The Buccaneer Chronicles:

City of Gold

First Edition

by Tony Gallichan

artwork by Andy Simpkins

http://www.StaggeringStories.net/

This is the fourth story of The Buccaneer Chronicles first series. Other eBooks in this series, and more besides, are available free from the Staggering Stories website.

This eBook is copyright 2010 to Tony Gallichan and Andy Simpkins and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

"The world is cold, doesn't care nothing for your soul"

Time Lords hate a paradox. It makes their skins crawl. So when our merry band of travellers arrive in twenty first century South America and discover that the Human race has never existed, Macfadyan gets twitchy.

Can Macfadyan solve the paradox?

How can a race from Earth's pre-history be involved?

Can Cre'at avoid excommunication?

Who is the great God Oofarfu?

And why would these events give Macfadyan nightmares?

Could it be that the Judder Man is closer than he thinks?

"This was our planet..."

Part One - Your shadow falls on me revealing a silhouette reality.

Chapter One - Interstitial Conflict

Now, you see, it may have been mentioned before, but the Space - Time Vortex is a wondrous place. Lozenges of interstitial light blend seamlessly in with the diamond flames of the Time Winds, which in turn blend in perfectly with the butterfly colours of the very fabric of the Vortex itself. You'd think that nothing could live in this deadly environment, but some do. Creatures of such raw power that they eat time itself. Normally they just exist but occasionally something will wake them.

Like now, for example. A small white sphere, spinning it's way through the Vortex, the butterfly patterns being reflected off it in ways that would drive a man insane. Those who lived in the Vortex were certainly watching this one. He was important in ways that he couldn't even start to comprehend - well, not yet, anyway.

Inside the TARDIS it was, for once, peaceful.

In other words, Macfadyan was asleep.

It didn't appear to be a very peaceful sleep, though. If Blanche or Cre'at had dared to look in on the Time Lord, they would have seen him twitching and turning. Dark mutterings would come from him and more than once the corridors of the ship had echoed to a hoarse shout.

It was about that time that Blanche had decided to wear earmuffs.

So. Relatively peaceful, then.

Cre'at was compiling a small monograph for presentation to his fellow scientists on Sottos next time he returned home. It was his observations and thoughts on the Triangle War. They had only just returned from that other universe and the conflict had certainly taken its toll on them. Strange energies had been released towards the end of that conflict, energies that had affected Macfadyan quite strongly, not that he would admit it. He had returned to the TARDIS looking tired and somehow older. It was nothing you could put your finger on, but he seemed... weary. After making sure that the ship was safely through the dimensional rift he had marched off to his bedroom and had been there for two days.

So Cre'at had started putting into order his notes on the Triangle. This had proved to be slightly more difficult than he had thought it would be due to the fact that some of the energy readings he had gathered on his mission to one of the rifts were, to be honest, not possible. And as for the energy signature...

It was hunting. It knew it's prey, It had been told who and where. THEY had made sure that it couldn't feel the fear that others would in its place.

There! Flashing through the peaks and troughs of the Vortex. There!

It powered itself to full and altered its time track. It started to predict the sphere's course and started to move ahead of it.

Blanche had long ago learnt that Macfadyan hated her going anywhere near the console. However, she had also long ago learnt that when the console started to make a loud 'Pinging' sound and a bright red light started to flash on one of the panels that things were going to get noisy and nasty.

"MACFADYAAAAAAAAAANNN!" she shouted.

* There is a problem, Blanche? * Cre'at had floated into the room, looking for a small crystal chip.

"Look, Mr. Balloon, that's not right, innit?" she pointed at the console.

* Not "Balloon", Sot'm, Blanche. * Cre'at didn't see the wicked grin Blanche was giving him. * This is interesting. I do not believe that I have ever witnessed that warning signal and that pattern of display lights before. I am intrigued. *

"And so you should be, you nosey Sot'm, you." Said Macfadyan from the archway that led to the rest of the ship. He walked over to the console, literally shoving Blanche aside.

"Oi, git face! Watch it!"

"Shut up!" came the curt reply. "I think we may be in trouble."

As if to emphasise his words, the sound of an ancient bell, deep and sonorous, started to sound, drifting through the internal arch, yet seeming to be in the room with them.

"Wot's that?"

* I believe that the word, Bugger, is what you are looking for, Macfadyan *

Macfadyan shot the Sot'm a look.

"Bugger."

Close, so close. Nearly there. Nearly then. Nearly... nothing...

And eyes watched all this and found it... exciting!

"Something is on the same time track as ourselves. It's trying to get ahead of us, to materialise where we will materialise. And we all know what that means, don't we?"

Two faces looked blankly at him.

"Bang!"

"Bang?"

* Bang? *

"Bang!"

* Explain, Macfadyan. Are we in danger? That is the warning signal tolling. Are we in danger? Are we? *

"It's called Time Ram. It's when the molecules of one object try to take up the same space as the molecules of another object. The results are ALWAYS DEVASTATING!" he ended with a shout as the TARDIS gave a very unsteady lurch. The floor settled back down to almost normal, except it didn't feel solid. It was like standing on the deck of a ship in a force nine gale.

"And if this happens to two TARDISes, well, you can imagine the result. Hang on, I'll try to loose them." His hands were a blur over the console. Switches were flicked, buttons pressed and the occasionally, a panel was thumped. The TARDIS started to protest. The electronic bleeping that was a gentle melody to the hum of the engines started to distort and become louder.

"Another TARDIS? How do you know?" asked Blanche as she struggled to cling on to the console. Above them, Cre'at stayed stationary as the room shook and swayed beneath him.

"Only thing it could be. Though these readings don't make much sense. The ship's telepathic circuits have been trying to make contact with the other TARDIS. No joy, I'm afraid. Apparently the other craft only posses a rudimentary telepathic ability and there doesn't appear to be an actual intelligence for the old girl to communicate with. But the physical readings are of a TARDIS. Hang on! Here it comes again..."

The TARDIS gave another great lurch and Blanche was sent rolling into the fern bushes, getting wet as she tumbled through the stream. She ended up on her back looking at one of the sets of black candles that had started to appear in the console room. Typical of Macfadyan, she thought dazedly. He decides to put in something nice like candles and then makes them all black and gothic. She decided that staying on the floor was here best option at the moment.

It was called Omega. It was black as death and that's what it was. It had only the one purpose. Destruction. THEY had created it like the others. But instead of nurturing it, allowing it to grow and develop, they had removed its heart, it's centre. Removed? Killed, more like. It didn't care now. Didn't even consciously realise. As TARDISes went, it was retarded, unthinking and unfeeling.

And they had looked at it and smiled.

And the mouth behind the eyes began to smile.

"It's no good, I can't shake them. We're going to have to jump the time track." Macfadyan called.

"Hang on!"

He pulled the master power switch and fed in all the power he could from small levers arrayed around it.

The TARDIS screamed. Power flooded through her like never before. This was a dangerous operation at best but now...

'Now' was when the other ship caught up with them. Panels blew out on the console; the rotor jammed and, bizarrely, from somewhere came the sound of a boing-ing ruler, clearly audible over the top of all the mini explosions.

And throughout all this, the TARDIS screamed louder and louder.

Time Ram can do that to a ship...

Chapter Two - "Open the door, get on the floor..."

The Vortex shuddered. Waves of energy spiralling out in all directions. Just as it felt its mission completing, Omega felt its target slip out of reach, fading into a new path, a new track.  It was of no matter. The two ships paths were locked together now. There was no way that the target could escape. It would be hunted down and terminated.

But just as the Omega class ship was about to adjust it's own time track, the others watching decided to act. Powerful they were, but trapped within the Vortex.  It was there that they came upon it, escaping from there own prison on a billion to one chance, seeking a way to turn it in to immutable fact. When unshackled by the chains that currently bound them, they could walk like giants across the multiverse. There was the edge of the forest of probability and used the entire map of all the creations as their playground. Seizing the Omega class TARDIS, they wrapped it in a cloak of gossamer like probability. Dragging it through the vortex to an area where it would be more advantages to them. To an area that would turn the finite probability of their escape into concrete fact.

"We appear to have escaped our own destruction. I now await your grateful and humble thanks." Said Macfadyan, haughtily.

Smoke hung in the air of the TARDIS console room. The panels one the console appeared to have a slightly singed look to them. Actually, so did Macfadyan. He noticed Cre'at looking closely at him

"Yes?"

* I was inspecting your eyebrows. They appear to have faired better this time. * He said.

"Hmmf."

There was a groan from the other side of console room. Then, stumbling slightly, Blanche merged, covered in leaves and mud stains.

"We safe, then?" she mumbled.

"Yes, for the moment."

* Only for the moment? Are you saying that this could happen again? * Cre'at asked.

"Well it depends. There's a chance the other ship may have locked onto our time trace. If that's happened, and judging by the telemetry from the time tracker it has, then it's only a matter of time till it catches us again."

"Why is it that everything in this thing is a time wotsit? Time this, time that, time the other. I reckon your just making it up to try to impress us." Said Blanche with an evil grin on her face. Then a thought struck her. "Why are we hanging around here then? If this other TARDIS or whatever it is after us, why have we landed?" she pointed to the central column, no longer alight and moving..

