A/N: Sorry this took so long to put up. Between moving and this DAMN INTERNET, I've been having real trouble submitting anything. I like this chapter, though. Cat fight! o.o o.o

xxx xxx

"How old are you?"

The Doctor glanced up, annoyed at the interruption. Ten yards of burning sand separated him and Rose from the time lady, a vain attempt at privacy. Her questions were relentless, shouted over the shrill 'ka-ka-kaa' of sundown cicadas.

"Nine hundred, the last time I counted." the Doctor replied curtly.

Odjya merely nodded. She yawned lazily, and glanced down to watch her feet. She was barefoot, and the wet sand of the dragon trail squelched between her toes. A primitive hunting axe with a wicked spike at the top swung freely from her belt. From the amount of rust crusted on the blade, Rose guessed any victim of the axe was as likely to be killed from tetanus as from the blow.

"I think I'm gonna take a holiday on earth once we're outta this dump." Rose said, surveying the landscape dismally.

Even in the brilliant sunset, the desert colours were strangely muted. Gold dunes, turquoise sky, dimmed by a veneer of wind-blown sand. Light and colour oozed from the horizon, land and sky blending together seamlessly.

"What I wouldn't give for a cup of tea…" the Doctor's eyes misted over, and he smiled vaguely. A classic sufferer of caffeine withdrawal.

The trio had left Gymnophiona two hours earlier, much later in the day than Rose had anticipated. From the moment trade had closed, to the first steps outside the Rax colony, they had been crowded. Pg and Kermk wanted to buy their 'creatures' back. Domo Barter wanted to trade for the sky-rock, as insurance. The other Rax took a sudden and intense interest in what could be next week's dinner.

For the most part, Odjya had left them alone: she had luggage to pack. Though, from what Rose had seen, aside from a few water canteens and a small, bone shovel, all she had packed was weapons. Now that Gymnophiona was far behind them, Rose was desperate for some privacy. Odjya wasn't having any of it.

"Who wants this? It's the only throwing axe I have." The time lady asked.

She held up a another axe, this one even more sinister than the first. It was wrought from a single piece of black metal, with an almost scythe-like blade. The shaft bucked and twisted, shaped like the neck of a ibis. The lower part of the shaft was straight, with two narrow spikes sticking out horizontally.

Rose made a face. She almost felt sorry for the creature that had that axe thrown at it.

"That's not Raxin," the Doctor frowned, shifting his eyes from the axe to Odjya, "This lot are still in the bone and skin stage. They're still millennia away from steel weapons."

"So?"

"So it's African." Rose piped, hoping for a quick end to the conversation, "I've seen 'em in the museum."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing. In his mind, he was slowly reconstructing the events of the last week, trying to figure out exactly when he lost his mind. First the time lady appeared, and now Rose could pick out the origin of something before he did. He was definitely going crazy.

"That's a clever little ape you've got there." Odjya said, smiling indulgently at Rose, "Would you like to use this?" she wiggled the axe.

"On you, maybe." Rose retorted.

"Witty, too." The time lady smiled again. "She's human, correct?"

The Doctor grinned. He felt a little foolish talking about Rose when she was right beside him, and his face flushed red. "That she is. The ambassador of a truly marvellous race of people. Curious, intrepid explorers, gradually making their way into the stars." He said, slipping an arm around Rose's waist, "The universe's children."

Rose rolled her eyes, but secretly she was pleased that the Doctor had stuck up for her. She reciprocated his gesture, resting one hand on the hollow curve of his hip. He smelt of musk and blood and sweat, a stale odour which Rose found increasingly intoxicating.

"Ah." Odjya looked doubtful, "I see. And how old is she? It is a female, isn't it?"

Rose glowered. "Of course I'm bloody female! I look the same as you do!"

If anything, the time lady looked offended. "I doubt that. You're people would have just come down out of the trees. Little more than monkeys, really."

The Doctor covered his face with his hand. If this was a hallucination, now was the time for it to end.

"What is it with you time lords!" Rose shrieked, "You all think you're so high and mighty! I'll tell you one thing, you," she glared at Odjya, voice dripping sarcasm, "Pinnacle of evolution, you're obviously not as grand as you think! If you're all that genius, why are you two the only ones left?"

"At the pinnacle of evolution, you loose the ability to adapt. If you don't change, you die. Rule of life." Odjya said, her voice low. Menacing.

She crossed the distance between herself and Rose quickly, and crouched down three feet away. Rose halted abruptly, turning to stare at the time lady. Odjya's yellow eyes were cold, with a remoteness of expression usually reserved for bristling lions or snakes. Thick lines of scar tissue criss-crossed her face, shockingly white against her bronze skin. Short blonde dreadlocks fell to her jaws. The length was slightly uneven, like she'd hacked at it with a machete. Combined with her monkey limbs, her appearance was wild.

