The Doctor opened his eyes. The world was a blur of cloudless sky and thatch roofs that spun from left to right repeatedly. He blinked several times before the sky finally steadied itself and hung unerringly overhead. He could feel something pinning him to the cold earth. He tipped his head downward. Alison lay limply across his torso, her head face down on the ground. A smell of smoke filled the air.

"Alison?" He lifted a painful arm and brushed the locks back from her face. "Alison can you hear me?"

She groaned and shifted slightly. Then her eyes opened. "What happened?" she mumbled.

"Stron happened, I intended to drop the sodium into the ocean..." he gazed at the surrounding buildings, in the distance he could make out a flickering orange light, the sound of frightened cries began to fill the air "but with Stron's help we seem to have dropped the entire thing into the ocean and ignited the fuel."

"Great, just great..." Alison moaned. She let her head fall forward.

"Alison" the Doctor said softly.

"Yes."

"Are you well enough to move?"

"Yes..." she wriggled her fingers experimentally "yes I can move."

"Then kindly get off me, you've got an elbow in my ribs and it's most uncomfortable."

They had both begun to stand and brush the dust from their clothes when a frantic press of villagers nearly knocked Alison off her feet again. The Doctor steadied her from falling. The Villagers scattered away from them, each loaded down with their meager possessions. Alison turned, at the end of the village a house was burning and the walls of several more nearby dwellings were slowly giving way to the flames. Fire licked it's way along the rooftops at an ever increasing speed.

"This is bad" Alison whispered.

"Very bad" the Doctor agreed. Village guards began to swarm their way down the main street, shoving confused villagers from their path. "This isn't at all what I intended."

"Someone has to help them, the guards are just running away."

They watched as a young couple tried to pull one of the large millipede creatures from it's pen. The animal squealed and wriggled defiantly. The house behind the pen began to blaze.

"We've got to make them leave these things behind!" the Doctor called out over the ever increasing din. "The fire is spreading too fast!" He caught a young Antazi woman as she ran past. Frightened, she tried to pull away. In her arms she held a wailing baby. "You!" he said when he recognized her from the ritual.

"Please!" she cried out "I have to go!"

Alison stepped forward. "You have to help us. We need to convince your people to leave the village now!"

"I am leaving!" The woman pleaded.

"But they're not" Alison pointed to the crowds of villagers making their way down the street, moving their material possessions from house to house in the hope that the fire would stop. "They may not listen to us, but they would listen to you!"

The woman, breathing heavily, nodded her agreement.

"Good," said the Doctor "Alison will go with you" he turned and began running down the street.

"Where are you going?" Alison called out to him.

"To get the prisoners out of the pit!"

Malik was pleased to find the Toroth awake when he returned. There was nothing more satisfying than playing the prisoners off each other. A well placed threat to a friend's life could often bring far better results than actual torture, and Malik was mainly interested in results.

"I smell smoke" Brinbek finally said in response to one of Malik's endless questions.

"That isn't what I asked you!" screamed Malik "What are the Toroth defenses?"

"He's right." Telk mumbled weakly. His head bobbed forward as he spoke. "I smell it too..."

Malik glanced at the fireplace and then back at them, he sneered. "If you think this is some clever distraction..." Then he stopped. Something was strange, he sniffed the air experimentally. It was the smell of wood smoke, but thicker, darker. Before he had time to ponder it further the sound of a woman crying came to his ears. He strode to the prison door, opened it, and peered outside.

A black cloud was hovering over the southern end of the village. People began to pour through the main street. The crying woman nearly ran into him.

"What is this!" he shouted as he grabbed the woman and twisted her arm.

"It's burning!" she cried out in pain "The village is burning... they told us we must leave!" She tried to tear herself free.

"What!" He tried to see through the smoky distance but the horizon was obliterated, the dense black cloud filling it's place. He shook her violently "The weapon!" he screamed "What has happened to it!"

Her eyes widened in terror "It's... gone" she whispered.

"The Doctor" he said simply. Disgusted, he flung her from him and she scampered away gratefully.

He stormed into the prison. In a fit of rage he began to turn over his dissection tables one by one. Then with a monstrous scream he hefted the tub of bones into the fireplace. It hissed and spit angrily, and an acidic smell filled the room. He turned to look at his prisoners. Telk and Brinbek said nothing, neither of them looked up, yet somehow an air of smugness seemed to emanate from the two. Telk didn't even flinch as Malik approached him, but at the corner of his mouth Malik could see the small curve of a smile.

So they had heard, thought Malik, well they'd pay for it. They'd pay for everything. The loss of the weapon, the loss of fifteen turns labor. They'd pay for it with their lives, and when it was finished he'd find the Doctor and make him pay too.

"Well gentlemen, it seems that the village is burning down around us." He gave them a thin lipped smile as they raised their heads "Not the safest time to be chained to a wall, eh boys? Still I won't keep you company any longer than I have to."

The feathers on Brinbek's head raised "You mean to watch us die?"

"I mean to watch you beg for your lives. The dying I think you can manage on your own."