"What?" she said, "what does that mean?? Stop looking at me like that, both of you!"

Jack looked away but the Doctor said, "it means, we have to try to help you, and we don't have long. And there is a solution we can use right now."

"No," she said quickly, "you promised." She let go of his arm and walked ahead of them, trying not to look too closely at the deserted street but it was impossible. The traffic lights were still changing...signs were still lit up and from somewhere in the distance, there was the sound of frantic car horns and shouting. But in front of them, all was emptiness. She stepped out on to the road, looking into the distance.

"Give me your phone," the Doctor said, holding out his hand. She handed it over.

"Who are you ringing?"

"Your friend Tom, let's see what he has to say." The Doctor pressed the menu button on her phone and scrolled down for a moment before holding the phone to his ear.

"Is this happening everywhere?" Donna asked, "there'd be someone around otherwise...police...or psychiatrists?"

"Nah, can't be," the Doctor replied, still holding the phone to his ear, "they haven't got the technology for that...unless..."

"What?" Jack and Donna asked at the same time.

"If it's only in a certain radius, they have to be doing something to keep the rest of world out! They've been interfering with the television receivers, we know that! But it can't be..."

"The TARDIS," Donna said quietly. She had no idea how she'd come to that conclusion...it was a bit like remembering a half-forgotten dream. The Doctor looked at her and there was a slight look of triumph in his face, "well done, Donna!"

"You thought it was faulty because of what happened in the Crucible," she continued, taking a breath against a sharp pain through her forehead, "but it was them all the time. They've hacked into it; maybe ages ago, when the dimensions crossed each other. But they never forgot...until they found it here. It's multiplied their telepathic skills...and they'll do anything to gain access to it."

"Sounds about right," the Doctor said, "Donna, don't talk about Crucible, ok? And try not to think about it...tell me if you start thinking about it. You can't."

"Why?" she asked apprehensively.

"Just don't..." the Doctor said, "that's the point when you changed, and thinking about it in any detail puts you in danger. Your mind won't be able to handle it."

"How the hell am I supposed to control what I think about!"

"If anyone can, you can," Jack said, taking her hand, "look at me if you start dwelling on it, that'll distract you!"



Donna smiled, in spite of herself.

"So where is it, Doctor?" Jack asked, "the TARDIS?"

"Alleyway," the Doctor said, glancing at Donna, "three doors down from your house."

Without another word, they all started to run.

The TARDIS stood in the shade of a privet hedge in a nearby garden. Tom sat outside it, with the look of someone merely relaxing and enjoying the brief respite of sunshine from the miserable weather. On the wall surrounding the garden, nine men sat, deadly still and watching them approach. It was peculiar, Donna thought, they all looked different...hair colour, shape, build...but somehow.

"They look alike," she said as they slowed down.

"Yeah," Jack said, "it's like something from Children from the Damned."

"Not an unreasonable comparison," the Doctor muttered. The whole road looked creepy without another sign of human life. Up and down the street, curtains were drawn and doors shut tight. It was hard to know if people were still in the houses or if they had already fled. Donna ran up her front path, calling loudly,

"Mom! Grandad! Are you in there? Are you ok?"

"They're fine," Tom said, standing up. He looked appraisingly at the three of them, "they won't be able to come out though, for the moment."

"What have you done to them? You better not have hurt them!"

"Oh no, no one here is what you'd call hurt," Tom replied. "And whether they will be or not depends on your friend here." He indicated the Doctor, "pleased to meet you, Timelord."

"What do you want? This planet has nothing to offer you, and stealing between dimensions is...well, it's worse than Law in the Shadow Proclamation. We're talking Level 10 crime here."

"Between dimensions, Doctor, that's the point," Tom said, "there is no Law, no protocol. Our civilisation became the groundstone for all others, and not by choice. We're simply taking back what is rightfully ours."

"Answer my question then, what do you want?"

"In the beginning," Tom said thoughtfully, "not a lot, Doctor...I can call you Doctor, can't I? We came to see what this planet had to offer us, before the demise that never happened. As it happened, there wasn't much. We could add to our army but that was about it."

"They're just kids, not an army!" Donna shouted.

"Humans make great army personnel," Tom said, with a slight smile, "all that misplaced rage, all that sheer...savagery. Anyway, we had what we wanted...and then we heard of more interesting happenings...the beginnings of contacts with other planets...something that's not meant to be 

happening here yet, a figure cropping up all throughout the history of this planet...a woman with a brain that was anything but human," he glanced at Donna, "who could remember nothing of what had changed her. The death of a planet literally halted at the final second. Your machine here...it speaks to us, Doctor."

"How did you track me down?" the Doctor asked.

"Tell me Doctor," Tom asked, "are there many Timelords on this planet, or in this dimension even? Because the reports I've heard indicate you travel with humans." He gave a short laugh.

"I'm the last of them," the Doctor said.

"Ah," Tom looked at his comrades, "but our race is dying out too, Doctor. We travel in formations of ten. And each of us forms an army of ten from the armies we retrieve in other worlds. They are not like us but in time, they become like us. It is not enough, however. Someone with your knowledge, your experience of the universe could truly help us become great once again."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Do these guys speak?" Jack asked, nodding at the nine figures on the wall.

"I am the leader of this expedition," Tom said simply, "they do my bidding and bring me their information. When we are not leading, our duty is to do the bidding of our leader, nothing more. They'll speak if required."

"How did you do that to everyone?" Donna asked, "brainwash a whole town?"

