The world is full of spiderwebs
The threads are stuck to me and you
Careful what you're wishing for
'Cause when you gain 
You just might lose your spiderweb.
	--Joan Osborne



Chapter 3:  SPIDERWEB

	Ace instinctively grabbed for her gun but soon realized she didn't have 
one.  Her head swiveled from side to side, trying to watch both Daleks at the 
same time.  The three of them slowly backed up until they were against the 
wall.  Ace's well-trained mind ticked over options.  Fight?  Even if she had any 
weapons handy she could only attack one at a time, and the other would finish 
them off.  Run?  There was nowhere to go.  The TARDIS was a good twenty 
feet away and she'd be dead before she got halfway there.  That didn't leave 
many options.   The Daleks, as usual, were dominating the conversation.
	"YOU ARE THE DOCTOR."
	"Very good!  Now let me try:  you're a Dalek, unless I'm very much 
mistaken."
	"YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE DALEKS."
	"Oh, this is great fun.  No no, don't tell me...you want to conquer the 
galaxy and crush the lower races!"  Ace rolled her eyes.  At least her Doctor 
wasn't flippant at inappropriate moments.  Usually.
	"YOU WILL COME WITH US."
	The Doctor cleared his throat.  "So it seems."  The Daleks nudged the 
three travelers into the corridor and then herded them away from the 
TARDIS, one leading the way and one bringing up the rear so their prisoners 
could not escape.  If there was one thing Daleks excelled at, Ace mused, it was 
escorting prisoners.
	"What's the plan?" Ace whispered.
	"What makes you think I have one?" he whispered back.
	"You always have before."
	"Unfortunately, I didn't count on finding myself on a Dalek warship at 
this particular moment," he said with false magnanimity.  Ace could feel his 
suspicion, which she perhaps deserved.  How had they gotten here?  Had she 
brought them here?  Had *Fenric* brought them here, through her?
	"YOU WILL BE SILENT."  The Doctor and Romana exchanged a glance, and 
Ace ground her jaws together.  This was getting out of hand quickly.


	Romana rose from the plush chair and went to the Doctor's side.  "So 
what do we do?"
	"Well, if Fenric is trying to prevent me from playing the fateful chess 
game it stands to reason that I should make sure the game is played."
	"Off to Constantinople, then."
	"Quite."  He looked at her.  "If, however, he plans to kill me...that could 
be a bit more of a problem.  If my fourth self dies in the past, my personal 
history could start to unravel.  Everything I've done since then could be 
altered or even reversed, not to mention everything Ace has done.  The 
implications are quite staggering."  With this comforting statement he turned 
on his heel and walked out.  Romana followed him into the console room.  "We'll 
take ourselves to Constantinople just before the game is supposed to occur.  If 
he shows up to play the game, fine.  If he doesn't show up, I'll do it myself.  It 
matters not which of us defeats Fenric as long as it happens when it's 
supposed to."
	"This is a dangerous game you're playing, Doctor.  Tampering with your 
own timeline."
	"I am aware of that, but it was not I who made the opening gambit."  He 
bit his lower lip.  "And with each passing moment I become more and more 
anxious about what's happening to my fourth self.  If all were well, wouldn't 
Ace have been back by now?  I would surely have attempted to return her as 
close to her point of departure as possible."
	"If he died, would you even be aware of it?  Alterations in the timeline 
do not affect Time Lords, we exist outside of time."
	He shook his head at her.  "You've never experienced this, Romana, but 
unfortunately I have.  When the memories or experiences of one's former 
selves are erased or stricken, there are consequences... mental consequences. 
