by Clive May (clive@cj4386.demon.co.uk)

Fifth Doctor:  rated U

Doctor Who is copyright BBC

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Punishment?

Yes, perhaps Vashona had the right to punish him.  he did not know any more.
There was so much that he could not know while the Beast she had imprisoned
in the Stone to torment him was eating his soul.

The crying of the Great White Wave Skimmers reached him faintly where he
crouched on the cliffs.  A sound full of a desolate loneliness, it haunted
the remains of Grimm's mind; and threatened ever to call him to folly.

Deep inside he felt the subtle "loosening" that presaged the Transitional
State.  He fought it down with a desperate fury, pounding his scaled and
taloned fist again and again on the flat rock at his side.

A large, oval, blue stone trapped in a cage of fine gold wire thumped
against the scaled ridges of his chest; it hung from his neck on a chain of
heavy gold links.The gnarled and twisted skin had grown around and through
the links - it could not be removed.

More and more each day now he knew only the feral desires of the Beast.  It
appalled his gentle nature; but there was nothing he could do to fend off
the Beast.

Why had he run?  Vashona the Goldenbell would find him.  That thought filled
him with an ineffable despair; but the thought that she might not be in time
terrified him.

Daring the peril, Grimm sought the white shapes of the Great White Wave
Skimmers as they circled and soared, living the dream of the sleeping sea.
How they called to him!  The ache in his soul was unbearable.  How much
longer must he endure this torment?

Even as he thought this, below on the boulder strewn beach the new
beginning was starting to happen.

With tireless indifference the sea rolled in to spend itself upon the
shore.  It washed about the base of a tall, blue box that had not been
there a moment before.  As Grimm watched, a door opened in the box and a
thin white rod emerged.  It seemed full of determination.  About a foot was
showing when it suddenly wavered with indecision, then was abruptly
withdrawn.  The door slammed shut.

At last!  At last, his time of torment and punishment was ending.

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The two robed figures stood among the stars.  Before them, slightly to the
left, was a planet.  The disk was half in shadow, half in light.  The
sunlit portion was a beautiful patchwork of blues, greens, whites, browns
and golds.  Beyond, the sun was a lovely golden ball of light pouring down
its benefice upon the world.

'I can't see why I should be apprised of this.'

The other figure, a tall, blond woman, cast an imperious glance over the
older man at her side.

'Because, Spandrell, you are the nearest thing we have to a military
expert.'

'But Madam President -'

Flavia held up a hand silencing him.  She and Spandrell went back many
regenerations.  They had remained friends; and when he began: "Madam
President", instead of "Flavia", she had no intention of listening to what
he had to say.

'I just want your opinion, Drell.' She deliberately used her familiar name
for him to make the point that: this was between friends.

'But...Surely the opinion of a proper Time Historian or even a Time Line
Projection Coordinator would be more useful.'

'Possibly, but I have already spoken to Magus and I can get nothing useful
out of him.  You know, there is something very...upsetting...having to
watch a Time Lord of his rank wetting himself in panic - a Prydonian too!'

Spandrell looked away to cover his embarrassment.  'Shall we
begin...Flavia?' signalling his acquiescence by the deliberate use of her
informal name.

Flavia waved a hand and said: 'Run the sequence.'

Then she started violently, suppressing a gasp as a grey wall of metal
enfolded her.  It flowed about her and in a moment left her standing waist
deep in the floor of a grey corridor which flowed past.  Another wall
encased her momentarily.

The sequence could be viewed from any viewpoint in space and time.  The
Trainee Monitor was going to feel the edge of her tongue when this was
over.  This was no time for pranks; she could not convince herself that it
had just happened by accident.

The rest of the ship flowed around them.  The ugly, black monstrosity fell
away, closing upon the planet, jinking and yawing as it jockeyed for an
orbit.  The projection was being run at about a hundred times normal speed.
In seconds the craft had established an orbit.  The point of view swooped
in to follow the ship.

Flavia gritted her teeth.  The little devil was doing this on purpose.  She
made a mental note to mark his record as possibly irresponsible.

'The lander is larger than the normal shuttle they use.' observed
Spandrell.

they stood in space beside the black wall of the vessel and watched the
shuttle dropping away.

'You think whatever is causing it is on board?' Spandrell asked.

'Almost certainly.  Get ready!'

But Spandrell had already closed his eyes as the scene in which they stood
dissolved into madness.

'Switch it off,' Flavia called to the unseen technician.  A moment later
the chaotic madness was replaced by a room bare on three sides, a dull grey
in colour.  The forth was lined with consoles and a large arched door in
its centre.  All the consoles were manned by Time Monitors.

Though Flavia's face betrayed nothing, she felt a deep relief to be back
with the reassuring stability of the Time Monitor Projection Chamber about
her.

'And there's nothing more, Flavia?'

'No, nothing!  No matter what time stream you sample.  No matter how you
run the probabilities forwards; time stops at that moment - everywhere!
There is no future.  Come, Castellan, we will discuss this in my office.'

As they left Flavia gave the offending technician a very significant look.
It was a little something for him to think on; a promise that she would
make certain to find the time to deal with him.

They did not speak as they made their progress back to the Lord President's
suite.  Once inside the inner sanctum, she let her mask of office drop.
Her face creased into lines of worry which put centuries on her appearance.
Now she looked more like how she felt - frightened and old.

'Privacy.'

'Privacy on, Madam President, ' the rooms' computer controller confirmed in
its modulated tones.  The lighting blinked and a red light glowed on a
discrete console in the corner of the luxuriously appointed chamber to
indicate that the apartment was sealed.

Flavia slumped into an easy chair and waved Spandrell to another.  Before
taking his seat he went to a side table and poured two goblets of amber
wine.  A very pleasant custom the Doctor had imported from Earth and which
was enjoyed by a small coterie of his acquaintances.  Passing one to
Flavia, he seated himself opposite.

He sipped his wine with appreciation and regarded his old friend.

'Why?' he asked at last.

'Why what?'

Spandrell waved an arm.  'All this.  Why me?  I'm just the Captain of the
Chancellery Guard.  I'm not even a proper Time Lord.'

'Still worrying at that old sore, Drell?  Come on.  You are one of my
oldest friends.  We both know that you never wished to enter the Academy.
If you had - you know I would have been at the head of the queue to sponsor
your nomination.'

Spandrell sipped his wine and met her gaze straight on.  'It's the Under
City in me.  We both know that I would not have fit in with the Old Chapter
Families.  Wouldn't want to for that matter!  Now, why don't you stop
stalling and tell me what is going on?  From the way you're carrying on,
I'm willing to bet it concerns the Doctor?'

Flavia smiled with genuine pleasure.  'I knew I could rely on you to work
things out - that is why, Drell - that and because you are a dear friend.'

'And perhaps because there might be trouble - with the Doctor involved.'

'With the Doctor involved, you can guarantee, there will always be
trouble.' Flavia said darkly.

'And you want to make sure that if, shall we say, things get out of hand,
you'd like my Chancellery Guards to know what the "right" side is?'

'There!  You knew all along Drell.  You just wanted me to spell it out.'
Flavia drained half the wine and set the glass down on the plush carpet at
her feet.  'Only it is worse than that.'

'What could be worse than dealing with the Doctor?'

The only sound was the soft sighing of their breathing filling the lengthy
pregnant pause before Flavia spoke.

'I intend to summon the Hand Maiden of Rassilon!'

Spandrell started.  Amber wine slopped over his hand.  It dripped onto his
robes.  He did not notice.

'You're going to summon the Creation Witch?  You think things are that
bad?'

'Yes.'

'Is there no other way?'

'No.'

Spandrell drained the remaining wine in his glass.  He looked into the
empty glass as if seeking some profound wisdom there.  At last he spoke.

'I hope you know what you're doing, Flavia.'

'So do I, Drell.'

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A red light began to blink on the control board.  Gallent noticed it and
his heart sank.  For a fleeting moment he considered turning off the tracer
and saying nothing, but of course, he was Gallent; and he could not do
that.  She would know anyway; she knew everything; even what he held in his
heart for her - and she didn't care.

Slowly he turned in his pilot chair to look at the Lady Vashona Goldenbell.
His breath caught in his throat, as it always did.  It had power to bring a
smile to her lips - but not to change her heart.

The slender, compact woman lounging in the command chair, wore a white
ship-suit.  A flowing cape hung from her shoulders.  She had a great mane
of black hair which framed a sharp featured triangle of face.  Slightly
over large grey eyes dominated the face, they had a luminous quality as if
lit from within.  they were not pretty eyes.  She was no beauty.

She was staring straight ahead seeing nothing of the little hemispherical
cockpit.

'Bell?'

'What is it Gallent?'

'The tracer -'

Vashona snapped to alertness.  Her grey eyes fixed Gallent.

'You have a fix?'

Gallent nodded.  He wondered if he should try and reason with her again but
her next words pushed the thought out of his head.

'At last!  I have the little Turd!  I'll teach him to run from me!'

Vashona clenched her fingers about the blue stone hanging from a chain
around her neck.  She held up her fist in triumph.

Kallas, the other pilot, swung round in his seat.  His gaze passed over
Gallent with a flicker of contemptuous amusement.  'Lady Goldenbell?  Shall
I lay in the course?'

Vashona nodded not taking her eyes from Gallent.  She was interested to see
how he took this; it amused her to watch him squirm.  The poor fool, the
more desperate things became for him, the more he clung to his hopeless
ambition.  Somewhere deep inside a tiny part of her felt sorry for him, but
she closed that off and concentrated on her own destiny.

'Yes.  Set course.  And Kallas -'

'Lady?'

'Full speed, Kallas!  Full speed!  The pattern in his Stone presses him
hard.  I should not want to arrive too late!'

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The Doctor leaned away from the flying hand.  He released his grip on the
arm of the young woman he had just yanked back into the TARDIS.  He took a
step back out of harm's way.  He was startled by the ferocity of her anger.

'Now!  Rhi!  Be reasonable!'

'And you are; I suppose?'

'But it could be dangerous.'

'Oh really!'

'Rhiannon - this is not Earth!'

'But you said there was no danger!'

'Oh, he always says it's safe.  Doesn't mean a thing - usually,' said
Tegan.

The Doctor gave her a wounded look.  'Tegan!  That's unfair!  I said there
was no "immediate" danger.'

He looked to Nyssa for support.  Her expression was neutral; there was no
telling where her loyalty might lay in this argument.  He turned back to
the red haired young woman.  Her face was drawn into a mask of wilful
determination.

'Why shouldn't Rhi go out first?' Nyssa asked.  'Rhi's never been on a new
world before; and it would mean a lot for her to be the first one to set
foot on a new planet.'

The Doctor's gaze travelled thoughtfully up the white cane and settled on
the green eyes in the pretty face; eyes that looked at him but were
unfocused and did not see him.

'It's because I'm blind!' Rhi said.  'Can't have the helpless blindy
wandering around on a new world; she might fall down and break her useless
neck.'

'Now!  Rhi -'

She made a wordless sound of disgust in her throat and jabbed his foot
savagely with her cane.  'There!' she said defiantly, as if she had proved
some conclusive point.

Tegan and Nyssa exchanged glances.  Nyssa reached over the console and
pressed the door switch.  The doors swung open.

'Nyssa!' cried the Doctor.  He made to grab for the door control, then
remembered Rhiannon and made a lunge for the back of her blouse.  He was
too late.  She was already through the doors.  He glared with disapproval
at Nyssa.  She gave him a sweet smile.  He turned to go out.  With a
mischievous look directed at Tegan, she closed the doors.  the Doctor
almost collided with them as they shut.  He spun round, genuinely annoyed
now.

'Nyssa?'

'Don't be so unreasonable, Doctor, you said yourself there was no immediate
danger.'

'Did I really?  Well - there are always dangers.'

'You can say that again,' said Tegan with feeling.

He looked from one to the other.  When they ganged up on him like this, he
knew he would get nowhere.

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Rhi made her way along the beach.  The rough stone strewn sand made use of
the cane impossible, but she pressed on.  She was really angry: she thought
that the Doctor understood about being blind - but he was as bad as all the
rest.  Just because she could not see did not mean that she was helpless.
Or that she could not tell what was about her.  On her right, she knew, was
a cliff; she could "hear" it.  To her left the sea.  The slow murmuring of
its rush up the shore soothed her anger a little.  Far out over the sea
were birds, they sounded like but unlike the gulls she was familiar with.
Their crying echoed in her head, chasing her thoughts, haunting her mind.

She stumped on.  Why would they not understand?  There on her right, just
ahead, was a huge boulder.  She rapped it aggressively with her cane as she
passed - just to say: 'I told you so!' But there was no one to notice.  And
there a little further on was a cleft in the cliffs; she knew from the
change in the sound.

You see, it's easy, and it's second nature to me now; she told herself in
her head.  The only things that were dangerous were things below waist
level, and then only if you were not concentrating.  Just so long as you
concentrated all the while you were quite safe, in no danger at -

Her cane went into empty air.  Because she was not concentrating, her foot
followed.  She let out a cry of alarm - which was cut off when the back of
her head smacked noisily against a rounded boulder; and she slithered,
unconscious, face down into a shallow rock pool.

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His hands steadier, Spandrell poured two more glasses of the excellent
vintage.  He handed one to Flavia and sat down.  He sipped his wine before
speaking.

'This plan has the feel of the CIA about it.'

'Really!  Drell!  The Lord President in consultation with those criminals?
Whatever next?' She gave him a tiny, sardonic smile.

'If the Council get wind of this, Flavia -'

'I am hoping to avoid worrying them with this.  I do not see how it could
help.  They will still be talking it over when the universe collapses about
our ears.  So far only the Monitors know about this.'

