Last time:

 "They die and they go to our Universe," Costello babbled. "We die and we go to theirs! Stop all the black holes from the other side, nobody ever goes away! She must be here, she must be here somewhere, I've come too far to stop! All Rsand!" he shrieked, and Jadi and Angela spun around to see a boarding party of Rsand standing behind them. "All Rsand, new orders! Prime unit safe! Prime unit only to be preserved. Bring all others to life. Bring all others to life *now*!"

 One of the bug-eyed aliens from the alien universe shuffled up to him and looked him in the eyes. 'Rzzaandd haffff exzzzpelled yoooo fromm zzzee hive,' it hissed in its old approximation of human vocal patterns. 'Yooo dooo nottt wannnt to makkke Rzzzanndd alivvve ... yooo wannnt to keeeep Rzzannddd deaaaaddd ...'

 'That's not true! We shall be each other's salvation! But you must help me! You must help me to find Clarisse -- Dr. Klein! Instate me back into the hive -- my mind can no longer think properly without it! Bugs, bugs in my bed! Tee-hee-hee-hee ...' Costello began to giggle hysterically, then collapsed into a ball at the feet of the Rsand which had spoken. The Rsand began to sidle closer to the mentally disturbed human.

 'Don't do it!' yelled a familiar voice. Jadi and Angela turned to see the Doctor striding toward them through the swarming mass of insectoids. He stepped in front of the insects and began to address them as a group. Leave it to the Doctor to have them eating out of his palm as their self-appointed leader in just a matter of hours, Jadi thought. 'Remember what I told you! If you take him back into the hive, he will corrupt you and use you to conquer this universe! Many others may be made alive, but the Rsand will be trapped in a permanent state of unliving, of death!' The Rsand began to scoot back away from the insane human, who began sobbing uncontrollably. The Doctor turned to his friends.

 'Mr. Morok, Ms. Ferris. Long time no see. I trust you're well ... what on Earth is that thing growing on your arm?' The Doctor stepped back in fright as Jadi raised his arm, now completely encrusted in a Rsand-like chitinous growth.

 'He held a Rsand energy weapon in his hand a little too long,' Angela began to explain.

 'I've always told you that guns were dangerous,' the Doctor admonished. 'Well, your arm will have to wait. Right now we have more pressing problems. Such as how to get into the TARDIS.' The TARDIS was still distorted, multiplied, impossible to focus upon.

 'What's happened to it, Doc?' Jadi asked.

 'Please don't call me "Doc." I think the TARDIS is having a little trouble adjusting to this universe. You see, this universe -- X-774, I believe our insane friend christened it -- is somewhat smaller and more tightly curved through four-dimensional space than our own universe is. As a result, the laws of physics are slightly different. The elementary force of gravity is a bit weaker; Planck's constant is equal to about 6.622 times 10 to the negative 34th power, and pi is probably equal to something like 3.1415918 ... The TARDIS exterior interface is programmed to work under "normal" conditions back in our universe. But because the laws of physics here are slightly different, the interface is skewed, and that's why we're seeing it as we are.'

 'Whoa, whoa, whoa ... slow down, Doc. How can the value of pi be something different here?' Jadi challenged, racking his rather thick brain. 'Isn't it the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its radius, or something like that? You can't tell me circles are different here.' He began to laugh nervously.

 'Circles aren't different, but because the curvature of space here is different, their radii as measured to their circumferences are slightly more. So the ratio is reduced. But never mind about that; I have to think of a way into the TARDIS.' He turned to the lead Rsand. 'You -- what's your name?'

 'Meye naaame izzzt K'zzink.'

 'K'think? How appropriate. K'think, do you think you could set up a Time Dam around my ship here to recreate conditions on the other side of the black hole, in our home universe? If you can, we can get into my ship, and I can release the black hole, and all of you can be brought to life.' He involuntarily shuddered at the euphemism.

 'Weee willll tryyyyyy.' K'Think and a small group of the other Rsand shuffled off.

 Angela stood up from where she had been examining Costello. 'What happened to him? What's going on here, Doctor?'

 'I believe Mr. Costello here made contact telepathically with the Rsand through the black hole some time ago. By combining his knowledge of engineering with the advanced science of the Rsand, he created all of the alien machinery here on the space station, and planned ultimately to take it through to the other universe where he would use his influence on the Rsand hive mind to conquer this other universe. Unfortunately, I came along and threw a rather large spanner into his black hole.' Angela cringed at the mixed metaphor. 'I just convinced the Rsand hive mind not to trust Costello. They seem now to have severed their telepathic link with him, but he has been a part of their collective mind for so long now that the severance of the link has driven him insane.'

