The batholith towered above them, its shadow stretching out over the plain.
"But why would she have come out here?" Tegan was asking as they neared the base of the mountain. "Gerran and Ellea specifically told us to avoid this area—"
"Yes, and if you wanted to hide someone away, this would be just the place. The villagers are afraid to come here," replied the Doctor.
"So you think they brought her here? But why? What would be the point? If it's that dangerous, no one would want to come out here."
"I don't know what the point is, Tegan, unless—" The Doctor paused.
"What?" asked Adric.
"I was just about to return for the TARDIS when Gerran told me that she was missing."
"Cripes," Tegan said. "Do you think they've hidden her out here to keep us from leaving?"
"It seems likely," the Doctor responded.
Tegan lifted her head and called, "Nyssa!"
She was surprised when the Doctor clapped his hand over her mouth. "Stop that, Tegan. You could trigger another rockslide."
"Sorry," she muttered. "I forgot."
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Yes, you did. Let's search around the base. If she's here she probably wouldn't be too far up."
They began walking along the outer edge of the batholith, looking up at the crevices for any signs of their friend. They called her name but kept their voices steady and low. The wind had begun to pick up, and clouds were gathering again in the sky. Several times Tegan thought she heard a human voice cry out, but she realized that it was just the wind rushing over the rocks.
When they had gone half way around the mountain, she heard the wind again. This time, however, it was softer, and it seemed to echo slightly. She listened carefully then glanced at the Doctor. He was listening, too, lifting his eyes to scan the area directly above.
"That's not the wind," she finally said. She was certain that she had heard her name drift indistinctly down from the rock.
"No, it's not." The Doctor pointed at a narrow opening about five meters ahead and scrabbled over the rock toward it. "Nyssa!" he now called, apparently unconcerned about rockslides.
"Doctor!" Nyssa's clear, sweet voice beckoned them from the fissure.
The Doctor reached the opening first and immediately withdrew his small torch to shine the light inside. The beam bounced off of the back wall to reveal Nyssa standing with her hands pressed against the rock. He moved the light, and it fell upon a large figure standing before his friend.
"Are you all right?" he called to her.
She nodded. "Be careful Doctor, he doesn't like the—"
Before she could finish, the Doctor had focused the beam upon the man's face. He bellowed in pain, swinging his arms wildly as he lurched to the side, away from the light. His hand connected solidly with Nyssa's temple, and she stumbled with a gasp.
"Don't you hurt her!" Adric had pushed his way into the cave and taken up one of the jugs that lay near the entrance. He lunged at the man, hurling the clay container at his head. The jug shattered, and the man dropped to the ground with a groan. He lay unmoving in the dirt.
The Doctor hurried forward to help Nyssa to her feet. He secured his arm around her waist and half-carried her toward the entrance. Tegan was waiting for them, reaching out immediately for her friend.
"Nyssa? Are you all right?" she asked.
Nyssa nodded somewhat woozily. She twisted her head to look back inside the cave. "He didn't mean to hurt me," she began.
Tegan was trying to look at the mark the man's fist had left on Nyssa's temple, but she brushed her friend's hand away and fixed her gaze on the Doctor. "There's something the matter with him. Will you see if he's all right?"
He nodded and returned to the cave. Adric was still standing over Nyssa's captor, alternating his attention between him and her. The Doctor knelt down beside the man and checked his pulse.
"Is he still alive?" asked Adric.
"Yes." He ran his hand over the man's head. "You hit him pretty hard, though."
"He was attacking Nyssa—"
"No," Nyssa said, stepping back into the cave, "he wasn't doing it intentionally. He's been badly hurt or has suffered some sort of serious neurological degeneration. He doesn't understand what he's doing."
The Doctor had lifted the man's eyelid to check his pupils.
"Be careful," Nyssa said. "The light hurts his eyes."
The Doctor looked up at her. "It does?"
She nodded. "Yes, terribly."
"Do you have any idea who he is?" asked the Time Lord.
Nyssa shook her head. "No, but someone has kept him supplied with food, water, and blankets." She swept her hand over the various supplies scattered throughout the cave.
Tegan was staring at the quilt. "Didn't Ellea tell us that each woman designs her own quilt pattern when she gets married?"
"Yes, I think she—" began Nyssa. "Oh! That's where I've seen it before. This is Ellea's pattern."
The Doctor stood. "Come on," he said gruffly.
"Where are we going?" asked Tegan.
"Back to the village. I want to know what's going on here."
"What about him?" asked Adric.
