We walk past the guards and exit the base without speaking.

I think he's disappointed in me again, which I would be more upset about but he really does have unrealistic expectations.

I break into a transport shuttle a little way from the base and insist on driving. The Doctor navigates using a map he didn't mention pinching.

We drive for several hours with only the Doctor's instructions to break the silence before I decide to question him,

'What do the rebels want?'

'Death,' he answers promptly as if he hadn't just been giving me the cold shoulder. 'They think humans shouldn't be on this planet. They want to kill everyone else and then either kill themselves or leave.'

'No half-measures there then.'

'They believe their god lived here and that she wants her planet back.'

'Right…'

We fall back into silence again for the next hour as the sun sets. I honestly didn't know he was capable of being quiet this long; it's actually quite unnerving. The road winds though a gorge and there are no other living things in sight.

The chemical smell is decreasing as we approach the coast.

'The psychic paper probably won't get us in here,' hearing his voice again makes me jump.

'Oh?' I glance at him.

'How many people can you convince not to see us at a time?'

'If they're relatively normal humans? Probably fifteen if you don't need me for anything else.'

'Fifteen? Really?' he sounds impressed.

'Fifteen for a long term perception filter effect,' I elaborate. 'If you want to be able to talk to them then less than that. Do you have a plan?'

'Not really.'

'Do you plan to have a plan?' we finally exit the gorge.

The gorge has led us right to the sea and the cliffs run right down the coast away from us in both directions. I settle the shuttle down and turn to face the Doctor.

'Do you have a plan?' he challenges.

'You're the one with prior experience,' I quirk an eyebrow at him. 'I'd knock them out with gas and then go in.'

'Well, we can't do that.'

'We could…' I mutter and then sigh. 'It's harder to get things done if you want to be ethical.'

'Oh, because you controlling people's minds is ethical?' he scoffs.

'I've never worried about it,' I tell him truthfully.

They are only apes, for goodness sake.

'Come on,' he gets out of the shuttle, 'it's only a mile; we'll go the rest of the way on foot.'

I follow him and dig my hands into my pockets to keep them warm,

'I miss my hoodie,' I complain.

'It was your choice to revert to the suit,' he retorts. 'Are you cold?'

He falls back to walk next to me.

'We're walking along the coast road in the middle of the night, of course I'm cold,' I sneer.

'Don't exaggerate,' he scolds and wraps an arm around my shoulder to pull me against him as we walk.

'You're not miserable, are you?' he rubs my arm against the cold and looks ridiculously earnest.

I glare at him and don't say anything.

Of course I'm not miserable, you idiot, I don't say.

'You'll like it,' he promises. 'People are very grateful when you save them.'

'I still wouldn't be doing it for them,' I mutter.

'I'll be very grateful,' he adds. 'And there's the rush of winning.'

'Are you trying to talk me round to being a better person by appealing to the worst aspects of my nature?'

'Yes,' he grins.

I offer him a small smile and we keep walking.


'That's the compound,' the Doctor nods at the building we're approaching as we move further onto the peninsular. 'Do you want to start… broadcasting?'

'Sure,' I murmur and stop walking.

Some what on purpose I include the Doctor when I start mentally prompting anything nearby to be disinterested in me. It doesn't work properly but it amuses me to see him look confused and then scowl in concentration.

'Very mature,' he squints at me.

'Sorry,' I mock and drop the prompting from him.

His eyes refocus and he smiles, apparently quite automatically,

'You're very good at that.'

'Yes,' I agree and walk up to him. 'Just don't move too fast and we'll be fine.'

We get past the front gate easily and the Doctor sonics as we move. There aren't many people around at this time at night, the effort of projecting such a wide field is still draining though. The Doctor luckily knows this and pulls me aside into an empty room partway though our search.

I relax my mind as the door closes and lean against the wall. I close my eyes then jump and stare wide eyed at the Doctor who just cupped my cheek.

'Sorry,' he kisses my cheek where I flinched from him.

I sigh and step into his arms.

'You're brilliant,' he presses a kiss to my hair. 'I think I've found the prison.'

'How far?'

'We're nearly there. There will be guards. Probably quite a few. And being uninteresting might not work…'

'Is that your way of telling me to step it up?'

He beams at me,

'Yup!' he presses another kiss to my hair then my temple. 'Come on!' he takes my hand and tows me back outside.

I press up our defence as I follow him. I close my eyes; it's easier to keep track of those around us without visual distractions.

My next step doesn't touch the ground when I expect it to.

I recoil and spin to clutch my other hand to the Doctor, there's a moments pause where we manage to balance and then he falls backwards and takes me with him.

I press my face into his chest as I shake from the adrenaline. He wraps his arms tightly around me.

'Tell me if you want to walk around with your eyes shut!' he scolds, but he's shifted to curl around me. He tenses, 'are you still projecting?'

I can hear footsteps come towards us from below,

'Yes; he can't see us.'

With the blood coursing through my system it is so much easier to project. I'm buzzing and my senses are alight.

'Come on,' he pulls me up and against his chest. 'We need to move.'

I nod my head but press my nose into his neck.

The footsteps reach us and then move away.

'Down the stairs,' he tells me and steps sideways and down.

I follow him, keeping my eyes closed.

'Your trust in me is surprising,' he comments quietly as we continue.

'You're capable of many things, my Lord Doctor,' I reply equally quietly, 'but I can't believe you'd let me fall.'

'That's the last of the stairs,' he keeps me hugged to him. 'There're a large number of people in a room down the corridor around the corner. I'm hoping they're the prisoners.'

'You should ask the person approaching us,' I tell him.

Now we've stopped moving I've open my eyes and look around the dingy corridor. 'At least when I was evil I maintained a standard.'

'One of your best qualities,' he grins.

A man carrying a large gun turns the corner and walks towards us.

'They have no monitoring equipment here, do they? No cameras or anything?' I ask as the man gets closer.

'No,' the Doctor confirms, 'why?'

'Because I'm going to make sure we're in the right place…'

As the man draws level with us I catch his head and press my forehead to his as I drop my projecting in favour of invading his mind.

The Doctor makes an angry spluttering noise beside me but I ignore him.

Interesting.

The prisoners are around the corner, as suspected, but I also learn that the families of the rebels aren't far either.

That could be useful.

I instruct the man to go back to his room to sleep off his headache and then release him. He walks away rubbing his temples.

He doesn't notice I've taken his gun.

'You can't do that!' the Doctor splutters at me.

I put the strap of the gun around my shoulders and check the ammunition,

'He's fine,' I dismiss. 'Besides, the entire peninsular is going to be destroyed in a few hours.'

'That's…!' he waves his hands around as he turns in a circle and then huffs a breath, 'come on!'

I step closer to him and offer my hand. He glares at me but does grab it. I smirk at him as he tows me along behind him.