Arielle. The President's girlfriend, the one they'd gone to Muath to look for. The Doctor tried to put Fitz out of his mind, concentrate on the situation. He was getting nearer to the truth, he could sense it. 'What was she doing on Muath?'

'Why should I even be talking to you?' muttered Vargeld. 'You should he telling me what Kreiner was doing with Arielle!'

The Doctor walked right up to the President. 'Fitz is was a good man. I cannot believe he would kidnap your fiancee. There must have been a reason. Maybe he was helping her.'

A shadow seemed to pa.s.s over the President's eyes. 'That's what he said.'

The Doctor looked into his eyes. He was getting something from the man, an inkling of his relationship with Arielle he was clearly hiding something. 'Listen, I want to help you. Talk to me, tell me what happened. It isn't as simple as you're letting on. Arielle left you, didn't she?'

Stefan Vargeld's shoulders sagged. He nodded wearily.

'It was the night I proposed to her.'

The Doctor moved closer to Vargeld, alert for any sign of the breakdown that had overcome him on Muath. He sometimes forgot how much pain human relationships could bring. 'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to,' he said gently.

President Vargeld looked haunted by the ghosts of the past. He talked in low, confessional tones, seeming to forget that he didn't trust the Doctor, eager for someone to talk to. 'It was all so simple, at least that's how it seemed to me. I loved her, and she well, I thought she loved me. That night, I asked her to marry me. She refused and I couldn't take it. I'm not proud. I acted terribly. When she tried to leave, I stopped her, grabbed her, threw her about. I I hurt her.' The last three words were an incredulous whisper, the choked hush of a man unable to face his actions.

The Doctor didn't know what to say. 'So, she ran away?' he prompted at last.

The President nodded. 'Yes. She went away with this Kreiner character. I sent my men after them to bring her back, but it was too late. Arielle was in a coma.'

The Doctor knew Fitz well enough. Perfectly understandable for him to a.s.sist a damsel in distress. The only odd bit was the coma, but he put that aside for now. 'You kept Fitz imprisoned out of jealousy. You thought he was having an affair with Arielle.'

President Vargeld grimaced. 'I don't like to admit it, but yes.'

The Doctor folded his arms. 'But she recovered and went to Muath. That's why you went looking for her.' Another part of the picture, of the nightmare, was becoming clear.

President Vargeld looked weary, much older than his three decades. 'Yeah, she recovered. She wouldn't speak to me, though. She went to Muath G.o.d knows why and forbade me to contact her. She was going to come round, I know it! But it's too late now.'

The Doctor remembered their feverish dash to Muath. How the whole moon had been engulfed in the black Omnethoth gas. How the President had been crushed by the realisation of Arielle's death.

And now the man was responsible for keeping Fitz locked up while the Omnethoth had scoured Yquatine bare with their chemical a.r.s.enal. The Doctor tried to contain his anger. 'You kept Fitz wrongly imprisoned. You bent the law because of your love for Arielle. Do you think you're fit to be President?'

President Vargeld walked right up to the Doctor. 'Someone has to do it.'

The Doctor turned away. 'You're just a politician, not a human being.'

The remark hung in the air, and the Doctor immediately regretted it. It was a facile observation and completely untrue. Stefan Vargeld's failings were all too human.

The President broke the silence, his voice thick with emotion. 'That time in the infirmary, when she was packing for Muath. She was so cold, so distant. Not like the Arielle I fell in love with. She said she'd call me when she was ready. She never did. That was the last time I ever saw her.'

Another part of the picture became clear and the Doctor actually gasped aloud with the knowledge it brought. Arielle's coma. The only odd hit. Muath enveloped in black gas. The Doctor's mind raced, trying to process the information. 'When she recovered, you say she was acting differently?'

'Yes,' said the President. 'But that's not surprising. on account of what I '

The Doctor interrupted. 'When she woke up, did you see her eyes were they normal?'

The President frowned. 'You don't mean you think... she was...' His voice tailed off, and realisation dawned on his face.

The Doctor nodded grimly. 'She could have been the carrier of the Omnethoth spores. Do you know what she was doing on Muath?'

President Vargeld shook his head, ran his fingers through his short black hair. 'No, she never returned my calls, and I was busy with this Anthaurk business. This is crazy: how can can she have been responsible for all those ships?' she have been responsible for all those ships?'

The Doctor was pacing up and down. 'I don't know, I don't know, but it would be a huge coincidence if Arielle was nothing to do with this.'

'I thought you said the universe operated in a random way.'

'Yes yes, events happen randomly but their consequences follow a logical order. If I throw a stone into a pond, that's a random act, but the ripples are a direct, logical consequence.'

President Vargeld put his hands over his face, clearly trying to control himself. 'I can't accept this it's bad enough that Arielle is dead but now she's the cause of all this?' His voice had risen to a shout.

The Doctor went up to him, trying to calm him. 'I may be wrong. It may not have been her. It may have been someone rise.' A dark thought struck him. 'It may even have been Fitz but he wasn't the one in the coma.' The picture was now more than complete, more than 3 D: Compa.s.sion had taken Fitz back in time maybe that was as far as she could go, because of the Randomiser and Fitz had somehow taken up with Arielle. Gone off on this cruiser. Encountered the Omnethoth cloud. Caused the fall of Yquatine.

