At first she thought it was just another dream.

The Time Lady known as the Rani found that she seemed to be sleeping more of late, which she knew from her psychology learning's was a sure sign of a depressive disorder. Previously she would have laughed at the idea, but her outlook on a lot of things had changed since her recent regeneration.

It wasn't the sleep she minded so much, though the idea of allowing her body to succumb to such unconsciousness had always seemed an odd notion to her. An hour or so meditation a day in the TARDIS Zero Room had much the same desired effect, and seemed to her to be a lot more beneficial.

No, what she didn't like were the dreams that accompanied her sleep. Most were meaningless, conjured and then forgotten. But others were more memorable... darker, scarier even. Sometimes she'd wake in a cold sweat, head still full of the visions she'd experienced, clutching for the weapon on her bedside table.

"I either need a shrink, or a course of sleeping pills," she told herself in the mirror one morning.

Her mirror image simply told her that sleeping pills were out of the question, as she didn't ever take drugs or chemicals - odd considering her profession - and that there probably wasn't a psychiatrist of sufficient temperament or moral standing to help rid her of her demons. If demons they were...

Her most recent dream was different...

***

She was lying in a darkened room, a soft sheet around her, a softer pillow supporting her head. She felt comfortable, warm, relaxed. Tired but not sleepy.

"Long day," murmured a man's voice by her side. "Tiring..."

She didn't jump, as she had expected she might. It was as if she knew there was someone beside her.

"I didn't notice," she heard herself reply, and there was a dry edge of humour in her tone that she didn't quite comprehend at first.

"Mmmm hmmm..." the voice murmured, and she felt a hand caress her back.

"Lots more to do tomorrow... I don't want to tire you unnecessarily."

The voice chuckled. "You won't."

It was her turn to chuckle. "Oh, won't I?"

The chuckle turned to outright laughter. "It's in your interests not to!"

"I can easily replace you."

Mock outrage in the voice. "Can you, now?"

"I have a list of over one hundred thousand suitable geneticists in the TARDIS."

The hand moved a little lower down her back. "Ah, but can they..."

"I'm not sure I want them too!" she muttered, half-serious, shifting her body away.

Slightly.

"You don't fool me, you know..."

"Is that a fact."

"I know exactly what you want."

"Oh really..."

More laughter. "I don't mean that! I mean..." he paused. "I mean, all this work... augmenting alien races... this stuff..."

"This stuff?" she snorted. "What a gift for description you have!"

"It's all a bit, well... surrogate, isn't it?"

She sat up. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

She felt cold anger sweeping through her. Cold anger and... what was that, shame? Sorrow? Self pity?

She felt herself getting up and pulling a robe on, pulling it tightly around her as she strode towards the door.

"Where are you going?" she heard the voice protest.

"To sleep in the TARDIS. Good night!"

"No, wait... come back! I didn't mean... come back! Come back!"

***

The voice echoed through her mind, and was still echoing when she woke with a start, sitting up with a gasp. Again she was soaked with sweat, and she found she was trembling.

"Hell!" she muttered, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and sitting there, rubbing her face with her hands as if to dispel the memory. "This has got to stop..."

She stood up and wandered out into the TARDIS corridor to the alcove where the Food Machine sat. She dialled herself a cup of hot sweet tea and took a long sip. The heat of the liquid scalded her mouth but she was grateful for the distraction. She blew at the surface of the drink, feeling the heat rising to her face as she watched the patterns her breath formed in the cup.

The patterns seemed to form a familiar shape - a familiar face. The voice in her dream lingered strongly for a second, and then faded. Memory sparked, and she looked up from the cup in surprise.

"Quayne... his name was Quayne. After all this time..."

She set the cup down on top of the machine - joining the dozen or so other cups of tea she'd started and never finished - and strode determinedly towards the console room.

She'd suddenly remembered an appointment she hadn't kept.

***

When she first saw the devastation on the TARDIS monitor screen, she thought she'd landed at the wrong place.

"It can't be right," the Rani muttered, busying round the console, double-checking the co-ordinates and readings. She punched a button and was rewarded with a sequence of glowing green lights. "But it is..."

She gazed at the screen for a moment longer, and shook her head in disbelief. "What the hell has happened here?"

Only one way to find out. She shrugged into a dark leather jacket and activated the door control.