"There's nothing more I can do for him here. Perhaps I can bring the TARDIS later… In the meantime, I think it's safest to leave him here. As Nyssa said, he has serious neurological damage, and he may be a danger to others as well as to himself. I believe that is the reason he's been kept out here."
Nyssa placed a rolled blanket beneath the man's head and tucked the quilt around him before they left
"I wish we'd brought a lantern," Tegan said as they began to walk, noting that the sky had darkened considerably.
"We won't be out here long," the Doctor said.
"But in this light the wild boars may come out."
"Tegan," the Doctor said wearily, "there are no wild boars."
"What? Then what are the people afraid of?" Before anyone could respond, she said, with sudden comprehension, "Oh, it was him, wasn't it? He was making the noises. They were scared of him."
Nyssa stumbled on the rocky ground, and the Doctor helped her up. "Are you all right?" he asked taking her arms carefully and looking her up and down. "Did he hurt you?"
"No."
He brushed back her hair to examine the bruise on her temple then touched a rip in her sleeve. "He did this?"
"I'm not injured," she said firmly.
He nodded. "All right." Nonetheless, he kept his hand gently on the small of her back as they walked along.
"Gerran was taking food to him in the mornings, wasn't he?" Tegan asked after a minute or two of thought.
"Actually it was Ellea," the Doctor replied, "At least most mornings. He didn't want her to go this morning because he knew she'd find Nyssa."
"So Ellea wasn't aware that I was in the cave?"
"No, I don't think so. By the way," said the Doctor, "how did you end up out here? Did Gerran bring you?"
"No, not directly. He told me that there had been a rockslide and that all of you were hurt. I came out to help, and that poor man found me. He took me to the cave."
"He kept you there?" asked Tegan.
"Yes, in a manner of speaking. He became very agitated when I moved or tried to touch him."
Adric spoke next. "So Gerran sent you out here, knowing that the man would take you and that we wouldn't leave without you. Do you think any of the other villagers were in on it?"
"Vuir may have been," replied the Doctor.
"Oh no, I don't believe that," said Nyssa. "She's very committed to helping others. I can't image that she'd willingly hurt anyone. She was close to tears when she told me about the babies and children who have died—"
"What did she tell you?" asked the Doctor rather sharply.
"Just that she wasn't sure why they had become ill. She tried everything that she could to help, but she couldn't save them. She feels terrible, especially about Gerran and Ellea's child."
"Is she worried about the pregnancy?" the Doctor asked.
"Pregnancy?" Nyssa repeated. "She didn't say anything to me about it. Ellea is pregnant?"
"Yes," responded the Doctor.
"I didn't know," said Nyssa.
"There's something else that you may not know, either," he said. He gave her a succinct summary of Adric's and Tegan's recent difficulties.
"Oh no," the young Traken woman said when he had finished. She clasped both friends' hands. "I'm so sorry."
"We're all right," Tegan reassured her.
"For the moment," the Doctor cautioned. "But remember, none of you is to leave my sight. We don't know what they've done to you, and I don't want it to happen again."
"Perhaps we should just go directly to the TARDIS," Nyssa suggested. "You'll be safe there."
The Doctor disagreed. "No, Nyssa, I need to find out what has been done to them. As soon as I do we'll all return to the TARDIS."
The village was still quiet when they entered, although a few people were moving along the paths in the distance. Nyssa was beginning to shiver; the chilly, damp weather and the frightening night she had spent in the cave were affecting her. The small group sought the warmth of Gerran's house. When they arrived they found the home empty.
Tegan prepared tea while the Doctor added wood to the fire. Wrapped in a blanket, Nyssa settled on the small sofa next to Adric. She removed the single decorative pillow to give herself a bit more room.
"Let me see that," the Doctor said, nodding toward the pillow. Nyssa handed it to him. Running his fingers over the soft surface of the fabric, he appeared contemplative. Finally he said, "The goats don't belong here."
Tegan handed Nyssa a steaming mug. "What?" she asked.
The Time Lord lifted the pillow. "This fabric is wool, made from goat hair. But it's a soft variety, the type found on goats living in warm climates. The animals from which this came are indigenous to a temperate area. They are not native to this planet. Neither are the sweet potatoes that Ellea has served us."
"So the original inhabitants brought the goats and potatoes with them," Adric concluded.
"Yes," replied the Doctor, "they must have. But why would travelers have goats with them? For that matter, why would they be carrying sweet potato seeds or medical textbooks or large quantities of plastic piping?"
"And why wouldn't there be any remains of their ship's crash?" Adric added.
"They didn't crash land here, did they?" asked Tegan.
