Prilak ran for his life.

Behind him in the alley, two figures stood calm and bold, brandishing blooded knives. At their feet lay Prilak's two associates, although they wouldn't be moving anywhere else of their own accord.

"Leave him," said a firm voice. "We know where he lives. He can't run from us."

The knives were wiped on their victims' clothes, and then replaced in their holders. The three men paused at the end of the alley, and then walked after Prilak.

***

The mood in the TARDIS was distinctly off-colour.

Romana thought that there was something in the way that Meglos had attacked his identity that was perplexing the Doctor. He had been been recalcitrant on Alzarius, and she could see that there was something in the way he looked at Adric... he was a walking, talking symbol of their predicament.

She pressed buttons on the console, but there seemed no clear direction to take. They might be trapped in E-space forever...

A light flashed out of sequence, and she was there in seconds. The TARDIS was coming in to land somewhere!

"K-9, fetch the Doctor!"

As the metal dog turned to pass through the connecting door, it swung inwards, and the two gentlemen walked in, and from the sounds of it, Adric was arguing, and the Doctor was holding his tongue.

"Romana! Have we landed?"

"Yes, Doctor, just a moment ago."

"Perfect! Adric, are you coming?"

Puzzled by the complete ignorance of his request, Adric nodded. "Are we back on Alzarius?"

"No, nor Terradon. Come on, K-9!" The Doctor pushed open the door of the TARDIS, and walked through.

Adric followed, but Romana dallied to run a hyper-fast check on the planetary conditions, and was relieved to see they were normal enough. She followed K-9 through the door, locking it shut behind her.

***

The front door crashed open, and Multha tensed at the sounds of the footsteps thumping up the stairs. Well, at least he was home.

She saw his father laid on the bench, tense as if to spring up those stairs himself. But then the moment passed, and he remained where he was. For which, she was grateful.

"The boy is home," she said.

"Aye. Good."

There would be time enough for anger when he joined them. It seemed to be all there was time for now.

***

A blue box now stood silently on the pavement outside the church on Sulleyack Street.

"I wonder where we are," wondered Adric.

The Doctor stood silent, taking in the streetscene all around them. Romana picked up on his silence immediately.

"What's wrong, Doctor?"

"Romana... you remember Earth, don't you?"

"Earth? Of course, how could I forget?"

"Yes. It's the last thing I would have expected to find in E-space, though."

She looked around, as he was doing. "It doesn't look like any part of Earth you've shown me before."

"No. I wouldn't come here by choice. But the resemblance is so striking, it-"

"Doctor?"

He stroked his hair. "K-9, cross-check data for this planet, and for Earth."

There was a short silence, during which Adric started looking through the iron railings into the graveyard.

"Data check complete. This planet matches Earth data exactly, probability of error 0.0027%, Master."

"Doctor, what are you saying?"

"I'm not saying anything. But perhaps this is the E-space version of Earth." He wound his scarf a little tighter. "Then again, it could just be a coincidence. Come on, everyone." He set off walking down the street.

Slightly disquieted, Romana set off after, then returned to tap Adric on the shoulder and get him to follow.

***

"What's the matter, Prilak?"

Multha knew there were dangers on the streets, but she did hope they never upset her family. To see her son like this, she knew her fears were well founded.

But he just shook his head.

"Prilak, your mother asked you a question." For Venjo to get involved, the matter had to be serious.

"I had some trouble with some... people."

"Trouble? What kind of people?"

He cleared his throat, wondering how much he could safely tell them. Then he looked in his father's eyes, and knew that he had no choice.

"They killed Drekk and... and Zowal."

Multha nearly fainted, but Venjo judged his son to be telling the truth. "Why did they do that?"

The way his shoulders hunched, Prilak felt he was giving himself away. But his parents still could not know.

There was a knock at the door.

***

As they walked along, the Doctor continued to query why this planet should bear such resemblance to Earth, when presumably nobody here could have even heard of Earth, let alone studied sections of its architecture.

"Doctor, look." Romana was pointing some way down the road, as three rather shady characters stood outside a terraced house.

"What is it?" Adric, at least, couldn't conceive what his friends might be getting at.

"I'm sure I saw one of them with some sort of holster. What kind of people would carry something like that to someone's house?"

"Not very pleasant ones." The Doctor began taking longer strides along the road, hoping not to attract their attention as he did so.

***

Venjo went to answer the door.

"Look, it's getting late, what do... you..." His sentence ground to a halt as he took in the motley crew stood on his doorstep. When one of them produced a knife, conversation took its leave altogether.

He slammed the door again, but there was a stiff boot in the way, and it wouldn't close.

"Stand aside, old man, I have some unfinished business with your son." The two bulkier men pushed the door open, knocking Venjo against the stairs, as their silkier ringleader calmly stepped over the welcome mat.

"Prilak! Your debt is due!"

***

Adric and K9 brought up the rear, but the Doctor was an advance army all by himself. Grateful that his speed of arrival hadn't drawn attention, he pounded the street until he reached the still-open door.

"Gentlemen!"

***

In the kitchen, Multha and Prilak held each other, afraid for their lives. Suddenly, they realised that they had more house-callers.

Surprised by an attack from behind, the killers paused, unsure of their next move. The leader took a look at the Doctor, and dismissed him as a lunatic. "Kill Prilak!"