"Because my poor ship needs time to recover. Don't worry, the other ship will as well, and there's no indication that it's jumped yet. Relatively speaking, we have a few days, I should think. And the longer the other ship takes to jump, the more time we have. But it will jump, believe me. We're attached. Linked together. Eventually it will be pulled to us as if attached by elastic. We are anchored, thanks to a little fine-tuning by myself, all gratitude accepted. The question is, what to do now... " He tailed off, lost in thought, a worried frown on his face.

Cre'at flicked the viewer switch and the hologram flickered into life, showing dense foliage.

* Ah. Vegetation. *  He stated.

"Well, we might as well have a little look see what's out there, I suppose. It will give the Ship time to centre herself." Replied Macfadyan, rousing himself from some rather dark thoughts. He pulled the door lever and as the great doors opened Blanche shivered slightly.

Then the heat hit them.

They stepped out of the back of the Coke vending machine into what could only be described as a rain forest. The humidity was intense. Seeing where they were, Cre'at excused himself and went back inside the ship.

Macfadyan sighed and shook his head then seemed to drift off, staring into the distance as if something was bothering him.

He wasn't the only one feeling odd. Blanche was still shivering and starting to look very pale.

"I don't feel very well." She called. "Oi, Mac!!" But the Time Lord either ignored her, or was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear her. She started to move back towards the Ship. Then she stumbled and fell, her head feeling...empty. With a groan she managed to get to her feet again and staggered to the ship. Shooting Macfadyan a venomous look, she went inside. Immediately she began to feel a little better. Looking up, she saw Cre'at hovering over here in concern. She managed a smile when she saw his latest disguise. A cardboard cut out body, painted to resemble an old-fashioned big game hunter, khaki shorts and all was hung from his base. And an oversized pith helmet was atop him. There was even a flap for his cannon.

* You are broken, Blanche? *

She explained how she was feeling and added,

"But it seems a little better in here. I'm gonna stay in here, I think. Give this one a miss. Tell gitface, will you?"

* Very well. I shall return and purge you if I feel it is necessary. * And with that ominous warning, he floated out of the doors. As they shut behind him, Blanche began to feel normal again. Whatever it was that had given her the vapours, it was outside the Ship. Still, it couldn't hurt to get some rest after feeling that bad. She looked at the hologram, still projected under its arch. Macfadyan hadn't noticed the Sot'm's return. She switched the viewer off and walked to her room.

Something was wrong. Very wrong. Every fibre of his being was, well, twitchy. It was the only way he could describe it. And at the back of his mind, dark figures yelled and screamed and pointed their fingers at him.

* It has assumed an incorrect form. Again. * Stated Cre'at, pointing to the TARDIS.

"What?" said Macfadyan. He turned and looked back at the Ship. Then groaned.

"Oh well. I suppose that's usual." He took out his Stattenhiem remote rod and studied the display hologram. "Hmm, twenty first century South America. We're on Earth. Again. And I thought there was something wrong. According to this, we should be in a bustling city. But look at this place." He gestured around at the forest, "This place hasn't seen Humans before. No sign of them." He sighed. "C'mon, then. I suppose we shall have to find out what's happened.." He marched off. Cre'at followed him with a funny look. The Time Lord hadn't even shown the slightest concern over Blanche. Something was going wrong. He didn't know what, but Macfadyan's behaviour was getting odder, colder. He had noticed it for a while now. He would never have said anything, nobody had asked, but still... There might come a time when he would have to speak out.

And as they left the small clearing, eyes watched them from the bushes. Three eyes.

Deep in thought, Macfadyan wasn't really taking notice of his surroundings. So he didn't see the large pile of dung he stepped in. He did, however, smell it.

"Bugger!"  He stopped to try and wipe it off, and then looked at the pile, strangely. "You know, that looks like..."

He didn't get a chance to finish. With a roar, a large dinosaur burst from the bushes across from them. It turned, smelling the air, and then with another roar, it lunged towards them.

Chapter Three - "What do you want from me, it's not how it used to be. You've taken my life away, ruining everything."

Now, most people, when coming face to face with a bloody huge dinosaur would likely soil their undergarments. Not Cre'at - no body, see? And not Macfadyan, either, though some serious clenching might have been seen by any curious observer.

The beast roared again, and paused in it's charge towards the Time Lord and his Sot'm companion. In the silence that followed, all that could be heard was the rasping of the creature's breath and, from a distance away, a curious fluting noise, three notes repeated.

The beast turned with a snort and slowly lumbered away. There came the sound of oxygen being released from a Time Lord's lungs after being withheld for far too long.

"Now, that was - interesting, wouldn't you say, Cre'at?"

* It gave off the most unpleasant odour. Not unlike the one you are now emitting, Macfadyan. *

Macfadyan slowly took stock of himself. He was covered in dinosaur dung. He began to bluster about having higher things to consider and was very, very surprised at Cre'at's next words.

* You should take far more notice of things happening under your nose and not stare too hard into the sky. Sometimes the important things happen where you fail to look. *

If anyone else had spoken like that to Macfadyan, they would, if they were very lucky, have just received a dressing down. If they weren't that lucky, then they would probably have been maimed or killed. However, coming from Cre'at, this was so out of character that it gave Macfadyan pause for thought.

"You may have a point, old friend. I'm - I'm sorry. I find that I have a lot on my mind nowadays"

Cre'at looked at him closely.

* I have noticed that you seem more preoccupied of late. I have also noticed other aberrations in your behavioural patterns. Would you like to discuss them? *

For a moment it looked like Macfadyan would take the Sot'm up on his offer, but then a shadow appeared to pass in front of the Time Lord's eyes and he shook his head.

"Thank you, but now is not the time. Come on. I want to follow that dinosaur."

* The reptilian? Why? *

" It's 'behavioural aberrations', my dear Sot'm. Dinosaurs do not come when whistled for. They aren't dogs, you know. They simply do not do that sort of thing. Chase you, bite you, eat you, yes. All good, healthy pursuits for a dinosaur, er, if a little unhealthy for it's prey. But that was very unusual." he began to walk across the clearing towards the trampled undergrowth left in the dinosaur's wake.

They followed the trail for fifteen minutes. From time to time they would spot other reptilian creatures. These, according to Macfadyan, were behaving properly. Then the foliage began to thin.

"Alright. I'm impressed."

They were looking down onto a flood plain. And there, sitting proudly, was a city. Ancient and crumbling, overgrown and apparently deserted, the huge tetrahedral buildings still stood proud.

* You were expecting this? *

"No. Well, that is to say, I knew we are in South America, so we could well have seen an Aztec city. And you have to admit, for such a primitive race, the Humans do build some quite lovely structures." he began to set off towards the city, moving down a narrow path. Then he stopped and paused.

"Do you feel a little...odd? Almost like your being pushed away from the place?"

* I feel...something. I am unaccustomed to a feeling like this, however, so I am unable to clearly define it. *

Macfadyan suddenly knelt down and, reaching into one of his waistcoat pockets, retrieved his spyglass, and began to lazily scan the city.

"Hmm,. no sign of life. It looks abandoned. Interesting. By my reckoning, there should at least be tourists here. They get everywhere. Chatting and ignoring local customs, buying silly hats, eating sticks of rock..." he tailed off, realising that he had started to ramble.

* Are we to investigate this city in closer detail? *

"Well, what do you think?"

* I think you still smell. *

It took the two of them an hour to arrive at the city. Cre'at could have gone ahead but had decided to hang around with Macfadyan. He wanted to keep an eye on the Time Lord.

They stood and stared for a while, impressed despite themselves. However, the feeling at the back of Macfadyan's mind had grown stronger. It had an almost...familiar feel to it. Once again he used his spyglass, but it was Cre'at that spotted them.

* Cables. *

"What? Where?"

* There appear to be power cables running up the side of that ziggurat. *

"Well, I never. Your right! We need to get to the top of it. Cre'at! A lift, please" said Macfadyan, holding out his arms.

* Do you think that is wise? You have expanded since we last tried this. *

After a little haggling, a curious sight could have been seen. That of a Sot'm lifting Macfadyan and slowly, very slowly carrying him up the side of the edifice. There were a couple of hairy moments. As Cre'at had pointed out, this Macfadyan was considerably larger then the previous one. Eventually they got to the top. Once there. Macfadyan began a close inspection of the cables.

"Hmm. Interesting. Heavy duty and though made of materials that are found on Earth, the design is not Human. It's too clever for them." muttered Macfadyan with a small smirk. He was a little pleased with that, and it took a moment for him to register that Cre'at was calling him. Curious as ever, the Sot'm had explored further and had found an entrance to the interior oft he ziggurat. What he had found there had disturbed him.

And when Macfadyan saw it, it disturbed him too. It disturbed him greatly.

"No. No, no, no, no...." he muttered.

For there, sitting amidst a tangle of cables, her innards ripped out and canibalised, was the console from his TARDIS...

Chapter Four - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

Macfadyan stared in disbelief. his jaw hung open and, if you observed closely, a small piece of drool slowly oozed from the side of his mouth.

* It is the TARDIS console. *   

Macfadyan didn't respond.

* It has been captured, altered and slaved to the other machinery *

Slowly Macfadyan started to move towards the desecrated console. With wild eyes he scanned the ripped open panels, the scorching, the bio - organic cables attached to the time column.

