Justin Richards

The Galactic Fair has arrived on the mining

asteroid of Stanalan and anticipation is

building around the construction of the fair's

most popular attraction — the Death Ride! But

there is something sinister going on behind all

the fun of the fair; people are mysteriously dying

in the Off-Limits tunnels. Join the Doctor, Amy

and Rory as they investigate...

Also available:

The Good the Bad and the Alien

by Colin Brake

System Wipe by Oli Smith

Coming soon:

Rain of Terror by Mike Tucker

Extra Time by Richard Dungworth

The Underwater War by Richard Dinnick

Terminal of Despair by Steve Lyons

Justin Richards

Cover illustrated by Paul Campbell

BBC Children's Books

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London, WC2R ORL, England

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York 10014, USA Penguin Books (Australia) Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (A division of Pearson Australia Group PTY Ltd) Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore

0632, New Zealand (A division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

Canada, India, South Africa

Published by BBC Children's Books, 2011

Text and design © Children's Character Books

Heart of Stone written by Trevor Baxendale

Death Riders written by Justin Richards

Covers illustrated by Paul Campbell

2

BBC logo © BBC 1996. Doctor Who logo © BBC 2009. TARDIS image © BBC 1963.

Licensed by BBC Worldwide Limited

BBC, DOCTOR WHO (word marks, logos and devices), TARDIS, DALEKS, CYBERMAN and K-9 (word marks and devices) are trade marks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence.

ISBN-978-14059-0-757-6

FSC

Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives pic

The rock walls were damp and slippery. The

only light came from Rodge's torch. He made

his way carefully along the tunnel, avoiding the

deeper puddles where the water had pooled after

running down the walls. It was condensation

from the difference in temperature — the warm,

processed air meeting the cold rock of the

asteroid's interior.

Rodge had lost track of how long he'd been

walking. But he had to reach one of the main

tunnels soon. In his mental map of the tunnel

system, this should have been a short cut. But

it wasn't working out that way. He paused and

looked back, trying to see if the tunnel sloped.

It didn't seem to, but over the distance he must

have come even a slight incline would mean

he missed the main tunnel. He could be above

or below it. Maybe he'd do better to head

back the way he'd come and take one of the

proper routes.

Or maybe, if he kept going, in just a few

metres he'd be able to see the light from the main

tunnel. Maybe he'd soon be laughing at how he'd

thought he was lost, and how he'd got scared

sneaking through one of the Off-Limits.

Scared . . . Was he scared? No, of course he

wasn't. In the worst case, he would simply retrace

his steps back to Blue 17 and then take the long

route. He'd be late and Korl, his supervisor,

would shout at him. They were all waiting for

the survey results Rodge was carrying.

Rodge paused, listening to try to hear the

sound of machinery. If he could hear the robot

drills or rock-luggers he'd know he was close to

the workings. But the only sound he could hear

was the steady drop-drip-drip of water. Like

the beating of a heart, or the measured tread of

someone walking towards him in the darkness.

He shivered at the thought and turned a full

circle. His torchlight glistened on the damp,

uneven walls and reflected off the shallow

puddles. He'd better go back, he decided at last.

He was just getting further and further away

from where he was meant to be.

For a moment his stomach tensed. Which

way had he come? He'd turned a full circle -

or had he? Rodge took a deep breath of warm

recycled air as he tried to think. He was sure it

was that way - that was the direction he'd come

from. Yes, of course - there was the jutting bit

of rock near the tunnel floor that he'd grazed his

leg on. Had to be.

He took a minute to allow his nerves to settle

before heading back. Bad move - he'd never take

a short cut on his own again. At least, not one he

didn't already know.

As he stood there, preparing to hurry

back the way he'd come, Rodge frowned.

He could hear something now, he was sure.

Something other than the dripping water and his

own ragged breathing. A scuffling sound.

Something moving.

He turned quickly, holding the torch at arm's

length so it illuminated as much as possible.

But there was nothing. Just rock walls, damp

reflections and the ever-present shadows.

One of the shadows detached itself from the

others. Claws clicked and scraped on the hard

floor. Something dark and shapeless hurled itself

out of the darkness.

Rodge caught only a glimpse of the creature.

Staring eyes wide with fury and hunger. Claws

ripping through the air towards him. Teeth

glinting in the frantic torchlight.

Then he dropped the torch. The light went

out, leaving only the faintest pale glow from the

tunnel walls.

The last thing Rodge thought as an even

greater blackness wiped through his mind was

that he could hear music. Mournful, sad music.

Like a lament for the dead.

The central column of the TARDIS thumped

to a halt and the protesting, tortured rasping

of the engines stopped.

'This is the exciting bit,' the Doctor

announced. He grabbed his tweed jacket off

the back of a chair and stuffed his arm down a

sleeve. The jacket flapped as he tried to get the

other arm into the other sleeve, and he ended up

twisting round and round in a circle like a dog

chasing its own tail.

Amy grabbed his collar and held the jacket so

he could finish putting it on. 'You're hopeless,'

she told him.

'Lucky I've got you then.'

'Lucky you've got us both,' she retorted.

'Absolutely.' The Doctor turned to Rory. 'Is

my bow tie straight?'

'Not really,' Rory told him.

'Excellent!' the Doctor bounded down to the

TARDIS doors. 'Come on then. Let's see what's

outside.'

'Don't you know?' Rory asked as he and Amy

followed.

'Where's the fun in knowing?'

The Doctor grasped the handle, ready to pull

the door open.

'Just so long as it's safe,' Rory muttered.

The Doctor hesitated. 'That's a thought,'

he said seriously. Then he grinned. 'No — just

kidding. Of course it's safe. There's air and

gravity and hardly any radiation. What more can

you ask for?'

'Sunshine and flowers?' Amy said.

'Safety and beauty,' Rory suggested.

'Yeah, all those. But apart from that, what?

I can promise you, whatever is out there will be

thrilling and exciting. It'll be new and different.

It will be... '

With a theatrical flourish, the Doctor pulled

the door open.

'Damp and boring and made of rock,'

Amy said.

On the other side of the TARDIS door was

a rough wall of dark rock. A droplet of water

ran down its glistening surface and dripped on

to the Doctor's shoe. He watched it all the way.

'Obviously we're not going anywhere,'

Rory said.

He reached out to close the door again, but

the Doctor slapped his hand away. 'I think rock,

dark damp rock, is new, different, thrilling and

exciting,' he said grumpily.

Amy laughed. 'You would.'

'No, no, no — I do.'

The Doctor reached out, ran his finger down

the damp wall and then licked it.

Rory grimaced. 'Oh, that's gross.'

The Doctor ignored him. 'Traces of

trisilicate. This wall has been machine-cut — look,

you can see the scratches and grooves where

the robot cutting tools have sheared through it.

The damp is condensation, which suggests the

rock itself is cold, but the air is warm. The fact

there is air, and gravity, means there's artificial

life support plumbed into this asteroid, which

means there are people here, too.'

'Show off,' Amy said.

'All of which is exciting and thrilling like

I said, wouldn't you agree?' The Doctor tapped

the tip of his damp finger on Amy's nose.

'I might,' she admitted. 'If we could get out

of the door.'

'Easily fixed.'

The Doctor slammed the door shut and ran

back to the control console.

'How do you know it's an asteroid?' Rory

asked. 'Not that I'm really interested,' he added.

'Well, I'm a bit interested, which is why I asked.

But only a bit. Not in the thrilled, excited sense

of interested.'

'Good question,' the Doctor conceded.

The central column began to move slowly as

the sound of the TARDIS engines echoed around.

'Composition of the rock is typical of an

asteroid in the Mangall system,' the Doctor

went on, adjusting a control, checking a dial

and thumping a button. 'That would fit with

the mining operations too, assuming this is the

thirty-third century, which it is.'

The TARDIS engines ground to a halt again.

'And in any case, I checked the readings when

we landed.'

'So you already knew?' Amy asked.

'I did.'

'Then why didn't you tell us?' Rory said.

'And deny you the chance to be thrilled and

excited and . . . all that?'

'Could have lived with it,' Rory muttered.

The Doctor was back at the TARDIS door.

'Second time lucky.'

'So where are we now?' Amy wanted to know.

'Pretty much where we were before. I just

turned us round.'

The Doctor pulled the door open. This time

they could see a rocky tunnel stretching away

into the distance. The Doctor led them outside

and closed the door. He pointed to the tunnel

wall next to the TARDIS.

'There you are - I licked that.' His expression

turned into a frown and he inspected his finger.

'Why did I do that? It was gross. Rory - you said

it was gross and you were right. Don't let me lick

walls again, right? Not ever.'

Amy was looking round. The TARDIS was

standing against the wall of a wide tunnel hewn

from the dark, damp rock. The tunnel was about

four metres high and roughly the same width.

'So, we're in a mining tunnel dug by some

sort of robot drilling machine deep inside an

asteroid in the whatever system you said it was,

right?' Amy said.

'Right.'

'So how come we can see? Where is the light

coming from?' She pointed at the roof. 'No lights

— look. But there's light from somewhere.'

'It's as if the walls are sort of glowing,' Rory

said. 'Except they're not.'

'Fluripsent crystals,' the Doctor said.

'Clever, eh?'

'Floor-what?'

'The mining drills embed them in the walls

when they dig them out. They emit a radiant light.

Which means the walls glow - only they don't.

Good description, Rory. It's a bit like throwing

your voice, you know, how a ventriloquist does.

Only the crystals throw light, so it seems to come

from somewhere else.'

'It seems to come from all round us,' Amy said,

'Like I told you. It's clever. Now, let's go and see if

we can find someone to tell us exactly where we are.'

'How do you know there's anyone here?'

Rory asked. 'You talked about robot drills and

stuff. Maybe there are no people.'

'There's air,' Amy pointed out.

'Might need that for the robots,' Rory said.

'OK, before you say it, I know robots don't

breathe. But car engines need air for internal

combustion, don't they?'

'Good points, both of you,' the Doctor said.

'But robots don't need light. Not these sorts of

robots anyway. And the crystals are expensive.

They'll only embed them in tunnels that people

use, and use regularly. Anywhere else, you need

a torch.'

'So which way do we go?' Amy asked.

'Towards the noise,' Rory said.

As they had been talking, a low rumbling

sound was building in volume. It was getting

louder all the time and the ground beneath their

feet was beginning to vibrate.

'This way.' The Doctor set off briskly down

the tunnel. After several steps, he stopped

abruptly, swung round and headed in the opposite

direction. 'This way. Definitely this way.'

They hadn't been able to see from further

back that another tunnel cut across the one

where the TARDIS had landed. An enormous

vehicle appeared, as if out of the tunnel wall,

and lumbered slowly over the crossroads and

off down the other tunnel. It was like a massive

bulldozer, on caterpillar tracks, but with a huge

conical drill on the front. It was dusty and dented,

obviously very old. There didn't seem to be any

exhaust, but Amy could detect an oily smell in

the air as the sound died away

'Do we follow it?' Rory asked as they reached

the crossroads.

The Doctor shook his head. We're looking

for people, not the drill face. It's off to do

some mining. That's boring machine work.' He

grinned. 'And I do really mean boring.'

As the sound of the mining machine faded,

Amy could hear another sound in the distance.

It was very faint but it was coming from further

down the tunnel they were in.

'What's that?' she asked, puzzled. 'I m e a n - i t

sounds like . . . '

'It sounds like an electric organ,' Rory said.

'But, I mean, it can't be. Can it?'

'One way to find out,' the Doctor told them.

'And that way is onwards.' He strode off along

the tunnel towards the sound.

Ahead of them, Amy could see that the

tunnel opened out into a vast cavern. The size of

the chamber was truly stunning. But that wasn't

what made her gape in astonishment.

'What?!' Rory gasped.

'I don't believe it,' Amy said.

The sound of the electronic organ was

louder now. As they got nearer they could hear

people laughing and talking. They could smell

the food that was being cooked. They could also

hear other, quieter music . . .

Well, there's something you don't see every

day in a vast cavern deep inside an asteroid

floating in space,' the Doctor said.

Small tents and side stalls were arranged

around the edge of the cavern. Larger tents were

clustered in the middle. A white-faced clown on

stilts walked past, waving to a child who was

eating candyfloss. A small crowd of people

gasped in unison as a fire-eater spat flames into

the air. Wooden horses rose and fell as they went

round a large carousel.

They were looking at a huge fairground.

Somehow the Doctor had acquired a large

stick of yellow candyfloss. And a toffee

apple. The candyfloss stuck to his chin so it

looked like he had a wispy yellow beard. Amy

tried not to laugh. And failed.

'What?' the Doctor asked, laughing too.

'Oh.' Realising, he wiped his chin with his other

hand - leaving streaks of sugary toffee down his

cheek from the apple he was holding. 'Better?'

Amy bit back her laughter. 'Much.'

They spent a while just wandering around

looking at the various stalls and sideshows. There

was a hoopla and a large plastic pool where you

had to hook plastic toy animals that looked a bit

like ducks (but weren't) out of the water. If your

not-a-duck had a black cross on the bottom,

then you won a prize. Rory didn't.

There were jugglers and acrobats performing

in a roped off area. In the middle of the cavern -

further away from the glowing walls that didn't

glow - globes of light hung in the air. The tents

offered fortune-telling, speeches from famous

plays, and tea and cake.

The electric organ music turned out to be

coming from the carousel. The wooden (if they

were indeed wooden) horses (if indeed they

were horses) performed tirelessly for children

(who really were children) in simple overalls

and smocks. Everyone was dusty and grimy. But

everyone was happy and laughing. Everyone was

having the time of their lives.

Everyone except, judging by his expression,

Rory.

'Oh, what's wrong?' Amy challenged him.

She grabbed Rory's arm and snuggled her cheek

against his shoulder.

'I didn't win on the hook-a-not-a-duck,'

he grumbled.

'You're sulking about that?' Amy was surprised.

'But the prize was a bouncy ball. It was rubbish.'

'Still didn't win,' Rory complained. But he was

trying not to smile now. 'I could have thrown the

prize away. And it would have bounced.'

The Doctor was looking up at the white-

faced clown on stilts. 'What's your name?' he

called. 'Happy?'

'No,' the clown told him, his white face

expressionless. 'They call me Clueless.'

'Clueless the Clown,' Amy said. 'I like it.'

'So why do they call you that?' Rory asked.

The clown shrugged. 'I haven't a clue.'

The Doctor laughed. Amy and Rory laughed

too, as the clown lumbered away on his stilts.

'Should have seen that one coming,' Rory

admitted.

'You walked right into it,' Amy agreed. 'On

stilts. Hey, look — is that a coconut shy?'

'We're supposed to be finding out where we

are,' the Doctor reminded her.

'Oh, I love coconuts,' Rory said.

'You find out where we are,' Amy told the

Doctor. 'Rory and me are going to win a coconut,

isn't that right?'

'That's right,' Rory agreed.

'No, it isn't,' the Doctor protested. 'It's not

even close. 'Rory and me are going to win a

coconut'? How can you even say that?'

'Sorry,' Amy said, unsure quite what the

problem was.

'It's 'Rory and I',' the Doctor corrected her.

'It's 'Rory and I are going to win a coconut.''

'Are we?' Rory asked the Doctor.

'No,' Amy told the Doctor. You are going to

find out where we are. Rory and me are going to

win a coconut.'

The Doctor looked at her for a moment. His

eyes narrowed slightly. He opened his mouth to

say something, then closed it again. Finally he

nodded. 'Fair enough,' he said. 'I'll meet you

back here in half an hour.'

To Amy's delight and Rory's obvious surprise,

they won a coconut. Amy managed to hit one of

the coconuts, but just knocked it sideways a bit.

'At least you can tell they're not glued down,'

Rory told her.

'It's better than you've done,' Amy pointed out.

So Rory bought another set of three balls to

throw, using some of the coins the Doctor had

just happened to have with him that seemed to

work here. His first shot hit the same coconut,

and sent it flying out of its stand.

'Result!' Amy exclaimed.

The man running the stall was large and hairy

with rolled-up sleeves revealing arms covered

with tattoos. But his grizzled face broke into a

broken-toothed grin as he retrieved the coconut

for Rory and set another one in its place.

'Well done, lad,' he said.

Feeling his luck must be on the turn, Rory

had another go at hooking a not-a-duck. But

with as little success as the first time. They still

had ten minutes to wait for the Doctor, so Amy

suggested they find somewhere that was selling

hot drinks. They both recalled seeing a tent

serving tea and cake, but neither of them could

remember exactly where it was.

It took them almost the whole ten minutes to

get back to where they'd seen the tent.

'He'll be late,' Amy said. 'Let's get tea anyway.'

'Or we could wait, in case he isn't late,'

Rory suggested.

'He's always late,' Amy said.

'Who is?' the Doctor asked, arriving beside

them.

'Nothing,' Amy said quickly, glaring at Rory

to keep him quiet. 'So,' she went on, 'what have

you found out?'

'Lots.' The Doctor grinned, evidently pleased

with himself. 'Lots and lots. Did you win a — '

He broke off, as Rory held out his coconut, grin

freezing. 'Ah.'

'That surprised you, didn't it?' Rory asked him.

'Er, well, yes it did. I have to admit I am

surprised. You think that's a coconut, don't you?'

'It is a coconut,' Amy said.

'Course it is.' The Doctor nodded, just too

enthusiastically. 'A coconut. Just don't eat it,

that's all. Or break it open. Whatever you do,

don't break it open.'

'Why not?' Amy asked.

Rory was examining the coconut cautiously,

weighing it in his hand. 'What's the problem?'

'Well, I could be wrong,' the Doctor admitted,

'but that does look suspiciously like the egg of

a wilderbird from Deuteronomy Nine. Nasty

things, wilderbirds. They're like birds. Only, um,

wilder. If you feel it sort of vibrating, put it down

ever so carefully and then run like hell.'

Rory held the 'coconut' at arm's length. 'You

are kidding me.'

The Doctor gently lifted the coconut from

Rory's palm. He tossed it high in the air and

caught it again. Yes,' he said. 'I'm kidding you.

It's a coconut.' He handed it back to a relieved

Rory. Well, probably,' he added. 'Anyone fancy a

cuppa? I'm parched and they do cake as well.'

Over tea and cake - which was green with purple

bits in it - the Doctor explained what he had

learned from chatting to some of the fairground

visitors and stall holders.

'We're on a mining asteroid called Stanalan,'

he said, through a mouthful of green-bitty cake.

'Sorry, did that get you?' He brushed damp

crumbs off Amy's shoulder. 'Like I thought, it's

in the Torajii system.'

'That's not what you said,' Amy told him.

The Doctor ignored her. 'Automated mining

mostly, and most of the original miners have

stayed on and become colonists. Obviously

they still have to do some digging by hand as

well as maintaining the equipment and doing the

paperwork. Robots never do admin, which is a

shame as that would really be a help.'

'So these people actually live down here?'

Rory asked.

The Doctor nodded, then took a slurp of

tea. 'Quite a little community. There's a hospital,

a school, little shops and even a local orchestra.

Well, I guess there's not a lot to do in the damp,

dark underground - they live in worked-out

tunnels. So they're pretty chuffed that the

Galactic Fair has come to town.'

'I can imagine,' Amy said.

A large grey-haired woman in a dark uniform

with a white pinafore dress busied herself

clearing away Amy and Rory's tea things. The

Doctor lifted his cup so she could wipe the table

underneath.

'As well as Mad Milly the Fortune-Teller,'

he said, 'there's Clueless the Clown, carousels,

candyfloss, coconuts and lots of other things

beginning with the letter 'C'. And someone called

Garvo and his Dancing Drexxon, whatever that

is .. . Oh yes, they've got it all. We arrived at just

the right time.'

'And tea,' the woman wiping the table pointed

out. 'Best tea in the sector.'

The Doctor raised his cup in salute. 'Best tea

in the galaxy,' he assured her. 'Believe me, I know

about tea. And galaxies.'

'And tomorrow,' the. woman added, 'they

should have the Death Ride finished.'

'Death Ride?' Rory asked, his eyes widening

slightly.

'I think we've probably been closer to death

than a fairground ride will take us,' Amy told him.

The woman laughed. 'Don't you believe it.'

She shook her head in the manner of someone

who knows something that everyone else can't

even begin to suspect. Then she hurried away.

Still laughing.

'That's encouraging,' Amy said brightly.

'Don't think I fancy a Death Ride,' Rory

decided.

The Doctor was watching the woman as

she cleared another table. 'Death Ride,' he said,

enjoying the words and rolling them round his

mouth. 'I am going to have to try that!'

Amy and Rory agreed that they would find

out more about the Death Ride, and maybe even

take a look at it. They did not agree, despite the

Doctor's enthusiastic pleas, to have a go. Not

before they knew more.

'Fair play,' the Doctor decided eventually.

'But I bet when you see it, you'll love it.'

As they left the tea tent, Amy stopped. She

could hear music. It wasn't the harsh tones of

the electric organ music that accompanied the

merry-go-round. It was a haunting tune. The

notes lingered sadly. The melody seemed to drift

through the cavern from all directions.

'Listen — where's it coming from?' Amy

wondered.

The Doctor licked his finger and held it up as

if testing the air. 'This way,' he decided.

'Or that way,' Rory suggested.

But Amy was already heading in a different

direction from either of their suggestions. Sure

enough, the music grew louder. She could see

a little crowd of people gathered round one of

the smaller tents. Unlike the other audiences,

who cheered and laughed and talked and booed

good-naturedly, these people were completely

silent. Enthralled by the music.

The people at the back of the group were

drifting away, having seen and heard enough.

They nodded to each other, murmuring in

quiet admiration.

Amy found herself moving to the front of

the crowd as the music came to a melancholy

end. The two people in front of her moved aside.

Amy pushed through to see what was attracting

all the attention, what was making the unique,

haunting music.

A furry mass of claws and teeth reared up.

Amy gasped in surprise and fear as the creature

hissed angrily, its yellow eyes fixed unerringly

on her.

The snarl of the creature turned into something

that sounded more like giggling. Rather than

rearing up to attack, Amy realised it was hopping

from one furry foot to the other - dancing a sort

of jig.

The music came from a mouth organ played

by a young man standing a short way behind the

furry creature. A leash was tied round the man's

wrist, the other end attached to the furry animal's

own thin wrist. The young man's features were

pale, contrasting with his coal-black hair. His

clothes were tattered and frayed, old and grubby.

His appearance seemed to suit the sad tune he

was playing.

And the creature - which was only about a

metre tall and covered in reddish-brown fur -

hopped and danced to the rhythm and the mood

of the man's playing.

'Raggedy musician,' the Doctor murmured

in Amy's ear. And his performing . . . thing'

'What is it?' Rory asked, squeezing through

the crowd to join them. 'The thing?'

'Dunno,' the Doctor admitted. 'Not a monkey,

though there's some similarity Not seen one of

those before.'

The music warbled to an end. The dancing

furry creature that looked a bit like a monkey,

but wasn't, stopped dancing. Its eyes scanned

the people as some of them dropped coins into

a carefully placed bucket and others just moved

away. The man lowered his mouth organ. For a

moment his face was a blank mask, as if he was still

caught up in the other-world of his music. Then

he switched on a smile and bowed theatrically.

'Thank you, thank you.' The man picked up

the bucket and shook it, making the coins inside

jingle and jangle. He held it out and a few more

people dropped coins into it.

'Paying for slavery,' Amy said, backing away.

'You what?' Rory asked.

'That poor thing, whatever it is. Look -

he has to keep it on a lead to stop it escaping.

It's like performing apes or bears. It shouldn't

be allowed.'

Rory shrugged. 'Can't see the problem. The

thing seems happy enough, and well fed. It's

not like the guy's stuck a ring through its nose

or chains round its legs. How's it different from

taking a dog for a walk?'

'Making it perform. It's shameful. Probably

trained it on hot coals or something. What do

you think Doc—'

But the Doctor was no longer standing beside

them. Amy looked round, and saw that he was

talking excitedly to the musician.

'I saw your face,' the musician said as Amy

strode up to him. 'I'm sorry if my Drexxon

frightened you.' The furry creature snuggled

against the man's leg, and he bent to ruffle its fur

affectionately.

'Frightened?' Amy said, pursing her lips and

shaking her head. 'I wasn't frightened. Just . . .

a bit startled.' She turned to Rory for support —

in time to see him pointing at her and mouthing,

'Frightened.'

'Sorry,' Rory said quickly.

'All friends now,' the Doctor announced,

clapping his hands together. 'This is Garvo.'

He pointed to the musician. 'And this Drexxon

you've already met, when he didn't frighten you,

not even a teensy-weensy bit. I don't think he

has a name as such, so just call him Drexxon.'

'Hi,' Amy said, forcing a smile.

The Drexxon made the giggling noise again,

sharp little teeth clacking together. It wrapped its

warm furry arms round Amy's legs and purred

like a cat.

'So, if we're all friends having such a jolly

time —' Amy began.

'Here we go,' Rory murmured, shuffling in

embarrassment.

'How come,' Amy went on, 'your little friend

here is on a lead?'

If Garvo was surprised or put out by the

question, he didn't show it. His expression

didn't change from the fixed smile. 'It's not to

keep him from running off or anything, and it's

not uncomfortable. It's a link between us. It. . .

helps.' He shrugged as if unsure what else to say.

'Helps? How can tying him to you help?'

'Well, I'm tied to him as well. We perform

as a team. More than that - he feels the music

I play on my harmonica.' He showed them the

mouth organ. 'And I play music that responds

to his reaction to it. The lead is like the musical

link between us. As I said, it helps. It helps me

to judge how he's dancing, from the way the

lead moves while I'm playing. I can't always see

exactly what he's up to, or predict what he'll do

next. But I get signals, clues along the lead.'

'And can Drexxon here feel your music the

same way?' the Doctor asked. He paused to kneel

down and tickle the creature. Along the lead?'

'He can,' Garvo said. 'Obviously he can't

talk, but he seems to be able to tell what notes

are coming, the rhythm, from the way my hand

moves while playing. He can feel that down the

lead. We've been together for a long time. And

he's a very sensitive little soul.'

'So I see,' Rory commented.

Drexxon was lying on his back now and

letting the Doctor tickle his tummy.

'You have a go, Amy,' the Doctor suggested.

'Go on - he won't bite. Probably.'

Certainly the creature seemed happy enough,

Amy thought. Although probably the only way

to be sure would be to take him off the lead

and see if he ran off. She rubbed her hand over

Drexxon's warm tummy and was rewarded with

more of the purring and giggling.

'Happy now?' Rory asked as Amy straightened

up again.

'I was wrong,' she admitted. 'You happy now?'

'Wrong?' Rory echoed in mock surprise.

'OK, I was wrong about the lead and I was

wrong to be frightened of him. A bit frightened

of him. More startled than frightened, in fact.

But I've tickled his tummy now, so I know that

Drexxon is really a pussycat. All right?'

Rory frowned. 'Really?' He leaned closer,

talking quietly. 'A pussycat? You mean, like

dressed up — in a costume or something?'

Amy stared at him. 'Not a real pussycat, you

dozy. He's a space-monkey creature-thing. I

mean, he's quiet and tame and friendly. Like a

pussycat.'

Rory nodded slowly. 'I knew that.'

'Course you did.'

Something had changed at the fair. It took

Amy a few moments to work out what it was.

'Why's everything suddenly so quiet?' she

whispered to the Doctor.

'Search me,' he whispered back. 'Well, not

literally search me, obviously.' He buttoned his

jacket, as if to make sure she didn't actually

search him.

'Everyone's heading that way,' Rory pointed

out.

The people were all moving towards one side

of the vast cavern. They were no longer laughing

and talking excitedly, but looked sad and were

moving slowly.

'What's going on?' Rory asked Garvo. 'New

shift starting or something?'

Garvo sighed. Even Drexxon looked a little

downcast. 'It's time for the procession. A sad

time. I'll stay here, and keep Drexxon out of the

way. But most of the fair people will attend, as a

mark of respect. You should go.'

'Yes, we should,' the Doctor told him. 'Come

on,' he said to Amy and Rory.

'But what's going on, what's it all about?'

Amy asked.

'No idea. But whatever it is, we should show

respect — I got that much.'

They followed the last few people past the

silent stalls and attractions. The merry-go-round

horses stood still, silent and glassy-eyed. On the

other side of the crowd, more music started. It

was as sad as Garvo's harmonica, but bigger and

bolder — played by a whole orchestra.

The Doctor found them a spot on the small

stage used by the jugglers. From here they could

see over the heads of most of the people. The

orchestra was made up of about thirty people -

each wearing a plain black tabard over the top

of their everyday overalls. There were violins,

trumpets and several brass instruments that Amy

didn't recognise. At the back of the orchestra

was a small floating platform that carried a

harpist, a keyboard player and a drummer. Amy

was surprised how many of the musicians were

children. A small man dressed entirely in black

conducted them, his face a mask of sadness.

Behind the orchestra four more men, all

standing tall and proud but as sad-faced as the

conductor, walked slowly and stiffly out of a

wide tunnel and into the cavern. It took Amy

a few moments to see that they were carrying

something on their shoulders.

It took her a few moments more to realise

that it was a coffin.

The pall-bearers carried the coffin past

the orchestra and the assembled crowd, and

into another, narrower tunnel. The orchestra

continued to play the sad music, the violins

sounding like someone weeping. Some of the

people from the crowd followed the coffin down

the tunnel. Amy could see that most of them

wore black armbands.

The rest of the people .started to move away,

heads bowed. Solemn, silent and sad.

'I wonder who died,' Rory whispered.

'Someone who had a lot of friends,' Amy

whispered back.

'In a community like this, everyone knows

everyone else,' the Doctor said. 'So that's not the

most important question.'

'Then what is?' Amy asked.

There was as much sadness in the Doctor's

eyes as he answered as in anyone else's there.

Why did they die?'

The orchestra continued to play long after the

funeral procession had gone. The Doctor,

Amy and Rory sat on the edge of the stage and

listened. The music was never really uplifting,

but it became less solemn and sad.

Finally, after what seemed an age and when

Amy was getting beyond fidgety and about to get

up and leave, they drew to a close. Several of the

children ran off into the fairground, carrying their

trumpets and violins and other instruments with

them.

The Doctor waved to a couple of . boys as

they ran past. 'That was terrific!' he called.

They stopped and thanked him.

'Ain't seen you round here before, Mister,'

one of the boys said. He was about eleven years

old with spiked up dark hair and a cheeky grin.

'You with the Galactic Fair?'

'No, just visiting. I'm the Doctor, and these

are my friends, Amy and Rory.'

The boy was called Harby and his friend — fair-

haired and slightly younger — was Vosh. Harby

had a violin with him, in a dark case. Vosh played

a trumpet that looked nearly as big as he was.

'So, where you from then?' Vosh asked.

'All over,' the Doctor told him. 'I'm the

Everywhere Man. You play very well,' he went

on. 'Whoever it was that's . . . passed away would

have appreciated it.'

'The dead guy in the coffin you mean?'

Harby said.

'I was kind of trying to avoid being so blunt.'

'It's all right.'

'So, who was he? Was he very old?' Amy asked.

'Rodge. Yeah, he was quite old,' Harby

considered. About the same age as you,' he said,

pointing at Rory.

'That is old,' the Doctor agreed. 'Old, old,

old. If not even older. But not old enough for

natural causes. Not old age natural causes. So

how did he die?'

Harby shrugged.

'They wouldn't let us see,' Vosh told them. He

was obviously disappointed. 'But,' he went on

with gathering enthusiasm, 'my mate Benvo says

he was all torn to pieces. Some sort of accident.

Mum says that's why Off-limits is off-limits.'

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. 'Your

mum sounds very wise.'

'You enjoying the funfair?' Rory asked brightly.

'It's OK,' Vosh said. 'The hook-a-ducklan is

great. I've won a prize every time.'

Rory blinked and his smile became slightly

fixed. 'Really?'

'Be even better when the Death Ride opens,'

Harby told them. Won't be long now. If they

can get the health and safety stuff sorted.'

'Yes,' the Doctor agreed. 'Health and safety

do tend to look a bit more closely at anything

that has a tide including the word 'ride'.'

Harby explained in excited tones, helped by

a few interruptions from Vosh, that the Death

Ride was a roller coaster that the Galactic Fair

set up wherever they went. They built it into

the landscape — or in this case into the tunnels.

'Must come in prefabricated sections that can be

adapted to each location,' Rory said.

'They have all this track,' Vosh said. 'And,

like, ramps and jumps and stuff.'

Harby nodded excitedly. 'They're using the

steep tunnels, and even drilling through to other

levels so they can do the bumps and drops. The

best tunnels for that are all Off-Limits though.

But they're using tunnels close to Off-Limits

when they can.'

'So why are some tunnels off-limits?' Amy

wanted to know. What does that mean?'

'They're dangerous,' Harby explained. 'Not

properly held up, or so old and worked out they

might collapse. We're not allowed in them. No

one is, except for inspection.'

They talked a bit longer, but the two boys

were obviously getting keen to return to the fair.

The sideshows had reopened and the stalls were

doing brisk business. When the jugglers returned

from their break and asked if the Doctor, Rory

and Amy would please get off their stage, the

boys said their goodbyes and hurried away.

'I can juggle,' the Doctor protested as he

jumped down from the stage. 'Balls, skittles, plates,

sonic screwdrivers. I can juggle anything.'

'Really?' one of the jugglers asked. He sounded

genuinely interested - like he was about to ask the

Doctor to prove it.

'Really,' the Doctor insisted. 'But quite busy

just now, actually. Maybe another time.'

After stopping several people to get directions,

they were soon heading out of the fairground

cavern and off down one of the tunnels.

'Hey, you know what?' Amy said. 'I think I'll

stay here and look round a bit more. Maybe I

can find out about the man who died. What sort

of accident he had — if it was an accident.'

'You're not interested in the Death Ride?' the

Doctor asked, disappointed.

'From what those kids said, it'll be like Rory

setting up his train set. Only bigger.'

'What's wrong with that?' Rory asked. 'You

often used to watch me setting up my train set.'

'Not through choice.' Amy said.

'I thought you enjoyed it.'

'I was bored almost to tears.'

Rory was aghast. 'You never said.'

'Well, I'm saying now. Train sets are for boys.

Girls find them boring. I only stayed so you'd

agree to come shopping in Gloucester.'

'Children!' the Doctor warned, grinning.

'Right then, Amy can stay here and investigate

the poor dead Rodge. Rory and I are going to

see how building the great big dangerous train

set is going. Agreed?'

