Ryan blinked into the dirty beam of light that greeted him as he woke. He tried to get up, in vain. His wrists were cuffed behind his back. His head hurt. He tried to get his bearings. From what he could tell, he was in a dirty prison cell, in an old prison. He heard soft crying coming from a cell across from him. Where was this.

A door opened noisily down the hall. Ryan heard the thudding of boots on years of dust and grime. A man stopped in front of his cell. He pulled out some keys and fumbled with them.

The man laughed, "The boss wants a word with you. Can't wait for the show, this should be fun to watch."

He slid the key into the lock and opened the door. Ryan backed away.

"Alright, you! Get up!" the man said nudging Ryan none too gently with his steel-toed boots.

Ryan tried, but if you've ever tried getting up with your hands behind your back, you'd know it's very hard.

When Ryan didn't get up fast enough, the guard picked him up by the sleeves of his shirt and shoved him against the wall.

The guard held Ryan suspended by the sleeves of his shirt against the wall, "I said get up. And when I say get up, you do so immediately. Understand?"

"It was hard with my hands…" Ryan was stopped by the man spitting on his face.

"If the boss didn't need you for interrogation, I'd kill you for your stupidity." He held Ryan there for a few more seconds.

Then to Ryan's relief, the guard let him down on his feet. He gestured for Ryan to follow, and Ryan did so out of fear. He wondered what would happen to him.

Tari woke with a chill. A feeling mostly, and it had nothing to do with temperature. She looked around, and found that nothing had changed. She knew something was out of place. She could sense it. Something was coming. She got up immediately and started walking towards her TARDIS.

'Her TARDIS', Just a few hours ago it had been 'father's TARDIS' and now, already she was calling it her's. Her eyes filled with tears. She knew they were gone. She knew her planet had been destroyed, because that link had gone. That feeling that she had grown accustomed to, the feeling of connection to the other members of her species was gone. She didn't know how. Maybe the Daleks had found the Hand of Omega. If the Timelords were gone, then there was no-one to stop the Daleks from dominating all life in the universe, unless the Daleks were destroyed too.

She turned down the street her TARDIS was on and got that chill again. Something wasn't right. She scanned the perimeter. Nothing still. Something was very wrong here, and it started to scare her. She then realized what she felt; a shift in time.

After they were away from the cell the man stopped Ryan and knelt down beside him.

He asked in a whisper, "You are Ryan Tyson?"

Ryan nodded his head.

"Good. My name is Lawrence Clearer. Sorry about spitting on you earlier, I had to make them think I was on their side." The man looked around nervously then turned his eyes on Ryan, "You are so young… You… you don't know me yet but…you will…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He simply answered, "Time travel."

"When I get you out of here you need to check out that big black box that landed in your backyard. I have a plan, so just play along."

Lawrence put an object to the back of Ryan's neck. Ryan felt a sudden shock then as fast as it came, it left.

"What did you do?" Ryan asked.

"I killed all of the nanites that were put into your brain. Well enough to make them harmless."

"There were nanites put into my brain?" Ryan asked a little shocked and still, unsure if he could trust this stranger.

"Yes by The Halde."

"Who's that?"

"There's no more time. We have to get you to the interrogation. I left enough nanites in there for him to scan your brain for signs of lying. If I'm right then you know nothing and he'll have me throw you in the incinerator. But I won't take you there. I'll take you to an escape pod. You can get away with ease, and go on to live the life you were supposed to."

They walked in silence for a while until a thought occurred to Ryan.

"What if you get caught?" Ryan asked a little concerned.

Lawrence was silent and grim.

Finally he said, "Then someone will have to hold them off while you escape."

"You'll be killed!"

"Even if I do get killed you'll meet me again."

Tari pulled out her keycard. She needed shelter. She needed to hide. She needed a Spaceship that didn't look like a spaceship. She needed to activate the chameleon circuit.

She inserted the keycard, and went inside. Suddenly Tari realized, she didn't know how to operate a chameleon circuit, but she had to try. She walked over to the console and pulled up the manual on the view screen. She looked up "chameleon circuit".

"To activate pull the binary core by-passer lever. And switch the puce Chameleon switch," Tari read aloud. Seemed easy enough.

She looked around for the binary core by-passer lever. And to her horror, she realized that, very much unlike the simulator at the academy, there were no labels spare navigation. She blew a strand of hair out of her face. This was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

Ryan sat down in a chair to which he was promptly strapped to. A man came in with a strange other worldly gadget. The man's face was in shadow. He chuckled menacingly.

"Do you know what this is?" the man asked holding out the gadget.

Ryan shook his head.

"This device controls the nanites that have been put into your vital systems. With the press of a button they will begin to eat you from the inside out, unless…"

"Unless?"

"Unless you tell me where the Professor is."

"What professor?"

"The girl that was in your backyard last night. That is the name she goes by. Tell me where she is."

"I don't know."

"You lie!"

"No honestly I haven't a clue! She just left, she didn't mention where she was going. I had told her to be quiet and leave!"

"I can find out from my nanites if you're lying."

"Then do it

Ryan couldn't see his glare but he most definitely felt it. The man pressed a button and Ryan felt a tingly feeling in his head. Suddenly a piercing jolt of pain ran through Ryan's brain and all the way up and down his spine. He started shaking as if he was being electrocuted.

"Please, I…I don't know where she is…" he started to sob, "Please…please stop…I don't know anything! Honest!"

"Readings state that you are telling the truth. What a waste! You are of no use to me! Take him away and throw him in the incinerator."

Lawrence from earlier, stepped out from the shadows, and rubbed his hands together with glee.

"Yes sir."

Lawrence began to lead Ryan out of the chamber.

"On second thought," Lawrence and Ryan both winced at the sound of their plan failing, "I'll take him. I love to watch them burn slowly."