"How could this have happened?" he said very quietly. His voice had a slight shake to it. Then he noticed something.

"This isn't my TARDIS. Well. it is, but it isn't. " He pulled the Stattenhiem from his waistcoat pocket and fiddled with the controls for a minute, muttering under his breath the whole time. Whilst he did this, Cre'at decided to have a look around outside. He followed the cables back outside noticing that the technology, though not Human, still contained only materials that were found on Earth.

Back at the console, Macfadyan had started to investigate the additions. At first he was dismissive of them, but as he continued to explore, he slowly developed a grudging appreciation of the work that had been done. He caressed the control surfaces, obviously in pain. Seeing the old girl like this was tearing him apart.

"Hello, old thing. Its ok. I'll stop this. I'll destroy those responsible. Let the word go out, little one, they will not exist to do this to you. The suffering you must have endured..." His voice shook..

He jumped as a metallic voice echoed around him as Cre'at returned

* The cables disappear inside this large edifice. Have you ascertained the cause of this? Are you sure it is not your TARDIS? *

"Oh, it is, Cre'at. Just not at the moment. This is my TARDIS console, but from the future. Somehow, this happens to it. It is removed from within the outer plasmic shell and placed here. And these additions, though primitive, are still quite impressive. Remember what it was like trying to come here?  That was the Ship, here. She is generating a field to keep out unwelcome visitors. Someone has taken an awful lot of time to study her technology and adapt it. Come on." and with that he strode out into the warm sunshine, pausing only to say goodbye to the console. Cre'at watched him do this. Another jolt to Macfadyan's mind, he thought...

* Where are you going? Do you not wish to disengage the Ship from the external apparatus? *

"Come on, Sot'm. We have work to do." came the reply.

The journey back to the TARDIS was longer then the journey from it. Macfadyan insisted on taking a roundabout route, stopping every five minutes to take readings with the Stattenhiem, always muttering under his breath. Eventually the reassuring, if rather out of place shape of a Coca-Cola dispensing machine became visible. Macfadyan unlocked the door at the back and squeezed into the console room. he strode to the console, muttering, then stopped suddenly. He slowly turned three hundred and sixty degrees looking around the room. A look of annoyance flashed across his face as he took in the twenty candles flickering in various positions around the room, some on the arches, a couple free standing on large candelabra. Cre'at watched as Macfadyan opened his mouth, forming the first letter of the word Blanche. Then Macfadyan stopped himself and strode abruptly into the main corridor, heading for the girl's room.

Blanche was not well. She had spent the whole time since getting back to the Ship being sick and lying in her room. her headache. The door to her room suddenly burst open and in strode Macfadyan.

"What have you done to my console room? I have warned you before not to change things there. just because the Ship has a fire suppression system doesn't mean you can go around placing your stupid, Earthling fancies around the place. "The tirade continued for a few minutes, Macfadyan too self absorbed to notice her suffering.

He only stopped when she vomited over his shoes.

After cleaning both of them up, Macfadyan slowly accepted that she hadn't been responsible for the candles. Which left him with a mystery. Blanche obviously had not been well enough to do all that. In fact, though she claimed she felt better, it was becoming apparent that she was getting worse. And Macfadyan was getting a sneaking suspicion he knew why. He conferred with Cre'at in the console room.

"The Human race has never existed. Time has been changed. That's why our little brat has been feeling so ill. She's slowly ceasing to exist. The Ship is shielding her from the worst of it, but it can't hold her here forever. We have to get to the root of this and stop it from happening. The Ship seems to have settled after her unfortunate meeting in the Vortex. So I suggest we make a start."

He pulled the main power switch. With a slightly strained bellow, the time column began it's stately rise and fall.

It took three hours. Three hours of materialisations and hovering in the Vortex. Three hours of frantic mutterings, cursings and the occasional thump on the console. Deciding it was best to keep out of the way, Cre'at stayed in the garden and practiced his gurning. The sounds of straining metal echoed around the room.

"Got it! Hah!"

* You have ascertained the nexus? *

" Yes. Of course I have. What did you think I meant? That I had managed to complete two sides of that wretched Rubic's Cube?"

* Then where are we heading? And when? *

"Well, Earth, of course. Back a couple of centuries. The interference goes all the way back to Earth pre history, but the nexus point was rather close to when we were. Hmm. An interesting time period. One of exploration when the primitives were discovering their new worlds. Same geographical location, just a couple of centuries back. Here we go..."

And with that he pulled the materialisation switch, bringing the TARDIS back into the real world and setting himself, unwittingly on a path that would aid his self-destruction...

Chapter Five - The Lady Vanishes

Once again, the humidity hit them like a brick once they had exited the Ship. The sounds of the jungle; birdsong, insects, primates, all blended into one glorious whole. Sunight streamed through the gaps in the canopy of branches and leaves above them, striking off the spectrum of colours that was the stunning combination of flowers and birds, making the scene perfect and beautiful. Nature in her glory.

Sadly, neither Cre'at, who didn't really go for those kind of things, though he did enjoy art, nor Macfadyan, who's mind was frantically whirling on a course of it's own, were able to appreciate the botanical wonder that greeted them.

"Well, then..."

* Well then? *

"Yes, well then. here we are. At the dawn of a new age for this country, this very continent. Shame the humans couldn't find a better way to achieve it."

* In what way? *

"Murder, Cre'at. Murder most horrible and plentiful. The Spaniards who come here thought the people here savages, and wiped them out. Typical human idiocy. If you don't understand it or approve of it, then kill it. You know, it surprises me that they became as successful as they did."

With that, Macfadyan turned back to the Ship and locked the small door at its rear. Then, deciding to make the most of the fact that the Ship had stuck to it's drink vending machine disguise, he punched a couple of the large illuminated buttons and removed the resultant cans from the dispenser tray. Popping them in his waistcoat pocket and adjusting his hat, he rolled up his shirtsleeves and started forwards. Cre'at just waited patiently, following the strutting Time Lord's progress. He began to silently count the seconds to himself.

He had reached fifteen by the time Macfadyan realised he had no idea where he was heading to and stopped to check the readings from the Stattenhiem. After making a show of looking at the sun, checking the wind direction and even going so far as to get to his knees and listen to the ground, he strode back in Cre'at's direction, passed him and carried on towards the other side of the clearing.

"C'mon, Cre'at. There's work to be done."

This time, Cre'at followed him.

What they hadn't realised, was that eyes had watched all of this. Eyes that had been very surprised at the appearance out of thin air of a Coca Cola vending machine. The eyes furrowed as their owner concentrated. Then, they opened fully again, this time with a gleam of fierce determination.

For a couple of hours Macfadyan and Cre'at had struggled through the forest. Every now and again Macfadyan stopped to take readings and adjust their course accordingly.

* How can you be getting readings if the temporal anomaly hasn't happened yet? *

"Ah, but it has. Then again, it hasn't. This time period exists in a bubble. That's why we had so much trouble getting here. It's a nexus point within a nexus point. I don't know how long it will be stable for. I do know, though, that we have to make sure that not only is it stable, but that the bubble of alternate time around it is burst allowing this reality to once again become the only one. Where we were in the future was in the alternate future...which had an alternate past. Here we are in the prime reality...cut off now from the space time vortex proper, do you see?"

To Cre'at, that rambling explanation horribly did actually make sense. If you thought about it, but just not to much.

"Of course, there are some that would delight in all this temporal messing around. Chronovors, Eternals, even that Gallifreyan boogyman, Faction thingy. Never was too clear on that. Thought it a load of nonsense, myself though. I mean, honestly, how can anyone take pleasure in a paradox just for fun, hmm?"

Cre'at looked at the Time Lord. Again, this simply wasn't like him. Not this incarnation, anyway. he was normally very tight lipped about things, but now it seemed as though a door had opened and all these thoughts were just flooding out. A stream of consciousness that had been released somehow.

"Paradoxes are very funny things. I remember our temporal science tutor at the academy. Strange little man he was, always kept a gnarled wooden cane to hand so he could hit you over the head with it if you weren't able to recite the laws of time in the correct order. I only found out later on that because they are so closely linked with Rassilon and Time herself, they keep changing, in order, wording and severity. Very odd. but then again, typical of my people. That's why I didn't go back for her. You see? That's why I simply couldn't. Do you understand now, hmm?"

Cre'at looked around to see just who Macfadyan was now talking to, The Time Lord had stopped and was apparently talking to thin air, making expansive, desperate hand gestures.

* Macfadyan. You are hallucinating. The heat has affected you. I suggest immediate withdrawal to the TARDIS. We shall stop and rest first. Drink your weak lemon drink now. *

Macfadyan stopped and looked lost for a second.

"What? What do you mean, I'm hallucinating? Weak lemon drink? Do you need an oil change or something? Dear oh dear, Cre'at. You must be getting old. Imagining that I'm prone to hallucinations, I ask you.." He started to chuckle, but non the less, reached into a waistcoat pocket and removed a can. Opening it easily he took a long pull and then wiped his lips.

"C'mon."

After a short time, Macfadyan suddenly halted. He crouched down, a keen look on his face.

"There's someone up ahead."

