector Dad had run into off and on for years brought him the news."

  "Mother had been found dead by the wrecked scoot."

  "Dad never really believed it was an accident."

  "He told us it was, but we could see he didn't really believe it."

  "That's all we know."

  "Thank you." The Doctor smiled at them. "I think your mother's friend and mine were the same person. If they were, you were named after someone very special, Andy. I'm sorry, but I won't tell you much about her. If knowing her was dangerous to your mother, it may still be." Seeing their disappointed expressions, he said, "But I can tell you of some of our travels together."

  He told them of Meglos, Paris, and the Leisure Hive. He didn't tell them how they'd met, or how she'd left. Those stories could be dangerous. And he told them of Adric.

  "We've landed. Shall we have a look?"

  "All right, Doctor, but all this peace and tranquillity stuff sounds pretty boring." Jo was not really looking forward to a 'nice quiet day'.

  "It's beautiful!" He'd been sure Andy would like the Eye of Orion. "I'm going to find a sketch pad. I'll never do it justice, but I have to try."

  They stayed three days. Andy sketched and Jo got the Doctor to tell stories. He'd noticed his memories had become clearer since the incident on Cordahm. Sometimes, too much clearer.

  They wandered. They'd land, stay a few days and move on. He showed them the wonders of the universe. It was one of the most peaceful times he'd ever known. It lasted nearly six months. He had a tendency to keep track of time by the old Earth system. He'd been there quite awhile.

  "Doctor, we're having a birthday we think. Jo and I want to have a birthday party."

  "How soon is this birthday?"

  "Well, we're not really sure. But we think it's either over with or about to arrive. We've picked three days from now as a good guess. We'll be twenty. This is the second birthday we've had since we met you."

  "You didn't say anything about the last one."

  "We were busy at the time and it just slipped by."

  "I think I know a good place for a birthday party. How would you like to visit Colleen and James on Micorn?"

  Jo said, "Wow, that'd be great."

  He smiled and set the coordinates. He did it carefully. He wanted to arrive AFTER they'd been there last time. He needn't have bothered.

  "Jo, get those straps I showed you! Good. Get braced fast." He wasn't about to try to break free of the time corridor they were caught in. He remembered the last time he'd tried it. Too well. "We'll have to ride this to its origin. Someone's playing with time again. We shall have to find out who. I'm sorry about the birthday party. Now hang on. This will be rough."

  It was. It was also a very long journey. They spent nearly seven hours hanging on and feeling as if they were being spread thin, then jammed back together again. When it ended, even the Doctor was tired.

  He tried to find out where and when they were, but the time corridor had burned out one of the TARDIS' circuits. Even after replacing it, all he could learn was they'd traveled a long way into the past. He turned on the viewer and saw mist. It seemed to be of the natural sort, so he checked atmosphere and radiation. Assured they were safe, he prepared to go out and find the source of the corridor.

  "I want you to stay here this time. At least until I find out where we are. No one here should be capable of creating a time corridor. Especially, as long as the one we came through. I won't be long." He smiled. "I promise."

  Andy and Jo didn't like it, but they didn't argue, much. They watched him on the viewer until he disappeared into the mist.

  "Andy, he's been gone too long. Something's happened to him. I'm sure of it."

  "I'm beginning to agree with you. We'll wait a bit longer. He had a device to track the time distortion. We don't. That fog is so thick, we could be lost in minutes."

  "I'll find a compass. We'll map as we go. We know the direction he went, so we'll start off that way."

  "Jo, I see him! He's coming back!"

  Jo opened the door and the Doctor hurried toward the light.

  "I found the device and switched it off. I looked for any sign of the people who built it, but couldn't find any. I was afraid to wander too far afield. That fog is so thick, even I could have gotten lost. There could be an entire city a kilometer away and I wouldn't have been able to see it. Ah, good, a compass. I shall need it when I go out again."

  "Doctor, this time we're going with you." Jo hated being left behind. "I was on my way out the door when Andy saw you on the viewer. You might as well take us. We'd just follow you anyway."

  "Jo, I still don't know if there's anyone out there. If there is, I'm going to have to find a way to convince them to keep that corridor shut down. They may not want to. If not, I must destroy it. The technology is very advanced, but some of the materials are a bit primitive. There's something strange about this whole thing. I'd like to proceed carefully. You two have a tendency to yell "Geronimo" and jump in with both feet."

  He had to explain Geronimo to them. He'd evidently picked it up from Wren. It wasn't from the culture he usually associated with on Earth. Jo was delighted with the term. It suited her perfectly. The Doctor was sorry he'd used it. He expected he'd be hearing it quite often. He finally won the argument. Jo tried telling him he was cute, but it didn't work. They agreed to wait, but gave him a time limit. He was nearly ready to leave when the natives arrived.

  They encircled the TARDIS, but they looked friendly. They heaped piles of food and trinkets in front of the door and sat down to wait. The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Jo and Andy and opened the doors.

  The natives were VER
Y friendly. He was the hero from the prophecy. They'd waited for him since the world began. He had come to rid them of the demons. It began to get dark and they became terrified. They begged him to save them. They were too far away from the place of safety. They would not make it in time. The demons would take them. The Doctor realized their terror was genuine. He couldn't leave them outside to face it, and he needed to know more before HE did. He took a very unusual step and led them all into the TARDIS. They told him he'd just fulfilled another piece of the prophecy.

  "I put them in the cloisters. I didn't think some were going to make it. They were somnolent by the time they got there." Jo was still surprised at the way the natives had fallen asleep. They'd just tumbled to the floor and slept.

  "They must be totally diurnal. I've never seen a humanoid race like them before. They'd be helpless against anything that could move in the night. I need to learn more about this prophecy. They definitely haven't the skill to build a time corridor. It's been there a very long time. Someone should have discovered it before. The technology was too easy to understand. Almost as if it was designed to be turned off by the first person that came along."

  He didn't tell them just HOW easily he had understood the technology. It looked like something he had built himself.

  "Andy, I'm sorry to wake you so early, but I want us all there when the natives awaken. I want every word of the prophecy written down. I'll be asking questions, so I want you to do it. Wake Jo and come to the cloisters."

  As soon as he'd gone, Andy scrambled to get ready. He'd never even come into her room before, let alone awakened her in her bed. He usually just knocked and shouted for her to wake up. She grabbed stylus and pad and ran to get Jo.

  They ran into the cloisters and saw him sitting on a bench. They looked at each other and crossed the floor strewn with sleeping natives. Jo sat on the floor on one side of his feet and Andy sat on the other. He laid a hand on a shoulder of each of them and they waited. The natives were beginning to stir.

  The prophecy was delivered in sing-song and it was definitely about him. He'd found out why no one had ever run into the corridor. It had been turned on the previous day. The prophecy told the natives how to do it and when. "In the fifth year of the one hundredth Cal-Ban on the longest of days."

  The chief was the one hundredth Cal-Ban and yesterday had been the longest day of the fifth year he had been chief.

  The prophecy described the three of them. Andy and Jo were happy with being; "fairest of maids, hair of sun through morning mist". The Doctor wasn't as pleased with; "brightly cloaked, hair of gold and girth as from great feasting." Andy pointed out the natives were very thin and he felt a little better, but not a lot. She'd been giggling a bit too hard when she said it.

  "The prophecy said we were with you. We're going. Don't argue, Doctor."

  "Jo's right. We won't listen this time. The prophecy says we go with you to battle these Hagish things and we're going."

  The Doctor knew when to surrender. He hadn't really expected to win. He was becoming more and more certain he'd set this up himself, and he'd told himself to take them with him. He was worried. The last line of the prophecy had been: "And if he succeeds the prophecy will be fulfilled; if not, it will never have been".

  Cal-Ban led them to the cave that was the entrance to the underground domain of the Hagish. He was terrified, but the prophecy told he would do it. The Doctor learned the natives hadn't always fallen asleep as soon as night came. It had begun with the coming of the Hagish. Cal-Ban's people had ceased to advance at that point. The Hagish took all the ones that dreamed of new things. Once there had been many more of them. The ones who were left gathered each night in a cave. They rolled a great stone across its mouth. Each morning the stone was smaller. Soon the Hagish would break through.

  "Doctor, I'm not sure I understand that part about the void." They'd stopped to rest on a ledge. They'd been climbing downward for about three hours.

  "It means space, Jo. If we don't stop them, the Hagish will consume the last of Cal-Ban's people and take off into space."

  "Yeah, to 'grow in numbers and consume the life of worlds'. What are they, Doctor? They sound like some kind of cannibals."

  "Or vampires." Andy wasn't pleased with the idea, but she couldn't get rid of it. "I'm worried about this power to make all the natives sleep. You told us most things like that couldn't get into the TARDIS, but the natives were near comatose."

  "It worries me too, but worrying doesn't change anything. I didn't get sleepy last night. Whatever it is, it hasn't any effect on me." He didn't mention they had nearly fallen asleep on their feet in the console room. He didn't need to.