'What about Magus?'  Drell asked.

'I am keeping him busy.  By the time he learns that I have not formally
convened the High Council, it will all be over - one way or another.'

'And this action you have put into operation, it involves the Doctor?'

'His co-operation is vital.  It could not be done without him.'

'He won't like it.  Frankly, I can't see him sitting down under it.'

Flavia sighed.  'You are right, Drell.  He did not like it.'

'But e agreed - he'll do it?'

'Yes.  He has seen the probability forecasts.  He understands what is at
stake.'

'I admire your faith in his prowess.  Do you really believe he can handle
the Creation Witch?'

'I sincerely hope so, Drell.  The plan is launched.  It cannot be
blocked.  All we can do is what we do best, watch and wait.'

'And hope.' Spandrell added in a quiet voice.

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Vashona was out of the command chair, and working the door release, before
the whine of the motors had died.  The little disk shaped craft was still
settling on its supports when she emerged and ran lightly down the curving
hull, her white cape fluttering.  She leapt down to the ground, sinking up
to her knees in the low growing greenery.

Cursing under his breath Gallent struggled out of his pilot chair.  It was
his duty to be first out on a new planet - there were always dangers!  He
grabbed up his gun-belt and dived out the hatch, buckling it over his black
space armour.  He, too, ran lightly down the curving hull and jumped to the
ground beside the white clad woman.  He looked around alert for danger.
Vashona watched him with an indulgent smile.  She had already "Belled" the
surrounding trees, and knew there was nothing dangerous within a half mile
radius.

Kallas took his time un-strapping.  He collected a heavy rifle from a
locker, a slug throwing weapon, he preferred them for distance work.  He
liked the solid thump of the but against his shoulder when he fired and the
loud crack; it always seemed more substantial and deadly than an energy
thrower.  He stepped out onto the hull, secured the hatch, and turned to
consider the Lady and the fool.

He disliked Gallent; he found the man's nobility of mind aggravating; the
name suited him.  Apart from that tendency to play fair though he was a
superb soldier.  They had served together through a dozen or more nasty,
brutal skirmishes with the Daleks or their proxies on a dozen different
worlds.  Kallas had not expected him to last; but he had come through with
his skin and his nobility of mind intact.  The man was a natural survivor.
Kallas's own "trick" for staying alive had been: "Go in hard!  Go in fast!
Blast em and keep on blasting em!'.

He ran down the curve and landed lightly beside the pair.

Gallent put away his pistol.  A good natured smile tugged at his lips.
'Nice restful spot.'

Kallas looked around the wide clearing where they had set down.  It was
ringed by large trees of a darker green than he found normal.  Great fleshy
trunks supported explosions of thin leaves at their crowns.  Here and there
he noted a familiar species like Oak and Beech.  Overhead, the silver sky
was dotted with multi-coloured flying lizards, soaring on leathery wings.
They competed in ariel acrobatics with birds.  To Kallas it just looked
different, not overly exotic.

He shrugged - when you'd seen one new world, you'd seen them all.

'Kallas?'

'Lady?'

Vashona pointed to the south west to where the upper parts of a slender
tower thrust up above the trees.  'Check out that.'

Kallas sketched in a mockery of a salute and turned to go.

'Gallent?'

'Bell?'

'We'll head straight for the beach.  There's plenty of rocks there.  He'll
be unwilling to stray far from them by now.'

They set off through the underbrush heading slightly north of west.

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The Doctor touched his fingers to the smear of blood on the rock.  Any hope
he had that it was not Rhi's was dashed when he saw her cane lying in the
pool.  With worry creasing his youthful face he retrieved the cane and
stood up examining it carefully.  It told him nothing.  He heard a foot
fall behind him.

He started to turn.  'Nyssa I've - Goldenbell!'

The man in black and the white robed woman who had just emerged from behind
a boulder froze.  For a moment no one moved.  Then the woman's grey eyes
went wide with amazement; her face contorted into an unpleasant mask of
fury.

'Gallent!  Kill him!  Kill the Doctor!'

In a single, eye defying motion, Gallent drew the pistol at his side,
thumbed the power selector to the end of the slide and fired.  There was a
sharp whiplash of energy and the Doctor subsided to the sand in an untidy
heap.

Vashona ran forwards and knelt beside the body.  She began to rummage in
the pockets.  She brought out a red spherical object, she turned it over in
her hands a moment, then threw it aside and dived back into the pockets.
Next she brought out and discarded a ball of string.  Then the Doctor's
sonic screwdriver; this she slipped into a pocket in her cape.  Her hands
once more dug around and this time pulled out the TARDIS's key.  With a
little cry of triumph she rose and ran to the blue box.

Gallent re-holstered his weapon and moved to squat beside the body of the
Doctor.

At the TARDIS Vashona wasted no time in fitting the key to the lock.  She
pushed inside and paused in the console room.  She looked around her face
aglow with triumph.

She had "impressed" the Doctor's mind to her Stone, through the place where
he touched the Source - that place where he telepathically linked to the
TARDIS.  His maleness prevented her from assimilating his pattern wholly,
but it would suffice for her to project his mind signature convincingly
enough to gain compliance from his TARDIS.

She moved to the central console.  With deft fingers she set co-ordinates
into the navigation section.  When she was satisfied, she moved around to
the main panel.  Her hand hovered a long moment over the demat button, then
with a little cry of: 'Yes!' She pressed it home.

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Tegan and Nyssa picked their way among the rocks along the shore, following
the curve of the bay south.  On the headland a mile or so away a slender
white tower stood against the silvery grey of the sky.  Westward, out over
the ocean, the silver was tinged pink with the promise of evening.

Nyssa paused to regard the wash of water up the beech.  'Tegan?'

'Yeah?'

'There's a definite tide here; can you see a high water mark?'

Tegan looked around not entirely certain what a high water mark looked
like.

'Is it important?'

'It might be.  I wouldn't want to be cut off by the tide.' Nyssa studied
the tower in the near distance, shading her eyes against the brightness of
the sky.  'How far would you say it is?'

'Oh.  I don't know - a mile?'

Tegan scrambled up on a flat rock and looked back along the beech to where
the TARDIS stood, made small by the distance.  Beyond it the bay curved
around to another rocky headland a mile further on.  She looked up at the
low cliffss, wondering what lay behind them.

'Should we go on - do you think?' asked Nyssa standing at the water's edge
and peering into the silver sky.  'I think it will be getting dark soon.'

Tegan turned to study the tower.  'It's like a fairy tale.  You think
there'll be a princess?'

'What?'

'Oh!  Nothing.'

Tegan jumped down from the rock.  It had been her idea to explore; but if
Nyssa felt it was dangerous, she was quite willing to turn back.

Just then any decision became academic as the sound of the TARDIS
dematerialisation came faintly to them.

They looked at each other startled then back along the beech to the TARDIS.

Was the Doctor leaving them behind?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Doctor?'

Gallent gently shook the Doctor's shoulder.  'Come on, Doctor?  I know
you're not hurt.  I set to stun before I shot you.'

The Doctor's eyes popped open.  He grinned up at the concerned face of the
young soldier.  'How considerate.  But was it "really" necessary to shoot
me in the first place?'

'I thought it best.  Bell is in a real taking; she might have done
anything.  You have given her more than sufficient cause to hate you.  And
you know Vashona - she always had a temper, even before the debacle at the
project.'

'I suppose I should thank you -'

'No need, Doctor.'

Gallent rose and collected the Doctor's scattered possessions.  The Doctor
got slowly to his feet and took back the proffered items.  He slipped them
back into his pockets.

'I don't suppose you've seen a sonic screwdriver.'

'Bell has it.  I'll get it back when she is in a better frame of mind.'

'Which -' began the Doctor.

He broke of as the sound of the TARDIS dematerialisation competed with the
wash of the sea upon the shore.  They both turned to watch as the TARDIS
began to fade, then solidified again.  The sound rose a notch and the
TARDIS faded again.  Once more it stabilised and the sound rose to a
screaming intensity.

'Might be some time,' the Doctor finished.

Gallent looked at the Doctor, alarm on his face.

The Doctor grinned wryly.  'Blinovitch Limitation.  The TARDIS cannot take
her to the one place she wants to go.'

With a last wheezing sigh the TARDIS stabilised.  The door was yanked open
and Vashona stormed out.  She slammed it shut, her face a study in
disappointment.  She stalked across the beach towards them.  As she passed
she gave the Doctor a murderous look,and flung the TARDIS key at him.  His
hand snapped out and plucked it from the air with negligent ease.  Vashona
uttered a wordless sound and stormed past to the edge of the sea, where she
plonked down on a flat rock and stared, fuming, out across the gently
heaving ocean.

Gallent inclined his head apologetically to the Doctor and walked over to
lay a hand on her shoulder.  He started to say something but she snapped
some words that the Doctor did not catch.  Gallent snatched back his hand
as though he had touched something red hot.

He returned to the Doctor's side.  Together they stood watching the back
hunched in impotent fury against them.  A gambit of emotions played over
his handsome face - anger was not among them.

The cold water sloshing over her feet brought Vashona back to some
semblance of self-possession.  She drew in a few deep breaths and reached
her mind out over the sea.  For long calming minutes she watched the
graceful flight of the great white birds as they circled lazily in the
silver sky.  To the touch of her mind they had a distant and dream-like
quality.  But despite the tenuous nature of the contact, their serenity
seeped into her agitated soul.

Well!  she told herself, with a wry smile: You'll not sort this mess out by
raging around in a blazing temper at every set back.  Someone, sooner or
later, was going to get seriously dead.  Perhaps many people - but most
likely it would be that idiot Gallent.  She tried to tell herself that she
did not care, but she had always known when she was lying to herself.  The
trouble was that she did care.

Fervently, she hoped there was still time to undo the madness she had
wrought in the bitterness of her betrayal.

The betrayal!  Why could she not leave that pain alone?

The memory of that moment lashed her, scoring her soul.  She understood
with a growing despair that there was no way of going back, to prevent it.
The situation would not admit of change.

Vashona cradled her Mind Stone, permitting the memory to rise, letting it
have possession of her thoughts.  She saw it now not in the golden haze of
her adoring passion for Grimm as she had lived it, until the moment of
realisation, but now in neutral tones, in icy blues and desolate greys.
She remembered the view window, framing a sun, pale and white, as though
chidden of God,  the cold light streaming into the room.

And the Goddess, dressed in solemn grey.

Surely, she had been robed in glorious robes of gold and green?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Creation Goddess spoke.

'Are you truly determined to take upon yourself the Curse of the
Goldenbell?  I warn you - there will be no joy in it for you, Shape
Shifter.  This thing I know!'

The Creation Witch addressed the impossibly perfect woman before her.  She
looked hard and deep into Vashona's eyes.  The silence in the lab stretched
out.  Then she turned her steel-grey gaze upon the man at the woman's side.
He, too, was impossibly perfect of form.  Her luminous grey eyes were laden
with a terrible quality of knowing.

Then her gaze passed back to Vashona.

Vashona turned a face, shining with adoration, on Grimm at her side.  The
Doctor felt wretched.  He looked away.  The look accused him.  He was glad
that Nyssa had not deserted him; she stood at his side impassive.

The others, scientists and military men, stood around looking expectant and
nervous, willing Vashona to say yes.  They knew that the survival of the
Terran Empire rested on her choice; but only the Doctor was aware that the
fate of the universe might hang on her decision.

At last she turned back to the Creation Witch, who had the form of a
small, compact woman.  Her arms were crossed over her breasts.  The pale
triangle of face, dominated by the over large grey eyes, was framed by the
great mane of black hair which tumbled over her shoulders and down her
back.  The Chronic Field that contained her made her figure shimmer and
sparkle.

Vashona licked her lips and looked again at her companion.  Grimm stood
ramrod stiff.  Nothing of his seething self-loathing showed in his handsome
features, but the Creation Goddess knew!

He felt Vashona's hand squeeze his. He almost broke - almost.

Vashona looked back to the little woman.  'Give me The Goldenbell.'

'Sorrow alone will come of this gifting.'

The Creation Witch looked to Grimm and paused expectant.  When he did not
speak she went on: 'Will you still have it?'

'I will.'

The Creation Witch's eyes moved to the Doctor.

'I was summoned once before by one of your kind.  Rassilon, he styled
himself.  He would have me stop the inevitable progress of entropy while he
made his "adjustments".  But the culmination of his mad dreams brought him
small solace in the time after.' She paused a long moment before going on,
a sad wonder colouring her voice.  'Has the bitterness of the Dark Time and
the Long Sorrow so paled then that you would once more dare my song?'

The Doctor said nothing.

Next, she looked hard at Grimm, then to the others one by one, the wite
coated scientists, the black uniformed military men, apportioning the guilt
each to him in the full measure of his culpability.

Her gaze skipped over Nyssa standing at the Doctor's side and also Adric
and Tegan at the back of the room.

The eyes came back to Vashona.

'So be it.  Each knows his weight of the guilt.  Let all suffer, the
innocent no less than the guilty.'

She stepped forwards, straining against the restraints of the Chronic Field
in which she was contained.  She reached out her hand.  Vashona moved a
pace towards her and un-looped her Mind Stone. Folding her palm around it,
she extended her hand.  The Creation Witch touched it lightly.

And a power from beyond crossed over into the universe.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In that moment, Vashona knew what had been done to her.  And how her love
had been betrayed.  And the reason, stripped of clever excuses, why Grimm
had never permitted Union between them.  There could be no concealment in
Union.  He did not love her.  He had never loved her.  That realisation had
been worse, far worse, than his betrayal of her feelings for him and the
monstrous power he had caused to be thrust upon her.

Her revenge had been swift, unthinking, terrible.

