Tegan reacted automatically. With a grunt, she turned, grabbing the hand of the man as it closed on her shoulder. She shoved backwards hard, pushing the man into the wall of the hut next to her. There was a blur next to her, blue and pale skin, and with a low masculine grunt, the other man was sent into the building next to hers. The Doctor had shoved him hard.

"Run!"

The Doctor gave up all pretense of quiet and reached out to grab her hand. He didn't have to tell her twice. She sprang into motion, feeling all her muscles tighten. Suddenly she was in the jungle again, surrounded by dying trees and gunfire....

...she knew Peri was hiding somewhere in the underbrush, her wound
festering from dirt and grime that would just never go away. Tegan
knew no one, didn't know who she fought with day to day, only that
they were on her side, that it was their planet. Gunfire singeing her
skin, the water making her clothes rot, losing weight, running,
running and more running. Peri crying softly in the night and no
words to comfort her. Being alone with no means of protection, and
the Doctor being...somewhere in the Universe. No guns, no weapons...and
sometimes no hope...

With a gasp, she was grabbed again. This time, she was lifted off the ground by a man bigger than her. She released the Doctor's hand and balled her fists together, using the leverage to swing backwards to knock the man off his balance. It did, but she went down with him. And then the Doctor was there, reaching for her hand, pulling her to her feet. Someone was grabbing her shoulders; someone grabbed the Doctor. He struggled, and she was lifted off the ground again, aloft. Kicking and screaming, she battered at the person that held her.

She continued her furious onslaught. She thumped to the ground and stood there snarling with fists clenched while her captor reeled backwards, clutching at his nose. With a sense of accomplishment as she saw she had broken it. Another came forward to take his place. No one was going to hurt her, or her friends. She wouldn't allow it.

"Tegan!"

The Doctor's voice cut through her fog. She stopped struggling like she had had cold water thrown on her. Looking at him, she saw that he was urging her to stop because of the sheer number of their pursuers.

She was released with little fanfare and set down firmly on the ground. But before she could lean forward or join her friend, they were forcibly pushed away into the night.

**

"Not here...not again," she muttered. She was shoved to the top of the stairs with no care. Her sense of grace abandoned her and she landed, an undignified heap, at the top of the ramp. "Thanks for the lift, gentlemen," she spat as she raised herself on her hands. "Princes, the lot of you."

She hadn't seen the Doctor since they had been forcibly separated in the huts below. She had been pushed, pulled, and prodded up the stairs. It was terrible treatment, but nothing worse than what she had had the last few years by her estimation. She was more used to dirt, grime and the metallic taste of it on her tongue than wearing a dress now and a part of her simply mentally grimaced and urged the rest of her to rise.

"Tegan?"

Breathless and hoarse and containing a great deal of pain, the Doctor's voice sounded to be far away. She stumbled to her feet and twisted to glance to her right. The Doctor shrugged away from his captors. Had his coat been on, she thought as she stumbled toward him, he would have been arrogantly adjusted it.

Her mind was on their predicament so when she drew close to him, she was surprised to feel his arms firmly enfold her. Almost meekly, she turned her cheek against his chest.

"Are you all right?" he asked. She didn't hear his voice, rather the deep rumblings out of his chest.

"I'm fine," she replied. Her own voice sounded harsh and tired to her ears.

She felt his arms tighten and then release her. And his blue eyes stared into hers, his hand cupped her neck and the other hand brushed her unruly hair out of her face. The side of her face was hot to the touch, she could tell.

"Rabbits..."

"Yes, they...ah...did a number on your cheek and temple, Tegan. No pain?"

"Not comparatively, no," she grumbled. "Too much adrenaline, I suppose. We're back at the temple?"

He nodded and glanced over her head. "And apparently awaiting an audience."

"Hopefully not with God or anything," she muttered, touching her face. There was a lump forming on her cheek. "I'm really rather underdressed..." His sigh let her know that he had found some humor in the exchange. "Lord, what are they going to do now?"

