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Procuring your time craft will not, therefore, halt Balaak's original plan.

Balaak has promised our people that Earth will become the new Zygor, and therefore it will; there is no doubting the matter.'

'So Balaak would be prepared to commit genocide just to save face?' said the Doctor.

Tuval shrugged.'It is the Zygon way, Doctor.'

'It's barbaric,' said the Doctor.'Typical of the military mind. But what about you, Tuval? You're a scientist. Surely you can't condone such an action?'

Tuval looked uncomfortable. 'I have no choice, Doctor. Balaak is our commander. Our commander's word is law.'

'I'm not asking you what your obligations are, I'm asking for your opinion.

Do you think Balaak's action is justified?'

For a long moment Tuval did not answer. Then the scientist said, 'I must confess, it is a regrettable state of affairs.'

'Spoken like a true Victorian,' muttered the Doctor. He finished his tea with a gulp.'Is there any way that together you and I could make Balaak see sense?'

Now Tuval looked alarmed. 'I would not even wish to try, Doctor.To question my commander's decision, particularly when persuaded to do so by an alien, would be the worst crime I, as a Zygon, could commit. I would be summarily executed.'

'Ah well, we can't have that, can we?' said the Doctor, and sighed.'I suppose if Balaak won't listen to us, then there's nothing more we can do. I might as well show you how this works.' He began to move around the TARDIS console, flicking switches, making minute adjustments. He pointed to a row of coloured lights and what looked like a computer keyboard, though the keys were imprinted not with letters but esoteric symbols. 'This is interesting. I've been working on it just recently, tying up a few loose connections. I call it the state-of-grace circuitry, mainly because I can't remember what the technical term for it is. It's linked in to the TARDIS's telepathic circuits and when it's fully working, it negates all hostile and aggressive actions within die TARDIS itself. But - and this is the clever part

- I've not only finally got round to repairing it, but I've actually added a few modifications of my own. I've built in what I call a stasis circuit, so that if the TARDIS is ever invaded, the aggressors can be rendered harmless - like so!'

The Doctor suddenly sprang forward and stabbed at a key in the top right-hand corner of the panel. Instantly the console room was filled with a screeching sound that was like a cross between an alarm and a tortured animal. Tuval tried to raise its hands to its ears, but found that it couldn't move. The Zygon scientist was unharmed but utterly helpless.

'Sorry,Tuval,' the Doctor shouted above the din,'but I'm afraid I can't simply stand by and allow your people to wipe out an entire species. If Balaak won't listen to reason, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to do something about it.'

He jumped down from the console dais and hurried across to what appeared to be a dusty display area for many and varied kinds of timepieces, which was situated next to the library. He hurried through this humming, ticking, pulsing jungle, and disappeared through a small wooden door that blended so perfectly into the wall that Tuval would not have known it was there had he not seen the Doctor open it. Some minutes later, the Doctor reappeared, carrying a carpet bag. He put the bag down, hurried across to the console, and scurried from one panel to another, his fingers rippling over the instrumentation.

Finally he stepped back and smiled at Tuval. 'Contingency plan,' he said.

He gestured vaguely around him.'Sorry about the noise. I'll be back as soon as I can. I know you have to take your lactic fluid at regular intervals, but you're trapped in a time bubble, which I've set to loop back to the beginning every ten minutes, so your bodily needs and functions won't be affected. It also means that as far as you're concerned I'll be explaining this bit to you with sickening