-Now-

 Layra came out of the shadows, walked rapidly across to the console and inspected the controls. Satisfied with the way things were progressing, she turned on her heel and walked to the casket. She completed a full circle around it, before stopping in front and tracing her fingers along the scarred lettering.

 All those decades of planning, of careful manipulation, leaving the temple open at the right time, having the 'experts' 'find' the pod at exactly the right moment. And once that little turn of events had served its purpose and whetted certain appetites, she had simply led the travelers to it and taken it back. So very predictable -- but, then, she had had centuries of experience, plenty of time to study and observe, to learn the nature of the beast. It had worked. She'd done it.

 And so, her job finished, her life's work complete, her drive having exited the motorway and pulled into a Little Chef, Layra the Silent disappeared without a sound. The pod hummed. Had the humming been audible, and had anyone been there to hear it, it might well have sounded like contentment.

 {YEAH, YEAH, ETERNITY IS ALMOST UP.}

 [Eternity is almost up. No more observing, no more playing games, no more subtle nudging and manipulation. It worked. We've done it. The joining is upon us, the moment we have waited for for so-o long. She's here.]

 {AH, SHOVE IT UP YOUR ARSE. I'VE GOT BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN...WAIT, SHE? YOU MEAN, THE KEY'S A SHE? OH MAN, THIS IS GONNA BE GOOD.}

 [We must get ready. We must be fully prepared.]

 {I *AM* PREPARED MAN. I'M PUMPED UP AND READY TO GO. THE WOM3N CAN'T RESIST ME, MAN.}

 [Really? How fascinating.]

 {BEEFCAKE. *BEEFCAKE*!!!}

 [Sometimes, I so wish I could sneer.]

 The Doctor yelped suddenly, and Wil and Jadi turned to squint at him.

 "Sunglasses!" He pulled a pair of wire-frame spectacles onto his face. The lenses were tinted blue.

 "Any more?"

 "No, sorry, Wil. John only gave me the one pair. Now, let's see what we can see."

 He scampered forward to join Angela, and they slid into the two front seats. Angela fingered the control sticks, testing for response.

 "This system is locked. I'll see if I can hot-wire it."

 "Not so fast, Angela." The Doctor's fingers were running over the navigation detectors with great rapidity. "Your analysis was incorrect. According to these readings, we aren't heading into that star. We are orbiting it."

 "Orbiting?"

 "Yes, orbiting. Interesting. Angela, is there an auxiliary environment control on your station?"

 She scanned the controls in front of her.

 "I have no idea."

 The Doctor looked up from the screen in front of him.

 "Let me see." He put his arm around Angela's back and hauled himself over her, examining the pilot's station and sticking his hair into Angela's face. "There we go." He punched a few buttons and a jarring noise filled the control room. A black screen slid down in front of the view-window, blocking out the light.

 Wil and Jadi opened their eyes hesitantly, and moved forward to join the Doctor and Angela. The Doctor climbed fully over Angela, much to her consternation, and jumped back down to the floor.

 "Let there be darkness." He grinned at Wil, returning the glasses to his pocket. "Now. I need to concentrate. Something very strange is going on, and I must gather my thoughts. So, I'm going to go over into the corner and do that, and I want you three to..."

 The Doctor sniffed the air and looked at his three companions, Angela still sitting, Jadi leaning in behind her and massaging her shoulders, Wil wiping his forehead and pulling off his camouflage jacket. They were all sweating profusely. He waggled his hands in the air.

 "See what you can find out about this ship." The Doctor retreated to the corner of the room, and sat cross-legged on the floor with his eyes closed.

 After a few minutes of examination, Angela's head popped up from the navigator's station.

 "I think I've got it!"

 "What?" Jadi followed her gaze to the station, and Wil soon joined.

 "We are in very close orbit around that star..."

 "The Doctor's already said that."

 Angela paused and gazed up at Wil.

 "And according to this, we are not alone." Angela pointed at the left-hand display. It was a screen, about a foot square, with a green blip in the center. "That is us. These," she pointed at two more green dots, equidistant from and forming a semi-circle with the first, "are presumably friendly ships. Diracan ships."

