There were hundreds of Ruin ma.s.sing around the black cliff, but no swirling white whorl in the black gla.s.s. 'Come on, Doctor,' said Fitz through gritted teeth. But he knew it might be a wasted thought. Was the Doctor still in charge of the generator? Was the generator still there? Anything could have happened at the far end of the wormhole since he'd left.

Fitz watched as the leading dirigibles neared the Ruin. The Ruin had noticed what was happening and were ma.s.sing to attack, spiralling down towards the dirigibles.

A bolt of fire shot from the nearest dirigible right into the ma.s.s of advancing Ruin. They burst into flames, and the others spun away, away from the black cliff.

It was working. Jesus Christ Almighty, it was actually working.

Captain Daniel Rogers stood before the mesh fence. The p.r.o.ngs of the generator glittered through the dense metal. He was sweating inside his combat suit, the taste of rubber and metal in his mouth. Forget that you're a man, he told himself. You're a machine. A fighting machine.

He heard Major Wolstencroft give the order, and he led the men through the mesh gate into the generator chamber itself. The shining p.r.o.ngs towered above him. He tried not to think of the things that had come through. He tried not to think of what had happened to Johan Svensson. He and his team had a job to do to protect Earth. It was what he believed in, what he'd signed up to UNIT for.

As he lined up with his men in front of the generator, watching the sun-bright glare form at the tips of the steel p.r.o.ngs, Rogers wished the Doctor was here he couldn't believe he had left them in the lurch, as Wolstencroft seemed to believe. That wasn't the Doctor of UNIT lore.

Then, with little ceremony, the node opened. The shining p.r.o.ngs vanished, swallowed up in a tunnel of white light. Rogers's mouth was dry, sweat pouring down his back. The tunnel seemed to draw his gaze, make a mockery of his senses. He took an involuntary step back, but nothing came through.

He turned round. 'OK, first team, we're going in. Second team, fan out around the node and blast anything which comes back through that isn't us.'

He turned back towards the node. He didn't really understand how it worked none of them did and he found it easiest to imagine that the wormhole was just a tunnel that transported you instantly from place to place. Nothing fancy. Just a new method of transport. That was what C19 wanted it to be, wasn't it?

He stepped closer to the node and was swept off his feet by a powerful force. He screamed as he tumbled head over heels, the glowing tunnel blinding him.

The Ruin were being beaten back by the flames. Many of them were ablaze, their burning bodies floating to the floor of the cavern.

And then, silently, suddenly, the node opened. Fitz gave a shout. 'Yes!' If they could get closer, hold the position... He looked back at the Queen. If he could get through, he'd be safe. The T'hiili were as good as doomed anyway, with an unfertilised Queen.

He realised guiltily that this was what he'd been planning all along. Leading the T'vorha into battle, just so he could get near the node, get back home. He realised with a jolt of shame that he hadn't even bothered looking for Sam. He'd forgotten all about her, until now. Perhaps it was the elixir he had taken, filling his mind with c.r.a.p about the Dominion.

Then Fitz saw figures emerging from the node, floating out into the middle of the cavern. Soldiers in black combat gear. He gave a shout of joy they'd come to rescue him!

He turned to Gilthr. 'Now's our chance! Head for the node, now!'

But the T'vorha shoved him aside, roughly.

Fitz looked at the screen, watched for a while and then averted his eyes, feeling sick.

It was a ma.s.sacre.

Captain Rogers felt himself falling, incredibly fast. He tried to remain calm, but the feeling that he was going to smash against something became too much and he yelled out. Around him, his men tumbled head over heels, spinning black figures against the gold and white kaleidoscope of the wormhole. He gripped his machine gun, telling himself he was trained for this sort of thing.

Abruptly, the white tunnel vanished and Rogers found himself sailing into s.p.a.ce, staring up at a powder-blue landscape, dotted with what looked like lumps of black gla.s.s. He swung round, saw a shining whirlpool in a black cliff face, his men tumbling out, arms and legs akimbo.

'Into position!' he yelled.

And then the creatures came. Huge, spinning wheels, their movements leisurely. A flock of them converged on three of his men, still disorientated. Swift, busy movements of the creatures' legs, screams, a spray of red, limbs floating down to the blue sand.

Rogers roared his anger, bringing his machine gun to bear on the creatures. He fired into them, watching the bullets tear into the hourgla.s.s-shaped bodies. The recoil from the weapon sent him floating backwards, into one of his men. A shape overhead more of the things. Rogers fired again, shattering legs, tearing orange bodies. The sound of gunfire from all around. This would be easy. The things had no weapons, they could be smashed like insects.

