Chapter Three

In ancient time, the Time Lords were a major active power in the universe. They frequently exercised their power and interfered in the affairs of other, less important races. In other words, everyone else. They played games with the lives and deaths of other races. And they also locked up the more violent examples of alien life forms. Their most infamous prison was called Shada. Shada had originally been constructed by the timid little Time Lord known as Zetamunupiphichi. And the reason he came up with this idea was because he was basically frightened of everything. Daleks frightened him. Cybermen frightened him. His wife frightened him. His wife's cat. His job. Alien planets. His own planet. And as a part of his job in observing the infinite worlds out there in the universe, he observed the worst of the worst; the killers, the psychopaths, the locksmiths, the insane warriors who lived on all the other worlds and were causing wars for no very good reason except that they didn't have any sort of concept of conflict resolution other than hitting and killing. And Zetamunupiphichi worried that these violent aliens might one day threaten the planet Gallifrey in general and himself in particular. So his conclusion was to have the worst of the worst collected, and then to locked up… keep them swept under the galactic carpet, so to speak, and never have to worry about any of them ever again. Which still left the problem of his job, his wife, his wife's cat… and so on.

He came up with excuses for each one of the aliens that was locked up, of course. He ordered his attorney to come up with long-winded explanations about morality and the responsibility of the Time Lords because they were the only ones who could act. And the rest of the Time Lords actually bought it, and then they gleefully and pompously locked up all the very worst beings in the universe. And they were locked up on a small, artificial planetoid… which Zetamunupiphichi named Shada after his mother-in-law… who also frightened him.

The prisoners were all incarcerated and fed and cared for automatically. There was a computerized security system which didn't require any maintenance; a tribute to Time Lord technology. And with no need to visit the prison or tend to it in any way, the Time Lords eventually, simply forgot about it.

Mostly.

#

The Doctor worked the controls of the TARDIS. The time rotor eventually slowed and stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief, turned to the Sontarans and Leela and announced, "We've arrived."

The Sontarans drew their weapons. Leela drew her knife. K-9 sat patiently in the corner. The Doctor opened the door. The Sontarans burst outside, quickly followed by Leela. The Doctor stepped outside a moment later to find that they were greeted by several skeletons scattered about the floor. They found themselves in a single room with two closed doors on either side. The room was decorated with several chairs, and a coffee table with old magazines, and paintings of seascapes on the walls. Everything in the room was old, but the magazines had been old even when the room was new. "It looks as though others have tried to enter here before us," the Doctor observed. "Now let's see if we can find a way inside."

"We are not inside this prison yet?" Leela asked. "Doctor, why did we not just materialize next to this Thor person?"

"Well, Shada has a sort of barrier that prevents us from doing just that. And the only place where we are able to materialize is here in the entryway."

A giant holographic head appeared in mid-air before the intruders. It was the image of Shada's creator, Zetamunupiphichi, "Welcome to Shada. No one may enter here. And only death awaits those who come uninvited."

"Then why did you say that we were welcome?" Leela asked. But the floating face did not answer.

"Well," the Doctor said. "I of course death awaits everybody, doesn't it? Do you mean you're threatening us in some way?" And then the face faded away.

The Doctor bugged out his eyes as he reflected on this. "Oh, well. Come one," and he marched forward. He tried the door leading to the interior, but it was locked.

As the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, Commander Stor gestured for his two troopers to charge the door. The two warriors ran to the door and slammed their bodies into it, shattering the it into a hundred pieces of shrapnel.

Leela, Stor and the Doctor followed them into the corridor beyond.

But after just a few steps, they came upon an elaborate variation on a red and black checkerboard pattern painted on the floor. The Doctor held up a single, commanding hand, "Hold it!"

"What is it?" Leela asked.

"I've seen this sort of thing before. Hold on." The Doctor pulled out his bag of jelly babies, and slowly and carefully, he tossed one onto the pattern on the floor. Nothing happened. And then, nervously, he tossed another one just beyond the first. Nothing happened. And finally, he tossed a third jelly baby onto the floor just beyond the first two. And this time, nothing happened again.

"What are you doing?" Stor demanded. "We should just proceed!"

"No, no, no!" the Doctor insisted. "This could be extremely dangerous! But I think I've found the answer!" He took a deep breath and stepped very, very slowly onto a black square in the first row. It was safe. He breathed slowly in relief and smiled proudly at the others behind him.

Finally Leela could stand no more. "Doctor, we do not have time for this!" And she marched across the pattern, stepping across the black and red colours indiscriminately. She stopped safely on the other side and turned back to the others. "See? It is nothing but a decorative floor!"

Satisfied, the Sontarans marched across… also unharmed.

The Doctor was certain there must be a reason for this. Perhaps only the first four people were able get across and then it became a death trap.

"No, no. I can work it out!" he insisted.

He tried using pi. He tried using 4 dimensional geometry. He tried hyper dimensional algebraic symbology. He tried block transfer computation. But at that point, Commander Stor marched back across the floor, grabbed the Doctor, picked him up and carried him across the design and set him down again on the far side.

The Doctor bobbed his head a bit before admitting, "Or then again, it could just be a decorative floor."