"You couldn't understand that," Tom said, "our communication is real, verbal speech is nothing to us. Humans don't have the technology to resist us...it's like nothing you know. Well, present company accepted of course. You three aren't affected. We can see human thought waves and manipulate them because they are so unaware of them. Would you like to see your family?"

"Yes! But if you so much as look at them sideways, I'll..."

"Fine, watch." Tom glanced at her house. Donna could see something change in his eyes, so subtle it was hard to pinpoint. A moment of intense concentration, she thought. A moment later, her mother opened the front door and peered out cautiously.

"Mom!" Donna shouted. She could see her Granddad behind her, "are you both ok?"

"We're fine, sweetheart," Wilf said, stepping outside, "we're fine." His voice shook slightly as they put their arms around her.

"I don't know what's happening," her mother said tearfully, "Donna, please tell me you're ok."

"I'm fine," she said, breathing in the sight of both of them, "Mom, go back indoors, ok? Both of you, just sit tight and I'll be back soon. Everything's going to be fine."



"We're not leaving you, sweetheart," Wilf said, "whatever you're mixed up in, we're going to help you." He threw a quick sidelong glance to the street. Tom stood watching them, with Jack and the Doctor on either side.

"Go back in, please," she said, "The Doctor's here. I'm fine with him."

"You remember the Doctor?" Tears slid down her mother's face, "oh God! Donna, come inside. You need to stay quiet now. We'll take care of you."

"Mom, honestly, I'm ok." As she spoke, Donna could see Tom's face change again. She wondered if she was imagining it but she could feel slivers of something rush past them, energy perhaps, like small breaths. Her mother and grandfather stopped in their tracks.

"We've got to get inside," her mother said, "look at that sky! We've got to hide!" Wilf put an arm around her, "come on Donna!" he called, as they rushed back into the house. They didn't wait for her though.

"Stop it!" Donna shouted, "leave them alone. Bad enough that they went through it the first time!" She ran at him, incandescent with rage.

"Donna," the Doctor got to her first and held her back, "It's ok. They're not hurt and we'll help them. Just stay calm, ok?"

"Why aren't you doing anything?" she muttered, twisting to free herself.

"We are," Jack said, though he looked quizzically at the Doctor. Tom's companions had moved, at Donna's approach, to stand in front of them. Tom waved them away, whispering to them.

"You see, Doctor?" Tom asked, "I can convince them of anything. An army of desperate, frightened people. How dangerous would they be if we decided to channel all that terror? Or commit mass suicide even?" He looked at his companions and again, Donna could feel the wave of energy between them. She could tell from the looks on Jack and the Doctor's faces that they felt it too.

"Stop it," the Doctor said fiercely.

Before them, doors opened and people walked out on to the street, clutching each other and despite the air of fear amongst them, looking strangely empty, as if sleepwalking in the midst of a nightmare. More people joined them, coming from either end of the street in a slow procession. Heartsick, she watched her grandfather and mother stand amongst them.

"People!" Tom called out and they all turned to look at him, "these people here," he indicated Donna, Jack and The Doctor, "are the cause of these events. They are plotting your destruction even now!" A ripple of voices ran through the crowd.

"With the destruction of these three, you will once again be safe," he finished. There was utter silence.

"This isn't good," Jack muttered.



With a sudden surge, the crowd moved towards them. There are absolute fury in each face, fury born out of prolonged and absolute terror.

"Stop!" Tom raised a hand, "I need to find out what they are doing first. When I tell you, we'll finish them together." His companions moved to stand between him and the tense crowd of people.

"This isn't the entire population of the town," Donna said, "there's only a few hundred here."

"A few hundred is more than enough to rip us apart," Jack said, "I'm guessing no weapons allowed?" He looked at the Doctor.

"No," the Doctor said firmly. "The others got away, didn't they?"

"They ran, at the beginning, much like they might have before, " Tom said, "when the danger's over, they'll return. As yet, we haven't moved into the neighbouring area yet. All we want for now, is here."

"And that would be?" the Doctor asked.

"Kill them now!" someone shouted from the crowd. Two of Tom's companions moved forwards and the crowd fell silent again. The air was thick with tension.

Tom was looking at the Doctor, smiling calmly, "you, Doctor, we want you to come with us, and bring your machine. And I think you'll want that too."

"Oh yes, there's every chance I'll come quietly, " the Doctor said, "come on, Tom. You'll have to do better than that. A baying mob has never stopped me in my tracks before and it's not going to now."

"No problem," Tom replied, "you asked how I tracked you down and tuned into your machine. Recognise this?" He reached into his pocket and showed two items to the Doctor. Donna peered over his shoulder. One was a silver timepiece, like an old fashioned watch on a chain. The other was a small glass diamond with colours swirling within it. The Doctor was staring at them as if he couldn't quite believe his eyes.

"You do, don't you?" Tom said softly, "and now you know, Doctor, there are Timelords in our world. Confused and displaced...victims of war but Timelords all the same. Some who know they are Timelords and some who don't. Timelords who need a...mentor, shall we say, in order to re-establish who and what they truly are. They are in our power and you could help them. You could start a whole new empire, Doctor. And as long as we remain under your protection, we shall not stop you."

"Show me those," the Doctor's voice was strained. Silently, Tom handed him the items.

There was a long silence.

Donna and Jack glanced helplessly at each other and over to where every face in the waiting crowd stared back at them with utter hatred. She couldn't see if her family were there, and was suddenly glad of it. If they looked at her like all these others, she didn't think she could bear to see it.



Only the Doctor's cracking voice broke the silence.

"I'll come," he said.