 But just the omission of the chess game alone could have drastic implications 
and introduce enormous paradoxes.  Think of it:  if the game is not played, 
Fenric will be free for all time and Ace will never meet me.  Hence, she cannot 
be tossed backwards in time to my fourth self as she just was.  Ergo, my 
fourth self will go on to play the game unimpeded and Fenric will be imprisoned 
which means that Ace *will* meet me just as I remember it happening.  Do 
you get it?  It's a temporal causality loop, a very vicious little circle, and the 
laws of time are not supposed to allow it, but the laws of time are not as rigid 
as your Academy professors would have you believe.  Neither Ace's nor our 
memories would be affected, but the consequences to the rest of the universe 
could be disastrous."
	Romana nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line.  "We'd better not waste 
any time, then."


	The patrol Daleks led them to a ten by ten cell, locked the door after 
them and immediately left.  Ace stood at the tiny window in the cell door and 
watched them go.  "I don't get it," she said.  "They should have killed us on the 
spot.  Daleks are not known for their sentimentality.  They must be waiting 
for something."
	"Perhaps they just don't want to kill their own agent," Romana said 
archly.  Ace whirled to face the Time Lady, who was staring at her intently, 
her hands on her hips.  Ace glanced at the Doctor, who was watching them 
with calm interest but did not look surprised.
	"What's that supposed to mean?"
	"Why are we here, Ace?  Did Davros send you to collect us?  What grisly 
fate does he have planned for us this time?"
	Ace slowly raised a finger and pointed at Romana.  "If you're suggesting 
that I am in league with these Daleks..."
	"I'll do more than suggest it, I'll say it out loud.  You were at the 
controls when we landed here.  You could have intended all along to get us on 
this ship."
	Ace sighed and dropped her hand.  "I wish I could deny it, Romana."
	The Doctor straightened up, his eyes bulging.  "You admit you're working 
for these Daleks?" he demanded, incredulous.
	"No!  But I might have landed us here without knowing I was doing it."
	Romana threw up her hands.  "Oh yes, I forgot, the mythical Fenric can 
control your actions, of course this all occurs completely without your 
knowledge or intent.  Very convenient."
	"It's the truth," Ace said wearily, knowing that she was just digging 
herself in deeper.  "And it's most *in*convenient, wouldn't you say?  We need 
to..."  We need to make sure you get to Mesopotamia for the chess game, she'd 
been about to say, but didn't want to reveal that much.  She walked forward to 
look the Doctor in the eye, which was difficult since he was a foot taller than 
she.  "Doctor, you're soon supposed to do something that will have broad-
reaching consequences, for you and for me as well.  Fenric is trying to stop 
you from doing it.  We have to make sure he doesn't succeed."  He looked down 
at her blankly...and he didn't seem convinced.  She leaned against the wall and 
hung her head.  Okay, Ace, how're you getting out of this one?  She looked 
back up at him and the words she'd been about to speak dried up in her throat.  
He was staring at her left hand where it rested upon the wall, a shocked 
expression on his face.  He grabbed her hand and jerked it forward, pulling her 
with it.  Her breath caught as she realized what he was looking at.
	"Where did you get this?" he said, his voice low and edging towards 
angry, holding the ring on her finger up before her eyes.  "This is my mother's 
ring, it's one of a kind."  Her mouth opened and closed a few times but she was 
at a loss.  His eyes narrowed.  "Did the Time Lords send you here?  Or 
perhaps you're some kind of CIA operative?"  Romana came up to stand next 
to them.
	"What's going on?"
	"This ring belonged to my mother," he said, showing it to her.  "Our 
friend here may have been interfering with my personal history.  That's a
very dangerous practice, you know," he said as if he were bestowing advice 
on a recalcitrant student.  He let go of her hand and stepped back.  "I think it's 
time to drop the charade, Ace.  Why don't you tell us who you really are?"
	She scrubbed a hand over her face.  "You want to know where I got this 
ring, Doctor?  Fine, I'll tell you.  It can't possibly matter now."  She moved 
forward and looked him right in the face.  "*You* gave it to me, and we had a 
matching one made for you." 
	The Doctor looked confused.  "I don't quite follow you."
