Jespake looked down at the field of golden wheat. It would be another bumper harvest this year. The people would have plenty to last the whole year. They might even have enough to trade with the nearby villages for cows and sheep. On the horizon a cloud was building, it looked like a large thunderhead. He prayed to the gods that it would not hail and damage the harvest. Then he saw it was not a cloud at all but a mass of insects. Jespake fell to his knees; the thin fabric of his robe tore open on the sharper stones cutting his knees. “What great curse is this?” He wailed, holding his arms outstretched. When the plague fell upon the crops he turned his back, not wishing to see the destruction through his already tear-filled eyes.


Hannah woke up, something was wrong. Then in the distance there was the chiming of the Cloister bell. Sitting up, she almost sent Lucky cascading to the floor but he woke up in time and scampered into her arms. She kissed his nose and said sorry before getting out of bed and looking for the light switch. She hopped around on one foot as she tried to force her tired leg into her black Lycra pants leg. Finally dressed she rushed barefoot down the various corridors to the Console room. She found the Doctor, her strange and kooky friend, already there, checking over the TARDIS systems. The console room was dimply lit; the usually quite bright room was bathed in a dark red light that came from the roundels in five of the walls. The other wall was given over to a massive view screen, which flickered with static. “What’s going on?” She asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and stifling a yawn.
The Doctor looked up from her frantic activity. “TARDIS systems are failing one by one, we’ve lost all but emergency power and life support.” She returned to her activities.
Hannah looked at several of the displays. “Can’t we do something? There’s a planet nearby, at least we can land there and hope they have what we need. What do we need anyway?”
The Doctor didn’t dare to divert her attention from the bank of instruments. “Fuel, we need fuel.”
Hannah remembered this from the TARDIS manuals. “Zyton ore, very rare.” She checked the mineral scanner on the nearby planet. “Hey this planet has Zyton Sulphate.”
“What?” The Doctor abandoned the readings and hurried around to the other side of the mushroom shaped console. “You’re right, it’s just a simple chemical reaction to convert Zyton Sulphate into what we need.” The Doctor looked at Hannah for a second before shaking her head and moving over to the landing controls. “Hold on to something, this could get rough.” The Doctor started the landing procedures.
Hannah held onto the Doctor as the console room thrashed about violently. “I’ll never be cruel to a food processor again,” she muttered as her vision blurred and her head throbbed. Then as suddenly as it started the shaking stopped.
“You can let go of me now.” The Doctor reassured Hannah.
“Are you sure?” Hannah asked.
“Yes.”
“Final answer?”
The TARDIS landing chime sounded. “We’ve landed.” The Doctor confirmed.
Hannah examined the readings on the planet outside. “It looks normal to me. Will we go and have a look around outside?”
The Doctor operated the door control. “Yes, I don’t see why not. A breath of fresh air will do us the power of good. You won’t need your jacket, it’s quite warm.” The Doctor had her own jacket folded over her forearm, just in case she needed anything from her pockets.
Hannah pulled a pair of flip-flops on to protect her feet from the sharp stones. “Hey it is pretty warm, feels like a warm spring day back in Miami.”


Jespake comforted Yuri’s widow. She had kept on the farm after his death, making a go of running it herself. For the first time in three years it looked as if she would have made some profit until the insects had devastated her bumper harvest too. Looking up he saw two strangers over by the market place. What are they doing here? He wondered to himself. Focusing his tired eyes on them he saw that they were female. Very curious indeed. He left the widow to her tears and headed over to the strangers. “Can I help you at all?” He asked them, studying their reactions.
“My friend and I were out for a stroll and we came across you pleasant little village.” The Doctor extended a hand, which was shaken. “I must say that it’s very peaceful here, very relaxing after the morning we had. Our ship got into difficulties, we’ve run out of fuel you see.”
“Hi, there isn’t a Texaco around here is there?” Hannah joked. “Anywhere with unleaded Zyton will do, we have to save the environment you know.”
“Your words are strange but I understand your meaning.”
The Doctor clarified what they were after. “We’re after a greyish blue rock, it may have veins of yellow in its structure.”
“What do you want that for?” Jespake wondered? “It’s a useless rock.”
“I wouldn’t mind some.” The Doctor said to herself.
“Where can we find some, we would like some to make a rockery for our garden.”
“You’re standing on it. Brush the dirt away girl and you can see it for yourself.” Jespake turned to leave as Hannah brushed away the dried soil with her hands.
“There must be fifty tons of it.” Hannah exclaimed to the Doctor.
“Yes, unfortunately I think we need tools and equipment to break it into pieces. I wonder if there’s someone near here with any of that hmmm?” The Doctor looked around again.


