Constance woke, surprised that she had slept. It had stopped raining. Her face was cold, but the rest of her body was warm in the huddle of the Early Dorom beassi. It was still light out, although it was becoming darker, she couldn't remember the last time she had slept in the afternoon. Then again, last time they were on a planet it was the night cycle, so perhaps she was just up late.

She looked over to Darren and Lisa. 'Any better?' she asked, quietly, although this stirred some of the Early Dorom beassi.

Darren shook their head. 'I dunno.'

Constance excused herself from the huddle, waking people. She knelt to examine Lisa. The blood had stopped flowing, the time in the rain had clearly been good for the body, it looked plump, well-fed, with less colour.

Now that the face was clean, Constance looked at the damage. It wasn't superficial, there was broken skin, and on a human, she would have said it would leave a scar and probably need some surgery for a deviated septum.

'At least she's breathing,' said Constance, who thought all the Yssimarb were she and all the Early Dorom beassi was he.

Darren shook their head.

'What?'

'Nothing. I'm just… angry at myself. I always knew Lisa'd be trouble. I always knew that once Brian… ascended, Lisa would be stricter and more forceful with the sacred laws, and now… I could remove them.'

'Yes. I can see how you'd think like that,' said Constance, who imagined, frequently, what would happen if she caught a Nazi spy back in Bletchley before… the Doctor and everything.

'It might just be the translation, but it sounds like you understand me.'

'Yes. I do. I know it's wrong to take a life, it's the greatest sin, but in war it's different.'

'War?'

'Fighting,' said Constance, thinking of skirmishes in the mud and trenches and bloody knuckles, rather than war, which is fought in smokey rooms with wooden figurines on a map.

This translated and Darren nodded. 'We fight all the time. Lisa fights with everybody. If she did not survive…'

'But of course,' Constance began with a delicate tone, being very careful to reason it all out before she let Darren be consumed with this crime of passion, 'if you did, you would have witnessed in the Early Dorom beassi,' she was almost certain that what the Doctor had called them, 'and then you'd have to hide the body well enough that no one would find it for as long as you continued to live in this area.'

Darren stared at her.

'I've read a few Agatha Christie,' she answered, then remembered that they had no idea about this, so answered, 'I've heard many stories of murder.'

'So are you gods? I know Jane would probably have an easier answer, but I'm not as smart as them. Are you gods?'

'No. We are just…' Constance wracked her brain for the Shakespeare quote about flies and wanton boys to gods. She could really use the Arthur C. Clark quote. But she had neither. She settled with: 'What you are to the Early Dorom beassi, we are to you. And not in the way you've said Brian thinks of them, we are not superior, we just have more access to knowledge and science.' Darren nodded. 'And how do all these murder stories end?'

'With justice. The murderer is found out.'

'How are they punished?'

'Well, usually, in Great Britain, hang the criminals to stop other people from committing the same crime.'

'You murder and murderer for murdering?'

'No, you miss understand, these people have forfeited their right to life by taking someone else's. An eye for an eye.'

Darren moved Lisa over, and lay them flat, still breathing small, shallow breaths. 'This will help them breathe now that their face is cleaned up.'

Constance nodded and stood, she paced to stretch her legs, then looked over the edge of the hilltop to see if she could spot the Doctor moving through the trees. She tried to spot where the TARDIS would be in the event of needing an escape.

Brian sat in the middle of the remains of the shell. The rain was fresh on their skin and the metal fragments had a shine to them. Brian was eagerly awaiting a burst of bright sunlight to create an intersecting rainbow effect. Brian felt the warmth and colours of the gods. Even better should they fade from the mortal plane as this light show shimmered. It felt divine. It looked divine. It gave them authority.

Brian did not scry in the play of light against metal and water, but it so easily could have been done. Especially when, in the reflections of the metal, came a vague distortion of colours, haloed with gold. It approached and for a brief and euphoric moment, Brian could have sworn they were stepping out of the metal as a messenger of the gods.

Brian turned to find the Doctor stepping into the shell.

Brian turned. 'Who are you?'

'The Doctor. I am here to heal you.'

'We are sick?'

'You are unwell. I can make you whole.'

'Truly? Joyous.' Brian looked behind the Doctor at Jane and Flip, then noticed the wound on Jane's shoulder. 'What did you do?'

Jane held their tongue so tightly and made sure everyone knew they were not saying something else. Instead, 'It was just a warning,' was the eventual answer.