The Doctor's eyebrow twitched, arching high over his eye. In Doctor speak, that meant he most certainly knew what was going to happen, but he would rather not tell her. "Just great," she continued, muttering. "Temple rites, is it?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," the Doctor responded. She shivered from the tone; it was dark and deep and spoke of earthen qualities.

The leader was back and dressed in nearly blindingly bright blue loin cloth and draped material about his chest. Red beads hung about his neck. Around his head was a shock of metallic material.

"Cripes...my dress," she sighed.

He ventured forward towards them and into diffused gentleness of the moonlight night. The colors seemed to grow in intensity and the silver about his head twinkled.

"We aren't at that Nanna temple, are we?" she whispered.

"Ah, no, no we aren't. This is the Temple of Ishtar," the Doctor replied. She felt his hand on her shoulder and the pressure he applied to get her to move behind him.

"You aren't a bloody wall, you know. He can still see and touch me, Doc," Tegan protested, but she quickly wondered if she were wrong. The Doctor was tense and his back arrow straight. She suddenly had a thought that he wouldn't allow anyone to touch her.

"Keep quiet; it reinforces what I told them before." At her intake of breath, he continued as he nodded curtly to their approaching captor. "I told them you were mine, Tegan, before you ask. It was enough to keep you under my protection until the rites were initiated. Otherwise, you would have been removed and placed into the temple immediately."

"I don't think that matters to him much," Tegan sighed.

There was little time to discuss anything further. The leader had stopped barely feet from them. Torches were lit one by one behind him, slowly filling the circular area behind him in light. She saw more men appear from the shadows. There were several women as well, dressed as she was. In the red brick room, the stark blue and white material of their dress was startling. If she had been elsewhere, the diffusion of the light and the cool colors would have been dreamlike.

The harsh conversation started again, including much furious gesticulation and hands waved at her."Several minutes of shouting ensued between the Doctor and the leader but then she felt people pulling at her shoulders. She wanted to turn and beat them, rail against them.

But she didn't have to.

The Doctor's hand closed on hers and his muscles tightened. It equated a leash and Tegan found that she was held against his back, out of clear sight of others. He barked something over his shoulder and those around her backed away.

Growling at the situation, she asked: "What did you tell them?"

"That you will not be joining the Temple Rite," he responded clipped.

"Too right, I'm not," she whispered. "Wasn't aware I had a choice."

"You didn't."

His hand loosened on hers as others came forward toward him. The leader shouted an accusing sentence as he pointed at the Doctor. The men in the red cloth reached out to grab his arm, but he shook off the touch, and released her hand. As he turned to her, she felt his hand on her shoulder, cool and reassuring.

Painted in hot hues from the surrounding torch flames and the cool light from above, his blue eyes looked haunted. His lips were a thin line and his hands adjusted for maximum coverage on her shoulders. "Keep your head about you, Tegan," he said. "I know you'll have an idea of what to do. No matter what happens: don't draw attention to yourself."

"I don't like the look on your face," Tegan said quietly. "You're going to do something you know I won't agree with..."

"Yes, well, Tegan, this isn't a time to debate strategy about the situation. Don't draw attention to yourself; stay quiet; stay off to the side." He shrugged off the hands that attempted to grab him again. "You being forced into the cultic arts isn't acceptable to me. I need to stay here. The Gatherer is a device of power that simply doesn't belong here, Tegan. It could destroy what is starting to condense here. I can't allow that. I shall take the consequence of that action."

"Which is?"

Tegan saw a large man walking around the peripheral of the room holding a long hemp and reed bound whip. Her jaw fell open in shock. "Hell's teeth, no." The Doctor sighed and lowered his head. "The hell you're going to allow them to do this to you, Doc. No. I'll go with them. God help the first man that touches me..." she warned.

"No," he responded forcefully.

"Doctor."

