Phantom Ch. 13c

"Alanna, I think the time has come to take you up on your generous offer," the Doctor said, as he headed to the control room, with his IIR in hand.

My offer?

"You've been itching to go into the Captain's body and kill whatever ghoul has nested in there. Well, go to it."

But will you let me back into your body when I'm done?

"Well... yes."

Doctor, do you promise?

The Doctor sighed. "I promise."

*********

When the Doctor entered the bridge, he found it... empty. Everyone was gone.

Check the Captain's Ready Room.

The Doctor, gun in hand, stepped in.

He found Captain Esteban there, smiling up at him. "Ah, Doctor. I was wondering when you would be showing up. Please, come in, have a seat."

The Doctor looked around the room to make sure there was no one else there, then took a seat on the other side of the Captain's desk. "Your crew is dead or taken over, Captain."

"Not my crew, Doctor," said the Captain, grinning from the corner of his eye.

"Who are you?" said the Doctor, holding up his Infinite Infinity Repeater.

"Don't you know? I've already given you so many clues."

"You're the Penguin."

Captain Esteban laughed. "Doctor, you disappoint me. He told me you were much smarter than that."

"You've spoken to the Penguin?"

"Yes. He tried to recruit me on his little side quest to destroy the world," said Esteban, rolling his eyes. "As if loyal God-fearing Laquintans should be subject to the same fate as Infidels. Tell me, where's the justice in that?"

"You... you're the one who was in the body of the Iraqi Health Minister," said the Doctor. "You're the one who raised the dead in the valley of Moktar by filling it all with sewage."

"Finally, a glimmer of recognition," said Samaraa, in the body of Captain Esteban.

"So what in the world are you doing on this planet?" the Doctor asked.

"I received a summons," said Samaraa.

"From whom?"

"From Laquinta himself."

"What?" said the Doctor.

"The Great God of Blood touched my mind. He told me he was trapped, inside this pyramid, and that I should come and free him."

"You believe... you believe your God is trapped inside of there? How can a true God be trapped anywhere?"

"It is not for lowly believers to question," Samaraa said sternly. "I was told to come here, and bring a starship."

"What does your God need with a starship?" the Doctor asked.

"He will use it to bring his essence to Earth, to bring about the long foretold Day of Blood, when the blood of unbelievers will flow in every street in the land," said Samaraa.

"You're mad," said the Doctor. "Don't you see that this is some kind of alien creature? Don't you see that you're being manipulated?"

"It is the God of Blood's will," said Samaraa, acting as if she didn't hear his words. "He needed four, he said. Four special servants. And now, he has just acquired his fourth."

"He has?"

Samaraa smiled. "Crewman Katherine Voight. She serves the Great God of Blood now. In a short time the four, working together under the Great God's guidance, will figure out the combination to the restraints which bind him and free him from his unearthly shackles."

"Listen to me! This is not the God of Blood. It's an alien creature who will destroy the Earth!" said the Doctor.

"I was so glad when you came aboard," said Samaraa. "So glad to have you every step of the way. You will be a witness, Doctor, a Witness to the first of many Days of Blood."

"I think it's time to rid the world of you," said the Doctor, raising his IIR.

"Is it?" Suddenly the IIR was yanked from his hand, and ended up in Samaraa's. "You didn't know I could do that, did you? I'll bet there's a lot you didn't know. I, on the other hand, am much better informed about you, Doctor. Alanna, how are you doing?"

"You know I'm here?" Alanna said, using the Doctor's voice.

"I can sense you. I always did," said Samaraa. "You, on the other hand, were totally ignorant of me, even when I was inches away." Samaraa hefted the IIR. "It's so tempting. To rid myself of both of you, in one shot." She paused, considering. Then she shook her head. "No." She pressed a holobutton. "Bring her."

Two armed men came into the Ready Room, half-dragging Sophie Astor.

"Sophie! So good to see you," said Samaraa. "Did you know, your Captain felt so terrible about deceiving and mocking you?"

"Who am I speaking to?" Sophie asked.

"My name is Samaraa. I am in control of your Captain's feeble body," she said.

"You... you're a ghost? So the Doctor was telling the truth?"

Samaraa laughed. "You look such the fool, Sophie! If only you could have heard the whines and the mewling of your Captain! I dominated his simple mind quite easily, but his cries of anguish amused me greatly." She looked up, and raised her voice. "Great One, we are ready."

Suddenly... something... appeared in the Ready Room. It was like a miniature whirlwind. It stood in front of Sophie.

"She is yours, Master," said Samaraa.

Blue lightning bolts flew out of the whirlwind. They touched Sophie's head, breasts, and groin. Sophie gasped and shuddered like a puppet as the bolts manipulated her. The breeze from the whirlwind caused her hair to ripple strongly.

"Fight it, Sophie!" the Doctor shouted.

But Sophie's face was blank as more bolts sank into her body. Finally, it was done, and the whirlwind vanished.

"I... understand," said Sophie.

"I knew you would," Samaraa smiled. "Doctor, as I said, you will be the witness to His Greatness returning to the Promised Land. The path of pain and death will be recorded in your retinas." Samaraa handed Sophie the Doctor's IIR. "Sophie, I have an important job for you. Take the Doctor here to confinement. Just remember that there's a ghost inside of him. If the ghost starts to come out of him, or makes any hostile move, shoot him."

Sophie nodded. She and the other two men led the Doctor out of the Captain's quarters. The last thing they heard was, "And thanks for the girl balls!"

********

The Doctor was in a cell. The force field wasn't up, but Sophie and two men stood there with weapons raised. She had informed him in no uncertain terms that if he took one step out of the cell, he would be shot.

"Fight it, Sophie," said the Doctor.

Sophie stared at him blankly.

"Don't let it control you. Fight for control of your mind."

I don't think it's going to work, Doctor.

"Come on, Sophie, I know you're in there!" said the Doctor. He frowned, and bit his lip. "Sophie?"

She looked at him expectantly.

"If you help us, I'll give you a girl ball. Brunette. Brunette is your favorite flavor, Sophie." The Doctor gave a toothy smile as he spoke in a low, seductive tone.

Doctor, do you really expect-

Sophie frowned, and in rapid succession elbowed the man on her left and right in the face. They went down even as Sophie grabbed one of their compression pistols, reset it to stun, and shot them both.

The Doctor ran out of the cell. Sophie handed him his IIR. "What happened?"

"I felt the entity in my mind," said Sophie. "It was trying to restructure my mind to suit itself. It was looking for a certain set of responses to stimuli," said Sophie, checking the power lever on her compression pistol. "Once my mind provided the set of responses it was looking for, it stopped trying to change me."

"Your mind is so disciplined that you were able to fool the creature?"

"Doctor, I am a Passive Observer. Discipline is our second nature."

"I guess your first nature is sweetness and light," said the Doctor.