When she felt able to rise without her legs trembling, she moved back to
where the Doctor and Gallent watched her from beside the pool.

'I did a bad thing once,' she said.

The Doctor let that pass with a wry smile.  Vashona had done many things
that fell generally into the category of "bad", but he knew to what she
referred.

'Doctor...I need your help.  I must find Grimm soon or it will be too
late.'

'You think he is here?'

'He is here!  You must help me.'

'You just tried to kill me...And steal my TARDIS!'

'Doctor -'

'There's blood here,' said Gallent who was kneeling by the edge of the rock
pool.

Vashona whirled and crouched beside him.  She put a fingertip to the smear
of blood and made a low note in her throat.  She looked up at the Doctor.

'A young woman.  Not Jovanka or that Traken girl.  You have a new
companion!' It was not a question.

She put her hand into the water of the rock pool and made the note again.
'She fell in here.  And - Grimm!  Grimm was here too!'

She rose, turned back to the Doctor.

'Now you must help me.  Grimm has her; and you know what that means.  If
you do not help me find him; then in a very short time he is going to rip
her into pieces and eat her!'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rhiannon had never liked the taste of salt.  It was that which gave her the
strength to make an effort to climb out of the dark pit into which she had
fallen.

She ran a tongue over her lips.  Salt!  The taste of salt was strong on
them.  She needed a drink of water.  She started to lift her head and
groaned as a dagger was pushed into the back of her neck.  The world spun
around and she subsided back onto the -

Bed?

No, not a bed, it felt more like a table with a rough blanket thrown over
it.  Where the hell was she?  and How had she come here?ð

Rhiannon fought down a weak surge of panic and settled her self to consider
her position.  She was inordinately proud of her reaction to strange and
new situations; it was a hard won strength she had gained through her
blindness - the ability to school herself to calmness, no matter how
strange or frightening the situation.

Rhi tried sitting up again.  The world went around in a dizzying swoop but
she got into a sitting position.  She realised that she was soaking wet.
Rhi felt her skirt and tasted her damp fingers.  sea water.  Yes, Rhi
remembered now, she had fallen down.  She must have fallen into the sea.
The Doctor must have pulled her out.

But if he had why had he not taken her back to the TARDIS?  The familiar
soothing hum was absent.  Listening, Rhi could here the sea faintly and the
sound of birds twittering.

There was a slight movement to her right.  She stiffened.

'Doctor?'

There was no answer.

'Tegan?  Nyssa?'

Still no answer, but there "was" someone there.  Or something she amended,
as her nose caught a thick animal smell that she could not identify.

Oh hell!  she thought, fighting down another little surge of panic.  What
have you got yourself into now girl?

The sound of movement came again.  She turned her head in that direction.

'Who's there?  I know you're there?'

Despite herself, her voice trembled ever so slightly.  A slow rasping
breath was drawn.  Something big, from the sound.  Rhiannon said a little
prayer that whatever it was it was friendly. Then chided herself for being
silly.  Whatever it was it had dragged her from the sea, probably saving
her life.

She swung her legs off the table, but was unable to reach the floor.
Swinging her legs back and forth, she looked directly at the source of the
sound and said:

'Why wont you speak to me?'

The thing shifted.  There was no other answer.

'What is your name?  Won't you tell me that at least?  My name is Rhiannon
- people call me Rhi.'

Her careful calm was beginning to crack.  If there was not some response
soon she was going to start screaming.  Rhi did not want to do that.
 It was something she had vowed she would never do, no matter the
provocation.  But she could feel it rising inside.

then the unseen presence spoke.  The voice was deep and rough and had a
quality to it that vibrated deliciously in her bones.

'I am called Grimm.'

Rhi let out a long breath as the tension ebbed away.

'Hello, Grimm.  I'm Rhi.'

'You are the bravest being I have ever met!' Grimm said.  He sounded
uncertain and a little confused.

Rhi tried on a smile.  'I do my best.'

'You are...unbelievable.  Vashona chose this form to make certain that no
one would help me.'

'You're ugly?'

'That depends on what you think is ugly.'

Rhi found herself warming to this Grimm.  'I honestly have no opinion on
the matter.'

Grimm stirred and took a pace nearer.  Rhi was very aware of the clicking
sound of what must be claws on a stone floor.  A waft of warm breath
floated over her face.  The smell was strong but she did not duck her head
away.  It was not a completely unpleasant smell.

'To a Rock Goblin, I suppose, I must cut a fine figure.  But I do not
understand why you are not afraid.  To your kind I know this form is
terrifying.'

'That's easily explained.  I can't see.  How high is this table?  I want to
get down.  Will you help me?'

'You cannot see?'

'That's right.  Blind as a bat.'

'I see.  That explains it.  It's only a foot or so.  I do not think it
would be wise for me to help you.'

'Oh! Come on.' Rhi said.  'I don't bite and I haven't the slightest idea
what a Rock Goblin is.'

Grim thought this over for a long while.  It was a piece of luck that she
was blind; otherwise well - who could say what might have happened.  The
beast lay close under the surface; it would take only some slight thing to
provoke it beyond his control.  If she screamed, it would be her death cry.

At last he said: "Alright.  But please do not be afraid.  I am a very
gentle soul really.'

Rhi heard him move closer.  Claws clicked on the stone floor.  Something
touched her right arm just above the wrist.  She felt for the object and
her fingers closed around a stubby finger with hard scaly skin.  From the
end projected an inch long needle pointed talon.

Rhi almost lost it at that moment.  When she spoke, her voice trembled
badly.

'My.  But you have sharp claws.'

'Very,' Grimm agreed and moved to help her from the table.  Rhi clung to
his scaly hands and slid to the floor.

'May I touch you - just to get an idea of what you are like?'

Grimm nodded then realised his folly.  'Yes.'

Rhi reached out, feeling up each arm.  The scaled skin felt slick, almost
as though it had been oiled.  The muscles under that skin were smooth and
hard.  She stepped between them and felt for his body.  Her questing hand
met a broad and ridged chest.  My!  He was big!  He must be seven foot tall
at least, she estimated.  She reached up and felt a feathery fringe of
hairs around a massive lower jaw.  She reached higher and found a great
canine tusk .  Rhi had felt enough.  She drew back slowly and leaned
against the edge of the table.

'Did I fall in the sea?'

'A rock pool.  It was not deep, but you were face down and I thought you
might drown.'

'So you pulled me out?'

'Yes.'

Rhi reached out a hand feeling for him.  She located a hand and stroked it.

'You saved my life.  But - why did you bring me here?'

'There was danger.  I intended leaving you for the Doctor to find, but I
saw Vashona coming.  I did not know what she might do so I brought you
here.'

'You know the Doctor?'

There was a lengthy pause before Grimm spoke.

'We have met.  But you were not with him the last time.  Then he travelled
with a boy called Adric and two young women -'

'Tegan and Nyssa?'

'They still travel with him?'

'Not Adric - something happened to him; but they will not talk about it.
Who is this Vashona?  Is she an enemy?'

Rhi felt the air go electric with tension.  The sound of the sea filled the
sudden silence.  Faintly, the haunting cries of the sea birds echoed in
Rhi's mind.

Then Grimm spoke, deliberately changing the subject.

'I'd better find the Doctor and tell him where you are. I won't be long.
You'll be safe here until I get back.'

Before she could argue he was gone from the room.  Rhi shrugged, she was
used to being left behind. It never failed to annoy her; but she had so far
discovered little that could be done about it.

Right then!  Now that there was no one to watch her, she would explore.
Pity she didn't have her cane.  With that in her hand she'd not have had
second thoughts about sallying forth on her own to do a little exploring by
herself.

She began with a sharp clap of her hands.  Soon she knew the bounds of the
chamber, had found where the door was where the obstacles were and a source
of water to slake her thirst.

While Rhi waited for Grimm to return, she stood at one of the windows and
listened to the sounds from outside.  From far off the calling of the sea
birds reached her

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was not how he had imagined he would die.  Killed by a pleasant stroll
through a restful wood!

Kallas was a hard man, a professional soldier, a survivor.  He had stayed
alive this long because he took nothing on trust.  His keen senses were
always alert for the slightest hint of danger.  He never allowed himself to
relax - not even when he slept.

And yet, some subtle quality of the trees, the flowers, or perhaps the
gentle silky air blowing on his cheek, had conspired to make him drop his
guard.

He was sauntering along with the rifle slung casually over his shoulder,
when the beast struck.  He had only a split second of warning.  In his
relaxed state, it was not enough.

Grimm recognised the soldier immediately.  He had no time to consider his
dilemma.  While he was Grimm he could not stand by and do nothing; but if
he took the only action possible, then the Beast would be rampant.  The
consequences of that appalled him.  This was all the consideration he had
time for.  The beast forced his hand.


He roared as the beast within took him.  He sprang through the screen of
bushes.  His powerful arms lashed out.  The claws rent flesh.  The power of
the killing blow crunched bones.  Blood sprayed in the still air, covering
the leaves about with a spattering of red droplets.

It was all over in two seconds.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the distance to the south thunder grumbled.  Rhi stood at the window
enjoying the cool salt breeze that blew gently through the tower.  Down to
her left she could hear the twittering and chirping of what she thought
must be birds settling in for the night.  The sound had that "going to
roost" quality that she remembered from the sparrows and starlings in the
park near her home.

The sounds stopped.  An uneasy silence settled suddenly among the trees.
Something was coming, something dangerous.  A cold shiver ran up Rhi's
spine.

She heard the sound of heavy footfalls in the stairwell.

'Grimm?'

There was no answer.  The heavy deliberate tread paused in the doorway.
Rhi turned from the window, her ears alert.

'Grimm?'

A low rasping growl came to her.  It sent another thrill of fear down her
spine.

'Is that you Grimm?'

She forced herself to take a step towards the doorway.  A thick animal
stench assailed her.  Her heart did a painful flip flop in her chest.  She
managed another step.  It used up all her reserves of resolve.  She found
she could not take another.

'Please, Grimm?  Say something!'

The heavy footsteps padded towards her.  Claws clicked sharply on the
stone.  A paw snatched her right forearm.  It closed with crushing force.
Needle sharp claws drove into her flesh.

In sudden, heart stopping terror, Rhi screamed.  She dragged away.  The
talons bit deeply, ripping open flesh, scoring bone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rhi screamed in terror.

The monster roared and dragged her in close.  Her left hand, thrown out
instinctively before her to fend off the horror, touched a large oval stone
in a cage of wire.

Rhi was three people!

One of them was a savage carnivorous beast.  And she saw!  She saw for the
first time in her life - she saw with eyes.  What she saw was a prey animal
struggling in her grasp, living food.  What she saw - was herself.

But until now she had never seen anything.  Her mind could not contain the
concept.  She had no learnt memory of how to see.  No memories to draw on.
She fell into utter confusion.  The confusion was the undoing of the beast.

That third part of them that was the beast recoiled from what it did not
understand.  It shrank away, giving ground to the other.

He was the beast yet not the beast.  But he was becoming more himself, a
separate entity, as she was .  Then instead of Three making one there was
three, Herself, Grimm and the beast.  A mad ravening bestial thing which
dwindled rapidly into faint echoes of its former power.  It circled the two
like a phantom, unable to do, only to be.

'Grimm?'

'I am here, Rhi.'

'Grimm...Where are we?  Where is here?'

'It is...You have...There is no way to say it to you.  Your kind do not
touch the Source - the concept does not exist for you.  But you are
touching the pattern in the crystal.  You have entered my Mind Stone.  You
have become one with me.  I know not how this is possible for you!'

'Grimm!  That doesn't help me, grimm!' The non-substance of her being was
trembling so badly she could hardly form her thoughts.  'That thing, was it
the Rock Goblin?'

'Yes, it is the Goblin, it is me.'

'Will it come back?'

'It is here now with us both.  I cannot push it out.  Vashona impressed its
pattern on my Mind Stone when she damned me for my betrayal.  She has
locked me in here with this beast to torment me!'

'That's hideous!  What ever you did it surely did not deserve this.'

As a deliberate act of will, Grimm drew back from her, disentangling the
tendrils of his consciousness from her mind, drawing off with the beast
into a landscape of concepts so strange, alien and arcane that Rhi's mind
would not fit around them.  They were to do with the idea of seeing, which
sense departed with Grimm's mind.  She found herself once more standing in
the real world with her hand clasped around the jewel at his chest.  She
squeezed it fiercely and tried to call back the contact.  She felt it
beginning to come, then her mind was fended off roughly.

'Grimm?  Why, Grimm?'

Then she forgot her hurt at his brutal rejection.  It came to her that she
knew what the stickiness was between her palm and the stone, and also where
her forearm rested against his chest.

It was blood!

She dropped the Stone and drew back - her gorge rising bitter into her
throat.

'Grimm!  You're covered in blood!'

'I killed a creature.  It would have killed one of Vashona's bodyguards.
The beast inside took me.  I managed to keep it from killing the man.  I
think it fears guns, it knows about guns.'

But Rhi was not listening to him.  Another realisation had struck her.

'I'm bleeding!  Grimm!  Oh God!  I'm bleeding!'

Grimm made a noise deep in his chest and was gone from before her.  A
moment later Rhi heard him struggling with something.  He seemed to be
pawing and rattling some sort of metal cabinet.  He let out a sudden roar
of frustration and there came the sound of tortured metal ripping and
snapping.  A moment later he set a metal box at her feet.

'You'll have to get it open, Rhi.  My hands are not made for this sort of
thing.'

'What is it ?'

'A medical kit.'

Rhi knelt down and felt for the box with her uninjured hand.  She
encountered a large metal chest.  Feeling around and finding the clasp, she
worked it open and lifted back the lid.

'Now what?'