"What, you think you're scary?" Rose almost laughed, "You and the Doctor are smart, I'll give you that. But if you're going to fight someone…leave it to the people who fight everyone."

"You're people fight everyone, do they?" Odjya growled.

"I've never fought a Gallifryan before. But yeah, I'll give it a go." Rose replied. She didn't know why she was so eager to fight. It wasn't something she did regularly.

But something about the time lady gave her the creeps. If humanity has one prevailing characteristic, it's the resolution to conquer that which it fears. Wolves, ice, fire, space. Rose's pulse thundered through her, aggravated by the promise of violence.

"Rose, no." the Doctor protested, but his voice was weak. He wasn't sure enough of himself to stop what was happening.

"Come on, then-"

Rose was still speaking when Odjya tackled her to the ground. The time lady didn't bother with preliminaries.

"Get off!" Rose snarled, shoving the other woman off her.

The Doctor stepped back, watching in awed fascination. He licked his lips.

Odjya arched her back as she tumbled to the ground, slamming her elbows against the wet sand, and flipping herself onto her stomach. In a blur of movement, she lunged for Rose again.

Rose yelped, and scrambled out of the way. The time lady missed her, but spun and found her balance once more. Both axes had fallen, forgotten, to the ground. Rose prayed silently that it wouldn't come to the point where she needed one.

"Monkey." Odjya spat at her. Her teeth were brilliant white, glistening like exposed bone in the red wound of her mouth.

"Bitch." Rose snapped back.

She dove for the other, and slammed bodily into her. Both women crashed to the sand, in a tangle of limbs and snagging garments.

The Doctor smiled to himself.

Pinned, Odjya struggled frantically to be freed. Rose shifted slightly, taking a hold of the time lady's wrists. She rested her knees on Odjya's abdomen, with her snow boots digging into the time lady's thighs. It looked absurd, but had the other women effectively trapped. There wasn't much she could do but wriggle.

"Give up." Rose panted, struggling to keep balance.

Odjya didn't reply. She hissed through her teeth, the wiry muscles of her bare arms tightening and writhing. She pushed up against Rose's grip, slowly but surely gaining leverage.

Rose drew her arms up a fraction, then slammed them back down. The time lady stared at her, eyes screaming burning hatred. This was one nasty, if not tough, little weasel.

"Maybe this is why your people died." Rose said, low enough that the Doctor wouldn't hear her, "You underestimated you opponents."

Odjya screamed. She twisted, screaming all the while, tipping Rose off her. Odjya ripped her wrists from Rose's grip, and grabbed the human girl by her hair.

"Hey!" the Doctor shouted, moving in to help.

Winded, Rose slid her hand beneath her, rising on all fours. She would have gladly stayed down, but Odjya's searing grip on her hair demanded she get up. Her face stung from the impact with the wet sand.

Now that she was in charge, Odjya was calmer. With one hand still woven through Rose's hair, she used the other to probe the back of the girl's skull. Her fingers pressed down on the thick skin at the back of Rose's neck, then crept higher. She explored the horseshoe niche where spine met skull, and pressed her fingers higher again.

"Ah-hah!" Odjya enthused at last. She grinned wickedly up at the Doctor, "There you have it."

"What?" the Doctor wondered, gazing at the back of Rose's head.

"Orbital lump." The time lady had two fingers pushing against a bony lump on the girl's head. "Proof that there's some Neanderthal in this monkey's heritage."

"Let me feel." The Doctor said.

Obligingly, Odjya climbed off Rose. She moved aside to make room for the Doctor.

"I hate you both." Rose muttered.

"Rose, you old ape. You can get up, you know." The Doctor chuckled. He helped the other to her feet, before massaging the back of her head with his fingers.

At first, she thought he was being nice. Then she realised he was checking for whatever it was that Odjya had found.

"She's right, ducky." The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Rose, his hand still on her head. "You've got an orbital lump. It's believed, though no one is sure, that the original Cro-Magnons didn't have these lumps, and they were exclusive to human predecessors, the Neanderthals. As you know, the Neanderthals died out around five thousand years after the Cro-Magnons appeared. No one really knows why, but one theory is that they simply interbred with the Cro-Magnons, and the races were assimilated. Hence, some modern humans have these remnant orbital lumps."

"I'm not a monkey." Rose said, a tad unsteadily.

Odjya snorted. "You're an ape, though."

She was still glaring at Rose, but she'd found a new respect for the girl. Well, maybe 'respect' is too strong a word. Wariness and circumspection might have been more accurate.

As an assurance that the fight was over, Odjya turned away from Rose, and scooped her axes up off the ground. She padded away, continuing along the wide underground river that was the dragon trail, her feet leaving only slight shadows in the wet sand.

"She's weird." Rose said, watching her adversary leave.

