Katie slammed her hand down hard on the console in frustration. "Damn it!" A second later she sighed and rubbed the spot she had hit. "It's okay girl. Did your best. A lot of interference though." Katie clicked her teeth, thinking. Julius stared at her, eyes wide. Katie glanced at him. Mentally, she reassessed his age, now placing him in his early twenties. He looked like a boy who's convinced he had found proof that Santa Claus was real.

"What?" she asked, a little short tempered.

"Was that really him? He's on Beriin now?"

"Yes it was him, but I don't know if he's on Beriin."

"But he—"

"Was probably calling from a CeaXhell I stitched inside the lining of his coat sleeve. I rigged it so that it could send and receive calls across space and time. He may be on Beriin, but it could be ten years from now. Still, good to know he's safe. But why the static?"

Julius stayed silent, obviously lost on the answer. Katie started pacing, rubbing her thumb against the fingers on her right hand as her teeth gently clicked. "Right near the end, he was trying to say where exactly he was," she mused, thinking aloud. "What was it?"

"It sounded like he was trying to say 'Level Three," Julius hesitantly put in. Katie pointed at him in affirmation without looking at him.

"Level Three of where though? A building maybe? Some kind of skyscraper? No, he said calendars didn't exist 'down here.' And why would he need to use the CeaXhell? It's been in his jacket for a month now, so why would he find it suddenly?"

"If you hid it in his coat lining, then he may have found it while searching for a tool of some sort," Julius said.

"No, the only thing he ever uses is the sonic, never goes looking through the coat." Katie paused in her pacing, standing frozen. "Unless he didn't have his sonic, in which case it was probably taken from him. And if was taken but he has time to make a call, he's locked off someplace. Bother." Katie peered at Julius. "And then that other word. Labyri. Sounds like the start of 'labyrinth.' Does that mean anything around here?"

Julius shrugged his shoulders. "Only if you believe the stories."

"More legends?"

"Yes. The Labyrinth was supposed to be a huge maze under the entire surface of Beriin, meant to be used in times of war for the planet's inhabitants to hide in and stay safe and unseen. It's even older than the stories of the Doctor. However, unlike his stories, no one has found any kind of evidence the Labyrinth existed."

"Huh. It would be a massive undertaking. Then again, so were the catacombs. And those were hidden pretty well."

"Catacombs?"

"Ancient history." Katie stayed still for another few seconds, staring hard at Julius. Then she seemed to snap back from somewhere. "Well then, I'd better get started reading those files. I've got a lot to do before tonight."

Julius now stared at her in disbelief. "You're dropping it just like that?"

"Yep," Katie said casually, starting to flip through the most recent schedules of guard change for the large Ranngour building.

"But shouldn't we do something?"

"Nope."

"But it's the Doctor!"

"Yep."

"But can't you trace it or find him or something? We need him here! And he's on Beriin! What if the Ranngour have him?"

Katie held up a map of the outside of the Ranngour building. "Then they'll be experiencing more than a few problems in dealing with him."

"They might be using him!"

"Don't make me laugh. That nutcase wouldn't help anyone with weapons, be it construction or acquirement, and even if he was forced into it somehow did he'd have a way out of it. Lunatic he may be, but the Doctor is the most resourceful man I know. He'll do alright."

Julius was silent. "I thought you said he was your best friend."

Katie froze, then lowered the file folder, letting her half-closed eyes drill into Julius's. Her Texan accent thickened almost to the point of being impossible to understand. "I'll be gracious and forget you ever said that if you walk out right now."

"But—"

"You have four seconds and counting."

Julius stared back at Katie, wasting one of his seconds. Then he broke and retreated. Katie didn't take her eyes off the door until it locked shut again.

Down in the Labyrinth, the Doctor had taken the back off of the CeaXhell and was busy inspecting it. Jennifer was watching him, but the look in her face had changed slightly. Not that the Doctor ever noticed such looks.

"Who was that on the other end?"

"Her names' Kathryn. Friend of mine. A bit young, rather American at times, but useful to have around."

Jennifer seemed appeased, for the moment. "What are you looking for?"

"Whatever's wrong with this thing."

"Made the call, didn't it?"

"Yes, but Kathryn's smarter than that. If she left this in my coat, then she'd have wired it up to send the signal through time and space without a single problem, but there was all that static. And then it cut off. No, there must be something wrong with this. I just need to find it."

"Could it just be because of the stone?"

"No, the signal would have gone straight through the vortex," the Doctor said, talking more to himself than to Jennifer. "The stone wouldn't have made a difference." The Doctor frowned and looked up. "When do they do the meal rounds here?"

"Meals? We might have a shot at actually getting out of here and you're worried about food?"

"Maybe it is something to worry over. They have to feed everyone at some point, and I know I've been down here more than twelve hours." He looked abruptly at Jennifer. "How do you keep track of the days?"

