Part 30 (1/2)

Drowning in fire and water, grains of consciousness, crystals of emotion crying out to one another, dragged away by currents as powerful as destiny, to die in a burning energy field.

No, not to die. To sleep.

The Doctor stood close to Amber, letting his gaze fall slowly down the mountainside. Parker and Leela had joined them only a moment ago. A snake of fire rippled across the lake, faint but satisfactory under the veil of the blizzard.

'That should do nicely,' said the Doctor.

'What will happen to it?' He didn't need to see the child's face to know she was crying.

'Electrolysis, essentially. The purified crystals collect around an electrode. In this case, a small truck.' The Doctor pressed Amber's shoulder kindly. 'A crystal that size, I imagine it'll be taken somewhere safe, where it can be properly looked after.'

Amber raised half a smile. The Doctor answered with a full one.

'Which reminds me, I'm sure Agent Theroux here will be delighted to conduct you safely down the mountain. I expect your mother will be anxious to know you're well.'

Predictably, Parker was set to object, but the Doctor grinned and waved the blood sample like a bribe. Parker marched over and grabbed it. 'Okay, okay. But where are you going?'

The Doctor tapped his nose, then looked dismayed at the veins of ice still lacing his hand. He was having some trouble focusing, but he was fairly sure they were starting to recede.

'Leela and I are going home,' he said.

'Doctor!' Leela raced up, excited. 'You have found the T-'

He silenced her with a finger to his lips. 'Shh! Leela! One wrong word now and you could cause another avalanche.'

Parker huffed indignantly. 'Don't sweat it. Doc. I might have hijacked your s.h.i.+p if I'd thought about it, but I'll be d.a.m.ned if I'll accept a lift.'

'Ah, well, we're often better off finding our own way.'

He beamed at Amber.

'But it doesn't hurt to accept a little help now and then.'

He spun about and strode off up the slope. 'Come along, Leela, and do throw away that gun, they're terribly habit-forming, there's a good girl.'

The TARDIS peeped nervously above the snow, buried nearly to her middle. The Doctor reached over and patted her roof.

'There, there.' It wouldn't take too long to dig the doors clear, at least; especially if Leela put her back into it.

He looked around for her. She was turning the gun over in her hands.

'Leela, what did I tell you about-' The Doctor stopped short of s.n.a.t.c.hing the weapon from her. 'Kristal gave you that, didn't she?'

Leela nodded minutely. She ran her thumb over the pistol, absorbed by the texture. 'Doctor, do you think that she crossed into the spirit world, as she would have wished?'

The Doctor weighed his moment carefully. He eased the gun from Leela's hands. Well,' he said, 'that's the thing about belief. It's not important what I think.' He draped an arm around her. 'It's only important what you think.'

Just occasionally, there were things that science couldn't explain; and equally, there were some occasions when it shouldn't make the attempt.

'Amber probably still believes she was connected to that creature in some way. Empathy Is a common phenomenon between like minds.'

'Is that why the girl was crying? She felt for the creature?'

'Yes, and who can blame her.' The Doctor pocketed the gun, thinking it might be made safe. 'Lost, adrift and alone in an alien dimension, only wanting some basic needs common to most: a home and some control over its own destiny.

Someone should shed a few tears for it.'

Leela glanced up at him. 'You feel for the creature too?'

'Well,' the Doctor shrugged off the notion, 'I expect it's just the drink talking.'

Shaking himself alert, he turned back to the TARDIS.

'Come on, a spot of digging might be the very thing to help me metalobise the alcohol out of my system.'

'Metalobise?'

'Yes, metalobise, metalobise, ' the Doctor insisted defensively. 'If I tried to operate the TARDIS in my current state, I'd have no idea where we were going. Then where would we be, hmm?' ' the Doctor insisted defensively. 'If I tried to operate the TARDIS in my current state, I'd have no idea where we were going. Then where would we be, hmm?'

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving morning was trying its d.a.m.nedest to bless the trees and hills with a gold trim, working hard at it through a still-hazy sky. Like a priest determined to exorcise the demons of the past few days The storms would be back, for sure. It was that time of year. But they would be natural, and for now the world of New Hamps.h.i.+re simply needed to take a breather. And for once, it seemed, the weather was uncharacteristically inclined to give everybody a chance.

Captain Morgan Shaw wandered back to the chopper, squatting on the hill like some mutant mosquito adapted for winter. The Nighthawk was a taste of the outside world, the military machine; in some ways as heartening to Morgan as the sunrise.

His medical officer was hoisting her pack on board. She'd been glancing into the dawn, but not really seeing it. Morgan reflected on all the reasons why he shouldn't be seeing it either.

'Hey,' he felt the need to break the moment.

'Hey, yourself,' she worked hard on her smile. 'Sir' 'Sir'

'Don't go quitting the team, Joanna. Not after all this.'

Hmieleski looked out over the trees and ridges. 'I don't know, sir. The team is-' She stopped herself, then looked right in his eyes. 'I made some wrong choices, sir, and they cost lives. I should have-'

'Hey,' Morgan shut her up. 'Want to know what I think?

What I think is - totally irrelevant.' He gave a friendly smirk, because he had her attention now. 'They were judgement calls, Joanna, and stuff happened. But you know what's making you sick to the gut right now? I'll tell you, it's not because they were the wrong calls or the right ones. It's because they were yours. yours. Sometimes you just have to be satisfied you were able to make any decision at all.' Sometimes you just have to be satisfied you were able to make any decision at all.'

'Sir?'