Ace stopped in her tracks, and pulled out a deodorant can. "No Ace, there isn't time!"

"Oh right, Professor," she shouted. "Like I want to be exterminated!"

"We need to conserve our resources."

"Well then, come on! Don't hang about!"

"May I suggest something?" asked Rayna, as the Doctor pulled Ace along behind him. "Since we're only down the next level from the labs..."

"What?"

"See that doorway up ahead?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Looks like it leads to a room, a power area. If we could get in there, and blockade them out . . ."

"With two cans of weak explosives?" questioned the Doctor, huffing.

"With just one."

They reached the door. Quickly the Doctor smacked the switch with his umbrella. Swinging Callom off her back, Rayna bustled everyone inside.

"Hurry up, get in!" shouted Ace. "They're almost on top of us!"

Callom saw Rayna examining the cracks in the door frame. "Come on, Rayna! They're coming."

"Okay." She let him pull her into the room, just before the door slid shut. Inside, Ace hunted for something to blockade the entrance with.

The room was filled with computer terminals and various electronic devices. It was anyones guess as to what its purpose. Bent over, the Doctor examined the closest console lining one wall. Light panels in the ceiling gave fluorescent illumination. "There are several struts placed at cross angles," Rayna annouced. "A precise explosion would blow the whole shebang down . . ."

The Doctor made a rapid mental calculation. His fingers moved as if scribbling invisible equations on an invisible chalkboard. "Could work, I suppose." "Give me the explosive, Ace," Rayna asked, holding out her frilly cuffed hand. She felt the cold metal aerosol can pressed into it.

Rayna tapped places in the metal walls with her geological hammer. She scanned the wall struts around the metal hatch. "Hmm, not your typical alloy. Looks like a carbonized steel annealed with some lighter aluminum salt."

"Stop admiring the fixtures and do what you're gonna do..." cried Ace. The teenager's skin crawled as she watched the geologist whack the wall in one place. Distant blasts were getting steadily louder.

"The stress fractures indicate the material's weakest here," said Rayna, turning to the Doctor. "Right? According to Moh's equations . . ."

"Exactly. Using the harmonic constant . . ." realized the Doctor. Absently he passed his map to Callom.

Rayna placed the can in a crack tapped out with her hammer. Then gestured everyone to the far wall. Grabbing Callom's shoulder, the Doctor helped him to crouch on the floor.

"How many seconds?" asked Rayna.

"Eight . . ."

"Uh oh . . ."

Bang!

Metal supports blew out of place. Both the Doctor and Callom huddled together, the Doctor clutching his hat more firmly on his head. The whole wall atop the girders slid down vertically in one sheet. Two or three struts clattered down on top.

"Mega!" cried Ace. She swatted Rayna on the shoulder, laughing. "That oughtta shop n' make em think!"

"What a kick . . ."

"How'd you do it, Yank?"

"She knocked out the weld supports, instead of the metal. Caused the metal to fracture. But that's only bought us a few minutes," explained the Doctor. "We'd better find a way out of here."

"I'll scout ahead," offered Rayna. She stopped momentarily to slip her geological hammer into a holster at her hip.

"Wait for me, Yank."

"It's a shame we can't weld these struts to the wall and seal them out permanently," muttered the Doctor. He hunted around for anything remotely resembling a torch or a melder.

Ace and Rayna searched the chamber. The teenager clutched the map once held by the Doctor. Several huge turbines whirred in unison. "Funny,"

"What, Ace?"

"That these Daleks should have a city running on electricity, instead of nuclear energy or something."

Rayna bent over one of the generators. Took a quick look, and shook her head. "Could be using a nuclear fuel," she suggested. "There's some radiation present."

"Better get a move on, Yank."

Fzam! Both flinched as they heard the guns blazing away at the improvised barricade. "Those Darleks sound awful close."

"You called these machines . . . Darleks?"

"That's what you and the Doc said they were, didn't you?"

"Dal-leks," repeated Ace carefully.

"Sorry, It sounded like you said an 'r' instead of an 'L'. Anyway, can you find the power room on the map?"

"Not really."

"Where are the labs?"

"Looking on this here map, about a kilometer. Towards the northeast section of the City."

Rayna dug through the pockets of her vest once more. Extracted a compass with a mirrored lid. On her flat palm she held it out at arm's length away from her body. "Correcting for the magnetic disturbances, this says north is behind this wall."

"But these generators are screwing up the compass aren't they?"