  "It's a space ship all right. Looks like it was pretty badly damaged when it landed, but it's been repaired. I didn't see anyone. Maybe these hagish sleep during the day like the natives do at night." Jo hoped so. She had the explosives and she wanted to destroy the ship. Now.

  She'd been the one who scouted the shaft that led to daylight. The Doctor could have gotten through it, but it would have been tight. The base of the ship had been fifty meters below her. The nose cone rose another thirty above her head.

  "I can't believe they got it in that hole. It's sheer walls two hundred fifty meters up. And the fins don't have three meters clearance all around."

  The Doctor could tell she wanted to set the charges. "We can't chance destroying it now, Jo. We could collapse the entire cavern system. We have to deal with the Hagish first. We'll have to set a timer and get to the surface before the explosion."

  The journey was no longer going well. They'd tried one tunnel after another and met with dead ends. They finally found the route down, but it had taken too long. Night would come soon and, if Jo was correct, so would the Hagish.

  "Doctor, we need to find a place to hide. I'm getting sleepy. I'm not sure how much further I can make it."

  "I'll look for one. You and Jo stay here. I won't be long."

  He didn't find one. The hagish found him. Hagish. He'd have laughed if their claws weren't so sharp. They looked like the hags and witches from the fairy tales of Earth. They looked hagish.

  He fought, but there were too many. He cried out when the first one sank its teeth into his neck. The hagish weren't vampires or cannibals. They weren't drinking his blood. They were feeding on his life force. They were consuming his spirit. Just before he lost consciousness, one said, "We shall feed well on this one. It is strong. Its very flesh tastes of power. Do not kill it. It will feed us many times. Taste its sweetness."

  Jo and Andy awoke in a pit, without their packs. The food and water they'd carried were nearby. They saw their first hagish when it leaned over the edge and said, "Catch it. Warm it. While it lives, we shall not need you."

  A pair of filthy blankets were dropped, then ugly clawed hands lowered the Doctor over the side. Jo and Andy rushed to catch him as the hands let him drop. They broke his fall and eased him to the floor. Jo hit the wall and cursed. Andy began to cry. His skin was like ice and he bled from a hundred bites.

  They warmed him the only way they could. With themselves. Jo at his back and Andy his front. They pulled the blankets over them and shivered. They hoped they could warm him before he froze them.

  He awoke between them. He was surprised and slightly embarrassed. He started to get up and they held him. Andy said, "No, don't try. You're still very cold. Let us get you warm. There's food and water here. The hagish want you alive."

  "Yes, I know. They like the way I taste. They said I was sweet."

  Andy and Jo began to giggle. He was relieved. It was the first time he'd heard fear in her voice. It was for him. He smiled. He couldn't recall feeling giggles before. They tickled.

  They wrapped him in the blankets and made sure he ate well, then they began to clean the bites. Andy tore off a piece of her shirt to clean them. The blankets were
too dirty. He tried to stop them saying, "I don't infect easily.", but Jo told him to be quiet and sit still. Andy began to cry again, but she kept her head down so he wouldn't see.

  Everywhere a vein showed through his fair skin, fangs had left their mark.

  He knew it was night when the girls fell asleep. Jo and Andy had struggled to stay awake, but had soon succumbed.

  The hagish came for him again. They dropped a net over him and one climbed down a rope ladder and tightened it around him. It knocked him over and hooked a rope through the metal rings at the corners of the net. It climbed the rope ladder as the others hauled him out of the pit. It was night and they were hungry. He stayed conscious longer and fought them. He was learning how to defend himself. He hoped he would learn in time.

  He awoke in the same position as before. He said, "I'm beginning to feel like a piece of cheese. Nibbled and sandwiched." Giggles tickled.

  He told them he was learning to fight the hagish. They asked him how. As he tried to describe it, he defined it for himself. He had a way to fight. He didn't tell them how weak he was. But they knew.

  Jo and Andy were learning to fight too. It was well into the night before they fell asleep and the Doctor was taken. The hagish didn't feed as long, or well, but they fed.

  Andy and Jo warmed him, then realized how hot he was becoming. He was fevered. Some of the bite marks were red and puffy. His vitality was low and infection had set in. They had to stop the hagish from taking him again.

  He awoke wrapped in blankets with his head in Andy's lap. It was nearly mid-day. His strength was waning. "Hello."

  "Hello, Doctor. You've been out a long time. You've got a fever. The hagish found my barrette, but Jo's found a piece of flint. We have to drain some of the bites."

  "Hi, Doctor. I'm kind of sorry you're awake."

  Jo had gotten the flint as sharp as she could, but it was no scalpel. The Doctor looked at the bites and agreed it had to be done. Jo began to work on them.

  "Andy, I can put up with what Jo's doing, but, if you don't stop dripping on my face, I'm going to stop this." She smiled and quit dripping.

  That night, when the hagish came for him, he was asleep. Jo and Andy weren't. Jo yelled at them, "If you want any more from him, you have to let him rest. Your filthy bites are infected and he's sick. If you take him tonight, you won't get much. He'll DIE! Now, LEAVE and let us TEND HIM!"

  They left. He was sweet when he was strong.

  The Doctor awakened stronger and his fever was down. They had drained some of the infection, but they hadn't cured it.

  "I've got to try and heal myself. I'm going to try a healing trance. I don't know when I'll wake. Get some sleep. You'll have to find some way to keep them from taking me if I'm not out of it by nightfall."

  He wasn't. Andy and Jo kept the hagish away. Every time one peeked in, they threw a rock at it and their aim was near perfect. They smiled very pleasantly. The hagish were beginning to fear them. They had learned to fight the sleep.

  The Doctor came out of his trance in the morning. He ate, then slept. Jo and Andy slept too. The hagish were nocturnal. They wouldn't come 'til nightfall. When they did, they were going to be surprised.

  The Doctor wakened them in the late afternoon. He smiled and said, "Let's get out of this smelly hole."

  Jo got on his shoulders and he stood up with her. He had healed a great deal. They held the wall while Andy climbed them. She couldn't get enough purchase to climb out, so Jo put her hands under her feet and pushed her. Andy scrambled out and hunted for the ladder. She found it, secured it, and sent it down. Jo and the Doctor climbed out. The Doctor said, "Let's find the packs. I think it's time to remove their transport."

  They found the packs, but not the hagish. Jo had cheerfully suggested they blow them up too.

  "One reason they kept you was to pilot this ship."

  "Doctor, you're joking!" Andy thought she'd be able to get it out, but she couldn't imagine doing it for the hagish.

  "They planned to use Jo to force you. They were quite pleased with the plan. Jo as hostage, you for pilot and me for dinner. They explained it between bites. There, we've got twelve hours to dispose of the hagish and get to the surface."

  "OK, the last one's attached and camouflaged. I put it between the fuel tanks." Jo smiled sweetly. "Only one of them is full, but it should make a very nice bang."

  "Good. Let's find the hagish. When they try to bite me this time, I'm going to bite back." Finding his clothes had cheered him immensely.

  Night fell and they hadn't found them. Their twelve hours were nine and the hagish were awake somewhere. Jo and Andy found their sleeping cavern. They had to leave the Doctor behind. He couldn't get through the narrow crevice. They were about to leave the filthy, smelly, place, when they heard him yell, "Not this time, you don't!" They squirmed through the opening and joined the melee.

  The hagish just wouldn't die. Jo finally picked up two rocks and smashed one's head between them. She didn't know if it was dead, but at least it hadn't gotten back up and gone for the Doctor.

  Andy grabbed two rocks of her own and followed Jo's lead. She was tired of being ignored. The hagish hadn't even fought her. When she pulled one out and punched it, it got up and rejoined the mob around the Doctor.

  The Doctor was fighting them his way. He was on one knee in the midst of them. He'd been bitten several times, but had ignored it. He was taking back all they had taken from him, drawing his essence back into himself. He was succeeding. So were Jo and Andy. They had about a dozen out of the battle. The Doctor had to be winning. They were getting easier to get rid of. A couple dozen more and they'd be done. The hagish changed tactics.

  They'd begun to fear the Doctor. They no longer tried to feed on him. They started trying to kill him. They carried him to the floor under their weight and began to claw and bite at his neck.

  The Doctor curled up and put his arms over his neck. They ripped and tore at them. He clasped his hands behind his neck and ducked his head. They were after his carotid artery. He curled tighter and fought on.

  The hagish finally noticed Jo and Andy, but only one at a time. If one went after Andy, Jo got it. If after Jo, Andy did the honors. It slowed them, but they were still making progress. There were about a dozen left around the Doctor. Then one they'd smashed got up. Jo groaned. They'd just have to work faster.

  The Doctor had taken back all of himself. He thought he could take some of them. It was a mistake. He pulled a piece of essence from a hagish and it began to feed. He fought to rid himself of it. It was filthy and evil and it was gleeful he had given it a new body. The hagish was a parasite of the soul.

  Jo and Andy heard him cry out and worked faster. They spun the last few away from him and lifted him to his feet. They didn't know what was wrong, but they got him stumbling toward the exit.