She could smell the acrid smell of burning even before she stepped through the TARDIS doors. She stood on the threshold, gazing at the site of what had been a state-of-the-art scientific laboratory. A laboratory no more; now it was a twisted heap of broken and scorched rubble, with only a few of the stronger walls and frames standing. Smoke still drifted up from parts of it.

"Recent, then... and within a few days, I'd hazard," she murmured. "Damn it..."

She studied one of the standing walls closely. There was a distinctive star-shaped mark burnt into. "High-impact phason beam... not a natural disaster then..." She looked round the side of the TARDIS at the thick green forest rising beyond the plain where the centre had been situated. It looked quiet, but who knew what lurked within its depths. Though she had a pretty good idea what did, and that idea was not a pleasant one.

She considered a moment, then went back inside. A few seconds later she re-emerged carrying a large handgun. She worked the activating mechanism and checked the magazine in its butt. "Better safe than sorry," she declared, tucking it away into a shoulder holster.

She stepped away from the TARDIS and started to pick her way cautiously among the debris. A little way in she stopped and bent down, examining something on the floor. She tugged a bulbous object from the ash and clinker and held it up. The plastic surface was warped and bubbled by the heat. She shook it and it rattled hollowly. She sighed.

"Won't be analysing any more tissue samples with that..."

She tossed it aside and stood up. Dotted around were further articles of equipment, furniture, clothing; most smashed or burnt almost beyond recognition. All this waste and destruction made her feel angry.

"Thought I left things better protected than this... oh Quayne, what did go wrong?"

She closed her eyes and allowed the memory back, remembering when this all began - and where her involvement ended...

***

Her partner, Quayne, dark hair and beard neatly trimmed, white lab suit immaculate as always, was leaning arms folded in the doorway of the main lab, watching her pack some tools away.

"So how long will you be gone this time?"

"A month or so. I have other projects to attend to besides this one."

He grinned. "Can't tempt you stay longer, then?"

She shot him a black look. "No."

"Aw, come on... not still sore about last night?"

"Hardly," she snorted, snapping her bag shut. "I think I made my feelings on the matter quite clear."

"You did that..." He sighed. "I just wish you'd give me a chance to make you reconsider."

She made her way towards the door. "There's nothing to reconsider," she replied frostily. "Excuse me."

He reluctantly moved aside to let her pass. "So you're just abandoning me like that!"

"You're not being abandoned." She ticked off the other members of the group on her fingers. "There's Norna, and Avisen, and..."

"Oh, that's not what I mean and you know it!"

She ignored his outburst. "And of course there's our new friend. Chessk has adapted admirably to his conditioning. I suggest you make better use of him. He's proving to be an excellent lab assistant." She paused and looked back at him. "Never complains. Never argues. Never makes stupid suggestions."

He grinned. "Come on, you love it really..."

She just glared. "See you in a month," she snapped, and turned on her heel and marched back to the TARDIS.

She didn't look back.

***

But the month had turned into a year; and the year into a decade; the decade into a century; and who knows how much longer after that. It surprised her that she'd even remembered the co-ordinates to the place after so long.

"No, it doesn't," she sighed, and paused by the ruin of the same wall she'd made that farewell all those years ago. She knew exactly why she came back. For exactly the same reason why she left. And exactly the same reason she'd stayed away.

And that did worry her.

The rest of the place was exactly the same as where she'd landed; devastation after devastation. Virtually nothing remained intact. And there was definitely no sign of life. No sign of Quayne, or Norna; Lescovaar or Trent, Avisen, Leetz...

"Damn it, Quayne! Where the hell are you?" she cried, standing in the middle of the ruin of what was the main lab.

But only the wind answered, whining mournfully through the ruins of the base... and of her past.

***

She had better luck in what had once been the prime computer annex. The machinery she'd installed was state of the art even for the period she now existed in, and was built to last, and most of it was still standing, in some form or another. It took more than arson and a few badly aimed phason bursts to destroy it, though it was in quite a state. A brief exploration of the surviving parts produced what she was looking for, the main memory core. But it was centred deep within the frame of the computer, and she wasn't a competent enough technician to dissemble the machine well enough to get to the core without damaging it further. She'd have to make do with an external link.

She blew the ash from the port and plugged in a cable from a palm computer she produced from her jacket. The display flared and blobbed, and a sharp buzz of static emerged from the tiny speaker as she fiddled with the settings to make the connection.