On their way to the tunnels where the Death

Ride was being set up, the Doctor and Rory

passed through part of the mining community.

Rory was amazed at how the people lived. There

were wooden buildings set up within the wider

tunnels, fixed to the tunnel walls. It was like a

Wild West frontier town, but underground.

More surprising and impressive was that some

of the buildings were actually cut into the rock walls

of the tunnels. The front of a house, complete with

windows and door, turned out to be made of rock

- actually carved into the side of the tunnel. Behind

it, the Doctor explained, a whole house would have

been excavated, hacked out of the asteroid. That

would have been a huge achievement in its own

right — but the house was just the first of a whole

tunnel-street of buildings.

'They've been here for a while,' the Doctor

said. 'You humans get everywhere.'

'I wouldn't want to live here,' Rory decided.

'Never seeing sunlight, always underground.

Everyone is so pale and there's dust everywhere.

What if you were allergic to it? You'd be sneezing

all the time.'

'Like everything, it depends what you're used

to, what you know. These people don't know any

other life. They probably think you're weird for

wanting to look at an empty sky and spend time

in bright light without a reassuring roof over

your head, even when you're outdoors.'

'I suppose,' Rory said. But he wasn't convinced.

They could hear that they were approaching

the work on the Death Ride. The clank of metal

on metal and the rumble of the machinery echoed

along the tunnel. They turned into yet another

wide tunnel, and Rory could see a huge mesh of

scaffolding rising up almost to the high roof.

Several men and women were manoeuvring

metal rails into position on top of the scaffolding,

which was shaped like an enormous 'S' lying on

its side. The rails they had already positioned

plunged down through a large, dark hole in the

tunnel floor. The sound of more machinery came

from the lower level.

Robot vehicles moved back and forth,

bringing more scaffolding and rails. Everything

was being supervised by a man wearing what

looked like a circus ringmaster's uniform,

complete with top hat.

'That'll be the Fat Controller,' Rory said.

'He doesn't look fat to me,' the Doctor said. 'I

think it's more likely to be the supervisor who sets

up the Death Ride wherever the Galactic Fair goes.'

'Sort of what I meant, actually,' Rory told him.

A woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail

and wearing the usual overalls of the local

inhabitants came over to ask the Doctor and

Rory what they were doing. She seemed happy

enough to let them watch the work.

'Lots of the children wanted to watch when we

started,' she told them. 'We had to make sure they

didn't get in the way. But the novelty has worn off

now. They'll be back as soon as the Death Ride

opens.'

'And when will that be?' Rory asked.

'Very soon, I hope. This is the nearly the

last section.'

'I was talking to someone earlier,' the Doctor

said, 'who mentioned that the ride was supposed

to go through some of the Off-Limits tunnels.

Is that right?'

The woman pulled a face. 'That was the plan.

It sort of fell through, though. But the Galactic

Fair's Ride Master is still hoping we can get

permission. That's him over there.' She pointed

to the man in the ringmaster's outfit.

'And will you?' Rory asked.

'In my opinion? No chance. We've already

got a replacement section planned that goes

through the On-Limits section close by. It won't

be as exciting, as it's not nearly so dark, and we

can't get quite the same depth of plunge.'

'Shame,' Rory said, rather unconvincingly.

'So it'll soon be ready, then?' the Doctor said.

'Tickets available, trains leaving, kids screaming

sort of thing?'

'Dicing with death on the highway to hell,'

Rory added.

'We can't wait, can we, Rory?'

Rory was about to disagree, but the woman

said, 'I'd better get back. We're bringing in the

last few sections of track now. I want to get

them in position before Perpetual Pete turns up

and gives us more grief.'

'Perpetual Pete?' the Doctor asked.

'He's responsible for the safety of the mine.

He's the one who won't let us go Off-Limits,

even though Rodge said he was sure the tunnel

we wanted to use was safe enough.'

'Rodge,' Rory remembered the name. 'Isn't

he the man who died?'

'That's right. He was surveying the tunnel,

although Pete told him he wasn't to go down there.'

'And that's where he died?'

'No. Like I said, that tunnel's safe. He was on

his way back to file his report. Took a short cut

through another Off-Limits. One that obviously

wasn't safe. Perpetual Pete found the body.'

'Why's he called Perpetual Pete?' Rory asked,

hoping he wasn't going to get another smart

reply like he had from Clueless the Clown.

But the woman didn't seem interested in being

funny. She wiped a grimy hand across her face and

stifled a yawn. 'Because he's been here forever.'

'I think we should talk to this Perpetual Pete,'

the Doctor said, watching the woman walk back

to the scaffolding. 'As you and I both know,

"forever" is a very long time.'

They spent a few minutes talking to some of

the other people working on the Death Ride.

The Doctor was interested to find out all he

could about Perpetual Pete.

'If he's warning people away from the tunnels

where poor Rodge died, maybe he knows more

than he's saying.'

'Or,' Rory pointed out, 'it could be that he's

warning people away from a dangerous tunnel

where people have died because — get this — it's

dangerous.'

The Doctor considered. 'Could be,' he

admitted, but quickly went on: 'But we can't just

guess without finding out the facts. Got to dot

our Ts and cross our Is. No, Rory, not cross our

eyes — stop that, really.'

An older man with a clipboard entered from

a side tunnel. He looked annoyed, muttering and

shaking his head as he checked his clipboard.

'Looks like a jobsworth,' Rory told the

Doctor. 'I just bet that's Perpetual Pete.'

'Could be. Let's find out.'

The Doctor hurried over to the man. He

stood on tiptoes to try to lean over and read

what was on the clipboard. The man looked up

slowly, frowning. The Doctor smiled and took a

step backwards.

'Not good?' he asked.

The man shook his head again. 'Not good.'

Rory joined them.

'It's not good,' the Doctor told him solemnly.

'Not good,' Rory echoed. 'Right.'

'Perpetual Pete?' the Doctor asked.

'Absolutely,' the man agreed. 'Who else?' He

jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, pointing

back along the tunnel he'd just come down.

'Need a lift?' the Doctor asked. 'Or what?'

'What?' the man responded, puzzled.

'Perpetual Pete,' Rory started.

'Back there,' the man interrupted.

'What?' Rory said.

'Don't you start,' the Doctor muttered.

'Perpetual Pete,' the man said, 'is back there.

He's insisting that the linkages be checked again.

For about the thousandth time. And he's still

not happy about the track going through that Off-

limits section of Green Nine. I've told him . . . '

the man said, nodding this time. 'Told him a

hundred times.'

'A hundred?' the Doctor sounded impressed.

'At least.'

'We need to see Perpetual Pete. Down here,

you say?'

The man didn't answer. He was making his

way across to the scaffolding, still checking

papers on his clipboard and shaking his head.

'Tell you what,' the Doctor said to Rory,

'you stay here and find out all you can about this

Perpetual Pete. I'll go and talk to him.'

'Can't I come and talk to him too?' Rory

asked.

The Doctor tilted his head to one side,

looking at Rory with what might have been pity.

'And frighten the poor old man? You ask around

here, and I'll go and talk to him. I bet he's lovely

really. Just misunderstood.'

The Doctor strode off down the tunnel,

hands in his pockets, as if he hadn't a care in

the universe.

'I'm lovely really,' Rory said to the Doctor's

back. 'Just misunderstood.'

The Doctor removed one hand from his

pocket and waved. He didn't turn round. Rory

watched him disappear into the distance, then

sighed and looked for the man with the clipboard.

It was easy to spot Perpetual Pete. Apart from

the fact that he looked like someone who was

checking 'linkages' - whatever they were - he

was also by far the oldest person the Doctor had

seen since he arrived.

He was dressed much like the other citizens

of Stanalan, in plain overalls with lots of useful

pockets. The Doctor didn't like the dull grey colour

much, but he envied the number of pockets. Pete

was not a tall man. He looked stooped and slightly

shrunken within his skin so that it no longer quite

fit. His face was lined and sagging, and his straggly

white beard had more hair in it than was left on

the man's pale skull.

'Perpetual Pete, I assume.' The Doctor held

out his hand.

'More complaints and interruptions, I assume.'

Perpetual Pete ignored the gesture.

He was intent on a device about the size and

shape of a large TV remote control. It had a

small screen set into the top half and buttons

below. The Doctor peered over the old man's

shoulder at the device. Pete turned slowly to

see what the Doctor was doing, and the Doctor

caught a whiff of sour breath. Actually, now he

was close to the man, there was a definite niff

coming from his whole body. The Doctor took

a step back, wondering if there was such a thing

as 'up-wind' in the tunnels.

'Checking the linkages, I see,' the Doctor

said brightly.

Pete's already small, sunken eyes narrowed

still further. What do you know about it?'

'Nothing at all. I mean, excuse me for asking,

but what are these linkages you're checking?'

Pete gave a snort of mocking laughter. A

string of spittle dribbled from the corner of his

mouth and caught in his beard. 'You must be

new here. Or stupid.'

'New — definitely new. And I was just asking.

It's the only way to learn. I mean,' the Doctor

went on, 'I assume that as there are no pit props,

there must be some form of reinforcement

to prevent the tunnels collapsing. There's no

obvious forceshield, so it's probably a molecular

bond that's woven into the top layer of rock

when the tunnels are drilled out. The fluripsent

light crystals are probably built into that

same layer. So, is it molecular linkages you're

checking on?'

Pete nodded. 'Top of the class, lad.' He

turned away.

'So why do they need checking?' the Doctor

wondered. 'Unless - ah! Do they become

unstable over time? Molecular decay. But that

would take . . . ' He counted rapidly on the

fingers of both hands, several times. 'These

tunnels must be very old,' he decided.

'Some of them. The older ones are off-limits

until I've checked them.'

'Well, quite right. You wouldn't want people

wandering about if the roof's going to fall in.'

Pete gave the Doctor a look that suggested

this was more than obvious.

'Wouldn't want a Death Ride rollercoaster

going through them either, I'd guess.'

'Is that why you're here?' Pete demanded

suspiciously. You one of the fair people, come

to ask about Green Nine again? Because the

answer's still no.'

The Doctor held up his hands in mock

surrender. 'Not me, no siree. I'm not any sort

of people. But if this Green Nine section is

unstable, can't you just realign the molecules and

re-bond the membrane? I assume that's what

you do when the linkages break down.'

'You know all about it then, do you?'

The Doctor just smiled.

'Well, Mr Clever...'

'It's Doctor, not Mr,' the Doctor told him.

He smiled again. 'Doctor Clever.'

'Well, whoever you are, if it was just a case of

the linkages, then yes, we could go to the expense

and trouble and hassle of re-bonding the tunnel.

It would take longer than they can wait, but we

could. But unless we're now going to check the

Off-limits for oxygen seepage, pressure leaks,

toxic gas incursion, structural instability and a

hundred other things that can go wrong with a

tunnel, there'd be no point really. Would there?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Suppose not. Fair

point, actually. Good point even. So, these

Off-Limits places, they're tunnels that aren't

needed any more, and so they just get minimum

maintenance and you check they're not going to

destabilise the rest of the asteroid, but otherwise

don't bother to keep them too safe? Hence "Off-

Limits" because no one's allowed down there

except, I assume, for you. To do your checking.'

'Absolutely right. So how about you let me

get on with it?'

'Sure thing. Absolutely. Only . . . '

Perpetual Pete sighed. 'What?' he asked with

forced patience.

'Only, how come poor dead Rodge was found

in an Off-Limits tunnel if no one's allowed

down there?'

'Rules don't stop people being stupid.'

'And if the tunnel was unstable and he died in

a rockfall, or from lack of oxygen, or toxic gas...

How come his body was ripped to pieces?'

'Is that what they're saying?'

'You found his body,' the Doctor said quietly.

'What are you saying?'

'My job's to keep the main tunnels safe, and

warn people which sections are Off-Limits.

I'm saying he shouldn't have been down there.

I'm saying it doesn't matter how he died, it just

goes to show that off-limits means off-limits.

I'm saying that sending a fairground ride close

to areas that are Off-Limits is dangerous and

irresponsible and if someone pays me to do a

job they should listen to my advice.'

The Doctor nodded. 'Doesn't answer my

question, but all very reasonable. Who does pay

you to do the job by the way? Just out of interest.'

'He's paid by the company,' the man with the

clipboard said. His name, he'd told Rory, was Korl.

'Perpetual Pete is the Health and Safety Executive.

Every mine has to have one. Usually they only

stay for a few months before they transfer out. It's

a boring and unrewarding job that new recruits

do before being promoted to management roles.'

'But not Perpetual Pete?'

'He's been here longer than I have. Hence his

nickname.'

'And how long have you been here?'

Korl laughed. 'I was born here.' His laughter

died away. 'Funny,' he said. 'I never thought

about it, but I'm one of the most senior

miners now, and Pete's been old for as long

as I can remember. Maybe we should call him

"Ancient Pete."'

Rory didn't think he'd find out much more,

and Korl had work to do. Perpetual Pete evidently

kept himself very much to himself. Aside from

the mystery of just how long he'd been here and

how old he was, he wasn't a very popular person.

The miners generally felt he was too strict in his

safety rulings and tended to keep tunnels Off-

Limits when there was no real need — tunnels

that could make things easier for the miners if

they were opened again. And he was smelly.

The quickest way back to the fair, Korl had

told Rory, was to follow the Death Ride tracks

for about twenty minutes until he reached the

"main concourse". Apparently he couldn't miss

this, as it was the widest tunnel in the asteroid.

In Rory's experience, 'You can't miss it,' usually

meant the opposite.

But he never got that far. Death was waiting

for Rory along the way.

The fair was soon as lively and noisy as it had

been before the funeral procession. Amy was

hoping to see Garvo and Drexxon again. She

still wasn't convinced the monkey-like creature

was as happy and contented as Garvo said.

She'd have liked to watch them again to reassure

herself, but they were not outside their tent and

no one had seen them since the procession.

People were happy to talk to Amy — people

working at the fair, and people there to enjoy

themselves. But none of them knew much

about the death. Rodge had been a popular and

well-known character. Everyone knew he had

ventured into Off-Limits. He was the sort of

person who was always looking for short cuts

in the way he worked, so actually taking a short

cut was completely in character for him. The

general feeling was that he had been killed in a

freak rockfall.

'That happens in Off-Limits,' a woman told

Amy. 'That's why they're Off-Limits, of course.

We all do it, we all take the odd short cut. But, well,

some tunnels are more Off-Limits than others.

Rodge knew he was taking a risk, poor soul.'

'He was always a bit reckless,' an older man

confided. 'Wouldn't wish it on anyone, but if

you take that sort of risk . . . ' He shook his head

and whistled through his teeth. 'Only have to

get it wrong once, you know. Don't you go Off-

Limits, now. Don't you even think about it.'

Amy thanked him for his advice. 'Are there

many deaths in Off-Limits areas, many accidents?'

The man considered, 'Not many. It's years

since Jemmie nearly suffocated when an Off-

Limits sealed itself off after an oxygen leak

while he was playing hide and seek . . . No, some

say Perpetual Pete is too strict about Off-Limits.

But this just goes to show what can happen if

you're not strict enough. Without Perpetual Pete

there'd be a lot more accidents, you mark my

words, young woman.'

'But it's not that unusual?'

The man nodded sadly. 'Tragic, but accidents

do happen. A death though? That's extremely

unlikely to happen again. Especially now,

people will be even more wary of the Off-

Limits. There won't be any more accidental

deaths for years, you can take it from me.'

'Another dead body?' the Doctor asked. 'You

sure? No, sorry, forget that. You work in a

hospital. Of course you're sure.'

Rory was doubled over, out of breath. He'd

run all the way, hoping to find the Doctor still

with Perpetual Pete - which he had. He'd paused

only to shout to Korl that he'd found a body.

Perpetual Pete was anxious to know exactly

where Rory had discovered the corpse. Rory

tried to hold his breath while the smelly old man

was talking, but it was difficult. As he led them

back through the tunnels to where the body

was, he described how he'd followed the Death

Ride tracks through several tunnels. Sometimes

they rose steeply up into a higher level before

plunging down again. But it was easy enough to

follow the route.

'It was just luck,' Rory explained. 'I stopped

to get my bearings. Just by where the track

disappears underground. It goes down this deep,

dark hole, really steep.' He shuddered at the

thought of experiencing the ride. The Doctor's

obvious eagerness didn't improve his feeling.

'Anyway, there's a tunnel running off the other

way at that point. I thought, if the ride turns

while it's down a level, maybe it'll come up again

in that tunnel. There's a flashing red sign that

says 'Off-Limits' at the entrance to the tunnel,

but I thought I'd check anyway. Just in case.' He

swallowed, catching sight of Pete's angry glare.

'So I went to look - just a few steps. That's all.'

'Green Eight,' Perpetual Pete said. 'They

wanted to give it a hairpin turn there and go all

the way through to Green Nine. No way,' he

added, shaking his head emphatically. 'The signs

are there for a reason. You shouldn't have gone

down there. It's not safe at all.'

'Obviously not,' the Doctor agreed.

'She was lying close to the tunnel wall. There

isn't a lot of light at that point - those crystal

things don't seem to work in that tunnel. But

there was enough to catch her face. Her eyes . . . '

Rory shuddered again. He'd seen a lot of death,

but he would never get used to it.

'We don't recharge the crystals in the Off-

Limits tunnels. Was it another rockfall?' Pete

asked. But there was something in the way he

asked it that made Rory suspect he already knew

the answer.

'Possibly,' Rory said cautiously. He glanced at

the Doctor before going on. 'But it looked more

to me like she'd been scratched and bitten.'

'Do you have rats in the tunnels?' the

Doctor asked.

Perpetual Pete shook his head. 'No,' he said.

'Not rats.'

'I'm guessing you don't usually have this sort

of trouble,' the Doctor said.

'Not usually. But I'll tell you something,' Pete

said, spraying Rory with a fine mist of spittle, 'if

they go ahead with that Death Ride, we're likely

to have a whole lot more unpleasantness than

you can imagine.'

'Oh, I can actually imagine quite a lot of

unpleasantness,' the Doctor said. 'Still, you could

be right. You could very well be light.'

Amy heard the sad sound of the harmonica

before she saw them. Garvo and Drexxon were

once more performing outside their tent, and a

small crowd had already gathered.

'They're good, aren't they?'

Amy turned to find that Harby and Vosh, the

boys from the orchestra, were standing close by.

'They're brilliant,' she told them.

'Weird, but good,' Harby agreed. We've been

waiting for them to come back for ages.'

'Come back from where?'

'Who knows?' Vosh said. 'They just go off.

Maybe they just go for something to eat or drink.'

'Or maybe the rumours are true,' Harby

said.

'What rumours are those?' Amy wondered.

The boys moved closer, checking that no one

else was listening.

'Walking the tunnels at night,' Harby

whispered.

'People have heard them,' Vosh added. 'My

mate Lymm says she heard Garvo's harmonica

echoing down an Off-Limits the other night

shift. Real spooky, she said it was.'

'I can imagine. But so what if Garvo plays

his music at night and goes for a walk?'

'It's just weird,' Harby said dismissively.

'Probably part of the act. Like, getting attention

and pretending to be mysterious and stuff.'

'Probably,' Amy agreed.

Together with her two young friends, Amy

wriggled her way to the front of the gathering

crowd. Drexxon was capering up and down on

his leash as the haunting music filled the air. Amy

tried to catch the creature's eye. Did it remember

her? Could she tell from its furry little expression

whether it was really happy? She wondered

whether Drexxon actually danced instinctively

to the music, or whether he had been trained -

she hated to think how that might be done. More

stick than carrot, she suspected.

Maybe it was the tone of the music, but Amy

suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of sadness

for the creature. What choice could it possibly

have while it was attached — shackled — to its

master? It occurred to her that there was one way

she could find out for sure if Drexxon was happy,

or if he would rather run away and escape from

Garvo. Without even thinking about it, she found

she had edged closer to where Drexxon was now

jumping up and down like an excited pogo stick.

She would have to be quick. If Garvo

guessed what she was up to, he'd stop playing

and take Drexxon away before Amy could do

anything. But she was almost within reach now.

The creature tilted its head to one side slightly

as it looked at Amy. It seemed like it recognised

her, which would help.

The music was coming to an end. The crowd

was getting ready to applaud. People were nodding

to each other and murmuring praise. Amy forced

herself to smile. She held her hands out to Drexxon

as if to compliment him, and as she had hoped,

the little creature reached back to her.

As quickly, but gently, as she could, Amy

caught Drexxon's paw. It was warm and soft,

but she could feel the hardness of the claws

even while they were retracted. She only needed

a moment. It was easier than she thought. She

expected the leash to be firmly attached. But it

was only loosely slipped over Drexxon's wrist.

Amy pulled the leash carefully away from

Drexxon's wrist and tossed it away.

'It's all right,' she said. You're safe now.'

But her words were drowned out by the

screams.

'What have you done?' Harby shouted.

'He's gone mad,' Vosh added.

They didn't mean Drexxon. The creature was

regarding Amy curiously. It made no effort to

escape. If anything, it looked angry.

But the effect on Garvo was very different.

He collapsed to his knees, hands clasped to his

head as if in pain. His harmonica fell to the

ground as he screamed and shrieked. His whole

body was shaking. His face was contorted with

pain. As Amy watched, he fell sideways, curling

into a ball as he continued to cry out.

Drexxon immediately scampered back towards

Garvo. The creature looked down at the

writhing man, and Amy could see what looked

almost like pity in its eyes. Its furry little paws

tugged at the thin leash that was still attached to

Garvo's wrist. It pulled on the leash, reeling it in

as quickly as it could. As soon as it caught hold of

the loop at the end, it slipped it back over its wrist.

Amy was amazed. But she was also pleased.

Despite her fears and worries, the creature really

did seem to value its relationship with its human

master. Though perhaps, Amy thought, it was

more of a partnership, as Garvo had told her.

After all, she now knew from her own experience,

Drexxon could have removed the leash from its

wrist at any time.

She turned her attention to Garvo. Having

got over their shock at his collapse, several

people from the crowd had hurried to help. Amy

suddenly felt incredibly guilty about the distress

she'd caused the man. She was sure he had reacted

to her 'releasing' Drexxon. Had he really worried

he might lose the creature - his friend? Or was

it painful to break the link between them? Just

as Garvo reacted to the way the leash conveyed

Garvo's music, did Garvo feel something from

Drexxon that it was unpleasant for him to lose?

'What was all that about?' Harby asked. 'Is

he OK?'

Garvo seemed to be recovering. He waved away

the people trying to help and got back to his feet.

'I'm so sorry.' His voice sounded strained and

tired. 'I had a bit of a shock. The connection

between myself and Drexxon - it's what drives

the music, the dance. What keeps us working so

well together as an act.'

Aware that the people near her were

beginning to look at Amy rather suspiciously,

she backed away. How many of them had seen

her slip Drexxon's leash off the creature's wrist?

How many of those people had realised that it

must have been the cause of Garvo's dramatic

collapse? He'd just told them, after all, that

breaking the connection had caused him pain

and upset.

'See you,' she said quietly to Harby and Vosh,

and backed away through the crowd.

The harmonica music started up again and

people turned back to see the show. As she

turned and slipped away, the last Amy saw of

the show was Drexxon - its deep-set, dark eyes

fixed on her accusingly.

The body that Rory had found was a female

mining engineer who'd been part of the team

helping to set up the Death Ride. The best theory

seemed to be that she had wandered into the

Off-Limits tunnel, and been caught in a rockfall.

'An extremely rare rockfall,' the Doctor

pointed out. An extremely rare rockfall that

didn't show up on your seismic registers.'

'They aren't tuned to be as sensitive in Off-

Limits areas,' Perpetual Pete pointed out.

The Doctor, Rory and Pete watched as the

body was stretchered away by medics. The 'Off-

Limits' sign at the mouth of the tunnel flashed

on and off, striping the stretcher with red light.

'So,' the Doctor went on, 'an extremely rare

and small rockfall that left her with no crush

injuries, just those scratches.'

'And then,' Rory added, 'she staggered back

here, and died of heart failure.'

'Delayed shock,' Perpetual Pete grumbled.

'Very delayed,' the Doctor said. He peered

down the dimly lit Off-Limits tunnel. 'Can't see

any sign of a rockfall from here. Let's go and

find it.'

Perpetual Pete grabbed the Doctor's collar

and hauled him back with surprising strength.

'No one goes down there,' he spat. Literally.

'Why not?' the Doctor demanded. 'You didn't

even want the medics to go and retrieve the body,

and it was only a few metres down the tunnel.'

'It's Off-Limits. That's why.'

'There's got to be more to it than that.' Rory

told him.

'Don't you get it?' Pete said. 'It's dangerous.

That's why the tunnels are Off-Limits. It's a

safety measure, and people need to understand

that Off-Limits means Off-Limits.'

'Well,' the Doctor announced, 'that tunnel

looks safe enough to me. The roof's secure, the

walls are sound. There's no sign of damage or

stress. What is it that makes you so certain that

going down that tunnel is dangerous?'

Perpetual Pete's face had reddened with

anger. For a moment he was so furious he could

scarcely speak. When he did, his voice was a low

rumble, 'What about a dead body? Doesn't that

suggest at least an element of risk to you? Or

are you going to tell her husband and kids that

the place she died is completely safe and there's

nothing at all to worry about and you're happy

she was down there?'

Rory swallowed. 'Fair point, I think actually,

Doctor.'

The Doctor was silent for a moment. Then

he nodded slowly. 'Well, it was good to meet you,

Mr Pete. I don't know what you're hiding, but I

don't like it.'

'I'm hiding nothing,' Pete said. But he

suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

'And if anyone else dies — anyone at all,' the

Doctor went on, 'I shall blame you. Come on

Rory - it's candyfloss time.'

'You think he did it?' Rory asked as they

hurried back towards the fair.

'He was with me, he can't have killed that

woman.'

'But he knows more than he's saying.'

'Has to. Because he's not saying anything.'

'He's a nasty, rude, smelly, old man,' Rory

said. 'He's got to be behind whatever's going on.'

The Doctor glanced sideways at him. 'Way to

go, Sherlock. Never mind the lack of evidence,

the man stinks. So he has to be the villain.'

'So what do you think?' Rory demanded.

'I think we should find Amy. I think I need

more candyfloss. I think everything about this

stinks, not just Perpetual Pete. And for what it's

worth, evidence or not, I think you're right. He's

a nasty, rude, smelly, old man and he's got to be

the villain.'

Amy didn't really feel comfortable at the fair.

It seemed like everyone was looking at her. She

could imagine them whispering to each other:

'Look, there goes that mad woman who caused

all the trouble with Garvo and Drexxon.'

She tried to ignore it, but the feeling just

kept growing. There was only one thing for it,

she decided — she'd have to go and apologise to

Garvo. She ought to. It was the right thing to

do. She'd been wrong and she'd caused him pain

and grief, and however embarrassing it might be

she should go and get it over with.

It didn't surprise her that Garvo and Drexxon

were taking a break from performing. What did

surprise her was what she saw as she looked

round to try to work out the quickest way out

of the cavern and the best way to try to find the

Doctor and Rory.

At first it was just a blurred movement,

glimpsed out of the corner of her eye. But when

she turned, her eye drawn to the movement,

Amy was just in time to see the distinctive furry

shape of Drexxon disappearing furtively into

the nearest tunnel. The only reason she'd been

in time to see the creature was that Drexxon had

paused to look round, as if checking it wasn't

being watched, before slipping round the corner

and out of sight.

Assuming that Garvo must be with Drexxon,

Amy hurried after the creature. But when she got

to the tunnel, she could see no sign of anyone.

She ran down the tunnel, hoping to catch up. At

one point, she thought she saw a shadow scuttling

ahead of her. But it certainly wasn't Garvo.

After a while she gave up and slowed to a

halt. As she caught her breath, Amy saw that

another, smaller tunnel led off to one side. A

sign saying 'Off-Limits' flickered as if the bulb

was about to go. Was it her imagination, or could

she see something moving down there?

She stared into the near darkness of the

side tunnel for a while, but she could make out

nothing. Her best bet was to get back to the fair,

she decided. Rory and the Doctor would look

for her there - they might already be looking

for her. And if and when Garvo returned from

another harmonica-playing tour of the tunnels,

or whatever he was up to, she could apologise to

him properly.

The Doctor and Rory were eating candyfloss

when Amy found them.

'Having fun?' she asked.

'Not really,' Rory told her.

'He found a dead body,' the Doctor explained.

'That's never much fun.'

Between them, the Doctor and Rory

described what had happened, then Amy filled

them in on the little she had learned.

'So, we're off to explore Off-Limits tunnels

then?' she asked.

'Seems the best bet,' Rory admitted. He didn't

sound excited by the idea.

'Great,' Amy said. 'Oh, hang on . . . ' A

thought occurred to her. 'I just want to check

if Garvo's back. He wasn't there just now, but I

want to talk to him.'

'What about?' Rory asked.

'Oh, you know — stuff.'

'Stuff?'

'Yeah. Stuff. Won't be long.'

How long Amy stood in the doorway of the

tent staring at the scene inside, she had no idea.

But it was long enough for the Doctor and Rory

to come and find her to see what was happening.

Amy said nothing. She just stood aside so

they could see.

The tent was almost empty, like a small

bedsit - with just a table and chair and a mattress

on the ground for a bed. Lying on the mattress

was Garvo. One hand trailed off the side of the

mattress. His harmonica lay where it had fallen

from his grasp. The thin leash, one end still

attached to his wrist, lay coiled nearby. The loop

that usually enclosed Drexxon's wrist was empty

and lying curled like a question mark on the

ground. Garvo's eyes were wide open, staring

unseeing at the roof of the tent.

Rory ran to the mattress and checked Garvo's

pulse.

Amy stood watching, her knuckles pressed

to her teeth. 'I let Drexxon off the leash,' she

confessed. 'Just for a moment, for a few seconds,

that's all. Did I do this? Is he . . . ?'

'He's got a pulse,' Rory said. He could feel

the faintest throbbing under his finger as he held

Garvo's wrist. 'He's alive. He's breathing, look.'

The Doctor leaned over Garvo, staring into

the man's eyes. He waved. No response. So he

pulled the most outrageous face and blew a

raspberry. There was still no response.

'What's wrong with him?' Amy asked.

'No sense of humour by the look of it,' the

Doctor said.

'Coma of some sort?' Rory suggested. 'Slow

pulse, shallow breathing, no awareness . . . '

'Loss of free will,' the Doctor said. 'How

does that happen? Or is it something he chose to

do to himself? Like taking medicine. A healing

process maybe?'

'Oh, come on,' Rory said, 'you can't ask us

to believe that someone could put themselves

into a coma at will so their body can recover

from some trauma.' He caught the Doctor's

smug expression. 'Right, self-induced coma —

definitely a possibility.'

Amy was nervously twisting the leash between

her fingers. She didn't even seem to realise she'd

picked it up.

'Let me see that,' the Doctor said, jumping

over the mattress and just clearing Garvo's

unmoving body. He sat down on the ground and

examined the leash. A moment later, he had his

sonic screwdriver out and was hard at work.

' It's just a bit of plastic, probably with a metal core,' Rory pointed out.

'Oh, it's much more than that.' The Doctor

didn't look up. 'You say you slipped it off

Drexxon's wrist?' he asked Amy, still examining

the leash. And Garvo didn't like that?'

'He went ape,' Amy confirmed. 'OK, maybe

not the best expression given he's got an alien

space monkey as a pet, but he lost it big time.'

'Angry?' Rory asked.

'Maybe . . . ' the Doctor conceded. 'If he

thought you'd released Drexxon.'

'But Drexxon went straight back to him,'

Amy pointed out.

'There'd be confusion, maybe panic, when

this link was broken.' The Doctor held up the

leash for them to see. 'Perhaps Drexxon's instinct

was to seek out comfort in the only way it knew,

with the only person it recognised.'

'What are you saying?' Rory asked. 'That's

just a leash, isn't it? Or is it?'

The Doctor tossed it away and leaped to his

feet. 'Far more than that. It's a neuronic control

system. Nasty thing.'

Amy frowned. 'So, what does it do?'

'Put simply, for us simple people, it links

two individuals — or a person and an alien space

monkey — so that one can control the other by

sending mental signals down the cable inside.

Hypnotism by wire.'

Amy gave a snort that combined both

satisfaction and outrage. 'I knew he had some

hold over the poor thing.' She kicked at the

mattress, where Garvo did not react.

'Careful, Amy,' Rory warned.

'I told you the poor thing was a slave.'

' You did,' the Doctor admitted. We should

trust your instincts.'

'He must have run off while Garvo's getting

his kip.' Amy sighed. 'The poor little thing can't

have had to survive on its own for years. It must

be so scared and alone.'

She pushed aside the flap of material that

formed the door to the tent.

'Where are you going?' Rory asked.

'To find Drexxon. I saw him earlier, heading

off down one of the tunnels. I thought Garvo

must be with him, but obviously not. You

coming?'

She didn't wait for an answer, but stepped

out of the tent, allowing the flap to fall back

into place.

The Doctor was staring at his sonic

screwdriver, brow furrowed in thought. 'Rory

'Going after Amy,' Rory called from the

mouth of the tent.

'Good. Bring her back here - quickly!'

Rory caught the urgency in his voice.

'Problem?'

'Just get her.'

There was no sign of Amy. By the time Rory

left the tent, she had already disappeared into

the crowds. Rather than go rushing off in a

random direction he stood on tiptoe and tried to

spot Amy's distinctive hair. Clueless the Clown

waved to him and Rory forced a smile as he

waved back.

'Where is she?' the Doctor demanded from

right behind Rory's ear, making him jump.

'Can't see her. She'll be halfway to wherever

by now. You know what she's like.'

'I know what she's like,' the Doctor agreed.

'But she doesn't know what Drexxon's like.'

'The poor little monkey-boy that Garvo kept

enslaved. She'll smother him with sympathy

when she finds him.'

'Ugh,' the Doctor winced. 'I hope not.

Because things are not always what they seem.

And in this case they most certainly are not what

they seem.'

Something in the Doctor's tone made Rory feel

suddenly anxious and cold. What do you mean?'

'Checked the readings. The control flow is

reversed.'

'And in English?'

'Rory, Rory, Rory,' the Doctor said. We thought

the control leash was being used by Garvo to

make Drexxon do what he wanted, right?'

'Right.' Rory saw the Doctor's expression.

'Wrong?' he guessed again.

