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She wondered for a moment if he'd fallen asleep at the wheel, but still didn't dare open her eyes to find out.

'Well, at least I'm exonerated from being "alien filth" in the eyes of Mr Austen,' he announced, finally. 'He was talking about the Beast. It all fits...'

So much for sympathy. Probably thought she was handling it all fine.

Wasn't that what she always wanted him to think?

'Fits where?' she asked.

'With some of the conclusions I've been drawing from that leech I’ve got hooked up to the Sim-cerebrum back at Roley's.'

'Oh yeah?' she said.

'Yeah,' he mimicked.

She could almost hear him grinning as he prepared to expound his theories.

'On a basic level, the brain is just another computer, yes?'

'Suppose so,' said Sam.

'Know so,' said the Doctor.

'But brains are cleverer than computers.'

'Exactly!'As always, the Doctor spoke more quickly the more his excitement grew. 'Multitasking, perceptive, intuitive, conscious. They beat computers hollow.' He paused for effect. "The Benelisans didn't need to use mechanical computers at all.'

'Benelisans as in "Benelisa program"? From the planet, let me guess, Benelisa?'

'More specifically a planet anchoring a collection of spatiotemporal dimensional interfaces. The Benelisans' corner of the universe was riddled with black holes, white holes and all sorts of other physical anomalies.

Exercised rather a lot of leverage on their evolution.'

'So that's why people can't see the Beast on them? They're in a different dimension?' Panic surged through her. 'Doctor, does that mean I'm shifting dimensions too?'

'Easy, Sam.' He took a corner at speed. 'For the Beast to be bleeding us dry - if that's what they're really doing -'

'Of course that's what they're doing,' she snapped.

"Then their home and ours must be practically on top of each other. It's just that they exist beyond the wavelengths of human sight.'

'And Gallifreyan sight?'

'Well... my retinas have been through a lot in their time.'

I know how they feel, she thought. 'So... these Benelisans. You're saying they used organic computers?'

'Exactly. A lot of their technology was based around crystallography; and their crystals had some pretty strange properties.'

'I'd love to have checked out their decanters.' Sam wondered if he was smiling. 'So you saw the cave Austen and the others were babbling about on Benelisa?'

'Yes. Long, long ago.' He sighed. 'A world that had been cold and dead for aeons even then. And so many theories as to -why.'

'The Beast,' spat Sam. 'It's what they do.'

'Well, it seems the Benelisans took their revenge quite seriously. Their organic computers would have offered infallible precision with heightened perception. Just what was needed, I imagine, to hardwire in a program that allowed them to interface with the Beast.'

Sam caught on. 'But other races weren't so advanced... The Benelisans needed to spread the cure but it was like trying to run an Apple Mac program on a Commodore 64!'

'Right. So in adapting the program, they needed to ensure it would be compatible with the neural pathways of all other species.'

Sam grimaced. She felt as if she were in some macabre episode of Scooby Doo ,Thelma and Frank getting ready to unmask the wicked villain of the week. 'And the leech is meant to ensure that the program is compatible?'

She heard the rustle of silk against cotton, and knew the Doctor was nodding. 'It functions as an intelligent software manager, designed to reformat the brain. I wasn't sure to what end at first, but we know now, don't we?'

'So we can kill the Beast, wipe them out for ever!' said Sam fiercely.

'While preserving the individual characteristics of the host mind.' He patted her head. 'At least, in theory.'

***

Cynthia made another half-hearted attempt to gather her other belongings about her, then gave up. Russell, the others, they were staring at her, putting her off.

'Look, I don't know what you all think you're playing at but you can pack it in now,' she