Brian nodded. 'This is good.' Then they returned their attention to the Doctor. 'You wear the sacred colours and seem to be something between our nature and the demons. Sit with me and talk.'

The Doctor, retaining his air of beneficence, sat on the wet and muddy ground with a squelch.

Flip made that croaking noise that comes from pursing your lips and holding back a laugh. She knew he was going to get her back for it later, but it was too cartoonish not to laugh.

'My friend is here to help. She would be most willing to do any work you have,' said the Doctor, flashing her a smile.

Flip's smile died on her face and she adopted the Doctor's same beneficent smile that was just a little sardonic when examined closely.

'I'm sure they can find something for her. It is coming to winter and we need fibre spun.'

'Yes. I noticed you were all naked. Except that some of you have satchels. Do you not feel the cold?'

'We do, of course, but we have this,' Brian gestured to the shell fragments propped against the tree, 'which warms us with a little sun, though in the winter we make a shelter from leave fibres.'

'Fascinating,' said the Doctor kindly. Then moving swiftly on, 'Other than these metal plates, is there anything else that remains of the nursery?'

'The spear.' Brian displayed it, never indicating the Doctor could touch it, but turning it over, presenting him with the metal blade and metal rod. 'It comes from the shell. When we first emerged, our parents, before they were taken, one of them forged with this a wand of fire.'

It was welded, and the Doctor wondered if Jane would use the same language. With his own little psychic abilities, the Doctor could feel that Brian was not a threat, they wanted to help and held such a sense of wonderment. Yet maybe in the way Brian sat alone in the lotus of metal, maybe in the way the spear was Brian's alone to wield, the will to power was not a drive without strict morality that placed Brian at the apex of the hierarchy.

'And what do you hunt with it?'

'The demons. This blade passed down from [unpronounceable name], has slain twelve. My own, counting four.'

'Do you stab them and let them bleed out?' The Doctor watched them carefully, taking note of the spear.

'No, that would be cruel. It is kept in until I, or it, touches the divine worlds and sends them to it.'

The Doctor imagined the cries of pain cut short as they vanished like the other one. The antihistamine was doing little for his disgust and dislike. He wanted to press the button, trap all of them here or between, damn the last of the calculations. But then, wasn't that just the Time Lord training, the disgust of dis-temporality (as opposed to neutral atemporality) as visceral protection. Instinct as prejudice and cruelty. He also had to remember they had no idea that the Early Dorom beassi were sentient creatures, they considered them animals and therefore lesser, just because he saw all life as valuable (when it suited him) was a privilege of his age and status.

Ah, but he had already shot up and swung the sonic screwdriver around, causing a ripple of feedback.

He sent the data back to the TARDIS and was presenting the button to Brian.

'If I press this, I could stop the fading.'

Brian slapped it out of his hand and stabbed it with the spear. It didn't destroy it, but broke into the device and as Brian glitched out of reality with the spear and returned the button did not. Brian brought the blade up in a smooth and swift motion to the Doctor's face.

The Doctor didn't move an inch.

'Was that supposed to be impressive? Don't you think I wouldn't have given one to my friend?'

'Get the stranger!' hissed Brian. As Flip was dragged away from the fibres, Brian pointed at Jane. 'You see what this witch does to us, brings some monster of colour and solidity to drag us away from ascending.'

'You didn't see his home. It is a shell the make of trees and the colour of the evening sky.'

The Doctor was ready to play up to this, but Flip was dragged in front of him and her pockets riffled as she objected. There was nothing in there of note, she didn't carry precious items with her anymore. Only the TARDIS key.

It burned in their hands, and even as they faded, it went with them. The pained rasping of the TARDIS tore through the forest, drawing time winds and particle dispersals. The Yssimarb who grabbed it let go with a gasp.

'What was that?' asked Brian.

'What do you think?' asked the Doctor, drawing himself up, looking down at Brian who was taller, but so much less. This Doctor knows he is powerful. Perhaps if you've been paying attention you might consider this the beginning of the vanity arc.

'The beast we heard earlier. It was you. Some king of Hell, dressed as the broken lights of colour. No purity of whiteness in you, is there?'

The Doctor looked around him, he had a particle amplifier in the shape of a metal lotus, the metal sheets that faded in and out in sync with one another, he had an audience of Yssimarb. Surrounded by the wisps of rainbows.