  They'd come down the hard way. The hagish had a simpler route. They found it and half-supported, half-carried, the Doctor up it. The hagish pursued them. Jo dropped back. Andy struggled to keep the Doctor moving.

  Jo found a way to block the tunnel, but two of the hagish escaped her rock slide. She ran to catch them, a rock in each hand. She got one, then the other, and ran to help Andy with the Doctor.

  The battle and journey took about six hours. Cal-Ban found them two hours later, lost in the mist. They'd come out facing another direction and headed almost directly away from the TARDIS.

  They were nearly there when the ship blew. The entire mountain caved in and the ground shook. They fell with the Doctor and couldn't get him up again. Cal-Ban reached down, picked him up, and ran with him to the TARDIS. Jo and Andy stared after him for an instant, too stunned to move. Then they raced after him. Cal-Ban was one strong native.

  They caught up with him at the TARDIS doors. He laid the Doctor on the console room floor and said, "The last words of the prophecy are
for this day. And Cal-Ban shall find them, wandering lost in the morn. The world will shake and the maidens will fall. Cal-Ban will take up the hero and carry him. He will run with him to his magic place and he will tell the maidens, "Hit the button. Find Calla."

  He bowed and left. Jo closed the doors and Andy hit the emergency override. They watched the Doctor as he lay unmoving for the two days of the journey. Andy wrote down the last lines of the prophecy.

  They landed in the midst of a battle, but they had to find Calla. They opened the doors and a man and woman ran in. Jo said, "Find Calla." and the man ran out. The woman closed the doors.

  "Hi, I'm Liberty. What happened?" They told her as much as they knew and watched the viewscreen. They saw the man leading a very pregnant woman through the gunfire. Two kids of about sixteen were with them, giving running cover fire. Liberty opened the doors and they all ran in. She closed the doors.

  The pregnant woman knelt by the Doctor and took his head in her hands. She looked at Liberty and she and the man knelt beside her. The two teenagers joined them. Jo looked at Andy and shrugged. They knelt too.

  They were caught up in the love pouring from the man and the women. Love for the Doctor. They learned the way of it and added their own. The two teens added theirs and Calla used the burning light of their love against the evil darkness of the hagish.

  She bathed the Doctor's soul with light. Suddenly, he blazed in her mind. He was free of it! She fed his weakened spirit with her own and the others. They were not weakened. The gift of love does not diminish. It strengthens the one who gives. The Doctor opened his eyes and said, "Hello. It's nice to be home."

  The boy said, "Wow!" Jo said, "I'll say."

  "NO!"

  "YES!" Liberty took a deep breath and calmed herself. This was getting them nowhere.

  Jo said, "You could always do what I do, tell him he's cute when he gets stubborn." The Doctor looked disgusted and Liberty burst into laughter.

  Andy had listened to the argument and agreed with Liberty. "Doctor, do it her way. Take her son and the materials you need. Build the corridor device and let him deliver the prophecy. Jo and I will stay here and help." Jo looked surprised, but didn't say anything. Andy always had good reasons, but she had better explain them later. "This war could take awhile, Doctor. You need to get this done while you still remember exactly how it was built. I didn't understand your explanation of loops and paradoxes. But I did understand; if you did it, you've got to do it. Something MIGHT happen to you here. You owe it to the universe not to let anything stop you from destroying the hagish. The TARDIS is a time machine. Come back tomorrow."

  The Doctor smiled. He knew when to surrender.

  "We're going too."

  "No! You'll stay here with your grandmother." The Doctor watched in amazement. He could tell Wren was going to lose this argument with his children.

  "You need us. She doesn't. You can't say we'd be safer with her. Not with all these bullets flying around."

  "And the Doctor's friends look like they can fill any hole we leave in the defenses." The Doctor smiled. Wren's son and daughter weren't twins, but they knew how to split a paragraph.

  "Dad, the natives need something spectacular to make sure they remember. You need us to help arrange it. Lib can handle the stage dressing and I'll take care of the fireworks."

  Wren grinned and shook his head. He knew when to surrender too.

  "Shala was killed by the first shell. That was three years ago. This is the fifth attack. We still don't know why."

  "Wren, how long has it been for you?"

  "Seventeen years, Doctor. I married Shala right after you left. She was the right woman and the others needed an example. Peral is sixteen and Lib is one day less than a year younger."

  "Lib?"

  Wren grinned. "Shala named her after Mom. Guinevere Liberty. Mom tried to get her to leave off the Guinevere. I got her to name our boy Peral instead of Warren, but he's got the Galahad part. Your next question is going to be about Calla's baby. I don't know if you remember Peral. He was the first rebel on this world. It took him five years to realize Calla was the one, then eight more to convince her. She'd been abused badly by men. She knew he loved her and trusted him, but you're the only man she'd let touch her. Willingly. This is their second. She's only thirty-one. She's healthy and she didn't have any problems last time."

  "Thirty-one! She was only fourteen!"

  "Yeah she matured early." Wren's face became grim. "Ben started abusing her when she was twelve. It was why she hated him so much. That was one bastard that deserved to die."

  "We've landed. Shall we set a prophecy in motion?"

  They helped the Doctor get the equipment to the hills, then Peral scouted for the native village. He found it about a half day's walk from the TARDIS.

  Lib created Wren's costume, then Peral's and hers. Peral went to arrange fireworks. Wren would deliver the prophecy, but Lib and Peral would teach it to the natives. They'd memorized it to perfection. Wren was cribbing. He'd spent too much time chatting with the Doctor.

  The Doctor heard the aerial bomb go off and smiled. He'd removed the part about girth from the prophecy. He didn't realize how well Andy knew him. She'd drawn Lib aside and put it back in.

  A cloud of smoke arose from the ground and a maid stepped from it. She turned and bowed and a great thunder came. A great warrior with skin of gold and eyes the color of the sky appeared. He gave them a prophecy.

  Cal-Ban, the chief, trembled. He had known him and called him the first. The warrior disappeared in smoke. Pink smoke. The maid became smoke, then maid and youth. She called to them to learn the words of the prophecy, so they could teach their children and their children's children, until the time of the one hundredth Cal-Ban.

  The maid sang, then the youth sang. The people sang it back to them. They were patient with the people. They told them to make fire and bring food, for they would not learn well if cold or hungry. The people offered them food and the maid and youth ate with them. When the feast was done, the prophecy was taught. When all the people sang the prophecy, the last words were told. They were for Cal-Ban. He stood before the maid and youth and sang the strange words, "Hit the button. Find Calla."

  The people sang the prophecy once more and Cal-Ban sang his words. The sky exploded with light and sound and the maid and youth smiled on them. The ground before them streamed light towards the heavens and they were gone. The people sang the prophecy long into the night.

  "See, you needed us." Peral was helping his dad get the gold makeup off. "You couldn't have been both prophet and teacher and been anywhere near as effective."

  "You're right. Now, what did you really want to talk to me about?"

  It was morning again before the Doctor arrived. He looked absolutely jovial. "I built a self-destruct into it. One day after it's switched off, all the circuits will fuse. I was almost done when I remembered seeing the little red wire I was holding in my hand. It completed the circuit and the circle. Now, I believe we have a war to stop. I'm taking us back as close to the time we left as possible. I hope within the hour."

  They arrived five minutes after they'd left. This time the TARDIS landed behind the lines, not between them.

  Just Whistle

  "One of the biggest problems we have is total lack of communication. We don't have any idea who they are or what they want. They're not trying to totally wipe us out, or they'd have just shelled us into non-existence."

  The Doctor doubted that. He knew Liberty too well. The hills would have been filled with survivors. "They've made no attempt to communicate at all? No ultimatums?"

  "No, Doctor. Nothing. We're not even sure where they're from. We haven't seen any ships land. This is the only area of the planet that was colonized, so they must be from off-world."

  "Wren said this was the fifth attack in three years. They must
be falling back to regroup somewhere."

  "Somewhere is right. Each time they pull back we send people to look for them. We've searched better than a thousand kilometers in every direction. Nothing."

  "This is quite a puzzle. Have you tried to capture one?"

  "We quit trying after the third one killed himself. We're not even sure how he did it. We know they're a different species because we did an autopsy on him. That's the total of our knowledge."

  "Liberty, how heavy have your casualties been?"

  "We lost fifty in the first attack. Nineteen in the second. Since then we've lost twenty-two more. Near a hundred out of a population of under three thousand."

  "Show me the defenses."

  The Doctor could see Liberty's hand in the defensive organization. Ben's fortress was gone, but every one of its stones had been put to good use. The town was walled and buried. No structure showing more than a meter above ground and covered with earth. Weapons emplacements faced in all directions and earthwork shelters were only meters away from any point. A tunnel led from the underground hospital and school complex two thousand meters to a hidden cave in the hills. Morale was excellent and training superb. The town was defensible and well defended. He'd expected nothing less.

  "I'm going to have to get a look at them. There's something that doesn't make sense in all this. They'll never take this place with this type of attack."

  "Thank you, Doctor. That WAS the idea. I kept expecting them to change tactics. Try something else. They don't seem to know how. They don't seem to learn anything one attack to the next. Just show up, shell and shoot, disappear, show up and start over."

