

## Knight Progenitor

(c) 1991, 2012

## Sharon L Reddy

### Target Yonder

### Smashwords Edition

### ISBN 978-1-58338-996-2

### This is a work of fan fiction.

### It is intended as support of the series,

### without intent to infringe on any commercial rights,

### to characters or stories.

### No remuneration for these stories shall be sought or negotiated with other than proprietary parties.

### Only the title page and index were changed from the original published work.

Index

Dis-Solution

1992 Fan-Q Mixed Media Award

The Fourth through Seventh Doctors on the Next Generation Enterprise

Novella

Tales of the Sixth Doctor

Forty years between the Sixth and Seventh

The Testing of the Knight

Novella

Knight, Squire and Herald

1. Squire and Herald (1992 Fan Q, Best Dr. Who Story)

2. Squire Takes Knight

Knight's Gambit

1. King's Knight

2. Colleen

Knight Knight

1. Knight en Passant

2. Piece of the Past

Sign for Evil

1. Thank Heaven for Little Girls

2. Jo and Andy

Colleen and James

Mad Sunday

Under the Age

Circle of Prophecy

Just Whistle

Once Upon a Time

The Doctor is not pleased to be stuck on a horse for a year. A fanciful romp in a medieval age, bringing

Novel-50,000 words

Captain Knight, Leroy and the Boys

When even the Doctor has to don a disguise, Data as companion is a real help.

Novel-56,000 words

## Dis-Solution

### Prologue

The Doctor gazed at the massed Sontaran fleet on the scanner. The time had come. The Rutan research station about to come under attack would soon become the greatest threat the universe had ever known. He began to make preparations. The facilities he would need to halt the destruction lay in an alternate universe. It would require a tremendous amount of focused power for the TARDIS to transcend reality and he would require the assistance, not just of the great ship in that universe, but also that of several others of his personas.

He worked out the method of changing universes, then retired to the reconstructed zero-room to send the call for his other personas. Two were in his approximate time, but one was on Earth a few hundred years in the past. He levitated, then sent out the call.

The Doctor rapidly gave his other selves the technique of reaching the alternate reality and the precise position each TARDIS must maintain. When all was prepared, the Doctor gave the mental command, "Now".

A small group of Sontaran ships broke off from the fleet to investigate the tremendous flash of light they observed. They found nothing.

## Chapter One

Commander William Riker was leaving his quarters for his duty station on the bridge when he saw Chief Engineer Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge also coming out of his quarters. He stretched his long stride to catch up.

"Good Morning, Geordi." Geordi turned to him and said, "Good morning. Ready for a new day?"

As they continued toward the turbolifts, Riker replied, "Yes, but I spent a really restless night. I kept thinking about the small colony on Restine Four. They may be in danger from this anomaly they asked us to investigate. They seem to think it's getting bigger. How are things down in Engineering? I understand there was an 'expert' among the crew transfers we picked up at Starbase One-one-seven for transfer to the Repulse."

Geordi grinned and said, "You mean Lt. Rondell. She's somethin' else. She's come up with fourteen new ways to measure the anomaly we're headed for in the three days she's been on board. She's got a way of looking at something, deciding what she wants to know about it, then figuring out a way to get it. I thought I was good at adapting the Enterprise systems, but she's amazing."

"I hear she made Lieutenant faster than anyone in Starfleet history."

Geordi laughed. "What would you do with the person that beat the Kobayashi Maru? Even if the solution did send the computer simulation into a panic."

Riker said, "I heard about that, but I also heard it was a fluke. Caused some kind of an uproar at the Academy."

They had reached the turbolift. Geordi rode along with Riker to the bridge to carry on the conversation. "I don't know if you could call it a 'fluke'. She had a low level projective telepath on her team. She rigged a telepathic booster, then had him push an image of the ship hanging in space at anybody looking at a viewscreen. She kicked into warp nine and escaped."

Riker paused the turbolift at the bridge. He said, "I understand the judging panel had some argument over the validity of the solution."

Geordi shook his head and said, "Well, they couldn't say it didn't work. Every person at the Academy looking at a viewscreen got a twelve second image of a ship hanging in space. Caused quite a stir."

Riker laughed. "I'll bet it did. So they decided to give her the solution?"

"Not right away. I guess there was one panel member who wanted to disqualify it because it couldn't be repeated." He paused then continued, "Now this is just rumor; but, according to some of my staff who were there at the time, she tackled the dissenting member off campus and sat on him until he admitted that it didn't make any difference if it could be repeated, it was the use of the facilities at hand that counted."

Riker grinned as he exited the turbolift. "Well, no matter what this investigation finds, you should at least find the next few days interesting."

As the doors closed and Geordi sent the turbolift toward Engineering, he said, "Yeah, at least interesting."

Captain Jean-Luc Picard stepped out of his ready room as Commander Riker exited the turbolift. Lt. Commander Data, who had been covering the third shift, rose from the command chair and spoke in his calm, perfectly modulated, tones. "Sirs, I was about to call you. We have begun to pick up additional anomalous readings in the Restine system."

Captain Picard paused in his approach to the command chair and turned to his android Third Officer. "What type of readings, Data?"

Commander Riker reached them as Data said, "I have not been able to ascertain that information, Sir. We have no record of any such readings. I have begun a computer analysis of the anomaly to determine the cause. Thus far there is no information, but the computer has begun to analyze the possible effects and the early indications are disturbing."

Riker glanced at his captain, then said, "In what way, Data?"

"The readings indicate a globe shaped phenomena that is expanding rapidly and may be breaking down the physical structure of matter. Sirs, this galaxy may soon cease to exist."

The half-Betazoid, Counselor Deanna Troi, hurried into the turbolift. Her empathic abilities had awakened her from a troubled sleep. Something was very wrong. The feeling of tension coming from both the bridge and engineering was so thick she could almost taste it, and underlying that tension was a feeling of... almost terror.

She stepped into the turbolift. Lt. Worf, the Klingon Security Chief, was already on board. He said, "Bridge. Good morning, Counselor." He noticed the normally serene beauty of the counselor seemed disturbed, almost as if she'd left her quarters half done with her morning preparations. He felt himself tensing. If Deanna Troi was disturbed, something was wrong on the Enterprise. "Counselor, I thought you were going to be in your office this morning. What has happened?"

The distracted counselor said, "I'm sorry Worf, I don't know. All I know is I feel something is wrong and I should be on the bridge."

As the turbolift doors opened, Captain Picard turned toward them and said, "Counselor, Lieutenant, conference room now." He raised his voice and spoke into the air, "Lt. Commander LaForge, Lt. Rondell, Dr. Crusher, report to the conference room immediately. Number One, get someone to cover, I want you and Data there too."

In less than three minutes all the officers had assembled in the conference room. Picard noticed, with some pride, the crisp attention of his officers. These were the best. No matter the odds or the situation; if there was a solution, they would find it.

He found himself wondering about the stranger among them. He had heard conflicting reports on Lt. Rondell. The reports agreed on one thing. This small, green-eyed, lovely, woman was a genius at adapting the physical systems of a starship. He said, "Data, Geordi, give us what you know so far."

As Picard returned to the command chair, he thought over the just concluded conference. Engineering hadn't had much to add. Only Dr. Crusher had brought something more than Data's original analysis. She had informed them that two of the crew members were suffering from some type of memory loss and general debilitation. The most interesting point she had brought out was both persons were from the area of the Restine system. Lt. Rondell had asked some very probing questions and then requested permission to accompany Dr. Crusher to sickbay to examine the medical test results. Geordi had returned to engineering to implement some of the new measurement techniques he and Lt. Rondell had developed. All others had returned to their bridge positions.

Commander Data had recommended a slow, cautious, approach to the area of the anomaly. They were currently traveling at warp two with a drop to impulse scheduled in about ten minutes. This would bring them to the Restine system in approximately five hours. The captain was considering retiring to his ready room when, suddenly, Deanna Troi stood and screamed.

The scream was filled with pain and terror, and was followed by her sudden collapse. It happened so quickly that she hit the floor before he, or the fast-moving Riker, could reach her. As Riker knelt and lifted her head, she whispered, "They're gone. So many gone. Please, help me."

Before Captain Picard could do more than kneel beside her, a loud, wheezing, grinding, noise filled the bridge. It seemed to come from everywhere. The intruder alert klaxon began to sound and, at four different points on the bridge, a large blue box appeared.

Data raised his voice over the sounding klaxon, "Captain, they appear to be police communication cubicles of the United Kingdom of mid-twentieth century earth."

Worf hit the security and medical call buttons and leaped the bridge rail to place himself as close to the captain as possible. As the doors to the cubicles began to open, he pulled his phaser. He was glad to note the captain had stayed down and Riker and Data had both moved into defensive positions around him.

Three strangely dressed men stepped from the cubicles, at the left and right rear of the bridge, and the left side of the viewscreen, and immediately collapsed. The door to the cubicle on the right side of the viewscreen opened and a small man stepped out. Worf covered him with his phaser.

The small man was holding a closed umbrella in his left hand. He raised his right and said, "Please, gentlemen, I'm the help she called for. I will explain later." He then moved toward Counselor Troi, knelt and closed his eyes.

Captain Picard looked at the man, kneeling across from him, over the recumbent form of Deanna Troi. He was dressed in an old fashioned dark brown jacket, a sweater or vest covered in a question mark pattern, and plaid pants. He wore an odd little hat, a brightly colored scarf, and was leaning on an umbrella with a question mark handle. Before he could say anything to the man, Deanna Troi's eyes fluttered open. She looked at the strange man, said, "Thank you." and smiled.

Worf's security team, Dr. Crusher, and Lt. Rondell exited the turbolifts at a run. The security team moved to cover the other three intruders, all of whom were starting to rise. Dr. Crusher moved to Deanna's side and began examining her with her medical tri-corder. Lt. Rondell moved to the ops station then turned to Data. "Commander, there's something new happening."

Data moved to his station and began tapping out commands to his information systems. Lt. Rondell leaned forward to observe the information he was bringing up. They began to converse in low tones.

The captain looked at the stranger and said, "Now, I believe you said something about an explanation.

The small stranger smiled. "Yes I did, didn't I?"

Before the captain could ask Dr. Crusher about Deanna, Data turned and said, "Captain, the Restine system is disappearing and the two crew members Dr. Crusher was examining in sickbay are gone."

The small man said, "Captain, if your security people would kindly put their weapons away, I and my other selves will attempt to explain what is happening."

Riker glanced at the three other strangers standing at various points on the bridge, all with raised hands, one with a large grin. "Lt. Worf, I think your men can stand down." The security chief nodded to his men. The sudden cessation of the klaxon made the bridge seem quiet.

The captain said, "How is she?"

Dr. Crusher glanced at her tri-corder. "Captain, I can't find anything wrong. She has a high level of adrenaline in her system, but it's falling."

The captain looked around the bridge as Troi began to rise. The three other strangers were an oddly assorted group. All were dressed as strangely as the one standing near him.

One was quite tall, about Riker's height, with a mass of curly brown hair. He was wearing a long coat and a scarf that was wrapped round his neck and dragged the floor on both sides. The second was of medium height with straight blond hair. He was younger looking than any of the others and was dressed in what Picard identified as an old fashioned, red trimmed, cricket outfit with a mid-thigh length jacket. The third man, standing just to the left of the viewscreen, was the most oddly dressed of all. He was above average height and heavier of build than the others. He had blond curly hair and was wearing a wildly multi-colored coat over bright yellow and red striped pants and a diagonal striped pastel vest. He had a bright yellow scarf tied beneath his collar. The Captain noted that he had large question marks on his collar. The question mark motif seemed to be present in the costumes of each of them.

The captain gave an abrupt nod. "With me, all of you. Number One, you, Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi and Lts. Worf and Rondell to the conference room. Data, notify Commander LaForge and, as soon as you are able, I want you and Geordi to join us." He headed for the conference room so recently vacated.

As soon as he had seated himself in his accustomed place in the conference room, the captain turned to the small dark-haired man beside him. "Now, who are you and what are you doing here?"

The man seated himself to the captain's immediate left, placed both hands atop his umbrella handle, leaned forward, and said, "I am known as the Doctor and I am a Time Lord. These other gentlemen are three of my other selves. We are from an alternate universe which is at present intersecting with yours and in the process annihilating both."

Worf had seated himself down the table to the captain's right. He was still tense and had not yet decided these strangers were no threat. He growled out, "What do you mean "your other selves"?"

Two of the other three had seated themselves on the opposite side of the conference table. The tall, curly-haired, man looked so relaxed he might flow out of his chair. When he spoke, his voice was deep and full with an accent much like the captain's cultured European speech. "We are the same person, Lieutenant, from different points along the time-line of my life. I am the earliest among us; seated to my right, next to your captain, is the latest. The gentleman to my left and the one wearing out the carpet behind us fall between."

The pacing man dropped abruptly into a chair. Captain Picard looked at him and mused the chairs were sturdier than they looked. He was sure they had never been designed to take such abuse. Without any preamble, the man suddenly spoke. "I don't remember this. I don't remember any of this, and if they're here," he indicated the two men to his right with a lift of his chin, "I should remember."

The man seated next to the captain spoke to him in sharp tones. "Your memory had as many holes in it as a vegetable colander. Suffice it to say, I do remember."

The youngish-looking blond man spoke for the first time. "I don't remember either and my memory is usually quite good."

Captain Picard held up his hand to stave off what appeared to be a developing squabble amongst the odd, undisciplined, group and turned to Deanna Troi. "Counselor, your analysis."

Deanna Troi seemed to be composing her thoughts for a moment. She took a deep breath and said, "Captain, they are the same person. Their appearance and personalities are totally different, but, somehow, they are the same person. Captain, they, he, is absolutely sure we need him. Oh, this is very confusing, but I must tell you, I believe he is correct. I was totally overwhelmed by whatever happened to the Restine system. This man, these men, are? is? a very powerful telepath, though of a type I've never before encountered. Without the help he, they, gave me, I think I would have died."

Hearing her confusion; the tall, curly-haired, man smiled at her and said, "Counselor, to ease matters treat us as four different people. I think we should return to the real problem, Captain. We have two universes dissolving around us. If you're satisfied as to our motives, we should address that problem."

Captain Picard said, "Agreed." At that point, the conference room door opened and Data and Geordi entered. As they found chairs, the captain noted how small the conference table seemed with twelve people seated around it. He turned to the man seated to his left and said, "Now that we are all here, Doctor, perhaps you could tell us what you know of the situation."

The Doctor raised his chin from it's resting place on the handle of his umbrella and said, "Although our universes are roughly parallel, there are some major differences. In yours, my home planet of Gallifrey was destroyed in a solar explosion thousands of years ago. In mine Earth was conquered by a nasty race known as the Daleks in the twenty-second century. In yours, the Daleks were never created. In my universe there are two races known as the Sontarans and the Rutans. They have been waging war against each other for several thousand years. It is that war which is the cause of our current situation. The Rutans were being beaten back on all fronts. They were in danger of suffering a final defeat when one of their scientists came up with a novel idea. By creating a hole into an alternate universe, he believed he could enable the Rutan forces to escape, re-emerge behind the Sontaran fleet, and mount an attack on their rear. It was his original experiment to create an interface between the two universes that has led to our current problem. What he didn't realize was, instead of a doorway, he had created a merging. Captain, two realities cannot be merged. Each is 'unreal' in the other. The result is that, at the point-of-merger, both become unreal. Our universes are both becoming unrealities. Simply put, dissolving into non-existence. If we don't find some way to counter this; you and I, and everything we have ever known, will cease to exist."

Data said, "Sir, I do not understand. I was monitoring your explanation of who you were. If you remember being here before, and you are here now; does that not mean you merely have to repeat what you remember doing to solve the problem? Does not the fact you are here prove the problem will be solved?"

The Doctor in the gaudy coat next to Data said, "It's not that simple, Data. Free will does exist. In a reality where we are successful, our universes will continue to exist. In a reality where we are not, all of us will cease to exist. All we know for certain is there is a possibility we can succeed."

Worf said, "I still do not understand. How can you all be here at the same time? If you are each from a different part of your life span, how can you all be here at the same time?"

The Doctor with the straight blond hair spoke. "Perhaps I can explain that best. I've experienced this situation before. The machine in which we arrived, that 'blue box', is called a TARDIS. To put it simplistically, it's both a spaceship and a timeship. In my universe, my people aren't the only race with time travel, but we've had it far longer, and understand it far better, than any other." He gazed at the Doctor seated by the captain and added, "However; we are breaking one of the laws of time by all being here at once. Ordinarily it is a situation to be avoided. This type of activity is frowned upon."

The small Doctor said, "As to that, the High Council of Time Lords can be very flexible when the choice is a bit of law bending or non-existence. You'll also notice I called each of you during one of those rare times when you had no companions traveling with you. Except for my fifth persona, whose friends were out of the TARDIS at the time and, if we successfully avert this catastrophe, he will return before he is missed. Now, before you ask; no, I cannot go back and stop the Rutans before they cause the problem. Once an event is part of recorded history, no one has the right, or, perhaps, the ability, to change it."

The captain pondered what he had heard. From the looks on their faces, most of his staff were doing the same thing. Commander Riker interrupted his reverie. "This is all very interesting, but out there the universe is disappearing. I think we had better get started on the real problem."

"As always, Number One, your sense of priorities is faultless." Picard turned to the strange group on his left. "How did you plan on assisting, Doctors?"

The Doctor seated next to him said, "The original Rutan experiment was multi-faceted. It included several physical components, as well as some type of mental force based on a Rutan technique of simple telepathic projection. If you will assign your people to their duties, Captain, we will hold a telepathic conference to determine our respective roles." The four strange men closed their eyes one by one.

Noting the apparent oblivion of his four odd guests, the captain turned his attention to his officers. "Dr. Crusher, you appear to have something you wish to add to this discussion."

"Captain," she began, "my tri-corder readings on these men are very unusual. I've checked them several times. Despite their physical appearance, these people are definitely not human. They have two hearts and the most advanced physiology I have ever seen. They are, I estimate, millions of years more advanced than we are. I'm not sure this has any bearing on the situation, but I thought you should know. Captain, this may actually be one being. Without testing his DNA structure, I can't be sure. I do know that the unusual physiological structure of this being indicates a life-span that may be measured, not just in centuries, but in millennia. Although his cell structure seems basically analogous to our own, it has some unique properties I cannot even begin to understand."

Captain Picard glanced at his volunteers then said, "Counselor Troi, there is one more question I need to ask. Are these beings telling us the truth?"

Deanna Troi clasped her hands and rested her elbows on the table. She appeared to give the question careful thought. "Captain, this person has such a powerful mind I might not be able to sense deception, but I believe this may be the most totally good and caring person I have ever encountered."

"Thank you. Data, I want you and Lt. Rondell to work together on the theoretical part of this. The rest of you to your regular duty stations. You know the situation. I want any new information, no matter how trivial, reported to me immediately. Dismissed."

Lt. Commander Data rose and met Lt. Rondell at the end of the table. They spoke quietly for a few seconds, then Data turned and said, "Captain, with your permission, Lt. Rondell and I will work in my quarters. My work station there is quite complete and there is enough room to add other facilities as needed."

"Of course Data, requisition any additional equipment you need from stores." Captain Picard noticed that Worf was still standing behind his chair. "Yes Lieutenant, you had something to add?"

Worf looked uncomfortable. "Sir, as Security Officer, I must protest. No matter what Counselor Troi says, these men are still unknowns and, to be of assistance, they will have to know everything about the Enterprise."

The Doctor with curly brown hair opened his eyes and grinned. "Oh, not totally unknown, Mr. Worf. An accident once caused one of your ships to enter my universe. It's name was also Enterprise. Her captain was James Kirk. Check with Starfleet, you'll find I'm in their records. I believe I hold the rank of commander. I can't prove I'm the same person, but I do hope that will help allay your suspicions."

Lt. Worf gave the smiling man a hard look then said, "I will check those records." He then turned to the captain, "Sir, I shall now return to my duties."

As he left the captain smiled. He turned to the Doctors and found an answering smile on each of their faces. The Doctor seated by him said, "You have a superb group of officers, Captain."

"Yes", said Captain Picard, "the best."

## Chapter Two

"Now gentlemen, I believe you were going to assign yourselves to various portions of this endeavor. I take it you have concluded your deliberations."

The Doctor next to him said, "Yes Captain, we have. My fourth persona," he indicated the tall man to his left, "will be assisting Counselor Troi and Dr. Crusher. My fifth persona, seated next to him, will work with Commander LaForge in Engineering. My sixth persona, the one with the loud voice and louder coat, will work with Commander Data and Lt. Rondell. I shall work with you and Commander Riker, coordinating our efforts."

The Sixth Doctor, as the captain now thought of him, abruptly stood and said, "Thank you very much. Now if you will excuse me, I shall find Commander Data's quarters. I would appreciate your moving my TARDIS to that location." With that, he turned and stalked toward the door, saying, "An android and another girl. At least she won't give me carrot juice."

The captain turned to find all three of the other Doctors smiling broadly. The Seventh Doctor said, "Captain, I am sure you would like your bridge area cleared, so if you would be so kind as to move his TARDIS," indicating the Fourth Doctor, "to sickbay, his TARDIS," nodding to the Fifth Doctor, "to Engineering, and mine to an area near the bridge. We shall be ready to begin finding a solution to this dissolution. We have one other suggestion. Considering the speed at which the universes are merging, we feel it would be wise to maintain your present position and perhaps be prepared to beat a hasty retreat if necessary."

Captain Picard touched his communicator. "Number One, bring the ship to full stop." Commander Riker's voice replied, "Aye, Sir, full stop."

Doctors four and five rose and headed toward the door. Captain Picard looked at the remaining Doctor and said, "This may take some time. Shall I arrange quarters for you and the other gentlemen?"

"That won't be necessary. The TARDIS has all the facilities we need." Noting the captain's expression, he smiled and added, "You've only seen the outside, Captain. It's quite roomy once you get inside, quite roomy indeed."

Data was standing near his work station in his quarters when his door communicator beeped. He said, "Come in." and was surprised when the Doctor in the brightly colored coat entered instead of Lt. Rondell, whom he had expected.

The Doctor walked quickly in and straight to his work station. He stopped and tapped his fingers together in front of him, then turned to Data. "This is quite neat. Your own design I take it. May I?"

Data was pleased with the compliment and said, "Please, be my guest." indicating the chair at the station. "Do you require instruction in the system?"

"No, Data, but I do think we shall need some additional input stations if three of us are to work here."

"You are correct, Doctor. I shall see to it immediately."

Data turned from the communications panel, where he had ordered the input stations the Doctor had recommended, just as his door beeped again. He said, "Come in." and Lt. Rondell rushed into the room.

"Sorry I took so long, Data. I found out the quarters next to yours were empty, so I was getting them assigned to me and moving some stuff in and ... " Lt. Rondell's voice trailed off. Data followed her gaze to where the Doctor was seated, then followed her over to watch him.

The Doctor was using his station to it's fullest capacity. He was calling up and inputting information faster than any biological being Data had ever seen. He was as fast as Data himself. Data realized he was experiencing the fascination that was his analog to the human emotion of awe. He turned to look at Lt. Rondell. She was totally engrossed in what the Doctor was doing. Data thought, "Perhaps enrapt is a better term."

Data heard the transporter and turned to see the Doctor's TARDIS materializing in his quarters. The Doctor stood and walked from the work station to his TARDIS. He gave the blue box a pair of affectionate pats and stepped through the door. Data turned to Lt. Rondell. She was staring at the door the Doctor had just entered. "Yes," he decided, "enrapt is the better word."

Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi were in sickbay. They'd pulled up the records of all ship's personnel and were checking for both psi potential and planet of origin. Deanna could feel Beverly's frustration and worry over the two crewmen who had disappeared from sickbay. She could also feel her grim determination to stop it from happening again.

"Good day, ladies." The deep voice of the tall, curly-haired, Doctor drew their attention from the readout. "I have the pleasure of working with you on this bit of our problem. May I see what you have done so far?" He crossed to them and looked at the readout. He looked up and said, "Oh, very good, very good indeed. You have anticipated my suggestions." He flashed them his dazzling smile and asked, "May I remove my coat?"

Deanna felt Beverly's tension loosening. She said, "Of course, Doctor, make yourself comfortable."

As the Doctor removed his coat, Beverly and Deanna heard the familiar sound of the transporter and turned to see the Doctor's TARDIS materializing in a corner of sickbay. "Ah, now I shall have a place to hang it." He walked to the door of the TARDIS, opened it with one hand, turned toward them, smiled, and said, "If you will excuse me, I shall return in a few moments." then stepped through the door.

Beverly and Deanna turned to one another and suddenly they both began to laugh. Beverly said, "I don't believe it. I just don't believe it. He's perfect. He's absolutely perfect." Deanna didn't tell her friend, but she thought that Beverly might be 'absolutely right'.

Geordi LaForge turned to see the Doctor standing with his hands on his hips, looking up at the warp engines. He walked over and said, "We use a matter/anti-matter mix."

The Doctor turned to him. "And very well tuned. Even at idle, there's not an harmonic out of phase."

Geordi was pleased. This guy might actually know his stuff. "Come on Doctor, let me show you around."

As they toured engineering, Geordi felt himself warming towards the Doctor. The questions he asked were relevant and he really listened to the answers. They completed the tour at the central station and Geordi said, "And this is where my staff and I solve the problems of the universe."

The Doctor walked up to the station. He began to operate it like an old pro. "That's what we've got to do Geordi, solve the problems of the universe, or there won't be a universe to have problems. Say, this is good. You've already got a running program to map the dissolution area and a cross-reference check on all active and passive data collection devices."

"Yeah, Lt. Rondell and I set it up on the way here. You see these figures, they're from some special equipment we built just to measure some unusual tachyonic decay resonances at the edge of the zone."

Geordi heard the transporter effect and saw the Doctor's TARDIS materialize against one of the few blank spaces in the walls in engineering. The Doctor said, "About time." and turned towards it, then he turned back to Geordi and said, "Geordi, I have one more question. I hope you don't mind. It's about your interesting eyepiece."

"That's okay, Doctor. It's called a VISOR, an acronym about as good as TARDIS. I was born blind, but with this and the implants connected directly to my brain, I can detect most of the electromagnetic spectrum. Sometimes I forget how much more I can see than other people can. For instance, I knew you weren't human before Dr. Crusher said anything. Your body temperature is way off, and that TARDIS of yours is definitely more than a blue box. Yes, this thing definitely takes care of my handicap."

The Doctor said, "I've got some equipment in my TARDIS I think might be useful. I'll have to hunt for it so I may be a while." He walked to his TARDIS, then stopped at the door and turned back. "Geordi, when a handicap is overcome, does it still exist? Did it ever exist?" With that he disappeared through the TARDIS door.

Geordi stood looking at the TARDIS and said to himself, "And I thought Lt. Rondell was a genius."

On the bridge, a crew of six had just moved the last TARDIS to the alcove near the science station. Two anti-grav units had burned out before getting it into position and O'Brian, the Transporter Chief, had complained that he'd had to realign the transporter mechanisms after moving each of the other three. He'd used the heavy-duty cargo transporters after burning out three circuits in his first attempt at intra-ship beaming. "Yes," thought Captain Picard, "there's more to this blue box than meets the eye." Just as there was more to this Doctor than first glance would indicate.

"Well, Doctor," he said, "I believe we've taken care of the preliminaries. Now perhaps we should begin work on our mutual problem. This is the science station. I believe it will give you the best access to all the work being done throughout the ship. I will have one of our people show you it's operation."

The Doctor turned to him and smiled. "That won't be necessary. The system is quite logical and I've had a great deal of experience." He hung his umbrella in his pocket and began pulling up information faster than Picard could follow.

"Well," the captain said, feeling a bit extraneous, "I'll leave you to it."

Just as the captain reached his command chair, the Doctor called out, "Captain, my self, working with Commander Data and Lt. Rondell, has computed we have seventy-two hours and forty minutes to resolve this before it's beyond our capabilities. The information includes a recommendation we withdraw ten thousand astronomical units to avoid being caught in the effect before that time."

Captain Picard turned to Riker. "Make it so, Number One."

Lt. Worf joined the captain and Riker. "Sirs, I have checked Starfleet records. The Doctor is listed as having the rank of commander. It states he was given his rank by Captain James Kirk after he had saved his life several times. Once, by defeating a planetary champion in a sword duel. And Captain, apparently, he evacuated six hundred fifty people to his TARDIS while the Enterprise NCC 1701 was being repaired and prepared for it's return."

"Well, Mr. Worf," said Riker, "there definitely seems to be more to this Doctor than meets the eye."

"Yes, Commander." Worf glanced toward the science station. "Definitely."

Noting the grudging respect in Worf's voice, the Captain smiled at his First Officer. "Number One, I don't think this encounter with the Doctor is one we shall soon forget."

Riker smiled and replied, "No sir. I don't think we will."

## Chapter Three

The team from engineering had just completed the installation of the two additional work stations in Data's quarters when the Doctor exited his TARDIS. "Ah, now we can get some work done."

Data looked up from the station where he'd been reviewing the Doctor's earlier efforts. "I must say, sir, you have accomplished a great deal already. You have determined the potential output of all energy systems of the Enterprise, compared them with the known rate of expansion of the dissolution area and determined the precise time when it will be beyond our capabilities to reverse the effect."

"Simplicity itself, Data. I just put together all the information already gathered and did some simple extrapolation."

Data looked at the smiling Doctor. "I must disagree. The extrapolations were hardly simple and you have also programmed this console to ignore all security limitations on information you wish to peruse, while leaving those same limitations in effect for any others using the system. I believe the only term fitting your programming solutions is 'inspired'."

The smug-looking Doctor tapped the fingers of both hands together in front of his chest, in what Data realized was a 'characteristic gesture'. "Yes it was, wasn't it. Where is Lt. Rondell? I believe I have determined the best method of using all of our various abilities to their maximum on this problem."

"After she and I had overseen the installation of the work stations and tested all the systems, she returned to her quarters." Data paused and, with a puzzled tilt of his head, continued, "She said she "had to take a pill". Doctor, she said it with what I can only describe as a 'conspiratorial air'; however, I have no understanding of what she meant by it. I sometimes believe I shall never understand humans."

The Doctor smiled. "I've associated with humans for several hundred years, Data, and sometimes I'm not sure I shall ever understand them either. I do know; however, that they are worth the effort. As to Lt. Rondell, she is not just a human, she is a woman. I have met few human males that profess to understand women and I believe most of them were mistaken."

Data and the Doctor had just decided that the Doctor should take the central station with Data and Lt. Rondell on the peripheries when the door beeped. Data called, "Come in." and Lt. Rondell entered.

"Hi Data, well that's taken care of and I'm all ready to implement Plan B." She stopped as she realized the Doctor was seated at the central work station.

Data said, "Plan B?"

The suddenly flustered young woman glanced at her interested associates. "Uh, it's not important. I'll explain later if we have time. Shall we get to work?"

Realizing her embarrassment, but having no clue to its cause, Data immediately said, "Yes. The Doctor has been explaining his ideas for our working together. Perhaps we should try them." As Data took his place and indicated hers to Lt. Rondell, his sensitive hearing picked up her murmured "I've got a few ideas of my own." Data decided the Doctor was correct. Even if he came to understand humans in general, women might still be beyond him.

As soon as she had taken her place, the Doctor said, "Right, Data, Lieutenant, let me show you what I had in mind."

"Why don't you just call me Gwen? After all, you call him Data, not Commander. That goes for you too, Data."

The Doctor said, "Emm, oh, of course, Gwen." He looked up into a pair of beautiful green eyes over a dazzling smile. He was suddenly quite sure working with this pair was going to be a very different experience than working with any of his companions in his travels in the TARDIS. He glanced again at Gwen Rondell. There was something... He dismissed the thought. What could possibly be in a young human's smile that could make him nervous?

Geordi and the Doctor were just putting the finishing touches on a piece of equipment the Doctor had designed when Commander Riker walked in to Engineering. He said, "Now, that's an interesting looking device. What is it?"

"Oh. Hi, Commander. Well, according to the Doctor, this little jewel should give us a running calculation of mass and energy loss in both universes. It'll also give us the photon absorption level at the edge of the dissolution."

The Doctor looked at Riker and smiled. "The only problem we have with it is there doesn't seem to be any way we can use it from here."

"You see, Commander, the outer boundary of the area is like a sort of mist. It has currents in it. We've sent out probes, but, sooner or later, they run into an eddy current and just disappear. Since this has an essential part of the Doctor's TARDIS in it, we just can't chance putting it in a probe. I'm going to ask the captain's permission to use one of the shuttles tomorrow."

Commander Riker looked thoughtful. "I don't know, Geordi, it sounds pretty dangerous. Chief Engineers aren't that easy to come by. What's to keep you from 'just disappearing' too."

The Doctor smiled and held up a tiny gold circuit board. "That's where this comes in. This is a circuit to adapt Geordi's VISOR to see the unique tachyon decay resonance at the very edge of the dissolution. Geordi will be able to pilot around any protuberances in the field."

Riker said, "Geordi may be the best pilot on the ship, but it still sounds like an awful risk sending one man out alone, even if he can see where he's going."

The Doctor's smile grew wider. "Commander, what makes you think he's going alone? My gravitic anomalizer is in there. It's not going anywhere without me."

Riker looked at the two smiling men and realized that, if anyone could accomplish what they proposed, they could. "Geordi, it looks like you've finished with this. Are you ready to take a break? How about you, Doctor? Would you like to see some of the ship?"

Geordi said, "Thanks, Commander. You're right about our being done with this, but I've still got some ordinary work to complete. I can't have my staff thinking they can get along without me, but I think a tour for the Doctor is a great idea. How 'bout it, Doctor?"

The Doctor put his hands in the small of his back and stretched. "I admit to being curious about this ship. The specifications we've been working with have just whet my appetite, and this is probably one of the few times my curiosity won't get me into trouble. Lead on, Commander. I'll see you later, Geordi."

Riker grinned. "Come up to Ten Forward when you finish, Geordi. I'll arrange to wind up our tour there."

"You got it. I'll see you both there."

As they left Engineering, Riker said, "Just a minute, Doctor. I forgot I told Worf I'd meet him on the phaser range. Won't take me a minute to cancel."

As he reached for the comm panel, the Doctor said, "Don't do that. I think I'd enjoy a bit of target practice. I hope Mr. Worf won't mind if I join you."

"I'm sure he won't, but I have to warn you, Worf won't practice with the program running at anything less than top speed."

"That's all right, Commander. I shall endeavor to keep up." As they entered the turbolift, Riker wondered about the smaller man's enigmatic smile.

When they reached the phaser range, Worf was waiting. He didn't look extremely happy to see the Doctor. He nodded and said, "Commander, Doctor, I've set the program for standard two man use. I can change it if you wish."

Riker suddenly decided he'd rather be an observer of this interesting encounter than a participant. "Don't bother Worf. I put in some pretty heavy practice with Captain Picard yesterday. You two go ahead. I'll just watch."

Worf said, "As you wish, Sir."

Riker headed for the observation area struggling not to laugh. Worf looked as if he'd eaten something sour. His expression as he had looked down at the smaller, smiling, man was one he'd have paid to see. By the time he got there, the Doctor and Worf were taking their positions. As he made himself comfortable, he noticed the Doctor had removed his coat. The back-to-back positioning of the two participants emphasized their physical differences. Worf's massive size and trained positioning made the average sized Doctor look small, but something about his relaxed stance told Riker this was not the mis-match it would at first appear.

The program began. Riker watched with interest, which soon turned to amazement, as Worf and the Doctor hit target after target. He soon realized the Doctor had not missed a shot. The man could move with blinding speed. Worf was about to lose his distinction as the only 'biological' person to get a perfect score with the program running at top speed.

When the session ended, Riker hurried to join the others. He reached them as Worf was pulling up their scores and the Doctor vas pulling on his coat. Riker saw Worf's eyes widen as he looked at the results, two perfect scores. "Doctor, you may guard my back anytime. You did not miss any targets."

The Doctor smiled up at Worf. "I never miss. Thank you. I think yours is a back worth guarding. Shall we go, Commander? I would like to see some of the ship before we're to meet Geordi." As they walked down the corridor, Riker thought to himself that this was the second time today he'd have paid to see the expression on Worf's face. He found he felt much better about Geordi and the Doctor making their proposed excursion.

Deanna Troi walked into sickbay and found it crowded. She'd had to spend time in her office. There were some very frightened people on the ship. So far, there was no panic, but frightened people needed someone to listen to them. Once again, she found herself thankful for Guinan's presence in Ten Forward. In this kind of situation, she vas probably of more assistance than a counselor. Besides, the ever-present undercurrent of fear was wearing raw edges on her empathy. As she made her way through the crowd, she saw several of the medical staff interviewing people and keying information into data-pads. She suddenly realized the overwhelming emotion she was feeling in sickbay wasn't fear. It was curiosity. Whatever was going on, she definitely approved. She saw Lt. Selar at one of the consoles and made her way over to her. "Hello, Lieutenant, do you know where Dr. Crusher is?"

The calm eyes of the Vulcan physician glanced up at her. "Dr. Crusher is in isolation area B."

Deanna wove through the clusters of people and entered the isolation area. Beverly was standing in front of one of the isolation cubicles with her arms crossed. She had a very thoughtful look on her face. As she neared Beverly, Deanna was pleased her emotional state was good. In fact, Beverly was quite pleased about something. There was also a feeling of confidence that had been absent since the disappearance of the two crewmen earlier. "Hello, Beverly."

Beverly Crusher jumped. "Oh! Hi, Deanna, you startled me."

"That's obvious." Curious as to what held her friend's attention so completely, Deanna looked into the cubicle. Inside were a man and a woman, three small children, and a small furry animal she couldn't identify. She gave Beverly a questioning look.

"They're a family unit. One of our checks turned them up as being from a planet endangered by the dissolution. The planet itself is uninhabited, but all three children were born there. Their parents were assigned to a now-abandoned science station on the planet for several years. See that device over there. It's part of the Doctor's TARDIS. He called it a dimensional stabilizer. When he set this up, he said he wasn't sure it would work, but it does Deanna. That planet disappeared an hour ago and the kids are still here. They're still here!"

Deanna understood her buoyant emotional state, but she was worried about a sudden surge in it when she'd said "the Doctor". "That's wonderful Beverly. I know how upset you were this morning when those people disappeared."

Beverly turned and looked at Deanna. She said, "Aha, I may not be a Betazoid, but I know what you're thinking. Crusher's got a crush. I plead guilty. Oh, Deanna, don't worry. It's a very healthy one. He's brilliant, he's charming, and his voice gives me goose bumps, but he's from another universe and will soon be gone. He also told me he's seven hundred fifty years old. That much of an age difference is a bit much, even for me."

Deanna found herself laughing. Yes, it was a healthy one. One she thought she might even share before this was all over. She said, "Speaking of our elderly Doctor, where is he and what are all those people doing out there?"

"Well, the Doctor said the Rutans are a species with a strong electrical field. He described them as "an electrically charged glob of jelly with pseudopodia and a nasty attitude". The people are being screened for testing for what he calls "electrical-psi sensitivity". I'm not sure he's not just giving everyone something to think about, but he's rigged up some kind of testing device in one of the labs, adapted one of the biobeds. As to where he is, I don't know. He just appears, does something, then disappears again. I'm afraid our Doctor is a bit of a phantom."

Both Deanna and Beverly jumped this time as the Doctor's deep, cultured, voice said, "Not a phantom, please. I'm really quite solid." He held out an arm and said, "Here, feel, quite solid. Ladies, since our wards," he nodded toward the cubicle, "seem to be also quite solid and Dr. Crusher's; may I call you Beverly, Dr. Crusher seems so formal and Deanna, it is Deanna; staff has the screening so well in hand, perhaps you might show me your ship." He slipped an arm around the shoulders of each of them and began guiding them toward the door.

"Yes," thought Deanna, looking up at the Doctor's smiling face, "a crush I might definitely share."

The man the captain thought of as the Fourth Doctor exited the turbolift onto the bridge. Beverly and Deanna were with him and all were smiling. The captain felt a small twinge, of what he refused to recognize as jealousy, at the happy look on Beverly's face. The three entered the command area. Deanna and Beverly sat down in their stations and the Doctor walked up to him. "Captain, the ladies tell me you fence. I fancy a bit of exercise. I wondered if you might be free to indulge me?"

"I think I would enjoy that, Doctor. Let me see if Commander Data is available for bridge duty." He tapped his communicator. "Commander Data." When Data answered, he asked, "Are you free to take the bridge?"

"Yes, Sir. The Doctor, Lt. Rondell and I have completed all our preliminary work. Lt. Rondell is escorting the Doctor on a tour of the ship. I am presently in turbolift three on my way to the bridge." At that point, Data exited the turbolift, walked down into the command area and over to the captain and said, "Sir."

The captain smiled and the Doctor standing nearby said, "Mr. Data, your timing is excellent."

Data said, "Yes, sir, it is digital." The Doctor laughed. Data was pleased. Guinan had laughed when he said it to her and he had always wondered if he would be able to find an appropriate time to use it again.

The Doctor said, "Why, Mr. Data, you have a sense of humor. That is very rare in a constructed being."

Data said, "Thank you, sir. Did you hear the one about the--"

"Commander, you have the bridge. Come with me, Doctor, quickly." As he and the Doctor left the bridge, the captain heard Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi burst into laughter. Once they had entered the turbolift, he said, "I'm sorry, Doctor, but you have no idea what you almost started." He tapped his communicator. "Mr. Data, if I am needed, I will be in the gymnasium." The Doctor with him laughed.

Data had just seated himself in the command chair when Deanna Troi said, "Data, Beverly and I are going to Ten Forward. We've agreed to meet the Doctor there after he and Captain Picard finish their fencing match and I want to talk to Guinan. If you are free later, you are welcome to join us."

"Thank you, Counselor. I may do that."

Shortly after Dr. Crusher and Counselor Troi left the bridge, another of the Doctors, the small one with dark hair, entered the command area. Data considered telling him a joke, but decided it might be inappropriate at this time. He said, "How may I assist you, Doctor." instead.

"Data, I find myself somewhat at loose ends. There's nothing more I can do here until your team and the other two begin assembling new information."

"Doctor, may I suggest you go to Ten Forward? It is one of the crew's favorite places to relax."

"Ah, that sounds like exactly what I had in mind. Thank you, Mr. Data."

"You are most welcome, sir." As the Doctor left the bridge, Data sat back in the command chair and thought, "Yes, a joke would have been inappropriate."

The Doctor entered Ten Forward and looked around. Dr. Crusher and Counselor Troi were there, but seemed to be deep in conversation. The Doctor didn't see anyone else he'd met. His glance was suddenly arrested by the incredible view. He made his way to a table and gazed out at the stars. Shortly thereafter a voice called him out of his reverie.

"Hello, I'm Guinan. I'm your hostess. Welcome to Ten Forward. May I get you something?"

The Doctor turned to look at her and nearly stumbled in his haste to rise, as he realized who, and what, she was. He doffed his hat and bowed. "Madam, I am most pleased and surprised to find one of your race here."

Guinan pulled a chair out and sat down on the opposite side of the table. She said, "You can only be one of the Doctors."

## Chapter Four

Ten Forward was beginning to get crowded as ship's time passed into the evening hours. Guinan concluded her conversation with the Doctor with, "And that's the short version of how I came to be the hostess of Ten Forward."

"These Borgs seem to be a rather nasty group. I can think of nothing analogous to them in my own universe, although the Cybermen may have ambitions in that direction. Guinan, allow me to assure you that your race is doing quite well there, and your people and mine have an ancient and healthy relationship."

Guinan smiled. "I know, Doctor. I've known since the first instant the Rutan's experiment began to merge the universes."

"You know, Guinan, I believe Captain Picard may be a far wiser man than I originally estimated, and my opinion of him was never low."

"Yes, Doctor, he's a very special person. Now keep this under your hat, please. Even Captain Picard doesn't know the whole story and I find I enjoy being a 'woman of mystery'. Now, I think I had better return to my duties. My staff is excellent, but the last few times they've glanced our way, I don't think curiosity was the primary reason."

The Doctor gave her a conspiratorial smile. "Oh yes, I'll remember, 'Oh, woman of mystery'." He took her hand and kissed it in a most courtly fashion.

As Guinan returned to her customary place behind the bar, she saw several people glance back and forth between her and the Doctor. "Yes indeed," she thought, "I enjoy being mysterious, and the Doctor hasn't hurt that image a bit. Not one little bit."

Captain Picard pulled off his fencing mask and reached for a towel. He turned and said, "Doctor, I don't think I've been beaten quite so soundly since I first took up this sport."

The Doctor shook out his curls. "Come now, Captain, it wasn't so bad as that. You really are quite good."

The captain looked at him and smiled. "No, Doctor, I know when I'm outclassed. I've never met your equal with the epee."

"Well, I've had several hundred years more practice. Now, if you'll excuse me, there are two ladies waiting for me in a place called Ten Forward. I shouldn't delay any longer."

"And I should be getting back to the bridge. Thank you for the match, Doctor. I enjoyed it immensely."

The Doctor gave a crisp salute with his blade. "My pleasure, Sir."

Beverly and Deanna had both noticed Guinan's conversation with the Doctor at a window table, and another Doctor had just entered Ten Forward with Commander Riker. Deanna realized she and Beverly were both watching the door like a pair of school girls. She was about to mention it when Beverly said, "There's our Doctor now."

Deanna looked up at the tall, smiling man coming toward them and thought, "Yes. That's how I think of him too, as 'our' Doctor." She wondered how many of her crewmates also thought of one of the Doctors as 'their' Doctor.

"Hello, ladies. I hope I haven't kept you waiting over-long. I truly enjoyed my match with your captain. He is most accomplished with a blade." Deanna wondered if there wasn't a bit of 'noblesse oblige' in that statement, but, she decided, if anyone had a right to it, this Doctor did.

Beverly said, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Doctor. Would you like something? The drinks in Ten Forward are usually made with synthehol. It has most of the pleasurable characteristics of alcohol and none of its nasty ones. Deanna and I are having Mai Tais, but you can get most anything, including food, here."

"Ah," the Doctor smiled, "the Mai Tai. A drink of most ancient, if dubious, pedigree. I think that would suit me most excellently. Do either of you need another?"

Deanna said, "No, Doctor. Beverly and I have been recently 're-freshed'."

Guinan approached from the Doctor's rear and said, "May I get you something, Doctor?"

The Doctor turned to look at her and his mouth dropped open in surprise. As he started to rise, Guinan laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. She then raised a finger to her lips and indicated the Doctor seated across the room with a tilt of her head. The Doctor glanced toward his other self and that Doctor gave him a nod. The Doctor said, "Thank you," and paused. "Guinan." she supplied. "I shall have a Mai Tai, if you please."

As Guinan left the table, Beverly turned to Deanna and said, "Curiouser and curiouser."

"Said Alice." the Doctor added with a grin.

Geordi entered Ten Forward just as Will Riker turned away from the bar with a drink in each hand. He said, "Hi, Commander. Where are you headed?"

"Up there, Geordi." Geordi looked up and saw his Doctor and another seated on the upper level, apparently quite deep in conversation. He turned back to Riker and raised his eyebrows. Riker smiled and said, "Don't ask me." He raised the drinks in his hands slightly. "I think I was made 'errand boy' to give them some time alone. All I can tell you is, I think it has something to do with Guinan. Come on. I think they're ready for us now." Geordi followed Riker up to the table after getting himself a drink.

The Doctor he thought of as 'his' Doctor looked up and said, "Hello, Geordi. Everything 'put to rights' in engineering?"

"Yes, Doctor, my staff are once again convinced they can't do without me."

As Geordi sat down, the 'other' Doctor said, "I've been getting an explanation of what you're planning to do tomorrow. With the information you will collect, I think we shall be able to put together a method to stop the merging of the universes, but you must be extremely careful."

"I will be, Doctor. Thanks for your concern."

"My concern is somewhat a matter of self-interest. You see, if he disappears," He indicated Geordi's Doctor. "I disappear." Geordi felt the weight of responsibility settle more heavily on his shoulders. If he made a mistake, the Enterprise would lose three of the Doctors whose assistance was so essential.

Riker said, "Well, gentlemen, I've left the captain and Data with the bridge long enough. I think it's about time I got back to work. It's been a most pleasant and memorable afternoon. Doctors, Geordi, I'll see you all tomorrow." As Riker left the table, Geordi made himself a mental note to ask about the big smile he'd worn when he'd made his last comment. He turned back to the discussion of the technical aspects of what he and the Doctor were planning.

As Riker approached the door, he saw Lt. Rondell and the last of the Doctors come through it. He watched as the Doctor looked over at Guinan and suddenly 'stopped dead in his tracks'. Lt. Rondell had been holding onto his arm and talking animatedly. The stop was so sudden she was nearly unbalanced. He saw Guinan give her head a slight shake, then nod toward the table he'd just left. The Doctor turned and looked that direction. He began walking again, a somewhat non-plussed, Lt. Rondell in tow.

Riker was glad he'd stopped off to say hello to a few people. He wouldn't have wanted to miss this. He didn't know what was going on and realized he probably never would, but, whatever it was, it certainly wasn't hurting Guinan's 'air of mystery'. "But then," he thought, as he exited Ten Forward, "if all the mysteries were solved, life wouldn't be much fun anymore."

The Doctor and Gwen had just found a table and seated themselves when Data came in. As he crossed to their table, the Doctor found himself thinking about the wide smile his later persona had worn as he had renewed Gwen's introductions to his other selves. He had been wondering about it all through the explanation of the intended shuttle expedition. Whatever it was, he was sure it lay in his future. He'd decided long ago, knowing the future would take all the excitement out of life. Besides, just trying to keep track of his past was enough of a problem. Data walked up and said, "Doctor, Gwen, may I join you?"

Data opened the door to his quarters and he and the Doctor entered. Gwen had left them an hour before, saying she needed her 'beauty sleep'. The Doctor walked over to his TARDIS and entered. He then leaned out of the door and asked, "Data, how long until you report for bridge duty?"

"Three hours, eleven minutes and forty-six seconds, Doctor."

"Data, I would like to show you my TARDIS. Please come in."

"Thank you, Doctor. I am most curious about your TARDIS."

Data and the Doctor were seated in the cloisters. The Doctor had given him, what he called, 'the ten p tour'. The Doctor said, "Data, from this point on we will be covering material that, as far as I know, is unknown to any of the races humans have encountered in your universe, other than my own of course. I know humans have found a way to travel in time. I believe it was the predecessor of this ship that was the first. We accomplish it in a very different fashion. My people long ago learned the 'gift' of advanced technology is almost always harmful to the recipients. We, as a people, have very strong laws against interference. At one time those laws were so strict any involvement at all in the affairs of other races carried a death sentence. Those laws have been loosened a bit, mostly by my own efforts. However, I have been on trial more than once for my activities. My defense in each case has been that, as the oldest civilization in my universe, Time Lords have a responsibility to protect younger races from power-mad beings wielding advanced technology. Once, I was even convicted of breaking those laws and I spent several years in exile on twentieth-century Earth. My sentence was later commuted as more Time Lords came to share my views. It's amazing what being faced with annihilation will do to change one's viewpoint. Data, you must give me your solemn promise not to give human-kind or any other race this knowledge. They must discover it for themselves. I will not ask you not to use it, but all other possible solutions to the problem must be attempted first."

"Doctor, Starfleet has a similar rule. It is called the Prime Directive. It is a fundamental part of the oath every Starfleet officer takes. Much of our training is devoted to understanding that oath. I give you my word, I shall not divulge the knowledge you give me, nor use it in any, but as the last resort."

The Doctor considered Data's reply, then smiled. "All right, Data, this is the basis of time and dimensional theory." When he had completed his lecture, the Doctor said, "Data, you must never down-load this information into any system or allow it to be extracted. To do so would be to sign my death warrant."

"I have placed a wipe command on this information. It will execute at any attempt to tamper with my data storage. Sir, I am required at my duty station."

As they rose from their seats on the bench, the cloister bell began to ring. The Doctor dashed out, shouting, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls. Run!"

The Doctor and Data exited the turbolift onto the bridge as two Doctors stepped from another. The remaining Doctor was standing between the con and ops stations. He turned to face them and said, "Gentlemen, we have a problem."

At that moment the red alert klaxon began to sound.

## Chapter Five

The image on the viewscreen was terrifying. The area of dissolution had been a hazy circular area in the distance. It had now become a huge, blazing, ball of fire. And it was getting bigger. Rapidly.

Commander Riker yelled over the red alert klaxon, "Ensign, get us out of here." The image tilted off the screen. He called out, "Reverse image." The fireball came back on the screen, but it was no longer growing. Soon, it began to visibly shrink.

People began pouring out of the turbolifts. One of the first was Captain Picard. He glanced at the screen and said, "Cancel red alert. Ensign, bring us to full stop. Number One, report."

Riker said, "Commander."

Data turned from the ops station which he had assumed immediately upon arriving on the bridge. "Ensign Merrill has executed a 180 degree turn and boosted at warp six. We are now twelve times our original distance from the phenomena. It has now ceased to expand. I am currently running a program to obtain further information."

The captain said, "Thank you, Mr. Data. Well done, Ensign Merrill."

The pale red-haired young man at con visibly relaxed. "Thank you, Sir."

The Doctor's voice rose from the rear of the bridge. "Captain." The captain turned. All four Doctors were at the rear of the bridge. Three of them were facing work stations and working rapidly. The man he thought of as the seventh Doctor was standing facing him at the science station. "We have some information. We're putting it through to Mr. Data's station now. Briefly, a white dwarf/red giant binary and its analog in the other universe have exploded. Each was just beyond the periphery of the zone and the detritus has englobed the dissolution area. We can only assume the phenomena itself is responsible for the destruction of both stellar masses. We can find no organized remains of either star. We are attempting to determine what this infusion of energy will mean to our attempts to reverse the dissolution, but we have no hard data as yet."

The captain started to thank him, but the small man had already turned back to the science station and begun working. He turned back around and saw Data working so rapidly his hands were a blur. The young ensign at con was watching Data in open-mouthed awe. The captain permitted himself a small smile and noticed a slightly larger one on his First Officer. They took their customary positions and prepared themselves to wait.

The annunciator on the ready room door beeped and the captain looked up from his desk. "Come." The small Doctor entered carrying his ubiquitous umbrella. The captain had noticed he used it almost as a tool. "Or," he thought, "a walking stick." Either way, it seemed almost an extension of his personality.

"Good morning, Doctor. Please sit down. I was about to have a cup of tea. Won't you join me?"

"Yes, I'd be delighted."

"Tea service. Earl Grey. Hot. Two cups." He removed the tea from the food dispenser, joined the Doctor on the settee, and poured for them.

The Doctor lifted his cup and said, "Captain, you are truly a civilized man."

They enjoyed their tea in silence for a few moments, then the captain said, "Now, Doctor, what did you want to see me about?"

"We believe we should begin to creep back up to our previous position. Our fireball has become a red ball and gives every indication it is being absorbed from the inside. Captain, we still need the information Commander LaForge and my other persona were going to obtain in their shuttlecraft excursion. As soon as we determine the present size of the phenomena and its current rate of expansion, we need to be in position for them to depart."

The captain considered briefly, then tapped his communicator. "Number One."

Riker's voice replied, "Yes, Captain?"

"Take us back to our previous position. Half impulse." The captain looked at the Doctor. "Anything else?"

The Doctor smiled. "Yes. Some good did come of our excitement last night. We now know the zone does not absorb all matter at the same speed. We also know its electrical potential at the surface. Until this happened, we didn't even know it had a surface. My other selves are now working with their respective teams to integrate this new data. Captain, we may be much closer to a solution, but we may also have much less time to implement it."

Beverly Crusher was standing outside the isolation cubicle. Sara Parker had just settled her three children down for a nap and Mike was reading them a story. She was amazed at the foresight of the Doctor. When he had set the system up and said all connections with outside systems would have to be severed, she'd thought of air, food, water and even toiletries. But it had been the Doctor who had arrived with books, games, toys and the strange furry animal. She could just imagine what seventy-two hours with children ages two, three and five, would have been like for the Parkers without his gifts. She heard a soft rustle behind her and turned around, expecting to see 'her' Doctor. Instead, it was the Doctor in the brightly colored coat. She started to ask him what he wanted but stopped, totally arrested by the look on his face.

He was watching the children and his expression was the softest, gentlest looking, she had ever seen on any male, of any species. She watched him watching them, unwilling to break the spell by word or action. Deanna entered the area, but stopped to also stand watching the Doctor. Beverly looked from the Doctor to Deanna. She suddenly realized there were tears running down her friend's face. She almost started toward her, then realized the expression on Deanna's face was one of near rapture. What could the Doctor be feeling that could affect her so strongly? Not for the first time, but perhaps with more intensity than ever before, Beverly wished she had even a little of Deanna's Betazoid empathy.

The Doctor gave a visible start. He turned toward Beverly. "Ah, Doctor, I see your charges are thriving. May I see your screening results? Gwen has built a telepathic amplifier before and we thought we might begin on the layout while we're waiting for more information. I was looking for my counterpart when I came in here."

Deanna walked forward and said, "You just missed him. He must have walked out of the lab and out of sickbay at just about the time you walked in here."

"Well, I'm sorry I missed him, but I'm not sorry I came in here. No help for it, you'll just have to show me the equipment and tests. Well, don't just stand there. It's this way isn't it." The Doctor breezed by her and headed for the door. "Well, come on." He shook his head and said, "Girls." in such a disgusted tone that both Beverly and Deanna laughed as they found themselves racing to catch up.

Data and Gwen were in his quarters finishing the work the Doctor had shunted to them. The additional information gathered on the zone was now processed and integrated into their previous work. Gwen had pulled up an equipment inventory and listed those pieces she knew would be useful in creating a telepathic amplifier. The door beeped. Data called out, "Enter." as he completed his last formula. He looked up to see the tall Doctor coming toward him. "Doctor, I am surprised to see you here. The other Doctor left here a short time ago to meet with you in sickbay."

The Doctor smiled. "It's not really surprising, Data. We're the same person. Sometimes we're bound to have the same idea. He walked over to Gwen's station and said, "Ah, just what I needed. May I?" Gwen nodded and he reached past her to call up the specifications on several pieces of equipment she had listed.

Data noticed Gwen look at the Doctor very closely. Then she pursed her lips and gave her head a small shake. He began to understand why human males sometimes made the one word comment "Women." in such exasperated tones.

He decided, although he understood the differences in the human male and female physiologies, there were differences in their thought processes that transcended biology. Not on an intellectual level or in their capacities for accomplishment in any field, but in motivation and viewpoint. Women were somehow more complex. He thought of Tasha Yar and wished their friendship had been given more time to grow. He realized the thought was futile, but he cherished it for that very reason.

The Doctor looked up and said, "Data, may I use your main station? I believe I'm going to be inputting information from sickbay shortly and if I'm on-line here, we may be able to get this roughed in quite quickly."

Data indicated his main work station and said, "Of course, sir."

The Doctor seated himself at the station and began working. "Come on, come on. Ah, there he is. I wonder what took him so long. It must have been the children." He then looked up at Data and Gwen. "Well, come on, I can't do everything. Even if there are four of me."

Data looked down at his screen and found a schematic beginning to take shape. Suddenly it started to grow at twice its former speed. Data realized that both Doctors were now working together and he might not be able to keep up. He was surprised to realize he was experiencing his equivalent to excitement at the challenge. As he began to formulate the power equations and put them through to Gwen, he understood that, although the Doctors had said they were the same person, their differences in appearance and personality had kept him thinking of them as different people. It was only here, in the realm of intellectual creativity, that the Doctor showed, beyond doubt, that all his 'personas' were but facets of one unique individual being.

The red ball had become a pale pink globe. The Enterprise was nearing the position she had been in before 'beating a hasty retreat'. The Doctors had predicted the final absorption of stellar material and energy within the hour. They would be able to calculate its size and rate of expansion within minutes after that. They would also know how much less time they had to complete their attempt to halt the merger than their original seventy-two hour estimate. Geordi and the Doctor were preparing the shuttlecraft and readying their equipment.

Shuttlecraft five looked a bit strange. It had a short snout and an array of specialized antennae that looked like cat whiskers. On the back was one large antenna that stuck out at a sixty degree angle. The Doctor had commented it reminded him of his dog. Geordi had asked what kind of dog and he'd replied, "Computer." It had been several minutes before Geordi realized the Enterprise computer was still on standby awaiting the rest of the Doctor's instruction.

"Well Geordi," the Doctor said, backing out of the shuttle, "it's ready. Now all we can do is wait."

Geordi looked at the man he'd worked with so closely the last day and a half. He realized, one way or the other, their association would soon end. He was going to miss him. He also knew his gnawing curiosity, about those tantalizing bits and pieces of equipment the Doctor produced from his TARDIS, was never going to be satisfied. He saw his new friend was standing perfectly still with his eyes closed, in what Geordi thought of as his 'conference mode'.

The Doctor opened his eyes. "The rate of expansion is up seventeen percent. We have twenty-two hours and forty-two minutes." He paused. "There's one more piece of information." Geordi could tell by the way the he was looking at him it wasn't good news. "Our mist is now at, what my other self terms, 'a roiling boil', and our protuberances have more the characteristics of solar flares. One of your friends on the bridge has relayed the message, "Tell Geordi to watch his ass."

"Riker." thought Geordi. He looked at the Doctor's amused grin and said, "OK, Doc," knowing he hated it, "let's move out." He called, "Open shuttle bay doors." as he climbed in, pleased with the disgusted look on the Doctor's face.

Data was closely monitoring the shuttlecraft from the main station in his quarters. Geordi and the Doctor would soon begin a two orbit flight around the globe shaped zone of dissolution. They expected the mission to take about three hours, but preliminary data would start trickling through in about forty minutes.

The Doctor in sickbay had called to say all tests on ship's personnel were complete and, as soon as the shuttle mission was done, they'd know which three would wear the odd looking headpieces Data's team had built. The fourth would be worn by one of the Doctors. Presumably, the one in sickbay. All four units of the telepathic amplifier were laying on biobeds there, waiting for occupants.

The Doctor and Gwen were taking turns pacing Data's quarters. The only difference Data could see was the Doctor covered the distance in four quick strides, making between two and four passes, and Gwen took about seven steps, usually going down and back once. The pattern seemed to be changing. The Doctor had skipped a turn and was standing, 'staring off into the distance', tapping his fingers together in front of him. Suddenly Gwen stopped and said, "Ahg, I can't stand this. I'm just getting wound up tighter and tighter. Come on." She grabbed the Doctor's hand and headed for the door. Data was surprised. Evidently, so was the Doctor. She had nearly pulled him 'off his feet'. Data wondered what the diminutive lieutenant was up to. He said, "Women." sure he had said it in the appropriate place, with just the right inflection.

Geordi and the Doctor climbed out of the shuttlecraft. They'd had one particularly close call when a 'flare' had shot out almost directly beneath them. Geordi unclipped the small gold circuit from his VISOR and handed it to the Doctor. His vision returned to 'normal'. He walked around the shuttle and gave a low whistle. He called out, "Hey, Doctor, look at this." and tapped his communicator. "Lt. Barclay." Lt. Barclay responded from where he had been monitoring the mission at the engineering station on the bridge. The Doctor rounded the shuttle and looked up. "Reg, you know that lovely two meter bonded porcelain and carbon 60 antenna you built for me? I'm sorry, but it seems to have gotten about three centimeters shorter." There was a short pause. "Commander, that was too close."

"Yeah, tell Commander Riker I was watching my ass." Geordi and the Doctor looked at each other. The portion of the antenna outside the shuttle had only protruded four centimeters beyond the shuttle's rearmost edge.

Riker accompanied the Doctor to Ten Forward. He'd called what he termed "a conference in proximity." Two of the other three Doctors were already there. The only one not present was the one working with Data.

A crew from engineering was taking all the testing equipment out of the shuttle. Soon, every trained mind on the Enterprise would be working to interpret the data it provided, but this was one of those nerve-racking times when everything went on 'hold'.

It was early and the only person in Ten Forward, besides the Doctors, was Guinan. Riker was leaning on the bar talking to her when the last Doctor walked in. Riker glanced at him, then looked back again. He said, "Uh, oh."

He looked at Guinan and saw she was smiling. She said, "Lt. Rondell." Riker looked back at the Doctor in the brightly-colored coat. He'd never seen him move at anything less than a brisk walk. Now he was almost strolling. He wore a bemused, almost dazed, look on his face. He watched him cross the room and join the others.

All three Doctors were looking at their sixth persona. He sat down, then looked at them and said, "Her name is actually Guinevere."

The fifth Doctor looked from the sixth to the seventh, his mouth half open in surprise. The seventh said, "Now you know why I remember being here so clearly. Humans can be so surprising."

The fourth grinned. "Quite my favorite species."

"Now, said the seventh Doctor, "We have about nineteen hours left. Let's get to work." The Doctors all closed their eyes. All but the sixth Doctor. He was still gazing bemusedly at the table top. He looked up, saw the others, and closed his eyes.

Riker looked at Guinan. If anything, her smile was wider than before. He said, "Him I understand, but I'm not sure about Lt. Rondell and she's human."

Guinan said, "Quite my favorite species."

Riker felt as if he'd missed something, but he wasn't sure what.

## Chapter Six

Data entered his quarters and was surprised to see the Doctor down on one knee in front of Gwen. He suddenly realized he was hearing a superb rendering of Cyrano's speech to Roxanne. He had been studying the play and he stopped to listen. He was impressed. All the Doctors spoke well and this one and the one working in sickbay had shown an inclination to quote classic human literature. Data wondered again why all the Doctors shared the captain's accent.

Gwen was watching the Doctor, giving him her total attention. She continued to watch him as he turned, rose, and said, "Ah, Data, time to get to work. I've been preparing some preliminary calculations based on the early results of the shuttle expedition. I believe part of our solution is a pulsed proton stream."

The Doctor began to pace the room. Data listened carefully. The Doctor seemed to think best while moving. "The pulse must be integrated with the telepathic bursts. We are going to need a very large parabolic antenna with the capacity to handle both functions."

Gwen said, "Maybe we could adapt the main deflector dish. It can handle a lot of power, but it'll take work outside the ship."

The Doctor stopped and looked thoughtful. "Well, we shall see." He took four long, brisk, strides to the central work station, flipped his coattails up, seated himself, and began working.

Data took his station and Gwen hurried to hers. They both knew the Doctor's tendency to loud-voiced impatience if they weren't prepared for any incoming information he sent to their stations. He said, "Ah, they appear to have been very busy in engineering. I have all I need to complete the pulse timing, content, and power requirements." The Doctor began to work rapidly. Data and Gwen 'bent' to their tasks. All were aware time was running out.

The Doctor left the bridge and headed for Ten Forward. When he arrived, he found Guinan waiting for him. They walked to the windows and stood looking out. Neither spoke. The Doctor and Guinan turned toward the door. A short time later the Doctor arrived from sickbay. He crossed to them and all three turned toward the dissolution area, now visible to the naked eye.

Guinan took one of each Doctor's hands in hers as they faced the danger that threatened their universes. A few moments passed then Guinan released the Doctors' hands. The tall Doctor turned and left.

The Doctor reached out and took Guinan's hand again. He raised it to his lips, gently kissed her fingertips, then released it. He turned and left Ten Forward.

Guinan gazed out at the stars. No word had been spoken.

The Doctor walked into sickbay. Deanna and Beverly were waiting for him. He said, "We now know the content of the original message. Let's see if engineering has any information on the frequency."

He seated himself at Beverly's desk and began calling up the information engineering had put into the system. Quite soon thereafter he stopped working, looked up at them, smiled and said, "It seems the close call the shuttle had has been a stroke of good fortune, ladies. An analysis of the molecular structure of the partially dissolved antenna has given us critical information. Here are the names of the three people who will join me in donning our 'helms of thought'."

Beverly Crusher looked over the Doctor's shoulder and said, "Deanna, it's you, Lt. Selar and, of all people, Lt. Barclay."

The Doctor smiled. "Vulcan logic, Betazoid empathy, a human engineer with a vivid imagination, and I shall be the power coordinating our efforts."

"Doctor," Deanna had felt something, almost amusement, coming from him. "you said you know the original message. What was it?"

The Doctor smiled. "Would you believe, "I'm going to eat you up."? Now, all we have to do is convince it that it's full." Deanna and Beverly began to laugh. He stood and put an arm around each of their shoulders. "Let's go to Ten Forward. I'm in the mood for a chocolate sundae. After all, if I'm going to tell it it's full, I need to be convincing." He guided the two giggling women toward the door.

The Doctor looked up from the central engineering console as Geordi rounded the corner. "We've got all the pieces, Geordi. It's time to put this puzzle together."

Geordi looked at the information display. "Doctor, we can do all this, but I'm not sure we can do it in time. The exterior modifications are going to take several hours and our calculations indicate we need to modify about fifty photon torpedoes. I've got enough people for both jobs, but it's going to be close. There aren't going to be enough of us left to construct the telepathic feedback modulator."

The Doctor smiled. "I've an idea about that. Why don't you get your people started on these other tasks and then I'll show you what I have in mind?"

Geordi tapped his communicator and said, "Engineering senior staff members, report to the central console."

Lt. Barclay was looking for his commander. He'd been instructed to eat a good meal and report to sickbay. He wanted to report on the progress they'd made on the dish and torpedo modifications. He entered the central console area and nearly tripped over the mass of wires strung across the floor. He followed the wires back to the open door of the Doctor's TARDIS and called out, "Commander?".

"In here, Reg." Barclay stepped through the door. He stopped and stared about in open-mouthed wonder. Geordi grinned up at him. "Yeah, it hit me that way too." Lt. Barclay looked down at his commander seated cross-legged on the floor. He had a lap full of wires and a splicer in his hands. A short distance away, the Doctor's legs were sticking out from under some kind of console in the center of the room. "The Doctor's promised me a tour, but he won't tell me how it's done. What's up, Reg?" Lt. Barclay gave his report on the progress made and his message from sickbay. Geordi said, "We're going to make it, Reg. The Doctor and I have about finished wiring up his TARDIS to the Enterprise systems."

The Doctor leaned his head out from underneath the console and said, "As soon as we finish connecting her telepathic circuits into the system, I'll tell the TARDIS what we need and she'll do the rest."

Lt. Barclay said, "Uh, yes, well, I'd better go find myself some dinner. They're expecting me in sickbay."

Geordi grinned. "Good luck, Reg. It sounds like everything is going to be ready in time. Thanks, you've done a good job."

Lt. Barclay looked around once more. "Thank you, Sir. I'd better get going." He turned and left the TARDIS, his curiosity and imagination working in overdrive.

Beverly adjusted Deanna's helmet, then checked all four monitor units. The Doctor's voice rose from the biobed where his long form reclined. "All right people, we're ready. As soon as we get the word, we'll begin. Lt. Selar, you must be fully convinced of the illogicality of phenomena being hungry. Deanna, you must feel replete, sated, even overstuffed, if you will. Reg, you must imagine all the physical properties of the phenomena ceasing to exist. I will take your contributions and meld them in to one, balanced, tri-part, thought. I will use Lt. Selar's power and add my own to project that thought. Now, this is the hard part, we must be patient until our efforts are called for. Doctor, monitor the others closely, but I suggest you ignore the readings on this bed. They will be somewhat unusual. I assure you, they will not indicate I am in danger."

Beverly Crusher wondered how much stranger the readings could get. The monitor rising above the Doctor's head was already showing the most unusual readings she had ever seen. She willed herself to relax and prepared for the difficult wait ahead.

Data looked up from ops at the small Doctor who had just laid a hand on his shoulder. "Yes, Doctor?"

"Data, I want you to integrate these calculations into your preparations."

Data looked at the small piece of paper the Doctor was holding out, then said, "But, Doctor these calculations will create--"

The Doctor silenced him with a gentle squeeze of his shoulder. "Yes, Data, I know."

"Sir, they are based on theory beyond the current level of human understanding."

The Doctor smiled gently. "I know, Data. This is my gift to Guinan. After this is over, you must erase all record of this from the Enterprise computer, leaving no trace of what has been done. I remember the promise I extracted from you and I know you are capable of keeping it." With those words the Doctor placed the small page in his pocket and walked away.

Data turned to his station and began implementing the Doctor's request, setting safeguards to keep the dangerous information from reaching any of the others currently working on the project.

The Doctor had accepted Geordi's offer of a communicator, even though he had assured him he would not need it. Geordi told him to consider it a souvenir and had been pleased when the smiling Doctor had attached it to his coat, just beneath the stalk of celery he always wore on his lapel.

Geordi glanced at the TARDIS' open door and tapped his communicator. "We're ready out here, Doctor." He smiled as the Doctor replied through his communicator, "I'm ready, Geordi." Geordi said, "Bridge, Engineering standing by."

Lt. Worf looked around the bridge. The Doctor in the brightly colored coat was at the science station. He was at the bridge engineering station and the small Doctor was at his customary station at tactical and weapons. Worf walked over to him and said, "Doctor, the photon bursts must be very precise. You have not operated this system before. Would it not be wise if I were to launch them?"

The Doctor looked up at him and smiled. "Mr. Worf, I will be controlling all three parts of our endeavor from this station. You are needed to monitor the engineering station in case some fault develops. As to the aiming of the photon torpedoes, I've already told you, I never miss."

Worf looked hard at the Doctor, who had turned back to the tactical display. He returned to the engineering station and prepared himself to do his appointed duty to the best of his ability. It was probably just as well he missed the fond smile the Doctor wore as he watched him cross the bridge. From his station at ops, Data said, "Captain, all stations report ready for countdown."

Captain Picard adjusted his position in the command chair and gave a small characteristic tug to his tunic. He looked at his first officer and Riker held up a pair of crossed fingers. He called out, "All stations on my mark. Five. Four. Three. Two. One... " Thus began nineteen and a half of the tensest minutes anyone on the Enterprise had ever experienced.

They completed the task with two and a half minutes to spare.

The mood in Ten Forward was absolutely festive. Captain Picard thought to himself that every station on the Enterprise must be manned by its most junior staff, and a skeleton crew at that. The seventh Doctor walked over to him and said, "Captain, we have successfully ended the mergence of our two universes. There is no way to bring back the lost lives or the solar systems that were absorbed; however, we have opened the isolation cubicle in sickbay and the Parker's still have three healthy children. Both of our universes will always have a large empty area to remind us of the danger of tampering with reality. The loss of life in my universe will have been much greater. I'm afraid a massive Sontaran fleet is no longer in existence. The Rutans and Sontarans will be back to near equal strength and their interminable war will go on."

"Doctor, without your assistance, we would have never succeeded. Thank you."

The Doctor tapped his chin with his umbrella handle. "Captain, there is now a doorway, a tunnel if you will, between our universes. It is completely stable and poses no threat to either."

"Doctor, if this 'doorway' is a navigational hazard... "

"Oh no, Captain. It is really quite small and, unless its coordinates are known, almost impossible to enter."

"Just how large is this "quite small" hole, Doctor?"

The Doctor smiled at the captain and with what could only be called a twinkle in his eye said, "Oh, just about the size of my TARDIS." The captain found himself laughing as the Doctor tipped his hat and walked away.

Geordi watched the Doctor leave Ten Forward and said with a sigh, "You know, Commander, I'm really going to miss him. That's one guy I'll never forget."

"Geordi," He turned to see who had spoken. The small Doctor stood at his side. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his hand to display a communicator laying on his open palm. "I shall never forget you either."

Geordi watched the Doctor walk away, then turned to see Riker grinning at him. "Geordi, let me buy you a drink. You look like you could use one."

Geordi nodded and said, "Yeah."

Data watched as the Doctor left him and walked towards Gwen. He carefully placed his memories of the Doctor in the same storage area where he kept those of Tasha Yar and her sister Isharra. As he did, he saw the seventh persona of the Doctor approaching. "Doctor." The Doctor smiled at him and held out his hand. In his palm lay a tiny circuit. "Open your arm, Data."

Data opened the panel in his left forearm and watched as the Doctor quickly connected the tiny device to his neural microprocessors. As he reclosed his arm, he gave the Doctor a questioning look. "It is a one way communicator tuned to my specific telepathic wavelength. To activate it, you merely think 'Doctor' and reach out toward this region of space. I trust you to call only if you think I'm desperately needed. You and I share something none of these others will ever know. We have lives that stretch down the long years toward eternity. I promise I shall come when you call. No matter how many of those years have passed."

The Doctor walked away and Data looked down at his arm, knowing he now had one friend he would never lose to the passage of time.

The Doctor said, "I seldom say good-bye, but I could not leave without bidding you ladies 'Adieu'." He smiled at Deanna and Beverly.

They both returned his smile, said, "Good-bye, Doctor." and reached out a hand. Both were surprised when he took one in each of his and kissed one then the other. He then turned and walked away. Beverly sighed and said, "Absolutely perfect."

Deanna nodded and said, "Absolutely." They looked at each other and smiled.

The Doctor walked over to where Gwen was sitting alone in a corner. He sat down and smiled at her. She started to speak, but he stopped her with a touch. He gazed into her eyes for a moment, then reached out and touched her hair. He then gently tapped the end of her nose with one finger, stood, and quickly walked away.

Gwen watched him leaving, then stood and started after him. As soon as she got past the doors to Ten Forward, she began to run. The turbolift ride seemed to take forever. She ran into Data's quarters yelling, "Doctor! Doctor, wait!" She stopped, the sound of the departing TARDIS filling her ears. She collapsed on the couch and began to cry. Gwen sensed someone near her and sat up, frantically wiping her eyes and stifling her sniffles. As she did, the small Doctor sat down beside her. He took her hand and gave her a gentle smile.

"I knew he was going to leave. Had to leave. I tricked him. He was wonderful and I tricked him. I even took a sample of his blood."

The Doctor said, "Ah, the chipped glass." As Gwen began to cry again, he brushed a tear from her cheek and pulled her toward him. He laid her head on his shoulder and gently stroked her hair.

She sobbed out, "I tricked him and now I'll never see him again."

The Doctor continued to stroke her hair and said, "Ah, but my Fair Lady Guinevere, you already have. You already have."

Gwen pulled back and looked at him, suddenly realizing what he meant. He took both her hands and said, "Gwen, being tricked by you is one of my most cherished memories. To me, this all happened over fifty years ago, but I too remember it as if it were yesterday." He released one of her hands and reached out and touched her hair. He laid her other hand in her lap, stood and looked down at her for a few seconds. He smiled his gentle smile once more, then turned, walked across Data's quarters and out the door.

Worf was standing in the command area when the Doctor came on the bridge. He had been left in command while the others had gone to celebrate. He didn't mind. The celebration going on in Ten Forward vas not his idea of fun.

He watched the Doctor come into the command area and stop in front of him. He said, "Doctor."

The small man looked up at him and said, "Mr. Worf, we have met the enemy and he is ours."

Worf's expression was the one his crewmates had learned was one of pleasure. "Yes, Doctor. He is ours."

The Doctor suddenly smiled and said, "Don't tell the others, but this adventure has been my idea of fun." With that, he turned and walked away.

Worf watched as he crossed the bridge and entered his TARDIS. As the sound of the departing TARDIS filled the bridge, he said, "Yes, Doctor, it has been 'fun'."

# The Testing of the Knight

The Doctor halted the TARDIS in space. It had been a long time since he had been this far out. He turned on the viewer and gazed out at the few stars scattered across the screen. The view suited him. He was traveling alone and the emptiness suited his lonely mood.

He was about to set the coordinates for Earth when a light began to flash on the console. Someone in this lonely region was beaming a message into space. Curious, the Doctor began to search for the frequency.

"Please help us. Someone, please help us." It was a woman's voice. She sounded desperate. "We're dying. Our race is dying. We must have aid. Someone, please, if you hear me, please help us."

The Doctor began to search for the source of the call. It came from the third planet of a star a thousand light years from it's nearest neighbor. The Doctor wondered how a people, so far from any other, had ever come to know there were travelers in space who might hear them. As he set the coordinates for the planet, he said, "Well, I shall soon find out."

The TARDIS materialized on a rocky slope above a green valley. The Doctor switched on the viewer. There was a city of about ten thousand in the valley below. It was well over a kilometer away, but seemed to be the source of the signal. The Doctor said, "Now, that's a bit of a miss." He thought about moving the TARDIS, but decided his waistline could use the walk.

Before he left the TARDIS, he made a very careful check of his instruments. His systems told him he could breathe the air, but he almost changed his mind about walking when he saw the outside temperature was nearly thirty-eight degrees. There was some unusual background radiation, but the TARDIS told him it would have no effect on him.

He removed his coat and tie and unbuttoned his vest. The coat would be far too warm and loosening his vest would help air circulate around his body. He transferred a few small items to his vest and pants pockets, regretting the necessity of leaving behind all those useful items stored in his capacious coat pockets. He was about to return the spare TARDIS key to one of those pockets when he paused, turned it over in his fingers, dropped its chain over his head, unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, and tucked it inside. He picked up the small square box of the signal tracker, glanced once more at the scanner's view of the small city dozing in the mid-day heat, and opened the doors.

He stepped out on the dry rocky hill where he had landed and looked down on the city. He could see why the survivors of whatever disaster had struck this planet had chosen this place. It lay between two rivers in a deep valley. The entire valley was under cultivation with a sophisticated irrigation system providing water to all the fields. Whatever the problem that was destroying these people, he was sure it wasn't starvation. He turned his eyes to the tracker and started down the hill toward the center of the city.

The breeze blowing up the valley into his face kept the kilometer walk from being too unpleasant. The humidity was fairly low so he hadn't been uncomfortable. He was beginning to wish he'd worn a hat. The sun beating down on his head was reminding him even Time Lords aren't immune to sunburn.

He walked through the outskirts of the city. All around him were what appeared to be warehouses and industrial areas. There was no pollution. All power seemed to be generated by solar collection, windmills and hydro electric means. As he began to pass into a residential area, he admired the low open houses with fruit trees planted round them. The planners of this refuge had done an excellent job. These people, he felt, deserved to survive.

He passed into an area of small shops. There was some type of open market at the end of the block. It was there he saw his first native. She was bent over with her back to him. She wore a loose-fitting dress of pastel blue with a deeper blue sash at the waist and a wide-brimmed hat of the same tint. He watched her for a moment as she transferred some type of fruit from a basket at her feet to a sloping shelf at her side. She was a fair-skinned humanoid of middle age. She looked healthy and fit. The Doctor wondered, once again, what could be the problem that had prompted the desperate plea that had brought him.

The woman suddenly noticed him. Before he could speak to her, her eyes widened, her hand flew to her mouth, and she turned and ran. So great was her haste, she knocked over a stack of baskets, scattering fruit across the floor of the neat little market. He shook his head in wonder at her response, then turned back to his tracker and set off to find the source of the deep space signal.

He began to notice people watching from doorways and windows. He started to feel odd. His subconscious was trying to tell him something. He stopped and looked around. People were beginning to come out into the street. He looked behind him and saw it was full of people. Someone touched his back. He turned to face an elderly woman. He smiled and said, "Hello, I'm the Doctor. I've come in response..." Suddenly he was being grabbed at from all sides. He began to try to get clear of the mob that had formed around him. The quiet street filled with the sound of hysteria. As he went down beneath the hands of the grasping, shoving, mob, his subconscious finally broke through with its message. He had seen only women.

The Doctor awoke in a soft bed. As he started to sit up, he realized two things. He hurt all over and beneath the thin covers he was totally naked. He lay still a moment trying to assemble his memories. He remembered the mob attacking and realized he'd been knocked unconscious. That was obvious from the pain in his head. But where was he, how had he gotten here, and WHERE were his clothes?

A soft cloth smelling of some type of medication was laid across his brow. The hand laying the cloth was very gentle, but the tenderness of the area caused him to gasp and snap his eyes open. He looked into the dark brown eyes of a very young woman. He had startled her and she jumped away from the edge of the bed.

He gingerly raised his head and looked around. The girl had joined five others of approximately the same age about two meters to his left. He lay in a large bed with some type of netting or lace canopy above him. The large room around him spoke of feminine good taste. He realized he'd been carefully 'tucked in' in a woman's bedroom. One of the girls dashed out the door on his right. He heard her calling, "Mother. Mother, he's awake." He reached up and felt for his spare TARDIS key. Relieved it was still around his neck, he settled back to wait for 'Mother'.

The Doctor was getting restless. It had been quite some time since the girl had left the room. He'd tried to talk to the five young women a few steps away, but the only response he'd gotten was a few shy giggles as they had drawn into a tighter huddle and whispered among themselves. He sighed. He would have liked to have gotten up, but he certainly wasn't going to in his present company. Not in his current state of dress. He'd asked for clothes, or a dressing gown, or SOMETHING, but his only answer had been a renewed burst of giggling.

The girl who had left the room reentered followed by a woman a bit more mature in appearance. The woman walked briskly to the bed and said, "Good evening. I'm Telara, hereditary ruler of this planet. You're in my apartments."

"Good evening, madam. I am the Doctor. I would rise to greet you properly, but I seem to be in somewhat of a state of dishabille at the moment."

Telara smiled. "I'm sorry, Doctor. but your own clothing is beyond repair and it will be some time before new garments can be completed."

The Doctor raised himself to his elbows, wincing at the pain in his head. Suddenly several pairs of eager young hands were tucking pillows behind him. He leaned back and said, "Perhaps I could just borrow something for the time being." The statement sent the girls into another fit of giggles.

Telara's smile grew wider. "Doctor, I doubt if anything suitable could be found. You see, you are the only male on this planet."

He sank back into the pillows in shock. He thought to himself, "Oh, Doctor, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"

Telara pointed to a chair. Two of the girls immediately picked it up and carried it to the side of the bed. As she seated herself, she said, "You're very lucky. We didn't know your craft had landed. If Melora hadn't called from the market, you'd have been killed by the mob before my guard reached you. As it was, they got there just in time to keep you from being, literally, torn apart.

Approximately four hundred years ago an alien race attacked us. We had an advanced technological society and a population in the billions. We were on the brink of being able to reach another star system. We've never learned who our attackers were or why they attacked us, but we inflicted heavy casualties on them and they left. However; as a last act they bombarded our planet with small missiles. At first we were surprised they would be willing to lose so many ships to launch something that seemed to do so little damage. We were wrong. The missiles released a strange type of radiation. Our scientists told us it was not dangerous. They were wrong. In a few years, as the radiation saturated our planet, it began to become apparent that it was having a disastrous effect. We would have realized it sooner, but we were busy rebuilding our civilization.

There were fewer and fewer male children being born. The radiation was destroying the Y chromosome. We began a sperm bank to preserve life here, but we were already too late. Our population began to shrink. The girls in this room are the last children born to our species. They are called The Six."

The Doctor thought over what he had been told for a moment. "Telara, I don't know if I can help you. Finding another species that would be cross-fertile with yours may be impossible. Have you attempted cloning or parthenogenesis?"

Telara laughed and replied, "Yes, Doctor. They don't work. For some reason, we believe due to the radiation, all our attempts at cloning and ovid stimulation produced nonviable results. However; the radiation had one other effect on us. One I'm sure its creators had not anticipated. Forty years ago a ship crashed on our planet. We never learned what brought it to this world, but that's when we began sending our call for help into space. We could only hope other travelers would hear us. The crash site was half way across the continent. By the time we reached it, the pilot was beyond our help. He died, but we preserved his tissue for study. The Y chromosomes he carried had already begun to deteriorate in the two days he had been on our planet. We were desperate, Doctor. A few volunteers were artificially inseminated. Those women bore healthy female children. The women of this planet are now inter-species fertile. We can bear children by a male of any humanoid species. You, Doctor, are going to father a new generation on Mecara. These six and I are to be your wives. All other women will be artificially inseminated. And, Doctor, it has already begun."

The Doctor stared at her in shock, realizing what had been done to him and taken from him while he was unconscious. "This is an outrage! You have done this without my consent!"

Telara sighed. "I'm sorry, but you have no choice and neither do we. Now, Doctor, I shall introduce you to your other brides to be. Come here girls." The young women ranged themselves along the sides of the bed. "This is Mila," she indicated the dark-eyed girl the Doctor had first seen on opening his eyes; "Jira," a fair-haired girl with green eyes; "Tara," a tall slender brunette; "Cara," a freckled redhead; "Cirila," a full-figured diminutive girl with blond curls; "and my daughter, Tenara." the girl with long light brown hair who had run from the room calling "Mother". "I shall leave you to get acquainted with The Six. I must review the lists of applicants to bear your children."

As she rose to leave, the Doctor said, "Madam, you cannot force me to do this."

She turned back to him and said, "Oh, but Doctor, we can. We have drugs to dull your consciousness while leaving your body fully responsive. Your only choice is whether to cooperate consciously or not." With those words, she left the room.

The Doctor looked at the young women surrounding him, grasped his TARDIS key and thought, "How am I going to get out of this?"

A night had passed. When all the 'brides' had finally left the room, the Doctor had gotten up. He'd pulled the nearly sheer sheet off the bed and wrapped it round himself. It made a very inadequate covering, but was the only piece he could free. The light spread was attached to the bed frame by clamps which would have required some type of tool to open. He could find nothing that would serve in the room. The pieces of equipment and the TARDIS key that had been in his pockets had probably disappeared when he was mobbed.

He'd made a thorough search of the room and the small lavatory. There were two other locked doors in the room besides the one the women had used when leaving. He'd looked through the drawers in the vanity and the bureau hoping to find something to aid in his escape. He'd found nothing but feminine undergarments. He assumed one of the locked doors was a closet, but even if he'd gotten it open he doubted he could create an adequate disguise. All the women had been slender and only one had been above average height. Perhaps one of his earlier personas could have fit into something belonging to one of them, but he definitely could not.

He'd checked the main door. It was locked and he presumed guarded. He had heard quiet women's voices on the other side. He could have broken it down, but would have probably had to injure or even kill some of the guards while they were trying not to hurt him. These women were not evil, just desperate. He would not harm them. He'd also checked the windows. They looked down on a courtyard with a large number of woman guards patrolling in groups of five. Any attempted escape in that direction would also have required violence, but he still needed to find a way out, and quickly. He doubted the High Council would look favorably on his becoming father to a race.

A brisk knock at the door sent him scrambling back to the bed. He had barely gotten under the too-thin cover when Mila, Jira and Tenara entered. Mila was carrying what was obviously a breakfast tray. Jira had what could only be a dressing gown of a deep maroon, satin-like, material and Tenara was carrying his clothes. His clothes! Telara had told him they were destroyed. He began to get angry. Just as he was about to voice, loudly, his opinion of people who lied to him she said, "We used what was left of your clothing as a pattern for these. We have done our best to make them properly. I hope they are correct."

The Doctor choked back his angry accusation and said, "Thank you." He watched as Tenara laid the clothing and the dressing gown on a chair on the other side of the room. As Mila brought the breakfast tray toward the bed, he said, "Would you hand me the dressing gown, please?"

All three girls burst into giggles and Mila said, "Oh, not yet, Doctor. We're going to get a little better acquainted first. We've been reading the old books." Considering the change in the girls since the previous night, the Doctor had a pretty good idea what kind of books they'd been reading.

Tenara and Jira plumped pillows behind him, then sat on the bed at his sides. Mila placed the tray beyond his reach on a stand beside the bed and also sat down. He suddenly realized he was about to be 'spoon-fed'. As Mila raised a spoonful of some type of grain cereal to his lips, Tenara stroked his shoulder then ran her fingertips down his chest. The girls certainly had more in mind than feeding him breakfast. The Doctor wondered again, "How AM I going to get out of this?"

The Doctor took off the dressing gown and began to dress. He had been shown to a bath behind one of the locked doors and had finally yelled, "Get out!" when he realized the girls were planning on bathing him. He had just gotten his pants on and was reaching for his shirt when there was a rap on the door and Telara walked into the room. "Telara, I MUST have some privacy."

"Doctor, this is my room. You were left alone last night. Do not expect it to happen again. Quarters are being prepared for you. I'm sure you will find them more comfortable and you will be given time to be alone. You will also have access to our library and most of this building including the gardens in the courtyard. You will be prevented from leaving here. Yesterday's mob scene would only be repeated if you were to step into the street. You are at present the most valuable commodity on this world."

"Telara, I want to help your people. Let me go to my TARDIS and I can find you someone to replenish your sperm banks."

She laughed. "Doctor, I believe you. But, you see, we need YOU. Your physiology is unique. Your Y chromosomes are not deteriorating. You, Doctor, are going to be the father of the first males born on this planet in three hundred fifty years. Now, I must go. My guards are to receive drugs to inhibit their reproductive drive. It is very strong in my species. Three of my most trusted guards are already under sedation. They tried to break in here last night. Doctor, there are not enough armed guards on this planet to get you to your ship safely. However; a large contingent will soon be arriving to escort you to the Council Hall. It is time for you to be married."

The Doctor was escorted to the front of the Council Hall and pushed down to kneel beside Telara facing some type of alter behind which stood an elderly woman in, what he assumed were, priestly robes. He'd been glad of the armed escort, as the crowd had surged forward at his entrance to the hall. Telara was right. Only the armed determination of the guards had kept him from being mobbed. He shuddered at the hungry look of the women whose hands still reached toward him. He had little hope of survival if they ever got those hands on him. He doubted even a Time Lord could regenerate if torn into small pieces. Even his curiosity wasn't strong enough for him to want to find out.

The priest turned toward Telara and asked, "Telara, as hereditary ruler, do you and the Six who stand behind you accept this male who kneels before me?"

"We do."

The priest came from behind the alter and stood before him. She placed a heavy chain around his neck. From it hung a six pointed star with a smaller star at each point. Each star had a different gemstone at its center. "Then before our people and the powers of the universe, I declare this male yours by law. Protect him and bear his children."

Telara turned to him and said, "Give me your hand." The Doctor was still trying to formulate an objection when she stood and hissed, "Give me your hand, Doctor, or I shall not be able to get you out of here alive."

He reluctantly stood and gave her his hand. As she turned him to face the crowd, he heard her breathe a sigh of relief. The six girls moved into a circle around them, pulling jeweled knives from sheathes at their waists. The crowd began to cheer as they dropped into defensive postures.

They left the hall, his hand in Telara's, surrounded by six girls with drawn knives, surrounded by about thirty guards holding heavy caliber, slug-throwing, weapons. The Doctor could not help but notice the incongruity of the wicked looking weapons with the flower petals drifting through the air.

He thought back over the brief ceremony. It had probably been created specifically for this occasion to prevent riots. As hereditary ruler, Telara had claimed him for her people. She had called it a marriage, but this had been no joining together. He was, by their law, simply and completely owned.

The guard escorted them to a wing of the palace he had not passed on his way to the Council Hall. Two guards opened the iron banded double doors before them and the Doctor and his seven 'wives' entered a very large room. He looked around. To his left were six doors. There were two more about four meters apart in the wall in front of him. To his right were an open pair of glass-paned doors that led to a large terrace with a courtyard visible below. He could see armed guards patrolling the top of the wall around the courtyard. The sound of wild celebration came through the open terrace doors.

Telara dropped his hand, nodded toward the heavy doors to the suite, then those to the terrace. Mila pulled the terrace doors closed. The Doctor turned and watched as Tenara and Jira closed the doors to the suite and dropped a heavy metal bar into a pair of brackets set across their middle. Telara and all six girls dropped into chairs. They all looked exhausted. Telara said, "Sit down, Doctor. We are home safely."

The Doctor took the large comfortable looking chair to her right. "Telara, you may see us as married, but I do not. I refuse to see this as binding and I will find any way I can of leaving here. You cannot keep me caged here forever and I shall never stop trying to escape."