The Doctor calmed himself. No, that wasn't right. Poor Fitz, it wasn't his fault. If it hadn't been Arielle then it would have been some other unfortunate.

The Doctor realised that President Vargeld had come up to him. 'Are you OK?'

The Doctor nodded. He could he angry with the President, but there was no point and more importantly it would be wrong. President Vargeld had been weak, that was all. Not evil, not even slightly mendacious. Love and jealously had guided his hand. The Doctor could forgive that it was human but he could never fully understand it. What was it like to be in love and then to have that love taken away? Was it like losing a TARDIS? Was it like losing a friend? Fitz was dead, but so were millions of others. The Doctor could grieve for him now but then he'd be as weak as the President, allowing his feelings for one person to take precedence over his duty to the whole. The universal process is indifferent to the individual. He blushed as he recalled those words, spoken by him only hours ago. How hollow, how patronising they sounded now.

'Fitz was a good, good friend. I'm sorry he stole your girlfriend' The Doctor smiled weakly. 'He was always one for the ladies.'

'And you?' asked President Vargeld, almost smiling. 'You dress like a Luvian bon-viveur.'

The Doctor looked into the President's eyes. They were blue, like his own. Indeed, if the Doctor cut his hair short and grew stubble something he was glad not to have to do then they'd look remarkably alike. Almost like brothers. The Doctor blinked. 'I do have another friend,' he whispered. 'She was on Yquatine with Fitz. Her name is Compa.s.sion.' Another flicker of fickle hope. 'Any sign of her?'

'Compa.s.sion? I'd remember a name like that' President Vargeld shook his head. 'No. Just the guy Fitz. Look, I am truly sorry. We've both lost someone. I think that means I can trust you now.'

So Compa.s.sion could still be out there anywhere. What if the Randomiser had kicked in? She'd never gain control without his tuition. It was all his fault, then. If he'd not fitted her with a Randomiser she would not have taken Fitz back and he would never have met Arielle. 'Can you excuse me, please? I want to be alone for a while.'

Their eyes met for an instant. The Doctor saw the hurt in his own eyes reflected in those of the Yquatine leader.

With a sad smile, President Vargeld left the Doctor on the observation deck, alone.

More alone than he could remember feeling for a long, long time.

The Doctor walked through the corridors and walkways of Aloysius Station, prey to a turmoil of emotions. He'd evaded the guards he was still meant to be confined to the civilian areas of the station and was looking for Lou Lombardo. He needed to see a friendly face. He so badly wanted to see Fitz again and spout spurious techn.o.babble to confuse him, so badly wanted to see Compa.s.sion and stop her pain, that he kept seeing their faces in the crowds of people milling about the station.

Compa.s.sion. The thought of her almost hurt worse than the death of Fitz. He'd wanted to save her from the Time Lords, stop them taking her away from him and there was no nice way to say this raping her, using her to breed a race of TARDISes to fight their war. Horrifying, horrible, the thought revolted him to his core. And what had he done? Panicked. Inadvertently violated her. How could he have been so insensitive?

As he wandered around Aloysius Station looking for Lombardo, as he spoke to more and more people, he began to get a glimpse of an entire solar system stifled with shock. The population of an entire planet had been wiped out, almost instantly. The result was, initially, numbness, then a vast, unchecked outpouring of grief. Aloysius Station was full to capacity. Offerings, gifts and flowers clogged the lounges and public areas. The many religions of the System and with the variety of the species there were very many had all come to Aloysius to preach and proselytise. The only Yquatine natives to survive were those off planet at the time of the attack. People visiting relatives or away on business or holiday, people working on other planets, students, troopers in the Minerva s.p.a.ce Alliance. Those who could had come to Aloysius, to be near their homeworld. Though primarily a trading and military station, Aloysius had become a shrine.

Many believed the Anthaurk were responsible. The station showed signs of pitched battles between humans and Anthaurk scorch marks on walls, dried blood, damaged fittings, cordoned-off areas. The news services were broadcasting the Doctor's findings but it would be hours still before the word Omnethoth replaced the word Anthaurk as a name of vilification for the survivors and mourners of Yquatine.

At last, after a good few hours walking, the Doctor found Lombardo. He wandered into a s.p.a.cious cafebar area, where people and beings crowded round the large screen at the far end. A familiar shape was perched on a stool by the bar, a large gla.s.s at his elbow.

The Doctor rushed up to the figure. 'Lou!'

Lombardo turned round, frowning, but on seeing the Doctor he broke into a wide grin. 'Hey, Doctor! Good work!'

The Doctor and Lombardo hugged. The Doctor could smell the beer on his friend's breath. He'd clearly been drinking a lot. Well, if it helped. 'What do you mean?'

Lombardo indicated the screen. 'The news is full of your exploits on the moon. You found the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds responsible and now we've all joined up to finish them off.'

