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Genevieve said, ‘ Ra’shten shay? ’

‘ Ja’Turtle, ’ said the Jeopard. He looked back into the lab complex in terror. ‘ Jiran tai? Ke Ched Ja’Ra’shten. Jiran tai? ’

‘ Jiranai, ’ Genevieve let the alien go. He bolted.

There were shots from inside the maze.

The Turtle is here. The one who eats everyone.

Genevieve started running towards the maze.

No, said a voice in her head, loud as a shout in the ear. She dropped the gun, pressing her hands to her ears.

Doctor!

The Doctor was still lying on the floor. It was a particularly comfortable carpet, a pleasant shade of lilac.

At least he’d managed to keep Roz out of all of this. Out of the centre of it, at any rate. There was still a way out for her.

Get up, Doctor, said Chris.

All she had to do was not get involved.

Doctor, said Chris, you have to get out of here. You have to get back to the Model Citizen right now.

‘Why?’ said the Doctor. ‘What’s the point? It’s just one damned thing after another.’

Don’t you dare give up, said Chris. Get your Gallifreyan butt up off that floor and run for it.

265

‘What happened to you?’ said the Doctor, grabbing the chair and pulling himself up.

I’ll make sure you get there. Go, Doctor.

‘I can’t leave you here!’

Don’t be stupid, said Chris, I’m coming with you!

Genevieve ran through the palace. Ever since the coronation, there had been guards everywhere. Now they all seemed to have run out into the garden.

But there were some who couldn’t leave their posts. Genevieve spotted Grey Cloud, one of the Duke’s personal guard, in the foyer, talking frantically into a communicator.

‘Well, I don’t know either!’ he said. ‘Just find him.’

‘Grey Cloud,’ she said, running up to him. ‘Where’s the Duke?’

He looked right through her. ‘He can’t be invisible,’ said Grey Cloud. ‘Not to the psi bloodhounds. I don’t want to hear it! Just find him!’

She waved her hand in front of his face. He didn’t see it.

Right, the voice in her head had got to Grey Cloud, too. She needed to use that help while it lasted. ‘Where is he?’ she shouted.

He heard her. Second level. Office with light purple carpet.

‘I know the one,’ she said out loud.

There’s only five minutes of the conjunction left, said the voice.

Five minutes to get out of here.

Genevieve snatched the DataStream from her trousers pocket.

She tapped in her security codes. Not fast enough.

She closed her eyes, activated the biode, and flicked her way through the menus, faster and faster.

Do you want to come with us? the voice wanted to know.

‘Don’t break my concentration!’ she snapped.

The Doctor bolted out through a side door and legged it for the landing site.

Change rippled through him, changing his height and weight, sending him sprawling across the lawn. Unfamiliar, long-fingered 266

hands tried to push him up, but the change moved through him again, making the world spin.

Someone grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. Chris, in a strange uniform, ten years too old.

‘Who was that?’ asked Chris.

‘Me,’ said the Doctor. ‘Don’t tell me who I was like. What I will be like.’ He looked at Chris. ‘Oh,’ he said.

‘Let’s get to the Model Citizen,’ said Chris. ‘Genevieve is running interference for us. We can exchange notes once we’re aboard.’

The Doctor followed Chris as they ran for the ship. Behind them there were shouts and shots, but distant. It was as though they were invisible. Or the guards were distracted by something else.

‘Your pilot’s ready to leave,’ said Chris.

The Doctor decided to ask later. They clambered up the ladder into the shuttle. The Doctor shut the airlock and the ship immediately lifted off, throwing them against a wall. It was a moment before the stabilizers cut in.

The shuttle was small, cockpit, lounge area, facilities and storage. The Doctor ran forward. Roz was glaring at the controls, hands moving fast. ‘They’ve launched an interceptor,’ she said.

‘They’re going to shoot us down?’

‘No. It’ll just use force fields to suck us into its cargo bay. It’s three times as fast as we are.’

‘Keep going