"I don't believe so," the Doctor responded. "From all appearances, it seems that the original inhabitants knew that they would be settling here. They brought a number of items that would assist them in survival."
"So Gerran lied to us about his ancestors," said Tegan.
"Yes, it seems that he did," the Doctor replied.
Nyssa said, "Unless he didn't know. Is it possible that the original inhabitants told their children that they crashed here? Perhaps they didn't want future generations to know what brought them here."
"I suppose that is possible," the Time Lord acknowledged. He bent toward the fire for a moment to warm his hands then turned toward his companions. "You three stay here. I'll be back soon."
"Where are you going?" Adric asked.
"To find out why Gerran sent Nyssa out to the mountain. He's lied to us more than once, and I want to know the reason."
After the Doctor left, the three young people sat quietly for several minutes until Ellea entered the house. She was somewhat startled to find her guests waiting for her.
"Nyssa," she said almost breathlessly, "you're all right. I'm glad."
"Thank you," replied the young scientist.
"Do you know where she was?" asked Tegan pointedly.
Ellea shook her head. "No. I was worried that you'd gone out to look around and had gotten lost."
"She was held captive in a cave in the mountain," Tegan said.
Ellea blanched and reached out for a nearby chair to steady herself. Nyssa and Tegan hurried toward her and helped her to sit comfortably near the fire. She had pressed a hand to her chest; she seemed to have trouble catching her breath.
"I'll get some water," Tegan offered, hurrying to the kitchen.
Nyssa took Ellea's hand. "I'm all right. He didn't hurt me."
Ellea nodded in relief but remained pale.
"So you had nothing to do with Nyssa's being sent out to the mountain?" Adric asked.
"No. I'm sorry. You should—never have been—out there alone," she gasped.
Nyssa knelt before her. "We know that this wasn't your fault. We're not angry with you. Try to relax. Take some deep breaths."
Ellea nodded and closed her eyes for a few seconds. Tegan appeared with a cup of water, which she offered to their hostess. Ellea took a small sip.
"Are you feeling better?" Nyssa asked.
"Yes," Ellea replied softly.
"Ellea," Nyssa said, "we need to know what's going on here. Who is the man in the cave?"
She swallowed. "His name is Shand. He's my brother."
All three companions exchanged surprised glances. "Rannal's father?" Adric questioned.
Ellea acknowledged this with a slight nod.
"But Gerran told us that he had died," Tegan said.
Ellea shook her head. "No, he didn't. He was in a terrible accident—a rockslide, and we thought that he would die. Vuir was certain of it, he was so badly hurt."
"He must have suffered severe brain trauma," Nyssa said.
"No, his head wasn't injured. It was his lungs. He couldn't breathe—he was suffocating, and he had only moments left to live. We were sure he was dying, so we—" She sniffed and blinked back tears, wiping a hand over her eyes.
"What did you do?" asked Nyssa.
"Vuir had read about something—a way of helping a person to breathe. She cut into his chest and put a tube into his lung."
"And that saved him," Tegan easily concluded.
"Yes."
"But still he suffered terrible neurological damage," Nyssa said.
"Was his brain deprived of oxygen?" asked Tegan.
Nyssa glanced at her, saying softly, "I don't think so." She returned her gaze to Ellea. "Tell me what happened to him."
Ellea shook her head slowly, tears flowing from her eyes. "I can't," she whispered.
Nyssa took her hand. "Yes, you can. You've been caring for him, bringing him food and blankets despite the danger he presented to you and your unborn child." She ran her fingertips over the bruise on Ellea's cheek. "You alone have taken responsibility for him. And yet the guilt you feel is still overwhelming. I think it's affecting your health and that of your child." Nyssa touched Ellea's stomach lightly. "Tell us what happened."
She looked up at Nyssa. "We have all agreed that we mustn't ever speak of it to you." She clasped Nyssa's hand fiercely. "Please, Nyssa, find the Doctor and go back to your ship. Leave this planet. Go now."
"We can't do that yet," Nyssa replied. "Adric and Tegan have been ill. The Doctor won't return to the TARDIS until he knows what happened to them. Please, Ellea, tell us what is going on."
Ellea still hesitated. Tegan prompted, "We already know that the story about your ancestors crash-landing here is a lie. They knew they'd be settling here and brought things that would help them survive—goats, vegetable seeds, reference books, pipes."
Ellea remained silent.
