"Well, did you enjoy your holiday?" the Doctor asked as he looked up from the six-sided console.
"Very much," Sheri replied. "Though it would have been all the better if the Master hadn't turned up."
The Doctor nodded, his chestnut curls bobbing. "I know what you mean. My holidays do have a habit of being interrupted."
The TARDIS chose that moment to give a sickening lurch. Sheri was thrown to the floor, while the Doctor remained upright, clinging to the console.
I must find out how he does that, Sheri thought. "What's wrong, Doctor?" she said aloud.
"We're caught in a temporal wake," the Doctor replied, stabbing buttons with one hand while hanging on with the other. "I'm trying to steer us away from it."
"Is it dangerous?"
"It's dragging us deeper into the vortex," he explained. "If we get too close to the centre, we could be crushed."
"I'll take your word for that," Sheri said, rising unsteadily on the undulating floor. "Temporal mechanics isn't my strong point."
"The TARDIS usually skims the edges of the vortex, the side corridors if you like. The closer to the centre of the vortex, the greater the temporal pressures. The TARDIS is still weak from her ordeals. If the old girl was at full strength, we could probably withstand the pressure for long enough to dematerialise. But now I just can't risk it."
Fighting the tilting floor, Sheri had made it to the console while he was talking. "Is there anything I can do?" she offered.
"Not really," he replied. "I think there's only one thing left I can do."
"What's that?"
"Co-ordinate override," he said, reaching under the console. She heard him fumble around, then the sound of a lever being pulled. He straightened up, grinning. "There, that should do it."
With one final lurch, the TARDIS settled back into stable flight again.
"So, would you like to explain co-ordinate override, while you're in a chatty mood?"
"Well, put simply, it sends us on a random journey. Immediate course change. That sort of thing." He waved his arms vaguely.
"Oh," she replied. "You use it often then."
He frowned at her implied criticism of his piloting skills. "I can't help it if the TARDIS has a mind of her own."
The domed cylinder at the heart of the console slowed its steady rise and fall. The grating roar of materialisation filled the console room.
The Doctor activated the scanner, but it didn't help much. A dark, rocky wall was just visible.
"Air, breathable. Gravity close to Earth normal. Radiation well within safe limits." He smiled. "Shall we explore?"
***
Her old, gnarled fingers picked and poked at the computer keypad in her hand. Hitting a final button, she peered at the result on the screen. Disliking what she saw, she threw the keypad against the wall with all her strength, which wasn't very impressive.
"Not good news, Krau?" inquired a soft voice behind her.
She turned slowly. "Vence. I didn't hear you enter. What of the refinery?"
Vence shook his head slightly. "Still shut down, I'm afraid." He bent to retrieve the keypad, seeing it was completely undamaged. He returned it to his employer.
She sighed. "Profits are going through the floor, Vence. Unless we get the refinery up and running soon, the company will be completely bankrupt."
Vence stroked his smooth chin, regarding the piece of sculpture she kept in her office. It showed two men trying to strangle each other and was carved from hardened mud.
"I suppose, when Kernshaw gets production going again, we could put the workers on twenty seven hour shifts, Krau."
She smiled thinly. "You always know how to cheer me up, Vence."
He returned her smile. "Shouldn't you take your medication soon?"
She shook her head. "I only have two doses left. Until we get the refinery running, I'm only going to use them in desperate circumstances."
He bowed his head slightly. "As you think best, Krau. I shall return to the refinery and see if I can speed Kernshaw along."
"Thank you, Vence," she replied softly. When he had left, she slumped back in her chair, giving in to the pull of sleep.
***
Sheri was first out of the TARDIS. She peered around herself. "It's not your most impressive landing site," she told the Doctor.
"Maybe not," he replied, "but it is strangely familiar." He searched the pockets of his green velvet frock coat, finding a torch, which he activated.
His companion took a step forward. "Urgh!" she exclaimed. "I've stepped in something soft!"
The Doctor moved to help her and felt a soft ball split under his own foot. A puff of displaced air blew up his trouser leg.
He swung his torch down to floor level. What he saw there made him groan aloud.
"What is it?" Sheri asked. "What's wrong?"
