The Rani glared at the Piper, furious that her modified chameleon arch had been used in such a manner and yet… She couldn't deny that this was far more proof of her experiment's success than she had first intended.

"Your plan appears to have run into an unforeseen hiccup—me," the Piper said, calmly. "I can get word to Gallifrey to warn them about the Androgums."

"The Androgums?" the Rani repeated, amused. "Even now, as a Time Lord, you really believed that I would let them get the run of the galaxy?"

The Piper arched an eyebrow.

"I see…" he said. "You mean to betray the Androgums."

"All I wanted was to have the Doctor converted to a hybrid again," the Rani said. "I needed the Androgums to achieve that. Why would I let them have Gallifrey? And I certainly have no desire for Gallifrey, either. I have enough of Shockeye's genetic material left over to change the Master, the Monk, the War Chief, the Corsair… any other renegade Time Lord; all I want are more subjects with which to experiment with." She smirked. "The Androgums will be abandoned here; I had intended to gather the Doctor after he had finished you off."

"There, we have a problem," the Piper said. "You're free to turn whoever else you want into whatever you want; you won't meet any resistance from me. But there is one thing I require."

"You want the Doctor back."

"Precisely," the Piper agreed, extending a hand. "The fob watch, if you please?"

"I can't grant you that," the Rani said. "The Doctor is instrumental to my plan. And I suggest you leave, now, in the Doctor's old TARDIS—the Androgums are still searching the space station for you."

"They are looking for an ape named Jamie McCrimmon," the Piper corrected her. "He no longer exists."

"Be that as it may, they are still too thick-headed to fully process the notion that you are no longer a Tellurian," the Rani reminded him. "I suggest you leave before they find you. Leave, or I will hand you over to them."

"An empty threat; you wish to study me," the Piper said. "Even if I leave here, after you convert enough Time Lords into hybrids, you'll use the converted Doctor's symbiotic nuclei to locate his TARDIS, and then send your little army to capture me and make me join them."

The Rani said nothing, and the Piper now smirked, knowing he had predicted her plan perfectly.

"It appears that, whether I leave or stay, my fate is not a pretty one. So, I need to take a third option."

"And what is that?" the Rani asked.

"I've succeeded in proving that the Doctor, even in this hybrid state, won't attack me. But can you be so certain that he won't attack you?"

The Piper aimed the sonic screwdriver at the metal divider, raising it. The Rani turned around as the Doctor now rushed out of his prison. And the Piper made his move; he grabbed the Rani's chameleon arch and ripped it from the cable that suspended it from the ceiling of the passageway.

"Doctor, come with me!" the Piper ordered, turning and fleeing down the corridor.

He glanced behind him, however, and paused to see the Doctor dragging the Rani down another corridor.

"Doctor—!" the Piper called.

The Piper's mind raced in a moment. Jamie McCrimmon would have taken a calculated risk and gone after them. But the Piper was no longer Jamie McCrimmon. He couldn't act upon sentiment anymore.

He had the Rani's chameleon arch; he had to hide it away in the Doctor's TARDIS first; then and only then could he turn his attention to the Doctor.

At peace with his decision, the Piper raced back to the TARDIS, sneaking through the passageway and using the sonic screwdriver to undo a panel once he was close enough. There were no Androgums about; they had, apparently, noticed that the Rani was missing and were now looking for her.

The Piper now entered the Doctor's TARDIS, the chameleon arch still in hand. Where to keep it? Ah, the study!

As he entered the familiar room and placed the chameleon arch on the study table, the Piper found himself drawn to the hearth-rug, where he could warm himself in the glow of the fire. The warmth was both soothing and energizing; he hadn't realized how much he had needed it, nor how he still wasn't quite used to his new Gallifreyan body.

Outwardly, he looked the same, save for the tapetum lucidum in his eyes; but he was physically stronger now with two hearts, and he had an intelligence that dwarfed that which his human self possessed.

He was convinced that he was improved, in every way possible.


The Rani, however, was not faring as well. She was not strong enough to fight against the hybrid Doctor's Androgum strength, and he was now dragging her out of the passageway and through the main corridors of the space station.

"Brasher!" he snarled, searching through the crowd of Androgums. "Brasher, where are you!?"

"What news do you have?" Brasher asked.

"Plenty that would interest you," the Doctor hissed. "There is another Time Lord here in the space station, and I overheard this one…" He glared at the Rani. "…Bragging to him about how she was going to abandon all of you here!"

"That is an outright lie!" the Rani yelled. Her entire expression fell as the Androgums now drew in around her, their eyes narrowing in fury.

"Is it, Lady?" Brasher growled. "The Doctor is of our mind now; he has no reason to lie to us."

"I suggest we forget about this one," the Doctor said, indicating the Rani. "And take her TARDIS to leave this place."

"You cannot—" the Rani began.

"Silence!" Brasher barked at her. "We have no reason to listen to any more of your treacherous lies!" He then turned to the Doctor. "What of the other Time Lord? Is he with us, or with her?"

"That… remains to be seen," the Doctor said. "My old classmate here had plans for him, so he would not be so keen to join her. However, a Time Lord would not be so keen to join Androgums, either. But, perhaps, with my persuasion…"

"We will need to seek him out, regardless," Brasher said. "We cannot have him warning the Gallifreyans of our master plan; we are dependent upon the element of surprise."