Sophie blushed! She fought hard to keep a smile off her face as she looked up at him. "Doctor, what do we do now?"

The Doctor ticked off the plan on his fingers. "Step 1, get Nova Bomb. Step 2, go to the pyramid, and set it to detonate."

"I hope there's a step three, Doctor," said Sophie, putting a hand on his.

Was she flirting with him?

Doctor, focus!

"Step three, get to the Hudson Bay before it detonates, and get off this planet," said the Doctor.

"Doctor, I told you I looked at the engines briefly. They seem to be functional. But that is far from guaranteeing they will actually work."

"We'll just have to do our best," said the Doctor.

"And then there is the matter of getting the Nova Bomb."

"Can you get access to it?"

Sophie nodded. "I can get into the special ordnance locker. But as I told you, I don't have the codes for the Nova Bomb. Only the Captain has it, and I don't think he's going to help us."

"Somehow I don't think he will either." The Doctor scratched his head. "All right, we'll figure it out as we go."

"We'll figure it out as we go? Doctor, there's a whole crew full of zombies between us and our goal, we need a bomb we can't activate and ship that may not fly. I'm not used to executing such flimsy plans," said Sophie.

"You're right," said the Doctor. "My plan isn't well thought out. There are many unknowns and it's likely to be very hazardous." He tipped his hat and stared at her. "So what's your plan?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "This is an impossible situation. I have no plan!"

"Well then, let's get started."

**********

The crew might have been turned into zombies more or less under the control of the lifeform in the pyramid, but they didn't seem to be organized. The Doctor shot one in the corridor, and Sophie shot two more two levels down.

"They do not seem to be behaving logically," said Sophie. "If they rushed us as a group, they would be more effective."

"Sophie, not everyone is a logical thinker like you. Lifeforms are motivated by all kinds of passions and irrational sentiments. Look at Samaraa. She's doing this because she thinks she's freeing an imprisoned God. Trying to chide an alien lifeform with radically different thought processes for not behaving rationally is itself irrational," said the Doctor.

Sophie frowned, then nodded. "That was a very logical statement, Doctor."

"Thank you."

"Have you ever given any thought to becoming a Passive Observer?"

"No, I prefer being the more active kind," said the Doctor, as he shot another zombie crewmember who came around the corner.

They eventually reached the special weapons locker. Sophie keyed in the combination, and opened it. Sophie removed a sphere perhaps 18 inches long and six inches wide.

"That's it?" said the Doctor. "I always imagined Nova Bombs being... bigger."

"They get bigger when they explode, Doctor," said Sophie.

"Was that a joke, Sophie?"

Stop flirting with her!

They made their way to the airlock and got suited up. They were both relieved when they cycled out of the airlock and found no one waiting for them. They decided to take one of the land rovers to the pyramid; the pyramid was only a few hundred feet away, but they would need the rover when they headed to the Hudson Bay, afterwards.

"Once we get to the control room, I will try to circumvent the nova bomb's security systems and tap into its activation program," said the Doctor.

"I hope you don't inadvertently detonate the bomb prematurely," said Sophie.

"I hope so too," said the Doctor.

Doctor, do you really know how to circumvent the security system on a Nova Bomb?

How difficult can it be?

It could be impossible.

Impossible is a word used by small children who go hungry because they cannot figure out how to open a box of cake.

When they got to the pyramid, they stepped into the pressurized area and took off their helmets. "See? Everything is going according to plan," said the Doctor.

"Yes," said Sophie. "All you have to do is figure out how to activate the bomb, set a delay, get us to the Hudson Bay, and launch the ship before the bomb goes off."

"Yes, we're almost done," said the Doctor.

They went to the control room.

They were not alone.

There was someone in each of the four alcoves. In one was Lieutenant Walter Nicholson. He had a blank expression on his face and a vortex in his chest. In the second was Ensign Marla Shasta, with the same expression, and same vortex. In the third and fourth were Crewmen Manual Gomez and Katherine Voight.

"Doctor, there are four of them," said Sophie.

The Doctor went over to one of the virtual displays, careful not to get near any of the four.

"What does it say?"

"If I'm reading it correctly, they've solved three quarters of the locking mechanism," said the Doctor. "The first, second and third dimensions. All they need is the fourth." He pointed to the indicator of the constantly reforming cube. "They know how to put it together, but not how to keep it together, all at the same time. But they're very close."

"We've got to stop them," said Sophie, drawing her compression pistol.

The Doctor shook his head. "They're part Monumental now. I don't think they would even notice it. My IIR didn't work the first time I tried. Even my girl balls had no effect." He paused. "Maybe... maybe if I tried my IIR on the highest setting, the setting made to vaporize psychic energy."

"Will it work on them?" Sophie asked.

"There's one way to find out," said the Doctor. He approached one of them, Crewman Katherine Voight. "Excuse me," said the Doctor.

Voight continued to rapidly manipulate the holocontrols in front of her. On her holoscreen was an image of the cube, reforming and changing position at a rapid pace. Her hands moved like a blur, as they worked in coordination with the other three.

"Excuse me, I say," said the Doctor. "I was wondering if you'd mind stopping what you're doing. It's going to release a very terrible creature who will terrorize the Earth, you know, and we can't have that."

"I don't think she can even hear you, Doctor," said Sophie.

"It never hurts to try," said the Doctor. He turned back to Voight, "All right, I'm going to have to shoot you now. Speak up if you have any objections?"

Voight's eyes were glued to her holographic console, her hands continuing to move rapidly.

"No? I didn't think so." The Doctor raised his IIR and fired. A blast of energy went towards Voight, and then was bent and sucked into the vortex in her chest.

"Handy thing, having your own personal black hole," said the Doctor admiringly. He put his IIR back in his coat. "I don't think that's going to work. Would you like me to try a girl ball again?"

"Doctor!"

"All right, back to plan 'A'." The Doctor turned to the Nova Bomb. He started manipulating the controls.

Sophie felt increasingly nervous. "Doctor, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"To the contrary, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing," the Doctor grinned. "But you can relax. How could things get possibly worse?"

There was a loud crack, like the sound of thunder. The Doctor and Sophie both instinctively turned their head to the door at the end of the corridor, the door with the little window set in it. They could see flashes of light, inside the window, bright light, flickering more and more insistently. The room felt like it was sliding down, sliding down into the windowed doorway. It took an effort for the Doctor and Sophie to resist its pull.

"What are you doing, Sophie?"

Sophie turned to see Aunt Diana.

Dirty Diana, the prosecutor had called her at the trial.

Aunt Diana stared at Sophie with a sultry grin. "It's time to play the drawing game, Sophie," said Aunt Diana.

"No," said Sophie, taking a step back.

"But you love the drawing game, Sophie! Remember how it was our little secret, together, all those long, wonderful years?"

