Joel felt the sword leave his hands. It fell, point down, into the soil.

Joel flung himself on to his hands and knees before the daimyo and pushed his forehead into the dirt. 'Great lord,' he said, 'will you hear what I have to say?'

Gufuu-sama audibly sighed. 'What is it, Mintsu?'

Joel peeked up at the daimyo, whose katana katana was halfway out of its scabbard. He realized he was so frightened he wasn't even registering it any more. was halfway out of its scabbard. He realized he was so frightened he wasn't even registering it any more.

'Lord,' he said, 'I know you value those who speak their minds honestly. Look at him!' He glanced towards the Doctor. 'We're about to kill him, and he isn't frightened at all!'

'He is brave,' said Gufuu-sama. 'Unlike certain people.'

'Listen to me, lord,' Joel raced on. 'I know a lot about this man, about his adventures. He's clever. He always has a plan. He always knows more 194 about what's going on than his enemies know. He's calm because he knows he knows something we don't! something we don't! ' '

Gufuu-sama considered. 'Go on, Doctor,' breathed Joel. 'Tell them.' He pushed his face back into the dirt.

'It's true,' said the daimyo, 'that he shows uncommon calm in the face of certain death. But no matter what his plan, his execution can hardly help him!' Joel trembled as he heard the katana katana leave its scabbard. 'His cleverness is all the more reason to kill him. What do you say, Doctor?' leave its scabbard. 'His cleverness is all the more reason to kill him. What do you say, Doctor?'

'Good morning, Miss Gate,' said the Doctor.

Joel looked up so fast his gla.s.ses nearly went flying. 'Oh my G.o.d,' he said.

Penelope was standing behind the daimyo, holding a smoking matchlock, the muzzle aimed right at the warlord's head. A mutant version of her time machine was standing on the ground, a foot from her.

The samurai with Gufuu reached for their swords. 'Don't,' said Penelope.

'You couldn't possibly kill me before I shoot him. I have only one bullet, so I will be sure to make it count.' She didn't take her eyes off Gufuu. 'Cut the Doctor free.'

'I think you had better do what she says, Mintsu,' said Gufuu mildly.

Joel wobbled to his feet and crouched beside the Doctor. He fumbled the short sword out of his belt and started sawing at the Time Lord's bonds.

'Do hurry up, Joel,' said Penelope.

'I'm doing the best I can,' squeaked Joel. 'There!'

The Doctor stood up, rubbing his wrists to get the circulation going again.

'Come over here, Doctor,' said Penelope.

The Doctor went and stood on the other side of the time machine. 'Er,' said Joel.

'I think you had better accompany us, Mr Mintz,' said Penelope.

The three time travellers made a rough landing in the monastery courtyard, right next to the pod.

The monks were quietly standing, watching, the Roshi and Chris at the front of the small crowd.

'Welcome back,' said Chris quietly.

The Doctor went up to him and put a hand on his arm. 'Chris '

'Sorry about burying you,' said the young man. 'We couldn't carry you, and I didn't want the samurai having a go at you. They were cutting off the heads of corpses.'

'Not to worry,' said the Doctor brightly. 'Now I know how a sprout feels.

What's the situation?'

195.

'The pod contains a Kapteynian psychokinetic in cryosleep,' said Chris. 'The supercooling has had a superconductive effect on his brain.'

'Oh, super,' muttered Joel.

The Doctor knelt beside the pod, running a hand along its surface. 'His power would have been suddenly, ma.s.sively amplified. No wonder the effects have been so unpredictable there's no way he could keep it under control.'

'Doctor,' said Penelope, 'his perceptions are confused they are similar to my own when I was engaged in my hyperwalk.'

'He sees in four dimensions.

'Or more. It was a jumble, terrifying and incomprehensible.'

'Of course! That's why he brought you and Joel here. He must have thought you were pa.s.sing s.p.a.ce travellers he mistook the future for a nearby planet, Penelope's machine for a hyperdrive.'

'Oh yeah!' said Joel. 'And my little trip through time as a transporter, or something. . . '

The Doctor nodded. 'And when he couldn't bring Joel all the way back to now, he sent Penelope's machine forward. Once he found something that worked, he tried it over and over. Dragging you back in time, healing Kame's wounds.'

'We must get him out of there at once,' said Penelope.

'The Kapteynians don't have the technical skill,' said Chris. 'It could be dangerous to open the pod incorrectly. We were hoping you could think of something.'

The Doctor nodded, examining the control panel which Talker had opened.

'I wish there was time for a bath,' he said, 'but Gufuu-sama will be making all speed here. How are we set for a siege?'

'Well,' said Chris, 'we're not, really. If Gufuu really wants to break in, he'll break in.'

'Right,' said the Doctor. 'Our only hope now is to '

'You will not hand Psychokinetic over to them!' squawked Talker.

' open the pod,' finished the Doctor. 'And as quickly as possible. Once Gufuu gets inside the walls, it will be out of our hands.'

'That's why I sent Penelope to fetch you,' agreed Chris. 'You work on it Talker can help.' The Doctor nodded. 'I'll make sure no one gets hurt. What do I need to know about Gufuu's army?'

'Joel can tell you,' said the Doctor, without looking up from his work.

Chris looked over at Joel, who was still standing beside the time conveyance, looking bewildered. 'Welcome back,' he said.

Joel burst into tears.

196.

