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"Outside?" said Jason, looking confused again, "There... there is no outside."

"Then how can your friend be the best musician in all the land?" said the Doctor, frowning, "This house is hardly a land!"

"House? It's not... You see it goes on for... I..." Jason's eyes had glazed over. The Doctor could tell that he was not going to get any more helpful information out of him.

"Where are the others?" he asked, turning to Sephy.

"I don't know. That receptionist got me just after you vanished... They could be anywhere."

"Marvellous! Well gentlemen, I bid you good-day..." he gave a little mock bow and turned from others, Sephy following. Jason looked a little sheepish (and this wasn't just cos he was wearing a fleece).

"Sir! Wait, please!" he and the musician caught up with the Doctor, "You helped us capture the sacred golden fleece. We are indebted to you. Please let us help."

"Help with what? This is a holiday resort. All we have to do is get out."

There was a howl in the distance.

"On second thought..." he continued, not missing a beat, "...I think it might be nice to have some company."

((Thanks! And I see you've lost the pyjamas... cry Change is so hard... But you're avatar looks very funky.))

"Wait a second..." said the Doctor, rummaging around in his pockets. Sephy had remained rooted to the spot. She didn't want to lose the others in the darkness.
"Here..." she felt something pressed into her hand, "...it's a piece of string, tie it to your belt."

She pulled a couple of feet of string towards her and began tying. She gave a few experimental steps forward and heard the noise of something whirring quickly round as the string extended.

"Hey! Don't unravel it all! I only have one reel!"

"Why are you carrying this much string around with you?"

"String's always useful..."
There was the sound of more string being pulled out and then a 'click'.
"That should be enough..."

Although she couldn't see anything she could hear him walking away from her - until the string tugged on her belt and he was pulled up short.
"How far away am I?" came a voice from the darkness.

"How can I tell?" she snapped.

"Use your ears girl! What would you guess?"

"A fair distance... Enough for you to sound a little faint. Look, does it really matter? We're probably going to find another doorway soon and it'll be light again..."

"Another door?" suddenly his voice was near again, only a couple of meters away perhaps, it was very disorientating, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know how you got into that house Doctor but I came this way and found a door."

"Fascinating..." he sounded a little distracted.

"Got an idea forming Doctor?"

"Hmm... maybe..." There was a rustle of jacket on shirt and Sephy guessed he'd probably shrugged, "Anyway, let's get out of here shall we. Which way do you want to go?"

"Doctor, I can hardly point..."

"True. You start walking then and when I feel the tug on the string I'll follow."

"Like walking a dog?"

He coughed angrily.
"I'll thank you not to compare me to a canine of any variety. Now get going!"

Sephy grinned as she walked off. She could feel Sabbalom purring on her shoulders. Could that be an amused purr? After a little while she felt the string tighten for a moment and then there was the sound of the Doctor running to catch up. She hoped that he was gathering up the string as he went or it would get all tangled up. Why had he bothered leaving them so much space to move anyway?

"Doctor, maybe you should shorten that a little bit..."

He seemed to be out-of-breath. It took him a few seconds to answer.
"No I'm fine. It means if one of us gets caught by something horrible it gives the other a chance to get some distance between themselves and the attacker."

"It gives them a chance to run away?"

"Not at all!"

"But, if they needed to, for whatever reason, they would have plenty of time to - just for instance - untie the string and leave the other one to get eaten?"

"Sephy, you're an assassin. Haven't you learnt the knack of self-preservation yet?"

"Oh yeah. I've learnt it pretty well. That's why I've got my dagger here, just in case I need to sever any string in a hurry!"

"Exactly. I'm just giving myself the same courtesy."

"You'd better be winding me up Doctor..."

***

Rika closed her eyes and walked blindly through what she could only describe as a mass of multi-coloured cotton-wool. She had her hands out ahead of her, tearing out a path in the strange, slightly cold substance that made her skin tingle as she touched it.

"You still there Marcus?" she said, after a few meters of digging.

"Yes..." he was sounding queasy again, "Just what sort of a holiday resort is this? I certainly don't call it enjoyable. Not in the least."

"Just keep a good hold of my cardigan, I'm sure we'll be out of this soon."

Actually she wasn't sure at all. After the pool had sucked them in all she'd seen was this swirling mass of coloured light that had engulfed them and then, just as suddenly as it had taken them, it had spat them out through the bottom of the whirlpool and into what looked like an endless white room. She could only tell it was a room because as they fell they could see these faint grey lines where the white walls joined the white ceiling. Whether it was a room or not it was certainly huge. Vast. Like the room of a giant.

