Chapter Two
Amy was escorted through to a large glass and chrome building. Galectus swiped a pass card through a reader and, with a buzz and a green light, they were admitted. He led her through a plush lobby area with a royal blue carpet, oak reception desk topped with blue Corian, and cream leather sofas and chairs. At the end of the lobby, there was a bank of brass-fronted lifts with LED floor indicators. Galectus pressed a button and a set of doors glided open with a swoosh. The two entered and he selected the top floor. With a hiss, the doors closed, then Amy felt her stomach lurch as the lift shot up the floors. They arrived at the twentieth floor in three seconds. The doors glided open, and she gasped.
The penthouse apartment was like no other she had ever seen. A massive stereo system sat in one corner, a tower of gleaming chrome knobs, dials and buttons, with two subwoofers sitting next to it and speakers placed in strategic points about the room. In the middle were three bright red leather sofas on a cream carpet surrounding another glass and chrome coffee table. Two glasses of something bubbly were already sitting there.
Galectus turned to Amy and extended an arm. "Please, take a seat. Would you like some music? Something classical, perhaps?"
He snapped his fingers and the stereo system light up. A screen lifted up from a recess in the top, glowing blue. The speakers began wafting some light Mozart into the room and Galectus sat on the sofa next to Amy. He looked into her eyes.
"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever set eyes on," he said. Amy shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"Really? That's...nice," she replied. She took a sip of the bubbly something and was relieved to find it was normal champagne.
"Do you like the champagne? I had it specially imported from your planet – Sol 3. I only drink sparkling wine from the French Champagne region myself. That other stuff is too...uncivilised, don't you think?"
Amy nodded her consent. "Far too strong."
Galectus laughed and slipped his arm around Amy's shoulders. She shifted again.
"Um...do you always act this way around women?" she asked.
"Only the pretty ones," he replied, then slipped his hand down the front of her dress. Without pausing for thought, she threw the glass of champagne in his face, the bubbling liquid dripping down his chin onto his jacket and trousers. He leapt to his feet in rage and backhanded her viciously across the face. She collapsed into the table, the glass shattering. She hit the floor hard, the glass cutting her back multiple times. She moaned in pain, then kicked for his groin with her heel. The spike hit squarely between his legs and he doubled over. Amy scrambled to her feet, but before she could run, Galectus had pressed a button on his watch. A klaxon echoed around the apartment and several armed guards burst in, their M15 assault rifles at the ready. Amy sighed and raised her hands.
Galectus staggered to his feet and pointed at Amy. "I want that...that...thing locked up!" he gasped. "Lock her in the south cell block. And...you know what to do." Two of the guards grabbed hold of her arms. She fought back desperately, but to no avail. Another guard approached with a hypodermic syringe.
"No! NO!" she screamed. She felt a sting as the needle bit into her flesh, then she lost all power to her arms and legs. She would have hit the floor but for the guards, who picked her up. The last thing she thought before everything went black was: Help me, Doctor.
She passed out.
Outside, the Doctor had no knowledge of what had taken place. Instead, he had sonic'd the card reader and was in the main building. Just before Amy's attack, he was busy hacking into a computer terminal. Mercifully, it wasn't deadlocked, but he had tried nearly everything save for ripping the front out and poking about with a soldering iron. He tried another setting on the sonic screwdriver, only to be rewarded with a nasty beeping sound and a red screen saying "SYSTEM LOCKDOWN". That's funny, he thought, That setting is supposed to work, not lock me out of the system. What he didn't know was that when Galectus activated the alarm, it locked down all the computer terminals. He didn't know what had happened, of course, because there were nineteen floors between the action and the lobby.
Three more armed guards approached the Doctor. He turned round and put away the sonic screwdriver. "Hi, fellas!" he said brightly. One of them raised what appeared to be a sawn-off shotgun, but upon closer inspection turned out to be a tranquilliser gun. The Doctor raised his hands. "Look, you don't need-" He got no further, as the man fired. A dart slammed into his left heart. He staggered back, then the man fired at his other heart. His last thought before everything went black was: He's well informed.
He passed out.
Author's Note: I know this is a shorter chapter, and I'm sorry about that, but the next one's gonna be a LOOOONG one, so I wanted to sort of balance it out. Thanks for reading, by the way.