Anastasia Viatov was lost. A visit to the TARDIS's wardrobe led to her quickly finding some suitable clothes, labelled as being from early 21st century Earth – while it wasn't quite what she was used to, it was her time after all, even if it was a different universe. That was all fine – it was then she made the mistake of deciding to look through the entire wardrobe. After 45 minutes of wandering, she was no closer to finding the way out. All of this, inside a blue wooden box! It still seemed incredible.
She turned another corner and found yet more racks of unfamiliar clothing, and looked for the label.
"Peladon, 39th century," she said. "Great..."
"Ah, there you are!" said a voice behind her suddenly.
She turned and saw the Doctor standing there. "I wondered where you'd gone to."
"Doctor," she said. "Thank god. I was lost in this madhouse of yours."
"Lost? How did you manage that?" he asked surprised.
"This place is bigger than the Winter Palace! And it's just the wardrobe?"
The Doctor paused and looked around. "Huh. Yes, I do see what you mean. I suppose I've been here long enough that I'm used to it all. Shall we go?"
"Please," replied Anastasia and followed him out. After a minute's walking, around two corners, they were back at the entrance where she had started. She decided it wasn't worth commenting on.
They were back in the main TARDIS corridors, essentially bland, rectangular corridors, albeit with the blue-coloured walls she first saw in the control room.
"Do you have somewhere I can change into this lot then?" she asked, holding up the clothes she had picked out, as they walked into the corridor.
"One of these rooms should be empty," replied the Doctor. "Make yourself at home."
"What did you want me for, anyway?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh right, that," he said. "I thought I'd let you we'll be arriving soon."
"Arriving where?" she asked about to open one of the doors.
"Not that one!" yelled the Doctor, just as she was about to open it.
"Why not?" she said, letting go of the handle.
"It's flooded with icy water," said the Doctor. "If you opened it the entire TARDIS would have been flooded."
"I think I'll find somewhere else to room up," said Anastasia. "Where did you get that much water?"
"April 1912, North Atlantic Ocean. The TARDIS was in the hold of a certain passenger ship," he replied. "That room there should be okay, he said, pointing at a door."
Anastasia walked up to it and opened the door. As he said, it was a nice room, plain but cosy. She tossed the clothes onto the bed. "You didn't answer my question," she said.
"Which question?"
"Where are we arriving?"
"Oh, right," the Doctor smiled. "A planet called Laina. It's an Earth colony in the 35th century. I need to see a friend of mine, he's an expert on extra-dimensional science. Hopefully he can unravel a few clues about our experience back in St Petersburg."
She nodded to indicate understanding. "I'll be getting changed then." She started closing the door, before opening it again. "How do I get back to the control room from here?"
"Up to this corner, turn right. It's not far," he replied, walking in that direction.
"Thanks," she said and closed the door. The Doctor and his box were still full of surprises.
(-)
The first thing Anastasia did was take a shower – it had been the first time in a very long time she been able to wash herself properly. She relished the experience – it still all felt like a dream for her, to have been whisked from her hell of a life into this. There was a catch of course, she knew there was danger very close on the horizon, that seemed to be the Doctor's life – but she was happy to take what she was given for now.
She then changed into some of the clothes she had taken – simple trousers, a simple top and a light leather jacket. It was hardly the most extravagant clothing she had ever worn, but just to be in something as simple as that let her feel human again. After letting her long brown hair down, she took a quick look at herself in the mirror. She was startled at how changed she really looked – she looked like a different woman. But did she feel like a different woman? Turning towards the door, and thus the way to the control room of the Doctor's strange TARDIS, she felt like she was about to find out one way or another.
(-)
She returned to the control room to find the Doctor had also changed some clothes since St Petersburg – his white shirt had been replaced with a light blue one. His black suit was otherwise unchanged – clearly he was quite attached to that suit. His eyes remained fixed onto the central console, controlling his craft in flight.
"What do you think," she asked, pointing to her clothes.
"Oh, yes, fine, fine," he said, without looking up.
"Are we arriving soon?" she asked.
"Very soon," he replied, again not looking up. "Just need to navigate through a tricky bit of-"
The TARDIS lurched and both of its occupants were sent flying. The Doctor quickly picked himself up and rushed to the controls – a few switches and the craft righted itself.
"-turbulence," he finished. "Are you alright."
"Uh, yes," she groaned, picking herself up. "Please don't tell me that's a regular occurrence."
"Of course not," indignantly replied the Doctor. "Well, not that regular anyway."
Anastasia was about to say something in response to that but the great roar of the TARDIS' engines interrupted her.
"We've arrived," said the Doctor, before walking away from the console to the coat-stand to grab his coat. "Coming?"
"Of course," she said. "After you."
(-)
An alien world. That was really where she was standing.
The incredible nature of that fact took a moment for Anastasia to truly appreciate. She was on another ground, seeing another sky. And, well, what a sky. The height of all the buildings she could see was comparable to the Cyber-factories of St Petersburg she was all too familiar with. But it was in height only – these were elegant modern skyscrapers. But all she had to do was look further down and one could see a civilisation that also appreciated comfort and style. It was a city that had both the futuristic and the rustic. It seemed like a paradise, except for one small problem.
"Where is everyone?" she asked.
