Time Raider
A story by Keith Redhead

Part of the Second Doctor Fiction collection
This Second Doctor story is set after his involvement in 'The Two Doctors'

EGPYT, 1640 BC

Pharaoh Ramoset, son of the late Senusret the Third, was not a good man; he cared nothing for his subjects except as cannon fodder for his army. The rest were worked to death building his pyramid and working the fields. A hundred people died each day from exhaustion and each of their families were beaten and refused food.

In his hand he held a huge ruby known as the bloodstone, it was the source of much of his supernatural powers. This blood red stone protected him for any physical harm and made sure that the numerous assassination attempts failed. Not that he didn't appreciate their inventiveness, it was a sort of respect that he came to admire before crushing the plotters mercilessly, walling them up alive in his pyramid.

That night as he slept, Princess Teffaniti, the Pharaoh's only child to survive being assassinated, crept into her father's chamber intent on taking the source of his power for her own. Her hand clasped around the bloodstone, which he wore around his neck, and with a sharp tug on the thin metal neckband it came free.

"What have you done?" Pharaoh demanded as he looked up to see Teffaniti holding the bloodstone. He threw a knife at her but the bloodstone rendered her skin immune to its sharp blade.

"Time for your reign to end father," the princess replied before pushing a poisoned needle into her father's ankle. "I shall be pharaoh now and you will be buried in your tomb."

Ramoset struggled to breathe as the poison flowed through his veins, shutting his internal organs down one by one. "You shall join me in my tomb treacherous daughter!" He took hold of a golden bracelet and looked harshly at his only child, uttering a curse. Within seconds the beautiful Teffaniti became a snarling jackal-like creature with the bloodstone embedded in her forehead. After another curse the creature was transformed into a grotesque stone statue, with the bloodstone glinting in the rising moonlight.

Pharaoh died that night and with no heirs the kingdom of the Nile chose a new king and all traces of the evil Ramoset were buried forever in the Valley of the Kings. His last words promised that he would one day rise from the dead and avenge his premature demise.

ENGLAND 2001 AD

Hillary coughed politely to attract the attention of his employer. "Good evening Miss Croft, there is a call for you from your associate Mr Bryce."

Lara hoisted the bar of weights back onto the rest. "That's quick." She sat up and removed her leather gloves. "Did he say where he's calling from?"

"I believe he said something about a casino." Hillary lowered his silver tray upon which rested a mobile phone. "Shall I lay out the usual outfit Miss?"

"Yes please," Lara replied. "Hello, Bryce?" She listened as her friend told her that he had found someone who knew the location of Ramoset's tomb.

THE TARDIS, OUTSIDE OF TIME

Jamie looked across at the Doctor. "That other you, how come he had blond hair? He looked nothing at all like you Doctor." He was still confused about the other Doctor they had encountered recently.

The Doctor put down his recorder on the TARDIS console. "Well Jamie, it's rather complicated. Think of it as really bad luck."

"You, he, was still a lot like you. You both liked to boss everyone around."

The Doctor picked up his recorder and began to play a melancholy tune, however he was cut short when the TARDIS was diverted, causing the two of them to be catapulted across the console room floor."

"The Time Lords?" Jamie asked.

"I think so Jamie, now we may never return to pick up Victoria in time." The Doctor picked himself up and began to make sense of the new readings. "When I agreed to a remote control I never thought that they'd have one too, this is most distressing."

"What is it Doctor?" Jamie looked at the numbers and words with incomprehension.

"We're landing on Earth in the year 2001, In Egypt I believe." The Doctor smiled. "This is a turn up for the books. The last time I was here they were still building the place."

"Aye." Jamie agreed with what the Doctor was saying but the words eluded him. "What?" he asked after a couple of seconds.

LAS VEGAS, 2001

Lara sat on the edge of her bed inside the spacious Hilton suite. There was a knock at the door and Bryce entered, using a handheld electronic device to bypass the electromagnetic card reader.

"You should be more careful Lara," Bryce smiled at his old friend.

"I saw you leaving the lift. I planted a few micro-cameras outside." She showed him her palmtop with a display of the corridor outside her suite. "Now what about Ramoset? There's almost nothing written about him in any of the chronicles."

Bryce fished a white envelope out of his pocket. "This is everything I have on your contact. He refused to speak to me after I contacted you. He said the information was for you alone. I should be quite upset."

Lara opened the envelope to find a slip of paper. It had only one word on it, tonight. "Mysterious." Lara showed Bryce the note. "Can you do an analysis of the handwriting? There may be a match on a police database."

"You think he's a criminal?" Bryce asked.

"It's one possibility, it could just be a con to fleece me of money." Lara lay back slightly, her hands supporting her weight. "Why don't you go and check on that for me while I wait for this contact?"

Bryce nodded and left.

CAIRO

Jamie felt like the heat was going to roast him like a wild boar over a roaring fire. He was wearing only a thin shirt and a lightly woven red and black wool kilt, along with socks and shoes. And yet it was still too warm for him to be comfortable, it was even warmer than that place called Spain. He looked at the Doctor, dressed in his tatty check trousers and heavy black coat; he hadn't even broken into a sweat yet. "Can we no go back to the hotel Doctor? It's too hot in the sun."

The Doctor looked left and right. "The stall was around here somewhere, I remember talking to Howard just after I bought that rusty old amulet. I wished him the best of luck, but of course I already knew the outcome of the dig. There's a lot of history buried around here Jamie and not all of it Human."

Jamie briefly wondered what the Doctor meant by that, but then the Doctor always said things he didn't understand. "You said the last time you were here was 6000 years ago, so how can you have been here since then?"

"I arrived back in the past after I had been in the present Jamie, of course there were things in between, people, places, and you know how it is with the TARDIS."

"Aye, yer could never get us to where we wanted to be until they gave you that wee thing," Jamie grinned at the Doctor.

The Doctor returned Jamie's smile. "Well, now that we're lost where shall we explore? I know." The Doctor flipped a coin. "Heads or tails?"

"Heads," Jamie answered.

"Head's it is, we'll go this way." The Doctor pointed over towards more open bazaar. It didn't matter that the coin landed with the tails side showing, as long as the coin had a heads then that was okay by him.

