After a moment's consideration, during which the Doctor listened to the wall with a stethoscope he'd pulled from his coat pocket, he led them down the hall in the direction opposite the one they'd come in. As they moved away from the labs and living areas, Rose felt a prickling in her spine. The humming of the computer equipment faded and the howl of the wind outside grew louder.

"I wonder why the TARDIS didn't pick up this storm," mused Jack, as if he could read Rose's thoughts.

"Well, the beta monitor's been giving me trouble," said the Doctor, "since somebody fooled with it on Christmas."

Jack raised his hands in a "don't-blame-me" gesture.

"Still odd, though," the Doctor continued. "She's usually quite good about weather." They had come to a pair of fire doors at the end of the corridor. He took out the stethoscope again and pressed it to them, then pointed the sonic screwdriver at the doors and frowned. "Locked."

"Is that the door to the outside?" asked Rose.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't think so. Seems like there's a big room on the other side… like a warehouse. Rose, how do you feel about heights?"

Before she had time to respond, the Doctor and Jack each grabbed one of Rose's legs and lifted her up to the narrow window above the door.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?"

"Just look," groaned Jack. "Did you have to pick these boots? The bottoms are really sharp."

Rose grabbed the doorjamb and peered over it. "I can't see anything," she said. "It's dark in there and there's these sort of wires over the window."

"What are you doing?"

Rose tried to turn around and toppled forward.

Cheryl was moving briskly toward them. "Can I see your credentials again?" she asked the Doctor, as he helped Rose to her feet.

"Sure," he said, pulling the psychic paper out his coat and handing it to her. She examined it and handed it back.

"I don't know who you are or what you're trying to pull, but I could have sworn this didn't used to say you were with the Powell Foundation."

The Doctor took a surreptitious glance at the psychic paper. "No," he said. "Definitely with the Powell Foundation. Good foundation, the Powell foundation. Very… geological."

"I'm going to call Cardiff," she said briskly, turning on her heel. "We have a lot of high-security research going on up here and if you're spies from some other institute, I'm reporting you."

"Wait, wait, wait." The Doctor hurried after her and grabbed her arm. "You're right. I lied. I'm a lying liar who lies. I'm… I'm really John Smith. This is… Violet Taylor and James Harper. We just like to travel incognito, occasionally." He looked at Rose and Jack expectantly.

"Yeah," said Rose. "My name's Violet, isn't it, James?"

Jack nodded. "It sure is, Violet."

Glaring, Cheryl yanked her arm away from the Doctor and stalked down the hall. They hurried after her. As they rounded the corner into the corridor that led to the main offices, the lights went out.

Rose yelped as they were plunged into darkness.

"We didn't do that," said the Doctor, even though he couldn't see Cheryl's expression. "I'm not lying now, promise."

"The generator should be coming on," she muttered, ignoring him. "Aaron!"

"Coming!" he called faintly. "I've got some torches!"

"You," said Cheryl sharply. "Don't try to run."

"Where would we go?" muttered Jack. "We can't see either."

A light came bobbing toward them and Aaron handed Cheryl and the Doctor each a torch.

"Have you been to the generators?" Cheryl asked.

"Going there now," said Aaron.

"I'll check the com links." She turned to the Doctor, Rose and Jack. "You three wait in there," she said, pointing to the bunk room.

"Actually," said the Doctor. "I have a bit of mechanical experience, and so does Jack, I mean James. We could help Aaron."

Cheryl frowned but nodded. "Keep an eye on them," she instructed. "You're with me," she said to Rose.

**

"Are you sure you don't want to borrow anything?" Aaron asked the Doctor, as he zipped his coat. "It's cold out there. We've got plenty."

"I'm fine," said the Doctor, leaning against the doorframe.

Aaron shrugged. "You're a funny man, Doctor."

Jack grinned and pulled on his gloves. "You've got that right."

Aaron led them out a reinforced storm door on the side of the facility.

"Where's the generator?" Jack yelled over the howl of the wind. He couldn't see anything. The shadow of the mountain, combined with the dark clouds that had rolled in made the spring afternoon as black as midnight. He wiped a hand over his goggles in a vain attempt to clear away the accumulating snow.

"Over here." He could see Aaron's torchlight bobbing to his left, so he headed in that direction. "Be careful of the fence. When we get the generator back up, it'll re-electrify." Jack couldn't even begin to guess where the fence was, so he kept himself pressed against the generator. He reached out and found the Doctor's shoulder. "Do you want to make a run for the TARDIS while the fence is down?" he whispered.

