oOo

"We have to go to South Croydon--that is where Sarah Jane is living, isn't it?"

Kyris gaped at his father, fumbling for the disk. "Put this into a reader, then input her name and the approximate date you want, and it'll tell you where she is."

The Doctor took the disk with a nod of thanks. He tucked it into his jacket pocket before punching destination coordinates into the console. "I've a scanner in my laboratory that ought to do nicely." He headed for the interior door.

"Why are we looking for Sarah Jane?" Ace demanded stridently.

The Doctor paused, fingers on the door handle. "Because she's met Susan," he said softly. "Met her as Susan Campbell. Sarah Jane, the Brigadier, and Ian and Barbara Chesterton all knew her. The only other person on Earth who met her and traveled with me was Tegan Jovanka."

Ace's brow wrinkled in confusion. "So why find Sarah Jane and not the others?"

"Right, wouldn't Ian and Barbara be more likely targets? They were with you when you left Susan on Earth," Kyris interjected. Ace didn't much care for the way he said that, but kept shut; his attitude was the Doctor's problem, not hers.

"The continuous monitors on my TARDIS weren't repaired until well after Ian and Barbara returned home, to 1963 Earth," the Doctor explained patiently. "So even if the Master had this interface, there wouldn't be anything to connect them directly to Susan unless your mother--unless Romana put it there herself."

Kyris shook his head. "No, she only took information directly from the databanks. She talked about putting in stuff that might be missing, but she never--" His voice caught roughly, but he continued: "She never got around to doing it."

The Doctor nodded. "The Master won't be looking for them, but he will be looking for Sarah Jane. Not only has he seen and spoken with her, she's also someone who traveled with me for a significant amount of time--"

"Before you threw her out 150 miles from home," Kyris input snidely.

The Doctor's impatient frown deepened, but Ace could see he wasn't going to say anything to Kyris about his attitude. Maybe he didn't think he had the right. "As I was saying, Sarah Jane not only traveled with me and met the Master, but she was also there when we defeated Borusa at Rassilon's Tomb. Therefore the Master knows that she met Susan, that she might have some information about her. Besides," he added, "I believe she's his choice of victim to represent my fourth self."

Kyris looked up sharply. "But I thought my mother––"

"I believe Romana was an unfortunate victim of the Master's attempts to get his hands on this." The Doctor held up the disk. "He found out about it somehow, tried to get it from her, and failed. I'd be willing to bet he murdered her more in a fit of pique than anything else," was his grim conclusion.

"Well, what about the Brigadier?" Ace asked, eyeing Kyris warily. He looked ready to explode, and she longed for the chance to explain that the Doctor wasn't really being cold-hearted or belittling his mother's death, that he was just hiding behind the facts in order to avoid an emotional collapse in front of his newly-found son--not to mention herself--but she didn't. Now wasn't the time, and neither of them would appreciate any attempts at mollification. But they would tolerate a blatant attempt to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand, which was keeping anyone else from falling victim to the Master's latest scheme for revenge.

Much to Ace's relief, it worked. After only a slight pause, the Doctor answered her question. "He never traveled with me on the TARDIS, not for any serious length of time. Not like Sarah Jane." His voice caught, and he cleared his throat roughly. "She's the one he'll go after, both because she knew Susan and because I believe she's next on his list. If he doesn't get the information he wants from her, then the Brigadier might be in danger. But we'll have to cross that bridge when--and if--we get to it. Right now, we need to concentrate on keeping that lunatic away from Sarah Jane."

Kyris nodded reluctant acceptance of the Doctor's reasoning, although Ace could see it was a struggle. She could tell he was prepared to think the worst of his father, and wished it could be otherwise. If only they could have met under better circumstances...

The Doctor had turned back to Kyris while her mind wandered. "When was the last time you checked the information through the link?"

"Mother checked it every day for six months to make sure everyone else was still all right. But she's been dead for almost two weeks now..." he bit his lip to keep it from trembling, obviously unable to continue. The Doctor hesitated a moment, reaching out as if to touch his son on the shoulder. Kyris moved away sharply, and the Doctor's hand fell to his side as he continued out the door, his face unreadable.

After a moment, Ace shrugged and turned to face Kyris. "Why don't I show you around a bit?" she suggested.

Kyris followed without speaking, his eyes intense and brooding.

oOo

"You can have this room." Ace pushed a door open and stepped inside. She'd taken the long way to the living quarters, giving Kyris what she called "the nickel tour" in an attempt to get his mind off his recent troubles. It had worked, to a certain extent; this was the first time he'd actually been in a TARDIS, and it was obvious that his sense of curiosity was almost as powerful as that of his father. They seemed to share the same strange combination of determined single-mindedness and what Ace termed "easy distractability." By the time they reached the corridor where most of the bedrooms were situated, he was chatting easily with her, peppering her with questions about living on the TARDIS and her home in Perivale. But not once did he ask anything about his father, and he stepped around the subject the few times she accidentally brought it up.

Kyris walked into the room, glancing indifferently at its sparse furnishings--a bed, a dresser, a chair--then returning his eyes to Ace. "Where's your room?" he asked, a hint of mischief coming and going in his eyes so rapidly that Ace thought she must have imagined it.

"Across the hall," she replied, not meeting his gaze. "If you need anything, just yell. But don't try waking me in the middle of the night unless it's an emergency," she warned. "I don't wake up easy and I don't wake up friendly."

"Me either." Kyris crossed the room to plop on the edge of the bed. Ace remained by the door, fidgety but not sure why.

Kyris fascinated her, and not just because he was the Doctor's son. It had been a long time since she'd spent any amount of time with someone close to her own age, Time Lord, human, or otherwise, unless it was under the usual chaotic circumstances they seemed to find themselves surrounded by. Not that these circumstances were any less chaotic or potentially dangerous, but right now they found themselves in the unusual position of being at the eye of the hurricane. She hardly ever found herself with time to just sit and chat. It made her uneasy, but intrigued her at the same time. Just like Kyris. It didn't hurt that he was drop-dead gorgeous to boot... "I'd better get going," she murmured, a little disturbed by the direction her thoughts were heading. For pity's sake, he was still grieving the loss of his mother, and all Ace could think about was what fab body he had…

"Do you have to?" Kyris asked. He looked down at his hands as they plucked at the bedcover. "I was rather hoping to pick your brains."

"For what?" Ace asked with a confused frown. She'd thought they'd covered just about everything he was willing to talk about on their way here; his questions had trailed off as they entered the main hall. Not to mention the fact that her attention was wandering in what might be considered inappropriate areas...

Kyris shrugged and opened his mouth to speak, closing it abruptly as the Doctor tapped on the door and poked his head in. "We've arrived," he said, popping back out without elaborating.

Ace took a deep breath. "The game's on, then, isn't that what Sherlock Holmes always says?"

Kyris rose to his feet. "Afoot, it's afoot," he muttered as he followed after his father. But he flashed her a quick smile, whose brilliance nearly took Ace's breath away. She stumbled after him, a bit unsteady on her feet, feeling dazed and not quite sure why.

As soon as this nasty business with the Master was over, however, she intended to figure it out.