LAS VEGAS

Lara watched as her contact approached her room, however before he could reach her room all of her micro-camera suddenly stopped transmitting. Acting quickly she pulled out a tiny palm sized gun from her travel bag before putting it back in and taking out a much large one. She checked the magazine was loaded and sliding back the top section she put a round into the chamber.

The door exploded inwards with a whoompf and bullets hailed into the room. But when the three gunmen entered their target was not there.

"Too slow boys." Lara dropped down from her metal hoops that she had placed into the ceiling and quickly fired three times. All three men feel down dead, before they even had a chance to react. Searching the bodies she found a single piece of paper, which read "congratulations".

"You are indeed the Lara Croft I wish to hire." Lara's contact stood in the open doorway. "I had to be sure. There are a few impostors around these days."

Lara aimed the gun at the elderly man's head. "Give me one reason why I should listen to another word from you?"

"The pyramid is full of deadly traps and a thousand other dangers. I am Abdul al-Haq. Here are the precise co-ordinates for the lost pyramid of Ramoset. Inside there is a jewel, the Bloodstone. The stories of my family say that it is blessed with curative magics. My wife is ill and I fear this is the only means of her deliverance." He handed the information to her on a piece of paper identical to the other two that she had already seen.

Lara looked at the information; just a very accurate 8-digit map reference. "What do you mean by other dangers?"

"It means that you'll need a lot more than that, toy." Abdul bowed. "I have fulfilled my family's duty. I hope you have a pleasant trip to Egypt Ms Croft." He pointed at the three dead bodies. "Do not worry about these, they were about to be sent to prison for terrible crimes against society."

"One other thing. Why bring me out here? We could have had this meeting in London."

"Refused entry into your United Kingdom," Abdul replied. "Besides, this place has better strip clubs and they don't ask too many questions."

Lara considered shooting the old man; she didn't like being used as an executioner. "I haven't told you my fee. One million pounds payable into my bank account upon my safe return to England. I never front people for that amount of money, I prefer to have something waiting for me to come home to."

Lara slipped her gun back into her travel bag, hurriedly packed the rest of her things and she was out of the hotel before the police arrived.

CAIRO

The Doctor rubbed his hands together before picking up the antique recorder-like musical instrument. "Look at this Jamie, it's a marvel isn't it?"

"Aye," Jamie replied. To be honest it looked exactly like others the Doctor had, but it made the Doctor happy and so he was happy for the Doctor. "Why don't you try a wee tune on it?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Oh I couldn't possibly, something of this quality is meant for looking at, not using."

"Excuse me."

The Doctor turned around to see a rather skinny British woman smiling at him.

"I was just noticing the remarkable similarity to a recorder unearthed here last year. It was stolen from the museum and the police are still looking for it."

The vendor snatched it back from the short man and ran away quickly.

"Oh," the Doctor frowned. "I rather liked it."

***

Lara felt sorry for the old guy. "It's better to be safe than sorry I always say." She left the two men and headed across town to find a suitable room for the rest of the day.

***

"What a nice young lady," the Doctor beamed. "It makes a change to meet someone as polite and honest as her."

"I suppose she was okay. For a Sassenach," Jamie replied with a light joke.

GIZA

Yamal al-Haq put the telephone back down on its receiver. "It is done. My brother has contacted the British woman and persuaded her to explore the Pyramid of Ramoset."

Yanith, the youngest of the three surviving al-Haq clan laughed. "Either she will release the Bloodstone and die or she will be so badly wounded that I could kill her with this wooden spoon. She swatted a large mosquito with it for effect.

"Do not speak so rash my sister, this British woman is the best of the best. She has a fearsome reputation as a ruthless killer." Yamal picked up his own spoon and finished off the last of his evening meal.

CAIRO

Lara relaxed in the large sunken pool; she let every knotted muscle and tendon relax from the quick series of red-eye plane flights. It felt so good to have this simple luxury away from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. She was almost tempted to throw her mobile phone out of the window when it started to ring. She answered it and was not surprised to discover that it was Bryce. "As I thought, cleaner than clean. He has money though, no one poor could afford to fly out all the way there to ask me to find something that may be just a myth on the hope that it will save his wife. Trace his bank account; find out what his business connections are and whom else he has paid. I'm guessing he's seen the best of the best in the medical profession. Yes, goodbye Bryce."

LAS VEGAS

Abdul al-Haq concentrated and a gold nugget appeared in his hand. He walked into the assay office and handed it over before giving them details of where he could be contacted and his bank details for them to put the money the gold was worth into.

CAIRO

The Doctor took one last look around at the city before heading back into the TARDIS with Jamie. "Well that was a good day's adventure wasn't it? I'm still not sure how we were knocked off course but I'm beginning to have some nasty suspicions about who did it."

"The Time Lords?" Jamie asked as he put the rather full carpetbag of goodies down on the console room floor. "Why would they do that? We're doing what they ask already, aren't we?"

"Only because we have to Jamie, I don't think they still trust me to keep my side of the agreement. Rather spoils the fun though." The Doctor closed the doors by flicking one of twenty metal switches. "Now, lets see if I can get us to somewhere a little bit cooler?" The Doctor dematerialised the TARDIS.

"Just don't land the TARDIS at the top of Ben Nevis," Jamie bridled the Doctor as he searched through the carpetbag to find the rather mysterious snow globe. Finding his prize he shook it and watched as a cloud of snow began to fall on the large plastic yellow pyramids within.

EGPYT, 1637 BC

The half-finished pyramid of the unspeakable one was at last buried beneath the sands of Egypt. Torokna, head architect of the abandoned project breathed a sigh of relief. Building this monstrosity had lost the lives of too many good people and it was only by his careful handling of the situation, hiring the strongest and fittest workers and giving them breaks in shifts that prevented the death toll from being much higher. "May Iris watch over those who died unjustly and welcome them into the afterlife with open arms. May the eater of hearts destroy the unspeakable one and make him suffer in the realm of Set, God of Dust."