Sure enough, Cre'at could hear movement up ahead. Rustling and a sound that identified as human. But there were no actual words as such, just a strange moaning noise. The two of them edged closer. Slowly Macfadyan gently eased a couple of branches out of his eyeline and looked into the clearing.

There, squatting down and making drawings in the sandy soil, was a human. He had a shaded skin and long black hair. He was dressed in what could only be described as some kind of loin cloth. He was making strange noises as he moved the large stone in his hand through the soil.

Macfadyan took a breath and stepped through the bush into the clearing. Immediately, the human shrank back, then got to his feet looking around wildly.

"It's ok, child. Neither myself nor the Sot'm here will harm you." Macfadyan said, soothingly.He continued to make placating noises and gestures but the human started to make noises that sounded like the was starting to panic.

* This ape primitive is broken? *

"Or he could just be monkeying around." quipped Macfadyan. At the sound of the Sot'm's voice the human turned and ran. Macfadyan looked annoyed.

"Oh, laugh with me, Cre'at, laugh with me."

Macfadyan decided against pursuing the human. Instead they looked at what he had been drawing. The images, though crude were striking.

"Hmm. That looks like it could be some kind of lizard creature. Three eyes, look."

* Do they have these creatures on this planet? *

Macfadyan didn't answer. he was deep in thought. Something about the image had struck a chord.

* Macfadyan? *

"I'm not sure, Cre'at. I can't quite put my finger on this. I seem to recognise these creatures, but was it in the past or the future? I need to check something." He pulled out the Stattenhiem again and began to check through the Ship's data banks. But when he got to the section he thought he needed, it was blank.

"Bugger."

There was nothing else for it. They would have to walk back to the Ship. Macfadyan added that it would give them a chance to check on Blanche. He didn't pass on that his interest wasn't for her well being, but to use her as some kind of temporal thermometer. The worse she got, the less time they had before this reality came crashing down around them.

After a long and arduous trek, they finally came upon the clearing where the TARDIS was.

Or rather, where it should have been.

The clearing was empty.

Macfadyan ran, skittishly around the spot where the Ship had been.

"My Ship... My TARDIS..."

Part Two - I try and speak to god. But he just laughs at my plans.

Chapter Six - The Cross of Changes

For a few moments Macfadyan panicked "The ship?"

It was then that the rage began to kick in

"The Ship! THEY HAVE TAKEN THE SHIP! THOSE SANCTIMONIOUS GREY MINDED DUNG BEATLES!!" He started to stride deliberately backwards and forwards kicking the undergrowth as he walked, looking up, shaking his fist up at the sky and shouting.

"I will not permit this!"

* Would you like a vegetable product? *

"Oh shut up, you stupid head!"

Cre'at glided back to give him some room to rant. This was becoming more and more common. Becoming rapidly bored with all this posturing and making the firm decision to make Macfadyan pay for that last comment, Cre'at started to analyze the local fauna. After about five minutes he had already found over five hundred new chemical combinations. It was during this time he detected a set of drag marks leading from where the ship had landed off in to the jungle. Checking the visual spectrum he made sure they were easily seen by the naked eye. Looking over at Macfadyan he confirmed that he was still ranting at the sky. It was at this point that Cre'at opened another file on the Time Lord. When he finally returned to Sotus he would publish hopefully it would get him another award to go with his third place cataloge model posing in the planet wide games.

He expected "Time Lords in and around their natural time stream" (he may have to change that title) to go down rather well. He would call this chapter "Cut off, lost and alone" or "hey dude, where's my ship?"

Macfadyan's crazed rant had started with the fact that his loom had been obviously faulty, that Satthralope had smacked him far too hard when he had come out, and as for Preceptor Brizion was very unprofessional (Cre'at had learned that long ago if Macfadyan considered you unprofessional it was because he didn't understand what you did).

Suddenly Macfadyan had fell silent, a group of figers stood at the edge of the clearing watching him as he stood, fist clenched and razed skyward.

They were rapidly surrounded by two groups of people, all male. There were about ten South American native men all wearing loincloths with blowpipes; the others wore slightly tarnished breastplates and helmets. They had a swarthy middle European look to them. They were armed with swords and simple flintlocks pistols and rifles. They were pointed at Macfadyan and Cre'at. Macfadyan looked around him self rather bemusedly as if just waking up

"Hello, would anyone like a chocolate button?"

They were force marched through the jungle far about two miles, their captors refusing any attempt at communication except for the occasional barked direction. They arrived at a clearing that had been hacked in to the undergrowth of the jungle. The encampment was mix of native and 'civilized'. They were lead to an expanse of pristine white tent with two Spanish guards outside, one of their captors left them and went inside for a few moments, then returned to show them inside.

The tent was split in two, in the open area there was a table set up with a map spread across it. The Spanish flag had been stitched in to one wall of the tent. Pouring over the map was a muscular man somewhere in his late thirties unlike his comrades his amour was polished and shone with a brilliance that spoke of many hours with a cloth. He looked up, as Macfadyan walked in and his face was alive with a fierce intelligence and determination. Sitting in one of the chairs was a strikingly beautiful native woman. She was dressed in a flowery, colorful gown that was atypical for a native. The man strolled confidently forwarded and spoke in stilted French (which Macfadyan understood immediately, it simpley nevcer occured to him why he did so)

"At last, welcome, can I offer you some brandy It is I' am already of an inferior quality but wine doesn't travel well."

With a sudden start he caught sight of Cre'at in all his glory. Macfadyan rushed forward with his hands razed

"Its alright, its alright it might look like a monster from the abyss. But its merely clockwork, you must surly have clocks by now, hmm?" He stared earnestly at the Spaniard "It is an object of science not a thing of mysticism. Would you like that brandy now Mr.?"

"My name, Mr. Jacq, is Captain Fransisco Gonzaliez De Merida y Santunder".

"I m sorry, but who did you say?"

"I said that I am Captain Fran..."

"No, no, no, not your rather unimpressive title, the other name you just gave, Andrew Jack?" The Captain looked puzzled

"You are not Andre Jacq' the French guide to the German expedition?"

"French? French, French! FRENCH! Do I look French to you! Cre'at do I look French to you!"

Cre'at looked critically at Macfadyan for a few moments

* No, though you could come from one of the small islands around the British coast or any of the colonies of Beltroxs 5 *

The Captain was shocked,

"It speaks!"

Cre'at looked at him

* Of coarse I can speak! I can do lots of other things too, like point, stroke my chin, offer a vegetable product * Cre'at held out a small grubby paper bag, * Would you like a vegetable product? *

Macfadyan held his head and winced, then after a few moments ventured

"And the young lady is the Spanish infanter no doubt, Cheswick! Fresh horses!"

* Not Chiswick, Cre'at *

The Captain looked at them for a few moments,

"Allow me to introduce you to my native glide Dona Linda".

Macfadyan inclined his head

"Greetings madam Linda, the pleasure is all yours" Dona Linda looked at him in bemused surprise

"You speak almost like a native Mr.?"

"Do I? It's a gift that I've almost forgotten about. My name by the way is Lord Macfadyanagogobibblebibblelungburrowmas but you can call me "great one" or just lord Macfadyan. The very, very natural and easily explained floating head is called Cre'at."Turning back to the Captain, Macfadyan demanded, "Now Captain perhaps you can please tell me what you are doing here!"

"Were are an expedition that once consisted of some six hundred men, in search of El Dorado."

Macfadyan snorted in contempt as Cre'at floated closer

* Explain. What is El Dorado? *

It was with bored contempt that Macfadyan explained,

"It's meant to be the legendry city of gold, but the place doesn't exist. It's a combination of the rocks that they use in the buildings here, it takes on the appearance of burnished gold at sunrise and sun set, and the golden man ceremony conducted at lake Guatavita."

The Captain leaned forward curiously,

"You seam to be very well informed for some one who is not connected with any German expedition, Lord Macfadyan. Who sent you? Why are you here!"

Macfadyan looked at the Captain in the eye and calmly lied

"I've been sent here by the pope to see how well you have been converting the heathen natives to the one true religion. You said that you had started with six hundred men what happened to them all?"

The captain tock another swig oh brandy as he mulled over the question

"Dead, due to illness, battle, accidents and madness."

"Madness? Oh dear".

"Father Diaz claims it's because of demonic position".

"Father Diaz?"

"Our Jesuit priest, It he who is charged with converting the Indians and dealing with any heresy".

"Oh dear Rassilon, a claptrap mind if ever I heard one. Miss Linda could you please show me what's left of these poor unfortunates and where they are kept".

With a discreet smile she said,

"Of coarse sir". She lead the way out if the tent.

Captain Scamander strolled to the back of the tent, pulling back the curtain to reveal a figure in the red/ orange robes of a Jesuit priest.

"Well Father, what do you make of our new arrivals?"

Diaz seamed to consider before he replied, pulling at the tight black curls of his beard, swirling his robed to come to a decision. It was a dectition that he had made as soon as Macfadyan has walked in to the tent, and all the decision and deliberation was just for show. He looked up at the Captain with a face that seamed unassuming and bland. That was until you looked closely at the eyes, eyes that were full of the passion and fervor of a true believer. They were the eyes of a man who could commit any atrocity or degradation, any torcher or the vilest of acts, but not for the enjoyment of it but rather because it was all for your own good.

