Mel is captured; the Doctor is drawn deeper into the Rani’s scheme as he comes to distrust the false “Mel.” He discovers the Rani’s fixed-trajectory rocket aimed at a strange-matter asteroid. The machine, powered by the minds of trapped scientists and guided by this collision, could transform Lakertya into a Time Manipulator with catastrophic consequences. The stakes rise as trust is betrayed, and Beyus makes difficult choices to delay catastrophe.