Then he looked up, and swore. There were hundreds hundreds of the things, coming from all directions. He saw another of his men, firing at them, legs kicking in the air, sliced in half as one of the things wheeled past. of the things, coming from all directions. He saw another of his men, firing at them, legs kicking in the air, sliced in half as one of the things wheeled past.

He looked around. Bits of alien creature, severed limbs, clouds of red mist everywhere. A gargling scream from nearby. A severed head floated past, trailing blood.

There were too many of them. Too many. Rogers fired blindly into the forest of legs and bodies before him. Something thumped into his back. He tried to turn and screamed out in pain. Something cutting, tearing he coughed, blood spurting from his mouth on to the visor of his helmet.

He sucked in a gasping breath, letting himself feel the fear, the horror. He was going to die, torn apart by whatever the h.e.l.l these things were. He'd failed. The world was going to be destroyed because he had failed.

He tried to bring his gun to bear but his arms felt heavy. He lost his grip, watched the gun spin away.

A flurry of black legs, an orange mouth yawning in front of him, a questing grey trunk. An explosion of pain, his body juddering as the thing sawed into his flesh. The pain ebbed and he felt himself falling into a black pit.

The last thing he saw was a dozen of the creatures, heading in formation straight for the node.

Professor Nagle jumped out of her seat as the monsters poured through the node, cannoning into the wire mesh.

Ruin, the Doctor had said they were called. Blue sparks crackled around them, a sizzling sound rent the air. The fence was holding. But more of the creatures were pouring through the node, cannoning into the fence, soaking up all the electricity. G.o.d, how many were there? How many monsters could a separate dimension hold? Too many for Wolstencroft's men to cope with, surely.

The second squad was outside the mesh fence, weapons trained on the creatures. Wolstencroft bellowed an order and the team opened fire, hails of bullets tearing through the fence, lacerating orange bodies. There was a tremendous, terrible shrieking above the chatter of gunfire. Then the fence stopped sparking. Something had gone wrong. And then, under the weight of the creatures, the fence split. Sickened, Nagle saw a soldier sliced clean in half by the flailing legs of a Ruin.

There was only one thing to do.

Nagle sat back down, though all her instincts were screaming at her to run, to get the h.e.l.l out. With shaking hands, she typed a command into the keyboard.

She looked up. Like a folding flower, the node closed.

The battle began to turn. Fitz noticed that some of the Ruin were fighting back, leaping on to the dirigibles, spraying fluid at the flames. Some of the dirigibles had caught fire, and were nose-diving into the bottom of the cavern. Loads of Ruin had got through the node; none of the dirigibles were anywhere near. Gilthr swerved as a brace of Ruin headed straight for them.

Fitz kept his eyes fixed on the node. If only they could get to it Even as he formed this thought, the swirling white node puckered out of existence.

No point hanging around now to get slaughtered by the Ruin. 'Right, that's it. Get us the h.e.l.l out of here.'

An icy presence in his mind: No.

The Queen's eyes were open. Staring straight at him.

The One is near. The time of my fertilisation is imminent.

Fitz groaned. 'We have to get out of here!'

Gilthr shoved Fitz away from the control brain, grunting.

Fitz fell against the wall of the dirigible, staring up at the screen. It was filled with burning Ruin, the bodies of human soldiers, and T'vorha which had left the dirigibles, only to be killed by Ruin, or burned alive.

He noticed that they were changing direction, heading away from the battle, arcing round towards the golden sea. Why were they doing this? Then he noticed a small dirigible, a blip against the gold.

The Queen pointed.

The One is there.

Now Fitz could see that it wasn't one of the T'vorha dirigibles. It was smaller, more delicate-looking.

Soon I will be fertilised.

Bully for you, thought Fitz. And I thought I I had s.e.x on the brain. had s.e.x on the brain.

Then he saw the Ruin, tons of them, wheeling towards the tiny dirigible. It began to head downward, in a futile evasive action.

The golden light of the sky-sea played across Sam's face, and she imagined she could feel its warmth. Beside her, Itharquell manipulated the control brain. They had gone back through the cavern of the white sand, down the chimney of black rock, through the perilously narrow tunnel and into the golden sky-sea. They were about to emerge into the cavern of blue sand.

When they did, they found themselves in the middle of a battle. Sam could see dozens of dirigibles, heading for the cliff of black gla.s.s, firing burning bolts at the Ruin.

The dirigible lurched beneath them. Sam grabbed the stems Itharquell had been manipulating and they steadied. 'What's wrong?'

That light it was alive!

Sam frowned. Had he never seen fire before?

The dirigible juddered under the impact of something heavy. Ruin?

They started falling, down towards the floor of the cavern.

Something burst through the roof of the dirigible. The leg of a Ruin. It began sawing back and forth urgently.

