'The largest,' the man replied. 'The distribution plane.'

The Doctor nodded. 'De Sande probably wanted to make sure all the copies of his film were safe in case anything went wrong.'

He and Ben ran as fast as they could towards the plane.

Before they could get there it had started to roll down the runway building up speed, its propellers creating cyclones of air that swirled around the area, blowing through everyone's hair and clothes, the deafening roar of its engines drowning out any conversation.

As the plane accelerated, the bright runway lights illuminated its clear glass cockpit and Ben saw De Sande sitting behind the pilot, looking back and grinning with satisfaction.

'There has to be a way to stop him,' the Doctor shouted.

'We have to force him down. If De Sande has his way he'll be able to get new hosts for the Selyoids that are currently inside him and all our efforts will be in vain.'

He looked around and ran over to the edge of the runway where a fleet of vehicles were parked. A young fair-haired engineer was washing dirt off the paintwork of a large pick-up truck. 'I need to borrow this!' he shouted, pointing to the truck.

The engineer looked puzzled. 'I'm sorry sir, you can't '

The Doctor slipped past him and, as he did so, dipped his hands into the man's pockets and pulled out a bundle of keys.

'Hey!' the engineer shouted as the Doctor jumped into the vehicle and locked the driver's door. 'Get out of there!'

Ben opened the passenger door and jumped inside. The Doctor jammed the keys into the ignition and started the engine.

'I'm sorry!' he called out to the engineer who was frantically trying to open the locked door. 'I'll return it soon!'

The Doctor drove the truck away from the airport as fast as he could and, as he did so, Ben saw De Sande's plane finally lift off from the runway and fly into the night. 'It's too late, isn't it, Doctor?' Ben asked.

'Not yet, Ben,' the Doctor insisted. 'De Sande's plane is slow and heavy. We've still got time.'

Their journey back to Griffith Park took hardly any time at all the roads were almost empty as everyone in the city was more concerned with seeing Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun than with driving anywhere. than with driving anywhere.

As they drove into the car park Ben saw that the projectors were still beaming a dazzling display of light into the air.

Around the projectors lay the robed corpses, completely inanimate. Now that their Selyoid inhabitants had died the bodies were decomposing rapidly, reverting back to their natural form.

The Doctor stopped the truck, then reversed it so that its rear was right next to one of the projectors. He jumped out of the vehicle and stepped over the corpses.

'We need to move the projector, Ben,' he shouted.

Ben hurried over to where he was standing and together they pushed the projector on to the back of the truck. It was heavy but their combined strength managed to move it in less than a minute, though by the end of the process Ben was exhausted. Lifting the generator connected to the projector was no easy task either.

Once the projector and its generator were safely loaded on the back of the truck the Doctor threw Ben the keys to the vehicle and jumped on the back with the projector. He opened a sliding window to the cabin so that Ben could hear what he was saying. 'Go on,' he called. 'I'll shout directions. Now drive!'

Ben sped away from the car park and the Doctor began to think out loud. 'Now these devices create monsters out of reality,' he murmured. 'If I can amplify the effects, make the light brighter, the Selyoids more powerful...'

Ben looked up into the sky and saw that the projections coming from the back of the truck were continuing to fight each other overhead, though they were getting weaker. The Roman armies had been reduced to barely a few men, the giant gorilla was becoming less giant with every moment. The Selyoids creating the images were dying, and as they did so the films died too. Frantically, the creatures continued to wage their battle.

Until they received the order to stop they would form the images of warring cinematic icons, but the absence of the controlling Selyoid meant the order would never come and the battle would continue until the last of the creatures had died.

In the rear-view mirror Ben saw the Doctor reach into his pocket and take out the glass device he'd stolen at the FOCAL meeting. He turned it over in his hands, then looked back at the projector.

The Doctor placed his smaller device in front of the larger one that was already attached to the projector and angled it as far skywards as he could manage. He looked up and squinted as if aiming an archery bow, then gave the projector lens one final twist. A blinding spark of light shot out of the device, dazzling him enough to knock him off balance.

'Look,' he said, pointing up at the sky.

The giant monsters, demons, armies and fireballs raced upwards. The Doctor had changed their angle of projection and their strength was amplified by the device he'd placed in front of the projector.

In the rear-view mirror Ben saw a small awkward-looking shape appearing in the sky. It was De Sande's plane sweeping into view straight into the heart of the projections.

'We can't let this go on too long,' the Doctor said. 'We'll just leave enough time to disorientate the pilot. Now keep driving!

We've got to stay with De Sande!'

De Sande sat back in the plane and lit a cigar. He looked out over the sea of flickering lights from the city below and smiled.

Soon he would be able to salvage his plan and the Selyoid control of Los Angeles could begin, despite the interference of the Doctor and his allies.

His concentration was shattered as the plane shook violently.

'What the hell?' he heard the pilot shout. De Sande peered forward to see if the pilot was OK and the view through the front of the cockpit was suddenly blocked by a gigantic winged demon with rows of teeth that dripped with blood.

'Get it off!' cried the pilot. 'What is it?'

De Sande looked out of the window and saw a sea of monsters rushing towards the plane. The sound of banging on the vehicle's hull began, and the pilot's control of the vehicle became more erratic as be tried to shake off the creatures.

'You fool,' De Sande growled. 'They're only projections!'

But the pilot was too busy screaming to hear him.

As Ben drove he kept glancing in his mirror to see the dramatic spectacle unfolding above them. He saw the gorilla lash out at the plane, causing it to swerve slightly. Hundreds of soldiers scrambled across its surface, the Selyoids creating the illusion that they were picking pieces of metal off its side and throwing them to the ground. The planes trajectory became erratic the pilot clearly couldn't see where he was going. A hundred winged demons flew up to the aircraft, darting around it like flies and scaring the pilot enough to make the plane shake violently.

