"Quarks must be shorter than Daleks," I said as I watched the Doctor hunch awkwardly as we crept through the hallways. "Either that or they have different taste in architecture."
"You pay attention to the strangest things," he said after he had stared at me in confusion for a few moments. I shrugged before I stopped dead as something occurred to me.
"What's a Dominator?" The Doctor spun to look at me in confusion.
"What?" He asked.
"Before I fell in the hole when I asked what a Quark is you said that they first time you met them they were in the Dominator's army. I forgot to go back to it because I got distracted by Daleks. So, what's a Dominator?" I asked. He quirked an eyebrow up at me.
"Which 'what's a Dominator' answer do you want?" He asked and I laughed.
"Both."
"Humanoid species from Drahb who decided they wanted to conquer the Ten Galaxies. They were just like humans, but they biologically altered themselves to be taller and have armour built into their skin. They also discarded the need for sexual reproduction so the entire species is male."
"Firstly, sexist. Secondly, why do so many species biologically alter themselves?" I asked with a disturbed look. The Doctor raised an eyebrow up at me.
"You have a tattoo," he said. I'd gotten it on a whim when we'd stopped at a trading point for the First Great and Bountiful Human Empire and he'd launched into an impressive rant about needle safety and cleanliness when he found out.
"Okay I feel like there is a big difference between a tattoo and building armour into your skin," I said. He tilted his head in agreement at that.
"You do know that the only reason I was upset was because you didn't tell me first so I couldn't make sure you wouldn't get a disease right?" He asked and I laughed.
"I know," I said as I patted his arm. "Can I suppose that we aren't dealing with the Dominators since the ceilings are so low?"
"Probably." I bit my lip as I thought about all the information I'd received.
"Does everything not make sense to you or am I just dumb?" I asked and he stopped dead as he pivoted towards me and cupped my face in his hands to tip my face up to his.
"You are not, nor have you ever been, dumb Emma." I opened my mouth to say something a little sarcastic but one of his fingers lifted from my face before I could speak. "And you never will be. Now walk me through your thought process."
"Well if we aren't dealing with the Dominators then we have to assume that the Quarks are trying to take over the universe." He nodded so I kept going. "Then why are they here?"
"I don't follow."
"Well if they're trying to subjugate people why did they come to a planet where the Indigenous population died out three thousand years ago?" I asked.
"Oh," he said as his hands slid from my face. He looked down at me with excitement brewing in his eyes. "Oh."
"Are you going somewhere with these oh's or do I need to prod you to get your wheels to spin?" I asked.
"Emma Bradley you are brilliant!" He cried and slammed a kiss to my forehead before he pivoted and went sprinting down the hallway. "Oh, you are brilliant."
"That didn't clear anything up for me!" I called after him as I adjusted the bag so that I could catch up to him and not drop it. As soon as I caught up to him, he grabbed the strap on the bag and swung it over my head and onto his shoulders in one smooth motion. I raised an eyebrow up at him.
"Your back is going to be sore enough without this bouncing against it," he said before he grabbed my hand and tugged me down the hallway. "Now the utterly fascinating thing is that you are correct, there aren't any people here to subjugate so that can only mean one thing."
"The Quarks are also trying to find an uninhabited planet to have a picnic on?" I asked cheekily because that was why we had come here in the first place. He passed me an amused look.
"No. Think about the movies, what do the bad guys always have in spy movies?"
"Stereotypical German accents?" I guessed before I snapped my fingers. "Wait no, minions!"
"Main base of operations is what I was going for," he said with a chuckle. I shrugged.
"Wouldn't the Quarks just use their home planet like the Daleks did when Skaro was still around?" I asked and he nodded.
"Except they don't have a home planet." He frowned slightly. "Or at least not as far as I'm aware."
"So, they're borrowing this one."
"Exactly." He flashed me a bright smile before his eyes went wide as something occurred to him. "We should find a computer."
"Why do we need a computer?" I asked. Every time I had thought I was following him he always threw me another curve ball. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a run next to him.
"Borrowing," he said.
"That answered exactly nothing. Actually, I think that added more questions," I said dryly.
"Well borrowing probably isn't the right word. Stealing, yes that's a more accurate description." He pulled us to a stop in front of an odd bank of screens and whipped out his brainy specs and slid them on before he handed me the sonic. I blinked at him for a few seconds before I raised my eyebrow up at him.
"Yes, I'm positively enlightened," I said sarcastically, and he waved his hands at me. "Why am I holding the sonic?"
"Because I can hack this set of computers without it." He gestured to the five screens in front of him before waving one of his hands towards the other five. "And you can do those ones with the sonic."
