∞ ∞ ∞

Chapter 4

'I might need rescuing.'

∞ ∞ ∞

Together, they lifted the panel out and peered inside at the neat bundles of wires. 'I will say this for the Ellion,' said the Doctor, inserting his head into the recess, his voice echoing oddly, 'they are brilliant at keeping things tidy.'

Rose squinted at the bundles, following one with the torchlight. 'That lot goes towards the door.'

The Doctor removed his head and dislocated the clump from its little wall bracket He produced the screwdriver again, paused, and put it back in his inside pocket. 'Better not,' he grinned. 'Now then.'

He pulled the wires, teasing out from inside the wall the circuit board they were attached to. He turned his gaze on Rose. 'Feeling brave?'

'What do you want me to do?'

'Hold onto me with one hand and the floor with the other, so we'll earth it between us if it sparks again.' Rose gripped his jacket, holding the torch in her teeth. The Doctor removed the wires from the little chip, causing minute tendrils of electricity to flare up. The background humming changed pitch slightly.

He worked quickly, systematically crossing the exposed ends. On the fifth go, the doors slid noiselessly open. Simultaneously, the torch in Rose's mouth flickered, and then died. Rose swore around the casing as thick darkness swamped her vision. The Doctor gripped her shoulder. 'Grab my arm, and don't let go.'

She spat the torch out and pocketed it out of habit. 'I hope you didn't set off any alarms or anything.'

'I can't hear anything, although we're so far underground it's hard to know.' She felt a flash of helplessness, clinging blind to his arm as he led her though the archway and into the sixth cellar. The air was different again: tangy, almost greasy. 'Ah,' exclaimed the Doctor gently. He jogged her across and picked something up from the floor.

Light burst into Rose's dilated pupils, making her squeeze her eyes in shock and pain. As it became more bearable, she heard, to her horror, the door they had entered by powering up. 'Doctor!'

He pushed the harp into her hands. 'Run for it – get back to the TARDIS and tell Arolan to heal himself quick. I might need rescuing.'

'Rescuing?' she cried, panicked by the responsibility.

Impossibly, he was grinning. 'I'm going to get myself captured. I need to talk to them.'

Rose stared at him. 'You're insane!'

'Possibly,' he acknowledged. The doors began to close, ridiculously slowly given the trapping mechanism. Rose shot him a final incredulous glance, hugged the harp to her, and darted out of the cellar. 'Oh, Rose!' She looked back, and he threw her a small cylinder. 'Glow stick; don't waste the batteries!'

She rolled her eyes and was gone into the darkness.

∞ ∞ ∞

The doors closed with a very final-sounding thump. The pneumatic systems hissed as the compressed air was released. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and stood in the centre of the room. He looked up at the top of the steps leading to the upper levels, but there was no one in sight. He waited.

Presently the faint alarms somewhere in the upper levels stopped, leaving a thick silence. The air around him shimmered, taking on a vague swirling pattern. He poked at it with his foot, and it rippled blue. He stretched up and was pleased to find no roof. So far so good. A non-destructive force prison meant they weren't keen on hurting him.

After another minute or so, someone did appear at the top of the steps, an elegant hand brushing aside the curtain. She descended the steps liquidly, her yellow robe trailing behind like sunrays. Her perfect features knitted in a frown. 'You?'

'Me,' replied the Doctor, smiling benignly.

She floated across to him. 'Considering the damage you caused last time we encountered you, you will understand when I order your elimination.'

'Perfectly. You may also recall however, that, were it not for me, this magnificent temple would have ceased to exist.'

'Of course,' she whispered, circling his prison like a curious cat. 'The Time War. It is remarkable how little our kind remember of that.'

Swap? thought the Doctor bitterly. Out loud he said, 'Why are you doing this? You, of all beings, understand the risks.'

'It is not my will,' she smiled. 'My daughter wishes it.'

'Surely all Harpers are not so blind.'

'She is but a child. Her innocence is beautiful as the stars.'

