Chapter 2

Nita was speaking to the Doctor over the phone. She'd put it on loudspeaker so the others could hear. "Michelle's convinced they're human. They may be trapped somehow, we're not sure."

"The results of my temporal analysis may be pertinent. It indicates a synchronic distortion of in the areas emanating triolic waves."

"That explains a few things. How much, Doctor?"

"A positive displacement of point zero-zero-four percent."

"Whatever or whoever's there, is out of phase with us. But we're only talking about a fraction of a second."

"A fraction of a second would make them invisible?" asked Michelle.

"A millisecond, a year…it wouldn't make any difference. If what we're reading is accurate, we're occupying the same space, but in a different time. How do we compensate?"

"Nita, we might be able to manipulate the synchronic distortion."

Nita nodded. "Maybe. If we created a contained subspace forcefield. But to get a point zero-zero-four variance, we'd need an incredibly sensitive phase discriminator, Doctor. I don't think we've got one that would come close…"

"Yes, we do. It is built into my sonic screwdriver."

There were reactions all around.

"It would be necessary for me to join you out there." So much for cheating fate.

The Doctor ended the call and left the TARDIS. The others reacted as they saw him emerge. He was carrying a small generator and other tech gear in a carrying case.

"Doctor…" greeted Nita, grimly.

"Nita."

"Let me give you a hand here, Doctor."

Nita quickly moved to assist him in preparing – turned on the generator, checked that it was functioning properly.

"Once I have adjusted the forcefield, I will no longer be visible, Nita… however, I have taken steps to ensure that you will still be able to hear me. If you would assist me in a test of the com system."

The Doctor pressed a button on his phone. Nita followed suit, and then as the Doctor talked there was an echo over the phone.

"My voice will be transmitted on a delay correlated to the phase adjustment. It should allow me to maintain verbal contact."

"Will we be able to talk to you?"

"No, that will not be possible."

"You're ready to go."

She handed the Doctor a hand control and the mobile generator, which had a handle. The Doctor turned it on with the hand control. There was an optical zap between the generator and the remote control.

"Subspace field is established."

The Doctor moved toward the slab, working the hand controls. "Adjusting for synchronic distortion, point zero-zero-one…"

And with each count he began to fade, and so did the echo. "Point zero-zero-two…point zero-zero-three…point zero-zero-four…"

And he was gone, his voice on the phone was their only reference point. "I have made visual contact. There are lifeforms here. They are either unaware of me or choosing to ignore me. I am moving approximately ten metres north of my starting position to observe more closely. They are small compared to humans and have pebbly brown and orange skin and three tentacle-like features on their heads. Their eyes flash a greeny-gold colour occasionally. They are reclined against the rockface, surrounding a chamber of some sort, approximately one-point-five metres in height."

"A chamber?"

"It is releasing what appear to be energy fragments, which are then ingested by the entities through their eyes, perhaps some sort of nourishment. The upper portion of the chamber seems to be a holding facility for the energy segments. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of these fragments inside. I have resumed a northern direction. There is no evidence yet of Humans."

"Okay, enough, Doctor, come on back now."

"I have encountered another chamber, I'm looking inside…it's a Raxacoricofallapatorian…it seems to be in stasis. "Two of the brown and orange entities are approaching it, they have released the stasis field."

Suddenly there is a sonic boom, which was followed by a deafening swirling sound of a tornado. The Doctor's voice was breaking up. "…temporal…massive…the Raxacoricofallapatorian is capable of…caught…attempting to…"

His voice disappeared into the searing noise. The team saw a flash twenty metres away.

"Doctor!"

All of them broke simultaneously into a run, and when they got there, they looked down to see the generator and hand control were all that was left. The team used their scanners as they searched in vain for any trace of the Doctor.

"We've lost him."

The Doctor was lying on the ground in an alley, trying to get this bearings. The first thing he noticed was how quiet it was. The Doctor looked around, slowly rose. The alley was nondescript, but there were old style rubbish bins, a cobblestone street surface, brick wall buildings. The Doctor moved slowly toward the street and reacted as he saw…a street scene out of London circa 1490s.