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It had taken Alf the best part of twenty minutes, now she knew the way, to return to Waterguard Humba’s hut in the village. The sun had moved across the sky and the day was now at its hottest, so her forehead was damp with perspiration. She rapped impatiently on the door and then immediately tried the handle. Locked. ‘Humba! Humba!’ she yelled, peering through the window. The inside of the hut was shrouded in gloomy darkness. ‘Shit,’ Alf cursed, running a dirty hand through her hair. Then, as she stood with her face in her hands, she suddenly felt odd. A tingly sensation, like a dribble of ice-cold water running down her back, or, more accurately, a mild knot of electricity shimmering around her spine. It was a very low humming, impatient and excitable. She turned round slowly, and then she saw it. Sitting about ten metres away on the other side of the dust track, just in front of what looked like a run-down old doctor’s surgery, was a creature, and it was staring straight at her. It was like a giant insect, but crouched on clawed feet. Two bony wings were folded back over its scaly spine, giving it the appearance of a half-fly, half-bat. Two glowing green eyes were staring at her, and razor sharp pincers were twitching dangerously. The strange thing was, though, it didn’t seem completely… solid. It was surrounded by a blue aura and she could swear that she could faintly see through to the fence and trees behind it. Like a hologram. Perhaps that was what it was. These doubts were swept away by what happened next. A crackle of static seemed to form around the creature’s eyes, and before Alf could react, a bolt of blue energy snaked out from it and hit the building behind her. Suddenly, the abandoned surgery was gone and Alf was standing in the middle of a bare patch of ground. ‘Bloody hell,’ she breathed. The creature threw its head back and let out a chattering, high-pitched squeal. Alf did not know what it was and she did not fancy getting to know something that could remove buildings from existence with the wave of a claw. She turned on her heels and ran. ‘So let me get this straight. You want to use Nick in some kind of experiment to bring back to life some long dead animal?’ The argument had raged for a few minutes now, since the Doctor had learnt of Nick’s involvement with Cy. ‘Yes Doctor, that’s about the size of it,’ Cy replied. The Doctor was appalled. ‘I won’t allow it. Nick won’t be part of some inhuman experiment! I won’t allow him or anyone else for that matter to come to any harm. Do you hear me?’ ‘Doesn’t he have any say in this? Maybe you should ask what he wants?’ ‘Yes, well he has been conspicuous by his absence. Are you sure he’s all right?’ Cy clicked his fingers. ‘Nick!’ he called. Nick stumbled through the door. He looked pale and tired and was obviously weak on his legs. ‘’Ere who are you?’ Vera asked, ‘Not another of Cy’s chums are you?’ ‘Nick!’ the Doctor exclaimed. ‘What in blazes are you doing here?’ His expression changed to one of concern as he saw Nick’s ashen face. ‘Nick, my dear boy, are you all right? You look a bit pale.’ Nick looked up at him not quite meeting his worried gaze. ‘I’m fine.’ Cy caught his eye. ‘Are you going to tell him, Nick?’ ‘Tell me what? Nick?’ ‘Doctor it’s okay. I’m okay.’ ‘Of course you’re not okay,’ the Doctor snapped back. ‘For goodness sake, you’ve got to get him some medical help.’ ‘Ooh! My Cy wouldn’t do anything to hurt him Doctor. He’s a good boy,’ Vera said. ‘And there’s no doctors on Gidi, never ’as been. Apart from you of course Doctor!’ The Doctor looked worried. He was sure he had seen a doctor’s surgery on his wondering through the town earlier. This could be important, he thought, but first things first. He had to stop Cy’s experiments. Cy had not taken his gaze away from Nick. Nick was not sure what he should be feeling right now. Here was the Doctor in front of him, and yet he did not quite know what to say to him. It’d all seemed so easy when Alf was with him and he found himself wishing that she were here now. Cy’s presence and his continued staring made him feel, not uneasy, just somewhat confused. It was fine when they were alone. It seemed easy then to agree, but the Doctor probably would not understand. He averted his gaze onto the tall, glass-walled tank in front of them, inside of which floated a murky shape that he could not quite make out. He felt instinctively drawn to it. ‘Doctor,’ there was uncertainty in his weak voice. ‘I want to help Cy in his experiment. You could help him too.’ ‘Hmmm,’ replied the Doctor. ‘Just what would this entail? I still don’t know what this creature is you’re trying to re-animate.’ ‘Oh my dear Doctor,’ Cy said smoothly, moving to Nick’s side. ‘The Protii is more than just one creature. The…’ ‘Protii!’ The Doctor whirled round to face Vera. ‘You didn’t tell me this thing was a Protii!’ ‘Well you never asked!’ Vera retorted. ‘Anyway, what’s a Protii? Professor Endlemann told me it was a kind of rare fish!’ The Doctor’s voice dropped to a grave whisper. ‘Many years ago, the Protii broke free into our Universe from the shadow cages that had held them since the beginning of time. They were unstoppable. They bent back time to aid them and ate through worlds and civilisations until there was nothing left.’ ‘Why couldn’t they be stopped Doctor?’ Vera asked. ‘Yes, tell them why,’ Cy said coolly. ‘And then maybe you’ll have one fraction of an idea of what the means to our power is going to be.’ Alf stopped and breathed out, her hands resting on her knees as she caught her breath back. She looked up in despair – a fine time to be lost. The forest seemed to be looming over her but she had lost all comprehension of which direction the house was in. Besides which, she really had to find Humba and rescue Nick. So far, he was the only person she knew she could trust. What was the creature that seemed to be able to disintegrate solid buildings almost by thought? She hoped she was not going to run into it again. She decided the best thing to do would be to resume her original plan of finding Humba. Unwillingly, she moved back towards the town, the clouds darkening overhead as an early evening set in.
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