Parragar dipped the metal slowly into the water, quenching the metal and tempering it. He took it out and dipped it a second time until the metal was cool to the touch. He was about to fit the shovel blade to its handle when there was a knock at the door. He looked up to see two people walking into his forge.
“Sorry to interrupt you, I’m the Doctor and this is my best friend Hannah.” The Doctor looked around the workshop. “Yes this is perfect. We need a few tools you see and as we’re visitors we don’t have any. We have money, we can pay you to make us some tools.”
Hannah looked at the array of picks, ploughs and rakes. “How much for this?” She asked hefting a pickaxe. “It looks like it can do the job well enough.”
“Ain’t for sale. That’s for Grond, he still owes me a basket of corn for it.”
“Well do you have any tools for sale?” The Doctor asked. “We are in a bit of a hurry.”
Parragar looked at the fair-haired woman. She was standing right next to the forge and she hadn’t broke out into a sweat! The other one was barely showing signs of being warm. “Who are you?”
“I am the Doctor.” The Doctor announced, striking a pose. “I did say earlier.”
“You don’t look like a bone cutter to me.”
“I’m not that sort of Doctor, I’m more of a generalist really.”
“She specialises in everything.” Hannah informed the blacksmith seriously. “If you have a problem and no one else can help we’re the people you need.”
“Can you cure a plague of insects?” The balding blacksmith spat.
“Tell em more.” The Doctor smiled. “Maybe we can help each other out…”


Hannah wandered outside as the Doctor and the Blacksmith talked. She was bored, very bored. It seemed as if there was nothing to do anymore, she looked up at the bluey green sky and sighed. What she wouldn’t give to be back among the peaceful cloisters of Gallifrey. She had been happy there, for a while. She could appreciate their relaxed attitude to life. Why rush around when you had centuries? The Doctor seemed to live life slightly faster than the speed of light which although exciting tended to become samey after a while. All they ever did was explore corridors and gravel quarries, there had to be more to life than being menaced by power mad dominatrix interested more in her body than herself as a person. She let out a heavy breath and returned her gaze to the horizon. There was a storm cloud coming, a dark purpley grey. She looked again and she saw that the cloud was made up of millions of tiny creatures, insects. Not just insects though, they were made of metal! She ran inside the forge and dragged the Doctor out. “Look at it” she yelled “millions upon millions of robot insects.”
The Doctor took a quick look at it for a second. “You’re right Hannah, why robot insects though?”
Hannah thought for a second. “Beats me? Perhaps they’re being controlled?”
The Doctor slapped her forehead. “Of course, that’s it. Someone or something is using those insects to steal your people’s crops, not destroy them.”
“Who would do a thing like that?” Hannah asked as she followed the Doctor back to the TARDIS.
“I’m not sure, but I seem to remember that we have a rather large magnet inside the TARDIS.” The Doctor fell forward suddenly, having caught her foot on an outcrop of rock. “This is Zyton Ore.” She exclaimed excitedly. “Come on Hannah fill your arms full of this, we can use this to get a trace on those insects and see where they go.”


Hannah watched as the Doctor removed a roundel from the pinky grey coloured wall. Behind it was a chute that led straight to the TARDIS’s equivalent of the gas tank. Hannah dropped the chunks of rock into the chute one by one until they were all inside. There was a curious sound that seemed almost like a burp and the chute closed up. The roundel was then replaced and the Doctor tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for power to be fed through to the TARDIS. “What do we do when we find out where these robots are coming from? We can hardly knock on their front door and ask them politely to stop.”
The Doctor paused for a second. “Have you been reading my notebook? That’s one of my favourite plans. Never works of course, but it’s terribly effective at getting us inside enemy prison cells.”
“Oh, no I haven’t. I hate prison cells. What I meant was that who ever can build such an impressive swarm of robot insects will be powerful enough to defend themselves from a lot of powerful weaponry.”
“Exactly. That’s why knocking on the door and asking them if they wouldn’t mind stopping what they’re doing is very effective at not getting us shot on sight.” The Doctor pressed a few more buttons and triple checked the readings. “Yes, I suspected as much. This planet is actually a binary system, two planets that orbit at exact opposite parts of their ecliptic. One planet cannot be seen by the other, except somehow the other planet has found a way to see this one.”
“They must be more advanced judging by those robots.”
“Yes, but in desperate need of food judging by the way they’ve resorted to such extreme methods.” The Doctor turned to Hannah and smiled. “Do you still have those gold coins you won at poker?”
Hannah nodded. “Yes, why?”
“I think we’re going to make our friend in the forge an offer he can’t refuse.”


