Finding Anna was going to be easy - just follow the carnage. Backpack thumping against his spine, Danner ran down the tunnel, trying to avoid the crushed, nearly unrecognizable remains of skilke, afraid that she was already out of reach.
Something profound had changed. There were subtle, rhythmic quivers in the floor. The air seemed fresher.
At the shaft, he slid down the ladder, abrading his hands and not caring. There were more broken skilke at the bottom. He plowed through them and dropped out the hatch.
Into ankle-deep mud.
For a moment, Danner was certain he had taken a wrong turn. This was not the abandoned, dusty, farm zone, was it? Thunder rumbled, and rain poured down around him. He was soaked through in seconds.
Yet twenty feet ahead it was still dry. He looked up and saw the reason. High above, a line of heavy clouds gathered along the edge of the ceiling, obscuring the distant crisscrossing of beams, cables and lights. That line was growing, burgeoning outward. Wiping wet hair from his eyes, Danner ran for the far wall and the way out.
He reached the end of the room; the soaring gray wall loomed out of the rain. A blink, and the wall was gone. In its place was a low, stucco building. Behind the building was more land - lush, overgrown fields and a line of wooded hills.
What the hell?
The wind blew rain against him; it struck the rough walls of this building that had not been there before and pooled in the muck underfoot. He smelled old, wet stone.
Danner spun around. His senses now insisted that he was no longer in a spaceship, but out in open country. Hazily, as if seen through smoke, an image imposed itself upon the room's floor and its deep carpet of ancient dust. An meadow gathered substance before his eyes. Wall and shadow became a depthless vista of empty, rainswept wilderness. He turned back to the door. His shaking fingers slipped on the heavy brass latch. Thunder growled, sounding far away.
The door yielded and reality reasserted itself. Danner was in the corridor again. Ahead lay the vat room, the last place the Doctor had been seen. Its doors were wide open when he reached it, more bodies scattered about.
Through the doors and - shit!
He jumped back into the corridor. The vats and towering computer
bank were still visible, as was the room's ghastly carpet of remains.
But it was all fading, changing.
The corroded floor became moss-covered stone. There were remnants
of walls, barely visible beneath mounds of creeper. Beyond them was
only sky, delicately pink and
dotted by clouds of deepest rose.
One by one, the line of vats on his left overturned, displaced by beautifully carved stone columns. Wires and cables snapped, thick, amber liquid poured onto the flagged stones. Danner saw with relief that all of them were empty. He had expected otherwise.
Squaring his shoulders, he stepped from the ship into the materializing impossibility. On his right, another wall was forming, replacing the second row of vats with mildewed stone. He heard twisting, rending metal. The hulking bank of computers was sinking into a newborn pool, the water deep and scummed with algae.
To Danner, this place felt like a temple. The walls, although still standing, were broken in places, and the roof had long since fallen in. He walked gingerly across the worn flagstone. There were three widely spaced doors at the far end of the room, fashioned of heavy wood, rough-hewn and stained by centuries of rain and wind. The iron bracing was thick with rust.
In the nearby wall was a gap. Putting his eye to it, Danner saw a short expanse of rocky ground, then a sudden panorama of forests and hills stretching away below, as if this ruin occupied a mountain summit.
Illusion, dammit!
He turned, hesitated a moment, then pushed open the center door.
Another corridor. Bright lights and recycled air. Danner started running, afraid that Anna was too far ahead -- or had taken a different path. He need not have worried. As he rounded a curve, he came upon a large open area, the nexus of four corridors. In its center, was one of the Dev's transporter platforms. Standing at the control console beside it, Anna stared with helpless frustration at the buttons and screens. She heard him coming, lifting her head sharply.
"Danner! What are you doing?"
He came around the platform toward her. She held up a hand, furious, but he ignored it. When he was within reach of her, she began to back away. Only then did Danner stop.
