"So," Tristan said while her and the Doctor sat in the TARDIS, "How did you come up with our false identities on the spot? Not that I'm complaining or anything but…it just worked like a charm."
"The Terasen system," he looked up at her, "Is a system, like your solar system, consisting of 5 planets that all supply fuel for other planets in other systems. This planet is the third one from a sun, and it's, as you heard Edna say previously, Fossilius."
"Fossilius…like fossil fuel!" She started getting a bit excited, "Those big coal looking things! They were coal! And…they must have been forcing the giants to do their dirty work for them." Her face fell immediately, "We've got to go back."
"I was already planning on it," he sighed and rested his legs on the console, "why don't you go get some rest? The giants will be out at the mines in the morning so we can get out of the TARDIS safe and sound. My bedroom is on the right, down the hall, past the medical room, at the very end."
She smiled, said her thanks, and walked off.
She didn't need directions though, did she? She walked away from the console 7 steps into the hall and turned to the right, kept going down the hall, passed the medical room, and grinned as she turned the knob and entered the Doctor's room for the second time. When she opened the door, the lights turned on and glowed. She took a deep breath in and sat on the bed and removed her shoes, socks, and her belt before lying down and covering her body with the not-too-thick blanket. When she pulled the string on the tableside lamp, all the lights in the room shut off and she fell asleep in an instant.
After many hours her eyes fluttered open and noticed that the glowing lights had turned back on. She looked forward and saw the Doctor sitting at the edge of the bed on her right hand side, cradling a picture frame in his hands. When he finally looked over at her, he smiled and put the picture back on the table.
"Rise and shine," He said happily, "Time to get a move on. Oh and," He stuck his hand into the left of his jacket and pulled out a red toothbrush, "You're probably going to need this."
"Thanks," she said faintly, still a bit asleep. She got out of bed and gently grabbed the toothbrush from him, "Won't be a mo."
"Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day." The Doctor said as he noticed Tristan walking back into the control room.
"Are we making the plan up as we go along?" She asked as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
"No, not this time," he opened the door and looked outside, "I've got a plan."
It was all clear so the two companions made their usual walk out of the cave and through the forest.
"So what's this plan of yours?" She asked as she tried to avoid tripping over another tree root.
"It's quite simple actually. We just go back and do exactly the same thing we did last time except—"
"WHOA," She interrupted him loudly when she saw an old man sitting against a tree, his back against them.
She did an entire scan of his body with her eyes and a raised left eyebrow. He had short, gray hair, many wrinkles, and he was wearing a white suit with a silver tie that would've been crisp if you didn't look at the copious amount of dirt and dust that was covering it.
"Oh sorry," the old man turned and looked at the pair, "I didn't mean to startle you." He stood up and walked towards them, "my name is Hector Mars."
"Hector Mars?" The Doctor looked surprised for a moment and quickly grabbed Hector's hand a shook it with a huge smile on his face, "the Hector Mars? Oh sir, it is a complete and utter pleasure to meet you. I didn't recognize you at all because well…dare I say it, you've aged a bit since your interview with Blonsky Zurhuf in the universally famous magazine, Multi-Millionaire Entrepreneurs Weekly."
"Maybe this will trigger your memory." Hector said as he put his left hand into a fist, put up his second finger and thumb in the shape of a gun, and held it to his chin so his head fit in between the two fingers.
"The pose!" The Doctor laughed and slapped his knee; "I always used to do that pose in the mirror after I read your interview!"
The Multi-Millionaire Entrepreneurs Weekly magazine was incredibly famous when the Doctor was about 250 years old. Every week there were several articles on different business around the entire universe. The Terasen System always had a planet profiled because, since every planet produced a sort of fuel, everyone was an entrepreneur. The most famous person though was the owner of the Fossilius mines and he was the one and only Hector Mars. He was classically handsome, single, and the richest man in the Terasen System. Naturally, the ladies were all over him, the men wanted to be his friends, so he was automatically famous.
"I'm the Doctor by the way," the Doctor said after finally getting over the fact that he was most definitely star struck, "This is Tristan."
It finally hit Tristan that she was on a whole different planet.
"I used to own those mines," Hector started as the three of them settled down around the table in his little cottage for a nice cup of tea, "before that Ripley was employed and snatched it from right under my nose."
"What happened?" The Doctor asked curiously, putting his teacup down.
"Well, it all started about 26 years ago. The senior staff and I decided to open up new jobs down in the mines and that Ripley applied. We thought it was pretty strange for a woman to want to be working down in those damp, dark, dirty mines, but we interviewed her anyway because we all believe in an equal chance you know?" He sipped his tea, "So we conduct an interview with her and she turned out to be the perfect candidate and she didn't seem to mind the conditions of the mines. She worked in the mines for a while, maybe three years or so, my old mind is fading, but then somehow she got the job at the front desk and moves out of those mines. That's when she started coming into our meetings and giving us her ideas and opinions. We listened to them and they were pretty logical, reasonable, and they saved us a load of money so we promoted her. That's when she came up with the idea of using the native giants that lived on this planet to mine the coal. She said it would save us millions and makes us millions because we could just lay off all the miners and pay the giants with gifts and we could lower the prices of our fuel so more planets would purchase ours instead of the other planets in the Terasen System."
"You were doing just fine," The Doctor said, "And she just came in like that and took over? But you're Hector Mars!"
"Oh yes," Hector chuckled and rested his hands on his stomach, "I was Hector Mars, but then came the Big Bad Wolf and blew my house down."
"In the caves," Tristan interrupted, "I saw piles of twigs and cloths and things, you mean those are from the company? Like…bribes or peace offerings? The giants don't need money, but they need supplies right?"
"Ah!" The Doctor said, coming to a complete realization, "That's why they attacked us but they wouldn't attack the ones who enslaved them!"
"They work like…they owe her something." Tristan whispered sadly.
"Oh come on!" The Doctor looked at her and wrapped his arm around her, "We'll save them."
After several long and enjoyable conversations, they all thought it was about time for the Doctor and Tristan to leave.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye." Hector said as he showed the companions out the door.
"Wait!" The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks, "would you mind coming to my ship? I um," He rubbed his neck, "would be honoured if you would sign my copy of Multi-Millionaire Entrepreneurs Weekly."
Tristan looked down at her watch and sighed. They had wasted at least an hour walking from Hector's place back through the forest, through the cave, and back to the TARDIS all because the Doctor wanted an autograph and picture with his entrepreneur idol.
"Anyway, as I was saying," the Doctor cleared his throat as they were walking through the forest again, "We just go back and do exactly the same thing we did last time except now we confront Ripley with what we know and we peacefully negotiate the release of the giants."
"Peacefully negotiate?" Tristan sounded almost disappointed, "I thought there was going to be some action."
"I'm a Time Lord," he replied, mock offended, "not James Bond."
They were close to the gates but didn't go all the way. In fact, they stopped about 30 meters from the gate because there were bodyguards lining the inside of the entire place.
The Doctor and Tristan hid behind one tree each as they watched Mrs. Ripley walk up to one of them and say, "Keep a lookout for that John Smith and the girl, or you're out of here for good."
"Well there goes that plan." Whispered Tristan and she and the Doctor swiftly ducked and ran back down the path towards the caves and to another night of waiting.