Chapter 17

There was a side door out of the factory. It seemed that was the one used most often by the aliens. The female alien went out of it. She was busy pursuing Lilly, who was still alive and helpless, hanging from the roof.

Pride stood at the entrance way, still partially hidden by clouds. As nice as it would be to let Lilly die, the Doctor would pick up another annoying human, and this was the best time to attack the alien.

Pride clapped his hands together as quietly as he could. First he sealed the door, merging it with the wall. That would make sure the other two aliens didn't come out and surprise them. Then he slid behind this alien, pressing his hand to the wall of the factory. It came out, wrapping around the alien.

"What the-?" She turned her head, and Pride slowly moved into view. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Well today's full of surprises, isn't it?" Pride asked. He clapped his hands and pressed them against the formation, tightening its grip around her a bit. Not enough to hurt her, as he'd already proven that was impossible. But it would make her think he could. "Now, tell me how to get everyone back, or I'll tighten this until your innards spray out."

Lilly looked confused for a moment and opened her mouth. Right. She knew he couldn't do that. Mercifully, he could see the gears turning behind her eyes, at a painfully slow pace. She closed her mouth.

The alien grudgingly gave Pride the answers he wanted. Apparently, the office the aliens had come from was filled with their technology. There were cameras to keep an eye on the humans being hunted, weapons, and controls. If they took out a bit of the controls, they could use it to get to their friends, and then use it to return. The alien had to dumb down her definitions quite a bit. It was annoying. What was worse was Pride couldn't tell her to stop treating him like a simpleton. He really didn't understand if she didn't go back to such banal terms.

"Fine," Pride said. "Come on Lilly."

"What? How?" Lilly asked, still on the roof.

Well that was her problem. He addressed the alien. "Stick around." Not that she could move. "If things aren't working, we'll have to come back to you."

The Doctor and Ben walked through the forest, retracing the Doctor's steps.

"The others don't like you, do they? I mean, not just your ideas. They're against those, but they seem to dislike you as a person," the Doctor said as the two walked along.

"Gee, thanks for that," Ben said in a false cheerfulness that was meant to be a joke. The Doctor didn't smile. Ben looked away, mood dropping as well. "Yeah, they don't," he agreed.

"Don't suppose you could tell me why?" the Doctor asked.

Ben sighed. "I first came here with my brother. I did the same things as the others back then, the dangerous stuff. I was never exactly brave, but he was fearless. It made things easier. Then we got attacked by one of the dustballs. I panicked and hid, and he . . . was killed."

The Doctor was silent for a moment, staring intently at the ground. So that was it. People had done worse. He'd been scared. But still. He'd left his own brother.

"You could've done better," the Doctor said.

Ben was quiet when he answered. "I know."

The two continued walking. It didn't take long to get where they wanted to go. Unfortunately, there was one part of the plan the Doctor hadn't thought through.

"Right. I thought that was destroyed."

The metal leopard was still at the bottom of the tree. Its fake shell had burned off and it had obviously taken a hit from the fall, walking with a jerky limp and jolting its head without focusing on anything. But it was still there, a big metal cat with plenty of sharp points, prowling around the tree where the sonic screwdriver had fallen. And it had indeed fallen here. She could see the metal shinning out in some of the leaves.

"Obviously not," Ben said, his voice getting higher in fear.

The leopard's head jerked towards them, glowing eyes narrowed. (The head seemed permanently stuck sideways.)

"Run!" Ben shouted.

"Ru-say wait a minuet." Someone had stolen her line.

Then she remembered why, and quickly moved out of the way as the leopard pounced at them. The Doctor ran to the right, Ben moving to the left. When she looked behind her, Ben had vanished from sight. Right. He'd said he hid, didn't he? Had he abandoned her too?

Oh he is going to get . . . a talking to!

She went around a tree, grabbing the trunk and letting herself slide around to move faster. It was very easy in all the mud. She could see her sonic. She moved for it, slipped on an especially slick rock, and fell down.

Oh no.

She didn't usually slip on mud. Then again, she didn't usually get captured the second she stepped outside the TARDIS, or lose her sonic in the first place. Today was an off day.

"Doctor!"

The Doctor lifted her head in time to see Ben come scrambling into sight and charge the leopard. But that was crazy. He was a normal human. He had no defense against it. The leopard shoved him to the ground, claws digging into his shoulders. Then, suddenly, the ground spiked up around the leopard, shoving it back. Ben looked at the Doctor, clearly terrified, but still alive. In the mud was a transmutation circle. He was an alchemist.

"We've got to do something," he said. His body was shaking.

"I know," the Doctor agreed. "Hold on."

The leopard couldn't be dealt with like a normal animal, because it wasn't, but it could be dealt with like a normal robot. Especially since it was so shoddily made, breaking apart like that.

The Doctor ran for her sonic screwdriver. She picked it up, spun around, and was just in time to see the leopard pounce on Ben, this time biting into his neck before he could make a transmutation circle.

The Doctor pointed her sonic, scrambling the controls in the robot until it slackened, falling off.

She ran over, putting her hand on his neck to both stop the bleeding, and to check his pulse. It wasn't promising. The bite was shallow and to the side enough it wasn't instant death. The heart beat was still there, but it was slowing rapidly.

"Hold on," the Doctor said. "Hold on. I'm the Doctor. You're an alchemist. I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Not an alchemist," he said, voice faint. "My brother was the alchemist. I just . . . picked up a few things."

"Ben. Ben, come on, don't talk."

And he didn't talk. Because his heart had skipped a beat. And then another. The Doctor sat there a little longer. But no, he wasn't coming back, and she had to get a move on. She had to get the dustballs out of the tower before Phil and Sue got the bright idea to go in without her.

For a while she walked along alone. She moved slowly but with a purpose, making her way to the tower. It was visible in the sky even with the trees around. Shame it was so quiet though.

Then there was a burst of light near her and two people came bursting into the forest. The Doctor turned, sonic pointed at them like a weapon. Then she got a look at who it was.

"Lilly. Pride. How did you get here?"