  "Liberty! You've got the answer!"

  "What?!"

  "Think about it. Always the same tactics. Appear and disappear at regular intervals. At least that's the impression I've gotten. No heavy bombardment. No attempt to actually take the town. Think about it."

  "Why didn't I see it before?! It's obvious."

  "You were too busy defending yourself. Now, shall we find out who is using you to train their troops?"

  The Doctor watched the troops disappear. They formed into orderly columns and marched into nowhere. It wasn't a time corridor. The TARDIS would have detected that. He'd never seen anything quite like it. He moved into position to follow.

  Andy and Jo were hunting him. They'd seen him move toward the attacker's rear when the shelling stopped. He was up to something and he was going to need them.

  There was actually quite a contingent following him. Andy and Jo were unaware Wren was behind them. He didn't realize Lib and Peral were trailing him.

  Liberty had seen them all slip out and she watched as they all moved into position to follow. She smiled. She wouldn't follow this time. She was needed by her people, but the Doctor was going to have plenty of help.

  As soon as the last trooper disappeared, the Doctor ran for the... whatever it was. Andy and Jo sprinted for it. Wren moved out at a dead run and Lib and Peral were right behind him.

  They landed in a pile with the Doctor on the bottom. "Do you MIND? The idea was to see what is going on. I DOUBT I'll see much with all of you on TOP of me." He sounded extremely disgusted.

  They sorted themselves out with an assortment of sheepish smiles. The reason they'd all landed on the Doctor vas the size of the room they were in. He'd stopped at the double doors that made up the entire wall about three meters in front of him. They were much closer now. About fifteen centimeters from his nose. He picked himself up and glared at them. "Now, if you would all KINDLY go back through, I'd like to get on with this."

  "Sorry, Doctor. The gateway seems to have closed." Peral grinned at his dad. He looked like he'd been planning on saying about the same thing as the Doctor. Except, he'd have specified Peral and Lib.

  The Doctor looked at the blank wall behind him. He didn't look happy. He'd planned a one man reconnoiter and he'd ended up with a platoon. And a rather heavily armed one at that. "Were you planning on an armed assault?"

  They all knew what he meant. Even Lib and Peral had heard enough stories to know how he felt about weapons. Wren said, "I've gotten so used to carrying it, I didn't even think about it. Sorry." He grinned at the Doctor. "I'd leave it here, but someone might trip over it and hurt themselves."

  The Doctor gave Andy and Jo a dirty look and they stifled their giggles. Lib got hers under control and they all stood grinning at him. He threw his hands up in disgust and turned back toward the doors. He smiled as he pushed one open a few millimeters to peek through.

  They had to wait for the staging room to clear. When it had, they quietly circled the huge room, hugging the walls and staying in the shadows as much as possible. They could only hope the cameras focused on the center of it missed them.

  Getting out of the room presented a problem til Peral found a small locked door in the far corner. They had definitely not wanted to use any of the huge automated doors that ran up on tracks across the ceiling. The Doctor reached for his vest pocket, but Andy had already pulled the 'barrette' from her hair and was working on the lock. He shook his head. Sometimes his companions were a bit too efficient. He liked to do some things for himself. Andy peeked through the door and said, "It's dark, no guards on the door, large open area, bushes a hundred meters to the left." and slipped out. The Doctor followed with the rest close behind.

  They all made the cover of the bushes and looked out on the base. It was huge. Barracks and drill squares stretched into the distance. It was a long-time permanent installation. The building they'd come from was a new addition. It was on the perimeter of the base.

  "Andy, Jo, get me an estimate on the numbers. Wren, lose the weapon and see if you can find out who they're fighting. I'm going to see if I can locate the source of the gateway and find out where we are. And how we got here." Weapons went into the bushes and they set off. The Doctor turned around and saw Peral and Lib grinning at him. They'd gotten rid of their weapons and were waiting for him to lead on. He said, "You two, stay under cover."

  "Sorry, Doctor. The cover's not much good around here. And as long as we're with you, Dad can find you to report. You're stuck with us." Peral grinned at him. "We'd just follow you anyway."

  "Peral's right, Doctor. I'd be afraid to face Grandmother if anything happened to you. You'll just have to put up with our company. Those are living quarters down there," She pointed to the neat rows of houses laid out below them on the opposite side of the bushes from the barracks area. "and that cluster of buildings on the hill above the base looks like Admin. I think we should see what's behind the building we came out of."

  "That WAS what I had in mind." The Doctor had seen Wren lose an argument with these two. He decided it wasn't worth the effort. "All right, come on, but try to keep under cover. I'D hate to face your grandmother if something happened to YOU." He led them around the building.

  "Doctor, what IS that thing?"

  Lib had asked a very good question. It was huge. The barrel stretched a hundred meters and the base was fifty meters square. The barrel was translucent, encircled by masses of tubing and cable, and was pointed at the back of the building. "Let's find out."

  There were a pair of soldiers on guard at the door opposite the barrel of the weapon. Peral whispered, "I can understand what they're saying! They're talking about girls."

  The Doctor hadn't really thought about the language problem. He seldom did. He never had any difficulty with it. "Yes, because you're with me."

  Lib looked thoughtful for a moment, then walked around the corner in plain view of the guards. The Doctor made a grab for her, but missed. Peral said, "Watch. She'll be fine. She'll charm their socks off."

  "Hello."

  "You're in an off-limits area." The soldier didn't sound very angry.

  "I'm sorry. I just had to see it. It's so BIG. I've been looking at it and wondering about it for just ages. Watching
the troops come out today, I just HAD to see it up close." Lib was a very pretty girl. She smiled at the two soldiers.

  "Uh, well, I guess we'll let it pass. It is pretty interesting." Both guards had rather silly smiles and Lib had their full attention.

  "I just wish I knew a little more about it. I know it does something so the soldiers go somewhere, but I don't know what."

  "Well, it makes that wall behind us a sort of door. Sort of hooks it to somewhere else."

  The other guard wanted some of Lib's attention. "They say it does it by going through another dimension. But the distance across the dimension is so small you don't notice. You're here, then you're there."

  Not to be outdone, his compatriot added, "From this side, the wall's just sort of a silvery mist. It's only inside it's a gate to the training grounds."

  "You've been very sweet. I should go. I don't want to get you in trouble and I need to get back before my dad misses me. I think he's sure soldiers only have one thing in mind. Thinks if I'm alone, someone will try to pick me up. Fathers can be so silly. Don't you think?" Both nodded. "I'll remember you both. Sometime I'll see you when you're not on duty and we'll get better acquainted." Both soldiers nodded again, smiling. It sounded like a GREAT idea to them. "Bye."

  Lib walked back around the corner of the building, leaned against Peral and giggled. Peral grinned at the Doctor and whispered, "See. She's just fine."

  Andy and Jo met them by the bushes. Jo said, "Well over ten thousand troops. There's a major artillery depot and a fleet of troop ships at the other end. We talked some sweet NCO into giving us a ride. It's about five kilometers. There's a town on the other side of the spaceport. He thought we were going there."

  "And the one we rode with coming back thought that's where we were coming from. The security on this base is too loose for them to be worried about an attack. They're fighting off-planet and they're carrying the attack to the enemy." Andy had been afraid to ask about the enemy. It was sure to be common knowledge and the question would have made them notable.

  "I think we should make our way to the town. Wren is probably already there. See if you can find us another ride."

  "Doctor, there's a bus that goes from the housing area to town. The soldier asked us why we hadn't taken it. We told him we were broke and he laughed and gave us a handful of bus tokens. He told us pretty women shouldn't be hitching rides."

  He smiled at Andy. She was all wide-eyed innocence. "I suppose he told you when he'd be off duty and where to find him."

  Andy and Jo giggled. Andy said, "Why, Doctor, how did you guess? Shall we catch a bus?"

  They caught the bus at two different stops. Andy and Jo at one, Lib and Peral with the Doctor at another. The bus was fairly full. Lib and Peral pointed out sights to the Doctor. Most of the men they'd seen were in uniform. The Doctor's strange attire made him out of place. Their guided tour made him obviously a visitor. He stopped attracting quite so much attention.

  The Doctor chose a stop near a shopping area. Andy and Jo got off at the next. They found a cafe and waited for Wren. Andy listened to a group at the next table and indicated the local equivalent of a cup of coffee. The Doctor ordered five.

  Wren joined them within minutes. When the beverages arrived, he paid for them and ordered another. He'd 'found' some money in a local tavern and made a few judicious wagers on his skill at the local version of darts.

  "We're on Abdern. It's about fifty light years from Cordahm. This town is Mert's Landing. There's a river with a lot of barge traffic on the other end of town. The enemy are the Monoths. They're about two light years away. The base is called Number Eight Seven and it's a training base. There are about a hundred regular bases scattered around the planet. The war's been going on a couple generations at least. The people aren't dedicated to it. It's just a fact of life. All males do four years service in the military, no women. The government is a ruling council. It's not exceptionally oppressive, but anyone who protests gets re-educated. The technology is pretty advanced, but only in respect to the military. It's an odd society. Perfectly normal on the surface, but there's something very strange underneath."