Giving the generators a wide berth, Rayna rounded the corner into another chamber. Behind several drums there appeared to be a door. "C'mere, Ace. I see a door. North by northwest. About fifty degrees from north magnetically."

"But the wires . . ."

"I should be far enough away from them by now."

"Hey Doc!" Ace shouted. "Tryn's found another door in back. Behind these turbines!"

"Our friends are having a time trying to get through," announced the Doctor. In his hands he clutched what looked like a gun with a short muzzle. Still he required two hands to hold it. "Luckily I scraped together this maser. Welded them out."

"Great, but how many minutes does that give us, Professor?"

"I'd estimate, about seven-point-six . . ."

"Doctor, I think they're getting thru!" cried Callom.

"That was an upper estimate. I should have guessed they'd have rolled in the heavy artillery."

"Hey, why aren't they coming in through the back door?" Ace suddenly shouted to Rayna.

"I don't know. Perhaps there's something back here that doesn't lead to the outside corridor . . ."

"Can your maser cut through doors?" Rayna asked the Doctor.

"What? What are you doing, Rayna?"

"Trying to get out of here, Doctor."

"But that room, is the nuclear power center! That's why they're not coming through the door . . ."

Immediately Ace grabbed the Doctor's improvised weapon and fired at the other door. "We must do something now!" she cried.

"Wait, perhaps the Growth accelerator's power unit can boost the laser . . ."

"If the power for the turbines comes from the next room . . ." gasped Rayna. "They've trapped us?"

"Looks like it."

"Radiation exposure might be lethal," said the Doctor. "I should have thought of that."

"It's no like the Daleks would map out every section of their city," chimed in Callom. "If they are our enemy and all . . ."

"It was my idea," sighed Rayna, guilty. She clamped her jaw tightly as she watched Ace burning through the lock on the radiation door. Small droplets of metal dripped off painfully slowly.

"Oh, don't be silly, Rayna," sighed the Doctor. "It gives us some time. To think."

"But the radiation effects might only be temporary," said Rayna. "If we run through the room. That is, if there's another door."

"The map doesn't say whether there is or not," shouted Ace.

"Not if it's a lead lined room. But wait. If these Daleks live on this planet, they must be used to the ambient radiation. It wouldn't bother them much to have a nuclear room in their city. So they most likely wouldn't waste time putting in unnecessary shielding . . ." realized the Doctor.

BLAM! The barricade glowed red, then yellow. "Hurry Ace!" cried Callom.

"Move towards the door," urged the Doctor, pushing him towards Rayna. He gripped the Growth Accelerator, still wrapped in its casing.

White hot fire grew from the center of the barricade. Equally white hot sparks burst from the maser. Before it overloaded, Ace tossed it to one side. "I won't take this!" cried Ace. "We're only a few meters away from the labs!"

"Move over Ace," said Rayna. "It's done its work." The Mantissan shouldered her ice axe. With one mighty blow she smashed into the molten steel. Two mighty blows later she knocked out the remaining material. Hot material splattered into the next room.

Meanwhile the Doctor watched the first door glow luminescent. Spots of the corridor outside were showing through. He gestured the three of them to race through the opening cut by the maser with his handkerchief. Still he toted his improvised maser.

Huge vats of power stood in the new chamber. Instead of dynamos, large tanks with fuel rods stood at the same intervals. Gingerly the trio wormed around the units to the far door. Which was fastened by a combination lock. Ace went to work. The Doctor followed, trotting at top speed as he clutched his umbrella. "They're almost through!" he cried.

A blast knocked him on the floor. Rayna raced to his side, jerking him to his feet with surprising strength.

"Professor, I need a hand with this!" Ace shouted.

"Where's the device?"

Ace gave him a horrified look. "I thought you had it!"

"I. . . must have dropped it," he realized.

"Work, Doctor! I'll get it!" decided Rayna.

Desperately the Doctor stabbed keys. Rayna raced for the door, and dashed through the still molten metal. Callom was close behind. Just inside lay the discarded object.

"HALT! HALT!" grated an electronically charged Dalek voice. Rayna froze. Callom climbed through the doorway that minute, to see Rayna covered by a Dalek gun.

Just inches from Rayna lay the device. She pushed it back with her hand.

"Hey, over here!" shouted Callom. Swallowing his courage, he dove for the device.

A gun blazed. Callom's hands found the package.