"What are you doing?" she repeated, tight-lipped. "You should have stayed in the TARDIS!"
"I saw the mess you left," he retorted. "You'll be burned out before you find the Doctor. We both know what has to happen."
"You may not live through transfer - STOP IT! Stand back, dammit!"
"There's a place back there - a little more private than this," Danner said edgily, looking up and down the corridors. "And I'll take my chances."
He expected - hoped for - more protest. She merely nodded.
When he opened the door to the mountaintop room, she gasped audibly. He had to give her a gentle shove over the threshold to shut the door behind them.
"This wasn't here before!"
"You noticed that, eh?"
No sign of the interface room remained. There was only the long, grey pool and the sighing of wind through broken walls. Anna, wide-eyed, pulled open the left door. Danner's protest died unspoken. Neither said a word as they stepped outside
There was not a hint of the ship he knew surrounded them. He and Anna stood halfway up a mountain. Behind them reared a steep, terraced slope. Between the rifts and the rocky outcroppings, often barely distinguishable from the gray stone, more ruins could be seen.
At their feet the mountain fell away in a dizzying drop. The wind was much stronger here. It caught Anna's hair and sent the honey strands whirling around her head. Laughing breathlessly, she reached up in a vain attempt to capture it, to hold it away from her face. To Danner, it seemed as if she were wrapping her fingers in sunlight.
The view was breathtaking. Distant peaks were lucent against the deepening afternoon. An endless forest flowed in green waves toward foothills crowned with cloud. He went as close to the edge as he dared, and looked over into a deep gorge. Hundreds of feet below a river ran, silver with froth and stitched with a dozen rainbows.
"It's almost too beautiful," Anna said. "Do you think this is a hologram?"
Her hand slipped through his arm. Her body was warm against his.
"It has to be," he replied with more conviction than he felt. "Anna, I hate to be crude about this . . ."
"But we have to rescue the Doctor and save our planet." She twisted her fingers anxiously, belying the flippant tone. "Where should we -- I don't know if I can do this!"
"You've already done it - hundreds of time, from what I hear!"
She flinched visibly and withdrew.
"I'm sorry," he said. "That was out of line."
"Yes, it was. At least before I was too far gone to know what I was doing. Not like this!"
"Anna. . ."
"None of mine have survived. None," she said, quietly desperate. "Be sure, Danner. Be very sure."
He almost lost his nerve then, struggling for composure by pretending to admire the view. In truth, he did not even see it. "It's OK. I'm used to these no-win situations. I'll make it, you'll see. And hell, how many Norms these days can claim they got laid by no less than two gorgeous women in the same week?"
His smirk was not entirely successful. Angry protests trembled on her lips, brows drew sharply together. Danner forestalled the coming storm by pulling her to him, tightening his embrace when she stiffened. Anna pushed at his chest; he refused to let her go, but already their proximity was overriding the drug's control. Abruptly, she capitulated, melting against him, hands sliding under his shirt.
Then it was too late for second thoughts.
* * *
In the lattice of energy beams overhead, the Doctor detected a subtle change - a weakening in the beams' integrity. Palas was approaching the limits of her strength. At his shoulder, Commander Lermor shifted to face him. Cold eyes glittered.
"The ship is only restored to one quarter of its capacity, Doctor. When you and these wretches are dead, more will replace you. Think on that."
He did, looking unwillingly at the humans pressed together against the wall. The din caused by awakening primary systems had ended, but the Doctor could sense the strong energy pulses moving farther and farther afield.
"The Feeder would eliminate the need for such a waste." Lermor's words were a breath in his ear. "Return him to us."
"No." The Doctor straightened, meeting the hollow stare directly. "You'll never make it back home, you know. I may not be Dev, but I do know something about interdimensional travel. You are entrusting an energy source of immense power to an unstable conduit. Navigating through time requires precise control.
