Mrs Wilding and Dent looked at each other, then at G.o.dwanna and Tim. 'This is wrong, recon-leader. We have no right to destroy life like this,' Dent said.

Bridgeman interjected, 'I thought it was too late. Earth is destroyed.'

Polly was beginning to understand. 'No. Not yet - it's been transformed into that ball. Until G.o.dwanna uses it, everything still exists but re-formed.'

Tim clapped sardonically. 'Very good. The bimbo secretary from 1966 finally grasps the physics of the situation.'

'But,' Polly continued, 'if you explode that ball, release the energy and use it to sing yourself home, that will destroy, once and for all, all life on Earth?'

G.o.dwanna nodded enthusiastically. 'Oh dear, so it will.'

She gestured expansively. 'Pa.s.s on my apologies to the humans, won't you. As you join them of course.' She began to cup the ball in her hands. 'Oh, Tarwildbaning?

Udentkista? I'm afraid Atimkos and I will be travelling alone. We only need two voices with all this energy. And we don't need a ship - the nexus can store all this lovely energy. Thorgarsuunela could have discovered that, if she'd 242 bothered to ask. Such a waste.' G.o.dwanna waved insincerely. 'You've been very nice company but it's time to say goodbye. Please don't hate us.'

'Hate,' said a quiet voice beside Bridgeman. He knelt down and hushed Nate, who was frowning.

Tim produced the old brown book the Doctor had retrieved from the Grange's library. Mrs Wilding started.

'You kept the RTC! No wonder those poor human children couldn't save themselves.'

Tim began flicking its pages. 'Speeds up the absorption of the power into the nexus. Devastating in the wrong hands, these things. Can do terrible things.' He smiled at the group in front of him.

'Hate,' muttered Nate Simms.

'Goodbye, y'all.' Tim opened the book and held it out, pages facing Polly and the others. He began flicking the pages, activating the tachyon-chronons . . .

Ben's hand was blistered. He had been hitting the TARDIS door for ages now, trying to force his way in.

'It's no good, Ben,' said the Doctor gloomily. 'Aysha knew we'd do this. She's used an RTC unit' - he pointed to a small bank of equipment to their left - 'to place a field around the lock. The TARDIS exo-sh.e.l.l is built of the hardest, densest and most indestructible materials. You can't force your way in.'

'We can't stay much longer, Doc,' Ben protested. 'Lotuss's bomb'll go off any sec.'

The ship shuddered slightly, as if caught in a wave. It righted itself. 'I think it just did.' The Doctor sighed. 'I think we just have to wait, Ben.'

'Not for long, Doctor.' Queen Aysha, Aall and Chosan stood at the cargo bay hatchway. 'Thank you for waiting.

Aall and I would like a lift to the nexus.'

'I told you. He can't fly this thing properly,' Ben said.

Chosan pointed to the RTC unit. 'A gift from Thorgarsuunela. It's tuned in to her people's wavelength. We can't find her marker buoys with it, but it'll lead us to her 243 home dimension, this nexus out of time and s.p.a.ce. Or whatever.'

Ben was puzzled. 'Why go there?'

The Doctor clapped his hands. 'She was double-crossing you and you knew it. Our Fraulein Thorsuun seriously misjudged you, Aysha.'

'She saw us as a band of warlike thugs, Doctor. Not our fault.'

'Pretty good description if you ask me,' said Ben.

Chosan crossed to the RTC unit and switched it off with her remote device. 'By the way,' she hissed at the Doctor, 'you'll be pleased to know that Nihmrod will recover. I thought it wise to restrain her in medi-care. Otherwise she might claw your throat out.'

'Nihmrod's like that,' added Aall. 'I just can't seem to correct her violent streak.'

'And Lotuss?' The Doctor stared at the RTC unit.

'Gone, along with the ringleaders of her pride. Tamora is .

. . cleaning up the residue.' Aysha noticed his interest in the RTC unit. 'Impressive, isn't it? Chosan adapted it.'

The Doctor seemed genuinely impressed. 'And how is this going to help?'

'Your TARDIS, Doctor. I believe your companion when he says you can't control it. But it can be controlled. With an RTC.'

'How?' asked Ben.

The Doctor was nodding. 'It's like a homing beacon. It'll track down other RTCs. Like the ones at the Grange. Or in the nexus.'

Chosan and Aall hoisted up the RTC unit. Aall removed a segment and pocketed it. Chosan carried the rest back towards the doorway. 'Good hunting, Your Majesty.'

Aysha hissed in satisfaction. 'Your door will open now, Doctor. Please take us to their leader.'

'Hate.'

Polly stared in alarm as the odd man she now knew was called Nate, hunched beside Professor Bridgeman, suddenly 244 jumped forward. And ran towards Tim - Atimkos she corrected herself- and G.o.dwanna.

'I hate you,' he cried.

Polly saw a look of panic go between Dent and Mrs Wilding.

Tim looked up, his face a mixture of surprise and amus.e.m.e.nt. He turned the book/RTC slightly and caught Nate in its chronon-field.

As Polly watched, Nate seemed to stagger, his clothes deteriorated and he grew older. But his momentum kept him going. His cry of 'Hate!' seemed to slow down to a guttural roar and as he thundered into G.o.dwanna, he was now aged about sixty-five. She staggered back, the globe of energy dropping from her hand.

Mrs Wilding let out a screech, causing Polly to put her hands over her ears, but the globe did not hit the floor.

Instead it floated and as Mrs Wilding altered her pitch, the globe started to move towards her and Dent.

'No!' roared Tim, dropping the open book to the white floor.

'No!' G.o.dwanna yelped as the pages faced towards her.