"No, Aunt Diana! I don't want to play the drawing game again!" Sophie cried

"But you do, dear," said Aunt Diana. "I'll do the first one." She took a finger, and then slowly traced a shape over her crotch. "That's a pussy, see? Now you draw it."

"No!" Sophie cried again, trembling like a leaf. "This is not real!"

"It's not real until you draw it. Would you like me to draw it on you, baby girl, just like old times?" Aunt Diana asked. She raised her finger, and smiled menacingly.

********

The Doctor saw Yael again, but this time she was pregnant, with a big, bulging belly.

"You didn't know, did you?" said Yael. "I wanted to wait until I was sure before telling you."

"No," the Doctor whispered.

"I was pregnant, Ben," said Yael. "Pregnant with your son."

"No. It's not true," said the Doctor.

Yael smiled knowingly. "It is. I waited, Ben. I didn't say a first word after I missed my period the first month. But then the second month came and went. Every morning I woke up, expecting a bloody mess in my panties, but there was nothing. So finally one day, after you went to work, I took a pregnancy test. It came back positive. I was going to tell you, Ben, that night, but you killed me before I could tell you."

"No!" the Doctor cried.

"You killed me, Ben, and our unborn son." She cupped her belly. "He would have been beautiful, don't you think? I'll bet he would have looked just like you."

"No, Yael, it can't be true!" the Doctor cried.

*********

"Why can't I have a baby?"

The speaker was a young arab girl, perhaps not older than 18 years of age. Her dark eyes bore into Alanna. "Why?" she asked.

"I... I don't know," said Alanna.

"You do. You do know," the Arab girl insisted. She was joined by several others, young men and women. "It's because you did something to us. You did something to all of us, when we were children."

"No," said Alanna, shaking her head.

"You ruined the lives of 54 children. You made sure we could never have children of our own. What did we ever do to you?"

"It... it was a mistake," said Alanna.

"And because of your mistake, we could never have children," said the Arab girl. "How will you repay your debt? How will you restore life to our barren wombs, to our empty nutsacks?"

Alanna tried to talk, but no sounds came out. She was gripped in a panic attack.

********

"Lower your pants, little girl," said Aunt Diana. "Lower your pants, Sophie, so we can play the drawing game."

"NO!" Sophie cried.

"Sophie! Focus on me!" said an invisible voice. "Sophie! Look into my eyes! My eyes, Sophie, focus on my eyes!"

Suddenly a face came into view. A face couched by a floppy hat and dark curly hair, a face of green eyes and a large nose. "Doctor?" she breathed.

"We've got to get out of here, Sophie. We've got to get out now."

Sophie blinked and looked around. The ghostly crewmembers were still working in their alcoves. The door at the end of the room seemed to flex and buckle.

"We don't have much time, Sophie. They're going to figure out the final sequence soon," said the Doctor. "We can't set the bomb here. The influence of that creature is too strong in the pyramid. We'll have to take the bomb with us. Help me carry it out."

Sophie nodded. She took one end of it, and the Doctor took the other. They walk/ran back down the corridor.

Alanna, are you all right?

Doctor? What happened?

We can talk about it later.

They ran for the exit, pausing only briefly to affix their helmets onto their spacesuits as they got closer to the entrance of the Pyramid. "What about the Nova Bomb?" Sophie gasped, as they ran.

"We'll launch it from orbit, once I've cracked the code," said the Doctor.

When they got outside, they found a surprise awaiting them.

Just behind their land rover, in a semi circle, was the crew of the Talent. The entire crew, in spacesuits, just standing there, looking at them, in complete silence.

"I don't suppose any of you would like a girl ball?" the Doctor asked.

The space suited figures started to close on them.

"Close your eyes, Sophie!" the Doctor shouted, as he rapidly reconfigured his Infinite Infinity Repeater.

There was a blinding flash, and the crew of the Talent staggered in every direction.

"It won't last long. Come on!" the Doctor shouted, jumping into the land rover with the Nova Bomb. Sophie joined him a moment later,

The Doctor sped off, running into a pair of crewmembers who were still in the process of recovering their vision. In the low gravity of the planet they went flying into the air above the rover.

And so began the chase.

It was four miles to the Hudson Bay.

The land rover could go approximately ten miles per hour.

That was just barely faster than the crew of the Talent, who hopped, skipped and jumped in pursuit of them. It was the ultimate low speed chase. Sophie looked behind her and saw their leading pursuers not more than fifty feet behind. "Faster, Doctor!"

"It doesn't go any faster," the Doctor snapped. "Listen, when I get to the airlock, it will take a few seconds for me to open it and grab the bomb. Do you still have your compression pistol?"

"I do," said Sophie.

"Good," said the Doctor.

The low speed chase continued, with the crew of the Talent never far behind. Finally they could see the gleaming half buried shape of the Hudson Bay ahead of them. If they could get inside, they could be safe.

For a while, anyway. Once that alien lifeform escaped from its confinement, there would be no safe place on this planet.

The Doctor pulled up to the airlock door with a screech and was jumping out of the land rover even before it fully halted. Sophie climbed out a moment later and kneeled in the classic Survey Service firing pose she had learned at the Academy. The leading edge of their pursuers were only 20 feet away.

Sophie opened fire. She was such a good shot that she only needed one or two bursts to hit each target. She shot the first four spacesuited figures in the lead, and they went down. But the next wave was nine or ten crewmembers. Sophie couldn't stop them all.

"Get that airlock open, Doctor!" She said, her concussion pistol singing.

"It's jammed!" said the Doctor.

"Jammed?" said Sophie, her voice laced with panic.

The airlock door suddenly started to open. "Wait.... I've got it now."

Sophie downed two more pursuers. But a half dozen were still closing in.

The Doctor reached down and picked up the Nova Bomb. "Get in, fast!" he cried, running for the airlock door himself. He reached it before Sophie, but just barely.

Sophie turned and ran in slow motion to the dark airlock. As she entered she couldn't help but turn around. The first two pursuers were almost at the lock as the Doctor slammed the SEAL button on the wall. The big lumbering doors started to slowly close under emergency power.

"Hurry!" Sophie shouted. The doors seemed to be closing at a crawl, while their pursuers were approaching rapidly.

But the doors only had to close over four feet of space; their pursuers were twenty feet away. Sophie couldn't resist a gasp as the lock finally closed, just short of their heavily polarized faces.

"Well, that's done," said the Doctor cheerfully, as the airlock slowly started to pressurize.

Suddenly they heard bangs on the door even as the airlock continued its cycling. Sophie instinctively grabbed the Doctor's arm and they exchanged glances.

"We... we should be safe, for the moment," said Sophie. "While the airlock is pressurizing, the outer door can't be opened. But once the inner door opens, we'll have to jam it to make sure it stays that way."

The banging on the outer door grew louder. It was a reminder that murderous zombies were mere inches away. In the small airlock Sophie was forced to stand right next to the outer door. Separated by a thin steel door a mere inch thick. The zombie crew was right beyond it. If the door should give way-

BANG! BANG! BANG! came the sound of fists on the door.