"HALT. OR I Will ex-ter-min-ate you!" grated a second Dalek, just gliding into the room. The young Scot threw his arm over his eyes.

"Push off! We're going nowhere!" shouted Ace defiantly. She stood in the burned entrance. Reaching into her backpack, she drew out a deodorant can. "Let `em go!"

"Anal-ysis of container in-dic-ates highly unstable explo-sive!"

Holding the can in front of her, she moved towards Rayna. "Back off now!" Slowly the squat metal shapes slid back. Callom raced across the room. Under his arm he carried the strangely shaped parcel. As if glued to his motion, the Dalek's gun-stick swiveled. Rayna raced after the Scots lad. "Look out everyone!" she shrilled. Backed against the wall were Doctor, Ace, and the frightened Callom folding into Ace's satin sleeved arms. The door was open now, as the trio tumbled backwards into safety.

"Im-mobilize! Im-mobil-ize! Secure a-lien de-vice!!"

"YEEARRGH!" came a blood curdling scream, almost inhuman in nature. Instantly, a whoosh and a blinding flash enveloped Rayna. Her cheek and whole front smashed into bare cold metal. Searing pain drilled into her thigh. She could smell fabric and flesh sizzling.

Shoving Callom behind herself, Ace raced to Rayna's side. "You bloody monsters . . ." she began, yet the words died in her throat as she trembled with horror and anger. Furiously she stared daggers at the cold metal shapes.

"What have you done?" thundered the Doctor.

"Sub-ject has been im-mo-bil-ized, not ex-teer-minated. You will all pro-ceed to a hol-ding cell. Move. . . MOVE!"

Rayna groggily shook her head as Ace and the Doctor leaned over her. "Can't you see this person can hardly walk?" he snapped.

"You will as-sist. . . MOVE . . . MOVE!" grated the Dalek, gliding forwards.

Grimly the Doctor and Ace raised Rayna to a vertical position. They draped her arms over their shoulders. Callom slowly shambled before the group.

PART FIVE: BACK TO THE PRESENT

"Rayna!"

A voice seemed such a long way off to the geologist, as if she were atop a high mountain. Yet now it felt as if she were at the floor of a huge subterranean cistern, pitch black.

"C'mon girl! Wake up... you're got to wake up!"

"Please Rayna... wake up!" pleaded a much higher voice.

"Callom," she answered weakly. Her eyes opened to a sterilely lit room. Two blurred shapes sat at the far wall behind dancing lines of light. "Did they hurt you?" she croaked.

"Steady now, Yank," muttered Ace, who supported her shoulders with her hands. At least she was on the same side of the dancing beams as Rayna.

"Doctor, what's going on?" demanded Rayna as she struggled to rise.

"Don't try to get up," he responded.

"What do you mean..." she began, until a jarring shaft seemed to pierce her leg as she shifted it. "Aa!" she cried. "What's happened to my legs? Why does it hurt to move them?"

"Please, dinnae look!" begged Callom.

Rayna did look, in spite of herself. Fighting the protesting Ace, she whipped aside the cloth that covered her leg. A long black mark ran down her right thigh and calf, near the knee. Charred cloth was melted into the burned flesh, quite near the muscle itself. "By the Author," she choked. "They stole my leg! Those accursed misbegotten monsters stole my leg!"

"I'm sorry," began Ace.

"No, don't feel sorry," snapped Rayna. "At least I have two legs to stand on... if I ever stand again."

"Dinna say that!" cried Callom.

Rayna's mind whirled with all the memories. At last she'd straightened out the sequence. Now she rested with her head propped up on one hand, elbow resting on the floor.

"So how do we get out of here?" asked Ace to the Doctor in the cell across from theirs.

"Sh, I'm thinking," he hissed.

"Better think a wee bit faster then, Doctor," cautioned Callom. "That mechanical salt shaker's coming back."

"Doctor, how precisely do the Daleks move?" asked Rayna from her position on the floor.

"Psycho kinetic energy," muttered the Time Lord.

"What if I attempted to send my own mental impulses into the mind of the Dalek--to confuse it." Here she broke off.

"I thought you said you thought you were no longer telepathic,"

"I meant that most of my telepathic power is gone. But somehow I am still able to sense minds. It just seems that I could do . . . something . . ."

"Just you stop and think about getting better, Yank," said Ace, firmly.

"Yes, that's it!" exclaimed the Doctor, leaping off his haunches. Excitedly he popped his hat back upon his head. "I've got it!"