'Keep course with them, Ben,' the Doctor pleaded. 'Faster!

Come on, I know you can do it!'

The plane was almost out of range, in the part of the sky where no projections roamed, so Ben swerved the truck and slammed his foot against the accelerator to make sure the aircraft continued to be surrounded by the nightmares.

De Sande tried to communicate with the Selyoids, tried to tell them to stop the attacks, but his control over them was too weak.

'They're just visions!' he screamed, feeling fear rush into him as a clawed hand burst through a window and gripped his neck.

'They're just visions, they can't hurt us!'

'But I can't see!' the pilot cried. 'I can't see anything!'

'Get off me!' De Sande shouted as he felt the demon ripping at his flesh. 'You're not real! You're playing with my mind!

You're just in my imagination!'

The projections weren't listening. De Sande could feel the Selyoids inside him struggling to deal with the situation, unsure of how to proceed. He cried to them for help. Pleaded with them to stop the monsters.

You can't help feeling scared. You're only human.

'No,' De Sande sobbed. 'I'm not. I'm better than that!'

'Now stop the truck!' the Doctor insisted. 'That should be enough. They'll have to land now. The pilot won't have any choice.'

Ben looked up and saw the plane begin to spin as the projections continued to attack it, continued to block the pilot's line of sight. Once the truck had stopped following it the aircraft cleared the projections, but its flight path still looked troubled.

The noise of its engines grew louder as it started to spin faster and faster, heading towards the ground at an alarming rate.

Suddenly the sky filled with light as a giant explosion smeared it with fire and a thunderous crash shook the hills.

De Sande's plane had just shattered into a million sparks of light that rained down on Los Angeles like fairy dust.

'What happened?' Ben wondered.

'Those projections shouldn't have been that powerful,' the Doctor said with dismay. 'They couldn't have done that kind of damage.'

'That plane was crammed full of prints of Dying in the Sun Dying in the Sun.

They're highly flammable aren't they?'

'One spark, one overheating engine, one small fire. That's all it took,' The Doctor was clearly disturbed by what had happened. 'They should have tried to land. De Sande shouldn't have been so stubborn.' He paused and shook his head. 'Things shouldn't have gone this far.'

Polly and Chate had been comforting those who found themselves lost, who found themselves wandering along the road with no memory of how they'd got there or where they'd left their cars. Polly felt fragile, but knew that she was in a much better condition than most. At least she knew what had been going on. She felt guilty at the reassurance she was drawing from seeing others suffering as much as she was. She marvelled at the way many of the people she'd spoken to had quickly adjusted to what had happened. It was as if their minds weren't capable of comprehending what they'd been through and had instead chosen to shut the memories off and forget them, putting the whole Selyoid experience down to being nothing more than a particularly strange dream.

The scene had been peaceful, mournful. A world away from the rioting and selfishness that had consumed the city earlier that day. And then the peace had been shattered by the noise of the explosion overhead.

Everyone had looked up and seen the plane crashing to the ground, smoke and flames spewing out of its back.

As Polly watched she had hoped the Doctor was not involved in the crash, that he was safe. She had thought about going to look for him, but somehow she knew he would be OK.

So, together with Chate, she waited until the Doctor found her.

'How are you, Polly?' he asked. He had crept up on her while she was comforting a man in a battered tuxedo, a man who had been worshipped as a celebrity mere hours before.

She looked up and saw him and Ben smiling sympathetically at her.

'I'm sorry,' she said.

'It's OK,' the Doctor reassured her. 'Just let it all out.'

'I didn't mean it,' she cried. 'I just felt so good, so right. The Selyoids accepted me in a way that no one else ever has. I belonged with them.'

'No, Polly. You didn't. The only place you belong is with your real friends. With us.'

Polly smiled. 'I know,' she said eventually. She took a deep breath. 'I know that now. There is just one thing I was wondering, though.'

'Oh?' said the Doctor, clearly intrigued. 'And what might that be?'

'I was wondering... Would you like an autograph?'

The Doctor and Ben smiled. Polly felt a strong warmth from them that told her she had all the support she needed to get over her experience.

'Look,' Ben said, pointing to the sky. At first Polly was struck by how bright the stars were, but then she realised she wasn't looking at stars. From the point where the plane had exploded millions of tiny sparkling gold lights were swirling around in the air, a giant golden cloud that was gradually drifting down to Earth. She saw the ground start to glitter, and realised that the sparks were falling like rain. As she looked at them she felt grateful for her friends, for everyone she'd met. She felt wanted. She felt loved.

'What is it?' Ben asked, pointing to the rain.

The Doctor knelt down and tried to pick up one of the sparks, out it dissolved in his hand like a snowflake before he had a chance to study it.

'One final gift from the Selyoids,' he theorised. 'They're light beings so they'll live on, in some strange way, beyond death.' He pointed upwards to the golden cloud. 'That's their last remains.

All the stored energy, all the feelings of harmony, of belonging...

everything De Sande absorbed, raining down on Los Angeles.'

Everything positive about the Selyoids, all the hysteria and shared energy, all the ambition, all the selfishness, all the compassion, all of it was filtering down into the air, the water and into the ground. The people who lived in Los Angeles might forget the events of the last fortnight, but the city itself would remember for ever.

The Doctor stood up and looked around at the bewildered people helping each other to regain their bearings and deal with the loss they all felt. 'No,' he said. 'There won't be any more fighting today.'

Chapter Thirty-Two.

'Are we all ready?' the Doctor asked, looking decidedly uncomfortable in his freshly hired tuxedo.

'Well I am,' said Ben.