Olec looked up from her computer terminal as the double triangle of the incoming message icon began to flash. "We're receiving another message from Burliugh," she announced.

 Commander Tombaugh of the Trion Secret Security Commission tapped his fingers on his command chair and squinted. His damn replacement eye always acted up when under stress. He had lost his original right eye some years back when Rehctaht and her military junta had overthrown the aristocratic ruling classes which had ruled Trion for millenia. He had performed some brave and foolhardy acts for the SSC in their attempts to undermine the aristocracy back then. He silently thanked whatever gods Trions worship that his people had possessed the technology to clone him a new eye -- if he had lost it on this barbarian planet of Earth in this primitive time period, he would have been forced to wear a silly eyepatch like the ones he had spied a few of the local natives wearing.

 "On screen," Tombaugh commanded. Their leader's visage appeared on the holoscreen.

 "Burliugh here. New orders. You are to retrieve the power core from the sunken Trion vessel and detonate it at your end of the time corridor, the native town known as Delphi.' Here are the coordinates." Numbers, letters, and symbols in Trion script appeared below Burliugh's face as the crew began to mutter and whisper among themselves. "Your crew can stand assured that we are not stranding them in the past ... we have used the absence of Vislor Turlough to break into his files on the secret ARTEMIS project and now have a functional time-travelling device which doesn't require the use of a time-corridor. But your corridor must be destroyed -- there are other powers trying to control the corridor and must be stopped. You must detonate the corridor in exactly one hour and thirty minutes. Synchronize your computers ... now."

 Tombaugh nearly leaped from his command chair. "Wait a minute -- we haven't even located the sunken vessel yet! We don't have its power core!"

 "Then you have exactly one hour and twenty-nine minutes to find it. Otherwise I'll expect you to sacrifice the power core on your own ship. The detonation of your side of the time corridor must coincide exactly with ours in order to seal it off. This mission is priority number one to the Commission. Do not fail me, Commander." Burliugh's face vanished, but the countdown clock remained.

 Tombaugh understood the unspoken threat behind his superior's words -- failure would mean they would be abandoned here for all eternity. He had to find that power core. He turned to the Medusa.

 "Olec -- did Demck locate the sunken vessel before you ... parted ways?"

 "Yes. I can take you to the general location, but you're on your own from there."

 "Good enough. Take us down."

 The "rebel" Trion cruiser sunk down toward the surface of the planet, and slowly descended under the waves.

 Zoe shook her head. That silly century-old Beatles song still popped into her head unconsciously every time she looked at Demck. She could still hear every single guitar note and drumbeat of the song each time it played in her head ... there were some downsides to having a computer-like memory after all.

 "Inform you that Trion vessel cannot be found," reported 462ahw from the deck of the tiny escape craft.

 "They've either left the vicinity of the planet, gone forward in time, or gone back to look for the wreck," Demck grunted. He fingered his walrus-like whiskers.

 "Do not find it logical that they should have left this solar system," 462ahw piped up. "Think that if human girl is correct, think they would risk collision with Space Probe Seven if rentering time corridor. Hypothesize that return undersea to search for wreck is most likely conclusion."

 "I think you're right," Zoe replied. "But what are they looking for?"

 "Probably the same thing we were," Demck muttered. He pointed to the power core stowed at the rear of the escape vessel's deck.

 "Suggest ambushing ship when it reappears," 462ahw offered.

 "And how do we do that?" Demck growled.

 "Do you have any explosives other than the power core?" Zoe asked. "We can drop them as depth charges!"

 "We want to capture the ship, not destroy it," Demck reproved.

 "Well, why not use the power core as bait?" Zoe suggested. Her eyes twinkled mischievously.

 -1:00:03
-1:00:02
-1:00:01
-1:00:00

 Still an hour to go. She activated the interior Mission Control monitor to see how the scientists were doing back in section B-12.

 Bromley and one of her assistants had pried a panel off the wall and seemed to be arguing about how to do something with the circuitry inside.

 What were they up to? What could they still do to thwart her plan? Rubenstein didn't think there was much, but she was curious all the same. She looked for the audio button. There it was, inset next to the screen. She reached down with one of her claws, but couldn't push it. She sighed, frustrated. Stupid human buttons, designed for human fingers. Soon it wouldn't matter, though. The human race will have been wiped out thousands of years ago.

 Rubenstein got up and went to examine the escape pod. If things went wrong and Tempos couldn't find a way to detonate Space Probe Seven when it emerged from the other end of the corridor, she might still need it.

 "Nothing can go wrong," Tempos assured her, metaphorically stroking her mind. "Another of my agents will ensure the destruction of the other end of the corridor on time."

 Rubenstein thought about how many things had already gone wrong, and set out to inspect the escape pod even more thoroughly.

 "Demck must have it," Olec hissed.

 "Take us up," Tombaugh ordered.

 "My wife! Are you all right?" Troilus knelt down next to her and watched her helplessly.

 "Yes, I'm fine ... well, except for this headache. What are you squabbling about? Who are these people?" She tried to sit up; Troilus helped her.

 A blonde woman wearing an ornate white robe strode forward. "I am Romana. This is my guard, Dolon. And this is Vislor."

 "I prefer Turlough, actually," the man with the nearly-shaven hair said, sitting up. The way he held his head indicated that he had a headache as well. "Remind me when I get back to Trion to start a petition banning the use of sonic weapons."

 "Are you all prisoners as well? What were you arguing about?"

 Troilus held her hand in his. "I was explaining my cunning plan to escape from this prison. But this ... dim-witted Hercules here is too afraid to try it."

