Lantro hurried over to the Doctor, whose 'ow' had been in reaction to his colliding with something at the bottom of the sand dune. At first, Lantro thought the Doctor must have collided with a sort of moppish-looking brown bush. But as Lantro got closer, he could see that it wasn't a bush at all. It was a head of brown hair from a human corpse — mostly buried in the sand. Beside the corpse were a series of bleached human bones, laid out to create the words:

REMEMBER ME

The Doctor was leaning down, sadly, examining the body. His sadness turned to puzzled alarm, as he dug the body out far enough to turn her over — and could see her face.

It was Faye Mutajar.

"That's the third time I've seen her today," Lantro remarked. He frowned, turning to the Doctor. "How's that possible? Is it something the vault does? Replicating her every time it archives a timeline she's in?"

The Doctor frowned. "Don't know. Depends how the vault's been set up." He dug out more of the body, and noticed — again — the tan-line of the vortex manipulator on her wrist. "But why only her? Why the same person, with the same message, twice?" He blinked. Looked back up at Lantro. "Sorry, did you say three times?"

Lantro shrugged. "In that cave. But you said you were thinking."

"Ah — note to self. Stop thinking." The Doctor turned back to Mutajar. "How did she look?"

"I don't know," Lantro admitted. "She was under a boulder. All I could see was her hand."

The Doctor raised up her wrist. "Like this? Same tan line and everything?"

Lantro nodded.

"And that's the other thing," the Doctor said, dropping the wrist. "Same person, same message, but a different death. And she's never wearing her vortex manipulator. So where's it gone? And why isn't it here?"

Lantro said nothing. He just helped the Doctor dig out the corpse.

The Doctor caught Lantro by the wrist, where his own vortex manipulator still rested.

"Come to think of it," the Doctor said, raising it up, "why didn't the moss detect your vortex manipulator and come after you? It may be a smoking wreck — but it's not powered down."

Lantro shook his head. "Okay, you got me. Why?"

"I don't know." The Doctor let go of the vortex manipulator. Looked between Lantro and Mutajar's wrist, his brow furrowed. Then, finally, he shook his head. "Probably doesn't matter."

The Doctor started to get up, but Lantro grabbed him by the wrist to stop him.

"Doctor, really — what is it?" Lantro looked between the Doctor and Mutajar. "Is it something about her? Did you work something out?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, eyes flicking between Mutajar — dead, and without a vortex manipulator — and Lantro — alive, and with a vortex manipulator. "You tell me."

Lantro's jaw fell open. "You can't be thinking...?" He let go of the Doctor, jumping to his feet. "No. No!" Raised his hands. "Doctor, you've got to believe me — I would never...!"

He trailed off, as the wind picked up and sand began to rebury the body, as well as the bones beside it. Flashes of bleached-white bone began appearing elsewhere along the sand dunes... places where other bodies had been dumped.

Lantro shuddered.

The Doctor appeared beside him. He had taken out his sonic screwdriver and was scanning it across the sand dunes. Lantro tried to grab it out of his hands — afraid the moss would come for them again — but the Doctor had already turned it off and tucked it away before Lantro's hand got close.

"Probably not," the Doctor said, finally. He clasped his hands behind his back. "But you know something about this, Lantro. Something you're not telling me."

Agent Lantro said nothing for a long, long time.

Then, finally, he began to walk past the Doctor. "Is there any more of that metamorphic rock nearby?"

"I'm sure we can find some, though it may take a while," the Doctor replied, catching him up. "Why?"

"Because if this place is really as dangerous as you say," Lantro said, "then I think we should get to your companion as soon as possible."

The Doctor sighed, slapping his hand to his forehead. "No, I didn't think you'd answer my question. Thank you for that. Very helpful."

"I'm going to answer it," Lantro corrected, "on the way." He sighed. "Just remember — by telling you the truth and compromising Agency secrets, I'm putting my job on the line, here."

The Doctor grinned, and clapped Lantro on the back. "Hate to break it to you, Lanty-boy," he said, "but once this all comes out in the open — your job is pretty much kaput. No help needed from me."

Jenny stared at Mutajar, not sure she believed what had just happened. Then, snapping herself out of her stupor, turned around and ran to Kardeni, dropping to the ground and checking her vitals.

"She needs medical help," Jenny said, taking her pulse. One heart. Interesting. She looked up at Mutajar with a glare. "That could have killed her, you idiot!"

Mutajar frowned, as she pressed some buttons on her vortex manipulator. "Still scrambled. Damn." Looked up. Noticed Jenny's glare. "What?" She pointed at Kardeni. "Don't sympathize with her! You've got no idea how many times I've been killed this morning." She leaned down, patting Kardeni down and checking all of her pockets. "I almost didn't make it back in time to rescue you."

Jenny blinked. "You've been killed...?"

"Yeah — long story." Mutajar scowled, as her search only revealed some Kleenex, a few toys and crayons, and a small pocket bible. "You've got to be kidding me! Where else could she have...?" She shook her head, then jumped to her feet. "Never mind. I'll deal with it later." She glanced around, analyzing and then pocketing a few components from the derelict machinery around them, before turning back to Jenny. "Time to go." She grabbed her by the arm and tugged her upright. "The VM's out of action, so we'll have to run for it."

She tried to drag Jenny out of the room, but Jenny twisted her arm around and shoved Mutajar away from her. Mutajar, startled, dropped Jenny's arm and stumbled back.

"Look, Jenny, I'm not who you think I am," Mutajar insisted, raising up her hands. "I'm not really a geologist — I'm..."

"An undercover Time Agent," Jenny said. "I got that." She ran back over to the monitor. "Fine, then. Since you knocked out my helper — you can help me fix all this."

Mutajar stormed over and grabbed Jenny by the wrist again. This time, she had a much tighter grip. "I don't think so."

"We're heading towards a full dimensional collapse!" Jenny insisted, struggling against Mutajar even as Mutajar dragged her to the door. "You have no idea what could be unleashed if...!"

"I have every idea," Mutajar said, practically yanking Jenny off her feet and dragging her out the door and down the corridor. "This company's been creating and imprisoning sentient species for far too long. If Lantro won't make his move, I will."

"You...?" Jenny felt a shudder run through her. "What have you done?"

"There's a secret room beneath Sector 3," said Mutajar, turning a corner into the main hallway. "In it, there's a machine that's keeping this world half a dimension apart from the real one. That's how they're getting away with all this. That's how they're enslaving species after species without anyone knowing about it!" Her eyes flashed. "And now that I've finally gotten into the Main Complex... I'm putting a stop to it."