Clara managed to jury-rig the system to get it working again, even if it would only last a minute or two. All she had had to do was squeeze out the last drops of residual energy in the system and reroute them to one console.

With a sputtering of light, the monitor turned on, and Clara immediately hacked it with the sonic screwdriver, going through a map of the ship, and setting a destination into the sonic. She set the pathway to what looked like the nearest information system, and then she just followed the sonic; it made buzzing noises that varied in intensity, so she knew what direction to go in. Then, it was just a matter of getting there.

Clara was pretty good at the whole 'sneaking around' thing, fighting an invading force of aliens (and just hanging around with the Doctor in general) would give anyone a good sense for danger, and a superb ability for getting out of tricky situations. Plus, the crew seemed to be busy, and there also weren't too many of them, so Clara really didn't have trouble getting to the information room. And if she had run into any trouble, there always was her trusty blaster, even if it wasn't the one she was accustomed to.

She entered the room, it was empty. For a moment she was afraid that the power would be out here as it had been in the security room, but when she tried one of the consoles it turned on. They must have just abandoned the room to conserve energy, whatever malfunction or short-circuit that had wrecked the systems hadn't affected the entire ship, and this room was one of the ones that had been spared.

Clara went through the information, carefully gathering evidence and searching for clues. And then she found it, the ship's log, a record of everything that happened to and aboard the ship. She started at the beginning.

This ship was intended for research purposes, or at least, that was its original function. It was an Asudine ship, and they were perhaps one of the most prolific species of scientists and engineers that the universe had produced. Later, the mission of the Asudine ship had changed, if only slightly: instead of general research, they were supposed to focus on the issue of time travel. For this end, the very best and brightest time travel experts and their assistants had been assembled, and, to ensure the success of the mission, the Svinge'vat had been hired as guards to keep the crew and ship safe (and would also be a step towards cementing the two species alliance). But, when war broke out in the middle of the experimentation and the crew was literally trapped in a firefight, their only chance of escape had been to field test the untried technology, stranding them in the past, along with several Ra'hi prisoners.

The jump through time and space had left them with a broken ship, much of the technology fried beyond repair, and the few surviving renewable power cells were not enough to provide energy to all the remaining systems. So, much of the ship's nonessential systems had been turned off and sealed away.

Asudine technology could derive its power from almost any source, the most abundant and readily available supply being sunlight, which, for a ship intended for deep space flight, was insufficient. But the surrounding materials seemed to be more than suitable enough to meet their needs, the dirt and rocks filled with an abundance of elements. So, to facilitate their experiments and help get them back home, the Ra'hi prisoners were used as guinea pigs and manual laborers. When the prisoners ran out, the Asudine moved on to the local population: humans. They captured them from surrounding areas, making sure to take ones that wouldn't be missed, and then used them. Many were used to mine material and manually power machinery, the work was grueling and labor-intensive, but it provided what was needed to power the ship, well enough anyway. The rest were used in the Asudine experiments.

Clara continued looking through the files, wondering if there was anything else of note. And she did find something interesting: of the Ra'hi prisoners that were aboard the ship, two were not used in the time experiments. One was an exceptionally talented psychic and the other…

There was a knocking sound outside the door, like some piece of machinery being wheeled around. Behind the clatter Clara also recognized the sound of footsteps. She shut off the terminal and hid under a desk, not wanting a confrontation. She was done with the information room anyway; she doubted there was anything else she could learn.

The noisy racket of machinery and footsteps receded, and Clara left the room. She had a pretty good idea of what she was going to do next: shut down the aliens' operation, even if that meant destroying the ship, even if it meant dissecting it wire by wire.

Gage looked at the impossible situation in front of him and wondered what he could possibly do. He had found the prisoners, all of them chained to the floors of the large, empty room he had passed through before. There were also several guards in the room, but they didn't seem to be on alert, in fact they were pretty relaxed and unworried. But still, they had those deadly guns in their holsters, and an assortment of other gadgets attached to their belts.

