"When I was a young boy, my mama said to me
There's only one girl in this world for you, and she probably lives in Tahiti
I'd go the whole wide world, I'd go the whole world just to find her"
-"Whole Wide World", Cage The Elephant
The problem with dinner parties were that they could be very, very boring. Forget the Second Barmesian Minister of the Last Great Barmel Regime, if the Doctor had to hear one more "brief speech" by a man who's ear lobes were longer than his frankly ridiculous beard, he was going to eat his own spoon.
"It is with great pride that I recognize those who bravely helped restore our Institute Of Flatulence after the rather seismic eruptions last year," the minister began.
The Doctor would have quirked a smile if it weren't for the fact that he was in fact a very serious, furious person. He was a Time Lord. He was above fart jokes.
"As we all know, our energy runs on the methane found in our natural gas. Maximizing that gas is essential to our prosperity, and I daresay, our dignity. The following Barmesians have made it possible for us to continue our truly awesome bodily gas geysers. I am proud to recognize," he announced, clearing his throat. "Cors 253, Cors 443, Cors 19, Cors 99-"
"Oh I can't do this," the Doctor shouted, jumping up. A hundred overly ear-lobed heads turned to look at him. "Why don't I just introduce you all to Taco Bell and you can forget this whole thing right now!"
The minister looked astonished. "Mister Doctor, I do not understand, you are here as an esteemed guest."
The Doctor strode around the table, addressing the whole room.
"Oh yes, I'm full of hot air, forgive the phrase, but there is something about your little get-together tonight that I cannot pass up." He spun around quickly, looking for the face in the crowd he knew would be watching him with contempt rather than mortification. There.
"That woman," he said, pointing a long finger at the lady sitting a few tables away from the minister's stage. She had long hair and almost translucent skin, her lip curled in a snarl.
"Your entire speech, all of your speeches, didn't you notice? She hasn't looked up at you once. I mean, I could hardly blame someone stabbing their eyes out during your droning, let alone day dreaming, but," the Doctor paused, jumping up on the stage, "she hasn't been lost in thought. She's been staring at this."
The time traveler gestured to the intricate key hanging on a chord around the minister's neck. The ruler looked taken aback.
"Sir, I fail to see how this is at all relevant-"
"She's a poacher," the Doctor announced, loud enough for the whole room to hear but staring only at the minister. "She's a member of the most wanted gang of poachers in the Universe, the Venandi. And that, I'm guessing," the Doctor poked the shorter man's chest, "is the key to your personal pet. Your rather expensive pet."
The minister finally had the sense to look horrified. "My Reaper," he murmured.
"Yeah. That." The Doctor spun around and leapt off the stage. The woman stood up.
"You're only delaying the inevitable Doctor. You think you can keep chasing us around the Universe forever?"
The Doctor gave an almost comical scoff. "Yeah. Tardis."
"Yes, well. In that case, you better go find it." She began to fiddle with something on her wrist. Before he could do anything to stop her, she held up a hand bearing a Vortex Manipulator and gave him a wave. "Bye."
In a blink she was gone. There was an audible gasp and then silence. The Doctor remained still for a moment.
"WAIT! Just shut up! Everybody shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!" he yelled, in spite of the fact that no one was talking. He ran out of the banquet hall.
"Mister Doctor!" the Minister yelled after him. "Where are you going! Where did she go!"
The frantic time traveler didn't bother turning around but instead yelled something back about tracking time signatures and needing a better audience.
The Last Great Barmel Regime never did hold another celebratory banquet.
The girl had ran to Elixia, that much he knew. It was the second largest zoo planet, definitely held another Time Reaper, made sense. The reading on the signature, however, was too muddled to pinpoint her exact coordinate in time-space. Frustrated, the Doctor ruffled his unruly hair. They were always just a smidge quicker than he.
Was that a proper word? Smidge?
Well it certainly doesn't sound proper in your voice, you daft old man.
The Doctor shook his head. The voice again. Sometimes she would seep through, in little ways. Clara. Whoever she was.
In every way, it was frustrating. He could only assume that if he had gone to such great lengths to erase her from his memory, that she must have meant a great deal to him. And in a way, he wanted to honor that, to mourn that. But he couldn't. He had no reason to, no detail of the shadow that was beside him the past few years. He just knew that sometimes, when he was staring off into space (sometimes literally), he found himself feeling very sad. It wasn't more complex than that, it was just sad. Like something was wrong but he hadn't the faintest idea what it was or how to fix it. Sometimes he thought if he could just allow himself to sleep; to sleep, perchance to dream, he could just...
Sighing, the Doctor straightened up and stepped out onto Elixia.
If he was very very clever, and he usually was, the poacher would be found within ten minutes, tops.
Three hours later, the Doctor was ready to break something.
"Where on this entire god-forsaken planet could this woman be" he muttered to himself, flexing his hands. He had set up sensors at every fifty-pace interval, he had scanned each security post for data on the patrons, he had even gone through the trouble of asking one guy if he had seen her. He hadn't, but the ice cream at that stand over there was lovely by the way, if you cared. The Doctor most certainly and very vocally didn't care.
Taking a lick of his ice cream cone, the time traveler began to mutter to himself.
"Okay, so she's somewhere she can't be seen or sensed. Maybe she's been vaporized? That would be something...No someone would have seen it. Perhaps...perhaps she's somewhere normal people can't get to. Stupid. Obvious."
The time lord finished the rest of his cone and made his way to the Officer Command Center.
He had been poking around for about twenty minutes when he heard the scream. When had found the source of it, he didn't like what he had seen.
A woman was immobilized, and slung over the shoulder of a handsy guard. Said guard was making threats. That was enough.
Stepping out of the shadows, the Doctor called out.
"You, sir, are out of your depth."
He began to babble while he searched for the right setting on his sunglasses. By the time the man was on the ground from the redirected energy of his own taser, the Doctor was already scanning the woman for signs of damage.
Human. Slightly scraped in some areas, but otherwise fine.
He knelt down and carefully untangled her limp body from the guard's. She was youngish he assumed, going by her lack of wrinkles. Her eyes were large, her face stuck in an expression of panic. Her clothing was a bit rumpled, but otherwise her appearance had the feel of being very well put-together.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor. I'm here to help. You're not able to move, as you've probably noticed. I'm going to bring you somewhere more safe. Sorry in advance."
With that, he did his best to hoist the girl into his arms and stand up. She really was very short, and he had little trouble. Striding up to the barrier, he opened the gate with his glasses.
He strode out into the park, small human in tow.
Thank-you for reading. Reviews much appreciated.