Telara gave him an ironic smile. "Doctor, I had over a hundred guards in that hall with weapons at ready. There were over two hundred more in the plaza outside. But if you had spoken one word of objection in that ceremony, none of us would have gotten out of there alive. It is not I who holds you prisoner, but the eleven thousand women beyond these walls."

The Doctor realized she was telling him the absolute truth, but not for the reasons she had stated. He needed to think of some alternative way to save this species, but he hadn't come up with any ideas. Yet.

He began to have some idea of what life on Mecara would be like for him that day. The woman who had brought his lunch had tried to fondle him and had drawn back a bloody hand when Mila had nicked her with her knife. Telara rushed out to quell an incipient riot among the three hundred women she had mobilized to guard him. They had learned they were not to be on the lists to bear children. The Six had stood over a physician with drawn knives as she had questioned him carefully about some of the unique aspects of his physiology, then rendered him unconscious with an injection. He didn't ask what had been done to him.

He had been shown a small suite of rooms that were to be his. He had a study with a computer terminal, a small drawing room, a lavatory, a bath with a huge sunken tub and a bedroom. He had gazed on the large bed that dominated the bedroom with a large measure of trepidation. It had been with some shock he realized the bars on all the windows could be released, but only from inside the room. The bars were not to keep him in. They were to keep others out.

He could see a great deal of effort had gone toward making the rooms masculine and comfortable. The entire suite and his rooms in particular had that shiny, just finished, look about them. It was obvious every builder on the planet had been working to complete them in the day he'd been there. There was just one thing missing. There were no locks on any of the doors in his suite and, somehow, he just couldn't see any being provided.

There was a knock at the doors of his rooms. This time no one 'just walked in'. The Doctor was inordinately pleased at this small concession to his privacy. He walked to the door and opened it. Shy Cirila looked up at him and said, "Doctor, please join us for dinner."

There was to be no repeat of the incident at lunch. The door guards watched closely as the women bearing trays from the kitchen handed them through the doors to the residents of the suite. There were never more than two girls with their hands full at one time. The other four stood watching with hands on knife hilts. Once the food had all been passed in and the doors once again barred, Telara indicated a chair to him at the head of the table set for eight.

As dinner progressed, the Doctor actually began to enjoy himself. All the women were intelligent and very well educated. They were the cream of their society. Each had a vibrant personality and all had the equivalent of a doctorate in some field. Telara and Tenara were both sociologists. They explained it was a practical field of study for a ruler. Mila was an architect. She had designed the suite. Jira was an anthropologist, Cara a musician, Tara a historian, and little Cirila was her world's most brilliant mathematician. After the guarded passing of the dinner remains through the door, Cara brought out a stringed instrument, somewhat resembling a mandolin, from her room and began to play. The music was, as the food had been, superb.

Telara offered him a glass of excellent wine. She proposed a toast. "To you, Doctor, and the survival of my people." He accepted both the wine, though he seldom consumed alcohol, and the toast, but in his thoughts he added, "and to my being able to think of a way out of this mess SOON!"

Telara held out her hand to him and said, "Come, Doctor, the evening has been long enough. It is time."

The Doctor stood. He was a bit unsteady. In his attempt to prolong the evening, he had allowed his glass to be refilled a few too many times. "Telara, I'm not ready for this. You're just asking too much of me. This is not something I can do casually. I'm sorry. No. I won't do it. I can't do it."

Telara laughed. "Oh, Doctor, you can and you will."

The seven women began pushing him toward his rooms, laughing at his unsteady struggles. He was surprised when they pushed him past the bedroom and into the bath, where they unceremoniously dumped him into the tub. As he struggled to the surface sputtering, he was surrounded by splashes. He found himself being efficiently stripped by the quick hands of seven determined women. His head snapped back and he gasped. "Where," he wondered, "in a world without men, did they learn these things." It was his last coherent thought for quite some time.

The Doctor awoke alone. His head hurt from the unaccustomed alcohol consumption. He also felt... Violated was the only term that seemed to fit. He had been left alone with Telara. She had known exactly what she was doing. When he had begun to fight off her attentions, she had said, "Please, Doctor, don't make us drug you. We like you too much to want to see you become vegetative. The drugs would destroy your mind over a period of time. You'd never recover. Don't force us to use them."

He'd known the real choice he faced. He could free himself, probably killing several women in the process, and let her people die; or surrender himself to her and the needs of her world. He'd made his choice and been most thoroughly and proficiently used.

He pulled on his dressing gown and walked to the windows. He reached up and pushed the drapes open. He was suddenly fighting to free himself from the grasping hands thrust through the bars.

He pulled himself free and crashed into a bureau. Tara ran into his room, grabbed a bronze statue, and began beating on the hands holding onto the bars. The Doctor heard three distinct thuds as the women lost their grips and fell the three stories to the ground. He rushed into the lavatory. As he leaned against the closed door, a series of violent shudders shook him. Tara knocked and said, "Doctor, don't waste your sorrow on them. They had to kill at least five guards to get there."

The Doctor had seen more death than anyone he had ever known. He had killed and nearly been killed more times than he wanted to remember. He had seen people he loved die and held them as their lives ebbed away; but never, in his long life, had he faced anything that left him curled up and strengthless on the floor. He was coming to understand just how much of himself he would have to give to save this race. He would become a resource, an object, his body enslaved to the survival instinct of a species. It would take all the control he had to allow it, and never, in the long years ahead, could he lose that control.

He never opened the curtains in his room again.

The women watched him pass through the stages of his captivity.

At first he would pace the suite like a restless, caged, wild animal, then he would be witty, charming, almost gallant. He taught them songs, poetry, did magic tricks. He clowned and made them laugh. Then he buried himself in work.

He completely redesigned the computer system, then used it to help plan the rebuilding of their civilization. He tapped their skills and knowledge. He gave them work. He realized his presence kept them captive too. And he taught them...

When the work was done the tantrums began. No breakable item in the suite was safe. He never hit any of them when he threw something, but he never missed anything he aimed at. He was short tempered, impatient, and, whenever he began to shout, they all ran for cover. Not in fear for their safety, but for their hearing.

They were beginning to realize how dangerous a being they had tried to cage and starting to understand the choice of whether or not he would save them had always been his. He was, the single most deadly thing, on their planet and only he had the power to protect them from himself.

Telara decided to offer him the freedom of the palace. He'd barely begun to explore when a huge guard shoved him face first into a corner, twisting one of his arms up behind his back and shoving her other hand into his pants. Two other guards beat her into unconsciousness and dragged her off him, but the hungry look they gave him as they dragged their comrade away sent him back to the suite. He hadn't even struggled. He knew his presence on Mecara had brought violence to it. He couldn't help being the cause of it, but he would never take part in it.

The time came when the physician refused to sedate him. As strong as he was and as carefully as the drug had been designed for use on him, she knew the daily injections endangered him. She taught the six the technique of collecting his semen. His calm acceptance of what was being done to him brought tears to the eyes of those performing the procedure. That night in her room, the physician cried herself to sleep.

At night he could suddenly become the aggressor. Strong, demanding, almost terrifying, in the sudden unleashing of his physical power.

One night they were awakened by a scream. They rushed to his room. He was kneeling on the floor at the side of the bed, head down, crushing the bed clothes in white knuckled fists, saying over and over, "I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop."

Cirila looked up at them and shook her head. She was stroking his hair murmuring, "Shh...It's all right. It's all right." It was the only time they ever saw him truly afraid. The only thing he feared was himself.

He began to leave the suite again, exploring the palace.

One day he walked across the Council Hall and the doors were standing open. He heard a commotion and turned to see a group of women running toward him through the open doors. The guards drove most of them away with blows of their gun butts, but one beautiful woman would not let go of him. They hit her again and again. The Doctor was yelling, "Don't kill her! Don't kill her!" Even after the guard put a bullet through her head, they had to prise her fingers loose from him.

The Doctor ran stumbling and sickened, covered in brains and blood, back to the suite. It took all seven of the women to hold him down while the physician checked to be certain the dead woman hadn't damaged him. He was shouting at them, "Get away from me! Don't touch me! Don't touch me! It's dangerous! You don't know what you're doing! Get away from me!" They trusted him not to hurt them and, somehow, he kept control.

He never left the suite again.

Winter brought cooler, cloudy, days. He would walk down into the courtyard and restlessly pace its confines. One day a woman climbed over the wall and ran toward him. The guards yelled at her to stop and fired a warning shot, but she kept on running. They shot her and she fell dead at his feet.

He never went down in the courtyard or out on the terrace again.

They were worried about the Doctor. He had become quiet, almost submissive. He never yelled, rarely even spoke. He'd begun to stand long hours at the closed terrace doors, gazing out at the hills where they knew his strange ship was parked. He just stood and stared into the distance, turning the strange piece of metal he wore round his neck over and over in his hand.

One evening they had told him it had been confirmed all of them were in various stages of pregnancy. Tears had come to his eyes. He nodded and left the room. Telara had followed him to his darkened room. He was lying on his back on the bed holding the oddly shaped pendent in both hands.

Telara decided she must do something. She had come to love this man and it was breaking her heart to watch him. The more he accepted his imprisonment, the more she hated it. One night, as she lay next to his cool body she made the decision. She began to cry, realizing how empty her life would be without him. He was awake of course. He seemed to need very little sleep. He asked her what was wrong and, when she mutely shook her head, he pulled her to him and gently held her until she cried herself to sleep.

Telara stood on the terrace and looked down at the courtyard. Spring had come to the valley. It was more than two seasons since the Doctor had come among them and given himself to them to save her people. She called the others together and they began to devise a way to set him free.

Their world had been saved by this man. There would be a new generation. The physicians had told her that, not only would there be male children, all the children would carry the Doctor's immunity to the radiation. It was the only part of the Doctor's unique physiology they would inherit. Some of them would inherit his general physical attributes, but in all other ways they would be mecaran.

Telara called her personal guard. She trusted these women more than any others outside the suite, but she didn't tell them what she planned. She merely gave them their orders and sent them out into the night.

The next morning Telara and the Six once more coaxed the Doctor into his bath with them. They bathed him gently and cradled him among them, then led him from the bath and dressed him. He said nothing as they led him unresisting to the terrace doors. He began to pull away as they started to lead him out onto the terrace. Suddenly he saw what they were leading him toward. There, in the courtyard below, stood the familiar blue shape of his TARDIS.

He spun to face them, a look of complete incredulity on his face. Telara smiled at him. "Yes, Doctor, it is the only thing in the hills that could possibly be your ship. Doctor, we love you and we set you free."

He turned and ran down the steps and across the courtyard. He gave a whoop of joy as he ran, making the seven women watching him laugh. He took the strange object from his neck and inserted it in the door. Telara realized it was the key to the strange ship. Just before he opened the doors, he turned and looked up at them. Then he was gone.

The courtyard was filled with a strange sound and the light on the blue box-like ship began to flash. Suddenly the courtyard was empty.

Telara turned to the others and found they had tears in their eyes to match the ones in her own. She said, "Come on, I'll need your help. I believe we have a very stormy council session ahead of us." As they left the suite, she took one more look around and whispered, "Come back someday, Doctor. Come back and see how your children have grown."

The Doctor set the coordinates for the Eye of Orion. He walked over and rubbed the fabric of his multi-colored coat between his fingers. He took his coat down and put it on. He spent the journey wandering through the corridors of the TARDIS. When the TARDIS landed, he opened the doors and slowly walked out into the cool, ion-rich, day. He looked out across the beautiful, peaceful, landscape and breathed deeply. He sat down on a vine covered wall and let the peace sink into him.

And slowly he began to heal.

The Cardinal and the councilor turned from the matrix. They sent the guard at the door of the chamber to the Lord President with the message, "It is done." They had looked into the future and they knew.

One day the universe would need the Doctor's children.

# Knight, Squire and Herald

## Squire and Herald

### Squire Takes Knight

He'd walked out of the forest and into a mess. He still didn't know where the time distortion had come from; but from the cheerful discussion the natives were having, of the variety of ways he could be dismembered in an approved fashion, he deduced it had caused the TARDIS to land in a sacred grove. There was something wrong with the grove and they had decided he was responsible.

A woman's voice came from behind him. "Have you got transport out of here? If we free you, we're going to have very little time to get off this planet."

He tried to twist around to see who 'we' were, but was tied to the tree much too securely. "Yes, now get me out of this. They seem to have found a particularly nasty fate for me they can all agree upon."

"All right, Wren will cut you loose. I'm going to see if I can distract them. I'll catch up. You'll need me to find a way past the guards on the grove."

He wondered what had happened to the person who was supposed to free him. The elders of the tribe were headed towards him and they didn't look as if they were planning on inviting him to tea.

Suddenly there was a commotion at the other end of the compound. A woman screamed and every head turned that direction. His bonds were cut. He stood for just an instant wondering about the scream. A hand yanked on his coat and a young male voice said, "Come on, you idiot. That's Mom. Don't you know a distraction when you hear one."

He hurried around the tree and followed the fast and silent young man into the dense forest. An alarm was raised and the forest erupted with the sound of running, yelling, people. A hand grabbed his coattail and pulled him down and back into a hollow in a group of thorn bushes. He learned they were thorn bushes the hard way.

He looked at the young human sitting next to him. He was about twenty-one or two, blonde, and, what Peri might have termed, 'movie star handsome'. He moved as if the heavy pack he was wearing was part of his body. The young man turned to look at him. The pale blue eyes looked straight into his and he said, "Mom says she thinks you're worth it. I hope she's right. She usually is. Let's move out."

For the next forty minutes they dodged pursuit, circling ever closer to the sacred grove and the safety of the TARDIS. They had not seen 'Mom' yet. They had reached the edge of the grove when a scream rang out behind them. He found himself face down on the ground as a flight of javelins passed over his head. Wren had tackled him! As he scrambled to his feet, Wren said, "Come on. Mom's on the run. Lead us to that ship of yours, fast." As he led the way to the TARDIS at a run, the easily running young man beside him said, "When you hear Mother scream, duck. She doesn't waste time screaming when she's in trouble."

As he put his key in the lock, he heard pounding steps behind him. He rushed in and over to the door mechanism. A woman ran in with a spear wielding man right behind her. Wren grabbed the spear and yanked, throwing its wielder off balance. His mother(?) turned and butted her pursuer in the stomach with her head. Wren used the spear to spin him around and booted him out the door. He slapped the door mechanism. Time lapsed? About five seconds. Who WERE these people?!

He looked at the two people sitting relaxed on the floor of the TARDIS console room. The young man had gotten his good looks from his mother. She was tan and fit (She'd been running in a twenty kilo pack.), in her early forties, and her light blue eyes were alive with curiosity. She said, "Now, who are you? What are you? And why have you done something as idiotic as land in a sacred grove of the Telani tribe. This place is off-limits. I'm authorized first contact anthropologist and you're NOT supposed to be here."

"I'm the Doctor and I'm here because I was forced down here. Now, WHY don't you tell me where you want to be taken before your friends out there get ambitious?"

To his surprise, she laughed. "Doctor, from the moment you shut the doors, we were safe. It wouldn't be logical for anything like what's in here to be in danger from primitives. Now WHAT are you? I'd been communicating in a pidgin of a few words and sign language until they brought you out of the grove. Then, all of a sudden, I could understand every word they said. I want some answers, Doctor."

The Doctor was very surprised. His ability to speak to, and understand, the people he met was a Time Lord gift he shared with his traveling companions. How had she come to share it? "I'm a Time Lord. You seem to have shared one of my powers. Now, I have a question. Who are you, and WHERE do you want to go?"

"Guinevere Liberty Connell and that's my son Warren. The answer to the other half of your question is, with you. I'd have thought you'd have figured that out."

"With me? With me?! What makes you think I want you with me?"

"Doctor, I've been asking questions and looking for answers my whole life. I just gave up that life. I broke the cardinal rule of a first contact anthropologist. I interfered. I'll never work in my field again. I did it because you look like you have more answers than anyone I've ever met. Now, where can I clean up? Through those doors, obviously."

She stood and walked across the console room and through the interior doors. The Doctor stared after her as she walked deeper into his TARDIS.

He heard the young man laughing and turned to find him standing on the opposite side of the console. He said, "You impressed her. It's the first time I've ever heard her tell anyone her name was Guinevere. She goes by G. Liberty or, usually, just Liberty. She's right, Doctor. She gave up everything to save you. I wouldn't have done it; but then, I'm a coward."

"I doubt that."

"Oh, I am, Doctor. But, you see, I also know the safest place in the galaxy is with my mother. Since she told you her first name, I'll tell you mine. It's Galahad. Unlike Mom, I use mine sometimes. It can come in handy, but most of the time I go by Wren."

The Doctor looked at the smiling young man holding his hand out. He shook his hand and said, "Look, something pulled me off course. Anything that can do that is probably going to be very nasty. Now, why don't you tell me where and when you're from, and I'll take you there."

"When? Travel with you might be more interesting than I thought."

The Doctor moved around the TARDIS console. He wasn't sure he actually COULD take these two anywhere. Someone had created a time-field uniting this place with somewhere and somewhen else. The field might be too strong for the TARDIS to break free. The time-field was having a very strange effect. It seemed to be changing the flora. Almost as if this place and time was becoming another place and time.

He had never seen anything like it before. It was throwing the whole area out of sync with the rest of the universe. If it dropped completely out, it could rip a hole in the space-time continuum, and the TARDIS was sitting at the point where the rip would occur.

He realized Wren was watching him closely. He had been nearly at his elbow the entire time he'd been working. He was surprised the young man had neither distracted him nor gotten in the way. He said, "That's it. There's nothing more I can find out from here."

Liberty came through the doors toweling her short red hair. She seemed to have found both the bath and the wardrobe. She was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and safari shirt and jacket. The hand without the towel was tucking a multitude of small items into her pockets. The Doctor wondered if she had more in her pockets than he had in his.

"Mom, he asked me where and WHEN we were from."

"When? She looked at the Doctor. "North America, 58th latitude, 2142. Now the decision is obviously yours. I think you're going to find out who dropped you in that grove. We can help."

"If you're going with me, you've got to do what I tell you. Don't argue about everything."

She stuck out her hand. "I already told you I thought you knew more than I did." As the Doctor shook her hand, he felt the heavy calluses on it. They distracted him enough he didn't realize she hadn't actually told him she wouldn't argue with him. Later, he would remember.

The Doctor said, "All right. I'm going to try to track the distortion. Read me the numbers off the screen to your immediate left."

"Nine, six, two, four, one, one, three...repeats."

"Aha, I've got it. Let's see where it's coming from. I suggest you find someplace to hold on. This ride will be very bumpy. One is not really supposed to fly up the middle of a time distortion to locate its source, but I have found it's the quickest way."

Wren grinned at him and said, "Doctor, is there a place I can hang on in a reclining position?"

The Doctor raised his hands from the console. He pointed to the interior door. "Through there. Find a HAMMOCK!"

Wren quickly found the nearest bedroom and, as the TARDIS lurched toward its destination, he drifted off to sleep. He felt very safe.

"You're right. It's not the same planet. The flora is deformed in a similar... Doctor, there's someone out there."

"Let's see who it is." He tuned the scanner to view a young woman picking berries. "Well, at least we're not in a sacred grove. I can't get any information due to the distortion. Shall we go find out where we are?"

"Wait a minute. Will Wren be able to talk to her?"

"Well, yes, I suppose."

"Good. Wren?"

"Yes, Mom?" The Doctor had not heard him come through the doors. He wondered how Liberty had known her son was there. Perhaps it was something that operated on an instinctive level like Leela's... Leela. He hadn't thought of her in a long time.

Wren was looking at the screen. He said, "Got to be easier than when they don't understand you. Open the doors."

The Doctor realized he'd missed something. "Now, wait a minute. Just what is it you're planning?"

"Let him go, Doctor. Wren can find out more from a pretty girl in five minutes than you or I ever could." The Doctor gave her a disgusted look, but reached out and opened the doors. He left them open. It was a very pretty day. He walked over to the scanner by Liberty and watched Wren.

He had plucked a single wildflower. He presented it to the girl with a flourish and a bow. She watched him, fascinated. Liberty gave a low chuckle. "That's my boy. Ten years of pounding ethics into him, and he'd still be the greatest grifter in the galaxy. Well, we know this is Earth. That was a daisy."

"All right. Don't move. I mean turn around and put your hands up, then don't move." They turned around to see a young man of about eighteen. He looked very nervous. Since he was holding a very large weapon, this was not good. Both the Doctor and Liberty raised their hands slowly and smiled.

It didn't seem to help. If anything; the young soldier, his clothing made it obvious that's what he was, became more nervous. He said, "All right. Now, who are you? What is this thing," he swung the gun barrel erratically around the TARDIS, "and what are you doing in a high security area?"

The Doctor resisted the urge to duck each time the gun barrel swung his way. "I'm the Doctor, this is Liberty, and we didn't know we were in a security area."

Both the Doctor and Liberty saw Wren step into the doorway then quickly slip back out. The young soldier said, "I'm taking you to my sergeant." Considering the way the nervous young man was motioning him toward the door with the gun barrel, the Doctor had a sudden desire to meet his sergeant.

Wren watched as the Doctor and his mother were marched off at gun point, then pulled the TARDIS doors closed. He had learned a great deal. This was a top secret, military, research establishment, set in the middle of a park. He didn't like that. Weapons didn't belong in parks. The Doctor was right. Some joker here was playing around with time. Now he had to put what he knew to use in getting his mother and the Doctor loose. Before the girl he'd talked to found out he wasn't who she thought he was.

He'd told her his name was Galahad and he'd traveled past countless stars and a vast time to bring a tribute to her beauty. She, of course, had immediately told him who he was supposed to be. He was the colonel's son. They all knew he was coming. She was Alyce Raye. Her father was one of Dr. Carvin's assistants. He did the time calculations. There was a dance Saturday. The soldiers couldn't come. They were on alert, but he wasn't a soldier. He learned his name was Eric Bern. He protested his name was Galahad and he'd come through time and space. She laughed, said she needed to get home and reminded him of Saturday's dance. "Well," he thought, "let's see if Eric Bern, the colonel's son, can figure a way to get my mother out of the mess she's gotten into."

At that moment the Doctor and Liberty were awaiting the arrival of Eric Bern's father. They were sitting in a room surrounded by an impressive array of armament. Since that armament was held in the hands of six very nervous young soldiers, they were sitting very still. Wren strolled into the room. He put up his hands and said, "Whoa, I'm Eric Bern. They told me my dad was on his way here. Say, what are you guys doing here?" He addressed the latter to his mother and the Doctor.

"We seem to have posed some questions these gentlemen feel should be answered." The Doctor watched Wren, waiting for another cue.

"I'll bet you did. Look guys, as soon as my father gets here, he'll identify the Doctor and Miss Connell. Until then, why don't we go outside. I saw a picnic table out there. These are old friends of the family and I'd like to catch up on old times before Dad shows up. The Doctor's been promising to tell me one on Dad for years when I got old enough. How 'bout it Doc? Come on, let's sit out here."

Wren turned and walked toward the door. When he reached it, he turned and waited for them. The Doctor and Liberty stood and walked toward him. The Doctor gently pushing one gun barrel aside. "Doc, indeed." he thought.

As they got close to Wren and the door, Wren's look told them to be ready. Suddenly the soldiers realized they were being left behind. As they rushed toward the door, there was a small pop and the room filled with smoke. Pink smoke. A hand grabbed the Doctor's coat. Didn't these people believe in a tap on the shoulder?

Wren pulled him out the door and behind some barrels. Liberty was half way across the open space to the forest. Wren motioned him on. As he reached the forest, he heard a shout then gunfire.

He dived for cover. He found a log over a small gully and rolled under it. He found himself face to face with Liberty. She said, "You can move fast. I wondered how you managed to stay alive dressed as the best imitation of a target I've ever seen. Shh, someone's coming." He glared at the smiling woman. Imitation of a target indeed. The entire universe seemed to be in on a conspiracy, to see that everything was timed, so that she always had the last word.

Wren found them in a bramble hollow. The Doctor was beginning to wonder if these people LIKED thorns. Liberty said, "Well, you obviously learned what we need to know."

"I know we're in trouble. I know the time man is Dr. Deric Carvin; the bird is Col. William Bern; the year is 2002; we're on Earth, the Missouri Ozarks, Mark Twain National Forest; I know this base is on alert, they can't contact anyone outside the perimeter; I know they're scared; and I know there's a dance Saturday night."

Liberty chuckled, "Maybe you can have the Doctor arrange to solve this by Saturday, so you can go to the dance."

"Why not?" Liberty and Wren stared at him. "These people are in trouble. Perhaps, I should just offer to get them out of it."

Liberty said, "Why not? Wren can arrange an introduction. Who do you want to meet?"

He blinked in surprise. He had expected some argument over what, on closer examination, seemed a rather dangerous undertaking. "I suppose Dr. Carvin will be more worried than anyone else."

"Worried or insane." The Doctor looked at Liberty. Why did she have to put her finger on the weak spot in any plan?

Wren said, "Our best bet is Dr. Raye. Alyce is a nice kid. Her dad's got to have his head on straight. Let's see if he'll believe my name is Galahad." He scrambled out of the hollow.

"Come on, Doctor. It's time we moved. They'll realize they've missed us and be headed back this way. Where DID you get that English accent? Let's go."

The Doctor followed her out of the bushes. She'd done it again. Gotten in the last word. It was a habit he was beginning to find VERY irritating!

"I've just one question. How is Wren going to find us?" They were in another bramble hollow. Liberty had yanked him into it by his coattails. He was beginning to find that irritating too! "And," he thought, "they DO like thorns."

"I'm absolutely covered in scratches. I hate thorns. Don't worry, Doctor. Wren can always find me. It works both ways, and we always know when the other one is in trouble. Psychics run in the family. It was selected for me."

The last statement was made with such irony, the Doctor just couldn't leave it alone. "Selected?"

Liberty chuckled. "Yes, Doctor, selected. I'm a product of advanced gene selection. Pick and choose. Take what you think is the best of you both and create the perfect child. My parents were wonderful people. Good and loving and very moral people, but they really didn't know what to do with me. They gave me their looks, brains and talent; but they also gave me their ancestors. Bill Cody, Samuel Wymore, Miles Standish, William Clark. I'm a throwback. An adventurer. As a little girl, I wanted to grow up to be Genghis Kahn, but I wanted to conquer the world without getting sticky red stuff on anything. I'm very civilized. I never kill anything I don't have to. Except fish. I've got a blind spot there. If we get this cleared up, I know a place near here where the bass... Well, that's how he'll find us. Oh yes, and it began working for you the instant you landed in the sacred grove. Come on! Wren's in trouble!"

As the Doctor crawled out of the bushes, he mused, "She's gotten in the last word again." He wondered briefly about her statement, it worked for him; but had little time to think about what she'd told him. The next twenty minutes were very busy; dodging patrols, avoiding patrols, hiding from patrols...

"I think you're right. It's the only option at this point. Wren's told them everything he knows and they don't believe him."

Couldn't she argue just a little when he proposed something foolhardy? He stood up and raised his hands over his head. He stepped into the floodlights and stopped. Liberty was one pace behind him and to his right. He called out, "I am the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. This is Liberty, my companion. You have another of my companions captive. We have come to free him."

Liberty smiled. When he did it, he did it well. His voice had rung out across the square. When he'd said he was a Time Lord, the words absolutely dripped power and menace. She still didn't know where he'd gotten the English accent, but it suited him. Perfectly.

"Colonel, you've seen my ship. One of your soldiers was IN IT. The very fact you CAN'T get in it should tell you SOMETHING. Now, TAKE ME to Dr. Carvin's LABORATORY!"

"Please excuse the Doctor, Colonel Bern. He's really the only one who understands just how much danger we're in. I don't really have a clue to what's going on. But if the Doctor says he wants to go to the lab, he's got a very good reason."

The Doctor gave Wren a dirty look. He was surprised when he heard the colonel say, "You're right. Something's gone wrong with the experiment. Carvin's working himself to death. I'll take you up there. Sergeant, lay on transport."

"You've got to shut it down. It's getting worse. Every SECOND it's on increases the danger. This entire area, as well as a large area of another planet, is becoming seriously out of sync with the rest of time. I WILL NOT allow you to RIP APART the fabric of the universe to complete an EXPERIMENT!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

### Knight's Gambit

"Give me the reading on that screen."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Are you all right?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yes, I would."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wren looked uncomfortable. "Mom, be careful."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Weapons practice? I thought you hated killing."

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

"With what types of weapons are you proficient?"

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

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

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

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

"I don't like it."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You will replace those pieces, now."

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

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

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

"What is going on here?"

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

"Then why isn't it dead?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yes, Group Leader."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Oh, I see."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

## King's Knight

### Colleen

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

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

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

"Where are they? Are they on Earth?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Doctor turned to the king. "She usually goes by Liberty and wears khaki." The king burst into laughter and clasped the Doctor's shoulder. Then he began to tell him of the dreams, and the strange feelings. Of the fear and the unaccustomed dread. He began to tell someone, for the first time, of his fears for his world.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How do I get rid of it? Smash it?"

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

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

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

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

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

"Calm down, Doctor."

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

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

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

"He did WHAT?!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Longswords? Longswords!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"She, Doctor. I'm a girl!"

"I need you here!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Access?" The Doctor sounded surprised.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"And Teddy and Sacs too."

"Anyone else?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Is a company like a sc-wad?"

"Yes, but it's bigger."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

### Knight Knight

"Lord President, There IS no better authority."

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

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

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

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

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

"Nothing, nothing at all."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"That spot was tender. Are you sure?"

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

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

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

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

"No, I'm a squire."

"I think I'm lost. A squire?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It screamed and died.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

## Knight en Passant

### Piece of the Past

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Liberty, at yours."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

### Sign for Evil

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

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

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

"Your manners have not improved, Doctor."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Just how long ago was this, Doctor?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His stronghold was built of bones and mortared with blood.

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

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

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

"No, take everything. Hat to shoes."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You speak to shadows. It frightens me."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You have twenty-five days, Doctor."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

for her.

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

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

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

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

"You have four more days, Doctor."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The guard was delighted with the woman serving him. She seemed so eager to please. He drank the wine and died. He'd been right about one thing. She was eager. The women reduced the guard to about twenty, but that was all they could get. They opened the gates for Liberty's warriors.

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

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

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

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

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

"NO!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

# Thank Heaven for Little Girls

## Jo and Andy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"So he took a sample to an assayer."

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

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

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

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

"He knew the exact location of the deposit."

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

Jo said, "Sorry, bad habit."

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

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

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

"The thing is... the natives are friendly and, well... "

"They don't stand a chance against people like the ones who killed Dad."

The Doctor held out his hand and Jo took the nav-disk out of her pocket and handed it to him. Both girls smiled. It was the first time. It was very nice.

The Doctor showed the girls around the TARDIS. He was surprised when they chose separate rooms. Despite their tendency to take a sentence apiece in a conversation, their personalities seemed to be quite different. Neither could be termed a 'quiet type', but Andy was less outgoing than Jo. Jo seemed to be all 'bounce and energy'. Andy was 'grace' and fluid movement. They'd been delighted when he'd shown them the wardrobe, and he'd left them happily picking through the clothes. They were nearing their destination when the girls entered the console room. Jo was wearing a pale blue 'T-shirt' and 'jeans' with a dark blue, pocket covered, vest. The Doctor smiled and decided Wren would have liked the way they looked on her.

Andy had chosen a dark brown, mid-calf length, split skirt. She wore a tan shirt belted over the skirt and a pair of sturdy brown boots. The skirt had big deep pockets and the Doctor noticed they bulged slightly.

"We've landed. Shall we have a look?" He turned on the viewscreen.

They'd been right. The 'jumpers' had backtracked their ship.

There must have been two groups, because it looked like this bunch had been on the planet for awhile. The native town had been devastated and emptied. Or nearly. Jo had found the body of a small, greenish-skinned, humanoid child in the rubble of a building. She'd said, "Damn." brushed tears from her eyes and started following the trail of the natives. They found them.

A group of about a hundred were working. There were men, women, and even children digging at the side of a hill. With their hands. They were guarded by about fifteen heavily armed men. The guards needed baths. The Doctor could smell the one standing a few meters away from his hiding place in the bushes.

He felt a light tap on his shoulder, turned and followed the beckoning hand of Jo. She led him a couple hundred meters to a small clearing. Andy was sitting on a rock talking to a boy of about twelve squatting at her feet. She looked up at him. "I guess the fact I can talk to him has something to do with you. This is Tai. We met him when we were here before. He was as surprised as I was we could communicate in words. We'd worked out some signs before."

"Hello, Tai. I'm the Doctor. We're going to try to help your people. Why don't you tell us what happened here?"

The story wasn't very long. A ship had landed. People had gone to greet it. The people from the ship smelled bad. Some of them had gone off while his people had danced for the others. One of the strangers had run into the dancers' circle and yelled and gestured excitedly to the others. They had all gotten up and left. They had very bad manners.

The next day they'd attacked the town, rounded everyone up, herded them off, and put them to work digging in the hill. They'd missed him because he was fishing. That was three days ago. He'd been sneaking his people food. The men didn't feed them much and the little ones were weak from work and hunger. He'd seen one of them kick a little one who fell down. He didn't like them.

"We don't like them either, Tai." The Doctor turned to Jo. "Help him find food for the children. I'm going to find out how many of them there are and how they're organized. They're riffraff, but they'll have a leader, someone strong enough to bully them into working together." As he slipped into the forest, he didn't realize he had company. Andy was right behind him, moving with the silent grace of a stalking panther. He felt the gun in his back and raised his hands.

"Help me get him out of sight." He turned and saw Andy dragging a very dead man into the bushes. He had a shuriken in his right temple.

He helped with the body and watched as she removed the shuriken and daintily cleaned it with leaves.

"Andy, thank you, but I don't like killing anyone unnecessarily."

"Neither do I, Doctor; but he was pulling the trigger. The star was the only thing I had that could stop him. You're lucky. If he hadn't wanted to savor the moment, you'd have been dead before he was."

"Oh. I see."

There were about forty of them and they called their boss the Shark. He was from a heavy planet called Nandahlia and he ruled them with fear and avarice.

"We've heard of him. He's a notorious pirate. But I've never heard of him doing anything like this." Jo shook her head. "He's got to be working with someone else. He hasn't got the brains to get the hetaxite refined and sold."

"Doctor," Andy looked thoughtful. "Jo's right. There's someone off-planet actually running this."

"I agree. Let's get rid of this trash for the mirrans and find him. The best place to start is probably the assay office. But first, we need to 'take out the garbage'." He looked at Tai's wolfish smile and sighed. The end of innocence. The new generation of mirrans would not be as 'peaceful and friendly'. Another mark against the person who had instigated this horror.

That night they saw to it that all the natives were well fed. In the morning two guards, several small children, and a pair of old women were missing from the work site. The women and children weren't missed.

The one called the Shark was angry. There were three men missing. He had the only ship, so they hadn't set up shop for themselves somewhere. The natives were weaklings. They made good slave labor, but they weren't capable of making anybody disappear. He slammed his fist into a boulder and watched it turn to rubble. He'd find out who was behind this and he'd make them pay.

The Shark was wrong. Tai had killed the guards. The first with his knife when he'd caught him sneaking onto the site; the second with the dead guard's weapon when he came to investigate the noise. The Doctor had asked him to give up the weapon and he'd said, "No. I am a man among my people. Someday, I will lead them. I will keep this weapon until it is not needed." It had hurt them all to see the gentle child become a warrior. He came back from feeding his people that night with five boys about his age. They all had weapons and wolfish smiles. In the morning the Shark was missing five more guards.

"I've got to stop this somehow. I can't let any more of these children be turned into killers."

"Doctor, I don't think it can be stopped. Nothing short of getting them off-planet will save those guards. These boys are hunters among their people."

"Jo's right, we see them as boys, but that's not how they see themselves. They've passed some kind of ritual into manhood and they are adults."

Jo and Andy were right and he knew it, but he still had to find a way to stop it. "I'm going to set the TARDIS to follow the Shark's ship then I'm going to get it off this planet. There. One button and she'll follow. In case I don't come back, this is the emergency override. It will take you to some friends of mine."

He left the TARDIS. Andy and Jo followed. Silently. They trailed him to the work site and watched as he walked into the open and said, "Hello, I'm the Doctor. I think you should leave this planet." to a very surprised guard.

It was a shame the Shark hadn't believed him. It would have saved him a lot of pain and the Shark nine more guards. The Doctor pushed himself up off the filthy floor and leaned against the wall of the room they'd locked him in. He felt the ship powering up. Maybe the Shark had decided he was telling him the truth. He wiped the blood from his mouth and essayed a small smile.

"I'm not going to just take the TARDIS to his 'friends' without him. We've got to think of something and fast." Jo was pacing the console room, her route reminiscent of the Doctor's.

"Jo? Andy?" It was Tai's voice, coming from just outside the open TARDIS door. He and his five friends were standing a few meters away. "The bad ones have left. They killed our leader, then ran to their ship when we shot the one who killed him from the trees. We know they have taken the Doctor. They had great fear. Only the Doctor could have made them fear us. Tomorrow, I become leader of my people. I shall remember his wisdom. We have brought a gift so he will know I have listened." He nodded and the boys brought a heavy bundle from the woods.

Jo and Andy led them into the TARDIS and showed them where to stow it. They smiled at each other. This was a gift the Doctor would truly appreciate. If they could find him. They said good-by and prepared themselves. It was risky...

"I think it's this one."

"We'll only get one chance, Andy. You have to be sure."

"I can't be sure. We've only seen him do it once."

"Well, anything's better than just sitting here dithering. Let's do it."

They raised crossed fingers in the air, then each reached out a hand and pushed the button they'd chosen together. If they were right and it was the last button the Doctor had pushed before they had taken off, the TARDIS would follow the Shark's ship. If they were not...

The central column on the console began to rise and fall. They shook hands and Jo said, "All right, Doctor, we're on our way."

Andy smiled and added, "With gifts."

"Hello, Doctor. I hope you have enjoyed my associate's hospitality."

Two men lifted him to his feet. They held him up to face her. "Hello, Varna, you're a long way from home. Things get a little too warm on Syrdis?"

"I had something very nice going until you showed up. Now you've interfered with another operation. You've made me very angry, Doctor. I'd kill you, but I've been offered a great deal of money for you. Someone else wants you. They specified alive, but not in what condition. I shall give you to them. Alive."

She left and the two men dropped him and followed her. They hadn't left a guard on him. He wasn't going anywhere. He had 'enjoyed' too much of the Shark's 'hospitality'. At least this floor was cleaner than the last.

The assayist smiled his oily smile at the two pretty girls who had just entered his office. They were unescorted and he knew someone who liked young human females. He was totaling up the price they'd bring when Jo grabbed him by his shirt front and hauled him across his desk. "I think you have a lot to tell us." Jo smiled a sweet smile at him. "Why don't you begin with who you told about the hetaxite our father brought to be assayed?"

He pulled himself free and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know anything about any hetaxite." He reached for the weapon under his desk. He didn't make it. Andy kicked him in the head. She had long legs.

Jo said, "Gee, Andy, you're getting better. You didn't kill this one. He's even still conscious."

"Thanks, Jo. I've been practicing. All those bodies were getting a little embarrassing." She knelt down on the floor beside him and smiled. "I believe my sister asked you a question."

They dropped him off at a police station. Still talking. Somebody named Varna had the Doctor and she didn't sound very nice. But, first things first. They went to sink the Shark.

Jo smiled sweetly at Andy. "Gee, maybe we should leave before someone asks us to pay for the hole in the landing pad."

"Yes, it's too bad the Shark went back on board when he did. Another two minutes and he'd have gotten to see it explode."

They left the spaceport and went to find someone named Varna.

"Don't kill him and don't break anything yet. I want this to last awhile. I have four days before I turn him over. I intend to enjoy them. I've been waiting for this a long time." The Doctor groaned and Varna smiled. They had barely gotten started when a distant explosion shook the building. A man yelled her name from somewhere. "I hate interruptions. Leave him. I'm not finished with you, Doctor. I'll be looking forward to our next date." She laughed and left.

The Doctor began working to free his hands. Ropes were easier than manacles to get out of. Ah, did that one slip a little? He wished he could see what he was doing, but when your hands are tied behind your back...

He got free and to the door. It was locked. He found what was left of his shirt and his coat and vest tossed in a corner. He searched his vest pocket. Yes! He crawled back to the door, dragging his coat and vest with him. He wished he could put them on, but one of his arms wasn't working very well and it would take time. And he was sure he didn't have much. He pulled the little screwdriver/lockpick from his vest and went to work on the door. He hoped it wasn't guarded. The only way he'd be able to dispose of a guard was if he'd lean down to be hit.

He was out! Now he needed somewhere to hide. He couldn't walk yet and he was sure he'd be noticed crawling out the front door. He found a trash chute and strength to climb into it. It was a tight fit, but gradually he slid to the basement. He decided the rubbish bin was a good place to hide. It would have to be. He couldn't climb out. He smiled. Varna would be upset he'd 'stood her up' for their 'date'. He burrowed into the trash and rested.

"What do you mean, he's gone? He can't be! He couldn't even stand, let alone escape. Search the building. He can't have gotten far." The Doctor had been right. Varna was very upset, but not just because he'd 'stood her up'. In three days the Doctor's buyers would arrive and one didn't disappoint them. Daleks did not take disappointment well.

She decided he'd had help. He wasn't in the building. The only thing they'd found was his bloody rag of a shirt. She'd held it for a moment and smiled, then dropped it back on the floor. The Shark had made a nice chunk of change betting on how many strokes it would take to cut it off with a whip. She'd enjoyed the story. She'd just decided to call on him for help when she was told someone had blown up his ship with him in it. Yes, the Doctor had help. She began to look for the ones who were helping him.

"The place is a fortress. There are at least two guards at every door and they're in an uproar. They can't seem to find the Doctor." Jo smiled at Andy. "They think he had help."

"Well, we know he's still in there somewhere. At least he's alive. I think it's time he got out. Any ideas?"

"Uh oh, Andy, we've got company." Andy turned around and smiled at the man holding a gun on them.

"This isn't exactly the way in I had in mind, Jo."

"Actually, I'm usually the back door type myself."

They were standing in the foyer of the building about to meet Varna, or so one of the four men holding weapons on them said.

"Where did you find them?" Andy and Jo decided the beautiful woman with the ugly voice was Varna.

"Hiding in the bushes out back. They seemed real interested in the place, so I brought 'em in for a look around." The man who had captured them sounded smug. Jo decided something would have to be done about him. Later.

Varna looked over the two pretty girls in front of her. She decided they weren't the ones helping the Doctor. They wouldn't know how. She said, "They might be useful as hostages. They must have thought he was still here. You, girl, what are your names?"

"I'm Roweena and my sister is Romana. Hostages for what?"

"The Doctor. You're just the type of useless twits he hauls around with him."

"Not us." Andy didn't think they qualified under the useless twits clause.

"What kind of Doctor?" Jo decided things could be clearer.

Varna couldn't waste any more time on children. "Lock them up. This time put a guard on the door. Somebody got in here once, I don't want it happening again. It doesn't make any difference if you girls are with him or not. He's a gold plated hero and he'd trade himself for anybody. You'll do as well as the next."

Jo decided she didn't like Varna. Andy decided likewise. Their Daddy had taught them to keep things tidy. It was time to take Varna out. She was trash.

They locked them up and Jo handed Andy the Doctor's shirt. "That's why they're sure he had help. Not good."

"Jo, that woman is greasy and disgusting. She just washes and wears nice clothes to hide it."

"Yeah, she needs a real bath. She's too mad at the Doctor for this to be over a minor loss like Mirra. Maybe he gave her one."

"I think he's cute."

"Andy, don't you dare tell him that! At least not yet. After he gets used to us, we'll both tell him."

"Our first loud discussion. It's a dirty trick, but it's definitely a great way to win an argument."

"It always worked on Daddy."

They cried awhile. There was nothing else to do and they needed to get it out of their systems. They didn't mention why they were crying. Such indulgence should serve a purpose. Varna stuck her head in, saw them bawling and retreated saying, "Stupid girls." They smiled and began crying again. They'd earned it.

The Doctor was doing better. He'd gotten his vest and coat on. They hurt, but he needed the warmth. He'd decided he actually didn't have any severely damaged parts. He needed rest more than anything, and time, which he didn't have. He had three days to get beyond the reach of the Daleks. And he didn't have the TARDIS. Oh well, since he really couldn't do anything about anything at this point...

He drifted off to sleep in the rubbish bin; with a woman, who thought a date involved contusions, on the first floor; two girls, who thought telling him he was cute was a good way to win an argument, on the second; and the daleks two and a half days away.

"I'm bored." Jo began pacing the near empty room. "A chair and two tables does not a furnished room make."

"I was thinking of painting a mural, but I've only one color of nail polish with me."

"Badly furnished, bare walls,"

"The faint miasma of deliberately spilled blood,"

"The Doctor's blood,"

"Makes me believe this sojourn should end."

"Makes two of us,"

"Unanimous."

Andy knocked on the door. When the guard opened it, she passed him to Jo, stepped out and tapped the other guard on the chin. He folded nicely. They left them sleeping peacefully side by side. They added another pair. After all, Varna was sure help had come from outside. They didn't want to disillusion their hostess. That wouldn't be nice. Their daddy had taught them to be polite.

"All right, Jo, let's find him. Your way and mine. Meet you."

Andy looked both ways, then started walking. Jo started closely examining the floor. They moved quickly down the hall, one on the trail of evidence, the other on the trail of logic. When the trails met, they found him. Actually, Jo landed on him and rolled him out of the way so Andy didn't. The first thing he said was, "You're not supposed to be here."

"Sorry, Doctor, must have pushed the wrong button. This is where the TARDIS brought us." Jo watched him gain strength. The TARDIS meant a great deal to him. Maybe, more than even he knew.

"Hello, Doctor, I thought we decided they were the trash." Andy was appalled. Varna was right. He had to have help. That's why he was still in the building, he couldn't get any further.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why, Doctor, looking for you, though coming inside was Varna's idea. I must say, she leaves a bit to be desired as a host."

"Look, Andy, I know you really enjoy long talks with him, but I think we need to assess his condition."

"You're right. We won't know how difficult the chore of rescuing him will be until we do."

"I believe I have some say in this matter."

Both Jo and Andy looked surprised. Andy said, "Why, Doctor, whoever told you that? Now hold still while I check your ribs."

They'd gotten him out of the rubbish bin and carried him to an old couch. He'd protested. They told him to be quiet. They had two days until the daleks arrived.

"I don't understand why they didn't search for you."

"It probably has something to do with the two unconscious guards by the back door." Andy dipped the cloth in the water again and washed a bit more abuse off the Doctor. Jo had found the door to the kitchen and had brought things they needed, like food and soap. They had water. There was a lavatory in the basement, but Andy wouldn't even go in it until Jo got it clean.

"You left two guards unconscious?"

"No, Doctor, four. There were two guarding the room we were in." She smiled at his expression. "Daddy thought girls should be able to take care of themselves."

"And anyone else who was a problem. Hi, Andy. Doctor, you look better. Well, there are about forty of them. Most, in and out. Usually about twenty-five or so in the building. Varna's got something else going and it smells bad. I couldn't find out what it was, but she was entertaining a couple of political types and they were real friendly. The Mirra problem isn't over yet either. I heard her tell one of them she had an untapped source of hetaxite. She's got a reward out for you, Doctor. Every cheap hood and piece of trash in the streets is looking for you." Jo took Andy's place by the Doctor and Andy started to pace.

"Government types, hetaxite, daleks, this woman is busy."

"She always was."

"Oh ho," thought Andy, "we get to learn what this is about."

"It sounds like she may be trying to set up the same thing she was involved in when I ran into her on Syrdis. She had a contract with the government to supply high grade barium ore. She was using their prisons as a labor pool, but she wasn't exclusive. She was collecting for maintaining the prisoners and for the ore they dug. The problem was, she wasn't maintaining them. She was working them to death. She had a pair of rather unsavory judges who never dismissed a case and crews who collected anyone who had indulged too much in a half dozen cities in the system. One of her crews collected me."

Andy turned to look at him and Jo stopped sponging. She said, "Why, Doctor, you've surprised us. Does this mean we'll have to pour you back to the TARDIS on Saturday nights?"

He gave her a dirty look. "It was a ploy. I'd seen one of her crews collecting drunks and decided to investigate. I'm afraid I did a rather thorough job of ruining Varna's tidy little scheme."

Andy said, "You were right, Jo, he gave her a bath."

"Yes, but she needs another."

"She's not set up yet."

"I'd rather stop her now."

"We could let the daleks do it for us."

"I wouldn't do that to anyone, even her."

"Would you mind if I joined this discussion?" They both looked at him. The Doctor realized they were waiting for him to join the discussion. "We may be able to use them to make her life difficult. She wouldn't have a great deal of time to set up anything nasty if she were constantly looking over her shoulder for Daleks."

"That's a wonderful idea, Doctor." Andy knelt by the couch and smiled at him.

Jo grinned and said, "Now, how to accomplish it without being caught in the middle?"

"Perhaps, we should devise a plan."

"Arrange things."

"Makes me believe she's about to get a bath."

"Makes two of us."

"Unanimous."

The Doctor looked from one to the other. He was beginning to realize his new companions were much more than 'two teenage girls'.

Jo went out. No one saw her leave by a basement window or return by the same route. She brought a friend back with her. "Michael Winn, my sister Andy and the Doctor. Michael is a special investigator for the tax bureau. He gives baths to judges and politicians who get dirty. He's been watching Varna's friends."

The Doctor sat up to shake his hand. Since he managed it almost by himself, Andy and Jo decided he was getting better. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Winn."

"Just Mike. It looks like you made someone pretty angry. Jo briefed me on the situation. I've got a quiet little restriction order going through. I can't stop everyone who tries to get to Mirra, so I've got a friend of mine moving in to see the mirrans aren't exploited. He'll treat them straight and see they get the benefits of the hetaxite. He won't take advantage of them and, if they don't want the hetaxite mined, he'll hold the mineral rights so no one else can mine it. He has inter-stellar connections and a good relationship with every government in the sector. Varna hasn't filed a claim. If she had, she'd have been tough to stop."

"She doesn't think about doing things legally. She wouldn't file a claim until she had the operation running. I take it you're looking for evidence against her government associates." At Mike's nod, the Doctor explained how Varna had run the Syrdis operation.

Jo took Mike back to his office and he set the plan in motion.

Varna was delighted. The Penal Commissioner was coming to dinner. One of her judges was bringing him. It seemed the commissioner was a betting man and he'd had a run of bad luck. He was looking for a bit of extra cash to pay off a few bad debts. She wasn't too happy about giving him 'up front' money, but decided to look on it as an investment. Things were going extremely well. Now, if she could just locate the Doctor before the daleks arrived, everything would be perfect. She should have just killed him, but the daleks had offered so much for him...

The daleks were one day away.

"The dinner went well. The Commissioner was terrific. Got down and got oily with the judges and Varna. Convinced them completely. I saw Varna hand him the envelope of money before he left. Mike's got his evidence." Jo was pleased, Varna was about to get her bath. "It won't take him long to get a warrant."

"I just hope he gets it before the Daleks arrive." Andy was worried. Taking out the trash was important, but she'd prefer not to fight her way through Daleks getting the Doctor to the TARDIS.

"Help me up." The Doctor had decided he'd been on the couch long enough. They got him to his feet, but he wasn't very steady. "We need to get out of here. Daleks are very prompt. I'd rather not be here when they arrive. The fact they want me alive, indicates they have something in particular they want me for. I'd prefer not to find out what it is. If I hadn't been worried we'd need to hide rather quickly, I'd have done something to heal myself and we could have gotten out yesterday. Now we may not have time."

"I'm going to get something to fight them with. Just in case we need it. Andy, do you want projectile or beam?"

"Beam. I'll get the Doctor moving while you're gone."

"Now, wait just a minute. The object is to get out of here, not take on the daleks."

"Why, Doctor, we don't plan to take on the Daleks, but Daddy always taught us to be prepared for the worst case."

"How about you, Doctor? Would you like something for worst case?" Jo knew he didn't like weapons, but not asking would have been very impolite.

"You sound like you're going shopping."

"But, Doctor, I am." Jo grinned at him and left. She'd bring something extra back for him. Just in case.

Mike showed up with most of the city police force and a warrant for Varna. A few fools had thought they'd fight it out. The police were very well trained. The building had been cleared and Mike had come down to help get the Doctor out. Then the daleks arrived.

"There are six of them and they're looking for Varna and you, Doctor." Jo had done a bit of reconnoiter. "I don't think we have much time. They won't skip the basement."

"All right, give me the projectile weapon you brought." Jo handed the Doctor the gun. "Now, find me some cover by the stairs. Stairs aren't their strong point. If they come down, we might be able to pick them off one at a time. I'll shoot out the eyepiece, but a blind dalek is still dangerous."

"Will these help?" Jo produced a grenade from a vest pocket. "I only brought seven." The Doctor smiled.

Jo and Andy were impressed. They'd been visited by four Daleks and the Doctor had blinded each one with a single shot. They'd taken turns with Mike planting the grenades. Now there were two left, but they weren't cooperating.

"Now we find out if they REALLY want me alive. We need to get out of this basement. Before the Daleks decide to drop the building on us. I'll need help to get up the stairs quietly. Mike?"

Mike helped the Doctor to the small landing at the top of the stairs. Jo went out the basement window and in through the one in the dining room. They needed to know what the Daleks were up to. She dropped back into the basement, smiled pleasantly, and said, "They're very busy getting ready to blow the place up. I think we should leave."

"Our sojourn here should end."

"Been long enough."

"Makes me think tis time to depart."

"Makes two of us,"

"Unanimous."

When Mike raised an eyebrow at him, the Doctor said, "Twins."

Jo quietly opened the basement door. There was a dalek planting explosives in the kitchen. Andy slipped through the door and under the table. She signaled to Jo they were on a timer. When they got rid of the Daleks, they would still need to get out of the building in a hurry.

The Doctor nodded and Jo swung the door open. He shot out the dalek's eyepiece and Andy planted the grenade. One dalek left. And they were out of the basement.

The dalek caught them in the hall. It grazed Mike and he fell with the Doctor. The Doctor rolled over and shot out its eyepiece from the floor. Jo and Andy each planted a grenade. They liked Mike. They headed for the nearest exit. The Doctor insisted they get Mike out first. He struggled to his feet and, using the wall for support, followed them. He was almost to the door when the building exploded.

When he came to, Jo and Andy were carrying him away from the burning wreckage of the building. His first comment on waking was "WHY do I ALWAYS end up being carried about by WOMEN?! Put me DOWN!"

Jo and Andy grinned and carried him to safety. They placed him next to Mike leaning against a tree across the street from the merrily burning fire. They watched as the city fire department got the blaze under control. An ambulance came for Mike, then one came for the Doctor. He protested. The lady ambulance driver and the twins ignored him and bundled him into the back of it. Jo rode up front with the driver and Andy rode in back with the Doctor.

"I will NOT be taken to the hospital!" Andy just smiled at him. "I am NOT hurt that badly! I wish to go to the TARDIS! I don't NEED a doctor! I'll be PERFECTLY fine without one!"

"Doctor, you're so cute when you're mad." Andy smiled. She couldn't wait to tell Jo. The Doctor just looked at her. She could see him trying to think of something to say. Yes, it worked well.

They got him to the hospital, on a gurney, that into a lift and Jo pushed the button. He was still protesting and they were still smiling at him when the doors opened.

They pushed him across the hospital basement. By this time, the Doctor had realized something was going on. It wasn't until they pushed him around a large stack of linens that he discovered what it was. They helped him off the gurney and Jo shoved it back out into the basement, then Andy closed the TARDIS doors.

Andy said, "I think this journey should recommence."

"Interruption's over."

"Makes me believe we should depart."

"Makes two of us,"

They both smiled as the Doctor said, "Unanimous."

"We have a gift for you, Doctor." Andy was watching him closely. He was setting coordinates on the console. She was in a good position to watch. She was holding him up. "Tai brought it just before we left Mirra. We put it in your room. As soon as you're done here, we'll take you there. And to a bath."

"Now, JUST a minute! I'll MANAGE a bath MYSELF, thank you."

"Relax, Doctor, we weren't planning on bathing you, just getting you there. While you bathe, we'll try to find you a shirt and get your coat clean. Then we'll give you Tai's present."

He really did feel better. The hot bath had helped immensely. He wasn't used to having anyone in his room, but Jo had brought a tray of cakes and cocoa and it didn't look like she and Andy were planning on leaving.

The TARDIS was on her way to a favorite fishing spot of his and, by the time she got there, he'd be healed enough to enjoy it. Andy rose from her chair, across from where he lay propped up on his bed, and said, "I think it's time to give you Tai's present. Jo, help me pull it out." The Doctor was surprised when they pulled a very large bundle from beneath his bed. "This is Tai's present to you. He said it was to show you he'd listened. He's the leader of his people now and this gift shows he'll be a good one."

They opened the bundle and watched the Doctor's face. His smile was one of deep satisfaction. The bundle contained eighteen beam weapons. Yes, Tai had listened.

## Colleen and James

"Doctor! Help!"

He came up from his place by the fire with the skillet in his hand. He'd been frying the fish he'd caught. Andy and Jo were sitting across the fire watching him.

"Someone I know just called for help. Get everything into the TARDIS. We're going to Micorn."

The telepathic call had been from Colleen. All grown up, but Colleen. He calculated the time in his head and realized she was about nineteen. He smiled as he set the coordinates. She would like Jo and Andy.

Colleen wasn't on Micorn, but the king was delighted to see him. Vand was still healthy and active, and still making changes. The Doctor smiled as he left the throne room. Vand's grandchildren had been climbing all over the throne while he and Vand had sat on the steps and talked. He set the coordinates for Earth, but she wasn't there either.

Bonnie told him she'd gone on vacation, but something had happened to her, she could feel it. He had gotten her planned route and set the TARDIS to follow. He tracked her through her first three stops, then she disappeared.

"She disappeared in this sector, along with twenty other passengers and the ship they were on. I'm going to try to reach her telepathically. Don't touch me. This may take some time. I've never tried to contact her before."

"Doctor, wouldn't you like a pillow or something?" He'd laid down on the console room floor and Andy was standing over him. Jo was leaning on the console a few feet away.

"No this will do."

They watched him for a few moments, then went to find some dinner. They didn't know how long he'd be, but they were sure he'd be hungry when he awoke, or whatever you called it. He always was. He was sitting up with a rather dazed expression on his face when they returned. Jo handed him a plate and fork and he just sat holding them for a moment. "I found her, or rather, she found me. It was a bit like communicating with a super-nova. She's in trouble all right, but only because she was on the ship. The raiders were after someone else. The man she's decided to marry. Well, we shall just have to meet him." He began laying in the coordinates of the space station Colleen had identified as her location.

Jo said, "Doctor, did she tell you who took them and why?"

"No, she's trying to keep anyone from finding out she's a telepath, but I got the impression her captors were non-human."

The TARDIS landed in a storage locker. The Doctor picked the lock on the door and Jo slipped out before he could stop her. Andy said, "You might as well wait for her here, Doctor. She'll be back with the information we need soon."

Jo slipped through the door and said, "Ugh! What a nasty bunch." Since the Doctor and Andy were waiting patiently (Well, Andy was waiting patiently.) for an explanation, she told them what she'd learned.

The station had been taken over by diriths. A rather difficult concept to grasp. Diriths were not prone to cooperation, especially with other diriths. "Dirith doesn't have space capability." The Doctor was wondering how the big reptiles had gotten to the station.

"They've got the crew of the station running it. They probably did the same thing to get here. Being eaten for supper if you don't cooperate is an effective method of coercion. Especially since diriths like their dinner alive." Jo added, "Ugh."

Andy looked thoughtful. "They want something from this friend of your friend very badly, Doctor. Jo, did you find out where they're keeping the prisoners?"

Jo looked at them a few seconds, then said, "Next to their dining room."

Colleen knew the Doctor was nearby. As soon as he'd opened the TARDIS doors, she'd seen him shining. She mopped the sweat off her face (reptiles like it warm), and smiled. Help had come. Now all she had to do was wait. And hope the diriths didn't get hungry.

"I think we should get the passengers out first. We'll bring them to the TARDIS. Then we'll find out what this is about and do something about the rest of the people they're holding. Jo, how heavily are the passengers guarded?"

"Not very. I think you're right, Doctor. The only reason I found them was because I followed a dirith. I think he was grocery shopping. Doctor, diriths are hard to knock out and even harder to kill. I kind of wish we hadn't buried all those weapons when we went fishing."

"They have one weak point. There's a place just behind their earholes that's not armor plated. It's the spot they try for when they fight each other. Of course, getting past all those teeth makes it difficult to reach it, even for another dirith. Let's get those people out of there."

They only ran into one dirith on the way. Andy had jumped on it as it tried to bite the Doctor's head off. She'd pulled something long, thin, and very sharp from her hair and inserted it neatly into the spot the Doctor had told her about. It had taken she and Jo pulling, and the Doctor pushing from beneath, to get it off him. Andy had apologized for dropping it on him.

Colleen had known he was coming and had everyone ready to move out. They'd made it back to the TARDIS and Andy had led them all to the swimming pool. The rest of the people had seemed delighted to stay there, but Colleen had returned to the console room with Andy.

"You look like your grandmother." Her red hair was quite a bit longer, but the Doctor could see Liberty in everything about her.

"Thank you, Doctor. I've missed you too." Andy and Jo watched in surprise as she ran to him, threw her arms around his neck, and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "I knew you'd come."

He smiled fondly. "Now, what's this about the diriths taking your young man?"

Colleen told them the little she knew. The diriths were slightly telepathic and she'd been afraid to probe them. They wanted something from James and she'd been afraid they might be able to use her to get it. James worked for the Earth government. He was a treaty negotiator. He was on a long overdue vacation after some very hard work. She didn't know what it was, but he had been very elated about it. "There's just one thing, Doctor. He doesn't know he's going to marry me yet and I'd prefer to tell him myself." The girls laughed at his expression. It was the beginning of a great friendship. He'd been right. Colleen liked Jo and Andy.

The disappearance of their larder had upset the diriths. Twice on their way to free James and the station crew, they'd stepped over evidence that the dirith 'spirit of cooperation' had ended. They added three more to the litter on the floor before they freed the rest of the prisoners.

The remaining diriths had taken off in the ship they'd arrived in after the station crew reduced their number by four more. They'd found James. Diriths didn't torture, but they got angry. He had bruises and cracked ribs. And he was dying. It hadn't occurred to the diriths to give him food, or water.

They found the passenger ship crew among the station crew. The diriths had reduced the station crew a bit too far, and they'd been co-opted to help keep it functioning. The passenger ship departed for its destination. It was five people short. Two were with the Doctor. The other three...

"Where am I?"

"Hello, James. You're aboard the Doctor's ship, the TARDIS. He rescued us."

"You're Colleen."

"Yes, we met when you boarded the Mina at Teris City."

The Doctor listened to the brief conversation and smiled. Colleen hadn't mentioned the fact that she'd only met her young man a few hours before the Mina had been hijacked. He did not doubt for a moment that Colleen would marry the young man. It would be a very interesting process to watch.

"James, this is the Doctor. He's a very special friend of my family. Doctor, this is James Royce."

"Hello, James, it's nice to have you with us."

"Thank you. Actually, I'm rather surprised to be here, or anywhere, to tell the truth."

"Yes, they didn't take very good care of you, considering the effort they put into getting you. Why don't you tell me what they were after?" He saw the guarded look that came into James' eyes. He smiled. "The diriths knew enough about it to come after you and it was important enough several of them worked together."

"I really can't tell you, Doctor. I'm sorry."

"James, something you know has set a series of events in motion. Several people have already died horrible deaths. Colleen believes I should help you. I agree. There's something very unpleasant happening. If you want to stop it, you'll need my help."

"James, the Doctor is the king of Micorn's friend."

The Doctor saw James' eyes widen. "But that was years ago."

"Well, yes, but not as many as that. Actually, it's only been a little more than two for me."

James looked to Colleen for an explanation. "The Doctor isn't human, James. He's a Time Lord. When I called him, I wasn't sure I'd find him. He might have been in the past, or the future. It could have been two hundred years for him instead of two, and he might have looked totally different."

"Colleen Connell. I knew it sounded familiar. I just didn't put it together."

Colleen laughed. "I was delighted you didn't. Sometimes it's nice to be just another girl. Vand is a sweetheart, but being his friend is a bit public."

"Ahem." The Doctor was feeling a bit left out. In other circumstances, he'd have quietly slipped out, but something about the whole situation bothered him. What had gotten the diriths to cooperate? "James, I think you should know, the TARDIS is on its way to Dirith."

"Actually, Doctor, Miris is where we should go."

"I'll change the coordinates."

The Doctor was smiling as he made his way to the console room. James was well on his way to becoming a husband.

"It just doesn't make any SENSE! The diriths wouldn't have gone to all that trouble to get the route of an ORE shipment! There HAS to be something more to it!"

"Calm down, Doctor, you'll figure it out. You just don't have enough info yet." Jo smiled and watched him pace.

"Jo's right, Doctor, all you're doing is wearing out the floor." Andy was smiling too.

"James has told you what he knows. We just don't have enough of the background to know where his piece of the puzzle fits." Colleen knew that Jo and Andy were gleefully anticipating something.

"I am PERFECTLY calm! We have enough 'INFO' to begin to put the 'PUZZLE' together! And I am not WEARING OUT THE FLOOR!"

Jo said, "Doctor, did you know you're cute when you shout?"

Colleen watched the Doctor. He was totally at a loss for words. She saw Andy give Jo a small 'thumbs up'. She followed them through the interior doors and found them giggling in the corridor.

"Oh, it was perfect." Andy struggled to say.

"All right, what's going on?" Colleen had learned not to casually peer into other people's minds by the time she was six, but she was tempted. When they'd composed themselves enough to talk, Jo and Andy explained. When Colleen recovered from her giggles, she said, "It wouldn't work with my dad, but you're right. It's the perfect way to stop an argument with the Doctor."

"You're right, Doctor. It doesn't make any sense." Andy felt a bit guilty about the dirty trick she and Jo had played on him. She'd brought tea and cakes to the console room. Colleen had baked the cakes.

"Hmm?" The Doctor was musing on the delicious cakes and his memories of dorar bread and tergo jam. It was obvious Katie had taught Colleen to cook.

"Maybe, we've cast the diriths in the wrong role. Perhaps they're just extras being paid to do one scene." She'd gotten his attention. He'd paused with a cake halfway to his mouth.

"It's possible, but I can't see diriths working for profit. They don't even have a monetary system. The dirithas carry on all trade. The male territorial instinct is so strong they avoid any contact. That's why this incident is so odd."

"Perhaps someone offered them a planet. This cluster is full of viable uninhabited planets. A small harem of fifteen or twenty darithas and the promise of a continent to himself would probably get a dirith to really try to cooperate."

"Andy, you're a genius."

"Yes, Doctor, but I hide it well."

"They decided to stay and help them rebuild their world."

"Doctor, there's something you're not telling me."

"Colleen, don't ask me what it is. I offered to bring them home, but they felt they were needed."

"All right. I know they're happy. I just never understood why they left you. Especially Grandma, her letters never mentioned a reason."

"Letters?"

"Oops. Yes, letters. You brought them to us when I was about seven. You looked totally different, but I recognized you immediately. You'd been to see Grandma and Uncle Wren and you brought us stacks of letters." She watched him slowly smile. Yes, something had happened. Something had caused the separation and it still hurt.

"Thank you. It's nice to know I'll see them again. How is James? We're about to land on Miris and we're going to need him. The mirisians don't like strangers."

"James is much better." They both turned as he walked through the doors. He looked much better. Colleen's tender care had worked wonders. One could still see a few signs of mis-treatment, but he looked very different from the dying man the Doctor had carried aboard the TARDIS a few days before. He'd found the wardrobe and garments suitable for Miris. He was tall and rapier slender and the dark formal day-wear suited him well. He'd also found a dark cloak with rich green satin lining. His dark curly hair was brushed back off his face and his intense green eyes glittered with humor. Colleen thought he was beautiful.

"I don't have my credentials with me, so we'll need to go to the embassy first. The ambassador should be briefed. This trade treaty was the result of years of work. The mirisians distrust of strangers verges on paranoia. It took twenty years of careful negotiation before they'd allow an embassy and it's the only one. As far as we know, this is the first trade treaty they've signed. Its secrecy was to protect the position of the First Citizen."

"Hmm. Isn't it a bit unusual for Earth to conduct secret trade negotiations to protect the power of an individual?"

"Yes, Doctor, but he's the only one willing to bring Miris into contact with other worlds. The idea was to establish the trade and then tell the people. If he could show proof of its benefits to them, they'd accept it. There are only nine of us that are supposed to know about it. Six from the Earth delegation and three from Miris. One of those nine must have talked. Since I know it wasn't me, that leaves eight. I should go to the embassy alone. I've been seen on Miris before. I'm afraid, as a group, we'd attract too much attention. The mirisians are avian descended and our plumage is all wrong."

James needn't have worried. The TARDIS landed in the very startled Earth ambassador's office. He stepped out and calmed the ambassador, then the others joined him. "Ambassador Renkoski, I would like to introduce some valued friends. The Doctor, Miss Colleen Connell, Misses Jo and Andy Merrill. The Doctor and Miss Connell are the King of Micorn's friends."

The ambassador paused in reaching out his hand to stare in surprise at James. He'd known him for several years and had been willing to accept his friends for that reason. Now... He finished his arrested motion, shook hands with the Doctor, said, "Sir." then bowed over Colleen's hand and kissed it. He turned to Jo and Andy and they stuck out their hands and grinned at him. He shook them and turned back to James. He looked a bit dazed. He'd just met a pair of diplomatic legends, and they'd arrived in his office in a blue box!

James grinned. "The Doctor rescued Miss Connell and I from a very bad situation. A group of diriths hijacked the ship we were on and were holding us prisoner on a space station."

"A GROUP of diriths?!"

"Yes, they were after the route of the ore carrier."

The ambassador looked stunned. The Doctor decided it was time to take a part in the discussion. "Someone wants this trade agreement to fail. The ore shipments aren't valuable enough for anyone to go to all this trouble. We've come to find out who it is and stop them."

"There are only nine of us that know about it. Two are in this room. Three are back on Earth. One is aboard a ship that won't reach its destination for two months. The remaining three are mirisian. The First Citizen and his two most trusted aides. None of the three on Earth would have had time to set this up." The ambassador looked very thoughtful. "It has to be one of the First Citizen's aides. I can tell him we suspect them, but he won't believe it. One of them is his brother. The other is his best friend. They've been friends since childhood."

The ambassador looked very worried. "Doctor, this is far more serious than the failure of a trade agreement. If that ore ship was hijacked, Earth would be blamed. No mirisian would believe one of them was responsible. We're strangers; therefore, untrustworthy. The loss of the ore ship could lead to war between Earth and Miris."

"Ambassador, we'll need credentials for James, Colleen, and myself. I want you to arrange for me to meet the First Citizen."

"We'll need credentials too." Jo wasn't about to be left out. "You're not going anywhere without us. Not after last time."

"Don't argue, Doctor." Andy definitely agreed with Jo on this issue. "We'll dress appropriately and be ready in minutes." They walked back into the TARDIS.

The ambassador was smiling broadly. "Credentials for five then. I have a teenage daughter, Doctor. I've learned there are times when there's no point in arguing. I have a feeling those two would follow you, with or without credentials. Now, I'll need your full names."

The man preparing the documents had a great deal of difficulty in accepting the idea that one of them should be made out for "The Doctor". He kept asking, "Doctor who?" The answer, "Precisely." didn't assuage his confusion at all.

The appointment was made and the ambassador provided them with transport. They arrived at the First Citizen's residence in the ambassador's official vehicle. They presented their credentials (Andy had the Doctor's. He'd forgotten them.) and the letter of introduction from the ambassador. Then they were asked to wait.

"Doctor, if you don't sit down and relax, Jo is going to tell you you're cute again." Andy almost laughed as he quickly found a chair, but it didn't last long. She didn't threaten him again. He was deep in thought, not pacing from impatience.

"James, tell me about the mirisian governmental system."

"It's representative in nature, but the positions are hereditary. Any representative in the Citizen's Congress can be recalled and another of his family placed in office. If there are no other males in his direct line, another family is elevated to First status. Females are well organized and politically powerful, but can't hold office." The ladies' expressions made him smile. "They are; however, in the majority of powerful positions in the bureaucracy. The recall system is simple, but there hasn't been one in decades.

The Doctor stopped pacing and stood very still. It was quite some time before he said, "James, how is another family chosen for First status?"

"I'm not sure. We know there's a very involved selection procedure dating back centuries. There's some type of ritual, but we've never been able to learn anything about it other than its name. It's called the Challenge of Honor."

"You said one of the First Citizen's aides was his brother, how many other males are in his direct line?"

"None." Before James could ask the Doctor the reason for the question, a functionary arrived to escort them to the First Citizen's office.

He stood to greet them, then dismissed his secretary. He said, "I've learned my name is very difficult for humans to pronounce. First Citizen is a bit long. Call me Mish and I shall call you...?"

"I'm the Doctor, this is Colleen, the two behind me are Andy and Jo, and I believe you are already acquainted with James."

"Yes, we've worked together before. I'm sorry I kept you waiting. Something happened that required my immediate attention. I'm not sure what this is about, but Ambassador Renkoski said it was extremely urgent."

The Doctor smiled. He'd liked Mish instantly. He gave him an account of the hijack and finished with, "Mish, the time factor involved indicates the leak is here. Someone has learned of the agreement and is trying to destroy it."

"Doctor, I can't imagine how, but I agree with you. The emergency I just dealt with may have been caused by a 'leak' as you called it. Two families are feuding. There have actually been acts of violence on both sides. I haven't been able to discover a reason for the dispute. Feud is not a normal state amongst my people. There hasn't been one since my ancestor was chosen as First Citizen. Someone may be trying to bring my family down with the information and at least two families know about it. If more learn, we'll have open warfare, with every family fighting with all others. My brother and I have no one to designate champion and my friend !Tcla has no adult male relatives. Someone else is responsible for this. There are a great many that distrust Earth. It is why I insisted the agreement be secret until it proved successful. Perhaps I should have trusted my people, but I feared the violence my recall would initiate."

"Doctor," Andy had been following the discussion closely. "If two families are feuding, the secret is out. Maybe we can trace the leak from them to its source. Someone is telling a lot of people about it. Who would profit most? Somebody wants Miris in civil unrest and maybe at war with Earth. Who?"

"A good question, Andy, but one that has to take second place right now. Mish, you really should tell your people about the agreement. A secret known by all is not dangerous. Then, I think you and I should talk about recall. I'd like to meet your brother and !Tcla. They should know what's happening."

James helped write the announcement, then he and Colleen returned to the embassy to brief the ambassador and help him prepare a statement. The Doctor tried to send Jo and Andy with them, but they insisted on waiting for him outside the First Citizen's office. Two other mirisians entered and eventually left. It was more than three hours before the Doctor finally came out.

"The announcement goes out planet-wide this evening. I have something to do tonight and you cannot go with me, so I want you to start looking for the leak and Andy's 'person that would profit most'. Get the ambassador, James and Colleen to help. I'll be staying here. See if you can have something for me when I return."

"Doctor, you're up to something. We'll go, but we don't like it." Andy nodded. She agreed with Jo. "Just make sure you get back tonight. We'd rather not have to turn this planet upside down looking for you."

`

"I'll be with Mish. He should be able to take care of me." He smiled fondly and shook his head as they left. They wouldn't be happy with him when he returned to the TARDIS.

The rituals were old and bloody. The old priestess wasn't happy about an alien going through them, but was Mish's friend and understood the need. She began to see the wisdom of his choice when the Doctor went through one, then the other. Few would have been able to do it. Mish remained at the temple to complete the documents and his brother, !Tkor, and !Tcla took the Doctor back to the embassy. The Doctor had been right. Andy and Jo were NOT pleased.

"You didn't tell us, because you knew we wouldn't let you go alone. You should have at least waited a few days between them." Jo was really mad at him.

"I didn't have time. Now I'm a member of Mish's family and, since I'm not serving in the government, I could be designated champion."

"Doctor," Andy paused in treating him. "these wounds are designed to leave a pattern of scars. They've been deliberately widened and abraded with something."

"Yes. Salt."

He wouldn't let them bandage him and they wouldn't let him put on a shirt. It wasn't until Jo saw blood on the floor that they realized more than his upper body was involved. Andy told Colleen and she sent James to him. He was pale and a bit sick-looking when he came from the Doctor's room, but he wouldn't talk about it.

Colleen had known what was happening to him, but she'd also known his need to do it. She hadn't told any of the others. She didn't tell him. Knowing she felt his pain would only be a burden. She cried herself to sleep, glad she had a room to herself. It had been her grandmother's.

The Doctor healed himself as quickly as he could. He was dressed and in the console room pacing when Jo went hunting for him the next afternoon.

"Doctor, you should be in bed."

"I'm not hurt badly and I'm healing well. How far have you gotten in tracing our leak?"

"The two women who work for the Mining Commission put two and two together. Their families are feuding. We found something else." The Doctor could tell by her tone the news wasn't going to be good. "There was a listening device in the ambassador's office. The signal was going off-planet. To Earth."

The vote on recall wasn't high enough to pass. But, since it was over forty percent, the First Citizen's family could be challenged by others. Mish chose the first family challenge to be accepted carefully. If the Doctor defeated their champion, the others would withdraw.

The challenge was an all male affair. Only the families involved and the arbiter were allowed to be present. Mish and !Tkor were the Doctor's family. There were nearly forty in the other.

The arbiter identified the champions by their scars and they were led to a room filled with ancient weapons. The two champions entered and the door was closed. No one was allowed to watch the combat. They waited for one to come out. It was the Doctor. The arbiter declared the challenge complete and the Doctor said, "Please, find me a medical kit. I've hurt him far more than I intended."

Mish followed the Doctor back into the challenge room and gave him the kit. He watched as he deftly stitched the pumping artery and closed the wound in the defeated man's arm. The man regained consciousness as the Doctor tied off the last stitch. The Doctor helped him to his feet and said, "I'm sorry. I hadn't seen that move before. I misjudged badly." The greatest champion in the world nodded to the man that had just defeated him.

The Doctor aided him to his family. Mish watched him watching the Doctor walk away. There was worship in his eyes. He smiled. He had chosen his champion and his new brother well. There would be no more challenges.

Colleen contacted her father on Earth. He was one of very few she could converse with telepathically. He would arrange for an investigation and the results would be awaiting them when they arrived. He would not. He was being sent to attempt to avert a war. He was sorry he'd miss the Doctor. They stayed on Earth just long enough for Bonnie and Moira to arrive and Katie to serve the Doctor tergo jam and dorar bread (The King of Micorn provided the ingredients and Katie kept him supplied.), then they set out again. The Doctor insisted Bonnie, Moira and Katie accompany them. It was December of 2165.

The investigation had traced the signal to the closed Sleden embassy. Mick wouldn't miss the Doctor. They followed him to Sleden. It was one system beyond Dirith.

"Doctor, it's good to see you." Mick had reached that indeterminate 'somewhere in their forties' age that, in his family, lasted for decades.

"Hello, Mick. We need to talk."

"This way, Doctor." Mick wondered what the Doctor had learned that had brought him out of the TARDIS alone. He led him the short distance from the courtyard to his office in the embassy, then watched as the Doctor paced.

"Bonnie says she's engaged and Moira seems to have someone special. Where are they?"

"Paul is attached to the embassy on Micorn and David is here."

"Mick I have your entire family with me. All of them." He smiled. "I even have your cats. All seven of them. I can't explain my reasons to you. I'm doing something I'm not allowed to do, but someday I'll have to face Liberty."

"Doctor, you have our complete trust. I don't know what you want us to do, but we'll do it."

"Don't go back to Earth. Mick, don't ask! I'll take you to Micorn, to your mother, even leave you here. I want you to arrange it so David and Paul? don't go back either."

"All right, Doctor. We'll go to Micorn. I'll arrange to have David attached to my personal staff. We'll take him with us. I suppose you wish this kept between us or you wouldn't be here alone. I'll try not to speculate on the reasons."

"Good. I think we should get back to the TARDIS. Andy and Jo may decide to come looking for me if I don't return soon."

The cats liked the Doctor. Every time he turned around, he tripped over one. Every time he sat down, at least two tried to sit on his lap. He yelled he was sick of cats, but they didn't believe him. One was currently maintaining a precarious position on his chair back as he and Mick put together the pieces of the puzzle.

"There's off-planet influence at work here, Doctor. The war party has had a major infusion of funds. They've mounted an all out propaganda attack against Earth. I'm going to use my 'plenipotentiary' status to obtain funds to fight back."

"Mick, someone's spending a great deal to foment a war between this cluster and Earth. Who?" As soon as he asked the question, he realized he knew the answer.

The Ambassador released his total budget and Mick and James used it to help the peace party fight the propaganda war.

Jo and Andy asked for access to any computer terminal tied to the Sleden central net. They were shown to a public information terminal. Jo took something from her pocket and attached it to the terminal and Andy sat down at the keyboard.

"The funds are being distributed by someone named Rirteeth Lir. He also paid for a trader named Silith Por to make an extended trip to Dirith. Someone wants this whole cluster at war with Earth."

"Jo's right, Doctor. I found money trails from here to every anti-Earth organization in the cluster. I tracked the money trail back as far as I could. A series of numbered accounts on banking worlds, then nothing."

"Thank you. Give your information to Mick."

Andy and Jo watched him walk through the interior doors. Jo said, "He knows something he's not telling us."

"He knows who's doing this. He's not helping and he's very sad about it." Andy shook her head. "Jo, I think this is one riddle I'm not going to look for the answer to. At least not yet. Let's get our info to Mick."

"All right, but someday I want the answer."

Rirteeth Lir had made only one mistake. He'd chosen Silith Por to go to Dirith. Por liked to drink, and brag. He bragged to the member of the peace party buying him drinks. The propaganda war ended when the vid of Por, telling of promising to give the diriths Earth, and what left was of its people after the war, hit the air.

Rirteeth Lir admitted distributing the funds, but he didn't know where they came from. He was sure someone very rich hated Earth as much as he did. He was sure it was another Sleden patriot. He refused to believe they were coming from outside the cluster.

Mick had accomplished his mission. He had David and James assigned to him and the Doctor took them all to Micorn.

"Doctor, you were the first true friend I'd ever had. You should know you can trust me." The king was greatly distressed at the sadness he saw in the Doctor.

"Vand, I travel in time. I meddle a bit more than I should, but there are events I cannot change."

"Doctor, whatever is coming has nothing to do with Micorn or you wouldn't have brought Mick and his family here. I am your friend." He laid his arm across the Doctor's shoulders. "I had never done this until I met you, nor" He smiled. "shared my throne with a child. Share your burden. I ask it as your friend."

"I have a granddaughter... "

Colleen straightened her veil. Hers would be the first traditional Earth wedding on Micorn. She'd rushed James a bit, but wanted the Doctor present. She knew why he was sad, but she'd never told anyone, including him, anything she knew about him. She smiled. She also hadn't told him her grandmother had congratulated her on becoming Mrs. James Royce in a letter he'd delivered when she was seven.

King Vand officiated, he'd received his credentials from the planetary government of Earth. Her father gave her away and David was best man. (James had asked the Doctor, but he'd gently refused, saying he'd been on the planetary vid net once too often.) Paul and another young man attached to the embassy were groomsmen. Bonnie was maid of honor and Moira and one of the king's daughters were bridesmaids. Two of the king's grandchildren were flower girl and ring bearer. The Doctor sat with Katie in the front row. Andy and Jo sat behind him. The wedding was beautiful.

Colleen, James, and Ring Vand took the marriage certificate to the Doctor to sign as witness. He was delighted. They all knew he was leaving. He would not be at the big reception that evening.

Andy and Jo stalled him. They were pretty good at it, but they could tell he was becoming impatient.

They were waiting for him at the door of the TARDIS. All of them. Mick had two bottles of champagne. David and Paul had a small cake and serving implements. Bonnie and Moira had napkins and silver. The king held up a jar of tergo jam and Katie lifted the cover of the basket she was carrying and the aroma of hot, fresh-baked, dorar bread filled the air. Colleen and James arrived, hands full of champagne glasses, and they all stood grinning at him.

He smiled and opened the TARDIS door.

## Mad Sunday

"Endless journey, ever wandering,"

"No excitement."

"Pond to pond and world to world,"

The Doctor had a good idea what was coming. Things HAD been rather quiet lately.

"Tired of fish."

"Makes me think of new destinations."

"Makes two of us."

"Unanimous!"

"We're bored Doctor." Jo stowed the fishing gear with a bang of finality. "And I'm beginning to hate fish."

"What did you have in mind?" He'd never admit it, but he was a bit tired of fishing too. Things had been very quiet lately and he'd stopped at most of his favorite places.

"Noise and excitement."

"Theatres and lots of people." Andy had her own ideas of a good time.

"I know just the place. The TARDIS will be a bit out of place. They'll have stopped using the pattern she's based on in the time we arrive."

"Couldn't be any more out of place than in the middle of that stone age village. Those people were terrified." Andy loved the expression on his face. "They thought you were a god."

"Yeah, they wanted to give you the chief's daughter." Jo was giggling almost too hard to talk.

"Then they decided they should sacrifice someone to you." Andy wasn't in much better shape than Jo.

"Well, I stopped it." The Doctor wasn't too happy with the way this discussion was going.

"Yes, Doctor, we know. Probably permanently. That was quite a talk you gave them." It had been. Jo had been impressed.

"I liked the part on sanitation." Andy was serious. Several people had died because they were fouling their water supply. The Doctor had taught them to take their waste below the village and get their water upstream.

" I'm taking you to see how your ancestors lived."

"Earth! You're taking us to Earth! When?"

"Late twentieth century. There's an island in the middle of the Irish sea that should fulfill both your requests."

"Doctor, if we're going to the late twentieth century, we'll need some of their money." Andy had been through this before. It just wasn't something he thought about.

"Try the wardrobe, I think there's some in a drawer somewhere."

Andy found the drawer with the money in it. There was all kinds. She knew she was looking for the paper kind, so she sorted through the wads and stacks and pulled out everything she could find from twentieth century Earth. She carried the large stack of paper to the console room and said, "This is all from the right time, but it's a real variety. Which kind do we need?"

"The ones that say pound, nothing later than about nineteen-ninety."

"Most of this says dollars."

"I wonder how I got that. I haven't spent much time in North America. You can exchange it at a bank."

She re-sorted, returned the balance to the wardrobe and counted what was left. There were three hundred twelve of the dollars and one hundred sixty of the pounds. Then she found another stack. Evidently it wouldn't fit in the drawer. It had been tossed in a corner nearby. It was a big stack. It said pounds too, but was different. She took it all back to the console room. "Doctor, I found some more of the pound things, but they're not the same."

"Let me see. Ah, perfect. Manx money. The Isle of Man. I think I won that at a casino there once. I wasn't paying enough attention and it just accumulated. That's where we're going."

The TARDIS landed in a hotel room. She'd been landing inside buildings rather often of late. The Doctor wondered if she was tired of being rained on, then dismissed the thought.

Andy, ever practical about such things, took a stack of money and went to find the innkeeper. Jo headed for the big windows. "Wow, what are those?"

The Doctor joined her at the window to see what had gotten her so excited. "Those are motorcycles. We seem to have arrived during TT fortnight."

"Doctor can I get one of those to ride?"

"I doubt it. Every one of those is the pride and joy of its owner, but you may find someone to give you a ride."

"Terrific! Let's go."

They met Andy on the stairs. "He was a little surprised. Someone just moved out an hour ago. It may have been the only empty room in the city. I told him we'd just learned about it and our source didn't say how she'd known it was empty. Here are your keys. Someone just changed the linens, so we don't have to worry about a maid wandering in and seeing the TARDIS."

"Andy, did you see those motorcycles on the sidewalk? I'm going to find someone to give me a ride."

"I HEARD them. I got a race schedule for you. There's something they call 'Mad Sunday' tomorrow. I guess it's an everyone, with the courage or foolishness, participates kind of thing."

"Yes, and too often some of them die." Mad Sunday was not one of the Doctor's favorite memories.

The Doctor was wrong. Jo got a motorcycle. She bought it. The stack of money Andy had handed her had several thousand pound notes in it. The man who sold it to her was surprised at the way she rode. He'd looked a bit confused when she told him it wasn't much different than riding a grav scoot. He told her she had to have a helmet, so she bought two. One for herself and an extra one for Andy. She spent ten minutes watching in the repair shop and five minutes in a library reading about internal combustion engines. She decided she was ready and went for a ride around the island. She learned motorcycles were called 'bikes', and she found a some 'leathers' on sale. She bought three 'nice and roomy' two piece sets in white. She was going to ride in the 'Mad Sunday' race. The Doctor was NOT happy about it.

That evening he took them to a play at the Gaiety Theatre. He explained it had been built in the Victorian age, then had to give them a brief lesson on that. They enjoyed the play immensely, and the beautiful old theatre even more. When they walked by the ladies holding a bed sheet to collect donations to restore it, Andy dropped in several of the thousand pound notes. She wrapped them in a one so she wouldn't attract attention. The actor, who had asked for contributions at the end of the play, had said they needed three hundred fifty thousand pounds to restore it. She was a bit sorry she didn't have that much. He had been very good, and cute too. "Doctor, what's wrong?" He had come to a dead stop in the middle of the stairs.

"Something's here. Something evil. It's not in the theatre, but it's somewhere nearby." He began to walk rapidly down the steps. Jo and Andy smiled at each other and hurried to catch up. Excitement at last.

"I can't find it! I can feel it, but I can't FIND it!"

Andy watched him pace the console room. He was really upset. "Doctor, what do you feel?"

"A hunger. It's like something I've felt before, but I can't remember where. Something evil is here and it's hungry. Why here? What does it want here? And WHY CAN'T I FIND IT?!"

"Maybe it's here for the races." Jo had come into the console room dressed in 'leathers'. The race was about to start.

"Be careful, Jo. You're inexperienced and this is a very dangerous event. For riders and spectators. The last time I was here a rider hit a wall. His motorcycle exploded. Not only was he killed, but three people sitting on the wall died."

"Jo, the Doctor says this thing's hungry. If it's here for the races, it may feed on the kind of thing he's talking about."

"I'll be careful. I'm not planning on winning, just participating. Are you going to watch me ride?"

"Of course. Couldn't let my little sister ride in a big race without cheering her on."

"Little sister! Four minutes does not a little sister make. I've got to get going."

"We'll catch one of the buses, won't we, Doctor?"

"Hmm?" He'd been thinking about Andy's comment. The hunger he'd felt could be for the kind of violent death that came, so suddenly, on Mad Sunday. "Yes, we'll be there."

Jo and Andy laughed. He'd missed a piece of the conversation. Again. Jo left the TARDIS and Andy checked the timetable for the buses. The Doctor still stood lost in thought in the console room.

"Doctor? Doctor! We have to hurry. The bus leaves in about five minutes."

"Andy, get us a motorcycle. Do it fast. We have to catch Jo."

Andy found a motorcycle with a 'For Sale' sign on it and handed its surprised owner cash. He'd run for the title while she stood impatiently waiting for him. She'd found a helmet to borrow and grabbed the one Jo had gotten for her. She'd been surprised when the Doctor had jumped on the bike and started it. He'd said, "Get on and hang on."

Oh my, but the Doctor could ride. She still had the helmet she'd brought for him hanging on her arm. She wished he'd taken time to put it on. It kept banging her elbow. She leaned into another curve with him and felt her skirt brush the road. Jo was fifteen minutes ahead, but they were catching up. Fast.

Jo had gotten a good position. There'd been a bit of a shuffle. It seemed someone had to drop out. Some biker had tried to pinch her. She didn't think she had broken his arm, but he seemed to think she had.

"Give me that helmet. We'll never reach her in time. Get to the middle of the course. We'll drop out there."

Andy handed him the red helmet and watched him pull into the pack. He definitely stood out amidst all that black leather. She sweet-talked a young man into giving her a lift and sat on a grassy spot a few meters from the road.

The Doctor had found it. The hunger was all around him, but was strongest in front. One of these riders was not what he seemed. The race began and he started working his way through the pack. A rider in front of him spun into a wall. He could feel disappointment in the hunger. The rider wasn't badly hurt.

He laid the bike over and took the curve on the high side. When he brought it up, he passed a half dozen more. He was still too far away from Jo.

A rider slid out of control on the next curve. His bike hit the wall, but he was thrown clear. The hunger was disappointed again. The Doctor swerved around the wreckage and the people swiftly clearing the road. He hit the throttle and pulled out of the pack. Jo was in the lead of the next pack ahead.

He was having trouble getting through. The bikes were running close. He knew if he broke in someone would be forced to the wall. A gap appeared and he raced through it. Just a few more.

Two bikes pulled even with Jo. One of the riders kicked the bike of the other. The rider was good. He swerved and slowed. The Doctor passed him. He'd felt the hunger's disappointment. He'd found it. And it was riding next to Jo.

She pulled a bit ahead and was alone when she took the next curve. The Doctor blessed the person who had given such loving care to the bike he was riding. He took the curve and pulled even with the hunger.

Jo saw the Doctor in her mirror. He could have caught her on the big bike he was riding, but he didn't. He signaled her off the course and she hunted for a place to drop out. She found an open spot and pulled off. As she yanked off her helmet, she saw Andy running toward her.

"What's going on?"

"I'm not sure. I think that thing was in the race with you."

"If it's in the race, the Doctor's found it. He was dead even with the bike behind me and he had enough power to pull ahead. Where did he get that bike? It's beautiful."

"He told me to get one and I bought it."

"He's terrific. I haven't seen anyone here who can ride the way he can."

"The trip down here had its moments."

The hunger knew he was there. It had tried to force him into the wall on the last curve. He had to get it out of the race. Mad Sunday had enough death without it. He pulled closer to the black bike with its black helmed rider. The thing turned its black visor toward him and kicked out at him. He swerved and it missed. He closed with it. He'd decided the only way to take it out was to go with it. He looked for a break in the wall.

Jo and Andy were catching up. They were sure he'd need them. They caught the pack he was leading, but couldn't get through. Jo's bike didn't have the power, not with two on it. Jo was watching the road and Andy was watching the Doctor. "It tried for him, but he dodged it. Jo! He's going to force it off the road!"

The Doctor saw the break he needed and swerved into the thing. He throttled the big bike and pushed it through the gap. He dropped the bike and went down hard, but he'd seen the thing crash into some rocks. It was out of the race. And it was mad. He was getting to his feet when it attacked him. He fought to get its hands off his throat. It was incredibly strong. He felt himself losing consciousness.

"It's got the Doctor!" Andy grabbed a rock and ran for it. Jo dropped the bike and ran after her. She had the bike's 'lock-up' chain in her hand. They attacked it and it released the Doctor. It turned on them, but they were just too quick for it. It screamed its anger and frustration and left. Jo and Andy stared at the empty leathers and helmet lying between them on the ground.

"The Doctor!" Andy turned and ran for him. That thing had had him by the throat. He was conscious and sitting up when they reached him. Andy undid his helmet and Jo yanked it off.

"I would appreciate it if you left my ears." Andy and Jo laughed. He was definitely all right.

