Jack stared straight ahead and wouldn't look at John. "Does it matter?"

John sat in silence, waiting and staring at him. He still had that fluttery feeling in his chest, that aura of unreality that always lingered after one of his "incidents", and he was in no mood for games.

"OK," Jack finally said, "if you must know, I went out to try and see how bad things were so we could decide what to do next."

John nodded, but was undeterred. "And where did you wind up on this fact-finding mission that you immediately ran home and bundled me into the car? We were moving so fast I didn't think to ask, but now I've had a little time to breathe."

"Somehow I get the feeling that you're having doubts about trusting me," Jack said, trying to sound as if it were all a joke. "If that's the case, then I'm sorry, buddy. I can let you out right now and leave you on your own to solve your problems, but I have to warn you, there are a lot of people looking for you right now, and your chances of not getting caught are pretty slim. Should I pull over, or not?" He finally mastered a nonchalant voice that covered his real emotions.

John looked at him and was quiet for a few moments. Leaving wasn't an option, of course, but that didn't make things simple. "So I can trust one best friend I've only known for a few weeks who admits he's not telling me everything, or I can take my chances with the other, who's always been honest with me but may not remember who I am. Some choice." John pulled his feet up onto the dashboard and leaned his forehead on his knees. He just wanted to be home, in bed, next to Sarah Jane.

Jack sighed. "Look, I know this isn't easy for you, but think this thing through. Harry had us arrested. He had you arrested twice. How does that make you feel about trusting him?" He slowed for just a moment to get his bearings, then sped up again. "On the other hand, I just saved you. Doesn't it make more sense to trust me? I'm even offering to let you go it alone, if that's what you want. Does that sound like you can't trust me? It's your call, but really think this over and I have a feeling that you'll see that I'm right."

"I know, you're right," John said, not sounding entirely certain of himself. He turned to look at Jack, who still had his eyes on the road. "But what aren't you telling me? Whatever it is, I think I have a right to know."

"John, you may have the right to know, but trust me, you really don't want to know." He leaned over and opened the glove box. He wiggled his hand around in it and then smiled. "Oh hey," he smiled as he pulled out a flask. "This could come in handy," he said, holding the bottle up for John to see.

"Yes," John said, then took the flask from Jack's hand and threw it out the window. "You're driving, idiot."

"John, why did you do that? Did you honestly think I was going to drink it? I never drink and drive, I need my head clear. You never know when a situation like this could come up."

"Then what did you want it for?" John asked, frustrated.

"For the simple fact that they make great bombs. My friend, you have no idea how many times a bottle of that stuff has saved the day for me."

"Sorry," John mumbled, embarrassed. A part of him wondered what kind of maniac was driving the car, but in the grand scheme of his week he was beginning to think that maybe the idea of Jack lobbing whiskey laden bombs wasn't all that strange. He put his feet back on the floorboards. "Alright," he said. In for a penny, in for a pound. "I guess we're back to trying to get the things we need for the temporal variation sensor. I left everything at the house, but I suppose we can start again."

"Tell you what, you make a list and then we'll go shopping. Does that sound OK to you?"

"I suppose so," John said, rooting around in the glove box for a pen and paper.

Jack saw what he was doing and laughed. "If you find anything useful, promise you won't throw it out the window, OK?"

The Doctor took the cables he'd retrieved from Sarah Jane and shifted them on his shoulder. If he remembered his geography correctly, there was one more thing about this trip that Sarah Jane was not going to like.

They came to the top of a hill, and saw the Tower of Rassilon in the distance, high on a precipice - on the other side of an almost unimaginably deep chasm.

Sarah looked at the tower and realized how hopeless this whole trip had been. There was no way they could reach the tower from where they were. "What do we do now, fly?"

"What a splendid idea," he said. He pulled a penknife out of his pocket and began to cut open the wrappings keeping the cables coiled. 'To Rassilon's Tower we go,' he sung to himself, 'Must choose above, between, below...'

He'd suspected they'd have this problem; it was why he'd taken the cables that had so weighed them both down as they travelled.

'He must be mad,' she thought. Then she thought again. Over the last several months she had been living with John, falling in love with him and then finally marrying him. John may have had some of the Doctor's habits, but she realized now that he couldn't be the Doctor. John would never do anything foolhardy, and he certainly wouldn't risk her life for any reason. Besides that, John always put her and her feelings first. She was beginning to wonder if settling down with John was making her see the Doctor in a new light.

Sarah looked down and saw a group of Cybermen heading towards them. "Doctor! Cybermen!" She put a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. 'Great,' she thought. Just when things are at their worst, something happens to make everything even more dangerous. For the life of her, she was hard pressed at this moment to remember why she thought this was such great fun just a few short months ago.

So far they'd been lucky in eluding the Cybermen. The Raston Warrior had almost killed them, but it had also inadvertently saved their lives. Too bad it wasn't here now. Their only chance was to get across the canyon. "Yes, well, see if you can hold them off," the Doctor said. "I won't be a second." He continued securing the line; it certainly wouldn't do to have it come loose while they were hanging in midair.

"Yeah, right." 'Stall, he says. It's just as if I never left. Well,' she thought again, 'for him I haven't left yet.' She looked around for something, anything, then picked up a big rock and threw it down the hill. At that she suddenly realized that she was simply out of practice and that when things were at their worst, she and the Doctor were at their best. She felt wonderfully ridiculous, and oddly enough, she was having fun. She tried not to get the giggles and could barely manage it. "Doctor... missed."

The Doctor looked at his handiwork. The cable end looked like a fairly decent lasso. Not that he'd ever actually tied one. And certainly not in 1" ultra-cable. "Right. That should do it," he said, wondering whom he was trying to convince.

"Honestly, that will never work!" Now she thought about how John would listen to her at this moment and she knew that the Doctor was going to do whatever he wanted to. Not that he was selfish or inconsiderate, it was just that he was so single-minded. She shrugged. She was defending the Doctor to herself. What did that say about her?

The Doctor hesitated for just a fraction of a second. "Well, maybe not. Can you think of a better suggestion?"

Sarah didn't say anything.

"No? Well, alright then. Stand well back," the Doctor said, and began twirling the metal lasso over his head.