The small lantern illuminated the dark dwelling at the top of the mesa. The Doctor paced about the room while Nyssa sat on the floor, her chin resting upon her drawn-up knees. Both were deep in thought.
The Doctor paused before the counter and sink; he ran his fingers over the smooth stone. "Nyssa," he said suddenly, "when you told me about the results of the rock analysis, you said that you found one anomaly."
She looked up at him. He stood outside the pool of light; his face was in shadow.
"Yes," she responded. "The rock is primarily terrigenous sedimentary. I found feldspar, quartz, muscovite, mica, and hematite in it. But there was one component I couldn't identify. It seemed to be organic."
The Doctor stepped back into the light. "Which is completely illogical. Rock is inorganic."
"I checked the tests twice; I'm sure I wasn't mistaken."
"No, I'm sure you weren't, either. So that is our first diversion from strictly logical explanations. The composition of this mesa is odd, to say the least. How could that help to explain Tegan's and Adric's disappearances?"
Nyssa shook her head. "I don't know. It doesn't seem that it could."
"Then what else do we have here, hmm?" He lifted his hands to sweep them across the shadowed walls.
Nyssa followed his movement. Her gaze fell upon the carvings that Tegan had copied. She squinted in the dimness. "Doctor," she said, standing, "there's something about the characters..."
She walked toward them. The Doctor lifted the lantern, but she said, "No, leave it for a minute. They look different in this light."
The Time Lord moved to Nyssa's side. She had tilted her head one way and then the other. Now she traced over one of the carvings with her fingertips.
"These remind me of something." She circled the carving again, then touched the center of it. It was slightly concave, as were many of the other engravings.
"It doesn't resemble any written language I've ever encountered," the Doctor said.
"No. Maybe it's not meant to be a language."
The Doctor gave Nyssa a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"
"Perhaps assuming that it represents a language is also too logical. What if it's meant to represent a process? There's some repetition. Here," she ran her hand down the wall, "you can see that this disc has been copied." She touched a carving near her head then another close to her waist.
"Many processes rely on repetition and replication."
"Such as cell division and regeneration," Nyssa finished. "These carvings—I know what they remind me of. I've seen something very like this under an electron microscope. In the daylight the resemblance isn't as clear. Many of the figures are round and flat, with a biconcave disc in the center."
"Of course! Erythrocytes! And these," he touched one of the open figures, "could be the compressed cells as they move through the blood vessels." The Doctor clapped a hand onto her shoulder. "Excellent, Nyssa!"
With some disappointment, she said, "I don't know how seeing their resemblance to red blood cells can help us, really. It's probably just a coincidence anyway, and the other lines certainly aren't part of the cells."
"I'm not entirely certain that's true. Look at the line-like characters carefully. What do they remind you of?"
Nyssa studied several carvings. "The thin lines," she placed her finger on a narrow carving, "they're like tendrils."
"And what might be found within the plasma that resembles thin threads?"
Nyssa considered this question for a moment. "Plasma contains protein that can form fibrous threads to aid in blood clotting—those are called fibrin, aren't they? These tendrils could almost represent the fibrin."
"Almost—very likely, I'd say."
"But how could these people have known what an erythrocyte looked like, much less fibrin? They didn't have the technology for that sort of study."
"They may have copied the designs from other sources, or perhaps been shown what to create by visitors from another place or time."
"But why would they decorate their walls with them?"
"That seems to be the question of the moment, doesn't it? I have a feeling that the answer will reveal a great deal about this place."
"But will it tell us where Tegan and Adric have gone?"
The Doctor gazed at the carvings for a moment before answering. "I hope so. We don't seem to have any other clues to follow."
----------
The glow from two gibbous moons provided sufficient light for Tegan to walk without stumbling over the coarse sand and small plants that covered the ground between the great mesas. Adric hobbled gingerly beside her, his arm remaining over her shoulders. She tried to step in rhythm with him, but still their progress was slow.
She felt Adric wince in pain and heard his breath catch often; she knew that the journey was arduous for him. At first she had spoken to him frequently, trying to provide verbal encouragement. However, his responses were scarce, so Tegan's words had diminished. She focused her energy on helping him along.
After twenty minutes of walking, she felt his arm slip. She turned her head toward him and tightened her hand around his waist.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
Adric's face was pale and damp in the moonlight. He took a breath, then said, "Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"
"Yes, I think so. The mesa where I woke up is almost directly across from the village. We just have to go in a straight line."
