With carnage and decay all about the space station, Doctor No. 6 and Peri continue to avoid the automated defense system trying to kill them, but there's also something alive lurking about with an eye on them as well. Evidence suggests the Time Lords are responsible for all this, but the Doctor refuses to believe it. He may be wrong, and he also fears a pinhole has been poked into the bubble that is the universe, with total and unstoppable annihilation to follow. Far away, Doctor No. 2 is about to be dissected by the Sontarans and the Androgum in order to find the symbiotic nuclei that makes time travel for Time Lords possible.