Parragar shook his head firmly. “No, no, no” he shouted. “They belong to others.”
“We don’t want to keep them, just hire them long enough to dig up as much Zyton Ore as we can store inside my ship and then we can go and stop these insect creatures once and for all. Surely even you can see the worth in that? I’ll throw in Hannah as well, she’s good around the house and an excellent companion for your son.”
“Don’t have a son.” Parragar announced. “Got two daughters haven’t I? Both show no interest in the trade do they?”
“I’m sure Hannah will get on with them, she can teach them how to play poker, once we’ve mined some Zyton Ore of course.”
“I’m not sure. Gunno is usually too busy with Tarbin’s lad but Luci shows no interest in meeting any lads her own age at all.” Parragar handed a pick to Hannah. “It’s not right two women working the land.”
“We can manage.” Hannah replied. “How hard can it be?”


Hannah lay on her back; feeling like the world was going to end. “I can’t take it anymore, I admit it, I’m going to die over worked and alone.”
“You’ve only been at it two hours Hannah.” The Doctor announced. “Get your back into it.”
“I think I’ve put my back out.” Hannah joked. “I think the sky’s stopped spinning now.” She sat up slowly. “It has, so it must be me who is spinning.”
“We’ve almost got enough now.” The Doctor dropped a few more chunks into the wheelbarrow. “Tell you what seeing as you’re nice and rested, you can take this lot back to the TARDIS.”


Hannah tipped the heavy barrow load of rocks down onto the TARDIS floor. She inspected the fuel gauge and finding it hovering on the empty line she dropped some of the ore into the TARDIS’s interior. She felt that the TARDIS was somehow grateful and she patted the console. Now she had to go and baby sit a couple of kids, putting some proper and comfortable shoes on, instead of the flip-flops she locked the TARDIS using her own key. On the way back Hannah passed the Doctor, she took the map of the blacksmith’s house from her friend and wished her good luck.