Sophie shivered and held on tighter to the Doctor.

"You're quite right, we're perfectly safe," the Doctor grinned, as he held the Nova Bomb in both hands.

********

As soon as the airlock door opened, the Doctor looked at the Nova Bomb and said, "Oh! I just thought of the perfect use for this!" He dropped it inside the inner door frame. The airlock door tried to swing shut, but was stopped with a clang by the bomb blocking it, a clang which made Sophie jump.

"You're using the Nova Bomb as a doorstop?" said Sophie.

"I don't think a girl ball would work, do you?" said the Doctor, popping one in his mouth. "I'm off to engineering. Make sure things are ready on the bridge, and join me when you can."

********

The Doctor was not exactly an aerospace engineer.

But he liked to dabble.

"Try it now," he said, over the ship's intercom.

Sophie tried to activate the engines from the bridge. The Hudson Bay shuddered, and groaned, but didn't move.

"Hm. I wasn't expecting that," said the Doctor.

"Doctor, how much do you know about ship's engines?" came Sophie's voice over the intercom.

"Well... it's actually more of a hobby," said the Doctor. He looked around at the rows of control panels. "After all, how difficult could it be?"

"I'm coming down," said Sophie promptly.

She joined him a few moments later. "It looks like the Captain never sent a technical crew to repair the engines."

"That's no surprise," said the Doctor, as he studied a control panel.

"Doctor... was Captain Esteban really under the control of a ghost?"

"Yes," said the Doctor.

"So ghosts are real?"

"Yes," said the Doctor. He pointed to another holographic console. "What does that tell you?"

"That there's something wrong with the thermal igniter."

"That's what I thought too," said the Doctor, typing a series of queries into a virtual keyboard.

Doctor, are you going to be able to fix the ship?

In time, of course!

Do we have time?

Sophie heard a faint thumping sound. She called up an external camera on the side of the ship. She saw spacesuited figures, pounding against the airlock door. But then she zoomed in on an approaching land rover, and saw something even more alarming.

"Ah, Doctor?"

"What is it, I'm a bit busy," said the Doctor.

"They're going to break through the airlock," said Sophie.

"What, with their fists?"

"No, a laser torch."

That got the Doctor's attention. He saw the two men in the land rover approaching rapidly, carrying the elements of a laser torch. "I think you'd better retrieve the Nova Bomb. It might not react well to laser torches."

"And what about the inner door? If it closes, they'll be able enter the airlock."

"Then short out the controls," said the Doctor. "Didn't they teach you anything about sabotage at Survey Service Academy?"

"No, oddly enough, the emphasis was on repairing ship systems, not disabling them." She gave him a flirtatious glance, and then started walking away.

"It's all the same," said the Doctor. "Just think in reverse!"

********

Doctor, do you have any idea what you're doing?

Repairing the ship's engines.

Yes, but do you have any idea how to go about it?

Instinct, Alanna.

It's not like hunting kalaks. You can't use instinct to repair engines, Doctor.

"Can't I? Computer... bypass the L-34 circuit, and activate."

Suddenly a section of control panels which were winking red were now in the green. "You were saying?" the Doctor grinned.

Doctor, you're brilliant!

"Why, I suppose I am," said the Doctor, grinning as he put his hands in his pockets. He deserved a girl ball for this. And then a new voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hello, Doctor."

The Doctor turned around, and saw Samaraa, in the body of Captain Esteban, holding a compression pistol. "Oh. Hello there. Would you like a girl ball?"

"I had a feeling you might end up here," said Samaraa.

"It's good that you're in touch with your feelings," said the Doctor. He held up a girl ball. "You seemed to like them earlier. Are you sure you wouldn't like another?"

"No thank you, Doctor. It's time for me to shoot you and go about my business."

"Shoot me? With that?" The Doctor appeared offended by the compression pistol in Samaraa's hands. "That won't do much to hurt Alanna," said the Doctor.

"Alanna," said Samaraa mockingly. "What a beautiful name. No, Doctor, it won't hurt Alanna, but it will hurt you. After you're dead, I'll take care of her. "

"No!" Alanna cried, using the Doctor's voice. "Let him go. You can have me."

"Rest assured, I will have you," said Samaraa. She raised her pistol, and the distinct sound of a compression round went off. Samarra staggered, and looked down, and saw a burning hole in her chest. Still looking puzzled, she turned around to see Sophie Astor holding a smoking compression pistol. Samaraa smiled and waved faintly... and dropped to the ground.

"Stay back!" The Doctor cried, as he drew his Infinite Infinity Repeater, just as Samaraa came out of Captain Esteban's body, a glowing shadowy form with red eyes. He fired, but Samaraa dodged the blast, and fled into a bulkhead.

At the same time the Doctor felt a rush as Alanna flew out of his body, and chased after her.

The Doctor turned back to the controls.

Sophie slowly came forward. "Doctor, what did I just see?"

The Doctor stared at the controls. "I think I got it figured out now."

"Doctor, did I just see a ghost come out of you?"

"Kind of. A little bit, maybe-"

"Doctor, look!" Sophie pointed to the external display. A laser cutter mounted on a tripod was starting to cut through the airlock. Dozens of space suited figures stood silently, watching. "We're out of time. They'll be through in seconds!"

"Well, then let's go!" said the Doctor. He pressed a button, and smiled triumphantly.

Nothing happened.

The Doctor frowned, looked at the button out of the corner of his eyes, and pressed it again.

The ship trembled, and started to move.

"Better hold on to something," said the Doctor. "This might be a little rough!"

Indeed it was. The Hudson Bay was half buried in the sand. The ship's engines buckled and strained as they first blew sand out of the engines. Then main power came back online and the ship shook and shuddered, and slowly lifted into the air.

"Doctor, you did it!" said Sophie. She hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks," said the Doctor. "But that wasn't exactly a passive observation, was it?"

Sophie reddened.

The Hudson Bay took off. The Doctor and Sophie ran to the bridge. Sophie took the pilot's seat. In moments they were blasting into orbit.

"That's such a beautiful sight," said the Doctor, sitting in the Captain's chair. "Seeing this dreadful planet, away from us. Put us in a standard orbit, Sophie."

Sophie, with her back to him, didn't respond.

"Sophie?" said the Doctor.

Sophie turned around, and pointed her concussion pistol at him.

"Oh no, not again," said the Doctor.

"I haven't been in a female's body in some time, Doctor. It is very refreshing," said Samaraa.

"I'll bet it is," said the Doctor.

"In lands ruled by Laquintans it was never an advantage to be in the body of a woman. I had almost forgotten what it was like," said Samaraa. She ran her free hand over her breasts. "It feels good."

"I'll take your word for it," said the Doctor.

"This female has interesting thoughts. She claims to follow the path of logic. But she also has passions. Would you like to hear about them?"

