Rose felt a shiver of apprehension. She didn't like the direction things were going in. Suddenly she was very aware that she was in the middle of an alien settlement, surrounded by aliens. And that she was alone.

'We have become lazy in our devotions,' continued the shaman, looking around at the people of the tribe. 'There is only one way to placate Laylora's wrath. We must make her an offering. . . '

An offering? What was he going to do hand round a collection plate?

In the silence that followed, Rose began to get a nasty feeling that the old man had something a bit more drastic in mind.

'We must offer her a sacrifice!'

47.The gathered Laylorans reacted with mutters and gasps, but Brother Hugan simply responded by raising his voice even louder.

'Laylora provides,' he screamed.

And automatically the Laylorans all responded in kind. 'Laylora provides,' they chanted.

'Laylora provides,' the shaman cried again, louder still. And this time the response from the crowd was deafening. It's getting a bit like a rock concert, thought Rose. He'll have them singing the chorus in a minute.

'Laylora provides,' Brother Hugan screeched for a third time. 'But Laylora demands of us in return!'

This time the crowd stayed silent.

'Laylora demands a blood sacrifice!'

Rose swallowed hard. Blood sacrifice! She didn't like the sound of that. She looked around and realised, with a shiver of dread, that all the Laylorans were staring at her.

Brother Hugan wanted to offer his precious living planet a sacrifice and he appeared to have already chosen her for the honour. 48 [image]

The problem with being in a very small crew, Hespell decided, was that there weren't enough junior ranks to a.s.sign all the really tedious jobs to. So even being second pilot (well, technically trainee pilot, not that anyone seemed to be taking his training very seriously on this mission) was no protection against a spell of duty as notional 'security officer'. Of course, most of the time the ship didn't need a security officer, so the extra duty hadn't been a problem. But now. . . Now they had a prisoner and someone had to guard him. Hespell thought he had definitely drawn the short straw.

He sighed and shifted in his seat. He'd been here for what seemed like hours, watching the prisoner do absolutely nothing. The stun charge the man had been hit with should have ceased to have any effect by now, but he still seemed to be out cold. Hespell wondered how much longer he would have to wait.

'Not much of a cell, is it?'

He nearly fell off his chair. The prisoner was awake. Fully awake, when a moment ago he'd appeared to be dead to the world, completely unconscious.

'I'm sorry,' he muttered, utterly wrong-footed.

49.'Oh, it's nothing to apologise for. I've seen worse. In fact, by most standards this is pretty cosy. Just not very cell-like, that's all.'

The prisoner was sitting up now, looking around the cabin with curious eyes. He winked cheerfully at his guard and carried on examining his surroundings.

'It's not actually a cell, you see. . . ' Hespell started to explain. 'It's my cabin.'

'I'm being held prisoner in someone's bedroom?'

'We. . . er. . . don't really have anywhere else.'

'A ship this size? That's odd.'

'Decks three, four and five are mothballed,' Hespell told him. 'We're a small crew.'

The prisoner considered this for a moment and then nodded. 'Fair enough. I won't complain if you don't. I'm the Doctor, by the way. . . '

And with that he was on his feet. 'I'd shake your hand, but I'm a bit tied up,' he added, indicating his bound wrists. Hespell actually found himself reaching forward to untie the man when he remembered the nature of their relationship and brought his weapon up to bear on the stranger.

'Trainee Pilot Hespell,' he offered a little lamely.

'Pleased to meet you, I'm sure,' said the Doctor, beaming. 'There's really no need for that, you know,' he added, gently pushing the barrel of the weapon away from him. 'I'm not dangerous.'

Hespell had to admit the man didn't look very dangerous. He seemed to be in his early thirties, dressed in a cla.s.sic pinstriped twopiece suit, the kind that had been in and out of fashion for centuries. A rather scruffy tie was loosely knotted around the neck of his white shirt and a pair of casual sneakers were on his feet. Definitely not dangerous.

'I guess you don't look much like the monsters. But I didn't know that when I shot you. . . ' Hespell allowed himself to look a little embarra.s.sed. 'Sorry about that.'

The Doctor smiled again. 'Not to worry. No permanent damage done.'

50.Hespell was relieved. He didn't like the idea of shooting anyone, and certainly not someone who was as reasonable as this.

'So what was that about monsters, then?' asked the man casually. And Hespell was so beguiled by the stranger's charm that he found himself talking.