"And how can you be certain we're doing that?"
"I'm following the moon—that one." She pointed up at the sky.
Adric closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. "You can't rely on that," he said wearily. "The moon may have an elliptical orbit, and that doesn't even factor in the rotation speed of this planet. Don't you know anything about astronomy?"
"No, I don't know much about it," Tegan replied somewhat tersely. "But I do know that we have to keep going. As long as we head away from the village we'll end up where we need to be. Come on."
"I don't think I can."
Tegan felt Adric balk. She assured him, "Of course you can. You're doing fine."
"I'm slowing you down."
"We're still moving forward; that's what's important. We have to keep going. Slow and steady wins the race, you know."
"What?"
"You don't know the story of the tortoise and the hare?"
Adric shook his head. Tegan started walking again, gently urging Adric along as she began to tell the tale: "Well, there was once this hare who often bragged that he was the fastest animal in the land..."
----------
The Doctor and Nyssa had continued to study the carvings for several hours. However, they had formed no new conclusions. When the Time Lord noticed the young woman's eyelids drooping, he encouraged her to sleep. Nyssa settled down on the bedroll, still staring at the carved wall, until she fell asleep.
The Doctor sat on the bedroll that Tegan had used. Her sketchbook and pencils lay beside the blanket. He flipped the pages back idly, admiring the detail and accuracy of her work. He felt a momentary regret when he realized that he had never acknowledged her skill in drawing. When his hand flattened the first page of the tablet, however, he frowned. Glancing between the sketch and the top row of figures on the wall, he saw that she had made an error. The orientation of the discs was incorrect, and she had failed to include several of the tendrils in another. He checked the other drawings to find that they were perfectly accurate.
"Oh Tegan, what were you thinking?" he muttered, dropping the pad to the floor.
Nyssa stirred and opened her eyes. "Doctor?" she asked sleepily. "Is something wrong?" She sat up suddenly. "Is Tegan here?"
"No, Nyssa."
"I thought I heard you say her name."
"I'm sorry—I did, but I was just noticing that some of her sketches were inaccurate."
"Really? She worked hard on those. I know that she tried to copy them exactly as they were—she even commented on getting the shading right."
Nyssa looked over the Doctor's shoulder at the first page of the sketchpad.
"The other drawings appear quite precise," he said, quickly rifling through the pad.
Nyssa's eyes moved between the paper and the wall. "What if Tegan's drawings were accurate when she made them?"
"What?" The Doctor considered this for a moment. "You mean that the figures have changed?"
Nyssa shook her head. "I don't know. This is all so confusing. I don't see how the figures really could be altered unless someone came in here and carved over them. But I also don't believe that Tegan's efforts could be this wrong. She really takes great pride in her drawing skills. I think it's the one talent that she feels she can admit to having."
The Doctor rested a finger against his chin, tapping idly for a few seconds. He stood abruptly, reaching for Nyssa's hand. "Come along," he said brightly.
Nyssa rose. "Where are we going?"
"To see if the figures in the dwelling where I worked appear to have changed."
As they left the house, Nyssa asked, "Did you or Adric make a sketch of them?"
"Adric sketched some, but he took them with him when he left. I spent quite a bit of time studying them, however. I believe that I can recall what they looked like the last time I saw them."
They hurried down the path. The Doctor held the lantern to light their way. When they reached the large dwelling, he lifted the lamp toward the wall. Nyssa waited quietly while he studied the figures.
"These have changed, too," he said finally.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. The concentration of fibrin—if we can presume that is what these lines represent—is much greater in the top row of erythrocytes."
"I don't know, Doctor. Assuming that these are blood cells seems to be a huge leap in logic."
"Perhaps, but as you pointed out, considering the illogical may be our best option. So," he rubbed his hands together, his energy heightened, "why would these figures have changed in the last two days?"
Nyssa was tired, and her concern for Adric and Tegan had grown steadily during the night. She sighed and leaned against the cool, stone wall. "I really can't even imagine."
----------
The progress that Tegan and Adric made across the desert was slow. Tegan found that Adric required rest frequently. His level of pain increased steadily as they walked, too. She gave him small sips of the medicated juice every half hour, but the effects seemed quite fleeting.
Several times they heard a distant howling. The sound reminded Tegan of a dingo's cry. She felt Adric jerk slightly with each wail. When the night's darkness began to fade into the pre-dawn gray, she was relieved to find that they were near their destination. In the pale light she saw the mesas directly ahead.