"Don't fail me now..." she murmured, giving the device a whack with the palm of her hand. It spat increased interference for a second and then settled down.

She appeared on the screen; or at least, her old self did, looking as she did when she first started this venture.

"Entry one: Day one. With the base established in a secure position, initial work on testing the natives will shortly begin. I have dispatched Rangers to gather some specimens and when they return I shall begin testing. Computer analysis indicates that this species will prove of immense value to my research and-"

She jabbed a button impatiently. "Yes, yes, thank you... let's wind a bit further, shall we?"

The breeze picked up, making the ruins quiver and rattle slightly, and she looked up nervously. The surrounding forest was quite distant, but close enough to make her worried. And as she couldn't easily get the big computer back into the TARDIS, she'd have to stay out here. She returned her attention to the computer and pressed the start button again. Quayne's face swam into view.

"Entry three-zero-one: Day Eighty-three..."

She checked the time reference; yes, shortly after the time she left. She returned her attention to what he was saying.

"...Continues to be made. At this rate, we can begin releasing the subjects back into the natural environments, carrying, of course, the genetic modifications we made to be introduced into their gene-pool." He suddenly grinned. "That'll make you happy, you gorgeous mad scientist, you!"

The Rani clicked her tongue. "You always were a flippant sod," she muttered, striking the pause control. "Releasing the subjects back into the wild... ahead of schedule, by my reckoning." She studied his frozen smiling face, a wistful smile playing across her features. "You were always a little over-eager, too... trying to impress me, were you?"

She hit the fast wind button, going forward another hundred days. Quayne reappeared, still smiling. His voice was slightly slurred, and she guessed he'd been drinking. She'd hated that, always preferring herself to keep a clear head. It paid to in her line of work.

"Entry six-seven-seven. Day one-eight-four. Dispersal of the new genes is increasing at a prodigious rate. Active little buggers, aren't they!"

The Rani looked around at the ruins and shivered slightly. She had a nasty feeling she was being watched, suddenly. "Evidently! But where, oh where, did it go wrong?"

"... Still no sign of our Lady and Mistress. I hope you're not still sulking! Which reminds me..." his face adopted a sly look. "My little, ah, side project, is developing nicely... you'll have quite a surprise in store for you when you get back!"

She jabbed the pause key, frowning. "Surprise? Side project? Hell fire, what does he mean?" She struck the start key again and began flicking through the entries rapidly. Report followed report; most by Quayne, some by other members of her team. There were mundane listings of information, statistics, chemical formulae, diagrams. Verbal and visual reports were much the same. Nothing about any side projects, beyond the odd veiled reference by Quayne which went nowhere beyond a vague hint that he was up to something besides the purpose of their mission...

So drawn was she by the man on the screen, and the sound of his voice, that she barely noticed the sun slipping towards the horizon, and the shadows lengthening around her.

Nor the steady increase in volume of the faint ticking and whistling sounds that came from the forest...

***

As the reports went on, the tone began to change. Quayne's smile became more strained, and the words "problem", "trouble" and "failure" began to crop up more. Things, it seemed, weren't going as smoothly as they should. Then there was a long gap in the time period between reports. When they restarted, the reference to "problems" had increased.

Things had gone wrong. The species wasn't adapting to their modifications as they should.

"... Started fighting. Hostility between the enclaves in the forest has increased dramatically. What's more, a Ranger disappeared from its patrol path. I sent another in to investigate and found it destroyed. I am becoming... concerned... for our safety."

The wind picked up again, ruffling her blonde curls, and she glanced up. Something clattered to her right and she looked round sharply, hearts pounding. But nothing emerged from the direction the sound came. Just the wind, dislodging some debris...

But that vague, creepy feeling of being watched grew stronger.

"Jumping at shadows," she muttered, taking a breath to steady her nerves.

She tapped the side of the computer impatiently and straightened her neck with an audible click. For the first time she noticed the dusk slowly settling across the landscape, and felt a flicker of unease. Skipping through bits like this was becoming irritating anyway. Her best strategy was download it into the main TARDIS memory bank and initiate a proper search. That would tell her exactly what -

A shadow passed across the ground to her right, moving fast.

The computer dropped to the ground as she whipped round, drawing her weapon in one fast fluid motion and bringing it to bear, finger tightening on the trigger...

She gasped at what the target was, stopping herself from firing just in time.