The Doctor was totally motionless. He had been that way for several minutes. Jo sighed and leaned on the console. He hadn't been happy when she'd had those sweet young men bring both motorcycles up to their room. The innkeeper hadn't been happy either. Andy had assuaged the innkeeper's anger with money and a promise not to get oil on the carpet. Jo had told the Doctor he was cute. She and Andy had found a place to stow the bikes in a room filled with some kind of sports gear and returned to the console room. The Doctor hadn't moved since they got there.

"Yes!" The Doctor began laying in coordinates on the console. "I know where it's going. I knew I recognized it. It certainly recognized me. I don't know how it got free. I'll just have to imprison it again."

The TARDIS lurched. Sometimes the Doctor rushed her a bit. Jo and Andy smiled. They were on their way. Somewhere.

The maid heard a strange noise coming from room eleven. She knocked, then searched through her keys and opened the door. The room was empty and there were two keys laying on one of the beds. The Doctor had forgotten to leave his.

"You'll need cold weather gear. Arto isn't very hospitable in this era. It's in the middle of an ice age."

"Doctor, what is this thing we're chasing? All we found were empty clothes."

"The people of Arto called it the wraith, Andy. It feeds on violent death. Earth is in the same spiral arm and it can send its energy across several light years, but it's much weaker than on its home planet. Arto nearly destroyed itself in war. The population is low and they've lost most of their technology. The wraith caused most of the wars. On Arto it has enough strength to take over a person. It was very hungry. There must not be enough people left on Arto to feed its hunger. I'm afraid it may have been free for awhile."

"You said you imprisoned it before. Why didn't you kill it?"

"Jo, I try not to kill anything, but, in this case, I just couldn't find any way to kill it."

"Doctor, does this wraith thing have a physical component?" Andy was having a little trouble with the concept of something that was just a hunger.

"I don't know. I searched for something at the time, but I had it trapped and I was needed somewhere else. Now I wish I had stayed to find out. The trick I used to trap it won't work again."

The Doctor was right. Arto was cold! "Doctor, don't you want a parka." Andy didn't understand. He got cold when he took his coat off.

"No, I've adjusted my metabolism. I usually don't bother when it's just a bit too cool. It's only a few degrees below zero. If it doesn't get too much colder, I'll be fine. I'll need a bit more food and rest, but that shouldn't be a problem."

Jo said, "Just a minute, Doctor, I forgot something." When she came out of the TARDIS, she was wearing a pack. She winked at Andy.

"Now, CAN we go?"

"Yes, Doctor. Where are we going?" Since the TARDIS was sitting in a drift and there wasn't anything but snow in sight, it seemed like a reasonable question.

The Doctor looked at the small piece of equipment in his hand and pointed. "That way." He led them across the packed snow.

They found the wraith, or rather, it found them. It was wearing the body of an old shaman. "So nice of you to visit, Doctor. I hoped you would follow. This time I have trapped you. For two thousand years your prison held my energy. When this fool found and broke the cube, it was freed. I rewarded him well." It laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound. "I kept his body alive. It has been useful. Do you know how hungry I became in those years, Doctor? So hungry, this tribe of my worshippers is all that is left of the people of Arto. They have killed all the others that I might feed. They call me Lithma, the hungry one. I am my own high priest."

"Is this little talk supposed to be entertaining, or are you TRYING to bore me?"

Andy thought, "Uh, oh. He's made him mad now." It wasn't what she would have done. She usually tried to keep high priests, standing in front of bloodstained alters, happy. ESPECIALLY, when she was bound hand and foot, lying on the ground, surrounded by club wielding primitives.

"I shall entertain you, Doctor. This body is old and feeble. I have decided yours would suit me well."

"It won't work, Lithma, or whatever you call yourself. I'm a Time Lord. Ten of you wouldn't have enough power to take my body."

The old priest's body fell to the ground and the Doctor jerked against the ropes holding him. Jo and Andy knew he was fighting the wraith. Neither realized they were holding their breath.

It was over quickly. The Doctor smiled at them. The old priest slowly stood. He didn't seem to be in very good condition.

"I warned you. Feeling a bit weak in the knees? Giddy? Perhaps you should take a nap. That body doesn't look too healthy."

"I shall take another when it suits me."

"Perhaps, but not mine."

"I shall feed on your death agony, Doctor. And that of your companions. Take them away. There will be a feast of sacrifice tonight."

"Millions. It's killed millions. The only reason these few are left is to keep it supplied with bodies. It's driven them back to the stone age. I'll have to find a way to kill lt."

"Doctor, might I mention the fact we seem to be tonight's planned entertainment?"

"Andy's right, Doctor. It's going to be hard to kill it if we're dead. Don't you think we should escape first and figure out how to kill it later?"

The Doctor smiled and raised his hands in the air. "They aren't very good at knots." He untied his feet, then Jo and Andy. He motioned them to silence and pulled the skin hanging over the front of the ice cave aside a few millimeters. He held up two fingers and pointed to the right and left. Andy and Jo positioned themselves on the left. He nodded and they moved.

The escape hadn't gone exactly as planned. The Doctor wasn't with them. He'd been hit by a thrown club. It slowed him just enough for one of the natives to tackle him. He'd yelled, "Go! Use the emergency override!"

They hadn't planned on using it, but the question had become academic. Lithma had the TARDIS well guarded. There were eight of them. "Well, so much for that idea. Shall we try another?" Andy blew on her fingers. They'd taken her gloves when they tied her hands.

Jo was pulling off her parka. The cave they'd found was warmer than standing in the wind, but Andy thought it a bit silly. "Help me out of this, Andy. I'm having trouble getting it past the pack."

"I thought you dropped the pack." She held a sleeve and Jo pulled her arm out.

"That was the other one. I brought two."

"I thought you looked a little fat."

Jo was unwinding several silver survival blankets from around her waist. "There's food in there and some mittens. They're under the coat I brought for the Doctor. Oh, and I picked up your stars."

"Jo, you've got the makings of an arsenal in here."

"Yeah, we should be able to make some 'chucks and those two metal bars should make good sticks. I've got an idea, but we need to get to the TARDIS."

They'd tried not to kill them, but a couple hadn't cooperated. They tied the six, who were unconscious, together in a neat little bundle and covered them with blankets and snow. It would keep them from freezing. It also made them very hard to see. They went into the TARDIS and began working on Jo's plan. Andy added that artistic flair and they were ready.

"Come on, Andy. It's nearly sundown. He said tonight and it's getting that way fast."

"Jo, this is very heavy. I'm going as fast as I can."

The Doctor was the center of attention. Lithma had the whole tribe watching him. Considering he was tied securely to the alter, it seemed rather a waste of personnel. He hoped Andy and Jo had done what they were supposed to this time.

"It is almost time for you to die, Doctor. I shall have you killed slowly. A spirit as strong as yours will feed me well."

"Are you planning on talking me to death, Lithma? Your litany becomes very boring." Why did everyone hit him?

"I promise you, Doctor. You shall not be bored for very much longer. Now I must lead my people in their worship. Their blood-lust will serve as a splendid appetizer for your death agony."

"Does that mean ANOTHER boring litany?"

Jo slipped out of the big ice cave the tribe was gathered in and ran back to where Andy was waiting. "They've got him tied down on the alter. Looks like they're working themselves up for it."

"We need to time this for most effect. Any estimates?"

"I'd say ten minutes. They're real involved in what they're doing. I think we can get a lot closer without anyone noticing."

"Give me the machete. I'll cut him free. Oof, this thing is very heavy, but this will be worth the effort"

"Yeah, too bad we won't have time to watch their faces." Jo smiled a pleasant smile. Andy smiled back.

"And now, Doctor, it is time for you to die."

The Doctor watched as the tribe raised their clubs in the air. He thought, "Oh, that kind of death."

There was a loud roar and the tribe dropped their clubs and ran. Lithma screamed, "They're machines, you fools!" He raised his club over the Doctor's head, but he didn't bring it down. Club and hands went flying off. Liberty had liked a sharp machete.

The Doctor rolled off the alter and jumped on the motorcycle. Andy climbed on behind. As they raced through the cave entrance and down the track Andy and Jo had made with the bikes, he shouted, "You're not supposed to be here!"

"I thought the Viking helmets and red gauze streamers were a good touch. How about you, Doctor?"

"They did add a nice theatrical flair."

"Thank you, Jo, Doctor."

They were in the cave Jo and Andy had set up as a camp. They'd hidden it by the simple expedient of filling the entrance with snow. They'd poked several holes through the ice at the rear of it and had blocked the light, but not the air, from going through them. They hadn't gone back to the TARDIS because Lithma knew where it was and the Doctor had no intention of leaving yet. They were sitting around a cozy fire having dinner. Both the dinner and the makings of the fire had come from Jo's pack. The fire wouldn't last long. The food was already gone.

"Well, we know it has a physical component." Andy and Jo waited. THEY didn't know. The Doctor smiled. "It said I'd locked its ENERGY away. Now all we have to do is find it."

"Doctor, it's going to have to take over someone else. Andy definitely messed up its last residence. How long will it take?"

"A few seconds. It will take time to savor it. It's in a new body by now. Probably the young male who was leading the dancers. It definitely wouldn't want another old one."

"Doctor, if these are all the people left on this world, it would make sense if it kept them near its physical component."

"I agree, Andy. I think it's in that cave. I could feel its hunger all around me. I looked for anything unusual, but I didn't see anything old enough."

"How old would it need to be?"

"Probably ten thousand years or more."

"There was one thing in that cave old enough." He stared at her in surprise. "You were tied to it. When I hit that alter to cut your ropes, I chipped three or four centimeters of ancient blood off it. I'd say it's been in pretty steady use for more than ten thousand years."

"That's it!" He jumped up and began pacing. Andy and Jo smiled at each other and scooted to one side of the fire to give him room. Wouldn't do to get in the way of his thinking.

"That cave would be a stone amphitheater in warmer times. It would always be there. Long use in some ancient sacrificial ritual embodied it with blood-lust. When the sacrifices stopped, it had enough energy to reach out and feed on war. It would have grown stronger with every poor soldier who died. No wonder its hunger was all around me. Well, we shall just have to destroy it."

"How do we destroy a rock, Doctor?" Jo was practical about such things.

"Hmm, yes, that is a problem."

"Why not wash it?" The Doctor and Jo both stared at her. "Well, if it's the accumulated sacrifices of thousands of years that brought it to life, what happens if we 'wash all the sins away'?"

"Not wash them away, burn them away! It just might work. I'll need a strong light source and a power supply, a focusing unit. I think I've got a ruby somewhere."

"Doctor, if you're planning to build a laser, I've already got one." Jo smiled at his expression. "Well, actually, we have one."

Andy said, "Dad's laser drill! I'd forgotten about it. But we haven't got enough power packs to heat that rock."

"We can use the motorcycles for power. I've got a store of petrol in the TARDIS. Don't look at me like that. It's stored properly. Actually, it's in a dimensional pocket. Don't ask! The explanation would take YEARS."

"Doctor, why do you have petrol?" Jo hadn't even heard of it until she'd learned she needed it for her motorcycle.

"I once spent a number of years on twentieth-century Earth. It wasn't my idea, but, if I had to be stuck somewhere, it was where I'd have chosen. I had an automobile. Her name was Bessie."

Jo and Andy laughed. The Doctor's expression when he spoke of 'Bessie' was one of pure love. The Doctor gave them a disgusted look and said, "When this spell of hilarity ends, we still have two problems to solve." They stifled their giggles and waited. "We have to get everything we need from the TARDIS and find a way to get seventy or so angry natives to leave home. Preferably, long enough to 'burn away the sins of the past'."

They tried not to kill any of the guards on the TARDIS. This time they cooperated. They rolled them into a pile and threw blankets over them. They didn't tie them. They expected to be gone before any of them awoke from their little nap.

The Doctor and Andy carried gasoline and the laser drill back to the cave. Jo had the equipment and tools the Doctor needed to build an adapter to power the laser with her. She was almost to the cave when the Doctor ran by her saying, "Sorry, I forgot something."

She sighed, followed him back to the TARDIS and started brushing his tracks away again as he ran back toward the cave. Even having to do it twice, was easier than getting rid of the tracks of the bikes. THAT had been a real chore.

"It MUST be me! They won't all chase you!"

"Doctor, you can barely fit through that hole."

"Andy's right. If you get stuck, this whole thing gets stuck."

"Thank you, very much. You just be ready. I shall have good incentive to 'fit through that hole'. I shall have most of the population of this planet chasing me!"

He did. He'd shown himself at the cave mouth, then run. The natives poured out after him. The one in the lead had been the young dancer he'd noted before. He'd been screaming at the rest to run faster. The words had been Lithma's.

He ran through the cave they'd prepared and dived through the hole. Well, part way through. Jo grabbed him by the coat collar and pulled him free. As they rolled the rock into place, her expression clearly said, "I told you so."

They ran to see how Andy was doing with her avalanche.

"I couldn't get them all. There are still a dozen or so running loose. I couldn't wait any longer. One had already come back out. I think he might be able to dig himself out of the snow. I hope so."

"You did well, Andy. We trapped more than I actually expected. Let's get to the cave. They'll dig their way out soon and we need to finish before then."

They pulled the snow covered blanket off the bikes and kicked them over. Jo remembered where the trail they'd made was, so they were only plowing through a few centimeters of snow, but riding a motorcycle through ANY snow is not easy.

The cave wasn't empty until they rode in. It emptied quickly on their arrival. The Doctor gunned the big bike and the roaring echoes sent the few women, children and old ones scurrying for the exit. They also brought a rather large piece of the roof down almost on top of him.

He brushed ice from his hair and grabbed the laser. Andy threw gasoline on the alter and Jo lit it, just to get things started. He hooked one of the power leads to the big bike and tossed the other to Andy. She and Jo hooked it up. He pulled his goggles on, flipped the lens that would spread the drill's beam down, and began to heat the burning blood from the inside.

It was taking too long! They were getting low on fuel. Jo added the last to the tanks and signaled to Andy. They headed for the cave entrance. She was right. The natives were coming towards them at a run. They'd gotten through the snow a little too soon. Jo saw Andy take her stance and she took hers. They would give the Doctor as much time as they could. They were almost upon them when the man in the lead screamed, fell, and lay still. All the natives stopped. It took awhile. The ones in back kept running into the ones in front of them.

There was a loud CRACK. Then another. The bikes shut down and the Doctor walked out brushing ice from his hair and shoulders. First one, then another, of the people of Arto dropped to their knees and laid their foreheads in the snow. Soon all were genuflecting to the Doctor. Jo and Andy started to laugh. The Doctor looked disgusted. He said, "Oh, no. Not again."

They left him giving his talk at the cave mouth and went in to see. They'd heard this lecture before.

The alter was split in three, red-hot, pieces. The stains of ten thousand years of death were gone. They cleared ice and snow that had fallen on the bikes and rolled them to the front of the cave just as the Doctor finished his little talk. Jo climbed on her bike and Andy climbed on behind her. The Doctor looked at them a moment, then smiled and shook his head. He climbed on the magnificent, chrome red, modified, Ducatti and kicked it over. Jo started her red Kawasaki and they followed him to the TARDIS.

"I just picked up the terms, Doctor. I don't really know what they mean."

"Such as?"

"Bikes, kicking it over, high-side."

"Bike from bicycle. A two wheeled pedaled conveyance. Kicking it over. Hmm, that's a little more difficult. Old motorcycles used a kick start, some of them still do. It was a lever you pushed with your foot to turn the engine over, build up compression. It took a great deal of force so you jumped on it and 'kicked it over'. Sometimes it kicked back. Believe me, turning a key is much easier, although it doesn't give you the feel a kick-start does. Now, high-side. Most roads are banked so that curves are highest on the outer side. It means you're on the outside edge with nowhere to go if you make a mistake. When motorcycle riders say someone took the high-side, they usually mean he crashed and died. Jo, Mad Sunday is usually called 'Bloody Sunday'. It usually lives up to its name."

"Doctor, it would have more than lived up to it, if you hadn't been there. Those riders had a guardian angel riding with them this year." She turned and walked through the interior doors.

"First, they tell me I'm cute. Now, she calls me an angel. I'm going to have to do something about those girls." He smiled.

## Under the Age

"I don't actually know when you're from."

"You mean, after all that trouble with Varna, you don't know the time period?" Jo was surprised. He'd seemed rather well acquainted with the time.

"I believe that IS what I said."

"We're not going to be much help if you want the exact year, Doctor. It really wasn't something Dad paid much attention to."

"That's true, Doctor. We kept track of our age, because he didn't. I think he knew if we slipped an extra birthday in, but I've never been sure." Andy wondered where this was leading. It certainly seemed a strange question for him to ask.

"An approximation would do."

Andy and Jo conferred for a moment, then Andy said, "Approximately 2240 in old Earth designation."

"2240! Then you knew... "

"Yes, Doctor. It took us awhile, but we did figure it out. The date itself didn't mean that much to us, but, by the time you'd gathered ALL Mick's family on Micorn, we knew."

"Andy worked it out. She did it for me. I was lost when you stopped helping Mick and James. So, Andy found the reason."

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't tell anyone. I bent some very stringent laws governing time travel. I'd been there. I knew what it would be like on Earth. I couldn't leave them there."

"Doctor, this is still leading up to something. Jo and I will answer anything we can, but our own knowledge of the past is a bit sketchy. Dad didn't talk about it much."

"How did you get your name?"

"My name? Which one?"

"Romana."

"I think it was someone our mother knew. She died in an accident before we were two, so we don't really know much about it."

"When we asked Dad about our mother, he'd get this wistful, sad, look. We basically stopped asking, but I think my name was picked to go with Andy's."

"I knew someone named Romana. She was a Time Lord."

"Doctor, give us some time and we'll put together all the pieces we have to the story. About the only thing we can say for certain is we're nineteen and our mother's name was Corinne Barry."

"We've landed. I have a treat for you."

"Doctor, this is not what I call a treat." Jo was pretty sure he realized it, but she had decided to make certain.

"Spending time in a cell is NOT what I had in mind. Something very strange has happened here. This was a strong and peaceful democracy. It hasn't been that long since I was here. Something has changed it drastically."

"I should say. Democracies don't usually have most of their population in uniform. This looks more like a totalitarian system."

"You're right, Andy." He began to pace the two and a half meter length of the cell. "This has all the earmarks of a dictatorship. I can't imagine how it could have come about. I don't think it's been more than twenty years, their time, since I was last here. These people act as if they're preparing for war, but with who?"

"Maybe another country. From the looks of things, they aren't advanced enough to be fighting another world."

"That's what's so odd, Jo. There's only one major continent on this planet. The democratic government was worldwide. Well, we shall just have to find out what happened."

"Come on, get out of there. Fast. One of our people is holding the door, but he won't last long if he's discovered."

They followed the gray-haired man through the prison hall and passed another man in late middle age standing over a young guard lying in a doorway. Several men and two women joined them as they were led through the prison. All were over forty.

They were led into another cell and watched as the back wall swung outward and revealed a dark tunnel. When they'd all entered, the last man closed the door and lights came on. The man who had opened their cell led them onward. Eventually, they reached a large open area filled with people and equipment. None were younger than the group with them.

"This isn't the same man."

The Doctor turned to see who had spoken. He smiled and said, "I'm the same person, Jordan, I just look different. I've regenerated several times since I was here. It's been many more years for me than for you."

"Are you really the Doctor? I couldn't believe it when I heard you were here. It was the answer to a prayer."

"I'm here. But I must say, here is NOT what I expected."

The story wasn't very long. There'd been an election and a man named Cordis Parman had won. He'd garnered the vote of everyone under the age of thirty-five. And the turnout in that age group was near one hundred percent. Since young people usually had the worst voter turnout, it had been a strange occurrence.

Within two elections, the entire congress had been replaced with people under thirty-five. Two weeks afterward they'd voted to suspend the constitution, dissolve the congress, and make Parman Governor General for life. None of the people, over thirty-five, had even heard of Parman before his name appeared on the ballot.

Parman had instituted a military dictatorship. The entire world had been placed under martial law. No person over thirty-five was allowed to hold any position in the government and anyone voicing an objection was imprisoned without trial. It had all happened within the last five years. The older generation had formed a resistance. Most of the best military and scientific minds were members. A few of the finest scientists over forty worked for Parman, but they did so under duress, locked in isolated laboratories guarded like prisons.

"They're gearing up for war, but we don't know who they intend to fight. There's no one on this world. We're not going to fight them. They're our children. We resist by trying to find out what's happening, but we had to get you out. We need you."

"Jordan, what do you know about Parman?"

"Very little. We have no records other than birth and school attendance and those could have been forged. The only thing we're sure of is he's older than forty, which is now the maximum age for any other political position. We don't even know what he looks like. He's never appeared in public or on vid and there are no stills of him either."

"Doctor?"

"Jordan, these are my companions. Andy and her sister Jo. What is it, Andy?"

"It sounds like this man Parman found a way to brainwash a whole generation. Organization like that takes time. A great deal of time. More than five years."

"Your companion is right, Doctor. We've looked for anything out of the ordinary as far back as twenty years, but we've found nothing."

"Jordan is right. I've checked through all the data they've collected, and there's a great deal of it, and there's nothing unusual."

"Doctor," He waited. Andy sounded thoughtful and her thoughts were usually good ones. "if there's nothing out of the ordinary, then maybe you should check the ordinary. Things that every young person goes through."

"I think you need a spy." Jo had decided who that spy was going to be.

"Jo, it's too dangerous. You don't know the culture or the people."

"Jordan's people could brief me. I'm the only real choice. Andy could do it, but she's a bit too bright. I'm just average enough not to be noticed."

The Doctor smiled at her and said, "Jo, there is nothing 'just average' about either of you. I don't enjoy the idea, but you're right. We need information. I'll talk to Jordan. Andy, your idea makes sense too. We should check the 'ordinary'. Come on, let's go see what Jordan thinks."

Jo had gotten a bit more 'briefing' than she expected. A pair of used-to-be college professors had gone on for hours, then quizzed her. The political science prof wasn't too bad, but that history professor was a real stickler for detail. She'd also gotten a rundown on the baracan's science.

Andy had helped tint her skin to the ruddy tone she'd need to pass and her hair had been dyed brown. Her dark blue eyes were unusual, but not unknown, so she hadn't had to wear contacts. Jordan's people supplied her with documents and inserted fake records of her childhood. She was officially Jolin Mordan. Her cover was about to get its first test. Two uniformed women were approaching.

"Documents." She handed her forged papers over and tried not to hold her breath. The woman looked at them and handed them back. "You will find lodging at the women's free barracks." They moved on and Jo headed for the barracks.

Her documents said she had been ordered to the capital. She was supposedly from a city at the southern tip of the continent. She was here to teach martial arts. It was a good cover.

"I've checked everything I can think of; inoculations, school curricula, even popular music. I can't find anything. Nothing covers a broad enough area."

"I can't find anything either, Doctor. I thought we'd find it in the inoculations, but there's a wide-spread religious group whose children don't get them. They're not immune to this either. Everyone under the age of forty has dropped out of the church."

"We're missing something, Andy. Something that happens to every child. I just can't think of anything."

Andy started to giggle. She said, "I can think of one thing. It's probably been too long ago for you to remember, but Jo and I had terrible problems. Dad really wasn't prepared for it."

The Doctor puzzled over what she'd said for a moment. What could have happened to him so long ago he wouldn't remember? He decided there were too many things in that category, so he started from the other direction. She was obviously waiting for him to work it out. What wouldn't their father have been equipped to handle?

"Puberty!"

"I knew you'd get it eventually. The hormone changes could trigger something everyone is exposed to. Air, water, anything."

"If puberty is the trigger, Parman has been setting this up for more than twenty years. He would have already set it in motion when I was here last time. Let's check your theory. It's the best we have so far."

Jo couldn't believe the total dedication she'd run into. No one griped about anything. No one. And no one knew who they were planning on going to war with, but they were all busily preparing.

When she realized no one asked any questions, she made sure she didn't either. Soon seemed to be the catch-word. Everyone said it. That and Parman says prepare.

One of her students had accidentally broken the arm of another in an exercise. As the student had been taken for treatment, he'd said, "I will heal soon. I will be back. Parman says prepare." It was spooky.

She'd seen some small children playing and had stopped to watch. They seemed perfectly normal, but at about the age of twelve or thirteen they changed. They became very serious and started working industriously.

She'd had some time off and had visited some of the hangouts her students frequented. There was no alcohol and no laughter. All the conversation revolved around work. There were never any arguments. No flirtation.

Personal liaisons did not exist. Couples were ordered together, matched by a bureau in Parman's administration and assigned housing in couple's barracks. Children were raised in creches. Interestingly, all the people working in the creches were over forty. Child care seemed to be the only important job they held. All other adults under forty lived in single sex barracks. It was spooky.

She only had one piece of information that was truly valuable. She'd caught a glimpse of Parman. She'd been teaching a class at the barracks in the Governor General's compound and he'd looked out a window. Parman was an alien. His skin was the wrong color.

She used a piece of her free time to check on the TARDIS. It hadn't been moved from the little park where they'd landed, but it was surrounded by guards. A crew was busily trying to open it. It looked like they'd been at it a long time. She smiled and decided to get what she knew to the Doctor.

"I found it. The continent and the five inhabited islands are being bombarded with low level radiation of a very peculiar kind. It's coming from space. From a single point in space. Jordan's people found a subliminal suggestion planted in the educational programming used in the first year of school. They hadn't discovered it before because they were concentrating their efforts on the ages of twelve to twenty. It's very simple, just prepare and follow Parman. They've checked and it's been in the program for thirty-six years."

"Hello, Doctor. Hi, Andy."

"Jo! When did you get back?!"

Jo smiled at him. His relief at seeing her was obvious. He was a bit of a mother hen. "Just now, Doctor. I put everyone out there off and came to find you and Andy. I didn't learn much. I've only got one piece of real information. Parman's an alien."

"I had decided he was, but I needed your confirmation. Barac doesn't have the science to put a program like this together. It's time I talked to Parman."

They tried to talk him out of it. All of them. Jo and Andy, because he refused to let them go with him; Jordan, because he knew too much about the resistance. Jo and Andy gave up. When he didn't yell at them, just quietly said, "I'm going. Alone." they realized he believed it had to be done.

He solved the problem of how to meet Parman by the simple expedient of knocking on his front door. When the young man in uniform answered it, the Doctor said, "I'm the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. The blue box you can't open is my TARDIS. Tell Parman I want to see him. Do it now."

He stood in the foyer under guard for less than ten minutes before he was ushered into Parman's office. "Hello, Doctor, I'm Parman. You may not believe this, but I'm very pleased you're here." He held out his hand and smiled.

The Doctor shook his hand. Planetary Dictator didn't seem to fit the pleasant sixty-ish man standing in front of him. "I'm surprised to say the least. I want to know why you've taken over this world."

"To keep it from being destroyed. I come from Dismar. It's about ten light years distant. The government is an oppressive totalitarianism. The methods I used to take over here were developed by my government. They didn't work on me because I never went through puberty. At least, not until I escaped. I gave myself hormone injections once I got here. After I was sure the radiation effects had worn off. Dismar intends to destroy this world. They've picked up transmissions from it and they fear it. I couldn't let that happen."

"You've chosen a strange way to accomplish an altruistic goal, Parman. Why didn't you just warn these people?"

"Doctor, this was a totally open democracy. There was no way it could have maintained silence. If Dismar had learned I'd warned them, they'd have launched an attack forty years ago. An attack to destroy, not conquer. Barac had no defenses capable of stopping a missile bombardment. Now they do. I've been feeding scientific 'discoveries' to them for forty years. Five years ago I mobilized the population I'd prepared. They're ready. Dismar's government has been in power for nearly two hundred years. They work to a plan. The attack on Barac is part of a forty year plan. Now they're ready. I expect the attack within a few days. I'm going to turn the government back over to the baracans. I've already sent a message to Jordan Parath. Yes, Doctor, I've always known about the resistance. I've seen to it that every new scientific 'discovery' was leaked to them. I've tried to care for their children. The bureau that arranges couples uses every childhood record and personality assessment available. Very few of the marriages arranged will fail. It hurt me to take away the joys of youth, but I saw no other way. I had to take away freedom to preserve it. Now it is done."

The Doctor understood Parman's goals, but he definitely disagreed with his methods. "Parman, you've brainwashed almost two generations of these people. There is no way to undo that."

"Yes, Doctor, there is. I will make my first planet-wide address at mid-day tomorrow. It will consist of three words. Think for yourself. I will then remove myself from office and give this residence to the resistance as their command post. I think your friend Jordan will make an excellent Governor General. He wasn't doing too badly at it when I took it away from him."

Suddenly Parman smiled. The Doctor decided he'd probably done it far too seldom. "What are you planning on doing after tomorrow?"

"Doctor, I would have thought that would be obvious. I plan on going to prison."

In three minutes, a world changed. Within hours, the generations were working together. In two days, generals took over superbly trained troops. And husbands and wives argued, and made up. The entire population prepared for war. It came.

Parman had been wrong. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Sentence suspended. Jordan appointed him 'Special Aide to the Governor'. Jordan was no fool.

When the missiles started to fall, every scientific 'prison' became a defense facility. It hadn't taken the scientists more than a few weeks to understand why they were being 'imprisoned'. They'd cooperated willingly for five years. They were not fools either.

Few missiles were actually launched. Dismar wanted, needed, a conquest. They needed the resources of another captive population, and the mineral wealth of another planet. Troop ships fell from the sky by thousands. They met defense forces in millions. Parman had trained the youth and Jordan had trained the mature. Every hand knew a weapon. When the first troop shuttle returned to its mother ship loaded with baracan troops, Dismar lost its first ship. It was the only one. The rest ran. The troops on the planet were left behind. They fought on. They hadn't been told to stop.

"You knew this was going to happen."

"Yes, Doctor, I did."

"No one surrenders. They have to be killed. The severely injured get up from their hospital beds and attack their doctors."

"They haven't been told to stop."

"How do we tell them?"

Parman had tears in his eyes as he said, "We don't."

"I can't accept that. There must be a way. Those people aren't complete automatons. There must be a way to reach them."

"I'm afraid you're wrong on both counts, Doctor. They are, and there isn't. I've spent forty years looking for a solution. Those are people of my own world."

"Why can't we do what you did here, tell them to think for themselves?"

"All orders go through channels. Each person listens only to a specific chain of command. The top of all channels and all chains is the Presidium. It consists of eight men, all of whom must be present, who give all orders. There is no way to stop it."

"Parman, I will find a way. I must."

"I truly hope you do, Doctor. I truly pray you do."

"I'm going to need your assistance. I think Jordan will parole you to me." It was the third time the Doctor had seen him smile. He still looked out of practice.

Jordan stopped the fighting. He drugged the water supply. Everywhere. Every baracan soldier had been ordered to fill three canteens the night before. For thirty-six hours a world slept. All but the soldiers, and those in the Governor General's compound.

For thirty-six hours every baracan soldier gently carried his enemies to transport. In thirty-six hours every dismarian soldier was on one of the five islands far from the continent. There were no baracans on the islands.

The dismarians would have everything they needed to survive. The island populations had left the doors to their homes open, but they had taken every boat, aircraft, and tool of manufacture.

The problem had been removed, but not solved.

"There must be a way to break the conditioning. There must." He brought up another screen.

Andy was getting worried about the Doctor. He'd spent days searching the TARDIS data banks. He was actually wearing himself out. She didn't think he'd slept more than an hour total in the last five days. The only reason he'd eaten was because she put food, literally, in his hand. And he really didn't notice he was eating. She went to find Jo. This needed both of them.

"Doctor. Doctor!" Jo shook her head. She hadn't even gotten a 'Hmm' out of him. "DOCTOR!"

"Yes, what is it?"

"We've got an idea. Maybe you're looking for the WRONG solution." At least she'd gotten his attention. "Instead of breaking the conditioning, maybe you should be trying to cure it."

"I beg your pardon."

Andy said, "Treat it like a disease or poison. Look for a cure or antidote."

"I THOUGHT that was what I was doing!"

Good. He'd yelled. Jo felt much better. She'd been worried too. "That's not the way I meant. They've been, call it, infected. Maybe we should give them an antibiotic. Something to, like, un-trigger them. Andy, I'm not putting this very well. Help."

Andy started to speak, but he held up his hand. "No, Andy, she put it very well. Jo, what did you have in mind. Specifically."

"I really haven't got that far. I guess I kind of thought another radiation that was anti this one."

"Andy, your sister is a genius."

"Yes, Doctor, but she hides it even better than I do." The Doctor smiled. She'd missed it.

Parman had built the unit, but he really didn't understand it. The pieces had come from Dismar. He'd copied a set of plans and stolen the pieces one screw and nut at a time over a period of three years. He'd been sixteen when he began. He'd had a deadline. Someone would discover his disorder and give him hormones. He escaped a few minutes before a medical team came for him. He'd watched them from the bushes across from his home. He had been surreptitiously putting an old moth-balled ship into running order. That night he'd stolen it.

He'd spent six and a half days hiding in the asteroid belt of the Dismar system with all power off. That was the amount of time the air in the ship would last. He'd almost misjudged. He'd been unconscious, and nearly frozen, when the timer he'd set turned on the life support system.

The Doctor made a promise to himself. Someday, he would hear Parman laugh.

"The only thing to do is go get it, take it apart, and see what makes it tick." The Doctor realized 'tick' had lost them. "I'm sorry. That's a bit of human phraseology. I seem to have picked up a lot of it. It means, makes it work."

"I had gathered that. I'd just never heard it before. I think I like it." Jordan smiled. "Humans seem to have rather colorful speech, if one can judge by your companions."

"Actually, my companions are less prone to it than most. Now, Parman, we need its location. I hope a troop shuttle will reach it. The TARDIS isn't really equipped for satellite retrieval."

"They won't, but my ship will. I left it on the smaller moon. A shuttle can reach it. I'm afraid my shuttle crash landed and burned. I was a rather inexperienced pilot. I was scheduled to become a waste collector. Spacecraft weren't in my curricula."

They took it apart. The Doctor marveled at the intricate detail of the filtering process and Parman's skill in assembling it. Once they understood the 'infection', they began looking for a 'cure'.

The Doctor had a team of the best scientific minds on the planet working with him, but it took time. Once they thought they'd found it. They tried it on one of the islands, but the dismarian soldiers drilled on.

"We've found it! This time I'm sure of it!" Jo and Andy were delighted. The Doctor had hunted for them to tell them.

It worked! The dismarians' orderly ranks dissolved in chaos. Boats set out from the continent. The dismarians would be frightened and confused. They would need help. It was on the way.

But it had taken too long. Missiles began to rain from the sky. A few got through. Dismar had decided to destroy Barac.

"I'm going to Dismar."

"Doctor, you can't be serious!" Jordan was astounded. "Parman's told you what it's like there. They'd kill you."

"I plan to surrender.

If anything, Parman and Jordan looked even more incredulous. "I'm going to take one of our little 'cures' with me. I'll try to get it as close to the military command center as possible, then I'll surrender. The TARDIS and I should keep them curious long enough for it to begin working. You now have Parman's ship. See if you can create some havoc. I've rebuilt the broadcast device to use the equipment we built. Use it on some of the dismarian ships. If you can capture a few of them, take them to Dismar. See if you can get rid of their broadcast satellites."

They never got a chance to protest. He walked out as soon as he'd finished.

Jo and Andy were sure the Doctor was up to something. "I think we should get to the TARDIS, Andy. He's going to do something dangerous. He was just TOO nice to me this morning."

"I think you're right. He smiled at me and it was almost sad-looking. I think he really didn't expect to see me again."

They beat him to the TARDIS, but not by much. When they ran to hide, Andy said, "I feel guilty, but I'd rather feel guilty than let him go alone."

Jo shook her head. "I don't. He's going to need us. I'd feel guilty if I wasn't there."

The Doctor actually got the device onto the grounds of the military center. He set it deep in a hedge and switched it on. He'd gotten about thirty meters away from it when he was shot.

He'd been lucky. The soldier who shot him had either been so bad, or so good, he'd only grazed his scalp. He awoke in a cell. He thought, "Well, so much for surrendering."

He sat up carefully and felt his head. It hadn't been bandaged and was still bleeding. He hadn't been unconscious for more than a few minutes. He smiled. In a few hours, things would begin to become very confused in the command center.

"Who are you and where do you come from?"

The Doctor wondered if his interrogator knew any other questions. "I've told you several times. I'm the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. I came from the blue box down the street from where your trooper shot me."

"What are you doing here?"

Well, well, a new question. "I travel a lot. I just drop in to meet people and have a look around." He'd thought about saying, "Hanging by my wrists and dripping blood on the floor.", but didn't think the man in front of him would appreciate the humor.

"Why don't you just let me go? I'll get back in my ship and leave. You obviously don't want visitors." Why did everyone he met hit him?

A man walked in and gave his interrogator a piece of paper. He looked at it and left the room. The Doctor sighed. He supposed he'd just have to 'hang around' until he came back.

He didn't come back, but someone else came in. Several someone elses. They released him from the wall and he said, "Thank you." One of the six guards almost said something, then stopped. He looked a bit confused. The Doctor smiled at him.

They'd decided to try something else. Drugs. The Doctor took a nap. The cot was comfortable and he'd been a bit short of sleep lately. They didn't seem very happy the drug hadn't had any effect on him, so he told them it left a bad taste in his mouth. Someone had hit him. You just couldn't please some people.

The six guards returned, or perhaps it was six different guards, and escorted him through a lot of building. He was shoved into the back of a vehicle and they climbed in. He smiled and, briefly, one smiled back. He looked a bit confused.

He was escorted through a lot of building again and locked in another cell. He laid down on the bunk and finished his nap.

Andy and Jo were angry. They'd left the TARDIS right behind him and had seen him shot. They knew he wasn't badly hurt. They were trying to find a way into the building when he was brought out. They'd decided the vehicle bay was the best way in, so were nearby. His scalp was still bleeding. So was his lip. They got mad.

Jo relieved a trooper of duty and his weapon with a quick chop and followed Andy. She had relieved a driver of his vehicle. Neither soldier would awake soon and they'd left them out of sight. Couldn't leave them where someone would trip over them. Their Daddy had always taught them to be tidy.

They caught up with the other vehicle just as it passed the TARDIS. There were several troopers trying to open it. They kept getting in each other's way. Things seemed a bit confused.

They parked the vehicle and began to look for a way into another big building. They'd seen the Doctor pushed through the doors. He'd fallen and one of the guards had kicked him. They were both smiling pleasantly. They were very mad.

They really looked the place over carefully. It wasn't so much guarded as tended, by dozens of soldiers. They stood rigidly at attention at every door. It was very inconvenient. "Jo, our skin's the right color on this planet. A lot of people are going in and out. Why don't we just walk in the front door?"

"My skin's almost the right color. I still have a few tinted creases. I guess that means I can't take the weapon."

"We'll get you another one inside. I promise."

They walked in the door and down the hall as if they knew where they were going. They took the first flight of stairs down. Most cultures kept prisoners in the basement. They reached the cell area just as the Doctor was pushed into a lift. They sighed and went up the stairs. Quickly. They wanted to see where the lift stopped. It stopped at the top, the eighth floor. They peeked through the stair doors at the four troopers standing at attention in the large open area. They were happy to see the Doctor's escort leave.

"I'm sorry you gentlemen don't know what a Time Lord is, but, if you treat all visitors this way, it's no wonder. I know I wouldn't visit again."

The eight men facing him behind the clear heavy panels had to be the Presidium. Actually, men probably wasn't the right term. The Doctor had seen enough eunuchs to recognize one, or eight, when he saw them. Parman had told him members of the Presidium were selected for the position in childhood and spent their lives being prepared. The Doctor now knew what one of those preparations was. The Presidium wasn't affected by the radiation.

"He's a fool. Have him disposed of."

The Doctor decided he didn't like the fat one in the middle. Clown he might accept, but fool he definitely was not. He wondered how things were going at the military center.

"Agreed. Have him removed." They voted and it was unanimous.

The Doctor decided he didn't like any of them.

"Wait. The guard detail is back." Andy had been about to throw a few stars when Jo stopped her. They watched as the Doctor was pushed into the lift again and headed back down the stairs. They saw him loaded into the same vehicle he'd arrived in. Jo retrieved her weapon and they climbed back in the same vehicle THEY'D arrived in and followed it back to the military center. The troopers had stopped trying to get into the TARDIS. They'd loaded it on a truck and were moving it. The Doctor wouldn't be happy. He liked his TARDIS left where he put it. Now to make sure he had the chance to be unhappy. They looked for a way into the building. They found two guards arguing and slipped past them. They were both smiling. Things seemed to be getting a bit disorganized.

The Doctor decided it was probably his own fault. They probably didn't leave prisoners manacled when they put them in cells normally, but things didn't seem quite normal. He tried to find a comfortable position on the bunk with his hands behind his back. He wondered how he was to be 'disposed of'.

Things were getting simpler. Andy decided a young soldier looked lost and sweet, strolled up and asked him where the prisoners were kept. She smiled at him. He gulped a couple times and told her. She thanked him, kissed him on the cheek and strolled away. They decided not to take any chances with the guards on the cell block. Andy chose one and Jo took the other. They made them pliable and stuffed them in a storage closet. They had to leave the two inside the door behind a desk. They couldn't find a closet. Jo found the Doctor's cell and Andy opened it. They were very quiet. He was asleep and they figured the extra six seconds would do him good. He hadn't gotten a lot lately. They stooped down in front of him and his eyes snapped open. He said, "You're not supposed to be here."

Andy pulled something long, thin, and very sharp from her hair and picked the lock on the manacles. The Doctor dropped them on the bunk closed, pulled a card from the air, and left it. They relocked the door to the cell and replaced the keys on the guard's belt. A little more confusion wouldn't hurt.

"Why couldn't they just leave it where it was?" They shushed him. They'd found the TARDIS, but there were about forty people in the room with it. A large laser was being used on the door.

Jo said, "Damn, look at those three by the table over there. Doctor, they found your toy." The men were busily dismantling it.

"Well, we shall just have to build another. Let's find a parts store."

The Doctor called it cramped, Jo called it convenient, and Andy called it cozy. They'd found a storage shed on the grounds of the lab where the radiation units were built. Jo found where completed units were stored and removed them. She left the empty containers, because the shelves had looked so bare without them. There were eight of them. They kept having to remind the Doctor not to sing while he was rebuilding them. They left one switched on in the little shed and went to find homes for the rest.

"These are much more powerful than the unit I brought. They're designed to be used on a planet from space. I had to decrease the emission rate considerably, but they'll still work much faster."

"Doctor, once we hide that unit, we need to hide. It's going to get real strange here. I want someplace I can relax and watch."

"How about that building over there, Jo? The top floor looks empty. We'll leave this unit under those bushes." He'd had enough small places lately. The shed hadn't been any bigger than the cell. The top floor of the warehouse looked nice and roomy. It was. It also had water, a lavatory, and about eight million packages of food. The food was field rations and not very good, but it was food. They relaxed; they rested; and they watched.

"I think we should go get the TARDIS."

It had been four days and things were very confused. The Doctor had just seen two fights and a flirtation on the street below. All in the last ten minutes.

"Doctor, how long would it take Jordan to get here?"

"About ten days, Andy. Why?"

"Ten days is plenty of time to start a freedom movement."

He smiled at her and nodded.

Andy and Jo recruited and the Doctor taught. Philosophy, ethics, political science. He also taught them what had been done to them. But the most important thing he taught them was to think for themselves. They taught others.

It was twenty days before Jordan and Parman arrived. The planet was in full scale revolution, but of a very quiet nature. No shots were fired. No one was killed. No totalitarianism died more peacefully. People just quit doing what they were ordered to do.

As orders ended, cooperation began. They were escorted to the Doctor's temporary school by a young man who was 'just helping out'. They stood in the shadows and watched for a few moments.

They'd expected to find the planet in chaos. They'd replaced the satellites with their own. They had expected chaos and found good order. And they had found the reason.

"I am not going!"

"Doctor, it's in your honor. It wouldn't be polite not to go." Andy just couldn't understand. It wasn't a political reception. It was a dance.

"You would be missed, Doctor." Parman didn't understand it either. He was looking forward to it. He'd never been to a dance.

"You go. I'll wait for you. I hate being lionized." He realized he'd lost them. "Made a fuss over. I don't like it, and I'M NOT GOING!"

Jo said, "Doctor, you're just so cute when you get stubborn." and she and Andy went to get ready.

The Doctor just watched them go. She'd called him cute. Again. And he hadn't been able to think of anything to say. Again.

He spun around and smiled. Parman was half-lying on the console, too weak with laughter to stand. He began to laugh too. That evening he took Jo and Andy to the dance. He felt like celebrating. Now, if the High Council just didn't find out...

## Circle of Prophecy

"Dad met our mother on a planet called Duram's Strike. I guess it was pretty inhospitable."

"But very rich in valuable minerals."

"Especially vanadium."

The Doctor smiled. Jo had started the tale, now they were telling the story a line apiece. They were going to tell him as much as they knew about Andy's name: Romana Andrea. "Dad was prospecting alone in the hills."

"He heard a ship crash and went looking for it."

"He pulled two women from the wreckage."

"They were both alive, but in pretty bad shape."

"There was some type of alien with them."

"But it was dead."

"He didn't know what it was."

"Just that it was big and furry."

"He'd set up camp in a cave and gotten one of the women to it."

"He was about half-way there with the other when he heard the ship blow."

"Duram's Strike had pretty primitive facilities."

"He figured he could give the women as good care as they'd get in town."

"Besides, he had a prospecting scoot for transport."

"And wasn't sure he could get them both on it."

"Both women had long blond hair."

"But one's had been singed pretty bad."

"He wasn't sure either of them was going to make it."

"It was two days before one of them woke up."

"It was our mother."

"I guess the first thing she asked was if the other woman was alive."

"Dad told her yes."

"He told us Mother told him she was too important to too many to lose."

"I guess the other woman woke up not much later."

"We don't know how long he took care of them."

"But it must have been quite awhile."

"Mother seemed the worst off."

"The other woman helped him take care of her."

"She wouldn't tell him anything about herself."

"Told him the less he knew, the safer he was."

"As soon as she knew Mom was going to make it, she said she had to leave."

"I guess Mother and Dad were already in love."

"Mother seemed to think she should go with her."

"But she told her, her place was with Dad."

"Dad took her to town and got supplies."

"He never saw her again."

"She never even told him her name."

"Dad and Mother got married on Duram's Strike."

"They were real happy together."

"Hopping from world to world prospecting."

"Finding just a bit more than they needed to survive."

"They'd been married about four years when we came along."

"Mother named us."

"Dad always figured Romana had been the other woman's name."

"He'd never heard it before."

"About a year and a half after we were born."

"They were on a world called Opal."

"Another barely habitable mining planet."

"Mother went to town for supplies and didn't come back."

"A prospector Dad had run into off and on for years brought him the news."

"Mother had been found dead by the wrecked scoot."

"Dad never really believed it was an accident."

"He told us it was, but we could see he didn't really believe it."

"That's all we know."

"Thank you." The Doctor smiled at them. "I think your mother's friend and mine were the same person. If they were, you were named after someone very special, Andy. I'm sorry, but I won't tell you much about her. If knowing her was dangerous to your mother, it may still be." Seeing their disappointed expressions, he said, "But I can tell you of some of our travels together."

He told them of Meglos, Paris, and the Leisure Hive. He didn't tell them how they'd met, or how she'd left. Those stories could be dangerous. And he told them of Adric.

"We've landed. Shall we have a look?"

"All right, Doctor, but all this peace and tranquillity stuff sounds pretty boring." Jo was not really looking forward to a 'nice quiet day'.

"It's beautiful!" He'd been sure Andy would like the Eye of Orion. "I'm going to find a sketch pad. I'll never do it justice, but I have to try."

They stayed three days. Andy sketched and Jo got the Doctor to tell stories. He'd noticed his memories had become clearer since the incident on Cordahm. Sometimes, too much clearer.

They wandered. They'd land, stay a few days and move on. He showed them the wonders of the universe. It was one of the most peaceful times he'd ever known. It lasted nearly six months. He had a tendency to keep track of time by the old Earth system. He'd been there quite awhile.

"Doctor, we're having a birthday we think. Jo and I want to have a birthday party."

"How soon is this birthday?"

"Well, we're not really sure. But we think it's either over with or about to arrive. We've picked three days from now as a good guess. We'll be twenty. This is the second birthday we've had since we met you."

"You didn't say anything about the last one."

"We were busy at the time and it just slipped by."

"I think I know a good place for a birthday party. How would you like to visit Colleen and James on Micorn?"

Jo said, "Wow, that'd be great."

He smiled and set the coordinates. He did it carefully. He wanted to arrive AFTER they'd been there last time. He needn't have bothered.

"Jo, get those straps I showed you! Good. Get braced fast." He wasn't about to try to break free of the time corridor they were caught in. He remembered the last time he'd tried it. Too well. "We'll have to ride this to its origin. Someone's playing with time again. We shall have to find out who. I'm sorry about the birthday party. Now hang on. This will be rough."

It was. It was also a very long journey. They spent nearly seven hours hanging on and feeling as if they were being spread thin, then jammed back together again. When it ended, even the Doctor was tired.

He tried to find out where and when they were, but the time corridor had burned out one of the TARDIS' circuits. Even after replacing it, all he could learn was they'd traveled a long way into the past. He turned on the viewer and saw mist. It seemed to be of the natural sort, so he checked atmosphere and radiation. Assured they were safe, he prepared to go out and find the source of the corridor.

"I want you to stay here this time. At least until I find out where we are. No one here should be capable of creating a time corridor. Especially, as long as the one we came through. I won't be long." He smiled. "I promise."

Andy and Jo didn't like it, but they didn't argue, much. They watched him on the viewer until he disappeared into the mist.

"Andy, he's been gone too long. Something's happened to him. I'm sure of it."

"I'm beginning to agree with you. We'll wait a bit longer. He had a device to track the time distortion. We don't. That fog is so thick, we could be lost in minutes."

"I'll find a compass. We'll map as we go. We know the direction he went, so we'll start off that way."

"Jo, I see him! He's coming back!"

Jo opened the door and the Doctor hurried toward the light.

"I found the device and switched it off. I looked for any sign of the people who built it, but couldn't find any. I was afraid to wander too far afield. That fog is so thick, even I could have gotten lost. There could be an entire city a kilometer away and I wouldn't have been able to see it. Ah, good, a compass. I shall need it when I go out again."

"Doctor, this time we're going with you." Jo hated being left behind. "I was on my way out the door when Andy saw you on the viewer. You might as well take us. We'd just follow you anyway."

"Jo, I still don't know if there's anyone out there. If there is, I'm going to have to find a way to convince them to keep that corridor shut down. They may not want to. If not, I must destroy it. The technology is very advanced, but some of the materials are a bit primitive. There's something strange about this whole thing. I'd like to proceed carefully. You two have a tendency to yell "Geronimo" and jump in with both feet."

He had to explain Geronimo to them. He'd evidently picked it up from Wren. It wasn't from the culture he usually associated with on Earth. Jo was delighted with the term. It suited her perfectly. The Doctor was sorry he'd used it. He expected he'd be hearing it quite often. He finally won the argument. Jo tried telling him he was cute, but it didn't work. They agreed to wait, but gave him a time limit. He was nearly ready to leave when the natives arrived.

They encircled the TARDIS, but they looked friendly. They heaped piles of food and trinkets in front of the door and sat down to wait. The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Jo and Andy and opened the doors.

The natives were VERY friendly. He was the hero from the prophecy. They'd waited for him since the world began. He had come to rid them of the demons. It began to get dark and they became terrified. They begged him to save them. They were too far away from the place of safety. They would not make it in time. The demons would take them. The Doctor realized their terror was genuine. He couldn't leave them outside to face it, and he needed to know more before HE did. He took a very unusual step and led them all into the TARDIS. They told him he'd just fulfilled another piece of the prophecy.

"I put them in the cloisters. I didn't think some were going to make it. They were somnolent by the time they got there." Jo was still surprised at the way the natives had fallen asleep. They'd just tumbled to the floor and slept.

"They must be totally diurnal. I've never seen a humanoid race like them before. They'd be helpless against anything that could move in the night. I need to learn more about this prophecy. They definitely haven't the skill to build a time corridor. It's been there a very long time. Someone should have discovered it before. The technology was too easy to understand. Almost as if it was designed to be turned off by the first person that came along."

He didn't tell them just HOW easily he had understood the technology. It looked like something he had built himself.

"Andy, I'm sorry to wake you so early, but I want us all there when the natives awaken. I want every word of the prophecy written down. I'll be asking questions, so I want you to do it. Wake Jo and come to the cloisters."

As soon as he'd gone, Andy scrambled to get ready. He'd never even come into her room before, let alone awakened her in her bed. He usually just knocked and shouted for her to wake up. She grabbed stylus and pad and ran to get Jo.

They ran into the cloisters and saw him sitting on a bench. They looked at each other and crossed the floor strewn with sleeping natives. Jo sat on the floor on one side of his feet and Andy sat on the other. He laid a hand on a shoulder of each of them and they waited. The natives were beginning to stir.

The prophecy was delivered in sing-song and it was definitely about him. He'd found out why no one had ever run into the corridor. It had been turned on the previous day. The prophecy told the natives how to do it and when. "In the fifth year of the one hundredth Cal-Ban on the longest of days."

The chief was the one hundredth Cal-Ban and yesterday had been the longest day of the fifth year he had been chief.

The prophecy described the three of them. Andy and Jo were happy with being; "fairest of maids, hair of sun through morning mist". The Doctor wasn't as pleased with; "brightly cloaked, hair of gold and girth as from great feasting." Andy pointed out the natives were very thin and he felt a little better, but not a lot. She'd been giggling a bit too hard when she said it.

"The prophecy said we were with you. We're going. Don't argue, Doctor."

"Jo's right. We won't listen this time. The prophecy says we go with you to battle these Hagish things and we're going."

The Doctor knew when to surrender. He hadn't really expected to win. He was becoming more and more certain he'd set this up himself, and he'd told himself to take them with him. He was worried. The last line of the prophecy had been: "And if he succeeds the prophecy will be fulfilled; if not, it will never have been".

Cal-Ban led them to the cave that was the entrance to the underground domain of the Hagish. He was terrified, but the prophecy told he would do it. The Doctor learned the natives hadn't always fallen asleep as soon as night came. It had begun with the coming of the Hagish. Cal-Ban's people had ceased to advance at that point. The Hagish took all the ones that dreamed of new things. Once there had been many more of them. The ones who were left gathered each night in a cave. They rolled a great stone across its mouth. Each morning the stone was smaller. Soon the Hagish would break through.

"Doctor, I'm not sure I understand that part about the void." They'd stopped to rest on a ledge. They'd been climbing downward for about three hours.

"It means space, Jo. If we don't stop them, the Hagish will consume the last of Cal-Ban's people and take off into space."

"Yeah, to 'grow in numbers and consume the life of worlds'. What are they, Doctor? They sound like some kind of cannibals."

"Or vampires." Andy wasn't pleased with the idea, but she couldn't get rid of it. "I'm worried about this power to make all the natives sleep. You told us most things like that couldn't get into the TARDIS, but the natives were near comatose."

"It worries me too, but worrying doesn't change anything. I didn't get sleepy last night. Whatever it is, it hasn't any effect on me." He didn't mention they had nearly fallen asleep on their feet in the console room. He didn't need to.

"It's a space ship all right. Looks like it was pretty badly damaged when it landed, but it's been repaired. I didn't see anyone. Maybe these hagish sleep during the day like the natives do at night." Jo hoped so. She had the explosives and she wanted to destroy the ship. Now.

She'd been the one who scouted the shaft that led to daylight. The Doctor could have gotten through it, but it would have been tight. The base of the ship had been fifty meters below her. The nose cone rose another thirty above her head.

"I can't believe they got it in that hole. It's sheer walls two hundred fifty meters up. And the fins don't have three meters clearance all around."

The Doctor could tell she wanted to set the charges. "We can't chance destroying it now, Jo. We could collapse the entire cavern system. We have to deal with the Hagish first. We'll have to set a timer and get to the surface before the explosion."

The journey was no longer going well. They'd tried one tunnel after another and met with dead ends. They finally found the route down, but it had taken too long. Night would come soon and, if Jo was correct, so would the Hagish.

"Doctor, we need to find a place to hide. I'm getting sleepy. I'm not sure how much further I can make it."

"I'll look for one. You and Jo stay here. I won't be long."

He didn't find one. The hagish found him. Hagish. He'd have laughed if their claws weren't so sharp. They looked like the hags and witches from the fairy tales of Earth. They looked hagish.

He fought, but there were too many. He cried out when the first one sank its teeth into his neck. The hagish weren't vampires or cannibals. They weren't drinking his blood. They were feeding on his life force. They were consuming his spirit. Just before he lost consciousness, one said, "We shall feed well on this one. It is strong. Its very flesh tastes of power. Do not kill it. It will feed us many times. Taste its sweetness."

Jo and Andy awoke in a pit, without their packs. The food and water they'd carried were nearby. They saw their first hagish when it leaned over the edge and said, "Catch it. Warm it. While it lives, we shall not need you."

A pair of filthy blankets were dropped, then ugly clawed hands lowered the Doctor over the side. Jo and Andy rushed to catch him as the hands let him drop. They broke his fall and eased him to the floor. Jo hit the wall and cursed. Andy began to cry. His skin was like ice and he bled from a hundred bites.

They warmed him the only way they could. With themselves. Jo at his back and Andy his front. They pulled the blankets over them and shivered. They hoped they could warm him before he froze them.

He awoke between them. He was surprised and slightly embarrassed. He started to get up and they held him. Andy said, "No, don't try. You're still very cold. Let us get you warm. There's food and water here. The hagish want you alive."

"Yes, I know. They like the way I taste. They said I was sweet."

Andy and Jo began to giggle. He was relieved. It was the first time he'd heard fear in her voice. It was for him. He smiled. He couldn't recall feeling giggles before. They tickled.

They wrapped him in the blankets and made sure he ate well, then they began to clean the bites. Andy tore off a piece of her shirt to clean them. The blankets were too dirty. He tried to stop them saying, "I don't infect easily.", but Jo told him to be quiet and sit still. Andy began to cry again, but she kept her head down so he wouldn't see.

Everywhere a vein showed through his fair skin, fangs had left their mark.

He knew it was night when the girls fell asleep. Jo and Andy had struggled to stay awake, but had soon succumbed.

The hagish came for him again. They dropped a net over him and one climbed down a rope ladder and tightened it around him. It knocked him over and hooked a rope through the metal rings at the corners of the net. It climbed the rope ladder as the others hauled him out of the pit. It was night and they were hungry. He stayed conscious longer and fought them. He was learning how to defend himself. He hoped he would learn in time.

He awoke in the same position as before. He said, "I'm beginning to feel like a piece of cheese. Nibbled and sandwiched." Giggles tickled.

He told them he was learning to fight the hagish. They asked him how. As he tried to describe it, he defined it for himself. He had a way to fight. He didn't tell them how weak he was. But they knew.

Jo and Andy were learning to fight too. It was well into the night before they fell asleep and the Doctor was taken. The hagish didn't feed as long, or well, but they fed.

Andy and Jo warmed him, then realized how hot he was becoming. He was fevered. Some of the bite marks were red and puffy. His vitality was low and infection had set in. They had to stop the hagish from taking him again.

He awoke wrapped in blankets with his head in Andy's lap. It was nearly mid-day. His strength was waning. "Hello."

"Hello, Doctor. You've been out a long time. You've got a fever. The hagish found my barrette, but Jo's found a piece of flint. We have to drain some of the bites."

"Hi, Doctor. I'm kind of sorry you're awake."

Jo had gotten the flint as sharp as she could, but it was no scalpel. The Doctor looked at the bites and agreed it had to be done. Jo began to work on them.

"Andy, I can put up with what Jo's doing, but, if you don't stop dripping on my face, I'm going to stop this." She smiled and quit dripping.

That night, when the hagish came for him, he was asleep. Jo and Andy weren't. Jo yelled at them, "If you want any more from him, you have to let him rest. Your filthy bites are infected and he's sick. If you take him tonight, you won't get much. He'll DIE! Now, LEAVE and let us TEND HIM!"

They left. He was sweet when he was strong.

The Doctor awakened stronger and his fever was down. They had drained some of the infection, but they hadn't cured it.

"I've got to try and heal myself. I'm going to try a healing trance. I don't know when I'll wake. Get some sleep. You'll have to find some way to keep them from taking me if I'm not out of it by nightfall."

He wasn't. Andy and Jo kept the hagish away. Every time one peeked in, they threw a rock at it and their aim was near perfect. They smiled very pleasantly. The hagish were beginning to fear them. They had learned to fight the sleep.

The Doctor came out of his trance in the morning. He ate, then slept. Jo and Andy slept too. The hagish were nocturnal. They wouldn't come 'til nightfall. When they did, they were going to be surprised.

The Doctor wakened them in the late afternoon. He smiled and said, "Let's get out of this smelly hole."

Jo got on his shoulders and he stood up with her. He had healed a great deal. They held the wall while Andy climbed them. She couldn't get enough purchase to climb out, so Jo put her hands under her feet and pushed her. Andy scrambled out and hunted for the ladder. She found it, secured it, and sent it down. Jo and the Doctor climbed out. The Doctor said, "Let's find the packs. I think it's time to remove their transport."

They found the packs, but not the hagish. Jo had cheerfully suggested they blow them up too.

"One reason they kept you was to pilot this ship."

"Doctor, you're joking!" Andy thought she'd be able to get it out, but she couldn't imagine doing it for the hagish.

"They planned to use Jo to force you. They were quite pleased with the plan. Jo as hostage, you for pilot and me for dinner. They explained it between bites. There, we've got twelve hours to dispose of the hagish and get to the surface."

"OK, the last one's attached and camouflaged. I put it between the fuel tanks." Jo smiled sweetly. "Only one of them is full, but it should make a very nice bang."

"Good. Let's find the hagish. When they try to bite me this time, I'm going to bite back." Finding his clothes had cheered him immensely.

Night fell and they hadn't found them. Their twelve hours were nine and the hagish were awake somewhere. Jo and Andy found their sleeping cavern. They had to leave the Doctor behind. He couldn't get through the narrow crevice. They were about to leave the filthy, smelly, place, when they heard him yell, "Not this time, you don't!" They squirmed through the opening and joined the melee.

The hagish just wouldn't die. Jo finally picked up two rocks and smashed one's head between them. She didn't know if it was dead, but at least it hadn't gotten back up and gone for the Doctor.

Andy grabbed two rocks of her own and followed Jo's lead. She was tired of being ignored. The hagish hadn't even fought her. When she pulled one out and punched it, it got up and rejoined the mob around the Doctor.

The Doctor was fighting them his way. He was on one knee in the midst of them. He'd been bitten several times, but had ignored it. He was taking back all they had taken from him, drawing his essence back into himself. He was succeeding. So were Jo and Andy. They had about a dozen out of the battle. The Doctor had to be winning. They were getting easier to get rid of. A couple dozen more and they'd be done. The hagish changed tactics.

They'd begun to fear the Doctor. They no longer tried to feed on him. They started trying to kill him. They carried him to the floor under their weight and began to claw and bite at his neck.

The Doctor curled up and put his arms over his neck. They ripped and tore at them. He clasped his hands behind his neck and ducked his head. They were after his carotid artery. He curled tighter and fought on.

The hagish finally noticed Jo and Andy, but only one at a time. If one went after Andy, Jo got it. If after Jo, Andy did the honors. It slowed them, but they were still making progress. There were about a dozen left around the Doctor. Then one they'd smashed got up. Jo groaned. They'd just have to work faster.

The Doctor had taken back all of himself. He thought he could take some of them. It was a mistake. He pulled a piece of essence from a hagish and it began to feed. He fought to rid himself of it. It was filthy and evil and it was gleeful he had given it a new body. The hagish was a parasite of the soul.

Jo and Andy heard him cry out and worked faster. They spun the last few away from him and lifted him to his feet. They didn't know what was wrong, but they got him stumbling toward the exit.

They'd come down the hard way. The hagish had a simpler route. They found it and half-supported, half-carried, the Doctor up it. The hagish pursued them. Jo dropped back. Andy struggled to keep the Doctor moving.

Jo found a way to block the tunnel, but two of the hagish escaped her rock slide. She ran to catch them, a rock in each hand. She got one, then the other, and ran to help Andy with the Doctor.

The battle and journey took about six hours. Cal-Ban found them two hours later, lost in the mist. They'd come out facing another direction and headed almost directly away from the TARDIS.

They were nearly there when the ship blew. The entire mountain caved in and the ground shook. They fell with the Doctor and couldn't get him up again. Cal-Ban reached down, picked him up, and ran with him to the TARDIS. Jo and Andy stared after him for an instant, too stunned to move. Then they raced after him. Cal-Ban was one strong native.

They caught up with him at the TARDIS doors. He laid the Doctor on the console room floor and said, "The last words of the prophecy are for this day. And Cal-Ban shall find them, wandering lost in the morn. The world will shake and the maidens will fall. Cal-Ban will take up the hero and carry him. He will run with him to his magic place and he will tell the maidens, "Hit the button. Find Calla."

He bowed and left. Jo closed the doors and Andy hit the emergency override. They watched the Doctor as he lay unmoving for the two days of the journey. Andy wrote down the last lines of the prophecy.

They landed in the midst of a battle, but they had to find Calla. They opened the doors and a man and woman ran in. Jo said, "Find Calla." and the man ran out. The woman closed the doors.

"Hi, I'm Liberty. What happened?" They told her as much as they knew and watched the viewscreen. They saw the man leading a very pregnant woman through the gunfire. Two kids of about sixteen were with them, giving running cover fire. Liberty opened the doors and they all ran in. She closed the doors.

The pregnant woman knelt by the Doctor and took his head in her hands. She looked at Liberty and she and the man knelt beside her. The two teenagers joined them. Jo looked at Andy and shrugged. They knelt too.

They were caught up in the love pouring from the man and the women. Love for the Doctor. They learned the way of it and added their own. The two teens added theirs and Calla used the burning light of their love against the evil darkness of the hagish.

She bathed the Doctor's soul with light. Suddenly, he blazed in her mind. He was free of it! She fed his weakened spirit with her own and the others. They were not weakened. The gift of love does not diminish. It strengthens the one who gives. The Doctor opened his eyes and said, "Hello. It's nice to be home."

The boy said, "Wow!" Jo said, "I'll say."

"NO!"

"YES!" Liberty took a deep breath and calmed herself. This was getting them nowhere.

Jo said, "You could always do what I do, tell him he's cute when he gets stubborn." The Doctor looked disgusted and Liberty burst into laughter.

Andy had listened to the argument and agreed with Liberty. "Doctor, do it her way. Take her son and the materials you need. Build the corridor device and let him deliver the prophecy. Jo and I will stay here and help." Jo looked surprised, but didn't say anything. Andy always had good reasons, but she had better explain them later. "This war could take awhile, Doctor. You need to get this done while you still remember exactly how it was built. I didn't understand your explanation of loops and paradoxes. But I did understand; if you did it, you've got to do it. Something MIGHT happen to you here. You owe it to the universe not to let anything stop you from destroying the hagish. The TARDIS is a time machine. Come back tomorrow."

The Doctor smiled. He knew when to surrender.

"We're going too."

"No! You'll stay here with your grandmother." The Doctor watched in amazement. He could tell Wren was going to lose this argument with his children.

"You need us. She doesn't. You can't say we'd be safer with her. Not with all these bullets flying around."

"And the Doctor's friends look like they can fill any hole we leave in the defenses." The Doctor smiled. Wren's son and daughter weren't twins, but they knew how to split a paragraph.

"Dad, the natives need something spectacular to make sure they remember. You need us to help arrange it. Lib can handle the stage dressing and I'll take care of the fireworks."

Wren grinned and shook his head. He knew when to surrender too.

"Shala was killed by the first shell. That was three years ago. This is the fifth attack. We still don't know why."

"Wren, how long has it been for you?"

"Seventeen years, Doctor. I married Shala right after you left. She was the right woman and the others needed an example. Peral is sixteen and Lib is one day less than a year younger."

"Lib?"

Wren grinned. "Shala named her after Mom. Guinevere Liberty. Mom tried to get her to leave off the Guinevere. I got her to name our boy Peral instead of Warren, but he's got the Galahad part. Your next question is going to be about Calla's baby. I don't know if you remember Peral. He was the first rebel on this world. It took him five years to realize Calla was the one, then eight more to convince her. She'd been abused badly by men. She knew he loved her and trusted him, but you're the only man she'd let touch her. Willingly. This is their second. She's only thirty-one. She's healthy and she didn't have any problems last time."

"Thirty-one! She was only fourteen!"

"Yeah she matured early." Wren's face became grim. "Ben started abusing her when she was twelve. It was why she hated him so much. That was one bastard that deserved to die."

"We've landed. Shall we set a prophecy in motion?"

They helped the Doctor get the equipment to the hills, then Peral scouted for the native village. He found it about a half day's walk from the TARDIS.

Lib created Wren's costume, then Peral's and hers. Peral went to arrange fireworks. Wren would deliver the prophecy, but Lib and Peral would teach it to the natives. They'd memorized it to perfection. Wren was cribbing. He'd spent too much time chatting with the Doctor.

The Doctor heard the aerial bomb go off and smiled. He'd removed the part about girth from the prophecy. He didn't realize how well Andy knew him. She'd drawn Lib aside and put it back in.

A cloud of smoke arose from the ground and a maid stepped from it. She turned and bowed and a great thunder came. A great warrior with skin of gold and eyes the color of the sky appeared. He gave them a prophecy.

Cal-Ban, the chief, trembled. He had known him and called him the first. The warrior disappeared in smoke. Pink smoke. The maid became smoke, then maid and youth. She called to them to learn the words of the prophecy, so they could teach their children and their children's children, until the time of the one hundredth Cal-Ban.

The maid sang, then the youth sang. The people sang it back to them. They were patient with the people. They told them to make fire and bring food, for they would not learn well if cold or hungry. The people offered them food and the maid and youth ate with them. When the feast was done, the prophecy was taught. When all the people sang the prophecy, the last words were told. They were for Cal-Ban. He stood before the maid and youth and sang the strange words, "Hit the button. Find Calla."

The people sang the prophecy once more and Cal-Ban sang his words. The sky exploded with light and sound and the maid and youth smiled on them. The ground before them streamed light towards the heavens and they were gone. The people sang the prophecy long into the night.

"See, you needed us." Peral was helping his dad get the gold makeup off. "You couldn't have been both prophet and teacher and been anywhere near as effective."

"You're right. Now, what did you really want to talk to me about?"

It was morning again before the Doctor arrived. He looked absolutely jovial. "I built a self-destruct into it. One day after it's switched off, all the circuits will fuse. I was almost done when I remembered seeing the little red wire I was holding in my hand. It completed the circuit and the circle. Now, I believe we have a war to stop. I'm taking us back as close to the time we left as possible. I hope within the hour."

They arrived five minutes after they'd left. This time the TARDIS landed behind the lines, not between them.

## Just Whistle

"One of the biggest problems we have is total lack of communication. We don't have any idea who they are or what they want. They're not trying to totally wipe us out, or they'd have just shelled us into non-existence."

The Doctor doubted that. He knew Liberty too well. The hills would have been filled with survivors. "They've made no attempt to communicate at all? No ultimatums?"

"No, Doctor. Nothing. We're not even sure where they're from. We haven't seen any ships land. This is the only area of the planet that was colonized, so they must be from off-world."

"Wren said this was the fifth attack in three years. They must be falling back to regroup somewhere."

"Somewhere is right. Each time they pull back we send people to look for them. We've searched better than a thousand kilometers in every direction. Nothing."

"This is quite a puzzle. Have you tried to capture one?"

"We quit trying after the third one killed himself. We're not even sure how he did it. We know they're a different species because we did an autopsy on him. That's the total of our knowledge."

"Liberty, how heavy have your casualties been?"

"We lost fifty in the first attack. Nineteen in the second. Since then we've lost twenty-two more. Near a hundred out of a population of under three thousand."

"Show me the defenses."

The Doctor could see Liberty's hand in the defensive organization. Ben's fortress was gone, but every one of its stones had been put to good use. The town was walled and buried. No structure showing more than a meter above ground and covered with earth. Weapons emplacements faced in all directions and earthwork shelters were only meters away from any point. A tunnel led from the underground hospital and school complex two thousand meters to a hidden cave in the hills. Morale was excellent and training superb. The town was defensible and well defended. He'd expected nothing less.

"I'm going to have to get a look at them. There's something that doesn't make sense in all this. They'll never take this place with this type of attack."

"Thank you, Doctor. That WAS the idea. I kept expecting them to change tactics. Try something else. They don't seem to know how. They don't seem to learn anything one attack to the next. Just show up, shell and shoot, disappear, show up and start over."

"Liberty! You've got the answer!"

"What?!"

"Think about it. Always the same tactics. Appear and disappear at regular intervals. At least that's the impression I've gotten. No heavy bombardment. No attempt to actually take the town. Think about it."

"Why didn't I see it before?! It's obvious."

"You were too busy defending yourself. Now, shall we find out who is using you to train their troops?"

The Doctor watched the troops disappear. They formed into orderly columns and marched into nowhere. It wasn't a time corridor. The TARDIS would have detected that. He'd never seen anything quite like it. He moved into position to follow.

Andy and Jo were hunting him. They'd seen him move toward the attacker's rear when the shelling stopped. He was up to something and he was going to need them.

There was actually quite a contingent following him. Andy and Jo were unaware Wren was behind them. He didn't realize Lib and Peral were trailing him.

Liberty had seen them all slip out and she watched as they all moved into position to follow. She smiled. She wouldn't follow this time. She was needed by her people, but the Doctor was going to have plenty of help.

As soon as the last trooper disappeared, the Doctor ran for the... whatever it was. Andy and Jo sprinted for it. Wren moved out at a dead run and Lib and Peral were right behind him.

They landed in a pile with the Doctor on the bottom. "Do you MIND? The idea was to see what is going on. I DOUBT I'll see much with all of you on TOP of me." He sounded extremely disgusted.

They sorted themselves out with an assortment of sheepish smiles. The reason they'd all landed on the Doctor vas the size of the room they were in. He'd stopped at the double doors that made up the entire wall about three meters in front of him. They were much closer now. About fifteen centimeters from his nose. He picked himself up and glared at them. "Now, if you would all KINDLY go back through, I'd like to get on with this."

"Sorry, Doctor. The gateway seems to have closed." Peral grinned at his dad. He looked like he'd been planning on saying about the same thing as the Doctor. Except, he'd have specified Peral and Lib.

The Doctor looked at the blank wall behind him. He didn't look happy. He'd planned a one man reconnoiter and he'd ended up with a platoon. And a rather heavily armed one at that. "Were you planning on an armed assault?"

They all knew what he meant. Even Lib and Peral had heard enough stories to know how he felt about weapons. Wren said, "I've gotten so used to carrying it, I didn't even think about it. Sorry." He grinned at the Doctor. "I'd leave it here, but someone might trip over it and hurt themselves."

The Doctor gave Andy and Jo a dirty look and they stifled their giggles. Lib got hers under control and they all stood grinning at him. He threw his hands up in disgust and turned back toward the doors. He smiled as he pushed one open a few millimeters to peek through.

They had to wait for the staging room to clear. When it had, they quietly circled the huge room, hugging the walls and staying in the shadows as much as possible. They could only hope the cameras focused on the center of it missed them.

Getting out of the room presented a problem til Peral found a small locked door in the far corner. They had definitely not wanted to use any of the huge automated doors that ran up on tracks across the ceiling. The Doctor reached for his vest pocket, but Andy had already pulled the 'barrette' from her hair and was working on the lock. He shook his head. Sometimes his companions were a bit too efficient. He liked to do some things for himself. Andy peeked through the door and said, "It's dark, no guards on the door, large open area, bushes a hundred meters to the left." and slipped out. The Doctor followed with the rest close behind.

They all made the cover of the bushes and looked out on the base. It was huge. Barracks and drill squares stretched into the distance. It was a long-time permanent installation. The building they'd come from was a new addition. It was on the perimeter of the base.

"Andy, Jo, get me an estimate on the numbers. Wren, lose the weapon and see if you can find out who they're fighting. I'm going to see if I can locate the source of the gateway and find out where we are. And how we got here." Weapons went into the bushes and they set off. The Doctor turned around and saw Peral and Lib grinning at him. They'd gotten rid of their weapons and were waiting for him to lead on. He said, "You two, stay under cover."

"Sorry, Doctor. The cover's not much good around here. And as long as we're with you, Dad can find you to report. You're stuck with us." Peral grinned at him. "We'd just follow you anyway."

"Peral's right, Doctor. I'd be afraid to face Grandmother if anything happened to you. You'll just have to put up with our company. Those are living quarters down there," She pointed to the neat rows of houses laid out below them on the opposite side of the bushes from the barracks area. "and that cluster of buildings on the hill above the base looks like Admin. I think we should see what's behind the building we came out of."

"That WAS what I had in mind." The Doctor had seen Wren lose an argument with these two. He decided it wasn't worth the effort. "All right, come on, but try to keep under cover. I'D hate to face your grandmother if something happened to YOU." He led them around the building.

"Doctor, what IS that thing?"

Lib had asked a very good question. It was huge. The barrel stretched a hundred meters and the base was fifty meters square. The barrel was translucent, encircled by masses of tubing and cable, and was pointed at the back of the building. "Let's find out."

There were a pair of soldiers on guard at the door opposite the barrel of the weapon. Peral whispered, "I can understand what they're saying! They're talking about girls."

The Doctor hadn't really thought about the language problem. He seldom did. He never had any difficulty with it. "Yes, because you're with me."

Lib looked thoughtful for a moment, then walked around the corner in plain view of the guards. The Doctor made a grab for her, but missed. Peral said, "Watch. She'll be fine. She'll charm their socks off."

"Hello."

"You're in an off-limits area." The soldier didn't sound very angry.

"I'm sorry. I just had to see it. It's so BIG. I've been looking at it and wondering about it for just ages. Watching the troops come out today, I just HAD to see it up close." Lib was a very pretty girl. She smiled at the two soldiers.

"Uh, well, I guess we'll let it pass. It is pretty interesting." Both guards had rather silly smiles and Lib had their full attention.

"I just wish I knew a little more about it. I know it does something so the soldiers go somewhere, but I don't know what."

"Well, it makes that wall behind us a sort of door. Sort of hooks it to somewhere else."

The other guard wanted some of Lib's attention. "They say it does it by going through another dimension. But the distance across the dimension is so small you don't notice. You're here, then you're there."

Not to be outdone, his compatriot added, "From this side, the wall's just sort of a silvery mist. It's only inside it's a gate to the training grounds."

"You've been very sweet. I should go. I don't want to get you in trouble and I need to get back before my dad misses me. I think he's sure soldiers only have one thing in mind. Thinks if I'm alone, someone will try to pick me up. Fathers can be so silly. Don't you think?" Both nodded. "I'll remember you both. Sometime I'll see you when you're not on duty and we'll get better acquainted." Both soldiers nodded again, smiling. It sounded like a GREAT idea to them. "Bye."

Lib walked back around the corner of the building, leaned against Peral and giggled. Peral grinned at the Doctor and whispered, "See. She's just fine."

Andy and Jo met them by the bushes. Jo said, "Well over ten thousand troops. There's a major artillery depot and a fleet of troop ships at the other end. We talked some sweet NCO into giving us a ride. It's about five kilometers. There's a town on the other side of the spaceport. He thought we were going there."

"And the one we rode with coming back thought that's where we were coming from. The security on this base is too loose for them to be worried about an attack. They're fighting off-planet and they're carrying the attack to the enemy." Andy had been afraid to ask about the enemy. It was sure to be common knowledge and the question would have made them notable.

"I think we should make our way to the town. Wren is probably already there. See if you can find us another ride."

"Doctor, there's a bus that goes from the housing area to town. The soldier asked us why we hadn't taken it. We told him we were broke and he laughed and gave us a handful of bus tokens. He told us pretty women shouldn't be hitching rides."

He smiled at Andy. She was all wide-eyed innocence. "I suppose he told you when he'd be off duty and where to find him."

Andy and Jo giggled. Andy said, "Why, Doctor, how did you guess? Shall we catch a bus?"

They caught the bus at two different stops. Andy and Jo at one, Lib and Peral with the Doctor at another. The bus was fairly full. Lib and Peral pointed out sights to the Doctor. Most of the men they'd seen were in uniform. The Doctor's strange attire made him out of place. Their guided tour made him obviously a visitor. He stopped attracting quite so much attention.

The Doctor chose a stop near a shopping area. Andy and Jo got off at the next. They found a cafe and waited for Wren. Andy listened to a group at the next table and indicated the local equivalent of a cup of coffee. The Doctor ordered five.

Wren joined them within minutes. When the beverages arrived, he paid for them and ordered another. He'd 'found' some money in a local tavern and made a few judicious wagers on his skill at the local version of darts.

"We're on Abdern. It's about fifty light years from Cordahm. This town is Mert's Landing. There's a river with a lot of barge traffic on the other end of town. The enemy are the Monoths. They're about two light years away. The base is called Number Eight Seven and it's a training base. There are about a hundred regular bases scattered around the planet. The war's been going on a couple generations at least. The people aren't dedicated to it. It's just a fact of life. All males do four years service in the military, no women. The government is a ruling council. It's not exceptionally oppressive, but anyone who protests gets re-educated. The technology is pretty advanced, but only in respect to the military. It's an odd society. Perfectly normal on the surface, but there's something very strange underneath."

They found out how strange about ten minutes later. A whistle blew and everyone stood up and walked out. They followed quietly. The lights in every establishment went off and all the personnel joined the crowd in the street. Everyone began purposefully walking in one direction or another.

The Doctor watched them in amazement. Fixed stare, rigid posture... He was yanked by his coattails into an alley and behind a trash bin. Wren grinned at him. Peral had done the yanking.

"It's time to find the capital and find out what's going on. Everyone here has been conditioned somehow. It's probably planet-wide." The Doctor paced the length of the small storeroom they'd broken into. It had a door to the alley and was behind a dress shop. It had been convenient. It was also rather dark.

All power had been turned off shortly after the whistle blew. The whole town was in darkness. Their light came from a small torch Lib had. She kept lots of handy things in her pockets.

"Well, the capital is Cormant City and it's about forty kilometers west of here, but I'm not sure we can get into it. I think you need some kind of travel documents." Wren didn't really want to hear what vas coming. He just knew what the Doctor was going to say.

"Perfect. I shall just present myself as a dilemma. Eventually, I'll get to speak with someone with some authority." Wren sighed, he'd been right.

The Doctor had insisted on going alone. He wasn't, but he didn't know that. He'd hopped onto the back of a cargo vehicle and climbed on top. He planned on getting off when it reached the capital.

Wren 'borrowed' a boat and the rest of them piled in. The river ran through the capital. With any luck they'd reach it before the Doctor. The cargo carrier was rather slow.

They left the boat on the outskirts of the capital and cautiously approached the crowd at the entry checkpoint. Jo made a quick pass through the crowd and returned with travel documents. Andy and Lib put their heads together over them and made a few judicious alterations. They joined the crowd and passed into the city. They were ahead of the Doctor.

"You don't have any RECORD of me, because I'm not FROM this planet! Now, WHY don't you call your superior?!" The Doctor had been 'bucked up' as far as a senior clerk and had gotten stuck.

The man in front of him was determined to make him a citizen of Abdern without the proper documents. He just couldn't accept the idea the Doctor was an alien. He kept running identity checks.

The Doctor was rapidly losing patience. He tried again. "I'm the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. I'm beyond the scope of your office. Now, CALL YOUR SUPERIOR!"

The clerk called his superior. He still didn't believe the Doctor was an alien, but he didn't know what to do with the strangely dressed, shouting, man in his office. The Doctor smiled. Outside the window, Jo giggled.

The superior didn't know what to do with him either, so he called his superior. And so it went for about six hours. Eventually, the Doctor was shown into the office of a man in uniform. He'd picked up some guards along the way and, from their crisp salutes, he deduced he'd finally found his 'someone with authority'. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. I want to know what's going on. Why your people are being conditioned to obey a whistle, and why you're attacking an innocent population on another planet to train your troops."

"How did you get here?"

Well, at least this man hadn't asked him where his documents were. "I am a Time Lord. I get wherever I WANT to go."

They tried drugs and some type of hypnotic device. They decided he was an alien when they discovered he had two hearts. He was back in the general's office in the morning.

"I don't WORK for anyone! I have never worked for anyone! I am a TIME LORD! You're using a dimensional gate to attack one world and spacecraft, presumably, to attack another. I WANT TO KNOW WHY!"

"To keep our population down. To prevent starvation. Doctor, the ability of this planet to produce food is at its limit. There is no enemy. The space war is totally fictional. The losses are random self-destructs. We tried colonization, but our people die as soon as they're cut off from this planet. The dimensional gate remains open while the troops are on another planet or they would die too. The whistle blows to keep them from producing more children and men serve in the military to keep them away from women. I have answered your questions, Doctor. Now, you are too dangerous to allow to live. You will be shot as a spy at sunset."

"That is a very unwise decision, General. I may be the only one capable of finding a solution to your problem. Sooner or later your measures will fail. Someone will learn the truth."

"No one has in the last one hundred sixty-two years, Doctor."

"They're planning on killing him at sunset." Andy had pleaded lost and chatted with the sweet young soldier in the outer office. She'd been there when the general gave the order for a firing squad. "The execution area is right in the middle of the complex, but the holding cells are in the basement in the back." She was good at getting lost. "Here." She was also good at making maps.

Wren grinned at her. "Well, we have about seven hours to get him out. Call it five to be safe. Let's do it."

They moved through the complex separately. Wren appropriated an officer's uniform from a supply room. Names were stenciled, so that was no problem. He decided to be a colonel and selected the insignia from another shelf. He smiled. He was enjoying himself.

A small locked box by the general's insignia aroused his curiosity. It contained whistles. He took a guess as to their purpose. He 'borrowed' one and headed for the holding cells. This was not going to take five hours. It probably wouldn't take one.

Peral and Lib played officer's children. He, blond and blue-eyed, was showing her, dark hair and eyes, around to impress her. Obviously, she was his girlfriend.

Andy 'found' a pair of glasses and Jo 'found' a notepad. They walked through the halls giving and taking dictation. They met the others at the entrance of the cell block.

Wren had tried his whistle in a lavatory. Everyone had become rigid. He'd blown it again and they'd all gone on about their business, totally oblivious to the few missing seconds.

Wren opened the door to the cell block and all the guards jumped to attention. He returned the salute of the NCO and said, "I've been at Eight Seven. I'm just having a look around. Why don't you give me a quick tour?" He raised his hand to his mouth to cover a cough and blew the whistle.

They spread out to find the Doctor. He was in an isolation cell. He was the only prisoner in the cell block. They congregated at the door and Wren opened it with one of the keys he'd unclipped from the NCO's belt. He said, "Hello, Doctor. We know, we're not supposed to be here."

The Doctor smiled, pulled a card from the air, dropped it on the floor, and walked out of the cell. Wren closed and locked it and they headed for exits. Andy and Jo led the Doctor to an exit and waited for Wren. The Doctor would be noticed.

Wren returned the keys to the NCO's belt and blew the whistle, coughed and lowered his hand. The NCO said, "Yes, Sir. We only have one prisoner at the moment and he's scheduled to be executed. He's a spy."

"Really? You mean we finally caught one? I want to see what kind of person could sell out his own people. Take me to him."

The NCO looked uncomfortable and said, "I'm sorry Sir. That's not permitted. No one's allowed to communicate with him on the general's orders."

"That's all right." Wren had been sure the general wouldn't want anyone speaking to the Doctor. It meant they had at least until mealtime to get well hidden. "I guess I'll skip the tour. I've seen the cell block before. If there aren't any prisoners, there's no point in seeing it again. I can tell by looking at you everything is neat and orderly here."

"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir." The NCO smiled. He worked very hard. It was nice of the colonel to notice. He returned Wren's salute and relaxed as he left. He hated it when officers decided to 'drop in', but this one hadn't been too bad.

Wren stepped through the exit door and quietly blew his whistle. The four people in the area went rigid. Andy, Jo and the Doctor crossed the open area, walked into an alley, found the shadows, and waited for Wren. He blew his whistle and started walking again. Just like everyone else.

"And it's been operating for one hundred sixty-two years. I've got to stop it. They need another solution. I'll have to find them one."

"OK, Doctor, what do you need?" Wren had decided to keep the whistle. It certainly made getting in and out of places easy. Like the pleasant apartment they'd seen a 'For Rent' sign on and borrowed.

"If we solve the barrier to colonization, the rest of the problems will sort themselves out. Find out who's working on it, if anyone, and where. I also want to know who built that dimensional gate. I want to have a talk with THAT man."

"Done. I'll be back in a few hours."

Andy said, "I'm coming with you. A colonel should have a companion to show around. A dumb blonde to ask dumb questions." Wren grinned at her. He liked this lady more all the time.

When they'd left, Jo said, "I'm not sure how I feel about that. I don't think I'm really prepared for it. Hadn't actually given it much thought."

Peral nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Makes me feel a little weird too."

"Well, I think it's terrific." Lib had absolutely no doubts. And the Doctor had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. They looked at his puzzled expression and started to laugh.

The research facilities were a long way from anywhere. Set in the middle of a desert. Getting there had seemed a problem until they'd found the right office. Wren had blown his whistle and Andy had cut him some official orders.

He was ordered to escort a scientist to the facility and transferred there. Family quarters to be assigned on arrival. Andy inserted a glowing service record and a payroll listing. They cut some documents for the Doctor while they were at it. He was a 'hush-hush' scientist to remain unnamed and given complete freedom to work on projects at the facility. Transport was ordered and said vehicle was to be assigned to the colonel permanently.

Wren blew his whistle and they went to pick up their vehicle. They picked up the others and headed out of the capital. There were no check points going out, only going in. The trip was a not too unpleasant nine hours.

The quarters were rather nice. The colonel, his wife, her sister and his two children rated a townhouse. The colonel offered the use of his home to the scientist and they settled in.

The Doctor was shown the facilities and introduced to the two men he wanted to meet. Dr. Metnan was the man responsible for the gate and Dr. Naril was in charge of the biological studies. The Doctor had a pleasant discussion with Metnan on dimensional theory and took over Naril's department.

The planet-wide search for the Doctor ended. He was just gone. Vanished. The general was secretly pleased. He hadn't liked ordering him executed. It had been the first such order he'd ever given.

Dr. Vag Naril was delighted. The Doctor had reviewed all the data and started two new research programs. Things were humming at the lab. He didn't know where the top-secret scientist had come from, but he was rather awed by him.

"It's homesickness." Jo thought it obvious. "They get homesick and they die."

"Jo, that's silly. People don't die from homesickness. These people die as soon as they're cut off from the rest of the people on the planet."

"Andy, perhaps you're both right. I've begun to wonder if these people have a psychic link with the rest of the population. They can handle being separated from them, but they die as soon as they know they're cut off. If that's the reason, I can't find any evidence of it." The Doctor began to pace the dining room. "There are just too many unexplained phenomena. The conditioning program shouldn't work as well as it does. It should have failures and it doesn't. There's a piece to this puzzle missing. It could be psychic in nature, but I have a feeling it's physical."

"Maybe it's the light." They all looked at Lib. "Well, haven't you noticed how washed out the Doctor's coat looks in the sunlight, or that the greens are very bright. They use green for warning, not red or orange."

"That's the other piece to the puzzle!" The Doctor dashed from the room and they heard the front door slam.

Wren said, "You know, I think we should pack. I think we'll be going home soon. Save him some of your birthday cake, kids. You'd better stick it in the cooler. Put his name on it. I doubt he'll remember what it was for, but he'd hate to miss a good cake."

"Sixty cells linked to the audio-visual areas and the autonomic nervous system. They didn't even know they had them. The reason they don't die as soon as they leave the planet is the same one that lets them hold their breath under water. They know they'll be able to breathe again when they reach the surface. Dr. Naril is presenting the results to the heads of the military and the Ruling Council tomorrow. The problem is, I don't think it will change anything."

"What?! Doctor, I don't think I understand. Why won't it change things?"

"The system works too well, Wren. It's established, organized, in place. Why change it?"

Jo said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

"Exactly. I've got to find a way to 'break' it. I also think we should leave tonight. Dr. Naril is certain to mention me."

"Where do you want to go, Doctor?" Wren was ready.

"Back to that base. It's as good a place as any. Eventually, I'll need to make some modifications on that dimensional gate. Don't worry, I won't make them until we're ready to go back."

Five chairs pushed out from the table. The Doctor had been standing already. Wren bowed to him and said, "Lead on, Sir Knight. Your transport awaits." Jo and Andy looked a bit bewildered, but Lib and Peral grinned. They knew the story.

The colonel ordered his vehicle, took his family and the scientist for an evening drive and they disappeared. The vehicle was found at a roadside park. There was a picnic for six neatly laid out. In the center of the cloth was a card with a question mark on it. They took it to the general.

They split into two groups. It was a major chore convincing the Doctor he should wear something else for the air trip to the capital and the bus ride to Mert's Landing, but they finally succeeded. He was Lib and Peral's uncle. Andy and Jo went with Wren. They took the bus the entire distance.

They didn't know how long it would take the Doctor to figure out how to 'break' the system, so they set up good cover identities. Wren found work on the docks, Jo waited tables, and Andy became a physician's receptionist. Peral hung around a garage until they put him to work and Lib volunteered at a pre-school.

They rented side-by-side apartments in a new complex on two different days and built a connecting door. Peral grinned as he signed the lease Peral Galahad.

"There MUST be an answer! WHY can't I FIND it?"

They'd learned the whistle blew only two nights out of three, its pitch caused everyone to go home, the conditioning started in pre-school, troops were still being sent to Cordahm, and it took the Doctor four strides to cross the living room when frustrated.

The Doctor stopped pacing and stood perfectly still. They all waited. He said, "That's it!" and started pacing again. "Wren, find out where that whistle is. Lib, get me a sample of that conditioning process. Peral, get us a vehicle. Jo and Andy quit your jobs. We're going on an extended vacation."

They went on a tour of Abdern. Their travel documents were in order, so no one gave them problems. There were never six of them at any checkpoint. Sometimes five, sometimes four, but never six. Someone dropped off before and caught up after. Security was lax. The war had been going on over a hundred fifty years.

Every place they went, they waited until the whistle blew, then the Doctor went to work on it. They had a route and a deadline. They had to be back at Eight Seven in fifty-eight days. The Doctor needed two days for the dimensional gate before things fell apart. They hit thirty-nine towns.

Wren blew his whistle and the guards on the gate went rigid. The Doctor went inside. In two days he'd be done and they'd leave.

Wren blew his whistle and the Doctor came out. They walked around the side of the building and he blew it again. The Doctor picked the lock on the small door they'd come out of nearly half a year before. The staging area was empty. A rotation of troops had come home the day before. They wouldn't be sending more for several weeks. And those wouldn't be going to Cordahm.

"We'll have thirty seconds when the gate opens. It will open at the first whistle. In ten, nine, eight..." He had Wren's watch. He'd never found another one he liked.

The gate opened and they ran through. The Doctor pulled a card from the air and spun it through the gateway as it closed.

Liberty ran up and hugged her grandchildren and her son, then she threw her arms around the Doctor's neck and kissed him. He was stunned. It would be days before he realized he'd rather liked it.

"Well, you fixed our invasion problem or you wouldn't be here with big grins on your faces. What took you so long?"

Wren laughed. "The Doctor fixed it all right; but first, he had to break it."