And then below them there had been a sea of this cotton wool substance. They'd plunged into it, only stopping a few meters from the bottom where the cotton finally slowed their fall and they sunk gently to the ground. Since then they'd been walking. Rika had to admit that once the joy of being able to leap into the clouds of colourful cotton and float like a feather to the ground had worn off it had become quite boring.

"Perhaps we can call that receptionist back?" said Marcus, sounding more hopeful than he probably was.

"Maybe. Want to try?"

"I... I dunno what we should say. I don't know that it's even called a receptionist."

"We can try..." she took a breath, "On the count of three. One... two... three! Receptionist! Receptionist!"

"Receptionist! OI! RECEPTIONIST! WE WANT SERVICE!"

"RECEPTIONIST!"

"RECEPTIONIST! RECEPTIONIST!"

After five minutes of shouting, Rika eventually stopped to catch her breath. Then a thought struck her.
"Hey Marcus, I'm not sure this will work."

"Oh?"

"Well you see... that receptionist didn't actually have any ears..."

A gloomy silence descended on the pair - but it didn't last long. Three steps forward and Rika suddenly found herself tumbling into a clearing. Marcus followed her with a surprised shout.

"A clearing!" said Rika, looking round at the odd, empty circle cut out of the mass of colourful cotton.

"A Dalek..." said Marcus, pointing. Sure enough, the Dalek they had found earlier was sitting in the middle of the clearing. Beside it a small campfire was burning, which Rika thought was a little odd. Where had it found the wood? And how had it set the fire with that silly little sucker thing?

The Dalek's eyestalk rose up as the two humans approached. The lens expanded and contracted, as if studying them.

"HUMANS."
It was more a statement than a question.
"YOU ARE FRIENDS OF THE DOC-TOR."

"Err yeah..." said Rika. She had no idea what sort of creature this Dalek was, but the Doctor had seemed pretty worried about it. And they were no longer in the safety of the pink zone.

"CUP OF TEA?"

"What?"

"TEA. LIQUID. REFRESHMENT. THIS CREATURE OFFERS TEA."

"Creature?"
Rika looked round the bulk of the Dalek to where a tiny, gnome-like creature was sat, happily cleaning out a kettle. It caught her staring at it and gave her a wide grin.

"Tea?" it said, happily.

"Don't mind if I do..." said Marcus, settling himself down by the fire.

"First hug?" said the Doctor, surprise replacing sadness, "You've never hugged anyone before?"

There was a slightly awkward, slightly angry silence.

"Never? Really?"

"No need to rub it in..."

"What about friends? Family?"

"What about them?"

"No... I suppose you wouldn't have had them..."

"I suppose I wouldn't have. Look, I tell you what, I won't ask about Rose if you don't ask about my lack of hugs. Alright?"

There was a long and thoughtful pause from the Doctor.
"It started back on Earth..."

Sephy gave a sigh. She had asked - but was it worth hearing now that it meant she had to be honest too?

"...well I say Earth," continued the Doctor, sighing, "But really it started in the TARDIS. We'd just landed you see, to go and visit Jackie again. That was her mum. I was... a little grouchy. I was sick of heading back down to London every time she felt homesick. I guess I was a little jealous actually, since I couldn't head back home myself."
There was another pause and the sniff of held back tears.
"I probably said something less than complimentary about her hometown and it's inhabitants and she said something else about snooty Timelords and it went on a bit until she stormed out of the TARDIS promising not to come back. Which I wasn't that bothered about. Not at first anyway. She had the new phone I'd rigged up... I figured she'd call back in a day or so, begging to be picked up. So I headed off to tour round France. Well, it was something to do. And then it all got so much worse..."

***

Rika sat cross-legged by the fire, her hands wrapped round a warm mug of tea - which turned out to be some sort of fruit tea, though she couldn't tell which fruit. She also still couldn't work out where the mug and kettle and fire-wood had all come from. There was nothing in the clearing except them, the Dalek and the little goblin creature. Perhaps it had brought them here... but why?

Although they hadn't realised it at first, Marcus and Rika had automatically sat themselves as far away from the Dalek as was possible without leaving the light of the fire. The light was important as the clearing and the blank white sky above were both starting to get dark. Which was odd, as there was no sun and they seemed to be indoors. Of course they had also fallen through a swirling whirlpool to get here and had their tea served to them by a goblin so really it wasn't that much of a surprise.

Rika stared at the little creature, curled up next to the kettle that was nearly taller than it was. It had one hand tucked into the handle of it's own mug of tea and the other hugged the kettle. Occasionally it would sip the tea and grin at them.

"What's your name?" asked Rika, nodding towards it.

"More tea?" it said, holding up the kettle with surprising strength.

"No no..." said Rika, "No thank you. I want to know your name..."

"More tea?"

"Never mind..."

