7.

"That was all he sent," said Kau, looking up at a furious Danvier.

"How dare he?" she spat. "He needs to be taught to remember his position!"

"We need that disc Sister," Kau urged. "It has all the conversion formulae."

"Don't you think I know that!"

The Doctor couldn't contain himself any longer. He whipped off his glasses and stepped forwards. "What are the Krillitane doing in Tokyo?" he cried. "Why is that disc so important to you?"

Danvier rounded on the Doctor, her face flushed. For the briefest of moments, her features blurred to reveal the hideous Krillitane beneath before the human visage returned. She took a deep breath, struggling to control her temper. "We are a scientific team," she began.

"Doing what?"

"The Krillitane are at war with the Garyx. They have already attacked many of our nesting planets. Casualties have been immense. We have been sent here to prepare a breeding program."

The Doctor frowned. He had heard of the vicious, reptilian Garyx, but was determined not to be sidetracked. "What kind of breeding program?"

Danvier chose her words carefully. "Since we are a composite race, the oil that we females secrete naturally in our cycles has long been poisonous to us. But we have now -"

"-managed to change the organic structure," finished the Doctor. "Yes, I'd worked that out for myself."

"Very good, Doctor," nodded Danvier graciously, her arrogant composure returning.

Dr Kau rose to his feet. "Sister..." he warned, but Danvier just held up her hand to silence him.

"Why not tell him?" she shrugged. "If we don't, Lucius will."

"And that's another thing – who was he?" The Doctor gestured to the screen. "Leader of some kind of break-away group perhaps?"

"Brother Lucius was my adjutant. But we had a ...disagreement after an accident."

The Doctor clicked his fingers. "That hybrid creature?" he ventured.

"That...creature," whispered Osato coldly, "is my daughter, Doctor!"

The Doctor was momentarily lost for words and looked between Osato and Danvier. "I'm sorry..." he started, but the old businessman had already turned his back and walked to the window.

"You see, Doctor," continued Danvier, "Akiko Osato tampered with the first batch of the modified oil – the oil that now rewrites the human DNA..."

The Doctor's mind raced and then he saw it all in a flash of dreadful premonition. "You're going to convert the human race into Krillitanes!

Danvier nodded, her eyes feverishly ablaze with her mission. "Correct, Doctor – and Tokyo shall be our first breeding ground!"

8.

The full moon sat in the night sky over Tokyo as several tiny silhouettes flew across its face.

Amy briefly opened her eyes from being squeezed shut, and immediately regretted it. The ground, far beneath her, seemed to dance. She suddenly realised her hands were clenched so tightly that they were starting to ache. The stench from the Krillitane that was carrying her, mixed with the rhythmic beating of its wings, made her want to throw up. At least the night air that rushed over them was stopping her from breaking out into a cold sweat.

She risked a quick glance to her right where Lucius, now in his true Krillitane form, was carrying Akiko through the air like a newborn, whilst several other Krillitanes flew behind them as an escort.

Suddenly, her stomach flew into her mouth as Lucius dived towards the ground, and the other Krillitannes followed suit.

All were heading towards the rendezvous.

******************

The door to the storeroom opened and Demora Naki propped herself gingerly up on one elbow. Her shoulder throbbed painfully despite the painkillers she had been given, and she had lost track on how long she had been there since the Doctor had been summoned.

"Doctor?" she called vaguely, her eyes trying to focus with the extra light.

Two security guards in their brown Osato uniforms strode into the room, followed by a scientist in a white lab coat. Demora saw that the scientist was carrying something that looked like a scuba mask and tank.

She barely had time to scream once before the mask was clamped over her mouth and nose and the room swam around her as she lost consciousness.

******************

The long black sedan pulled into the private underground car park and slowly came to a halt. One of the silvered rear windows slid down with a hum to reveal the heads of Danvier and the Doctor.

Sitting across from them, in the back of the limousine, were Dr Kau and Osato.

"Why here?" asked Kau, nervously picking at a fingernail.

"Does it matter?" shrugged Danvier. "Neutral ground presumably. He must really want you Doctor - he's been holding out with that disc for two weeks."

"It's nice to be appreciated," said the Doctor with a tight smile. He knew full well that this trade was playing directly into Danvier's hands, but he couldn't risk Amy's safety.

