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'Someone was communicating with him using this.' The Doctor held up the receive/transmit device. 'Possibly our visitors. Go to his office and have a good rummage about. See what you can find, see if he kept any records.'

'I just want to go to sleep.'Vasid yawned.'You're crazy.'

'Do it.' The sudden authority in the Doctor's voice had Vasid on his feet before he even realised it. He glowered at the weird man in the green coat.

'And what are you going to do?'

The Doctor slapped a palm down on the console.'Wait a minute! We were going to ask you, weren't we, Sa-' His head spun round to the empty matter-transmission device, and he sighed.'Oh,Sam...'He looked hard atVasid.'We were going to ask you if you knew about the concealed area in the corridor.'

Vasid's voice rose in irritated disbelief. 'What? What are you talking about?'

'On the outer rim of what's marked on your plan as Sector Cl. There's a concealed doorway leading to a whole new area, possibly pressurised.'

'No, there isn't.'

"There is. My transport's there right now.'

'There isn't.You are crazy.'

The Doctor carried on, eyes closed, shaking his head and speaking quickly, ignoring the fresh fear in Vasid's voice. 'No, no. A fool perhaps, but not crazy. Maybe Vost did discover it. Maybe he's discovered something in it and is there now.'

'I don't believe you. How could there be a concealed area?'

'Very easily. Embedded in the surface of this planetoid, perhaps. But who concealed it? And then those scratches on the walls and the floors...' He beamed at Vasid. 'How very interesting. Do you know, I'm beginning to think that you and your bosses are cuckoos in the nest.'

'Cuckoos?'Vasid stared at him.'What are cuckoos?'

The Doctor attempted an impression, but Vasid just stared blankly.'Vasid, you don't want to listen to my wild theories, so please just run along to Vost's office and try to find out what he was up to.'

'And you?'

"This equipment needs a boost if I'm to get Sam back. And I need something from my ship. So I'm off to the part of this base that doesn't exist. Won't be long.' He flashed a sudden smile. 'Oh, and Vasid?'

'Yes?'

'Be quick. I don't think we've got too much time on our hands.'

***

The room was almost stifling. The brightness of the day outside shone in through chinks in the stone walls. Felbaac found himself squinting as he faced the small assembly, and curled up his eyelashes to filter out some of the light, a frown on his high forehead.

'Not used to these conditions, eh, Felbaac?'

'Not such relentless sunlight, no,' came the immediate response. 'Where I was incarcerated on Ipmuss, the sun was so distant you could barely distinguish it from any other star in the sky. We dug and we mined rock and earth that was frozen for fifty metres down, for two years. So yes, this is quite a change for me.'With a small, tight smile Felbaac finished his carefully measured tirade, his voice even, rich and sonorous.

'Oh, I didn't for one moment imply you were a stranger to the toils and hardships of your fellow rebels, Felbaac. Not for one moment.'

Felbaac swallowed back his annoyance and smiled once more at his persistent heckler, deliberately ignoring any intended sarcasm.'Dwynaar, we have all toiled. We have all suffered. But let us never lose sight of who we are struggling against.' His voice rose at last, confident and booming about the rough-hewn walls. 'They can dump us on forsaken rocks in space, they can try to sweep us out of the way - out of time and space altogether - but they can never crush us! They can never crush the spirit of anyone who knows their destiny is not bound up with the machinations of a corrupt, depraved -'

'I only asked if the heat was bothering you,' said Dwynaar with a shrug, a crooked smile on his whiskery face at the round of low laughter that followed.

A little awkwardly, a smaller figure, his hair jet-black, rose to his feet.

'Perhaps now is not the best of times for speeches,' he announced, to no one in particular.

'Fair words, Yast,'