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'A penal colony -'

'No no no no. I mean where geographically?' The Doctor threw over a small chart of Hirath that had been mounted on the wall. Vasid gestured to an area near the planet's equator. 'Round there, I think.'

'Hmm, not far from the temporal leakage then.'

Vasid shook his head.'First he sold a safe path to the rebels, then gave the information to the K'Arme. Different coordinates second time. The same rough area, but -'

'I'd imagine that any safe path through that desolation would change and shift with some regularity. Especially with this thing -' he tapped the computer - 'playing up. If you don't get in and out pretty sharpish, you're in trouble.'

"The last lot of data was transmitted only a few hours ago,' mused Vasid, rubbing his red-rimmed eyes.

'Preprogrammed to answer your K'Arme's signal, I'd guess. I suppose Vost wouldn't have wanted to risk making the transmission himself if he was on duty.' The Doctor scratched his head. 'Even if he was worried that his double dealings would be found out, where could he run?'

'Found out by whom? The K'Arme?'

'I think he probably told the K'Arme exactly where the rebels were. If any of the rebels had ships about to observe the K'Arme craft, it wouldn't take them long to get a little suspicious.'

Vasid looked up, almost hopefully. 'Could that be the K'Arme's ship approaching?'

'No. They'll be heading for Hirath, remember, not here.'

"The rebels then, coming for Vost?'

'Both they and the rebels would have been thrown off the scent by the automated defence.' He looked at the dismay on Vasid's face and smiled ruefully. "That rules them out. Sadly.'

Vasid jumped to his feet, aggressively. Think you know all the answers, don't you?' he began.

The Doctor sighed. 'Vasid, I really haven't the time for more helpless paranoia. And neither do you. Just sit down and be quiet.'

Vasid swung a fist at him. The Doctor ducked under Vasid's arm in a blur of movement and grabbed hold of the back of his flabby neck, squeezing it gently.

'I can't move,' squealed Vasid.'Let me go.'

The Doctor shook his head, sadly. 'As I say, there's no time for this. Why not make a little more of your own life instead of trying to take from the lives of those around you?' He let go, and smoothed down Vasid's stained tunic.

Then he turned back to the gutted console. It was as if the incident had never happened.

'It's no good. I'm going to have to divert power from the hidden part of this ship to keep this thing on line.'

'What do you mean, "ship"? I never know what you mean,' moaned Vasid.

"This isn't a base: it's an alien spacecraft. This must've been the flight computer. The vessel either crashed or was buried, but whoever took possession only needed certain systems. So they stripped out this part of the craft and made it nice and cosy for you and your fellow crew members.

The Doctor's voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper: 'But I'd estimate a good two-thirds of this ship is still as the makers intended.' Then he looked up brightly. Terrible waste of power if you ask me. I think we'll divert it to where we need it. Do you agree? Good.'

'You are mad.'Vasid backed away. He looked as if he were about to cry.

'Well, you can just leave me alone, all right?' No answer.'All right?'

Vasid stormed over to the doorway and clambered over the vehicle. But, fishing around with connections in the bowels of the control desk, the Doctor barely even noticed him go.

A sudden shudder vibrated through the console, and a hum of energy rose from the control desk. The monitors flickered back on. Images of Hirath annotated with swirls of red graphics clarified from a snowstorm of pixels.

The central computer powered up, and the Doctor gave a satisfied nod.

'That's that.' He frowned.'Now I wonder what may come crawling out the woodwork as a result.'

He walked over to the clear perspex booth of the matter transmitter. Taking out his sonic screwdriver, he set to work.

***

Vasid staggered off up the corridor.