"The flying totem is obviously a totem of the evil one and this Macfadyan is a warlock!"

The Captain nodded his head, but some protest was expected

"They claim to be travelers on official Vatican business"

Diaz stopped still and fixed the Captain with a cold, yet fevered stare

"NO! Senor, They are agents of Satan! From Lucifer him self. They must be cleansed by acid and fire, fire and acid.".....

Chapter Seven - "...Otherwise know as Great Grumbleduke!"

Dona and Cre'at strolled along the jungle paths with Cre'at asking her for the local names for all the paths and flowers. Macfadyan marched out in front muttering equations to himself.

They came to another clearing that had been hacked into the jungle. They were heading towards the center in which stood a low, long, wooden hut. As they approached the sounds of people in pain could be heard. Dona Linda begin to hang back and noting her apprehension, Cre'at floated over to her .

* You do not have to enter the vegetable matter construction. * She flashed a smile of appreciation, but first walked up to the door and untied the bolt that held it closed. Then she retreated to the edge of the clearing. With a bewildered expression on his face, Macfadyan pulled back the bolt, opened the door then disappeared into the gloom of the hut.

Inside, the stench was overpowering; the smell of too many unwashed bodies in close proximity, the smell of human waste and spoiled food. There were figures moaning and shuffling around in the lamplight. Cots and beds had been made up in regimented rows, but the sheets had long been spoiled by mildew and bodily fluids. The occasional bed was occupied by fat bloated figures long dead; they could have been lying there for days, weeks or months, such was the heat and humidity. The air, not surprisingly, was thick with flies.

Macfadyan approached the nearest human wreck that was rocking backwards and forwards holding itself. Crouching down, Macfadyan noticed that every space was covered in crudely drawn pictures of mammoths, woolly rhino's and other extinct Earth animals. Speaking in a voice that almost dripped with honey, he reached into a pocket.

"Hallo there, no don't get up, I'm not here. But I do have some thing for you".

He handed over a pad of blank paper and a pack of colored pens. There were a few moments of confusion as Macfadyan tried to get the top of the pens off and show the wreck how they worked. Then with a fevered gasp the man snatched the items out of Macfadyan's hands and began filling page after page with crude, primitive images. For a while Macfadyan just watched, then he reached over and tried to extract a few of the pages. With a scream that boarded on the hysterical, the Human then launched himself at the Time Lord and both of them crashed to the ground. Rolling around on the filthy floor, the wreck momentarily gained the upper hand. Scrambling on top of Macfadyan he proceeded to throttle the life out of him. Fighting against the strength that was born out of insanity, Macfadyan managed to prise the hands away from his neck and croak the words,

"Cre'at help!"

Cre'at watched slightly curious. It was obvious that these images were important to the broken organic life form and any attempt to remove theses images from the wreck would produce such a reaction. Macfadyan should have realized this; he had proved that he had this wisdom in the past. Perhaps, as an inefficient organic, he had forgotten this fact. Setting his head cannon onto the lowest setting, he fired a pulse that sent the organic spinning from Macfadyan's torso, who then shot to his feet. Brushing himself down he gave Cre'at a dark look,

"You took your own sweet time there!"

Stretching down he removed the pad from the sticky floor. Ripping out the pages he wanted, Macfadyan tossed the pad over his shoulder and left the hut without a backward glance.

Dona Linda stood outside the hut lost in the dilemma of whether to find out what the commotion was in the hut or to go for help. When the door finally opened, the relief on her face was a joy to behold.

"My Lord, did you find anything?"

Macfadyan stood looking at her nonplussed for a few long minutes, and then he realized just who she was.

"Marginally successful, er, Lady Linda, only marginally". Shaking the worst of the filth from the pages he spread them out on the ground "Right on these first couple of pages we have what looks like bison, mammoths and wooly rhino's. But as our rather crude artist got into his muse, his art rapidly slid down the evolutionary scale until we reach images that would have been ancestral memories when Lucy first decided to climb down from the trees".

Dona looked confused

"Who is Lucy?"

A slightly dreamy quality stole over Macfadyan's face,

"Australopithecus afareneis, basically the first ape to walk upright. They had a party when they first found her, someone put on a Beatles song and the rest as they say is history". He stopped suddenly and a look of pure horror crossed his face.

"Thankfully, they didn't put on THAT version of the song. I keep meaning to pop back to pre war Canada and stop him being born. Yes. That's what I should do. Yes. HAH! Let's see how he likes them apples!" He shook himself rapidly as his mind snapped back to the present, "But that's not going to help us here now is it? Right, you see these figures on the last sheet? These are the ones we are interested in.!"

The pages were covered in humanoid figures, large and chunky. Some had three eyes, some had fan-like fish tails where their ears should be. They had a reptilian look about them.

Dona looked mystified.

"What are they? Devils?"

"What? No, no, no. Of course not. They are Silurian and Sea Devils."

* That statement is incorrect. *

Macfadyan give Cre'at a look of pure venom.

"All right, all right. If you want to be pedantic. These creatures ruled this planet around six or seven hundred million years ago and they had no real name for themselves. Their technology was roughly comparable to Earth's in the 22nd century but surprisingly they never made it into space. A disaster hit the Earth and these creatures went into hibernation. A scientist discovered them in the late 20th century and mis-named them Silurian. The Sea Devils were named from the ocean legends around the same time. Funnily enough, in the war for the domination of the Earth against Humanity, they adopted these names as a mark of contempt. But the proper name for them would be homo-suraus."

* Incorrect. The correct term, using Earth idioms, would be… *

"Yes, thank you Cre'at, we don't have time to sit here and listen to your …bu, bu, bu, bu, abada, er..." He tailed off for a second, " Oh what's the word? Its on the tip of my mind. Idiot stands up in front of a lot of uninterested people and waffles on about nothing that nobody wants to hear."

Cre'at thought hard about this one for a few moments.

* Government, a circus, organized religion, education, a pantomime? *

Macfadyan's voice boomed in a sudden explosion of noise and spittle.

"LECTURE!! Hah, knew it would come to me, always does, yer know."

"What do you intend to do now, Lord Macfadyan?"

Macfadyan sat back, looking thoughtfully at Dona, or rather, through her.

"Now we know just who we are against and that they are reasonable beings. We shall now go to the source, the temple city and talk some reasonable sense into them. Naturally it would be best for me to do all the talking. I have considerable diplomatic experience and exactly the right kind of temprament to bring this matter to a swift, safe conclusion."

Suddenly, six Spaniards burst out of the undergrowth. Swords and flintlocks drawn, they took up defensive positions around Macfadyan and Cre'at.

"Be careful men, don't hesitate to fire if they take on other forms!" The leader turned to Macfadyan "You will accompany us back to the camp where you will answer all the questions put to you by Father Diaz!"

Cre'at looked at Macfadyan, and with a very straight face indeed, plainly intoned,

* Blimey. I did not expect... *

He was cut off by a stern Gallifreyan digit pushed into his face and a muttered warning to not finish the sentence on pain of something very painful indeed.

Macfadyan looked at the guards with an affronted expression.

"Will I indeed? Well he's not getting my recipe for fruit cake, I can tell you that for nothing!"

Once again noncommittal and surly Spaniards, who refused to engage them in any form of conversation, herded Macfadyan and Cre'at through the jungle. When they reached the camp the two prisoners noticed that it was different from the last time they had arrived; instead of curiosity there was open hostility in the faces of the people who met them, hands rested firmly on flintlocks and sword hilts and the air of hate was a physical thing.

In the center of the camp an improvised open-air courtroom had been erected. Macfadyan, Cre'at and Dona were placed in the position reserved for the accused. Macfadyan looked briefly around the camp at the faces muttering to himself.

" 'Standing on my own, it didn't mean that much to me, I thought I had it all, I didn't see the mystery.' " He then caught sight of Father Diaz and they stared at each other for a few long minutes, taking the measure of each other.

Captain Merida y Santunder stood.

"This inquiry into the actions of the being known as Macfadyan is declared open. Father Diaz, your opening statement please."

With a flourish, the Father stood.

"We are in a world beset by demons and devils. Many of our troops, good clean wholesome men, have been struck down by illness and poison, by witchcraft and devilry. As it has been shown in the old texts these creatures of Satan can only be anchored to our realm by a human soul!"

As he said this he spun on the spot and pointed an accusing finger at Macfadyan.

* Macfadyan is not human *

You will keep your familiar silent or it will cause the death of your wanton strumpet!"

Dona stifled a sob of fear. Macfadyan glanced over to her; she had gone very pale. Looking back, he could see a familiar look of puzzlement sliding over Cre'at's face.

* What would a trumpet be wanting? A... *

"Not now, Cre'at"

"SILENCE!" Diaz's voice echoed throughout the camp, "You are a warlock. You travel with a demon whose invocations must be disguised on the stiffened parchment which hangs beneath him. You are here to gather the forces of evil in this unholy land and stop our work of the one true God. Now we will have the truth of the matter, remove your coat and shirt or I will have my men remove them for you!"

An expression of polite bemusement appeared on the Time Lord's face.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Guards!"

Macfadyan raised his hands and his voice.

"ALRIGHT! Alright! No need for violence, I am a big boy now I don't need any help to undress".