"Come on Professor, let's have it now," insisted Ace.

"Callom, can you use your special powers to make a Dalek think I'm outside the bars and not inside?"

"Yes, but what good will my power work on a machine?"

"The Dalek isn't a machine. It's a cybernetic organism. A fusion of flesh and fabricated circuits."

"I get it," said Callom. "I can affect something that has a mind."

"You or I will be ready to blind the Dalek when we convince it to open the electron repulsor bars. Then one of us grabs it from behind..."

Hurriedly the quartet settled down when they saw the Dalek glide into the hallway. Once between their two cells it stopped and leveled its eye stalk at the incapacitated Rayna on the floor. "The immo-bile fe-male will accom-pan-ny me to le-vel se-ven for inter-ro-ga-tion." This was not quite the Doctor's plan, with the practical Dalek totally ignoring him and Callom. Yet Rayna said, "Well, I can't walk. You'll have to come in and get me out yourself."

With a pressure of its sucker pad arm, the Dalek touched the force beam control. Silently the Doctor noticed how it did this.

"Hey!" shouted a voice behind it. It seemed that Callom was outside the dancing beams of light!

In confusion the Dalek swiveled its domed head. "Im-poss-si-ble! Hu-man male is es-ca-ped!" Just long enough for Ace to grab the casing without being seen. Rayna tossed her cloak over the top of the Dalek.

"I-AM-UN-Der AT-TACK!" screeched the Dalek, waving back and forth. "VI-SION im-PAIRED!!!"

"I can't hold this wretched thing!" shouted Ace. The Doctor helplessly stared as the Dalek fired wildly.

Desperately, Rayna grabbed the base of the machine. Anger and hatred exploded inside her brain. Rayna could only touch the baseplate, yet all her new found hatred and anger flowed through her fingers.

"Move-ment . . . ii-mm-parrd," droned the Dalek, its voice slowing to a grunt.

Ace shuddered as the Dalek stopped dead. Small screachings were the only sound it now made. "All right, Yank!" she cried, slapping Rayna's hand in a high-five.

"I . . . I don't know what I did," stammered Rayna. Astonished, she stared at her palms.

"Whatever you did, Yank . . . thanks."

"Ace, turn that circular control to the left," instructed the Doctor when it was all over. Callom rushed over to Rayna and hugged her tight. Wearily she patted his head and assured him she'd be all right.

"That's done it," declared the Doctor, bringing both palms together in a single smack. "Now. Let's get it open."

Callom shrank back. "Och! Ye sure the creature isn't jest deceiving us? Like playing possum?"

"Can I borrow a knife?"

Reluctantly, Callom reached into his sock and pulled out his skeindu. Taking the shortened dirk, the Doctor gingerly pried into the crack between the domed top and the grating. Rayna helped swing up the lid. What met their eyes was almost unmentionable. "Better not look inside," cautioned Ace.

Corners of her mouth drawing down, Rayna shuddered. "So that's what a Dalek looks like."

"Exactly. A deformed, mutated being bubbling inside an exo-suit."

"What caused such a mutation?"

"Centuries of war," recounted the Doctor. Infinite sadness showed itself in his eyes. "Once they wore bipedal humanoids, similar in physiology to Ace and other earthlings. But their incessant war with the Thals gave rise to horrible nuclear bombs."

"Nuclear war," muttered Rayna, equally sad. "Help me get this sad mistake out of here," he whispered, voice low. Using Rayna's cloak, they reached into the casing and bundled the squirming mass out. Quickly she wrapped a cord round its top.

"You mean there's a wee beastie inside that machine?" asked Callom from behind. "Like some sort of a brain or a gremlin?" All he and Ace had seen was the Time Lord and the Mantissan hefting a small bundle out of the Dalek.

"Don't look in that bundle," advised the Doctor.

"It gives you nightmares," said Ace. "It's a blob in a machine with bits in it."

Turning to everyone, the Doctor announced, "Step one of my plan is accomplished. Now for the next play. One of us lucky souls must get inside the casing and play dress-up."

"Rayna could get inside," suggested Ace. "Then we could push her."

"Och, can I?" asked Callom, sensing Rayna's emotions of loathing repulsion at the very thought. "I'm the wee lad remember?"

"No way, shrimp," said Ace.

"I don't see a problem," said Rayna. "He'll be safest inside there if the Daleks fire upon us. Besides, he can manipulate the controls."