"I thought this place looked familiar," the Doctor said. "We've landed on Androzani Minor. The stuff we've stepped in is raw Spectrox."
"The way you say that makes it sound bad."
"It is," he confirmed. "We have a little over a day left to live!"
***
Hren Kernshaw was frustrated that he couldn't figure out why the biggest Spectrox refinery in the system had shut itself down. It had been offline for nearly a month now and he felt like he had the whole of Androzani Major on his back. And then there was the witch.
He smiled to himself at his nickname for his employer. She had brought him in a little over two weeks ago because of his reputation as Major's top trouble-shooter. But this had him baffled.
Kernshaw winced when he saw the witch's familiar enter the control room. But he pasted on a smile, mostly to keep himself from slapping the little twerp.
"Hello, Vence. Come to look over my shoulder on Timmin's behalf?"
"It's Krau Timmin to you, Kernshaw. You should show proper respect."
"Why? Is she going to withdraw my Spectrox ration?" Kernshaw knew, probably better than most, that if the refinery didn't come back online soon, Spectrox supplies would run out totally. Then there would be full scale rioting and anarchy on Major.
"Do you have any progress at all to report?" Vence asked the engineer.
Kernshaw thought for a moment. "Well, I've narrowed it down to a problem somewhere in the induction system. A blockage in the induction tubes is the most likely."
"And what are you doing about it?"
"I'm waiting for a robotic probe to arrive from Major, then we can take a look."
Vence smiled slightly. "Why not climb up there yourself?"
Kernshaw looked shocked. "Those tubes lead up to the surface, nearly a mile straight up!"
"Then you had better make a start now," Vence suggested.
The door of the control room swung open and two guards ushered in a couple of strangely dressed people, a man and a woman. The man spoke.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor. Need a hand?"
***
"Saboteurs?" croaked Krau Timmin. "Well, this is unexpected. Did you have them executed?"
"No, I thought you might like to talk to them first," Vence replied.
"Very thoughtful of you, Vence. Show them in."
Vence snapped his fingers. The guard by the door opened it and the Doctor and Sheri were thrust into the room.
Timmin tottered to her feet and peered at the newcomers. The man wore a green velvet frock coat, grey trousers and a grey cravat. He had curly brown shoulder length hair and a handsome smile. The woman she dismissed with a glance.
"So, you would try and hold the system to ransom? The last person to try that is dead. You're about to join him. Vence, execute them!"
"Wait!" the Doctor cried. "Can't we at least discuss this?"
"I do not tolerate sabotage, much less discuss things with those who employ such methods."
"We didn't sabotage your stupid refinery," Sheri exclaimed. She was starting to feel dizzy, which the Doctor had told her was an early symptom of Spectrox Toxaemia.
"Sheri's right," the Doctor said. "We've only just arrived here. Your refinery looks like it's been out of action for weeks."
"It has," Timmin replied. "Do you really expect me to believe you're just innocent travellers?"
"What you believe is between you and your conscience. What we've told you is the truth."
Timmin turned to Vence. "Has Kernshaw solved the problem yet?" she asked.
"He has a possible solution. He thinks there might be a blockage in the induction tubes."
"Has he checked them yet?"
Vence shook his head. "He claims he's waiting for a robot probe from Major."
Timmin smiled. "I think we have a couple of willing volunteers, ready to check the tubes for us."
"Please, leave Sheri out of this," the Doctor protested. "We wandered into a Spectrox nest and she's beginning to show signs of Toxaemia."
"She can stand, she can climb!" Timmin snapped.
Before the Doctor could protest further, the ground beneath their feet began to shake. The tremor lasted for ten seconds, then subsided.
The Doctor frowned. "Is there a mud-burst due?"
"There hasn't been a mud-burst here for nearly fifty years," Timmin hissed. "And there's not going to be one now. These are just small planetary tremors."
"That's what Sharaz Jek used to say," the Doctor replied.
"Jek?" Timmin repeated. "You knew Sharaz Jek?"
"Yes," the Doctor said, studying the mud sculpture. "I must say, you've caught his likeness very well. And Morgus too. But then, this isn't a sculpture, is it?"
Timmin emitted a dry chuckle. "We found them like that, locked together in death, when the refinery was built. I thought they would make a nice tableau for my office."
