Turlough was on his knees, slumped forward, kept upright only by the Doctor's hands on his shoulders.

"What did you say?" cried Nyssa, crouching before Turlough and taking his cheeks in her hands.

His eyes seemed to roll back slightly, hiding the irises for an instant. "She's dead," he repeated.

"Oh!" Nyssa's hands dropped, and she sank to her knees.

The Doctor bent before Turlough. "Tell me what happened," he said. His voice was dreadfully even.

Turlough's eyes began to close, but the Doctor gripped his chin to lift his face. "Turlough! You have to tell me where she is." Now his tone bordered on frantic.

Nyssa was blinking back tears. "Please, Turlough," she entreated, "tell us what happened to her."

The Trion nodded, appearing to compose himself slightly. "We were at the research complex," he began. "We checked the buildings, but there was no one there. So we went out behind them, to the mounds, to see if someone had… had run off." His eyes moved downward then darted furtively to the side. "I was a short distance from her, maybe twenty meters, when the earthquake struck. I looked over at her, and she was on one of the mounds—the one closest to the buildings—and she couldn't keep her footing. I ran to her—I went as fast as I could, but she stumbled and fell. I thought she'd fallen behind the mound. But when I got there, when I climbed up on it, I found—there was a… a cleft in the mound. She'd fallen into it. I called to her, and I started to reach in to see if I could get her—"

"Did you see her?" asked Nyssa. "Maybe it wasn't that deep—"

"No," Turlough said, shaking his head. "I couldn't see the bottom of it. And I felt the earth tremble again, only this was different from the earthquake, and there was this rush of warm air… and I knew what it was. I had to move back, I knew it was coming. I… it erupted right in front of me."

"A geyser," said the Doctor flatly. "The mound was a geyser."

Nyssa had pressed her hand to her mouth. "And Tegan fell into it?" Her voice shook as she uttered the terrible words.

The Doctor looked off in the distance for nearly a minute. Turlough and Nyssa remained silent, the young woman fighting against the tears that welled hotly in her eyes. She felt numb, empty… Abruptly the Doctor stood then bent to pull Turlough up.

"Nyssa," the Time Lord said firmly, "take him back to the TARDIS. See that he is kept warm and given fluids, and take care of his hands."

She nodded, although her expression showed some confusion. "All right."

The Doctor had already turned and taken several steps.

"But Doctor, where are you going?" asked Nyssa.

He did not turn to address her. "I have to get her."

Now Turlough spoke. "Doctor, Tegan can't have survived it. It's impossible—"

"I know that."

"Then why are you going back?" asked Turlough.

"I have to get her. Her family will want to know…" The Doctor began walking again.

Nyssa hurried toward him. "Doctor, it's no use," she said in a quavering voice.

"I will not leave her here."

Nyssa's small hand closed around his arm. "But we have to go. You said it yourself. The geyser activity is increasing, and there was the earthquake—it's too dangerous to go back there."

The Doctor spun on her and pushed her hand roughly from his arm. "Do as I ask, Nyssa. Do not question me. Take Turlough back to the TARDIS and wait for me there. If things become too unstable—if the TARDIS is threatened—leave."

"Let us bring the TARDIS to you," she said. "At least that way you won't be stuck out there—"

"No. It's too risky. You could land on an active vent." He took another step forward, but Nyssa reached out for his sleeve. "Nyssa! I won't risk you and Turlough and the TARDIS. Go back now." His tone left no room for discussion as he stormed off toward the research complex.

Nyssa turned back to Turlough. She did not possess the energy to staunch the tears that flowed from her eyes. On unsteady legs, she began leading Turlough away as another geyser erupted less than a kilometer behind her.

The journey to the research complex seemed nearly interminable to the Time Lord despite his rapid pace. Nearly subconsciously he noted the geyser eruptions, scanning the area continuously to avoid the clusters of silica and lime carbonate. He would need to retrace his steps on the way back; he forced himself to store a mental map deep within his mind.