"What am I looking for?" I asked as I pivoted and scanned the screen closest to me. He hummed over the clacking of his keys. "If you tell me that I will know it when I see it, I will put you on the ground."
"So violent Emma," he teased. "We're looking for planet names."
"Thank you, Doctor. That wasn't so hard was it?" I asked with an innocent eyelash flutter as I turned to the computers. He passed me a look and muttered something under his breath that I couldn't catch, but I had the feeling it wasn't anything bad because his eyes were still full of teasing sparkle. I shot him a smile before I turned my full attention to the computer screens. We both worked in silence for a while before the Doctor cried out in success and slapped the side of the screen.
"There it is!" He said as he stabbed a finger at one of the screens. I arched up on my toes to see over his arm.
"Okay it's a planet name? You still haven't explained why we were looking for planet names," I said.
"They're stealing Emma! They're stealing all the planets I never made it to! They're stealing places where the work was half done!" He cried and I reached up to rub my forehead.
"I'm sorry but I am not following you at all," I said. He grinned at me.
"The Daleks had subjugated planets before the war, dozens of planets that they abandoned during the war. Now imagine you're the Quarks and you want an empire. Now you could go around slowly building one up yourself or you could conquer already weak worlds that had been held by the Daleks," he said.
"Oh. Now that I have all the pieces that actually makes sense," I said as I tilted my head to the side. "So, what's the plan?"
"Step away from the computer!" A high-pitched robotic voice ordered and the Doctor and I both jumped and spun to the voice. A Quark stood in the doorway and I reached out to wrap my hand around the Doctor's forearm for balance.
"You know I was expecting more of a deeper timbre if I'm being honest. More akin to a Cyberman or a Dalek than the weird squeak thing," I said before I could stop myself.
"Emma for heaven's sake," the Doctor hissed before he was cut off by the Quark moving closer. Honestly, I wasn't really expecting them to look like a cheap child's toy version of a robot either which really put the Dalek's weird design into perspective. The Quark was also lacking the aura's that the Daleks had.
"How did you get here?" It asked and I pointed up at the roof.
"Found some structural instability," I said, and the Doctor let out a laugh.
"Humour will not be accepted," It ordered, and electricity sparked off one of the arms on its front. The Doctor and I both attempted to take a step backwards in tandem.
"Noted," I said weakly. I did not want to see if the time energy would hold up to being electrocuted and really, there was no sense antagonizing the murder robot even though it would make me feel better. I'd put the Doctor through enough recently.
"Who are you?"
"This is Emma." The Doctor pointed at me and I waved before he shook my hand off his arm and stepped forward with his hands shoved in his pockets. "And me, well you should know me, maybe not this face, but I'm The Doctor."
"The Doctor is dead."
"Afraid not. Now why don't you tell me how long you've all been stealing planets from the Dalek Empire?" He leaned forward with an intrigued glimmer in his eyes. "Before, during or immediately after the War? If I had to guess I'd say during, everyone who would have cared was too busy with the War, am I right?"
"You know I might have just figured out why robots give me the heebie jeebies," I said after I had spent several seconds uselessly studying the Quark to try and see what it was thinking. I really didn't cope well with not being able to guess what a person or being was about to do or was thinking.
"Heebie jeebies?" The Doctor repeated as he looked at me with eyebrows raised. I shot him a look and nudged him.
"Bold words Timey Wimey," I said.
"You will come with me." Electricity sparked off one of the prongs as the Quark spoke, so I nodded casually.
"With pleasure," the Doctor said and moved to walk in front of the Quark.
"If I had a dollar for every time we got some variation of take me to your leader," I mused as we walked before I frowned. "Do Quarks have hierarchies like the Cybermen or are they more like Daleks?"
"Daleks have a hierarchy," he said.
"They do?" I asked and he nodded.
"An Emperor at one point, and a council as well. There was the Cult of Skaro, and various Dalek leaders that led different parts of the army."
"Well I know that the Emperor got dusted by Rose. The Cult of Skaro died out in Manhattan with Martha." I ticked them off my fingers as I went before I paused and looked up at the Doctor quizzically.
"The Council died in the War." He reached over and ticked off one of my fingers before he moved to the other one. "Most of the Dalek leaders died in the War as well."
"Most?" I asked before I waved my hand to dismiss my question. "Never mind don't answer that, probably always better to assume there's some part of a Dalek army floating around somewhere."
"To answer your original question I have no idea how the Quarks function hierarchical wise." He looked at our escort over his shoulder with a pointed grin. "Care to share?"
"You will be silent."
"Guess not," he said as he looked at me again.
"Veritable wealth of information you are," I said teasingly with an eyebrow raise and he pouted at me.
"Emma that's not fair."