'Wrong. Big time wrong.'

'Then what?' But even as he asked the

question, Rory realised the answer. 'You mean,

Drexxon is making Garvo do what he wants?

Alien space monkey enslaves the will of poor

human musician?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Alien space monkey

puts poor human musician into a coma so it can

wander off for a bit and do what it likes without

losing control when the leash comes off.'

'Can we wake him up?'

'Not safely. It takes time to wake someone

from that state and then we'd have to wean

him off the control. That could be tricky too,

especially if he's been under it for a while. Amy

told us what happened when she broke the

control link — Garvo had a breakdown. The

confusion and anger and pain in his mind as he

struggled to cope with what's been done to him

must have been . . . extreme.'

'No wonder Drexxon put the leash back on

quick time.'

'So now we have a nasty vicious space monkey

creature with sharp claws running loose in the

tunnels,' the Doctor said.

They both thought about it for a moment.

'We have to find Amy — now!' they both said.

'She mentioned seeing Drexxon go down a

tunnel,' Rory reminded the Doctor.

'But which one? There are dozens. If

someone saw her, we'd be able to follow.'

'Who do we ask?' Rory wondered.

'Everyone!'

They ran through the fair, calling Amy's

name and asking anyone and everyone if they

had seen her. Before long, several people were

helping with the search. Clueless the Clown

strode above everyone, hoping to spot Amy's

distinctive hair.

'Flame red hair?' asked a fire-eater. 'I'll

certainly help look. Us flamers have to stick

together.'

The man's own head was completely bald.

Rory wondered for a moment if he'd burned

his hair off learning his trade. Best not to think

about it, he decided. He certainly wasn't going

to ask.

Harby and Vosh came running up to them to

know what was happening.

'Your friend Amy?' Harby asked.

'Not just my friend . . . ' Rory started, but

the Doctor nudged him to be quiet and let

Harby finish.

'She headed off towards Yellow Nineteen.'

'About ten minutes ago,' Vosh added.

'You want us to show you?' Harby asked.

He sounded reluctant. 'Only they're saying the

Death Ride's nearly finished and we wanted to

take a look at the starting gate.'

'I know Yellow Nineteen,' the fire-eater said.

'It's this way.'

'Thanks for your help,' the Doctor told the

two boys.

'Is there a reward if you find her?' Vosh asked.

'Absolutely,' the Doctor assured him. 'I'll get

Amy to give you a kiss.'

Vosh stared at him as if he was mad.

'Oh yuck!'

Amy's instincts told her that the poor Drexxon

would keep to the shadows and the darker

tunnels. That was why she hadn't managed to

spot him when she followed him before. He

must be so frightened.

The Off-Limits tunnels she'd reached before

seemed like a good place to start. OK, it was

Off-Limits, but Drexxon wouldn't know that.

Provided she went slowly and carefully, what

danger could there really be?

'Are you there?' she called, as she made her

cautious way along the tunnel. 'Drexxon — can

you hear me? It's all right, I won't hurt you. I

know what's been going on, what's really been

going on. I just want to help you, OK?'

There was a scuffling from further down

the tunnel. As she approached, Amy could see a

section of scaffolding sticking out from the side

wall. The Death Ride extended into the tunnel

before curving sharply away again — round and

down through the floor. This was probably one

of the sections that Perpetual Pete had got so

worked up about.

The scuffling sound came again. Amy was

sure she could see a pair of eyes glinting in the

shadows beneath the scaffolding.

'There you are.' She stooped down and

reached out into the darkness. 'I know you're

there. It's all right. Everything's going to be fine.'

Drexxon edged out of the shadows and

into the dim light. The creature seemed more

confident than Amy had expected. It regarded

her through its small, dark eyes. It raised a paw.

With a staccato 'click', claws sprang out from

the end of the paw.

Amy backed away, straightening up. This

wasn't right. She took a step backwards — but

too late.

With a snarl of rage, the creature hurled

itself at her. Sharp teeth glinted as they caught

the light. Its savage claws slashed down at Amy.

Amy fell backwards. Claws slashed down close

to her face, but somehow she managed to

avoid them. She thrust her hands out, grabbing

the Drexxon by the throat. The creature's fur

was like steel wool, cutting into her hands as she

struggled to hold it away and keep clear of the

savage claws.

But it was a struggle she couldn't win. The

Drexxon was incredibly strong — far stronger

than it looked. With every second the claws

came closer. She could smell the creature's warm,

unpleasant breath. She could hear its squeals

of triumph.

Then suddenly it was gone. Amy rolled

away, catching sight of the Drexxon hurtling

through the air like a football. It struck the

rock wall behind the scaffolding and slid to

the ground.

Above Amy, Rory was hopping on his left

leg, trying to massage his right foot.

'That hurt!' he complained. 'I'm not kicking

one of those again!'

Amy would have laughed with relief. But

the Drexxon was recovering. It seemed to

gather itself, ready to attack again. Amy crawled

backwards, yelling at Rory to watch out. Other

people were running up now — the Doctor,

several of the people from the fair and a couple

of miners in overalls.

The Drexxon emerged from beneath the

scaffolding. It stared at the people grouped

round it with obvious anger, hissing through

its sharp little teeth.

'Don't go near it,' the Doctor warned. 'It's

cornered and dangerous. It's certainly not a

pussycat, so don't even think about trying to

stroke it.'

'As if,' Amy muttered.

With an echoing roar of rage, that seemed

as if it must have come from a much larger

animal, the Drexxon attacked again. It hurtled

towards the assembled people. Most of them

scattered — knocking the hopping Rory over.

Only the Doctor stood his ground. The

Doctor and one other man - a man stripped to

the waist, holding a firebrand. Amy expected

him to try to ward off the attacking creature

with the burning torch he was holding. Instead,

to her astonishment, he raised the firebrand

above his head, turned it so the burning end

was downwards and then stuck the firebrand in

his mouth.

'Don't try this at home,' the Doctor warned,

stepping out of the way.

The Drexxon leaped at the firer-eater.

The fire-eater pulled the torch from his mouth,

and blew a stream of flame at the Drexxon.

It gave a shriek of pain and anger, dropping

to the rock floor. The fire-eater stepped

forward, ready to spew fire at it again. But the

creature scampered away into the shadows.

Amy could hear the click of its claws on

the ground as it disappeared.

Assured by the Doctor that there was nothing

more to see, the people slowly drifted away.

Some of them were frightened by what they'd

seen, others assumed it was all part of a show

staged by the people from the fair. There was

even some applause. The Doctor thanked the

fire-eater profusely. Amy ran to find Rory — who

was still hopping about and complaining about

his foot.

'I mean, the thing looks like a furry football.

A furry football with teeth and claws, but even

so. It certainly doesn't feel like one.'

Amy hugged him. 'Never mind. Thanks

anyway. I love you even if you can't walk. Or

play football. Should have left it to the Doctor.'

Rory managed to stand up long enough to

give her a hug back.

'So, what's going on?' Amy demanded. And

what's the plan now?'

'Drexxon was controlling Garvo — he was

the slave, not the poor ickle cute monkey space

alien,' Rory explained.

'And as for a plan,' the Doctor added, 'I need

to talk to the one person who might know what's

really going on. And here he comes now.'

Amy turned to see where the Doctor was

looking. A figure was approaching along the

tunnel, shuffling into the dim light.

'You know this tunnel is Off-Limits,' the old

man wheezed.

'Absolutely,' the Doctor told him. Amy - meet

Perpetual Pete. He's going to tell us all he knows

about the Drexxons, and why this perfectly safe

tunnel that's not in any danger of collapse - along

with so many others — is Off-Limits.'

'Drexxons?' Perpetual Pete asked. Even in

the dim light, he seemed to have gone as pale

as his straggly white beard. 'I don't know what

you're talking about.'

'Yeah, you do,' the Doctor told him. 'It's

time you told us why you're so desperate to keep

people away from certain parts of this asteroid

and out of specific tunnels. It's time for you to

tell us what you're doing here. And who you

really are.'

'I've been here, on this asteroid, for a very

long time,' Perpetual Pete said.

'So I gathered,' Rory said.

The Doctor glared at him to be quiet. The

four of them - the Doctor, Amy, Rory and

Perpetual Pete were sitting on the tunnel floor

close to the scaffolding as Pete told his story.

Everyone else had returned to the fair or gone

back to work.

'I've been here longer than anyone else

knows or can remember,' Pete went on, as if

Rory had not spoken. 'They think my job is to

keep them safe. And they're right.' He broke off

into thoughtful silence.

'But you're not keeping them safe in the way

they think,' the Doctor prompted.

'No, I'm not,' Perpetual Pete confessed.

'I don't work for the Interplanetary Mining

Corporation who own this asteroid and pay

their wages. The executives at IMC don't care

about the safety of their workers. In fact, they'd

rather the miners did work in unsafe tunnels if it

makes them more money.'

'So who does pay you?' Amy asked.

'I was given a job, and the means to carry it

out, before there even was a mine here. Before

IMC and the other corporations even existed.

I tried to warn off the first pioneers and

prospectors. When they discovered trisilicate

and the company's drilling robots moved in, I

did my best to steer them away from a particular

part of this asteroid. And I succeeded. But

then, when they'd worked out one area they

moved on to another and then another. It's

been a constant battle to steer them away from

certain tunnels — tunnels that were here already,

like this one. Tunnels drilled for a very different

purpose over seven hundred years ago, when I

was a young man.'

'But why?' Amy asked. Why did you want

to keep people away from these tunnels?' She

glanced round nervously.

'Because of the Drexxons,' the Doctor said.

'Am I right, or am I totally and absolutely correct?'

Perpetual Pete was nodding. 'Almost a

thousand years ago, the Drexxons rampaged

through this whole sector of space. That was

long before the humans came.' He smiled,

chipped and yellowed teeth glinting. 'Does it

surprise you to learn I'm not human?'

'There's a lot of it about, actually,' Rory said.

'Oh.' Pete seemed disappointed not to

have provoked gasps of astonishment. 'Well,

never mind. Anyway, as I say, the Drexxons

rampaged through space. They attacked planet

after planet, killing and destroying. Not for any

reason - they didn't want an empire or wealth

or power. They just did it because they could.

Because they enjoyed it. And you know, that

made it worse.'

'I bet,' the Doctor murmured.

'Finally we managed to round them up.

A combined force, led by General Petrovnal,

defeated the Drexxons. We offered them a

planetary system of their own if they'd just

stay there and live in peace. But even against

such huge odds, they wouldn't surrender. After

a terrible battle, a battle that lasted for over a

decade, we managed to trap them all inside a

Perpetuity Chamber.'

'And what's one of those?' Amy asked.

'A prison,' the Doctor said. A cage. Inside,

time stops. Everything is held in stasis —

unchanging. In perpetuity — forever. But open

the lid . . . '

'We hid the Chamber so it would never be

found and the Drexxons would never again

emerge to threaten our lands and our children,'

Pete told them.

'Guessing you hid it on a bleak, barren

asteroid that no one in their right mind would

ever be interested in,' the Doctor said.

Pete nodded. 'It seemed like a good idea at

the time. The Chamber is very fragile. Once

positioned and sealed within a protective vault,

it cannot be moved, or the barriers break down

and the Chamber opens. There was a chance, just

a chance, that someone might one day stumble

across it. So I was appointed its guardian. My

job — my life - is to make sure the Chamber is

never opened.'

'And I thought you were just a rude, smelly,

old man,' Rory said. 'Oh — sorry.'

Pete glared at him. 'You'd smell too if you

were several hundred years old.'

'Um, not necessarily,' the Doctor said

quickly, gesturing for Rory to make no further

comment of his own. At least, I hope not. Can

we move on?'

'So now a Drexxon has found this Perpetuity

Chamber,' Amy said.

'One must have escaped,' Pete agreed.

'It waited all these years. They are incredibly

long-lived. I imagine it has been searching for the

Chamber, using the Galactic Fair as cover for its

search across the cosmos. They may be savage

and vicious, but they are also very patient.'

'Poor Garvo probably isn't the first human

the Drexxon has hooked up with,' the Doctor

guessed.

'But that Drexxon,' Amy said, 'it's just a

space monkey. I mean, it's nasty and dangerous

but surely it's not big enough to cause much

trouble.'

'From what you tell me, that is a small

one,' Pete said. 'A child. That must be how we

missed it.'

'So, how big do they grow, exactly?' Rory

asked.

'An adult Drexxon would fit in this tunnel,'

Pete said. He glanced up at the roof - five metres

above their heads. 'Just-'

'But what's the thing doing?' Rory wondered.

'Why's it killing people?'

'Because that's what it does, what it enjoys,'

Pete snapped. Weren't you listening?'

'There must be more to it than that,' the

Doctor said. 'Maybe Rodge and the other victim

found it sneaking about down in the tunnels.

But what can it have been doing that it didn't

want them to reveal?'

'The Death Ride,' Pete said, leaping to his

feet with surprising speed and agility. 'The route

of the Death Ride goes dangerously close to

the Perpetuity Chamber. I've managed to keep

them away from the main vault that holds the

Chamber, but the track does go very close. If

the Drexxon has sabotaged the Death Ride . . . '

The Doctor jumped to his feet as well. 'It

could crash through the vault wall,' he finished.

'But the Drexxon still has to open the Chamber

itself. That must be sealed — tell me that's sealed.'

'It is secure,' Pete agreed. 'We locked it

with something the Drexxons could never

understand or manipulate, something that is

the very opposite of the chaos and violence

they live by.'

'Deadlock?' the Doctor asked. 'Double-bolt

encryption? Stasis latch? What?'

Pete smiled. 'Much more powerful than that,

Doctor. We sealed it with music.'

'Ah,' the Doctor said. 'Then I think we might

have a problem.'

But before anyone could ask what he meant,

or how a Chamber could be sealed with music,

two small figures came running up.

'Harby and Vosh,' Amy exclaimed. 'What's

the hurry?'

'You've got to come,' Harby gasped through

his excitement. 'They've finished it.'

'Finished what?' the Doctor asked.

'The Death Ride,' Vosh said. 'If we're quick

we can be on the first ride. People are queuing

already. We thought you'd want to know.'

'Absolutely we want .to know,' the Doctor

agreed. He grabbed Amy's hand and hauled

her to her feet, repeating the action with Rory.

'If that Death Ride leaves the starting point, it

will crash through into the secret vault and the

Drexxon will open the Perpetuity Chamber.'

'Garvo is the key — literally,' the Doctor said,

as they hurried back down the tunnels

towards the Galactic Fair.

'I still don't get this music thing,' Rory

admitted.

'As the Doctor says, the Drexxon must have

had many 'masters' like this over the years,'

Perpetual Pete said. 'Ready for when it found the

Chamber.' Pete hadn't been to the fair, so he had

not seen Drexxon or Garvo. The Doctor and his

friends had quickly explained the situation and

what they'd found out.

'The Chamber is sealed with a musical key,'

the Doctor said. 'Literally a musical key. It's

like a code, only instead of typing in numbers

or letters, you play musical notes. Play the right

notes or chords in the right sequence and it

opens the Perpetuity Chamber.'

'But you still have to know the combination

of notes, right?' Amy asked.

'Right. But think about it - Garvo has

been seen wandering the tunnels playing his

harmonica. Drexxon had to be sure that the

Chamber was even here. He's probably been to

hundreds of possible locations while travelling

with the fair, or on his own. Now he knows, and

he's been probing the defences, getting feedback

in some way. Working out the combination so

that — once he breaks into the vault — he knows

how to open the Chamber. By now, he knows

the exact musical notes to play.'

'I should have gone to the fair,' Perpetual

Pete grumbled. 'If I had, I probably would have

seen the Drexxon and I could have taken action

to protect the Vault and the Chamber within it.

But I thought it was a waste of time.'

'Having fun is never a waste of time, General,'

the Doctor said.

Rory gasped. 'You mean he is - '

'Now I am just Pete,' the old man said, cutting

off Rory's question.

'But Doctor,' Amy said, 'if Garvo is in a

coma or whatever back at the fair, then how will

Drexxon open the Chamber, even if the Death

Ride does smash open the vault?'

The Doctor paused in mid-step. They were

hurrying back along the main tunnel, and he

hopped several times before coming to a halt.

'That's brilliant, Amy. Of course. We have to

get to Garvo — without him, Drexxon's powerless.'

'He can still sabotage the Death Ride,' Rory

pointed out.

'So — are we not going on the Death Ride,

then?' Harby asked.

'Absolutely not,' the Doctor told the two

boys. 'It's dangerous.'

'Yes!' Vosh agreed. 'It's dangerous and wicked

and cool.'

'No, no, no — not that sort of dangerous. I

mean it's dangerous dangerous.'

The two boys looked at each other, obviously

disappointed.

'Look,' the Doctor said, 'we need to get to

the fair and make sure Garvo is all right and that

Drexxon doesn't try to hurt him. I want you two

— and Rory — to get to the Death Ride as quick

as you can.'

'But not go on it?' Rory checked. 'Absolutely

not to go on the dangerous up and down roller

coaster ride thing, yes?'

'Yes. I mean, no — you don't go on it. You

have to stop the Death Ride from operating.

Make sure they don't try to run it. Do whatever

you have to.'

Rory nodded. 'Leave it to us. Shouldn't be a

problem.'

'Great,' the Doctor said. 'Off you go.'

Harby led Vosh and Rory down a side tunnel.

'Hey,' Perpetual Pete called after them, 'that

tunnel's Off-Lim-' He stopped and shook his

head. 'Oh, never mind,' he muttered.

The Galactic Fair was as crowded as ever.

The Doctor, Amy and Perpetual Pete forced

their way through the mass of people towards

Garvo's tent.

'I can't see that I've missed much,' Pete said,

as Clueless the Clown waved to them from his

stilts. Pete glared back at him.

'Ever tried candyfloss?' Amy asked.

'Can't say that I have. What's special about

candyfloss?'

'You know how usually with food, you eat it

and then it's gone?' the Doctor said.

'Yes.'

'Well, with candyfloss — it's gone before you

eat it!'

'Perfect food for time travellers,' Amy said.

'That and Backwards Bananas,' the Doctor

agreed. 'Oh, and vomit fruit.'

'I don't want to know,' Amy insisted.

'The clever thing with that is,' the Doctor

went on, ignoring her, 'it's so disgusting that just

the thought of eating it makes you sick. And

you're so sick you'll eat anything afterwards, even

a vomit fruit. Effect and cause instead of the

other way round. I try to avoid them myself,' he

added, 'especially after that unfortunate incident

with the Queen Mother.'

Finally they reached Garvo's tent. But when

they hurried inside, the mattress on the floor was

empty. Garvo had gone.

'Could he have just, I don't know, woken up

and wandered off?' Amy asked.

The Doctor shook his head. 'Drexxon had

to wake him by reconnecting the link. The leash

has gone, and so has his harmonica.'

'But they'd have to be right there, inside the

vault, to open the Perpetuity Chamber,' Pete

said. 'And unless the vault is breached, they can't

get inside.'

'They're heading for the Death Ride,' Amy

realised. 'Drexxon will want to be on it when it

crashes through the vault wall, if that's what's

going to happen.'

'It is, unless Rory and his young friends can

stop the ride,' the Doctor said.

'The Drexxon will do anything to prevent

that,' Perpetual Pete told them. 'Your friend and

the boys could be in great danger.'

'Death Ride?' Amy suggested.

The Doctor nodded. 'Death Ride.'

The start of the Death Ride was another

large cavern cut into the rock of the asteroid.

The roof was so high it was out of sight. A

tall scaffolding tower with steep steps built into

the side of it stood in the centre of the cavern.

People were already queuing all the way up

the steps. The ride itself plunged down towards

the floor, levelling out for about thirty metres,

then dipping sharply down through a hole in

the ground.

At the top of the ride, the Death Ride

train was a string of eight small, green, open-

topped compartments on wheels. It looked like

a caterpillar about to climb down the curving

stem of a leaf.

A large crowd of people had assembled to

watch the first Death Ride. The Doctor, Amy

and Perpetual Pete pushed and shoved their way

through to the front.

'I just hope Rory is up there telling them not

to let it go ahead,' the Doctor said.

'Guess again,' Amy told him. 'He's over there.'

Rory was standing with Harby and Vosh at

the bottom of the steps. He saw the Doctor and

Amy approaching and waved.

'Have you told them?' the Doctor demanded

as soon as he was within earshot. 'Have you

stopped the Death Ride?'

'Um,' Rory said. He looked at Harby and

Vosh, who shuffled their feet in embarrassment.

'Sort of yes and no.'

'Meaning what?' Pete asked.

'Meaning, yes we've told them. And no, we

haven't actually stopped it. Not as such. They're

going ahead. In about five minutes, actually.

Sorry about that.'

'Sorry?' the Doctor stared at him in

astonishment. 'The Drexxons are about to be

unleashed and everyone on that ride, to say

nothing of all the other people on this asteroid,

could die. Sorry?!'

'We did actually mention that,' Rory said

sheepishly.

'Did you tell them what's going on?' Perpetual

Pete asked.

Rory nodded. 'Yes. Yes, we did.'

Vosh explained: 'Rory was great. He told

them that a nasty vicious alien space monkey

had sabotaged the ride so it would crash and the

alien space monkey could release its bloodthirsty,

warlike race from a special prison that's been

hidden for centuries and which can only be

opened with a mouth organ.'

'They didn't seem to believe me,' Rory added.

'Possibly too much information, do you

think?' the Doctor suggested. 'Maybe, 'there's

a slight technical problem with this ride,

and everyone might die horribly in a crash,'

would have done?'

Rory nodded slowly. 'Possibly. You want to

try?' he offered.

'Twenty!' someone yelled through a

loudspeaker from the top of the tower.

'Nineteen!'

'I think it's a bit late for that.'

The crowd joined in the countdown.

'So, what now?' Amy asked. She had to shout

to be heard above the countdown.

'Change of plan,' the Doctor decided. He

looked at Rory through narrowed eyes. 'You

and Amy . . . I'll talk to you two in a moment.

First . . .' He crouched down to talk to Harby

and Vosh. 'Can you find some of your friends

from the orchestra? As many as you can, with

their instruments. I need them here fast. In fact,

faster than that!' He straightened up. 'How long

do we have?' he asked Pete.

'It's a long ride. I guess that's part of the

attraction. But I'd estimate it will pass closest to

the vault in about eight minutes.'

'That's how long you have,' the Doctor told

the boys. 'Meet in the tunnel out there in less

than eight minutes - the sooner, the better.' He

pointed to the tunnel they'd come down. 'Now,

scoot!'

The countdown reached zero. They all

looked up at the rails, high above them, as with

a rumble and roar, the Death Ride train started,

ever so slowly, to move forwards.

'And what about us?' Amy asked.

The Death Ride was gathering speed,

plunging down the track towards them.

'Anything we can do,' Rory shouted. 'Anything

at all.'

The Doctor grinned. 'In which case, I want

you on that train.'

'You are kidding!' Amy told him.

'Garvo and Drexxon are probably on board.

You have to stop the ride safely, break the link

between the two of them, and help anyone who

gets hurt. OK?' He paused for less than a second

for any objections as the Death Ride hurtled

down the track. Well, off you go then.'

Catching the Train of Death, as Amy was

already thinking of it, turned out to be easier

than she expected. Or at least, not quite as difficult

and dangerous. The train was already slowing as it

reached the bottom of the scaffolding. The next

section of track ran across the floor of the cavern

before plunging sharply down through the ground

to the level below.

But before it took the plunge, the train

was designed to slow almost to a stop for a

few moments. Partly, this was to heighten the

excitement amongst the passengers. Partly,

it was so that anyone who realised from the

experience of the first, fairly tame, drop that

they didn't actually want to continue with the

ride could get off.

An automatic announcement warned people

this really was their very last chance to get off the

ride and to be careful leaving their carriage. Of

course, no one was supposed to get on the ride

at this stage. But Amy was already racing towards

where the train had slowed right down. Rory was

close behind her. The Doctor too was running, his

floppy hair blown back out of his face for once.

Perpetual Pete had made no effort to keep up

with them and Amy could see him in the distance,

shaking his head in sad disbelief.

The train was slowly starting to pick up speed

again by the time they reached it.

'There are no spare seats,' Rory shouted.

'Wimp,' Amy shouted back.

The Doctor was leaning in over the side of

the rear carriage, hurrying to keep up as the train

started to pull away more quickly. He pointed

at a young boy sitting with a couple of friends.

'You — are you in the orchestra?'

The boy looked round, then pointed to

himself to ask: You mean me?'

'Yes, you,' the Doctor shouted. 'You are,

aren't you? I saw you playing a trombone.'

The boy nodded guiltily, though he obviously

had no idea what the problem was.

'Right,' the Doctor ordered, 'out!' Running to

catch up with the next of the little green open-

topped carriages, he caught sight of another child

who was part of the orchestra — a small girl trying

to hide behind a larger girl. 'And you — come on.'

'What's he doing?' Rory gasped.

The train was moving away faster now,

heading for the hole in the floor of the cavern.

'Just get in,' Amy yelled at him, levering

herself up and over the open side of the carriage.

'At least there are seats now,' she told Rory, as

the Doctor lifted two more orchestra children

bodily from the next carriage and dumped them

on the ground beside him.

'Anyone else? Anyone else in the orchestra?'

the Doctor shouted up the length of the train.

'If so, I want you off this train now. Understood?

I'm not mucking about, this is important.'

A few hands slowly and nervously went up.

A man, a young woman, two more boys and a girl

undid their harnesses and climbed awkwardly

off the train. They had to jump as the train

picked up speed. Amy and Rory flopped down

into spare seats next to each other.

'No time to sit down!' the Doctor shouted to

them. 'You've got a job to do, remember?'

'And what about you and Pete?' Rory called

back to him.

The train gathered speed, leaving the Doctor

behind, with a small group of children and a

couple of adults. His answer was almost lost in

the rush of air and the screams of the people in

the front carriage as it began to fall.

But Amy thought the Doctor called back:

'I'm hoping Pete has a skiffle board, and I'm

going to organise a concert.'

But she didn't have time to worry about

that. The train was picking up speed, leaving

the Doctor and his new friends far behind. Amy

stood up to see them disappear into the distance,

but Rory pulled her back down again.

'But we need to look for Gravo and Drexxon,'

Amy protested.

'Not just as we're about to start on the journey

to the centre of Earth,' Rory told her.

As he finished speaking, screams of delight

echoed from the carriage in front of them. The

whole train was tipping and sliding into the hole

in the ground. Moments later, their own carriage

began to tip. Over the tops of the seats, Amy

could see the whole length of the train — right

to the small engine at the front. The engine that

was plunging into the dark hole and dragging

the other carriages with it.

The carriage continued to tip, until it seemed

that Amy and everyone inside would fall out

of it. Then they were hurtling down into the

blackness, and Amy was screaming as loudly as

anyone. Except possibly Rory, whose shrieks

were so loud they hurt Amy's ears.

'Geronimo!' Amy yelled, as the darkness

closed over her.

'That's my line,' the Doctor complained as Amy's

cry — accompanied by shrieks and wails and

screams — floated back to where he was standing.

'So what do you want us to do then, Mister?'

one of the boys the Doctor had just pulled off

the train asked.

'It's 'Doctor', all right? Don't ever forget that.

Doc-tor,' he pronounced it carefully and precisely.

'So, what do you want us to do then, Mister

Doc-tor?' another of the boys asked. A girl

clicked her tongue and shook her head.

'We are going to give a concert,' the Doctor

said. 'You are going to find as many of your

friends in the orchestra as you can in the next

five minutes.' He looked round at the crowds.

Already people were queuing for the next ride.

'Then we meet out there in the tunnel.'

'What if we don't have our instruments?' the

clicky-tongue girl asked.

'Then you hum and sing and clap your hands.'

'Do you play an instrument?' one of the

grown-ups asked. Their tone suggested they

thought he didn't.

'Only if you count the spoons, and I didn't

bring any. No,' the Doctor said proudly, his chest

swelling, 'I shall be your conductor. Now, hurry

up. I've got Harby and Vosh looking for people

too, so with luck we'll have enough. See you in

four and a half minutes, right?'

'Right,' they all agreed.

None of them really had any idea what was

going on, but it sounded like it might be fun.

Perpetual Pete was the one person who didn't

have a smile on his face. But then, the Doctor

thought, his face wasn't really built for smiling.

'You think this'll work?' he asked the Doctor.

'Oh, yes. Probably. I'll need to know the exact

run of musical notes to open the Chamber,

though,' the Doctor told him.

'If I can remember what it is. It's been a while.

But we can't open the Chamber — that's the last

thing we want to do.'

'I agree,' the Doctor said. 'But I still need to

know the right chords to do it.'

Several levels below where the Doctor and

Perpetual Pete were standing, and travelling

much, much faster, the Death Ride took another

plunge. This one was quite tame compared

with that first dive into the ground. But it still

left Amy feeling that her stomach was floating

somewhere back down the track and she would

probably never see it again.

'Time to make our move, I guess,' Rory said,

getting carefully to his feet as the ride levelled

out again.

'How do you suggest we get to the other

carriages and the engine?' Amy asked.

Rory looked at her and she saw how pale he

had grown. 'I think we have to climb across.'

'While the train's going?'

Rory nodded.

'At about a hundred miles an hour?'

Rory swallowed and nodded again.

'With the Train of Death liable to drop into

the ground or fly up into the air at any moment

while we're doing it?'

'Problem?' Rory asked. His voice seemed to

have risen in pitch.

'No,' Amy told him. 'No problem at all. Let's

get started.'

She grabbed Rory's arm for support as the

train lurched and dived again.

Despite understanding better than anyone

the threat they faced, Perpetual Pete was

beginning to enjoy himself. In the early years,

when the miners first arrived, it had been a

challenge to keep the digging and tunnelling away

from the Perpetuity Chamber hidden in its Vault

deep inside the asteroid. Not that the challenge

was anything like as great as commanding the

Combined Stellar Forces armies in their war

against the Drexxons . . . But that was when

Perpetual Pete was a much younger man.

Gradually, the miners had come to accept

Pete, if not actually to respect him as much as

he'd have liked. They grew used to his constant

arguments about health and safety. They

believed he was acting in their best interests -

which of course he was. Just not quite in the way

they imagined.

But then, they imagined he was being paid

by the Mining Conglomerates and had some

official status. It was all bluff. IMC and the

others had no idea that Pete even existed. If they

had thought he was making the mining for

trisilicate and duralinium harder and more

expensive than it needed to be, they'd have been

very angry indeed.

It had been a difficult job calling for tact

and diplomacy as much as stubbornness and

determination. But over the years it had got

easier and now everyone took what Pete said for

granted. If he told them a tunnel was Off-Limits,

they accepted that. Since they had the whole of

the rest of the asteroid to mine, keeping them

away from one small area had not actually been

too much of a problem.

Until now.

The Death Ride needed to be kept away

from the working mine areas. No one wanted

it to interfere with the mining, and everyone

understood the possible hazards of having

a fairground ride set up where robot equipment

was used to having the place to itself as it

tunnelled and mined, detonated explosives

to expose new ore seams and routinely pumped

out the air from areas where there might be a gas

pocket so as to avoid explosions.

It was almost inevitable that the Galactic Fair

would want to run their Death Ride through

some of the Off-Limits areas. Pete had managed

to steer them away from the tunnels that went

nearest to the vault. But even so, the tracks were

closer than he'd have liked in a couple of areas.

He had the route marked on a plan in his

pocket, which he now showed the Doctor. Pete

smoothed out the stained paper, and jabbed a

wrinkled finger at where the vault was located.

Of course, it wasn't actually marked. But Pete

had drawn a blue line to show the route of the

Death Ride.

'I think the most likely point of sabotage

would be here.' He indicated a place where

the blue line turned sharply away from the

vault area.

The Doctor nodded. 'If the Drexxon derails

the Death Ride, it will carry on through the tunnel

wall and breach the vault. That's at the bottom of

a huge drop, so it'll be going very fast indeed.'

'I'll get in touch with Korl and get him to send

whatever emergency equipment he can to that

section,' Pete said. 'Could be a lot of casualties

though,' he added quietly.

'I know. And Amy and Rory are riding on

that thing'

It was a nightmare. Amy and Rory had agreed

that Rory would try to get to the engine. Amy

agreed that he might have a better idea of how

to stop the ride than she did. Amy's job was to

find Drexxon and Garvo and break the link

between them.

Rory wasn't happy about that. Drexxon was

likely to attack Amy as soon as he saw her. But

Amy reckoned that she could get help from other

passengers. And once Garvo had recovered

from the shock, he would surely help too.

'Anyway, he might not even be on board,'

she pointed out. She had to shout over the

sound of the wheels on the track and the wind

rushing past.

'I still think we should stay together.'

Amy shook her head. 'You get to the engine

as quick as you can and stop this thing.' She

didn't like to have to admit it, but Rory would

be quicker than her working his way along the

train and leaping from carriage to carriage. She

would keep up as best she could, but once she

saw Garvo and Drexxon she'd deal with them,

while Rory still needed to stop the train.

'Health and Safety. Just doing an in-ride

assessment,' Rory told the startled passengers in

the next carriage as he landed with a bump on

the pitching floor.

Amy leaped after him - just as the train

dropped away down another steep slope. Rory

leaned back and grabbed her hands, dragging

her into the carriage after him.

Getting to the next carriage was even more

dangerous. Rory jumped just as the train veered

round a bend. Amy watched helplessly as he

leaped out into space, the train twisting away

beneath him. But, somehow, Rory managed

to flail his arms and scrabble at the side of the

carriage as he fell. The train lurched back the

other way and Rory was hurled up in the air, to

land with a painful-sounding bump in the back

of the carriage.

'All part of the show,' he gasped, waving away

helping hands. 'I'll be collecting tips later.'

Amy was careful to time her own jump on

a flat, straight section. But that meant she had

to wait, and she could see Rory using the same

section to make his own leap into the next

carriage along. He turned to wave back at Amy.

'Keep going!' she yelled.

Rory frowned, cupping his hand round his

ear to show he hadn't heard what she said.

Amy shook her head and pointed forwards.

'Keep going,' she mouthed.

Rory's frown deepened as he worked it out.

Then he smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Just

as the train roared sharply upwards, knocking

Rory off his feet. Amy also stumbled, and found

herself sitting on the lap of a rather surprised

elderly man.

'Um, refreshments?' Amy said.

'Ice cream?'