'I'll tell you what to use.  You'll have to do it yourself.'

Under Grimm's direction, Rhi first injected herself with a tube like device
by pressing it to her arm and touching the stud on the end.  Any pain it
made was submerged in the throbbing agony that had started in her arm.  In
seconds the arm went numb.

Fighting against feelings of squeamishness Rhi pressed the torn flesh back
together, closing the tears.  She felt light-headed and faint but struggled
on grimly.  She sprayed each one with a can of antibiotic, and a foam that
made a supple plastic bandage over them.

She rinsed the blood off her arm with an odorless liquid from a smooth
plastic bottle.

'Alcohol,' Grimm informed her.

This done, Rhi let out a long sigh of relief.  She set the little cans back
into the slots and closed the lid.  Grimm hauled the box of somewhere.

He came back to her side and took he arm.  He inspected it carefully,
prodding it gently here and there.  Imperceptibly, the prodding transformed
itself into a gentle caressing motion.  Rhi sensed a subtle change in
Grimm, a softening and melting.  The atmosphere had become charged with
energy.  The loud clap of thunder made them both start.

Grimm released her arm and went to the south facing window.  He looked out
at the darkening sky.  Lightening flashed again.  'It'll be upon us in a
few minutes.'

He crossed to the north window and looked out.  Somewhere out there was
Vashona.  She was coming; he could feel it inside where he touched the
Source; where Vashona, too, touched the Source.  It was like an itch that
he could not scratch.  And when she got here, what then?  He turned to Rhi
who stood there, cradling her injured arm, seeming to study him.

'Rhi!  I dare not stay!  Vashona is coming!'

'Don't leave me!'

'The Doctor is with her.  You'll be safe here.'

'Please, Grimm?'

In the lengthening silence lightning flashed again, which Rhi did not see,
and thunder rumbled, which they both heard.

Grimm struggled inwardly with himself.  He knew that he should leave her.
Vashona would not harm her, not with the Doctor there.  The beast within
stirred, excited by his emotional turmoil.

'Grim?  What if the beast comes again?  I can sooth the beast, you know I
can!  Take me with you - please?'

Rhi did not know why she was so desperate that he should not leave her,
only that she had to go with him.  Come what may, she had to go with him.

The thunder clap rolled away into the distance, seeking a sounding board
among the hills.  Indecision gripped Grimm.  What was for the best?  He had
done many things lately that he thought were for the best and they had
brought him nothing but pain and horror.  What should he do?

Rhi's head went down and she mouthed a final: 'Please, but without hope.

It was the lot of the blindy.  To miss out; to be left behind; to be
overlooked.  She had done her best; God, how she had done her best, not to
be left behind; but when you couldn't see - she clenched her useless eyes
shut.  At least she would not let out the tears of anger and frustration.
That much dignity at least she would keep.

Grimm gave vent to a howl of anguish.  A moment later he was upon her,
sweeping her up and bounding down the stairs, out into the lightening riven
gloom.

He swung her up onto his shoulders and began to run.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vashona swept grandly into the room at the top of the tower.  Stepping
carefully around the blood spattering the floor, she glanced around and
moved to the large table like structure in the centre of the room.  The
others crowded in behind her.  Kallas, in particular, looked around with
considerable caution.  The Doctor moved over to stand beside Vashona.

'Well?'

In answer Vashona reached a hand to the rough blanket on the table.  She
felt the coarse fibers a moment, then she drew in a deep breath and began
to Bell.

It was a single, low, pure note.  It was a sound yet more than sound.  Not
only did the air vibrate but also the very fabric of reality.

Before their eyes a ghostly transparent vision of Rhi shimmered into being
on the table.  As they watched she sat up and swung her legs over the edge.
Her mouth worked forming words, but there was no sound.

As the Doctor began to lip read the words, Tegan screamed.

They all turned towards her in time to see a gigantic misty form fade out
of existence.

Tegan turned eyes wide with horror on the Doctor.  'What...What was that?'

'Grimm!' Vashona answered her, an unpleasant edge in her voice.

Tegan switched attention to her.  'And that...That thing has Rhi?'

'It would seem so,' said Vashona, her voice tight with emotion.

'Will it hurt her?'

Vashona turned her back, strode to the south looking window and peered into
the darkening sky heavy with the storm.  Lightning flashed repeatedly.

'Well?' Tegan demanded of her back.

'I don't know,' Vashona said at last, not looking round.

'Hadn't we better get after them?' Tegan asked.

The Doctor moved over to her.  'We will, Tegan.  Just as soon as this storm
passes.'

Tegan and Nyssa exchanged looks, bound together by their mutual feelings of
guilt.

'Isn't there anything we can do now?' Nyssa asked, the tiniest note of
pleading in her voice.

'We must make some plans.' said the Doctor.  He regarded Vashona's back.
'How far back in time did you reach?'

Vashona turned to look at them.  Her face looked strained.  Nyssa was sure
that she had been struggling against tears.

'About half an hour.  It was very tenuous.  Any longer and I would not have
been able to call it back without permanently affecting the time stream.

'So.  They have about an half hour start.  Any idea which direction they
went?'

'East, inland.'

'Well.  He can't travel too fast with Rhi.'

Vashona looked anguished.  'He is carrying her; and he can cover a lot of
ground; he is tireless.  We really ought to get after them.'

'It looks like it might be a long chase,' said Gallent.  'I think we should
swing past the ship and collect some survival packs on the way.'

'Good idea.' The Doctor nodded his approval.

'You're not seriously going after them on foot?' Tegan asked, incredulous.

'I don't see any alternative.' Gallent answered her.

'You've got a ship?'

'It doesn't handle very well close to the ground.'

'Steers like a barge with a broken rudder,' Kallas confirmed.  'It'd be
suicide trying to fly her this low down.'

'And there's the fuel,' Gallent went on.  'If we go flying her all over
we'll not have enough fuel to get her back into space.  That is, if we
don't plough her into a mountain.'

Tegan turned away in disgust.  'I might've known!' She turned a harsh look
on the Doctor.  'Why is nothing ever easy travelling with you?'

The Doctor did not answer her.  He could think of nothing to say that would
not exacerbate her feelings of guilt.  He was willing to act as a scapegoat
for her guilt based anger, but her accusation stung him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

She did not see the flash of the lightning; but the crack and rumble of the
thunder made her heart pound.  The first large, warm drops began to spatter
on the trees, on her, and Grimm.  Rhi opened her lips and let them fall
into her mouth.

The wind came then, rushing and careering through the vegetation to buffet
them.  Grimm leaned into it and put on a spurt.  Rhi clung to him, her long
red hair flying, laughter bubbling in her throat.

The rain hit them.  It was full of a lashing fury.  Great warm drops
splattered against them, driven by the boisterous wind, soaking them in a
moment.  Her wet clothes clung to her.  Made into rat's tails by the
downpour, her hair fluttered madly behind.

The romance of it entered her soul.  The joy of it all surged up in her
throat and burst from her lips in a scream of pure joy.

'YES! YES!' she screamed, as the thunder cracked and boomed over head.

This was real life!  This was living as it was meant to be lived!  Riding
the shoulders of a gigantic monstrous beast through an alien jungle,
through a raging storm, soaked to the skin with your heart pounding in a
joy it had never felt before.

Yes!  This was real!  This was life - not the hum drum tedious existence of
the London suburb she had struggled through before the Doctor had come to
bring her to this.

Where her bare calf pressed against the stone, trapping it against Grimm's
chest, her surging emotions communicated themselves to his mind and his
spirits soared with her elation.

He pounded on through the dark and the rain, his heart leaping at each
lightening stroke, a deep growling rising in his throat to counterpoint the
booming thunder.  The laughing shouting woman perched on his shoulders gave
herself up to the moment and urged him on with wild abandon.

Blue fire struck ahead of them.  The ground leapt under Grimm's feet and
the air roared, hot and humid, as it blasted past them.  In the silence
after the thunderclap and before the rumbling began echoing back from the
distant hills, Rhi heard the sound of a tree crashing to earth in their
path.  Grimm's pace did not slacken.  With a great howl he leapt, soaring
into the air over the fallen tree.

Rhi screamed again, her voice drowned by the beginning rumble.  Leaves and
twigs torn loose by the falling tree whirled in the air.  Driven by the
wind, they stung her face; but she paid them no heed.  Grimm's deep
growling vibrated throughout her whole skeleton, evoking a dangerous and
exciting sensation from her toes to the tips of her fingers.

They raced on through the storm.

After ten minutes or so the rain stopped.  Rhi soon began to shiver with
cold as the elation drained from her.  The soaked clothing felt clammy
against her skin.  Goose bumps spread along her arms and legs and up her
back.

Grimm knew; there was no need for words.  He slowed and bent setting her
feet to the ground.  Rhi dismounted and found herself standing on some sort
of road surface.  Grimm touched her right hand with a finger.    She took
it, her fingers closing around the scaled digit.

'Run!' Grimm said.  'You'll soon be warm.  Run!'

Rhi ran, revelling in the pure delight of physical exercise.  At her side
Grimm pounded along setting the pace.  After a few minutes he slowed and
they took up a steady walk.  She was glowing warm now and her body heat was
fast drying her clothes.

Without warning Grimm swept her up in his arms and cradled her to his
chest.  He began to run again.  Rhi sought the amulet at his chest and
gripped it hard.  She did not know what the future held; rather she knew
what it would not hold.  She would not go back.  Nothing would induce her
to return to that dreary London suburb, nothing!  If it come right down to
it, she would die here and die content.  Earth could hold nothing for her
after this night.  Clutching the amulet and that thought, rocked by the
gentle swaying, she fell into a profound sleep.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Through a delicious languor Rhi floated upwards towards a slow awakening.
For long minutes she lazed in a drowsy fog, unwilling to break the spell.
She felt she could stay like this forever, just drifting in this place
between sleep and waking where the cares of the world could not touch her.
The early mornings had always been her favourite time of day.

But the world would not let her be.  Something intruded into her
consciousness, niggling at her contentment.  Whenever she roused herself to
examine the sensation, it melted away.  Rhi stirred herself to an extra
effort.

It was the smell of roses!

She came fully awake; and wondered for a long moment where she was, before
her sleep slowed brain dug out the memories.

She remembered the cottage in its own little garden.  She recalled the
smell of roses, on being jarred awake by the sound of Grimm smashing in the
door.  She had just lain there in the rank growth, bathing in the perfume,
unwilling to move until Grimm came and gathered her gently into his arms to
carry her inside.

'An abandoned cottage,' Grimm had told her.  But everything was so clean
and fresh that she could scarcely believe it was not lived in.

'It was sealed against the environment when the people left.' Grimm
explained.  The slight staleness of the air he had dispelled by opening the
windows to let the warm night air circulate through the rooms.

There was food which cooked itself in moments - served piping hot.
Afterwards, joy of joys!  A bath!  A real hot bath!

She fell asleep without a single qualm for grimm's casual burglary.

He must have put her to bed; she did not remember.  Rhi felt around for her
clothes and her questing hands encountered a small stuffed toy.  It felt a
bit like a kangaroo.  Someone had loved it into a sorry threadbare state.

Finding her clothes, she threw off the blanket, and pulled them on.  They
smelled bad; but what choice did she have?  For a moment she flirted with
the idea of not bothering with them at all; she had come a long way in the
last day or so, but not quite that far.

The noises of morning drew her attention to an open window.  She felt her
way over, clutching the little toy.  To the left she heard a tree being
shaken with considerable violence.  There was the sound of heavy fruit
thudding to the ground.

Grimm's footsteps came over under the window; how well she knew his
particular tread already.

'Rhi?  Are you hungry?'

She had not so far given it a thought; but now that he mentioned it -

'Starving!'

'Here.  Reach down.  I've something for you.  I know it won't poison you;
it's a fruit from your own world - though I don't know what it's called.'

Rhi reached down and Grimm pressed a large smooth, rounded fruit into her
hand.  'It's an apple!' She exclaimed delightedly and sniffed it.  It smelt
wonderful.  Without hesitation she bit into the fruit.  Rhi did not
consider any danger.  Grimm said it was alright; that was good enough for
her.  The flesh parted with a juicy crunch and her mouth filled with tangy
juice.  She munched on it, a huge grin on her face.

'Does My Lady find it to her taste?' Grimm asked in a passing imitation of
courtly speech.

Rhi laughed and threw the apple at him.

'Not to your liking then, My Lady?' The grumbling growl that served him for
laughter vibrated in her chest, evoking a disturbing warmth deep inside.

'I want to come down.  I -'

'Wait there.  I'll come up and get -'

'No!' Rhi commanded.  'Stay there!'

She hoisted the hem of the skirt to free her legs and clambered up onto the
ledge.  'Grimm?  Grimm?  You'll catch me - won't you?'

Grimm started to protest.

'Here I come.  Catch me!'

With that she jumped.

He caught her so carefully that Rhi did not even feel a jolt.  He held her
easily in his arms.  'I was going to say, My Lady, that there is a
perfectly serviceable set of stairs.  A bit narrow for me, perhaps?  But
you -'

He set her on her feet.  Taking her hand he trod a path for her through the
rank vegetation towards the apple tree.  They passed close to the overgrown
rose garden and Rhi pulled him to a stop.

'I want to smell the roses, Grimm?'

'Roses?'

'The flowers that are giving off that heavenly perfume.'

'These red blooms on the thorn bushes?'

'Oh!  Grimm!  Are they red?'

'Like blood.'

He carefully steered her over to the bushes.  Rhi reached out and felt
around.  She first touched a stalk.  Her fingers lightly brushed the thorns
as she felt carefully along it, seeking a bloom.  When she found one, she
cupped it in her hands and buried her face in its petals, savoring the
heady perfume.

