Not far away, a clearly terrified man peered cautiously around the corner to spot the two intruders. Dressed in the traditional grey of the time, he fumbled in his pocket for a moment before retrieving a small device that appeared to be a mobile phone.

"Bo... boss," he stuttered into the device. "Intr... uders... not far from the Yarra."

There was a crackly pause on the phone, as the towers which transmitted phone calls had mostly fallen into disrepair. However, a voice grated back, nearly causing the unfortunate man to jump.

"Who are they?"

"I, uh, don't know, sir... no idea..."

"Describe them!"

"They are... man, a woman, about twenty years apart in age... the man has curly hair – dark, curly hair – the woman, she has, uh, dark hair too, just past her, uh... shoulders..."

"Fool! Where are they?"

The man hesitated briefly. "Central sector... uh, near the river... next to a newspaper stall – abandoned newspaper stall, of course..." The man, apparently convinced this was a good enough answer, waited for a voice to come back.

"Bring them to me!"

"Sir... how can I?"

"You have a Death Ray, you imbecile! Threaten them! Kill one, if necessary... I only need one for questioning."

"Whi... which?"

"Either! It doesn't matter! The man, if you insist..."

"Ri... right you are, uh, sir," the man whispered, putting his phone away and retrieving from his pocket a small white stick, rather resembling the black-and-white "magic wand" of the twentieth century. This was his Death Ray. It was, despite appearances, one of the most terrifying weapons invented by mankind. Invented in the war of the early 21st century, they had quickly been utilised for the purposes of those who eventually won. But history was not a lesson to dwell on now.

The man stumbled around the corner when he was sure that the victims' backs were turned. He didn't like killing people. Never had. He hoped he wouldn't have to.

Still terrified, the man accidentally tripped over his own foot, alerting the Doctor and Sarah to his presence. The Doctor whirled around and grinned.

"So there is life on Earth!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Didn't I tell you so, Sarah?"

Sarah pulled a face. She didn't especially like being proved wrong. Who does?

The man, for his part, was now more terrified than ever. "Please," he stuttered, "you must... uh, come with me. Questioning... to ask... questions... to you..."

"That's not fair," the Doctor insisted. "Wherever I go, I'm always the one who gets asked the questions. I want a turn!"

"Sir, you must listen to me! I have orders..."

"What orders?"

"He... the Admini... person... he only needs only you of one! One of you! Just... come on!"

"Fine kidnapper you are," Sarah remarked. "You can't even get your words around the right way."

"I know, miss... um, I mean... hurry up! Death Ray! I have a... Ray Death... of Death... um, Death Ray..." the man tried to brandish his Death Ray threateningly, but he dropped it in sheer panic.

"Sarah was right, you know," the Doctor told him conversationally. "You're a hopeless guard. You just dropped your Death Ray."

The man hesitated, but pointed his Death Ray straight at the Doctor. "I... need not... um... my boss said... I only need the girl..."

"Why only Sarah?" the Doctor asked. "Why not both of us? We're much better company together."

"Warned you," the man stuttered, pressing the button on the Death Ray. Unfortunately for him, in his panic he held it the wrong way, and accidentally killed himself.

Sarah, of course, was flabbergasted. "Why didn't you stop him?" she spluttered. "He might have been a pathetic guard, but that's no reason..."

"You've seen worse things than that," the Doctor protested.

"Not for two years," Sarah replied testily. "I really, really don't like this place."

"But now we're involved. You just saw a man kill himself. Men don't kill themselves for no reason, Sarah – it takes a lot of courage. Or a lot of fear."

"I want to go home," she repeated, before turning away from the dead man's body. "And yes, I know I just came... I forgot how horrible this can be. Really, truly horrible..."

The Doctor sighed. "All right, Sarah. You can wait in the TARDIS."

"Thank you."

"And after I'm done looking around, I'll take you back to Earth."

Sarah looked at him with a mixture of shock and horror. "Look around? You already have! There's no point in -"

"There's every point, Sarah," the Doctor interrupted. "But most of all, they've given me a mission. I must obey."

Sarah nodded reluctantly. "All right," she conceded, "but I'm going back to the TARDIS, anyway."

"You do that, Sarah."

Sarah nodded and, taking the TARDIS key, set off as fast as she could manage to the TARDIS.


A man watched this unfold on what appeared to be a large screen in his office. Infuriated by this development, his arm sent everything on his desk flying.

"Incompetent fool!" the man screamed. His assistant, a relatively attractive blonde woman, ran into the room.

"Can't you keep anything on your desk?" she asked politely. Clad in the traditional grey, though paler than most people's outfits, she knelt and started to gather the pens and pencils that had fallen to the floor.

"You should work on keeping your temper, sir," she suggested, politely again.

"I am the Administrator of Melbourne!" the man screamed. "I can lose my temper now and again if I feel like it."

"Maybe, sir, but you don't lose it "now and again", you lose it every two minutes." The assistant stood up, having finished gathering all that fell onto the floor.

The Administrator glared at his ever-polite assistant. "You shouldn't get ahead of yourself, my dear."

"No, sir," the assistant nodded. "I am sorry."

The Administrator nodded. "Wise words. Now GO!"

The instant his assistant obeyed, the Administrator retrieved what looked like a ninety-year-old mobile phone from his pocket.

"Bring me the girl," he hissed into the mobile. "I have some questions to ask her."