"We will deal with him," the Doctor promised. "But, first, we must get to the Rani's TARDIS and commandeer it."

"You will never commandeer my TARDIS!" the Rani hissed, taking a small test tube she had concealed and smashing it to the floor. A smoky substance formed upon the contents reacting with air, creating a smokescreen that allowed the Rani to flee.

"After her!" the Doctor ordered. "She'll be heading right for her TARDIS to flee! Don't let her get to it!"

The Androgums set off in pursuit—all except Brasher.

"And what will you do, Doctor?" he asked.

"I will search for the other Time Lord; he will be willing to speak with me more than any of you."

Brasher nodded and joined the others in pursuing the Rani. The Doctor watched them go, eagerly.

"Now… to find the other Time Lord… No… no, wait…" He rubbed his temples with his fingers, trying to hold on to his true nature. "Jamie… I must find Jamie! I wanted him to get word to Gallifrey…"

He rushed down the maze of corridors, hoping that his TARDIS would not be where he had left it—hoping that Jamie had gone back to Gallifrey.

He let out a grunt of frustration as he saw his TARDIS in the same place; Jamie had not left.

"Jamie! Oh, you hairy-legged Highlander, can't you do as you're told for once in your life!?"

The Piper, having finished his thermoregulation by the fireside, was back in the console room, and had heard the rant outside. Calmly, the Piper took the Stattenheim remote control from the console, opened the door, and stepped outside.

"I knew I could count on you to escape from the Rani of your own volition," the Piper said, pleased. "Quickly, then—use the fob watch and return to your true self."

But the Doctor stared back and the Piper with a blank expression, and the Piper could see that there was no shred of recognition in the Doctor's eyes.

"Who are you?" the Doctor hissed. "What are you doing in my TARDIS!? …Jamie—where is Jamie!?"

The Piper arched an eyebrow.

"It's the same face, Doctor—don't you recognize it? …Of course you don't; you've had trouble with that ever since the Land of Fiction, haven't you?" The Piper rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Thirteen years, and you still can't get it…"

But the Doctor was angry.

"I don't know you!" the Doctor hissed. "Your eyes… your voice… your very scent is different! Where is Jamie!?"

"The human you knew as Jamie is no longer here," the Piper said. "Now, it is just me, the Piper—"

He hadn't expected the Doctor to attack him, but, sure enough, the Doctor did throw a few of those volatile Gallifreyan gems he had stored in his pockets; the Piper hissed as they burned upon contact.

"You doddering old fool!" the Piper snarled. "Have your Androgum senses dulled your Gallifreyan ones so much that you cannot even recognize that your once-human companion has transcended perfection now!?"

The Piper glanced at the Doctor's pockets realizing that he couldn't sense the Doctor's essence that would've been in the fob watch, had the Doctor had it with him.

"And you didn't even think to take the fob watch from the Rani," he muttered, furious. "I haven't the time nor patience to deal with you in this hybrid form; I'll have to retrieve it from her myself!"

The Piper took off down the corridor.

"Oh, no, you don't!" the Doctor snarled. "You will tell me what you've done with Jamie! I won't stand for this!"

"Doctor!" Brasher called, causing the Piper to escape the Doctor by darting around a corridor bend.

"What!?" the Doctor fumed, furious at having lost his quarry.

"Doctor, we lost the treacherous Time Lady," Brasher said.

"Idiot!"

"But all is not lost, Doctor—we have located her craft!" Brasher continued. "I managed to procure a spare key to enter it some time ago; we can leave for Gallifrey now!"

"Very well; just let me get my TARDIS…" the Doctor began, but he quickly trailed off as the police box vwrooped and vanished before his eyes, leaving only the now-empty space behind.

"What happened, Doctor?" Brasher asked, confused.

The Doctor responded with a curse in his own tongue.

"That other Time Lord!" he realized. "The one who did something to Jamie—he was in my TARDIS!"

"You didn't kill the Tellurian?" Brasher asked, baffled. "What a waste; the rest of us could have—"

"Never mind about that! That other Time Lord was in my TARDIS, and he must have taken my Stattenheim remote control!"

"Then we must move quickly, Doctor," Brasher said, growing worried. "If he reaches Gallifrey before we do, our entire plan will be for naught. If your people are prepared for us, we will not be able to overrun them."

The Doctor's mind raced furiously. He was in charge of enough of his true self to know that he didn't want the Androgums to take Gallifrey; perhaps he could take them elsewhere once he commandeered the Rani's TARDIS. But what of Jamie, and the mysterious new Time Lord who had commandeered his TARDIS? He couldn't risk finding Jamie while the Androgums were with him; that would end badly for the Scot… assuming that the worst hadn't happened to him already.

Jamie… Jamie, what has happened to you? he silently asked.

He would have to find out; perhaps he could do what the Rani had intended, and leave the Androgums stranded somewhere. He would then have to figure out what had happened to Jamie, and then find a way to restore himself back to normal. But, always, Jamie held far more importance than himself.

"Well, Doctor?" Brasher asked. "Do I tell the others to prepare to leave this place in the Rani's craft?"

"Yes," the Doctor. "Yes; we must leave here immediately!"

Brasher nodded and beckoned the Doctor to follow him. The hybrid Time Lord did so, vowing to eventually find Jamie—and also vowing to punish that Time Lord who had clearly done something terrible to him.