The general looked at the card in his hand and began to laugh. The captain just stared at him. The planet was in chaos, the dimensional gate didn't lead where it was supposed to, and the general was laughing so hard tears were running down his face. When he recovered, the general called his aide. "Get me Naril at the research facility. It's time to get rid of those cells."

They'd finally gotten the whistles in the forty towns switched off. It hadn't been easy. When one blew everyone began walking home; when it blew again, they all started back for it. Then it would blow again. Over and over, as many as forty times a day.

The dimensional gate was the way to new worlds. All uninhabited. The Doctor supposed Metnan would find the circuit someday, but he'd have to look very hard. It was in the selector unit. It was very tiny. About the size of sixty cells.

They insisted he stay for awhile. He started to protest, then Calla handed him her new baby and pushed him into a chair. She told him she had decided he was the baby's grandfather. He began to say something, then stopped and smiled. She planted her toddler in the chair with him and went to fix something special for dinner. He would stay for awhile. Andy remembered the letters Mick's family had sent. Liberty gave her a hug. They meant more to her than she could say.

The time came when the Doctor got restless. They all knew he was leaving. Andy started to pack and Jo stopped her. Lib and Peral got Wren. Liberty hunted for the Doctor, found him at Calla's and pulled him out the door.

"Well, you're the one who knows all the right things to say, Galahad. Say them!" Wren gave his mother a dirty look.

Peral stepped forward and bowed to Jo. "Miss Merrill, my tongue-tied father loves your shy sister and wishes to marry her."

Jo curtsied. "Mr. Connell, my tongue-tied sister loves your shy father and accepts his proposal."

Wren and Andy shook their heads and started to laugh. They stopped when Wren pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Liberty said, "Well, I'm glad that's settled. Doctor, I think you had better stay for a few more days. There's going to be a wedding and I think you get to give away the bride."

The wedding wasn't an affair of state and a king didn't officiate, but it was beautiful. The Doctor beamed with pleasure when he gave away the bride. Calla cried with joy at feeling him so happy.

He stayed for the reception. Peral was best man and he kissed the bride. She laughed and kissed the Doctor. He was surprised, but recovered quickly. He told Jo she and Andy belonged on the same world, and slipped out the door.

Liberty was waiting for him at the TARDIS. "Doctor, come back soon. You'll always have a home here. You'll never be a stranger to us." She kissed him again and he responded. This time she was the one who was stunned.

"Liberty, I seldom get caught totally unprepared twice." He smiled and opened the TARDIS doors. "I'll come back. I promise." Liberty laughed as he closed the TARDIS doors behind him and she watched it disappear. He had one more surprise coming.

"WHAT are you DOING here?!"

"That should be obvious, Doctor. Going with you." Peral grinned at him.

"I'll have to take you back. How did you get in here?"

Lib held up a TARDIS key. "Andy gave us the key, Dad gave us letters to deliver, and Grandmother told us to take care of you."

Peral held up a large stack of letters. "I think you're stuck with us, Doctor."

The Doctor smiled. He knew when to surrender.

# Once Upon a Time

Sharon L Reddy

copyright 1991

The Doctor was looking for Peral and Lib. He'd decided on a fishing expedition and they would be landing fairly soon. He finally located them in the gymnasium.

They were working out with quarterstaffs. He decided to watch for awhile. Peral's strength was matched by Lib's quickness. They had matured a great deal in the time on Abdern.

Peral had become a tall, muscular, young man. Lib was rapidly becoming a beautiful woman. Her dark hair and eyes still brought Peri to mind, but she had grown tall and slender. He suddenly realized she was the near image of her mother. He smiled as he remembered the badly written note, and the trembling hand that had passed it to him.

"All right, Doctor. Quit watching us like a fond old uncle and teach us something." Lib tossed him a quarterstaff. "Grandmother told us you looked like you'd been into the tergo jam. We're supposed to see you stay in shape."

The Doctor shook his head and removed his coat. He picked up the quarterstaff and spun it. He said, "I can't teach you anything until I see what you already know. Shall we find out?"

Liberty had taught them. That was obvious. They moved with control and precision. Both had nearly gotten past problems of six months growth with no practice. It was a good while before he found anything they didn't know. He had taught them very little when the cloister bell began to ring. He dropped the staff and ran for the console room.

They were supposed to be in a forest glade. They weren't. The Doctor looked out on the blasted, desolate, landscape and checked the coordinate settings. The time was right and the place was right, but the radioactive wasteland was wrong. "Someone's meddled with the history of this world. I'm going to have to find them." He began a series of hops back through time.

The scene on the viewscreen stayed the same for a thousand years. He found the time of the nuclear war, but the TARDIS told him no time traveler was there. "They shouldn't have atomic weapons in this time. They aren't supposed to be developed for several hundred years. I'm going to take us farther back. Someone's given them technology they weren't ready for." He watched for sign of a time traveler. When he found it, it nearly destroyed them.

He felt as if he was being pulled apart. The TARDIS screamed and Lib and Peral fell to the floor unconscious. This was no meddler in a time ship. It was a rip in the fabric of history. He hung on and fought the turbulence. It ended abruptly. He tracked a capsule that had been flung through the rift. He was about to stop it from falling into the atmosphere when it opened. The cloister bell began to ring and he dropped to his knees. The sheer malevolent force radiating from the capsule had nearly overwhelmed him. It had even reached into the TARDIS. Something very nasty had just ripped through time and it would destroy this world if he didn't stop it.

"This period on Laeth corresponds roughly to the middle ages of Earth." Peral and Lib knew what he meant. Their grandmother had been a cultural anthropologist and a wonderful storyteller. She'd taught them a great deal of the history of Earth in the most interesting way. As bedtime stories.

"Jerkins and hose, buskins and breeks, halberds and swords, castles and knights; that kind of thing?"

"Yes, Lib, that kind of thing. The people are humanoid. We'll all be taller than they are. You'll be taller than most of the men. We'll be noticed."

"Doctor, I can't imagine you not being noticed, but I think I'll see if I can make myself less noticeable." Peral grinned. "I'm going to see if I can find something in the wardrobe. I'm glad I didn't let Grandmother cut my hair."

Lib watched her brother walk through the interior doors. "He didn't let her cut it, because he likes it. Abdern was the first place he'd seen men with long hair. Actually, he's a bit vain about it. I think I'll check the wardrobe too."

The Doctor smiled. He understood Peral's vanity, but his shoulder length ash blond hair with white-gold streaks would definitely not make him less noticeable.

"We're ready, but you're not." Lib leaned under the console to see what he was doing. "Doctor, I think you should change. "

"Ow!" He rubbed his bumped head as he got out from under the console. "I can't find anything wrong, but the TARDIS isn't responding to commands. I was going to follow the trajectory of the capsule, but she won't move. I can't even get her to move a few kilometers. She won't take time coordinates either."

Peral had never seen him look quite so worried. "Does that mean we're going to have to hunt for this thing the hard way?"

"Yes. I can't imagine anything that would affect the TARDIS like this, but it must be connected with this 'thing'."

"Doctor, if we can't take the TARDIS, we're going to be here awhile. You're going to be a bit obvious in those clothes." Lib didn't know why, but it seemed very important he change.

"I like what I am wearing."

"That's obvious too, but you're going to look even more out of place than usual. If this period is like the Middle Ages, pockets and chains and even trousers will be very out of place."

"Lib' s right, Doctor. We may be here awhile. I think you should change too. Look, this is going to sound silly, but I just feel like it's really important we fit into the time period."

He argued a bit, but gave in. He wasn't sure why, but he knew they were right. When he'd left the console room, Lib said, "That was too easy. I didn't expect to win and he almost gave up without a struggle. He feels it too. Something's going on and it's really got him bothered."

"I don't think being trapped in a medieval age without the TARDIS to get around in is making him any too happy either."

"Wow!" Peral grinned. "That doesn't exactly make you inconspicuous, but at least the period is right. Those red boots are really... something."

The Doctor gave him a dirty look. Actually, it had been the only thing he could find. Nothing else from the period would fit him, but he did think he looked rather good in it.

"Doctor, you look like the hero come to slay the dragon." Lib smiled. He was all in white except for the red boots and belt and the red and gold dragon blazoned on the snow white breastplate. Her grandmother had always called him a knight, now he looked like one.

"Doctor, you need a cloak and a sword. And probably a helm."

"Peral, I never carry weapons. You know that."

"Yes, I know. But I'm going to find you a cloak. We need them too. We need to dress up a bit to fit your obvious station. I'll be right back."

Lib followed Peral through the doors and the Doctor crawled back under the console. Maybe he'd overlooked something. Eventually, he gave up. He couldn't find anything wrong. When he got out from under the console, he realized they'd changed clothes.

Peral was in blue and gold. A sapphire flashed on his left hand and a gold medallion hung from a heavy chain on his chest. Lib wore emerald green and copper. They were still in tunic and hose, but they no longer looked like peasants.

"Here, Doctor, these are for you." Lib lifted his left hand and pushed two large rings onto it. An emerald on his little finger and a sapphire on the next.

"I don't want all this jewelry. I'm going to be more conspicuous than if I'd never changed!"

"You'd be more conspicuous without them. You're obviously a 'Lord of the Realm'. The jewels befit the station." She grabbed his right hand and shoved another ring on. A huge ruby. "You're going to need soap to get that one off."

Peral threw a red trimmed white cloak around his shoulders and fastened the question mark ruby clasp. "There. That'll do it."

"IF you've finished DECORATING me, do you MIND if we get STARTED?!"

"Doctor, quit complaining. You look absolutely wonderful." Lib smiled. Uh, oh. He'd seen that smile before. On her grandmother. "And you've got NICE legs."

The village had been razed. They found no one alive, but there weren't enough bodies for the size of the village. Peral found clear tracks leading west. "They rode off and the villagers followed. Looks like about a dozen mounted."

The Doctor found the knight. He was dying. He knelt beside him and lifted off his helm. The knight grasped his hand and said, "The Black One's minions have taken the children. A fortnight, I kept them from this place. I have lost this battle. I shall fight no more. I place the geas of a dying man upon you. End his evil."

The Doctor gently closed the dead man's eyes and said, "I shall try my friend. I shall try."

"Doctor, I think you should see this. Something's happening here I don't understand." Peral sounded rather strange. The Doctor rose and followed him through the trees. He caught up with him in a small clearing.

"Horses do NOT belong on this planet! There's something here I don't understand either. I think we should leave them."

"Doctor, they're obviously meant for us. They're caparisoned in our colors. And the banner on the lance is the same red dragon rampant as on your breastplate. Even the swords are set with the gems we're wearing."

"Yes. And I don't like it!"

"Doctor," Lib sounded thoughtful. "These horses are prepared for a long journey. Someone has packed us gear and a change of clothes. There are even bags of gold and silver coins. The fourth horse is for the knight. It wears his emblem and is draped in mourning. I think we should take them."

"No. I don't trust this. You've never seen horses. Those horses are perfect. An artist's rendering. They're not any true breed. A white charger, a palomino, a bay, and a black draped in mourning. Three stallions and a mare standing peacefully in a clearing. No, it's too perfect. Leave them." The Doctor started to leave the clearing and the cloister bell tolled. Since that was impossible, he turned, went back to the great white charger and mounted. He had a pretty good idea who'd sent the horses. He also had a good idea what they faced.

The horses refused to follow the trail of the villagers. The Doctor quit trying to guide the charger and gave it free rein. It set off north at a gallop. It slowed to a trot when a castle came in view. It trotted to the moat and stopped.

The drawbridge was lowered and the portcullis raised. An old, blind, woman dressed in white walked through the gate and came toward them. The charger nickered softly and she spoke. "You carry the geas of the Knight of Perath. You have come to save the many worlds. I am Oltath and I carry the message. You are the chosen champion. You ride the one called Leoht. The youth rides Wealdan and the maid Heort. Come, kneel before me with sword and lance."

The Doctor climbed down and knelt before the old woman. She said, "Give me the sword Perseveren." He gave her the sword and she lifted it above her. She lowered it and tapped each of his shoulders. He worried a bit about his ears. She WAS blind. "With this I Knight the champion. He has been tested and found pure of heart."

She returned the sword to him, took the gold amulet centered with a great blue-white diamond from around her neck and placed it around his. She laid her right hand on his head. "Steed, sword, lance and amulet. These are the tokens of the power you serve. The battle shall be of this world and it shall not. Give me the body of the Knight of Perath." The horse carrying the body of the knight walked forward. He lifted the reins and placed them in her hand. She said, "Go now and free the children." then turned and led the horse toward the castle. The Doctor rose from his place and mounted Leoht. The portcullis was lowered and the drawbridge raised.

The Doctor turned his mount and led them away from the castle. He rode in silence a few moments, then looked into the sky and said, "Don't you think that was

just a BIT pretentious."

Lib was puzzled. "It was a real mix-up of legends. Archetypal. A geas; a sword; an old, blind, prophet, priestess, oracle. Like the horses, fantasy stuff and it was for your benefit. What's it mean, Doctor?"

"It MEANS, I've been DRAFTED!"

"You were going to do it anyway." Peral had loved it. Whoever put this together LIKED the Doctor. The whole show was over the top. "You've been drafted

all right, but with STYLE."

"Yes, Doctor. That show had class. We've obviously been drafted too. Peral and I are riding. How about telling us what we're riding against?"

"I'd rather not."

"WHAT?!"

"Come on, Doctor. That show has a punchline." Peral was grinning. "The joke's on you and it's good. Since we were standing under the same doorway when the bucket fell, we deserve to see you get wet."

"I've been made the central character in a bad fantasy story! I'm dressed up as a hero, riding a white horse, carrying a geas and a sword with a name...The PUNCHLINE, as you call it is: I'm leading you into battle against a minion of evil!"

Peral and Lib looked at him for a moment; reined their mounts; got down; walked over to a grassy mound; and ROLLED with laughter. He had been set up for that line. And well. They wanted to show their appreciation.

They'd found the trail of the villagers. The Doctor couldn't understand the time difference. It was a clue, he was sure of it. The knight had said a fortnight. And this wasn't the first village... It meant something. He'd been sent on a quest with four items. Like the race had been, this too was a game. And it would never end. And the horses names were a clue...

"So, Doctor, I take it from your white horse, we're the good guys. How did this guy, the Black One, get the high ground?"

"I'm puzzled by that too, Peral."

"Entropy gets a head start and it's a never ending battle."

"That sounds like something your grandmother would say, Lib."

"It is. So is good guys don't always win. If this is a fantasy story, we're on a quest. We've got just enough to stop something from happening." She grinned. "Hey, Peral, you're going to be fighting for reality on your eighteenth birthday. Grandma's going to be jealous."

"We've seen the bet on this game, Doctor." The Doctor decided Wren and Liberty had severely altered the speech patterns of Cordahm. "It's a fishing spot or blooey." Peral grinned. "I'd rather go fishing."

They found the villagers. The raiders had destroyed the village and taken all the children between ten and fourteen. They begged them to find them. They rode after the children. Because this fantasy was real. And the children were real.

It was evening when they rode into the town. The streets were deserted. They reached the center of town before they saw anyone. A woman sat with her back to them on the rim of a central well. The Doctor dismounted and walked toward her. She heard him and turned around. He said, "Hello, I'm the Doctor. Have you seen any minions of the Black One, carrying children, ride through?"

She stood, looked at him standing in the last rays of the sunset, the corners of her mouth quirked up, and she fainted. Lib and Peral stood looking at the Doctor attempting to revive the woman a few seconds, then ROARED with laughter.

"If you two wouldn't MIND, we need to ask her some questions."

"Come on, Doctor, you loved it." Peral lifted the bucket from the well. "Doctor, this water has been fouled. The people in this town were driven away."

"He is right, My Lord." The Doctor looked down at the woman he was supporting and smiled.

"They take the children and ride into the west. They foul the water and trample the crops. It does not make sense." The Doctor helped her to her feet. She looked him over, then turned and looked at Lib and Peral and the horses, looked back at him and said, "Neither do you."

Her name was Marna. She too was following the children. They'd been taken from their parents across the realm. One of them was hers. She'd followed twenty days. "The king no longer protects us. I do not even know if he still lives."

"Marna, I need to know more. I'm here to stop this evil, but I know very little about it. What do you know about the Black One?"

"He is the king's nephew."

The horses carried everything they needed. They shared their food and water with Marna and sheltered in the deserted town for the night. While Lib and Peral slept, the Doctor tried to assemble the information he'd been given. The time element was a key piece of the puzzle. He was sure of it. The malevolent force he felt could not have arrived half a year before them. Yet Marna had told him that was the amount of time the Black One had been despoiling the countryside and taking the children.

The stiffness and sore muscles of the first day on horseback after centuries gradually eased. Lib and Peral had taken well to riding. Lib had told him the horses were teaching them. He smiled. Wait until they got up in the morning and found out how sore they were. Marna bid him good-by and left before the dawn.

"OW! My entire BODY aches." Lib saw the Doctor was smiling. "You could have warned me, but I suppose I should have known. New activity, new sore muscles."

"That was only the first day. It will get worse. I was looking at the tack. Each set is different, designed specifically for one horse and one rider. None of it fits any particular category. It's a combination of the best of everything ever developed. There are even modifications that weren't developed on Earth. I'm going to spend some time teaching you to ride. You both did very well yesterday, but I've a feeling we may have a very short time before you need to be accomplished riders."

Peral groaned. "They never mention this stuff in the fairy tales. Sore muscles. Blisters. Spending an hour brushing down a horse and finding him fodder. You're right Doctor. This may be a fantasy story, but it's also very, very, real."

They learned quickly. All the years of training, Liberty had given them as they grew, gave them balance and strength. They soon became superb riders and, after about the fourth day, they began to get over the soreness. They learned as they rode. Always west. In search of the children.

"Old English."

"Yeah, Light, Heart and Wealden. A verb?" Peral wanted to get this one. Wealden was his horse. Lib waited. "To rule!"

The Doctor looked at them across the campfire and said, "Yes, and the sword is that which perseveres or preserves through strength. French root. You seem to have a rather in depth grasp of the languages of Earth."

"Well, there wasn't a lot to do, so we devised games using the things in Grandma's pack."

He remembered Liberty and Wren had worn packs when he met them. And they'd taken them when he'd left them on Cordahm. "I don't know what was in those packs!"

Lib and Peral began to laugh. Peral finally recovered enough to say, "Doctor, Grandmother and Dad only carried two things in those packs. The opal and copper pieces the Northwest Native American Association gave her as a thank you and the most complete anthropology library you could get in two packs, microencoded."

"She has most of the accumulated knowledge of the human race!"

"Doctor, it's an anthropology library. Much of it isn't about humans." Peral grinned. We had a very thorough education."

The city was dirty and it smelled, but it was the first place they'd come to with people. They attracted a crowd. The Doctor dismounted and a balding, chubby, man was pushed forward through it to face him. The man bowed to him and said, "I am the mayor of this city. My Lord is welcome."

"I'm the Doctor and these are my companions Peral and Liberty." Lib's ears perked. Why had he introduced her that way. "We're seeking news of the children taken by the Black One."

That's when they met their first 'minions'. They were big, ugly, dirty, and human. And they had no business being on Laeth. "Well, lookit that. It's St. George. All done up with a white horse and everything."

"How did you get to this planet?"

"I don't like St. George's tone, boys. I think we should teach him a little respect for the Prince's Personal Guard."

Peral and Lib looked at each other and dismounted. The "Prince's Personal Guard" were carrying swords that looked like they'd seen a lot of use. They had a feeling they knew what was coming. Evidently the crowd did too. The open area around them and the five men got bigger. Peral started to draw his sword, but the Doctor shook his head. The idea of fighting swords with his bare hands didn't really appeal to Peral, but this was the Doctor's show.

"I asked you a question. How did you get to this planet?" The Doctor decided the question must have been too difficult. The man attacked him. He sidestepped the sword swing. The man's companions decided to join the fray and he had a very busy few seconds dodging swords.

The fight, if you could call it that, lasted less than a minute. The Doctor looked down at the five unconscious men, then turned to Peral and Lib and said, "It was a very simple question."

Lib and Peral burst into laughter. He watched them laughing a few seconds, then turned back to the mayor. That worthy personage was standing, mouth open, looking from the five who had terrorized his city, to the three who had disposed of them so quickly, and back. His eyes rolled up and he fainted.

"Oh, no, not again!"

Lib and Peral leaned against each other and HOWLED.

The reason the city was still there was because it produced something the Black One needed. Iron. They didn't know what he used it for, just that he took all they could produce. The five guards were there to keep them producing. The five bullies hadn't been much help. They'd been recruited for the prince's guard on Earth. As far as they were concerned, that's where they were. In some foreign country where the people talked funny and the animals were strange. They left the bullies in the hands of the townspeople and rode west on the trail of the children.

## Chapter Two

Word had run ahead of them. They'd won their reputation as heroes. People began to appear by the road to beg them to find their children. Eventually, they reached the capital. The gates to the city stood open and crowds of cheering people lined the road. The tale of the brief fight had obviously grown in the telling.

They were heroes of legend, come to save the people. Giants sent to right the wrongs of the world. The Doctor removed another flower that had lodged in his hair and Lib and Peral snickered.

The king was alive and very happy to see them. His nephew had taken over the western part of his kingdom. It had happened too swiftly for him to gather an army to stop it. Now, all the knights he would have called were dead. Each one killed in the defense of a village or town on his lands. The king had sent his guards to free the western lands, but none had returned. And there was a dragon...

The capital was the first place they'd seen children between ten and fourteen. The walls were stout and well defended. None of the children had been taken from it, but every croft outside the city gates had someone who mourned a lost child.

They rode west. On the trail of the children.

Mid-day their fifteenth day on the planet, they met the dragon. It was iron and a machine, but it was a dragon.

"It's a steam powered robot and, like our human friends in the town, has no business being here."

"That's all very well, Doctor, but we still have to get by it. I really don't fancy using a sword against a machine that size. Can't we just go around?"

"I need a closer look at it, Peral. It's a piece of this whole mystery."

"You don't fight dragons with swords. You fight them with a lance. Right, Doctor?" Lib knew fairy stories. They'd been her father's share of bedtime lore.

"Yes, Lib. Now, I need to put the lance somewhere it doesn't totally destroy the circuitry..."

Peral and Lib climbed down and sat on the ground. The Doctor looked like he'd be thinking for awhile. They'd seen him become totally motionless before. The interesting thing was, the horse was motionless too. "I've got it!" Lib and Peral remounted and followed him to face the dragon.

The Doctor couched the lance and Leoht thundered into motion. At the last moment he swung wide. The Doctor turned and drove the lance beneath the armor plates into the dragon's side. He rode back to them and said, "Now we wait."

The dragon was leaking. It was also getting sluggish. Its jaws didn't snap as hard when the Doctor made a quick pass on horseback to see his handiwork. Eventually, they quit snapping. The Doctor had drained its boiler.

He dismounted and climbed up on the dragon. He walked up its back to its head and, from a small pouch on his belt, pulled out his favorite little screwdriver. He opened the dragon's head and removed a mass of glittering circuitry, climbed down, sat on the dragon's tail, and went to work on it. Peral removed the lance and Lib watched people arrive.

This crowd was different. They carried staffs and pitchforks, axes and scythes, and they waited for the Doctor to notice them.

"Lord, I am called Logan. I have come to ask you teach me and these others. Each bears the sword of a fallen knight. Our neighbors have chosen us from among them. They too have come with those things they deem useful as weapons. We have come to free our children. My Lord, I carry the sword of the Knight of Perath. I would carry it well."

"Please, call me Doctor." He'd liked the handsome young man instantly. There was an air of calm commitment about him.

"As you wish, Lord Doctor." Lib and Peral looked at the serious young man, awkwardly holding the sword, and stifled their laughter, but the Doctor's expression had been PERFECT.

"Just Doctor. I understand what you need and I'd like to help you, but I need to stop the taking of the children now. I've just learned why they're being taken."

"I too know. I escaped the Black One's city. They are to be made slaves; but now, they lie in stinking pens. The Black One has many guards. We would aid you, if you deem us worthy. I know one comes to take the children at the turn of the season. He is your enemy as the Black One is mine. I would not leave the children suffer, but the time to free them is not come. Teach us that we will be prepared for its coming."

The Doctor smiled. Logan had given him information he'd needed. He'd recognized the technology of the dragon. He was right, they needed to prepare. "Well, if I'm going to teach you, why don't we start with the proper way to hold a sword?" Logan's smile and outthrust sword hand were his answer.

Lib and Peral grinned at each other and started organizing the people into training groups. They had most of a season to train a small army.

"It was the first time he'd ever held a sword. The first time most of them had. They'd been carrying them wrapped in cloths. They didn't want to insult their knight's memories by hacking at things with them."

"Doctor, this is a fairly small kingdom, but how did all these people get together to find us?" Peral had found out the hundred eighty or so people had come from all over in twos and threes.

"Logan. Oltath gave him Perath's sword and he stopped at every village and asked for volunteers. Word spread and others were chosen to bear swords. He decided this was where I'd be."

"Why here?"

"When I asked him that, he was surprised. He told me it had seemed obvious. If you wanted to find a white knight, you looked for a black dragon." He smiled and Lib and Peral laughed.

"Doctor, they're ready."

"I know, Peral. I just hate thinking about what I'm leading them into. Logan's become a fine swordsman. He's learned faster than I would have thought possible, but that doesn't mean he's prepared for guns."

"Do you think this prince will have that many of them?"

"I'm hoping he's just getting the raw materials together. I'd hate to think of all that iron he's been collecting pointing at us as weapons. I'm worried about the scorban even more. He's ferried a lot of human bullies to this planet for the prince. He won't be happy about losing his trade goods. And I know his guards will have more than simple projectile weapons."

"Scorban?" Lib was puzzled. He'd said it with disgust bordering on loathing.

"Children of primitive societies are their stock and trade. I've never seen one operate on this scale before. Usually, they just pick a village and round up all the children between ten and fourteen and take off. It was the scale of the operation that kept me from realizing what was happening. The ages were a clue I shouldn't have missed."

"Why between those ages?"

"Old enough to work, young enough to be turned into slaves. This scorban thinks big. He's operating on at least two planets and planning on a nice profit. Well, at least there will only be one."

"Whoa, Doctor. Back up. Two planets? And why only one?"

"Peral, we know he's operating both here and on Earth or there wouldn't be humans here. He's probably using children taken on Earth to finance the operation. Most scorbans have hired bullies they take with them so they can pick up a little stock from anywhere they land. Probably human in this case. Only one, because no scorban with a profitable idea shares it. Let's see if we can teach these people something about guns and good cover. I'd say we have about three days, then we go west. This isn't over yet." Since it hadn't yet begun, the Doctor's comment struck Lib and Peral as a bit strange. "There's technological meddling here, but this isn't the real enemy. Everything here shows off-world influence, but it's of the ordinary kind."

Lib watched him pace for a moment, then said, "What I don't understand is, why pick humans for henchmen. Those bully boys were from the Earth's late middle ages. How did they get here?"

"At this particular time Earth and Laeth are in about the same stage of development. A few hundred years from now that won't be true. Laeth will have only minor wars and develop their technology much more carefully, to fit with a very well organized educational system and enlightened political philosophy. Or at least that's the way it should happen. The scorban is just shuttling from one planet to the other. There's no time travel involved."

"Doctor, we were sent to free the children, not hunt for this minion thing. Why?"

"Because our side has its priorities straight." He smiled at them. "Let's check this piece of the quest off the list, shall we?"

"They have the weapons you spoke of, Doctor, but they do not use them well."

"No, Logan, they don't." He ducked as rock chips flew from the boulder he crouched behind. "But they're learning rather quickly."

Logan smiled. "Perhaps it is time we stopped their practice."

The Doctor heard a ship and looked up to see it riding down on braking thrusters. "That's our cue. Let's go." Logan's smile widened. 'Cue' he didn't understand, but 'let's go' was definitely in his vocabulary.

The Doctor and Logan dodged bullets and ran for the city walls. The others saw them and followed. The Doctor pulled himself up the wall. He blessed the person who'd thrown the stone. The man it had hit had been aiming a gun down at him.

He had just enough time to glance around to find his helper. The stone had come from inside the walls. A small boy in a pen with several others smiled at him and hefted another stone. The Doctor jumped from the wall and smiled as another guard fell. They'd never have made that boy a slave. He met Logan at the gate and they opened it. Peral and Lib were the first ones in.

The problem with hiring bullies is they're bullies. At the first sign of a good fight, or even a fair one, they run. Logan went to find the Black One and the Doctor went to find the scorban. He would be running for his ship.

The scorban had brought his own guards. The Doctor found several of them. They had beam weapons. He dove for cover. The square in front of the spacecraft was a deathtrap and, if someone hadn't opened fire just a bit too soon, he'd have been caught in it.

Lib and Peral wove and dodged to his side. He wasn't as pleased to see them as they thought he'd be. "WHY didn't you stay under COVER?! You could have been KILLED crossing that square!"

"Doctor, you're a mother hen. Besides, since Leoht is still carrying your sword, I want to see how you intend to take out those beamers with your bare hands."

The Doctor gave Peral a dirty look. "I don't think a sword would have been much help. Stay here." They didn't. As soon as they saw what he was doing, they decided to help.

He was removing the opposition one at a time. Inviting someone to shoot at him, then tracking the beam back to its source. He was very good at removing that source. Lib and Peral used the roofs. When fire licked out at the Doctor, they'd drop behind the wielder of the weapon and retire him from the battle. Everyone they retired was human.

They met the Doctor at the site of the last retirement. "WHY didn't you stay where you were?!" Lib and Peral just grinned at him. "I still haven't found the scorban behind all this. I'd APPRECIATE it, if you'd wait here until I do!" He turned and started walking toward the space ship sitting beyond the square. Lib and Peral grinned at each other and kept parallel with him, staying behind cover.

"Scorban, your scheme didn't work. Your local assistance has just ended. It's over." Lib and Peral waited. He'd sent the words ringing out across the field toward the ship.

"I have worked too long to let you escape punishment for your interference."

The Doctor turned around to face the scorban. It was holding a beamer on him. "You've lost this one scorban. Laeth no longer has anything for you. Your green scaly presence is not appreciated. I shall give you one chance to leave."

"You are not of this world. How did you come to be here? How did you know I would be scorban?"

"I'm a Time Lord. I recognized the technology when I took apart your dragon."

The scorban hissed at him and fired its weapon. The Doctor almost got clear of the beam, but not quite. He fell heavily and the scorban moved up to finish him off. As the Doctor slowly sat up, the scorban aimed the beam weapon at his head. "It will be a pleasure to kill you, Time Lord. Your meddling has forced me to begin anew somewhere else."

"I don't think that will happen. Look behind you."

"Do you think me a fool, to be taken by such a simple ruse?"

"Ahem." The scorban spun around and Peral slugged him. "So that's a scorban." He shook his fingers. "Got a hard jaw."

The people of Laeth put the scorban and the captured humans to work destroying the guns and the equipment to make them. The first thing destroyed was the scorban's ship. Lib had enjoyed taking care of it for them. He wasn't going somewhere else to start again.

"Doctor, I do not know how to speak to a king."

"Logan, I'm the wrong one to advise you. I usually just walk up and say, "Hello, I'm the Doctor." Why don't you ask Peral?"

That evening when Logan was presented to the king he said, "Hello, I'm Logan." The king had been delighted. Later, he told the Doctor it would have been worth the trip from the capital just for that.

Logan had settled with the Black One. He'd told him with such grim satisfaction, the Doctor had wondered what the prince had done to him. He'd curbed his curiosity. Whatever had happened, it had been intensely personal.

The Doctor had found his small, stone throwing, assistant in the arms of his mother. Marna had found her child. As he left them, he heard the boy begging her to let him carry her staff. The Doctor hadn't even known she was among the people they had trained. The king called an audience and requested the Doctor and his companions attend.

"The knights of my realm died in defense of their people. From among those people have come others to take up their arms. I call before me those who bear them." Twenty-two very nervous peasants knelt before him. The king moved from one to the next, asking their names and whose sword they bore. He knighted each, gave him chattel, charged him to care for the fallen knight's family and defend his people. He skipped Logan. "All those I have knighted may retire."

Logan looked around himself rather nervously. He was now the only one kneeling in the square. He watched the king return to his dais and seat himself. He knew he hadn't been dismissed, because the king sat watching him.

"Your Majesty," Logan looked up in surprise at the Doctor's words. He hadn't known he was beside him. He'd been watching the ground. "This is the man you have asked I bring before you. He is the one who bears the sword of Perath. He is the one who roused the peasants from their fields and he is the one that slew your nephew. He is called Logan."

"Logan, come kneel before me."

His knees were shaking, but he knelt before the king to accept his punishment for killing a prince. The king stood and pulled his sword. Logan prepared himself to die.

"I dub thee, Sir Logan, Duke of Merale and Knight of Perath. I give you the lands of the Prince of Merale to hold in fief. I shall accept your oath of fealty." The king burst into laughter. The look of stunned surprise on Logan's face was wonderful. "Come, I will teach you the words."

They helped Logan move into his new home. Since he had nothing but a sword, there wasn't a lot to carry. Lib and Peral helped him find people to fill the big empty place. Ones to clean the kitchen and work in it. Ones to clean the stables and work in them. Ones to clean the bedrooms and halls and keep them that way. Bullies weren't very good housekeepers and the prince had been a slob. One room Logan cleaned himself. The Doctor had watched from the doorway as he scrubbed the bloodstained floor and wept. He'd been right. The reasons had been personal.

Oltath arrived the night Logan held his first banquet. He left his seat at the head of the table and ran to the door to meet her. He tried to get her to join him, but she asked to be led to the kitchen. She wanted to sit by the warm ovens and sample the good foods she could smell. He led her there himself.

When he returned to the table, he said, "She tells them stories while they work. It was in such a kitchen she found me. She bears a message for you, Doctor. Ride east."

The Doctor smiled. "We'll leave in the morning. I suspected Oltath was here to send us somewhere else."

"Good. I had feared you would leave this hour. You are my first guests. I would not wish you gone before the feast had begun."

## Chapter Three

"The two things I don't understand are: why chase the people out of the towns and destroy the crops; and why the dragon."

"That's three things, Peral, but there's only one answer. Terror. Scare them too badly to fight back."

"It didn't work this time, Doctor."

"No. This time it didn't."

They rode in companionable silence for awhile, then Lib said, "At midnight tonight."

"For one day."

"What ARE you two talking about?"

"At midnight I'll be the same age as Peral. It's my favorite day of the year."

"I go through this every year, Doctor, but this year I don't really mind. If I was home, I'd be getting ready to vote the first time. I've already decided what to do with my life and I know who I am. I'll be eighteen and I'm ready for it."

"You've grown up in an unusual society, Peral, with very unusual people in it."

"Yes, Doctor. My grandmother taught me martial arts and I have one hundred fifty-seven godmothers and one godfather. And all of them carry weapons, but you. And I've decided to be one of the good guys, because I'm impossible."

"No, but highly improbable. Calla?"

"Actually, it was Tarna. We're two of five. Children of two worlds. Calla was the first. By the way, did you know you're listed as Calla's kids' grandfather on every official document on Cordahm?"

"I'm WHAT?!"

He'd tried to take the rings off. He couldn't. The time difference still puzzled him. And why Old English names...

"Why east, Doctor?"

"I SUPPOSE, because we've already been WEST!" The Doctor wasn't pleased with riding through the mud, on horseback, in the rain.

"Doctor, you're spoiled. Your idea of roughing it is frying fish outside the TARDIS doors. This time you have to do it like everybody else. You have to put in the travel time between the chapters of the adventure. How do you think I feel? In an hour I'll be eighteen and trying to find somewhere dry to sleep."

"Speaking of which, Dearheart seems to have an idea. I'm going to see if she can find us some shelter."

"Lib, you think that horse talks to you."

"Peral, you think your horse LISTENS to you."

"Lib, I take it all back. Your horse seems to have found us somewhere dry. I'm not being dripped on. Wow, Doctor, I've never seen a forest canopy that thick."

"I don't like this."

"What do you mean?" Peral was already off his horse. Wealdan nickered, as if to tell him to remount.

The forest erupted with sound and movement. Leoht reared in the air and the Doctor saw Peral go down under a pile of dark forms. He slid from his horse and raced toward Peral. He'd nearly reached him when he was hit from behind.

He awoke with a horse lipping his ear. "Peral?! Lib?!" He heard Heort nicker and went looking for her. He found her about fifty meters away, standing over Lib.

He knelt beside Lib, checked her pulse and respiration, and the lump on her head. Her eyes fluttered open and she said, "Peral's in real trouble. He's scared. I've never felt him that way before."

"Where is he?"

Lib reached for the psychic awareness that connected all her family. The Doctor helped her to her feet and she pointed east. "He's that direction, but much farther away than he should be. There shouldn't be anything on this planet that could get him that far away. Doctor, I don't know of anything that could scare him like that. I'm scared too."

Peral's horse was gone. The Doctor located its tracks leading east, but there were no others. They followed Wealdan's tracks east.

Peral had known he was in real trouble from the moment he saw the Doctor go down. He could feel Lib was all right. The Doctor must be too, or she'd have been more upset than she was. He knew they were coming, but they were days away. He'd been bundled into a rotary blade aircraft. He pulled his will and his fear together and fused them into courage. They had shown him what was going to happen to him.

"Doctor, Peral's pulling away from me! Something's going to happen to him and he wants to spare me. Something inside him just changed. He's not afraid anymore. Doctor! He thinks he's going to die!"

"NO! That WILL not happen. It's time we rode these horses. RIDE!"

Legends grew around less. A golden haired hero on a mythical beast and a maid in green who bore a sword thundered through village after village. And rode east. Where strange things were happening, or so minstrels sang.

Wealdan found him. And rescued him. There's nothing like a rampaging stallion to clear an area of foot traffic and his teeth made short work of the ropes. Peral found things and pulled himself together as best he could. Wealdan knelt for him to mount and carried him west toward the Doctor.

Lib knew when things changed, when he was free, but something had happened to him. He'd learned terrible anger and he was hurt.

For three days and three nights, the Doctor and Lib ran/walked/ran the horses. They should not have been able to do it. Not the horses and not Lib. The horses' endurance surprised the Doctor.

They found him lying in the sun on a grassy bank next to a stream. Lib jumped down and ran for him, but Wealdan gently pushed her away. The Doctor reached Peral and said, "Go, Lib. Try to rest. He'll be all right, but the horse is right. He wouldn't want you here right now." He carried Peral into the stream. The shock of cold water woke him, but it would make him feel cleaner. He held his godson as he wept. It wouldn't be the last time Peral shed tears, but it was the last time he'd shed them for himself.

"That's the strange thing. They couldn't get it off me. They had a fight over the pretty blue ring, then it wouldn't come off."

"I can't get mine off either. You're fortunate they didn't just cut off your finger to get it."

"They decided to wait until I was dead. They didn't expect to have to wait too long. Doctor, there's only one thing wrong with this being a hero business. The final exam is a bitch."

"Yes, I know." Peral looked closely at the Doctor, he'd never heard him sound that way before. The Doctor smiled gently. "My final exam was a 'bitch' too."

"All right. You're alive, you're sitting up, you're eating, you're talking. What happened?" She'd been awake just long enough to feel the hard knot inside him loosen. She knew the Doctor had, somehow, helped loosen it and she was grateful.

"Somebody liked my pretty hair." He grinned at her. "I had quite a party for my eighteenth birthday. The important thing is, they used an aircraft from off-planet to deliver me to it."

Lib wasn't sure why she was being sidetracked, but she could tell Peral wanted the subject closed. She would never ask what happened to him again.

They found the town and the inn the day after they found Peral. Lib volunteered to stable the horses. She still wasn't in any mood to sit by the fire and chat. Anger, at whatever had been done to Peral, nearly choked her when she tried to talk. Peral and the Doctor saw the man grab her arm as she walked in the door. The Doctor started to stand, but Peral laid a restraining hand on his arm. "She's absolutely delighted. She needs a friendly brawl to get it out of her system." The man went flying across the room. The five men, who had been sitting with him, all decided to teach Lib a lesson. They just couldn't seem to find any she hadn't already learned.

As people began to fly about the room, the Doctor and Peral picked up their mugs and strolled over, just to make sure things stayed friendly. A man reached for his sword, felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked behind him. And looked up. Into Peral's eyes. Peral smiled at him and said, "That's not necessary. She's not going to really hurt any of them. She's being very careful not to break anyone."

The man's eyes rolled up and he fainted. The Doctor burst into laughter. Soon Peral joined in.

"Give me your hands. I want to see something. The one with the RING on it."

"Sorry, Doctor. Here." Lib attempted to remove a bit of the greasy roast fowl from her fingers before she put her hand out. She just really couldn't find anywhere to wipe the grease.

The Doctor did one of those, 'Now where did he get that froms', and produced a linen napkin. With which, he wiped the grease, she'd gotten on him, off his fingers. He gave her a rather disgusted look and said, "Here. Why didn't you ASK for one? Now, give me your hand."

He had to wait a bit. Peral and Lib were holding their sides and needed both hands. The Doctor smiled. Peral had been right. He had been ready.

They brought the rings together and they glowed. Not magic. Science.

"Of COURSE, I knew what they were. I just didn't remember them. You're the ones that put them on me!"

"You mean, when we put our hands together, we activated something you can't turn off?"

"Of COURSE, I can turn them off. Just not while we're wearing them."

"Which just happens to be while they're activated because they won't come off til they think it's safe."

"Lib, machines don't think. In this case, they measure stress. They weren't built for a humanoid species at all. I distinctly remember something with a crown and fur giving them to me. A souvenir. I think."

"You mean, you just attached all our lives together with a souvenir?"

"Well, I'M not the one who fished them out of the wardrobe."

"Doctor," Peral had been trying to put a few puzzle pieces in place. "There's more here than finding the jewels in the wardrobe. Why did you agree to change? I know I saw peasant garb that would have fit you. How did you miss it? I don't remember seeing the blue and green outfits or the white cloak, but they were in plain view when I went back in. We were being manipulated."

"Yes, and the rings are a trap. Return to the TARDIS. Try the emergency override. See if it'll take you home. It might work if I stay here."

"Why, Doctor? I don't understand. Now we'll know where you are, and you'll know where we are. Like the family bond Peral and I have."

"It's not like that at all. You've been attached to ME! I'm the one who has to be careful."

"I don't think I get that. You said the ruby was the master circuit."

"It is. I will NOT allow its use. Go to the TARDIS. If the override doesn't operate, I want you to remain inside until I return."

"Whoa, Doctor, you've lost me." Peral could see he was serious. "Let's back up a little. To like: you're the one that has to be careful, attached to you, that kind of thing. If you're not going to 'allow it' and you'll send us home with the TARDIS or confine us inside to prevent it, I think we should know what IT is."

"If anything happens to me, if my energy or vitality get too low, the gems become a circuit for using yours. I could, literally, drain the life from you while unconscious."

"I thought your burden was a bit light."

The Doctor sat a bit straighter on the rough wooden stool, looked down his nose at Lib and said, "I BEG your pardon."

"None of this is really difficult for you. You've even died before. You've proved you're willing to give your life for what's right. It's made you dauntless and a bit cocky. Welcome back to the mortal plane, Doctor. You now have to decide if the risks are worth OUR lives."

The aircraft and Peral's captors were gone. They found an inn on the road where the people spoke of lights in the sky and terrible sounds. And the Doctor spent the entire evening trying to discourage the overzealous attention of a pair of serving wenches. And Peral and Lib snickered.

"I'm going EAST and I don't know WHY!" He was pacing. The room was too small for it. "Rumors, murmurs, an AIRCRAFT, an old woman; and I'm going EAST! The evil I felt has GOT to leave some clue to its presence. It CAN'T just DISAPPEAR!"

"Yes it can. It has. That will mean something when you put it all together, Doctor. For now we're going east, because we're going east." Lib cautiously put her feet back down on the floor. He'd stopped pacing, maybe her toes would be safe. "If rumors and murmurs are all you've got, then they're your best source of information. Some of this game is patience. We don't have much."

They stayed at the inn for six days. The horses didn't want to leave. On the sixth day a minstrel stopped at the inn. The Doctor was delighted. Until he started singing about him.

"You know, Doctor. He really wasn't too far off. This trip has been good for you. You look like the legendary hero he described. Tall and fair, eyes like the sea mist, and what was it? Oh, yes, mighty thews." Lib couldn't help it. She just had to rub it in a little. She kept tripping over the two serving girls who were STILL trying to make sure he had EVERYTHING he needed.

"I think we should leave. I have a feeling our horses will be ready to leave their warm stalls."

"East, Doctor?" Peral made a final check of the room.

"No, south. That minstrel came from the south. He shouldn't have known about us. He kept looking at the amulet all afternoon. I don't think the reason was avarice. Someone in the south is talking about me. I would like to know who."

## Chapter Four

The horses were ready. They danced through the dusting of snow on the trail. Lib and Peral chose a mark and raced to it. Peral's palomino beat Lib's big bay mare, but not by much. The Doctor smiled. The horses hadn't been the only ones ready to leave.

They left the lands where hardy people hurriedly prepared for the harshness of winter and passed into lands rich in trade and basking in the sun. A season passed in the journey. It had been nearly uneventful. Inns by the road were pleasant, if you didn't mind open air plumbing and a few fleas. Someone attempted to get acquainted with Lib, in the wrong way, just often enough she didn't complain constantly of getting out of practice.

Their fair skins, size and the strange animals they rode attracted attention. Their rich clothing and the jewels they wore did not. Except for the amulet. Once in a while someone would see it and look at the Doctor very closely. But they, like the minstrel, knew no more than; they'd heard of it somewhere, it had some meaning. In the south.

They rode into the port city of Maribetha on a bright spring morning. Lib wanted to shop in the bazaar. She still had a great many of the gold and silver coins she'd found in her saddlepack. The smell of spices and the noise of the crowd excited her. They found an inn and, as soon as they had gotten the horses stabled, she went shopping. She came back mad.

"They were being SOLD! Their father was selling them!"

Peral looked at the two girls carrying Lib's bundles and sighed. "So you bought them. The question is, what are you going to do with them He understood her impulse, but she didn't seem to have realized the consequences of her action. "You can't set them free. They have nowhere to go. Their father was selling them to pay his debts. They expected it. He had too many daughters. He could sell them and be selective as to who got them or wait and have them seized and sold in the public market. You can't free them until you make them ready for freedom."

"You're right, Peral. I just got so mad. Their father was having them dance for the crowd and telling everyone what good slaves they'd make. It never occurred to me he might be trying to find a good home for them. I wonder what the Doctor will say when he finds out I bought a pair of illiterate, teenage, slave girls. And we have to take them with us. Why don't I think he'll be happy with me?"

He wasn't. He'd shouted at her for a few moments; but, when Amda and Nemir began to cry, he threw up his hands and left the room. The two girls developed an incredible crush on him the next day. He had presented each with sturdy clothes to wear and a fine derkine to ride. He decided his big mistake had been smiling at them, but they'd been so happy.

Lib asked Peral for help. She wasn't about to tell the Doctor the two girls had asked if they were to be shared with him. "You know where to start. Teach them to read." Peral was struggling not to laugh. "Teach them to defend themselves. And, PLEASE, teach them to cook." He followed the Doctor's lead and surreptitiously dumped his dinner.

Amda and Nemir understood the learning to cook part. The reading and self-defense, they did not. The Doctor took care of the reading by performing one of his, 'Now where did he get that froms?' and reading Kipling's Just So stories to them. The self-defense part was harder. They'd been raised with, "If there are no men to defend you, you are lost." Lib had nearly given up hope. Oh, they tried, but they really didn't believe they could do the things she showed them. One evening at an inn that changed.

A scarred and rather sinister man grabbed Nemir. Lib spun to do something about it., but the Doctor stopped her. They watched as Amda waded in to help her little sister. The two flipped the man and left him sitting dazed in the floor. They giggled the entire time they carried the packs in and their eyes sparkled. They really began to learn the next day.

"The training they had as dancers has given them the best balance and smoothest movement I've ever worked with. They're already developing their own style."

"Yes, and they're learning to cook." Lib threw a chunk of dirt at him. Peral ducked and laughed. She had spent hours trying to get the girls not to add handfuls of spice to everything. "They're learning. Now you've got to teach them how to think for themselves."

The Doctor set down his plate and began to pace. "Peral's right, Lib, but we have to be careful. New ideas can change a world even more than new technology. You're going to have to help them fit all this new knowledge into the framework of their society. Right now they see themselves as the luckiest of slaves, learning new things because it's what their owner wants. They eat with us if we ask them. They sleep by the horses and derkine. They feel they belong to us not among us."

"Doctor, let's give them a show." The Doctor stopped pacing and raised his eyebrows at Peral. "Turn slavery into duty. They're women and it'll be pretty unusual for this world, but why not let Lib train them as squires? We'll give them some kind of ceremony to change them from slaves to student squires."

"Peral, that's GREAT!" Lib was ecstatic. "When I get through with them, any knight who doesn't want them will be a fool. Doctor, you have to officiate at this thing. Peral, you do the go-between stuff and I'll present them."

"Now, WAIT just a minute! I'm not going to officiate in any SHOW!"

"Of course you will, Doctor. You're the 'white knight'. Nobody else will do. Do you want to write your lines or do you want me to?"

The Doctor looked at Lib for a moment, shook his head, groaned and sat down. "If I have to do this, I'll write my own lines. Thank you."

They chose a moonlit night amidst a grove of palms. The Doctor held his lance and sword. Lib presented Amda and Nemir. Peral questioned them and the Doctor instructed them. He gave them an oath to swear. They swore to follow only a knight they judged to be worthy. To aid him and defend him. To use their learning and judgment in his behalf. To be faithful to the principles of honor and justice.

"Doctor, I do not understand." Amda was riding beside him. Things had changed greatly since the night they made the girls 'squires in training'. "Peral and Lib say you are a knight and they follow you, but they are neither squire nor knight."

"They are my companions. My friends. They travel with me because they wish to. I wouldn't lead them into danger if the choice had been mine to make."

"Yes, Doctor. Lib has told us. She says it is how we will know our knight. We will find someone who cannot stand by and see evil flourish. And he will not ask the aid of another, but seek to take all the blows that fall upon himself. We will decide to "follow him around and see to it nothing sneaks up on him". The choice will also be ours to make. She has also told us we may not choose you, because you "are taken". Doctor, where is your squire, Liberty, and why is she not here with you?"

He smiled. Lib had foreseen the girls deciding he was the only knight worth squiring for, and had provided a reason for them to pick someone else. "I left her rebuilding a city and protecting its people. It was what needed to be done."

"Lib said you would accept no other squire in her absence. Nemir and I would not seek to take her place, but, since she is not with you, we ask you let us share her duties between us."

The Doctor wasn't really sure what a squire's duties were on Laeth. Lib had done some research so she'd know what to teach them, but he hadn't paid much attention. He wondered what he was getting himself into when he said, "I don't think Liberty would mind, but only for the journey."

"They won't even let me take care of my own HORSE! Last night they wanted to help me with my BATH!" He glared at Lib and Peral. They were laying across the table laughing.

Lib gasped out, "It's part of a squire's duties on this world. They do everything from caring for a knight's mount to scrubbing his back. I gave you an out, Doctor. You did this one to yourself."

He said rather sheepishly, "Well, she just looked so eager, I didn't want to disappoint her."

All that evening at the inn, Peral and Lib would look at him and suddenly start to snicker. But Lib did have a talk with Amda and Nemir and explained the duties the Doctor did NOT expect a squire to perform.

They heard another minstrel sing of them. He sang a verse that named the amulet Weros. Truth. He had learned the song in the south. They rode south.

They were ordered to the palace. A troop of guards met them at the edge of the city and delivered the message. Since the guards were polite and dressed as an honor guard, not a war party, they accepted the invitation.

They were pleased they had the escort. The cheering mob that thronged the streets would have overrun the five of them. The Doctor removed another flower from his hair and wondered what the mob was expecting them to do.

The palace was ornate and beautiful. They were shown to a suite of rooms where servants bustled about. The Doctor was informed the sultan would receive them that evening. Amda and Nemir were in heaven. They were in the palace of the Sultan of Karishdan. He was known as a wise and powerful ruler. His people called him 'The Light of Heaven' and were fanatically loyal. Many of them were freed slaves. The sultan did not allow slavery in his realm.

"Amda, do you mean you'd have been free the moment we reached the borders of this country?"

"Yes, Peral, but we would not have known how to be free. We would have taken the name servant and remained slave."

Baths were drawn for them and the Doctor shouted the servants out of his. He smiled when he heard Peral yelling, "GET OUT!" at several people who had followed him into his.

"I don't get it, Doctor. How did they know we were coming?" Lib held up the emerald green gown and measured it against herself. It had been made for her. No woman in this realm equaled her over one hundred seventy-five centimeters height.

"I think we shall find out soon. We've been prepared for." He was wearing a white tabard with a red dragon rampant embroidered on it. He'd found it, a soft white tunic, and hose and shoes, awaiting him at the conclusion of his bath. Amda and Nemir had latched onto his breastplate and boots with glee. They were finally going to get to polish them.

"You might as well put it on, Lib." Peral had also found clothes awaiting him. He was dressed in a sapphire blue tunic with the flowing sleeves common in the southern realms. "I know how you feel about skirts, but someone's gone to a lot of trouble to make those. They're nowhere near as cumbersome as the layers of petticoats most of the women on this world wear."

"I've wondered about that. It's usually only in northern climates women wear layers of petticoats."

"I know the answer to that one, Doctor." Peral grinned. "The sultan's mother was from the north. She started a fashion. I think the sultan ordered skirts for Lib to keep the women from all deciding to wear men's clothes."

Lib grabbed a piece of fruit from the basket on the table and threw it his direction. "I'd have hit you with it, but you look too pretty to cover in juice. Now, get out while I put this on." She didn't chase the serving women away. They seemed to know how everything fastened and what to do with her hair. She eyed herself in the burnished metal mirror and decided she liked the effect. Perhaps, skirts weren't quite as bad as she'd thought.

"Wow!" Peral just looked at her for a moment. "You look incredible. My little sis is all grown up. Fair Lady Guinevere, may I escort you to the ball?"

"Thank you, Sir Galahad. I would be most pleased." She extended one hand to Peral and he placed it on his arm. She elbowed the Doctor in the ribs and he got the idea. He placed her other hand on his arm and they followed the servant sent to guide them.

"The story of the amulet comes from the south. It is very old." The sultan was a very nice man in early middle-age. In a way he reminded Lib of her father. "One would come who bore the amulet, Truth. Some would have duties to perform. We would know our duty if it came to us. It was assumed to be a myth. For a year, singers have come with new songs. They sang of you and the amulet you wear. They told you rode from the north, but the songs came from the south. Doctor, too many old myths are coming to life. I don't believe in ghosts or prophecies."

"I don't either, Caster. I'm not a hero out of your legends. I'm a Time Lord. There are things happening here I don't understand either, but there is evil here and I've been sent to fight it."

"Yeah, the Doctor's number one good guy and we were drafted to keep him alive." Peral grinned.

"We also keep him from getting swell-headed when women swoon at his feet."

The sultan looked from Peral to Lib in surprise, then turned and saw the expression on the Doctor's face and burst into laughter. "Doctor, the signs say I have a task to perform. I've decided to do things the old-fashioned way. Tonight your friends will become Turime. The champions of man. You must stand for them and pledge them. According to the legend, you are the champion of all things that have life. In other words, Doctor, tonight they officially become 'good guys' and, as 'number one good guy', you judge if they are ready and choose if you will accept their oath." He laughed and clapped the Doctor on the back. Peral and Lib were delighted. They liked good shows and the sultan's would be terrific. They knew they were ready to be 'good guys'. They'd been preparing for it for generations.

Unlike the show for the Doctor, the one for Lib and Peral was very well attended. They knelt on the steps of a dais with the sultan seated above them. There was a major stir in the crowd behind them and the sultan grasped the arms of his chair tightly and leaned forward slightly. Lib wanted to peek behind her to see what had caused the stir, but at that moment the Doctor's voice rang out behind her and the ceremony began.

It wasn't until they turned, to give their oath to the Doctor, that Lib and Peral learned what had changed the atmosphere in the room so suddenly. He wore the flowing pants and shirtless costume of a Karishdani champion. The amulet, Weros, hung on his chest and he rested both hands on the hilt of the sword Perseveren, which stood point down on the floor.

He looked like some ancient god of battle. Lib knew how fast they would fade from his body, but he bore the ritual scars of a champion of one world and the fang marks of the enemies of another. The rigors of the trail and the lack of tergo jam had done his waistline no harm either. She and Peral had wanted a good show, he was making sure they got it.

The Doctor knew what he was allowing his godchildren to do. The ceremony was merely a tradition of Laeth. The oath would be real. He must decide. He chose and accepted their oath. They were worthy and it was what Liberty would have wanted.

When he had accepted their oaths, the sultan gave them the symbols of the champions of man. He placed a coronet of gold set with a sapphire on Peral's head and a copper one set with an emerald on Lib's. The coronets were very old.

"Doctor, you're the talk of the city. Women swoon at the mention of you."

"Give him a break, Lib. He's the star. You're jealous because he upstaged you again." Peral was laughing. "You added your share to the show. Petticoats went into the dustbin all over town and little sisters everywhere are begging their big brothers to teach them to use a sword."

"I'm just seeing to it he doesn't get too smug. He cut quite a figure last night. Both before and during the ceremony. Frankly, Doctor, you were magnificent." Her smile changed and became soft and sincere. "Thank you for accepting me, Godfather."

"It meant a lot to me too, Doctor. Thank you."

The Doctor smiled at them and shook his head. "I've just allowed you two to swear to take on all the evil in the universe. I did it because you'd have done it anyway. I also believed you worthy of the oath."

The Doctor was totally unprepared for the double hug he received from them.

Leoht put on quite a show as they left the city. Rearing and prancing. The Doctor threatened to give his feed to the birds, but he didn't believe him. After awhile, Wealdan and Heort decided to get in on the act. The minstrels added a verse about dancing mounts to several other new ones and carried them north. And the Doctor rode south.

## Chapter Five

"You know, Doctor, we're going to run out of south real soon."

"I hope we find something in Tal-Rittan, Lib. It seems to be the source of the songs."

Peral said, "We'd better. Two days after that, we run out of land."

Tal-Rittan was a city in turmoil. Her livelihood was the sea, but fishing boats and merchant ships rode idle in the harbors. The people feared the sea.

They found the minstrel who sang of them. She was the daughter of an innkeeper and she'd seen them in dreams. She was a shy girl of fourteen. She knew he was there to chase the evil from the sea with the amulet of truth. No one seemed to know what this evil of the sea was, just that boats went out and never came back. No pieces or bodies washed ashore. They were not wrecked. They were gone. It was said a great sea demon took them, swallowed them whole.

"This time there's something here. I can FEEL it!"

"Doctor, you're absolutely elated! You've been bored!"

"Yes, Lib, for months. Tramping about the countryside from one end of a continent to the other isn't an activity I put near the top of my list of favorite things to do."

Peral looked thoughtful. "Maybe that's the whole point, Doctor. Maybe, 'tramping about' has a purpose. It's definitely making us well known."

"And it's BORING me to distraction."

"Maybe it's intended to. We're marking time. That wouldn't make sense unless we're being prepared for something, or something's being prepared for us."

"A great deal of my impatience is due to knowing something, very powerful and very nasty, is getting itself thoroughly entrenched."

"Do you suppose this feeling you have means we've found it?"

"No, Lib, I don't. There's evil here, but the source isn't. This is another situation that makes no sense in the time frame."

He restlessly began to pace the inn's common room. "The disappearances have just begun, but the child's been teaching the song to every minstrel that came through since before we landed. The story of the amulet is very old and the Old English word for truth, Weros, has no place in it. I want more pieces to this puzzle. I'm becoming very ANNOYED with the lack of information!"

"Doctor, Doctor!"

He turned and saw Amda running toward him. He'd decided to take a boat out and see if he could find what was taking the ships. "What is it this time?"

"I'm sorry, Doctor, but Leoht started stamping and snorting, then he handed me his tack and I saddled him. The other horses too. I don't think Nemir can hold

them much..." Her voice trailed off as Leoht trotted by her and nudged the Doctor. Nemir ran up beside Amda and smiled sheepishly.

"I see. Well, evidently, you have somewhere you want to go, Leoht." He swung up in the saddle.

"The horses wouldn't let us saddle the derkines. It won't take us long."

"Amda, I want you and Nemir to stay here." Peral and Lib rode up as he said, "I name you, Amda, and you, Nemir, squire. I declare your training complete. If we do not return in four day's time, I charge you to find knights worthy of you. The derkines and gear are my gift to you."

Lib slipped off Heort and gave each a hug. "Congratulations. If he says you're squires, you're the best." Lib remounted and they headed southeast toward the sea. They would see Amda and Nemir again, but it would be a long time.

"There's something very big and very smelly in that cave, Doctor." Lib wrinkled her nose at the odor of carrion.

They'd found what was left of the missing ships. They'd also found an encampment of scavengers. They had several aircraft and an electrified fence between themselves and whatever was in the cave. Peral's face told the Doctor and Lib he recognized the scavengers. He had said, "I think these people need to be grounded. Permanently." The Doctor had agreed with him, but told him they needed to stop the creature that was taking the ships first.

The Doctor edged into the cave. The smell of rotting flesh nearly gagged him. The darkness was stygian. He took a step forward and something wrapped round his ankles and pulled his feet from beneath him. He swung his sword down at whatever held him and something very large thrashed about in pain. His ankles were released and he scrambled for daylight. He ran for cover in the rocks at the side of the cave and looked at the blackened areas on his boots. They were acid burns. Lib said, "Doctor, the amulet is pulsing."

It came out of the cave and it was huge. It was a kerisp. A creature that filled the same ecological niche as the crab on the beaches of Earth. It had a long, acid covered, tongue which it forced into the shells of mollusks in the sand. It was its digestive organ. But the kerisp was only about five centimeters high, this one's eyestalks rose ten meters above the ground. The Doctor turned toward the sun and the amulet flared. "Perhaps it's designed to fight this creature. Well, I shall find out." They watched in open-mouthed disbelief as he walked down to the beach in front of the creature. It gave an ear-splitting screech and attacked him.

A kerisp fought its own kind with sharp-edged ridges of shell on the front two of its six legs. The Doctor dodged. Peral nudged Lib and they ran for the cave overhang. He wasn't sure what they could do when they got there, but the thing's carapace offered a few cracks. He thought he'd try pushing a sword through them.

The Doctor was trying to get the thing turned around so that the amulet reflected in its eyes. The thing was very fast and he spent a great deal of time just dodging. Just as he got it turned, Lib and Peral jumped onto its carapace. The Doctor looked up and it caught him with one of its legs. His breastplate protected him from the sharp edge, but he was thrown hard into the rocks.

Leoht screamed and plunged between the beast and the Doctor. The beast caught the horse across the withers and red stained his beautiful white back. The Doctor grabbed the amulet in his left hand, raised the sword in his right and ran forward.

The kerisp had begun to reach for Peral and Lib, tying to scrape them off its back. The Doctor caught the sun in the amulet and flashed it at an eyestalk. The eye bent forward to the light and the Doctor drove his sword into it.

He dodged the flailing legs and tried to catch the other eye in the reflected light of the amulet. The creature just would not cooperate. It caught him with another blow. This time cutting deeply into his thigh. He fell and, as it extruded its burning tongue to take him, the amulet reflected in its eye. It bent the eye toward the Doctor and he drove his sword into it. Ichor gushed across him and he rolled out of the path of the flailing legs. He rolled up against Leoht and Doctor and horse stood panting and bleeding and watched while Lib and Peral rode the thrashing beast and plunged their swords over and over into its back. They were climbing down from the finally quiescent beast, when a shot rang out and Lib fell.

The Doctor ran for her. Peral jumped to the ground and reached her just as he did. She'd been hit in the shoulder. The Doctor ignored the sound of weapons being cocked around him and he and Peral worked to stanch the bleeding. He wrapped the wound with bandages he had pulled from Leoht's saddlebag for his leg. When he was done, he looked up into a ring of gun barrels and ugly smiles. Peral said, "Doctor, you're not going to like the parties these guys throw."

The Doctor struggled to his feet, dropped his sword and said, "I'm the Doctor. I want to know where you got those aircraft."

Peral was right. The Doctor didn't care much for his hosts' idea of a good time. He lay in the back of the aircraft with his wrists tied to his ankles and hoped Lib and Peral were all right. He hadn't seen them since he'd been dragged into the central tent minutes after his capture. He had known what had been done to Peral. Now he knew who had done it. And he burned with anger.

Peral and Lib squirmed toward each other. They'd been dumped in a tent and left. They too had been loaded into one of the aircraft. When it had landed, they'd seen someone leading the horses off another. Peral had smiled. The horses had wanted to come along, or no one could have gotten them on an aircraft. They had broken free as soon as their hooves touched the ground.

"My fingers are too numb to feel the knots."

"How's your shoulder?"

"Hurts, but I'll survive. I'm worried about the Doctor. These creeps were practically drooling when they drug him away. There. Try that. Peral? Peral, what's wrong?"

He turned away and pulled his wrists free. He didn't want her to see his face. It wouldn't be very pleasant to look at. "Let's get him out of there."

Lib had never heard him sound like that before. His voice was cold and the feeling of anger she got from him was so deep, it frightened her. He untied her and they began to assess the possibilities of escape.

The Doctor fought two battles. He was afraid he was losing both of them. He held onto consciousness and hoarded his strength. He had felt the ruby begin to draw on Peral and Lib. He'd found he could stop it by exerting his will against it, but, if he lost consciousness, it would take everything needed to revive him. Even if it was more than they had to give. Hands rolled him into the light and he ignored what was happening and fought the ruby.

"You take the one on the left." Peral nodded and they disposed of their two guards. They raced for the rotary aircraft. Peral intended to see their captors didn't just fly off again. This time they would pay the bill for the party. The aircraft made a very satisfying fireworks display. The dirty, yellow-toothed, men who flew them rushed from their tents and watched them burn.

Peral had told Lib to lead them away. She got them to chase her. Heort was waiting in the rocks and she laughed as she plunged her horse through them. She was through and back under cover before they could raise their weapons. Heort raced toward the forest and Lib could only hope Peral had found the Doctor. The anger she felt from him blocked anything else. It hadn't gone, only hardened.

Peral untied the Doctor. "You have to let the ruby help you. Take some of my strength. We won't be able to get you out of here if you don't."

"No, just help me up. Now, get me out of here." He'd been tied in the same position for days. He'd nearly escaped once. Since then, the ropes had been checked. Often. His arms and legs were leaden and his hands were numb.

Leoht and Wealdan were waiting when Peral sliced through the back of the tent. He'd found their swords and the coronets. The horses had still had their tack on when they escaped. Leoht knelt for the Doctor to mount, but Peral had to help him. "You'll have to tie me on.'' Peral tied him and the horses plunged into the forest.

Leoht stopped at the edge of a stream and nickered. Peral untied the Doctor and caught him as he slid from Leoht's back. He aided him into the stream and helped wash the caked ichor and blood away. The Doctor still wore the amulet. His captors had feared to take it. It pulsed in rhythm with his hearts.

Lib rode up as Peral helped him from the stream. She jumped down and ran to help support him. He whispered, "No." and lost consciousness. They stumbled and fell to the bank with him, as the ruby drew what he needed from them.

He awoke and shouted, "NO!" Lib and Peral lay beside him unmoving. He checked them. They were alive! The hard knot in his chest loosened. He didn't have the strength to move them. He turned a piece of his attention away from fighting the ruby and called the horses to him. He pulled himself up to search their saddlebags. He found clean cloths and crawled to the stream to moisten them in the cold water.

"Wow, I feel like I could sleep for a week." Lib smiled up at the Doctor. He lifted the cold cloth from her brow and smiled back.

He turned to Peral just as he groaned and lifted himself to his elbows. "It's a good thing you didn't take me up on my offer back there. We'd have been lying helpless when they came back."

"That's what I was afraid of. I'm sorry. I'll find some way to stop this. I can't let it happen again."

"Doctor, this thing has been set up for you to draw on us. There's something evil going on and you're going to need your strength and ours to defeat it. Now, I'm tired and hungry. Let's get some food and rest."

Peral didn't realize how weak the Doctor still was, nor that he still fought the ruby. He and Lib set up camp by the stream, then called him to dinner. He said, "I shall need a bit of help getting to the table."

That night, as they slept, he lay awake and fought the ruby.

They found a deserted hut in the forest. Lib and Peral stubborned and reasoned the Doctor into resting. They kept their promise to wake him when they became tired. As he got stronger, he began to push himself. Peral, too, pushed. Lib cut them all staffs and in two days they had built back much of their strength. They had to go back to the camp. Four more aircraft had flown over. The Doctor had known they were coming. The man with the painted face had bragged what he would do to the tiny kingdom the camp was in when the guns and explosives arrived.

When they were ready, Lib and Peral picked up their staffs. The Doctor left his behind. Lib could see the anger in the Doctor and she felt it in Peral, but anger wasn't the reason they were going back. It was her reason though. She was Turime. She was the one chosen and judgment was hers. Something had happened. She decided to put paid to the creeps who taken their laughter.

The Doctor got clear of the explosion when he blew the ammunition dump, but just barely. Peral did better with the aircraft. He got back to the horses. The Doctor didn't. Lib saw several people running toward him with raised weapons and she decided she'd had enough.

Lib's plunge down into the camp on Heort surprised Peral, but not Leoht or Wealdan. He hung on with one hand and hefted his staff with the other. Quarterstaffs against guns sounds like a mis-match. It wasn't. The horses plunged screaming into the encampment. Men were knocked down before they could raise their weapons. Lib's staff sang. She hummed along. The song was retribution.

Peral defended her back and the Doctor cleared himself a path to them. By the time he got there, they were the only ones standing. They heard a gun cock behind them. Lib turned and saw a filthy man with a painted face holding a gun to the Doctor's head.

"You have ceased to be enjoyable. You have forced me to return to my master without the gifts he gave me. It is a pity you are too dangerous to allow to live. You were most entertaining." He started to pull the trigger and Leoht screamed and knocked him to the ground.

The Doctor and Peral tried to stop Wealdan and Leoht. They couldn't. The two horses had judged the man unfit to live.

The men who awoke carried the tale to their master. In the east.

## Chapter Six

They found a little fishing village and waited for the monsoon rains to subside. The horses settled comfortably in the little shed the owner of the tiny inn used as a stable.

The inn was a central room with a few sleeping rooms above. It was attached to the kitchen of the innkeeper's home. He was a friendly man with a large family, and was delighted to have guests to share tales while the rains poured down. Things were going wonderfully well, then Lib ran into a problem.

She really didn't know what to do about it. The landlord's sweet son, of about sixteen, had decided he was in love with her. She'd been flattered at first, but things were getting out of hand.

He left flowers outside her door every morning. Evidently, going out in the pouring rain to pick them. He followed her around reciting verses he'd written about her. He swore he'd follow her to the ends of the world. He would ride at her back and protect her.

One morning very early, the Doctor and Peral heard the crack of staffs in the room below. They rushed to the stairs and saw Lib climbing toward them. She gave them a big smile and said, "He said he wanted to defend me, so I gave him his first lesson. I told him to come find me when he could stand ten minutes against me." The Doctor and Peral burst into laughter. Lib smiled. Whatever had happened was behind them. The laughter was back.

The Doctor saw the innkeeper's son standing in the pouring rain. He was earnestly working out with the staff. He smiled. If they were on Laeth long enough, the innkeeper's son would find Lib to guard her back.

The rains stopped and the horses decided it was time to leave. The Doctor had taken grain to Leoht and had a bridle dropped on his head. He laughed and called Lib and Peral. They packed and saddled up. They rode out at mid-morning.

The Doctor and Peral grinned at Lib. She just shook her head. The yard echoed with the crack of someone learning the staff behind the building. His name was Lathan and he would follow.

They rode north for two months, then Leoht decided he wanted to go west again. The Doctor laughed and rode west.

"Doctor, where's the TARDIS from here?" Lib thought it must be within a few days ride.

"It's" the Doctor stood up in his stirrups, swung to his left, and pointed. "that way. About four days ride."

"I THOUGHT we were north of it. Come on, Doctor. How did you know it was there?" Peral knew a good trick when he saw one. The Doctor was positive. That hadn't been a guess.

"I have an unerring sense of direction." At Peral's raised eyebrows, he added, "And I've developed an inTENSE dislike of NOT knowing where the TARDIS is. I attached a circuit to the emerald ring. It homes on the TARDIS door lock."

Peral laughed, but Lib was puzzled. "Your attitude about this has changed recently, Doctor. You've just, sort of, decided to relax and enjoy the ride."

He smiled that strange smile that changed him from 'family' and friend to Time Lord. Somehow, always alone. "Not really, but I have remembered I do know how to be patient."

"We have come for the girl who believes this night she becomes a woman."

"Lib, stay back. Why do you want her?" The five women before him were laethan, middle-aged, and wore flowing gowns.

"There is a legend. We have a part to play. We will not harm her. A woman's rite of passage is of the heart."

"I want to go with them, Doctor. Heort agrees. I'll be eighteen. Like she says, an arbitrary day, but one I've chosen."

The Doctor thought about the girl who'd chattered at him on a bus and called him uncle to keep him from being so noticeable. The young woman wearing the coronet of a champion had replaced the girl. He realized he had been with Lib and Peral for more than two years. "The choice is yours. We'll wait here."

Lib dismounted and unloaded the gear she carried. The Doctor and Peral carried it to the place they'd chosen to camp in the meadow. Lib hugged Peral and he whispered, "Happy Birthday, little sis." The Doctor smiled at her and nodded.

She turned and the five women led her back into the forest. Heort decided to follow.

Peral grinned at the Doctor. "It probably sounds silly, but I feel much better now that I know that horse is going with her."

"It does sound silly. I'm glad YOU'RE the one who said it."

"There is risk in this. You are not of this world. The drug we take to open the past may do you ill, but I do not believe it will harm you. You must choose."

Lib looked around at the five women and smiled. It was like being with a group of her godmothers. "There is risk in everything."

She took the drug and remembered. Fighting on a castle wall, her husband and children dying around her. Running through a forest with an ax to kill the animal that had taken her son. Struggling for days to keep another afloat on the wreckage of a ship and sliding off, knowing the sea had won. Sitting in the TARDIS and watching the Doctor and another die and refusing to believe it, as if the refusal itself would prevent it.

She awakened smiling. The last ancestor's experience she had lived had been her grandmother's. It was a nice memory. She knew how the story turned out. Most of the others had not been. She had been shown the courage of the women among her ancestors. From captured Lady to pioneer woman struggling to pull a plow while her children guided it. She had learned the courage of women, and why her horse was named Heort.

The Doctor and Peral were waiting in the morning. Lib wondered if Peral had slept. She knew the Doctor hadn't. "Hello, do I smell breakfast?"

"I think there might be enough for you." Peral was curious and had been worried, but he didn't want to pry.

"It's all right, Peral." She looked at the Doctor and smiled. "I just relived my pasts."

"The horses' names are really the same." Lib thought she had it worked out. "Wealdan is a strong verb, masculine. The translation is probably valor. The act of courage. Heort is heart. The possession of courage."

"What about Leoht? That means light. You're not going to tell me the Doctor's horse is named Whitey, are you?"

Lib looked at Peral's grin. He thought he'd blown a hole in her theory. "That one had me stumped for a while. I finally decided the translation is enlightenment. To which, the possession of courage and the act of courage, lead. The sword is that which preserves through courage and the amulet is truth, which the courageous seek."

"So you think all the names are connotations of courage."

"I'm afraid she may be right."

"Come on, Doctor. All that to tell us we're hero types and we've got courage." Peral was sure there was more to it. He had a feeling Lib was right, but something was missing. "That statement needs clarification. 'Afraid' she may be right?"

"I think we've been told it will take all the courage we possess before we're done." And their strength. He decided something must be done about the ruby.

The inn would have been a pleasant place if it wasn't so filled with fear. The people spoke in whispers of the strange beast in the hills. Flocks and shepherds had disappeared. They were afraid to take the pass to the west.

The Doctor could feel something 'wrong'. "There's evil here, but, again, it's a reflection and not the source."

The landlord approached their table and bowed low. "Lords and Lady, we ask your aid. You wear the symbols of champions and we have heard of you in the minstrels' songs."

The Doctor smiled gently. The innkeeper was very nervous. "Tell us. We will try to help."

Something had come to the hills; a great beast. They could hear it crashing through the woods. And it took men. Several caravans had vanished. Shepherds were gone. None had been found. It had begun the night of the great noise and the light in the sky. His inn was full of travelers who feared the road. His inn was full now, but, if the pass could not be traveled, it would never be so again.

"We will do something about it."

"Pray, Lord, will you do it soon?"

The Doctor smiled at Peral and Lib. The little innkeeper was a very practical man at heart. Something was interfering with his livelihood. He wanted to know how long it was going to last. "As soon as our horses tell us it's time."

Peral and Lib burst into laughter. The landlord looked confused, but thanked the Doctor politely. He decided a horses was some kind of omen.

They stayed three days explaining to the landlord the horses weren't ready to leave. On the fourth day a shepherd came in. He was terrified. He'd seen the beast. It was a giant marsk. Taller than the trees. It had taken his flock. He had hidden. There had been men following its trail. He had thought they were hunting it, but they had laughed at the slaughter of his sheep.

"A marsk is a rodent-type animal. Its main foods are insects and smaller animals. They're usually about" The Doctor held his hands approximately five centimeters apart. "this big. Very sharp teeth and claws. Use them to pull the bark off trees to get at insects. Genetic manipulation of some kind."

"The lights in the sky, probably air delivery. Another bunch of scavengers too. This time caravans instead of boats."

"I agree with you, Peral. Let's see if we can stop this one without ending up as guests of its caretakers. Shall we see if the horses are ready to leave?"

"Doctor, we had a hint last time. How are we supposed to fight this thing?"

"With horse, lance and sword." The Doctor smiled at Lib. "That is how one fights dragons. Our dragon is a rather large rat, but I imagine the same principle applies."

They found the marsk, or, it found them. Since they were looking for it and it was looking for dinner, they were bound to bump into one another.

"We won't be safe here long."

Since the marsk was rapidly reducing the pile of boulders they were crouched behind, Lib thought the Doctor's comment a bit of an understatement. "Doctor that thing is fast. Too fast. I'm not sure you can get close enough to plant a lance."

"Well, I shall just have to find out."

Lib and Peral scrambled after him. He was going to do something foolhardy. They just knew it. When they caught up with him, he was already guiding Leoht down, out of the rocks. They ran for their horses. He was going to need them.

The Doctor couched the lance, set himself on Leoht, and charged out of the trees directly at the marsk. It dipped its head to snap at him and he ducked under its jaw. He ran the lance straight into its heart. He'd killed it, but it didn't know it was dead yet.

Leoht screamed as the marsk's claws raked his back and swept the Doctor from the saddle. Lib and Peral rode forward to try to distract it from him. It was still fast. Why didn't it die?

Lib ducked, but saw Peral and Wealden go down. She rode into the thing, grabbed its fur and climbed. She had to get to its brain. The stench of blood was overwhelming. The Doctor was somewhere under the blood pumping from the entry point of his lance. He'd taken it in the heart. Why didn't it die?

The Doctor and Leoht were having trouble getting to their feet. They weren't hurt. It was slick. Leoht finally got up and the Doctor hung on. He had to push the lance in further. The marsk was finally slowing, but it was worrying the lance. He needed to get it deeper. He slipped and fell in the blood again, nearly taking his horse down with him.

He decided he might not have actually peirced its heart. The thing was huge. Even losing blood at the rate it was, it would take too much time to die. He struggled to his feet again. If Lib and Peral hadn't been 'out there dodging claws', he'd have laughed.

Lib climbed past the entry point of the lance and the marsk noticed her. She swung under the paw and the teeth missed her. It bent back toward the lance and she climbed quickly to its head. Now all she had to worry about was claws. She tried to figure a way to brace herself on it to drive her sword through the bone in its head. She'd never reach the eye.

Peral dodged another swipe of the claws. He thought the one that had caught him before had probably cracked a rib. Wealden was all right and he and Heort were keeping the thing busy. It was slowing, but they needed it dead.

He saw the Doctor get to the lance, but he just didn't have the traction to drive it in. Peral timed the claws and raced for in. He'd give the Doctor the force he needed. He hoped he was ready for it.

The Doctor saw Peral coming and braced himself against the lance. He timed the thrust to use the impact of Peral's body slamming into his.

The thing lifted its head and Lib held on with muscles toned by more than a year on horseback. She raised the sword above her and drove it down, with all her strength, into the thing's skull.

The two blows were near simultaneous. The creature collapsed. Peral and Leoht got out from underneath it and Lib jumped clear as it fell. The doctor fell down and the several ton marsk fell on top of him.

Leoht found him first, about half way out from under it. When Lib and Peral found him, he was trying to pull himself free. They weren't a lot of help. They were laughing too hard. They could both feel he wasn't hurt and was very disgusted. He was covered in blood and mud. He looked like he'd been dipped in it. He had the lance in his hand. That's what he'd been getting when he fell. When they finally got him out, he said, "There are a great MANY things they DON'T mention in FAIRY TALES!"

He went to find a stream. He assumed they'd follow when they'd finished hanging onto their horses and laughing. Now they had to find the scavenger base. A pattern was beginning to form...

When they found it, it was deserted, another escape by air. They returned to the inn and told the landlord the pass was open and they'd be taking it in the morning. There was a minstrel at the inn. He wrote a verse and carried it east.

The Doctor began to work on the rings. It gave him something to do. He was tired of waiting through the night while Lib and Peral slept. With nothing to do but remember, and no one to talk to but a horse. And he was careful about what he told him.

## Chapter Seven

Leoht wanted to go north, Wealdan and Heort wanted to go west.

"NO!"

"Doctor, we've learned to trust them." Lib didn't like the idea much either, but the horses were their guides.

"I don't like being separated. I don't trust it."

Peral said, "I don't trust it'll be anything, but a long ride. Probably, with something unpleasant at the end of it. Probably, something somebody needs help getting rid of. I trust your path will be approximately the same."

"We'll see you soon. If you need us, use the ring." Lib blew him a kiss.

"Yes, Doctor. If you need us, use the ring."

The Doctor watched them ride off a moment, then mounted Leoht. He said, "Well, what are you WAITING for. This was YOUR idea." Leoht trotted north.

He traveled for ten days. Leoht seemed to need as little rest as he did. He spent one night at an inn. He'd spent the evening with a jeweler's loupe working on the ruby. He had to work on his right hand with his left, but he'd found an access panel to the microcircuitry in the setting. He'd have gotten more done, but he'd had to spend so much time discouraging the landlord's daughter. "Do you MIND not HOVERING over me?" On the eleventh day he came to a castle. Four women met him at the gate. One told him they'd learned they had a part to play. The Doctor still wished he were with Lib and Peral, but Leoht trotted past him into the courtyard. For six days he waited and worked on the ruby. Winter was coming to the north.

Peral and Lib rode three days before they found an inn. They spent two nights in a lean-to shelter in the rain. They were very glad to see the light shining from a low window. They took the horses to the stables, groomed them, then made their way into the cheery common room. They'd long ago gotten over difficulties with the smell of many unwashed bodies, packed into badly ventilated rooms. A hush fell over the room as they entered. An old man walked forward and bowed. "The tales have been true. The Turime walk among us. How may we serve you?"

"Actually, a little dinner, a warm fire, a dry place to sleep..." Peral sounded like he might run on for awhile.

Lib stepped in, "And a little pleasant conversation. Hi, I'm Lib. The sybarite is my brother Peral." She smiled at him and Peral stuck out his hand and grinned. Lib caught the old man when he fainted.

"One is not prepared for living myths to be friendly." His name was Jaco and he was headman of the village near the inn.

"We've been friendly lots longer than we've been myths." Lib smiled. Peral smiled too, but noticed it didn't have the same effect on the old man.

"Why don't you tell us about the myth we're supposed to be." Peral wasn't sure Jaco had heard. He was wearing a rather foolish grin and looking at Lib.

"We really would like to hear it." Peral was glad Lib had decided to help.

The story went: The Turime would ride the north, a great fearsome beast would come, the Turime would defeat it. The Turime would need aid. The great champion would touch them from afar. They would return to him. It would be time to follow the Turime to the east to battle what arose there.

"That's the first we've heard anyone mention a battle in the east." Lib watched Peral pace. Peral didn't take up as much space as the Doctor, but the room was still too small. "I'm worried about the part 'will reach out and touch them'. It sounds like the rings, but backwards."

"Peral, I'm a bit worried about this fearsome beast we're supposed to 'need aid' after defeating."

They waited for the fearsome beast to show up. They waited thirteen days. Lib had started classes in staff and bow. She wondered what the Doctor would say about the few small improvements she had accidentally made. She'd made a bow for herself and, well, the laethans were right, it did shoot much farther. Peral got bored and joined in the teaching.

On the fifth day a pair of young noblemen showed up and asked to be taught the sword. The inn became a training camp. By the ninth day, the more advanced were teaching other students. The school had become self-perpetuating.

On the fourteenth day word came of a beast. The hill people fled to the valleys with tales of a monster knocking off roofs to get at the people within.

Peral and Lib rode into the hills. The school would continue and the horses were ready to leave. No one mentioned what the beast was. It was just as well. Lib wasn't particularly fond of bugs.

"It's impossible. Nothing that big can fly." Lib knew aerodynamics, but, evidently, the bug didn't. It kept trying.

"I don't think it's actually flying. I think it leaps into the air like a grasshopper and uses its wings to extend the leap."

"Either way, it's a moving target and it moves a lot faster than we can."

"Come on! It's on the ground!"

They chased it. Every time it hopped, they followed. Eventually the hops got shorter. They finally got their horses near enough to climb on.

It wasn't easy staying on, but it was a hairy bug and they managed. After the second hop, they started having to dodge feelers and legs. Lib got herself braced and drove her sword between the upper segments. Peral drove his into one of its eyes. They pulled their swords out and readied for another strike and the beast gave its last hop. Into a chasm. It struggled to fly, but was near dead. Peral saw a ledge coming, grabbed Lib's hand, and jumped for it. They made it and watched the bug stop trying to fly and plunge into the raging river below. They heard the horses whinny and looked up, and up, and up...

Down was only the river. They would have to climb. Nearly a kilometer. Straight up. With no equipment. They decided to get started and began climbing. Then came the snow and the wind. And the darkness.

"Peral, we've got to find a place out of the wind. I can't hold on much longer. I'm getting numb. I can't feel the next handhold."

"We can't stop. There's no shelter and no ledges. Hang on. You've got to. If we have to hang here for days, we will."

Lib smiled and hung on. If the wind wanted to pull her off and throw her into the river, it would have to work to do it. She held to the cliff and the hours passed and it got colder. Peral and Lib began to freeze to death, but they held on. They would go up or they wouldn't go at all.

The Doctor pushed the little probe in and something happened. He pushed a little further and... He was freezing. He was cold and tired and... Lib and Peral! He'd reversed the rings circuits! The ruby now used the sapphire and the emerald to feed his strength to them. He could feel their weakness by the ring's demands. He fell to the floor and gave them what they needed.

Lib felt warmth and strength flow into her. "Peral! He's reversed the rings."

"Hang on! Use as little energy as possible. He's hooked himself to us. If we make it, he makes it. If we give up and die, he dies. So, shut up and hang on."

The four women carried the Doctor to a chaise. They would watch over him and wait. It was their part. And they would keep him warm. He was unaware of being moved or cared for. He was fighting the ruby again. It wasn't easy to reverse the normal direction of the flow. He held the circuit open with an act of will and drove his strength through it.

"Peral, I can see to move. I've found the handhold."

"Go. I doubt the storm's over, but we need to get as far as we can between blows. We're living on his strength. Ours might have lasted the night. He's as helpless as we were. The ruby will take everything we need from him."

The Doctor had realized what was happening instantly or it wouldn't have worked. The rings were designed for other species. They just weren't equipped to TAKE anything from him. He was a Time Lord. He must force his strength through it. He ignored what was happening and fought the ruby.

For three days the blizzard raged and they held on and climbed and held on and climbed. Wealdan and Heort called down encouragement. Peral smiled to himself. He was pretty far gone. He felt encouraged every time Wealdan whinnied at him. Each time, he was just a little closer.

The Doctor held on. He felt the end of his strength approaching. If he lost consciousness, Peral and Lib would lose the strength he was pouring into them. He knew from the rate at which they used it, they'd had no rest. They were totally dependent on him. He pushed himself to his limits, then began to tap his body's reserve. The reserve only Time Lords had. The energy held within them. The power to regenerate. He held to consciousness and fought the ruby. And used himself.

Peral pulled himself above the edge and grabbed Wealdan's reins. Wealdan backed and pulled him over. He grabbed a rope from the saddlebag and threw it to Lib, tied it off, and let Heort pull her up. Now they would draw on the Doctor only to find their way to shelter. Only to keep from freezing and stay on the horses.

The Doctor felt the need lessen. It was good that it did. He had very little left. His right heart was laboring. He held on and fought the ruby.

It took the horses sixteen hours to reach the inn through the deep snow. They walked into the common room and Peral said, "Take care of our horses. They're in the yard. And us." He and Lib lay down on the common room floor and went to sleep.

The innkeeper and his guests carried them gently up the stairs to their room and laid them in bed, then went to care for the fabulous beasts they rode.

The Doctor was dying. He knew it, but he also knew Lib and Peral were not. He allowed the circuit he'd held open to close. He prepared himself to fight, to keep the ruby from drawing on them, until he died and they were freed, but the rings deactivated. A voice whispered, "You cannot die. They'll need you again. They will be absorbed by the evil if they must face it alone. You cannot die."

He was so tired. Tired of the fight. Tired of the journey. Tired of the endless years. It would be so simple, so simple to stop fighting. "You cannot die. They will need you again." He fought on.

He began to gain strength. Strength enough to rest. Strength enough he would not die in his sleep. The women cared for him while he rested. He had used all of his strength, then found the strength to cling to life. He would be needed.

The women lifted him and gave him food and drink. In the many days to follow they helped him sit, then stand. Then rebuild his strength of arm and speed of reaction. They learned to use the staff so they could help him. They watched and waited. Their part was not done. He lived by an act of will, because he was needed. He must live because he wanted to.

When he was strong enough to become restless, to resent the chest deep snow that held him there, they began to teach him to laugh again. They coaxed him and begged him to help them pass the long winter. They coaxed him to play hide-and-seek and tag, and other children's games common to all the worlds. He wasn't easy to coax, but he didn't really care and they were very persistent, so they succeeded.

The day came when they played tag and he chased them as they ran through the hall squealing. He slid and fell on his back and began to laugh. "I'm a NINE hundred-year-old TIME LORD. And I'm playing TAG with four giggling women." He realized what the women had done.

He said good-by to each of them and prepared to leave. The snow was receding and Leoht was restless. He left at daybreak. He had never learned their names. He'd given them ones he liked.

They smiled at one another, took their things from the castle, and began their journeys to four points scattered across the continent. They had done their parts, but they would do more. They would meet again in the east.

The Sultan of Karishdan's daughter hurried toward the warm south. The Doctor had not recognized her. She wondered if he'd know her when she led one third of her father's armies at his back. When they all met. In the east.

## Chapter Eight

"They're ready. Let' s go."

Lib patted her student on the head and followed Peral into the inn. They picked up their gear and left. Lib blew a kiss to Jaco as she walked out the door and he choked on his ale. They saddled their horses and rode east.

The journey was longer and harder. Snow lay deep in many places. It was twelve days before he stopped at the inn he'd stayed at on his way north. He taught songs to the other guests by the fire long into the night.

He'd smiled at the innkeeper's daughter and she'd stood a half meter behind him all evening. He raced to his room when she went to the kitchen. He shut the door, leaned against it, breathed a sigh of relief, and laughed. The smile had definitely been a mistake.

He met Peral and Lib at the point they'd separated a season before. This time they knew where they were going. They rode east.

"You look great, Doctor. We were pretty worried." Peral didn't quite know how to thank him. Not for himself, for Lib.

"I want to know what you did, and I want it undone! Someone could use us against you." Lib felt guilty and feeling guilty made her mad.

The Doctor smiled at her. "It is undone. It only stayed reversed as long as I held it open. Perhaps, you now understand how I feel about them."

They stared at him in surprise. They'd believed the ruby had taken strength from him, had used him as it had used them. They now knew he had chosen to give it to them.

"Now, since I worked so hard at it, why don't you tell me what we did."

They told him of the inn and the school, of the myth and the beast, of the storm and the climb. They asked him what he had done. He told them he had played tag and remembered why he was alive.

Lib sat and watched the Doctor. They had stopped at a roadside inn. The sun and the fragrance of the air whispered, "Spring!"

He sat midst a group of children and created a flute from a length of bamboo-like growth he had found nearby. He had always smiled easily, now he laughed. He very nearly glowed with the joy of just being alive. She watched him patiently teach small hands and smiled.

"You're wearing the same expression grandmother wore when she watched us play as children." Peral sat on the log next to her.

"I don't know what happened to him, Peral. Something did. He hasn't really changed, but he has."

"Despite that rather confusing statement, I know what you mean. Grandmother told me he'd complained to her once he'd taken more physical abuse in the last ten years than in the two hundred before. He's been prepared for this."

"I meant he just enjoys himself more intensely, enjoys being alive, more than I've ever seen before."

"I know." Lib turned to face Peral. The words had been spoken very softly. "I just wonder... How close to death did he come before he remembered how much he loves life?"

"Peral, we'd have known. The rings would have drawn on us."

"Would they? He reversed the circuit. If he could do that, what makes you think he couldn't turn them off?"

Lib watched Peral as he walked away. She looked down at the emerald she wore and started trying to think of a way to hold hands with the Doctor.

They rode east until the horses wanted to go south. Then they rode south.

"That's not a castle. That's a fortress."

"Lib's right, Doctor. It's four times the size of anything else we've seen. Look at those walls. They must be twenty-five meters high and ten deep."

"We may get a closer look. I believe I see a reception committee approaching. They don't look happy to see us."

The Doctor smiled at the fifty or so armed men who surrounded them and slowly raised his hands. Peral shrugged at Lib and they followed his lead.

The guard troop wanted them down, off the horses. They dismounted and led them into the castle yard. Lib stared around her. She knew a training center when she saw one. The biggest man she'd seen on Laeth came down the steps of the main building. He walked up to the Doctor and said, "I don't believe in myths and legends. I believe in sweat and blood, and life and death."

The Doctor smiled. "Good. Perhaps, we should discuss what's real." Leoht nudged him towards the man. "My horse seems to think we should have a talk."

He was the Baron of Pralth. He had heard of an army gathering in the east and had decided to prepare. The eastern reaches had been a source of trouble for as long as his family had held the land. But there had never been word of an army, until now. "They've been bandits and raiders. Taking flocks and slaves. An evil sort, but nuisance not threat. Never ran in groups of more than forty or so. Every strong arm had followers, but they fought amongst themselves more often than against us. Lately, rumors have come to me that's changed. Every villain with a band of cutthroats has ridden east, promised a share in the bounty when they conquer the world. My borders have been a bit too quiet. Makes me nervous."

"Your instincts are good, Talf. Something evil has come to your world. We followed it."

"Doctor, I'm a practical man. I don't believe in demons."

"Demon. I guess that's as good a word as any. Talf, the creature we followed isn't super-natural, at least not in the way you mean, but it does come from elsewhere. It is malevolent and has great power, but can be defeated. My companions and I are here to prevent it from causing the destruction of this world. I believe part of our task is to help your people prepare to fight it. We'll help you train them."

