Chapter 4

Inside a cave on Beta Agni Two, the walls shimmered slightly from reflective mineral deposits. There were golf-ball-sized purple crystals scattered around the cave. A stream of water ran through. The TARDIS materialized, and Nita and Ace stepped out. They took out their scanners and scanned the water.

"The contamination has been neutralized," said Ace. "Water's clean."

"Most curious. The process of neutralization should have taken several hours. Naturally occurring tricynate doesn't respond this quickly."

"Are you saying this was not naturally occurring?"

Nita adjusted her scanner. "There are no natural trace elements present in these tricyanate crystals."

"If it's artificial, then we're talking about sabotage."

"With tricyanite? That's hard to believe. It's slow to assimilate, difficult to replicate, and hard to transport. There are a lot easier ways to poison a water supply. A lot more effective ways too. Toxins that can't be neutralized. Bacteriologic agents with no cures at all."

"Can you think of any reason why a saboteur might choose tricyanate?"

"Not really. It might pass for a natural disaster. And since there's only on way to treat it… with hytritium, maybe someone figured we wouldn't locate any… it's hard to come by."

"You know it really was lucky, wasn't it… That we were able to find hytritium when we did. Just enough hytritium for this crisis."

Nita and Ace were back on the TARDIS.

"Fajo showed up in the right place at the right time…" said Nita. "Just when we needed him the most…"

"You're suggesting he created the problem just to solve it?"

"Possibly."

"To make a profit from his sale of hytritium…? That doesn't add up. The cost of producing tricyanate is too expensive. He wouldn't make a profit… quite the contrary."

"Then, why would he do it? What could he want?"

Ace was the first to suspect… she looked at Nita… the silent communication passed between them.

"TARDIS, biographical file on trader Kivas Fajo," Nita requested.

The answer flashed on the screen: "Kivas Fajo: A Wallarian trader of the Stacius trade guild … a noted collector of rare and valuable objects including the Rejac Crystal, The Starry Night by Van Gogh and the Lawmim Galactopedia… educated on Iraatan Five…"

Nita was calmly furious… "A rare and valuable object…"

"If the Doctor wasn't on the shuttle…"

"Set co-ordinates for the site of the shuttlepod explosion."

The Doctor sat on the framework chair in the centre of the collection. Varria entered alone. She paused at the door, looking at the Doctor. "He would have killed me."

"It seemed a distinct possibility."

"I'm sorry I did this to you." It was awkward for her, because she was here on an assignment. She crossed to him. "You can stand up if you want to."

He didn't.

"You're… you're not what I thought you'd be…"

"What did you expect?"

"Pompous. Self-important, I guess. Not anything so… well almost human."

"Thank you."

She moved closer to him, attempted to smile… she was quite attracted to him… She looked down at the floor… looked back up like she was having a hard time with this.

"Is something troubling you, Varria?"

She switched off the belt protector, leaned over and kissed the Doctor on the lips. The Doctor never closed his eyes of course. Her lip trembled. "Your lips. They're cold."

"Seventeen degrees Celsius. Time-lords have a much lower body temperature than humans."

"How similar to humans are you?"

"Physically, you look Time Lord. My body functions are somewhat similar to humans, except that I have a binary vascular system. I have greater emotional control than the average human."

"You're not the first man I've known like that. Have you ever been in love, Doctor?"

"I am in love now. I am engaged to be married."

She looked hard at him… with a dramatic motion, she removed her safety belt. It dropped to the floor. "Do you think you could love me?"

"Why?"

Varria was embarrassed. "Why not?"

"Love is not something you can just switch on. It is something that grows over time. Even moreso for me, because Time Lords rarely ever fall in love. I find it difficult to accept that you could have intimate feelings toward me after knowing me for such a short time. Therefore you are either simply curious, or you have been sent by Kivas Fajo to test my emotional abilities."

Fajo's voice came over the com: "You are just too smart for your own good, time lord. I was hoping to see a little spontaneity but obviously neither one of you is capable of it. This mating dance is really quite dull. We'll try it again tomorrow. You may leave, Varria."

Varria was completely humiliated. She exchanged a look with the Doctor. A tear rolled down her cheek. She left.

The TARDIS was travelling through the vortex. Nita and Ace were at a monitor with an Okudagram graphic of the sector…

"The Jovis has a maximum speed of warp three," said Ace. "So we can define a perimeter of point-one-oh-two light years as his possible range…"

"And Fajo doesn't know we're onto him, so he probably isn't taxing his engines by going at top speed."

"He could have made it to the Nel Bato system… maybe even the Giles Belt…"

"He's a trader… he doesn't attract customers by being hard to find… We could put out a coded level two query to all Human outposts within the perimeter…"

"Let's do it."

The Jovis was moving through space at impulse.

In Fajo's den, the Doctor was at the safe… his fingers were moving quickly through varied combination attempts… he reacted as the door slid open… Varria entered… not wearing the belt… she checked behind her, making sure she hadn't been seen. She moved to the Doctor.

"If I help you escape… will you take me with you?"

The Doctor hesitated, studied her…

"This is not another test. He's asleep. And there isn't much time…"

The Doctor stood. "The consequences to you if we're caught…"

"I know the consequences." She moved purposefully to the safe… opening the combination. "Fourteen years… you learn a few things…" She took out the disruptor. "There's an escape pod in the aft cargo bay…" And she led him out.