'Do you all agree with this? How many of you stand with this notion of superior purity?'

Flip picked up her TARDIS key, briefly glad Constance wasn't there to make a comment about the Nazis. She knew they were evil, obvious, but Constance did go on about them.

'This Doctor comes to save us. He did not fight the demons, he does not fight us. They are something between. You must see that.' Jane looked around, with no hope. Only Darren had been an obvious ally.

Despite their reticence to see it all as vague spirituality, the Doctor was beyond comprehension. Brian had taught of vengeful gods. Jane could see one before them all, indignant and with the calm of someone who knew they were going to win. And Jane had thought their cutting remarks and clever debates meant anything.

Flip caught sight of Dark Hide, hiding, no, not just that, but cowering from the roar and rush of the time winds. 'Doctah, tell them what you can do.'

'I am, Flip. I want to see how many of them will accept it and how many would rather die before I save them. Because I can do both, I can speed up the phase decay and scatter your particles through the dimensions, collapsing your timeline entirely. Or I can stabilise you, bring you into this physical world, then bring you to another planet, one where you can repopulate or simply live out your days in peace.'

'Doctor, no! You can't! We have to solidify. You said it yourself, the fading is disappearing, it is death.'

'Only for an unbeliever. We are pure and live good lives, we will be transcended.'

'It is not transcendence. We don't exist when there is nothing!'

'That is not true!'

'Then what do you see? Or even sense, feel. What is for certain when you are gone, Brian? What is beyond?'

Brian gave a big gesture towards Jane, exhausted with the lack of understanding of even the most obvious answers that Jane should, if they were so intelligent, be able to understand. 'Because we are too mortal and base to be allowed to remember or understand, we are too dull in these bodies.'

'So you are superior to everything except the gods?' asked the Doctor.

'Of course,' said Brian.

'Are you sure?' asked the Doctor, seeing that no one cared for Jane, although not fully adept at the Yssimarb body language and social politics, maybe of them were avoiding looking at Jane, ashamed to be in the same space. This shifted some of them, made them uncertain.

'Of course.'

The Doctor, playing a little risk, activated the sonic screwdriver. As he held it, he faded out of reality, the sound of the sonic disappeared as Brian and the shell of the ship came into full solidity, not fading or glitching.

Flip was by Dark Hide's side, making sure he was okay, but then she ran for the Doctor. He held his hand out but didn't look at her, focused on the sonic screwdriver. A double-image overlaid on the original turned to Flip and spoke, but it took a moment for the words to sound, 'Don't. Stay back,' and the double image vanished.

'What has he done?' asked Dark Hide.

'I don't know.'

'He's made me solid,' said Brian and fell to their knees staring at Dark Hide.

'You understand him?'

'All that… movement. I… I can hear it. How?'

'Magic,' said Flip, which simply did not translate for Dark Hide.

Dark Hide, understanding, viscerally, touch starvation, walked to Brian and took their hand. Brian shuddered and recoiled, then tried again and stroked the matted fur on the back of Dark Hide's paw. He threw down the spear.

'They can think and feel, Brian,' said Jane.

'So can any animal,' said Brian, distantly.

'The movements. That is more than communication. That is talking. I've seen them do it. They have social dynamics… this one has a spawn which is different from the other spawn. Louder and watches.'

'Determined is a fine gatherer and will know when we make the journey into the Dry Lands.'

'Proper nouns!' gasped Brian. 'They know about the desert.'

Dark Hide didn't know this word but continued to speak because that seemed like a good idea. It seemed like something the children would think of. Something Poison Nose would think is too childish to work because they thought of it.

'You have forced many of us to leave. We have heard there is another green land beyond, but the Dry Lands have fruit and are good for those who are careful and wise. They say it is a land where there doesn't need to be fur because it is so warm in the day. They fear nothing but their own hunt for water and food, no predators. It is a paradise…'

Whatever else Dark Hide could say was lost as the sonic screwdriver gave out, bursting with sparks and then burning out of existence with a glitch, as the Doctor was thrown back into solidity, aligned with reality. Brian and the lotus and the spear began to fade.

The Doctor took a moment to throw up behind a tree. Fixed his bow tie, then returned smiling. 'Well, dear chap, what did you think of that?' he asked Brian.

Brian was still staring at Dark Hide, even though the furry creature had stopped trying to talk, seeing the lack of comprehension wash over Brian, also being mindful of the fading, stepped back from Brian.

