The Doctor kept his words to a minimum, trailing slightly behind the three others as they all trekked across the reddish plain. Exactly what the Sycorax wanted to sell to him, he did not know, but he assumed the worse. He repeatedly heard terms like 'wide variety' and 'the very best' being tossed around by the grunting creature in front of him. He knew he was in deep now; doing business with the Sycorax was the equivalent of entering the ring with an angry bull. Of course, he was going to have to find a way out.
The four of them entered a stone cave, which had torches lining the walls and droplets of of hot oil falling occasionally from the rocky ceiling. The Doctor found himself wanting to remove his jacket as a wave of heat washed over him like an unpleasant sludge. One of the creatures at his side, no doubt the ambassador for his (or her) crew, began to secrete a light blue puss from its scaly skin. The Doctor, unfamiliar with the ambassador's species, assumed this was its equivalent to human sweat.
"Little hot, isn't it?" the Doctor spoke for the first time, and the large Sycorax reacted with an uncomprehending expression. Waving his skinny-fingered hand, the Doctor dismissed his own remark and followed the group deeper into the hell-hole
The cave only grew hotter and more dimly-lit as they traveled further, and soon, the Doctor could see a line of Sycorax with the stances of soldiers as the tunnel-like cave opened into a large room. The Sycorax man who had greeted them took his place in front of the others of his kind, staring intensely back at the three collectors he had led into the open room. He opened his stretched mouth and spoke in the same gruff, throaty voice.
"We have a few additions to our market, collectors," he grumbled, folding large arms across his chest, "We will display one of each species we have in stock, and then you may choose which set you would like to purchase. As they are the strongest you will ever encounter, they will not be inexpensive." As the barbarous creature finished speaking, the Doctor was without doubt as to what was going on. Chains clinked heavily against the floor of the stone tunnel ahead of them, growing louder and louder as the time passed. Within seconds, a group of creatures emerged from the darkness. Their metal bondage chafed their skin, leading some to bleed. If the creature had eyes, then his eyes revealed nothing but the desolation that shined through from his soul. There was no darker business than the one that the Doctor had gotten himself into now.
He was looking at slaves.
The line that formed exhibited around thirty different species. Each individual was completely naked, stripped completely of any form of identity. The Doctor gulped at the thought that, for each creature in the line, there were hundreds of the same who were imprisoned there as well. He knew, then, that it was impossible to leave now.
"Our newest additions," roared one of the Sycorax, striding towards the end of the line of battered slaves, "Are around five hundred of the human race."
At the mention of the civilization the Doctor swore to protect, his eyes lit up and followed the Sycorax salesman. However; the person to whom he was referring looked ever-so-slightly nonhuman. At the end of the line stood a girl who seemed too short to be what they claimed she was. At first, with horror, the Doctor thought she was a child. Upon looking closer, though, he noticed that her face was that of a teenager. Her hair was bright streaks of yellow and brown, cut in a fashion that kids from Clara's time would have considered stylish, despite the fact that it looked like it was cut with a sword, (in this case, he thought, it probably was). The girl's face was nearly filled to capacity with constellations of freckles. Her most notable inhuman attributes were her long lashes and her glowing blue eyes. The orbs shined on the Doctor, emotionless, and it was only after a few long moments that the almost imperceptible glimmer of sadness sparked from inside of her.
The Sycorax shoved her forward, and the glimmer was gone.