Susan had followed the possum deep into the forest before it occurred to her that she ought to have informed Grandfather or Ian of this, but by this point she was so far from the city that she couldn't find her way back. Worse, it was almost completely dark. The light from the planet's moon was almost completely blocked by the trees. In front of her, just out of her reach, was the possum that held the translation circuit. Somehow, he'd obtained a lit torch.

She could either stop right there and try and find her way back to the city and risk getting lost until sunrise, (She had already calculated that the nights here were twice as long as the days.) or she could follow the possum and at least have a chance of getting the translation circuit back. She chose to follow.

As she ran after him, she felt nervous about what she might be getting herself into. But it was just a possum, after all. What harm could it do?

Then she felt her foot catch on a tripwire and she tumbled head over heels down a ravine.

She blacked out before she hit the bottom.

"You wanted to see me, General Blackburn?" Maude asked as she entered his office. She was a bit surprised to see him standing beside his desk holding a copy of one of her books. Several more were laid out beside him.

"Have a seat, Miss."

She sat down. Taking a deep breath, she launched into the speech she'd rehearsed in her head. "Look, General, I know what it looks like, but those aliens out there mean us no harm! They arrived last night and they're just travellers. They even promised to take off and leave if we wanted them to. Quick as you please! Now, the one you and your troops kidnapped: her name is Barbara, and-"

"The mayor has already told me as much," said Blackburn, cutting off her high-speed ramble, "but I only have his word and yours to go on. I plan to interrogate the Twolegs myself."

"But you can't! There's this device on their ship that allows them to speak and it's been stolen. It wouldn't be a fair interrogation without it."

"Miss Maude." He leaned back on his desk. "I have ways of determining their intentions toward this planet whether or not they can communicate like normal people. I've already explained it to Murray. My current concern is you."

Maude was at a loss for words for once in her life. "Me? But..."

Blackburn held up her book. "You and your work. Part two of a trilogy, am I right? And a spin-off adventure for the younger crowd." Maude nodded. "Tell me, what is this trilogy about?" He listened patiently as she rattled off the plot of the first two books. "And the finale?"

"Well, I can't go giving away the ending before it's published!" she cried.

"Trust me, Miss, I don't mind spoilers and the ending will be safe with me." When she continued to hesitate, he added, "It would make things much easier for your alien friends and yourself if you tell me how the story ends."

"Oh, all right. The Doctor and Sarah manage to bring some of the Twolegs from The Intrepid over to Bekberry's side, and it starts a small civil war in space. And then negotiations break down, the Doctor sabotages the city in the stars, and the Twolegs go away and look for someone else to bother. But I'm telling you, one of them out there is the Doctor and he-"

"Then he has nothing to worry about during the investigation and neither do his friends! The one who should be the most concerned is you." She had nothing to say to that. "Maude, are you aware that you have been publishing national secrets?"

"That's impossible! It's a totally original story."

Blackburn slammed the book down. "It is NOT. Do you realise that in your novels, you have described real events that occurred about fifty years ago? Events that the government spent a good deal of time and resources covering up?"

Maude didn't believe it. "No. There's no way...people would have remembered."

"I remember," he said, "I was a lot younger, but I still remember. Others remember, too, but we don't talk about it. Do you know why? Do you fully understand what you've been writing about? It was hell. Hell come to Bekberry. The land we'd lived in for thousands of years suddenly shifted and changed in violent earthquakes. The weather altered to rain out of season, flooding people out of their homes. Over fifty thousand people died. Killed by these Twolegs, these giants in the sky! Who could cause all this madness from space, never having to look at the people they were hurting. Some people were even kidnapped by their scientists for goodness knows what! The ones who came back never said. It was so terrible that once that Doctor left, the only way this planet could cope was by pretending it had never happened.

"So while you may see harmless aliens out there, let me remind you that I don't. I see death and destruction and despair just waiting to happen. Do you understand now, Maude? Do you understand what you've done?"

He was leaning so close that their noses were almost touching. Maude trembled in her chair, shaken by what she'd just heard. "I...I...I didn't know..."

"Now you do. Maude, I'm willing to believe those aliens out there are not the same Twolegs who crippled us. I'm willing to believe that they'll leave the moment they're asked. But what I cannot believe is that you just happened to come up with a story that happens to be a retelling of one of the most tragic events in this planet's history. Who told it to you?"

"Nobody!"

"Maude, the odds of this being a coincidence are astronomical. Who told you? Where did you find the documents?"

"I'm telling you, nobody!" she insisted.

"Then I can only assume that you yourself broke into government archives and stole the papers. Need I remind you how serious a crime that is?"

"Okay, okay! I found them." Seeing his disbelief, she continued, "I was just around and I...found them."

The General's glare hardened. "Miss Maude!"

"It was my father's!" She wailed, "It was a few months after he'd died, and I was cleaning out his study, and I found them. But I thought it was a story he'd written! And I'd only finished my last series a year before and I needed something else to write about, so I thought I'd take his and...well, all right, it was wrong of me not to credit him for it, but I dedicated the whole trilogy to him-"

"Your father, who was he?"

"Hawthorn, sir."

"Official Government Archivist?"

"Yes."

"And you found the documents he'd written, the notarised government documents, and you thought it was a work of fiction and had it published?"

"Yes."

Blackburn considered her for a moment as she began to relax. "Maude," he said, "You're under arrest for crimes against the state."

"What?!"

"Guards!"

It was slow going, because Barbara had to let the little possum go as far as her arm would reach, then crawl to catch up with him. Eventually they'd settled into a rhythm. She didn't know if he'd really understood her request, or if he was leading her to the surface or to another cell. Well, either way it was nice to have some company, even if it was furry and squeaking. She did feel a little guilty for frightening it like that. From the size of it, it didn't look like it was fully grown. Still, she doubted a military organisation would employ children.