 They stared briefly at the man cringing on the ground who was now laughing maniacally. 'Bugs. Hives. Clarisse. Black ... holes! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!'

 The Doctor looked on, sadly. 'Now I'm afraid I'm going to have to face one of the most difficult moral decisions I've ever had to make .... whether or not to keep my promise to make the Rsand "alive".'

 'Whhhaaaat wurrr yoooo doooiinng wiss zee zzcrabezzzizzt?'

 'Howwww diddd zee zzcrabezzizzt cummm aboarrrd ourrr zhip?'

 'Whhaaat wurr yurr planzzzz?'

 Wil found himself cringing into a ball, retreating like a coward once again into oblivion, longing for his secret hidey hole where he could run away from all his problems and never have to emerge into the light of day again.

 But in this room of white there was nowhere to hide.

 At least the Rawds and Cybermen and the Dark One and those Mysterious Robed Guys (he never had learned their name) had all been logical, normal enemies. And at least the battle with the Chaotics had been over before he had even had a chance to realize how bizarre and surreal it had been. But the Rsand were a different matter. Here he was, in a completely different universe, surrounded by bugs which were more advanced than the humans of his time by several thousand millenia, bugs who thought death was life and life was death, and sometimes they seemed to speak in the normal Paracastrian dialect of Galacspeak, and sometimes they sounded all buzzing like insects with z's for s's, and he had been sucked through a black hole, and he had had his spine broken ... it was all so insane that he couldn't deal with it. He had been a fool for not fulfilling the prophecy on Paracastria, for not dying and for joining the Doctor on his travels instead ... oh, why did he pretend to be so flippant and brave and such a wise-arse all the time, when deep down inside he was really just a snivelling coward, no better than the peasants back in Denurys province who had been afraid to stand up to Lord Harsferd as his soldiers pillaged their farms and raped their women ...

 'Wherrre izzz zee zcrabezzizzt now?'

 'Izz zee zcrabezzizzt wurrking forr zee Doctor?'

 'I don't know anything!' Wil shouted. 'Why don't you just kill me?!'

 'Yoo arrre alrreadyyy deadddd.'

 Wil screamed, and hurled himself at the nearest Rsand. The Rsand stumbled and nearly fell over in shock. Clenching his hands together, he began to swing them wildly, like a sledgehammer, at the Rsand all around him. The Rsand began to hiss and chitter, but had sense enough to block the exit from the room. A few of the Rsand began to aim their weapons at him. *This is it,* Wil thought to himself. *You've been a fool all your life, and now you're going to die for your last foolish mistake.* Panting, he finally stopped, and waited for the inevitable energy blast to end his nasty, brutish, and short life.

 But at that moment, a giant translucent ball came rolling into the room, scattering the Rsand near the exit like bowling pins. The clear spheroid morphed into a transparent, mirror-image of Wil, and gestured to Wil with one flowing hand. 'Ramble not leave Wil-Wil-Young alone for long with nasty Rsand! Wil-Wil-Young Ramble's friend!'

 Wil smiled and sighed in relief at his close escape. Almost too late, though, he spied out of the corner of his eye the Rsand next to him lifting its weapon to shoot its mortal enemy down. 'NOOOOO!!' Wil yelled, and in slow motion, hurled himself toward the Rsand, which was bringing one of its claws down onto the contact trigger. With a precisely-timed leap, Wil launched himself into the air, did a half-cartwheel, and connected his feet with the insect's biologically attached weapon. He heard a sharp crack as the gun separated from the insect's chitinous claw. As the Rsand clicked in pain, Wil shoved it over, and did a hand flip toward Ramble, landing right before his friend. He heard hisses of 'Zzcrabezzizzt!' throughout the room, and saw more of the Rsand lift their weapons with murderous intent. He also noticed that his hand was bleeding.

 'Wil-Wil-Young saved Ramble's life!' Ramble said gleefully before Wil gave him a shove toward the exit. Wil's hand seemed to pass right into the Scrabethst. 'Ouch!' Ramble yelled, but began to flow quickly towards the doorway.

 'Come on!' Wil yelled. 'You can thank me later,' he suggested, darting down the strangely twisting corridors of the Rsand ship. 'How do we get off this alien monstrosity and get back to the space station?'

