Sweat beaded on the Doctor's forehead, as he pulled forward to get closer to Michelle but was restrained by the Kedron. "She needs medical attention...you're not taking the human physiology into account! I have to fix the damage!"

Chanter Rusk sounded bored. "By orbit of Kedron's long lost moon, she's in no danger at any time soon. Fear not."

The Doctor gritted his teeth. "I know you're in there, Michelle. Are you all right? Does it hurt badly?"

A sigh escaped Michelle's lips. "Pain is irrelevant." The words sounded hollow, as though they were echoing someone else's opinion.

She stood up, revealing that the wires connecting her to the console were much longer than they previously appeared. They gave her room to walk around, enough to the point that she could face the Doctor directly and fold her arms. "How does it feel to finally have a situation out of your control, Time Lord?"

He smiled wryly. "I wouldn't call this the first time that things were out of my control...what with having been in existence for over 900 years, anyway..."

"Wit, always wit, to conceal the hurt within. But I know, Time Lord! There is nothing you can hide from me now. I've seen their faces and heard their voices. Donna Noble, Astrid Peth...Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Adric...the list goes on, shall I continue?"

The Doctor's eyes became steely. "Rusk, you're making her spout your rubbish. Do you seriously think that you're going to affect my judgment by what Michelle says under Kedron influence?"

"Doctor, do me a favor and please shut up for a change!" snapped Michelle. "I see the truth now and be assured that I do speak for myself. If you think this pathetic friendship of ours, if that is what you call it, will make any change to the Kedron plans, you are sorely mistaken. Be assured that I will not stray from my task...and be assured that I can smell the blood on your hands. You killed them. All of them. Your supposed 'friends'."

He swallowed. "All my companions come with me of their own free will. They know of the dangers involved...and I would give my life time and again for each and every one. Yours as well."

In the psionic Michelle's mind a statement appeared that she knew to be truth, though the Doctor would never freely admit it. I loved all of them...and they loved me. She clapped her hands to her temple. "Get out of my head, Time Lord! A thousand of your deaths could never compare...you regenerate; they cannot." A guttural growl came from her throat. "The Jewel is on board...the Doctor carries it in his pocket! Take it from him, now!"

The Doctor's face fell slightly as the red pendant with a broken chain was pulled from his lengthy trench coat by the Kedron flanking him. They then appeared to stand and wait for further instruction.

Michelle rolled her eyes in sheer irritation. "Fools! Do you not recognize the many pockets of this coat? He would be the end of us all had you missed these items!" Of her own accord she stepped forward and tore through the rest of the coat, dropping temporal charges, a detonator, and the sonic screwdriver.

Chanter Rusk grinned, hissing through gaping teeth. "Quite clever for a human. A true gift it is, the second sight, helping to make wrong into right."

The Doctor stared, horrified. "It's not true...you can't possibly be on their side! You've ruined everything!"

"By the beating of your two hearts, the human merely influences Destiny's part. You do naught but encourage your own destruction, trying to sabotage our ship." He turned to the rest of his crew members. "Find the rest of the charges, and deactivate them."

Michelle laughed dryly as the Kedron crew members scattered throughout various parts of the ship to locate the temporal bombs. "Look at the anguish on his face! Give me that screwdriver...I must see this toy once more before we destroy it." She grabbed the sonic screwdriver and mockingly pointed it at the Doctor, eliciting a chuckle from Chanter Rusk.

"You can't do this, Michelle." begged the Doctor. "You must hear me out. I'm sorry I didn't tell you enough about my homeworld, but this is very important. The planet Kedron had an opening in the fabric of reality...an access to a portal called the Untempered Schism. Gallifrey had this too. Believe me when I tell you that there is no sanity with the Kedron...the Schism enveloped their whole planet. The Schism has driven members of my people mad...the entire Kedron race is completely warped because of this Schism! They provide only madness!"

In an instant she was back in his face. "They provide me with clarity! This is something Time Lords can never give! No one needs humanity around...the universe is better without it!"

"I can provide more...I have more to give..."

Michelle walked back and forth rapidly. "Like an eternal road trip? No, Doctor. I must be grounded. No more visits to places like the planet Barcelona, where the dogs have no noses." She stopped her pacing for a moment. "A stupid name for a planet." For a moment, she sounded like her old self.

The Doctor gave a relieved laugh. "You're right. It's an absolutely stupid name for a planet." Hope rose within him that maybe he could still get through to his companion.

"Don't smile too soon, Time Lord. Do you wish to know the, as humans say it, method to our 'madness'?" Chanter Rusk breathed heavily.

The Doctor became stonyfaced. "I already know how it works, Rusk. The Jewel will power the temporal drill, and deterraform the planet Earth till you can build a new Kedron. That's why you were so eager to get your hands on it...you need it to resurrect your planet. But why Earth? There are plenty of empty planets throughout the universe that can be made into a new Kedron!"

"It is simple, Time Lord. We take revenge. Our planet was destroyed, and--"

"By your own people!"

"Silence! Someone must pay, and the time is today. Humanity is the only choice."

Michelle rolled her eyes. "Do you two have all century to argue? Can't we just put him in the brig and get to work?"

Chanter Rusk nodded. "The human speaks sensibly. Take away the Doctor; as far from the human Michelle Reynolds as possible. I do not want him to...bias her opinion any further."

The Doctor did not resist or struggle, but could not seem to walk, so he was physically dragged away to a holding cell. Michelle called out tauntingly, "Rethink your backward ideals, Doctor! The Kedron shall prevail! Rethink your backward ideals!"

He said nothing in response.

****

Michelle looked down at the sonic screwdriver in her hands. "A useless toy," she muttered. Pressing a button on the console opened a panel on the wall labeled "Combustion Disposal", into which she tossed the screwdriver.

No one noticed, however, the sequence of three extra keys that she pressed after the panel closed.