The Doctor scanned the girl's body. "She'll be fine, as soon as I get her away from you lot."

"Are you prepared to make an offer then?" Shen's eyes reflected the light like a dead fish's. Ignoring the glance Dorium shot at him, he took a step forward. "So, to whom shall we send the bill then, Smith?"

"My name isn't Smith."

"Well, then are you ready to drop this pretense and tell me who you really are?"

"You don't want to know."

"Oh, I think I do." Dorium interjected.

"Don't toy with me. I know what you're thinking: oh, he's just a silly young man with a bowtie, what can he do to us? You think this is none of my business, but when you sell people like fish and chips, when you try to make the perfect soldier, when you create a child as a weapon—"His voice dropped into icy calm. "Then it becomes my business."

"Again, what is your business?"

The Doctor pulled out his sonic and tossed it into the air. "I could destroy your circuit board with a few pulses. Just answer a few questions. Who requested this?"

"The Church."

'Doesn't clarify things much. What church?"

"Modern. 51st century." Shen gulped.

"And they wanted a weapon?"

"Yes. They wish silence to fall. By destroying the mighty warrior, they hope to bring about their goal."

"And this is the result of their grand scheme? One terrified child?" The Doctor gestured to the huddled lump on the floor.

"I had a rudimentary knowledge of genetic engineering from previous projects—the training arena is just a cover story," Shen babbled. "The process was so complicated, you would not believe how many failures I suffered, how many times I contemplated giving up, but I persevered. And she is just the beginning."

"I knew someone like you once…an egomaniac determined to create his own race of beings, war machines without a single weakness."

"It wasn't my idea! I work on commission!"

"He died at their hands. More than once, actually, but that's a long story. And his race spread terror and destruction among the stars. That is not going to happen again."

"You want to kill it?" Shen fumbled for a pistol. "I can do that."

"Guns! What is it with the guns?" The Doctor snatched it away and kicked it into a far corner. "No, I do not want you to kill it. And it's not an it. Doesn't she have a name?"

Shen shrugged. "The trainer might have given it one."

"And this trainer?"

"Dead."

A concrete bunker rose out of the empty streets. Luke circled it from a distance. "No doors—just a square opening a meter high. "

He stepped up to the wall. "Well, I hope he's in here. Here goes nothing."

"…and if you would just let me find my friends, I would go on my way."

"No need." Luke announced, his head sticking out of the glass cage on the far wall. "Hello, Doctor. I don't suppose you've found a door."

"Luke! How did you find me? "

"Just kept heading in this direction—oh, this is a tight squeeze. What is it, an air vent or something?"

"No, that's how the project gets in." Shen interrupted.

"So, not an air vent. But your mum had experience with air vents. Can you get your hands out of the shaft?"

"I think so…there!" Luke winced. "Could you give me a hand?"

"Of course—excuse me a moment, gentlemen. " The Doctor grabbed Luke's hands and pulled, letting him tumble into an upright position. "So, now that we have that problem sorted, I'll just be off." He knelt by the girl. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't worry now. I'll take care of that."

"Um, Doctor," Luke began. "I don't think the blue guy likes that idea much."

"He doesn't have to like it."' The Doctor bent over the girl. "This is going to hurt. But trust me. I'm the Doctor."

She stared up at him, eyes wide. Finally she nodded.

The Doctor flipped a few settings on the sonic and inserted one end in her left ear.

Her eyes rolled up in her skull. Her fists clenched and her tongue lolled out of her mouth. For a moment, Luke thought she was dead. Then she went limp.

"She'll be fine. I just disabled the electrodes in her brain. Luke, the teleport's in the corner, I'll give you the teleport coordinates to send us back to the TARDIS."

"You think you're just going to walk off?" Dorium protested.

"Well, I could have linked those electrodes to your brain, or stuffed you in a cage, or even killed you, but I don't really want to do that. So I'll just leave you to the mercies of your employers. " The Doctor picked up the sleeping girl. "Luke, I see you've got K9. Good, let's go."

"Who do you think you are?" Shen stepped up to him.

"Me? I said call me Smith, but most people call me the Doctor."

As the Doctor stepped onto the transmit platform, he noticed Dorium's skin turning robin's egg blue.

"Well, this is the TARDIS. What do you think of it?" The Doctor spread out his arms.

She was awake now, staring around the glass room. "Bigger on the inside."

He winked. "Yes, you'll get used to it. Now, first things first. Do you have a name? Preferably something short enough that I can shout it when you decide to wander off?"

"My trainer used to call me Gwen."

"That's a pretty name. " Luke took her wing in his hand. "Come on, let me show you around. You won't believe what's in here."

NEXT TIME in The Last and the Only:

Gwen pressed her hands against the clear surface, trying to break free. "I can't !" she called, but her words could not penetrate the prison. Down below, she could see another module closing in around Luke and the Doctor. Above their heads, halfway down their bodies—then arcs of blue energy and the Doctor was gone.

A Prison of Air