"I've been watching these energy streams," he went on, pointing overhead. "There are visible fluctuations in Palas' output. If any such thing occurs while you're dematerializing, death will be a mercy! She's untrained, Commander. Untrained -- and shifting a vessel this size through time! You think on that!"
A muscle leapt in Lermor's jaw. The Dev knew very well what the odds were. That he would even consider proceeding was mad! The TARDIS' circuits were engineered to handle the Eye's awesome output in specific, programmed ways. Palas was not. This was suicide.
"Charge the ship up to minimum life support and wait," he pleaded. "Properly train her before you try to leave, at least!"
And give me more time.
"Unfortunately, Doctor, that is not possible," replied the Dev. "The moment the Eye was opened, the reverberations were felt in every danship that still exists."
"The Eye," echoed the Doctor faintly. "Why do you call it that?"
"The Eye of the World?" Lermor shrugged. "It has always been called that. My people will know at once that not only do we still live, we have the means to effect our vengeance. They are likely even now heading toward us, killing their danae, overloading their engines to make speed under psi power. It is futile, of course."
His wide smile made the Doctor's skin crawl. The Time Lord looked again to Palas. Gradually, but steadily, the beams were fading Callifer moved swiftly to her side. His hands were busy among the carvings below the lip of the slab.
Palas' crystal beam blinked out. The hundreds of tiny sub- streams were quick to follow. Callifer returned to join his Commander There was grim satisfaction in his face. "We have only a short time for the recharging," he said. "The spy first?"
"No. Let him have a good, long look at what awaits him."
The other Dev nodded shortly. He separated one of the blackstones from the coffle and dragged the wretch toward the center of the room.
Palas stirred. Slowly she rose to her knees, tossed back her fiery hair. The red jewels circling her brow flashed. She spread her legs, sliding her hands down her thighs, and arched her back luxuriously. Her eyes were no longer human -- they had become orbs of white light. Even from fifteen feet away, the Doctor could feel her hunger. It tugged at every blackstone in the room.
Perhaps some premonition filtered through the dull haze of the blackstone's mind. He stopped, shuddered, and took a step backwards. Callifer swore and pushed him onward. Palas smiled and held out her hands.
"NO!"
The Doctor launched himself across the room. At once, the thing that had been Palas shifted its avid gaze to the Time Lord. A sudden rush of lust nearly undid him. He had only recently experienced the sensation that now returned with three times its original power.
"Hey! You're messin' with my lady!"
The Prime turned her head toward him with blinding speed. For the first time, true awareness flickered in her frozen, alabaster face The Doctor's hearts crashed. He spun about so quickly he nearly knocked over Lermor. The Commander seized his arm, but the Time Lord pulled away.
"Danner!"
The blackstone grinned, shook unruly hair out of his eyes. He tossed something to the floor - a backpack, olive green, somewhat battered - and familiar.
It was the Doctor's own - from the TARDIS.
"At last!" snarled the Commander. "Callifer! Take him!"
The other Dev was already running toward the blackstone.
"The pack, Doctor!"
Without thinking, the Doctor drove his elbow hard into the midriff of the Dev behind him. Lermor gave a startled grunt. Desperately the Time Lord flung himself toward the pack.
A hand locked around his ankle. The Doctor kicked at it savagely, twisting around to see Lermor stretched out behind him, face contorted with fury. His fingers found the pack's canvas straps, clenched around them tightly. Another sharp kick freed him from Lermor. Jumping up, he ran for the door.
"Stop him!"
The Doctor skidded to a halt. The doors were filled with Dev. Some were deformed, had missing limbs, wasting flesh, expressions only slightly removed from idiocy. The decay that permeated the ship had made its inroads among the Clan. He whirled, saw more Dev crowding through the room's other doors.
Suddenly, the creatures blocking his path flew out of the way, their angry muttering changing abruptly to startled shrieks. In the now-empty doorway appeared a familiar, bright-haired figure.
"Doctor!"