The group continued on down the corridor. They found that the door at the far end was also locked. Commander Stor yanked the Doctor back, and urged his troopers forward one more time. They threw themselves at the door over and over again. But this time, they didn't even dent the door.

"Commander," the Doctor said. "I have the key." And he pointed to the keyhole beneath the knob. He then pulled out the Great Key, inserted it and twisted it. It unlocked the door easily. But waiting for them on the other side was a massive security robot! Seven feet high, four feet thick, two massive built-in weapon barrels of some kind were mounted on its shoulders. Zetamunupiphichi's holographic head appeared again. The head shook sadly from side to side. "As I was saying; death awaits those who come uninvited."

The Sontarans fired their weapons at the monstrosity. Deadly laser beams bombarded the security robot for several seconds in a terrifying display of destruction, sparks and smoke permeating the air. But when the lasers, sparks and smoke cleared a few moments later, the robot remained standing in exactly the same place, unharmed, and apparently untouched.

The Doctor stepped forward. He doffed his hat politely and said in a friendly voice, "Hello, there. I'm the Doctor, this is Leela and Commander Stor and Lieutenants Humtpy and Dumpty. What's your name?"

"I do not have a name," said the robot.

"Well, I'm very sorry about that. Would you like me to give you a name?"

"Negative. I am here to protect Shada from intruders."

"Good, good! It's nice to have a purpose in life, Rolland. Do you mind if I call you Rolland?" The robot gave the Doctor an unflinching stare. "I'll bet you're good at poker," the Doctor observed. The robot's stare still did not flinch. "So you're here to protect Shada, you said."

"Affirmative."

"And what is Shada, exactly?"

"Shada is the Time Lords' prison planetoid."

"And you classify my friends and me as intruders, I suppose?"

"Affirmative."

"Because we're not a part of Shada?"

"Affirmative."

"Are you a part of Shada?"

"Negative. I am stationed here."

"Are the prisoners here a part of Shada?"

"Negative. They have been sentenced here."

"So if we were to, for example, remove one of the prisoners, but leave the whole of Shada intact… how would you feel about that, Rolland, eh?"

The robot considered this for several nano-seconds. "That would not be unacceptable."

"Well then, my friends and I are going to go and fetch a friend of ours and take him with us again, and you stay here and work on those double negatives. All right?"

"Let us proceed… Doc-tor!" Stor burst out impatiently.

The group edged cautiously around the security robot. They made their way into the main facility. The prison had been built out of a small planetoid, and so many of the cave walls were left in their natural state. The facility was a multi-level labyrinth of corridors, on either side of which were literally thousands of prison cells. They arrived at what could only be the central corridor. A light flashed at the far end of it. An instant later, there was a boom. A very, very loud boom. They looked at each other. Nobody knew what it could have been.

The Doctor paused to check the map on the wall. Prisoner cell 4684785, Thor, was clearly labeled on the map. The flashing and booming was coming from the direction of Thor's prison cell. And as they got closer, they could see that it was in fact raining at the far end of the corridor.

They proceeded. On either side of the corridor were open doorways, behind which prisoners either sat or stood, looking at the visitors menacingly. Forcefields prevented their escape. There were zygons, ice warriors, dominators, humans, draconians, all sort of beings from all over the universe. The prisoners shouted pleas, threats, and many just growled and bared fangs of varying length. One even breathed fire at them.

The Doctor and the others ignored them and continued on. Finally, they arrived at the end of the corridor.

"Ah, there you are," the Doctor said when he looked into the prison cell and found himself facing the large, blonde god of thunder. "How do you do?" he said politely. Leela and the Sontarans stood on either side of the Doctor, weapons ready.

"Let me out, puny Time Lord!"

The Doctor cleared his throat before responding, "Well, I was about to do just that, actually. You see, we need you to help save the universe. But you have to give us your word that you won't try to harm us."

"And what if I don't!"

Leela stepped forward and shouted at the thunder god, "Listen to me, blonde one! The fate of the entire universe is at stake! And we are here to release you! And if you do not come with us and help, then I shall cut out your heart!"

Thor stopped. He looked at the woman before him who weighed about the same as one of his massive arms. He laughed. "I like you!"

"Well, that's a good start," said the Doctor. "Leela, this is Thor, god of thunder. Thor, this is Leela, warrior of the seva team." He then glanced at the Sontarans, "Oh, and this is Commander Stor and two of his stooges."

The Doctor once again pulled out the Great Key, and he unlocked Thor's cell. Thor stepped out into the corridor, one massive footstep at a time. He looked about to assure himself that he was now finally free.

"Now," the Doctor said to Thor. "You should know that we're here to help you. We're taking you to Ragnarok. The end of the universe. Maybe you've heard of it."

Thor was puzzled. "This cannot already be the end of all things! I was not locked up that long!" He stepped up to the Doctor, towering over the Time Lord. "Is this a trick?"

The Doctor smiled, "Well, you may be the god of thunder. But think of me as the lord of time. We're going to jump forwards in time and be there in a matter of minutes."

Thor looked at Leela. "Is it true what he says?"

"Of course."

"Then let us proceed."

They all turned and went back to the TARDIS.