Osato leant forwards from the luxurious leather chair. "He will bring my daughter?"

Danvier nodded and the Doctor noted a surprising gentleness in her voice. "They can hardly be parted Teru – I'm sure she'll come."

Almost as she finished speaking, several black shapes walked out from the shadows and towards the car.

9.

Danvier opened the car door and stepped out, followed by the Doctor and Osato. On the other side, Dr Kau emerged clutching a slim laptop.

Lucius and Akiko strolled towards them, holding hands as if they were on a romantic walk. Behind them were several Krillitane, a large one with Amy struggling in its grip. Her eyes widened with hope when she saw the reassuring figure of the Doctor standing in front of the car.

"Isn't this nice?" grinned Lucius, his pointed teeth glinting in the light from the car headlamps. He stroked Akiko's arm languidly. "We should have bought a picnic, my love."

"We could always eat her!" Akiko glanced hungrily towards Amy, her half-Krillitane jaw slavering with anticipation.

Lucius shook his head in mock sadness. "No, I'm afraid she's spoken for – at least for now."

Osato stepped forwards. "Akiko, come with me." The hybrid girl gave no sign of recognising him so he tried again. "Akiko, I am your father!" But Akiko just sniffed at him curiously, her head to one side. Osato's self control crumbled and he reached out his arms to his daughter. "Please!"

Lucius just clicked his tongue. "I think she's moved on, old man."

"Enough of this," snapped Danvier impatiently. "Where is the disc, Lucius?"

"Always the killjoy Sister," he sighed and pulled it from inside his hooded top, holding it up for them all to see. "But not before you give me the Doctor."

Danvier shook her head and just held out her hand. "Give it to me."

The mocking smile vanished from Lucius' face. "We could just take it," he snarled. "We outnumber you, remember!" The Krillitane behind him shuffled and snarled.

But Danvier just laughed. "Be careful Lucius. You might have their loyalty now, but I doubt very much that they would turn on me – not if they ever wanted to return to a nesting hatchery." She clicked her fingers and held out her hand again. "Give me the disc and the Doctor is yours."

Lucius snorted with derision but sullenly handed the disc over to her.

"Thank you. And now Doctor..." Danvier gestured with her hand towards Lucius.

The Doctor just raised his hand. "Um...don't I get a say in this?"

Danvier smiled coldly. "No... you don't." She handed the disc to Kau, who slid it into the laptop.

His eyes lit up as he examined the screen. "This is it."

With a last look at Lucius, Danvier turned on her heel but took Osato's arm. "It's too late Teru - I'm sorry," she whispered as she guided him back inside the car.

As soon as Kau jumped in behind them, the car door slammed shut and with a squeal of tyres, the black sedan reversed up the ramp and out of the car-park.

Amy finally broke free of her Krillitane captor and ran across to the Doctor.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Amy nodded, but before she could say anything the Krillitanes surrounding them, led by Lucius and Akiko, surged forwards.

10.

In the sedan, Dr Kau was still checking the disc they had recovered from Lucius, tapping away at the keyboard of his laptop.

Danvier watched the figures and formulae flash across the small screen. "Is all the data secure?"

Kau nodded excitedly. "It's all here – we can proceed to the final phase!"

"Good, then we move to the facility immediately. The first batch of subjects is ready to be assimilated." She glanced across to Osato who sat stiffly as he looked out of the window. "I am sorry Teru. I thought with this data we could reverse the process, but I fear her mind has broken.

Osato's jaw clenched as he turned to face Danvier. "Do what you will," he replied after a moment. "My daughter is dead."

He turned away again, determined not to let anyone see the tear that ran down his cheek.

*********************

The Doctor hugged Amy close to him as the Krillitane advanced, their claws outstretched.

Amy looked up at him and sighed. "Sorry."

The Doctor just shrugged. "What are you sorry for? We're not done yet!" He looked across to Lucius. "You said you wanted me – I assume it's not just for a quick midnight snack?"

Lucius laughed and held up his hand to stop the others. "You're right, of course," he grinned. "It's just I love to smell the fear of a human."

Amy gritted her teeth, realising he was referring to her. "Thanks a bunch Dracula!"

But Lucius ignored her and approached the Doctor, his arm still draped around Akiko. "But as for a Time Lord... I know they don't scare that easily."