He stood beside the doorway, trying to find a way to free the prisoners, but so far there was nothing. He wondered if he could disable the guns with the screwdriver, he had the distinct impression that he could, but he didn't know how, and anyway, it would be impossible to safely test the results. But what worried him even more were those other miscellaneous gadgets, as he doubted that they were all harmless. He was certain that at least one of those things was the same memory gas that they were so fond of using, which may be an advantage, if there weren't a few dozen innocents who would also be affected.

He looked around, trying to find something that would be useful. He didn't know alien technology, what they would have on their ships, what kinds of systems they installed… except that, maybe he did. He watched science fiction shows, didn't he? And there were always some systems that every space faring vessel needed: life support, climate control, communication, artificial gravity. Okay, so that last one would be useless, them being on Earth, but what about life support or climate control? Heck, he might even be able to use the communications system. But how? And if he did manage to rescue all these people, how was he even going to get them out of here?

Those two girls had gotten aboard, the girl had mentioned as much; she had also mentioned that blue box thing they had found, the Tardis. That would be useful, if he knew where it was. But he didn't, and he didn't know where the exit was either… except, maybe he did. He looked back into the large room, and knew that his suspicion was right, it was a cargo bay. And as any sci-fi geek would realize, a cargo bay had to be accessible for loading and unloading things. Those curved walls did look suspiciously like doors: the metal was set in a horizontal pattern, and that would make it easy to slide up or down to create an opening.

If he was right, then that would solve one of his problems, and all he would be left with was the guards. There were a total of five of them in the room, and each was at least as strong as two men: way too many for him to take alone. Looking at the guards he felt that he was missing something.

He tried to remember the scene with the girl and the fish-faced guards, and figure out what he missed. There had been two guards, the girl knew that they had figured out she was an intruder, but she had also known that they would wait to act, but why? They were clearly stronger, and there had been two of them, making our numbers even. Later, four guards had come after them, twice as many as before…. would they not act if they didn't outnumber their enemy? Or was it something else entirely?

If his theory was right, then all he had to do was make sure they were outnumbered, and they pretty much already were. There were dozens of prisoners after all, but they were chained, and helpless, and the guards did have guns. But the prisoners were kept in good condition for whatever work they were being forced to do, and if he could just free them… Or, maybe there was a way to get rid of all the guards at once… A plan was starting to form, and Gage thought it might just work.

"Why weren't you guarded?" the girl asked Siv as they exited her room and entered an empty hallway.

"In the beginning, I was," Siv replied. "I guess eventually they figured I wouldn't try anything, or that their security measures were enough to keep me confined, and that their manpower would be better used elsewhere."

"Makes sense," the girl said, nodding in understanding. "So, do you know where your sister is being kept?"

"No…" Siv replied, shaking her head sadly.

"Well, that's okay; we just need to find a copy of the ship's log. If they're the trained, avid soldiers and scientists I think they are, then they won't be able to help keeping a complete log."

"Is your memory returning?" Siv asked.

"Not exactly," the girl replied. "But I do think that some of my old knowledge and instinct is returning, and I do have some vague impressions of my past."

"I'm glad," Siv said. "I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to help."

"Well, if you really want to help, do you think you could do some psychic scanning of the area? Make sure we don't run into any guards?"

"No problem," Siv replied, smiling softly to herself, silently pleased at the thought of using her abilities to help someone instead of hurt them.

They walked along the hallways. The girl had some idea of where they could find an information terminal, and Siv read the movements of nearby guards, guiding the two of them to their destination safely.

"It's empty," Siv whispered, the girl nodded and walked through the door.

They found a darkened room filed with several desks, chairs, and computer access terminals, most of which were specifically designed to provide access to the ship's more sensitive information.

"How could they just leave this room lying around?" Siv asked. "You would think they'd at least lock it."

"They didn't think they would need to," the girl replied. "After all, they are on what they consider a primitive world, no threat of intruders or detection. And locking the doors requires a small amount of power, which they can't spare. Plus, there are probably three or more of these rooms on the ship, all they'd need is one. So they just shut off the power and forgot about it."