CAIRO, 2001

Lara had dried herself off after her relaxing bath with a huge velvety soft towel. She got dressed in comfortable underwear before pulling on her favourite pair of slightly frayed black denim shorts and a black sleeveless cotton t-shirt. Then she pulled on her small leather backpack and clipped her heavy-duty belt around her waist. Still, being in the city, she kept her pistols inside of a touristy carpetbag so as not to draw attention to its contents. Finally she pulled on her sturdy leather boots over thick woollen socks and she leapt off the first floor balcony down into the street below.

Nearby was her desert-equipped motorcycle with two large panniers of water and an extra fuel can. Taking the keys out of her shorts pocket she started it up and revved the throttle twice before driving off through the midnight streets of Cairo, with the carpetbag resting on the left handlebar. The drive to Giza would be long and tough but she'd been through much, much worse.

LONDON, 1986

Lord Croft tutted as his daughter came trudging into the house, her dress caked in mud and torn to shreds. "Lara my dear, what on Earth happened to you?"

"I had a fight," Lara snapped. "I won if you care."

Lord Croft tutted and shook his head. "I've half a mind to send you abroad to a finishing school so that maybe they'll teach you how to behave as a young lady should."

"Whatever!" Lara shouted as she slammed her door behind herself.

"Hillary," Lord Croft called out to his butler. "Please be so good as to find me the paperwork for that finishing school in Switzerland." Hillary had followed in his fathers footsteps, Hillary senior had been invaluable at times and the younger man seemed almost telepathic at times in anticipating his needs. Give him another fifteen years and the nervous young man would be just as capable as his father had been.

"Very good my lord." Hillary bowed slightly before heading towards Lord Croft's office.

"This is for your own good Lara," Lord Croft said quietly before heading to his office to sign the enrolment papers.

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS, 2001 AD

The TARDIS materialised on a sandy dune, its spectacular and dramatic arrival going unnoticed by all and sundry, except for the mosquito's that hovered about waiting to see if the blue box was a meal.

The Doctor emerged, shaking his head in disbelief. "I wonder Jamie, do you suppose that the Time Lords want me here?"

"I dunno," Jamie replied from within the TARDIS. "Why can't they just come and tell you what they want you to do?"

"Because they don't want to get involved Jamie. They'd rather be safe in their pristine towers with their whiter than white gloves and their fake smiles. If one of them were to try and do something I suspect they'd fall over from giddiness."

"What about that man with the beard? Wasn't he one of your people?"

"Yes, well I rather think we've seen the last of him. A terrible end to a very dear friend of mine, there's no way he can get out of the Dark Heart alive. No one can get out situations like that alive."

Jamie emerged from the TARDIS. "At least it's cooler here, eh Doctor?"

The Doctor nodded slowly. "Yes, but can't you feel it? Vital energies, the humming of something old, something sinister. Lets get back inside the TARDIS; I know a great little restaurant. It's called Milliways and..." The Doctor paused. "We're too late Jamie, I can feel the Earth screaming underneath our feet."

"Oach I can't hear a thing." Jamie was about to say the Doctor was imagining the whole thing when suddenly the ground beneath their feet began to shudder. "What is it?" Jamie shouted over to the Doctor as a stone pillar shot up out of the sand to his left.

"A warning signal, but I rather think it's too late for warnings Jamie." The Doctor read the hieroglyphics. "It says the world's about to end."

"Again?" Jamie asked, trying to mask his growing fear with a joke.

GIZA

Lara saw a brilliant white light fill the horizon for a brief but blinding second. She braked hard to avoid a nasty tumble from her motorcycle. Her eyes stung from the bright light and it took several minutes for them to reacquire their night sensitivity that she had built up.

Revving her motorcycle up again Lara set off across the cold desert sands, following her compass towards the location of this mysterious missing pyramid. Less than an hour and a half later she spotted pillars up ahead, rising up out of the cold sand and glinting in the pale moonlight. "Not so lost after all," she commented to herself as she approached the monuments.

GENEVA, 1986

Lara hated the place already and she had only been here twenty minutes. The whole town was beastly cold and there was snow just everywhere. She tried showing some cheer for her father's sake but he seemed captivated by the scenery.

Up ahead the school loomed. It was on the outskirts of the Swiss capital, away from all the bright lights and tempting distractions that its 300 inmates wanted to see. Lara was sure they put the school here to show the girls exactly what they couldn't have...fun.

"Look at that view." Lord Croft pointed to the large mountain range of the Alps in the near distance. "If only I was twenty years younger I'd try to count them all."

"I'm sure you'd manage it Daddy," Lara replied. "You always get your own way."

"Come now Lara, this is for your own good. Obviously that boarding school didn't provide the sort of service I paid them 15,000 a term for."

"That's true," Lara agreed. "They threw me out of the gun club after just one day. How can it be possible to be too interested in guns? It's a gun club, you're supposed to like guns and shooting at targets, aren't you?"

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS, 2001

The Doctor sat on a large boulder with his hands shoved deeply into his jacket pockets. "I'm sure there's a rational explanation for this Jamie, so why don't you tell me what it is and I won't be so worried."

Jamie scratched his head in confusion. "I dunno Doctor, maybe its some sort of warning system? You did say that yon pillar says the world's going to end."

"Yes, it did, didn't it?" The Doctor stood up. "You know you have a remarkable insight into danger Jamie, I'm glad to see that your time with me has not been wasted."

"So you're not worried then Doctor?" Jamie asked cautiously.

"Oh yes," the Doctor stated. "I'm very worried, the world's about to end when it shouldn't. I blame the Time Lords of course, always interfering and sticking their noses in where they're not wanted."

"They said that about you," Jamie reminded the Doctor.

"Sometimes I wish they hadn't given you your memory back Jamie." The Doctor looked around at the monuments of death before heading deeper into the complex, looking for something a little more encouraging. "Only sometimes though. Now if only Victoria was here, Egyptian history was one of the topics she studied."

"Aye, well maybe we should go and find her?" Jamie felt put out. He may not know a lot of stuff printed in those books the Doctor kept, or even how to read them, but he knew enough about getting the Doctor out of the danger he put himself into to know that they were in deep, deep trouble.