'Sorry, all out of ice cream. And hot drinks

aren't really recommended,' she added as the

train turned again and she was thrown across

the carriage. Children and adults alike whooped

with delight.

There were about twenty people assembled in

the tunnel with the Doctor and Perpetual Pete.

About half of those had instruments. The

Doctor got Harby and Vosh to organise them

into sections according to what instrument they

had or usually played.

'If you don't have your instrument with you,

just make the noise. So if you play the trumpet,

it's . . . ' He did his best to make a trumpet noise.

Then he demonstrated drums, flute and

finally bagpipes. The bagpipes earned him a

small round of applause. .

Right, now, off we go. Drum Major Pete will

lead the way — boom-boom-boom, remember,

Pete.'

Pete raised a wispy eyebrow and didn't answer.

'Where are we going?' Harby asked as

Perpetual Pete marched quickly down the tunnel

and everyone hurried after him.

'As close as we can get to a secret Perpetuity

Chamber concealed inside a hidden vault. I'm

hoping our music will echo along the tunnel

and the programme of music I've prepared

will prevent that vault from opening. That clear

enough for you?'

Everyone shook their heads and told him,

'No.'

'Good.' The Doctor extended his sonic

screwdriver, raising it like a conductor's baton.

'Right then, we start with When the Saints Go

Marching In, I hope you know that one. Play it

loud and play it with passion. Play it like your

lives depend on it. Because . . The Doctor

tapped his makeshift baton on an imaginary

music stand. ' . . . b e c a u s e they do.'

' T h e r e is just a chance,' Amy yelled to anyone

I who would listen, 'that we are going to

crash. So hold on tight.'

'Crash?' a small boy nearby echoed. 'Terrific!'

'No, actually,' Amy told him. 'Not terrific.

Not even remotely terrific. This isn't part of the

ride, it's a proper, real, serious warning, all right?'

'All right,' the boy said sulkily.

'So hold on, then,' Amy told him. 'And you,'

she told his friends.

She had lost sight of Rory, and she still had not

seen Drexxon and Garvo. What if they weren't

on board at all? What if the train wasn't going to

crash? How embarrassing would that be? 'Come

on, Pond,' she muttered to herself. Never mind

being embarrassed. If the ride didn't crash that

would be a good thing - a terrific thing.

She timed her jump carefully, and leaped

into the next carriage. As she jumped, she could

see Rory, about three carriages ahead, waving

and pointing.

'Excuse me. Health and safety. Hold on tight

in case we crash. But first, budge up a bit,' Amy

told a woman clutching the arm of a man on the

back seat of the carriage. She'd landed just in

front of them and now she shoved them aside

enough to climb up on the seat.

'Careful,' the man warned, trying to push her

down again. 'That's not safe.'

But Amy shook off his attentions. She could

see Rory, still pointing, and gave him a thumbs

up. He glared back at her like she was mad, and

pointed again, jabbing his. finger urgently.

A moment later he disappeared in a blur of

brown fur as the Drexxon leaped at him.

'Give me strength,' Amy said and ran for

the front of the carriage. The ride dipped and

turned, throwing her sideways.

'Coming through!' she yelled as she kept

going, hurling herself into the next carriage.

She could see Rory now, just one carriage ahead.

Drexxon was tearing at him. Garvo was pushing

away anyone who tried to help Rory.

Amy sprinted, suddenly running uphill as the

ride rose steeply Any moment it would plunge down

again. She ran and jumped, just as the train dipped,

and found herself falling towards the next carriage.

She slammed into Garvo, sending him flying.

But the leash remained attached to the Drexxon,

who was still battering relentlessly at Rory.

'Get off my Rory!' Amy yelled at the Drexxon.

She grabbed the furry creature round the

middle and wrenched him away. Immediately

the Drexxon turned its attack on Amy. Rory

staggered to his feet - falling down again as the

ride lurched round a steep bend.

'Never mind me - get to the engine,' Amy

shouted. 'Stop this thing before it crashes!'

'Crashes?' a young man sitting nearby

repeated.

'Yes. We're going to crash. So hold on

tight. Brace yourselves,' Amy shouted back,

still wrestling with the Drexxon. 'Pass it on.

Tell the person next to you, and pass it on along

the carriages.'

Garvo was getting to his feet. But Rory

shoved him out of the way as he hurried past,

heading for the next carriage. The engine was

only a few carriages away now. Amy just hoped

Rory would get to it in time. And that he'd be

able to do something when he did.

But she didn't have much time to worry

about Rory, because the Drexxon was clutching

at her face, scratching her hands as she tried to

hold the creature off, nipping and biting at her

with its sharp teeth . . .

'Well, help me!' she gasped at the nearest

person, the young man she'd just spoken to.

'You told me to hold on tight,' he said. 'Make

your mind up.'

'Help me first,' Amy said through gritted

teeth and a face full of attacking fur. 'Then hold

on tight.'

Rory too was shouting warnings as he raced

through the last couple of carriages. He could

see the front of the train — heading right for a

rock wall. Rory threw his hands up in front of

his face and dived to the floor. At the last

moment, the Death Ride swerved violently

sideways. The rock wall shot past, and the train

dived down again, bouncing Rory painfully

across the floor.

'You part of the act, sonny?' a grizzled old

miner with a straggly grey beard asked.

'Better believe it,' Rory told him. 'Hold on

tight, old timer - this thing could crash at any

moment.'

'Runaway mine train, you reckon?' the old

man asked. Wouldn't be the first,' he added

knowingly.

Rory pulled himself to his feet and staggered

to the front of the little carriage. Just one more

jump, he told himself — one more, then all he

had to do was tell the driver to put the brakes on

and stop the train.

Rory got up speed as the train dived

downwards, and took a running jump out of the

end of the carriage. The old miner and several

other people applauded.

He slammed painfully to the floor of the

front carriage. It was smaller than the others. The

engine. In front of him Rory could see a panel

with lots of levers, switches and knobs. There

were several dials and read-outs on it too. One

seemed to be the speed, another showed direction

of travel, a third was timing the ride. Rory briefly

surveyed the switches and levers — one of which

must be the brake. The driver would know.

But as Rory looked round desperately for the

driver, he realised he was alone in the carriage.

There was no driver. It was all automated. There

was no one there who could stop the Death Ride.

No one except Rory.

He didn't waste time worrying. There was

no time left to waste. Instead, Rory pulled the

nearest lever — and the train increased speed. He

shoved the lever back into place, but the speed

didn't reduce. So Rory pressed buttons and

turned knobs and pulled other levers.

It made no difference. The train was hurtling

ever faster through the rocky tunnels, and at any

moment Rory knew it might reach the section

of track that the Drexxon had sabotaged.

'What would the Doctor do?' Rory wondered

out loud. He didn't have a sonic screwdriver, so

the obvious answer was no use.

But another thought occurred to Rory.

'What would the Doctor do if he didn't have his

sonic screwdriver?' He pulled off his shoe and

hammered at the controls with it.

Sparks erupted from the control panel.

A small explosion blew off an access panel

and Rory reached inside to grab handfuls of

smoking wires and rip them free. He felt a jolt

of electricity up his arm, like someone had

thumped the funny bone in his elbow.

But, miraculously, the train did seem to be

slowing. Rory breathed a long, heartfelt sigh

of relief.

Then he realised the train was slowing

because it was going steeply uphill. It almost

stopped, teetering on the. brink of the deepest,

darkest, sharpest, most terrifying drop yet.

'Hang on!' came Amy's voice from somewhere

behind Rory. It was advice he didn't need. He

grabbed hold of the side of the little carriage as the

Death Ride plunged down again, faster than ever,

gathering speed. Heading straight for a rock wall.

Rory could see that the track was designed

to veer sharply away from the rock wall at the

last moment. He could also see that there was

a short section of track missing. This was the

place. This was the sabotage. Desperately he

grabbed more wires and cables and pulled them

free, holding on tight with his other hand.

More sparks, more explosions. A screech

of brakes, and the train began to slow. He

must have triggered some emergency system,

Rory realised.

But there was no time to celebrate. The sudden

slowing of the train was throwing people to the

floor. Rory could hear shouts and warnings from

the carriages. And he could see that although it was

slowing down, the train was still going to leave the

rails and hammer into the tunnel wall.

A few moments earlier, with the help of the

other passengers, Amy had finally managed to

hurl the Drexxon away from her and across the

small carriage.

The train was plunging downwards, gathering

speed.

'Hang on!' Amy yelled as loud as she could.

Somehow she felt this was the moment —

maybe it was instinct, or maybe it was the way

the Drexxon was laughing as it scampered back

to Garvo.

The two of them — human and alien monkey

creature — grabbed hold of the safety rail across

the front of one of the seats.

At the same moment, there was an ear-

piercing scream. Amy looked round at the other

passengers, but the noise seemed to be coming

from outside the train. From under the train.

'Sounds like the brakes,' someone yelled

above the shrieking.

People were thrown across the carriage,

though Garvo and Drexxon were still clinging

on tight to their rail. Sparks were spraying from

the wheels, raining out and down from the Death

Ride like a sparkler on firework's night.

Amy found she was laughing. 'Oh, Rory —

you're a genius. Rory, I love you!' she shouted.

But her words were lost in the sound of the

brakes and the roar of shattering metal as the

train left the broken tracks and smashed headlong

into the tunnel wall. Rocks and boulders crashed

down on to the Death Ride train. Dust and debris

whipped past Amy's face. It seemed as if the whole

tunnel was collapsing as people went flying.

Then suddenly everything was silent. Cautiously

looking up, Amy saw that the Death Ride train was

stuck half through the tunnel wall. The engine was

out of sight - hanging down into the darkness on

the other side of the wall the train had smashed

through. Into the vault that Perpetual Pete had

hidden and protected for so long.

The train creaked as the weight of the engine

dragged it slowly forwards, into the darkness.

'Rory!' Amy yelled.

But there was no answer.

The train was rocking gently back and forth,

creaking. Slowly, it inched forwards, into the

black hole in the tunnel wall as the weight of

the engine dragged the other carriages along the

broken tracks.

Amy's thoughts were on Rory. But as the

people around her picked themselves up and she

saw the tear-stained, frightened faces of several

children, she realised she had a greater priority.

'We have to get off this thing,' she said.

'It could slip forwards and into that hole at

any moment.'

'If the scaffolding underneath us doesn't

collapse first,' someone added.

As soon as he spoke, there was a worrying

creak from below, followed by a clatter of falling

metal. Then the back of the carriage dropped

abruptly by several metres.

Then there was another sound. A sad music

that hung in the air.

'No!' Amy yelled.

In her worry about Rory and the other

passengers on the Death Ride she had forgotten

about Garvo and Drexxon. Garvo had the

mouth organ to his lips and was playing what

had to be the opening code for the Perpetuity

Chamber.

Amy hurled herself across the carriage,

desperate to knock the harmonica from Garvo's

grasp. But the Drexxon leaped towards her,

claws out and teeth bared. Its small furry face

was twisted into a mask of triumph.

The haunting melody continued to fill the air.

Amy managed to stop herself. The Drexxon

was inches from her face, the leash attaching it

to Garvo's wrist was tight, so it couldn't get any

closer to Amy. But equally, Amy couldn't get to

Garvo. She couldn't stop him from playing the

opening code.

There was another sound now — a wrenching,

scraping of metal. But it wasn't coming from

the train or the scaffolding. It was coming from

inside the dark hole in the tunnel wall. Light

flickered inside, throwing monstrous shadows

on to the walls of the tunnel nearby.

The Perpetuity Chamber was opening.

When the Death Ride smashed through the

tunnel wall — and breached the hidden vault —

Rory was thrown forwards. He found himself

lying on the control panel he had been desperately

working at. Sparks erupted from it all around

him. Somehow the panel had become the floor.

It took him a while to work out that the

engine was hanging down through the hole in

the tunnel wall. Above him he could see the first

carriage teetering on the brink. Flickering light

illuminated the broken metal edge of what must

be the vault.

But the light wasn't coming from the sparks,

or even the slight glow of the tunnel walls outside

the vault.

As his ears recovered from the tremendous

noise of the crash, Rory realised he could hear

something else. A wrenching, scraping of metal

was coming from below him. The whole engine

was swinging slightly. The tiniest movement

could send it falling. gently and carefully, Rory

twisted so he could peer cautiously over the edge

of the panel and down into the darkness.

Except, it wasn't darkness. There was light

down there — a flickering light that shone

through a crack in the ground. As Rory watched,

the crack began to widen. It was slowly pulling

apart. From somewhere above he could now

just make out the haunting sound of music — of

Garvo's harmonica.

And in response, the ground was splitting

open.

The Perpetuity Chamber was opening.

Rory pulled back, afraid of what he might

see. The engine rocked and trembled ominously

beneath him, slipping a few centimetres towards

the ground. Somehow, Rory managed to stand

up. Reaching above his head, and standing on

tiptoe, he still couldn't reach the ragged edge of

the broken tunnel wall. There was only one thing

for it — he would have to climb up the engine,

and into the carriage above.

But could he do that without falling? Could

he do it without his weight dragging the carriage

after the engine into the Vault as well? He could

see dark shapes looking down at him now — was

one of them Amy? He hardly dared hope she

was all right.

The thought she might be hurt, that there

would be people injured who he could help if

only he could get to them, spurred Rory into

action. He grabbed hold of the twisted side of

the engine and hauled himself up. Bit by bit he

managed to climb up towards the ragged hole

above. Almost there . . .

He reached out and grabbed the rough edge

of the hole in the tunnel with one hand. Then

the other. He pushed off with his toes, trying to

get a better grip — and found himself swinging

from the rock. He could feel it crumbling under

his hands as he desperately pulled himself up.

If he fell now, he would plunge down into the

Perpetuity Chamber below.

Despite himself, despite knowing he didn't

want to see, Rory looked down into the growing

light. What he saw almost made him lose his grip

entirely. Then he redoubled his efforts to climb

up and out, breathing heavily, straining every

muscle, fighting to keep his panic under control.

The ground had split wide open. Brilliant

white light was pouring out of the open

Chamber. And out of the light came darkness.

Black shapes were hauling themselves up and out

of the ground, just as Rory was trying to escape

through the opening into the tunnel above him.

Massive paws with claws the size of large

tent pegs slashed at the sides of the tunnel as

the enormous creatures emerged. Their dark

matted fur glistened with oily slime. Teeth like

tombstones snapped together hungrily. The

Drexxons were coming . . .

The Doctor's hand froze in mid air as he

conducted. He was walking backwards down the

tunnels, glancing over his shoulder to check he

wasn't going to walk into the wall or anything

daft as he followed Perpetual Pete. The sound

of the crash echoed down the tunnels. For a

moment, the entire orchestra stopped playing.

'Not good,' the Doctor said as the noise died

away.

'The automated mining equipment should

be there any moment if it hasn't already arrived,'

Perpetual Pete said. 'It's trained for rescue

and recovery.'

The faintest sound of a harmonica lingered

in the air before the Doctor said: 'Is it trained to

hold off an angry horde of Drexxons?'

Pete shook his head grimly. 'You'll need an

army for that.'

'Or a do-it-yourself orchestra,' the Doctor said.

He raised his sonic screwdriver baton again. 'Right,

everyone — once more, from the top, with feeling.'

Amy reached down to grab Rory's shoulders, and

with the help of a couple of other passengers

heaved him into the carriage. He tumbled

forwards and lay gasping for a moment. Then

he leaped to his feet.

'Those things are coming. They've got out,'

he said urgently.

'I couldn't stop Garvo playing the music

code,' Amy admitted.

Behind them, the small Drexxon snapped its

teeth and clicked its claws, raking them through

the air in triumph.

'Yeah,' Rory said. 'See what you mean. And

it's too late now. We have to get out of this thing.

Anyone hurt?'

Red flashing lights shone up from the tunnel

below. Looking down, Amy could see vehicles

manoeuvring into position. A ladder extended

from the top of one of them, thrusting up

towards the Death Ride.

'Help's arrived,' she said.

But Rory was watching the Drexxon and

Garvo hurrying to the hole in the tunnel.

'They're getting away!' Amy realised as the

small creature leaped through the hole.

'Let them,' Rory told her. 'What can they do?'

Almost immediately, they found out. The

throbbing of the train's engine started up again.

The whole Death Ride lurched forwards, towards

the hole.

'They've started the engine. They're dragging

us in!' Amy said.

'The engine must power the wheels of all the

carriages,' Rory realised.

'What is it with boys and trains? Not

interested,' Amy told him. 'Only interested in

getting everyone off this ride. OK?'

'OK.'

The train was a twisted wreck, wheels snagged

on the rails, carriages torn and damaged. But the

engine was so powerful that it was dragging the

wreckage slowly but surely towards the hole. The

front carriage was lurching forwards, tipping

into the void.

Amy and Rory helped everyone climb

back into the next carriage. The ladders from

the robot mining equipment could reach the

carriages further back that had fallen lower as

the scaffolding collapsed. It was still supporting

them, just. But the whole structure was creaking

and bending.

Luckily, most of the injuries seemed to be

just cuts and bruises. Many of the passengers

were in shock. But getting them off the ride was

the first priority. Rory managed to make a sling

for a boy with a broken arm, using someone

else's coat. A woman who couldn't move her leg

or feel her toes had to be carried by two of the

stronger men . . .

The train continued to lurch slowly forwards,

making the evacuation difficult and hazardous.

But finally Amy and Rory were the last two

people to climb down the ladder.

'We made it,' Rory said, laughing with relief.

'We all made it.'

Amy stopped a few rungs above him,

suddenly overcome by a terrible realisation.

Rory could see it in her expression as she

looked down at him. What is it?'

'We didn't all make it,' Amy said. 'Garvo's still

there. He's still attached to Drexxon, still under

the creature's control.'

'So, what can we do?'

Amy came to a decision. 'I'm going back for

him,' she said. And she started back up the ladder

to the Death Ride train as it lurched forwards

again - towards the drop into the Perpetuity

Chamber and the vicious Drexxons clambering

out of it.

Various automated vehicles were already in

position around the damaged scaffolding.

Ladders had extended upwards and allowed the

passengers to climb down. The whole structure

creaked and groaned, and the Death Ride train

lurched forwards towards the hole torn in the

tunnel wall.

'Are we too late?' Perpetual Pete wondered.

Light was spilling out from the hole in the

tunnel wall — blindingly white light. Silhouetted

against the light was a tiny figure.

'That's Amy,' the Doctor realised, as the

figure disappeared through the hole in the wall.

'What's she doing?'

Pete was shielding his eyes from the glare.

'Your friend Rory, too,' he pointed out.

Another dark figure, tiny at this distance, was

clambering along the wreckage of the train.

'The Perpetuity Chamber is already open,'

the Doctor said. We can't allow any of the

Drexxons out before we close it up again. But

we can stop it opening any further.'

'I'll get your friends out of there and see if

it's safe to close the chamber,' Pete said.

The Doctor thanked him, and turned back

to his orchestra. 'Right — slight change of plan.

J e r u s a l e m ! '

'There's no need for language, Doctor,'

Pete told him sternly. 'Especially in front of

the children.'

'No no no — I want the orchestra to play the

music Jerusalem.'

But Pete had already gone, hurrying towards

one of the robot mining machines that had a flat

metal platform attached to the end of a long,

flexible, jointed arm.

Amy lowered herself down through the hole in the

tunnel wall and towards the bright light. She could

see vague shapes in the brilliance — dark smudges

that were rising up towards her. Indistinct, but

terrifying. She could hear the hungry snarls and

roars of the fully grown Drexxons as they climbed

out of the Perpetuity Chamber and sensed

freedom after their centuries of imprisonment.

Her eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light,

and she could make out the shapes of Garvo

and the small, original Drexxon. Everything was

tilted and moving. The engine was hanging down

into the vault. As Amy tried to climb down, the

whole of the front carriage she was on shifted,

and fell. It plummeted for several stomach-

churning seconds before jolting to a stop.

Amy was thrown forwards, down into the

engine. She slammed into the control panel, which

was now, in effect, the floor. Sparks shot past

her and the whole train rocked forwards again.

Painfully, she pulled herself to her feet, feeling the

entire train tremble with her every movement.

She had barely got her balance when Garvo

appeared in front of Amy.

'You're too late,' he hissed. The vault has

been breached and the Chamber is open!'

'So why are you still trying to move the train?'

Amy demanded, ducking out of the way of the

blow that Garvo aimed at her.

'The Drexxons are free! After countless

years, they are free again. And they are hungry!'

Amy sidestepped another swipe. The small

Drexxon was also grabbing for her. There

wasn't much room to get away from them in the

cramped, upended engine.

'So, what do Drexxons eat?' Even as she

asked the question, Amy was afraid she could

guess the answer. She was right.

'People!' Garvo said.

'Well, that's a shame, because me and Rory

got everyone off the ride. So I guess they'll only

eat you.'

Garvo's hand whipped out and grabbed

Amy's shoulder, clutching it painfully tight. 'And

you,' he said.

Close beside him, the Drexxon snickered

with amusement.

'Not if I can help it,' Amy gasped.

Although Garvo was holding her tight, that

also meant that Amy could reach the leash that

ran from his wrist to the Drexxon. Ignoring

the pain in her shoulder, she grabbed the leash

and wrenched it as hard as she could. The leash

snapped with a crack like a gunshot.

Immediately, Garvo's grip loosened and, with

a wail, he sank to his knees, supporting himself

by still holding less tightly to Amy's shoulder.

She grabbed him under the arm. 'Come on -

let's get you out of here.'

But Garvo was a dead weight. He seemed to

have fainted. And there was no way Amy could

carry him, let alone climb out of the engine,

across the next carriage and up through the hole

in the tunnel to safety.

The bright light seemed to dim as the dark

mass of a huge Drexxon reached the level of the

engine as it clawed and climbed its way up out of

the Perpetuity Chamber. A massive paw reached

out towards Amy and Garvo.

Rory stumbled back towards the hole in the

tunnel wall. The light was getting brighter. But

huge shadows were cast across the rock face —

the shadows of the approaching Drexxons.

'Amy — come back!' he yelled. But his words

were lost in the screech of protesting metal as

the Death Ride train slid forwards again. 'Or

at least wait for me,' he muttered, as he tried to

keep his balance.

'Need any help there, young fella?'

Rory stumbled to a halt in astonishment.

Perpetual Pete was standing beside the carriage.

Not in it, but beside it.

'Only, you look like you need help to me.'

Rory just stared. Pete was standing in what

ought to be mid air. 'How are you doing that?'

Perpetual Pete laughed. Somewhere in the

middle, he burped loudly. 'Step aboard and find

out. But make it quick — we need to rescue Amy.'

Amy threw herself backwards, dragging Garvo's

unconscious body with her. The massive

Drexxon paw slashed through the empty air

where they had just been.

'You having fun?' Rory asked.

Amy stared up at him. He seemed to be

standing in mid air, beside the engine.

'Don't just lie there gawping,' Perpetual Pete

said. He was standing next to Rory, holding what

looked like a TV remote control.

'Let me help.' Rory jumped into the engine and

hoisted Garvo over his shoulders. 'Come on.'

When Amy stood up, she could see that there

was a metal platform beside the engine. It was

attached to a flexible metal arm that extended

down through the hole in the tunnel wall above

them, pivoted so that the platform remained

level and upright.

'Make it quick,' Pete warned.

The nearest Drexxon had pulled its paw back

ready for another strike. It swung at the platform.

But Pete worked a control on the remote, and

the platform lifted quickly out of the way.

Amy had almost forgotten about the small

Drexxon that had controlled Garvo. But now

it launched itself at her and Rory, in a rage. At

the same time, the enormous Drexxon that had

climbed level with the train grabbed hold of the

engine and hauled itself across.

'Jump!' Rory yelled. He leaped, with Garvo

across his shoulders, to the platform.

Amy followed. She landed close to Rory, and

saw that Garvo's eyes were open and he was

staring at her in surprise and fear.

'Don't worry,' she told him. 'We'll soon be

out of here. Won't we?' she asked Pete.

He smiled, and worked the remote. The

platform rose rapidly, neatly dodging another

attempted blow from the huge Drexxon.

Below her, Amy could see more of the

enormous creatures climbing up towards them.

The platform continued to rise, the arm twisting

so the platform remained level and the right way

up as it withdrew through the hole.

There was little clearance. And as they were

drawn back through the tunnel wall, the whole

of the Death Ride train gave a final lurch under

the weight of the huge Drexxon that was now

clinging to the engine.

Amy caught a confused glimpse of the small

Drexxon snarling angrily at the huge one, as if telling

it off. Then the train fell - taking both creatures

with it. It plunged down towards the bright light,

crashing into the other emerging creatures as it fell,

and taking them back down with it. For a moment,

the shadows and silhouettes blotted out the bright

light. Then they were gone.

'Now!' Pete yelled over the side of the

platform. 'Now, Doctor! They're all back inside

— close the Perpetuity Chamber.'

Far below, the Doctor wielded his sonic

screwdriver and took the orchestra into its next

piece of music. It was one of his favourites, and

he sang along with the music as it echoed round

the tunnels.

'Klokleda partha mennin klatch . . .'

The fact that it was a lullaby seemed very

appropriate.

With the train gone, plummeting into the depths

of the hidden vault, Perpetual Pete kept

the observation platform on its long metal arm

positioned close to the hole in the tunnel wall.

The light was fading as the Perpetuity

Chamber slowly closed. The massive shaggy

form of a Drexxon tried to squeeze between the

closing sides, but was forced back. For a moment,

its huge, savage paw stuck out of the ground,

before the light faded and the paw was swallowed

up. It sank back into the Perpetuity Chamber like

the last struggle of a drowning man . . .

Slowly, gently, the metal arm retracted and the

platform lowered to the ground. Amy was clutching

Rory in a hug. Garvo was waking up, and looking

round in confusion. Perpetual Pete was grinning,

his white beard twitching as he laughed.

'Are you all right?' Amy asked Garvo.

He nodded. 'I think so. It's all a bit muzzy to

be honest. But. . . ' He looked round anxiously.

'Yes?' Rory prompted.

'What is that awful smell?'

Perpetual Pete's grin faded back into his

beard. 'Let's not get personal, sunshine.'

Amy ran to the Doctor, who was still

conducting furiously. The music swelled and

rose to its climax.

'It's all right,' Amy told him. 'The Perpetuity

Chamber is closed — you did it. You can stop now.'

The Doctor's face was fixed in concentration.

'No, I can't,' he said.

'Why — what's wrong?'

'What's wrong? Are you mad?' The Doctor

spread his hands, to slow the music to a close.

Then he turned to Amy. 'We can't stop now,' he

told her. We haven't done Land of Hope and

Glory yet. And what's more . . . ' he grinned

hugely. 'I'm having such fun. Right everyone,

you'll need to know the words of the chorus.'

Before long the whole tunnel was full of

people. Some were heroic survivors of the Death

Ride. Others had been drawn to this tunnel by the

sound of the orchestra. All were clapping their

hands, playing instruments (or making the sounds

of them), and joining in the chorus. Harby and

Vosh played like they had never played before,

grinning from ear to ear and yelling out the words

they had just learned. Perpetual Pete tapped his

feet in something close to the correct rhythm.

'Here we go again,' Rory yelled in delight.

'Land of Hope and Glory. . . '

'You're mad,' Amy told him delightedly.

'We're all mad.'

Garvo shook his head. 'I don't know what's

going on,' he said. 'But it's amazing.'

'Oh - nearly forgot,' Rory told him. 'I picked

this up.' He pulled something from his pocket

and handed it to Garvo. It was his harmonica.

'Solo spot!' the Doctor yelled, pointing his

baton-sonic screwdriver at Garvo. 'Whatever

you like. Just make it up as you go along.'

'Make it up?' Amy said. 'He's just faced

the most terrible danger, been captured and

hypnotised by an alien space monkey and you

want him to make it up as he goes along?'

'Works for me,' the Doctor told her. 'A one, a

two, a one, two, three and — cue Garvo!'

The crowd listened in silence to the

harmonica music. A haunting, lilting melody.

Music that made them both happy and sad at the

same time. Sounds that affected their emotions

and played with their feelings in the way that

only music can.

The End

Trevor Baxendale

The Doctor, Amy and Rory are surprised

to discover lumps of moon rock scattered

around a farm. But things get even stranger

when they find out where the moon rock is

coming from — a Rock Man is turning everything

he touches to stone! Can the Doctor, Amy and

Rory find out what the creature wants before it's

too late?

Also available:

The Good the Bad and the Alien

by Colin Brake

System Wipe by Oli Smith

Coming soon:

Rain of Terror by Mike Tucker

Extra Time by Richard Dungworth

The Underwater War by Richard Dinnick

Terminal of Despair by Steve Lyons

Trevor Baxendale

Cover illustrated by Paul Campbell

Want to get closer to the Doctor

and learn more about the very best

Doctor Who books out there?

Go to

www.doctorwhochildrensbooks.co.uk

for news, reviews, competitions

and more!

Prologue - Night Terrors 7

1. Conway Farm 11

17. Hoggett's Offer 101

2. A Hole in the Wall 18

18. Minus Seven 107

3. The Fust Visitor 24

19. Stone Science 112

4. Dinner Time 28

20. The Heart of Stone 119

5. The Uninvited Guest 33 21. The Statue Wakes 125

6. Rock Monster 38

22. Run! 130

7. Run or Fight? 42

23. Explanations 140

8. The Moon's Cold Gaze 47 24. Chris's Secret .149

9. Follow the Rock. 51

25. The Doctor Changes 156

10. Changing 55

26. Athrocite 160

11. A Nice Cup of Tea 60

27. Shut up, Hoggett! 167

12. Frozen 66

28. 'Not a second to lose!' 174

13. Safety in Sunshine 73 29. To the TARDIS 179

14. The Research Centre 84 30. A Return to Normal 185

15. Waiting 91

31. The Actual Moon 191

16. What Went Wrong? 94 32. A Win-Win Situation 198

Ralph Conway woke up in the middle of the

night. He could hear dogs barking outside.

Ralph climbed out of bed with a groan. He wasn't

so young anymore, and he was stiff as a board.

The dogs were barking furiously now.

Ralph looked out of the window, but it was

difficult to see anything in the dark. Something was

driving those dogs wild, though.

'Four o'clock in the morning!' Ralph grumbled,

as he pulled a coat on over his pyjamas.

He went downstairs and switched on the kitchen

light. He hoped it would scare off any intruders.

Then he pulled on a pair of boots and unlocked the

back door. He paused to pick up a torch and a heavy

walking stick. Anyone caught lurking outside would

get a whack with that stick!

It was a chilly, moonlit night. The dogs had

stopped barking now, which Ralph thought was

strange. The sudden silence was frightening.

Ralph walked slowly across the yard. The dogs

were hanging back, whining, almost as if they were

scared. That didn't make Ralph feel any better. He

had lived on the farm all his life and he knew the

area well — it was isolated and exposed.

Suddenly there was a terrific noise — a great,

splintering crash in the night, like a juggernaut

plowing through a wall at top speed.

The dogs ran yelping back to the farmhouse.

Ralph, his heart pounding, shone his torch into

the darkness. The wall at the end of the yard

was completely destroyed — there was rubble

everywhere. Something huge and heavy had smashed

clean through.

Ralph moved cautiously forward, stick raised.

He would defend himself if he had to.

But no matter where Ralph shone his torch, he

saw nothing other than shadows. Apart from the

damaged wall, there was nothing to see. There were

lumps of stone strewn all around the yard, though,

where the wall had been hit.

Through the break in the wall, Ralph could see

a car in the distance. The glow of its headlights

moved along the main road on the far side of the

valley. It was too far away for him to hear it, but

it made him think. It was possible, Ralph thought,

that a lorry could have crashed into the wall. The

bend in the road going past the farm was a well-

known accident black spot. A reckless driver could

easily lose control of his vehicle.

But where was it now? There was no sign of

any car or lorry at all. And Ralph hadn't even heard

an engine.

But there was something.

The noise of stone moving across stone — a dull,

heavy scrape.

Ralph swung his torchlight around the yard, but

there was nothing to see. The barn, the tractor, a rusty

old plough. Clumps of straw and mud and some

puddles reflecting the light of the moon.

Scrape, scrape...

There was something there, Ralph was sure of

it. Something moving in the shadows. He aimed the

torch again, and this time his hand was trembling.

The light flickered across a coil of hosepipe; the

water trough; a collection of tools leaning against

the outhouse . . .

And then he saw it.

Something huge — lumbering — walking on two

legs like some kind of giant. . .

And then it was gone, disappearing into the

shadows again.

Ralph's heart hammered in his chest and his

mouth went dry. He shone the torch around the

yard, but there was no sign of the strange figure.

Whatever it was . . . had gone.

Ralph licked his lips. Perhaps it had just been his

imagination. That was the only explanation, surely.

He was still half asleep. His mind was playing tricks

on him.

The dogs were whimpering again. Ralph peered

down at the rocks strewn across the yard.

They shone like bone in the cold moonlight and

Ralph shivered . . .

The TARDIS appeared in the middle of a pigsty.

Startled, the pigs ran around in panic, snorting

and squealing and slipping in the wet straw.

Eventually the harsh wheezing of its engines

diminished and the TARDIS stood, proud and

blue, next to the water trough.

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and

immediately greeted the pigs. 'Good morning!'

But the pigs had already decided to ignore the

box and anyone who emerged from inside it. As

long as they were fed and watered, they didn't really

mind who shared their sty.

The Doctor looked like a tall young man with a

shock of untidy dark hair and mischievous, deep-

set eyes. He wore a tweed jacket and bow tie, with

narrow trousers tucked into old boots. He smiled at

the pigs as they snuffled around in the straw. 'Lovely

morning!'

'Pigs!' said Amy Pond, as she followed the

Doctor out of the TARDIS. She wrinkled her nose.

'Phew...'

'That is the scent of the countryside,' said Rory

Williams, as he stepped out into the ordure covering

the ground. 'Yuck.'

Amy and Rory were the Doctor's current

travelling companions. She was young, pretty, with

striking red hair and trendy clothes. He was tall,

rather awkward and dressed in jeans and a warm

padded jacket.

Not in the least bit put off by the pigs, the Doctor

locked the TARDIS, clearly intending to stay. 'Just

what we need,' he told his friends. 'A nice breath of

fresh country air.'

'Fresh?' Amy repeated doubtfully.

'Hey!' a voice called out. 'You can't leave that

thing in there like that!'

They all turned to see a young woman striding

towards the pigsty in mud-splattered wellies and a

thick, padded coat. She had dark hair tied back and

a seriously cross look on her face.