"And what are you doing here?" asked Marcus, glaring at the Dalek.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. OUR SHIP CRASHED IN THE VORTEX. OUR TROUPE WAS DESTROYED. I WAS NOT. I LANDED HERE."

"You landed here? How?"

"UNKNOWN. ATTEMPTS TO... COMMUNICATE WITH LOCALS FAILED. THEY HAVE USED SOME FORM OF HOLOGRAM TO TRAP ME HERE."

"Communicate? You mean exterminate don't you?"

Rika looked at him.
"What do you mean Marcus?"

"I haven't met a Dalek before - but I've travelled. A lot of the colonies speak of Daleks and how they take over whole planets and zap those that get in their way. With those..."

He pointed to the gun on the front of the Dalek. It gave an almost nervous twitch, making the two humans jump.

"DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY," said the Dalek, focusing it's eyepiece on Marcus, "IT IS OUR WAY."

Rika stared at the odd metal creature.
"But... you can't here? Is that it? You're stuck?"

"THERE IS NO LOGIC TO THIS LANDSCAPE."

"It's a holiday resort. I think it's supposed to be like this."

"THERE IS NO LOGIC. WHAT IS A HOLIDAY?"

"Um... never mind. What are you going to do now?"

"YOU MUST HELP ME TO ESCAPE."

Marcus laughed.
"Why should we do that?"

"I CAN HELP YOU. I CAN HELP THE DOC-TOR."

"How?"
It didn't answer. Rika suspected it was lying... but then again...
"I'm sorry," she said, thinking about it, "But we don't know how to get out of this place either."

"And we don't trust you!" snapped Marcus.

"I CAN HELP YOU."

"How?"

"SOON IT WILL BE DARK."

Rika sighed.
"That's not an answer..."
But the Dalek was right, it was getting very dark. Though not pitch black, it was more like a soft, deep blue covering everything. She looked up. Golden stars twinkled above them. It was very pretty.

There was an ear-piercing screech from the forest of cotton wool. Then another.

"What was that?" Marcus said. Both he and Rika had leapt to their feet.

"I CAN HELP YOU."

Rika couldn't be sure but she thought it sounded a little smug. What did it know?

There was another screech, louder now. And then a dark shape burst out of the wall of wool, it's huge sillohuette filling the air above her. Red eyes glinted as they scanned the ground below and then suddenly it flattened it's wings, diving straight towards her...

((If you dont' mind, I'm going to make Sabbalom talk. Actually talk. It's quite irritating to have a character which can't talk..Sensei..Sephy was raised by Japanese people? That reminds me of the Otori Clan Trilogy..))

Sabbalom purred softly.
"Well, I suppose it wasn't that bad.." Sephy muttered to the caat. Then she froze. "Wait..how come I heard words then, not mews, or purrs or whatever a caat makes?"
The Doctor yawned, for some unknown reason. Well..he had been awake for a long, long time.. "The TARDIS. Translates alien languages inside your head. It did for Rose, anyway, before..you know. Haven't exactly had a companion since, or anyone to travel with either, for that matter.. I suppose..you lot might count.."
Get some sleep. The caat suggested. You might aw well, who knows how long we're going to be here.

((Speaking of which, where exactly is *here*??))

((Yep. I can picture that. My my..we do have some sort of attraction to weapons..you with the staff..and then us with the saber.. Whatever should we try next? blaugh ))

Sabbalom paced around Sephy. It was amazing how he could find his way in the dark ((I'm assuming it's dark?)), but then again, cats were good at it, so why shouldn't a caat be?
Well, no use both of us staying awake. Can you see in the dark?
Sephy glared. "I'm an assasin."
And I'm a caat.What difference does it make? Can you or can't you?
"Of course I can!"
Then keep an eye out. Both if you can manage it.

Sabbalom lept lightly onto the Doctor, curled around his neck and promptly fell asleep. "G'night then, Rose..." the Doctor muttered sleepily.
Sephy looked at him, startled.
"Poor man.." she whispered.

"...but it's just where she got me with a needle. It's not important."

"Not important!" snapped Sephy, "She's a mad scientist! She experiments with monsters and crazy human girls! She could have injected you with anything!"

"It was probably just a sedative or something..."

"Probably! Didn't you watch?"

"I don't really remember..."

You are not well... said Sabbalom, stroking his head against the Doctor's knee, We must get you back to the TARDIS...

"I'm fine!" snapped the Doctor, rubbing the scratch on his neck angrily, "It's those other two pests I'm worried about! If we're stuck in the middle of an endless expanse of nothingness I dread to think what they've got themselves into..."

***

Rika took in a breath, ready for the blow to strike.

There was a 'zap!' and the creature shrieked, smoke rising from it's chest as it was knocked sideways. The Dalek fired it's gun for a second time, blasting it to the ground.