He would have to find Tegan's family. With an audible sigh, he realized that he knew little about her relatives. Of course he knew that she had had an aunt, and he recalled her mentioning a grandfather in a village outside of London. Had she said Little Hotchkin? Or was it Little Hopkiln? He berated himself for failing to pay more attention to her frequent streams of words. Granted, there were many times when she had talked simply to indulge in the activity, and admittedly he had allowed, perhaps even encouraged, his attention to wander when the non-stop talk began. But he should have listened to her. He should have done as she asked, too, and returned her to Heathrow at the very first opportunity. Perhaps if he had done that she would never have come back to him, she would never have been out here in the middle of a searing geyser—

When the buildings came into view, the Doctor's pace slowed. He stood still for a minute, looking over the land. He saw the mounds that lay behind the small geodesic domes, and he felt his breath catch. His eyes fixed on the mound closest to the buildings. Turlough had said she was on that one…

Now his feet moved slowly, yet he found himself nearing the mound in an instant. The ground was still wet from the eruption, and he thought for one moment that his shoes would be muddy... such a fleeting and irrelevant thought. He forced himself to climb the mound then move his eyes to the vent. The sunlight illuminated the entrance, but further down it was quite dark. There was a wet, vaguely sulfurous smell clinging to the rock inside, and when he touched the edge of the fissure, he found that it was still warm. He closed his eyes briefly when he recalled the intense heat that a geyser produced.

When he opened his eyes he realized that he had come ill-prepared for this task. He would have to go into the vent, perhaps down several hundred meters, to retrieve Tegan's body. He would require rope and something to light his way. He walked back to the closest building and found that the door handle had been broken, undoubtedly by Turlough. He entered the structure and searched around until he found a length of sturdy cord and a small torch. Surprisingly, the battery still worked. He thought briefly that the researchers must have left fairly recently. He wondered for a moment who had sent the distress signal; both research complexes were deserted. He did not allow this question to linger in his mind, however. He hurried back to the mound as a geyser burst upward across the plain.

The Doctor secured one end of the cord to a tree a few meters from the vent then tied the other end around his waist. Tucking the flashlight into his pocket, he stood at the edge of the opening, hesitating to begin his descent. He knew what he would find, but he shuddered inwardly when he thought about the condition of Tegan's body. She would have suffered third-degree burns over the entire surface of her skin, and the scalding water would have entered her nose and mouth, instantly searing her respiratory tract… His stomach seemed to tighten. He had seen countless ghastly sights in his very long lifetime, but to have to view the burned body of a friend was appalling even to him. He hoped that he could find a sheet or a large piece of plastic in which to wrap her before he took her back to the TARDIS.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, the Doctor lowered himself into the vent. He immediately found that the sides were straight and parallel to the opening. He was able to press his feet against them easily and move down slowly. When he had descended a few meters, he switched on the torch. He saw that the shaft was narrowing quite abruptly, almost as if it were a funnel. About a meter below him the sides curved sharply, leaving a gap of only a meter between them. He felt a flash of hope. Tegan might have landed here and not fallen all the way to the bottom. Yet even if she had, the fierce heat from the water would have killed her instantly. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them, he shifted the light to aim it in front and to the sides of him. To his left he saw a glint of something shiny. He moved his body forward and reached out to feel a sticky yet tough substance. Holding the torch back to illuminate a larger area, he saw that a patch of the substance covered a large portion of the shaft. He touched the substance again to find it thick yet oddly pliable. His fingers were left sticky and tingling. Perhaps it was some sort of mold. It shone faintly in the light, its surface glossy. As he moved the beam over it, he noticed a darker area beneath the surface. The exterior here appeared slightly different; there was a puckering, and the fibers seemed less taut. He moved as close as he could to the pucker and thrust his hand inside.

He withdrew it quickly. He had felt a hard, smooth, cool thing that twitched at his touch. Moving the light directly over the indentation, he peered inside. A thin layer of the substance covered the insect encased inside the web. With sudden understanding, he recalled the insect that Nyssa had seen disappear inside one of the vents. These creatures had managed to adapt to their surroundings by making their homes inside the vents. The eruptions prevented their enemies from getting to them, while they remained safe in these webs.

The Doctor's hearts began to beat faster as he moved the light carefully over the rest of the web. He saw a second indentation and reached without hesitation inside. Beneath his fingers he felt the hard exoskeleton of another insect. When he thrust his hand into a third indentation, he felt something cool, soft, and pliable. He moved his hand and felt a silky strand of hair.

"Tegan!" he cried, already tearing at the web. It was thick and glutinous, and he spent many minutes clawing through it. When he had finally created a substantial hole, he found that Tegan lay suspended in the web, wrapped entirely within a portion of it. It must have adhered to her as she fell.

He pulled her through the hole he had made, his hands covered in the stickiness, clumps of it clinging to his clothes. Tegan was completely still, and he realized quickly that, while the web might have protected her skin from the heat of the geyser, she had still suffered the lethal effects of inhaling the scalding vapors. If the web were thick enough to keep the vapors out, it was too thick to permit any air in. Either way, she had suffocated within a very few minutes.