It was Anna, formidably rational.
"Anna!" His voice shook with relief. "Come on! We haven't much time!"
"But Doctor - what about Danner?"
The Time Lord glanced over his shoulder. His friend was completely surrounded by a closing circle of Dev. More than a few of them were already face down on the tiles. It would be a while before they brought that particular blackstone down.
"Doctor - he can't have much left!"
"You and he . . .?"
She nodded.
"I was right. You were compatible!"
"Barely. I . . .I . . don't know how he endured it. If he has to go through it again, so soon," Her voice trailed away, and the Doctor nodded soberly.
"Then we'll work fast." He was already moving, shrugging into the pack. Grabbing Anna's hand, he ran out into the colonnade.
Outside, there were Dev everywhere. Perhaps they were drawn to the heart of their ship by a compulsion they had almost forgotten. He pulled her into some nearby bushes, finger to his lips.
"You're at full power?" he whispered.
She nodded.
"What do you feel Use your telepathy!"
She closed her eyes, expression flattening.
"Do you sense Palas?"
She nodded, wincing slightly. "Need. Terrible need."
"Good. Go farther. Do you feel a -- a power without personality? It may be muted, but it will be around here somewhere."
A long, nerve-racking silence followed. He was gambling that the l'Shylian Eye and his own were the same, or similar. If he were wrong, the Earth and the ship that orbited it were as good as lost.
"Yes," she whispered suddenly. "It's beneath her! Right beneath her!"
"That's what I thought. The Cloister Room is within a few steps of the console on the TARDIS, too.
"There has to be some sort of service entrance. The power exchange interface will probably be very complex. Besides, I have a feeling about something. Come on. Don't stop, don't give eye contact - just move."
"I'm not afraid of these geeks . . ."
"No killing!"
Out into the open again. Anna's hand gripped tightly in his, he pushed swiftly into the thick press of Dev, shoved through them across the crowded path, and plunged into the bushes on the other side. Their passing left mild consternation, but no one seemed inclined to raise an alarm.
"Focus on that power source. If you detect the slightest - the slightest - increase, tell me at once!"
Across another path crammed with moving bodies. The Dev filled the building now; he looked up long enough to see them spilling out into the colonnade.
"Here!"
The Doctor stopped at once. He and Anna had reached the edge of a small glade. A circle of hedge surrounded a tiled patio that captured the sky's rose glow. In the center of the patio was a pedestal supporting the statue of a seated man. Otherwise, the clearing was empty.
The Doctor pushed through the hedge, stripping off the pack. At the foot of the pedestal, he knelt, upending the bag, spilling its contents onto the ground.
Another screwdriver! Good man, Danner!
There was, as well, a very thick coil of rope, a torch and several injectors filled with red liquid. Anna joined him, keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings. She glanced at the injectors, then away.
"That's the same stuff the TARDIS made me -- to keep me normal. What is this place?"
"Entrance to the Devian version of a Cloister Room, I hope. Are you sure the feeling is stronger here?"
"Absolutely."
The Doctor pushed everything but the sonic screwdriver back into the pack and put it on again. Then, reluctantly, he looked at the statue.
It was a stranger, a Dev. The face was wise, even kindly, but the Doctor had never seen it before. He let out his breath, relieved and feeling a bit foolish.
Carefully, he set about examining the statue itself. Near the bottom he found the fine lines that suggested a small door. Grateful for Danner's foresight, he applied the screwdriver. The panel popped off. He touched the pad within. Behind him, Anna gasped.
A few feet to the left, a square of patio tiles slid smoothly aside.
* * *
They brought him down and were not gentle about it. Blows fell thick and fast. Fingernails tore long, fiery streaks in his flesh. Danner fought them anyway, even knowing that he could not win. Every moment he resisted was more time for the Doctor to fix things. When, at last they had beaten him into docility -- when all he could see through the scarlet haze was that same damned face, over and over -- only then did he give up. He lay limp and unresisting when they seized him and held him spread-eagled against the floor. It seemed easier to simply close his eyes against them.
