Safe inside the TARDIS, the Doctor immediately went over to Yenna and Reytu. "Hello," he said. "We're back. Sorry about the wait. I figured everything out—you don't have to worry anymore. We're going to take care of everything. You'll both be back with your families in no time."

Panting slightly, Donna leaned against the coral column closest to the door. "But you haven't explained to me, Doctor. What happened? How are you okay? And what exactly did you figure out?"

The Doctor was closing his eyes. "Not now, Donna, shh. I'm trying to concentrate."

"On what? There's nothing here."

"Exactly," he hissed. "He's pretty far away. It's hard over this distance, and I'm not too familiar with him."

Donna raised her eyebrows. "Okay, what the hell are you talking about?"

"One minute!"

"All right, fine. Whatever."

"Shush!"

"Hmph."

The Time Lord had his face tightened in concentration. A full five minutes passed, and Donna waited in silence, trying to be patient. At last, the Doctor sighed with relief and opened his eyes. "There we go."

"Okay, now. Explain." Donna crossed her arms and gave the no-nonsense-now-spaceman-tell-me-everything-look.

The Doctor began. "Right. Well. So. There's this…creature. This alien, right. His name's Witha'an. He's from the planet Amauver, species Hynnae. A being of telepathic communication."

"Is that what you were doing just then?" Donna interrupted.

"Yes. I was talking to him. It's difficult to do over such distance, and with the TARDIS's protection and perception filters, not to mention overriding her language translators, and the fact that we're two different species…well, never mind. Point is, it was hard."

"What's he doing here?"

"I was just getting to that, Donna, hang on. He was a warrior for a while, but he committed a crime in the war he was fighting, and his kin—."

"A crime? If he's a criminal, how do we know we can trust him? Why are you letting him into your head?" Donna interjected again.

"Donna!" the Doctor snapped. "Let me talk, or I won't be able to."

"Sorry, continue."

"Thank you. His crime, Donna, was cowardice. He just didn't want to fight. I understand, actually," he added softly. "I was the same way. For a long, long time. Anyway…His kin abandoned him here. As a punishment. It was awful, Donna. Torture."

"But…" Donna started timidly. "This planet…isn't too bad. Right?"

The Doctor shook his head angrily and sadly. "It's a lovely planet, Donna. That isn't the point. He was cut off from his people, alone, frightened. He had no contact with them. None, whatsoever. For someone who had always had other consciousness's communicating telepathically with his own…well, it's just about the worst possible punishment for someone like him. Like I said, pure torment. He was going insane."

Donna nodded. She was slowly understanding. "And when he couldn't take it anymore…"

"He started trying to reach out to the Dreans," the Doctor confirmed. "But their minds couldn't receive the contact. That's what caused their state."

The ginger temp was still confused. "But…once he realized that their minds couldn't handle whatever, why didn't he stop?"

The Doctor looked away from her, saying softly "He was desperate. You couldn't possibly understand how lonely it is."

A slow, dawning realization swept over Donna Noble. "And you, Doctor. You can."

"Uh…yep," the Doctor muttered, popping the "p" at the end. "I suppose so. Okay, changing the subject now. Witha'an should be here really soon, I told him exactly where we were. When he gets here, I'm gonna help him sever the link with all of the people who are, well, whatever we're calling this. It might take a while, and you're going to have to be really quiet again, can you do that?"

"Stop talking to me like I'm a child, Doctor," Donna rebuked, gently though. "Yeah. I can do that. Are you not gonna talk to me about this anymore?"

"Hmm?" the Doctor said, feigning ignorance. "About what?" Suddenly, he winced, before Donna could have time to respond. "Wait!" His eyes squeezed shut in concentration again, his face gained an expression of horror. "Donna! We have to run. Now, he needs help! Hurry!"