The Doctor adjusted Tegan's body against his, looping the cord around her and holding her securely with one arm as he began to pull himself up the rope with the other. He had ascended several meters when he heard a scratching noise. He continued climbing, but the noise grew louder and more intense. He paused to shine the light downward for a moment.

"Oh, Tegan," he murmured, "I think the word you would have used in this situation is 'cripes'." Less than three meters below his feet half a dozen insects were crawling up the shaft toward him. He pulled himself hand over hand up the rope, reaching the top of the shaft only moments before the insects did.

Turlough had rallied surprisingly quickly once he and Nyssa began walking back to the TARDIS. Nyssa had seen that his hands were quite painful, but he had appeared to come out of the shock sufficiently to walk beside her without assistance. She had asked him more questions about Tegan's fall, which he had answered quietly and patiently. Finally, however, she had stopped talking. She had needed to compose herself and gather her strength for the tasks that lay ahead.

Now she sat before Turlough in Adric's room, bandaging the Trion's hands. An application of anesthetic spray had numbed the pain, and he remained still as she worked. After securing the last bandage gently, she asked, "How does that feel?"

"It's fine," he replied. "Thank you."

She nodded then stood. "I'll get you some water. You need to stay hydrated."

"All right. Thanks."

As she turned toward the door, Nyssa's eyes fell upon a mathematics text that lay on the desk. She felt tears begin to well and tried to blink them away. This small action was ineffectual; her vision blurred, and her cheeks grew wet. She wiped a hand over her face.

Turlough watched the bereft young woman. He did not know what to say to her. Were there any words one could muster that would make a difference in a situation like this? He did not know. So he sat quietly until she walked out of the room.

He rested his swathed hand against the crystal in his pocket. "I've done what you asked," he murmured. "The Doctor can't survive out there. Now take me home."

The crystal glowed briefly, but there was no response to Turlough's plea.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, the Doctor untied the rope from his waist then lifted Tegan's body into both arms. Glancing back, he saw that the insects were climbing out of the vent, and the moment they emerged from the shaft they began scuttling toward him. He ran, balancing the limp form of his companion in his arms. He looked back once to find the insects in pursuit, rapidly nearing him. He quickened his pace, running with all of his strength toward the geodesic dome. He rounded the building and kicked at the door, barreling through it and slamming it shut just as a set of antennae began to poke through the opening.

The handle was broken, so he could not latch the door. Unceremoniously, he dropped Tegan on the floor and reached for a chair to jam under the door handle. He could see the door moving inward as the insects seemed to climb and push against it. He moved a table in front of the door, then piled on another chair and a tray of equipment before pressing his hands firmly against the edge of the table.

The insects continued to claw at the door, and he could feel the strain in his arms as he struggled against their force. His arms were weakening, though; he could not hold them indefinitely. Suddenly he heard a pattering on the roof. The insects must have climbed up there, too. But through the skylight he could see drops of water falling against the plastic. There was a massive hiss just outside the door, then the pushing ceased. He heard a rustling and scritching as the insects scuttled away.

Moving the table and chair, the Doctor peered out the door. A geyser had erupted nearby, spraying the buildings with hot water. Without their webs, he realized that the insects were vulnerable to the heat and water. He replaced the chair against the door handle, securing it more firmly and at a better angle, then allowed himself to sink down on the floor next to Tegan.

He could see how pale and still she was beneath the cover of the web. He ran his hands over the sticky material, knowing that he would need to remove it from her eventually. His fingers seemed to become entangled in the fibers, and he looked down to see that the web was carefully and intricately woven. His hand rested just above Tegan's knee, and he wriggled his fingers in an attempt to free them. They brushed over her kneecap. Something about it felt strange. He pressed his hand over her patella. It was swollen; indeed, it was very swollen. He recalled then that she had fallen on the hillside.

Immediately he straightened and ripped his hand from the web to begin tearing at the fibers covering her face. They were resilient, seeming to contract each time he forced his fingers through them. He stood and reached for a pair of dissecting shears that lay on the table then made a few careful, tentative snips of the fibers over Tegan's mouth. The shears were effective; their blades cut the strands, severing them completely. He bent to place his ear next to her lips. He could not feel any exhalation. He opened her mouth and felt along inside it in case the web had gotten into it, but there did not seem to be any obstruction. He cut away more of the web to expose her nose, then he slid his hand inside the sticky casing to press his fingers against her neck.