  They found out how strange about ten minutes later. A whistle blew and everyone stood up and walked out. They followed quietly. The lights in every establishment went off and all the personnel joined the crowd in the street. Everyone began purposefully walking in one direction or another.

  The Doctor watched them in amazement. Fixed stare, rigid posture... He was yanked by his coattails into an alley and behind a trash bin. Wren grinned at him. Peral had done the yanking.

  "It's time to find the capital and find out what's going on. Everyone here has been conditioned somehow. It's probably planet-wide." The Doctor paced the length of the small storeroom they'd broken into. It had a door to the alley and was behind a dress shop. It had been convenient. It was also rather dark.

  All power had been turned off shortly after the whistle blew. The whole town was in darkness. Their light came from a small torch Lib had. She kept lots of handy things in her pockets.

  "Well, the capital is Cormant City and it's about forty kilometers west of here, but I'm not sure we can get into it. I think you need some kind of travel documents." Wren didn't really want to hear what vas coming. He just knew what the Doctor was going to say.

  "Perfect. I shall just present myself as a dilemma. Eventually, I'll get to speak with someone with some authority." Wren sighed, he'd been right.

  The Doctor had insisted on going alone. He wasn't, but he didn't know that. He'd hopped onto the back of a cargo vehicle and climbed on top. He planned on getting off when it reached the capital.

  Wren 'borrowed' a boat and the rest of them piled in. The river ran through the capital. With any luck they'd reach it before the Doctor. The cargo carrier was rather slow.

  They left the boat on the outskirts of the capital and cautiously approached the crowd at the entry checkpoint. Jo made a quick pass through the crowd and returned with travel documents. Andy and Lib put their heads together over them and made a few judicious alterations. They joined the crowd and passed into the city. They were ahead of the Doctor.

  "You don't have any RECORD of me, because I'm not FROM this planet! Now, WHY don't you call your superior?!" The Doctor had been 'bucked up' as far as a senior clerk and had gotten stuck.

  The man in front of him was determined to make him a citizen of Abdern without the proper documents. He just couldn't accept the idea the Doctor was an alien. He kept running identity checks.

  The Doctor was rapidly losing patience. He tried again. "I'm the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. I'm beyond the scope of your office. Now, CALL YOUR SUPERIOR!"

  The clerk called his superior. He still didn't believe the Doctor was an alien, but he didn't know what to do with the strangely dressed, shouting, man in his office. The Doctor smiled. Outside the window, Jo giggled.

  The superior didn't know what to do with him either, so he called his superior. And so it went for about six hours. Eventually, the Doctor was shown into the office of a man in uniform. He'd picked up some guards along the way and, from their crisp salutes, he deduced he'd finally found his 'someone with authority'. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. I want to know what's going on. Why your people are being conditioned to obey a whistle, and why you're attacking an innocent population on another planet to train your troops."

  "How did you get here?"

  Well, at least this man hadn't asked him where his documents were. "I am a Time Lord. I get wherever I WANT to go."

  They tried drugs and some type of hypnotic device. They decided he was an alien when they discovered he had two hearts. He was back in the general's office in the morning.

  "I don't WORK for anyone! I have never worked for anyone! I am a TIME LORD! You're using a dimensional gate to attack one world and spacecraft, presumably, to attack another. I WANT TO
KNOW WHY!"

  "To keep our population down. To prevent starvation. Doctor, the ability of this planet to produce food is at its limit. There is no enemy. The space war is totally fictional. The losses are random self-destructs. We tried colonization, but our people die as soon as they're cut off from this planet. The dimensional gate remains open while the troops are on another planet or they would die too. The whistle blows to keep them from producing more children and men serve in the military to keep them away from women. I have answered your questions, Doctor. Now, you are too dangerous to allow to live. You will be shot as a spy at sunset."

  "That is a very unwise decision, General. I may be the only one capable of finding a solution to your problem. Sooner or later your measures will fail. Someone will learn the truth."

  "No one has in the last one hundred sixty-two years, Doctor."

  "They're planning on killing him at sunset." Andy had pleaded lost and chatted with the sweet young soldier in the outer office. She'd been there when the general gave the order for a firing squad. "The execution area is right in the middle of the complex, but the holding cells are in the basement in the back." She was good at getting lost. "Here." She was also good at making maps.

  Wren grinned at her. "Well, we have about seven hours to get him out. Call it five to be safe. Let's do it."

  They moved through the complex separately. Wren appropriated an officer's uniform from a supply room. Names were stenciled, so that was no problem. He decided to be a colonel and selected the insignia from another shelf. He smiled. He was enjoying himself.

  A small locked box by the general's insignia aroused his curiosity. It contained whistles. He took a guess as to their purpose. He 'borrowed' one and headed for the holding cells. This was not going to take five hours. It probably wouldn't take one.

  Peral and Lib played officer's children. He, blond and blue-eyed, was showing her, dark hair and eyes, around to impress her. Obviously, she was his girlfriend.

  Andy 'found' a pair of glasses and Jo 'found' a notepad. They walked through the halls giving and taking dictation. They met the others at the entrance of the cell block.

  Wren had tried his whistle in a lavatory. Everyone had become rigid. He'd blown it again and they'd all gone on about their business, totally oblivious to the few missing seconds.

  Wren opened the door to the cell block and all the guards jumped to attention. He returned the salute of the NCO and said, "I've been at Eight Seven. I'm just having a look around. Why don't you give me a quick tour?" He raised his hand to his mouth to cover a cough and blew the whistle.

  They spread out to find the Doctor. He was in an isolation cell. He was the only prisoner in the cell block. They congregated at the door and Wren opened it with one of the keys he'd unclipped from the NCO's belt. He said, "Hello, Doctor. We know, we're not supposed to be here."

  The Doctor smiled, pulled a card from the air, dropped it on the floor, and walked out of the cell. Wren closed and locked it and they headed for exits. Andy and Jo led the Doctor to an exit and waited for Wren. The Doctor would be noticed.

  Wren returned the keys to the NCO's belt and blew the whistle, coughed and lowered his hand. The NCO said, "Yes, Sir. We only have one prisoner at the moment and he's scheduled to be executed. He's a spy."

  "Really? You mean we finally caught one? I want to see what kind of person could sell out his own people. Take me to him."

  The NCO looked uncomfortable and said, "I'm sorry Sir. That's not permitted. No one's allowed to communicate with him on the general's orders."

  "That's all right." Wren had been sure the general wouldn't want anyone speaking to the Doctor. It meant they had at least until mealtime to get well hidden. "I guess I'll skip the tour. I've seen the cell block before. If there aren't any prisoners, there's no point in seeing it again. I can tell by looking at you everything is neat and orderly here."

  "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir." The NCO smiled. He worked very hard. It was nice of the colonel to notice. He returned Wren's salute and relaxed as he left. He hated it when officers decided to 'drop in', but this one hadn't been too bad.

  Wren stepped through the exit door and quietly blew his whistle. The four people in the area went rigid. Andy, Jo and the Doctor crossed the open area, walked into an alley, found the shadows, and waited for Wren. He blew his whistle and started walking again. Just like everyone else.

  "And it's been operating for one hundred sixty-two years. I've got to stop it. They need another solution. I'll have to find them one."

  "OK, Doctor, what do you need?" Wren had decided to keep the whistle. It certainly made getting in and out of places easy. Like the pleasant apartment they'd seen a 'For Rent' sign on and borrowed.

  "If we solve the barrier to colonization, the rest of the problems will sort themselves out. Find out who's working on it, if anyone, and where. I also want to know who built that dimensional gate. I want to have a talk with THAT man."

  "Done. I'll be back in a few hours."

  Andy said, "I'm coming with you. A colonel should have a companion to show around. A dumb blonde to ask dumb questions." Wren grinned at her. He liked this lady more all the time.

  When they'd left, Jo said, "I'm not sure how I feel about that. I don't think I'm really prepared for it. Hadn't actually given it much thought."

  Peral nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Makes me feel a little weird too."

  "Well, I think it's terrific." Lib had absolutely no doubts. And the Doctor had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. They looked at his puzzled expression and started to laugh.

  The research facilities were a long way from anywhere. Set in the middle of a desert. Getting there had seemed a problem until they'd found the right office. Wren had blown his whistle and Andy had cut him some official orders.

  He was ordered to escort a scientist to the facility and transferred there. Family quarters to be assigned on arrival. Andy inserted a glowing service record and a payroll listing. They cut some documents for the Doctor while they were at it. He was a 'hush-hush' scientist to remain unnamed and given complete freedom to work on projects at the facility. Transport was ordered and said vehicle was to be assigned to the colonel permanently.

  Wren blew his whistle and they went to pick up their vehicle. They picked up the others and headed out of the capital. There were no check points going out, only going in. The trip was a not too unpleasant nine hours.

  The quarters were rather nice. The colonel, his wife, her sister and his two children rated a townhouse. The colonel offered the use of his home to the scientist and they settled in.

