The Doctor, Romana and K9 made their way forward through the vast ship, their footsteps and K9's wheels echoing along the endless, dark passages. It had "Eden Project" written all over it. There was gravity, but it was very cold. This didn't bother them – as Time Lords, their bodies could withstand an incredible extreme of temperatures for short periods. Their breath hung in the air. After a few minutes, they found the bridge.

The Doctor and Romana sat in the two forward pilots' chairs.

"K9, see if there's anything wrong with the ship," Romana ordered.

"Affirmative, mistress." K9's forward antenna stretched out and made contact with a terminal, while the Doctor accessed the main databank to find history and key personnel.

"When everyone's in stasis," he said, "the medical officer is usually the first to be revived. According to the registry, that would be Dr. Vasquez. Cold sleep chamber number one."

"Makes sense," Romana said.

"K9, have you found anything yet?" the Doctor asked.

K9 did not answer immediately. A stream of soft, high-pitched noises came from him as he spoke with the ship's computer. Then his antenna retracted.

"There are two separate problems with the ship, master," K9 said. "The first is that it is off course by a minute amount. The second is that the scheduled revival has been canceled."

"What?" Romana gasped.

"Canceled?" the Doctor asked. "You mean deliberately?"

"Affirmative. The order was specific."

"Who gave the order?" the Doctor asked.

"That information is not available."

"It might have been for medical reasons," Romana said. "Perhaps there's a plague on board, and they're awaiting rendezvous with a medical ship, and everyone's in stasis to keep them alive."

"Negative, mistress. A considerable number of people on board are sick, mostly children. But that was not the reason for the cancellation."

The two Time Lords looked at each other.

"Sabotage," Romana said grimly.

The Doctor stood up. "All right, Romana. The history of Eden Project indicates that there is an advance group already on the third planet, called G889. You get in touch with them. I'm going to revive Dr. Vasquez and the pilot. Come on, K9!"

And the Doctor was gone, his long scarf whipping after him. As K9 trundled out, trying to keep up, Romana turned to the radio. It had a visual feed, which gave nothing but static at first.

"Eden colony ship to Eden Advance," she called. "Is anyone receiving? Over."

 

Devon and Danziger both just about leaped off the bench. Devon's tea went in Danziger's lap, and he yelped in pain. She didn't pay attention; she was already madly activating the receiver.

"Hello?" she called. On the vidscreen in front of her appeared a blonde woman. One she had never seen before in her life.

"Hello?" the woman called back. She smiled, and spoke in a British accent. "Am I speaking to Eden Advance?"

"Uh, well, uh – yes! Yes, you are," Devon replied. "Who are you?"

"My name is Romanadvoratrelundar. But you can call me Romana." She smiled. "What's your name?"

"Devon," she answered slowly. "I'm Devon Adair. This is John Danziger. What's going on?" She was incredulous. "Are you on our colony ship?"

Danziger pulled his gear on. "Julia, get in here!" he said urgently. "Morgan, too! We made contact with the colony ship!"

Romana answered, "We're explorers, and we come in peace. We found your ship drifting in space. It's off course, and everyone's still in cryogenic suspension. We suspect something has gone wrong, but we're trying to correct the problem."

Devon was trying to take all this in. "'We?' Who's 'we?'"

"Oh, just myself and my companions, the Doctor and K9."

"The Doctor?" Devon and Danziger exclaimed in unison.

"That's right," Romana said. "Do you know him?"

"Uh, well – yes, we know him!" Devon replied, smiling. "We met him about a year ago!"

Instead of being excited, Romana's face crumpled in worry. "Did you, indeed?" She paused. "Could you tell me what he looked like?"

Devon just blinked at her. "Beg pardon?" she asked.

"What did the Doctor look like?" Romana asked. "Was he a big man with outrageously curly hair, wear a hat and a tremendously long scarf?"

"No," Devon shook her head. "No, the gentleman we met was tall, thin, and dressed in a long brown coat. Like he stepped out of an old western, actually. Why, is something wrong?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Romana replied. "Could you excuse me one moment?"