"That's an excellent question," replied the Doctor. Neither of them could see anyone in sight – the TARDIS had landed in the middle of a completely deserted public square. "Maybe we could ask that chap there," he said, pointing towards what was clearly a soldier of some kind.
The soldier had noticed them – he pointed at them and shouted something unintelligible and gestured to unseen comrades.
"Doctor, we should leave," Anastasia said nervously. She was rather less taken in by the wonder if it all than she was a moment ago.
"I can't disagree," replied the Doctor. They both turned back to the TARDIS – only to find two more of the soldiers between them and it. They were wearing what looked like modern black armour and carrying weapons that would not have been out of place in the arms of a Cyberman. And they did not look friendly.
"Hello," said the Doctor, feigning cheeriness. "We were just leaving."
"Stay where you are!" said the forward soldier. "Check them," he said to his friend.
The rear soldier came forward and checked their pockets. All he found was the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.
"What's this?" asked the front soldier angrily.
"It's a sonic manipulation device," replied the Doctor. "It certainly isn't a weapon."
"Keep hold of that," the front soldier said to his clear subordinate. "And take them for processing."
"Move you two!" shouted the subordinate, raising his weapon.
"What was that," asked Anastasia dryly. "Thirty seconds?"
"Yes, thank you, I didn't ask for the commentary," replied the Doctor concernedly. "This is not how Laina is supposed to be. This is meant to be a peaceful place."
"Well it clearly isn't," she replied. "How much trouble are we in?"
"Oh, probably quite a lot. Nothing we can't handle though."
"I hope you're right."
(-)
It was not long before they arrived at their destination, something that clearly looked like a city hall or some other kind of large civic centre. It soon transpired they were not the only ones who had been rounded up – dozens of people were being led inside.
"What the hell is going on?" the Doctor mused to himself darkly. "This is not right, this is very wrong."
"You're telling me..." grumbled Anastasia.
Upon entering the building, they were taken to a large room and shoved inside, to find hundreds of people waiting around. It did not take long for them to come across a friendly face.
"Doctor," called a voice. "Over here!"
"Alphonse!" said the Doctor, pointing Anastasia in the right direction and starting in the direction.
The Doctor's friend was his height and (apparent) age, weaning what appeared to be a kind of lab coat. He had a large beard and pitch black hair and was apparently.
"Anastasia Viatov, meet Professor Alphonse Alphendri," said the Doctor as they approached.
Alphonse took her hand and kissed it. "Charmed," he said. "Any friend of the Doctor is a friend of mine."
Well, thought Anastasia, he's certainly a charmer if nothing else. Whether he was a successful one or not she'd decide later.
"You got my message?" asked the Doctor.
"Yes," Alphonse replied. "An intriguing conceit, this other universe of yours. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to look at it, because, well." He gestured around. "You can see why."
"I was getting to that," replied the Doctor. "Why is this... you know... like it is?"
"A new administration took over the colony a few months ago," started Alphonse. "Removed the old one on grounds of corruption. Quite rightly of course, they were a slimy bunch of idiots those last ones, but we didn't know how much worse they'd be. Quickly put more and more people working-" he pointed downards "-down there."
"What's 'down there' "? asked Anastasia.
"The mines, my dear," replied Alphonse. "A few small automatic mines have always been here of course. But Administrator Sloane's new brigade expanded them and put rather less expensive human labour. By the time everyone realised what was happening, well, she had the entire armed forces of the colony under her thumb."
"Surely rounding up everyone is a bad idea?" the Doctor asked.
"I would have thought so, but over the last few days it's clear they are sparing nobody. We're all mining fodder now."
"What are they mining?" asked the Doctor.
Alphonse pointed to a display on the wall – as well as showing a smiling Administrator talking about what a wonderful service they were about to provide, it periodically switched to a demonstration of the ore they were mining.
"Kyranenes Ore," said the Doctor darkly. "A vital component in most interstellar weaponry."
"We suspected as much," replied Alphonse. "Miss Sloane's ambitions are apparently rather large. And it makes sense that she's been stopping all arrivals on Laina from off-world. Preventing potential enemies from landing"
"Laina as the centre of the galaxy?" said the Doctor. "I don't think that'll work."
"There's one more thing, Doctor," said Alphonse grimly. "People who go into the mines... they go... missing. People rarely last more than a week."
"Missing?" asked Anastasia. "They just disappear?"
"I'm afraid so my dear," he replied.
"This gets more concerning by the moment," said the Doctor.
Suddenly, a laser beam swept through the room, passing over each one of the hundreds of people in there. As soon as it was done, an alarm sounded. "NON-HUMAN DETECTED."
"Case in point," said the Doctor. "That'll be me I think."
"What are you going to do?" asked Anastasia with panic in her voice.
"The only thing I can do – surrender. They'll find me out soon enough anyway," he said.
"You can't leave me!" she protested.
"Alphonse will look after you. And I'll find you again as soon as I can, I promise," he said.
She nodded glumly. She knew he would try to keep that promise, but whether he would succeed...
"He's there!" shouted a soldier with a handheld scanner, pointing at the Doctor, who immediately raised his hands high.
"I surrender! I'm coming quietly!" He gave one last reassuring glance at Anastasia before the soldiers caught up with him and dragged him out.
"We'll be going into the mines soon," said Alphonse darkly. "I hope he's taught you a lot. You'll probably need it down there."
"I taught myself courage," she replied. "But I'm not sure that will be enough."