She'd come with milli-seconds of blowing the head off the small child that crouched in what was the doorway to the annex, hands clasped around something it clutched fiercely to its chest. It was a young girl, dressed in a grimy dark blue overall that looked a size or two too big. Long dark brown hair, flecked and matted with dirt, hung tangled around her head and shoulders. Her face, grimed though it was by soot and ash, was pale with fright, brown eyes wide with terror. A soft whimper escaped her throat as she gazed down the wide muzzle of the pistol pointed at her.

"Hell's teeth!" the Rani exclaimed, lowering her pistol, though not putting it away. "Where did you spring from?" So far as she could remember, there were no children among her team. She wouldn't have had one there. Possibly, someone had one after she left? Norna, possibly... but no, the child looked to be about five or six years old. The team hadn't been here that long... had it?

But the girl didn't reply, merely crouched there, shivering and looking terrified. The Rani studied her for a moment.

"Cat got your tongue?"

Still no response. The Rani sighed.

"Shock, most like... look here," the Rani slid her weapon back into its holster and held up her hands. "See? I don't mean you any harm."

She stood up slowly and came forward cautiously. The girl shrank back slightly, but didn't bolt. The Rani halted a foot or so away and crouched down again. For a moment she was uncertain of what to do next. Children were things she'd had little experience with, except as...

A ripple of self-loathing trembled through her suddenly. "Except as test subjects..." she whispered sourly. "Yeah, yeah..."

She extended a hand and made what she hoped were suitably soothing noises. "It's okay... I'm quite friendly," she added lamely. The girl looked at the hand as if it were a snake, and shrank even further back. She sighed again. Maybe the best policy was to stun the kid and...

The girl's gaze seemed fixed on the pendent around her neck. It was the infinity symbol, moulded from pure silver, with tiny star sapphires at its top and base which sparkled in the fading sunlight. The girl seemed fascinated by the sparkle.

"You like?" the Rani murmured, lifting the pendent up slightly. The girl didn't say anything, or nod, but she blinked, which the Rani took to being the closest she'd get to a reply right now. She reached round and lifted the pendent clear, hanging it by its chain before the child's wide gaze. "Would you like it?" she asked softly.

The head nodded almost imperceptibly. The Rani lowered it, then paused.

"Do you a swop... this, for what you're holding to your chest."

The girl blinked again, face frowning slightly, then slowly let go of what she was holding to reach up to grasp at the pendent. She snatched it away and cupped it between her hands, altering their position slightly so the light would catch the shine better.

The object she had been holding fell clear and bounced from her lap to the floor. The Rani reached across gently and picked it up, blowing the ash from it to get a better look. It was a picture block, a lump of clear Lucite with a man's smiling face in the centre.

The Rani froze as she recognised the face.

It was Quayne.

***

"Do you know who this man is?"

She held the block up before the little girl. She gazed at it for a moment, then nodded. The Rani held up her computer. Quayne's face was still-frozen on its screen.

"It's this man..."

The girl nodded again. The Rani pressed the start key.

"... Leetz seems to think that the condition is aggravated by adverse weather conditions such as..."

As the file restarted and Quayne's voice crackled to life, the girl gave a sudden squeal and scooted forward to clutch at the computer. The Rani let her take it but kept one hand on it as well.

"You do know him, then... but how, I wonder? Let's try something else..."

She pulled the device away from the girl - who started whimpering when the voice and picture faded - and began keying something different in.

"Shhh, shhh... you'll see him again... how about, this lady?"

The face of a rather severe looking young woman with short dark hair appeared on the screen. "Norna?" asked the Rani. The girl looked blank. The Rani fiddled with the controls. "Okay, let's try... Lescovaar..."

She went through the rest of her old team, but there was barely a flicker of response from the girl. But when she put Quayne back on the screen, she reacted with a soft cry and grabbed at the machine again. The Rani pulled it away.

"Well now... quite a puzzle, aren't we?"

A long, high pitched whistling chirp sounded from the forest, and woman and child both looked round in fright.

"Something wicked this way comes..." the Rani murmured. She felt something brush her side and looked down to see that the girl had shrank close beside her. She looked up at the Rani with imploring eyes.

"You don't like it either... well, just as soon as I finish this, we'll..." she trailed off. They'd what? It hadn't even begun to occur to her what to do with the girl...

