Chapter 4
The Doctor, Rose and Eiye stood in front of the gates of the palace. They were tall and made of iron, it may not have been iron, Rose was not entirely sure what half the materials were around her were but the metal certainly looked like iron. The gates lead to a large courtyard full of exotic plants. A marble pathway ran through the courtyard to the palace, a stream on each side of the path ran along next to it. A man dressed in red armour stood behind the bars of the gates. He wore a black metal helmet but Rose could see a glimmer of black hair which fell ever so slightly into his brown eyes. He was really quite handsome; Rose's concentration was taken off the courtyard and palace.
"I'm afraid there are no tours today" The guard said solemnly
"We're not here for a tour, we've come to see the Emperor" the Doctor gabbled
"The Empress!" the guard corrected. The Doctor's brow furrowed and was about to argue back "She will see no one"
"Why?"
"No one is safe to her Majesty since the uprising" the guard explained
"Oh don't worry about us…I've come to see er...His….er Her Majesty on important business" The Doctor looked around to see if anyone was listening to their conversation he then whispered "you see I'm a Time Lord!" The guard looked shocked, he gasped
"But that's impossible!" The guard lowered his voice "they're all dead" The Doctor winced and replied soberly
"Yes I am aware of that…but I managed to survive, I am the last Time Lord…I'm the Doctor, this is Rose: an ape from Earth and Eiye: one of your own people" The guard looked down at the small child who held Rose's hand tightly
"There must be some mistake…only the Royal Family of Zelnt have fair hair…she cannot be Zelntitian"
"Well that's why we're here to find out exactly what's going on" Rose said knowledgeably
"Naturally miss. My my my the last Time Lord…yes her Majesty the Empress will be very interested to meet you after all"
The gates opened for them, the guard bowed to them
"If you please, come this way" The guard led them to the palace doors and took them inside. The inside of the palace was made entirely of marble, Rose's eyes widened with awe at the high marble ceilings carefully decorated with murals of powerful Royal Zelntitions. The murals showed Coronations, successful war scenes, marriages and Royals helping the poor. The hallway was lined with guards identically dressed to the guard leading the Doctor, Rose and Eiye. The Guard took them to a large archway covered with a soft pink chiffon curtain. To women stood on either side of the curtain, Rose was certain they were not droids, as they looked different to each other and lacked the permanently fixed smiles. The women were dressed in elegant green silk dresses which fell to their ankles. They pulled two long pieces of ribbon. The curtain rose allowing the three guests to see into a magnificent throne room. Rich elegant Zelntitions royal and gentry gathered around the sides of a large marble floor. A display was on, about 20 dancers danced for the wealthy spectators. The women wore long chiffon skirts and silk tops showing their stomachs. They reminded Rose greatly of belly dancers. The men wore silk trousers and silk waistcoats they danced elegantly with the belly dancer-like women. Lifting them and spinning them around. Some of the women held long red scarves which flicked around, hypnotising their audience, as they turned gracefully. Rose gaped at the spectacular show, the Doctor grinned and as usual Eiye made no reaction at all. Suddenly the dancing stopped and the dancers lay on the floor. Rose looked up. A woman draped in fine clothes of silk and other expensive materials had stood up tall. Rose took it that she was the Empress as she had stood up from a throne. Her hand was held in front of her in a halt signal, the sudden drop of the dancers created a breeze that ran through the throne room. Her soft silvery blonde hair wavered gently in the breeze. She looked at the guests with her steely blue eyes. Her hand lowered
"Who goes!" her voice was light and silky
"I'm the Doctor, this is Rose Tyler and…Eiye" He signalled to Rose and Eiye
"The Doctor?"
"Yes I'm sorry to barge in like this but we need to talk to you"
"Speak" she waved her hand casually and sat back on her throne
"Er…I would prefer to talk in private" the Doctor said hinting at the gathering of wealthy Zelntitions and other beings.
"Whatever you have to say to me Doctor, you can say to my guests"
"Are you aware of the industrial planets on the other Salenite galaxy" the Doctor asked, the Empress looked curious and replied coolly
"naturally"
"Good then you can explain why children are being experimented on there" The gathering of aliens began to mumble audibly
"What are you talking about?" her eyes journeyed to the little girl and the stitches that were displayed on her hair line
"I think you know" the Doctor said
The woman walked off her throne the floor cleared for her as she walked across the marble. Now she was closer Rose realised how beautiful the Empress was, her face was so pale that it seemed that a light from under her skin was glowing. Her lips were shapely and in deep red from make up. Her eyes were a beautiful topaz blue sprinkled with black lashes which looked down her aquiline nose. Even the Doctor's eyes seemed to widen as she walked closer. Her shoulders dropped, her neck long and her expression haughty. Rose grinned at him but his face was stone cold.
"This way Doctor!" she said swooping past him, she went through the arch way gracefully as if she was walking on air. The guards stood up straight as she flew down the corridor, still walking but at a quick pace. The Doctor followed behind her in a similar fashion, Rose and Eiye jogged a little to keep up.