Gufuu stared up at the walls of the monastery. They were earth embankments, faced with stones, like castle walls. They had kept this monastery safe for decades. Today, they would be breached for the first time.

Or tomorrow. Or the day after. The monks were not armed, and there was no urgency. The pod would soon be his.

Gufuu looked around at his troops: thirty men and six of his captains. One of the samurai was examining the demon woman's musket, keeping it carefully pointed away from the others in case he discovered its secret. The rest had been sent to mop up the remains of Umemi's army a meandering rabble, now they were leaderless and to begin the push into his old rival's territory.

Gufuu-sama stroked his chin, considering. It would be wise to send some scouts in case the reputed secret entrance could be found, though they probably wouldn't need to use it. No, the best way was simply to construct a few ladders and climb over the top. He didn't expect much resistance. If all went well, the pod could be his by lunchtime.

There was a sound like metal being torn with someone's bare hands. Gufuu flinched, instinctively, raising an armoured hand to protect his face. Dust and tiny pieces of rock and soil rained down on him.

He risked opening his eyes, and started slapping the dust from his armour.

The samurai with the strange musket was looking from the weapon to the hole he had just blown in the monastery wall and back again, astonished.

'Well done,' said Gufuu lightly, brushing soil from his breastplate.

The explosion didn't even make the Doctor flinch. Chris had run back from the wall, brushing dust and chips of stone from his hair.

'They're through!' he shouted. 'We're out of time, right now!'

Penelope and Talker stared towards the smoke, holding their guns, knowing they would be useless against the army outside.

'Did I ever tell you,' said the Doctor, around a mouthful of half-stripped copper wire, 'about lkkyu and the teacup?'

'No,' said Chris. Joel knelt down in the dust beside him. Their eyes were fixed on the Doctor's hands, moving slowly and surely over the machinery.

Chris realized he was patting Joel's arm, like a vet calming a dog that's about to be put down. He wasn't even scared. They were doomed.

'Ikkyu was a Zen master,' said the Doctor. He poked the primitive electric wire into the pod. 'The teacup incident happened when he was just a boy.

Screwdriver.'

Penelope handed him the tool. They could hear shouts in the distance, the sound of rocks falling. 'His Roshi had a valuable antique teacup. It would have been the kind they use in the tea ceremony, an ancient, simple piece with all its imperfections preserved. Paperclip.'

197.

Joel spotted a paperclip amongst the stuff from the Doctor's jacket pockets, and pa.s.sed it over. The Doctor went on, 'One day, Ikkyu accidentally broke the teacup just as his teacher was coming back into the room. He s.n.a.t.c.hed up the broken pieces of the cup and hid them behind his back, thinking fast.'

Chris was staring towards the wall. Figures scrambled through the narrow breach, kicking the shattered stones aside. He felt so calm.

'When the Roshi appeared, Ikkyu asked, "Master, why must people die?"'

The Doctor glanced back at Penelope's time machine, frowned, and pushed a hand deep into the pod's workings. 'The Roshi answered, "Everything has to die, and has only a certain amount of time to live." Does anyone have a piece of chewing gum?'

They looked at one another. 'How about this?' said Joel, picking up a fluff-covered toffee from the pile.

The Doctor took it and pushed it into place, somewhere inside the pod.

'Ikkyu took his hands from behind his back and smiled, showing the Roshi the pieces of his cup.'

Gufuu-sama was striding up, hand on the hilt of his katana katana, followed by a dozen samurai. Chris, Joel, Penelope and Talker all watched the warlord as he came towards them. The Doctor didn't look up from his work. '"Master,"

said Ikkyu, "it was time for your cup to die."'

There was an almighty hiss and a puff of bitter cold. As one, the five of them jumped back from the pod as a steaming rectangular crack appeared in the surface, like a hidden door suddenly revealing itself.

'Suddenly,' breathed Joel, 'the lid fell off.'

198.

22.Kami Chameleon

Gufuu-sama watched with furious calm as the lid of the pod lifted and swung open. Great clouds of bitter-smelling stem were billowing out, freezing cold.

'Is it dangerous!' Chris shouted over the sound of rushing vapours.

'No,' said the Doctor. 'If my improvisations work correctly, the coolant pumps will gradually equalize the internal and external temperatures.'

'And if they don't work correctly?' said Joel.

'The pod will become an instant heat sink and snap-freeze everything within a mile radius,' he said. 'I hope that toffee holds.'

The white clouds were already starting to diminish, rolling away across the ground, driving dust and dirt before them. The Doctor inched closer to the pod, an arm raised to protect his face from the frost, trying to see inside the machine.

Gufuu had held his ground, the white clouds boiling around his ankles. His retainers had backed away, but only a little.

The Doctor regarded the warlord for a moment, as if trying to read his intentions, or perhaps daring him to act. They stood there, everyone staring at the two of them.

Then the Doctor reached down into the gap in the pod. A moment later, he was pulling his arm back, and everyone gasped as they saw a black, feathered hand gripping his wrist.

Talker rushed forward and helped the Doctor to haul Psychokinetic's shivering form out of the pod. The skinny Kapteynian was naked, his feathers slick and sticky with cryogenic fluid.

He opened his beak, but no sound came out. He made a strangling, cough-ing noise.

'Don't try to speak,' said Talker. 'That's my job, Talker, hey.'

'Thank,' coughed Psychokinetic. He was limp, his hands touching them, unable to grip. 'Thank you.'