The Doctor listened carefully to his account of the attack by the creatures, interrupting occasionally to ask the odd question. When Hespell had finished the Doctor sat back on the bunk and threw his still-tied hands behind his head.

'Interesting,' he commented simply.

Hespell couldn't quite believe his ears. Interesting! 'Actually, it was pretty frightening to be honest.'

'Running away from monsters? You get used to it after a while.' The Doctor flashed another quick smile, but his eyes remained serious. 'So tell me, what exactly are you doing on this planet?'

'If you wouldn't mind that's one question I'd like to hear your answer to.'

A new voice had joined the conversation. Hespell realised that Kendle had appeared in the doorway without making a sound his marine training in action again. Kendle glared at the Doctor, his face revealing nothing. Hespell bit his lip in antic.i.p.ation: this was a confrontation that looked as if it might be very entertaining.

'h.e.l.lo,' said the Doctor brightly. 'And who are you?'

Rose looked around at the locals, who had her surrounded on all sides. They seemed to be lapping up everything the old man was saying. Were they really thinking of sacrificing her?

Before the shaman could make any further move towards that end, Rez stepped out of the crowd, holding his hands up.

'Wait!' he called out. 'Just hold on a minute.'

Now everyone was looking at Rez.

He took a deep breath and then addressed the crowd. 'Is this how Laylora wants us to treat our visitors? With suspicion and hatred and a violent death?'

51.As Rez spoke, he moved subtly to take up a position between Rose and the shaman. Again Rose could see a hint of the Doctor in her new friend it was exactly the sort of thing he would have done. Rez looked around at his adopted people, meeting as many pairs of eyes as he could. 'When I came here, as a baby, you welcomed me and took me into your homes. Why is this arrival any different?'

There was an awkward silence and for a moment Rose wasn't sure which way things were going to go. But then the moment broke and the mood of the crowd changed. With most of the men away, the women were in the majority and few of them had any great appet.i.te for blood sacrifice.

Brother Hugan could sense it too. 'I didn't mean we should sacrifice the girl,' he explained, hurriedly backtracking. 'But we must appease Laylora in some way.'

'Whatever you think we need to do, whatever ritual must be performed, I'll help,' Rez told him. 'But killing Rose isn't going to do anything for anyone.'

'Rez is right,' Mother Jaelette's voice rang out. 'Brother Hugan did not mean to frighten Rose, did you?'

The shaman shook his head. 'Of course not.' He looked Rose in the eye and added, 'I'm sorry.'

Despite everything Rose felt some sympathy for the old man. A moment ago he had seemed so important and vital to the village and now he looked like a joke. 'I will perform the Ritual of Understanding,'

Brother Hugan announced, with as much dignity as he could muster, and disappeared into his tent.

The crowd broke up, drifting off in various directions, leaving Rez and Rose standing alone.

'Thanks,' Rose said simply.

'Any time,' replied Rez, a little shyly. 'Would you like something to eat?'

Now he mentioned food, Rose realised that she was very hungry. She smiled broadly at him. 'You know what, I think I would.'

52.'Who is he?' Professor Shulough demanded.

Two hours had pa.s.sed since Kendle had entered the temporary cell and she was impatient to hear the results. Kendle just shrugged, a bemused expression on his lined face.

'I've interrogated hundreds of prisoners in my time and I've never come up against one like this,' he explained.

The professor was surprised to hear such a defeated tone in her old friend's voice. 'You can't get him to talk?'

'Actually, I can't get him to shut up!'

She frowned, wrong-footed. 'I don't understand.'

'He just keeps blithering on. . . That man could talk for the Empire. He just won't stop,' complained Kendle.

'So has he told you who he is and what he wants here?'

'I wish.'

Frustrated, the professor started to pace the corridor. 'We have to know what he's doing here.'

Kendle glanced back into the cabin where the man was still being held.

The professor came up alongside him. 'Maybe I should have a go. . . '

Rose had to smile. The more she travelled with the Doctor, the more unexpected life became. If someone had told her this morning that she'd end the day having dinner with a fit-looking lad a few years her junior in a tent, no less she'd have laughed in their face. For a start, camping was just so not her. Rose and some friends from school had tried it once, at a summer rock festival. It had been a laugh the first night, but two more days of having to get up and walk a kilometre through the mud in the middle of the night to use the loo had soon lost its appeal. That would have been bad enough, but then they'd had to deal with more rainfall in fortyeight hours than England had seen in the previous two months. After that experience Rose had sworn that she'd never spend a night 'under canvas' again. And yet here she was. . . on a date with the original Mr Back-toNature. Rez had led her away from the Talking Stone to a small tent 53 that was situated a little way to the side of the larger tent belonging to Mother Jaelette.