The three travellers turned as one to look at

the TARDIS. The space and time machine was

disguised as an old police box and so it looked

decidedly out of place in the pigsty. But then, the

TARDIS looked a bit out of place anywhere.

'You'll frighten Old Percy,' the young woman

told them. 'She's pregnant, y'know!'

'Percy?' said Rory with a frown.

'Pregnant?' said Amy.

'Long story,' sighed the woman. 'Look, you can't

stay in there. You'll have to leave the box where it

is, I suppose.'

The Doctor, Amy and Rory climbed over the

low fence surrounding the pen and introduced

themselves.

'My name's Jess,' the woman said. 'I've come

to feed Old Percy. She needs twice as much as

normal - she's eating for six at least.'

Jess heaved a bucket of slops into the trough

and the pigs got stuck in, heads down and ears

flopping. The yard was quickly filled with the sound

of chomping and snorting.

'How on Earth did you get that thing in there

anyway?'Jess asked, nodding at the TARDIS.

'Well, it just sort of materialised there,' replied

the Doctor.

Jess raised an eyebrow. 'Oh, it did, did it?'

'Ask Old Percy.'

Jess patted the sow's back. 'She's a bit busy now,'

she said with a smile. 'I'll ask her later.'

'Do you work here, then?' Amy asked.

'Of course. This is Conway Farm. It may not

look like much, but I call it home.'

The little farm overlooked a wide valley. The sky

above was full of clouds and the promise of rain. A

sharp breeze carried the smell of grass and soil and

animals across the fields, and Amy shivered in her

short skirt. She wasn't dressed for farming.

'Let's get you in for a cup of tea,' laughed Jess.

'We don't often get visitors here!'

They followed Jess along a narrow, rutted track

until they reached the farmhouse. A burly man with

a hard, grizzled face was busy repairing a broken

wall. He wore thick gloves to protect his hands and

an old flat cap.

Rory whistled when he saw the full extent of

the damage. There was rubble and bits of broken

brick scattered everywhere. 'What happened here?'

he asked.

'Somethin' costin' me time an' money,' growled

the man. He didn't sound at all happy.

'This is my dad, Ralph Conway,' said Jess.

She introduced the Doctor, Amy and Rory.

'How do,' grunted Ralph, touching his cap

before returning to his work.

'There was an accident here last night,' explained

Jess. 'Smashed the wall to bits. Dad's got to fix it.'

'An accident?' repeated the Doctor. He was

looking at the smashed stones all over the yard.

'We think a lorry or something must have

crashed into it last night,'Jess continued. 'Plenty of

trucks miss the bend in the road and skid if they're

not careful.'

The Doctor looked at the road and nodded

thoughtfully. 'Yes, I see. Or rather, I don't.'

'I beg your pardon?'Jess said.

'No skid marks,' said the Doctor. 'Nothing to

show any kind of vehicle coming off the road.'

'Uh oh,' said Rory quietly to Amy. 'He's getting

all curious . . .'

Amy smiled. 'Probably thinks it was hit by a

meteorite or something'

The Doctor had picked up a piece of stone

from the ground. It was a pale grey colour, roughly

the size of a tennis ball. He weighed it in his hand

and sniffed it. Then he looked around. There were

plenty of stones like this littered across the yard.

'All this damage,' said the Doctor. 'And no sign

of a lorry or a car, or anything.'

Ralph was watching the Doctor carefully. It was

clear that he was interested in what the Doctor had

to say. He straightened up and said, 'Well, what do

you think did it? Cos I can't work it out!'

The Doctor was smiling. 'I've really no idea,' he

said. 'But I'd love to find out!'

'Are you from the insurance company?' asked

Jess, as if suddenly struck by a thought. 'Come to

assess the damage?'

'No, I'm just a nosy parker,' the Doctor replied.

'For instance, this stone interests me enormously.'

He held up the fragment of grey rock between

his finger and thumb for all to see. 'This isn't local

stone, is it?'

'No,' answered Ralph. 'There's loads of it around

this morning, though. I thought it might have fallen

off the back of the lorry.'

'The lorry that doesn't actually exist,' pointed

out Amy.

Ralph shrugged. 'I dunno. But it isn't stone

from around here — that much I do know. I thought

maybe it had come from Derbyshire.'

'It's from considerably further away than

Derbyshire, Mr Conway,' said the Doctor. He held

the stone up towards the sky. 'This piece of rock

has come all the way from the moon!'

The Doctor was sitting at the kitchen table,

examining the lump of grey rock with his sonic

screwdriver.

Amy and Rory were holding mugs of hot tea,

while Jess opened a packet of chocolate biscuits

and put them on the table.

'Got any Jammie Dodgers?' asked the Doctor

without looking up. Always liked a Jammie Dodger.'

'Sorry, just these,' smiled Jess.

'These are fine,' said Rory, delving into the packet.

'You'd best take them away,' Amy told Jess,

'before the Cookie Monster here eats them all.'

The Doctor looked up sharply. 'Did someone

say monster?'

'Not that kind of monster, silly,' laughed Amy.

'Anyway - it's breakfast,' Rory protested,

munching on another biscuit.

'Breakfast?' queried Jess. She was peering

into the oven, where a large pot was simmering.

'It's nearly time for dinner.'

'It's hard to keep track of time where we come

from,' explained Amy. 'That smells good, though.

What's cooking?'

'Lamb stew,' smiled Jess. 'Don't worry, there's

enough for everyone.'

'Oh, no, we're not staying —' Amy said, but the

Doctor interrupted her with a loud exclamation.

'Look at this!' The Doctor shut down his sonic

screwdriver with a satisfied click. 'Definitely moon

rock,' he announced. 'High concentrations of

anorthite, pyroxene, mare basalts and titanium. And

lots of armalcolite—a new and unique mineral named

after the crew of Apollo 11: Arm strong, Al drin and Col lins . So — without a doubt, moon rock.'

'But how can that be?' asked Rory, reaching for

another chocolate digestive. 'I mean, all the way

here from the m o o n . . . ?'

'Did it come down in a meteorite or something?'

wondered Amy.

'Meteorite?' queried Jess.

'Yeah, you know . . .' said the Doctor, sitting

back and folding his arms. His gaze never left the

moon rock, however. 'Lumps of iron, rock, bits and

pieces and what-have-you, flying through space and

falling into Earth's gravitational pull.'

'So you mean it could be a chunk of the moon

that's actually fallen to Earth?'

The Doctor pursed his lips. 'Doubt it. Most

meteors burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Very few

reach the ground — and if they do, then they're big

enough to cause a heck of a lot of damage.'

'There is a lot of damage,'Jess pointed out.

The Doctor was still staring at the rock. 'If a

meteorite this big had survived the trip through the

atmosphere and landed in your front yard, then the

whole farm would have been flattened.'

'Oh. I see.'

'There has to be another explanation.'

'Such as?' asked Amy.

The Doctor didn't reply. Instead, he simply

picked up the moon rock and dashed out of the

kitchen.

When the others caught up, he was standing in

the middle of the yard holding his sonic screwdriver

aloft. The tip glowed green as he waved it about.

'What is that thing?' wondered Jess.

'Sonic screwdriver,' explained Rory, trying to

sound like an expert. 'But it does a lot more than

just. . . driving screws.'

The Doctor wheeled around the yard with the

sonic, pausing occasionally to check the readings.

Eventually he shoved it back into his jacket pocket

and harrumphed. 'No sign of any alien spacecraft

technology, teleport beam or quantum link. It's

a complete mystery.' He sounded insulted, as if

nothing had any right to be a complete mystery

to him.

'Well something must have brought it here,'

insisted Amy.

The Doctor tossed the moon rock from hand to

hand, wondering. Then he wandered over to where

Ralph Conway was still working on the wall. 'How's

it going, Mr Conway?'

Ralph straightened up, wincing slightly and

holding his back. 'Just about done,' he rumbled.

'It'll have to do for now, at least.'

The Doctor surveyed the repair work. You

could see quite easily where the moon rocks had

been used to fill in the hole, but it was a remarkably

good job, nonetheless. You've had to use a lot of

moon stone,' the Doctor observed. 'And yet it all

seems to fit together quite nicely.'

'Well, that's the strangest thing,' agreed Ralph.

'I've no idea what happened to the rest of the

wall, but those rocks you say come from the moon

seemed to do the trick all right. It's a case of having

to make do and mend, Doctor.'

'You've missed a bit,' noted Rory, joining them.

He pointed to a hole the size of his fist on the top

edge of the wall.

'No, he hasn't,' said the Doctor. He darted

forward and placed the moon rock he still had in

his hand in the space. It fitted perfectly.

'Well, I'll be . . .' Ralph Conway took off his cap

and scratched his head.

'That was lucky,' laughed Rory.

'Nothing to do with luck, Rory.' The Doctor was

pacing up and down the wall, rubbing his fingers

together as he inspected the wall. 'Dry stone wall,

remember. Every piece has a place. These moon

rocks are all the exact size and shape necessary to

repair the wall.'

Rory frowned. 'But that's impossible - isn't it?'

The Doctor looked up at him, his eyes gleaming.

'No more impossible than finding chunks of the

moon on this farm in the first place.'

The Doctor was examining the area all around

the wall, front and back, when a sleek red

sports car pulled in through the gates and stopped

in the middle of the yard with a cheery growl of

its exhaust.

Jess walked over to the car, a look of pure delight

on her face.

The driver climbed nimbly out of the car, equally

happy. He was tall, smooth-faced and good-looking.

He wore wire-framed glasses and was dressed in clean

corduroy trousers and a fashionable sports jacket.

'Hi there, sweetheart,' he said, embracing Jess warmly.

'Who's the lucky fella?' asked Amy.

Jess led the man over. 'This is Chris,' she said,

introducing Amy and Rory. 'My fiance.'

'Hey - Amy and I were engaged once,' said Rory

with a smile. We're married now, though. Mr and

Mrs Pond!'

'Great to meet you,' said Chris, shaking hands.

'I hope I'm not intruding on anything?'

'No, we're just passing through,' Amy assured

him.

'But they're staying for dinner with us,' Jess said.

'I insist. There's plenty for everyone!'

Chris was still smiling broadly, but Amy thought

she could detect a slight frown above his eyes. It was

almost as if there was something on his mind that he

wanted to tell Jess, but would have to keep to himself

for now.

'That's great,' Chris was saying. 'The more the

merrier.'

'Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes,'Jess

told them. 'Time for Dad to get cleaned up at least.'

Ralph Conway was standing by the wall with the

Doctor. They were both examining a rock in minute

detail, the Doctor's fingers wiggling over it as he talked

about the geology of the moon. When he heard

Jess call him, Ralph looked up. He nodded at Chris,

but there was no smile. Chris waved back and then

followed Jess into the farmhouse with Rory and Amy

'Trouble?' wondered the Doctor. He had noticed

the way Ralph's lips had tightened in disapproval

when his daughter's fiance had arrived.

'Who knows?' Ralph replied.

The Doctor shrugged. 'None of my business, but

I can't help noticing that you don't seem too happy to

see that young lad.'

Ralph raised an eyebrow, amused by the Doctor's

description of Chris as a young lad. The Doctor

didn't look any older than Chris himself. 'You're

right . . .' Ralph grumbled. 'It isn't any of your

business.'

'But you don't approve of him?'

'Jess is my only daughter. I don't want her hurt.'

'You think that might happen?'

Ralph sighed heavily. 'Chris Jenkins is not from

around here, Doctor. He's all right in himself — but

he's riot a country man, if you know what I mean.'

'Ah,' said the Doctor. 'A townie?'

'He doesn't understand farming. And that's all

Jess has ever known.'

'She's young. She'll learn.'

'That's what worries me.'

Dinner was a lively affair, with an excellent lamb

stew served with new potatoes garnished with

mint. Everyone agreed that Jess had done an

excellent job. Even Ralph Conway looked content.

If he disapproved of Jess's boyfriend, then he made

every effort not to show it during the meal.

They talked about the weather and the farm and

Percy the pregnant pig. But the conversation turned

eventually, and naturally, to the disturbance of the

previous night, the broken wall and, of course, the

strange appearance of the moon rocks.

Chris Jenkins was doubtful. 'Moon rock? I

mean, really?'

'That's what the Doctor says,' Amy replied,

sipping her coffee. She held the mug cupped in

both hands for warmth. Rory's arm was around her

shoulder.

Chris looked at the Doctor. 'Are you qualified to

make that pronouncement?'

'Oh, yes,' the Doctor said. 'Extremely very

qualified. And the sonic screwdriver never lies.'

'But the whole idea is absurd,' Chris insisted.

'Are you qualified to make that pronouncement?'

'As a matter of fact, I am,' Chris replied evenly.

'I'm a research technician at Henson Labs. I specialise

in geochemistry and I've made quite a study of

moon rock.'

'You never told me that,' said Jess.

Chris shrugged. 'You know I don't like to talk

about my work too much. But the Apollo space

missions brought back over 380kg of rock samples

from the moon landings in the 1970s.'

'Wow,' said Rory. 'And you've seen them?'

'We were lent some samples once. I had to make

a study of the cosmic ray and radiation history of

the mineral content.' Chris's face broke into a smile.

'It was pretty boring, to be honest. But I have

actually handled moon rock, and not many people

can say that.'

'That's true,' said the Doctor.

'We could only touch them using gloves and

special tools, though,' Chris continued. 'And the

security was amazing. Did you know that moon

rock is one of the most valuable substances on

the planet?'

'Because it's so rare, I expect,' said Jess.

'Not so rare anymore,' said Amy drily.

'NASA still holds most of the samples,' Chris

said. 'But many pieces were given away as presents

by the US government to foreign countries. Moon

rock is rarer than diamonds. Sometimes pieces are

sold illegally on the black market at hugely inflated

prices — but more often than not they're fakes.'

'How long ago was this?' asked the Doctor.

'When you worked on the moon samples, I mean.'

'Erm - a few years ago. We're currently studying

the effects of UV light on lava and ash samples

from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.'

'You should check some of the moon samples

we have here,' suggested Rory. 'Could be useful.'

Chris shook his head. 'I don't think so. For one

thing, I can't give permission to use the lab facilities.

And anyway, I doubt very much that it is actual

moon rock out there.'

'Well, it is,' the Doctor said.

Chris shook his head, clearly reaching the

conclusion that the Doctor was talking rubbish. 'It's

nonsense, really.'

'Is it possible there could be a mistake?'

wondered Jess, trying to balance both sides of the

argument. 'You've got to admit, Doctor, that there's

no logical reason why there would be lumps of the

moon scattered around our farm.'

'I'd like to run some more tests on the rocks,' the

Doctor admitted. 'I might know more then.'

'Sorry I can't help,' said Chris. 'I mean, even if I

was allowed, I couldn't do it. We're mad busy at the

lab with the volcanic ash. Worked off our feet.'

'Not hard work, though, is it?' said Ralph Conway.

He had been quiet for most of the meal, preferring

to concentrate on eating instead of talking. He had

been brought up in a strict family, where no one was

even allowed to speak during meal times.

'Oh, dad . . .' Jess started. 'Just because it's not

farm work . . .'

'No, it's OK,' said Chris. 'I understand. I don't

do much physical work in my job. It's all up here.'

He tapped his forehead. 'But I do keep myself fit. I

go to the gym three times a week.'

'Hmm,' said Ralph, wiping his lips on a napkin.

He clearly wasn't impressed. He got up from the

table and excused himself, preferring not to go to

bed too late. 'Farm chores start early,' he grumbled.

'Do you think there might be any more

disturbances during the night?' asked Jess.

'Meteorites or crashing lorries or whatever?'

'I doubt it!' laughed Chris.

The Doctor stood up and looked directly at

Chris. 'I'm positively counting on it.'

The Doctor stepped outside and drew a deep

breath. It was cold and dark. He looked up at

the night sky, searching out familiar stars and

constellations through the gaps in the clouds.

It always paid to check that everything was as it

should be.

The moon glowed softly.

The Doctor frowned slightly. How could

bits of the moon suddenly end up all the way down

here, on Earth? And how could they match the size

and shape of the stones in Ralph Conway's wall?

And why was Chris Jenkins so touchy about the

whole subject of moon rock?

The Doctor's lips twitched into a smile. He loved

a good mystery.

He retrieved the stone from the wall where

he had placed it earlier and set off towards the

TARDIS. He had instruments on-board that could

tell him a lot more about the origin and structure of

the moon rock in his hand.

As he walked up the hill towards the pigsty, a

dark cloud drifted across the face of the moon and

plunged the farm into an eerie darkness. It may only

have been the Doctor's imagination, but it seemed

to grow suddenly colder.

And there was a strange feeling in the air, a kind

of tension, like the calm just before a storm broke.

The TARDIS windows were shining brightly

in the darkness, and the Doctor hurried on.

In the farmhouse kitchen, Amy was helping Jess

clear the dirty plates from the table, while Rory and

Chris loaded them into the dishwasher.

'So, how did you two meet?' Rory asked. He liked

Chris. He seemed decent, if a little overconfident,

but Rory didn't mind that.

'Market day,' Chris replied. He smiled at Jess.

'Our eyes met across a herd of cows, and it was love

at first sight.'

'Yeah, right,' said Jess ruefully. She scraped some

leftovers into a recycling bucket. The pigs would get

that later. 'As I remember, Chris stood in a fresh

cow pat and blamed me for it.'

Amy laughed. 'Blamed you?'

'It came from one of her cows,' argued Chris.

Jess sighed. It was clearly a well-worn story.

'He was in a suit, with brand-new shoes. I helped

clean him up. Things just went on from there.'

'So, I suppose I've got plenty to thank the silly

cow for,' Chris said, and they both laughed.

With the dishwasher fully loaded, Jess made

a fresh lot of coffee and asked Rory how he had

met Amy.

'Oh, we knew each other from when we were

kids,' he said, slightly embarrassed.

'Oh!' Jess seemed delighted. 'Childhood

sweethearts. And what about the Doctor? Where

does he fit in?'

'Erm, the same, really. Amy's known him since

she was seven. Sort of.'

'Oh . . .'Jess looked a little confused. Well, he's

quite a character. Odd, but in a nice way.'

'I'll be sure to tell him that,' promised Amy with

a smile. She picked up her jacket. 'I'm going up to

the TARDIS to see how he's getting on.'

Rory made to follow, but she shook her head.

'No, you stay here. Enjoy your coffee. Back soon.

See ya!'

Amy shivered as she stepped outside. It was

cosy and warm in the farmhouse, but out here it

was certainly getting chilly.

She folded her arms tightly and hurried across

the yard, heading for the TARDIS. She could see

the roof lamp and windows from here, shining out

through the night. The sight always gave her a tingle

of excitement.

She wondered what the Doctor was up to. She

could just imagine him tinkering with the TARDIS

control console, fussing around it from panel

to panel, checking read-outs and gauges, utterly

engrossed in some kind of scientific experiment.

Well, enough of all that, thought Amy. The

Doctor could come back and spend some time

with ordinary folk, enjoy a cup of coffee, proper

conversation. Worry about the moon rocks in the

morning.

Amy stepped past the water trough and headed

up the slope — just as something huge and powerful

suddenly rose up in front of her, right out of

the darkness. It filled her vision like a wall of

grey stone.

Amy opened her mouth to cry out, but it was

too late. The great lump of rock bore down on her

like a hammer on an anvil.

Amy was paralysed with fear for a second. The

huge grey figure loomed over her like a statue —

but a statue that could move. It was easily two-and-

a-half metres tall, and looked as if it had been hewn

from a solid lump of granite.

The creature reached towards her and—

The Doctor grabbed Amy and hauled her

quickly out of the way.

The rock creature made an angry noise that

sounded like a pile of house bricks being dragged

across concrete. It turned, slowly but heavily, a pair

of dark holes in its lumpy face serving as eyes.

Its hollow stare centred on its prey and it

growled again.

'What is it?' Amy gasped.

'No idea,' replied the Doctor. 'Saw it on the

TARDIS monitor. Look out!'

The creature lashed out heavily. One rock-like

fist crashed into a water trough, denting the steel

and sending a spray of icy water into the night.

The Doctor and Amy backed away, heading for

the farmhouse, just as Jess and Rory came out of it,

eyes widening in horror as they saw the creature.

Chris appeared in the kitchen window, a look of

shock and terror on his face. In less than a second,

he had turned and run into the next room.

'Back inside!' ordered the Doctor, rushing

straight past Jess and Rory.

Amy followed the Doctor, yelling, 'Right

behind you!'

Rory was about to turn and pelt after them,

but a scream from Jess made him pause. The

rock monster swung a massive arm, missing Jess

by centimetres, but caving in the side of the Land

Rover parked outside the house. The door buckled

and glass exploded across the yard.

Rory picked up a spare shovel, checked its

weight in his hands, and then swung it like a cricket

bat at the monster. The shovel connected with

a resounding clang! and Rory felt the vibration

running up his arms and into his shoulders like an

electric shock.

The rock monster turned its attention from Jess

to Rory with a gravelly snarl. Rory stared up at the

creature. The shovel, which was still quivering like

a tuning fork in his numbed fingers, slipped from

his grasp.

The monster advanced slowly and purposefully

towards Rory.

And then Jess was pulling him back into the

farmhouse and slamming the door behind them.

She scrabbled for the bolts at the top and bottom.

'That won't stop it,' said the Doctor.

And even as he spoke, the kitchen door

shuddered with the impact of a giant stone fist.

'Quick, barricade it!' said Amy, trying to push

the heavy kitchen table across the door. The others

joined in, heaving the table into place, the coffee

mugs rolling around and smashing on the floor.

But the creature wouldn't be put off so easily.

A second fist burst through the remains of the

door. The big table skidded backwards, flung aside

like an old cardboard box.

A third and final assault on the door reduced it

to matchwood.

Shards of wood hurtled around the kitchen as

the rock monster smashed its way in. The table

was crushed, dashed aside, and then the whole

room seemed to shake as the creature forced its

way inside. The door frame tore loose from the

surrounding brickwork, caught on the stone giant's

bulky shoulders.

Ralph Conway's dogs were going berserk.

Neither could understand what was happening,

but both knew an intruder when they saw one.

They snapped and barked and bared their fangs,

jumping up at the creature as it seemed to fill

the room.

The terrible racket had already brought Ralph

running downstairs. What in the blue blazes is

going on?' he thundered.

But Ralph could immediately see the danger

his dogs were in. They could bark as much as they

liked, but the thing that had forced its way into his

house was just too powerful.

So Ralph grabbed both dogs by the collar

and hauled them out of the kitchen, still yelping

and barking.

The Doctor and Rory were trying to slow the

monster down, throwing kitchen chairs, pots and

pans and anything else they could lay their hands on

at it. They finally gave up when an orange, hurled

in desperation by Rory, bounced harmlessly off the

creature's head.

'An orange?' the Doctor spluttered at Rory.

'Nothing left to chuck,' said Rory hopelessly.

'Time to go,' the Doctor said. They backed out

of the kitchen, into the narrow passageway that

connected the back of the house to the front. The

rock monster growled menacingly, crunching its

way across the stone floor of the kitchen in pursuit.

Ralph was struggling with the dogs. One broke

free, snapping its jaws at anything that moved. It

dived past the Doctor, heading for the kitchen.

Ralph lunged after it, yelling for it to come back.

But it was too late. The dog snarled at the rock

monster, but one savage swipe of its arm sent the

hound spinning across the room.

'Get back!' shouted the Doctor, grabbing Ralph

by the arm. But the farmer tore free, cursing the

monster with every breath.

Then the creature reached out, grasped Ralph

Conway in one giant, crag-like hand and hurled

him backwards.

Ralph landed heavily in the passageway,

completely stunned. The Doctor and Rory dragged

him into the front room, where Jess and Amy were

waiting with Chris Jenkins.

Chris had been cowering in the front room ever

since he had seen the creature through the kitchen

window. His face was white with fear, but he knew

he had to do something now. But he couldn't

think what.

'Close the door!' screamed Jess.

Chris jumped up and slammed the door shut

— but it was a useless gesture. Within seconds,

the entire wall was disintegrating in a cloud

of plaster dust as the rock creature forced its

way through.

'It's unstoppable,' gasped Chris. He sounded

utterly panic-stricken.

The rock creature stepped into the front room

with a slow, ominous scraping sound. It surveyed

the five people carefully, its blank eye sockets full

of darkness.

' W h a t is it, Doctor?' asked Rory fearfully.

'More importantly — what does it want?'

wondered the Doctor.

'What does that matter?' asked Chris. He

ran from one side of the room to another in

panic. 'It's going to kill us all if we don't do

something fast!'

'I'm open to suggestions,' said the Doctor.

'Well, here's mine,' replied Chris. 'Run for it!'

And then he kicked open the farmhouse door

and sprinted out into the night.

'Oh, charming!' Amy called after him.

Jess darted towards the door, shouting after

Chris, 'Come back! I can't leave Dad like this!'

But it was no use. Chris was gone.

Rory was helping Ralph Conway into an old

armchair. The farmer winced as he sat down,

one arm hanging limply. A gash on his forehead

oozed blood.

But Rory was a trained nurse and knew what

to look for. There didn't seem to be any serious

damage, but you could never be totally sure with

head injuries.

'He's in shock,' he said, peering into Ralph's

eyes. They were heavy and a bit dazed. 'I think his

arm could be broken too.'

Jess bit her lip, looking from her dad in the chair

to the open door. She was torn between running

after Chris and staying with her dad.

But there was never really any contest.

She joined Rory by her father's side as the rock

monster tore its way through the room. Its hollow

eyes scanned the room, searching for its prey.

The monster rose up to its full height with a loud,

scraping roar.

Amy turned to the Doctor. 'Do something!'

But the Doctor's eyes were shining. 'No need,'

he said.

'What?' said Amy, and she was joined in her gasp

of disbelief by Rory and Jess.

The Doctor simply folded his arms and leant

against a bookcase.

And did precisely nothing.

The rock monster stomped straight past him

and smashed its way through the exit, taking a large

part of the wall with it. It crunched its way out into

the night and disappeared into the darkness.

'What's going on?' asked Amy, staring out

through the ragged hole in the wall where the door

had once been. 'Where's it going?'

'I'd say it was following Chris,' replied the Doctor.

He peered out into the night. 'Wouldn't you?'

Everything had fallen unnaturally quiet. The

monster was gone. All that was left was a trail of

destruction through the farmhouse, bits and pieces

of broken masonry and a lot of dust.

'It doesn't make sense,' said Amy. 'Why would

the monster be following Chris?'

' Following Chris?' repeated Jess.

'Interesting, isn't it?' mused the Doctor.

'Interesting? It's madness!' Jess raised her voice.

She stood up from where she had been kneeling by

her father. 'I mean, it's just ridiculous. Why would it

be following Chris?'

'That I do not know,' said the Doctor. He

frowned thoughtfully. 'Yet.'

A lump of brick fell from the lintel over the

doorway. Jess slumped in defeat. 'I just don't

understand what's happening,' she moaned. 'What

on Earth was that horrible thing?'

'That's what I intend to find out,' said the

Doctor. He turned towards the wreckage of the

doorway. 'Come on, Pond!'

Amy followed the Doctor out into the night, but

he had already doubled back to speak to Rory.

'Stay here and look after Mr Conway and Jess,'

he said.

Rory looked uncertain. 'What about the rock

man? What if he comes back?'

'I doubt that'll happen. He's more interested in

Chris Jenkins by the looks of it.'

' B u t - '

The Doctor sighed. 'Just sit tight here and look

after Jess and her dad. They need you.'

'And you don't?'

'Yes - but I need you h e r e . '

'Oh. Right. Well, OK.' Rory nodded. 'I'll stay

here then.'

'Good man.'

The Doctor turned to leave once more, but Jess

stopped him. 'Doctor - I need to know. Will Chris

be all right?'

'We'll see,' the Doctor replied, as he slipped out

into the darkness.

Chris was still running through the night. At first he

had no idea where he was running to — he just had

to get away. He had to get away from the insanity of

the rock creature, from the Doctor and his friends,

from the farmhouse and from Jess.

Occasionally he glanced behind him. He could

see the lights of the farmhouse, now in the distance.

Above the dark buildings the moon shone brightly.

The sight of it chilled him to the bone and made

the breath catch in his throat.

Because, no matter how far he ran, Chris knew

he would never escape the moon's cold gaze.

Behind Chris, unseen in the darkness, the rock

creature trudged relentlessly across the moor.

The Doctor could move very quickly when he had

to — one of the advantages of having a relatively

young body. He seemed to run in a tangle of arms

and legs, but he picked his way through the trees at

quite a pace regardless.

Amy struggled to keep up.

'Hang on!' she called.

The farmhouse was backed by trees, dark and

twisted in the night, almost impenetrable. Amy

couldn't understand how the Doctor could follow

anything through a forest at night.

'How do you know where we're going? I can't

even see that rock monster thingy!'

The Doctor hopped nimbly over a fallen tree

trunk and skidded to a halt. He was bouncing on his

feet, eager to continue with the chase. 'We don't need

to see him, Amy,' he said. 'We just follow the trail.'

'What trail?'

The Doctor pointed to the tree trunk. It looked

like a thick, pale grey log in the moonlight.

But, as Amy watched, it started to grow paler by

the second.

Eventually, with the softest crunch, it turned

almost white. It looked as though it had been carved

out of solid rock.

Moon rock.

'I don't believe it,' breathed Amy.

'Isn't it amazing?' The Doctor sounded delighted.

'The tree has turned to stone. Lunar stone.'

'But how?'

'Molecular reconfiguration. The creature touched

the tree trunk and triggered the change. It did the

same thing when it broke through Ralph Conway's

wall last night - those stones weren't originally moon

rock; they were changed into moon rock.'

Amy tried to make sense of it. 'You mean

whatever that thing touches turns to moon rock?'

'Pretty much, yeah.'

'Why?'

'I've no idea. Maybe we could ask it — if we can

catch it.'

They started off again, and now Amy could see

patches of white on the ground every so often, and

the occasional stone tree or low-hanging branch

perfectly reflecting the moonlight. These were the

footsteps — or handprints — of the monster.

'Should be easy enough to track,' she admitted.

But she hoped the monster didn't run too far -

it was hard trying to keep up with the Doctor

as he side-stepped and bounded his way out of

the woods.

Before long they reached open ground — moor

land. Mist covered the landscape like a thin, silvery

sheet. It looked cold and unearthly - like the moon

itself. Amy shivered.

The Doctor stopped and whipped out his sonic

screwdriver. Its tip clicked open and glowed green

as he used it to scan the area. After a few seconds he

snapped it shut with a grunt of annoyance.

'It's gone!'

'Gone?'

The Doctor was clearly frustrated. 'Creature,

trail, Chris — all gone. No trace of any molecular

reconfiguration. It's just disappeared.'

'So what's happened? Has Chris been taken —

abducted?'

The Doctor was down on his haunches now,

scanning the ground with the sonic. 'It's a possibility,'

he replied.

'Oh, no,' said Amy suddenly. 'I've just thought

of another possibility.'

'What?'

'Anything the monster touches turns to stone,

right?'

The Doctor stood up and frowned at her. 'Yes,

right. What of it?'

'It touched Ralph Conway.'

Rory pulled back the curtain and looked out of

the window.

The farmyard was moonlit and eerie — everything

was a pale grey colour and wreathed in a thin

mist. The dented Land Rover looked like a bone-

white sculpture.

He could see the front door from this angle, if he

craned his neck a bit. The door was gone, smashed

into pieces, and the frame was splintered. But it was

all shining white in the darkness, as if it was carved

out of a piece of the moon.

He let the curtain drop back and turned to look

at Jess. 'How is he?'

Jess was sitting on the floor by her father. He

was in the armchair growing paler and greyer by

the minute. 'I think he's asleep,' she said quietly, 'or

maybe in a coma. I just can't tell.'

She was shivering. It was cold in the farmhouse

now, with the doors bashed in front and back.

Rory thought he could detect the first few

tendrils of mist drifting in from outside. He took

off his jacket and draped it over Jess's shoulders.

Ralph Conway was still breathing - just.

It was shallow, barely visible, but he was definitely

alive. Rory wasn't sure how much longer he

would last, though. The ugly scar on his

forehead looked raw. The rock monster had hit

him hard.

'I don't even know if he can see me,' Jess said,

waving a hand in front of Ralph's eyes. He continued

to stare straight ahead.

'Probably concussion,' said Rory.

'Dad?' said Jess. 'Dad. Can you hear me?' There

was no response. She turned to Rory. 'Shouldn't we

call an ambulance or something?'

'Er, yes. Good idea.' Rory thought for a moment.

'Take a while to get here though. We're in the middle

of nowhere.'

Jess nodded. 'We're a good hour's drive from the

nearest hospital. But we could save some time if we

drive him ourselves. Use the Land Rover.'

'That could be difficult. The monster totalled it.'

'What about Chris's car?'

Rory bit his lip. He was thinking about explaining

all of this to a tired medical doctor in casualty. He

really didn't fancy the idea. 'Perhaps we're being a

bit hasty, Jess . . . '

Jess gave a hiss of exasperation and turned back

to her father. 'Dad! Wake up! It's me — Jess! Come

on!' She turned back to Rory once more. 'Where's

the Doctor? We need him here! He shouldn't have

run off like that!'

'He's not that kind of doctor,' Rory said.

'Then what kind is he?'

'A sort of . . . outer space kind.'

'Don't be stupid,'Jess said angrily.

Rory could tell that she was frightened. And he

knew how that felt. 'You saw that rock creature,'

he said gently. 'You've seen the moon stones. Trust

me, the Doctor will be able to sort it -

But Jess was no longer listening. She had been

distracted by something on her father's face.

'Rory — look!'

Ralph had suddenly turned very pale - almost

white - as if the colour had been completely drained

from his face. The skin looked dry and dusty.

'Oh, my goodness,' groaned Jess.

Rory peered closer. Then he swallowed. Ralph's

eyes were open but grey and opaque.

Something was going horribly wrong.

Rory reached out to touch Ralph's hand.

'Mr Conway . . . ?'

'Don't touch him!' commanded the Doctor,

striding into the room with Amy.

Rory jumped back as if stung and Jess gasped

with relief. 'Doctor! Thank goodness — what's

happening? Where's Chris?'

'He's gone,' the Doctor replied. He tried to make

it sound as if this was perfectly OK, but his hands

were clenched into fists. 'I'm sorry.'