"Your ancestors," continued Adric, "must have been sent here. It probably wasn't their choice, either. They were given minimal items for survival—enough materials to keep them alive, but not enough to permit technological growth. The lack of machinery," he reasoned aloud, "indicates that whoever sent them here wanted to be sure that they wouldn't have the technology to leave."
Ellea listened raptly to his explanation, making no attempts to deny or justify the information.
"Ellea," Nyssa said, "tell us why they were sent here."
She blinked back tears. "Please, just go," she finally choked out.
"Not until we know the truth," Tegan responded.
Nyssa was still clasping her hand. "It has something to do with your brother and with what has happened to Adric and Tegan, doesn't it?"
Her eyes widened in response.
"We know about your first child, Lara," Nyssa said gently. "I'm very sorry for your loss. There have been others, too, haven't there?" Without waiting for her to reply, she continued. "Something is happening to the children here, something that weakens them and often kills them. This generation is obviously much smaller than the previous ones. Tell us what caused your ancestors to be sent away. The life of your child may depend upon it."
Ellea was trembling. "You know of a way to save my child?"
"Possibly. But we can only help you if you tell us the truth."
"After what has happened," she looked up at Nyssa, "you would still help us?"
"Of course," Nyssa replied without hesitation.
Ellea wiped at the tears in her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath.
------
The Doctor walked quickly along the path toward the meeting house. Several people passed him, but his short greetings were met with curt nods at best. He had the distinct feeling that the villagers had suddenly grown uncomfortable around him. Their curiosity and open desire for the knowledge that he could share with them had abruptly ceased.
He asked several residents where Gerran was. All responded politely yet briefly that he was still at the meeting house. The Time Lord hurried toward the large building. The door stood open, and he stepped inside to find Gerran conversing intently with several other men.
"Gerran." His voice had a sharp edge that caught the man's attention immediately.
"Good afternoon, Doctor. Have you found Nyssa?"
"Yes, we have."
Gerran's eyes widened in surprise. "And is she… all right?"
"Fortunately, she is." He kept his tone even, but his anger was quickly building. "No thanks to you."
"To me? I'm not sure what you mean—"
"You sent her out to the mountain. You knew that man was out there and that he posed a threat to her—"
He was aware that someone was creeping up behind him, but he whirled around an instant too late to avoid the stout log that was swung at his head. It connected with a dull thud, sending him sprawling back, fighting for consciousness as he fell to the floor.
------
Ellea took another calming breath then began: "Our ancestors were sent away because of a special ability they possessed. They were all related—two brothers, a sister, three cousins, an aunt and two uncles—and their family line had always been sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others."
"They were empaths?" Nyssa asked.
"I'm not sure. But in this generation, the group who first came here, the ability had grown and changed. They were able to take vague impressions from other people, to glimpse their memories."
"How?" Tegan asked.
"We don't understand it completely. Government scientists ran tests on our ancestors, and I suppose that at one time someone understood it, but that knowledge has been lost to us."
"They were sent away," Adric said, "because the government feared their abilities?"
Ellea shook her head. "No, that's not entirely right. The government wanted them to use their special skills to take information from others, but our ancestors refused; they didn't want to be spies. The government told them that they would be sent away if they didn't cooperate."
"And they were?" Adric confirmed.
She nodded. "Once they got here they had plenty of time to think about what had happened. In retrospect, they probably were exiled partially out of fear. After all, they could have used their skills to learn about their own government's secrets if they chose."
"The skill has grown stronger with each subsequent generation," surmised Nyssa. "Inbreeding can strengthen particular traits Unfortunately it can also lead to genetic weaknesses and mutations. That is probably why the children who have been born recently have been ill and weak."
"We didn't know…" Ellea murmured. "We've brought this upon ourselves, haven't we?"
Nyssa replied, "I'm sure you had no way of knowing. At first your ancestors only saw the positive traits. Often negative consequences aren't apparent for several generations. But we'd like to hear more about your own present abilities."
"Now," said Ellea quietly, "each one of us has the ability to take memories from others. But we don't use this skill to harm anyone."
"But Rannal and Morra used it on Adric and me, and it gave us nosebleeds and made him sick," Tegan reminded her.
"And I'm very sorry about that. Children are forbidden to use the skill without adult supervision. They don't understand it, and they can't control it as adults can. Rannal and Morra should not have done that to either of you; it was wrong. Adults use it primarily to improve closeness between spouses, to comfort our children, and to share memories of those who have left us."
In response to her listeners' inquisitive looks, she continued, "After a person has died, we gather periodically to share memories of him or her. We permit the surviving spouse, or occasionally an older child, to take a memory of the person. The worship we held two days ago was to remember Shand. People who knew him well shared their memories with Cira and the children."