His expression barred no arguments. She took a deep breath, but saw, as she had on the ship a few days earlier, his agelessness. Staring at his eyes, she was no longer certain that her young Doctor was still there. Many visions of him vied for dominance; she couldn't concentrate on him. The only thing she knew was that he, the Doctor, was there. Which one, she couldn't say. But she knew what the vision of him meant to her: he wanted her not to argue, to understand.

He was dragged away from her, but kept her gaze locked with his own. She could hear: "Brave heart" in her mind, said quietly and privately and yet his lips didn't move. Hands restrained her shoulders, pulling at her arms. She was pulled back and yet held facing him. "Doctor!"

His face still held its expression. Why was he doing this? Why hadn't they run for the field and cut their losses? She struggled against those holding her, pulling away from them, straining towards the Doctor. He still held her gaze when they stretched his arms to the side.

And she made sure her gaze held his when the whip was picked up and a testing crack sounded behind him. But when the man waved his arm back, preparing the whip for the first crack against him, she began to struggle more. She wiggled, trying to get free.

"No," she whispered. As the whip was brought forward on his skin, she arched and kicked backwards. He didn't want her to draw attention to herself, but she wasn't going to stand by and watch it happen. "No! Let go of me, you bastards! No!"

The Doctor winced more at her voice than at the braid of hemp hitting his back. In fact, as far as she could tell in the haze of her anger, he barely reacted to the whip. There was a little frowning at his brow, a tightening of his lips, but still his eyes bore into hers. He arched as another stroke hit his back.

"Stop it!"

He shook his head as she yelled his name. They lifted her up off the ground and pulled her back, her feet kicking out in protest. Again and again they hit him and again and again she screamed her outrage. They wrenched her arms behind her until, after several strokes of the whip, they released his arms. And, as if in slow motion, he fell forward to his knees. She could see the orange blood from his wounds dripping to join the human blood red of the bricks below him.

They left him alone, backing away. The leader stood over him, talking in low tones, in that strange language. She didn't care if he was talking French. As she slowed in her struggles, they released her.

No one stood in her way as she rushed forward to him.

Her arms were gingerly around him before the leader could finish talking. The Doctor nodded slowly, apparently agreeing to what was being yelled at him. Tegan could tell that the words had changed. They were condescending then and the words used were different...the syllables harsher, the words longer.

The fact touched her mind, but it didn't occupy it.

The Doctor was breathing slowly and deeply, controlled. He climbed to his feet painfully, leaning into her. When he gained his full height, he reached for her hand and turned her towards the open area behind them. The others parted like a sea around a pier as they inched toward the door.

"Why?"

"Well, Tegan, the debt to the temple as been paid. We are free to go so long as we don't..." he cleared his throat, "We don't invite more trouble and trespass," the Doctor responded tightly.

**

"So just like that we're able to go?"

The Doctor walked stiffly by her side. He had unwrapped her arm from about his waist and enfolded her hand in his again. Their pace was clipped, fast and she nearly ran to keep up with his long stride.

"Yes, well, not quite," he muttered. "I haven't a doubt that we'll be followed."

"Then why let us go...just like that?"

"The sin, for lack of a better word, has been atoned for."

She gaped at him in the dark. "What sin? And I want to look at your back."

He pulled her silently down the last bit of the ramp and hissed as his back was jarred. "It'll be rather hard to see in the middle of the night, Tegan, with no light. Trust that it is a collection of open wounds."

Tegan grimaced. "And what sin..."

The Doctor nodded ahead of them, his eyes trained on the field, and she knew, the obelisks beyond it. "We shall have to be quick, Tegan." He turned his head to stare up at the pyramid that loomed behind them. "They were concluding a service if you will. I estimate we'll have less than thirty minutes to transfer the rest of the impressions and find the object." He returned his gaze to hers. "We won't be staying any longer."

"Cripes, you aren't going to answer my questions, are you?"