Nate Simms was already dead, his flesh vanishing, and within three seconds his skeleton was fading dust.

But G.o.dwanna was now caught in the RTC field. She shook and convulsed. Her mouth opened and closed in soundless shrieks of pain and rage.

Tim stopped and looked at her. And grinned. "Bye, recon-leader.'

G.o.dwanna waved her arms frantically towards the book but it was no good. Tim whistled and the pages flapped over faster.

Polly could do nothing but stare as G.o.dwanna began finally to grow grey, her skin stretching until her face looked like a decayed prune. Her now thin body flopped to the floor and wriggled like a fish out of water.

Then it stopped and she was dead. A few seconds later, her skeleton began snapping and she was dust.

245.

'Oh dear. Poor G.o.dwanna.' Tim stood facing Dent, who held the energy globe. 'Come on, Udentkista. We might not be friends but at least let's use the power to go home. Leave this sector.'

'We've been here for forty thousand years, Atimkos,' Mrs Wilding said. 'This is home now. I doubt our own people even exist any more.'

Tim snarled at her, 'Don't be so pathetic. Let's find out.'

He waved his arm towards the dust that had been G.o.dwanna. 'She had us trapped for all that time. Without her, we can do anything.'

'I like Earth.' Dent stared at the globe. 'Everything I like about it is here, in my hand.' He looked at Tim. 'And you want to expend it, destroy it just to go back to a dead world.'

'We don't know it's dead!' shrieked Tim. 'We'll never know unless we go and find out.'

There was a thump from behind them. Polly turned and saw the Doctor, carrying the book, having closed it. 'A dangerous toy, Atimkos. You shouldn't be playing with toys like this.'

Tim was furious. 'How did you get here?'

'We brought him.' Polly saw two Cat-People and Ben standing by the open doorway of the TARDIS. One of the Cat-People was carrying a strange contraption.

'Your world is dead, I'm afraid. By 1994 it had been gone for ten thousand years. You've destroyed Earth for nothing.'

Dent caressed the air around the globe, unable to completely touch it. 'Not destroyed, Doctor. Transformed.

With this young lady's help,' he nodded at Polly, 'Tarwildbaning and I can restore it.'

'You can't!' yelled Tim. 'You mustn't!'

'No!' said one of the Cat-People suddenly. 'No, give it to us. We need to power our ship. Return home.'

Ben walked towards Polly. 'Don't believe Aysha. She has no intention of returning to Feles, her world. She just wants the power to continue destroying planets.'

246.

The Doctor tossed the book between his hands. Then he smiled at Aysha, his green eyes glittering. 'Is that so, Your Majesty?'

Aall raised her rifle-blaster. 'That is no concern of yours, alien.' She moved the blaster to cover the Euterpians. 'Please surrender the energy globe.'

Tim laughed. 'Shut up, p.u.s.s.ycat. You have no idea of the power you're dealing with here. None of you have.'

Aall stepped forward. And began dying as Tim shrieked a long, piercing note straight at her. For a split second her body vibrated, and she staggered, lumps of fur and flesh vanishing. As she dropped to the ground, her rifle-blaster clattered in front of Aysha. 'Mother . . .' she hissed and disintegrated.

'Who's next?' spat Tim. 'I'm not joking. I am going home.'

'Good hunting,' murmured Queen Aysha at the fading dust that was once Aall. She bared her teeth and hissed, 'Your life is mine, Euterpian.'

Dent suddenly darted sideways, tossing the globe at the Doctor, who in turn threw the RTC/book to Mrs Wilding.

'Well done,' the Doctor called as he, Polly and Dent ran to the open TARDIS.

Tim shoved Ben aside as he followed, but the TARDIS door was slammed in his face. 'No!' Tim yelled angrily, smashing his fists against the door.

Inside, the Doctor stared at Dent.

'Can you really rea.s.semble Earth. Intact?'

Dent nodded. 'At a cost. But one that seems appropriate.'

'Your own energy?'

'Mine and my beloved.' He looked around the TARDIS.

'Hmmm, interesting. Transcendental engineering. We were once investigating something similar.'

The Doctor smiled. 'Maybe that's where we got the idea from. Certainly your RTCs found their way to my planet, often disguised as books.'

247.

'Paper makes an excellent trigger, Doctor.' Dent touched the console. 'Tim will kill to get his hands on this and that energy globe, Doctor.'

'I thought he might. That's a nasty scream he's got. Poor Aall.'

Polly suddenly frowned. 'Doctor, what does anechoic mean?'

Dent started. 'Why?'

'Well, this'll sound silly but I met G.o.dwanna in a dream, after Tim used his powers to manipulate my mind. She said it. Like a warning.'

Dent looked at Polly. 'She knew. She knew Atimkos was possible danger, even to her.'

'I can do it, Mr Dent.' The Doctor's face had one of the grimmest expressions that Polly had ever seen him wear, regardless of his body. He reached below the TARDIS console and opened a flap. Inside was a tiny golden rod with black tips at either end.

Dent frowned. 'What does that do?'

The Doctor stared at the rod. 'My TARDIS is made up of two objects occupying the same s.p.a.ce - the exo-sh.e.l.l and the interior. If I remove this time vector generator unit, the interior dimensions are literally tucked away in an alternate dimension, leaving just the exo-sh.e.l.l both in here and out.'

He tugged at it and there was a flash.

The Doctor, Polly and Dent were standing inside a box the same size as the police box exterior. Only the energy globe gave them light.

'The TARDIS is no longer protected by the field generator. There's nothing to stop Atimkos getting in.' He gave Polly responsibility for the globe.

It tickled her hand and she thought it peculiar that she couldn't actually touch it but knew it was there. She could feel something.