 Jadi opened his mouth, and then closed it again.

 "As in the dream we had?" queried Wil.

 "Yes." Angela directed the other two to a symbol set in the door to the control room. It was a large, solid, yellow D, with three white lines traced across and a red circle around it. "D for Diracan."

 "And M for Merabalan," Wil chimed in.

 "Exactly. Now, that large circle must be the sun, and I think those three red dots perpendicular to the others are the three ships we encountered. Merabalan ships. Orbiting the sun, like this vessel and the two other Diracans."

 "Interesting." Wil bit his bottom lip and scratched his crotch. "Any sign of an air-conditioning control on there?"

 "We've landed in the middle of a battle." Jadi immediately started checking his blaster.

 "Around a star? Seems unlikely to me, lover. Besides, this ship is locked in orbit, and everything is automated. All these ships are basically continually chasing each other around the sun. Not a first- class strategy."

 "Those other three broke orbit and attacked us."

 "So, mayhaps they are running some kind of security detail. Coming out of orbit to pick off anything that gets too close."

 "Security? What are they protecting," Wil asked.

 "I have no idea. Any guesses, Jadi?"

 Jadi harrumphed in the negative.

 "Doctor?"

 The three turned to the Doctor. He was still cross-legged, now floating just off the floor. His eyes snapped open.

 "I don't know. But I've just worked something else out."

 "Your dreams were dreams, correct? Real, proper dreams -- or as close as possible, yes? Things you fear: torture and terror; cruel mother figures; half-naked hermits; and, um..." The Doctor looked at Jadi and then at Angela.

 "And so on. Combined with settings snatched from various media, including my mind. And that's the key. My mind. My memory. My dream was like a real memory, like an experience I've had. At least, I feel that I should have had it. But I can't remember remembering it before. I'm sure I should have, maybe I did, but I can't remember doing so. And before you say it, I know how convincing dreams can be, how real they can appear, but this was more, much more. Maybe it's a memory I *will* have, at some point. Whatever, it was some sort of memory. And it had been edited," the Doctor suddenly realized.

 "Yes, edited. I saw Von Wer's arrival, like a detached scene in a normal dream, which I couldn't have done in memory. But she was meeting Mon for the first time, I'm sure that isn't right. And why was I so annoyed by Henderson? Was I?"

 He shook his head. "Perhaps if I could remember the memory as I should remember it, I'd be more sure. Nevertheless, I'm sure it was an actual memory of something I've done before. Or will do. Perhaps."

 Jadi, Angela and Wil exchanged looks. Jadi shook his head, Angela frowned, and Wil began flapping the collar of his T-shirt.

 "This all started when that capsule turned up," the Doctor continued. "Do any of you actually remember when we decided to dump it into the sun?"

 "Yes, it was when we..." Angela trailed off.

 "As soon as it appeared," Wil finished.

 "Seems a little impetuous, don't you think?"

 [No, no, no.]

 The Doctor stood.

 "We'd better explore this ship."

 [Oh, I don't think so.]

 The Time Lord paused, looking at his companions with a vague expression. It departed as quickly as it had come over him.

 "Angela, Jadi, could you two explore this ship for me? I am going back to the TARDIS to take a closer look at that capsule. Would you like to come with me, Wil?"

 [Yes, that's much better.]

 [Wil led Edek a merry chase,

 Around the museum from case to case.]

 {LAYRA FOUND THE CAPSULE, YAY!

 HAD ANGIE AND JADI TAKE IT AWAY.}

 [She killed the guards without apprehension

 And left the Doctor to draw attention.]

 {'APPREHENSION'?}

 ['Yay'?]

 "Sir! Here are the two advisors you requested," the soldier shouted over the noise.

 Mon looked at the two professors carefully. They were wearing exactly the same dress as they had worn when he had first met them. So, his assessment had been right. Bloody academics.

 "Good afternoon," Von Wer proffered her hand. "I hear you have a Doctor for us. We aren't hopeful -- both the Temple of TARDIS and the real Doctor in one lifetime are too much to ask for."