'Would you like to have one?'

'Oh!  Grimm!  Yes.  I would like that very much.'

Grimm crushed the stalk between two fingers, just below where she held it.
Rhi sniffed it, lost in improbable thoughts, then had a wild idea.  She
separated some strands of her long red hair and tied them tightly around
the stalk just under the flower, so that it was fixed in her hair above her
right ear.

'How do I look?'

'Silly,' said Grimm, knowing that it was the right thing but not why,
joining in a shared joke that he did not really comprehend.

They walked on to the apple tree and sat down in the shade.  Grimm leaned
his back to the trunk and Rhi settled herself against him.  He handed her
another apple.

Rhi began to examine the stuffed toy animal.  So, even in what was to her
the far future, children still loved the same things.  And this one had
certainly been loved.  She could feel where the fur had been worn away by
tiny clutching hands.  And the ear, it had been chewed into a threadbare
tuft.  The shape reminded Rhi of a Kangaroo and she wondered what it was
meant to be.

'Grimm.  What is this?'

'A stuffed toy.'

she shoved him playfully, and winced at the sharp stab of pain in her arm.
She had all but forgotten the injuries.  She felt the bumps under the
artificial skin covering her right forearm.  The wounds felt almost healed.
Medical science had gotten a long way since her time.

'No.  That's not what I meant.  Do you know what animal it is supposed to
be?'

Grimm took it from her, curling his fingers around it.  He studied it for a
moment and made a low thoughtful rumbling in his throat.

'I'm sorry, Rhi.  I don't know.  It looks a bit like a Badrian Springer but
-'

Rhi felt along his arm to his hand and took the toy back.  She stroked it
absently.

'Who do you suppose it belonged to?  I mean, who lived here?  I thought
this planet was uninhabited?'

'It is.  I came here because I knew there would be no one here.'ð

'But there was someone here once?'ð

'Yes.  Your people.'

'My people?'

'Earth people.  From one of the nearby colonies, not from Earth itself, not
at this distance.'

'How far is my home world from here?'

'A long way, Rhi, thousands of light years.  Your people have spread far
through this part of the galaxy.  The Terran Empire is vast; I really don't
know how many systems.'ð

A mighty Terran Empire!  Rhi found the thought very satisfying.  She had
been an avid reader of science fiction; and in many of the books there were
great space empires.  To think that it would all come true one day -had
come true!  She squeezed the little toy and felt her heart swell with
pride.ð

'Why did my people abandon this world?  It seems a very beautiful place?'

'Daleks!'

Rhi shivered.  The Doctor had told her about Daleks.  She clutched the
little stuffed form and felt concern well up inside for the little boy or
girl who had loved it so dearly.  Had the Daleks come here?  Had there been
a slaughter?

'Grimm?  What happened here?  Did the Daleks?  -'

Sensitive to her sudden anguish, He laid a mighty paw gently on her
shoulder.  'No.  They have not come here.  This world was once quite deep
inside the Terran sphere; but things have been going badly of late.  There
has been a lot of border actions recently and your people came off worse.
They have pulled back so far that this planet is now right up against the
frontier.  It can no longer be guaranteed to be safe from raids by Ogrons
or Daleks.'ð

'So everyone just left?'

'There were not that many here, just a few thousand planetary engineers and
their families...And of course, the military.  They were readying this
planet for colonisation but now -'

'How long?'

'How long what?'

'How long ago did they leave?'ð

Grim thought for a moment.  'I'd say about ten or so standard years.'ð

Rhi lay the toy in her lap and bit into the apple.  She munched in
introspective silence.  It was very nice just sitting here under the apple
tree with Grimm, listening to the birds.  But this idyll could not last
forever.  Somewhere the Doctor would be searching for her, probably frantic
for her safety.  And of course, there was Vashona.ð

'Grimm?  Where are we going?'

'To my transport.  I left it hidden in a power installation a few miles
from here.'

'What happens when we get there?'

'I don't know, Rhi...I've been trying not to think about it.'

'Will you take me with you?'

Grimm was silent for a long time.  Rhi fancied she could hear the gulls
crying faintly, but, of course, that was just silly.

'I don't know.  I cannot leave without you.  You can gentle the beast.
While I have you I am safe from it.'

Rhi experienced a sharp stab of disappointment.  'Is that all I am to you?
Someone to control the beast for you?' Her tone was sharper than she
intended.

Grimm shifted slowly.  He seemed about to speak but in the end no words
came.  Instead he took her hand and folded it firmly about his Mind Stone.
He opened himself to her fully.

Rhi surrendered herself to the contact.  She slid easily into the in
between place of his Jewel.  Entering at the point where he touched the
world, she flowed through the crystal complexity of his mind, his beautiful
mind.  Grimm offered no resistance to her penetration.  Rather, he welcomed
her in, steering her father down, to the heart of the Stone, the place
where he touched the Source.  It was a vast web of inter-connectivity where
all those who could form Union met.

Rhi touched the Source with Grimm and soared into perfect Union with him.

In that instant she knew him in his entirety; just as he saw her in her
totality.

She saw that his Stone was the point of focus of his mind.  He could never
lose it, even were it miles distant he would know exactly where it was.  If
it were destroyed, he would lose his ability to order living tissue; he
could not touch the Source directly until he found another focus.  It would
be a serious inconvenience - like Rhi losing her cane.

He could impress himself upon any suitable crystal lattice, but it was
never quite as satisfying a sense of familiarity as always clung to the
first stone, the Birth Stone.  At birth the impressing was instinctive and
powerful; the studied impressions of adulthood never had that same
spontaneous quality to them.  There was something about the crystal from
the family lode that could not be recaptured from even crystal from other
parts of his home world.

To avoid loss or damage, many of Grimm's kind carried their Mind Stone
enclosed within the flesh of their current incarnation.  Some, though, like
Grimm and Vashona, who were particularly sensitive, preferred to wear them
outside so that relief could be gained from the enforced intimacy of the
Source by having a layer of clothing between, or in particularly sensitive
moments, by laying it aside all together.

He was the perfect irony, rooted rigidly in the crystal lattice of his
jewel, unchanging, and yet heir to an infinite mutability of physical form.
At the point where his Stone intruded into the real world lay the power to
move molecules, to arrange atoms, to structure living tissue to his will.
Just so long as his mind could encompass the pattern, he could live that
form.  He did not mimic other creatures; he became them.  If he was a man,
then he was a man, with all the baggage of emotions and thoughts, virtues
and aspirations to which men laid claim.

She saw the weakness that the Doctor had exploited.  Saw how he had been
steered into betraying Vashona's love for him.

Only the power of the Creation Witch could hope to prevail against the
Dalek weapon.  Only a Shape Shifter could sufficiently understand that
pattern from beyond to live it.  And only Vashona could take that pattern.

Rhi felt a grand sadness at all this unscrupulous using of sentient beings.
She had thought better of the Doctor.  She enfolded Grimm's hurt in her
love and tried to smother the life out of it.

'It's not your fault, Grimm.'

'That is of no comfort, Rhi.'

She caressed his pain and gently reassured him that the treachery done to
Vashona was not his to pay for.  But he would not be comforted.

The beast stirred, making its presence felt.  It was wedded to Grimm in a
way that Rhi understood was unnatural.  Vashona had trapped him half way
between one form and another.  If he entered the transitional state to
change then he would become totally the beast and be trapped in that form.
The only pathways open to him all led to the beast.

It was the worst fear of Grimm's kind, to be compelled into the form of a
unthinking creature.  If the form they took could not comprehend a pattern
greater than itself then that was the final form, unchangeable.  The mind
was lost, submerged into the instincts and minute by minute existence of
the animal it had become.  It was a thing so terrible that it had long ago
been forbidden as a punishment by his kind.

Vashona had done that with the power of the Creation Witch.

What a vile thing Vashona is.  I do not think I shall like her.'

'Don't judge her too harshly, Rhi.  She is in torment!  And it is because
of the brutal way I used her love for me against her.  Of the three of us,
even the beast is more worthy.'ð

'Oh!  Come on, Grimm.  You had reasons?'

'Yes, there were reasons.  But that doesn't make what I did right.  What is
worse is that they were not even my reasons.  They were the Doctors
reasons.'

'The Doctor used you.  He is a being steeped in power.  There are few who
can deny him what he desires.  Where then is your blame?  You cannot be
held responsible for actions of others over which you can exercise no
control.  Has not Vashona punished you in good measure for your betrayal.
Why punish yourself further?'

'For a being so young in years you have a great wisdom.'

'I do my best.' Rhi mumbled embarrassed.  She could not see anything
profound in what she had said.  She gently disentangled the tendrils of her
consciousness from Grimm's mind.

Ninety percent of the world that Grimm experienced lay amid what was to her
the mad confusion of the seeing concepts and structures.  Her mind would
not fit comfortably around them and she found them distracting.  She
withdrew into her own self.

She took another bite from the apple and munched it thoughtfully.  Some
birds settled in the tree overhead and began to sing.  She relaxed back
against Grimm.

He was shuddering ever so slightly, and making little whimpering noises.
She realised with a start that Grimm was crying.  Her heart went out to him
and she moved to touch his stone again, but then checked herself.  Did she
have the right to intrude upon his grief?  Even after the intimate
entwining of souls they had just shared?  It did not need thinking about.
Rhi gave a little annoyed toss of her head.  Of course she had the right.
She touched the rose tied in her hair.  This was now her story too.

She took his stone in her hands and spoke mind to mind where it was
impossible to lie or conceal what one felt.  With infinite tenderness she
cradled his mind in her mental arms.  Whispering meaningless sounds -
conveying whole libraries of understanding, she consoled Grimm.  With
another part of her tenderness she reached out a tendril of self to the
beast.  She drew it forth with gentle encouragement.  It sensed her
friendly intent and crept out timidly to snuffle trustingly at her
outstretched love.  It allowed itself to be gentled by her.

'Why, you're just a great big teddy bear,' she murmured to it, soothing its
fear.  It ached with longing for the high places, for the familiar rocks,
for its cliff top home.

It was not evil or bad; it was just what it was, a dumb unthinking animal,
knowing only the way of the hunter.  Thrust into this place between, it was
going insane with fear.  And how it longed for its rocks and the places it
hunted?  It was quite mad with fear.

With her other hand she clutched the little stuffed toy to her breast.  She
meant to take it with her when they left; she put it carefully aside, but
it slipped her mind and lay there forgotten under the apple tree as they
walked away.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rhi was walking beside him, holding on to one of his fingers, when she felt
Grimm stiffen.

'What is it?'

He stood still for a moment, then he swept her up and carried her quickly
aside.  Setting her down against a tree he hissed quietly:
'Stay here!  Danger!'

Before she could ask what it was, Grimm had moved away.  She tracked him
through the trees by a slight rustling.  He was circling around to the
left. She heard another sound.  It came from her right.  There was a quiet
hum, a slight metallic clicking and then the rustle of disturbed leaves.
Whatever it was halted a few yards away.  Rhi almost jumped out of her skin
when a grating metallic voice spoke.

'You are not a slave unit.' The voice paused a moment; then went on: "You
will be exterminated!  All humans are to be exterminated!'

Shock slammed through her as she realised what was before her.  Rhi had
never met a Dalek, but the Doctor had told her of them.

Rhi flung herself aside without taking any time to think.  Something hot
slammed her back against the tree. She slumped to the ground in a stupefied
daze.

She was vaguely aware of something massive passing close by her; followed
by a great howling scream of rage and anger.  Fast upon this came the sound
of tortured metal ripping apart.  A thin, bubbling scream rent the air.  It
died quickly away among the trees.

Rhi wavered in and out of consciousness, hardly aware of being lifted in
Grimm's scaled arms and cradled to his chest.  She smelt his breath as he
leaned close over her.

'Rhi?'

She mumbled out a few words but could not form them properly.  She
redoubled her efforts.

'I'm alright.' she lied.

She was vaguely aware that Grimm was shaking violently.  Rhi knew that this
was important; but she could not remember why.  Sparkling lights were
dancing in her sightless eyes and a hot agony had started in her left
side.  There was a loud humming in her ears.

'Rhi!  Rhi!  You must enter the Stone.  I cannot hold off the beast.'

She knew this was important; but the dark beckoned, promising sanctuary
from the white hot agony, and she relaxed into it, away from the pain.

She was shaken violently.  'Rhi?  Please?  You must enter my Stone.  The
beast is rising.'

The desperation dragged her back from the dark into the pain.  Where was
the Stone?  She groped around and found some heavy links.

'Quickly! Quickly!  Please Rhi,' the grating voice pleaded.

Then her hand found a smooth stone, in a net of gold wires.  She clutched
it with every ounce of strength left to her.  She did not need to do any
more - just being there held off the beast.  Grimm shuddered as the beast
subsided.

That had been close, too close.  The thought that in a few seconds he would
have been tearing and rending the body in his arms sickened him and fuelled
his dislike of Vashona.

He peered around.  The battered casing stood a few yards off.  The
destruction of this unit would have been registered.  In his fury he had
torn off the top and ripped the "thing" inside to a bloody pulp.

Where there was one Dalek, there would be others.  More would be here soon.
He had to get away from here - and quickly.ð
He started off, then noticed the crumpled rose among the leaf litter where
it had fallen, ripped from Rhi's hair.  He stooped and snatched it up.
Tucking it into the front of her blouse,  he set off at a dead run, between
the trees.ð

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ghost like, the pale form of Vashona flitted through the shadowy gloom
under the trees.  At her left shoulder the dark form of Gallent
effortlessly matched the killing pace she had set.