"That's nice of you, Doctor. Shall we see if you have anything to teach them?"

Lib gripped Peral's arm as Talf drew his sword. Peral felt her intentions and said, "Wait."

The Doctor smiled and drew Perseveren from its scabbard on Leoht. He saluted the baron and took position. The baron had never seen the salute before, but he liked it. He smiled, copied the salute, and prepared himself.

The clash of steel brought onlookers from everywhere. Soon, more than a hundred people stood watching the two smiling giants duel. Every so often, someone would move in front of Lib and Peral's bench. Peral would say, "Ahem." and they would turn and look at them and quickly move out of the way.

They watched in awe. The baron was the finest swordsman and soldier his planet had ever produced. He and the Doctor were well matched.

"Peral, they're enjoying themselves!"

"Lib, if you didn't have me to work out with, wouldn't you enjoy finding someone that could really make you work hard?"

The duel lasted for more than two hours. Finally, the Doctor caught Talf's blade with his own and spun it from his hand. He grinned at Talf and said, "Now do I get the job?"

Talf roared with laughter, threw his arm across the Doctor's shoulders, shooed a healer who wanted to tend his cuts away, and shouted, "Ale and a feast. I have found my teacher."

Lib and Peral watched them during the feast. They sat at the head of the table, each bloody from a dozen cuts, talking and laughing together. Peral said, "They're having a very good time. They're absolutely delighted to have met."

Lib smiled gently. "Wouldn't you be delighted if you found out you weren't the only hero in the world?"

The Doctor did something that night they'd never even imagined him doing. He got intoxicated. No, actually, he and Talf got uproariously drunk.

They each held a goblet in one hand, threw an arm across the other's shoulders, and staggered together, loudly singing, toward the stairs. They made it to the top. Much to the relief of Peral, Lib, and the captain and two of the baron's guards. Lib could tell by Marn's look of relief he hadn't wanted to try to catch the baron on the stairs any more than she'd wanted to try to catch the Doctor.

Talf and the Doctor sat down, fell down probably described it better, about two meters from the stairs. They clanked their goblets together, then drained them. Talf hiccuped and passed out on his back on the floor. The Doctor smiled down on him a few seconds, then joined him.

As she and Peral picked up the Doctor and Marn and his men picked up the baron, Marn grinned at Lib and winked. She grinned back at him. Later, he told her he'd never seen the baron get drunk before.

Marn had told them where to put the Doctor. They laid him on the big bed and removed his boots and breastplate. Peral started to leave, but Lib stopped him. She took his left hand in hers and touched their rings to the ruby the Doctor wore on his right. The rings glowed and she smiled. Peral said, "Just make sure he doesn't find out until he needs us."

"Doctor, you amaze me." Talf was holding his head and queasily gazing at his breakfast.

"I'm a bit amazed myself. I expected to be very hung-over this morning." He looked down the table to where Lib and Peral were droopily eating breakfast and added, "Everyone else seems to be." He decided to have a talk with them. He hadn't realized they'd had that much to drink. "Of course," he admitted to himself, "I wasn't in much shape to notice."

When breakfast was over, they toured the training facilities. Introductions were made and Lib and Peral set up a training schedule. The Doctor and Talf went to study maps. As soon as they'd gone, Lib and Peral excused themselves. They went to the stables and curled up on the hay in their horse's stalls to take a nap. Lib smiled. The Doctor hadn't caught on. She slept off the remainders of his hangover.

Monsters appeared in the land and people appeared at the castle. The Doctor didn't lead any more expeditions against beasts. It wasn't necessary. When one appeared, the local people got together and took care of it, then returned home. Except for a few, who made their way to the castle.

The training grounds outgrew the castle and the land surrounding it sprouted tents. One day a large party showed up looking for Lib and Peral. They had come from the inn that they'd turned into a school. Lib and Peral tested them and set them to training others. Two seasons passed.

"Lib, there's someone here to see you. I think you'd better bring your staff." She looked at Peral's grin, chose someone to continue the class in her absence and picked up her staff.

He stood in the center of the training square waiting for her. Tall for a laethan, he equaled or topped her height by a centimeter or two. He was broad shouldered and well muscled. He looked familiar, but she couldn't place him. That was a surprise. She couldn't imagine herself forgetting anyone THAT good-looking. He smiled and brought his staff to ready position. She laughed and waded in.

They drew a crowd. He was good! Lib spun her staff and he matched it. The crowd watched as they moved like two dancers to the rhythm of the crack of the staffs. It was nearly an hour before Lib knocked him off his feet. He laughed and said, "That was more than ten minutes. Now do I get to defend your back?"

"Lathan?!"

He picked himself up, dusted himself off, and bowed to her. "At your service, Milady."

She smiled and said, "On one condition. No verses."

He laughed and shook his head. "And I've worked so hard on them."

Talf turned to the Doctor and raised his eyebrows. The Doctor smiled and said, "It's been my experience that most really good squires appoint themselves."

"But he wants to sleep at the foot of my BED!"

"Lib, that's what squires do."

"Your grandmother wasn't quite so adamant, but I awoke with her sleeping at my feet more than once."

"Doctor, you're KIDDING!"

"No, Lib, I'm not." He smiled at the memory. "She only did it when I was hurt or threatened. Usually, when I wasn't in any condition to object. I gave up trying to break her of it. She'd agree it was foolish, then something would happen and there she'd be, cozying up to my toes."

Peral laughed. The thought of his grandmother; a woman who, with his father's help, had dragged a world out of brutality and illiteracy with her bare hands, sleeping curled up at the Doctor's feet delighted him. The thing was, he could see her doing it.

"Well, that doesn't solve my problem. I'd like to be able to get out of bed without having to find a dressing gown and worrying about how I look." Peral and the Doctor burst into laughter. Lib gave them a dirty look and went to find a class to teach. She still didn't know what to do about Lathan.

Later, she would find the answer. She didn't tell them, but the Doctor and Peral knew how she'd solved the problem. Lathan was a VERY happy young man.

"Amda!" Peral was delighted to see her, but not quite prepared for the hug and kiss she gave him.

"I found my knight, Peral. He's here and he brought three hundred troops. We've been training them." Her smile grew wider. "Men and women."

Peral laughed. "Amda, we hoped you wouldn't cause too big a change in this world. The Doctor's not supposed to do that."

"I did not change anything. He was already doing it. He believes women should do what they think right. If that means marching into battle, he'll teach them how to fight." Her face softened and became gentle. "It was how I knew he was my knight. Nemir found hers too." She giggled. "He took much convincing. Each morning he would throw her out and each night his daughter let her in. The next morning she would lie at the foot of his bed and he would throw her out again."

Amda's face got hard and the smile went away. "One night assassins came from the sky. Nemir said the noise of their coming terrified the guards, but they love their leader and did not run. Nemir fought at her knight's back that night. They battled to reach the nursery. They killed eight in the nursery, but the eight had killed too. Nemir became squire the night she held the Sultan of Karishdan as he wept beside the bodies of his wife and youngest child. The first he sent her to teach was his daughter. He too now believes women should be able to fight. The sultan's daughter brings one third of his armies north. They will come when leaves fall. They come to learn the way of battle in the cold."

The story pained Peral. He remembered the gentle, gracious, lady and happy boy the sultan had introduced with such pride and love. "Amda, who do you follow?"

"I follow the Duke of Merale, but do not know if I have done right. Can one be both squire to knight and wife to him?"

Peral laughed and spun her around. "Yes! That's wonderful! I want to meet your duke!" He set her down and bowed to her. "Fair Lady Amda."

She giggled. "But Peral, you already know him. You call him Logan."

She smiled at the Doctor's shocked expression. "I have learned the northern winter is cruel. We have no knowledge when battle may come. I have brought some that they may learn the way northrons prepare to battle cold and enemy together."

The Doctor smiled gently. "What's your name?"

"I am Cermine, Doctor. I am daughter to the Sultan of Karishdan. I ask my troops be given food and water. The harvest will be good I have given many coin to bring it here, but it is not yet in. We need supplying til it is done."

"We will help. How many troops did you bring?"

He wondered about her smile until she said, "Some over five thousand, Doctor." He laughed and she ran and hugged him.

Peral remembered her from the sultan's palace, but he was sure the Doctor wouldn't have. Later, he asked how he knew her so well. He smiled and said, "I used to chase her. She's very fast."

Lorin arrived by herself with a staff in her hand and decided Peral was her knight. He didn't know what to do with her any more than Lib had known what to do with Lathan. He solved his problem by telling her, "If you want to be my squire, you'll have to be a good one." He taught her to fight and she slept at the foot of his bed. He wondered who had taught her to use the staff so well. She'd been very happy to see Cermine again. And pleased with the Doctor's smile.

Bethda and Merdin arrived together with troops from the west. Bethda was Queen of Perline and rode the finest of derkine at the head of her nobles and men at arms. Merdin walked barefoot with staff and bow and a thousand peasants at her back. They too were pleased with the Doctor's smile.

Farmers arrived with the bounty of the fields. Cellars were dug and silos were built. The farmers stayed and took up arms.

The winter was harsh. Lives were lost to its ravages. Cermine lost nearly fifty in her camp, but the others learned the way of the cold.

Spring arrived and the Sultan of Karishdan came with ten thousand. The rumors from the east spoke of oppressed people, enslaved to prepare the machines of war. And evil that stole the souls of men.

Cermine was a gifted quartermaster. Supplies flowed from everywhere. Her agents found suppliers and organized caravans and sent them to her. No army of twenty thousand was ever better fed.

## Chapter Nine

"Talf, we're leaving. I must learn what's happening in the east. I'm still missing important pieces to this puzzle."

"Doctor, if you go, who will lead us into battle?"

"You, Talf, and Logan, Cermine, Caster, Bethda, all of you. You are your peoples' leaders. We're symbols to draw you together. I'm not here to fight a war. You are."

"Doctor, you travel to the east to do battle. Where you lead, I shall follow. And I shall LEAD my people beneath your banner." The Doctor took his hand and clasped his shoulder, then turned and mounted Leoht. Three rode out the gate on horseback, but two followed shortly thereafter on derkine.

There were twelve of them and they caught them in a net. Trapping both riders and horses. Horses were hobbled and riders were tied. Securely.

"I feel like a card in a TAROT deck."

"I get the reference, Doctor, but, if I remember correctly, the hanged man's hands weren't tied behind his back." Hanging upside down wasn't so bad. What Lib hated was a bug that kept landing on her nose. She snapped at it and Peral grinned.

"There. Oops. Well, no one seems to have noticed." The Doctor had their attention. He'd just dropped a neatly tied rope on the ground. "Watch for them while I climb... "

Lib realized she was supposed to be watching the ground, not the Doctor, but it was a little hard. She'd never seen anyone flex their knees and grab a rope between their feet before. Well, not anyone hanging upside down by their ankles. She wondered if she could do it. She was thinking about trying when she felt herself being pulled up into the tree. The Doctor freed her and they pulled Peral up.

"Ahem." Lib almost lost her perch when she turned and saw Lathan sitting on a branch behind her. He grinned and pointed to Lorin, holding the horses and a pair of staffs, a few meters away on the ground. The Doctor smiled and dropped out of the tree. Peral, Lib and Lathan followed. The horses screamed and plunged into the camp and Lorin tossed Lathan his staff.

The argument didn't last long. It was too short to be called a battle. They left the eleven tied up. Wealdan had gotten a bit carried away. They knew Talf's patrols would find them. The burning aircraft would make a good beacon.

The journey became routine. Each day they rode from dawn til dark. Each night they made camp. Lathan and Lorin were good squires and good cooks. They made the journey more pleasant, often supplementing the grain and dried foods they carried with forest plants.

"I've remembered where I got the rings."

"Do tell. This should be an interesting story." Lib was in the mood for a good story. The nice thing about having the Doctor along on a long journey was he never ran out of stories.

Peral grinned. "I know how this one starts. Once upon a time there was this furry thing with a crown."

Lib felt Lathan's derkine nuzzling her foot and smiled. The only drawback about the Doctor telling a story was it tended to get very crowded in his vicinity.

"He was King of Ranilf and he was an Aerthwelan, and they are VERY furry. He was a good king and his son was quite small and his people wanted to keep him. The problem was the males in the royal family died young, few living through middle age. The rings were a gift from his people. The idea was to keep him strong, then he wouldn't die. The two who wore the emerald and sapphire were drawn from thousands of volunteers in a national lottery. They held their posts for a year."

The Doctor smiled. It had gotten very quiet on the trail. "The king became ill. He really shouldn't have been in any danger, but one night his heart stopped. He had the 'king's affliction'. The king lived, but the young female who wore the sapphire did not. The king was horrified. He wanted the rings put away forever, but the people just wouldn't let him do it. Another lottery was held and just as many volunteered as before. I believe I arrived the day before the lottery. I remember I was escorted a bit roughly. I told them I wouldn't hurt them, but I don't think they believed me. I just didn't have enough fur. Of course, as soon as I met the king, things changed. He really was a good king. He didn't think just a lack of fur was a reason to throw someone in a dungeon. I liked him. I had breakfast with him the next morning. He told me about the rings, the lottery, and the king's affliction. I solved the problem and when I visited about ten years later he gave me the rings."

"Not fair, Doctor! How did you solve the problem?" Lib knew if she wanted the rest of the story she'd have to ask for it.

"The king's breakfast was the equivalent of three eggs, a slice of ham, four pieces of bacon, toast with a slab of butter, and coffee with cream. The name for a heart attack in Ranilf is king's affliction. I put him on a low cholesterol diet."

"You mean these things are souvenirs of a DIET?!" Peral had stopped Wealdan.

The Doctor turned and said, "The kings of Ranilf have used it ever since. It was a very good diet."

Lib reined in Heort and got down. Peral climbed off Wealdan and the two of them walked to a grassy mound. The Doctor said, "Oh, no, not again."

Lathan and Lorin looked from their two knights, rolling on the ground laughing, to the Doctor, sitting astride his horse shaking his head. Lorin said, "I wonder if they do that in public?"

Lathan answered, "Probably, but that is why we follow them."

"That is true. They are most interesting." They started to laugh and the Doctor just shook his head, turned his horse, and started down the trail. It had been a GOOD diet. He looked down at the ruby on his hand and laughed.

"There are still two pieces that don't fit."

"You working on our puzzle again, Doctor?"

"YES! And I STILL can't understand the TIME difference! Peral, there HAS to be SOMETHING I'm overlooking."

"Doctor, these monster size animals are what I've never been able to figure out." Lib was sure there was some reason for them. "They seem like they would have taken a lot of work. They provide a pretty good haul for the scavengers, but mainly they're just a nuisance. People aren't even afraid of them any more."

"The time factor is involved there too. We'd only been here a few weeks when we fought the kerisp. It had to grow to that size somewhere."

"Those aircraft didn't just appear out of nowhere. And the really old stuff; your amulet, the coronets Lib and I have. All these legends."

"YES! And I've begun to wonder if I've missed something... "

"We might as well camp. They could be there awhile." Peral grinned at the look on Lathan and Lorin's faces. "Sometimes the Doctor stops to think. His horse just stops with him."

Lathan rode his derkine past the motionless forms of the Doctor and Leoht. He climbed off his derkine and began setting up camp. "Peral, there are those who study the legends. They are not far from this place. They might tell why the amulet glows on his breast."

"That's another question." Lib watched the slowly pulsing light of the amulet. "Why did it start beating with his hearts the first time he used it?"

"He is like a stone figure. Does he do this often?" It was something she had never seen him do in the winter spent in the castle, but she had always been a bit in awe of him and had not spent a great deal of time in his company.

"No, Lorin." Peral laughed. "He seems to do his thinking in one of two ways. Pacing or motionless. Either way, he usually comes up with something."

"AHA! That's IT!"

The Doctor swung down off Leoht and walked into the partially set up camp and began pacing. "I've gotten in the habit of thinking in the time period. Why beasts at those places? What were the scavengers actually after? Lathan, I want you to lead us to the place the myths are studied. I wish I had a good geological survey of this planet. What are we having for dinner?"

"Lathan found nebith root and I have gathered teth leaves. I also found atis nuts." Lorin knew he would like dinner. He always liked dinner, but she doubted he had ever had nebith root. Few had. It was rare. "We shall prepare you a feast kings cannot command."

"Why not?"

"Nebith root is very rare, Doctor. Once it flourished, but now is nearly gone. Too many have taken the small with the large and the plant does not seed."

"Tuberous propagation. Has cultivation been attempted?"

"Yes, but it grows only where it wishes. It is a forest plant and now found only deep in the forest. We will feast tonight."

The Doctor sat down and watched her prepare the nebith. She was a bit nervous. She dropped an atis nut. His smile was gentle and warm, but she had always found his presence daunting. Cermine had teased that she feared him even when he slept. Lorin knew it was not fear that made her hands shake.

She pushed the atis nuts into the nebith, wrapped it in teth leaves and laid it amongst the stones of the fire. Soon, the fragrance of the teth leaves filled the air. The Doctor sniffed the air and his eyes sparkled. She smiled and some of her nervousness left her. Other times he might be a hero of ancient legend, but now he was just a hungry man smiling in anticipation of dinner.

"Well, that answers one question anyway." Lib turned to Peral and looked her question. "I always wondered if he knew what was going on around him when he stopped to think. Since we're headed for the place Lathan mentioned, the answer is obviously yes."

"I'm more interested in the "Aha. That's it." He usually tells us when he comes up with something. This time he didn't. Why?"

"You're right! I hadn't even realized it. Why am I suddenly nervous?"

"Because when he doesn't tell us what's going on, he's planning something he knows we won't like."

"He's going to do something dangerous again. I wonder what?"

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. I've come to ask a few questions about some legends that seem to be about me."

Lib caught the old man. He'd fainted. "Doctor, you're going to have to be more careful." She snickered. "Peral and I found out people just aren't prepared for living myths to walk up and be friendly."

The Doctor picked up the old man and carried him through the gate. "This is getting just a bit silly." He carried the old man to the well in the center of the courtyard and gently laid him on the flagstones.

Lib drew water from the well and turned to hand it to the Doctor. "Uh, Doctor, we have company. A lot of it."

The Doctor took the bucket from Lib, smiled at the fifty or so scholars in the courtyard and said, "I'll be with you as soon as I know this man will be all right."

Lib and Peral began to laugh, then Lathan and Lorin joined in. The Doctor looked around to see what was funny. Among the scholars, three more were lying on the ground. They'd fainted. The Doctor said, "Oh, no. Not AGAIN!" Lib sat on the ground, leaned against the well and laughed til the tears rolled.

Lib didn't know whether to call it a monastery or a college. It had a name, but the name meant: where legends are studied. They'd been given rooms. The Doctor had refused to let the old master of the place move out to give him his. Actually, he'd shouted his refusal. "I am NOT going to THROW an OLD man out of his HOME! Just because it's the BIGGEST ROOM!"

He'd been very quiet since. Having two old men faint dead-away every time he raised his voice bothered him. It was either that, or the fact it usually took the four of them about ten minutes to stop laughing.

"I am Jeran. I have been sent to help the Great One find what he seeks."

Lib smiled. At least this one didn't look like he'd faint if the Doctor spoke to him. "Hi, I'm Lib. I think the Doctor will be real happy to see you, but I wouldn't call him Great One if I were you."

"I'm Peral, these are Lorin and Lathan. Lib's right. He's the Doctor. In its own way, it's probably a more auspicious title than Great One."

"I shall try to remember." Lib liked the smiling man. He was middle-aged and gray-haired, but he had the sparkling eyes and suppressed eagerness of a boy of ten. Peral walked over and shook his hand. He had to teach him how to do it, but he'd had a lot of practice at that. Laethans would shake hands for the rest of time because Peral had taught them. "Ordinarily, I'd warn you to call him Doctor if you didn't want to be shouted at, but I think he's a bit afraid to raise his voice. He's a bit embarrassed at having men faint every time he does."

"It is very strange to study a legend your whole life and have it one day walk up and say hello. We thought we were prepared for your visit, but nothing can really prepare one for his first meeting with the Gr... Doctor."

"Wait a minute! You were expecting us?"

"Yes, Peral. Did you not know? It is the reason this place exists. To gather all the legends together so that the... Doctor can study them when he comes."

"Uh, I see. Just how long have you been gathering these legends?"

"I do not believe it has been more than a thousand years."

"Oh, brother!"

"Yes?"

"Sorry, it was an expression." Lib decided if they called themselves brothers, she'd call it a monastery. "It means... Oh, well, that's not important. I'll go find the Doctor for you."

"Hello."

"Hi, Doctor, I was just coming to find you."

"So I heard." He smiled at Jeran and extended his hand. Jeran gave it a firm shake. "Good, someone who doesn't fall down when I speak to him."

"I am usually too interested in what is happening to allow myself to 'fall down'. I might miss something, G... Doctor."

The Doctor was delighted. Jeran not only didn't faint, he had a sense of humor. "Now, what did you want to see me about?"

"I come to help you find what you seek. My thought was to begin in the library. It is where the most ancient of lore is kept. There you will find scrolls the brothers before us have preserved for your coming."

"That's EXACTLY what I want to see. Shall we go?"

Lib watched them walk out and grinned at Peral. "He looked a bit weak in the knees when the Doctor threw an arm across his shoulders, but I think he'll hold up."

Peral shook his head. "Wait'll he hears they've been waiting for him for a thousand years."

"You've WHAT?!"

Jeran steadied himself. Peral had warned him, but the reality, of having a being you'd near worshipped most of your life shout at you, was a bit daunting. "We've been preparing for your arrival. We knew it would be soon. The legends told us what to watch for. Most of us have not known to be happy or sad."

"I don't think I understand that last statement."

"It is simple, Doctor. It is a great wonder to be here at your coming, but it will be very sad to leave this place. For many of us, it has been our home for the greatest part of our lives."

"Why will you leave?"

"This place will no longer have a reason for being. It is only here to hold the legends for your coming." Jeran smiled. The Doctor was staring at him with his mouth open. It was nice to know this great hero of myth was not beyond being speechless with surprise. "Perhaps, you now understand why so many brothers 'fall at your feet'. We have prepared for your arrival more than nine centuries."

That evening at dinner, the Doctor tried to put them at ease. He decided the magic trick had been a mistake, when two of the brothers fell to their knees talking about miracles. He had to do something. A little awe was flattering, but worship was definitely going a bit too far.

"I'm afraid one of them will have a HEART ATTACK if I walk up behind him and SURPRISE him! This is worse than being in the PROPHECY! At least THOSE were true primitives! THESE are some of the most EDUCATED people on the PLANET! "

"Calm down, Doctor." Lib knew it was the wrong thing to say the minute she said it.

"Calm down! CALM DOWN! I've been CHASING about on a HORSE for the better part of three YEARS! Dressed for a COSTUME party! With people FAINTING if I look at them wrong and I'm no closer to an ANSWER THAN WHEN I STARTED!"

"Whoa, Doctor. Take it easy on my ears. Did you know the amulet gets brighter when you get excited?" Peral grinned. The Doctor had stopped pacing and was looking at the amulet.

"Hmm. I wonder... "

"I wonder where he's going?"

"I don't know, Lib, but at least he's not shouting. Let's get some sleep before he starts again."

He was very careful with it. He didn't know why he hadn't done it before. He smiled as he realized he'd been caught up in his own legend. It just hadn't occurred to him to take the amulet apart to see what made it tick. There, he'd found a point of...

"Peral! The Doctor!"

"I can feel it! Come on, Lib, we've got to find him before the ruby takes too much out of us. Lorin, Lathan, help look!"

They found him on the library floor with the amulet in his hand. Open. Peral snapped it shut, laid it on his chest and sighed. The ruby had stopped drawing on them. "I don't know what to do. If we stay here, he'll take one look at us and know the rings work. If we leave him, he'll just open it again."

"Lib," Lathan spoke very quietly. "I will help you to your room and return to him. But you will explain to me these 'rings' and what has happened to you."

Lorin nodded and said, "I will also be given explanation. A squire should know if the knight's life depends on another. So that back may be guarded too."

They received their explanations as they helped Lib and Peral back to their rooms. Lathan felt wonder at the love they had for the Doctor. They put their lives in his hands and did not wish him to know, for fear he would not use them if needed. He smiled as he realized he would do the same for Lib. He settled himself by the Doctor's side and waited.

"What happened?"

"I know only the amulet was open and you were fallen."

"I must have shorted something."

"I do not know if something became short, but the amulet was dark until laid upon your breast. I ask that you do not seek to open it again. I had much difficulty persuading the others to their rest. I gave my bond to awaken them if you did not rise in moments." He smiled. "I have made a promise I have not kept. It is my first." "How long have I been here?"

"The sun will soon rise."

The Doctor sat up and put the amulet around his neck. "I'll just have to be more careful with it."

"Doctor, the amulet beats with your life. When it becomes dark, you weaken and fall senseless. You cannot learn from it if you are senseless. There is, then, no reason to seek to open it. I ask you again not to do so. You hold the fate of this world and the lives of Peral and Lib within you. To touch that which lies within the amulet endangers you and, from that, all of us. It is a mystery which must be solved another way."

"Lathan, for an innkeeper's son, you have a good grasp of logical argument."

"It was necessary. No other would convince you." He smiled and said, "I spent much of the time this night building the words that would cause you to listen and truly hear."

"I listened. Now I have another question that needs an answer. What happens if someone takes it off me?"

He buried himself in the library. Jeran soon called two others to help him. He could not find scrolls fast enough. Soon, he called three more, then five. The Doctor still waited impatiently while they cleared the shelves. He read the scrolls faster than eleven could carry them to him.

"Good. Now, bring me writing materials."

"I will find quill, ink and blotter for you. There is paper here."

"Never mind the quill and ink. Just hand me the paper. Now where did I put that pen?"

Jeran laid a stack of carefully made sheets before the Doctor. They too had been awaiting him. He helped carry his fallen brother from the library. The Doctor had not seen him fall. Jeran smiled. He'd felt a bit weak himself when the Doctor reached in the air, pulled a metal rod into existence, and began to write with it. Perhaps the legends were inadequate to prepare one for the reality of the Doctor.

"We call them, "Now where did he get that froms". He just does it every so often. It can come in handy if you've got greasy fingers and need a napkin."

"Lib's teasing you, Jeran." Peral grinned and added, "It's part of who he is. Your legends don't even begin to encompass the reality. He's a hero and friend to more people than you could imagine. And he has more enemies than you could count. He's as old as your order and he hasn't been born yet."

"Peral, you're not helping. Jeran, he's a Time Lord. We think of him as family, but he's not. He's from a time far in the future, we think. He doesn't see himself as a wise and powerful being, just as the Doctor. Most of the time that's how we think of him. But the power is there and so is the wisdom." Lib tried to think of some way to explain. She was just making things worse.

Jeran suddenly laughed. "I see. He's a god, but just an ordinary god. Nothing very special, except to most life in existence. And I should treat this ordinary god in an ordinary way."

Peral grinned. "That's how we do it."

Lib felt something needed to be added. "He's not a god, Jeran. He's as mortal as you or I, we think. We spend a great deal of our time with him keeping him alive. It's not easy. He'd trade his life for one innocent. And he wouldn't stop to think about it."

"If he is a man, more, but still the same as other men, then he is a man I shall count as worth the knowing."

Lib smiled. "That's the way of it, Jeran. One of the ones worth knowing."

"Uh oh, he's shouting for us. We'd better get to the library."

"Yes, Peral, I've noticed the more his voice rises, the more my brothers fall."

They found the Doctor sitting in the library floor; scrolls, most of them open, in piles around him. Lib giggled. The reading glasses perched on the end of his nose looked a bit incongruous with the hero's garb.

"I've found a reference point. The legend started here. I've found... Now where did I put it?" Lib giggled a little harder, as he crawled around the floor burrowing into stacks of scrolls. "Ah, here it is. The original must have deteriorated. This states it's a true copy, but I have my doubts. I've a feeling the scholars liked to add a bit of color. Here's the part. And a place shall be made, that when he comes, he shall find the legend in time of need. The legend will be told, that he will hear it and be led. He will know it to be his own as his own hand. One thousand years agone. That he will know the time of the enemy and prepare with the Turime. The portents shall be made known as by him. The parts will be done and he shall be as one with his knowledge."

"I don't get it, Doctor. It sounds like it's telling you it's here, because you're here, because it's here."

"You're right, Peral. I wish I could see the original. I've got a feeling I'd recognize the handwriting."

"What?! You mean you've figured out who wrote the legend?"

"Yes. That's why I'm sure the brothers have changed it when they copied it. I'm not very formal when I leave notes for myself."

He started pulling scrolls out of one pile and tossing them onto another. "I need to try something. Jeran, call in two or three others. Preferably, someone that won't faint. Lib, I want you to get Lorin and Lathan. Now where's the one about the amulet?" He burrowed into another pile of scrolls.

Peral watched him digging through one after another. He was still on hands and knees, crawling around, when Jeran returned with four people. Since one fainted at the sight of a be-spectacled legend crawling on the floor, Jeran had the three he needed. Peral helped carry the unconscious man into the hall and prop him against a wall. They hurried back in. Lib arrived with Lathan and Lorin closed the door.

"Now, if no one else feels giddy," He peered over his glasses and gave them a rather disgusted look. "I'd like to try a little experiment." He took the amulet from around his neck. "Lib, I want you to take this and walk out in the hall. Keep walking until it goes dark or you reach the fountain in the courtyard. Lib, if it goes dark, get it back quickly."

Lib watched the amulet in her hand beat with his hearts all the way to the fountain and back. The amulet was warm in her hands. Like a living thing not a piece of metal. She felt, almost, a sense of loss when she handed it back. "Peral, your turn." Peral made it to the fountain and back.

Lathan didn't want to take it. "Lathan, if it darkens, you won't be far from me." His hand was shaking as he took the amulet. He walked slowly to the fountain. His heart pounding. He ran back.

The Doctor smiled at his sigh of relief when he handed the amulet back. "Lorin." She took the amulet from his hand. He stared at her in surprise and she blushed. Luckily none of the others saw either her blush or the amulet flare when she touched it. She carried it to the fountain and back. He smiled at her gently when she handed it back to him.

It was Jeran's turn. He got as far as the courtyard. The amulet darkened and he ran for the Doctor. Lathan grabbed the amulet from his hand and placed it on the Doctor's chest. Lib and Peral arranged themselves to look as if they'd chosen to be on the floor with him. He opened his eyes and sat up. "How far did you get?"

"To the courtyard, Doctor. It became very cold when it darkened." The Doctor nodded and said, "It would. I'm sorry. Your name is?"

"Coram, Lord."

The Doctor grimaced. "Coram, in the place I come from, everyone is a lord. So I quit using the title. I'm the Doctor. Now, you know what to do."

Coram didn't make three steps out of the library before he rushed back in. This time the Doctor was longer in awakening. "That answers that question." He looked from Peral to Lib and said, "Now, I have another. When did you reactivate the rings and why?"

"NO! I WILL NOT!"

"YES! YOU HAVE TO!"

Lib felt like she was walking into the lion's den when she stepped between them. "This is ridiculous. You two are just shouting no and yes and not getting anywhere. Doctor, you're determined not to use the rings and we're determined you will. You're the only one that can actually make the decision. Only you can shut them off. But, please, Doctor, hear me out. You've learned the amulet's keyed to you or, better stated, you're keyed to it. The minute it gets into the hands of someone who doesn't, literally, put your life above their own, you start to die. The only thing that slows the process is being able to use us. You'd have died last night if we hadn't felt the ruby drawing on us. You don't want to use us. You don't even want to NEED us. You want to be needed, but you hate reciprocity. Well, we love you and we need to be needed too, but you have to decide. Will you let us be there for you?"

The Doctor was a bit taken aback by her argument. He was too honest not to admit she'd struck very near the mark. "Doctor, Lib's right, but she left one thing out." Peral still didn't believe he'd been shouting at the Doctor. He never shouted at anyone. "You accepted our oaths. Are you going to stop us from doing what we think is necessary to fulfill them?"

"I don't like it. It puts you in even more danger than before. I'll leave them functioning, but, if anything happens to me, one of you four must take the amulet. If it falls into the wrong hands, we'll all die."

"Doctor, perhaps you should try the amulet with the horses."

"Lathan! Yes! I hadn't thought of that. We'll test it as soon as we leave in the morning."

Peral shook his head. He'd just been getting used to a bed again. "Where are we headed?"

"East. I have all the pieces now, but I won't be able to put them in place until I get to the table."

"Doctor, I don't think we're going to like the way the table's been set."

"Neither do I, Peral. Neither do I." He smiled at them and said, "Shall we see about rearranging the silver?"

Before the Doctor left, he gave the scholars a new task. He told them to gather all the knowledge of the world and teach it to any who wished to learn. He emphasized women were to be included. All, who wished to do so, should take knowledge out into the world and teach others. New knowledge was especially valuable and should never be censored, but it should be carefully applied.

They tried the amulet on the horses. All could carry it. They traveled east, stopping at inns along the way. The journey was almost pleasant for twelve days.

"Doctor, I smell something burning."

"I can smell it too, Lib. It smells familiar."

"Turn back! RUN! RUN!" Lathan desperately tried to warn them. He got his derkine turned and nearly escaped before the smoke overcame him and his mount.

## Chapter Ten

"Peral! Peral! Wake up!" The Doctor had awakened to find himself hanging in another dungeon. Peral and Lathan were with him. Lib and Lorin were not.

"Oh great, hanging around again." Peral didn't know where he was, but he didn't think he was going to like it.

"Peral, is Lib all right?"

"Yes, and nearby. She must have been awake for awhile. She was really worried. What was that smoke?"

"The burning of the mesith plant. The healers use it to ease pain." Lathan had known what it was from the first, but the trap had been well laid.

"A natural anesthetic. This planet has some interesting flora."

"I'm more interested in the fauna right now, Doctor. Like: who are our hosts?"

"A good question, Peral. That was a neat trap we rode into. When they heard us coming, they set fire to the plants and let the breeze do the rest."

A small woman, with six female guards, walked into the dungeon. She stopped in the middle of the room and looked them over, then she walked over to examine them more closely. She began her examination with Lathan. Then Peral. By the time she reached the Doctor, he was angry. He glared at her and she smiled, then turned and led the guards out of the dungeon.

"We are lost."

"Lathan, you seem to know who that woman is."

"Yes, Doctor, she is Mirune. They say no man taken by her women is seen again."

"No, you're on the wrong side. We'd never join you while you hold Lathan, my brother and the Doctor prisoner." Lib was struggling to understand the woman. How could she possibly think Lorin and she would help?

"They are males, arrogant and cruel. They have one use. Why do you cling to them? I have freed you of them."

"I don't know what happened to make you think that way, but you're wrong. Especially about the Doctor." Lib wished she'd had her wits about her when she'd first awakened. If she had, she'd have pretended to go along with Mirune. As it was, she and Lorin were still prisoners.

"I saw his look. He thinks he owns all of you, as he does the beasts. You are a fool, Lib. He cares for you only because he sees you as his."

"I don't know what you did, but I felt my brother's anger. If you made the Doctor angry, you must have done something to Lathan or Peral."

"It is as I have said, he believes you are his."

"Not the way you think. He cares about us. Feels responsible. He's older than you can imagine. He sees us as children to be cherished. Protected."

Mirune laughed. "He will not think me a child. I am sorry you are such a fool. You would have taught my warriors well." She rose from her place, across the tent from where Lib and Lorin were tied to posts, and left.

"Lib, she will not listen."

"I'd noticed that, Lorin. I just can't figure out why."

"It is because of what is done in many lands when one of her women is captured. It is why she wishes us to teach them."

"I think you'd better tell me."

"They are given to the soldiers. If they survive, they are sold as slaves. Very few are sold. Mirune has been sold twice. Twice she has escaped. She is legend to the women. It is why she is leader."

"Oh, brother. No wonder she hates men."

Mirune couldn't understand how the woman could be so blind. Of course the one she called the Doctor treated them like children. Or pets. He was the most arrogant male she had ever encountered. The woman who had offered the reward for him was right.

She had trapped him easily. It was sad the two women would not join her. The women of her band needed the training they could give them. Her skill was cunning and that she could teach, but it was not enough.

The girl wore the coronet of the Turime, as did the most beautiful of the males. How had she known of his anger? The money she would be paid for them would keep her band for two seasons, but the girl's words, "you're on the wrong side" would not leave her mind.

The anger in the eyes of the one called the Doctor had frightened her, and that made her angry. The woman had been right. He was dangerous and those who followed him were slaves to his magic.

"You are called the Doctor."

"I am. That was a very nicely laid trap. Where are my other companions?"

"Are they yours that you should demand them?" His arrogance was astounding!

"Let them go."

"I have heard the stories, Doctor. My little band could not stand against them. They are Turime. I do not know how you have enslaved them, but I have seen it. Your power fails when the amulet is lifted from your breast. It steals the life from them."

"Wait!" Peral had to stop this. She had it all wrong. "None of that was his idea."

One of the women made sure Peral knew he shouldn't interrupt Mirune. The method she used infuriated the Doctor. "I'm warning you, Mirune. I become very angry when my companions are mistreated. Tell your guards to stay away from them."

Mirune had been a bit shocked at her guard's action, but the Doctor's words inflamed her. "I do not OWN the women of my band. They follow me by choice. The band is mine, but the women are NOT!" She glared up at him the nearly forty centimeters difference in their heights. The Doctor was surprised at her response. "This." She pointed at the amulet. "You bind them with this. And you claim them with the gems you wear. You use them. Do you know what it is to be used? Bring him!"

The Doctor offered no resistance. A woman stood behind Peral, idly playing with his hair with the tip of her knife. He had been pained by what Mirune had said. There was too much truth in it.

He was led out of the dungeon and up through a ruined castle. Lathan had told him the women were nomads. Evidently, the intact dungeon had just been a handy place to store them. He passed an open tent flap and Lib yelled out, "Like Calla! Fighting back!" A guard shoved him forward, but Lib had told him what he needed to know. The last of his anger faded. He found himself admiring Mirune and her women. They'd banded together to protect themselves from a society that classed women only slightly above animals.

He was cold. It wasn't surprising, considering he was tied in an open pavilion. His fading scars drew a lot of attention. He was a bit tired of it. He gasped. There were several things he was tired of. Mirune walked into the pavilion and signaled the four women with her to untie him. He wondered where they were taking him.

He was escorted to a small clearing and tied to an ancient stone alter. He was sure they weren't planning on killing him. The reward Mirune wanted to collect specified alive. He shivered. It was getting dark, and colder.

He worked on the ropes that bound his wrists to the iron ring set in the alter above his head. He wasn't sure what he was going to do if he got free, but it was a good place to start. He was left alone to work for awhile and seemed to be getting somewhere. Then the second moon rose, and the clearing filled.

The pull from the rings was very slight. Lib probably wouldn't have noticed it, but she was working on abrading her ropes on the post she was tied to and began to tire more quickly. Something was happening to the Doctor. She sat up straighter and grinned at Lorin. She was likely to get through her ropes first. Lib went back to work. She wondered where Heort was. Her teeth would have made short work of a long job.

The Doctor watched the women leave the clearing. All but Mirune. He'd had to stop working on his ropes while they were present. He'd had about thirty other things on his mind. All of them busy.

He waited until Mirune's attention was elsewhere, tried to ignore what she was doing, and went back to work on the ropes. He'd begun to have a plan. But first, he had to get his hands free.

He felt the ropes slip. He was ready. He turned his attention back to Mirune. And what she was doing. He pulled the gag off, sat up and grabbed her. He felt like a bully. She was tiny. He held her with his left arm while he untied his ankles with his right. She struggled, but he kept her from crying out the only way he could think of at the time.

He slid from the alter still holding Mirune. Everything depended on her. He held her gently as she struggled. He deliberately allowed the memories of Mecara he'd buried to surface. He showed her he'd learned the lesson she sought to teach.

Peral didn't know what the Doctor had done, but things had changed. He and Lathan had been untied and, basically, bowed out of the dungeon. He'd felt a surge of joy from Lib. It had been heavily tinted with awe and just a background shade of jealousy. He grinned. Things had definitely changed.

"Hello, big brother."

"Hi, Lib. What'd he do?"

"I really don't know, Peral. I don't know what to say about it."

"Not fair, Lib. You can't grin at me and say nothing. Not after that blast I got from you."

"I mean it, Peral. She came in, knelt in front of me, looked in my eyes, pulled a knife and cut me loose. Peral, she was wearing the amulet."

"WHAT?!"

"I've never seen it glow like that."

"Wow! I bet we don't an explanation for this one."

"I wonder if we should classify it as a 'Now where did he get that from'."

When Lathan and Lorin entered the tent, Lib and Peral were lying on the cushions on the floor laughing. They looked at them, smiled, and headed for the food. Any squire will tell you, eating someone else's cooking is a treat.

"Peral, I do not know the words to say this."

"It's OK, Lorin. You're not really the squire type. You're a knight at heart."

"Peral, they need a teacher and I have been taught so well."

"Yeah, and you learned more from the Doctor than from anybody else. Make sure you teach that to them too."

"It is what I plan to teach them. I will just give instruction in staff and bow to keep them busy while I teach. I am taking them to Talf. I want Mirune to meet Cermine."

"Introduce her to Amda and Nemir too."

"I shall miss you, my knight."

"And I you, squire."

Lib walked up as Lorin walked away. "Did somebody just have a baby? I felt 'proud papa' strong enough to taste cigar smoke."

"Lib, you don't even know what a cigar is."

"I know what it is! I cross reference my jokes. I learned at the same library you did. I take it Lorin's won her spurs."

"Was there ever any doubt?"

"Not really. Do me a favor. Help me keep Lathan from trying to do the squire's work for all three of us."

"Guess we'll just have to go back to taking care of ourselves."

"That's the easy job. Let's give it to Lathan. There are two of us. We should take the hard one."

"Yeah, taking care of the Doctor." He looked around the pleasant, busy, camp of women and smiled. "After all, he certainly takes good care of us."

Leoht trotted up to the Doctor and lipped his ear. "I suppose you've been peacefully grazing through all this." He walked over to where the equipment was piled and started hunting for Leoht's tack. He smiled when he saw Mirune approaching.

"Doctor, we are nearly prepared, but I fear going. I trust Lorin and I trust the people we join because you have given me your word they are trustworthy, but they will not trust us."

"Mirune, find Lorin. Bring her here."

"Just what I like to do. Ride at night. Here's this nice cozy camp. With tents and lots of food and lovely company and I'm going on a moonlight ride."

"I don't know why we're leaving at night either, Peral. But we both know there's a reason, and our horses know it even if we don't."

"Lib, he's been in that tent with them for hours."

"Which explains why Wealdan and Heort only showed up twenty minutes ago. I peeked in when I saw Leoht standing saddled out here. The three of them were sitting in the floor. From the look he gave me, I knew I wasn't wanted. This whole episode reeks 'piece of the quest'. He learned things in that library."

"Where do you think we're headed now?"

"Wherever Leoht wants to go. Where else?"

The Doctor walked out of the tent with Mirune and Lorin following. He turned to them and said, "I charge you to carry these to the armies who face what rises in the east." He took the amulet from around his neck and placed it around Mirune's. "You carry my hearts with you into battle." He gave the lance to Lorin. "You bear my standard, that all will know I am with them." He touched each woman gently on the face, then mounted Leoht. He led Lib, Peral and Lathan away from the camp. East.

"So, Doctor, who was the show for?"

"Mostly for them, Peral, but getting rid of the amulet is a relief."

"You didn't get rid of it. You figured out what it was for. That's why you look so smug."

"Wrong, Peral. He looks smug because two more women have decided he's wonderful." Lib was surprised when the Doctor just turned and smiled at her. It wasn't the response she'd expected to her jibe at all. She shivered. The smile had been haunted.

## Chapter Eleven

"Doctor, wait up. Lathan's derkine has pulled up lame." Lib rode back to see how badly the animal was injured.

"Peral, that's a likely looking spot. We'll camp there."

"Doctor, we're less than three kilometers from Mirune's camp. Why didn't we just stay there?"

"I wish you wouldn't ask questions like that."

"Why?"

"Because I feel silly telling you to ask my horse." Peral laughed and the Doctor smiled and they began setting up camp.

Lib rode up on Heort and Lathan led his limping derkine into the site they'd chosen. "I don't think the derkine is badly injured, but Lathan's not going to be able to ride it. Heort can carry double until we can get him a replacement. We'll just have to split his gear amongst the other horses."

"Lib, have you considered the possibility we're not supposed to take Lathan with us?"

No, Doctor. And I'm not going to." She'd said it before she thought. She hadn't meant it to sound the way it did. "I'm sorry, but Lathan is my squire. I'm not leaving him on the trail with a lame animal." The Doctor smiled at her. Her reaction had told him more than she knew. She wouldn't leave Lathan behind, but it wasn't because he was her squire.

Lathan and Peral arrived with wood for the fire and soon dinner was done. They were nearly finished when the saddled horse walked into camp. The Doctor looked at the big appaloosa mare and started to laugh. Lathan had been given 'official' status. They led the derkine to an inn and gave it to the innkeeper. They didn't stop. It was early in the day and the horses showed signs of impatience.

"Peral, help. Lathan wants to give his horse a name and I'm having trouble translating to Old English."

"What does he want to call her, Lib?"

"A gift." She and Lathan grinned at him, as he nearly collapsed with laughter.

The Doctor called back over his shoulder, "Geifan." Lathan's horse nickered and trotted up to the Doctor's side. Lib and Lathan joined in Peral's laughter and the Doctor smiled. The horse had told them her name.

They rode east for a day and a half, then Leoht wanted to go south. They rode south. Within a few kilometers, they were approaching a castle. The horses were in a hurry. They thundered through the gate and a portcullis crashed down behind them.

An old man and a young woman stood in the courtyard. Both held swords. A small girl, of about six, ran to them and hid behind the woman's skirt. She had evidently dropped the portcullis.

"What do you want here?" The old man had been a great warrior in his day, but he knew he couldn't protect his lady from the giants who rode the strange beasts.

The Doctor dismounted and walked toward them. He smiled and said, "Would you believe me if I told you my horse thought we should pay you a visit? I'm the Doctor. My friends are Peral, Lib and Lathan. We mean you no harm."

"I am Sarden and my lady is the Princess Tira. If you truly mean her no harm, you are welcome."

"My name is Thinda. I am a princess too." The little girl had decided the big man was nice and come out from behind her mother.

"Hello, Princess Thinda. You got the portcullis down very quickly."

"It is my task. I have practiced."

"You certainly have. It was well done." The Doctor turned back to the man and woman. "I really don't know why we've come, but there is a reason. Are you the only ones here?"

"We are now. My lord rode out with his men at arms more than a fortnight ago. A village not far from here had been attacked. None have returned. Yesterday the servants and remaining guards fled."

"It sounds like they expected trouble and didn't want to be here when it arrived." Lib didn't have a much respect for anyone who would leave an old man, a woman and a child to defend a castle.

"Thinda, if you'll show Lathan where the stables are, I'll find the kitchen. It's suppertime for us. Lathan will give you some things to bring to me and you and I will make cakes."

Peral said, "I suppose that means I'm drafted to get the oven fired up. Lead on, sis. I'm hungry."

The old man and the woman stared after the two who had casually decided to take over their kitchen. They turned back to the Doctor and the Lady said, "I believe I shall have some hospitality to offer you after all, Sir. Please come into my home."

The Doctor was delighted to see her smile.

Dinner came from their saddlepacks. The servants had stripped the larder when they ran off. Peral followed Tira when she took Thinda to bed and stayed to tell her a bedtime story. The Doctor and Sarden sat by the fire and talked about the rumors from the east. The next morning they learned why they were there.

"It is my husband's banner. They have taken him or he has been killed." The Doctor steadied Tira. One of the, thirty or so, mounted men had thrown the banner down in front of the castle gates and demanded they be opened.

"Open the gate for me, Peral. I'm going to find out what happened to her husband."

"Doctor, you're not going out there alone. We're coming with you. Those men have got guns. There's no point in arguing. We're not going to back down. Sarden, close the gates behind us."

The Doctor smiled at Lib and shook his head. He led her, Peral and Lathan out of the castle. They had found staffs in the nearly stripped armory and stood a few paces behind him in front of the closed gates.

"Where is the man from whom you took that banner?"

The leader of the hostile group spat on the ground and smiled. He would answer the question of the fool who stood unarmed before the gate. "Know, fool, that I am Tas, new lord of this castle. The old one is going to have other duties." He grinned and his men guffawed.

"Explain."

Tas laughed. The fool was amusing. "He was too pretty to waste. He will bring a good price on the slave block. So will you. Take them!"

The thirty men made the mistake of dismounting and rushing them. The Doctor lifted Tas out of the melee. He didn't want him damaged. He'd need him to find Prince Peris. When Lib, Peral and Lathan had finished with the rest, he turned to the very frightened man and said, "Now, my friends are going to bring me my horse, then you and I are going to find Prince Peris." Tas nodded.

Tas tried to escape, but his derkine wouldn't cooperate. The Doctor smiled. Leoht had another derkine admirer. Tas was convinced the Doctor was a powerful magician and became very eager to take him to Prince Peris.

"Cut him down. Now!" Tas hurried to do as the Doctor ordered.

"Bring the derkine." The Doctor lifted Prince Peris onto the derkine and climbed on Leoht. Peris was barely conscious, but he didn't want to tie him on. His wrists already bled from being tied.

Tas couldn't understand why he was still alive. He watched the giant magician ride away. He decided not to return to the east. The woman who had supplied him with the derkines and the magic weapons would not be happy. He began walking south.

"The horses aren't ready to leave, Doctor"

"I had a feeling they might not be. Peral, we're going to need supplies. Hitch the derkine to the cart in the stable. I fixed the wheel. Go back to the inn where we left the derkine and see if the innkeeper will sell you some staples. Lib, you and Lathan see if you can find fishing and hunting gear. I've a feeling we're going to be here for some time."

Peral watched him walk away. "Lib, he knows something he's not telling again."

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, it's going to be after dinner. Let's get going. Lathan, I saw a couple of fishing rods in the stable. They need some repair. I'll see if I can find a bow."

Tira watched in amazement as they stocked the larder. Old Miram, the cook, had returned and supervised. Her son and daughter-in-law had carted her off when they left and she'd walked three days to get back. She bustled about making sure everything was put in the proper place, then shooed them out of her kitchen so she could get to work.

Peral followed his ears and found the Doctor working in the smithy. "Hello, what are you making?"

"Horseshoes. They won't last three years like the ones they're wearing, but I've found enough of the right ores to do a bit better than pig iron."

Peral grinned. He and Lib had been speculating about the Doctor's trips out the gate, with a pick over his shoulder, for days. "So that's what all those little field trips you made were."

"Yes, now make yourself useful on that bellows. I have a great deal to do and not much time to do it."

He shoed the horses first, then began work on the true task. He'd known what he had to do as soon as he found the first stone.

Lib looked down at the busy courtyard. Peris and Peral were teaching a group of young men the proper way to use a sword. Word had spread through the countryside the Prince of Pasedel had pledged to stand against the darkness that threatened his eastern border.

Most of the young men, as well as the peasants she had been teaching, had come from the east. They told grim tales of villages burned and castles taken. They were refugees, but they would return to fight for their homes.

"They enjoy themselves."

"Yes, Tira, they do. They've developed quite a friendship over the last few weeks. It's interesting. Peral didn't really have any close friends at home. Most of the kids were younger than we were."

"Peris also grew without another to share his youth. All his family, but he, died of plague. Sarden held his lands for him and brought him to manhood."

"You're a lucky lady. Peris is the kind of man every woman dreams of."

Tira laughed. "My marriage was arranged. I fought against it. My father sought to raise our family by giving me to the suitor with highest title. He had decided to wed me to an old man when Sarden came with Peris' suit. I was very angry at being used to gain my father status. I planned to run away. My plans died at first sight of Peris. He smiled at me and I thought my heart would stop. You are right. I am most fortunate, but you too are fortunate."

"This may sound dumb, but I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, Lib, do you not know you love Lathan? Or that he loves you?"

"I... guess I never thought about it. We're just together and he's my squire."

"He is far more than that to you. If you do not know it, you are the only one. The Doctor sees it, as does your brother."

"Well, I always have been a bit slow about some things. I'm not sure what to do about it though."

"Come, let us walk as we speak. Perhaps, I can assist."

The Doctor just stood smiling at her. Lib was delighted. Tira had told her she'd been in green long enough. The russet gown had needed a piece added to the bottom, but they'd found more of the material the trim had been made from and only the toes of her slippers peeked from beneath.

"Well, aren't you going to say something?" Lib laughed when he merely shook his head and offered her his arm. The effect on Lathan was even more pronounced.

He just stood in the doorway until Peral moved him out of the way. Then he just stood inside the doorway. She kept waiting for him to say something. He didn't. He turned and left.

She ran to her room and cried. What had gone wrong?

"Bring him here tonight. I want him in this room, awake, on his knees for twelve hours."

"Twelve hours! Doctor, that's a bit much."

"No, Peral, it's not. It must be difficult or he won't accept it. I'll have everything ready. Peris, find him and prepare him. Dress him in burgundy if possible, if not, white. Now, I have a lot to do. I'll see you at dawn."

He cut the garnets and fitted them. He hadn't worked with either gems or precious metal in centuries, but skills learned well come back quickly. He barely finished the sword in time to lay it on the alter before Peral arrived with him. The Doctor smiled. He'd looked a bit bewildered and he'd been dressed in burgundy. The Doctor went back to work. He had three more pieces to finish before dawn.

"I accept you. Give me your oath."

Lathan stammered through the first few words. He'd never seen the Doctor like this before. He'd known he was a Time Lord, but it hadn't really meant anything to him. Now, he could see what the ready smile had always disguised.

The Doctor radiated power. The room crackled with it. He searched his heart and found the words of the oath already written there. His voice strengthened as he pledged himself.

"These are the symbols. The sword, the ring and the coronet."

Peral was a bit awed by the Doctor too. He gathered the items the Doctor indicated and carried them to Lathan. He laid the sword across his arms and slid the garnet on his finger. He turned back to the Doctor with the other ring in his hand. He nearly dropped it in surprise when the Doctor extended his hand. He slid the garnet on the little finger of the his left hand. How had he moved the sapphire and the emerald to make room for it?

The Doctor stepped back and Peris stepped forward and placed the silver coronet on Lathan's head. "I declare you Turime. It is by right of blood royal I do this."

The Doctor nodded to Lathan and said, "Serve me well, Turime. You are one of three who stand with me against all evil." He turned and left the room.

Peral clapped Lathan on the back. "Well, fellow fool, shall we shock the cook by making a raid on the mead barrel at dawn?"

Lathan grinned. "That sounds a very good idea."

"I have a better one." They both looked at Peris. "There is a cask of good ale I have secreted below the stairs. I will get it. You bring cups. I shall meet you before the fire in the hall."

Tira and Sarden put them to bed.

Tira found the Doctor in the library. He smiled and asked, "Did it work?"

"Yes, Doctor, I believe it did."

"I'd better get rid of the static generator. If he walked in and the room still made him tingle, he'd be on to us."

"How is your hand?"

"A bit sore. I can't believe I slipped that badly. This body is extremely right handed. Thank you for the grease. The rings on my left hand were still difficult to remove."

"Yet they slipped easily onto larger fingers." Tira wondered at his statement about his body, but merely handed him the ointment for the gash beneath the ruby.

"I'd explain why, but it would take a great deal of time."

"I do not need an explanation. I would rather call it magic. I know it was science, you do not need to tell me again, but I would rather call it magic."

"Tira, you're a romantic through and through."

"As are you, Doctor."

"I don't want to wear it."

"Lib, I ask it as a boon. Wear the gown tonight. The harvest ball is the only one we host. It will give us warm memories through the long winter. This more than others. Some of these may not return from the east for another."

"All right, I'll do it. For you. But I'm not really in the mood for a dance."

Tira went to see to the preparations. She'd known it would be difficult to get Lib to wear the dress again. She was somewhat surprised she'd succeeded. She met the Doctor in the hall, carrying the black box that had made the room tingle. "You must attend tonight, Doctor."

"Tira, I still have a great deal to do."

"Not this night. You will be needed at the ball. Your part is not done."

"What do you mean? We've made him Turime. He's now her equal."

"Yes, Doctor, that is why you must be there." She smiled and left him standing in the hall with the little black box and a puzzled expression.

Lib pasted on a smile and headed for the ball. She'd put in an appearance and be polite to Tira's guests, then excuse herself. She dreaded the ordeal. She stopped in surprise at the door to the great hall. The room was packed. She almost turned and fled, but Tira had seen her and was on her way over.

"Lib, there are people here I want you to meet." Lib let herself be led about and introduced. She didn't remember one face in five or one name in ten. She counted down the time til she could make her escape.

"Hi, Lib, I like the dress. I'm glad you decided to wear it."

"It wasn't my idea, Peral. Tira, basically, insisted."

"Did you know there's another Turime here?"

"You're kidding! Where?! I thought we were the only ones."

"This one's brand new. The Doctor just accepted him. Put on quite a show."

"Why wasn't I invited?"

"You'll have to ask the Doctor."

"Well, where's this new Turime?"

Lathan turned and saw her. She stared at him a moment, then turned and started away. Peral said, "That's the same thing you did to her. Go after her, you idiot."

He ran after her and caught her on the stairs. He didn't know what to say, so he kissed her.

They found the Doctor and when they asked him, he laughed. Lib and Lathan were a bit surprised at his reaction, but relieved when the laughter became a gentle smile and he said, "Of course you have my permission. And my blessing. I'm sure Wren would approve." As they walked away hand in hand, Tira caught the Doctor's eye and winked.

"Wait a minute, Peris. I can't perform a wedding ceremony."

"You have to. I can sign the documents, but only the head of their order can marry them. That's you, Doctor."

"All right, but it must be soon. I'm nearly finished and we've got a long ride ahead of us."

"Will tonight be soon enough?"

The wedding was very private. Peral gave away the bride. Peris stood with the groom and Tira with the bride. Thinda got a bit carried away with the flower petals. The Doctor spent twenty minutes getting them out of his hair. Mirim got a bit carried away with the 'wedding supper' The Doctor hadn't expected to enjoy himself, but he did. Immensely.

"The horses are ready to leave"

Lathan took one look at the Doctor's face and ran to find the others. They said hasty farewells and hurried. By the time they got everything gathered and got to the stables, the Doctor was sitting on Leoht in the courtyard waiting for them. He led them through the gates and rode east.

## Chapter Twelve

They rode east for three days. They began to pass ruined villages. The road was filled with people fleeing west. They carried tales of wanton destruction and strange beasts in the land. They stopped at an inn where the landlord was packing to flee.

The Doctor set the coordinates and the TARDIS began its journey into the past. He'd rifled Leoht's saddlepack for the things he needed. He took the items he'd worked so hard to create. He installed the circuit that would activate with a combination of acid fumes and an adrenaline surge, and set the legend in motion.

He'd been delighted to see them all again. The sultan, Cermine, Bethda, Lorin, Merdin, even the women of the forest. But more than any of the others, he'd been glad to see Lathan when he stopped at the inn for a few weeks to give him lessons in the staff. He retrieved the subliminal device from above the child's bed in Tal-Kittan. He'd programmed it carefully, so she wouldn't have nightmares.

As soon as he dropped the last item off and gave the scholar his instructions, he reset the coordinates. He delivered some letters on Micorn, then headed for Earth. He had an appointment in 1638.

"Doctor! You'd better come see this."

"What is it, Peral?" He stopped unloading Leoht and walked through the stable to where Lib and Peral were standing. He looked in the stall, then went back to his horse.

Lib and Peral looked from the big buckskin mare, contentedly munching grain, to the Doctor, calmly unloading his horse. They stood and watched as he brushed him down and gave him fodder. They kept waiting for him to say something. They watched him check his pack and give a small nod. He shouldered it, walked out of the stable and toward the inn. They followed. Lathan shook his head and started stabling their horses.

"You're not supposed to be here."

"Yes I am, Doctor. You brought me."

"I left you on Cordahm."

"Yes, but you came back for me. You'd changed a lot. If you hadn't walked out of the TARDIS right in front of me, I wouldn't have believed it was you. You gave me some things to give you." She handed him a platinum coronet set with a topaz, a pair of topaz rings, and two tiny circuit boards. "You said to tell you the circuits are for the garnets and dust the TARDIS more often."

"JO! How did you get here?" Peral couldn't believe it. She hadn't changed at all. She was still incredibly beautiful.

"Hi, Peral. He brought me." She nodded at the Doctor and grinned. "You sure have changed. Looks like you picked up a few years on me. What did you do to him? He's gorgeous."

"He's been riding around on a horse for the better part of three years and this planet doesn't have tergo jam."

Jo gave Lib a hug and said, "You two look good too. It's only been about six months for me. Just long enough to get really bored. By the way, you're going to have twin siblings. Tarna says boys. Doctor, I'm supposed to tell you four circuits must operate or two will die. I'm not sure what you meant by it."

"That's all right, I do. Lib, I'm going to get us rooms. Send Lathan to me."

They watched him leave. Jo shuddered and said, "Lord, that smile was scary. He went a long way away. Now, who's Lathan?", then laughed at Lib's glowing description of her new husband. She kept catching herself staring at Peral. He was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen.

"Lathan, I don't really want to do this."

"Why, Doctor? I had thought it done."

"Because it uses you. I use you. I don't like it."

"If you found pleasure in it, you would not be one for whom I would do this. I am honored to aid you. I ask you allow it."

The Doctor took the garnets from Lathan's hand and his own and installed the circuits. Lathan held out his hand and he slid the ring back on. He was surprised when Lathan took the other ring from him. "I do this that you will know it is my choice." He lifted the Doctor's hand and slid the garnet on his little finger.

Lathan joined the others in the inn's common room. Lib asked him what was wrong. "I have seen great pain in him. I did not understand when you told me he had lived long. The numbers were but numbers. This night I looked into his eyes and saw time beyond counting and love beyond measure. The aloneness of him can never be understood by such as we."

Jo smiled. Lib had picked herself a winner. "Yeah, it's easy to forget when you're trailing him around, or when he's clowning, or throwing a tantrum. Then, all of a sudden, you look in his eyes and catch a glimpse of eternity."

"Jo, I think you need to hear what's been going on. What do you say to a walk out to the stables with me?" Peral grinned. "I want to meet your horse."

"Sounds great. The Doctor gave me a cloak to match this gold get-up I'm wearing. I'll get it and meet you in the stable. Her name is Freond. She's a sweetie." Peral and Jo spent a long time talking. Then, somehow, things changed and they spent a long time not talking.

"OK, Doctor, you want to tell me why you're stalling?"

"I'm not STALLING!"

"I'd tell you you're cute, but it would be an understatement. You're stalling, all right, and I want to know why."

"Jo, when Lib and Peral put the rings on us the first time, they didn't know what they did. They chose to reactivate them without my knowledge after I'd gotten them deactivated. Lathan knew what he was getting into. He'd seen it."

"Doctor, you'd lay down your life, all your lives, for any one of us. I know it. We all know it. Don't you think we have the right to choose to do the same for you? Now quit STALLING!"

He smiled at her. One of those gentle smiles that made her feel like crying. Then he softly said, "All right, Jo. Tell the others the show is three nights from now at second moonrise. There's a stone circle half a kilometer west of here. Wait for me there. I have to find someone of royal blood."

Leoht took him cross-country at an all out run. Southeast. He rode seven hours, then Leoht plunged him into a fight. He jumped down and straddled the boy he'd just seen fall. He'd done well against the men, but there were just too many.

He dodged the halberd and grabbed it. The man on the other end hung on. The Doctor used him to take out four others. Leoht cleared the area of foot traffic and the Doctor knelt beside the boy to see how badly he was hurt.

"You have given me timely rescue. I know not who you are, but you have a king's thanks."

"I'm the Doctor and thank my horse. He's the one who was looking for you. I just came along for the ride. You look like you've seen some rough treatment lately."

"I have, Doctor. My father was betrayed by his chancellor and died. I was given into the hands of a most evil woman. Two men loyal to me aided my escape. They gave their lives that I might flee from my own castle. I am Gerond and upon my father's death I became king of this land of Palenthale. I have been a king enslaved for near two years."

"Two years!"

"Yes. The woman thought to win me, then coerce me. It is only in recent times she began to so ill use me." He shuddered. "I fear my dreams will long be haunted with memories of these last months."

The Doctor helped him as he tried to stand. He couldn't. "How long has it been since you've eaten?"

"I do not know. I fled west with these hounds upon my trail. If berry or tree fruit were in my path, I ate."

"That's what I thought. You're too weak to hold on to me, so I'm going to put you in front. You can eat and sleep while we ride. I'll get you to safety, then I have a boon to ask. Leoht."

The Doctor pulled food and water from his saddlepack and gave Gerond a small amount of each. The journeycake was high in calories and very nutritious. He and Tira had created it. They were ready to start when Gerond fainted.

The Doctor examined him and was furious at what had been done. He gathered him in his arms and Leoht knelt for him to mount. Somewhere, there was a woman who would be called to account for the abuse of a fifteen-year-old boy king.

They rode slowly toward the inn. The first day and night he held Gerond as he slept, waking him every few hours to eat and drink. The boy had been embarrassed, and somewhat frightened, on his first awakening in his arms, but the Doctor had smiled and told him to rest. His argument, that Gerond would want to be able to ride behind him before they met others, was an effective one.

Leoht decided they were ahead of schedule and made a little side trip. The Doctor left him with Gerond and walked into the caravan camp. He warned the caravan master against traveling east and bargained with him a bit. He returned with garments and accouterments. Leoht stopped at a hot spring about two kilometers from their destination and they bathed and changed, from travel stained man and boy, to champion and king. They rode into the circle of stones at second moonrise.

Jo slid the topaz on the Doctor's hand herself. She didn't want him to have any doubts it was her decision. Gerond was awed by the assemblage of champions, but he too laughed at the expression on the Doctor's face when Jo and Peral told him what they wanted.

The innkeeper had been a bit irate at being shouted awake in the middle of the night. He was taking his family, and all they could carry, west in two days and had been working long hours to prepare. Then he saw Gerond. The boy looked so like his father the innkeeper recognized him instantly. He ran through the inn, awakened his guests and family, and hosted a reception.

"OK, from what you told me, I'd say he didn't activate the rings. No glow. Got any ideas?"

Peral grinned. "Yes, Jo, as a matter of fact I have. Lib and I think he deactivated ours too. We'll need the landlord's help," He glanced over at the innkeeper merrily urging people to eat and drink. "but I don't think that will be a problem."

The landlord was delighted and enlisted the aid of his other guests. Soon everyone in the inn was in on the conspiracy.

The Doctor sang one last chorus of the roundelay and sat down. On the floor. The guests and the landlord cheered. He tried to get up and Lathan and Peral caught him. The conspirators raised a last toast, as the Turime carried the Champion up the stairs.

Gerond returned the pitcher he'd used to keep the Doctor's cup full and followed. He watched as the Turime brought their four rings together and touched them to the great red stone on the Doctor's hand. He began to truly believe they would win his land back for him when he saw the jewels glow with magic.

The landlord put out the last of the lamps and smiled. What a tale he would have to tell his brother when he reached his inn ten days to the west. He wondered if he would believe him. He had spent the night helping his king and the four Champions of Man get the great Champion of Life thoroughly drunk.

The next morning proved all the circuits were in working order.

"No, Gerond, you can't come with us."

"But, Doctor, this is my realm you seek to free."

"How far does your realm extend?"

"To the east seven days ride. To the north, two. To the west, five. To the south, eight."

The Doctor gave up trying to convert the ground covered by horses into terms of 'days ride' on derkine. "Is the Prince of Pasedel one of your vassals?"

"No, my kinsman. He holds the land to the west of my kingdom. He is king, but has never wished the name."

"He's preparing an army to join the Baron of Pralth. They will soon ride east. I want you to go to them."

"They are both good men and have long been friend to my house. They must think all my line fallen. Doctor, it was the delight of my captors to speak of the vast army they gathered. I fear even the baron's great skill as general cannot overcome their numbers."

"Gerond, they do not stand alone. When I left, there were twenty thousand prepared to march east." He smiled at the boy's incredulous stare.

"There are not that many souls in the eastern realms!"

"This isn't a battle for your kingdom or the eastern realms. It's a battle for your world. Your kingdom just happens to be on the edge of the battlefield. The true battle will probably be fought even further to the east."

"I am sorry, Doctor, I have behaved as a foolish child, thinking of none but myself. I had not even thought of others in the eastern lands."

The Doctor smiled. "Gerond, the one thing you are not is a foolish child. Tell me what you know of the lands to the east."

There was a race of nomads who rode the eastern plains. They held the land for ten days ride to the sea. They were tribal and ruled by a council of chieftains. The nomads had been scattered. Some had come with magic weapons and destroyed camp after camp from the sky. Their herds and the captured were given to the bandits who pledged to the eastern army.

Bandits had used the hills between Gerond's kingdom of Palenthale and the coastal plains for centuries. Only the mountain kingdom of Palisaire had stood in the hills to defend the mountain villages. Its king had died fighting at the side of Gerond's father. He too had been a kinsman.

It had begun six years before, but three years ago it had changed. For the first three, people had talked of strange lights in the sky and men who sought wealth and power. Now they spoke of destruction and death. It was said one had called upon the Lord of Evil to send one of his servants and he paid the price of its coming in the blood of innocents.

"Gerond, I followed the servant of evil here. I couldn't understand why so many evil things seemed to have begun before I arrived."

"Doctor, the woman who held me captive has been a minion of the one who called upon evil for many years. She named him Chuck, but also called him Charlie."

"Chuck! That's a human name!"

It suddenly began to make sense. The guns, the helicopters, even the genetically manipulated animals, were possible to someone who had the scientific background of twenty-first century Earth, but how had Chuck gotten from that century to the fourteenth?

"I should have asked before. Tell me about the woman who held you captive."

"She told me she had come from the stars. Her skin was more the color of yours than mine. She too was of great height. I shall never forget her cruel smile, nor her long red nails. She is called Varna."

The Doctor asked the innkeeper to take Gerond to Peris. The innkeeper swelled with pride. He would be most willing to share his humble wagon with his king.

He didn't have to take him far. The army was on the move. He accompanied his king in to meet the prince six days after leaving his inn. He was in the midst of a war council with the baron.

Gerond stepped into the council and began sharing the knowledge he had gained as captive. The innkeeper was proud of his boy king.

"How did that bitch get here?"

"JO!"

"Sorry, Doctor, but that woman doesn't deserve the designation human."

"Actually, I was thinking of some rather nice dogs that would be insulted to know you'd classified Varna with THEM."

"Who's Varna?" Lib asked the Doctor. Jo was laughing too hard to talk.

"A particularly nasty woman I've had the displeasure of running into more than once. Now I know why so many people have been trying to take me alive."

Jo recovered enough to say, "Yeah, she wouldn't want you killed. She wants to do that herself. Slowly."

"I'm afraid I did make her a bit angry. She must have been terribly disappointed I didn't stay for our next 'date'."

"Doctor, she's going to be even madder than the last time you ran into her. You really gave her a bath."

"I need to know how she got here. Someone's done a great deal of nipping about through time. I assume it's this Chuck Gerond spoke of. I suspect he's from twenty-first century Earth. Varna's from the twenty-third century and they've made their way to the fourteenth on Laeth. I need more information."

"Not this time, Doctor! Not with Varna. Jiggling her web isn't dangerous. It's suicidal. If she hadn't wanted to sell you to the Daleks, she'd have killed you last time." Jo had seen that look on his face before. Usually, just before he decided to walk into a trap.

"This time I agree, Jo. It's not worth the risk. She's not the real problem. Neither is Chuck."

They'd activated the rings. He hadn't really expected to get away with it. Actually, he'd been waiting to see how they planned on accomplishing it. He smiled at the memory of the four of them riding out of the inn yard trying to hide the fact they were sharing one very large hangover.

He seldom drank alcohol. It didn't take a great deal before he started to feel the effects, but he was a Time Lord. It took a very large quantity to incapacitate him. When he'd realized everyone in the inn was trying to get him drunk, he'd decided to let them. He'd had to be careful not to laugh at the way Gerond diligently kept his cup about two-thirds full. It would have spoiled the feeling of camaraderie if they'd discovered he was on to them.

He'd wandered a good distance from the camp. He'd needed some time alone. Now that there were four with him, they'd decided he shouldn't have to stand guard duty while they slept each night. They took turns keeping him company. Or keeping an eye on him.

He heard Leoht whinny in rage and turned to run for the camp. He raised his hands slowly. Four men stood less than three meters from him. All held weapons and all were pointed at him. Varna walked out of the trees.

## Chapter Thirteen

"It's the Doctor's horse!" Mirune ran toward Leoht, but it was Merdin who leapt upon his back and raced out of the center of Talf's encampment. Mirune grabbed the closest saddled derkine and rode after her.

In all, ten riders found themselves suddenly mountless as their commanders raced east. Peris had been mounted and was close behind Mirune. Gerond had a bit more trouble relieving a rider of his mount, but wasn't far behind the rest. Behind him were the baron's guards, and the sultan's, and Bethda's, and... But they were eight days away from the Doctor. Except, Merdin. She was on Leoht and only three.

Merdin was an acrobat from a family of players. She had the strength and balance to ride the Doctor's beautiful animal. She rode him bareback. She held to his neck with her arms and gripped his side with her legs. Twelve hours into the journey she found the Turime.

They lay unconscious by the side of the road, their horses standing guard over them. She checked them for injuries, but found none. She made them as comfortable as possible and rested briefly. She drank from a nearby stream and bathed the blisters on her legs in the cool water, then remounted. Leoht was impatient.

Varna wasn't taking chances with him this time. She'd chained him in the center of the hall. She was unhappy at being told she had to keep him alive, but had found ways to entertain herself.

"Raise him to his feet. He's rested enough. Give him a drink. Not ale, you idiot. I don't want him anesthetized."

"Varna, how did you get to this time?"

"The same way you did, Doctor. In a time machine." She walked around him again. Someone had decorated him very nicely, but the scars were fading. She was freshening them just a few at a time. Chuck wouldn't be happy if he bled to death. He had plans for him.

"And just whose time machine was it?"

"Chuck's. The original owners didn't need it." She found a lovely floret and turned it red. "It belonged to some Daleks. Chuck didn't know what they were, but I recognized the description."

"Where did he find you?"

"He landed in my prison cell. He wasn't very good at piloting it yet. I like this one. Like the crest of a bird."

He held on to consciousness. He knew each time he passed out, the rings drew on his companions. He wished she'd found the scars a bit sooner. He wasn't enjoying what she was doing, but it was better than the brutal beating that had begun the encounter. "I don't even know this Chuck. Why does he want me?"

"Oh, it's not Chuck who wants you, Doctor. It's his helper. It remembers you. It wants you back."

"Wants me back?"

"Hold him still. This is delicate work. Chuck says, even after nine thousand years, it remembers how you taste."

Suddenly the Doctor knew what he'd followed to Laeth. The hagish Calla had driven from him was still alive. And it had a nine thousand-year-old sweet tooth.

The army marched. Their leaders had ridden ahead. They packed up, formed up, and marched behind. No one gave orders. It wasn't necessary. Each one did what needed to be done. There was no confusion. It wasn't a human army. It was laethan and it was the last army that would march across the world.

It would be winter before they reached the eastern plains, but they were prepared. The harvest of a world made its way to them. Each person who understood the cold aided one who did not. The cavalry moved out. The scouts had already gone. They would meet those who resisted in the east. The troops who would sweep to the north and south began their long run. The supply train split to follow. Each driver judging weight of load and speed of team. No one gave orders. It wasn't necessary. The people of Laeth had decided to retake their world.

In four hours an encampment of twenty thousand disappeared.

Peral awoke and realized someone had been there. A piece of journeycake lay centimeters from his hand. He went to the stream and filled a waterskin. He woke Jo first. The psychic link he had to her had surprised him. He knew his grandmother had formed one to his grandfather, but he hadn't known he'd inherited the ability. Neither Lib nor his father had. "Hi, sleepyhead. I think we'd better get as far down the trail as we can. Somebody's out ahead of us. The tracks by the stream are Leoht's and a barefoot woman."

"Barefoot! Peral it's below zero!"

"I know. There was a woman at Talf's castle who went barefoot even in winter. Her name is Merdin. The Doctor calls her Diana. I asked him why once. He said shouting hey you four times was confusing." He grinned at her. "You can try asking him about it."

"Not me. Wake Lib and Lathan. I'll check the gear."

Lib groaned. "We're awake. Just pooped. Let's go. The Doctor's probably keeping the rings from drawing on us. Sooner or later he'll have to rest."

As Lathan stood and pulled Lib to her feet, he said, "Sometime, my new wife, we will sleep together and not need sleep so badly. If I were not so tired, I would look forward to it." The two sets of newlyweds laughed and climbed on their horses. They had to get as far as they could before the Doctor needed them again.

Mirune found the deserted campsite. When Talf and the others arrived a few minutes behind her, she was asleep on the Doctor's bedroll. Talf and Lorin relit the fire and put together a meal. Gerond slid off his derkine and was asleep almost before he hit the ground. Logan, Caster, Amda and Nemir packed the Turime's gear. They wouldn't carry it, but Amda and Nemir wanted it packed right. Cermine, Peris and Bethda scouted for food. Nuts were the best portable source of calories. Peris had shared around most of the journeycake Tira had made during the ride.

Talf awakened Mirune and Gerond to eat, then he too rested. They had ridden sixteen hours. The derkines had to have rest. They had all been asleep before Marn rode into camp, but he faced a very alert, armed, group within seconds of his arrival. He posted sentries and let the men and the derkines rest.

The cavalry troop rode into the camp as the guards prepared to leave. Several guards were detailed to carry the Doctor's and Turime's gear. The cavalry had several remounts with them and the Doctor's saddle was strapped to one. The guards mounted and rode out. They were two hours behind their lords.

"That's it. We've got to rest. He's going to need us and we won't have anything to give him." Heort had made the decision. Lib would have probably tried to 'stubborn it out' for a few more hours.

"It's hard to stop, but you're right. Let's get some sleep. Here, I grabbed some of that fruit and nut stuff." Jo handed the journeycake around. "The horses will just have to stand guard."

"I feel very safe with Geifan as my sentry. She sleeps more lightly than I." Lathan dropped beside Lib. "I fear this squire can do no more for his knight than offer shoulder to pillow on."

"I hate to leave the horses untended, but maybe Wealdan will forgive me this time. How about you, Jo? Want a shoulder to 'pillow on'?"

"Actually, bundling up in two cloaks with you is what I'm after. It's cold. And you're warm."

The Doctor smiled at the girl who gave him a few bites of bread when Varna left the hall. And almost laughed when she offered to help him with other needs of the body. He explained that, since he was losing blood anyway, he'd arranged to get rid of any poisons that accumulated in it.

It was night and she'd tiptoed across the hall, avoiding the men sleeping scattered around the floor. She touched him gently on the cheek and hurried away. He adjusted his metabolism for the cold. The bread wouldn't fuel him long, but it would help. He mentally apologized to his companions and slept. On his knees. With his hands chained over his head. The more strength he had, the less of theirs he would use.

Merdin slept on Leoht's back. He walked carefully, but kept moving. They were still a day and a half from the Doctor.

Bethda's derkine started limping. She waved the others on and climbed down to check her paw. She had a nasty bruise. She waited for her guard. Captain Ganis would have her derkine. He always took care of things like that. She waited two hours for her guard, then grabbed Cliffon's reins, swung up, and raced down the road. Ganis knew he couldn't keep up with her. Cliffon was probably the fastest derkine in the world and his queen the finest rider. He wondered about the strange man his proud queen followed and the four months she'd left her country without a ruler. He watched her disappear into the distance, her long pale hair streaming behind her, the most beautiful woman in the world following the legend who had named her Aurora.

Leoht dashed into the yard of a hut and Merdin scooped up the pair of peasant's breeks drying on a rock by the door. He slowed just a bit and she balanced on his back and drew them on. She'd known the horses' hair was stiff. She'd helped Bethda take care of Leoht while the Doctor rebuilt his strength. Even so, she hadn't thought what it would mean to have that hair rubbing her skin. Derkines' short fur was velvet textured. She'd needed something to protect the bleeding blisters on her legs. She hadn't been truly surprised when Leoht found it for her.

"Jo, you said she'd kill him. If anything, he's stronger. Got a theory?"

"Not really, Peral. She's definitely not being nice to him. She wouldn't know how. It must be the same kind of situation as last time. Somebody else wants him. Has to be this Chuck person."

"You do not think he holds taking that he needs?"

Peral shook his head. "No, Lathan. Not this time."

"He's distracted her somehow. Or else she hasn't got him anymore. Heort seems to be picking up the pace again. Enough talk. Let's ride." Lib urged Heort on and she answered with a run.

"He lives. The amulet glows strongly upon me, but we are far from him. Would that we had steeds like to those the Turime ride."

"I wish for wings, Mirune, but the derkines are what we have. I don't believe it! Bethda's coming up behind us. I'd heard she had a fine stable of derkine. We'd better pick up the pace or she'll soon pass us." Talf had been trying to get better acquainted with the aloof queen for months. She was the first woman who had ever seemed beyond his reach. And the first he'd ever truly wanted. Bethda did pass them. In six hours she had regained the two she'd lost.

Merdin vaulted onto the sentry's back. She broke his neck with a quick twist and took his weapon. She had chosen him because of the weapon. She hid him and slipped back into the forest to learn to use the silent weapon that spit fire. An arrow could not cut the chain that held the Doctor. The fire weapon would. It had been easy to pass the sentries and gain the castle. They weren't expecting anyone to climb the wall. She had dropped one from the battlements. She had poured the wine he carried over him, so it would seem he had drunk foolishly and fallen. She had crept into the castle hall and seen what the woman did to the Doctor. The woman would die.

The Doctor was rather pleased. The serving girl had returned the night before and given him heavily honeyed cake. He watched as she handed the man, who'd been ordered to give him something to drink, a skin. He drank the rich broth and wondered who she was. She was helping him build his strength right under Varna's nose.

Merdin practiced with the weapon. She would get only one chance to free the Doctor.

Caster rode between his squire and his daughter. He was proud of them. They had been right. Women were as strong as men in their way. Few of his guard could have withstood the biting wind and the blistering pace.

Ganis and Marn were losing men. The men would remount and ride after them as soon as they were able, but all men and all derkine were not alike. Some were stronger than others. The sultan's captain had fallen behind, but his lieutenant, Hardune, kept pace. They were down to twenty-three men, but nearly fifty were but a few hours behind. The cavalry was a few hours behind them.

Merdin burned her eighth chosen twig. She decided she was ready. She waited for night fall. Leoht had disposed of the one guard who found her tracks. The element of surprise would be hers. She intended to ride Leoht through the gates and into the hall when they were opened to change the guards at midnight. Leoht knelt and she slept against his warm side.

The Doctor's companions were ten hours behind Merdin. Bethda was three days behind them. Talf and Mirune led the others one day behind her. The guards and the cavalry trailed along the road two to twelve hours behind them. And the army marched. But only Merdin and Leoht were in position to free the Doctor before Chuck arrived to take him to the hagish.

"Lady, what you do is most interesting. May I clean your canvas that you may better see your work?"

The Doctor was glad Varna was behind him. He'd smiled at the audacity of the serving girl. She'd gained a great deal of confidence over the last three days. His smile might have given her away.

"Yes, I'm sure I've missed some interesting pieces. It's time for Chuck to call. Clean him off before I get back."

The girl whispered, "This will hurt you. I have added healing herbs to the water, but it will burn."

He gasped as she began to sponge him off. Varna heard and smiled. When she returned, she was angry. Chuck had ordered her not to play with the Doctor. He wanted his body healthy.

The thing he called his assistant had decided it wanted it.

Merdin gripped Leoht with her legs. Her timing must be perfect. She had to get in and out in the midst of the sentries.

The serving girl had stolen the Doctor's cloak from the back of Varna's chair. She wrapped it around him and hid. She hadn't realized how late it was. The changing of the guard was moments away. She wasn't quick enough. One of the guards had seen her. He dragged her from her hiding place and clubbed her to the floor. She feigned unconsciousness. He left her there when his sergeant called.

The gates were opened and men started moving toward them. Leoht started his run as the door to the hall began to open. He bowled over the men at the gates and clattered up the stairs to the hall, knocking men flying. Merdin shot through the Doctor's chains. Taking the two that held his wrists and the one between his ankles with a single shot each.

The serving girl knocked down a guard and used his weapon on him and two others who were aiming at Merdin. She wasn't a very good shot, but she was close and did enough damage to stop them.

The Doctor vaulted onto Leoht's back behind Merdin. As they raced toward the door, he grabbed the girl and swung her up behind him. Leoht carried the three of them through the door and barreled through the gates. A shot rang out and the girl slumped against him. He held her with one arm. He held onto Merdin with the other. They rode that way at a run for about fifteen minutes, then Leoht dashed off the road and stopped in front of a small cave.

Merdin jumped off and caught the girl when the Doctor released her. He jumped down and carried her into the cave. He looked up in surprise as Leoht charged back onto the road and ran west. It only took him a moment to realize he was leading pursuit away from them.

"Doctor, she bleeds badly. I have naught but this to stanch the wound." Merdin held out her cloak to him.

"I've got to get the bullet out first, Diana. Do you have a knife?" She handed him a small dagger. "I wish I had something to sterilize... Hand me that weapon. Let me see... Yes." He sterilized the knife with the lowest setting on the weapon and removed the bullet from the girl's shoulder. Merdin watched in surprise as he used the beamer to cauterize the wound. "She's going to have a scar, but overall she was lucky. We certainly were. She saved our lives."

"Who is she, Doctor?"

He smiled and said, "For the last four days, she's been my best friend. Now, your legs are bleeding. Let's see what we can do about that." Merdin identified a medicinal plant for him. He found a rock with a shallow depression and, with water from the nearby stream and a stone, he pulped the plant and applied it to her bleeding legs.

"I had been at the king's court but two days when the metal birds came. I saw my father fall defending his cousin the King of Palenthale. I hid among the serving women. I sought these two years to find a way to free my cousin Gerond. He knows me not, except as one who tended him when he was ill treated. He oft sought to send me away for fear I would suffer beating. Or when he had been ill used in such way his face colored as I tended him. I rejoiced in his escape and plotted my own until you were brought. I could not leave one there friendless."

"Cheris, how old are you?"

"I am near a woman, Doctor. I will be sixteen in eleven days time." The Doctor did a quick calculation and realized she was about two months shy of eighteen in Earth terms. He had gotten used to using the old Earth calendar and it seemed to be a habit he just wasn't going to break. "My father had hoped I would win the king's favor. He wished our house more tightly bound to the king's own. Though Gerond was but a child, it was not too soon for his marriage to be planned. I did not resent my father's wishes, for his reasons were honorable and Gerond showed great promise as future man and king."

"Are you then a princess?" Merdin had never understood the politics of royal marriages, but she'd been to a lot of them. Her family was a wandering troupe and much in demand at royal weddings.

"No. Upon my father's death, I became queen of a small land in the eastern hills. I had no siblings and my mother died at my birthing. My father looked to find aid against bandits at his kinsman's court. My country no longer survives. I am queen without realm." She began to laugh. "But I am not worried. I have learned a trade. I am a most excellent serving wench."

Leoht led the Doctor's companions to him. They arrived about eight minutes ahead of a troop of Varna's guards.

"This isn't what I would call excellent cover, Doctor." Lib ducked back in the cave. He'd said Chuck wanted him alive. This troop of guards didn't seem to have gotten the message.

"It's been a rather pleasant place until quite recently."

"There are about twenty of them. I think we should break out of here. Those shots will bring more."

"Cheris and Diana aren't going to move as quickly as usual. We need to distract the guards."

"Doctor, NO!" Oh great. He was already headed out. Lib watched him run for Leoht. He vaulted on and raced west. The guards ran for derkine. He'd provided a distraction. "Come on, girls. Let's get mounted."

Lathan dropped off Geifan and ducked into the cave. A few guards had stayed behind. They were getting fewer by the minute. Jo and Peral were rapidly reducing their numbers. The guards weren't good at watching both the cave and their backs.

Peral shouted, "Clear! Let's roll!" He and Jo were already remounted. Lib leapt on Heort and Merdin jumped up behind her. Lathan lifted Cheris onto Geifan and climbed on. He put Cheris in front. With her wounded shoulder, it would be hard for her to hold on to him. So, he would hold on to her. Peral and Jo were already racing after the Doctor and his fifteen pursuers. Jo had grabbed a gun from a guard she'd taken out. Peral as usual hadn't.

Lib and Lathan rode hard to catch up. They hadn't quite when Jo began lowering the numbers of guards ahead. Lib grinned. The Doctor had far outdistanced the guards' derkines. He'd be waiting for them.

The Doctor dropped out of the tree right in front of the lead derkine and said, "Boo." The derkine tried to avoid the object that had startled it and tangled with the two behind. He ran for cover before the guard troop could get the milling derkine under control. Jo and Peral barreled through them, their horses shouldering through the much smaller derkine. Jo jumped off Freond and started taking out guards with a gun. She was being careful not to kill any. Peral was as difficult as the Doctor about that.

There were only seven guards still mounted when they decided they'd had enough and turned to run. Heort gave a delighted squeal and charged through them. Lib heard Merdin laugh and felt her jump off. Right in the middle of the remaining guards. The Doctor saw Merdin hit the ground and ran for her, Peral right behind. Lathan slid off Geifan as she charged through the remaining derkine. The two remaining guards tried to get away. Jo shot them both down.

Cheris watched the six of them. They were incredible! Fifteen guards lay in the road. They drove off the derkine and all remounted. Lathan laughed as he jumped up behind her and Geifan pranced. They raced down the road for two hours, then the Doctor led them into the trees. There would be aerial pursuit soon.

"A fire would be nice."

"I agree, Peral, but I don't think we should chance it. We know the aircraft fly at night. I'm afraid it will have to be a cold camp."

"Cold is right, Doctor. Here. This is the last of the journeycake."

"Share it around, Jo."

"Not this time. We'd rather you got your energy from this than us." She grinned at him. "Get some rest. We'll watch." He couldn't deny the logic of her argument, so he ate the journeycake and rolled up in his cloak.

"He'll not be warm enough. Come, Cheris. We too need rest. We will share warmth with him." Merdin led Cheris to the Doctor and they curled around him. He awoke as they lay down beside him and Merdin pulled her cloak over them. He was surprised and sat up. "Lie down, Doctor. We have but two cloaks amongst three. Would you leave Cheris cold?"

Jo grinned at Lib. Merdin had used the best possible argument on the Doctor. "I've got a suspicion she's got him figured out."

Jo snuggled deeper into Peral's arms and they made themselves comfortable to stand their watch. They watched half the night, then Lib and Lathan took over. Aircraft flew over several times, flashing searchlights through the trees. The Doctor awoke three hours before dawn and slipped out from between Merdin and Cheris. Merdin awoke, but he told her to rest and keep Cheris warm.

"I'm going out ahead on Leoht. Can you spare me a cloak? They need mine."

"Here, Doctor, take mine. I'll use yours tomorrow. Lathan's is quite a bit larger and he'll need it to keep Cheris warm."

"Thanks, Lib." He fastened the cloak and squatted down in front of them. "Merdin says there is probably a small army headed east. I'm going to see if I can find it. I'll get back as soon as possible. We need food and I'd really like to find Leoht's tack. Riding around bareback on a horse is 'roughing it' a bit much."

"All right, Doctor. Just be careful. We'll ride out at first light."

"Stay close to cover, Lib. The aerial search will intensify at dawn."

As he rode out, Lib said, "Lathan, I'm going to kill Varna for what she did to him. If he stops me, I want you to do it."

"Trust that I will, my knight."

"You know, I never realized a squire was such a nice warm thing to have." Lathan laughed and wrapped his cloak tighter around them. "I think I was a little jealous yesterday. Something about seeing Cheris riding in front of you, bundled in your cloak, bothered me."

"You shall never have cause to doubt me, but I am most complimented."

The Doctor met Bethda on the road. She had journeycake and an extra cloak. He sent her to meet the others and rode on to meet Talf. She decided to kill Varna for what she'd done to him. She was a good queen. She never ordered an execution she didn't think was absolutely necessary. This one she was willing to perform herself.

"It's good to see you, Doctor."

"Hello, Talf." He smiled at the group milling around him. "It looks like the general staff deserted the army. Where are my saddle and pack?"

Logan laughed. "We did not desert. We but lead a bit more than is usual. They and what you seek are behind."

"Good. Bethda had some food with her. I sent her ahead. They've got aircraft searching. Stay close to the trees. Gerond, I want to talk to you."

He told the boy about Cheris and his face lit. "I know this one. She risked being beaten many times to aid me. I know twice she suffered the beating. It did not stop her. Do you think she would consent to be my queen?"

"I think she's the one to ask, but I would say she'd at least consider it." He turned to leave and found his way blocked. Mirune, Lorin and Cermine sat on their derkines in front of him. Gerond decided to catch up with Talf's group. The women didn't look happy with the Doctor.

"Were you going to leave without speaking?"

"Yes. I'm in a hurry."

Cermine smiled. "It is good to see you, Doctor."

"Doctor, who has done this to you?" Lorin was angry.

"An old acquaintance. Now, I'd really like to get started. If you would excuse me?" They sat smiling as he urged Leoht to a run and rode away from them.

They got the story of Varna from Gerond. They rode east. The Doctor didn't know it, but eight more people had decided she would die. Eight, because Gerond had decided it long ago. It was the first decision he made when his father fell and he became king.

The Doctor was a bit disgruntled. He'd had to locate the cavalry remounts to find his saddle, then return to the guard contingent to collect the rest of his gear. They took a good while to locate it all. He got extra food and blankets and rode east. Talf grinned as he raced by on Leoht. The Doctor reached his companions about ten minutes after Bethda. She was handing journeycake around.

"Hello, Doctor. I see you found everything. Want to trade cloaks?" Lib unfastened his cloak and held it out to him. He traded with her and said, "These shoes weren't made for stirrups. Varna's still got my breastplate and boots. I've decided I want them back."

Bethda said, "Doctor, I ask that you wait for the others. They would be disappointed were you to go without them. They have ridden hard near six days."

"We'll wait, Aurora." Jo raised her eyebrows at Peral. Aurora? "Peral, find some dry wood. We'll have to put it out at nightfall, but I want a fire. I'm tired of being cold. Set up camp under the trees." Peral and Lathan built a smokeless fire and they had their first hot meal in days.

The Doctor was sitting by the side of the road waiting for them when Talf's group rode up. He directed them to the campsite and waited for the guards. Marn detailed two men to take the Doctor's place and the camp began to grow. The cavalry troop arrived and shortly after them the leader of the scouts. He found Talf and the Doctor making a map of the area around Gerond's castle, using his and Cheris memories as reference.

"My Lord, the army marches. They are ten days behind. Colonels Jeth and Daris lead rapid advancement to the north and south. Two scouts bring news of hill people in Palisaire who guide us against our enemies."

Talf turned to the Doctor and grinned. "It seems you've led us into battle after all."

"Ranger Gaire, do the hill people know their queen is alive?" He couldn't help it. He still thought of the man as Robin Goodfellow. He was little and his eyes twinkled.

"They will tomorrow, Doctor." He smiled and slipped out of the tent as silently as he had entered.

"I'm not going with you, Talf. I'm leaving tonight with Ranger Gaire."

"Doctor, we're going to retake Gerond's castle. Don't you want to be there?"