 "Yes, well, I'm glad you two are here."

 "And the cold altar has been stolen?" Henderson looked worried.

 "The capsule, yes."

 "And this potential Doctor could be involved."

 "Possibly. Either way, this Doctor character is getting right up my nose. That's a good sign, right?"

 Mon, Von Wer and Henderson ran into Edek outside of Mon's office.

 "Edek, what the hell...?"

 "The Doctor attacked me and ran off with Tern."

 "Come on!" Mon ran off down the corridor, and the others set off after him.

 "I'll deal with the Gord later, whatever she is up to. I doubt she's even involved, but you never know. And then there's the war to clear up. But first, that capsule. And you," the Doctor pointed at Tern, "keep out of trouble. There is definitely something going on here that I can't see yet."

 "That went well," he said cheerily.

 "According to plan?"

 "Oh yes. Everyone should be thoroughly confused by now."

 "Good." Layra nodded to the other four and they grouped together with her, forming a circle and joining hands. Lyra looked at them all with a messianic smile, Wil and Jadi either side and Angela and the Doctor opposite. They all smiled back.

 "You've all done very well, and I am very pleased. But there is a lot of work ahead for you, and you must get some sleep. So, don't you think you should all go to bed, while I tidy things up in here?"

 "Yes," they chorused. They let go of each other and headed for their bedrooms.

 "Well, yes."

 "I don't believe it. Idiot! He could be a spy."

 "The Doctor isn't a spy."

 "He's certainly a thief, maybe a terrorist."

 "No. The Doctor must have his reasons."

 Von Wer coughed and stepped forward.

 "How did you, err, know it was the Doctor?"

 "Professor, we don't..."

 "I just did. He was so certain in his manner, so clever. Look at the way he ran rings around you, Mon."

 "We really don't..." Mon grimaced.

 "He was just so consummate. It has to be him. And the things he said -- he's going to sort out all our problems, find the capsule, and the Gord apparently, and stop the war. And," Tern looked Henderson up and down with an amused frown. "He had the right clothes."

 "Our research outside the system has shown that the Doctor has worn many clothes, not just the accepted velvet and frills of our legend."

 Mon strode away, arguments between Henderson and Von Wer on the ultimate canonicity of non-Diracan legends and the best way to get after the Doctor given their resources mixing in with the footfalls of officers searching the museum for the Doctor. He pulled the communicator out of his pocket.

 "Control? I want you to look through the atmospheric records for any strange activity in the past five high-stops."

 "Funny you should say that, sir. We recorded some very unusual activity not long ago. As if a small section of matter stopped being and was replaced by another."

 Mon frowned. "Well, maybe it is true. OK, any idea if..."

 "Yes, sir. Exactly the same type of reading was recorded at almost the same moment, in system P-1292."

 "The Temple planet? I mean, P-12923?"

 "No. As far as we know, it was in space, a short distance from the star itself."

 "Is dropship 17 still in orbit around P-12923?"

 "I was about to mention, we lost contact with the ship not long ago."

 "What? Right. Ready my personal shuttle, and then recall the eighth fleet from the front line and divert them to system P-1292."

 "The fleet? But, Colonel, there's a..."

 "I know there's a war on, you dolt! Just do it."

 "I first came to Diraca several centuries, for me at least, ago. The Gord was Prime-Matron then. Her egotism and heartlessness had led to extreme poverty on Diraca, and all the planet's natural resources had been used up. I helped replace their power sources, easing the economic troubles. I promised to return. That was a different life for me, you see, and I hoped that my next life would leave me in the frame of mind to topple the Gord's dictatorship, but I never got around to it.

 "During a much later life, I happened upon Merabalis. It seemed that the Diracans had gotten around to deposing the Gord themselves, but she had escaped in one of their first space vehicles, and ended up on Merabalis. She had treated that planet in much the same way. I joined with the revolutionaries there and brought down her government. She disappeared again. It seems that we have since crossed wits a third time, but not yet for me. If that dream was to be believed at least. And why wouldn't you believe...? Wil? Are you listening?" The Doctor turned to face his companion. "Wil, what are you doing?"

