Chapter 25:

Sweetie?

Before I could mutter a word, her hands were tight on my face. She pressed her lips to mine. I didn't know what to do. I felt my arms failing in protest. Who was this woman and what was she doing?

She slowly pulled away, her eyes confused. Her lips puckered in disappointment. "You're not him."

"I'm not him," I whispered.

Benny tried to hold in his laughter, "She's not him."

"Then why do you have the Doctor's TARDIS? Who are you?" she asked skeptically.

"Actually that's my TARDIS...wait how did you see my TARDIS? I thought the chameleon circuit made you not notice its existence," I spat, my brain a steaming mess from what just transpired.

"When you're so use to looking for that box anywhere you go, it's becomes second nature."

"So you know my father?"

"Your-" she paused. Her face went through so many expressions that it was hard to pinpoint just one. "Now it makes sense."

"What does?" I asked, my heart starting to slow. Did she think... "You thought I was him, didn't you?"

"I just thought- your face looks so much like her, that maybe he regenerated into a version of Rose," she sighed. Sadness filled her eyes. I seen those eyes so many times. They were just like Mum's. I felt pity for her, even though that was the weirdest sentence anyone has ever said to me. She smiled slightly, "Especially you being with Benjamin over there didn't help your case."

"How do you mean?" I asked, looking at Benny. His eyes were wide, searching this woman's face, as if he was trying to find an escape. What was going on? "Benny, you know her?"

"Well," he stuttered. "She's been around before, with your father."

"That's one way to put it," she said slowly, watching him as every word fell out questionably.

"Who exactly are you?" I felt so lost and suddenly alone. What was Benny hiding?

"I'm River Song, the doctor's wife," she smiled.

"Wife?" I could basically feel my eyes exploding from my head.

She looked around cautiously, her hair bouncing ever so gracefully with each twist. "Come one, I have to take you to the Auction House."

"Do I need to go over the plan again?" she asked, her eyes focused in her worn blue book she kept hidden in her pocket.

"During morning chores, come find you in the outskirts. How do you even know we'll have morning chores? Why should I trust anything you say?" I hissed. The whole situation felt wrong. And even worse, Benny had a secret. Didn't we share everything?

"Trust me. Every master will have chores for their pet, i.e. you, to do at precisely oh-nine hundred. They were programmed that way," she calmly stated. I knew I was pressing her patience, her face said otherwise.

"If they were programmed, then why are we the less superior?" I pressed. Benny kept glancing around us. He had been silent ever since River had shown up and almost blew his cover, whatever it may be.

River eyed the surrounding humans, trying to keep our conversation at a low volume. My patience for this was growing thin. What was going on with me? She breathed, "Just please, whatever you do, do as you're told. You don't want to find out what a repercussion means here. Got me?"

I stared into her earnest eyes. They danced between mine, pleading me with sincerity. I slowly nodded my head.

"Next," the auctioneer called, it's robotic eyes so vacant and cold.

"That's you, dear," River whispered, her hands wrapping around mine. "If you get into trouble, just run. Run as far as you can."

I agreed, pulling my hands free from hers. Walking up on stage, I felt so many faces looking me over, yet all nonexistent, like they were all ghosts. Ghosts of another life, empty. The robotic auctioneer started pulling at my face, its claw-like fingers pulling at my lips, it rambling on about good teeth. It turned my hands over, making note of every scar.

I felt something strike my back. I wanted to cry out, the sting spreading across my skin. I swear I could hear River tell Benny not to watch. What was going to happen? Then I felt another hit, this time the switch landing against bare skin. I bit my tongue, the blood metallic in my mouth. Tears swelled up in my eyes. Where they testing me? Another strike. What kind of test was this?

Another strike, tears coursing hot down my cheeks.

"They're testing her dexterity for punishment and working endurance," River said loud enough for me to hear. She wanted me to know I couldn't break, not even for a second.

After what felt like lifetimes, I had a final bid. I was sold to a wealthy bot, but no where near the bots from the center of the city. Benny would be up next. I sat stiffly next to my new "master". He swaggered onto the stage, his head held high. He had time to prepare himself for what was to come.

Seven times. I counted, flinching each time he didn't. His blue eyes held mine, as if shouldering his strength. I was desperately trying to share mine with him. I didn't care how upset I was with him for lying, didn't mean I wanted him to feel that pain.

"I'll take him," a bot said. It stood in the crowd, skin stretched across it's metal skeleton. Everything went silent, the auctioneer processing the new data.

"Sold."

There was a process after being sold. They stripped us, putting us through some kind of hot bath. They even cut my hair. It barely grazed my shoulders now. They gave me new clothes, something loose and plain. It reminded me of a pristine potato sack. It swallowed my body. The medical robots also tended to my fresh blistered skin from the auction whipping. In moments, the skin already started to regenerate, it not even leaving a scar.

My mind was racing the whole time I sat at my master's side. Where was Benny? Was he okay wherever he was? Was his master taking care of him like mine was of me? Did his wounds heal fast enough that his pain didn't last long? ...was he thinking of me?

The thought was so selfish, yet I couldn't think of anything else. What was so important that he would hide the truth from me?

"Are you coping well?" my master asked. It was working hard, reading binary code on a computer monitor.

"Yes, master," I muttered, the words sounding so...foreign. I would never thought I'd call a piece of technology master.

"Very well," it stated. It's head snapped to me, it's fingers still working hard on the keyboard. "Your chore list in is your room for tomorrow. Get accustomed to it before you leave."

"Yes, master," I repeated, standing and headed to my small living quarters. I made note of my pace, trying to not to run to my safe haven at the end of the hall. I shut the heavy metal door behind me. Tears welling up in my eyes, my throat closing. My chest felt so tight that it couldn't even move. How was my father strong enough to do any of this?