"I think not Jamie." The Doctor pointed towards a small doorway in a long blank section of wall. "Lets have a look in here shall we?" He fished around inside of his pockets and pulled out a small battery powered torch. "Yes, now you just follow me Jamie. When have I ever led you into trouble?"

EGPYT, 1636 BC

The economy had collapsed. The reign of the Unspeakable Tyrant had drained the people's wealth and with no monarch to take the title of Pharaoh a council of priests was assembled to rule the two kingdoms of Egypt until a suitable, and sane, replacement could be found. High Priest Torokna found himself thrust into the role of leader and he cemented the purging of his predecessor's name from every monument, every scroll and every aspect of Egyptian society. As far as history was concerned Senusret the Third had been the last Pharaoh and he died without any heirs. Still he couldn't get the image of the calcified princess out of his mind. What magic had turned a beautiful young woman into that thing? He prayed to the gods that the secret remained buried beneath the sands for the rest of time. However civilisation would be restored one day and he needed to fire his people up for the great rebuilding of their economy. They needed someone to blame for this and the tribe of the Hyksos, the occupiers of Egyptian land at the delta of the Nile, were a thorn in his side. Torokna could solve two problems at once by blaming the Hyksos for this trouble. Only one thing worried him, Ramoset's final words.

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS, 2001

Lara braked as she rode over a low dune to see in the distance a rather bizarre sight. Lots of obelisks were surrounding what looked like the partially completed base of a large pyramid. "Looks like it's not much of a secret after all." She drove over the large waves of displaced sand, heading towards the single entranceway to the pyramid.

After putting the motorcycle onto its stand Lara fastened her holsters onto her belt and tied the lower end to her thighs to make a quick draw if necessary. Then she put only the essentials into her backpack and left the rest with the bike. She checked her watch, 5:03 am. Only another ten minutes until dawn. Already the predawn glow was forming on the horizon and she turned away from the lightening sky and headed into the interior of the supposedly lost pyramid of Ramoset.

The passageway was narrow and it twisted left then right then down a long staircase before turning right again and continuing straight along as far as her eyes could see. Suddenly the sound of voices echoed down the corridor.

"No Jamie, we came that way."

"We came that way Doctor, we haven't been that way yet."

How could anyone else know the location of the Pyramid? Could Abdul have hired others? She hated rivals; they always got in her way. She drew her pistols and advanced forward.

The Doctor looked at Jamie. "Let's flip a coin shall we? Heads we go this way, tails that way."

Jamie shook his head. "I know which way we came." He started walking until he turned the corner and walked into the barrels of two guns.

"Why don't we go the other way?" Lara suggested to the Scotsman.

"I see you've changed your mind," the Doctor joked gently to his companion before seeing the gun-wielding woman holding said guns at his head. "Oh my." The Doctor fretted before realising he had seen the woman earlier on in the day. "You!" he gasped.

"Me!" Lara replied with a smile. "What brings you out here?"

GENEVA, 1987

Lara looked up at the rather large mountain. "You want me to climb up there? You're mad."

"Just give it a go Lara, everyone must try to push themselves a little bit. Your headmistress says so, oui?"

"Oh very well," Lara conceded and followed her instructor's words to the letter. After ten minutes Lara wondered what she had ever thought wrong about this, it was the best time of her life.

THE TOMB OF RAMOSET, 2001

The Doctor looked at Lara carefully. "We're both unarmed, why don't you put those away before you hurt yourself?" He smiled disarmingly to make his point. "You can see that we're both unarmed."

"Aye," Jamie added quickly. "Besides I'd never hurt a lassie." Slowly Jamie reached down, hoping to get his trusty dirk before anyone could notice.

"Oh?" Lara's curiosity was piqued slightly. "I'd have no hesitation to shoot you dead if you were to go for that knife in your sock."

"I wasn't reaching for that," Jamie lied. "I have an itchy leg."

Lara aimed a gun at the Scot's leg. "Like me to cure it for you?"

"Come now, there's no reason why we shouldn't be friends?" The Doctor walked forward. "I'm the Doctor and that's Jamie."

"Charmed I'm sure," Lara replied. "Now can you tell me what you two are doing inside a Pyramid that's been lost for three and a half millennia?"

"After you Doctor," Jamie said to his friend.

"No, no Jamie, after you."

"Well you see we travel through time in this box, only it's bigger on the inside that it should be. Anyway the TARDIS brought us here for a specific reason. The Doctor thinks that it's the Time Lords manipulating events so that he'll investigate and stop something terrible happening."

"Splendid Jamie." The Doctor clapped his chum on the shoulder. "I couldn't have put it simpler myself."

"Thanks, what?" Jamie was unsure if the Doctor had complimented him or insulted him.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that nonsense?" Lara asked.

"It sounds too fanciful? Too radical? Too extreme to believe? We could have just said we're archaeologists if we wanted you to point your guns away from our heads. However I'd rather not lie, what Jamie said is the truth."

"You're both mad."

"Of course we are Lara, I may call you Lara mayn't I? The world is flat, the sun and planets orbit the Earth and everything is on the back of four elephants, which stand on the back of a huge turtle, that swims through space. Try having an open mind, you never know when you may hear the truth." The Doctor looked around, ignoring the gun aimed at his head. "Now where shall we look now? I think there's a large room up ahead, you can tell by the subtle change in the echoes, and beyond that there's running water, quite fresh too judging by the smell of it."

"Well then, lets see how accurate your nose and ears are." Lara holstered her pistols but kept the securing straps unfastened. She hated surprises even more than rivals.

The large chamber up ahead was indeed roomy and their footsteps echoed around inside the room. The floor was covered in a series of tiles, each with a different symbol upon it.

"I think that this is a trap," the Doctor cautioned. "They were always a most paranoid people as I recall. I wonder..." Hoping from one square to another the Doctor crossed over the tiles in an irregular pattern. "Of course, A, B, C. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3. Come on you two, just follow the sequence."

"What sequence?" Jamie didn't know half the letters of his own alphabet never mind that of someone else's. He stepped onto a tile.

"No, not that one Jamie!"