"No. We'd get lost out there and I don't know what they'd do to Rose if we ran off."

"Here!" called Aaron. "Come around here, I can't get the panel open."

Jack and the Doctor inched their way around the generator to Aaron's voice. Jack took the torch from him as he fumbled with the panel.

"Here," said the Doctor, nudging Aaron out of the way and handing him his torch. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the panel and it swung open.

"Wow," said Aaron. "What's that?"

"Oh, just… Never mind. Jack, give me some more light." Jack moved to stand behind the Doctor and pointed the torch over the Time Lord's shoulder. The Doctor squinted into the panel. "Now that… That is odd," he murmured.

"What?" asked Jack, leaning in over the Doctor's other shoulder.

"There's nothing wrong with the generator, at least not inside it." The Doctor straightened up and shut the panel, turning to look at Jack. "Now, what could be causing our little power problem?"

"How about this rock?" said Aaron. Jack and the Doctor whirled around. Aaron was shining his torch on an enormous boulder, which was rapidly being covered by snow. It had fallen on the power line from the generator, severing it.

"Do you have any other kind of emergency power?" the Doctor asked.

"No," said Aaron.

"Do you think we can reconnect the lines?" asked Jack. He didn't know as much as the Doctor did, but had once dated an electrical technician who had been under the mistaken impression Jack was interested in his work.

The Doctor ran a hand through his wet hair. "We might be able to," he said thoughtfully. "Right. First, we move the boulder. Jack, go 'round to the other side."

"Yessir," said Jack, giving him a quick salute with the torch. He trudged back to the other side of the generator, his way made increasingly difficult by the fact that the snow was now beginning to cover the smaller transformers and lower power lines.

Definitely requesting someplace tropical next time, he thought. Though there is the problem of sand in unpleasant places.

Suddenly, he heard a grating sound. "Doctor?" he called, turning. "Was that you?"

If the Doctor responded, Jack didn't hear him. Aaron's torchlight was also lost in the driving snow. There was another sound behind him, this time of creaking metal. Jack took a deep breath, remembering the techniques he'd learned at the Time Agency to stave off panic. It was probably just the wind. He reached out to his right and realized he'd lost the generator.

"Damn," he muttered, taking a tentative step forward. His foot caught on a snow-covered wire and he went sprawling, dropping his torch. He heard another sound of ripping metal and dug frantically through the snow, looking for the light. There it was! He grabbed it and swung it in front of him. He'd fallen right in front of the fence, so he was close to the perimeter. Jack rolled to his feet, kicking snow away so he wouldn't trip again.

Follow the fence, he thought.Just follow the fence to the generator and find the Doctor.

He swung the torch in front of him, trying to gauge the right direction. Suddenly, he froze and felt his stomach drop. There was a hole in the fence. That had been the sound he'd heard. Something had torn right through while it wasn't electrified. "Doctor?" he called. "Doctor!"

Jack heard a thump behind him and whirled around. He had just a second to glimpse the enormous creature in front of him before it grabbed him by the legs. Jack's head slammed hard into the generator and everything went black.

**

Rose sighed and rested her head on her hands, hating the uncomfortable silence between her and Cheryl. The electricity was still out and the base's communications were down; the heat had also gone off, too. The cold was beginning to set in, and the howl of the storm outside was making Rose even more worried about the boys. She knew they had fought off much worse in the past, but she would feel much better once they were back inside.

"I don't know what that Doctor Smith thinks he can do to help," Cheryl muttered. "Aaron knows the generator system like the back of his hand." She leveled her eyes at Rose. "You're not trying to sabotage us, are you?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "If we were, do you think I'd admit it?"

Cheryl grunted and looked down at the table. "It's not supposed to do this," she said quietly. "The system's supposed to be foolproof. If we lose power, the generator goes on automatically." She hugged herself, leaning forward. "If it doesn't kick on, we'll die!"

"We won't die," insisted Rose. "The Doctor will know how to fix it, I'm telling you."

Suddenly, the lights flickered back on and the heating system roared to life. Flashing Cheryl a triumphant grin, Rose jumped to her feet and bolted for the entranceway. The Doctor and Aaron were there, shaking the snow off their clothes. She froze, looking behind them for a familiar figure.

"Where's Jack?" she asked accusingly.

The Doctor came toward her and hugged her; she didn't like the grim expression on his face when he pulled away.

"He's gone," he whispered.

She pulled back. "What do you mean gone?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Missing," said the Doctor quickly, looking away. "Something's dragged him off."

"Well, we've got to get him back!" She grabbed the Doctor's hand. "Come on!"