 Wil had stopped and was bent over slightly, trying to hook the last leg of his jeans around his left trainer. He glanced up before yanking the sweat-soaked trousers off.

 "Boiling to death," he said indignantly. He slapped the jeans over his shoulder and adjusted his shorts, which had ridden up slightly with the heat and walking.

 "Ready?"

 "Yes!"

 "Yes." The Doctor turned back round and headed off down the corridor. "Ah! There's the TARDIS."

 "So, that's it then."

 She and Jadi had found their way to a research bay on the ship. The Universal Telepathic Identifier (TM) above the door had informed Jadi that it was the INTRUDERS' LOUNGE -- PLEASE ENJOY YOUR BRIEF STAY in English. In it, they had found a basic guide to what the ship was doing, where it was doing it, why it was doing it, and what would happen to any intruders who might stop it doing it. Angela activated the computer again, and the cheerful voice switched on in her and Jadi's minds again, accompanied by a flow of recognizable letters in un-recognizable orders on the screen.

 "Hello, people. Long, long ago, so the legends say, a man named the Doctor came to Diraca. And with him came the graceful Lady Josephine, She of the Great Clanging. One happy day, the Lady Josephine explained the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction to the great people of Diraca. And they saw that it was wise and good. And when the Gord was gone, Diraca solved all its internal conflicts and paved the way for a peaceful future with the threat of death for all should that peace fail.

 "And when the Diracans went into space, to colonize other worlds and interact with other peoples, they took this great way with them. And when they encountered the Merabalans, they explained the wonderful theory. And knowing that the two peoples could one day come to war, the great leaders of the great peoples agreed to set up such a system to protect their descendants from the stupidity of conflict and battle.

 "The Personality Matrix was created by the greatest scientists and engineers from both peoples, a weapon that would draw its power from a star and its impetus from artificial intelligences cultured for the purpose -- Aggression and Strategy -- and its final trigger and ultimate action from a specially engineered key, something that could embody all the experience and emotion needed for maximum devastation, a being of pure death driven by hate and the desire for revenge. The Matrix would obliterate everything it touched, drawing energy in the process, until it had consumed the entire galaxy.

 "An ancient weapon was discovered, an artefact from before the dawn of time, in the Temple of TARDIS. It was deemed suitable, and its shape and essence programmed into the Matrix for recognition. And then the artefact was returned to its point of discovery, and the Temple of TARDIS was hidden forever. All records of its discovery were deleted and both the Diracans and the Merabalans withdrew from the area of space that was home to the Temple and the new, great weapon.

 "But the great leaders knew the danger of such a weapon and it was decided that the safest and most logical course of action was to keep it from the peoples, to protect the secret and ensure that it was never used. And to that end, three of the finest ships from each fleet were stationed around the star that would be home to the weapon; and when the Matrix Module was implanted into the star P-1292 the ships were programmed to stop anything that approached without giving the requisite codes.

 "And so, here you are, in one of the six ships guarding the most important secret in the three systems. Unfortunately, unless you are some form of non-biological life (in which case, congratulations, so am I and I will obliterate your atoms in due course) exposure to the heat and radiation from the star P-1292 will result in your deaths within a low-day of arrival. We apologize for any inconvenience."

 "So. That's it then."

 "Crukking Fiest."

 Jadi plonked down on the stool next to Angela. She loosened her collar and rolled the sleeves of her shirt up.

 [Will you shut *up*!? Something is wrong. Something about that woman.]

 {WRONG? YOU'RE BLIND, MAN, SHE IS HOT. AND SHE IS MINE}

 [I do wish you would cease these fantasies. It simply isn't possible.]

 {WHAT DO YOU MEAN?}

 [Same old rules: no eyes, no groin.]

 {SHUT UP MAN. ARSEHOLE!}

 [No, not those either. I would thought you could come to terms with it after all these millennia. I mean...grrr! Will you stop distracting me? That woman is very important. Something about her...]

 {WHAT?}

 [I'm not sure, but we can't allow anything to happen to her for now. Oh, I hate time travelers.]