The Doctor nodded, then turned to the old woman. "That must make you Krau Timmin, Morgus' secretary."
"His successor!" she spat. "I've built the company up from the biggest on Major to the biggest in three systems in the last fifty years." The outburst over, she began to cough. Vence was at her side, helping her into her chair.
"But has it brought you fulfilment?" the Doctor asked, quietly.
"Take them to Kernshaw," she instructed. "Have them climb the tubes."
"Yes, Krau Timmin," Vence replied. Snapping his fingers, he gestured to the guard.
As he followed the prisoners out, Vence smiled. "You'll soon wish Krau Timmin had had you shot."
"Where there's life, there's hope," the Doctor said.
Now Vence grinned. "Well, Doctor, your hope is running out!"
***
The Doctor and Sheri sat together in the refinery control room while Vence and Kernshaw argued across the room.
"I thought you said these people would help us," Sheri said, studying the red blotches developing on her arms.
The Doctor sighed. "I thought they would. I didn't realise they would have their own priorities. I'm sorry."
She smiled weakly at him. "That's alright, just don't let it happen again."
He grinned, pleased by her fighting spirit. "I got out of a similar mess once before. Peri and I made a complete recovery." He didn't mention it had triggered a regeneration. If he could get enough of the bats milk antidote this time, he wouldn't have to waste a life.
Kernshaw approached them. He didn't look happy.
"Vence and the witch are insisting the three of us climb the tubes. Are you two up to it?"
"Well, I am," the Doctor told him. "I would rather Sheri didn't have to though."
Kernshaw looked grim. "He's threatening to shoot any of us who stay in the control room."
"I'll be fine," Sheri told them, fighting off a wave of nausea.
Kernshaw led them through a door into a cavernous chamber full of machinery. Against the far wall were three large pipes, leading upwards.
"There's a ladder bolted to the inside of each tube," the engineer explained. "Half way up, the tubes stagger to avoid an area of tough rock. There's a hundred metre walkway leading to the next piece of tube. From the walkway you should be able to see the sky, so we only really need to climb half way. If you can't see daylight, there must be a blockage."
The Doctor nodded. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked his companion.
"I'm fine," Sheri lied. "I'd rather be climbing than shot any day of the week."
Kernshaw noticed Vence and a couple of guards standing in the doorway. "We should get going, before we all get shot."
***
Sheri's arms and legs had been aching before she started to climb. Now they were almost screaming in agony.
Rung by painful rung she hauled herself up the ladder. It seemed to stretch forever above her head. She didn't even dare look down.
It was an immense relief when she heaved herself over the top of the ladder onto the metal walkway Kernshaw had promised. She had no idea how long she lay there, her limbs trembling with sheer exhaustion.
Eventually, she forced herself to her knees, then her feet. Grasping the handrail like a lifeline, she walked unsteadily to the far end and looked up.
Above her head was a small circle of pale pink sky. The tube was clear.
She desperately wanted to rest before starting down again, but knew that if she didn't start back straight away, she wouldn't be able to. Slowly and painfully, Sheri started the return journey.
She seemed to have been climbing for hours, but it was probably only minutes, when a wave of nausea passed over her, forcing her to stop until it passed.
But it didn't pass. It increased. Disorientated and in extreme pain, her fingers slipped from their rung and she felt herself begin to fall.
Her fall was abruptly halted by a strong, velvet clad arm grasping her around the waist.
When the wave of nausea finally passed, she risked a glance down to see the Doctor's worried face level with the belt of her jeans.
"Fancy meeting you here," she said, slurring the words slightly.
He smiled faintly. "I checked my tube, then decided to see if you were alright," he said. "Good job I did."
She would have nodded, but was afraid her head might fall off.
"Can you manage now?" he asked, concerned.
"Yes," she replied, her voice stronger now. Her hands didn't seem quite as cramped as before.
"I'll be right below you, if you need me," he told her, beginning to climb down.
"If I feel dizzy again, you'll be the first to know," she joked, following him slowly.
***
Timmin was alone in her office, studying financial reports, when she heard a cracking sound. Turning slowly, she searched the room with her eyes, but couldn't see anything out of place.
