Donna and Colin are on Sercaton now, and someone's been alerted to the fact that "something" isn't right in the air... though they can't quite put their finger on what. Either way Donna and Colin figure it would be best to follow them, because where there's trouble, there's the Doctor!
KILLING ME LOUDLY
Donna and Colin followed the two tall, gangly guys in wet suits through the crowd, and into a gigantic building attached to the sporting area. They were not alone within the corridors; there were a few "beings" milling about inside.
"What are these folks doing, looking for concessions?" asked Colin.
"Shush. Just be glad they are," she retorted. "Otherwise, we would be ridiculously conspicuous."
Down myriad hallways with dizzying twists and turns, they tried to act like they simply belonged there, and knew exactly where they were headed. They were just a bit astonished that the guards never noticed their presence, but even Colin, the novice, had the good sense not to say anything about it.
Donna wondered if the guards had noticed them, but were pretending not to, so as to lead them into a trap.
Well, life with the Doctor means sometimes you knowingly walk into a trap, in order to save the people you care about. Colin will get that soon enough.
But the gig was up when the two guards walked through an official-looking door, with a sign that said, "Authorised personnel only."
"How is that in English?" Colin wondered.
"The TARDIS translates for us," Donna said, whispering. She pressed her ear to the door, and said, "Haven't you noticed that everyone around us appears to be speaking in English, as well?"
He looked about at the few people in the hallway, going places, and said, "Oh yeah. Weird."
"Look, whatever," she said. "Just act natural. Cover me."
"Cover you? You mean cover up the fact that you've got your ear pressed to a door you're not supposed to walk through?"
"Yes," she answered. "Shh."
She heard the two guard who had gone inside tittering a bit, but could not hear what they were saying. Then, after a minute or so, a third voice joined them.
"I'm sorry, but we were not able to obtain you access to the Rhythmistis room," said the voice.
"But can't you feel it?" asked one of the guards they'd followed. "Something in the air?"
"I can," said the third voice. "Commander Abbly has been in, making adjustments."
"Adjustments? This is more than an adjustment!"
"I'm sorry, but I cannot grant you access."
"Well, I don't need your bloody permission," said the first guard, and there were hard-falling footsteps.
"Actually," said the third voice, loudly enough to stop the footsteps. "You do. My department has to give an override code when there are successive visitors to the Rhythmistis room. You'd be the third visitor today, so my superiors have to send me their code – I can't just…"
"Our planet is being tampered with!"
"I saw Commander Abbly himself!" protested the third voice.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. Short, and just a little bit clueless."
"Oh!" Donna whispered. "Short and clueless… that's got to be the Doctor!"
"Short?" Colin asked.
"If he's disguised as a guard, he'll be considered short. Those other guys were, what? Six-foot-five? Six-foot-six or seven?"
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to retreat," said the third voice. "This sort of thing is out of your jurisdiction anyhow. Just go police the crowd like you're meant to."
The two guards grumbled, and moved toward the door. Colin and Donna dashed away, and hid round the corner. They'd managed now to find a pretty deserted area in the building.
Once they were sure that the guards were out of earshot, Colin said, rather loudly, "Well that's a fine how-d'you-do! If two uniformed guards can't get into that whatsit room, then we sure as hell can't!"
"Colin, lower your voice," Donna ordered.
"Why do we need to get in there, again?"
"Because it's the last place we know the Doctor was!"
"Do we really know that, though?"
"No," she admitted. "But in this life, you rarely know anything. You've just got to take your best shot. It's an educated shot, mind you."
And that's when they heard it.
"Donna?" a voice said, from somewhere unknown.
She frowned. "Doctor?"
A door across the hall opened, and a Time Lord, dressed from neck-to-toe in a black wet suit, stuck his head out.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed and jumped on him for a hug. "What're you doing here?"
"Ow! Ow!" he retorted. "And shush! Get in here!"
She let go and slipped in through the door. The Doctor grabbed a stunned Colin by the wrist and pulled him in as well, shutting the door behind them.
"What is this?" Colin asked, looking about. The tiny room was filled with what looked like floor-to ceiling drawers.
"File room," the Doctor said. "I reckon it's backup data, just in case the computers go down. After I left the Rhythmistis room…"
"See, I knew he'd been in there!" Donna shouted.
"I was afraid I was being followed, so I slipped in here."
"How long have you been in here?" she wondred.
"Just a minute or two," the Doctor replied.
"Actually, never mind that," Donna said. "What's happened to Martha?"
"We tried to escape, but we weren't out the door ten minutes when she was taken, and injected with something to keep her heartrate regulated," the Doctor told them. "I couldn't go after her because I didn't want to give myself away. If I'd done that, we'd both be dead."
"Why would they inject her with something to keep her heartrate down?" Donna wondered.
