Chapter 35
Below.
Cages. Entire lines of them. He could identify only a few of the creatures inside. It was certainly a collection of rarity. Someone had managed to capture the most beautiful and exotic species in the universe, and house them here, like dogs in a kennel. He experienced a jolt of true revulsion toward whoever had done this. This was not a life. This was terrible.
He went down the line unlocking one cage at a time, murmuring instructions for them to wait in line for the elevator. Rose was closer to it. She looked equally disgusted by what had been done here, and she spoke gently to the aliens that approached her, guiding them to their freedom. Barkley was there as well, having a conversation over the radio. He was calling for their backup. Whatever peace-keeping agency policed this section of stars would arrive shortly to deal with this crime, and hopefully get the prisoners back where they belonged.
He asked every alien the same question. "Where is the Curator?" No one knew, but they had seen him not long ago. He was going down that long, dark tunnel, deep into the cave system.
The Doctor stood by the mouth of it when everyone had been let out. Tire tracks led into the darkness. He had quite a head start, and the Doctor suspected that tunnel went through the entire planet. He would never catch up.
"Nobody here has seen Grace." Rose came over, nudging him. "She's probably in the museum."
"Probably." He had felt an intimate fear when he imagined Grace in one of the cages, but it faded now. She was probably wandering around and disturbing the peace. He was glad she had not seen the cages. She had a hard time dealing with slavery as it was.
When the authorities arrived, they swept a few lingering guards out of the shadows and hauled them away. Big old red-skinned creatures, reptilian in origin, walked silently with their hands bound. They were very large, but didn't fight back.
Rose looped her arms into one of his. "Come on. Let's go find Grace and get out of this place."
They took a leisurely walk back upstairs and wandered the exhibits for a while, until they found their companion sitting in the lap of a Lincoln Memorial recreation. She hopped up when she saw them, giving the Doctor a brilliant smile that swept away some of his uncertainty.
"Where have you guys been? I was looking for you."
Was she?
The Doctor sensed something in her. She looked a little off-center.
"We were just clearing out the basement. Nothing complicated." Rose was perky. "And I think we've spent enough time here."
Grace was visibly relieved. "I'm so glad you said that."
Rose gave their friend a quick recap of the situation in the basement on the way back to the TARDIS. Grace listened, but she seemed far away from it all. The Doctor wondered if seeing the history of the planet had been too much for her to take in all at once.
On the horizon, a pillar of smoke was rising. He stopped one of the passing officers.
"What's going on over there, then?"
"One of the other buildings caught fire."
"What was it?"
"I don't know. Nobody did. It was still being built. The Curator never opened it. They already cleared it – no bodies inside. No Curator."
"That's a shame," Grace spoke from the doorway of the TARDIS, looking long and thoughtful at the plume of smoke.
The Doctor got a strange sense from those words.