"I guess it makes sense," Siv said, slowly climbing off the Doctor's back, her legs gave out almost immediately, and she dropped to her knees on the ground.

The girl made her way over to a terminal, and Siv climbed to her feet, using nearby desks and chairs for support as she moved to join the Doctor.

"How do we get into the systems?" Siv asked.

"Well, normally I'd use my sonic screwdriver and we'd be in the system within moments, but it's currently on loan so I'll have to do this manually. It might take a while," the girl replied.

The Doctor walked over to the back of the room and removed an access panel. She began humming to herself as she rerouted a tiny, unnoticeable amount of power to the room. Then she walked back to the terminal, ducked under the desk and around to the back of the machine, and hacked the systems, giving them full access to the terminal. When that was done, she navigated the information database and within moments they uncovered the same information Clara had earlier.

"If the Asudine are such capable scientists, why would they hire thugs like the Svinge'vat to protect them? Especially in a time of war?" Siv asked.

"Politics, and extra protection," the girl explained. "The Asudine and Svinge'vat were trying to cement an alliance, and this would be an invaluable show of trust and cooperation. Plus, living in the dangerous times that they were, and the Asudine being the physically weak beings they are, they wanted to make certain that if things got hairy, their research would be safe. And the Svinge'vat, despite their oddities, are one of the foremost bodyguards in the universe… or at least they would be, if not for one of their minor eccentricities."

"Which one?" Siv asked. "I understand they have quite a few."

"I'm sure you're thinking of their hydration needs, and while that can be inconvenient, it's still minor compared to what I'm referring to," the girl explained. "You see, having evolved from fish, and not one of the more predatory variety, they developed a sort of 'schooling mentality'. It's ingrained in their instincts, in their very genetics."

"Schooling mentality?" Siv said. "I've never heard of that."

"You wouldn't have, it's a closely guarded secret. And a rather big flaw," the girl explained. "This schooling instinct makes them unwilling to do things in small numbers, and completely stops them from doing something if they're obviously outnumbered, or evenly matched."

The girl paused, trying to think of a suitable example.

"So, say there was an army of them. Even if they were outnumbered then they'd still fight fine, as long as they were surrounded by a group of allies, but if their numbers dwindled, and it came down to one or two Svinge'vat against two of the enemy, they would probably flee instead of fight," she explained.

"But, that doesn't make any sense!" Siv exclaimed. "Have you seen how strong they are?"

"Sometimes instincts don't make sense," the girl said. "But they come from experiences that kept our ancestors alive long enough to have offspring, and they often keep us alive too, so I wouldn't dismiss them offhand."

"I'll keep that in mind," Siv said. "Now, let's look for my sister."

"Familial instinct," the girl said to herself, smiling.

She continued looking through the database until she found the files she was looking for: the Ra'hi.

"Your people were fighting the Asudine?" the girl asked.

"No, not that I know of," Siv replied. "As far as I can tell, they just wanted to use us for their experiments."

"That, and your nifty psychic powers were also a likely selling point."

"So they wanted to conquer us?"

"I don't think so, the Asudine aren't conquerors. All they want to do is experiment and advance. They're all scientists at their core, and most of them use ethical means to collect their data, but some aren't as… moral."

"Then how do you explain their war?"

"They were probably attacked first and were just defending themselves"

"Well, moral or not, these Asudine in particular definitely aren't on the ethical side of things."

"Maybe, maybe not," the girl said. "After all, desperation can do funny things to even the best people. And they're stranded in the past on a primitive planet populated by a warlike species. I think that counts as desperate."

"Maybe…" Siv said as the text continued scrolling down the screen.

"Wait, stop! Look, my sister," Siv said, pointing at the screen.

The girl clicked on the name and a file opened.

"No… no…" Siv said, covering her mouth and backing away.

"We're too late," the girl said.

"No! No, don't say that!" Siv yelled, but already she was crying, and the tears wouldn't stop.

The girl tried to comfort her, but she knew that it was probably useless.

And that's when the door opened.