The TARDIS materialized deep in the heart of the planet-TARDIS, which its inhabitants knew as Altos 3.

 It reached out, and found what it was searching for.

 And opened itself up....

 *****

 "Goodbye, Doctor?" the CyberMara queried. "Nothing ends. Wheels turn, cycles begin and end. You, that begins and ends lives as part of function, you should know better than anyone."

 "This planet will end very shortly, and with it everyone," the Doctor said, staring down the metal monstrosity before it. "The inhabitants, the Cybermen...even myself who can 'begin and end lives as part of function' can't survive being in the direct center of a star. Your existence depends on this planet's existence. Surely even the Mara believes in self survival?"

 The Doctor waited, seeing if the CyberMara would call his bluff. Seconds passed, before...

 "No," the Mara said finally. "I can go elsewhere. Familiar territory."

 And the hulking form of the Cyberman body which the Mara inhabited fell over. The Doctor instinctively moved to catch its fall. Which proved difficult, since Cybermen typically weighed, as Wil would surely say, "a friggin' ton."

 The Doctor managed to prop it against a wall, and examined it. No signs of anything, no Maras banging around, no compressed hydraulic microprocessors whirring about.

 "Well, that went smashing," the Doctor said aloud, to nobody. "Now, to prevent the end of the world."

 *****

 Wil sat in the garden, until he noticed a Cyberman (Jacob?) carrying two bodies. One was that of another Cyberman. The other...

 "Oh shit. Nana."

 Wil, overcome with the alien urge to bravely dive headfirst to a potentially fatal and stupid situation, rushed out of the garden. He lunged at the Cyberman....

 And immediately fell to the ground, bruised.

 "Insignificant action, fleshform," the Cyberman noted. The voice was still Jacob's, confirming Wils suspicions, but the words were definitely that of a Cyberman. "You, too, will become like us. Suitability is irrelevant now. We require sheer numbers. Even you will serve a purpose to the Cyber-Race."

 "Do you EVER get any new material?" Wil asked, as the Cyberman towered over him.

 A silver hand reached for the Cyberman.

 *****

 The TARDIS communed. It gave its message.

 The planet-TARDIS thought about it for a moment.

 *****

 Elsewhere.

 Jack and Tegan decided to have a night in. The beach had provided enough outdoor time, and Tegan was still feeling not-quite-well after the events earlier that day. Which suited Jack fine.

 He'd prepared a small dinner of spaghetti bolognese (candlelit of course), and had set the mood with some fine, beautiful music (Dead Can Dance was a winner). The conversation was pleasant, and Jack rarely took his eyes of Tegan.

 After the supper, they sat together on her couch, and continued to speak as if nothing else mattered in the world. Jack leaned over to kiss Tegan.

 Tegan moved closer to Jack, to meet his lips...

 And the feeling from earlier took over, for a moment. Tegan began to slump over like a puppet cut from its strings.

 "Tegan? Tegan?!"

 Tegan looked up again, having regained composure.

 "Are you all right luv?" Jack asked, genuinely concerned.

 "Fine," said Tegan. "Never better." Jack noticed a slight change in her voice, something evil...

 Just the way he liked her. "Come here, you..."

 *****

 The Doctor made his way through the Sumaran ship. Q23XX (or, as he preferred, Richard) stood before him.

 "Ah, Richard, good. Just the man I wanted to see."

 "I am no longer a man, Doctor."

 "Technically speaking, no, but you're regaining your humanity somehow. But that's not important right now. Or maybe it is. Anyway, you must convince the Cyberleader to launch at once. You must leave Altos 3 now!"

 "Why?"

 The Doctor was surprised. "You mean, the Cybermen don't believe in self-preservation either?"

 "Our individual lives mean nothing to the good of the Cyber-Race," Richard said, slipping back into form. "Self is an illogical, emotional quality."

 The Doctor could tell the Mara's influence was fading from the Cybermen already. "You are regaining your emotions, Richard! You remember your original name, before you were a unit designation! I can feel the emotion in your voice!"

 Richard's processors computed the data before it. The Illogical was coming to equal the Logical. Instinct and Reason were combining within him.

 "What shall I tell him, Doctor?"

 *****

 The Cyberman that had been Bevin reached its hand towards the Cyberman that had been Jacob, beating "Jacob's" chest.

 Jacob, taken by surprise, dropped Nanas body, and threw "Bevin" to the ground, just shy of Wil. "Bevin" quickly got up, and took the offensive again, drawing her weapon. "Jacob" did the same.

 Wonderful, thought Wil. A M'hexian standoff.