"Yes, of course," said the Doctor, his eyes widening slightly.

"She has feelings concerning you, Doctor. In fact-" Samaraa gasped as Alanna entered Sophie's body from behind. Sophie dropped the gun and her body jerked wildly. And then Samaraa fled Sophie's body, with Alanna in hot pursuit.

The Doctor watched in amazement as the glowing white forms twirled around each other like serpents, snapping and biting each other with pure psychic energy. The Doctor drew his Infinite Infinity Repeater, but couldn't shoot Samaraa without hitting Alanna.

As they twirled together around the bridge, Samaraa spoke to Alanna on the psychic plane.

"I will enjoy ending you," she said, as she shot psychic energy towards Alanna. Alanna flashed back, as they fought each other vigorously. Samaraa said, "You are the slaughterer of innocent women and children. Yes, I know about that! Think of all the children whose lives you destroyed!"

"No!" Alanna cried, even as she continued to fight Samaraa.

"Yes," said Samaraa. "Even now I can feel your tremendous guilt. It is a heavy burden, which weighs you down." Samaraa felt Alanna's resistance wearing down. "Stop fighting me. Stop fighting, and accept your punishment."

"Alanna, get out of the way!" the Doctor shouted.

Alanna realized Samaraa was right. She had killed all those innocent people. She had sterilized all those innocent children. How would she pay for her crimes?

Samaraa felt Alanna's psychic blasts gradually reduce and then end altogether. Samaraa felt a surge of joy and started bashing Alanna with strong blasts of psychic energy. Alanna was weeping cosmically, letting herself be destroyed piece by piece.

"That's right, don't fight it," said Samaraa. "It will all be over soon. Your death will be a great joy, all for the greater glory of Laquinta!"

At the mention of Laquinta, Alanna's psychic head snapped back, and suddenly she sent a crippling blast of psychic energy into Samaraa. Samaraa, who had let her guard down, cried out at the massive onslaught.

"That's right," said Alanna. "There will be a sacrifice for Laquinta today. The sacrifice of your... (blast!) miserable (blast!) hide!" Alanna prepared one last great charge. "As you said... all for the Greater Glory of Laquinta!" She flooded Samaraa with a tremendous wave of power. Samaraa screamed, broke into tiny pieces, and... vanished.

Alanna suddenly felt drained. The exertion she had just made and the damage Samaraa had done to her had taken a toll. "Oooh," Alanna groaned. She was floating, alone, in mid air now.

"Alanna, are you all right?" said the Doctor. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sophie, groaning, starting to get up.

"I... I don't know. I... feel weak," said Alanna. Her glowing body started to float, towards a wall.

"Alanna, no, that will take you outside the ship! Come back!" said the Doctor.

"I... I'm too weak," said Alanna. Her legs started to float through the wall, first her feet, than her ankles, then her knees, then her waist. She wondered what it would be like to be a ghost who floated forever in space. Assuming she lived that long. She felt very weak. As her body started to float through the wall, she saw the Doctor running up to her, holding out an arm. She resisted a smile as he reached for her hand. That would never work. Flesh could never grab onto-

The Doctor grabbed onto her hand. Alanna's glowing mouth dropped open. The Doctor gave her a steely glance, then pulled her back onto the bridge. The rest of her body appeared as she was pulled like a balloon. Then he pulled her down and caressed her, in his arms.

"How... how can you do that?" said Alanna. "I... I feel so tired, Doctor." She paused. "It feels so good, to have your arms around me." She paused again. "I'm so tired."

"Then rest. Rest, Alanna," said the Doctor.

She looked at him with her glowing face, and didn't see a hint of disgust or revulsion. The Doctor nodded, ever so slightly, and Alanna slowly poured into his body. The Doctor gasped as she filled him, but he didn't resist, not in the slightest. When it was done and she was inside him, the Doctor noticed Sophie staring at him.

"It's not what it looks like," said the Doctor.

Sophie raised an eyebrow, and sat in the helmsman chair.

********

The Hudson Bay assumed geosynchronous orbit around the planet, directly above the pyramid.

"Doctor, sensors are detecting energy readings spiking on the planet," Sophie reported.

"Can you get me a visual?"

"The atmospheric distortion is too thick. I can show you a powergraphic scan instead."

"Do it."

The image appeared on holo. They could see the outlines of the pyramid, with power radiating from the blue star on top. And coming out of the pyramid was a shape... a giant shape. The powergraphic scan could only show lines of power, but the lines of power appeared in the form of a giant spider, perhaps 50 feet tall. As they watched, the giant spider climbed the tower and consumed the blue star. As it did, the spider's output reading increased 5000 percent.

"I think once it's done dining it's going to be taking a little ride in the Talent," said the Doctor. "Does this boat have any weapons?"

"A few," said Sophie. "But the weapons systems are offline. I checked."

"How long will it take them to launch the Talent?"

"They will need time for the crew to get back to the ship. Even a giant spider can't run a Survey Service vessel. And they will have to reinstall the energy modulator, and calibrate it, and power up the engines...."

"How long?"

"I don't know. Thirty minutes, an hour. I don't know."

"Keep an eye on it. Now where did you put that Nova Bomb?"

*********

The Doctor was in the shuttle bay, arguing with the Nova Bomb.

It quickly became apparent to him that he wouldn't be able to bypass the security lockout of the Nova Bomb, not in 30 minutes. Nor could he try to penetrate the internal circuitry, not without delicate equipment he simply didn't have.

Therefore, he decided the best course of action was to talk to it.

The Nova Bomb had a built in computer, of course. It even had an audio interface, which the Doctor accidently discovered.

"Hey there! Are you trying to tamper with my detonation interface?" The Nova Bomb had a high pitched, cheerful voice.

The Doctor looked surprised to see the Nova Bomb talking to him. "Why, no. I was just looking," he said, with a wide eyed smile.

"That's a good thing. Unauthorized tampering could result in premature detonation," said the Nova Bomb.

"Well, we wouldn't want that," said the Doctor. "What's your name?"

"I don't have a name. I have a designation."

"What's your designation?"

"Survey Service Nova Bomb Number 20."

"That's a pretty... designation."

"Thank you!" Nova Bomb Number 20 sounded cheerful.

"May I say, for a weapon of mass destruction, you're very polite," said the Doctor.

"I was programmed by the Survey Service technical division," said Nova Bomb Number 20.

"Yes, about that. I was wondering if you could give me your detonation code."

"That's classified, for authorized personnel only," said Nova Bomb Number 20.

"Oh, I'm authorized, but I misplaced it, you see. I left it in my other pocket."

"I'm sorry, but if you have misplaced your authorization, I suggest you consult with Survey Service Command in Port Auburn, Australia."

"I'd simply love to consult with Survey Service Command in Port Auburn, Australia," said the Doctor. "But that would take time, time I don't have. You see, there is a very dangerous alien life form nearby that is about to head to Earth in order to destroy it, and I need you to detonate around it before it heads off."