The Doctor rose quickly, his eyes darting around the room. Like the other structure he had entered, this one contained few supplies. Aside from the mishmash of discarded dissecting tools, some jars of chemicals, a weak microscope, and a few dusty blankets and pillows on the two cots by the wall, he saw little that could be of use. There was something suspended beneath one of the counters that lined the wall. He stooped to examine the object then reached to pull a metal first aid box from its holder. He snapped open the lid to find a basic selection of bandages, antiseptics, and pain tablets, and in one corner a diminutive cylinder lay inside a small plastic mask. The Doctor nodded in relief then hurried to place the mask over Tegan's nose and mouth as he turned the small knob at the top of the cylinder. He was thankful that the researchers had thought to carry oxygen with their supplies.

As the oxygen flowed slowly, he cut away more of the web from Tegan's face and neck. It was thoroughly stuck to her hair, and he wondered briefly how he would be able to get it out. He had noticed a small bathroom closet near the cots. If the water still functioned, perhaps he could place her in the shower. Yet would water wash away the web? The geyser had apparently had no effect on it. If nothing else, he was certain that he could analyze the web once they returned to the TARDIS and find something that would act as a solvent. In the meantime, he would have to cut away as much as possible. He continued to work at the painstaking task, hoping that the small supply of oxygen would be sufficient to rouse Tegan.

Restraints: someone had put her in restraints. She could not move her arms or legs, and something was covering her nose and mouth. Even her eyelids were kept shut by some adhesive. Where was she? Had she been captured by some bizarre new enemy of the Doctor's? She tried to think, to recall where she had last been. Her face felt cool, but the rest of her body was warm, as though she were wrapped too snugly in a blanket. Was she in bed? No, she would be able to move if that were the case. She had been with Turlough, exploring some buildings, then looking behind them… looking at a mound with a deep chasm in the center. She tried to take in a sharp breath, but she could not. She could not open her eyes, either. In frustration, she jerked her head to the side.

"Tegan?" The voice she heard was soft, almost melodious. She moved her head again, and suddenly her face was freed from whatever had been pressed against it.

"Eyes," she rasped out. "Can't open—"

"It's all right," the Doctor said. "Don't try to struggle."

She felt something touch her eyelids then her lashes. She winced as the lashes were pulled apart. Slowly she raised her eyelids, blinking at the light and against the slight stinging that seemed to prickle in her eyes. She saw the hazy figure of the Doctor directly above her, then his fuzzy hand moved to her left eye.

"Stay still," he told her, lifting her eyelid. Liquid flooded her eye, burning briefly then quickly assuaging the discomfort. A moment later her right eye received the same treatment. She squeezed both eyes shut then opened them tentatively. The Doctor sat beside her, watching her intently. He seemed to study her eyes for a moment, then he asked, "Is your vision blurry?"

She shook her head. "No, it's pretty clear now."

He nodded. "It's fortunate that the first aid box I found had some eyedrops in it."

"But my arms," she began. "What's going on? Why can't I move?" She lifted her head to look down at her body. "Oh God," she gasped when she saw the thick web encasing her torso and legs. "Get it off!" She wriggled frantically against the dusty floor.

"I'm trying, Tegan," said the Doctor mildly. "It would help if you would remain still." He lifted the shears and continued snipping at the fibers over her left arm.

"What is it?" she asked, trying to keep from panicking. The feeling of forced immobility was terrifying. "It's horrible!"

"I'm sure that it is rather unpleasant, but this," he held up a small piece of the web that he had taken off of her arm, "apparently saved your life."

"It did?"

"Do you remember what happened?"

She tried to think. Her mind felt somewhat foggy still. "I was with Turlough, looking around, and I went out near one of the mounds. The ground started to shake—he said it was an earthquake—and I couldn't keep my balance. I fell." She stopped, frowning. "I fell into the hole."

"The vent, yes. Do you remember what happened after that?"

She shook her head. "No."

The Doctor pulled a large piece of the web from her arm then took her hand. "Flex your fingers," he said. She complied and he nodded, lowering her hand to work on her right side. "It seems that you fell into a web made of this substance. It enveloped you completely, and somehow it protected you from the geyser—"

"The what?" Tegan asked in alarm.

"The geyser," he repeated, though his tone contained a false calmness. "It erupted just after you fell in. That's why Turlough wasn't able to get you out."

"But you were? Wait, you and Nyssa went to the other complex. How did you get here?"

Now the Doctor frowned. "Turlough met us on the path. He told us what had happened."

Tegan watched the Time Lord's face carefully. There was something about his expression that was odd—something she had seen only once before. She remembered his face when he realized that Adric had been killed. "He thought I was dead, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you come out here? Did you know that the web had saved me?"