"YOU MUST REMAIN WHOLE!" snapped the Dalek, beckoning with it's plunger for them to get behind it, "YOU MUST HELP ME TO ESCAPE!"

Marcus and Rika scuttled behind the robot as it fought off the strange attackers. They flew at it from every side but it didn't seem to care. Rika suddenly realised why the Doctor had been so afraid of the Dalek and it's gun - it massacred them. Or it would have done, she thought, if those creatures were real...

As they hit the ground the strange, winged, gargoyle-like creatures dissipated like smoke. As one went down another tore it's way out of the mass of cotton and flew at them. After a dozen or so had been zapped, the attack stopped. The 'forest' fell silent. Rika let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you..." she said, patting the Dalek on the side.

"I DO NOT NEED THANKS," The Dalek said, spinning round and pointing it's gun towards them, "I NEED TO ESCAPE FROM THIS PLAN-ET!"

Rika and Marcus eyed the gun nervously.

"I COULD KILL YOU BOTH NOW," continued the Dalek, as if reading their minds.

"Then why don't you?" asked Rika, taking a step back.

"BECAUSE I CANNOT ESCAPE BY MYSELF. I DO NOT KNOW HOW. HUMANS MAY KNOW HOW." It let out a strange electronic noise - Rika thought that it almost sounded like a sigh - as it swivelled it's gun from one human to another.
"I CANNOT EVEN KILL ONE OF YOU. I DO NOT KNOW HOW USEFUL YOU ARE. I CANNOT UNDERSTAND THIS WORLD."

As far as a metal robot voice could sound like anything, this one sounded scared. Scared and... tired. Just how long had it been stuck here?

Rika started to feel edgy. It was nothing to do with the gun or the monsters. It was to do with the thought that if a creature as powerful as this Dalek-thing could get trapped in this place for so long, she and Marcus - not to mention the Doctor and the others - might be trapped there for years. Or worse: forever.

"We'll help you," she said, coming to a decision, "But not because you're threatening us. We just want to get out of here too."

The Dalek seemed to think this over. After a long pause it lowered it's gun.
"AGREED."

"We'd better go then..." said Rika, looking at the inky blue darkness and the expanse of wool like a huge black wall around them.
"Which way?"

"UP."

"Up? But how? We can't climb this wool stuff, it's too soft..."

"HOLD ONTO ME..."

"Be careful Rika..." hissed Marcus, glaring at the Dalek as she moved towards it, "You can't trust it..."

Taking a breath, Rika reached out, stretching her arms around the Dalek and lifting her feet onto the narrow ridge of metal formed by it's lower casing. There was a strange rumbling sensation from inside the Dalek's armor and a burst of heat somewhere near her feet - and then she felt herself being lifted up.

"You're flying!" she said, laughing as she looked down and saw the ground being left behind.

"I AM HOVERING. THE OTHER HUMAN MUST COME TOO."

"Come on Marcus!" she said as the Dalek lowered itself down again, "Hop on!"

"Just a second..." he knelt down and held out a hand towards the little imp, creature that had been watching the show with interest from his perch on top of the teapot.
"Are you coming?" asked Marcus.

"More tea?"

"It's alright. Don't be scared."

It didn't look scared. It still wore the same daft grin as it had when they first met it. But it did seem to understand him as it leapt onto his arm and scrambled up onto his shoulder.

"All set..." said Marcus, stepping up onto the Dalek, "I don't suppose there are any seat-belts..."

"DO NOT LET GO."

As Marcus took a firm grip around it's head the Dalek rose up again, this time going right above the level of the wool. The two humans gasped at the magnificent view. It seemed to stretch on for miles and miles. A sea of wool under an ocean of stars...

"Over there!" said Rika, pointing, "There's some sort of light! Looks like it might be a doorway!"

Sure enough, a half-mile or so away there was a white light, odd against the dark blue and gold sky. It was in the shape of an archway.

"Head for that..." she said, directing the Dalek, "It's sure to be a way out..."

The TARDIS itself was having a rather uncomfortable time. Stuck outside in the pink nothingness she couldn't quite get a grasp on her surroundings. The formless, harmless colour kept shifting and changing. None of her scanners would lock on or tell her anything. And the Doctor and the others had been away for a long time. Last time she'd had to dive in and rescue him - sensing in his thoughts that he was in terrible danger. This time she could hear nothing. It took an awful lot of energy to drive herself - she didn't want to go searching for him only to find that he was fine.

And yet something wasn't right. The place they were in didn't seem real. And if it was - why did it keep shifting? And why did it make her circuits go funny? What substance was it made of? Who had put it together?

She couldn't sense life signs. She couldn't sense anything. And she had the uncomfortable feeling that they were very, very lost.