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"All right, grumblies, don't talk to me," she muttered to herself. She still had to find the Doctor, but the field of his possible whereabouts was narrowing by the minute. There were other considerations too — getting the Phazels out of this mess and finding both the missing Shonnzis. Worst of all, the repulsive guard that she was somehow going to become kept pace with her like the mocking shadow of her inescapable doom. Her own death walking with her, just waiting to pounce.

Old Pekkary was walking beside her. "It's just a possibility," he whispered. "It may never occur."

But it was there now. Under its disgusting, implacable insect helmet, she was sure it was grinning. For the first time in her life, she really thought she was going to scream. It was out of control. It was all crushing in. She had the ludicrous idea that the new moon, which was not a real new moon but a full moon, was about to drop out of the sky on top of them. It was certainly descending again and, with no horizon for it to sink behind, there might soon be a very big hole in the world.

They were approaching the Tower gate. The ground around the fortress was shuddering and crumbling as the Phases of the City collided, but the edifice seemed to hover above the timequake. When Ace looked closely into the shadow beneath the Tower, she saw hundreds of iron legs that moved mechanically, rising and falling to compensate for the shifting ground and maintain the structure's stability.

Suddenly Ace knew as clear as anything that the Doctor was there. She knew she had to find him now. The need had suddenly come into her head and superseded everything else.

And then she heard the Doctor's cry. It was coming from the Tower, but it didn't seem distant.

"Ace! Come and find me! Before it's too late!"

No one else seemed to have heard. They were too busy talking head to head amongst themselves. She tried to edge to the side of the group, but a guard, her guard with the grinning head, shoved her roughly back. She clutched her arm where the filthy thing had touched her. There was no chance of escape.

The area before the gate was pocked with the Process's slimy footsteps and littered with the rubble of the collapsed stairways.

"Ace!" called the Doctor. "I need you. Hurry!"

"It's the Doctor," she hissed to Pekkary. "Can't you hear?"

He looked at her, perplexed. "Are you certain?"

"Yes!"

They passed under the arch of the gate and were surrounded by the almost deafening mechanics of the Tower. The guards were driving them towards one of the platforms, when a chain snapped its link and flailed wildly against the lattice of girders.

"Hurry! Ace!"

A cascade of sparks showered out as the chain jammed between two bevel wheels. Metal screeched. A third horizontal wheel smashed out of its carriage and slewed across their path. Its cogs tore at the air close to the group. The guards pushed the Phazels back. Ace saw old Pekkary glance at her for a moment. Then he cried out and fell forward, clutching his arm. The guards moved towards him, chittering angrily.

Ace grabbed her chance and slipped between the girders that bounded the passage. The jammed wheels in this section offered her new platforms and footholds which made her scrambled escape bid easier.

"Come on, Ace! Further up. I can't hang around here all day."

His voice was close, but no closer than it had been when she first heard it. Yet it still cut easily through the racket that the Tower mechanics made. It was in her head. A personal summons from the Doctor.

"It's a pity you never thought of talking to me like this before, Professor," she complained aloud as she hoisted herself up through the girder framework. "There's plenty of times when I needed you."

"Stop complaining and get a move on. We don't have much time."

She was amongst clattering machinery again. She swung herself on to a high walkway and ran its length, searching for a way up. Behind her, she heard an all-too-familiar squelch and hiss.

The younger Process was approaching along