Twenty yards back, Tegan stumbled after them on legs gone to jelly.  Her
back and shoulders protested under the weight of the Fleet Survival Pack.
If they did not stop for a sit down soon, she was going to fall down.  It
was only her determination not to be the first to give in that kept her on
her feet.  That, and Nyssa, pacing easily at her side,spurred her on.
Nyssa seemed untroubled by the weight of her pack, or the pace of the
march.

Tegan wiped the back of her hand across a sweaty brow and wiped it off on
her jeans.

'Crazy woman!' she muttered.  Then almost went down as Nyssa took hold of
her arm and dragged her to a halt.

Vashona had stopped at the edge of a small glade.  She stood framed in a
gap between two trees.  Gallent had vanished.

Tegan turned to the Doctor who was bringing up the rear with Kallas.  But
as she turned he went past her hurrying to where Vashona stood.  Kallas was
down in a crouch, the rifle held at the ready, his sharp eyes scanning the
shadows for any sign of danger.

The Doctor approached the shattered metal casing of the Dalek cautiously.
He glanced inside before inspecting the torn and broken metal.  Gallent
materialised on the other side of the Dalek.  He fingered the twisted
struts.

'I shouldn't like to meet whatever did this without a magnum blaster!'

He looked inside; and quickly turned his gaze elsewhere.  He looked quite
pale.

Vashona reached out and stroked the mangled vision stalk with her fingers.
She "Belled" quietly.  'Grimm did this.  I must find him soon or it will be
too late.'

She turned and set off again, but had gone only a few steps when the roar
of Kallas's rifle brought them all up short.

Tegan jumped violently and spun round.  It almost saved her.  A dragon
breathed its hot firey breath over her and a giant boot hit her square in
the back between the shoulders, lifting her off her feet and smashing her
face down in the mould.  She smelt hot metal, burning fabric and singed
hair, but curiously felt no pain.  Somewhere nearby someone was screaming
her name.  Vaguely, as the dark closed about her, she wondered if it was
Nyssa; and then wondered what it would be like being dead.  Then the world
went away.

Everybody dived for cover.  The Dalek squad which had lain in ambush about
the wrecked unit moved in.  Energy discharges exploded all about the group.
Trees burst into flames.  The forest floor took fire as the leaf litter
caught alight.  Bushes erupted into crackling flames.  Thick stinking smoke
began billowing everywhere, obscuring everything.

Nyssa dropped to the ground beside Tegan.  She took her by the wrists and
hauled her unceremoniously off to one side, into a hollow between tree
roots, under some bushes.  Somewhere behind her Kallas's rifle cracked
repeatedly.  Bullets ricocheted uselessly off the armour casing of the
Dalek units.

Nyssa stared at the wrecked and blasted Fleet Survival Pack still strapped
to Tegan's back.  It smoldered and smoked. Little tongues of fire kept
creeping over it.  She had to get that off.  It was still glowing where it
had absorbed the blast of the Dalek gun.  She felt under Tegan and snapped
the quick release lever on her chest.  The straps gave and she dragged the
glowing remains off her friend and threw them aside.

She ducked as a bolt of energy sizzled past her head, setting the bush on
fire about her.  Sprawling on the ground, she peered into the confusion.

Everything was mad pandemonium.  the grating battle cry of the Daleks,
punctuated by the roar of their weapons, the crack of Kallas's rifle, the
fierce crackle of flames.

then she heard a voice over the uproar.  Gallent's voice raised in a
desperate appeal.

'Bell?  Bell?  For nova's sake!  Do it Bell!  Do it now!'

The indescribably sweet tone of the Bell sang out, knifing through the
noise.  It ran quickly up through the scale into inaudibility.  The
exquisite vibration touched the substance of reality; ringing from it an
answering vibration, a profound dissonance in the very fabric of
space-time.  Reality writhed and twisted, distorted and began to unravel.

It began in seven places that had once been Daleks.  But now, were just
patches of unmade reality, possessed of impossible perspectives and
qualities.

The ever climbing note harmonised with Nyssa's mind, un-making it and
remaking it in an obscene parody of Union with Vashona.  Nyssa felt the
anger, tasted the bitterness, knew the despair of Vashona.  She let the
negative feelings wash through her, rising up with a Vashona drunk on
power.  Into insanity, she soared, dragging Nyssa with her.

She would un-make the world, Pull the whole vile and treacherous universe
down upon itself.  She had the power.  She was a Goddess of the Creation.
She would do it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rhi was dying.  Grimm could feel it.  Her hand still clasped his
Mind-Stone, but loosely now; and he could feel her mind ebbing away;
withdrawing into a vast darkness from which nothing would suffice to call
her back.

So consumed by this certainty was he, that he was unaware that two sets of
eyes followed his passage under the trees.  He padded on, knowing that he
must do something and quickly, but not what.

He emerged abruptly from under the trees onto a high, flat shelf of rock
jutting out over a swift flowing river.  Carefully he set down Rhi's body
and straightened to gaze across the white flecked water to the other side.
He lifted his gaze from the rocky bluffs overgrown with vines and stunted
trees to the low mountains beyond.

The installation was there in those mountains.  His ship was there.  If he
could get Rhi there he would be able to treat her burns.  Or could he?  He
considered the massive clawed paws with the inch long talons on the thick
fingers.  He had no opposable thumb.  How was he going to use the medical
kit?

He knelt beside Rhi and studied her.  Her arm was ugly and swollen.  It was
weeping a bluish puss at the shoulder.  Her face was pale, grey, shrunken.
There was a looseness to it that sent a stab of fear through him.

Whether or not he could manage to find some way of using the medical kit
was academic.  Rhi was dying.  She was dying and there was nothing he could
do for her - but to sit and hold her hand, whilst she set out on that final
journey.

He rose and paced agitatedly back and forth on the shelf of rock.

Among the trees the two sets of eyes continued to watch, turning round
every few seconds to glance fearfully back among the trees to where death
came on , unhurried, purposeful, assured of its victims.

On the shelf of rock Grimm walked right to the edge and looked once more
across the surging river.  His agitation was stirring the beast. He set to
school himself to calm in what he knew would be a futile effort.

Then it happened.

A hammer blow struck him behind the eyes.  His mind splintered into a
million shards, which flew apart in all directions.  He half raised his
hands to his head, swayed back and forth a moment, and plunged from the
cliff.

The impact on the water was terrific; but it was quickly obliterated by the
surging water.  In a moment all trace of Grimm had vanished.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the same instant, a mighty hammer blow struck Nyssa somewhere behind her
eyes.  Her body turned to water.  She flopped to the ground beside Tegan.
Pieces of her mind kept splitting off and circling around to crash back
with jarring force.  Her vision separated into multiple overlapping images.
Her arms and legs twitched and jerked.

Control returned slowly.  She got her arms and legs under and pushed
herself up onto her elbows.  Another giant effort and she got her knees
under her swaying body.  She squinted out from under the bushes at the
clearing beginning to emerge from the haze of reeking smoke.

Vashona's body lay sprawled face down in the leaf litter of the forest
floor.  Gallent knelt beside her and gently rolled her onto her back.  He
carefully brushed the dirt and leaves from her face, smoothed the black
hair back from her eyes and stood up.

The Doctor handed him his own gun.  Gallent took it, considered it a
thoughtful moment before saying:

'Was that really necessary, Doctor?'

The Doctor directed his gaze past Gallent to the seven spots where the very
fabric of existence still writhed and seethed, slowly settling back into
its best guess at what was real.  Gallent followed his gaze.  At length he
holstered the gun without a word.

'Is she alright?'  There was an edge of concern in the Doctor's voice.

'She'll need a while to gather herself.  The weapon packs a hefty punch -
even on stun.  But she should be okay.'

The Doctor peered around, seeking the others.  He saw Nyssa crawling out
from among some roots under some bushes.  He hurried to her and helped her
to her feet, leaning her against a tree.

'Take some deep breaths.  You'll be fine in a moment.  It's just the
backlash of the stun charge.   You were in Union with Vashona?'

Nyssa nodded.  'Yes...I couldn't help myself.  She did something in the
Source...I couldn't help...Tried to stop her but...She was so strong!  She
went mad -' She buried her face in her hands, shuddering.  'It was
horrible!  Horrible!  She was going to pull the whole universe down.  She
was so bitter and angry...It was awful.'

The Doctor laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.  'It's alright, Nyssa.
There was nothing you could've done.  She was drunk on the power of the
Bell.  I felt her madness, I had to do something to stop her.'

'It's alright, Doctor.  I understand.' Nyssa pointed at the hollow under
the smouldering bushes.  'Tegan's there, she's hurt.'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two watchers moved cautiously from the cover of the trees.  One was a
tall , gaunt woman with unkempt brown hair tied in a knot at her neck.  She
wore the remains of a Fleet soldier's uniform.  In her right hand she
clutched a two foot long piece of metal ground down on either edge to form
a make shift sword.  She moved quickly to the body of the woman and knelt
beside it.

The other was a small thin man with close cropped black hair and sharp
eyes.  A filthy ship suit hung in tatters from his emaciated frame.  He
moved to the edge of the rock and looked into the water.

'It's gone,' he said, and came back to stand by the woman.  He nodded at
the improvised sword.  'That won't be any use if it comes back.  Come on!
Let's get moving.  We can't stay here out in the open.'

The tall woman rose.  'She's been shot by a Dalek.  She's dying.' She began
to unsling a pack from her shoulder.

'What's the point?  If she's going to die?  Leave her.  The Daleks will be
here in a minute.'

'You're a mangy cur, Peer!  Don't you ever think of anything other than
your own skin?'

'No,' the small man said, quite unabashed.

He could not understand about caring what happened to others.  He had been
born in the slave pens of Aldara; there had been no time in his life when
there had not been the Dalek as Overlord.  He had lived with death only an
instant away, toiling endlessly on the point of starvation.  And there were
many things worse than a quick death under a Dalek gun.

She wouldn't have lasted ten seconds in the pens with her sense of
obligation and duty.  Besides which, such a one as dangerous as she would
have gone for special treatment already, had the facility been available.
She still would, if she survived the next few hours.  He looked forward to
strapping her into the robotiser or any other of the special control
devices the Daleks employed.  Where would her fine ideals of loyalty and
honour be then?  He grinned darkly and his tongue flicked over his thin
lips.  He would look forward to that.  The memory would keep him warm for a
long time.  The envy he felt for those free born had long since flowered
into a sullen hatred.ð

'Are you coming, Lara?'

She did not answer.  He started for the trees.


when he saw that she was not following him, he stopped and came back.  Lara
was down on her knees tipping out the contents of her pack, rummaging
through them for something she could use.

The man's gaze strayed to the sword she had set to one side; his eyes
glittered darkly as he calculated his chances.  He licked his lips and
looked around at the forest, and decided against any move.  She would have
killed him four different ways before his hand even got near that makeshift
sword - and he knew it.

Where was his back up?  This operation was going wrong.

She felt a sense of impending danger before she actually heard the slight
electronic hum.  Lara grasped the sword and rose from the body of the
woman.  She turned.

A few feet away stood a Dalek.  Beside it stood Peer, an ugly expression of
dislike and triumph mingled with fear on his sharp featured face.  The
killing calm settled into Lara's mind, the battle coldness that brought
crystal clear reasoning.

She felt no sense of betrayal.  A person who does not trust cannot be
betrayed - only disappointed.

So this was it then.  But there was one thing left that she could do, she
could attend to the matter of honour.  She was a Cavalan Elite; honour was
important.

Voicing the battle cry she sprang at Peer.  She drove the sword right
through him.  He collapsed without a sound, a rather surprised look on his
face.  His falling corpse dragged the sword from her hand.  Lara let it go;
it was of no further use.

She straightened and turned to face her death.  She was a Cavalan Elite, it
was important to be facing death when it came for you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor and Gallent moved over to inspect the Daleks.  There were seven
of them ranged in a semi-circle among the trees.  They were hard to focus
on.  They were somehow "wrong' and both of them had to fight down a feeling
of queasiness as their eyes tried to follow the impossible distortions and
perspectives.  Slowly they were settling back into a normal reality.

They were all quite dead.  The sharp smell of roasted Dalek hung in the
air.  From two of them thin wisps of smoke curled up.

The Doctor waggled an eye stalk.  He grinned at Gallent over the dome of
the Dalek.  'Very impressive!'

Gallent shook his head sadly.  He surveyed the wreckage with distaste.
'What has she become?'

'The salvation of the Terran Empire.' The Doctor took in the scene.
'Desperate times call for desperate measures.'

'Us Terrans have been up against Daleks for centuries.  It's been close at
times, but it never called for anything like this.  This is...wrong!'
Gallent glanced across to where Nyssa was tending Vashona.  'And what's it
doing to Bell?'

'There is more here than just another Dalek super weapon.  They must not be
allowed to use it. If they activate it, they will endanger the whole fabric
of reality.  I am here to try and stop them.  My people, too, are
desperate, Gallent.  They would not have summoned a power from beyond - and
I certainly would not have entrusted that power to one as unstable as
Vashona - were the situation not critical.'

'You think they will use it on this world?'

'We are not here by accident.  It is here.  They will use it - and soon.
We must prevent it.'

'How soon?'

'I only wish I knew.'

'Do we have enough time to find it and destroy it?'

'I hope so. It rather depends on whether they have it installed or not.
They will certainly bring the activation time forward if they can after
this.'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dalek did nothing for long seconds.  From her training Lara knew that
it was communicating with Command Central via a microwave link.  Dalek
communication was at computer speeds, so it would not be much longer;
already it seemed to have stretched to eternity.

Lara lifted her chin defiantly.  She gave in to the temptation to close her
eyes and take refuge in not having to look at her death.  After all, there
was no one else around to witness her shame.