The Doctor looked at Colin. "Look… keep your cool, okay?"
Colin's eyes grew big. "Why? Is that bloody breaking wheel for her?"
"Breaking wheel?" the Doctor asked.
"We saw one on the stage when we came through the arena thingie," Donna said.
"Well, I reckon it is for her," the Doctor sighed. "Damn it. But the good news is, I don't think they'll begin torturing her until they have me in custody."
"How's that? Wouldn't that be a blooming great way to flush you out, mate?" Colin asked,
"It might," the Doctor answered. "But they're going to want me to watch. It's how they think they can kill me. Keep her heartrate low, so she doesn't die from a heart attack while they're… doing whatever they're planning on doing to her, so it's as long and painful as possible. Meanwhile, I'm nearby, losing my mind, dying over and over again, watching her be slowly tortured and eventually - eventually - killed. Though I reckon they think they can keep her alive until I'm done."
"Shit," Colin spat.
"But what they don't know is a) I've taken Beta Blockers to keep my heartrate low too – it was the only way I could subdue the guard so we could escape, and b) I've been able to recalibrate the planet's oppressive heartbeat to two-hundred-twenty BPM."
"Which won't stop them from torturing her, it'll just stop you from dying… which means you both suffer for longer," Colin surmised.
"Yes, but, again, if they don't have me, they are unlikely to start on her… wait," the Doctor said, stopping in his tracks. "Sorry, but… how'd you two get here? Does this mean the TARDIS is back to her old self again?"
"The TARDIS is still sort of dark, Doctor," Donna reported. "I'd say she's still a bit under the weather. Of course, that was when we arrived… since you've recalibrated the planet – blimey that sounds daft – she might be doing better."
"Good, but… how did you figure out how to fly her here?" the Doctor asked.
"We thought it was probably a distress signal," Donna told him, gently. "That you or Martha was probably in enough peril that…"
"Oh, God," the Doctor groaned. "That is not good."
"The TARDIS must have sensed that your deaths were planned, and that they would be hideous," Donna said. "Just like she did for me."
"Martha must be closer to the gallows than I realised," he said, burying both hands in his hair. "Where's the TARDIS? We're going to need her for a quick getaway. Let's pray she's up to it."
Just then, there was a blipping noise. They all looked around in askance, wondering what it was.
The Doctor realised that the sound was coming from inside the rubber helmet he'd left on the floor.
"It's a communiqué," he said, and he pulled the helmet on, to see what the goggles had to say.
He pressed the button on the side of the goggles designated to accept communication from official sources.
The message on the screen read, "The TARDIS has been detected back on Sercatonian soil." A screen-shot of instruments meant to detect anomalies in the atmosphere came up, and the TARDIS' energy signature appeared incontrovertibly in the data. The Doctor also noticed data subtly suggesting the recalibration he had done, but the disturbance caused by the TARDIS was, luckily, overwhelming it. For now.
More text came across the screen then. "All available personnel will be needed to assist in locating the vessel, and moving it toward the stage for execution."
"For execution?" the Doctor spat. "What the hell's she done?"
"What are you talking about?" Colin asked.
"The TARDIS! They want her executed too?"
Another communiqué came in then, and the Doctor pressed the button to accept.
"Prison personnel have been deployed to collect the Doctor, and found his cell empty," appeared on the screen. "Locating him is top priority. The TARDIS is now secondary. All personnel not currently guarding the arena or the stage are to be occupied in locating the Doctor."
"Okay, they're going to be coming after me now," he said. "But the good news is, they're ignoring the TARDIS until they find me, and all personnel are focused on that, so that's just bought us a little more time before they work out that the median heartrate of the planet has been recalibrated. We've got to get Martha out of here, and get back to the TARDIS as quickly as we can. Here's what I need from the two of you. When we leave here, turn left and go…"
"Good afternoon, Doctor," a voice said, from somewhere, interrupting them well and truly.
"Shit, they've found us," Colin whispered.
"No, they haven't," the Doctor told him. "It's the tannoy. It's all over the building."
"This is Judge Rabic," the voice said. "I was just informed that you've been a very naughty boy indeed. You'll be interested to know that trial is no longer necessary, because we have incontrovertible evidence that you have evaded your superiors, and resisted the will of the Sercatonian Congress. Your execution can be carried out, without any further ado. Well, your trial was going to be quick anyway… now it's one less thing." Rabic's voice was relatively businesslike.
But that soon changed.
"Now, you may be thinking, 'ah, but I've escaped into the labyrinthine complex, you'll have to find me before you can execute me,' but I beg to differ, Doctor," Rabic said, his voice now having taken on a diabolical singsong tone. "We reckon we can achieve your death, no matter where you've managed to get to, in the Congressional complex."
With that, they heard the voices of a thousand beings, the crowd that had gathered to witness his death, was listening, and loving this.
