"No!" the Doctor cried, gazing at the melted controls. In a flurry of scarf he turned, confronting the smug Ajare. "What have you done?" he hissed, furious. Leela, sensing that Rakshan had crossed the line from "ally" to "enemy," crouched, her knife ready, watching the Ajare's hand that was holding its weapon.

 The Ajare, somewhat taken aback by the sudden change from the Doctor's usual buffoonery, kept its weapon ready, not *quite pointed in the Time Lord's direction. A part of it that had been dormant for awhile started up again, whispering urgently that the Time Lords were dangerous, and that it should take advantage of this opportunity, here, now, and rid himself of the menace. Responding to its handler's almost unconscious thoughts, the weapon began to elongate, pulsing slightly as it prepared to fire.

 "The Matralan has fled. The fleet is orbiting this planet, ready to cleanse it of the abomination. What more can be done here? We should pursue the culprit, and bring him to justice. What is the problem?"

 The Doctor's eyes bugged. "The problem? The *problem*? There are millions--billions!-- of innocent people on this planet, a history that hasn't happened yet, which that fleet will wipe it out in moments, and you ask me what the problem is?"

 Rakshan's skin colour deepened, its voice turning hard. "Your words are meaningless. This planet was doomed the moment the Matralan chose it. You are meddling once again, Time Lord. Meddling as your race has so often done in our past. Perhaps you are working with this Matralan. Perhaps he was creating the weapon for you." His voice grew stronger, his eyes blazing. "Perhaps your actions were meant to deliberately mislead me from my mission! Indeed, since I have met you, I have been turned aside from my objective time and again. And now the weapon is created. Yes, Doctor, it is all clear now. I have made a mistake, one I intend to rectify--right now!"

 Leela tensed. That...weapon was about to attack, she was sure of it. She knew the Doctor would want to keep Rakshan alive for questioning, but she couldn't let the Doctor die. She focused all of her attentions on the weapon, her breathing slowing, her muscles tensing.....And then, so fast her hand seemed to blur, she threw the knife.

 The results were most gratifying. Her steel blade embedded itself in the head of the...thing with a squelch. Shrieking, Rakshan clutched the device to its chest, cradling it, its complexion taking on a flushed look. Leela crouched, watching the alien.

 The Doctor looked shocked. "Was that really necessary?" he asked plaintively, approaching the groaning Ajare.

 Leela kept her eyes on the alien, and her knife, feeling exposed without it. "He was about to kill you. Besides, I did not hit him, only his....weapon."

 Rakshan looked up, eyes glowing angrily. "You *monster*! Primitive savage! You know nothing! You have no idea what you've done!"

 Leela remained cool, keeping her voice level. "If it is truly that valuable, why do you endanger it by threatening others with it?"

 "You know, she does have a point," the Doctor interjected, sidling along beside the Ajare, gazing down at the damaged device. "Nasty. I might have some ointment you could use...."

 Rakshan swung away from the Doctor, clutching the weapon to his chest. "Stay away! Your servant has done enough with her *filthy* blade!" It eased the metal from the creature, wincing the whole time, and brandished it threateningly. "I should gut you both, and let your victim regenerate inside your carcasses!"

 "Now, let's not be hasty," the Doctor began, quickly interrupting Leela's hot retort. "You should look at this ointment I've got, it's really quite--" He was interrupted by the sound of a muffled explosion, somewhere outside, followed a second later by an impact, close enough to shake dust from the cavern ceiling. All three of them raised their eyes, the Doctor murmuring, "Oh dear....I wonder if he filed a flight plan?"

 An aide poked his head in. "Signal from the village, sir. The device our agent affixed to the Matralan's escape capsule has been activated. It appears that it tried to escape, as anticipated. Shall I dispatch a cleanup crew to collect the remains?"

 Lacey shook his head. "Not at this time. Has there been any report from our agent there?"

 The young man shook his head. "No sir."

 Lacey sighed, while Peret shook his head sadly. "Very well, thank you. Please inform us when the, ah, "foreign" delegates arrive." He turned back to his companion as the door closed. "It would appear that our man Lynch has fallen afoul of the random elements this calliou always seems to create."

 "But what about the weapon? The village?" Peret asked, worried. "We anticipated the Matralan making a run for it when the fleet arrived, but we were supposed to have word, one way or the other, if the project was complete before that happened! Do we have anyone else there we can send in?"

