Part Three

Guests

"I don't like this," Artie said softly to Jim.

"Neither do I," Jim replied, "but I don't know of a convenient lie that Loveless wouldn't see right through, do you?"

Artie shook his head and glanced back at the entourage following them to the TARDIS. Voltaire, Antoinette, and Mr Loveless had all seen it already, but Dr Loveless' only trip in it had taking place while he was unconscious. Artie really did not relish the little wizard getting a look at his time machine, since not only would that likely lead to the revelation that Artie wasn't human, but it also might well result in Loveless bending his malevolent brilliance to the task of creating a TARDIS of his own, and Heaven help the universe if that happened!

"Where did all these creatures come from?" asked Miguelito, waving a hand at a multitude of beings of all descriptions they were passing. The creatures were milling about aimlessly now that the guards were no more.

"Didn't we mention that?" said Artie.

"These are the specimens we released earlier," said Jim.

"Although I don't really recall letting quite this many out…" Artie muttered.

"And what will become of them?" Miguelito persisted.

"Well…" said Artie, looking at Jim.

"We were going to take you home…" said Jim, returning the glance.

"…so, yeah, I suppose we could take them home as well," Artie concluded, then frowned and turned to Dr Loveless. "Something funny?"

The little man was wheezing with laughter. "You're… you're going to take all these creatures home? All of them? Really? Have you any idea how many there are?"

Jim glanced about. "Well, at a rough estimate, I'd say there were, oh…"

"Lots," Artie finished for him. "Why?"

"And you really expect to have enough room to carry them all?" Dr Loveless sneered.

Artie clamped his mouth shut on the answer of Yes he was about to give. In fact, there would be plenty of room and then some in the TARDIS. He just didn't want to say so yet, not to the evil genius accompanying them, not until he absolutely had to.

"Well," said Loveless smugly, "I shall leave to two of you to your gargantuan task of loading your latter-day Noah's Ark, and in the meantime, Voltaire, Antoinette…" And he turned back, his loyal minions following him.

"Wait a minute," said Jim. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, as you gentlemen will be taxed to the limit to provide whatever transport you can for all these myriad creatures, I shall refrain from being an additional burden on you. I have in mind to use this," and he pulled out the maguffin, "to cobble together several of the Ghexian bubbles into one large one for the use of myself and my friends. Ah, and Mr Loveless, would you care to help build it? I find I like the way you think!"

Miguelito stood for a moment staring at his replicant, a well of joy springing up inside him at the thought of conversing with a mind such as the little doctor's. "Ah…" A smile playing over his face, he turned to West and Gordon and said, "If you don't mind, gentlemen, I, ah… I would love to have the opportunity to spend some time with my other. But do reserve me a spot on your, er, Ark, as I do plan to leave with you."

Jim and Artie exchanged looks askance. "If you think that's wise, Mr Loveless," said Jim.

"I shan't be long," he assured the agents. "Cheerie-bye then!" And he followed the three replicants and was gone.

"I'm not sure about that," Artie muttered to Jim.

"I'm not either," said Jim. "I don't think our Mr Loveless quite comprehends just how evil a twin he has." He stood for a moment, hands perched on his hips, then added, "Well, let's start rounding up these poor creatures and take them to the TARDIS."

"Right, Jim," said Artie. Then he chuckled. "Oh, what a surprise we'll be bringing home for Lily, eh?"

…

A chime sounded anew and Lily hurried to open the door. "And what have we now?" she began, then gasped, "Artemus! Jim!"

Grinning broadly, Artie swept his wife into a hug, then gestured expansively at the creatures with them, saying, "Honey, I'm home! And I hope you don't mind that I've invited a few guests for dinner!" His eyes twinkled merrily.

"Oh, my!" she said. "Well, come along in. Please wipe your feet, everyone, and then you can all join the others."

"Others?" Jim and Artie exchanged a glance as they entered the TARDIS.

Others indeed! The console room was crowded with beings of all kinds, and Artie thought that perhaps the room was somewhat larger than usual. As he stood there holding the door open, the refugees he and Jim had rounded up poured inside around them.

"Where did all these come from?" asked Artie, indicating the group already in the TARDIS.

"You've been letting them in?" said Jim. "Opening the door and letting in strangers?"

"Well, yes. I got this note…" Lily picked up the cloth from the console and passed it to the men.

They took turns studying it, especially the illegible signature. "Who wrote this?" said Artie at last, but his wife only shook her head.

"I… I didn't think the handwriting belonged to either of you," she said, "but Rosalind insisted I let the cat girl in, and well, it just grew from there!"

"Cat girl?" said Jim, while Artie, his eyes bulging, said, "Rosalind?"