'Gone?' Jess echoed. Her face had fallen.

'Where?'

'We don't know yet,' Amy said. 'We lost him in

the fog. And the monster.'

'And that,' said the Doctor gravely, 'looks to be

the least of our problems . . . '

He was staring hard at Ralph Conway, who sat

stiffly in his chair, as grey and lifeless as a stone

statue.

The Doctor scanned Ralph with the sonic

screwdriver. The green glow passed over the

stony features and shone deep into the sightless

eyes. Eventually the whirring of the screwdriver

ceased and the Doctor flicked it open to inspect

the readings.

'Well?' asked Jess. Amy could see that she was

worried sick. What's happened to him?'

There was a deep frown of concern on the

Doctor's face. 'Your dad's been turned to stone,' he

said simply. 'Moon stone, to be precise.'

'But how?'

'The rock creature touched him, triggering a

complete molecular transformation . ..'

'I mean, how is that even possible?'

The Doctor looked closely at Jess. 'Anything's

possible,' he told her gently. 'Anything. Including

getting him changed back again to the way he was.

The way he should be. From what I can tell, the

transformation is highly unstable. It could be reversed.'

Jess squeezed the tears from her eyes. 'I hope

you know what you're doing, Doctor.'

'Of course I do.' The Doctor turned back to

look at Ralph Conway. Unseen by Jess, the Doctor

flashed a desperate look at Rory and Amy.

Rory cleared his throat. 'I'll make us all a cup

of tea.'

'Yes!' the Doctor agreed. 'Perfect! Just what

we all need. A nice cup of tea. Always helps me

think . . . ' He began to pace around the wreckage of

the living room.

Amy was picking up some of the fallen chairs

and ornaments. There was moon rock and dust

everywhere, but she thought that it probably looked

worse than it was. When everything was tidied

up, they'd have a clearer idea of just how bad the

damage to the farmhouse was.

The Doctor was thinking aloud. 'Whatever

that rock creature was - oh, what shall we call

him? The Rock Man?'

' T h e Moon Man?' suggested Rory.

'Moon Monster,' said Amy.

'Rock Man it is, then. Whatever it actually is, it

can transform anything it touches into moon rock.

Some kind of sub-atomic virus, I should think. Or

maybe quantum electron reversal. Or maybe . . .'

'I just want my dad back again,' interrupted Jess.

'Back to the way he was.'

The Doctor pointed a finger at her. 'Straight to

the point. Good. Like that. Yes - but how do we

change him back again?'

'We don't even know how he was changed in the

first place,' Amy said. 'Or why.'

'Why?' Jess frowned.

The Doctor raised his finger. 'Good point,

Amy. Why was the Rock Man changing things into

moon stone? I mean, it seems to be unintentional.

It didn't matter what the Rock Man touched, it was

all transformed willy-nilly. Wall, car, door, furniture,

even Ralph. So it seems to be an accidental side

effect - it just can't help it.'

'Poor thing,' said Amy drily.

'It means there can't be any evolutionary purpose

to it,' said the Doctor, thinking aloud. 'Which means

that this creature isn't natural. It shouldn't exist. . .'

'But it does,' Rory pointed out.

'And this isn't helping get my dad back to

normal,' Jess said. 'Isn't there anything you can do?

What about that screwdriver thing?'

'It isn't a magic wand,' snapped the Doctor. 'I

can't just zap him back to normal. We've got to

think this through.'

'But we've got to do something,' Jess insisted.

There was panic in her voice now.

The Doctor looked closely into her eyes. 'Jess, I

know you're worried — but trust me. I'll find a way.'

Jess's eyes filled with tears. 'What if he dies?'

'The molecular transformation is rapid but

pretty unstable. If we can find a way to halt the

process in time then we can reverse it.'

'And how do we do that?'

'That's a good question,' the Doctor admitted.

He looked at Rory and Amy, 'Any suggestions?'

He was met by blank, fearful looks.

'No?' The Doctor looked upset for a moment.

But then he clapped his hands together and smiled.

'Right then. All down to me. Hush while I think.

Wait - did somebody mention a cup of tea?'

'That would be me,' said Rory.

Rory started to move towards the kitchen, but

Amy suddenly let out a yelp of alarm. 'Wait - look!'

She was pointed at Ralph Conway, still frozen

solid in his armchair.

'I thought I saw Mr Conway move.'

'Dad?' said Jess, bending closer. She peered into

the grey, sightless eyes. 'Dad? Can you hear me?' she

whispered. And then, despairingly: It's impossible.

He's like a statue.'

'Keep away, Jess,' said the Doctor firmly.

'But-'

Rory pulled Jess gently back. 'Best not to get too

close if the Doctor says so.'

But Rory himself had stepped closer to Ralph's

chair. And in that second they all saw it happen

— almost faster than the eye could follow, Ralph's

stone hand leapt out towards Rory.

Ralph's grey hand closed around Rory's jacket.

Rory tried to pull away, but the grip was like

a vice. He struggled and pulled, but there was no

getting free.

And then Rory's jacket began to turn to stone. It

whitened, and the material stiffened -

'Rory!' Amy screamed.

In a last, desperate motion, Rory twisted and

turned and slipped his arms out of the jacket — just

as it completed its transformation into moon rock.

Held at arm's length by Ralph, the jacket immediately

began to crack under its own weight. In an instant it

fell to bits, scattering across the floor like a piece of

dropped china.

And by now, Ralph was up and moving. He stood

stiffly, with an unearthly scrape of rock moving

against rock. His head turned slowly to watch Rory

as he cowered away, clinging to Amy. The colourless

stone eyes seemed to narrow.

Jess was screaming. The sight of her father

turned to stone was bad enough. Seeing him get up

and move was almost worse.

Ralph was utterly blind to her distress. His

attention was focused entirely on Rory and Amy.

The Doctor stepped up behind Ralph and aimed

his sonic screwdriver. The tip flashed a brilliant green

and a high-pitched whine filled the air, but there

seemed to be no effect on the statue-like figure.

The Doctor quickly tried several different settings,

and eventually the statue's head twitched around to

look at him.

'That's got your attention,' said the Doctor.

With a dull scraping noise, Ralph Conway turned

and walked purposefully towards the Doctor.

'That's right - follow the pretty green light...' The

Doctor backed away, reversing out of the room,

back towards the kitchen. He held the sonic

screwdriver up, its emerald glow illuminating the

darkened farmhouse.

Ralph followed him with heavy footsteps. The

Doctor climbed backwards up a kitchen chair,

onto the remains of the table, and out through the

smashed doorway.

Ralph swept aside the wreckage and followed

him outside.

The Doctor was in the farmyard now. Mist

curled around his boots as he backed away from the

Rock Man.

In the moonlight, Ralph Conway looked like a

grim, white avenger. His pitiless gaze never left the

Doctor as he trudged after him.

The Doctor circled around the farmer's Land

Rover. That, too, resembled a stone carving -

having been transformed into moon rock by the

original Rock Man.

The Doctor sidestepped nimbly, putting the

Land Rover between himself and Ralph. The farmer

banged a stone fist down on the vehicle's bonnet in

annoyance, cracking it like he had a sculptor's chisel.

The Doctor guessed it wouldn't take much for

Ralph to smash the Land Rover into bits or just

climb over it. He had to do something quickly.

With a deft movement, he changed the frequency

of the screwdriver again and aimed it squarely

at Ralph.

The sonic screwdriver screamed and Ralph

instantly froze.

'You did it!' Amy cried in relief. They had all

followed them out of the house.

'Good old screwdriver,' said Rory. 'If you ask

me, it is a bit magic.'

'Not magic,' snapped the Doctor. 'Just a carefully

judged frequency modulation. The sound waves are

vibrating the stone to a point where it cannot move.

If I adjust the frequency by just one megahertz, the

stone will shatter into a million pieces - and it's

goodbye, Ralph.'

'Dad!' moaned Jess. 'Oh, Doctor - be careful!'

'I'm being extremely careful.' The Doctor

moved cautiously forward, adjusting his grip on the

screwdriver. 'But I can't keep him frozen like this

all night. Rory, Amy - get some rope, anything you

can, and see if you can tie him up.'

Rory went straight to the Land Rover, expecting

to find a tow rope. But the vehicle was solid rock.

There was no way to open it - and even then, he

thought glumly, the contents might also have turned

to stone.

'Try the shed,' said Amy, heading for the old

wooden lean-to built against the farmhouse. Inside

there were a number of tools — spades, garden

forks, some musty cardboard boxes and a spare

hosepipe. Coiled up on a hook was a long, blue,

nylon washing line.

'Perfect,' said the Doctor.

Amy and Rory set about winding the line

around Ralph's wrists and ankles, stretching it back

and forth until he appeared to be caught in a giant,

bright blue spider web.

'Be careful,' the Doctor said. He still had

the sonic trained on Ralph. 'One crack and he

could shatter.'

'What if he sort of . . . topples . . . over?' Rory

asked. 'Once you switch off the sonic he's free to

move. But he's all tied up now and he might fall flat on

his face.'

'Could be nasty,' agreed Amy.

Jess appeared, carrying a long length of heavy

chain. She was shaking, tears streaking her face,

but she was determined to stop any harm coming

to her father. We can use this chain to secure him.

If we wrap it around him a few times and

then around the Land Rover, it should stop him

falling over.'

They got to work and a little while later,

with sore hands covered in rusty smears, they

had secured Ralph to the Land Rover. The whole

thing looked like some kind of weird modern

art sculpture.

The Doctor clicked the sonic screwdriver off.

The sudden silence seemed strange and frightening.

Ralph Conway struggled to move — but was held

fast by the nylon rope and chains.

The Doctor walked up to Ralph.

The Rock Man stared impassively back.

'Can you talk?' asked the Doctor.

But there was no reply.

'Might as well be talking to a statue ...' muttered

the Doctor.

The Rock Man continued to stare at the

Doctor. Then it turned its head slowly to look at

Jess and the others.

'He doesn't even recognise me,' said Jess sadly.

'There's nothing in his eyes. Just nothing.'

'He's not your father anymore,' the Doctor said.

'But can you turn him back again?'

'I don't know, Jess,' replied the Doctor honestly.

'I just don't know.'

They returned to the kitchen in a grave mood. 'Just

look at this place,' said Jess despairingly.

The farmhouse was a wreck. There was

broken furniture, crockery and fragments of moon

rock everywhere.

'Yes,' said the Doctor eagerly. ' Look at this place.

Notice everything.'

'I think Jess is a bit upset, Doctor,' sighed Amy.

The Doctor could seem so insensitive at times, it

was embarrassing.

'Oh, don't worry about the farmhouse,' the

Doctor told Jess. 'Bit of a tidy-up, lick of paint, you

won't notice,' he ended lamely. 'Well, OK, maybe

it'll need a bit more than that - but think of it as

an opportunity. Maybe it was time you redecorated

anyway. I mean, look at that wallpaper . . .' The

Doctor pulled a disgusted face.

'Not helping, Doctor . .. ' whispered Amy.

Jess was just staring out of the window at

her father.

Ralph Conway continued to pull and twist

against his bonds.

The sky above was turning a strange colour. It

was that time of night known as the false dawn —

when things appear to be getting lighter, but sunrise

is still an hour or so away.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory were trying to tidy

up the mess. Jess didn't seem interested.

'She's more concerned about her dad,' Rory told

the Doctor quietly.

'I know. And quite right, too. But still . . .' He

turned on his heel, letting his sharp gaze wander

over the debris in the kitchen. 'Look at this place.

Notice everything. There's something I'm missing.'

'A clue?'

'It's not Scooby Doo, Rory.' Suddenly the Doctor

banged the flat of his hand against the side of his

head. 'Think, Doctor, think! Rory — cup of tea.

Come on! I need tea to think. And biscuits - plenty

of biscuits!'

Without another word the Doctor stalked out

of the kitchen and plonked himself down in one

of the armchairs in the living room. Then he closed

his eyes and began to snore loudly.

'This is hardly the time for a snooze,'

grumbled Rory.

'I'm thinking,' replied the Doctor, without

opening his eyes.

'And snoring?'

'That's not snoring - that's the gears going

round in my brain. Now shush and go and make

that pot of tea.'

Rory went back into the kitchen where Amy

met him with a frown. 'This place really is a mess.

The Doctor's right, furniture can be replaced and

walls can be repaired - but the dust is awful. It's

absolutely everywhere. Look at my hands!'

She held them out for Rory to see. They were

completely grey.

'Is is safe to touch the dust like that?' wondered

Rory. 'Shouldn't you wear gloves or something?'

'The dust itself is completely harmless,' the

Doctor called from his armchair in the other room.

He still had his eyes shut.

'But it's so... sticky,' said Amy. 'It gets everywhere

and stays there!'

Suddenly the Doctor leapt out of his seat and

catapulted himself into the kitchen. 'Wait! Did you

say it's sticky?'

He grabbed Amy's wrists and inspected her

hands closely. 'Well, not sticky. ,' she said. 'Not sticky like a sweet or a lollipop is sticky. But it just sort of

gets everywhere and coats everything . . .'

'Yes, of course,' said the Doctor, turning her

hands this way and that.

Then he dropped to all fours and hunted around

for some dust of his own. There was plenty. In

another moment he was rubbing some of the fine

grey dust between his own finger and thumb.

'Is there a problem?' wondered Jess.

The Doctor licked a finger and smacked his lips.

'Definitely moon dust. And y e t . . . '

'I can't make a cup of tea with this,' complained

Rory, holding up the kettle. 'It's covered in dust and

it won't even rinse off.'

'That's it!' exclaimed the Doctor, leaping to his

feet. He snatched the kettle from Rory. 'The dust is

electrostatic. It carries a tiny, tiny electrical charge.

Enough for each particle to be attracted to anything

else nearby. I mean, moon dust — it's famous for it.

How could I forget?'

'Perhaps you're not perfect after all?' Rory

suggested gently.

The Doctor shot him a look. 'Don't be silly.

Electrostatic dust. The astronauts on the Apollo

missions had a terrible time with it. Got absolutely

everywhere. Stuck to their boots, the joints on

their spacesuits, moving parts on the lunar rovers.

Nightmare.'

'But what does it mean?' asked Amy. 'We already

know it's moon dust, after all. Comes from the moon

rock, which is pretty much everywhere around here

at the moment.'

The Doctor peered at her. 'Yes. Yes it is, isn't it?'

'So, w h a t . . . ?' Rory prompted, taking the kettle

back.

'Makes you wonder, doesn't it?' replied the

Doctor with a curious smile.

'Wonder what?'

'If it's an invasion.'

'If what's an invasion?'

'All this!' the Doctor gestured grandly around

them at the farmhouse wreckage. 'Perhaps this is

some kind of alien invasion.'

'Oh, you'd love that, wouldn't you?'

Amy said.

'No, wait, it can't be,' the Doctor said, suddenly

changing his mind. His face fell. 'Pity though. At

least then I'd know what was happening.'

'If it was an alien invasion,' said Rory, 'then

they'd need to set their sights a little higher,

wouldn't you say? I mean, no disrespect to Jess and

her dad, but invading a small farm in the middle of

England isn't exactly Independence Day all over

again, is it?'

'Don't forget War of the Worlds started on

Horsell Common - at least it did in the original HG

Wells b o o k . '

'Yeah, but that was just a story.'

The Doctor frowned. 'Was it?'

Rory looked doubtful. 'Well, yeah, At least I

thought it was.' Living with the Doctor meant that

he was now prepared to believe in almost anything.

The Doctor broke into a grin. 'Yeah, course it

was a story. Only joking. Old HG Wells loved a

good joke. Met him once, you know.'

'Really?' Rory was impressed. 'What was he like?'

'Bit of a pain to be honest. Gave him a few ideas

for The Time Machine though.'

'I bet you did.'

'On the other hand,' the Doctor went on,

'Independence Day actually did happen — but not

until 2109 your time.'

'Oh.' Rory was frowning now. He never knew

when the Doctor was pulling his leg.

'Doctor - look at this!' Jess was by the kitchen

window. She pointed to where the Land Rover and

her father stood outside, still bound by chains and

washing line.

They gathered at the window. The sun was just

coming up, sending rays of deep orange light across

the dawn sky.

As the morning light touched the stone Ralph

Conway, he seemed to flinch slightly.

'It's almost like the sunlight's hurting him,'

said Jess.

'Not hurting him,' the Doctor said. 'Changing

him. Look!'

Ralph had been struggling against his bonds. But

now, as the first golden light of the new day touched

his stone features, the man stopped moving. In

minutes he was as lifeless as any statue.

The Doctor was already running out into the

yard for a closer look. He circled around Ralph,

watching for the slightest sign of movement.

Eventually, cautiously, he drew closer. Ralph

didn't move.

The other joined him. 'Is he safe to be near?'

asked Rory.

'Perfectly,' beamed the Doctor. 'It all makes

sense now.'

'It does?' Jess didn't seem sure.

'Negative electrostatics,' nodded the Doctor.

'That's easy for you to say,' Rory smiled.

'It's a bit of a mouthful but that's how it works,'

the Doctor replied. 'That's how the Rock Man can

move around — and how Ralph can still move, even

though he's made of stone. But ultraviolet light —

such as sunshine — cancels the effect. Freezes the

atoms where they are, so the thing's completely

motionless.' The Doctor rapped his knuckles on

Ralph's forehead.

'Hey,' said Jess. 'That's my dad you're tapping on

the head.'

'I know.'

'You called him a "thing".'

'Sorry. Won't happen again.'

'Did you say ultraviolet light?' said Rory slowly.

He was puzzling over something.

'Yeah. Sunlight. UV rays bombard the moon

rock and -' the Doctor made a curious wriggling

motion in the air with his fingers ' p h h z z z z p !

Something amazing happens. But it means the Rock

Men can only be active at night. During the day

they're harmless.'

'Chris said he was researching into the

effects of UV rays on certain kinds of minerals,'

said Rory.

The Doctor clicked his fingers. 'That's it. That's

it! Rory, you're wonderful. Amy, tell Rory he's

wonderful.'

'You're wonderful,' Amy mouthed at Rory with

a wink.

'I know,' he mouthed back.

'Now don't get all soppy on me,' warned the

Doctor. 'I'm thinking and soppy stuff gets in the

way of me thinking.'

'And what, exactly, are you thinking about?'

asked Amy.

'That I need to speak to Chris, right now.'

'But we don't even know if he managed to get

away from the monster.'

The Doctor huffed impatiently. 'He better have!'

Jess was already trying her mobile phone.

'There's no answer. It's not even connecting to

Chris's mobile — like there's a signal problem or

something. That's not unusual around here, I'm

afraid. But, if he is still alive, I've a good idea where

he'll be.'

The sports car skidded to a halt and Amy flicked

a strand of red hair out of her eyes. 'Not a bad

ride,' she said.

The Doctor turned off the engine and smiled

at her. 'Bit cramped,' he said. 'I prefer things to be

slightly roomier on the inside.'

But the Doctor had, of course, relished the

chance to drive Chris's car. 'It's only fair — he might

want it back, after all,' was how he had explained

it to Amy as he vaulted gleefully into the leather

bucket seat behind the steering wheel.

The morning sunlight glinted off the red

paintwork as they climbed out of the car. It was

going to be a beautiful day - hopefully. Amy couldn't

stop thinking about Ralph Conway. How did it

feel to be turned into stone? Did he know what

was happening? Did he know they were trying to

help him?

Amy stretched her legs. It certainly had been a

tight fit in that car. The Doctor had parked alongside

a chain-link fence backed by thick bushes. There

was no way to see what was on the other side and

no sign of an entrance.

Are you sure this is the right place?' Amy asked.

The Doctor pointed at a sign attached to the

fence, half hidden by the foliage. It said:

HENSON RESEARCH CENTRE

NO UNAUTHORISED ACCESS

TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED

'Not very welcoming,' commented Amy. She

watched as the Doctor examined the fence. 'I

suppose you'll want a leg up or something'

'Something,' nodded the Doctor. He aimed his

sonic screwdriver at the fence and the tip flashed

green. A section of the chain-link quickly untwined

and parted like a doorway.

The Doctor switched off the screwdriver and

smiled. 'After you!'

Amy stepped through the gap and the Doctor

followed.

'Don't you think a big hole in their fence could

be regarded as suspicious?'

'What hole?' asked the Doctor innocently, as

he used the sonic to meld the links back together,

zipping up the gap behind them.

'I sometimes think that thing must be magic,'

said Amy, as the Doctor spun the sonic screwdriver

and dropped it back into his pocket with a flourish.

'Or just superior technology,' he said. 'Amounts

to the same thing to the untrained eye. It's simply a

case of vibrating the wires in the chain link at the

correct frequency to open them, and then reversing

the polarity to close them.'

'Like I said - magic.'

'A pair of sliding doors would look like magic to

a caveman.'

Amy raised her eyebrows. 'Oh, thanks - I'm no

better than a caveman now, am I?'

'Well, you humans have come a long way in the

last few million years, but it pays not to get above

yourselves.'

'Charming!'

The Doctor led the way through the bushes.

'Stop grumbling, Pond! Come and look at this!'

They emerged from the bushes by a tarmac path

leading past a low, brick-built building. It was clean

and modern, but with very few windows.

They crept quickly around the corner to a car

park and a pair of large glass front doors. There was

no one visible in the entrance foyer.

'That's odd — no receptionist and no security

guards,' noted Amy. 'And yet there are cars in the

car park.'

'It looks deserted,' agreed the Doctor, cupping

his hands around his eyes as he peered in through

the glass. 'Place like this should be busy. Lots of

expensive equipment and top scientists — no one

wants them standing idle.'

Amy pushed one of the doors open. 'It's not

even locked.'

The Doctor followed her inside, ignoring the

vacant reception desk, and went straight through

the foyer to the double doors at the rear. 'Hello!'

he called down the corridor beyond. There was

no reply.

'Doesn't look like there's anyone home,' said

Amy.

The Doctor pushed open a door leading to an

office. It was empty. Then he tried another door,

this one marked with the word 'LABORATORIES'.

Beyond it was another corridor, this one lined

with doors leading to various research labs. Each

one had its own strange label.

'Spectography, mineralogy, geochemistry . . .'

Amy read the signs on each door before opening

them to reveal large rooms full of scientific

equipment — but no people.

Computers whirred and indicator lights flickered

on a variety of machines — but there was no one

to read the gauges or take down the readings.

'It's like the Marie Celeste,' Amy said. 'Everyone's

just. . . disappeared!'

'I hope not,' said the Doctor. 'I visited the Marie

Celeste. I don't want to go through all that again.'

Amy pushed open a door marked 'UV

Biochemistry'. 'Um, Doctor, I think you'd better

see this . . .'

Like the other labs, this room was full of

scientific apparatus — work benches, computers and

other complex machinery. There were a number of

people — scientists, Amy presumed - seated at the

various workstations and equipment.

But none of them were alive.

The Doctor stepped cautiously into the lab.

Hardly daring to breathe, Amy stayed in the

doorway. The scene looked so strange and terrible

that she didn't want to even enter the room.

The scientists stood peering into microscopes,

or sitting at computer keyboards, utterly lifeless

and unmoving — every one of them turned

to stone.

'Just like Ralph Conway,' whispered Amy.

The Doctor was moving from scientist to

scientist, checking them with his sonic screwdriver.

'No electrostatic activity at all,' he said grimly.

'They're completely motionless - dormant.'

Despite the Doctor's reassuring tone, Amy

stayed in the doorway, unwilling to walk into what

suddenly felt like a graveyard.

And then a heavy hand fell on her shoulder.

Rory was helping Jess to tidy up at the farmhouse.

They had moved a lot of the rubble and moon

stone and dumped it in the yard. Rory had picked up

most of the broken furniture and put back anything

that was usable where it belonged. The rest, the

remains of it, he threw into the yard.

'You know, it's not as bad as it looks,' he told

Jess, as he brushed the last chips of moon rock into

a bin bag.

She raised an eyebrow. 'Really?'

'Most of this stuff is OK,' Rory said. 'The

walls need a bit of rebuilding and re-plastering,

but nothing a couple of good decorators couldn't

handle in a day or so. And the rest . . . well, it just

needs cleaning up.'

Jess sank into a chair. 'I hope you're right.'

Rory tied the bin bag and swung it out of the

back door. 'You watch. By the time the Doctor and

Amy get back, this place will look fine.' He hesitated,

seeing that Jess wasn't convinced. 'Tell you what,

let's take a break and have some breakfast.'

Rory found a toaster and a loaf of bread and set

to work. Jess joined him in the kitchen, staring out

of the window at her father. He still stood by the

Land Rover, little more than a statue.

'Isn't there anything we can do for him?'

she wondered.

'Not that I know of,' Rory replied. 'Maybe when

the Doctor gets back . . .'

'Maybe we should have taken him to a hospital

or something'

'I don't think that would help. Believe me, I'd

know - I'm a nurse. I used to spend all my time in

hospitals and never once did I see anyone brought in

because they'd been turned into moon rock. No one

would have a clue what to do. Except the Doctor.'

'You really think he can help?'

'There's no one else I'd rather trust.'

Jess let out a sigh. 'I thought I could trust Chris

— and look what happened there.'

'Don't be too hard on him,' Rory said gently.

'He was scared.'

'We all were — but he's the only one who

ran away.'

Rory shrugged. 'Maybe that just shows he's

cleverer than the rest of us. I wish I'd thought of it.'

'Don't joke. I'm supposed to be marrying

him, remember.'

'People do a lot of stupid things before they get

married,' Rory said, with some feeling. 'Don't be

too hard on him.'

'Maybe dad was right. Maybe he isn't right

for me.'

'Anything's possible,' Rory said. 'But at the end

of the day, it's not your dad who's marrying him.

It's you. Only you can decide.'

The hand felt unnaturally heavy. Amy spun around

with a yelp, expecting to see the Rock Man

towering over her.

But all she saw was Chris Jenkins.

He looked tense and scared — almost as much as

Amy. His face was pale and drawn, with dark circles

under his eyes.

'You just frightened the life out of me!' Amy

yelled, swatting his hand aside. She felt relieved and

angry at the same time. It didn't help that she could

hear the Doctor laughing softly behind her.

'Look out!' the Doctor said, miming a big scary

monster. 'It's Chris!'

Amy aimed a blow at his shoulder. 'Hate you.'

'Chris, glad you're here,' the Doctor said,

moving past her and shaking Chris by the hand. He

looked dazed and confused as the Doctor peered

closely into his eyes, as if searching for something

deep within.

'Doctor . . . Amy . . .' Chris mumbled. 'How did

you get here?'

'Oh, that was easy. Your sports car. Love it! Goes

like the clappers, lovely motor.'

A frown twitched into view on Chris's forehead.

'How's Jess? Is she all right?'

'Yes, she's fine — apart from the fact that her

dad's been turned to stone.' The Doctor looked

around the lab again. 'A bit like your friends here.'

He turned back to Chris, a steely look in his deep

set eyes. 'Care to tell us about it?'

'Um, yeah. Yeah. That would be good.'

'So all that talk about analysing rock samples and

handling moon rock - you knew something was

already wrong,' said Amy a little later. They were

sitting in a side room around a coffee table. It was

some kind of rest area for the scientists, with a

drinks machine and a small snooker table.

'Yeah,' Chris replied, sipping coffee from a

polystyrene cup. He stared at the table in front of

him. 'I'm afraid so.'

'Why didn't you speak up, then?' Amy demanded.

She was annoyed with him. At the farmhouse. You

could have said.'

'I was scared. I don't really understand what's

going on - you see, I think it might be all my fault.'

m y ? '

'Part of the research we do here . . . well, there

was a project, investigating the effects of UV rays on

various kinds of rock.' Chris sighed and ran a hand

down over his face. 'Including moon rock samples.

It's something to do with NASA's preparations for

the next moon landings. They need to control dust

contamination. Our research was important - and

top secret. I didn't want to start chatting all about it

to strangers.'

'But still - even when that Rock Man attacked

us ...'

'I panicked. I just wanted to get away.'

'And you wanted to draw it away from Jess

Conway,' interjected the Doctor. He was potting a

red on the snooker table. The tip of the cue clicked

against the ball and it shot straight into the corner

pocket. 'Because you knew what it was after.'

The Doctor straightened up, rubbed the end

of his cue with a piece of blue chalk attached by a

string to the table, and smiled gently. 'You knew it

was coming after you.'

Chris closed his eyes. 'When we started

the experiments, the results were completely

unexpected. The moon dust reacted in ways we

couldn't have guessed at. . .'

'Electrostatic animation, cross-polarisation

of the electrons at atomic level,' said the -Doctor

quickly. 'Yes, worked out all that for myself. The

question is — what went wrong?'

'I don't know.'

The Doctor potted another red with a rattling

stroke of his cue. 'Oh, come on, Chris. You must

have a clue.'

'The moon rock had to be handled with extreme

caution at all times,' Chris said. 'The samples were

kept in sealed cases. We handled them using gloves

inside an airtight box. All the normal precautions.

But one day . . . one of the insulated gloves tore.

It must have been a sharp edge on one of the rock

samples. I'm not sure. But the seal was broken.'

'That wouldn't normally be a problem,' remarked

the Doctor thoughtfully lining up another shot.

'Moon rock is pretty harmless.'

'That's what we thought. But we were wrong'

'The people in the lab,' realised Amy sadly. 'Were

they . . . infected or something?'

'Mutated,' Chris replied. 'It was horrible. Slowly

at first - everyone was aware that they were getting

heavier, stiffer . . . and then suddenly . . .'

'Sudden organic molecular reconfiguration,'

finished the Doctor. He had cleared the table.

He carefully placed the snooker cue back on

the green baize surface. 'They never stood

a chance.'

'And neither did Ralph,' said Amy.

Chris's head jerked up. 'What?'

'The Rock Man touched him, remember.

Triggered the molecular change thingy.'

'Oh, no,' Chris buried his face in his hands. 'Not

Ralph . . . What must Jess be thinking?' He stood

up. 'I have to see her. She'll be distraught. Her dad's

all she's got. . .'

'Wait a minute,' said the Doctor. 'Jess is OK.

Her dad is OK - for the moment. The effect

is unstable and I think the process can be

reversed. But I need to know more about how

it happened.'

Chris drew a deep breath. 'All right. What

can I do?'

'Show us where the real work was done,' replied

the Doctor without missing a beat.

Amy frowned. 'But I thought that was the lab ...'

The Doctor shook his head. 'The work you

say you were doing here — it would require at the

very least a UV laser set-up, positively charged

electron chambers and a nuclear particle tracker.

There's nothing like the equipment necessary in

there — and certainly no sealed unit.' He swung

his gaze around to face Chris. 'So, come on, out

with it: where's the top secret lab?'

There was a knock at the farmhouse door — or

what remained of it.

'I'll get it,' said Rory. He went out to the kitchen

and found a large, overweight man with a very red

face standing in the doorway.

'Hoggett,' said the man as Rory appeared.

'I'm sorry . . . ?' Rory said.

'Who the Devil are you?' the man demanded, his

thick eyebrows drawing down over a pair of small,

but very sharp, eyes.

'Er . . . I'm Rory. I'm just visiting.'

Where's Conway?'

Rory glanced out into the farmyard,

where Ralph Conway stood immobile by the

Land Rover.

'Come on, boy, spit it out,' demanded the man.

'He must be here somewhere. Tell him I want to

see him!'

'Dad's not available right now,' said Jess, joining

Rory. Her voice was cool, and Rory immediately got

the impression that neither Jess or this rude visitor

liked each other.

'This is Mr Hoggett,'Jess told Rory. 'You could

say he's our next-door-neighbour. He owns the

farm across the valley. And the farm next to that.

And three farms beyond that.'

'Four,' Hoggett corrected. 'And it'll be five when

I get this place.'

'And we keep telling you,' said Jess icily, 'that this

farm isn't for sale.'

'It might not be on the market,' agreed Hoggett.

'But that doesn't mean it can't be bought.'

'My dad has already told you to back off, Mr

Hoggett. We're not interested.'

'Well, we'll see about that,' said Hoggett. 'I've

come to make a new offer. One that even someone

as stubborn as your father would be hard pushed

to refuse.'

'Look,' said Rory. 'This isn't a good time. As you

can see . . . we've had a bit of bother and . . .'

Hoggett looked quickly around the kitchen,

taking in the broken table, chairs, plasterboard and

door frame. 'I can see that, boy. I'm not blind. And

that's exactly why I've come. It'll cost a damned

fortune to rebuild this place . . . money I know

Conway doesn't have. If he can't afford to pay any

workers, then he can't afford to pay for the upkeep

of this place.'

'He'll find a way,' Jess argued - but she didn't

sound convinced.

'Rubbish,' Hoggett scoffed. 'The place is falling

apart — look around you!' He glanced around the

kitchen and seemed surprised to find just how

bad a state it was in. 'I mean, look at it! Place is falling apart!'

'Really,' Rory said, as firmly as he could manage.

'This isn't the right time.'

Hoggett gave him a withering look. 'I've

come to speak to the organ grinder, boy - not one

of his monkeys. Where is Conway? Don't tell me

he's left you two in charge?'

'Dad isn't here at the moment,'Jess said patiently.

'Maybe if you could come back another time-'

'I'm not available at your father's beck and

call, girl. Frankly I find it astonishing that Conway

should leave the farm under the management of a

young girl like you and her boyfriend.'

Jess glanced at Rory. 'Rory isn't my boyfriend.'

'I'm not her boyfriend,' Rory confirmed, just so

there was no possibility of confusion.

Hoggett peered at him closely, lip curling. 'Oh,

no. You're not. I'm thinking of that other oaf from

town. Whatshisname. Jenkins. Always hanging

around like a bad smell.'

'There's no call for that,' said Rory. He was

beginning to get very fed up with this horrible man.

'Does he know you're seeing this fellow as well?'

Hoggett asked Jess, jerking a thumb at Rory.

'I keep telling you, I'm not her boyfriend,'

protested Rory. 'I'm not anyone's boyfriend. I'm

married. To Amy Pond.'

'What are you blathering on about, boy? Sounds

like you don't know what you're talking about half

the time.'

'Perhaps you should just go.'

Hoggett seethed for a moment. 'Well, I can

see it's pointless staying here unless I can speak to

Conway.' He turned to Jess. 'Tell your father this is

his final chance. He won't get a better offer. And

tell him that statue he's had erected in the yard is

damned ridiculous.'

'Statue?'

'Yes — the one with him chained to a Land Rover.