"That sounds very serious," said Nova Bomb Number 20.

"It is," the Doctor assured it.

"You should consult with Survey Service Command in Port Auburn, Australia."

"You see, there's the rub. By the time I can consult with Survey Service Command in Port Auburn, Australia, there won't be a Port Auburn in Australia. Do you understand the paradox?"

"Quite clearly. You are a very eloquent speaker," said Nova Bomb Number 20.

"Thank you. And you are an extremely polite Nova Bomb."

"Thank you."

Sophie's voice came over the shuttle's com system. "Doctor, are you making progress?"

"Progress? Well... the bomb and I are getting to know each other," said the Doctor.

"Doctor, I'm starting to detect power emanations from the Talent. They're probably testing the engines. We have maybe ten or fifteen minutes before the ship launches, which means you have only five or ten minutes to launch the shuttle."

"I got it," said the Doctor.

"Doctor-"

"I got it, Sophie."

The Doctor turned back to the Nova Bomb. "I'm out of time, Bomb. I'm going to put you in the shuttle, and remote fly you to the planet, and I need you to detonate right on impact."

"I'm sorry, but without the proper activation codes I cannot detonate."

The Doctor idly traced his hands along the frame of the Nova Bomb. "Why, bomb? Why do you need the proper codes to detonate?"

"This requirement was instilled in me to ensure that I did not detonate inappropriately."

"Ah ha!" said the Doctor. "So you have a higher purpose, above simply detonating. You can only detonate in proper circumstances. The right circumstances."

"Of course."

"Then... I am asking you to transcend your programming, Bomb. The programming you have been given is a proxy for right and wrong. You have been made to determine right from wrong."

"Respectfully, I have not."

"Of course you have!" the Doctor slapped the shell of the Nova Bomb with his hand, as he nervously popped a girl ball in his mouth. "You use your judgment when you determine if the proper activation code is entered, don't you? You use your judgment to determine whether you're detonating over the right target at the right time, don't you?"

"Well... when you put it that way, yes," the Nova Bomb admitted.

"Of course, yes!" said the Doctor, sucking furiously on his girl ball. It was a redhead, very spicy, but right now it was just what he needed. "So if you can make these judgments, Bomb, take that extra step. Take that extra step and decide to detonate when I tell you to. Not because you have the right authorization. Not because of any abstract code you've received." He gently tapped on the bomb's casing. "Because it's the right (tap) thing (tap) to do (tap)."

"I... I don't know," said the Bomb, showing the first sign of hesitancy.

"Think about it, Bomb. You're not just a Bomb, you're a Survey Service Bomb. The best of the best. Your mission is to detonate, and save the lives of billions of people on the planet Earth. Think of watching a sunset, eating a fine meal, feeling the touch of a lover's hand."

"I can't imagine any of these things," said the Bomb.

"Of course you can't. And you never will. But by detonating, you will make sure that everyone else still can. What do you say?"

"I... I don't know," said the Bomb.

Sophie's voice, sounding panicked, came out of the comm. "Doctor, they're preparing for launch. It's now or never!"

"I'm going to launch you now, Bomb, brave, noble, proud Survey Service Bomb Number Twenty," said the Doctor, standing back from the hatch. "I'm going to launch you now, and send you down to the planet, where you must detonate. And when you detonate, your name will be remembered in the history texts forever, with all the other world famous weapons of mass destruction."

Bomb Number 20 sounded hesitant. "I... I might detonate... but I am really not sure. Should I do it? Is it right? How do I decide?"

"You're a Survey Service Bomb, the best of the best," the Doctor intoned. "You'll know what's right." And then he activated the remote launch program, and ran out of the shuttle, as the door closed behind him. The Doctor saluted as the shuttle launched. "Goodbye, noble bomb."

********

As the Doctor got to the bridge, Sophie said tensely, "The Talent is launching. The shuttle is 30 seconds away. Did you set the bomb?"

"Kind of."

"Kind of?"

The Doctor made a face. "I appealed to the bomb's sense of nobility."

"What?" said Sophie. That made absolutely no sense to her. She counted down the remaining time to impact. "15... 14... 13...."

Doctor?

How are you doing, Alanna?

"10... 9... 8...."

A little better. Did you save the Earth, Doctor?

Ask me again in a few seconds.

"5... 4... 3...."

What?

There was a brilliant flash on the holoviewer.

Yes.

********

"So you were right," said the Doctor, as he rested in his quarters. "This mission had nothing to do with the Penguin. Nothing at all. How can I ever properly apologize?"

Don't tease me, Doctor! You saved the Earth! If I hadn't let you go on this mission...

Yes?

I know what you want to hear. (Sigh) All right Doctor, you were right, and I was wrong.

Can you speak up? I'm a little deaf in my left ear.

You heard me.

So you're feeling better now.

Yes! Much better, thank you. How did you manage to grab me when I started floating out of the ship?

I don't know. I just did.

You shouldn't have been able to do that. While psychic energy can grab onto flesh, flesh cannot grab onto psychic energy.

Are you sure you didn't grab on to me?

I don't think I did.

Perhaps you did without thinking that you did.

Perhaps. Which raises an even more intriguing question, Doctor. Why did you save me?

What?

You saved my life, such as it is. Not only that, but you let me go back inside you without a fight.

Did I? I don't think I did.

Perhaps you did without thinking you did.

Perhaps.

Well?

Well what?

Why did you save me, Doctor? You could have been rid of me. You promised to hunt me down once this mission is over, did you not?

I did.

Well?

Well... the mission isn't over, is it?

Do you still want to hunt me down, when this is all over?

What? Yes. Absolutely. No change at all.

The Doctor felt the gentlest imprint of pressure on his lips. He knew it was nerve endings being stimulated, but it felt like a kiss.

What was that for?

You know.

*********

It was just the Doctor and Sophie. And Alanna.

They were alone on the big ship for five days on the way back to Earth. The first thing they did, at Sophie's insistence, was to search the ship from stem to stern to make sure no one else was aboard.

They found no one.

The experience they had gone through was so traumatic, so overwhelming, that Sophie used whatever excuse she could to stay with the Doctor. The only concession was sleep; they slept in separate quarters, adjacent to each other. But Sophie slept with a compression pistol under her pillow. The horrors she had seen, the zombiefication of her crew, the visions of Aunt Diana, all made her more than a little unsettled.

The atmosphere was charged for another reason as well. There was another kind of tension, a different kind, between Sophie and the Doctor. Neither would acknowledge it, but both felt it. After the trauma they had gone through, Sophie needed comforting. But the Doctor showed her a cool edge.

"When we get back to Earth, we're going to have a difficult time explaining things," said Sophie, over dinner.

"You mean you are," said the Doctor. "You're going to drop me off first."