Returning to her reports, the next clue she had that something was wrong was the shadow that loomed over her from behind.
"Hello, Timmin. Long time no see."
She turned to see Morgus leaning down towards her. His face was bone white, with flakes of mud still clinging in places. His eyes were dead and his mouth was drawn back in a bestial snarl.
Timmin knew she was too weak to fight him off. She sat helpless, unable even to cry out as his hands reached out to snap her neck.
She awoke, choking from old age and the memory of the nightmare. Then she realised someone really was leaning over her. She lashed out feebly.
Vence caught her fist easily and gently. "Careful, Krau, you could hurt yourself."
"Vence? Is that you?" She peered up at him. "I had the dream again, Vence."
He glanced over at the sculpture. "I'm not surprised. I think you need to take a dose of Spectrox."
"I think you're right," she sighed.
He went to the wall safe, entered the combination and returned with a dose of the rejuvenation drug. Timmin noticed his hand tremble slightly.
"What about you?" she asked.
He smiled. "I'll be fine until the refinery is running again." I hope, he thought to himself.
***
Kernshaw had started up his tube after the Doctor and Sheri had begun their climbs, returning to his locker for a tool belt.
Now he was on the walkway, peering up. The tube disappeared into blackness, no sign of sky at all. Something was blocking the tube.
He was searching his belt for a torch when he heard a rustling sound from above. He looked up, startled. It was the last thing he ever did.
***
Sheri almost dropped off the bottom of the ladder. The Doctor was there, waiting to help as always.
Putting an arm around her shoulders, he guided her across to a chair in front of a bank of machinery. She collapsed gratefully into it.
The Doctor looked around. No sign of Kernshaw. He should have completed his examinations by now.
The door opened and in walked Vence and Timmin. But Timmin had changed, almost beyond recognition.
She looked younger, healthier and stronger. Her gaze was clear and her stride was confident. Gone was the old woman, along with her frailty and weakness. Timmin looked thirty years younger.
"Ah, the power of Spectrox," the Doctor said.
"Do you like it?" Timmin asked smugly.
"How long will it last?" the Doctor countered.
"Long enough. Did you complete your task?"
The Doctor nodded. "My tube was clear, so was Sheri's. Now, can we go?"
"Not yet. Where's Kernshaw?"
"He's not back yet. Why can't we go?"
"Because I may need you yet," she snapped.
Before the Doctor could argue further, the ground shook again, for longer this time. Sheri groaned and the Doctor put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"You should get that seen to," the Doctor said to Timmin as the quake subsided.
"I told you, Doctor, there isn't going to be a mud-burst!"
"I see Spectrox doesn't improve the temper," the Doctor shot back.
As Timmin opened her mouth to reply, there was a clattering sound from one of the tubes. Kernshaw's torch dropped from the left hand tube and smashed to pieces on the floor.
Vence approached the pipe carefully and peered upwards. He called Kernshaw's name, but his only reply was a slight echo.
Timmin looked at the Doctor. "Seems you've got another climb ahead of you."
"I've done more than enough for you. Climb the tube yourself. I've got to find a queen bat and save my friend."
"If you don't climb the tube, Doctor, I'll have your friend put out of her misery. Permanently."
At a nod from Timmin, the guard beside her moved to stand over Sheri, hand on the butt of his machine pistol.
"Very well," the Doctor agreed grudgingly. "Then will you let us go?"
"I'll consider it," Timmin said with a sly smile.
***
The climb up the pipe was as uneventful as the first time he'd done it, and the Doctor was soon at the walkway. His stronger constitution meant the obvious effects of the poison in his system were slower to show. But they were there and he could feel himself getting weaker. He was out of breath and there was a sheen of perspiration on his forehead. He paused to loosen his cravat and unbutton the collar of his shirt.
He stretched his cramped muscles and walked along the gantry. His foot hit something that rolled away into the shadows.
Following it, he found it was a human skull. He frowned deeply.
"Alas, poor Kernshaw," he said softly. Something had killed the engineer, and possibly eaten him too. And that something was probably still around.
***
Sheri's fuzzy brain thought someone was trying to shake her awake. When she finally forced her eyes open, she found she was still in the refinery and the quake was shaking everybody.