'I could hear it. I could… I could see colours properly,' said Brian.

'Yes, I suppose you would. I expected some residual electromagnetic barrier kept you from being cluttered with rain and light particles. When you were solid, you were able to see more clearly.'

'I need a moment,' said Brian and continued to stare into space.

They gave him one, stepping back. The Doctor kicked the spear away and took a moment to examine it and Brian and the metal fragments.

Flip approached the Doctor. 'Is he going to be okay?'

The Doctor watched him. 'I hope so. What years are you from again?'

'We left in twenty-twelve.'

The Doctor searched through his knowledge of Earth history. 'Then you should know that religious fundamentalism and zealotry often lead to a mental break. All that adrenaline and hate. I think if we give them time to adjust and take things slowly, then they might become a leader of peace. This is their road to Damascus.'

'You keep saying they, are they like Calypso?'

'Yes. Gender neutral.'

'Oh shit.'

'Not your fault, translation and natural assumption given your names for them.'

Brian eventually lifted themselves off the ground with the spear, fading in and out, and then looked at the other Yssimarb. 'I… have been… a fool.'

Flip breathed a sigh of relief, but the Doctor still held his.

Brian gestured for them to gather around, close enough that they might touch. Briefly, while the skin was solid and they did not need to fear the glitching in and out. They held each other in a tentative group hug.

'So… are we not supposed to disappear?' asked one of the Yssimarb.

'I don't know,' said Brian. 'When I was whole, I felt… alive.'

'But you have always said we should let ourselves ascend?'

'I can't explain it.' Brian shot up. 'Doctor, can you show them?'

The Doctor didn't stop examining the metal when he answered. It was only when he spoke that Flip noticed he wasn't by her side. 'Not right now, no. Give me a few minutes in my ship and I could make it permanent. You destroyed my activation key.'

'What are you doing to the shell?' asked a Yssimarb.

'Interesting. Did you know your ship fragments are made from exo-chronos-bonded poly-carbon?' The Doctor took out a jeweller's eye-glass and examined the metal closely, it faded and made it hard to understand, but it did seem similar enough. 'Or… hm, yes, this is the work of someone much more advanced. Tell me, do any of you have memories of before? Any databanks?'

'We were the children of the new world,' said a Yssimarb.

The Doctor was not impressed by this, he already suspected they were escaping, but that their ship would be destroyed upon escape seemed like the work of last-minute amateurs, or at least a peoples reaching beyond their limit in the panic to survive.

'If only I kept my sonic. Then again, I can always check when you phase in and bring this with it.' The Doctor knew Kessas Aen contained a mineral ore that was useful for travel in the vortex, which is partly why he kept crashing into it every so often, but to craft a temporally protected ship was beyond what he knew of Kessas Aen of this time.

The Doctor tapped the metal fragments a few times just to hear how they passed vibrations while they were fading in and out.

'So, you want to be phased in?' asked the Doctor, letting the jeweller's eye-glass fall into his hands, which he quickly pocketed.

Brian nodded and seeing this, the others nodded too.

Jane watched them, only a little indignant. They wondered how Lisa would react to having their inheritance revoked.

The Yssimarb don't breathe in the same way mammals do, it isn't an expansion of lungs, but there is the inhalation of a facial orifice, the one from which they speak. All those leaves that hand from their mouth are there to protect and filter the air that enters their body.

Lisa's blood congealed on these filters. Their breathing became harder and harsher.

Darren watched and thought of all the people Lisa accused of heresy, the thought of how Brian speared them and made them flicker rapidly before splitting apart like some heathen flesh thing, like the little ground demons. Darren let it happen.

Constance was not there to see anything wrong, she needed to stretch her legs and the family/tribe was growing hungry. Constance had also overheard the worried conversations about returning to the home before long, they had no hunt or gather, but they still needed to check in, especially with the young ones.

Constance thought about the food machine in the TARDIS, thinking that if they went hunting and gathering close to it, she could sneak in and bring out some ration packs, something very simple and sensible that wouldn't destroy time.

You might also wonder if, while she was prowling with those permitted to hunt and gather, her experiences with rationing made her reckless and consider just giving them whatever they wanted. Something exotic like a banana—by Jove she missed bananas. And she did consider it but also knew it would only make them look more like gods.

Determined saw though, watched that Darren did nothing as Lisa struggled to breathe and then eventually stopped.