Never seen anything like it! Damned ridiculous

waste of money. The man's got far too high

an opinion of himself.' Hoggett let out a loud

harrumph. 'I never had a statue made of me.'

And with that, Hoggett turned and left without

another word, stomping over the last bits of

brick and dust left in the broken doorway. He

stalked away across the yard, shot a dark look at

Ralph Conway's "statue", and climbed into his

Range Rover.

Jess watched him go and wiped a tear from her

tired eyes.

'Don't get upset,' Rory said. 'He's just a . . .

horrible man. Ignore him.'

'I can't ignore him, Rory. He's right. We can't

afford to run this farm on our own. There's too

much work to do for two people and we'd struggle

to pay anyone to work here, even if they'd come out

from the town.'

'I can see things were already difficult before . . .

all this.'

'Dad knows he's going to have to sell the farm.

He's not getting any younger. But he refuses to

sell it to Hoggett. He practically owns the whole

valley now.'

'I'm sure your dad will think of something'

Jess smiled weakly. 'Thanks. I know you're trying

to help, and you're very sweet.' She squeezed Rory's

hand. 'Amy is a very lucky girl.'

' T h e research centre extends far below ground

level,' Chris explained. 'In fact, two-thirds of it

is underground. The really top secret stuff - high

level, fringe science research and development —

takes place down on level Minus Seven.'

'That sounds brilliant,' said the Doctor, rubbing

his hands together. He looked like a child about

to walk into a sweet shop. 'Fringe science — my

favourite kind!'

'What's fringe science?' asked Amy.

'All the sort of research that's on the very edge

of known science,' Chris answered. They were

walking along one of the corridors at the rear of

the research centre, heading for the lifts that would

take them down to level Minus Seven.

'All the stuff that's on the fringe of twenty-first century human science,' the Doctor corrected. He

winked at Amy. 'They'll get there eventually.'

'I beg your pardon?'

'Nothing! Lead on.'

Chris stopped at the lifts, his shoulders slumping.

'There's really not much point. There's a problem

I haven't told you about. The main lab on Minus

Seven is locked and sealed.'

'Oh, that sounds even more interesting,' smiled

the Doctor.

Chris, pale and sweating, met the Doctor's

gaze. 'Doctor - you really, really don't want to go

down there.'

But the Doctor's eyes were shining with curiosity

now. 'Yes, I really, really do.'

They went down in the lift to level Minus Seven.

There was a short, bare corridor leading to a set

of heavy double doors. Each had a circular window

made from frosted glass with the research company's

logo etched into it.

'Not much of a barrier,' sniffed the Doctor,

waving his sonic screwdriver casually at the doors.

They clicked open immediately.

Amy screwed her eyes up as a gust of cold, dead

air escaped with a quiet hiss. Beyond was a darkened

concrete passage.

They stepped into the passage. Amy shivered.

'It's so cold down here — with all this concrete.'

The Doctor touched the wall. 'Not concrete,

Amy — moon rock. The whole corridor is made

from moon rock.'

'We shouldn't be here,' said Chris nervously.

'This is exactly where we should be,' the

Doctor insisted.

He used the sonic screwdriver to light the way. It

was very gloomy and at one point Amy stubbed her

toe on something lying near the wall. 'Ouch!'

The Doctor shone the light on the floor, revealing

a huddled grey shape. At first it looked just like a

large rock or a stone, but then they saw that it was

actually in the shape of a man - crawling along the

floor. His face was frozen in a mask of fear.

'Oh, no,' Amy whispered.

The Doctor examined the stone body. 'Someone

trying to escape,' he said quietly. 'Caught in the

same transformation wave that turned this whole

corridor to moon stone.'

'I told you it was a bad idea to come down here,'

Chris said. 'We should go back now.'

'No,' said Amy. She tried to hide the shake in

her voice. 'We've come this far. We have to find out

what's going on.'

The Doctor smiled at her in the darkness and

squeezed her hand. 'Come on, Pond,' he said.

Chris followed the Doctor and Amy to the far end

of the passageway. Here there was a pair of heavy

steel doors — or at least, they had once been steel.

Now, they were rock. Grey stone rivets ran along the

edges and the circular windows were useless.

'It's locked solid,' said Chris. 'There is no way

through.'

The Doctor scanned it with the sonic

screwdriver. 'All the internal electronics and locks

have been turned to moon stone . . .' He fiddled

with the screwdriver and pointed it at the centre of

the doors. The tip glowed a fierce green. 'However

— if I can break down the machinery . . .'

The sonic pitch rose to a scream and suddenly

there was a series of heavy clunks and cracks from

within the doors.

And a dark, black split appeared between them.

'Come on - brute force now,' The Doctor dug

his fingers into the split and started to heave.

Amy joined him, while Chris pulled at the

other door.

The stone doors ground slowly aside, releasing

a cascade of fine grey dust over the Doctor's head

and shoulders. When they had forced the doors

open just wide enough to step through, Amy

giggled. 'That's quite a dandruff problem you've

got there, Doctor.'

The Doctor brushed the dust from his hair and

stared into the cold darkness beyond the doors. 'It's

like opening a grave,' he said quietly.

Chris was shaking like a leaf. The Doctor aimed

his torchlight through the gap - and Amy let out a

sharp cry of despair.

The huge, underground laboratory was impressive

enough, but not exactly unexpected.

What took Amy by surprise was that everything

- every computer, workstation, cable, monitor and

control panel, right down to the last button and

rivet - was made out of solid rock.

She had never seen anything like this. It looked

like the world's most incredible, most complicated

sculpture.

At the centre of the chamber was some kind

of apparatus shaped like a giant, upturned spider.

There was a round, central machine covered with

technological components, with a number of

thick support girders radiating out and up towards

the ceiling.

The whole thing was surrounded by a number of

heavy cables and power lines that trailed across the

floor, plugged into various sockets and machines.

The Doctor stepped straight into the stone

laboratory, his boots echoing around the cathedral-

like space. His torchlight roved around the pale

rock, picking out controls, computer banks — and

then a man's face.

Amy gasped again — and then realised that, of

course, the man was made out of rock. As still and

lifeless as everything else down here.

'I'll never look at the moon in the same way

again,' she said.

The Doctor examined the stone man. 'Caught

in the transformation wave. Just like the others

upstairs.'

'Did any of the scientists survive?' Amy

asked Chris.

He shook his head. 'I'm the only one.'

The Doctor had moved to one of the main

workstations. He scanned the computer with his

sonic screwdriver, the green light playing eerily over

the rocky surface. 'Everything is stored in here,

all the research data, experiments, everything. But

it's all turned to rock. The hard drives and flash

memory - everything is rock.'

'Going to be hard to access any of the data,

then,' Amy realised.

'Hard — but not impossible. There are some

civilisations, mainly in the Pron-Kalunka Galaxy,

that use granite as the base matter for all their

technology.'

'And it works?'

'Yes, but it's very slow and a bit on the heavy

side.' The Doctor knelt down, examining the edge

of one of the computers very closely. 'But it does

work. If I can just remove one of these memory

sticks, I'm sure I could find a way to get the data

out. . .'

'I don't like it down here,' Chris said. 'It all

happened so quickly. The transformation was so

fast... I was lucky not to be here when it happened.'

'Where were you?' Amy asked.

Chris gave a humourless laugh. 'I'd gone to start

up the UV generators. They're located in a side-

room in the basement. It's not far from here - but

far enough.'

The Doctor looked up, frowning. 'Start up the

UV generators? That was lucky.'

'Not really.' Chris shuddered as he remembered.

'I heard it happen. Heard the shouts — the terrible

grinding, cracking noise as anything and everything

down here turned to stone. When I came back, I

couldn't believe my eyes.'

'What did you do?'

'Ran around the research centre in a panic. No

one else here was left alive.'

'What about the other scientists or their families

and friends?' asked Amy. 'Didn't anyone enquire?'

'You have to understand that this is a top secret

research project, Amy. Very few people know what

we were doing or who was here. And the scientists

are used to working down here without any

contact with the outside world for days on end if

they have to.'

'But even so . . .'

'Got it!' The Doctor waved a sliver of moon

rock in the air. 'Flash drive from one of the main

computers - now we can find out what happened!'

Chris swallowed. 'But I just told you what

happened.'

'I mean what really happened,' said the Doctor.

Amy looked curiously at the stone flash drive.

It looked like an ordinary memory stick - only grey.

'How are you going to use that? It won't work if

it's turned to stone.'

'Oh, I know a few tricks - and I've always got

this.' He produced his sonic screwdriver in the other

hand. 'And your mobile phone, please.'

Amy sighed and handed over her phone. The

Doctor sat cross-legged on the floor and got to

work, opening up Amy's phone first of all and then

using the sonic screwdriver on the memory stick.

'It's just a case of finding the right data transference

code between the flash drive and the phone . . .'

'But how can the flash drive still work if it's

been turned to stone?' wondered Chris.

'All memory sticks use silicon microchip

technology,' explained the Doctor. 'Silicon is a kind

of rock. Now if I can create an interface between

the chip and the display on the mobile . . .'

The sonic screwdriver hummed busily and

the green light reflected from the Doctor's face in

the darkness.

Amy wandered around the gloomy lab. There

was just enough light coming from the corridor

outside to see her way around. She stepped over

rocky cables and around stone computer banks,

exploring the strange machinery at the centre of

the chamber. 'Is it safe to touch this, Doctor?'

'Oh yes, perfectly,' the Doctor replied without

looking up from his work. 'The moon stone in

here is all utterly inactive. It only appears to be the

mobile Rock Men that have the ability to transform.

Huh. There's a thought.'

'What?'

The Doctor concentrated on his task. 'What?

Oh, nothing. Like I said - just a thought. Let me

carry on thinking it for a second . . .'

Amy let her hand touch the stone machine, her

fingers gliding over the smooth, cool surface as

she walked around it. It was very dark on the other

side, opposite the entrance. She held out her hand

in front of her, unsure what was ahead. Then she

touched a lumpy, rough shape that definitely wasn't

a machine.

A startled gasp escaped from her lips as she

realised what was in front of her.

Towering over her in the darkness was a

dark, humanoid silhouette — carved from solid

moon rock.

The Rock Man.

The Rock Man glowered at her with sightless eyes.

It was utterly still.

'What is it?' asked the Doctor, joining her

quickly. He had been alerted by her sharp cry of

shock. 'Ah. The Rock Man.' The Doctor scanned it

quickly. 'Dormant — luckily for us.'

Amy backed carefully away from the massive

figure. 'It's not like the others. You can tell the

others were once people — scientists. But this is just

all lumpy and . . .'

'Not quite alien,' finished the Doctor. 'It's

something else entirely. Not human, not alien and

not ordinary moon rock. And I think I know why.'

He held up Amy's mobile. The screen was

scrolling through a huge amount of information.

'I hope you're not online,' Amy joked. 'That'll

cost me a fortune.'

'No, this is information I've downloaded from

the flash drive. Chris said they were researching into

the effect of UV light on the electrostatic fields

surrounding moon rock. That in itself wouldn't

trigger all this . . .' The Doctor gestured around

the stone lab, '. . . and it wouldn't account for our

rocky friend here. There had to be something else —

something the scientists hadn't bargained for.'

'And you've found it?'

'Yes — alien bacteria.'

'Ew.'

The Doctor's fingers wiggled around in the

air, full of enthusiasm for his subject. 'Bacteria!

Brought back from the moon in the rock samples.

Not in every piece - maybe just one. But it's very

unusual bacteria - it's 3.9 billion year-old bacteria,

the remains of an ancient, extinct civilisation. It

probably arrived on the moon in its infancy, on

a meteorite -' the Doctor pounded a fist into his

other hand to demonstrate the impact, ' b o o m !

And it's been dormant ever since - trapped in the

freezing dark on the airless surface of the moon.

Some bacteria can live for decades - centuries even

- and space-travelling bacteria even longer. Has to,

if there's to be any chance of survival. And that's

what this is all about - survival!

'But now it's been brought to Earth from the

moon,' Amy said, trying to follow the Doctor's train

of thought.

'Yes, the Apollo astronauts must have picked up

a piece of rock infected with this dormant space

bacteria. It's been on Earth for years now — until

suddenly the scientists here got hold of the rock

and started bombarding it with ultraviolet light.' The

Doctor's eyes lit up with excitement. 'And b i n g o ! '

'The bacteria wakes up?'

'The bacteria wakes up!' The Doctor's

expression hardened in the gloom. 'And it gets to

work — controlling the electrostatic field contained

in the moon rock, absorbing the UV rays and

building itself a new body based on the first animal

organism it's come into contact with in nearly four

billion years.'

Amy's eyes widened. 'Human beings.'

'And so we have our lumpy Rock Man friend

here.' The Doctor tapped the figure on the chest.

'But why change everything else into moon

rock?'

'The bacteria is wild, uncontrollable. It's triggering

molecular change at a fantastic, uncontrollable rate

— trying to recreate an environment in which it feels

at home.'

'So where's home?'

'Well, where's it been living for the past few

billion years?'

'The moon.'

'Exactly. Good enough to call home now, I'd say.'

The Doctor's deep-set eyes disappeared beneath a

frown. 'But there's one question that remains.'

'Just one?'

'What on Earth does it want with Ralph

Conway's farm?'

'I think I know the answer to that,' said Chris.

It was the first time he'd spoken for some time. He

was leaning against the doorway, Partly silhouetted

by the light outside.

'Yes,' said the Doctor. 'I should think you do.'

'The creature was after this,' Chris said. His

voice sounded dull, as if he'd given up.

In his hand was a strangely shaped lump of

grey rock.

'A piece of moon stone?' Amy queried.

Chris threw it to Amy. She caught it and then

turned the rock around in her hands, angling it

towards the light. 'It's shaped like a heart,' she said.

'Is this the original rock?' wondered the Doctor.

He stepped closer and scanned the stone with his

sonic screwdriver. The green light glinted off the

grainy surface.

'Sample 247,' Chris said quietly. 'The Heart of

Stone.'

'Figures,' said Amy.

'That's what we nicknamed it anyway. It must have

contained the space bacteria you mentioned, Doctor.'

Amy gulped. 'Is it OK to handle it, then?'

'Probably,' said the Doctor. 'The meteorite was

only activated by UV light, remember. And it's done

its work already. Helped make Rocky here come to

life.'

The Doctor gestured towards the motionless

Rock Man.

And as he did so, the Rock Man suddenly grabbed

the Heart of Stone right out of Amy's hand.

'Rory,' Jess called from the kitchen. 'Come and

look at this!'

Rory, alerted by the note of anxiety in Jess's

voice, came at a run. 'What's up?'

'I thought I saw him move.' Jess pointed out of

the kitchen window at her father.

Ralph Conway still stood by the Land Rover,

bound to the vehicle by chains and washing line.

He didn't appear to have moved an inch.

'It was probably your imagination,' he told her

gently.

'It wasn't my imagination at all,'Jess protested.

'A shadow, then — maybe a bird flew overhead

and you saw the shadow crossing'

She shook her head. 'No, Rory I definitely saw

him move!'

And then she pushed past him and ran out of

the kitchen, heading across the yard to where her

father stood like a statue.

Rory sighed and followed her out.

Jess came to a halt by the Land Rover and circled

it. She stood in front of her father and looked up

into his stone cold face. The eyes were open but

unseeing. His hands were stiff where they gripped

the chains.

Rory caught her up. 'It may even have been the

sun — you know, the shadows changing as it moves.'

Jess shot him a look that said, 'Don't be stupid.'

Rory had been on the receiving end of enough

looks like that from Amy to recognise it easily.

'Negative electrostatics — that's what the Doctor

said,' Rory pointed out. He wasn't completely sure

what it meant but he could have a good guess. 'In

other words, he can't move. The ultraviolet rays

from the sun—'

'Oh, shush, Rory — use your eyes!'

Jess was holding her hand up towards her

father's rigid face.

Rory immediately grabbed her wrist. 'Don't

touch him —!'

But then he stopped.

Because he'd seen something moving on Ralph

Conway's stone face.

The eyelids were starting to close. With a tiny,

thin scraping noise, his eyes blinked. Once. Twice.

'Get back,' Rory said, pulling Jess away.

But she yanked herself free and ran back to her

father. 'Dad!'

Ralph's stone head twisted around to look at her.

Every movement was accompanied by the sound

of scraping rock.

'We should get away,' Rory insisted. His heart

was beating faster. Where was the Doctor when

you really needed him? Swanning around in a flash

sports car, that's where!

Ralph Conway flexed his shoulders and turned

to face his daughter. The stone eyes seemed to find

her, but how he could see was anyone's guess. His

lips parted, slowly, painfully, and Rory winced at the

sound they made.

Ralph pulled at the chains that held him, shifting

them, gripping them in his stone hands until each

link was transformed with a dull crack into moon

stone and snapped.

The chain fell away in ruins and the washing line

parted, breaking into tiny, brittle pieces.

'Move,' said Rory, gripping Jess's hand and

pulling her towards the farmhouse.

'No, wait. . .'

But Ralph had started to follow them with slow,

plodding footsteps.

Rory half dragged Jess into the farmhouse.

Once inside the kitchen he turned to close and lock

the door — only to find that the door was already

missing, along with part of the frame.

'Uh, we have a problem developing . . .' Rory

muttered, as Ralph approached the door.

'What's he going to do?' asked Jess.

Rory snapped around, searching for something

to use to defend themselves. He could hear the dull

scrape . . . scrape . . . scrape of the man's approach

behind him.

And then suddenly Ralph stood in the remains

of the doorway.

Rory picked up the last remaining kitchen chair

and faced Ralph like a lion tamer, holding the chair

legs out towards him.

'Don't come any closer!' Rory told him, but his

voice came out like a tight little squeak.

Ralph stepped into the kitchen.

'Oh, crumbs!' Rory backed away, keeping the

chair up. 'Stay behind me, Jess.'

The stone man started walking towards them.

'Amy!' shouted the Doctor. Amy staggered

H backwards, horrified. The Rock Man lurched

out of the shadows, its fist closed tight around the

Heart of Stone.

'Not good!' yelled the Doctor, grabbing hold of

Amy and helping her away. 'Not at all good . . .'

They tripped over a stone cable and crashed to

the floor. The Rock Man stomped towards them.

'Up!' shouted the Doctor, hauling Amy to

her feet.

They pelted across the room, dodging past

moon rock workstations and under dangling stone

power lines.

'This way!' cried Chris, calling them across the

chamber as the Rock Man charged.

It crashed through a databank, hurling the thing

to one side — where it smashed into fragments.

The Doctor, Amy and Chris ran, as moon rock

shrapnel scattered across the floor.

'We've got to stop it,' the Doctor said, scrambling

over a stone power converter. He helped the others

climb over.

'Can't we just get out of here?' Chris asked.

'And let it come after us?'

Amy looked back to where the ugly shape of

the creature loomed in the darkness. It didn't seem

to care where it went or what it smashed to get to

them. Clouds of grey moon dust were beginning to

fill the chamber.

'What made it come alive again?' she asked the

Doctor. 'I thought it was only ultraviolet light -

sunshine.'

'The bacteria must be adapting,' replied the

Doctor. 'The meteorite is learning to use any kind

of energy source — including the sonic screwdriver.

Look out!'

The Rock Man smashed the power converter

and strode through the debris.

The Doctor, Amy and Chris headed further into

the depths of the secret lab - and further into the

darkness.

The Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to

light their way — the equipment here was packed

closer together, linked by hundreds of wires and

cables and junction boxes. It was like climbing

through a stone jungle in the dark. The torchlight

crept over the strange grey shapes as they picked

their way through.

The Rock Man charged after them. It paused on

the edge of the stone jungle, the dim light reflecting

from its grey face. The deep holes that served

as eyes were as black as night as they peered into

the shadows.

The Doctor, Amy and Chris crouched behind a

databank, hardly daring to breathe.

The Rock Man moved slowly forward, its heavy

feet dragging across the stone floor with a harsh

scraping noise.

The three of them remained absolutely still.

And suddenly the Rock Man heaved aside the

databank, splintering the moon rock into a thousand

dusty pieces, revealing the Doctor and his friends in

an instant.

Amy screamed as she dived out of the way.

The Doctor was right behind her, pulling Chris

after him.

The Rock Man's massive hand swept down,

crunching into the floor where the three of them

had been a second before.

With a snarl of savage anger, the Rock Man

charged after them. It thrashed its way through the

power lines. The stone girders that helped support

the central machinery crumbled.

There was a deep groan from above.

The Doctor's head snapped up and he shone

his torch towards the ceiling. The huge stone

ramparts that secured the machine stretched up

into the shadows. Dust was falling like rain.

'It's going to destroy this place,' he realised.

Chris was appalled. 'It cost millions to put this

lot together!'

'All a bit useless if it's made out of stone, though,'

the Doctor pointed out.

There was a loud creak and fragments of rocks

fell from above, scattering down through the

machinery and onto the floor.

'We have to get out of here,' Amy said.

The Rock Man had almost caught them up. It

shoved aside more computer workstations, leaving

a trail of chaos.

The Doctor glanced up again. Then he turned

to Amy and Chris. 'Head for the door — I'll meet

you outside.'

'We can't leave you,' Amy protested.

'Just do as I say!'

Chris grabbed Amy's hand. 'Come on, Amy!'

The Doctor was already climbing onto the

nearest workstation. From there he clambered

across to a taller piece of machinery festooned

with cables that snaked up into the branches of the

central complex.

With a last, despairing look, Amy followed Chris,

heading towards the exit. She had a horrible feeling

she knew what the Doctor was planning.

The Rock Man saw Amy and Chris run - but

the Doctor was still nearer. Craning its thick neck,

the creature turned its pitiless black eyes up towards

him.

The Doctor was hanging on to one of the

support struts, leaning unsteadily out over the

laboratory.

Letting go with one hand, the Doctor held his

sonic screwdriver out at arm's length. He pointed it

straight up into the shadows and activated it.

The dp glowed a fierce green and a shrill whine

filled the chamber.

Something cracked like a gunshot in the

darkness. The Doctor pointed the screwdriver in

another direction and repeated the process. There

was another huge crack — followed by a series of

splintering noises. Dust cascaded from the ceiling.

Amy stopped at the doorway and looked up. The

Doctor adjusted his aim again, and more dust rained

down as a series of loud cracks echoed through

the lab.

Everything started to shake.

'What's he doing?' Chris wondered.

'Using the sonic to vibrate the moon rock and

crack it,' Amy said. 'He's going to bring this whole

place down!'

The Doctor was climbing slowly down — he

had to go carefully because the whole structure

was shaking. He had the sonic screwdriver gripped

between his teeth.

The Rock Man lumbered towards him, splitting

a monitor bank in two with a scraping growl. Its

hands reached out to grab the Doctor — but he was

too quick for the creature.

He slipped down the last couple of metres,

landed awkwardly and fell. The Rock Man's hands

closed on dusty air.

The Doctor rolled along the floor, sprang to

his feet and dodged past the creature. As he ran

he held the sonic screwdriver out behind him and

activated it.

A piercing whine shot through the air. The

Doctor raised his arm, directing the sonic screwdriver

straight up.

There was an almighty, splintering crack from

above.

A huge piece of machinery dislodged from

the ceiling and fell down, crashing into the rest of

the apparatus below. Dust billowed out from the

wreckage.

The Rock Man started after the Doctor.

The Doctor skidded to a stop by the door where

Amy and Chris were waiting.

'When I say run,' panted the Doctor, 'run!'

They took one last look at the lab. The Rock

Man roared and headed straight for them — and

then the entire chamber shook as if gripped by an

earthquake and the whole thing collapsed.

The central machinery cracked and fell into

pieces, crashing down with a terrible noise. Sections

of the ceiling tumbled after it, dragged down as the

support legs gave way. Tons of moon rock crashed

to the floor and a huge, thick cloud of choking dust

rolled up.

The Doctor, Amy and Chris waited for the last

pieces to fall. The entire lab had been destroyed -

there was nothing left now but a pile of rubble.

'Do you think that thing is dead now?'

asked Chris.

'It was never truly alive — not in the way you

mean,' said the Doctor sadly.

'But it's done for, isn't it?'

'I doubt anything could survive that,' said Amy.

The Doctor peered at the huge mound of

grey waste. 'It must have been crushed,' he said.

'But l o o k . . . '

Sticking out from the base of the wreckage,

there was a rocky hand.

It still gripped the Heart of Stone.

The Doctor, covering his nose and mouth with

a hanky so that he didn't breathe in the moon dust,

crept back to the hand. He bent down and gently

worked the stone loose.

'Why do you want that?' Amy asked.

'This rock is what started it all, remember,'

said the Doctor. We don't want to leave it in the

wrong hands.'

He wrapped the stone in his handkerchief and

put it in a pocket. 'Come on — let's go.'

Pieces of moon rock continued to fall, clattering

down through the debris. Dust swirled.

And, faintly, the Rock Man's fingers began to

move .

Rory tried to position himself in front of Jess. He

wasn't sure this was a very good idea, but it felt

like the kind of thing he should do.

The Rock Man - in the shape of Ralph Conway

- continued to approach.

And then Jess stepped past Rory and held out

her hands to her father.

'Dad,' she said. 'It's me - stop.'

And, remarkably, Ralph Conway did stop.

'Don't get any closer,' hissed Rory. He didn't

want to see Jess turned to stone as well.

But a very strange thing was happening. Jess was

inching closer to the stone figure before her. And

he was staying absolutely still.

'Be careful,' Rory insisted.

'I think it's OK,'Jess whispered. 'Really, I do . . . '

She took another step.

Ralph Conway's head dipped slightly lower, as if

he was about to say something.

'Dad?' Jess said gently.

Ralph's grey lips parted slightly and a

horrible scraping sound emerged. It looked like

he was trying to speak, but it was causing him

terrible pain.

'It's all right,' Jess said. 'Don't try to talk. I

understand.'

'You do?' said Rory.

'He doesn't want to hurt us,' Jess said. 'Look at

him. He's terrified.'

'Look at me,' said Rory. 'I'm terrified too.'

Ralph fell silent. He remained completely still.

Encouraged, Rory came a little closer. Every line

in Conway's face, every tiny bit of stubble and mark

on his skin, was perfectly captured in stone. It was

astonishing — more than a work of art, in fact. There

was no man-made sculpture in the world like this.

'We'll get you back, Dad,' Jess said softly. She

turned to Rory. Won't we?'

'Yeah, of course.' But Rory couldn't for the life

of him see how.

There was an abrupt knock at the door - or

rather the door frame. Rory and Jess had hardly

turned their heads before Mr Hoggett strode

uninvited into the farmhouse.

'Door was open,' he explained snootily. 'In fact,

the door was missing. Like half the rest of this

dump. It's in a state of collapse, you know.'

'I thought we'd seen the last of you, Mr Hoggett,'

said Jess.

'The only way you'll see the last of me, my dear

girl, is when you agree to sell this hopeless excuse

for a farm.' Hoggett smiled wolfishly.

Then something else caught his attention.

Hoggett's face darkened as he saw Ralph Conway.

'I can't believe you brought that awful thing

inside,' he said. 'But then I suppose it's better

than having it on display outside. Always thought

Conway had too high an opinion of himself - but a

statue, for goodness' sake!'

The statue's head turned slowly and glared

at Hoggett.

Hoggett practically choked.

Jess and Rory watched him turn pale, then red

and then almost black with fury.

' W h a t . . .' Hoggett spluttered, what on Earth is

this meant to be? Some kind of joke?'

'Well,' began Rory, and then stopped. He couldn't

think of anything to say.

'Explain!' thundered Hoggett.

'It's really very simple,' said the Doctor, sweeping

into the room unannounced.

Every head snapped around to look at him and

Amy. Every head except Ralph Conway's, which

turned slowly with a harsh grinding noise.

Chris Jenkins appeared in the door frame

behind Amy.

'Chris!' exclaimed Jess, her voice full of shock

and delight - and a hint of uncertainty. 'Chris? Are

you all right?'

'I'm not sure,' he replied.

Hoggett continued to splutter with indignant

anger. 'What's going on? Who are these people?

What's happening?'

'Hello,' said the Doctor, waving his fingers

briefly at the irritated man. 'I'm the Doctor, this

is Amy, that is Chris - Jess's fiance - and that is

Rory — Amy's husband — I know, it's beginning to

get confusing, but don't worry, all will become very

clear in a moment.' The Doctor clapped his hands

together with some satisfaction.

Hoggett pointed a trembling finger at Ralph

Conway. 'And this?'

'This is Ralph Conway, Jess's father,' the Doctor

explained patiently.

Hoggett's finger continued to tremble, but

it was impossible to tell whether this was due to

fear or anger. 'I know who it is . . .' he said through

gritted teeth.

'Ah,' realised the Doctor. 'You're wondering why

he appears to be made of stone.'

'But - '

'That's because he is, in fact, made of stone.'

'But - '

'And not just any old stone,' the Doctor

continued brightly. 'But moon stone. That's rather

extraordinary, don't you think?'

' B u t - '

The Doctor let out an exasperated sigh.

'But what?'

'But it m o v e d ! '

'Ah, yes,' the Doctor nodded slowly. 'That is the

other extraordinary thing. Isn't it wonderful that

one day could be so full of so many extraordinary

things? They're the days I love best, to be honest.'

Hoggett was seething. Will someone please

explain exactly what is going on here?'

There was silence as everyone looked at

the Doctor.

'That would be me, then,' said the Doctor.

Well, as I said, it's really quite simple. It started

when a meteorite crashed into the surface of

this planet's moon nearly four billion years ago.

Lovely big crater, tiny little something left at

the centre. An alien something. Carrying alien

bacteria. Special alien bacteria that lay on the cold,

airless surface of the moon until an unsuspecting

astronaut from the last Apollo mission collected it

as part of a sample of moon rocks to bring back

to Earth for study. All clear so far?'

Silence.

'Good, I'll carry on. We're getting to the good

bit! Not all the moon rock samples were tested

straight away. Some were, some were given away

as presents to foreign governments and some were

kept for display. Some were held back for further

investigation. And some—including the one carrying

our special alien bacteria — were sent for analysis by

Chris and his friends here at the Research Institute.'

Chris gave a little wave.

'Chris and his friends bombarded the moon

rocks with ultraviolet light - and the special alien

bacteria reacted. This is what it had been waiting 3.9

billion years for. So, it reacted pretty quickly, because,

let's face it, it had been waiting for a long, long time

and was getting pretty impatient. And it used its

own unique and special talent: to change whatever it

touched into something that it could use as a body.'

'Change?' said Hoggett.

'Molecular reconfiguration,' nodded the Doctor.

He wiggled his fingers together in a complicated

pattern as he spoke. 'Transforming metal, plastic,

wood, skin, bone, anything at all, into moon rock.'

'And your point about the moon bacteria is?'

prompted Jess.

'It's natural. It can't help what it does. You

humans always wanted to fly, and it took you ages

to make gliders and wings and engines and build

something you could fly in. But the birds and the

bees have been doing it since forever. Naturally.

They can't help it. And that's just like the moon

bacteria. It can't help changing things.'

The Doctor turned in a slow circle, ensuring

everyone was still listening. Hoggett's mouth was

hanging open, and the Doctor reached out and

gently closed it.

'The bacteria copied the first real life form it

discovered, fashioning a humanoid body for itself.'

'The Rock Man,' said Amy.

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. His dark eyes

glowered from beneath his heavy brow. 'And then.

Then it went looking for something.'

'Looking for what?' asked Rory. 'Sorry, I'm not

following this at all.'

The Doctor smiled. 'It went looking for a

particular rock: the lunar sample that had started it

all. The source of the bacteria.'

'Which was where?' asked Jess.

'Here,' answered the Doctor. 'In the farmhouse.'

'But - how?'

'Ask Chris.'

Jess turned to Chris with a puzzled frown.

'Chris?'

Chris looked uncomfortable. 'I . . . brought it

here. From the research centre. I'm sorry, I really

didn't know what I was doing. But I knew the rock

was trouble. I'd seen the effect it had produced at the

research centre, turning everything and everyone

I knew into moon stone. I was scared. But I knew I

had to get the rock away from the centre, in case it

happened again. So I hid it here.'

'You never told me.'

'I didn't want to frighten you. I was trying to

think of a way to deal with everything. I'd only just

got your Dad to accept me — almost, anyway — and

I didn't want anything to risk that.'

Jess looked at her father, still turned to stone.

'I think you risked everything!

'Possibly,' the Doctor agreed. 'But Chris really

didn't know what he was dealing with. And he

couldn't have known that the Rock Man would

come looking for the stone — which, incidentally, I

have here in my pocket.'

He took the heart-shaped lump of rock from

his jacket pocket.

'You mean that's what brought the Rock Man to

the farm?' asked Jess.

'Yes. He arrived in the middle of the night,

knocked down your wall — accidentally changing it

into moon rock - blundered around a bit and then

got scared off by your father.'

'I came straight away,' Chris continued. 'I wanted

to take the Heart of Stone back - or at least, away

from here.'

'Heart of Stone?' queried Rory.

The Doctor held up the rock. 'Yeah, looks a bit

like a human heart. Complete coincidence. In fact,

it doesn't really look like that at all.'

He produced the sonic screwdriver in his other

hand and pointed it at the rock. The tip shone green

and a shrill noise filled the room. Suddenly, the rock

cracked and disintegrated in a puff of grey dust

that trickled through the Doctor's fingers.

The Doctor snapped the sonic screwdriver

off. Left in his other hand was something a little

smaller than the original rock — something smooth,

spherical and black. It was about the size of a tennis

ball, but glossy, like a hugely magnified droplet

of oil.

'What is it?' asked Rory, his eyes wide.

'This is the original meteorite that struck the

moon all those millennia ago.' The Doctor held the

sphere out for them to see. 'It's from another galaxy

altogether. Here, catch.'

The Doctor tossed the ball casually to Mr

Hoggett, who caught it instinctively. He looked at

the ball and then at the Doctor, opening and closing

his mouth but not making a sound.

The Doctor smiled. 'The moon rock was just

the outer layer, thickening around that ball over

billions of years.'

'I left the Heart of Stone here, hoping to hide it

until I worked out what to do,' said Chris. He looked

miserably at Jess. 'I'm sorry.'

'The Rock Man came back the next night, while

you were here,'Jess said. 'You knew what it was and

why it was here. And yet you ran away.'

Chris looked shamefaced, but the Doctor said,

'Actually, Chris saved us all last night, Jess. He took

the meteorite away with him, knowing the Rock

Man would follow him — and leave you alone.'

