"Hey, Francine," Jenna greeted her. "Come sit by me."
"Sure," said the monkey girl with a smile. As she took the seat next to Jenna, she remarked, "I'm sure glad to see you. With Muffy living on another planet, Sue Ellen in Minnesota, and Beat who-knows-where, there are no girls left to hang out with, except for Fern, and she's as boring as an electric drill."
"I'm also sitting right across from you, Francine," said Fern indignantly.
"I'll tell you what's boring," said Jenna. "My class is boring. This is what, the second time this year an alien has visited your class? And what do we get? An exchange student from Kazakhstan? Big fat hairy deal." She'll never believe me if I tell her about the old gypsy woman who put a backwards-talking curse on us, she thought.
A moose woman with short antlers stepped into the classroom. "I see you've all met our guest lecturer," she said in a sweet, high-pitched voice. "I'll turn the time over to her as soon as I've called the roll, okaaaay?"
"Right, like anybody's gonna stay home and miss this," said Arthur jokingly.
"Yeah," added Binky. "I've got uncontrollable diarrhea, but I came anyway."
Mrs. Krantz proceeded with the ritual of the roll call. "Binky Barnes."
Binky raised his hand. "May I be excused?"
"Buster Baxter, traveling. Van Cooper, moved away. Muffy Crosswire, moved away. Francine Frensky."
"Still here," said Francine.
"Sue Ellen Krantz, traveling. George Nordgren."
"Here," said the moose boy.
"Arthur Read."
"Here," said Arthur.
"Beatrice Simon, unaccounted for. Fern Walters."
"Here," said Fern.
Mrs. Krantz made a few pen marks on the sheet. "That makes a grand total of five children," she observed. "Now, at the request of Mr. Martens and Miss Budge, I'll read the rolls of the other two fifth-grade classes."
After she had dispensed with a long list of names, Jenny from the planet Kressida took the floor. "I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have," she said, and immediately a sea of hands flew up. She pointed a rubbery finger at a few of the kids, and finally concluded, "You, with the floppy ears."
"Yes," said Fern calmly. "I'd like to know what you did with Buster and his family."
"I…don't understand," said Jenny in her odd voice that sounded like three girls talking at once.
"I watched their condo," Fern stated. "They never left. I went inside, and nobody was home. Their car was still in the garage. Beat was last seen with them, so I'm guessing you made her disappear as well."
Jenny only stared blankly. Francine groaned.
"I know you're involved with some kind of alien witness protection agency," Fern continued. "If you're hiding them to keep them out of danger, that's okay, but I think we have a right to know."
Unbeknownst to Fern, Beat and Buster were at that moment enjoying the amenities of their comfortable Torchwood apartment. Thanks to a wall-mounted spyglass, Buster had a bird's-eye view of downtown London, from Big Ben to Buckingham Palace. "That big Ferris wheel is called the London Eye," Beat told him. "It's the tallest in the world, next to the one that was just built in China."
"This would be easier if we had a window," Buster remarked. "I haven't seen a single window in this whole building. For all we know, we're at the center of the Earth."
"Silly goose," Beat chided him. "We'd burn to a crisp at the center of the Earth."
"Not if there's a super-powerful force field around us," said Buster excitedly.
"Boys and their force fields," said Beat with a sigh.
On the blue leather couch, Harry Mills was perusing a copy of the London Times. Looking up from the entertainment section, he said, "Your parents must be very worried about you, Beatrice. Don't you think it's time to tell Desirée that you're not part of the family?"
"Sorry, Harry," said Beat seriously. "I'm not leaving until the Doctor comes back. Since he hasn't yet, I can only assume that Earth is still under threat of alien invasion. That being so, I can't imagine a safer place on the planet than right here at Torchwood."
It looks like a hospital, thought Sue Ellen as she cautiously lowered herself from the bed. It smells like a hospital. It must be the hospital where I died.
She tiptoed past a full-length mirror, and a red-haired girl with pointed cat ears stared back at her. That's funny. I was a very, very old woman when I died, but now I'm a little girl again. Maybe I'm starting life all over. She took a few more quiet steps, and suddenly came face-to-knees with a tall, grinning cat woman. I recognize her, Sue Ellen thought. I looked just like her before I died.
"Come to Mommy, sweetheart," said the woman, sweeping her up by the armpits. "Don't be afraid. The bad man who took April is locked away. He'll never hurt us again."
"W-who's April?" Sue Ellen stammered.
In the Doctor's cell, two Thrag soldiers were strapping the muttonchopped Time Lord onto a tilted platform. His arms helplessly bound above his head, he watched Mr. Armstrong stroke his whiskers thoughtfully. "I don't want to resort to barbaric means," said the cat man, "so I suggest that you answer my questions willingly."
The Doctor struggled uselessly to free his hands. "Sorry, old chap," he said with forced calmness, "but my mother taught me never to talk to strangers." The next thing he felt was a metal-gloved Thrag hand slapping the smirk from his lips.
"Where is April?" Mr. Armstrong demanded. "And what do you know about the secret agreement between the Alliance and the Yordilian government?"
The Doctor could taste the blood welling up in his throat. "April is dead," he said carefully, "no doubt the victim of a thoughtless attempt at time travel. The other Time Lords would normally detect and fix such a problem, but they're all gone. As for your secret agreement, up to now I've only suspected that such a thing exists, so your confirmation is quite refreshing. Tell me, how much did you bribe the Alliance Grand Council for the privilege of invading Earth with impunity? Not that it makes any difference, since you won't get away with it."
Mr. Armstrong smiled wickedly. "You know too much for your own good, Doctor. I'd rather not kill you, but I clearly can't allow you to leave this station alive, so it appears that you'll be boarding with us for a while. If you lead me to April, I'll see to it that you're put up in a comfortable suite. If you refuse, then I'm afraid we have only one room available at this time—Room 101."
"What's in Room 101?" the Doctor inquired.
"You know all too well what's in Room 101," said the cat man sinisterly. "The thing that torments you in your dreams. The worst thing in the world. Your greatest fear."
"Growing old and fat?" said the Doctor.
To be continued! Please review!