Lara pulled the dumb Scot back to safety just in time as a large metal spike burst through the stone tile and embedded itself in the ceiling. "Just follow me, step where I step." Lara followed the sequence of tiles easily, having learned hieroglyphics at an early age.

The Doctor was examining the large double doors when Jamie and Lara finally joined him. "I think we have to press the right combination of buttons to open the door. Now this cartouche reads 'enter through the path of joy'. I think we have to make the Egyptian word for joy."

Lara nodded. "A reasonable interpretation but isn't love the path to joy?"

"Of course," the Doctor clicked his fingers together. "This should do the trick."

"It's opening," Jamie exclaimed as the heavy stone doors swung inwards on hidden hinges. Inside the new room was a fearsome heat. "How are we going to get through that?" he asked the Doctor.

"With these." Lara took out her pistols and aimed them at the ceiling. "That painting on the ceiling, it means the death of anti-life." She fired once, twice, three times and a trickle of sand began to sprinkle downwards. "One more should do it." She fired again and a large crack opened up in the ceiling, letting sand flood down and extinguishing the flames.

"Perhaps we should wait a few minutes, the sand will be still quite hot." The Doctor peered across at the far side of the room. "Perhaps not." He ran across the hot sand as fast as he could.

"Come on." Jamie grabbed Lara's wrist and ran after the Doctor as fast as he could.

Three holes formed as loose bricks dropped out of the wall and a hail of poisoned darts shot out across the room at where they had been standing a few seconds earlier.

"Thanks," Lara said as she loosened herself from Jamie's grip.

The Doctor looked around the room. They were in one corner and there were still poisoned darts shooting out across the centre of it. "I'm not sure where to go now. I've never been in a pyramid like this one. It's a lot more hostile than the last one I was in, if you don't count the Daleks."

"Doesn't this trap seem odd? Why is it still firing darts? It's as if they were designed to strike at something leaving this room, rather than entering it."

"What does that mean?" Jamie asked.

"It means that we may not be alone," the Doctor replied. "This may not be a tomb, it could be a prison. I've heard tales of similar pyramids on other worlds but I've never investigated one before. Pyramids built by a race known as the Kultan, even then its rumoured they got the idea from another, much older civilisation."

"What does that mean?" Lara asked.

"Probably nothing," the Doctor replied. "Just remembering a few rather nasty stories I heard when I was younger. Now shall we get on? Look for a door, it may be hidden."

"Och we're never getting out of here." Jamie slumped his weight up against the wall and stumbled when it moved inwards. "Hey, what's this?" He had found the door.

"Well done Jamie," the Doctor congratulated his friend.

"Yes, very lucky," Lara added. "I wonder what we'll find next?"

GIZA

Abdul found Yamal and Yanith asleep when he returned home. "Come on you two, its time to leave. Bring it with you, I'll put our things in the jeep."

"Can't it wait?" Yanith asked her oldest brother.

"The British woman may actually solve all the traps and get the second half of the artefact. Go ahead and sleep while the destiny of our clan slips through our fingers." Yamal was out of bed and dressed in twenty seconds.

"Okay, give me half an hour to get ready."

"You've got five minutes then we're leaving." Abdul started getting everything they needed in the back of the jeep.

"Slave driver," Yanith protested before casting her sleeping robe off and pulling her usual clothes on.

"Slave trader," Yamal corrected his sister.

"Me too," Yanith winked at her brother. "We might get a good price for the foreigner. The white slaves always sell well to the pimps in Cairo."

THE TOMB OF RAMOSET

Lara took the lead, pistols in hand, as they made their way down a long stone corridor, descending further and further down all the time.

The Doctor looked left and right, trying to read all the names of the builders who helped to build the incomplete pyramid. "A lot of people died making this place, too many for words to express properly. Sometimes the dead do not rest easy."

"Aye." Jamie had heard many ghost stories since he was a bairn. "That's true enough. Ah hope the Piper doesn't come for their lost souls while we're here."

"Primitive superstition," Lara scoffed. "The dead stay dead."

"Do they now?" the Doctor asked. "Nobody knows what lies beyond death, not even my own people and we're experts at holding death back."

"I suppose you know everything Doctor?" Lara asked.

"No, not everything. Far from it in fact, but I'm always learning new things because I don't dismiss them out of hand just because they seem absurd. Perhaps you should try opening your eyes and keeping your mouth shut? It works for Jamie."

"Aye," Jamie agreed with the Doctor. "What?"

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS

The jeep wove through the pillars of stone and pulled up outside the opening.

"See, the sands have given up its darkest secret as was foretold." Abdul jumped out of the driving seat and put his bag over his shoulder.

"I was expecting something a little more impressive," Yanith complained. "It's not very big is it?"

"The bulk of the pyramid is still under the sand you stupid girl," Yamal hissed. "Did you even listen to father's stories about our destiny?"

"Of course ... well some of them. Someone had to keep the house running after mother was killed by those assassins."

"She took four of them with her though." Abdul remembered how their mother had been the warrior in the family while father had been the holy man. Now he, Abdul, was the holy man, Yamal was the warrior and Yanith, well she meant well, and she could handle a sword, but she wasn't the brains of the family.

"I'm not stupid." Yanith elbowed Yamal in the ribs. "I'm just not a book worm like Abdul or a pig like you Yamal."

"Take this." Abdul handed his sister the map of the pyramids interior. "You shall be our guide."

"Great, something useful to do. What do all these symbols mean?"

"They tell us what kind of traps we can expect."

"Oh yeah, that's good. I'd hate to die not knowing what killed me."

"I'll kill you myself if we die," Yamal promised.

THE TOMB OF RAMOSET

The passageway opened out into a large green painted room. The ceiling and floor glowed with an eerie yellow light that cast odd shadows around the room and the four large stone columns near the centre of the chamber.

"Three doors lead out of here," Lara noticed. "Only one of them will be the right one, there's no marking to tell which is the right one."

"Why don't we take one each?" Jamie suggested.

"I'm not sure that any of these doors is the correct one." The Doctor pointed up to a large Eye of Horus painted on the ceiling. "The eye is the window to the soul is it not?"