  The Doctor was shown the facilities and introduced to the two men he wanted to meet. Dr. Metnan was the man responsible for the gate and Dr. Naril was in charge of the biological studies. The Doctor had a pleasant discussion with Metnan on dimensional theory and took over Naril's department.

  The planet-wide search for the Doctor ended. He was just gone. Vanished. The general was secretly pleased. He hadn't liked ordering him executed. It had been the first such order he'd ever given.

  Dr. Vag Naril was delighted. The Doctor had reviewed all the data and started two new research programs. Things were humming at the lab. He didn't know where the top-secret scientist had come from, but he was rather awed by him.

  "It's homesickness." Jo thought it obvious. "They get homesick and they die."

  "Jo, that's silly. People don't die from homesickness. These people die as soon as they're cut off from the rest of the people on the planet."

  "Andy, perhaps you're both right. I've begun to wonder if these people have a psychic link with the rest of the population. They can handle being separated from them, but they die as soon as they know they're cut off. If that's the reason, I can't find any evidence of it." The Doctor began to pace the dining room. "There are just too many unexplained phenomena. The conditioning program sho
uldn't work as well as it does. It should have failures and it doesn't. There's a piece to this puzzle missing. It could be psychic in nature, but I have a feeling it's physical."

  "Maybe it's the light." They all looked at Lib. "Well, haven't you noticed how washed out the Doctor's coat looks in the sunlight, or that the greens are very bright. They use green for warning, not red or orange."

  "That's the other piece to the puzzle!" The Doctor dashed from the room and they heard the front door slam.

  Wren said, "You know, I think we should pack. I think we'll be going home soon. Save him some of your birthday cake, kids. You'd better stick it in the cooler. Put his name on it. I doubt he'll remember what it was for, but he'd hate to miss a good cake."

  "Sixty cells linked to the audio-visual areas and the autonomic nervous system. They didn't even know they had them. The reason they don't die as soon as they leave the planet is the same one that lets them hold their breath under water. They know they'll be able to breathe again when they reach the surface. Dr. Naril is presenting the results to the heads of the military and the Ruling Council tomorrow. The problem is, I don't think it will change anything."

  "What?! Doctor, I don't think I understand. Why won't it change things?"

  "The system works too well, Wren. It's established, organized, in place. Why change it?"

  Jo said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

  "Exactly. I've got to find a way to 'break' it. I also think we should leave tonight. Dr. Naril is certain to mention me."

  "Where do you want to go, Doctor?" Wren was ready.

  "Back to that base. It's as good a place as any. Eventually, I'll need to make some modifications on that dimensional gate. Don't worry, I won't make them until we're ready to go back."

  Five chairs pushed out from the table. The Doctor had been standing already. Wren bowed to him and said, "Lead on, Sir Knight. Your transport awaits." Jo and Andy looked a bit bewildered, but Lib and Peral grinned. They knew the story.

  The colonel ordered his vehicle, took his family and the scientist for an evening drive and they disappeared. The vehicle was found at a roadside park. There was a picnic for six neatly laid out. In the center of the cloth was a card with a question mark on it. They took it to the general.

  They split into two groups. It was a major chore convincing the Doctor he should wear something else for the air trip to the capital and the bus ride to Mert's Landing, but they finally succeeded. He was Lib and Peral's uncle. Andy and Jo went with Wren. They took the bus the entire distance.

  They didn't know how long it would take the Doctor to figure out how to 'break' the system, so they set up good cover identities. Wren found work on the docks, Jo waited tables, and Andy became a physician's receptionist. Peral hung around a garage until they put him to work and Lib volunteered at a pre-school.

  They rented side-by-side apartments in a new complex on two different days and built a connecting door. Peral grinned as he signed the lease Peral Galahad.

  "There MUST be an answer! WHY can't I FIND it?"

  They'd learned the whistle blew only two nights out of three, its pitch caused everyone to go home, the conditioning started in pre-school, troops were still being sent to Cordahm, and it took the Doctor four strides to cross the living room when frustrated.

  The Doctor stopped pacing and stood perfectly still. They all waited. He said, "That's it!" and started pacing again. "Wren, find out where that whistle is. Lib, get me a sample of that conditioning process. Peral, get us a vehicle. Jo and Andy quit your jobs. We're going on an extended vacation."

  They went on a tour of Abdern. Their travel documents were in order, so no one gave them problems. There were never six of them at any checkpoint. Sometimes five, sometimes four, but never six. Someone dropped off before and caught up after. Security was lax. The war had been going on over a hundred fifty years.

  Every place they went, they waited until the whistle blew, then the Doctor went to work on it. They had a route and a deadline. They had to be back at Eight Seven in fifty-eight days. The Doctor needed two days for the dimensional gate before things fell apart. They hit thirty-nine towns.

  Wren blew his whistle and the guards on the gate went rigid. The Doctor went inside. In two days he'd be done and they'd leave.

  Wren blew his whistle and the Doctor came out. They walked around the side of the building and he blew it again. The Doctor picked the lock on the small door they'd come out of nearly half a year before. The staging area was empty. A rotation of troops had come home the day before. They wouldn't be sending more for several weeks. And those wouldn't be going to Cordahm.

  "We'll have thirty seconds when the gate opens. It will open at the first whistle. In ten, nine, eight..." He had Wren's watch. He'd never found another one he liked.

  The gate opened and they ran through. The Doctor pulled a card from the air and spun it through the gateway as it closed.

  Liberty ran up and hugged her grandchildren and her son, then she threw her arms around the Doctor's neck and kissed him. He was stunned. It would be days before he realized he'd rather liked it.

  "Well, you fixed our invasion problem or you wouldn't be here with big grins on your faces. What took you so long?"

  Wren laughed. "The Doctor fixed it all right; but first, he had to break it."

  The general looked at the card in his hand and began to laugh. The captain just stared at him. The planet was in chaos, the dimensional gate didn't lead where it was supposed to, and the general was laughing so hard tears were running down his face. When he recovered, the general called his aide. "Get me Naril at the research facility. It's time to get rid of those cells."

  They'd finally gotten the whistles in the forty towns switched off. It hadn't been easy. When one blew everyone began walking home; when it blew again, they all started back for it. Then it would blow again. Over and over, as many as forty times a day.

  The dimensional gate was the way to new worlds. All uninhabited. The Doctor supposed Metnan would find the circuit someday, but he'd have to look very hard. It was in the selector unit. It was very tiny. About the size of sixty cells.

  They insisted he stay for awhile. He started to protest, then Calla handed him her new baby and pushed him into a chair. She told him she had decided he was the baby's grandfather. He began to say something, then stopped and smiled. She planted her toddler in the chair with him and went to fix something special for dinner. He would stay for awhile. Andy remembered the letters Mick's family had sent. Liberty gave her a hug. They meant more to her than she could say.

  The time came when the Doctor got restless. They all knew he was leaving. Andy started to pack and Jo stopped her. Lib and Peral got Wren. Liberty hunted for the Doctor, found him at Calla's and pulled him out the door.

  "Well, you're the one who knows all the right things to say, Galahad. Say them!" Wren gave his mother a dirty look.

  Peral stepped forward and bowed to Jo. "Miss Merrill, my tongue-tied father loves your shy sister and wishes to marry her."

  Jo curtsied. "Mr. Connell, my tongue-tied sister loves your shy father and accepts his proposal."

  Wren and Andy shook their heads and started to laugh. They stopped when Wren pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Liberty said, "Well, I'm glad that's settled. Doctor, I think you had better stay for a few more days. There's going to be a wedding and I think you get to give away the bride."

  The wedding wasn't an affair of state and a king didn't officiate, but it was beautiful. The Doctor beamed with pleasure when he gave away the bride. Calla cried with joy at feeling him so happy.

  He stayed for the reception. Peral was best man and he kissed the bride. She laughed and kissed the Doctor. He was surprised, but recovered quickly. He told Jo she and Andy belonged on the same world, and slipped out the door.

  Liberty was waiting for him at the TARDIS. "Doctor, come back
soon. You'll always have a home here. You'll never be a stranger to us." She kissed him again and he responded. This time she was the one who was stunned.

  "Liberty, I seldom get caught totally unprepared twice." He smiled and opened the TARDIS doors. "I'll come back. I promise." Liberty laughed as he closed the TARDIS doors behind him and she watched it disappear. He had one more surprise coming.

  "WHAT are you DOING here?!"

  "That should be obvious, Doctor. Going with you." Peral grinned at him.

  "I'll have to take you back. How did you get in here?"

  Lib held up a TARDIS key. "Andy gave us the key, Dad gave us letters to deliver, and Grandmother told us to take care of you."

  Peral held up a large stack of letters. "I think you're stuck with us, Doctor."

  The Doctor smiled. He knew when to surrender.

  Once Upon a Time

  Sharon L Reddy

  copyright 1991

  The Doctor was looking for Peral and Lib. He'd decided on a fishing expedition and they would be landing fairly soon. He finally located them in the gymnasium.

  They were working out with quarterstaffs. He decided to watch for awhile. Peral's strength was matched by Lib's quickness. They had matured a great deal in the time on Abdern.

