Grace glanced around wildly.  Pure adrenaline had gotten her away from the center of
town; fortunately no one seemed to have noticed yet that she had 
escaped.  She was now crouched, panting, behind a stone barn.
   Well, she assumed it was a barn; the door was wide open.  When she'd peered 
inside, considering it as a possible hiding place, the smell from within, combined 
with a strange snuffling noise, had caused her to change her mind.  Fortunately, 
whatever was in there hadn't come out.
   She abruptly slumped against a wall, leaning forward slightly, her hands on 
her knees.  Trapped on an alien planet, every blue humanoid's hand turned 
against her...
   And at the moment her only ride home was an alien sociopath.
   The Master had talked as though he was certain that the Doctor would 
come here.
   He had better, she thought grimly.
   Grace straightened up with sudden resolution.  She'd remain near the center 
of the village and see if the Doctor showed up soon.  Perhaps he'd see a ride 
home as fair trade for being warned about this ambush...
   She shook her head ruefully at her own facetiousness.


For the second time that day, a time capsule noisily exited the Vortex and deposited 
itself upon the surface of Isconia.
   The door opened slightly, and a tousle-haired figure peered out.
   "Coast's clear," he said as he stepped all the way out.  "Come on."
   A few moments later, another figure stepped slowly out of the police box.
   "Oh, wow..." Brian Dempster said, stopping and staring in astonishment.  "The 
colors are...different."
   "Really?  I've been to so many planets, I guess I've gotten so I don't really notice 
color schemes that much, unless they're radically different."  He looked peremptorily 
about him.  "This falls somewhere in the middle of the range of 'Earth-like' planets."
   Brian's head swiveled around to stare at his companion.  "Really?"
   The Doctor smiled reassuringly.  "Really."
   That bit of perspective seemed to help, as well as serving as a reminder that his 
companion was an experienced traveler, so Brian took a deep breath, and asked:  
"Any idea where we'll find Grace, then?"
   The Doctor pointed.  "At a guess, I'd hazard...that settlement over there."
   Brian looked in the direction he was pointing, and saw a cluster of stone buildings 
nestled in a valley under a craggy hill.
   They resolutely set off over the countryside.