"Are you sure there won't be a mud-burst, Krau?" Vence asked.
"Positive," Timmin replied as the quake eased. "I had this whole area surveyed when the refinery was built. I was assured that the activity of the region had ceased."
The Doctor had told Sheri a bit about the planet while they made their way to the refinery. The whole planet was honeycombed with caves. Hot mud from closer to the core occasionally forced its way to the surface, like volcanic lava on Earth. She didn't like the sound of it.
As her mind filled with images of volcanic mud, she drifted back into unconsciousness.
***
The Doctor let go of the handrail as the shaking passed. The quakes were coming faster now and a full mud-burst couldn't be far away.
Reaching the end of the walkway, he peered up into the darkness. His Gallifreyan eyesight adjusted quicker than a humans ever could. He could make out a large form in the pipe above him.
"Well, that saves me a search," he commented with a slight smile.
The creature returned his gaze. It was a queen bat, whose milk was the only antidote to Spectrox Toxaemia. The Doctor remembered someone, probably Salateen, telling him that they went down to the seeps to die and that was where he had found one last time. Then the creature had been near death. This one, however, was very much alive.
"They must nurture their young closer to the surface," he muttered to himself as he watched the large, scaly being drop from its perch and land on the walkway in front of him. "And it probably sees me as a threat," he concluded.
It did indeed. With a hissing growl, the bat lunged towards him. The Doctor dodged, but his reflexes were blunted by the spreading of the poison and one long claw caught his arm, ripping through the velvet coat, silk shirt and skin.
Frantically, the Doctor fumbled in the pocket of his waistcoat for the one thing that might pacify the creature. "Well," he said to himself, "it worked with Aggedor."
The spinning pocket-watch caught the meagre light of the pipe. As the bat turned to lunge again, it saw the bauble, turning and twisting. A gentle voice began uttering soothing sounds. The bat paused, transfixed.
The Doctor murmured the last few words of the chorus of Enya's Caribbean Blue and smiled. The bat was completely docile.
"All I need now is a little milk, and I'll be on my way," he told it, searching his pockets until he found a couple of glass vials.
***
Deep in the caves under the refinery, the ground cracked. Rapidly, the crack widened, spreading and broadening. In no time at all, the cracked ground exploded upwards, propelled by the force of scalding hot mud.
The biggest mud-burst in fifty years was coming to swamp the refinery.
***
The Doctor was a quarter of the way down the ladder when he had to stop. Even his stronger constitution was feeling the strain.
Hanging on the ladder, he took the opportunity to look around. It was then he spotted something he hadn't noticed on the way up.
"Must be part of some emergency plan," he decided. "Might be useful later." As if to confirm his thinking aloud, the tube shook around him.
With a supreme effort, he started down again.
***
Vence was beginning to worry. The quakes were getting more and more frequent. The latest one didn't seem to be stopping.
Before he could approach Timmin with his concerns however, there was a noise from the left hand pipe. Something fell from it, landing with a soft thump.
Vence walked over and stood below the pipe. The item on the floor was one of the Doctor's shoes.
He looked up to see the Doctor's feet hurtling towards him.
The Time Lord landed on top of his opponent, knocking Vence to the ground. Timmin's aide recovered first, throwing himself at the Doctor.
However, the Doctor was fuelled by desperation. He put all he could into one punch, which caught Vence unprepared and floored the man.
The Doctor shook his bruised hand. "I always said violence never solved anything. I'll call that the exception that proves the rule."
"Not so fast, Doctor," Timmin said. She had a small pistol trained on him.
The Doctor sighed. "I don't have time for this. I have to help my friend and get her away before the mud-burst hits."
"Your friend is dead, Doctor."
The Doctor paled visibly. He dashed to Sheri's side. She was breathing, though very faintly.
"She's alive!" the Doctor said, rounding angrily on Timmin.
"She won't last another hour," the woman replied dismissively. "Now, what, if anything, is happening in that pipe?"
"You have bats in your belfry." When she looked puzzled, he explained. "A queen bat has made it's home in the tube. That's what is causing the induction failure."
Timmin smiled. "Good. We can kill it and get the refinery running again."