 "You are in violation," said "Jacob." "Our assessment of you was in error. You are a waste of Cybertechnology."

 "Bevin" didn't care. She merely pulled the trigger, saying "Nana."

 "Jacob" dropped to the ground, its half-life ended.

 Wil was in awe. What surprised him even more was "Bevin" picking up Nana's body, and saying "Come on, we need to find the Doctor."

 *****

 The planet-TARDIS made its decision. It agreed.

 The TARDIS dematerialized.

 *****

 "Leader," began Richard, having arrived at the bridge of the Sumaran vessel, "Logic dictates we must depart from this planet with no delay."

 "Illogical," said the Cyberleader. "Your logic is in error, Q23XX. You have allowed yourself to be affected by events. As I was, momentarily. No longer. We continue. The temporal disturbance is of paramount importance."

 "The Cybermen here will die if we remain, Leader."

 "Individual lives are of no importance to the good of the Cyber-Race."

 "Logic..." began Richard, raising his gun, "dictates otherwise, Leader."

 He fired, and the Cyberleader fell to the floor.

 Richard walked to a com-console. "All Cyberunits will return to stations. Prepare for departure."

 *****

 Wil and "Bevin" made the rounds in the corridors of the ship, until they saw a familiar face.

 "Doctor!" Wil shouted. The Doctor seemed equally as happy to see his companion, safe and sound.

 This feeling was temporary, however, as he scanned the Cyberman holding Nana's body.

 "Oh dear...no..." the Doctor bemoaned.

 "It would seem," "Bevin" started, "that my Nana's prediction was true, Doctor."

 The Doctor looked at "Bevin," checking "her" new body, making observations.

 "It's not become permanent, yet."

 "What hasn't?" Wil inquired.

 "The Cybernization of Bevin. Unless we act quickly, she will be lost for good, especially with the Mara's influence waning ever so quickly."

 "And how will you do that? Here?"

 "No," said the Doctor. "If I'm right..."

 Suddenly, before them, the familiar shape of the TARDIS meshed with this reality.

 The Doctor grinned. "And it would seem that I am..."

 "Where did it go? What happened?" "Bevin" asked now.

 "I placed a device into the planet's surface to allow my TARDIS to materialize within and interface with it, in order to cancel the order to materialize within Uran Primary, and to return to its original program of materializing in the Sol System, 20th Century Earth Approximate. Or words to that effect, anyway."

 Wil was confused, "Bevin" was letting the Doctor's explanation run through "her" logic circuits, when the Doctor abruptly started again.

 "And since my TARDIS has returned, we can only assume the plan worked, meaning I have one more thing to do before joining you two within it."

 With that, the Doctor threw Wil the key to the TARDIS, and made his way towards the bridge area.

 *****

 "Richard!" the Doctor exclaimed, upon sight of the new Cyberleader. "How goes the plan?"

 "The crew is in readiness; we merely await an opportune moment."

 "The opportune moment is the minute it returns to Altosian space. Leave immediately. No more invasion; the time's up. Got it?"

 "Of course, Doctor." Richard paused. "When next we meet, if such a time is to occur, I cannot promise it will be on good terms."

 "Then let the records of the Cyber Invasion of Altos 3 show the facts -- that even enemies can bond in the face of a common menace." The Doctor reached his hand to Richard's. The Cyberman was momentarily confused, but a memory surfaced -- this was a gesture of friendship.

 Richard shook the Doctor's hand, for the last time.

 *****

 "Now that that's settled," the Doctor said as he ran in the TARDIS, catching his breath, "let's be off for the moment, and begin to repair you, Bevin."

 The Doctor took "Bevin" by the wrist and led her to a medical room within the TARDIS...

 *****

 Richard waited. For the moment.

 Reality faded back in. The Vortex was no longer visible. The sky above Altos 3 had returned.

 "All Units, prepare for liftoff."

 The engines of the Sumaran ship came to life at Richard's command.

 Within moments, the Cybermen had left the surface, and headed for the atmosphere. More moments passed, and the ship was no longer visible from the ground.

 The Altosians, what was left of them, cheered, as their invaders had left the planet. And as the cheering subsided, the populace looked about them. The invasion, the damage...the deaths. And many of them had not the faintest idea of what to do next.

 *****

 The procedure took hours, but to a Time Lord they meant nothing.

 For Wil, and for Bevin, however, it seemed like eons.

 "That should do it," as the Doctor put the finishing touches to Bevin's dressings, the de-conversion completed. "It will hurt like Eternity for quite some time, and you will feel moments of disorientation during that time, but all in all, I'd say it's a success."

