5. The Ledge.

Ommera recovers consciousness, lying there for a few minutes while the last of the sun's rays fade. She can feel her body regenerating, replacing damaged cells. It is the simpler level of her regenerative capability. She lies there for a few more minutes before sitting up.

There, far below her in the moonlight, she can see a small light. Could that be the Tardis? She has no possibility of getting there. She is hopelessly off the path. It is a wide ledge but there is no path off the ledge, she is hazardously stuck half-way down an extremely steep mountain side. She can't even see how far down it is to the next ledge below, or even if there is one.

As she sits there she is aware that she is getting cold. She rubs her hands together to try to warm up, and notices her engagement ring glowing, just slightly, in the dark. She touches the ring with her index finger, focussing intently on it. "Doctor, I'm stuck on the hillside on a ledge," she says. She doesn't know if she needed to say that, or whether the Doctor heard it, but it made her feel better about it.

A moment later the familiar grinding noise welcomes her inside the Tardis as it envelopes her. Warmth pervades her and she collapses happily onto the Tardis Control room floor.

She hears the Doctor say, "I knew you'd be alright," before she slides peacefully into the oblivion of deep sleep.

Ommera awakens to find herself in their rest room in the Tardis. She feels her head, yes, it is still there after all the goings on.

She changes her clothes and walks through to the Control room.

The Doctor is poring over the Console monitor. He turns toward her, steps across, embraces and kisses her.

It feels like heaven after hell has passed by.

"That wasn't an easy thing to do," he says. "Come and see the difference you made."

They walk to the Console. "Previously, your predecessor in that job would have had an immediate successor who would have fixed a few things, and then another successor would have fixed more, but they would have eventually made a devastating machine to win that war which would have gone on to have appalling consequences for Mankind. You introduced defects in the design which delayed its development by a decade until it was no longer of use to them for the war. It was almost completely expunged at the end of the war and nearly all living memory of it was destroyed.

You saved the day, the year, the war and the century. No small thing to do."

Ommera can hardly believe what she is hearing. "I'm sure someone else could have done what I did," she says modestly.

"Yes, but you did it so convincingly," the Doctor says. "But enough wallowing in success. We have another mission."

Ommera groans. Surely she can recover a bit more before she has to do more?

"You liked the Wisp when you met them?" the Doctor says. "How would you like to really help them?"

Ommera recalls the beautiful creatures she had met on the planet of Wisp not long before (ref. 21). Her tiredness starts to evaporate. "They were so beautiful; I would love to help them." She can't imagine any possible danger that would prevent her helping the Wisp. "But can I recover a bit first, please?"
"You suffered quite a lot from that path," the Doctor says. "But why didn't you hoot like an owl when you were still in the woods like I told you to? You didn't need to go along that treacherous path at all!"
Ommera is stunned.

She had totally forgotten the Doctor's instruction. True, she had had plenty of other things to focus on, but now the Doctor reminded her, she could recall him telling her. She sighs. Her difficulties along the path had all been of her own doing. She starts to blame herself.
The Doctor notices her pause. He steps gently to her and puts his arms around her. "It's alright to forget a few things," he says gently. "You did an incredible job really well."
Ommera relaxes, the Doctor has said it is all alright. His words of praise ring in her head. It's all alright.

Ommera wants to know why she had to leave on that day, just then. "Doctor, why did I have to leave just then?"
"There came a day when those running that development facility had orders to stop development and replace all of the workers with fresh people."
"Replaced? So, if I'd stayed I'd have perished along with all the other workers?" Ommera is shocked. "Those in charge must be brutes!"
"That's one word for them," the Doctor says. "Many people will say far worse. They didn't want anybody knowing too much about anything sensitive."

"What became of the flying craft?" Ommera asks.
"Oh, the two-engined craft is demonstrated years later to show the concept is a non-starter. But secretly, they added more engines to their design. One problem was the range. Fantastic acceleration, but they were all fuel hungry, so they couldn't go far! Eventually they find that circular craft don't have the most efficient wing surfaces."

Ommera still wants to know what it was all about. "Doctor, tell me, what was it all about?"

"Alright, then," the Doctor says. "I'll talk!" He jests, but he recognises that he must make time to say more for Ommera.

"They were making a circular aeroplane, which would go on to be known as a Flying Saucer because of its shape. Unmanned, it could accelerate or stop so rapidly it would be renowned, but secret, so unknown to everyone but the top brass."

"Yes," Ommera says, "I guessed that. But who were they? And why did they want that craft? You say for a war, but how would they have used it? Were they misguided?"

"Misguided," the Doctor considers his answer. "Most would say yes to that. Timeline history began to show that they would have terrorised the world with that machine, or rather with its successors. Something had gone wrong with the development in an unusual time stream alteration, and I detected that your replacement would have gone on to successfully develop it without flaws early enough for it to have been of use to that regime. You deferred its successful development until after that war ended. Those flying saucers will be frequently seen in the early 1950s. And your remote-control addition will enable them to show off their manoeuvrability."

"So, who was my successor going to be?" Ommera asks.
"Best not to know," the Doctor replies.
"Human?" Ommera desperately wants the answer to be a yes.
"You've been travelling with me for a while now," the Doctor says. "Just the fact that you asked that question tells me that you know the answer."
"Not human," Ommera says. It wasn't a guess, just a step in a logical progression. "But who? And where did they go to instead?"
"I picked her up, neutralised, somehow," the Doctor says. "She was called Susanne, she will recover in a few days. Actually, before we go to Wisp, we can drop her off. There's a scrap heap on... Seffilun Twenty Seven. She's a clever remote-controlled automaton. Just a clever machine. She might be useful to sort out the scrap metal there."