And with that the communication was cut.

Devon and Danziger stared at each other in confusion.

The door opened and almost everyone piled inside, breathless, excited, and all talking at once.

"Dad, is it really them?"

"Are they here?"

"What happened?"

"What's going on?"

Devon and Danziger slowly turned. "We don't know," Danziger replied.

 

Romana found the Doctor inspecting the controls to cryo-sleep chamber number one, with K9 assisting.

"Doctor," she said. "I've gotten through to the advance colonists. But there's something I must ask you, as one Time Lord to another."

Without looking up, he muttered, "Technically speaking, you're a Time Lady, not a Time Lord."

"Affirmative," K9 agreed.

"Oh, hush, K9, there's a good boy. Doctor, don't argue grammar with me. Will you please give me a brief description of your past selves?"

The Doctor's eyes grew wide and he looked up. For a second, Romana thought he might challenge her on that. But her manner told him to take the question seriously.

"Well," he stood up. "The past isn't something I dwell on. But if you must know, before I regenerated, I was tall, thin, with white hair, and I had a ridiculous liking for velvet smoking jackets and frill-fronted shirts."

His face showed a slight grimace at the memory.

"Before that, I was short, with dark hair, and I wore a long frock coat and checked trousers. And a bow tie, I believe..."

His voice trailed off as he tried to recall what his former incarnations looked like. He rarely thought about them. When he did, it was almost like thinking of someone else, not himself.

"And before that?"

"Hmm? Oh, before that...well, before that, I had never regenerated before. That was the body I was born with. Most of the time I believe my hair was white, and I carried a cane." He remembered something else. "And I was terribly rude a lot of the time. Which reminds me – I really must get around to visiting Ian and Barbara someday, see how they're getting on. I finally got them back, you know."

"Yes, I daresay. At least you've learned to steer the TARDIS properly since then."

"There's never been anything wrong with my steering!" he shouted.

"Believe as you wish. Thanks for the information."

"Should I ask?"

"No."

The Doctor nodded as he watched her stride back to the bridge. "As one Time Lord to another," he muttered.

 

Julia and Alonzo had almost made it back to the colony when they heard Danziger's call.

"Julia, get in here! Morgan, too! We made contact with the colony ship!"

They looked at each other for a split second, then sprinted the last several hundred yards to the hut, ignoring their injuries. When they burst in, they saw that everyone else was already there.

Devon turned. "There you are- Oh, my God! What happened?"

Julia and Alonzo were a mess.

They stood there guiltily, and glanced at each other. Then Julia said awkwardly, "We...found another spider warp...tunnel...thingy." She cleared her throat. "We took it."

"You what?" Devon exploded. "Without telling anyone what you were doing? Are you out of your mind?"

"We wanted to see where the tunnel went before we told anyone about it," Alonzo said, trying to take a little of the heat off Julia.

"What happened?" Magus asked. "Where did it go?"

"This tunnel went somewhere very far away – to either the north pole or the south pole, we don't know which." Julia said this as the others made room for them on a bench. They sat down gratefully. "It was well below freezing at the other end, and the only clothes we had on is what you see. The drop in temperature was so sudden, and was so extreme, anyone with a weak metabolism might have died from the shock. If we had remained there for five minutes, we would have frozen to death."

"The cold didn't do this," Denner said, dabbing at the congealed blood on their faces.

"No," Alonzo said. "The wolves did this."

"Wolves?" everyone gasped.

"Yeah. Even though we were freezing, Julia insisted on staying just long enough to collect a couple of spiders for study."

Julia pulled out a small, glass jar. Everyone crowded around. Inside were three spiders, milky white to transparent.

"They're like crystals!" True exclaimed. "They're ice-spiders!"

"While we were collecting them, these wolves jumped us from behind," Alonzo said. "The only reason we're alive is because a spider-burst caught us and brought us back."

"Weren't the wolves brought back with you?" Yale asked.

"No," Julia shook her head. "They were right in the middle of it just like we were, but only we returned. It was like the wolves were immune to it, somehow."

The gear channel beeped again, and Romana was back.

