Olivia stared longingly at the plate of tantalising green and white leaves, having already been told – several times, as a matter of fact – to stop talking about it.
Elissa was, almost out of habit, analysing the symbols on the wall. She suspected it'd be an exceedingly long time before she actually understood any of the symbols, or whether she'd even understand the message after understanding the symbols, but she was after all looking at them out of habit.
Leela was not exactly looking at the wall, or at least not consciously, but concentrating on her hearing.
"I hear fighting," Leela decided aloud, attracting two largely bewildered stares.
"Oh, that was me," Olivia said finally. "I was arguing with myself over whether to annoy Elissa by eating, or annoy my stomach my not eating."
"Do not be foolish," Leela snapped. "Can you not hear? It sounds almost like..."
A particularly loud bang made the two bewildered stares cease.
"A battle?" Elissa asked, directing her question mainly at herself.
"Are your people attacking?" Leela enquired.
"Well, I hope not," Elissa showed off a weak, unconvincing smile. "I mean... well..."
"I'll die hungry!" Olivia announced, alarmed.
"Yes... wait! Olivia!" Elissa scowled.
"But I'll be hungry in heaven and then I wouldn't enjoy it or anything!" Olivia moaned.
"You would also die childish," Leela stated, bluntly.
"But I am a child," was Olivia's wide-eyed protest, "and -"
Elissa sighed in exasperation. "Consider my point retracted," she announced. "And Olivia, can't you please just forget about your stomach for once? Please?"
The Doctor was busily making his sonic screwdriver hum at the door.
This was not a ridiculous time-wasting activity, but rather an attempt to unlock the door, get out and negotiate peace. However he could manage it.
K9 had been confiscated, of course. Just as K9 had been busily stunning various people, his power supply ran out (something the Doctor would have to remember to fix some day) and so, of course, the Doctor and K9 had been confined. Well, not K9 so much. He was, after all, out of power.
The door was taking an inordinate amount of time to open, stupid thing. About as infuriating as the time Leela had decided to hand herself in to the police, seeing it as the honourable thing to do. It had taken weeks to get off that planet.
Now, where exactly was that planet? Well, it was somewhere with a particularly good jailing system, anyway...
Finally! The door! It had taken its time, but never mind.
Now, he just had to hurry.
The loud noises had reached a furore in the underground room.
"I can't hear myself think!" Elissa announced, irritably.
"I can't hear my stomach pestering me!" Olivia announced, rather too cheerfully to sound anywhere even approaching intelligent. "I'm cured!"
Leela didn't reply to either girl, instead wandering to the wall, which like all the other walls in the room had the funny symbols on it.
"How far back into the stone do these markings reach?" she asked thoughtfully, with remarkable clarity for someone who was talking at normal volume during a raging battle.
Elissa waved a hand. "No idea!" she shouted above the noise.
Leela withdrew her knife and jammed it into one of the best-shaped markings she could see.
"No!" Elissa shouted. "Future surveys!"
Leela ignored Elissa, calmly withdrawing a second knife from her belt. She'd taken to carrying two knives once she noticed that her knives kept getting confiscated by bug-eyed monsters – or irritating humans – with nothing better to do, or so it seemed, than to steal weapons from unsuspecting passer-bys.
She then proceeded to calmly jab the second knife into the wall, too, about an arm-span away from the last knife, and a little higher. She then started to use the knives and markings as suction cups on glass, edging her way up towards the large-ish, tempting hole that bordered onto the ceiling.
"You can't escape without us!" Olivia protested feebly. Leela did not appear to be listening, heaving herself out of the chamber and into the glaring sunlight, taking her two knives, and running off.
K9 was just not anywhere to be found, decided the Doctor, and in any case two and a half minutes was far too much time searching for a robot dog that could be recovered at a later time – or date, if need be.
So instead, the Doctor headed outside, ignoring the stares of people still in the dome – hiding himself from them wherever possible.
The Niagorn and the colonists were engaged in battle. Of course. People always thought war was the best way to resolve social differences, even with billions of years of history to prove them wrong.
"Doctor!"
The Doctor turned, and grinned. "Leela!" he exclaimed, then adding, "I thought you were supposed to stay with the Niagorn."
Leela shrugged. "I decided that hostage is not a safe position during battle," she responded. "Now how do we stop them fighting?"
"I thought you liked fighting," the Doctor pointed out. Leela shook her head vehemently.
"I do not like it when people fight for no reason," Leela replied. "You are not a warrior unless you fight sensibly."
"Wise words, Leela – now, think. How can we stop the fight?"
"We shall make K9 destroy all the weapons," Leela suggested, unaware of the Doctor's previous attempt.
"That could be a little difficult, Leela," the Doctor pointed out. "Both sides will invariably notice, you know – most likely before we've finished."
"This is another of your thinking games," Leela said accusingly.
The Doctor grinned. "It's not all that difficult, Leela."
"When you say things like that, it is annoying," Leela informed her companion, all the while checking her shoe. "Tell me the solution, Doctor."
"Hostages," the Doctor grinned manically. Leela stared at him strangely.
"Then they will only attack us," she protested adamantly.
"No, not us – we rescue the Niagorn's hostages!"
"Oh," Leela replied, inwardly very much relieved. "And then do we return them?"
"Of course," the Doctor replied. "If we keep them, did you know that both groups will probably only start to attack us?"
"I did know," Leela answered, only slightly crossly – after all, the Doctor had taken credit for her ideas before. "But we do not make them promise to stop fighting beforehand?"
"Leela, which do you think they'd be most likely to do – attack or promise?"
"If they attack then they are fools," Leela announced stifly, quickly following up with, "but they are fools. Why do you not just tell me your plan, Doctor?"
"Ah, well, that would take all the fun out of it," the Doctor grinned – again. "Come on, Leela – there's work to be done!"