"Rose, we're not going out there in this storm."

"Bollocks! If Jack's in trouble–"

"–Then we have to help him, yes. But if we go out there now, we won't even know where to look." He closed his eyes. "I don't even know what direction they went in. The snow's already covered up any tracks."

"We're not leaving him alone out there," she said adamantly. "Come on, what do we need?"

"We need to wait until the storm dies down. In the morning we'll–"

Rose shook her head, her voice rising in pitch. "Jack's out there freezing or being eaten and you're–"

"He can take care of himself," said the Doctor quickly. "He knows what he's doing. He's… had plenty of survival training."

"Doctor…" she continued desperately.

"We don't have a choice, Rose," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I promise you, first thing in the morning, we'll go out there and we will get Jack back. I swear."

Rose nodded, blinking back tears. The Doctor hugged her again.

"Was it… the Yeti?" she asked in a hollow voice as he withdrew.

"Oh, don't–" began Cheryl.

Aaron cut her off. "Cheryl, you know what that fence is made out of. Nothing else could get through it." He looked at the Doctor. "Could it?"

The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't know. You tell me."

Aaron looked nervous. "Well, I haven't really gone through all of Annie's notes since… since her accident, but I don't think any of the native wildlife could punch through that fence."

"Then maybe we're not dealing with native wildlife," said the Doctor sharply. "Tell me." He looked seriously at Aaron and Cheryl. "What exactly are you doing up here?"

Cheryl's face hardened. "The electricity's back up. I'm calling my superior. I'm in charge until we get reinforcements, and–"

"And the phone will still be down and the computers will take eighteen hours to reboot." The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and advanced toward her. "Now my friend is out there, in the middle of a storm, with a creature I know nothing about–this is not the same Yeti I've encountered before, I do know that much. Now, I'm suspicious that you know something you're not telling me. Which is all well and good, I'm used to figuring these things out myself. But if something happens to my friend, and you could have helped, I'm going to be very upset."

Cheryl took a step back nervously. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"I'm the Doctor." He turned, his coat snapping. "Come on, Rose. Let's get some rest. First thing in the morning, we're going out there and getting Jack back."

**

Jack's eyes snapped open and he sucked in a lungful of air. That was a rude awakening, he thought. Wincing, he forced his stiff limbs to cooperate as he pulled himself into a sitting position. He was in some sort of cave, he guessed. It was dark, but the ground was clear of snow. Every muscle in his body was sore. He put a hand to the back of his head. There was blood in his hair, but he couldn't detect a wound or lump.

"Weird," he muttered, slumping back against the wall of the cave. "Hoo boy." Standing felt like too much of an effort, so Jack sat. He rubbed his eyes–he'd lost his goggles somewhere–and tried to think back to the last thing he remembered. There was the Doctor… they were outside… the hole in the fence… the creature! Jack scrambled to his feet, ignoring the wooziness he felt.

He was definitely in a cave. The creature must have dragged him there. The Yeti. Bracing himself against the wall of the cave, Jack crept toward where he guessed the entrance was. It was still dark outside but the storm had died down. He could even see a little in the moonlight, but Jack didn't relish the idea of a trek at night through the snow without any gear.

Sighing, he sat down on a rock. May as well run some diagnostics, he thought, and tapped some buttons on his wrist unit. The cave was more-or-less ordinary, except for the unusually high levels of cyclic radiation. What was radiation doing in a cave in the high Himalayas? That didn't make any sense. Jack rested his chin on his hand. This wasn't stuff that occurred naturally, at least not on Earth.

Had something contaminated the cave and the creature? Could it have been that research station? Jack quickly ran a few more scans to get more information to share with the Doctor later, but nothing else stood out to him as strange.

Suddenly, he heard movement in the mouth of the cave. It was the Yeti. The moonlight provided Jack's first good look at the creature that had abducted him–on purpose, he now thought, as it hadn't already eaten him.

It was apelike and tall–twice as tall as Jack–and covered in matted black hair. The stench was almost overpowering, and its eyes... they glowed red. It caught Jack in its gaze and he felt his knees go weak. "Not again," he muttered.

The most intense feelings of loneliness were washing over him. He'd been alone for so long, and now that he had the Doctor and Rose, it was all being taken away from him. He didn't deserve to be happy, he'd done too many terrible things. The Doctor and Rose were leaving him behind. The TARDIS was dematerializing, but he would never make it in time. They knew what he'd done and it disgusted them. There was no point in living anymore.

Jack's knees gave out and he slumped onto the floor of the cave, the Yeti leaning over him.