 'Follow Ramble. Ramble take you to his ship. Thank you, Wil-Wil- Young. Wil-Wil-Young is bravest being from other universe Ramble knows.'

 For some reason, hearing those words of gratitude made Wil Young felt a little better about himself.

 'That seems to have done the trick,' the Doctor said cautiously. Tentatively, he reached out a hand and touched his time ship to make sure it was solid. He then patted it affectionately. He pulled out his key, inserted it into the lock, and swung open the door. He gestured for his companions to enter. They stepped quickly inside before anything else could go wrong. The Doctor took a step towards the door, but found his arms pinioned by Rsand claws.

 'Doctorr make Rzzannd alivvve ...'

 The Doctor looked sadly towards the giant insects, knowing he had little choice. 'Yes, I will allow you to make yourselves alive. Come inside.' A few of the braver Rsand, including K'think, edged their way into the TARDIS. The rest obviously awaited the outcome of their siblings' attempted journey to life via such an unorthodox route.

 'Wait!' the Doctor shouted, scurrying over to the ultra-modern wooden control panel and placing a hand protectively over the door control. 'Leave the door open. I don't want the TARDIS force field to cut off the Rsand's link with the collective mind.' Jadi moved his hand away.

 'Izzz bigger on inzzide than on outzzzide,' K'think observed. 'Juzzt azz I exzpected.'

 'Come along, all of you,' the Doctor requested.

 'Where are we going?' Angela asked.

 'The Cloister Room.'

 'Ramble, are you all right? You seem to be moving more slowly since we brought your ship here to the space station. Is anything wrong?' Wil tugged on the flap of his olive-green army jacket nervously.

 'Ramble don't know. Something wrong. Ramble finding it harder and harder to move.'

 Wil looked down at his hand, where it was bleeding. He remembered trying to push Ramble during their escape from the Rsand Interrogation Centre. What if he had infected Ramble with something?

 Ramble and Wil came to a near stop as they heard the unmistakable sounds of Rsand clicking ahead in the promenade. Peeking around the corner, Wil could see a large group of Rsand conglomerated around the TARDIS, blocking entry. The TARDIS door was open. Had the Rsand forced their way inside? What had happened to the Doctor, Jadi, and Angela?

 Wil knew that there was no way Ramble would be able to make his way through that crowd of Rsand. Especially now that Ramble could barely move. He turned to Ramble, all of his joking and frivolity lost in grave concern for his friend.

 'Ramble ... hardly ... move,' Ramble struggled to say. 'Leave ... Ramble ... here. Get ... help.'

 'I won't leave you for long. I'll be back,' Wil promised. He stepped around the corner.

 Reaching out and closing their gaping mouths as he walked by, the Doctor walked over to the sarcophogus and stared at it nostalgically, as if remembering a childhood memory, or a past romance. Then he shook his head to clear it, and rotated one of the staves. Jadi and Angela could see now that there was a mirror on top, reflecting a blue energy beam that passed between the staves.

 The Doctor beckoned them over as the Rsand entered the room. 'Ms. Ferris, if you would do the honors?' She walked hesitantly over toward the staff, unsure of what the Doctor wanted her to do. 'Simply look into the mirror. The Eye is programmed to open at the recognition of a human retina pattern.' She shrugged, and looked into the mirror.

 Nothing happened.

 After ten seconds, she stepped back nervously. 'What's the matter?'

 'Hmm ... the Eye isn't recognizing your retina as human.'

 'Why not?' She looked around defensively at Jadi and the Rsand, then laughed nervously. 'Oh, it's probably the optical enhancers implanted as part of my cyberjack system.'

 The Doctor looked at her curiously. 'Possibly. I wonder, though....'

 The Rsand began to get restless. The Doctor motioned to Jadi. 'Mr. Morok?'

Jadi looked askance at Angela for a moment, then walked just as nervously up to the mirror. As he was about to look into the mirror, he quickly stepped back. 'Hey, Doc, this laser isn't going to fry my eyeballs or anything is it? I mean, you're not trying to do me in to get out of paying me my seventy thousand mazumas now, are you?'

 'Oh, for goodness sake,' the Doctor muttered, and pushed Jadi's eye into the mirror. Immediately, a rumbling shook the Cloister Room and the Rsand began to scamper around in panic. Jadi took several steps away as the dome of the sarcophagus split into two halves and slowly began to recede. A brilliant, bluish-white light emerged from within, nearly blinding everyone except the Doctor.