 Lacey shook his head, infuriatingly calm. "We are already in danger of being discovered by this Doctor. Sending someone new in would be...dangerous. We have another agent in the area, but I suggest we save that one for a last resort, and hope that our.....colleagues," his eyes raised heavenwards for a moment, "sort things out themselves."

 The Doctor was rustling a little white bag in front of the crimson hued alien hopefully. "Jelly baby, really, that's just what you need right now, calm your nerves, give your jaws something to do besides clench together like that...." He was interrupted by the sound of an electronic voice cursing, approaching the laboratory. They all looked on in astonishment as the Matralan arrived in the room, wobbling on its six legs, looking somewhat blackened, but otherwise unharmed.

 "You!" it screeched, calling the recently returned slug. Responding to the spoken command and the beamed impulses, the creature slithered over, letting the metal box clamber and settle atop it once more.

 The Ajare took a step forward, its living weapon pressed to its chest, its other hand stretched forward threateningly. "You! I'll use this primitive piece of weaponry to pry your container apart, and expose you to--" he stopped, suddenly realizing what he was holding in his hand. "Damn you, Doctor!" he cried, throwing the bag of jelly babies aside.

 The Doctor returned Leela's knife to her, who promptly wiped it on her boot and sheathed it. "Well now," he began, rubbing his hands together, "here we are, all together, hostile fleet above us, hideous biological entity behind us--who's up for a nice game of cards, eh?" The Ajare and Matralan turned, staring at the insane Time Lord. Leela merely stood at his shoulder, already growing used to her companion's strange behaviour.

 "Are you insane, Time Lord?" spat Rakshan. "We must destroy this....monster," indicating the Matralan, "and leave this planet. The fleet will take care of the rest--there is nothing more we can do."

 The Doctor coughed. "Yes, well, I think we can agree to disagree there. You came here originally to stop this weapon from being created, yes? Now you're saying you can't?"

 The Rakshan turned away, stroking its injured weapon. "I am saying that it is no longer the most practical solution. The weapon has already been created--it is an abomination that must be destroyed. The fleet can take care of this much more efficiently than I."

 "But that means--" the Doctor began, when he was interrupted once again, this time by an electronic screech.

 "Thieves! Traitors! PLAGIARISTS!" the Matralan cried. Two of his legs were clutching the casket his mount had retrieved earlier, and were shaking it. "I have been betrayed! First by the apes, and now by one of my own! They'll pay, oh how they'll pay!"

 The Doctor strode over and waved a hand in front of the box's visual sensors. "Hello, excuse me, but you wouldn't mind being a little more specific, would you? What is that?" he deftly grabbed the container from the Matralan's feelers. "Oh, and, don't take this the wrong way, but aren't you supposed to be in a twisted mass of metal and rubble right about now? We heard the explosion, you see, right after you escaped, which, of course, was right after you said you needed our help."

 The Matralan's legs waved around for a moment, before sliding back into the flesh of it's mount. The electronic voice managed to sound a trifle sulky. "I don't work well under this kind of pressure. The Ajare I could handle, but the Ajare and that fleet, both wanting a piece of me? I mean, be fair, would you hang around if you had a way off this rock?"

 The Doctor hmmm'd non-committaly, fingers roaming over the ornate casket. "Fascinating...do you know, I'd swear this couldn't have been made on Earth at this time period? I wonder...." Another twist, and, with a click, the box opened, bathing the Doctor's face in a slight crimson glow. The Doctor's eyes opened even wider, and he immediately slammed the box closed. "This is getting complicated," he whispered, before thrusting the box at the Matralan.

 "This is one of your containment units, isn't it? A portal to hyperspace, providing a link for one of your race's intelligence? But this one's empty, there's nothing in the link. How do you explain that, eh?"

 Rakshan looked irritated. "Another one? I was told only one of those parasites was here!"

 The Matralan shook atop the slug, its electronic voice taking on a timbre of fury. "He must have tried to imprint himself on the weapon! He must have been here the whole time, maybe even working with the apes who sabotaged my escape vehicle! He waited until all of my work was nearly complete, and then he swept in and tried to take all the glory!"

 "What do you mean, tried?" the Doctor asked. "I mean, the infected villagers, the Primus, it certainly seems like this colleague of yours was certainly making himself felt...."

