* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 Dessia moved a step back to warily cover both her Time Lord companions.

 "Don't even think it, Drax," she snapped.

 "Dessia, please," the Doctor pleaded. "The longer we wait to find a solution to the problem with the Vortex, the--"

 She looked at him, her eyes merciless. "Don't. And don't presume to take advantage of our past... association. Now move, or I'll shoot you and drag you back home while you regenerate."

 ***

 Meanwhile, in the Matrix...

 Grace looked at the storm clouds in the distance. Can't worry about that now, she thought. The landscape suddenly changed around her. Beneath her feet was a large puzzle with its pieces scattered throughout infinity. Grace decided that this was going to take a while. She picked up the first two pieces and put them together.

 SNAP!

 ***

 The Chattermalians were in the Council Chambers.

 Turncwart spoke. "Death to all sorcerers!" He raised his weapon.

 Suddenly, a wheezing sound was heard. The Chattermalians stopped their assault and looked around for the source of the noise. It gradually got louder until a piece of paper appeared at Romana's feet. The paper unfolded itself, and the Abbot stepped out.

 Andred used the opportunity to disable and stun the three Chattermalians. It would be explained how, but this is a family story.

 After the Guard arrived to take the Chattermalians away, the Abbot turned to Romana and said, "My Lady President. It appears that the Vortex is working again."

 ***

 The Abbot was partially correct. The Vortex was working again, so long as the TARDIS in question was flying to Gallifrey. The closest human analogy would be that the Eye of Harmony was acting like a beacon to the TARDISes during a hurricane. They could home in on the beacon, but couldn't navigate elsewhere. This explains the sudden appearance of another TARDIS not too far from the Panopticon. A female Time Lord stepped out.

 "Well, at least I'm somewhere," spat the Rani. She then set off toward the Panopticon, in search of the Doctor.

 ***

 The Doctor was about to speak to Dessia, when he stopped himself and stared into open space.

 "Grace is in the Matrix," he said to nobody in particular.

 "Doctor, come with me," repeated Dessia.

 "The Vortex is active. We can get to Gallifrey," said the Doctor.

 "Um, Thete. She's got a gun. You know...bang. Thud," said Drax.

 "How do you know this?" asked Dessia.

 "The same way I know that someone I don't want to know will know this," said the Doctor cryptically. Drax and Dessia were momentarily dumbfounded.

 "Hey," said Crispin. "Where's Professor Givenchy?"

 ***

 Ysabelle Givenchy used the opportunity to hastily depart from the Time Lords. She rounded a corner not too far away when she was blockaded by a miniature timestorm. It crackled with blue energy.

 "YOU FAILED ME," it said.

 "No!" she screamed. "Give me more time."

 "YOUR TIME IS DONE," it said. The timestorm swallowed her, and she vanished.

 ***

 "Dessia, I surrender," smiled the Doctor. "Let's all go to Gallifrey."

 "What? I mean, of course," said Dessia.

 "After I take another look at that chronon-separator that Professor Givenchy was using."

 "Give me one good reason."

 The Doctor reached out suddenly, pulled her towards him, and gave her a long kiss on the lips. When he released her, she was out of breath.

 "Okay. Give me two," said Dessia.

 ***

 The Master was heading to Gallifrey. He looked up for a moment, staring into nowhere.

 "So, Grace is in the Matrix," he smiled. "This could work out to my advantage after all."

 ***

 "As I thought," said the Doctor, holding up the chronon-separator. The Doctor, Drax, Dessia, and Crispin were back in his TARDIS. Crispin, after changing the baby's diaper (and wasn't that an interesting lesson for the day?), left the baby Chattermalian in a crib he found in one of the interior rooms in the TARDIS.

 "There is absolutely no way this should have worked," he said, putting the separator on the console.

 "But what about all that you said before?" asked Drax. "About Givenchy taking tissue samples from you, and stealing technology, and..."

 "Despite all that, she still could not have done the damage to the Vortex that was done. She shouldn't even have gotten close. This technology," the Doctor indicated the separator, "is absolute nonsense. It couldn't light a gas stove. It looks technological, certainly. Enough to fool even me, for a little while. Certainly it's enough to fool an Earth woman. But it still shouldn't have worked."

 "That makes no sense. How could the human break into the Vortex and be subject to the Time Winds with a non-technological technology?" asked Dessia.

 "And broken non-technological technology, no less," said Crispin. Dessia quickly shot Crispin one of those 'talk-again- and-I'll-kill-you-and-eat-your-brain' looks.

 The Doctor pondered this. "The same way a student chemistry experiment could cause a timestorm," he muttered.

 "What?" asked Dessia.

 The Doctor stared right at her. "I know who's behind this. It's not me. It's not Givenchy. It's not Crispin..." Crispin seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at this last statement.

 "...and it's very bad."

 ***

 The Master's TARDIS landed near the Panopticon, right next to the Rani's .

 "So, she's here too," noted the Master as he stepped out. "It's becoming quite a party here." He began to walk toward the Panopticon.

 ***

 "We have to get to Gallifrey," said the Doctor. "This is some sort of attack against the Time Lords, and me in particular." He reached for a control on the console.

 ***

 Romana, the Abbot, and Andred entered the Panopticon. Anna and Stuart had evidently gone in a direction of their own choosing.

 "What's happening?" Romana asked the Monitor.

 "Several TARDISes have materialized on Gallifrey, using the Eye of Harmony as a homing beacon. This includes some renegades."

 "I hope the renegades don't come here. We're totally unprepared," said Andred. Both the Abbot and Romana nodded in agreement.

 At that moment, the Rani and the Master simultaneously reached the Panopticon.

 "The gang's all here," smiled the Master.

 ***

 Had the Doctor been able to speak to the Abbot, he would have known that operating his TARDIS while the Vortex print of it and Grace were switched with each other was a bad idea.

 ***

 A timestorm appeared in the center of the Panopticon, much to the surprise of every Time Lord in the room. They could all see a humanoid silhouette in the center of it. All of them were hoping it was the Doctor (the Master in particular, who was also hoping the Doctor had died a torturously painful death while in it). They were surprised when another Time Lord entirely appeared.

 "HEY ABBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTT!" screamed the newly arrived Time Lord when he saw the Abbot. The Time Lord was dressed in similar attire to that of the Abbot.

 "Mortimus," spat the Abbot. The Meddling Monk smiled in reply.

 ***

 The Doctor flicked the switch to dematerialize his TARDIS.

 The TARDIS screamed.

 So did Grace.

 To Be Continued...