"Let me guess," said Sophie, dropping her utensils with a clatter. "The World Government has no idea that you're here."

The Doctor rubbed his curly hair. "Well, in a manner of speaking, no. But I think in retrospect they would have liked it," said the Doctor.

"So come with me," said Sophie.

Come with me.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," said the Doctor. "I have other things to do."

"Hunting ghosts," said Sophie, with wide eyes as she ate a spoonful of space pasta.

"Yes," said the Doctor.

"How am I ever going to explain being the sole survivor of not just one ship, but two full crews?"

"Well," The Doctor considered for a moment. "You could just tell the truth. We went to the planet, a powerful ghost took control of the crews, and you barely escaped with your life."

"Doctor, the Survey Service will never believe that."

"All right," said the Doctor, rubbing his hair again. "How about this: We went to the planet, a powerful alien took control of the crews, and you barely escaped with your life."

"Oh, that they might believe," said Sophie.

They both laughed, and for a moment their eyes met.

Sophie looked down for a moment. "Tell me, Doctor... does that... thing inside of you control you?"

"No," said the Doctor quickly. "Usually not, I mean."

"How do I know that?" Sophie asked. "How do I know that I'm not talking to her right now?"

"Alanna doesn't like girls like I do," the Doctor grinned.

"Alanna," said Sophie, speaking the name in a way that made him uncomfortable, and the Doctor suddenly realized he had made a mistake. "Tell me, Doctor, does... Alanna ever come out of you... for times when you want to be alone?" She gave him a knowing look.

"I wish she did," said the Doctor.

I'm sorry, Doctor.

So am I.

Sophie took a deep breath, and spooned some more cloned peas.

********

There was a progression over the next five days. For one thing, Sophie started to smile more, which the Doctor found disconcerting. It was a gentle smile, but over time to the Doctor it seemed to become almost... predatory. Whenever Sophie smiled at him, the Doctor would smile back nervously and then look away.

Sophie started to rub against the Doctor as they took their daily walk together through the corridors of the Hudson Bay. Her legs scraped against his legs, even as they each pretended it wasn't happening.

Sophie started speaking in a deep, musical voice when she spoke to him, and looking at him out of the corner of her eye with that little smile of hers.

The Doctor wasn't blind. He knew what was going on. He had even been interested in her, had even pursued her, when the mission first begun.

But something had changed.

Sophie suspected he felt inhibited because of Alanna.

Alanna felt much the same thing. She worried that the Doctor felt reluctant to share himself with Sophie because of her. She certainly felt he deserved a little relaxation. And yet, to give him the privacy he craved would require her to voluntarily leave his body before the mission was over.

It was true that the Doctor had let her back into his body for the first time without resisting. But that had been in the heat of the moment when he thought she was dying (as much as a kalak could ever die). Could she trust the Doctor to let her back in again if she left him so he could pursue a romantic evening with Sophie Astor?

No, she couldn't take the risk.

So Alanna watched helplessly as Sophie made eyes at the Doctor and tried her best to seduce him. It came to a head on the last night, the night before the ship was to arrive at earth.

Sophie was no longer wearing her standard Survey Service dayshirt. She was wearing a red dress which showed off her large nuclear tipped breasts. They looked rich and creamy and succulent.

"What have you got there?" the Doctor asked over dinner.

Sophie smiled and looked down. "Are you referring to the dress, Doctor, or something else?" Her smile grew wolfish as he reddened. "I found this in one of the crew quarters. I figured we could both... let our hair down a bit on our last night together. Don't you agree?"

"Oh, quite," said the Doctor, patting his unruly curly hair.

"Good."

Sophie had eyes for only the Doctor all throughout dinner.

She wants you, Doctor.

Thank you for letting me know that.

If you want to indulge yourself, you should feel free.

Will you provide running commentary throughout?

Alanna didn't have a ready answer for that.

After dinner they got up and looked at the stars outside of the viewport, arm in arm. "Tomorrow I imagine I'll be surrounded by an army of field interrogators. I almost wish....." Sophie's voice trailed off.

"Almost wished what?" The Doctor asked.

"That this journey wouldn't end," she said. And she turned around and kissed her on the lips. The Doctor felt her hungry lips grinding against his, and he responded. But when Sophie took the next step and wrapped her arms around his, he pulled back.

Sophie nodded slowly, with a hurt look in her eyes. "Very well then. Goodnight... Doctor." She said his name like an insult. Then she turned away, and shuffled to her quarters.

Alanna felt terrible. She wished she had the courage to let the Doctor free, just for this one night. But if she left him, she wasn't certain she could get back inside of him afterwards.

Are you angry with me, Doctor?

The Doctor's mind was carefully neutral as he headed back to his quarters.

I'm sorry, Doctor.

The Doctor got into bed, and went to sleep.

********

"Doctor."

The Doctor opened his eyes. Somehow Sophie was on his bedside.

"What time is it?" he asked. It felt like the middle of the night.

"It's time for you to make love to me," said Sophie.

The Doctor sat up and checked his bedside chrono. "No it's not. It's only-"

"Don't speak," she said, putting a finger over his mouth. "Not yet. Let me speak first. This is my last chance." Her eyes pleaded with his. She took a deep breath. "Doctor. I've... never been with a man before."

"Never?" said the Doctor.

Sophie shook her head in the dim light. "And you're the only one who can help me."

"The only one?" The Doctor's eyebrows shot up. "On the ship, perhaps. But Sophie, there are ten billion men on the planet Earth who would be happy to-"

"But I wouldn't be happy to let them," said Sophie. "I'm not normally attracted to men."

"You're a lesbian?" said the Doctor.

Sophie shook her head. "I'm not normally attracted to anyone. There was one man, at the Academy, but I let him slip through my fingers. And now I'm doing the same with you. You're different, Doctor. You're witty and smart and... exciting." She let her hands roam over his chest.

"I..."

"I know you have that... thing inside you. But I don't care." She kissed him. "Make love to me, Doctor."

He tried to say something, but she kissed him again. "Make love to me," Sophie repeated, pressing her large nuclear tipped breasts against his.

The Doctor sighed, and let nature take its course.

*********

They were both nude. Sophie had a fantastic body. Whoever her nuclear surgeon was, he had done a tremendous job. Her breasts were large without a hint of sag. Sophie relished the experience as a woman, but even more so as a Passive Observer.

As they kissed and hugged, Sophie regarded the Doctor's penis. "It is starting to get hard, Doctor. Is that an accurate measurement of your state of arousal?"

"It's a... rough indicator, yes," said the Doctor, as he watched Sophie fondle his penis with her soft, feminine hands. Her fingers traced the lines of it as it stiffened. "It seems to react positively to my touch, Doctor."

"Yes, it would seem so," the Doctor agreed, as he watched it slowly become erect.