 The Matralan waved one of its legs dismissively. "No, no, that was merely autonomic functions that you saw. The weapon needed to grow, and feed; it didn't need any controlling intelligence other than that of the host bodies. No, if this traitor tried to take direct control of the Primus, he met a very *tragic* end--you see, the weapon was designed to accept *my* imprint, no-one else's. I did it to keep anyone from trying to force me out once I was in control--a safety feature. I never dreamed I'd need it before I took possession of it!"

 "So....what happened to the fellow from this box?" the Doctor asked.

 Once again the metal box somehow managed to convey an emotion--it smirked. "It would have...bounced. And, unless he had been expecting it, he would have lost his grip in hyperspace, and just....dissipated."

 "Who are you?" Vickers cried out with his thoughts, feeling crowded. "What are you doing here?"

 "I will not waste time talking to a shadow," the other mind responded. "You are merely an image of the mind I rode when I tried to imprint myself on the Primus, nothing more. A fading memory of the fool I conned into giving my intellect a host so that I could get to the weapon. 'Great Mother indeed,' I cannot believe how easy it was to lead you."

 Vickers forced the other mind back with a surge of rage. "Lies! I exist! It is through my will that I survive, to continue to serve the Mother! Even now, the first of her offspring grows to do her bidding!"

 The other mind laughed hollowly, surrounding the spark that was all that remained of the psyciatirst-turned-occultist. "And still you believe! You were the perfect choice, pawn! We--I-- live because I was able to find a medium to store my intelligence in until another living creature could take us up. I had not expected the safeguards my counterpart had built into his weapon--no matter. In the few seconds of contact I was able to maintain, I triggered the Primus' reproductive process. Soon, a Secundus will be born--a colonel under the leadership of the Primus' General, able to think on its own, to complement the Primus' hold on her army. But, destroy the Primus, and it *becomes* the Primus! I shall still gain the power, the army, and then, oh, what sights I shall show them all!"

 Vickers' mind struggled, shrieking silently, as he felt the other mind closing in, inexorable, merciless.....

 "So, to sum up: we have a currently uncontrolled living weapon wandering around, complete with it's own army. We have two Matralans running around here, apparently working at cross-purposes. One of whom..." he stopped, shooting a glance at the muttering box. "Both of whom?" he wondered softly, "Might be working with forces on this planet. Add to this one Ajare, who was here initially to stop the creation of the weapon, and who now wants to leave it to others. Oh yes, and those others, the fleet circling the planet, probably with forces already on the way down. Have I missed anything? Oh yes." His voice hardened, as he stopped before the Matralan. "How about why you're here? Why Earth? Why do this to innocent, intelligent beings?"

 "Because he is a monster," Rakshan hissed. "He should be destroyed!"

 "Oh, not again," the Doctor sighed. "Really, don't you think you could pick a new--"

 "I agree," Leela said, standing next to the Ajare, who looked at her in shock. The Doctor blinked. "You did not see what was on the table, Doctor. You did not see what he was going to do to me before I escaped. He should die."

 The Doctor scratched his scalp, and glanced sideways at the Matralan. "You certainly know how to make friends and influence people, don't you? What I don't understand is, you and the Ajare have so much in common. You both are composite lifeforms, one a microbe inhabiting an intelligent host body, the other a hyperspatial waveform living in a conduit, carried around by semi-clever animals. You are two of the most unique species in the world, and yet you have an almost patholgical hatred for each other. If only you could combine your abilities, find some sort of common ground...." The Doctor trailed off, his eyes growing larger.

 "Bah, more of his idiocy!" the Matralan grumbled, moving across to examine his viewscreens. On his way, he made the slug kick the dead body of Lynch, causing it to roll over. Unseen by anyone but Rakshan, a small rod rolled free. Shuffling, stroking his damaged weapon, it leaned down and scooped the communication device up, stuffing it into a pocket.

 "No, I have it!" the Doctor cried, pacing rapidly back and forth. "Of course, the answer was staring me in the face. But how do I know so much about Ajare biology? Strange....All right, this is what we'll have to do, and quickly!"

 "No, Doctor," the Matralan retorted, his mount suddenly turning. "we shall do as *I* say! Or your friend the microbe is vaporized!" In a tentacle, the slug held the beam emitter earlier used to cure Leela of the Ajarean microbe infestation. "I made a superweapon, and by all that's profitable, I intend to take ownership!" 

 To Be Continued....