"No, don't kill Prilak, I'm sure he doesn't deserve it." So saying, the Doctor seemed to defy physics and get past the three intruders and stand by the mother and son he saw cowering in fear. "One of you, I trust, is Prilak?"

"The boy owes me!" Outmanoeuvred, the leader seemed to be losing his temper.

"How much?"

Taken aback at the serious response, the leader stuck to the truth. "He and his associates bought 400 Qokals of top-class Wurka. They defaulted on their repayments." He clicked his fingers, and his associates brandished crude, but doubtless effective, knives.

"So, it's just the money you want, is it?"

The line of questioning seemed to be slipping from his grasp. "Well... it's the principle, too. Lads-"

The Doctor moved swiftly once more, grabbing the hoodlums along their arms, and applying pressure. The knives clattered helplessly to the ground, as two men ignored their loss of dignity, to clutch desperately to the focus of the pain.

"Now, that's enough of that. Who are you?"

The leader was quite speechless. His intimidation had been ignored. His threats had been ignored. His display of violence had been ignored. His power was gone.

As he turned to leave, he saw a young lad in a yellow cloak stood in his way. He vented his frustration by pushing him through Venjo's front room window, and then left the house.

***

Romana was checking on Venjo, when she saw Adric fly backwards through the glass.

K-9 soon reported that Adric would recover. So she returned to Venjo, who by now had moved to join Multha and Prilak.

"You saved our lives... I don't know how to thank you."

"That's quite alright, it's what anybody would have done..." He thought to the streets outside. "Well, maybe should have done... perhaps you can help me?"

"Anything. Prilak!"

The young lad had started moving surreptitiously towards the stairs, but his father saw him. He slunk back to sit at the table.

"Now, what can we do... I don't even know your name!"

The Doctor smiled, and sat down next to Prilak. "I'm the Doctor. These are my friends, Romana, K-9... and the boy on the street is Adric. He'll be alright, he seems to have the constitution for it."

Venjo considered the strange response about the boy, but decided to let it pass.

"Tell me, Venjo... can I ask what your occupation is?"

"I extract rocks from the ground for fuel."

"Ah - you're a miner! Is everyone around here in the same business?"

"Those of my age are. We may be the last... they tell us there is no future in our industry."

The Doctor nodded. Suddenly a lot of things were becoming clear. "What will the future hold when your mine is closed?"

The pause whilst Venjo considered what the future held was enough to confirm the answer anyway.

***

"Romana! We must be on our way."

She frowned at his sudden decision-making. He must have learned all he wanted to. She sent K-9 on his way back toward the TARDIS, and checked Adric was indeed on the mend. His cuts seemed to be healing already, and although shaken, she knew he would be right as rain soon enough. She could support him as they walked back.

"Thank you, Venjo, for your hospitality. I hope young Prilak will be safe now. If he keeps off the Wurka, then he should be alright. Follow in his father's footsteps."

As Venjo shook the strange man's hand, he saw a truth in his eyes that he recognised at last. But he accepted the Doctor's gratitude, and sent him on his way.

"Now, love, we'd best get that dinner eaten..."

***

The Doctor walked a few paces ahead of Romana and Adric, but never any further. He wanted to walk alone, but he could not leave his friends behind, and dare not risk losing them whilst he was buried in his thoughts.

"Doctor, what did the old man tell you?"

"This is the twilight of a mining community, Romana. Soon, there will be no mine, and no work for the bulk of the community. The children are already dabbling in things they do not understand."

"The boy, Prilak... was a drug addict?"

"If he was, it was a rather benevolent drug, judging from his appearance. Or he was in the early stages of addiction. Either way, his father may be able to guide him better from now on."

"Society on the verge of collapse... is that the only course of life in E-space?"

"I don't know. I don't really want to have to find out. Perhaps our next port of call will show us a way out." He held up a hand, and Romana stopped.

***

K-9 was stopped a few metres from the TARDIS, nose phaser extended.

Three familiar figures were waiting outside the blue box. They had rearmed themselves from somewhere, and bore expressions of angry hatred.

"So this is yours. I knew it had to be. The only thing around here that doesn't belong. That doesn't fit in." The leader spat the words with an impolite vehemence.

"Yes. You don't take hints, then."

"No! No-one challenges me and lives!"

"Oh, I haven't the time for your games! K-9!"

Surprised, the three thugs watched as the robot dog trundled closer, and then a blast of energy struck the leader straight in the chest, sending him backwards against the TARDIS, where he then slid gracelessly to the ground.

One of the two other brutes moved forward in defiance, but K-9 struck him down, too, and then his colleague.

"Good dog, K-9." The Doctor moved forward, checking the pulses of the three crooks. They were just unconscious, for now. "Romana, get Adric into the TARDIS. K-9, you go with them. I'll just deal with these three..."

***

A short while later, the Doctor walked into the console room, closed the door, and activated the dematerialisation circuit. Then he walked over to where Romana had left Adric, sitting on a deckchair. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, Doctor. What happened..?"

"Just a short stop, Adric. It wasn't Terradon. At least, I hope it wasn't Terradon... we'll keep looking for the way out of E-space. You concentrate on getting better." He patted the boy on the neck, and he slipped forward into a light sleep.

Romana was stood at the console, watching the scanner. "Doctor, what did you do to those men?"

He gave her a semi-serious look. "I could hardly leave them to cause any more harm, could I?"

She thought he might elaborate, but he didn't. All he said further on the subject was "I had to do something." Then he walked through the door into the inner area of the TARDIS.