"Yes, of course," the Doctor agreed, handing the knife back to the lad. "Daleks run by psychokinetic energy. Since Callom's an ESPer, he should be able to make the casing move."

"Okay Professor," sighed Ace. "Whatever you say."

"Time to try for size," announced the Doctor. He made a stirrup with his hands to boost the young Scot inside. Holding Rayna's hand, he slid into the seat.

"Och, this is strange," he exclaimed from inside. The curved walls of the Dalek casing rose around him. Eerily it felt the right size for him.

"We're closing the lid now," said Rayna. Callom's world became dark temporarily. He peered through an eyepiece ahead of his face. By moving his own head he found he could swivel the domed head about for a 180 degree view.

"Kind of like a tank in here," he shouted. "How does it move?"

"Lay your hands on the two panels ahead of you. Let your mind energy power the system."

Callom's grasp of psycho kinetics was limited, but he tried his best. Slowly the casing slid forwards, toward the door. "We may have to push him from the back," said Ace, sliding around behind the travel machine and pushing it out the door. Helping Rayna to walk, the Doctor followed.

"See anything?" asked Ace.

"No," came the reply, in her mind.

"Here, Ace. Rayna and I will walk ahead of you two, like we're prisoners."

Ace halted Callom, letting the Doctor and Rayna pass. Hand under Rayna's right arm, the Doctor and the explorers moved out into the corridor. Callom managed to move the travel casing as Ace pushed from behind.

The real test came when a Dalek rolled down the corridor toward them. "You don't have to push, you infernal machine!" shouted the Doctor.

"Where are you tak-ing the pri-son-ers?" asked the new Dalek.

"Taking immob-ile fe-male to inter-ro-ga-tion," grated Callom, flashing the lights in sync with his syllables.

"Perfect," muttered Ace behind him.

They ducked behind a low panel. Just how had they come here?

"Rest easy," he whispered, propping her up against the wall.

"I just don't get it," she muttered. "How did I get here? Out of that lab?"

"I'm sorry if ye feel sick. I guess mebbe tha's a side effect of 'porting. Should go way in a few minnits."

"Ugh! I feel like I wanna hurl."

"Jest dinna hurl on ma tartan," he joked. She saw him reach into a leather shoulder bag, and produce a canteen. "Try and get some of this doon ye. It may help."

"I was just about to rescue them when you botched it," she snapped, between sips.

"I saved yuir life, lass. How inna name of St. Brigid were ye goin t' save em without the right weapons?"

"Okay. You gotta point." Grimly she shook her head. "If I only had some Nitro-9 about now. . ."

"Is this what yuir lookin for?" he asked, opening his shoulder bag. Several deodorant cans were stacked inside.

"Oh brill," she sighed, feeling better for the first time in hours. "You're okay after all, Callom . . ."

"So I take it you believe me?"

"Who else would know where to get my Nitro-9?" Nevertheless, he still sensed she was not totally convinced.

"Where's the Doctor hid? I saw Rayna in there, right enau. But I didnae see him."

"He's in another lab," she breathed, trying valiantly not to throw up.

"I managed to get this away from them," he said, pulling out the Doctor's map.

"Before they nicked him?"

"It was sitting in a Dalek lab. I dinna ken how to read it though. Still, I figured out the scale."

Ace took it from him, glanced at it. Then leaned her head back agaisnt the wall. "Uh, the room's still spinning," she muttered. Still she was a little shaky.

"What do ye suppose they're doing to em?"

"Heard those creeps saying that they wanted to drain his brain or something."

"If the Doctor's a deadly enemy, won't they jest kill him?"

"Eventually, they'll off him, I guess."

"But what about Rayna? I saw her pinned down under some ray."

"They think that she's a good specimen. I think from what they were saying, that she's gonna be dissected or something."

"Och! No while I'm around, they don't!"

"I think that's what they did to the crew of the ship. They must have them down here somewhere, as guinea pigs for their experiments."

"Didn't the Doctor say these Daleks conquered other planets?"

"Yes. But these Daleks here have been left behind as a kind of . . . Blast, what's the word?"

"Rear guard."

"Thanks."

"I wonder. Were those Daleks the ones that made that ray gun in the first place?"

"What ray gun?"

"Great, but if it's the same weapon, why didn't we get paranoid?"

He ignored her question. "Why they're wasting time with that Growth Accelerator when they could build one of their own wi' their know-how?"

"Beats me."

"I was jest thinking, lass."