"That's a modern point of view based on ancient wisdom," Lara replied. "Do you want me to test your theory?" She took out one of her pistols and aimed it at the ceiling.

"You'll bring down a load more sand," Jamie stated to the others.

"I don't think so Jamie," the Doctor replied. "Go ahead Lara."

Firing until the magazine was empty Lara punched a hole in the ceiling with the bullets. The fragments of ancient stone and plaster fell like rain onto the floor below. "Now all we need is a rope, luckily one of us thought to bring one." Pulling a thin rope out of her backpack Lara attached a grappling hook to it. "Why don't you be so good as to throw this up into that hole?" She handed the rope to Jamie, giving him something easy to do.

Jamie managed to get the hook and rope into the hole on only his third attempt and to his relief it snagged onto something. "After you," he said to Lara.

"No, after you," Lara insisted.

"Why don't I go first?" The Doctor pulled himself up the thin rope into the room above. "Come on you two, you should see what's up here."

Jamie and Lara both tried to climb the rope at the same time.

"Haven't you heard of chivalry?" Lara asked Jamie.

"No, what's that? Some sort of fruit?"

"More a code of conduct. Honestly, you're like some sort of unthinking brute from the Palaeolithic era."

"Jamie isn't from this time," the Doctor explained to Lara as she climbed up the rope. "He's from your past, I met him shortly after the battle of Culloden."

"Ah well that explains his attitude," Lara joked. "Seriously though, is he one of these care in the community patients? He doesn't think he's Bonnie Prince Charlie, does he?"

"That shoe stealing pretender," Jamie cursed as he ascended the rope. "He's no Robert the Bruce, he wasn't even Scottish yer ignorant Sassenach."

The Doctor helped Jamie to his feet. "Now then, isn't this jolly? We have a room to explore and all you two can do is argue. Lets all be friends and solve this mystery."

"Aye, well I may have said a couple of things in haste." Jamie held out his hand.

"Me too," Lara conceded and shook Jamie's hand. "Are you really from the past?"

"I guess so, then again I've been into the future and this is the past compared to then. The Doctor says its best not to think about it too much."

"Indeed," the Doctor called over as he inspected the writing on one of the walls. "The last thing you want is a headache trying to figure time out. Just accept what is and let me worry about everything else."

GENEVA, 1988

Lara had conquered five of the Alps in just a year now, not bad for a beginner. Standing on top of the newly conquered peak she gazed out across the panorama, seeing the clouds below and the mountains rising through them like intermittent islands. Only a few more to climb and she would be qualified enough to attempt her first solo climb. Up here there was just herself, and her instructor. Here she was at peace with the world, just her own expectations of herself and no one else's. She wished she could achieve this sort of peace down there in the frantic hurried pace of society but she doubted it would let her obtain it so easily.

THE TOMB OF RAMOSET, 2001

Yanith looked at the map. "Okay, right. Just follow the tiles across in alphabetical order."

"Follow me." Abdul was the only one of them who had studied the ancient language of their forefathers. He set off at a slow pace so the other two could keep up. Even then Yanith set off two of the spike traps and only the quick actions of Yamal saved her life.

"Next time follow the route exactly," Yamal admonished his sister.

"I'm sorry, I saw a spider."

GENEVA, 1989

Lara couldn't take the pressure of so many people around her. Ever since the plane crash and her lone walk to safety she just couldn't be around so many people at once. She had been skipping classes, eating meals alone in her dorm or even missing them completely. The baby fat had long been burned off with her climbing but now she was losing weight and becoming sickly with malnutrition. They had telephoned her father and he had come to take her home early.

"We'll soon have you feeling well again Lara." Lord Croft put a protective arm around his daughter and hugged her.

"I feel fine father," Lara replied. "I just don't like being around so many people, ever since that time alone after the crash."

"I understand Lara, all that time alone. It was bound to have a dramatic effect on you."

THE TOMB OF RAMOSET, 2001

"What does this mean?" Jamie pointed to a strange looking picture.

"That's Isis, the Goddess of Life." Lara looked at the rest of the cartouche. "This is most peculiar. This cartouche says one who is outside of life. Ramoset?"

"Quite possibly," the Doctor agreed. "He was a bad chap as I recall."

"There is almost nothing written about him in the history books. They just say that the middle kingdom ended when the Hyksos became too powerful and took too much land away from the Egyptians."

"Ramoset was the son of Senusret the Third, almost all of the official scrolls bearing his name were burned or defaced to remove all mention of his name. Even monuments were toppled over or vandalised. They wanted to forget that the tyrant had even existed."

"I know how they feel," Jamie said sadly.

"Yes well no one should forget those who suffer at the hands of tyrants but as long as you hold the memories over you they win. These people took a stand and stopped being victims." Lara put her hand on Jamie's shoulder. "If it makes it any easier I don't like what happened at Culloden any more than you do, but you have to get over it and move on. Strike back at that ignoble defeat and don't stop fighting back."

ENGLAND 1989

"You know I only want the best for you, don't you?" Lord Croft said to his daughter. "The Earl of Farringdon is a very nice young man, you could do a lot worse than get married to him."

Lara stood in the large library, feeling the warmth of the roaring fire against her back. "You want me to do what you say daddy, it's not quite the same is it? I know what I want to do with my life. I want to travel, I want to see everything there is to see and know all there is to know. I want to explore the ruins of ancient civilisations and learn their secrets. I have no intention of being a dull little housewife, ever."

"You want to find your place in the world, is that it?"

"Yes daddy, I have to do this or I can never be happy with my life." Lara looked pleadingly at her father.

"I know I haven't spent as much time with you as I've liked, I've sent you away to the best schools money can buy but I've never spent time with you as a father should. I was hoping to change that Lara, I want to be a proper parent to you."

"I'm a grown woman now daddy, I have to start living my life my way."

"If you insist on doing this then you'll do it without my blessing and without my money."

"I don't need your money, I'll work for what little I need for transport and food." Lara went up to her room to pack her things.

Hillary entered the library with a pot of tea and two cups. "Will Miss Croft be taking tea my lord?"