Tegan looked behind her. The mesa from which they had come was some distance away; she estimated that they had walked several kilometers. However, she could see a faint glimmer of lights twinkling through the dusk. The inhabitants of Tlan-Arana were waking. Tegan drew a breath as she realized that Hahmala and the guard would undoubtedly wake or be discovered soon.
"Come on," she said, trying to move a bit faster.
Adric did not respond to her motion.
"Adric!" she cried. "We have to hurry. They're going to find out that we've gone—they may already know. It won't take them very long to get out here."
Adric was breathing hard, and his skin was damp. "I can't go any faster," he moaned.
"It's not much farther. We just need to get to the mesa up ahead."
"It's too far."
Tegan paused, turning to face the boy. She placed her hand on his cheek. "Listen to me, Adric. You can do this. You've come this far. I know you can make it a bit further."
He hung his head without responding. Tegan knew that he was exhausted and in pain, but her primary thoughts were of returning to Anahsti and her companions there.
"Please, Adric," she entreated, "just keep going. I promise you that we'll be back on Anahsti soon. The Doctor will know just what to do for you—you'll feel better before you know it. It's just a little way to go."
She took a step forward. Adric moved with her.
"That's it," she cajoled, "just one step at a time."
Together they walked haltingly toward the mesa.
----------
When dawn broke, the Doctor and Nyssa were still studying the carvings in the large dwelling. They had drawn no further conclusions about the figures' significance or reasons for apparently changing over time.
"Perhaps," the Doctor commented, "the organic compounds in the rock—if we can call it rock—are responsible for the alteration of the figures."
Nyssa nodded. "You may be right. Should we try to determine exactly what the organic matter is?"
"We don't have the necessary equipment here to do that," the Doctor said. "But by all means we must take a sample back to the TARDIS to analyze when we return."
The large room in which they sat had grown light. Nyssa looked at the figures once again. They revealed no more information to her. "We have to find them today," she said softly.
"Hmm?" The Doctor had been immersed in his own thoughts.
"I think, Doctor, that we really have to find Tegan and Adric today. They can't possibly wait much longer."
The Doctor nodded. "I agree. And I'm afraid that Sergeant Modory's colleagues will arrive today as well, which means that they will come after us before the end of the day. So time is of the essence." He stood abruptly. "A comparison of these figures and the ones in the hollow may reveal some additional information."
Nyssa rose too. "How so?"
"I'm not entirely sure," he admitted, "but we certainly won't find out anything about them by standing here. Come along."
Nyssa followed the Time Lord out of the dwelling and down the long, narrow path to the ladder.
----------
Tegan exhaled deeply, wiping a hand across her saturated forehead. She was exhausted, but she also felt hopeful. Their destination, the huge mesa, towered above her and Adric. They were only a few feet away from the massive rock face.
"We made it," she breathed. "Come on Adric, it's just a couple of steps now."
She dragged him forward. She permitted herself to lean against the rock for a moment to regain a bit of strength after carefully settling Adric on the ground.
"What now?" he asked, looking about.
"I have to find the place where I woke up. It's around here somewhere."
Adric's eyes roamed up and to the sides. "Are you sure it was this mesa? The ones on either side look almost identical."
Tegan shook her head. "I'm pretty sure it's this one. Wait here while I check around."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Tegan searched around the base of the mesa for some time. Adric had been correct; the three mesas on this side of the region were extremely similar. She tried to recall precisely where she had awakened. Had there been a mesa on either side? She had been so tired and still ill from the heat then; it was difficult to remember clearly.
After twenty minutes, she returned to Adric.
"Well?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. I didn't see the hollow over there. I'll check this side."
"Tegan—" Adric began as she started to walk away.
"Look, Adric, I will find it," she said firmly. "I'll get you back to Anahsti today. I promise."
A small surge of energy, fueled by determination, drove her forward. The sun glowed over her shoulder; it was morning, and she was certain that Adric's and her absence had been discovered. She knew that she had little time to spare. A strong walker could cover the distance between the village and this mesa in less than an hour.
Tegan's eyes moved over the rock. There were deep shadows that she mistook several times for the hollow. In growing frustration, she knelt before yet one more concavity only to discover that it, too, was merely a trick of the light. When she reached the far edge of the mesa, she knew that she had been mistaken. This was not where she had awakened. She trudged back to Adric.
"Did you find it?" he asked. She wondered briefly at the lugubrious tone of his voice.