  Peral had become a tall, muscular, young man. Lib was rapidly becoming a beautiful woman. Her dark hair and eyes still brought Peri to mind, but she had grown tall and slender. He suddenly realized she was the near image of her mother. He smiled as he remembered the badly written note, and the trembling hand that had passed it to him.

  "All right, Doctor. Quit watching us like a fond old uncle and teach us something." Lib tossed him a quarterstaff. "Grandmother told us you looked like you'd been into the tergo jam. We're supposed to see you stay in shape."

  The Doctor shook his head and removed his coat. He picked up the quarterstaff and spun it. He said, "I can't teach you anything until I see what you already know. Shall we find out?"

  Liberty had taught them. That was obvious. They moved with control and precision. Both had nearly gotten past problems of six months growth with no practice. It was a good while before he found anything they didn't know. He had taught them very little when the cloister bell began to ring. He dropped the staff and ran for the console room.

  They were supposed to be in a forest glade. They weren't. The Doctor looked out on the blasted, desolate, landscape and checked the coordinate settings. The time was right and the place was right, but the radioactive wasteland was wrong. "Someone's meddled with the history of this world. I'm going to have to find them." He began a series of hops back through time.

  The scene on the viewscreen stayed the same for a thousand years. He found the time of the nuclear war, but the TARDIS told him no time traveler was there. "They shouldn't have atomic weapons in this time. They aren't supposed to be developed for several hundred years. I'm going to take us farther back. Someone's given them technology they weren't ready for." He watched for sign of a time traveler. When he found it, it nearly destroyed them.

  He felt as if he was being pulled apart. The TARDIS screamed and Lib and Peral fell to the floor unconscious. This was no meddler in a time ship. It was a rip in the fabric of history. He hung on and fought the turbulence. It ended abruptly. He tracked a capsule that had been flung through the rift. He was about to stop it from falling into the atmosphere when it opened. The cloister bell began to ring and he dropped to his knees. The sheer malevolent force radiating from the capsule had nearly overwhelmed him. It had even reached into the TARDIS. Something very nasty had just ripped through time and it would destroy this world if he didn't stop it.

  "This period on Laeth corresponds roughly to the middle ages of Earth." Peral and Lib knew what he meant. Their grandmother had been a cultural anthropologist and a wonderful storyteller. She'd taught them a great deal of the history of Earth in the most interesting way. As bedtime stories.

  "Jerkins and hose, buskins and breeks, halberds and swords, castles and knights; that kind of thing?"

  "Yes, Lib, that kind of thing. The people are humanoid. We'll all be taller than they are. You'll be taller than most of the men. We'll be noticed."

  "Doctor, I can't imagine you not being noticed, but I think I'll see if I can make myself less noticeable." Peral grinned. "I'm going to see if I can find something in the wardrobe. I'm glad I didn't let Grandmother cut my hair."

  Lib watched her brother walk through the interior doors. "He didn't let her cut it, because he likes it. Abdern was the first place he'd seen men with long hair. Actually, he's a bit vain about it. I think I'll check the wardrobe too."

  The Doctor smiled. He understood Peral's vanity, but his shoulder length ash blond hair with white-gold streaks would definitely not make him less noticeable.

  "We're ready, but you're not." Lib leaned under the console to see what he was doing. "Doctor, I think you should change. "

  "Ow!" He rubbed his bumped head as he got out from under the console. "I can't find anything wrong, but the TARDIS isn't responding to commands. I was going to follow the trajectory of the capsule, but she won't move. I can't even get her to move a few kilometers. She won't take time coordinates either."

  Peral had never seen him look quite so worried. "Does that mean we're going to have to hunt for this thing the hard way?"

  "Yes. I can't imagine anything that would affect the TARDIS like this, but it must be connected with this 'thing'."

  "Doctor, if we can't take the TARDIS, we're going to be here awhile. You're going to be a bit obvious in those clothes." Lib didn't know why, but it seemed very important he change.

  "I like what I am wearing."

  "That's obvious too, but you're going to look even more out of place than usual. If this period is like the Middle Ages, pockets and chains and even trousers will be very out of place."

  "Lib' s right, Doctor. We may be here awhile. I think you should change too. Look, this is going to sound silly, but I just feel like it's really important we fit into the time period."

  He argued a bit, but gave in. He wasn't sure why, but he knew they were right. When he'd left the console room, Lib said, "That was too easy. I didn't expect to win and he almost gave up without a struggle. He feels it too. Something's going on and it's really got him bothered."

  "I don't think being trapped in a medieval age without the TARDIS to get around in is making him any too happy either."

  "Wow!" Peral grinned. "That doesn't exactly make you inconspicuous, but at least the period is right. Those red boots are really... something."

  The Doctor gave him a dirty look. Actually, it had been the only thing he could find. Nothing else from the period would fit him, but he did think he looked rather good in it.

  "Doctor, you look like the hero come to slay the dragon." Lib smiled. He was all in white except for the red boots and belt and the red and gold dragon blazoned on the snow white breastplate. Her grandmother had always called him a knight, now he looked like one.

  "Doctor, you need a cloak and a sword. And probably a helm."

  "Peral, I never carry weapons. You know that."

  "Yes, I know. But I'm going to find you a cloak. We need them too. We need to dress up a bit to fit your obvious station. I'll be right back."

  Lib followed Peral through the doors and the Doctor crawled back under the console. Maybe he'd overlooked something. Eventually, he gave up. He couldn't find anything wrong. When he got out from under the console, he realized they'd changed clothes.

  Peral was in blue and gold. A sapphire flashed on his left hand and a gold medallion hung from a heavy chain on his chest. Lib wore emerald green and copper. They were still in tunic and hose, but they no longer looked like peasants.

  "Here, Doctor, these are for you." Lib lifted his left hand and pushed two large rings onto it. An emerald on his little finger and a sapphire on the next.
>
  "I don't want all this jewelry. I'm going to be more conspicuous than if I'd never changed!"

  "You'd be more conspicuous without them. You're obviously a 'Lord of the Realm'. The jewels befit the station." She grabbed his right hand and shoved another ring on. A huge ruby. "You're going to need soap to get that one off."

  Peral threw a red trimmed white cloak around his shoulders and fastened the question mark ruby clasp. "There. That'll do it."

  "IF you've finished DECORATING me, do you MIND if we get STARTED?!"

  "Doctor, quit complaining. You look absolutely wonderful." Lib smiled. Uh, oh. He'd seen that smile before. On her grandmother. "And you've got NICE legs."

  The village had been razed. They found no one alive, but there weren't enough bodies for the size of the village. Peral found clear tracks leading west. "They rode off and the villagers followed. Looks like about a dozen mounted."

  The Doctor found the knight. He was dying. He knelt beside him and lifted off his helm. The knight grasped his hand and said, "The Black One's minions have taken the children. A fortnight, I kept them from this place. I have lost this battle. I shall fight no more. I place the geas of a dying man upon you. End his evil."

  The Doctor gently closed the dead man's eyes and said, "I shall try my friend. I shall try."

  "Doctor, I think you should see this. Something's happening here I don't understand." Peral sounded rather strange. The Doctor rose and followed him through the trees. He caught up with him in a small clearing.

  "Horses do NOT belong on this planet! There's something here I don't understand either. I think we should leave them."

  "Doctor, they're obviously meant for us. They're caparisoned in our colors. And the banner on the lance is the same red dragon rampant as on your breastplate. Even the swords are set with the gems we're wearing."

  "Yes. And I don't like it!"

  "Doctor," Lib sounded thoughtful. "These horses are prepared for a long journey. Someone has packed us gear and a change of clothes. There are even bags of gold and silver coins. The fourth horse is for the knight. It wears his emblem and is draped in mourning. I think we should take them."

  "No. I don't trust this. You've never seen horses. Those horses are perfect. An artist's rendering. They're not any true breed. A white charger, a palomino, a bay, and a black draped in mourning. Three stallions and a mare standing peacefully in a clearing. No, it's too perfect. Leave them." The Doctor started to leave the clearing and the cloister bell tolled. Since that was impossible, he turned, went back to the great white charger and mounted. He had a pretty good idea who'd sent the horses. He also had a good idea what they faced.

  The horses refused to follow the trail of the villagers. The Doctor quit trying to guide the charger and gave it free rein. It set off north at a gallop. It slowed to a trot when a castle came in view. It trotted to the moat and stopped.

  The drawbridge was lowered and the portcullis raised. An old, blind, woman dressed in white walked through the gate and came toward them. The charger nickered softly and she spoke. "You carry the geas of the Knight of Perath. You have come to save the many worlds. I am Oltath and I carry the message. You are the chosen champion. You ride the one called Leoht. The youth rides Wealdan and the maid Heort. Come, kneel before me with sword and lance."

  The Doctor climbed down and knelt before the old woman. She said, "Give me the sword Perseveren." He gave her the sword and she lifted it above her. She lowered it and tapped each of his shoulders. He worried a bit about his ears. She WAS blind. "With this I Knight the champion. He has been tested and found pure of heart."

