Chapter Three
The large tracks the hover-truck had made was all that was left on the beach. Plus, one very distraught Doctor.
TARDIS... he had to get to the TARDIS.
'Right, Doctor,' he told himself, shaking his head, 'pull yourself together.'
He ungracefully pulled himself off the ground and headed toward the TARDIS. It didn't take him very long to get there. It registered in his mind that Amy hadn't been very far off when she'd been caught, only making the whole situation more frustrating.
'It's OK,' he said aloud when he reached the TARDIS, patting the door. 'We're going to get her back.'
He walked inside and straight to the centre of the room. Taking out his sonic screwdriver and looking at the readings of the hover-craft he could tell what year it had come from.
'Well old girl, looks like we're going to Versutus, year 5,000,037,756.'
After the beach dissolved away from Amy, she found herself in a loading dock type of room. The walls were a dark blue and had large numbers and letters on them. Echoes of the hover-vehicle sounded through the space, which was large enough for multiple vehicles to go through, but they seemed to be the only ones in it for the moment. The vehicle had been stopped for about a minute and Amy could hear muffled voices, but was unable to make anything out.
Once they started moving again, Amy realised she had curled up so she was hugging her knees, bringing to her attention how scared she was. She'd tried to look brave for the Doctor but now she was alone; trapped on some planet or spaceship she knew nothing about.
The truck backed up into one of the walls that said A1 and the engine stopped whirring, so Amy assumed they had stopped for good.
A 'whoosh' sound resonated through the now very silent room, followed by footsteps.
Milo and Rheia came into view. When Amy saw their faces her fear dissipated and her face turned to a scowl. Luna made a quick appearance, but briskly walked off in another direction.
Rheia's eyes grew wide when she saw the Doctor's empty cage.
'What the hell happened?' She turned to Amy. 'Where did he go?'
'Oh, are you talking to me now?' Amy glowered, and Rheia was so stunned by the back-talk her mouth flew open.
'Rheia, you did deadlock the door, correct?' asked Milo.
Her eyes grew wide as realisation dawned on her. 'I... I never need to. None of the specimen ever have the technology to get out of our regular locks.'
Milo put a hand on her shoulder. 'Do not worry. If he had that technology it may have meant he was too high of an intelligence to keep anyway.'
She nodded. 'Right. We should get these guys checked in.'
'Checked in?' Amy asked, crossing her arms. 'If you're going to kidnap me, can't you at least tell me where I am or what I'm doing here.'
'We did not kidnap you,' Rheia told her, 'It is impossible to kidnap you, unless you belong to someone.'
'You are here to be studied,' Milo answered.
'Ok, so what about after that? You're just gonna run tests until I die?'
'We do not run fatal tests. The point of this institution is to discover and prolong life, not destroy it. I imagine once they get more humans they may sell you, I really do not know,' Milo said as he opened her cage. 'By the way, you are on a ship, headed to the planet Versutus.'
He extended a hand in to her. Though Amy's first instinct was to recoil, she thought that maybe if she behaved they would let their guard down.
She stepped down lightly from the truck, immediately feeling a sting her neck.
'No! You didn't have to...' Amy slurred, her legs starting to feel like jelly.
'Sorry, girl, just protocol,' she heard Milo say just before her vision faded to nothing.
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the Versutus soil. If you could call it that. It was much more springy than than earth soil. Smiling, he gave the ground a couple of jumps to test it, then got back to business.
'Hmm... seems to be a city. Though if I remember correctly this planet is mostly industrial, so that's not uncommon.'
Studying his surroundings he thought himself to be in the centre of a rather busy square, circular buildings surrounding him. Versutians were walking quickly form place to place, getting on with their lives. Some of them were followed by a plethora of creatures: Ood, Malmooth, Tivolian, Catkind, and more. They were doing many different tasks, from holding the Versutians stuff for them to helping them with their hair. The Doctor heard laughter and turned saw a full grown adipose playing a small child.
'Pets with perks I suppose...' the Doctor murmured.
'You there!'
The Doctor spun around toward the angry voice as a large dark haired Versutian wearing a dark red uniform stomped up to him.
'Hullo!' greeted the Doctor.
'You look to me to be a pet,' he said with a low, gruff voice. 'What species are you?'