"You won't have time," the Doctor told her, hoisting the unconscious Sheri over his shoulder. "You must evacuate the area."
"Nonsense!" Timmin said. As if to prove her wrong, the background rumble that had been present for so long started to build to a roar.
"Well, I'm not staying here. I have to get Sheri to safety." The Doctor moved to the tube he had recently descended and began to climb once more.
"We don't need you now, Doctor," Timmin called after him as she tried to wake Vence.
***
Boiling mud erupted through the door of Timmin's office, three levels down, engulfing her desk, sculpture and everything else in the room.
***
Vence awoke with a start. Timmin was leaning over him.
"The Doctor. Where is he?" Vence asked, struggling to rise.
"He took his friend and climbed the tube again," his employer told him.
"I'll go after him," Vence vowed, heading for the pipe.
"No. Get on to the workers compound. There is a bat nesting in the tube. We need it removing.
Before Vence could comply, the roaring noise increased. The control room door burst under the pressure and scalding hot mud began to pour into the room.
So, thought Timmin, the Doctor was right. There was no escape. The last thing she heard was Vence, shouting something about love. Then they were both engulfed.
***
The Doctor gritted his teeth and continued to climb. Not far now.
It was actually further than he thought to the hatchway he had found on his way down. And it was stuck. Muscles groaning under the strain, he managed to haul the wheel slowly round. With a sigh, the hatch popped open.
Beyond was a rock passage. He pushed Sheri through and swung his own leg into the opening.
Below, he could see hot mud starting to fill the tube. Spurred on, he fell through the hatch and slammed it, spinning the locking wheel.
Panting for breath, he dragged Sheri to her feet and into his arms. The passageway connected to a cavern and there, thankfully, the TARDIS waited.
Fumbling for the key, the Doctor dragged it from his pocket, along with something else. One of the vials of bats milk shattered on the cavern floor.
A quick check showed the other was safe. "Oh well," he sighed, "regeneration it is then."
***
The boiling hot mud peaked just above the induction tube walkways before receding slowly. The queen bat and her young remained safe in their nest.
***
The Doctor paused by the TARDIS console just long enough to close the doors and initiate dematerialisation. Then he carried Sheri through to her room.
He placed her carefully in an armchair, then sank to his knees beside it. He found the remaining vial of bats milk, pouring it down his companion's throat before collapsing to the floor.
His vision dimmed. But through the darkness he could just make out a female figure.
"You must survive, Doctor," said Grace Holloway, stepping into the light.
"So many peoples depend on you," said Sam Jones, taking Grace's place.
"You mustn't die, Doctor," said Stacy Townend.
"You know that, Doctor," hissed Ssard the Martian.
"You still have so much to do," said Charley Pollard.
"You must regenerate," said Fitz Kriener.
"Fitz is correct, Doctor," said Compassion.
A dark figure loomed over them all, casting them into shadow. It was bearded, with receding hair.
"No, Doctor, you must die! Die, Doctor. Die!" The Master threw his head back and laughed.
Laid on the floor of Sheri's room, the Doctor felt the regeneration process begin. "Feels much the same as before," he murmured.
***
Sheri awoke as if from a bad dream. She was slumped in the armchair in one corner of her room in the TARDIS. She got to her feet quickly, intent on finding the Doctor.
She found him soon enough when she fell over his prone form. He lay on the floor of the TARDIS in front of the armchair, his face almost a white mask.
As Sheri watched, horrified, the mask began to dissolve. But instead of the familiar features of the Doctor underneath, she saw the face of a stranger.
The man sat up. He was wearing the Doctor's clothes, the now rather battered green velvet jacket and all, but the wavy red hair, and pleasant, if slightly cynical, features she had never seen before. Despite that, the clear blue gaze in his eyes told her that this was still the same man.
"What just happened, Doctor?" she asked. She almost hoped he would deny being the Time Lord, tell her the Doctor was elsewhere. But her heart knew this wasn't true.
The man was feeling his new face with interest. He looked up, as if seeing her for the first time.
"Change, my dear," he said. Even the voice was different. "Renewal. I have crossed the great divide between one incarnation and the next. I have been given a new life."