"At least I'm human!" Ommera concludes. To be superseded by an automaton that went on to succeed would have been humiliating.

"So, what went wrong with the time stream?" Ommera asks. "Who interfered with it to make it so awful?"

"There's only one person who interferes like that," the Doctor says. He pauses dramatically. "The Master!"

Ommera's stomach tightens. She has encountered the Master before (ref. 5, 23). "Must we tackle him?" Ommera asks anxiously. She sincerely hopes not but knows the Doctor must decide.

"No," the Doctor says. Then he smiles. "We have a helping friend, fortunately, or history would have changed back to the bleak future all too readily. Something or someone has distracted the Master after he thrust your successor towards the project. The Master had control. He still has the controls. He just has no idea why he has been unsuccessful, as yet."

"It's unlike the Master to lose control," Ommera says. "What's happened to him?"
"Like I say, he's being distracted," the Doctor says.
"So, who is distracting the Master?" Ommera asks.
"One of my previous companions."
"Crystelle?" Ommera conjectures (ref. 13, 23).
"Yes!" the Doctor says in excited confirmation. "She must still be stalking the Master. Every now and again I get a lucky streak, and I've had a lot more of those recently, since Crystelle has been following the Master! Good old Crystelle! Dangerous work, though, and for her sake I wish she wasn't doing that."

"How can she still be doing that?" Ommera asks. She is shocked that Crystelle can still be doing this. "How can she do that without dying?"
"Alas, she doesn't always tell me what happened," the Doctor owns.
"I want to know," Ommera says. "I want to ask her! I'm sure she is taking far too many risks. Can we go and see her now?"

The Doctor looks at Ommera. What can she do against what Crystelle has become? What can he tell her has happened to Crystelle?

THE END

What has Crystelle become?
Crystelle was one of the Doctor's recent companions during the time that Ommera has been his companion and is well known to Ommera.
Stalking the Master sounds like a very dangerous thing to do! What might doing that have done to Crystelle?

The previous episode in this series is called "The Master's Apprentice." (ref. 23).

The next episode in this series is called "Earth Death in Three Minutes."

I hope to add further episodes soon.

Sparse References.

Reference 1. Episode Maintenance Mission in this series, when Ommera first met the Doctor.

Reference 5. Episode Double Master Plan in this series, when Ommera first met the Master.

Reference 13. Episode Crystelle Lattice in this series, when Crystelle started stalking the Master.

Reference 21. Episode The Plight of Slint in this series, when Ommera first met the Wisp.

Reference 22. Episode Master Trek in this series.

Reference 23. Episode The Master's Apprentice in this series with which this episode fits together.

After Word.

The path is based on a real path from a viewing platform down towards the south of lake Bled. The views are to die for! Hopefully it won't come to that!

Workers were brought in to work on development programmes like this but were killed off periodically to prevent any build-up of knowledge of what the projects were really about or how they worked. Here, we remember those who died working on such projects. They are often brushed under the carpet as there were so many other atrocities then.

Behind the Scenes.

Should event sequences and connections be obscure between the previous episode and this episode, they are listed here.

Certain moments in each story are numbered below in sequence.

In the previous episode (23) The Master's Apprentice:

23.1) We start with Meran picking up a Tracer box in all innocence.
23.2) Ommera suggests a day out to Alphon Three, but wishes she hadn't.
23.3) Meran becomes enslaved to the Master.
23.4) The Doctor returns to his Tardis with Ommera and is grief-stricken.
23.5) Ommera messages Crystelle to tell her about Meran being taken by the Master.
23.6) (23.5)-triggers Crystelle to go to investigate.

At the end of episode 23 The Master's Apprentice:
23.11) Crystelle returned a moment after Ommera messaged her.
23.12) The Doctor can see that Crystelle has, yet again, stalked the Master.
23.13) He checks and there are things he can see that are incomplete (only partially add up), including the time line changes brought about by Crystelle's interaction.
23.14) Something is still very awry. Although it is doubtless better!
23.15) It is left for Ommera to prevent the automaton from being summoned without repeal, although they have already seen the automaton apparently neutralised, this outage may not last long.

Behind the scenes in episode 24 Dangerous Mission (less here as it requires less unseen):
24.2) The automaton is summoned by V when Ommera dies.
24.3) Susanne buys the railway ticket and returns to base flat.
24.4) Susanne waits in the base flat for the time of the train.
24.5) During that time she receives another message from V to say don't come, triggered by Ommera regenerating and presenting herself for work.
24.6) Susanne then stays in her base flat awaiting further instruction.

But, back in the earlier episode:
23.7) Devyon must use this time to intervene to neutralise the automaton, although she will revive in a few days and may be re-used in a different way. (Crystelle can also check the timelines).
23.8) The Master and Meran go to see what's happened to the automaton and discover her apparently defunct.
23.9) At this point the Master falls into the hands of the local troops and Meran escapes.
23.10) Crystelle actually completes the rescue of Meran -(23.11).

Then transiting to the later episode (this episode):
24.1) (from 23.15)-All Ommera must do in episode 24 Dangerous Mission is take the place of the Automaton and prevent the need for the automaton to become the designer. This is much harder than it seems.

At the end of episode 24:
24.7) The Doctor picks up Susanne, the neutralised automaton, and elects to drop her off on Seffilun Twenty-Seven, a scrap heap planet where she might be used harmlessly to sort out scrap.

Does this help?

But actually, you don't need to know all that to enjoy the story!

ANOTHER END