A/N: my classes are starting up again next week, and I'm again taking a full load, so I'll be going back on my pre-holiday posting schedule of one or two chapters per weekend. Sorry for the regular delays. I'm trying to get these three lost travelers home before then, but no promises. You know how they like to drag things out.

PS – for anyone familiar with St Ives: yes, I've changed some names and invented a new holiday. It's a parallel world, after all. So don't hang me for misplacing a road or something.

Destinations

"Ah-HAH!" Jared crowed. "Finito!" He twirled the sonic around his fingers with a flourish before stuffing it back into his pocket, then plucked the enhanced watch and the transport disk out of his Goldbergesque contraption and stepped over to Rose's crate. "Madam, if you please?" Drawing her left arm out, he draped the watch over her wrist, watching her face closely – then his own mug was split by the biggest grin she'd seen since their arrival. "Hah-hah! Perfecto!"

"What?" she asked with not a little trepidation, even as she couldn't help but echo his infectious grin.

In answer, he took both her hands and held them up in front of her, and she gasped. Those were not her hands. The fingers were longer, the skin was definitely darker. She took a quick glance at the woman whose hair he had snagged; no, her new hands weren't that dark – maybe halfway in between. She looked back at Jared. "And my face?"

"We need a mirror!" He began craning his neck, but she forestalled him.

"There's one in the ladies' room – over there." (She'd made use of the facilities a short time before. The mirror wasn't very large, or very clear, but it would do.)

Jared slipped the watch back off her wrist and grabbed her hand, half running to the indicated door and barging right through it. (Luckily, the room was empty.) Placing Rose in front of the mirror, he stood behind her so as to watch her reflection, then replaced the watch against her wrist.

Her mouth dropped open. The second the metal had touched her skin, her reflection had flickered for an split second, then been replaced with that of a stranger. But not the radio operator... not quite. "I don't... look like her, though."

"Nope. You're not a copy. This is a combination of your DNA codes with hers – I suppose you could say this is what a child of yours and hers would look like, if you could have children – a bit difficult, since you're both female, but not insurmountable. In fact, the Chiriri of Daskellia are all female, did I ever tell you that? They... " Finally catching the expression on her face, Jared shut his gob with a pop. "Sorry."

"Can I turn it off?"

"Just take the watch off. And it won't work for anyone else, either," he went on, as she slipped it off to watch her own face flicker back in. "Whenever the device on the back of it touches skin, it checks to see if the DNA matches one of its two samples. If not, nothing. If it does, it projects that combination image onto the skin it's touching – all of it, not just the visible parts."

"Wow..." she breathed. "That is... brilliant! Of course!" she added as an afterthought, then turned and flung her arms around his neck. "Thank you, Jared."

The same realization struck both of them at the same moment: they were alone for the first time since they'd left the MacLaren Estate. Their eyes softened, and he bent his head to touch his lips to hers –

– and the door opened. "Oops – sorry!" It was one of the Resistance women. "Um.. the boss is looking for you." She backed out and quietly closed the door.

They sighed at the same moment, then shared a grimace. "Hold that thought?" Rose asked resignedly, and he nodded a promise for later.

Back in the main room, they demonstrated and explained the new disguise for Pete and the others, who of course were suitably impressed. "Can you make more?" Pete asked quickly.

Jared nodded. "All I need is a watch and a couple of hairs. But there are some limitations. One, it's powered by this," holding up the transport disk. "You have to stay within a few feet of the disk for it to work, and since we only have two disks, that limits the number of people that can be disguised. One disk could run two or three disguises, but no more than that. Two, it does drain the power on the disks, very slowly, but a definite drain. We'd be able to keep the disguises on for only a few hours before we'd have to take them off and let the disks recharge. How long does that take, Rose?"

"Half an hour," Jackie put in, and Rose nodded.

"Then, three, if we need the disks to transport out, back to our world, then the disguises need to be dropped half an hour before then, so they can recharge for that."

"All right..." Pete was thinking hard. "If one disk were running three disguises, how long would the power last?"

"Ten, twelve hours, tops."

"That would work. The train rides to St Ives are only six and a half, seven hours long all combined."

"Why train?" asked Rose.

"The motorways south and west of here are bolluxed. Damage from the war, which has never been completely repaired – though they're working on it. They fixed the railroads first. It's possible to get down there in a lorry or car, but between traffic, construction, and bad roads it takes five times as long as by train. We didn't have that problem getting you there last time because we stayed on the southern coast," he added, afterthought. Taking his own watch off, he handed it over to Jared. "I'll round up three more watches, for you, Jackie, and my Rose. How long will it take you to fix them up?"

"A couple of hours."

"All right, get started then." Remembering, he pulled a hair from his head and handed it over with a snort, then turned and pitched his voice for the room at large. It was very late in the evening, but half a dozen members of his group were still there, standing around and watching. "All right, listen up. You saw that demonstration. I need three more watches, two ladies', one gent's, and some voluntary hair donors, is that right?" He collected a confirmatory nod from Jared.

"We'll also need ID's for the five of us, under our new looks, travel documents for the St Ives SeaFest this weekend, and train tickets. I want to be on the first train tomorrow morning – that's 6:10, right, Charlie?"

One of the men nodded – the one who'd brought Pete's daughter into his office earlier. "When are you coming back, boss?" he asked.

Pete took a deep breath. "I'm not," he said simply. "Charlie, you're in command here from now on. I'm taking my daughter to America, for a fresh start. For both of us." He looked over his shoulder at his Rose, who had been hanging back, shy and unsure. Now she was staring at him, eyes moist. This was far more than she'd expected; he hadn't breathed a word of this in his office. "I'm not going to make the same mistake I made before," he added softly, and she swallowed hard and nodded back, me neither.

Pete turned back to Charlie. "The two of us will be going on from Cornwall, through Dublin. Set that up, too. And, Charlie... make it for five. If these three don't make it back to their world, they'll come on with us, at least for the short term. It's going to be too dangerous for them here in England."

Charlie was nodding. "It's good you thought of that, boss. 'Cause there's a problem." He turned to Rose, standing next to Jared. "We've been monitoring the Rift with that equipment you left us. Haven't had time to figure out any use for it, yet, but we've been keeping an eye on it. At least the Bears aren't even aware of its existence yet."

"What's the problem?" Pete broke in, impatient.

Charlie glanced at him, wary, then back to Rose. "The signals have been fading steadily since the last time you were here. They're still there, but much weaker. You're gonna have to get right on top of it to use it."

"Is it still at the same spot?" Rose asked, worried.

He nodded. "Right under the Knolls Monument. But there's one other thing... The signals are still fading." He paused. "We think the Rift is collapsing."

Jared pounced. "How much time have we got before it closes?"

"At the current rate? No more than twenty-four hours."