"It would waste our time," he stated tightly.

Tegan grunted as they crashed through the perimeter of reeds. The Doctor was hell bent to reach his destination. Her feet sunk back into the now night cooled mud and it froze her toes.

"It would make it easier for me," she argued. "Hell's teeth...Doc, you were just whipped."

"Yes, I don't think I need reminding of that fact," the Doctor replied clipped. Tegan tripped over a clump of grass but still the Doctor crashed on ahead of her in the weeds.

"The Gatherer, Tegan, if it is the device that I'm thinking of, is one of infinite power. It works to draw people, sentient beings, together. It helps ease over rough spots like the sprouting of disease due to close quarters, and allows for cities to grow. It's like a nexus creator, it pulls at people and allows for things to spring up in the place. It's a civilization builder."

"It created civilization!?" she gasped. "A machine created civilization?"

"Well, not quite, Tegan. It eased the creation of culture through allowing for close quarters. Civilization means the intermixing of genetic pools that might have been separate through environmental reasons. It helped to lower the barriers and bring separate groups together. It was what it was created to do."

"Who created it?"

The Doctor pushed through the last of the reeds and into the open area. "Hurry now, Tegan. We need to have the impressions."

She frowned at the tone he used. Combined with his stoic facial expression, she knew that he was brooking no argument from her and that he didn't want to answer her questions. He was right about the short time they had to get the impressions, but damn it she hated him using that excuse to not tell her something. He was ignoring his wounds which bled profusely; she could see the blood glistening on his skin as she stepped completely from the reeds.

"Doctor..." she gasped and came forward to touch at his back. His blood was cool on her skin. He shivered at her touch.

"Yes, well, Tegan..." he said quietly. She felt him move forward a little. "Watch our backs. I shall interpret the rest. Shan't be long..."

He lurched away from her and towards the last obelisk. Her hand fell soundlessly as his solidity under it left. "Rabbits," she growled. He's avoiding things, she thought viciously. **

"Hurry, Doc!" She called. She could hear crashing through the underbrush, like a maddened elephant. Tegan shouldn't have worried. With a light groan, he ran over to her. She didn't need to be called to; she was on her feet and running before he reached her.

She had only been watching the reeds and the buildings for ten minutes.

"It surprises me it took them this long," she breathlessly said as she fell into step with him. "Now, what?"

"No time to talk, Tegan," he bit out. The tone of his voice contradicted the gentle way his hand grabbed at hers, however. It was all she could think about before they changed direction and plowed back into the reeds. This time, he was leading her back towards the far side of the pyramid. Behind them, she could hear the angry voices of men.

"Where are we going?"

"To get our wayward object of creation."

He turned a hard right as soon as they exited the field. Tegan stumbled, but remained upright. Together, they ran towards the ziggurat. She could tell they were coming the opposite way towards the massive structure. The Doctor pulled her towards a standing obelisk, this one cruder than the others. At the top of it was a symbol that made her breath catch in her throat. "It's..."

The Doctor looked up as she slowed and almost stopped. "Not quite, Tegan. It's not Gallifreyan, but I do understand your confusion. No time; come on..."

She gaped for a few more seconds at the symbol perched almost haphazardly on the apex. It looked like the clasp that had sealed her Gallifreyan dress closed. The shouts and crashing of the reed nearby made her turn and run. The Doctor released her hand and then waved to her to stand back. "Twenty three paces, Tegan," he yelled. Quickly, he began to measure off the distance.

"And then..."

The Doctor counted under his breath. Near them, she heard the reed rustling. The shouts sounded further off and she relaxed a little. He stopped and stamped his heel down hard on the ground. "Here," he muttered. As he crouched, she joined him.

"You don't have a shovel hidden on you, do you?" she griped. "How far down do we have to dig?"

He shook his head and cleared off a spot on the ground. Feeling about under the surface of the mud, he found and then outlined the object. It was oval in shape and about two feet in diameter.