'Last year I was allowed to move into my own s.p.a.ce,' he had explained, opening the tent flap to allow her to enter. Inside it was simply furnished with woven rugs and furs. Rose had halfexpected him to go and fetch some food from his stepmother next door, but he surprised her by starting to prepare a meal himself. She watched as he stirred the contents of a saucepan, which was suspended over the fire in front of his tent. The crackling flames threw interesting patterns across his chiselled features. Rose wondered what it must have been like to be brought up knowing that you were different from everyone else. Was he teased when he was younger, for not having the pointy ears or for having the extra finger? It must have been hard for him.

'Do you know much about your. . . ' Rose hesitated, unsure what the right word was. 'About who you are and where you come from?' she continued finally, changing direction.

'My "real" parents,' he replied, still stirring rhythmically, 'that's what you were going to say, wasn't it?'

Blushing, Rose nodded.

'I know a little. There were some things packed into the escape pod I landed in, some keepsakes: a weird cube thing. . . ' He trailed off and concentrated on ladling the broth from the saucepan into two bowls.

'I'm sorry,' murmured Rose, as he pa.s.sed her one of the bowls.

'It's OK, really,' Rez a.s.sured her, coming to join her and sitting on the ground in the shade of the tent's awning.

Although it was now dark, it was still pleasantly warm. Rose took a tentative sip of the thick soup. Exotic but alien vegetables swam in a thick, orange-coloured liquid. Rose hoped it tasted as good as it smelt. It did. In spades.

'This is fantastic,' she gushed.

Thank you,' he said, smiling. 'I don't make it as well as Mother Jaelette but I try. . . '

54.The Doctor looked up as the cabin door opened again. This time it was a woman, another human, but she clearly wasn't a soldier. There was an air of intelligence about her. The Doctor wondered if perhaps he might be able to get through to this one.

'I'm Professor Petra Shulough. I'm in command of this mission,' she announced by way of an opening gambit. 'I'm sorry that you've been inconvenienced like this.'

The Doctor smiled disarmingly. 'Oh, it's no trouble,' he began, 'but I could do with having my wrists untied. It's not good for the circulation, you know.'

The professor gave the prisoner a long, cool look, evaluating him. He certainly didn't seem dangerous, but she knew that didn't necessarily mean anything. Hespell watched the pair of them, his gun held at the ready.

'Mr Hespell, untie the prisoner!'

Hespell hurried to obey the order.

'It's the Doctor, actually,' the Doctor said, rubbing his freed wrists, 'and thank you.' He spied his coat lying on the bunk and picked it up.

'Thanks for this as well. You're too kind.'

'Don't be so hasty, "Doctor". One aggressive move and Mr Hespell will shoot you. And not on a stun setting this time.'

'Understood,' the Doctor said, getting to his feet. 'Now, shall we start again? I'm the Doctor. My friend Rose and I picked up your mayday signal and we're here, wherever we are, to help.'

The professor frowned. 'You've no idea where you are?'

The Doctor looked around and then back at the stern-faced woman.

'The planet? No. This ship? Well, going on the design and what I saw of it from the outside, I'd have to say it's not exactly showroom new, is it? What's the date? Some time in the late twenty-fourth century? Your ship doesn't have any serious armaments. Looks to me to be some kind of deep-s.p.a.ce explorer.'

The Doctor stole a quick look at the professor, but her face wasn't giving away anything. Oh well, in for a penny, thought the Doctor.

'You say you're the commander, but you're not wearing a uniform, so we're not talking military expedition, are we? So. . . who lives in 55 a s.p.a.ceship like this? Private explorer? Mineral speculator, perhaps? Am I getting warm?'

'I am looking for something,' the professor confessed. The Doctor's interest was piqued. 'And what would that be, then?'

'A planet called Laylora.'

The Doctor repeated the name, testing the sounds of the word in his mouth, while trying to work out if he had ever heard of the place. So many planets, so many names. . .