"No. It must be over there." She pointed to the mesa on her right.
"Maybe it's not here at all."
"Don't say that, Adric! Of course it is. I've just made a little mistake. I'm sure it's over there. It's got to be. I'll be back as soon as I can." She turned toward the adjacent mesa, gazing out over the plain for a moment. She held a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun's glare. "Cripes," she muttered.
She saw several figures moving over the flat stretch of land. They were nearly halfway across the expanse of desert. Tegan turned back to Adric, quickly lifting his arm over her shoulders.
"Come on," she said. "We have to go."
"What? Why?"
She tilted her head toward the desert. "They're coming. We don't have much time."
"No, Tegan, I can't. I'm too tired."
"You have to. Come on, Adric. You can do this. Soon you'll be back with the Doctor and Nyssa—"
Adric stood very still. "Nyssa?" he whispered.
"Yes, and she'll be so glad to see you. I'm sure she's been worried sick—"
"No," he said slowly. "Leave me here."
"What? Don't be ridiculous! I already told you that I'm not leaving you."
"I'll be fine. They'll find me and take me back to the village. Hahmala took good care of me—"
"Look, Adric, when we do get out of here, I don't know if we can come back. That means if I left you, you could be stuck here indefinitely, just like Adam. You'd never see the Doctor or Nyssa again. That's not what you want, is it?"
Adric looked away from Tegan and dropped his arm from her shoulders. "Maybe it would be for the best."
"What? Why on earth would you think that? You wouldn't enjoy living here, not for the long run. Trust me, Adric. You'd be bored silly, with no math or science—"
"At least I wouldn't bother anyone here."
Tegan glanced over her shoulder at the distant figures then returned her gaze steadily to Adric's face. "What are you talking about?"
"I—" he paused and swallowed. He simply did not have the energy to hide his feelings from her. "Nyssa must hate me. I'm sure she never wants to see me again."
Tegan frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Adric lowered his eyes to the ground. "The way I treated her—the stares... she must think me a fool. I know that you do."
"Why would you think that?"
"The Doctor told me—"
Tegan sighed. "Back on Anahsti? When he spoke to you alone? Is that what you're talking about?"
Adric nodded; he still kept his eyes down.
Tegan placed her hands on Adric's shoulders. "Adric, I want you to listen to me. The Doctor's a brilliant man—he knows everything about science, mechanics, anything technical, and a lot of things that aren't. But his understanding of emotions is lacking, to say the least. I don't know exactly what he said to you, but I think there was a misunderstanding of some sort. He was just supposed to talk to you about your feelings, and explain a little about how to deal with them. Wait a minute—does this have anything to do with your fall back at the ruins?"
Adric did not look up. "I was trying to go back to the TARDIS, but I heard your voices, and I stumbled."
"Oh Adric," said Tegan. "You weren't supposed to feel bad. That wasn't the point of the Doctor's conversation with you."
"But he said that you'd noticed how awful I'd been around Nyssa—"
Tegan shook her head. "I never used the word 'awful' or anything like it. And Nyssa wasn't even aware that you'd been staring at her. She's not upset with you, and neither am I."
Adric looked up at Tegan. "You're not?"
"No." She lightened her tone before adding, "But I will be if you don't come with me now. We really don't have much time."
Without waiting for his reply, she secured his arm over her shoulders and began to walk. He did not resist. However, his fatigue was evident. Tegan had to provide him with considerable support. Her own level of energy, briefly sparked earlier, was waning rapidly.
She looked back out toward the desert. The party had gotten closer as she and Adric spoke. Her eyes darted back to the mesa that lay ahead. A blur of yellow caught her attention. She remembered, then, that bright flowers grew near where she had awakened. Scanning the ground nearby, she noticed a few of the blossoms, but not the great quantities she had seen near the hollow.
"Hang on a second," she told Adric, turning to look at the mesa behind them. Very little yellow met her eyes. "We're going the right way now. Come on."
With a small smile of relief she pressed Adric forward.
----------
Nyssa and the Doctor crouched before the hollow, sun beating against their backs.
"These haven't changed since last evening," the Doctor said, touching several of the figures with his fingertip.
"What does that tell us?" asked Nyssa despondently. "It doesn't bring us any closer to finding Tegan and Adric."
The Doctor sat back on his heels, tapping absently at the stone. "No, I don't suppose it does."
"What are we going to do? We can't just leave them here!" Nyssa leaned forward, pressing her hands against the smooth rock.
"Of course not," said the Doctor.
