Chapter Three

"I'm Blind."

"Doctor! Doctor, let me out of here!"

The Doctor was returned to reality by the sound of Peri's panic-stricken voice and the pounding of her fists on the door of the locker. Getting shakily to his feet, he followed the sound, stumbling across the room and finally falling against the door. Pausing a moment to catch his breath, he heard the loud clang overhead that told him the panels sealing off the screen had snapped into place. The unfiltered light was now aimed at the planet below.

"Doctor, what's happening? What's the idea locking me in there for—" Peri broke off when she came out the door and saw the clearly shaken Time Lord leaning back against the locker. "Doctor, are you okay? You look terrible."

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor announced calmly, "I'm afraid I'm blind, Peri."

"What!" Peri gasped, waving a hand in front of his face. Looking around, she saw a stack of boxed where the dazed Time Lord could sit down and guided him over to them.

A moment later the doors were released and a group of technicians in orange uniforms flooded into the room. They came to an abrupt halt at the sight of the time travelers and regarded them warily in an attempt to ascertain whether they were dangerous or not. Once satisfied they were not, they promptly dragged the intruders from the main generator area. Someone was displeased with the Doctor's slow progress and gave him a rough shove that sent him careening into some crates.

"Leave him alone!" Peri snapped angrily. "Can't you see he's hurt?"

Her words fell on deaf ears. The men continued to push and shove them across the enormous room, apparently enjoying their own brutality. By the time they reached the door, Peri had had enough. Just as she was about to start castigating the entire group in earnest, a stocky man named Owen appeared in the door way, a disapproving scowl on his face. Peri decided he must be the one in charge, because all he did was wave a hand and the others backed off.

"Don't you men have work to do?" the newcomer asked sharply, sending several men scurrying from the group.

Giving Peri only a cursory glance, Owen turned his attention to the unresisting Time Lord, making a quick examination of his hands and face. Despite the fact that the Doctor's exposure had been brief, the high intensity light had burned him severely, the skin on his unprotected hands seeming to have suffered the worst.

Suddenly a scream of abject horror resounded through the building.

"Owen!" someone screamed from the catwalk. "Owen, my God! It's…there's… Oh, my God!"

"Well, what is it, man?" Owen demanded impatiently.

It was the Doctor who replied, his voice unnaturally calm. "I'm afraid it's Bailey. He's dead."

"What!"

"He wouldn't come down from the catwalk after the second bell sounded. Or the third," the Doctor explained. He felt a sudden chill and wondered almost abstractly if it was caused by the memory of Bailey's death or the fact that he was going into shock. Both perhaps.

A threatening voice from the crowd asked, "Wouldn't or couldn't?"

The Doctor did not need his eyes to see the situation was turning ugly again, Peri's grip on his arm tightening in confirmation. He put a reassuring hand on hers and drew himself to his full height, prepared to meet the onslaught of the angry mob.

Suddenly Owen's authoritative voice cut through the tension like a knife. "We'll let Mr. Farrell and those fancy foreign investigators sort this out, my lads. You've all got quite enough to do just getting that generator screen shut down. We don't need to be mixing in with government affairs." There were murmurs of discontent from the group as they grudgingly returned to their duties.

Now that his own people had been dealt with, Owen turned back to his prisoners, who were quite possibly the most unlikely looking pair of saboteurs he had ever seen. It was obvious the Doctor was in no condition to resist, and equally obvious Peri would not leave his side unless forced. Choosing the path of least resistance, Owen allowed Peri to guide the Doctor the short journey to security.

Just outside the security zone, Owen stopped and turned pointedly to his prisoners. "Look, I don't know how you two got up here," he began in a low, urgent voice, "but it'll go a lot easier if you tell them the truth straight off. Mr. Farrell will probably be the first to take a crack at you and he doesn't take too kindly to strangers."

"Oh, swell," Peri moaned.

The Doctor was no less optimistic. He had always tried to make it a policy to tell the truth, especially when his life was on the line. Unfortunately, no one usually believed him, their minds being too closed to accept anything other than their own version of the truth. "Anything else we shouldn't like to know?" he asked mildly.

Owen laughed nervously before leading his prisoners into the security area, having them wait in a small holding room while he went to formally turn them over for questioning. After several minutes he re turned to inform them that a transport had been dispatched to take them to the planet's surface. He produced a tube of ointment and gave it to Peri, explaining that she should use it to treat the Doctor's burns.

"Thank-you. That's more than decent of you," the Time Lord said quietly.

"I don't usually get involved in government affairs myself," the big man informed nervously, "but I've been burned myself and I know what you're going through" Pausing, he added, "If I can get to a transmitter, maybe I can get someone I know to…" His voice trailed off and he smiled self-consciously.

"Friends in high places?" the Doctor asked in a tone that was a great deal more cheerful than he actually felt.

Peri saw an odd look come to the technician's face before he muttered, "You might say that." Catching his eye, she gestured to her own eyes in an obvious question about the Doctor. Owen threw a quick glance in the Doctor's direction before he shook his head sadly. Giving a small, self-conscious smile, he quickly vanished through the door.

After several minutes a security guard came and roughly escorted the time travelers to a waiting shuttle where they were again locked up. Peri took advantage of the time in flight to treat the Doctor's burns. She could tell they were giving him a great deal of pain despite his efforts to conceal it. The ointment proved to be an extremely soothing analgesic and deadened the pain on contact.

After several minutes of tedium and since there wasn't any thing else to do, Peri got up to explore their cabin. The Doctor listened abstractly as his companion moved around, informing him of the contents of the room. Leaning forward, he sighed heavily, his hands over his aching eyes. How could I have been so careless? he thought darkly.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Peri asked concernedly, sitting down beside him and touching him on the arm.

Lowering his hands, the Time Lord sat back and gave a brief smile. "Yes, Peri, I'm fine. Just a bit tired, that's all." He tried to sound unconcerned but inwardly he was anything but. He had been incredibly careless and was now paying the price. He never should have been facing the generator screen when it came on and wondered just how extensively he had damaged his eyes. He was fairly certain it was permanent damage, which meant total blindness until his next regeneration.

These uncharacteristically melancholy thoughts were interrupted when the Doctor suddenly became aware of the fact that his companion was still clinging very tightly to his arm. She was telling him about an incident that had occurred a long time ago, but it was not this that that had gained his attention. It was the sound of her voice rather than her words that had brought him back to reality. Peri was still very frightened, and he reminded himself that the last thing she needed was for him to go to pieces. After all, he thought darkly, there would be plenty of time for him to do that later.