"Damn you!" A harsh voice shook with fury. "You all but killed him, you fools!"
"He's a Feeder. He'll mend." Another voice, defiant and resentful.
"Feeder!"
Obstinately, Danner did not respond.
Something slammed into his ribs. He gasped, eyes flying open. Even in this crowd of identical twins, he recognized the Cardinal. His captors pulled the blackstone to his feet. Sharp pain made him yelp. For a moment he sagged in their arms, unable to see or breathe.
Great. Broken ribs.
Lifting his head at last, Danner saw the Dev were everywhere around him. His flesh crawled. At some unseen signal, they moved aside, forming an empty corridor to the dais in the center of the room.
The dais and his lovely bride.
The Dev on either side started forward, but the abrupt jerk on his arms was too much for him. For a moment, Danner was aware of nothing except grinding pain. When his senses returned, he was on his knees between them, breath coming in short, shallow gasps. The taste of copper was on his tongue.
From the Cardinal came a snarl of rage and: "Fetch the healing unit! He'll never survive the transfer in this condition! MOVE!"
Danner managed a breath of a laugh before he passed out.
* * *
The tunnel was old, far older than even the immeasurably ancient ruins they had seen so far. Anna kept close to the Doctor, oppressed by the sense of vast age in the sweating rocks all around them.
The Doctor walked quickly, the light from his torch bobbing along the floor and walls ahead. Although sated, she was nevertheless aware of a strong attraction. Anna knew, on an intellectual level, that it was part of the virus' program. She was equally drawn to any blackstone.
"What do you feel?"
Anna let her consciousness drift outwards. . .and quickly drew back. Perhaps she made some involuntary sound, for the Doctor said in a satisfied voice:
"Wonderful! We're almost there!"
There was light ahead and the Doctor started to run. The tunnel took a sharp bend. She bit back a squeak of amazement. They stood in a cavern of unbelievable size. The walls soared hundreds of feet toward a barely perceived ceiling, every inch of their surface covered by intricate engravings. At her feet was the same elaborate artistry. The ornate floor extended fifty feet into the cavern before abruptly ending at a waist-high stone wall.
Beyond that wall was light. It was all she could see. Barely detected by ordinary senses, something sang to her, a siren melody, irresistible.
"Anna!"
The Doctor was shaking her, his face stern.
"It will take you over," he said shortly. "Don't look into it. Don't listen."
"What is this? And how can such a place be inside a space ship?"
"It's not!" he said. "Listen to me, Anna. In my ship there is a much smaller, weaker version of this -- the Eye of Harmony. It provides the power necessary to move the TARDIS between space and time.
"This Eye does the same thing only on a scale infinitely more vast. We are standing on Devian soil."
"But how can that be?"
"I'm not entirely sure. This Eye is similar to, but not the same as Rassilon's design. My ship has an artificially constructed neural device that is able to tap a powerful energy source, process the energy and literally shift me from time into not-time. The same thing is happening here, except instead ofshifting a smallish -- relatively speaking -- TARDIS, it's shifting entire portions of a planet. The Dev are literally taking their world with them across the galaxies."
"How does the power get from there to -- I mean, from here to the ship?"
"Consciousness," replied the Doctor. "According to Lermor, the minds of Prime danae have the ability to make and hold the link, and to draw power back through it. Absolutely incredible"
"That's incredible, all right. Danner and I walked through some doors a while back and out onto a mountainside. You're telling me that wasn't an illusion?"
"Didn't it feel real?" he asked. "Doesn't this? I've not got a fraction of your psi abilities, Anna, yet I know we're not simply on a spaceship orbiting Earth any more."
She bit her lip, recognizing the truth. He continued, absently.