"Hello, are you still there?" Romana asked.

"We're here," Devon turned back around. "What's going on?"

"The Doctor is reviving Dr. Vasquez," Romana said with a smile. "And then we'll bring up the pilot. But listen – there's something very important I need to explain to you. When you met the Doctor before, did he tell you he was a time traveler?"

Devon glanced at Danziger. Apprehensively, she answered, "Yes."

"Ah. Did he tell you about the phenomenon of regeneration?"

She shook her head.

"All right. Listen carefully. When we Time Lords are mortally wounded, or our bodies wear out because of old age, we undergo a complete cellular regeneration. When this happens, our appearances change. So do our personalities, to a varying degree. So the Doctor is going to look differently from what you remember."

Devon just shrugged. "All right. Why is that important?"

"Well, in and of itself, it isn't important. This is: the Doctor who is my companion, currently reviving Dr. Vasquez, has never met you before."

"What?" Danziger asked.

"Whichever of the Doctor's regenerations you met," Romana explained, "is a future one. As far as my Doctor is concerned, your first meeting hasn't happened yet."

Devon let her face fall into her hands. "He told me about this," she said. "He said he knew who we were, because he'd met us before in his own personal past."

Romana's face brightened. "Oh, good! So you were expecting this to happen someday. Now, he didn't tell you anything about your own personal future, did he?"

"No. He refused."

"Good. That's as it should be. Now, the whole point I'm building up to is: you must do the same! When you speak with the Doctor, it is vital that you tell him absolutely nothing about what happened the first time you met him. In fact, it would be a lot easier if you just pretend you've never met him at all."

Danziger was also rubbing his face tiredly. "I suppose it wouldn't be acceptable to maybe tell him about the ZED so he can be better equipped to deal with it when he gets there?"

Romana was shocked. "Absolutely not, Mr. Danziger! That is strictly forbidden! And with good reason, too!"

He sighed. "Figured something like that. Does this mean we have to introduce ourselves all over again?"

"'Fraid so!" She smiled. Romana was really enjoying herself here.

Devon wondered if all Time Lords were like her and the Doctor. She sighed, also. "The Doctor drops in on us, and within five minutes, I again feel like he has turned everything topsy-turvy!"

Romana beamed. "You have met him before!"

 

Clebadee burst into the central chamber, his eyes wild. Several others scattered from him, alarmed.

Clebadee looked around madly for Elder Zilin. He found him talking in a corner with Elder Darlo.

"Elders!" he cried, falling on his knees in front of them. "The Gods! I have seen the Gods fall from the sky! They chased me!"

The two elders looked down at Clebadee, then at each other, then back to Clebadee.

"Could you perhaps be a bit more specific, young Clebadee?" Darlo asked.

The young Terrian was shaking. It had hardly ever been his place to speak with the elders.

"They appeared out of nowhere, roaring in a blue box. They have smooth, white skin and strange clothing! I saw them! At the stream!"

There was silence in the chamber for a moment, then all the other Terrians present slowly began to murmur to each other.

Darlo took one glance at them and said loudly, "Clebadee, you young fool, why do you waste my time with these stories? Did you not learn your lesson the last time? Were the chores I assigned you not punishment enough?"

Clebadee was stunned. "Elder Darlo – I do not know what you mean-"

Darlo turned to Zilin, and spoke even more loudly to cover up Clebadee. "This one is a prankster wanting attention. Why, just yesterday he told me the water at the stream was flowing uphill! The day before that, he told me the clouds chased him around the fields, and then picked him up and flew him through the sky!" He grabbed Clebadee by the ear. "Will you accompany me, Zilin, as we deal with this troublemaker together?"

Zilin nodded his assent, and followed Darlo out of the central chamber as he dragged a protesting Clebadee. The others had turned away again in disinterest.

Once in the hallway outside, Darlo released Clebadee.

