Chapter 10:
A Prisoner, Or Two, Or Three…

The Doctor groaned and gingerly felt the back of his head, there was probably going to be a bruise there. He remembered what happened and jumped up and scanned his surroundings. He was still in the main generator control room. And Raxolun was still there, watching him.

"What is happening here in Fort RedCore is nothing as it seems isn't it?" the Doctor murmured.

"How smart of you Doctor, full marks for you!" the Voice joked, talking through Raxolun, "How's Heather Doctor?"

"If you've done anything to Heather –" the Doctor started, but the Voice spoke over him.

"Calm down Doctor, she's only a prisoner," the Voice paused, "at least for now."

"What about John?" the Doctor asked, "you've got him as well?"

"Why yes Doctor, how did you ever know?" the Voice taunted.

"You're quite predictable." The Doctor murmured.

"Predictable?" the Voice asked before laughing. He calmed down after a bit, "you know what? I'm bored. You and Heather aren't really much fun. So let's play a game."

"A game?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, it's more like a movie for me, and a challenge for you." The Voice explained. "Come forth!"

From the shadows behind the Doctor, an alien inmate stomped forward. It had a sloth-like face and was about two metres in height. Brown matted hair covering most of its body and a great big black nose sniffed the air constantly as it stopped next to the Doctor.

"A Fexilocorp?" the Doctor exclaimed, "How is this going to be a movie? He can tear me apart in three seconds."

"Because you won't be fighting against it Doctor." The Voice explained, "you're going to race it."

"Race it?" the Doctor murmured.

Raxolun pointed to the console, a map appeared on the screen, "here is a map of the Eastern Hemisphere of Fort RedCore. Where we are right now, is the red dot at the bottom, the finish line, is the green dot near the top." The Voice started explaining, "the rules are simple, reach the finish line before the Fexilocorp does, and you'll win the challenge."

"What makes you think I'm going to play along with your silly little game?" the Doctor said confidently.

"Because you're not going to look at this as a 'silly little game' for much longer." The Voice answered.

The map on the screen changed into the feed of a security camera on the roof of a tower. Bundled in rope on the edge of the roof, was John. The Doctor's face changed to a solemn one when he saw that the finish line was actually the first one to reach John first. There was no doubt in his mind that if the Fexilocorp were to reach John first, John would be killed brutally by it.

"I see that now you understand that this is not merely a 'silly little game'. As soon as I finish speaking to you, you'll have thirty seconds to study the map and work out a route that would take you to John faster than the Fexilocorp. The black line is the route that has been programmed for the Fexilocorp, and the darkened areas are off-limits. Who knows what could happen to you if you try to get out of the race." The Voice laughed.

A countdown started over Raxolun's head and the Doctor realised that the race had started. He ran over to the screen and studied the map as quickly as he could. Before he could make a route that was going to be faster than the Fexilocorp's, a siren sounded and he saw that the countdown had finished and the Fexilocorp started stomping down the path that had been programmed into him. The Doctor hurried after it.

"Doctor!" Heather screamed.

"Go go go!" the Doctor yelled as he tried to catch up to her.

Heather managed to find the room they were heading for, the Western Hemisphere Staff Room 3. She opened the door and saw the dark interior of the supposedly 'haunted' house back on Earth.

"Come on Doctor! It's right here!" Heather called.

The Doctor hurried after her and shoved her into the room before the force field had locked behind them.

"Ow," Heather groaned as she squirmed underneath the Doctor's body, "get off me Doctor, you're hurting me."

"Sorry," the Doctor said and he got up and brushed himself down. "That was too close."

"Too close." Heather agreed with him.

"Come on, let's go back to the TARDIS." The Doctor held out his hand. She grabbed it and got up with the help of the Doctor, she groaned and grabbed her hip.

"I think I landed on something." She mumbled.

The Doctor chuckled, "sorry, sorry."

They walked out of the empty house and the Doctor locked the door with his sonic screwdriver.

"What did you do again?" Heather asked him. "About the force field?"

"It was really simple, all I needed to do was set up a timer for the force field, when that timer counted down to zero, it would trigger a rubber-band-like effect that would strengthen the lock on the force field making sure that no more alien inmates could be seen by anybody anymore."

"So it's over?" Heather asked.

"Yeah, it's over." The Doctor answered, "I'm hungry."

Heather woke up back in a darkened room, she realised that it was the mess hall, now deserted. She groaned and held her head in her palms for a bit. Then she remembered what she had just dreamt about. She didn't question why her memories had started coming back, but she realised that the Doctor was going to do the exact same thing as last time that they were here.

She grabbed her phone and tried to call John, still no answer. She then tried to call the Doctor, and he also didn't answer. She held her phone tightly and stood up, "come on guys, where are you?"

The Doctor had been running for about twenty minutes, and even with his Gallifreyan stamina, he was starting to get tired. Something that the Voice had probably counted on.

The Fexilocorp was not a creature built for speed, but they were capable of reaching 15 kilometres an hour. And to match that speed or go faster for twenty minutes, is an achievement for anybody.

The Doctor knew that the route that was programmed into the Fexilocorp by the Voice was not the quickest, but it is easily the second quickest to get to the roof of the tower that John was tied up on.

A majority of the Doctor's route did not cross over with the Fexilocorp's route so the Doctor cannot tell whether he is winning or losing most of the time. The Doctor wiped his sweaty forehead and pushed through the building burning sensation on his throat.

Suddenly, something in the corner of his eyes noticed something, he quickly glanced over and saw that there was a figure standing against a wall far away. He glanced once more and could just make out that the figure was wearing a bowtie and a tweed jacket.

He shook his head to focus on getting to John before the Fexilocorp.

One more chapter, hurry over and read it!

Kid.