The house was a simple two-storey affair built of adobe mud bricks finished off with a layer of limestone plaster to give it a bright white finish under the strong sunlight. Hannah knocked on the door and a gorgeous looking girl answered it. “Hi, your father sent me to keep an eye on you and your sister. Are you Gunno or Luci?”
Gunno looked at the strangely dressed woman before replying. “I am Gunno, my sister is in her room. Please come inside, I’m sure you will be able to find all you need.”
Hannah found the inside of the house to be finely furnished. There were a number of silk trappings and expensive looking paintings on the walls. Hannah found the teapot and taking some of the Doctor’s teabags out of her pocket she began to brew up a pot. One thing about the Doctor, even though she had a time machine she was never on time for anything. There was the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs and Hannah looked up to see another gorgeous young woman make an appearance. “Hi, you must be Luci. Your father asked me to keep an eye on the two of you in return for some things a friend of mine borrowed.
“So you’re the latest one?” Luci stared at the thin woman. “You’re very pretty.”
“Not the subtlest of pick up lines.” Hannah laughed.
Luci’s face went red. “Father told you?”
“He did, but I could have figured it out for myself. You’re confused, unsure of yourself. You’re attracted to other girls but you don’t know why. Does that sound accurate?”
“Yes.” Luci admitted. “How do you know? Can you read minds?”
“It’s the story of my life at your age. I think you’re learning who you are.”
“You’re the same as me?” Luci asked.
“If you mean am I gay then yes I am. If you mean do I want to make love to you then no.”
Luci looked at Hannah. “Do you not find me attractive?”
“You’re very attractive.” Hannah replied. “I’m just not looking to get involved with anyone right now which seems odd given my recent adventures. Listen to me, being attracted to a girl doesn’t mean you’re in love with her. You’ll find, as you get older and wiser you’re attracted to many people, but when you meet that right someone it’s more than just physical attraction and hormones. It’s like the air sizzles with electricity, your heart flutters and you feel so happy and giddy that it makes you hurt to be near them because you love them so much.” Hannah looked at the girl to see if she understood. “Don’t be ashamed to feel the way you do. Ok so some people may not accept us for who we are because they don’t understand or because they are afraid. As some guy on my world once said, ‘to thine own self be true’ and I think it’s pretty good advice.”
“I think I understand, but what if Father doesn’t accept me?”
“Your father loves you very much, he would want to spend as much time looking after you as he could if not for his work. He’s a good man and once he understands your feelings he’ll want only the best for you. Same with your sister. I never had a sister to share things with, although my brothers were quite supportive when I came out. To them I was some sort of precocious princess who they put up with more out of family loyalty than love. When they found out I become another one of the guys because we had something in common, the same taste in women. Later on we found out we had more things in common and Conrad asked me to be best man at his wedding so I wouldn’t be left out. Hey look at it this way, you won’t accidentally get pregnant!”
“That is true.” Luci laughed. “Several of my friends are with child already.”
Hannah finished her cup of tea and poured four more. She handed one to Luci who took it into the other room to work on one of her samplers. “You can come out now Gunno, I can see you lurking by the backdoor.”
Gunno stepped into the room. “Why do you encourage her? A woman should be with a man.”
Hannah laughed. “Sometimes nature decides otherwise. I didn’t ask to be born the way I am. It would have been easier to be the same as my friends but I’m not ashamed of myself. I hear you have a fiancé, do you love him?”
“With all of my heart.” Gunno replied.
“I’m glad you feel that love for someone. He’s very lucky to have someone as beautiful and intelligent as you. You do take precautions don’t you?”
Gunno moved her head closer to Hannah’s and started to whisper. “We haven’t made love yet, I’m saving myself until our wedding night.”
Hannah felt like a social worker. “Just remember that a marriage is an equal commitment. You have as much right to expect things as he does. Would you like a cup of tea? It’s very nice. My friend the Doctor swears by it.”
Gunno took a sip of the hot brown liquid and smiled. “It is very nice. Why do you have two cups for yourself though?”
Hannah took one cup and sipped it. “The other one’s for the Doctor, she should be here any second now.”
On cue the TARDIS materialised inside the large kitchen and the Doctor emerged, cut, bruised and bloodied.”
Hannah jumped to her feet and caught the Doctor before she collapsed. “Doctor, are you all right?” Hannah asked.
“Feel light headed. I think they broke something inside me.” The Doctor closed her eyes.
“She is dead!” Gunno exclaimed.
Hannah touched the Doctor’s forehead. It was freezing cold. “I don’t think so.” Ice began to form on the Doctor’s face as Hannah lifted the Doctor onto the large wooden table. Using the antiseptic Luci handed her Hannah dabbed at the cuts on the Doctor’s skin. Most of them were minor but two were worryingly deep. Gunno brought a blanket, which Hannah draped over the Doctor’s inert body. “Come on Doctor, you can make it. You have to make it.”
“Who is she?” Luci asked Gunno.
“I do not know.” Gunno replied.
“You don’t hate me do you? For being different?” Luci asked her big sister.
“Of course not, I could never hate my little sister. I’ll always be here for you.” Gunno hugged Luci.
Hannah poured warm water on the Doctor’s face. “Wake up Doctor.” She was almost begging now. “Please.”
“I think I’ll have that cup of tea now.” The Doctor said before opening her eyes. “Sorry for the drama but I needed to divert some blood to repair these injuries. I take it these are our two charges?”
Hannah introduced the two girls to the Doctor who fussed over them a lot, giving them chocolate and sweets.


Having finished the tea the Doctor left to settle up the account with the blacksmith. One of the shovels had been unavoidably damaged while dealing with the Gynoids and their robot animals. Meanwhile Hannah gave Luci a couple of books from her small library of self-help books and pamphlets. She also gave Gunno a book about feminism and made her promise to read it thoroughly before she next saw her beau. Finally the Doctor returned and she was back inside the TARDIS, off into the vortex to somewhere else.
“So”, the Doctor began, “how does it feel to help others?”
“Don’t you know?” Hannah asked back.
“Yes. It makes you wonder if what you said was the right thing or not.”
Hannah nodded. “Yeah, well I think I didn’t do too much damage to their history.”
The Doctor laughed. “That’s exactly what I tell myself. You were attracted to Luci weren’t you?”
“Yes.” Hannah nodded. “I didn’t want to pursue it though. I’m not ready to settle down yet. Besides looking after you and Lucky is a full time responsibility. There was something else though, a feeling as if I knew it wasn’t meant to be.”
“Luci joins a Woman’s suffragette movement and they campaign for social reforms and equal rights. I wonder where she got her inspiration from?”
Hannah smiled her sweetest smile. “I have no idea Doctor, who could have taught either of them to read English?”
The Doctor looked at Hannah briefly before returning her attention to the TARDIS controls. "Now that we've got an operational TARDIS, lets see where we end up at next."