  She returned the sword to him, took the gold amulet centered with a great blue-white diamond from around her neck and placed it around his. She laid her right hand on his head. "Steed, sword, lance and amulet. These are the tokens of the power you serve. The battle shall be of this world and it shall not. Give me the body of the Knight of Perath." The horse carrying the body of the knight walked forward. He lifted the reins and placed them in her hand. She said, "Go now and free the children." then turned and led the horse toward the castle. The Doctor rose from his place and mounted Leoht. The portcullis was lowered and the drawbridge raised.

  The Doctor turned his mount and led them away from the castle. He rode in silence a few moments, then looked into the sky and said, "Don't you think that was

  just a BIT pretentious."

  Lib was puzzled. "It was a real mix-up of legends. Archetypal. A geas; a sword; an old, blind, prophet, priestess, oracle. Like the horses, fantasy stuff and it was for your benefit. What's it mean, Doctor?"

  "It MEANS, I've been DRAFTED!"

  "You were going to do it anyway." Peral had loved it. Whoever put this together LIKED the Doctor. The whole show was over the top. "You've been drafted

  all right, but with STYLE."

  "Yes, Doctor. That show had class. We've obviously been drafted too. Peral and I are riding. How about telling us what we're riding against?"

  "I'd rather not."

  "WHAT?!"

  "Come on, Doctor. That show has a punchline." Peral was grinning. "The joke's on you and it's good. Since we were standing under the same doorway when the bucket fell, we deserve to see you get wet."

  "I've been made the central character in a bad fantasy story! I'm dressed up as a hero, riding a white horse, carrying a geas and a sword with a name...The PUNCHLINE, as you call it is: I'm leading you into battle against a minion of evil!"

  Peral and Lib looked at him for a moment; reined their mounts; got down; walked over to a grassy mound; and ROLLED with laughter. He had been set up for that line. And well. They wanted to show their appreciation.

  They'd found the trail of the villagers. The Doctor couldn't understand the time difference. It was a clue, he was sure of it. The knight had said a fortnight. And this wasn't the first village... It meant something. He'd been sent on a quest with four items. Like the race had been, this too was a game. And it would never end. And the horses names were a clue...

  "So, Doctor, I take it from your white horse, we're the good guys. How did this guy, the Black One, get the high ground?"

  "I'm puzzled by that too, Peral."

  "Entropy gets a head start and it's a never ending battle."

  "That sounds like something your grandmother would say, Lib."

  "It is. So is good guys don't always win. If this is a fantasy story, we're on a quest. We've got just enough to stop something from happening." She grinned. "Hey, Peral, you're going to be fighting for reality on your eighteenth birthday. Grandma's going to be jealous."

  "We've seen the bet on this game, Doctor." The Doctor decided Wren and Liberty had severely altered the speech patterns of Cordahm. "It's a fishing spot or blooey." Peral grinned. "I'd rather go fishing."

  They found the villagers. The raiders had destroyed the village and taken all the children between ten and fourteen. They begged them to find them. They rode after the children. Because this fantasy was real. And the children were real.

  It was evening when they rode into the town. The streets were deserted. They reached the center of town before they saw anyone. A woman sat with her back to them on the rim of a central well. The Doctor dismounted and walked toward her. She heard him and turned around. He said, "Hello, I'm the Doctor. Have you seen any minions of the Black One, carrying children, ride through?"

  She stood, looked at him standing in the last rays of the sunset, the corners of her mouth quirked up, and she fainted. Lib and Peral stood looking at the Doctor attempting to revive the woman a few seconds, then ROARED with laughter.

  "If you two wouldn't MIND, we need to ask her some questions."

  "Come on, Doctor, you loved it." Peral lifted the bucket from the well. "Doctor, this water has been fouled. The people in this town were driven away."

  "He is right, My Lord." The Doctor looked down
at the woman he was supporting and smiled.

  "They take the children and ride into the west. They foul the water and trample the crops. It does not make sense." The Doctor helped her to her feet. She looked him over, then turned and looked at Lib and Peral and the horses, looked back at him and said, "Neither do you."

  Her name was Marna. She too was following the children. They'd been taken from their parents across the realm. One of them was hers. She'd followed twenty days. "The king no longer protects us. I do not even know if he still lives."

  "Marna, I need to know more. I'm here to stop this evil, but I know very little about it. What do you know about the Black One?"

  "He is the king's nephew."

  The horses carried everything they needed. They shared their food and water with Marna and sheltered in the deserted town for the night. While Lib and Peral slept, the Doctor tried to assemble the information he'd been given. The time element was a key piece of the puzzle. He was sure of it. The malevolent force he felt could not have arrived half a year before them. Yet Marna had told him that was the amount of time the Black One had been despoiling the countryside and taking the children.

  The stiffness and sore muscles of the first day on horseback after centuries gradually eased. Lib and Peral had taken well to riding. Lib had told him the horses were teaching them. He smiled. Wait until they got up in the morning and found out how sore they were. Marna bid him good-by and left before the dawn.

  "OW! My entire BODY aches." Lib saw the Doctor was smiling. "You could have warned me, but I suppose I should have known. New activity, new sore muscles."

  "That was only the first day. It will get worse. I was looking at the tack. Each set is different, designed specifically for one horse and one rider. None of it fits any particular category. It's a combination of the best of everything ever developed. There are even modifications that weren't developed on Earth. I'm going to spend some time teaching you to ride. You both did very well yesterday, but I've a feeling we may have a very short time before you need to be accomplished riders."

  Peral groaned. "They never mention this stuff in the fairy tales. Sore muscles. Blisters. Spending an hour brushing down a horse and finding him fodder. You're right Doctor. This may be a fantasy story, but it's also very, very, real."

  They learned quickly. All the years of training, Liberty had given them as they grew, gave them balance and strength. They soon became superb riders and, after about the fourth day, they began to get over the soreness. They learned as they rode. Always west. In search of the children.

  "Old English."

  "Yeah, Light, Heart and Wealden. A verb?" Peral wanted to get this one. Wealden was his horse. Lib waited. "To rule!"

  The Doctor looked at them across the campfire and said, "Yes, and the sword is that which perseveres or preserves through strength. French root. You seem to have a rather in depth grasp of the languages of Earth."

  "Well, there wasn't a lot to do, so we devised games using the things in Grandma's pack."

  He remembered Liberty and Wren had worn packs when he met them. And they'd taken them when he'd left them on Cordahm. "I don't know what was in those packs!"

  Lib and Peral began to laugh. Peral finally recovered enough to say, "Doctor, Grandmother and Dad only carried two things in those packs. The opal and copper pieces the Northwest Native American Association gave her as a thank you and the most complete anthropology library you could get in two packs, microencoded."

  "She has most of the accumulated knowledge of the human race!"

  "Doctor, it's an anthropology library. Much of it isn't about humans." Peral grinned. We had a very thorough education."

  The city was dirty and it smelled, but it was the first place they'd come to with people. They attracted a crowd. The Doctor dismounted and a balding, chubby, man was pushed forward through it to face him. The man bowed to him and said, "I am the mayor of this city. My Lord is welcome."

  "I'm the Doctor and these are my companions Peral and Liberty." Lib's ears perked. Why had he introduced her that way. "We're seeking news of the children taken by the Black One."

  That's when they met their first 'minions'. They were big, ugly, dirty, and human. And they had no business being on Laeth. "Well, lookit that. It's St. George. All done up with a white horse and everything."

  "How did you get to this planet?"

  "I don't like St. George's tone, boys. I think we should teach him a little respect for the Prince's Personal Guard."

  Peral and Lib looked at each other and dismounted. The "Prince's Personal Guard" were carrying swords that looked like they'd seen a lot of use. They had a feeling they knew what was coming. Evidently the crowd did too. The open area around them and the five men got bigger. Peral started to draw his sword, but the Doctor shook his head. The idea of fighting swords with his bare hands didn't really appeal to Peral, but this was the Doctor's show.

  "I asked you a question. How did you get to this planet?" The Doctor decided the question must have been too difficult. The man attacked him. He sidestepped the sword swing. The man's companions decided to join the fray and he had a very busy few seconds dodging swords.

  The fight, if you could call it that, lasted less than a minute. The Doctor looked down at the five unconscious men, then turned to Peral and Lib and said, "It was a very simple question."

  Lib and Peral burst into laughter. He watched them laughing a few seconds, then turned back to the mayor. That worthy personage was standing, mouth open, looking from the five who had terrorized his city, to the three who had disposed of them so quickly, and back. His eyes rolled up and he fainted.

  "Oh, no, not again!"

  Lib and Peral leaned against each other and HOWLED.

  The reason the city was still there was because it produced something the Black One needed. Iron. They didn't know what he used it for, just that he took all they could produce. The five guards were there to keep them producing. The five bullies hadn't been much help. They'd been recruited for the prince's guard on Earth. As far as they were concerned, that's where they were. In some foreign country where the people talked funny and the animals were strange. They left the bullies in the hands of the townspeople and rode west on the trail of the children.

 

‹ Prev Next ›