"I hope it isn't as heavy as it looks..."

"It isn't even this object, Tegan," he responded tiredly. He found something she supposed was a touch sensitive pad. Leaning closer, he examined it and then grunted. His fingers danced out a code and drew several basic shapes on the top. Nothing happened.

"That's unexpected."

"Don't you know how to work it?" she asked harshly.

"Well of course I do," he muttered. At her sigh, he continued. "Well, no, not entirely, Tegan. It is alien, even to me. But logic is the same everywhere."

She rolled her eyes. "Should we just dig it up and take it with us..."

"This is a generator port, Tegan. It'll be as large as a car..."

"Rabbits," she spat.

"Yes, well...give me a moment."

"We might not have a moment," she sighed. Her eyes drifted to the far side of the cleared area and towards the field. Several reeds rustled there, moving more violently than what the wind would have done. The Doctor tapped out another sequence and drew another couple of shapes on the touch pad. This time the instrument began to hum.

She pulled her gaze back from the reeds to look in surprise down at the oval. It seemed to be changing before her eyes. Within moments, a small long cylindrical object appeared. In the moonlight, its silver surface glittered, reflecting the light at weird angles. At first quick glance, the cylinder looked like hammered metal. The surface below the object glowed red then blinked, and then turned black. The generator slipped under the surface of the mud, disappearing from sight, leaving the cylinder visible, partially buried in the mud.

"Ah, the compact version," the Doctor said happily, reaching out to pick it up. He balanced it in his hand. "The perfect travel size civilization builder." Turning it over in his palm, she supposed he found a switch of some sort and he nodded in satisfaction.

"That's the civilization tool?" Tegan barked. "It looks like a rolled document handler. And it's so small."

The Doctor frowned haughtily, raising an eyebrow. "Really, what is it with all humans that they think that in order to be powerful, something has to be large?"

"And look at Time Lords, they have these incredibly large traveling time capsules..."

He sighed in reply.

The reeds about fifty yards from them crashed to the Earth. They didn't say anything else. In tandem, she supposed from their years together, they rose and sprinted for the reeds. This time, she didn't take his hand. There was no need. They breached the edge of the reeds with about twenty yards separation between them and their pursuers. Tegan immediately began evasive tactics. She dodged and ran, separated from the Doctor, weaving through the reeds. They whipped at her body, waving over her heads.

Suddenly the Doctor appeared at her side, his hand reaching through the reeds to grab her arm. He ducked and turned, pulling her away from the path she had made. Behind them, the crashing sounds of men coming through the reeds and the shouts grew in intensity.

"Were they watching it?" she asked, breathless. "Were they keepers of it?"

"It's holy ground to them," he puffed next to her. She knew it was the adrenaline and not the physical exertion that was making him breathless. "It's a place where gifts of the Ancient Gods were bestowed."

Tegan shook her head, tripping over a clump of reeds. The Doctor plowed on ahead, twisting and turning through the upright jungle. She could tell that the hard surface was hurting his back by the way he stiffly ran. Time seemed to drag on forever as they kept barely ahead of their pursuers. Until...

They stopped dead. He shoved the cylinder into her hands and turned, slipping his arms firmly around her waist and shoulders. "Hold onto me, Tegan," he urged in a shout. "I'm not quite sure this will work..."

"Oh great..." She slid her arms around his back and winced as he hissed in pain. "Now you tell me the plan is dodgy."

He grunted as he stretched his arms. Behind him, she saw the men coming through the jungle, their faces masks of hatred. Against the black-green of the reeds, their blue and red loincloths were vibrant. "Here they come."

The Doctor nodded. "Hold on. There's only one chance at this then..."

She felt him move his hands against her back and felt the cool bracelet against her skin. As he pressed the buttons, she felt a tingling go through her body. Her toes curled and she felt like her hair stood on end; her scalp was sensitive. The men neared, shouting and then...

Nothing.