"What about?"

"That crew. D'ye suppose that they all died? Or some may have survived an been brought here, mebbe?"

"Cripes!" she exclaimed. "How can you sit there and ask naff questions while Prof and your friend are in it deep?"

"It might help us figure out what they're doin t' the Doctor. For all we know the answer could come from it."

"You and your stupid daydreaming!"

"At least I'm thinkin about this . . . "

"Like I'm not? Look kid, there's times for asking questions, and time for acting! This isn't the time to be sittin on our butts chatterin!"

"Rayna was alway teaching me to ask questions, an make observations!" argued Callom. "Tha's what a good scientist does."

"You ain't no Einstein, squirt."

"Neither are ye, lass. Don't ye want t' get to the bottom o' this mystery?"

"We can do that after the Professor and your friend are free, if we can get them away from those Daleks."

"Oh, all right," he grumbled. "But I still think..."

"Look, I'm still older than you. And I know what I'm doing. We'll get the Professor to brainstorm later. Clear?"

"Ye may be older, but can ye teleport?" he asked her. "I ken see what ye wanna do. Jest barge in there wi explosives blazin . . ."

"Have you got a better idea?"

"As a matter of fact I gotta plan. That is, if ye want to listen to a kid like me."

"Okay, let's hear your brilliant plan then,"

"I was thinking, we cuild use some strategy. Wi ma teleportin and yuir nitro-9."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I cuild read yuir mind, telepath that I am, but tha's no proper."

"Oh dry up," she said, grabbing his shoulder. Her fingers felt the soft tartan swath draped over it. It was still hard to believe he was Callom McLaren, but their verbal sparring was starting to convince her. That same wisecracking he had. "What's on your mind?"

"If I create a diversion, ye can get in and free Rayna."

"How are you doing that?"

"By ma teleportin."

"I thought that knocked you silly. That's why we had to carry you before . . ."

"No anymore. Ma powers have increased. I can teleport guid enau wi'out tiring. At least not so fast. Those Daleks won' know what him em."

"I dinna remember the coordinates," he admitted.

Ace sighed. Shook her head. "It's that way."

Callom narrowed his eyes. Stopped still. "Sh. I hear something. One of them Daleks is coming our way."

Begorra, could she run fast! This eighteen-year-old gal tugged a Highland Scot after her down a bare metal corridor. Her Doc Martins pounded faster and faster, followed by the thump of his rough leather shoes and argyle socks. In the backpack slung over her shoulder rattled the cans of Nitro-9 he had brought her.

Shadows slid down the wall ahead of them. Ace threw her arm back, pressing him against the wall next to her. Five tense minutes they pressed close together, listening for the eerie soundless gliding of the mini-tanks.

"Nearly had us there," she whispered. "Good going, kid."

"Feels like they dinna ken we're here."

"They have an infrared scanning device," said Ace. "I saw it in the lab. They'll catch us sooner or later."

"How much further to the labs?"

"About fifty meters," she said, glancing at the plastic map.

Now and then Callom would catch himself looking at her. A funny hot flush would rise in his cheeks. That type of looking where he found himself watching the sway of her hips as she ran. Or how her breasts curved under her T-shirt. How her thighs smoothly filled out her spandex leggings. Physically she was really nice to look at. What he'd call, bonnie. He was uncomfortable with these thoughts. Yet he realized somehow they must be part of the pushed maturation. An overwhelming instinctual attraction to the opposite sex.

He sensed from her thoughts that she was looking at him similarly. Such thoughts were difficult to screen out. They were so loud underneath her conscious ones, despite the urgency of their situation. Here they were, trying to save two people's lives, and they were thinking of how attractive the other looked. Using her as a mirror, he caught a visual image of how she saw him. Peculiar. Mirrors can lie, but a person's perception told him volumes. Callom looked great in those tartans. She thought the way his kilt swirled around him as he walked was . . . well, sensual. In her decade, men with long hair were common. He'd pulled his back into a braid like Johnny Tremain.

Callom was impressed. She actually had read that book. The same lass who didn't bother reading old stuff, off a scholastic list. In contrast, he devoured every classic he could lay hands on.

Scolding himself, he struggled to block out the pictures he was receiving. As a side effect, his telepathic discernment was increased. What his culture referred as the scrying ability or discernment.

"Hey, kid! Wake up!"

"Sorry. Where's the Doctor bein held?"

"In a lab near Rayna's. . ."