His gaze rested on Nyssa's hand; her fingers lay just below the figures. He reached out to touch the handkerchief; the makeshift splint was still in place. "How is your hand feeling?" he asked.
Nyssa lifted the appendage. "It's much better. I think I can remove this now." She fumbled with the handkerchief; the Doctor nimbly untied it then pulled it from her hand.
As Nyssa flexed her fingers, the Doctor considered the small cloth.
"Nyssa," he said slowly, "what is the one thing we know that Tegan, Adric, and the missing man—Adam Martin—had in common?"
She looked up at him. "Aside from the fact that they are all missing?"
"Yes."
She thought for a moment. "I don't know. It's not their ages or genders..."
"No."
"Adric was hurt, and the report indicated that Adam Martin had cut his leg, and Tegan was ill."
"Yes. But recall that she scraped her hand on the rock when we first arrived here."
Nyssa nodded. "Yes, she did. Doctor, are you suggesting that their disappearances have something to do with all of them being injured in some way?"
"Perhaps. It is the one common thread I can find among them."
Nyssa lifted her hand. "But I was injured, and I'm still here."
"And I'm very glad that you are," the Doctor smiled briefly at her. "However, your injury did not involve any loss of blood. Tegan's, Adric's, and presumably Martin's, did."
"Of course! The erythrocytes must have some connection to that."
"I believe so. Remember that the top row in the large dwelling seemed to have a higher concentration of fibrin than the other rows?"
"Yes."
"What do you know about Alzarian physiology?" he asked.
"It's similar to that of a human, but the healing process is faster."
"And what might contribute to that?"
Nyssa blinked in sudden comprehension. "An enhanced clotting ability—which would come from a greater concentration of fibrin in the blood!"
"Precisely."
"So you think that the top row of figures somehow represents Adric's blood?"
"I do."
"It's all quite fascinating," Nyssa said, "but I still don't see how this will help us to find them."
The Doctor leaned back against the rock. "It cannot be mere coincidence. There must be some connection. We simply have to find it."
They sat, each deeply in thought, as the sun rose higher in the clear, blue sky.
----------
The sight of scraggly desert flowers was more welcome to Tegan than that of infinite bouquets of roses. As she hauled Adric toward the bright blooms, she announced, "We're here!"
Immediately she saw the indentation in the rock.; Nyssa's shirt lay just inside it. She eased Adric down next to it then bent to inspect the area. The hollow was smooth and deep, much like the one in which she'd rested on Anahsti. She tried to recall the details of the Anahsti indentation, but her memories were a blur.
"Tegan," Adric said, "you'd better hurry."
She looked back toward the desert. She could clearly see five sturdy men approaching; they were less than half a kilometer away. Desperately she felt about the hollow; a shred of memory made her run her hands over the base, although she could not recall why she should do this.
"How do we get back?" Adric asked. "Is there some sort of mechanism in the rock?"
"I don't know. I'm trying to remember what happened when I was on Anahsti. I was in the hollow, and Nyssa was there giving me water... then she left, and I felt really weak. I was hot, and I could barely move, but my hands... I think there was something I touched."
Adric leaned forward with a groan. "I remember that too! I was in the hollow, trying to hide from the wild dogs, and I felt some bumps under my fingers."
"Yes, that's what I felt, too!" Tegan searched frantically in the hollow for any changes in the smooth rock texture, but she could find none.
"Tegan! They're almost here!" Adric cried.
"Come on," she said, grasping his arm. She backed into the hollow, sliding down against it to sit with her legs outstretched. She swung Adric around and pulled him down next her so that he sat against her hip.
"What are you doing?" he asked, panting in pain.
"I don't know. But we were both sitting in the hollow on Anahsti just before we came here. Maybe this will take us back."
Breathlessly they waited as they watched the guards draw ever nearer.
---------
The Doctor stood with his hands resting against the top of the hollow, staring at the figures below. Nyssa sat beside him, feeling somewhat useless. She tried to think about the new information they had gathered, but she could make no sense of it. Her gaze dropped to the sandy ground. A few dark spots remained, evidence of Adric's fall.
Suddenly Nyssa stood. "The blood!" she cried.
The Doctor looked at her. Before he could speak, she continued quickly, "Why isn't any of Adric's blood here in the hollow? There was a great deal of it on the ground, but there's none here."
"You're right," responded the Doctor.