"Each danship must be tied into this Eye as well, which means that they are probably just enough out of phase with each other to avoid disastrous feedback."
"Doctor. What are you babbling about?"
"Nothing." He grinned. "There's probably some kind of override mechanism down here, a fail-safe to keep unforseen catastrophe away from the Eye. Like, say, a paradox loop. Let's find it. You stay close to the edge of the room. Try not to think of the Eye."
Sure.
If this "mechanism" was hidden among the patterns cut into the wall, she was unlikely to find it anytime soon. The intricacy and sheer number of them played tricks on her eyes. She was relieved to hear the Doctor's hoot of triumph. He was hanging over the wall, his outline blurred by the Eye's radiance.
"Another service shaft - we must have missed a turnoff - about twenty feet down. No! Anna! Keep back."
She ignored him. The Eye was an exuberant howl in her heart as she leaned over and saw the short, narrow ledge protruding over the abyss.
"That's more than twenty feet!"
"Not much more."
The Doctor shrugged out of the pack and extracted the rope. He looped it around a nearby pilaster, knotted it and tugged hard.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Go back."
"WHAT?"
"Go back to Danner and Palas. I'll do my best to deactivate the interface, but I may not be in time. Do whatever you must to keep the ship from moving!"
She nodded, a tight, frightened gesture. The Doctor smiled at her and gave her nose a gentle tweak. Then, testing the rope one more time, he went over the side. Anna stood a moment, not sure she should leave.
"Stay," something whispered in not-words. "Stay with me. Let me fill you with light . . ."
Anna turned and fled.
* * *
Danner's ribs felt better. He could take a breath without his eyes flooding, or wanting to throw up. Most of the other damage was repaired, as well. How nice. Repaired and ready for the final act.
They took his clothes. It made him sick with anger and humiliation to be naked under their cold, impatient eyes. The Witch was still, watchful on her slab. Was she somehow trapped there? She had not moved to leave it, yet he could sense her urgency. It played along his nerves like fire.
The Dev dragged him the remaining distance to her. A dozen impatient, alien hands sent him staggering forward. He had to catch the carved edge of the dais to keep from falling. The Witch's fingers clamped around his wrists. Danner tried to pull away, but there was inhuman strength in them. He was on the dais beside her before he knew it.
"Captain McAllister..."
Idiot. This wasn't Captain McAllister. Its terrible eyes rested briefly on his face, their painful light filling his. Blind, he tasted her lips. Her arms were around his waist, hands moving over his body. There was a familiar heat in his blood.
Doctor - hurry!
* * *
The Doctor's feet found the solid surface of the ledge. He was functionally blind here, optic nerves overloaded by the Eye's implacable brilliance. His skin crawled, as if covered by insects. In his ears thundered a ceaseless, demented epiphany, its meaning lost to the understanding of mere carbon-based organisms.
One hand holding fast to the rope, he reached out and groped along the wall in front of him. His fingers met emptiness. Exploring further, he discovered a large opening. He stepped through it.
Inside, the brilliance was less overwhelming. Through watering eyes, he saw a tunnel extending into the rock. Around a tight corner and the light became positively bearable. Wiping away tears, he kept going.
The tunnel ended. He was in a small room with a low ceiling. A large chunk of white stone stood in one corner supporting a red crystal the size of his fist. The Doctor saw nothing that looked remotely like controls. Dropping the pack, he began a closer examination of the stone.
* * *
The Dev flew from her path like blades of dried grass. Anna cleared more from the colonade with an angry telekinetic blast. They were thick in the glass-ceilinged room; she mowed a path mercilessly through them toward Danner and Palas McAllister.
"Another Prime!" someone shouted. In English. "Do not harm her!"
She spun around, seeking out the speaker. He stepped out of the crowd.
"You're too late," he said mockingly, and lifted an emaciated hand.
Anna saw the wink of a red gem and warnings went off in her brain. She covered her eyes and, at the same time, struck at him. When she looked again, he was gone and the others were fleeing.