She waited.  The waiting was always the hard part.  She could feel her
nerve going and hoped that the Dalek would fire before she disgraced
herself.

A sudden and terrible roaring filled the air.  Lara was down and rolling
away before her thoughts caught up with her conditioned reflex.  She went
right over and came into a crouch, her hands held ready.  Deadly weapons
that they were, they were useless against a Dalek.  Her eyes went wide with
surprise at what she saw.

Looming over the Dalek was the beast that had fallen from the cliff.  The
Dalek began to swing round but the monster leapt upon it.  It hefted the
Dalek into the air and smashed it down on the rock shelf so hard that
cracks radiated away from the impact point.  The metal of the Dalek rang
and crumpled.  Electric discharges sparked from the ground effect motors.

The monster heaved it up again and swung around.  Mighty muscles bulged and
snapped and the Dalek unit sailed out over the edge.  A few seconds later
Lara heard it splash into the water.

The thing turned its attention on her.  It made a low rumbling growl and
began to move towards her.

Lara made a lung for the body of Peer.  Desperation lent her the strength
to haul the blade from his body.  She rose to face the thing, the blade
held ready.

The thing came on flexing its arms and claws, its mouth open, showing an
impressive array of teeth.  She backed away, her battle trained mind
seeking an opening, some weak point, but she had to admit that it was
probably hopeless.

Then the thing's attention moved past her to the body of the woman.  It
stopped in mid-stride.  The growling died and it began to tremble.

Lara licked her lips, and readied herself to spring.  It would be a better
death than being blasted out of existence by a Dalek, but from the look of
that beast it was going to be a whole lot more messy and painful.

It spoke.

'Rhiannon!'

Then it sprang.

It was so swift that not even her trained reflexes would have made the
slightest difference if the leap had been for her.  But instead, it leapt
past her and ran to crouch by the body of the woman.

Lara straightened.  A great sense of relief flooded her that she was not
going to die.  It was mingled with an odd resentment that she had been
cheated of a glorious fight.

The thing was touching the face of the woman with such tenderness that Lara
shook her head in bewildered wonderment.

The sight evoked a memory from her childhood.  Her father lay dying on his
couch by the fountain in the court of the house.  His great black War Hound
sat by him.  There was about it the air of an anxious puppy which sat oddly
on the shoulders of the massive killer hound.  She had found it a heart
rending sight.

Then, in the early evening, her father had joined the heroes of his Corp.
The great hound had risen, padded over to his body.  It leaned down and
licked his face just once before padding across the marble and bounding
over the walls of the court.  It had never been seen again.

She walked over to the pair.  There was no danger now; something had subtly
changed, though what it was she could not define.  It was simply no longer
a beast.

Going over, she knelt beside them.  The thing was holding a crumpled rose
clumsily in its paws.  Lara turned her attention back to the woman.  She
picked up her scattered medical supplies and set to work on the injuries.

The great beast leaning over her as she worked sent shivers down her back.
Once he had risen and padded over to the body of Peer.  He had sniffed at
the blood in a disturbing and very animal like way.  When he rose and
turned back to her, there was something in his look, something in his
manner and stance, that made her stomach do a flip flop and sent her hand
reaching for the sword.

He seemed to be wrestling with some unseen foe for a moment before he
changed.  She had relaxed feeling the threat pass.

At last she had done what she could and packed up her meagre medical kit.
She got to her feet.  The beast was hovering anxiously over her.

'Well?  Will she be alright?'

Lara shook her head.  She rattled the little box of medical supplies.

'There's nothing more I can do with this.  She will die soon.'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vashona rose suddenly and looked off through the trees.  'Grimm is coming.'

They all looked in that direction.  There was no movement in the half light
under the trees.

'Where?' The Doctor asked.

'He will be here soon.'

About a minute later a shadow moving among the widely spaced trunks
resolved into the form of a giant scaly skinned biped.  In his arms he was
carrying a body.  Trailing some distance behind him ran a tall, rangy
woman.  He was moving fast and she was only just keeping him in view.  He
pounded up to the group throwing up great clods of earth and dead leaves as
he skidded to a halt.  He set the body on the ground and knelt beside it.

Nyssa got up from where she was tending Tegan.  She moved over to kneel
beside the hideous giant without the slightest hesitation.  She reached out
a hand and took hold of a wrist, grimacing at the barely healed tears in
the flesh of the arm.  There was no pulse.  Oh!  Rhi,' she breathed.

Kallas grounded his pack and went to his knees across from her.  He put a
hand to Rhi's throat.  He shook his head.  'She's dead.  I'm sorry.'

'No!' Grimm exclaimed violently.

'I'm sorry.  But there's -'

'NO!  ' Grimm repeated.  'She still lives.  She touches the Source.' He
looked a desperate plea at Vashona.

'He is right.'

Kallas began to unpack his medical kit.

Grimm laid a finger on Rhi's pale forehead.  He reached into the void
through his Stone to touch the Source.  He brought up the memory of the
time they had touched together.  He examined the memory, savouring the
particular qualities of her ego, using them to guide his questing mental
tendrils through the dark to the faint, fading aura of Rhi's mind.  He
found her in the void of the in between place, touched her and knew that
his strength alone could not pull her back.

'She's going.  I cannot hold her - Nyssa?'

Nyssa laid a hand on his arm.  She reached into the in between place and
touched the faint and fading thing with Grimm.  Together they buoyed up the
vague impression that was Rhiannon.  It was still not enough.  The fragile,
gossamer thing thinned and separated, slipping from their mental grasp.  It
settled further into the dark.

'Vashona?' Grimm shot a desperate appeal to her.

For long seconds she did not move.  Then her mouth twisted with distaste
and anger.  She went to her knees and touched a hand to Rhi's forehead.

Still it was not enough.

Circling about the joined minds, the beast was frantic.  It did not
understand why but it knew that the only kindness that it had known in this
place was fading, departing, leaving it alone in the void.  It tried to
join the circle; but it did not understand how.  A great passionate rage
swelled in its being.  The surge of power carried it through the barrier of
the minds into the centre where the love flickered in and out of being.
Not knowing what it did, but doing it with all its savage heart, it poured
its raw animal power into the guttering life.

That life flickered, dwindled...Then sprang up, fat and full of substance,
full of the energy of the beast, unable to give in because the beast did
not understand giving in.

Rhi warmed herself at the great roaring fire of the beast's unformed animal
passion.  She drew her self back together.  Pulling in and clasping to her
being all the images and impressions, the very substance that was Rhiannon,
which had begun to leak away into the void.

She was herself again.  She felt Nyssa's concern.  She felt Vashona's
bitterness; but most of all she felt Grimm's love.  But more immediate than
that, she felt the trepidation and uncertainty of the beast.

She reached out to it; touched it; allowed it to nuzzle up to her while she
soothed its alarms.  it exhaled a vast cloud of pleasure.  She wreathed it
about her being like a soft blanket and drifted into unconsciousness.

Kallas sat back and stared unbelieving at his scattered medical kit.  He
knew that nothing he had done could have saved the woman, yet she lived.
He did not know whether to be proud or afraid of what had just been
accomplished.

He felt her pulse.  It was strong and regular.  He lifted one of her
eyelids.  Frowning, he sat back.

'She's alive, unconscious, but alive.' He shook his head.  'She should be
dead but -'

He took up his instruments and set to work again.  Just as soon as he got
the young woman into a state to travel, they would have to move away from
here.

While they waited, Lara introduced herself.  Her soldier's eye assessing
and taking stock of the people and the situation.  She felt intuitively the
strengths and weaknesses of the others as she studied them.  Quietly,
inside her head she was assuming command.  It was what she did best.  It
was what she was for.  And who she was.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nyssa and Tegan wandered over to a fallen log and eased themselves on to
it.  Lara sat on the ground, propped against the further end of the log.
Her hands were busy stripping components from one of the packs.

Nyssa leaned down and picked up a rod of black metal about nine inches
long, pointed at one end, flighted at the other.

'What's this?'

'A dead Dalek,' said Lara.  She took it from Nyssa and twisted it.  The
thing came in two halves.  It was hollow inside.  Lara slipped a thin rod
of high explosive into one end and screwed it back together.  She worked
steadily until she had a couple of dozen or so of the deadly darts.

She took some more components from the pack and in moments had assembled
them into a skeletal crossbow.

In a single smooth motion she cocked it, fitted a bolt and loosed it.  An
instant later the bolt thudded into a tree ten yards away.

'Good shot.' Tegan said.

Lara squinted at it.  'Lousy.' She adjusted the bow and fired again.  This
second shot looked identical to Tegan, but Lara seemed pleased.  Getting up
she retrieved the bolts, adjusted the points to arm the charge and put it
with the others in a little quiver hanging at her waist.

Slinging the bow over her back she went over to where Gallent, the Doctor,
Kallas and Grimm were holding a council of war.  A little way off, propped
against a tree, the red haired blind woman sat.  She looked pale but grimly
determined.  Her left arm looked swollen and livid.  She was flexing it
carefully.  She had guts, that one.  Further off, Vashona stood with arms
folded over her chest.  Her gaze went back and forth from Grimm to the red
haired woman.  Back and forth, back and forth, her face set and unreadable.
There was trouble brewing with that one, Lara thought sourly.  Kallas was
speaking as she came up.

'What I can't understand is why, with something like this, they haven't
kept it hidden away in the centre of the Empire?  I mean, why risk it here?
Right under the noses of the Frontier Guard?'

'It has a sort of logic to it,' the Doctor answered him.  'The power of
this weapon is very uncertain.  I think they are a little afraid of what it
might do themselves -'

'Afraid?  Daleks?' Kallas shook his head.  'Daleks don't fear anything.'

'They are driven by fear,' the Doctor told him.  'It colours everything
they do.  They would be quick to see the benefits of bringing it right out
here.'

'Which are?' Gallent sounded skeptical.

'Who do you think is going to be most hurt if this thing gets out of
control?  Right up against your frontier like this I judge they'll feel
safe from any effects reaching back as far as Skaro.  They have a passion
for efficiency, even if they fear a failure or disaster.  They like to
think there is something to be gained from it.  And right out here the only
things likely to be destroyed are Terran.'

'A good point, Doctor.' Gallent conceded.  'But one lone ship with such a
priceless weapon?'

Lara gave him a sharp look.  She wondered if her assessment of Gallent had
been right.  'Of course one ship.  If they moved a battle fleet up this
close to the frontier they'd have half of Admiral Gaylon's Battle Wagons
sniffing around in double quick time.'

'But,' Gallent persisted. 'Wouldn't that be so much the better?  They'd get
a couple of fleets thrown in as well?'

'And lose one of their own?  The scale of this weapon is some orders of
magnitude bigger,' the Doctor said gravely.  'It would be like swatting a
fly with a Nova Bomb.  But even the Dalek's fears over this weapon fall far
short of comprehending its true power.  They have no idea of the horror and
madness it will make.'

Kallas looked amused.  He rubbed a hand through his short cropped blond
hair and settled his helmet back on his head.  He asked: 'So we're going to
destroy it?  I've always fancied being a hero - up till now I've been lucky
enough to have missed out.  But now -' He shrugged.  'So what's the plan?'

The plan was a simple one.  Based on Lara's information and her expertise
at making war, she proposed a simple diversion.  Gallent, Kallas and
herself would make a frontal assault on the shuttle to draw the attention
away from the igloo like structure housing the bell device.  When all the
attention was on her attack the other party would make for the temporary
building and destroy it.  One of the powerful mines from the packs would
suffice.  It only had to be placed inside the building and detonated.

The approach would be easy.  There was little electronic security.  Lara
had been on a team setting it out when she had made her break.  She had
understood that her successful break was a fairly standard Dalek security
ploy; but she hoped to use that knowledge to make it a real escape bid.

She charged Grimm with the task of carrying the powerful explosive device.
Tegan and Vashona she gave hand weapons.  Lara had thought it prudent for
Nyssa and the Doctor to have them also, but both refused.  She had looked
at them in an odd sidelong way for a moment but made no comment.

Vashona was very capable with the hand gun.  Tegan, too, after a few
minutes to familiarize herself with the strange weapon, proved herself
able.  She had been taught to shoot by an uncle back home.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now they crouched among the trees looking down into the little depression
with the igloo at its centre.  There were three Daleks in sight and a
couple of emaciated looking human slaves.  Four Robomen stood around the
structure.

'Funny set up for testing a new weapon.' Tegan observed.  'I'd have thought
something like this -  there'd be lots of guards and technicians and stuff
like that.'

Nobody answered her.  At the back of the group, because she would not be
left behind, Rhi crouched a hand laid on Nyssa's arm alert to Nyssa's
slightest movement, ready to take her cue as to what was needed.  She might
not be able to do much, but she was determined to be ready to take any
chance that fell to her.  After all, she did have a score to settle with
these monstrous creatures.  If no chance came, then she was sure as hell
that she was not going to disgrace herself by getting in anybody's way.

The Doctor had been very unhappy about her coming along.  But Rhi was
determined, just this once she was not going to be left behind.  She was
going to be up with the action and the excitement.  Lara had looked from
one to the other and saw the blazing row that lay just under the surface of
the moment.  She had stepped in and laid a hand on Rhi's shoulder.

'She comes!'

And that was that.

Now, here she was, heart pounding, ears straining into the silence.  No
birds sang, or lizards chirped here near the Dalek ship.  They somehow
sensed the menace that lurked here.

Somewhere off to her right the Dalek ship lay amid the wreckage of the
trees it had callously smashed out of its path as it set down.  While she
listened, from that direction, the sound of a sharp explosion
reverberated in the silence.

The air was instantly full of the clamour of a siren.  She felt Nyssa tense
under her hand.

This was it!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lara Rose.  'Lets go!'