	"I know you don't, but that's what happened."  She shut her eyes briefly 
and plunged ahead.  "That ring is my wedding band, Doctor.  You gave it to me 
because I'm your wife."


	The TARDIS doors opened into a wood outside a city in the desert that 
had been the site of the Doctor's chess game with Fenric.  He and Romana 
ventured outside.
	"Mm, smell that clean air," he commented.  Romana didn't reply.  "The 
city's this way," he said, pointing with his brolly.
	"Where did we land the first time?"
	"Don't you remember?"
	"You wouldn't let me out of the TARDIS, you said I'd be some kind of 
spectacle."
	"Ah.  Well, blond hair is virtually unknown in this part of the world at 
this time and it would have caused quite a stir.  I didn't want to be noticed," he 
said quickly, knowing it wasn't a very convincing rationalization.
	"I see.  And you're not anachronistic in the least."
	"Just my clothing, and these people are used to strangely dressed 
travelers passing through."  He eyed her cloth headdress, which covered the 
controversial hair quite nicely.  "The Gloria Swanson look is definitely you, by 
the way."
	"Let's get on with it, shall we?"
	They picked their way through the underbrush until they reached the 
stone city gates.  The foot traffic through the opening was quite brisk, and 
Romana saw that the Doctor was right.  Among the citizens were a 
surprisingly large number of colorfully dressed travelers bearing mules and 
satchels and bundles of every shape and size.  No one paid her and the Doctor 
any mind at all.  
	Romana followed him through the streets of the city.  The place was 
bustling with activity...people moving here and there bearing baskets and
bags, some dressed in rags while others had servants and ornaments of gold.  
He appeared to know where he was going, although to her it seemed a 
haphazard route through impossibly narrow cluttered streets barely wide 
enough for the carts and animals used by the merchants.  Finally they emerged 
into a sort of town square dominated by a large ornate dwelling guarded by 
men with swords.
	"That's the royal residence," he told her.  "It's there that even now 
seekers of the hand of the king's daughter try their luck at various tasks set 
to them...one of which is to defeat Fenric, although that is not the name he 
takes here."
	"How do they know of Fenric?"
	"It amuses him to present himself as a god to these people.  He appears 
and disappears at his whim, he takes what he pleases and he kills whom he 
wishes.  He is the bane of their existence...and it's that which drew me here in 
the first place."  He checked his pocket watch.  "I'm not due to arrive until 
tomorrow morning.  We need to find a place to stay."
	"Why don't we go back to the TARDIS?"
	"No, I want to keep an eye on things."  He glanced around the square and 
then his bright eyes settled upon a small inn with windows overlooking the
square.  "That looks about right."  Romana was skeptical but followed him into 
the dubious-looking establishment.  The owner was a rather matronly older 
woman.  The Doctor walked right up to her, his best "you can trust me, I'm 
mostly harmless" smile on his face.
	"Do you have any rooms available?" he asked.
	"Only one, I'm afraid," she replied, not unpleasantly.
	"Ah.  We'll take it."
	"You...and the lady?" she asked, doubt creeping into her voice, eyeing 
Romana.  Romana tried to look as innocent as possible.  "She is your...?"
	"Um...my daughter," the Doctor improvised.  The matron's brow 
furrowed even more as she observed the fine lines around Romana's eyes.
	"She cannot be your daughter, she is too old."
	"Oh, but she is.  Allow me to show you...feel her heartbeat," the Doctor 
said, drawing Romana forward.  The matron hesitantly grasped Romana's 
wrist and after a moment drew back.
	"Oh, it is a most unusual rhythm...almost like a horse's hoofbeats."
	"Indeed it is.  Now observe...mine is just the same," he said, extending 
his hand.  Curious now, she grasped the wrist willingly.
	"It *is* the same!"