That threw him; he'd not anticipated that angle. 'Then teach her why it can't be done!'

'But it can be done,' she corrected gently, patronizing him through her tone. 'We have calculated the possible effects on the dimensions, and they are repairable.'

'Did you consider Time?' he shot back angrily. 'The continuum isn't just up-left-back, you know.'

'A ten-dimensional space can allow for some movement.'

'But not on this scale!' He pressed his palms to the field, feeling the crackle of static make his hair rise. 'And anyway, your harps broke, how're you going to play it now?'

He realised his mistake too late. Her features twisted curiously. 'How did you know that?'

'I picked up readings,' he invented, but she interrupted with a melodic laugh.

'Even your Ship, for all its hand-made sophistication, couldn't pick up something like that. Someone has told you. Who, I wonder? Perhaps the Blue Coat we banished for his disobedience?' The Doctor said nothing; fully aware he had put his foot in it. The Lady circled him again, examining him more closely. 'You've changed since we last met.'

'Things happened,' he said shortly. His memories of that were sketchy.

'At least you got rid of that ridiculous cravat. That jumper looks a little plain, though.' The Doctor rolled his eyes. Was it a new convention of the universe to mock his jumper? Apparently finished with his clothing, she came back around to the front and laced her fingers. 'There was another with you: where is she now?'

'Away.'

The Lady smiled, 'I will have her found. She has stolen the harp and must be punished.'

Not for the first time, the Doctor began to worry about the fate of his companion.

∞ ∞ ∞

Nobody paid the red coat much attention as she crossed the courtyard, even though she was unusually tall for a junior and her hair was much longer, and a strange colour. The harp as well was a little big for her, and looked as though it'd not been used for a while, the strings slack and the wood dull. She emanated a twitchy sense of nervousness.

The two of the six moons had risen before the sun had properly set, and the planet was shrouded in a rosy glow from the three light sources. The red coat passed through the archway to the forest, arousing a raised eyebrow from one of the guards. There was always a reason for such things, however: perhaps she was herb collecting.

He was not necessarily mistaken. There was a reason: just, not the one he had anticipated.

Rose shrugged her shoulders to shift the strap into a more comfortable position, clamping down on the urge to look behind her. She set off into the forest, along the blue gravel path, her trainers scrunching loudly. The throbbing of night insects thrummed into her head, and she wished she'd just stayed with the Doctor.

But what good would that have done? She chided herself as the path turned to packed earth and the volume of trees increased either side. She could find the TARDIS easily enough, and it looked as though she wouldn't even need the glow stick with the amount of light from the moons. Alarmed, she realised she hadn't actually switched it off, and proceeded to do so guiltily.

She found the trail of broken branches where she and the Doctor had emerged, and dived back into the forest. It occurred to her as she retraced her steps that this would be the roundabout way back, and there was sure to be a quicker one. How confident was she in finding her own way? Not very, she decided, coming to an intersection in the trail that she was sure hadn't been there before. A dozen or so small flies clung stubbornly to the sleeves of her coat, and she brushed at them.

After a moment's deliberation, she fished her TARDIS key out of her jeans pocket and weighed it in the palm of her hand. It was strangely comforting to hold, the chain draping silkily over her fingers. 'Right,' she said, holding up the chain so the key was at eye level. 'I know there's a quicker way back than this, and I think I'm lost now anyway, so it'd be good if you could help, okay?'

The key swung back and forth like a pendulum. Rose took this as a yes. 'So, any time now would be good,' she prompted.

The key swung horizontally for a few moments, then changed trajectory, rocking on forty-five degrees. It appeared to be indicating neither left nor right, but sort of off-centre. Rose gave it a hard look, and had the curious impression that it was blinking imploringly, like a dog that's found Something Interesting.

She sighed and plunged into the green.

∞ ∞ ∞

Hint 3: Ancient inventor

AN: "Can you tell what it is yet?"

I realise that, in an alarming break of tradition, no minor characters have died to prove the situation is serious.

Yet.

24/4 – updated due to typing errors.