Her crossbow twanged.  The black metal bolt hissed away through the air.
She loosed another before the first found its target, and a Dalek died.

She was death on two legs.  Never still for a moment, darting among the
trees.  First here, a bolt loosed, there, another black bolt sped away.
Each time a Dalek died.  Probing fire from the ship mounted Dalek weapons
felt for her darting form.  Time and again it went home exploding a patch
of ground where she had been.

Gallent and Kallas trailed in her wake, covering her rear, no mean warriors
themselves, but little more than a superfluous honour guard.

Two robomen rose to bar her way.  The sword leapt to her hand.  She went
through them without breaking stride, leaving two bloody corpses.

Gallent and Kallas came together by the still twitching bodies.  Gallent's
gaze flicked over them.  'Ye Gods!' he muttered.  'I've heard of the
Cavalan Elite.  But I've never seen them in action.'

Kallas swung his rifle and almost casually dropped another Roboman.  'Come
on!  She's getting too far ahead.' They were up and running, weaving among
the devastation in Lara's wake.

She reached the ship and darted across in front of it, right under the
Dalek guns.  The ramp was closing.  Her arm swung and a small black object
went cleanly through the narrow gap.  She was ten yards further on when a
violent explosion ripped through the small shuttle.

Fire from the ship stopped abruptly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dalek commander rested immobile and powered down, alone in his small,
unlit command chamber.  The physical isolation of his corporeal body meant
little, for his mind was everywhere, in every part of his ship, where ever
the Command Net reached he was there.  Also he could be, and right now was,
among his units planet-side.  His mind worked in the microsecond time
domain, assessing the attack as it developed.  He issued the usual orders,
but knew that the squad would be overrun.  No matter how he ran his battle
prediction program the outcome was the same.  While he considered this four
of his units stopped responding.  He switched into the jury rigged security
screens and continued to watch, unable now to do anything effective.

He withdrew his presence to the shuttle, issuing last orders to the
remaining units.  He withdrew further, into his command cubby and himself.

Inserting himself into the data stream from Mission Command, seventy light
years distant, he gave his assessment and awaited further orders.

The observation points were all in place and functioning normally.  He knew
what that order would be.  It came.  He relayed it to his crew without
hesitation.

There was but one service left they could render to the High Crusade and
the Great Creator.  Daleks did not regret.

Down on the planet power surged into the new super weapon.  It came alive.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Don't look at it!' cried the Doctor, turning his back on the Dalek
installation.

The sound of the Goldenbell struck the air around the group, making it ring
and shimmer.  The Belling soared up into a place beyond audibility, but
they all still heard it.  Only now with their bodies and bones, right down
to the level of their cells, even to the molecules from which they were
formed.

The molecules shifted and strained against the cramping confines of what
was real.  They writhed and shifted, sensing a loosening of constraint and
a new freedom to be whatever could be imagined, and a lot more besides.

They all felt it deep down in their souls, a flowing and changing as the
reality of the world around them weakened and collapsed.

'Get down!  Don't look!' The Doctor yelled and threw himself to the forest
floor.  They all dived for the ground, averting their gaze from the
twisting, distorting scene around them.  The trees writhed as if in some
grand agony.

The Doctor risked a glance at the exploding reality.  He tasted the
impossible perspectives.  He heard with his fingers the colour blue, saw
with his ears the scream it loosed.

He thought that the area seemed to have stopped growing, but he knew that
no reliance could be placed on any sensation he experienced in that
location.

In an instant the madness entered him through his seeing, began to undo his
mind.  He looked down hastily.  There was a sharp agony inside his head
where he linked to his TARDIS.  He had to be especially careful, if the
madness entered his TARDIS through that link there would be catastrophe.
The link went right back through the TARDIS to the Eye of Harmony on
Gallifrey.  That construction existed throughout all of time.  When it was
unmade, the whole of creation would be unmade.

The thought struck him that if he were not here then there would be no
danger to the universe.  It was ironic, the one time they had deliberately
decided to take some positive action, to intervene, it was exactly the
wrong thing to do.  No Time Lord or TARDIS should have been allowed to come
within a hundred light years of this thing.  A nice dilemma for them, as
only a Time Lord could call and hope to use the only effective remedy
against it.

 Gallent came scrambling out of the vibrating yellow stench wailing all
around, keeping his head down.

'What do we do, Doctor?  We must get that explosive inside -'

'No good,' the Doctor said grimly.  'That won't work now.  We must find
some other way.  I must get in there.  It must be shut down, and soon.
Vashona is reinforcing the reality with the song of being that patterns
this universe. But she is unstable.  If she loses herself to the song then
this universe will lose coherence.'  He waved an arm in the general
direction of the un-making.  'And that will be all there will be left.'

He scrambled around feeling for Grimm.  'How is she?'

Grimm laid a hand on Vashona's shoulder.  'In control.  But we will need
help - Nyssa?' He stretched out his other hand to her.  She took it and
plunged into the void.  She gasped as her mind was enveloped in a maelstrom
of shifting sensations.  She almost did not find Vashona in the boiling
mess; but then the Belling drew her to the mind producing it.

Grimm was there, too; and in a lesser way, Rhi and the beast.  But they
could not help here.  One was a raging insanity of fear, and the other was
not sufficiently versed in the practice of Union to help with the task of
anchoring Vashona in the real world, to hold her back from losing herself
in the unfolding beauty of the Song of Creation.

Rhi could not help with that, but there was something she could do.

Rhi experienced the oddness only vaguely.  She had no ability to comprehend
the appalling perspectives and the mind mangling properties of the
un-making of things.  The only memory of seeing she had was through the
eyes of Grimm, when she had touched the Source with him.  Remembering that
made her insides knot up and turned her muscles to water.

NO!  She would not think of that, or they would all be undone.

'Doctor!  Can you turn it off if you could get in there?'

'I don't know?  But there must be a way?  But I can't get in there!
"There" has no meaning for me in that place.'

'What if we took Vashona in there?'

'That might work.   She imposes order on the madness. But I do not know how
to get in.'

Rhi came to her knees beside him and touched his shoulder.  'I can get you
in, Doctor.  It doesn't affect me.  The world is still real.  I can get you
in.'

The Doctor scrambled to his feet.  'It might work.  Where are you?' He kept
his eyes tight shut.  So long as he did not see, the universe might have a
chance.

'Here.' Rhi took his hand and clamped it on her arm.  She reached around
and took Vashona by the wrist.  Putting it in the Doctor's other hand, she
set off, drawing them both after her.

The absolute confidence she felt in her ability to get the Doctor to where
he could usefully employ his vast knowledge lay entirely in the rough cane
that Grimm had fashioned for her by breaking off a suitable branch and
biting it to the proper length.  It felt good in her hand, despite its
shortcomings as a mobility aid.

The sound signals from the woods around had a curious blurred quality, but
were not sufficiently distorted to make the audible cues useless.  She
pressed forward.  The direction was obvious.  In that place where she
touched the Source she felt the un-making like the heat of a roaring fire.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rhi waited tensely while the Doctor worked on the device.  She listened to
Vashona at her side.  She felt the woman beginning to tire, was aware of
the ragged edges to the sound.  Every time it faltered the floor rippled
and shifted under her feet.

The Doctor's hesitation was deafening, a scream which smelled of the colour
red, she tasted it with her fingertips.  'Hurry!  Doctor, Vashona is
tiring.  It's all breaking down!'

The Doctor grunted in answer. He worked furiously at the device, his hands
thrust inside the casing.   Desperately he manipulated the
wiring.

'What is it, Doctor?  What's wrong?'

'It can't be turned off!'

'What!  Isn't there anything you can do?'

'I can wreck it.'

'Do it! Doctor!  Hurry!'

'But, Rhi, if I do that this bubble of reality will seal off from our
universe.  It will be ejected into the Multiverse.  The weight of the
multiverse will crush it into a singularity in an instant.  There'll be
another big bang and another universe, but we won't be there to see it!'

Rhi was suddenly very afraid.  'I don't want to die, Doctor!'

'Nor do I, rhi.  But if I don't shut it down, then our own universe will
die.'

In the silence that smelled of chrysanthemums the note of the bell
faltered again.

Rhi wanted Grimm.

She touched Vashona's Stone.  She squeezed past the song of life that
filled it, inseparably entwined with Vashona, down to the place where the
Stone intruded into the all pervading Source.

He was there.  She felt her way back along the pathways of the Source,
past the tortured place where it threaded through the un-making and brushed
his mind.  Between one heartbeat and the next she told him of their plight.

'Rhi!  I love you!' His scream of anguish reverberated along the threads of
connectivity, tasting of the bitterest lemons.

'I love you, too, Grimm.'

she touched him one last time.  She broke the contact.  She had a hard
thing to do.  She could not do it while she knew Grimm touched her mind.

'Alright!  If there is no choice, then do it, Doctor.  But do it now!'

Such bravery?  Frail as they were, these humans could still amaze him, even
after all this time.

He took a firm hold of the wires.  They tasted of the sound of snakes to
his grasp.  He ripped them out.  Reality faltered.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grimm's howl of anguish made them all look up.  Where the distorting
madness had been was a vast sucking void that tugged on the soul, dragging
it out of the body through the eyes.  But even as they stared transfixed,
the clawing blackness quivered and shrank, drawing off into an infinite
distance.  An instant later it was gone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

'The weapon has failed.'  The Dalek Commander inserted its mind into the
data stream and reported to Mission Control.

'Abandon the mission.'  The order came back.

The Dalek Commander acknowledged, switched to the local net and began
issuing orders, readying the ship for flight.  The ugly black shape hanging
over the planet stirred as mighty engines came alive.  It lifted up and
away from the close orbit and headed out into the black of deep space.

'Destroy the shuttle.  Exterminate the enemies of the Daleks!'

With another part of its mind the Dalek Commander initiated the destruct
sequence for the shuttle's power pile.  The extermination of the enemies of
the Daleks was assured.  No matter how fast they ran, the explosion would
be large enough to ensure their extermination.

With a sense of satisfaction, the Dalek Commander sent out the signal.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rhi had a sneaking suspicion that she was not dead.  She could not be sure
because, well, she'd never been dead before.  But if she was dead now, then
she could certainly recommend it.  The sensation was like all the delicious
lazy mornings she could ever remember melted together into a long, lazy
pleasure.

She stretched languorously and sat up.  The world was made of a gentle
whispering which was all pervasive.  She relaxed into it with a deep sigh
of contentment.

it was the sound of a million, billion minds all talking at once.  The soft
susurration surged and sank as minds joined in their millions and left in
like number.  It changed constantly, yet remained the same - a vast sea of
mental life connecting, communicating, departing.  It reached everywhere.

Each voice was a discrete identity, distinct and clear.  And yet, remained
submerged in the threnody of voices - like a flock of sparrows settling in
a wood.

She sighed again and reached out a hand to explore her surroundings; to see
what she could feel.  What she found was an arm.

'Who's that?' There was no answer.  She nudged the arm gently.  'Doctor?
Is that you?'

The arm shrugged her hand off.

'Leave me alone!'

'Vashona?'

'Let me be.'

Rhi took the arm again, gripping it a little more firmly than she intended.
'Vashona?  Where are we?  What is this place?'

Vashona made a half-hearted attempt to shrug off the hand, then let out a
sigh of weary vexation.

'Leave me alone.  Go to your God in your own way.  Leave me to mine.'

The resignation in Vashona's voice started a small surge of anger in Rhi.
Vashona had given up.  Rhi could hear it in the tone of the voice.  She
shook Vashona savagely.

'Vashona?  What is this place?'

The threnodic whispering swelled and ebbed upon the shore of Rhi's
consciousness in the lengthening silence.  Rhi relaxed into it, trying
unsuccessfully to drown the burgeoning flame of anger.

'Answer me!  Damn you!'

Her anger sparked an answering surge in Vashona.

I was Vashona!  She told herself.  Thee Lady Vashona!  I will not take
this, not from her, especially since we're both dead!

'In the matrix of the Source.' she snapped at last.

Rhi flinched.  But the anger was better than the awful resignation she had
sensed in Vashona.  And at least she was responding.

'What does that mean?'

Vashona shrugged.  'Whatever you want it to.'

'Can we get out?'

'No!' The savage satisfaction in her voice made Rhi shiver.

'You don't want to?  Do you?' Rhi accused.

'No.'

'I don't want to die here, Vashona.'

'Oh.  You won't do that.'

'How do you know?'

Vashona rounded on her, pushed beyond the limit of her ever tenuous
self-possession.  'Because, you stupid little bitch, we are already dead.
The Doctor killed us when he wrecked that device.'

'I AM alive!' Rhi affirmed.  Indeed, she had never felt more so.

'An illusion, that's all.  It'll pass.' Vashona said vindictively.  'Just
as soon as you forget who you are, what you are, and what it was like to
live.  And you will forget, eventually.'

After a lengthy, reflective pause, Rhi said: 'You don't like me very much?
Do you?'

'No.  You can hardly expect me to.  You had the heart of Grimm, something I
would have moved a mountain with my bare hands for, and could not have.
And...And you bloody well got me killed!  You're hardly my favourite
person.  Now leave me alone.  All I want to do is forget.  There is much
that must be forgotten before I may go to the Dark.'

'I'm not stopping you.'

'Yes you are.  I would have long since gone to the Dark if you were not
holding me here.'

'Me?'

'Yes!  You!  We really are dead you know!  What is here now is only a
memory of us. It will fade.  You will forget to remember yourself and drift
into oblivion.  Now, for pity sake, let me go.  Get on with your own
forgetting.'

'Is this...This the AfterLife?'

The only response to that was a snort of derision.

Rhi reached out a questing hand, laid it on a shoulder