"I had no idea until I climbed down into the fissure and found you."

"So what made you come back here?" she asked again.

He hesitated, looking at the shears in his hand. "I felt it important to retrieve you—to return you to your family."

"Oh—" Tegan felt her throat tighten. "Thank you," she murmured.

He continued to work quietly until she spoke again. "Are Nyssa and Turlough coming for us in the TARDIS?"

"No. The area is too unstable. There is every indication that a massive geologic event will occur very soon. If the TARDIS were to land on an active geyser—"

"So we'll have to go to them. Oh no— Nyssa thinks I'm dead. She must be really upset."

"She's a strong young woman. She'll manage." He lifted a large section of the web from her chest and right shoulder. "Ah, this is more like it! I think I've figured out the direction in which the fibers are woven. I should be able to remove the rest of this in just a few minutes."

Tegan nodded in relief, moving her hands simply because she could.

"It will go faster, however," said the Doctor, "if you stop wriggling."

She complied, allowing her thoughts to wander back to her fall and the extraordinary way in which she had been saved. After a few minutes, the Doctor pulled the last large pieces of the web from her legs, smiling at his success. "That's the majority of it," he said. "There's still some in your hair and stuck to your clothing, but you should be able to move without difficulty now."

Tegan immediately sat up then rotated her ankles and began to bend her stiff legs. "Cripes!" she exclaimed as her right kneeexploded in pain. She reached down to clamp her hand over it.

The Doctor looked down. "Ah, yes, you seem to have hurt your knee." He moved her hand and felt gently around the swelling. "I think you've sprained it rather badly."

"Terrific," muttered Tegan darkly. "It's not enough that I have to fall into a geyser and get wrapped in a giant spider web—"

"They're not arachnids," the Doctor corrected.

"Whatever they are, then. But I also manage to mess up my knee royally. Just my luck."

"Actually, Tegan, it was a lucky occurrence, not that I subscribe to the concept of luck—"

"What do you mean?" She looked up at him; a shadow of the dark expression she had seen a few minutes ago crossed his face.

"Oh," he turned to look at the door. "It's not important."

Tegan grasped his wrist. "I think it is."

Slowly he rotated his head toward her. She could see quite clearly that something was troubling him deeply. "Doctor, what happened?"

He seemed to exhale slowly before he spoke. "When I went into the vent, I thought that you had been killed," he began.

"I know, but then you found me and realized that the web had protected me."

"Yes, eventually. But when I first saw you—indeed, when I removed you from the fissure and carried you back here—I believed that you were dead."

Tegan heard a slight quaver in his voice, and she noticed that his eyes wandered back to the door.

"I guess that would make sense," she said slowly, "knowing what had happened to me."

Now he looked directly at her. She saw a deep regret in his eyes. "I was certain that you had been killed, that you had suffocated in the web, so I made no immediate attempts to resuscitate you. But then I noticed your knee, and how swollen it was."

"Which you said was lucky, if you believed in luck—"

"Yes." He sighed audibly. "After death, blood, of course, ceases to circulate within the body, so it tends to obey gravity and pool within the lowest parts of the body. In your case, since you were on your back, the blood would have left your knee, and there would be little swelling from your injury."

"So my knee told you that I was still alive."

He nodded. "Yes, and the moment I realized that I did everything that I could to revive you."

"Doctor," Tegan interjected, "I don't know why you seem so upset. You figured out that I was alive, and here I am, fine except for a sore knee and some nasty gunk in my hair and clothes."

"You don't understand, Tegan," he said. "When I removed the web from your nose and mouth, you were not breathing. If I had waited a few more minutes—if I had not noticed your knee—you would not have survived." He inhaled sharply. "I nearly killed you."

"Oh." Tegan sat silently for some time. Finally she touched the Time Lord's hand. "Rabbits, Doctor, don't beat yourself up over it. You did figure out that I was still alive, and you saved me. That's all that really matters to me."

She gave his hand a brief squeeze then shifted her legs in preparation for standing. "Let's get back to the TARDIS. I really want to get this stuff out of my hair." She touched the clumps adhering to the auburn strands then began to rise. Her knee, however, preferred her supine position and protested her change in movement vehemently. She gasped and gritted her teeth.

The Doctor stood then offered her his hands, which she clasped gratefully, allowing him to pull her upward. As her body rose, however, the light in the room seemed to flicker, and a wave of dizziness assaulted her. She blinked helplessly and began sinking back toward the floor.