"When Morra was upset," Tegan said, "Cira said she'd make her feel better and told her she'd give her something pretty to see. Was she using the skill?"
Ellea nodded. "Parents often take away memories of frightening or unpleasant experiences from their children."
"But they can give them memories or images, too?" Nyssa questioned.
"Yes—but only a mother can do this. The men have never developed that part of the skill."
"Hormones released during pregnancy must affect the ability," Nyssa concluded.
"I don't know," Ellea said.
Adric had stood and was now pacing back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back. The Doctor's influence on his posture was quite evident. "You said that adults use the skill mostly to improve closeness, for comfort, and to share memories. How else do they use it?"
Ellea seemed to pale slightly at his question. She pressed her lips together. "Just before a person dies," she said slowly, "we take his or her memories."
"All of them?" asked Adric, somewhat shocked at the prospect.
"Yes. If the person is married, the spouse takes most of the memories, and if there are grown children, they take some. Others—siblings, aunts, uncles, or close friends—may take a few bits as well. If the person has special knowledge, such as Vuir's mother did, it can be passed on to the next person who will assume the role."
"And you thought that your brother's death was imminent," Nyssa said sympathetically, "so you and Cira and the others took all his memories. But he survived."
Ellea had begun to cry again. "Yes," she whispered. "Vuir wanted to try the procedure with the tube, to see if it would work so that she might be able to save others. But he was so close to death. We had to take his memories before he died or they would be lost—and he was very knowledgeable about our plants, so we needed his memories. We continued even as she was working on him. When he began to breathe and we realized that he might live, we had already taken everything from him."
"And damaged his central nervous system in the process," Nyssa finished.
"But the memories could be put back, couldn't they?" Tegan asked. "Couldn't you or Cira return them?"
"There was too much damage," Ellea said. "We tried to replace some of the memories, but he bled and screamed in pain, and we knew that it was useless."
"So you sent him to the cave; you exiled him just as your own ancestors were exiled here?" Tegan asked rather indignantly.
"We had no choice. He was like an animal; we couldn't communicate with him, and he lashed out at everyone. I've tried to keep him comfortable—"
"Why you? Why not Cira?" asked Adric.
"She was devastated, and the children were crushed and confused. They don't know that he's still alive. They wouldn't understand, and if they were to see him there is a good chance that he'd hurt them. He wouldn't know who they are—"
With a worried edge in her voice, Nyssa asked, "What the children did to Adric and Tegan. Will it cause permanent damage?"
Ellea shook her head. "I don't think so. They aren't the first children to experiment with their skills on adults. No one has ever shown any long-term effects from the process."
"But our memories are gone!" Adric protested. "He took away some of my mathematics knowledge!"
"You can learn it again," Ellea reassured him.
"And the memories of events that we've experienced?" Tegan asked. "How can we get those back?"
Ellea sighed. "I'm afraid that you can't."
------
The Doctor fought to remain conscious. His vision was intermittently blurred, and he felt slightly queasy. Gerran's face swam hazily before him. He blinked, forcing himself back to alertness.
"What is it, exactly, that you want from me?" he asked, beginning to lift his hand to massage his throbbing head. His arm, however, was restrained. Indeed, he discovered that both arms were held securely behind his back. He was sitting upon the floor with two men behind him.
Gerran was crouched in front of the Time Lord, watching him with an odd expression on his face. "I want to know how to fly your ship."
"You want to leave here?"
Gerran nodded. "We must return to Earth. It is the only hope for my child. Our first child died before she was a year old, and Ellea has lost two others before their births. And she isn't the only one. Our people will die out if we stay here."
"I can help you. Nyssa and I can figure out what's causing the difficulties and—"
"No," Gerran said sadly. "We have to go back to Earth. We've waited five generations for this chance. We can't pass it up now."
He lifted his hands to study them for a moment before returning his gaze to the Doctor's face. "You won't remember this, but at least you'll know now that I ask for your forgiveness. There is no other way."
His hands, trembling slightly, moved toward the Doctor.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked.
"I have no other choice," Gerran said. He rested his right hand against the Doctor's temple.
In an instant the Doctor understood. He twisted his body fiercely, trying to break the grip of the men who restrained him. But they were strong and he sensed an unyielding determination in them. They held him more firmly. Two others stepped forward to hold down his legs.
"You can't do this!" the Doctor cried. "You don't know the effects—"
Gerran pressed his left hand over the Doctor's forehead. His voice was low as he uttered, "I'm sorry."