On the dais, Danner and Palas were twined together, oblivious. That is what I look like, she thought, a hot burst of angry shame running through her. And it's all their doing!
Most of the Dev were gone. The one who had confronted her lay dead at her feet, trampled underfoot, his eyes bulging, mouth agape. She saw the ring on his outflung hand. It was identical to the one Masterson possessed. Averting her eyes from it, she stepped over the corpse and kept going.
Anna sensed a sharpening of focus. On the dais, Palas lifted her head. Danner lay unmoving beneath her, frighteningly still. The next moment, Anna was flying backwards across the room. Almost too late, she thought to apply an opposite force, but that did little to cushion her impact against the wall. She hit hard and slid, dazed, to the floor.
Sprawled flat on her back, Anna was momentarily senseless. At the far corners of her thoughts, she heard the Eye, still singing to her, still filling her with an inexpressible longing. Then the tenor of its melody changed and she knew instinctively that Palas was coming back on line.
Desperately, Anna scrambled to her feet, thinking of the Doctor lowering himself into the maelstrom of power that was the l'Shylian Eye.
Palas crouched over Danner's body as the two women faced each other warily across the room. In Palas' forehead, the white crystal flared. This time, however, Anna was ready for her. When the invisible blow came, she flung up a wall of psychic energy, stopping it cold. Even so, the power behind the blow made her gasp.
A tiny ache started at her temples. Another blow. Anna's shield held, but barely. The force of the second strike sent her back several steps. Panting now, she braced herself for the next attack. There was no possibility of counter attack. Palas was simply too strong.
The ache had become a throb.
"Anna!"
The Doctor? At last! She turned in relief
A narrow face, a hateful smile. There was only time for a sick rush of horror. The Dev standing behind her smiled. "Thank you, my dear," his voice echoed from a vast distance, "for getting rid of that fool, Lermor."
Scarlet filled her vision. Somewhere, far off, she heard the Eye still singing to her, a lullaby that drew her to it, wrapped her in warm comfort, promised her sanctuary. There was no other reality and she fled toward it.
* * *
Nothing! No secret panel, no hidden controls - just rock, more rock and the ceaseless calling of the Eye in the background of his consciousness.
"Think," the Time Lord berated himself. "The answer is here. It has to be!"
He stared around the tiny cave. And it was a cave. He could see, here and there, the crude marks of a chisel, as if someone had attempted to smooth nature's roughness from the walls and ceiling. There were traces of paintings here, too, stylized animals, hunting motifs. This was a prehistoric place.
And then it hit him. He had been assuming that the Eye was their creation. What if he were assuming incorrectly? What if the Dev found it in their first wanderings as a sentient species? Perhaps he should be looking for something that was not recognizably technological.
The Doctor looked again at the red crystal. It flared briefly, inner light rippling across the faceted surface before fading again. He dropped to his knees beside it. Tentatively he touched the cool, smooth surface. It pulsed gently. He seized it in both hands and pulled.
Nothing.
He pulled again, harder, but it did not give. Pushing to the left brought no reaction. Frustrated, he seized with both hands and twisted.
It gave! Ever so slightly, it gave!! Encouraged, the Time Lord set to it.
* * *
Danner hurt everywhere. Again. Worse yet was the weakness. He could barely summon the strength to lift himself to his elbows. Vision blurred as he tried to find Anna or the Doctor. There was no sign of the Time Lord - but, yes, Anna was there.
Then, as things came into sharper focus, despair engulfed him. One of the cookie-cutter eetees had her! The Dev was settling something over her head. Danner squinted, willing his vision to clear. Gold and rubies...
He rolled, found the edge of the slab and fell over, hitting the ground in a helpless tangle of limbs. Closing his eyes, he drew long, deep breaths until each nerve had stopped squalling. Good. He opened his eyes. There was no sign that Palas even noticed his departure.