Stripping off his coat he suddenly realized how bedraggled and filthy it now was. Placing it distastefully on the bench, he laid his vermilion waistcoat next to it and his shirt on top of that. "Satisfied? Hmm?"

Father Diaz circled Macfadyan like a hawk; hands buried in the sleeves of his robe.

"The fact we have a Familiar is not enough. We need to know who controls it, who feeds it, who sends it out in the dead of night to corrupt and poison men's souls and who nurtures it".

* No one feeds or nurtures me, primative organic. I absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere. *

Diaz ignored Cre'at, looking intently at Macfadyan. "We need to find the witch mark!"

"Have you tried E-Bay? Or maybe Amazon would be more approp..."

But Diaz was already moving with alarming speed, stabbing Macfadyan in the arm with a bodkin.

Macfadyan took a deep breath to yell but realised that there was no pain.

Diaz turned to his audience. "As you can see captain, there is no blood on the pin or the flesh. What more proof do you need? Burn the warlock now and we can finish these demons that beset our men."

"Just a moment, can I have a look at that?"

Moving just as quickly as the Father had, Macfadyan had spun round, grabbed the Father's hand and twisted the bodkin out of his grasp. He gave it a quick visual investigation. "Interesting!"

Pushing the pin hard down on to the bench, he let go, and sprung loaded, it shot back up in to the air. Macfadyan snatched it triumphantly.

"Quite nifty. Fake needle. With a performance like that you should go in to the street magic profession. Oh, you know you really shouldn't go that color, you know, its not healthy".

The priest was speechless with rage.

There was a distant rumble of some thing akin to thunder, it was both distant and near. Macfadyan gasped in pain, as if some thing had slapped him hard across the synapses, then sunk its claws deep in to his brain. He dropped to the floor, legs like jelly. He hit the ground hard, looking up his vision blurred a huge distortion wave crept towards them, like bleach in water, but only he could see it. Rainbow like colors shot out of it as it absorbed trees and rocks and people. It struck Macfadyan and he screamed as every nerve was dipped in pain.

When after what seamed like eternity his vision cleared he was kneeling on the ground, next to Dona Linda, Cre'at was floating over him and the pages covered with the primitive art was spread out on the ground in front of him.

"What? Why in the..."

Six Spaniards burst out of the undergrowth to rapidly surround them, swords and flintlocks drawn.

"Be careful men, don't hesitate to fire if he takes on other forms!"

Macfadyan looked directly at Cre'at, but it was the Sot'm that spoke first

* Some thing has changed! *

Part Three - Playing God Games Forever

Chapter Eight - If you walk without rhythm you won't attract the worm, If you walk without rhythm you'll never learn!

Macfadyan's mind raced, a temporal hiccup, a time loop (if it was then it was a chronic hysteresis and he could be trapped singing that tune for all eternity), temporal crimping. Not enough hard data and far too many distractions.

Whilst his mind churned, he slowly raised himself to his feet. The leader of the Spaniards opened his mouth to directed them back to camp but Macfadyan cut him off,

"Sorry no, I'm afraid things are further along than I feared so now, I'm afraid, I've got better things to do then follow you meekly back to camp and be subject to those tiresome questions from that insignificant speck of life, Diaz, who was probably being ruthlessly potty trained while the other children were out playing, Cre'at kindly stun this rabble!"

* The Earth travels round the sun! *

Macfadyan winced "Could you 'Please' render them insensible so we can make our way to the temple city and finally solve this thing!" Cre'at switched his head cannon to wide angle, realizing that if pushed too far, the Time Lord would use the Dalek gun and Macfadyan wasn't sure where the stun setting was. He'd watched as Macfadyan had once shouted in triumph as he'd finally hit on the correct combination..... then watched, highly amused as the gun accidentally fired and Macfadyan collapsed yelling,

"My legs, my legs, ,I can't feel my legs. Bloody typical!" then he'd flung the gun across the armory workshop. Very amusing, however, best not have that repeated now.

He opened fire.

The Spaniards jerked and twitched, as if in the grip of a fit, then slumped to the ground unconscious. Dona Linda screamed and started to run only to be grabbed by the shoulders by Macfadyan, who looked deep in to her eyes

"Its alright. They're not dead only asleep. No hell spawn has come to grab your soul. We are merely explorers and at the moment we need to explore a temple city. Stay with these men and I expect they will escort you back to camp. Come on Cre'at."

Macfadyan and Cre'at raced off in to the jungle leaving Dona Linda hugging herself and shivering despite the heat.

Macfadyan ran as best he could through the dense jungle while Cre'at glided along with him at head height

* What happened at the vegetable matter construction? *

"Time slipped a groove".

* That much I had already deduced. I did not realize that the Silurian's had the ability to manipulate time. *

" Don't confuse technical ability with technical brilliance. For instance, a human managed to construct a functioning time scope and that was in the decade of the 1980's".

At that point he stopped running, lost for a few moments in his mind. Cre'at drifted ahead, stopped and turned round watching Macfadyan, who with a sudden start came back to life and started running again, Cre'at waited for him to catch up then kept pace.

* Can you postulate a theory to account for it? *

"You know how useless it is to theorise without hard data. Though I'm hoping it wasn't an attempt to start a time loop yet that's the more likely explanation. Personally, I hope that they were attempting to reach back in time and bring it forward. But what ever it was it has a badly baffled manipulator". They sped through the jungle in thoughtful silence. Macfadyan suddenly went down on all fours. Cre'at thought he had become lost in his own memories again when he also noticed the drag marks on the ground.

" What do you make of these Cre'at. Some thing heavy has been dragged through here, looks like its heading towards the city!"

* Yes. It is the TAR... *

At that point three arrows thudded into the tree beside Macfadyan's head while nine Amazonion natives emerged from the undergrowth. Six of them had arrows notched and aimed at the time travelers. Macfadyan seemed startled

"Er, greetings! Would any one like a chocolate button?"

A tenth figure emerged from the brush. It wore a cowl and cloak pulled tight around it's head to conceal it's features. A hissing gargling voice issued from the dark void under the hood

"Take them to the city!"

It waved them on with a flick of a green brown claw.

They were taken to the edge of the jungle where the tree line rapidly thinned out into the slopes of a mountain. Whilst going through a rocky passage gouged into the sides of the mountain, Macfadyan turned to one of the natives who accompanied them

"Where are we going?"

"Manoa!"

Vilith looked around the chamber. There, on the upper tier was the triad who ruled this complex, below them were the six governors who made policy and advised the triad, it was to these he would have to make his plea. He tried not to notice how much his hand shook as he gathered his flimsys that were covered in hand written notes.

Shalar walked in, snout held high as always, as if you were emitting a fowl smell. He and his pro-council sat at the protector's bench, his scales gleaming with the health of youth. This was Vilith's last chance to turn them back from the idiotically dangerous path it was taking.

Shalar looked at the table of the triad and beneath it the table full of prefects and adjutants as an equal. He glanced at Vilith with nothing but contempt, watching as he stared myopically at his notes - they were hand written for shell's sake! He stared at everyone carefully bleary eyed, he was lackluster and there was no shine to his scales. He belonged to the previous generation, the generation that had made mistakes and error.

Vishtarr stood smashing the rock of justice on the gavel of truth

"We are here to open this tribunal. Preceptor Vilith, your opening statement please."

Vilith stood trying to straighten his bent back, his ready voice barely echoing a cross the chamber.

"Adjutants, pro-councils and members of the triad. I wish to call into question the direction that young Shalar is taking the temporal project. As you know it was first proposed as an attempt to time jump the period of devastation that was facing our planet. But was abandoned in favor of hibernation.

Shalar is now perverting it to wipe out the entire ape species, which could have untold consequences."

Dovail of the pro-consul stood, brash, bold and aggressive, but his quotations were tempered with intelligence

"Why is his plan dangerous and yours not? They both use the same techniques to remove two different problems". Vilith nodded expecting the question and out of habit took on a lectures stance

"Because when I proposed the time jump the future had yet to be made. We were the master of the planet, its destiny was ours to mold. Nature handed us this test and we failed and slept. In that time nature has risen a new race to be this planets master and our future is now sixty million years old. Who knows what contributions they have made or will make to this planets future?"

All through this speech Shalar made not so quiet remarks and disparaging noises (as was his right) but this was too much for him. Not waiting for Vilith to sit, Shalar shot to his feet

"How could vermin contribute to the well being of our world? We have studied the different ape tribes in the jungle on the surface around the complex. They bring nothing but catastrophe, they are brutal and savage. The events that ravaged our world were nature's test and its one we survived, we live still, and these ape decedents are another part of the test from nature and we shall wipe them from the face of creation. In doing that we shall have finally passed all the trials and reclaim our rightful place as the dominant race of this planet!"

Shalar was almost panting with the depth of his emotions, slamming his claw on the bench to emphasize his words.

At that moment an aid walked in and handed Shalar a flimsy. Reading it he made a few notations and handed it back. Then he faced the main table hands across his chest

"I beg your indulgence but a problem has arisen that needs my personal authority, if you will excuse me?" As was his right as the protectorate in this tribunal he could ask for a recess at any time. He left the chamber. Outside he didn't go far, but met with the Silurian who gave him the message

"What is this all about? What do you mean you have captured an ape wearing synthetic fibers?"