Jennifer opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. "I don't know. You just do. Sort of a guessing game mostly."

"You said you've been here for fifteen years. How do you know?"

Jennifer shrugged lightly. "I guess I don't."

"Has anything stood out over that time?"

"What do you mean?"

The Doctor was looking at her intently, his eyes open wide. "In all that time, have you ever felt thirsty? Hungry? Tired? Old? Young? Bored? Anything?"

Jennifer seemed speechless at the bombardment of questions. "I don't know. You just wait. That's all. Nothing ever happens. You just sit until someone comes to get you. That's all. Nothing else."

The Doctor stared at Jennifer for a few seconds, seeming to look through her eyes into her mind. "Jennifer, how old are you?"

"Well, I was brought in when I was twenty-two, and it's been fifteen years, so I'm thirty seven."

"Are you very, very sure?"

"Of course I am! I should be able to figure out my own age." Even as she spoke, she wasn't certain, and it showed in her voice.

"Precisely. You should, but I don't think you can." The Doctor looked away from her, his expression torn between self-disgust and grudging respect. "Oh, I should have seen this. Well, felt it. Sensed it at least. Well, if the Labyrinth is stretched over a planet then the loop would be subtle."
"What loop?"

The Doctor looked back at her. "Jennifer, you haven't been down here for fifteen years. Or is you have then it's only been passing outside of the maze. The Labyrinth, the whole thing, is being run through a time loop. Probably just a single second; you'd need a lot of power to make it any larger. But it's the same second repeating over and over and over again. That's why the CeaXhell wouldn't connect; it was sending the same signal from the same second each time. It could be years before they find this place."

"In other words, we're still stuck."

"Yeah."

Katie looked up at the pounding on the door. She pulled down the view screen and saw that it was Xaira and Glendon. She sighed, but she couldn't avoid it. After all, she was on their turf, and she had promised them a tour. Well, she wouldn't give them a real tour. The console room and a couple of vague gestures at the halls would be sufficient.

Katie walked down the ramp to the door and unlocked it. "Bitte kommen Sie herein," she said, her Texan accent muddying the German words. Didn't matter, TARDIS would end up translating it anyway. Xaira and Glendon stepped in, making the traditional stunned pause a few steps in as Katie closed the door. She smiled privately at the amazement. She could remember her first time finding out about the astounding difference between the interior and exterior of TARDIS. She wondered momentarily if that wasn't why the Doctor took people with him.

"It's smaller on the outside," Xaira said, shocked. Katie raised her eyebrows.

"Never heard it said that way before. Same meaning though." She leapt up the ramp and gave a twirl, her arms spread wide.

"Welcome to TARDIS Type-40, the last of her kind and the personal home, office, and preferred transportation of the legendary Doctor, Time Lord extraordinaire. Kitchen's that way, restrooms are there and there, and if you keep walking in that direction you get everywhere else, including but not limited to the video arcade, the library, the sauna, the wardrobe, the art gallery, the music hall, the ballroom, and I think we even have a planet somewhere in there." She clapped her hands together. "So, how am I getting to that building?"

"How is this possible?" Glendon asked. Katie smiled lightly.

"It just is, Taylor. Now, how close can you get me by tonight?"

Xaira walked up the ramp to join Katie, still a bit overwhelmed, but in control of herself. "We have trucks going past at irregular intervals. You can get into one of those. There's a turn and a patch of trees about half a mile from the Ranngour building. You can jump out as the truck drives past."

"Sounds good. How soon do I leave?"

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Glendon asked. "It's one thing for a soldier to try something like this; you're still a child, and I'm not putting your death on our fighters."

"I've done things like this before," Katie said, lying between her teeth. "It's not a big problem. Life's not complete without a daily risk of some kind. When am I leaving?"

"You're both leaving in little less than an hour," Xaira said. She held up a hand to stop Katie's protest. "I understand that you are likely used to working alone, or solely with your Doctor, but you are still a child and under my charge. I cannot let you go in without backup."

Katie sighed. "Fine. Who's the unlucky soldier?"

"Brigadier Robertson has volunteered."

"No. Absolutely not."

"Too bad," Glendon said. "You either go with him or we'll take your ship and find another way through the Ranngour."

"You make another threat like that and you'll find yourself short the only hope you have of winning," Katie said, her voice low.

Xaira stepped between them, stopping the looming fight. "Trouble, whatever quarrel you may have with Brigadier Robertson will have to be put aside. This is too chancy a thing for you to go alone or for anyone to be pressed into it. He's the only one that volunteered and frankly he's the best choice for the job. Glendon, Trouble has freely offered her assistance, and this ship is to be left untouched. I want a guard put on it effective immediately." Xaira turned back to Katie. "You have less than an hour to finish your preparations. We will supply you with a weapon and communication device."

"Weapon yes, communicator no. I have my own set of things that will work better than anything you've got. See you in forty."

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*