Paul was chewing on her bottom lip. She wished she could tell the kids that she was here, wearing the watch of invisibility found among the Doctor's belongings (okay, it was not invisibility, but reflection of light waves or else - the TARDIS had given them an instruction upon Johnny-Jimmy's request, but there was not too much to take from it), but that was not required right now. She was following the group of lab workers, or scientists, or whoever they were, and Johnny-Jimmy was already its member. Perhaps it consisted of brainwashed ones which the main bosses had hoped to make out of JJ?.. Stepping as lightly as she could - it was not easy, because she was used to walking quickly and abruptly, and didn't have very light step - Paul scampered after the group, but stopped as soon as Kaster turned his head, like a cat during a hunt. Skasis, who was "riding" the huge block attached to the Doctor's container, suddenly glanced up, and his boggled grey eyes fixed on her, corners of his mouth slowly turning up. Paul pressed her forefinger to her lips and then folded her hands together in a praying gesture (which didn't come out too successful because of sonic cane between them), silently begging him not to give her out - she had no doubt that he saw her. Skasis sneakily showed her a thumb-up and resumed his work, but soon decided to speak:

"I suppose there could be an outer influence. Outer block, perhaps".

"And I could search for it", Five offered. "I could track the signal again".

"Not 'I', but 'we'", Alice added. "I won't let you go alone".

"Are you sure you can handle that?" Jenny asked, but then her eyes narrowed - her attention was caught by a blurry figure behind them. It was not about vision now, it was more about warmth... Five and Alice nodded, and after the boy found the same signal which came out of the container (it took him a bit of time to catch the pure technical signal from "living"), they walked out of the hall, holding hands. Paul hurried after them - she understood that her own actions would be suspicious while being invisible. And besides, she had already realized a very unpleasant fact: only one technology could be used at a time - either the watch or the cane. The same with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone game - when you cast spells, you become visible, Paul thought to herself. She didn't know why, but she saw all the kids directly, not with the corner of her eye - maybe because they acted in front of her? And Jenny. Perhaps she allowed Five and Alice to run their own investigation because she saw the "intruder"? Paul knew who she was, so this was a possible version.

This time the signal led them to the elevator which stopped on every floor (by the way, how many floors were here? It wasn't excluded that this could be an underground complex or a huge spaceship), letting the assistants and scientists in and out. A couple of times even the guards - Devors, was that the name of that race? - thumped in. And that was the creepiest part, because they sniffed and smelled the air without stopping, grumbling from time to time.

"It's about the smell", Alice whispered when the lift contained only her, Five and Paul again. "It's the most difficult part. They're carnivorous, and they must have natural instincts".

"Carnivorous?"

"This means they live on meat, it's their main food". Alice didn't speak in her normal voice even now, as if she felt the presence of someone extra here. No wonder if she did. Timelord nature was a riddle to solve, but hybrid nature was even more complicated, mainly because nobody ever knew what combinations those hybrids had (they even surprised themselves more often than normally). "Did you see how they looked at us when they brought us to their bosses? Impatiently, and one of them was drooling. As if we were beefsteaks freshly out of oven..."

"I don't wanna be a beefsteak", Five muttered, and they both turned to statues again - two or three scientists entered the elevator. Thank goodness the signal source was much closer now, and the sonic was responding to it with vibration instead of beeping. When the needed floor was reached, the kids waited until the scientists left and only then came out. They found themselves in front of a safe-type door, like those which can be found in banks. And the signal went weaker for some reason, but didn't vanish.

"Something priceless". Alice whispered this almost soundlessly, her lips in millimeters from Five's ear (Paul had to bow to hear her). At this moment two or three scientists walked to the door and stopped in front of three small screens which flashed white in a moment. "Checking the iris... and fingerprints. Yeah, a nice heist we've got to accomplish".

As soon as coast was clear, Five attempted to use his sonic as a key, but it appeared to be deadlocked again. After a few more trials the kids, disappointed, decided to return, but Paul didn't follow them this time. Obviously, Skasis had given them the idea of searching for an outer block so that she would follow them and deactivate it by herself. But how was she going to enter?.. There was only one possibility - sneaking behind backs of the next who were going to enter.

The feeling of unknown was overwhelming, though Paul had taken part in riskier business. To calm down, she put her free hand on her chest and closed her eyes, feeling the pulsation inside. The proof of natural power... She was alive and well, if not to count the recently cured injury on her right side, which was responding with faint pain after every step. And that meant she could do something. Anything. Whatever.

Paul didn't have to wait for a long time. The next group arrived shortly after Five and Alice left, and this time there were seven incomers. Having taken turn after the one who was the farthest from entrance, she watched them pass the checking and tip-toed after them just in time not to get squashed against the wall with this door (which was at least one and a half meters thick).

So that's from where they control those capsules, she thought - this room didn't hold machinery, it was machinery. The walls were all divided into small rectangular screens, those like tablets have - each held the image of a certain container and information about species representative held it it. The scientists tapped on some of them, having used lifting platforms to reach those which were over human height (and the ceiling was at least ten meters high here), and left. The door locked automatically.

"Trick or treat, smell my feet", Paul murmured and switched the watch of invisibility off, then began scanning the screens with the sonic cane, listening to its "voice". Aiming and thinking, that was it, eh? The signal source wasn't at the bottom, so Paul, despite her throat tightened, got onto one of the platforms, and it flew upwards at first - the "order" appeared to be too much. There it was! The screen showing the capsule with the Doctor wasn't seen with bare eyes. No wonder, at such background!

"Tell me more, old chap", Paul whispered and pressed the button on the cane's handle, forcing herself to think about returning the Doctor to his proper condition, but just one annoying thought invaded her mind: don't be noticed, don't be noticed, don't be noticed. Yes, Skasis had created fine perception filters - they worked even with that camera (the mechanical eyes were blind to the reasons of control block being slowly re-designed), but that didn't mean... or did it? Paul gnawed on her knuckles to get this thought out.

Finally the settings for the capsule showed themselves (that was the reason why Paul didn't like sensor screens much - they never gave out the needed result or hardly ever reacted to being touched - or overreacted). Okay, now it's about... and what now? Having looked through the list of options, Paul found only one sensible item. "Revert". Not a word about opening or closing. They don't even suppose that the locked ones may wish to come out, she thought angrily and pushed the found word.

Hold on. Revert. Reverse the polarity... For a brief moment Paul thought she could revert the communication and speak to the kids. She even aimed the cane at the screen once more, but then lowered it. If she did so, they would be caught and nobody knows what next, perhaps much worse. She was only left to hope that she did what she could.