She'd have to decide later. Now she had to get this done. She keyed the device to fast-wind to the last entry. The screen buzzed and flared again, and for a moment, she thought it wasn't going to appear. Then Quayne's face swam into view again. She felt a twinge of shock at how haggard and drawn he looked; his dark hair and beard, usually so well groomed, looked tangled and matted with dirt and sweat. His face looked thinner, and heavily lined. Frightened, even.

"Situation desperate..." she noted he hadn't included a time reference, irritably, "... don't know how much longer we can guarantee the security of the centre. The perimeter was breached again last night and two further Rangers destroyed. We're down to the last three, and two of them are damaged." He dragged a hand through his hair. "I've... had to... suspend them from searching for Lescovaar and Avisen. It's been days... I don't think... I don't think..."

His face crumpled and for a moment she thought he was going to start weeping, but he seemed to get control of himself.

"I'm... going to have to take more desperate measures to protect ourselves. I've developed a bacterial strain that I can release through an aerosol bombardment that will... should... deal with the monsters."

"Genocide?" the Rani muttered in disbelief. "That desperate... why didn't I see the signs?"

"... Distress beacon still activated but not sure if it's getting through that ion storm. Please..." and his face dipped closer to the screen. "If you find this, understand what I did. And forgive me." His face crumpled and this time he did start to weep. "And I beg you, if she survives this... I beg the Goddess she does... look after her. Please... look after her..."

The screen flared, then went back to the start of Quayne's final report. The Rani gazed at it for a moment, still trying to take in what she'd seen. The implication was almost more dreadful than she could comprehend, but the understanding of what she'd done - what she'd all but abandoned these people to - hit her hard. And for why? A fit of pique... selfish rage at a harmless question from a man she once considered a friend. A good friend...

And now he was dead. Abandoned to a terrible fate. He hadn't deserved that.

She rubbed at her brow shakily, feeling sick and giddy, the computer slipped from her grasp and clattered to the floor with a puff of ash. Quayne's last report droned on, again, and again, and again...

"What did I do?" she gasped. "How could I have left you like that?" She felt her eyes begin to sting and she craned her neck upwards in attempt to clear the mistiness that was threatening to overwhelm her vision.

"Forgive me!" she cried. "Forgive me!"

She bowed her head and started to sob helplessly.

There was a rustle of movement beside her and she felt a tiny hand take hers. She looked round, tears still streaming down her face, and saw the girl's pale face in the half-light of the setting sun. She looked stricken, as if upset by the woman's show of emotion. The girl's lips began to tremble.

"D...d... don't... c...c... cry," the girl stammered.

The Rani blinked. "Wh-what?" she managed to croak.

"D-don't... cry," the girl repeated. "P-please..."

"You don't understand..." the Rani sniffed. "That man..."

The girl looked at the image playing on the computer screen by her knees. "Father," she said simply.

Something in the girls' voice, her expression, made the Rani weep even harder. "Yes..." she sobbed. "Your father... I... I..."

"Father," the girl repeated, looking up at the woman, tears beginning to show in her eyes too. "Father... my father... he's... he's... dead. He's dead!" the girl suddenly shouted, and burst into tears, burying her face in the Rani's chest. The Rani clung to her, pulling her closer, tears flooding down her face.

"I know... I know... and I'm so sorry. So very, very sorry..."

The pair clung together as twilight settled over the ruined base, until they were both lost in the shadows, joined in their mutual grief.

***

The Rani carried the little girl back to the TARDIS.

"What's your name?"

"Imelda," the girl whispered.

"Imelda? I like that."

"What's yours?" the girl asked.

The Rani smiled. "Call me Edna."

They reached the TARDIS and the Rani put her down to get to her key. As she did so, she heard a scrabbling, slithering sound behind them. She swung round, stepping forward to keep the girl between herself and the grey bulk of the TARDIS, drawing her weapon as she did. She pointed it into the darkness as she continued to fumble for her key.

"Bad people," the girl murmured, pointing into the night.

"I know... don't worry. You'll be safe soon." She found her key and pressed it into the lock. The door swung open. "Inside," she commanded, giving the girl a little push forward. "And don't touch anything!" she called, closing the door after her. She turned round fully, then called: "All right, show yourselves... come on, I haven't got all evening!"

The scrabbling sound increased and a tall, skeletal form appeared from behind a ruined wall, followed by a second, then a third. They held phason weapons, presumably scavenged from the base or one of the lost Ranger robot scouts her team used to collect specimens. They jerked their weapons up, but the Rani levelled her weapon.

