Chapter 51

Lilly was waiting for them outside.

"Doctor!" she shouted.

She ran over. It looked like she wanted to hug the Doctor. Luckily, she refrained, instead bouncing on the spot beside her.

There was also another woman outside. She had orange hair, brown eyes, and a green parrot on her shoulder.

"I take it your not Nate," the Doctor said.

The woman gave her a withering look. "No I'm Clare. I'm supposed to show you around. Nate is . . . a bit private."

"Clare, Clare," the parrot repeated.

The Doctor studied the parrot way too hard as she spoke. "I'm the Doctor. This is Pride, Lilly, and Tourmaline."

"We like replacing names with words here," Lilly said at Clare's (and the parrot's) expression.

"You realize your name is also a word?" Pride pointed out.

Lilly blinked a few times. "Damn it!"

That was probably the closest Pride had heard her come to swearing, and it was funny.

The Doctor, meanwhile, had finished studying Clare. "You're a multiform, aren't you?"

"What does that mean?" Lilly asked.

"Depends. You need a living but dormant form to take, so who's that?"

"If you're going to suggest I give this form back, I can't. It's a long story, but I'm stuck in this form for now. It's why I'm here. Believe me, it wasn't something I planned to look like for the long term." Clare spoke slowly, enunciating each word with annoyance. Then she took a deep breath, posture relaxing, expression going back towards neutral. "Now, if you're ready, I can take you into the main building."

It seemed the Doctor was fine with that for now.

Clare took the lead, moving towards the tallest building in the city. From left to right, it was probably in the center, but from front to back it seemed fairly backed up to one end. Pride could see a courtyard behind it, and then nothing but forest. The building was brown. It had windows, but they were hard to see into. There was something jutting out of one of the higher floors that looked like a giant fish bowl.

They entered the building, went to an elevator, and that was when Clare got a message. She had some sort of communicator in her ear. Pride couldn't make out the words, but he could tell something was being said.

Clare swore. "Sorry Nate. Looks like you're getting your guys after all." She turned to the group. "Sorry, but it seems we've got a bigger rescue coming in, and I have to help with that. I've pressed the right floor number. You go talk to Nate. He's in the fish bowl."

Called it.

"I have to go back out there."

Clare backed out of the elevator. Then she was gone. The group of four stood in silence, watching the numbers change.

"Tourmaline?" the Doctor said. Tourmaline turned to her expectantly. "Don't go in with us. The easiest way to get to the bottom of this is to meet Nate, but we shouldn't all go in to what might be a trap."

"What? You think this is a trap?" Lilly asked. She sounded obnoxiously shocked.

"It very well could be," the Doctor said. "This planet isn't supposed to exist at all. They're hiding something."

"That doesn't mean they're evil," Lilly objected. "I've met Nate on his ship, and nothing bad happened. And I asked these people to help you. If they're so bad, why would they have agreed?"

Before they could speak any more, the elevator opened with a ding. They all turned to the hall, as if they expected to be caught scheming. But it was empty up here.

Tourmaline stepped between Lilly and the Doctor. "I don't really know what I think is happening," Tourmaline said. "But I'll stay here. There's no harm in doing that, is there?"

Lilly reluctantly shook her head.

So the Doctor, Pride, and Lilly moved forward while Tourmaline hung back and pressed against the elevator. The Doctor's eyes darted around and she slowed down, but she managed to open a door, and the rounded walls and light coming in reveled it was the correct room.

For a moment it was too bright to see much inside the room, but it was soon clear there was a figure inside was the room. And it was a dalek. It was bronze, compared to the silver ones Pride had seen, but it was the same dome shaped creature, with the familiar weapons.

"Dalek!" the Doctor shouted, reaching into her pockets.

"WAIT!" The dalek rolled forward.

"You wait. I . . . I'm armed."

Given what the Doctor usually had in her pockets, that sounded like a stretch.

The dalek did stop. "I'M NOT A DALEK. I'M NATE."