Private Fritter hoped she wasn't judging him on his height. He'd always been on the short side and had been teased enough for it. He was still apprehensive about the whole situation, but she'd been very gentle since scaring his companions witless. And she was at least taking care to not scuff up his necklace. She was probably quite friendly when she wasn't being held against her will.

That was his problem, Fritter thought, he was always trying to give people the benefit of the doubt. He got along with others well enough, but he was a bit of a doormat when it came to most things. Aggressiveness just wasn't a quality he possessed. His father had decided that enlisting would be the best thing for Fritter, but so far it hadn't been working out so well. After all, he was currently disregarding orders and helping an alien escape just because she'd asked politely. (He supposed that that's how manners worked on her planet.)

Well, at least he was meeting new people.

Bit by bit, they shuffled down the corridor. Finally, the floor began to slope upwards toward a hidden door. It was unlocked, and Barbara pulled herself up and out into the forest. She stopped to stand and stretch, a welcome relief after being cramped for so long. The little possum looked up at her expectantly. Oh yes, the necklace. She handed it back to him. "Thank you."

He squeaked something in reply, but he didn't run off.

"That's...it's all right, you can go now. I can find my own way from here." she said. He continued to stand there, as if he was unsure of what he should do next. She was about to nudge him back toward the tunnel, but a noise made her look up. Coming around the bend were more armed possums.

Fritter pushed at her legs and shouted, "Run! That way!" She took off toward Town Hall. Oh, great, Fritter thought. Why did he just do that? Got caught up in the moment again. He was supposed to be a professional, for goodness' sake! He decided he'd better run after her. "I'm really bad at my job." he said to himself as he hurried to catch up.

The other soldiers intercepted them before they'd made it halfway.

The Doctor looked concerned, Ian thought. He kept glancing down the street and muttering to himself. The only word Ian had been able to make out was "Susan", which was reasonable seeing as she had been gone for a while. Perhaps she'd gotten tired of all this waiting and had just gone for a walk. Still, it wasn't a good idea for any of them going off alone at the moment. Ian was about to try to suggest that they go look for her when there was a commotion from Town Hall. Whatever it was, it had caused an uproar in the crowd. Standing to get a better view, Ian saw that there were quite a few guards escorting someone through the fray. Someone handcuffed, and wearing a blue scarf...

"Doctor! They've got Maude!" He pointed at the scene before them. The Doctor got to his feet and said something that sounded disbelieving. "We've got to do something!" Ian exclaimed. Without waiting for a response, he dashed forward and made his way through the crowd. It was much harder than he'd anticipated. Quite a lot of people were protesting Maude's arrest. "What are you doing?" he shouted at the officers, "Let her go!"

One of the guards, a rather burly-looking fellow, brandished a long spear at him. Several others drew their swords. Ian tried to go around them, but there wasn't anywhere for him to move. He was vaguely aware of the Doctor shouting at him, and he knew why. The possums were crowded so close together that he couldn't walk without hurting them. Looking back the way he'd come, he saw that he'd already done some damage, having accidentally trod on tails and limbs.

On one of the higher branches of Town Hall, a sentry lit something and flung it toward the crowd. It exploded in midair with dazzling lights and a very loud bang, which caused most of the possums to scatter. Ian, momentarily blinded by the flash, tried once again to get around the guards, but they were ready for him. He tripped over a spear and fell backwards, knocking into someone on the way down.

"Are you all right? What's happened?" said a familiar concerned voice from above him.

"Barbara?" Little lights were still dancing across his vision, but he could tell it was her. "What on earth are you wearing?"

"I'm fine, thanks," she said, hoping he hadn't just seen up her flag.

Ian noticed that she was flanked by soldiers, one of whom was in handcuffs, and her hands were bound in front of her. In his hesitation, the guards had quickly tied his own hands the same way. As he got to his feet, the Doctor scolded him. "I know, I know," said Ian, "I shouldn't have gone in so recklessly."

"Ian, what's going on?" asked Barbara.

"I don't know! Maude's been arrested for some reason, and I think we have, too. What happened to you?"

"I just escaped. Where's Susan?"

"I don't know."

Susan regained consciousness several minutes later. There was a nagging pain in her head from where she'd hit something hard. Luckily she healed quickly. She went to rub her face with her hands, but found she couldn't. Her eyes flew open.

Her arms were securely tied to her sides.

Her legs were tied as well. It was then that she noticed she was moving. Over a dozen or so possums, clad in identical orange robes, were pulling her along on a kind of sled. The sound of drums started up, growing louder as they approached a ring of torches. In the middle of it all was a large, round stone engraved with strange markings.

"What are you doing?" she asked. The possums did not respond. "Stop!" Susan tried to wiggle away, but they'd reached the stone and started to roll her onto it. She put up a fight, but the possums were surprisingly strong as a group and managed to position her right in the middle of the stone. The drums grew louder as the possums started chanting. Several of them emptied baskets of fruit next to her. Suddenly, she heard the sound of something very large approaching.

Her panic grew as she realised what was going on. She thrashed harder.

"No! No, don't! Grandfather! Grandfather, help! Ian! Anyone! Help!" she screamed as she struggled against her bonds, trying to break free or at least get someone's attention. But she knew it was useless. No one was coming to the rescue.

Off in the shadows, she could just make out the figure of whatever was coming for her. It was huge, easily the size of a large elephant. She curled into a ball, too terrified to think. Now she could practically feel the vibration of that thing's footsteps. The drums and chanting abruptly ceased and was replaced by the sound of a dozen possums falling down playing dead.

She could sense that the beast had reached the stone. Something brushed her face.

Shaking like a leaf, she opened her eyes...