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Jeret Seth placed his palm on the scanner and waited. He felt the warmth of the reader's light pass beneath it and with a heavy clunk the isomorphic computer released the locking mechanism on the door. As the door vanished into thin air, Seth stepped through and into the hexagonal chamber he had had specially built at the heart of his villa. Various machines lined the three of the walls and a workbench nestled against another, circuit boards and partially constructed devices lying abandoned on its surface. Beside the door was a panel of screens and computers in front of which rested a high-backed chair. Seth settled himself into its comfortable seat as the door re-appeared, closing him off from any interruptions. Although he knew that Askari would get him results, what he didn't know was how long it would take the Yahanan to deliver. So he had come to his inner sanctum to run a few enquiries of his own. Over the years he had amassed a great deal of technology and had been able to augment it with the technology he used to know so well. His fingers darted over the buttons and switches on the panel before him as he programmed in the search parameters that would locate his precious emphazine. He reprimanded himself for not doing this earlier, but when the first shipment had gone missing he had thought it a co-incidence. If only Oscar Wilde has been his assistant instead of Askari… With a final flow of fingertips across the controls, Seth set the programme in motion and waited as it performed his search. Long ago he had hacked into the defensive, surveillance and communications satellites of this hated dust ball in order for him to establish whether it sustained the ingredients he would need for the first leg of his journey home. Now they would perform a similar function, scanning the surface for the unique signature the drug gave off. A map of Yahanis appeared on the main screen as digitally produced graphs fluctuated on smaller displays beside it. A large green dot appeared centred over the crater of Dar-Es-Buraq and, he noted, a much smaller yellow one out beyond Bin-El-Mabuul. Seth was puzzled. The search should have been far more accurate than that. The dot should have been a mere pin-prick. He adjusted the map and it zoomed in on the metropolis. To his astonishment green dots appeared all over the city along with three further yellow ones. Seth checked his programming. Confirmation came back that the green dots - some forty of them - were doses of emphazine. What the yellow ones were, he was uncertain. 'Select voice mode,' he said. 'Voice mode enabled,' came the reply of a sing-song female voice. 'Confirm that green icons on cartographical display represent doses of emphazine.' 'Confirmed.' 'Explain presence of yellow icons.' 'Yellow icons signify similar although not identical search results.' 'Postulate nature of these similar readings,' Seth could feel the excitement building in him, but he had to contain it. 'Possible hypotheses include: pharmaceutical analogous in composition to emphazine with corresponding trans-dimensional and/or temporal travel qualities; being with emphazine or analogous pharmaceutical introduced to system; being with trans-dimensional and/or temporal travel capability; being with recent residual trans-dimensional or temporal travel signature; sentient machine with trans-dimensional and/or temporal travel capability.' Seth gasped. 'Confirm last two hypotheses.' 'Confirmed.' Time travellers! It was scarcely possible to believe. Seth jumped from his seat. 'Maintain current trace and transfer co-ordinates of nearest yellow subject to main computer. Update at five-minute intervals. And open the door!' As before, an opening formed in the wall beside the console and Seth stepped through. All he had to do was find this "yellow" and his life would never be the same again. Nick had finally made it to Buliseye HQ. It had taken him much longer than Orsah had said it would, but then she probably didn't time the journey with a buggered foot. Still, he had stopped off momentarily to buy a couple of baps. This only made him think of Alf and the danger she could be in. This place had better be able to reveal the Doctor's whereabouts or he was royally screwed. As he passed the line of Surti and Buliseye vehicles parked outside and entered the cool reception area, Nick saw the Doctor walking towards him. He grinned. Typical. But he had to give the Time Lord clone credit for his timing. 'Doctor!' he called limping ever faster towards the rounded figure. His old friend ignored him though and instead started talking to an equally rotund Yahanan dressed in navy blue robes. They looked like Tweedle-dum and Twedle-dee - apart from one of them having a beard, of course, and both being from completely different races. Nick reached the Doctor and pulled the Time Lord clone round to face him 'You gone deaf or something, Doctor?' he demanded. The Doctor stared back at Nick as if he were a complete stranger. 'Who are you?' asked the Yahanan in blue. Nick didn't take his eyes off the Doctor's blank face. 'I'm Nick,' he said. 'Remember? Nick? The bloke you didn't tell you were a clone? That Nick?' The Doctor smiled. 'I'm sorry, Nick.' Nick breathed a sigh of relief. 'I think you must have me confused with someone else.' Nick's eyes narrowed. 'Yeah,' he said. 'I thought you were my friend. I was evidently wrong.' 'Come Hakim, we must get you, ah, home,' said the fat Yahanan. 'That's it!' exclaimed Nick. 'Hakim. Yes! And I'm Nathan. Remember, Hakim? And Alice? You're other friend, Alice? Well, she's in trouble and she needs our help!' This was worse than dealing with those children. The Yahanan snorted. 'Do you know this person, Hakim?' he asked. The Doctor looked pained. 'I don't know,' he said. 'I don't think so.' Nick visibly deflated. 'In that case, I'm afraid we must go.' The Yahanan ushered the Doctor out of the main doors and into an azure blue vehicle. 'Fine,' said Nick. 'Just piss off and leave me. AGAIN!' He slumped onto one of the metallic benches that lined Buliseye reception and dug at his eyes with the palms of his hands. First Alf disappears and may be even dead and now the Doctor has lost his mind and is in police custody. Could things actually get any worse?
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