"Ah ah... now, I'm not the universe's best shot, but at this range, I can blow you all apart with consummate ease. Step forward!"

The lead creature complied, and the Rani could see more of it now. She nodded; it was one of the natives of this planet, a bipedal insectoid species with two large softly glowing purple eyes either side of its crested head.

"Come back for the little girl, have you? Well, I'm so sorry to disappoint you..."

The creature hissed angrily. "All humanssss musssst die..."

"Why must they?"

"They are evil... they did evil thingssss..."

"They tried to help you!"

One of the creatures behind the leader called: "Our brood chamberssss are empty... our femalessss barren... you call thissss helping ussss?"

The Rani shook her head. "It could have been cured!"

"It sssshould not have happened to begin with!"

"I'm sorry!" she shouted. "Really sorry! But did you have to kill the people here?"

The leader spoke again. "Would you not have done in our possssition?"

"I wouldn't know," she said honestly.

"You protect your child..."

"She isn't my child."

The creature cocked its head on one side curiously. "No?"

"No!" she replied with a certainty she didn't feel. She opened the TARDIS door again and took a step back, lowering her weapon slightly. "I'm leaving. We're leaving!"

The third creature hissed suddenly: "Human sssscum... may your eggssss be as blighted assss ourssss are!"

Something seemed to twist maliciously inside of her at the creatures words, and she felt a cold tide of pure fury flow over her. Reason washed away before it.

"My eggs were blighted a long time ago, insect!" she spat, glaring at the creature venomously. "This is for Quayne!"

She suddenly swung her weapon up and began pumping the trigger with her finger, raking the area before her with a murderous volley. The muzzle flashes illuminated the jerking bodies of the insectoids under the hail of electric bullets... and her face, seized up into a snarling mask of pure hatred. She was screaming as she fired, so loud it took several seconds before she became aware that the gun was empty and has ceased firing.

She stood panting for a second, rage abating. The flare from the muzzle flashes faded from her eyes and she finally saw what she had done.

With a choking sob she flung herself back into the TARDIS and slammed the door.

Seconds later, the time machine faded from existence.

A short time later other creatures came and gathered cautiously round their fallen comrades and began to emit shrill whistles of distress, the sound picked up and joined by others in the forest, until the entire valley rang with the eerie, heart-rending sound of the creatures' loss.

***

The Rani finished setting the controls and leaned heavily against the console, breathing hard. She hadn't felt so much anger and hatred in a long time, and she struggled to keep it down. She found she didn't much like it.

She realised she was still holding on to the gun, and with a hoarse cry flung it away into a corner. She heard a sharp gasp and looked round in surprise. The little girl peeked up at her from the other side of the console, fearfully. She'd almost forgotten about her new guest. She held up her hands placatingly.

"Imelda... I'm sorry. I just felt very, very angry for a moment."

"Are you... angry... with me?"

"Oh no... no, no..." The Rani crouched down and held a hand out. The girl came round and took it warily. "I'm angry with myself, not you..."

"Why?"

"Because..." she struggled to think of way of putting it so the girl would understand. "Because... I did something I'm not proud of myself for." She forced a smile onto her face, and reached up to stroke the girls' face. "And I want to make amends."

The girl blinked. "You miss father as well..."

The Rani frowned. "Yes, I suppose I do..." She smiled again. "Now, let's see about getting you cleaned up and fed, eh? I bet you haven't eaten for a while... let's go and find you something, eh?"

The girl nodded, the faintest hint of a smile playing about her face. The Rani chuckled, and stood up, before leading her by the hand towards the interior door of the TARDIS.

As they went, the Rani pulled her palm computer from her pocket and looked at it. She'd downloaded all the information from the battered base computer, including the team's personal files. She hoped that would shed more light about Imelda's origins.

But she half-hoped they didn't.

She was afraid of the answer.

She looked down at the little girl, thoughtfully. "You know, you and I have a lot in common."

The girl looked up at her. "What?"

"We're both orphans, in way... and orphans should stick together, don't you think?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically. The Rani grinned.

"Good! You know, this could be the beginning of beautiful friendship..."

She tossed the palm computer over her shoulder as they strolled through the doors. It hit the console and bounced to the floor beneath it, forgotten.