"Elder Darlo! Surely you have me confused with someone else, for I never-"

"Quiet, you fool!" Darlo snapped. "The entire tribe is terrified, ready to self-destruct, because we are all afraid the disease of Dreaming will find its way here! And what do you do? You barge in yelling about Gods falling from the sky! If I had not discredited your story on the spot, rumors would have been flying instantly, and then everyone would be telling each other, 'Clebadee has the disease!'"

Darlo thumped him on the chest. "I probably just saved your life, boy."

Clebadee was looking down, ashamed. "You are correct, Elder Darlo. I should not have panicked. I should have come to one of the elders in private with the news of what I saw. I could have caused a panic among the rest of the tribe."

"Yes, you could have," Zilin spoke up. "But you are young, so let it be a lesson to you. Discretion can be a good thing. Now, please tell us exactly what you saw."

"Ahem," came a voice behind them. They turned.

"I'm rather afraid that what he saw was me and my companions," the Doctor said, and smiled.

Behind him were Ian, Barbara and Susan, who gave an impetuous grin and waved.

 

After 24 years of cryogenic suspension, Dr. Vasquez painfully opened his eyes. His bones ached. It felt too God-awful to be a dream.

Even though his synapses were still reconnecting, all his basic knowledge and memories were at his command, and he knew instantly that something was grievously wrong.

As medical officer, he should have been the first out of cold sleep. This meant that the curly-haired face smiling down at him absolutely should not have been there.

Oh, great, he thought to himself. Our ship's been invaded.

"Good morning!" the man said in a voice so loud as to make him wince. "You're a doctor, I'm the Doctor! Time to rise and shine! Can't lay idling about all day, you have over a thousand people counting on you to shake them awake! I'd say you have a busy day- wouldn't you say he has a busy day ahead of him, K9?"

"Affirmative."

"Ha haa!" he looked back at the man on the bed.

Vasquez just groaned. He was wrong. Definitely a dream. Time to go back to beddy-bye...

"Alpha rate falling," K9 announced.

"I can see that, K9, I can see that," the Doctor said. "Now look here, Vasquez – I know it's a bit of a drag to wake up after a quarter of a century, and you're no Sleeping Beauty, I'm no Prince Charming, this isn't a castle, I'm not going to kiss you, and there'll be no happy ending unless you fight your way to consciousness like the responsible physician that you are and get up!"

Vasquez groaned and sat up, anger building within him. The Doctor grinned as he watched him stagger to a sitting position on the side of the cot.

"Alpha rising," K9 announced.

The Doctor looked down. "Thank you, K9, I had noticed."

"Master – gratitude not necessary."

"I was being sarcastic."

"Affirmative. So was I."

"Who..." Vasquez moaned softly. "Get...the hell...off our ship." His voice was barely a whisper.

The Doctor's face fell into mock sadness. "Aww, now that's no way to treat the people who probably saved you from an eternity of nothing."

"What's," he slurred, "what's going on?"

"Well, that's a very general question. Somewhere the sun is shining, space is still a vacuum, the Sontarans and the Rutans are still slugging it out in an intergalactic war, the Mars Warriors won the last World Series, the Earth's stock market is doing reasonably well, I'm the Doctor, that's K9, we're on the Eden Project colony ship, in the G8 system, you're off course, three months late, and you have a saboteur on board." He took out a bag of candy. "Here – have a jelly baby."

 

Ian was pushed into the room so violently he fell.

He immediately sprang back up and caught both Barbara and Susan in turn as they were shoved into the room. As they were standing in front of him, however, he could do nothing for the Doctor, who was shoved into the room more harshly than all the rest.

But the Doctor quickstepped forward to keep his balance, then turned. "I'll thank you not to treat us in this outrageous manner!" he barked, his cane virtually hammering the floor of the cave.

"Silence!" Darlo commanded from the doorway. Then the elder turned to two other Terrians, each of whom held vicious-looking spears.

"Guard them. Use whatever force you have to, and never – ever – speak of their existence to anyone else. They are to be kept secret, while the elders decide their fate."

The two Terrians nodded silently. With a final glare at the prisoners, Darlo left.

"How do we always get into these messes?" Susan asked glumly.

"That's a very good question," Barbara answered pointedly.

She was glaring at the Doctor.