On the screen, the cavern floor was rushing up to meet them. Even in this low gravity, they were heading for quite an impact.

More Ruin legs burst through the wall of the dirigible. Itharquell was screaming. The ceiling of the dirigible caved in, pieces floating along the pa.s.sage towards them.

In front of her, Itharquell screamed and pointed to the screen.

Sam looked. She gasped. A Ruin was splayed over the front of the dirigible, clasping on like a limpet. One end of its body was pressed against the screen, a gigantic orange sucking mouth, the grey trunk questing and poking.

They were completely surrounded.

Sam looked at the screen the cavern floor filled it completely. She rolled into a ball, there was a thump, a flash of light behind her eyes and then

Fitz watched the small dirigible hit the floor of the cavern. Most of the Ruin clinging to it were flung off, and sailed back into the middle of the cavern but two of the things remained, sawing through the green flesh.

We must destroy them. The One must not be harmed.

Gilthr shoved past Fitz and picked up a harpoon, dipping the end into the flaming bowl of fluid. Fitz grabbed the stems of the brain. How would he know what to do? But then he found his hands moving, the knowledge suddenly there. The Queen? The elixir? He didn't know. He concentrated on keeping a straight course.

An aperture opened in the wall of the dirigible before Gilthr. He raised the harpoon, aimed and fired. The flaming missile hit the first Ruin right in the open tulip-like end of its body, and it burst into harsh yellow flame. The fire spread to the broken body of the dirigible. Another Ruin launched itself at them, its six legs splayed, rotating like a wheel of death, its body contracting as it jetted its way towards them.

Fitz twisted the stems and the dirigible swerved to one side. Gilthr quickly reloaded and fired a second burning harpoon it missed, sailing off into the cavern to land on the blue sand, still glowing.

They were yards from the other dirigible now. Fitz twisted the stems and they slowed. He felt a b.u.mp as they landed, feet away from the stricken vessel. Gilthr squeezed through the aperture and took up position between the two dirigibles, scanning the cavern for more Ruin.

The Queen was swaying from side to side, her eyes distant, the slitted pupils almost invisible.

The One, the One. You must go inside. Rescue the One.

Fitz stepped on to the blue sand, and froze. Gilthr was grunting, pointing above Fitz's head. An image of a Ruin flickered in his mind and instinctively he ducked. A Ruin pa.s.sed overhead, its cilia brushing his hair.

Gilthr fired his harpoon. It went straight into the central ma.s.s of the Ruin, blasting it back towards the centre of the cavern, its six legs closing around the burning wound.

Gasping, Fitz staggered to his feet, and stumbled over to the dirigible. The flames were on top, so it should be safe. There was a ragged opening in its side. He stepped in. Smoke filled the interior, Fitz could just make out two bodies. One T'hiili, clad in a costume of yellow leaves; the other human, female. With blonde hair. Kerstin? Sod the Queen, sod the One. He went to the girl first, rolling her over on to her back.

He cried out, hardly believing what he was seeing.

It wasn't Kerstin, it was Sam.

Kerstin crouched by the Doctor's side as he delved under the console. His toolbox was open on the floor before her, and he kept asking to be pa.s.sed various tools: neutron ram. Atomic awl. She found that she somehow knew what they were, and pa.s.sed him the correct tool each time. Was he telepathic? Or was it just blind luck?

From all around her, Kerstin could hear a rising and falling hum. The sense of power emanating from this machine was tangible. It made her feel safe and confident.

At last, the Doctor emerged from beneath the console, his face flushed and his hair ruffled. 'I can't do it.'

Kerstin's heart sank once again. This was like being on a fairground ride.

'I can't move the TARDIS without causing a ma.s.sive dimensional tear.' He got to his feet and walked over towards the library, slumping down in the Regency chair.

Kerstin followed him. 'But you have to try to close the wormhole! You said it would destroy the world.'

He leaned his face on his hands. 'Very probably. But so might the TARDIS.'

He looked sad, and suddenly much older than he had first appeared to be.

Kerstin crouched down beside him. 'Maybe you can't save Johan,' she said, 'but you can still save Sam and Fitz.'

The Doctor sat in silence for a while. From the look in his eyes, she could tell he was thinking about Sam. It was the same haunted look that Bjorn had, when he talked about Nina. The same look that others would see in her own eyes, when she thought of Johan. Was the Doctor in love with Sam? She felt a burning curiosity. Hadn't Fitz said he was an alien? A thousand years old?

So many mysteries. 'Doctor?'

The Doctor started, as if being awoken from a dream. 'You're right. I have to try? He smiled. 'After all, how bad can a dimensional tear be?'