"Open these doors" she ordered to two guards outside a room, they obliged "Guard these doors…let no one enter, Come Doctor and…friend" she added
They entered the room and the Empress locked the door behind her. The Empress turned around to Rose and the Doctor
"Now" she gave a sigh "What is it that you want exactly?"
"Now before I accuse anyone I want to let you know that I don't believe it's your fault…I think it's happening behind your back, we're just informing you"
"And what is it you are informing me of?"
"This morning I received a distress signal to my ship the TARDIS, it was from a living creature and of course only Zelntitions can send messages from the brain to machine. The problem was Zelnt was on the far other side of the Salenite galaxy and the Salenite Galaxy is massive" the Doctor indicated with his hands the vastness of the galaxy "I mean we're talking about zillions of light years in diameter!" The Empress nodded in agreement and sat down on a throne like chair "So how was a Zelntition's message getting to my ship?" The Empress shrugged
"Get on with it Doctor you're being far too dull!" she moaned
"Hey this is serious!" Rose nagged "Why you being so rude, will you listen to what he's saying" The Empress rolled her eyes
"Anyway we landed on the planet we thought it was coming from, planet 24343, an industrial planet…there seemed to have been a fire there, the sun was deep red and the sky was very much similar, there was black smoke every where on this desert planet and one survivor" the Doctor signalled to Eiye
"So you are telling me that a child is your only witness for the "happenings" in these factories…well that won't be much in the case of going to court, those factories are important to us Zelntitions we rely on them greatly. So naturally the jury, in the case of this going to court, would be very biased towards the argument, myself included"
"Why do you rely on them so much, Zelnt is huge why don't you just put them here so you can make checks on them frequently" the Doctor asked, the Empress got up out of her seat and walked to ward the an urn of blue porcelain, her long fingers stroked it absent mindedly.
"That was the mistake that my predecessor made, putting the workers where they could get him. He made it easy for them to go on strike at any little inconvenience for them which caused work to get behind time which angered the masses. That is why there was a near revolution. They kidnapped the Emperor and murdered him in his bed and burnt his corpse. The ashes in this urn are all that are left of my predecessor. The rest of his family, some of which were my relatives, had a similar fate. Some taken hostage for high prices, the hostage takers would collect their ransom and murder their victims anyway, others were just murdered on the spot." She said casually
"How did the uprising stop…where did you come from"
"My family and court were residing in Raxacoricofallapatorius in working closely with the ambassadors of the Raxacoricofallapatorians, I received news of the uprising and gathered and army of Zelntitions on Raxacoricofallapatorius that I had and we fought them back."
"How strange that a small gathering of Zelntitions in another galaxy can fight back the uprising of angry peasants, it's odd don't you think?"
"They were terrified that we would call in the Raxacoricofallapatorian army which we threatened to do!" she seemed to fight back furiously at the Doctor's insinuations
"With no disrespect I can imagine the Raxacoricofallapatorians having a lot better things to do than to fight the wars of an inconsequential planet such as Zelnt, or what? Does their government owe you a favour; do you and their president go way back? Why would they help you?" The Doctor taunted
"I beg your pardon Doctor but how dare you speak to me in this manner, the Zelntitions are not an inconsequential race by far, we survived the Time War unlike your weak and feeble race. How dare a Time Lord speak to me in this disgusting hypocritical–" her words were cut short Rose had let go of holding Eiye's hand and had marched up to the Empress and had slapped her cleanly around the face. A red mark spread across the Empress's cheek
"Er Rose? That was not a smart move"
"I didn't think so either"
"But thanks anyhow"
"Your welcome" They both looked over at the Empress, she was fuming; her icy blue eyes since widening from the shock of being slapped had now narrowed into slits. Her lips thinned and her nostrils flared. Her soft narrow shoulder shook with anger right down to her clenched fists. She then, taking the Doctor and Rose completely by surprise walked straight passed Rose and the Doctor and headed to the door, she unlocked it with a large metal key. The Empress turned around and grabbed the urn of ashes and flung it to the floor. The porcelain smashed allowing the grey ashes to fly out across the clean marble floor. The Empress screamed and flung her self down next to them on the floor.
"What the–" Rose began but was stopped when several guards rushed in
"You're Majesty?"
"They are supporters of the uprising, they wish to assassinate me! Seize them both!"
"What? No you've made a mistake" the Doctor shouted but to no expense. The guards pulled the Doctor and Rose's arms behind their backs. One also picked up Eiye and began to carry her out of the room kicking her little legs
"Leave the child, she is an innocent child of the people, caught up in this feud of politics, let me take her" the Empress, who was now firmly on her feet took the little girl in her red painted talons. "No don't let me go with her please don't let me go with her" The Doctor looked at the conniving yet beautiful woman remained acting her frozen heart out. She smirked coldly at her prisoners remaining a firm hand around the little girl.