 Bevin looked at herself from her bed, reflected in a grand boudoir mirror within her temporary quarters. "Nana..."

 Wil and the Doctor both felt remorse for her loss. "I'm so sorry..." the Doctor started.

 "Don't," said Bevin. "You didn't kill her. I did. I shoulder the blame."

 Bevin paused for a moment. "If you hadn't arrived, who knows...we both..." Bevin broke down, grieving for the loss of her beloved grandmother, and for herself, knowing what she had become, and what she had done.

 The Doctor went to her, embraced her, and tried to comfort her. "When we return to Altos 3..."

 Wil broke in. "I thought it was going to Earth space?"

 "It will, when all signs of life have ceased. For now, it will remain in the time from which the planet dematerialized. I basically did the equivalent of the Fast Return switch."

 He turned back to Bevin. "As I was saying, when we return to Altos 3, Nana, and everyone else, will be honored properly. As she would have wished."

 Bevin, still crying, managed to thank the Doctor for his comfort. "It...it would be nice to know, that Nana will rest in...familiar territory."

 And then the thought struck the Doctor.

 *****

 The Doctor had raced to the Console Room with such speed that Wil had trouble keeping up with him. "What's going on?!" the Paracastrian demanded.

 "Stay with Bevin! Until I return!"

 "But where are you...we going?"

 The Doctor looked up. "'Familiar territory' were the last words the Mara spoke when it left the Cyberman. I'm following a hunch."

 He removed the Manussan crystal from his pocket. "And I pray it's the right one to follow."

 *****

 Jack looked at himself in the mirror of Tegan's lavatory.

 Their lovemaking had been... Interesting. And wonderful. Empowering. Oh yes, empowering. Tegan's initial eagerness brought a raw, animalistic energy to their sex, such as he'd never had with her. It was wonderful. And as she had climaxed, he felt it too. Such raw...emotion. And as Tegan had seemed to pass out, his energy had grown. He felt an entirely new way. And he liked it. And...

 There came a rapping on the door. Surprising, really, considering the hour. He exited the loo, and made his way to Tegan's front door.

 "Yes?" said Jack, trying to contain himself.

 "I must see Tegan!" said the voice. "Now!"

 "Right, mate, who are you?" Jack grew angry, jealousy rising up within him such as he never felt before. He'd felt jealous of other men speaking with Tegan before, but this felt...amplified.

 "An old friend. Tell her it's the Doctor!"

 "Pally, you're going to need one quite soon if..."

 "Jack?" Tegan said, coming out of her room wearing Jack's bathrobe. "Who is it?"

 "Some pervo calling himself the Doc..."

 "The Doctor!" Tegan exclaimed, hurriedly opening the door, and seeing a completely unfamiliar face before her.

 "Tegan! So glad!" the Doctor said as he entered. "Look at this, now!" The Doctor produced the crystal, his hands in a triangular pattern, holding it right before Tegan's face.

 "Is that the crystal from...?"

 "Manussa, yes! Now concentrate!"

 "The Mara? Has it returned?" Tegan asked worriedly. She had thought that part of her life was past, now, and couldn't bear to think the snake had taken her mind for a third time.

 "Yesss..." said a voice. Suddenly, Jack chopped the Doctor on the back of his neck, taking him by surprise. The Doctor dropped the crystal in the darkness.

 "How did you find me?!" said Jack, now feeling the Mara course within him openly.

 The Doctor turned around, quickly retrieving the crystal from the floor. "You left a pathetically obvious clue, actually." The Doctor reformed his hands into a triangle, the crystal at it's center.

 The Doctor began a chant. "Aum, nama narayan...aum, nama narayan..."

 "STOP!!!" Jack shrieked. "Do not banish me to the dark places of the inside again!"

 The Doctor's chanting continued. The crystal was glowing, now, a burning blue light.

 The Mara within Jack begged for leniency, but to no avail.

 The Doctor ceased his chanting, saying but one word. "Begone."

 And with that, Jack collapsed, and the crystal took on a reddish hue in its light. Then, the light ceased.

 The Doctor turned back to Tegan. "Keep this. Wear it about you, necklace, bracelet, it doesn't matter. Keep it always, never relinquish it. The Mara will not come to you again, if you do as I say."

 Tegan was taken aback. This Doctor's directness harkened memories of her time with him. "Well, nice to see you again, Doctor," she said, with no trace of irony in her voice.

 "Yes, well," the Doctor replied, in a more cheerful tone, "it has been some time."