"Jerlum was guarding the passage entry to the to the city with some trained apes and caught an ape with some kind of floating device. It is possible that he is from the 'time travel' device".

"What, Really? You think so? Dunder head! Of course he is! Where is he now?"

"He is being held in cages in the ape city".

"Leave him there. Make sure that he speaks to no one especially any of the Triad or Vilith. Only kill him if you have to, he could be useful later. Now leave me!"

Perez followed the Indian native closely. They had already been attacked, and had defeated one group of natives and a demon and it had cost him all his men. The native kept stopping to check the ground, according to him the warlock had come this way with three others and one demon and had taken a path where some thing heavy had been dragged a few hours previously.

At the moment they were in a rock tunnel that was concealed from the outside. The tunnel ended at a lip that overlooked a basin valley snuggled between the mountains. Around the fringes were the remains of a forest jungle, to the north was a vast lake. But in the middle was a vast city. In the center of that a huge step pyramid temple, all of it carved out of a yellow/ orange rock. Perez looked around himself in wonder

"We found it, we found it! El Dorado! Go back tell Santander, tell him to bring the men. We found it!"

The cell was small, dark, smelly and hot; there was only one sources of light, a small-bared window high up in the wall. It was too small for Cre'at to float out of but nonetheless he was up there observing. The rest of the cell consisted of a rough stool, bed and small hole in the ground for toiletries. Macfadyan lay stretched out on the bed staring at the ceiling humming a disjointed tune under his breath.

"Right that should have given them enough time to get comfortable. In fact I feel rather insulted that no one has come in to threaten us or at least reveal their evil plans"

Cre'at floated down from his visual

* Would you like me to open the door? *

"Oh, no, no, no, no there's no need for your sledgehammer tactics. Leave this to my delicacy of touch". In one fluid motion he rolled of the bed to kneel beside it, as if to pray, and started to empty his pockets on to the bed while muttering to himself

"No electronic circuitry to disrupt, no magnetic clamps holding the fields closed. Just a wooden bar across the outside holding the door in place. Very primitive but very effective!" Finding a laser pointer he checked it worked and put it to one side of the growing pile. He looked in surprise at the next items he pulled out, a dozen tubes of fast drying silicon cement/ gel and green paint "Handy for building walls or patching space ship hulls but no good here" He placed them in the discard pile, and then pulled out an opened can of lemonaid, taking a deep pull on the can he suddenly remembered where it came from

"You know this was from the exterior shell of the ship. So if I manipulate it right I should be able to open a door to the interior" With a determined look on his face Macfadyan carefully started to twist and turn the can, but only succeeded in crushing the can flat, covering his fingers with the lemonaid that was left inside. With as much dignity he could muster he place he crushed can on the discarded pile. He started through his pockets again. Pulling out a glowing crystal he picked up a roll of duck tape from the discarded pile and proceeded to attach the crystal to business end of the laser pointer. He then rapidly dismantled the battery casing of the pointer. Then with the sonic screwdriver spot welded two wires to the contacts, then attached them to what looked like a battery covered in alien script. He then cleared every thing off the bed back in to his pockets, all the while humming the theme to an eighties television programme from America on Earth.

The whole process took about ten minutes, Cre'at watched in bemused silence, It would have taken less then a minute to convert the screwdriver in to a sonic lance and burn through the bar. Macfadyan carried the whole contraption over to the door and switched it on. Nothing happened. He smacked the pointer against the wall a couple of times and a blue/ green beam lashed out, carving a line in the wall and ceiling.

"Oops!"

Turning around, he carved a line around the cell and inserted the pointer between the gap of the door and the wall. As he exited the cell, Cre'at heard Macfadyan mutter;

"I love it when I plan comes together".

It took Macfadyan about an hour to creep across the city using the shadows, door arches and whatever other cover that was available, but finally they were at the base of the pyramid.

The city was mostly made up of large plazas and courtyards; there were many stone seats constructed under tall wide leaf spreading trees, there for any weary traveler to rest. Despite what Macfadyan said, there was a heavy presence of gold everywhere. As plaques or inlaid into the walls and floor. Macfadyan was concerned; this city of Menoa could have easily passed for the fabled city of El Dorado. This should have been discovered and documented, he would have heard about it, it was all very strange.

They had reached a small cul-de-sac stationed behind the large step pyramid, inlaid with gold leaf, it was dazzling to look at. The blocks in the steps were taller than a man. Macfadyan took a long, critical look up at the temple that rested at the top some one hundred and seventy feet above him

"Well, I'm not going to be climbing that any time soon. You'll have to give me a lift!"

Cre'at extended his arms and grasped Macfadyan's wrists; they rose hesitantly into the air then started forward striking Macfadyan's knees against the lowest block

"Up you stupid head! Engage your anti-gravity drive!"

* You have increased mass since Cartharserus! *

"since whe... WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'VE INCRESSED MASS! I'M NOT FAT!! I'll have you know my physique is the height of fashion! Unlike you're flying, up Cre'at up!"

They wobbled up the pyramid hitting every third or fourth step on the way. It was a very battered and bruised Macfadyan who reached the top

"Well we won't be trying that again any time soon!"

Moving hesitantly round the side of the temple they peered cautiously through the entrance. Inside there was massive, high tech organic equipment, which clashed with the primitive interior. Silurians moved silently about their tasks. Sitting in one corner with its door open revealing the unfeasible inky blackness of its interior was the drinks dispenser exterior of the TARDIS. At that point Macfadyan tried to leap to his feet but Cre'at's hand restrained him. Macfadyan's strangled whisper was the only way he could give vent to his anger

"That's my ship! Did you know they had my ship?"

* Yes. *

Macfadyan whisper went up in pitch "Well why didn't you say anything then!"

* You did not ask *

Crawling back around the wall of the temporal Macfadyan begin muttering to himself again

"The ungrateful little lizards, all the things I was going to do for them and this is how they repay me. Well from now on the gloves come off, oh yes they do!"

Concerned Cre'at floated down to look Macfadyan in the face

* What do you intend to do? *

A furtive look flashed over Macfadyan's face then he turned to look at Cre'at while rummaging through his pockets again

"I noticed a few things earlier. We need a diversion and you my bobbing, floating friend are going to provide it!"

Pushing Cre'at down in to the corner, he retrieved the silicon gel, green paint and laser pointer then set to work.

After about twenty minutes a very rough Silurian head floated in front of Macfadyan

"Right can you move or talk?"

* Yes, what would you like me to say? *

"What about the lines we discussed?".

Cre'at's voice rang out * Oofar foo! *

"No, no, no, no not it needs more pomp, more majesty like this 'OOFFAAARR FFOOO!!'"

Cre'at waited, processing the information, and then as if Macfadyan hadn't spoken said in the same voice as before

* Oofar foo! *

"Yes ha ha that's it!"

As they crept back to the front of the temple Cre'at reviewed his Silurian files. According to them the god Oofaa foo was worshiped in the third dynasty. These Silurians were from the twenty fifth dynasties, they would not be fooled.

Cre'at floated round to the front of the temple. He remembered a sermon he once heard given by what was classified by a fire and brimstone priest.

* MY PEOPLE WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME! I have offered you peace and prosperity and you have turned your back on me. *

One by one the Silurian scientists came out of the temple allowing Macfadyan to slide in. Professionally he was shocked at the low level and shoddy equipment that was on display here.

Shalar raised the goblet of fermented juice to his snout. The tribunal was a complete success. Vilith had been thrown off the project and now he was able to proceed without any interference Vilith should be up in the temple lab, clearing out the last of his belongings and opening access to his personal files.

Shalar had no real animosity towards Vilith, after all his theories on time travel worked, his temporal detectors warned them of the arrival of the time machine. But if he had complained more vigorously when the hibernation program was first proposed they wouldn't be in the mess now. Shalar would make sure that Vilith would be a footnote on his own path to glory. Of course he had further plans for after he had removed the ape problem from history. It would be time to make sure that his race was pure. Nature had after all selected them to be the master race. He would make sure that they lived up to that ideal. All half-breeds, mentally deficient and the genetically abnormal would have to be dealt with. Still that was another problem for another time.

He sipped some more juice when an aide disturbed him

"Sir, a worker from the temple lab has reported a disturbance".

Shalar only listened with half an ear, believing that the invasive circuitry had burnt out again. It seemed the circuits would only last for about twenty five minutes before the breakers burnt out and needed replacing. The time machine's programs and circuitry had some formidable protection, but each time this happened they made a little more progress.

"Tell them to replace the circuit breakers and start again".

"No sir. There is a floating head that appears to be mechanical, it has roughly the looks of one of our race it claims to be the ancient god Oofar foo"

Shalar looked at his aide a little askew, as all Silurian technology was based on the organic so therefore anything mechanical or electrical was a different engine

"Capture it and then put it on display as a curiosity"

Shalar suddenly went cold. Wasn't there a mechanical head with the ape who wore synthetic cloths? His third eye flashed red in anger, it was the temple lab where Vilith was, Shalar all but ran from the room.

