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'What tickles you?'Jack asked dangerously, rain dripping from the brim of his billycock hat.

'Forgive me, Jack,' said Albert,'but it's this horse.'

'What of it?' said Jack.

'Well, it's nothing but a bag of bones and it sags in the middle. I doubt it could even support the weight of a saddle, never mind you and me.'

'You'd do well to shut that prattling mouth of yours and jump up here behind me,'Jack growled, hauling himself astride the animal.

Albert half expected the horse to fold in two beneath Jack's weight, but it stood surprisingly firm.

'Quickly now, unless you want to be dragged along by your hair,' Jack said.

Hastily, with Jack's help.Albert scrambled up on to the horse. He wrapped his arms miserably around his companion's waist as Jack dug in his heels and urged the horse forward.Above the hiss of rain, the clop of hooves and the jangling of their night's wages in his pockets, Albert could still feel and hear the painful thud of his heart. Jack's voice was full of cheer, his talk full of the riches and opportunities that would soon be coming their way, but all that filled Albert's mind was the dread memory of a pair of staring grey eyes that had seemed to burn into his soul.

***

The Doctor licked his lips and murmured, Just one egg this morning, please, Matron. I'm not feeling terribly well.' Then his eyes sprang open and he sat bolt upright, looking around.

He was in what was evidently a cell on the Zygon ship. The fibrous, dimly glowing walls burbled around him like a giant digestive system. Above the door an eyelike camera on a quivering stalk monitored his every move.

The Doctor waved to the camera and smiled.'Any chance of a cup of tea?'

Moments later the door slid open and two Zygon warriors entered. Without a word, they each grabbed one of the Doctor's arms, hauled him to his feet and dragged him along a number of corridors. Eventually they reached a huge domed room packed from floor to ceiling with Zygon technology.

Many of the weirdly organic control panels, manned by both Zygon warriors and scientists, stood around the floor in no particular pattern as though they had grown from seeds that had been scattered there. A screen like a gigantic veined lens dominated one wall, and above the Doctor's head, looping down from the ceiling, were thick furry lengths of vine. Clusters of glittering crystals set into the walls reflected the pulsing, greenish light.

'Ah, the nerve centre,' the Doctor said before being hurled unceremoniously to the floor. Immediately he jumped up, dusting himself down. 'Very pretty.'

A Zygon warrior lumbered forward. It was bigger and more fearsome-looking than its fellows, with a scarred and puckered face that was almost on a level with the Doctor's. It regarded him for a moment, its deep-set eyes glinting darkly like a shark's, and betraying just as little emotion.

Finally it rasped, 'I am Balaak, warlord of the Zygons.'

'Very nice to meet you,' said the Doctor politely, holding out a hand, which was duly ignored. 'I'm the Doctor - though I think I'd be right in saying that we've already met, haven't we?'

He was referring to his encounter with Nathaniel Seers earlier that day or the day before. Balaak, however, did not acknowledge the question.

Instead the Zygon hissed, 'We know who you are. We know your every secret,Time Lord.'

The Doctor knew that Balaak's final words had been gauged to provoke a reaction - which was precisely why he didn't bat an eyelid. Instead he said in a reasonable voice,'Ah, well, pardon me for contradicting you, but I don't think that's really the case is it? I mean, if it was, I wouldn't be standing here. I'd still be hooked up to your machine, having a little nap.'

He half expected the Zygon warlord to hiss angrily, perhaps to unsheathe the thorns in its palms and threaten his life, but instead it merely looked at him with a kind of shrewd malevolence. 'You have an astute mind,Time