Mauvril pulled out the blaster, levelled it at the Doctor.

'You are very persuasive, Doctor. But I've met a lot of persuasive humans. It isn't going to work this time.'

'You're killing me because you're afraid.'

'I'm not killing you. I'm going to have you executed.'

'It's the same thing. It only means you're afraid of pulling the trigger yourself.'

Mauvril let her finger tighten on the trigger, then blinked her night eyes to show him the furious blood there.

'Only because I don't want to start a fire,' she hissed.

The Doctor's eyes met hers, and his mind seemed to bore into hers, digging out all the ash, the blood, the charred bones.

'The fire started a long time ago,' he said quietly. 'Don't you think it's time to put it out?'

Then he was moving, too quickly, the drip was wrenched from his arm, the blaster was out of her hand, skidding across the floor, and he was past her But he was too weak for this he seemed too weak he must have planned it all Kitig, the accusations, all of it and he almost had me fooled there I was almost going to let him live again almost had me fooled there I was almost going to let him live again And Mauvril was backing out of the cell, and the door was banging against her flank, trapping her for a second until she could fling it back open and then she was in the corridor and he was gone gone gone where could he have gone? gone gone gone where could he have gone?

Mauvril felt the old, familiar fury building within her. The human had tricked her. He couldn't be trusted. So when she found him she was going to kill him.

Without hesitation.

Without giving him a chance.

The habs were lined up across the front of the gorge, hooting, grunting, screaming. Leaping up and down. Making gestures with their fists.

Scattered words of translation bloomed in Jo's brain: 'go', 'kill', 'evil' and 'death'.

Sam saw stone axes in some of the hands. She looked at Axeman, saw him waving his own axe high over his head. Jo stood behind them.

Sam turned back to the row of habilines, trying to ignore the sweat dripping from her face, rolling down her body. With difficulty she suppressed a violent shivering.

'Go!' 'Sick!' 'Kill!' 'Death!'

What would the Doctor do?

Yes. That was it.

'Life,' said Sam, pointing forward into the gorge. 'Life. In there. For all of you.'

Fifty pairs of habiline eyes stared at her. Gradually the crowd noises subsided. The habs began discussing among themselves, signing frantically. Some began grooming each other. Cuffs and barks were exchanged.

'Life,' repeated Sam, suppressing another violent shudder.

Axeman stepped forward. 'Life.' He too was pointing into the gorge.

Sam smiled. He trusts us, she thought. That's why he saved my life. She began to walk forward.

'Wait a minute ' began Jo.

But Sam didn't stop, just walked towards the habs, swaying a little.

They parted and let her through.

The rocks seemed to waver and shimmer ahead of her. Behind her, feet shuffled on stone. Sam looked round, saw Jo, Axeman. All the habs, slowly shuffling forward.

Jo caught up with Sam, said, 'Do you know where it is?'

Sam shrugged. 'Water. Home. Where do you think?' She pointed at the jumbled rocks that roofed the water cave.

The dark rock.

Basalt.

She began climbing the slope, flanked by several of the habs. Jo followed. The sun was still finding its way to the rocks around the cave, and they were almost too hot to touch.

Inside the cave, it was still cool and quiet.

Sam knelt at the water's edge, cupped water in her hands and drank greedily. Almost immediately she felt faint.

'No!' she muttered aloud.

She felt a hand on her arm: Axeman, pulling her up.

Jo giggled. 'It's ridiculous. For the last six days we've been stranded half an hour's walk from the lifeboat and we never even knew it was here.'

Sam smiled. Slowly she walked around the edge of the water, to the crevice at the back of the chamber.

Inside the crevice was a surface with a familiar texture. Wood. Paint. Then metal: the rounded metal of the lock.

Sam took the spare TARDIS key from her pocket, opened the door, and stepped forward. The door swung open ahead of her, and she almost fell Into a small, claustrophobic, wooden box.

For a moment she couldn't believe it. She pushed at the wood, felt the bare, smooth substance under her fingers.

'No!' Her voice. She hadn't been aware of speaking.

She turned, saw Jo, a faint silhouette against the light creeping in from the entrance to the cave.

'We're too late,' she said. 'Something must have happened to the Doctor. The TARDIS is dead.'

Then her legs gave way beneath her.

CHAPTER 22.