'Uh, no actually. Just thought I'd pop on the planet, see the sites.' He spun in a circle, his arms in the air to gesture around him. 'See that's a lovely, roundish building you have there.'
The man eyed him sceptically. 'You would have gotten a badge at customs.'
'Yes, of course I have, right here.' He held out the psychic paper.
The man studied it. 'This paper is blank...'
'Really?' The Doctor said looking it over. 'Oh yes, the electro-magnetic fields you people tend to use is probably disrupting it.'
'Excuse me?'
'Wrong badge! Just let me go in this blue box for a moment and fetch the right one. Be out in a jiffy.'
The man stared at the Doctor with a puzzled look as he entered the TARDIS.
'Right, well, no need to be out there anyway. Now that I'm on the planet I can access their data from in here.'
He went to the middle of the room and turned on his computer, furiously typing and trying, with difficulty, to ignore the banging on the TARDIS doors.
A blonde Versutian woman popped onto the monitor.
Dr. Rheia Seeds is the head of the field team at the Doctrina Biological Facility read the article next to it.
'Yes, I've found it!' the Doctor exclaimed.
The pounding on the door grew louder. Hopping off the raised floor he went to address the noise.
'Yeah, sorry. Can't find that badge,' he told the man as he held his out the TARDIS door. 'Guess I'll just pop off then. Lovely to meet you.' The Doctor shook the officer's hand vigorously as the man stared with blank expression. 'Cheerio!' The man strained his neck to try and get a peek inside, but was met with the door slamming in his face.
The TARDIS began to take off, making it's signature wheezing noise. The officer backed away from the vehicle in alarm and watched, in awe, as it dissolved into nothing.
Amy could tell she was laying down on something flat and hard, not to mention uncomfortable. Her eyes felt as if someone was forcing them shut, they refused opening so much. She motioned her arms to rub them and realised she couldn't move them from her sides. When she finally got her eyes to open she panicked, finding herself in a small dark room, instruments lining the edges that resembled what earth used for medical equipment. Her panic doubled when she looked down at her arms and legs which had clasps on them, connecting her to the table she was laying on.
A low groan sounded to her left. There was the sabre-toothed cat, its breath even as it slept on the same type of table she was. Sticking out of its head were many tiny wires.
Curious, Amy shook her own head and felt many small tugs, realising she had been hooked up in the same manner. Her thick hair moved over the wires uncomfortably and she struggled to get them back to the position they were in. Even a couple on her face were now visible.
After moving her head she noticed how nauseous she felt and began feeling nervous.
'Hey!' she shouted, shaking her arms violently and causing the cuffs to make a ruckus. 'What are you lot doing to me? Let me out of here!'
She desperately moved her arms back and forth, trying to get free. Hoping to grab a wire in her teeth, she even began to snap at her own shoulder,.
'Whoa, calm down girl.' Rheia came bustling in, grabbing Amy's arms to try and steady her.
'Stop calling me girl!' screamed Amy in agitation, but she did stop struggling. 'My name is Amy. Amy Pond. I'm not a dog, or a horse, I'm human!'
The blonde sighed, but a smile crept up her face. 'Is there really a difference?' Rheia adjusted the cuffs on Amy's wrists so she was able to sit up without disturbing the wires on her head.
'Of course there's a difference! I'm talking to you. I'm flat out telling you I don't want to be here. You know how I feel and you just don't care!'
'We care, to an extent. We do whatever is possible to make you guys comfortable and happy, so long as it stays within our agenda. You are a sub-species to us; it is just your place.'
'We are not sub anything. Humans have just as much worth as... as whatever you are! We have whole civilisation on Earth, and we built it ourselves.' Amy noticed she may have sounded like an indignant child, but she decidedly ignored it.
'Ants on your planet build colonies and wolves run in packs like family. Yet you kill and capture them for your enjoyment or usefulness. Though you may not be able to converse with them so they may tell you themselves, you expect me to believe that you think they want these things to happen to them?'
Amy glared at her. 'This is different and you know it.'
'Not to me. Not to anyone on this planet. Even the subordinate know that their place is in our care and they often become very loyal. I hope you understand this soon.'
Amy was about to rebuttal when a wave of nausea swept over her. She groaned, letting her head roll back on the table.