'But not before the Rock Man had smashed the

place to bits and done that to my dad!'Jess pointed

at her father, who stood like a statue in the middle

of the room.

'And that's where the good news comes in,' said

the Doctor brightly. 'I'm pretty sure we can change

your dad back to normal.'

Jess stifled a sob. 'How?'

'Using the meteorite.' The Doctor plucked

the black sphere out of Mr Hoggett's hands.

'The change is highly unstable — it's constantly on

the edge of being permanent. But that means it's

also right on the edge of being temporary. If I can

tap into the molecular code contained in this

meteorite and reverse it, everything should turn out

hunky-dory.'

'Did you really just say 'hunky-dory'?' laughed

Amy.

The Doctor winced. 'It won't happen again,

I promise.'

Jess had turned to Chris, wiping away a tear. 'Is

it true? Can he get Dad back to normal?'

Chris nodded. 'If the Doctor says he can, then I

believe him. And so should you.'

'It may take a few minutes to calculate the code,'

said the Doctor. He cleared a space on the kitchen

table and sat down. 'It's probably some kind of

binary-electron code - something natural and

basic . . .' He fished in his pocket and produced a

jeweller's eyeglass, which he screwed into place

so that he could examine the meteorite in minute

detail.

Chris took Jess by the hand. 'Do you forgive me,

Jess? I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused.'

'Why didn't you tell me what was going on in the

first place?'

'I didn't think you'd believe me. And worse than

that — I thought you might call the engagement off.

Or your dad would.'

Jess touched his cheek tenderly. 'I just wanted

you back, Chris, that's all.'

At this point the Doctor looked up from his

work. 'You know, this is a very difficult job and

requires total concentration. A little quiet would

help. You can save the soppy stuff for later.'

Jess smiled and squeezed Chris's hand. 'Anything

you say, Doctor.'

'Good.' The Doctor clicked open his sonic

screwdriver. 'Now, complete silence, please.'

His only answer was a terrific crash from the

remains of the kitchen doorway — and the sight of

the Rock Man looming through the gap, grey hands

outstretched . . .

'Oh, not you again,' complained the Doctor.

'What the dickens is tha t?' roared Mr Hoggett

as the Rock Man stepped into the farmhouse.

Everyone backed away quickly—everyone except

the Doctor, who jumped to his feet and walked

swiftly towards the creature, his sonic screwdriver

at the ready.

'Hello . . .' he began.

The Rock Man gave a gravelly snarl.

'I'm so glad you survived the — er — rockfall,'

continued the Doctor. 'And I thought you'd

probably come after me. Or rather - this.'

In his other hand he held up the glossy black

sphere.

'I've just been having a bit of a tinker,' the

Doctor confessed. 'You know, trying to see what

makes it tick and how I might use it to return poor

Mr Conway back to his usual self . . .'

The Doctor pointed at Ralph Conway.

The Rock Man's dark eye-pits turned towards

the stone farmer. Its jaws scraped together as it

seemed to consider.

'You see, we have a communication problem

here,' the Doctor went on. 'I can't understand

a word you're saying. My guess is that your species

has been mutated so far from its original form that

it's beyond alien. It's something completely new

and unique.'

The Rock Man growled.

The Doctor regarded it sadly. 'It's not even like

you're a long, long way from home. You don't even

have a home.'

The Rock Man growled again, and the noise was

like a paving slab being dragged over concrete.

'What can I do to help?' the Doctor asked.

Everyone watched in amazement as the Doctor

stood calmly before the towering grey creature,

looking directly into the deep, dark pits where its

eyes should be.

He was close enough for the creature to reach

out and crush him - or turn him to stone.

And then the Rock Man did reach out.

And pointed a stubby, rocky finger at the

Doctor's own hand.

The hand that held the meteorite ball.

'Yes,' the Doctor whispered. 'I think I understand.'

He held the ball up slowly. 'This is your home?'

The Rock Man leaned forward and, very

carefully, touched the ball.

It was impossible to tell exactly what happened

in that moment.

There was no flash of light, no spark, no crackle

or rumble of thunder.

But somehow, something—everything—changed

in that moment. It was as if a connection had been

made with something strange and mysterious — a

connection between the Rock Man and the Doctor.

The Doctor stiffened — literally.

The hand that held the meteorite turned rigid,

pale.

And then grey, like moon rock.

'Doctor!' gasped Amy.

The sleeve of the Doctor's tweed jacket changed

to grey, the elbow patch stiffened and turned to stone.

'Oh, my goodness,' breathed Jess. 'No, please,

no - not again . . .'

The Doctor turned his head to look at the

others. His deep eyes blazed with fierce intent,

the incredible mind behind them burning with the

effort of speaking. 'Don't do anything — don't do

anything at all,' he said gruffly.

And then his eyes turned solid.

The dreadful greyness had seeped up his neck

and turned his face into a pallid, eerie stone. His

hair whitened like that of an old man and stiffened,

the heavy fringe apparently carved from solid rock.

In less than a few seconds, the Doctor had been

completely transformed. He stood like a statue,

holding the meteorite ball, with the Rock Man still

touching it.

Amy held Rory tightly and screamed, ' D o c t o r ! '

The Doctor had been transformed entirely into

moon rock.

His head turned slowly towards his friends with

a terrible grinding noise. And then his grey lips

parted in a smile.

'It's all right,' he said. His voice sounded dry and

gravelly, completely unlike normal. It was a sound

that made the hairs on Rory's neck stand up and he

felt Amy's body wilt next to him.

And yet. . .

And yet the Doctor was smiling — sort of.

It wasn't easy to tell with his features turned

to stone, but the lips were definitely smiling,

even if there was a vague look of pain in his flat,

grey eyes.

'It's ok,' he rumbled again. 'I'm fine. Really.'

He raised his arms, spreading the fingers of his

rock-like hands.

'Well, not exactly fine,' he ground on, 'not fine in

the normal sense . . .'

He stepped slowly forward, arms held awkwardly

as if trying to maintain his balance in a body that

must have felt so strange and heavy. His grey boots

clumped across the carpet as he approached Amy

and Rory.

'I mean — look at me!' The stone Doctor

examined his own hand closely. 'I'm made of moon

rock! Moon rock moving using negative electrostatic

energy. Isn't that amazing?'

'It is . . . amazing,' Rory agreed. But he looked

very uncertain.

'Amazing,' Amy echoed. 'But not what we

expected. Or wanted.'

'It's all right,' the Doctor insisted.

He was trying to sound reassuring, but the

harsh, scraping tones sounded totally alien coming

from the Doctor.

'I knew this would happen,' the Doctor told

them. 'Sort of. Well, more of a guess, really.'

'What on Earth have you done?' Amy finally

blurted, unable to stop herself. She put her hands

up to her face, blinking away tears.

'Don't get upset,' urged the Doctor.

He reached out for Amy but she recoiled. 'Don't

touch me! I don't want to be turned to stone!'

But the Doctor had reached a little too far —

and started to topple over. He moved quickly,

for someone made out of rock, and regained his

balance. Whoa! Gotta be careful here. One slip and

crack! I'll go all to pieces.'

'Doctor,' said Jess. What have you done?'

The Doctor turned slowly and carefully to face

Jess. 'Only the most incredible and amazing thing

I've done so far today. And I try to do something

like that almost every day. I've been turned to stone.'

'We can see that.'

'So, now I know what it's like to be like your dad.

Or the Rock Man here.' The Doctor pointed to the

towering creature behind him.

The Rock Man was simply watching the Doctor

through its shadowy eyes, as if wondering what he

might do next.

'But Dad can't move or speak - at least, not

properly.'

'That's because he's only human,' replied the

Doctor. 'I'm something else. And so is our friend

here. We can use the negative electrostatic energy

to move more easily. Well, a bit more easily. And

that's not all.'

The Doctor turned and said something to the

Rock Man. But not in English, or any kind of

language anyone else in the room had ever heard.

It sounded more like one slab of concrete being

pulled across another.

And the Rock Man replied in kind.

'Can you two understand each other?' asked

Amy.

The Doctor nodded slowly. 'Absolutely.

Athrocite here can finally communicate. And I

can only understand him because I now share the

same molecular structure. It's a complicated and

totally unique way to talk.' The Doctor's stone hand

reached up to touch his stone throat. 'Plays hell

with the vocal chords, mind you. Especially when

they're made entirely of stone.'

'So, what's he saying?' Amy wanted to know.

'And did you just call him by his name?'

Rory asked.

'Yes. I'm calling him Athrocite. I don't know

if it's his actual name or the name of his original

species. But it seems nicer than Rock Man.'

'But what's he actually saying?' Amy insisted.

The Doctor bit his stone lip. 'What he's

saying is this: 'how can I get away from this

dreadful place?''

There was an uncomfortable silence.

'Or words to that effect,' the Doctor added

nervously. 'Place . . . planet . . . it's difficult to be

certain. And it loses a little in translation.'

Athrocite snarled something and the Doctor

nodded. 'Yes, yes, I'm trying to explain . . . Keep

your hair on. Not that you've actually got any.'

'For Heaven's sake,' snarled Mr Hoggett, his face

redder than ever. 'No one invited him here. Fellow's

some kind of monster if you ask me.'

'I didn't,' said the Doctor pointedly.

'Or is this just some kind of stupid practical

joke?' Hoggett demanded to know. His lips twisted

into a sneer of contempt. 'You look like a student.'

'It's not a joke,' said the Doctor. 'And I'm not

a student.'

'Because it's not in the least bit funny,' Hoggett

continued.

Athrocite rumbled something else.

'Athrocite says he never meant to come here,'

the Doctor translated. He took the ball from

Athrocite's hand. 'His distant ancestors arrived on

the moon in this meteorite. Scientists experimented

on the meteorite and it formed a new kind of life,

roughly based on a human being. In other words —

Athrocite was born. So far, so good. But anything

he touched was transformed into the same material.

The research lab, the scientists, anything at all.

Disastrous. And it won't stop there. The process is

highly unstable - there's no way to control it, and if

we don't find a way to stop it. . .'

'What will happen, Doctor?' asked Amy.

The Doctor's tone was deadly serious. 'It won't

stop - ever. It'll keep on going, transforming, until

everything and everyone and everywhere is made

of moon rock.'

'Everything?' said Amy We have to find a way to

stop it — to get Athrocite away from here. Away

from the planet.'

But Athrocite was growing impatient - a dark

maw opened in his craggy face, releasing a grating

howl. He seemed to loom taller in the room and the

others backed quickly away.

'Please,' the Doctor pleaded with the Rock

Man. 'You must understand — I'm doing my

best to help you. But time is running out and I have

to explain . . .'

Athrocite swept angrily at the air and the Doctor

jerked backwards, raising his hands. 'Steady!'

The creature roared and stretched out, past the

Doctor's head, snatching at Rory.

Rory darted backwards, Amy holding onto him

all the time. 'What does it want?'

'The meteorite,' said the Doctor.

And then he turned back to Athrocite. 'Calm

down — I want to help but you must be patient!'

Athrocite snarled again and stepped

towards Rory.

'Should I hand it back?' Rory asked, holding the

meteorite close to his chest as he looked uncertainly

at the Doctor.

'Not yet.' The Doctor pointed the sonic

screwdriver at the Rock Man. 'I'll use this if I have

to, Athrocite!'

The creature turned its baleful, empty eyes on

the Doctor.

The Doctor triggered the sonic screwdriver -

but nothing happened.

Like the Doctor, the sonic screwdriver was now

made entirely of moon rock.

'There's plenty more where that came from,'

warned the Doctor helplessly.

'What the Devil are you trying to do?' asked

Hoggett. 'It's had absolutely no effect!'

The Doctor glared at him. 'I can see that, ,' he

hissed. 'I had hoped to freeze him for a second or

two, but. . .'

Athrocite glowered at the Doctor, eyeing the

sonic screwdriver with suspicion.

'Get on with it, then!' seethed Hoggett. 'Drive

him away! Keep prodding him with that thing and

it'll drive him away!'

The Doctor tried to run a hand through his hair

in exasperation, only to find his hair was all made of

stone as well as the sonic screwdriver and his fingers

only scraped noisily across his head. His grey eyes

glared at Hoggett. 'You just don't get it, do you?

This creature is totally unique. And frightened. That

makes him dangerous — he's massively powerful, but

he's struggling to contain it. What if he decides he's

had enough? Or panics? He could turn everything

and everyone here to moon stone in an instant. And

then the farm. And the surrounding countryside.

When will it stop? The rest of the country? The

whole planet?'

The Doctor's voice was raised now and both

Amy and Rory could see that he was under intense

pressure to resolve the situation.

Athrocite kept watching the Doctor, and then

Hoggett, and then the Doctor again as the argument

went back and forth.

But Hoggett didn't seem to care — or understand.

He rounded angrily on the Doctor, his face

reddening. 'If you know so much about all this, why

don't you just explain to the wretched thing that it's

not welcome here?'

Athrocite doesn't entirely trust me — or any

human being,' the Doctor replied. And why would

he? He's completely alien to your world — he's

something entirely new, with origins in the dawn

of time.' He turned and looked up at Athrocite,

his tone softening. 'In fact, it's a privilege just to be

standing here.'

Hoggett spluttered. 'A privilege? You don't

know what you're blathering about, man!'

'Doctor,' interrupted Amy. What can we do?

How can we help him?'

'I had hoped to persuade him to come with us

in the TARDIS - to take him to another planet,

somewhere in the Pron-Kalunka Galaxy where

there are lots and lots of silicon-based life forms.'

Athrocite was growing impatient again, a long,

low, scraping growl escaping from deep within his

rocky torso.

The Doctor turned and spoke to him in his own

language, and the two of them exchanged a number

of strange, unearthly noises.

'Well?' asked Amy. Will he do it?'

'He wants to know what's wrong with this planet,'

replied the Doctor.

'Nothing,' said Amy. 'Except that it's ours.'

'But Athrocite doesn't have a planet of his own,

Amy. What's the difference?'

'I've had just about enough of this,' Hoggett

erupted. 'The thing is made of rock. Why don't you

just take a ruddy great sledge hammer to it?'

'I'm made of rock!' the Doctor objected. 'Do

you want to take a sledge hammer to me too?'

'Yes!' Hoggett yelled. Then he turned to face

Athrocite. 'I don't know who or what you are,

because none of this makes the slightest bit of

sense to me - but I do know this: you don't belong

here, you're not wanted here, and you -'

Hoggett froze mid sentence.

His face stiffened.

He turned grey, greyer . . . and with a sharp

cracking sound he turned to solid stone.

There was complete silence. Everyone simply

stood and looked at him.

Ralph Conway had reached out and gripped

Mr Hoggett's shoulder from behind. The effect

of the touch had been instant — Hoggett had been

transformed into moon rock.

'Dad!' said Jess, a hand to her mouth in shock.

'Thank goodness someone found a way to

shut him up,' said the Doctor. 'What a very

annoying man. Did anyone else think he was a very

annoying man?'

Everyone else nodded immediately.

And then Rory said, 'Um, Doctor . . . Athrocite

seems to have left.'

The Doctor snapped around. The Rock Man

had vanished.

'No! cried the Doctor, rushing out of the

farmhouse. 'No, no, no!'

Rory and Amy ran out after him, closely followed

by Chris. 'Where did he go?'

'There!' The Doctor pointed.

Athrocite was stomping away across the yard.

'Come back!' the Doctor yelled.

Athrocite turned slowly around, eyes narrowed.

A low growl scraped out of his mouth.

'Maybe that wasn't such a good idea,' said Amy.

The Doctor darted forward, slipped, nearly fell,

scraping his hand along the brickwork of the wall.

'Be careful!' Chris told him. 'You're made of

rock, remember! If you fall and break —'

'Good point,' agreed the Doctor, regaining his

balance.

'Athrocite looks really angry,' said Rory.

'Between him and Mr Hoggett, it's a wonder

we're all still standing,' said Amy. 'I've never seen

such bad tempers.'

'At least Athrocite has an excuse,' said the

Doctor.

'True,' agreed Rory. 'But he doesn't have this.'

He held up the meteorite ball.

The Doctor leapt over to him, regardless of

the risk. 'Rory! That's brilliant! You've still got

the meteorite!'

'It's what Athrocite wants, isn't it?'

'Definitely,' nodded the Doctor. 'Probably.

Maybe. Let's hope so. Quickly — back inside

the farmhouse.'

Back inside the kitchen, the Doctor took the

meteorite ball and put it down on the table. 'This

might be just what we need.'

'I thought you said Athrocite needs it?' said Amy.

'He does — the negative electrostatic field that

allows him to move, and me and Ralph and Mr

Hoggett here, is tied right into the energy field

contained in this meteorite.' The Doctor stared

at the glossy black ball, and Amy could tell, even

though he was made of stone, that his fantastic mind

was already coming up with a plan. 'It's my guess

that the molecular reconfiguration is controlled by

a similar field.'

'What do you mean?'

'I've been thinking about Athrocite and his ability

to turn things into moon stone. Do you remember

I said that the transformation was unstable, and

therefore reversible?' The Doctor paced quickly

around the kitchen. 'Well, that's true — but only up

to a point. Because once enough Earth matter has

been converted, then it will reach a tipping point.'

'Which means?'

The Doctor stopped. 'Which means that the

transformation will start to spread faster and faster.

And it will be unstoppable. And it will not be

possible to reverse it.'

'The point of no return,' realised Chris.

'But that means it could take over... everywhere,'

said Amy. And everything.'

'We have to stop it,' said the Doctor. And this

meteorite is the key. We have to keep it away from

Athrocite — as far away as possible.'

'But he'll follow it anywhere,' said Chris.

'He followed it all the way from the research centre

to here.'

'I was thinking of taking it somewhat further

away than that,' said the Doctor. He turned to Amy.

'Stay here with Chris and Jess - make sure no harm

comes to Mr Conway or Mr Hoggett. And whatever

you do, don't let Athrocite back in.'

Jess gaped at him, trying to imagine keeping

the huge Rock Man from entering the farmhouse.

'What? How?'

'I don't know - you'll think of something' The

Doctor turned to Rory. 'Rory, I'm going to need

your help. I can't move all that fast, so you'll have to

take the meteorite.' He gave it to Rory. 'We'll go as a

pair. On the count of three . . .'

'Hold on,' said Rory quickly. What are you

talking about?'

'We need to get that meteorite on-board the

TARDIS,' explained the Doctor, already heading

for the door. And that means we've got to get past

Athrocite first. Come on — there's not a second to

lose!'

They crept out into the farmyard, keeping low so

that Athrocite couldn't easily spot them.

The Rock Man was still standing at the top end

of the yard, surrounded by moon stone. He was

deliberately touching more and more things — the

barn, the engine shed, a tree — and transforming

them into lunar rock.

'What's he doing?' whispered Rory.

'Turning everything he can get his hands on

into moon rock,' replied the Doctor, as quietly as

he could manage with his rasping rock-voice. 'He's

trying to change everything — to reach the tipping

point. Soon the effect will be unstoppable.'

'We'd best get a move on then.' Rory crept out

from behind the Land Rover and motioned for the

Doctor to follow him.

Together they moved slowly up the farmyard,

towards the TARDIS.

But that also took them nearer to Athrocite.

'Hopefully he's too busy trying to create a new

world to notice us,' said the Doctor as they paused

by the edge of the barn.

They moved on, darting from cover to cover.

But then disaster struck.

The Doctor's stone foot hit the edge of a pile of

logs balanced against the side of the shed. Athrocite

had already turned the logs into moon stone - but

they were still loose. The Doctor's boot dislodged

one of the lowermost logs — and the rest came

tumbling down with a loud clatter.

Athrocite lumbered around, alerted by the noise.

But that wasn't all. The Doctor's legs had got

caught up in the rock fall and he sprawled his length

on the ground. For a hearts-stopping moment he

thought he was going to be smashed to pieces.

'Doctor!' Rory skidded to a halt, eyes wide. He

watched Athrocite start towards the fallen Doctor.

Rory panicked, thinking the Doctor must surely

have cracked.

But the Doctor, miraculously, had landed in a

large patch of mud. He slithered to a stop and tried

to get up, but it was impossible to get a grip on the

slippery ground.

Athrocite stalked towards him with a triumphant

growl.

'Go!' the Doctor shouted at Rory.

Athrocite turned to see Rory on the other side

of the yard.

The distraction was just enough for the Doctor.

He crawled through the mud and dragged himself

carefully up, using the wall of the barn for support.

Rory looked uncertainly at the Doctor, and then

at the Rock Man.

And ran.

Athrocite roared and turned back to face the

Doctor. He growled again as the stone figure walked

calmly towards him.

'There's no point in getting all cross about it,'

said the Doctor. 'You had your chance.'

Athrocite roared, flailing at him with a craggy

arm. If the blow had connected, the Doctor would

have been smashed to smithereens — but he dodged

just in time.

Athrocite swung again, and the Doctor darted

out of the way once more.

'You'll have to be faster than that,' the Doctor

told him. He ducked another blow. 'I used to spar

with Mohammed Ali — the greatest boxer who ever

lived.'

The Rock Man lunged desperately, almost losing

his footing in the mud. The Doctor skipped lightly

under the blow — although it was a close thing.

A piece of hair was chipped right off his head.

But Athrocite stumbled past, and the Doctor

was free to run — or rather lumber — as quickly as

his heavy stone legs would allow.

Rory had already reached the TARDIS. 'Doctor,

hurry up!'

The Doctor trudged on up the hill. The TARDIS

windows shone brightly, beckoning him forwards.

Behind him, Athrocite was pounding in pursuit.

The Doctor could hear the Rock Man's rasping

growls growing closer. He wasn't as nimble as the

Doctor, but he had longer legs and a bigger stride.

The Doctor pushed on wearily. He could feel

the weight of every stone organ in his body.

Athrocite marched untiringly after him,

threatening him with every kind of fate. Any hope

of negotiating a peaceful settlement had gone.

Sadly, the Doctor had to accept that it was now a

case of simple survival.

He reached the pigsties. Percy the pregnant pig

snuffled her way around the pen, searching in the

muck and straw for anything good to eat. The other

pigs squealed in shock and distress as the Doctor

clambered over the fence.

He staggered across to the TARDIS and fell

heavily against the wooden doors.

'Hurry, Doctor,' Rory yelled. 'He's gaining on us!'

Athrocite had reached the pigsty. His dark eyes

blazed with fury and the pen was suddenly turned

to moon stone. The grey rock spread across the

concrete floor, the straw, the trough . . . and with

a series of cracks and muffled grunts the pigs were

turned to stone.

Percy gave an anguished squeal as her pink hide

turned grey, then stiff and then solid.

The Doctor looked in dismay at the TARDIS

key. 'It's turned to moon rock as well!'

He held up the key for Rory to see. The brass

had been turned into a sliver of stone.

'Will it still work?' Rory asked.

'Let's see!' The Doctor carefully inserted the

stone key into the lock on the police box door.

Athrocite clambered into the stone pigsty with

a growl.

'Can't let him turn the TARDIS into moon

rock!' said the Doctor, turning the key as gently as

he could. He didn't want to snap it accidentally.

The police box door opened and the Doctor

and Rory piled quickly inside.

Rory banged the TARDIS door shut behind them

as the Doctor raced up the steps to the control

console.

'Careful you don't fall!' Rory called after him.

'Got to be quick, Rory!' The Doctor ground to

a halt at the console and began pulling levers and

twisting dials at a frantic pace.

Rory was climbing up the stairs to the console

deck just as the Doctor threw the dematerialisation

lever. The TARDIS engines began to grind and

groan and the strange glass elements inside the

central column heaved up and down.

Outside, the blue police box faded from the

pigsty with a harsh wheeze.

Athrocite roared, swiping at the air where the

TARDIS had stood. Then, with an angry grumble,

he turned and stomped back down the hill towards

the farmhouse.

The TARDIS lurched and spun, sparks flying

from the circuits arranged around the complicated

hexagonal console. Rory grabbed hold of the seat

on the edge of the deck for support. Where are

we going?'

'Away from here,' replied the Doctor, busy

at the controls. Puffs of steam erupted from the

console. The monitor screen suspended from its

iron framework filled with complicated numbers

and patterns.

Rory knew the TARDIS was in flight - hurtling

helter-skelter through the mysterious region of

space-time known only as the Vortex.

'We don't need to go too far,' said the Doctor,

moving rapidly from one section of the console to

another. He turned wheels, pumped handles and

flicked switches with incredible speed for someone

made of stone.

It always amazed Rory that the Doctor knew

what any of the complex instruments actually did.

The TARDIS was supposed to be a time machine,

the product of a fantastically advanced civilisation

that no longer existed - but most of the controls

appeared to be made up of old bits of junk:

taps, typewriters, cogs and other arcane pieces of

machinery collected from across the universe and

throughout history.

Like the Doctor, the TARDIS was something of

a mystery.

The ancient engines began to wheeze and groan

once more.

'Coming into land!' the Doctor declared loudly,

as the old ship rattled to a stop.

The glass bubbles in the rotor column slowed

to a halt and steam drifted from the depths of the

TARDIS console.

'Doctor,' said Rory suddenly. 'Look at you . .

The Doctor twisted a shaving mirror around

so that he could see his face. The greyness of the

moon stone was beginning to fade. His skin was

looking pinker, fleshier and his hair was loosening

and turning dark once more.

'You're turning back to normal!' Rory said

with relief.

'We're far enough away from Athrocite for

the molecular transformation to start unravelling,'

said the Doctor. He sounded very relieved himself.

'I wonder what's happening back on the farm?'

Jess and Amy peered out of the kitchen window

and gasped in shock.

Outside, there was little more than a lunar

landscape.

The entire farm had been turned into moon

stone. The land beyond was turning greyer, dustier

and more lifeless as they watched.

'When is it going to end?' wondered Jess.

Athrocite was now walking towards the

farmhouse. His heavy tread shook the ground as he

approached the door.

'He's going to turn us to stone now,'Jess realised.

'Not if I can help it,' said Chris. He picked up a

kitchen chair. 'The Doctor said we mustn't let him

back into the farmhouse. We may have to fight.'

'Don't be daft,' said Jess miserably. 'How can we

hold off a thing like that?'

'We have to try,' Amy said.

Athrocite loomed in the doorway. The black

holes of his eyes bored pitilessly into the farmhouse,

looking for the human beings cowering inside.

. 'To think I almost felt sorry for him,' said Amy.

Her heart was banging away inside her chest, full of

fear. She knew that Jess was probably right — there

was no way they could stop the Rock Man now.

'I'll fight if I have to,' Chris said, raising the chair,

as he stepped bravely towards the creature.

'And I'll fight with you,' said Ralph Conway.

The farmer stepped up alongside Chris. He was

completely back to normal — full of his original

health and colour, with not a shred of moon stone

about him apart from a thin layer of lunar dust. In

his hand he gripped a stout wooden stick.

'Dad!' cried Jess in sheer delight. She put a hand

to her mouth as tears of happiness sprang into

her eyes.

Mr Hogget had also been restored. 'What the—'

But Ralph Conway turned and pointed at Hoggett

and said, very firmly, 'Not. One. More. Word.'

And Mr Hoggett fell silent.

'The Doctor did it!' Jess said. She gave Amy a

hug. 'He did it!'

'It's not over yet,' warned Amy.

Athrocite snarled in the doorway, advancing

another step towards Chris and Ralph. The humans

looked puny and soft in his presence.

'Keep back,' ordered Chris.

There was a moment's pause — and then

Athrocite roared and attacked.

Rory stood in the open doorway of the TARDIS

and blinked.

'We're on the moon,' he said. 'The actual moon.'

'The actual moon,' confirmed the Doctor,

joining him.

The Doctor was completely restored — full of

health and vigour, tugging his bow tie carefully back

into shape. His tweed jacket looked none the worse

for wear — although there were a couple of small

scratches visible on the Doctor's face and hands.

There was a plaster on the tip of one of his

fingers too. 'Chipped a fragment off when I fell in

the yard,' he explained to Rory.

Rory was still staring at the airless grey landscape

outside. For as far as he could see, there was nothing

but grey dust and craters. The surface of the moon.

The sky was utterly black, but dotted with stars

and one large, cloudy blue sphere: Earth.

'Wow,' Rory said. He'd been to fifteenth century

Venice, met many kinds of alien and seen all sorts of

wonders with the Doctor. But there was something

special about this. Perhaps it was because it was just

him and the Doctor alone. It was a private viewing

of his own planet's only natural satellite.

'Can we go out?' Rory asked. 'One small step

for man, one giant leap for Rory Williams?'

The Doctor smiled but shook his head. 'Best

not. The force field is keeping the air inside the

TARDIS. Step out there and it's nothing but a cold,

airless vacuum. You'd need a spacesuit.'

You must have spacesuits on the TARDIS.'

'But not enough time.' The Doctor patted Rory

on the shoulder. 'I know that sounds a bit ironic,

with this being a time machine and everything, but

we ought to get on with what we came here for.'

Rory looked down at the meteorite in his

hand. The strange alien ball from the dawn of the

universe that had landed on the moon nearly four

billion years ago. The tiny meteorite that had been

found by the Apollo astronauts and brought back

to Earth for study. The meteorite that had caused

all the trouble in the first place.

'Back where it belongs,' Rory said, and hurled

the ball far out onto the surface of the moon. It

bounced a couple of times, lazily in the lighter

gravity, and then settled in a dust mound.

'It doesn't really belong anywhere,' said the

Doctor. 'But it will be safe up here.'

Rory took one last look out of the police box.

'Wow,' he said again.

Back on Earth, in the Conway farmhouse, Athrocite

roared in anger.

And then roared in pain.

He stiffened, shot through with a terrible agony.

The sound that emerged from his stone lips was

one that Amy would have nightmares about for a

long time afterwards: a strange, awful cry, like the

noise of rocks breaking but slowed down into one

long, agonisingly drawn-out crack.

Splits in the surface of the Rock Man's body

spread like roadways across a map, weaving in and

out of the lumps and bumps of his craggy skin.

Dust poured from the cracks as they widened and

extended.

'Omigosh, what's happening to him?' Jess

wondered, appalled.

They all stepped back sharply as the Rock Man

crumbled in front of them.

The splits joined together in a sudden, massive,

breakdown. The creature broke up into pieces,

chunks falling away as he stumbled forward.

The giant head split from the body and then

that too crumbled into fragments.

Before long, there was nothing more than a pile

of broken rock and dust on the floor.

Completely inanimate.

Dead.

A breeze lifted the dust away in a grey cloud

and a loud wheezing and groaning noise filled the

farmhouse.

A second later, a large blue police box

materialised in the middle of the kitchen.

The TARDIS door opened and the Doctor

and Rory emerged. Amy ran over and clipped her

husband lightly on the arm. 'Hey! You! Where've

you been?'

Rory smiled at her. 'I've been to the moon,

Amy!'

'Wow, yeah, great — been there, done that,'

Amy said. Then she laughed and gave him a quick,

embarrassed hug. 'Don't look so hurt. It's good to

have you back, you big lump — I missed you.'

'And here's one big lump that we won't miss,'

said the Doctor, poking the pile of rocks on the

floor with the toe of his boot. 'All that remains of

Athrocite, I presume?'

'He just went to pieces,' said Chris. 'Literally.'

'We threw the meteorite back where it came

from,' explained the Doctor. He knelt down and

rubbed some of the moon dust between his fingers.

'It reversed the molecular reconfiguration that

Athrocite started — and not a moment too soon.'

'Everything's back to normal outside, too,' said

Jess.

The farmyard and the surrounding countryside

were back to their usual muddy state. The Land

Rover, the tractor and the barn were all back. Even

the farmyard wall that Ralph had struggled to repair

the night before had been restored. There wasn't a

trace of moon rock anywhere.

'But what about all this?' asked Mr Hoggett

grumpily, indicating the pile of rubble on the

floor. 'The remains of Athrocite — or whatever its

name was.'

'Here, have a bit,' the Doctor chucked a piece of

the moon rock to Hoggett. 'As a souvenir.'

'A souvenir?' Hoggett looked down at the small

stone in his hand — and watched in surprise as it

crumbled into dust and then faded from view.

The rest of the rock disappeared too.

'What happened to it?'

The Doctor shrugged. 'Athrocite was an artificial

being in many ways - constructed out of nothing

but moon dust by the meteorite. It's no surprise

that he's returned to his original state.'

Mr Hoggett brushed his hands clean. 'Some

souvenir! I might have known. It's high time I left,

anyway — it looks like you've all got a lot of tidying

up to do!'

A little later, after they had helped tidy the place up

yet again and enjoyed a long-overdue cup of tea,

everyone stood by the TARDIS.

The Doctor had his key out — now back to its

original shiny brass — and was eager to go. He hated

long goodbyes.

'It's been . . . interesting,' Jess said with a smile.

'I'll be sorry to see you go.'

'But go we must,' said the Doctor. He unlocked

the TARDIS door.

'Wait a second,' said Rory. 'What about Percy

the pregnant pig? Is she OK?'

'She's fine,' Jess laughed. 'We should see a big

litter of piglets any day soon.'

'And what about Chris?' asked Amy. 'How are

you?'

'I'm fine too,' Chris said. He put an arm around

Jess. 'No piglets on the way though. At least, not yet.'

'Don't be too long about it,' grumbled Ralph

Conway. 'We could do with plenty more help

around here.'

'I've agreed to come and live on the farm,' Chris

explained with a smile. 'Do some real work for

a change.'

'He's more than welcome,' Ralph said. 'So long

as he pulls his weight with the chores.'

'What about your work at the research centre?'

asked the Doctor. 'Won't they mind?'

'I've been in touch with them,' Chris said.

'They're too busy trying to work out what went

wrong and why their top secret lab has been reduced

to a mangled heap of spare parts.'

'Ah - awkward questions,' nodded the Doctor,

as if he was more than familiar with those. 'Best

keep out of it.'

'I intend to.'

'And what about Mr Hoggett?' asked Rory.

'He's offered to pay for a lot of the rebuilding

work on the farm,' said Jess. 'It came as a bit of a

surprise - but apparently he's willing to pay anything

so long as he never has to come here or see any of

us again.'

'Sounds like a win-win situation,' Rory laughed.

'And they're just the kind I like,' said the Doctor.

They said their goodbyes and then disappeared

inside the TARDIS. Moments later, Jess, Chris and

Ralph watched as the police box faded from sight.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory were on their way

again — to amazing new adventures.

The End