"I don't know Hillary, I don't know anything anymore. I thought I knew my little girl but I sent her away to grow up and now she's a stranger to me."

"You did what you thought was best my lord. You love her very much sir." Hillary set up the tea things on the long oak table and poured his master a cup in the exact way he liked. "Miss Croft is young, she doesn't have your wisdom. In time she will come to understand your reasons." He handed the cup to Lord Croft.

"She has my stubbornness Hillary, she's as pig headed as I am at times. She has her mothers temper too, not the best combination of character traits."

THE TOMB OF RAMOSET, 2001

"Hey, there's a rope." Yanith pointed to the thin rope that hung down from a hole in the ceiling.

"They must have gone up, rather than through one of those doors."

"No wonder. They're all traps." Yanith pointed at the map. "Not pleasant ways to die. The sting of the scorpion, the water of doom and the biting wind."

"Why don't you check to make sure?" Yamal said to his sister. "I'll hold the map."

"Why don't you?" Yanith glared at her brother.

"Quiet you two," Abdul hissed at his younger siblings. "We go up, there will be no more fighting." He started climbing the rope into the room above.

"What I don't understand is why we even let that foreigner do this for us? We have the map; we have the second half of the artefact. We don't need her." Yanith stood with her hands on her hips as she looked at her oldest brother for answers.

"We need someone who can cope with the unexpected, in case that map which cost me several million US dollars was a fake." Abdul could create nuggets of gold with the half of the artefact he already possessed but with the whole artefact his clan would be wealthy enough to buy all the power in the world. If he chose to share it with those two fools.

MEXICO, 1990

Lara, dressed in only a thin blouse and skirt, explored the remains of the large Aztec pyramid. The guide wasn't very informative, only quoting facts and figures. There was nothing to tell her about who these people where, how they lived their lives or what wisdom they possessed. She ran her hand along the narrow stone altar atop the pyramid when something clicked and the stone underneath her feet suddenly swung down on hinges. She fell fifteen feet down onto the top of a smaller pyramid inside of the larger one built around and over it.

"This is bizarre," Lara said as she pulled a small torch out of her handbag. "What do those symbols mean?"

"Zey say zat you shouldn't be in here young British lady."

Lara screamed and turned around to see a really old bloke, he must be nearly 50 she guessed, standing there holding a lantern.

"I am Werner Von Croy, it is a great pleasure for you to meet me. Now vat are you doing here inside of my temple?"

"I fell in here." Lara pointed upwards but the stone had moved back into position. "There was a button and the stone moved, I think I've sprained my ankle."

"Vell zen, I vill help you young British lady."

"Can't we explore first? This is just the opportunity I've been looking for my whole life. I want to learn what secrets these people had, discover their wisdom and understand their way of life."

"You would also like a bauble or two as a souvenir jah?"

"Well maybe," Lara conceded. She had hopes of discovering treasure chests filled with ancient jewellery once worn by a young princess.

THE TOMB OF RAMOSET, 2001

The Doctor entered what was by far the largest room they had been in so far. Huge thick columns supported hundreds of thousands of tons of stone overhead. In the middle of this room was a huge sarcophagus made of stone covered in gold leaf. To one side stood a large statue of a fierce half jackal-half woman god with a large ruby in its forehead.

"He said they wanted some sort of artefact, something that would cure his wife's illness." Lara began to look around for something that fitted that description.

"Who said that?" Jamie asked.

"My employer. Well actually the money is hardly here or there, I'm in it for the fun. He says that there may be some sort of ancient device that can cure his wife's illness."

"What does it look like?" Jamie joined the search.

"You won't find anything like that in here." The Doctor pointed to the large cartouche on the top of the sarcophagus. "Death lies within. Disturb its rest at your peril."

"I don't understand," Lara said. "Why would they say that? This thing is supposed to give life, not take it."

"Maybe because I lied to you." Abdul entered into the room with Yamal and Yanith in tow.

"I wouldn't bother with those weapons." Yamal aimed a rifle at Lara's head before she could draw her pistols.

"Take whatever's inside there then," Lara stated coolly. "Why the deception?"

"I needed someone capable to cope with anything unexpected but someone not greedy enough to get curious about my motives."

"Bryce investigated you, everything checked out."

"Well of course it would, I leave only the records that I want others to see. All my real dealings are done in cash, no trail you see."

"Can we open the sarcophagus now?" Yanith asked.

"Of course we can and we have three eager volunteers. Although where these two came from is a mystery."

"How perceptive of you," the Doctor stated. "You could never understand time travel."

"Ah but I shall. Once I have the second half of the artefact I shall have complete mastery over all of time and space."

"You can't," the Doctor gasped. "No one can be allowed to have that sort of power. You're nor responsible enough to use it properly, no one is and I should know."

"Open the sarcophagus or my brother will shoot one of you. He's got a wonderful sadistic streak so you wouldn't die straight away. He likes to prolong his victim's suffering."

Jamie looked at the heavy lid of the huge box. "It'll take a team of horses to lift this."

"Now you remember our little talk about levers don't you Jamie? With a long enough lever you can move the world."

"Aye but we don't have any levers."

"Then smash it open," Abdul shouted. "Open it or die."

Lara produced a pick from her backpack. "Allow me please gents." She chipped away at the middle of the lid then going around to form a rough circle until she had nibbled a hole in the top of the stone cover. Then working up and down from the middle she split the thing into two and both sides crashed down onto the floor, shattering with their weight.

Jamie looked inside to see another box like sarcophasomething. "There's another one inside."

"Like a Russian doll," Lara said with a smile. "It's a standard burial practice. Inside this one will be the body. The lid's made of wood, we can lift this easily."

Jamie helped Lara lift the second lid and once they moved it to one side they looked inside it to see that the body was there and dressed in rich finery.

"There you are, you can search the body and find what you're looking for." The Doctor moved to one side, allowing Abdul access to the body.

"It's mine, all mine!" Abdul ran forward and started to search the body for the second half of the artefact.

"I thought we were going to share it?" Yanith asked Yamal.

"So did I." Yamal raised his rifle at his greedy sibling's back and fired.

"No!" Abdul shouted as he slumped forward in terrible pain. The other half of the artefact slipped out from its place on his wrist and it clanged on the floor.