"No. I've learned what I need to know from Varna. I need to see what's happening in the east. Just find my breastplate and boots. Talf, destroy all the weapons and aircraft."

"We shall. Though I don't understand how their presence could cause the destruction of the world."

"That's the reason. They don't belong here. The kind of science they contain must be understood, not just used." Talf shook his head and grinned. He was getting used to the Doctor finishing what he had to say and leaving.

The Doctor found Ranger Gaire preparing to leave. "I'm coming with you."

The little man's smile crinkled his weathered face. "I leave at first moonrise. I will await you at the eastern road. And, Doctor, I have decided I like this name you have given me. So do my men. You may call me Puck."

Gerond walked into his hall alone. He strode to the center of the hall and announced, "I am King of Palenthale. I have returned to my land."

Varna laughed. "Hello, pretty boy. Nice of you to visit. Take him."

Peral stepped through the doors. "I am Turime. I am arbiter." The men approaching Gerond stopped and looked at Varna.

"There's only one, you cowards. What are you waiting for? Take the boy."

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Varna." Jo stepped through the doors with Lib and Lathan. "I don't know if you remember me, but I bring the list of your crimes from other worlds. I am Turime and I accuse you."

Lathan strode into the hall. "I am Turime. I call judgment."

Varna's men fell back as the hall filled. Mirune stepped in front of Gerond. "I am of the people. I bear the truth. I call the people to witness." Lorin, Merdin, Amda and Nemir joined her. Mirune took the amulet from around her neck and held it out. As each of the other four touched it, it flared. When all five held to it, the hall pulsed with blue-white light. Mirune handed the amulet with its flashing diamond to Gerond.

"I am King of Palenthale. I judge you guilty of the murder of my father."

Cheris took the amulet from his hand. "I am Queen of Palisaire. I judge you guilty of the murder of my father."

The amulet was passed from hand to hand.

"I am Baron of Pralth. I condemn you."

"I am Queen of Perline. I condemn you."

"I am Sultan of Karishdan. I condemn you."

"I am Sultana of Karishdan. I condemn you.

"I am Prince of Pasedel. I condemn you."

"I am Duke of Merale. I condemn you."

Peral watched as Mirune retrieved the amulet from Logan and placed it around her neck. He turned to Varna and said, "These are the lords of this world. They have judged and condemned, but I am Turime and arbiter. It is mine to intercede. I give you leave to speak in your defense."

She lifted a weapon and pointed it at Gerond. "What's the matter with you? They've got swords and you've got guns. Kill them. I'll dispose of this problem child myself."

Lib shot her down. "I am Turime. I am executioner."

"I have to go, Gerond. My people need me."

"But, Cheris, I need you. No, you are right. I am being selfish again. I will follow. I will ride at your side to free your land. I hope, when our world is cleansed, you will hear my suit." He blushed and smiled.

"I can think of no other that would be more welcome." Cheris took his hand, then turned and mounted her derkine. He was still a boy, but would become a fine man. She would wait for him.

Peral grinned at Jo. "I've got his boots and breastplate. Shall we deliver them?" They followed the man now known as Puck toward the eastern hills.

The army swept Gerond's kingdom clean and marched east.

## Chapter Fourteen

The Doctor scooted back down the ridge. He'd been guided to Chuck's base by a nomad. They had been scattered, but not destroyed. They were already fighting the war. Chuck had a great deal of difficulty storing ammunition and explosives. The nomads had decided, magic or not, they liked to make things go boom.

"Well, at least I've learned why the beasts and scavengers were in those places. Iron ore, lead, and saltpeter from the western mountains, sulfur from the south. He's had six years to accumulate a good supply, but your people have about taken care of that. Hathnan, I need to get into that base."

"Doctor, the thing you seek is in the tower of metal. It wears the guise of an old man. We have one who spies for us among its servants. He is a strong man, but was sickened by its feeding. It possesses strong magic."

"Yes, I know. I've encountered it before. I thought it was destroyed nine thousand years ago. I destroyed the rest of its kind nine hundred thousand years before that."

"Are you a god, that you live forever?"

"No, I'm not. I have a ship that sails through time. So does the one who commands this rather nasty bunch. The thing in the tower is what I followed here. It's in the service of that which hates life. I must destroy it."

"Doctor, those here are not like all other men. They are sickened. They are all of the animal and none of the man."

"Not all, Hathnan. There is still a great deal of wrongness in this world, but slavery and brutality will die out soon. Your society is evolving very rapidly. I'm here to see to it you fulfill your destiny as one of the most civilized peoples in the universe. And make sure the fishing is good."

He watched in amazement as the Doctor mounted his magic beast and rode down the ridge toward the base. He wasn't sure what he'd meant about fishing, but he would tell his brother. He would enjoy knowing this god, who said he was not a god, shared his passion.

"He already headed out with a guide. You know what he'll do."

"Peral, we've got to catch him. He's going to walk right into the den of the hagish."

"Yes, Jo, and he'll probably try to deactivate the rings first. Puck, find us a guide."

"You have one. Shall we go?"

Peral grinned at him. "I hope you don't mind riding double. We're in a hurry. Sorry, you'll have to walk back."

Puck took his hand and swung up behind him. "My derkine will be jealous. She will follow the scent of your animals. I shall have a mount when I must return to guide the army."

Chuck was angry. Things weren't going according to plan. He should have had control of the planet by now. Instead, he got reports of an army headed east. The thing he'd built the tower for was also becoming a problem. It was insatiable. He was running out of prisoners to feed it.

"Master, I bring ill news."

"I don't like bad news. Oh, what is it?"

"Varna is dead. Killed by Turime."

"Just what the hell is a Turime?" He was really mad. Varna had been with him for years and kept him supplied with pretty young things. He'd always liked visiting her. She had one proud one she kept around just for him.

"They are champions out of legend, Master. None have walked the world for hundreds of years. Now, it is said there are four. They follow another who walks from the scrolls of myth."

"I'm getting tired of this superstitious crap. Just who is this myth they're supposed to be following?"

"I think he's talking about me."

Chuck looked at the man six guards had just hustled into the room. He obviously didn't come from Laeth. He was tall and fair with none of the gold tone of the laethans. "You're human!"

"No, I'm a Time Lord. I believe you've been looking for me. I am known as the Doctor."

The Doctor was rather upset with himself. He'd forgotten the rings until he'd nearly reached the base. He'd barely started to work on the ruby when one of Chuck's patrols found him. Now, he was in no position to do anything about them.

"I'm holding you in reserve, Doctor. My helper has gotten difficult. You seem to be the carrot that will make it do what I want. I'm glad you showed up."

"I've been wondering how you managed to get a dalek ship."

The huge black man shook with laughter. "Simple. I had this small country in Africa until some do-gooders decided it should be independent. When the Daleks landed wanting human help to find something, one of my loyal followers brought them to me. I never did find out what they wanted. Stupid things told me they had a time ship. I had a couple men drop a cliff on them. I grabbed a couple of science types and took off. I made a couple landings and picked up Varna. This was just the kind of place I was looking for. You'd be amazed what twenty men with modern weapons can do on a planet like this."

"And you had the scientists make the giant animals."

"Mainly they designed weapons. The animals were just an idea I had. I figured I'd grow a bunch of giant warriors. Idiot scientist refused to work on people. Killed himself."

"And the other scientist?"

"My helper got him one night."

"The hagish like the taste of those with imagination. You must be keeping it well supplied or you wouldn't still be here."

"What do you mean?"

"The hagish is a parasite. It isn't working for you. You have a good imagination. It would find you a tasty morsel."

"You're wrong, Doctor. It makes slaves for me. Makes even argumentative types nice and docile. They build weapons and make explosives for me."

"That's new. It must stop feeding on them before they die. It's gained a lot of control since I last met it."

"It says it remembers you. It wants you very badly. Why?"

"I suppose, because it remembers how I taste." The Doctor smiled. "It told me I was sweet."

Chuck laughed. Too bad the man sitting chained in the middle of the cell had to die. "This conversation has been most enjoyable. Too bad it will probably be our last. I hope you don't mind all the chains, but you make my men nervous. I told them they were powerful magic. Titanium alloy is magic enough for this planet."

The Doctor watched Chuck leave and rested. He wasn't in very bad shape. It seemed the hagish wanted him healthy. Chuck had stopped the 'fun' after a very short time, but he was going to get very tired of the one meter 'tether' that ran from his neck to the floor. The fifteen kilos of chain wrapped around him weren't extremely comfortable either.

"I felt the ring draw on me while I stood guard this night past, Peral."

"I felt it too, Lathan, but it wasn't very strong."

"Yeah, but somebody hurt him." Lib was disgusted. "He walked right into the middle of them. Why do you suppose they felt it was necessary to hurt him?"

"Fear." Jo thought people who beat up prisoners were disgusting. "Since he wasn't afraid of them, they were afraid of him." Suddenly she grinned. "He probably told them he wouldn't hurt them." They all began to laugh.

"All right. It's time we made some plans. Our first objective has got to be the time ship."

"We need to get rid of those copters too, Peral. The nomads have been doing a good job of keeping the supplies of ammo low."

"According to Puck, they like the boom it makes when they blow it up, Jo." Lib grinned at her.

"My kind of people. I like booms myself. Look, I know this will make it harder, but we need to do it in the daytime. The hagish will be prowling at night. It's the sentry. Everyone else locks themselves inside."

"That makes it hard. The time ship must be in the headquarters building."

"I will go. I am laethan. I will not be noticed among them. Tell me what I seek." Lathan handed Lib his coronet and cloak and pulled peasant garb from his saddlepack.

"How did he know what to look for?"

"Hello, Lathan. Are you all right?"

"I will mend, Doctor."

"I asked you a question."

"I told him you had a time capsule. I hope he put it out of commission."

"You've managed to strand me on this backwater planet, Doctor. I should have let Varna kill you. You and your friend are going to spend the night outside."

The Doctor watched Chuck storm out of the room, then turned to Lathan. "You look like you made him mad."

"I think my wife will be most unhappy with me. She told me I was not to "get my pretty face messed up". I fear I have disobeyed my knight."

"I think it's Chuck she'll be angry with."

A series of explosions rocked the building. Lathan smiled with his bruised lips. "Perhaps, not as angry as he will be with her."

The army moved through the hills and onto the plain.

"They are falling back, My Lord. They flee without fighting. They throw down their useless weapons and run. They have no more of the pellets the weapons throw."

"Thank you, Captain. Well, Peral, the war seems to be near won, but we've still no word on the Doctor or Lathan."

"I know. The hagish is roaming free at night. We know it because of the men we keep losing to it. Talf, I think Chuck's using the Doctor to make it follow his orders. Jo says he's the only thing it wants. Chuck couldn't force it to take only our men if he weren't still holding him, but I'm afraid we're running out of time. We have to take that base."

"We attack in the morning."

"Good. We're going in today."

"How do you plan to sneak into the base. They are fully alerted."

"We're going to use the Doctor's favorite ruse." He grinned. "We're going to surrender."

"Hello, Doctor. We know. We're not supposed to be here."

He shook his head as his three remaining companions were pushed into his cell.

"Jo, why didn't you stay with the army?"

"Lib got lonesome. That's quite a load of metal you're wearing. Chuck certainly doesn't want you moving around."

"We figured you'd probably be on the menu for the hagish soon. We'd rather be in the area when you need us." Peral knelt down and touched his ring to the ruby. The Doctor gave him a disgusted look and he grinned. "Just checking."

"Actually, we've been on the menu, Peral. There seems to have been a last minute substitution."

"Yeah, the army. We lost about sixty to it in one night. It's been responsible for about eighty percent of our losses. The Doctor buried his face in his hands. Lib said, "You're blaming yourself. That's ridiculous. You didn't bring it here and you didn't set it on the army."

"No, but I carried it out of the past and set it loose on the universe."

"You're wrong, Doctor." Peral had seen this argument coming. "We drove it from you and didn't pay attention to where it went. We could have destroyed it. We didn't."

"I do not think these words are useful. The choice not to kill this thing was made. It is never wrong not to kill. You have taught us this, Doctor. It is time to speak of the present. The past is done." Lathan was delighted with the way Lib told him she'd liked what he said.

"I want your ship."

The Doctor smiled. "It's a long way from here and it doesn't work. Even if it did, you'd have to get the key from my horse."

"I don't believe you."

"Chuck, do you really think I would have spent more than three years riding around on a horse if I could have just set the coordinates and flown there?"

"Then I'll just have to do it. the old fashioned way. You four, back off. Don't try anything. I'd just as soon shoot you."

The Doctor's companions waited while Chuck unlocked the chain fastened to the ring in the middle of the floor. They could have taken him and the six guards, but it wasn't what the Doctor wanted.

"I suppose we're going to visit the tower."

Chuck laughed. "Yes. You four pick him up. It's nearly sunset. I've decided to give the thing one more meal. I'd just as soon it was busy while I get a long way from here. I plan on locking the door, but I don't want to fall asleep trying to get through the hills. You'll have an easy death. Easier than I'd give you. It puts its victims to sleep before it feeds."

"It's tried that on me before. It doesn't work."

"That's too bad." They'd reached the tower. Chuck unlocked the door and motioned them in. The hagish was beginning to stir. Just before he closed the door, Chuck tossed in the Doctor's sword. "I wouldn't want it said I left an unarmed man to face that thing." He was laughing as the door closed.

"Doctor, this thing is strong. I'm trying to stay awake, but it's not working. I'm sorry."

"That's all right, Jo. Put the sword in my hands." She'd been trying to get to the hagish. She managed to place it in his chained hands before she succumbed. He rolled her off his legs and used Perseveren to lever himself to his feet. He wouldn't be able to use it as a weapon. His arms were still chained to his sides and his wrists manacled, but he wanted to face the thing standing. He pushed the point into the floor and braced himself with it. The hagish was coming toward him.

"You are mine. I have waited nine thousand years to feed upon you again. This time I shall have all of you."

"How did you live nine thousand years? You were dis-embodied."

"Only for a short while. My master gave me this one. It was empty. It served me well, but now I wish another. My master has promised me yours when it is emptied. He has said it would amuse him to see me wear it."

"No humanoid body lasts nine thousand years."

"My master created this body for me. He called it android." The hagish walked behind the Doctor and sank its fangs in his neck.

He fought it. It was incredibly powerful. He couldn't stop it feeding on him, but he did slow it. The hours passed and he battled for his spirit.

"'The day comes. I will feed again this night. The others will not awaken. Do not think they will aid you." The hagish climbed the stairs set in the wall and disappeared from the Doctor's view.

He dropped to the floor and checked Jo. She was alive, but comatose. He felt himself losing consciousness. He mentally apologized to his companions. He didn't have the strength to fight the ruby.

He awoke when the hagish sank its fangs into his throat. He began fighting it again. He could feel the ruby feeding him strength. His companions were still alive, but he was killing them. And he couldn't stop. If he stopped fighting the hagish to fight the ruby, it would drain him and the ruby would drain his companions. He fought the hagish and mourned his companions.

We must find him! He weakens!" Mirune clutched the amulet and willed it to beat stronger.

"All right, you, where is he?" Talf pushed his sword a bit deeper into the skin of Chuck's throat.

"In the tower. I don't know why he's still alive. No one else ever lasted a night in there."

Caster said, "Talf, we need the key. We tried to open the place he speaks of." He, Peris and Logan had worked to break the lock for more than three hours earlier in the day.

"Search him."

"They're in my pocket. I'll give them to you." Chuck had almost gotten away. He'd been captured as he tried to slip into Palenthale. Ranger Gaire, Puck as he was now called, had returned him trussed on a derkine.

"Give them to my friend." Chuck pulled a gun out of his pocket and Talf pushed his sword in. Caster searched him and found the keys around his neck. The leaders of Laeth ran for the tower. The amulet was growing dim.

They burst in upon the hagish and it lifted its fangs from the Doctor's throat and hissed at them. The amulet began to pulse more strongly. The light pulsed in the rhythm of the life force it had taken. It confused it and it couldn't use its telepathic power to cause sleep.

"It fears! Come touch the amulet. Add your caring to mine." Mirune held the amulet in front of her. Lorin and Merdin touched it and it brightened. Bethda laid her hands on Mirune's shoulders and it began to flash. Cermine grasped her father's hand and Lorin's. The rest caught hands and soon all were joined to the amulet.

The Doctor groaned and sat up. The room pulsed with brilliant blue-white light. Logan left the others and unlocked the Doctor's chains. He helped him stand and handed him his sword. The hagish gibbered in the corner.

"Mirune, give me the amulet, then I want you all to leave. Take my companions with you."

"Doctor, it will kill you."

"Not this time, Talf. Dawn must be near. It's nocturnal. It will be as helpless as its victims at sunrise."

"Doctor, the Turime are cold. They still breathe, but I fear they die."

"I know, Cermine. Take them out of here. All of you, go. Now." He hung the amulet around his neck and watched the hagish as they left.

"You have destroyed all my kind. When you slay this body, you kill the last of my species."

"I'm not going to kill you."

"I do not understand. You hold the instrument of my death in your hands."

"I only kill if necessary. I've only used this sword against a poor misshapen beast. I won't use it against you. Its name is Perseveren. That which preserves. It was the final clue. For more than eleven years, I've been relearning the value of life in preparation of my decision to kill an entire species. I will choose one species over another. I watched myself do it and didn't truly understand what I was seeing. Others of my race were shocked, but I protested the law could not be applied. The circumstances warranted it. They will, but that's not enough. You are a poor helpless tool of your master, but I have free will. On this world I'm called the Champion of Life. That too was a clue. I will betray everything I profess to believe in and commit genocide. I'll serve your master. I will destroy life. It's not necessary to kill you. You're a pawn and you've fallen to the knight. Your master has no compassion. You've served your purpose. The game is ended. This tower will stand long after your android body ceases to function. I pity you. Dawn comes and you can never see its glory."

"You will not imprison me forever!" The hagish rushed at him. He caught it and threw it to the floor, turned, and left the tower.

"Lock the door, Logan, then destroy the key."

"Yes, Doctor." Logan locked the door, then knelt and pounded the key between two stones until it was useless. He stood and said, "I will lead you to your companions."

Leoht trotted up to the Doctor with Logan's derkine trailing him. He vaulted on and Logan led him west across the plains.

"I know only we are to bury him before the baron returns." The soldier pulled the body off the derkine and rolled it toward the hole the detail had dug.

"Sergeant, he clutches some strange device." The trooper stooped down and pried the stiff fingers open.

The explosion shook the ground. The Doctor turned and looked back in the direction of the tower and the base. There was nothing but a huge smoking crater. Chuck's deadman switch had worked. It had just taken awhile.

He rode into the encampment and they left him alone with his dying companions.

## Chapter Fifteen

"Peral, he's done it again!"

"I know, Lib. Stop him. He's given us enough."

"I can't. He doesn't even know I'm here. He'll keep pouring strength into us until we can't take any more or he runs out."

"He will know I am here." Mirune walked through the tent flaps and over to the Doctor. His four companions stared in surprise when she knelt beside him and gave him a passionate kiss.

His eyes snapped open. Mirune sat back and smiled at him. He said, "All right, you got my attention."

His four companions laughed until the tears rolled.

"I can't find him anywhere."

"I can't find him either, Lib. Jo, our horses seem to want us. Find Lathan and our tack."

"Lathan is here and I have brought all but the saddles. They are within Talf's tent."

"Where have you been?"

"Lib, you ask me that which I will not answer."

"What?!"

"I followed the Doctor. It was wrong of me. I did not believe myself needed."

"Well, where is he?"

"He does not need you either, Lib." Lathan grinned at her and went to get his saddle. They were still standing in the same place when he returned. He shook his head and said, "The Doctor has told all he wishes farewell. He will be riding the road to the west. Do you not wish to go with him?" He smiled as they ran for Talf's tent. He rode west. He had the Doctor's boots and breastplate. He should be nearly ready for them.

The Doctor was preparing to mount Leoht when Lathan rode up and handed him his boots. "You found them!"

"We have had them since we left Gerond's castle. I am sorry I did not think to give you them before this day." Lathan grinned at him and added, "I would have given you them four hours agone, but you seemed most busy."

The Doctor stopped pulling on his boot and looked up. "Lathan... "

"Doctor, the others come soon. Perhaps we should be further west before they come. He waved at the nearby tents and guided Geifan west.

The Doctor pulled on his boots, fastened on his breastplate, mounted Leoht and rode after him. "Lathan, you're a wonder."

"No, Doctor, I'm a squire." The Doctor began to laugh. He was going to enjoy introducing Lathan to Liberty

It was some time before the others caught up. Lib said, "Sorry, Doctor, we just couldn't seem to get away. People kept stopping us to say good-by."

"Yes, I know. That's why I usually try to slip out quietly. It doesn't always work." He sounded disgusted.

Lib just looked at Lathan. He'd collapsed over Geifan's withers. Laughing.

The inn was a pleasant place. The crackling fire seemed all the friendlier for the blizzard that howled beyond the tightly shuttered windows.

"So you gave the amulet to Mirune?"

"I didn't want it, Lib. I told her it would stop pulsing when I left her world. The circuits will fuse within a day after that."

"Aren't there an awful lot of pieces of advanced technology still laying around, Doctor."

"Not for long, Peral. The Puck doesn't like them. Seems to think there's too much cold iron in the world already." He smiled as three of his companions collapsed in laughter. "Have Lib tell you the story, Lathan. Or better yet, listen in when she tells it to your children."

"Doctor, we do not think there can be children."

"We're going to Cordahm. It's time you met Liberty and Tarna."

The Doctor's companions stared after him as he climbed the stairs. They hadn't known they were going to Cordahm.

The Doctor wasn't really surprised to see the black horse grazing in front of the TARDIS doors. It didn't belong on Laeth. "That answers that question."

"What question, Doctor?" Lib watched him hunt through his saddlepack for the TARDIS key.

"Ah. There it is." He turned and put the key in the lock. "What to do about the horses. They're coming with us." As if to prove his point, Leoht ducked and squeezed through the door ahead of him. He followed his horse in and ducked beneath the console. When the rest of them entered, he was peering at a circuit board through a jeweler's loupe. His companions watched as their horses trotted through the interior doors. The black horse followed.

The Doctor pulled a tiny brush from the air and dusted off a small area of the board. He leaned back under the console, slid the board into place, and closed the panel. He stood and said, "I'm hungry. Do you think you could arrange to do something about dinner?" His companions laughed and filed through the interior doors to arrange it.

Lathan followed them, but Freond nickered as he passed a corridor. He found the horses standing in front of a door. He removed their tack and left it in the room with two strange red machines. He nearly got lost returning. Lib had told him of the TARDIS, but the words had been but words.

When he found his way back to them, they were on their way to the console room with dinner. The Doctor had changed into his multi-colored clothes. They waited for him to finish laying in the coordinates. The TARDIS gave a small lurch and they were on their way. The Doctor took his dinner from Peral and said, "There are more comfortable places to eat. Shall we find one?" He led them to a very homey little study they'd never seen before and were sure they could never find again.

"Doctor, are we going to Cordahm?" He had said they were, but that had been almost three months ago. Lib thought he might have changed his mind.

"Yes, but we have another stop to make first."

"Where?"

"Peral, you don't think I would have gone to all this trouble to save a good fishing spot, then not check to see it was there, do you?" He smiled at his companions and they laughed.

The fishing spot was there and the Doctor set course for Cordahm. They didn't see the horses again until they landed. The Doctor opened the doors and they ducked through and trotted toward the hills. He stepped out of the TARDIS and saw Liberty a few feet away watching them trot off. "They're telepathic. They'll come if you need them. Hello, Liberty. I've brought your grandchildren home."

"You look wonderful. What have you been doing to get so gorgeous?"

"Riding around on that big white horse for nearly four years."

"Four years?! I want to hear this story! JO! We've been worried about you. Half the town spent the night looking for you."

"I suppose the Doctor's brought me back the day after he came and got me. It's been quite a while for me. I think you'd better prepare yourself for some surprises. Lib, Peral, Lathan, quit stalling and get out here."

Liberty stared at her grandchildren. They were beautiful. Peral was probably the handsomest man she had ever seen. He was about a hundred ninety-five centimeters tall and perfectly proportioned. She didn't quite know what to think of his long blond hair or the coronet he wore. Lib was tall and slender. In her own way, as muscular as Peral. She too wore a coronet. She watched as Jo put one on her head and then noticed the golden skinned young man standing slightly behind Lib wore one.

Lib grinned and pulled him forward. "Grandmother, this is Lathan. He's my squire."

"Hello, Liberty. I have heard much of you. I hope to learn from you even more to use in the defense of my wife's back."

"Wife?!"

Peral grinned and said, "I'm married to my squire too, Grandmother," He put his arm around Jo. "but you already know her. The Doctor married us."

"Doctor, you and I have a LOT to talk about." The two couples laughed as Liberty grabbed his hand and led him off.

## Epilogue

He had stayed longer than he intended. Again. Calla caught up with him and shook her finger at him, then smiled and hugged him. Her two small girls nearly knocked him down in the street with their telepathic shouts of good-by. Wren and Andy strolled along the street with him for a few moments, then stood arm in arm watching him. They'd named their twins Gawain Michael and Lancelot James.

Liberty was waiting for him by the TARDIS doors. "You didn't really think you could leave without saying good-by to me did you?"

"I wasn't. I knew you'd be here."

"You're not coming back again are you?"

"I don't plan on it. I've been involved with your family for more than ten years. I think that's quite long enough."

"Doctor, why did you become so involved with us?"

"It was part of the lesson. A piece of the labors."

"The labors?"

"I have performed my twelve tasks of atonement. The gods of Olympus gave Heracles aid. You were the aid I was given. I'm not fool enough to refuse the gift."

"Well, I'm glad we could be of assistance. Atonement for?"

"A crime for which I've been tried, but have yet to commit."

"It must be confusing being a time traveler on a permanent basis. Doing things like: penance before the sin, trial before the crime." She grinned at him. "I suppose, now that you've done all this, you can go back to being rude and selfish and hard to get along with."

"I'm looking forward to it." He smiled as she wrapped her arms around him for the last time.

As he unlocked the TARDIS doors she said, "Doctor, I... Never mind. It really wouldn't make any difference. Take care, my knight. I will miss you."

"And I you, my squire."

She shook her head and walked away. She hadn't told him after all. It was just as well. He'd have worried about her age.

"What are you doing here?!"

"Hitch-hiking, Doctor." Lib grinned at him and handed him the spare TARDIS key she'd worn around her neck for four years. "We have work to do and we need a lift."

"I brought another stack of letters for you to deliver someday." Peral was grinning too.

"Doctor, we can't do what we swore to do on Cordahm. You're the only one who can take us somewhere we can."

"Jo, you and Lib are both going to be mothers soon. You should stay on Cordham."

"No, Doctor, we don't belong there. Neither do our children. We're not sure where we do belong, so, we're depending on you to find it for us."

"We know we're not companions any more, Doctor." Lib grinned at him. "I had to teach Lathan English." She didn't tell him she had learned the Doctor had been heard as the Chosen on Laeth.

"Do you stand witness to their worthiness, Time Lord."

"I do, Grand Master."

"We have never taken women with child before."

"I know, but they are truly sworn."

"So I believe, or I would not accept them. They will be trained."

"Thank you, Grand Master." He took a hand of each and held their four in his two, then released them. They would always wear the rings. He would not.

He walked out of the gates and entered the TARDIS. He had found where they belonged. Two knights and their squires would join the battle against evil in the universe.

He had also fulfilled a promise. He had returned Orcini's emblem to his order and told them how he died.

He paid a visit to a planet he knew well. He sat in a meadow and watched a herd of horses race down the wind. They were showing off for him. They'd heard his thoughts of admiration. The planet's name was Liberty.

# Captain Knight, Leroy and the Boys

Sharon L Reddy

copyright 1991

The Doctor drifted. Place to place and world to world. He met a few old friends and made a few new ones. He thought about going to Earth, but it just wasn't time yet. He hadn't been alone more than a few weeks in twelve years. Now, he had said a final good-by to the people and the world that had claimed him for ten of them and he didn't quite know what to do with himself. For the first time in his long life, he felt unneeded and unnecessary, then he heard the crying child.

He awoke from the dream. It had been too clear. He could still feel the loss that had brought tears to his eyes and tightened his chest. Somewhere a child cried for a mother who would never come. He lay on his bed and opened himself to the feeling. He didn't know if he could find the child, but he was in need of someone. He was the one who had heard.

He couldn't find him. He could feel him, could hear him, but it was faint and all around him. Within him. He couldn't understand why. He gave up and decided to go fishing. Perhaps, if he quit searching, it would strengthen. He headed for the console room.

He set the coordinates, then stared at them. They weren't right. They didn't make any sense. They wouldn't take him where he wanted to go. They wouldn't take him anywhere. He tried again with the same result. Something very strange was happening.

He sat down in the chair he sometimes brought to the console room. He needed to think. He was obviously putting in the wrong coordinates, but he didn't know why. He decided to try again and pay very close attention. He rose and went back to the console.

He watched in amazement. He laid in a set of coordinates with his right hand and changed them with his left. He tried a different set with the same result. He let go of reason and 'felt' his way around the console. When he completed the circuit, he crossed his fingers and activated the TARDIS drive. Something seemed to grab the TARDIS and pull. He was thrown to the floor.

He came to slowly. His mind echoed with the cries of the child. He tried to damp his telepathic receptors, but it just got stronger. He reached out to check the TARDIS and stopped in surprise. He'd reached with his left hand and the sleeve on that arm was the wrong colors. He went to find a mirror.

Everything was reversed. His white shirt was black. Red was blue. Every shade of his multi-color clothes was its complement. Only he and the TARDIS had not changed.

He walked from room to room. Everything was reversed. The rooms were in the same place, but the furnishings weren't. His bed with white sheets had stood to his left. It now had black sheets and was on his right. He'd gone through a very strange reversal.

He wasn't in E-space. That hadn't caused this kind of change. The coordinates he'd set shouldn't be responsible. Whatever had boosted the TARDIS drive had pulled it into another set of dimensions. The child began to cry again and he fell to his knees. He cried with the child and he knew he was there. He called him. And he called him Daddy.

He did his best to calm him. He couldn't find him if he couldn't think. He finally succeeded in quieting him enough to search for him. He made it back to the console room and tried to initiate a search pattern. It was useless. Nothing he did seemed to work. He stopped and closed his eyes. He felt himself reach out with his left hand. He let his sub-conscious have his hand. When he heard the TARDIS drive, he opened his eyes. He was on his way. Somewhere.

The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors. The scanner had showed him an image like a photograph negative, but the world beyond the doors looked normal to his eyes. He stepped out and fell.

He couldn't move. Could barely breathe. He was trapped in invisible bonds and slowly smothering. He desperately fought, then realized the child was the one trapped. He calmed him and tried to explain he had to let go of him so he could find him. He felt him pull back, but he cried, "Daddy! Daddy, hurry!" as he released him. He didn't look for him, just began to run and let his body lead him.

He found the wrecked ship. He threw pieces out of his way and tore at the broken hull. Somehow, he had to get into it. His child was trapped. The part of his mind that was cold logic argued the child was not his, but every other part of him screamed he was.

He crawled through the hole he'd made. The tiny ship was dark and reeked of spilt hydraulics. He found the woman and reeled in shock. He knew her. He knew her at the first touch. She was dead and he'd never known her, but he loved her and he mourned. He searched for his suffocating child.

He found him trapped beneath the buckled ceiling and suddenly knew he had already known the child was son and not daughter. He called on strength he didn't know he had. He forced the ceiling up a fraction and ripped the collapsed acceleration couch out of his way. The small boy climbed out of the niche that had saved his life and he held him to him and backed out of the ship. He could smell the chemicals combining. They had very little time. He reached the ground and began to run. He made it about eighty meters and the ship exploded. He protected his son's body with his own, then held him and wept for the woman he loved. The woman he had never known.

"You're Daddy from before." The boy knew about his daddy. He looked different, but that didn't bother him. He could feel he was Daddy. "You don't have us yet."

"No. I don't even know who us is." He smiled at the four-year-old boy. He was positive now the boy was his. Some future self had a wife and child.

"I'm Adric. We have to go find Gwen and Liberty. They're my sisters. Bad things took them. Mommy and me were looking for you. We needed your help to get them." He started to cry. "Mommy can't 'generate. She's all gone away."

The Doctor held his son in wonder. The woman wasn't a Time Lord and they'd had three children. In this place. In this time. Where was his later self? The one who lived in another set of dimensions. Why wasn't he the one who had heard the boy? "Adric, why did the bad things take your sisters?"

"They want you. Not you you, Daddy later you. You know this thing they want to know, but you don't know it. That's why you're here. 'Cause they can't get it from you."

"The later me couldn't come, because of knowledge he can't chance someone getting?"

"Uh huh. That's what you told me in my head. You said you'd come from the other place from before, but I had to call you. You wouldn't know I was in trouble. You were all hurty inside and Mommy's face was everywhere in your head."

"All right. Let's go find your sisters. Tell me about the bad things."

Adric had given him an exact set of coordinates. He was amazed at the child. He felt warm and proud each time he looked at the boy. He couldn't understand why he looked so much like him. Blond, fair, gray-eyed. Which of his later personas would love and marry? Who had he become that he would do something that seemed so strange?

"Daddy, you're all confused. You don't think in the way you have to yet. It's all one place. I'm me and you're you and I'll be lots more mes and you'll be lots more yous and all the places and all the us-es are all the same and all together everywhere. I'm all grown up and I'm little. I'm me all at once. You're you, but still one at a time. Mommy called you serial. Me and Gwen and Lib are all at once."

"You're right, Adric. I'm confused. Was your mommy human?"

"No, she was different. She came from a place that's not anywhere. She said I help go get her and I can't worry cause I don't remember it yet. She was looking for you. When she died, she went back. She can't come again. You don't ever understand, but that's all right. She could only stay 'til she died and she knew when that would be."

"We've landed. The scanner is nearly useless. I don't know where we are or what's outside the TARDIS. You'll have to stay here. I'll find Gwen and Lib."

"No, Daddy, the bad things get you. I find Gwen and Lib, then we come get you. Daddy, the bad things are going to hurt you. I'm sorry. They won't know who you are. You mustn't tell them. We'll get you soon. I have to go before they come. I have a key. Bye."

The Doctor stared after the boy as he climbed on the chair, opened the TARDIS doors, jumped down and ran out. He followed and shut the doors behind him. He could feel he was on a space ship, but that was all he knew.

He walked across the huge, echoing, cargo bay. What could the ship carry that would require a hold nearly a kilometer across? He started to look for a door of some kind. Adric had told him he would be captured, but he planned to find a way to avoid it. He had just found the door when the robot sentry rolled out of the shadows and stunned him.

Adric found his sisters. They were waiting for him. They ran in opposite directions and, in its split second of confusion, he climbed the robot guard and shut it off. They had to be bigger before they got their daddy from the bad things.

The Doctor rolled over and groaned. He hadn't told the creatures that held him anything they wanted. They'd only been truly interested in the answer to one question and he hadn't known what an H-miron was. Adric had told him he didn't have the knowledge they wanted. It was a good thing he hadn't. His defenses had gone down in seconds. He would have answered anything they asked. If he hadn't, his mind would have been destroyed. The mind probe they used was more powerful than any he had ever known.

He nearly laughed. They had asked him who he was and he'd told them his name. Not the Doctor, his name. It had meant nothing to them. They asked him how he'd gotten there and he'd told them. They hadn't found a type Mark-40 capsule in the hold. They asked him if he'd freed the children and he'd said no. They put him with the other 'humanoids' and put him to work.

Robots were useful for a great many things, humanoids only three. Robot power was limited and expensive. Humanoids replaced themselves. He was a mining unit. If he produced his quota, he was fed. If not, he was nerve jangled. Actually, he was jangled for talking, or looking around, or stepping out of line, or... And, since the jangler was locked around his throat and computer controlled, it was very efficient. He'd seen two men jangled to death. They hadn't made their quota three days in a row.

The selectors entered the 'sleeping place'. Everyone stood. Very straight and very still. There were fifty in the barracks. Two were selected each night. The others would be allowed to sleep. But not talk. Or leave their assigned bunks. They selected the Doctor.

He followed them out of the barracks and stood where he was told. There were seven other males standing nearby. One of them looked around and was jangled. He struggled to his feet and stood still. The selected females were placed across from the males. There were forty of them. Both groups were led down the corridor.

The Doctor hadn't been broken to slavery, but he would wait. The time to break free would come. He would end this. The scaled blue creatures would be freed also. They too wore janglers and obeyed the computer that directed life on the ship. The computer too would have controllers. He would find them.

The Doctor enjoyed the shower. It felt good to be clean. He didn't enjoy the physical examination afterward. It was performed by a machine and too thorough. The cubicle opened and he stepped into a room with transparent walls and five women. He thought he knew what was expected, then blue scaled people entered and he realized he was wrong. He was only 'performance' compatible with the females. He learned the second use for humanoids. They were entertainment. The creatures instructed them. When he and the women were ready, it began. And shadowy figures watched from the other side of the glass.

The Doctor had been given a day to recover, then sent back to the mine. The ship had been moved. The composition of the rock was different. He loaded his ore cart and stood waiting. Another would be sent. He filled three that day. He filled three each day for six days, then his quota was increased again. Then again.

He dropped onto his bunk exhausted. For eight days, he had filled five ore carts. He wasn't sure, but he didn't think anyone else had a quota that high. He looked at himself. He was filthy and rimed in the salt of his own sweat. The sonic drill broke the ore loose, but he had to load it by hand. He had become hugely muscled. That night he was selected again.

He awoke and didn't know where he was. He wasn't in the barracks. He was in a room by himself. He'd passed out from exhaustion and had no idea how long he'd slept. He got up from the pillowed floor and walked around. The jangler didn't activate. The room had a lavatory and a bath. He touched the tap and wasn't jangled. He drew a hot bath and stepped in. He basked in the hot water and wondered why he was there. He was still in the tub when the wall became transparent.

He learned he was to leave the bath when he was jangled. He learned he was to stand under a blower when he was jangled. He learned he was to stand in the center of the pillowed room facing the door after three more jangles. He stood. A slot in the wall opened and a beeper sounded. He took a chance and walked to it. Food was passed through. He ate, then waited. He returned to the center of the room when he was jangled. The jangling was mild and of short duration. Instruction not punishment. He spent five days standing and watched shadowy figures pass beyond the semi-opaque wall on one side of the 'room'. Each night he was allowed to drop to the cushioned floor to sleep and each morning to take a bath.

"It's time to set him free. We're ready." Adric was sixteen. He'd spent twelve years in technical study and the last nine in intense physical training as well. His sisters were eighteen and nineteen. They'd skipped a bit of the training, but none of the study.

"I'm going to miss you all terribly, but you're right. It's time. Take care of yourself, son. I wish I could come with you."

"We know, Dad. You aren't supposed to. Your part is done and just beginning. We'll see you again."

"I don't suppose you'd consider telling me when."

"Daddy, you don't really want to know." Gwen gave him a hug. "You wouldn't be happy knowing the future. You like living day to day. We've always known that."

"That's true. It would take all the excitement out of life. I'm still not sure how you do it. Don't you find knowing everything that's going to happen boring?"

"We don't think about it. It's only the important stuff we pay attention to." Lib hugged him good-by. "Even though we might be able to remember it all, we don't. That WOULD be boring."

The Doctor held his three children, then watched them walk toward the 'other' TARDIS. They'd assured him they'd be all right, but he'd still worry. He wondered when he'd see them again. He set coordinates for his dimensions, engaged the H-miron, and left the place he'd called home for twenty years. His children had said he must find the one he called the Valeyard before he found his eighth persona. He smiled as he thought of his son. The boy he'd named Adric and called Tech was in for a few surprises.

The Doctor stood in the center of the room and watched the door open. A very fat, richly dressed, ursanoid entered. He was the chief programmer and he had selected a new toy.

The programmer was pleased. This one was very strong. He might last awhile. Perhaps as many as ten days. The others had been anticipating the feast for five and were wagering on its date. He never participated in the wagering. It might inhibit his play. He arranged himself comfortably on the pillows, opened his toy box, laid it on the floor, then selected items for the first game.

He touched the button to start the music and began setting up the game. The new toy didn't cry out. That was unusual. The stimulators were very uncomfortable. He'd designed them that way. He inserted the last electrode into the socket on the stimulator and gave the first instruction. The first of many.

He was delighted with the toy. It might last even longer than he'd thought. He had played with it for several stellar time divisions before it collapsed and couldn't rise when jangled. Even then, it had not lost consciousness. He removed one of the stimulators. It would be in the way. He set the music for the finale.

When he decided it was late and he should get some rest, he left the stimulators in place. He didn't replace the one he'd removed. He had built something new and he wanted to try it. It was remote controlled and he would use it on his eighth division mealtime the next twelve stellar division work period and watch the toy's reaction by vid. He anticipated it would add relish to his meal. He completed its installation and left.

The Doctor lay on the cushions and retched and bled. His blood had excited the fat ursanoid. It had licked it from him and panted with pleasure. He, near instinctively, reached for the most painful of the stimulators and was jangled. He distanced himself from the pain and slept.

"I don't understand why he has to go through this."

"Gwen, we've been through this before. We have to do it as we remember it. The timing must be right. The thing he called the chief programmer has to be with him and the others have all got to be in the lounge."

"He still remembers it too well, Adric, and it's been a very long time."

"I know. We'll end this horror. When we destroy the main computer, the breeding ship will be disabled. The humanoids on it and in the mines will be freed. We had to wait until they were on a viable world. Lib, do you remember all the codes?"

"Of course I do. I'll kill the computer and set the ship to take off and fly into the sun. You just make sure the thing that hurt Daddy so badly his eyes still look haunted when he remembers it dies."

"I remember killing the chief programmer. It's the last thing Mother said to do before she died. She said Dad would never do it so we'd have to and we can never tell him what we've done. The ursanoids are too close to learning the way through to the heavily populated dimensions. This ship contains enough of their young in stasis to enslave a galaxy. Gwen, you shouldn't have any trouble getting the paldiths onto the shuttle once the computer is down."

"I won't. I've got the H-miron unit and the timer. It'll get them through to their own world and be just a lump of metal once they've landed. This ship will leave a nice hole to the surface for the humanoids in the mine. I remember they have a very nice society here in a few hundred years."

The new toy was so much fun he decided to share it. His coworkers had all watched it with him at mealtime. The remote was a tremendous success. They begged to attend the game that evening. The chief programmer decided to invite them all. They deserved to celebrate. Enough of the rare element had been mined to build the engines that would take them to the place the humanoids came from. Soon there would be enough for all to have toys. He would show them the games they could play. He planned the music and refreshments for the party.

The Doctor tried to distance himself from the pain. He couldn't. The shocks were irregular and the nerves raw. The jangler hit him again and he struggled to his feet.

The chief programmer passed his toy around. His friends were delighted. They dipped their tongues in its blood and stroked it. He showed them his favorite game and they applauded. There were several that wanted to play, so he devised a new game on the spot. They applauded his genius. The toy cried out and they cheered and took turns. He removed two of the stimulators and taught them a game four could play at once, three with the toy and one with the control box. They timed their play to the music. The toy lasted more than four stellar periods before it stopped responding to the stimulators and the jangler. He let go of its head and let it fall.

The chief programmer said good-night to his very appreciative associates and gave each a piece of the toy's head fur as a party favor, then removed the last stimulator. He licked the last of its blood off and pushed a claw in to get just a bit more. He was lapping it when the TARDIS landed in the corridor outside the soundproof room.

Gwen and Lib ran for their assignments. They didn't look. They remembered they didn't. Lib threw a grenade in the lounge. The chief programmer's coworkers had gathered there to plan a gesture of appreciation for the entertainment their superior had provided.

The chief programmer looked up at the open door at the sound of the explosion and into Adric's eyes. They were the last thing it would ever see. Adric said, "For my father." and killed it slowly. Ten seconds is a long time when the device of execution is a sonic weapon.

Adric wiped his tears on his sleeve, picked his father up and carried him into the TARDIS. He struggled to do it, but remembered he could. He found the deep healing beam where he remembered he would and began work. He healed him and carried him to the bath.

Lib killed the computer. She introduced a virus and laughed as it spread. The computer asked why and she told it. It had helped with her father's torture. It controlled the jangler. She set the controls manually for time delay liftoff and ran for the TARDIS.

Gwen guided the confused and frightened paldiths to the shuttle telepathically and connected the H-miron. She remembered where she found her father's things. She laid them aside and loaded all the rest into the ore carts and sent them to the humanoids in the mine. She heard the shuttle launch and picked up her father's things. She ran back to the TARDIS. Lib would be on her way. They would change the dimensional reference and the H-miron would return them to her father's universe. She remembered how she did it. The TARDIS would dematerialize as the ship launched for the sun.

He awoke in familiar surroundings. He was in his bath in the TARDIS. For a few seconds, he tried to convince himself it was all a very bad dream. He toweled off and dressed. His clothes were the right colors, but they didn't really fit. He looked in the mirror and closed his eyes. He leaned against the wall and ran a hand across his head. If he hadn't remembered it all much too clearly, he would have thought he'd regenerated. His appearance was totally changed. He could feel the TARDIS was in flight, so he walked to the console room. He stepped through the doors and stopped. They were waiting for him.

Lib smiled at him. He looked a lot like he would again. "Hi, Daddy, I'm Lib. You're going to take me to Gallifrey."

"I'm Gwen, Daddy. You take me to Liberty. I'm going to meet the horses. I'll like them a lot."

"Hello, Dad. I'm sorry we had to leave you there so long. We couldn't come any sooner. We remembered the time we came to get you. You remembered it too. You reminded me several times to tell you I was alone when I found you." Adric smiled at him. "You and I are going to find a door you'll make to another universe. There is someone there who needs us."

Lib pushed a chair under him. She remembered he needed it. He sat down and buried his face in his hands.

## Chapter Two

The Doctor left Gwen on Liberty communicating telepathically with a big black horse. Gwen told him her name was really Guinevere and she would be needed there. The horse had been waiting for her. She would help him save his race. They were being hunted. The people of Liberty were also being hunted.

Lib walked out of the TARDIS on Gallifrey and kissed the young man standing a few meters away, then held him up while he recovered from the shock. She announced he was going to marry her and led him off. She had to see the Lord President. She remembered a fault in the defenses she had to correct.

Adric grinned at him and said, "I'll call you Doctor, or at least try to. I'll forget sometimes. I've entered the coordinates of our next stop. We have to get Restin. He's in real trouble. His ship is disintegrating around him."

"Do I get to choose what to do with MY life after we perform this particular rescue?"

Adric laughed. "Not quite yet. After we rescue him, we have to find our Godfather."

"Your godfather?"

"Yes. You, Restin and I have to go back a few years in time. Since our godfather doesn't know about us yet, we won't run any risk of messing up his circuits when you take us to get him."

"Data?"

"Data. You have a real thing about Guineveres. It was my mother's name." Adric shoved a chair under him. He'd take the next piece of news better sitting down. "There's one more thing. We're needed on Cordahm. Liberty, Wren, and all the others with high psi are dying. You have to save them."

"What's wrong with Liberty?!"

"A disease. We need Data to help find the cure. It will take both of you. We take her son with us when we leave."

"Wren's coming with us?!"

"He's not the one I meant. Her youngest son is named Glaucus Peral, but everyone calls him Doc. Oh yes, only my sisters call me Adric. I'm Tech to everyone else. Now, I've got to destroy the H-miron drive unit. You won't invent it for several hundred years."

Restin, who had been called Diz since he was two, tried one more thing. It didn't work either. The old ship was being torn apart. He limped through her one more time. He didn't know why he was still alive. None of the others were. He supposed it was due to the fact he was only half-human. He'd smelled the coolant leak and yelled for an emergency air filtration. He hadn't been quite fast enough to save the others. He'd lost consciousness. When he awakened, they were all dead, killed by the fumes.

They'd been taking the ship to a museum on an allied world. It still had the dangerous old coolant that was poisonous to oxygen breathers. It had leaked when the engines became out of balance and started shaking the ship. He was sorry now that he'd talked the captain into letting him go along for the trip to the space museum. He was more sorry he hadn't been able to save the small team ferrying her there. He said good-by to those he had called friend and put on a survival suit.

He jetted out the airlock. He didn't expect rescue and death would have been quicker on the ship, but he just couldn't accept it. He watched the ship explode and drifted in space. He waited. He'd calculated the odds. There was a one in six hundred billion chance a ship would hear his emergency beacon and be close enough to pick him up before his air ran out.

The Doctor reached out of the TARDIS and pulled the young man, boy, in. He snapped off his helmet and gave him oxygen. It had been a very close thing. His eyes opened and he smiled. "Just shows odds aren't everything."

The Doctor smiled down on the boy. "I've a tendency to ignore the odds myself. I'm the Doctor."

"VERY nice to meet you, Doctor. My name's Restin, but everyone calls me Diz."

"Diz?"

"Yeah. My mom said I made her dizzy with questions from the time I could talk. She told me I was as curious as my father. I liked it."

"Hi, Diz. I'm Adric, but they call me Tech."

"Wow! It's like looking in a mirror!"

Tech laughed. "Yes, well, not quite. I'm a little taller than you are and my hair's lighter. Come on. I'll show you around the Doctor's ship and find you something to eat."

The Doctor watched them go through the interior doors. He glanced at the console and noticed Tech had put in a set of coordinates. He shook his head and smiled, then started the TARDIS on its course. He was quite looking forward to seeing Data again.

"Data. I need you."

Data stepped through the doors of the TARDIS that had materialized in front of him on the Enterprise holodeck. He had programmed an 'adventure'. He was quite sure he was still following Geordi's advice when he did.

The intruder alert cut off as abruptly as it had begun. "Sir, I can find nothing." Worf was puzzled. "The computer has reported it as a malfunction." He reread the report, but he didn't believe it. His instincts told him something had been in the holodeck.

The Doctor guided the TARDIS through the doorway between the universes, set the coordinates for Cordahm, then turned to Data. "I really hadn't expected to see you again this soon. Although, I believe it has been a great deal longer for me than for you."

"It has been only twenty-six days of my time, Doctor. May I ask the reason you came for me?"

"I believe we have a plague to cure. I'm a bit of a passenger on this trip. Tech is the one who knows the reasons. He hasn't really told me very much."

"Tech?"

"Hi, Data. That's me. This is Diz. Actually, I'm Adric and He's Restin, but we don't go by our names much. We need you to help save the people of a world. My sister is waiting for us to save them in the future, but first we have to save them in the past."

"Don't even try, Data. Even I can't keep it all straight. Tech comes from my future."

"I shall do as you suggest, Doctor. My programming was not designed to process the paradoxes of time travel."

The Doctor and Data set up the medical laboratory. Tech told them they were dealing with a micro-virus specifically designed to attack telepaths. He didn't know any more than that. He, Diz and the Doctor would all be infected before Data found the cure.

The TARDIS landed in the hospital on Cordahm and Andy led the Doctor to the ward where all her family lay dying. He walked from bed to bed. Tarna, Calla and her two daughters, Wren and his two sons, Liberty and the small redheaded boy who laid on the bed next to her, were all comatose. He knelt by Liberty's bed and took her hand. "I'm here Liberty. I said I wouldn't come back, but I have."

He took blood samples and carried them back to the TARDIS. He grabbed the TARDIS doors until the dizziness passed. He was infected. He had very little time.

Tech and Diz were the best lab assistants he'd ever had. He ran analyses and Data integrated the information. They'd run over seven thousand when Diz fell unconscious. They had run four thousand more when Tech succumbed. The Doctor held out four days and nearly eighty thousand analyses. Data carried him out of the TARDIS and laid him on a bed in a room off the ward. Tarna died that night. She was the first. Data performed an autopsy. Andy assisted.

"Andy, I have found an area of cells that appears to be diseased."

"Where, Data?"

"The anterior cortex of the cerebrum. The epiphysis also seems to be affected."

"That might make sense. No one ever really answered why we have the pineal body. Maybe the fact Tarna has a very large one answers the question. She's non-human and she and Calla are extremely powerful telepaths."

"Please prepare slides of this tissue. I will attempt to increase the resolution of the scanning microscope by connecting my main computational matrix to the TARDIS computer banks."

Andy slid the prepared slides into the microscope and crossed her fingers. Calla's condition was worsening. She wouldn't survive another day unless they found some kind of 'something' that would help. She watched the flashing lights in the open panel in Data's head and prayed he'd find the answer.

The Doctor wasn't comatose. He was delirious. Peral and five other men held him down. They placed another set of restraints on him and Peral sent them from the room. He was the only one he trusted not to speak of the Doctor's ravings. He rubbed his bruises and hoped the set of restraints would hold. The last two hadn't.

He was called from his place to the bedside of Liberty's son. The two women tending the patients were terrified. Peral didn't really understand it, but did his best to reassure them. The boy seemed to be better, then his condition began deteriorating again. Someone yelled for him and he sighed and walked to the hospital entrance. The small herd of horses was gathered nearby. They too were sick. Two of them sank to the ground as he watched. He thought hard about the attempts to find a cure and the bay mare nickered. Someone yelled for him and he ran back to the Doctor's room. He'd broken another set of restraints.

"Andy, hyper-pherase, adrenal corticosterone, anatherine eight three seven, micro-veratin alcase."

"Here, Data. All but the adrenal corticosterone. I can't find any of that."

Data disconnected himself and handed her a rapidly written formula. "Begin combining the other three in these proportions. I shall extract the adrenal corticosterone from the Doctor."

Andy went to work. They didn't have much time.

Peral rubbed another bruise and watched the android hold the Doctor down with one hand while he drew fluid from him with the other.

"I shall hold him while you find another set of restraints, Peral, but you must do it quickly. There is very little time."

"Data, the horses are sick too. They're outside."

"If our formulation is effective, I shall have a basis to develop an equine serum. Please find restraints quickly. It will take some hours to prepare and test the formula. We must hurry if we are to save your wife Calla."

Andy fell asleep over a tray of dishes. Data moved her gently aside and checked. One showed slowed growth. He calculated a slight change in the formulation and prepared another dish.

Data began preparing the serum. He had found the inoculant. He awoke Andy and handed her the injector. "Inject it directly into the carotid artery. Begin with the Doctor. If he quiets, Calla should be next. Watch her carefully for anaphylactic shock."

Data headed for the horses, reviewing his data on equine anatomy. The bay mare was standing right in front of the doors, obviously waiting for him. She held very still while he extracted the needed fluid from her. He patted her and told her he would hurry, then returned to the lab. He prepared a serum and an injector. She nickered softly when he returned less than two minutes later to the small herd gathered, most too weak to stand any longer, at the door.

"Would you mind releasing me?"

"Doctor!" Peral undid the restraints and handed the Doctor a glass of water.

"What happened to you?"

"I'm afraid you did, Doctor. There are about five others in the same shape."

"You should have restrained me sooner."

Peral laughed. "We did. That's the fifth set."

"Oh, I see."

"I want to see how my wife is. I'll be back."

The Doctor rubbed his wrists and sat up. He held still until the dizziness passed, then swung his legs over the side of the bed and, bracing himself against the wall, slowly stood. He had to see how the others were. He felt wobbly, but got to the ward.

Andy was sitting by Wren's bed. She jumped up and ran to aid him. "Doctor! You shouldn't be up."

"You're probably right. I don't seem to be extremely steady. Help me to that chair." She aided him to the chair by Liberty's bed "How long?"

"Since I gave them the serum? About four hours. Doctor, Doc regenerated."

"HE WHAT?!"

"Easy, Doctor. I really expected you would. And the other two. Hang on." She steadied him in the chair. "You all have two hearts. I thought you knew."

"Guinevere Rondell. Guinevere. That's what he meant. Three named Guinevere. Two universes and another set of dimensions and three named Guinevere."

"I hope you explain that statement. The weird thing is, they look like triplets." She watched him lay his head on Liberty's bed and shake with laughter.

"I suppose he knows. I never really told him. He never asked."

"You didn't tell me either, Liberty."

"I started to, but you needed to leave. It might have kept you here."

"I've only been gone a few months."

"Seventeen years again for us. And it was long enough to take off all the weight I worked so hard to put back on you. What did you do this time and who cut your hair? No! I don't want to know!" The strange look that had come into his eyes terrified her. It aged him a thousand years. "Did you kill them?"

"Who?"

"Whoever put the new lines around your eyes and scars on your soul."

"No, but I think Tech did."

"Tech? Our Tech?"

"No. The son of my future self and a woman named Guinevere. He's over there. You'll meet him soon. He's the one who told me I was needed here. He has two sisters. Their names are Guinevere and Liberty. The other boy is called Diz. He's from another universe." He smiled at her. "His mother's name is Guinevere." She started to laugh. It was good medicine.

"Doctor?"

"Yes, Data?"

"I believe I have successfully treated the horses. The virus appears to have been manufactured. It is airborne. I have devised a vaccine, but I shall need a sample of blood from each of you. You appear to be rather a mixed group."

"Data, you have a gift for understatement." Data wondered about the woman in the bed, laughing so hard tears streamed.

"He says he has to go with you."

"Did you tell him no?"

"No, I gave him a hug and told him good-by."

"Why, Liberty?"

"Because it was what he wanted, Doctor. He doesn't belong trapped on this world. I love him too much to do that to him. Give him a universe to explore."

"Actually, I shall give him two. This time I won't be back, Liberty."

"I know, but I'll look for you at seventeen year intervals anyway. Walk with me awhile. Tell me the names of the stars in my sky. Then promise me you'll find out who tried to kill us."

"The blue one on the eastern horizon is Bethera. Those two bright ones above it are Alberse and Porlata." He named the stars and made the promise and left her sitting on the grassy hill. He wouldn't see her again. Each time it was harder to say good-by.

"Well, what now? Do I take Data back?"

"That's up to him. I'm going to try not to tell you the future anymore. You really don't want to know it."

"Well, Data? Tech says the choice is yours."

"Doctor, you have said you can return me to the moment I left. I would like to assist you in finding those who devised the virus. I would also like to become better acquainted with my godsons."

"Oh, he told you that. I wasn't sure he would. Data, did Diz tell you what happened to Gwen?"

"No, Doctor. I know only that she was transferred to the Repulse."

"Well, Tech, are you going to give us a clue? Where should I start looking?"

"The place they try again. Don't worry about the time factor. The capsule carrying the virus was a one shot deal. You said they got a figure wrong and it was the only time they got it right."

Data watched the boy walk through the interior doors, then looked at the Doctor in inquiry.

"I'd explain if I could. He says he lives all at once. Past, present and future all existing simultaneously. Even thinking about it makes me dizzy. But I think I know where we're going."

"Where, Doctor?"

"The same place we were, but several hundred years later. They call the world Liberty."

## Chapter Three

"I'm NOT going to ride around on a HORSE again!"

"Yes you will. Relax. It won't be for four years."

"Why can't we just use the TARDIS?"

"Because it's important they don't know you're here. That's why she landed in a cave."

"I am getting very TIRED of this! I don't LIKE being led about! One step at a TIME! I WANT more information, TECH! And I WANT IT NOW!"

"Doctor, I do NOT respond well to being YELLED at! We are going to find my SISTER! We are going on HORSEBACK! YOU have to find the ANSWERS! I CAN'T GIVE THEM TO YOU!"

"Doctor, Tech, please. You will damage my auditory circuits."

"I'm sorry, Data. Doctor, I really can't tell you. You have to live your life as it passes. The reason we ride the horses is they want to show you something. It's their idea, not mine."

"Why didn't you say that in the first place? Come with me. I'll take you to the tack room."

The Doctor smiled. Data wasn't having any problems, but all three boys were going to be quite sore. The saddles weren't particularly uncomfortable, but they'd been created for other people.

"Doctor, we have seen no non-equine people. May I inquire why?"

"This land belongs to the horses, Data. There are cities and towns of people of our apparent physical type over a large portion of the planet, but not here."

"Tech has said the majority of the humanoid population of this planet are telepathic, as are the horses. Why have they not met us?"

"They don't usually come here. Perhaps they know when I visit, but if I land in one of the horses' areas they don't look for me. Or they may not know. This telepathic society has some pretty strict codes about not minding other people's business. Peeking without being invited is considered the height of bad manners. Learning NOT to pick up thoughts from the minds of others is one of the first things a telepathic child is taught."

"That is quite different than the people of Beta Zed of my universe. Are all of the people of this world descended from the group I met?"

"No, telepaths from all over this galaxy have migrated here. For many of them it's a refuge. There are even a few other non-humanoid enclaves besides those of the horses. True telepathic species are rare, Data. Most of the people here are the progeny of people who were misfits on their own worlds."

"Doctor, there are two horses with riders approaching."

"Whoa! Let's get out of here! Our horses don't want to meet them!"

The Doctor gave the rearing horse his head. Data copied the Doctor's body positioning and rode the running horse well. Tech 'remembered', but his body didn't. Doc had ridden before, but he was quite a bit larger than he had been and not fully coordinated in his new body. Diz had learned on a holodeck, but hadn't spent a great deal of time at it. They, basically, held on and bounced.

The horses stopped in the rocks behind a ridge. The Doctor jumped off and scrambled up the ridge. Data followed. The boys climbed down, but Tech held Doc and Diz back.

"Doc, did you see him?!"

"Yeah, Diz. We had horses, but nobody could ride like that. Nobody."

Tech sat down and groaned. "He does everything better than anybody else. Always will. Wait'll you see him shoot. Data may the only one in any universe who can do most things as well."

Diz sat down beside him. "Data's a machine, but I think the Doctor is his hero. He wants to grow up to be just like him."

"Yes, and he will and so will we. It'll just take several hundred years."

"Tech, you and I and Doc look too much alike... I mean I believe in coincidence, but... "

"The answer is yes."

"That's why he saved me. How you found me."

"Nice to know you're not an orphan, isn't it?"

"I knew it as soon as we all woke up on Cordahm. You and Tech were just too much alike in your emotional 'feel'. And every time he looks at the three of us, he gets this sort of surprised glow. I've always been able to feel what other people were feeling, but you two and he feel 'family'. I guess I was looking for confirmation before I said anything about it though."

"I wonder why neither of our mothers told us, Doc."

"I don't know about yours, Diz, but I never asked mine. She always ached a little when she talked about him. I got most of the stories of their time together from my brother Wren."

The Doctor and Data rejoined them and the Doctor was mad. "Let's get going. I'm going to stop this. Now. Tech, take us to Gwen. I've seen what the horses wanted to show me. Presumably they're doing it to people too."

"They are. If they attacked them in an ordinary way, they could fight back. They don't, just grab one or two at a time. Sometimes right out of their homes. Whole families. Gwen's about ten kilometers south of here. Neaht will take us to her."

The Doctor vaulted on the big black and rode out. Tech said, "You can't catch him, Data. Stick with us. I know where Gwen will be. He'll be waiting for us when we get there. We need you to help us ride better. You saw everything he did. Tell us what we're doing wrong."

He rode south. The horse knew where he wanted to go. He would find the ones who had built the horrific devices. They would be stopped. He hated slavery of any type and this was the kind he hated most, mechanical enslavement of the mind. He would not allow it, not on the world named Liberty.

Gwen was waiting for him. "Hi, Daddy. I remembered Neaht found you. I've got a couple people I want you to meet. They have first hand experience."

"Good. Take me to them."

"We have to set them free first. They're about two kilometers from here, or will be soon after we get there."

He swung her up behind him and Neaht trotted west. "Have you found out why this is happening?"

"They evidently have a use for telepaths. I don't know anything else. I've only been here a few hours, Daddy."

"You don't know what we learn about it?"

"You don't want to know everything and you said there were, quote, "too damn few mysteries" in our lives already. I don't know, Daddy."

"Amazing. I actually agree with myself on something. They must be using some kind of telepathic damper to keep themselves hidden. Gwen, please try not to call me Daddy. I'm not. Or not yet."

"I'll try. We'll both try. Tech will do better than I will. I remember I don't usually remember."

They rode into the yard of a small stead. Neaht waited for them to dismount, then trotted away. The Doctor checked the place. It had been deserted for awhile, but showed signs of recent visitors. The solar generator was still operating and Gwen started cooking dinner. He assumed the food had been left by whoever had used the place as a temporary shelter. He sat on the porch and waited. He didn't have to wait long.

The anti-grav car landed in the yard. The four men didn't see him sitting in the shadows on the porch. One of them manipulated a very sophisticated control unit and two young men climbed out of the car. Their blank expressions and the bands around their heads infuriated the Doctor. "I shall give you one chance to free them and leave." He stepped from the shadows as the men whirled to see who had spoken.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"That was the question I was going to ask you. I am known as the Doctor. I've been waiting for you. Now, I believe it is your turn." He had been moving toward them as he spoke. Two were holding weapons on him.

"Metin, get another control unit. I'm not leaving some 'path loose. Might as well not waste the chance to pick up a few more creds."

"The answer was a bit indirect, but I will accept it. Now, who is paying you to kidnap telepaths?"

"You'll find out soon enough. 'Course you won't really notice."

"You've disappointed me. I really wanted a much more complete answer."

Gwen watched from the porch. He grabbed one, spun him into another, caught the third as he backed out of the car and slammed his head into the door frame. He turned back to the man who had dropped the control unit and pulled a weapon. "You seem to be the only one left to answer my question. In case you've forgotten, it was; who's paying you to kidnap telepaths."

"I'm going to burn a hole in you big enough to walk through."

"Oh, I don't think so. You need me to keep you alive. My friend Neaht really wants to kill you, but he knows I wouldn't approve." Neaht snorted and the man turned to look behind him. The Doctor took his gun away.

Gwen walked out of the shadows and picked up the control box. "You know, Daddy, remembering something isn't nearly as interesting as watching it happen. Let's see... There. It's off."

"Gwen, please don't call me Daddy."

"Sorry, I forgot. They'll be pretty dazed for a few minutes, but they'll be all right."

"Take them inside. I think there's still some rope in my saddlepack. I'll secure these."

"Don't bother tying them. Just disable the car and put them in it. Oh, and disarm the one who still has a weapon. Neaht will see to it they don't come out. Dinner's almost ready and the others will be here soon."

He disabled the car and was putting the unconscious men in it when Data and the boys rode up. They helped. The Doctor turned to the terrified man. "Neaht, quit nipping his hair. You're scaring him. I'll be back to talk to you after dinner." The man dove through the car door and he closed it. He unsaddled Neaht and carried his tack onto the porch. Something smelled good. The boys laughed, unsaddled their horses and followed. Data was ahead of them.

"Actually, I would rather not be mentioned."

"I don't understand. You saved us from those slavers out there. We would like to reward you."

"Daddy, tell them who you are."

"Gwen! Please!"

"Oops. Sorry."

Doc, Tech and Diz nearly fell out of their chairs. The expression on his face was absolutely pained. The two young men looked at the laughing group and then back to the Doctor. Both were sorely tempted to do a little telepathic snooping.

"Why do you prefer they not mention you, Sir?"

"I would rather do this little investigation without the notoriety, Data. I rather imagine they would remember me."

Tech recovered enough to say, "I don't think remember quite covers it, Dad."

"PLEASE! I will NOT be your father for several hundred YEARS!"

Doc and Diz grinned at each other. They couldn't resist. Doc said, "How about us? Do we get to call you Daddy?" Even Data understood the laughter and joined in. He was getting much better at it.

The Doctor buried his face in his hands and groaned, then stood and leaned on them on the dinner table. "I'm going out to question our prisoners. IF you feel it is absolutely NECESSARY to tell these people who I am, you may DO so!" He stalked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

"Would someone kindly tell me what's going on before I break all the rules of polite society and look for myself."

Tech put a hand on the young man's wrist. "I'm sorry, Martin. You've been caught in the middle of a family joke. We're all a bit of a shock to him. You see, Doc's from the past, Gwen and I are from the future, and Diz is from another universe. So's Data."

Martin turned to look at his friend Darrin, then they both looked back at Tech. He hadn't helped. They were totally lost. And beginning to get very nervous.

"Please, don't look at us like that." Gwen could read their thoughts on their faces. "If we tell you who he is, you have to keep it off the vid. The horses know, but they won't tell. He could get in a lot of trouble for interfering. He's not supposed to get involved, but he can't stand by and watch the people of this world be enslaved. He's THE Doctor."

Martin caught Darrin as he started to fall off his chair. "I don't think he was ready for that. He's a history buff. You just told him you walked out of one of his books. I'm not sure I was ready for it either."

"Now you know why he didn't want to tell you who he was."

"Yes, Gwen. I do. I'll keep it off the vid, but I'm going to have to tell the government." He smiled. "The strange thing about a telepathic society is we can keep a secret. Of course, we're all in on it, but we can keep it." He closed his eyes and pathed his father. Within minutes, everyone on the planet knew the Doctor had come to save them. Within an hour, the President arrived with a small group of security men to take the prisoners away.

"Madame President, they don't actually know who they're working for."

"Please, Doctor, call me Myrna. You've given us more information than we had. We've never caught any of them before."

"Myrna, I'm going to need their aircar. I have the coordinates of the pickup point and a call beacon. I'm about to be 'captured'."

"You know, Doctor, I had always thought the tales about you and the woman called Liberty were exaggerated, legends embellished over time. Now I wonder if they even begin to tell the whole story."

"I doubt it. Liberty was all they say and more. She is the finest woman I have ever known."

The president heard much more than the Doctor knew he'd told her. This near mythical being loved the 'mother' of her world.

"Daddy, I'm afraid."

He looked up from the control device he had disassembled and spread on the table. She really was frightened. "Gwen, why are you afraid?" He was surprised when she sat on his lap and curled up, but he could see her need for reassurance.

"I remember what's going to happen. I thought I was all prepared. I'm not. Oh, Daddy, I don't want it to be."

"Tell me."

She shook her head, leaned against him and cried. He held her and soothed her. And was angered by the unknown future that had frightened his child. He wasn't surprised when Tech joined them a few minutes later, sat on the floor next to him, and leaned his head against his leg. He WAS surprised when Doc and Diz sat down on the other side. He looked at Data, sitting across the table from him, and smiled.

Data gathered the pieces of the control unit together to finish the reassembly. The Doctor had more important work to do.

"We have one problem. None of you is the bounty hunter type."

"We know. That's why we're going to wear the control units."

"NO! I will NOT allow it, Tech! You are NOT going to take my PLACE!"

"I'll have lots of company. You and Data are going to collect for all of us. Please don't argue, Dad. It's the way it is. Only you can pass as a bounty hunter. And only you can take over the ship and rescue us. They'll be very appreciative. We're quite a haul."

"And what if they learn you're not telepaths?" They all laughed. He suddenly realized what he'd sensed, but ignored.

"We're a complete set." Doc grinned. "Gwen can communicate two way even with the horses. Tech is that very rare bird a clairvoyant, or that's what they'll think. I'm an empath. And Diz, well, he's just learning, but he's got your power. You've been trying very hard not to see us as we really are. We're your children. Tech and Diz wouldn't have gotten the disease if they hadn't been telepaths. Two hearts isn't the only attribute of yours we inherited."

"I still say no."

"We figured you would." Diz smiled. "It's time you really got to know us. You'll need to be attuned to us. Otherwise you won't be able to stay with us mentally through this thing and we'll need you with us."

"Daddy, you're afraid for us. I'm afraid too, but I know we'll be all right. I'll keep you with us the whole time. I can read all the commands of the persons using the control units in their minds. We'll know exactly what to do so they won't catch us. Come outside." Gwen took his hand and tugged him toward the door. "We'll all lay in the sun and learn who we are. You know you can't change the past. This is my past. It must be."

"Gwen, there are things about me I don't even let myself know."

She laughed. "We aren't going to learn ALL about you. You'll be in control of part of it and we won't share our future memories, but we want you to know us."

Data followed them out and sat on the porch. He watched them coax the Doctor into lying on the grass in the sun. His reluctance was obvious. They lay down around him and closed their eyes. The Doctor lay staring up at the clouds. Finally he sighed and closed his eyes. He could tell when the Doctor dropped his barriers. The four children thrashed on the ground. It was over in seconds. The Doctor sat up, then walked over and joined Data on the porch.

"Doctor, what has happened?"

"They'll be all right, Data. I was careful. They'll recover in a few minutes. I'm rather proud of them. They will all become very special people. I still don't like what they plan, but Tech and Gwen showed me their certainty they'll be all right. I still don't know what Gwen was crying about. They say I have to learn in time. When this is over, I have a request to make of you. And Captain Picard. They're waking."

He went from one to the other, helping each one rise. He gripped each boy's shoulders, looked into his eyes, smiled and moved to the next. Gwen he pulled into his arms. He hurt for her. He laid his head on hers and held her for a moment. Something would happen and she wouldn't allow him to prevent it, but he promised himself the ones who caused her pain would be destroyed. He released her and walked back to the porch.

"Data, we'll need disguises. Your uniform and my coat are a bit too noticeable. See if you can find something inside. I'm going for a walk. I need to be alone for a few minutes. Perhaps it was a good thing I was given a haircut."

Data watched the Doctor walk away. His tone had been ironic, but he was correct. His blond curls would have accentuated the resemblance. All of the four had fair curly hair, Doc's reddish, Diz' golden, Tech's pale ash and Gwen's natural platinum

Data carried a few items he thought might be useful to the porch. He selected a shirt and pants and drew them on over his uniform, then sat down on the porch to wait. The four were still sitting in the sun holding hands when the Doctor returned. He walked past them without stopping.

"Good. These will do." The Doctor removed his coat, tie and vest, then unbuttoned the top three buttons on his shirt. He put on the work stained leather vest and rolled up his sleeves. He examined the worn leather boots, removed his shoes and put them on. "Not a bad fit. Here's a weapon belt, Data. We wouldn't look right without them."

"Doctor, this weapon is nonfunctional."

"So is mine, Data. They're part of the disguise. I don't carry weapons. Do I look like a bounty hunter?"

"Doctor, you look most sinister. However, I would suggest you do not smile. It tends to ruin the effect."

The Doctor laughed. Data was pleased and carefully re-examined what he had said. He had made a successful joke. He just had to decide what it had been.

Tech left the others and approached the porch. "Sir, we are ready."

"Please, Tech, that's even worse than Daddy. Let's try for Doctor." He smiled and some of Tech's diffidence disappeared. He'd known this would happen. It was one of several reasons he hadn't wanted to do it.

"Yes, Doctor. I'm beginning to learn how inadequate memory is. I remembered this, but I didn't begin to comprehend the reality."

"I'm sorry, but it was your idea."

Tech suddenly grinned. "Yes, and it was a good one. But it's a bit like a third helping of chocolate cake, rather more than I wanted before I was done."

The Doctor laughed. "Shall we go? I find I'm looking forward to this with the same anticipation as a visit to the dentist. I'd like to get it over with. Data, load the saddles and tack into the aircar. I'll repair my sabotage. Tech, you and the others help him. Clean up the place and bring my coat and vest."

Tech turned to Data and said, "You know, it's amazing. I've just learned he's the most loving, caring, being in existence. He's also the deadliest." He shivered. "I feel sorry for the people he's going to get angry with. They don't stand a chance. Come on, Data. I'll load you up. You're about as deadly as he is, but right now all I'm interested in is how many trips that android strength of yours can save me."

The Doctor handed his children over and collected the reward. As soon as the pickup shuttle left, he threw it on the ground. He didn't realize he'd been paid more than usual. The little accountant had taken one look at him and been too frightened to count straight. He'd also agreed to send someone in higher authority down for a meeting. He tried very hard to do it.

The eight guards found a way to pass the five hour shuttle flight. They invited the accountant, but he refused. He sat in a corner, hid his face and trembled. He kept seeing the cold gray eyes of the hunter.

Data watched the Doctor. He sat on the ground and leaned against a rock. He stared into the sky and sat motionless. Except for his hands, which clenched and unclenched for the four hours he sat there.

"Data, when we get to the ship, remind me I don't believe in killing. I'm going to need the reminder."

"Doctor, I do not believe in killing either, but I have learned I can choose to do so. I think it would be well if you reminded me also." The Doctor smiled. The smile didn't ruin the effect of his disguise.

The guards hadn't done anything unusual. They made the run every two days. They made the journey once more. They didn't return from it. Gwen had made friends.

No one was there to remind the horses not to kill. They wouldn't have listened anyway. The accountant hid behind the shuttle. The two bounty hunters got in the way. Three very dazed telepaths flew the aircar home. Neaht had done a very thorough job of smashing the control unit.

The accountant was sent to the medical ward. He sat in a corner and gibbered about horses with cold gray eyes.

They removed the devices from their fellow prisoners. Doc helped them through the trauma. Tech and Diz rewired the headpieces. Gwen searched the minds controlling the ship. They were all mercenaries. Even the captain didn't know who his employers were. She found the mind of the little accountant. She helped him find peace the only way he could. The medic never did understand why he died. Or why he was smiling. Gwen had told him he was forgiven.

Each night she slept with her brothers curled protectively around her. They hadn't let the Doctor see what was going to happen to them, but he had been with them when it happened. They had needed his strength. He was angry with them, but blamed himself. They sought to comfort him and found themselves comforted. They healed quickly. He would never completely heal.

"Data, we've got a signal." The Doctor didn't know he was the only 'bounty hunter' left on the planet. The mercenaries were quitting. There was nothing in their contract about being trampled to death.

Data answered the signal. The Doctor had become motionless and closed his eyes. As he walked toward the tight beam transmitter/receiver in the aircar, he contemplated the human proverbs about everything happening at once. It had been six days. Now the 'doorbell' and the 'phone' were both ringing. He acknowledged the message and rejoined the Doctor.

"They're getting ready to run, Data. They plan on 'paying us off'. It seems we've become expendable. The kids have freed the telepaths from the control units, but they're locked in a hold. We'll have to get up there."

"A shuttle will be landing in seven point three minutes, Doctor."

"Yes, they plan on 'disposing' of us. Shall we arrange to be a 'disposal' problem?"

"What is your plan, Doctor?"

The shuttle landed and the guards peered out the door. The bounty hunter sat on an aircar with a weapon on his lap. The two guards stepped out of the shuttle and covered him.

"Gentlemen, that is a most unfriendly gesture. I think you should lower your weapons before you make my companion nervous." He nodded toward Data, who had just stepped out from behind the shuttle and stood holding a weapon on them. "Put the weapons away. We've decided to go with you." The Doctor smiled and climbed off the aircar. He rested the barrel of his weapon on his shoulder, walked over and leaned against the shuttle next to the hatch. "Hide the aircar."

The two guards stared as Data walked over, picked up the back of the aircar in one hand and dragged it into the bushes. The Doctor said, "Just a word of warning, don't mention his yellow eyes. He's very sensitive about them." He smiled and gestured at the open hatch. "After you."

The Doctor closed his eyes and pretended to nap on the five hour journey. Data did not. Neither did the guards. They kept watching him watching them and reminding themselves not to say anything about his yellow eyes. The pilot had become very cooperative too, right after the Doctor decided the copilot's seat looked comfortable and had Data remove it and place it where he wanted it. Data had only pulled out a few sections of floor while removing it.

The Doctor was enjoying himself. Data could see it. He was also experiencing the harmonious function that was his analog to pleasure. It was the first real smile the Doctor had worn in days.

The shuttle docked and they disembarked. A surprised guard raised his weapon and the Doctor took it away from him. He said, "That wasn't very nice." He handed the weapon to Data and he broke it in three pieces. He handed the pieces to the guard, smiled his mechanical smile and followed the Doctor out of the shuttle bay.

"Doctor, where are we going?"

"The bridge. I'd like to speak to the captain."

"I believe the next corridor to the left would be the most direct route."

"Thank you, Data. Why don't you call me Doc? I think that would fit with the disguise."

"May I use an alias also?"

"Of course. What did you have in mind?"

"I believe Leroy is suitable."

The Doctor smiled. "Yes, Leroy is quite good."

They removed the two guards at the door and the Doctor strolled onto the bridge. Data did a rather good imitation. He was becoming adept at the part he was playing. The Doctor was teaching him to improvise. It was something he had been working on for quite some time.

"Captain, I've decided we should have a little talk."

The captain spun in his chair and stared at the extremely muscular man standing two meters away with a weapon resting on his shoulder. "Who are you and how did you get in here?"

Data said, "Doc, would you like a chair?"

The Doctor smiled. Data was enjoying himself. "Yes, Leroy, I believe I would."

Data walked over to the man seated at the ops station and said, "Excuse me, would you mind standing?" The surprised man stood and Data pulled his chair out of the deck. He carried it to the Doctor.

"Leroy, that looks a bit wobbly. Do something to make it steadier."

Data turned the chair over, ripped its post into three sections and bent them into a tripod. "Is that better, Doc?"

"Yes, Leroy, much better. Thank you." The Doctor sat down in the chair. "Leroy, several of these people look very nervous. Nervous people shouldn't have weapons. They might go off."

"That is true, Doc. I shall see they do not." Data circled the bridge taking weapons, breaking them in two and handing them back.

The Doctor watched the captain watching Data and smiled. "Now, Captain, about that discussion we were going to have."

The captain was very cooperative.

The Doctor sighed as he stepped over the body. He had hoped to take the ship without any killing, but some of the mercenaries just wouldn't cooperate. They hadn't wanted to let their cargo go until they got paid for them. The cargo had other ideas.

"Hello."

"Dad!" He was almost knocked down when they barreled into him. He extricated himself from his children's hug gently. "Was anyone in here hurt?"

Tech grinned and said, "Nobody on our side."

"Good. Organize shuttle departures and let's get these people home. Tech, bring the TARDIS up. Data will pilot one shuttle, Doc and Diz the other two. Data is guarding about fifty prisoners on the shuttle deck. Take a few with you on each trip. Oh yes, call him Leroy." The four burst into laughter.

They made about three trips with each shuttle. Tech found the aircar and unloaded it into the TARDIS. He landed it in the hold as the last few freed prisoners prepared to leave. He grinned as he made his way to the bridge. The two young women who had watched him and sighed hadn't hurt his ego at all. He walked onto the bridge and looked around in surprise. It was a mess. Every panel was off and wiring hung out everywhere. "Hello, is anybody buried in this trash?"

The Doctor crawled out from beneath the partially dismantled con station and said, "Ah, good. Help at last."

"Doctor, help at what? Besides making a mess."

"I'm rebuilding this rather primitive equipment for us to use. We are about to become a mercenary force."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot."

"Actually, I'm extremely delighted to hear it. Your remembering everything, past, present and future is a bit embarrassing. My memory isn't particularly good."

"I'm not sure I believe that. I think you just have other things to think about. It's all there."

"Oh, I know it's all there. It's just not particularly well organized."

"Let's see. How does that go? 'I have all the information, but I can't remember where I filed the index'."

"Tech, which one of my personas is your father?"

"Sorry, you made us promise not to tell you. You said Mom was the most wonderful surprise in your life and we weren't to spoil it. You were sure you wouldn't forget."

"I doubt I'll forget you either."

"You don't, but you only know we'll happen. Not when. Just someday."

"I see. I think."

"It isn't soon."

"You already told me that."

"When?!"

"When you destroyed the H-miron drive. You said I wouldn't invent it for several hundred years."

Tech started to laugh. He sat down, then laid on the floor. Laughing. When he recovered as far as the burbling stage, the Doctor asked, "May I know what that was about?"

"I had no intention of telling how far in the future we came from other than, not soon. I just realized what one of my earliest memories of you meant."

"Well?"

"We were sick. Everybody but you. Even Mom. A stupid little stomach virus that made us all miserable for about two days. You were changing us all. Again. The girls were trained and I nearly was, but the flu hit us hard. You stood in the middle of the floor and shouted, "I can't believe I spent hundreds of years in anticipation of spending four YEARS changing diapers!"

The Doctor started to laugh. Tech sat and grinned at him. He knew he would never get over what had happened to them, but he had gotten past the worst of it.

Gwen paced the floor. She didn't quite know how to tell him. She knew she would, but she didn't remember how. Tech walked in, sat down, and held her while she cried. It had been part of acting controlled. None of them were going to be able to forget it.

"Gwen, you know where to go. He has to find you there. You're the first."

"Adric, I just don't know what to say. To either of them. I just want to take a shuttle and run."

"You can't. You know I take you in the TARDIS. You know he needs you. You also know he'll understand."

"I know, but it doesn't make it any easier. At least I don't have to tell him when the pain is new. He doesn't have to know now."

"No, not now."

Doc knocked on the door frame. "Gwen, what's wrong? I, well, I'm not sure why I'm here. I just knew you were hurting and thinking about me."

Tech turned away from her and said, "Doc, this is your place. I have to do something else. I'll bring him to the TARDIS, Gwen. You can't leave without saying good-by."

Doc looked from Tech to Gwen. "Good-by? You're leaving? I don't understand."

Tech pulled the door closed. Diz would find them soon. Doc would need him. He couldn't handle what she was going to tell him alone. He went to find the Doctor. Things were about to get very bad and he couldn't even tell him why.

"I'll take her."

"No, it has to be me. You're going to be needed here. Dad, I'm taking her to you. You'll be there for her, but you have to be here too. Please, I can't explain. One of us is going to need you desperately. Today."

"If you're taking Gwen, that means Diz or Doc. Tech, tell me what's going on." He realized the boy was choking back tears. "Please, let me help."

Tech just stood there and looked at him for a few seconds. "You can. Don't ask her anything. Don't ask any of us. Just be there. Come on. She wants to say good-by to this you."

The Doctor followed Tech to the cargo hold. Tech went into the TARDIS, but he waited outside. Diz and Doc were with her. They stopped at the door. Gwen crossed the hold alone. She looked small and lost. He watched her and ached. He looked toward the door and saw Doc turn and run. Diz ran after him. Gwen sobbed and he crossed to her.

"Gwen? Gwen, Tech said don't ask, so I won't, but please tell me it will be all right." He reached down, picked her up and carried her toward the TARDIS. She sobbed against his chest.

"Daddy, it will be all right. It will even be wonderful, but not now. Now it's awful. I'm sorry. I'm going to meet you, but I'm going to miss you. You're funny and sweet and young. You're different and you're not. I love you, Daddy."

"I'll miss you, Gwen. For hundreds of years, I'll miss my little girl." He set her down at the door of the TARDIS and held her a moment longer. He watched it disappear and for the first time felt the sense of loss so many had felt at the sound of its going.

He was walking slowly across the hold when he heard Diz' desperate call in his mind. "Dad, help me! I can't stop him! Help me!" He ran toward the call. Driving himself. Faster. Faster. Pain. There was pain. And shame and fear. And pain. So much pain.

He burst into the room and pushed Diz out of the way. He shouted, "MED-KIT! GET DATA! HE'S FASTER!" He held the life in his son with both hands. Doc had ripped himself open. Perhaps past regeneration. Blood poured from the wound. The Doctor held his son's abdomen closed and said, "Why? Why?"

Data ran in with the med-kit. The two of them worked feverishly to stitch the severed veins and arteries. Diz ran in, knelt in the corner and cried. He felt all the guilt and shame. It could have been him. Why didn't he see it coming? Why couldn't he stop him? Why?

"Data, you carry him to the aid station. Run and don't jostle him. I'll be right behind you. I have another casualty to deal with." Data lifted Doc and ran as only an android could, a flat even stride that was perfectly smooth. The Doctor went to his other son. "Diz, he'll make it. He's going to be all right. Diz?" He wasn't getting through. He picked his son up, carried him as he had carried Gwen just a few moments before.

"I was with him. Tech told me to watch him. I couldn't stop him. It could have been me. I couldn't stop him. Why? Why?"

Tech arrived with the deep healing beam from the TARDIS at almost the same time as the Doctor reached the aid station. He took it from him, said, "Help Diz." and turned his back on him. He began working on Doc with the deep healing beam.

Tech walked over and sat in the floor next to Diz. Diz said, "I couldn't stop him, Tech. He was just too quick."

"I know. You saved his life. You were there and you kept him alive. You called Dad. It was all you could do."

"Why did it have to be him? I could have handled it. You could have. Why did it have to be him? He felt it all. All of it. Her pain and his. Why did it have to be him?"

"There isn't any why. At least, none I can understand. Gwen and I both knew what was going to happen."

"Does she know this?"

"No. She'll never know. I'll never tell her. Neither will Dad. But at least he'll finally understand why."

"Tech, how do you stand it? Knowing it all. Having to keep it all inside."

"It's the way it is. There are good parts too. They really do outweigh the bad. I know he'll live. And laugh. And love too. I've got to be alone awhile. Dad will look for me soon. I need time to get ready for it. Diz... "

"Go on. I'm all right. I'm pretty sturdy and I've got more people to lean on than I've had since Mom died when I was six." Tech gripped his shoulder and left.

The Doctor finished with the beam and watched Doc sleeping peacefully for a moment. He turned to check on the other' casualty' and realized Diz was alone. He knelt down beside him. "Are you all right?"

"Yes. When you find him, be careful. He's really in worse shape than the rest of us. He saw it all coming. He's lived with it since before he could talk. He carries it all. He can't even share it. Would fight to keep us from having to carry it. Forgive him. Show him things can be changed."

"I hurt him deeply, didn't I? I was so angry he hadn't told me so I could prevent it that I hurt him."

"Lord, we're a set. None of us is responsible for any of this and we're all beating ourselves up with guilt. I think it's time we all got some sense knocked into us. Why don't you find us some bad guys and a good fight?"

The Doctor smiled. "That is a very good idea. Now, I have an apology to make. I haven't had a lot of practice."

"I'm going to stay here. I think this is a good time to get better acquainted with my godfather."

"Help Data. He's really confused. Explain it's a normal condition around here." The Doctor smiled and went to look for the last casualty. He found him curled up in front of the TARDIS doors.

"Tech? Adric?"

"I'm ready."

"This is ridiculous. Something terrible happened. You can't tell me what it was. Not won't, can't. I'm angry because you have to carry all this alone. I'm jealous. No one should have a bigger load than mine." He smiled.

Tech stared at him. "You changed it! You changed the way it happened!"

"Yes, well, I'm not supposed to, but it seems to have become rather a habit. You will promise not to tell the High Council, won't you? They have a tendency to frown on my changing things. I think it confuses them. They alternate between making me Lord President and putting me on trial for my life for it. I'm not particularly fond of either and I'd really rather avoid both for awhile if possible."

Tech started to laugh, then cry. The Doctor held one more child and soothed his tears. He smiled. He was getting rather good at it.

## Chapter Four

"Doc, I'm going to say this one time. It's what your mother would say. You ever do anything like that again, I'll break your arm."

"You're right. It's exactly what she would say. How come I didn't change?"

"I don't know. Regeneration happens at the point of death. I don't know why you did it the first time. You shouldn't have. All Gallifreyans don't regenerate and you're half human. You also seem to have gone through it with fewer problems than I have. My behavior is usually extremely erratic immediately afterward."

"How about that? I'm impossible."

"Your nephew said the same thing. Someday, I hope you'll meet him. Diz made a suggestion. Let's find some 'bad guys' to fight so we quit 'beating up' ourselves."

"He's full of good ideas. When do we start?"

The Doctor smiled. "How about now? Let's get you off that bed. Slowly. Hang on to me. Let me lift you. I SAID, LET ME DO IT! Now slowly. Feet over the side. Good. Let me take your weight. Now down easy."

"Wow. That thing you used on me must really be something."

"It is, but most of your blood was held in the old fashioned way."

"What do you mean?"

"Diz held you together until we could sew you up. The deep healing beam came later. Data did most of the sewing."

"Sure he did. And you just stood and watched."

"Well, I wouldn't say that."

"I didn't think you would."

"We can't both be Doc. I'll think of something else."

"No, I'll go by Peral. Your hair sure grows fast."

"My head was cold. I hurried it a bit." The Doctor sighed and waited for them to quit laughing. "Data, how soon will we be establishing orbit?"

"Thirty-seven minutes, twelve point six seconds."

"Peral. Peral! This isn't going to work. You don't answer to your name and I HATE being called Doc. We'll just take the chance."

"I have a suggestion."

"Yes, Data?"

"I suggest I call you Captain and they call you Dad."

"I just spent nearly two MONTHS trying to BREAK them of that."

"Doctor, may I point out you have not succeeded?" Data decided he was 'pleased'. All three boys had sunk to the floor laughing.

"Data you have a unique sense of timing. How is the training going?"

"All three are well above Starfleet standards in unarmed and armed combat. Doc is the most proficient. Followed by Tech, then Diz."

"Liberty trained Doc. I believe I trained Tech. I wouldn't have started as early as she did. Diz was the only one I was worried about."

"I'm not bad. I catch on fast."

Doc shook his head. "Dad, he's understating it. In a month I won't be able to beat him. At anything. He's the fastest moving person I've ever seen. Except you and Data. And given time, I wouldn't bet on you."

The Doctor looked at Diz. He was the smallest of the three. He remembered how quick Gwen was. "Diz, I think you should tell me what happened to your mother."

Diz looked at Data. "It's in his future."

"Is he directly involved?"

"No, but he'll know."

"Data, you understand you can't do anything to change what will happen?"

"Yes, Doctor."

The Doctor turned back to Diz. "She was killed in a shuttle explosion when I was six. It wasn't even on duty, a pleasure trip. Some stupid fool skipped a maintenance check and over fifty people died. I had a cough and they kept me on the planet. It was weird. I got over it in a few hours. It only lasted long enough for me to miss the shuttle. Mom had to get back for duty. How did you know?"

"You didn't ask me to let her know you were all right. Let's see. We're a very small group of mercenaries. We'll have to be very impressive," He looked around him and smiled. "but I don't think that will be a problem."

The contracting agent looked over the five in front of him. A man, some kind of alien and three boys. The boys were triplets. The man looked dangerous. The alien might be, but the boys... "I don't think I've got anything for you."

"Yes you have. You just had a bunch blow a job on Liberty. The contractors won't be happy. They'll want to try something else."

"Look here, I wouldn't accept another contract from that bunch if I knew it was from them. I don't take illegal contracts. How did you find out about it?"

"Tech, what is the current rate of dant to mek credit exchange."

"What market?"

"Turith."

"One point three six. Down two, up five in four."

"I suggest you check, Agent Slogar."

They'd set it up with the TARDIS. Tech remembered how, but not the numbers. Sometimes details were clear. Usually, they were not.

The agent keyed up the index and watched it. It ticked up five in exactly four minutes. "You're still too small an outfit. You don't have enough power."

"We are as effective as any group of fifty. Perhaps more. Leroy, I'd like some fresh air. Make me a window."

Data walked to the wall and created a perfectly square hole in it. "Will that be sufficient, Captain?"

"Yes, Leroy, thank you. Diz, the guard looks tired. Hold his weapon for him."

Diz spun, kicked the guard's weapon out of his hands, caught it and said, "Anything else, Dad?"

"No, not right now, thank you. Doc, how many people in the building?"

"Thirty-nine. All but eight human. Eleven females, the rest male. Dad, there is a couple making love behind that wall. He's enjoying it more than she is."

"Doc, did you count us?"

"Of course."

"Where are the other non-humans?"

"Two in the next room. One in the lobby."

The agent looked shocked. "You're not human?"

"I don't believe I said we were."

"You look human."

"So did my mother. Boys, I have asked you not to giggle."

Tech said, "Sorry, we thought you only meant when we were killing someone."

Diz added, "We didn't know it was impolite at other times too, Dad."

Doc suddenly spun and covered the door with the nonfunctional weapon he was carrying for 'show'. "Two. Male. Armed. He called them."

"Agent Slogar, we seem to have made you nervous. Let them in boys, then settle them for a nap."

"How long, Dad? Permanent?"

"No, Tech, just a few minutes."

"That's no fun."

"Please don't argue."