Santunder stood on the escarpment and looked down upon the city with greed in his heart, turning to Perez

"Form the men up into ranks, but keep them quiet. We attack as soon as the cavalry division comes through the rock passage"

Macfadyan crouched down behind the sarcophagus, it was made of a strange translucent material. This is were all the wires and circuitry ended (or began) and at the other end was the ship. He finally understood what was going on. It was, he thought, a unique solution. The subject was placed in the coffin, there the genetic hereditary was scanned analyzed and then time looped so their entire race is wiped from history. So as he was down there he disconnected the cables leading in to the coffin. While he worked he kept half an ear listening to Cre'at in case he got in to trouble

* Consider the lilies, they toil not *

The Silurian's were still being distracted

"What's he doing now?"

"I think he's taking a pop at the flowers!"

"He's making it up as he goes along!"

Macfadyan had just finished splicing the last cable when he realised he wasn't alone. Peering up over the top of the coffin, he saw an ancient Silurian. He must have been about a hundred plus, shuffling about the lab. Seeing an opportunity Macfadyan stood up

"Hello there, would you like a chocolate button?"

Vilith jumped, dropping his files all over the floor then staggered clutching his chest. Macfadyan raced forward and helped him to sit. Outside a great roar went up as hundred's of voices were raised in greed and anger.

An aide burst in to the Triad's private chamber, Dorval stood indignantly

"What is the meaning of this? We are in closed session!"

The aide folded his arm's across his chest

"I crave forgiveness, but a tribe of armored apes is attacking the city!"

"They What! Call the militia, melt their armor and burn them! Find Shalar tell him he has authority to proceed with the last stage of the operation!"

Shalar had taken the express lift that had been installed to take him from the complex to the temple labs. He had enough presence of mind to stand just to one side of the door to the main chamber and listen to what was going on inside. Vilith and the ape were talking about temporal theory as if this creature were his equal for shell sake!!"

"It can be best described as a temporal bubble in a time loop matrixes, but what I don't understand is why the Chronovores haven't descended and gobbled this all up, like a starving man at an all-you-can-eat buffet"

"Chronovores, Macfadyan what are Chronovores?"

"Creatures that live of time, they live in the vortex and feed off time loops and closed off time streams"

Shalar chose that moment to enter

"Perhaps its because they realise that this is the true way things should be. Really Vilith I'm surprised at you, listening to the babblings of this ape. If you were sixty years younger you would have eradicated it yourself!"

Vilith got off the stool with difficulty and drew himself up to his full height

"As you get older you begin to appreciate a different prospective"

Shalar snorted "I will have you put to death for this as a traitor, but first you can watch your new pet ape die!"

Macfadyan was shocked

"New pet? Now wait a minute, I've seen the future your time loop will create and it's empty, there are no humans, no Silurians, there are none of your people"

"You lie!"

Macfadyan pointed his arm out of the temple towards the city below. Now was the time to lie through his teeth "This battle is well documented in history. Your people will lose, they will be slaughtered to the last man and your race will die! Yours is the last example of it ".

"Again you lie, there are complexes scattered all over the globe".

"They don't make it, have you been able to contact any? No, Vilith told me an earthquake only awakened you. In the centuries to come human scientist's will search for you, they will find them dead and silent." Both Vilith and Shalar started wailing and swaying from side to side. Macfadyan took a step closer "But it doesn't have to end this way, I can take you away from here, I can take you any where, to one of a thousand of empty habitable worlds, THAT'S WHY I AM HERE!"

Shalar turned to Macfadyan "No! This is our planet we will not leave!" His third eye glowed a fiery red and Macfadyan had to dive full length on to the floor as a bank of equipment behind him distorted and melted. Vilith rushed forward

"Shalar stop this now!"

Shalar turned to face him and gave vent to the full force of his anger and outrage on Vilith. The scientist was picked up by the force of Shalar's hate and was blasted a crossed the lab. Macfadyan popped up from behind the coffin armed with the Dalek gun.

It spoke just once.

The beam struck Shalar in the center of the chest in the chest, holding him, pinning him their, his scales distorted, melted slightly. His scream rent the air then he crumpled and collapsed to the floor in a heap, smoldering slightly.

Macfadyan rushed over to Vilith just as Cre'at floated in busily stripping off his Silurian disguise. Macfadyan cradled Vilith's head as he looked up at him with blind boiled egg like eyes

"Save my people"

"I will try".

Macfadyan stood "what's happening outside "?

* The Spaniards are attacking *

"Come on Cre'at we have a job to do, history to heal and a species to save."

They headed of to the TARDIS. Walking into the console room Macfadyan pulled off his spoiled coat, pausing a moment to make a fuss of the many cats dotted around, he weaved his way around the candles. First he laid his hand almost reverently on the console

"Hello old girl I'm home, right lets get this stuff off you". Brandishing his sonic screwdriver, he started work on the Silurian organic equipment attached to the console. With a final heave he pulled the equipment off the console, closing the access panel. He started rolling it up it up with all the connecting cables leading to the outside then he drop kicked it out the double doors. Closing them he began to dematerialize the ship. Suspiciously, Cre'at asked

* What do you intend to do? *

Macfadyan looked up "A small reversal of Shalar's plan. Scan for Silurian genetic material in the surrounding area. Then materialize the ship around them and the complex, and then ship them to another habitable planet, thus ending the savage conflict outside.

Father Diaz rushed forward swinging his sword and parrying the spear that the native had thrust at him, swinging the sword back he loped the native's head clean off. It span, tumbling through the air, spraying a fountain of blood. The body staggered on for a few more passes before toppling over. The Father made the sign of the cross over the torso. They were winning and slaughtering the native savages where they stood.

Then from out of the pyramid and surrounding buildings, three eyed green demons came pouring, firing beams of heat from their third eyes and striking down his fellow Spaniards. Diaz gripped his sword more firmly. His course was just, his god was with him, he would smite these hell spawn

"God will guide my sword!"

A Silurian turned towards him, opened his third eye and turned Diaz into a walking human torch. It turned to the next human.

Suddenly all the Silurian's staggered, some fell to there knees, others gripped there heads. The air was full of multiple wheezing, bleeping and groaning sounds.

Inside the Ship, the roundels had dimmed to a ruddy orange, the fabric of the ship creaked and groaned as if it was deep under the sea. Macfadyan was sprawled over the console as if whispering soothing words to it. Cre'at was on the other side monitoring the power regulators yet keeping one eye on the Time Lord - so to speak. The only illumination came from the thousand and one candles dotted around the room or the warning lights from the console itself. Macfadyan looked up at Cre'at

"Temporal fusion can take it out of the old girl but I'm sure she can cope"

Macfadyan patted the console in an affectionate manner; the panel sparked and blew up. Macfadyan was back flipped behind the console clutching his forehead, screaming

"Not the eyebrows again!!"

CO2 jets exploded from the console, covering everything in a freezing fog. The power wailed, alarms and sirens screamed for attention. Macfadyan's head surfaced over the blackened panel, slightly singed, sooty and hair smoking, but eyebrows intact. Diving round the console he activated the controls that would enable this panel to take over the function of the damaged one.

Outside the groaning and wheezing reach a crescendo of noise and all of the Silurians just faded away. The Spaniards and native Indians hesitated, looking at one another nervously. Then the earth beneath their feet sifted, heaved, sank then dropped suddenly. As the complex was removed from under the city the earth fell down to fill the gap. On the surface huge cracks rent the surface, the huge blocks of the pyramid came crashing down smashing those standing beneath it. As the city came crashing down, the basin of the lake split open, the water came roaring down covering these who had survived the fall, or those who were pinned under masonry.

LATER

Macfadyan slotted new components into the open panel of the console, being watched by a disapproving Cre'at. Macfadyan could feel his eyes boring into the back of his head. He extracted himself from the innards of the console

"Alright you imp of unhappiness what's wrong?"

* As a matter of procedure the TARDIS would neutralize the Silurian's reactor. You have left them on Dralis major with no power, water or amenities. I suspect it was an act of spite. Demeaning for one of your rank, surely? *

"Oh pish and tush. In about eighteen months Dralis will be within the sphere of influence of twenty sixth century Earth. They will be forced to ask humanity for help and therefore forced to face their phobia. Cre'at we have saved humanity, enabled a dead species to live again and stopped history from unraveling. And you bother me with details!

* Like you have been forced to face beans? *

"SHUT UP!!"

"Will you to please be quiet some of us is trying to get some sleep!"

Blanche stood at the inner archway to the ship dressed only in a man's nightshirt that was two sizes to big for her, that was sliding off one shoulder reviling bear flesh. She was also wrapped up in a quilt.

For a few moments Macfadyan leaped across the room in joy and tousled Blanche's hair, then with a look of distaste he realized what he was doing, pulled out a purple spotted hanky and meticulously wiped down his fingers

"Well if you to don't mind I have a lot of work to do, now off you two, go and play!"

He turned back to the console, but he could still feel Cre'at looking at him, and in his mind, that look was joined by disapproving looks from many others........

The End

(This is finally finished. When we originally role played this back in 1999 it was a dramatic tale, the opening up of moral questions of science against religion, science as a religion and lead to discussion late in to the night. I had hoped this would be written in the same vain. But the original author ran in to problems and couldn't finish it. So I stepped in to the breach, I am not the writer it deserves so this is just some tat I threw together at the last minute, sorry!)

Only stunt Silurian's were used