"No we don't," snapped the Doctor impatiently. "Get to the point."

Lucius' eyes narrowed, clearly irritated by the Doctor's casual lack of fear. "I want your TARDIS Doctor," he said slowly.

His irritation increased when the Doctor just laughed. "Not a chance – sorry."

Without warning, Lucius leapt forwards and grabbed at Amy, but the Doctor was just as quick and seized his wrist. "Leave her alone!"

With a hiss of fury, Lucius' temper snapped and he lunged at the Doctor, throwing him backwards with incredible force. The Doctor crashed onto the concrete floor as the Krillitane leapt on him, pinioning his arms above his head. At the same time, Akiko snarled with anger and jumped towards Amy. Her Krillitane claw grabbed Amy's throat as her human hand pulled savagely back on Amy's hair until she screamed.

Lucius brought his face close to the Doctor's. "Agree, Doctor, or I kill you both now!"

The Doctor knew he had no choice if he wanted to keep Amy – not to mention himself – alive. "Alright," he said hoarsely. "I'll give you what you want."

Lucius grinned triumphantly and sprang to his feet.

The Doctor rubbed at his wrists as he sat up. "But on one condition..."

Lucius regarded the Doctor carefully. "What?"

"Help me destroy Danvier's experiment."

11.

Lucius grinned at the Doctor, showing his pointed teeth. "Why should I?" he laughed.

The Doctor got to his feet. "Because what she's going to do here is wrong."

"Do I look as if I care what happens to humans?" shrugged Lucius, emphasising his contempt.

"No," replied the Doctor, crossing to where Amy was still held by Akiko. "But it's easy to see you're not exactly the best of friends." He held out his hand towards Amy, but Akiko drew back with a snarl, holding her tighter. The Doctor turned expectantly back to Lucius.

The Krillitane just nodded and went to Akiko, gently taking her claw. "It's alright my love... perhaps later."

Amy jumped away from the Krillitane hybrid and stood next to the Doctor. "Don't bet on it!" she muttered, her eyes ablaze with a mixture of anger and fear. She swallowed hard and glanced at the Doctor before putting a hand on his arm. "I'll be okay," she nodded.

"Well," continued the Doctor. "Think about it Lucius – the TARDIS can take you anywhere in time and space! Imagine what you could do..."

Amy looked incredulously at him. "You can't be serious!"

But the Doctor just held up his hand to silence her. "I'm saving lives here Amy – ours first, and then all the people in Tokyo – possibly everyone on Earth."

"But you can't make a deal with...monsters!"

The Doctor's face was unreadable. "One thing at a time."

Lucius regarded the Doctor closely. "The end justifies the means?"

"Sometimes."

Amy turned away, a look of disgust on her face. Lucius looked at them both and then after a moment nodded slowly. "Alright, Doctor – I'll help you stop Danvier."

"Good – thank you." The Doctor put his hand in his coat pockets, his tone back to normal. "Now, when she was driving me over here, she mentioned a second facility – where all 'subjects' were being stored?"

Lucius nodded. "That's the main base – before we established at Osato Chemicals."

"Where is it?"

Lucius smiled. "Inside Mount Fuji!"

*****************

Mount Fuji stood like a sentinel in the streaked, orange light of early dawn. The first rays of the morning sun reflected off the snow-capped peak of the volcano, just as it did four thousand feet below on the five enormous lakes that surrounded it. Fuji hadn't erupted for three hundred years, but the population of Tokyo that lay a few hundred miles to the east still regarded it as 'active'.

But the activity inside Mount Fuji was not seismic.

The reflection of a tiny, black shape joined the sunshine in Lake Yamanaka as a helicopter carrying Sister Danvier flew towards the summit of the volcano.

The final phase of the Krillitane plan was about to begin.

12.

Teru Osato stood in his office, surveying the skyline as dawn broke over Tokyo.

It was his office again at last - Danvier had left in the helicopter that was bound for Mount Fuji. Now he was alone with his thoughts... and his grief.

He had helped the aliens, knowing full well that he was just a puppet, but the thought of losing his precious only daughter was too much to bear. Danvier had promised him that Akiko could be saved, even restored to her human self. Had she misled him, or had he simply wanted to believe so much that he ignored the obvious? Osato honestly didn't know... nor did he care now.