"And we know you must still be here, Doctor," the Judge went on, his voice dripping with sickening mockery, false empathy. "Because we have your Martha. Given the so-called love you two share, and the close, personal relationship that exists between you, there's no possibility that you've left without her.
"And indeed, Doctor, it is that very love that we intend to exploit. You may think that just because we don't copulate on this planet, that we don't understand those who do. Well, you'd be mistaken. We understand it well. We understand that such a filthy, excitement-inducing, bodily act of shameful abandon can cause something like attachment between two afflicted beings, and that, dependent upon the species and circumstances of the coupling, love can be believed to form.
"These are all phenomena that the great planet of Sercaton has risen above. It's why we feel no remorse, but rather, entitlement to do… this," the Judge said.
And then there was screaming coming vividly, loudly, piercingly through the tannoy, followed by cheers from the crowd.
And for the three hidden in the tiny records room, it was unmistakably Martha's scream.
The Doctor ripped off his mask, and went weak against the wall, hand buried in his hair, when he heard this. "Oh God… oh God…" he groaned.
He was not having a heart attack, but rather suffering from heartbreak.
Panic appeared across Colin's features, and he began to spit, "No! No, no no! Noooo!"
"Both of you, calm down, or we'll never get her out of here!" Donna scolded.
"I would imagine that you are in the complex somewhere, feeling your chest tightening and your breath growing short," Rabic said. "That's just lovely. We'll just let you listen to the torture…"
And another searing scream came through the tannoy, again, definitely Martha.
The Doctor stood, bracing himself against the wall, teeth bared, panting, seething with anger.
"Don't listen," Donna said, taking his hand.
"I have to," he whispered. "She can't suffer alone."
The scream stopped, and the crowd cheered. The three of them looked at one another in total disgust.
"How are you feeling Doctor? Feeling like you want to give yourself up, to save your… love?" asked Rabic. "Or are you too weak to walk? Make no mistake, it will still be a while before you die of cardiac arrest. And Martha? We've regulated her heartrate so she can keep going indefinitely! Come on, are you really going to just let us have our way with her?"
More screaming – shorter this time.
"Doctor! Save her!"
Curt, high screams this time.
"DOCTOR! Stop being a coward!"
At that, they could hear Martha yell, "Doctor no! Don't come near! Security is too tight!"
"Shut up!" the Judge screamed, and they heard a hard, blunt smack, and another high-pitched wince from Martha.
"That bastard," the Doctor hissed. "I'm going to have his fucking head on a platter."
And he made for the door, and began to tug at the doorknob, impetuously.
"Doctor, stop," Donna coaxed, pulling his hands away from the door, then pushing him by the shoulders into a stack of drawers. "We need a plan!"
"I can't… I can't think straight, Donna," the Doctor confessed, now hearing more screams and cheers coming through the tannoy. "It's everything I can do just to keep my body from betraying me, and running out into the crowd on a kamikaze rescue mission! I know we'll both die horribly if I do that, and yet, it's all I want. It's all I can think of. It's all…"
"Now, Doctor, I hope you're still alive," the judge said. "Sort of counterintuitive, I know, but if you die, you'll miss the best bit. In a few minutes, we will begin welcoming people who have purchased Partitive Passes. Stay tuned, as the humans sometimes say, my Time Lord friend."
"What are Partitive Passes?" asked Colin.
The Doctor turned his back to the cabinet and leaned his bum against it, while bending forward to rest his hands on his knees. He felt harrowed, hollow, beaten, desperate…
"They're barbaric," he answered. "They sell them to spectators who want in on the action, if you will."
"So… they get to come up on the platform and…"
"Participate in the torture," the Doctor finished.
"What? That's ridiculous!" Donna cried out.
"Agreed," said the Doctor. "And yet, in places like this, where executions are public, governments are despotic, and people are in the resultant bloodthirsty, warped state of mind… here they are."
"So there are going to be common people just lining up to… what? Stab my cousin?" Colin asked, his face contorted into a guise of anger and fear.
"Stab, burn, bludgeon, slash, brand, beat…" the Doctor said, his voice breaking.
"Okay, I've heard enough," Donna said. "Let's get back out there."
"Like you said before, we need a plan," Colin pointed out.
"I've got one," she announced.
"You have?"
"Yes. Doctor, give me the psychic paper."
"I don't have it," he said. "It's in the TARDIS somewhere."
"Do you know where?"
"I think so."
"Okay, that works," she said. "The downside is, Martha will have to endure at least another half our of this rubbish before we can help her. Let's get to the TARDIS. All three of us. Now. Put your helmet back on, Spaceman."
"So now we're following Donna's orders?" Colin asked her.
"Looks like. Ready?"
Donna playing the hero! Well, would you expect any less from her?
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