 "Since 1984, with the Daleks..."

 "In your timeline," the Doctor corrected. "In mine, since the incident with the Scientifica."

 Tegan struggled to remember, but it was so long ago. "You've changed, again, I see."

 "Yes, on several occasions. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

 "Wait, you're going now?!" Tegan was getting annoyed at his come-and-go act.

 "I must. I have some things to attend to. This was a tangent of those, I'm afraid." The Doctor saw the disappointment in Tegan's face. "I'll return soon, I promise. In one form or another."

 And with that, the Doctor hugged Tegan good-bye, catching her completely off guard. This Doctor _was_ different, indeed!

 As the Doctor left, Jack came to. Tegan knelt down before her lover, the Manussan crystal still within her palm.

 "Tegan, love?"

 "Yes Jack? I'm here..."

 "Who _was_ that man?"

 Tegan looked up, almost staring off into space. "It's an extremely long story," she replied, finally....

 **!!**!!**!!**

 EPILOGUE ONE: 'It's Beginning To And Back Again'

 The Doctor and Wil sat in the tavern on Altos 3, where this mad escapade had had its beginnings. The crowd was much more sullen, drinking quietly, far from the brawl mentality that had pervaded it when they had first been here.

 But then, Wil noted, barely surviving a double-edged alien invasion coupled by not having a frigging clue as to what to do next tended to do that to people.

 The Doctor, too, was silent, sitting and pondering the events that had transpired. Wil instinctively knew Bevin was on the Doctor's mind.

 "It's wrong," the Doctor said, finally breaking his silence. "I know what she'll do, I know what will happen."

 "Don't you usually?" Wil said, in a half-hearted Fool attempt to cheer him up.

 "That's...not the point." The Doctor sighed. "It's so wrong. It seems no matter what happens in these events, no matter the deviation from Nana's memories, it's going to happen to her, again, and again, ad infinitum." The Doctor looked at Wil. "She's caused her own time loop."

 Wil, not being the sort who knew advanced temporal theory, could only respond with, "There's not really much you can do to change her mind."

 The Doctor half-smirked. "True. But Nana could have warned her..." He trailed off. "Time we left, I think."

 "Where to next, then?" Wil eagerly asked, equally wishing to leave this planet.

 "I don't know. Somewhere...new. Some place completely unfamiliar, with nothing from the past, especially mine, can destroy the future of anyone who's caught in the middle."

 Wil downed his ale quickly. "Non-Stop Service to Anywhere The Past Can't Bite You In The Ass then. And the bus is leaving."

 **!!**!!**!!**

 EPILOGUE TWO: 'If Ace turns out to be her own great-great-grandmother, I will scream. :-)' (Jon Blum, posting to rec.arts.drwho, 29 January 1994) [In regards to the novel SET PIECE]

 This was it, then, Bevin thought.

 She stood before the temporal fissure, underneath her Nana's hacienda.

 The place where the End had its Beginning.

 A year had passed since the Cybermen had invaded, since Nana had died at their..._her_ hands. Her physical wounds, from conversion and back, had healed in the time, but the wounds in her psyche never had. Nor those of the rest of her people.

 Many of her former friends and neighbors had begun to make arrangements to move off-world. To go back from whence they came. Their community had crumbled under the heels of a silver jackboot. It was never quite the same. And Bevin grieved this.

 The Doctor....she didn't exactly blame him for Nana's death, but she could not help but wonder: what if he hadn't come. Would she have remained a Cyberman? Would Nana have been converted, or "recycled?" Would she have even cared or noticed?

 This is where she would find out. Somehow.

 It had taken her the better part of four months to work out how to reopen the scar in time and one month to make all the arrangements. After all, she would need money, even in the past. She would need to survive, as long as she could, in order to ensure a better future.

 Enough. Now.

 Bevin stepped forward into the fissure. She thought about the Doctor momentarily, but only. At that moment, a line of poetry she had once heard jumped into her thoughts.

 "I looked it right between the eyes, and said good-bye."

 And she went down in it.
 
 

That's it.

 ******

 A few things:

 Chapter 12 Title: taken from "D'You Know What I Mean?" by Oasis.
Epilogue 1 Title: the title of the last good Wire album.
Epilogue 2 Title: actual Jon Blum quote, shamelessly copied from
Kate Orman's site, in an article about the writing of SET PIECE.
(http://www.ocs.mq.edu.au:80/~korman/drwhoetc/details.html)
The final words are paraphrased from "Down In It" by Nine Inch Nails.
So there.
 

See you all in IA#8. Or something.