'Jo! Jo, are you all right?'

The TARDIS was still now, and all appeared as normal except for Jo. The Doctor cradled her head. He peered beneath her eyelids. Lightly, he slapped her face several times.

Jo stirred, but only lolled back again.

'Not going to talk to me, Jo? Well, you're breathing. I suppose you'll come round.'

A little ungallantly, the Doctor propped his companion against one of the high, fluted columns that lined the walls of the TARDIS control room, at intervals between the gleaming roundels. Pondering, the Time Lord paced round the console, his velvet opera cloak swishing behind him. It wasn't just a fall that had knocked Jo cold. No, it was some power, a power strong enough to enter the TARDIS.

And force it down.

'What I want to know is, what?' the Doctor said aloud. 'Because if I can't find out, I've a feeling we're not going to be leaving here soon.'

The scanner showed a murk of midnight forest.

'There's gravity out there, that much is clear. But how far does it last? And why does it stop? I think I'd better do a little scouting around.'

Jo murmured, 'Doctor?'

But again she only lolled back.

The Doctor opened the doors, stepping out on to the strange moon. The woods were silent. Curiously he peered up at the silvery planet, hanging ominously in the night sky.

'What, no welcoming committee? Anyone there?'

He took a step forward, stumbling a little in the tangled clearing. To the side, something gleamed through a layer of vegetation.

'What's this? A spacecraft? A mini-cruiser of some kind designed for humanoids, by the looks of it. And someone's tried to hide it here. But who?'

The Doctor would have investigated further, but just then there were cries behind him, and figures burst from the woods. He reeled round, but the figures were upon him, knocking him to the ground, pinioning his limbs.

And a phaser was trained at his head.

'Well, good evening to you, too.' Bemused, the Doctor surveyed his captors. One appeared to be a princess, if a somewhat elderly one, dressed in royal robes. One, a very fat one, was a fairy in gauzy gossamer. One was a mouse, or perhaps a rat, though an enormous, tall and gangling one; and one, who looked simply absurd, was some kind of nondescript monster with an enormous, knobbly head.

The one with the phaser was draped in ivy.

'On your feet,' hissed the princess, who appeared to be the ringleader. 'And hands up.'

Dubiously, the Doctor complied. These, he could see, were hardly the most formidable captors. If it weren't for the phaser, he could have escaped easily but there were things he needed to know.

He would play along, at least for now.

'K-Keep him covered, Gubrious,' said the fairy. 'We don't know what tricks he's got up his sleeve.'

'Tricks?' said the Doctor. 'You'd like to see a trick?'

The monster nodded eagerly, but the mouse trod on his foot.

'Don't listen to him, Peterkin,' came a voice from the under the mask. 'Nora's right. Nightdreamers are devious.'

'Nightdreamers?' said the Doctor. 'I'm no Nightdreamer whatever that might be. But I was rather wondering about a chap called the Nightdreamer King, if you'd happen to -'

There were cries of alarm. Fearfully, the mouse and the monster scurried into the undergrowth.

'Come back, you cowards,' cried the princess. 'What's he going to do, turn us into -'

'M-Monsters?' said the mouse.

'M-Mice?' said the monster.

'He might make us dream, Mazy,' said the fairy, wide-eyed. 'I mean, we could be dreaming now.'

'Shall I give him a blast?' said the fellow with the phaser.

Fortunately, the others did not answer.

'Look,' said the princess, 'don't you know what this means? Gubrious, Weed - don't you?'

'I think I do,' said the one in the monster's head.

'You, Peterkin?' His friends turned to him, surprised.

'We've c-caught a N-Nightdreamer, haven't we? And -'

'Look,' said the Doctor, 'this is all very interesting, but -'

'Are we sure he's a Nightdreamer?' interrupted Gubrious, his phaser shaking.

'With tricks like that?' Mazy Grace gestured to the blue box.

'He'll vanish on us again,' said Nora, 'won't he?'

The Doctor was beginning to wish that he could.

'Of course,' said Gubrious, 'it's a trick. He'll get away.'

Mazy Grace burst out, 'Then blast him, you idiot!'

It was what the Doctor had feared. He had wanted to learn what he could from these people, but it looked as if he would not have the chance.

'Behind you!' he shouted suddenly, and then 'Hai!'

With a swift karate kick he lashed out, striking the arm of the man holding the phaser.

Gubrious shrieked. The phaser span from his hand. The Doctor dived for the bushes, but Peterkin was faster.

He seized the phaser, squeezing the trigger. There was a fizzing blast, and the Doctor crashed into the undergrowth, his cloak twisting at an angle over his prone form. For a moment, his limbs jerked and twitched; his eyes flickered, filmy and unseeing.

Then he was still, and his eyes were shut.

Tom Arden