Now there was only emptiness inside him.

Osato came to a decision and unlocked a large mahogany dresser that stood against one wall. He opened the polished doors and gazed at the object inside – a long, glass case that held an ornate, deadly-looking samurai sword.

His father's sword.

Osato rested his hands on the glass case and then opened it, grasping the handle of the sword. Light glinted off the razor-sharp blade as Osato drew it from the case and stared at it reverently.

He knew what he had to do.

******************

Demora slowly became aware of the muffled sounds around her as her consciousness began to return. Her eyes flickered open and closed again at the harsh brightness of the spotlight above her. Instinctively, she tried to bring up her arm to shield her eyes from the glare, but she couldn't move either arm. Her wrists were clamped securely either side of her. Demora's heart started to hammer in her chest as panic seized her. She tried to call out, but then realised that a plastic mask was clamped over her nose and mouth, so all that emerged was a frightened whimper.

Next to Demora's bed, Sister Danvier glanced up from a set of notes as she heard Demora cry out ptitfully. "Miss Naki is awake. Will it make a difference?"

Dr Kau stood behind a trolley of surgical instruments and several syringes that were full of thick, yellowish oil. Unlike Danvier, who was still dressed in an immaculate dark suit, he wore the green scrubs of a hospital. He shrugged in response to her question. "I don't see why it should. It'll be more painful without anaesthetic of course."

"Of course," smiled Danvier. She looked across to a monitor next to Demora's bed. "The readings all seem promising now that the data has been uploaded from the preliminary experiments."

Kau nodded. "We would have reached this stage so much earlier..." he muttered irritably.

"Yes, well now that we have retrieved the data that Brother Lucius stole," snapped Danvier, "perhaps we shouldn't delay any longer! Is this data being logged?"

"To the central database."

"Excellent." Danvier picked up one of the syringes from the trolley and gazed at it. "I think Miss Naki can be one of the first, don't you?"

Danvier turned back to the helpless Demora...

13.

Amy stopped walking to stretch her aching back and wiped the sheen of sweat from her brow with her sleeve. Despite the coolness of the air, the hike up the side of the mountain was quite exerting. She glanced at the group of silent youths around her, all dressed in jeans and hooded tops – the Krillitanes had now assumed their human forms again.

Ahead of her strode the Doctor and Lucius, who, despite their earlier animosity, were now talking quietly. Lucius also held the hand of Akiko who wore a larger, shapeless jacket and a hooded top that was pulled up to disguise her alien features.

"So this is the forest of Aokigahara?" she heard the Doctor ask.

Lucius nodded. "A forest of goblins, demons and ghosts." He smiled ironically, "If you believe the legends, that is."

The Doctor didn't comment, but just raised an eyebrow.

"A good place for suicides apparently," continued Lucius glibly. "On average – thirty a year."

"Can we change the subject please," shivered Amy as she caught up with them.

"You humans bewilder me," shrugged Lucius. "Why take your own life?"

The Doctor sighed sadly. "Many reasons – failure, loss, love..."

"Doctor!" warned Amy, "subject change!" She pointed to a red coloured tape that was wrapped around a tree next to them as they passed it. "What's that?"

"Hiker tape," explained the Doctor, gesturing towards them. "We're following a trail up the mountain."

"Oh great – a motley bunch of hikers, us!" muttered Amy. "And what are we going to do when we get to the top?"

"Your friend makes a good point Doctor," said Lucius. "What do you intend to do?"

"You said the facility was inside the volcano itself?" said the Doctor, striding ahead of them.

"So?"

"Well, since I didn't bring any pitons or climbing gear, you're going to fly us down there?"

"Why can't they fly us up there?" asked Amy, pausing to rub her aching legs.

"Too risky," replied the Doctor. "Someone could see us – a hiker, a tourist...worse."

"Alright, say we get you down there," grunted Lucius. "What then?"

The Doctor halted. "Danvier's changed the composition – the organic structure – of the Krilitane oil so that it's reactive with human DNA."

"We know," snapped Lucius, "What's your point?"

"Last time I encountered the Krillitanes, the oil was fairly volatile. Now Danvier's increased the reactivity a hundred-fold it's made it very, very unstable. All it needs is a gentle nudge and," he threw his arms in the air in a mimicry of an explosion. "Whumph!"