Two armed men burst in. Tech and Diz laid them out. The Doctor stood and leaned on the agent's desk. "Tech, where will I find the contract I want?"

"Top right drawer, Dad. It's locked."

The Doctor took hold of the top of the desk. "Leroy, please hold the desk still." Data flattened one hand on the side of the desk and the Doctor lifted the top off, reached in the drawer, took out the stack of papers, laid the top of the desk down and sat back down in his chair. "Leroy, reattach the top, please. Just spot weld. I may want to get in it again." Data used his thumb.

The Doctor pulled his reading glasses from the air, read the two hundred pages of contracts, selected the one he wanted, replaced his reading glasses and dropped the rest of the contracts on the desk. "This one will do. Now, where did I put that pen?" He pulled a pen into existence and signed the contract Captain Knight. He'd had quite an argument with Tech over it. He'd wanted to use John Smith, but Tech had insisted it was very important he use Knight.

"Thank you, Agent Slogar. All right, boys, you may clear the hall, but don't kill anyone."

Tech said, "Aw, Dad, you promised us some fun."

"These are our friends, aren't they, Agent Slogar?"

The contracting agent gulped and nodded. He followed them out the door. Nine men lay unconscious in the hall. Within a few hours, the name Captain Knight was known on five planets.

"I'm hungry. Let's find a really nice restaurant."

"Dad, we don't have any of their money."

"Money. Hmm. That's all right, Doc, we will by the time they bill us." He led them to a very pleasant restaurant near the spaceport. He'd been on the planet several times before. He always arranged to eat there.

He handed the waitress the menu and waited til she left the table. "I think that went well. I do believe the agent was a bit impressed." He looked at the three boys with their heads down on the table laughing. "You know, Data, taking children out to eat can be so embarrassing." He smiled. The meal was served and they enjoyed it immensely.

"Dad, we're beginning to attract attention."

"No, Doc, you're beginning to attract attention. Predominantly feminine."

"I wasn't going to mention that."

"I believe the five young ladies two tables over are very interested in the three of you. Would you like an afternoon off?"

"Tech, do we?"

"Yes, Doc, we do. And we don't even get in trouble."

The Doctor smiled. Diz had been moving before Doc or Tech had even laid their napkins down. They'd begun to work as a coordinated team.

"Doctor, they would appear to have begun blending their talents."

"I was just thinking the same thing, Data. It is a rather unique combination. I was worried Doc and Diz would become a bit intimidated by Tech's knowledge of the future, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. Diz seems to be coming into his own."

"He does seem to be much more comfortable with his identity."

"It was finding out he was best at something. I think Doc deliberately pointed it out. He seems to have recovered well. Shall we go to work? I didn't find anything that looked like a remake of the Liberty contract, so I chose one I liked. We may have to do a few 'jobs' before we discover who 'paid the bill' on that one."

"Doctor, perhaps we should approach the problem from its obverse."

"Hmm. In what way?"

"After we have established ourselves, let it be known we have a contract with Liberty to stop the attacks."

"Data, you have just solved my major dilemma. I was having a great deal of difficulty with the idea of establishing ourselves as 'heavies'. I must admit, I chose a contract that put us on the side of the overmatched. We shall need to have a true contract eventually. Hmm."

"Sir, that may make it difficult to maintain our fictional identities."

"I don't think it will. Actually, we should write the contract immediately. Our employers paid in advance."

"May I request an explanation of that statement?"

"We're not going to contract with the government. Payment was four years' transportation and assistance on a world named Laeth. Let's get back to the TARDIS. We need a hoof print on a contract."

"Doctor, you have suggested something my programming has identified as humorous. It is a novel experience."

"Just don't laugh, Data. You need a bit more practice."

Neaht didn't keep them waiting long. He stepped on the ink pad and then on the contract. The Doctor had decided the old fashioned method would be best. Neaht was unlikely to have a credit identification to use to finalize an electronic contract.

The Doctor and Data were working out a method for fulfilling their current contract when the boys returned to the ship. A mining company was making life very difficult for an agricultural planet. Their job was to stop it.

"Hi. Tech has been snickering all day and he won't tell us why. He said it was your story."

"Hello, Diz. Why don't we wait for the others before I tell you about it."

"They're right behind me. Well, not far behind." He grinned. "I only had one girl to say good-by to. Dad, this ship is ugly. Needs a paint job."

"I have a few other improvements in mind as well. Check the drawer in the wardrobe. See how much currency we have for this period."

"OK, just don't start the story without me."

"Diz, do you know what to look for?"

"Yes, I had Tech identify time and place. I like to know where and when I am."

"DIZ! I forgot to tell you I moved the TARDIS. It's in the Captain's cabin."

"I wondered how long it would be before you decided that cabin was cramped."

"It wasn't the cramped quarters. It was the ten minute walk to the hold."

Doc and Tech arrived shortly before Diz returned from the TARDIS. There hadn't been much of the correct currency. The Doctor explained the contract he and Data had drawn up and then waited for Doc and Diz to recover. Tech had snickered all the way through the explanation.

"Data, you and I are going out this evening."

"Where are we going, Doctor?"

"There's a casino with an extremely high profit margin on the edge of the city. We're going to rebalance their books. Or rather, Captain Knight and Leroy are. Let's find something a bit more flamboyant to wear."

"I have had some experience in a casino before, Doctor. I became most proficient at a game called craps."

"Excellent. Boys, decide on an exterior for the ship. Keep it simple."

They settled on the exterior design in less than ten minutes. It was waiting when the Doctor and Data returned from the wardrobe.

"Wow! That should get you noticed."

"That was the idea, Diz."

"Data, that Panama hat makes you look like an old time riverboat gambler. Looks great."

"Thank you, Doc. It seemed appropriate for the mission."

"I like this." The Doctor was looking over the sketches for the ship's exterior. "It will be simple to do and very distinctive."

"We thought we'd have someone else paint the ship black, then we'd do the logo." Diz grinned. "Tech doesn't trust anyone else to get it right."

"No, I just know I'll do it." Doc cleared his throat. "With Doc and Diz' help, of course."

"Since you've finished this, I've another task for you. Stock the ship. Order everything we need. You'll find a list of equipment on the TARDIS console. Some of it may not be available. I can't remember if all of it had been invented in this time. If not, find something we can adapt. Hire out most of the exterior work. Get it done tomorrow."

"Here, Dad. Make sure you give me that list back tomorrow so I'll remember it today."

"Hmm. Yes, Tech, I will. Thank you."

Diz returned with the list from the TARDIS. "Dad, you're going to break the casino's bank paying for this."

"No, Diz, we're going to break five. I want a bit to give away. There are some very needy children on this world. Ah, the comm. That should be delivery of the last part of our evening accouterments. Shall we go, Leroy?"

"Yes, Captain."

They watched 'Captain Knight' and 'Leroy' leave, then Diz said, "They're really something in those outfits. Did you see those rings. That ruby must have been a hundred carats."

"Both in white. Data dressed like a Mississippi riverboat gambler and Dad for an evening at the opera. That white walking stick he was twirling was outrageous."

Tech laughed. "Yes, Doc, but it did go well with the white cape. Let's go to work. Diz, let's see that list. Doc, get us on the net. We're going shopping. Diz, these are things that haven't been invented yet, but can be built from things that have. Your job is figuring out what."

"Why not just give me a list like you gave Dad?"

"All right. Make a list of what we need and help me memorize it tomorrow so I can give it to you now."

"Uh, I think it will be less work if I just do it."

"Captain?"

"Yes, Leroy?"

"This establishment has unfair advantage in every game."

"That's why I chose it. Marked cards, weighted dice, magnetized wheel, the whole spectrum of how NOT to run an honest house. We have very little currency. I had to give the florist delivery girl a rather large amount of what we had as a tip to keep in character. We need to run it up a bit. I'll watch for awhile. You increase our bankroll."

"May I suggest we start with craps?"

"An excellent choice, Leroy. I haven't decided on a way to beat the roulette wheel. Tech gave me a list of numbers, but we'll have to overcome the house advantage before they'll be accurate."

"I may be of service in that respect. I have been known to cause malfunction in electromagnetic systems."

"Leroy, let's buy some chips. This promises to be a delightful evening."

They changed the dice on Data four times. He balanced them. When he began to accumulate a very large supply of chips, the Doctor took a stack to the card tables. Each began to attract a large group of admirers. Data joined the Doctor and their winnings grew.

"Leroy, I tire of this. I should like to play roulette."

"Yes, Captain."

"I don't really feel like standing. Bring me a chair, a nice tall one from the bar."

"Yes, Captain."

"Leroy, don't forget to pay for it."

"I will leave appropriate compensation."

The bartender stared at the man walking off with one of his bar stools. It still had a large piece of floor attached. The pale yellow-eyed man had left three thousand credit chips on the bar.

"Leroy, those rivets may damage the carpet."

"You are correct, Captain. I shall remove them. I shall also stabilize the chair for you, Sir. Please indicate a suitable height."

"Hmm. It's about eleven centimeters too tall."

Data ripped off the pieces of floor, punched out the rivets with his thumb, split the metal post, bent it into a tripod and placed it for the Doctor. "Eleven centimeters shorter, Sir."

"Thank you, Leroy."

The Doctor was having a wonderful time. He'd been planning on doing something about the casinos for two regenerations, but he was usually too busy worrying about worlds to worry about 'petty' crooks.

He and Data had both acquired female admirers. He was surprised at how well Data handled them, then realized he was playing the part of 'high roller' and the ladies went with it. He sent one of his own admirers to the bar for a glass of spring water. He gave her two hundred credit chips. One for her, one for the bartender. He smiled when he took the first sip. It was drugged.

He spun the walking stick and tapped the glass twice. The liquid turned black. "Leroy, please assist the bartender. He seems to have had difficulty with my order. I should like spring water with no additions."

"Yes, Captain. May I return that glass for you?"

"That would be most kind."

The Doctor skipped two spins of the wheel. Tech had marked the spot. He spent the time getting acquainted with the four beautiful women around him.

Data returned the glass to the bar, leapt over it, poured the Doctor a glass of spring water, leapt back over the bar with the full glass in his hand and carried it back to the Doctor. The bartender stared. He hadn't spilled a drop.

The Doctor played a few more spins, then stood, stretched, and smiled at his feminine admirers. "Ladies, I have enjoyed your company, but I grow weary of this place." He flipped four thousand credit chips in the air in quick succession. Each dropped precisely in the center of well displayed cleavage. "Leroy, collect our winnings and cash us in. I shall await you at the door."

Data collected their cash and joined the Doctor. They stepped through the door and stopped. "I count about eight, Data."

"I also counted eight. Six meters south. The echoes indicate an alley."

"They probably won't use weapons this time, but be prepared. Shall we go? I'd hate to think I'd kept our 'friends' waiting."

One of the 'friends' had a stunner, but he made the mistake of using it on Data first. He didn't get a second shot. The manager of the second casino was a bit surprised when they strolled in the door. They weren't even slightly rumpled.

They played it approximately the same way, but this time Data flipped the chips in the air and dropped them in place. It took them a bit longer to dispose of the six men than it had the eight before. They had beam weapons.

They made a stop at an 'honest house' and deposited the majority of their accumulated cash with a reputable banking firm with facilities on the premises. The Doctor opened an account in the name of Captain Knight and listed Doc, Tech, Diz and Leroy as authorized to draw on it. The large 'wad' of cash had begun to handicap their movements.

They played two more casinos and removed two more sets of 'muggers'. They made another banking stop and headed for the final casino on the Doctor's 'hit' list. Before they entered he said, "Data, we have stopped being a nuisance and become a problem. I doubt they'll wait until we leave to try to dispose of us. I expect an attempt to incapacitate us shortly after I start playing the wheel. They haven't been able to drug me, so I imagine it'll be a nice quiet stunner. I want you to drink a large quantity of alcoholic beverage. Lead them to believe you're drunk."

"Doctor, if you believe it dangerous, why pursue this course of action?"

"Enhancing the reputation, Data. I also calculate we will require most of the currency in this casino. We'll cash in after every game. I have a handy place to keep it. I've been saving it for the finale. We have been very sedate. That is about to change. We are about to 'carouse'. Shall we begin, Leroy?"

"I am ready, Captain."

The Doctor slammed through the casino doors, grabbed the first beautiful woman he saw and kissed her. Data caught her. She looked wobbly. He caught the next one too and swept them along in the Doctor's wake. The Doctor spun his walking stick fifteen meters toward the vaulted ceiling and caught it behind his back as he kissed another lovely lady. Flower petals showered down. He held the lady up and gathered another in, lifted them off their feet, spun around, set them down, threw back his head and laughed. He pulled two white roses from the air, gave each one, and headed for the craps table. Data followed the Doctor's osculatory example, then released the two women. He was pleased to note they had resumed looking wobbly.

"Leroy, develop this into a stack. I wish to become better acquainted with our fair friends." He flipped a twenty credit piece toward the ceiling. Data jumped two meters into the air and caught it in his hat. The Doctor roared with laughter when he landed on the edge of the craps table on his toes, did a back flip and strolled over to the cashier's window to buy one chip.

"Diz, Doc, it's wardrobe time."

"All right, Tech. You and Diz go on. I'll wait on the confirmation. Pick me something appropriate."

Tech and Diz found three sets of white leather pants and jackets. They were tight, but supple. All checked carefully to make sure they didn't hamper movement, then left the jackets partially unzipped 'just to enhance the image'. They brushed their hair back and each clipped a diamond stud to his right earlobe. They checked themselves in the mirror and grinned. Captain Knight's boys were ready.

Tech remembered the way to the casino. They were unarmed, but that wouldn't present a problem. They walked three abreast and people got out of their way.

Data cashed his craps winnings in and carried them to the Doctor. The Doctor took the four banded stacks, tossed them into the air in rapid succession and spun his walking stick to follow. There was a flash of light and four white doves flew towards the door. He caught the stick and pulled two twenty credit chips from the air. "Leroy, let's play cards. Oh, I almost forgot." He tapped his stick on the craps table and a stack of hundred credit chips appeared. "Leroy, tip the people."

Data flipped the chips. Every waitress, each lady and the croupier got one. The bartender stared at the one that landed in front of him. He was forty meters away from the craps table. Data lifted another drink off a tray, downed it and followed the Doctor to the card table. They ran up stacks of chips and cashed in. Light flashed, doves flew, chips flipped and they moved to the wheel.

Data started playing drunk. The Doctor played the wheel. He knew when it would come. Tech's list ended. He was pleased when he felt the woman playing with his chest use the injector. Stunners gave him a headache. When Data saw the Doctor fall, he hiccuped and fell on the floor.

The Doctor awoke tied to a chair. He lifted his head and a muscle-bound oaf hit him.

"Where's the money?"

"What money?" The small dark man nodded and the oaf hit him again.

"The money you won."

"Oh, that money. It flew out the door." The oaf hit him again.

"I want a straight answer."

"I want your oaf to stop hitting me. It's beginning to aggravate me." The oaf hit him again.

"You're in a very bad situation, Captain. You've made some very dangerous people very unhappy."

"Where's Leroy?"

"Locked in the cooler. If you cooperate, we'll take him out before he freezes. Maybe."

"And if I don't?"

"There's plenty of room for two."

"I see. I've decided I'm tired of this." The Doctor slipped out of his ropes and stood up. The oaf and two fellow oafs pointed weapons at him.

"Sit down, Captain. Or I'll have them put holes in your pretty white suit."

"You're beginning to make me angry. You won't like the things that happen when I get angry." The oaf hit him with his gun butt. "That's done it. I'm leaving." He grabbed the oaf, threw him into the two oafs, opened the door and stepped out. The hall was full of armed oafs. He raised his hands and stepped back through the door. The three oafs all hit him. Several times.

He wiped the blood from his lip with his thumb and looked at it. "You know, Leroy and my boys won't be happy about this."

"Captain, you've outlived your welcome." The man looked toward the door. There was a commotion in the hall.

Data decided he'd waited long enough and removed the door to the cooler. He stepped out into the kitchen, leaned the door against the wall, and headed for the gaming room. He met the boys in the middle of it.

"Upstairs. Back. Fifteen in the hall armed. Nine in the casino. Four on the balcony. Four in the room with him. Three armed. They just hit him again."

"Thank you, Doc. Diz, his walking stick and Leroy's hat are behind the bar. Get them."

"Right, Tech. Wait for me."

Diz went over the bar, dropped the bartender before he could reach his weapon, grabbed hat and stick, went back over the bar and rejoined them. "Leroy, your hat."

"Thank you. I think the captain is ready to leave."

Data and Doc took the staircase on the left, Tech and Diz the one on the right. People started screaming when beam fire started crisscrossing the room. They removed the nine sources and hit the stairs.

Diz said, "Oops" when he knocked one over the balcony. The fifteen in the hall got in each other's way, but not for long. The door was locked, so Data removed it. The man stared at the four who had stepped into his office and laid out the oafs.

"Captain, I believe you dropped this." Data handed him his walking stick.

"Thank you, Leroy."

"Dad, can I kill him?"

"Tech, it just isn't necessary."

"You promised."

"Yes, but he's not on our contract."

"I think you should let Tech kill him, Dad."

"Why, Diz?"

"Your lip's bleeding."

"That's true. Well... no. Not this time. He was probably just following orders. You all understand orders." Data and all three boys nodded.

"Twenty assembling outside. All armed. He pushed an alarm button."

"Thank you, Doc. You know you really are a gambler. Most casino managers aren't. Leroy, disable the communications."

"Yes, Captain." Data smashed the comm console with the palm of his hand.

The Doctor strolled out the door and called back over his shoulder, "Tech, I said no."

"Aw, Dad." Tech smiled at the man and said, "Next time."

The manager walked behind his desk and sat down. His employers weren't going to be happy. It had been a very expensive night.

"Dad, I broke one. It really was an accident. He went over the balcony rail. He had a bead on Doc and I was in a hurry."

"It happens sometimes, Diz. You haven't had as much training as the rest of us. Come talk to me if it really starts bothering you."

"Five behind cover across the street. Two on each side of the door. Three on the roof opposite. Two on this one. Three at each end of the block."

"A real crossfire. Any innocents, Doc?"

"No, but six people were hurt pretty bad when they opened fire in the casino."

"Anyone killed?"

"No, Dad, but the hospital's not far and I can feel a doctor's real upset about one woman. She needs more help than they can give her here. She's sure she won't make it til morning. Nice lady. Really cares about her patients."

"That's it. I hate to do it, but we don't have time to waste. Pick up weapons, but try not to kill anyone."

"We'll try, Dad, but we aren't going to be completely successful."

"All we can do is try, Tech. Data, you left. I'll go right. Leave Doc a weapon. Doc, roof. Tech and Diz, the ones across the street. Now!"

Tech got hurt. He'd known he would. He also knew the man he shot was aiming at Diz. Diz shot the man who shot him. He was about to finish the job.

The Doctor carried Tech to the hospital. Data ran to the ship and got the deep healing beam from the TARDIS. He had Tech's key and a hospital room number. Tech had given them to him in the casino before they freed the Doctor. He hadn't told him why. He didn't 'feel' it, but he thoroughly understood the Doctor's mixture of worry and aggravation he hadn't told them he would be injured.

The physician was very surprised when the Doctor laid Tech on the other bed in her patient's room. Several people skidded to a halt outside the door. Doc and Diz didn't look like they were planning on letting anyone in.

Data ran through the hospital doors, jumped a gurney, dodged two nurses, ran up a flight of stairs, dodged a patient and ran into the room. He handed the Doctor the deep healing beam.

"Her first, Dad. She's dying."

"All right, Tech." He turned and smiled at the physician, then began treating the woman. He recognized her. She was the first woman he'd kissed when he walked in the casino. "You didn't see this, Doctor... ?"

"Glace, Jeanne Glace. What is that?"

"A small wonder I picked up in my travels. I shouldn't be using it on her, but, if we hadn't been there, she wouldn't have been hurt."

"Who are you?"

"A lot of people ask me that. I'd prefer you didn't. She'll tell you who she thinks I am when she wakes up. Do you know her name?"

"I do, Captain."

"Good. Arrange discreet payment of her bill, Leroy. Done. Your turn, Tech."

"I'm more than ready."

"Reality worse than remembering?"

"Lots more intense, but that goes for the good parts too. Better already."

"Sleep. We'll get you home."

The Doctor finished treating Tech and snapped off the beam. "My walking stick, please." Data handed it to him. "Take Tech, Diz and Doc to the ship. I'll be there soon. I'd like to talk to Dr. Glace awhile. Take this with you." He tapped the stick on the bed and the banded currency appeared. "Have one of the boys deposit it and have a balance available for me. I'll call for it." He reached into the air and pulled a white rose and a hundred dollar chip from it and laid them on the woman's pillow.

"Dr. Glace, may I escort you to a place of refreshment?"

"You can escort me anywhere. Actually, I think I'd follow you anywhere."

The rather stunned and very curious emergency facility staff watched the very dedicated Dr. Glace walk out of the hospital on the arm of the man in white. In the middle of the shift! She wouldn't be back. He was going to fulfill her dreams.

"This is where it's needed."

"I agree. The conditions are terrible. You'll need help. Doctors, teachers, even cooks and cleaning people."

"There are a lot of doctors and teachers who really want to do something about this. The rest of the jobs will be filled right here. Employment opportunity is what most of these people need."

"That building appears structurally sound. It should be big enough to start."

"Big enough?! It's bigger than anything else in the entire city."

"I expect you to expand. This isn't the only city where children need help. The government here isn't particularly corrupt, just exceptionally inept. Find good administrators. People who care about people, not money."

"I will. I think I'm dreaming."

The Doctor stepped over a pile of garbage. "I don't know about you, but most of my dreams don't have quite this strong an odor."

He walked her back to a safer neighborhood, pulled a pale pink rose into existence, gave it to her, bowed and left.

In three days, she would be safe anywhere in the world. She was Dr. Jeanne Glace, head of the White Knight Foundation. She named it.

## Chapter Five

"Account balance zero."

"Good. We have a lot of work to do. Data, how long til we reach Athera?"

"Nineteen days, two hours, four minutes from liftoff at median cruising speed."

"Too long. Do the engine modifications first. I want the ship there in about five days. Those colonists need help fast. I'm going in first in the TARDIS."

"Dad, keep your head down."

"I'll take that as a sound warning, Tech. Anything else I should know?"

"Yes, several things, but all I can say is that it's an inside job."

"Noted. Get as much done as you can. I'll see you in about five days."

As the Doctor headed for the TARDIS, Tech said, "Data, we need to move fast. He'll need us in four. At that, we'll be almost too late. Give me the engine specs. Diz, we need you. You're going to have to adapt some equipment. This ship is going to have to move faster than possible. Doc, grab us all the FTL drive info on the net before we get out of range."

"We don't have any credit."

"Yes we do. You'll find it under miscellaneous expenses. It'll be exactly enough."

"Tech, why didn't you tell him?"

"Doc, why didn't you tell him that doctor will never marry because, she's so in love with him, no one else will ever interest her?"

"Yeah, I guess I see what you mean."

"Mister Chairman, I head the mercenary group that accepted your contract."

"You mean somebody took it?!"

"Yes, I did. I have a rather soft spot for underdogs and horses."

"I beg your pardon?"

"It's a bit of a family joke. Now, I need a thorough briefing on the situation here. Who's the best person?"

"Well, I'm not sure who's available right now. I think we can probably find someone tomorrow morning."

"I did not ASK who was AVAILABLE! I asked who was BEST! And they will SEE ME NOW!"

The Chairman was not accustomed to being shouted at. He was about to state so in no uncertain terms, then he looked in the Doctor's eyes, gulped and reached for the communicator. "Miss Swarn, get Joff Silden here immediately."

The Doctor smiled. "I'll wait for Mr. Silden in the outer office."

As soon as he'd left, the chairman put through a call to the contracting agent. The agent confirmed the contract had been taken. The signer was Captain Knight. He added he felt sorry for the mining company. They were in big trouble.

The chairman smiled. He'd been against the idea. Maybe he'd been wrong. This particular mercenary seemed to have quite a reputation. He wondered how he'd gotten to Athera. He called his secretary and told her to make sure Captain Knight was offered refreshment and access to any person or information he wanted to see.

Miss Swarn had already done that. And invited him for a home cooked meal, asked him if he was married and made an appointment with her hairdresser. He'd said; time permitting, not currently and smiled.

"Captain Knight, I'm Joff Silden. I head up what passes for law enforcement on this world. We don't really have police or military."

"District agents and park rangers?"

Silden laughed. "Pretty accurate. My office is down the hall. I've got some pretty good maps and such there."

"Good. That's what I need. Just a moment please." He turned to the very plain, middle-aged Miss Swarn. "Miriam, I shall contact you if I can't make dinner. If you don't hear from me, expect me around seven." He winked at her and followed Joff through the door.

The chairman just didn't understand what had happened to his secretary. He'd always bragged she was the most efficient in the world, maybe the cluster. That afternoon she cut off calls, lost files, forgot to remind him of appointments and took a two hour refreshment break. He wondered if she was ill.

The Doctor was disgusted. It was another IMC. In this case, he'd learned it was ICMC, Indus Cluster Mining Corporation, but they were operating about the same way. They wanted to mine a large chunk of an agricultural world. They'd taken the case to the cluster high court. They cited need for the minerals and more valuable use of the land. They didn't mention the fifty-six families they had burned out so the land wasn't occupied. Or the nineteen people who died. Including six children.

Miss Swarn didn't quite know what to think of the multi-colored clothes he was wearing, but was delighted with the flower he gave her. The Doctor enjoyed himself. Miriam was witty, intelligent, and a very good cook. She was also middle-aged, lonely and terribly infatuated by the end of the evening. He realized it, but Miriam deserved an evening of romance in her dull life. He bowed over her hand and kissed her fingertips. The gesture saved his life and nearly cost hers.

The Doctor dove on top of her as more bullets sprayed across the front of her house. He heard the whine of an overworked antigrav unit turning the corner. He rolled off her and began the race to save her life. Her neighbor ran in and called the medics. The Doctor couldn't wait. "Get a vehicle! Meet me out front! I'll take her to my ship! DO IT NOW!"

Priscilla Beswith was Miriam's best friend and her opposite. Beautiful, outgoing, with more gentlemen admirers than she wanted and a real good friend. She did exactly as the Doctor told her and broke every traffic law on the books getting to the TARDIS.

"Put your thumb here. Maintain the pressure. I'll carry her. Don't let anything surprise you enough to make you let go." He carried Miriam down into the building basement, laid her on the floor, opened the TARDIS doors, carried her in, laid her on the console room floor and closed the doors. As he ran for the med-kit, he smiled. Miriam's neighbor had gulped when they entered the TARDIS, but she hadn't let go. He knew the deep healing beam would be there. Tech would have known he'd need it.

It could have been worse. The severed artery could have been a bullet in the brain. He'd been on the step below her. They'd been aiming for his head. He completed the surgery, used the beam to heal the deep tissue damage, sat back and smiled. "She'll be all right."

"You're Captain Knight."

"I have answered to that name."

"I don't think I'll ask for an explanation for that. Or this." She waved a hand around to indicate the TARDIS.

"That would be appreciated. I thought she deserved a little romance in her life. I'd forgotten how dangerous my company could be."

"Captain, you have a gift for understatement. Your company can be deadly. She'll dream and talk about this evening for the rest of her life. Thank you. I'm Priscilla Beswith and you just saved the best friend I ever had."

"After almost getting her killed."

"That too." She smiled. "I'll give you odds she'll think it was worth it. Now what?"

"I think we should take her home. Will you stay with her, please?"

"I don't think it would be a good idea if you did." She grinned and he smiled. He liked them both. He could see why they were friends.

He carried Miriam in and laid her on her bed, pulled a perfect rose from the air, laid it on her pillow, smiled at Priscilla and left. She shook her head and sighed. Why weren't any of the men in her life like that? She thought about the bullet sprayed house and shivered. Perhaps it was just as well.

Tech had said it was an inside job. He'd been on the planet nine hours and someone had tried to kill him. He didn't believe it was the chairman and his instincts told him it wasn't Joff. He needed more information. He needed to meet more people on the 'inside'. He headed for the hospital with the deep healing beam in his pocket. Joff had told him about a little boy who might not make it. He probably shouldn't. In fact he knew he shouldn't. He mentally added a half credit to his contract bill for 'medical services' and smiled.

The nurse looked at the face of the man standing over her very small patient and closed the door. Whoever he was, he was there to help. She saw him leave and checked her patient. She was a deeply religious woman. She sank to her knees and thanked her god for the angel he had sent.

The Doctor picked the lock on the government building and slipped in. He read all the personnel files in Miriam's office and came up with nothing. He'd have to look for more files later. He was sitting at her desk when she walked in wearing a bandage, a smile and carrying a red rose. He put a finger to his lips and left. He was sitting at Joff Silden's desk when he walked in.

"Captain, you're out early."

"Or late. I want to know about the council."

"The council?"

"Yes, I've met the chairman. Who are the others?"

"Well, there are usually six, but right now there are only four."

"Why?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Joff, I don't think you're awake. Pay attention. Why only four?"

"Oh. Two died recently and the election isn't for three months."

"Three months! Isn't that a bit unusual? Isn't someone usually appointed in the interim?"

"It's never happened before."

"No one has ever died in office before and suddenly there have been two. Their positions haven't been filled and the election is three months away. Doesn't that strike you as a bit strange? How did the councilors die?"

"They were in an accident."

"One accident?"

"Yes. They were attending a mid-summer festival about three hundred kilometers from here and their aircraft crashed."

"In a storm? High wind?"

"Captain, you're beginning to make me very nervous."

"Joff, you've had families burned out, people killed, two councilors are dead in what would seem to be strange circumstances and you are BEGINNING to be nervous. You are a VERY calm man."

"We just don't think that way. Trouble on this world is one farmer complaining another is taking too much water from a stream, or pigs loose in a cornfield. That's why Councilors Datis and Anber recommended we hire someone to help."

"Let me guess. The two who died in the 'accident'. Here, sit down. You look like you need this chair more than I do."

"Captain, I'm a farmer. My family have been farmers for generations. I just didn't see it. I see a mining company trying to destroy good crop land and hurting people if they can't scare them off, but you're talking conspiracy and cold-blooded murder. It's a very alien concept."

"You've led a very sheltered existence, Joff. This must be a wonderful place to live in other times. I have one more shoe to drop. Last night someone tried to kill me and very nearly succeeded. Miss Swarn has a house full of holes and a bandage over a wound meant for me."

"Miriam?! Is she all right?!"

The Doctor smiled. Joff's reaction hadn't been that of a coworker. "Yes, Joff, she is, but a bit of gentlemanly concern wouldn't be amiss. I'm going to see the chairman. Why don't you come with me?"

"Well, I've got a lot of important work and I'm behind... "

"JOFF! There is NOTHING on this PLANET more IMPORTANT than THIS."

"I...You're right. Old habits die hard. Life changes slowly here."

"Not anymore. Not since ICMC decided they wanted what you had. Come on."

Joff nodded and followed the Doctor to the chairman's office. The Doctor made a quick excuse and asked Joff to wait for a moment in the outer office. He stepped in the chairman's office, put a finger to his lips, and peeked out the door. The chairman joined him to see what he was looking at. Joff was sitting on the edge of Miriam's desk holding one of her hands and she was telling him about the holes in her house. The chairman gave the Doctor a delighted smile and they closed the door.

"Captain, you truly do work miracles. I've been trying to figure out a way to accomplish that for six years."

"Mr. Chairman, you wouldn't have wanted to do it the way I did."

"Call me Toby."

"Toby?"

"Tobias Pearl. I think my mother hated me."

"Some women really do dislike childbirth."

Toby laughed, then the Doctor told him what had happened. "Captain, we're in over our heads. I've known most of the council for twenty-odd years. One of them my whole life. I don't want to believe any of them are involved."

"Tell me about them."

"Justin Bether is eighty-six. He was my father's best friend. I had to stop him going after ICMC with a pitchfork when they dug up a prime melon patch. Martha Korbath is the finest agronomist on the planet. She's verbal, bossy and has the softest heart in existence. Her son's family was burned out. Her two-year-old grandson may not live."

"He will. I understand he's much improved. Go on."

"Derik Cercasi is a top notch lawyer. He's kept ICMC from getting permission to mine. Long hours and out of pocket expenses."

"That's three. Who's the fourth?"

"I'm the fourth."

"I must be slipping, Toby. Joff said four council members and I didn't even count the chairman. Why haven't you appointed someone to fill the vacancies?"

"It's harvest time and the council doesn't reconvene until after the election. It just didn't seem necessary."

"Do you have the power to call an emergency session?"

"I don't know. I suppose I do. It won't take long to check." He pulled a slim pamphlet from his desk and leafed through it. "Yes. In 'dire need'."

"Is that a synopsis of your duties?"

"What?"

"The pamphlet. Does it describe your duties?"

"Well, of course. Mine and everyone else's."

"Now I'm lost. May I see it."

"Certainly. We give one to everyone on the planet when they turn nineteen and register to vote. We believe people should know all about their government."

"Toby, you have the most unique world I have ever encountered. Most worlds have rooms full of books devoted to the running of the government. You have one slim pamphlet which anyone can understand."

"I didn't realize we were that unusual. It always seemed like a pretty straightforward process."

"How many full time employees does the government have?"

"Three full time, but we have about thirty part time."

"And no taxes, welfare judges, clerks, assistants, receptionists... "

"We have a tax. We have a small tariff on every item exported. It supports the government. I'm not sure what you mean by welfare, but we have judges. Every district chooses one every six years. If two people can't agree on something they take it to their district judge. The judge listens to both sides and judges."

"Toby, you live in the Garden of Eden. It's too bad there's a serpent in it."

"You mean ICMC?"

"No, I mean the person working for them. Call an emergency session. You are in 'dire need'. Someone is kicking you out of paradise."

They were just a nice group of people. Earnest, caring, hard working and totally incapable of the kind of vicious attack that had nearly killed Miriam Swarn. Even Derek Cercasi the 'top notch' lawyer was a farmer. He'd been interested, so the people of Athera took up a collection and sent him off-world to study. They'd needed someone who could understand their trade contracts.

The Doctor decided it was time to pay a visit to ICMC. Toby loaned him his antigrav car. There was no such thing as an 'official' vehicle. He landed in front of the hangar-like structure housing the exploration and sampling equipment and started looking for someone to talk to. He found a small set of offices, mostly empty, in one corner of the building, but no people. He was about to give up when a voice called out, "Over here."

He followed the voice to a mobile core sampler. "Hand me that torque wrench, will you?" The Doctor put the wrench in the very greasy, very feminine hand that went with the very feminine voice. "Damn, that ham-handed Buck has got thirty kilos too much on it at least. I can't even break it loose."

He couldn't resist any longer. He laid down on a work scoot and rolled under the sampler. "Here, let me try. You're right. Too much torque. It would shear before it got ten meters down. There. Recommended is about forty-five. That should do it." He rolled out and waited for her.

"Who the heck are you?"

"Several people. All confused. Who are you?"

She laughed, stood and tossed him a shop towel she pulled from her back pocket. "G. Roberta Fale, Bobby, chief engineer." She stuck out her hand.

He smiled, wiped it off, and shook it. "What does the G stand for?"

"I don't usually answer that. Genevieve. I don't like it or Jenny. Make me think of donkeys." She grinned.

"Just as long as it isn't Guinevere. I've had rather more than my share of those."

"All right, who are you?"

"I'm the one trying to stop you burning down people's houses and killing them."

"Now, hold it! I'm not doing that! I heard about it, but I'm not doing it!"

"I really didn't think you were." He smiled. "But I think we should talk about it."

"Come on. They've got a pretty nice plant they use for tea on this world. I've got some in my office." She yanked her greasy cap off and a mass of auburn hair tumbled down. Nearly to her very narrow waist.

She led him back to the suite of offices and dropped an immersion coil in a teapot of water, pulled it out, measured in herb and pushed a rolling chair in his direction with her foot. "Look, I don't know what's going on here. I came, took samples, sent them in and was told to wait. I've been waiting. That's all I know."

"I believe you. What did the samples show?"

"Lots. It's a very metal rich planet. You name it. It's here. Bauxite, iron, vanadium, molybdenum, nickel, silver, magnesium, every metal in the periodic table. Most of the rare earths. Everything."

"That's rich."

"Richest I've ever seen. Good crop land too. About fifty inches of top soil in this area. High organic content."

"What were your recommendations?"

"Area top soil removal, localized pit mining, land reconstruction, soil replacement. As little damage as possible. We need the minerals, but we need the food too"

"What did ICMC ask for?"

"Strip mining, reconstruction to follow completion, time estimate twenty-two years per zone. Ninety-five zones. Standard. Ask for the mountain and hope you get a hill. The courts are pretty sympathetic to the farmers overall. There are lots of worlds. The minerals are just much cheaper to get on some than on others."

"That isn't what I expected to hear. I wondered how a farmer, part-time lawyer, part-time councilor, had kept ICMC at a standstill. You know, this begins to sound as if both the farmers and ICMC are being used."

"I don't think I understand that statement."

"Bobby, I've got a mercenary contract to stop ICMC from burning farmers out and taking over this world. Someone killed the two councilors who suggested hiring someone. They tried to kill me the night before last. Who else wants this world?"

"Everybody."

"Could you be a little more specific?"

"Athera is rich in more ways than minerals. Its one continent is totally in the temperate zone. Beautiful forests, beaches, countryside. Rich land, mineral resources, a healthy, intelligent, population. They've got a huge planetary credit balance, and--"

"WHAT?!"

"Ow. Please, it's been pretty quiet around here lately and this is a small room. You had to know that. How else could they afford a mercenary force?"

"They couldn't. They're paying in grain and other agricultural products. I took the contract because I have a use for it."

"A couple hungry kids to feed?" She grinned.

"Several thousand, actually." He smiled at her expression. "I also hate bullies. I thought ICMC was the bully. You were expressing your displeasure at a person named Buck. Ham-handed was the term you used I believe. Who is he?"

"He and Alec are my sampling team. Buck's the geologist, Alec the mineralogist. They're due back soon. I sent them out on a feasibility study. I thought, if we could present a minimal ecological damage proposal with a tidy profit for Athera, we could end the stalemate. I was going to take the proposal to the chairman myself. I'm not supposed to jump the piles of red tape, but I've been sitting here for nearly a year. As a matter of fact they're late."

"Who did you tell you were planning on doing this?"

"I sent the standard initiative forms to the company headquarters, I expected a reply before this. My boss is as tired of sitting on his thumbs as I am."

"Come on! Get in the car! We've got to find your men!" She watched him run out of her office, then ran after him. She jumped in the already hovering car and he said, "Where?"

"Southeast. Thirty K max. Ten K loop. A set of rocky hills. What's wrong?"

"You were just about to mess up someone's tidy little scheme. No one on this world knows they're rich. At least no one on the council. They also don't know you want to do a careful operation and share the profits. Why?"

"Well, we'd set up a meeting with a couple of the councilors to try and straighten things out, but they were killed in an accident. The council recessed and things stalled."

"Did these councilors know what you wanted to do?"

"Yes. I screened the info to them myself. Had to track them down. They were stumping the festivals."

"And someone murdered them because they found out what was going on."

"MURDERED?!"

"OW." He smiled. "You're about as naive as the atherans. Someone has kept ICMC and the people of this world carefully separated. You were about to change that. You're about to try again. You are in real danger and so are your men. This time the blame would be laid on the atherans."

There was a tremendous explosion and the Doctor fought the controls of the grav car as the shock wave hit them. "I believe that was your office, Bobby."

"Do you think we could stop a minute? I think I'm going to be sick."

"No you aren't. You haven't got time. Pull yourself together. If that's the closest you come to being killed before this is over, you'll be very lucky. Let's hope your men weren't a target too."

"Oh, please, not Buck. He's got three kids. He's only here because one of them needs cosmetic reconstruction. Burned in the fire that killed his wife. He wasn't working for ICMC then. The boss has been trying to help. Found them a good place to stay and sent him here for the 'hardship' bonus. Even set up a 'mercy flight' to get Joey to the best surgeon. They're just waiting for him to get back. Joey's only four. They thought Buck should be there."

"You work for a very unusual company."

"It's the boss. He'd have paid for it out of his pocket if Buck hadn't said no. He's a jewel. He's got the rights to one of the biggest hetaxite lodes ever found and won't mine it. The inhabitants of the place are primitives and they don't want anyone on the planet. He's spent a fortune making sure nobody is."

"This planet wouldn't be named Mirra by any chance, would it?"

"How did you know?"

"Your boss and I have a friend in common, a tax man named Mike."

"Holy crackers! You're the Doctor!"

"How did you know that?!"

"Mike Winn is my brother-in-law."

"This is getting to be a VERY SMALL UNIVERSE!" She put her hands over her ears and laughed. "Bobby, I'm trying to find out who tried to murder or enslave two races of telepaths. The mercenary business is a cover for the investigation. I haven't told anyone on this world I'm the Doctor. I'd appreciate it if you didn't."

"All right, but you'd better give me your alias. Hey you is a bit generic."

"I've been answering to Captain lately. I'm actually getting used to it. Bobby, I'm going to land. Stay in the car. I've found your men. You don't want to see them."

They'd been brutally murdered. The pitchfork pinning one to the ground was a deliberate ploy to implicate the farmers. He wondered who was supposed to report it to ICMC. Not Bobby. She'd been scheduled for removal. He climbed back in the car and reached for the communicator.

"THAT'S IT! Bobby, who handles interplanetary communications on Athera? Come on, Bobby. Snap out of it. Let's find out who did it, then you can mourn them."

"Geral Plad, an off-worlder. He's under contract with the trade consortium."

"Why doesn't an atheran do it? It must pay well."

"It does, but nobody wanted it. They're outdoor types and it's an inside job."

He started to laugh. Tech had given him the literal answer and he'd misunderstood it. He'd been looking for a serpent in the grass and it had been wrapped around the tree. Plad could change contracts; prevent information exchange, even falsify credit balances. "Do you know how long he's held the position?"

"Fourteen years. I don't know how you can laugh at a time like this. How can you be so cold?"

"Bobby, I've seen thousands of people die. I was laughing at myself. I've had the answer. I just didn't know that's what it was. I wish I had seen it soon enough to save your friends, but I didn't. Maybe I have become distanced from the people around me, but I don't think I'm cold."

"I'm sorry, Doctor." She'd hurt him. She could see it. Could hear it in his quiet words.

"Don't apologize. I've been thinking in terms of the life and death of worlds. I needed to be reminded those worlds are comprised of unique individuals and each and every death diminishes the universe."

"You're wrong. You didn't need the reminder. You've had to distance yourself. Otherwise, you couldn't live with it. You care. Too much. The apology stands."

"I think you'll be safe here. Don't call anyone. Plad thinks you're dead. He's got to be working for or with someone else. I need to find out who. He's got on-planet help as well. I hope she's home. Stay here until I find out."

The Doctor knocked on the front door and heard her shout "A minute!" He motioned Bobby to join him. She reached the porch just as the door started to open. He pushed through it, pulling Bobby behind him. Every second she was in the open increased the danger. He smiled. She was frantically trying to reposition the towel she had almost wrapped around her. He'd quite obviously gotten her out of the bath.

"Priscilla, this is Bobby. She needs a place to stay. Someone just tried to kill her. We don't want them to know they failed."

"Captain, you are seriously changing my lifestyle. The longer you're around, the more nervous I get. Hi, Bobby. I'd invite you in, but I've been pre-empted. Hang on while I cover. Teapot's in the kitchen."

"Bobby, I'm leaving. Make sure Priscilla understands no one, including Miriam, is to know you're here. She doesn't have a house guest. If she makes a comm call, don't be heard. She's not even to shop for two."

"Doctor, be careful. And change clothes. You stand out like a sore thumb."

"Why does everyone always want me to wear something else?"

"Not everyone. You make a nice bright target."

"Another beautiful woman once told me that."

She watched him leave and smiled. Being beautiful had a tendency to be a handicap in her profession, but she was pleased he'd noticed. She went to find the teapot. She and Priscilla were going to get along just fine.

He ducked and rolled. They'd been waiting for him when he parked the car. They had nice quiet stunners. His left hand was numb. The first shot had taken him by surprise. They were lousy shots, but they had him cornered in the garage.

He wondered why they had changed tactics. Projectile weapons made a nice bloody corpse. Something gory to blame on ICMC. Now they'd decided they wanted him alive. Experience had taught him when people wanted him alive they intended it to be a temporary condition. He set himself and made a break for the door.

He awoke with a headache. He hated stunners. He wasn't pleased with being manacled to a very thick pipe either. He recognized the basement. The TARDIS was a few meters away. He really was in trouble. They'd made a clean sweep. They had him, the TARDIS, and the key.

"Good morning, Captain Knight. And Doctor."

"Geral Plad, I presume."

"You really are quite good. But not good enough. I was very upset when you arrived. I had ICMC and the atherans ready for all out war. A few more weeks and my associates could have petitioned to move in and restore order. ICMC would have been told to move out and Athera would have been under martial law. I would have retired a very wealthy man. I'm not too unhappy about things though. You and that blue box seem to be worth a great deal of money."

"Who are you working for?"

"My employers of record, of course. They've grown tired of dealing with the clods on this planet. It could produce far more as a mechanized collective, especially if the help didn't have to be paid. And then there are the rich ore deposits. You were a bonus."

"How did you know who I was?"

"I have a transmitter in the chairman's car. Your ICMC friend told me. I ran an identity check and found out someone wants you very badly. They've offered a planetary ransom for you. Alive."

"Twenty-third century. Daleks."

"Very good. I'm not sure I understand the reference to the century. It sounds like the old Earth system. I'm surprised you use it. Even humans don't use it very often."

"I have a lot of old fashioned human friends. So you told the daleks you had the Doctor alias Captain Knight and they're on their way to collect me."

"Oh no, Doctor. I told my employers I had Captain Knight and the daleks I had the Doctor. My employers are interested in your corpse. I shall find something suitable to give them. Joff Silden is my first choice. He's gotten rather nosy and he's the right size. You, I will give to the daleks."

"I don't think you should really plan on a long retirement. Daleks have a habit of paying people off permanently."

"I believe I've arranged that satisfactorily. When I'm ready to leave this planet, I will signal my employers. Once off-planet, I'll give the daleks my cred account number. When they have deposited the reward, I will tell them where you are. I plan on being several systems away by then."

"It sounds like a rather complicated endeavor. How do you plan on explaining your failure to get ICMC and the farmers at each other's throats?"

"That won't be necessary. A nice bloody battle between Silden and a certain mining engineer and the poor chairman just happens to get caught in the middle. All die and my employers move in to save the day. The food this planet produces is vital to the health of this cluster. Now, why don't you be delightfully cooperative and tell me where she is?"

"Where who is?"

"ICMC engineer Fale, your lovely lady friend."

"You don't know where she is."

"You neglected to mention that in your conversation with her."

"Plad, there is a rather lovely shaped hole in your plan." He smiled.

"Do you know any peldarans, Doctor? They come from a high-gravity, semi-habitable, world. They try very hard to get off that world. They are very grateful to people who assist them. My employers staff most shipment points with peldaran stevedores. They pay them well. Tell me where the woman is. You don't want to meet my staff. They will be very displeased if I am disappointed."

"All right, Miriam, what's wrong?"

"I think something's happened to Captain Knight. Oh, Priscilla, I don't know what to do. Joff's trying to find out if anyone's seen him. He's put an information request on the net. Captain Knight borrowed the chairman's car. It was in the garage with the door open and the keys in it this morning."

"Oh, terrific. Hi, Miriam, I'm Bobby. Look, the D... Captain thinks Plad is behind everything going on. The burnings, the murder of my two men, the councilors' deaths, everything. If he's right, your friend Joff is in real danger. So are you. Grab him and get out of town. Don't discuss it, tell anyone, make reservations, just go. Do it now!"

Miriam ran out and Priscilla said, "Now what? You're in at least as much danger as she is. Probably lots more. If the Captain's dead, you're next target."

"I don't think he's dead. If he was, he'd have been left someplace obvious so ICMC would be blamed. Plad must have him."

"He might just have gone back to his ship."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, and it's not far. Let's get you something in the way of a disguise. If we hide your hair and get you out of that ICMC work suit, nobody should know who you are."

"Let's do it. At least we'll know if he's in trouble or just sleeping in."

"You change. I'll get the car."

"Duck! That's Plad! He just came out of the building the captain's ship is in. Damn! I'm not the heroic type, but I've got to know what's going on."

"I'm with you. Park in back, Pris. Let's see if there's a back door."

They parked the car and found the door. It was locked. Bobby looked at it for a moment, then pulled out one of the pins holding her hair and went to work on it. She'd never picked a lock before, but she knew how they were built. It didn't take her long. They found the stairs, the basement, and the Doctor. The peldarans hadn't been happy with him.

"Pris, there are three big uglies on the other side of the basement. What do we do now?"

"Those are the port stevedores. They really worked him over. He's unconscious. I'll bet Plad was looking for you. I'd lay odds he didn't tell him where you were. I wonder why he left."

"I've got an idea. You stay here. I'm going to make a call. Keep your fingers crossed this works."

Plad breathed a sigh of relief. The ship asking clearance to land wasn't a dalek craft, just a trader in need of minor repairs and a planet to do them on. He was about to leave his office when Lady Luck smiled on him. The lady engineer was scared and yelling for help. He jotted down the location she'd left on the chairman's answerer, called his staff on the portable unit and told them to meet him there. The loose ends were wrapping up nicely.

Bobby hung up the communicator, smiled, and slipped back into the building. She pulled Priscilla away from the door and they waited. The peldarans almost caught them. They ran up the stairs and hid. The peldarans had decided to leave by the back door.

"Good thing you parked half a block down. They look pretty dim, but they'd have noticed a car right outside. Let's get him out of there, Pris."

They made two mistakes. Not bad for first time heroes. Bobby had called from Priscilla's car and they didn't take the Doctor into the TARDIS. They took him back to Priscilla's house. They worked very hard to do it. He was a major load to carry up the stairs to the car.

"She's not here. She's tricked us. She's smarter than I thought. You go back to the warehouse basement. I'm going to my office. I'm going to get the number she called from. It was a mobile unit. I'm going to see who owns it."

Plad got the call saying the Doctor was gone, but the box wasn't, just as he got the number on the mobile comm. He told his staff to hold the line. He had to give landing approval to the trading ship. He calmed himself and offered a polite excuse. The kid on the ship comm wanted to chat. He wanted to know what the girls were like on the planet. He was looking forward to the ship's down time.

The identity on the mobile unit didn't mean anything until he realized the address seemed familiar. It was next door to Miriam Swarn's house. He told his staff to pick up something loud and messy in the way of heavy artillery and meet him there. He'd decided to get rid of his problems. It would be nice if the Doctor lived through it, but he figured the daleks would pay for the blue box without him. They'd been real interested in it. He figured he'd find the keys to it on the Doctor's body. Alive or dead. He wished he'd thought to look for them earlier, but at the time he'd been more interested in finding the woman.

"Grab the blue grav car, Diz. The keys are in it. Data, there's a comm on the post by the gate. Get the address for Priscilla Beswith. Diz will pick you up on the way out. Doc, we're going to need something to take these boys out. They're heavy worlders. Bring us six small metal pipes from that shed over there. They'll make good sticks. Wait. Pick me up by the taxi stand. I've got to check the street map."

Tech ran for the gate. Both Miriam's and Priscilla's addresses were unlisted. It would take Data a few seconds extra to break into the system, but, by the time Diz got to him, he'd have it. He wished he could remember details like the address, but he couldn't. Unless he spent time memorizing them like he had the roulette numbers, he just remembered how to get them. He was standing in front of the map when they pulled up. Data said, "Two four one Petal Lane." He found it, jumped in the car and they raced across town. He knew they'd be in time, but he'd learned things could be changed.

"What am I doing here?"

"We couldn't think of anywhere else to take you."

Why didn't you just carry me into the TARDIS? We'd have been safer there than here."

"The TARDIS? Oh, your ship. I haven't got an answer, Captain. All we were thinking about was getting you out of that basement before they found out Bobby's call was a trick."

"Where did she call from?"

"My car."

"Lock the doors and windows. Where's Bobby?"

"In the kitchen. What's wrong?"

"Plad will have your address by now. He'll have traced the call to your car. Forget me. Get Bobby and get the back door locked. Fast, Priscilla. I don't know how long we've been here, but they'll be here soon."

He rolled off the couch. He got it pulled out a bit and used his body to make a space behind it. He smiled at the thought of the two of them carrying him up the stairs. One of them had picked the locks on the manacles. They were a very resourceful pair, but they were in real trouble.

They dove behind the couch as the first bullets broke the windows. He shoved them between himself and the wall. He was a little rough and Priscilla squealed. He pulled them both against him and covered them with his body as well as he could. Priscilla started crying when she felt the bullets hit him. He shushed her. "I've had worse. We need help and I don't think there is any on this world. In a very short time they're going to quit shooting and come in. As soon as the firing stops, you two try to get out the side window in the bedroom. Run and don't look back."

"They'll kill you."

"No, Bobby, I'm worth a great deal more alive than dead. It must be paining Plad in the pocketbook to risk killing me to get you. Priscilla, pull the TARDIS key out of my vest pocket. Drop it somewhere it won't be found. That's it. Here they come. Run!"

He let go of them and pushed the couch out. He saw them get through the bedroom door just as the front door crashed open. One of the peldarans dragged him from behind the couch by his feet.

"Where's the woman?"

"Not here. I'm alone."

I don't believe you."

"Maybe they went shopping. Bobby lost her hat when you blew up her office. You lose, Plad. She's gone, I'm dying, and the TARDIS is no good without the key."

"I don't think you're dying. Just carrying around a load of lead. That couch took most of the impact."

"Priscilla, over here. Get down. You too, Bobby."

"Who are you?"

"The cavalry. They call me Tech. Stay here. We're going to take them when they bring him out. You forgot to drop the key, Priscilla." He was right! She had it clutched in her hand. "Don't worry, he won't be mad. Bobby, you're really going to like Leroy. Time for me to go."

"Bobby, that's one very strange young man."

"You're right. Who do you suppose Leroy is, Priscilla? They're bringing him out. He's alive! Wow! Who is that?! Nobody can move that fast!"

"There are three of them! Who are they?!"

"It seems to be over. Shall we find out?"

They walked into the shattered house through the shattered front door. They stood and watched as Data wrapped the peldarans and Plad into a neat bundle, using the metal legs off Priscilla's kitchen table.

"Data, we need you. He's got six slugs in him. They're not deep, but two are very close to his spine."

"Yes, Tech. I shall need a knife."

"Doc's sterilizing one."

"Hello, ladies, I'm Diz. Why don't we wait on the front porch? You don't want to watch this. Data is very precise, but it will be messy. Don't worry. We're not going to do anything to hurt him. He's in a trance state. He won't feel a thing. We'll have him fixed up in no time."

"Who are you?"

"I just told you, I'm Diz. Oh, you mean all of us. Bobby, look at me. It ought to be obvious. We all look a lot like Dad."

"I have removed the bullets. The deep healing beam was in his pocket. Doc is using it on him now. He should regain consciousness a short time after his body reaches stability."

Diz grinned. Priscilla was peering over his shoulder at Tech and Doc by the couch, but Bobby was staring at Data. "Engineer Genevieve Roberta Fale, I'd like you to meet Starfleet Lieutenant Commander Data, alias Leroy."

"How do you do, Miss Fale?"

"Bobby. Just fine, Commander. I do just fine. Why don't you and I find a nice place to sit and talk?"

"I do not know why. I am not needed here currently."

"Good. Come with me, Commander."

"Please, call me Leroy. I have recently stored the name in my primary identity program. I have very interesting memories cataloged in that file."

Diz sat down and watched them walk off. He patted the step beside him. "Sit down, Priscilla. Tech says he's got a few more interesting memories he'll be adding to his Leroy file today."

"What is he? A robot?"

"No, he's the most unique life form in at least two universes and several dimensions. He's really still a child, not much older than we are. He's the only sentient android in existence. And he's got something in common with the three of us. He wants to grow up to be just like Dad too."

"Oh, no you don't. You stop right there."

He sighed. "Hello, Bobby."

"Doctor, there are two more things you have to do before you leave this world."

"If you mean say good-by, I'd prefer not to."

"No, that's not what I meant. Actually, it's say hello. Someone very special wants to meet you. He's on his way over. Meanwhile, there are two people waiting for you upstairs."

"Bobby, I have to get the TARDIS to the ship before it leaves."

"You know and I know they aren't going anywhere without you. I have some surprises for you. You'll like them. I'd have brought them down, but I hate this basement. Every time I look at that post, I get sick to my stomach."

"It looked worse than it was."

"Sure it did. Come on. This won't take long." She took his arm and tugged him toward the stairs. He sighed and let her pull him along.

Priscilla was waiting for them at the top. "Captain Knight, I'd like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Joff Silden."

"Miriam, Joff! Congratulations."

Joff grinned. "When she came in my office and dragged me out of it, I didn't know what was going on. She shoved me in a car and took me to her folks' place. I'm not quite sure how it all happened. Guess I'm still a bit dazed, but I wanted to say thank you. I'd probably never gotten up the nerve to ask her."

"Add my thanks to his, Captain. You changed my life and it needed changing."

"Miriam, I'm very happy for you both. Now, I really must leave."

"Priscilla, may I borrow your car?"

"Sure, Bobby. Here. Keys. See you at the reception."

"Bobby, let go of me!"

"Not yet. There they are."

A dignified elderly man got out of the chairman's car. Toby waved at the Doctor and drove off. Bobby said, "Doctor, this is my boss, Albert D. Heart. Boss, this is the Doctor. I'm going to take a nap in the car. You two have things to talk about."

They did. They talked for several hours. About a great many things. They parted very good friends. A few days later Dr. Jeanne Glace sat at her desk and held a large check from her new corporate sponsor and a manifest for foodstuffs delivered from Athera. She smiled as she held them, but she wasn't looking at them. She was looking at the carefully preserved rose in the frame on her office wall.

## Chapter Six

"Hello, Agent Slogar."

"Captain Knight, Leroy. It's a pleasure to see you."

"I see you have a new desk."

"Yes, Captain, but let me save you the trouble of opening it." He pulled out a stack of contracts and laid them in front of the Doctor. "You have received the highest performance rating possible from your last employer. You have also received that rating from ICMC. That has happened before; however, I have never received four such ratings for one contract fulfillment. How did you get ratings from the Cluster Superior Court and the Trans-system Banking Consortium?"

"That was nice of them. I detect Albert's hand in it."

"Albert Heart?"

"Yes. We became well acquainted before I left Athera. A true gentleman. I like him."

"Captain, you have important friends."

"Agent Slogar, I also have important enemies. I would like to ask you again about the Liberty contract."

"I really wish I could help you. I've been watching for anything that looked like a repeat. It was a blind contract. An amount, a force type and size, and a contact number. I don't get many. I expected them to try again, but I've had no blinds come in."

"Do you handle scientific requests?"

"Yes, I'm one of three. The others are specialized; one engineering, one educational."

"I should like to be notified if you receive a blind request of a scientific nature."

"Would you be interested in that type of work?"

"Very interested. Now, if you will excuse me a moment, I shall choose our next employer." Agent Slogar closed his eyes. It bothered him to see Captain Knight pull his glasses and stylus out of nowhere. "Leroy, I think this might be fun. What do you think?"

"It could prove most interesting, Captain."

"The boys will have to be watched, but they are improving."

"That is true. They have not killed very many people recently."

"Yes, and they usually remember to ask me first. I think we'll take it." He signed it Captain Knight and handed it to the agent.

"Are you sure? The pay is low and the risks are high. You could have any contract I've got, Captain. You've got my top rating."

"Yes. We are a small force and our expenses are low. The boys like excitement. And I have a soft spot for underdogs."

"And horses. The chairman of Athera told me."

The Doctor smiled and put his glasses and pen away. Agent Slogar gulped. "I would appreciate it if you did not inform the contracting party. I shall notify them at an appropriate time. Please confirm this as date of signing when they contact you."

The agent put the contract away and shook his head. Fun. He checked to see when Captain Knight was scheduled for liftoff and was informed there were no ships in. He gulped and put his head down on his new desk.

"All right, we are now on 'vacation'. How long ago did we land?"

"About half an hour. Diz and Doc are finding outfits for us in the wardrobe. Dad, we're going to have a better time than you want us to here."

"Tech, I wish you wouldn't tell me things like that. They make me very nervous. And curious."

"This time I'll tell you. We're going to need to be poured home. We'll also have a really lousy morning tomorrow. I don't intend to do it and neither do they, but it will happen."

"And just where and when do I find you to 'pour' you home"

"About an hour before dawn at the Velvet Mistress."

"NO! You are NOT going there."

"Dad, by the time we get there, we won't know where we are. We'll be all right. I promise. It doesn't hurt our cover either. Your three 'wild boys' make quite a name for themselves. Nothing quite like the Captain and Leroy though. I'm going to get ready. Data, our lessons are filed. We've all finished the text. Please, find a more interesting writer. That man was awful. The theory was fun, but the presentation was BORING."

The Doctor watched him head for the TARDIS wardrobe. "They're not seventeen yet. At least, I don't think they are. They have no business getting drunk and they DEFINITELY don't belong in the Velvet Mistress."

"Doctor, what is the Velvet Mistress?"

"The most notorious brothel, in the most notorious city, on the notorious pleasure world of Carnival."

"Doctor, I understand your concern and the decision must be yours, but I have noted that most human males of their age have begun to acquire sexual experience."

"I suppose I'm rather old fashioned, but I just don't approve of the 'oldest profession'. I'd stop them, but I don't want to order them back to the ship. If I ever do give them an order, I want it obeyed without question. To insure that, I must not abuse my authority. I shall just have to accept the situation. I don't like it, but I'll accept it. Let's get to work, Data. We have a syndicate to dismantle. By the way, how are the lessons progressing?"

"They are doing very well. I am in some quandary as to what to assign them."

"In what subject?"

"History. Our universes are most similar until the beginnings of space exploration. They diverge sharply quite soon after."

"Teach them the history of your universe."

"Doctor, you will miss them very much."

"Yes, and I probably should have taken them there before now, but I'd rather miss them than not know them. It's the same choice I've made most of my life."

"You wish them to become men in my universe because you fear for their safety in yours."

"Yes, Data. The only place they'd be safe here is hidden away on a single planet. In your universe, they can have the stars."

"I believe I know what you wish me to ask Captain Picard. I shall adjust their course of study appropriately."

"Thank you. Data, Liberty never named anyone as godfather for Doc. Would you be willing to accept one more godchild?"

"I would be most honored, Doctor."

They went to work and played. It was their job. Carnival was a pleasure planet with a problem. A very nasty syndicate had moved in. The pleasures on Carnival had been notorious, but relatively healthy. Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we bring you the bill. The syndicate had introduced real vice, corruption, murder, and drugs.

Carnival was a planet under siege. They hadn't really had poverty. There had been work enough for all and good rehab programs for gambling and alcohol abuse. Now they had a growing area of slums and hard-core, drug-addicted, unemployed. Travel was expensive, so gaming taxes had been low. The planet was going broke trying to keep the children of the unemployable housed and fed.

The syndicate was buying out legitimate businesses and resorting to murder if the offer was refused. The unarmed constabulary was hopelessly outnumbered by the army of 'hoodlums' and were casually killed if they got in the way. They didn't know who was behind the syndicate or how the drugs got in.

They started on the beach and drew a crowd. It was all female until Captain Knight decided to teach his boys to surf. Leroy wanted to try, but couldn't think of a way to keep from sinking.

"Excuse me."

"I do not know why you wish to be excused; therefore, I can not fulfill your request."

She giggled. "I meant for bothering you."

"The presence of a beautiful young woman is seldom a bother." Data still wasn't sure what the criteria for beautiful were, but, since all life was beautiful to him, she must qualify. He was carefully following the Doctor's instructions to be 'charming' to the ladies.

"Who is the man on the surfboard?"

"There are several men on surfboards. To which do you refer?"

"The one you're with. The one who's so incredibly good at it."

"He would, perhaps, tell you he is Captain Knight."

Data decided he'd gotten around that well. His programming was not designed to allow him to actually lie. And he had noticed the Doctor had not identified himself as Captain Knight either.

The Doctor had solved the dilemma for the boys by having Albert submit a petition to the cluster court to make the name 'official' for them. Albert had found a way to file it as a paternity acknowledgment without actually stating who the father was. 'Captain Knight' was highly admired by the judge for his work on Athera and he had overlooked the irregularity. It had pleased the boys immensely. It had pleased the Doctor even more.

"Aren't you going in?"

"In what?"

"The water. You know. Swimming."

"I do not swim. I walk on the bottom. My body does not float."

"Oh, a heavy worlder. What's your name?"

"I am currently maintaining the identity of Leroy."

"I'm Claudy. Short for Claudina. You talk funny, Leroy, but overall you're the best proportioned heavy worlder I've ever seen."

"I deduce that was intended as a compliment. Thank you, Claudy."

"Lord, he's good. And those boys learn faster than anyone I've ever seen. I watched him showing them position on the beach. Now they look like they've surfed for years. Do you play volleyball, Leroy?"

"I am acquainted with the game."

"Come on. Some friends of mine want to get a game going. I'm supposed to find a few more to play."

"I have been told I am to 'play', Claudy. I will accompany you."

The Doctor and the boys tired of surfing and looked for Data. They found him amidst a cheering crowd. He and Claudy were playing volleyball against a full team. Claudy was nearly as spectacular as he was. Perhaps more so. Her skill was the result of years of very hard work.

"Captain, do you wish to play?"

"I think it might be quite enjoyable. What do you say, boys?"

"I say Leroy needs someone to give him a real workout. Us against you and him. Pretty lady, would you play on our team. I'm Tech. That's Diz and he's Doc."

"Claudy. Sounds like fun."

The boys took off their shirts and grinned at the gasps when the Doctor smiled, shook his head and took off his. He was still carrying the muscle from the mines and the scars Varna had 'freshened'. He hadn't had time to get back to what he called "comfortable". Ordinarily, he wouldn't have done it, but Tech had emphasized it as part of the 'image' they were trying to create.

The group playing against Data and Claudy were very willing to give up their places. Going scoreless when you're playing a full court against two is a bit embarrassing.

The Doctor briefed the boys on the rules, showed them a few different serves and they started play. The crowd grew. And grew. And grew. The Doctor and Data had run up a small score after an hour. The Doctor called a halt. "Enough. There are other games to play. Leroy, the evening approaches. A meal, a fine wine," He lifted Claudy off her feet and spun her around. "and lovely company await. Let us prepare."

"Yes, Captain."

"Dad, we'll stay here for awhile. You know where to find us later."

"Yes, Tech, I do. Do not kill anyone. I would prefer you not break anyone either. We are on holiday."

"We'll remember. No killing and no breaking. Come on, Diz, Doc. Let's PARTY!!"

The Doctor shook his head and smiled as Tech tossed his shirt to Claudy, picked her up, put her over his shoulder and ran down the beach with her. He laughed when two girls fought over Doc's shirt. Doc solved the problem by tearing his shirt in half, bowing and offering half to each. Diz did a handspring into the middle of a group in identical sorority shirts and backed down the beach beckoning. They followed. All seven of them.

"Leroy, I fear I have taught them too well."

"Captain, I believe the appropriate response is you still have a great deal more to teach them."

The Doctor walked back to the ship barefoot, carrying his shirt and shoes in his hands. He made one stop. The sign said, "No shirt, no shoes, no service." He walked in, ordered a shot of whiskey, was served, downed it, said "Bill it." and sauntered out. No one asked who he was. They were sure they'd find out.

He and Data dressed for the evening. They chose black, white and red. The Doctor tucked loose black pants into shiny black boots, left the white wide-sleeved shirt open almost to his waist, added a red satin cummerbund and a black cape with red satin lining, then donned rings and a ruby pendant. Data wore leather. Black pants, boots and jacket, a tight red satin shirt and a flat black and white cap with red edging. The Doctor looked at his image in the mirror and smiled. "Data, I don't think changing clothes makes me any less noticeable. Shall we go?" He was beginning to enjoy playing the part of Captain Knight.

The Doctor ate a perfectly prepared meal at a fine restaurant and had a bottle of wine. He took a few sips and disposed of the rest. The object was to appear to be drinking, not get drunk. Data made no pretense of eating. They had decided it wasn't necessary. His appearance was alien enough it would be assumed he required a special diet.

They started down a street of night clubs and 'caroused'. They also collected company, women and men. Everyone was in the mood to party and they were a moving party. Women argued over whose turn it was to dance with them, so on the fast numbers they danced with several at a time. The dance style currently popular for them was one in which the partners seldom touched. Leroy 'sat in' with several bands and the Captain led sing-alongs. Several men in dark business suits watched. Something about this 'Captain' made them nervous. They were planning on taking out a little 'insurance' that he didn't become a problem.

Tech, Doc and Diz partied. They had lots of help, all of it female. At one point a half dozen muscular types decided to move in on the three with every good looking girl on the beach. The boys drew straws and Diz won. He put the muscular types down for a nap and stretched out on the moonlit sand. He'd been pleased to note he was nearly as muscular as the 'types' and a great deal faster. The girls seemed to be pleased about it too.

"Time to move on."

"Where to, Tech?"

"Towards town. This party gets wild shortly, Doc. Time to kiss the girls good-night."

"Which ones?"

"All of them, Diz. Wouldn't be fair otherwise."

They each kissed every girl and left them sitting on the beach sighing. Tech said they'd see them soon. Doc said Tech was always right. Diz said they were beautiful.

The first doorman tried to tell them they were too young and Doc couldn't come in without a shirt anyway. They borrowed his. No one on the street tried to stop them after that. Word spread fast. Captain Knight and Leroy took uptown and the boys took down.

Women began to decide they liked VERY young men. Men objected, but not for long. Men in dark suits watched and stayed out of their way.

Tech ordered champagne. When the bartender didn't bring it, Diz went over the bar and brought back a bottle each. The bartender pulled his hardwood 'persuader' from beneath the bar. Doc smiled at him and broke it in half. Diz removed the slipper of a beautiful redhead and drank from it. Tech removed the man who objected. They stayed in an area known as 'tough', where fights were common and the crowd wild.

They found a bar with a good band and took over the dance floor, and the women on it. The men decided to leave when asked. Word had spread.

Tech got dizzy, laid down on the dance floor and laughed. Two men in dark suits decided it was time to obey orders and pick them up. Tech looked down at the two unconscious men who had tried to help him up. He said, "Oops. I hope I didn't break them. Dad said not to." Several more men in dark suits decided it wasn't time to pick them up yet.

The crowds started to thin and the boys started looking for somewhere else to party. They were staggering down the street arm in arm in arm, Diz in the middle, and saw a place still open. They had to make two attempts at the steps. The men in dark suits decided it was time to pick them up. The woman watching out the window smiled. She didn't like the six men in dark suits lying unconscious on her front steps anyway. She did like the pretty boys who left them there. So did her girls.

"Leroy, dawn approaches."

"One hour, eleven minutes, thirty-two point four seconds, Captain."

"Ladies and sirs, I must seek my wayward lads. Good-night."

Captain Knight and Leroy turned and left. Men smiled and ladies sighed. The party had gone.

The Doctor smiled as he stepped over the men in dark suits on the steps. His boys had obviously attracted someone's attention. "Good morrow, Madam. I've come to collect my boys."

"They're upstairs. Nice kids. My girls and I have grown rather fond of them in the last few hours."

"I'm rather fond of them myself. Leroy, time to pour them home."

"Yes, Captain."

The woman watched them mount the stairs. She knew who they were, Captain Knight and Leroy. Word had spread. She wished the captain had come earlier, but she decided she really couldn't afford to shut down for a whole night for one man. She was basing her estimate on his boys. She wasn't planning on billing him. She looked out at the six on her steps and smiled.

The Doctor found Tech in a room with three women. He looked up, smiled, said, "Hi, Dad. We had a g.o.o.o.d time." closed his eyes and went to sleep. The Doctor smiled, accepted the assistance the women offered to restore Tech to some semblance of order, picked him up, put him over his shoulder and headed down the steps. Data was waiting at the foot of the stairs, a boy over each shoulder.

The woman watched them walk down the street toward the spaceport and smiled.

"Here, drink this."

"Uhh, please, Dad. I don't ever want to hear the word 'drink' again."

"I thought you said you remembered this, Tech."

"Reality is much more nauseating. Ugh, I know it'll make me feel better, but it tastes awful."

"Sleep for another hour, then we get back to work."

"Slave driver." Tech smiled. The Doctor decided it looked a bit green. Doc and Diz were about the same shade.

The Doctor and Data finished installing the new computer system and broke into the cluster banking network. Large sums of money were leaving Carnival. It had to be accumulating somewhere. They found nine numbered accounts on the banking world of Brotherhood.

"Time to get to work and play."

"What is our itinerary, Doctor?"

"The amusement park is our major objective, but I don't plan on arriving there until late afternoon. We'll start in the spas. The boys should benefit. I'd like them to look a bit more invincible by the time we get to the park."

"They appear to have attracted someone's attention last night."

"It would appear so. I wonder why?" He smiled. "I think our evening should include them. We're going to the ballet. Here's a small shopping list. We've got a few changes to make in the carburetors of our bikes before we ride them."

"Doctor, there is evidence of an attempt to enter the ship in our absence."

"I noticed. Two of the items on that list are for an improvement in the security system. I'm going to wake the boys and take them to breakfast. Order those items and have them delivered. Scan everything carefully. There are diagrams for the security installation in the computer. Key it before you leave. We'll key in later. We shall meet you at the Waters of Joy spa in four hours. Albert has given us a very high credit rating. We'll supplement our bank balance once we've decided who's going to pay our expenses."

Data said, "Computer, locate sources, arrange purchase and delivery of the following items... "

"Dad, breakfast is something I'd like to put off til after dinner."

"Diz, you'll eat and you'll keep it down. I promise. I need you to appear in perfect form by noon."

"We'll appear that way, Dad, but it's because we're good actors."

"You'll actually feel better after you eat, Doc. I'll order. Alcohol poisoning is not a pleasant experience. I know. The drink I gave you earlier was to start restoring the electrolyte balance in your systems. Breakfast for complex carbohydrates. The workout afterwards will sweat most of the rest of it out."

"Tech, why didn't you tell us he was going to make us do a workout?"

"I was trying very hard not to think about it, Diz. I'm still trying very hard not to think about it."

"Good. Just what I had in mind. We'll sit in the roof garden in the sun." He smiled when all three groaned. They were still at the 'shade the eyes' stage. He really was trying to get them through their first hangover quickly, but he intended they remember it well. He could have cured it within seconds by giving them a drug specifically designed to counter the effects of alcohol poisoning, but he wanted them to have a clear understanding of exactly what they had done to their bodies.

They ate. He insisted. He also insisted they eat slowly, ordering only one or two items at a time. They showed a tendency to 'bolt' their food, trying to get it over with. "Now, the gymnasium we want is in the Classine Palace Residential Hotel. We're not registered so we're going to earn our way in. They have an exceptional martial arts program, classes in several levels. You will teach. I will watch. Your classes will begin in twenty minutes. The run to the hotel will take seven. Shall we go?"

He set a reasonable pace. He really didn't like to run. He really didn't like to exercise at all. He was very much looking forward to the time he could become a comfortable, irresponsible, wanderer again, but he would miss them. He didn't need to see the future to know how much.

The hotel manager had never had a request quite like it before, but Captain Knight had set it up in advance. He notified the gym of their arrival. The Doctor hadn't told them they would be teaching small children. Tech knew, but didn't see it as a problem.

He was pleased. They were patient and careful of small bodies. Doc's class asked his age. He listened carefully. He wanted to know too. Classes stopped while the three conferred. They brought their figures to him and asked for a conversion to Earth years. They were all just a few days over seventeen.

After the classes, he took them through a workout. Doc was the strongest, Tech the most precise and Diz the quickest. He finished with a fencing lesson. He was surprised at their proficiency, especially Diz'. He learned Doc had been teaching him. The Waters of Joy spa was less than two blocks from the immense hotel complex. Data met them at the door.

"Captain, the system is installed and operating. I have coded it as you have instructed. The appointment you requested is for three hours after midday. The entire facility will be dedicated to completing the work for two days. The first items to be completed one hour before the ballet. The gentleman you asked meet us there was most agreeable. He too will deliver the first items an hour before the ballet. He stated it would be a challenge for his family."

"Excellent. Tech has been smiling since he stopped being green. I don't think he's told the others. I just found out they all had birthdays recently. They're seventeen."

The masseuse working on the Doctor was awed. The strange pattern of scarring was beautiful, but she couldn't stand to think of the pain that must have accompanied it. She finally got up the nerve to ask about it. He told her there were actually two sets, but he had gotten them both at once. One was to signify his adoption into the first family of a world; the other his designation as their champion in ritual combat. Word spread.

Data stood guard outside the door. He heard the explanation. He also heard the boys' groans of pure pleasure. He wondered what it would be like to have muscles that responded to skillful manipulation. Two men in dark suits saw him standing outside the door, put the gas canisters back in their pockets and left. Data noticed.

They left the spa and the Doctor hailed a cab. Their appointment was across the city. The boys looked at the big white building with its discreet brass nameplate and grinned. It said, "Basitch and Basitch, Tailors".

They went back to the ship and were keyed into the security system. The boys smiled when they realized how it was designed to operate. It wouldn't be exceptionally difficult to get in, but no one would get out again. Access to three areas was voice and command coded. The engine room, the bridge, and the captain's stateroom were totally secure. Since the rest of the ship was shiny clean and empty, it would seem very strange to their first intruders.

"I still like the amusement parks on Earth best. Disneyland and Disneyworld have never had an equal."

"Sir, that statement refers to two distinct places. You have spoken of them as one."

"I suppose I think of them that way, Data. Disneyland was the first. It was built in the mid-twentieth century. The concept came from the mind of a creative genius named Walt Disney. Disneyworld was completed well after his death, but his genius lived on in its design."

"I am familiar with Mr. Disney's accomplishments, Doctor. His animated works are still considered classics."

"Yes, especially Fantasia. Make sure the boys see it someday. Well, time to go to work. Shall we play, Leroy?"

"I am prepared, Captain.

"Dad, this afternoon's itinerary has some unexpected complications."

"Our dark suited friends?"

"No. Just make sure you're in the front car of the roller coaster."

"Tech, sometimes you are just a bit too enigmatic."

"I'm rather caught in the middle, Dad. If I tell you everything that's going to happen, it will drive you crazy. If I leave something out you think is important, you'll be furious. I tell you what I remember telling you and make the best of it."

"And make me nervous." He sighed. "All right. Front seat it is."

They became heroes that afternoon. Carnival was rather geologically stable as planets go, but that afternoon it hiccuped.

They were riding the roller coaster when the temblor hit. The structure collapsed at the bottom of a steep drop. The recreated 'coaster' was at the top. Data and the Doctor were in the front car.

"Stop us!"

Data leapt over the front of the car and used himself as a friction brake. He brought the train of twelve cars to a stop four meters from the break. The Doctor and the boys made six trips each down the structure carrying someone on their backs. Several people felt capable of making it on their own. They made 'emergency friends' with the two men who made several trips with them. The Doctor invited the woman who had made three trips carrying children to the ballet. Word spread.

The men in dark suits looked at the cheering crowd around them and put their stunners away. Data noticed.

## Chapter Seven

"Dad, we need weapons."

He paused in donning his tuxedo. "Tech, you know how I feel about weapons"

"I know, but we WILL need them. The day after tomorrow they take Diz. I assume they intend to use us as 'insurance' you don't become a problem. They plan on catching us and addicting us to sparkle. They try for all of us. They get Diz. We won't have time to be nice. We'll be real close."

"Order them." The Doctor's voice was grim. There was no cure for addiction to the drug known as sparkle and addiction came with the first dose. It was death quickly without it, slowly with it. Not even Time Lords were immune. No one was fool enough to use it intentionally. It was a drug of coercion, used to control. It would have been wiped out, but the plant from which it was extracted was also the source of three life-saving medications that could not be duplicated.

It was time to break the syndicate. There hadn't been any reports of sparkle on the planet. If it was brought in, the world was lost. They had found how the drugs were coming in, but not who shipped them. The Doctor planned on creating a shortage. He knew he wouldn't find the sparkle. Fifty grams was enough to addict a world.

"Dad, there's one more thing."

"Tech, this sounds like bad news."

"It is. We won't be able to save the two girls with Diz. Doc and you are going to get hurt. Dad, download Data into the TARDIS memory banks. Get his complete specs. Make sure the files are complete. His brain won't be damaged, but his memory will be wiped. It's going to take outside help to reintegrate his personality. The only reason it can be done at all is because the TARDIS won't lose any of the 'flavour' of his memories. Make sure you get well acquainted with the man in the next box tonight. He's the one we'll need. You're going to have to get him to come back here with us. He'll have to stay in the TARDIS and you'll have to tell him who you are. All of who you are."

"Tech, I can't do that."

"Yes you can. You will. It's safe with him. He's an old man and he's dying. I don't know what you tell him. No one will ever know what you tell him, but it will make him help us save Data. Dad, we can't save Diz without Data and we can't save Data without Professor Daring."

"Doctor."

"Coming, Data! I'd say that call was about your evening wear. Get changed. I'll have to tell Data why."

"I know. Tell him I said he won't lose anything. He'll actually gain a little. The TARDIS can't resist, I guess deepening is the best word, his experiences, but she won't actually change him. Professor Daring is a different story. He's a genius. He's going to die before he finishes his life's work. He's very close to creating a positronic brain. He's going to want to give Data an emotive circuit. It's why you have to tell him who you are. You have to stop him."

"Yes, it would change him. He wants to feel as we do so badly. All right, Tech. I'll tell the professor. Now, get changed. I have a date."

"Yeah, and you're really going to enjoy it."

Christian Paris picked up the corsage and contemplated it. Why did he have to send a Sylvan rose? She knew the flower, more commonly known as a mood rose, was rare and expensive, but at the moment she would have preferred a local weed. No one else would realize what it was, but he would know.

She sighed and attached it to her white gown. The door beeped and she went to answer it. He too wore white and a rose. He smiled and she blushed. His rose was white, but hers was deep red.

"Hello, Christian. I thought we'd walk. I hope you don't mind."

"I had rather hoped we would, Captain. It's a beautiful evening."

"And you are its perfect complement. Shall we go?"

She took his arm and he led her to the stairs. She was surprised. He'd chosen to escort her down the showpiece of the hotel, the great, two story, carpeted, curving, white marble staircase. He had learned it was the last night of her holiday. He would make it one she would always remember.

"I believe you told me you are a teacher on Edith. Carnival seems a rather distant vacation choice."

"I won the trip. My class entered me in the contest. I didn't know anything about lt. I still don't believe I won. I'm not sure why they chose me. I think my students exaggerated."

"This sounds interesting. May I know more?"

"Every year the Mandac Travel Corporation holds a contest. The prize is an expense paid, first class, trip to one of their destinations. The contest is called, "The World's Best Teacher". Students write essays on why they think their teacher is best. Winning was an honor, but the real prize was their accomplishment."

"This story gets more interesting as it progresses. Tell me what they accomplished."

"They obtained the contest forms, followed the rules and wrote an essay. They all worked on lt. I checked and none of the other teachers or their parents helped. My class is very special. I teach severely developmentally disabled children, most with multiple handicaps."

"You, beautiful lady, are a very special person. One more question. Usually, such trips are for two, why are you traveling alone? That question bothered you. I'm sorry."

"It's all right. My husband died of Penalen's syndrome a year ago. I did invite another teacher, but, at the last moment, she had to cancel. I couldn't not take the trip. Not after the work my students did. So, I came alone."

"Penalen's syndrome is a birth defect."

"Yes, my husband was the first disabled person I ever taught. He was brilliant, but he'd been institutionalized as unteachable. It took me two years to get him out of that place. I had to devise a whole series of new tests to prove he was capable of learning before I could convince the court to let me marry him. The tests are now used on disabled children. I like to think I've kept a lot of them from spending their lives in the kind of trapped desperation he suffered."

"I would say your students and the contest judges knew exactly what they were doing. I doubt there was any exaggeration in that essay at all."

People in the hotel watched the couple in white descend the stairs. The beautiful woman seemed to float on the arm of the handsome man. The white gown and white tuxedo were set off perfectly by the deep red roses they both wore.

Data and the boys were awaiting them in the lobby of the Grand Ballet Theater. They ascended to their box and the Doctor took note of the small elderly man seated alone in the box to his right.

"Watch him, Dad. He'll need you just before the final curtain. Check his inside coat pocket."

"Thank you, Tech. You will escort him to the ship."

"Yes, he'll help Leroy."

"May I know what that was about?"

"My children are special too, Christian. Tech has his own form of handicap. He can never know the delight of a surprise."

"I don't understand."

"He remembers his whole life. Past, present and future. From the moment of birth to the moment of death. It is a terrible burden to carry."

"I can be surprised, Dad. I'll always remember the occasion. No one else could have changed it. Only you."

"It needed to be changed."

"Is he saying you changed the future?"

"Yes. It's frowned upon, but tolerated. I get in a great deal more trouble when I change the past. I usually wind up in court."

"I don't think I'll ask any more questions. The answers are making my curiosity bump itch."

"That's probably a very wise decision."

The ballet was a classic production of Swan Lake. It was the reason he'd chosen it. Christian had never seen it before, neither had Tech or Doc. It was Diz' favorite and Data preferred it to most others. He listened carefully. The lead violinist was excellent.

During the intermission, the Doctor chatted with Professor Daring. The topics they discussed were over Christian's head, but she enjoyed listening. She wouldn't have believed her opinion of Captain Knight could get higher, but it did.

Just before the final curtain, Tech said, "Now."

The Doctor leapt across the gap from his box to Professor Daring's and caught him as he was about to pitch forward over the rail. He quickly found the injector and administered the medication. He sat on the floor with the little man and told him who he was. All of who he was.

He told him what he needed and Professor Daring smiled in delight. He knew he would never finish his life's work, but he would see what it would have created. The Doctor smiled at the little man's expression of wonder as he entered the cab and sat next to Data for the ride to the ship.

"Christian, the night is young. Let's find somewhere with candlelight, fine food and beautiful music."

"I think that sounds like an excellent idea, Captain."

He stayed with her until she boarded her ship for home early the next morning. Tech had warned him the men in dark suits were waiting for a time she would be alone. He smiled and decided he'd have stayed even if he hadn't seen the men in dark suits in her hotel lobby. His smile widened. He was quite enjoying being Captain Knight.

"I see we had visitors."

"Hi, Dad. We thought they looked cute all in a circle around the ship."

"I detected your artistic flair in the arrangement, Diz. How's our guest?"

"In heaven. He has a tendency to reach out and pat Data, just to make sure he's real. How was your evening?"

The Doctor smiled and handed Diz his deep red rose. He was puzzled until it changed to blue in his hand. He held it and laughed. It turned pink.

The Doctor entered the TARDIS and hunted for Data and the professor. He found them amidst the main computer banks. "Hello, how is it going?"

"Quite well, Doctor. I successfully countermanded the wipe command on the information you gave me. Professor Daring understands the functions of my positronic brain. He has a most interesting proposal."

"Data, I'm sorry, but I must say no. We must return you to your universe essentially unchanged. You will develop what you want in your own way over time."

"That is very near the statement my creator made before he died."

"I don't see why he shouldn't be given the circuit. It was in his original design."

"Professor, you are one of six people in existence throughout time who truly know all of who I am. The others are all very far in the past. Tech told me to give you information I have NEVER willingly shared with anyone! The reason you were given that information was so that you would not ARGUE with my decision! ACCEPT it is the CORRECT ONE!"

The professor watched him storm out of the room and turned to Data. "Does he get like that often?"

"Not recently. It has been worrying his sons. I shall reassure them. He had become far too polite."

The Doctor sat in front of the viewscreen and watched the neat circle of men on the ferrocrete around the ship awaken. He initiated the tracking program and broke into the planetary comm net. If any one of them placed a call, it would be traced and recorded. He left the bridge and reentered the TARDIS. He had to find a way to change Tech's memories. There must be a way to save the two girls who would be taken with Diz. No one saw him again until that evening.

"Data, pull the list on calls and movements of last night's guests. Professor, you may explore the TARDIS and use any of its facilities. Please return to it now and do not leave it for any reason. Boys, accept delivery on all incoming freight, but check for my code on each item. Scan everything carefully."

"I know where the plants are, Dad."

"I'm sure you do, Tech. Scan anyway."

"Of course. That's the way it works. I remember scanning them, what I found, where I found it, and what I did with it."

"Yes, now do it. I also want our transportation moved to the freight lift in the cargo hold. Well, what are you WAITING for?!"

"You to yell. We've missed it." They grinned and left the bridge.

"Were you successful, Doctor?"

"I don't know, Data. I won't know until tomorrow. I think so. There's a six hour limit. It won't work on Diz, but it should work on humans."

"Tech has not told Diz?"

"No, I don't want him to know. Were we successfully discreet in our weapons order?"

"Yes, Doctor. I was able to intercept all notifications to our adversaries."

"Good. How many targets do we have tonight?"

"Twenty-six. The accumulated winnings and damage should reduce the syndicate cash reserve by eighty-six point three zero percent."

"Plan the route and detonation sequence. Route the list of responsible parties to cluster law enforcement agencies. Arrange for its arrival early day after tomorrow. Get a message to Albert. Let him know it's sparkle. There's not a good lawyer in the cluster who'll want to defend those nine men, not with the proof we're providing. Tell him to make sure they get good counsel. It won't be easy. He'll have to find someone with an absolute belief in the right to counsel and a strong stomach. Send him a list of all accounts and assets. Six have families. Have him arrange income, housing and identity changes for the innocents."

"I estimate it will require thirty-two minutes."

"I'm going to take a hot bath. It'll be a long night and I already feel dirty. Oh yes, make sure all those warehouses are clear of personnel when they go up. Arrange some kind of ruse if necessary."

"Only two have living beings employed in them. They will receive termination notices before they are to report for duty. I estimate an additional three minutes."

"I'll meet you in the wardrobe in forty minutes. Have the boys bring our 'evening wear' there."

The boots and wide belt were red, the pants and jacket black with red piping, and he didn't wear a shirt. The studs gleamed. Data wore all black and a red shirt. The boys wore the Doctor's colors reversed. The tailors had done well. The five sets of leathers were perfect to the last detail, zippers, chains, and Harley Davidson eagle. The Doctor looked in the mirror, smiled, and put on mirror lensed glasses. Captain Knight, Leroy and the boys were about to 'cut loose'.

There were only two motorcycles, so the boys rode grav scoots. The bikes were red, the scoots black. The modifications to the carburetors and engines had made the bikes quieter. The Doctor removed the mufflers and installed units to compensate for the loss of back pressure. Fuel wasn't a problem. They could 'fill up' at any bar in town. He nodded and Tech hit the button to lower the lift. It would rise as soon as the weight was off it.

The quiet evening was shattered by the big red bike kicking over. He rode it through the gate of the spaceport on its back wheel. Leroy stood on the tank and throttled to catch him. The three Knight boys went through the gate doing handstands on the handlebars of their scoots.

They started on the outskirts of the city and worked their way in. Leroy broke the bank at three casinos at the craps tables. The Captain laughed, threw money in the air and snapped his fingers. It didn't come down. The boys got in a brawl in a club and destroyed the premises with men in dark suits. The captain cleaned out six casinos playing roulette. He roared into a club on his bike and gunned it. The mirrored walls shattered. The captain and Leroy got into a friendly shoving match on the sidewalk and Leroy broke through the front wall of a restaurant. They kissed women, got in fights, shattered glass, won money and took bottles of liquor all over the city. Then the night got noisy.

Explosions shook the ground. Sirens wailed. Flames lit up the sky. Captain Knight, Leroy and the boys ignored them. They were out to party. They also knew there would be no destruction that hadn't been intentional.

One very conscientious constable tried to stop them. They were very careful with him. The captain rendered him unconscious with a nerve pinch and they left him lying on the steps of his precinct station holding a letter of apology to him and a recommendation for promotion to his captain.

They completed the twenty-six target run two hours before dawn, brought the lift down by remote and got a good sleep. Well, the boys did, about four hours. The Doctor napped about twenty minutes and Data started tracking the results of their 'night out'.

Lawyers started screaming "suit" early in the morning. They were told to check Captain Knight's credit rating and submit bills at noon in two days. They were warned the captain paid only for completed repairs. No estimates would be accepted. The lawyers checked the rating and contractors went to work all over the city.

## Chapter Eight

"When, Tech?"

"This afternoon."

"Not good enough. I need to know exactly when and how long it takes to get him back."

"Dad... "

"Tech, this is more important than you can understand. I MUST know WHEN!"

"I don't remember telling you."

"Good. Now tell me."

"Dad, if you're going to try to change things--"

"Stop ARGUING and TELL ME NOW!"

"About an hour after midday and five hours."

"About?"

"That's as close as I can get."

"When will he pick up the girls?"

"Early, right after breakfast. We all will. A bunch."

"Do they get separated from us?"

"No, they try for all three of us. They get Diz and two of the girls."

"Do you know which two?"

"The twins, Susan and Sara."

"All right. I'm hungry. Get ready."

"Dad, be careful. I'll tell you exactly where they take them, but it will take time to get them out. If you try to change things, we might not make lt. The last change made me dizzy for hours."

"Tech, the rest of us live our lives with that kind of chance. We never know exactly what the results of any action will be. We make our decisions based on conscience and 'best guess'. It's probably easier than the way you have to live."

"You may be right. I know I'm going to do things in my life I will never completely forgive myself for."

"I know of a few of those in my future."

"Huh?!"

"I've looked into the matrix." Tech nodded and he smiled, then grabbed Tech and steadied him. "All right?"

"Yeah, just a little readjustment in conversation. Learned a little I didn't know before."

"Go tell Doc and Diz to get up and get ready."

"They're up. Professor Daring put them both to work about half an hour ago. He's terrific. Too bad we can't do something for him."

"I'm afraid even I can't change the fact he's dying. His entire body is worn out. He's one hundred sixty-seven years old. He's had as many transplants, implants and treatments as his body will take."

"I know. And he's ready now that he's seen Data. He knows he's right. It can be done. He's not even jealous someone else did it, just wishes he could have met him."

"Go. Get. Ready."

"Doctor?"

"Here, Data."

"Did you obtain the information?"

"Yes. Just before one. Twin girls, Susan and Sara. Be discreet. Back of the neck if possible, but anywhere on the skin will do."

"Doctor, I have constructed a phaser. I have not seen them in this universe, but it is the weapon with which I am most familiar. I ask your opinion. Should I use it?"

"Yes, Data, just don't lose it."

"I have built a self-destruct into it. An attempt by someone other than myself to open it will render it useless."

"I see you're wearing your uniform."

"Yes, but I think you should not wear your accustomed garb. It is well known and would identify you as the Doctor."

"I know. You're right. I'll be glad when this is over. I have enough trouble just being myself. Being Captain Knight too is beginning to tire me."

They had a leisurely breakfast and went for a stroll. They stopped to listen to a concert in the park. That's where they acquired their feminine company. They were the first local ladies they had met on a social basis. The three women shared a condominium. The six teenage girls were assorted nieces, neighbors, children and friends. They were out for a concert and a day of relaxation.

Two of the women were fascinated by Captain Knight. One was definitely interested in Leroy. The six girls giggled and circulated among the boys. Not long after noon they started toward the beach. It was a slow, pleasant, stroll and a warm day.