Jo hammered on the TARDIS, on the blank dead walls.

'You asked me to help you!' she bawled. 'You got me into this you can't give up on me now! Let me in!'

None of it made much sense. The Doctor was a million years away, by his own account. The TARDIS was just dead wood, fossilised into the rock.

Behind her, Sam moaned.

'She's dying dying!' bawled Jo. 'You've got to do something!'

The Doctor could see the daylight streaming in from the entrance to the dome. There was only one guard, and he was talking anxiously into a communications device of some sort.

Good.

Keeping low, the Doctor moved towards the guard.

And stopped.

Sam dying No! thought the Doctor. This shouldn't happen. Couldn't Couldn't happen. He couldn't allow it. happen. He couldn't allow it.

He put all his energy, all his power, into feeding the telepathic link to the TARDIS.

Magma moved, roared up from the throat of the volcano. Flowed down the slopes Changed direction Ash fell. Rock solidified, the pattern changing changing changing to allow a different future And the TARDIS came to life.

The Doctor felt a cold circle of metal against the skin of his face. He opened his eyes, saw the Tractite guard standing over him. She was still speaking into the communications device.

'He's here. Shall I bring him to you?'

The Doctor couldn't hear Mauvril's response, but he didn't need to. He could hear her hoof beats approaching down the long passageway.

The light from the TARDIS dazzled Jo for a moment. Axeman jumped back, with a violent hoot of dismay.

Sam sat up, then fainted.

Jo leaned over her, slapped her face gently. 'We need you to operate the TARDIS,' she said.

Sam's eyelids twitched, but her eyes didn't open. Her breathing was fast, ragged.

Jo looked up at Axeman, who was cowering in the entrance of the cave, afraid of the light.

Fire. Of course. He thought it was fire.

'Nothing's on fire,' she told him. 'I need you to help me with Sam.'

The habiline moved forward, a foot at a time, watching the light. He sniffed the air, felt it with his hands.

At last he bounded down and picked up Sam's feet.

Jo lifted her shoulders, and together they bundled her through the door into the huge brassy light of the console room.

Once they had lowered Sam on to the floor, Jo looked around, trying to get her bearings.

It was hopeless. The TARDIS had completely changed. The time rotor was recognisable, but the rest was a jumble of dark rugs, brass surfaces, and an incongruous VW Beetle parked by the edge of a dark Persian carpet. There were brass gods, ranks and ranks of clocks, shelves of books disappearing upward into infinity...

'I need medicine for Sam,' she said aloud.

The TARDIS didn't reply, but behind her a weak voice said, 'Try under the harpsichord.'

Jo had to grin. Trust the Doctor to put something as important as the medical chest in such a stupid place. She couldn't even see the Ah, there it was, almost drowned in a sea of a hundred clocks. Beyond the time rotor, across a rug littered with a model train set, several sorts of gramophone, and a chair with a crown on it.

She threaded her way across the floor, looked underneath the polished wood of the musical instrument.

A phonograph, a ticker-tape machine... Ah.

A green box with a red crescent on it.

She dragged it out and opened it, getting her hands covered with white dust in the process. The box had clearly been in the wars.

Inside were bandages, a hypodermic, some tablets, several bottles of tablets.

She read the labels. 'Paracetamol', 'Antibiotic (pre-resistant)', 'Antibiotic (post-resistant)', 'Antiviral (human, chimpanzee)'.

Well. Here's hoping. She opened the last bottle, read the instructions (the entire label was handwritten), and shook a couple of the tablets into her palm. They were pale-blue, like tiny duck eggs.

She crawled out from under the harpsichord, clutching the tablets. She was rather shocked to see Sam standing up, leaning on the console. She jumped over the train set, almost ran to the younger woman.

She held out the tablets. 'Take these.'

Sam looked round. 'Never mind me,' she said. Her teeth were chattering. 'We need to move the TARDIS. Now.'

She pressed a lever on the console, and the time rotor heaved.

Once.

Then it stopped.

Sam hit the console. 'No! You've got to go! You've got to get there!'

The time rotor remained ominously silent.

Jo stared at it, looked frantically around the console for anything familiar.

Switches, levers, buttons, puff-chains. A calendar display, currently showing: HUMANIAN ERA: 2,569,878 BC She thumped the nearest row of switches with her free hand.