"Why yes," said Lily. She pointed to the P'ra'arau, still curled up and napping in the cushioned chair she had long since staked out as her own. "And Rosalind and I have been having a lovely chat using the keyboard and monitor, all about our favorite subject, darling - you!" She patted her husband's cheek, winked, then moved off to help the newest guests settle in.

Jim leaned toward Artie. "I wouldn't have sent that wild cat girl here; she's too unpredictable. I wonder who did?"

"Yes, and I've been dreading Lily finding out about Rosalind," Artie replied.

"Oh, they seem to be getting along very well," said Jim.

"Yeah, Jim, that's exactly what I've been dreading!"

…

"Where might we find enough transport bubbles to make one large one?" Dr Loveless asked Mr Loveless.

"Hmm. It will certainly need to be a very large one indeed…" Miguelito gave it some thought. "Ah! The guards have a, well, I suppose one might call it a bunk room. Their quarters, you know. Perhaps there are extra bubbles there." And he led the way.

Soon, after raiding the bunk room and confiscating all the bubbles tethered outside the fast nutrients joint, the Lovelesses and minions repaired to the aviary with its vast floor space to begin the task of constructing the large transport. Dr Loveless bestowed the maguffin upon his original, then gathered Voltaire and Antoinette and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" called Miguelito.

"Oh, we're, ah, we're going to see if there are more specimens to be set free, to fill up Mr West and Mr Gordon's ark. We shan't be long."

Miguelito nodded and went back to his work of happy manufacture. The others went outside and closed the door.

"All right," said Dr Loveless, "come with me. I want to find chemicals and containers, lots of them!"

"What for, Dr Loveless?" asked Voltaire.

"Because I intend to devise bombs, dozens and dozens of bombs, to plant all throughout these labs and blow the whole place to Kingdom Come!"

Antoinette clapped her hands in delight, while Voltaire frowned. "But what about the specimens?"

"What… what specimens?" Dr Loveless demanded.

"The ones you told the other you we were going to set free and send to Mr West and…"

"Oh, those!" The little wizard shot a look at his large minion, then sniffed. "Oh, very well. You may go off and continue liberating the captives. I'm sure Mr West and Mr Gordon will be exceedingly grateful!" And as Voltaire, a wide grin beaming on his big face, hurried off to empty the labs, Antoinette helped her dear Dr Loveless to collect all the materials he needed to blast the labs to bits.

…

"Do you suppose we've found everyone?" said Jim.

"I have no idea. How many specimens could the Ghex have taken?" said Artie.

"Well," said Jim, "we know there were the ones outside under the open sky."

"Hmm… that's true. We should go get them as well." He moved to the console to work out the settings to return to the great outdoors.

"No, wait, Artie. If we move the TARDIS, Mr Loveless may arrive back here to accompany us home and be disappointed if we aren't here. I'll go find a way outside and see about the creatures out there."

"All right. And I'll head out and look for any stragglers within the labs. Lily?"

"Yes, dear?"

He gave her a kiss. "Hold down the fort. We'll be back soon."

…

Miguelito worked away happily on the transport bubble, gradually joining one to another, increasing the oxygenation capacity, and just incidentally removing every single one of the shock generators. He hated those things!

He was so engrossed in his labor that he didn't even notice when his replicant and Antoinette returned. They set up a small lab in one corner of the aviary and set about mixing and filling the bombs.

…

A chime in the console room alerted the multiformed occupants to yet another visitor at the door. Lily went to answer it, expecting her husband or his partner. "Oh, my!" she said as she saw who had come to call.

Voltaire was framed in the doorway. "I brought you some more creatures to take home," he said, his hat held in his hand.

"Why…" Lily swallowed and found her composure. "Why, thank you, Voltaire. How very helpful of you. I'm sure they are all so grateful and excited to be returning home."

He nodded, then pivoted with a swirl of his cape and set out to find more.

…

Jim found his way outside, then decided the easiest way to do this would be to gather all the creatures together into one enclosure. That way, once they had Mr Loveless aboard, they could move the TARDIS out here and load everyone inside as quickly as possible.

The fun part, he knew, would be convincing these disparate beings to cooperate and get into that single enclosure together. Well, no time to waste…

Artie, meanwhile, wandered the corridors opening lab after lab and giving the creatures he found mental directions to the TARDIS. He found himself increasingly depending on his sonic screwdriver to disable the scientists' shock generators as well as to lock the Ghex inside their labs. Curiously enough though, while some areas were still occupied and in need of being liberated, other areas had obviously already been cleared, and he was sure these were not areas he and Jim had been through earlier. Who else was out here rescuing the victims of the Ghex?