 "This capsule is important. I suspect it might be the key to everything that is going on here, and we must find out what it is. Time for a little exploration." He reached over and pressed a final button on the console. A beam of green light came out of the darkness above the console room and ran up and down the capsule. An outline of the capsule appeared on the monitor.

 "No time, no time."

 While Toros headed for the office, Mon burst into the control room, startling the pilot and navigator.

 "You two, take off now!"

 "Sir, we haven't performed our flight checks."

 "No time. Launch now, or I'll find a pilot who will!"

 "Yes, sir!"

 He left the flight deck and collided with Toros in the corridor.

 "Sir, emergency message in-coming. It's the Prime-Matron, for you."

 Mon looked at his aide.

 "The, the, the Prime-Matron?"

 "Sir," she nodded.

 "Oh dear."

 Wil was perched on the console, staring at the pull-down screen in disbelief.

 "How can it be her? How...I don't understand. Doctor, what the hell did we do? I mean, it must be us, right? Something to do with time travel. We will do something to cause this. This is our future catching up with us. What the hell are we going to do?"

 [Come on, you know what to do.]

 "I have no idea. There must be an explanation. I can't believe it."

 "You've checked the readings a dozen times. It's true, somehow. And it's already happened. From her perspective."

 "Yes, I know, I know. But no sense in worrying."

 [Quite right.]

 "We have to find Jadi and Angela. And we have to get that thing out of here. I think it's poisoning the TARDIS, she isn't responding properly. Maybe it's that, maybe the readings are a malfunction."

 [Don't get distracted now.]

 "Yeah. Maybe."

 "Either way, we need to get rid of this thing. As soon as the TARDIS is ready, we'll transport it into that star."

 "But you said that was the last thing we should do."

 "What? Did I?"

 "Yes!"

 "Well, I've...I'm...not sure. I need more information."

 [No, you don't.]

 "Yes, I need more information. What was I saying?"

 "That the capsule may be affecting the TARDIS somehow."

 "Ah, that's right."

 "Come on, then. We'd better get this thing out of here."

 Wil and the Doctor looked at the capsule and began trying to assess the weight.

 "Ah, Colonel Mon." She pursed her lips twice and smiled seductively.

 "Prime-Matron Hakes." Mon inclined his head slightly. "You wanted me, ma'am?"

 "I understand that an individual claiming to be the Doctor has turned up on your station. And he seems to be connected to the most interesting find on P-12923. And he has escaped, and you believe him to have transported himself to the P-1292 system."

 "Yes, ma'am."

 "And you are pursuing him?"

 "Yes, ma'am."

 "And you have re-directed the eigth fleet to join you?"

 "Yes, ma'am. I apologise for any break in protocol but I feel that it is very necessary in these cirumstances."

 "And you are right. Colonel Mon, I am going to take you into a very important confidence. The information you are about to receive has only ever been known to Prime-Matrons and High Civil Coordinators. Outside of myself and our HCC, Mr Kwill, no living Diracan knows it. We had assumed that the Merabalans had once had this information, but had forgotten it. I know believe that we... that I was wrong. In all honesty, it is not something I thought I would ever have to concern myself with. While I had certain concerns upon the recent discoveries on P-12923, I thought if we left matters open to the normal course of events and kept a particularly watchful eye on the now missing artefact nothing would go wrong. It seems I was wrong again. Colonel, this story goes back to our legends, to the visit of the Doctor and the Lady Josephine..."

 "Exactly."

 "But, who would activate such a thing? Surely not even the Merabalans..."

 "We don't know. But whomever it is, they must be stopped. And if the Doctor is involved, impostor or not, he must be stopped too."

 "Yes, ma'am. I understand."

 "We'll be arriving soon, sir."

 "Yes. Toros? Do you have a family?"

 "Yes, sir. A husband and triplet sons."

 Mon closed his eyes.

 "Three? Must make birthdays expensive."

 "They are only four highs old, sir. No great problems so far."

 "No. Thank you, Toros. Feel free to amuse yourself until we arrive."

 Toros frowned.

 "Sir?"

 Mon didn't respond.

 To Be Continued...