'I think I'm gonna be sick.'
'Do not worry about that,' Rheia said, checking a bag full of liquid that was hooked up to Amy's arm. 'We just had to give you something to register the intelligence scan. It will wear off soon.'
She tentatively smoothed out Amy's hair. Was she trying to pet her? Amy wanted to shove her off, but she couldn't focus past her sickness to do anything. She just closed her eyes and waited for the nausea to subside.
It wasn't long before the ship landed on the planet Versutus. Though Amy was in the medical bay when it landed, the resounding thud of the ship touching down echoed throughout the whole ship. Milo came to get her not long after.
'Where are we going?' she asked.
'The Doctrina Biological Facility, in Doctrina City.'
The wires on Amy's head each made a popping noise as Milo removed them, as if they were tiny suction cups. He pressed a small black button near the bag of liquid that had been dripping into her. With a metallic hiss, the clasps slid away from her arms and legs and Amy rubbed at her irritated wrists.
The back of Amy's neck felt the warmth of Milo's hand as he brushed her hair behind her.
'What do you think you're- whoa, big gun thingy!'
Milo held in his hand a silver gun with a tiny square chip at the end of it.
'It is just your identification chip. You will not be bothered by it once it is inserted. It just helps identify your attributes, such as species and intelligence level.'
'What was my intelligence level?' Amy asked, genuinely curious.
'Level four.'
Amy frowned, nonplussed. 'Is that... bad?'
'It was expected.'
He held the point of the gun against her head just behind her ear and shot the chip in sideways.
'Ow!' Amy exclaimed. 'Liar, that really hurt!'
'I said once it is inserted it will not hurt. And does it?'
She rubbed the area behind her ear, feeling the small cube just beneath her skin.
'No, I guess not.'
Amy turned to watch another scientist, whom she had not met, come in to retrieve the sabre-toothed cat. The feline was still unconscious as he did all the necessary unhooking. He then put the animal in a cage that resembled the one on the truck, but the table it was sitting on seemed to be floating. Hovering, apparently. Amy checked under the table she was now sitting up on and realised that it too was hovering.
Her attention was drawn away from the floating tables when she felt a cold pressure on her wrist. It now had a similar cuff that she'd just gotten rid of, only this one was tethered to rather springy looking rope that Milo held.
Amy rolled her eyes, feeling ridiculous. She heard something that sounded almost like a soft breeze and turned to see the other scientist pushing the sabre-toothed cat out of the room.
'There are some benefits to at least being a Speakie. Less cages,' said Milo.
'Oh yeah, I feel so lucky; having my own lead rope is much better. Plus, you're taking quite a chance with this. I bet I could get you to lose your grip,' Amy said, only half joking.
Milo chuckled, amused. 'I am stronger than I look.'
Amy remembered that he had managed to pick up a whole cage with her inside like it was nothing. 'Yeah... I don't doubt it.'
'Alright, come on girl, we should get going,' Milo said, giving the leash a small tug.
Amy recoiled her arm, causing Milo to stumble forward. 'OK, firstly, please stop calling me girl. My name's Amy, and if you don't want to use that fine but stop with the 'girl'. Second, because I am a creature of intelligence and language, just tell me when to go. No need for the pulling.'
Amy couldn't believe she just agreed to do whatever they said, but it was better than looking like a dog on a leash.
Milo grinned. 'Alright. Come on then,' Milo told her, then added, 'Amy.'
She picked herself off the table and led them out of the room with her chin held high.
Eventually, Milo did have to take the lead because he was the one who knew where they were going. The ship had landed on the roof of the facility, so they were only outside for a brief moment, but Amy was able to take in the city.
The buildings seemed impossibly large and wide, all tinted with a light blue colour. They were curved and for the most part circular. The sky was a bright light purple mixed with orange, causing the buildings to seem as if they were shimmering.
'It is beautiful,' Amy admitted.
'I've always thought so.'
'Shame you had to ruin it with the slavery.' She stared at him incriminatingly.
Milo sighed. 'It's not- whatever. I do not have to explain anything to you, pet. Keep going.' He gave a violent tug at her wrist and she lurched forward.
'Hey!' she protested, but was only responded to with another pull.
Guess I took it too far, she thought to herself, her feet skipping steps as she fumbled to keep up.