Brian lay on his stomach and stared down the hillside at the blue-gray beings 
moving about the village of stone that lay below.  He felt he could have just lain 
there and watched them all day, but sensed that there was no time for that.
   Blue people on another planet...  He'd caught the occasional science fiction 
movie that had been shown in the theaters, but had never in a million years 
thought he'd see something in real life similar to what he'd seen on the big 
screen.
   His companion watched his reactions carefully.  There was not enough time 
to allow Brian to properly acclimate as he'd have preferred, but these were not 
normal circumstances.  Fortunately, he seemed to be coping surprisingly well 
now, especially considering the way he'd earlier denied what was happening 
to him.
   "Only one gender..." Brian found himself wondering.  "Then how do they..."
   "They're hermaphrodites; they've got all the 'equipment' necessary.  They can 
impregnate themselves, or exchange reproductive material with others in order to 
increase their genetic diversity.  That's why they all look alike -- there was much 
less need for them to evolve obvious sexual dimorphism."
   Brian turned and looked at the Doctor, brows raised.  "Un-hunh..." he said, 
gingerly.  "Then how do they decide who does what-"  He paused.  "On second 
thought - I probably don't want to know."
   "When given the choice, always take the one which offers the more knowledge, 
Mr. Dempster."
   "Okaaay.  Then how....?"
   "Oh.  Well, actually, no one's quite figured that one out, yet.  At least it isn't 
in the TARDIS Data Banks," the Doctor admitted easily.  "For now, it remains 
one of those Isconian mysteries.  Only they can tell the difference..."
   He was grinning as Brian shook his head in sudden amusement.
   Dusk was falling, turning the yellow sky gradually gray.  "Time for us to go," 
the Doctor told Brian quietly, who looked sharply at him and nodded.  Getting 
up, they passed swiftly down the slope and began to creep carefully past the 
out-lying buildings.  No one seemed to be about, Brian noted with relief.  It 
was the dinner hour, which the Doctor had told him the Isconians kept with an 
almost religious fervor.
   "So, how will we know which building Grace is in?" Brian muttered to his 
Time Lord companion.
   "Easy," the Doctor muttered back.  "The building with guards in front of it."
   "Oh.  Right."  Silly; he should of thought of that.
   Brian had an adrenaline buzz, half-expecting somebody to leap out at them at 
any moment.  The smell of something edible wafted through the air.  Somewhere 
nearby, the natives were sitting down to some type of food...
   Brian suppressed a bizarre impulse.  If he peeked in through one of the open 
windows through which shone a dim yellow glow, would he see a family of 
blue people gathered around the dinner table?  Part of him wanted to just throw 
open a door and walk in going, "Hi, I'm from another planet!  What do you think 
of that?"
   Probably give them the local version of a heart attack.  If they had hearts.
   "Quickly, now," the Doctor reminded him tersely, banishing Brian's momentary 
wool-gathering.  They slipped around a few more corners and down a few more 
streets, drawing closer to the center of the village.  Ahead of him, the Doctor peeked 
around a corner, then motioned with a hand to halt.
   Brian drew cautiously closer to his guide and was invited to take a look around the 
corner.  His quick glance revealed to him a stone building in front of which several 
blue humanoids were loitering.
   "So," the Doctor murmured, sotto voce.  "Central location, not much cover.  Good 
for them, not so good for us."  He turned his head to peer at his companion.  "We 
are going to need a distraction."
   Brian considered.  "Do you have anything that would explode, a bomb or something?" 
he suggested hopefully.
   The Doctor looked at him narrowly.  "What is it with you humans and explosives?" 
he muttered.
   "Well, look, I'm just trying to help," Brian retorted, annoyed.
   "I know.  It's just that I've had my fill for awhile of things that go boom," the 
Doctor replied, risking another peek around the corner.  He looked back at Brian.  
"I'll draw the guards away, distract them.  They're presumably expecting someone 
to show up looking for Grace, but not necessarily two people.  You should be able 
to sneak up and get her out."  He paused as Brian opened his mouth, looking 
perturbed.  "When you do, you both head right back to the TARDIS."
   Brian fingered the spare key hanging on a string around his neck.  "And you'll be 
doing what?"
   "As I said, distracting them."
   "And if this Master guy shows up?"
   The Doctor smiled slightly.  "Distracting him, too."
   Brian shook his head.  "You're crazy.  The only reason I'm going along with 
this is that you seem to have done this sort of thing before..."
   "Believe me; I have.  When you two get back to the TARDIS, my link with 
her ill let me know.  I'll meet you two back there."
   Brian looked at him doubtfully.  "And if something goes wrong?" he asked 
quietly.
   The Doctor looked solemnly back at him, hearing the unspoken words.  "You 
remember those several controls on the Console that I showed you how to 
operate?"  Brian nodded.  "I've pre-set the coordinates.  All you would have 
to do is to move those controls, and the TARDIS would automatically return 
you to San Francisco a short time after we left."
   Brian stirred uneasily.  "Well...you be careful, all right?  We'll see you back 
there."
   The Doctor grinned, and clapped Brian encouragingly on the shoulder.  "Just 
get Grace out.  That's the most important thing."
   The Time Lord slipped away, blending into the twilight shadows.
   Brian stood, his heart hammering, waiting for all hell to break loose.
   For several minutes he heard and saw nothing, then--
   The three guards standing around in front of the stone building suddenly snapped 
into alertness, swiveling around to stare down the boulevard.
   Brian peered out, squinting at the figure who was strolling quite unconcernedly 
down the street, hands in frock-coat pockets.  It was the Doctor.
   The incongruous figure stopped in the glow-globe-lit street and stood, an 
appreciable distance away from the stone 'jail', but within easy viewing distance 
of the guards.
   "Hello," he called out in a clear voice.  "I am the Doctor, and I've come for 
my friend."
   The three humanoids glanced at each other, then began to walk towards the 
Doctor.  He started to slowly back up.
   It was a bizarre sight, Brian noted, as he crept closer to the suddenly unguarded 
building.  All four moved along the street, the Doctor slowly retreating, luring 
the pursuing Isconians away from the building.
   "Greetings, Offering," one of the guards said.  The Doctor's eyebrows lifted 
slightly at the word 'offering'.  "You honor us with your presence.  We will 
escort you to the Place of Waiting, as preparations are completed for the 
Rejoining."
   "I see.  'Rejoined' with whom or what?"
   "To Shamithel, the god-who-sleeps, Offering."
   "And will that awaken Shamithel?" the Doctor inquired politely.
   The guard's answer had the ring of a memorized litany.  "Only when all 
parts of Shamithel are returned to it will Shamithel return to us, Offering.  
Long ago, Shamithel was scattered across the whole world, and beneath, 
and above.  Now, all parts seek to return, to be whole once again.  For each 
piece, a time to return, to be Rejoined.  The task of the Faithful is to assist, 
to aid the Reunion."  He paused, then continued.  "To help those fragments 
which have forgotten from whence they came.  All must be returned."
   "How do you know it's really my time to be 'rejoined' to this Shamithel?" 
the Doctor asked conspiratively, as he continued to back up.  "In fact, how 
do you know I'm a part of Shamithel at all?"
   The Isconian answering him looked at him calmly.  "Such as you are, what 
else could you be?" he replied, gesturing at the bizarre figure before him.  
"Split into 'hes' and 'shes', mere fragments of the original essence of you.  
We were told earlier of the form these bits of you would take, how we would 
be honored by your arrival, be able to aid you in your Rejoining."
   "Whether we fragments want to or not," the Doctor sighed.  As clever 
a use of a religious creed to serve one being's needs as he'd ever seen.  It 
was at times like these when he could almost admire the Master's cunning, 
were it not for the invariably nefarious ends to which it was put.
   A neat trap.  Any protestations from him or any other hapless being decreed 
to be a lost part of their god would presumably be ignored by the Isconians 
in favor of bringing the day when their deity would return to them one day 
closer.
   The Doctor glanced at the building which every step was taking him further 
away from.  Hopefully he was giving Brian enough time to reach it undetected 
and free Grace.  She had, he reflected, better be in there.  Was that a shadowy 
figure he saw moving, drawing close to the entrance?
   The Isconian who had spoken to him hesitated, starting to look back as if 
suddenly suspicious.
   "Well!" the Doctor exclaimed.  The spokesman's head instantly whipped 
back around to stare at him.  "I'm afraid we have a conflict of interests here.  
I don't want to return to Shamileth right now."  He shrugged.  "Sorry."
   The spokes-Isconian bowed slightly.  "You test us well, Offering.  As 
the 'she' Offering does.  Our faith will not falter."
   It was barely enough warning.  The speaker made a subtle gesture with 
his hands, and the other two guards leapt forward, arms outstretched to 
grab the 'he' before them.  The Time Lord jumped back, barely avoiding 
their lunge, whirled, and fled.
   The two guards were close behind.  The speaker threw his head back and 
called out in a loud clear voice.
   "My people, arise!  The Offering called the 'Doctor' tests us!  It is 
somewhere among us.  Leave your homes, look without.  Find the Offering, 
and return it here to me!"
   The doors to the dwellings lining the main street opened, their inhabitants 
obediently emerging to join in the search.





To be continued...








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