	"You see?  Everyone in our family shares this strange affliction.  It is an 
oddity of the blood, the doctors tell us...my poor son died of it as a child," he 
said.  It was an impressive performance, Romana was almost convinced 
herself.  The matron's face creased into a sympathetic expression.
	"Oh, I am so sorry.  I, too, lost a son when he was small," she said, 
sadness touching her eyes.  Romana looked away, feeling like they were
dredging up this poor woman's pain under false pretenses.  The Doctor kept up 
his end, however, commiserating with her and managing to procure the room 
for them at the same time.  The matron watched as they ascended the stairs, 
dabbing at the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief.  Such a nice man, 
she thought, but such odd clothing.  He must be traveling with his lovely 
daughter to escape bad memories.


	The Doctor and Romana stared at Ace, their mouths hanging theatrically 
open.  Romana gathered her wits first.  "You're his wife?!?"
	"Is there an echo in here?" she said, irritated.  She'd known this 
wouldn't be easy but now she had to find some way to convince them she was 
telling the truth.  "Doctor, I don't know how else to say this.  You and I are 
married, or we will be.  I'm not a Dalek agent, I'm not working for the Time 
Lords, and I haven't been meddling in your personal history.  I know so much 
about you because you've told me everything...you even told me about your 
mother," she said, looking at him significantly.  "We've been married for
almost a year, and before that I was your companion for a great deal of my 
adult life.  Please believe me, all I want to do is get back to you without
screwing up the timeline."  She looked up at him imploringly.
	He mulled this over...and she could see that her allusion to his parentage 
was not lost on him.  He surely realized that he would not have told just 
anyone about that.  Finally he sighed and the suspicion seemed to go out of his 
face.  "A year, you say?"
	She nodded.  "Yes."  Something more seemed required to clinch his 
belief, so she moved a step closer.  "Doctor...we're very happy.  We often 
disagree but we love each other very much.  I've told you the truth about 
everything.  I even admitted that it might really be my fault that we're here.  
Please, you've got to trust me."
	He looked into her eyes for another moment and then sat down on a shelf 
protruding from the wall.  "If you did bring us here then it was just Fenric 
acting through you.  It's not your fault."  Ace's shoulders sagged in relief.  
Romana, however, seemed a mite ticked off.  "The fact remains that we're 
still locked in this cell...so whatever I'm supposed to be doing I stand a good 
chance of missing it."
	Ace tapped her foot.  "Well, I might be able to help with that.  You see, I 
have quite a lot of experience escaping from Dalek jail cells," she said, a 
mischievous smile curling her lips.


	"Remind me why you came here the first time," Romana said, 
unwrapping the cloth from her hair.  The Doctor was standing at the window 
looking out into the square and did not answer.  "Doctor?"
	He gave a start and turned.  "What?  I'm sorry, Romana.  I was just 
remembering a time when Ace and I came to a city very like this."
	Romana smiled and squeezed his shoulder.  "You really miss her, don't 
you?"
	He nodded.  "Yes, I always miss her when she's away.  Even long before 
anything changed between us, when she wasn't with me I would feel slightly 
empty...and slightly smaller."  He turned away from the window.  "And now 
there's the added factor that I'm worried about what's happening to her and 
what might happen to both of us if Fenric manages to alter the timeline."  He 
shook his head.  "It isn't the first time that she's been endangered because of 
her association with me.  As soon as news of our marriage got off Earth she 
became an immediate target for anyone who wants to get to me."
	"But that's true for any companion.  And you would endeavor to save the 
life of any innocent person, regardless of their connection to you.  I think you 
overstate the situation."
	He smiled ruefully.  "That's just what she'd say if she were here.  She'd 
tell me I was being silly, and that being together was worth the risks 
involved."  
	Romana watched his face.  She felt like she'd hit upon something 
important.  "But there's more to it, isn't there?"
	He shuffled his feet, looking at the floor.  "Oh, you'd think I was a 
terrible person if I told you."
