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Cy dragged Nick up the stairs. ‘Where is it? Where’s that son of a bitch?’ Cy muttered, scanning the dimly lit corners of the landing, looking for the creature. ‘Let me go!’ Nick was kicking and struggling attempting to get free of Cy’s powerful grip on his arm. He clutched at the walls, anything to slow him down. The Doctor charged up the stairs behind them. ‘Stay back!’ yelled Cy, pulling a blade from the pocket of his leather trousers. He held the cold steel against Nick’s throat. ‘Come any nearer, and I’ll cut ’im! Not enough to kill ’im mind, just to stain the carpet a bit.’ ‘You bastard! And I thought… I thought we were…’ Nick sounded angry. ‘Sorry sweetheart,’ Cy whispered. ‘I make out with people I hate. I make love with people I like. Sometimes I just need to have some fun.’ Alf ran in behind the Doctor. ‘Nick!’ she screamed. ‘Nick!’ ‘Stay back!’ warned Cy, his hand trembling around the blade as it touched Nick’s skin. ‘I only need him alive! Not unharmed!’ ‘Nick I love you!’ Alf yelled. The door of Cy’s room swung open and the mandibles of the Protii snapped together hungrily. ‘At last! Oh Protii, I bring you the means of your salvation.’ Cy stretched his arms out in a Christ-like gesture, worshipping the creature before him. ‘Nick! Don’t let it touch you!’ roared the Doctor. He was too late. Even as the words had left his mouth a tendril snaked out and attached itself to Nick’s temples. The Protii galloped towards the helpless Nick, and suddenly the air was filled with a mindless chanting. “Born of anger… born of evil…” The words repeated themselves, over and over. Suddenly, a second creature flew in through the broken upstairs window and landed neatly next to the first. Alf watched in horror as Nick was wracked with pain, his mouth moving helplessly in time with the words they all heard. His torso writhed in agony as he felt the power of the Protii surge through him. ‘The regeneration is complete!’ Cy’s voice was full of triumph as he turned to face the Doctor. ‘You’ve lost!’ Alf rushed forward, but the Doctor hauled her back. Meanwhile, Cy was in rapture. ‘I can see! I can see it all!’ he yelled. ‘I know what’s going to happen! We have all lived. We have no future. And the future is mine! I’m going to be so damn rich.’ ‘What’s he on about?’ Alf whispered. ‘Of course,’ the Doctor said. ‘The secret of the Protii! That’s what Cy was after! The power to see the future! The Protii are from outside our dimension. Therefore they can see our future as clearly as looking through a pane of glass! Cy wants to use that power to see the future and get rich. Avarice. All this just for money.’ ‘But what are we going to do Doctor?’ The Doctor looked at the Protii, ‘I think we might have one hope yet. Look, it doesn’t seem fully regenerated to me.’ Alf followed his gaze. The Protii was shimmering; its blue aura now almost solidified, and she could see its fine wiry fur, and the rough, grey scales of its armour. They were still flickering in and out of existence. The second Protii had begun to trill in panic. Then, Nick spoke. ‘Alf… Alf I need you. Come here. Come here… please.’ He spoke softly, and pleadingly, like a child. Alf moved towards him, but the Doctor once again pulled her back. ‘No wait! Something’s not right. That’s not Nick.’ ‘Please…. Pleeeeeease!’ pleaded Nick, his eyes wide and inviting. ‘Don’t listen to him Alf! He’s not even the real Doctor!’ Alf gritted her teeth and didn’t move. How could he say such a thing? The Protii were beginning to flicker more rapidly, merging in and out of existence like a fading electrical signal. ‘They’re not stable!’ the Doctor deduced. ‘They can’t exist for much longer in our dimension.’ Nick’s eyes suddenly turned black, and he screamed in rage. His eyes were no longer human, but hollow pools of nothing. ‘COME HERE!’ he roared, his voice now nothing of how it was, but deep and alien. ‘COME HERE OR I WILL DESTROY YOU!’ ‘You’re not Nick!’ Alf yelled. ‘You’re the Protii!’ At that moment, Professor Endlemann appeared behind them, having slipped past the raging creatures in all the confusion. ‘This was always wrong!’ he yelled, tears running down his face. ‘Now I’m going to put it right!’ ‘No Endlemann!’ the Doctor screamed. Endlemann threw himself at the creatures, which had now begun to rupture and decay, the energy surrounding them almost feeding off their weak corporeal forms, and bleeding rank, rotten flesh. Endlemann’s frail body fell onto the mass of the creatures, and was enveloped in a blue circle of light. Alf leapt forward and yanked Nick away, the two of them falling roughly back down the stairs and into a heap at the bottom. The landing was bathed in a white light, and the chanting changed to a scream. Alf closed her eyes, and thought she heard the crying voice, maybe with her ears, maybe with her mind. ‘We return to our home, but we cannot die…’ The Doctor brought a large tray of drinks to the table, and set it down. ‘A vodka and orange for you Vera… a pint of lager for you Nick, and a cup of tea for me.’ The Doctor beamed. They had reconvened in the “Bird of Pride” club in the village. ‘I can’t get my ’ead round all this.’ Vera complained, knocking back her drink in one swig. ‘You say this village disappeared and I forgot?’ ‘It’s all quite simple my dear Vera.’ The Doctor began. ‘Oh-oh,’ said Nick. ‘ It looks like he’s about to launch into one of his explanations. Well frankly I’d rather not know.’ ‘It’s not difficult Nick. When Professor Endlemann threw himself on the Protii, they couldn’t remove him from time because it would have created a paradox that meant they themselves would never have been brought into being. The power required to resolve such a conflict was just too great for them to expend in their unstable state. The result? The Protii withdrew back to their own dimension, and all the time distortions they caused were ironed back out.’ ‘So Costa and the others that were taken out of time, are all back?’ Nick asked, taking a long thankful gulp of his beer. ‘All except Professor Endlemann,’ replied the Doctor. ‘I’m afraid he was caught up with the Protii and taken back to their dimension.’ ‘But the Protii almost won, didn’t they Doctor?’ ‘Yes, that’s still puzzling me Nick. Something was stopping the Protii Cy created in the cellar from completely regenerating. Had it done so Cy could have gained the power of being able to see into the future the same way the Protii can.’ ‘Was it this?’ Vera pulled a long, white bone from her handbag and held it aloft. ‘It’s the final bone in the skeleton of the Protii we rescued from the Ranx Expedition. Your friend Alf was carrying it.’ Nick grinned. ‘Well I needed something to unblock the toilets at the casino!’ she explained. ‘You’ve no idea how difficult it is to traverse those U-Bends unaided.’ ‘My dear woman!’ the Doctor chuckled. ‘Your stupidity could well have saved the universe!’ ‘And Cy?’ Nick’s voice was empty of emotion. ‘Ah, I think Admiral Fisk is dealing with him,’ the Doctor replied. ‘He hates to come away from things empty handed. I think he mentioned something about an institution for the psychiatrically disadvantaged. Does that bother you Nick?’ ‘He’s not all bad you know,’ Vera sighed. ‘It’s just that he won’t let anyone get close to him, except his old Nan. He lives for the moment, and never looks at the bigger picture. If you don’t trust, you can never love. And what kind of life is that for a young boy?’ ‘I don’t care,’ Nick said simply, knocking back the last of his beer. ‘In future, I’m keeping my love for someone who really wants it.’ ‘I think she’s outside, dear.’ Vera smiled warmly, as Nick slammed down his empty glass and marched off. The Doctor was left staring into his cup of tea, pondering this state of affairs, and it what it would mean from them all in the future. ‘Aw! Ain’t love grand?’ Vera breathed. ‘Fancy a dance Doctor?’ ‘Do you know, I really don’t!’ the Doctor replied. ‘But stoke up that old Karaoke machine and I might just change my mind!’
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