'I admire your optimism.' The Doctor pulled up a stool and sat next to his friend.

Lombardo shot him a puzzled frown. 'What's up with you? Victory is at hand, my dear.'

'I have a bad feeling about this,' muttered the Doctor. But then he was having a bad feeling about everything.

The news report intercut between a reporter on an orbital platform near the dark ma.s.s of Yquatine far too near, the Doctor thought and the phalanx of ships moving into position around the planet.

'The combined firepower of the Anthaurk, Kukutsi, Rorclaavix, Adamantean, Eldrig and human ships is easily enough to take out a planet,' the reporter gabbled excitedly. The picture cut to a shot of three silver and rustred behemoths coursing through s.p.a.ce, nacelles and gun ports gleaming cruelly in the light of the sun.

'These are the latest battleship marques straight from the s.p.a.ceyards of Beatrix Endurance-cla.s.s ships fitted with the newest and most powerful planet-crackers and photon projectiles.'

Whoops, cheers and applause from those gathered around the screen.

The Doctor was silent, chin on hands, brooding.

The screen showed the ships lining up in position, warheads primed. All at once, blinding lights flashed from the ships as they rained their destructive firepower upon the remains of Yquatine. In formation, bomb ships swooped, delivered their payloads and screamed back out into s.p.a.ce.

The atmosphere was incredible. People were cheering, leaping up and hugging each other as if they had already won.

The Doctor was virtually the only one watching the screen. He saw the beams and bombs vanish into Yquatine's dark mantle. There was no flash of light, nothing.

'Nothing's happening,' said the Doctor.

Everyone crowded around the screen.

The fleet hung in s.p.a.ce, impotent above the swirling blackness.

'The Omnethoth must have neutralised the bombs,' whispered the Doctor.

People groaned and turned away from the screen.

The Doctor rose to leave. Perhaps now, the Senate would listen to him.

A hand grabbed his sleeve. 'For the love of G.o.d!'

Lombardo was staring in horror at the screen.

The Doctor gasped.

Directly below the fleet, something was happening on the surface of the Omnethoth. A section the size of a continent was billowing outwards, bulging like a distended stomach. The ships began to come about, preparing to fly away from Yquatine but before they could complete the manoeuvre the belly of black gas exploded out into s.p.a.ce, releasing churning tendrils of Omnethoth matter, reaching out like clutching fingers. The fleet was totally engulfed.

There was a fizz of static, then the scene changed. The reporter stood against a panorama of s.p.a.ce, babbling, clearly terrified.

The Doctor stood up, sending his stool clattering against the floor. 'They're too close. They're too close!'

The reporter was screaming now. There was an explosion off screen, the reporter ran off camera and then static.

Silence, apart from a muted sobbing.

The Doctor felt numbed, appalled. One more tragedy. 'I tried to warn them,' he whispered.

Lombardo's face was blank, his eyes distant. 'What?'

'I tried to tell them there was another way.'

Lombardo grabbed the Doctor by the shoulders. His voice was cracked, panicky. 'Well go back and tell them again!' he cried.

The Doctor walked into the Senate chamber, vowing not to say, 'I told you so.' He might have done once, but he was too old for that sort of point-scoring. Hundreds more people had died needlessly. He had to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

'Ah, Doctor,' said the President.

There was a gleam of triumph in his eyes or was it madness? Had this latest setback unhinged him totally? 'Glad you could make it.'

'Well, I wasn't doing anything else,' said the Doctor lamely.

A 3 D image of Yquatine occupied the centre of the chamber and the attention of all those within. It was a shocking sight: the planet had grown noticeably, the mantle of Omnethoth matter adding considerably to its girth. Muath had been completely dissolved, absorbed into the main ma.s.s. The churning black surface seemed totally unaffected by the recent barrage. Yquatine had been turned into a giant war factory. The Omnethoth were busy preparing more ships. Soon they would launch into the System and destroy every planet within it. It was what they were programmed to do.

'Well, your attack has failed.' said the Doctor. 'And we haven't got long before the Omnethoth expand into the rest of the System. I think you're ready to listen to me.'

'Think again,' said President Vargeld.

The Doctor ignored him. 'Right!' he said, rubbing his hands together. 'I'll need a small, well-shielded stealth ship.'

'Be quiet, Doctor!' The harshness of Vargeld's voice stunned the Doctor into silence.

'I'm only trying to help,' he mumbled, feeling in his pocket for a jelly baby.

'We don't need your help any more,' sneered Fandel.

The Doctor popped the jelly baby into his mouth. Green again! 'So what are you going to do?'

President Vargeld pressed a control on the dais and the holo of Yquatine faded away. He turned to address the Senate, and the Doctor, who had taken a seat on the steps leading up between the seats.

'We cannot destroy these creatures by conventional means,' began President Vargeld. 'Anything we drop into their ma.s.s is simply neutralised.'

The Doctor tried again. 'So you want me to try my theory? Reprogram the Omnethoth into peaceful creatures?'

President Vargeld shook his head. 'No. Doctor. Nothing but the total destruction of the Omnethoth will satisfy us now.'

The other senators voiced their agreement.