	"Too late for that," she said, and although the halfhearted jibe fell flat it 
seemed to reassure him.
	"The thing is...it makes me feel a thousand times more vulnerable 
because she means so much to me."  He cast a sidelong glance at her.  "You 
don't understand, I know."
	"I think I do," she said.  "But you spend far too much time worrying 
about remote possibilities, you always did.  Not everything will blow up in 
your face, some things can be trusted.  Not everyone will leave you behind," 
she said emphatically, confident that Ace would not make her a liar if she 
could help it.
	His face remained thoughtful, but after a few moments of silence he 
seemed to shake it off.  "Well, then, you were going to ask me something, 
what was it?"
	She had to think for a minute before she remembered.  "Why was it that 
you came here originally?"
	"Ah.  I'd been curious about the startling stories of the god Aboo-Fenran 
of this area for quite some time.  It wasn't terribly consistent with standard
mythological deity archetypes, it seemed more like an active presence.  I 
decided to come and see for myself, and found the city in complete chaos.  The 
Prince El-Amjad had been tricked into giving his daughter to the 'god,' but he 
refused to give her up.  Fenric was wreaking all sort of havoc in the city...so I 
played him at chess and beat him.  End of story...until now."
	Romana replaced him at the window and cast her gaze over the town 
square as activity died down for the evening.  Guards were lighting the 
torches outside and inside the royal dwelling.  "Fenric will have to try and kill 
you, won't he?" she said.
	"Yes, I'm afraid so.  If he just delayed me and then let me go there'd still 
be the chance that I'd return someday to investigate and imprison him 
anyway."
	She turned to look at him.  His face was cloaked in shadows from the 
descending twilight.  "Do you feel that your fourth self is still alive?"
	"Well, I still feel like myself if that's what you mean.  I get no sense that 
anything untowards has happened to him.  Although..."  He sniffed brief 
laughter.  "Meeting Ace might be traumatic enough."


	"Give me your sonic screwdriver," Ace said, holding out her hand.  She 
was standing on the bench examining a panel near the ceiling, squinting in the 
dim light.  The Doctor handed it up to her.
	"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
	"Not really," she said, removing the panel.  She reached a hand inside, 
her tongue creeping into the corner of her mouth as she felt around in the 
electrical systems.  "Aha!"  She pulled back empty-handed and sat down on the 
bench, and to their surprise reached inside her shirt and seemed to be fiddling 
with her bra strap.  She removed three small pieces of metal that were sewn 
into the fabric and held them up one by one, examining them.
	"You always keep lockpicking equipment sewn into your clothes?" 
Romana asked.
	"As a matter of fact, yes.  I also have a magnetic defusing wire in the 
outer seam of the left leg of my jeans, a dagger in my belt buckle and several 
beads of nitro-nine-a in the soles of my boots.  The Boy Scouts and Spacefleet 
don't have much in common, but being prepared is one thing they do.  It's a 
lesson that's served me very well."
	"I must say, Ace, that you're quite different than any companion I've 
ever had so far," the Doctor said.  He was beginning to understand what his 
seventh incarnation might see in this odd woman.
	"Oh, I don't know about that...Liz could rewire a nuclear reactor at ten 
paces."
	"True, but I doubt she had much Dalek killing experience."  Ace was doing 
something to his sonic screwdriver involving one of the lockpicking pins.  
Romana peered over her shoulder.
	"Hm, quite ingenious.  It can become a sort of sonic lance," she said.
	"Right.  Actually this was another companion's innovation, so I can't 
quite take credit for it."  Her modifications complete, she once again stuck her 
hand with the sonic lance into the panel.  For a few long moments there was 
just the humming sound of the lance, but finally Ace yanked her hand out of the
 opening with a grunt, and in it was a two-foot long narrow length of 
polycarbonite bracing she'd sliced out of the electrical system.  "This should 
do it," she murmured.  She sat down and pulled one foot up, opening a small 
compartment in the sole of her boot to withdraw one bead of nitro-nine-a.
