After what seemed like most of them like hours of running, Moira, Corl, Ortel and the Doctor charged in to a large room, evidently a lab, judging by the amount of abandoned equipment scattered on desks and over the floor.

"We can't stop!" Corl shouted, her eyes boring in to the Doctor.

"We have to." The Doctor corrected her. "We can't just keep running."

"They'll catch up." Moira continued. "We have to do something to slow them down."

"Yeah," The Doctor shrugged, glancing around the lab. "What she said. And where better to do something than a lab?" He picked up a tube from a desk, glittering wildly. "Ooh, that's pretty." Corl obviously wasn't convinced.

"Geoffrey died so we could escape!" She yelled, tears breaking through.

"So let's make sure it was worth it." The Doctor said kindly, looking straight at her. "You all go. Get to the Time Core. I'll slow them down and catch you up." From somewhere across the complex, a load roar echoed. "Hopefully."

"No Doctor." Moira objected. "We stay with you."

"No." The Doctor says firmly. "You," he pointed at them all in turn, "and you, and you, all have to go. I," he pointed to himself, "stay here."

"No!" The young girl shouted back indignantly. "That's not what happens! We can go, but he has to be with you!" The Doctor followed her hand, ending at Ortel.

"Me?" The young guard questioned. "Why? How can I possibly help?"

"You are in here everyday." Moira replied, very calmly. "Doing your job, but always paying attention. Always learning. Always thinking. You know what all of this does." She gestured around the room as the Doctors' face remained static.

"No. He goes. You all go. I can stop them."

"You're wrong Doctor." She continued, unmoving. "You need him."

The Doctor turned his head to Ortel, a strange cone like device in his hands, like a miniature traffic cone. The young man was looking at it intently, his eyes fixed with a look of concentration that the Doctor knew all too well. It was the look he had when he was thinking, his mind rushing with idea after idea after idea.

"Of course!" The Doctor exclaimed without warning, rushing towards Ortel and taking the cone from him. "Temporal manipulation field!"

"Focused in to a thin plane!" Ortel added.
"Oh yes!" The Doctor yelled triumphantly, a wide grin on his face. "Time so focused, it becomes just like glass! A time window!" He paused, frowning a little as he spoke. "No, done that. Time Screen? Time double-glazed conservatory door? No, wait, wait." he was growing ever more frustrated with himself, his hand frantically playing at his hair. "That's it! A pane! A Time Pane! Right, let's get started, wasted enough time as it is. Travis, get started on the Time Pane! Ooh" He wriggled his shoulders, as if something was tickling them. "That gave me the shivers. Brilliant name don't you think?" He turned to Moira and Leslie, who were already heading towards the opposite door. "Yeah." He nodded, "That's it, carry on. We'll catch you up."

"She said we had to go." Corl said, turning to the Doctor. "And I get the impression that she knows what's for the best."

"Yes," The Doctor agreed solemnly. "It seems like she does."

**

"You two were close." Moira said, matter of factly, as she and Corl walked quickly down yet another identical corridor.

"Who? Me and Geoffrey?" Leslie blushed, looking rather sad.

"I could tell." Moira said softly. "But it's going to be ok."

Corl turned to her, a look of anger on her face.

"How can you say that? Geoffrey is dead. Jaran is dead. And they're not coming back. You seem to think that you know everything, so tell me! Tell me how all this is going to be ok?"

Moira stopped in her tracks, staring straight at the slightly taller woman.

"I don't know how," she muttered, "but I know it will be." He voice was starting to crack, slowly losing her composure. Corl looked at her wide blue eyes, wet with the first traces of tears.

"I'm sorry." She said sincerely, placing an arm around Moira's shoulder.

"I know." Was the only reply.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Moira said bluntly. "But there is where I am quiet and listen to you. You tell me about your life. You tell me how you always managed to fall on to the right path. How you believe in destiny." Moira stepped back from Leslie, suddenly. Corl was looking unnerved now, frightened even.
"What is it? Moira, what happens now?"

"This is how," she swallowed hard, "This is when you name me."

"What?" Leslie replied, "What do you mean? How would I? Why would I…" She trailed off, her mind branching to a different track.

"Moirae." Moira said, closing her eyes, as if the word had just pushed itself in to her head.

"Of course." Corl said, shocked. "Moirae, the Goddess of Destiny. The old legends say that she holds the path of every living being in her hands, even the fate of the universe, and that nobody can change them."

"That's why you gave me this name." The girl said quietly. "That's why you called me Moira."

**

"Got those feeds plugged in?" The Doctor shouted across the silver floored lab, poking at a third cone-like device with the Sonic Screwdriver.

"Done!" Ortel replied, checking over a set of thick wires he had plugged in to a large generator-like device, which was humming with energy.

"Fantastic!" The Doctor beamed, observing their handiwork; a line of three cones set in front of where the Doctor was standing, all connected to the device across the room by a quartet of wires. "Simple, but effective." He span on the spot, facing Travis. "Just like humans!" He stopped abruptly. "Sorry, no offence." He received a smile back from the young man.

"None taken. Of course, some of just like to appear simple." He replied, coyly.

The Doctor nodded his head in agreement, a smirk spreading over his face.

"Quite right too."

Suddenly, the whole room began to shake as the roar or four Reapers filled the air.
"Officer Ortel!" The Doctor cried, leaping in to action. "This is it! You know what to do!"

Travis was about to reply, but was cut off as the door of the lab was disintegrated in front of them, reduced to scraps of metal by the wings, teeth and tails of a Reaper. The officer took a deep breath at the sight of the familiar creature, followed by three more. They were all identical, in both size and colour, all screeching at the sight of the Doctor, their tails slashing as they approached.

"Hello!" The Doctor shouted over the deafening screeching that was filling the room. "I'm the Doctor. But you probably don't care about that. Why would you? You only care about cleaning up the wound. Now, I have no idea what it is that's bought you here, and I don't like that one bit." He shook his head, rolling his tongue in his cheek. "But what I like even less," he was raising his voice as the Reapers came closer. Were they doing this on purpose? Like a cat playing with their food? Or were they really listening? "What I like even less is that two people are dead. You killed them because they were protecting innocent people, people they cared for. But that's stopping." There was a tone of determination in his voice as he stared right in to the red eyes of the lead Reaper. "That's stopping right now!"

He stepped back as the creatures swept towards him at speed, all four sets of teeth desperate to devour him, to devour all of those years that he had lived for. But that wasn't happening. Not this time.

"Now!" The Doctor screamed as Ortel slammed his hand down on a lever connected to the humming device. "Hope you're as good as me!" He shouted, turning his attention back to the row of cone they had placed on the ground.

The Reapers continued to charge towards him, wings flapping wildly, knocking tables, monitors and various pieces of equipment to the ground, shattering most of it to pieces.

The Doctor stood his ground, watching, waiting.

Then it happened.

An almighty smack, as one Reaper after another collided with an invisible barrier, recoiling backwards with a roar.

"Oh yes!" The Doctor shouted in triumph as Travis came to join him, staring at the Reapers, harmlessly stalking on the other side of the barrier. "Time Pane! I really should trademark that one!" The Reaper's eyes were alight with fury, glaring at the pair, before one started to slash at the invisible barrier with its tail. "Hoped it would have taken longer for them to figure that one out." The Doctor winced. "We've got some time though!" He turned to Travis, his eyes wide with excitement. "Now! To the Time Core!"

"Alons y!" Travis replied, following the Doctors' billowing coat as he headed towards the door, leaving the Reapers to stare after their prey, knowing it was only a matter of time.