 'What is it?' Angela asked.

 'The Eye of Harmony ... a small piece of the great black hole that powers my home planet of Gallifrey.'

 'Ahh ... so that's the other black hole Costello was ranting about.'

 'Yes.' He walked over to K'think and the other Rsand volunteers. 'Well? Here you are. A black hole. Your opportunity to pass from death into life.' The Rsand began to chatter eagerly to themselves and press toward the Eye. The Doctor stopped them. He was outlined in silhouette against the harsh light beyond. 'Before you do so, think about the consequences of your actions.' He was nearly shouting now to make himself heard above the tempest of energy being released from the vortex nearby. 'You are great scientists. You have a wonderfully advanced group mind. How do you know that what lies beyond is better than what lies here, in the universe you inhabit now? You've seen into Costello's mind. You know what lies beyond in his universe. It is certainly not better than what you already have. And there's no guarantee that *anything* exists beyond the event horizon of the storm you see before you. You are scientists; you know what a black hole is. It's a singularity; a mass of matter so dense that the space-time continuum cannot support it. Beyond the singularity all physical laws break down. Working in conjunction with Costello, you thought that you could create a bridge to what lay beyond, but nearly everyone who traveled with him to this universe ended up as spots of biomatter on a wall. Is that what you want to become? Are you willing to give up your existence in this universe and take the risk of ending up annihilated, with no existence beyond? I tell you that you are alive NOW. Your life NOW is precious. If you truly wish to give up the life you have now and risk the death that may come afterwards, then step forward! Climb into the black hole and pass beyond this LIFE. Come on! What are you waiting for?!' The Doctor stepped aside and motioned for the Rsand to throw themselves into the Eye.

 The Rsand hesitated.

 The Rsand communicated among themselves, communicated with the hive mind, then took a step back. K'think spoke for the group. 'We zzhall reconzzider our plannzzz.'

 The Doctor smiled. 'Very wise choice.' He strode toward the exit of the Cloisters. 'Return with me to the console room.' Taking one look back at their hope for salvation, the Rsand turned and shuffled back through the door.

 As the Doctor left, he called, 'Oh, Jadi -- close the Eye, will you?' and disappeared.

 Jadi looked on in disbelief. 'Oh, right. Like I'm supposed to know how to close this thing.' Angela smiled.

 The Doctor poked his head back around the doorway. 'Just turn the mirror back, there's a good chap.' He vanished again.

 Grumbling to himself, Jadi walked up the step to the staff and turned it back so that the energy beam was more or less aligned with its fellows. He had a bit of trouble due to the fact that one arm was a giant mass of insect armor, but he succeeded in the end. The room began to vibrate again, and the dome covering the eye slowly closed.

 When the light was gone and the room had stopped shaking, Jadi stepped down and turned to Angela. They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment.

 'We're finally alone,' Angela stated.

 'Yes,' Jadi replied eloquently.

 'And there are no alarms going off.'

 'Yes.'

 They maintained eye contact for just a moment longer, then rushed madly to each other, hugged in a passionate embrace, and finally kissed. The world seemed to spin around them. Jadi felt as if he were in some ancient romance holo, alone with a deadly -- but beautiful -- woman, experiencing the most wonderful kiss of his life, trapped in an alien universe, their futures uncertain, one of his arms a grotesque insect growth, but they were sharing the wonderful, fantastic NOW ... what rapture, what delight ... THIS was what life was all about. A cool breeze blew through the Cloister Room, rustling the leaves, making Jadi recall moments at a park as a child ... his first kiss with Candy Anderson at the age of ten ...

 He opened his eyes.

 Wil was standing in the doorway.

 Angela saw him too, and they both broke away, embarassed.

 Wil turned and left the room. Jadi could have sworn he had seen a tear glistening in the young man's eye.

 'Hey, Kid -- Wil! Wait up!'

 Jadi turned and gave Angela a quick apologetic look before running after their young, disillusioned companion.

 The Rsand stopped chittering, and K'think turned to address the Doctor.

 'So, what have you decided?' asked the Doctor.

 'We have dezzided zzat you zhall ezject ze black hole fromm yurrr zhip and allow uzz to ztabilize it. Zzat way we zhall build a zafe bridzge from ourr ooniverzze to the nexzt as we pazz fromm deass and are made alivvve ...'

 The Doctor's eyes narrowed in horror.

 The Rsand lifted their weapons. 'You willl have nooo choizzzze....'

 TO BE CONCLUDED ...