	"Explosive?" the Doctor asked.
	"A little cocktail of my own invention.  Really packs a whallop."  She 
smiled.  "If my Doctor knew I still kept this stuff with me he'd throw a fit for 
sure...then again he never seems to complain that I have it when we need it."  
With her fingers she molded the malleable bead to the sharp end of the piece of 
bracing.  "Explodes upon sudden impact," she explained, holding up the metal 
length and grinning.  "Now the blast radius isn't too large for this small 
amount, so you two should be safe back here by the wall."
	"What about you?" Romana asked, getting an inkling of Ace's plans.
	"I'll be behind the door.  That's a foot of bonded polysteel, it'll block the 
blast."  Ace went to the door and started pounding on it.  "Oi!  Dalek!  Get your 
little blobby ass over here!" she shouted.  Her voice was surprisingly shrill.  
Romana resisted the urge to cover her ears.
	After a few moments of this auditory assault they heard the approach of 
a Dalek.  Ace ducked behind the door and held up the piece of bracing, her arm 
cocked back like a javelin thrower.  The Doctor and Romana stood casually at
the rear of the cell.  The Dalek's plunger-arm socketed into the door locking 
mechanism and the door swung open.  Ace sucked in her breath and carefully 
aimed the bracing piece through the crack between the door and the wall as it 
opened, and as soon as the Dalek drew even with the threshold she thrust it 
through.  The makeshift spear pierced the Dalek's thoracical mesh, detonating 
the nitro-nine-a and blowing off the Dalek's upper portion with almost surgical 
precision.  The blast had barely subsided before Ace was around the door and 
pulling the Dalek through into the cell.  The Doctor and Romana slipped past the 
dead Dalek and Ace followed, shutting the cell door after them.  With luck the 
other Daleks wouldn't know what had happened for a few moments.
	"Back to the TARDIS," Ace said.  "Time for a hasty retreat."
	The Doctor put out a hand and stopped her.  "I'm not so sure."
	"What?" she said, her eyes wide.  "I think it's time to cut our losses and 
set the timeline straight."
	"No," he said, a strange light in his eyes.  "I've had chances to do away 
with Daleks, have even been ordered to, and I've regretted that I didn't take
advantage of them.  This is a perfect opportunity!  Daleks can't fight as well 
inside ships where corridors and decks prevent them from grouping 
effectively, and you were a professional Dalek killer, something I cannot
claim."  He sighed.  "I seldom take the offensive against anyone because I 
never feel as though I have the right...but I think I've wrestled with my 
conscience long enough as far as Daleks are concerned."  
	"All right, fine," Ace said hurriedly, just anxious to get them out of the 
open where another patrol might come along at any moment.  "Just let's get 
out of here."
	"Where to?" Romana said.  "We don't even know what deck we're on."
	"Deck 3," Ace said tightly.  "Detention level.  Standard ship layout.  If 
we're going to do this, we should head for the weapons room."
	"Daleks don't use conventional weapons," he said, looking uncomfortable 
with the subject.  Some things never change, she thought.  Thank God for that.
	"No, but they keep the ones that they confiscate from humanoid 
prisoners.  They salvage the parts or melt them down...especially these 
Daleks, who need all the help they can get," she added under her breath.  The 
Doctor took off down the corridor with Romana in tow.  Ace grit her teeth and 
followed close behind, torn in several directions at once.  She could not allow 
him to destroy these Daleks.  They wore the white and gold livery of Davros' 
renegades.  In time, they would become the Imperial Daleks...the same ones 
who would secure the Hand of Omega and enable her Doctor to destory Skaro.  
But how much of that plan did this Doctor know about, and how much could she
safely tell him without screwing everything up so much that it wouldn't 
matter one way or the other?
	Son of a bitch, time travel gives me headaches, she thought.



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