They stopped for refreshments and the boys began to show off. Data suddenly did a back flip and landed between two of the girls, a hand laid gently on each of their necks. The boys laughed and told Leroy it wasn't fair to show them up. The Doctor tensed and looked at Tech. He, too, was tense, but trying to hide it. It was almost time.

They came out of a cross street. About twenty of them. The women got in the way. The Doctor and Data broke through and kept them from overpowering Tech and Doc, but they stunned Diz. The two girls tried to stop them from taking him and they took them too.

"Go home. Call my ship and leave your address and comm code. Don't go out and don't call the police. They won't be able to help. We're the best chance they've got. We're the best trained force on the planet. I'll do everything I can to bring them home to you."

He flagged a pair of cabs and bundled the seven into them, then he headed for the ship. Data, Doc and Tech had started for it immediately.

They were coming out when he arrived. They commandeered a car and loaded it with the two heavy weapons. The people who had Diz and the girls had taken them out of the city. They had a fortress to take.

"Better than three dozen. Scattered. Nervous. Open spot left center of front wall. Not worried about the back. Assume access impossible. Diz and girls below ground. Diz hurt and mad. Girls scared and mad."

"Right, Doc. Tech, anything to add."

"They've got a laser cannon in front of the gate and two heavy beam emplacements under the eaves on the second story. We need those out first. Nothing we do up here will hurt the basement. It's, literally, bombproof. We don't have much time."

"Data, emplacement on the left. I'll take right. Doc, Tech, take the heavy gun and get that cannon. NOW!"

The Doctor and Data stood and fired. Phaser and particle cannon. The Doctor held it in his hands. Doc and Tech ran for the wall. They reached it as two corners of the building blew up. They blew a hole in the wall and blasted away at the laser cannon. It blew up taking six with it. The Doctor and Data ran for the hole. Tech and Doc were already through.

The battle for the courtyard was over quickly, but they had a bombproof door to get through. They couldn't blow it in, so Data went to work on it with his phaser. He was standing right in front of the door when a nervous man blew it out from the other side. A mass of cables dropped from the ceiling and Data went down.

The Doctor shot the man reaching for Diz with an injector in his hand. He, Doc and Tech dove through the door and finished the fight. There had been six in the room. The Doctor shot through the chains holding Diz and caught him as he fell. "Sparkle, Dad. He gave them sparkle." Diz was crying.

"I know. I tried something. They might be all right."

"Two coming. Three not far behind."

"Get rid of them, Doc."

"Done."

Doc got rid of most of them, but Tech got the last one. The one who had hit Doc. He yelled, "Dad, Doc's down! There's an undamaged vehicle in the garage. I'll get it. Be back to help load." He didn't tell him he'd have to fight his way through four more to get to it, or that he wasn't going to be a lot of help loading.

He killed the last man. He'd come close to finish him off. He struggled to his knees, then his feet and staggered to the garage. He got the vehicle started, as close to the basement as possible, got the back doors open, yelled, "Here, Dad. All I can do. Sorry.", then sank to his knees and the floor, unconscious.

The girls helped load. They were scared and a bit beaten up and they knew they were going to die, but they helped. Diz first. He'd been beaten and chained after eight men had gotten him down. He'd been trying to get to the man with the injector. When the Doctor got to the vehicle with Data, the girls were loading Tech. He put Data in the back of the delivery vehicle and went back for Doc.

The girls caught Doc as he fell with him. He'd been hit before he got through the wall. Susan drove back to the city. Sara sat in the back and held Diz' hand. Susan helped the Doctor out when they got to the ship and he called the freight lift. She drove onto it, then got him on it. He had her say her name and keyed the security system to her. He told her how to find the TARDIS and the professor, said, "Leroy first." and passed out.

The professor and the girls got Data onto a grav sled and to the TARDIS. The professor went to work on Data and the girls went back for the others. They didn't know how much time they had. The craving would come, then the pain, then death. They hurried.

Diz awakened and smiled at them. "Hello, I feel awful. Where's Dad?"

"Susan and I put him on the bunk in the cabin."

"He's hurt?"

"They all are. The professor is working on Leroy. Your dad said he was first."

"Makes sense. He's the best healer after Dad. All right. Help me up. Oh, I've got pieces loose. Susan, go in the TARDIS and... Damn. I don't think we put it back. Tech would have known. Where do I want it to be? On the console! Look for a unit. Silver. Right on top of the console inside the doors."

"Diz, we can't have much longer."

"Sara, you had a pair of guardian angels. Don't give up yet."

"What do you mean?"

"My dad has a soft spot for twin girls and Tech knows it. Just don't give up. Now, help me get to him."

He leaned on her and they met Susan coming out of the cabin. They got him to the Doctor and he looked for damage. "He's an idiot. He didn't do anything about it. Probably nothing he could do. Probably happened early and he just kept going. I don't know whether to use this or let him regenerate. Well, when in doubt, do something." He turned the healing beam on and crossed his fingers. He'd been hit by sonics. The damage was internal and deep.

"I shall start on Tech and Doc. Send the beam to me when you are done."

"Data! Good to have you back."

"I believe the correct reply is, it is good to be back. Where are Doc and Tech?

"I'll show you."

"Thank you, Sara."

"Data?"

"Yes, Diz?"

"The girls are wondering... "

"If they have had no cravings and experienced no pain, the Doctor was successful."

"The captain."

"I am sorry. You did not call me Leroy. The alternate program was not accessed."

"You're right. Here, take this with you. I'll try to take the puzzled expressions off the girls' faces. Uh.h.h. Right after they get me off the floor."

"I'll get up. You lay down."

"Dad!"

"Hello." He sat up and swung his legs off the bunk. "What's our current condition?"

"Data sounds OK. You're a lot better, but I don't know if I left the beam on long enough. Tech and Doc, I haven't seen. Susan and Sara haven't had the shakes."

"Good. We need to get about ten liters of water through you two fast. Come on. I'll take you to it. Drink now. Explanations later." The twins looked at each other and ran after him. Ten liters was a LOT of water.

Diz was still on the floor when he got back. "I'm sorry. I had to get them started flushing their systems. I'll have to give them intravenous fluid too. We're still racing the clock." He lifted Diz and helped him on the bunk.

"Dad, what did you do?"

"Data administered an inhibitor when he did his back flip. Oxygen has been the only thing their systems would absorb for the last six hours, but it will stop working soon."

"Go get them flushed. Hurry!" He hurried.

"Julia, I've got Susan and Sara on my ship. It'll be a few more hours before I'll be sure they're all right. If you wish, you may come here. A black ship with a red question mark on a white chess knight logo."

"Oh, Captain, thank you! I'll be there."

"I rather thought you would be." He closed the comm link and smiled. Tech would be very surprised when he woke up, which should be soon.

They had a quiet celebration on the ship that night. Julia hadn't come alone. All seven had come. The professor flirted outrageously with the six girls. Susan and Sara made frequent trips out of the room. They held the party in the TARDIS. The Doctor had put a finger to his lips and winked before he ushered them in.

He changed from Captain Knight to the Doctor. Julia wasn't sure how she felt about it. Captain Knight was exciting, dangerous and approachable. The Doctor was brilliant, brusque and beyond her. And he dressed funny. But he'd saved her nieces and she was grateful. Elise didn't see that much difference. Marion was interested in Data.

The Doctor called cabs for them about midnight. Data followed and watched their condo through the night. The syndicate shouldn't have any more interest in them, but there was no point taking chances. He returned in the morning and looked for the Doctor. He was on the bridge of the ship.

"Doctor, I have detected changes in myself. I have not been able to determine their exact nature, but I...'feel' different."

"Tech said that would happen. It's the TARDIS. She gave you just a little. She's a bit sweet on you."

"Perhaps, I am 'a bit sweet' on her too."

"She'll be complimented. Data, Professor Daring died very early this morning. He drifted off to sleep smiling and didn't awaken. He left you something. He knew he was dying. Just before he handed me this piece of paper, he asked me to tell you he had decided Dr. Soongh and I were right. You will find your own way, but he believed you should have the choice." He handed Data a folded sheet.

"Doctor, this is a diagram for an emotive circuit."

"I know. Data, that diagram is not truly complete. It has not been 'fitted' to you. It would not be difficult to do and you are quite capable of the task. However, I think it's unnecessary. Biological beings are born with the capacity for emotion. It is unformed and very basic. Scared, cry; safe, smile. We learn our emotions. They deepen and develop as we mature. A child of six is incapable of the depth of feeling of a man of sixty. You are a child. You too will learn. You have already begun. No one incapable of feeling can have friends. You don't need that circuit, Data. You are complete. There is nothing missing. That would just be an 'optional extra'. A bit like push-button tuning on a radio. Convenient, but the radio is complete without it. You are complete without that circuit."

"Thank you, Doctor. I shall not build the circuit at this time. I have learned the opportunity to choose may be more important than the choice itself."

"The definition of freedom. The right to choose."

"Yes, Doctor."

"I've called Professor Daring's hotel. He had made arrangements with them. This was his last vacation. He didn't buy a round trip ticket. Would you like to make sure the arrangements are complete?"

"Yes, Doctor. I would."

"He's on the bunk in the first's cabin. I shall leave the details to you." The Doctor turned back to the comm unit and smiled. The child was learning. He had good teachers. The crew of the Enterprise taught well.

"Dad, I need help."

"Tech, what is it? What's wrong?" He sounded terrified.

"It's changing. It's all changing. Like two images superimposed. I can't think. I'm not sure. Daddy!"

He ran for him. He caught him and held him tightly. Doc and Diz ran onto the bridge, but Doc stopped Diz and they looked at him. He indicated he wished to be alone with Tech with a lift of his head and they retreated. "Don't fight it. Relax and let it happen. Let the new images replace the old. You're not being changed."

"But I AM! I've always known who I was, everything I would be. It's changing!"

"You're wrong. Listen to me. LOOK AT ME! The future is a possibility. It is not carved in stone. You are NOT being CHANGED! You're just being given a new set of probabilities. They are not immutable. Just probable. They will change every time you decide not to accept something as inevitable."

"It's making me dizzy. Hurting. I'm trying to... I feel like I'm drowning."

"Then roll over on your back and FLOAT! You're not DENSE enough to SINK!" He'd gotten through. Tech smiled, then started to laugh. There was a slight hysterical edge to it, but he was over his terror. "Now, if you can, lift yourself above it. Let it happen beneath you. It's a wave. Ride the crest."

"Surfing. In my head. Across time. Hang ten."

"Hang ten."

The Doctor decided to get Tech's mind on other things. He took them to the beach. The sorority girls were there and so was Claudy. Tech looked at the girls running towards them and said, "Some things didn't change. Claudy's still in the lead."

Doc and Diz worked at keeping Tech busy, So did Claudy. Data set up an umbrella and a pair of chairs, and he and the Doctor watched them play.

"Doctor, I have decided I am enjoying myself."

"That's a good decision, Data."

"I BELIEVE it is."

"Oh, I see. You've decided to quit defining in terms of 'analog to' and 'programming function'. Remember, when you get back to the Enterprise, go slowly. We don't want them guessing how long you've been gone."

"I shall remember, but Geordi will notice."

"Yes, best friends do notice. Data, you're smiling."

"I have practiced. It seemed appropriate."

"It is. A nice smile."

"Thank you."

When they went back to the ship, there was a message from Albert. The warrants were signed and would be delivered cluster-wide one hour after midday Carnival time the next day. All accounts would be frozen and assets seized.

"Boys, I want you to stay here tonight."

"You're afraid we'll get in trouble."

"No, Diz, I want you here in case I get into it." He smiled. "Data and I are going out to assess our opponents' expenditures. You may invite the girls from the beach to the ship. Fix up the lounge. Don't bring them to the bridge and don't let them see the engines or the TARDIS. I'm serious about staying close to the comm. Key the computer to track you for incoming calls."

"Is it all right if we make more than the lounge look lived in? We may want to spread out a little."

"I see. Three cabins, Doc?"

"And the galley."

"Yes. Tech, wait. I want to talk to you."

"Figures. Diz, Doc, get stuff for me too."

"How are you?"

"I spend a lot of time being surprised, but it's stabilized. A couple of things have gotten much better. Like Susan and Sara dying and Diz never quite forgiving me, but I'VE changed."

"In what way?"

"I've decided I have a choice. I CAN change things."

"The definition of freedom. The right to choose."

"Exactly, Data. That's good."

"A quote from a person of wisdom."

"Well, that's it. I'm free. Dad, I don't see any real trouble tonight, but I do have a couple recommendations."

"They are?"

"Do your casino busting routine once more, just the Neutron. Like the place we came and got you. White all the way. Roses, walking stick and sighing women. Make a lot of cash disappear. They have a lot to give you. Oh yeah. Let it be known you only reimburse PAID bills."

"I should have thought of that. Data, get on the net. Close of business day is in twenty minutes. Paid bills accepted for one hour beginning at midday. Settlements by close of business day. Settlements! Here." He started pulling stacks of currency from the air and handing it to them. "I forgot to empty it after we went on our rampage the other night. Do something with it."

Tech looked at the fortune accumulating in his arms and started to laugh. And sat down in the floor and laughed. And laid on his back and laughed. The Doctor dropped several more stacks on him, smiled and walked off the bridge, trying to decide which one of two restaurants he wanted to try.

They did their Captain Knight and Leroy routine, but it developed a slight hitch. The hitch was a beautiful and extremely efficient waitress.

"That's it! That's the memory! I knew I was forgetting something! Party's over. I'm sorry, girls. We've got to go. Doc, get the whites. Diz, order transport for our friends. I'll get some currency. He's going to need us. Leroy won't know what to do with him!"

Leroy didn't. He'd only sipped the champagne, but the little waitress kept replacing his glass with a fresh one. He didn't notice she'd done it eighty percent of the time.

"Leroy, you get him down. We'll catch him."

"Tech, Doc, Diz, I am very glad to see you."

"Sorry, Leroy. In all the confusion, I overlooked it. Once we get him off of it, we'll hang on to him while you cash in. How did he get up there?"

"He induced a pendular swing by a very precise bombardment of bottles against the supporting cable, then leapt from the top of the roulette wheel."

Diz laughed. "I wonder if he'll do a workout tomorrow?"

They pulled the craps table beneath it and Data jumped. "Sir, it is time to go."

"Oh. All right."

Data grabbed for him, but missed. Even android reflexes require a few milliseconds. He just hadn't been expecting it. At all. The boys didn't miss, but he took them to the floor. When Data had told him it was time to go, he just stepped off.

There weren't a lot of chips to cash in. They'd been cashing in each time they accumulated a large supply. The Doctor had stashed the currency, wherever it was he put it. The boys kept him in one place by sitting on him. Data handed Doc the stacks of currency and picked him up.

"I did not know what to do. It happened quite suddenly."

"Yeah. One minute he's carrying on a lucid conversation, the next he's pitching champagne bottles."

"That is a quite accurate description, Tech."

"I've seen it happen once before in a later persona. It's almost always an accident. He doesn't know how much he's had until he starts to feel it, then it's too late. He probably hasn't had all that much. How long has he been singing?"

"He did not begin until we put him in the cab."

"He'll barely have a hangover."

"You're kidding!"

"No, Diz. He could drink for hours yet before he passed out. Think about how it happened to us. We got drunk almost immediately, but we were still conscious hours later. And we kept drinking. He doesn't drink alcohol often. His tolerance is low, but his capacity is high."

"Why won't anybody SING with me?"

They laughed and sang along.

"I was WHAT?!"

"Swinging from the chandelier. Actually, you were standing on it and swinging it around."

"I wish I thought you were joking, Doc, but, now that you mention it, I remember it a bit TOO well."

"You didn't start singing until we got you in the cab. We had to open the windows. The volume was too much in the confined space." Diz just couldn't resist. "You taught us a nice roundelay before we got back to the ship."

"Tech, I suppose you remembered it."

"Yes, but not until late. I lost it in the new images. I knew Data wouldn't know what to do."

"Let's go have breakfast, then go to the spa. We need to be back by midday. Data, would you mind remaining here and monitoring the comm?"

"No. Please be careful. Several persons showed interest the last time you were there."

"We won't all go in for a massage at once. Come on. I'm hungry."

They ate a leisurely breakfast, went to the spa and returned to the ship. They set up a desk on the lift, accepted bills and confirmed they had been paid by comm. An hour after midday they raised the lift. Forty minutes later they walked into the Planetary President's office and presented him their bill. It took them a few minutes to get in. The boys were careful they didn't break anyone.

"What is this?"

"The bill for our services on completion of our contract."

"Who are you?"

"The mercenary force that accepted your contract. I suggest you confirm with the agent."

"What do you mean you've completed the contract?"

"We have broken the syndicate. They have a negative bank balance. All properties have been seized and the leaders arrested."

"That's not possible!"

"Oh yes. We also destroyed all major stocks of drugs on the planet and the cluster police have impounded the ships engaged in smuggling them."

"The bombings in the warehouse district."

"The bombings in the warehouse district. You will notice only specific structures were involved and there was no loss of life."

"One moment while I confirm all this." He turned to the comm, placed several calls and turned back to them beaming. "Captain Knight, you have performed a miracle. Payment will be credited to your account."

"Actually, I'd like it sent to this company."

"Dr. Glace, there's a lorry outside. He says he's one of eight. It's diagnostic equipment. It's beautiful."

She looked at the rose on her wall and smiled. "Well, don't just stand there. Get the manifest. We need to know what it is so we'll know where to put it. Hire some local boys to unload it. Make sure they're careful."

She got a call later that day from the bank. Someone had made an incredibly large cash deposit to the foundation account. She blew a kiss at the rose and went to check on the equipment installation.

Data had decided what the Doctor wanted done with the stacks of currency.

## Chapter Nine

"Dad, He's got the contracts. Two of them, but he doesn't realize it. They seem legitimate. They were filled within minutes."

"Can we stop them?"

"I don't see any way. We can save one of the scientists, the physicist. The other one dies."

"Tech, we need to change that."

"No. We don't. He's killed by his own bigotry."

"Explain."

"He knows why he's creating the virus. He's a good virologist, but a lousy human. He hates telepaths, aliens, anyone he doesn't see as 'pure'. He's killed by his own creation. He has a high psi potential. He wouldn't believe it if someone told him."

"The attacks on Liberty are human instigated?"

"I don't know, Dad. I've got a big blank spot. I remember grabbing the physicist, a running battle, Doc and Diz turning a corner, then nothing until you're carrying me into my room in the TARDIS. You're real mad."

"Are you hurt. Is that why I'm carrying you?"

"No. You tell me you're glad I don't remember. You'll remember for all of us."

"I'm not taking you with me."

"Yes you are. Whatever happens, I come through all right. We all do. You've taught me I can choose. My choice is to go with you. Don't ARGUE about it. I'm sorry. Maybe the choice isn't mine. Maybe the change is yours to make. You're the one who takes the pain. You never tell us what it is, but I think Data knows."

"Doc and Diz?"

"Not hurt, not changed, with us around a table later. I never find out. We never talk about it. You order us not to. Your anger is almost a physical presence. Dad, Data shares your anger. Not like we would feel, but very real. You and he leave us on the ship and take the TARDIS. You both come back. The anger's not gone, but it has something else with it. Doc calls it icy satisfaction."

"Is this the same memory as before?"

"Those memories are gone. Just like the first time. When you didn't send me away, everything I remembered happening in my life was just different. I don't know why this change was so much more difficult. I don't know, because I don't know what the memories that changed were. Once the new images replaced the old ones, they just went. Never were. I know they changed, because I saw it happening. That's the only reason I know some changed."

"I'll think about it. Leave me alone for awhile. No. Find Data. I think he's in the TARDIS computer center. Ask him to meet me in the cloisters."

"Done."

He smiled as he walked toward the cloisters. Tech's one word answer had been picked up from Doc. It had been a major chore convincing them not to have the tailors make a series of identical outfits. The novelty of being so similar would eventually wear off. He'd finally suggested they have things made in the same colors and materials, but in different styles. They had agreed, but insisted on some being identical. They had called them Knight boys uniforms. He hadn't argued with them over their choices for shoes and boots. Their selections of the cobbler's wares had just been too practical to disagree with.

It had been interesting to see their personalities come out in the style choices. Tech favored a somewhat tailored look, reserved and 'dressy'. Doc chose styles designed for frontier worlds, sturdy and practical with lots of pockets. Diz like loose fitting and flamboyant, modern and 'showy'.

The tailors had been delighted. It had been a challenge to their skills. Once they had discovered the boys' individual tastes, they searched for fabric that would be suitable for the three distinct styles. He'd tipped them generously and recommended them to Albert. The recommendation was probably worth a great deal more than the tip.

"Doctor, you wished to see me?"

"Yes, Data. I've a bit of a dilemma. I would like your opinion."

"Good day, Agent Slogar."

"Captain Knight! I didn't expect to see you for several days."

"I'm in a bit of a rush. I need information on a pair of contracts."

"I'm not sure I have anything that would interest you at the moment. It's all rather standard fare. A war here, a corporate battle there. Cannon fodder and firepower. Not really your style. Isn't Leroy with you?"

"I had other duties for him. I'm interested in two contracts you've already filled. I have good information they are not what they seem. The persons contracting falsified their intentions and the signers are in deadly danger."

"Captain, those are serious allegations. If they came from someone else, I might doubt them. I'll pull the recently signed contracts. I'd rather break a disclosure seal than learn someone had been killed because I let him sign an erroneous document."

"The two contracts are scientific; one for a virologist, the other a physicist. I need see no others."

"I know the two you mean. They were very specific. They came in a few hours apart. The pay was exceptional and duties quite specific. I had two men listed who were exactly what was wanted. I think both were signed within minutes of their receipt. Captain, if you're going to produce your glasses, I'm going for tea."

The Doctor laughed. "Bring me a cup. I'll put them away before you return."

The virologist was Dr. Aegis Ormach; the physicist, Dr. Franklin Masters. The contractor of the virologist was listed as Intra-cluster Medical Laboratories; specified as a small, private, developmental research lab. The physicist's contract was with Formanse Research Foundation; described as a non-profit think tank currently doing a study of the mathematical relationship of time as a dimension. Each gave an inter-planetary comm code for contact by interested parties.

"Here, Captain. I see you've put your glasses away. I'm not sure if I can help, but, if you need a legal reason for getting yourself involved in this, I might be able to get the Agent's Guild to contract you."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I already have a contract. You could, however, assist me by registering it and putting it on file." He laid the folded contract on the desk. "The tea is excellent, but I must be going. Our association has been a pleasant one. Good-day."

"Good-day, Captain." Agent Slogar shook his head. He'd recognized the captain's last comment as a final farewell. He was going to disappear as mysteriously as he'd arrived. He reached for the contract. It was on actual paper, not comp print flimsy. He unfolded it and started to laugh. Underdogs and horses. The contract was with a telepathic race on Liberty and had been signed with a hoof print.

"Doctor, I have traced the two comm codes to a specific sector, but can not obtain the information you have requested."

"What's the problem, Data?"

"Both were assigned as temporary. They were ordered by a person representing himself as an out-cluster trader and seeking buyers for his cargo. The trader seems to have been legitimate. Most of the communications to the numbers were originated by importers of pharmaceuticals."

"Poor guy probably thought he was doing some research bunch a favor. Didn't know what he was getting mixed up in."

"Very likely, Diz. Did you learn who he was and where he was going, Data?"

"I have ascertained no information on his projected itinerary, but his name is Carrick Atmarra. I believe inquiries amongst his clients may be beneficial in obtaining his normal suppliers."

"Yeah, we can get his regular run, if he has one."

"That was my conclusion also."

"Tech, do you have anything that would save us time?"

"No. I remember us doing what Diz and Data suggest. You know how it works. I remember high points, not all the details. There's a space station, but I can't tell you where it is. I don't think I know. I think we run across it by accident. I don't remember us talking to the trader. We're just traveling out-cluster and there it is. I remember recognizing it when I see it. It's in the middle of nowhere. I've been trying to bring up the background, but it doesn't mean anything to me, just a bunch of scattered stars. There is a blue-white that's fairly dominant, but I don't know... Wait. You say you named it for Liberty."

"That doesn't help much. There were a half dozen big blues in our sky."

"True, Doc, and I don't remember which ones I gave her the names of, two or three of them. Hmm, no, I didn't follow any pattern, just chose a bright one here and there. Well, let's find out where our trader was headed.

"Good day, Mr. Porvith. I have a few questions about one of your suppliers. A trader named Carrick Atmarra."

It was the first of nine visits he made. Atmarra was liked and respected. He had to give Albert as a personal reference to get any information. He explained Atmarra had been duped by unscrupulous individuals and he was trying to locate them, not Atmarra. Albert was a good reference. The import company officers tried very hard to help. He ordered some rare pharmaceuticals from three of them. He notified Albert he might have to cover their cost. Albert laughed.

Albert also gave him some very pleasant news. Buck's son Joey had completed his series of reconstructive surgeries. He and his sisters had been adopted and would be loved and provided for. The Doctor asked who had adopted them. Albert replied he had forgotten how enjoyable it was to hear children's laughter filling his house. He added his new wife sent her greetings and he had discovered she was as good a mother as she was an engineer. She was also very pleasant to look at. The Doctor smiled. Albert wasn't as old as he'd appeared and he was probably getting younger daily. Data was pleased with the news and expressed the opinion Albert recognized outstanding ability.

They began tracing Atmarra's most probable course. He was a trader. His route would be as efficient as possible, both in time and fuel consumption. Five days into the journey they picked up a large object on their sensors.

"That's the station."

"Yes, Tech, and there's the star I named for Liberty." Bethera, the first he'd named.

"Don't tell me. I don't need the confusion right now." Tech grinned. "We're already here. Now, give me a moment. The virologist is dead. We bust up his lab and find him. Center section. The virus is loose, but we've been inoculated. Travel down the first outward corridor. Physicist a prisoner. Second room on the right. Bad shape. Back towards the TARDIS. Data carries him. Beam fire. Lots of it. Stunners mainly. No chance of holing the station. That's it."

"All right. Get ready. Data, whatever happens, get the physicist out. He's an innocent and it sounds like he's suffered."

"Dad! Tech's down! Out!"

"I'm going back. Data get him to the TARDIS. Take him home."

"We'll cover."

"No, Doc, go with Data." He ran back down the corridor. He saw Tech lying on the floor. He raced for him.

Doc felt the man aiming for Diz. He shoved him aside and took the hit. Diz got to him.

Data carried the unconscious man into the TARDIS. He had his orders. He landed the TARDIS, carried the physicist into Agent Slogar's office, turned and left. He landed the TARDIS on the space station three point seven milliseconds after she'd left. It was as close as she could get without temporal overlap.

He ran out the doors and saw Diz hit with a stunner beam. He opened a small panel in his arm and put the TARDIS key in it. The Doctor had given it to him. Tech had left his behind. He raced down the corridor. He would collapse as if stunned when he reached the Doctor.

The Doctor had known he wouldn't leave Tech behind. He and Data had devised a series of scenarios. Each was designed to give Data a specific course of action up to a point, then he was to improvise. Data had chosen the scenario that seemed most appropriate. He was to avoid being hit by anything other than a stunner. One of the persons shooting at him near Doc and Diz had been using a sonic disruptor. He found the Doctor, allowed himself to be hit by a stunner, and feigned nonfunction. He was to give no indication he was not a biological being.

He set up an automatic diagnostic program to initiate a jamming signal the instant he felt the control headband. He would be able to interpret the commands without being compelled. The Doctor and he had used one of the units they had found on the ship and both had practiced. He began cataloging some of the raw data the TARDIS had given him. He had quite a lot of it. It would occupy him until it was time for him to 'wake up'.

"This one's an alien. The fat man will like that."

"Better be careful. He doesn't like being called that."

"Who's going to tell him? You?"

"Course not, but he's got a way of finding out about things. Damn he's heavy. Slim for a heavy worlder, but can't be anything else."

Data tracked the speed and direction he was carried by trailing his fingers on the floor. He heard other footsteps, counted the people, determined all were carrying burdens, and waited. The Doctor, the boys and he were all being carried the same direction.

The control band would not work on the Doctor either. Or, rather, he could refuse to allow it to work. He had spent a great deal of time learning to interpret the sophisticated signals the headband delivered. He complained of the 'racket' it made in his mind. The 'racket' was designed to inhibit the higher brain functions. The extremely sophisticated programming of the control units allowed the headbands complete control over all motor functions with the use of a few simple controls, the primary one of which was a 'joystick'.

Data had suggested the Doctor allow the unit to control his body and take back control when he wished. The Doctor had found the suggestion unacceptable. He too would feign being controlled. The stunner had worked. He would awaken with a 'nasty headache'. Data wondered what it would be like to have a headache.

"It has to be a transport of some kind, Minister. How else would they have gotten here?"

"Have you searched them for the key?"

"Yes, Minister. Nothing on any of them. We're attempting to force entry."

"Notify me when you get it open. My, what a pretty group. Three of them. Can't be telepaths. They were in the lab. They'd be dead if they were. Seems a shame to waste them. Perfect! My sister's birthday. Send them to her. Put the alien and the man with the laborers. Bring my dinner. I'm wasting away."

Data counted thirty-eight heartbeats in the room. The man with the wheezing voice was evidently the 'fat man'. Even in the low gravity, his heart was laboring. The Doctor and the boys were eight. Thirty was too many for him to dispose of. The Doctor would be most unhappy to learn his boys were being 'sent' somewhere.

He and the Doctor were carried back to the outer ring. The station evidently used rotation to supplement artificial gravity. The 'fat man' had been in the low gravity center. The outer section was point eight five Earth normal. The men carrying him and the Doctor laid them on the floor and left, shutting an airtight door behind them. He opened his eyes and sat up.

There were nineteen dirty men in the room. All wore headbands. They stood where they had been left and stared. Most were emaciated. There was one man lying dead in the center of the room. Data surmised he had died of starvation.

"Oh, my head. I don't know which is worse, the headache from the stunner or the racket in my mind. Even in neutral the headband is noisy."

"Doctor, I am glad you are awake."

"Those people have been starved."

"I had reached the same conclusion. We are with the laborers. Doctor, the boys are being sent to someone. The person called alternately Minister and the fat man designated them as a birthday present for his sister."

"NO!"

"Doctor, calm yourself. We know we shall find them."

Data told him everything he'd learned. He wouldn't be able to open the door. It was an airlock and beyond his capabilities. The Doctor examined the controlled men. They were being fed, but not enough for the labor they had been doing. He estimated four more would die within a few days. He debated removing the headbands, but decided they shouldn't have to endure the pain of their starved condition and he could think of no way they could feign control.

Data and he quickly laid down on the floor and stared at the ceiling when they heard the hatch opening.

"Well, now we know why they're starving. I had my rations and yours and I'm still very hungry."

"I am glad you accepted them."

"You were right. The best chance these men have of survival is for me to be, I believe you put it, functional. I doubt if I could have gotten any of them to eat anyway. Even normal body functions are controlled. I couldn't believe it when I felt myself being commanded to chew and swallow."

"'I thought you would laugh at one point. It would have revealed our ruse."

"That was close. If we'd been in the first group, I'd have never known what I was being ordered to do. I suppose I could do as we discussed, but I'd rather not. Distancing my mind and allowing someone else to control my body is not something I wish to do. I will if I have to, but thus far it hasn't been necessary. I ache all over. I HATE moving rock."

"I have determined the space debris is reduced to its constituent elements and used to provide oxygen and other raw materials."

"At least they gave us gloves. Those meteorites were primarily ice becoming very cold water."

"Six days, Data. I'm worried about the boys and I'm slowly starving."

"The hatch."

They assumed stationary standing positions. They were commanded to walk. They proceeded through the station and into the large central area. The man was fat. He couldn't have existed in a normal gravity environment.

"She's just being greedy. They're both nice, strong, workers. She says she wants them both. I'll send her one."

"Minister, do you think that wise?"

"Oh, hush. She won't be very mad. She wouldn't even have known about them if I hadn't sent her those boys. So this is the famous Captain Knight and his alien Leroy. Tult, let me see what I'm sending her. Not the alien, the man. Oh yes, I can see why she wants him. Turn him around slowly. Ooh, very nice. Bring him over here and give me the controls."

The Doctor had to release control of his body after all. Not because he didn't understand the commands, because he just didn't want to pay attention to it. He wouldn't have been able to act controlled and he had to. He was being sent to his boys. And the woman who had them.

Data watched and decided he would call his program response anger. He waited until the Doctor and he were commanded. He walked until they were ordered separate directions, then began walking toward the TARDIS. He maintained speed and posture.

"Damn unit's out. Get another box. I hope it's the box and not the band. I'd hate to change the band on a heavy worlder."

"Get a stunner in case. He won't get far. He'll just run into a wall. I'll get a box and band."

Data ran for the TARDIS. He had improvised. He had to track the ship the Doctor would be on. The TARDIS was surrounded by equipment. They had obviously been trying to get into her. There were no people in the vicinity, but indications were they would soon return. He pulled the key out, unlocked the door, and stepped through. He heard approaching voices and quickly closed the doors. He turned on the scanner and began setting the TARDIS to track any departing ships.

He watched three men setting up a laser cutter. He smiled. He didn't even realize he'd done it. The fat man would not be pleased when the men told him the 'transport' had disappeared as soon as they hit it with the laser. He set the coordinates for the ship and checked the tracking program. It was operating. A ship had left the station.

The TARDIS tracked the ship carrying the Doctor while it traveled to its programmed coordinates. Data decided the Doctor was right. She was fond of him. It was a very complicated task. He waited in the TARDIS until she could give him an estimated destination for the ship being tracked, then went to the bridge and set course to follow.

He was COLD! And he didn't have enough energy to fuel an increase in metabolic rate. He'd been left in a cargo hold that was above freezing. Slightly. He decided no one was going to enter for awhile and started investigating the rest of the cargo. He blew on his hands and wrenched the lid off a nearby crate. He forgot he was cold.

Children! Stacked, crated, and staring. A cargo of children wearing headbands. Who were they? Where had they come from? What monstrous plot had he uncovered and what did it have to do with telepaths on Liberty? Why were children being shipped from a space station? How had they gotten there? It wasn't until he found the colts that he realized what he was seeing. It still didn't make any sense.

The children and colts were clones. He hadn't realized it at first, because the children were of differing ages. The colts were easy to identify. They had identical markings. They must have been growth stimulated. There hadn't been enough time for either the children or colts to have reached their current size.

He reattached the lids of the crates and sat down to think. He'd interrupted the collection of the telepaths on Liberty and the persons collecting had attempted to destroy the telepathic population at its beginnings. Or had they?

It had definitely been the space station project, and the same type of control units were being used. Did that mean the same people had been behind both attacks? Not necessarily. Someone was dealing in clones of telepaths, but his captors might be buyers, not sellers. They had tried to destroy the source of supply.

Cloning was a difficult and expensive process. It shouldn't be this far advanced. Something very odd was going on. The headband and control units were also beyond the technology level he'd observed in the space station.

Most of the telepaths were human. Humans had been colonizing other worlds at an incredible rate since they'd run into the first aliens that would trade advanced space technology for human ingenuity. Humans were the hardiest and most adaptable of species if you wanted a world explored, or mined, or conquered. Human telepathic children and horses. What were they being used for?

He heard a door open and quickly stood. He wasn't in quite the right place, but doubted it would be noticed. Two men walked across the deck toward him.

"Told 'em it would'n work. It had, we would'n still have cargo."

"I'm not sure about that. I mean, they wouldn't all just disappear."

"Yes they would. Never have been. We wouldn't remember. They wouldn't be here. Might not be here ourselves. Gives me the jeebies. They could have messed up the whole cluster. Course we wouldn't know."

"Jess, you think too much. I don't like this either, but we don't stand much chance without 'em."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure about that. I liked the old man. He would'n have got us in this."

"He's dead. And they're what we've got. Better than being taken over is what I say."

"Is it? Using their methods? I feel dirty. If I wasn't close to my twenty years, I'd've resigned. Still might. She's disgusting and he's worse."

"Careful. Treason covers a lot these days."

"Yeah. And more every day. Too bad the kid died with the old man. Makes me wonder."

"Whoa, Jess. I don't want to hear it. Don't want to think about it. She's queen and her brother's Science Minister. They're the heirs. All I need to know. Let's get out of here. That guy gives me the shivers. He ever got loose we'd be dead meat."

"Tempted to cut him loose. Hear he's somethin' special. Ask him to get us out of this mess. That's it. All signed and proper. Another load. Damn, I hate this."

He watched them leave and started pacing. He'd learned a great deal. A king and his 'kid' had died. Their kingdom was in competition or at war with someone else. The clones weren't their idea. And Jess wanted him to 'get them out of this mess'. He wondered if he was actually dealing with three groups. Two in competition. One providing the materials for both. Why telepathic horses and children? He decided to fulfill Jess' request.

Data watched the planet beneath him rotate. He was ahead of the ship carrying the Doctor. He had come in behind the nearest moon and landed on it. No one on the world below would have realized he was there.

The world had four continental masses, but both settled areas were on the largest. It circled a star twenty light years from its nearest neighbor. The space station was situated near a trade route. The planet was not. Most interstellar trade probably was conducted through the station. He hoped someone was feeding the Doctor. Three days was a long time for an organic being to go without food. He estimated it would be two more before the much slower ship arrived.

The Doctor decided he liked Jess. He'd brought him food and wrapped him in blankets. He spent the entire time muttering about 'no way to treat a person, freeze to death, crates keep kids warm, damn mess anyway'. He felt the ship begin to decelerate and gripped a crate to keep from falling, then realized that was silly. He laid down and took a nap. He would awaken on touchdown.

He woke and wondered why. The ship hadn't touched down. The ship shook and he realized he'd been awakened by a shockwave. They were being fired on. He rolled against a crate and held on as the pilot made some rapid maneuvers. He felt rather than heard the ship returning fire. A war then. A very strange war that used telepathic children and horses.

The firing stopped. He could hear they were in atmosphere, but he'd known that. There were no shockwaves from a near miss in space. The firing began again, but the duration was less. Massive braking thrusters fired. The war was planetary and airspace jealously defended. They'd made two orbits and battled their way through enemy territory. He relaxed and wondered how the humans could function in the immense pressure of their deceleration.

"Damn. Should'a thought. Hope he's not hurt." Jess turned him over and felt to see if any bones were broken. "Came through pretty good. Sorry fella. Didn't think about ya. Got busy on the gun. Hate ta think about where yer goin'. Do somethin' if I could. Well, time to get you up. She's already askin' for ya. Least I can wrap ya up." He tied the corners of the blanket and moved off.

The Doctor felt the headband giving commands and stood. He walked through the hold to a personnel lift and stood while it descended. He was directed down a flight of steps and through a hatch. He walked down a ramp and waited. The planet's air was fresh and sweet. It smelled of spring. Jess handed the control box to another man. He said, "Damn" as he walked back up the ramp.

The band commanded the Doctor bend down and enter a vehicle. He sat and watched out the front window. The city had a frontier look about it. A new growth type of arrangement to the streets. His nose itched. He knew it was foolish, but all he wanted to do at the moment was scratch it. He thought about his sons and forgot the itch.

They entered the grounds of a palace and drove to a side door. He was commanded out of the vehicle and into the building. He walked along a corridor and up a flight of stairs. His control box was handed to an obese, giggling, woman and he walked through a set of doors. He had found his boys. And he was MAD.

"Ooh, Tish, he's beautiful."

"I'm Your Majesty, Posch. Remember or I'll have your fat body separated from your head. Get the blanket off. Yes. Very nice. If that fat brother of mine wasn't useful, I'd get rid of him. I wanted the alien too. Look at these scars. Keep your hands off! He's mine. I've got the set now. Get Aerka in here. I want him done like the boys. I'll put some programs together starting with the same kind of workout they get. Have to keep him looking like this. We'll get a computer unit for his controls. He'll be very entertaining."

Posch giggled. "Ooh, T... Your Majesty, can I watch?"

"Be good and I might even let you play."

"Your Majesty, you are overwrought. You need to take your mind off this terrible war. You work too hard. All this responsibility and bad news. And you're so brave and dedicated. It's a true wonder. You must take some time for yourself."

"True, Posch, I do work hard. If my uncle hadn't been so stubborn and gotten himself killed, I wouldn't have to do this. Yes, I need to relax. How soon will the new control routines be completed?"

Tomorrow evening."

"Why so long? I'm getting tired of all these delays."

"The programmers said it would require that long to do justice to the amazing artistry of your requests."

"Yes, I suppose my talent does require more time to be expressed. Very well. Put in program six."

"Oh, thank you, Tish!"

Posch!"

"I mean, Your Majesty.

The Doctor went rigid with anger. He watched his sons in outrage. Only knowing they would remember nothing, stopped him from destroying the control box, and possibly the queen.

"That was fun. I want to play with him. I hate having to use a control box while I'm playing. I have an idea. You use the controls, Posch. See if you can please me."

"Ooh, I think that sounds like fun. You're so brilliant and artistic. I'll do my best, but I won't equal your skill."

"Of course not, but you might please me."

He felt the band giving commands and distanced himself. The palace was a hive of armed men. He had to find a way out for himself and the boys. He let it have control of his body and began putting the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind.

Data watched another orbital skirmish. A larger and better armed ship dropped toward the planet. It was of very different design than the one that had arrived from the station, then lifted off again. He sought its communication band. The nonhuman face on the screen was reptilian.

It was a one-sided battle. The ships from the western city could not penetrate the defensive shields of the larger ship. It destroyed two of them in its three orbit descent. Data learned from its communications.

It was carrying replacements. The estherna had increased the price again. Its captain wondered if they were worth the expense. He was told the eventual enslavement of the human population would make it worthwhile. They would build the nests and provide for many young.

Data watched the ship land, then returned to the TARDIS. He would remain there. The TARDIS was prepared. He decided to spend the waiting period in the TARDIS memory banks. Perhaps she knew who the estherna were.

The Doctor waited until the two SLOVENLY, obese, women were snoring, then began a quiet reconnoiter. He checked the apartments for exits. There was only the one. He cautiously opened the door and peeked through. The hall was still filled with people, most of them guards armed with stunners. He would have to wait. He would not be able to get the boys through.

He very much wanted to free them from the control bands, but he didn't want them to realize what had been happening to them. He returned to his place and waited. He wondered what Data was doing.

Data had tracked the ship and seen the battle. He decided it was time to communicate with the TARDIS. He was going to need her assistance. He left the ship's bridge. He didn't think it strange the Doctor referred to the TARDIS as 'she'. He had been trying to get to know her. She had circuits that couldn't exist. Theoretically. The theories were obviously wrong.

Perhaps the Doctor would have used her telepathic circuits. Data had his own form of mind to mind contact. He opened the panel above his right temple and told her what he needed. The Doctor had worked very hard. He had repaired circuits and checked functions. He had even dusted. She told Data she could do what he asked.

"All right, let him in. Wait a minute. I'll get them lined up. Silly old fool. I love his expression when he's trying to ignore them. It was good when I just had the clones, but now, with these, it's wonderful. Yes, like that. What do you think, Posch?"

"He changes it. He makes it look... dangerous."

"I like that. Like a muzzled and leashed wild animal. Better not keep him waiting any longer. Let him in."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"General Geth, how nice to see you." He'd noticed the man. She watched him try not to look. "I understand you have news for me."

"Yes, Your Majesty. They have moved into area six. We are countering."

"How long until the ones that came today are ready?"

"Approximately nine days, Your Majesty."

"Too long. The takalats get theirs into the field in six. Speed it up."

The Doctor watched the old general. He saw him struggle to contain his anger at his queen. Something about the command had caused him to clench his hands in barely controlled fury.

He unclenched his fists, took a deep breath and said, "That would not be wise, Your Majesty. The TAR-RAAlats use them at a prodigious rate. They have large off-planet resources to draw on. We do not. The increase in the speed of growth reduces their lifespan to a few weeks. Their minds become incapable of development."

"I don't care about their minds. I'm not one of your soft old women mumbling about education and assimilation after the war."

"The expense is still a factor. The increase would require we quadruple our purchases. It would necessitate complete replacement at nine week intervals. The slower method is actually reducing our expenditures. They are more coordinated and can actually perform some tasks without manipulation. They learn to take cover without an order. The longer they are in the field, the higher their chances of survival. The choice is raising our costs or lowering them."

"So tax more."

"It would require the total income of your kingdom and the sale of your personal jewels to maintain the war for four months."

"What?!"

"The outlay would reduce our resources to near zero before production would catch up. Even with full mobilization, we would retain only five percent of our total gross. Recovering the initial outlay would take eight years of near starvation."

"Take your nine days."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The old man turned to leave. The Doctor saw him smile when the queen smashed a vase against the wall. This queen was not well liked by her people.

"How dare he suggest my jewels be sold. If he wasn't the best tactician on the planet, I'd have him beheaded. He's soft. They all are. Talk about how terrible the aliens are, using up the clones. Want to preserve them for lives after the war. I don't want them after the war! Bunch of creepy, mind-reading, clones roaming around the planet. MY planet!"

"Oh, look, Your Majesty, one of the new programs is here."

"Wonderful. Which one? Yes! The one I really wanted to try. They finished hours before their original estimate."

"Yes, Your Majesty. Are we going to try it out?"

"I am going to. Not WE, I."

"I meant you. I just hoped you'd let me watch."

"Actually, I was thinking of making a party of it. Invite an appreciative audience. But do it quickly. I'm going to set up a nice show while you're gone. I'll use the new program for the finale."

Posch waddled from the room and the queen began sorting through the program cubes. The Doctor watched her smile and pat a new control box. He realized the new program would include him. He had to think of some way out soon. His anger was building. He would not be able to maintain the fiction for much longer.

People arrived and oohed and aahed over them. They were examined and his scars were the subject of a great deal of speculation.

"Quiet. Take your assigned places. I have three programs to run. I don't want any interruptions. Especially during the finale. Now, Maddis, move your chair onto the mark. Everyone check your positions. Good. Posch, the first program."

The queen had a disgusting and fervent imagination. The Doctor hadn't thought he could become angrier. He had been wrong. By the time the queen announced the finale, he was struggling to keep from shaking with rage. He felt the command sequence and took control of his body. He looked at the queen and quietly said, "No."

Data waited. The TARDIS was in motion.

The queen stared at the Doctor. "You can't speak! You're controlled!"

He pulled the band from his head. "No, I am not. I have had enough of this obscenity. You are disgusting. This I will not do."

She started screaming for her guards. Then screamed hysterically as something came into her apartments.

The Doctor laughed as the TARDIS materialized around him and the three boys. "Data, you're a genius. Thank you."

"Doctor, you should thank the TARDIS. She was in control. I asked her to choose an appropriate time and retrieve you."

"Thank you, you sweet lady. Your timing was impeccable. Data, help me get the boys out of these things, then get things from the wardrobe. I want all of us changed before they awaken."

"Yes, Doctor. I have learned who is supplying the reptilian race the humans are fighting. They are called estherna."

"Daleks. I should have realized it sooner. The cloning techniques and control units should have told me they were involved."

"Daleks, Doctor?"

"They have several groups that serve them. Well, work with them. The estherna are one of them. I'll change while you go to the wardrobe. We'll do some planning and leave the boys on the ship. You and I have a war to stop and a commercial enterprise to put out of business."

"Hi, Dad. Just like I remembered."

Yes, Tech, just like you remembered. I want you to rest. The tiredness and dazed feeling will pass with sleep." He laid his son on his bed and smiled at him.

"You're smiling, but you're mad. I'm not Doc, but I can feel it."

"Do not ask questions. Do not try to remember. I will remember. I do not want it discussed or speculated on. Ever. Do you understand me? Ever."

## Chapter Ten

"Get everything you need out of the TARDIS. Stock the galley and prepare yourselves living quarters. Data has prepared a course of study for you. Do not monitor planetary communications. Do not discuss the time you have lost. It does not exist. Have your work ready when we return."

The boys nodded and went to do as he said. Doc was pale. He felt the Doctor's scarcely controlled rage. He had not known anyone was capable of such fury. He realized he didn't want to know what had caused it.

Data helped them prepare the ship. The Doctor stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He didn't watch them or speak to them. When they told him they were done, he said, "Good. Go." They left the TARDIS and watched it disappear. And watched it reappear.

"All right. Let's grab some things and get going."

"Wait a minute, Tech. I want to know what's going on."

"Look, Diz, we're on a schedule. We really don't need to be, but Lib is in there and she's in a hurry. Grab the light blues, the tuxes, the golds, the black silks and the red leathers. We're going to her wedding first, then we've got a lot to do. You'll get to meet him as he will be. Come on. Move!"

Doc struggled to find something to say to her. She was glad to see him. He could feel that, but his pain was still very fresh.

"Doc, let me show you. You can feel it, but open a little to me. Let me show you how it is. How it will be."

"I'm not sure I can, Gwen. I can feel it's been a while for you. It hasn't for me."

"I won't read you, just show you. Tech told me you'd been through things. So have I, but mine are beautiful. Let me show you."

He could feel her need to show him. He steeled himself and took her hand. She showed him. He smiled in delight. She showed him the joy of the present, then her happiness in the future. She slipped out of his mind and said, "Now, isn't there someone you'd like to meet?"

"Yes. Oh, yes!"

"I thought so. Come on, I'll introduce you." She smiled and led him deep into the TARDIS.

Lib watched them going and grinned. One chore down. "Tech, most brides don't have quite this much to do on their wedding day."

"You love it, Lib. We land in an hour. Why don't you get ready?"

"Everything but the dress. I want Gwen's help for that. You guys will have to keep Dad busy. Think you can handle that?"

"He's already waiting for us. He's been looking forward to seeing Diz and Doc again for a long time, and I remember someone else keeping him busy too."

"Yes, she really likes this regeneration. Of course, my correcting the systems integration fault in the detection barrier didn't hurt."

"Tech, don't you think it's time you told me what's going on? I'm walking around in the dark."

"Sorry, Diz, but I'd really like to bring Doc in at the same time. It's how I remember doing it and I'd really rather not make any changes right now. I plan on making a couple big ones later."

"Now, wait a minute! What do you mean changes?!"

"Easy, Lib. I found out we can change things. All our memories change when it happens. We have a choice."

"Don't you go changing MY future! I like it just the way it is."

"Yeah, I know. Happily ever after. You, Saren and the kids. Happy on Gallifrey."

"It's my kind of life. I like my adventures mental."

"Doesn't sound much like the lady you were named after."

"I'm not. Well, I am, but it only comes out once in a while, Diz. It'll be there when I need it. Gallifrey is going to need it and me. But that's the future, my future. My present is 'bride in need of a bath'. Just be careful, Tech."

"Let's get dressed. Doc won't be back for awhile. He's rolling a big blue ball down a TARDIS corridor."

"Say what?!"

"His story, Diz. You'll hear it. Too often."

"Hello, Diz."

"Wow! You look a lot like him. I mean you. You know what I mean."

"I'm taller and I don't have any problems with my waistline or my temper. I also have better taste in clothes."

"You get along better with the High Council too."

"Well, I'm much better at 'sweet reason' than I used to be."

Tech grinned. "That wasn't exactly what I meant."

"I KNOW what you meant! I was TRYING to IGNORE it!"

"I thought you said he didn't shout, Tech."

"I said not as loud."

"And I thought human weddings were long. That was an absolute marathon. I like Saren."

"You'll meet him again, but it'll be a very long time. Diz, get Doc. We have to go."

"OK, Tech, but I want some explanations. Like; why he's letting us take the TARDIS and what we're going to do with it."

"Just get him. He's right outside. Wink at Gwen and pull him in. I'll explain when we're on our way."

"All right, all right. I'm coming. You don't have to push!"

"Sure he did, Doc. His curiosity is eating him alive."

"I can feel it. Noticed he got the doors shut quick."

"I figured, if I didn't, you'd stand waving 'bye-bye' for hours." Diz ducked Doc's playful punch. He had healed in a way he wouldn't have believed possible. "OK, Tech, now, what's up?"

"A minute. There. We're on our way. We've got to keep Dad from being taken and killed."

"By who? When? What are we going to do?"

"Diz! Give him a minute. He'll tell us. WON'T you, Tech?"

"Yeah, let's find somewhere to relax. This is a long flight, real long. We've got some things to build and we'd better get our lessons done. We'll be very busy later."

"How long a flight? Where are we going? And why are you scared?"

"A week, more years than you want to know and I'm scared because I'm going to change things, big things. I don't like the future. I need you to help me change it. We have to start a long way into it and work our way back. I've got to pull one set out of the multiples. I know we can do it because, otherwise, we wouldn't exist, or at least I wouldn't."

"Say what? I don't think Doc understood that and I KNOW I didn't."

"Something very odd happened to my memories. Starting right after my sister's wedding I've got a mass of multiple images. Some good. Most bad. They all begin with us stealing or not stealing the TARDIS."

"He doesn't... know... we have it."

"Right the first time, Diz. If this works, he'll never know. If it doesn't, he'll never know. I won't exist. Doc will die of the virus. You'll die in a shuttle accident. The past will be changed because the future is changed."

"Now I'm getting dizzy."

"It's called free will and a non-deterministic universe. And it'll get worse before it gets better, Diz."

"Thanks, Tech. Just what I wanted to hear."

"Keep your fingers crossed. This is the first one. We're about to go somewhere else. Maybe. I hope you're ready, Doc. You're our communicator."

'Tech, I barely met him. Both of them. Either of them."

"You know Dad. It's not which persona that counts. He's him. Always changing and forever the same. You know me. And Gwen. And your own joy and wonder. Most of all you know love. Enough to make her search for it. Work for it. Please, you've got to believe you can do it. I know you can. Feel how positive I am. I'm real. You can succeed. Now, hang on to the console. It's our reality. The only one. Feel yourself hanging on, Diz. You bring us out. Remember Guinevere."

Diz, closed his eyes. He had to concentrate on the feel of the console beneath his fingertips. Had to keep it real. The texture. The warmth. The pulse of the more than machine that was the TARDIS.

Doc thought of his father. The gentle caring. The shouting that said, "You are loved." The love that had no limit. His absolute knowledge that love made all other things worthwhile. Small hands. Giggles and gurgles. His mother. Guinevere. Tech, Gwen and Lib. Pride and joy. And love. The overwhelming power of love that existed in the being known as the Doctor. Love given to all life. Love he had felt, always felt, when he was near him.

He felt the presence. The curiosity. The interest. He loosed the passion. The heat within him. His legacy. His inheritance. His love. The burning fire he shared with his father.

Tech felt the touch and remembered. Warm hands. Gentle smile. His father's joy. Cautious first steps. Laughter. Loss and understanding. Mommy. Guinevere. Mommy.

Diz felt reality. Physical presence. Texture and shape. Color and sound. Music. Warm water on cold feet. Warm fire on a cold day. The shape of the physical universe. Black and white and brown and blue. A thousand shades of blue. The shape of a leaf. The delicacy of a butterfly. The smell of rich soil. The feel of the wind in his hair. The delight of his body working hard. Hearts pumping. Muscles straining. Watching girls. Perfection in imperfection.

Tech put his part of the inheritance together. Logic and study. Learning. Puzzles pieced. Mysteries solved. Accomplishment. Structure. Mommy.

Doc gathered their feelings and joined them. His brothers. His passion. Tech's intellect. Diz' sensuality. Their legacy. Love of being alive.

Sound. First there was sound. Then light. The TARDIS came into being around them. They had made it. They were back.

"Hello, I came. I couldn't not come. I have to find him."

Tech smiled at her. "I think we should get you to the wardrobe first. I'd like my mother dressed when I introduce her to my brothers."

Doc grinned and Diz sat down in the floor and laughed.

They left her on the plain where their father would find her when he tried out the H-miron drive.

"Step one. I have a chance of being born."

"What do you mean a chance?"

"He has to be alive too, Diz."

"And that's in doubt?"

"Not in doubt. Positive. He won't be. We have to change the future of the universe."

"Oh, good. I thought it might be something difficult. Do we perform this miracle soon?"

"Well, I thought we'd take a little break first. We need one. At least I do."

"Just what did you have in mind, Tech?"

"Not much, Doc. A few days on Sybar."

"Hold it! I know that name. Where did I hear it? The Velvet Mistress!"

"Yes, Doc. Diz has heard of it too, but in his universe they call it Riessa."

"Yippee! Women!"

"You're after something there, Tech. I can feel it."

"Right, Doc. A lady with a plan. We need it. A designer on vacation. I'm about to become a student of hers in a very informal setting. You're going to learn things too."

"Tech, you feel very smug."

"Yeah. Interesting isn't it? This is the part of our mission I'm most confident about."

"That's her."

"The one with the book?!"

"James Joyce. Light reading. I've got the Rubaiyat and Betseger."

"Oh boy. Omar the tentmaker and multi-dimensional mathematics. Strange combination, Tech."

"Strange lady, Diz. Besides Khayyam was a great mathematician and astronomer."

"Yeah, but you're carrying poetry, not a math treatise. She's gorgeous. Little thing though."

"Celeste Yamoto. Pure east Asian."

"Careful, Tech. You haven't even met her and you get emotional when you say her name. This is going to hurt."

"Not until I say good-by, Doc. Four days and she goes back to work. So do we. Later."

"Very nice. What are we supposed to do for four days?"

"Diz, if you can't find something to do on THIS planet, it's because you're asleep in the TARDIS."

"You're right. I'm going for a swim. Coming?"

"No, I want to look around."

"Suit yourself. You be careful too, Doc. You're wide open."

"Don't worry. I don't have any raw places to be rubbed. All better."

"Uh, huh. Well, my intuition bump says be careful. Don't make a promise you can't keep."

"Done. Careful it is."

"And no promises?"

"No promises. Go swim."

Doc walked in the warm suns. The feeling of people having a good time filled him. He began to feel a bit warm. This was Sybar and some people were having a VERY good time. He decided a good run along the forest path MIGHT be a good idea.

Doc stumbled and nearly fell. Terror. Pain and terror. Anger. Frustration. Terror. Mean predatory hunger. A pack of animals and their prey. And all human.

He ran for her. She needed help. There were too many for her. He burst upon them and let his fury loose. He barely caught himself in time to keep from killing.

They weren't planning on murder. Just humiliation. Revenge for a defeat. They didn't know she would die first. Would rather die. He broke through and fought at her back. Her attackers grabbed their fallen fellows and ran.

"Whoa. I'm on your side. Easy, easy. They're gone. Hey! I said stop! All right. That's it. Extreme measures. You're out of it." He dropped her with as gentle a punch as he could manage, then sat down beside her and waited. He couldn't leave. Her un-friends might be back. He took his shirt off and laid it over her.

"Don't make me hit you again. Calm down, DAMMIT! Better. Here. Put this on. I'm Doc and I'm not with those creeps. I'm the guy who was keeping them off your back. Oh, brother. That's not much better. Easy now, easy. All over. OK, OK. I can't help it. I'm an empath. You're scared and my instinct is to shelter and protect. I'll just move over here and sit on my hands." He sat on his hands and smiled at her. He still wanted to pull her to him and soothe her tears, but she was obviously not ready to be touched.

"You know the only woman I've seen as good as you are is my mother. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I... I studied. Teach. Earth. On Earth."

"Ah, a word. Several of them. Five different words. A few repeats, but nearly a complete sentence. I'm Doc. Feel like telling me the story. They were humiliated and looking for revenge. Nine of them. All damn good. Show them up?"

"Guess I did. I'm sorry. I'm funny about being touched anyway. They sort of pushed me over the edge. You look silly sitting on your hands."

"It worked. So, how did you show them up?"

"I beat their school in a tourney. Bad. Well, my students and I. Took every match. They're big name. We're nobodies. You laid me out. Nobody ever did that before. You weren't in the tourney."

"No. My brothers and I don't do tourneys. We just got here. Would you start throwing punches again if I asked your name?"

"Carol. Carol Clark."

"Old Earth traditional. Hmm. North American continent. Accent's a lot like Mom's. Pacific northwest?"

"Very good. Alaska, but I've been down the coast for twelve years. Look, thanks, but I've got to get back. Good-by."

"Huh uh. One, your friends may be around somewhere. Two, I'm fond of that shirt and I think you need it for awhile. You get my company like it or not."

"For a kid, you're pretty cocky."

"No, that's Diz' department. One of my brothers. I'm the strong silent type."

She laughed. He could feel the knots loosening in her. She was still wound up, but the terror was gone. She wasn't over it yet, but she was getting there.

"All right, strong and silent, walk me home. I'm fond of this shirt too, at least for the next ten minutes." She shook her head when he stood, bowed, and extended his hand. She let him pull her up, but dropped his hand quickly.

"You really don't like to be touched! You would rather they'd been trying to kill you!"

"Leave it! Now! Don't push it. I don't need some kid getting personal. I need your shirt, but I don't need you!"

"Hey, Carol, I may be a kid to you, but I try real hard to be nice. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get personal. I'm not used to people hitting me with a blast of revulsion when they touch my hand. I'm an empath, remember? I'm not going to pry. I was surprised. Lead on and I'll disappear as soon as you don't need my shirt." He didn't tell her he was planning on reappearing. This lovely, brown-haired, blue-eyed, lady in her thirties had a problem. He'd decided it needed fixing.

"Hello, I'm Diz. You're beautiful. Both of you."

"As a line, that's not original."

"I don't do lines unless I've got a script in my hands. Pure truth and you both know it."

"Does your mother know you're here?"

"Mom's dead, but she had good taste too. Are you going to take turns putting me down or tell me your names? I should warn you, put downs just make me determined. I'm real stubborn. Cute too."

They laughed. "I'm Jenna. She's Jeanna. We're waiting for someones."

"That's all right. I don't mind competition. As long as they're not husbands, I don't worry. Why don't you two deck out and I'll take you out this evening?"

"Where? The roller rink?"

"Jeanna, I'm hurt. I'll take you anywhere you want to go. Starting with dinner, then a play, I think. A few clubs. A beautiful evening and just the three of us."

"You're too young to get in a club."

"Jenna, I can go anywhere I want. Wouldn't you like to see me do it?"

"Hey, kid. Get lost."

"Ah, the someones I presume. Really, you could do better than these muscle-bound apes, ladies. May I suggest myself?" He pulled himself out of the water and sat between them on the side of the pool. "Why don't you two gentlemen find somewhere else to stand. You're blocking the suns."

"Look punk... "

Diz slapped the ape's hand away. "Now, now. I'm on vacation. My brothers made me promise not to break anyone. It's a lot harder. I have to be very careful. Takes work. Just go away nicely."

"Joss, he's not hurting anything." Jenna was worried. Joss and Berk were experts. They'd pulled top medals in the tourney heavyweight class. "He's just a kid flirting over his age limit."

"Please, Jenna, I don't have an upper age limit on beautiful women. Just a lower one. I like little girls, but I'm more interested in their mommies." He shook the water out of his hair, all over Joss and Berk.

"Kid, you annoy me."

"Berk, take it easy."

"Jeanna, I don't mind. The feeling's mutual. Berk, go away. I'm not in the mood. Oh well, if I must, I must." Diz stood up and grinned. "If you plan on getting physical, I'd appreciate it if you'd both come at once. I'd prefer to have a LITTLE challenge."

They did. He dropped them both in the pool, then dove in and fished them out. He made sure they were both breathing. "Good. I didn't break them and they should wake up before they get sunburned. Now, ladies, about that dinner." They both reached a hand out and he lifted them from the pool.

By the time they reached the first club, word had spread. No one tried to keep him from entering and, since he wasn't drinking, he was only bending the law. He had decided he wanted to remember the night well. He was going to have to find a way to raid his dad's stock of roses, or how and where he stashed them. Buying them at a florist's wasn't nearly as impressive as pulling them from the air, but they'd gone over well anyway, so had the tux.

"Yes, but Betseger still treats them as imaginary. His math is good, but he lacks the imagination to envision them properly."

"Where did you go to school, Tech?"

"I learned at home. My dad's been a bit busy lately, so my godfather's been assigning us work."

"Us?"

"I have two brothers running around somewhere. Staying out of trouble, I hope. This has been great. I didn't think I'd find anyone who could carry on a reasonable conversation. Let alone a stimulating one. I hope you take pity on me and extend it. May I take you to dinner, Professor Yamato?"

"Not if you call me professor. Actually, you're the first interesting person I've talked to here. Most of the people seem to think below the waist."

"Well put. I find I'm a bit put off by it. I like Khayyam before Kama Sutra."

She giggled. "Dinner then. Seven?"

"Perfect. May I choose our evening's itinerary, or do you have something specific you would like to do?"

"You may choose. I haven't really got anything in mind. I was planning on sitting in the lobby and finishing Joyce."

"Joyce is worthwhile, but the lobby? No, I think not. There are much more interesting places."

He picked her up at seven and presented her a delicate spray of pleurothallis. The miniature orchids delighted her. He pleaded her indulgence. Her oriental beauty had begged a fitting setting. He took her to the Plum Blossom, a superb restaurant renowned as a replication of a nineteenth century tea house. She was amazed when he performed the tea ceremony for her and astounded when he thanked the hostess in perfect Japanese. He took her to the Kabuki Theatre and afterward the Garden of Harmony. She hadn't known there was a Japanese enclave on Sybar.

"The spirit of the rock delights in the pattern of the moon's shadow."

"Tech, I've never met anyone like you. I teach people older than you are, but I don't think they're as wise."

"Please, I'm not young by choice. I am who I am. At this point in my life, I'm young. At another point, I will not be. Wisdom grows with age, but it must be nurtured. My father taught me to cherish each day and seek to grow wise. The moonlight... Would I bore you if I read to you from the Rubaiyat?"

"You would never bore me. Please."

He soon put the book away. He knew it well and preferred his hands free.

Doc did six hours of katas and got a good night's sleep. He was going out when Tech and Diz came in. They'd run into each other in a hotel lobby. "Uh huh. Meow. Lick the cream off your whiskers and get some sleep. I need you in three hours. New Stockholm hotel. Sticks, chucks, and full blacks."

"What's with him?"

"The memory of a woman's pain. Sleep, Diz. He needs us. So does she."

"Tech, you see everything and he feels everything. It's a good thing I'm around to enjoy everything."

"Sybarite."

"When on Sybar... "

Carol glanced out her window, then looked. Three of them! Perfect. Balance, movement, position. Perfect. She saw Doc shake his head and make them go through the Tai chi Chi'uan again. She'd seen nothing, but he had. His two brothers must have agreed. They redid it and looked at him. He nodded and they grinned. They moved into a karate kata that left her with her mouth hanging open. Nobody moved that fast! She headed for the lift. They were attracting a crowd and she wanted a front row seat.

"Chucks. The new routine."

"Slave driver." Diz grinned. Jenna and Jeanna were watching. The new routine was one they had designed themselves. It used tumbling, jujitsu and the chucks. The key elements were their own individual talents; Doc's strength, Tech's precision, his speed; It was a show piece. A dance to the rhythm of the chucks. He'd noticed Tech's designer. He wondered who Doc was showing off for.

Diz started the final run. He met Tech and knew the toss was perfect. Doc was exactly where he should be. He landed, caught Tech's spinning chucks and saw him slide in. The crowd went crazy. Doc said, "Now" and he back flipped from the outstretched chucks Doc held over his head. Tech did a forward roll from between Doc's legs and they finished in line with a precision aikido kata.

A lovely woman walked up to Doc and spoke quietly. Diz saw Tech walking toward the oriental beauty. Break time. He followed the direction Tech had taken and strolled over to Jenna and Jeanna. They were standing near the professor's chair. He decided he was developing a real 'thing' for twins. Tech said, "Diz, don't make plans for this afternoon. He DOES need us."

"My evening my own?"

"I doubt it. I think your lady friends have a claim on it."

"Oh, I DO hope so." Jenna and Jeanna laughed.

"No. You'll hurt yourself. Here. This way. You don't have to hit hard. Just right. Your body will provide the force. Feel it flowing behind your hand."

Carol watched him teach her smallest student. He'd solved the problem she'd worked on for months. And he'd done it with a gentle touch here and there. His hands were beautiful. He was beautiful. He was so different. They all were. Patient and gentle. So very gentle.

They'd been teaching a group of very small children when she'd arrived with her students. She'd watched closely for the ten minutes until her reserved time. When he walked over to say hello, he'd had a giggling, squirming, child under each arm and one on his shoulders, hanging onto his hair. Thick, curly, red-blond hair.

"Doc, we're headed out. Catch ya' later."

"Right, Diz. Later. That's it. Even all the way through. Slowly. Speed is only speed. Position is power. Remember, practice doesn't make perfect, but perfect practice does. Oh, sorry. Looks like next group."

Damn he was good. Even the formality of ending the session was performed with the beauty and grace of a dance. "You teach a lot?"

"No, Carol, we don't really get the chance often, but sometimes we help with a class of little ones. A few right words early can avoid a lot of injuries later. My mom started teaching me as soon as I could walk. She was afraid I'd hurt myself trying to copy her. Someday I'll be as good as she is; then, in a few hundred years, as good as my dad."

"Wait a minute! You're serious! A few HUNDRED years?"

"Yes. I'm only half human. We all are. No. That's not right. Tech's mother is... I don't know. His mother."

"You're not triplets? I mean, your hair color's different, but I thought... "

"No. Half brothers. Three different mothers, but they all had the same name. Do you know what a Time Lord is?"

"I've heard the term."

"Our father is a Time Lord. Albeit, a rather unusual one. We don't enter tourneys. Our bodies are better. It wouldn't be fair."

"Fair is an ideal."

"I'm an idealist. Inherited from both sides. Mom's not even practical about it. Dad doesn't need to be. Here. Feel. I've got two hearts." He lifted her hands and put them on his chest. He smiled. She didn't yank them away and he'd felt only interest, not revulsion.

"Heartburn must really make you miserable."

He laughed. Leaned against a wall and laughed. "Come on. Let's find out. I've been smelling those greasy sausages they sell around the corner all afternoon. I can't resist any longer. I'm starving."

He spent the evening with her. When he left her at her door, he touched her hair, then cupped her jaw in his hand. She tensed slightly, but didn't pull away. He ran back toward the TARDIS. He was too happy to walk. She'd liked it and she was incredibly surprised. He had two more days. He hoped it would be enough.

Carol found him. She'd seen them running out of the woods. More than a dozen of them. None of them were in good shape. Only he could have done that much damage. He was unconscious and battered. She needed help. It came as she thought it.

"Damn. The TARDIS is too far. I don't want to treat him here."

"You're Tech. Take him to my hotel. We'll go through the back. They beat him after he was unconscious."

"Yeah, nice guys. You know who they are?"

"Not individually, but yes. I should have lodged a complaint. It's my fault. He was helping me when he made un-friends with them."

"You didn't do this. They did. If you feel guilty when he wakes up, it'll hurt him worse than the beating. I can treat that. Where's your hotel?"

"Right there. I was looking out my window and saw them run away. Twelve, fifteen of them. This way. Do you need help?"

"No, I've got him. Let's go. He's bleeding internally. I've got to start healing him quickly. He dies and regenerates, it'll blow the whole thing."

"I think you're scaring me."

"Sorry. He won't die. Well, not like you think of it. All that could happen is his appearance could change, then Dad would know we'd been doing something."

"Bad boys, huh? Not supposed to be on Sybar."

"No. Making sure our father has a future. Going after the ones who will kill him if we don't stop them."

"In here. On the bed. I'll call a medic."

"No! I have the best help he can get with me. You didn't see this."

"What is that thing?"

"A miracle from the future. Deep healing beam. Not too far in the future from here. They'll be around in your lifetime. There. Could have been worse. Look, I left a lovely lady with a very surprised look on her face. I need to get back before someone hands her the bill and she won't listen to an explanation. May I leave him here? Will you stay with him?"

"Yes. What do I do?"

"If he starts to get cold, get him warm. Do it quick. Shouldn't happen. He'll be fine. Bye."

Carol decided not to take any chances.

"Oh my, did I miss something?"

"The second half of a beating. Yours. Your brother just left. He told me to keep you warm."

"I think you should know you're succeeding admirably."

''Good."

"I'm not sure about that."

"I am."

"Sayonara, Celeste."

"Tech, I'll never meet anyone like you again."

"Good. But you'll meet other unique people. You'll draw them as you did me. Moths to the lovely flame that takes care not to singe young wings."

"Carol, I... "

"I'm leaving today too, Doc. You changed things for me. Abused child grows up. Wounds healed. Miracle."

"Two of us, I think. Different kinds of wounds. Fare thee well, Carol."

"I'll sigh forever."

"You'll forget us in a week."

"Yes, you'll have a lady on each arm in a few days."

"I'll admit the latter is a possibility, but I will never forget you. You are both so incredibly beautiful."

"We have one last thing to do on this planet."

"Name it, Tech."

"Diz, pull the black silks and the scoots. We've got some work. Doc, not for you, for her. The Knight boys are going to teach a lesson in manners."

"Done."

"You have failed as a sensei. Your students have no respect and no wisdom. We have come to listen to you instruct them."

"You three punks can't come in here and talk to me like that. Take 'em boys."

"Yippee. Told you he wouldn't listen, Doc. Oops. Hope I didn't break him."

"Pay attention, Diz. You break too many of them."

"Aw, Tech. Not that many. Shucks, ran out already. Doc, talk to him or hit him. Don't just stand and look at him."

"You have a very short time to teach them. Begin with; if one has learned humility, one can not be humiliated. We shall return. If you've taught them well, you will once again be allowed in tourneys. If not, we close this dogo."

"Who are you?"

"We're the Knight boys."

"We need money. A lot of it. We have to jump forward in time and buy some very expensive pieces of equipment. Any suggestions?"

"Whoa, you don't know what we do?"

"No, Diz, I'm changing things. Right now I'm hanging on to the console, so I don't fall down."

"What did you get from Celeste?"

"The design for a dimensional warp cannon."

"Funny. It never even occurred to me she was a weapons designer."

"She isn't. She's an artist. She uses dimensional mathematics in the construction of her art. This is the design for a mobile that will be hung in the Cluster Trade Center. She doesn't know what she designed. Dad told me about it. No one ever realizes it's the most deadly weapon ever created. All it needs is assembly, a power source, and a trigger. It's a favorite story of his."

"How did you find her?"

"I hopped around in the TARDIS while you were getting lined up for the wedding. Found when she'd hung it and checked her university file for a time to find her. This seemed best."

"Grab him, Diz!"

"Whoa! Bed for you. What's wrong with him, Doc?"

"He's riding a storm of change and the waves are swamping him. You get him tucked in. I'll see about coming up with money. Tech, we need a when on purchases."

"Five... Five hundred years."

"All right. We'll see what we can come up with."

"That's it. All the currency from the wardrobe in the time period specified."

"Not a lot, Diz. I'd hoped for more. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way. At least we're genetically keyed to the TARDIS. You're going to have to ask for her help. You have the power to use her telepathic circuits. Tell her what we're trying to do. We start at the other end, then come back and work our way forward at about twenty-five year intervals."

"If I'm going to tell her the plan, I should know it."

Doc kept it simple. One world, one city, one building. The Cluster Trading Center. He hadn't been taught to use the TARDIS the way Tech had. The TARDIS helped. She landed them in the records center at night. They looked up the information they needed, then went back to the beginning.

They found a broker willing to let a pair of students invest their 'allowance'. He deposited their earnings and hoped they didn't go into competition with him. He'd tried to talk them out of the investments they'd chosen, small technology companies. He started following their investments. They didn't play the market, just submitted a new portfolio about every twenty-five years. The broker retired after thirty of them a very wealthy man.

The account at the bank grew. They'd established it as a family account. They also arranged to have the bank pay the taxes on their earnings. Since all withdrawals were invested, the record keeping was simple. Every twenty-five years the account was taken to the minimum, then began to grow again. Over the five hundred years, a great many bank employees followed the Knight family investments. They retired wealthy too.

"OK, Diz, see how Tech is. We need to know what to buy."

"All right, but we may have to build this thing ourselves. He was in rough shape the last time I checked. Doc, get us into the net. If I know what's available, I might be able to figure out what we can adapt to our needs."

"That's what I needed to hear. Check Tech anyway. I can't. Even with him in the zero room, I pick up occasional waves of confusion. And grief. We haven't got this worked out yet."

"We've got to try something, Diz. The cannon's ready, but we're not. I've got an idea, but it's real iffy. Come on. Time to change Tech's memories."

Diz was supporting Doc by the time they reached Tech. He was struggling too. Even he could feel the grief Tech radiated. It was like a cold dark fog. Palpable.

"I don't remember it, Doc."

"Good. We have to change your memories. Show us. We can handle it. We've got to try to bring our minds together. We might succeed. We've become very close. That's obvious from the way we're reacting to your grief. Not just me, Diz too."

They found the way there in the zero room. They joined minds and Tech showed them the trap the daleks had laid using the telepaths of Liberty. The many ways it could have been sprung. Their presence and Data's had kept it from closing much sooner. All the paths ended with the trap being sprung, with the Doctor's capture by the daleks and his slow, but eventual, death. They followed their own efforts to save him. The attempts they made to stop it. Each one ending in at least one of their deaths. Most failing. Then things began to change. Tech showed them how to float above the images. They held on and waited for them to settle. They found one possibility, but it required they kill. They searched for a way to save the innocents. There wasn't one. Diz made a suggestion. It was risky.

Four of the five possibilities ended in their deaths and failure to save their father. They latched on the one chance and examined it. They would have to train very hard. It depended on split second timing and a child's dry diaper.

"We're ready. Tech, anything changed?"

"No. Still five possibilities. One chance to succeed. I can hang on to that chance, Doc. Every right move we make strengthens it."

"Good. You get swampy in the middle of this and we're done for. Where's the diaper, Diz?"

"Here. I changed it a little. The fasteners are velcro."

"What's that?"

"Watch. See. It's real old stuff, but I found a roll of it in the wardrobe and it seemed perfect for our needs."

"It is, Diz. Doc, my memory just dropped two death scenes."

"Two down, two to go."

"Get in that ship! Hurry! Don't ask questions. We're getting you out of here."

Tech shot out the eyepiece of the dalek that opened the door to the hold and hushed the people hurrying into the TARDIS. Doc grabbed the baby from the surprised woman and changed her. Diz planted the grenade on the distressed dalek and carried the last five people through the TARDIS doors with his body. Doc and Tech shot out the eyepieces of the two daleks that appeared in the doorway and dove through the TARDIS doors. Diz hit the door lever and Tech raced for the controls. Doc grabbed the woman out of his way. The TARDIS was in motion.

"Three down, one to go. Get them moving, Diz."

"Right, Tech. Ladies and gents, follow me quickly. We aren't safe yet." He led them through the interior doors. "Stay here. I'll be back if we're successful." He ran back to the control room, latched the interior doors and helped Doc move the cannon into place.

"Last scenario coming up. Diz, I'll give you a count on the doors. Tie down. We'll decompress as soon as I drop the defenses. Doors in five, four, three, two, one... NOW!"

Doc got off one shot before the cannon was swept out the doors. Diz had already started the doors closing. Tech switched on the TARDIS defenses and slammed them into travel. They had milliseconds to get out of the area. Even the TARDIS wouldn't withstand the backlash of the cannon.

"We did it! One set of memories! We did it!"

"Doc, that must have been the UNIVERSE'S fastest diaper change!"

"It had to be. If that baby had cried at the TARDIS doors, the dalek would have fired in the direction of the sound and killed half a dozen people. Including you, Diz."

"Yeah, feels strange to owe my life to a dry diaper."

They laughed and took the people home. They had two more stops to make before they took the TARDIS back. The first was on twentieth-century Earth. They found enough currency to make the purchase, then made the modifications en route. It would be years before their dad discovered it. He'd always wonder why he couldn't remember when he'd picked it up.

"No change. No respect, no humility, no values. A teenage gang, not a group of students. They're waiting for us. Some are even carrying beamers. Time to shut them down. I lodged the complaint. Told them what they tried to do to Carol. Asked them to keep her out of it. Gave written testimony. He won't be able to rebuild the school without an accreditation. No one will loan him the money. I wish there was some other way."

"I'm sorry, Doc. I told you how it would be. We'll have to do it the way I remember it."

"I know, Tech. At least none die. They're badly misguided. Not ruthlessly evil."

"Doc, Tech says all of them heal. We break a few, but they mend. They tried to kill you and nearly succeeded in destroying Carol's sanity. She'd have never recovered."

"You're right, Diz. Let's get the red leathers and the bikes. Time for the Knight boys to ride."

They dressed in the leathers, brushed their hair back, and put diamond studs in their right earlobes. They didn't speculate on how they'd gotten pierced. They just were. They donned the mirrored glasses and rolled the three red motorcycles out of the TARDIS. Doc rode the big one; Tech and Diz the smaller.

They roared through the double doors of the dogo on their back wheels and proceeded to demolish it. And its owner and clientele. They hurried. They wanted to get Doc back to the TARDIS before he started feeling the pain they'd inflicted. He was on his knees crying by the time they got the bikes in and the doors shut.

"Time to go back. Let's get the bikes stored and get changed into our tuxes. Gwen will know we went somewhere, but she won't tell. These last eight weeks didn't happen. Right?"

"Sure were interesting for something that didn't happen. I've got a question. What happened to the cannon? No one will find it, will they, Tech?"

"No, Diz, they won't. The backwash from the blast spread it across a hundred dimensions. Just like the dalek time ship. We blew it apart before it could rendezvous with the estherans and complete the trap. Without the daleks, the estherans can't stop Dad."

"Tech, how did you know all this? You know things you're not telling us."

"Yeah, Doc, I do. My mom told me. Just enough. And just before she died. She told me I'd have to find the future that didn't exist and bring my brothers to find her. She didn't tell dad or my sisters. When the future changed, I knew it was time to start searching."

"When did it change?"

"It started when Dad didn't send me away after you tried to kill yourself. I was supposed to end up on Earth, my choice, alone until he and Gwen found me about ten years later. But the real change came after Dad saved Susan and Sara. That's when I knew the future had to be changed. It didn't exist. It ended right after Lib's wedding."

"Then you saw all this."

"No, Doc. I put it together piece by piece. There had to be a way to make the small loop where I existed into the true timestream. Had to be. You see, without us Dad would still have been taken. When your mother died of the disease, he'd have known and started hunting for her killers. Calla's daughters and one of Wren's sons would have survived, so would a few of the horses. He'd have allowed himself to be taken on Liberty to find why the telepaths were being taken. The daleks would have destroyed his mind, then disintegrated his body. Mother knew. She told me when we went to get her. I'm slipping! We have to destroy the unit we built to find her!"

"Done."

"You've got about forty minutes, Doc. You need to be changed too."

They opened the TARDIS doors and Gwen walked in. "I'm taking you back. I don't remember where you've been." Doc took her armload.

"Good. You don't want to know. So don't look." They pulled him out of the TARDIS. He was waving bye-bye again.

## Chapter Eleven

"Doctor, the TARDIS is capable of returning to nearly the same instant it left. Why did you instruct me to give the boys several assignments and have them prepare the ship?"

"I need time. They need time. I want to keep our timestream and theirs concurrent. There's also the possibility we won't get back. The daleks are involved. They've been extremely persistent in their attempts to capture me in this time. Data, we may be walking into a trap. I should probably have taken you back to the Enterprise. One of the reasons I had them stock the ship was because I'm not sure we'll get back."

"Tech did not indicate doubts we would return."

"Didn't he? I'm not sure about that either. He watched me too closely. Stood near when I obviously didn't want him to. As if he couldn't quite help it. I think he saw something he didn't tell me. We've landed in a combat zone. I must know how the telepaths are being used. The viewer shows the immediate area to be clear. Open the doors."

It was horse country. Rolling plains stretched toward the horizon. The Doctor heard weapons in the distance and a telepathic cry of pain. He led Data toward the sound of battle at a run. It was an odd battle. Two groups fought with tenacity and imprecision. Neither group wore headbands, but both appeared controlled.

"Doctor, they do not appear to be acting on their own initiative."

"They're not, Data. They're being given their orders telepathically. Probably just the riders. The horses could be getting theirs from them. Something about this worries me. It's too slow and too expensive. Somehow the tarkaalats have been convinced to wage war this way."

"It is a most strange method of warfare."

"Very. But it makes some sense for the tarkaalats. They have a low population. Even lower than the humans. A tarkaalat could control as many as twenty of the telepaths at once. A human only about two. Evens the odds. This world is large enough for both groups and largely unsettled. From what you've told me, the tarkaalats want to change that. With a captive human population to build nests and raise food, they could spend all their time raising young. They could fill this world in two decades. Time to find the estherna. They've got to be the key. And the daleks have got to be behind them."

"I was able to learn very little about the estherna."

"Nasty little race of traders that LIKE doing business with the daleks."

"I have decided there are a great many races in your universe I would not wish in mine. The daleks are foremost of these. I do not believe even the ferengi would willingly trade with them."

"You haven't met the estherna. They're a strange group. They sell the tools of war because they hate all other races. The more people destroyed in war, the happier they are. The daleks are always happy to provide them with new products. The technology is still too advanced for this time. I smell time traveling daleks behind it. Come on. We can't learn any more here. Back to the TARDIS. We've got some searching to do."

The Doctor hopped through time near the space station until he saw the esthernan ship, then set the TARDIS to track it. When it obtained a stationary position, he landed the TARDIS on the huge family ship. He and Data searched for the telepaths. Humans and horses. They found them.

"No, Data. There's no way to revive them. They were brain dead before they were frozen. Use your phaser. Cremate them. As long as their bodies exist, the estherna have the raw materials for cloning. I'm going to find the cloning lab. You will be able to find me quite easily. I plan on making a great deal of noise."

He found the lab and ripped the locked door off. "I am the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. You have a very short time to leave this place before I destroy it."

He was almost pleased they decided to fight. He disposed of the eight estherna and began destroying the lab. He stopped and stood before one small area, then carefully avoided doing any damage to it. Data arrived in time to destroy the stocks of headbands and the facility for their manufacture. The Doctor picked up the four large trays and nodded to him. He turned the remainder of the equipment into a molten lump. They were ready to leave.

They fought their way back to the TARDIS, or rather, Data did. The Doctor carefully shielded the trays he carried. When they reached the TARDIS, he carried them into the medical lab.

"The space station next, Data. We need to use their facilities. Ask the TARDIS to land us within the lab."

"Yes, Doctor. I will return to assist you in a few moments."

"Good. Most of these are viable. I shall need help to keep them alive."

"I am known as the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. I need the use of this facility. You may inform the minister I will be coming. Leave. Now."

No one wanted to argue. They didn't like what they were doing and they didn't like the fat man.

"Data, stay here and watch over them. I don't like rushing this, but four hours should be all that is needed. Seal the hatch. I'm about to 'bend' the laws of time. I do not wish you with me when I do it."

He landed on the planet and asked the first person he saw where and when. He set the coordinates, watched it happen, dropped back a few minutes, and landed inside the aircraft. "Your Majesty, this craft is about to explode. A bomb has been placed on board. I ask you, your son and your pilot to come with me."

"Do you have proof of this?"

"Look in the rear storage compartment. I believe that is where it is located. Hurry, we have very little time." He was pleased with the king. He'd wasted no time in foolish questions, just looked for the bomb, found it and ordered his son and the pilot into the TARDIS. He knew who was responsible for it.

The Doctor landed in the fat man's command center. He stepped out of the TARDIS and walked toward him.

"YOU! How did you get here?! What is that thing?! Say away from me! GUARDS! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!!"

"I command you to stop!" The king and his son walked into the center of the room. Every person in the room knelt. Except the Doctor and the fat man. The Doctor didn't and the fat man couldn't.

"You disgust me. Almost as much as your sister."

"Captain Knight, you don't understand. It was her idea! All of it! I didn't have any choice! She's the one! It was her, not me! Don't kill me!"

"I am the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. You have sat in your web like a fat spider and trapped something too large for it. I won't kill you. I kill only when necessary. I do not find you worthy of death at my hands."

"Nephew, you and your sister attempted to assassinate me and my son. I have learned what you have been doing. The Doctor is most merciful. An excellent example, but one I find I am unable to follow." The king raised a weapon and executed his nephew. The people in the room cheered.

"Hello, Jess."

"You knew! Everything! All along! You were there!"

"Yes, I was there. I still have to stop the war, but I think I'm well on the way to getting you 'out of this mess'."

"Damn."

"Doctor. I believe my son and I are ready. I think we can leave things here to Marshal Tult."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I believe you're right. Marshal, I suggest you organize some work crews. I will be taking your laborers with me. Take all control bands and units to the lab, then leave the area quickly. This station is about to develop a very large hole."

The king, his son, and the pilot helped the Doctor free the laborers. No more had died. Jess had been put in charge of them and they were actually in better condition. He had disobeyed the fat man's orders and begun feeding them several times a day. The marshal had assigned him the post and ignored the reports of pilfered supplies. The station had been in a state of near rebellion before the king arrived.

The laborers helped carry the results of Data's work into the TARDIS. The Doctor watched the crew of the station as they brought control devices in and piled them on the floor. They seemed quite happy to be getting rid of them. Especially Jess. The Doctor smiled as he listened to his cheerful whistling. When he was informed all had been delivered, he finished his work, dashed through the TARDIS doors and set course for Liberty. The lab blew up as the TARDIS disappeared.

The president and Neaht both arrived within a few minutes of the Doctor's landing. The freed men helped unload the TARDIS. Myrna shook her head and smiled. She called for assistance. So did Neaht. Neither was capable of caring for nearly fifty hungry infants alone. Data was pleased with the noisy babies and wobbly colts. He had succeeded in bringing all of the viable embryos to birth weight. He had not lost one.

The freed men were released in the city. They would spread the word the king was alive. The king and prince accompanied the Doctor to visit the tarkaalats.

"I am the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. You have involved me in your war. I have come to stop it. I believe you know this gentleman."

"Logiss, I believed we could share this world. It is large and capable of supporting both our peoples. You have chosen otherwise. I give you twelve hours to remove yourselves. At that time, I shall order the detonation of the explosives buried beneath your city. You see, your offers of friendship and aid were a bit too good to be true. I had them planted before I gave you this place. Any attack on my people will negate your twelve hour grace period. You will also deliver to this room any cloned telepaths who are now in your growth chambers."

There were no children or colts in the chambers, so the king walked back into the TARDIS. The Doctor followed.

"Your Majesty, do you really have the city mined?"

"No, Doctor, but they don't know that. Now, I believe we have one more stop to make. I'm looking forward to it. By the way, I'd appreciate it if you'd call me Dern. My son is Gerd. I'm only Your Majesty on formal occasions and then only because the people seem to want me to be."

"Dern, I wish I could say I wasn't looking forward to our next stop."

They landed in the throne room. Tish seldom used it. She was too obese to descend and climb the stairs often. The king took his throne and called for the general.

"I understand you have devised a method to rehabilitate the poor souls created for, and ruthlessly violated in, this obscene form of warfare. The war is over, Jisl. Order it into action."

The general's face lit up. "Immediately, Your Majesty!"

"Dern, Jisl. We've known each other since we were boys. Bring my niece here. And her fat friend Posch too."

"I would be delighted."

"Doctor, I'm afraid I lost my temper on the space station. I cannot do that here. I have no proof my niece was responsible for the device on the aircraft. I must ask you to do something. I would avoid it if possible. I ask you testify."

The women were escorted before the throne. The king sent everyone except the general, the prince and the two from the room, then turned to the Doctor. "Doctor, your testimony."

His rage returned as he spoke. The king's face hardened and the prince shook with anger. The general gasped when the Doctor told of the last command sequence he had received through the control band.

The king stood. "I believe you were responsible for the bomb on my aircraft. If you were, you are guilty of treason. It is a crime punishable by death, but I have called you here to answer for a greater crime. I condemn you to death for the abuse of the Doctor's children. Execute them." The general shot them both.

The Doctor turned and entered the TARDIS. Data was waiting. He closed the doors and engaged the drive. They landed on the ship and the Doctor went to the bridge.

Doc stopped Diz from following him. "No. He doesn't want to talk. He's not past whatever happened. Leave him. He's moved out of the TARDIS so we can get into it. He'll come to us when he's ready. Let's give our lessons to Data."

They left him alone for two days. He walked into the galley where they were all seated around the table and joined them. He smiled and said, "We've a few small chores, then we're going fishing. I know a place where the gumblejack... " They laughed. They'd all heard this fish story before.

The Doctor pulled stacks of currency from the air and paid the man in cash. He was a bit short, so he called Albert. Albert was delighted with the idea and called friends. A very large endowment was made. The boys scrambled to unmodify and the Doctor complained about tripping over things in the TARDIS corridors. Loudly.

"Dr. Glace, you're wanted at the spaceport! They want to know when you want them to begin work on the ship!"

"Ship! Oh my, what has he done now? I'll get my coat. Have our accountant meet me there. We'd better take some of the senior staff with us. We'll probably need them."

The last thing she had done was the installation of the plaque and the small change on the exterior logo. The plaque read, "White Knight Foundation, Hospital Ship One. Dedicated to the saving of lives in the spirit of mercy and the one who showed the way." The question mark on the white chess piece was replaced with a pink rose.

## Epilogue

They spent three months wandering. An extended fishing vacation. They shared the joy of just being together. Diz told the Doctor he was right. Nothing compared with the taste of bass cooked over an open fire, but gumblejack was a close second.

"It's time. I remember it. Reality hurts."

"Yes, Tech, it's time. I shall miss you. All of you. Data, I have a request. Let's sit in the cloisters. The boys have a small celebration to prepare."

"Come on. We've got packing to do and a farewell party to organize."

"Hang on a minute, Tech. It hurts. He hurts."

"I know, Doc. It's why he seldom says good-by. Diz and I will be in the wardrobe."

Worf looked at the three young men with Data. His instincts had been right. Something had been on the holodeck. "At ease, Lieutenant. These are my godsons. I am taking them to the captain."

"Yes, Commander."

Riker turned to Deanna and raised his eyebrows. She just shook her head.

"Captain, these are my godsons, Adric, Peral and Restin."

"Good day, Captain Picard. Please, call me Tech. My brothers are Doc and Diz. We've been looking forward to this meeting. Our father holds you in high esteem."

The captain shook hands with them, then turned to Data for an explanation. "Sir, if you look closely, you will know who their father is."

Captain Picard was surprised. It was unlike Data to withhold information. He did as he was asked and realized he did indeed know whose sons they were. "Are you triplets?"

Diz grinned. "No, Captain, we're half-brothers, but all our mothers were named Guinevere and; give or take a universe, several thousand years, and a dimension or two, we're all the same age. We call ourselves the Knight boys."

Data made the request and Captain Picard made the arrangements. He set up transport before the results were in. He had no doubt they would succeed. He noticed Data's smile looked much more natural. He had evidently been practicing.

Gwen sprinkled the powder over the sleeping child and smiled. It would give him a terrible cough, but it wouldn't last long. Just long enough to make him miss a shuttle. It was the last thing her mother had asked her to do. She hurried out of the room and down the corridor. She didn't want to be out of the TARDIS long. She was very happy. It was a wonderful day. Her dad was waiting for her. They were on their way to her sister's wedding reception. And the future was beautiful.

"A reception committee of one. Enter, enter. I'm Diz, he's Doc, that's Tech."

"Hello, I got a message from my mom to look you up. I'm Wesley Crusher.

Welcome to Starfleet Academy."

TOO SHORT A SPAN

Alone

Take Mel back to where the future waits.

Miss Peri

Is she happy?

Alone

Short span in the life of a Time Lord.

Forty years

Not that much

What did happen?

Alone

Just a little bump on Lakertya.

Then you've gone

I miss you

Just forty years?

I'll dream your adventures and fill them

And you'll no longer be

Alone

Thank you, Colin, for creating the sixth Doctor.

Sharon L Reddy

'Midst the first snow

Douglas, Alaska USA

October 29, 1991