Anna stood, obedient as a child, beside the Dev.
"CALLIFER!"
The Doctor!
Danner sorted himself out. On his knees, he crawled to the corner of the slab and looked around. The Time Lord stood in the doorway, facing the Dev. In one hand, he held a large, queerly-shaped crystal.
"It's done, Callifer. The connection between the Eye and your prisoner is broken! Release her! Now!"
Callifer's laughter rang with madness. "A worthy effort, TimeLord, but a vain one! I have two Primes now. You cannot stop me! No one can!"
"Indeed?" The Doctor's voice was calm, reasonable. "The Prime cannot connect to the Eye without this. You've only psi power now and your psi interface is destroyed. You're going nowhere, Callifer."
He brandished the crystal.
"You think so?" Callifer smiled mockingly.
He beckoned and Anna turned to face the Doctor. Danner saw the Time Lord's face fall. On the slab above him, Palas repeated the move - two beautiful, deadly, automatons.
"I say you've failed, Time Lord."
Lethal twin beams came at the Doctor from either side and only a desperate leap saved him. Both beams impacted against the wall with explosions and showers of sparks. Rolling frantically away, he tried for the door. Invisible hands caught him and dragged him back. He curled up, crystal against his chest.
Danner found the strength to stand on wobbly legs, clinging to the slab to stay upright. Callifer took hold of Anna's wrist, lifting her hand and pointing at the Doctor.
"Kill him, dana," he ordered.
The Time Lord cried out, losing hold of the crystal. It struck the floor with a dull thud and rolled a few feet away.
Get back up. Danner was sweating by the time he managed it Clinging to the pole for balance, he reached out and touched Palas on the shoulder.
There was not so much as a flicker. The flesh beneath his fingers was rigid, unresponsive.
The Dev was reaching for the crystal. Uncurling, the Doctor knocked it out of his reach. "Dana! Again!"
This time, the Doctor screamed, body contorting violently. Sneering, the Dev stepped over the Time Lord and bent to retrieve the stone.
Danner stretched out shaking hands. He took hold of the circlet around Palas' head and yanked it off. Her shriek brought Callifer up short.
She sagged and he caught her, pulling her close. Softly, urgently into her ear, he said: "They're killing him, Palas. Don't let them! You've got the power back. I know you do, damn it!"
Twisting around in his arms, she gave him a wide, confused look. "Danner...?"
"The Doctor."
He had to work very hard not to shout, turning her gently back around. She looked as if breeze would knock her over. Curiously indifferent, she watched as Callifer, crystal in hand, turned back to the Doctor. The Time Lord was struggling doggedly to rise. Callifer grinned, and kicked him back down.
Unexpectedly the Dev straightened. His eyes bulged from their sockets. Palas was off the dais and walking with predatory grace toward him. Danner heard something snap and Callifer howled. Another sickening crunch and the howl turned into a bloodcurdling scream.
"P -- Palas! No -- don't...!
The Doctor lurched to his feet. He threw himself between them, blocking her advance by seizing her hands and pulling her aside to face him. There was blood on his lips; he licked it away and pressed her fingers between his.
"No more," he said gently, insistently. "Do you understand me, Palas? It's over. We've won."
She shivered. Abruptly, the Dev fell limply to the floor and lay still. Shaking, she spoke, her voice small and forlorn. "D -- Doctor?"
He put his arms around her and pulled her close. She clung to him, slender form racked with terrible, silent sobs. His hand trembled slightly as he stroked her hair.
Leaving the Time Lord to deal with the Captain, Danner strolled over to Anna. He whisked away the circlet and sent it flying across the room.
"Wake up, Dr. Taylor! Time to go home!"
She shook herself, bemused, and looked around. For a moment, she considered the scene in silence. Then her gaze settled on him. Her eyes sparkled.
"Danner! What are you thinking? Put some clothes on, damn it!"