"This stone is porous," Nyssa continued, "as is that in the dwellings. Remember that Tegan rinsed her hand in the sink? Her blood would have fallen onto the stone, as would Adric's while he sat here."
The Doctor nodded in understanding. "And their blood was absorbed into the stone—or whatever this material is. That is why the top row of figures in the large dwelling has additional fibrin; the figures represent an image of Adric's red blood cells."
"And the top line in the smaller dwelling is probably Tegan's."
"Yes. This stone is somehow able to encode the blood of each person who's bled onto it. Tegan's blood was recorded in the dwelling where it was absorbed. I imagine that if we could examine this portion of the rock carefully we would find a direct vein to the large chamber where we saw Adric's cells.
"Nyssa, these figures," he pointed at the base of the hollow, "may not have opened a passage for us because our blood was not encoded into the stone. Just as some security systems permit access by recognition of retinal patterns or fingerprints, this may allow access by recognition of blood cells."
"Then we have to allow it to recognize ours." Nyssa placed her hand upon a rough section of the rocky wall and pressed down deeply then forced her hand upward. With a wince she lifted her hand; an inch long cut split her palm. She lowered her hand and held it over the hollow.
The Doctor lifted his hand to perform a similar operation, but Nyssa said, "No, let's try my blood first. Yours may be too dissimilar to a human's and therefore unrecognizable."
A drop of blood fell from Nyssa's hand onto the stone. She and the Doctor watched in fascination as it disappeared immediately.
"It's as though it's been absorbed completely," said the Doctor.
Several more red drops landed upon the stone for instant absorption. Nyssa knelt and placed her fingers on the raised figures.
"Now what?" she asked.
"I'm really not sure," replied the Doctor. "But I imagine that the figures in the top row of the large chamber up there will have changed the next time we see them."
Nyssa ran her fingers over the figures; her hand was trembling slightly. She and the Time Lord waited anxiously for any change in the hollow, but the stone before them remained unaltered. In frustration, Nyssa sat back down on the ground.
"I don't think it's going to work," she said defeatedly. "There doesn't seem to be any way to get them back."
----------
Tegan had wrapped her arms around Adric's waist as the guards neared. Adric's hands moved over the stone, frantically feeling about for any ridges or changes in texture. He found nothing but smooth surface.
The guards were less than ten yards away from them. They had raised their spears, and each wore a threatening expression on his face.
"Tegan," said Adric, "do you think they'll hurt us? They look angry."
"I don't know. I'm sorry, Adric. I thought I could get us back the Anahsti, but I was wrong."
"At least you tried," he replied.
"Whatever happens," she said, "I want you to know that Nyssa and I care about you very much. We think you're becoming terrific young man—smart and courageous. Don't ever forget that."
Adric found Tegan's hand and squeezed it. "Thank you."
They braced themselves as the guards came toward them.
----------
Nyssa and the Doctor sat silently, both deeply disappointed in the failure of their theory to yield the desired results. Nyssa rested her elbow inside the hollow; her hand lay limply over the figures.
She felt so tired. The last several days had been taxing, both physically and mentally. Now her despondency, combined with the heat of the day, led to a heavy fatigue. Her eyelids drooped and her shoulders slumped.
Suddenly her fingers twitched inside the hollow. She touched a figure in the top row with her index finger; her hand seemed drawn to it of its own accord. Her finger pressed a second figure, then two more in the next row. Nyssa's eyes flew open. She stared at her hand, and it ceased moving.
"Nyssa," the Doctor said softly and slowly near her ear, "just relax again. Let your hand do as it wishes."
"But Doctor—" she began.
"Sshh," he soothed. "Relax and don't fight your instincts. Just close your eyes again." The tone of his voice made her feel sleepy; she allowed her eyelids to lower. As she did, she felt her fingers move to the third row and touch three more figures.
"That's it, Nyssa," the Doctor whispered, "you're doing fine."
Nyssa sighed deeply as her fingers continued to move over the characters in the stone.
----------
Four guards stood directly in front of Tegan and Adric. Two pointed their spears at the young man and woman; the other two reached forward to drag them out of the hollow.
Tegan tried to push her body back further as the guard's fingers brushed against her arm. She knew that the hollow only extended a few feet into the rock; her efforts were ineffectual. Yet she felt her body move with a slight tug. It seemed as though a strong wind swept across her back; then, abruptly, her shoulders were jerked backward.
She locked her hand over her wrist to hold Adric to her as shadows surrounded them. Then she knew nothing; inexorable darkness enveloped her.
----------