 "I am not afraid! I just think your idea is the most idiotic --" Dolan began, but withered under Romana's glare.

 Shaking her head like a mother watching her children fighting over the last biscuit, Vicki asked, "Well, Troilus, what is your cunning' plan?"

 "Oh, it is very cunning indeed, my lady Cressida. First of all, Dolon and I pretend to have a fight. He pretends to be wounded, he calls the guard for help, and the rest of us jump the guard, steal his weapons, and escape."

 "That's the oldest and stupidest plan in the book!" Dolon objected. "This ... barbarian will get us all killed!"

 "I think his plan is a very good one!" Vicky interjected. "And I'm not a barbarian -- unless you consider someone who studied nuclear physics in the fourth grade to come from a barbarian culture!" Dolon kept his mouth shut. "The Doctor and I used many simple ploys like this to escape from helpless situations. If I learned anything from my time with him, the simplest plans usually work better than the more convoluted ones."

 "You travelled with the Doctor as well?" Turlough asked. "So you're the fourth companion here which Romana told me about. It really is a small universe when you stop to think about it, isn't it?"

 "Four companions of the Doctor!? How is the old geezer doing these days? Has he kicked the bucket yet?" Vicki asked. "That reminds me -- where's the woman I met earlier, Zoe?" she asked with some concern.

 Romana looked over to Turlough before turning back to Vicki. "I'm afraid ... Zoe's probably dead."

 "What?"

 "She had a telepathic virus that scrambled her memories," Turlough said. "She was practically a vegetable when the rebel Trion agents captured us."

 "Here comes a guard!" Dolon hissed.

 "Well, here's as good a time as any to try your plan, Troilus," Romana observed. "Places, everyone."

 "They must have had enough after our last attack and given up. Let's move it back to the ship."

 A team of agents had just gathered around the power core to lift it when they heard the engines of their ship begin to rumble. "What--?" Tombaugh began, then dropped the power core as he realized what was happening.

 "It was a trick!" Olec yelled. "They're stealing our ship!" She ran towards the ship as it began to lift into the air.

 Tombaugh looked at his computerized timepiece and swore an oath in Trion. He only had thirty minutes left to complete his mission, and now it looked like he would have to do it without his ship.

 "Question how we will stop the Space Probe from detonating," 462 asked.

 "We can use the tractor beams from this ship to grab it when it emerges from the tunnel, then lift it into space, rather than allowing it to crash," Demck suggested. "If I can figure out how to fly this thing."

 Troilus lifted the metal jug into the air in preparation for a second strike, but halted himself just in time as he realized who had come through the doorway.

 "Zoe!" Vicki exclaimed.

 "Hello," Zoe said. Looking at the unconscious guard on the ground, she continued, "I see you didn't need my help to escape."

 "Thanks anyways," Vicki said, coming over to hug her. Turlough eyed the newcomer suspiciously.

 "Wait a minute," he said. "She's probably the Protean."

 "The what?"

 "Tell us," Romana said, "How did you get your memories back?"

 "The Chronosaur cured me -- right before it began to brag about its plans to destroy Earth. Come up to the bridge, and I'll tell you all about it."

 "You're not going anywhere." Everyone spun around at the voice of the newcomer. It was Olec.

 "The Medusa!" Troilus shouted, turning his eyes away.

 Romana looked Olac straight in the eyes. "Ah ... a Medusoid, from the planet Medusus. With the power to paralyze humanoid lifeforms by making telepathic contact through the optic nerves." She strode slowly towards Olec, who took a step back. "The one working with the Trions."

 "Then this must be Romana, Lord President of the Time Lords. It won't matter if I stop your heart -- hearts, because you can always regenerate when I'm through with you." She began to focus her paralysis powers on the woman before her, turning her to stone ...

 Romana continued to look her in the eyes, and then laughed. "Your pathetic paralytic powers won't work on Time Lords, I'm afraid." As Olec stepped back in shock, Dolon clubbed her over the head -- well, over the snakes -- with the pitcher he had confiscated from the cringing Troilus. Olec went down. "Let's go. Lock her in here where she can't do any more harm."

 Tombaugh looked at his mini-computer. Ten minutes left.

 "Should we carry the power core to the ship?"

 Tombaugh shook his head. "Not enough time. Come on -- it will take us at least five minutes to get to Delphi. We can park the escape craft near the end of the corridor and set its power core to self-destruct. That should give us enough time to get clear."

 "Two minutes!" Zoe replied.

 The ship reached Delphi with a minute to spare. When they arrived, 462 noticed something strange on the ground next to the Oracle.

 "Find that object to be familiar," 462 announced.

 "It's our escape craft!" Demck exclaimed in disbelief. "What's that doing here?"

 "They must be using it to ensure that this end of the corridor is detonated in case the Space Probe doesn't work!" Zoe exclaimed. "We have to get it away from there!"

 "But how?" asked Demck. "We've only got a minute, and if I have to tractor the escape craft far enough away from here, we won't have time to snag the Space Probe when it comes through the corridor! Either way, we're finished!"

 Only a minute left to go.

 Time to get into the escape pod.

 Rubenstein opened the escape pod door, and climbed in. The escape pod was programmed to lift the occupant straight up, away from Mission Control, to a safe distance should the power reactor ever explode. She strapped herself in, and pressed the launch button.

 Nothing happened.

 She realized what the scientists must have been doing -- cutting auxilliary power to Mission Control.

 Rubenstein had just enough time to scream, "Save me, Tempos!" before the 14th-magnitude explosive device ripped through the station and destroyed one end of the time corridor.

 To Be Continued ...