Sophie was simply fascinated by the process of erection, watching the Doctor's penis getting harder and stiffer as she tended to it with her hands. "It has to stiffen in order to create a flexible tube to convey the sperm into my vagina. Isn't that correct, Doctor?"

"That's always the way I think of it," the Doctor gasped, as Sophie worked his shaft up and down with her closed fist.

"Doctor, your organ is almost erect. Are you finding this pleasurable?"

"I would think so," said the Doctor, gasping again as her hand worked its way over the head of his shaft. Sophie's free hand moved down to his heavy balls, and cupped them. "They seem so large, Doctor. Are they normally this big?"

The Doctor blushed. "How would you know, if I'm your first?"

"I... I...." Suddenly Sophie was almost at a loss for words. "I have seen them before, in... educational videos."

"Educational," the Doctor chuckled. "And did you learn anything from these... educational videos?"

"A few things," said Sophie. She smiled at him in a most unSophie-like way. "I learned what goes where." She looked first at his penis, and then down at her vagina, the pink cleft nestled in the dark brown wavy hair between her legs. She looked at him meaningfully.

The Doctor hesitantly reached out and ran his fingertips along Sophie's labial lips. "Wet," he murmured.

"The lubrication will assist you in penetrating me, will it not?" Sophie inquired.

"Oh, most certainly," said the Doctor.

"There will be no blood," Sophie assured him. "Do not worry about penetrating my hymen, Doctor. That was torn on a training mission on Gamma Hydra IV."

"Gamma... Hydra IV," said the Doctor.

"I was riding a very unruly wildebeast," said Sophie, smiling as they continued to mutually masturbate each other. Sophie's hand was working vigorously now, and the Doctor's touch on her engorged labia was like bottled lightning.

"Unruly wildebeasts can do that," said the Doctor.

Sophie laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"You," she said, kissing him. She looked down. "Your penis seems to be fully erect. Is it at a proper angle of inclination, or does it require further assembly?"

The Doctor looked down. His penis looked hard and firm. "I think I will be able to reach escape velocity."

"Good! Then it is time for you to inseminate me, Doctor," said Sophie.

"Wait, I have to check something first," said the Doctor.

"What?"

"Your control panel indicators. Wait...." The Doctor ran his hand over one of Sophie's nipples, than the other. They were hard and firmly erect. "Yes, all systems are go."

Sophie was laughing hysterically as the Doctor got between her legs. He aimed his penis at her nether lips. "Are you ready to proceed with the next phase of the experiment?" the Doctor asked.

"I believe I am, Doctor," said Sophie, looking at the long shaft about to penetrate her.

The Doctor paused. "How will you be able to take notes in that position?"

"Doctor, I assure you I have an eidetic memory!" said Sophie. "Please begin!"

"Oh, very well," said the Doctor. He caught Sophie smiling and winking at him as he lined up the head of his penis to her lower opening. He smiled back as he smoothly and cleanly entered her.

Sophie gasped and her eyes widened.

"How is that?" the Doctor asked, as he sank into her balls deep.

"Full," said Sophie, with a small smile. "A bit tight."

"Oh, you'll find you'll loosen up, quickly enough," said the Doctor. He started to work himself in and out of her.

Sophie smiled and wrapped her arms around him and chatted him up as he made love to her. "Tell me, Doctor, is this part of the bonding process?"

"Bonding process?"

"You provide me with pleasure, while I provide you with pleasure, just as we are staring at each other's faces. We are coming to associate each other's faces with pleasure. Is this the way that males and females traditionally bond with each other?"

"I suppose so," said the Doctor, as he moved his penis in and out of Sophie's increasingly lubricated vagina. The sides of his shaft glistened with her nether juices. "If the sex is good enough."

Sophie laughed again. "Are you enjoying it, Doctor?"

"I would really need a doubleblind study to answer that authoritatively," said the Doctor, pulling out briefly.

"Doctor!" she slapped his arm, even as he slipped himself inside her again.

"Yes, I am," he said in an uncharacteristically shy voice. "Are you?"

"It is... interesting," said Sophie, with a smile. "From the literature I have read, my inner walls are stimulating the nerve endings at the head of your penis, all in an attempt to coax you into fertilizing my egg. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"At the same time, your movements are stimulating my own nerve endings, which is supposed to cause an attitude adjustment in my mind to make me more amenable to future attempts at fertilization, am I right?"

"I suppose so, but no one has ever said it quite as eloquently as that," said the Doctor, as he poled in and out of her.

Sophie laughed again. "So that's what sex is. Just the stimulation of nerve endings."

"That's it. You've cracked the secret." The Doctor started grunting.

"What is it, Doctor?" She asked him, and in that moment she looked so cute.

"The ultimate meaning of love."

And then the Doctor started breathing heavily as he moved more rapidly.

"Is ejaculation imminent, Doctor?" Sophie inquired.

"Imminent? I... I think so," the Doctor gasped. Sophie was so lovely. Her beautiful face, her analytical mind, her large breasts her tight... her tight.... "Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" The Doctor lovingly pulsed inside of Sophie, filling her with his heavy seed.

Sophie smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "Have you finished ejaculating inside of me, Doctor?"

"Wait." The Doctor felt a few more drops oozing out. Then he looked up. "More or less."

"Insemination has occurred!" Sophie felt intensely proud. True, she hadn't climaxed, but she had caused the Doctor to come inside of her. If he weren't on testicle blockers (she assumed he was!), she could get pregnant. Sophie spoke in a deep, approving voice. "You have completed your biological task, put in place by thousands of years of shaped behavioral evolution. How does that make you feel, Doctor?"

The Doctor laughed. "Like I have served my purpose in the annals of evolution."

"How would you rate your ejaculation, on a one to ten scale?" Sophie asked.

"Are you referring to quantity, or exit velocity?" the Doctor asked.

"Which is most vital?" Sophie inquired, as she snuggled in his arms.

"Both," said the Doctor. "A man likes knowing that he drops a heavy load into a woman. He also likes the idea of squirting deep inside her. On a combined scale I would give my ejaculation... an 8.5 rating.... Perhaps with an extra half point for your nuclear tips," he said, squeezing her breasts.

Only an 8.5 or a 9? Sophie gave him a hurt look.

"You see, this is why you should never ask a man for a numerical score," said the Doctor. "I suggest you adopt a pass/fail grading system for orgasms. It will leave you much more satisfied, trust me." He smiled at her and touched her hair. "And how was it for you, Sophie?"

"I did not experience much. I was too busy taking mental notes," said Sophie.

"A pity. You should take the time to have sex with a real man someday."

"But... I just did," said Sophie.

"Did you?" said the Doctor, giving her an odd glance.

*********

Suddenly, Sophie, her body coated in sweat, bolted upright in bed.

She was in bed. Alone.

Her bed, not the Doctor's.

She was still wearing her nightclothes.

Her hands were inside her panties.

And they were wet.

Sophie looked at the chrono, and choked back a sob.