"Get the bracelet!" Yanith shouted to her only surviving brother.

Yamal seized the bracelet before the others could reach it. "It's mine, all mine." He didn't say anything more when the statue came to life and decapitated him with razor-sharp claws.

"Yamal!" Yanith shouted in horror as the hideous animal woman statue picked the hoop of metal up and pressed it around the glowing ruby in its forehead. There was a blaze of light and the statue crumbled into dust. Red light rushed at Yanith and it filled her body. Holding aloft the artefact she laughed at the three mortals before her. "Cower before me you little things. I am Yanith, goddess of this planet. Tremble before my wrath mortals."

"Look at her eyes," Jamie said. "They're glowing red."

"All I need is one shot." Lara aimed her pistol at the glowing gemstone. She fired and the ruby shattered into a billion fragments.

"No!" Yanith exclaimed, "this cannot happen." She screamed as her divinity vaporised and she fell to the ground, her very soul on fire. The red light slipped out of her eyes and into the lifeless body inside the sarcophagus.

The Doctor rushed forward and put the large hoop of gold onto the young woman's face. "This should do the trick. I thought I recognised the technology."

Yanith screamed again as a great chill gripped her body. Her arms went numb and her mind flittered in and out of consciousness.

"What's it doing to her?" Jamie asked Lara.

"I've no idea," Lara replied.

"It's a replicator," the Doctor explained. "It creates whatever you ask for out of inert matter." He looked down at the young woman. "It's been set in reverse!" Her body was being transformed into the perfect inert material, gold.

"A just fate for a thief," Lara quipped.

"It's horrible." Jamie turned away, just in time to see the body in the coffin rise up. "Get back, it's alive!"

The Doctor adjusted the control settings. "I won't let you die."

"I don't deserve to live," Yanith whispered. "I became something I despised, let me die."

"You're not dying." The Doctor felt the girl's pulse. "You're becoming something else."

"I don't want to be a monster," Yanith wailed.

The metal hoop melted into Yanith's golden face and she sat up. "Get behind me. Ramoset can only be defeated by me." The metallic woman strode forward and punched the resurrected living god in the face.

"My daughter?" Ramoset asked.

"I have her memories in me," Yanith replied. "I'm not her though, I was brought back from death to stop your evil."

"You cannot kill a god," Ramoset boasted.

Yanith punched Ramoset in the chest, shattering ancient bones and gold leaf. "I don't have to kill you, I just have to make a pile out of your remains."

"The canopic jars!" Lara exclaimed. "His vital organs are in those."

"They're over there." The Doctor pointed to a high shelf in a corner of the room. "Shoot them."

Lara aimed and fired, the foul smelling remains slopped over the floor.

"What a stench!" Jamie held his nose.

Ramoset shrieked as the unholy power, which had reanimated him, was cut off.

Yanith jumped for joy as the evil Pharaoh disintegrated into dust before her eyes. "Now that's what I call taking care of things. I suppose I've served my purpose now, time for me to die too. The world isn't ready for a woman made of living metal is it?"

"No," the Doctor replied. "However I know one that is. I'll try and coax the TARDIS to take you there if you allow me to. Just because you're different doesn't mean you're not any less of a person."

"We could always melt her down and sell her," Lara joked.

"That's not funny." Yanith realised that she wanted to live very much. "I'll go with you Doctor, maybe I can find somewhere to call home."

Lara nodded. "I know that feeling only too well, but it's an even better feeling to go out and explore things for yourself."

"Shouldn't you tell her that you can't steer the TARDIS very well? Last time you managed that you ended up getting abducted by a giant glass cone along with the Brigadier friend of yours."

"Don't spoil the surprise Jamie." The Doctor winked at his friend before taking the Stattenheim remote control out of his jacket pocket. He whistled at it and waited as the familiar blue shape of the TARDIS appeared, as if by magic.

"Now that's what I call impressive," Lara smiled.

"You could come with us," Jamie said to the English woman. "You'd be a great help. Some of the places we end up are dangerous."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I have my own life to lead here. Why don't you drop by and see me, if you can figure a way out to make it work properly?"

"Come along Yanith." The Doctor led the living metal girl into the TARDIS. "Jamie will show you where the clothes room is. I'm sure we'll have something in your colour."

"I'd better be going, Hillary and Bryce will be worrying about me. You'd think I couldn't cope without them to help me." Lara left the way she had entered the tomb.

Jamie watched Lara leave for a second before stepping into the TARDIS. Seconds later they were off to another place and another time.

EPILOGUE - EGPYT, 1550 BC

The memories of the last Kingdom had faded and as the New Kingdom prepared to mark its place in the annals of history with the coronation of a new Pharaoh the people reflected on the long struggle back to their rightful place. They had banished the Hyksos out of their realm after a long and bloody campaign. Now, as the first rays of sunlight struck the temple making the beginning of the inauguration ceremony, no one guessed the ancient evil that slumbered in the valley of the kings, or the traps laid to ensure he never left his prison. All except one man, the keeper of the only surviving scroll from the time of the great purge. He looked over his shoulder at the distant temple as he made his way out of the land of his ancestors towards the north and east to the last of Goshen. One day his descendants would return to fulfil his idea of looting the lost pyramid and gaining possession of the fabled artefact within. If not this one, then another one of the lost pyramids and tombs. The name Sutekh sounded very mysterious.

Authors Notes:

The Middle Kingdom ended in 1640 BC and there was a period of turmoil in the land of Egypt until the New Kingdom was founded in 1550 BC. The Middle Kingdom saw a huge influx of foreign people, called the Hyksos (which some people believe to be the Hebrews), into its culture and as the power of these people increased with their number the power of the monarchy fell into oblivion. Although they were expelled in 1667 BC, the damage had already been done to Egyptian society and the destabilised culture entered into a period of transition before the New Kingdom emerged almost a century later. This seemed rather a pedestrian reason (the truth is never as interesting as a good story) and so I created the tyrant Ramoset who's evil was so abhorred that his name was cursed and stricken from all records and the downfall of his reign attributed to outsiders.

