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alone. All to myself.'

Vasid stared at her, his rodent-like teeth peeping from behind his rubbery lips as he scowled in disbelief. 'What?'

Sam took a deep breath.'You heard me.' She looked into his eyes, kept her look strong and sure. She felt his grip on her body lessen a fraction, but did her best not to show any emotion.

Vasid stared at her.

Sam continued holding his gaze and pouted the pout she'd rehearsed in the TARDIS mirror so many times to such little effect. 'I've been watching you, you know. I came in on the last shuttle.'

Vasid shook his head.'All that time?'

'All that long, lonely time.' Sam softened her expression, attempting puppy-dog eyes. It wasn't an expression she was used to and she had no idea how convincing it looked, but Vasid sat up, confused.'I had - I can't -'

Sam nodded sympathetically, rising up a little by pushing back on her hands, attempting to look provocative but steeling herself to grab his arms if he tried to push her

down again.

But when he slapped her hard across the face, she didn't even have time to react. The force of the blow was such that she barely seemed to feel it for several seconds, until the metal taste of blood in her mouth seemed to usher a ringing in her ears and a hot stinging in her cheek. He was shouting at her again.

'So you did kill Vost. It's got to be you. You were just saving me till last!'

'I didn't, I didn't!' shouted Sam, cutting across Vasid's hysteria. 'That was -

that was the Doctor.'

'What?'

'The man who came here with me.' Sam's breaths were coming in deep gasps. 'He's - he's a spy. He's been spying on you. I was helping you.

Really, it's true. I started off doing as I was told, but the more I watched you

-'

'You can't fool me!'Vasid spat.'What do you take me for?' He scrambled inelegantly to his feet and grabbed hold of Sam's hair, ignoring her squeak of protest. Why didn't I keep it short? she thought, as he pulled her up by it.

Then she realised Vasid's face had twisted as if in revulsion.

'You've only got one tongue! But you're a girl!'

Sam just stared at him speechlessly, still trying to pull away and wincing from the man's grip on her hair.

'Well, you can't fool me,' yelled Vasid, as if desperate to convince himself.

'You need a doctor,you freak. There's no one else on this base!'

***

The Doctor pushed open the metal door and peered warily into Vost's cabin. He'd heard the insistent beeping for some time, and had begun following it like a bizarre Morse code trail of audible breadcrumbs.'Something of a disappointment, after all that,' he muttered, sadly, taking in his surroundings.

A functional office. On one wall was a fake window with patterns of light dreamily playing in the glass, half obscured by steel-coloured shutters. A desk stood at the far side of the room, and a chair was neatly tucked under it. To the right of the desk was a door leading into sleeping quarters. There were no pictures on the wall, no adornments to enhance the functional grey of the place.

Moving over to the desk, the Doctor isolated the sound and pulled at the drawer. Locked. He shook his hand theatrically like a conjuror, then put it in his pocket and pulled out a hairpin. Realising there was no tumbler locking mechanism on the drawer, he self-consciously pushed the hairpin into his long light-brown hair.'You're good for those locks at least.' He sighed and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. With a brisk twist of the shaft and a high-pitched whine, the drawer sprang open.

The beeping noise stopped. The Doctor's jaw dropped. "That always happens!'

He fished around until he picked up the unit. It appeared to be part of the same range of equipment as the computer in the docking bay. A small, vivid blue square at the back of the machine sparkled in the weak light, and reminded the Doctor there was no need to skulk about in the dark. It was quiet as the grave, and at least the sudden luminescence triggered by his command