"Kind of creepy." The Doctor agreed. He smiled down at Rose. Her black shirt was ratty and worn, smeared with clinging sand. There were big water marks on her knees and butt, where she'd been pushed to the ground. Her hair was a mess, and her cheek was swollen.

"Did I ever told you you're gorgeous?" he wondered, drawing her closer to him.

"No." Rose huffed, trying to regain the dignity she lost during the fight, "But it's about time you did."

The Doctor laughed softly.

"You're gorgeous." He grinned easily, eyes warm.

Pressed against his chest, Rose struggled to see his face, his expression. "You really think so?"

He hugged her tightly. "The sun itself would turn belly-up just for a look at you."

Rose laughed, and pulled away from him. She wove her fingers between his, and the two of them set off after Odjya.

"You know that's impossible." Rose said, still giggling at his comment.

"I know." He replied.

"Thanks anyway."

xxx

That night, Roes had the first shift.

It was pointless really for her to take a shift at all. Both the Doctor and Odjya seemed to sleep with both eyes open.

They were hidden amongst the dunes, a hundred yards from the dark streak of the dragon trail. Desert worms were notoriously common along the trail, and no one wanted to run into one at night. Or ever, really.

Far above, the sky hung fat and glistening with stars. It looked as tangible as it was intangible, like the stars were no more than tiny bubbles of impurities suspended in a thick greasy gel.

Below, the sand was warm. Even when the air was chilly, the desert floor was always warm, even hot. The camp fire had been made more for the comfort flickering flames provided for the lonely watchman than the heat.

"This planet is a dump." Rose murmured. She blinked. Her eyes were puffy with fatigue. Another hour, and her shift would end. Rose wasn't sure she'd last that long.

The Doctor twisted restlessly in his sleep. He muttered something just out of audible range, and flopped onto his back. His sleeping skins had been long since tipped to the desert floor, and Rose had given up replacing them.

She smiled at him, taking her time to linger on his lean frame, more exposed than usual in just a half-undone button up shirt. His eyes were closed, but his breathing was fast, and his expression was agitated. He'd been much the same every time he slept since they'd left Ilium Neocort. Very anxious.

"I wonder what's going on in that fat head of yours." She said to his sleeping figure, smiling inwardly.

There was an object in the palm of her hand, and Rose fingered it ceaselessly. Even that evening, when they'd hurried to catch up with Odjya, Rose had had no time to tell the Doctor about it. And she sure as hell didn't want the time lady seeing it.

Rose held her hand out in front of her, examining the object. It was small and round. The back was flat, and crusted red with rust. The dome of glass at the front was cracked and yellowing, almost obscuring what lay beneath.

Only by squinting had Rose been able to tell what it was. It was no great wonder that it had baffled Pg, who'd pressed it into her hand just before she'd left Gymnophiona.

She remembered the young Rax's face, so anxious and full of things unsaid. Rose suspected she often wore the same expression whenever the Doctor was in danger.

Full of things unsaid.

The object in her hand was a compass.

The Doctor was dreaming.

xxx

Footsteps in the hall outside. The slap of rubber against tiles.

"Just a little more time."

Not shifting his stare from the door for an instant, the Doctor rummaged blindly through the drawer he'd managed to unlock. Something sharp, the blade of a pair of metal scissors, a knife, bit into his hand.

He gasped, but kept groping. No looking down.

The door hand clicked with the report of a gunshot. With a groan, the door swung open.

A man strode into the room. His suit was worn, more than worn. Positively shabby, for a professor at the university. Though he looked familiar, the Doctor wasn't really sure what the professor taught. He hardly saw how it mattered, now he'd been caught out. Breaking into a professor's desk meant instant expulsion.

But maybe…maybe it wasn't too late. The professor didn't seem surprised at the scene before him. He crossed the room, with the Doctor still fumbling blindly through the drawer. The blade sunk into his hand a second time.

"You'll never find it like that." The professor said.

"What?"

"For Gallifrey's sake, look at what you're doing!"

The Doctor risked a glance at the drawer. His hand was bleeding, but he hardly noticed.

There it was! The book! The Doctor stared at it with a mixture of remorse and yearning.

"Co-ordinates for all the forbidden planets in the multiverse." The professor mused, regarding the slim leather-bound book. It was no more remarkable in appearance than a book of addresses. "Now, what do you want with that?"

"I- I -" the Doctor had been a young man then, unsure of himself, and his aspirations. "I want to travel, sir."

The professor smiled, and the dream warped.

Or at least the Doctor assumed it did. The next thing he knew, he was lying on his bed in his dorm room, staring up at the ceiling.

xxx xxx

Snarf snarf.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed and was patient with this chapter, and also a special thanks to Madame 'Nana' Boyle, for showing me her fantasic collection of African axes. This woman is 104, and her house is full of axes. Creep-eee.
How cool did the devil guy look on Doctor Who on Saturday? Very, that's how.

Next chapter up as soon as possible.